Hi! I will be driving the DC van this month. Hope you like the stories I'll be reccing.


Fandom: DC Comics
Pairing: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne
Length: 3,566 words
Author on LJ: kleine_aster
Author Website: alexandraplatz
Why this must be read: The author doesn't explicitly say that this story is a sequel to the previously rec'd, and entirely wonderful, No Pie At All, but reading it, I couldn't help but think it could be and that's just one of the things that makes it a treat. In that earlier story, the guys are just embarking upon their journey, and it's full of awkward and uncertain moments. Here, decades down the line, they are completely comfortable with each other and yet with no loss of excitement, no sense of taking anything for granted, and that's a beautiful thing.

If you ever wanted to imagine Clark on a motorcycle, this story will help you do that (accompanied by a tantalizing hint of a past adventure). If you love the idea of Bruce in semi-retirement still directing the extended Bat family, you will find that here. If the idea of Clark shopping the world for cheesy Batman souvenirs sounds like it could make you smile, you will not be disappointed. And don't let that PG rating persuade you to anticipate any lack of sexy goings on because nothing could be more erroneous.

( an excerpt )

Keeping Busy

Hi! I'm B and I'll be driving your Avengers crack_van for February! I am mostly reccing gen/character studies. My character preferences lean toward Tony, Natasha, and Bruce so you’ll see them as the main characters in most of what I rec, but that doesn’t mean I will leave the others out. I plan to rec long fics on Friday and shorter fics through the week for sneaky at work reading.

Fandom: AVENGERS FRANCHISE
Pairing: Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Length: 30,095
Author on LJ: fahye
Author Website: at AO3
Why this must be read: As the author notes, "no comic book canon was harmed or indeed used in the making of this fic; it was either roundly ignored or ransacked for the occasional neat idea like 'ballet'". This fic it is *immediately* and easily accessible for non-comic readers. It starts out with Natasha as a child and follows her creation, destruction, and re-birth. What makes this fic stand out from so many others is that Natasha is asexual. It's a fascinating exploration of sex as a commodity, a weapon, and a means of being like other people.

Excerpt

She waits for it, the attraction. Years of exposure to and study of human nature have told her that it should have come by now, if it's going to come at all. And if it's to be anyone, it should be Clint Barton, who saw something solid and precious in her just when she was beginning to feel smoked-out and empty, a fighting skeleton breathing shallowly under the debt of lives.

For all her expertise in exploiting human desires, she doesn't know if he wants her in the way that she sort-of-wants to want him. He looks at her. But then, she looks at him. They're building a whole language of joke and gesture that feels too intimate for Natasha's idea of friendship, but he's never touched her with intent, or voiced any desire.

love is for children and other lies