Fake News: Puppy Love (1/3)
Jul. 22nd, 2009 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ptahrrificTitle: Puppy Love (1/3)
Rating: PG-13
Contents: Mentions of sex, sensitive subjects, bizarrely flavored contraceptives, NAMBLA
Characters/pairings: Jon/liberal!"Stephen", past liberal!"Stephen"/teacher, a puppy
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Summary: Another story from the Liberalverse. Jon finally breaks the repressive shackles of the patriarchy by getting a divorce. Surely this means he'll be ready to jump into bed with Stephen now, right? Right?
As demanded bydeepad: "Happy ending! Gay rainbow liberal puppies! Jon refusing to put out until he is convinced Stephen won't go on Oprah to talk about it after!"
Mirror on the AO3.
Puppy Love (Part I)
The news quietly circled among the staff, most of whom took the cue to give Jon plenty of space.
Over the next couple of days, those who were closer to him dropped in with words of sympathy, and the occasional offer to bring over dinner or something. Jon reassured them that he did know how to cook, and had no intention of getting himself stuck with canned soup and granola bars. Besides, he had had months to get used to the idea, even if the legal bits had only just been finalized.
After about a week of this, Stephen showed up for lunch with an overflowing gift basket and a mile-wide grin.
"So," he said, "this means you're available now, right?"
When it came to other people, Jon was much better at holding Stephen back.
He had even gotten a sense of when to pre-empt things. Like the time, a couple of years earlier, when he had caught Stephen alone after a particularly sensitive conversation with the other correspondents.
The actual conversation had gone surprisingly well, and he said so. "You did good, Stephen. I think Sam really appreciated it."
Stephen shrugged modestly. "It's only what any decent person would have said. Sam's body, Sam's choice. Only a far-right moral-majority reactionary fascist would try to make her feel ashamed about choosing not to derail the whole rest of her life because of a little excess in her twenties."
"That would be a pretty dickish thing to do, yeah." Jon let that settle, then added, "You're not going to tell anyone, of course."
Stephen looked up in shock. "Jon! You're not a far-right moral-majority reactionary fascist, are you? If there's nothing shameful about it, then why should she hide it?"
"Because it's personal? Because she doesn't want to deal with gossip and weird stares and people, fascist or not, making judgments about her? It's also her choice whether people get to know about it, Stephen."
"She let us know about it," pointed out Stephen.
"That doesn't mean she wants to share it with the whole world. Listen, until she puts out a press release or starts joking about it on-air, you respect her privacy. No matter how reactionary you think it is. Got it?"
Stephen huffed a sigh. "Fine."
"Good man." Jon turned to leave.
"Just for the record," called Stephen after him, "anything I do, you have my full permission to talk about with anyone you want. I don't do things I would be ashamed for the whole world to know about."
"Stephen, you have no sense of shame."
"Exactly!"
Jon stared at the gift basket in disbelief.
The flowers, candy, and ribbons were all standard issue. The rest, not so much.
"Is this a mint-flavored condom?" he stammered, plucking one of the little colored square wrappers from the bunch. "Who would want to give a blowjob if it tasted like brushing your teeth?"
"You'll be surprised," insisted Stephen. "They go really well with the chocolate body paint."
Jon looked more closely at what he had thought was a jar of sandwich spread. Oh.
"And even if you don't like them," continued Stephen cheerfully, "I think they're great, so they're not going to go to waste."
Dropping the condom like it had scalded him, Jon shoved the basket back across the desk. "What the hell, Stephen?"
His smile unwavering, Stephen blinked. "I don't know, Jon. What the hell?"
"Listen, I don't know how much you've heard, but I'm kind of in a rough spot right now! This is really not the time for you to come in looking to get laid!"
Stephen's face fell. "Jon, I — I thought...."
"You thought what? That you could swoop in while I was vulnerable and take advantage of that?"
"No!" cried Stephen, now genuinely distressed. "I thought you'd be upset! I thought you'd be hurt and sad and want something to help you feel better! And sex always makes me feel better! Especially with one of these in," he added, digging through the basket for something that was probably unspeakably kinky. "You've got to try it, Jon, it's amazing, it—"
"Enough!" interrupted Jon, holding up both hands. "You want to make me feel better, Stephen? You really do?"
"Yes!"
