A very short rec set

[starlady]

Having spent way too much time this weekend trawling through the kink meme(s), it's fascinating to me how you can basically track the infiltration of the alpha/beta/omega trope (but usually in its "pure" alpha/omega form) into XMFC fandom via which prompts on the meme get filled over time. (Someone could totally do a fascinating longitudinal study on the infiltration/cross-pollination of phrases and motifs in XMFC fic over time, incidentally.)

I'd never heard of this trope before, but in light of it going around my various r-lists in various shades of raised eyebrows recently, I thought I'd share this rather consciously revisionist take on the whole idea:

The Omegaist Mystique (2754 words) by Pookaseraph
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men: First Class (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Characters: Erik Lehnsherr, Charles Xavier, David Haller, Angel Salvadore
Summary: Erik meets Charles at a local Omegaist chapter and slowly gets to know the man; they discuss Omegaist philosophy, single parenthood, and life. Erik slowly finds himself falling for the unassuming beta, and wishing they could have more.


Apparently the alpha/omega trope is often associated with werewolves. I rec the following because it offers a (I think) quite interesting take on embodiment and the construction of gender roles in the context of werewolves without going anywhere near alpha/omega territory:

Skin Deep (29412 words) by manic_intent
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men: First Class (2011)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Emma Frost/Sebastian Shaw
Characters: Erik Lehnsherr, Charles Xavier, Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Hank McCoy, Angel Salvadore, Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers
Summary: Written for the kmeme, Everyone-is-a-werewolf AU. Erik happens upon a seemingly abandoned mansion in Westchester during a full moon and finds an insanely clueless werewolf living in isolation.

Do read the sequel, In Escrow.

Note to interested readers: Neither of these stories have significant Jewish content.

Comments

[kindkit]

I was definitely a strong shade of raised eyebrows about this trope, but that was about the un-revisionist, un-thoughtful version of it. I don't know if I'll read the fic, for several reasons, but I do like the idea of a metafic that's critical of the gendered assumptions behind the trope.

[starlady]

Yeah, it's nice to know that other people have the raised eyebrows.

[noldo]

Yeah, I have seen the trope around my readinglist and been a bit '...' at it -- you're not the only one with the raised eyebrows, definitely.

[starlady]

What really gets me is just how much of it there is in XMFC. Why this fandom of all the others besides SPN?

[recessional]

You would think I had no eyebrows, for lo, they're so far up they're lost in my hair.