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Kids Inc | Oneshot: Miss Independent
Title: Miss Independent
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Post-canon
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Warnings: Language, innuendo
Word Count: 3,863
Summary: He had many reasons to love her, and she just kept giving him more…
Links: DW | FF.net | AO3
This is what happens when you start choreographing stage numbers in your head, LOL :P
I rediscovered my favorite fandom over the holidays, and started actively plotting the next couple of chapters of my epic fic Stacy in Bloom. I'm always hesitant to jump back into a big fic after year(s) away, so I like to write at least one "warm-up" piece, to ease back into things. This fic is actually the second attempt I've made in the last week or so, but the only one worth sharing (for the moment, at least).
The inspiration for this story was this:
I *also* rediscovered my Dusty Springfield CD, and had a lot of fun thinking about how to choreograph stage numbers for potential use in SiB. When this song popped up, it stuck with me, and it sprouted an idea =) Its hardly my favorite Dusty song, but these days I'll take all the inspiration I can get :P
My first attempt at fic to get back into this fandom was an utter disaster, partly, I think, because I was writing from Stacy's perspective. Its sort of my default for this pairing, since I'm a girl and remember what it was like to be a teenager in love :P but by the same token, it isn't much of a challenge. So I thought I'd try writing something from the other point of view - a little moment in time, encapsulating the enduring nature of this romance.
As the idea blossomed, I found myself really enjoying the idea of sort of turning my headcanon on its ear. Ryan has always been "ahead," so to speak, simply because he's older - but what if that wasn't the case? What if it was Stacy who had all of the success, fame, fortune, attention, etc? As adults, that's where I see them heading - and that's where I wrote them here.
I also wanted to portray a comfortable relationship - beyond angst and UST, after the honeymoon stage, firmly into established territory. I wanted to write a very heady moment happening in the most ordinary of circumstances, to zoom in from a larger moment and then zoom out again, if that makes any sense. I like writing a broad-to-narrowing scope, and usually I stay in that emotional moment, because those are the sorts of things I love to write. It's harder to bring the perspective out wide again, doubly so with a couple of months of rust to shake off. But, I like what I did here, so there's that.
So here they are, in this comfortable relationship - beyond friends, but not really romantic partners, so there is this tiny bit of friction. They know each other so well, though, that they can't really hide their feelings from each other. I've hinted at their past ("long and tumultuous, filled with love and laughter, but also bitterness and heartbreak") and its meant to be exactly that: complicated, but worth the effort of holding onto their bond. In my headcanon, no matter how far they drift apart, they always find their way back to each other, and this is a variation on that theme.
I decided to write all of this background about lovey, mushy-gushy feelings to start the fic off (which is how it earned its name, as I had this performance on repeat), and contrast it with the tight scene that is the middle part. Ryan loves her for all of these reasons beyond her looks, and she feels so comfortable in his presence to basically dress down and do mundane chores while in his presence. I can't think of anything less sexy than doing laundry, LOL, hence her activity as he stands there and admires her from afar.
I like the song "Miss Independent" - its been sitting on my harddrive for years, serving as inspiration for many a fic. I really wanted Stacy to embody the quintessential independent woman, and I wanted that to be what Ryan admired the most about her - that she's her own woman, living her own life, bright and successful in her own right.
Originally, the fic was only supposed to contain one Dusty Springfield song, but obviously that didn't happen, LOL :P I spun the entire album in the background as I pieced this fic together, and I discovered so many relevant lyrics in so many different songs. I have this thing about characters being attuned to music and using it to express themselves, and what better way for someone who held their emotions close to the vest to do that? I've already built one fic around this - The Dangling Conversation in BSC fandom - and I really liked the effect, enough to play with it again here.
I quite literally stumbled into the poignant "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten":
and I just loved it - enough to make the opening lyrics the interstitial. "The music that's flooding my mind" - that just describes Ryan *perfectly* :D It was the second verse that opened up the characters' conversation, though, moving it forward into that heady moment I was looking for.
Its a huge moment, a major shift in their relationship, but it happens so casually - which is *exactly* what I was going for. This is their level of comfort with each other - no inhibitions, nothing to hide. They both want the same thing, but have never been able to express it because of the ups and downs they've already faced.
"Stay Awhile" sounds practically manic in comparison to the two main Dusty Springfield songs, and it definitely captured my own adrenaline rush as I brought this fic to a successful close in the first draft. On about draft five, I figured out how to integrate this into the story, and successfully transition from the heaviness of their declarations of love to their usual sort of light (and now blatantly flirtatious) banter. For the seismic shift in their relationship, nothing else is changing: they aren't suddenly altering their courses in life to be together or anything. It makes it feel real and authentic, to me, and it hints at the easy sort of relationship they've shared between romantic interludes.
By contrast, its an errant lyric from "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" that pulls us into the deepest, most serious moment of the story. It was actually the last addition, and the one I forgot about until I was working on the final edit. It's probably the most famous Dusty Springfield song, and with good reason - it very easily sends shivers down my spine, no matter how many times I listen to it.
