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jlhFor the first time I have finished nearly all of the Yuletide fic I wanted to read before the New Year reveal
Let's start the recs, as we should, with the three (!) fics I received as gifts:
True Blue (2163 words)
Fandom: Clueless (1995)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Dionne Davenport & Cher Horowitz
Characters: Cher Horowitz, Dionne Davenport
Additional Tags: Misses Clause Challenge, Canon - Book & Movie Combination, Flirting, Pillow Fights, Legally Blonde References
Summary: The night before college graduation, Cher and De have a sleepover. It's way existential. Or something.
Their conversation is so perfect! They contrast Cher's law school ambitions with Elle Woods! Couldn't be better.
Slow Hushed Touch (4384 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Melinda May/Skye
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Babbling, Bonding, Awkward Flirting, Rescue
Summary: "I know you're not a damsel in distress. Damsels can't keep up with me."
A big downside to all the AoS fic is that it feels exhausting, so I really want everyone to check this one out. It's everything you want a Melinda/Skye fic to be, like combat teaching that's more like flirting, and Melinda drawing some lines in the sand that Skye respects but still pushes back on. Seriously fantastic.
Ants (6322 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jessica Day & Cece Parekh
Characters: Jessica Day (New Girl), Cece Parekh
Additional Tags: Female Friendship, Backstory, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Sometimes the unhappiest beginnings make for the happiest of endings.
It's just—it is every single thing I wanted or dreamed of when I asked for Jess and Cece friendship fic. It's really funny, it's totally in tune with where the show is right now, it has all five of them perfectly in character, and even contains a reference to the Golden Girls. Just really so, so, so amazingly good.
One more above the cut because other than my gift fics, this is my favorite story of Yuletide this year:
My Boy Carved Coffins (5346 words)
Fandom: Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Ishmael/Queequeg, Ishmael/Tranquo, Ishmael/OMC, Ishmael/Sebastian/Pedro
Characters: Ishmael (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Queequeg (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Tranquo (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Sebastian (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Pedro (Moby Dick - Herman Melville)
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death
Summary: Ishmael copes with the aftermath of the wreck of the Pequod.
So perfectly Melvillian, with Ishmael carrying Queequeg's coffin around with him from ship to ship to ship, trying to find the homeland of his "husband." And the ending is perfection itself.
Beneath this first cut, one story each from Brick, Casablanca, Lord Peter Wimsey, Golden Girls, Jonny Quest, A League of Their Own, Nancy Drew, The Nanny, Singin' in the Rain and The Third Man
a strange day in may (2056 words)
Fandom: Brick (2005)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: The Brain/Brendan
Characters: The Brain (Brick), Brendan Frye
Summary: When Brain accidentally stumbles into the middle of a kidnapping scheme, he has no choice but to call in a favor.
The Brain was my favorite character in Brick and while all the Brain/Brendan that's come out since then has been a surprise, it's definitely not an unwelcome one. The writer captures the tricky, unnatural language and rhythms of the film so well here, and I love Brain and Brendan's differing feelings about college. I mean, the writer stole the title from an old-time radio serial, so we're in good hands.
Early Morning Rain (2035 words)
Fandom: Casablanca (1942)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Rick Blaine/Louis Renault
Characters: Rick Blaine, Louis Renault
Additional Tags: Trains, Rain, Post-Canon
Summary: Being left alone on a train platform in the rain once can cause enough pain for a lifetime. Twice might drive a man mad with heartache.
I am a big Rick/Louis shipper, though, and this is your standard awesome getting-to-Brazzaville fic, complete with Rick's Ilsa-haunted worries about being abandoned and anger at the people who will stare at two men just sitting together on a train. He insists on a sleeper for Louis' dignity but they end up using it for something else entirely.
Grey Spires (1323 words)
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Hilary Thorpe/Gerald Wimsey Viscount St George
Characters: Hilary Thorpe, Gerald Wimsey Viscount St George
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2013, oxford is scary, but that's what satellite views are for
Summary: Through the connivance of Uncle Peter, the Viscount St. George meets a fellow student at Oxford.
A completely adorable and charming first meeting for Hilary and St George, with the realization that Lord Peter is matchmaking and the agreement that there will be much mischief in their future.
A Domestic Affair (2875 words)
Fandom: Golden Girls
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Blanche Devereaux/Dorothy Zbornak, Blanche Devereaux/OMCs
Characters: Blanche Devereaux, Dorothy Zbornak, Rose Nylund, Sophia Petrillo
Additional Tags: Polyamory, Romantic Comedy, Humor, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Blanche's favorite thing about going on dates is telling Dorothy about them afterwards.
It's really kind of perfect, getting Blanche and Dorothy together without losing anything about who they are as people, never mind how Rose and Sophia's reasons for supporting this wholeheartedly are also very much them.
The Adventure of the Wayward Heart (3651 words)
Fandom: Jonny Quest
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Race Bannon/Benton Quest
Characters: Race Bannon, Benton Quest, Jonathan "Jonny" Quest, Bandit (Jonny Quest), Hadji
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2013
Summary: Race grinned at him, eyes crinkling and warm and Benton would swear there was a hint of pink across sharp cheekbones.
Mostly, Benton being kind of an idiot about what Race really wants and means, but he gets there eventually.
Not Words but Meanings (1086 words)
Fandom: A League of Their Own (1992)
Rating: Not Rated
Characters: Mae Mordabito, Doris Murphy
Summary: Mae Mordabito meets Doris Murphy in late September of 1942.
Obviously I'm down for the lady friends this year and these two were the most fun friends in the movie, weren't they? And why not a story about how this odd couple came to be BFFs—of course by bonding over baseball!
wrapped in red (6515 words)
Fandom: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Characters: Nancy Drew, Ned Nickerson
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Spies & Secret Agents, Undercover, Undercover Missions, First Meetings, Slow Build, Sexual Tension, Yuletide Treat
Summary: Modern AU/canon divergence: CIA operative Nancy Drew walks into a bar thinking this mission will be easy. It isn't.
Secretly awesome Ned Nickerson? YES PLEASE.
Something Good (861 words)
Fandom: The Nanny
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: C.C. Babcock/Niles
Characters: C.C. Babcock, Niles
Summary: She felt a sudden prickling at the back of her neck, a sensation that usually meant one of two things: a) she was being watched, or b) someone managed to slip itching powder down the collar of her jacket again. Either possibility pointed to the same man.
