Fic: Lucky in This Life (Sulu, gen)

[igrockspock]

Title: Lucky in This Life
Characters: Mainly Sulu and his mother, with appearances by Spock, Uhura, and McCoy
Rating: Teen
Content Advisory: Discussion of death and grieving
Summary: Sulu's mother was the captain of the Farragut, and she died in the Battle of Vulcan. Or so he thought.
Notes: Thank you to thistlerose for the beta, and to everyone who

Comments

[katmarajade]

This ... is ... amazing. *blinks in awe* I ... just holy crap, it's amazing! I mean, considering my all-encompassing love of Sulu, it was a good bet I'd enjoy this fic, but I think that this is one of the most lovely Sulu stories ever and one of the most touching post-Narada grief fics I've read. Powerful and touching. I teared up several times during this.

The details about his realization and how he didn't feel anything but thought that he probably should. And how he kept busy and how amazing the crew was and how he never had to say it and how they protect and look out for one another (oh, Enterprise crew love and that family-like atmosphere, so much love) The details about Chekov suddenly being around constantly and Kirk making it easy for him to crash on his couch and Spock's solidarity and grief.

And I particularly loved the lines that showed the realism of his reactions-- the non-polished, pretty thoughts. The silly or random asides, those very real reactions-- because we never grieve according to those "proper" grieving procedures that everyone thinks we're to follow. Oh my gosh, my heart. Maybe, he thought, he could go hang out with Spock. “My mother died too,” he'd say, and they could both be logical about death together. Or maybe not. That line slayed me, because it's so ridiculous but so genuine at the same time and I just want to hug them so tightly and sob onto their shoulders and wipe away all the tears that those damn stoic boys aren't crying.

And the scenes with his mother were so beautiful. I love their relationship and how it's not perfect and how they've had their issues and how she's terse and tough and a little brusque but how deeply she loves her son and how much she needs to take care of him, because she doesn't know what else to do. Their mutual grief is devastating and oh my gosh, I'm all shiny-eyes and wanting to cuddle my dear, wonderful Hikaru and his amazing, strong, beautiful, hard-ass but soft underneath mother.

I'm incoherent. I love this. Goodness gracious. You and your ways of making me sob and love Hikaru even more than ever. I'm all heart-achey and full of joy and still all teary-eyed.

[igrockspock]

You always leave the best feedback, and I never know how to properly thank you for its awesomeness! I'm so glad their stoicism worked for you; I really struggle to make male characters feel like *men* and I think the way they handle emotions is a big part of it. And I'm so, so glad that his grief reactions seemed genuine. I leaned a lot on the episode of Buffy where her mother died for help with that. Really, thank you for this comment - I worked on this story off and on for eight months, so it means a lot that it worked for you!