The Best Friends You'll Ever Have | 10: Strategy

[luxken27]

Chapter Title: 10 | Strategy
Prompt: #054 – Babysit
Universe: Early canon (Books 1-4)
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Rating: K+
Warning: None
Word Count: 2,470
Summary: Sam gets a little advice on dating from a new friend.

Links: FF.net | LJ | DW | AO3

This was my gift to gloriafan during the Halloween "trick-or-treat" meme, and it was one of those things that came out of nowhere and threatened to blow up in my face, LOL.

Ever the pragmatist, GloriaFan sent along some potential prompts for Christmas gift!fics a couple of weeks ago. One of the things he wanted was a BSC/KI crossover. This is not something I thought I could pull off, as I'm not all that comfortable writing crossovers (my brain just doesn't work that way, LOL), and because he wanted to center it around Mickey, who was the male lead on the first season of KI. I ♥ KI, but my expertise, so to speak, revolves around the seasons that heavily feature both halves of my OTP for that series. Plus, back in the day, I only ever got to watch KI on the Disney channel, and they weren't all that big on re-running episodes they, themselves, did not make. So I never really saw much of the first season, and it's certainly woefully incomplete on YouTube and thus, I tend to shy away from using the characters. I need some canon to sink my teeth into if I'm going to write fanfic.

But, I sat down and sketched out potential ideas for all the prompts he sent me, trying to figure out which one would be the most viable to finish by Christmas. This prompt was to basically give Mickey a little backstory - he moved away in season two, and what if he'd moved to Stoneybrook, CT? How would he deal with making new friends while simultaneously missing his old ones?

So first I had to figure out who his friends in Stoneybrook would be. Since Mickey is a S1 character on KI, and said season was on in 1984, my thoughts kinda naturally turned to the first part of BSC canon (which came along in 1986). Mickey would be too old to be friendly with the club members...which made him the perfect age to be friends with Kristy's older brothers, instead! And like I need an excuse to write Thomas brothers fic, LOL :P This immediately gave me hope to overcome my horrible crossover ficcing abilities.

As it turns out, the story idea I patched together was a little too long and involved, and would mean writing a multichapter fic to really do it justice. At least two plot lines began to weave themselves together, one based in Stoneybrook and the other in Brooklyn, and really meant pulling both casts in as full players. I am intrigued by the idea, but I already have more than enough multichapters on my plate, so I knew this one would have to wait.

When I decided to throw up this meme, I wasn't quite expecting the response I received (though you guys are totally awesome!!) so I was really scrambling to find ideas to fulfill on three days' notice. I decided to take the clearest scene/idea I had about this Sam Thomas-Mickey friendship and write a little oneshot as GloriaFan's treat. Bonus, in that I knew he'd love it, no matter how weak my attempt :P (This is the good thing about working in small fandoms sometimes, LOL.)

This fic is really quite simple, all in all. It's set during the first four books of the BSC canon, when the girls are 12 and in seventh grade, and Stacey is nursing her crush on Sam. He definitely went out of his way to flirt with her during their first encounter (forever and ever sealing them as my canon OTP for this series), so I enjoy entertaining the idea that he had feelings for her as well, long before these two ever got together out of the blue 60 books later.

One of the things that made Stacey different, right from the start, was the fact that she was from big ~glamorous~ NYC. I think that intimidated a lot of characters (for better or worse), including most of the guys who were interested in her. So who better to turn to for advice than another transplant from NYC? I like the idea of Mickey and Sam being friends anyway, but here's a way that he could be very useful to his new pal, and after all, what are friends for, LOL?

This fic also has a big dose of brotherly bonding, which serves a two-fold purpose: not only showing how much Charlie, Sam, and David Michael care about each other, but contrasting their warm, hearty relationship to Mickey's experience as an only child. I think it's harder for a new kid when they're the only new kid, and I can definitely see how the Thomases would appeal to someone eager to make friends. Both Charlie and David Michael good-naturedly tease Sam when they catch him staring at Stacey, but of course in different ways. It was also a lot of fun just writing about the Thomas kids doing something together. This was the first time I'd really written David Michael, and it was a challenge since he's six in this piece, but I think it came out pretty well, if only realistic in BSC-world :P

I still don't really feel like I 'know' Mickey, so it was a little difficult to figure out how he'd approach the situation, but I pretty much took a cue from the way Stacey was written - straightforward, sophisticated, and faintly amused to be treated like an alien from another planet just because he's from the city. It's not hard for him to pick up on Stacey's eagerness to chat with Sam, even if Sam is too dorky and oblivious to see it for himself, and he is rather understated in his advice on how to impress her. IDK, I think it works ~ and gloriafan loved it, so that's what's important, right? Right! :D

Suffice to say, this little crossover universe still intrigues me - I like 'getting to know' a beloved character, and I can think of little better way to do it than to use him as a main character in a fic. It'll give me an excuse to watch all the cracktastic first-season episodes of KI, at least :P I have some fairly detailed notes from the original brainstorming session that I think I'll hold onto for future reference, for the day when I'm a bit further along in my SiB universe and ready to tackle another potentially epic-long fic. Until then, this will have to do - I'm curious to see if it garners any interest beyond the Halloween meme. I know people shy away from crossovers in BSC fandom (and there aren't really enough for KI to make a judgment call either way), so it might be worth it to wait until I'm in a better mental state to tackle this project. Fandom of one can be a little lonely sometimes...:)