#qaf fanfic

[wellcomeoneileen]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Queer as Folk (US TV 2000) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Brian Kinney/Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk) Characters: Brian Kinney (Queer as Folk), Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, POV Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk), Bottom Brian Kinney (Queer As Folk), Top Brian Kinney (Queer as Folk), Bottom Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk), Top Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk), Rough Sex, Gentle Sex, Internalized Toxic Masculinity, Just shy of slice of life, Porn with Feelings, Some Plot, Kinney Operating Manuel, impending 2008 recession Summary:

Justin has flown to Pittsburg for a surprise visit, but finds a taciturn and moody Brian. Through tried-and-true methods as well as some new ones, the boys get through some growing pains in communicating what's going on.

***

Started as a short bit of smut, but thought too much about Brian's feelings.

[winderlylandchime]

May I ask what are your favorite Britin fics? 🥺

Hello dear sweet anon!

I am always happy to share my QAF/Britin fic recs. I keep a collection going of my bookmarks at AO3 and try to keep them pretty well tagged. You can find that here but I’ll pull out a few that I find particularly enjoyable:

Pulse Point - a complete AU with trauma surgeon!Brian and EMT!Justin. By Xie

Unfold Me - a S5 canon divergent fic which honestly solves a lot of my issues with S5. By mornmeril

Monogamy - another S5 canon divergent fic which takes an entirely different approach and is full of the feels. By frayach

The Love Song of Brian A. Kinney - a post canon classic, one shot. By ipoiledi.

Counting Dollars - a gapfiller for between S3 and S4, one shot. Also by ipoiledi.

Catalepsis - lovely S3 canon divergent fic, lots of delicious hurt/comfort. By @lostcol

Forward - post canon one shot focusing on Brian. By @kinnenvy

Glowing Rooms - canon divergent at 122 - Brian moves to NYC and doesn’t go to prom, Justin is bashed anyway. One shot. Amazing. By ohmyjetsabel

Only Time - post canon series, honestly could be S6, absolutely brilliant. Also by Xie

Homecoming - honestly, you cannot go wrong with this writer but her main series (The One Where Justin Loses His Hearing) can be intimidating. These are two parts of that series that can be read as a standalone fic (two chapters). By LaVieEnRose

If you want some fantastic PWP, I highly recommend devil_on_your_shoulder27384

Also all of ivysunna’s fics are incredible but I love their canon fics such as we’d still worship this love (S2, canon compliant, outsider POV which is always fun for Britin) and their newest the heat of your electric touch (S4/cancer arc gapfiller, canon compliant).

Wait - set during S3, Justin has an HIV scare (open ending). By @thissugarcane

Also, if you are new to fic in QAF, I would be absolutely remiss if I didn’t direct you toward Myrna’s four part fic that is canon divergent after the end of S2 and is delicious hurt/comfort and alternating POV. It is partway down this archive page. Look for If You Needed Me (If You Needed Me / I Would Come to You / I’d Swim the Seas / For To Ease Your Pain). I encourage you to save it as PDFs because it is hard to track down.

Overall, I tend to bookmark fics where the premise is interesting (bonus points for hurt/comfort), the characters and their growth are central, and the characters must be in character (any changes to their character must be explained by growth or AU circumstances but honestly I love these characters and I want to read about them), and the writing is good. I don’t enjoy fics that are anti-character. I know those are popular in this fandom and I’m not going to yuck anyone’s yum, but I generally find every character on this show has something redeeming about them and they are all flawed. It’s far more interesting to me to explore that rather than have an outright villain. More than any other fandom, I tend to enjoy canon-based fics rather than complete AUs (I say as I’m partway through writing a complete AU).

Happy reading! If you read anything that you enjoy, come back and let me know your thoughts (from this list or anything else).

[ficwriterhub]

(and I'd do it again)

by @winderlylandchime

Summary: “It’s…Justin,” Emmet’s southern drawl hides behind his efforts to keep his voice calm.

“No shit, Honeycutt,” Brian pushes on the guy’s shoulder, pushing him out of the loft, throwing his clothes after him. “I didn’t think you called me up at midnight to chit chat about place settings for your next soiree.”

Canon divergence after Brian and Justin break up in Season Five. I thought maybe something other than a bomb could bring them back together.

Read it on Ao3!

[summer-blonde]

I hear the door unlock and know he’s home. I’m at his place. It took a lot of decision making, but I figured it would be better if we had this conversation here. In his apartment. That way he can throw me out, and slam the door in my face, and hopefully that will ease the pain a little. Cause I know there is going to be plenty of that. And it is the least I can do for him.

[jaymalea]

I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic lately. Mid-2000’s and QAF fic..

