recs and links

Really lovely story in which Cassie makes a choice that makes her miserable, and then realizes she doesn't actually have to choose.

Lacey from the Mirrorverse appears and gives both Wendy and the Middleman some things to think about. Sweet and funny and a little heartbreaky.

It's hard out there for a superhero's BFF, but Ganke's doing pretty well at learning the ropes. #PRECIOUS BABIES.

As the eldest Merida had borne the brunt of her protectiveness, too; nobody had told Elinor that along with children came the knowledge that you would tear holes in anyone or anything who tried to hurt them, and for years this knowledge had felt too large for her, almost its own creature. The only time it had fitted perfectly beneath her skin was here, in this ancient space, when Mor'du was trying to kill her daughter and Elinor's skin had been everything that the wild and instinctual rush of defense demanded: larger, stronger, with claws attached. Knowing that you would tear holes was one thing. Actually being able to do it was something else entirely, a furious and prideful exultation that filled your heart and your mouth like the taste of blood. Artio was a protector, yes. But even Elinor the queen with her needle-pricked hands and weak arms would match any bear or goddess, and defy any force to stand against the natural savagery of a mother. This is fantastically lovely and a wonderful follow-up to the movie, where we see Merida and Elinor learning to put into practice the things they learned from their adventure.

I love this glimpse of Calvin's future with Susie and Bacon and Hobbes.

Reads like the lost Middleman Christmas (in August) episode.

It was Steve's first Christmas since everything. And it was funny; he could deal with the big things just fine- having been frozen in the arctic for a normal human's entire lifespan; waking up seventy years in the future; defeating a bunch of aliens led by a god trying to take over the planet. Those were so big and overwhelming that they were a complete shock to the system, forcing him to reimagine everything he knew. It was the small things he couldn't quite handle. Steve discovers the Captain America Christmas special. And Natasha gives him the best gift of all. I draw a million sparkly hearts around this story.

The wedding of Cheery Littlebottom and Keen Slatequarry lasted precisely two and a half minutes, which made it by far the best wedding Sam Vimes had ever attended, despite the disturbing abundance of axes and the complete incomprehensibility of Grag Bashfullsson's homily1. Hee!

"You have nice hands," he comments, and Bones's eyebrow shoots up. "Thanks," he finally says, his voice drier than Vulcan in mid-summer. "Starting to think I should readjust your pain meds—" "No, no, I mean it," Jim protests, and to prove it, he grabs one of Bones's hands, his thumb rubbing along the knuckles. "This is a nice hand, Bones." And he does mean it, Bones has great hands, big and warm, with long, steady fingers. Bones is standing still, staring down at Jim with—well, Jim can't exactly figure out with what, not with his head as loopy as it is. "I always like your hands," Jim insists, looking up at Bones and letting the truth spill out of him like water. "Just wish you'd touch me when I'm not injured, you know?" Bones stares at him a moment longer, and then his gaze drops back down and away from Jim. "Yeah," he mutters. "Definitely need to readjust the pain meds." Five times Jim asked Bones to sleep with him, and one time Bones finally said yes.

Jim has no problem admitting that to himself, because it makes sense—of course he loves Bones, because Bones is awesome, but this is not the romantic, flowers-and-candy kind of love that people make so much of a fuss about. It's not that, of course it's not that, because they're friends, they're as close as they can possibly be, and, if he's pressed, Jim will even admit that he needs Bones in his life—but it's not that kind of love. It's not that. Still. Jim admits that it's easy to blur the lines a little bit, and maybe that's what he's been doing with this whole thing of bringing people to the room and sleeping with them in Bones' bed. Jim keeps fucking people in Bones's bed. Lots of self-delusion and delicious pining on Jim's part.

Steve/Bucky Pushing Daisies AU where Steve is the Piemaker and Bucky is his undead soldier boyfriend. Matches the spirit of the show perfectly.

Long, fantastic story of who Bucky becomes after he's not the Winter Soldier anymore, and how Steve is there almost every step of the way for him. Heartbreaking and hopeful in the best ways. Oh my heart. *sniffle*

In the past twelve months, Wendy Watson had honed the cool and sardonic demeanor that first got her this job into a weapon as powerful as a 30-Megahurt Definit-Kil Photrazon cannon. Even now, as she made an uncontrolled ascent over the city, hands white-knuckling one of the control line of a massive helium balloon in the shape of one of the adorable characters from "Ferrets of Fury" - the almost criminally popular game app that had taken the country's tablet and smartphone users by storm - her thoughts ricocheted with their usual post-modern tangentiality...but even as her mind ameliorated all the synaptic red alerts over her current predicament by busily trying to replace the lyric "high adventure beyond compare" from the theme to the old "Gummi Bears" cartoon show with the more descriptive "they're gelatinous with sucrose to spare" she truly could not tune out the screams of the fourteen year-old boy clutched beside her in the inflatable paws of this once adorable video game creation turned hateful harbinger of helium-filled hatred.

