An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply (see additional tags)
Relationships: Tyador Borlú/Qussim Dhatt
Summary: How Borlú and Dhatt could have spent the rest of their night at the drinking club.
Instead of working on one of my existing WIPs like I’d planned, I accidentally completed my first non-Starfighter fic in ages.
Was it the one for a D&D actual play series I watch that has a small but devoted fanbase? Was it one of two I’ve started for a popular book series with a mid-sized, fairly active fandom? Was it the one for a spinoff/AU comic from a major Marvel property that has a legitimately huge fandom who might take interest?
No, of course not. It’s for a 2009 novel that had less than 20 works on AO3 before I published this, including one podfic duplicating another in the list, and one essay chapter in a meta commentary work. And only one of which features this pairing.
I somehow decided to write for an even smaller, even deader fandom. Oops. But The City & the City latched onto my brain and shook it, then dragged it around the room and wouldn’t let go. So here we are.
But listen, have you ever considered the parallels between unseeing and comp het-induced repression of bisexual urges? That’s the kind of batshit nonsense that has been rolling around in my mind the past few weeks, which likely nobody reading this is going to even understand. Meanwhile, I am still chewing on the delicious concepts from this novel like a cat tearing apart a cardboard box.
For anyone who may find this one day who has read the book, this is obviously meant to function as a deleted scene from when Borlú and Dhatt ended up at the drinking club with the drag show. The book isn’t 100% clear about whether the place is less-than-legal for just the drag (and presumably catering to gay clientele) or also for serving alcohol after hours. I haven’t seen the television miniseries adaptation of the novel, but apparently it does touch on repression of LGBT+ citizens of Ul Qoma, though Borlú isn’t really fazed by meeting a lesbian couple while there. I’ve run with that here, adding my own headcanon that homosexuality was decriminalized in Besźel some years ago.
Also, in honour of all the newly invented portmanteaus from the novel (which I adored—especially topolganger), I am also tossing one out here: bisexistential. Because I couldn’t resist Borlú having a mild, baby bi existential crisis throughout.
Almost all of this was written during Pride month, but I didn’t get through editing it until now, so it’s a bit late. Happy belated Pride, I guess!