This book is meant to be a look and some info into some of the things that happened behind the Scenes for some of the stories I've made. Please read the stories listed in the chapters before reading BTS stuff.
This is actually the first book I've written, the first time I've ever gone deeper with the AU ideas. Funnily enough, A Fitting Pair was a concept for a while, it used to be relatively short videos I used to make for a friend who liked Leon x Gus. They were Gacha Videos by the way. I made 4 videos. But never really finished the series. As I decided, why not expand on the videos extremely short length. So I got to work and began writing the Prologue.
Current Cover for "A Fitting Pair"
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A Placeholder Cover before the release of the Book back in around April-May
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Prologue and New Friends
I first had to think of the title, the reason "A Fitting Pair" was chosen, was because, I actually don't ship Leon x Gus by default (Leon x Jessie and Gus x Bonnie shipper here). However, I do think the ship is really good, Gus and Leon fit each other personally when I imagine their characters in canon. And if I imagine them as lovers, they just fit well, they both seem introverted (Leon doesn't like being around people apparently), they also seem really chill, but can be cheeky, Gus is sassy as hell.
When it came to writing, the Prologue is actually not based on any video, it was completely original, I wanted to at least set up a story with a beginning. As the description would say, Bonnie met Gus a few weeks ago, and they became friends relatively quick. So she wanted to introduce him to her friends. The writing process wasn't that different from what was final. But one thing that did change was in the first few drafts. I was having difficulty with who would be Gus' parental guardian. There was Chuck and the Cinema Trio (Fang, Buster, Maisie), in earlier drafts, it was Chuck originally as his guardian, but I ultimately decided to change it around the middle of writing. I just think I have better writing opportunities and scenarios with Gus' main family as Fang, Buster and Maisie, than with Chuck honestly, So far, in Brawl Stars. We don't really know what Gus and Chuck's relationship is like. At least with the Cinema Trio, from Fanarts I've seen, and the fact, they have more obvious character, and interests. I simply preferred that.
Chuck wasn't completely excluded here, in this AU, Chuck is like a friend, or even Grandpa to Gus in a way. While the book is still in its infancy as of the time I'm writing this. (August 24th, 2024) I definitely could write more about Chuck and his background, I've had some ideas (Not gonna mention them though)
After I finished writing the Prologue, I could've released the book then, but I decided to hold off on that. And decided to write the first chapter of this series. The thought process for that, was I wanted the book to have a decent amount of content, considering the Prologue's length, it just wasn't enough. So I got to work on Chapter 1.
For OGs who read the book on release, you might've realized I've recently changed the name of Chapter 1 from "Love at first sight?" To "New Friends". The Gacha video was named Love at first sight, and the book is inspired and built off of the videos I used to make.
The reason for the change was, I felt like it would be too quick to say, and I thought the title in retrospect, didn't really fit what that Chapter was about, which was Gus getting to know Bonnie's friends, Jessie, Nita, and Leon. The video this is based on, was a short video, that had Bonnie and Gus talking while Leon and Nita began to argue, as Nita pulled his hoodie down. Gus sorta being surprised is in the video too. Though he's blushing in that one. While in the book, I only described it, as Leon was what caught his attention, you could take it as love at first sight, or the fact he was the one getting embarrassed here. Though, I think I've written it with the mix of both.
Aside from that scene, everything that happens before and after, is original and expanded upon into a fanfic formula. I didn't want the full chapters to be too short. So I tried to expand upon my original idea. I think I did a great job with Chapter 1.
The somewhat delayed production on Chapter 2
After the book has started receiving reads, despite being about 100-200 at the time, it was a success to me. I didn't expect it, I made the book for fun after all. Though, I wouldn't start writing for Chapter 2, until mid May I think. However... I was going through some things at that time. I had a falling out with the friend who liked Leon x Gus, and whom I made this fanfic for. I don't want to get into the details. But after that. I was severely demotivated into continuing the book. Even considering cancelling or deleting it. But after consideration, I decided to continue the book, it's growing, and people love it as far as I see, so I plan to hopefully see this through. Though. It would take me a while, 2 months, as I worked on the book, whenever I felt like it. I didn't force myself to work on it. Or rush it. The video I made was originally called Tensions, it had Leon sitting near a tree, Gus approached him, and then Leon vents to Gus about his frustrations, Gus tells him, maybe he should try to talk to Nita.
The video was really short, for Chapter 2, I expanded it to a much greater extent, as this chapter was about Leon and Nita's relationship as siblings. Originally, this chapter was called "Annoying Siblings". But was later change when I finished it to Familial Tensions. Similar to the original video.
As for the writing, I definitely had fun writing the beginning with Leon's dream, I thought it was a fun way to start off the chapter, and also establish, Nita is a demon to Leon lol. And writing the scene with Edgar was also a fun one, in terms of any plot changes, there wasn't much, what you see in the final release, is what was always there. Aside from maybe a few dialogue corrections. Though I did have some difficulty in setting up the scene with Gus comforting Leon, I eventually figured it out. Overall, after I finished writing, I was kinda proud of it. My friends liked it.
Future Chapter Plans as of now
Currently, I do plan to work on Chapter 3 soon enough. Hopefully it won't take as long as Chapter 2: Familial Tensions. As for, is Chapter 3 inspired by any of the videos. While the 3rd and 4th video, would be Chapter 3 if I made them in order, I decided these videos will be adapted later on in the story, maybe for Chapter 4 or 5, as I think it would mess up the pacing of the story, since those videos are set one month into the future. Where Leon and Gus became close friends. For Chapter 3, and probably 4. I'll probably write something different, maybe a casual adventure or something, that'll help the story evolve in a more natural way. Instead of just skipping to 1 month almost instantly. Again, depends how it goes. You can always tweak the story to work. So there's that.
If you have been reading so far, congratulations, you've reached the end for now in terms of the behind the scenes for "A Fitting Pair". I'll definitely update the chapter with more stuff, once more chapters are done. But for now. This is the end, thanks for reading :3
