Fan Fiction Rec: "Come All Ye Lost" (Queer As Folk)

[flowrs4ophelia]

Yes, new fandom! I randomly decided to try watching Queer As Folk a couple months ago and it became a huge addiction and my solace during the end-of-semester craziness and stress. And I'm glad to have discovered that even though the show is over, the fandom is still more or less alive and kicking and there's some pretty damn good rec-worthy stuff out there.

This author has written a ton of really wonderful fic which I've hardly even begun to read all of, both as theredwepainted and blacksatinrose. I like that she writes both Brian/Justin and Brian/Michael, because both ships do it for me as well, in their own ways. (Sadly, it seems some fans have been kind of cunty toward her for being such a heretic who won't pick a team. Just as I am constanly in danger of having vegetables thrown at me for expressing that I actually kind of like the way the series ended, in all its realistic depressingness. Anyway, fuck that.) There's something very fluid and sometimes dreamlike about her writing, which this particular story is a good example of, since it switches from what's really happening to Michael's fantasies throughout it. Very heartbreaking.

Title: Come All Ye Lost
Author: Ariel (theredwepainted / blacksatinrose)
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Brian/Michael
Summary: Michael has a fantasy (two parts dream, one part reality), that the world is empty, except for them.
Link: "It's Christmas! There should be surprises."

Also recommended by this author:
This Mess We're In - A post-series Brian/Justin fic which is one of the best QAF stories I've found so far but not worthy of its own rec post since it's unfortunately not...well...finished. But if that won't frustrate you too much, do check it out.

Comments

[peripety]

Thanks for the reccs...I'll definitely be checking them out. I am only now getting into reading fanfic after watching the series obsessively over the past few months, so I'm glad to find any reccs. QAF is my current addiction, hands down, even if I'm incredibly late to the party. It's what helped get me through the funky mood I've been over the past few months, and it's great to find the fandom still cooking.

The bittersweet ending was good for me, as a matter of fact, although as a whole, story-wise, season 5 wasn't as good as 1 - 4. Do I think that the series end was the end of Brian and Justin as a couple? Nope. Given Justin's relentless nature it's only a matter of time he and Brian are together again, post-season 5 *grins at the thought*

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Do I think that the series end was the end of Brian and Justin as a couple? Nope. Given Justin's relentless nature it's only a matter of time he and Brian are together again, post-season 5 *grins at the thought*
Sure :). I think they made the ending open-ended so we could decide for ourselves how everything would happen afterwards. The way I see it, Justin and Brian's relationship has been challenged by a lot of tough shit the whole time they've known each other, and if their love can survive all that it can last through anything.

[peripety]

if their love can survive all that it can last through anything Oh yes, I agree, and also with your point on how the writers left it open-ended. Good for them for not tying it all up in a pretty bow, but leaving it to our imaginations :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_missmegan/]

hey sara, u wanna get together tomorrow, trade christmasy ness?/

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Sure!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_missmegan/]

okay. ill be free after 2:30 :)

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

This is going to sound like a flame, and please believe that I don't mean it that way.

It is actually a thank you for writing this:

Just as I am constanly in danger of having vegetables thrown at me for expressing that I actually kind of like the way the series ended, in all its realistic depressingness.

Because it lets me know where you're coming from. It probably means that I won't ever read your fics because I completely disagree with your belief that the ending was in any way realistic in its depressingness. But at least I understand where your head is at, so I don't waste time and get frustrated.

I'm not going to argue my own position on the ending. I totally respect your right to regard it as realistic if that's how you see it.

I just have a completely different view point. And I don't think that we're ever likely to reach agreement which is okay.

But your honesty about your own viewpoint has probably saved me from irritation and frustration, so I wanted to thank you.

That's all.

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying that :) It's just that I'm relatively new to this fandom and have kind of gotten the impression that some people in it are kind of viciously defensive and opinionated about some things. I think it's just kind of ridiculous - I mean we might ship different people or disagree on whether or not certain episodes were good or dissapointing, but we're all fans of this show and that's all that should really matter. So I'm glad at least we can agree to disagree.

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

Thanks for taking it that way.

[(Anonymous)]

Yup there's definitely something unrealistic about the ending. The keyword of that unrealistic-ness is "characters-who-are-not-Brian's actions and reactions". Thankfully, however, they were not 'aggressive' enough (presented in such brisk, hurry manner) so that I could kinda ignore or put another dimension to them and still not being delusional about the whole thing. The other was the fact that Cowlip kinda implied a closure to BJ, instead of showing it clearly as it is, that BJ's end is an open end. But really, had there been a 6th season for sure BJ would be right back together, Cowlip knows it and I know it so it's all fine.

Burntpyre

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, and although I did say that there's something definitely unrealistic about the ending, these things are not too different from the other unrealistic things that had happened in other episodes in QaF history, so it's not that I reject the ending. I don't like it but I don't hate it. Well I do hate the fact that Justin didn't get that golden flower thing from China, grrrr. But other than that I'm okay with it.

Burntpyre

[wren-kt7oz.livejournal.com]

But really, had there been a 6th season for sure BJ would be right back together, Cowlip knows it and I know it so it's all fine.

And that right there may be the sanest response I've read to the way S5 ended. Because it's exactly true.

Thank you. And Happy Holidays!

[(Anonymous)]

*Amused*

What's nightmarish about the ending of QaF anyway? Season 5's ending was basically a repeat of season 4's ending/beginning of season 5, and I've no doubt in mind that if there was a 6th season, then it would return to Justin and Brian together with each other again. It's plain inevitable. "Reality" or "Canon" in TV series are what the episodes have in them, and if QaF continued even until the tenth season Justin and Brian would have been together anyway. It's as certain as Justin would survive the bashing and Michael would return from Portland (if he ever went, hehe). So what saddened me about the ending was that I didn't actually get to see them together at the end of 513, not that I in anyway thought that they were over.

Fics about Michael and Brian both finally realize that they are true soulmates, spiritually and physically belong together after Michael finally loses Ben because of AIDS are really undesirable bordering hysterically funny for me, so I'm in no way a BM shipper. I think I won't like reading fics from a writer who writes both this kind of fic and BJ fics as well, that would be weird. However there's (almost) nothing I despise more than Michael-hate fics, ones that imply or even say that Brian and Justin find Michael appalling. Get real, please. Michael is Brian's best friend, Brian loves him, he's a huge part of Brian's life. If I can write properly I'd write a short fic about how most characters (of course also Justin) really view Michael, particularly how they can't stay mad for long with Michael no matter what he did.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Burntpyre