our address books for so long a slow scramble / now are palimpsests
Recs! (Pease don't ask about the writing just now. It will be fine.)
Football RPF
Rave - Set Me As A Seal Upon Your Heart (Cristiano Ronaldo/Ricardo "Kaká" Izecson dos Santos Leite) Locked on AO3.
Cris is a half-demon. Ricky is a priest.
What I liked: Faith, demons, family issues, a confident, casual writing style.
Generation Kill
indigostohelit - The Spaces Between the Stars (Brad Colbert/Nate Fick)
Lieutenant Nathaniel Fick of the USS Devil Dog is returning to Earth with the weight of the world on his shoulders: his captain is incompetent, his crew is half in mutiny, and the mission to a distant star may have been more of a failure than anyone could have comprehended. But on the journey back, something in the ship goes terribly wrong-and Nate may have to bear far more than the weight of the world if he's going to keep his men safe.
What I liked: This is a tour de force. Seriously, it's a stunning, stunning piece of writing.
That said, do not do what I did and fail to read the warnings before you are transfixed by the story. Or stop reading almost at the end, when the lifeboat leaves the ship.
Hockey RPF
jezziejay - Somewhere Only We Know (Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews) Locked on AO3.
Kaner kicks off his twenty-eighth birthday party with an exponential crisis.
Jonny frowns at him. “You’re having a crisis of ever-more-rapidly-increasing numbers?”
What I liked: The uncompromising language. Direct, forceful, breathtaking.
KAT-TUN
Maayacola - Across a Bridge of Magpies (Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya)
Remix of bellemelody's The story of the brave Samurai and his beautiful Geisha... There are two timelines: Late 2012, and movie-time (1853/54.) The poems are all from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, a famous anthology of classical Japanese tanka compiled in the thirteenth century by Fujiwara no Sadaie..
What I liked: Interconnecting stories, beautifully anguished enemies and lovers.
haikuesque - 9½ weeks (Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya)
Thirteen years after leaving KAT-TUN, Jin finds his life hasn't really gone as planned. The last person he expected to show up and rub his nose in it is Kamenashi. The last thing Kamenashi expected was that he'd keep coming back..
What I liked: Favourite trope. Post-canon, character in depressed circumstances encounters successful old friend/lover. I hesitate to say romance occurs. Love, perhaps. This one is very well done.
haikuesque - The Same Deep Water As You (Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya)
Kame's got his reasons for seeing prostitutes. Jin's got his reasons for being one. Life is pretty screwed up..
What I liked: Utter immersion in a completely different world. Reading, this honestly doesn't feel as long as it actually is, and the grand array of characters made for a rich reading weekend.
Les Trois Mousquetaires | The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Unovis - The Confession of Charlotte Backson (Milady)
Milady confesses. Backstory for Milady, born Charlotte Backson.
Originally posted in December 2005.
Contains a non-graphic reference to a rape. Also a naughty nun.
What I liked: It's unovis. Religion, rage, love.
Marvel
northatlantic (breakthecitysky) - It Will Probably Accelerate (Steve/Tony, plus many others) Mixed canon.
So the working title of this was variously 'mixtape,' 'how steve rogers got his groove back' and 'oh my god quit thinking of things to add.' Steve's perspective of the assembly of the Avengers after the dust has settled and the rebuilding begins.
What I liked: Steve's anger and sense of displacement.
Kiyaar - This Mess We're In (Steve/Tony) Comics canon, Secret Avengers.
Steve is a troll, Tony is obliging. Everyone gets done. Set in that fictional interval during Secret Avengers where Steve is a Commander and he and Tony are actually on speaking terms. Unabashed porn.
What I liked: Sharp-edged banter, desperation, fragility and endurance.
My Chemical Romance
deadpegasus - L For Lucky (M for Mine) (Ray Toro/Mikey Way, Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Mikey Way/Pete Wentz)
“Yeah, look.” Mikey turns his head to peer at the crowd over his shoulder. “This is going to seem weird, but.” He stares behind him and seems, for a moment, at a loss for words. “Well, there’s no tasteful way to say it.” Mikey looks Ray in the eye and just shrugs. “This is a highly organized sexual gathering for very specifically kinky people.”
