[Star Wars] my favorite kyp/jaina fics in the universe
So I know this pairing is pretty much dead, and moreover the entire fandom has been experiencing steady attrition since ROTS came out, but I'm going to go ahead and make a monster of a rec post anyway. I was not involved in Star Wars fandom at the time most of these stories were written. Thus, when I went on my Kyp/Jaina kick a few months ago, the thing to do was clearly to spend hours and hours trawling TFN, FFN, and LJ for fics featuring everybody's favorite rogue Jedi Master and trickster Goddess. In fact, the amount of time I have spent compiling this list and associated commentary is downright embarrassing.
NB: Um, my fic preferences are pretty straightforward. I'll give most anything K/J the old college try, I'm a sucker for snark and I live and breathe angst, I don't have anything against dramarama and mush melts my heart. Also I am a grammar nazi. By my best estimation a good third of the stories here are abandoned WIPs, and I haven't marked them specially or anything because yeah, that's just the way this fandom rolls. All usernames are from the TFN fanfiction boards unless otherwise noted.
Here have some abbreviations. (Most of them are common knowledge, but as a history major I've been trained to annotate everything like nobody's business.)
TFN = http://boards.theforce.net
FFN = http://www.fanfiction.net
UST = unresolved sexual tension
PWP = porn without plot; alternatively plot? what plot?
NJO = New Jedi Order but if you're here you probably already knew taht
Why do people ship Kyp and Jaina in the first place?
It's not an accident that Jaina is the most prolifically shipped canon character in the GFFA, in terms of legitimate ships. (I think we can all agree that J/J and J/K and J/Z are not crackships.) But the question is twofold:
(1) What makes the Lucasfilm franchise devote so much screen time to developing Jaina's romantic interests?
(2) What makes SW fans want to write about Jaina and her various romantic pairings?
As far as (1) goes, I haven't got a kriffing clue. But obviously (2) has a lot to do with the fact that fanfiction writers, by and large, are overwhelmingly female, and we tend to live vicariously through our female characters. Jaina is the only girl in the Solo/Skywalker line. Check. We grew up with her (those of us who read YJK). Check. Perhaps most importantly, her romantic future was, for a long time, uncertain - unlike Leia, whom we knew from the get-go was going to end up with Han. My theory is that having all these suitors makes Jaina - and by extension, us, the fanfic writers - feel desirable. Most shippers are Jaina fans first and foremost. I'm not one of them. I freely admit that the main reason I read/write about Jaina is because she is perpetually surrounded by a parade of attractive men. Moreover, I would bet money that there is a sizable contingent of the fandom that feels the same way. Which is not to say Jaina is not a cool character in her own right - merely that having multiple boyfriends doesn't hurt her ratings.
So what draws people to K/J in particular? Some possibilities:
Kyp and Jaina: A fan history
Part I: Interesting Propositions
(Dubrillion and Sernpidal)
As far as I can tell, the dawn of the K/J Age began with the publication of Vector Prime (Salvatore, 2000). Some people saw the potential in their brief interaction at Lando's Folly. These people may or may not have realized she was sixteen. A lot more people claim to have seen the light after the infamous slap in Rebirth (Keyes, 2002). As Dana puts it, "No one converted me except Greg Keyes." Thus the first wave of K/J fics featured a lot of AUs set post-Rebirth, pre-Star-by-Star.
The seminal work of the genre is of course val solo's Getting Over It, in which Kyp and Jaina get over their initial dislike of each other following the Sernpidal worldship fiasco. And that's all it is - dislike. In hindsight, the most distinctive quality of fics from this era is the lack of angst. Val is the master of straight-up romance - there's a reason Getting Over It runs to almost two hundred pages on TFN, and received an obscene number of reviews on FFN. The reason is because her stuff is compulsively readable in an I-just-finished-the-Twilight-saga-in-four-hours-flat kind of way. I swear I didn't breathe until they finally kissed.
SpacedOutAnna's After Genocide is another post-Rebirth classic which unfortunately hasn't received as much exposure because it's never been posted on TFN. I think generally speaking TFN is the better venue for stories involving EU characters, while FFN is better for prequel-era and OC-driven fics. Anyway this one is darker than val's, though I wouldn't exactly classify it as a a "dark" fic per se. I believe it's one of the first to feature a dystopian post-Vong galaxy, which becomes a prevalent trope later on.
Jedi_Jaina_Durron's Resistance holds a lot of sentimental value for me because I followed it religiously on the boards in '02. I think this story's greatest flaw is that it went on for too long - ie. there was more story than there was plot. But you know what? It's completely understandable, because like a can of Pringles, once you pop you can't stop. Ever. It's pure, unadulterated, let's-pretend-we're-fourteen-again escapism, and I guarantee you right now you will lap it right up.
In summary: Before Anakin died and everything went to hell in handbasket, K/J fics were much lighter fare than they are nowadays. Jaina does a lot of storming down the corridors of the Errant Venture. Jacen and Anakin don't have personalities to speak of except to be overprotective of Jaina. But that's okay because we are not aiming to win the Pulitzer here, we just want to relieve the drought of K/J moments in profic.
Note that djcati's Reparation probably belongs in this category even though it was written in 2004, long after the conclusion of the NJO. Likewise, I’m going to stick DantanaSkywalker’s Downfall here because it utilizes the classic “What if she’d kissed him instead of slapped him” premise. If you think about it, the tumult of emotions she was experiencing at the time could have led equally well to a kiss as a slap. Kyp and Jaina have always had a love/hate relationship. The cool thing that Dana does here is to integrate the fallout from Sernpidal with the “What if we’d lost the war” scenario which we first saw in After Genocide. I cannot reiterate enough what a clever and well-conceived AU Dana has produced. While the time travel/alternate reality deal may smack of deus ex machina, it’s actually not, because it shows that Kyp has been given a second chance. Kyp, more than anyone else alive, understands that to be granted a second chance is a rare and precious gift.
Part II: Enter Captain Cardboard
(Hapes)
This is the part where people complain that either (a) Jag is dead or (b) Jag is so wildly out of character as to make a mockery of his personality. Of course, fanfic writers can hardly be blamed for this because before Rebel Dream came out Jag didn't have a personality; and I for one still maintain that Aaron Allston is the only author ever to have endowed him with one.
It's extremely telling that in profic, from Dark Journey on, there is very little Kyp/Jaina interaction that does not include Jag, or mentions of Jag. The fact that fanfic turns this on its head by dubbing Jag the cold, unfeeling Chiss colonel, is a testament to the size and the dedication of the fanbase. It's analogous to what happened with "Draco in Leather Pants" in HP. Nobody seriously believes that Draco Malfoy is a sensitive, tormented soul who may or may not have the hots for Harry; any more than they believe that Jagged Fel's emotions are carved out of a block of Csilla ice. But ain't it fun to pretend?
Jade_Max really goes to town with Captain Cardboard in her deliciously smutty Not Strong Enough to Say No and the sequel, Strong Enough. 90% of the first fic takes place in Kyp's room, where Kyp seduces Jaina. Or maybe she seduces him? I'm having trouble telling the difference, and anyway smut needs no justification. She's engaged to Jag but the physical attraction between Kyp and Jaina is practically palpable. The sequel is not as good, if only because it doesn't have a clear plot arc - ie. Jaina corners Kyp and forces him to admit his feelings; hot sex scene ensues. But Jag is a worthy villain and Jade_Max maintains an unbelievable amount of tension throughout.
Another trope that is related to the Captain Cardboard phenomenon is the launch of the Jag/Tahiri ship, courtesy of JainaDurron. She introduces it for the first time in Depths of the Heart: Pain and the ship reaches its zenith with Just a Kiss, in which there is bonus Tenel Ka/Jacen. (Just a Kiss is, by the way, the definition of guilty pleasure - fulfill all your daily smut quotas, it does.) I say that Jag/Tahiri is related to Captain Cardboard because they are both mechanisms for dealing with Jag once Jaina ends up with Kyp. Granted, they are not the most impressive mechanisms in the world, but the fault lies largely with the profic authors. The raison d'être of Jag Fel’s existence, as far as the EU is concerned, is to provide Jaina with a love interest. So when you take Jaina out of the picture Jag is left at loose ends. In contrast, nobody is ever bothered about what to do with Kyp in a J/J story, are they?
Part III: By the Will of the Goddess
(Borleias)
What's a loyal K/J shipper to do after (a) the conference room kiss and (b) the awkward midnight picnic on the roof of the biotics building? To add insult to injury, Jaina then tells Jacen in Ylesia (Williams, 2002) that she's afraid Kyp is "going sentimental" on her. Um, WTF? There is only one possible response - bring on the AUs, stat.
