Cup Runneth Over
| Jim/Blair Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Cup Runneth Over |
| Author(s): | Charlotte Frost |
| Date(s): | 19 August 2003 |
| Length: | 445k, 160pgs |
| Genre: | slash, h/c |
| Fandom: | The Sentinel |
| External Links: | online here |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Cup Runneth Over is a Jim/Blair story by Charlotte Frost.
It is a slash sequel to gen story The Passing Shade.
Summary: "Jim and Blair grow closer while confronting their individual feelings about various personal situations."
Author's Comments
No sooner had I sent the gen “The Passing Shade” off to the betas, than I was frantically working on a slash sequel. My mind was so engrossed in the events that I just wanted to keep going. This pair of stories had, at their core, my belief that Blair’s thesis was the villain throughout the TS series. Also, I was very much into Blair’s growing up without a father and with a very self-centered mother; and therefore, his intense desire to be “somebody special”, somebody that someone else would want to write about (as he sees Jim as someone special enough to be worthy of writing about).I particularly like Blair’s journal entries in this. Sometimes, I browse just through those and don’t have any interest in reading the rest of the story. I also like the evidence, as presented in canon, that Jim wants to bottom (though I don’t generally enjoy a bottom Jim), but I think the development of that idea was a bit rough, as presented in the story.
I brought up Blair having constipation and ulcer problems as a child, but my idea about those things wasn’t very well developed, and I think they come across as rather extraneous information. I sort of wish I would have kept all that stuff out.
Of those readers who mentioned having a preference, none of them liked this story as well as the prequel. Neither do I. I think “The Passing Shade” was a much more focused story; by comparison, this one sometimes seems to lack a sense of direction.
For a while I had in mind of doing another installment, where Blair goes to Illinois to find out about his long-dead biological father. I even did first-hand research the summer of 2004, when I went to IL to visit a fan friend (and beta) and pick up a Beagle puppy. I found the exact spot where I imagined the long-ago car accident happened (complete with roadside memorial, though it was for a much more recent victim), and a graveyard where it was easy to imagine his father and brother were buried. I got maybe 15 pages into the story, and then just never picked it up again. I don’t remember coming across it the last time I moved around WIPs on the computer; maybe it didn’t survive the last hard drive crash.[1]
Reactions and Reviews
[comments regarding both stories]: After Blair is in a car accident and some subsequent shocking revelations from Naomi, Jim and Blair start reevaluating their lives.I waffled on this one for a while, mainly because there is not a single positive representation of women in this fic. It's not quite woman bashing but it's really close to it, so if that is something you're sensitive to you'll probably want to steer clear. What redeems this story (because I am very sensitive to woman bashing) is the way Charlotte Frost manages to combine slice of life writing with some very incisive and interesting looks at gender roles.
The writing is practical and very down to earth, which allows for Charlotte to explore some thorny issues about Naomi's child rearing choices in a thought provoking way. In the hands of a less pragmatic or capable author, those decisions would have undoubtedly been inflated into extreme child abuse. Instead, it's up to the reader to decide if Naomi's decisions were good ones or bad (and an argument could be made for either side).
Even more interesting to me is her clever exploration of gender roles (a kink of mine that is rarely satisfied in fanfic). Because both characters are male, it's possible to step back from societal expectations and to really think about what it means to be a 'housewife' or to be the more caring partner or to be submissive in bed. In the western world all three of those characteristics are usually assumed to be the role of the woman, but without a woman in the relationship it becomes obvious how silly and flawed that assumption is.
It's rare to find a fanfic that does more than entertain, but instead makes you think. While these aren't perfect stories, they are at times insightful, consistently thought-provoking, and always interesting. A good choice for anyone who likes a little social commentary in their fic.
A note on the D/s aspect of this fic: as befits both the pragmatic writing and the sneaky focus on gender roles, the D/s part of this fic is not very (or at all) kinky. Frankly, if this fic were het, the fact that one partner is in control in bed and the other is passive would just be accepted as The Way Things Are (BTW, if anyone has a counterexample, I'd love to hear about it). Because those gender assumptions don't apply here, however, actual choices are made and words are spoken to clarify which role each partner will be taken in the bedroom. In short: if you're reading this just for the D/s aspect, you probably won't be very satisfied. And if you generally avoid D/s fic, you shouldn't avoid this fic for that reason.[2]