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beach reading & other recs
When ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
inmyriadbits gleefully abandoned me for her vacation, I sent her off with some of the fluffier end of Avengers/Captain America fandom, since she's been avoiding the angst fest in favor of Les Mis fandom. IRONIC I KNOW. But that fandom's all about the denial AUs, apparently. I don't judge, but I do try to kidnap her back into my current addiction. Because that's what sisters do, right?
Post-Winter Soldier stories
Clint Barton’s Home for Wayward Mind Wiped Assassins (gen)
In which Clint rents one of his apartments to a guy who's clearly a traumatized ex-assassin trying to go straight, but fails to connect him to Steve's missing friend Bucky. If it was any other Marvel character, this would not work, but Clint's unique mix of being a good guy and being painfully clueless at human relationships makes it perfect. It's also not cracky, as I initially thought - Bucky doesn't just show up at Clint's by coincidence, and the story deals with both of the boys' grief and trauma quietly and well - but it is funny and sweet as hell. (ETA: there's now a second chapter that is a little cliffhanger-y and abrupt? avoid as your taste desires)
Oasis (gen)
In which Bucky takes up rooftop gardening at Stark Tower. Oh my god, I need a million more stories where Bucky and Pepper make friends over being involuntarily experimented on, and choosing to create things instead of destroying them.
Bucky And Mister Rogers (gen)
Bucky accidentally becomes a surrogate brother to half the neighborhood, purely via the power of PBS. Right in my Bucky-as-protector feels, plus I know how most of ya'll feel about well-written small children.
Strike (gen)
Steve, Bucky and Sam take a break on their roadtrip to the Grand Canyon to go bowling. Any fic that takes sniper!Bucky and defies-the-laws-of-physics-regularly!Steve and applies both of them to bowling is just comic genius to start with, but it's also got a hysterically funny and perceptive Sam POV.
AUs of adorable
The Coffee Bandits of Greater Manhattan (Clint/Coulson)
I often get bored reading AUs where everyone has normal jobs, but this one has the great twist of Clint and Natasha being rogue unlicensed food truck operators in NYC, being chased by food inspector Phil Coulson, who really really believes inheroes good food. Adorable and well-written with some fun use of the background ensemble (Tony as high-tech parking mogul and coffee patron particularly kills me), and the Clint-Natasha friendship is just as important as the slash, which is important to me.
You Were Standing There (Steve/Bucky)
PTSD-suffering vet!Bucky accidentally breaks into the wrong house while drunk, and meets Steve Rogers, Natasha's seemingly-perfect neighbor. Hit right in the sweet spot of 'Bucky thinks he's worthless' and 'Steve is quietly fucked up' for me. Plus, the writing is vivid and atmospheric without being out of character for Bucky. (This annoys me a lot in the CATWS fandom, when people shovel their lyricism onto a character who's traumatized and has a lot of depth, but is fundamentally a practical, direct sort of person. It's that all-important distinction between 'observant sniper' and 'sounds like a hipster poet'. YMMV.)
