taliahale | Entries tagged with [recs]

liketheroad. Unrated, 4,000+ words, Patrick/Jonny. Possibly I liked this because it hit so incredibly close to home for me. It happens occasionally. There's some seriously heavy shit being discussed here: religious guilt, family issues, internalized and societal homophobia, being so closeted you have no support system. It's not happy-times fic, and while it ends with the UST firmly in place it's quietly hopeful. You go read; I'll just be over here in my corner, weeping.

Johnny was raised Mennonite, which seems about as bad as being Catholic, except there’s less of an emphasis on guilt and more of a focus on the moral value of hard work and unhappiness. His mom’s a lapsed Catholic, though, converting when she married Johnny’s dad, and she still sometimes cries about how little he’s home, so Johnny’s probably got his bases covered, guilt wise.

They’ve never really talked about their faiths, except for the occasional cryptic, drunken reference, but Patrick figures they both believe in something, even if it’s just enough to keep them apart.

***

They’ve acknowledged their feelings for one another, but only once. They were in Vancouver, and Canada had just beaten America for Olympic gold. To this day, Patrick doesn’t know why he chose to bring it up then, except that it was an emotional moment, so happy for Johnny and so sad for himself, and when they met in the handshake line, all he could think to say was, “What I feel for you isn’t wrong.”

Johnny blinked at him and said, “I never said it was.”

Patrick nodded, tugged once on Johnny’s chinstrap, and kept moving down the line.

They haven’t spoken about it since.

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/7020.html

Thou and You art by pentapus, fic by twentysomething. Explicit, 61,000+ words, Historical Fantasy AU, Sid/Geno, Maria Kirilenko/Alexander Ovechkin, Paul Martin/James Neal. I've read the Patricia C Wrede novels the magical society is based on, and while worth a read, this delightful Sid/Geno focused fic gives me what those were missing: porn. Not that there isn't a lot of lovely world-building and adorably Regency-esque wooing, but the sex scenes are pretty phenomenal.

"You are over-modest," Evgeni says, bringing Sugarpie into step with Teumessian. "You ride beautifully."

Mr. Crosby ducks his head with a smile. "Where I come from in Canada, there isn't much to do other than ride and skate. From the moment the ice became too thin, I was on a horse."

"My childhood was much the same," Evgeni says, grinning to think of it. "If only the weather would allow us to go skating, as well."

"The ice forms much later in Pittsburgh than in Cole Harbour," Mr. Crosby says with a sigh, and then, with the air of one admitting to a terrible secret, adds, "I have been known to speed the process along with a spell on Lord Lemieux's fish pond."

Evgeni is startled into laughing. "I hope it was not stocked at the time," he teases.

Mr. Crosby's guilty look is all the confirmation Evgeni needs to burst into another round of delighted laughter. "Oh, Mr. Crosby," Evgeni manages through his laughter, sighing it out.

"Mar- Lord Lemieux did not mind," Mr. Crosby mutters.

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/6652.html

At the Edges by onrooftops. Mature, Stiles/Danny, 93,000+ words, AU Canon Divergence Post Season 2. I don't really know how to summarize this. It's truly novel-length, narratively complex, and I've had it constantly at the back of my mind for months. I rarely read WIPs (and never rec them, which is why I'm only posting this now) so it speaks volumes that I've been going back to At the Edges since June. As much as I love Sterek, Stiles and Danny make sense as a couple in the canon's timeline in a way that Stiles and Derek really can't. Danny is criminally underused on the show, and onrooftops has used the barebones we're given and written a fully realized protagonist. Take the time to read this one, guys. It's phenomenal.

“Fucking werewolves, Danny!”

“I know.” He drops his chin to look at her again. “I do. I would have told you if you’d seen even half of what you saw tonight. If you saw Jackson with sideburns, or Scott with his eyes all lit up—I’d have told you.”

