overdressed and overstated
because paitac did it, and it looked like too much fun to pass up.
Everyone has fics that they love to read over and over. Sometimes, it is because the fic is just so damn good, every character is spot on, every word is perfect, that you are just drawn back to it. I want to know what your top five THIRTEEN favorite fics to reread are- any length, any rating, any fandom- and why.
01. réclame, by recrudescence. eames/yusuf, inception.
it isn't so much that you're a criminal, but you are a very willing accessory to a multitude of crimes.
to be fair, i haven't re-read this. (yet. it's only a matter of time.) i read it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and i'm still reeling. that's how much this one affected me. honestly, this... kind of changed my life. and not just because it made me a hardcore eames/yusuf shipper. it's like -- you know how, when you read something really, really, really amazing, coming to the end of it is like a physical ache? you keep looking at the scroll bar going further down the screen, or at the dwindling pages left to flip through, and there's this knot in your stomach because this can't end. that's how this felt. the sheer intensity alone will kill you. this didn't even feel like fic, it felt like an excerpt from the script, something nolan designed and then edited out because of time constraints. this is soft and wistful and kind of bittersweet, so realistic and believable and that's something i always look for in fic. eames' voice is BRILL, so true to life, by far the best i've seen in the fandom. and yusuf! she fills in all the blanks that nolan couldn't, and it is MAGIC. just - it's one of those pieces that made me question my ability as an author for a moment, if only because i was so overwhelmed by that feeling of i will never be THIS good. read it, and i promise you'll see for yourself.
02. woke up a fraud, by coricomile. arthur/cobb, inception.
prompt: woke up married.
this. is so. MOTHERFUCKING. CLEVER. just -- seriously. seriously. there've been a billion woke up married prompts on the kink meme, but this one! THIS ONE. it's so damn clever and gorgeous and NOTHING LIKE I WOULD'VE THOUGHT OF AT ALL, OR LIKE ANYONE ELSE ON THE MEME WOULD HAVE, APPARENTLY. WHY IS THAT? she sets up such a great mood, and tells so much story without spelling anything out, which is a surefire way to climb my favourites list. i loved this so much i saved the email notification in my inbox, and star-ed it. ♥ ♥ ♥
03. in time of trial, by shinetheway. arthur/merlin, merlin.
uther fears his son's power, and merlin has helped arthur flee to escape imprisonment. now the two of them must fight to regain arthur's rightful place in camelot.
holy crap. i am not even a real fan of the show or the pairing or anything, but there are no words for how good this is. none. i loved her character voices, loved, although--i think the problem with this fandom is how they deal with arthur and merlin giving into each other. i'm still not convinced, even though i know i should be. and my only quibble is that the ending didn't feel as satisfying as it should have, after 35,000 words. still, almost everything else was brilliant. the premise, the build-up, the little character insights (i loved those most of all), and i especially loved how she pointed out uther's flaws while keeping him real, something the show mostly fails to do. just--fantastic storytelling, all 'round. completely blew my mind.
04. in between days, by perpet-fic. percy/oliver, harry potter.
wherein book 7 is completely ignored because wars don't tend to happen so quickly; percy weasley runs a safehouse [because that's as close to administrative work as you can get in a war].
when i read this, this is what i put in my delicious: oh, god, this is gorgeous. it's breathtaking. lovely and painful and *hard* as hell, and somehow still tender in all the right places. i loved percy's voice, loved oliver's more, and, just -- this is how you do it, rowling. i hope you're taking notes. i've read it a couple more times now, and it still kills me every time. i'm not a fan of the pairing - i mean, i'll read it if it's there, but i don't actively seek it out - but this? perfect.
05. kris/katy/adam microstory, by astolat. american idol.
it is pretty apparent what this is from the title. anything that can get this much story, this much dynamic, this much history, into twenty freaking words is--i don't even have words for what it is. she will never cease to astound.
06. time of your life, by astolat. david/david, american idol.
i told myself i wouldn't put the same author up twice, because really, this list isn't so much my list of favourite authors as it is the list of the most epic fic i've ever read. but this is IT for me. this is why idol. THIS IS WHY I DOVE IN AND COULD NOT LOOK BACK. for me, i love both her davids' voices, and they ring so true, and i love that this is about finding yourself more than it is about finding love. best ofc i've read in a long, long time, and, i mean, ultimately that's why this is my fandom classic, instead of woke up married. because she GETS them, to the core, and it's all so effortless while still being subtle and plotted out and in the end everything comes full circle and it's like this is how it could have happened. this is how life should have happened. and i love when fic makes you feel like that.
