The Horrible Offense of Men Kissing
Last week, when I was posting the current chapter of my Final Fantasy fic (available at fine internets everywhere), I apparently stumbled on a bit of a controversy. Near the end of the chapter, Zack kissed Cloud. It was an awkward kiss, one that came to a shock to both Cloud and a great many of my readers. There had been a few small hints that Zack
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I don't think you are, but I think I said this before. If I didn't, well, there you go! You made a very good point the first time we talked about it, which is that people usually don't warn for het, and thus warning for slash/yaoi seems not only redundant but pretty insulting. Considering what you have to deal with very often in your own life simply by being true to who you are, it doesn't seem fair that you should suffer this in fandom as well, and frankly, I think that the way you've handled the situation so far as been commendable, and now that I see your point, I wouldn't warn either.
I usually solve this when I list pairings the fic will contain (which I nearly always know ahead of time if I'm planning them), but in your case, listing those pairings would be spoilery, and you don't really know what you pairings are yet anyway. Besides, if it's one thing I've learned in writing the multiparters lately, it's that trying to plan ahead is next to impossible, even if we do have an outline (or notes, like you've mentioned). My point being, we've both gone through some major twists in our stories, and we shouldn't have to base our pairings ahead of time if our plot isn't set in stone, either.
If they have a problem with your story on the simple basis of two men kissing, they probably don't deserve the satisfaction of reading it (let alone the community aspects of fandom in general), and therefore I say good riddance. They're certainly not the type of fans I'd ever want to interact with, because fandom is, in my own experience, the one place I could nearly always depend on to be open-minded about sexuality (if very enthusiastic/creative/bizarre, lol!). If people lose the freedom to be whoever they are without fear of insulting some moron in fandom too, it would be a very sad day indeed.
In other words, I think the girl/guy who said it first is an asshole, and whoever agreed with him/her is also an asshole. You have an awesome story and you should continue to write and warn for it as you please. Mostly because if you stop, I'll catch up, get ahead, and then beat your butt to the finish line. We can't have that, can we? :D *hugs!*
Also, Cloud is totally 100% gay, and should stay that way. Period. Heee!
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I didn't mention that there were also objections based on Zack being "straight in canon". Well, one, he had a romance with a girl during his teenage years. Let me tell you, that's hardly a foolproof sign of heterosexuality. Secondly, it's fanfiction. Mixing things up slightly is what fanfiction does. Maybe it was just Zack they objected to, maybe they'd be more accepting of Cloud being gay. Because he sooooo is :D
Also, me stopping is the only way you're going to be able to catch up now, zooms! Mwahahaahaaaa.
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it's just that my story isn't a gay romance story
That's a good point! I didn't think of that, but you're right, there's really no romance in the fic at all. Which is kind of awesome, because romance is boring. Heeeee... ahem.
I actually think the story could be considered pretty much gen save for that little kiss which inspired this, and even that wasn't about a relationship or anything of the sort so much as a rather sweet, chaste moment between two characters. I think you handled it really well, and because I'm pretty flexible with labels, I'd still consider the story pretty gen afterwords. I also consider it gen even while knowing about the other past pairing that few people seem to have caught on to yet (inside info, ftw! \o/), because it's all very subtle. Point being, warning for these things ahead of time would still be redundant & I still think that someone to getting upset about the kiss (and only the kiss, because they were clearly enjoying the story before that moment) is really foolish.
I also agree about Zack! It's entirely possible he's gay, or bi, ect, and it wouldn't be much of a stretch to write him as such. Besides, he's a) too young to really tell either way, and b) sexuality is hardly the base of a character's personality (unless that character is entirely 1-dimensional, and Zack isn't). If nothing else, there are plenty of fics out there in various fandoms that depict canonically straight characters as gay with relative ease, and do it quite believably. To imply that Zack can't be in a relationship with another male character because of his relationship with Aerith is ridiculous, & like we've both said in the past, it lacks imagination. ^^
That said, I'm also imagining Aerith shaking her fist at lot of them--she'd want the boys to be happy, after all! And it's not like she couldn't find other company if she wanted it. The girl is pure awesome. :D
But I'm babbling again!
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