Picking up the basket, Jon thrust the whole thing into Stephen's arms. "Then take this, get out of here, and find some way to comfort me that doesn't involve sex. Or anything related to sex. Or even the merest mention of sex. Understand?"
Okay, so Jon's outburst hadn't been entirely fair.
It wasn't that Stephen thought his feelings were the only ones that mattered. Rather, he figured that everyone's feelings deserved to be heard, on any issue. And he couldn't understand why everyone else wasn't just as willing to share them.
(Jon had figured everyone on the left was rolling their eyes at Glenn Beck's over-the-top displays, until Stephen started playing the worst clips on the Report and gushing over them with tearful admiration.
"Stephen," Jon had protested later, "he's acting like he's seriously unstable."
"It's sad," Stephen had sighed, "that we live in a society where men are punished for having the courage to express their emotions.")
Still, Jon didn't regret the ultimatum. Normally he could hold off Stephen's almost aggressive emoting, keeping him at a manageable distance. Right now, he simply didn't have the energy. And he definitely couldn't handle it as a full-time job.
Jon loved his friend dearly, but if Stephen ever seriously wanted there to be something more between them, he was going to have to learn to rein himself in.
"I don't understand it, Sweetness," mumbled Stephen around the metal tip in his mouth. "He wants me, I know he does. So why doesn't he take me?"
The hookah bubbled soothingly at him.
Stephen sucked in a breath. "He's always like this, you know," he continued, every word sending a puff of smoke rolling down his beard. "I'll show up to an office party in a perfectly casual outfit, and, yeah, it's skintight leather but it's not like there are holes in awkward places, and he'll tell me to run down to wardrobe and put some real pants on. As if I wasn't wearing it for his enjoyment in the first place!"
He stroked Sweetness' pipe absently, sinking deeper into the beanbag chair.
"Or anyone's enjoyment, obviously," he added quickly. "I'm not trying to exclude anyone, here. Just because some people attack me as a moral degenerate doesn't mean they're any less deserving of the sight of my hot bod, right?"
Sucking in another breath, he blew a flurry of smoke rings across the room. (They weren't quite Gandalf-level yet, but he was definitely getting there.)
"Make Jon feel better without using sex," he said doubtfully. "But how am I supposed to find anything else that feels anywhere near as good?"
Sweetness bubbled suggestively.
"No, Sweetness," puffed Stephen, "I'm afraid he's a prude about mind-expanding chemicals, too."
Jon hadn't quite realized how openminded Stephen was, sexually speaking, until the day Stephen started defending NAMBLA.
"You have to admit, though, that our current age-of-consent laws are absurd," he had pressed. "Do you know how many nineteen-year-old boys have gotten jail sentences for having consensual sex with their seventeen-year-old girlfriends in this year alone?"
"No, I don't," Jon had confessed. "How many?"
"Well, I don't know the exact number. But I bet it's a lot!"
Numbers or no numbers, Jon did understand that it happened, and that it was a colossal failure of the system. So he had said as much.
"Exactly!" Stephen had exclaimed. "So you see why we shouldn't have a system at all!"
"Uh...."
"After all, if a precocious, self-possessed, independent high school freshman wants to have a sexual encounter with a much older man, that should be his prerogative."
"I'm not sure—"
"And if it gets him an A on his pottery project, well, that's just icing on the cake!"
"You did it with the art teacher," stammered Jon.
"He was a beautiful man, Jon!" Stephen had snapped. "You'd have tried it too, if you had seen those pillowy lips!"
"Ah! Jon! There you are!" exclaimed Stephen, both hands under his desk. "Come in, and close the door. I have something to show you."
Jon paused on the threshold, looking suddenly wary. "Stephen...you remember what I told you the other day, right?"
"Don't patronize me, Stewart," snapped Stephen. "Just shut the door and get in here, already."
Jon obeyed, though he still looked doubtful. Stephen nodded for him to come closer. Once Jon was standing across from him, Stephen lifted his wriggling treasure onto the (carefully cleared) desk.
The rainbow-colored golden retriever puppy panted happily up at the visitor.
"Oh, wow," breathed Jon, his face now lit by an inner glow. Without seeming to notice it, he lifted his hands.
"His name is Barry," said Stephen proudly. "You want to hold him?"
Now openly smiling, Jon scooped the puppy into his arms.