07. the david/david rock band au, by ciudad. david/david, american idol.
this is cheating, because it isn't actual fic, but what it IS? is the most fucking awesome unwritten fic in the history of ever. like, i love the dynamic she gets, always, EVERY SINGLE TIME, this thing that smoulders between her characters and makes you burn. they are just perfect, and her aus are always so seamless, which -- talk about weak points, hi. AND SINCE WE'RE ON THE TOPIC OF NOT QUITE FIC, SHE IS ALSO IN THE MIDST OF WRITING THE MOST GORGEOUS WOKE UP MARRIED ARTHUR/COBB ON EARTH. totally different from the one above, because this is grounded in the world nolan gave us, and that makes it all the better.
08. the amazing adventures of kevin walker, superhero extraordinaire, by mardia. kevin/scotty, brothers & sisters.
"holy shit," justin says faintly. "my brother's superman."
it takes serious skill (and balls) to do the walkers justice. they're crazy and annoying and love too much and did i mention crazy? and somehow this author gets all of that down, all the subtleties of being related by blood and getting on each other's nerves and always being there no matter what, and i loved the shit out of it. she made kevin FUCKING SUPERMAN, and it wasn't cracky at all, just amazing and heartbreaking and wonderful all at once. it's really mostly gen, which i loved best of all.
09. i got me a nice little place in the stars by luzdeestrellas. wincest, supernatural.
his brother held out a hand, mock-serious. "hi." the grin curving his mouth was all charm and certainty, except around the edges where his truth had always hidden. "the name's dean. i used to change your diapers and tuck you in at night; i don't know if you remember."
the thing with wincest, like with arthur/merlin, is that i never buy into stories where they try to build up to it, where the brothers are conflicted and confused and everything else in between, but this. this. this was the first thing i read that made me go, oh. oh, i see it now. i believe it now. it's sweet and achy and needy in all the right places, and i still come back to this story when i need believable wincest and spot-on characterization. there is history, and build-up, and angst, and need, and just--nothing i've read since has even come close.
10. hackery au, part one, by eponymous. justin/nick, chris/jc, popslash.
the trailer.
so before i'd ever heard of astolat, there was georgina. this girl, man, her words made my life. i had a personal shrine. her characterization is dead on, every time, and she never wastes a single word, never gives away too much until the perfect time. her pacing is fucking stellar, her construction of worlds, all of it, she was my 'who i want to be when i grow up'. i think my love for telling stories out of order was born right here. it's been years since i first read this, and each time i go back to it, i'm transported. hackers, covert ops, and candy necklaces, man, all told in non-chronological order, and all of it excellent. this story will never not make me fall in love. (for more examples of excellence, see woo. because nothing says true love like buying fourteen pairs of sneakers.)
11. letters to prague, by phaballa. justin/lance, popslash.
justin gets lance pregnant.
when i first read it, i wrote: "i don't usually do mpreg, but this was gorgeous. gorgeous and moving and so very, very good. i love fic that explores established relationships, and this story does just that. the focus is on lance's pregnancy, and how he deals with it, and the emotions are so raw and real and it's just nothing like i've ever read before." i still feel the same way about it now. the only reason i dared to attempt mpreg at all is because of this story, because i'd seen it done in a way that made you ache and laugh and yearn like nothing else. her writing, especially for her serious pieces, always slays me.
12. the eminem/justin au, by xoverau. eminem/justin, popslash.
A series of standalones set in an AU in which Chris Kirkpatrick and Eminem ended up swapping career paths. Marshall is the fifth member of N'sync (or N'Lync, as it became), and Chris is a rapper with the handle Crazy K.
THIS WILL NEVER NOT BE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE 'VERSES ON THE PLANET. i cannot even REMOTELY begin to explain how you take a concept like this and make it work, but of course nic would find a way, of course. her writing has always been so lush and vivid without ever crossing over into droll, and she is so sharp it cuts. i love that she doesn't dumb it down, that everything is so cleverly crafted and always leaves you with these amazing snapshots of who these boys are, and how much they love each other.
