Birthright : My slashy thoughts.

[layne67]

For those who didn't know already, Birthright, a Faculty fanfic written by baylorsr and oselle is back on the net after an absence of more than a year, two years? And it's back with extra, never-been-seen-before chapters as well! Well, at least not by me.

I had a great time re-reading it, and heck, I'm now even more convinced than ever that Casey and Zeke are in love with each other. Not just "love each other", but actually in love with each other, despite Oselle insisting that the story is gen.

I've always thought there's something more than platonic, brotherly love between them, especially when Zeke kissed Casey in Christmas, Minnesota. Oh God, that's my favourite chapter ever, so bittersweet and it tuggedtuggedtugged at my heart strings. Then these new chapters - Tummy, Casey's upset because he thought that Zeke was neglecting him. And in Hot, the way Casey's plastered to Zeke's back, while in bed. Nope, not platonic. At all. Paradise sort of sealed it for me, the way Casey was thinking of Zeke when he was with the street hooker. And I died, died, I tell you, with what Zeke did in Real Estate

I had this little discussion with tempest_415 a little while back, and while I do agree that Zeke would never, ever, take advantage of a sick, mentally damaged Casey, there's nothing to say that he's not in love with Casey, though he probably didn't realize it himself. As for Casey, I'd say he's definitely in love with Zeke, but like Zeke, he probably didn't realize it either.

I like to think that they did find each other, after Montana, after Casey's healed and they started with their alien-chasing job. What do you think?


[Poll #1252969]


Re-reading the whole story, I'm itching, itching to read a Birthright/SPN crossover, preferably when Casey was still sick and they were on the run, staying at one rundown place after another, just like the Winchester brothers. Zeke and Dean meeting at a bar somewhere, hustling pool, eh oselle? *POKES*

And speaking of crossovers, God, I would LOVE to read a 'Faith' AU where dying!Dean goes to Casey from Family instead of to La Grange *nudges mews1945 gently*. Or the Winchesters helping Elijah from The Woodjin verse to hunt down the Red Devil *pokes lbilover, hard*. Or Casey from Winding Road meeting Sam at Stanford, yep, Ellen, bet you're sorry you chose Stanford heheh, and yeah, Sam went to Stanford right after high school - Casey missing Zeke, Sam missing Dean, both of them miserable, finding comfort in each other, though not *that* way of course. Zeke, for one, wouldn't approve. They could even be room-mates!

But you know what my dream crossover is? Teen!Sam and teen!Dean meeting Casey and Zeke at Herrington High. Sam and Dean went from one school to another, so why not make them go to the same school as Casey and Zeke? Two nerds and two bad-asses, the Impala and the GTO. Wouldn't that be super, super AWESOME? Hmmm, I wonder who could write it, other than the 4 authors above. Let me see, vshendria, montmorency, kashmir1, i_o_r_h_a_e_l, maybe elenya54 or sophinisba? wynterhawk?

:DD

Comments

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

finding comfort in each other...

and my eyes went WIDE before I read the next words. You! :D

a 'Faith' AU where dying!Dean goes to Casey from Family

Will you believe me if I say how my heart MELTS reading that. Oh. *weeps*

And why do I remember Sodakey when reading your dream scenario? She'd be AWESOME at it.

[honeyandvinegar.livejournal.com]

Hah, 'platonic' hasn't been picked yet. It's early, though. Lol. :)

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm running for the airport right now but I'll give you my thoughts when I return! See ya!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

I love Birthright for so many reasons, and one of them is because their relationship can be interpreted in different ways, and anything is possible. There's so much aching love in those stories, all of them, but it's really left up to us as to how we want to look at it.

That's an interesting thought about Faith crossing over with Family. I think I need to rewatch that episode and think about it. If I can possibly figure out how to do it, I'll give it a try, maybe for a Halloween story.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Is Sodakey into the Faculty fandom? We should totally go and hound her for a crossover, if so :))

And Zeke would come after Sam if he made a move on Casey. Wow, two tall guys at each other's throat! I wonder what the outcome would be. But then Dean would be there as well ( he initially thought Casey's a chick when Sam told him about Casey ), and put things right. And they live happily ever after heheh.

I could totally see Sam bringing Dean to Casey when he read/heard about the wonder healer. And sick!Dean would bond with Casey, for some reasons, and Sam and Zeke would talk while Dean's with Casey.

:D

[layne67.livejournal.com]

oselle would choose that one. With guns blazing.

*bites nails*

:D

[layne67.livejournal.com]

*waits nervously*

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about Sam bringing Dean to Casey for healing for quite some time already. He could have read about it on the internet, you know he's always researching about this and that, and he researched non-stop when he was told that Dean was dying. So it's not far-fetched to think of them going to Casey!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea about them finding him over the internet. Any other ideas you think of, send them to me, okay? I'd love to have a collaborator to help me work out the plot of the story. I'd definitely credit you as co-writer if you want to do it.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I think you already have my email addy if you wanted to email me about it, right?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I think you'll be surprised. I've put A LOT of thought into this! Too much, probably. Bye!!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do know your email addy!

*GLEE*

:D

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

:D *hugs*

[sophinisba]

Teen!Sam and teen!Dean meeting Casey and Zeke at Herrington High.

Yes, yes, YES. This was all I could think about when I first watched the first season of SPN with danae_b. Well, that and how much I missed X-Files. :)

I love this post, and all the ideas you thow out there. I don't feel up to writing anything myself but I love the ideas.

Thanks also for the Birthright links. I've missed that story a lot and I didn't know it was back up, let alone with new chapters!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I wish that those ideas could translate themselves into pages and pages of fanfics!

