Rec: Crumble Cake by Merripestin
Story: Crumble Cake
Author: merripestin
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 1,049
Author's Summary: Ace/Benny; it's time they learned to share. [NA continuity somewhere between Deceit and TLHH]
Characters/Pairings: Benny/Ace, Seven
Warnings: graphic sex
Recced because: It's not always pleasant, but it is always visceral.
I admit I'm missing huge chunks of NA lore, most of my exposure to these two coming from audio for Benny and TV/audio for Ace, but stick these two in a trench, as Merripestin's done-especially if it's the umpteenth trench-and, oh, yes, this is an extrapolation I can see.
There's sex, and at 1,049 words, you wouldn't think there'd be room for much more, but the author makes this micro war into a quick, skewering little character study and ensures we're never bored. "Crumble Cake" runs on all the tensions cropping up between companions learning about the unglamorous side of travel: constant danger, constant inconstancy, and all in constant proximity to the inscrutable, inhuman figure of the Doctor. Call it a candid capture.
"Share." The Doctor passed the wrapped cake into Ace's hand and turned away on his equipment trunk, licking pensively at his sticky fingers. Benny, huddled into a ratty blanket and sitting on another trunk, had to wonder about his strategy. Even if he'd managed to miss it in the confusion earlier, he couldn't have failed to figure out by now that Ace was having one of her bad weeks -- the nasty little grunts and growls when she demanded feeding should have been a dead giveaway.
Anyway, Ace didn't like it much when all the soldiers got to die but her. She felt left out.
Benny caught the Doctor's faraway look in profile and made a mental revision -- he'd noticed, he just didn't intend to deal with it. A night in a trench -- another night in a trench, and he was just going to try to ride it out. She wished him luck.
Author: merripestin
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 1,049
Author's Summary: Ace/Benny; it's time they learned to share. [NA continuity somewhere between Deceit and TLHH]
Characters/Pairings: Benny/Ace, Seven
Warnings: graphic sex
Recced because: It's not always pleasant, but it is always visceral.
I admit I'm missing huge chunks of NA lore, most of my exposure to these two coming from audio for Benny and TV/audio for Ace, but stick these two in a trench, as Merripestin's done-especially if it's the umpteenth trench-and, oh, yes, this is an extrapolation I can see.
There's sex, and at 1,049 words, you wouldn't think there'd be room for much more, but the author makes this micro war into a quick, skewering little character study and ensures we're never bored. "Crumble Cake" runs on all the tensions cropping up between companions learning about the unglamorous side of travel: constant danger, constant inconstancy, and all in constant proximity to the inscrutable, inhuman figure of the Doctor. Call it a candid capture.
"Share." The Doctor passed the wrapped cake into Ace's hand and turned away on his equipment trunk, licking pensively at his sticky fingers. Benny, huddled into a ratty blanket and sitting on another trunk, had to wonder about his strategy. Even if he'd managed to miss it in the confusion earlier, he couldn't have failed to figure out by now that Ace was having one of her bad weeks -- the nasty little grunts and growls when she demanded feeding should have been a dead giveaway.
Anyway, Ace didn't like it much when all the soldiers got to die but her. She felt left out.
Benny caught the Doctor's faraway look in profile and made a mental revision -- he'd noticed, he just didn't intend to deal with it. A night in a trench -- another night in a trench, and he was just going to try to ride it out. She wished him luck.