One week ago, I read a slash story that, well, more or less enraged me. Whenever I think of how the story arc turned out, I could grab the author and shake her. Or one of the male protagonists, although there I might not stop at the shaking part. I feel so horribly tempted to just 'kick him in the head', like RayK would say, until he regains his sense and morals. And if that doesn't work, there's still the option of using a handgun and simply blowing a hole through the guy's oblivious, corrupted pea-sized brain. Or rather, what's left of it. Argh.

For the full-sized rant,

No story has made me that furious in a long, looong time.

But I'm curious as to whether anyone will be able to name the story and its sequel I'm referring to, so I'll keep the following a bit vague:

Due to forces outside of his control, one of our heroes (who've already declared their love for each other, in secret, and also consummated it) goes missing. When he returns, he has changed, also due to no fault of his own. Unfortunately, those changes are physical and visible to the others who now react with fear and disgust, doubting his humanity.
For a long time, he's an outcast, suffering from the heartless treatment of his former friends and family. Only his lover isn't deterred and determinedly stays by his side. Finally, our hero is accepted by all those who used to treat him as something less than a human, a thing, and has hopes of returning to his former life.
But said hope soon is crushed when he feels a strange pull away from home and learns that the changes in him were caused by strangers who now want him to return to them. At first, he denies their claim that he is no longer the man he used to be, but finally gives in and sneaks away in secrecy, leaving his lover behind without a word.
His lover and family follow him, though, unwilling to lose him a second time. What they don't learn until later is that he immediately started a sexual relationship with the man who caused the changes in him and therefore was also responsible for all the heartache he suffered back then. The reunion is cold. His lover can only close his eyes from the truth for so long, and barely manages to keep his composure when the stranger rubs it in that he had sex with the other one -- often, passionately, the whole enchilada.
Our hero has 'embraced his new heritage' and is on the verge of leaving, but rethinks that decision and decides to stay.

So far, so good. Apart from the fact that I already wanted to murder the guy for being unfaithful, I could have dealt with the story so far, because it was really well-written.

But -- our hero didn't deem it necessary to beg forgiveness for his unfaithfulness! By God, why should he?! He instead told his lover that, after careful consideration, he'd only decided to stay instead of following his new 'buddy' because

Great, right? What would you do if your S.O. told you he loved you, sure, but that the sex with you was seriously inferior to that with someone else, and that he'd had to think long and hard about who he'd chose? And instead of stopping here (which, frankly, would already be hurtful enough), he'd add that after you were dead -- which wouldn't be that long from hence, anyway -- he'd run back to that other person? I couldn't live in a relationship like that.

At that moment, if it were me addressed this way, I'd have wrapped myself into the tattered remains of my pride and told my S.O. chillingly that he was an asshole and I didn't want to see him ever, ever again. That there was no reason for him to make the huge sacrifice that staying with me obviously meant for him -- why wait until I were dead? He'd better leave right now, and not look back. To put it succinctly: "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out, you bastard!"

How can a fanfic author write something like that? And by the way it was presented in the story, obviously see it as something normal? How can a woman not have the other man react similar to my (hypothetical) outbreak? How can anyone see this as a normal occurrence that doesn't result in at least a tiny little lovers' spat?!

To me, this story conveys a strong lack of self-esteem on the author's part. How can anyone settle for so little from the person you love? You give everything, alienate your friends, stand by your lover despite all the shit the world throws at him, and as a result he treats you like dirt, while you simply take it?!

Argh. Typing this raised my pulse to heights so far unknown apart from the gym.

So, who knows which stories by which author I'm talking about? Or can you at least give me the fandom and the pairing, and assign the terms 'the hero' and 'the lover' to the two men concerned?

I promise to write a drabble/ficlet for the first one who answers the above question correctly. Just add a short entry to this posting in my lj. A small restriction, though: I'll only write in a fandom with which I have at least a more than passing familiarity. Any takers?