Recs for the New Year: H5-0
So: the new 5-0! One of the pop culture highlights of 2010, in my opinion, which has never been remotely humble. Sorry about that! The fandom has really begun to take off, and I'm guessing that it will prove much less self-limiting than Inception. This is a set of recs for fic that (a) struck me as particularly noteworthy and (b) isn't on one of the rec lists to which I'm linking (zelda_zee gets credit for inspiring that bit of meta).
Also, right now I am rocking out to Belinda Carlyle. Because I am just that cool, so suck it, bitches!
Recs
From hermette: Plenty of lovely recs under her tag.
leupagus' lovely list is right here.
From topaz119: A big, excellent list is here.
From zelda_zee: Smaller, really well selected recs are here, here, here, and here.
Gen
The Princess Is in Another Castle, by stripedpetunia (alias waketosleep): Yuletide fic. "Danny and Kono must go on an epic quest to rescue Steve from mortal peril and his own shortsightedness. There may or may not be goombas." Great dialogue, spot-on characterization, and lots of love for the '80s/early '90s pop culture that shaped Our Heroes. ~4700 words; PG or PG-13.
Danny/Steve
The Armpit of America, by kho: A glimpse into a visit to New Jersey, in which Danny shows Steve a little bit of the place that's shaped his memories and his growing up. Sweet but not syrupy; honest without being angsty. ~2000 words; PG-13.
The Best Defense Is a Good Offense, by stripedpetunia (alias waketosleep): Kink!meme fic. "Danny takes down a suspect twice his size, and Steve is turned on by it." A tightly written, beautifully tense capsule of a fic. ~750 words; PG-13ish. I also recommend her fic Hostage Situation, written for the prompt "Danny gets taken as a hostage and Steve goes uncharacteristically ballistic about the situation. When the team saves the day, Steve stakes his claim on Danny before they even get out of the building. Writer's option they have sex right there or Kono and Chin find them kissing and bitch them out for it."
Coda, by zelda_zee: A post-ep fic for 1x09, in which Steve tries to talk, a little bit, about what's just transpired and where it all comes from. The fic isn't unduly angsty, but it also doesn't shy away from the darkness that's lurking (and that Danny knows is lurking) in Steve's background. ~1,250 words; PG.
Club Can't Handle Me (series) by azziriafic: This takes the undercover-in-a-gay-bar cliche and then runs away with it and marries it. Tightly written, believable, and hot. It starts - no, it doesn't work to, it starts - with Danny and Steve doing casual recon in a gay bar, and goes right to Steve blowing Danny, in public, to keep their cover in place. In-character, with plot, NC-17.
Sleepwalking, by janedavitt: I love this fic because it deals with the difficult aspects of Danny and Steve's working relationship: the high-stress and potentially all-consuming nature of their jobs, the negotiations of authority in a situation where Steve is the boss but knows he's dependent on his team's greater experience and training, the emotional attachments and sexual impulses that Steve is used to fighting to keep buried, and the way that wears on both of them. For all that, it's also a very zippy, fast-paced fic, and a lot of fun to read. ~3800 words, R; there's also a sequel, Daydreaming, which is a bit longer and kinkier.
Timing Is Everything, by elandrialore. Cliche!fic, and one of the most witty and agile out there. Sample: "If it was going to happen, it probably would have happened by now. There’d been plenty of opportunities, like during the undercover op where they had to pretend to be newlyweds for a whole weekend... But it didn't happen then, and it didn't happen the time that Danny got abducted and tortured for about ten hours either, which started with him getting dragged by a rope behind a speedboat and ended with him getting shoved into a meat locker." ~1500 words; PG-13 or so.
Untitled Cliche!fic, by aliassmith. Another brilliant example of the genre, this one also ~1500 words and about PG-13. Sample:
“It was a centipede, Danny. You have no idea how fast those things move.”
“Actually I do. I got a good look at exactly how fast they move when it dodged the bat and disappeared inside the fucking hole you made.”
“But at least it didn’t bite you.”
“Not yet it didn’t. But it’s inside the walls now. Not even you and your overgrown ape-arms can reach it. Which means it’ll stay there, lurking, waiting til my back is turned before crawling out and attacking me in my sleep.”
Untitled prompt fic by imntsaying: "Steve is a fireman, not a Navy SEAL. Danny's shitty apartment burns down and Steve is awkwardly trying to figure out when it would be appropriate to ask that hot short guy out on a date." Completely in-character, completely brilliant, and completely believable (for 5-0: i.e., the main difference from canon is Steve's civilian career). If I tried to pick a favorite quote, I'd excerpt the whole thing. Go forth and read. ~2,000 words, PG.
