read what we tell you.

So once upon a time I said I was going to give this comm a bit of a reboot, and then I got promoted at work and forgot the internet existed for awhile. Sorry about that. >.>;;; Anyway, I've really been missing having a place to share fic recs, and to get recs from other people, so I figured rather than try to do something elaborate and ceremonial to restart the posting I'd just jump in and throw a few fics your collective way. Then we can sort out who's still paying attention to this, who's still interested in posting, and all that jazz. So here we go!

Fandom : X-Men First Class
Title : fear death by water
Author : anonymous
Rating : hard R / NC-17
Characters & Pairings : Charles Xavier / Erik Lensherr
Length : short-to-medium
Warnings : none
Summary : One of Hank's experiments goes wrong, and Charles and Erik suffer the consequences. (aka, X-Men meets sex pollen.)
My Rave Review :
So I'm pretty sure that Xavier/Magneto was actually my first slash ship, as a kid not knowing what slash or shipping was, just knowing that these two were definitely in love. So the whole XMFC thing has been great for me to kind of get to see that relationship come to life (and dear god do McAvoy and Fassbender do a fantastic job of it). But anyway-- a lot of what's to love in this ship is the angst, and this fic ratchets it up to eleven. It's not easy to do a tropey fic like this and still make it feel epic and also, you know, contain character development, but whoever this anon is has done just that. This is gorgeously written and just drenched in that rip-your-heart-out kind of angst. So delicious. XD

Fandom : Game of Thrones
Title : your eyes were december when you had june in your heart
Author : marycontraire
Rating : PG
Characters & Pairings : Jon Snow, Robb Stark, slightly shippy if you squint.
Length : medium
Warnings : none
Summary : Missing scene from 1x01; after Robb takes Arya to bed, he brings Jon a drink.
My Rave Review :
Okay I'll admit it, I ship it. I shipped it before the show ever came out. This isn't shippy though, not really, not unless you're looking for the undertones, so if you don't ship it you don't have to see it that way. And it's a really wonderfully written scene, too. Part of what I love about the relationship between Jon and Robb, whether it's shippy or not, is the tension. They're close, but there's always a strain, and neither of them likes it or knows what to do with it. And this fic kind of sums it all up really neatly. Also I got a big lol out of Theon being the horse's ass that he is.

Fandom : The Eagle
Title : The Blood Knows the Path
Author : linaerys
Rating : mature
Characters & Pairings : Marcus/Esca
Length : ~9k
Warnings : none
Summary : Esca is a bad slave.
My Rave Review :
This starts out filling in the gaps in the first half of the movie, then moves through the end of the movie and beyond. It's about the destiny and honor and oaths binding Marcus and Esca together, and Esca's curiosity in assuming the gods have brought them together for a reason is quite compelling. I love especially the scene where the seal prince has his knife to Marcus's throat. "If the prince cuts Marcus’s throat then Esca will stay here. He has done what he can, shown his power over Marcus, but it is in the hands of the gods now." and then "The prince and Marcus’s life stood evenly balanced for a moment, but now the gods have favored Marcus, and it is the Seal Prince whose death is coming for him. Esca feels the change in the wind." Gorgeously written and definitely one I love to reread.

Fandom : White Collar
Title : Third Date
Author : lightgetsin
Rating : explicit
Characters & Pairings : Neal/El, Peter/El, Neal/Peter/El implied
Length : ~3700
Warnings : none
Summary : Peter doesn't want to start a relationship with Neal until after the anklet comes off, but that doesn't mean El has to wait.
My Rave Review :
El came down at seven fifteen looking like a million bucks in a blue and gold dress with her hair up in a complicated twist thing. Peter was ninety percent sure the dress was new, but there was that lingering ten percent uncertainty, so he stuck with a safely neutral, "you look great." This fic is AMAZING. This is Peter's side of Neal and El's first time together, and it is simply brilliant. His state of mind while he's at home waiting, and everything that happens after she comes home... it's beautiful and perfectly written. This is one of the best fics I've read in this fandom, hands down.


