Fandom -- Pairing

Explanation

I read all of Mona's TS slash in one night. (This was years ago, there were only about 30 stories on her site at the time.) I was wowed. Floored. I had been reading het fic, and this was so much more intense I was amazed. It was hot and emotionally charged. I couldn't get enough. TS was my first slash fandom. I love the Sentinel/Guide bond that pervades the fiction. It made everything slightly mystical and more intense. I love that. I love the sense of transgression, in that Jim is a cop. It's a serious thing for him to fall for a guy. It's a serious thing if his collegues find out. This all just makes TS slash more intense for me, and ultimately it's the intensity of emotion that draws me to a fandom.

Highlander -- Duncan/Methos

Highlander slash I mostly like because I love Methos and, at one point, I thought Adrian Paul (Duncan) was drop dead gorgeous. Duncan pisses me off now, though, so I don't read a whole lot of HL slash anymore. But I used to love reading Methos seducing the younger Immortal. I was particularly fond of reading fics featuring the possible mystical repercussions of the shared quickening Duncan and Methos experienced.

Another favorite aspect of HL slash was what would happen if/when the Watchers found out about the DM/M relationship. I read almost exclusively first time stories, but my one exception is the "coming out" or "discovery" story, and these can be very good in HL fandom.

X-Files -- Mulder/Krycek

I admit freely that I got into this pairing because I thought both Mulder and Krycek were to die for. //grins// I'm still sweet on Nick Lea, but have soured on David Duchovny.

The attraction of XF fandom was it's *darkness*. It was very different from anything else I had read. The dynamic between Mulder and Krycek was even more intense, because it existed despite all this betrayal and history between them. There was a connection there, one they couldn't deny. I liked that.

I also liked the idea that Mulder might go over to the "dark side", as it were. I love plot lines in which one character is converted to the other side. It doesn't matter if it's from evil to good or from good to evil, as long as there's a change. Even a change in faith will do, if it's a big enough issue with the character. I love seeing the character fight with themself, struggling with their loyalty on the one hand and their growing sympathy on the other. I love that moment when they give in. These stories aren't all that common in fan fic in general, but X-Files has a decent batch.

Stargate SG-1 -- Jack/Daniel

Umm. Don't know what to say. I've been out of SG-1 fandom for so long I can't remember why I liked it. I haven't read a word in years and years.

Once a Thief -- Mac/Vic

Okay, Mac and Vic I love because they're *fun*. Not to mention the slash jumped off the screen at you, even after only one movie and one season. They tease each other. They *play*. And they both pursue a woman that each of them has been seriously involved with, and yet who has made clear her lack of continuing interest in either of them. Can we say sublimation/redirection? //grins//

Mac and Vic laugh. They play. They have potential emotional issues, but you can choose whether or not you want to deal with those. A good story doesn't have to deal with them. You can have *fun* with these two. I love them for that.

Mac and Vic remain my favourite couple in any fandom. I like writing them, I like reading them, and the diversity of stories they appear in is like candy. You can find a good Mac/Vic story with pretty much any theme you want. Plus there's a good supply of mild D/s in OaT fandom. I like it mild - if it gets heavy, I get a wee bit squicked (depending on the writer) but I adore the mild stuff.

From Eroica With Love -- Dorian/Klaus

Eroica is one of those rare fandoms in which 99% of the fiction is really, really, really well written. Actually, I've *never* read an Eroica story I didn't like.

The downside of Eroica is that it is a manga fandom. I've never read the canon. Came to it through and OaT crossover. However, Dorian and Klaus are compelling characters. Dorian is flamboyantly gay, Klause is so repressed he practically doesn't have a sexual orientation. Every story has me just *itching* to see Klaus surrender to Dorian's charms. (My conversion kink again.) And it's beautiful when he does surrender.

I always come back and reread Eroica fic because it's so damned good. There just isn't enough of it. Never will be.

Homicide -- Mike/Mel

I wandered into this pairing because I had run out of fic to read in other pairings. I stayed because I was intrigued by the possibilities in a couple of episodes of H:LotS. There were some very interesting possibilities in the Mike/Mel relationship. It was very volatile, and they both had emotional issues that just screamed for elaboration. Plus there's that whole cop-transgression thing again.

I will admit that there is an aesthetic interest here, too. I love the mental image of mixed race pairings. Please don't be offended by that - I just love how it looks on a purely visual level.

