you who are my home now
Hello, denizens of livejournal! I have missed you. ♥ The month or so I spent away was a little rough, but hey, I'm in fandom; I should know coping skills are hard-earned, right?
Anyway, one of the first things I saw upon returning to the bosom of the Internet was news of Evan Lysacek's latest adventure in doucheland, and worse still, some people I know fucking defended him. Then there was hurtful wank on my dreamwidth reading list, and a lot of positive response to a show that I thought was kind of shitty (Sherlock, for what it's worth), and man, I just got really upset! Irrationally so, one might say.
So then I went to see The Kids Are All Right with a friend, because lesbians! and grammatically-correct title! That made me feel a little better, but okay. Where the actual fuck was the queer sex? Like, I get that it's a film about marriage, and blah blah blah their desiccated sex-life is one indication of a more general loss of intimacy, but c'mon. Too much heterosex. I appreciate that the movie stayed centered on Nic and Jules, though - especially that it never became about the straight dude - and the kids were GREAT. I especially loved the bit where Paul is telling Jules, "it's all out in the open now; we should just say fuck it and stay together, bring the kids" and she lol no's him.
On the other hand, there were some self-consciously "funny" jokes about race and class that I thought were pretty gross. That sort of thing seems to imply that if someone points out their own racist remarks as they make them, their self-awareness/self-deprecation somehow cancels out the racism? That reminds me of Glee's brand of humor, and just, ugh, no.
Anyway, yeah. Mixed feelings about that - I enjoyed it a lot, but.
And now, because I've been wallowing in comfort fic and because this is more a recs journal than anything else at this point, I present: my current top ten thirteen comfort fics, and one piece of comfort art. (It's a little heavy on the Generation Kill, and I've probably talked about some of these before and just don't remember and am too lazy to check, so. Sorry about that!)
I Lie, I Cheat, I Steal (And I Just Don't Get Any Respect), by fiercelydreamed.
Leverage/White Collar crossover. Gen, mostly, 7000 words. Summary: "All right," Nate says, and smacks his hands together. "Let's go steal a con artist."
White Collar/Leverage crossover of awesome and hilarity - gen, but with all kinds of pairing and ot3 references. :D
The Unusual, Exceptional, and Statistically Remarkable Hermione Granger, Age 21, by magnetic_pole.
Harry Potter. Hermione-centric gen, background Hermione/Pansy, PG, 3000 words. Summary: Hermione assesses her life on the morning of her twenty-first birthday.
Really great Hermione - introspective, ambitious, academic to the core - and a warm and optimistic overall feeling. I love that the author has Hermione considering setting personal instead of professional goals, and makes me believe in it. Awesome.
A Very Long Summer, by calathea.
I Want to Go Home! Mike/Rudy, PG, 37000 words. Summary: Mike and Rudy go back to Camp Algonkian Island... as counsellors!
I love future-fic and kidfic and oblivious pining, and this is therefore kind of everything I love in one story. It's plotty and funny and sweet, too. All good things in threes.
Just Off the Key of Reason, by arsenicjade.
Bandom. Gerard/Pete, NC-17, 23000 words. Summary: Gerard is always the guy people want.
Ugh, this HURTS, it's so sharp, but of course the band-aid is built-in. It's amazingly well-done hurt/comfort from Arsenic, hurt/comfort queen.
What I Wore to the Revolution, by jae_w.
The Devil Wears Prada. Emily/Andy, R, 5400 words. Summary: Four times Emily lowered her standards, and one time she didn't.
Most of this fandom is Andy/Miranda, and as much as I love that, I think my true favorite pairing for DWP is Andy/Emily. This is adorable, in an Emily-appropriate prickly sort of way. <3
A Little Mental Yoga, by dsudis.
Southland. Cooper/Sherman, NC-17, 17300 words. Summary: John was abruptly angry, the special anger that was reserved for the obviously guilty, because Ben had Yeah, I did it written all over him.
I adore this story. Sherman has telepathy sometimes, and Cooper has a bad back pretty much all of the time, and they rely on each other and figure each other out in a really gorgeous, well-paced way. dsudis handles the telepathy brilliantly - it's a well-worn trope, but here it feels fresh - plus there's humor and really hot sex. (I say that last as someone with a list of comfort fic mostly composed of stories rated PG-13 and below, so you know I mean it.)
Flashing Red Light Means Go by battleofhydaspe.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, PG-13, 5700 words. Summary: "Don't fuck with me," Brad says quietly. He's trying to move back but Nate's not letting him. "I have no idea what I'm doing," Nate admits, feeling stupid and sort of shaky. His lips brush against Brad's neck as he speaks. "But I'm not fucking with you, okay?"