A Twist of Fate by Abby is exactly what you want as far as fix-it fics go. Instead of Jag sacrificing himself so Twin Suns Squadron can escape the interdiction net, it's Kyp. Naturally, it's Kyp she disobeys orders in order to rescue, and Kyp she kisses afterwards in the conference room. In this version of events the three of them become extremely close. Jag is a valued companion rather than a third wheel, even though I suspect that he is not completely over Jaina yet; however, he keeps his feelings in check like a good little Chiss. The entirety of the fic takes place on Borleias, with an emphasis on the character interactions rather than the space battles. At one point they get drunk and play sabacc in a maintainence closet and are discovered by Piggy. At another point Jag goes to meet Wes Janson in drag. But these points of mirth are actually misleading because just when you think this is a light, humorous fic you come across a tremendously well-written passage, like Jag's ruminations as he's running the preflight checklist on his clawcraft, and it kills you because it's so good and the insights are so real.
Up on the Roof by Jedi_Jaina_Durron is the conversation we all wish they would have had in Rebel Stand. Alas, they had that farce of a picnic instead. Damn profic authors.
Lightning Strikes by SpacedOutAnna is the first in the “Storm” trilogy. To give you an idea of how epic this thing is, it begins with Jaina dumping Jag on Borleias and ends with Kyp and Jaina happily married (with twins), having weathered unexpected pregnancies, adultery, and assorted kidnapping attempts. Anna has fixed a lot of the pacing issues that she had with After Genocide; this story flows much better. I also applaud her for venturing into the difficult terrain of married life. Eventually, of course, lots of people will tackle this subject - Dana and Jilly chief among them. But Anna is definitely a trailblazer and I find her depiction of Kyp and Jaina’s marital bliss (or lack thereof) very believable.
bactaqueen's Changing Course is probably my second-favorite K/J fic ever. It's another one that never made it over to TFN. More's the pity. We follow Kyp and Jaina, now officially master and apprentice, from Hapes to Borleias by way of Eclipse. Speaking of which, how awesome is it that we get to go to Eclipse? I mean, I loved watching Wedge, Tycho, Lando, et al fly circles around the Vong, but Jaina and her posse just sort of show up on Borleias with no backstory. The other awesome thing about this fic is Lowie. Omg I love you Lowie. I was starting to feel that Lowie's role in the NJO was to contribute to the diversity quotient, like how the Power Rangers had the token black kid. But this story completely rehabilitates Lowie. After the trauma of Hapes, of course Jaina would want someone who loves her unconditionally without the emotional baggage that accompanies her other relationships. Her parents love her, as do her aunt and uncle, but the thing is their love is laden with expectations and Jaina doesn't need that right now. She needs someone who will accept her the way she is, no questions asked. And Lowie can give her that. (Though I notice she still hasn't told him about how she made Kyp wipe his memory back on Hapes.)
Now, on to the K/J part. I think this is the first honest-to-god "dark" fic I'm reviewing. Not "dark" as in they break out the Force lightning, either. A lot of fics have tended to stress the romantic angle at the expense of the grim die-another-day aspect of their relationship. What bactaqueen gets, better than anyone else, is that the grimness is part of Kyp and Jaina's romance. In a galaxy at peace, where Anakin's death didn't drive Jaina over to the Dark Side, Kyp and Jaina would almost certainly never have become as close as they are. So it's inaccurate to say that they fall in love. Rather, they need each other in order to save each other and the love comes afterward.
This fic is literally flawless. The descriptions are vivid without being clunky, the banter is to die for, the plot moves along at a nice clip, Han and Leia are in-character as concerned but still amused parents, and the emotion ... Jesus, the emotion is pitch-perfect. As an added bonus, bactaqueen is absolutely wizard with SW technology. Woman deserves mad props.
I should also mention that bactaqueen has written two adult K/J fics set on Borleias (I hesitate to call them PWP because the caliber of her writing is such that it would be a travesty to shelve it with the porn), The Master Beneath Me and From the Ashes, which, while they do not pack the same punch as Changing Course because they are shorter in length, do give us a much-needed glimpse into the circumstances leading up to Kyp and Jaina's first time. This duology follows canon insofar as Jag blows up the interdictor and the conference room kiss still happens. After that Jaina goes to Kyp's room, finds him on the brink of expiring from exhaustion, pushes him into a healing trance and has sex with him. Um, not necessarily in that order. The thing that stands out to me is that Kyp gives her all of himself, physically and emotionally, even though he knows she has feelings for Jag, feelings which she is either unable or unwilling to relinquish. He is such a glutton for punishment. I've rarely seen J/J/K done so well.
Part IV: Partners, Whatever That Means
(Just Kiss the Girl Already)
Because "guy and girl are friends; there is UST; guy and girl get together" is always relevant to my interests.
In MiaTieska's It's Just Pretend, the super-skeevy son of a visiting dignitary is stalking Jaina, so she makes Kyp pretend to be her boyfriend. Unfortunately this fic was abandoned before Jaina and Kyp actually got together, but it's still oodles of fun. At one point Leia and Jaina blunder into the men’s locker room ... where Han is changing.
Thrawn McEwok is the master of innuendo and double entendres. In Having Fun, he proves to us why space battles are just as erotic as graphic sex. They behave in the cockpit the same way I imagine they would behave in the bedroom: Aggressively, with a take-no-prisoners attitude. As a man writing from Kyp's perspective, Ewok brings something unique to the table (and I'm not talking about his encyclopedic knowledge of ships and technology). Rather, it's like Elaine Cunningham's Jaina in Dark Journey - up to that point I hadn't even noticed that every single book in the NJO had been written by a male author. I'm not saying that just because fanfic is dominated by female writers, that none of us can write Kyp properly. Quite the contrary. However, men probably tend to focus on different aspects of the relationship than women do.
Ewok strikes gold again with Mrs. Fel ... We're needed!, in which Jaina is married to an absent Jag and Kyp and Jaina are undercover agents. (Yes, seriously.)
val solo returns with her trademark irresistible prose in Absolutely Necessary, in which right off the bat Jaina shoots Kyp and kidnaps him. She hauls him onto her ship and tricks him into getting married on … Dathomir? Oh wait just kidding Cloud City. (I’ve been reading The Courtship of Jagged Fel and now I’m all confused.) We learn that about a year ago Jaina finally figured out that she was in love with Kyp, so she returned to Coruscant to take up a position on the Council. Not the least of her motives was to make Kyp hers. Unfortunately the situation is complicated by the presence of a hussy who’s already got her claws into Kyp and is not letting go without a fight. Kyp himself acts like a bigger blockhead than usual. I wanted to slap him for not realizing that Jaina was crazy about him, the eejit. Anyway the whole fic was addictive from start to finish, which, since this is val, is par for the course.
Trepidation brings back the old-school master/apprentice dynamic we're all nostalgic for in More Than a Suncrusher & More Than a Crush. This is a snarkalicious all-dialogue fic with Kyp and Jaina rocking their respective repertoires of witty repartee. One of the strengths of this kind of setup, which Abby points out in the thread, is that all the background stuff - political developments in the galaxy at large, for instance - are glossed over. I mean, there are occasional references, but the focus is on Kyp and Jaina. There are some serious issues in their relationship (and I mean “relationship” here in a platonic sense) that the two of them are very, very good at avoiding. So it’s worth reading for what they don’t say as much as what they do. This may be a big burden to lay on a small fic, but I really think the story explores some of the factors that make Kyp and Jaina such an unbeatable team … as well as the reasons it would have been incredibly difficult for them romantically.
I Can Wait Forever by Alian_Invader is a light, feel-good romp through Kyp and Jaina's courtship on an unnamed military base, where Jaina is torn between her desire to be a fighter pilot and her desire to do Jedi things. When she does decide to leave the military and it's revealed that her military-issue X-wing won't be coming with her, Kyp tries to buy it by trading in his own X-wing. (Actually, he tries to win it from Tycho in sabacc first, but it's an adorable gesture regardless.) There is fighting and making up and being found in compromising positions and KYP IS A BEAST, what else is new.
If you’re looking for good old-fashioned K/J mush, look no further than Jade_Max’s Almost Perfection, which was written as a Valentine's Day Challenge. Kyp cooks Jaina dinner to help her get over her recent break-up with Jag. Culminates in a marriage proposal. There are tons of fics where Jaina asks Kyp to marry her, but this was the first one I ever read and it's still my favorite.