Rating: PG-13
Contents: Mentions of sex, sensitive subjects, bizarrely flavored contraceptives, NAMBLA
Characters/pairings: Jon/liberal!"Stephen", past liberal!"Stephen"/teacher, a puppy
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Summary: Another story from the Liberalverse. Jon finally breaks the repressive shackles of the patriarchy by getting a divorce. Surely this means he'll be ready to jump into bed with Stephen now, right? Right?
As demanded by
deepad: "Happy ending! Gay rainbow liberal puppies! Jon refusing to put out until he is convinced Stephen won't go on Oprah to talk about it after!"Mirror on the AO3.
Puppy Love (Part I)
The news quietly circled among the staff, most of whom took the cue to give Jon plenty of space.
Over the next couple of days, those who were closer to him dropped in with words of sympathy, and the occasional offer to bring over dinner or something. Jon reassured them that he did know how to cook, and had no intention of getting himself stuck with canned soup and granola bars. Besides, he had had months to get used to the idea, even if the legal bits had only just been finalized.
After about a week of this, Stephen showed up for lunch with an overflowing gift basket and a mile-wide grin.
"So," he said, "this means you're available now, right?"
When it came to other people, Jon was much better at holding Stephen back.
He had even gotten a sense of when to pre-empt things. Like the time, a couple of years earlier, when he had caught Stephen alone after a particularly sensitive conversation with the other correspondents.
The actual conversation had gone surprisingly well, and he said so. "You did good, Stephen. I think Sam really appreciated it."
Stephen shrugged modestly. "It's only what any decent person would have said. Sam's body, Sam's choice. Only a far-right moral-majority reactionary fascist would try to make her feel ashamed about choosing not to derail the whole rest of her life because of a little excess in her twenties."
"That would be a pretty dickish thing to do, yeah." Jon let that settle, then added, "You're not going to tell anyone, of course."
Stephen looked up in shock. "Jon! You're not a far-right moral-majority reactionary fascist, are you? If there's nothing shameful about it, then why should she hide it?"
"Because it's personal? Because she doesn't want to deal with gossip and weird stares and people, fascist or not, making judgments about her? It's also her choice whether people get to know about it, Stephen."
"She let us know about it," pointed out Stephen.
"That doesn't mean she wants to share it with the whole world. Listen, until she puts out a press release or starts joking about it on-air, you respect her privacy. No matter how reactionary you think it is. Got it?"
Stephen huffed a sigh. "Fine."
"Good man." Jon turned to leave.
"Just for the record," called Stephen after him, "anything I do, you have my full permission to talk about with anyone you want. I don't do things I would be ashamed for the whole world to know about."
"Stephen, you have no sense of shame."
"Exactly!"
Jon stared at the gift basket in disbelief.
The flowers, candy, and ribbons were all standard issue. The rest, not so much.
"Is this a mint-flavored condom?" he stammered, plucking one of the little colored square wrappers from the bunch. "Who would want to give a blowjob if it tasted like brushing your teeth?"
"You'll be surprised," insisted Stephen. "They go really well with the chocolate body paint."
Jon looked more closely at what he had thought was a jar of sandwich spread. Oh.
"And even if you don't like them," continued Stephen cheerfully, "I think they're great, so they're not going to go to waste."
Dropping the condom like it had scalded him, Jon shoved the basket back across the desk. "What the hell, Stephen?"
His smile unwavering, Stephen blinked. "I don't know, Jon. What the hell?"
"Listen, I don't know how much you've heard, but I'm kind of in a rough spot right now! This is really not the time for you to come in looking to get laid!"
Stephen's face fell. "Jon, I — I thought...."
"You thought what? That you could swoop in while I was vulnerable and take advantage of that?"
"No!" cried Stephen, now genuinely distressed. "I thought you'd be upset! I thought you'd be hurt and sad and want something to help you feel better! And sex always makes me feel better! Especially with one of these in," he added, digging through the basket for something that was probably unspeakably kinky. "You've got to try it, Jon, it's amazing, it—"
"Enough!" interrupted Jon, holding up both hands. "You want to make me feel better, Stephen? You really do?"
"Yes!"
Picking up the basket, Jon thrust the whole thing into Stephen's arms. "Then take this, get out of here, and find some way to comfort me that doesn't involve sex. Or anything related to sex. Or even the merest mention of sex. Understand?"
Okay, so Jon's outburst hadn't been entirely fair.
It wasn't that Stephen thought his feelings were the only ones that mattered. Rather, he figured that everyone's feelings deserved to be heard, on any issue. And he couldn't understand why everyone else wasn't just as willing to share them.