I must admit that I didn't do much writing in this fandom. The dynamics are a little too far out of my realm of experience, and the audience was very, very hostile and demanding. A hostile fandom does not prompt readers to stay.

Deep Space Nine -- Garak/Bashir

Another fandom that I wandered into as a result of running out of fic in other fandoms. This one I stayed with awhile.

I like Garak and Bashir primarily for their character dynamic. Bashir is so idealistic. He believes that people are good and worth saving and that the world is an improving place, if not a *good* place. On the other hand, Garak is exceptionally jaded. He doesn't believe in anything anymore. They quite obviously find each other fascinating.

The shared lunches are a beautiful launching point for slashy thoughts. That Julian is Garak's only friend is good for a little angsty exploration as well. There is a kind of mentor/student relationship here, but there's nothing paternal about it. At times Garak seems only to be humouring Bashin. At other times, it's almost as if Julian is being trained.

One aspect I was very disappointed not to see explored more in the canon was Julian's genetic enhancements. They could have done so much with that...and didn't. I like reading the stories where this figures in, because I think it's a very heavy, emotional issue for Julian. He has all sorts of insecurities and issues about it that a few well placed on screen words aren't going to dismiss.

The Phantom Menace -- Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan

Prior to this movie, slash between characters that were obviously intended to have a father/son relationship totally squicked me. I'm not sure what made this pairing different. It might be that Qui-Gon is so alive and vital that I couldn't think of him as old. Or maybe the first "master" out of Obi-Wan's mouth dismissed all platonic possibilities. //grins//

My favourite part of the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan relationship is the potential inherent in the Force. You can fashion any kind of bond out of it that you want. And I like the idea of bonds. Meant to be. //shrugs// I'm a romantic.

My other favourite part is inherent in the nature of the Star Wars universe. Just by virtue of the universe, innumerable AUs and pre-movie plots are possible. You can pretty much design a world to fit your plot. It's wonderfully freeing.

Another interesting part of this pairing is the fact that the Jedi are, when you come down to it, pretty repressed. Qui-Gon is better than most and Obi-Wan takes after him, but they don't exactly allow their control to slip. Practically ever. Which makes Obi-Wan's grief all the more powerful, and the idea of fracturing that control more attractive.

Angel -- Angel/Doyle

It's a very long story how I got into this fandom and pairing. Suffice to say that the attraction of this pairing is my vampire kink. I love vampires. I think they're sexy as hell. And I like bloodplay, but only when the party cut heals almost immediately. Vampires fulfill the requirement.

I admit freely that Angel himself is something of an accessory. The character I got into this pairing for is Doyle. I really missed him when he left. The potential angst in his self-consciousness about his half-demon nature was beautiful. And I loved his accent.

Angel -- Angel/Wesley

As much as I like Doyle, this pairing has a little more kick to it. And more fodder from canon comments and events. "Hop on, gorgeous" - Wesley to Angel. Once again, I'm in it more for Wesley than for Angel. Wes is a bookworm on the surface. A dork, even. But he has incredible depth to be explored, which we've been seeing the past year or so.

Wes's expulsion from the Watchers and his resulting need for purpose were particularly attractive to me, in the beginning. As his character grew, I just enjoyed the on screen interaction more and more. Plus, Wes in Angel is very attractive. IMHO.

Batman -- Wayne/Grayson

I was in chat one day and a friend mentioned Batman slash. I expressed my disbelief and got rather squicked. She challenged me to read some. That's all she wrote. //sighs//

I really only got into this fandom because I found some very well written fic, and I left it pretty quickly. But while I was there, what I most enjoyed was the dynamic created by the fact that Bruce Wayne (and Dick Grayson, to a lesser degree) practically had a split personality. Batman and Bruce were very separate in his mind. I liked playing off of that.

Mortal Kombat -- Johnny/Rayden

I was the first person to write in this fandom, and after me there was only one other person who wrote a single fic. And that because I badgered her into it. I wish more people would write M/K. I love the pairing, but there just isn't much canon to go on.

I like these two together just because Johnny is so arrogant he *would* go for a god, and Rayden is really just an oversized mischief maker. They'd have fun together. But that wouldn't be all it was. I don't know that many people noticed, but in the entire Mortal Kombat movie, Johnny was the only competitor who truly understood what Mortal Kombat was about. Just because Liu Kang won doesn't mean he understood the philosophy, just that he took the event seriously.