“Bullshit. You’re telling me now, and I thank you for that, I do, but—that was Erica tonight, right? The one who pulled Aiden off of me? That was Erica and she threatened me and you sided with her. You stayed, Danny. You sent me away, but you stayed.”

“Of course I stayed. You didn’t know what was going on. You needed to get out of there.” He looks at the dried blood spattered on his dark t-shirt, his jeans. “I needed to stay.” He can’t explain that compulsion, the fact that he didn’t even consider a different possibility, didn’t consider leaving to make absolutely sure she made it home all right. He feels a raw surge of guilt at that, but even so he can’t imagine having handled the night any differently.

“But once I was gone, what’d you do?” She fixes her gaze on a smear of brownish blood across his forearm. “You look like you killed somebody. You look like a psychopath. You’re a mess. How do you know Erica and the rest are the good guys, how do you know you want to side with them?” She takes in a shaky breath. “How can you want to risk everything for them?”

“What we’re doing—it’s right, Julia. I’m on the right side.”

“Say there’s not a right side,” she argues, “or say both groups of werewolves are wrong and the right side is the people who’re out of it.”

Danny pushes to his feet. “Staying out of it isn’t an option for me. People are getting hurt, and we need to stop the wolves who’re hurting them. That’s what there is. That’s all this is.”

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/6260.html

So. Real people fic. It's new for me. Hockey? Not so new. I'm easing into a whole new world of 'oh, Lee, what were you thinking' fics. And so we begin with my favorite Penguins, Sid and Geno. I love how fandom's collectively decided there shall be pining. The pining is great.
( if you got here by googling yourself or someone you know, do not go behind the cut! )

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/5468.html

Hitch A Ride On The Back of a Butterfly by

torakowalski. Explicit, Rule 63!Coulson/Clint, 29,000+ words, Rule 63 AU (slightly kidfic). Also contains background Teddy Altman/Billy Kaplan and Pepper/Tony. Brilliant examination of how the events of the film would've gone down differently if Phil was Phillippa, and Clint and Phil had a child to consider when taking on assignments. I don't really want to spoil it, but you should go read it. As soon as you have time to sit down and read the thing in one go. No really, I don't recommend reading this piecemeal. I was on the edge of my seat and would have had an aneurysm if I needed to stop partway through. Also, Billy the babysitter is the best shit ever.

"You're supposed to be in the ice," Stephanie tells him. "How did you get out?"

"Stephie," Clint says, before Phil can, but Rogers shakes his head.

"The people your mom and dad work for got me out," he says, easily enough.

Stephanie considers that for a minute then smiles. "Tony's making me a robot," she says, "come see."

She finally lets go of Clint and holds out her hand for Rogers, who takes it after a quick look at Phil.

"Aww," Stark says. "Isn't that nice. Steve and Stephie." He stops, hands hovering over the tiny robot. "Wait. Steve. Stephie. Stephanie. Steven. Coulson, did you name your kid after Captain America?"

Phil shrugs and refuses to blush, so Stark turns his attention to Clint. "Barton, you let her name your kid after Captain America?"

Clint shrugs in pretty much the same way that Phil did. She thinks he might have taught her that move, come to think of it. "What's wrong with that?" he asks. "If she'd wanted to call her Antonia, then we might of had a problem."

Stark claps a hand over his heart. "I'm wounded. Relieved to see you can crack a joke, but wounded."

On the floor with Stephanie, Rogers is blushing, but he's looking at her and smiling, too. "I'm honoured," he says quietly.

Phil doesn't entirely know what to say for a moment. When she named Stephanie, she never in her wildest dreams imagined getting to tell Captain America about it.

Clint nudges her. "Our lives are weird," he whispers. "Also, you've got stars in your eyes."

"Shut up, I do not," Phil s, but she knows she does.