(We Get Along) Like a House on Fire, by waldo. Yuletide fic. A character piece that I love for the way it looks at Steve's adaptation to civilian life. Steve is trained to be nothing but competent and tough, and he has a hard time dealing with the fact that there are some basic life tasks that he's just never had a chance to learn. ~1300 words; PG.
Also, right now I am rocking out to Belinda Carlyle. Because I am just that cool, so suck it, bitches!
Recs
From hermette: Plenty of lovely recs under her tag.
leupagus' lovely list is right here.
From topaz119: A big, excellent list is here.
From zelda_zee: Smaller, really well selected recs are here, here, here, and here.
Gen
The Princess Is in Another Castle, by stripedpetunia (alias waketosleep): Yuletide fic. "Danny and Kono must go on an epic quest to rescue Steve from mortal peril and his own shortsightedness. There may or may not be goombas." Great dialogue, spot-on characterization, and lots of love for the '80s/early '90s pop culture that shaped Our Heroes. ~4700 words; PG or PG-13.
Danny/Steve
The Armpit of America, by kho: A glimpse into a visit to New Jersey, in which Danny shows Steve a little bit of the place that's shaped his memories and his growing up. Sweet but not syrupy; honest without being angsty. ~2000 words; PG-13.
The Best Defense Is a Good Offense, by stripedpetunia (alias waketosleep): Kink!meme fic. "Danny takes down a suspect twice his size, and Steve is turned on by it." A tightly written, beautifully tense capsule of a fic. ~750 words; PG-13ish. I also recommend her fic Hostage Situation, written for the prompt "Danny gets taken as a hostage and Steve goes uncharacteristically ballistic about the situation. When the team saves the day, Steve stakes his claim on Danny before they even get out of the building. Writer's option they have sex right there or Kono and Chin find them kissing and bitch them out for it."
Coda, by zelda_zee: A post-ep fic for 1x09, in which Steve tries to talk, a little bit, about what's just transpired and where it all comes from. The fic isn't unduly angsty, but it also doesn't shy away from the darkness that's lurking (and that Danny knows is lurking) in Steve's background. ~1,250 words; PG.
Club Can't Handle Me (series) by azziriafic: This takes the undercover-in-a-gay-bar cliche and then runs away with it and marries it. Tightly written, believable, and hot. It starts - no, it doesn't work to, it starts - with Danny and Steve doing casual recon in a gay bar, and goes right to Steve blowing Danny, in public, to keep their cover in place. In-character, with plot, NC-17.
Sleepwalking, by janedavitt: I love this fic because it deals with the difficult aspects of Danny and Steve's working relationship: the high-stress and potentially all-consuming nature of their jobs, the negotiations of authority in a situation where Steve is the boss but knows he's dependent on his team's greater experience and training, the emotional attachments and sexual impulses that Steve is used to fighting to keep buried, and the way that wears on both of them. For all that, it's also a very zippy, fast-paced fic, and a lot of fun to read. ~3800 words, R; there's also a sequel, Daydreaming, which is a bit longer and kinkier.
Timing Is Everything, by elandrialore. Cliche!fic, and one of the most witty and agile out there. Sample: "If it was going to happen, it probably would have happened by now. There’d been plenty of opportunities, like during the undercover op where they had to pretend to be newlyweds for a whole weekend... But it didn't happen then, and it didn't happen the time that Danny got abducted and tortured for about ten hours either, which started with him getting dragged by a rope behind a speedboat and ended with him getting shoved into a meat locker." ~1500 words; PG-13 or so.
Untitled Cliche!fic, by aliassmith. Another brilliant example of the genre, this one also ~1500 words and about PG-13. Sample:
“It was a centipede, Danny. You have no idea how fast those things move.”
“Actually I do. I got a good look at exactly how fast they move when it dodged the bat and disappeared inside the fucking hole you made.”
“But at least it didn’t bite you.”
“Not yet it didn’t. But it’s inside the walls now. Not even you and your overgrown ape-arms can reach it. Which means it’ll stay there, lurking, waiting til my back is turned before crawling out and attacking me in my sleep.”
Untitled prompt fic by imntsaying: "Steve is a fireman, not a Navy SEAL. Danny's shitty apartment burns down and Steve is awkwardly trying to figure out when it would be appropriate to ask that hot short guy out on a date." Completely in-character, completely brilliant, and completely believable (for 5-0: i.e., the main difference from canon is Steve's civilian career). If I tried to pick a favorite quote, I'd excerpt the whole thing. Go forth and read. ~2,000 words, PG.
(We Get Along) Like a House on Fire, by waldo. Yuletide fic. A character piece that I love for the way it looks at Steve's adaptation to civilian life. Steve is trained to be nothing but competent and tough, and he has a hard time dealing with the fact that there are some basic life tasks that he's just never had a chance to learn. ~1300 words; PG.