In my city

[horizon_greene]

I'm not sure how many more times we're going to see this; it felt very precious and wondrous and somehow fragile. Right up until Tim decided he Did Not Like the mound, which turned into 10 minutes' worth of tomfoolery, with half a dozen groundskeepers wielding every available groundskeeping tool under the sun, scurrying around while Tim and Marco Scutaro looked on, awkwardly.



But yeah. These two.



---

I've been reading a lot of NSYNC fic the last week or so, mainly because so much of it is surprisingly amazing. It doesn't hurt that plenty falls under the beloved "pretty, talented boy gets systematically overwhelmed by the guy who's older, more experienced, and determined to completely take him over" trope. That's not exactly how it goes in my own personal Justin/JC headcanon, but I think, actually, that I like it better—bulletproof kink. etc.

If I'd known all this good fic was out there, I think my fandom trajectory would have been quite different. But my NSYNC days predated my slash days by a couple of years, which in the end is kind of too bad. I have no use for present-day Justin whatsoever, but that boy at 19? Goodness. It makes me think so many thoughts.

Comments

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

Interesting! NSync was my first RPF fandom (it was *everyone's* first RPF fandom, RPF was so taboo until then) and I strongly associate it with fandom's explosion of really, really, really good writing. There was a lot of experimental flair (so and so turns into a girl, so and so is a hooker, they're all guerrillas in an unnamed South American country, AUs galore, the invention of holiday fic exchanges) and also a lot of really good solid love stories. Have you found Helen yet?

http://helenish.talkoncorners.net/stories.html#pop

then there's

http://www.waxjism.org/jaesepha/stories.html (especially "Coldhearted")

and

http://strangeplaces.net/torch/boybandstories.html

and

http://yearningvoid.net/insanity/

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

I love that I'm learning this about you! I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fic, but have mostly been trolling around AO3 and I've pretty much tapped it at this point, so thank you very much for the recs. I will be making my way through them this evening, for sure :)

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

Okay, goodness. I'm making my way through the South American guerilla warfare fic right now, bit by bit. I don't understand how this is even a thing, but I am helplessly intrigued. Last night I mainlined the gangster AU; I didn't realize just how much I needed hooker!Justin in my life, but I guess I shouldn't bee TOO surprised by my affinity for that little trope. Also, my heart has never been so gloriously broken.

Onwards!

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

oh dear -- I should have warned you that if you read all those pages you will lose, like, two years of your life. Which I pretty much did, between slash and concertgoing.

The world needs more hookerfic, always. :-)

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

How many times did you see them?

Totally agree re: hooker!fic. Are there any other good ones that I should be aware of?

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

well, you've seen Synchronik's Lance-is-a-hooker stories, right? Those are the main ones. (And Em's, which he was riffing off of.) They're all at the bottom of his page -- http://tehomet.net/joeseats/fiction.html -- just in case you hadn't seen them. :)

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

I read a couple of Synchronik's NSYNC fics a few days ago, but it's on my list to go back and do a much more in-depth dive. I did see the hooker fics, although I haven't yet read them—Lance as a hooker isn't quite as intriguing to me as Justin as a hooker, but I will most likely give it a go :)

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

Oh, and some truly embarrassing number -- well, no, I'm not that embarrassed, I had a fantastic time. And I actually can't remember how many times. In the vicinity of five or six, I think? I was drunk on having disposable income for the first time in my life, just out of college when they did the Celebrity tour. It was awesome.

It occurs to me that you are probably younger enough than me that you were actually in the age range to be a fan of the band rather than a fan of reading about gay sex who then got into the band later :)

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

That does sound incredible. Their shows were amazing—I only saw them once, during the NSA tour, but it was one of the concert-going highlights of my life!

I was 17 when I saw them, and yeah, young enough that my fandemonium was more innocent than it is now ;) But the aging of the fanbase is part of what gives me hope that they may someday do a legit reunion album and/or tour. We've all grown up now—even the fans who were teenies back then—with earning power and mobility and they could make a killing off of us. I hope they do, before they're too old to handle the choreography.

[soupypictures.livejournal.com]

It's a good thing Marco was there to supervise, or else WHO KNOWS what could have happened.

o_O

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

Right? Very serious business happening out there.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Uhhh, I will second loving that trope, though I was never into NSync. Any recs?

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

There are three that I keep going back to, all Justin/JC:

Unchained (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2985)
The premise, in a lot of fandoms, is one that I would side-eye like crazy, but with these two—and the way it's written—I am actually on board and would like to subscribe to this newsletter.

Faithful (http://archiveofourown.org/works/428135/chapters/721407)
Lots of tears, but surprisingly honest/believable. Also, super hot at the end and incorporates another favorite kink (which I think you may share), so there's that.

(I'm not) Home for Christmas (http://archiveofourown.org/works/108983/chapters/150852)
Doesn't really fall under the aforementioned trope, but is beyond charming and also humorous. Accountant/dance teacher stranded at a bus stop AU, and it's about 500 times better than that summary makes it sound.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Thank you for these! Mmm, I do love tropes, and baseball fandom doesn't really have enough fic with them (hint, hint *g*)

[horizon-greene.livejournal.com]

Based on what myalexandria recced above, I'd say baseball fandom still has a ways to go. (Not sure we'll ever be at the point of a full-on South American guerrilla warfare AU.) But! Fire Season has been developing quite nicely in recent months, I'd say. I'll just wait patiently in my corner for whatever tropes you foist upon us, and that will be enough :)

(And maybe, someday, get to work on that little train of thought I had, gazing at the nape of Tim's neck after the no-hitter. It lingers with me still...)

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

Personally I find it very easy to picture Buster Posey as the hard-bitten leader of a guerilla group. (After being terribly disillusioned during his wildly successful career in the army.) Cain is the second in command. Tim would be the flexible, quiet assassin, of course, who's sleeping with fiery raw peasant recruit Bumgarner. I suppose Zito is the computer expert, just for kicks.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I should start taking trope requests and just tackle them in short fic or something. Be a fun stretch.

And mmm, nape porn. I am definitely pro that happening.