Bucky offers to pose for Steve, and things go on from there. Hot, sweet, funny, and achy all at once.

Lovely AU where Steve's a tattoo artist and Bucky's an injured veteran.

Everyone gossips about Steve and Darcy's adorable romance.

Jane and Thor have a baby. Tony has to learn to deal. This is wistful and lovely and made me cry.

“So was my decision to follow you on that train. You think I was going to let you go in alone? You know, just because you gained a few inches of height doesn’t mean I was going to stop trying to save you from doing something stupid. You were Captain America to everyone else. Someone had to look after Steve Rogers.” And there, it’s as simple as that. Bucky never followed Captain America, and he never will. He’s there to look out for him like he always was, on the sidelines, never condescending, never after glory, never pushing Steve aside to steal the spotlight, never back then and never today. He’s there because he wants to protect Steve and he doesn’t care that Captain America towers over him now and that he should be able to take care of himself. Bucky will always see him as Steve—not the asthma kid, not the rejected failure, not the super soldier. Just Steve. Bucky drops by Steve's apartment on Christmas Eve. Oh my heart. *happy sigh*

"I recognize your allergy to religion." "That's one way to put it," Mal agrees. "But would you object if I held a service on Christmas Eve?" The request surprises him, though he's not sure why it should. "Object?" Mal shrugs. "What you do on your own time is your own business." "So you wouldn't have a problem with my holding Christmas services on your ship." "Wouldn't expect too many people to come," Mal cautions him. "This ain't exactly the godliest of crews." Shepherd Book's smile is wry. "Doesn't rightly matter. I've observed Christmas all by my ownself before. I can do it again, if need be." He shouldn't ask, but his curiosity gets the better of him. "Then why bother with a service?" "It matters to me that I tell the story," the shepherd says quietly. "Whether or not anyone's listening is another matter entirely." I'm so sad we never got a Firefly holiday episode, but this fits the bill. Everyone sounds just like themselves.

Fantastically lovely Kirk/McCoy from the Academy through the first movie and beyond. “I’m living with children, mama,” he complains. “I’ve been through this dorm shit before, and now I’m apparently in hell, living it all over again as completely undeserved punishment for a crime I still haven’t determined. It’s heinous.” “It’s good for you,” contradicts his mother, in that overly specific tone of voice McCoy has privately dubbed I Know It Sucks, Honey, But It Also Builds Character. “You need something new and different.” “I just said,” McCoy huffs in exasperation. “It’s not new and different. I’m twenty-eight, and I’m sleeping in a single bed that’s the exact-not-quite length of my body and rooming with a twenty-two year old blue-eyed terror with a magnet hidden somewhere in his skull that exclusively attracts fists to the face. I’ve done this before, back when it was called medical school and I was legitimately a student. I’m regressing. Yesterday I ate cereal with a fork and didn’t put on any pants all day.” His mother snorts, her expression nothing but fond and indulgent. “Leo, you’re cracked if you think you can pull this Mature Old Man act with me. You got married so young, went to school even younger, just enjoy the chance to do it again. It’ll be good for you,” she repeats.

Excellent crossover/fusion of Elementary with Buffy; epic in scope for something that's only 3K words and completely believable. Joan is a Slayer and Holmes is her Watcher.

'This is not my fault,' Tony lies. 'It was supposed to be a joke! Christ.' 'Thanks to your joke,' says Coulson, 'we now have a code three-four-delta, with the variable being a Russian immigrant. We're checking his background right now, but it might take a while. Meanwhile, I suggest you civilian-proof the Tower. If any SHIELD intelligence is compromised, I will hurt you.' Tony takes a step back. 'I can just move back to Brooklyn,' Steve says. 'We don't have to stay at the Tower.' Tony orders Steve a Russian mail order bride. Who happens to be the Winter Soldier. Who happens to be Bucky. Steve's all right with this. Oh my heart. This is hilarious and full of all Steve's Bucky feels.

Lyrical, melancholy first time story set during OotP, full of hope and heartbreak. *sobs*

In which Sirius just wants a bit of fun, James fancies himself awfully clever, Peter won't be brewing any potions, and Remus would rather not get shouted at by McGonagall again, thank you very much. Adorable first time Sirius/Remus with pining and pranks.

holiday love meme 2012 you know the drill! comment with your username and people will anonymously reply to your thread with bits of encouragement, well wishes, declarations of undying devotion, etc. secret santa style! tell all your friends and spread some lovely end of year cheer~ this post will…

Jack Frost is willing to play with any and all the kids, but sometimes, every other decade or so, he gets favorites, the ones he comes back to every winter until they are all grown up. Jack Frost checks up on Steve and Bucky through the years. This is really lovely and doesn't require knowledge of Rise of the Guardians.

This does a really good job of showing Natasha's sense of dislocation in each of the personae the Red Room implants in her, and her growing disastisfaction with how she's being treated. a good read.

Lovely future fic in which Allison, after a few years of running, finds Lydia and a place to settle down.

Nicely done backstory for Clint and Natasha.