Webcomic / Tripping Over You

Tripping Over You is a Slice of Life webcomic by Suzana Harcum and Owena White that centers on Milo and Liam, two British boarding school students with radically contrasting personalities, and how they deal with being in an (initially) secret relationship and the odd mix of humor and drama that ensues from their daily lives and their friends' too. After boarding school, the comic goes on to show how they get on with university, jobs, and coming into being adults.

The comic launched in 2011 and was completed in March 2023. A sequel called Living in Future Tense launched on January 2024.

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This webcomic contains examples of:

• Abuse Mistake: Hebert thinks Milo's being mistreated by his boyfriend, because he seems so unhappy and because he has a black eye on his audition tape for acting class. Milo is actually just going through a rough time college- and jobwise, and his boyfriend does everything to support him. And while it was Liam who hit him the black eye a back then, that happened before they even were together, and Milo's behavior then makes Liam's lapse in temper slightly more justified.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Milo pretty much takes any opportunity he can to play with Liam's hair.
• Alcoholic Parent: Liam's mother; it apparently led to her death. It's the reason why Liam doesn't ever touch alcohol.
• Allergic to Love: Archie nearly has an apoplectic fit when it is suggested he might be left alone with the girl he is currently on a date with. Two years later, he is Happily Married, so...
• All Gays Love Theater: Milo, who receives homophobic insults from other students for his participation in theatre alone. Also Hebert, who is a classmate of Milo in the acting school. Subverted with Liam, who is indifferent about the school plays until he learns that Milo is acting in them.
  • Leads to this hilarious discussion between Milo and his slightly homophobic mom:
    Nora: You can't!
    Milo: Can't what? Be gay?
    Nora: Think of your future! Your career!
    Milo: Wait, which? My dance career? Or theatre?
    Nora: Is that what this is about? Is this my fault for putting you in dance?
• All There in the Manual: Understanding the first pages and the comments on them gets a lot easier if you have the cast page open.
• Alt Text: Usually there to make a snarky comment about the happening of the strip at hand.
• Ambiguously Brown: Milo. Word of God says that he's half-Lebanese.
• Art Reflects Personality: While Liam is struggling with being closeted and hiding most of his life from his strict, emotionally cold father, he starts writing gory horror stories about a hunted Author Avatar. Zig-zagged after things improve for him: he admits that he'd started it just to shock his therapist, but came to genuinely enjoy writing, and is excited to get published.
• Art Shift: With the start of Chapter 5, the comic is now in full color.
• Bathroom Stall Graffiti: Appears in this comic, though similar easter eggs appear frequently in backgrounds throughout the series.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Liam has specific demands in order to keep their relationship secret, and is unpleasantly surprised when Milo complies.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Milo and Liam. Although once they get over the first couple of humps in their relationship, they're actually closer to being Sickeningly Sweethearts in private.
• Berserk Button: Milo and Dirty Dancing.
• Camp Gay: Milo fits the bill, despite his feeble attempts to tone down his camp in public. Doesn't stop his friends from insisting that he's "good with girls", for some reason.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Milo. Played With as he does says it (and then some) in the first chapter, but it turns out it took him over two years to get there.
  • Might actually fall into the category of Anguished Declaration of Love. He confesses his feelings after the emotional distress of what he thought was Liam's date with a girl, and so the setting and circumstances aren't ideal, nor is he exactly eloquent. Which contributes to why the confession is not, at first, received well.
• "Cavemen vs. Astronauts" Debate: Time travel paradoxes (or lack thereof) are serious business.
• Character Development: Big time with both Liam and his father Eli. Liam learns to be a bit more relaxed, to let people close to him and openly talk about his feelings and wishes, and Eli goes from ice-cold, distant control freak who has taken to being called "sir" by his own son to someone who actually puts an effort into understanding and supporting Liam instead of belittling his every decision.
• The Chessmaster: Penny, who orchestrates a meeting between Milo and Liam at the Halloween party in spite of Liam's initial refusals to attend the party at all.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Milo constantly teases and flirts with Liam before and after they get together, but when Liam asks him to cut down on the PDA he fulfills his request so well that Liam comes to regret it, and Liam is actually the one to bring up the subject of Their First Time because Milo didn't think he would be interested in it.
• Coax Them Out of the Closet: Liam hides his sexuality from his strict father well after coming out to some friends and his boyfriend Milo's family. When Milo points out just how much lying Liam does to maintain the secret and how hurtful it is to be a cause of shame, Liam finally takes the plunge.
  Milo: It's only a solution in the short run... I was hoping this would be more long term than that.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Milo resembles Mika a lot. Ostensibly neither confirmed nor denied by the authors.