...and with that i bid you all adieu, good night, etc. i'm off to dream of fassbender. 8D

Fandom : merlin (bbc)
Title : three tasks
Author : syllic
Rating : teen
Characters & Pairings : arthur/merlin. season 1 uther, gaius, morgana, and gwen feature heavily, as well as various suitors.
Length : 30,600
Warnings : none
Summary : Arthur is the Royal Arbiter for Suitable Suitors' Disputes. He (and his trusty companion, the golden-dragon-tasselled hat) alone can determine who is fit to woo royal servants and other assorted courtiers in Uther's court.
My Rave Review : naive manservants, doltish princes, dashing adventures! arthur is the hbic of dealing with the complicated love lives of camelot's court, making sure that an incident like the one involving the goat is never repeated again. okay, i was trying to start this off by saying the premise isn't as cracky as the summary would have you believe, that instead, the fic is darling, this fic is sweet, the fic is everything i want in a courtship fic because the whole premise is courtship and this fic made me realize that i wanted a courtship fic, a want i didn't know i had.

this fic also has morgana and gwen being girly friends at the window, uther being a good father (even when he's not there!), and gaius's eyebrows of doom. and i love especially that there's a good amount of pining done. there's also so much heart in this fic, it's breathtaking. for example, arthur's speech as he finishes an arbitration, which stuck in my head for the last, what, two years? since i've read it:

“We are all fools for love. And when we love truly, nothing seems too foolish to us, for we are convinced that all foolish things done in the name of love are anything but foolish.[...] And though we may see, with hindsight, that a foolish thing would not have been so terrible to do after all, when we are ready to love fully, we know at once that we will do what is necessary for the people we love, no matter how foolish, not because we can but because we must."

fists in the air, hearts for eyes, seal-clapping, all that.

So it seems it's time for a bit of a revamp here, eh? :)

I've spent the past couple months in real life limbo/hell and am just coming out of it with a few new fandom obsessions and a raring desire to rec things. I hope all of your summers were awesome and that you, too, have some new and exciting recs to share (because damn, after the past few months I could use a stockpile of new reading material, lol).

Basically the purpose of this post is to do a bit of a reboot. I'd like to reshuffle this community and make sure everyone is getting the maximum ease and use out of it. So if you still like the idea of being able to contribute to the comm, please leave a comment here stating so, as well as any updated fandoms you'd like to be listed as a reccer of, and anything I can do to make reccing easier for you (an easier format for posting, better tags, etc, whatever you think of).

I'll leave this open to comments for two weeks (until September 20th) and comments are screened so go ahead and tell me anything you like. :)

♥ emily

. . . and the first theme month here at theflophouse! Thanks to everyone who filled out the poll, and for everyone who didn't, we'll probably do another theme in a couple months, so there'll be voting on that then. :) Anyway, with no more ado:

School's Out : A Month of Vacation Fics at the Flophouse

It's the start of summer, and I can't think of a more fitting way to ring it in than with a slew of fics about kicking back, letting go, and getting away from it all. So rec your favorite fics about road trips, shore leave, summer vacation, spring break, Easter hols, Christmas on the Continent, a weekend in the Hamptons-- if it involves vacation, getaways or otherwise leaving behind the grind of daily life, it's in.

The template is still the same, but use the "theme: vacation" tag when you post, and at the end of the month we'll have a master list of everything that gets recced. Regular recs are still allowed throughout the month, of course; just don't put the theme tag on unless it applies. :)

A note, also; igrockspock noted the verbosity of reviews here is a little intimidating, which I totally understand. I blather, I can't help it. XD But please don't hold off reccing something because you only want to write a sentence or two about why you liked it. Any review is a good review, no matter how long. The comm is here for us to air our loves, and I'm dying to see recs from more of you. :"D The format is just to make it consistent, not to make you guys feel boxed in. And in the same vein, if there's something I or the comm could be doing different to enable or encourage more of you to post more often, drop me a comment.

love you guys and looking forward to your vacation recs. ♥!

so i've been thinking lately about this comm, and how it might be cool to get us all posting stuff by having a theme month every now and then. it wouldn't be restrictive (as in, you could still post recs of whatever you want, whenever you want) but a theme might be a cool way to dig up some recs we might not otherwise have thought of posting.

so, with that in mind, i bring you a poll. :D



looking forward to your thoughts. <3

because it's hump day, and the internet is for porn.

Fandom : Firefly
Title : Hypothesis
Author : recrudescence & nakeno @ AO3
Rating : explicit
Characters & Pairings : Jayne/Simon, Mal
Length : ~8K
Warnings : none
Summary : He'll pull Jayne aside later on, give him a very concerned piece of his mind for dragging not just a crew member but a fugitive into bed with him. The man's been known to think with body parts considerably lower than his brain plenty of times in the past, but this is something else.

