gala_apples (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gala_apples) wrote2010-12-01 03:44 am
gala_apples) wrote2010-12-01 03:44 am
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Flist, I need opinions. I like this fic, I think it gets across the forbidden and ultimately lonely feeling I wanted. I personally think others will like it. But it also has the possibility to get slapped with Racefail allegations, and I really don't need that drama in my life. I cannot stress enough that the fic is not meant as an our world race allegory, it's pure sci-fi. So, if you read and comment, tell me if you think others will get over-sensitive.
Title: White Whispered Goodbyes
Pairing: Mikey/Gerard
Rating: R
Wordcount: 1164
Summary: Gerard has always known he can never keep Mikey. He just never thought he'd lose him like this.
Prompt used: wedding for kiss bingo.
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, non-commercial work of fiction using the names and likenesses of real individuals. This fictional story is not intended to imply that the events herein actually occurred or that the attitudes or behaviors described are engaged in or condoned by the real persons whose names are used without permission.
Author's Notes: This is one of my "set in a video 'verse" fics. This is set in I Don't Love You, and as such every person in this AU is very literally black or white. This is a sci-fi AU. Neither race is valued over the other. Racefail comments will be deleted as they are not applicable.
It’s one of the truths of the world. The kind of thing that philosophers like to muse about, religious fanatics purport happen thanks to God, and scientists know explanations for. There are many of them; how did the world start, what came before us, why is the sky blue. There’s only one that Gerard cares about. If anything he’s a philosopher; he doesn’t want to praise God or blame the devil for it, and he doesn’t want to hear about DNA. Hell, he doesn’t really want to muse about it either. He just wants to understand why people are onyx or ivory.
Gerard hasn’t believed in religion in years. He hasn’t gone to church, nor has he read a text or listened to a sermon on the radio. He’s been out of school for years, and stopped taking science courses years before that. Hearing that it’s the choice of God would do nothing to ease his pain, learning that for either composition of parents there’s a fifty-fifty chance means nothing. The cards fell the way they did, and there’s nothing that explains the heart of it, the realwhy. The truth of it is like his parents Gerard is ivory and three years later Mikey was born onyx. There’s nothing that can change that.
Gerard supposes he should consider himself lucky they live in a only moderately conservative state. Someone onyx marrying someone ivory is illegal everywhere in North America. The issue goes deeper than legality, every person Gerard has tried to talk about it with considers the idea horrifying. Still, he lives in a state where he won’t necessarily be bashed to death if he’s seen with someone onyx. Spit on or called names, probably, but not viciously murdered. It’s an important distinction.
More importantly, he lives in a state where parents with an opposite colour child are allowed to keep their son or daughter. All over the south there are Republican states where the moment an ivory child is born to onyx parents or vice-versa they are taken away. More common than actual legal seizing is hospital staff switching newborns with another mother giving birth. All hospitals have to publish their off colour rate, and those with higher rates get less funding, as if it’s their fault that a child is born the wrong colour.
But the parents still know, they have to. Gerard’s never seen anyone giving birth, but there has to be that instant before the baby is swaddled and taken away that you can see they’re ivory while both parents are onyx. Sure, some parents are happy to switch. Some genuinely match their moral code with the state law that says no family shall be comprised of both colours, and don’t want an off colour infant, even if it is their own child. But Gerard thinks that most parents are secretly devastated. He has to believe it, because humanity can’t be that fucked that what happens is viewed as okay to the majority.
Gerard lives in New Jersey, and a few decades before he was born his home state repealed the seizing law. It was a legendary court battle, and one that Gerard is grateful for. He can’t fathom who he’d be without Mikey.
Which is the problem in a nutshell. Gerard loves Mikey. He’s as sure as one can be that Mikey loves him. But when they’re together they must be so careful, more than any other set of lovers. It’s crucial that Mikey doesn’t smudge on him, and that he doesn’t wipe on Mikey. It’s another classic truth to bicker over; when onyxs and ivorys touch for long periods they stain each other. It doesn’t wash off with any known soap or chemical, it has to fade away naturally. Mikey and Gerard can’t afford to touch each other anywhere visible that couldn’t be easily explained as brotherly touch. They’ll be in a world of trouble if anyone sees white lip prints on Mikey’s mouth, or black hand prints on Gerard’s hips.
