Bunny: Die Hard
Jan. 6th, 2008 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thecatevariIs it possible to strangle one's own muse? I might be willing to give it a try.
So. Another in the long list of Things Wot I Cannot Write Right Now:
Die Hard. Sequel to all the other fics. Ever since I finished All I Want For Christmas, I've been thinking about several different things. First of all, I've been noticing how much Holly is a thread through all of this; how much she still influences John, how much he's still tied to her, even though the marriage is over. And that leads me thinking to Holly and Lucy (and to a lesser extent Jack, since we don't really know ANYTHING about Jack...though APPARENTLY, Matt's character was originally supposed to be Jack, which...hm. Interesting and pervy.) and specifically, John's family finding out that Dad is suddenly fucking around with this hacker DUDE that he saved a year and a half ago. One that Lucy dated, however briefly. And so I was thinking about how that would go and how it would be, potentially, a really big problem.
I mean, I see John having a lot of shame about telling his family. Not really about the queerness, per se, so much as it means he's CHANGED in this profound and fundamental way that he's still sensitive about. I mean, John very much lives up to the expectations of himself in certain ways, ESPECIALLY with Lucy and Holly and they see him as this rather monolithic, obtuse, exasperating tough guy and I don't think his relationship with Matt would fit into their world view particularly comfortably.
So then I start thinking about the how. I kind of see it snowballing. They're at John's for the Christmas holiday; I could see Lucy dropping by with a gift for John and barging in and finding Matt there and being REALLY CONFUSED because, again, Matt and John don't fit in her worldview and Matt is kind of stammery-panicky and John just says that they've been hanging out off and on since the whole thing with Gabriel and Lucy's still confused, but she accepts it, because OBVIOUSLY, what else could it be? And then she takes John aside and is like, "isn't this kind of weird, don't you think it's weird, why would he want to hang out with YOU??" and John's all *skeptical face* "Well, THANKS, Lucy." and she's "No, I'm serious. I think maybe he's not over me and this is his way to get close to me through you." and John's like, "Anyone who's seen us together for ten seconds would know that the way to you does NOT go through me." and Lucy: "Okay, yeah, but it's still weird, right? It's totally weird."
And then I can see her calling up Matt a little while later and going out to coffee and being all "Look, you don't know my dad but don't expect him to be all...reliable or a good friend or anything like that, because he will totally let you down. Unless guns are involved or something." And Matt's all, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Total curmudgeon, whatever."
But at the same time, Matt's kind of pissed and in this "Are you ASHAMED OF ME, John??" sort of place and he doesn't really know what to do about it because he KNOWS John's struggling with the whole thing and he's a little weirded out himself because this is NOT how he saw his life going and they've been kind of coasting along comfortably, but now Lucy has kind of put a spotlight on everything and drawn this "What the hell are we DOING?" kind of vibe to the whole thing. And so they're having all this tension and bickering and stuff and John just IS NOT ready to be "out" to anyone and it's messy and they're both unhappy.
And then Matt's somewhere and gets embroiled in a hostage situation (as people around John are wont to do) and John isn't even supposed to BE there but he goes anyway because it's Matt (and maybe he's with Lucy at the point he finds out and then there's this whole "I know he's your friend, Dad, but CHILL and let the police handle it." and John comes over with some kind of admission that Matt's not just his friend and leaves Lucy kind of openmouthed and shocked.
(I don't know if it'll ever make it in the story, but I kind of envision a scene where Lucy goes to Holly and asks her if John is gay.)
And I don't know what exactly is the hostage situation, but I see John getting Matt away from the main action and they're upset and bickering (mostly about the fact that John won't tell Lucy or Holly and how can Matt ever live up to the sainted Holly) and possibly/probably Matt's hurt (shot, but just a flesh wound?) and then I have this exchange that would go in there SOMEWHERE:
And then I don't know how it ends (what a surprise to all, I'm sure), but if I follow this format, then John's going to have to do something (more than just saving Matt's life), whether that's coming out to the family or something else, I'm not sure, but it's going to harken back to Lucy's comment that John's only good when gunfire is involved.