(Jon had figured everyone on the left was rolling their eyes at Glenn Beck's over-the-top displays, until Stephen started playing the worst clips on the Report and gushing over them with tearful admiration.
"Stephen," Jon had protested later, "he's acting like he's seriously unstable."
"It's sad," Stephen had sighed, "that we live in a society where men are punished for having the courage to express their emotions.")
Still, Jon didn't regret the ultimatum. Normally he could hold off Stephen's almost aggressive emoting, keeping him at a manageable distance. Right now, he simply didn't have the energy. And he definitely couldn't handle it as a full-time job.
Jon loved his friend dearly, but if Stephen ever seriously wanted there to be something more between them, he was going to have to learn to rein himself in.
"I don't understand it, Sweetness," mumbled Stephen around the metal tip in his mouth. "He wants me, I know he does. So why doesn't he take me?"
The hookah bubbled soothingly at him.
Stephen sucked in a breath. "He's always like this, you know," he continued, every word sending a puff of smoke rolling down his beard. "I'll show up to an office party in a perfectly casual outfit, and, yeah, it's skintight leather but it's not like there are holes in awkward places, and he'll tell me to run down to wardrobe and put some real pants on. As if I wasn't wearing it for his enjoyment in the first place!"
He stroked Sweetness' pipe absently, sinking deeper into the beanbag chair.
"Or anyone's enjoyment, obviously," he added quickly. "I'm not trying to exclude anyone, here. Just because some people attack me as a moral degenerate doesn't mean they're any less deserving of the sight of my hot bod, right?"
Sucking in another breath, he blew a flurry of smoke rings across the room. (They weren't quite Gandalf-level yet, but he was definitely getting there.)
"Make Jon feel better without using sex," he said doubtfully. "But how am I supposed to find anything else that feels anywhere near as good?"
Sweetness bubbled suggestively.
"No, Sweetness," puffed Stephen, "I'm afraid he's a prude about mind-expanding chemicals, too."
Jon hadn't quite realized how openminded Stephen was, sexually speaking, until the day Stephen started defending NAMBLA.
"You have to admit, though, that our current age-of-consent laws are absurd," he had pressed. "Do you know how many nineteen-year-old boys have gotten jail sentences for having consensual sex with their seventeen-year-old girlfriends in this year alone?"
"No, I don't," Jon had confessed. "How many?"
"Well, I don't know the exact number. But I bet it's a lot!"
Numbers or no numbers, Jon did understand that it happened, and that it was a colossal failure of the system. So he had said as much.
"Exactly!" Stephen had exclaimed. "So you see why we shouldn't have a system at all!"
"Uh...."
"After all, if a precocious, self-possessed, independent high school freshman wants to have a sexual encounter with a much older man, that should be his prerogative."
"I'm not sure—"
"And if it gets him an A on his pottery project, well, that's just icing on the cake!"
"You did it with the art teacher," stammered Jon.
"He was a beautiful man, Jon!" Stephen had snapped. "You'd have tried it too, if you had seen those pillowy lips!"
"Ah! Jon! There you are!" exclaimed Stephen, both hands under his desk. "Come in, and close the door. I have something to show you."
Jon paused on the threshold, looking suddenly wary. "Stephen...you remember what I told you the other day, right?"
"Don't patronize me, Stewart," snapped Stephen. "Just shut the door and get in here, already."
Jon obeyed, though he still looked doubtful. Stephen nodded for him to come closer. Once Jon was standing across from him, Stephen lifted his wriggling treasure onto the (carefully cleared) desk.
The rainbow-colored golden retriever puppy panted happily up at the visitor.
"Oh, wow," breathed Jon, his face now lit by an inner glow. Without seeming to notice it, he lifted his hands.
"His name is Barry," said Stephen proudly. "You want to hold him?"
Now openly smiling, Jon scooped the puppy into his arms.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-22 10:46 pm (UTC)Rainbow puppy = adorable, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-22 11:09 pm (UTC)I love that there's still a Sweetness. And the Gandalf smoke rings! Oh Stephen, you are nerdy in any universe.
(Weird typo: there's an extra 'what' in Stephen's line about Glenn Beck.)
