shut up and let me see your jazz hands

In the Company of Glamour Words by gigantic Rec
Joe Jonas/Indio Downey. 6800 words. Why, yes, he let Iron Man's cute son sleep in his bed last night after bombing with Tony Stark. That happened.

Eh, this isn't really Holmes RPF, but it isn't really not, either? So I figured I'd include it in this batch anyway. Mostly I have been so afraid to try Jude/RDJ RPF because of the whole Judesie thing that I just cannot escape, but this gave me my RDJ fix. He is so awesome as the wacky dad Joe has a crush on. I don't even know what Jonas this is (I mean, Joe, obviously, but that means nothing to me, and it's really not something you need to know to enjoy the story), but this was really cute.

"Joe, did you fuck my son?"

"What?" Joe says, eyes shooting wide open. "I. You said you wouldn't ask that."

"It's this whole fatherhood shtick," Robert says, coming around the bar and touching Joe's shoulders. He kneads the muscles there. "Among men there's sometimes a code: tit for tat, what's my business is our business is our secret, but with Indio, well. It's a head-trip, let me tell you. Here's the fucking kicker, still, after sixteen years: I'm a parent. And he's my favorite person in the world, so sometimes the rules get chucked out of the window without notice. That's just how it goes, so. Basically, I lied."

The Art of Balancing by shockselectric
4800 words. A fight about Watson leaving turns into sex, which doesn't help his resolve any.

This should have been right up my alley! Angsty, angry post-movie sex! But I find I have a hard time buying Watson and Holmes not already in a relationship, so I was thrown by it being first-time sex (and first-time ever for Watson). Still, I could have rolled with it had the writing not been so expositiony. The word count cound have been halved if the author had just let words and actions speak for themselves rather than going over everything again and again.

Damage by regicidaldwarf
900 words. Watson returns home. Holmes awaits.

I liked this right up until the ending, which feels totally tacked on. The rest of the fic is Holmes all high on opium and handjobs/frottage on the floor. Not angsty at all. Then the last paragraph totally comes out of nowhere all angsty, but not in a good way, because there's nothing to connect it to what we've just seen. Like, Watson is exasperated with Holmes, but there's no hints that he's really unhappy with the arrangement or anything. I really liked the rest of the story, though!

Truth, or Coming Home by wandersfound
2900 words. "I gave you my afternoon, not my night. We will wait here until Lestrade arrives. You will tell him where he may find his man. Then you will return to your flat, and I to my wife."

This sounded like it would be good, but it wasn't. :-/ Holmes and Watson are out on a case together and realise their feelings for each other and Watson decides to divorce Mary. Meh.

An Inconvenient Moment by alba17 Rec
1300 words. Lestrade makes a badly timed visit to Baker Street.

This was hilarious. Lestrade seems very determined not to get it. He can think of all sorts of (comforting) explanations! XD

Solo Investigation by elena_c
1300 words. Holmes takes matters into his own hands.

I...didn't like this. The author seems to be taking the tack of asexual except for Watson, with having Holmes not only a virgin, but never having masturbated before, and I'm not opposed to that characterisation (though I would rather him be asexual, full stop, than asexual but for magical Watson who makes him "normal" through their true love, as this seems to be implying), but I think that Holmes would at least be familiar with the mechanics of sex and the human body, even if he is asexual, and this goes to that weird virgin/innocence fetish place that just makes the story all about the author rather than about the character.

From the Diary of Dr. Watson by espreite
1100 words. Oscar Wilde's conviction causes turmoil at 221B.

Bad use of a good premise. The resolution is too quick and the writing's not that great.

Full of Grace by katieforsythe Rec+
19,000 words. The events of the Wilde case bleed into the Holmsian world.

Excellent use of a good premise. Wow. These two stories are like night and day. I have been saving Katie's fics rather than devour them all at once, not just because they're all long, but because they are somewhere I know I can go and even if they're a bit sappy for me here and there, I know they won't be a slap in the face. This is my happy place where I can go and read about a Holmes and Watson who I know will be explicitly queer in a way that is not tied to their feelings for each other. And I love that she consistently places their queerness in a historical context rather than making the stories feel like they're about modern people dressing up as Victorians, and I especially loved that about this story in particular. I loved Holmes' anger at Wilde and at the world and I loved the conversation at the wedding and the dancing and the priest at the end.