13. lie back and think of starfleet, by curiouslyfic. kirk/sulu, star trek.
you are cordially invited to the wedding of hikaru w. sulu and james t. kirk. yes, another one.
the difference between her and chash is that she can pull off something 30,000 words long in this crazy, wildly entertaining, light voice, and it still pulls you along for the whole ride. sure, it's a little jumpy, but i am madly, madly in love with the way she plays with her words, and her sulu is always hot like buuuuuuuurning. it's like the little miss sunshine of the oscars, quirky and refreshing and basically awesome all around.
honourable mentions: this is totally cheating, but honourable mentions go out to hopefulgenius, bloodbelieve and longsufferingly, because they're so good at light and fun and easy, and i have SO MANY FAVOURITES from each of them that choosing was impossible, and i had to finally resign myself to not picking any one story out and going with JUST READ ALL THEIR WORK, OKAY, BECAUSE IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT.
OH AND HEY, SO--SINCE WE ARE ON THE TOPIC OF RECS, CAN I JUST SAY THAT YOU SHOULD ALL - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL - RUN TO READ THE MOST AMAZING, GORGEOUS, BRILLIANTLY FANTASTICAL GIRL!YUSUF/EAMES FIC OF ALL TIME? BECAUSE bloodbelieve JUST WROTE AND POSTED IT FOR MY BIRTHDAY BECAUSE SHE IS A FUCKING GODDESS, AND IT IS CALLED ALWAYS UP AND DOWN AND THERE IS ALSO A HINT OF ARTHUR/COBB BECAUSE SHE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT I LIKE AND SHE ISN'T AFRAID TO USE IT AND IT IS SO. GODDAMN. GOOD. I DON'T EVEN. I HAVE THIS INCREDIBLY, RIDICULOUSLY TALENTED FLIST AND THEN THEY TURN AROUND AND DO THINGS LIKE THIS, ALL NONCHALANTLY SURPRISE, AND IT'S LIKE--MY HEART IS SO FULL IT'S ABOUT TO BURST, THAT IS HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS, FFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME~
Everyone has fics that they love to read over and over. Sometimes, it is because the fic is just so damn good, every character is spot on, every word is perfect, that you are just drawn back to it. I want to know what your top five THIRTEEN favorite fics to reread are- any length, any rating, any fandom- and why.
01. réclame, by recrudescence. eames/yusuf, inception.
it isn't so much that you're a criminal, but you are a very willing accessory to a multitude of crimes.
to be fair, i haven't re-read this. (yet. it's only a matter of time.) i read it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and i'm still reeling. that's how much this one affected me. honestly, this... kind of changed my life. and not just because it made me a hardcore eames/yusuf shipper. it's like -- you know how, when you read something really, really, really amazing, coming to the end of it is like a physical ache? you keep looking at the scroll bar going further down the screen, or at the dwindling pages left to flip through, and there's this knot in your stomach because this can't end. that's how this felt. the sheer intensity alone will kill you. this didn't even feel like fic, it felt like an excerpt from the script, something nolan designed and then edited out because of time constraints. this is soft and wistful and kind of bittersweet, so realistic and believable and that's something i always look for in fic. eames' voice is BRILL, so true to life, by far the best i've seen in the fandom. and yusuf! she fills in all the blanks that nolan couldn't, and it is MAGIC. just - it's one of those pieces that made me question my ability as an author for a moment, if only because i was so overwhelmed by that feeling of i will never be THIS good. read it, and i promise you'll see for yourself.
02. woke up a fraud, by coricomile. arthur/cobb, inception.
prompt: woke up married.
this. is so. MOTHERFUCKING. CLEVER. just -- seriously. seriously. there've been a billion woke up married prompts on the kink meme, but this one! THIS ONE. it's so damn clever and gorgeous and NOTHING LIKE I WOULD'VE THOUGHT OF AT ALL, OR LIKE ANYONE ELSE ON THE MEME WOULD HAVE, APPARENTLY. WHY IS THAT? she sets up such a great mood, and tells so much story without spelling anything out, which is a surefire way to climb my favourites list. i loved this so much i saved the email notification in my inbox, and star-ed it. ♥ ♥ ♥
03. in time of trial, by shinetheway. arthur/merlin, merlin.