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/5348.html

this interview has been condensed and edited by leah k (blinkiesays). Teen and Up, Stiles/Derek, 10,000+ words, AU. In this AU, the Hales are still werewolves in a world where that's fodder for horror flicks, but they're also a famous Hollywood family. Laura's a screenwriter, Peter's sort of an agent (who doesn't really feature in this fic except for a handful of mentions and phone calls), and the rest are actors. When the script Laura's been working on for years gets the greenlight, Derek's starring, Scott's directing, and Stiles is Derek's assistant. It's both more and less complicated than it sounds. I really enjoyed the way blinkiesays mixed in bits of a faux interview with Laura and Derek, the idea from whence the title came.

But it's a love story, right?
DH: All she writes are love stories.

Really?
LH: Oh, it's true! I'm a hopeless romantic, I can't help it. Everything I write, it's like...Nora Ephron with sharper teeth.

Norah Ephron?
LH: Oh God, yes. I can't tell you how many times I watched 'Sleepless in Seattle.' I drove everyone nuts.
DH: Yes. She did.
LH: But mom was always on us to follow our passion and I was an ok actor, not like Derek or Cora, so I realized at a very young age that I wanted to be a screenwriter. Oh man, did you ever see...what was it called? One of Mom's later movies, it's set in Elizabethan England Anyway, she let me re-write the dialog for the scene in the carriage.

Within a few days, Derek more or less admits to himself that Laura was right. Having Stiles around is a lot like having a puppy.

There's a reason Derek doesn't have any pets. Many reasons.

"Yo," Stiles says, shouldering his way into Derek's apartment without permission.[...]Stiles rummages around in his messenger bag, muttering to himself about something some guy did on the subway and Derek tries to ignore Stiles' presence, concentrates on putting water on to boil.

"Ok," Stiles says, pawing through a small, leather-bound book, "Busy day today."

Derek had expected Stiles to be like every other mid-twenties douchebag in NYC and be surgically attached to his smartphone, but Stiles has an actual pen-and-paper organizational system. he uses an old-fashioned day planner to keep track of when he's supposed to be shepherding Derek to appointments, interviews, costume fittings, the kind of boring minutia that Derek has a bad habit of forgetting or skipping outright.

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/5079.html

Coulson's Eleven by

copperbadge/

sam_storyteller. Teen and Up, Gen Epic, 32,000+ words, Tony/Pepper. Canon-Divergence AU. Everything Sam writes is magic, but this is a new favorite. An AU where SHIELD doesn't trust superheroes and thus keeps them prisoners on the Helicarrier. The MCU timeline diverges post-Vanko, and it's an intriguing look at a world without superheroes to protect us, but also one in which they aren't attracting trouble. I'll avoid spoilers and just say: read it, preferably in one sitting.

They both startled when the overhead speakers, rarely used and very annoying, crackled to life.

"I think I can help you out," a voice said.

"Shit, we're made," Tony said, closing down the monitors.

"You're not made, Stark," the voice said. "We've been watching. We're on your side."

"Who is we?"

"Tell you later, you haven't got much private time left. The virus in Ms. Potts is already neutralized. She says hi."

Tony gaped at the ceiling.

"Figure out what you need from us. You'll be hearing from me," the voice added.

"Hey, voice from the sky! What do I call you?" Tony demanded.

There was a staticky chuckle. "Call me Clint. Catch you tomorrow, gentlemen."

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/4610.html

So, it has come to this. (I can no longer hear that phrase without laughing.) When I first learned about omega-verse fic, there were just too many problematic aspects for me to understand the appeal. And then people kept on reccing things to me and now I do occasionally find the odd a/b/o story that's too good not to enjoy. There's a great primer here if you're interested. Keep in mind that any omega-verse fics are going to have inherent issues with dubious consent and power imbalance. Please, please, please mind the warnings on individual fics as some contain potentially triggering or otherwise upsetting elements. Here are some gateway fics in a few fandoms for your reading pleasure.

a light-handed approach to regulation by

hazel. Hockey RPF, Explicit, 34,000+ words, Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews. I absolutely love how

hazel used a largely apolitical character to tell a political story. It's like the fic-version of an insightful examination of gender roles and power dynamics. Pat's an unbonded alpha. Jonny's an unbonded omega. They're both still playing for the Blackhawks. Pat doesn't get why everybody's making it into a huge deal. Jonny's still the captain, the press are still assholes, and obviously our boys fall in love.

