timepiececlock

When it comes to shipping, I'm usually very straight-up canon-going (Veronica Mars, Doctor Who, MulderScully), and when I'm not, it usually follows an obvious and particular pattern, for example Tasuki/Miaka, Zuko/Katara, Spike/Buffy before Spike/Buffy became so awesomely canon. In the case of Ouran High School Host Club, an anime series I finished about two months ago but haven't gotten to read fic for until recently, I felt the pull of multiple ships but eventually settled on Tamaki/Haruhi as my favorite, though it's not that the others don't have their appeal.

Although I like the pairing, its one that I like watching as opposed to identifying with on a personal level. I mean, Haruhi is very good with Tamaki, but if I were in her place I would KILL him. I would murder him for the good of world silence. But I like watching them onscreen and in theory, I ought to enjoy fic about them.

Unfortunately, almost all the fic I found when I went scouring last night was plagued by a consistent, recurring problem: very few fic authors can actually write Tamaki-- more precisely few can accurately write him as he appears on screen. Tamaki's character jumps wildly from drama to melodrama to obtuse stupidity to compassionate insight to painful heartfelt honesty to sly scheming wit, all wrapped in a package of over-emotional ridiculousness. Few of the fics I read could capture his speech style and verbosity right, and even fewer managed to insert any real depth beyond the typical character exclamations. Tamaki is meant to be simultaneously funny, pathetic, and inspired. The only fic I've read yet that really captured his thought process and wrote him in a believable manner was this one:

Sweeter Than Chocolate by Chosuki

It's a bit Tamaki/Haruhi, but almost in a one-sided way (because the fic is entirely in Tamaki's strange little brainview and thus we have no idea what Haruhi feels), and even if you're not into the ship I recommend the fic on a purely character and friendship basis as well. There's also a one-line comment related to Haruhi's father that I loved, and a very good use of chocolate as a continuous metaphor and thematic device.