Fic: This is Your Hometown, for needsmoregreen

[narie]

Title: This is Your Hometown
Author: firstbreaths
Recipient: needsmoregreen
Rating: PG13+
Word Count: ~7200
Warnings: none
Summary: After helping Burt Hummel with his Congressional campaign, Artie starts to wonder if his future might be a little different to how he’s imagined it
Author's Note: This isn’t exactly future!fic, but I wanted to explore how one of these

Comments

[lls_mutant]

I really enjoyed that. It was a neat look at a character we don't see much in fanfic. I've loved the idea for a long time that Lima isn't the worst place in the world- I mean, Burt seems very happy there himself. Watching Artie come into his own and find a niche that wasn't performing arts on the nose was awesome, and the bittersweet aspect was just lovely. This was definitely exactly the sort of thing I was excited for the gen fest for. Fantastic fic! :)

[firstbreaths]

Thank you, and I'm so glad this worked for you. I spent so long in the Harry Potter fandom writing about all the characters that everyone else found either unsympathetic or didn't care about, and it was nice to remember why it's sometimes interesting to write something a little less conventional (in terms of fandom) than Kurt and Blaine making out, so I was just as excited for the gen fest for that reason as you were!

[missgoalie75]

Thank you for letting me beta this - it was fantastic and really interesting, not to mention totally out of my normal realm of fic that I read.

[firstbreaths]

Oh god, it was so far out of the normal realm of fic that I write that I was just glad to have someone willing to help me. <3

[narie]

Like lls_mutant above me, this is the sort of story I never would've read had I not been running the fest that produced it, both because it's just not what I encounter in my day-to-day dealings with fandom and also because, dude, it's a story about Artie.

Oh, how blind I've been! I loved how you took the prompt and didn't quite give us what it asked for, but at the same time gave us so much more. Artie finding an unexpected place in the world for himself is a wonderful counterpoint to the rest of the Glee club's obsession (canonical and here) with getting out of Lima and going somewhere big and dazzling and whatever else, and his developing relationship with Burt was such a joy to behold. I really, really enjoyed this.

[firstbreaths]

Like, I mentioned above, it's exactly the kind of fic I never would have written if I hadn't been involved in a fest like this, not least because I have never really had any feelings about Artie beyond "oh, I really like Kevin's voice". It definitely makes me want to read/write more about characters that no one cares about, which is probably good for my involvement in fandom but bad for my insanity.

As for the prompt itself, long story short, I live in a Lima-esque town (although my high school was a huge improvement upon McKinley, ngl), and while I can't wait to leave I've also come to be a little proud of it here, so I'm so glad that came across for you in the writing, because it's always bugged me that they just write off Lima outright as an option in the show.

[xsaturated]

[firstbreaths]

Dude, I never thought I would have so many feelings about Artie, and I spent six weeks writing the damn thing. But yay, thank you - as someone who currently lives in a Lima-esque town (and tbf, has a little of the "Lima Loser" attitude herself), it really frustrates me that the show doesn't present any other options.

[needsmoregreen]

Oh. my god. firstbreaths I have read this and it is *incredible* but it is also way past my bedtime and I need to sleep... BUT! I have so many things to say about how wonderful this was that I will most certainly say tomorrow!

Thank you so much for this, just. guh <3

[firstbreaths]

I'm so glad you enjoyed this, and that you're making sleep a priority (speaking as someone who has turned up to work sleep deprived too many times to be healthy, oops). ♥

[needsmoregreen]

Oh my god, I am so so so seriously sorry for never giving you a proper reply to this! I feel awful, because my god this fic was so much more and so much better than I hoped--but I've just had a crazy busy couple of weeks and everything kind of got left by the wayside :/

I've just read it again, and, seriously, thank you so much. I love that this dealt with that idea that the kids always seem to miss, that, hey, what's wrong with staying in Lima, if it's what you choose, not what you're left with when you have no choice

[firstbreaths]

Ah, sorry for getting back to this so late (damn that thing called having a "real life"). The minute I saw this particular prompt I got crazy excited, because I have so many feelings (as someone who comes from a Lima-esque town, albeit the Australian version) about how this show goes with the New York/elsewhere or bust scenario, so this was the perfect chance to explore it.

Plus I love Burt, so the moment this idea came to me, I had to run with it. If Artie and Burt actually ever interact on the show now, I might just die. (Also, that sequel is totally something I've thought about before, but now that I've actually said that it will probably never actually happen because I have commitment-phobia of a sort, oops). Thank you! ♥