Paris/Kim

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Pairing
Pairing: Paris/Kim
Alternative name(s): P/K, Tom Paris/Harry Kim, Kimris
Gender category: Slash, M/M
Fandom: Star Trek Voyager
Canonical?: No
Prevalence: It's one of the two main slash pairings of Voyager fandom
Archives:
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Paris/Kim is the slash pairing of Tom Paris and Harry Kim in Star Trek Voyager fandom.

Fandom

From a fan in 2018:

Peak Paris/Kim was in the late ‘90s; basically, after “The Chute” aired in late 1996. There was some before then, but it really took off after “The Chute,” then kind of died back when Voyager became The Seven Of Nine Show and we hardly saw the boys any more.

Relationship names weren’t a thing then. I’m not sure when they became a thing, but in the ‘90s, pairings were known by names/initials: Paris/Kim, or P/K. (Unfortunately, that doesn’t work on Tumblr.) And the rise of Harry Potter fandom complicates things, since Tom/Harry and its nicknames are often assumed to refer to Harry Potter and Voldemort (Tom Riddle).

P/K took a huge hit from the dot-com crash. The places fanfic was posted - Usenet, mailing lists, web sites - mostly went away. (Well, Usenet is still around, but no one uses it any more, and the many archives of Usenet posts that used to exist have mostly disappeared.) The free mailing lists that were basis of many fan groups went away, or put so many limits on free accounts that they became useless for fannish purposes. And the free web sites where we posted our fanfic - AOL, Geocities, Fortune City, Tripod, etc. - mostly disappeared. What we thought would be permanent archives turned out not to be. (Please, fanfic writers, consider posting your stories to AO3.)

But there was a lot of P/K fanfic posted, back in the day, and much of it is still available, though not easy to find. Here’s my guide to where to find vintage P/K. My favorite archive was PKSP, the Paris/Kim Slash Party, but someone changed the directory structure and broke most of the links. The stories are mostly still there, but require a little hacking to find. Sadly, the archivist, AnneInChicago, longtime champion of P/K, passed away, so the broken links aren’t likely to ever be fixed.

There’s also AO3, of course. Not a whole lot of stories, but a nice mix of older classics and new stuff. [1]

Terminology

When Voyager was originally airing the pairing was often referred to as P/K, a short form that was easy to use on mailing lists and forums. Newer fans have given them the smushname of Kimris.

Common Tropes in Fanworks

  • Episode Tags: missing scenes, or the aftermath, of episodes concentrating on Paris and Kim
  • The Chute: a pivotal episode for these characters, many fans will write codas that deal with the aftermath of their imprisonment, and use it as a catalyst for Tom and Harry to comfort each other and become closer
  • Hurt/Comfort: most commonly with Hurt Harry and Tom providing the comfort. Although, it is also not unusual to find fanworks where they comfort each other after traumatic events
  • Friends to Lovers: because they have a close canonical friendship many fics will feature their friend relationship developing into a romantic one
  • Holodeck: experiencing simulations together, those created by Tom, like Captain Proton, or others created by fans
  • Away Missions: Tom and Harry on away missions together, sometimes including classic Trek elements like shuttle crashes or being captured by aliens
  • Alternative Universes: them in a relationship in an alternative timeline, those shown in canon, like Trek's Mirror Universe, or ones created by fanfiction writers
  • Deathfic or Near Death: stories where Harry outlives Tom, and has to deal with his grief, seem to have been popular at one point, usually with canon events going very wrong and resulting in Tom's death. Near death fics where Harry thinks Tom has died resulting in much angst, only for Tom to turn up alive later, were also found
  • Top/Bottom Dynamics: Top Tom tends to be slightly more popular, but it is not that uncommon to find the reverse
  • Polyamory or Threesome: the most popular choice for a third partner being Tom's canonical wife B'Elanna Torres

Fanworks

Fan Art

Fanfiction

For a full listing of Paris/Kim fanfiction on Fanlore, see Category:Star Trek VOY P/K Fanfiction

Zines

Vids

Mailing Lists

Archives

Websites

References

  1. ^ from 70thousandlightyearsfromhome at Heh. Always willing to talk P/K! You might be sorry you tagged me on this…; archive link (Sep 1st, 2018)
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