Justin Month, Day Twenty

[aruan]

Gotta love the boy for appreciating the goodness that is overly sugared breakfast cereal.

Little Heaven by Genee Li

He's so fucking tired, though, and he doesn't feel very much like himself, more like a series of separate selves, and he thinks he should be able to do something about that but he can't. He's just flipping channels at home one night, hoping for sleep, and suddenly there's Lance, laughing on the Letterman show, and Justin's eyes blur and his throat closes and his cell phone starts ringing and he can't do anything besides turn everything off and call his momma.

I have a very soft spot for Lambs fic where Justin is the one ass-over-teakettle in love with Lance.

Comments

[velena.livejournal.com]

I hate pop music and I hate NSYNC, but I was weirdly intrigued by that little snippet, so I read the story...

0_o

Popslash. Where have you been all my life? I can't decide if I love it or if I hate it. But it was good.

Oh, and I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Mairead. Hello.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Hello, I'm Jules. I'm also surprised you didn't skip over this entry when you saw it (assumably) on Jenn's friendslist, given the cirumstances. However, I'm glad you stopped by and liked what you read.

Unrelatedly, I like QaF, too, but was never compelled to read fic. *shrug*

Popslash, however, is amazing. I discovered it about a year and a half ago and haven't strayed since. The authors are brilliant, and liking the music has nothing to do with appreciating these boys and their dynamic.

Some authors, if you were considering reading more:

Tiffany Rawlins
Sandy Keene
Synchronik
Cherry
Rhys (down at the moment)
Amber and Betty Plotnick (down right now)
Jae

If you wanted background or just to see how little of this stuff we make up, canalbaby keeps an excellent chronology, linked in her memories.

Not that you asked. ;)

[velena.livejournal.com]

I'm stalling instead of writing my paper, so I'm basically reading everyone's friendslist, regardless of the content. :-D

There's an odd kind of boarding-school atmosphere, camraderie from proximity, that I sensed in that fic I read. Would you say that's accurate? It begets a very interesting dynamic.

Thanks for all the links! Since I have another paper to write tomorrow, I will certainly be checking those out.

[geneli4.livejournal.com]

hi, mairead, i'm genee, and i'm thrilled you read this and didn't run away screaming, because wow! your first popslash! that's huge! thank you!

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

See, it didn't even really start with camaraderie by proximity: it's not common knowledge that these boys found each other - they weren't put together like the Backstreet Boys or O-Town (neither of whom have the same kind of rapport.) JC and Justin were on MMC together. Justin and Chris knew each other from the Orlando audition circuit. Chris and Joey worked together at Universal Studios. Joey and JC were good friends from practically the day the latter arrived in town. Lance and Justin shared a vocal coach.

It seems I'm on a roll with this excess of unsolicited information. Onward:

Point of all that was they knew each other before they were *NSYNC and geniunely like each other above and beyond their unique circumstances and close quarters. They're sweet, smart, funny, savvy boys partial to constantly hanging all over each other like monkeys. The people in this fandom are not only fans of the group or the music, but also of the boys themselves.

Do check out those links. Of course, all the rest of Genee's stuff as well.

I don't know if you're into AUs, but no list of recs feels complete without this story. The author is no longer in the fandom, but people have begun to rearchive her stuff here and there. Anyhow, I love it something crazy, and the boys are infinitely recognizable as themselves, plus the twist.

Easy Come, Easy Go by Helen

[velena.livejournal.com]

JC and Justin were on MMC together. Justin and Chris knew each other from the Orlando audition circuit. Chris and Joey worked together at Universal Studios. Joey and JC were good friends from practically the day the latter arrived in town. Lance and Justin shared a vocal coach.


It is very interesting how they've known each other for so long. I guess that's what I sort of meant by 'camraderie by proximity.' If you don't know someone and you end up in a small space with him for a long period of time, things generally get tense. But it doesn't seem like that with them. They have a kind of shorthand with one another that's really charming.

I officially solicit all information. :-D

I finally finished my paper, so now I'm going to screw around and do nothing for a while as a reward. Even though I have a ton of other homework... *flinches as her history book growls*

Seriously, thanks for all the recs. Sorting through archives and stuff is a huge hassle. I will definitely be checking that one out.

[velena.livejournal.com]

I'm so shocked I liked it. Go you for making me not all squicky. Did RPS ever weird you out? Is it something one grows out of? I think I might get into this whole popslash thing. It's very interesting...

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Since the responsibility avoidance isn't a localized pastime tonight, thought I'd chime in on this as well...

I started out a little weirded, too, but figured that the way people thought of it was to separate the boys as real people and their personas as members of *NSYNC. That and one of the very first things I read was a massive AU, the Sandys' Too Many People Out of Love, which is yet another degree of separation. The thing about good popslash is the amazing degree of compassion the authors have for the boys - they're not just names and faces bandied about for purposes of just any whim of a "plot."

That they're real is uniquely delightful because of the (mostly) unscripted canon they provide. That they're real makes them more accessible in a lot of ways, and the more realistic the writing the less like we're bending them to our will and more like we're extrapolating on what's there - there's an authenticity that's not creepy (which in my mind translates to slanderous assumption) at all.

[velena.livejournal.com]

I started out a little weirded, too, but figured that the way people thought of it was to separate the boys as real people and their personas as members of *NSYNC.

That does make sense. Plus, if there's hot boysex, I'm pretty sure I'll get over my inhibitions without much trouble.

Also, your X-Files mood theme makes me remenisce.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

The mood theme is courtesy of anniesj and yeah, same here. First fandom. Fond, fond memories. I still read exclusively het back then. Oh how times change. *g*

[velena.livejournal.com]

Ah, het fic. How vintage.

Actually, I still read XF fics occasionally, I can only read het fic. I have a hard time envisioning any of the characters in a slash situation, except perhaps Krycek and Spender. Same with The West Wing. All het there.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

MSR for-evah! *g* I was on the mailing list from its beginnings to the end - it's practically in my blood. I still reread Iolokus and a few other favorites, just like I'll still go back to Jenn's Smallville stuff on the odd mood strike because yo, no one should go too long without Sleep While I Drive and Handful of Dust.

[velena.livejournal.com]

Do you have good XF recs? I was never very involved in the fandom, since I hadn't quite figured out how it all worked yet (I was so young and foolish), so I got all frustrated trying to find good fic.

X-Files put the U in UST, which is something we sorely miss around the QaF fandom. We are more like Constantly Requited ST.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I haven't dabbled in XF since sixth season. I don't even know if the Gossamer Archives are still up. And I didn't have the common sense to save anything more than a link of good fics back then, links long ago lost to the ether of a new computer.

Constantly Requited ST

*lol* Yes, QaF does lack some magic in that respect. X-Files really was a rollercoaster from week-to-week, waiting to see what tiny gesture we could read a whole world of meaning into that may or may not even be there. Popslash footage is a lot of the same, too, actually. But instead of stringing us along with writing, these boys just seem to occasionally forget that there's a camera on them.