![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Yuletide Recs, Round Two
Dec. 31st, 2018 01:55 pmGetting this in right under the wire before reveals. Again, this is woefully insufficient--I've read a lot of absolutely amazing stories this year, and I'd like to get in a third recs post for them, though it will probably half to be after author reveals.
give your sleep a rest (The Exorcist TV). A gorgeous, warm bed-sharing story full of pining and hurt/comfort. Exactly what I wanted from this trope, and beautifully executed.
where our boundaries were thinnest (We Have Always Lived in the Castle). Stunningly good and in-character Merricat/Constance fic, 17k of obsession and codependency and magical thinking. May have been written by the ghost of Shirley Jackson.
Singing the theme to 'North by Northwest' (The Holiday). Cute, warm, funny Miles/Iris, post-movie.
some kind of happy ending and Cookies and Sympathy (Iron Fist), both sweet-but-not-schmaltzy looks at (especially) Ward post-season two, getting a little better day by day, achieving detentes and friendships.
i survive while falling apart at the seams (Sports Night). Perfectly IC bantery Casey/Dan first time fic, complete with Dan failing to make sense of his coffee machine. This was the perfect rush of nostalgia for me for one of my oldest perennial fandoms and ships.
the rain falling on the sunshine (The Secret Garden). Pitch-perfect, delicate look at Mary, Colin, and Dickon post-WWI--this takes on Dickon's PTSD with a light but devastating touch, and is beautifully bittersweet.
friends beside me on this road (A Simple Favor). Surprisingly emotional Emily/Stephanie, with all the possessiveness you could possibly ask for, and a twisty, complex Emily POV.
Who's got their hand in the oopsy jar? (A Simple Favor). This is exactly what I wanted after watching the movie: scorching hot porn--graveside fucking that takes advantage of Emily's jacket-with-no-blouse--written in pitch-perfect Stephanie voice.
Oranges & Lemons (The Terror). A beautifully written and exquisitely painful look at Crozier and Fitzjames almost becoming friends earlier in the expedition, except of course they don't. Some of my all-time favorite Crozier characterization here.
on rats and men (The Terror). An elegant, haunting, sympathetic look at Gibson, and one that's definitely enriched how I look at the character in canon. Great early Hickey/Gibson here as well.
The Last Temptation of James Fitzjames, or, An Occurrence on King William Island (The Terror). Heartbreaking, full of pining and illuminated backstory and unrequited love and what-might-have-beens. James, on his deathbed, drifting.
kiss the rod (The Terror). Hot, nightmarish AU Hickey/Crozier, with ghost/dream sex and gore and delirium. I love the AU premise, too--it's technically subordinate to the porn but haunting all on its own.
an ill-sheathed knife (The Terror). Possibly my favorite of the excellent batch of Hickey/Crozier fics. An AU that makes me fully buy the pairing as something genuinely emotional for them both, even if, in typical Hickey fashion, it eventually still ends in cannibalism and mutiny. Seriously, this is tender and perfectly characterized and, like all the Terror fics I read this Yuletide, written in prose that's so amazingly good I want to frame every sentence.
turn not thy back to the compass (The Terror). Mutiny-era Hickey/Goodsir, with Goodsir in a believable seethe of hatred and anger that unwillingly softens, over the course of the story, into the dispiriting understanding that Hickey is more man than monster. Lovely, and exactly to my sentiments on a moral level. Also tagged for Scurvy Blowjobs, which the world needs more of.
she holds a smile like someone would hold a crying child (Sharp Objects). Dark, gorgeously written Amma/Camille, incredibly fucked-up and true to canon while also adding the explicit incest we all knew was coming.
details of your devotions (Sharp Objects). Non-linear Amma POV, incredibly well-realized, and with a truly haunting bit about her mother teaching her the exact right way to smile.