The way I see it, Johnny's understanding of this creates a bond between him and Rayden. Possibilities.

X-Men The Movie -- Scott/Logan

So I had to see this movie 5 times before I got the slash. I still eventually saw it. Even so, all my fiction in this fandom tended to be gen fic.

My interest in this pairing is engendered by a couple of things. First of all, Scott is so paranoid about control that its almost unhealthy. He has to be, for safety reasons, but I got the idea that that need for control would distance him from most people. Only someone who could challenge that control, take it away from him, could get close to him.

Enter Logan. He's physical strength versus Scott's mental/mutant strength. He's instinct versus Scott's control. He's powerful in a very primal way. The very visceral nature of his character makes him terribly attractive. I love the possessive element that usually accompanies fics about these two. I love the idea of making love being *mating*. There's an intensity there that you don't find in most pairings.

due South -- Fraser/RayK

Hey, don't throw that! //grins// I swing both Rays, I really do, but I just *can't* slash Ray Vecchio. His character screams "straight" at me. //shrugs// Plus I don't find RayV the least bit attractive and that is, usually, a necessary factor for me in couples I slash.

Ray Kowalski, now. He is droolworthy. And his character is...funky. He's a hard assed cop who is a romantic at heart. He's aggressive, but it covers some pretty intense insecurity. He believe in true love and love at first sight. Best of all, he needles Fraser until that repressed Mountie actually comes out of his shell - even if it is often with snarkiness.

That's a big part of the attraction of this pairing. Breaking down the walls Fraser has built around himself. Plus I have a weakness for the angst that comes with slash relationships in cop shows. It's a big deal to be gay in the police. I love the tension that creates, and I love it even more when the secret comes out.

I am, obviously, in this pairing for RayK. I love his idiosyncracies. I love that he'll "try anything once". I love that he's head over heels for Stella, even if she is a bitch. I like how he wears a gun holster best of all. //evil grin//

Sports Night -- Danny/Casey

The biggest attraction of Sports Night fiction is that it's really, really well written. The vast majority of Sports Night writers actually have a large vocabulary, perfect grammer (or at least a beta reader with good grammer) and some skill with actual expression. It's a joy to read Sports Night fiction.

The character attaction is simply this - Danny and Casey have been friends for more than 10 years. What finally breaks habit and control?

*NSYNC -- Lance/JC

Yes, this is RPS (Real Person Slash). No, I don't care. I'm just having fun, writing down a fantasy or two to share with like-minded people. I refuse to be embarassed/ashamed/guilty about it.

So, why Lance/JC? Truthfully, I was dragged kicking and screaming into this fandom by a friend. You know who you are. //grins// Once she got me liking *NSYNC in general she got me thinking about slashing them. Me being an incurable OTPer (a believe in One True Pairings), I went for the couple that seemed to fit the idea of happily-ever-after best. I don't mean fit as in real life evidence. I mean fit as in the kind of fiction that gets written about them.

In any case, just looking at many of the picture of these two is enough to set the imagination going. Not so much lately, but around the time of No Strings Attached the two seemed attached at the hip. It's really cute/sweet looking.

One particularly fun part of writing these two is that we don't really know a whole lot about them personally, and what we do know can be reinterpreted in a hundred different ways. This means that you can write these boys pretty much anyway you like, though some characterisations do tend to dominate. Plus, this fandom lends itself very well to extremem AUs. The ones where the characters are dropped into 100% different settings with 100% different histories. I love those kinds of AUs, even if they might as well be original fic. I still enjoy them.

The thing about Lance/JC fiction is that is mostly sucks. Roughly, it's 10% very good, 15% enjoyable, and 75% shitty. I read about 60% total - I read a lot of shitty fiction.

Secret Adventures of Jules Verne -- Phileas/Jules

Another fandom into which I was dragged, though I really didn't protest that much. //grins// The fascinating thing about Jules and Phileas is how in awe of each other they are. Jules for Phileas' skills as a spy (British agent, whatever), Phileas for Jules' intellect. They dance around each other, each not quite sure how to handle the other.

Also, I have this weird fascination with suicidal characters. Don't ask why - I think it's got something to do with the fact that I can't quite wrap my mind around life getting so bad you have to end it. I'm intrigued as to how somehow gets that low, and what could bring them back. Phileas definitely has suicidal tendencies. In one particular set of episodes, he courts death quite blatently.

