sakura_no_miko

Title: Life in the Twenty-First Century

Author: aces

Fandom: Leverage

Rating: PG

Pairing: Hardison/Parker/Eliot

Warnings: discussion of homphobia

Other notes: fandom, geekery, polyamory, sexuality exploration

Length: 4k

Summary: Alec Hardison, if pressed, would probably suggest that he subscribes to a post-modern definition of identity.

Ok, ok, here’s the thing: before I was even finished reading the author’s note, I thought, wait, did I write this? Why did I not write this?

Because this fic, here–is exactly what my head sounds like every day. Well, aside from me being female, and a halfbreed Eurasian mutt, rather than a black man. But–fandom me, perhaps? Rather than real life me. This is my brain.

I understand a good 90% of the references–which is pretty amazing. I actually started off in the anime fandom, up until I was in college. By that point Doctor Who had been on air a few years, the Star Trek reboot movie came out, and I was burned out from running my university’s anime club for three years. I suddenly realized, hey, there was a massive amount of good Western media I’d skipped over for years. So, maybe this wasn’t exactly what my teenage years were like, but it definitely covers my early 20s.

(Original Cindy’s ex was Diamond, Diamond! I remember that episode!)

Ah, I remember my first Star Trek fic. Someone told me if they didn’t know better they would have pegged me for ten+ years older and a lifelong fan. One of the sweetest things anyone has commented to me. That’s the sort of compliment that melts me.

But it begs the question–why have I never written this fic? I was the sort of writer who tends to put a lot of myself into my fics, albeit in ways only I recognize. I wrote characters who have depression, who are bisexual and biracial and emotionally confused, because those are all traits that are important to my identity. (And I wrote porn, because…it’s fun.)

Yet I’ve never considered writing someone in a fandom. I never found that aspect of my life interesting to write about–even when so much of my life is consumed by it. Fandom is my escape from normal, boring life, where I am an unaccomplished shopgirl, and the Doctor is not waiting to take me away.

See. Like that. That’s the sort of thing I wouldn’t write. Too meta, I’d think, too obvious a quote.

I usually don’t like stuff that’s too in-your-face meta. Too many fandom jokes, too many wink-wink nod-nods to the audience. And yet this fic just crawled into my heart and made me absurdly happy.

Oh, also it’s got all kinds of queer polyamorous love between thieves of questionable morals, and who can say no to that?

(Looking for more fic recs?)
Originally posted on tumblr on 02/08/15