wanderings

Born Free by cndnsdmlk
Belle | 3:27 | G | Dido Elizabeth Belle/John Davinier
Music: Be About It by Lira
Summary: If you don't like how it is, what you gonna do to change it?
     + Belle's journey, her place in the world, and fight. Tense and triumphant and emotional.

an idea whose time has come by beethechange
Buzzfeed RPF | 12,931 words | PG-13 | Ryan/Shane
Summary: Or: 5 times Ryan Bergara sort of joked that they should blow this popsicle stand,
+1 time he definitely didn’t joke about it.
     + It's a love story, slow, and with long term planning.

want you in my room by beethechange
Buzzfeed RPF | 13,425 words | NC-17 | Ryan/Shane
As they watch, Tall Guy takes his beanie off, revealing a mess of thick, shiny brown hair. He runs his hand through it to shake out the hat hair and Ryan feels like he’s stuck in an Herbal Essences commercial, except he’s the one making inappropriate lustful noises.
Ryan adjusts his snapback, determined. He is, after all, wearing his very finest basketball shorts, without even a single hole at the hem, and the knowledge puts an extra spring in his step.
“I’m gonna climb that dude like a tree,” he tells Curly.
     + Wherein Ryan flirts and woos and Shane is oblivious, but also into it, sometimes in spite of himself. A bit charming and funny.

An Arranged Marriage by Josselin
Captive Prince | 17,785 words | NC-17 | Damen/Laurent
Afterwards his father only remarked, “His features are very fine.”
“I am not marrying him for his features,” said Damen.
“No, you are marrying him for his dowry,” said Theomedes.
     + A what-if AU, where Laurent fixes everything, basically. It's been a while since I read this, but I remember lots of plotting and untangling along with a slow-blooming romance.

Hold It All At Bay by psocoptera
Check Please! | 49,957 words | NC-17 | Jack/Bitty
Summary: The theory of extrapolative synchronization of the mirror neurons was debunked back when he was still in his teens, so Jack is reluctant to mention that he can smell Bitty's pies baking from across campus.
     + Different take on the soulbonding thing. Angst, how the things you get taught as a kid can mess with you, and overcoming that. Possibly my favourite thing about this fic is actually Jack's anxiety crocodile metaphor. (I didn't watch the video linked in the authors notes until long after I read the fic and was trying to re-find it, but it's a super cute animated French short with English subtitles.)

Bones by mithborien
Crimson Peak | 4:15 | PG-13 | Edith Cushing
Music: Bones by MSMR
Summary: "Ghosts are real, this much I know." An Edith Cushing fanvid.
     + This vid is beautiful and absorbing in a way that made me feel like I hadn't seen the film. (Not the case.) Ghosts and monsters and fantastic pacing.

In Geneva by copperbadge
Doctor Who | 9,398 words | PG-13 | The Doctor/Lethebridge Stewart
Summary: The Brigadier was always a companion on his own terms.
     + The Doctor pops in on Lethebridge Stewart, and stays. Domestic and satisfying.

Soldier by runawaynun
The Expanse | 2:56 | G | Chrisjen Avasarala/Bobbie Draper
Music: Soldier by Ingrid Michaelson
Summary: The battle with the heart isn't easily won.
     + Learning to put your trust in someone and fighting by their side. I haven't seen this source material but their story is clearly epic - politics and space walks and gun fights and fleeing in space.

The Unexpected Legacy by FayJay
Guardian | 84,339 words | NC-17 | Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Summary: Bonibaru said: "I woke up with the hazy image of a Regency AU where Zhao Yunlan comes of age and goes to take over his dead mother's crumbling estate home to escape his domineering father. There he meets a very attractive person - I couldn't choose between a butler or a librarian, but there are so many other choices - but it was very dark and gloomy on the moors and Shen Wei looked amazing, so. Also, there was a ghost, or is really a dark energy creature? Shen Wei has all his powers. Zhao Yunlan has many suspicions but also many inappropriate thoughts."
So - I'm not promising that this will be a full length story, but we're going to have a crack at a bit of Gothic nonsense, Guardian-style. Although I've already taken liberties with her concept, and will doubtless take more...
     + Basically: England, 1813, and fairies instead of Dixing. Zhao Yunlan comes into his inheritance, thrice. (If you wanted an 80K Regency nonsense AU for this fandom, here it is. It's probably also pretty accessible without any canon knowledge.)

Catch Your Voice by lavvyan
Marvel | 14,180 words | PG-13 | Clint/Phil
Summary: Clint keeps telling himself he's not obsessed with Coulson. From the way Natasha keeps laughing at him, she's not buying it either. But it's only a crush if you know what the other guy actually looks like, right?
     + Clint totally has a crush, and he flirts, and pines, also.

Problem by CherryIce
Marvel | 3:18 | G | Carol Danvers
Music: Problem by Natalia Killa
Summary: That girl is a problem. A Carol Danvers vid.
     + Punching and explosions, flights, fights, the anatomy of a woman, friendship, family, and maybe true love. (I haven't seen this source.)

You Are My Baby by hexenmeister
Marvel | 2:46 | G | Gen
Music: You Are My Baby by Kimya Dawson
"you are my baby, but you don't belong to me / what you become, that is up to you."
     + Feelings. Family, parenting, growing up, and grieving. Miles and his father and Uncle Aaron and the spider-verse.

Love You Like That by smilebackwards
Multifandom | 1:27 | G | Gen
Music: Love You Like That by Dagny
Summary: You've got the real thing.
     + This is such a great little shot of happy. There's friendship and dancing. (It's also a bit of a different source mix than I tend to see in multifandom vids, temporally, and that was kind of delightful.)

in the hack by thingswithwings
Schitt's Creek | 2,718 words | G | Alexis/Twyla
Summary: After Ted, and before the Next Thing, Alexis joins a curling team. She's great at it, because, what, like it's hard?
     + I really enjoy Alexis and her competence and the slow unfurling thing with Twyla.

Protein Crystals and Other Precious Stones by CherryIce
Schitt's Creek | 8,240 words | G | David and Alexis
Summary: It’s been at least six months since David’s had to emergency courier Alexis a passport, and it’s great. It really is. It’s what he’s always wanted, David reminds himself, trying not to scratch at what definitely aren’t stress hives on his arms.
OR: Alexis Rose finds something unexpected that she's good at. (She's probably not running a cartel.)
     + AU, captures the whole David-Alexis vibe and had me wheezing with laughter.

High Mountain, How I Long by Minimalistless
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System | 14,019 words | NC-17 | Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Yuán;Shěn Qīngqiū
Summary: Shen Qingqiu, after enduring his trial, is placed into Luo Binghe’s custody at Huan Hua Palace.
     + So one of the author tags is melodrama? ...and Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe are ridiculous people. There's strategic dramatic suffering in the rain to gain sympathy and identity stuff and plot device tea and multiple levels of power differentials and angsty history between them and an incredibly saccharine happy ending. *hands*