Blood Money by BMP (PG-13)

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pairing: none
Length: ~4,200
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Drinking 'n Fighting :: BMP
Why this must be read:

The relationship between Chris Larabee, the leader of The Seven, and Buck Wilmington, his oldest friend, was a focus of The Magnificent Seven, and has generated some good fic. Theirs is not an easy relationship: their temperaments are very different, and a night of Chris indulging Buck's taste for partying played a role in the death of Chris's wife and son. So there's some baggage, and Chris Larabee hasn't heard of checked luggage.

But their lives orbit each other's. And nobody knows Chris as well as Buck does.

In this story, a missing scene to "Obsession," the final episode of the series, Buck contemplates the events of the previous days, how things went so very wrong, and how they were doomed to do so.

A snippet:

Beside the fire, Buck nearly snorted at that, wishing for another whiskey bottle. Surely Chris Larabee, "the bad element" had walked enough on the dark side to be wiser for it. Surely any faith in mankind that Chris had had was long dead and buried. No, Chris let himself be blindsided, plain and simple. Taken in by long lashes, a warm and willing body, and the comfort of old acquaintance. By flattery. And by his own dreams handed to him on a silver platter.

Blood Money

Comments

[farad.livejournal.com]

Lovely choice. I love all of BMP's stuff - and I especially love this story because it's one of the few where we see angry Buck, and Buck angry at Chris, at himself, at all of them. It's a very plausible post-"Obession" story.

I haven't had a chance to get back to your lovely response to my second post - but I do want to make a quick note here that it's interesting to me that M7 doesn't "slash" for you, even though you do see slash in other fandoms! As with others, it pretty much leapt off the page at me, mostly in C/V, but I can see other variations as well. It's part of the joys of fandom to me, though, that so many of us see so many different things. And - oddly, I'm now even more excited by your reviews, as I'm very selective of my gen reading; BMP and the Cohorts are two of my fave writers (*despite* their gen-writing!). I haven't had the time to read the second story you rec-ced yet due to lenght, but - maybe today, as I avoid work!

Thanks!!

[slavelabour.livejournal.com]

Excellent rec and oddly perfect timing as I was just rereading this story this very morning. =D

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

:-)

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

It's unclear to me whether Obsession or Serpents is the final M7 ep - I hope it's actually Serpents, which ends with Chris wearing the biggest smile I've ever seen on him, vs. the grim Obsession.

RE: Slashing C/V - I can see where others see the slash (vs., say, Josiah/Buck or something). Me, I think, huh, okay, if Chris and Vin were sexually interested in men - who WOULD they like? And I start thinking up OMCs :-) So, I just don't think I have the slash gene very strong.

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you so much for your recommendation! I know it must be difficult choosing which stories to highlight, and I can't tell you how flattered and happy I am that you chose Blood Money for one of your recs this month. Thank you again.

Sincerely,
--BMP