I'm really bad at reccing fic because I don't bookmark or save stories, and my memory is not what it used to be. I hope to do another rec tomorrow, but we are going out into the insanity in search of cheap toys so who know. In the meantime, this is a wonderful fic from bj_action that is so much more than porn. I struggle greatly with the Pink Posse storyline, and dirtylttlescret gets me to look at it in a whole new way here. I love this story!

Empty Chamber by dirtylttlescret

My darling Tweedy, I wish you a year of love, laughter, joy, drabbles, and icons dedicated to the perfection of Brian Kinney's hair. I hope you like you present! (Please forgive the ridiculously sentimental turn it takes at the end. Birthdays do that to me)

Title: It Won't Be Out There, It Can't Be Far
Fandom and Pairing: QAF Brian/Justin
Summary: Birthdays have never been simple for Brian
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: None
Credit: Title taken from the wonderful Erasure song "Miracle."

( It Won't Be Out There, It Can't Be Far )

Tweedy,

I didn't know it was your birthday until I logged in today. Damn IJ for not having birthdays on the login page. Unfortunately RL does not recognize the importance of stopping completely so I can finish your present. I still hope to have it done today, but here is a post 314 drabble to tide you over.

Liberty Avenue was finally starting to clear out. Boisterous celebration turned to exhausted congratulations and reflection. Emmett had escorted Debbie home a while ago. Vic, Rodney, and the girls hadn’t lasted more than an hour. Brian and Justin were drifting from the street toward the sidewalk when the music changed. Lively disco was replaced by something meant for dancing in pairs rather than loosely formed groups. Any other night, Brian would have dismissed the song as sappy and ridiculous and continued home. But on this night, he pulled Justin into his arms, and they swayed together slowly under the streetlight.

There is a post over at qaf_coffeeclub about Brian and Justin and pets. In general, I fall on the side of no pets which led me to wonder under what circumstances I could see them ending up with a pet. In a continuing effort to prove I can still string more than two sentences together, I let my wondering lead to a short ficlet.

Title: The Age of Aquarius
Fandom and Paring: QAF Brian/Justin
Summary: Brian would never call them pets
Rating: PG
Warnings: None

( The Age of Aquarius )

Briefly stepping out of my election haze because outlander tagged me for the Brian and Justin love meme. There are so many examples of love, but here are 5 of my favorites.

( Seasons of Love )

Since there can never be too much love I tag tweedygal, aramina, vl_redeign, notreallyme10, and secretsolitaire to share 1 moment of Brian and Justin love from each season. I tried not to duplicate previous tags, but I make might have missed some.

I feel a bit silly even making this post, but when I was gathering drabbles to repost at LJ, I realized there were a lot of comments I haven't responded to. For the week or two, I have been skimming my flist daily, but not commenting or responding much. I don't want any one to think I don't love and appreciate your comments. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a comment from one of you. But as you may know, I am a bit of a compulsive joiner (see the 4 stories I wrote for the last challenge at qaf_challenges as Exhibit A), and I finally stopped dragging my feet recently and went to my local Obama office to volunteer. I planned to give 3-4 hours a week, but everyday the kids have been in school I've been there 3-4 hours. I don't see this letting up. I've also agreed to run a staging location on election day which means I will be there from 5am to 9pm. I don't know how I will get through election day without you:( So until Obama is President, I will be a bit hit or miss. I will try to catch up on the days I am home more, and know I miss you all.

PS: Anyone who can tell me where my subject line came from gets a drabble from a pairing/character and prompt of their choosing.

I HATE LIFE

Please return to your regularly scheduled program. It's just been a very frustrating day combined with some bizarre and disturbing family issues that have me stressed out. It was type that or end up yelling at one of the boys.

Tagged by xie_xie_xie. This is a Queer as Folk quote meme. In your own journal, pick a favorite QAF quote, post a photo or icon to go with it, and tag three others!

