three recs (gdragon/top)
First proper rec post of the new year! Apologies for three recs of the same pairing but these are what jump out at me at the moment. I'll continue digging for rarepairs as well. :)
the way you are | gdragon/top | hambaobao | nc-17
A recurring scenario that I've noticed in GTOP fic is that of friends-with-benefits. Often it turns out badly for them, one or both end up falling in love and it's angst all around, et cetera. hambaobao wrote this so that it's seen as a good thing and not a bad one, that it's a relationship that works for them, something they're happy with, and I liked that. There's a nice circularity to this fic that made it feel rounded and complete, and the interaction between the boys themselves is nice and comfortable, with the little spikes of heightened action that seem to characterize the pairing for a lot of people.
all together now | gdragon/top | lovelyable | r
One thing I've always enjoyed about lovelyable's fic is that there's always something new and interesting in it. It plays with plot or formatting or characterization, and it's never just experimentation for experimentation's sake. In this fic time is expressed through months, little snapshots of GTOP's relationship that give you just enough to understand where they are in their relation to each other at the time. It's a great deconstruction of GTOP, but while this fic does a good job of breaking your heart it then stitches it back together again in just a few paragraphs. That is definitely something to admire.
to everything strange, inchoate | gdragon/top | 22by7 | nc-17
Future!fic where GTOP are writing another duo album. I'm just in love with 22by7's prose. There's something about it that sets it apart from your 'typical' K-Pop fic style (not that that style is bad!) that drew me in from the first reading. I enjoyed the off-kilter ways used to describe things like kisses (Seunghyun had stumbled into his arms and sucked the air out of his mouth) and the future!Jiyong whose point of view we're looking through here. He's assured, of course, but the relation to Seunghyun, how it shifts and yet has stayed the same, is great to watch through his eyes. And Seunghyun is so very Seunghyun in this, with his pajama pants and his little white lies. This is a great read and I hope to see more in the future from this writer.
the way you are | gdragon/top | hambaobao | nc-17
A recurring scenario that I've noticed in GTOP fic is that of friends-with-benefits. Often it turns out badly for them, one or both end up falling in love and it's angst all around, et cetera. hambaobao wrote this so that it's seen as a good thing and not a bad one, that it's a relationship that works for them, something they're happy with, and I liked that. There's a nice circularity to this fic that made it feel rounded and complete, and the interaction between the boys themselves is nice and comfortable, with the little spikes of heightened action that seem to characterize the pairing for a lot of people.
all together now | gdragon/top | lovelyable | r
One thing I've always enjoyed about lovelyable's fic is that there's always something new and interesting in it. It plays with plot or formatting or characterization, and it's never just experimentation for experimentation's sake. In this fic time is expressed through months, little snapshots of GTOP's relationship that give you just enough to understand where they are in their relation to each other at the time. It's a great deconstruction of GTOP, but while this fic does a good job of breaking your heart it then stitches it back together again in just a few paragraphs. That is definitely something to admire.
to everything strange, inchoate | gdragon/top | 22by7 | nc-17
Future!fic where GTOP are writing another duo album. I'm just in love with 22by7's prose. There's something about it that sets it apart from your 'typical' K-Pop fic style (not that that style is bad!) that drew me in from the first reading. I enjoyed the off-kilter ways used to describe things like kisses (Seunghyun had stumbled into his arms and sucked the air out of his mouth) and the future!Jiyong whose point of view we're looking through here. He's assured, of course, but the relation to Seunghyun, how it shifts and yet has stayed the same, is great to watch through his eyes. And Seunghyun is so very Seunghyun in this, with his pajama pants and his little white lies. This is a great read and I hope to see more in the future from this writer.