Ode to Optophobia (8A)

[veryspecial0ne]

Title: Ode to Optophobia, or: Ten Men That Loved Annie Edison (15/19)
Author: veryspecial0ne
Rating: R for the whole series, to be safe.
Word count: ~2600 for this installment, ~38,600 for the series thus far.
Disclaimer: I have now been tweeted by Dan Harmon, Alison Brie, and Ludwig Goransson. I'm pretty sure that's the closest I'll ever come to

Comments

[na_thalia]

Oh, thank goodness!

I was really afraid you were no longer updating... I'm really excited to see where this goes ;->

Also, followed your Tumblr and have already decided I love it.

[veryspecial0ne]

Believe me, this story has never been too far from my mind. There's absolutely no way I won't finish it. And hopefully it won't be months before the next update either. Now that I've posted, I remember how good it feels so maybe that'll push me through soon! :-)

And thanks for following, too! I was having way too much fun making those caps to be the only person who saw them, haha.

[ext_836229]

Yes! Another update. I really love reading this story.

So glad you wrote Pierce not rejoining the study group. The show didn't really do much with that, and considering why Pierce left, I wanted more.

And I really like how you wrote him. Sometimes I think people write him off as old and stupid. But he's not. He's like the rest of the study group, just flawed.

He cares so much about Annie. I can't wait to read the second part.

[veryspecial0ne]

Aww, thank you!

I decided back when I first started writing and plotting this story that Pierce wouldn't be returning right away. (Of course, that was also when I thought this was going to be a summer-long thing...HA!) Obviously the way I write these characters is a little less sitcommy than they actually are on the show, and under those circumstances especially I knew it wouldn't be that easy. I think my issue was that while the entire summer was passing for the characters and in real life for the audience, the show was still kind of frozen in time to us, so we wanted to SEE the major issue resolved instead of having Pierce kind of resolve stuff on his own and have things get back to normal in the course of one episode. And like, I've really liked the season so far, but I do think there was some other potential there.

I WRITE ESSAYS TO PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST BEING NICE ABOUT MY STORY.

[stephanierb]

Yay! :-)

Aww, Pierce and Annie. Even though I was happy that Pierce was back with the group so soon, I really loved that he hasn't returned just yet in this story. I love that it's his affection for Annie that brings him back and that it starts with just the two of them hanging out together. I really enjoy their relationship on the show and it's great to see it played out here.

And I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I also love the glimpses we get of Jeff and Annie's relationship through the other characters eyes, in both parts. It's an interesting way to view the evolution of their romance and makes the moments we get that much richer.

And speaking of, I take it that this is the break-up mentioned in 1B that Jeff and Annie argue about at the restaurant? That's one of my favorite exchanges in the fic, BTW. The way Jeff needles her about the duration, ready to go into details about it before Annie, embarrassed, cuts him off. Ahahaha. LOVE IT.

Another fabulous installment. Looking forward to 8B!

[veryspecial0ne]

Yes, yay! I posted and you were the FIRST person I wanted to tell

[stephanierb]

Aww, I feel so special! :-) I was thrilled to see your tweet because I had been wondering about this ever since you mentioned you had been working on it some more. So worth the wait!

Now can you guess where Annie was while Troy was waiting for her to show up at the library? I CAN.

Haha, YES. I was picturing them in the closet from Intro to Political Science. I think it's pretty much fanon now that that's "their" spot. Hee.

[veryspecial0ne]

That is exactly where they were.

[__barelyalive]

i like how you're handling pierce in this story. not to blaspheme our beautiful show but i like how you handle pierce better than how the show did (but i still love it MORE than anything, so take that NBC!)

also, HOW GLAD AM I THAT YOU'RE BACK!!!!!!!

[veryspecial0ne]

Aww, thank you! You guys are being so nice, I don't ever want to go away for so long again!

[umeko_star]

ok, i am not lying. but i haven't been on this forum in a while (blame school and job applications). but i decided to check in because i thought "Hey, maybe veryspecialOne updated..." AND YOU WERE THE TOP OF THE PAGE IT WAS LIKE I HAD SOME SORT OF TELEKINETIC LIVEJOURNAL/FANGIRL POWERS!

i loved it. pierce is a difficult character to tackle because he's the exact opposite of men depicted at his age. he's grumpy, stingy,aggravating and seemingly selfish. but he has a heart, he just doesn't have abed's natural charm and charisma to help him convey it. you did an awesome job channeling him though. he's a guarded man but he's willing to bargain with himself and other people for affection. it's clearly not the best way to do it, but it's the only way he knows how to connect while still convinced that he has the upperhand.

AND THEY BROKE UP?! WHY?! JEFF IN SWEATPANTS. I WANNA SEE.

i'm so glad you're back. i've missed you.

[veryspecial0ne]

It's like we're sewn together...

So I've talked somewhere in one of my many long and unnecessary comment replies about how one of the main things driving Annie is just how badly she wants to be loved. I feel that Pierce is driven by that same desire, but he lacks the optimism that characterizes Annie and so it's harder to deal with in him. He feels like he has to manipulate people into liking him...but he's not good at it.

Hahaha, and I appreciate how you're so devastated by the break-up even though you know they get back together! Remember at the beginning of season one when Jeff used to wear sweatpants or track pants to school? Yeah, I don't like thinking about it either. It's a little like that.

I love you guyssss.