Kids Inc | Oneshot: Never Been Kissed
Title: Never Been Kissed
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon (Season 4)
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: Stacy schemes to win her very first kiss, but things don’t go exactly as planned…
Inspiration: “My First Kiss” © 2010 Lukasz Gottwald, Sean Foreman, Nathaniel Motte, and Benny Blanco [3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha]
Link(s): FF.net | LJ | DW | AO3
So...yeah. This fic was pretty much the epitome of unplanned, but is a perfect example of what can happen when a song burrows into my ear and won't let go :P I was surfing YouTube, looking for some musical inspiration for the NYE concert that's coming up in Stacy in Bloom, and I stumbled onto this song. It's dumb, catchy fun, and since Ke$ha is my guilty pleasure, I had to stop and take a listen (again).
Only to have a scene flash into my mind.
*facepalm*
This is one of those stories that I can pare down the actual inspiration for ~ it was the second half of the bridge, which is only repeated twice, that provided such a tantalizing visual for me:
At the foot of the stairs / with my fingers in your hair / baby, this is it
That initial idea that sprang to mind was the first scene here, where Stacy is actually trying to figure out a way to rid herself of the burden of being the only one of her circle of friends who's never been kissed. (Oh, to be a teenager again... ♥ LOL) I really liked the idea of her being the aggressor in this situation - nd, indeed, in the original incarnation of the idea, she did go after her man, so to speak - but to capture the light-hearted humorous quality of the song, I found myself going in another direction.
By far the funniest of the early KI cast members was the Kid, and he and Stacy have this great, open, no-holds-barred friendship. They're the best of friends, the kind who fight fiercely and make up easily. To me, they are a great example of opposite-sex friends, the sort who can feel very close to each other, and completely comfortable together, but who don't really have a romantic spark. To me, romantic feelings between the two feels awkward and forced, so I generally don't go down that road. It's an issue that's bound to come up, however, especially as they grow into their teen years and start becoming interested in dating.
This story is about equal parts friendship and romance, and in a lot of ways, it's more an examination of Stacy's friendship with the Kid than any burgeoning romance with Ryan. I wanted to highlight both, and look at the way their worlds could potentially collide. Stacy is already close with the Kid, and she wants to be closer to Ryan...but in her best friend's attempt to help her towards her goal, they end up complicating matters between themselves.
It was a lot of fun to play with the Kid here, and a bit of misdirection, as only his schemes could go :) He doesn't understand Stacy's dilemma - hence offering to kiss her himself if it means so much that she just get it over with - but he's willing to help her because she's his best friend and he cares about her happiness. Operation: First Kiss doesn't quite go as planned however, as the Kid poses what he thinks is an obvious hypothetical situation to Ryan, only to have it blow up in his face - and then Ryan falls under a mistaken impression himself when he happens along at the wrong place and the wrong time.
If it feels like a classic plot line, that's because it is - and it's the sort of thing canon Kids Inc does quite well. (It's a children's show, after all :P) I watched a lot of Seasons 3 & 4 to gather inspiration for this story, which is why I ultimately set it when I did. I wanted to write some Stacy/Kid friendship, as well as see if my comedy chops have gotten any better (I think the jury's still out on that one), and sneak in a bit of romance as well =)
Stacy and the Kid *do* end up kissing, and it nearly instantly changes the timbre of their friendship. They don't have romantic feelings for each other, but here they've done this very intimate thing, and both are struggling to deal with it. The final scene was the hardest one to write, not only because of the ending, but because it was hard to nail down this strained tone. I really can't overemphasize how close Stacy and the Kid are in canon, and I think taking the understated approach ultimately worked best. What was there to fight about outright? Nothing.
Of course, that doesn't stop Renee from worrying - or being angry at Ryan that he seems content to leave it be. I like Season 4 because it explores the friction and rivalry between Ryan and Renee. They're the same age and interested in the same things, but they both can't always win. With Gloria gone, they're more or less on equal footing, and they don't always see eye to eye.
Ultimately, Ryan can't leave the situation alone. He hems and haws and finally realizes what he has to do in order to set things right. That final scene was very heavily inspired by Jude Harrison's "first real kiss" in Instant Star, which you can see part of here. This episode is where the line, "That was a real first kiss" comes from, and the moment itself is really gut-clenching (but, unfortunately, not available on YouTube, it seems...). That's what I wanted to capture here - the surprise, the pleasure, the enchantment of the moment. Ryan is pretty much the epitome of the Ideal Boyfriend, so I certainly don't mind indulging in a little of that here, either, LOL.
