心也許很小很小世界卻很大很大

心也許很小很小世界卻很大很大 (The Heart May be Tiny but the World's Enormous) is a story written by shukyou. It ran in Issue 17 and can be found at s2b2.livejournal.com/98514.html and shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/the-heart-may-be-tiny-but-the-worlds-enormous/.

An illustration by neomeruru can be found here.

Summary

A widower blacksmith and a would-be goat thief bond over the blacksmith's infant son.

Really, if it hadn't been for the damn baby, Gong Ji would've gotten away with it.

From Outlaw Reviews: "A goat thief encounters a widowed master swordmaker and the man’s infant. Somehow, he never manages to leave."

From the Slash Pile: "(Somewhat) historical fiction, in an (ancient) Eastern setting. A widowed father of an infant does not know how to connect with his child, but a homeless ex-con who he invites inside on a whim does. It's a short story, but covers quite a bit of time very well."

From http://flawed-uni.livejournal.com/1630.html: "About a single father taking in another man, who, ends up growing close to them."

Connections

This story is technically unconnected to any other universe. However, on AO3, the author has it tagged as 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' -- so the story, while still completely original, has some very fannish roots.

There are some super-short stories that take place after the story proper, and they can be found here.

Related Links

This story has been featured on the Slash Pile and on GoodReads.

Author's Notes

First and foremost: peripheralsight is quite nearly entirely responsible for Din, and was instrumental to creating this story and this pairing. If Din said it, chances are she said it first.

The beautiful title of the story comes from the poem "Fairy Tales" by Shu Ting, and does, in fact, mean 'The Heart May Be Tiny But the World's Enormous'. coloredink -- serving now as my Chinese language advisor (in lieu of her traditional position as my Asian racism coordinator) -- pointed me toward it, and helped me figure out other things, like all the characters for things like Gong Ji's penal tattoos and Din's northern accent.

I refuse to confirm this piece's fanon -- or, really, absurdly tri-fanon -- origin. However, if you like, you may picture a character who, though not in a Watanabe series, is very obviously a Watanabe character both physically and in temperment; you may also imagine my making a joke about how this character is obviously the son of Mugen and Spike Spiegel. Then, as that character talks dramatically about how the Evil Empire destroyed his village and killed his family, you can imagine my saying aloud, 'Oh, no, {character}'s two gay dads!'

If you like.

...Yeah, Din took a pretty lengthy turn away from being Spike in nearly everything save badassness, but Gong Ji and Mugen still have a whole lot in common.

Because it's funny with his name (which actually means 'rooster'), Gong Ji wields chicken sickles. They look remarkably like the shang gou, really.

There will one day be a longer version of this story, as I was down to cutting single words to make the second half fit into a single lj entry.

(from ladysisyphus.livejournal.com/594118.html)

External Reviews

• http://the-slash-pile.livejournal.com/54880.html:

Let me put this out there for the record: I hate kids in stories. In general, even. Hate. Hate. I think I got tricked into reading this the first time, actually, cause I probably would have avoided it had I known there was a baby in it. MAN, SO GLAD I READ IT... And if you're actually into family and 'sense of home' and other domestic-y themes, I guarantee you'll love this!

• http://secretsolitaire.livejournal.com/101970.html:

  In general, I dislike babies in my fiction, especially in my gay porn. However, the baby in this one absolutely charmed me, as did one character's interaction with that baby. (The other male lead is so taciturn that there's no one else really to talk to!) The fic is set in China, and the author takes the time to fully build out the world where her characters live. The relationship between the two main characters develops slowly as well, but it feels more believable for that.

• shadow-birds.tumblr.com: "SCREAMS BECAUSE THIS ONE IS ONE OF THE BEST EVER OKAY IT HAS INFLUENCES FROM AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER TO NAME ONE. ALSO DOMESTICITY."
• blueghostghost.tumblr.com:

  Gong Ji is a thief who has never had an easy life. One night while trying to steal a goat he meets Din, a new father struggling with the recent death of his wife. Gong Ji should leave, but he can’t seem to bring himself to do it. This story manages to construct two very complex and interesting men in what is essentially a one-shot. The characters are flawed and funny and sweet all at the same time. The post-story fic bits are really nice too.

• delicious.com:

  So, apparently there's a beloved and oft-repeated piece of fanon going around that Jet had two dads. And thus, here they are: Gong Ji, Din, General Jian-Wei of the Hooks, and baby Yi, who's gonna grow up to be a slightly insane Freedom Fighter that goes by the name of Jet. Both sweet and horribly tragic, in that we know what's coming. Gong Ji is an interesting character in the Avatar universe - he's an outsider, a permanent outcast from both the Fire Nation Imperials and the Earth Kingdom - and so gives a unique and rarely considered view of events.

• pinboard.in: "Oh god MY HEART. This is possibly THE most heart warming story I've read in a while where Gong Ji tries to steal a goat (yet FAILS so hard) and ends up playing the housekeeper/nursemaid to Yi and his single father Din (swordmaster/maker) It's all very touching and aww inducing and makes you want to knock their heads together for being such boys about this."
• pinboard.in: "THIS IS FOR ANY SLASH FAN OUT THERE. THIS IS SO YOU CAN GROW UP BIG AND STRONG AND PUNCH YOUR ENEMIES IN THE COCK. JUST TRUST ME WHEN I SAY, READ IT."
• pinboard.in: "An original story about a goat thief, a sword maker and a baby. I'm a hardsell on babyfic, but this is fairly excellent: not sappy at all - Din is marked by grief and Gong Ji is cheerfully used to being the refuse of the world - but still coming out to something essentially heartwarming."
• delicious.com: "Gong Ji's been in trouble all his life. But when he's caught stealing a goat, the recently widowed father invites him into their home. There, he finds the love he's never had in baby Yi. Unfortunately, relations with the father are strained. This fic is terribly domestic and adorable and you need to read it."