Forget Everything I Ever Said by hollycomb (R)

[littlestclouds.livejournal.com]

Fandom: BASEBALL RPF
Pairing: Brian McCann/Jeff Francoeur
Length: 12,331
Author on LJ: hollycomb
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read: I have a list of bulletproof - not kinks, exactly - more like . . . plot points or storytelling devices, or what have you that I love seeing touched on in fic. One is the coming-of-age story. The other is internal religious conflict. Another is how the guys' relationship affects their wives/girlfriends and the relationships they have with them. Yet another is how the media and the league react to the players' relationship. Rarely are all four tackled in one story, but hollycomb does it here and she does it well. Brian's internal conflict, as well as the conflicts between Brian and Jeff, Brian and his wife Ashley, and Brian and Jeff's wife Catie give the story so many layers and dimensions. All the characters are sympathetic; there are no villains here. They're all well-rounded and emotionally complex. Another thing that has made me a fan is Forget Everything I Ever Said's "resolute lack of a resolution," as [Bad username or site: americanleaguer pointed out. So many authors try to tie things up in a neat little bow, with the heroes riding off together in the sunset, but nothing's ever that neat or easy, and <lj user=hollycomb @ livejournal.com] gets that.

He can see it on her face like heard it from Jeff: honey, they'll kill you. He tries to imagine this crowd of murderers, skinheads and fat rednecks. They would feel like they were protecting something. There are people who love him who would want him dead if they knew who he really was. Sometimes it seems like the oldest story ever told, and then, suddenly, like no one else has ever been through anything so hard. Occasionally it will occur to him that he and Jeff might be exaggerating their interest to the general public, that the world might just spit on them or shake their hands and go on without them.

Forget Everything I Ever Said