When Mikey gets a girlfriend it gets even harder. It’s not so much that she takes up a lot of Mikey’s time, in that regard Gerard’s gotten lucky. Neither mom nor dad like Bianca. Every time she visits the house they do their best to make her feel out of place and awkward. Gerard’s sure it’s not because she’s onyx, Mikey’s onyx friends have spent years of Mikey’s life in the house. There are a hundred reasons for it; she laughs at all the wrong things, she doesn’t ever remember to take her shoes off at the door, she doesn’t drink coffee. When Ray or Pete come over, Mom always asks them if there’s someone else they can set Mikey up with. She’s not subtle about it, and as time goes on Bianca comes to the house less and less. Mikey fails to step up his amount of time spent outside the house to match, and Gerard doesn’t have to hide his relief because it’s all over his dad’s face, and so his expression isn't out of place.
The real problem is that for the first time there’s someone making marks on his brother. More specifically there’s someone that makes marks and notices when there are marks that aren’t hers. Even when Gerard and Mikey fuck almost fully clothed so that they don’t streak white and black on each other, there are still hickeys and scratches to worry about. At least, Gerard considers it a problem. Mikey seems to take as much worry from cheating on Bianca as he takes from being in love with his brother. Which is to say none.
In the end though, it doesn’t matter. Mikey tells him one night that he proposed. The idea seems obscene to Gerard, but Mikey says it’s the most he’ll ever love someone that isn’t him. And what can Gerard possibly say to that? He hates it, but he has no right to try and stop him. At least Mikey has another, even if it’s just pleasantry, not passion. Who does Gerard have?
Mikey’s wedding is a nearly all onyx affair. Bianca grew up in Tennessee, was adopted when she was a week old and only came to New Jersey after college. There are no laws discouraging opposite colour friends, just moral codes, but Mikey and Bianca’s collection of loved ones is still primarily onyx. The priest is onyx, the organ player is, and the rehearsal last night showed at the reception all but two of the waiters will be. Mom and dad thought colour split schooling was stupid, and SVA was open as well. Gerard’s never been somewhere so segregated in his life. He feels very out of place, and he thinks that’s the point, at least subconsciously.
Before the procession he kisses Mikey’s cheek. It’s a long enough touch that it stains, a ring of white on black. Others will see it as a mark of brotherly affection, akin to a hug or a handshake. Only he and Mikey know it for what it is; a final declaration and relinquishing.
Title: White Whispered Goodbyes
Pairing: Mikey/Gerard
Rating: R
Wordcount: 1164
Summary: Gerard has always known he can never keep Mikey. He just never thought he'd lose him like this.
Prompt used: wedding for kiss bingo.
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, non-commercial work of fiction using the names and likenesses of real individuals. This fictional story is not intended to imply that the events herein actually occurred or that the attitudes or behaviors described are engaged in or condoned by the real persons whose names are used without permission.
Author's Notes: This is one of my "set in a video 'verse" fics. This is set in I Don't Love You, and as such every person in this AU is very literally black or white. This is a sci-fi AU. Neither race is valued over the other. Racefail comments will be deleted as they are not applicable.
It’s one of the truths of the world. The kind of thing that philosophers like to muse about, religious fanatics purport happen thanks to God, and scientists know explanations for. There are many of them; how did the world start, what came before us, why is the sky blue. There’s only one that Gerard cares about. If anything he’s a philosopher; he doesn’t want to praise God or blame the devil for it, and he doesn’t want to hear about DNA. Hell, he doesn’t really want to muse about it either. He just wants to understand why people are onyx or ivory.
Gerard hasn’t believed in religion in years. He hasn’t gone to church, nor has he read a text or listened to a sermon on the radio. He’s been out of school for years, and stopped taking science courses years before that. Hearing that it’s the choice of God would do nothing to ease his pain, learning that for either composition of parents there’s a fifty-fifty chance means nothing. The cards fell the way they did, and there’s nothing that explains the heart of it, the realwhy. The truth of it is like his parents Gerard is ivory and three years later Mikey was born onyx. There’s nothing that can change that.
Gerard supposes he should consider himself lucky they live in a only moderately conservative state. Someone onyx marrying someone ivory is illegal everywhere in North America. The issue goes deeper than legality, every person Gerard has tried to talk about it with considers the idea horrifying. Still, he lives in a state where he won’t necessarily be bashed to death if he’s seen with someone onyx. Spit on or called names, probably, but not viciously murdered. It’s an important distinction.