It's late and I can't figure out how to log in but I'm rissaofthesaiyajin, honest.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-22 11:31 pm (UTC)I think the most interesting thing to me about the dynamics of Jon/liberal!"Stephen" is how their conversations seem to start out with Jon agreeing with Stephen, and then watching in disbelief as Stephen takes that logic way past the limits of sanity.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 12:31 am (UTC)On the other hand, I've been friends with both types successfully, and the only person I've ever had to cut ties with was the ultraconservative type. (He was kind and charming and enthusiastic and geeky and firmly believed that all Muslims are violent.) So it probably depends on the person. And at least ultaliberal types are willing to be argued out of crazy positions, rather than clinging to them no matter what the facts.
And the conservatives don't have rainbow puppies =3
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 12:40 am (UTC)Figuring out the liberal equivalents of c!"Stephen"'s various quirks is so much fun.
(Ack. Fixed.)
Go here, type in "rissaofthesaiya.livejournal.com", and click "login". Should be pretty straightforward from there!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 12:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 01:05 am (UTC)That part of their dynamic is so weird to write. Because c!"Stephen" so often skewers a position by taking it to its extreme, but with l!"Stephen" I don't actually want to skewer the moderate version (well, most of the time). So Jon ends up championing that, and then feeling weird because Stephen's principles sound like things he ought to agree with...and yet.
Glad you like!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 01:13 am (UTC)All of which is the ironic counterpart to every fic we've ever written in which the emotional climax is "Stephen, you need to talk about these things." =3
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 01:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 01:35 am (UTC)FSDF;LKJSDFLKJSDFLKJSADFLKJ;SFDALKJ SWEETNESS THE HOOKAH
FDSAKHFSDAKFSDA KLJFSDA GEOFFREY
PUPPY. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 01:36 am (UTC)A SYNERGY
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 01:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 02:18 am (UTC)I love the liberalverse so much.
I sort of think it's harder sometimes to like l!Stephen because if something bad (along the lines of, say, being taken advantage of as a child...) has happened to c!Stephen, he just pretends it didn't happen, but l!Stephen pretends he liked/wanted/caused it. Denial is a bit easier to feel sorry for. Also, I'd assume most of your readers are rather liberal... people do tend to get more annoyed at the flaws they might have a little of themselves.
Or maybe that's just my demented interpretation. :P
Also..."pillowy lips"...
I see what you did there. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 02:19 am (UTC)OMG SWEEETTTNEESSS! AND PUPPY!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 03:10 am (UTC)Also, Sweetness the Hookah was hysterical!
~A. Fann
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 03:29 am (UTC)But I really have to hand it to l!Stephen, puppies are good at cheering people up, and he went home and put a lot of thought into it what might make Jon less upset under his friend's conditions and even consulted his beloved Sweetness (who is awesome as his hookah, by the way.) Good job, Stephen! :)
I remember that TDS episode after 9-11, when Jon was trying to cheer up the country and pulled a puppy out from under his desk as the moment of zen, a puppy is such a good choice for this fic. And awww, its name is Barry. I have to wonder if that's after the great liberal Obama. You don't know how tickled I am that this is a three-parter.
I've read some of the comments on liberal-Stephen, and I'm not sure how I feel about him. I find him likable and sympathetic (important for any "Stephen," I think,) especially in that last story where he's attacked by this men, says that he's going to forgive him; and when Jon pushes the subject, he nearly goes off, saying that he can't allow all of that hate to come out. I thought it was important that he wasn't just a mirror charicature, that he could sort of exist on his own and not be completely oblivious.
I don't know why he rubs me the wrong way, sometimes; maybe it's that I'm used to hearing the radical right viewpoints on television and from TCR, but I found myself hoping that c!Stephen might pop up and give him a noogie in some never-would-be scneario. But, then I thought that l!Stephen might just snap and whoop his ass. Either a very good or bad thing that the first Sweetness is a gun.
Actually, he sort of reminds me of Chuck Noblet. Like, instead of Noblet desperately "mastering" being straight, l!Stephen really does believe somewhat in liberalism and really mastered it from a younger age. I think where I see the similarity is this undercurrent of, "This man is unstable, he's getting to be really unhappy, and shit, it's going to get ugly."