I did have to rework the ending a little bit, to give Ryan motivation for his actions (he's no Sesshoumaru, that's for sure :P), but ultimately, I'm really pleased with the way this turned out :)
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon (Season 4)
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: Stacy schemes to win her very first kiss, but things don’t go exactly as planned…
Inspiration: “My First Kiss” © 2010 Lukasz Gottwald, Sean Foreman, Nathaniel Motte, and Benny Blanco [3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha]
Link(s): FF.net | LJ | DW | AO3
So...yeah. This fic was pretty much the epitome of unplanned, but is a perfect example of what can happen when a song burrows into my ear and won't let go :P I was surfing YouTube, looking for some musical inspiration for the NYE concert that's coming up in Stacy in Bloom, and I stumbled onto this song. It's dumb, catchy fun, and since Ke$ha is my guilty pleasure, I had to stop and take a listen (again).
Only to have a scene flash into my mind.
*facepalm*
This is one of those stories that I can pare down the actual inspiration for ~ it was the second half of the bridge, which is only repeated twice, that provided such a tantalizing visual for me:
That initial idea that sprang to mind was the first scene here, where Stacy is actually trying to figure out a way to rid herself of the burden of being the only one of her circle of friends who's never been kissed. (Oh, to be a teenager again... ♥ LOL) I really liked the idea of her being the aggressor in this situation - nd, indeed, in the original incarnation of the idea, she did go after her man, so to speak - but to capture the light-hearted humorous quality of the song, I found myself going in another direction.
By far the funniest of the early KI cast members was the Kid, and he and Stacy have this great, open, no-holds-barred friendship. They're the best of friends, the kind who fight fiercely and make up easily. To me, they are a great example of opposite-sex friends, the sort who can feel very close to each other, and completely comfortable together, but who don't really have a romantic spark. To me, romantic feelings between the two feels awkward and forced, so I generally don't go down that road. It's an issue that's bound to come up, however, especially as they grow into their teen years and start becoming interested in dating.
This story is about equal parts friendship and romance, and in a lot of ways, it's more an examination of Stacy's friendship with the Kid than any burgeoning romance with Ryan. I wanted to highlight both, and look at the way their worlds could potentially collide. Stacy is already close with the Kid, and she wants to be closer to Ryan...but in her best friend's attempt to help her towards her goal, they end up complicating matters between themselves.
It was a lot of fun to play with the Kid here, and a bit of misdirection, as only his schemes could go :) He doesn't understand Stacy's dilemma - hence offering to kiss her himself if it means so much that she just get it over with - but he's willing to help her because she's his best friend and he cares about her happiness. Operation: First Kiss doesn't quite go as planned however, as the Kid poses what he thinks is an obvious hypothetical situation to Ryan, only to have it blow up in his face - and then Ryan falls under a mistaken impression himself when he happens along at the wrong place and the wrong time.
If it feels like a classic plot line, that's because it is - and it's the sort of thing canon Kids Inc does quite well. (It's a children's show, after all :P) I watched a lot of Seasons 3 & 4 to gather inspiration for this story, which is why I ultimately set it when I did. I wanted to write some Stacy/Kid friendship, as well as see if my comedy chops have gotten any better (I think the jury's still out on that one), and sneak in a bit of romance as well =)
Stacy and the Kid *do* end up kissing, and it nearly instantly changes the timbre of their friendship. They don't have romantic feelings for each other, but here they've done this very intimate thing, and both are struggling to deal with it. The final scene was the hardest one to write, not only because of the ending, but because it was hard to nail down this strained tone. I really can't overemphasize how close Stacy and the Kid are in canon, and I think taking the understated approach ultimately worked best. What was there to fight about outright? Nothing.
Of course, that doesn't stop Renee from worrying - or being angry at Ryan that he seems content to leave it be. I like Season 4 because it explores the friction and rivalry between Ryan and Renee. They're the same age and interested in the same things, but they both can't always win. With Gloria gone, they're more or less on equal footing, and they don't always see eye to eye.
Ultimately, Ryan can't leave the situation alone. He hems and haws and finally realizes what he has to do in order to set things right. That final scene was very heavily inspired by Jude Harrison's "first real kiss" in Instant Star, which you can see part of here. This episode is where the line, "That was a real first kiss" comes from, and the moment itself is really gut-clenching (but, unfortunately, not available on YouTube, it seems...). That's what I wanted to capture here - the surprise, the pleasure, the enchantment of the moment. Ryan is pretty much the epitome of the Ideal Boyfriend, so I certainly don't mind indulging in a little of that here, either, LOL.
I did have to rework the ending a little bit, to give Ryan motivation for his actions (he's no Sesshoumaru, that's for sure :P), but ultimately, I'm really pleased with the way this turned out :)