So. Another in the long list of Things Wot I Cannot Write Right Now:
Die Hard. Sequel to all the other fics. Ever since I finished All I Want For Christmas, I've been thinking about several different things. First of all, I've been noticing how much Holly is a thread through all of this; how much she still influences John, how much he's still tied to her, even though the marriage is over. And that leads me thinking to Holly and Lucy (and to a lesser extent Jack, since we don't really know ANYTHING about Jack...though APPARENTLY, Matt's character was originally supposed to be Jack, which...hm. Interesting and pervy.) and specifically, John's family finding out that Dad is suddenly fucking around with this hacker DUDE that he saved a year and a half ago. One that Lucy dated, however briefly. And so I was thinking about how that would go and how it would be, potentially, a really big problem.
I mean, I see John having a lot of shame about telling his family. Not really about the queerness, per se, so much as it means he's CHANGED in this profound and fundamental way that he's still sensitive about. I mean, John very much lives up to the expectations of himself in certain ways, ESPECIALLY with Lucy and Holly and they see him as this rather monolithic, obtuse, exasperating tough guy and I don't think his relationship with Matt would fit into their world view particularly comfortably.
So then I start thinking about the how. I kind of see it snowballing. They're at John's for the Christmas holiday; I could see Lucy dropping by with a gift for John and barging in and finding Matt there and being REALLY CONFUSED because, again, Matt and John don't fit in her worldview and Matt is kind of stammery-panicky and John just says that they've been hanging out off and on since the whole thing with Gabriel and Lucy's still confused, but she accepts it, because OBVIOUSLY, what else could it be? And then she takes John aside and is like, "isn't this kind of weird, don't you think it's weird, why would he want to hang out with YOU??" and John's all *skeptical face* "Well, THANKS, Lucy." and she's "No, I'm serious. I think maybe he's not over me and this is his way to get close to me through you." and John's like, "Anyone who's seen us together for ten seconds would know that the way to you does NOT go through me." and Lucy: "Okay, yeah, but it's still weird, right? It's totally weird."
And then I can see her calling up Matt a little while later and going out to coffee and being all "Look, you don't know my dad but don't expect him to be all...reliable or a good friend or anything like that, because he will totally let you down. Unless guns are involved or something." And Matt's all, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Total curmudgeon, whatever."
But at the same time, Matt's kind of pissed and in this "Are you ASHAMED OF ME, John??" sort of place and he doesn't really know what to do about it because he KNOWS John's struggling with the whole thing and he's a little weirded out himself because this is NOT how he saw his life going and they've been kind of coasting along comfortably, but now Lucy has kind of put a spotlight on everything and drawn this "What the hell are we DOING?" kind of vibe to the whole thing. And so they're having all this tension and bickering and stuff and John just IS NOT ready to be "out" to anyone and it's messy and they're both unhappy.
And then Matt's somewhere and gets embroiled in a hostage situation (as people around John are wont to do) and John isn't even supposed to BE there but he goes anyway because it's Matt (and maybe he's with Lucy at the point he finds out and then there's this whole "I know he's your friend, Dad, but CHILL and let the police handle it." and John comes over with some kind of admission that Matt's not just his friend and leaves Lucy kind of openmouthed and shocked.
(I don't know if it'll ever make it in the story, but I kind of envision a scene where Lucy goes to Holly and asks her if John is gay.)
And I don't know what exactly is the hostage situation, but I see John getting Matt away from the main action and they're upset and bickering (mostly about the fact that John won't tell Lucy or Holly and how can Matt ever live up to the sainted Holly) and possibly/probably Matt's hurt (shot, but just a flesh wound?) and then I have this exchange that would go in there SOMEWHERE:
"You did this on purpose, didn't you?"
Matt grunts as John pulls the makeshift bandage tight. His fingers dig into John's shoulder—the bad one—but John just lets him do it. Flesh wound or not, it's got to hurt like a bitch. "Yes, John. I got all my World of Warcraft buddies together and took the building hostage just to make you come out to your family about our big gay affair."
"World of what? World of who?" John shakes his head. "You know, I know all the words coming out of your mouth are English but I swear to fuckin' Christ I never understand more than five in fifteen."
Matt rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm sorry I don't talk Cro-Magnon enough for you, but in case you hadn't noticed, I'm shot here."
He's upset. John gets that Matt's upset. Hell, he's pretty pissed himself.
And then I don't know how it ends (what a surprise to all, I'm sure), but if I follow this format, then John's going to have to do something (more than just saving Matt's life), whether that's coming out to the family or something else, I'm not sure, but it's going to harken back to Lucy's comment that John's only good when gunfire is involved.