*****
And a couple of utterly adorable Leverage vids, since I just re-watched the series and know some of ya'll are also enjoying the whole shebang being up on Netflix now. Spoilery for the whole run of the show, FYI:
Long After You're Gone (team)
Team vid of delight and warm fuzzies, with just a touch of OT3. Some uncut diegetic sound in a couple of places -- technical issues? deliberate choice? It's annoying but minimal, anyway. And I love how it encompasses the relationships, the competence and con shenanigans, *and* the failboat dorkiness of the characters, plus a dash of meta at the end. ♥
Parachute (OT3)
OMG YES. The song is perfect (can any other show match I don't need a parachute, baby, if I've got you to so many actual clips of people jumping off things and having trust moments? I think not), plus fantastic editing, structure, and full of delight. Ugh, I love their faces, Parker/Hardison/Eliot is the best fictional threesome, hands down. I will fight you. (Don/Cosmo/Kathy from Singin' in the Rain are a close runner-up, but they're not word-of-god canon)
inmyriadbits gleefully abandoned me for her vacation, I sent her off with some of the fluffier end of Avengers/Captain America fandom, since she's been avoiding the angst fest in favor of Les Mis fandom. IRONIC I KNOW. But that fandom's all about the denial AUs, apparently. I don't judge, but I do try to kidnap her back into my current addiction. Because that's what sisters do, right?Post-Winter Soldier stories
Clint Barton’s Home for Wayward Mind Wiped Assassins (gen)
In which Clint rents one of his apartments to a guy who's clearly a traumatized ex-assassin trying to go straight, but fails to connect him to Steve's missing friend Bucky. If it was any other Marvel character, this would not work, but Clint's unique mix of being a good guy and being painfully clueless at human relationships makes it perfect. It's also not cracky, as I initially thought - Bucky doesn't just show up at Clint's by coincidence, and the story deals with both of the boys' grief and trauma quietly and well - but it is funny and sweet as hell. (ETA: there's now a second chapter that is a little cliffhanger-y and abrupt? avoid as your taste desires)
Oasis (gen)
In which Bucky takes up rooftop gardening at Stark Tower. Oh my god, I need a million more stories where Bucky and Pepper make friends over being involuntarily experimented on, and choosing to create things instead of destroying them.
Bucky And Mister Rogers (gen)
Bucky accidentally becomes a surrogate brother to half the neighborhood, purely via the power of PBS. Right in my Bucky-as-protector feels, plus I know how most of ya'll feel about well-written small children.
Strike (gen)
Steve, Bucky and Sam take a break on their roadtrip to the Grand Canyon to go bowling. Any fic that takes sniper!Bucky and defies-the-laws-of-physics-regularly!Steve and applies both of them to bowling is just comic genius to start with, but it's also got a hysterically funny and perceptive Sam POV.
AUs of adorable
The Coffee Bandits of Greater Manhattan (Clint/Coulson)
I often get bored reading AUs where everyone has normal jobs, but this one has the great twist of Clint and Natasha being rogue unlicensed food truck operators in NYC, being chased by food inspector Phil Coulson, who really really believes in
You Were Standing There (Steve/Bucky)
PTSD-suffering vet!Bucky accidentally breaks into the wrong house while drunk, and meets Steve Rogers, Natasha's seemingly-perfect neighbor. Hit right in the sweet spot of 'Bucky thinks he's worthless' and 'Steve is quietly fucked up' for me. Plus, the writing is vivid and atmospheric without being out of character for Bucky. (This annoys me a lot in the CATWS fandom, when people shovel their lyricism onto a character who's traumatized and has a lot of depth, but is fundamentally a practical, direct sort of person. It's that all-important distinction between 'observant sniper' and 'sounds like a hipster poet'. YMMV.)
*****
And a couple of utterly adorable Leverage vids, since I just re-watched the series and know some of ya'll are also enjoying the whole shebang being up on Netflix now. Spoilery for the whole run of the show, FYI:
Long After You're Gone (team)
Team vid of delight and warm fuzzies, with just a touch of OT3. Some uncut diegetic sound in a couple of places -- technical issues? deliberate choice? It's annoying but minimal, anyway. And I love how it encompasses the relationships, the competence and con shenanigans, *and* the failboat dorkiness of the characters, plus a dash of meta at the end. ♥
Parachute (OT3)
OMG YES. The song is perfect (can any other show match I don't need a parachute, baby, if I've got you to so many actual clips of people jumping off things and having trust moments? I think not), plus fantastic editing, structure, and full of delight. Ugh, I love their faces, Parker/Hardison/Eliot is the best fictional threesome, hands down. I will fight you. (Don/Cosmo/Kathy from Singin' in the Rain are a close runner-up, but they're not word-of-god canon)