I am undeniably a sucker for a good high school AU, but what strikes me about this story is that its key emotional moments/scenes feel so authentic. Often, stories with cliché premises seem emotionally thin to me, especially when they're relatively short - they end up reiterating what I've already read, like they follow a template, so I'm rarely surprised or moved - but that's not the case here. I've reread the part where Brad and Nate hug so many times it's ridiculous, and not just because I love stories with hugs of socially inappropriate duration.
Don't Lick Your Fingers When You Turn the Page by nightanddaze.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, NC-17, 5400 words. Summary: A story about writing. Excerpt: The wrists and throat stay popular, but Brad explores the territory as best he can. He writes here across both Nate’s nipples and bite bite bite across his left collarbone. Tongue licks down his spine and fuck rides the small of his back. / Those are the ones that last, even if he sweats. Sometimes he wonders what anyone would say if he got shot and they had to look at the mess of Shakespeare and Air Supply written across his ribs.
Brad Colbert: Ink Ninja. (If that doesn't get you, I'm not sure what will.) But really, I love the idea of writing on the body as a write-in, makeshift way of touching while they're in Iraq. I love that there's a mix of concrete detail and stuff left to the reader's imagination. I love the way things change (and the way they don't) when they get back stateside, and I really fucking love the ending. An effective, beautiful story all around.
the geometry of life: a story in two parts, by oxoniensis.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, NC-17, 13000 words. Summary: This is the story of two men. The one who stayed and the one who left.
This is newer than a lot of what's on this list, and I am so enamored of it I can't even tell you. Seriously fucking stellar Brad POV, spanning his time in theatre, in England, and after, back in California. There is UST! and then RST! (I know I NEVER talk about how much I love UST-becomes-RST stories, aha.)
I'd like to have the time I lost (give it back to you) by noelia_g.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, NC-17, 11700 words. Summary: Groundhog Day AU. Brad Colbert wakes up and it's the same day over and over again. A/N: Written for the prompt 'Alternate History: Personal life of a character changed' for au_bingo, but also a Groundhog Day AU. Changes made to the canon concern the timeline of Brad's break-up with his fiance.
This just plain makes me happy - it's redemptive and sweet, with solid characterisation and excellent details that really make the story (Batman v. Uncle Nate!). Brad keeps reliving the day after his fiancee broke up with him, waking up to the fucking La Bamba song again and again, and he gradually realises that the one constant he'd like to keep constant is Nate.
Irenicon, by yahtzee63.
Alias. Jack/Irina, Sydney/Weiss, Nadia/Vaughn, mature, 139200 words. Summary: In the aftermath of her discovery at Wittenburg, Sydney's relationship with Jack is more strained than ever before. But as the stakes rise and Sloane's ultimate endgame is finally revealed, father and daughter unite to prevent devastation.
This story provides an alternate version of canon (thank god), branching off after season three ended. It's the epitome of the gen/het genre - it has a fascinating, tight plot that would, I think, draw the pickiest of gen readers, but it also chronicles relationships, romantic and otherwise, effectively and affectively. I like all the pairings for this story, but the best part of it for me was the reparation of Sydney's relationship with her father. So cathartic and touching.
Only Going One Way, by ataratah and jjtaylor.
Bandom/Due South crossover. Frank/Gerard, mature, 73300 words. Summary: Crossover with due South. Constable Gerard Way of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Detective Frank Iero of the Chicago PD team up find Mikey Way in a city where bowling alley score cards hide secret codes, where the good guys are either lying or undercover (and sometimes lying about being undercover), and where criminal bakers make drug-laced frosting.
I can't remember the last time I had so much fun reading a story - it's just super enjoyable, funny and smart.
Only Good for Legends, by leupagus.
Star Trek 2009. Kirk/Spock + lots of other characters, NC-17 overall, 148000 words. Summary: Detective Spock, born on Vulcan and resident of San Francisco, is assigned to the Midwest police bureau. I think everyone can guess what happens next.
Oh, man. I rec'd this when it was still a WiP and promptly forgot about it (this is why I can read WiPs). It was such a treat to rediscover it only a few months ago and realize it was finished! It's definitely among my favorite Star Trek fics, if not the favorite. It doesn't have one central plot per se, and it's long enough that it's difficult to summarize, except to say that it's sweet and complex and fun and plotty as all get out. I don't think the ending works as well as the rest of the story, but probably I'm just greedy for more.
Swept off Her Feet, by glockgal.
Harry Potter. Harry/Ginny, G.
So great! I wish I could hang a set of prints of this in my room, all vertical-like and happy-making.