uther fears his son's power, and merlin has helped arthur flee to escape imprisonment. now the two of them must fight to regain arthur's rightful place in camelot.
holy crap. i am not even a real fan of the show or the pairing or anything, but there are no words for how good this is. none. i loved her character voices, loved, although--i think the problem with this fandom is how they deal with arthur and merlin giving into each other. i'm still not convinced, even though i know i should be. and my only quibble is that the ending didn't feel as satisfying as it should have, after 35,000 words. still, almost everything else was brilliant. the premise, the build-up, the little character insights (i loved those most of all), and i especially loved how she pointed out uther's flaws while keeping him real, something the show mostly fails to do. just--fantastic storytelling, all 'round. completely blew my mind.
04. in between days, by perpet-fic. percy/oliver, harry potter.
wherein book 7 is completely ignored because wars don't tend to happen so quickly; percy weasley runs a safehouse [because that's as close to administrative work as you can get in a war].
when i read this, this is what i put in my delicious: oh, god, this is gorgeous. it's breathtaking. lovely and painful and *hard* as hell, and somehow still tender in all the right places. i loved percy's voice, loved oliver's more, and, just -- this is how you do it, rowling. i hope you're taking notes. i've read it a couple more times now, and it still kills me every time. i'm not a fan of the pairing - i mean, i'll read it if it's there, but i don't actively seek it out - but this? perfect.
05. kris/katy/adam microstory, by astolat. american idol.
it is pretty apparent what this is from the title. anything that can get this much story, this much dynamic, this much history, into twenty freaking words is--i don't even have words for what it is. she will never cease to astound.
06. time of your life, by astolat. david/david, american idol.
i told myself i wouldn't put the same author up twice, because really, this list isn't so much my list of favourite authors as it is the list of the most epic fic i've ever read. but this is IT for me. this is why idol. THIS IS WHY I DOVE IN AND COULD NOT LOOK BACK. for me, i love both her davids' voices, and they ring so true, and i love that this is about finding yourself more than it is about finding love. best ofc i've read in a long, long time, and, i mean, ultimately that's why this is my fandom classic, instead of woke up married. because she GETS them, to the core, and it's all so effortless while still being subtle and plotted out and in the end everything comes full circle and it's like this is how it could have happened. this is how life should have happened. and i love when fic makes you feel like that.
07. the david/david rock band au, by ciudad. david/david, american idol.
this is cheating, because it isn't actual fic, but what it IS? is the most fucking awesome unwritten fic in the history of ever. like, i love the dynamic she gets, always, EVERY SINGLE TIME, this thing that smoulders between her characters and makes you burn. they are just perfect, and her aus are always so seamless, which -- talk about weak points, hi. AND SINCE WE'RE ON THE TOPIC OF NOT QUITE FIC, SHE IS ALSO IN THE MIDST OF WRITING THE MOST GORGEOUS WOKE UP MARRIED ARTHUR/COBB ON EARTH. totally different from the one above, because this is grounded in the world nolan gave us, and that makes it all the better.
08. the amazing adventures of kevin walker, superhero extraordinaire, by mardia. kevin/scotty, brothers & sisters.
"holy shit," justin says faintly. "my brother's superman."
it takes serious skill (and balls) to do the walkers justice. they're crazy and annoying and love too much and did i mention crazy? and somehow this author gets all of that down, all the subtleties of being related by blood and getting on each other's nerves and always being there no matter what, and i loved the shit out of it. she made kevin FUCKING SUPERMAN, and it wasn't cracky at all, just amazing and heartbreaking and wonderful all at once. it's really mostly gen, which i loved best of all.
09. i got me a nice little place in the stars by luzdeestrellas. wincest, supernatural.
his brother held out a hand, mock-serious. "hi." the grin curving his mouth was all charm and certainty, except around the edges where his truth had always hidden. "the name's dean. i used to change your diapers and tuck you in at night; i don't know if you remember."
the thing with wincest, like with arthur/merlin, is that i never buy into stories where they try to build up to it, where the brothers are conflicted and confused and everything else in between, but this. this. this was the first thing i read that made me go, oh. oh, i see it now. i believe it now. it's sweet and achy and needy in all the right places, and i still come back to this story when i need believable wincest and spot-on characterization. there is history, and build-up, and angst, and need, and just--nothing i've read since has even come close.
