Crossing Boundaries

You know that here in the Perv Pack we all have different flavours and favourites, it is why we have our different Teams (WussPerv; TAG and Slash), each with specialized fic recommendations for you. Recently, however, we have found that certain fics touch some of us in special ways. These fics make us push our own boundaries and ignite something inside of us. Different members of the Perv Pack will be teaming up occasionally to bring you reccs of fics of that nature, which they have bonded over. Sometimes these fics will be pushing their own boundaries and other times they will be pushing your boundaries. Some of our Pervs we took a chance with the fics we will feature here, we hope you will take that chance with us as we cross our boundaries and bond over fics we have enjoyed exceptionally.

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The How and the Why

Emmy - I think its a well known fact that you don’t get any more Team Edward than me (apart from the fact that I DON’T have Team Edward bed-sheets or posters, or wall-clocks, or lunch boxes or owt daft like that!). But when it comes to FF, not only am I Team Edward all the way, I am also a WussPerv(TM) through and through. So how the hell did I read a fic, where Edward, Jacob and Bella are the main players, together??

I have never been a Jacob fan, in the books to me there was no choice for Bella to make, it was Edward all the way. I could barely tolerate him in fanfic, even in a fic where I knew B/E would end up together. I have always enjoyed homo-erotic texts and images, and the PPSS and the world of FF allowed me to explore Slash fic’s and to thoroughly enjoy them. But my turpentine for a long time was Edward with Jake. Whether as a Fire & Ice fic or as an All Human fic. So how did this start to change?

Jeanne.

Jeanne did two things.

First of all, last year the PPSS ran an Officer and a Gentleman Contest and before Jeanne was a member of the PPSS, she submitted a Jake and Edward entry. This was the first Edward/Jake fic I had ever read. Shock horror! I actually loved it!

Secondly, when our very own einfach-mich became part of the PPSS, she started to educate me, subtly without lectures but through exposure, to the merits of his character and to his mistreatment in the world of ff. When I read B/E fics, I started to get annoyed if Jake was stereotyped and done wrong by. Eeeeep I thought! ;)

Now don’t get me wrong. I do not want a world of recc’s of Bella/Jake fics. But I do now see Jake as a legitimate character, who deserves right and proper treatment...

This leads me to Acting Out, as I mentioned above, I am a huge lover of slash. To find new fics, I often scan through the favourite lists of authors whose work I enjoy. I am shamed to say I cannot remember who had this fic on their favourites list - as I owe them a huge thank you. The synopsis intrigued me (thanks to all the ground work Jeanne had done [see above]) and I wanted to read more. This is embarrassing to admit, but I didn’t read the first chapter, first of all. I read the ending - yes I am that pathetic, I have come to terms with this. But I knew my heart would be broken if it ended a certain way. I then cut to a chapter with a stinking hot lemon and BAM!!! That was me sold. Chuffing Nora! It was some hot loving. So, I went back to the beginning and read the fic through, chapter to chapter, completely absorbed and enraptured. Then I went to my PPSS girlies and flailed by email, desperate for someone else to have read it. Thankfully Jeanne had too. I could have wept with relief.

Jeanne - First, let me take a moment to say: HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH!! I won’t waste time gloating over the successful conversion of a WussPerv(TM) to a supporter, and appreciator of Jacob Black. Okay, maybe just for a second. *does a short dance of joy*

Now, that I have that out of my system, let me be serious for a second. I’m a very VOCAL advocate for the fair treatment of all the Twilight characters in fan fiction, but especially for Jacob. He is a main character in three out of the four books of the series, and whether other fans like it or not without his help Bella and Edward wouldn’t have had their Happily Ever After.

Everyone knows I love Jacob Black, but what a lot of people may not know is that my ultimate ship, my OTP (One True Pairing as they say in most fandoms) is actually a OT3. That’s right, my top ship in the Twilight series is a threesome, specifically: Edward/Bella/Jacob.


In my heart of hearts this is how I believe the series should have ended. After all, in canon Jacob’s imprint (aka soulmate) is essentially Edward and Bella (in the form of their child). When you boil it down it means that the perfect mate for Jacob is Edward and Bella, together, and I whole heartedly agree, but it goes both (or three) ways. Edward is so self-deprecating, driven, and so fucking serious. Bella is stubborn, reckless and emotionally fragile. Jacob brings humor, light and balance to the other two’s extremes. That is the beauty of trinity, stability and symmetry.

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Title: Acting Out

Author: EroticFan
Chapters: 29
Words: 135,106
Reviews: 640
Summary: AU-human: Edward, Bella and Jake are juniors in Forks. Very NC-17 with Edward and Jake both bi, but not PWP - there's plot, angst, humor and romance as these messed-up kids figure out their three-way relationship. You'll like Jake here - trust me!

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We both came to this fic from completely different angles. As Emmy said above she found this story while looking for slash in the favorite’s list, and because of my influence she gave Acting Out a click. While Jeanne came to the story through her desperate search for ANY Ed/Bella/Jake fic. Despite the fact they came in this story with different expectations we were both drawn in by the beauty, and complexity of this story.

What is wonderful and unique about this story is how each one of main characters are strong, distinctive and compelling. Edward (Emmy’s favorite) is a dark, haunted young man, that uses his bisexuality, and bad reputation as a shield to keep people away. Jacob is a strong young man that’s forced, because of his father’s disability, to mature beyond his age. He is also bisexual, and a very comfortable with his sexuality, not to mention he is a sexy, leather-clad motorcycle rider. Bella, while she is still very canon, has a kind of strength that she derives from her vulnerability and openness to love. Each character gets their own voice through very smooth POV switches, and equal parts of the complex love story.While both Emmy and I love this Jacob and even Bella, we agreed that Edward is at the heart of this story.

When the story begins Edward is angry, conflicted and a little lost. He struggles with his own feelings of self hate, his perceived conflict of his sexuality and his confusion about how to reconcile with himself. This is canon Edward. He is tortured, divided, and dissatisfied with himself. Emmy puts it best when she said:

“He’s almost like two people. There are these two different sides to him, and he doesn’t know how to be both people. It takes two people to let him see that he can be both those people, as it were. He’s so conflicted by these two sides of himself. Both sides of him act out, and it’s only when he finds peace between these two sides by embracing both these sides with Jake and Bella that he discovers himself.”

Emmy makes a wonderful point about this Edward being two different people. He is the douche, egotistical, selfish, sexually dominant asshole. He is also the artistic, deeply wounded, self hating young man. Both of these parts of his personality are rooted in canon. As is Edward’s unrealistic belief that he can control and compartmentalize every aspect of his life.

Edward’s a complex character, like a lone puzzle piece that can only be completed by the equally complex personalities of Jacob and Bella. While in their separate pre-existing relationships (Edward/Jacob, Edward/Bella and Bella/Jacob) they are loving and strong, they find a profound sense of strength, and love once there are all together. The love between the three of them eventually eclipses the other individual relationships, and heals Edward.

Now, love is great, but we are whores and we cannot talk about Acting Out without talking about the mindblowing sex scenes. To be honest, it was very hard (pun intended) for us to pick our favorite scenes. Emmy decided to give us a treat by recording herself reading one of her favorite scenes (see the link at the bottom of the post, feel free to stop reading and go listen, we won’t be offended).

My favorite scene is a threesome (cause hello, that is my reason for reading this in the first place) scene where Edward tops Jacob while he is having sex with Bella for the first time. While it is an extremely steamy sex scene the emotional intensity of this scene is what gets me every time I reread it. We get to view this profound moment through Jacob’s eyes, and get to see the strength of his love for Bella. When he is at his most vulnerable, intoxicated on the feeling of finally making love to Bella for the first time Edward penetrates him. The sexual, and emotional dynamics of that sex scene blew me away, and sealed my love for this story forever.

Love is the strongest thread running through this story. Though the sex is pretty freaking hot too, there is a sincere emotional depth to portrayal of their love; even in simple gestures: kissing, intimate conversations and in their internal thoughts about each other. Love, especially a love as complex as this, isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. In this story we see the realistic struggles that these three go through to find and define their love.

At heart of what is so compelling and spellbinding about Acting Out is how EroticFan so skillfully and respectfully portrays the extraordinary love that can exist between three people.

Emmy Reading her favorite scene from Acting Out.