Fandom

The hockey RPF (real person fiction) fandom is as active in the You Could Make a Life universe as it is in the real world. In-universe fans produce a great deal of fanfictions and theories about the YCMAL cast of characters.

Dan Riley is a general fan favourite, more so than Marc Lapointe who is something of a divisive figure in fandom circles. Of note, a gif of Marc's face transforming from surly about talking to the media after a shoot-out loss to beaming when he was told that his husband got a Gordie Howe hat-trick did become a meme that transcended the barriers of hockey fandom.

The fandom is pretty obsessed with the two of them as a couple, sometimes to the point of being creepy. For example, fans have been working carefully to recreate the Marc/Dan timeline and figure out exactly how long they were dating before being outed. The YCMAL Internet is also home to such masterpieces as a video compilation of Dan kissing his ring during the singing of the national anthem before games, and a fairly insightful breakdown of Marc's body language when around Dan. To be fair, even sports outlets have been known to speculate about the state of their relationship, as illustrated in You Could Make a Life.

There is a "boringchapman" twitter account. (NB: inspired by @boringmonahan, a parody account of Calgary Flames forward Sean Monahan.)

## Players' relationships with hockey RPF

Some of the characters are aware, to varying degrees, of the fanfictions written about them. They are as follow: Dan, Marc, Ulf, Tremblay, Jake, Joe, Sven, Liam, and Derek.

Dan is shocked when he accidentally finds out. Ulf, a known troll, delights in sending to Marc fanfictions of questionable quality featuring Dan/Marc as a pairing. He also reads fanfiction out loud to Marc to shut him up. Tremblay is very amused by his occasional appearance in fanfiction with Marc and Dan (the wrong Riley).

While Jake only vaguely knows of the existence of fanfiction, Joe's cousin told Joe all about it, and he appreciates that he is more often paired with Jake than David is.

Sven "appreciates it as artistic expression".

Liam actually reads his own fanfiction (only the good ones, not the +266 fics out there), and shares the more explicit bits with his teammates to mortify them.

Derek also enjoys reading fanfiction in which he and Andy are featured, though he keeps it a secret from Andy. Andy would "die of embarrassment at the thought of people writing about his sex life", so he must be protected. Mike, Oleg, or David would not take it well either.

Andreas Krause is aware of fanfiction regarding Dave Summers' clients.

Stephen Petersen knows about it through his sister Elisabeth Petersen (who reads RPF). He finds it deeply offensive on Gabe’s behalf that anyone would think he would have such poor standards as to date Dmitry Kurmazov. Gabe Markson pretends they don't exit.

Jared Matheson finds fanfiction about him and Bryce Marcus and Julius Halla, but is trying to forget.

## List of common pairings

* Marc/Dan (the vast majority of fics were published after their coming out, with a special peak when Marc took Dan's number)
* Luke/Nikita
* Jake/Joe
* Jake/David
* Liam/Rogers
* Georgie/Robbie

## List of other ships and rare pairs

* Liam/Luke
* Liam/Ben
* Liam/everyone
* Liam/Roman
* Liam Fitzgerald Detroit Red Wings gang bang fic
* Sven/Gerard
* Marc/Ulf (Marc is usually a jerk and cheating on Dan)
* Marc/Dan/Tremblay (after the boa dancing episode)
* Marc/Julien (daddy kink)
* Andy/Derek (pre-Derek coming out, as a common secondary pairing to Marc/Dan)
* Vinny/Carmen
* Vinny/Anton
* Vinny/Fourns
* Anton/Carmen
* Jake/seriously, everyone
* Jake/Gabe
* Gally/Parent (as a background pairing in Jake/Joe)
* David/Kurmazov (age difference, a lot of d/s)
* David/Eisler (he's the only person ever seen touching David off the ice)
* One (1) David/Mike
* One (1) fluffy David/Benson
* David/Robbie
* David/Marc/Adam (in honour of the combined attractiveness of the Olympic gold line)
* Whelan/Matthews
* Julius Halla/Jared Matheson
* Jared Matheson/Bryce Marcus (one fan initially, way more after the media posts an article about their friendship)
* Gabe Markson/Dmitry Kurmazov
* Bryce/Chaz/Ashley

## Common things in fanfiction that annoy Marc Lapointe

* He never tops.
* They never get his language skills right.
* There are many mpreg fic, and he's always pregnant.
* Dan gets written like a martyr a lot.
* He cheats on Dan or blackmails him into leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs.