Today's 14valentines theme is the peace movement.

And my theme for today is RPF, and I will say right now, it is really hard to find RPF about women. Part of that, I'm sure, is due to search limitations. I didn't have any particular people or pairings in mind, and wanted a variety, but there's not one particular thing I can search for (I tried "rpf" on delicious and got mostly m/m slash (mostly Jared/Jensen, for some reason). I did try plugging in a few names and pairings and got stuff that way, but eh. Still, I managed to find enough for a set (and have several 3/5s I'll post at a later date). I probably could have done an entire set by belladonnalin if the two fics I did read are representative of their work, but I really wanted a variety of authors, so I refrained. (I will definitely be reading more in the future, though.)

Anyway, on to the recs! I...would have liked less bandom? But bandom was the easiest to find stuff for, so... Also I think all of these can be read without canon knowledge. I barely know who many of these people are myself.

As Girls Go by belladonnalin 5/5 Recommended
Hannah Wood. 4000 words. Hannah tries to find a place for herself.
( Highly recced even if you don't know canon. )

Tsumi to Batsu by sugarless_666 4/5 Recommended
Shiina Ringo/Kyo (Dir en Grey). 600 words. She thinks they make sense in a strange, wicked sort of way.
( Hot and Cute. )

Bend Over Boyfriend by sinsense 5/5 Recommended
My Chemical Romance. 3100 words. Jamia finds a video and decides to try it out on Frank.
( How can something be this hot and this adorable at the same time? )

The Differences and the Space Between by belladonnalin 5/5 Recommended
Fall Out Boy/My Chemical Romance. 1200 words. The first time Alicia meets Pete Wentz, she is poised and careful, shaking hands professionally and trying to look older than she is.
( Awesome! )

All the Pretty Girls Go by pirateygoodness 4/5 Recommended
Katee Sackhoff/Tricia Helfer. 2600 words. If all good ideas start with not sleeping with Tricia...
( Very hot! )

A Better Fuck by neverneverfic /5 Recommended
Panic! At the Disco. 600 words. Ryan/Keltie. Any boy who called himself "a hotter touch, a better fuck" in his teen years probably had some inaccurate notions of his own prowess.
( Hilarious! )

Pretty Pink Ribbon by 7iris 4/5 Recommended
My Chemical Romance/Mindless Self Indulgence. 1800 words. The thing is, she's been doing this, being Lyn-Z, for a long time now. She knows all about the scene's charming virgin/whore dichotomy, and how the people who say they'll let her are sometimes worse in the long run than the ones who say no upfront.
( Hot and adorable. )

Three more stories from the spn_j2_bigbang, this time focusing on the J2. Actually, one of them (the second) is not RPS at all, but rather RPF with a bunch of the CW actors as college students.

Last Stop: Chicagoland by phaballa 5/5 Recommended
23,600 words. ( This is what domestic fic should be like. )

And the Loser Has to Do It Twice by jade_starlight 3/5
20,300 words. ( The writing is nothing to write home about, but it's a fun story. )

Off the Script by jasmasson 2/5 - Did not finish
22,000 words. ( Reads like it's written by someone who's never even watched porn, much less knows anything about the industry. )

I haven't been reading too much non-fest stuff lately, but I finally got five here and I figure that's a good number for a post, so.

I Remember by theninth 4/5 Recommended (Link now broken)
Jude/Ewan/Jonny Lee Miller. 1200 words. ( Excellent angsty fic. )

Consolation by makesmewannadie 5/5 Recommended
The Girls Next Door, Kendra/Bridget. 1500 words. ( Brilliant. Go read now. It doesn't matter if you've never even heard of the fandom; I haven't, either. )

Stunning None the Less by telesilla 3/5
SGA, John/Rodney. 600 words. ( Fun and funny. )

Not Exactly Natural by debra_tabor 3/5 (Link now broken)
SGA, John/Rodney. 1000 words. ( Prequel to the above. Also very funny. )

Mean Boys: The HP American High School AU by bethbethbeth 3/5
Snape/Harry. 700 words. ( Very funny. )