Title: How to Kiss a Girl
Fandom: Newsies
Pairing: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Romance, First Time
Length: Medium (2846 words)
Warnings: N/A

Author on LJ: cymbalism219
Author Website: cymbalism

Summary:

Jack discovers he may need a little help in the dating department. David offers some important advice.

Review:

Ask any fanfiction writer if they think relationship fics are genuine representations of real life relationships. If the writer in question says, “Yes,” it's probably because they are a) not thinking very hard about the question, b) lying, or c) are basing their answer on having read cymbalism's How to Kiss a Girl.

Romance fic, especially of the slash variety, tends to play out in an idealized fashion, glossing over the long string of dates between first introduction and first sexual intimacy that real life people subject themselves to. Any regular reader of slash fiction can probably think of at least a good double handful of fics off the top of their head where the couple in question's first kiss was followed within two thousand words by their first sex scene.

Fun to read, I'll admit, but not particularly realistic. Which is why I've been enamored of cymbalism's How to Kiss a Girl since the first time I read it, though it took me some time to figure out why. It's because unlike a lot of slash fic, where it's all about the end goal of hot dude-on-dude action, How to Kiss a Girl is about the build-up, the glancing touches, the caresses, the modest seduction leading up to the first kiss. Not the heavy tongue action that preludes sex, but that first chaste touch of lips that says, “I really like like you.”

cymbalism makes masterful use of body language in the portrayal of David and Jack to show the subtle interest that stews between them. It simmers, bubbles gently as Jack reaches a personal epiphany, but even though it never reaches a scalding boil, the descriptions of their relatively chaste kisses and touches still manage to be swelteringly gorgeous.

How to Kiss a Girl