"I don't think you're weak," Patrick says.

Jonathan grimaces. "I don't think omegas are weak," he replies.

"I don't--" Patrick says.

Jonathan sighs. "we're taught to shut up," he says. "And to accept what we get given."

"Well, you're shit at all that," Patrick says on reflex, and the scent in the room lightens somehow.

Jonathan snorts. "Yeah," he says. "Always was. But, hey, you'd hate it if I stopped yelling at you."

"I really would," Patrick says, honest and sure, and Jonathan smiles for pretty much the first time all day.

Bring a Towel by

verity. Stargate: Atlantis, Explicit, 4,000+ words, Rodney/John, Ronon/Teyla/Kanaan. An interesting spin on the a/b/o dynamic within a military-industrial complex structure (with 'betas all the way up the chain of command') and across multiple cultures and galaxies. As with all great R/J fics, there's a lot of pining. Like, years of it.

"It's my childbearing hips," Ronon said, leaning forward against the railing.

"Ha," Rodney said. "Really?"

"No."

"I'm never having children," Rodney shuddered.

Ronon's voice did something Rodney had never heard before: it dipped low and got soft and kind of shy. "Teyla and I are going to have lots of kids," he said. "After we defeat the Wraith. Kanaan's building us a house on New Athos."

"Wow," Rodney managed. "That's, uh--that's great."

"Yeah," Ronon agreed, grinning. "I'm going to kill all those motherfuckers, and then we're gonna have ten kids."

"Well, it's great to have goals," Rodney said, trying to smile back and failing miserably.

Declared by

eight_demands. BBC Sherlock, Teen and Up, 18,000+ words, Sherlock & John, Sherlock/John, Mycroft/John, Mycroft/Lestrade. This is actually the first of a WIP series, though Declared is the true must-read. The world-building here is phenomenal, and the examination of the uneven power balance in an a/b/o society is thoughtful and more than a bit heart-breaking.

Sherlock snorted. "God, no. Our family takes great pride in its alpha image. I don't know what happens if a Holmes is born a beta. Probably driven from the house and excised from the family tree the first day the beta nature asserts itself."

"Lovely."

Sherlock looked at him crossly. "Despite whatever lines they're feeding you during these interviews, you should know that that is how all of the prominent families feel about anyone who isn't an alpha. They would never say so out loud--such a thing would be declasse in the extreme--but there it."

"It's surprising you would tolerate omegas in your ranks, then," John muttered, not trying to disguise his sarcasm.

Sherlock ignored it. "How else would we keep the family line going?"

have a mind to just let my whole body go by

verity. Teen Wolf, Explicit, 14,000+ words, past Jennifer/Derek, Derek/Stiles, Erica/Boyd. There are so many awesome aspects to this fic I don't really know where to begin. There's never enough Boyd & Erica in fics, so that was lovely. The midwifery angle was fantastic, especially incorporating the various magical creatures inherent to this 'werewolves are known' universe. Plus hothot omega/omega sex, which I haven't seen elsewhere.

"I'm sending a dude to you," Erica says when Stiles picks up the phone.

Normally, Erica texts stuff like, you serious about wanting pineapple on your half because that's ducking disgusting stilinski and fuck you autocorrect. In the entire time Stiles has known her, she has never once actually dialed his number. Eria is a child of the nineties; she does not use her phone for a phone.

"My body is ready?" Stiles says tentatively. He's in line at Starbucks, inching toward the cash register; it's the first day of pumpkin spice this fall, so the place is mobbed and out of pumpkin cream cheese muffins already.

Erica sighs. Professionally, asshole. I'm referring someone to you. His sister dragged him in today and he's really uncomfortable with chicks. Also, werewolf."

