Interpretive Steps for a New Tango is a Plan B fanfic set shortly after the events of the film. Now a couple, Bruno and Pablo are happy together... but there are some things they haven't fully come to terms with yet, especially in a culture where heteronormative assumptions are still commonplace.
The fic can be read here
.
This fic contains examples of:
- Aggressive Submissive: Victor and Pablo both assume that if Pablo and Bruno perform anal sex, Pablo will be the natural bottom because he's the prettier one, but Bruno ends up taking the bottom role instead in hopes of making Pablo feel more at ease with the act.
- Alternative Character Interpretation: In-universe, Ana reinterprets Bruno's "Plan B" to win Laura back as a subconscious excuse on his part to get close to Pablo (which is a common fan interpretation of the film's events).
- Ascended Extra: Bruno's sister, who was mentioned only once by Bruno and never actually seen in the film, makes an appearance in the fic and becomes pivotal to getting Bruno and Pablo back together.
- Blatant Lies: Laura's insistence that she's totally fine and not at all upset that her last two boyfriends are now dating each other.
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario
-
Cliché Storm: The narrative calls Bruno and Pablo's love "a love written in clichés", which is something of an exaggeration as most "Once upon a time" beginnings don't have a man setting out to seduce his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend, but it does follow the traditional Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario formula and Happily Ever After ending when the couple realizes that they can't be happy without each other. - Experimented in College: Bruno fooled around with other guys to some extent when he was younger, but Pablo didn't because he was too afraid that he'd enjoy it more than he was supposed to.
- Gayngst: Pablo is still insecure deep down about being in love with another man, which caused him to almost call things off with Bruno after they had sex for the first time and contributes to his eventual break-up with him.
- Idealized Sex: Averted. While some scenes show Bruno and Pablo thoroughly enjoying sex without any problems, they're balanced out by other scenes that show realistic outcomes when two men who have zero sexual experience with other men try giving each other blowjobs or having anal sex for the first time.
- Let's Just Be Friends: Pablo says this line to Bruno during their break-up scene. Much like with Pablo's similar "In the future, we can be friends" line in the film, however, it's clear that what he really means is "We shouldn't see each other again for a while, if ever."
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: After their break-up, Bruno and Pablo both go through a string of short-lived relationships in a failed effort to move on from each other.
- Lost Love Montage: A variant; Pablo's break-up scene with Bruno is immediately followed by a flashback to how Pablo first met and started falling in love with Bruno.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Bruno and Pablo don't truly fit this trope, but the heteronormative culture they grew up in causes them and their friends to assume that one of them has to play the "woman" role and eventually leads to Pablo breaking up with Bruno when he fears that he's being forced to be the "woman" just because he's not as assertive as Bruno.
- The Matchmaker: Bruno's sister hires Pablo as her wedding photographer to push him and Bruno into reconciling at her wedding. It works.
- No Bisexuals: Bruno and Pablo's friends refer to them as "now gay" despite the two of them having dated and enjoyed sex with women in the past. They both know that "gay" isn't the right term for either of them, but aren't comfortable or familiar enough with non-heterosexual identities to argue otherwise. Later on, Bruno averts this by calling himself bisexual after he's had enough time to come to terms with it.
- Sand In My Eyes: When Pablo begins to cry after thinking that Bruno has moved on from him, he tells himself that it's just dust getting into his eyes.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Laura describes Pablo and Bruno as this, telling Pablo that she wished she could have combined his considerate sensitivity with Bruno's confident prowess in bed to get a single ideal boyfriend. In addition, several flashback scenes juxtapose Bruno and Pablo's differing approaches to the same situation with Bruno typically taking a more aggressive, head-on approach and Pablo a more cautious, thoughtful one.