C.C. and Niles really DO have a Baroness Schraeder and Max Detweiler thing about them, don't they?
To The Stars (4026 words)
Fandom: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Lina Lamont
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Women Being Awesome, Science, rockets
Summary: Lina Lamont: Mad Scientist
I shouldn't have to say more than that summary to get you to read this story.
no time to choose when the truth must die (4214 words)
Fandom: The Third Man (1949)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Holly Martins/Harry Lime
Characters: Holly Martins, Harry Lime, Major Calloway
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Grief/Mourning, Past Character Death, Angst, Writing
Summary: After everything is said and done, Holly stays in Vienna and writes a novel no one will ever read.
This is so very much in keeping with the film, a story I didn't realize I wanted to see but am so glad exists.
Two-a-piece from Friends, Justified, Persuasion, and Runaways RPF (KStew/Dakota Fanning)
Between Spaces (1021 words)
Fandom: Friends
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Phoebe Buffay, Rachel Green, Monica Geller
Summary: Yarn, scrambled eggs, and an absence of snowballs. Rachel Green learns about being a grown-up. Set during the first season of Friends.
More lady friendship!
The One Where Joey Walks the Dog Through Mordor (1617 words)
Fandom: Friends, Mac & C.H.E.E.S.E.
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Chandler Bing & Joey Tribbiani, Joey Tribbiani & Sandwiches, Joey Tribbiani & Lesbians
Characters: Chandler Bing, Joey Tribbiani, Original Female Dog Character(s), C.H.E.E.S.E
Additional Tags: Crack, Joey is an internet meme, Of course the lesbians have a female dog, a lesbian soap opera more embarrassing than lip service, Joey likes weddings, Joey likes lesbians, Joey usually tweets about food
Summary: Reddit picked it up. So did 4Chan. At the age of 40, Joey Tribbiani had become a meme as he walked the dog through Mordor. Somehow in the spring of 2014 this resulted in Joey Tribbiani officiating at a number of lesbian weddings.
This story is so deeply weird and yet so clever that it has to be read and not described. I'm not one for the flashy concept Yuletide stories so this is not that, but something better, and the way that it loops back around to Joey and Chandler's friendship is beautiful.
Life In A Box (Is Better Than No Life At All) (6046 words)
Fandom: Justified
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Wynn Duffy, Mike (Justified), Boyd Crowder, Raylan Givens, Wynn Duffy's sister, Arnold Pinter, Jimmy (Justified)
Summary: Suffice to say, Mike has long known himself to be the kind of person who is capable of dealing with just about any uncertainty life throws his way, even if that includes a boss who speaks mostly in eyebrows and a job that's never just about being the driver.
I'm super intrigued by the entire Wynn Duffy and Mike thing, and the attachment to that RV, and this story provides that and so much more, in spades.
Carry Your Men, And Their Dead Too (3480 words)
Fandom: Justified
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Rachel Brooks, Tim Gutterson, Raylan Givens
Additional Tags: Poker, Locked In, Gunshot Wounds, Daddy Issues, Cameos
Summary: Rachel learns a few things playing poker with Raylan and Tim. None of them are particularly surprising.
We all want more Rachel in the show, but here's a little something to tide us over. The voices are absolutely perfect.
More Than Could Ever Be Said (1602 words)
Fandom: Persuasion - Jane Austen
Rating: Not Rated
Relationships: Anne Elliot/Frederick Wentworth
Characters: Frederick Wentworth
Summary: It would be both a folly and a sin to imagine himself any better than other men. And yet he has no hesitation in calling her the best of women.
There are a few fics about Anne and Wentworth this year, all worth reading, but this is the one that got to my heart.
And the Waves Clasp One Another (2065 words)
Fandom: Persuasion - Jane Austen
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Admiral Croft/Sophia Croft
Summary: Two days after their marriage, the new Mrs. Croft arrived in Greenwich.
Hurrah the Crofts! They're so lovely in the background of the book that it's nice to see them get their own moment in the spotlight.
wild-haired, in the red fire dark (2975 words)
Fandom: The Runaways (2010) RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Dakota Fanning/Kristen Stewart
Characters: Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart
Summary: The route is set: Los Angeles to Vegas, then Denver to Omaha to Chicago and New York. So of course the car breaks down in the Middle of Nowhere, Desert Hellscape, California.
I do love a road trip fic! Well, in this case, a road trip that doesn't go far and is interrupted by the entertainment media, but we still get plenty of banter between the ladies so that's all to the good. (The author chose not to warn, so it's unclear if Dakota is still underage here.)
loving you is cherry pie (4887 words)
Fandom: The Runaways (2010) RPF
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Relationships: Dakota Fanning/Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson/Kristen Stewart (past)
Characters: Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Joan Jett, Cherie Currie
Additional Tags: Pining, Teenagers, On Set, First Time, Romance
Summary: The thing is, Kristen often forgets just how young Dakota actually is.
And here's the clubbing-in-LA fic—less banter, more introspection, but no worse for that.
There are three stories about The Heat (plus one that's really a Gravity story) and really you should just read all of them because The Heat. I'm also reccing all four Frances Ha fics because the one that will speak to you is really more of a matter of personal taste/feelings than quality, as they are all really well done.
The Art of Stakeout (1353 words)
Fandom: The Heat (2013)
Rating: Not Rated
Relationships: Sarah Ashburn & Shannon Mullins
Characters: Sarah Ashburn, Shannon Mullins
Additional Tags: Stakeout, Women Being Awesome, #Yulechat Challenge, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Ashburn's first few stakeouts in Boston include the musical stylings of Meat Loaf, opinions on food cart cuisine, seedy motels, and exploitation of naive rookies.
Here, have Ashburn get used to Mullins on stakeout.
Or Should I Walk by Again (3361 words)
Fandom: The Heat (2013)
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Shannon Mullins/Sarah Ashburn
Characters: Shannon Mullins, Sarah Ashburn
Summary: Shannon said, "Get it together, Ashburn. You can say shit like 'jill off' but you can't handle a little flirting from a girl? You're even sadder than I thought, and I thought you were plenty sad."
Flirty banter, my favorite! Also a great sense of Boston-ness.
Brass in Pocket (7111 words)
Fandom: The Heat (2013)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Sarah Ashburn/Shannon Mullins
Characters: Sarah Ashburn, Shannon Mullins
Summary: Ashburn and Mullins from Thanksgiving til Christmas, featuring a holiday dinner, a condemned apartment, unexpected cohabitation, and unwise Christmas gifts.