Jurassic Park 3 -- Alan/Billy

I saw the movie and didn't see the slash, but the moment I got online that night a friend was babbling to me about it and pretty soon Alan was there in my head, whispering stuff that I had to write. Figures. //grins//

So, what's the attraction of these two? Three words: On screen moments.

1. At the beginning, we see Alan with Ellie's child. But the two of them aren't together. She's married to someone else. Which is unusual, considering the end of JP1. They were obviously meant to be a couple there. So what happened?
2. Back at the dig, we first see Billy leaning over a skeleton with an attractive young woman who is definitely flirting with him. He seems to be flirting back, except that the moment Alan arrives back in camp Billy *jumps* up and runs over to him, the girl 100% forgotten.
3. When Alan is about to reject Mr. Kirby's dinner invitation, Billy steps in and accepts for both of them. And Alan doesn't protest at all, just gets this half-amused, half-tolerant look on his face.
4. Throughout the flight and the subsequent events, Alan expresses his desire for Billy's companionship frequently. Not his expertise or his help, just his company.
5. After they are separated, despite Alan's warnings about making noise, Billy calls for his repeatedly.
6. When Alan discovers the raptor eggs, he's disproportionately upset. (Those we love have greater power to hurt/disappoint us than those that don't.)
7. Obviously desperate to regain Alan's good opinion of him, Billy embarks on an action that will almost certainly get him killed.
8. Despite his rejection of Billy upon discovering the eggs, when he sees Billy is going to jump off the catwalk to save Eric, Alan runs *screaming* down the walkway and damn near follows him over the edge trying to hold him back.
9. When they are reunited...well, there's just this moment of chemistry. It's there in the whole film, but it really jumps out at you at the end.

Harry Potter -- Sirius/Remus

I love werewolves. Plus wolves mate for life. It's not too much of a stretch to say that werewolves do, too. This adds all sorts of interesting dimensions. Like, if they mated before Sirius went to Azkaban, how could their bond survive?

Plus I like bad guys, and Sirius was a "bad guy" for most of the book. The fact that he's still on the run has possibilites.

The hardest aspect to describe for these two is that I just like how they're written. And, to me, they seem to have a lot of unexplored history. Makes the imagination bubble.

Smallville -- Clark/Lex

I swore I wouldn't get into this fandom. I really did. It didn't work. There were too many people out to convert me. In any case, I'm glad I got converted, because it's been way too long since I've been in a fandom that Te was also in. It was her fic that did me in, actually. (The "Project" series - gah. Yum.) And may I say, I love the idea of totally hairless Lex. Even if he does have eyebrows on the show.

I think the angst and tension in this pairing is fairly obvious. After all, they do turn out to be enemies, and Lex is supposed to be a Bad Guy. But they have such chemistry on screen! And there are a lot of slashy moments. It's so slashy it's barely even subtext - and I've only seen the second episode as of now (October 29, 2001). I can't wait to see the first.

Mutant X -- Brennan/Jesse

Okay, this fandom doesn't count as an obsession, but I'm certainly enjoying whatever fic I find. There isn't a whole lot of it. The reason this fandom isn't an obsession? The show sucks. I mean, really sucks. I watch it for the pretty people. Because everyone is really pretty. And it is kind of fun, depsite not being high quality.

Much of the appeal is that Brennan is pretty much custom designed to appeal to me. He's exactly my type, plus he's got the mutant ability I always liked best even *before* seeing this show or any other. Shooting electricity out of your hands is just neat.

Star Trek: The Original Series -- Kirk/Spock

Surprised to find this at the *end* of the chronological listing? //grins// Well, it happened like this... I've been a Trekkie (Trekker, whatever) since before I was a slasher. Pretty much always. I started with Next Gen, watched DS9 for a couple of years, and tried Voyager briefly. (Incidentally, I am now watching all 5 series regularly, though Voyager and DS9 less regularly than the other three). I never watched TOS. //shrugs// Not sure why. But then Space ran a kind of marathon. Every Sunday for six weeks they played one of the original six movies. I watched 'em all, because there were a couple I hadn't seen before.

Then I started noticing something. Now, don't get me wrong, I *knew* about K/S. I wrote a paper on the history of slash - of course I knew about it! I just never got it before. I'd never seen TOS, and hadn't seen the movies either ever, or since before I knew about slash at all. So, watcing them through new (and more corrupted) eyes, the subtext was suddenly beating me over the head with a stick.

