Kids Inc | Oneshot: All I Want for Christmas is You
Title: All I Want for Christmas is You
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Season 2
Genre: Friendship, Romance
Rating: T
Word Count: 4,331
Summary: Mickey returns to Brooklyn for a surprise visit with his former bandmates – and Gloria. A holiday sequel to You’re the One That I Want.
Links: DW | FF.net | AO3
This fic was my![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandom_stocking gift for ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gloriafan.
When I sat down to make out myfandom_stocking gift list, pretty near the top of it was GloriaFan. As the only other person writing (sane) KI fic, I wanted to make sure he knew that he was missed ;) Plus, I wanted to take another shot at writing his OTP, and what better way to flex those muscles than by writing something for him?
This idea came to me during the heady rush I had at the end of December. It was the first fic I wrote forfandom_stocking and when I realized how long it was, I despaired. Would I never be able to write something short, sweet, and to the point? ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
janey_p's review giftfic was 5K+. lucida's belatedly overdue giftfic is 26K+ and counting o.O I was ready to finish something, dammit, something I hadn't owed for (literally) years on end!
Luckily, this fic broke the trend, and opened the floodgates of my holiday giftgiving. The idea more or less came to me while I was rereading the original giftfic, which incidentally I wrote for last year'sfandom_stocking :P I liked the idea of writing a sequel that was a play on the words of the original fic's title - and came up with "All I Want for Christmas is You" - which is a modern-day holiday classic song, originally by Mariah Carey:
And the idea of the song was the perfect idea for a sequel story - of Mickey returning to visit his old bandmates and, most especially, Gloria. The resolution of the original fic was rather bittersweet in nature - neither one of them made any potent declarations or promises to each other, but the feelings still lingered....and what if they lingered on long after that final parting?
That's the basic idea of this fic.
The other thing I wanted to explore was the idea of Mickey and Ryan meeting face-to-face. One of the interesting things about KI canon is that band members never meet the people they are replacing. Doesn't matter which season (or production company) it is - one of the tiny pieces of continuity that survived the many turnovers of the cast. I think the Mickey/Ryan dynamic is more interesting and important than the latter series replacements, if only because of who they are. Kids Incorporated was Mickey's band, the band he started - and Ryan became SUCH a juggernaut leader that a lot of people forgot about/didn't realize he hadn't been there from the beginning. Ryan also lasted for four seasons, in a role he arguably started out in, rather than ascending to the position: as the male lead of the series.
The handing over of the baton, so to speak, is alluded to in Ryan's very first episode (and very first solo, in fact), when he's seen reverently holding the jacket that made Mickey stand out as the leader of the group in the S1 episode-ending concerts:
...so basically, if ever there was a spot of canon ripe for the fanon pickings, it's this one, LOL :P
I combined these two disparate storylines into one, killing two birds with one stone. Mickey finally returned to Brooklyn for a visit, albeit only for the day - his mother announces that she's going Christmas shopping in the city, and he seizes the opportunity to tag along. Having his family move for Connecticut is a nod in GloriaFan's direction, as he loves the idea of a BSC/KI crossover. Indeed, this story and the original could fit rather nicely into the world I started building with "Strategy," another giftfic I wrote for him. (What is it with me and giftfics exploding into full-fledged universes? LOL.) Plus, Connecticut is conveniently close to NYC, as ~sophisticated~ Stacey demonstrates over and over again :P
Anyway. The story begins with Mickey contemplating the differences between the way his life was in the city vs how it is now in the 'burbs - how alien some things feel, things his classmates and friends just take for granted. He's adjusting to it, but some part of him still longs for the life he had as a kid. He's all too aware of how strange he feels as he heads for the P*lace - caught between two worlds, not really fitting in to either of them. He's nervous about seeing his friends again, about seeing the band he formed perform without him, and that just adds to his trepidation of seeing Gloria again. It's that moment of confronting a situation that's been building in your head - you don't know how it's going to go, only that it is, and you can't really prepare for it.
