The Best Friends You'll Ever Have | 11: Close Encounters of the Awkward Kind

[luxken27]

Chapter Title: 11 | Close Encounters of the Awkward Kind
Prompt: #081 - Twins
Universe: Mid-canon [crossover with Kids Inc]
Genre: Comedy
Rating: T
Warning: Language
Word Count: 1,525
Summary: “Well, they say everyone has a doppelganger somewhere on this planet. You have to admit, though – it’s kinda weird to meet yours in the juniors department of Bloomie’s.”

Links: FF.net | LJ | DW | AO3

This was my gift to isabelquinn for the 2011 fandom_stocking holiday exchange. It was basically my response to the gauntlet that was thrown when I received her gift from the LJ Halloween meme - this cute little sketch, depicting the moment my brain explodes: when BSC-universe Stacey meets KI-universe Stacy.

Luckily, I'm not mad ;) In fact, I'm pretty happy with how this little fic turned out, considering it literally *did* break my brain, LOL.

I know I've mentioned it to a couple of people before, but I'll say it again: when I was a kid, my favorite TV show was Kids Inc, and my favorite book series was Baby-sitters Club. Coincidentally (or not), my favorite characters from each series shared many common attributes - appearance, features (hair color, eye color), bits of personality, and even a name - Stac(e)y. I wanted to be Stacy from KI so bad (like hundreds of other little girls, I'm sure :P) and I identified with Stacey McGill from the BSC - the alienation, the uncertainty. (And her diabetes just fascinated me, because my grandfather was also a diabetic.) She was also cool and sophisticated and dazzling - the same things Stacy grew up to be as the latter seasons of Kids Inc rolled around. They just sorta became intertwined in my head, and I couldn't think about one without automatically thinking about the other. Stacy from KI was (is) the model for my internal picture of BSC Stacey. It's something that I never really thought about or considered until falling back into the fandoms as an adult.

When I started Stacy in Bloom in early 2010, I joked that it was hard for me to separate KI Stacy and BSC Stacey in my head - how many times I accidentally wrote "Stacey McGill" into the early drafts of the chapters, since the KI characters don't have canonical last names. And, truth be told, as SiB has developed (and as I've played more with the KI characters post-series), I've adopted some of Stacey's BSC canon. KI's Stacy became "Anastasia Elizabeth." She's very fashion conscious, and enamored of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. My headcanon for her involves her being heavily involved in the fashion industry as an adult. They have so much in common already that it was easy to blur the lines between their backstories. When I figured out that Kids Inc is set in NYC, it just kinda cemented it, LOL.

Then along came last year's Halloween meme on LJ, and isabelquinn took my fannish conundrum and produced a really cute sketch of KI's Stacy and BSC's Stacey eyeing each other suspiciously ~ which amused me, but also roused a bunny. The gauntlet had been thrown, and now I had to find a way to MAKE THIS HAPPEN, LOL. It took me a good long while to come up with a viable idea, but staring at the inspiration picture finally pulled it all together.

Not only are Stacy and Stacey pretty much the same character in my head, but their respective OTP relationships follow a loosely similar path, and that was basically the key to this whole piece. Stacey is shopping in New York City, and somehow managed to drag along new (mid-canon) boyfriend Sam Thomas. She's in heaven - aka Bloomingdale's - and she's all agog over the latest and greatest in fashion ~ a chic black sweater. (A nod to Stacey's wardrobe mostly consisting of black during this part of the canon, and how the other girls thought that made her ~worldly~ and ~sophisticated~ :P) Sam doesn't really get it (typical guy), but he's happy enough to even be there with her. One thing he's not so happy about is being stuck holding her purse while she tries on said sweater.