Slightly more bickery banter here, about family and apartment collapses due to full sized pools in living rooms and cheeseburgers. The dialogue is fantastic.
Three Christmases with the Halladays (1737 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha (2012)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Frances Halladay/Sophie Levee
Characters: Frances Halladay, Sophie Levee
Summary: "I just, I, uh, I kind of thought we were dating.”
Sophie stared at her. Frances picked at a pimple on her chin. “Because of that time at the party?” Frances said. “When you wouldn’t kiss me.”
“You thought we were dating because I wouldn’t kiss you.”
Three times Sophie spent Christmas with the Halladays.
I really love the use of the Hallidays here, their good-natured leftie hippie quirkiness that makes Frances's own quirkiness feel earned, and that Sophie both would and really wouldn't fit neatly into.
Bookshelves (1062 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha (2012)
Rating: Not Rated
Characters: Frances Halladay, Sophie Levee
Summary: The first thing every new apartment needs is bookshelves.
Such a wonderful snapshot of an ordinary moment, much like the film, showing how they work so well together but are so very different.
the wine on our breath puts the love in our tongues (1470 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha (2012)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Frances Halladay & Sophie Levee, Frances Halladay & Benji
Characters: Frances Halladay, Sophie Levee, Benji, Lev - Character
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Christmas Party
Summary: Frances throws a Christmas party, albeit, in Sophie’s apartment.
I love the entire conceit of this, that Frances would want to have a party without anyplace to host it, and then feel resentful about the ways that it becomes Sophie's party.
you pulled me out of the dark (and now it's light) (1289 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Summary: Most of the time, Frances finds herself waiting by the phone, the way girls she used to know did in high school. Frances was never one of those girls back then.
Such wonderful, perfect little moments between them.
Four each for Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine
everyone says, this love will change you, and I ask, isn't that what love's supposed to do (4433 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt, Andy Dwyer/April Ludgate, Ben/some other people
Characters: Ben Wyatt, Ron Swanson, April Ludgate, Leslie Knope, Andy Dwyer
Additional Tags: Bisexuality, Queer Themes, Self-revelation through drinking, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Picnics, Bondage, No infidelity Doyle I promise
Summary: "Who hasn't had gay thoughts?" Well, exactly.
In which Ben has a realization, and then deals with it, and read the tags. It's really, really good.
In Spite of Herself (2140 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Andy Dwyer/April Ludgate
Characters: April Ludgate
Additional Tags: Teen Years, Misses Clause Challenge, POV Female Character
Summary: As much as she tries to deny it, April's life is actually pretty awesome.
April fic, with lovely insights into her past and her feelings about her present.
pawnee_finances_2010.xlsx (2635 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Andy Dwyer, Burt Macklin, Janet Snakehole, April Ludgate, Ben Wyatt, Batman, Chris Traeger
Additional Tags: Metafiction, Friendship, Superheroes, CIA, Unreliable Narrator, Implied Relationships
Summary: A document from the computer of Ben Wyatt, never meant for outside eyes, detailing the nighttime adventures of Batman, Burt Macklin, and Janet Snakehole.
So weird and so fantastic. Make sure you read the footnotes.
Subject: By the way, how often do you talk to Joe Biden? (1273 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation, Legally Blonde (2001)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Leslie Knope, Elle Woods
Additional Tags: Female Friendship, Political Campaigns, Epistolary, E-mail
Summary: Senator Elle Woods has been closely following a fellow blonde's campaign in Indiana, and she just has to ask her where she got that particularly chic blazer. And then they become friends!
Does what it says on the tin, and delightfully so.
a distinct lack of tutus (2879 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Rosa Diaz/Amy Santiago
Additional Tags: Undercover
Summary: "Sure, whatever," says Diaz. She slouches even further into today's leather jacket. "Women hit on me all the time. I know how to handle it."
For some reason there's a bunch of Rosa and Amy go undercover at a gay bar fic? This is the one I loved mostly because it's really funny. (I mean, it refers to One Direction as "those eleven-year-old English hipster urchins with all the hair" which I've decided to adopt for my own daily use.)
It's Ladies Night (and the Feeling's Right) (6984 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Rosa Diaz/Amy Santiago
Characters: Rosa Diaz, Amy Santiago, Jake Peralta, Ray Holt, Gina Linetti, Charles Boyle, Terry Jeffords, Scully (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Hitchcock (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Humor, Hypnotism, Kissing
Summary: There's a Hypnotist Bandit on the loose. Rosa and Amy take him down—but not without some misadventures.
More Amy/Rosa, this time on a super secret mission.
Secret Santiago (6793 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jake Peralta & Amy Santiago
Characters: Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz, Jake Peralta, Ray Holt, Gina Linetti, Charles Boyle, Hitchcock (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Scully (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Terry Jeffords
Additional Tags: Secret Santa, Gift Exchange, Christmas, Partnership, Crime Fighting, Humor, Yuletide Treat, Yuletide 2013
Summary: It's Secret Santa time at the Nine-Nine. Amy has the perfect gift for Holt—only she wasn't matched with him.
Hilarious, and everything you want it to be.
Bribery Will Get You Everywhere (2941 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Characters: Jake Peralta, Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz
Additional Tags: Christmas, Kissing, Meet the Family, Fake/Pretend Relationship, sort of
Summary: Jake gets bribed into visiting Santiago's family for Christmas. It's not bad, but don't tell anyone that.
I'm not really that into Jake/Amy, but this story is super adorable. Your standard visiting someone's family for Christmas, but with its own little spin on the trope.
For New Girl technically it's five fics with the one that I got as a gift, but here are the other four I also recommend.
Broken Cityscapes (2795 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jessica Day & Cece Parekh
Characters: Jessica Day (New Girl), Cece Parekh, Schmidt (New Girl)
Summary: A record of Cece and Jess’ friendship, from public restrooms to private rooftops.
Possibly should be labeled Jess/Cece, but it does have the F/F in there so I'm not going to quibble. If they came together, this is how it would happen.
In Each of the Places We Meet (5355 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Jessica Day/Nick Miller
Characters: Nick Miller, Jessica Day (New Girl)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, One Night Stands, Growing Up Together, Five Times
Summary: Four ways that Nick and Jess never got together, and one way they did.
And the four ways they didn't are lovely and touching little AUs of their own. Because of this it ends up being slightly more of a Nick-fic, but we need more of those anyway.