So I thought, "Why not? I'll just see what all the fuss is about."

Sucker. //grins// I somehow failed to realize until reading the fic that the fact that Spock isn't supposed to have emotions means that when they do manifest, the entire scenario becomes intensely emotionally charged. Above all other things I have mentioned above, that is what I like in a pairing. Intense emotion. Overwhelmingly intense emotion.

So, for me, that's pretty much the one attraction of K/S. Well, that and the subtext-so-blatant-it-isn't-*sub*-anymore.

Wild Wild West -- Jim West/Artemus Gordon

Welcome to the return of fandoms I started reading because I was desperate for fic and I couldn't find anything I felt like reading the fandoms I knew before. To tell the truth, I'd heard of Wild Wild West fic before, not knowing that there was an original TV series before the movie. The movie *was* pretty slashy, though, so went I went fandom browsing I decided to give the fic a shot.

At which point, of course, I realized that these fics were based on the series. But hey, I've been sucked into fandoms I hadn't seen the canon for before, so I didn't worry about it. //grins// The fic is good, the angst is light, and I love the partnership angle. (Gee, like I haven't read that before. //grins//)

Of course, now I'm going to have to buy zines. There are a lot more WWW zines out there than there is fiction on the web. Thank goodness I have very few expensive hobbies, because zines cost an arm and a leg after taking into account shipping and exchange rate.

The Invisible Man -- Darien/Bobby

See desperation comments above. //grins// Wild Wild West didn't last me long - it's a pretty small fandom. I started reading Invisible Man because...well, I don't really know why. I hadn't seen the canon at the time, and neither of the guys are really to my tastes. Hmmmm. Someone must have linked to it right at the moment I was desperate...

Well, however I got into it, I became addicted pretty fast. Polished off the archive in three days. I think the thing about this pairing that's so different and interesting is that both of the boys are treading the edge of sanity. Darien because of Quicksilver Madness (most fics are set prior to the series finale) and Hobbes because of his psychological problems.

Of course, after I started watching the canon, the banter just made it better. Bobby and Darien are *really* slashy. It's a great partnership. And damn USA/Sci-Fi/whoever for cancelling it! I'm now engaged in a desperate run of taping. I *really* hope that Space (the Canadian version of Sci-Fi) doesn't stop running it after they finish the second season, because I'm missing the first half of the first season. I'm *this close* to buying tapes.

Right, anyway, love the (in)sanity dynamic. And the partnership dynamic. And the age dynamic - although I don't know why so many fics play this up. Bobby isn't that much older than Darien.

Big Wolf On Campus -- Tommy/Merton

Okay, so getting into this fandom was totally unintentional. I was browsing the Wake Up Gay archive and ran across a BWOC fic. It wasn't even that good. Just kind of amusing. So I decided to see if there was anymore out there. I vaguely remembered seeing the last 5 minutes of it when it was on before Buffy (when I was watching Buffy), but all I remembered was a guy with funky hair and a guy with *really* bad werewolf makeup.

I found a really surprising amount of fiction lurking on the web. Devoured most of it in one night. So I decided I'd better check out the canon. Good god. Really bad werewolf makeup is right. On the other hand, I laughed a lot. That's weird for me - I almost never laugh out loud at stuff that's meant to be comedy. And it was pretty slashy. And Merton's kind of neat (even if he isn't really a Goth).

So I kept watching, rather embarassed at myself, but enjoying it. And Merton and Tommy kind of crept into my head, hand in hand. Which is so weird, because normally one character takes up residence and the other one I have to work on. Nope, these guys tag teamed me. Which is probably the reason why I broke a year long resolution not to write fan fic anymore. (I've managed to rationalize all my reasons for not writing it and am allowing myself to again, on a very, very limited basis.)

Anyway, I'm babbling. Why do I like them? (1) I love the secret identity bit, (2) I kind of identify with Merton, (3) they amuse me, (4) I love the best buddy dynamic, (5) I love Merton's insecurities, (6) I love that Merton can be completely anti-macho and still be a guy (i.e. he's doesn't strike me as femme, he's just not stereotypical - at all), (7) I love the possibilites inherent in the wolfiness (i.e. mating for life, pack mentality, dominance, enhanced sense of smell), and (8) good god, but they provide a lot of slash fodder. I can't even begin to list it.

