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maryI don't know about you guys, but 2010 has been really rough for me as a Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance fan. My shiny sharp sparkly second-adolescence bands, which were such a guiding light and touchstone for me while I worked out so much of my own shit and grew up so much in my own life, hit their own really rocky patch. And of course they've been through rocky patches before, but to have it happen at once to both at a time when I wasn't ready yet to have them vanish as my emotional safety net has been pretty fucking rough.
If you are now or have ever been a bandom person, you need to go read this story: I Know This Hurts (It Was Meant To) by dancinbutterfly.
It's NC-17 and contains consensual heavy BDSM play, which I mention here because my link is to the first part of the story rather than the master post, because this really is a story you should go into with as little prior knowledge of what you're in for as possible, insofar as your own wellbeing and avoidance of triggers allows.
As I said in my comment on the fic:
So my two favourite bands may still be a mess, but this story has helped me remember why I hitched my heart to them in the first place, how much there is to love, and how brilliant fanfic can be in turning that love into art.
If you are now or have ever been a bandom person, you need to go read this story: I Know This Hurts (It Was Meant To) by dancinbutterfly.
It's NC-17 and contains consensual heavy BDSM play, which I mention here because my link is to the first part of the story rather than the master post, because this really is a story you should go into with as little prior knowledge of what you're in for as possible, insofar as your own wellbeing and avoidance of triggers allows.
As I said in my comment on the fic:
This is a stunning story in so many ways. It takes the last six months' worth of stuff that's happened in the real world and confronts the complicated, difficult parts of that, rather than just using the fact that the story diverges from canon as an excuse to wave a magical fix-it wand over all the problems. Instead, the story -- like Pete, within the story -- has to address and deal with things before they can be put aside.
That turns the whole rhythm of the story itself into an endurance/reward experience, putting the reader through the same journey Pete's on.
I also love the way that the world of this story and the real world each have good things and missing things that the other doesn't have, which makes it feel like the real world is always halfway present in this story, like a might-have-been just off the edge of the world. That's what makes this an amazing fanfic, as well as an amazing story.
Plus, it's got utterly note-perfect characterisations of everybody and is incredibly hot and manages to mature Pete into a believable functional adult while still retaining every part of his brilliant, terrible, unwell, marvelous, obnoxious self.
So my two favourite bands may still be a mess, but this story has helped me remember why I hitched my heart to them in the first place, how much there is to love, and how brilliant fanfic can be in turning that love into art.