( Collapse )

Fandom : Star Trek XI
Title : Down in the Jungle Room
Author : rubynye
Rating : explicit
Characters & Pairings : McCoy/always-a-girl!Chekov
Length : medium
Warnings : sex pollen, which might count as dubcon?
Summary : McCoy. Girl!Chekov. Sex pollen. Why haven't you clicked yet?

( Collapse )

Fandom : Harry Potter
Title : the ones who were taught petrov's defense
Author : two_if_by_sea
Rating : G
Characters & Pairings : Ensemble
Length : ~1.5K words
Warnings : None
Summary : Things are just like they used to be.
My Rave Review :

I'm not one of those who associate themselves with Slytherin House in the Harry Potter fandom; I figure I'm a Ravenclaw through and through. However, there is one aspect where I really felt like the last couple of the books in the series were lacking: for all the emphasis that was laid on the necessity of interhouse unity at Hogwarts, Slytherin was almost entirely villified and left on the outside as the House of Bad People. I've never thought this was fair; I wouldn't have wanted to be sorted into Slytherin on account of my ambition and cunning and to have ended up branded a Voldemort-supporter for the rest of my life.

So this fic was an awesome read for me. It explores life at Hogwarts for Slytherins beyond 1997, beyond the final book in the series, how the rebuilding of the house occurs, how they ended up forced into that proscribed role in the first place. It's thoughtful, almost as much meta as it is fic, and it's well-written enough to give me chills.

Here is a snippet for you:

In 1998, only a handful of Slytherin students come back: one second year, one third year, and a few fifth years determined to get their O.W.L.s, come hell, high water, or school-wide distaste and discrimination. Astoria and Graham, being the oldest students in the house, automatically become prefects. They're the only two from Slytherin. There aren't enough Slytherins for more.

Throughout the year, Hermione chivvies all the Gryffindor prefects to make extra efforts towards school unity, but it's hard when there aren't even enough Slytherins to form a Quidditch Team and for the first time in modern Hogwarts History, the Quidditch Cup isn't converted into house points.

None of this is very surprising. The Wizengamot trials of the Death Eaters were covered with an unhealthy relish by the Daily Prophet: full court transcripts included as inserts, photo essays of their lives in Azkaban, endless opinion pieces from noted members of the magical community weighing in on the severity of individual sentences. Simply put, there aren't that many Slytherin pureblood families left in England who could even send their children back to school. The Parkinsons had moved to Italy with the Zabinis before all the causalities of the Battle of Hogwarts were even buried. The Baddocks send Malcolm to Durmstrang.

As for the rest, almost overnight, there's a revival of the home tutor market for pureblood families.

Enjoy this read.

Fandom : Iron Man
Title : dust is gonna settle
Author : gabby_silang
Rating : M
Characters & Pairings : Maria/Howard Stark
Length : ~4K words
Warnings : As the author says, it's rated for "sexual content between people of rather different ages" - Maria is 16, Howard is much older.
Summary : Her father still isn't home. Her mother is dead, but Maria has her scarlet red lipstick, and her dark, clever eyes. She's made herself a ham and cucumber sandwich; she lies on her bed and takes small bites upside-down, the fission book splayed open across her stomach. She considers the life of the spy Howard thinks she is.
My Rave Review :

One of the things that has most intrigued me about the Iron Man movieverse are the little snippets we get of Tony's parents' story. Just like in the comicverse, Howard is hugely important in terms of the scientific/engineering history of the Marvel universe - he's the founder of Stark Industries, participant in the Manhattan Project, prolific inventor - and in the sequel John Slattery acted the hell out of his little snippet of a scene and ensured that I'd love him to death.

However, we know virtually nothing about Tony's mother, Maria. This story fills in that gaping hole in the history of the Stark family in an inventive, clever way. Here, Maria is the young daughter of one of Howard's co-scientists on the Manhattan Project; she meets Howard when they are both living at Los Alamos, and a romance between them blossoms. It's not a typical love story, but it's sharp-edged and dark and  fascinatingly drawn, and fraught with the tensions of those days at Los Alamos. Take a look:

"What's all this reading up on chemical engineering, then? Most young ladies don't innocently dabble like that." She opens her mouth but he plunges on, even louder. "Building anything yet? Your old man's so busy, you know, he asked me to keep an eye on you."

