Fandom: WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
Pairing: Cecil/Carlos
Length: 2,407 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: works on AO3
Warnings: Magical Tattoos, Fluff, First Time
Why this must be read:

Cecil and Carlos both get a surprise — Cecil didn’t know that Carlos was inked, and Carlos didn’t know what happens to tattoos in Night Vale.

"Oh, Carlos, he's beautiful. You didn't tell me you had tattoos! What do you call him?"

"Um. I don't really call it anything. Cecil, that is dye that was injected into my epidermis."

"He should have a name," says Cecil.

It’s usually Cecil who’s tattooed in fanfics, but alas ...

"Oh, no, no. I can't," says Cecil sadly. "I've always wanted one, but I'm allergic to needles."

Carlos wonders whether this might be a euphemism. "You mean you're acuphobic?"

"No, just allergic," Cecil elaborates offhandedly. "Surgical needles are the worst, of course, but even sewing needles bring me out in a rash. I have to wear latex gloves to fix a button. "

The author has fun playing with the implications of living tattoos (pro: tattoos make really great gifts; con: intimate moments can be a little awkward if you haven’t been introduced to the inhabitant of your boyfriend’s chest) in this sweet story.

“Delible Ink” on AO3

I had a happy surprise when I was asked to do the last tour in the Crack Van for Hockey RPF. I'll try to give you more of my favorites before this all ends in early January. Let's rock the van!

Fandom: HOCKEY RPF
Pairing: Tyler Seguin/Tyler Brown
Length: 14,205 words
Author on LJ: unperfectwolf
Author Website: Fic on LJ/Author page on AO3
Why this must be read:
AUs where winners can wish on the Stanley Cup is a thing in this fandom of which I approve. (You Shouldn't) Wish-On-The-Cup-Fic, Vol. 2011 Tyler Seguin edition: so much fun!

this time it'll be even better (we'll look at the stars when we're together) (On LJ)
this time it'll be even better (we'll look at the stars when we're together) (On AO3 - locked to registered users)

Sad to say this will be my last crack van rec ever. It's been a great run, and thank you for your patience with me. Thank you also to the mods for running this comm these last ten years. It will be missed.

Fandom: QUANTUM LEAP
Pairing: Al/Beth, Sam/Donna
Length: 7,600
Author on LJ: azarsuerte
Author Website: Worlds to Wander
Why this must be read:
As I've mentioned before, we've all had a think about what happened after Mirror Image, this of all things is my absolute favourite take. It perfectly underlines everything I loved about the show, and that the canon ending left unsaid. It's a beautiful look at the friendship between Al and Sam, and hope at the end of all things.

For I Would See the Sun Rise Upon the Glad New Year

Hi! I'm wendelah1, back to drive the van one last time, for the amazing fandom that brought me to LiveJournal in the first place, The X-Files. Since I signed up in response to hearing of the community's imminent closure, it's going to take me a few days to get organized. My goals are two-fold: to post a rec a day and do an abbreviated update of the fandom's ancient (by internet standards) introductory post.

As much as I love Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, I don't ship them, not in the traditional sense of the term. I'm a gen person. However, if it's well-written, I'll read anything. I like a little bit of everything, from post-eps to post-cols, casefiles and x-files, short character studies and long, plot-driven stories.

While I'm gathering my thoughts, I'm going to start with the latest story up for discussion at xf_book_club, "Unintended Consequences," because I've just read it, and I like it, and I have a working link to it, the latter being a key bit in a fandom which just celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Length: 4600 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Author's page at Gossamer.
Why this must be read:

"Unintended Consequences" is a realistic and insightful post-ep for the seventh season episode "Orison." It's almost a guest rec since I rediscovered it looking for a fanfic writer's no longer extant recs page. It's a story I liked even better the second time around.

Read Unintended Consequences

Fandom: HOCKEY RPF
Pairing: Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews (don't worry, not chan)
Length: 6841 words
Author on LJ: torigates
Author Website: Author page on AO3
Why this must be read:
So, de-aging stories are a thing in this fandom, and this is an amusing example of de-aging leading to the guys getting a clue. I liked the realism of Johnny's mom hopping a plane to help out. I don't know any mother who'd shrug off the chance to see her baby again. *g*

don't worry about your body

This is my final rec before the van gets rolled into the garage and retired from service. :-(

Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Length: 41,800
Authors on LJ: fluterbev
and gillyp
Authors' Websites: Fluterbev at AO3
Panik at AO3
Why this must be read:
Fluterbev and Panik are both known for their love of angst so it's no surprise that this is a dark, angst-ridden story. I'd recommend noting the authors' warnings for dark themes and violence .
Set ten years after TSByBS , Blair's life is not a happy one; he is socially isolated and haunted by his past and then things just get worse. We gradually learn the horrors that Blair and Jim have been through over the years and there are lots of misunderstandings and lashings of angst and suffering for them both. I found this is a totally absorbing read and was on edge right until the end. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Decimated

Fandom: WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
Pairing: Cecil/Carlos
Length: words
Author on LJ: thingswithwings (inactive)
Author Website: on Dreamwidth; stories on AO3
Warnings: D/s, Service Kink, Food Control Kink, Bathing/Washing, Femme Top, Nail Polish, Rope Bondage, Cecil's Fashion Sense, Genderplay, Social Anxiety
Notes: set after “First Date” (ep. 27)
Why this must be read:

This is another of the service-top!Cecil fics that came out in the fall of 2013.* In this sultry, chronologically scrambled story, we watch Carlos trying to reconcile his (and by extension non-Night Vale society’s) preconceptions about sex, power, and gender with the reactions Cecil draws from him.