I had him enter the P*lace during the performance of one of my very favorite songs from S2 - the Kids' cover of "Change" by John Waites:
This song was chosen on purpose: (1) because it's just not a KI fic without someone breaking into song somewhere :P, (2) the lyrics are especially poignant, given Mickey's situation of leaving and coming back and facing the changes he has not been privy to, as of yet, and (3) it's just a damn fine performance, one of the best concert numbers from the show. (I think the production crew even won some technical awards for it, with the lighting and costumes and such.)
The stage positioning was also important for this particular scene, as the "old" bandmates are off to one side, and Ryan is holding his own on the other side of the stage. I thought it was a nice dichotomy for Mickey to face, in that he could focus on his friends alone before having to confront the person who ultimately replaced him.
He sticks to the shadows at the front of the P*lace, not emerging until most of the crowd has dissipated. Riley is the first person to spot him, and he alerts the others, who immediately flock over to him for their reunion. Again, I wanted to sort of separate the younger kids from Gloria here, in the way he greets them and the attention he pays to them. The "new kid" doesn't even figure into it at all - Mickey only has eyes for Gloria ♥ and of course takes some good-natured ribbing for it, LOL.
They insist that he join them for their Christmas party, which just so happens to be that afternoon, and after a bit of half-hearted protest, he does - and he enjoys himself. He meets Ryan and walks away unimpressed by him. He thinks his replacement is strange, but he's also a little jealous of just how seamlessly Ryan has slid into the group. It has to be weird, and I can see where that might impede a friendship between two otherwise mostly-friendly guys who have some things in common.
That matters less to Mickey than assessing the time he's had to spend with Gloria, where all of those old ambiguously-requited feelings come rushing back to him. He's fairly convinced that Gloria is feeling all those same things, too, so when she mentions she has something to say to him, he thinks (and hopes) that he knows what she's going to say.
Unfortunately for him, it's not what he wants to hear :-/ She basically tells him the plot of S2 Ep 3 "The Wallflower," when she develops a crush on a guy in her class named Brad, who's too shy to ask her to the school dance because she's such an amazing dancer and he's intimidated by that. It's implied that Brad gets over his insecurity by the end of the episode, and that's what I've alluded to here - that she's pursuing something with him.
She feels conflicted, and doesn't want to hurt Mickey's feelings, but she can tell by the way he's been acting towards her that she has to, because she's not the sort of girl to lead him on and string him along with any sort of flirtation. It's a bittersweet moment - the bittersweet ending that I wanted for the original fic, in fact, though I softened the blow here (as I did in the first one) with a kiss.
Just because Gloria has decided to see her relationship with Brad through doesn't mean that she's lost whatever feelings she has for Mickey, and (to his credit) he's mature enough to understand that. The course of true love never did run smooth, after all. And what's brewing between them is strong enough to end up with them kissing, in spite of everything, which hints at a powerful attraction - the sort of magnetic attraction that defines an OTP, at least in my world :P
It was a lot of fun to jump back into this universe (and this fandom), and I found myself starting to miss Stacy in Bloom, with all of its innocence and nostalgia ♥ I'll get back there eventually ~ I want to see Fleeting through first, since I'm much closer to the ending there than I am with SiB.
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Season 2
Genre: Friendship, Romance
Rating: T
Word Count: 4,331
Summary: Mickey returns to Brooklyn for a surprise visit with his former bandmates – and Gloria. A holiday sequel to You’re the One That I Want.
