I was amazed to discover that RPS existed, a little more than a year ago. Actually, my reaction to it was much the same as my initial reaction of fanfic in general, which was also new to me. I was incredulous that it was "allowed"... totally incredulous, and kind of fascinated, and also quite drawn in, because the only RPS/ fanfiction I have ever read, to this date, was Jack/Ennis and Heath/Jake. Both and either, if done well, can be sizzling and lovely..
But, I do draw a distinction between the two. I have written Jack/Ennis fanfics, but I don't think it ever crossed my mind to try and write RPS. But, as I have read it and enjoyed it, implicitly, I don't judge those who do write it.
After Heath's death, I don't think I could read any more RPS involving him.. or Jake either, for that matter. It's like ... well, RPS is a fantasy, right? A collective, or shared fantasy... and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. It's different from sharing, say, fantasies about your next door neighbour, because these are people who have put their personas out there for the public. A piece of that person becomes.. well, disjointed, separated from who he really is. In a sense, it's like when I was fourteen and I had a picture of Matt Dillon with no shirt on in my locker. I had no idea and little concern for who he really was. It was just that shirtless piece of him... like a little slice of the man's persona.
But when someone dies, and we mourn him... well, now it feels like he can't be anything but real. It's like he's taken back all those pieces of himself that were dispersed out in the world, and he's just real Heath. Not our fantasy, collective or otherwise - just real flesh and blood existance. And we can't play with that. That's my gut feeling, anyway.
I don't know how it will be as time passes. And I don't know if ... well, it's very soothing, right now, to read little Jack w/ Ennis stories, and feel like they're living their lives, still, somewhere. But they were fictional characters to begin with. It might be soothing to believe that Heath lives on, too, but the truth is that he doesn't, not on the physical plane, anyhow. To pretend otherwise is to ignore the fact of his death, and that really does seem disrespectful, somehow..