Fanfiction Fridays: Speak until the dust settles in the place light refused to go by fifthnorthumberland

In my experience, it is difficult to find a good fanfic with an asexual character. Usually the fic either reads like a “very special episode” on asexuality, or just generally portrays asexuality horribly.

One of my major pet peeves with fanfics featuring asexual characters is that the entire fanfic ends up being entirely about the character’s asexuality. There’s no other plot, motive, or storyline; it’s just about “dealing” with asexuality. What I mean by this is that usually the asexual character is in a relationship, and a large majority of the fanfic deals with the sexual partner dealing with and trying to understand their asexual partner. And while a few plots like that are all well and good, when it’s overused it starts to become very similar to TV shows like Glee and many others that make homosexuality a character’s key personality trait and their entire plotline.

Another thing that sometimes bothers me is the lack of fanfic with a female asexual character. To be fair, the lack of female characters is a problem in our media in general and thus is naturally a problem in fanfiction.

So for my Asexy April fanfic I chose a fic with a female asexual character where the story doesn’t focus entirely on her sexuality: Speak until the dust settles in the place light refused to go, an excellent little Teen Wolf fic featuring an asexual Kira!

This is a great, but short, fanfiction (clocking in at little over 2,000 words) which focuses on our favorite Teen Wolf characters trying to deal with the aftermath of Season 3B.

One of the main focuses of this fanfic is dealing with the grief of Allison’s death and the emotional trauma that many of the characters went through during the season. In an attempt to recuperate and overcome their grief, the gang rents a cabin in the woods and goes through the process of grieving and helping each other pick themselves back up. Since the overall theme of the fic is dealing with the grief and aftermath of Season 3B, the story can be a bit sad at times. There is, however, very much a sense throughout the story that things are getting better, so overall the fanfic has a soothing feel to it.

Throughout the fic we get a glimpse at how each character is dealing with their grief and the relationships they are forming to help them move on. Kira and Scott, in the fic, become closer and make their relationship official. Eventually Kira shyly confesses to Scott that she thinks she is asexual, but Scott, being a good human being, is totally okay with it and the two continue on as before. (If only things were that easy in real life.) We also get glimpses into other aspects of Scott and Kira’s life, such as their relationship with their parents and new friendships they discover in the pack. For example, Derek and Kira become good friends and Derek develops more in his role as ally and adviser to Scott.

Scott and Kira are not the only characters in a romantic relationship in this story. A few other relationships share their spotlight, like Danny and Ethan’s relationship, as well as a romantic relationship between Derek and Stiles. I was thankful that each relationship was given the same amount of treatment, and no one pairing outshone the other. However, while each pairing is definitely portrayed as important, the emphasis in the story is more on the platonic relationships between the characters, and how they grow together as a pack.

If you are still feeling a bit glum after the events of this season, I would highly recommend Speak until the dust settles in the place light refused to go. It’s short, sweet, and different, while still keeping everything mostly (though obviously with some major differences) plot-compliant.