Doofus Chickenbuns by DantanaSkywalker is another Valentine's Day Challenge. I practically fell off my chair laughing at the exchange of emails between Jaina, Jag and Kyp in the beginning. Kyp takes Jaina out to dinner, where an overenthusiastic hostess stirs up a hornet's nest of misunderstandings. Then the two of them are snowbound together in a cabin, which sounds corny but the way it unfolds is so natural - he notices that she has painted her nails for him, when she doesn’t usually take much care with her appearance. All together now: Awwwww.
If I Told You I Was Drunk by BurningTyger is made of so much awesome that I'm more or less rendered incoherent by the volume of awesomesauce in this story. I mean, raise your hand if you want to hear Wes Janson run through his repertoire of pilot- and Jedi-themed pickup lines, y/y? Basically, Wes and Hobbie think the Jedi Master is ~depressed and decide to stage an intervention (namely, drag him to a bar and get him piss drunk). By the time Jaina shows up, the three of them are well on their way to unconsciousness. In conclusion: I need more Wes/Hobbie slash in my life.
The Force Is Powered by Ewoks by Xellos is exactly what it says on the tin: Midichlorians are a waste of space and Lieutenant Kettch is set to join the Jedi Council. Jacen is excellent in this fic (this is coming from a lifelong Jacen-basher, not gonna lie here). It's a gentle caricature that ribs Jacen for his philosophical bent while at the same time showcasing Kyp and Jaina's maturity - or, you know, lack thereof. Okay so it's a crackfic if I've ever seen one, and the K/J is implied rather than explicit, but this seeing Kyp and Jaina plotting to endanger Jacen's sanity makes me a happything.
Part V: Right Here Waiting For You
(in which there is much angst and character death)
Either she’s dead, or he’s dead, or she’s rebounding from losing Jag - meaning, either they broke up or Jag died. Or one or both of Kyp and Jaina is married to somebody else. Not much latitude for mush here, but these kinds of scenarios are ideal for character studies. Plus, there are the ones where she’s suffering from the GFFA equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder, and he rescues her. Or the ones that are set an unspecified number of years after the Yuuzhan Vong war, and they run into each other and are super awkward. Being a self-confessed angst monger extraordinaire, I am in heaven here.
They get married and have babies and then she dies. Of a brain tumor. Long Time Passing by DarthIshtar may not be the earliest example of this trope, but it is probably the most successful of the bunch (read: mass-market appeal to non K/Jers). And the prose is just gorgeously wrought. My only minor quibble would be that you see only the tenderness between them - where is the hard edge born of pain and loss and war? - but who am I kidding, I cried. Stang but I wish Ish would write more K/J.
She goes batshit insane! Ack. In Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Smuggler_Shidakis, Kyp’s visits to the mental asylum are interspersed with scenes from their past together. For some reason the one where she proudly informs him it’s her birthday tomorrow really got to me. She tells him it’s Jacen’s birthday, too, almost as an afterthought. And he says Oh, so you’re twenty-five already. And she giggles and calls him silly because of course she’s only three. Anyway the fic ends with him taking her home from the asylum because he wants to tend to her himself.
He’s executed after Carida for crimes against humanity. :'( A Week From Tomorrow by Smuggler_Shidakis will tear your heart out and trample all over it, no lie. It’s not strictly K/J since Jaina is all of two years old in it, but its inclusion here is justified because the sequel, Twenty Years Ago, is a Jaina vignette wherein she reflects on what might have been had Kyp lived. So, on each of the eight days leading up to the execution, Han visits Kyp in his cell. Kyp tells him to stop coming but Han doesn’t listen. Kyp tells him for Chrissakes not to bring the twins to visit so naturally Han brings the twins anyway. Kyp promises Jaina to attend her birthday party, which is the day after his execution. She is devastated when he doesn’t show. Obviously, having read Shine On You Crazy Diamond, her expectant mood prior to the party just about broke my heart.
Here’s one where everybody dies: After the War by SaberBlade. I don’t have anything to say about this except that when I grow up, I want to write like Saber. The End.
After the war, she's a jaded squadron commander who goes through lovers like most people go through shampoo. Her newest mark, Kyp, appears to be next on her list of discarded playthings. Insatiable by Amidala_Skywalker contains (a) a really good makeout scene (b) really good build-up to said makeout scene and (c) really incisive observations about how people deal with past relationships and fighting in a war and being galactic heroes and just general ennui. Yeah, she's still not over Jag yet. She also does her damndest to avoid waking up next to Kyp in the morning, for reasons probably having to do with Fear of Commitment.
Now for the ones where Kyppie drags her back from the brink of … something:
Wyn Fel dies during a scuffle with some Darksiders in And the Snow Fell in Coveted Silence by Jedi-Princess-Solo. Jag blames Jaina for not saving his sister’s life; Kyp tries to talk her out of drowning in guilt; at the end there is the barest hint of something more between them and it’s snowing and the whole thing is tragically, gutwrenchingly beautiful.
My silence is my self-defense by juneau features Lieutenant Colonel Jaina Solo obsessively writing letters to the next-of-kin of her deceased subordinates. She hasn’t slept properly in days. One night she shows up at Kyp’s door holding out a piece of flimsy on which she has begun a letter to her parents, informing them of her own death. After some debate I have decided this is my favorite fic in the hurt/comfort genre, because it raises issues central to both Kyp and Jaina’s characters: What does it mean to be a solider? How do you come to terms with not being able to save those under your command - people who trusted you? Is it possible to survive the pain without cutting yourself off from all attachment? Kyp's unrequited love bleeds through, as does his abject willingness to be whatever Jaina needs, regardless of the emotional toll on himself. Juneau has never written anything else that I know of (EDIT: she's recently posted this little ficlet!) but this is one hell of a way to make a debut.
My other go-to story in the hurt/comfort category has got to be Wait by stickster. I will save most of what I have to say about stickster for later, but this story brought home to me the lengths to which Kyp will go for his girl. I just wish Jaina would have seen it sooner and avoided this whole mess, but that’s the point isn’t it, that the two of them can’t find each other until after they’ve torn each other apart. That’s K/J in a nutshell.
More H/C stories:
From What I've Seen by DantanaSkywalker. Jaina is either temporarily or permanently disabled, and Kyp moves in to take care of her. This is at once a very smart thought experiment about what would have happened if she'd never recovered her sight back in Balance Point, and a very satisfying piece of fluff/wish fulfillment (because honestly, I know we're not supposed to but how many times have we felt validated as a human being by someone else's love?).
Darkness by SaberBlade. Kyp's blind. Jaina takes care of him. SaberBlade takes a formula as old as dirt - "X and Y form a bond based on X's needing Y's emotional/physical/economic support; X wonders if Y would still care about him if X no longer needed her; major angst ensues; also people are silly and incapable of admitting they have feelings for each other" - and proceeds to write the bejeezus out of it. This whole post could easily have ended up as me reccing SaberBlade's entire oeuvre, but I will try to exercise some self-restraint. (You should still go and read all her stuff though.)
Now for the ones where it’s years later and they’re perfect strangers, or close to it:
Walk a Mile by InyriForge. Inyri is a staunch J/J shipper who wrote a K/J vig as an experiment, and it obviously succeeded spectacularly. She really captures the essence of K/J - they are perpetually feeling for the boundaries of their partnership, they are at once uncommonly comfortable with each other and uncertain about where they stand.
The Best Part of a Lifetime by Thrawn McEwok: Jaina is in her forties, which means Kyp is pushing sixty. They meet by chance one day in the Senate building. It’s extremely strange, but my hat goes off to Ewok for daring to attempt such a brave concept.
Fleeing Carida by Jedi_Jaina_Durron is a gem of a ficlet that works on so many levels, as a character study, as a compare-and-contrast of what drove Jaina and Kyp to their separate funks, as a vig jam-packed with UST, as a prologue to the Dark Nest trilogy. The last line is like a punch to the gut.
Part VI: Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies
(in which there is much Sithly behavior)
Fallen From Grace by Jedi-Princess-Solo. Epic AU is epic. What if, back on Hapes, Jaina fell all the way? She was balanced on the knife's edge at that point, and whenever I think about her post-Myrkr I imagine her spinning like Cobb's top. Does she keep on spinning forever, or does she eventually topple over? If you look away, you'll never know. So, this story. Man, the sheer number of close readings of Dark Journey that must have gone into researching this story, I cannot even. It takes a while to get going, but the payoff is huge. Eventually, both Jaina and Kyp turn into utter, irredeemable bastards (which, not surprisingly, it what happens when you go over to the Dark Side). But the way they get there, the way Jaina manipulates Kyp emotionally and psychologically - it's agonizing and irresistible and bizarrely titillating at the same time.
