crack_van | Highlander/Lord John Grey novels (NC-17)

Title: Lavender House--Initiation
Pairing: (Methos/Lord John Grey; Methos/multiple M)
Length: (6000)
Author on LJ: lferion
Archives: Highlander Fiction Archive; Archive of Our Own
Why this must be read:

I didn't realize I was reccing lferion twice in a row. But there are reasons for that. You'll know if you're familiar with her work, and you'll see if you sample this story.

I love historicals. In a fandom restricted to a single time period, they're an opportunity for the past to be explored. Or expanded. Or stretched into comfortable--and uncomfortable--shapes. In Highlander, the past and future are our playground--the time range is unlimited and key characters can roam far and wide. Historicals offer a chance for major and minor characters to be developed in different settings and different mores. Different clothes! Delicious clothes.

In this crossover, set in London in the mid-1700s, Methos is taken into the world of Lord John Grey, the gay British officer and noble who was first seen in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series of books. Lord John then graduated to novellas and novels in his own right. In a society with severe consequences for the crime of sodomy, he belongs to a gentleman's club and molly-house. The story shows Methos, as James Pierce-Smyth, being thoroughly initiated into membership in the club.

There is sex. There is much sex, and the author skillfully meets the challenge to keep the reader (as well as Methos-James) entertained throughout the proceedings. Methos splits his identity and POV, sometimes thinking as himself, the man of long age and experience, and sometimes observing himself, referring to himself, as James, his current persona in the immediate time and place, during the long, probing evening.

I loved the device, the writing, the clothing, the writing, the sex. It's not necessary to be familiar with the source, but if you are, you will be happy with the Lord John bits.

A taste:

At last he stood in nothing but his fine linen shirt, and he took hold of the hem and drew it smoothly over his head , thence to stand displayed before the company. And it was displayed, a stance perfected in palaces and slave-pens, parade-grounds and temples, the studios of artists and the bedrooms of lovers. Shoulders back, arms falling in a graceful curve that let light fall on bicep and forearm, head high and straight and turned just so, letting the line of neck and throat lead the eye down to the breast with small nipples darkened and peaked against pale skin, down again to the arch of ribs and vulnerable belly; buttocks firm but not clenched, hips at that subtle angle that displayed his 'attributes' - heavy, half-hard, flushed with arousal more than filling the promise of his long hands and high-arched feet, his outrageous nose - to best advantage. Thighs opened, spread just so, knees and feet and ankles in the timeless, effortless stance of the dancer, the fighter, the orator, the runner, the hunter waiting for the deer to spring, the priest waiting for the god to manifest in him. His heart beat high and steady in his chest. In the Moment, perfectly and gloriously alive. These men could not help but look and see and feel. Methos heard a little, longing, involuntary sigh from somewhere in the room, and came back to himself, to James Pierce-Smyth, whereupon he let the lines fall out of true, become the limbs and angles of a too-tall, untried, still discovering himself youth, more potential than actual, more clay than metal, someone to be shaped, not a shaper of others. Above all, not a threat. There was another sigh, now more lust than longing, and a murmur of salacious appreciation, then someone remarked "Strips to advantage indeed. And not a drop of shame at being mother-naked. I like that in a lad. He'll do."

Lavender House - Initiation (Note: This story was written for the holiday exchange

hlh_shortcuts.)