## Jake and David in hockey RPF

Jake and David have a decent following, mostly made up of fans of hate sex. However, the fandom is divided between people who write hate sex, people who write pining Jake, and people who write cheesy romantic fic for them.

This has also generated many opponents who vocally ship Jake with anybody else.

## Jared and Bryce in hockey RPF

Initially, only one person shipped them. After the NHL site published a puff piece about Jared and Bryce being close friends, the fandom has been speculating about their relationship and has reached the conclusion that they are married. Since then, the amount of fic written about them has grown and it includes a/b/o and kneeling fic and coffee shop AUs, and one unnervingly good priest AU, and many, many first time scenarios, and PWPs so many PWPs, more than a few involving Julius, as well as Discourse. Fandoms characterizations of Jared and Bryce is completely off: Jared is shy and sweet but sometimes snarky when he comes out of his shell, innocent, naive, basically a beautiful unspoiled naif; Bryce is self-assured kinda douchey thinks he’s hot shit, toppy AF, despoiler of naifs, but then somehow this sweet kid Jared got past his hardened exterior.

## Jared and Julius in hockey RPF

There are way more fics about Julius and Jared than about Jared and Bryce. Fandom's characterization of Julius is not spot on, but still recognizable. Jared is the one coaxing Julius into being ~soft, and ~welcoming, and ~getting him out of his shell and ~teaching him how to relax.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/63239945314/youve-said-marc-is-aware-of-their-fandom-does-he
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/64919309764/how-does-the-media-and-specifically-the-fandom-get
3. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/64922165578/riverlace-said-ahhhh-yes-an-entire-tumblr
4. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/99168002046/does-jake-read-fan-posts-and-stuff-about-david
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/80933554180/so-i-vaguely-remember-players-knowing-about
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/115052230466/just-saw-your
7. ↑ YCMAL Kickstarter Week 18  26/OCT/2015
8. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/100541643971/are-jake-and-joe-aware-of-the-copious-amount-of
9. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/posts/psotm-liam-roman-13775169
10. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/640614067110821888/how-did-hockey-fandom-react-to-the-article-is
11. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/641577774417657856/ok-but-how-did-stephen-find-out-about-fanfiction
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 https://archiveofourown.org/works/29029197
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/100526415451/because-i-am-taking-a-sick-day-and-bed-is-boring
14. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/132160667986/speaking-of-fandoms-did-the-danmarc-pair-have
15. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/144709885051/how-many-georgierobbie-fics-do-fans-write-when
16. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/posts/psotm-liam-roman-13775169
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/92476435966/would-you-ever-consider-making-a-fake-primer-for
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/132854991551/irt-fanfic-in-the-verse-which-pairing-did-the
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/150150899221/are-there-any-unexpected-in-universe-fandom-ships
20. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/120709468901/are-there-any-parentjake-fics-in-the-fandom-does
21. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/138193833206/parentgallagher-completely-in-my-imagination-or
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/132724229106/with-davids-angelic-face-how-much-of-the-fanfic
23. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/144710752346/in-relation-to-the-ask-earlier-about-the-fanfics
24. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/146364469416/i-knew-ulf-was-the-consensus-hottest-in-your
25. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/186225057916/bless-these-two-little-grumpy-introverts-ill-bet
26. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/187719769941/do-fans-know-that-jared-and-julius-the-jared-and
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/187720734731/i-have-this-firm-belief-that-somewhere-in-the#notes
28. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/640614947996483584/how-did-hockey-fandom-react-to-the-article-is
29. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/626636374544613378/pls-tell-me-that-there-are-flames-fans-writing
30. ↑ http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/60784223878/things-about-marc-lapointedan-riley-rpf-fandom
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 http://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/92391201211/as-a-follow-up-to-your-most-recent-post-may-we
32. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/640614947996483584/how-did-hockey-fandom-react-to-the-article-is
33. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/640616823448125440/knowing-fandom-there-is-definitely-also-some
34. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/640615555767926784/the-real-question-is-how-off-are-fandoms
35. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/640635373922516992/what-are-the-fandom-personas-of-jared-and-bryce
36. ↑ https://youcouldmakealife.tumblr.com/post/641526158461173760/im-curious-as-to-what-the-fandoms-main