luxken27: (Kids Inc - OTP)
LuxKen27 ([personal profile] luxken27) wrote2010-05-03 08:55 pm

Stacy in Bloom | 5: Say You Will


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 across 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/5873801/5/

I've been really surprised to see a relatively large outpouring of love for this fic, and it really couldn't have come at a better point for the story - as the plot is about to take its first major twist :D

Lots of references this time, so I'll just jump right in...

[+] The title song - is what *I* consider the epitome of this ship, instead of the opening song of the episode this story is based on. Its particularly fitting, not only to title this particular chapter, but also in the general mood of the story. Enjoy ~



[+] Sadie Hawkin's dance/disaster - this is a reference to the season four episode "You've Got the Wrong Date," with an awesome interlude between the leads of this story. One day, if I find the time/get desperate enough to write a ship manifesto for this pairing, I will be pointing out the episodes I feel are pivotal in the development of their friendship - and this is definitely one of them. Season Four is a close second as my favorite season Of All Time, as is probably evident by how much I've been referencing it already :P

[+] Ryan's Julliard dream - It was interesting to look up just what exactly the process is for getting into the country's most exclusive conservatory. Its one thing to handwave your character wanting to go there (on a music scholarship, no less!), but its quite another to actually figure out the plan of how to get them there. Unfortunately, I couldn't look up period-specific requirements for majors, so I'm just *hoping* the composition major has been around since then, and that the requirements haven't changed appreciably in the ensuing 25 years. I love this fic, but not quite enough to write to Julliard and ask them about their standards for entrance 25 years ago, LOL. For more info on the Julliard process (which I'll be exploring a bit in this fic), you can click over to the official website.

[+] The Ryan/Gloria ship - *sigh* Well. If I'm going to be watching these episodes with my shipper goggles firmly in place, it just wouldn't quite do to merely cherry pick what I want to acknowledge, would it? (LOL, why do I get the feeling I do this shipping business all wrong? :P) The vibes of the Ryan/Gloria ship are pretty strong, especially in the '86 season, when they were the oldest kids on the show. I reference one scene in particular, from the 1985 (second season) episode "Ryan Ryan, PI" (which I linked in my last author's note for this story):



Which is, of course, the love scene from his ninth grade English assignment.

Another place where the vibes are pretty strong is during this number, for an episode that is unfortunately not up on YouTube...



I suppose if people can fight over whether Stacy belongs with Ryan or the Kid, then there can be some friction over who Ryan's One True Love is, too :P

...

Suddenly, I'm glad there's not much of a fandom, beyond me o.O
aamalie: (Default)

[personal profile] aamalie 2010-05-08 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
Late reply, buuuut...

Suddenly, I'm glad there's not much of a fandom, beyond me o.O

Whatever. Don't you know? No fandom experience is complete without ship wars! (Or so they'd have us believe... =P)

Still, I think it's awesome that you did acknowledge and account for The Other Ship, so far as Ryan and Gloria goes. Way to bend canon to your liking... and use it to build suspense.
aamalie: (bleach - ishida)

[personal profile] aamalie 2010-05-08 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course, the beginning of a relationship doesn't have to be the end game of a story - but its hard to have excitement this big early on and not have the rest of the piece fizzle out.

Oh, not gonna lie, I love it when the romance isn't the end game, because then it's not "will they, won't they?" but "will they make it?" and that's always tasty... and in fanfic especially, a little harder to find. Given what I know of your plotting ability, I don't expect to be disappointed!

I kinda wanted this chapter to read like an emotional rollercoaster, because, from what I can recall of that particular period from my own life, that's exactly how it was.

Oh, I definitely felt that while reading this! At first I was a little taken back at how up and down it was, and thought it was because I was half-distracted while reading (there was a movie going on in the background), but then I reread parts and realized... Nope, Stace is just doing emotional loop-de-loops. Teenage romance. Gotta love it. Or maybe not.

Such teases, those writers!!

How dare they inspire this fanfic! =P

I've read arguments that romance fic doesn't have a place in this fandom because its a kids show and because it never dealt with anything beyond the random, one-off crush (I think all the major characters eventually got their turn with this storyline...), but I think that's missing the point.

...Bwuh? I'd say that's definitely missing the entire point of fandom and fanfic, right there. Fanfic is for precisely that point - to explore the what ifs that canon creates, but doesn't necessarily pursue. If romance fic didn't belong because the canon didn't touch on romance... well, fandom in general would be a lot more boring, IMO.

I'm so excited about this I could burst. Seriously. (And, LOL, how pathetic is that? :P)

TOTALLY NOT PATHETIC AT ALL. (Rather, I am envious. All of my own fic!excitement is lying dead in a ditch somewhere. It needs to come back, dangit!) And also, I want to read this. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. *prods you for more*

I never knew there were others out there who remembered, or cared, or still felt those shippy fires burning.

If there is anything about shippy fires I've learned, it's that they do not burn out easily. At all. The fact that people would go looking for more fuel for the fire, years after the fact? Makes me love the internet, so much more.

And, really, a lot of the fun of playing in this sandbox is that it is so entirely innocent.

Haha. Oh, cute T-rated fic, so underrated~~~! ;) All joking aside, both 'kinds' of romance have their draw. I think it can get boring to always write the same genre, all the time, so yay for mixing it up!