The last random bit of music meta is the offhand mention of the Swedish band Kent, which is (let's all put on our surprise faces) one of *my* favorite bands:
I'm starting to feel warm enough to jump back into Stacy in Bloom, and I hope to update it this year =)
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Post-canon
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Warnings: Language, innuendo
Word Count: 3,863
Summary: He had many reasons to love her, and she just kept giving him more…
Links: DW | FF.net | AO3
This is what happens when you start choreographing stage numbers in your head, LOL :P
I rediscovered my favorite fandom over the holidays, and started actively plotting the next couple of chapters of my epic fic Stacy in Bloom. I'm always hesitant to jump back into a big fic after year(s) away, so I like to write at least one "warm-up" piece, to ease back into things. This fic is actually the second attempt I've made in the last week or so, but the only one worth sharing (for the moment, at least).
The inspiration for this story was this:
I *also* rediscovered my Dusty Springfield CD, and had a lot of fun thinking about how to choreograph stage numbers for potential use in SiB. When this song popped up, it stuck with me, and it sprouted an idea =) Its hardly my favorite Dusty song, but these days I'll take all the inspiration I can get :P
My first attempt at fic to get back into this fandom was an utter disaster, partly, I think, because I was writing from Stacy's perspective. Its sort of my default for this pairing, since I'm a girl and remember what it was like to be a teenager in love :P but by the same token, it isn't much of a challenge. So I thought I'd try writing something from the other point of view - a little moment in time, encapsulating the enduring nature of this romance.
As the idea blossomed, I found myself really enjoying the idea of sort of turning my headcanon on its ear. Ryan has always been "ahead," so to speak, simply because he's older - but what if that wasn't the case? What if it was Stacy who had all of the success, fame, fortune, attention, etc? As adults, that's where I see them heading - and that's where I wrote them here.
I also wanted to portray a comfortable relationship - beyond angst and UST, after the honeymoon stage, firmly into established territory. I wanted to write a very heady moment happening in the most ordinary of circumstances, to zoom in from a larger moment and then zoom out again, if that makes any sense. I like writing a broad-to-narrowing scope, and usually I stay in that emotional moment, because those are the sorts of things I love to write. It's harder to bring the perspective out wide again, doubly so with a couple of months of rust to shake off. But, I like what I did here, so there's that.
So here they are, in this comfortable relationship - beyond friends, but not really romantic partners, so there is this tiny bit of friction. They know each other so well, though, that they can't really hide their feelings from each other. I've hinted at their past ("long and tumultuous, filled with love and laughter, but also bitterness and heartbreak") and its meant to be exactly that: complicated, but worth the effort of holding onto their bond. In my headcanon, no matter how far they drift apart, they always find their way back to each other, and this is a variation on that theme.
I decided to write all of this background about lovey, mushy-gushy feelings to start the fic off (which is how it earned its name, as I had this performance on repeat), and contrast it with the tight scene that is the middle part. Ryan loves her for all of these reasons beyond her looks, and she feels so comfortable in his presence to basically dress down and do mundane chores while in his presence. I can't think of anything less sexy than doing laundry, LOL, hence her activity as he stands there and admires her from afar.
I like the song "Miss Independent" - its been sitting on my harddrive for years, serving as inspiration for many a fic. I really wanted Stacy to embody the quintessential independent woman, and I wanted that to be what Ryan admired the most about her - that she's her own woman, living her own life, bright and successful in her own right.
Originally, the fic was only supposed to contain one Dusty Springfield song, but obviously that didn't happen, LOL :P I spun the entire album in the background as I pieced this fic together, and I discovered so many relevant lyrics in so many different songs. I have this thing about characters being attuned to music and using it to express themselves, and what better way for someone who held their emotions close to the vest to do that? I've already built one fic around this - The Dangling Conversation in BSC fandom - and I really liked the effect, enough to play with it again here.
I quite literally stumbled into the poignant "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten":
and I just loved it - enough to make the opening lyrics the interstitial. "The music that's flooding my mind" - that just describes Ryan *perfectly* :D It was the second verse that opened up the characters' conversation, though, moving it forward into that heady moment I was looking for.
Its a huge moment, a major shift in their relationship, but it happens so casually - which is *exactly* what I was going for. This is their level of comfort with each other - no inhibitions, nothing to hide. They both want the same thing, but have never been able to express it because of the ups and downs they've already faced.
"Stay Awhile" sounds practically manic in comparison to the two main Dusty Springfield songs, and it definitely captured my own adrenaline rush as I brought this fic to a successful close in the first draft. On about draft five, I figured out how to integrate this into the story, and successfully transition from the heaviness of their declarations of love to their usual sort of light (and now blatantly flirtatious) banter. For the seismic shift in their relationship, nothing else is changing: they aren't suddenly altering their courses in life to be together or anything. It makes it feel real and authentic, to me, and it hints at the easy sort of relationship they've shared between romantic interludes.
By contrast, its an errant lyric from "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" that pulls us into the deepest, most serious moment of the story. It was actually the last addition, and the one I forgot about until I was working on the final edit. It's probably the most famous Dusty Springfield song, and with good reason - it very easily sends shivers down my spine, no matter how many times I listen to it.
The last random bit of music meta is the offhand mention of the Swedish band Kent, which is (let's all put on our surprise faces) one of *my* favorite bands:
I'm starting to feel warm enough to jump back into Stacy in Bloom, and I hope to update it this year =)