recs and links

Good coda to the first episode of SHIELD. How the ep actually should have ended.

Some really hot Steve/Bucky emotional h/c (the author tags for magical healing cock, even). (ignore the typo in the first line - I'm glad I did.)

Ichabod meets Wikipedia.

Lovely coda for the first ep, in which Ichabod assesses where he is now.

Korra confronts the implications of energybending. Exactly what the summary says. Thought-provoking.

Jason's not as hopeless as he wishes he was at being an older brother. Jason reconnects with the younger Wayne siblings. Oh my heart.

AU in which Steve and Bucky are Olympic swimmers, but they find each other anyway. (comicsverse)

(It’s supposed to be a letdown, physical touch a mere faint echo after the intimacy of the neural handshake. Mako was ready for it, she’d thought, for the disappointment of it, the single-dimensionedness where there was ecstatic texture and depth in the Jaeger. And then she’d stripped Raleigh out of his undershirt, pulled off her own, and they’d pressed their bodies together, shivering with grief and joy and shock and relief, and Mako could only think finally, yes, this like it was all merely foreplay, having Raleigh’s mind and memories woven into her own.) Mako and Raleigh, after.

"It's not because they're dead," she says, out of the blue one day as he's picking through a side of wilted salad trying to find at least a few bites that are palatable. "It's because they're important." "You're important," he says without thinking, and watches a blinking, startled smile begin to spread across her face. "Gipsy Danger's important." "Yes," she says. "We should get something to commemorate that. To honor our survivors, as much as our losses." Mako and Raleigh commemorate the dead, and the living. Lovely.

Mako turned, the paper lantern in her hand bobbing on the morning breeze. She gripped the stick handle firmly. As a child, she'd been superstitious, believing that imperfectly-performed rituals at O-bon invited disaster. She'd been allowed to watch too many ghost stories on TV at an impressionable age, she thought. Stacker had dissuaded her, gently but firmly, from superstitions. She no longer believed in ghosts, but her actions now were out of respect for the dead. And for the sake of her own memories. Mako takes Raleigh home with her to pay her respects to the dead. This is quiet and lovely.

The feeling that nags at her is one of wrongness, and a small, nasty part of her wonders if SHIELD changed anything, putting her back together. If they didn’t, maybe, take out a few pieces they’d rather not have, or put in a few that weren’t there before. It wouldn’t be a surprise to her. She’d never know, either; there’s no way to tell, really, what in her head is really hers. Not anymore, if there ever was. Good programming doesn’t give itself away, and her mind’s been passed through so many hands she thinks of it sometimes like a worn-out rag, battered by too much use. The mental image makes her feel sick. Natasha tries to figure out what's left, and what's real, after the conclusion of "Widow Hunt."

Bucky has nightmares, sometimes, wrapped up in Steve’s arms. Maybe they’re memories. He sees his own face and his eyes are fever-bright, like maybe he’s caught one of Steve’s pneumonias. He’s afraid. He knows that much. He’s afraid of losing Steve, to asthma or an aberrant heartbeat or a HYDRA sniper or a New York jail cell because they were caught with their pants down. He knows that none of these things even exist anymore but it doesn’t stop him from worrying. Bucky has a harder time adjusting to some things in the future. this is achy and lovely and wonderful and made me all sniffly for both of them.

Lovely look at Nightingale over the years.

"What's a community organiser, anyway," she says, "isn't that what we all do, if we're worth anything. I'm a nurse, Ms. Cregg. These days, more of a midwife." "A midwife?" CJ repeats, again feeling useless and tired. "Some things take longer to be born than others," Margaret says, and smiles, softly. "Good luck." *sobs*

Understated, sweet, and lovely Morgan/Garcia story where Garcia owns a coffee shop instead of working for the BAU.

“The sudden interest in real estate.” “Oh, it pisses Tim off,” said Jason. This was… well, it was true. But so were a lot of other things, like the renovation crews he’d hired and the rents he’d lowered and the plans he had for a halfway house and a shelter and offices for free legal advice. That last had been Tim’s idea, but Jason had exactly zero qualms about co-opting it and passing it off as his own. “You’ve almost completely divested yourself of your interest in the city’s drug trade in order to put money into an enormous project the sole purpose of which is to annoy your brother,” said Bruce. It was amazing how he could turn even the most incredulous of questions into the flattest of statements. Jason and his parental figures. Oh my heart.