"Ah," Stiles says.

Hello, Heartbreaker by

ofalexandra. Teen Wolf, Explicit, 18,000+ words, Derek/Stiles. Incredibly angsty 'werewolves are known'/'holy shit everyone's a werewolf'/'uh-oh someone's got amnesia' AU. Seriously mind the warnings on this one. Derek and Stiles are fuckbuddies and both of them pine like champs.

Stiles hate this. He hates that he's been reduced to this brokenhearted mess of a cliche. It's a popular joke among Alphas: fuck an Omega, get heartbreak on your hands. Omegas are fragile little emotional things, needy and whiny. Stiles refuses to believe that, or to believe that he's anything like that.

Miss Morell doesn't say anything, letting the silence fill up the comfortable space between them, letting her warm, sympathetic hand cover his.

"I think," Stiles chokes out, fighting back the hot burn of not tears, not tears behind his eyelids, "I think I love him."

It's a bright, sunny day outside Miss Morell's office, brilliant and welcoming and shining

It's hateful.

Kick and We Circle Yet We Meet by Unloyal_Olio. Teen Wolf, Teen and Up and Explicit, 16,000+ words, Derek/Stiles. Kick is super-fluffy growing-up-in-love fic, We Circle Yet We Meet is more focused on everyone's place within society. Stiles and Lydia are omega rights activists who want to fight against the injustices of 'the man.' It's just hard for Stiles when that man is Derek and he's basically perfect.

"We haven't talked about it."

"I was trying to just now. You're moving away--possibly taking your life in the total opposite direction of mine--and it's freaking scary. It terrifies me." Stiles is talking to his knees.

Derek picks up his hand, "It shouldn't."

And Stiles's mouth tightens. "Right. Because once we have kids, I'll just stay at home anyway?"

"No, because you come first. I wouldn't be happy without you."

Stiles shoulders slump. "You always say exactly the right thing."

Derek doesn't know why Stiles sounds so sad about it.

Mix and Match by

jerakeen. Teen Wolf, Explicit, 6,000+ words, brief Stiles/OMC, Stiles/Derek. Stiles goes to the mixer looking to hook up. The freaky soulbonding is totally not on his to-do list.

Derek isn't smiling back, but Stiles doesn't take it personally. They say the bonding instinct is stronger with werewolves. Stiles can't even imagine what that would be like and how an alpha would resist that. Right now, he doesn't know if he can let go of Derek's hand and keep breathing. Tat one point of contact is what's keeping him sane.

It's hormones. Stiles knows this. He's studied the bonding process backwards and forwards. He knows that his brain is swimming in a soup of mating hormones right now. He knows why this makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. He knows that the bonding and mating of alphas and omegas led to to the intermingling and interbreeding of humans and werewolves, which saved both races from extinction. If nothing else, Stiles respects biology too much to dismiss the idea of bonding altogether. He just doesn't approve of what society has turned it into, and it's not like the world needs more babies.

Phoenix by Unloyal_Olio. Teen Wolf, Explicit, 9,000+ words, Stiles/Derek, mentions of Stiles/various OCs. This is a sort of royalty/historical AU as well as an omega-verse AU. There's war, identity-porn, Lydia being awesome, Stiles being the worst/best prince ever, the Argents being dicks, and tons of other things that make me happy in TW fic. Also, omegas are the ones who have control over knotting, if that's a thing you're into. Ahem.

She whispered wetly in his ear, "It was him, wasn't it?"

When Stiles didn't answer, Lydia didn't press his silence, and the next day they left behind the intimacy of the heat and were naught but friends.

Because they never learned his true name.

"Call me Ash," the man said to the bare well, "for ashes are all I have left."

It shouldn't matter anyway. It happened almost five years ago. Other omegas are widowed and they barely have to wait a year before they're receiving again. Stiles doesn't know why he...

Besides, Stiles wasn't even in heat when they had done it, when Ash had withdrawn with a gasp and a pained "no."

