invisible third

[wisdomeagle]

Working on the endless importing of all my fic into Ao3, and #Invisible Third why am I the only person using this tag? Is there some other phrase for it of which I'm unaware? ("Triangulation," but that only has one use.) Surely people frelling/kissing/dating/marrying each other because the person they're mutually interested in is unavailable/uninterested/inappropriate/dead (or alive, if characters doing the sexing are dead) is a thing? It's not even that it's a particular kink of mine, it's just... a thing. That I write a lot. Because of reasons.

(Icon on DW because Mary Anne is invisible third in the Kristy/Dawn that happens in my head sometimes. To choose an example completely at random.)

Comments

[yhlee]

I'd simply never heard the term before you used it here! I was familiar with this use of "triangulation" from a paper presentation during Wiscon some years back, and I've written at least one fic where it was a thing (probably not very many, but at least one). It wouldn't have occurred to me to tag for it, but I tend not to use tags very well.

[wisdomeagle]

I suspect that "invisible third" is just me being quirky and "triangulation" is ~ better. I think I'm just mildly confused that this isn't a dynamic that has a canonical tag, because it feels really common (and like a thing people might have a kink for).

[likeadeuce]

I feel like you and I had this conversation about invisible or absent thirds back when we were both writing Buffyverse? I know what you're thinking of, I'm just not sure I can think of a common term.

[lunabee34]

I've heard it called "absent third" before.

[wisdomeagle]

"Absent third" has been merged into Absence for filtering. Works and bookmarks tagged with absent third will show up in Absence's filter.

Hm. Thinking about why I like "invisible" and it's partially because I like the dynamic where there's a pretense that they aren't thinking about the third person, that it's totally not about them, really.

[kindkit]

You can put in a request to have the tags un-merged; it does sound like there's an important distinction.

[wisdomeagle]

I will def ask to have "absent third" unsynned, as it has a specific meaning that's not just "absence."

[lunabee34]

*nods*

[malnpudl]

I don't recall running across the term before, but I like it. And wow, that's a whole lot of due South fics right there in one two-word summary, the Rays turning to each other because Fraser's gone, back up in the far north, and it's like they each get to connect to Fraser through the other guy who was close to him.

Re your comment below, "absent third" is very different from simply "absent," isn't it? And both are different from Invisible Third.