There are so many quotes I thought about using, but I decide to go with one that is especially significant to me. If you have endured my ramblings on just why I love Justin so much, you will not be surprised by what I picked. Emphasis is mine.



If you want to hit me, go right ahead only I'm no gonna cry like some little faggot. And if you want to send me away, that's all right too because I bet more butt fucking goes on in boarding school than in the backroom of Babylon. But whatever you do, it's not gonna matter. Cause I'll still be your queer son.
Justin to his father (107)

I tag tweedygal, outlander, and thymewriter

My power has been out since Sunday evening, and I'm not sure when it will be back on. Maybe tonight but could be as late as Thursday. So I'm not ignoring you and the withdrawl is killing me. As soon as I can I will begin the massive task of catching up. But on a good note, maybe I'll save enough on my electric bill to justify buying a permanent account while they are on sale. Not really, but one can hope.

I miss you all! Hugs to everyone.

I wrote this for qaf_scavenger's Kissing Contest. Six drabbles for six kisses.

Title: Six Kisses That Changed Everything
Fandom and Pairing: QAF Brian/Justin
Category: 3: Kissing through the seasons

( Six Kisses That Changed Everything )

This fic was written for zaipixie as part of the qaf_giftxchnge Summer Quickie.

Title: 'Til the Lights Go Down in New York City
Fandom and Pairing: QAF gen, focus on Brian and Vic
Gift Request: Something that explores Brian's relationship with Vic - NOT in a romantical sense, but something that explores Vic's role in Brian's life when he was a teenager taking refuge at the Novotny's.
Rating: PG
Summary: In the summer of 1985, Brian joins Michael for the annual Novotny vacation in the Poconos amd meets Vic for the first time.
Credit: Title taken from the Erasure song "You Surround Me."
Notes: Special thanks to vl_redreign for her beta work and xie_xie_xie for her technical assistance. Any remaining mistakes are mine alone.

( 'Til the Lights Go Down in New York City )

The incredibly talented and wonderful zaipixie not only made me a fabulous layout for the qaf_giftxchnge, she also installed it for me because what took her 5-10 minutes would have taken me days. It is stunning and perfect and I just adore it. If it looks different to you, it's because badbbadpixie was also kind and generous enough to change the original picture for me, not because her original layout wasn't perfect, but because I think Justin looks like Matt Damon in that picture. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Is there anyone around this afternoon who can beta my kissing ficlet? It's only 800 words, but it has a sex scene that I know needs work so I need someone who is comfortable picking that apart.

This is for the Bring Back the Porn celebration. The original idea came from happier_bunny. She asked for a drabble and got this instead.

Title: Nothing More Than You Can Feel Now
Fandom/Pairing: QAF Brian/Justin
Rating: Nc-17
Summary: Brian has a unique way of dealing with the heat.
Warnings: None
Beta: The fabulous flashfly who went above and beyond the call of duty to make this readable. Also, thank you to notreallyme10, flamencanyc, and xie_xie_xie for their last minute help and advice.
Credit: Title taken from the Depeche Mode song "World In My Eyes."

( Nothing More Than You Can Feel Now )

I have a technical sex question that I need some help with before I post my Bring Back the Porn story. Any out there able to help?

Title: Feel It Like You Do
Fandom and Pairing: LOTR RPS Viggo/Orlando
Rating: PG
Summary: Orlando didn’t know how to separate Viggo and New Zealand
Author's Notes: Written for admirabile in the found_my_keys fic exchange.
admirabile’s request: Whatever the lyrics to U2's "When I Look at the World" inspires. It can be present day, set in NZ or any time in between. Drama/slight angst but a happy ending will be appreciated.
Thank you to galor5 for the beautiful banner!

( Feel It Like You Do )

Why, why, why is writing so hard? I know exactly what I want to say. I can picture how the story goes, can hear the word. So why it getting the words from my head to the page so incredibly agonizing?

The final challenge from Fandom Appreciation Week is to write a love letter to someone or something fandom related. I kind of of cheated on a previous challenge and unknowingly did something similar. But I decided my official love letter will be to Brian and Justin.