This is a popular sitcom scenario because it plays on the whole "macho" theme, and Sam is feeling sufficiently awkward - even moreso, because there is something there to witness his embarrassment. This would be Ryan, who manages to look up from his book long enough to crack a joke and introduce himself =) The guys strike up one of those instantly-friendly conversations that only guys seem capable of having with strangers, and basically compare notes as they each wait for their girlfriends to finish with their fittings. I embedded a KI-centric joke here (Ryan's line “Member since ’88” is a sly reference to the 1988 season of KI, also known to us shippers as Magical Season 5 ♥ ) - and almost immediately followed it with some context from BSC canon, in the form of Sam remembering his summer at Shadow Lake, and how much of an idiot he made of himself trying to get Stacey's attention.

While Sam is busy thinking about how well Stacey could fill out a bikini (another early canon BSC reference, LOL), the girls simultaneously emerge from the fitting room. Each guy is focused exclusively on his girlfriend, so they're shocked when they chorus out their compliment in unison. Suddenly, their friendly vibe is noticeably restricted, as each asks the other how he knows of their "Stace." Only then do they look up and realize just how weird the situation really is - Stacy and Stacey are practically twins!

(And my brain explodes.)

The very subtle difference comes in how each girl reacts to seeing her doppelganger in the mirror. BSC's Stacey is cool in tone (and a little snobby), begrudgingly complimenting Stacy on how nice the identical sweater looks on her. KI's Stacy is a bit more curious and intrigued by their striking similarities, but she takes Stacey's lead in the exchange of cold compliments. They part ways at the mirror, with Stacey tossing her hair over her shoulder, while Stacy pointedly enters the fitting rooms from a different entrance.

As upset as the girls are at their unexpected meeting, the guys just find it funny. Ryan makes the observation that I use as the summary of this piece; the use of the word "doppelgänger" was deliberate. First of all, because of the traditional meaning of the word (in that the look-alike is an evil illusion), but also because Ryan is a gigantic dork who would have such a word in his common vocabulary :P There is a fairly popular saying that everyone has an identical twin, whether they've met them or not, and I've heard a couple of anecdotes (and apparently I have an identical cousin from an entirely different branch of the family - let me tell you how freaky it was when I randomly came across a picture of her o.O). I can only imagine actually running into someone who could pass for your twin. Uncanny valley, indeed o.O O.o

The guys have a laugh about it, until Sam looks down at Stacey's purse and immediately wonders if they are so alike that, without even realizing it, they carry the same style of handbag. Luckily, they don't, but for a second there, all of the characters are struck by that weird feeling of WTF? (By the way, this is what I had in mind when I had KI's Stacy carrying a knit purple crossbody, for those of you who were curious.)

Stacey is the first to emerge, and Sam can almost immediately tell she's upset. When she exits the department without the sweater she was so excited about, he wonders why. She tells him that she really *did* think the sweater looked better on Stacy, but that "I have better hair" - which, of course, is what she's thinking in isabelquinn's sketch :P

I'm happy with this piece not only because I managed to wrap my brain around the idea of these characters meeting, but also because I think it's pretty funny :P Most of the stories that I write and label as "comedy" feel/read weak to me, but not this one. Maybe its because of the meta amusement it gives me, finally teasing apart two characters that melded into one in my head, IDK. But, isabelquinn seemed to like it, so hey ~ I guess I did something right? LOL. She wanted more BSC crossovers for her stocking, so hopefully this lived up to her expectations in more ways than one =)

Comments

[isabelquinn]

I'm behind in my LJ reading, and only just got to this post, but I loved reading it!! Eeee, I'm so glad my little drawing worked so well with what was already in your head ♥ the oneshot was awesome!! I'm not particularly up with KI canon, but that absolutely did not stop me from loving it :D

[luxken27]

Well, I try to write crossovers in such a way so that you don't have to be familiar with the other canon; I try to tread very lightly on the meta. I can count on one hand the people who are familiar with KI canon, so *shrug*

As long as it makes sense, and you can get some wisp of an idea of who these other characters are, then I've done my job =) I'm glad you liked it so much! Maybe I should let my brain explode more often, LOL.