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/4421.html

Guillermo, you made the thoughtful action movie of my heart. Was Pacific Rim a perfect movie? Of course not. But it hit a lot of the big ones for me, and the world-building was excellent and ripe for fandom tinkering. (Oh, and if you haven't already, give the soundtrack/score a listen--it's become a go-to for me at the gym and on my commute.)

( i love everybody in this shatterdome )

"That, Herr Doktor, is the best fucking thing I've heard in the last ten minutes. It would be all day, but..."

"Saving the world does tend to eclipse other matters, yes. Come on, Newton." Hermann hooked two fingers in one of Newton's belt loops, gripped his cane, and proceeded to drag Newton through to his bedroom. Newton, meanwhile, nattered on as per usual.

"...I'm so glad we're on the same page her, man, I mean I have been thinking about this for like at least eight years, okay more like since the day I saw you but eight years ago it stopped being a hatefuck thing and became kind of a thing where i thought about like what pretty eyes you have and how I wanted to hold your hand and steal food off your plate and shock you with ice toes in bed and shit, I mean really perverse domestic shit, you know?"

All of Your Flaws and All of My Flaws by CinnamonCake. Mature, 5,000+ words, Newt & Hermann, Newt/Hermann. It's Newt and Hermann, unfiltered, from their first meeting till the Breach is closed.

Newton has always been an egotistical bastard most of his life, for reasons that feel petty now, but when Hermann looks at him with wide panicked eyes and says, "It's not going to work," he knows this is not the time for him to be himself. As they scramble out of he plan back on base, Newton really hopes he doesn't regret being selfless for once because that would really suck.

He doesn't cry when he sees the last of the living Kaiju die. He knows he should because there is much more he wants to know about them, wants to cut them up and look at them through the lens of a microscope and catalogue and breathe in all the knowledge but he doesn't. Because he'd miss it all anyways if he were dead. he's miss...a lot of things if he were dead.

All the Eastern Marks in Germany by

what_alchemy . Mature, 14,000+ words, Newt/Hermann. Although not mentioned in the film, Hermann is canonically married to someone named Vanessa. 'Nessa is Newt. Mind the warnings here, because holy wows transphobia and ableism, but it's handled deftly and with a great deal of compassion.

"You would not, of course, be the only models. We're looking for diversity. Your files came up in our searches, and you both fit demographics we are still missing."

Newton's brow furrows. "Two...nerdy...white dudes? What?"

Hermann scowls at Ms. Munoz before turning to Newton.

"I'm visibly disabled, you arse. And you--" His mouth snaps shut when he sees Newton's eyes go wide and disbelieving Hermann lurches back around, his cane a fulcrum, to pin Ms. Munoz with a quelling look. "You can't do this. You can't outhim, and I find the legality of approaching either of us on the basis of our minority status extremely dub, and I will thank you, madam, to leave us now before I can seek legal counsel on a discrimination suit."

He feels a hand on his shoulder, but it's gone as soon as he looks in Newton's direction. Newton is facing Ms. Munoz when he says, "I assume we'd be doing this clothed, and none of the models will be identified by their demographics."

Bear Your Neighbor's Burden Within Reason by callmejude. General Audiences, 6,000+ words, Newton/Hermann. Hermann's cane is broken, and due to rationing post K-Day it's going to take a while too replace it. Newton steps up to the challenge of assisting his lab partner. They maybe get a little more attached than predicted. There are a few moments where I cringed and thought 'urgh, ableism,' but they also read pretty true to Newt's level of obliviousness concerning, you know, anything vaguely resembling a social nicety. But head's up for that.

"What?" Newton asks after a moment, and Hermann realizes he's been staring.

"Did they hurt?"

Newton doesn't react exactly the way Hermann was expecting. The look on his face is suddenly drawn, and he shrugs. His eyes don't meet Hermann's when he mutters, "Nah.

Hermann can guess there's more to the situation, but he knows better than to ask. He nods. "They're very well done."