Cry by Trickster-Jaina-Fel is a Palpatine-era AU in which Kyp and Jaina initially meet as resistance fighters, Force-sensitive trying to fly under the regime's radar. When Jaina develops a rare, life-threatening medical condition, everything changes. Kyp agrees to become the Emperor's apprentice in exchange for putting the Empire's best medical care at his wife's disposal. Their marriage falls apart. It's aptly titled, because by the end of this I had to break out my tissue box. The thing to understand about this fic is that it's not really about the characterization (Palpatine is more villain than man, more stereotype than character), it's the style of the writing and the raw pain of the words. It's a funeral dirge for happily-never-after.
Like the Deserts Miss the Rain by DantanaSkywalker. So, Luke's dead, Mara's Empress of the Galaxy, Leia's leading the Jedi Order from a wheelchair, Jacen disappeared (was kidnapped?) as a baby, and our tour of epic darksider AUs continues apace. As part of a strategic political negotiation to tip the balance between Rebels and Empire, Jedi Jaina Solo essentially agrees to sell her body to The Free Agent With a Sun Crusher, a.k.a. The Sith Lord Formerly Known As Kyp. This story is ... surprisingly not crack. Reasons to read this story: (1) DID I MENTION THERE WAS EMPRESS!MARA (2) KYP IS SEXY AS HALE AND FREQUENTLY SHIRTLESS. IF YOUR IMAGINATION IS NOT UP TO SNUFF THERE IS FANART TO SUPPLEMENT IT.
Weakness by SaberBlade. Dark!Kyp comes back to wipe out the Order. Jaina delays him for the few crucial minutes it takes everyone (kids, grownups, droids, whisperkits) to evacuate. They are each other's weakness.
Dark Legacy by ImperialSolo. Omfg this story. I'm going to be honest here, I had no kriffing idea what was going on in this story the first time I read it, and I still don't. Read it and it will blow your mind, though beware that it contains potentially triggering material. Relevant highlights include: The Empire winning the War (um, which war?); Commander Jacen Skywalker engaging in some light BDSM with his trusted subordinate, Lieutenant Veila; Anakin Solo attempting to be a Big Damn Hero; Kyp shamelessly hitting on Jaina/generally acting very sketchy and saying lewd things around Jaina in the pilot's lounge. There is a lot of kinky sex. A LOT of kinky sex. Non-con and rape, even. If watching The Secretary squicked you out then this is probably not the fic for you. On the other hand, if you appreciated The Secretary for what it had to say about identity politics and psychology, you'll certainly appreciate all the long-winded thinky thoughts that readers left in the thread about this fic. I have rarely seen people expend this much effort to understand/dissect/criticize/disagree with a fanfic. Also, what are the writers of this fic smoking and where can I obtain some?
Worth Saving by Zonoma. Yeah so I dunno how this fic won "Best Romance" in 2005, because whatever it is, it's not a romance. I would not, however, have objected if it had swept all the other categories, because it is honestly just that good. Zekk and Jaina have left the nest but they're still Joiners (and continue to finish each other's sentences and use the royal "we"). Luke has a brilliant plan to fix this. It involves having Jacen casually suggest to Kyp that he sleep with Jaina and/or form a Force-bond with her. Kyp is, naturally, furious. When the time comes, though, and he's hurtling through hyperspace with an unconscious Jaina - rendered catatonic from the violent severance of her bond with Zekk - he's left with little choice. It's fuck or die so to speak. It's not the most elegant prose ever but the emotional impact of what Kyp does, of all of the characters' decisions, is rendered in such vivid strokes that you just want to curl up into a ball on the bed and wrap your arms around yourself. The fic is explicitly unromantic in the way that it handles the issue of consent (which is worse - violation of the mind or the body?). Then there is their despair, the scars they bear from the war, and Kyp's (unspoken, unrequited) feelings for Jaina to consider. I think this is the best characterizations of Kyp Durron that I have ever seen, bar none.
Part VII: The Golden Age
Roughly in the period between 2004 and 2006, some people seriously talented girls wrote some fics that hit it out of the park. This is my own personal canon, the K/J stories that I come back to again and again when I'm feeling shitty or when I'm feeling perky or when I just don't feel like doing the things that I probably should be doing (like research papers or taxes or laundry).
Miracle by SaberBlade is quite possibly my favorite fanfic in any fandom, period. Jaina wakes up two weeks before her wedding having lost her memories of the last ten years. She's a sixteen-year-old in a twenty-six-year-old's body, and she has to rediscover who she is as well as why she fell in love with Kyp. There are certain passages in this that I ... lord, I just go back and reread them and cry. Apparently I am all about understated, slow-paced stories where there are neither epic battles nor epic love stories, and Kyp and Jaina are adorable and domestic and Christ in heaven, this fic hurts so bad. Because they're in love, they are, but it's a very minimalist approach to storytelling. Jacen is also excellent in this. (Another Jacen endorsement! What is the world coming to? I am Team Anakin all the way.) And SaberBlade's sly humor kills me dead every time.
Changes by SaberBlade. Things you should know: (1) Jaina has inherited Han's belief that doing routine maintenance on ships is better than therapy (2) Ben and Jysella are BFFs (3) Jaina and Kyp are BFFs ... with benefits (4) Ben thinks people getting married is lame and must be prevented at all costs (5) Admiral Jagged Fel is Ben's hero (5) Admiral Fel has proposed to Jaina three times, and (6) Kyp Durron proposes to Jaina at least once a day. Also, BEN SKYWALKER IS MADE OF AWESOME. Right, so if you haven't figure out yet that SaberBlade writes the socks off of everybody ever, you should get on that.
When the Tide Comes by DantanaSkywalker. In which Jaina goes from Kyp's apprentice - and surrogate maternal figure to his delightful sprite of a three-year-old daughter - to his partner in every sense of the word. This fic, omg. I just want to draw hearts all around this fic, basically. It's warm and fuzzy and funny and nobody does first-time Kyp/Jaina like Dana does. Not like, first-time sex; I mean that dawning realization that you love someone, that you care for them, that you would saw off your own arm to see them smile again. Plus, in this AUverse Carida never happened, so Zeth is still alive. This is important because Zeth Durron is ten different kinds of amazing and frequently meddles in his brother's love life.
Five First Kisses by stickster is a series of drabbles about five kisses that never happened - four of which are morbidly, devastatingly tragic, and the final one of which makes up for everything. Absolutely everything. I'm telling you, this is the kiss that will bring balance to the Force, cure cancer, and bring peace to the Middle East. K/J shippers, get thee to an open tab and read it now.
Who We Are Instead by Jedi_Jaina_Durron may be best ensemble cast piece I've ever read. The premise is that a team of young Jedi Knights are investigating an irregularity in the Unknown Regions. It's a post-NJO AU so no darkling!Jacen. In fact Jacen is pretty kickass in this fic. There are hints of Jacen/Tahiri action and Valin falls head over heels for Wyn Fel. Also, Jag shows up and he has a personality. It's not the ships that make this fic, though - it's the exquisite characterization. The complicated relationship between Kyp and Jaina and their adopted family (Valin is to all intents and purposes their adopted son) is brilliantly and lovingly portrayed. The chapters are chock full of quotes from Faulkner, Tennyson, Dickinson, Sting (!), and Mike Stackpole (?!) among others. There are a lot of OCs but I did not find them boring or overwhelming - in fact, the OCs were kickass in their own right and came with fascinating backstories. Because one of my absolute bulletproof kinks - other than "Jacen and Tahiri act Sithly and have hatesex" - is "last scion of deposed dynasty lives under assumed name, is down on his/her luck, meets merry band of outlaws, is accepted into new family."
Whoah I have been working on this post since March, trufax. Please let me know if you have any other awesome recs, or I messed up a link or something!
NB: Um, my fic preferences are pretty straightforward. I'll give most anything K/J the old college try, I'm a sucker for snark and I live and breathe angst, I don't have anything against dramarama and mush melts my heart. Also I am a grammar nazi. By my best estimation a good third of the stories here are abandoned WIPs, and I haven't marked them specially or anything because yeah, that's just the way this fandom rolls. All usernames are from the TFN fanfiction boards unless otherwise noted.