Of Things Not Yet Known (3648 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Cece Parekh/Schmidt (New Girl)
Characters: Schmidt (New Girl), Jessica Day (New Girl), Cece Parekh, Nick Miller
Summary: “How can I feel anything for you?” she asks. “I told you. I don’t know you.”
I have just enough Cece/Schmidt shipping in me to love this, and if you also are feeling a little ambivalent about Schmidt in the wake of his shenanigans, this is the fic to read. (Which is to say, it's more of a Schmidt-fic, really? I'm sensing a pattern here.)
Your brand is: Winston! (3762 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Winston Bishop/OMC, Winston Bishop & Nick Miller, Winston Bishop & Furguson
Characters: Winston Bishop, Nick Miller, Jessica Day, Schmidt, Cece, Coach (New Girl)
Additional Tags: Chromatic Yuletide, POV Character of Color, LGBTQ Character of Color, Christmas, Texting, Canon Character of Color
Summary: They don't know that we know that they know.
Winston fic! I'd probably have recommended it just on that basis but it's so touching and interesting and takes this turn you didn't see coming (but to be fair neither does Winston) that makes it lovely and real.
And finally, twelve more Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fics, including a little of everything.
In the Belly of the Bus (3254 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Maria Hill & Melinda May, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons
Characters: Leo Fitz, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Grant Ward, Melinda May, Maria Hill, Jemma Simmons
Additional Tags: Humor
Summary: A series of snapshots from the team's first few months together.
Possibly the most adorable team building fic going.
Like A Sail's Force Into The Night (2336 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Grant Ward, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Melinda May, Leo Fitz, Phil Coulson
Additional Tags: Phil Coulson and the Ducklings, Team Building, Ward is secretly Grumpy Cat
Summary: In which there is terrible coffee, board games, and team bonding.
How can you not love a fic in which Simmons mentally refers to Fitz as "a grumpy pile of boy." It's so dear without being too sweet, showing team building can be something relaxed and simple in the middle of the night.
Let's Start a War (Start a Nuclear War) (2585 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Natasha Romanov
Additional Tags: undercover in a gay bar, Cage Fights
Summary: Or: that time Skye and May went undercover in a gay bar.
Turns the "undercover in a gay bar" trope completely on its ear, in the best possible way.
Story Gets Bigger Every Year (1530 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Melinda May, Maria Hill, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Summary: "The cavalry's arrived."
A "history" of The Calvary, with Maria there nearly every step of the way.
Tunguska (2860 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Melinda May, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons
Summary: A trip to Siberia brings to light an 0-8-4, a nightmare and an unlikely new friendship
This isn't a combination you see often on the show and watching them interact and take care of each other, be a mini-team, is fascinating. And the resolution is deeply satisfying.
Yipee Ki-Yay (6187 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Melinda May & Jemma Simmons
Characters: Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Melinda May
Additional Tags: Scientists Being Badasses, Role Reversal, Melinda May is not a scientist, BAMF Ducklings, Heists
Summary: Jemma stared through the glass into the lab and tried not to panic. This wasn't the way these things went. There was an order to the way lab accidents proceeded, and normally at this stage -- the part with alarms going off and containment doors closing -- she and Fitz were on the other side, being locked into the lab with the potentially dangerous substance. It wasn't supposed to be Melinda May in there.
May-Fitz-Simmons are becoming my favorite mini-team! Here their roles are reversed, and they must help each other until they can all work together again.
Five Times When Fitz and Simmons Struggled to Communicate (And Once When it was Easy) (5119 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Jemma Simmons/Natasha Romanov
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz
Additional Tags: Friendship, Families of Choice, Dysfunctional Family
Summary: Science, ice-cream, near death experiences, hopeless crushes, gorgeous Russians and a monkey named Copernicus. And two best friends who love nerdy TV.
Succeeds because it portrays the moments when they weren't in sync, when they had to try to understand each other. My heart jumped so many times while reading this.
dot your t's and cross your i's (2160 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Melinda May, Leo Fitz
Summary: Three forms Jemma Simmons filled out for S.H.I.E.L.D., and one she hasn't (yet).
A wonderful look into Simmons and her motivations for making all these changes in her life.
Habits (1117 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2013
Summary: This is a scene-filler for the end of FZZT, where Fitz tries to figure out exactly what to do with himself while waiting for confirmation that his best friend is okay.
A lovely snapshot of Fitz, swirling around in his inability to actually do anything, not wanting to speak to anyone until he can speak to Jemma.
A little less conversation (1079 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Melinda May/Grant Ward
Characters: Melinda May, Grant Ward
Summary: AU ending to S1E5 - Girl in the Flower Dress. May & Ward drink more Scotch.
I wouldn't have thought I'd want to be in Ward's head, but Ward's reaction to Skye is so perfect, and the way he looks to May for an escape and then for a challenge. I like them together in canon, but this makes that even richer.
Knock Me Off My Feet (4214 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Relationships: Grant Ward/Original Female Character, Natasha Romanov/Grant Ward, Maria Hill/Grant Ward, Melinda May/Grant Ward
Summary: On the days when Grant feels like a total loser, Susan always manages to push him more, harder, to pound him into the mats until the day he finally, finally flips her. She smiles up at him, fierce and proud, before sweeping his feet and pinning him to the mat with one arm across his throat. “Good job, Ward,” she says before she lets him up. He sits on the bench for the rest of practice, hunched over his rock-hard dick, watching her take down one guy after another. She’s the first girl he ever falls in love with, or at least the first he knows he wants.
Some kind of oh-my-god-fantastic that makes so much sense and makes Ward make sense. Because of course he likes a lady who can put him in his place, and faced with her power he goes down easy.
A LEAP OF FAITH (or a scientific theory based upon historical evidence and eye witness testimony.) (2182 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Leo Fitz, FitzSimmons (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Additional Tags: Science
Summary: "Twas the night before December twenty fifth and all through the Airborne Mobile Command Station, not a SHIELD agent was stirring not even a-" How would you explain hundreds of years of eye witness testimony? Prove your scientific theory of course, which is exactly what Fitz is going to do (despite Simmons' skepticism) with Skye's help.
I have a soft spot for the whole satellite Santa tracking thing, and this fit the bill to a T.
I'm also posting these all on tumblr, each by each. Happy reading!