More importantly, he lives in a state where parents with an opposite colour child are allowed to keep their son or daughter. All over the south there are Republican states where the moment an ivory child is born to onyx parents or vice-versa they are taken away. More common than actual legal seizing is hospital staff switching newborns with another mother giving birth. All hospitals have to publish their off colour rate, and those with higher rates get less funding, as if it’s their fault that a child is born the wrong colour.
But the parents still know, they have to. Gerard’s never seen anyone giving birth, but there has to be that instant before the baby is swaddled and taken away that you can see they’re ivory while both parents are onyx. Sure, some parents are happy to switch. Some genuinely match their moral code with the state law that says no family shall be comprised of both colours, and don’t want an off colour infant, even if it is their own child. But Gerard thinks that most parents are secretly devastated. He has to believe it, because humanity can’t be that fucked that what happens is viewed as okay to the majority.
Gerard lives in New Jersey, and a few decades before he was born his home state repealed the seizing law. It was a legendary court battle, and one that Gerard is grateful for. He can’t fathom who he’d be without Mikey.
Which is the problem in a nutshell. Gerard loves Mikey. He’s as sure as one can be that Mikey loves him. But when they’re together they must be so careful, more than any other set of lovers. It’s crucial that Mikey doesn’t smudge on him, and that he doesn’t wipe on Mikey. It’s another classic truth to bicker over; when onyxs and ivorys touch for long periods they stain each other. It doesn’t wash off with any known soap or chemical, it has to fade away naturally. Mikey and Gerard can’t afford to touch each other anywhere visible that couldn’t be easily explained as brotherly touch. They’ll be in a world of trouble if anyone sees white lip prints on Mikey’s mouth, or black hand prints on Gerard’s hips.
When Mikey gets a girlfriend it gets even harder. It’s not so much that she takes up a lot of Mikey’s time, in that regard Gerard’s gotten lucky. Neither mom nor dad like Bianca. Every time she visits the house they do their best to make her feel out of place and awkward. Gerard’s sure it’s not because she’s onyx, Mikey’s onyx friends have spent years of Mikey’s life in the house. There are a hundred reasons for it; she laughs at all the wrong things, she doesn’t ever remember to take her shoes off at the door, she doesn’t drink coffee. When Ray or Pete come over, Mom always asks them if there’s someone else they can set Mikey up with. She’s not subtle about it, and as time goes on Bianca comes to the house less and less. Mikey fails to step up his amount of time spent outside the house to match, and Gerard doesn’t have to hide his relief because it’s all over his dad’s face, and so his expression isn't out of place.
The real problem is that for the first time there’s someone making marks on his brother. More specifically there’s someone that makes marks and notices when there are marks that aren’t hers. Even when Gerard and Mikey fuck almost fully clothed so that they don’t streak white and black on each other, there are still hickeys and scratches to worry about. At least, Gerard considers it a problem. Mikey seems to take as much worry from cheating on Bianca as he takes from being in love with his brother. Which is to say none.
In the end though, it doesn’t matter. Mikey tells him one night that he proposed. The idea seems obscene to Gerard, but Mikey says it’s the most he’ll ever love someone that isn’t him. And what can Gerard possibly say to that? He hates it, but he has no right to try and stop him. At least Mikey has another, even if it’s just pleasantry, not passion. Who does Gerard have?
Mikey’s wedding is a nearly all onyx affair. Bianca grew up in Tennessee, was adopted when she was a week old and only came to New Jersey after college. There are no laws discouraging opposite colour friends, just moral codes, but Mikey and Bianca’s collection of loved ones is still primarily onyx. The priest is onyx, the organ player is, and the rehearsal last night showed at the reception all but two of the waiters will be. Mom and dad thought colour split schooling was stupid, and SVA was open as well. Gerard’s never been somewhere so segregated in his life. He feels very out of place, and he thinks that’s the point, at least subconsciously.
Before the procession he kisses Mikey’s cheek. It’s a long enough touch that it stains, a ring of white on black. Others will see it as a mark of brotherly affection, akin to a hug or a handshake. Only he and Mikey know it for what it is; a final declaration and relinquishing.