Links: DW | FF.net | AO3
This fic was my
fandom_stocking gift for gloriafan.When I sat down to make out my
fandom_stocking gift list, pretty near the top of it was GloriaFan. As the only other person writing (sane) KI fic, I wanted to make sure he knew that he was missed ;) Plus, I wanted to take another shot at writing his OTP, and what better way to flex those muscles than by writing something for him?This idea came to me during the heady rush I had at the end of December. It was the first fic I wrote for
fandom_stocking and when I realized how long it was, I despaired. Would I never be able to write something short, sweet, and to the point? janey_p's review giftfic was 5K+. lucida's belatedly overdue giftfic is 26K+ and counting o.O I was ready to finish something, dammit, something I hadn't owed for (literally) years on end!Luckily, this fic broke the trend, and opened the floodgates of my holiday giftgiving. The idea more or less came to me while I was rereading the original giftfic, which incidentally I wrote for last year's
fandom_stocking :P I liked the idea of writing a sequel that was a play on the words of the original fic's title - and came up with "All I Want for Christmas is You" - which is a modern-day holiday classic song, originally by Mariah Carey:And the idea of the song was the perfect idea for a sequel story - of Mickey returning to visit his old bandmates and, most especially, Gloria. The resolution of the original fic was rather bittersweet in nature - neither one of them made any potent declarations or promises to each other, but the feelings still lingered....and what if they lingered on long after that final parting?
That's the basic idea of this fic.
The other thing I wanted to explore was the idea of Mickey and Ryan meeting face-to-face. One of the interesting things about KI canon is that band members never meet the people they are replacing. Doesn't matter which season (or production company) it is - one of the tiny pieces of continuity that survived the many turnovers of the cast. I think the Mickey/Ryan dynamic is more interesting and important than the latter series replacements, if only because of who they are. Kids Incorporated was Mickey's band, the band he started - and Ryan became SUCH a juggernaut leader that a lot of people forgot about/didn't realize he hadn't been there from the beginning. Ryan also lasted for four seasons, in a role he arguably started out in, rather than ascending to the position: as the male lead of the series.
The handing over of the baton, so to speak, is alluded to in Ryan's very first episode (and very first solo, in fact), when he's seen reverently holding the jacket that made Mickey stand out as the leader of the group in the S1 episode-ending concerts:
...so basically, if ever there was a spot of canon ripe for the fanon pickings, it's this one, LOL :P
I combined these two disparate storylines into one, killing two birds with one stone. Mickey finally returned to Brooklyn for a visit, albeit only for the day - his mother announces that she's going Christmas shopping in the city, and he seizes the opportunity to tag along. Having his family move for Connecticut is a nod in GloriaFan's direction, as he loves the idea of a BSC/KI crossover. Indeed, this story and the original could fit rather nicely into the world I started building with "Strategy," another giftfic I wrote for him. (What is it with me and giftfics exploding into full-fledged universes? LOL.) Plus, Connecticut is conveniently close to NYC, as ~sophisticated~ Stacey demonstrates over and over again :P
Anyway. The story begins with Mickey contemplating the differences between the way his life was in the city vs how it is now in the 'burbs - how alien some things feel, things his classmates and friends just take for granted. He's adjusting to it, but some part of him still longs for the life he had as a kid. He's all too aware of how strange he feels as he heads for the P*lace - caught between two worlds, not really fitting in to either of them. He's nervous about seeing his friends again, about seeing the band he formed perform without him, and that just adds to his trepidation of seeing Gloria again. It's that moment of confronting a situation that's been building in your head - you don't know how it's going to go, only that it is, and you can't really prepare for it.
I had him enter the P*lace during the performance of one of my very favorite songs from S2 - the Kids' cover of "Change" by John Waites:
This song was chosen on purpose: (1) because it's just not a KI fic without someone breaking into song somewhere :P, (2) the lyrics are especially poignant, given Mickey's situation of leaving and coming back and facing the changes he has not been privy to, as of yet, and (3) it's just a damn fine performance, one of the best concert numbers from the show. (I think the production crew even won some technical awards for it, with the lighting and costumes and such.)
The stage positioning was also important for this particular scene, as the "old" bandmates are off to one side, and Ryan is holding his own on the other side of the stage. I thought it was a nice dichotomy for Mickey to face, in that he could focus on his friends alone before having to confront the person who ultimately replaced him.