Babylon 5 -- Marcus/Neroon

Okay, I got into this pairing in a really roundabout way. I wasn't so sure I wanted to slash B5, but I always have slash on the brain, so I went looking to see what there was. I knew I didn't want to slash Sinclair, Sheridan, or any of the women; it so happens that the first one I ran across was Lennier/Garibaldi. That didn't work for me at all, but the Lennier bits weren't too bad, so then I checked out a Lennier/Marcus fic. It was okay, not great but okay, so I checked out a couple others. One of the others was a series also featuring Marcus/Neroon. Now that clicked!

But why did it click? After all, not only do they only meet once on screen, when they do meet they try to kill each other. I mean, really, seriously, try. And then they both die less than a season later. So what's the hook?

Well, at least a part of it is that the aftermath of the fight scene between them was never properly resolved. I'm not blaming JMS for this - he was originally expecting to have two seasons to work all the details out, and then they told him no season 5, so he had to move fast. But it does leave the viewer wanting. When you see a man as honorable (and stubborn) as Neroon experience a moment in which a real shift in perception occurs, and he breaks a vow (the fight was to be to the death) because of it, you expect a little resolution. Were there repercussions for his breaking that vow? Were his other perceptions affected? How? etc. etc.

I like to read fic exploring those ideas. And I like to see how that moment would affect the dynamic between Marcus and Neroon. Me being a slash, I like to see that dynamic turn...more dynamic. <g>

Rising Stars -- John Simon/Randy Fisk

Well, I've finally managed to do it. I've sucked myself into a fandom for which there is no fic at all. No slash. No gen. No het. Nothing. What did I expect? Rising Stars is a comic book, after all. A new, superhero comic. It is also absolutely fantastic.

Also, there isn't any real slashiness between John and Randy. They have a considerable number of scenes together (taking into account the cast of characters and scope of the storyline), but they're definitely just friends. John might be closer to Randy than he is to any of the other (might be), but that's about it.

The reasons I slash them have more to do with me than them. First of all, I like to slash my fandoms. //shrugs// It kind of makes me feel more involved in the fandom. Second, I *adore* Randy's costume. The effect may have been intended to be creepy, but I find it more...sexually charged. //grins// Third, I like that they look alike. Okay, I know, they're brothers...but they didn't grow up that way. And there aren't gonna be kids or anything. So that pretty much voids the taboo for me.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- Spike/Xander

Okay, I got into this in a complicated way. However, the short version is that I was wandering through Buffy fandom, spotted the pairing, wanted some fic, shrugged and went for it. And believe you me, after months and months in fandoms (the previous three in this list) with *NO* fic, Spike/Xander was heaven. I gorged myself for three weeks straight and *still* didn't have to do the scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel, reading-the-shitty-fics thing. In fact, there's so much fic that by the time I ran out of good stuff, it had been so long since I'd read the first good stuff that I could go back and reread it and enjoy it all over again.

I have no idea why I didn't get into this pairing earlier. It hits all my kinks. Vampire - check. Biting - check. Bad ass guy who's really a softie inside - check. Ordinary guy with whom I identify more than a little - check. The "he could never possibly love *me*" variety of angst - check. Angsty stories - yup. Sickly sweet stories - oh yeah. One guy gets turned to the other side - you bet (in *both* directions!). Ordinary guy stands up for himself/comes out/becomes special fic - tons.

I think I might have been dragging my heels because...and don't let me offend anyone here, but...I HATE Buffy. The character. She's one of those perfect people who everyone loves and wants to be. The universe revolves around Buffy. If all is well with Buffy, then all is well with the world! Can you hear the sarcasm *dripping* off my tongue? Yeah. Sorry.

Anyway, even that works out with this pairing, because a large number of Spike/Xander fans do their own bit of Buffy bashing. Now, I don't like it when it gets stupidly out of character, but I do enjoy the frequent moments of tossing happiness in her face.

And now that I've alienated half of you...

The Real Ghostbusters -- Peter/Egon

You know, a friend of mine once challenged me to name a fandom that I hadn't slashed. I thought about it and thought about it, and came up with two -- which she promptly struck down. Hey, I *swear*, those pairings don't count! //grins//

I can't even remember how I got into this fandom, and it's only been a little over a week. All I remember is really feeling like watching Ghostbusters and then going online and finding fic. I'm not even sure which came first, but I don't think it really matters at this point. //grins//

So, what is it about this fandom that grabbed me? I'm not sure. I guess I was just really in the mood for best-friends-turn-lovers kind of fic. This pairing is perfect for that. And you know, RGB fics have come up with the best reasons I've ever read for the guys getting together after about fifteen years. That's one problem I've always had with best friend fic -- why does it take so long for anything to happen?? But RGB has a few pretty good strategies for that (angsty ones, too).

