Blair's Heartbeat
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Related tropes/genres | Blair's Compromised Lungs, Blairscent, Blair's Hair |
| See also | Soul Bond |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
In fanon, Jim Ellison spends a great deal of time focusing on Blair Sandburg's heartbeat.
Uses of Heartbeat
Aside from simply keeping Blair alive, his heartbeat is useful to Jim for a number of other reasons.
- His heartbeat indicates that Blair, despite being in dire circumstances (under fifty feet of rubble, in surgery, kidnapped by bad guys), is still alive.
- Blair's heartbeat gives Jim much information regarding Blair's emotional state: fear, tension, and in slash fiction, arousal.
- It allows Jim to speculate on whether Blair is telling the truth.
- Jim also uses the heartbeat as a grounding tool, calming himself as he listens to it while Blair sleeps in the room below.
Other Body Sounds
At least one fanwriter brings up the point that Blair's body makes a lot of subtle sounds, and that Jim would have to do some pointed screening to get to the heartbeat. From When It Matters by K. Hanna Korossy: "While finding his partner's steady heartbeat in the midst of a crisis could reassure him Sandburg was safe, the kid didn't seem to realize that the heart's rhythm wasn't the only audible sound the body made. Blood rushed through veins with a sound much like the waterpipes in the loft's wall, air whooshed in and out of lungs, and stomach and bowels growled an almost constant stream of unpleasant sounds as they worked. All in all, it was a nauseating experience."
Blair's Heartbeat in Canon
- After Blair is pulled out of the fountain, Jim is unable to hear Blair's hearbeat.
- other canon examples?
Blair's Hearbeat Appears as a Trope
See Things You Learn From Slash
Fanon Examples
In In the Midst of Winter by Sandra McDonald, Jim tries to locate Blair in a vast, dark, snowy forest: "He listened with senses wide open, filtering out the car engine, the crackle of the radio, the crunch of tires against snow, the wind. He heard no call for help. No racing heartbeat except his own."
In Vow by Alyjude, Jim asks a question and gets the unspoken answer he is looking for: "Something I meant to ask you, Chief," Jim said suddenly, "How many of these monasteries have twin rooms anyway?" Jim felt his Guides body stiffen and heard his heartbeat speed up. Smiling, he pulled back to look into Blair's eyes. Even in the dim light, he could see the flush on Blair's cheeks."