Let's start the recs, as we should, with the three (!) fics I received as gifts:
True Blue (2163 words)
Fandom: Clueless (1995)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Dionne Davenport & Cher Horowitz
Characters: Cher Horowitz, Dionne Davenport
Additional Tags: Misses Clause Challenge, Canon - Book & Movie Combination, Flirting, Pillow Fights, Legally Blonde References
Summary: The night before college graduation, Cher and De have a sleepover. It's way existential. Or something.
Their conversation is so perfect! They contrast Cher's law school ambitions with Elle Woods! Couldn't be better.
Slow Hushed Touch (4384 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Melinda May/Skye
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Babbling, Bonding, Awkward Flirting, Rescue
Summary: "I know you're not a damsel in distress. Damsels can't keep up with me."
A big downside to all the AoS fic is that it feels exhausting, so I really want everyone to check this one out. It's everything you want a Melinda/Skye fic to be, like combat teaching that's more like flirting, and Melinda drawing some lines in the sand that Skye respects but still pushes back on. Seriously fantastic.
Ants (6322 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jessica Day & Cece Parekh
Characters: Jessica Day (New Girl), Cece Parekh
Additional Tags: Female Friendship, Backstory, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Sometimes the unhappiest beginnings make for the happiest of endings.
It's just—it is every single thing I wanted or dreamed of when I asked for Jess and Cece friendship fic. It's really funny, it's totally in tune with where the show is right now, it has all five of them perfectly in character, and even contains a reference to the Golden Girls. Just really so, so, so amazingly good.
One more above the cut because other than my gift fics, this is my favorite story of Yuletide this year:
My Boy Carved Coffins (5346 words)
Fandom: Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Ishmael/Queequeg, Ishmael/Tranquo, Ishmael/OMC, Ishmael/Sebastian/Pedro
Characters: Ishmael (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Queequeg (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Tranquo (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Sebastian (Moby Dick - Herman Melville), Pedro (Moby Dick - Herman Melville)
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death
Summary: Ishmael copes with the aftermath of the wreck of the Pequod.
So perfectly Melvillian, with Ishmael carrying Queequeg's coffin around with him from ship to ship to ship, trying to find the homeland of his "husband." And the ending is perfection itself.
Beneath this first cut, one story each from Brick, Casablanca, Lord Peter Wimsey, Golden Girls, Jonny Quest, A League of Their Own, Nancy Drew, The Nanny, Singin' in the Rain and The Third Man
a strange day in may (2056 words)
Fandom: Brick (2005)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: The Brain/Brendan
Characters: The Brain (Brick), Brendan Frye
Summary: When Brain accidentally stumbles into the middle of a kidnapping scheme, he has no choice but to call in a favor.
The Brain was my favorite character in Brick and while all the Brain/Brendan that's come out since then has been a surprise, it's definitely not an unwelcome one. The writer captures the tricky, unnatural language and rhythms of the film so well here, and I love Brain and Brendan's differing feelings about college. I mean, the writer stole the title from an old-time radio serial, so we're in good hands.
Early Morning Rain (2035 words)
Fandom: Casablanca (1942)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Rick Blaine/Louis Renault
Characters: Rick Blaine, Louis Renault
Additional Tags: Trains, Rain, Post-Canon
Summary: Being left alone on a train platform in the rain once can cause enough pain for a lifetime. Twice might drive a man mad with heartache.
I am a big Rick/Louis shipper, though, and this is your standard awesome getting-to-Brazzaville fic, complete with Rick's Ilsa-haunted worries about being abandoned and anger at the people who will stare at two men just sitting together on a train. He insists on a sleeper for Louis' dignity but they end up using it for something else entirely.
Grey Spires (1323 words)
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Hilary Thorpe/Gerald Wimsey Viscount St George
Characters: Hilary Thorpe, Gerald Wimsey Viscount St George
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2013, oxford is scary, but that's what satellite views are for
Summary: Through the connivance of Uncle Peter, the Viscount St. George meets a fellow student at Oxford.
A completely adorable and charming first meeting for Hilary and St George, with the realization that Lord Peter is matchmaking and the agreement that there will be much mischief in their future.
A Domestic Affair (2875 words)
Fandom: Golden Girls
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Blanche Devereaux/Dorothy Zbornak, Blanche Devereaux/OMCs
Characters: Blanche Devereaux, Dorothy Zbornak, Rose Nylund, Sophia Petrillo
Additional Tags: Polyamory, Romantic Comedy, Humor, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Blanche's favorite thing about going on dates is telling Dorothy about them afterwards.
It's really kind of perfect, getting Blanche and Dorothy together without losing anything about who they are as people, never mind how Rose and Sophia's reasons for supporting this wholeheartedly are also very much them.
The Adventure of the Wayward Heart (3651 words)
Fandom: Jonny Quest
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Race Bannon/Benton Quest
Characters: Race Bannon, Benton Quest, Jonathan "Jonny" Quest, Bandit (Jonny Quest), Hadji
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2013
Summary: Race grinned at him, eyes crinkling and warm and Benton would swear there was a hint of pink across sharp cheekbones.
Mostly, Benton being kind of an idiot about what Race really wants and means, but he gets there eventually.
Not Words but Meanings (1086 words)
Fandom: A League of Their Own (1992)
Rating: Not Rated
Characters: Mae Mordabito, Doris Murphy
Summary: Mae Mordabito meets Doris Murphy in late September of 1942.
Obviously I'm down for the lady friends this year and these two were the most fun friends in the movie, weren't they? And why not a story about how this odd couple came to be BFFs—of course by bonding over baseball!
wrapped in red (6515 words)
Fandom: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Characters: Nancy Drew, Ned Nickerson
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Spies & Secret Agents, Undercover, Undercover Missions, First Meetings, Slow Build, Sexual Tension, Yuletide Treat
Summary: Modern AU/canon divergence: CIA operative Nancy Drew walks into a bar thinking this mission will be easy. It isn't.
Secretly awesome Ned Nickerson? YES PLEASE.
Something Good (861 words)
Fandom: The Nanny
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: C.C. Babcock/Niles
Characters: C.C. Babcock, Niles
Summary: She felt a sudden prickling at the back of her neck, a sensation that usually meant one of two things: a) she was being watched, or b) someone managed to slip itching powder down the collar of her jacket again. Either possibility pointed to the same man.
C.C. and Niles really DO have a Baroness Schraeder and Max Detweiler thing about them, don't they?
