Man what on earth, out of all the things you've made me read (yes, forced, against my will obviously), this is far and away the most shameful and how much do I not care? All the much. I really didn't read this in a sexy way, I mean, it's sexy in that through Justin's eyes it is, sometimes, but mostly I was just sort of bowled over by how interesting and exacting his voice was. It makes me think about the way that in bandom so many people wrote about panic when they were 16 and 17 and how I don't think I ever really thought about their age, because I guess I was still close enough to it that it didn't seem young, that reading Ryan/Pete was hot instead of "holy fuck inappropriate/age difference issues". Now that I'm a little older and I read something like this I enjoy far more reading the caution and problems and internal debate that goes on here and the warmth and strength of their friendship, the way you write their speech and their relationship, it is so clear how long they have been friends and how safe that friendship is. I love reading something where the author knows their characters really well and has a lot of affection for them even in dubious circumstances. I wish this was real fic and had actual resolution and more exploration of Usher's feelings on the subject, but this alone was a really worthwhile read. In conclusion I am super glad that I don't really have moral standards anymore when it comes to fic, because even though it turns out those moral standards didn't matter with this because it's not just underage porn, it allowed me to click on something that I'm pretty sure should have just made me go "wtf TOO LOW" :p
Oooh, that's a really interesting thought --re: age in this vs. bandom, because I'm also around the age of Panic members. I hadn't thought about that but now I'm chewing on how that might have affected my thinking with this story.
Either way, I totally agree with you about the development of and transitions int heir friendship being the bigger focus. I mean, even though I have no real qualms about reading underage stories, I guess the caveat would be that I'm never just looking for stories about teens boning -- like with any characters, I want to know about how teens navigate a relationship! And I think, you know, the differences between Justin's experiences (or inexperience) and Usher's could be suuuuuuuper compelling, especially because they really, really do seem to have a super strong bond to one another despite being 16 years apart in age.
Also, in order to make this more coherent, I had to cut out all of my tangential ramblings in email about Usher's thoughts, but I am endlessly curious about where his heads is in all this. I keep trying to figure out a way to summarize my thoughts on what Usher's thinking, but it's hard! So. Idk, maybe I'll have to write something from Usher's POV, haha.
Reply
Either way, I totally agree with you about the development of and transitions int heir friendship being the bigger focus. I mean, even though I have no real qualms about reading underage stories, I guess the caveat would be that I'm never just looking for stories about teens boning -- like with any characters, I want to know about how teens navigate a relationship! And I think, you know, the differences between Justin's experiences (or inexperience) and Usher's could be suuuuuuuper compelling, especially because they really, really do seem to have a super strong bond to one another despite being 16 years apart in age.
Also, in order to make this more coherent, I had to cut out all of my tangential ramblings in email about Usher's thoughts, but I am endlessly curious about where his heads is in all this. I keep trying to figure out a way to summarize my thoughts on what Usher's thinking, but it's hard! So. Idk, maybe I'll have to write something from Usher's POV, haha.
Reply
Leave a comment