seven days of self-promotion meme

[kindkit]

There's a meme going around called "Seven Days of Self-Promotion." How could I not play?

The first day's topic is: Something old (i.e., talk about an old fanwork you made). I interpreted "old" to mean "made more than five years ago," and I decided to avoid the fanworks I usually talk about when I'm self-promoting. Instead, here's my favorite of the stories I wrote during my brief sojourn in due South fandom.



Five Confessions (4570 words) by kindkit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: due South
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, Ray Kowalski/Original Male Character
Characters: Ray Kowalski, Benton Fraser, Stella Kowalski, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Infidelity, Religion, Homophobia, Established Relationship, Angst, Anal Sex, Queer Themes, Bisexual Character
Summary: Ray really needs to tell somebody.

This is, I think, one of the more adult stories I've ever written. Not in the sense of sexually explicit (it's not very explicit, really), but in the sense of emotionally adult. I tend to go for either romance or tragedy (which is also, in its way, romance), but this is neither; it's a "bad things that can happen in a romantic relationship even when two people really love each other" story. Specifically, it's about infidelity; it's about knowing you've done something wrong and being sorry and wanting to redeem yourself and find forgiveness, but not knowing how. (If infidelity is a triggery/touchy subject for you, I'll say that it happens offscreen before the story begins, and there are potentially mitigating circumstances. But it's still infidelity.)

I like the Ray K. voice in this one, and the backstory I invented, and in particular I like, or at least am rather proud of, an OC I created. And I like the ending. Is it a happy ending? I think so, but not everyone who reads it agrees with me.

N.B. Although this was posted to AO3 in 2009, it was written in 2005.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not familiar with this fandom at all, but I really like this. For me, the ending is a happy one, as well as a thought-provoking one. Having grown up in a family where a lot of infidelity went on, it's helpful to read something that addresses these kinds of themes. My personal experience is that good people can screw up too, that infidelity can happen in essentially good relationships, and that confession can occasionally (though by no means always!) be a form of selfishness and a way of passing on the pain. I don't have any easy answers, so it's a relief to read a story that doesn't pretend easy answers exist. Thank you.

[kindkit]

Thank you! Avoiding easy answers what something I absolutely wanted to do in the story. I'm glad it worked for you.