Can You Have a Romance OC? is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Shipping Fanfic written by Ava-Connie.
Taken by the writer as a challenge to prove you can write a romance between a canon character and an Original Character without the latter being a bland Self-Insert, this fanfic introduces the character of Sophie McCallaghan, a british New Transfer Student who recently moved to Domino City and befriends the main protagonists, as well as Seto Kaiba, who she instantly dislikes. The story then follows her perspective as she joins them during the Battle City Tournament. Unlike many other fanfics however, this one deviates as little as possible from the canon, instead giving Sophie's perspective on the various events, all while having her and Kaiba begrudgingly form a bound.
The fanfic can be found on Fanfiction.net
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This fanfic provides examples of:
- The Atoner: When Sophie confronts Kaiba about Death-T, he implies in his answer to her that he feels disgusted with himself for his treatment of Mokuba back then, which led him to become even more protective of his brother.Kaiba: I do not need you to berate me too, Callaghan. Do you think that I don't regret it? That I haven't tried to put it behind me? That when I look at Mokuba I don't remember the look on his face after I pushed the button to inflict the penalty game on him? [...] You read my medical file, Callaghan. You know what I went through. I deliberately made my brother go through that. I forced him, to teach him a lesson.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: More or less inevitable, considering the canon character involved is Seto Kaiba, a well-known Jerkass Anti-Hero with a huge ego. As a result, Sophie and Seto start out disliking each other, and even after they gradually warm up, most of their exchange still consist in Snark-to-Snark Combat.
- Deadpan Snarker: Sophie is quite snarky, and doesn't hesitate to deliver quips regarding how ridiculous she feels situations get around her. Of course, since Kaibe is quite a capable snarker of his own, this results in the interactions you'd expect.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Sophie, a regular human with no supernatural ability whatsoever and no skill as a duelist, tries to assault Yami Marik— a psychopath with a Millenium item— in a feat of rage after he defeated Joey. All she gets for her trouble is him badly slicing her hand.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted; Toward the end of the Virtual Nightmare arc, Sophie finds out about the events of the infamous Death-T story arc, and is clearly horrified by what she learns about both Yugi and Kaiba. She still remains attached to both, but she is clearly shaken by the reveal, and not afraid to confront them about it.
- Last-Name Basis: Kaiba refers to Sophie by her last name as a way to maintain distance with her, much to her frustration.
- Only Sane Man: Sophie, has never heard of Duel Monsters before, and is more or less an ordinary person; as such, she is completely baffled by how everyone around her take this Card Game as Serious Business.
- Original Character: Sophie McCallaghan, the protagonist. Granted, that was the entire point.
- The Stations of the Canon: The story mostly stick to what happens in canon, with only very slight alterations to include Sophie as a spectator.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Up to eleven; Seto refuses to even acknowledge Sophie as just a friend, even though she sees him as such. Granted, their relationship is a bit more complicated than average.