To The Stars (4026 words)
Fandom: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Lina Lamont
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Women Being Awesome, Science, rockets
Summary: Lina Lamont: Mad Scientist
I shouldn't have to say more than that summary to get you to read this story.
no time to choose when the truth must die (4214 words)
Fandom: The Third Man (1949)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Holly Martins/Harry Lime
Characters: Holly Martins, Harry Lime, Major Calloway
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Grief/Mourning, Past Character Death, Angst, Writing
Summary: After everything is said and done, Holly stays in Vienna and writes a novel no one will ever read.
This is so very much in keeping with the film, a story I didn't realize I wanted to see but am so glad exists.
Two-a-piece from Friends, Justified, Persuasion, and Runaways RPF (KStew/Dakota Fanning)
Between Spaces (1021 words)
Fandom: Friends
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Phoebe Buffay, Rachel Green, Monica Geller
Summary: Yarn, scrambled eggs, and an absence of snowballs. Rachel Green learns about being a grown-up. Set during the first season of Friends.
More lady friendship!
The One Where Joey Walks the Dog Through Mordor (1617 words)
Fandom: Friends, Mac & C.H.E.E.S.E.
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Chandler Bing & Joey Tribbiani, Joey Tribbiani & Sandwiches, Joey Tribbiani & Lesbians
Characters: Chandler Bing, Joey Tribbiani, Original Female Dog Character(s), C.H.E.E.S.E
Additional Tags: Crack, Joey is an internet meme, Of course the lesbians have a female dog, a lesbian soap opera more embarrassing than lip service, Joey likes weddings, Joey likes lesbians, Joey usually tweets about food
Summary: Reddit picked it up. So did 4Chan. At the age of 40, Joey Tribbiani had become a meme as he walked the dog through Mordor. Somehow in the spring of 2014 this resulted in Joey Tribbiani officiating at a number of lesbian weddings.
This story is so deeply weird and yet so clever that it has to be read and not described. I'm not one for the flashy concept Yuletide stories so this is not that, but something better, and the way that it loops back around to Joey and Chandler's friendship is beautiful.
Life In A Box (Is Better Than No Life At All) (6046 words)
Fandom: Justified
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Wynn Duffy, Mike (Justified), Boyd Crowder, Raylan Givens, Wynn Duffy's sister, Arnold Pinter, Jimmy (Justified)
Summary: Suffice to say, Mike has long known himself to be the kind of person who is capable of dealing with just about any uncertainty life throws his way, even if that includes a boss who speaks mostly in eyebrows and a job that's never just about being the driver.
I'm super intrigued by the entire Wynn Duffy and Mike thing, and the attachment to that RV, and this story provides that and so much more, in spades.
Carry Your Men, And Their Dead Too (3480 words)
Fandom: Justified
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Rachel Brooks, Tim Gutterson, Raylan Givens
Additional Tags: Poker, Locked In, Gunshot Wounds, Daddy Issues, Cameos
Summary: Rachel learns a few things playing poker with Raylan and Tim. None of them are particularly surprising.
We all want more Rachel in the show, but here's a little something to tide us over. The voices are absolutely perfect.
More Than Could Ever Be Said (1602 words)
Fandom: Persuasion - Jane Austen
Rating: Not Rated
Relationships: Anne Elliot/Frederick Wentworth
Characters: Frederick Wentworth
Summary: It would be both a folly and a sin to imagine himself any better than other men. And yet he has no hesitation in calling her the best of women.
There are a few fics about Anne and Wentworth this year, all worth reading, but this is the one that got to my heart.
And the Waves Clasp One Another (2065 words)
Fandom: Persuasion - Jane Austen
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Admiral Croft/Sophia Croft
Summary: Two days after their marriage, the new Mrs. Croft arrived in Greenwich.
Hurrah the Crofts! They're so lovely in the background of the book that it's nice to see them get their own moment in the spotlight.
wild-haired, in the red fire dark (2975 words)
Fandom: The Runaways (2010) RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Dakota Fanning/Kristen Stewart
Characters: Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart
Summary: The route is set: Los Angeles to Vegas, then Denver to Omaha to Chicago and New York. So of course the car breaks down in the Middle of Nowhere, Desert Hellscape, California.
I do love a road trip fic! Well, in this case, a road trip that doesn't go far and is interrupted by the entertainment media, but we still get plenty of banter between the ladies so that's all to the good. (The author chose not to warn, so it's unclear if Dakota is still underage here.)
loving you is cherry pie (4887 words)
Fandom: The Runaways (2010) RPF
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Relationships: Dakota Fanning/Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson/Kristen Stewart (past)
Characters: Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Joan Jett, Cherie Currie
Additional Tags: Pining, Teenagers, On Set, First Time, Romance
Summary: The thing is, Kristen often forgets just how young Dakota actually is.
And here's the clubbing-in-LA fic—less banter, more introspection, but no worse for that.
There are three stories about The Heat (plus one that's really a Gravity story) and really you should just read all of them because The Heat. I'm also reccing all four Frances Ha fics because the one that will speak to you is really more of a matter of personal taste/feelings than quality, as they are all really well done.
The Art of Stakeout (1353 words)
Fandom: The Heat (2013)
Rating: Not Rated
Relationships: Sarah Ashburn & Shannon Mullins
Characters: Sarah Ashburn, Shannon Mullins
Additional Tags: Stakeout, Women Being Awesome, #Yulechat Challenge, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Ashburn's first few stakeouts in Boston include the musical stylings of Meat Loaf, opinions on food cart cuisine, seedy motels, and exploitation of naive rookies.
Here, have Ashburn get used to Mullins on stakeout.
Or Should I Walk by Again (3361 words)
Fandom: The Heat (2013)
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Shannon Mullins/Sarah Ashburn
Characters: Shannon Mullins, Sarah Ashburn
Summary: Shannon said, "Get it together, Ashburn. You can say shit like 'jill off' but you can't handle a little flirting from a girl? You're even sadder than I thought, and I thought you were plenty sad."
Flirty banter, my favorite! Also a great sense of Boston-ness.
Brass in Pocket (7111 words)
Fandom: The Heat (2013)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Sarah Ashburn/Shannon Mullins
Characters: Sarah Ashburn, Shannon Mullins
Summary: Ashburn and Mullins from Thanksgiving til Christmas, featuring a holiday dinner, a condemned apartment, unexpected cohabitation, and unwise Christmas gifts.
