Reverberations Index
I started writing Reverberations at the point where it became obvious to me that I couldn't write Homecoming the way I wanted to if I had to base it on canon S5. I didn't know the Justin in canon at all. I had no way of understanding or interpreting that character that left me with someone I could feel much liking or even respect for. And even with Brian (and I am an expert apologist for Brian) didn't emerge with much credit. There were three particular things that I wanted to "rewrite" ...
The first was the syphillis arc and especially Justin's reaction to it. The fact is that while not as sexually active as Brian (who is?), I think we're meant to understand that Justin has his fair share of casual sex, and that he wasn't exactly a poster boy for celibacy while he was out among the beautiful people in LA. So his self-righteous reaction to Brian catching an STD struck me as completely OTT and also fairly OOC. I didn't like that Justin at all - he reminded me way too much of Mikey and Mel - snide, judgemental and hypocritical. (The Rage drawings alone I found really disturbing.)
The second was the whole "competition" arc. We've always known that Brian was going to find it hard to deal with when age started to put an end to his reign as Stud-King of Liberty Avenue. But the whole competition thing was both laughable and insensitive. As if! The Brian I know and understand in that situation would say "fuck you!" and do his best to ignore Brandon's existence completely, not glorify it by getting into some lame-assed openly acknowledged competition with him. I hated this arc with a passion because of how it reduced Brian's very real issues about ageing and how they played into his in many ways fragile self-image to a kind of bad joke. I also hated the fact that Justin didn't seem to have any understanding of, or compassion for, the very real struggles that Brian was going through. He was far too busy pouting over the fact that he wasn't going to be a Daddy any time soon. (Again, as if! how many 21 y.o. guys actually think this way? where did it come from? - there was no sign of it when he headed off to the bright lights of LA and where did it go? - because it vanished as soon as NY called,. Pod!Justin strikes again.) The fact that the parallel story line also reduced Ted to something close to a laughing stock just added fuel to the furnace of my hatred of this arc. Again - if you're going to deal with the issue of how physical beauty/ sex appeal weigh far too heavily in the balance in gay culture then do it with some sensitivity and compassion.
The third, as I've said many times, was the whole proposal scene in Justin's studio. That entire conversation was so OOC for both of them that I had to keep checking to see if it really was Brian and Justin and not some other characters. My thoughts on that scene are fairly well expressed here: 511 Rant.
The problem was, that once I started trying to tweak just those few things, all sorts of other stuff cropped up that had to be dealt with - and before I knew it I had a whole alternate S5 on my hands.
So ... that was the genesis of Reverberations.
And here it is (as always, my fics are for Adults only so by clicking on any of the links you are asserting that you fit that category.
Reverberations #1
Reverberations #2
Reverberations #3
Reverberations #4
Reverberations #5
Reverberations #6
Reverberations #7
Reverberations #8
Reverberations #9
Reverberations #10
Reverberations #11
Reverberations #12
Reverberations #13
Reverberations #14
Reverberations #15
Reverberations #16
Reverberations #17
Reverberations #18
Reverberations #19
Reverberations #20 - part one
Reverberations #20 - part two
.