Like a light switch, Newton's face changes again, breaking into a grin. "You do like them."

"No," Hermann insists, but his face must betray him, because Newton is still grinning. "I find them horribly distasteful, but they're well done."

big teeth small kiss by

magneticwave. General Audiences, 7,000+ words, Raleigh/Mako, Newt/Hermann. College AU. I cannot accurately describe how fucking adorable this all us, though the GA rating should give you an idea how fluffy this is.

"He doesn't--you don't think he uses, like, feng shui or anything?"

As Raleigh has honestly never known a person less likely to be interested in improving the chi of his desk space, he says, "No, I don't think so," and the girl nods twice, sadly, and wanders off towards the stacks. Raleigh stares after her and then he shakes himself and plugs his headphones back in, trying to get back into the rhythm of comparing various Indo-European verb forms and mostly succeeding.

It seems like the kind of funny story Newt will want to add to his repertoire, so when Raleigh goes back to their room after dinner, he makes sure to say, "Hey, Newt, some girl asked me this morning if you feng shui your desk."

Hermann, neatly tucked into Newt's desk and scribbling on a stack of papers as thick as Raleigh's Latin-to-English dictionary, groans alm theatrically. "Another groupie?" he says. "Marvelous. Truly marvelous. I'm delighted."

...Confused, Raleigh says, "...Why would--you have groupies? And how do they know who I am?"

"Facebook," Newt guesses. "You have really shitty privacy settings, Raleigh. Like, ten minutes on that thing before we were friends and I knew your mother's maiden name and the names of your first five pets. You're a banking security system's worst nightmare."

it was grassy and wanted wear by achilleees. Mature, 4,000+ words, Raleigh/Chuck, AU-Groundhog Day. Chuck is dead. Chuck wakes up. It's the fandom's obligatory timeloop AU, and it pings all the best cliches.

"Look sharp, I can't have you slacking off right now," Stacker says, taking his place beside Chuck.

Chuck shrugs and knuckles his eyes. "Doesn't matter, sir. Just gonna do it all again tomorrow anyway."

Stacker furrows his brow at Chuck. "What?"

"Never mind, you'll see in a minute."

They activate the neural handshake. The drift is always deep, but this time, it threatens to swallow Chuck alive. When he comes back to himself, Stacker is staring at him.

"Well," Stacker says eventually. "You've had a long day, Hansen."

Chuck quirks his lips. "That's an understatement, sir.

riding the wave and build a house on a mountain by achilleees. Mature, 13,000+ words, Raleigh/Chuck, AU-Canon Divergence. Stories exploring what could've happened if Chuck had been injured instead of Herc. It's a gorgeous series: in-character, realistically bumpy and yet charming relationship development, and he perfection of our boys simultaneously failing and winning at communication. Plus the prose itself is damn-near flawless. build a house on a mountain strongly reminds me of the SGA A Farm in Iowa 'verse by

aesc and

sheafrotherdon, which is a very, very good thing.

"Well, hey there," Chuck says around a laugh. "You're happy to see me." But he hugs back just as tightly, caressing the back of Raleigh's neck with the pads of his fingers as he draws away.

When Chuck pulls back, he's got smears of grease on his army green t-shirt. "Shit, sorry 'bout at," Raleigh says.

"Eh, it all comes out in the wash," Chuck says.

Raleigh raises his eyebrows. "You've given too many interviews, man. Everything you say sounds like a sound bite now."

Chuck snorts. "Hell, whaddaya think I'm doing here? Just tryna get away from it all. Mako says you put up electric fences to keep out the reporters."

"The deer, actually," Raleigh corrects with a half-smile. "But it works for that too."

The Stretch and Pull of Disused Hearts by billiethepoet. Mature, 14,000+ words, pre-canon, Newt/Hermann. The cold of the Anchorage Shatterdome is adversely affecting Hermann's mobility. Newt tries to help him out by building him a hot yoga studio. Everyone misinterprets everything. They both pine like champs.

