crack_van | Nine Blocks by epicycles (PG)

This is my last minute, last rec of the month--I see the next driver waiting impatiently for the keys :) I enjoyed the trip and I hope everyone found something they liked!

Fandom: MAN FROM UNCLE
Pairing: Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin
Length: ~ 3400
Author on LJ:

epicycles
Author Website: fic list on her LJ
Why this must be read:

You should read this because it's smart and tender and painful and funny and

epicycles has run with her prompt of "quilts" to put together a story the way quilts are sewn together--piece by piece--until like a lovingly assembled crazy quilt it reveals the pattern of a life--two lives in this case.

Nine Blocks is beautifully constructed, each segment has the name of a quilt pattern--with visual aids!--each pattern tells us a little more about the development of Napoleon and Illya's relationship. And there's a quilt in the story itself--the lasting symbol of all deep feelings that will never be verbally expressed.

"I cannot believe we're here to rob an old woman." Illya grumbled.

Napoleon squinted through his binoculars at the small cottage below them. "An old woman who works for Thrush."

"She looks like my bubbe. Except less mean."

"Do you see it anywhere?"

"No." Illya shifted his position on the tree branch. "Do you remember when Thrush put its codes on microfilm? Nice, portable microfilm. Very convenient. You didn't feel foolish stealing microfilm."

"You feel foolish?"

"We're sitting in a tree, Napoleon. Planning to steal a quilt from my grandmother."

Nine Blocks