Slightly more bickery banter here, about family and apartment collapses due to full sized pools in living rooms and cheeseburgers. The dialogue is fantastic.
Three Christmases with the Halladays (1737 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha (2012)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Frances Halladay/Sophie Levee
Characters: Frances Halladay, Sophie Levee
Summary: "I just, I, uh, I kind of thought we were dating.”
Sophie stared at her. Frances picked at a pimple on her chin. “Because of that time at the party?” Frances said. “When you wouldn’t kiss me.”
“You thought we were dating because I wouldn’t kiss you.”
Three times Sophie spent Christmas with the Halladays.
I really love the use of the Hallidays here, their good-natured leftie hippie quirkiness that makes Frances's own quirkiness feel earned, and that Sophie both would and really wouldn't fit neatly into.
Bookshelves (1062 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha (2012)
Rating: Not Rated
Characters: Frances Halladay, Sophie Levee
Summary: The first thing every new apartment needs is bookshelves.
Such a wonderful snapshot of an ordinary moment, much like the film, showing how they work so well together but are so very different.
the wine on our breath puts the love in our tongues (1470 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha (2012)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Frances Halladay & Sophie Levee, Frances Halladay & Benji
Characters: Frances Halladay, Sophie Levee, Benji, Lev - Character
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Christmas Party
Summary: Frances throws a Christmas party, albeit, in Sophie’s apartment.
I love the entire conceit of this, that Frances would want to have a party without anyplace to host it, and then feel resentful about the ways that it becomes Sophie's party.
you pulled me out of the dark (and now it's light) (1289 words)
Fandom: Frances Ha
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Summary: Most of the time, Frances finds herself waiting by the phone, the way girls she used to know did in high school. Frances was never one of those girls back then.
Such wonderful, perfect little moments between them.
Four each for Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine
everyone says, this love will change you, and I ask, isn't that what love's supposed to do (4433 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt, Andy Dwyer/April Ludgate, Ben/some other people
Characters: Ben Wyatt, Ron Swanson, April Ludgate, Leslie Knope, Andy Dwyer
Additional Tags: Bisexuality, Queer Themes, Self-revelation through drinking, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Picnics, Bondage, No infidelity Doyle I promise
Summary: "Who hasn't had gay thoughts?" Well, exactly.
In which Ben has a realization, and then deals with it, and read the tags. It's really, really good.
In Spite of Herself (2140 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Andy Dwyer/April Ludgate
Characters: April Ludgate
Additional Tags: Teen Years, Misses Clause Challenge, POV Female Character
Summary: As much as she tries to deny it, April's life is actually pretty awesome.
April fic, with lovely insights into her past and her feelings about her present.
pawnee_finances_2010.xlsx (2635 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Andy Dwyer, Burt Macklin, Janet Snakehole, April Ludgate, Ben Wyatt, Batman, Chris Traeger
Additional Tags: Metafiction, Friendship, Superheroes, CIA, Unreliable Narrator, Implied Relationships
Summary: A document from the computer of Ben Wyatt, never meant for outside eyes, detailing the nighttime adventures of Batman, Burt Macklin, and Janet Snakehole.
So weird and so fantastic. Make sure you read the footnotes.
Subject: By the way, how often do you talk to Joe Biden? (1273 words)
Fandom: Parks and Recreation, Legally Blonde (2001)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Leslie Knope, Elle Woods
Additional Tags: Female Friendship, Political Campaigns, Epistolary, E-mail
Summary: Senator Elle Woods has been closely following a fellow blonde's campaign in Indiana, and she just has to ask her where she got that particularly chic blazer. And then they become friends!
Does what it says on the tin, and delightfully so.
a distinct lack of tutus (2879 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Rosa Diaz/Amy Santiago
Additional Tags: Undercover
Summary: "Sure, whatever," says Diaz. She slouches even further into today's leather jacket. "Women hit on me all the time. I know how to handle it."
For some reason there's a bunch of Rosa and Amy go undercover at a gay bar fic? This is the one I loved mostly because it's really funny. (I mean, it refers to One Direction as "those eleven-year-old English hipster urchins with all the hair" which I've decided to adopt for my own daily use.)
It's Ladies Night (and the Feeling's Right) (6984 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Rosa Diaz/Amy Santiago
Characters: Rosa Diaz, Amy Santiago, Jake Peralta, Ray Holt, Gina Linetti, Charles Boyle, Terry Jeffords, Scully (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Hitchcock (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Humor, Hypnotism, Kissing
Summary: There's a Hypnotist Bandit on the loose. Rosa and Amy take him down—but not without some misadventures.
More Amy/Rosa, this time on a super secret mission.
Secret Santiago (6793 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jake Peralta & Amy Santiago
Characters: Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz, Jake Peralta, Ray Holt, Gina Linetti, Charles Boyle, Hitchcock (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Scully (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Terry Jeffords
Additional Tags: Secret Santa, Gift Exchange, Christmas, Partnership, Crime Fighting, Humor, Yuletide Treat, Yuletide 2013
Summary: It's Secret Santa time at the Nine-Nine. Amy has the perfect gift for Holt—only she wasn't matched with him.
Hilarious, and everything you want it to be.
Bribery Will Get You Everywhere (2941 words)
Fandom: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Characters: Jake Peralta, Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz
Additional Tags: Christmas, Kissing, Meet the Family, Fake/Pretend Relationship, sort of
Summary: Jake gets bribed into visiting Santiago's family for Christmas. It's not bad, but don't tell anyone that.
I'm not really that into Jake/Amy, but this story is super adorable. Your standard visiting someone's family for Christmas, but with its own little spin on the trope.
For New Girl technically it's five fics with the one that I got as a gift, but here are the other four I also recommend.
Broken Cityscapes (2795 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Jessica Day & Cece Parekh
Characters: Jessica Day (New Girl), Cece Parekh, Schmidt (New Girl)
Summary: A record of Cece and Jess’ friendship, from public restrooms to private rooftops.
Possibly should be labeled Jess/Cece, but it does have the F/F in there so I'm not going to quibble. If they came together, this is how it would happen.
In Each of the Places We Meet (5355 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Jessica Day/Nick Miller
Characters: Nick Miller, Jessica Day (New Girl)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, One Night Stands, Growing Up Together, Five Times
Summary: Four ways that Nick and Jess never got together, and one way they did.
And the four ways they didn't are lovely and touching little AUs of their own. Because of this it ends up being slightly more of a Nick-fic, but we need more of those anyway.
