recs and links

Bruce always thought that Superman's cute shtick of rescuing cats from trees was a bid for publicity—until a confrontation with a magic user leaves him stuck as a cat. He learns how mistaken he was when Superman not only rescues him, but takes him back to a small Metropolis apartment. The opportunity to learn more about the alien can't be ignored, but is Bruce ready for everything he will learn about someone he has only ever regarded with distrust and dislike? This is a nice look at Clark through Bruce's slowly less suspicious eyes.

How to clean silver with baking soda and aluminum. After you clean it, protect it with ProtectaClear to keep it looking freshly polished.

Two lovely stories about the Murrys - first, Alex Murry's return to his wife, and second, Meg and Calvin in the wake of the changes wrought by Charles Wallace in "A Swiftly Tilting Planet."

Being naked with Lou, it turns out, is not all that different to being clothed with Lou; it’s still fun, it still fits, it still sings its way along her veins like an apt translation. They kiss, and Lou nibbles her neck, and Debbie finally learns what Lou’s tattoo tastes like (the rest of her skin, but it’s a decades-old curiosity satisfied). Set early in the movie, this is hot and sweet.

“Steve Rogers has never been a good influence on anyone. Ever.” Bucky tells Peter with the utmost seriousness and Peter is darting a look at the door like maybe he can survive jumping out of the car going 70 on the 101. Steve feels for Peter, he does. “He uh, he tells me to eat vegetables?” Peter tries and Steve flashes him a smile at the defense of Steve’s influencing abilities. “Jesus christ.” Bucky says again, emphatically. Steve stares at him a little like he hung the moon. This is hilarious and adorable.

Halloween is the worst night in Gotham, and Dick's stuck rounding up D-list villains all night. Hee!

Easy, Zuko thought again. They were in war times. They were the world’s last hope, the last flickering flame of the rebellion, and yet when they came together like this, reduced to a sprawl of limbs, five teenagers pushing up against the warmth that radiated from Zuko, he felt almost peaceful.

It's nearly the last day of fifth year, and Sirius really isn't looking forward to the summer. Sirius and Remus bumble their way into a relationship.

Taran Wanderer was always my favorite of the Prydain books, but I was always sad Eilonwy didn't get her own journey of self-discovery. This story is that journey and it's lovely. *happy sigh*

Fun little adventure with Shuri, Nakia and Ross.

The Nine Nine engages in a Halloween candy eating contest. Reads like it could have come right out of an episode.

T'Challa tries ice skating. He's not good at it. Shuri heckles. This is adorable.

It isn’t often they get to bare their teeth at the world and protect him, for a change. Harry is strong enough to weather most blows without flinching, with his wild magic – fractured irreparably, ever since that final, day-long duel with You-Know-Who – and his iron-clad control of that wild magic, and his working knowledge of Defense that’s as deep and rich as a sprawling forest. But certain things can cut his legs out from under him as easy as breathing, and never before in such a big way as this. (Harry stands unflinchingly between his friends and danger as if that’s all he’s good for, but Ron has always known why. Ron was twelve when he saw the bars on Harry’s windows, but it’s not as though he’s forgotten.) *sobs*

Engaging casefic with a good Peter voice.

At the end of WWII, the Howling Commandos call in expert on the occult Dr. Indiana Jones to help stop a last-ditch Nazi plan. This is a lot of fun.

10yo Clint goes to live with foster mom Susan Pevensie. This was lovely and wistful.

"Fancy meeting you here." She called over to the table she'd just abandoned: "She's an old friend from New York," and then with a mischievous, sideways glance at Amita, "we were in the same book club." "What are you doing in France?" Amita asked. "I'm on location. My new movie is filming here. You?" "Getting dumped." "Ouch," said Daphne, and raised a bottle. "Champagne?" This is adorable.

“When did you know? That you would do these things for me?” Frank considers this for a while. “Can’t be sure exactly. After the Blacksmith, but before the river. But I knew because it began to hurt whenever I saw you. It’s like Bob Dylan said, you know - ‘Everything about you is bringing me misery’. That’s how you know.” “Is that what I do?” Karen asks lightly. “Bring you misery?” “Sure,” says Frank. “Like the way you’re looking at me now. It’s all kinds of hurt inside.” The hard clench in her chest every time she catches his eye; the times he wakes up screaming at 3am. All their shared past; worse, the pasts they do not share. To love someone, she is coming to learn, is to constantly be reminded of all the ways you could lose them. “Sounds awful,” she says, fingers brushing over his knuckles. “It is what it is.” He tucks a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, then kisses her on the forehead. “But that’s how you know you’re still alive.” Really great look at Karen and how she puts her life together and how Frank (and Foggy and Matt) fits into it. (also, as an aside, I really want that Punisher/John Wick dogwalkers crossover AU now.)

Exactly what it says on the tin - AU where Ahsoka's the Slayer and Anakin's her watcher, but after she died and came back, there's a new, by the book Slayer, and Ahsoka and Anakin have to mend the strain in their relationship. This does a really great job of translating Landing at Point Rain into a Buffy-style monster of the week. I could have read a few thousand more words of this fusion, but it ends rather abruptly.

Rey and Chewie take a wrong turn on the way to Ach-To and end up at Hogwarts instead, where Rey learns a little bit about magic. This is a delight from start to finish.

Peter is unmasked on live television, and everyone goes berserk—you've already heard this one but here's the twist—he's wide-eyed, staring into the camera, frightened, but not because of his own safety. The first thing that comes out of his mouth is, "Someone please, please protect my Aunt May." And the entirety of New York cries out simultaneously. Heroes and neighbours and fellow students rain down on the Parker house, ready to defend her. this could use another editing pass, but I sobbed my face off reading it, because the people of NYC defending Peter Parker (and here, Aunt May) is one of my very favorite tropes and this delivers in spades.

Crossover AU where the Weechesters are living next door to Frank Castle when John dies, and he takes them in. The series is ongoing but the first two stories are complete. I enjoyed this a lot. (there has yet to be a rat pack joke but I live in hope.)

Adorable Finn/Rey/Poe.

Shuri discovers an academic rival. This is adorable.

Leia goes to Tatooine to bring Obi-Wan back to the rebellion. Complications ensue.

Steve and Bucky after the end of the world. Lovely and hopeful.

Steph takes Damian to the zoo. This is sweet.

When Vader captures Ahsoka, she has a choice to make. Oh my heart.

Regulus destroys the locket and survives, making a different life for himself away from wizarding Britain. Voldemort rises and Regulus realizes it's time to go home. Long, engrossing (occasionally overwritten) AU where he does just that, and a number of things change (like, most importantly to me, Sirius survives the Department of Mysteries). Complete, but first in a series.

Steve accidentally acquires a baby. This is adorable.