Ray feels a bit of spittle lodge in his throat and tries his best not to sputter when he disagrees, “That’s actually a pretty tasteful description of an orgy.”
What I liked: Nicely done - eh, I want to say swingers AU, but that's not quite right. Orgies, though, definitely.
National Football League RPF
ionthesparrow - Take, Eat (Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers)
Brett always gets to say where. Brett always gets to say when.
What I liked: I have no idea who these people are. But this is a subtly disturbed piece of fiction, excellently done.
ionthesparrow - This Won't Hurt (Alex Smith/Dustin Colquitt)
The average NFL QB stands 6’3” and weighs about 225. The average quarterback career runs about 6 years, depending on who you believe, and allowing for the variance generated by guys like Blanda and Favre, and all the cup-of-coffee players littering the other side of the bell curve. All that makes it seem Alex is sitting pretty square in the middle of things, average in all senses of the word.
But Alex has always been exceptional.
What I liked: I have no idea who these people are either. But this is another gorgeous piece of fiction, same author. Written for yuletide.
Original Fiction
Iron Eater in s2b2 (Shousetsu Big Bang) - Seismic Gap and sequel The Stones' Earthen Grasp (m/m)
Orcs in love.
What I liked: See above. Gorgeous piece of story-telling.
Rise of the Guardians and Guardians of Childhood
not_poignant - From the Darkness We Rise and Into Shadows We Fall (Jack Frost/Pitch Black)
Twenty two years have passed since the defeat of Pitch, and Jack lives alone, touch-starved, with only the company of a solitary Nightmare. One evening the Man in the Moon sets him on a path that will lead him to unexpected relationships, draw the attention of the Guardians to a new coalition of villains, and challenge Jack's every notion of what it is to be good, evil, and what it is to live in the shadows.
What I liked: Absorbing piece of story-telling, grandly themed. (There are some lovely stories coming out of this Rise of the Guardians canon.)
Supernatural
dear_tiger - Love and Crocodiles (Sam/Dean)
Dean is trying to follow Sam down into Hell. There is a guy who can get him in, but in exchange he wants to eat Dean's love all up.
What I liked: Dean.
Teen Wolf
breenwolf - the devil won't let me be (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
After Halloween, Stiles has two questions that need answering.
What I liked: Questions of identity. Not so much the question of sexuality, but the sense of possibility framed by awkwardness. Also, porn.
Anonymous - Catch Your Breath (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
The Bait Bus AU, in which unsuspecting straight guy Derek is lured into the bus by a beautiful young women named Erica and agrees to be blindfolded and get a blowjob on camera. Only to discover he's being sucked off by the ever so eager, ever so male Stiles.
What I liked: What the hell was I reading the other day? Eh - the biography of gay porn star Al Parker. So, Al Parker and his partner given to cruising California in a converted truck, luring happy young men into threesomes and moresomes.
Perfectly timed, perfectly done, this story.
Chash - Tsundere (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
Tsundere is a Japanese character development process that describes a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing his or her warm side over time.
(Or, Stiles goes to college and his roommate is a catboy.)
What I liked: Grumpy, angry cat!Derek. Also, Chash's comic timing is always brilliantly spot-on.
Siria - tiger, tiger, burning bright (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
“So dude,” Stiles called over his shoulder, “not to alarm you or anything but there’s a tiger in our back yard.”
What I liked: Simple, beautifully constructed sentences. Also, it made me smile.
twisting_vine_x - A Road That's Built To Last (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
Stiles is driving the Trans-Canada highway, all the way from Toronto to Vancouver. He's always been told that it's a bad idea to pick up hitchhikers, but, somehow, he's still got someone riding shotgun with him, and he's starting to think it might be one of the best decisions he's made in a long time.
What I liked: Connections, disconnections, the sense of isolation and impermanence.