Here have some abbreviations. (Most of them are common knowledge, but as a history major I've been trained to annotate everything like nobody's business.)
TFN = http://boards.theforce.net
FFN = http://www.fanfiction.net
UST = unresolved sexual tension
PWP = porn without plot; alternatively plot? what plot?
NJO = New Jedi Order but if you're here you probably already knew taht
Why do people ship Kyp and Jaina in the first place?
It's not an accident that Jaina is the most prolifically shipped canon character in the GFFA, in terms of legitimate ships. (I think we can all agree that J/J and J/K and J/Z are not crackships.) But the question is twofold:
(1) What makes the Lucasfilm franchise devote so much screen time to developing Jaina's romantic interests?
(2) What makes SW fans want to write about Jaina and her various romantic pairings?
As far as (1) goes, I haven't got a kriffing clue. But obviously (2) has a lot to do with the fact that fanfiction writers, by and large, are overwhelmingly female, and we tend to live vicariously through our female characters. Jaina is the only girl in the Solo/Skywalker line. Check. We grew up with her (those of us who read YJK). Check. Perhaps most importantly, her romantic future was, for a long time, uncertain - unlike Leia, whom we knew from the get-go was going to end up with Han. My theory is that having all these suitors makes Jaina - and by extension, us, the fanfic writers - feel desirable. Most shippers are Jaina fans first and foremost. I'm not one of them. I freely admit that the main reason I read/write about Jaina is because she is perpetually surrounded by a parade of attractive men. Moreover, I would bet money that there is a sizable contingent of the fandom that feels the same way. Which is not to say Jaina is not a cool character in her own right - merely that having multiple boyfriends doesn't hurt her ratings.
So what draws people to K/J in particular? Some possibilities:
- The banter! The snark! When done right, it evokes shades of Han/Leia. Kyp and Jaina have the same teasing relationship but there's more of an edge to it. After all, when was the last time Leia went to the Dark Side? (Well there was that one AU ...)
- The sexual tension. As Inara puts it: "I'm not a Jaina shipper of any kind ... but I've always thought that there was more chemistry between her and Kyp on one page than with Jag or Zekk ever." Which is overstating it, I think, because there is most assuredly chemistry with both Jag and Zekk. But the kind of sexual tension we're talking about is especially potent because for various reasons (the age gap, the master/apprentice stint) one or both of them is suppressing it.
- A partiality for mentor/protege May-December romances. Seriously. We're talking about Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester. We're talking about Jo March and Fritz Bhaer, Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley. Even though none of these men bear any resemblance to Kyp, the point is that women writers have been setting up their heroines with a much older, mentor figure for three hundred years at least. Plus, the fact that master/apprentice relationships are not kosher, and Kyp agonizes over whether he's taking advantage of her, is highly conducive to angst. Huzzah angst!
- The comfort level. They've known each other for ages. If I had a decicred for every fic where there's a holo of young!Kyp and the Solo twins circa four years old ... um, I would probably play high-stakes sabacc against Lando with my winnings, but that's neither here nor there. Of course Jaina and Zekk go way back too, but there is something to be said for dating a guy who's known you since you were in diapers.
Kyp and Jaina: A fan history
Part I: Interesting Propositions
(Dubrillion and Sernpidal)
As far as I can tell, the dawn of the K/J Age began with the publication of Vector Prime (Salvatore, 2000). Some people saw the potential in their brief interaction at Lando's Folly. These people may or may not have realized she was sixteen. A lot more people claim to have seen the light after the infamous slap in Rebirth (Keyes, 2002). As Dana puts it, "No one converted me except Greg Keyes." Thus the first wave of K/J fics featured a lot of AUs set post-Rebirth, pre-Star-by-Star.
The seminal work of the genre is of course val solo's Getting Over It, in which Kyp and Jaina get over their initial dislike of each other following the Sernpidal worldship fiasco. And that's all it is - dislike. In hindsight, the most distinctive quality of fics from this era is the lack of angst. Val is the master of straight-up romance - there's a reason Getting Over It runs to almost two hundred pages on TFN, and received an obscene number of reviews on FFN. The reason is because her stuff is compulsively readable in an I-just-finished-the-Twilight-saga-in-four-hours-flat kind of way. I swear I didn't breathe until they finally kissed.
SpacedOutAnna's After Genocide is another post-Rebirth classic which unfortunately hasn't received as much exposure because it's never been posted on TFN. I think generally speaking TFN is the better venue for stories involving EU characters, while FFN is better for prequel-era and OC-driven fics. Anyway this one is darker than val's, though I wouldn't exactly classify it as a a "dark" fic per se. I believe it's one of the first to feature a dystopian post-Vong galaxy, which becomes a prevalent trope later on.
Jedi_Jaina_Durron's Resistance holds a lot of sentimental value for me because I followed it religiously on the boards in '02. I think this story's greatest flaw is that it went on for too long - ie. there was more story than there was plot. But you know what? It's completely understandable, because like a can of Pringles, once you pop you can't stop. Ever. It's pure, unadulterated, let's-pretend-we're-fourteen-again escapism, and I guarantee you right now you will lap it right up.
In summary: Before Anakin died and everything went to hell in handbasket, K/J fics were much lighter fare than they are nowadays. Jaina does a lot of storming down the corridors of the Errant Venture. Jacen and Anakin don't have personalities to speak of except to be overprotective of Jaina. But that's okay because we are not aiming to win the Pulitzer here, we just want to relieve the drought of K/J moments in profic.
Note that djcati's Reparation probably belongs in this category even though it was written in 2004, long after the conclusion of the NJO. Likewise, I’m going to stick DantanaSkywalker’s Downfall here because it utilizes the classic “What if she’d kissed him instead of slapped him” premise. If you think about it, the tumult of emotions she was experiencing at the time could have led equally well to a kiss as a slap. Kyp and Jaina have always had a love/hate relationship. The cool thing that Dana does here is to integrate the fallout from Sernpidal with the “What if we’d lost the war” scenario which we first saw in After Genocide. I cannot reiterate enough what a clever and well-conceived AU Dana has produced. While the time travel/alternate reality deal may smack of deus ex machina, it’s actually not, because it shows that Kyp has been given a second chance. Kyp, more than anyone else alive, understands that to be granted a second chance is a rare and precious gift.
Part II: Enter Captain Cardboard
(Hapes)
This is the part where people complain that either (a) Jag is dead or (b) Jag is so wildly out of character as to make a mockery of his personality. Of course, fanfic writers can hardly be blamed for this because before Rebel Dream came out Jag didn't have a personality; and I for one still maintain that Aaron Allston is the only author ever to have endowed him with one.
It's extremely telling that in profic, from Dark Journey on, there is very little Kyp/Jaina interaction that does not include Jag, or mentions of Jag. The fact that fanfic turns this on its head by dubbing Jag the cold, unfeeling Chiss colonel, is a testament to the size and the dedication of the fanbase. It's analogous to what happened with "Draco in Leather Pants" in HP. Nobody seriously believes that Draco Malfoy is a sensitive, tormented soul who may or may not have the hots for Harry; any more than they believe that Jagged Fel's emotions are carved out of a block of Csilla ice. But ain't it fun to pretend?
Jade_Max really goes to town with Captain Cardboard in her deliciously smutty Not Strong Enough to Say No and the sequel, Strong Enough. 90% of the first fic takes place in Kyp's room, where Kyp seduces Jaina. Or maybe she seduces him? I'm having trouble telling the difference, and anyway smut needs no justification. She's engaged to Jag but the physical attraction between Kyp and Jaina is practically palpable. The sequel is not as good, if only because it doesn't have a clear plot arc - ie. Jaina corners Kyp and forces him to admit his feelings; hot sex scene ensues. But Jag is a worthy villain and Jade_Max maintains an unbelievable amount of tension throughout.
Another trope that is related to the Captain Cardboard phenomenon is the launch of the Jag/Tahiri ship, courtesy of JainaDurron. She introduces it for the first time in Depths of the Heart: Pain and the ship reaches its zenith with Just a Kiss, in which there is bonus Tenel Ka/Jacen. (Just a Kiss is, by the way, the definition of guilty pleasure - fulfill all your daily smut quotas, it does.) I say that Jag/Tahiri is related to Captain Cardboard because they are both mechanisms for dealing with Jag once Jaina ends up with Kyp. Granted, they are not the most impressive mechanisms in the world, but the fault lies largely with the profic authors. The raison d'être of Jag Fel’s existence, as far as the EU is concerned, is to provide Jaina with a love interest. So when you take Jaina out of the picture Jag is left at loose ends. In contrast, nobody is ever bothered about what to do with Kyp in a J/J story, are they?