• Coming-Out Story: For Liam. He goes from keeping his relationship a strict secret to having a few of his friends in on it, to being open about it to Milo's family, to finally admitting it to his own father.
• Cool Big Bro: Actually he's Liam's cousin who stays with him and his father for a while, but Alfons fulfills this role; he's laidback, supportive of Liam, tries to give him some good advice, and covers up for his occasional sneaking-out-to-meet-his-boyfriend.
• Didn't Think This Through: Inviting Milo on Archie's date was supposed to help how?
  • He apparently assumed Milo was "good with girls". Umm...
• Discriminate and Switch: Zig-zagged; when Liam finally comes out to his father, his dad promptly shows relief and comments that he was afraid that Liam was sneaking around because he was doing drugs. He promptly reveals that he's also angry about the whole "dating another guy" thing, but prioritizes the fact that Liam wants to quit law school. Finally, it seems that the issue is settled later on after his dad calms down a little, at which point it's implied that his real problem with the situation is that Liam didn't tell him about it sooner and instead lied about what he had been doing for so long. Even when it seems that he doesn't like Milo, it's implied that the only reason for it is because Milo isn't the type of person he wants Liam to be with.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Milo to Liam in the first chapter. Archie can also be interpreted as this towards Chloe.
• Drives Like Crazy: Alfons, made worse by him having only one eye. Milo too, and he apparently learned it from his father Dylan.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Matt has no complaints about his office overlooking a gym with plenty of picture windows.
  "[My view] is— well, it's pretty picturesque too. In its own way."
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Liam, repeatedly. He's shown in the flashbacks to have started out with long hair only to cut it off because his father "said it made me look like a poof". In the present day, he confirms that he's growing his hair out but that his father wants him to cut it again.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Eli's expectation that Liam follow him into law is a source of tension between them, not least because Liam is deeply unhappy in law school. After Liam drops out, Eli admits that he had hoped for them to practice together, because he could have bolstered Liam's career and wants Liam to be happy.
• Forgets to Eat: Liam has shown tendencies to do this. Milo also occasionally skips breakfast later in the comic when his two jobs and university are wearing him down.
• Geeky Turn-On: For Milo, time travel paradoxes◊.
• Glass Eye: Liam's cousin Alfons actually has a whole collection of diversely coloured ones that he wears alternately.
• Half-Truth: Liam's recounting of the events in the first chapter.
• Hospital Hottie: Alfons sure is smitten with his nurse. Downplayed, in that she actually wears work-appropriate clothes and a sensible hairdo. Still quite cute though.
• Hypocrite: Nearly everyone has a moment of this sometime, and they get frequently called out on it.
  • Liam invites Milo to Archie's date because he's "good with girls", then blows up at him for demonstrating it.
  • Liam thinks it's perfectly fine to be honest about their relationship to Milo's family. Shortly after that he mentions excuses he makes up towards his father whenever he and Milo meet.
  • On the other hand, Milo urges Liam to come clear towards his father, but we've never seen Milo even trying to improve upon the strained relationship he has with his mom.
  • Dylan advises Milo to ask his mother for help in regards of a new flat, but once Nora is actually around and trying to help Milo, Dylan criticizes her for being overbearing.
  • Eli forbids Liam to smoke... while he himself is smoking a cigarette.
  • Milo calls Hebert out for being constantly flirty. Nevermind that, when they first met, he very much seemed to be flirting with Hebert.
• In-Universe Nickname: For some reason, Liam gets a lot of this from his old friends from school. Penny calls him Chip, Viola calls him Lilam, Dick always calls him something made up on his surname ("Schwartzmeister", "Schwartzstop", "Schwartzamundo", "Schwartzorama", ...), though Liam so far hasn't caught up to why everybody feels the need to nickname him.
• It Seemed Trivial: Liam could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd thought to mention to Milo that the date was for Archie, not him.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Liam dotes on his cat Jojo, who's born without eyes and makes noises like an Eldritch Abomination. When he moves in with Milo, Jojo tags along.
• Kiss-Kiss-Slap: The direction of their argument in the bathroom... Kind of a Moment Killer.
• Kissing Under the Influence: Milo is partial to a little liquid courage, which Liam is quick to point out. That doesn't stop him from kissing back on two separate occasions. Admittedly, Milo didn't have much at either occasion.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Liam has a hard time socializing with others, and he doesn't get along with his father very well.
• Longing Look:
  • It takes Liam a few seconds to detach his gaze from Milo's unintentional tonguework.
  • Milo lights up any time he sees Liam.
• Master of the Mixed Message: Liam at first. "No more... staring at me... with those exceptionally blue eyes."
• Milking the Giant Cow: Milo is an actor, even when he's on his own.
