recs and links

Dean takes some measures, just in case they can't get Sam's soul back. *sniffle*

Lovely AU in which Dean takes a different road to getting Sam out of hell.

Dick is getting into disguise to help Jason out, and then there is super hot kissing. Dick is almost too tall, and his shoulders are a little too broad. Not as broad as Jason’s, and that’s unfortunately the reason he’s here, but broad enough that his wardrobe for this evening had to be picked with careful consideration. Big leather jacket, old and torn and a size bigger than he would normally wear so that it covers his shoulders and hides the sharp angles of his body. There’s an incredibly short dress underneath it, bright blue (to go with your eyes, Jason says, grinning) and cheap satin, so that all the attention is on his legs. He’d had to shave everywhere.

Really lovely, meditative look at how Alicia moves from being married to Peter to being in love with Will. In the end, it doesn't matter how much they once loved each other, how happy they were once upon a time even though she had spent the better part of the last two years of her life trying to convince herself otherwise. There's no argument, no lie told or final act of betrayal that was the final straw, no epiphany to be had. One day Alicia just wakes up and she is exhausted and her reserves are exhausted and the fight just doesn't seem worth it anymore. Always, she has been a practical woman. Pragmatic to a fault and every single part of her gives way to the fact that it is ridiculously impractical to stay in a marriage that is never going to work again. (couple minor but grating issues - using 'that' for 'who' and 'discrete' for 'discreet')

Toph and Iroh deal with a patron who tries to run off without paying his tab. Adorable.

Dean is acting weird(er) and Sam is concerned enough to read ladies magazines for answers. Absolutely adorable futurefic. “You want me to drive your car?” Absurd as it might be, Sam almost hoped the car wasn’t listening. Going way back to Gabriel’s games, Sam remembered what it felt like to be the Impala…and damn, that car loved Dean. “No, I don’t want you to drive my car, but I think you’re right. You shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a Harley. It would be fucking scary. Think about what would happen to your hair.” Sam glared. Dean knew perfectly well all he had to do was tell Sam he couldn’t do something, and no matter what it was, Sam would end up begging for the thing by the time they were through. He couldn’t let himself fall for it. He was thirty-eight years old, damnit, not ten. Hating himself for his lack of self-control, Sam said, “Fuck you. I could ride a Harley.”

When Steve and Kono fail to get Danny onto a surf board, Chin comes up with a cunning plan. This is adorable.

Charles discovers a musical prodigy at the orphanage, and wants to do something about her. Oh, my heart. (Could use another beta go-round, but nothing too egregious.)

Highly enjoyable AU where Mai and Ty Lee escape Boiling rock with Sokka and Zuko.

Short, sharp exploration of ways the Losers grieve.

The Sports Night gang at a Halloween party. Wonderful. "Frankenstein,” Casey bowed to her. "The doctor. Not the monster, of course,” Jeremy grinned. "Cunning.” Casey looked crestfallen. "Just saying, if the whole reason you decided to be Victor Frankenstein was to get people into a situation where you could give them a little speech about how ‘Frankenstein’ refers to the man and not his monster, Casey, then I’m sorry, but you won’t get me.” "Dan told you.” "Dan told me,” Jeremy said.

The Promise, subtitled The Lost Sessions: Darkness on the Edge of Town, is not the usual odds-and-ends reissue package. It pieces together a classic album that could have been made during the fruitful period after Bruce Springsteen's seminal Born to Run. Hear 15 select tracks until Nov. 16.

Things aren't going to become simpler because Alicia wants them to be, or because she's made a decision. In fact, they're just going to become much harder. Everything she does from this point on is going to affect so many people. It's going to be hard, and long, and there are absolutely no guarantees about much of anything, going forward. AU of 2x01 - Alicia holds onto her phone and hears both of Will's messages, and makes a decision. Lovely. (also, major points for using lyrics from "Chicago" as a title)

West Wing AU, where Arthur is Sam and Eames is Danny (sort of). “When you are a robot,” Eames says, “and are approached by-- oh, I don’t know, let’s say a really evil microwave-- with a rudimentary outline of the machines’ plans to take over the world, promise that after you have risen up to become their great and terrible and incredibly efficient leader, that you’ll tell them not to kill me.” “Is it possible that you’re just drunk all the time?” Arthur asks. “It’s certainly possible,” Eames says, “but it isn’t actually true.” “I won’t let the microwaves get you,” Arthur promises. “I’ll probably want to kill you myself, anyway.” “Good point.” Utterly adorable.