Part III: By the Will of the Goddess
(Borleias)
What's a loyal K/J shipper to do after (a) the conference room kiss and (b) the awkward midnight picnic on the roof of the biotics building? To add insult to injury, Jaina then tells Jacen in Ylesia (Williams, 2002) that she's afraid Kyp is "going sentimental" on her. Um, WTF? There is only one possible response - bring on the AUs, stat.
A Twist of Fate by Abby is exactly what you want as far as fix-it fics go. Instead of Jag sacrificing himself so Twin Suns Squadron can escape the interdiction net, it's Kyp. Naturally, it's Kyp she disobeys orders in order to rescue, and Kyp she kisses afterwards in the conference room. In this version of events the three of them become extremely close. Jag is a valued companion rather than a third wheel, even though I suspect that he is not completely over Jaina yet; however, he keeps his feelings in check like a good little Chiss. The entirety of the fic takes place on Borleias, with an emphasis on the character interactions rather than the space battles. At one point they get drunk and play sabacc in a maintainence closet and are discovered by Piggy. At another point Jag goes to meet Wes Janson in drag. But these points of mirth are actually misleading because just when you think this is a light, humorous fic you come across a tremendously well-written passage, like Jag's ruminations as he's running the preflight checklist on his clawcraft, and it kills you because it's so good and the insights are so real.
Up on the Roof by Jedi_Jaina_Durron is the conversation we all wish they would have had in Rebel Stand. Alas, they had that farce of a picnic instead. Damn profic authors.
Lightning Strikes by SpacedOutAnna is the first in the “Storm” trilogy. To give you an idea of how epic this thing is, it begins with Jaina dumping Jag on Borleias and ends with Kyp and Jaina happily married (with twins), having weathered unexpected pregnancies, adultery, and assorted kidnapping attempts. Anna has fixed a lot of the pacing issues that she had with After Genocide; this story flows much better. I also applaud her for venturing into the difficult terrain of married life. Eventually, of course, lots of people will tackle this subject - Dana and Jilly chief among them. But Anna is definitely a trailblazer and I find her depiction of Kyp and Jaina’s marital bliss (or lack thereof) very believable.
bactaqueen's Changing Course is probably my second-favorite K/J fic ever. It's another one that never made it over to TFN. More's the pity. We follow Kyp and Jaina, now officially master and apprentice, from Hapes to Borleias by way of Eclipse. Speaking of which, how awesome is it that we get to go to Eclipse? I mean, I loved watching Wedge, Tycho, Lando, et al fly circles around the Vong, but Jaina and her posse just sort of show up on Borleias with no backstory. The other awesome thing about this fic is Lowie. Omg I love you Lowie. I was starting to feel that Lowie's role in the NJO was to contribute to the diversity quotient, like how the Power Rangers had the token black kid. But this story completely rehabilitates Lowie. After the trauma of Hapes, of course Jaina would want someone who loves her unconditionally without the emotional baggage that accompanies her other relationships. Her parents love her, as do her aunt and uncle, but the thing is their love is laden with expectations and Jaina doesn't need that right now. She needs someone who will accept her the way she is, no questions asked. And Lowie can give her that. (Though I notice she still hasn't told him about how she made Kyp wipe his memory back on Hapes.)
Now, on to the K/J part. I think this is the first honest-to-god "dark" fic I'm reviewing. Not "dark" as in they break out the Force lightning, either. A lot of fics have tended to stress the romantic angle at the expense of the grim die-another-day aspect of their relationship. What bactaqueen gets, better than anyone else, is that the grimness is part of Kyp and Jaina's romance. In a galaxy at peace, where Anakin's death didn't drive Jaina over to the Dark Side, Kyp and Jaina would almost certainly never have become as close as they are. So it's inaccurate to say that they fall in love. Rather, they need each other in order to save each other and the love comes afterward.
This fic is literally flawless. The descriptions are vivid without being clunky, the banter is to die for, the plot moves along at a nice clip, Han and Leia are in-character as concerned but still amused parents, and the emotion ... Jesus, the emotion is pitch-perfect. As an added bonus, bactaqueen is absolutely wizard with SW technology. Woman deserves mad props.
I should also mention that bactaqueen has written two adult K/J fics set on Borleias (I hesitate to call them PWP because the caliber of her writing is such that it would be a travesty to shelve it with the porn), The Master Beneath Me and From the Ashes, which, while they do not pack the same punch as Changing Course because they are shorter in length, do give us a much-needed glimpse into the circumstances leading up to Kyp and Jaina's first time. This duology follows canon insofar as Jag blows up the interdictor and the conference room kiss still happens. After that Jaina goes to Kyp's room, finds him on the brink of expiring from exhaustion, pushes him into a healing trance and has sex with him. Um, not necessarily in that order. The thing that stands out to me is that Kyp gives her all of himself, physically and emotionally, even though he knows she has feelings for Jag, feelings which she is either unable or unwilling to relinquish. He is such a glutton for punishment. I've rarely seen J/J/K done so well.
Part IV: Partners, Whatever That Means
(Just Kiss the Girl Already)
Because "guy and girl are friends; there is UST; guy and girl get together" is always relevant to my interests.
In MiaTieska's It's Just Pretend, the super-skeevy son of a visiting dignitary is stalking Jaina, so she makes Kyp pretend to be her boyfriend. Unfortunately this fic was abandoned before Jaina and Kyp actually got together, but it's still oodles of fun. At one point Leia and Jaina blunder into the men’s locker room ... where Han is changing.
Thrawn McEwok is the master of innuendo and double entendres. In Having Fun, he proves to us why space battles are just as erotic as graphic sex. They behave in the cockpit the same way I imagine they would behave in the bedroom: Aggressively, with a take-no-prisoners attitude. As a man writing from Kyp's perspective, Ewok brings something unique to the table (and I'm not talking about his encyclopedic knowledge of ships and technology). Rather, it's like Elaine Cunningham's Jaina in Dark Journey - up to that point I hadn't even noticed that every single book in the NJO had been written by a male author. I'm not saying that just because fanfic is dominated by female writers, that none of us can write Kyp properly. Quite the contrary. However, men probably tend to focus on different aspects of the relationship than women do.
Ewok strikes gold again with Mrs. Fel ... We're needed!, in which Jaina is married to an absent Jag and Kyp and Jaina are undercover agents. (Yes, seriously.)
val solo returns with her trademark irresistible prose in Absolutely Necessary, in which right off the bat Jaina shoots Kyp and kidnaps him. She hauls him onto her ship and tricks him into getting married on … Dathomir? Oh wait just kidding Cloud City. (I’ve been reading The Courtship of Jagged Fel and now I’m all confused.) We learn that about a year ago Jaina finally figured out that she was in love with Kyp, so she returned to Coruscant to take up a position on the Council. Not the least of her motives was to make Kyp hers. Unfortunately the situation is complicated by the presence of a hussy who’s already got her claws into Kyp and is not letting go without a fight. Kyp himself acts like a bigger blockhead than usual. I wanted to slap him for not realizing that Jaina was crazy about him, the eejit. Anyway the whole fic was addictive from start to finish, which, since this is val, is par for the course.
Trepidation brings back the old-school master/apprentice dynamic we're all nostalgic for in More Than a Suncrusher & More Than a Crush. This is a snarkalicious all-dialogue fic with Kyp and Jaina rocking their respective repertoires of witty repartee. One of the strengths of this kind of setup, which Abby points out in the thread, is that all the background stuff - political developments in the galaxy at large, for instance - are glossed over. I mean, there are occasional references, but the focus is on Kyp and Jaina. There are some serious issues in their relationship (and I mean “relationship” here in a platonic sense) that the two of them are very, very good at avoiding. So it’s worth reading for what they don’t say as much as what they do. This may be a big burden to lay on a small fic, but I really think the story explores some of the factors that make Kyp and Jaina such an unbeatable team … as well as the reasons it would have been incredibly difficult for them romantically.
I Can Wait Forever by Alian_Invader is a light, feel-good romp through Kyp and Jaina's courtship on an unnamed military base, where Jaina is torn between her desire to be a fighter pilot and her desire to do Jedi things. When she does decide to leave the military and it's revealed that her military-issue X-wing won't be coming with her, Kyp tries to buy it by trading in his own X-wing. (Actually, he tries to win it from Tycho in sabacc first, but it's an adorable gesture regardless.) There is fighting and making up and being found in compromising positions and KYP IS A BEAST, what else is new.
