Sherlock let go of John’s face to pull him in against his chest. John let go of Sherlock’s coat. He lifted his chin to Sherlock, wetting his lips. Sherlock leaned down and kissed him, tugging the edges of his coat around John’s back.
The wind blew down another shower of cherry blossoms. Sherlock pulled John closer against him, his lips sliding over John’s. ♡
Commission for the always amazing holmesianpose :) Another one based on chapter 9 of her lovely story “Thirst”, which you should all read here !
John let his head fall back against the wall, the hand that was still wrapped around Sherlock’s, squeezing desperately. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He was everywhere all at once, coming apart under Sherlock’s mouth. He was thankful for the wall at his back because his legs were as soft as butter beneath him, trembling and weak. ♡
Commission for holmesianpose ! Based on chapter 8 of her great story “Thirst”, which you guys can find here :)
AWRIGHT INEFFABLE SLUTS so I loved the first season of Good Omens like any right thinking person. Duh. It was So. Damn. Good. Tbh it too good for me to feel the need to go trawl through AO3 for more. I was content. I was Fed. All was well with my soul.
Then Season 2 happened
And. Well. Obviously now its fully halt and catch fire time. I am aggressively Not Well and may never know peace again. AND I was behind the eight ball, because I'm also aggressively unfamiliar with what's on offer and the AO3 tag is expanding exponentially, and I'm not good at running those sophisticated multilayered sort routines the smart people do. So like any right thinking lazyass I waylaid some besties in the metaphorical backalleys and shook them down for The Good Shit and have been snorting it up by the kilo ever since. If you, dear reader, like me, have just crawled out from under the apple tree desperate for Knowledge and Feels, here's some highlights. (No particular order, just as they occur to me, and obviously nowhere near complete)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
This fic will ruin you. It will nail you to a cross, drag you face down through Hell, then raise you up to glory on the third day and send you forth renewed. If you've rewatched episode 2.1 a dozen times and every time the Starmaker's innocent joyous face makes you sadder, this is YOUR STORY. It is SO ridiculously good there's multiple people in the comments triumphantly announcing they've found Michael Sheen's Seekrit AO3 account, spurred on by the extremely sus fact that this 100k story was posted anonymously a mere 19 days after S2 aired. Personally I think the author was God Herself, who penned it with an angel feather while lying on Her Ineffable Bed, kicking Her feet and twirling Her starlit hair. If we (Herself forbid) never get season 3, we will have this, and all will be well, and all will be well and all manner of things will be well.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Everybody knows about this fic by @mouseonamoose already, right? I mean, I didn't bc as earlier stated I been under a rock in the desert but surely everybody else does. If you're one of the five people who hasn't read this yet, go do that. Pure 100% organic CATHARSIS, babeey! Yes, the POV is an oc. READ IT ANYWAY. She is fuckin' amazing and I'm honored to have met her. Or listen to it, there's a podfic by @starcatcherbetty, and I'm currently recording the sequel, Angel-Centered Therapy Through A Multicultural Lens: An Integrative Approach, as it posts, in between working my way through 1,650 "How To British" tutorials for my sinsss.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
If you'd like to read something a bit less Epic that won't, yanno, actually alter your brain chemistry and/or the composition of your soul, darcylindbergh @forineffablereasons has gotchu. Lovely South Downs retirement story with an unusual premise, good for what ails ya. Dryly witty in the style of the book, and with the same heart.
It's Not The End Of The World, Dear, series beginning with Lie Back and Think of Dinner by @jess-the-reckless
Attention all monsterfuckers, pulchritudinous pervs, fabulous freaks, beloved weirdos, and nerds who just really want to know what Aziraphale thought about Oliver Cromwell, Jessthereckless's series explores what happens when angels and demons make the effort while also exploring some actual history and yes that is a euphemism but also not. Hilarious, hot as Crowley's former workplace, and filled with adventure and shenanigans. Be aware the seventh and final story in the series is a WIP, but 1-6 are all complete.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
A fic that answers the burning question of why Crowley likes to stare at Aziraphale while he eats. Surely not the only time in history cheesecake has led to passionate love confessions but certainly one of the best. And when you're done, you can delicately wipe your mouth with a linen napkin and then go and order more from the obstinatrix and wishwellingtons menu, they're all five stars.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
The first fic I read in this fandom after S1, bc a friend grabbed me by the face and said THIS and I was immediately laid waste bc I'm weak for celestial beings doing weird metaphysical ineffable sex things, and I really wish I could find more of it (recs welcome GIMME), but meanwhile we have THIS SPLENDOR. @isozyme says this was meant to be only 2000 words but thank Somebody for nudging them to up it to 20k of beautifully characterized, tonally spot on, wildly creative ineffable perfection.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
An exquisite gem for when you're in a post S1 "watch the rain and talk about Life" mode. Instead of my useless wittering, have a bit from the summary:
“Our first date,” Crowley agrees sarcastically, wriggling to wrap the blanket more tightly around him. It really is soft. “You wore white and a near palpable patina of nervous guilt.”