Hard as it is to believe there was a time when I only logged online long enough to check my email and a few sports scores. The I discovered QAF and more specifically Brian and Justin. My concern for their story sent me searching the internet for any hint of what was to come. There I discovered fandom and fanfic and writing. Everything that came after-LJ, IJ, other fandoms, wonderful friends can be traced back to Brian and Justin. So. . .

Dear Brian and Justin,

Thank you for exiisting even if it was only on my TV screen. Thank you for capturing my imagination and my heart so thoroughly that years later I still think of you and wonder about your future. Thank you for kissing and hugging for fucking and sucking and showing me the beauty of two men together. Thank you for taking chances and dancing to corny old songs and risking everything for what you believe in and most of all for loving each other. Thank you for introducing me to your world and more importantly your family. Thank you for making me laugh, cry, scream in frustration, and cheer loudly. Thank you for making me care and changing my life in ways you cannot imagine.

qaf_challenges, qaf_scavenger and the fabulous women who run them!

Today's Fandom Appreciation challenge** is to give feedback to reccers, community moderators, challenge organizers etc. I decided to do this in a post about 2 communities that are especially close to my heart, and as I said the fabulous women who run them.

As many of you know, I have been in the QAF fandom for a long time. Fandoms ebb and flow. After the show ended, the QAF fandom was in a transitional phase. Many of the authors and readers I knew were drifting away from QAF, and I wasn't really active enough to know who was coming in. I was writing less, reading less, and basically losing QAF.

Then qaf_challenges came along (okay there were a few separate challenges run before it became a challenge community, but this is a love song not a history). Suddenly I had a reason to write! Not only that, but there were new stories by authors both new and old at my fingertips. I was excited about QAF all over again. The wonderful _alicesprings began qaf_challenges and I will always think of her as the women who reminded me why I love writing for Brian and Justin. She is no longer running challenges herself, but the equally fabulous xie_xie_xie has stepped in and run some wonderful and unique challenges. And Xie is one of the best challenges moms ever. I can personally attest to the fact that you can send her crazy freakout emails in the last hours before stories are due and she will still speak to you.

So I was writing again, but I was still pretty lost in this newest version of the QAF fandom. Then there was this amazing fandom scavenger hunt run at qaf_scavenger. It was interactive, it was fun (and really hard), and best of all it was a map to the QAF fandom past and present. I found authors, artists, and communities I had never known about. I was watching scenes I'd forgotten about and loving every minute of it. I fell in love with QAF all over again. Not just Brian and Justin, but all the characters and the crazy fandom they brought me too. qaf_scavenger had a lot of people working to pull off that first, brilliant hunt, but since then the amazing happier_bunny and sanami276 have kept things going. They hunt for the best ways to celebrate Halloween, Un-Valentine's Day, and Pride. They see they fun in fandom and helps us remember to celebrate it. It is also through this community that I first got to know my darling happier_bunny. I have told her this many times, but it was her welcome that made me feel a part of fandom again.

Without these communities and the wonderful women who give their time and talent to run them, I probably would visit QAF on occasion, but I would be here like I am now. They helped me remember why I loved QAF so much, taught me new ways to look at the characters and scenes and made me feel creative again. I cannot thank them enough.

**I have been participating in a Fandom Appreciation Challenge this week over on LJ. Since it comes from a fandom I read in on LJ when they challenges involve posting I haven't been cross posting. But this post is much more relevant to IJ so I copied it here.

I generally prefer Barnes and Noble over Borders. I just like the feel of the store better, but I do occasionally shop at Borders. I got a coupon in the mail today for their new website that gives me $5 off. Even though I really shouldn't be spending any money, I thought with the coupon I might be able to indulge a little and buy one of the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks. I love the music from the show so much that I always watch the opening credits and sometimes leave the DVD on the menu just to listen to the song. So I go to Borders's website and find that any item that isn't a book is scheduled to ship in 4 to 8 weeks. What's the point of that?