If you’re looking for good old-fashioned K/J mush, look no further than Jade_Max’s Almost Perfection, which was written as a Valentine's Day Challenge. Kyp cooks Jaina dinner to help her get over her recent break-up with Jag. Culminates in a marriage proposal. There are tons of fics where Jaina asks Kyp to marry her, but this was the first one I ever read and it's still my favorite.
Doofus Chickenbuns by DantanaSkywalker is another Valentine's Day Challenge. I practically fell off my chair laughing at the exchange of emails between Jaina, Jag and Kyp in the beginning. Kyp takes Jaina out to dinner, where an overenthusiastic hostess stirs up a hornet's nest of misunderstandings. Then the two of them are snowbound together in a cabin, which sounds corny but the way it unfolds is so natural - he notices that she has painted her nails for him, when she doesn’t usually take much care with her appearance. All together now: Awwwww.
If I Told You I Was Drunk by BurningTyger is made of so much awesome that I'm more or less rendered incoherent by the volume of awesomesauce in this story. I mean, raise your hand if you want to hear Wes Janson run through his repertoire of pilot- and Jedi-themed pickup lines, y/y? Basically, Wes and Hobbie think the Jedi Master is ~depressed and decide to stage an intervention (namely, drag him to a bar and get him piss drunk). By the time Jaina shows up, the three of them are well on their way to unconsciousness. In conclusion: I need more Wes/Hobbie slash in my life.
The Force Is Powered by Ewoks by Xellos is exactly what it says on the tin: Midichlorians are a waste of space and Lieutenant Kettch is set to join the Jedi Council. Jacen is excellent in this fic (this is coming from a lifelong Jacen-basher, not gonna lie here). It's a gentle caricature that ribs Jacen for his philosophical bent while at the same time showcasing Kyp and Jaina's maturity - or, you know, lack thereof. Okay so it's a crackfic if I've ever seen one, and the K/J is implied rather than explicit, but this seeing Kyp and Jaina plotting to endanger Jacen's sanity makes me a happything.
Part V: Right Here Waiting For You
(in which there is much angst and character death)
Either she’s dead, or he’s dead, or she’s rebounding from losing Jag - meaning, either they broke up or Jag died. Or one or both of Kyp and Jaina is married to somebody else. Not much latitude for mush here, but these kinds of scenarios are ideal for character studies. Plus, there are the ones where she’s suffering from the GFFA equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder, and he rescues her. Or the ones that are set an unspecified number of years after the Yuuzhan Vong war, and they run into each other and are super awkward. Being a self-confessed angst monger extraordinaire, I am in heaven here.
They get married and have babies and then she dies. Of a brain tumor. Long Time Passing by DarthIshtar may not be the earliest example of this trope, but it is probably the most successful of the bunch (read: mass-market appeal to non K/Jers). And the prose is just gorgeously wrought. My only minor quibble would be that you see only the tenderness between them - where is the hard edge born of pain and loss and war? - but who am I kidding, I cried. Stang but I wish Ish would write more K/J.
She goes batshit insane! Ack. In Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Smuggler_Shidakis, Kyp’s visits to the mental asylum are interspersed with scenes from their past together. For some reason the one where she proudly informs him it’s her birthday tomorrow really got to me. She tells him it’s Jacen’s birthday, too, almost as an afterthought. And he says Oh, so you’re twenty-five already. And she giggles and calls him silly because of course she’s only three. Anyway the fic ends with him taking her home from the asylum because he wants to tend to her himself.
He’s executed after Carida for crimes against humanity. :'( A Week From Tomorrow by Smuggler_Shidakis will tear your heart out and trample all over it, no lie. It’s not strictly K/J since Jaina is all of two years old in it, but its inclusion here is justified because the sequel, Twenty Years Ago, is a Jaina vignette wherein she reflects on what might have been had Kyp lived. So, on each of the eight days leading up to the execution, Han visits Kyp in his cell. Kyp tells him to stop coming but Han doesn’t listen. Kyp tells him for Chrissakes not to bring the twins to visit so naturally Han brings the twins anyway. Kyp promises Jaina to attend her birthday party, which is the day after his execution. She is devastated when he doesn’t show. Obviously, having read Shine On You Crazy Diamond, her expectant mood prior to the party just about broke my heart.
Here’s one where everybody dies: After the War by SaberBlade. I don’t have anything to say about this except that when I grow up, I want to write like Saber. The End.
After the war, she's a jaded squadron commander who goes through lovers like most people go through shampoo. Her newest mark, Kyp, appears to be next on her list of discarded playthings. Insatiable by Amidala_Skywalker contains (a) a really good makeout scene (b) really good build-up to said makeout scene and (c) really incisive observations about how people deal with past relationships and fighting in a war and being galactic heroes and just general ennui. Yeah, she's still not over Jag yet. She also does her damndest to avoid waking up next to Kyp in the morning, for reasons probably having to do with Fear of Commitment.
Now for the ones where Kyppie drags her back from the brink of … something:
Wyn Fel dies during a scuffle with some Darksiders in And the Snow Fell in Coveted Silence by Jedi-Princess-Solo. Jag blames Jaina for not saving his sister’s life; Kyp tries to talk her out of drowning in guilt; at the end there is the barest hint of something more between them and it’s snowing and the whole thing is tragically, gutwrenchingly beautiful.
My silence is my self-defense by juneau features Lieutenant Colonel Jaina Solo obsessively writing letters to the next-of-kin of her deceased subordinates. She hasn’t slept properly in days. One night she shows up at Kyp’s door holding out a piece of flimsy on which she has begun a letter to her parents, informing them of her own death. After some debate I have decided this is my favorite fic in the hurt/comfort genre, because it raises issues central to both Kyp and Jaina’s characters: What does it mean to be a solider? How do you come to terms with not being able to save those under your command - people who trusted you? Is it possible to survive the pain without cutting yourself off from all attachment? Kyp's unrequited love bleeds through, as does his abject willingness to be whatever Jaina needs, regardless of the emotional toll on himself. Juneau has never written anything else that I know of (EDIT: she's recently posted this little ficlet!) but this is one hell of a way to make a debut.
My other go-to story in the hurt/comfort category has got to be Wait by stickster. I will save most of what I have to say about stickster for later, but this story brought home to me the lengths to which Kyp will go for his girl. I just wish Jaina would have seen it sooner and avoided this whole mess, but that’s the point isn’t it, that the two of them can’t find each other until after they’ve torn each other apart. That’s K/J in a nutshell.
More H/C stories:
From What I've Seen by DantanaSkywalker. Jaina is either temporarily or permanently disabled, and Kyp moves in to take care of her. This is at once a very smart thought experiment about what would have happened if she'd never recovered her sight back in Balance Point, and a very satisfying piece of fluff/wish fulfillment (because honestly, I know we're not supposed to but how many times have we felt validated as a human being by someone else's love?).
Darkness by SaberBlade. Kyp's blind. Jaina takes care of him. SaberBlade takes a formula as old as dirt - "X and Y form a bond based on X's needing Y's emotional/physical/economic support; X wonders if Y would still care about him if X no longer needed her; major angst ensues; also people are silly and incapable of admitting they have feelings for each other" - and proceeds to write the bejeezus out of it. This whole post could easily have ended up as me reccing SaberBlade's entire oeuvre, but I will try to exercise some self-restraint. (You should still go and read all her stuff though.)
Now for the ones where it’s years later and they’re perfect strangers, or close to it:
Walk a Mile by InyriForge. Inyri is a staunch J/J shipper who wrote a K/J vig as an experiment, and it obviously succeeded spectacularly. She really captures the essence of K/J - they are perpetually feeling for the boundaries of their partnership, they are at once uncommonly comfortable with each other and uncertain about where they stand.
The Best Part of a Lifetime by Thrawn McEwok: Jaina is in her forties, which means Kyp is pushing sixty. They meet by chance one day in the Senate building. It’s extremely strange, but my hat goes off to Ewok for daring to attempt such a brave concept.
Fleeing Carida by Jedi_Jaina_Durron is a gem of a ficlet that works on so many levels, as a character study, as a compare-and-contrast of what drove Jaina and Kyp to their separate funks, as a vig jam-packed with UST, as a prologue to the Dark Nest trilogy. The last line is like a punch to the gut.
