Surprising probably uhhh no one, I go absolutely WILD for Klaus and Dave, but this list is the restrained edit. It deffff could be longer. This ship means so so much to me, and that is absolutely the product of reading such incredible, beautiful fic about them. I have never before felt as strongly about a fictional couple, which I guess means it’s my first actual otp? So so many thanks to the writers who wrote fic about these two and taught me what longing and love are.
Ten Months by @fanthings
It makes him sad, sometimes, that in order to find acceptance, Klaus has to travel back fifty years into one of the bloodiest wars of American history. Most of the time, he doesn’t care. His family probably doesn’t even notice he’s missing anyway.
—
Dave is looking at him, eyes soft and heavy lidded. “What did you say to that guy?” he asks, head resting on the wall, body turned towards Klaus.
“Ah,” Klaus laughs, dropping his hand to take a drink. “Just mouthed off. You know how I am.”
“That mouth will get you in trouble some day,” Dave says softly.
Klaus looks up, swallowing. “Some people like my mouth,” he says.
“I do.”
Rating: M⎜Word Count: 122k+⎜In Progress (10/14)
Fuck. Fuck! I can’t explain how much I love this fic. I’ve gone out of my mind over it. It’s so so good. Covering Klaus’ ten months in Vietnam, and his and Dave’s relationship. It’s so well written and detailed and all the characters even OCs are so well-realized and realistic. Dave is fully fleshed out too, with strengths and flaws and his own person, not Klaus’ prop. It made me realize that Klaus and Dave fighting is my favorite thing, because then they get back together. They always work to fix things with each other and ahhh god I’m emotional just thinking about it I adore this fic.
Oddities Observed, Vietnam 1968 by @charmingpplincardigans
“There are people who care whether you live or die,” Dave said, because he felt it needed saying.
He couldn’t imagine not caring. This man was erratic, but he was also fragile in a way Dave couldn’t quite put his finger on given how he was apparently also indestructible, and deeply intuitive about people and their moods. When he wasn’t as high as the army doctors’ pills and black-market heroin would allow, he was paying attention. Dave knew, because while Klaus was paying attention to the others, he was paying attention to Klaus.
“Do you think?” Klaus pulled a joint out of his metal cigarette case, lit it, and took a hit. He offered it to Dave, who didn’t take it. He was always offering his things to Dave, even when he knew they weren’t things Dave wanted.
“Yes,” he said. “I do.”
(Or, Vietnam, but from Dave’s point of view.)
Rating: M⎜Word Count: 17k+⎜Complete (1/1)
An absolute classic. I don’t think I’ve seen it on other lists this week and that’s simply a crime. One of the first Vietnam fics I read and still one of the best! It’s got such a good blend of that lethal combination of all Klaus and Dave fics - on fire with the fear and violence of their situation, but so full of tenderness and love. It’s got desperation, in the best way. It’s beautiful.
the kind of love i’ve been dreaming of by katplanet
“You agreed to be a designated driver,” Klaus says, because of course he’s as good at this as he is at every other thing he and Dave have done in bed together. “All your stupid Varsity Lacrosse friends started annoying you, so you were looking for someone else to talk to. And lo and behold, a sad twink in a crop top, alone on the couch with a half-finished vodka cranberry.”
“What’s a twink?”
“Me,” Klaus says. “I’m a twink.”
Rating: E⎜Word Count: 6k+⎜Complete (1/1)
The only explicit fic I’ve ever recced? I don’t read too much smut, but this fic. The tenderness in this fic is enough to kill you, and then also there is smut, which is a potent combination! This is the fic that gave me my Klaus and Dave tag, because reading this fic, I cried and came to some realizations about Love.
Slow is in My Blood by @sunriseseance
Dave touches him, sometimes. In dances through root systems lit by a diffused moon, Dave puts a hand on his lower back, his arm, his shoulder. To help, he says. Your balance, he says, it isn’t good. I don’t want you to fall. These pits are endless, he says. You don’t like the dark. A touch to help. It helps.
A meditation on Klaus and allowing himself to be loved. Dave doesn’t die at the end.
Rating: NR⎜Word Count: 1k+⎜Complete (1/1)
It’s so so gorgeous. It’s Klaus making the decision to love and be loved, even as he considers all the frightening ramifications of it. It’s had a huge impact on the way I think about their dynamic. I love it so much.
My night sky by apathyinreverie
The first time Dave sees Klaus, he is wearing nothing but a bloody towel, clutching a briefcase to his chest like his life depends on it and looking up at him with big eyes from where he is sitting on the floor next to his cot.
And immediately, Dave is spellbound. Over the ten months they know each other, that doesn’t change.
Rating: G⎜Word Count: 3k+⎜Complete (1/1)
Such a great look at Klaus from Dave’s outside, but smitten perspective. Almost like a character study of him, during a time when he’s going through so much. And it’s so well-written - right from the start there’s a line about Klaus being made of contradictions that has stuck with me for so long.
Bad Habits by @siriuspiggyback
Dave shook his head. “I wasn’t asking you to- I wanted to talk. That’s all. Not-”
“Why are you making this so difficult?” accused Klaus. “I made you mad. So I was going to suck you off, so you wouldn’t be mad anymore,” he said simply, like he was explaining something obvious.
Or, after a lifetime of sleeping with guys just to get off the streets for the night, Klaus has a bad understanding of consent. Dave isn’t okay with that.
Rating: T⎜Word Count: 3k+⎜Complete (1/1)
And if we are talking about things that have stuck with me, this fic is one that I must have read so early on that I just folded it in with my baby developing Klaus and Dave dynamic headcanons, and it’s never left me. I think this is the only one on here that is set in some kind of post-not-apocalypse where they are navigating what a ‘normal’ relationship looks like for them.
I’ll Be Cleaning Up Bottles With You On New Year’s Day by @sunriseseance
Sitting behind him on the windowsill, in a truth that still feels false, is Dave. Quiet, right now. Rubbing Klaus’s neck. Kissing it occasionally. New clothes, even, though still only things Klaus saw Dave wear in life. The closest he came to fancy enough for New Year’s was the outfit he wore on the night they first kissed. The dates still get muddled in his head.
Dave still smells like Dave. Klaus can bring that back, too. The earthy-clean skin, the slight scent of sweat, the cotton of the polo. Something else, underneath all that. Something that Klaus could recognize anywhere, could follow to the end of the world, could die to protect.
Rating: NR⎜Word Count: 1k+⎜Complete (1/1)
I know I’ve recced this and her fics before but this fic is so incredibly beautiful that it really is the perfect fit for being the final one I rec for this event. Reading it feels like warmth. It’s a concentrated dose of the exact kind of happiness that Klaus and Dave share at the best of times. I love it, and I love them, and I love her, and I love everyone in this fandom who is sharing their love with everyone by posting their creations <3
thanks for this week nine days of positivity, @tuafeedbackfest and everyone who participated!