And damn it, I hope that art teacher wasn't Jellineck! Scratch that, it's awesome having that hint of Geoffrey, but this loopy Stephen might do well with someone so soft and ... free-spirit-y. Actually, that might scare him, since he has described himself as bewing a bit angry or afraid of being angry, but Geoffrey seems ... indestructible. Maybe he needs a Geoffrey. (Scratches head)
Anyway, I really just wanted to say that I liked the story. I never meant to analyze and be off about a character that isn't mine and how funny it would be if a bunch of crazy junk happened to him in my own mind. So, you might want to ignore a good 3/4 of this review. Don't take it to heart. ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:06 am (UTC)♥ at all of this :D
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:09 am (UTC)IT'S HARD TO SPOT TYPOS WHEN YOU'RE SMOKING CRACK COCAINE MANG
ALSO I WANT THAT GEOFFREY FIC NOW NGL
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:20 am (UTC)On the other hand, I do think it's easier to get righteously angry on l!Stephen's behalf. Because he won't do that himself, whereas c!Stephen is already so angry that you just want to calm him down.
And, yeah, it's definitely easier to laugh at a parody when you're not the target =)
Muahahaha. Stealth!Geoffrey =3
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:21 am (UTC)So, um, everyone's talking about how much they loved Sweetness in this story, but I almost had a heart attack when I read that, because I thought he had the gun in his mouth and was mumbling depressed things. STOP TRYING TO KILL ME.
Also, this is all kinds of awesome. SWC reference FTW. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:26 am (UTC)ALSO.
OKAY, LOOK. ARE YOU SERIOUSLY BUNNYING ME TO WRITE ICKLE!TEEN!ABUSE!FIC. BECAUSE THERE IS HONEST DRAMATIC POTENTIAL THERE AND IT IS SOMETHING I MIGHT CONSIDER WRITING. BUT ONLY IF I GET TO BLAME IT ALL ON YOU.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:29 am (UTC)It doesn't inspire quite the same "oh, you poor thing" feeling as a secret shame that you have to coax out of someone, though.
That's exactly what I meant.
Stealth!Geoffery is wonder and glory. Like rainbow puppies.
But you know what? I love any version of "Stephen", because no matter how fucked up he is either way, he always tries so, so hard to make the world what he thinks is 'better place'. Much more than anyone else, even if they're more...sane.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:32 am (UTC)OH DO IT
THOUGH I MEAN IT IS HARD FOR ME TO SEE GEOFFREY SEXUALLY ABUSING ANYONE TBQH
HIS SOUL IS JUST SO PURE AND FRESH LIKE A PAINTING OF ALL THE COLORS OF THE WIND
IDK
IT COULD BE LIKE
SOME KIND OF HORRIBLE, NUANCED, TWISTED LOVE
ALL FESTERING AND DELICIOUS LIKE THAT
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:51 am (UTC)I like to think l!Stephen is sympathetic in his own way. A little pathetic on some measures, as is c!Stephen, but honestly tragic on others.
And I think it's entirely reasonable to want c!Stephen to show up and smack him :D Just as c!Stephen needs to open up more, to have people pull him close, l!Stephen needs to put up more boundaries, to have people push him back. (In a delicious paradox, he can't develop a true, close friendship with someone unless that person makes a sustained effort to keep a healthy distance between them.)
Although, unfortunately, a meeting between the two of them wouldn't get very far. They would each see the huge gaping flaws in the other, and both walk away all the more convinced that their path is the right one.
I think l!Stephen is a spiritual cousin to Geoffrey, in much the way c!Stephen is related to Chuck. Geoffrey has the whole "sensitive, over-emotional, in touch with his feelings" thing going on, along with the "pathological pacifist" (he, too, lets himself get viciously beaten by a homophobe) and "much too forgiving" (see: his continued relationship with Chuck).
In my head, the time spent with Geoffrey helped to shape a lot of ickle!liberal!Stephen's views, starting with "it is totally okay for us to have sex, even though we're both male...and also even though you're fourteen." L!Stephen aspires to be that kind of gentle, accepting, happy free spirit. But of course Geoffrey never modeled any kind of healthy-boundary-setting, and Stephen never learned to see boundaries as anything but harmful walls that need to be torn down.
Psh, the character isn't mine either! He's a canon character, same as c!Stephen. And if the mood strikes you, you should totally write fic about him some time.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-23 04:58 am (UTC)I wasn't trying to kill you, I swear! I thought about holding off the "oh, yeah, she's a hookah" revelation for a few more lines, but I figured, no, better put it in that second paragraph, so nobody will seriously freak out because they won't have the time.
Thank you :D