The DreamsEnder: TimeWalker of Atlantis

Hello, lovelies!

Tonight appears to be the magical night when I get a round tuit, so! If you're looking for some good reading, have I got some treats for you!

• The first, from an author who is new to the 5-0 fandom, and deserves so much love: i'd like to know if you'd be open to starting over from scratch (i'd like to know if you'd be open to giving me a second chance) by her_lovelyheart. Teen & up, Steve/Kono, 47,500 words.
  
  Summary: Steve and Kono struggle to find their way back to normal, and discover something even better than before.
  
  Why I think you should read this: This is a fabulously epic post 2x05 read, told from Kono's point-of-view. The thing I love most about this is how the author treats the fallout from Kono's stint undercover--her_lovelyheart has taken real time to mend Kono's relationships with the rest of the team, and I adore how she's given Kono such space to feel and recover. Kono finally gets the apologies I have wanted to see from Danny and from Steve! The team relationships are wonderful! And the buildup of the relationship between Steve and Kono is given such care and space, it's believable and wonderful to watch as it develops. Even if Steve/Kono isn't your 'ship, you will not regret reading this.


• The second, a treat that I forced myself to wait for until after the finals madness: Distant Shores by kristen999. Mature, Steve/Danny, 23,300 words.
  
  Summary: WWII Pacific Theater based AU. Danny's left dumbstruck with the trust suddenly hoisted onto his shoulders. He wants to ask the guy if he's lost his mind, but then again, frogmen wade out in the middle of the ocean with explosives strapped around their waists, so McGarrett is obviously already bonkers. But for some reason Danny simply nods when asked to join the team and the lieutenant smiles at him in return.
  
  Why I think you should read this: This is a fantastically researched AU that doesn't feel researched to death--the details just take you there, plop you down into the middle of the action and drag you along for the ride, much like Steve does to Danny. The relationship between Steve and Danny builds so subtly, that perfect mix of under-the-surface and barely-acknowledged, and the wartime action is the kind of tense, suspenseful writing that I adore so much and know is so, so difficult to pull off. The author doesn't skimp on the fear and horror of actually being in battle, but also doesn't play it for cheap thrills--I thought she infused respect for the real men and women who fought in WWII throughout the fic. I wallowed in this one, and it's one I'm going to go back to.


• The third, if you're not in the mood for a wallow and prefer a bit faster read: En Route, by verasteine. PG-13, Steve/Danny, 4,700 words.
  
  Summary: Getting Steve out is a longer journey than just flying back across the border.
  
  Why I think you should read this: This is one of the best post-2x10 fics I've seen, and there are so many good ones! But this one has such a great quietness to it, so much hiding underneath all the 'I'm fine's, and it just hurts so good to ache right along with Danny.


• And the fourth, last one for now: Home for Christmas, by bluflamingo. PG, Steve/Danny, 2,700 words.
  
  Summary: Grace is spending Christmas with Danny this year, and Mary wants to come home; set vaguely between 2.10 and the latest episode
  
  Why I think you should read this: This is my favorite kind of found-family fic, with so much affection wrapped around Steve and his issues. And I love Mary in this, and Danny, and I just grinned all the way through. An excellent holiday fic!

Please, go read and enjoy and tell the authors what you thought! :D:D:D

how about a meme? Swiped from somehowunbroken first!


Comment with a story I've written, and I will tell you one thing I knew, learned, or wondered about while writing the story that didn't make it onto the page.


Master list is here, and all updated!

Seen all over, and I figured I'd give it a try:


If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately
be looking for a body in the coach. —Alfred Hitchcock


When I write a story, what do readers immediately look for?

Title: Wind Down with All Affection
Author: perspi
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Word Count: 1012
Warnings: None needed

Summary: Danny won't sleep. Chin calls in the big guns.

Notes: For Cate's impromptu snuggle fest. Set some time after 'Bespoke' in the Tailor!Steve 'verse.

Comments and concrit always welcome. Also on AO3.

( Steve's got a comfortable doze going in his armchair, the explosions in the movie turned down to a soothing murmur and the rest of the lights turned down low. )

samjohnsson picked some of my icons! SO! Now I can talk about them. :)

Here's the meme:

1. Reply to this post with 'hot cocoa', and I will pick five of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR ICONSES.