Of Things Not Yet Known (3648 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Cece Parekh/Schmidt (New Girl)
Characters: Schmidt (New Girl), Jessica Day (New Girl), Cece Parekh, Nick Miller
Summary: “How can I feel anything for you?” she asks. “I told you. I don’t know you.”
I have just enough Cece/Schmidt shipping in me to love this, and if you also are feeling a little ambivalent about Schmidt in the wake of his shenanigans, this is the fic to read. (Which is to say, it's more of a Schmidt-fic, really? I'm sensing a pattern here.)
Your brand is: Winston! (3762 words)
Fandom: New Girl
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Winston Bishop/OMC, Winston Bishop & Nick Miller, Winston Bishop & Furguson
Characters: Winston Bishop, Nick Miller, Jessica Day, Schmidt, Cece, Coach (New Girl)
Additional Tags: Chromatic Yuletide, POV Character of Color, LGBTQ Character of Color, Christmas, Texting, Canon Character of Color
Summary: They don't know that we know that they know.
Winston fic! I'd probably have recommended it just on that basis but it's so touching and interesting and takes this turn you didn't see coming (but to be fair neither does Winston) that makes it lovely and real.
And finally, twelve more Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fics, including a little of everything.
In the Belly of the Bus (3254 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Maria Hill & Melinda May, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons
Characters: Leo Fitz, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Grant Ward, Melinda May, Maria Hill, Jemma Simmons
Additional Tags: Humor
Summary: A series of snapshots from the team's first few months together.
Possibly the most adorable team building fic going.
Like A Sail's Force Into The Night (2336 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Grant Ward, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Melinda May, Leo Fitz, Phil Coulson
Additional Tags: Phil Coulson and the Ducklings, Team Building, Ward is secretly Grumpy Cat
Summary: In which there is terrible coffee, board games, and team bonding.
How can you not love a fic in which Simmons mentally refers to Fitz as "a grumpy pile of boy." It's so dear without being too sweet, showing team building can be something relaxed and simple in the middle of the night.
Let's Start a War (Start a Nuclear War) (2585 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Natasha Romanov
Additional Tags: undercover in a gay bar, Cage Fights
Summary: Or: that time Skye and May went undercover in a gay bar.
Turns the "undercover in a gay bar" trope completely on its ear, in the best possible way.
Story Gets Bigger Every Year (1530 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Melinda May, Maria Hill, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Summary: "The cavalry's arrived."
A "history" of The Calvary, with Maria there nearly every step of the way.
Tunguska (2860 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Melinda May, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons
Summary: A trip to Siberia brings to light an 0-8-4, a nightmare and an unlikely new friendship
This isn't a combination you see often on the show and watching them interact and take care of each other, be a mini-team, is fascinating. And the resolution is deeply satisfying.
Yipee Ki-Yay (6187 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Melinda May & Jemma Simmons
Characters: Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Melinda May
Additional Tags: Scientists Being Badasses, Role Reversal, Melinda May is not a scientist, BAMF Ducklings, Heists
Summary: Jemma stared through the glass into the lab and tried not to panic. This wasn't the way these things went. There was an order to the way lab accidents proceeded, and normally at this stage -- the part with alarms going off and containment doors closing -- she and Fitz were on the other side, being locked into the lab with the potentially dangerous substance. It wasn't supposed to be Melinda May in there.
May-Fitz-Simmons are becoming my favorite mini-team! Here their roles are reversed, and they must help each other until they can all work together again.
Five Times When Fitz and Simmons Struggled to Communicate (And Once When it was Easy) (5119 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Jemma Simmons/Natasha Romanov
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz
Additional Tags: Friendship, Families of Choice, Dysfunctional Family
Summary: Science, ice-cream, near death experiences, hopeless crushes, gorgeous Russians and a monkey named Copernicus. And two best friends who love nerdy TV.
Succeeds because it portrays the moments when they weren't in sync, when they had to try to understand each other. My heart jumped so many times while reading this.
dot your t's and cross your i's (2160 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Melinda May, Leo Fitz
Summary: Three forms Jemma Simmons filled out for S.H.I.E.L.D., and one she hasn't (yet).
A wonderful look into Simmons and her motivations for making all these changes in her life.
Habits (1117 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2013
Summary: This is a scene-filler for the end of FZZT, where Fitz tries to figure out exactly what to do with himself while waiting for confirmation that his best friend is okay.
A lovely snapshot of Fitz, swirling around in his inability to actually do anything, not wanting to speak to anyone until he can speak to Jemma.
A little less conversation (1079 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Melinda May/Grant Ward
Characters: Melinda May, Grant Ward
Summary: AU ending to S1E5 - Girl in the Flower Dress. May & Ward drink more Scotch.
I wouldn't have thought I'd want to be in Ward's head, but Ward's reaction to Skye is so perfect, and the way he looks to May for an escape and then for a challenge. I like them together in canon, but this makes that even richer.
Knock Me Off My Feet (4214 words)
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Relationships: Grant Ward/Original Female Character, Natasha Romanov/Grant Ward, Maria Hill/Grant Ward, Melinda May/Grant Ward
Summary: On the days when Grant feels like a total loser, Susan always manages to push him more, harder, to pound him into the mats until the day he finally, finally flips her. She smiles up at him, fierce and proud, before sweeping his feet and pinning him to the mat with one arm across his throat. “Good job, Ward,” she says before she lets him up. He sits on the bench for the rest of practice, hunched over his rock-hard dick, watching her take down one guy after another. She’s the first girl he ever falls in love with, or at least the first he knows he wants.
Some kind of oh-my-god-fantastic that makes so much sense and makes Ward make sense. Because of course he likes a lady who can put him in his place, and faced with her power he goes down easy.
A LEAP OF FAITH (or a scientific theory based upon historical evidence and eye witness testimony.) (2182 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Characters: Jemma Simmons, Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Leo Fitz, FitzSimmons (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Additional Tags: Science
Summary: "Twas the night before December twenty fifth and all through the Airborne Mobile Command Station, not a SHIELD agent was stirring not even a-" How would you explain hundreds of years of eye witness testimony? Prove your scientific theory of course, which is exactly what Fitz is going to do (despite Simmons' skepticism) with Skye's help.
I have a soft spot for the whole satellite Santa tracking thing, and this fit the bill to a T.
I'm also posting these all on tumblr, each by each. Happy reading!
