An update, to be more specific, on the theme of titles that do absolutely no justice to the fic.

Arthurian
Everything was strange; everything had changed... by Soujin Prouvaire
Gaheris/Mordred, PG13

Oh guh. I am not into the incest fic, generally, just really not, but Arthurian stuff is a bit different. And this-- this is short and achy and tangled and a little otherworldly and did I mention guh?

"--Missed you." It's rough, there's an edge to it, and suddenly Mordred's caught, before he can move, caught in a kiss and wet cold hands that smell of the sea, caught next to a body that's lean and rough and edgy as the voice that belongs to it. Gaheris has been waiting too long.


Westmark
Florian and Zara by thistlerose
Gen, PG

Reccing this partly because dude, it's Westmark fic by a complete stranger! and partly because it's lovely in its simplicity and imagery. Florian and Zara in Regia. Arguing, naturally.

...in the firelight, her hair gleamed like polished copper and, like all things divine, she was quite beyond his reach.

Alice in Wonderland

Without The Lobsters by assimbya
Gryphon/Mock Turtle, PG

Instant winner of the Year's Most Adorable Fic to Traumatize My Inner Child.

Then, soon after they got out of school, the accident happened, and the Mock Turtle became a Mock Turtle for the first time. No one would speak to him except for the Gryphon, and then, of course, no one would speak to the Gryphon. And so the Gryphon decided that it was time for both of them to leave.


Fullmetal Alchemist

Synthemata by Tiamat's Child
Gen, PG13; manga spoilers

Ran Fan recovers in Knox's house. Understated and funny and touching and spot-on in character.

"You didn’t hurt me."

"Heh," he said, gathering her hair and starting again, "I suppose I didn’t, hmm? Tough girl like you."

"I have calluses on my hands too," she said, and was grateful when he just hummed.


Les Misérables

Sonnet, When the Words Flow by most_noble
Prouvaire/Enjolras, PG

Jehan is so adorable when he's crushing madly.

And the metaphors and couplets and words, beautiful, true, brilliant words, soared by, and Jean was unable to catch them, as he had no ink in his pen to pin them against the paper with.

But the words came back, as surely as Enjolras entered the café, day after day.

Zétalbé, Come Reign in My Heart by Elyse
Gen, G

Conspiracy in the Rue Petit Picpus! A retelling of an amusing incident buried amid the rampant digressions of canon.

The sixteen-year-olds, for once, were silent during lessons, and even the youngest children did not fidget during morning prayers. The chapel mothers were all highly suspicious of such perfect behavior, and they all applied, in half-heard whispers, to the prioress, Mère Innocente, for an explanation. Mère Innocente only told several of her beads, and then murmured, "Praise be to God."


Westmark

Winter by Soujin Prouvaire
Gen, PG

A beautiful, bittersweet portrait of little!Zara and her father.

When she was lots smaller, but still as sharp as she is now, she used to go snow-walking with her father. He took her rain-walking, too, but they never went flower-walking, and maybe that's why she knows snow and rain better than flowers.

Footstep Traps by Tiamat's Child
Gen, PG13

Inside Justin's twisty little mind. It's not a happy place.

Everything makes him angry, these days. He can barely stand upright for it, for the ringing of fury in his head, so bright and clear and cold and overpowering like a grand town bell when you stand right next to it, the force of the sound smashing into you and sending you vibrating to its tune, its tone, its rhythm, not your own.


Crossovers

Nights of endless conversations by Fahye
Sandman and Firefly, gen with het bits

Serenity entertains visitors. Cannot excerpt, as all of it is too perfect where it is. Go read.


Originals

Untitled by afrai
It is short, and sweet, and wise, and heartwarming, and has a wombat in. I don't know what more I can say.

The wombat peered over God's cloud-frilled arm at the blue world beneath them, and made a doubtful wombat noise. "It's a very big world," it said.

Les Misérables

Narilsa makes me wibble with word-lust. Her Frenchboys are dark and complex, and the language is lush and sexy and okay, a little heavy on the epithets and adjectives, but hey, I never claimed not to like purple. Dissembler features doctor!Enjolras and brawler!Grantaire absolutely awash in unresolved sexual tension.

"There is bruising here," Enjolras finally said, his long-fingered hand pausing in its ministrations over Grantaire's lower ribcage. Shaking his head, Grantaire reached up, took Enjolras's slender wrist in his hand, and moved the hand to his heart. Enjolras stared.

"No. That's where it is..."

She also wrote Forty Days in answer to my plea for gratuitous Mizslash, and -- let's just say it was exactly what the doctor ordered. *eg*

The Frenchboys Mix-n-Match Challenge closed awhile back, and while only half of the stories have actually come in *cough*, what's up there is well worth checking out.

K. Telfer drew Enjolras/Combeferre, and graced us with Reinvention, in which Combeferre clings to memories. Bittersweet and beautiful.

Also They Went On Their Way, by Jenelin, who is Still The Coolest: Courfeyrac/Bossuet, which like many of the mix'n'match stories shouldn't work, but does. In a decidedly Hugonian style, no less. <3

Last but not least there is One Hundred Years, by Soujin Prouvaire, which is Enjolras gen written after an idea of petronelle's and just... indescribably gorgeous.

"The small paper dragon his father had made for him writhed against his palm, and snakelike skin brushed dry against the line that meant life. Tiny claws hooked around his fingers, and tinier teeth nibbled his wrist. He stopped, childishly enthralled."

Hornblower

Speaking of Petra, you ought to know by now that if someone comes up with an oddball pairing, she'll probably write it just to see if she can pull it off. This one was Hornblower/Foster, and St. Elmo's Fire proves emphatically that she can. It's a drabble, and it is Just Right.

Harry Potter

I am one of those people who is vaguely terrified by Potterfandom in general, but fics keep poking into my consciousness. And yes, I freely admit to being something of a Sirius fangirl. What can I say? I'm drawn to melodramatic screwups. ;)

Four Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty, by Kel. Sirius in Azkaban, evidently written pre-OotP, and fragmented and enthralling and again, Right.

Also A Dog's Life, by Victoria P., which is a very simple, ridiculously cute story about... exactly what it sounds like, really. Okay, so it's not earthshattering drama, but it's so. Cute.

Westmark

Terence, by Old Kasperl, despite the pen name is an angsty little Florian vignette. (Someday, somewhere, in the far distant future, someone will write Florian humor and what there is of the fandom will implode from the paradox.) It's a bit over the top, but I like it anyway; it feels authentic to me.

The Princess Bride

Fearing Greenland, by debchan, is. Well. Princess Bride slash. But so help me God, it works, it's dear, and it's not even Racy.

Outsiders

Okay, I will admit something. I have never read "Outsiders". Have no idea what it's about, even. Do you know how often I read fanfic about something I'm not familiar with? Never.

But I do when it's Soujin writing it, because... because, dammit. And because Quai Razio Serna is an adorable story in its own right. Two boys in a train. Night thoughts. Slash of the fluffiest, adolescentest, wibblingest, timidest, sweetest kind. Go read it. Even if you have no idea what "Outsiders" is.