Retina Burn by August and Penelopody (R)

[fourteenlines.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE WEST WING
Pairing: CJ Cregg/Toby Ziegler
Author on LJ: pene has an LJ, while
Author Website: August has a website (the archipelago of angst)
Why this must be read: This is history and angst and the ultimate, ultimate "How CJ and Toby met" story. Sorkin et al. have been kind enough not to contradict this version of history, and even if they should, I'd personally never believe it.

You should read it for lines like, They can only ever afford to acknowledge the edge of things, which has stuck with me from day one.

You should read it for the banter and the twenty long years, Vietnam and Springsteen and Andi and the campaign and Rosslyn. For the handle these two fine ladies have on the critical voice of the West Wing characters, and the heartbreaking, breath-catching language.

Read it for quotes like:

And then Tim's voice, from near the car, said, "hey, I can't help but notice we're not moving."

"Morning there, Tim."

"Morning there, Toby." Tim sat down next to her, his face still patterned with sleep. "We have ten hours to make it to Springsteen. Ten hours."

"I was just apprehending your girlfriend here, Tim. She was gonna make a break for it."

"He's lying, Tim. Toby was trying to pimp me into a life of pleasuring truckers for food and water."



Tim glanced at them both, and then lay back on the pavement. "I knew I should have never introduced the two of you," he mumbled, underneath his arms, "it's going to open up some sort of nexus of the universe and now we're all fucked."

And for quotes like:

That summer was the first summer he came to visit her. That summer, the beaches washed up dead starfish and he pressed the first letter into her palm. That summer, this thing, this unending catastrophic thing, began.

Because at the heart of it, CJ and Toby and their maybe-maybe-not romance is just one of those things you can't turn away from. Because I can hardly believe my luck that no one has recced it before!

It's one of my favorite stories, anywhere, fanfiction or professionally published. It's phenomenal. It's

Retina Burn


(By the way, I'm Shaye, your March Crack Van delivery driver for The West Wing. It'll be almost-all CJ and Toby, almost-all the time 'round here, but I've got some other treats headed your way, too.)

Comments

[mandysbitch.livejournal.com]

Well it's about time someone recced this! Would have been first on my list too.