OMG I’m so sad. With the demise of qaf-fic.com, Rizabeau’s works are gone into the ether.

No more Elf! Justin in Jingle All the Way. No weep fest over the twin babies in Signed, Sealed and Delivered.

I thought for sure that archive was picked up by AO3 but it seems NOT.

[uthers-bald-head]

The 12 Drabbles of Shipmas - Day Three! 🎅

Fandom: Queer as Folk (US 2000)

Word Count: 1191

It's Hunter's first Christmas as a Novotny-Bruckner. Michael wants it to be special.

[phygoth]

does anyone have recommendations of britin time travel fics??

[thissugarcane]

me when I finally open up the swimming with sharks sequel: let’s see if I can write something! *writes 1000 words!*

me: wait, that’s a scene about two paintings of justin’s that probably fits into season five, not four, self what are you--

also me: *keeps looking up painting and art that fits 150k+ away from the stuff I SHOULD BE WRITING*

I suppose I’ll call it progress that I’m writing anything for this damn thing at all? At least it’s something. Maybe I can work season 4/5 together into one fic.

-

Brian audibly inhaled. Unconsciously, Justin thought, he raised a hand, pressed his fingertips to his lips for a long moment. Justin watched his eyes rove over the canvasses again. After another long moment, Brian asked quietly, "Has anyone else seen these?"

Justin replied, "Not finished. Not even close to finished. Lindsay saw that one," and he waved his hand helplessly at the one on the left, "in progress."

"Don't sell it," Brian implored softly. "You'll get offers. Just. Don't."

Justin blinked. "Which one?"

Brian looked at him, and Justin loved him madly because Brian hadn't taken his eyes off the painting on the right, the moody, sad undertones, the jagged lines, lit softly with light. He nodded. "I promise."

As if he couldn't help himself, he turned back to the paintings. This time, he turned fully to the one on the right, his shoulders shuffling just a little away from the other one. "What are you calling them?"

Justin hoped he wasn't too angry. He pointed to the one on the left, the curved shapes of soothing blue turned stomach-churning. "That's 'Marriage'," he said. "And that's 'Half-Life'."

He wanted to take Brian's hand, wanted to reassure him somehow. Brian reached over and turned off the projector, looked back at 'Half-Life'. Justin started to say, "It's not half my life. It's the reach and reach and striving to always be closer to--"

"I see it," Brian replied. Then he said, "I want it."

"You'd have to set up a projection screen for--"

"Even without the digital," Brian told him softly. "I want it."

[xie-xie-xie]

Fanfic authors: All I want to point out is that unless your characters have an upper respiratory infection, they can breathe through their noses while kissing and do not need to break a kiss because of oxygen deprivation. That is all.

[slayerchick303]

My mantra today is, "You will finish writing chapter six of your Britin fan-fiction." I'm determined to get six done today and at least start chapter seven.

Who knows, I may finish and finally publish the story sometime this year!

[classic-maya]

Shameless self promotion: go read my QaF pwp

[winderlylandchime]

uhhh Fic Friday...?

I was tagged for WIP Wednesday by @lostcol @madsworld15 and @eusuntgratie but I injured my hand pretty badly on Monday so typing has been difficult. But I wanted to try to add a little something to my fic now that I can move my fingers a bit more easily. Notably, this is coming before I do anything to catch up on work.

here's a little from Untitled Drag Queen AU under the cut (and a reminder to tip your local drag artists!) (and a request):

On tall stilettos she drops down into a squat, kicking out first one foot and then the other.  “Yessss!” Emmett screams, waving a handful of dollar bills in the queen’s direction.  Son Shine jumps up from the squat and into a split and a gasp catches in Brian’s throat while the club erupts in cheers behind him.  As the song continues, the queen makes her way from the stage into the crowd, plucking cash from the hands pushing it in her direction, slipping some into her bra straps and handing some to a young person following along behind her with a bucket. 

Y'all figuring out how to describe a duck walk was a time and a half. You know the trope about making the face you're describing or drawing...? Like that except I cannot fucking duck walk. So here's the request - if you're unfamiliar with what a duck walk looks like, can you read that description, try to imagine in, and then DM me so I can send you a video and see if the description feels accurate? Because I also don't want to devote a paragraph of text to describing it. TYSM!

[mariunnnn]

you left your mark on me (12240 words) by turnedtoglitter Chapters: 7/7 Fandom: Queer as Folk (US TV 2000) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Brian Kinney/Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk), Ethan Gold/Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk) Characters: Brian Kinney (Queer as Folk), Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk), Ethan Gold (Queer as Folk), Daphne Chanders, Cynthia (Queer as Folk) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Boss/Employee Relationship, Explicit Sexual Content, Angst with a Happy Ending Summary:

Justin's soulmark flares gold the first time he meets Brian.

