Being An Anchor by lanning cook (R)

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

Fandom: SPORTS NIGHT
Pairing: Dan/Casey
Author on LJ: lanning
Author Website: http://lanning.slashdom.com/
Why this must be read:

I'm a little iffy about reccing this story. I am most emphatically not into rape stories, and when reccing it I tend to think of all the ways in which the way this story deals with the issues involved isn't perfect.

It is, however, so much better about the issues than 99% of the other rape stories out there, so I don't feel too bad. It's a long way from the simple "let's get Danny raped and then give him lots of sex with Casey to make him feel better" approach, thank god. At the very least, this story acknowledges that rape actually has an aftermath, and if it's not perfect, well, I can't really expect it to be. As these things go, this is right up there.

And, wonder of wonders, Danny and Casey in their lovely, stupid, snarky, wonderful glory can be seen here too, as well as some vintage Natalie and a nice portion of everyone else as well. This fic actually acknowledges that Dan and Casey live in a world, and that group dynamic being present is a big reason for me to love it all by itself. I love Dan and Casey as characters, but when I read fic I'm after the context too. And this even adds to the context in a cool and believable way - I so want Alex as a therapist, dangit. So much yay for that. It's all part of making a multi-layered, interesting story, people.

I've also got to admit that I happen to really like uber-sap or uber-angst moments diverted with snark, and that's something lanning's got right down. It also goes a long way towards helping me believe in a scenario which I'd otherwise be running a mile from, and stopping it from getting to the level of insulting cliche that most similar fics seem to get to. Even if this isn't your usual thing, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Being An Anchor

I'd also like to take this opportunity to pimp the cool Dan/Casey Manifesto, written for ship_manifesto.