"No one's ever treated you like the precious jewel that you are?" Cecil asked lightly. Carlos fidgeted, reminding himself that Cecil really wasn't making fun of him when he said stuff like that, and then shrugged.

"Most guys, they want me to be the, ah. The butch one. You know." Carlos was tall, and broad, and brown, and tended toward muscle even in spite of the way he sometimes forgot to eat, or sleep, or . . . move. It'd been a struggle to stay off the football team in high school, and at 6'1" he had always felt like a weird clumsy giant in the lab, even in university. He'd never dated anyone bigger than him, including Cecil.

Certainly no one but Cecil had ever thought he was precious.

Cecil pursed his lips. "Do you like that?" He sounded dubious, and Carlos felt exposed, that Cecil should already be able to intuit this about him.

"Not really," he admitted. "I – you know, it's probably just that I get tired of always having to be the one who, uh, carries someone else to bed, that kind of thing."

"Hm. Maybe I should carry you sometime."

It was Carlos's turn to look dubious. Cecil was so perfectly average in height and build that he would be completely unremarkable at first glance if it weren't for his particular fashion sense and tendency towards bright colors. Carlos glanced down at their linked hands; Cecil's nails were pastel purple that day, to match his checked pants and the light glittery purple eyeshadow he was wearing.

"I'm stronger than I look," Cecil objected, half-laughing. "Come on, try it, I bet I can give you a lion-back ride." Cecil crouched down carefully, in the middle of the sidewalk, gesturing at his back.

"You mean a piggy-back ride," Carlos corrected him, thinking again of his neighbors in Tucson, his neighbors almost everywhere he'd ever lived, who would've balked at two men holding hands in public, much less queers giving each other piggy-back rides in the street.

“Perfecting” on AO3

* For the curious, the third title in the accidental service-top!Cecil trilogy, “Informed Consent,” by sabinelagrande, is linked in the notes to this story.

I'm merryghoul and I'll be reccing Suits for the final round of crack_van. For this final round, I really wanted to focus on fics that aren't focused on the fandom's big pairing, Mike/Harvey. The other characters in Suits need love too! So have some Harvey/Jessica for my first rec.

Fandom: SUITS
Pairing: Harvey/Jessica
Length: ~2650
Author on LJ: not that I know of
Author Website: o_contrary

Why this must be read: It's hot, sexy smut from a pairing you wouldn't expect. There are some minor SPAG problems I've noticed since digging up this gem, but don't let it stop you from reading this.

"Look at me," she orders, voice firm. He does, but he's slow to comply, and there's a hint of willfulness to it when he does. She studies him carefully, thinking about what had brought them to this today, and doesn't find anything unusual; he'd gone off half-cocked, hadn't conferred with her or any of the other partners about his legal theory. It's a testament to how much potential he has for the legal practice, how brilliant he can be that he managed to salvage the situation at all, but - ah.

Run Home Slow

Fandom: WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
Pairing: Cecil/Carlos, plus various family relationships and friendships
Length: 1,267 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: on Tumblr; on Pinboard; works on AO3
Warnings: reference to Night Vale Community Radio intern fatalities
Why this must be read:

This fic was inspired by one of the items on the community calendar in episode two, “Glow Cloud”: “Sunday is Dot Day. Remember, red dots on what you love, blue dots on what you don’t. Mixing those up can cause permanent consequences.” The reader gets to poke around various corners of the town — Old Woman Josie’s home, the radio station, the Flynns’, the Carlsbergs’, the forbidden dog park, the lab by Big Rico’s — and see some of the ways that love is felt and expressed in Night Vale. While Cecil and Carlos are sweet, individually and together, I’m particularly fond of the section dealing with Intern Dana:

“And because she knows she is strong, resourceful, and clever, and will get out of this place one day soon, she puts one on herself too.”

“On the things you love” on AO3

Fandom: WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
Pairing: Old Woman Josie and the Erikas, Intern Dana and the Man in the Tan Jacket, the Wallabys, Cecil/Carlos
Length: four-image gifset
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: on Tumblr
Notes: spoilers for “The Traveler” (ep. 18), “Faceless Old Woman” (ep. 26), and “A Beautiful Dream” (ep. 34)
Why this must be read seen:

This beautiful and adorable piece of fanart (which makes a great companion piece to my previous rec, “On the things you love,” by pearwaldorf) inspired a comment from arbeekeypok:

Wait a second! Will have to reblog the pic again this because a realization just popped. Each of the pictures fit the quota of the four Greek terms of love: Agape, Phillia, Storge and Eros.

• Agape (Spiritual) is OWJ and the Angels. A spiritual, unconditional and selfless love. And knowing that the Angels may as well be in a religious context, it’s hella obvious [...]


• Phillia (Friendship)- Dana and the Man in the Tan jacket. It’s your staple friendship-type. The fact that Dana and the Man In the Tan jacket are getting along well [...] is pretty noticeable in this category.


• Storge (Affection) is pretty much Megan [Wallaby], her family [...] A type of love that is within the family. It’s more or less an natural affection. Like loving a person as if she’s your own daughter.


• Eros (Intimacy) is obviously Cecil and Carlos. If you know the entire Cecilos subplot by now, it’s pretty much that: A relationship that revolves around passion, intimacy, and the appreciation of beauty. But I can actually see all four types into play with these two.

Don’t mind this. This is just exploding in my head and it may not be accurate, but hi.

To which japhers replied, “OMG GURL YOU JUST EXPLAINED EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING THROUGH MY MIND WHICH I COULDNT PUT INTO WORDS WHILE MAKING THIS THANK YOU.”

Various Shapes of Love on Tumblr