**UPDATE** click here! Well, I've been sitting on these for two years now (that is far too long) and since then I've seen every kind of Sta...

"I think I told that kid to get our daughter in the back seat of a car."

"So Steve had a goat in his room? Is he -- that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." "Yes!" Catherine crowed, looking triumphant. "That was my reaction too! But whenever I tell this story, I'm always telling it to crazy people and they think it shows dedication to the school or something." "There was a goat in his room. For how long?" "Oh, the whole week. It ate his towel at one point. And I think a pair of shoes." "Oh man, I wish I had a tape recorder for this," Danny said. I enjoyed this a lot.

Oh, Sam...

Lovely, quiet look at Will and Alicia once they're together, from Will's POV. His entire life, Will Gardner has never been the guy who cared more. He's never been the guy who fell first, fell harder or sooner than the other person did. But Alicia isn't like anyone else he's ever met, so it makes sense in a way that she'd be the exception to the rule in this too.

It’s a waiting game, everything with Dean is, sometimes you’ve got to be dead patient, it’s like living with an earthquake, sometimes clear calm, sometimes all shook up and there’s nothing like barking dogs or abnormal weather to warn you. It’s the little signs only registered by a needle, but Sam’s been fine-tuned and honed and he’s watching. Ridiculously gorgeous and languid first time Wincest. *happy sigh*

Love is staying up all night and pretending not to look at the clock the whole time, waiting for somebody to get home, like keeping vigil ever made a damn bit of difference; love is pulling the trigger again and again until it feels like your arm is going to break, so that when it isn't practice, when it's real, you won't miss. Love is going hungry so that somebody else can eat, and love is telling lies so that somebody else can sleep, and love is wanting a better life for somebody else. Love is the ashes-and-whiskey, gut-punched feeling when they finally get it, and love is not asking them to turn it down, and love is feeling like a fucking asshole for being even just a little happy when they come back. Sam and Dean bicker their way into having sex. Funny and heartbreaking. (set in season 1)

Some of Olivia's hundred reasons why Peter should come home. Lovely, and really feels like Olivia to me. Odd as it seems to her now, Olivia had forgotten the reason why she wanted Peter to join Fringe Division in the first place: he keeps Walter grounded. As far as he's come in recent months, with his son gone, Walter either isn't able or isn't willing to keep working. Olivia's carefully assembled team is falling to pieces around her, and she feels helpless to do anything to stop it. A little over a year ago, she wouldn't have imagined that so much of her life could depend on the presence of just one person.

Peter tilts his head. "You don't sleep, do you?" Although her expression doesn't change, he's pretty sure that she's trying not to smile. "Not often. Can you go get Walter?" Six times Olivia wakes Peter. I enjoyed the easy give and take between them in this set of vignettes.

"So--is there any particular reason I shouldn't say hi to Dick? Talk about the old days? Fighting crime? Wearing funny outfits?" "No," Bruce said. He hadn't spoken to Dick in... a long time. "He lives in Bludhaven," Bruce said. A long time. Terry visits Dick and Bruce mulls over his boys. Lovely.

He's thirteen when he figures it out, and then he wonders where his brain's been for the last five years. Terry even told him once. Said it flat out: "I'm Batman." Matt remembers laughing. Because how do you believe something like that when it's your jerk big brother telling you? Short answer: you don't. Matt figures it out, and wants to be a part of it. I really liked this.

Max isn't a Robin, but there's another role she can fill. God, I love stories that bring Dick into the Batman Beyond verse.

"How much do you think he wants to do this?" "He needs to. It took me a while to see it, but he does." "Have you asked him why?" "Not point-black. I assumed it's because of our father. It's why I got started, in part." "Do yourself a favor? As soon as you get a chance, ask him why, the real reason why, he needs to do this so bad. The answer might surprise you." Terry starts training Matt, and seeks advice about how to make him a Robin.

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Adorable story about the times Arthur and Eames met before the movie.