Oh my god, I never shut up. Come tell me how you are? ♥
Anyway, one of the first things I saw upon returning to the bosom of the Internet was news of Evan Lysacek's latest adventure in doucheland, and worse still, some people I know fucking defended him. Then there was hurtful wank on my dreamwidth reading list, and a lot of positive response to a show that I thought was kind of shitty (Sherlock, for what it's worth), and man, I just got really upset! Irrationally so, one might say.
So then I went to see The Kids Are All Right with a friend, because lesbians! and grammatically-correct title! That made me feel a little better, but okay. Where the actual fuck was the queer sex? Like, I get that it's a film about marriage, and blah blah blah their desiccated sex-life is one indication of a more general loss of intimacy, but c'mon. Too much heterosex. I appreciate that the movie stayed centered on Nic and Jules, though - especially that it never became about the straight dude - and the kids were GREAT. I especially loved the bit where Paul is telling Jules, "it's all out in the open now; we should just say fuck it and stay together, bring the kids" and she lol no's him.
On the other hand, there were some self-consciously "funny" jokes about race and class that I thought were pretty gross. That sort of thing seems to imply that if someone points out their own racist remarks as they make them, their self-awareness/self-deprecation somehow cancels out the racism? That reminds me of Glee's brand of humor, and just, ugh, no.
Anyway, yeah. Mixed feelings about that - I enjoyed it a lot, but.
And now, because I've been wallowing in comfort fic and because this is more a recs journal than anything else at this point, I present: my current top ten thirteen comfort fics, and one piece of comfort art. (It's a little heavy on the Generation Kill, and I've probably talked about some of these before and just don't remember and am too lazy to check, so. Sorry about that!)
I Lie, I Cheat, I Steal (And I Just Don't Get Any Respect), by fiercelydreamed.
Leverage/White Collar crossover. Gen, mostly, 7000 words. Summary: "All right," Nate says, and smacks his hands together. "Let's go steal a con artist."
White Collar/Leverage crossover of awesome and hilarity - gen, but with all kinds of pairing and ot3 references. :D
The Unusual, Exceptional, and Statistically Remarkable Hermione Granger, Age 21, by magnetic_pole.
Harry Potter. Hermione-centric gen, background Hermione/Pansy, PG, 3000 words. Summary: Hermione assesses her life on the morning of her twenty-first birthday.
Really great Hermione - introspective, ambitious, academic to the core - and a warm and optimistic overall feeling. I love that the author has Hermione considering setting personal instead of professional goals, and makes me believe in it. Awesome.
A Very Long Summer, by calathea.
I Want to Go Home! Mike/Rudy, PG, 37000 words. Summary: Mike and Rudy go back to Camp Algonkian Island... as counsellors!
I love future-fic and kidfic and oblivious pining, and this is therefore kind of everything I love in one story. It's plotty and funny and sweet, too. All good things in threes.
Just Off the Key of Reason, by arsenicjade.
Bandom. Gerard/Pete, NC-17, 23000 words. Summary: Gerard is always the guy people want.
Ugh, this HURTS, it's so sharp, but of course the band-aid is built-in. It's amazingly well-done hurt/comfort from Arsenic, hurt/comfort queen.
What I Wore to the Revolution, by jae_w.
The Devil Wears Prada. Emily/Andy, R, 5400 words. Summary: Four times Emily lowered her standards, and one time she didn't.
Most of this fandom is Andy/Miranda, and as much as I love that, I think my true favorite pairing for DWP is Andy/Emily. This is adorable, in an Emily-appropriate prickly sort of way. <3
A Little Mental Yoga, by dsudis.
Southland. Cooper/Sherman, NC-17, 17300 words. Summary: John was abruptly angry, the special anger that was reserved for the obviously guilty, because Ben had Yeah, I did it written all over him.
I adore this story. Sherman has telepathy sometimes, and Cooper has a bad back pretty much all of the time, and they rely on each other and figure each other out in a really gorgeous, well-paced way. dsudis handles the telepathy brilliantly - it's a well-worn trope, but here it feels fresh - plus there's humor and really hot sex. (I say that last as someone with a list of comfort fic mostly composed of stories rated PG-13 and below, so you know I mean it.)
Flashing Red Light Means Go by battleofhydaspe.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, PG-13, 5700 words. Summary: "Don't fuck with me," Brad says quietly. He's trying to move back but Nate's not letting him. "I have no idea what I'm doing," Nate admits, feeling stupid and sort of shaky. His lips brush against Brad's neck as he speaks. "But I'm not fucking with you, okay?"
