Ha—it’s a long story. I sort of backed my way into it, I guess? : ) I started getting involved in the KAT-TUN fandom because I’d been enjoying watching one of the lead singers (Kazuya Kamenashi) in various Japanese dramas—and I discovered in the process that there was a really strong subset of the fandom that shipped him with the other lead singer of the band (Jin Akanishi). So throughout all the fannish conversations about the band there were these side references to the pairing and to various fanfics about them—and eventually I read one of them (written by solo and jo_lasalle, as it happens). I was fully expecting it to not be my thing, but it turned out it… really, really was. ^__^
I think the main reason I’d never gotten into slash before that was because I strongly gravitated toward official pairings—like, I wanted to ship the people that the actual *show*(/book/whatever) thought should be together, and not just the ones I might think should be together. (Because if I shipped the same people the show shipped, then I would get lots of nice scenes and dramatic tension, and if I shipped some other pairing I would be setting myself up for disappointment. I’m pragmatic like that. ^^) That, and my erroneous assumption that I wouldn’t really be able to relate to a pairing that didn’t have a woman in it. Which was just silly in hindsight, because it’s not like I only saw every interaction in a straight pairing through the woman’s eyes, but there you go. I also (at the time) identified as straight, and I tended to feel weird about writing or reading in fandoms that involved live-action drama, much less real people used as characters.
And then I found myself in an RPF fandom about two Japanese dudes in glitter pants, and it turned out I was more flexible and open-minded than I thought… ^^
no subject
I think the main reason I’d never gotten into slash before that was because I strongly gravitated toward official pairings—like, I wanted to ship the people that the actual *show*(/book/whatever) thought should be together, and not just the ones I might think should be together. (Because if I shipped the same people the show shipped, then I would get lots of nice scenes and dramatic tension, and if I shipped some other pairing I would be setting myself up for disappointment. I’m pragmatic like that. ^^) That, and my erroneous assumption that I wouldn’t really be able to relate to a pairing that didn’t have a woman in it. Which was just silly in hindsight, because it’s not like I only saw every interaction in a straight pairing through the woman’s eyes, but there you go. I also (at the time) identified as straight, and I tended to feel weird about writing or reading in fandoms that involved live-action drama, much less real people used as characters.
And then I found myself in an RPF fandom about two Japanese dudes in glitter pants, and it turned out I was more flexible and open-minded than I thought… ^^