Yes, its all this good.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Or this one by @wordsphoenix if you're in more of a post S2 "mope at the pub but make it sublime" place:
“Well, I was going to move back into my flat in London, but I didn’t- I don’t know.” The fog was bad. Last time Crowley had drunk it away, and then his angel had come back and he’d got sober again and there were plenty of things more important than fog. Now there was so little else. “Perhaps I’ll stay here for a while.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
A nice long series by @irisbleufic for if you want to move to the South Downs and do redecorating, found family, and adventures. An extensive 'verse to spend a weekend or a week or a month in, better than most vacation destinations I've visited and no airbnb fees. EDITED to add: i'm told this is one of or perhaps THE og South Downs fic! Its got its own Fanlore page.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I'm not sure how its possible to fit this much awesome in 5k but here we are. TruckThat clearly got their doctorate in Pining!Crowley with a minor in Musing (Angsty, Drunken) on top of their masters in Incredible Spot On Dialogue. Also omg this fic only has 4 comments wtf??!! YA'LL ARE FAILING PULL IT TOGETHER AND GO READ THIS AND DON'T FORGET TO YELL ABOUT IT
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
For when you want to laugh your ass off. Leupagus is a comedic genius, nuff said. Also there is a podfic by moi bc I had to find some way of expressing my adoration and worship, i can't fit any more candles on the altar
I’ve awakened to a lot of posts on the tag wherein people are wondering where this assumption originated, and it’s a fairly straightforward story. Back in early 2005, Neil made this post on his blog. I wasn’t the only person who was idly curious as to what Neil and Terry had decided Aziraphale and Crowley were up to “on the South Downs” (see linked entry), so, given I knew both of them would be doing readings/signings within a week of each other in Cambridge, MA that autumn and that I planned on attending both events if I could, I was determined to ask both of them the same question if I was fortunate enough to be called on at both events (which I highly doubted would happen; I’m not good at making myself stand out in a crowd). I had no particular motive. I just wanted to know, and so did a number of my friends (both online and offline) at the time. Terry’s event was first, and he did, in fact, call on me at the Q&A. I explained that I’d read a reference on Neil’s blog to a conversation between the two of them regarding what Aziraphale and Crowley were doing on the South Downs, but that Neil hadn’t said precisely what. Strangely, Terry’s answer had everything to do with the sequel-that-was-not-to-be and nothing to do with what I actually asked, so, while it was an entertaining answer regarding the rest of the conversation they’d had that day about the ill-fated sequel, he wasn’t forthcoming. At Neil’s event a week later, which was held in a much bigger venue and attended by at least three times as many people, the Q&A had got down to the wire; I hadn’t been called on, and they could only take two or three more questions. I don’t really know what happened, but I ended up being the second-to-last person called on. I asked him the same question I’d asked Terry, almost verbatim. Neil’s answer started out very much like Terry’s: how they’d been catching up with each other, reminiscing about the idea of a sequel (that’s where the whole pornography joke came up, which somebody did badly misremember in how they represented it on Wikipedia, and, actually, I have no bloody idea why somebody felt the need to put any of the information from his answer in a Wikipedia entry on Aziraphale in the first place), and generally chatting about the novel. This is where Neil’s answer finally diverged from Terry’s, for which I was pretty grateful, because I was beginning to get the sense that neither one of them really wanted to fess up to what they’d decided. Neil ended his answer with, “Well, what they’re doing on the South Downs is sharing a cottage. Next question?" I don’t even remember what the last question was at this point, because I couldn’t get it through my head that the answer was something so simple, yet so momentous. I understand that it annoys the authors that it’s broadly interpreted as support for slash in canon, but that’s the domain of fandom: interpreting information in such a way that results in further exploration and character growth (just perhaps not in the way that the original creators intended).
Remember when Aziraphale looked at the nebula and said "It's very pretty! And I think you've done an excellent job!" and Crowley just huffed "Oh thank you!"?
What if Aziraphale took all his courage and tried one more time...