Eh, AWOL for a while from Friday. Even more than now.
Football RPF
Rave - Set Me As A Seal Upon Your Heart (Cristiano Ronaldo/Ricardo "Kaká" Izecson dos Santos Leite) Locked on AO3.
Cris is a half-demon. Ricky is a priest.
What I liked: Faith, demons, family issues, a confident, casual writing style.
Generation Kill
indigostohelit - The Spaces Between the Stars (Brad Colbert/Nate Fick)
Lieutenant Nathaniel Fick of the USS Devil Dog is returning to Earth with the weight of the world on his shoulders: his captain is incompetent, his crew is half in mutiny, and the mission to a distant star may have been more of a failure than anyone could have comprehended. But on the journey back, something in the ship goes terribly wrong-and Nate may have to bear far more than the weight of the world if he's going to keep his men safe.
What I liked: This is a tour de force. Seriously, it's a stunning, stunning piece of writing.
That said, do not do what I did and fail to read the warnings before you are transfixed by the story. Or stop reading almost at the end, when the lifeboat leaves the ship.
Hockey RPF
jezziejay - Somewhere Only We Know (Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews) Locked on AO3.
Kaner kicks off his twenty-eighth birthday party with an exponential crisis.
Jonny frowns at him. “You’re having a crisis of ever-more-rapidly-increasing numbers?”
What I liked: The uncompromising language. Direct, forceful, breathtaking.
KAT-TUN
Maayacola - Across a Bridge of Magpies (Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya)
Remix of bellemelody's The story of the brave Samurai and his beautiful Geisha... There are two timelines: Late 2012, and movie-time (1853/54.) The poems are all from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, a famous anthology of classical Japanese tanka compiled in the thirteenth century by Fujiwara no Sadaie..
What I liked: Interconnecting stories, beautifully anguished enemies and lovers.
haikuesque - 9½ weeks (Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya)
Thirteen years after leaving KAT-TUN, Jin finds his life hasn't really gone as planned. The last person he expected to show up and rub his nose in it is Kamenashi. The last thing Kamenashi expected was that he'd keep coming back..
What I liked: Favourite trope. Post-canon, character in depressed circumstances encounters successful old friend/lover. I hesitate to say romance occurs. Love, perhaps. This one is very well done.
haikuesque - The Same Deep Water As You (Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya)
Kame's got his reasons for seeing prostitutes. Jin's got his reasons for being one. Life is pretty screwed up..
What I liked: Utter immersion in a completely different world. Reading, this honestly doesn't feel as long as it actually is, and the grand array of characters made for a rich reading weekend.
Les Trois Mousquetaires | The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Unovis - The Confession of Charlotte Backson (Milady)
Milady confesses. Backstory for Milady, born Charlotte Backson.
Originally posted in December 2005.
Contains a non-graphic reference to a rape. Also a naughty nun.
What I liked: It's unovis. Religion, rage, love.
Marvel
northatlantic (breakthecitysky) - It Will Probably Accelerate (Steve/Tony, plus many others) Mixed canon.
So the working title of this was variously 'mixtape,' 'how steve rogers got his groove back' and 'oh my god quit thinking of things to add.' Steve's perspective of the assembly of the Avengers after the dust has settled and the rebuilding begins.
What I liked: Steve's anger and sense of displacement.
Kiyaar - This Mess We're In (Steve/Tony) Comics canon, Secret Avengers.
Steve is a troll, Tony is obliging. Everyone gets done. Set in that fictional interval during Secret Avengers where Steve is a Commander and he and Tony are actually on speaking terms. Unabashed porn.
What I liked: Sharp-edged banter, desperation, fragility and endurance.
My Chemical Romance
deadpegasus - L For Lucky (M for Mine) (Ray Toro/Mikey Way, Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Mikey Way/Pete Wentz)
“Yeah, look.” Mikey turns his head to peer at the crowd over his shoulder. “This is going to seem weird, but.” He stares behind him and seems, for a moment, at a loss for words. “Well, there’s no tasteful way to say it.” Mikey looks Ray in the eye and just shrugs. “This is a highly organized sexual gathering for very specifically kinky people.”