And yeah, all those motel rooms, and demons instead of aliens, hee, Kripke probably had read 'Birthright' himself :)

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Oh I really don't know if Sodakey is into the Faculty. :D

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Okay, here are my thoughts and I'll try to be coherent:

I picked "Unrequited and unresolved" in your poll because neither "platonic" nor "definitely doing it" seems to fit. Unrequited fits best but that doesn't tell the whole story as I see it.

I think their relationship is very complicated. For most of the time that Zeke and Casey are on the road, Casey is in a position of childlike dependence upon Zeke which IMO puts the brakes on any physical relationship between the two of them right there.

However the two of them are almost the same age and the real Casey is still in there behind his warped mental state. They lead a very weird and isolated life in which they're in each other's company almost all of the time and Casey's illness all but forces a certain amount of physical intimacy upon them (Zeke is always having to hold him, carry him, take care of him etc.). So...you have these two young men who a) are together all of the time and b) are very physically comfortable with each other. Do sparks automatically fly? Not necessarily.

I think what you see in stories like "Christmas, Minnesota" and "Hot" is not so much sexual desire as a desperate need for comfort and closeness...and who else are they going to turn to for it besides each other? For me, the Christmas story was more about this sort of desperation than anything else. Zeke's not coming on to Casey there, he's just taking care of him yet again, and because they're both feeling warm and safe and pretty drunk it leads to some woozy making out that never goes any farther. Would something more serious have happened if Casey hadn't fallen asleep? Maybe, but I don't think so. I think Zeke would have cut it short just like he did in "Hot."

"Paradise" is a good example of this desperation. Casey didn't go off with Jamie because missing Zeke made him want to get laid, he went with him because he was so desperate for the kind of companionship and comfort that he'd gotten from Zeke when they were together. When Jamie turns this into a purely sexual encounter, Casey puts a stop to it because he won't use this kid in that way to assuage his own loneliness.

All that said...yes, Casey is in love with Zeke. But Casey is in everything with Zeke. Even when Casey is technically "cured," Zeke continues to be his true north. There's just no one else in the world for Casey but Zeke.

Sooo, is Zeke in love with Casey? Yes to that too, but Zeke's feelings for Casey are such a fucked-up stew of attraction, admiration, pity and protectiveness that I don't think we can say he's "in love" with Casey in any normal sense of the term.

More to come...

[oselle.livejournal.com]

(Found a Birthright icon!)

Zeke falling apart after Casey dies could be interpreted as mourning for a lost love but there's so much more to it than that. He feels that he failed Casey and was responsible for his death. On a wider scale, Zeke sees his years with Casey as the only time in his life when he was doing the right thing. All of that dies with Casey. So when Zeke goes and buys the trailer in "Real Estate," it's not just because he was happy there with Casey, he's trying to reclaim the one time in his life when he was not only with someone that he cared deeply for but also had a sense of purpose. Minnesota was very much the best time in Zeke's life.

Do they ever hook up after Montana? I think they could have, but the one thing that makes them so close -- their dysfunctionally intimate history -- is also the thing that keeps them apart. Oh, the heartbreak!

I really love to imagine them having at least one passionate romantic encounter somewhere between Montana and Casey's death, but it would be an AU. In my own personal Birthright canon, these two lost souls are eternally star-crossed.

As for that Birthright/SPN crossover -- man, did that pick at my brain. I even read up on some pool-hustling terms but could never seem to get at the story the right way, maybe because it's been so long since I wrote Zeke. And I could never decide whose perspective to tell it from -- Zeke's or Dean's. Maybe someday the muse'll grab me and I'll run with it. Until then, we'll always have Minnesota!

Thanks so much for enjoying Birthright!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Unrequited and unresolved are what I actually think of them as they're basically a couple of two straight guys thrown together and basically living in each other's pockets, and needing each other to survive.

Casey and Zeke actually becoming lovers is more of a wishful thinking on my part, not that it couldn't happen, it could but maybe, like you said, more as an AU of Birthright.

Thank you, darling ♥

[layne67.livejournal.com]

And if Rodriguez ever decided to do a sequel, this is how I want them to be!

And Zeke's POV would be awesome :))

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

oselle said it all! I would just add that even post-Montana, I have trouble seeing Zeke acting on any sexual feelings with Casey because even though Casey is better, Zeke forever sees himself in the role of caretaker and would always perceive it as taking advantage of Casey.

I do think that the unresolved sexual tension is there between them, though, right beneath the surface. They call themselves brothers, but they really aren't - they weren't raised as siblings and don't have that shared childhood that would make anything sexual taboo. And as oselle put it so well above, they are each other's everything because of the bizarre life that they're leading, so it's not unthinkable that they might stray into comforting each other with sex as well.

I didn't answer the pole but I'd say unresolved, though not unrequited. Poor boys!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

*facepalm*

Unresolved and unrequited, those two are actually two different things, right?

I am SO glad that you and oselle are putting 'Birthright' back up on the net, for public reading I mean. And thank you so much for all those parts that I haven't read before.

Btw, are there any plans on writing about Casey's death?

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

We were excited to get it back out there for people to enjoy. Alas, we have no plans to write any more.

[frodosweetstuff.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, those are some interesting crossover ideas! I have not yet read Birthright but I would not mind if the writers you mentioned would get inspired!!! *hugs*

[layne67.livejournal.com]

'Birthright' is one classic Faculty fanfic, Steff. Do read if you had the time!!!

[frodosweetstuff.livejournal.com]

I have it bookmarked!