Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are in a relationship - the Internet reacts

Two worlds appear to have collided with the news that Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are a couple.

The reality TV star and pop-punk drummer effectively announced their relationship beyond all doubt on Instagram this week, with Kardashian posting a picture of their intertwined hands.

While she did not explicitly tag Barker – who became something of an icon in the late ‘90s and early noughties as the drummer for Blink-182 and Boxcar Racer – in her post on Tuesday, fans quickly identified his knuckle tattoos, including one which says “self-made” and another reading: “dues paid.” He also replied by posting a black heart emoji.

There has been speculation for some time that he has been linked romantically with Kardashian – who rose to fame in Keeping Up With the Kardashians, a reality TV behemoth which arguably served to usher in a new epoch in pop culture after first airing in 2007.

Read more:Piers Morgan berated for ‘body-shaming’ comments about Kardashians

“He’s liked her for a long time and she just got more open to the idea. He’s a good guy and a really great dad,” People quoted a source as saying. “Her family and friends all really like him. Their kids all get along too, which is sweet.”

And on Valentine’s Day, both shared separate pictures of the same fireplace, with Kardashian posting a handwritten note on Instagram apparently inspired by a tweet from Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, which read: “Roses are red, violets are blue, garlic bread, Blink-182.”

But this didn’t stop the news prompting surprise and jokes among fans.

Some were clearly bitterly disappointed.

...which at times prompted brutal results...

Others, however, found the news liberating.

And while there were fans who clearly felt incredibly invested...

...Others were somewhat less fazed.

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