luxken27 | Stacy in Bloom | 17: Seasons Change

Title: Stacy in Bloom
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon (Season 5 – 1988)
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: With her sister and best friend halfway around the world, who else is there for Stacy to turn to…but Ryan? When the consequences of their actions become clear, the two must decide if pursuing each other is worth breaking up the band.
Mega-meta resource thread: http://luxken27.livejournal.com/137711.html

Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5873801/17/

First of all, my apologies for keeping you in suspense for three months as to what's going on with Kenny - it all comes out in this chapter, and I think his behavior will suddenly make sense (I hope so, at least, considering this chapter opens a small subplot that will be borne out through the next few chapters :P).

First off, our references!

[+] The title song was a cover performed by Devyn and Connie during the second episode, "A Kid's Court":

Watch on YouTube

It's not one of my favorite songs - not even in the top twenty covers for this season - but it was one of the few that had angsty enough lyrics for the interstitial at the beginning, hence the choice.

[+] The line “Parents don’t always make great decisions,” Ryan said, dredging up the memory of having to give up his room for his grandmother when she moved in with them, “but they are reasonable people" is a reference to episode 2x16 "Grandma Won't You Dance with Me?". Unfortunately, I've never seen this episode (though I desperately want to, because it develops Ryan's character quite a bit, considering its from his first season on the show), but it revolved around Ryan resenting his parents making family decisions without him, like deciding he wouldn't mind giving up his room for his grandmother without asking him. Hmm...I suppose that whole storyline is paralleled in this chapter, albeit subconsciously. I guess I'm more in tune with canon than I thought! :P

[+] The discussion of the New Year's Eve party is a direct reference to the special "Rock in the New Year", which was filmed with the 1986 cast during the show's winter break between '86 and '87. There is quite a bit of speculation about why it was filmed, considering it's a one-of-a-kind special, and I don't really recall it being broadcast in repeats at all. The first time I saw it was when I downloaded it, and it's a pretty cute little one-hour special/clip show. I loved the idea of the kids holding an annual party, though, and it fits so well with my storyline plans, that I just had to include it. Needless to say, it's going to be a Very Big Deal in the coming chapters, and the party itself will represent the halfway point of the story. I'm quite excited to get there :)

There aren't really any more canon references, but I did make a few conscious decisions here. Divorce was a Big Deal back in the 80s, and not a lot of people talked about it (or at least, it wasn't discussed as flippantly as it is today). It was definitely considered a big issue on shows like this, aimed at the under-12 set, because of kids' tendency to blame themselves for their parents' problems no matter what. The episodes I'm aware of from KI canon didn't really deal with this directly, though its aftereffects were quite well known. But, I thought it was something that would fit with the nature of the show, and something that would explain Kenny's angst rather well.

Kenny's background is completely new material. If it was explored post-Season 5, I'm not aware of it, so I reached into my head canon a little bit for that =) It will be further explored a few chapters from now. The Charleston reference was deliberate, a little shout-out to another friend/reader because you guys are awesome like that, LOL :D

As I said before, this chapter opens up a small Kenny-centric subplot that explores his friendship with Devyn, and how those friendships tend to change at that age, for better or worse. This particular chapter came first, however, because I thought it was important to establish a bit of male bonding (something missing in a great deal of fanfic :P) and to kinda explore reasons why Richie became the male lead on the show after Ryan left, instead of Kenny. It also displays a bit of Ryan's 'fixer' personality, something that really developed over the course of his tenure on the show.

The next chapter will be the (long-awaited?) confrontation with Brian, so stay tuned!