• Missing Mom: Liam's mother apparently died several years ago; his father put him into therapy since and obviously doesn't get along with Liam very well on his own.
• Must Have Caffeine: According to his description on the cast page, Liam's blood 'is more caffeine than plasma'. He also appears to forget an entire conversation held before his morning coffee.
• Nice Jewish Boy: Averted with Liam. Sure, at the core he is a decent kid, but around that core are layers and layers of cynical snark, social ineptitude, and quite some temper.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever Zeigler had to do with thumbtacks, it's blackmail-worthy.
• Oblivious to Love: Liam in the first chapter. He even gets to lampshade it later when he reminisces about the fairly obvious signs in their so-far friendship:
  Liam: ... Why am I so slow?
• Open-Minded Parent: Milo's father, who doesn't bat an eyelash to the news that his son is dating Liam. He even likes Dungeons & Dragons!
• Opposites Attract: Milo and Liam, see Uptight Loves Wild.
• Posthumous Character: Liam's mother died soon before he began boarding school but her memory continues to have a profound influence on Liam, Eli, and their father-son relationship.
• Raging Stiffie: Liam when getting his first kiss from Milo... well, he is a teenager after all. Unfortunately, Milo is insensitive enough to make a joke about how "enthusiastic" Liam is. Liam later gets his own back when Milo reacts rather favorably to him bringing up the subject of sex.
• Rich Bitch: Noel. Liam shares a lot of her attitudes on social status, though that might just be because it's Noel.
• Sarcasm Mode: Few things Liam says are not sarcastic; however, an eye-roll frequently lets the reader know his intentions.
• Say It with Hearts: Milo towards Liam at times. Liam begins getting on it too as their relationship deepens.
• Secret Relationship: Liam tries to keep his relationship with Milo secret at first. Downplayed after they move out of boarding school, when Liam learns that his roommate knows and doesn't care, and abandoned entirely after Liam comes out to his father and moves in with Milo.
• Sexy Shirt Switch: Downplayed in that he's got pants on, but Liam wears Milo's Fun T-Shirt the morning after Their First Time. Which, to Liam's silent horror, is immediately recognized by a passer-by who turns out to be Milo's dad.
• Shame Accusation: Milo accepts his boyfriend Liam keeping their relationship secret at first, but when Liam hides that they're spending time together at all, not merely claiming that they're still just friends, he tells Liam how hurtful it is to be treated like he's shameful. It inspires Liam to come out to his father.
  Milo: You make me less than a friend when you act ashamed of me. When you hide the fact you even know me.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: While Liam is in the middle of promising brimstone and hellfire if his father finds out.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Liam and Milo do have their moments of this.
• Snowed-In: Milo and Liam end up in this situation in chapter 9. It leads to them discussing the issue of Liam still keeping his relationship under closure and Milo disliking the constant lies.
• Socialite: Some people want to be doctors when they grow up. Noel wants to be a debutante.
• Stealth Insult: Milo to Chloe, before he figures out she's on a date with Archie, not with Liam.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Liam's cousin Alfons basically looks like an older version of Liam, only with way lighter hair, a Glass Eye, and a Perma-Stubble. Milo and his father Dylan look a lot alike, too.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry:
  • Subverted in Liam's therapy session.
  • Lampshaded in his subsequent conversation with Milo.
• Their First Time: Milo and Liam in chapter 5. Complicated by the fact that they have to do some internet research to learn how male-on-male intercourse works. Seems to pay out though.
• Transparent Closet: Milo keeps his so clean it sparkles. It also turns out that Archie caught on to Liam's relationship with him so easily that he didn't even think it was a secret.
• Twice Shy: Archie and Chloe. They are a match made in the most awkward of heavens. Though they don't end up with each other.
• Uptight Loves Wild: Milo is a flamboyant, well-socialized, blithe-spirited actor who loves to make himself the center of a scene; Liam is a bit of a grump when around people, doesn't like to draw attention to himself, and rather sticks to his cat and his writing. They're as happy together as can be. Considering Liam's father Eli and his Missing Mom Riva had a similar dynamic, it seems it runs in the Schwartz family.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Although it becomes resolved at the end of the second chapter.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: Subverted. There's a nicely-lit night scene on the rooftop, a message written in roses, and a recounting of all their time together, but Penny actually asks Kat if she'll be her flatmate.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Liam towards his strict and conservative father.
• Wham Line:
  • Liam to his father: "And I've been so nervous I've gone a whole year not telling you — I'm dating a guy. And I'm sick of the person I am when I'm lying about it."
  • A little while later, he says this to his father: "I'm moving in with my boyfriend."
• Will They or Won't They?: The first two chapters revolve around this.
• Yiddish as a Second Language: Occasionally crops up with Liam and his father. His cousin Alfons seems to have German as his mother tongue, so their family might originally come from German-language area.

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