Brian never mentions what happened with his, and insists it doesn't matter anyway.

[olderthannetfic]

On the strict top/bottom dynamics of east asian media: one of the (relatively) recent BLs from Taiwan (Kiseki) completely broke many fans because it subverted that. It had Zerui, the eldest of the main ship who is involved with the mafia, bottom when he was with Zongyi, who's only a wimpy HS student, when they're together for the first time. Tbh Zerui jumping on Zongyi's lap will live in my mind rent-free for a long time. But it was exactly because it's so rare it was magical and broke everyone

--

Ooh.

And yeah, any trope that's common enough is going to get people wanting to poke it with a stick.

I think some Western fans kind of miss that Asia has plenty of gay media and, you know, gay culture, and depending on the era and country and what all is going on, there's going to be cross-pollination between that and BL/danmei. You'll get makers of BLy stuff wanting a little more Real Queer Culture™ in their art. True, plenty of real people like to do the same thing in the bedroom all the time, but the minute you get art that wants to mess around with more real world shit and less pure romance novel trope stuff, you'll see people changing things up.

The more mainstream and accessible actual queer culture gets in a given country, the more people will casually drop various things into their art, like QaF having a big effect on parts of Western slash fandom. Same-sex marriage is legal in Taiwan. Thailand isn't the paradise some people imagine, but it has some pretty visible home-grown queer community. This isn't some situation where all BL is by a virgin living in a basement who barely knows queer people exist offline.

There's not some kind of law that decrees Asian artists can't change things up. Fixed roles are just what's most popular in BLy media on average. That's no different than, say, English language "m/m romance" and even most fanfic being... like... monogamous 2-person ships and not poly.

[brian-kinney-apologist]

who is Brian kinny and what has he done wrong

well hello there (i swear i knew someone from iwtv fandom would ask this question soon lol)

short answer: brian kinney is my ultimate blorbo for 10 (ten!!!!) years now from the show called queer as folk (us version 2000-2005) and in my opinion as you can guess he did nothing wrong in his life lol

long answer: speaking in iwtv terms brian is a lestat type of character. brian (btw my pfp is the actor who played him) is a very interesting character that some people may not like because of his facade (sarcastic, straightforward, does what he wants + promiscuous (like no character in the history of tv (and i mean it) has never fucked THAT many people on screen)), though if you watch the show with your eyes open you'll see that he has the biggest heart (as it was said in the show itself!!). he rejects heteronomormotive norms of society and that's also hard for some watchers AND characters in the show to comprehend (he's upfront about that too btw!!!). I can talk about qaf forever so i tried to be brief (lol) and vague in case anyone decides to check the show out. i personally have a deep bond with this character (girl we know) and the show so thus why the username (btw that's my ao3 name as well and i have 2 britin fanfics there if someone doesn't know that already and wants to check it out)

ALSO qaf us (and the original uk version by russell t davies) paved the way to less stereotypical representation of queer characters on tv (AND they basicly invented intimacy coordinators on set). important to mention though (if someone decides to watch it after this ask) that qaf is NOT for everyone due to its nature but at the same time if you like iwtv for what it is (messiness, multidimensional characters with flaws, triggering themes + s1 sex scenes but x1000000000), you will probably enjoy it. (btw even in iwtv there were qaf coded moments too!!! (one day @sophsun1 will return from war and will make a second gif set of qaf/iwtv parallels lol))

[wellcomeoneileen]

Post 2/? on Processing QaF

End of qaf -technical points. 

This is a very logistical view on the literal end of the show. My more thematic l thoughts about the whole final season are also under this tag, in post 1. Again, conceding that I am very new to an established fandom and this is my immediate processing of finishing my recent obsession, and there are probably several other posts like this floating around.

I read every spoiler possible. I read nearly every fanfic possible all before I watched any of the last season of QaF. The endless thought pieces really did help sooth me for seasons four and five. I think I was a much more at peace with them than fans who were watching it live back in 2005. But the last one or two episodes had me pausing with my jaw dropped multiple times. I hated it!

And I contemplated why - when I knew every single thing that was gonna happen, even several lines of dialogue I knew!

And I think it comes down to the breakneck pacing and editing.

:readmore:

Because right after finishing, I paced around my home angrily muttering over what had happening. And outlining the end like that, even though I was in a mood, still sort of made sense. 

Brian has been a sex god for several seasons. He let down his guard to let Justin in. Out of fear, he did what fans/Justin thought they wanted, and asked for marriage/said I love you with Justin. Brian loves him enough to not force him to stay, Justin loves him enough to not make him change. Peacefully and lovingly, they go their separate ways with the strong and insinuation that they will either do long distance or reconcile. That sounds good! It was horrible to watch.

