RPF Services Edition Fic Rec: Maybe I'm a fool, but it's fun
by @randlemartin (modwyrs on AO3)
Fandom: Band of Brothers
Relationship: LuzToye George Luz/Joe Toye
Recommended if you: Enjoying bouncing off your walls, screaming and chewing on your arm because they are skin to goddamn skin and somehow it's still burning so SLOW and so GOOD post-war. (More thoughts under the cut!)
Art featured is a mock up I based off of Armed Services Editions. This one in particular uses elements from the original book cover for War of the World by H.G. Wells, fonts from the time period, and detail from John Singer Sargent's 'An Artist in His Studio' (1904).
Domestic and brimming with so much sexual tension. Post-War fics my beloved. George lights up the room and chews on his insecurities between half-jokes. Joe runs hot most days but is so soft around the edges. Second shower back stateside made me shriek. So tender—any time I think about it I feel my heart quite literally being tugged down.
Loved Caoimhe's exploration of the paratroopers vs. the rest of the army even in post-war. The whole "big and aggressive" description of irl Web for Dick permeates for so many in the airborne and it grounded this fic in the time period so well. Can't stop thinking about that detail.
Been a while since a fic kept me up 'til the wee hours of the morning and god I loved this so, so much. I've dabbled in some LuzToye here and there so 80k words of it was such a GIFT. Easily became one of my favorites. Re-reading it feels just as rewarding as the first time.
The most inconspicuous appearance of misplaced shaving foam hit me with yearning the size of a fucking comet. SHAVING FOAM. I’ll be thinking about it for weeks.
I love how this work feels like it was held with both her hands, and how it really feels like she was falling in love with both Dick and Lew while she wrote. Falling in love happens in the quietest instances: a soft clump of map-tousled hair, the absence of a name on a dog tag, and a countdown that means you jump out of a plane and then, and then, not towards death.
If you love Classic Winnix™️, you will want to drown in all 42,000+ words of this pre-war and war fic, and the fantastic way @pfctipper’s prose and research sing together so, so seamlessly. Her historical accuracy never veers towards pedantic and instead punctuates Dick’s conflicting longing and period typical brain so thoughtfully. You’re never bogged down by the history because it urges you on instead and into the loving arms of Winnix. That is, whether you’re new to this fandom and this ship, or if you’ve read and annotated all the RRLs for BoB and Winnix, you will never feel lost, just honest to god convinced that this is a True Account of The Events. What I find dragged me in and trapped me was just how Dick’s and Lew’s ways of yearning were made so distinct; it makes you ache the way they do. The mere mention of shit on a stick made me cheer, so you can imagine how I yelled at the pitch perfect ways Easy and Co. were woven in.
Words are not enough to express how wonderfully and lovingly written this is! You’re a gift @pfctipper.
Summary of Author: It’s 1939 and the World’s Fair has opened in Queens, NY. Life magazine has a spread on it, Major League Baseball has been advertising it and a young man from Pennsylvania has been gifted tickets from his parents for his birthday and finally makes the trip when school is over. What Dick expects to be an exciting journey to New York City for his first long distance train ride, ends up a life changing event when he meets a Yale student on his way home to New Jersey.
Basically Dick Winter’s Rumspringa and Lewis Nixon III is all the vices he wants to experience.
Relationship: Lewis Nixon/Richard Winters
Fic rec because she doesn't!! post!! her links on here!! and I feel like the general public is missing out on Winnix banter that knocks you out of the park.
I love alternate beginnings, a.k.a. Nix and Dick fall for each other every single time. @bleedingcoffee42 takes you through that initial meet-cute before launching you into a full-on whirlwind romance because love snowballs into you after the first scoop of Carvel ice cream. Grandpa Nixon's here too and he is (surprisingly) lovely. The road to OCS has never been sweeter. Great stuff.
Winnix fic recs finally! I clawed through pages 1-61 on AO3 and then scoured through Dreamwidth because I just need this ship injected into my brain.
