That was something I was wondering if the story was commenting on, too! Because there *are* slash K/S stories where Spock totally expects Kirk to stop manwhoring around now that he has claimed him and their love is deep and true and what all. And in most of those stories Kirk is onboard with that. And it's true that it hasn't really pinged me as problematic there because it's not reinforcing heteronormative relationship expectations because it's slash--but that maybe it should ping as a problematic, unhealthy relationship in slash even so.

*nods*

I read so much of both het and slash and, since I started taking more note of what I was drawn to, I really noticed that some things bothered me in some pairings but not others. And because I've read so many different fandoms, I noticed (not sure when) that the division seemed to be hard along slash vs het lines. And it stood out all the more to me because I tend to ship the same sort of pairing regardless of the sexes involved, so, why should it matter? Except it totally did, on an instinctive, subconscious level.

So, this story was a chance to take a generally m/m interpretation and put it in a m/f context, but since Kirk is (originally) male, I can still step back from it.

Thank you for taking the time to unpack your kink challenge fic for me. Honestly, this kind of discussion is what I read genderswitch/swap AUs for--to dissect characters' interactions and relationships and figure out how much of who they are is tied up in their gender identities.

And Kirk gets so idealized too, as this studly conqueror of (alien) women. There's a lot of socially-masculine baggage wrapped up in both his portrayal and reception - his tendency to solve things with fistfights and the way the fanbase has really exaggerated how many women Kirk slept with in TOS.

I don't know how much that's true for other readers, but this discussion definitely enriched your story for me.

That's so awesome. I've really enjoyed the discussion, too.