August 16th, 2013 at 12:17pm
As much as I want to say the end was sad, I don't think it was. I think it was real. You didn't twist it into some Taylor Swift fairy tale. Why would Steve suddenly decide to throw out all his marital plans because of one moment? Granted, the moment was touching and cathartic.
The use of time seemed to be a good two-bird one-stone sort of thing. It expressed how time slows and can disappoint us when there's a happy possibility in the future. Of course, the whole "our time is up."<3 It also conveyed the fact that all time is limited, even if it feels like it doesn't move, you only have a little bit of time.
I'm glad you didn't call them gay or bi-curious or tried to explain their feelings. People are people. Calling yourself gay or straight or bi or whatever else feels more like a label so society knows who to segregate more than anything. What matters is love, and that's what these two had. Unfortunately, they didn't end up together. But like I said before, sometimes reality doesn't match desires.
Which what makes this one-shot such a good tale. Real people. Real emotions. Real wants. Real ending.
A few people have said this already, but I love how real this feels. InsaneArtist is completely right, why would someone give up plans for a wedding for one moment with someone that would be considered taboo by most others? They wouldn't, and despite the fact that I really hate that he didn't, having Steve stay would just be too much of a fairytale ending. You've captured so many real feelings and emotions within this and it comes across really well to readers (or at least me).
I also love that you manage to create two very real characters with very real emotions and you do that in less than 1000 words when some people can't do that in over 10000. I could feel some of the hopelessness that Rick must have felt when he was left in the middle of the floor at the end and it honestly made me feel so bad for him. I also felt bad for Steve, in a way. Even though he's the one leaving, he's leaving for something that (or at least I assume) he isn't going to be as happy with that and that makes me really sad. Then again, I do feel really angry at him for telling Rick how he feels and then just buggering off to marry someone else. That really irked me.
I couldn't even tell you how I feel after reading this because I have so many mixed emotions and conflicting opinions. One thing I can say is that I love this and I love the realism of everything in this. I love the characters and I love the idea. Amazing.