Brief amusing anecdote touching on this pairing: I got into RGB slash about three days before flying to Calgary for a conference. I took my computer with me, hoping to write but not expecting an internet connection. So when I get there I find out that the University Library has ports and cables to hook visitors up to the Net -- and it's free. //grins// I resisted for *one* day. Then I went and hooked up and downloaded a couple of archives worth of fics.

Addicted? Me? Nooooooo... //laughs//

Knight Rider -- Michael/Kitt

No particularly special reason for enjoying this fandom. I just found some really well written fic (elfin's Chasing Midnight AU) and got hooked. Although I do find the various ways and rationalizations for how the relationship can become sexual interesting. Kitt is, after all, in the body of a car...

CSI -- Gil/Nick

Most of the attraction of this couple is in watching Nick haul Gil out of his social shell. In reality, I'd really just like to read gen fic focused on Nick, but there pretty much isn't any. It's all het or slash. I've read Nick/Greg and (a tiny bit of) Nick/Warrick and decided that Gil/Nick appealed to me the most.

That said, I'd really like to see Nick paired with a well-rounded OMC. But that's about as likely as ice skates in hell, so...

Enterprise -- Tucker/Reed

Please bear with me through a brief rant here. Trust me, it's good for context.

Being a Trekkie, I gave Enterprise a shot for a little over a seaon, but I eventually abandoned it. It was just so...weak. I mean, Hoshi didn't have a real job after about a season -- they just used the UT like in all the other Trek shows. Malcom's job was really undefined. One minute he'd be an engineer with a weapons specialty and the next he'd be their tactical office, and the next Trip would be building weapons and Archer would be either running into tactical situations first or leaving Malcom behind altogether. And Mayweather has about one line per episode. Archer is a jerk who pisses me off constantly, T'Pol is an obvious appeal to the teenage male element. Tucker was about the only character I could stand to watch, and even then his so-called friendship with Archer pissed me off because Archer takes and takes in that relationship -- I can't see why Trip puts up with him. Add in the temporal cold war and the attendent never-properly-resolved paradoxes, I just gave up.

So why did this fandom end up on this list after all this time? Well, I was looking for something to read. And I remembered trying ENT fic a year before and not finding much of my chosen couple (Tucker/Reed, of course). But I figured a year had gone by and fic is almost always better than canon anyway -- because writers *fix* and *explain* things -- so I gave it a shot. And found some pretty good stuff. And started reading regularly. Then I wanted to see the canon these stories were based on, so I started watching the show again. A perfect example of fan fic pulling someone (back) into a show!

The dynamic with this pairing? Well, regardless of what you see on screen, the fic is almost all really, really sugary and domestic. But hey, that's what I want sometimes.

Man from U.N.C.L.E. -- Illya/Napoleon

A friend of mine must take a bow for getting me hooked on this pairing. You know who you are. <grins> She was (relatively) newly hooked and looking to share the fannishness. I was out of fic and looking for new stuff to read, but I didn't want to get into a fandom that would give me more plot bunnies. Goodness knows I have enough of those! Since MFU isn't airing anymore I couldn't see the canon, so no bunnies. Plus, it's old enough that any bunny I can think has already been done. It keeps my muse under control. <grins> [[Edited to add: Or so I was told by an evil person who shall remain nameless. One 307 KB epic and three vignettes later...]]

This pairing taps into a dynamic I have mentioned many times before. TS, H:LotS, dS... See the pattern? Law enforcement, partners, transgression. With MFU it's enhanced even more by the fact that the events take place in the 60's. The social context puts the transgression on a whole other level.

Plus, I *adore* spy stuff. I own all of Sean Connery's bond flicks and have seen nearly all the other Bond movies. (I refuse to watch George Lazenby on principle and I can never seem to find Moonraker in a video store.) MFU is like classic Bond, only episodic. It's a lot of fun. It has some really classy moments. And the potentical for good hurt/comfort is fantastic. Thought I do wish the fic would beat up Napoleon a little more.