Summary: Seth and Audrey accidentally discover real person fanfiction while looking at fan pages.
Also, a disclaimer: no offense is intended towards RPF or RPF fans with this story. It was just a suggestion for a fic that I felt worked well and was realistic for this pairing. 🙂
In hindsight, Audrey thinks she shouldn’t be all that surprised at what she and Seth stumble upon that lazy Sunday. It is the Internet, after all.
“You can find anything online,” Audrey says, trying to rationalize what they’d seen, even as she desperately wishes she could go back in time and stop them from clicking on that particular link.
“I didn’t want to find that though,” Seth replies.
“Trust me. Neither did I,” Audrey sighs, and sinks next to him on the couch.
His arm comes up to her shoulders and she snuggles into his side, then slings her legs up on his lap. She feels him press his lips to the top of her head, his arm tightening a little around her.
It had started innocently enough. They’d been sitting on her couch earlier that morning, searching Tender Nothings online. Audrey had been musing that although the negative reviews and comments still bothered her, they were easier to brush off and laugh at now. The goofy voices Seth liked to read some of them in always helped.
One of them (Audrey couldn’t remember who) had clicked on a link to a fan page for the movie. It was all things Audrey expected to find: movie stills, links to articles and interviews, photos of the cast members, fanfiction about the characters. It had, in all honesty, looked exactly like fan pages she’d frequented growing up in the middle of nowhere in Iowa.
“Now I really know we’re doing well,” Seth had said, scrolling through the page. “There’s fanfiction out already.”
Audrey glanced at him, a smile forming on her face. “You read fanfiction?”
“You don’t?” he’d asked, sounding surprised.
“Oh, I do,” she confessed. “You just didn’t strike me as someone who’d read it.”
Seth grinned. “You have so much to learn, Iowa.”
They clicked through to another page, and that was the one Audrey later wished they could backtrack on. Seth had casually asked, “What’s RPF?” as he scrolled down the page, and had clicked on a story title under the heading.
“Oh my god,” Audrey had said as she took in the words on the page, right as Seth had opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
They both kept staring, almost frozen, until Seth abruptly closed the page, then turned to Audrey. “Did I just see fanfiction about you and Matt?”
“Uh. Yes,” was all she could get out.
“Not Macy and Hooper,” Seth had clarified. “You and Matt.”
“Yes.”
“Not you two as friends or coworkers. You two…”
He trailed off, which she was grateful for. Somehow, she knew that Seth saying what they’d just seen out loud would make it even worse. Audrey couldn’t quite read his expression, but his laugh had been forced, and she knew what they’d seen was bothering him. She didn’t blame him. She didn’t particularly want to see fanfiction about herself at all, much less with someone she wasn’t even in a relationship with.
“Seth. It’s…it’s…” she sighed, searching for the words and unable to find the ones she wanted.
“It’s the Internet,” she finally said, not knowing what else to say.
Now, curled up with him on the couch, she can still feel a hint of tension coming off of him.
“Hey,” Audrey says, lifting her head up and meeting his eyes. “You’re not…jealous, are you?”
Seth sighs. “No.”
He pauses, then sighs again. “Maybe? I don’t know. I know it’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid,” she reassures him, leaning in and pressing her lips to his.
He kisses her back softly, once, twice.
“I wouldn’t want to know that people were writing about you with someone else either,” Audrey says.
She kisses him again, sliding her hand into his hair.
“Seth,” she murmurs, “I want to be with you. You know that, right? I want you. Only you.”
That makes him smile a little bit, and he slips his free arm around her waist.
“That’s a good thing. I only want you, too,” he says, nudging her chin up and pressing slow, soft kisses down her neck.
“Mm,” she hums, trailing her hand down to the hem of his shirt. “Show me.”
She shrieks, giggling a little when he suddenly stands and carries her into her bedroom, her legs wrapping tightly around him.
Later, she’s half-asleep, sated and warm and snuggled up next to Seth in her bed. His hand runs lazily over her back, his eyes closed.
“I have an idea,” she murmurs sleepily.
“Hmm?” His chest rumbles underneath her with his response.
“We could start a Seth and Audrey fanfiction page.”
Seth laughs, his eyes drifting back open when she looks up at him.
“I don’t know, Iowa. We might make people jealous.”
She props her chin in her hand, her elbow resting on his chest. “Probably,” she agrees with a grin.
His smile fades, just a little, so she leans in and presses her lips to his.
“You’re not still thinking about that website, are you?” she asks.
“Trying not to. That story was just so…specific.”
“Stop,” Audrey pleads with him. “You’re going to make me think about it again.”
“I mean, it was pretty well written,” Seth continues after a beat, and she can see him trying not to smirk.
“Seth,” she says, fighting not to laugh.
“Especially the part where-“
“Seth!”
Audrey slides over him, straddling his hips. His blue eyes darken, his hands drifting up her bare skin.
“Are you still thinking about it?” she asks.
Seth pretends to think hard about her question, a look of intense concentration on his face.
“No, I’m thinking about something else now,” he says.
Before she can react, or register what he’s doing or the twinkle of amusement in his eyes, he flips her underneath him, tickling her sides until she’s nearly crying with laughter.
“Is this…really…what…you were thinking about?” Audrey gasps between laughing.
Seth grins, stilling his hands. She waits for him to start tickling her again, preparing to retaliate by tickling that spot on his side that always makes him squirm, but instead he tilts his head down, his nose brushing against hers.
“No,” he says.
“Good,” she murmurs. “I can think of much better things to be thinking about.”
“Only thinking about?” Seth teases her.
Audrey lifts her head up, tangling her fingers in his hair and pressing her lips to his. “And doing.”