	Who doesn't love Beaker? Long have I looked for an icon that conveys the appropriate level of utterly batshit crazy, and thanks to bella_sol, now I've got it.
	Every so often I need an icon to convey "OH FOR PETE'S SAKE." You know, for all those times when you're utterly exasperated. With, EVERYTHING. By roxicons.
	This one is called 'time for booze'--and is for all those times I need to celebrate! With booze! (It's from a Grace Kelly ad campaign for champagne, so I think it fits, yeah?) By mischief.
	I have a real soft spot for John Sheppard, and I especially like the expressiveness of this one. In an unfinished fic I describe him as 'handsome with a hint of mileage and gray,' which seems to be a weakness of mine. By jhava.
	It took me a looooong time to realize that hey, I could have an icon with my pseud! and then I found dhamphir, who does the BEST personalized icons. :D (I started my 'online identity' on the TWoP boards and the management change sent me off them for good. But it's where my username comes from--'perspi' is short for 'perspicacious.')
	And for a bonus! This is from a picture drawn for me when I was pregnant with Z--when she was still just a PeaPod--by snuggle_muffin1 (who I originally met on TWoP), and I use it a lot when talking about the wee one. :)

I would share icon love, if you want to play! Or else, you know, I will just pass around some hot cocoa. :)

I had the privilege of reading this early, as a beta, and oh, what a great read this is:

Into the Enemy's Country, by verasteine. NC-17, Steve/Danny, about 6400 words.

Summary: on the bad days, Steve turns away from him, and on the good days, Danny still feels like his heart is being trampled on.

Vera wrote this to a prompt on five-0-frolic, to explore how DADT has affected Steve and how he handles (or doesn't, so well) romantic relationships. I love how she did it: it's an established-relationship story, and Steve is (as one might expect) not exactly forthcoming with his issues and Danny takes some time to catch on. There's a lot of hurt and tension underneath the everyday stuff that we 'see,' and Vera does a wonderful job of letting the characters just go (and eventually work toward something good), keeping everything understated and giving us a great peek at how something like DADT can shape a life.

Go, read, tell her how awesome!

Title: Bespoke
Author: perspi
Rating: R
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Word Count: 16,290

Summary: "It's just, you don't strike me as somebody who sews, that's all."

"Yeah, how do I strike you?"

Notes: Warning for violence. Written for the Suit & Uniform Kink Meme, posted between August 2 and August 31, 2011. Many, many thanks to the readers there who followed along and cheered me on (y'all know who you are), as well as to siriaeve and pwcorgigirl for beta help for the final posting.

Comments and concrit always welcome. Also on AO3.

( In which Steve is a tailor, and Danny needs a custom shirt... )

 

Title: Ease Into Skin
Author: perspi
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Hawaii 5-O
Pairing: None
Word Count: 1018
Summary: If you've got enough guts, you can get what you want.
Notes: Inspired by a kink-meta post in delicatale's LJ. With deepest thanks to my First-Readers for the cheering and nitpicking, especially pwcorgigirl and somehowunbroken.

Comments and concrit always welcome. Also on AO3.

( He's never really thought of this as something he could do, for himself, before now. )

Title: The Weeks That Follow
Author: perspi
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Hawaii 5-O
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Word Count: 795
Summary: In which Steve demonstrates his understanding of Danny's lessons on the importance of the well-timed hug.
Notes: Originally written as commentfic in delicatale's hug meme, inspired by sirona's lovely How Steve got his hug and kept it. Coda to 1.23.

Comments and concrit always welcome. Also on AO3.

( ...like Danny flipped some kind of hug-it-out switch and Steve's helpless against it... )

Ahoy, loves!

We're having a wonderful lazy-ish day today, and now that Z's down for a nap I'm getting set to get back to the grading. But first! A couple recs, for some feel-good Sunday reading:

1. Thanks to kitsune_tsuki for pointing to this fill at the Sherlock kinkmeme, which made me laugh and laugh. I think you'd enjoy it even if you have only passing familiarity with the new BBC Sherlock:
   
   Clothes Maketh the Man, Moustaches Maketh the BAMF
   
   Summary: We know John has a moustache. A badass moustache. A moustache so badass that it jumped off his face and decided to kick ass on its own, and John was just dragging it down and it wanted to protect him and whatnot. Here's the prompt:
   
   Five Adventures John's Moustache Had That His Face Missed, and One Adventure His Face Had That The Moustache Missed


2. Also from kitsune_tsuki, the most enjoyable little slice-of-life-with-Five-0 ficlet Pop Quiz
   
   Summary: ...It should probably be known that I have this great, great fondness for the movie Speed before you click the cut. Also, inspired (vaguely) by the SG-1 episode Grace Park was in. :D?


3. And this one from delicatale, a fantastic little story in which Steve turns into a cat. I especially love how the author handles the whole transformation trope: no one figures it out right away, Steve-the-cat is a very catlike cat, Danny's so adrift but he likes Steve's cat anyway. ADORABLE, OKAY?
   
   Tuna
   
   Summary: In which Steve disappears, only not really. He just turns into a cat.