And she realizes he's laying groundwork. And she wants to crawl into his lap and bite his lip, kiss his eyelids. She wants to give him something in return. She slides her leg against his like it's an accident.

"I'll tell you all my plans," she says, and he looks at her like he sincerely wants to know them.

This is another one of those stories that has snuck its way into my personal canon. Maria is so fierce and smart, and Howard is so dead-on from what we know of him in canon. It's clear to see, from this story, how Tony is the culmination of their intellect. He is very much his father's son - and his mother's.

Fandom : The Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner
Title : The Landscape After Cruelty
Author : elanne
Rating : G
Characters & Pairings : Eugenides/Attolia
Length : ~2k words
Warnings : None
Summary : A story, say the people, of the god Eugenides, how he came down from the mountains – not in a blaze of flames, but with an outstretched hand.
My Rave Review :

Oh, God, this fic. So, the fact of the matter is, I adore Eugenides and Attolia together; I first read the books back in middle school and while I was horrified by the opening events of The Queen of Attolia (which I won't spoil for you if you haven't read the books), Megan Whalen Turner is frankly a master at building unconventional romances and Gen and Attolia? They're one of the greatest love stories of all time. (No, seriously.)

This fic is a tribute to that relationship. It doesn't shy away from their bloody and fraught history, or the flaws of the characters; it embraces all of that and in so doing weaves a story in which Eugenides and Attolia start to heal, begin to overcome their past and face the future together. It's also got lovely, lovely prose, and some simply gorgeously sweet little moments between the two of them. I love, love, love this story, and if this hasn't convinced you to read it, here's a quote:

Because he did not try to coax, she allowed him to take her by the hand (her right hand, his left, the empty space between them always uncertain).

Irene had not moved unnoticed inside her palace since she had been a girl of fourteen, ungainly and unwed. He knew the contours of her palace better than she did, so she allowed him to lead her through the winding passages, equally wary and trusting. It had always been this way with them – they knew the things they ought not know about each other, the secrets which should not be told: her tears on their wedding night, and how he sounds when he is dying.

High above the palace, they sat on cold roof tiles and watched the moon turn the leaves of the olive trees into silver.

Yeah. Read it.

(Me reccing this fic may, parenthetically, be part of my dastardly campaign to get more people to read this series. READ 'EM, FOLKS. They're some of my favourite books of all time; you won't regret it.)

Fandom : Romeo + Juliet (specifically Baz Luhrman's version)
Title : Mourning Sun
Author : elke_tanzer @ AO3
Rating : mature
Characters & Pairings : Benvolio/Mercutio
Length : ~1100
Warnings : none
Summary : This day, Benvolio plays alone.
My Rave Review :
this was another one i found while randomly clicking around AO3. i have a ridiculous weakness for shakespeare slash, romeo and juliet slash in particular, and i absolutely love this solitary, lonely reflection of benvolio's after the end of the play. the whole city is in mourning for the doomed lovers, but benvolio is grief-stricken for mercutio and reminiscing on his memories of him. what i love best about this fic is the imagery and flow-- the author writes with a rhythm that kept me in mind of shakespeare the entire time, and i loved the way she played with words. it's so vivid, in my head it plays like a missing scene from the movie; i can see the colors and the camera angles and it's just beautiful.

Differences were not so different after all, and sameness had its own nectared sweetness. Scarce-concealed glances, glittering glances, 'neath the glaring neon and jangling bell-toll of Apples' Orchard arcade... rough and tumbled and sequined and sparkled and naked and wrestling in the sand of the Sycamore Grove... it was all the sun, and it warmed him when he hadn't before felt any chill of cold.

grief is always a hard emotion to write, in my experience anyway, if only because it's easy to tip the scale toward melodramatic wallowing if you do it wrong. and given that the source play is so full of people losing their shit over the deaths of their loved ones, it would be even easier to go the ostentatiously tragic route with the fic. but it's fitting to benvolio's character, as the one who is caught up in the battles in the play and yet never takes an active part in causing them, that his grief is understated and introspective. this fic hits just the right note of hurt, longing and sorrow, so i was feeling for benvolio and also feeling with him. it's a great little character piece that puts me severely in mind of the movie (and in the mood to go watch it when i get home tonight).