Waiting out the Machine

[sunsetfog]

title: Waiting out the Machine
pairing/characters: Madison Bumgarner/Buster Posey
word count: 3300
rating: PG-13 (language)
notes: AU-ish (neither player is married) Madison Bumgarner and his temperament fascinate me. I wanted to explore what it must have been like for the two months that he and Buster Posey were playing together in the minors, before

Comments

[lastcatastrophe]

God damn, it's babybattery!fic!

I liked Posey's thing about the atom, and the way he exudes patience and intent. I'm also glad someone put up Bumgarner slash before I did, so there's, like, a damning precedent if I ever finish this fic. And I like the little details: the bits about Fresno and its endless living pantry, and all of Madison's thoughts about luck and skill and how it's supposed to be.

[sunsetfog]

Thanks! I had really wanted to pair Posey up with someone for weeks, but no one seemed quite right until Bumgarner's start in Atlanta and then it all just clicked. Plus, I read an interview with Buster's mom in which she mentioned how he studied for calculus while on a high school (I think?) baseball trip to Taiwan, and figured there was probably a nerd hiding down in there. Anyway, I just wrote this last night and no one else had read it, so I'm glad it wasn't a totally cracky idea.

oh and also.

[sunsetfog]

I feel a little conflicted/dirty writing about pairings where BOTH are younger than me, but damn, if it hasn't gotten to the point where 3/5 of the rotation is younger than me (if only by a few months.) Jeez, did we lose our team of aging veterans, did I get old, or both?? (Answer: Yes.)

Re: oh and also.

[lastcatastrophe]

Definitely "yes". I came to terms with being a little pedo for Timmy back in his second season when he looked all of 15. After that, the rest of them were pretty easy. ;)

[2theletter]

I adore this. I really liked the explication; it set the scenes wonderfully without rushing over details or feeling too slow. Very, very good work.

[sunsetfog]

Thanks! I have to admit that after I wrote it I was afraid it was too heavy on non-dialogue, which is something that I sometimes forget to include until it's really necessary. Definitely a weak point for me. But I love your stuff, so this is a great compliment. Glad you liked it.

I want to write more featuring this pairing at some point. Need to brainstorm on some other good Giants pairings, really. Can totally see your Huff/Burrell, and Zito/Lincecum is done a lot, but who else needs some love? Cain, FrSanchez, Torres...Ross, after this series, but I really don't want to write that one. o.O

[onigaminanashi]

This was awesome! I am always amazed at how other people see Fresno, and usually a little bit shamed that I constantly think it's a cesspit of cow shit and misery.

There was a long time where I didn't like Madison because whenever we would watch him with the Grizzlies, he'd throw a tantrum whenever he didn't get his way and then his pitching would fall apart. This explanation makes SO much more sense than anything ESPN could have told me, besides giving me happy-making pictures in my head of Madison and Buster.

Even out of the fic, though, I absolutely love the explanation that you came up with for Buster to give to Madison about the atoms and the paper and the orange.

[sunsetfog]

Re: Fresno, I have to say, I haven't spent a lot of time there. I'm born & raised in SF and have spent almost my entire life here and in LA, but I think I'm a little more generous than some other urbanites. Bumgarner and Posey are both from small rural towns. I've spent time living in a few towns of <1000 people in the middle of nowhere in CA and NV, and after a few months of that, you get pretty generous with what you'll consider a decent-sized city, so I drew on that experience to write these characters.

Re: MadBum, apparently his sister died of an accidental OD during spring training this year, so I figured he had some issues to work out. And then there was that game where he went for the umpire and got thrown out. That was just after Posey got called up. Coincidence? You decide!

[littlestclouds]

I suck at comments, but I wanted you to know I really dug this. I'm in love with the last three paragraphs especially.

[sunsetfog]

Thanks for the feedback! I enjoyed writing it and I had the ending in mind, but sometimes it takes a while to actually get to those last 3 paragraphs. Also, icon love.

[haimonday]

this was so cute <3 it's heart warming, as dorky as that sounds

[sunsetfog]

Thanks!

My fiction is way sappier than I am in person, what can I say?