Part VI: Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies
(in which there is much Sithly behavior)
Fallen From Grace by Jedi-Princess-Solo. Epic AU is epic. What if, back on Hapes, Jaina fell all the way? She was balanced on the knife's edge at that point, and whenever I think about her post-Myrkr I imagine her spinning like Cobb's top. Does she keep on spinning forever, or does she eventually topple over? If you look away, you'll never know. So, this story. Man, the sheer number of close readings of Dark Journey that must have gone into researching this story, I cannot even. It takes a while to get going, but the payoff is huge. Eventually, both Jaina and Kyp turn into utter, irredeemable bastards (which, not surprisingly, it what happens when you go over to the Dark Side). But the way they get there, the way Jaina manipulates Kyp emotionally and psychologically - it's agonizing and irresistible and bizarrely titillating at the same time.
Cry by Trickster-Jaina-Fel is a Palpatine-era AU in which Kyp and Jaina initially meet as resistance fighters, Force-sensitive trying to fly under the regime's radar. When Jaina develops a rare, life-threatening medical condition, everything changes. Kyp agrees to become the Emperor's apprentice in exchange for putting the Empire's best medical care at his wife's disposal. Their marriage falls apart. It's aptly titled, because by the end of this I had to break out my tissue box. The thing to understand about this fic is that it's not really about the characterization (Palpatine is more villain than man, more stereotype than character), it's the style of the writing and the raw pain of the words. It's a funeral dirge for happily-never-after.
Like the Deserts Miss the Rain by DantanaSkywalker. So, Luke's dead, Mara's Empress of the Galaxy, Leia's leading the Jedi Order from a wheelchair, Jacen disappeared (was kidnapped?) as a baby, and our tour of epic darksider AUs continues apace. As part of a strategic political negotiation to tip the balance between Rebels and Empire, Jedi Jaina Solo essentially agrees to sell her body to The Free Agent With a Sun Crusher, a.k.a. The Sith Lord Formerly Known As Kyp. This story is ... surprisingly not crack. Reasons to read this story: (1) DID I MENTION THERE WAS EMPRESS!MARA (2) KYP IS SEXY AS HALE AND FREQUENTLY SHIRTLESS. IF YOUR IMAGINATION IS NOT UP TO SNUFF THERE IS FANART TO SUPPLEMENT IT.
Weakness by SaberBlade. Dark!Kyp comes back to wipe out the Order. Jaina delays him for the few crucial minutes it takes everyone (kids, grownups, droids, whisperkits) to evacuate. They are each other's weakness.
Dark Legacy by ImperialSolo. Omfg this story. I'm going to be honest here, I had no kriffing idea what was going on in this story the first time I read it, and I still don't. Read it and it will blow your mind, though beware that it contains potentially triggering material. Relevant highlights include: The Empire winning the War (um, which war?); Commander Jacen Skywalker engaging in some light BDSM with his trusted subordinate, Lieutenant Veila; Anakin Solo attempting to be a Big Damn Hero; Kyp shamelessly hitting on Jaina/generally acting very sketchy and saying lewd things around Jaina in the pilot's lounge. There is a lot of kinky sex. A LOT of kinky sex. Non-con and rape, even. If watching The Secretary squicked you out then this is probably not the fic for you. On the other hand, if you appreciated The Secretary for what it had to say about identity politics and psychology, you'll certainly appreciate all the long-winded thinky thoughts that readers left in the thread about this fic. I have rarely seen people expend this much effort to understand/dissect/criticize/disagree with a fanfic. Also, what are the writers of this fic smoking and where can I obtain some?
Worth Saving by Zonoma. Yeah so I dunno how this fic won "Best Romance" in 2005, because whatever it is, it's not a romance. I would not, however, have objected if it had swept all the other categories, because it is honestly just that good. Zekk and Jaina have left the nest but they're still Joiners (and continue to finish each other's sentences and use the royal "we"). Luke has a brilliant plan to fix this. It involves having Jacen casually suggest to Kyp that he sleep with Jaina and/or form a Force-bond with her. Kyp is, naturally, furious. When the time comes, though, and he's hurtling through hyperspace with an unconscious Jaina - rendered catatonic from the violent severance of her bond with Zekk - he's left with little choice. It's fuck or die so to speak. It's not the most elegant prose ever but the emotional impact of what Kyp does, of all of the characters' decisions, is rendered in such vivid strokes that you just want to curl up into a ball on the bed and wrap your arms around yourself. The fic is explicitly unromantic in the way that it handles the issue of consent (which is worse - violation of the mind or the body?). Then there is their despair, the scars they bear from the war, and Kyp's (unspoken, unrequited) feelings for Jaina to consider. I think this is the best characterizations of Kyp Durron that I have ever seen, bar none.
Part VII: The Golden Age
Roughly in the period between 2004 and 2006, some people seriously talented girls wrote some fics that hit it out of the park. This is my own personal canon, the K/J stories that I come back to again and again when I'm feeling shitty or when I'm feeling perky or when I just don't feel like doing the things that I probably should be doing (like research papers or taxes or laundry).
Miracle by SaberBlade is quite possibly my favorite fanfic in any fandom, period. Jaina wakes up two weeks before her wedding having lost her memories of the last ten years. She's a sixteen-year-old in a twenty-six-year-old's body, and she has to rediscover who she is as well as why she fell in love with Kyp. There are certain passages in this that I ... lord, I just go back and reread them and cry. Apparently I am all about understated, slow-paced stories where there are neither epic battles nor epic love stories, and Kyp and Jaina are adorable and domestic and Christ in heaven, this fic hurts so bad. Because they're in love, they are, but it's a very minimalist approach to storytelling. Jacen is also excellent in this. (Another Jacen endorsement! What is the world coming to? I am Team Anakin all the way.) And SaberBlade's sly humor kills me dead every time.
Changes by SaberBlade. Things you should know: (1) Jaina has inherited Han's belief that doing routine maintenance on ships is better than therapy (2) Ben and Jysella are BFFs (3) Jaina and Kyp are BFFs ... with benefits (4) Ben thinks people getting married is lame and must be prevented at all costs (5) Admiral Jagged Fel is Ben's hero (5) Admiral Fel has proposed to Jaina three times, and (6) Kyp Durron proposes to Jaina at least once a day. Also, BEN SKYWALKER IS MADE OF AWESOME. Right, so if you haven't figure out yet that SaberBlade writes the socks off of everybody ever, you should get on that.
When the Tide Comes by DantanaSkywalker. In which Jaina goes from Kyp's apprentice - and surrogate maternal figure to his delightful sprite of a three-year-old daughter - to his partner in every sense of the word. This fic, omg. I just want to draw hearts all around this fic, basically. It's warm and fuzzy and funny and nobody does first-time Kyp/Jaina like Dana does. Not like, first-time sex; I mean that dawning realization that you love someone, that you care for them, that you would saw off your own arm to see them smile again. Plus, in this AUverse Carida never happened, so Zeth is still alive. This is important because Zeth Durron is ten different kinds of amazing and frequently meddles in his brother's love life.
Five First Kisses by stickster is a series of drabbles about five kisses that never happened - four of which are morbidly, devastatingly tragic, and the final one of which makes up for everything. Absolutely everything. I'm telling you, this is the kiss that will bring balance to the Force, cure cancer, and bring peace to the Middle East. K/J shippers, get thee to an open tab and read it now.
Who We Are Instead by Jedi_Jaina_Durron may be best ensemble cast piece I've ever read. The premise is that a team of young Jedi Knights are investigating an irregularity in the Unknown Regions. It's a post-NJO AU so no darkling!Jacen. In fact Jacen is pretty kickass in this fic. There are hints of Jacen/Tahiri action and Valin falls head over heels for Wyn Fel. Also, Jag shows up and he has a personality. It's not the ships that make this fic, though - it's the exquisite characterization. The complicated relationship between Kyp and Jaina and their adopted family (Valin is to all intents and purposes their adopted son) is brilliantly and lovingly portrayed. The chapters are chock full of quotes from Faulkner, Tennyson, Dickinson, Sting (!), and Mike Stackpole (?!) among others. There are a lot of OCs but I did not find them boring or overwhelming - in fact, the OCs were kickass in their own right and came with fascinating backstories. Because one of my absolute bulletproof kinks - other than "Jacen and Tahiri act Sithly and have hatesex" - is "last scion of deposed dynasty lives under assumed name, is down on his/her luck, meets merry band of outlaws, is accepted into new family."
Whoah I have been working on this post since March, trufax. Please let me know if you have any other awesome recs, or I messed up a link or something!