10. hackery au, part one, by eponymous. justin/nick, chris/jc, popslash.
the trailer.
so before i'd ever heard of astolat, there was georgina. this girl, man, her words made my life. i had a personal shrine. her characterization is dead on, every time, and she never wastes a single word, never gives away too much until the perfect time. her pacing is fucking stellar, her construction of worlds, all of it, she was my 'who i want to be when i grow up'. i think my love for telling stories out of order was born right here. it's been years since i first read this, and each time i go back to it, i'm transported. hackers, covert ops, and candy necklaces, man, all told in non-chronological order, and all of it excellent. this story will never not make me fall in love. (for more examples of excellence, see woo. because nothing says true love like buying fourteen pairs of sneakers.)
11. letters to prague, by phaballa. justin/lance, popslash.
justin gets lance pregnant.
when i first read it, i wrote: "i don't usually do mpreg, but this was gorgeous. gorgeous and moving and so very, very good. i love fic that explores established relationships, and this story does just that. the focus is on lance's pregnancy, and how he deals with it, and the emotions are so raw and real and it's just nothing like i've ever read before." i still feel the same way about it now. the only reason i dared to attempt mpreg at all is because of this story, because i'd seen it done in a way that made you ache and laugh and yearn like nothing else. her writing, especially for her serious pieces, always slays me.
12. the eminem/justin au, by xoverau. eminem/justin, popslash.
A series of standalones set in an AU in which Chris Kirkpatrick and Eminem ended up swapping career paths. Marshall is the fifth member of N'sync (or N'Lync, as it became), and Chris is a rapper with the handle Crazy K.
THIS WILL NEVER NOT BE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE 'VERSES ON THE PLANET. i cannot even REMOTELY begin to explain how you take a concept like this and make it work, but of course nic would find a way, of course. her writing has always been so lush and vivid without ever crossing over into droll, and she is so sharp it cuts. i love that she doesn't dumb it down, that everything is so cleverly crafted and always leaves you with these amazing snapshots of who these boys are, and how much they love each other.
13. lie back and think of starfleet, by curiouslyfic. kirk/sulu, star trek.
you are cordially invited to the wedding of hikaru w. sulu and james t. kirk. yes, another one.
the difference between her and chash is that she can pull off something 30,000 words long in this crazy, wildly entertaining, light voice, and it still pulls you along for the whole ride. sure, it's a little jumpy, but i am madly, madly in love with the way she plays with her words, and her sulu is always hot like buuuuuuuurning. it's like the little miss sunshine of the oscars, quirky and refreshing and basically awesome all around.
honourable mentions: this is totally cheating, but honourable mentions go out to hopefulgenius, bloodbelieve and longsufferingly, because they're so good at light and fun and easy, and i have SO MANY FAVOURITES from each of them that choosing was impossible, and i had to finally resign myself to not picking any one story out and going with JUST READ ALL THEIR WORK, OKAY, BECAUSE IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT.
OH AND HEY, SO--SINCE WE ARE ON THE TOPIC OF RECS, CAN I JUST SAY THAT YOU SHOULD ALL - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL - RUN TO READ THE MOST AMAZING, GORGEOUS, BRILLIANTLY FANTASTICAL GIRL!YUSUF/EAMES FIC OF ALL TIME? BECAUSE bloodbelieve JUST WROTE AND POSTED IT FOR MY BIRTHDAY BECAUSE SHE IS A FUCKING GODDESS, AND IT IS CALLED ALWAYS UP AND DOWN AND THERE IS ALSO A HINT OF ARTHUR/COBB BECAUSE SHE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT I LIKE AND SHE ISN'T AFRAID TO USE IT AND IT IS SO. GODDAMN. GOOD. I DON'T EVEN. I HAVE THIS INCREDIBLY, RIDICULOUSLY TALENTED FLIST AND THEN THEY TURN AROUND AND DO THINGS LIKE THIS, ALL NONCHALANTLY SURPRISE, AND IT'S LIKE--MY HEART IS SO FULL IT'S ABOUT TO BURST, THAT IS HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS, FFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME~