(no subject)

[beccaelizabeth]

Am reading a bunch of fic that reminds me
when the only thing stopping the pair getting together is communication and self esteem
I just get frustrated at them.

I mean if they've got different ideas on how to save the world and end up on opposite sides, that you can understand is a problem, but when they're just movie handsome men who worry the other guy doesnt like them and spend a great many pages just... not doing anything, I feel like their problem is not entirely understandable, or relatable.

after a while i start thinking i'm reading the wrong genre
since this happens a lot.

and I guess people like the affirmation and kisses part? happily ever after?

but I find I would like a plot and having to rescue each other from the jaws of doom or something
and maybe some problem where they each initially take incompatible stances and then have to figure out a third option that works for both of them.



If instead the problem is that one works for the other, or something something chain of command, I instead end up thinking they should just... not. Either fix the power imbalance or don't date.
And that is unhelpful to my unread list cause I used to like watching them balance competing demands
except sometimes story doesnt do that, they just... decide it would all work out okay.

Which seems to duck the questions.


I don't know. Guess I'm grumpy. Can't find what I want to read if I don't know what I want to read.

Comments

[baronjanus]

Yes to this but also. "Getting in their own way" can be very in-character for some people BUT i'm lately stuck in a fandom where the canon characters would just. never do that. They don't have self esteem issues of this kind and they don't have - one of them has zero problem saying what he wants or anything on his mind and is portrayed as extremely sex-positive, the other is more normal but also has no particular problems going after what he wants. So in their case, "the only thing stopping the pair getting together is communication and self esteem" is just so ridiculous! more than usual, and yeah anyway I'm just ranting on your post now. But yeah I miss when the tension was real, had good reason.