"This is perfect. Fucking perfect." Newt is incredibly pleased with himself, and not just for being himself this time.

Sweat drips down Newt's forearms and soaks the rolled up cuffs of his shirt. The room is blazing hot, way hotter than any room in Anchorage in the dead of winter has a right to be. But that is entirely the point. The humidity's a bit low, but newt is working on that. he has a couple humidifiers set up in the small space ready to pump out moist air at a moment's notice. it's just a bit too much for him right now. he has already sweated through the back of his shirt and his glasses are slipping down the bridge of his nose.

The time for humidifiers would come. he needs a couple more things first: a steady chair, some towels, another mat. he could make this work; he's going to make this work. Hermann will love it. Or hate. Probably hate it. Or maybe love it. He will love it, if Newt just talks him into it.

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/4280.html

My knowledge of Five-o canon is spotty at best. I’ve seen a handful of episodes and was, uh, less than impressed. But as we all know, sometimes the shittiest canons lead to incredibly rich fanworks (fix all the things destroyed by TPTB!) which is the case here. I’m sure there are some lovely gen works for H5O, but I haven’t read them. If you have, feel free to rec them in the comments, but what you’re getting here is all Steve/Danny. How am I supposed to resist the ridiculousness?( [REC]s ahead )

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/3665.html

King and Lionheart by thehoyden. Explicit, 56,000+ words. Canon Divergence, Marriage of Convenience, Evgeni Malkin/Sidney Crosby.

( if you got here by googling your name or the name of someone you know TURN AROUND )

If you like this story, here are some other stories by the same writer that I've enjoyed:

( more thehoyden recs )

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/1786.html

Firstly, a quick insta[REC]:

Beneath the Ever-Bending Sky by leupagus. Teen and Up, 37,000+ words. Rule 63!Bilbo/Thorin, Tauriel/Kili, various LotR canon pairings, implied Gimli/Legolas.

I have very little to (coherently) say about this story. Nearly everything 'Gus writes makes me laugh out loud, cringe, and verge on tears. This fic comes with: my beloved Alternate Universe-Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies tag, a pregnant Bilbo happily flouting what little she learns of courtly manners, dwarves and elves in love (the bits with Gimli and Legolas had me laughing so hard I spilled soda all over my desk), and the full ensemble from the films given their fair share of 'screen-time.' I recommend setting aside enough time to read the whole thing at once, as I found it a bit of a nail-biter.

"Thranduil's apparently as horrified as you are. The two of them come to visit me because she was ordered by her liege that she could only speak with Kili if she were chaperoned."

"Isn't she a thousand years old?"

"So speaks the dwarf who took a wife a hundred and fifty years his junior," Bilbo yawns. "But no, my dearest husband, you need not fear that in my final months of gestating the largest and most irritating children alive I have succumbed to the sexual wiles of an elf-maiden and agreed to run off with her to a tree house."

"A relief indeed," Thorin says.

In other news, I think the majority of Yuletide assignments went out today, and I'm psyched for mine! The fandom is one I've always wanted to write for, but haven't mustered the motivation to sit down and plot a story in. The 'Dear Yuletide' letter for my assignment was incredibly sweet and gave me the go-ahead to do whatever I want. Their only request was that any AU be canon AU, which should be easily doable *jinxes self* So. Yes. Quite thrilled.

This final bit is basically a reminder to tell this story to a few friends coming to town for the Blackhawks/Coyotes game next month.

( real-life nonsense )

Sometimes people are just incredibly nice. It's a refreshing change of pace.

Crossposts: http://taliahale.livejournal.com/1463.html

Suits is one of the rare shows I watch as it airs, mainly due to the long gaps between seasons. It's my not-so-secret shame that I also watch Teen Wolf during initial airing. *never claimed to have good taste* I was fairly disappointed with the overall series arc this summer, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had in this fandom. These recs are heavy on the AU, and all feature our boys as the main pairing.

( Suits [RECS] )