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Personally I don't see it as race fail(but you already knew that :))And I have no clue if others will label it as that. I think your prefacer does enough to highlight that it's not. But some people in rl and the net do like to go out hunting for something to bitch about.
and now on to the actual Mikey/Gerard...this was soooooo sad and hurty angst with just the right mix of defeat in it...which of course are some of my favored things to read.
*hugs*
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I've been dying for an I Don't Love You!verse fice ever since I saw the video, and you added my OTP to the mix and made this product of perfection.
Not a single error, not a question left in my mind.
I don't see any hints of racism, it wouldn't really make sense, it's more like a mutation thing, in likening to a universe where parents sometimes give birth to children with superpowers.
This was the best waycest I've read in a long, long time. Definately going into the mems, and my rec post :)
Wonderful job!
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And then I decided to bite the bullet and watch it and see if I could figure something out. And the video was wonderful, and I JUST KNEW that White girl and Black boy wanted to be together, but they couldn't. And I wanted to write that about Mikey and Gerard. And then I was like "...listen to what you just said. white girl and black boy can't be together. you are going to get SLAPPED IN THE FACE with racefail claims." I still haven't crossposted to a comm because I'm paranoid. But I just love the idea of it, when the black boy touched her he rubbed off on her and I gasped because YES. IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL AND MEANINGFUL. And I've written a lot of waycest, and I wanted to write one where the incest wasn't the problem.
So thanks for commenting without hating me, and double thanks for the rec. And I've friended you back, of course, because you seem interested in the same things. Gotta say I probably won't get around to reading your back-posts for awhile, with the bingos I claimed I need to write like 28 fics before christmas. But come January I will read and love it all.
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I wasn't expecting you to read anything :D
I've only done a few videoverse fics, one thats a take on the I'm Not Okay video (on mibba, I even screencapped the scene with the hooker in the bathroom, because I believbe down to my very core that the boy is Mikey), and the others being Killjoy (though, I only think I've posted one, but whatever).
I COULD understand how the concept would encite some racefail claims, but the way you wrote it has nothing to do with the color of someone's skin--it would have made just as much sense if Gerard was green and Mikey was orange, there would still be the implication of Mikey being 'less worthy', but I, personally, don't see any hint of discrimination based on real-world race. There are no slaves, so it doesn't really connect to the real world. I just see it as equivilent to mutant+person lovefic kind of thing.
And don't mention the rec, you totally fucking deserve it because this was heart-breakingly beautiful. <3
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IT IS HERE IF YOU STIL WANT IT: http://katiexrawr.livejournal.com/1249.html#cutid1
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Very likely one of the best ideas I've ever read. I love the whole I Don't Love You 'verse and you've done it so well too. It feels so real and interesting. The colors blending and everything askjfdkaflc !!
So pretty and the ending is fucking breaking my heart. ;____;
& I must totally check out your other "set in a video 'verse fics", that sounds like so much fun and awesomeness! They have so many great videos just waiting for someone to write (Waycest) about them.
Sorry, my comment is what it is but I just wanna say something 'cause this is brilliant and makes me again realize how fanfiction can be so much more than just porn (doesn't mean I didn't like that too, but rRRr, got the point :'DD).
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I was really enjoying writing in the video 'verses, and I knew the moment I watched I don't love you and saw how destroyed white girl and black boy were to be apart (it's so obvious watching it that it's not their choice) that I needed to write Mikey and Gerard being pulled apart for the same reason.
I think at this point I've posted Vampires, Don't love you, Teenagers, and Ghosts of you. I have Welcome to the black parade and Famous last words written but not posted, and I'm in the process of NANANA, Sing, Desolation row and I'm okay. And I haven't even rewatched the Helena video yet. And I am wavering on writing Honey, because the movie video is a tribute to a japanese horror movie with scenes from the movie in it, and I really don't want to write them in that movie, but I also want a complete set of videos.
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So that's what I'm going to do!
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Okay usually, ficlets and I only match up if the author is really, REALLY good at summarizing without making it a chopped stew of crap. Usually things like this would end up drowning in overly sappy drip that makes me eyes bleed cotton candy, but YOU DIDN'T DO THAT.
Aagh this. THIS. RIGHT. HERE. Is why I like reading Waycest fics, because it's almost required to have angst in it seeing as it isn't two friends hooking up, but brothers.
You just...I don't even know right now. 1,000 give or take words and then there's this perfect picture painted in my head. I'm so sorry for gushing but stories like this are the reason I read stories.
Glorious, just...glorious.
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