Ray feels a bit of spittle lodge in his throat and tries his best not to sputter when he disagrees, “That’s actually a pretty tasteful description of an orgy.”
What I liked: Nicely done - eh, I want to say swingers AU, but that's not quite right. Orgies, though, definitely.
National Football League RPF
ionthesparrow - Take, Eat (Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers)
Brett always gets to say where. Brett always gets to say when.
What I liked: I have no idea who these people are. But this is a subtly disturbed piece of fiction, excellently done.
ionthesparrow - This Won't Hurt (Alex Smith/Dustin Colquitt)
The average NFL QB stands 6’3” and weighs about 225. The average quarterback career runs about 6 years, depending on who you believe, and allowing for the variance generated by guys like Blanda and Favre, and all the cup-of-coffee players littering the other side of the bell curve. All that makes it seem Alex is sitting pretty square in the middle of things, average in all senses of the word.
But Alex has always been exceptional.
What I liked: I have no idea who these people are either. But this is another gorgeous piece of fiction, same author. Written for yuletide.
Original Fiction
Iron Eater in s2b2 (Shousetsu Big Bang) - Seismic Gap and sequel The Stones' Earthen Grasp (m/m)
Orcs in love.
What I liked: See above. Gorgeous piece of story-telling.
Rise of the Guardians and Guardians of Childhood
not_poignant - From the Darkness We Rise and Into Shadows We Fall (Jack Frost/Pitch Black)
Twenty two years have passed since the defeat of Pitch, and Jack lives alone, touch-starved, with only the company of a solitary Nightmare. One evening the Man in the Moon sets him on a path that will lead him to unexpected relationships, draw the attention of the Guardians to a new coalition of villains, and challenge Jack's every notion of what it is to be good, evil, and what it is to live in the shadows.
What I liked: Absorbing piece of story-telling, grandly themed. (There are some lovely stories coming out of this Rise of the Guardians canon.)
Supernatural
dear_tiger - Love and Crocodiles (Sam/Dean)
Dean is trying to follow Sam down into Hell. There is a guy who can get him in, but in exchange he wants to eat Dean's love all up.
What I liked: Dean.
Teen Wolf
breenwolf - the devil won't let me be (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
After Halloween, Stiles has two questions that need answering.
What I liked: Questions of identity. Not so much the question of sexuality, but the sense of possibility framed by awkwardness. Also, porn.
Anonymous - Catch Your Breath (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
The Bait Bus AU, in which unsuspecting straight guy Derek is lured into the bus by a beautiful young women named Erica and agrees to be blindfolded and get a blowjob on camera. Only to discover he's being sucked off by the ever so eager, ever so male Stiles.
What I liked: What the hell was I reading the other day? Eh - the biography of gay porn star Al Parker. So, Al Parker and his partner given to cruising California in a converted truck, luring happy young men into threesomes and moresomes.
Perfectly timed, perfectly done, this story.
Chash - Tsundere (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
Tsundere is a Japanese character development process that describes a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing his or her warm side over time.
(Or, Stiles goes to college and his roommate is a catboy.)
What I liked: Grumpy, angry cat!Derek. Also, Chash's comic timing is always brilliantly spot-on.
Siria - tiger, tiger, burning bright (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
“So dude,” Stiles called over his shoulder, “not to alarm you or anything but there’s a tiger in our back yard.”
What I liked: Simple, beautifully constructed sentences. Also, it made me smile.
twisting_vine_x - A Road That's Built To Last (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)
Stiles is driving the Trans-Canada highway, all the way from Toronto to Vancouver. He's always been told that it's a bad idea to pick up hitchhikers, but, somehow, he's still got someone riding shotgun with him, and he's starting to think it might be one of the best decisions he's made in a long time.
What I liked: Connections, disconnections, the sense of isolation and impermanence.
Eh, AWOL for a while from Friday. Even more than now.