He sticks to the shadows at the front of the P*lace, not emerging until most of the crowd has dissipated. Riley is the first person to spot him, and he alerts the others, who immediately flock over to him for their reunion. Again, I wanted to sort of separate the younger kids from Gloria here, in the way he greets them and the attention he pays to them. The "new kid" doesn't even figure into it at all - Mickey only has eyes for Gloria ♥ and of course takes some good-natured ribbing for it, LOL.
They insist that he join them for their Christmas party, which just so happens to be that afternoon, and after a bit of half-hearted protest, he does - and he enjoys himself. He meets Ryan and walks away unimpressed by him. He thinks his replacement is strange, but he's also a little jealous of just how seamlessly Ryan has slid into the group. It has to be weird, and I can see where that might impede a friendship between two otherwise mostly-friendly guys who have some things in common.
That matters less to Mickey than assessing the time he's had to spend with Gloria, where all of those old ambiguously-requited feelings come rushing back to him. He's fairly convinced that Gloria is feeling all those same things, too, so when she mentions she has something to say to him, he thinks (and hopes) that he knows what she's going to say.
Unfortunately for him, it's not what he wants to hear :-/ She basically tells him the plot of S2 Ep 3 "The Wallflower," when she develops a crush on a guy in her class named Brad, who's too shy to ask her to the school dance because she's such an amazing dancer and he's intimidated by that. It's implied that Brad gets over his insecurity by the end of the episode, and that's what I've alluded to here - that she's pursuing something with him.
She feels conflicted, and doesn't want to hurt Mickey's feelings, but she can tell by the way he's been acting towards her that she has to, because she's not the sort of girl to lead him on and string him along with any sort of flirtation. It's a bittersweet moment - the bittersweet ending that I wanted for the original fic, in fact, though I softened the blow here (as I did in the first one) with a kiss.
Just because Gloria has decided to see her relationship with Brad through doesn't mean that she's lost whatever feelings she has for Mickey, and (to his credit) he's mature enough to understand that. The course of true love never did run smooth, after all. And what's brewing between them is strong enough to end up with them kissing, in spite of everything, which hints at a powerful attraction - the sort of magnetic attraction that defines an OTP, at least in my world :P
It was a lot of fun to jump back into this universe (and this fandom), and I found myself starting to miss Stacy in Bloom, with all of its innocence and nostalgia ♥ I'll get back there eventually ~ I want to see Fleeting through first, since I'm much closer to the ending there than I am with SiB.
no subject
From what I can see, all the giftfics you've wrote for me slide rather nicely together! :P But I love when that happens, so it's all good!
He thinks his replacement is strange, but he's also a little jealous of just how seamlessly Ryan has slid into the group.
This is one of the things that always irritates me about KI continuity - we don't get to see the origin stories for a lot of characters. But it's also one of the things I love about it - there is a suitable gap between each season, plenty of room for fic!
...I found myself starting to miss Stacy in Bloom, with all of its innocence and nostalgia ♥
Ugh, yes. I know what you mean! My original work has taken a dark turn lately, so it's nice to come back and dabble in something the complete opposite.
Speaking of such, I'm working on some Kid + Stacy antics for you - so expect to see a bit more of me for the next bit!
Thank you again! And belated Happy Holidays!
no subject
That's good, LOL, because it appears my ideas have a way of just building on each other, whether they're meant to be related or not :P But yeah, this is pretty much the "KI" side of the crossover that I originally had in mind, so you're getting it in bits and pieces. I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying it! ♥
But it's also one of the things I love about it - there is a suitable gap between each season, plenty of room for fic!
Pretty much this. If every character had been given an entrance/exit storyline, Stacy in Bloom would never have happened, and I might not have ever started writing KI fic in the first place. So I say bully for the gaps in the storyline LOL!! :P
I'm working on some Kid + Stacy antics for you - so expect to see a bit more of me for the next bit!
YAY!! :D Hehe, love those two masters of mischief. And considering the entirety of my fandom_stocking output was bittersweet, it will be refreshing to see whatever you have up your sleeve ;)