!important! : thoughts which might save the world

[extemporally]

Yesterday I was talking to nova33 about why she loves Johnny/Evan, and there was this exchange:

unlurkster: yessss. I approve of this.
OH OH
you know what?? I would like for this to be, like, an actually fake war
where they're just-kidding-no-really, and when they meet to hook up they have teasing hatesex that isn't really hatesex, only sometimes the boundaries between what they meant and didn't mean are
nova33: Yes!
OR
unlurkster: kind of blurred to even themselves
nova33: It really is just a weird sort of sexual tension. Like...they don't really like each other - so they're not terribly fond when they actually do get together - but all the shit they say to the press is just an extended form of pigtail-pulling.
So when they see each other it's genuine anger - "You implied I was gay!" "You said I was untalented!" - but it's all sort of a game.
Yes????
unlurkster: oh mannnn yes! it's just a lot of weirdness crackling between them, sexually, and they don't know what they mean and what they don't mean
YES YES YES. let's have a BRAIN TWIN HI-FIVE, c'mon

And right there I guess is the kind of Johnny/Evan dynamic that's my favourite, the codependency and the frustration and the need. I mean, I can buy a whole bunch of different readings of their relationship (and so can Johnny & Evan! look at how spectacularly retconned their rivalry is!), but this I think is the definitive one that punches me in the gut and makes me believe, before I remember that Johnny/Stéphane is my OTP (tin-fucking-hat, you guys). I don't know, I find this the most exciting part of entering a fandom, getting to know who the hell these people are and who you ship and why you ship them ("they're pretty" is still a reason, fyi), and also basically thinking about it a whole bunch and also having really intense conversations about it, um.

So, anyway! Why do you ship what you ship, dudes? COME TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS.

Comments

[the-spin.livejournal.com]

AHHHHH these are my favorite talks, I love this post so much!!! This is kind of a weird fandom for me because I've never really been deeply into RPF before, because I need some kind of narrative framework to hang stuff on to really get into a fandom, I guess? I generally find it really difficult to get character voices from interviews. But then Be Good Johnny Weir totally provides the narrative and there's a lot of canon for certain other skaters, and there are ships that totally work for me, so here I am.

I can do a little Johnny/Evan, pretty much for the reasons mentioned, because their relationship history is so hilarously confusing. But it's not really my dynamic of choice, mostly because what I most want from fic (and from stories in general) isn't these gigantic emotional turn-arounds where people go from hate (or strong dislike) to love, just because that kind of anger makes me uncomfortable in a lot of ways and it's just not something I'm super-interested in. I like it in some situations, particularly in stuff that's really well-written that sells me on it, but it's not what I'm drawn to.

My favorite stuff to read is funny friendship pairings, because I love affection and jokes and I adore subtle relationship confusion, where people aren't quite sure of their feelings, and where the main obstacles in the story are trust and figuring out what the fuck they want from each other. Johnny/Stephane works ridiculously well for me on that front. I like good-natured teasing, and like you mentioned, I love people with years of history. I love people who know each other, and get other because on some level they're very similar, and who maybe fight and tease and banter but do it in a way without underlying malice. I like pairings where the people involved enjoy being together, it's like my crack.

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

HI, I love your comment so much, too!! I remember seeing what you said about Outtakes, that it wasn't so much a figure skating fic as much as it is a BGJW fic, and I support that 100%. Dialogue has always been one of the hardest things to pin down for me, but the fact that the show exists makes things so much better.

I like pairings where the people involved enjoy being together, it's like my crack.

BASICALLY JUST THIS YES. I love the slow burn that Johnny/Stephane can be sometimes, the way they maybe love each other but aren't quite at the stage where they actually recognise it yet, but that's okay, because their friendship is a seriously valuable thing to both of them too. It's, just -- they've known each other for such a long time, but they've been apart for most of it too! So they understand each other, but they don't get to meet very often either, such that when they do it feels like a special occasion.

I like how it can be hard to demarcate between friendship and romance for them, and basically every story I want to tell about the both of them just consists of a whole bunch of well-lit scenes where they're smiling at each other goofily and feeling like they lucked out. *_____________*

You should tell me about allllll the stories you want about the both of them, for I am interested in your brain.

[the-spin.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, I want all the stories? I seriously go through the list of Johnny/Stephane kinkmeme prompts all the time and make sad faces about how much I desperately want to read them and/or write them. I want AUs and friendship fill-in-the-blanks and futurefic and everything, basically. There's one where Johnny finally ends up going to FIT and ends up rooming with Stephane in Manhattan for some reason or another and they slowly and super-awkwardly fall in love and GOD I WANT IT. When I have time I may write it, I want it so badly. I have all these thoughts about Stephane being in New York because he's doing some US pro tours and Evan and a bunch of other skaters will be on it too, and Johnny goes to do a couple of the show dates while he's on break and things are still frosty with Evan, but then Evan is call like 'your weird swiss friend refuses to speak to me, you know' and it turns out Stephane has been giving him the silent treatment on Johnny behalf and they lol and end up taking things out and eventually becoming awkward friends. And there's lots of ice skating in central park, etc. I just want ittttttt.

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD yesssss. All of these, ALL OF THESE. Falling in love in New York!! I also really enjoy the thought of Johnny and Stephane having long distance relationships (yeats and I were talking about this and oh man, oh man *_____________*) and yeah, I think this is why ilthis pairing so MUCH. Slowly and awkwardly! Is always the answer.

(I also enjoy that Evan cameo, because oh my heart! STEPHANE IS SUCH A PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE DRAMA QUEEN and I love it.)

Currently the universe that's eating my brain is the one where Johnny's a translator and Stephane writes children's books. \o/

[the-spin.livejournal.com]

Currently the universe that's eating my brain is the one where Johnny's a translator and Stephane writes children's books.

Please tell me you're actually writing this because &hearts

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

Well I am writing a little bit of it? Mostly it's all in chatfic and it is the MOST RIDICULOUSLY SELF-INDULGENT thing ever and ahhhh, the whole thing just makes me SO HAPPY. SO HAPPY.

Okay I feel really shy about this but hey, if you wanted to know more I could email you. :D?

[the-spin.livejournal.com]

Oh man, send it! I LOVE SELF-INDULGENT THINGS, what else is fanfiction for? Justthe thought of this is bringing me joy, I will literally read everything for this pairing. My email is the_spin@livejournal.com!