I am undeniably a sucker for a good high school AU, but what strikes me about this story is that its key emotional moments/scenes feel so authentic. Often, stories with cliché premises seem emotionally thin to me, especially when they're relatively short - they end up reiterating what I've already read, like they follow a template, so I'm rarely surprised or moved - but that's not the case here. I've reread the part where Brad and Nate hug so many times it's ridiculous, and not just because I love stories with hugs of socially inappropriate duration.
Don't Lick Your Fingers When You Turn the Page by nightanddaze.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, NC-17, 5400 words. Summary: A story about writing. Excerpt: The wrists and throat stay popular, but Brad explores the territory as best he can. He writes here across both Nate’s nipples and bite bite bite across his left collarbone. Tongue licks down his spine and fuck rides the small of his back. / Those are the ones that last, even if he sweats. Sometimes he wonders what anyone would say if he got shot and they had to look at the mess of Shakespeare and Air Supply written across his ribs.
Brad Colbert: Ink Ninja. (If that doesn't get you, I'm not sure what will.) But really, I love the idea of writing on the body as a write-in, makeshift way of touching while they're in Iraq. I love that there's a mix of concrete detail and stuff left to the reader's imagination. I love the way things change (and the way they don't) when they get back stateside, and I really fucking love the ending. An effective, beautiful story all around.
the geometry of life: a story in two parts, by oxoniensis.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, NC-17, 13000 words. Summary: This is the story of two men. The one who stayed and the one who left.
This is newer than a lot of what's on this list, and I am so enamored of it I can't even tell you. Seriously fucking stellar Brad POV, spanning his time in theatre, in England, and after, back in California. There is UST! and then RST! (I know I NEVER talk about how much I love UST-becomes-RST stories, aha.)
I'd like to have the time I lost (give it back to you) by noelia_g.
Generation Kill. Brad/Nate, NC-17, 11700 words. Summary: Groundhog Day AU. Brad Colbert wakes up and it's the same day over and over again. A/N: Written for the prompt 'Alternate History: Personal life of a character changed' for au_bingo, but also a Groundhog Day AU. Changes made to the canon concern the timeline of Brad's break-up with his fiance.
This just plain makes me happy - it's redemptive and sweet, with solid characterisation and excellent details that really make the story (Batman v. Uncle Nate!). Brad keeps reliving the day after his fiancee broke up with him, waking up to the fucking La Bamba song again and again, and he gradually realises that the one constant he'd like to keep constant is Nate.
Irenicon, by yahtzee63.
Alias. Jack/Irina, Sydney/Weiss, Nadia/Vaughn, mature, 139200 words. Summary: In the aftermath of her discovery at Wittenburg, Sydney's relationship with Jack is more strained than ever before. But as the stakes rise and Sloane's ultimate endgame is finally revealed, father and daughter unite to prevent devastation.
This story provides an alternate version of canon (thank god), branching off after season three ended. It's the epitome of the gen/het genre - it has a fascinating, tight plot that would, I think, draw the pickiest of gen readers, but it also chronicles relationships, romantic and otherwise, effectively and affectively. I like all the pairings for this story, but the best part of it for me was the reparation of Sydney's relationship with her father. So cathartic and touching.
Only Going One Way, by ataratah and jjtaylor.
Bandom/Due South crossover. Frank/Gerard, mature, 73300 words. Summary: Crossover with due South. Constable Gerard Way of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Detective Frank Iero of the Chicago PD team up find Mikey Way in a city where bowling alley score cards hide secret codes, where the good guys are either lying or undercover (and sometimes lying about being undercover), and where criminal bakers make drug-laced frosting.
I can't remember the last time I had so much fun reading a story - it's just super enjoyable, funny and smart.
Only Good for Legends, by leupagus.
Star Trek 2009. Kirk/Spock + lots of other characters, NC-17 overall, 148000 words. Summary: Detective Spock, born on Vulcan and resident of San Francisco, is assigned to the Midwest police bureau. I think everyone can guess what happens next.
Oh, man. I rec'd this when it was still a WiP and promptly forgot about it (this is why I can read WiPs). It was such a treat to rediscover it only a few months ago and realize it was finished! It's definitely among my favorite Star Trek fics, if not the favorite. It doesn't have one central plot per se, and it's long enough that it's difficult to summarize, except to say that it's sweet and complex and fun and plotty as all get out. I don't think the ending works as well as the rest of the story, but probably I'm just greedy for more.
Swept off Her Feet, by glockgal.
Harry Potter. Harry/Ginny, G.
So great! I wish I could hang a set of prints of this in my room, all vertical-like and happy-making.
Oh my god, I never shut up. Come tell me how you are? ♥