"Felicity! You can't just randomly kiss people." "It wasn't random. It was strategic." "You can't strategically kiss people." "Well, it worked, didn't it? "What'd you do?" Diggle asked with a raised eyebrow. Felicity gave him a wide smile. "I whammied him." "You did not 'whammy' me." Oliver scowled, and took a look around the entryway to make sure no-one was watching them. "She totally whammied you," Dig said, gesturing to his chin. Five times Oliver and Felicity kiss. Adorable.

"Well, the nature of our relationship to one another is complicated," said Joan. "Even for your father—who does care about you, by the way, even if he doesn't show it in typical ways—who knows the particulars of my former employment." "He thinks we should be clearer about the delineation between the personal and the professional." "Well, I can't argue with that in principle," said Joan, "but since when do we let ourselves be defined by anyone else?" "Since always," said Sherlock. "I believe that might actually be the definition of definition." "Well, then it's time we stopped," said Joan. "You're my friend, and my employer, and my mentor, and I am your friend and your colleague and your sounding board. We can be all of those things, as long as we understand the nature of each of them." "Clear boundaries," said Sherlock. "Consideration. Trust. Occasional bowls of late night ice cream." Joan smiled at him. "I think we're getting the hang of it." During a case drought, Sherlock and Joan continue to negotiate their relationship. Nice slice-of-life story.

He kisses her as though she’s a wonder, as though she’s something to be worshipped. “This isn’t the Drift,” she says when air becomes a need. “This is us,” he murmurs, his chest heaving against hers, a fierce wonder etched in his face. “You and me.” And it’s more than enough.

Enjoyable case fic set between Rivers of London and Moon over Soho.

Sweet, hot, funny Clint/Natasha with sex pollen and pegging.

SO MANY BATFAMILY FEELS. Jason starts taking his place amongst the Robins and the Batgirls. *sob*

Steve's post-movie American road trip.

Absolutely fantastic AU where Gwen is the one who gets bit by a spider and becomes Spider-Man. I cried my way through this much as I cried my way through the movie, because it absolutely gets the most important things about Spider-Man as a hero, and it does it better than the comics and the movies do, because it actually considers women and people of color and other populations who aren't straight, white men. Which makes it sound preachy or like agenda-driven fic, but it's not. It's just fantastic with understanding the differences that would occur because Gwen is the one under the mask, and the relationships are brilliantly drawn, too - not just Gwen and Peter, but Flash and MJ and Miles all make appearances. I draw a million sparkly hearts around this story. (It does need another beta pass, and someone to do some NYC fixing, but eh, I was too enthralled to let it bother me much. Also, it's on chapters on LJ, not up on AO3 yet, but totally worth the effort.)

www.averiecooks.com

White Collar fusion where Steve is Neal and Bucky is Peter. Works surprisingly well.

Right from the very beginning, she resolved to make the best of it. And having resolved to make the best of it, she made the best of cockroaches in the shower and scratching noises inside her tent; she made the best of Hawkeye Pierce and his Groucho Marx impersonations and his frightening disregard for everything and everyone; she made some clear-eyed decisions, her first night in camp, about herself and what she wanted and where she wanted to be, and made the best of Frank Burns. Five times Margaret Houlihan was really proud of herself. This is wonderful.

Adorably schmoopy Mako/Raleigh kidfic.

The blonde behind him says, “You know, if the point of this operation is to get close to Venetia Flynn you are really gonna have to work on your flirting. Also just your people skills in general! Which are distinctly rusty. Not that I don’t get it, because mine were too. You know, when I came back.” Jason stops short. “Personally, I think we oughta start a club,” she adds. And when he still doesn’t move: “Hey. You don’t get to ignore me, Robin.” OK, that cuts kinda deep. He turns, sighing. She’s standing on the bottom step so they’re almost of a height. She’s wary of him, but he’s pretty sure that underneath she thinks it’s funny as hell that she’s caught him out like this. She’s wearing sleeves and long pants just like he is: they hide the scars. The shape of her face, her stance; her knuckles, scarred over as unattractively as his own. Jason and the Batgirls, who are likely to understand him best. Oh my heart. Too bad canon never seemed interested, because these relationships are fascinating, and this story gets them spot-on.

"Some scientists speculate that Drift partners experience some after-effects from the neural connection – little pieces of memories that aren’t theirs, traits and characteristics from their partner, shared dreams. It hasn’t been studied enough, though.” The frown of concentration eases, and her eyes meet his, soft with understanding. “And now we’re the last two.” Wryly, he smiles as he says, “Not quite the last two." Soft, quiet, lovely post-movie Mako/Raleigh.