Feb Festival - Days 20 & 21

[brandywine28]

I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I wanna thank mickeym for my virtual dragon! My profile page looks so cheerful now!


Day 20 - a pairing you didn't expect to enjoy, but did!

Alright, here's where I hook my thumbs under my imaginary suspenders and confess to y'all that I don't always cotton to the timbertrick. Wether it's the age difference, or the way-too-brotherly vibe I get from them, I don't know. Stop looking at me like that. I don't have to explain myself to you people.

Anyway, as with most things, there are several exceptions. Here, have a couple:

hitch by cimorene (Chris/Justin)
Because my love of long term pining and other, similar forms of sad-sackery knows no limits.

Father Time by zebraljb (Chris/Justin)
I don't know what it is about this story! First of all, Chris owns a deli, which I adore. (My dad owned a deli and it brings me great joy to imagine him and Chris hanging out together, arguing over kosher regulations.) Second, it's technically a hooker AU--and I've never, ever met one of those I didn't like. :) What does it say about me that I'm so enthralled with Justin as a sad, damaged, underage prostitute? With AJ as his pimp--oh god, how wonderful is that?



Day 21 - Real World but with added weirdness...basically canon but with some otherworldly element, from body swapping to superpowers to telepathy--you get the gist.

Probably about half of all popslash falls under this category--it's a beautifully twisted fandom!--but in the interest of keeping it eclectic I'm gonna go with

Christmas Eve Groundhog Day by cappucino (Nick/Justin)
Nick is cursed to relive the same day over and over again, which may or may not have something to do with Justin and his out-of-the-blue love declaration. There are a few awkwardly placed Britishisms in this story but they aren't glaring and Nick's hilariously desperate attempts to cool Justin's ardor more than make up for them.

Quotidian by lesa soja (Chris/JC)
http://sitnah.home.netcom.com/lesasoja/fiction/quotidian.html
Another time loop scenario-- this time Chris and JC are both afflicted. With sexy results! I just wouldn't feel right if I weren't imposing at least a little Chris/JC on everyone. Besides, this is fabulous.

Comments

[eponymous.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about timbertrick, though the pairing I have trouble reading, for similar reasons, is Nick/Kevin. Even though the age difference is a little smaller, Kevin was such a father figure to Nick that I always have that moment of, "Hmm, no."

One of the nice things about Nick growing older is that I enjoy modern-day Nick/Kevin a lot more.

[zebraljb.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about Nick/Kevin...both the "wrongness" and the "it's okay now, they're kinda the same age" thing...

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

You're right about Nick/Kevin; it does kind of mirror timbertrick in that way. There *have* been a few Nick/Kevin fics that I've completely adored, but now that I think about it, they've mostly been AUs. No pre-existing 'big brother'-style relationship, no incest-y vibes...

[pensnest]

I was never much of a Timbertrick fan either, possibly because I assumed that part of the point of Timbertrick was that uneasy edge of wrongness—and I'm not an uneasy edge of wrongness reader! Although at least in the early days, Chris did a lot of "kid stuff" that made him look very little older than Justin anyway... I liked the pairing more once I'd written a Timbertrick story, inevitably.

nopseud pointed out that we could easily have had a whole month of 'real world but with added weirdness' stories and not skimped on quality at all. Popslash is awesome that way!

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

The absolute worst for me are those lolita-esque fics that cast Justin as some sort of hypnotically alluring, underage boy-temptress. I just. Can't. With that. It's a shame, too; some of them are gorgeously written. Eh. *shrugs shoulders in a 'whaddya gonna do'-type gesture*

She's right; that'd be a great theme for a future reccing challenge! Maybe not for the month of March though--I can already tell I'm going to have a ton of spillover from February. :)

[zebraljb.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! Yes, it's a pairing I've written MAYBE twice. It just came to me, the idea of Chris feeling old and worn out, and then Justin appears and makes him feel even OLDER, but more responsible.

Hooker!Justin never lets you down, THAT's for sure.

xo

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! It's remarkably non-icky, for a Timbertrick. :) (Though I'm still shocked you killed off your favorite boy! How could you?!)

[zebraljb.livejournal.com]

I know...I guess for me, back then, since I was so Lambcentric, I was all, "Well, if Lance isn't with Justin, he must be dead," or something.