Under a Moonlit Sky (Little House on the Prairie). The Almanzo/Laura wedding night fic I've always needed, but never thought anyone would be able to write with this superb a level of characterization and hotness. Awkward virgins fumbling their way into having good sex is one of my favorite things, and this is an unbelievably lovely example of it.
give your sleep a rest (The Exorcist TV). A gorgeous, warm bed-sharing story full of pining and hurt/comfort. Exactly what I wanted from this trope, and beautifully executed.
where our boundaries were thinnest (We Have Always Lived in the Castle). Stunningly good and in-character Merricat/Constance fic, 17k of obsession and codependency and magical thinking. May have been written by the ghost of Shirley Jackson.
Singing the theme to 'North by Northwest' (The Holiday). Cute, warm, funny Miles/Iris, post-movie.
some kind of happy ending and Cookies and Sympathy (Iron Fist), both sweet-but-not-schmaltzy looks at (especially) Ward post-season two, getting a little better day by day, achieving detentes and friendships.
i survive while falling apart at the seams (Sports Night). Perfectly IC bantery Casey/Dan first time fic, complete with Dan failing to make sense of his coffee machine. This was the perfect rush of nostalgia for me for one of my oldest perennial fandoms and ships.
the rain falling on the sunshine (The Secret Garden). Pitch-perfect, delicate look at Mary, Colin, and Dickon post-WWI--this takes on Dickon's PTSD with a light but devastating touch, and is beautifully bittersweet.
friends beside me on this road (A Simple Favor). Surprisingly emotional Emily/Stephanie, with all the possessiveness you could possibly ask for, and a twisty, complex Emily POV.
Who's got their hand in the oopsy jar? (A Simple Favor). This is exactly what I wanted after watching the movie: scorching hot porn--graveside fucking that takes advantage of Emily's jacket-with-no-blouse--written in pitch-perfect Stephanie voice.
Oranges & Lemons (The Terror). A beautifully written and exquisitely painful look at Crozier and Fitzjames almost becoming friends earlier in the expedition, except of course they don't. Some of my all-time favorite Crozier characterization here.
on rats and men (The Terror). An elegant, haunting, sympathetic look at Gibson, and one that's definitely enriched how I look at the character in canon. Great early Hickey/Gibson here as well.
The Last Temptation of James Fitzjames, or, An Occurrence on King William Island (The Terror). Heartbreaking, full of pining and illuminated backstory and unrequited love and what-might-have-beens. James, on his deathbed, drifting.
kiss the rod (The Terror). Hot, nightmarish AU Hickey/Crozier, with ghost/dream sex and gore and delirium. I love the AU premise, too--it's technically subordinate to the porn but haunting all on its own.
an ill-sheathed knife (The Terror). Possibly my favorite of the excellent batch of Hickey/Crozier fics. An AU that makes me fully buy the pairing as something genuinely emotional for them both, even if, in typical Hickey fashion, it eventually still ends in cannibalism and mutiny. Seriously, this is tender and perfectly characterized and, like all the Terror fics I read this Yuletide, written in prose that's so amazingly good I want to frame every sentence.
turn not thy back to the compass (The Terror). Mutiny-era Hickey/Goodsir, with Goodsir in a believable seethe of hatred and anger that unwillingly softens, over the course of the story, into the dispiriting understanding that Hickey is more man than monster. Lovely, and exactly to my sentiments on a moral level. Also tagged for Scurvy Blowjobs, which the world needs more of.
she holds a smile like someone would hold a crying child (Sharp Objects). Dark, gorgeously written Amma/Camille, incredibly fucked-up and true to canon while also adding the explicit incest we all knew was coming.
details of your devotions (Sharp Objects). Non-linear Amma POV, incredibly well-realized, and with a truly haunting bit about her mother teaching her the exact right way to smile.
Under a Moonlit Sky (Little House on the Prairie). The Almanzo/Laura wedding night fic I've always needed, but never thought anyone would be able to write with this superb a level of characterization and hotness. Awkward virgins fumbling their way into having good sex is one of my favorite things, and this is an unbelievably lovely example of it.