I think you took the words right out of my mouth about Jun/Aiba and the subtextual level. Don't feel like a tool, babe. It's always the really good writers that can explore the subtext, and I think Jun/Aiba has an amazing amount of subtext.
Sho/Aiba, on the other hand, has some of its own subtext, but I don't think many fic writers explore it--at least not so much that I've seen. The subtext I read with them is almost more complicated than Jun/Aiba, in some ways. They're obviously really close, since they go shopping together all the time and Aiba can ask "Does this make me look fat?" without batting an eyelash, but from what I see, there's also Sho's nurturing nature to contrast Aiba's (at times) emotional vulnerability. Then the fact that Aiba comes up with hideous but hilarious ideas and Sho will always do just about anything anyone asks of him, which makes Sho the prime target for Aiba's fun.
Western fic writers tend to write Aiba as the girl of the relationship, and the Aiba that shows up in Sakuraba fic is very fandom-based, I agree. The Sho... I usually don't even recognize the Sho. Admittedly, I don't read much Sakuraba either, probably because good Sakuraba is so infrequent.
Interestingly enough, the Japanese fandom seems to prefer Sho as the uke and Aiba as the seme; I used to go WHAT until I thought about it more, but these days I actually find myself preferring it too. As to why, well, Sho is often dubious and somewhat flaily and scared about things, whereas Aiba is the charge-ahead type who just wants to jump in at the deep end. In that respect I can usually believe it if someone wants to portray Aiba as going, "Hey, Sho, we should DO STUFF! It could be fun!" and Sho going, "l;as;lkajsdfj??!" but being dragged along for the ride and enjoying it by the end.
See, I'd probably read that kind of Sakuraba fic.
Jun... Jun... Yes, he's complicated. He's the most difficult for me to write, in all honesty, because he has all these sides and he just flicks through them all like someone's changing channels. I miss his Mago Mago days a lot; I felt like he was more understandable then.
... I think we really need a community for this. I mean, seriously, I'm really starting to consider it for real: a community for fic-meta. I already know a lot of people who love to talk about this kind of stuff, so that's the natural next step. Perhaps I will ask around and see if people are interested. >>
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Sho/Aiba, on the other hand, has some of its own subtext, but I don't think many fic writers explore it--at least not so much that I've seen. The subtext I read with them is almost more complicated than Jun/Aiba, in some ways. They're obviously really close, since they go shopping together all the time and Aiba can ask "Does this make me look fat?" without batting an eyelash, but from what I see, there's also Sho's nurturing nature to contrast Aiba's (at times) emotional vulnerability. Then the fact that Aiba comes up with hideous but hilarious ideas and Sho will always do just about anything anyone asks of him, which makes Sho the prime target for Aiba's fun.
Western fic writers tend to write Aiba as the girl of the relationship, and the Aiba that shows up in Sakuraba fic is very fandom-based, I agree. The Sho... I usually don't even recognize the Sho. Admittedly, I don't read much Sakuraba either, probably because good Sakuraba is so infrequent.
Interestingly enough, the Japanese fandom seems to prefer Sho as the uke and Aiba as the seme; I used to go WHAT until I thought about it more, but these days I actually find myself preferring it too. As to why, well, Sho is often dubious and somewhat flaily and scared about things, whereas Aiba is the charge-ahead type who just wants to jump in at the deep end. In that respect I can usually believe it if someone wants to portray Aiba as going, "Hey, Sho, we should DO STUFF! It could be fun!" and Sho going, "l;as;lkajsdfj??!" but being dragged along for the ride and enjoying it by the end.
See, I'd probably read that kind of Sakuraba fic.
Jun... Jun... Yes, he's complicated. He's the most difficult for me to write, in all honesty, because he has all these sides and he just flicks through them all like someone's changing channels. I miss his Mago Mago days a lot; I felt like he was more understandable then.
... I think we really need a community for this. I mean, seriously, I'm really starting to consider it for real: a community for fic-meta. I already know a lot of people who love to talk about this kind of stuff, so that's the natural next step. Perhaps I will ask around and see if people are interested. >>