The show betrays itself by acknowledging the Britin arc is the most important to the show and viewers by saving it for the penultimate scene. The final episode(s) have all really revolved around Brian. Even the girls leaving was really about Brian (in its show presentation, at least). And Brian and Justin have the final scene of all the characters resolving their storylines. The final, final scene was an ensemble one (as it should be for an ensemble show) which reflected on the show as a whole. That was the epilogue, because Britin was the denouement.

This is tough in two ways.

First, because the Britin arc has a bittersweet end, yet felt more like the writers wagging their finger at the audience instead of a thoughtful conclusion that was necessarily bittersweet. Whole other post.

Second, because of their editing – both storyline wise and visual execution wise.

The decision to show Justin and Brian in bed together, not even see Justin leave, and then show Brian in bed alone was pretty cutthroat. I literally paused and my jaw dropped – but not in a good, teary way, or my heart strings were pulled way, but in a … I felt like the writers were kind of flipping me off? Or flipping the actors off? I literally googled if Randy Harrison had fought with the showrunners because of that (and allegedly, yes, lmao. You can tell!!!). That was just an unpleasant viewing experience.

Then, the writers did not give any sort of breathing room for that emotional beat to end and then the series finale beat to begin. There is no space between Brian being left alone and Brian and Michael going to the club and then dancing. No space timewise, plotline wise, or even visually, as they literally meld the end of Britin into the start of Brian/Michael final.

Because of this, even though I’m sure it was written and outlined as very separate plot points for separate emotional beats for separate scenes, it doesn’t feel that way as an audience member.

Instead, it feels like a run-of-the-mill action-reaction pair for a singular emotional beat. It doesn’t feel, or look, like two separate, contained, emotional beats.

Without being able to digest a very bittersweet conclusion to what is arguably the most important plot line of the entire show, it still feels like we’re still wrestling with that in the final scene. It is LEAPING from denouement to epilogue, which even tacky, bittersweet rom-coms don’t do, if you pay attention ( I am literally thinking of how the HARRY STYLES FANFICTION movie Idea of You handled this similar thing better, good lord.)

Therefore, watching Brian dance alone, while we’re being told the thumpa thumpa goes on, feels like he’s being reset. Because we go oh sad, Britin is getting a bittersweet end :/ then THIRTY seconds later we are seeing Brian party and it’s impossible for audience members to not directly connect those dots. Those are the only dots we’re shown!!

I read a 2005 livejournal where stayci28 said she viewed the end as more symbolic than real. It’s about the queer community continuing matter what and it’s really about people will continue to rise up. No matter what is being given to them and they will persevere, they will be proud, they will be here and they’re not gonna go anywhere. That’s a beautiful sentiment, makes a lot of sense, and is a fitting conclusion for the WHOLE show after the Britin bit is wrapped up.

However, Ron Cowan himself said that was only half true in an interview here: https://bjfic.livejournal.com/2528384.html?

He said that the dance was real and was one last outing. Though the sentiment is true – the scene was meant to be about queers surviving, not Brian being alone or an old party boy. (sidenote: see post 1 for me complaining that if this is one last outing…what is Brian doing, exactly, with his time now??)

But the editing and the pacing did not give the audience that space - and so the final scene still seems to be solely about Brian, not about the overall message of queer survival and joy. It LOOKS, at least, like (as Tumblr user @sophsun1 said) Brian was out with no son, no lover (who was in the city he wanted to be in), in a burnt out club. Rip.

The smallest of changes, like having the Britin ending coming earlier in the episode, or even inserting a single “breathing” scene between the Britin and finale scenes would have established the scene beats much better. Honestly, just changing Michael’s awful line (really that whole convo) about Brian always being young and beautiful to simply be about the ~~hopeful future~~ would have set the tone to be not about Brian being miserable.

When I see really old comments online about the end, I don’t get the sense that people fully “got” the end. From what I’ve seen, even fans who were okay with a bittersweet end weren’t really connecting that the finale wasn’t showing Brian miserable, lol.

I think the writers continuously structured the show to revolve around Brian and Britin, then wrote themselves out of that with various in your face plots/dialog, but ignored that beyond the literal words on script, story STRUCTURE impacts viewing experience just as much! These final two scenes display the embodiment of that issue.

The writers desperately needed to slow down, allow digestion, and visually show a divide of scenes if they had wanted the audience to comprehend the last two scenes as separate beats and not action/reaction.

Later this week, I have lots of thoughts about S5 replacement plotlines that would have easily fit into Cowlip’s established world, and a lot about Brian Kinney’s value system and internalized gender issues :)