Just so we're all aligned, I'm very much into "Classic" Winnix. And while generally I do still read AUs, much of what I keep close are the ones that are entrenched in, before, and after the war. Still enjoy a bit of the supernatural though. So please forgive the lack of non-WWII AUs. :') Ok onward.
Note: All links in blue are restricted to logged-in AO3 users! So hopefully you have an account so you can read some gold.
5+1 tag
The Way I Wear Your Hat by Muccamukk - I will consume anything Mucca writes and live in it for at least two weeks.
Let Me Be Close by armyofbees - So tooth achingly sweet, tender in post-war. Nix combing Dick's hair? I'm so.
I'm Alright Now You're Here by @stopstopstopit - A.k.a. Dick and Nix going, "Was I truly that blind???" about each other and everyone in Easy Company saying, "Yeah." So good, so, so fun. Giggled like a maniac all throughout.
Pre-War
Before the World Begins by rilla (@flomps)- The first time I read this, I cried. Then again the second, third, fourth, etc. Lew and Dick meet in NY before Benning, before everything, and it's under very different circumstances. I love the characterization of Nix and Dick in this so much and the gentleness in the midst of all the smut. A TALENT!
Lancaster County by rachelelpillo - Technically not pre-war because this is an AU where it happens without them. It's bittersweet, but emphasis on the sweet. Teenage Dick and Nix and a whole summertime of falling in love.
Bicostal by dancinguniverse - I am a sucker for anything that starts at OCS. I love this and the telegrams and letters tucked within it.
Wartime
Bird Wedding by rachelelpillo - The way she writes anything really sounds like a summer day to me. This one is very understated and just wonderful if you want something that leaves you smiling. (Highly recommend you go through her work, last she posted was in 2010. :') )
And at Your Touch, I Burn by Muccamukk- CHRIST. A SICK!FIC. God I love this for so many reasons, one of them being just the incredible way Mucca describes the field exercise, the crawl and length of it. And Dick getting sick. Nix doing what he does. It's wonderful. It's perfect.
Vampire Overhead! by joissant - There's a little Vampire!Nix AU for you. In the midst of Bastogne and hunger, there is this and it's fucking fantastic.
love divine, all loves excelling by @flanneryoconnorfanfiction - The way my heart soared all throughout this fic. Religion, for many reasons is often the point of friction for Dick, and this one turns it over its head. It's reverent and (so) joyful and honestly, probably what God should feel like. There are not enough kudos-es in the world.
Post-War
Head Trip by @ezlebe - Two lines from this fic ring in my head daily, that's how much I loved every bit of it. And I mean who isn't a sucker for Operation Varsity-adjacent fics? Harry's in this so it's automatically just extra wonderful for me. I LOVE!! I absolutely love.
Like a Bird on the Wire by semperama - Them coming home without an established relationship is always a trope enjoy. Blanche Nixon is here being cheeky, and Dick is all smiley, Lewis is stressed the fuck out. It all makes for a wonderful get-together.
More than a Team by @mercurygray - I love reading about Ann Winters and I love seeing Nix and Dick navigate those familial relationships after the war. This is short and so, so sweet. Every bit as wonderful as the ice cream.
thyme and rosemary by @oatflatwhite - Yet another one where Ann Winters makes a wonderful cameo. Dick is trying not to be miserable and he keeps writing all these unsent letters to Lew. Featuring the cutest kitten ever.
Series
What Things We Have Heard Together by joissant (4 works) - Quite possibly required reading for Winnix enthusiasts. Feels like such a gift to be able to thread through so many points in their relationship and everyone else tangled in their orbit.
Winnix from the POV of other people
Oh my god I love outsiders-looking in fics of the two of them.
Transcript by Corvid Cordelia - LISTEN. If you love Easy Company, you love Winnix, Webgott, Spierton, etc, they're all here. It's such a treat for people who fell in love with everyone's personalities in BoB.
Women in Conversation by shiveringpinkala - Ann Winters tries to surprise her brother and it doesn't go quite as planned. Blanche is in this too so it makes it extra delightful. Love this fic.
Entendre by @thrillingdetectivetales - Harry Welsh has no fucking clue what Buck Compton is implying about Winters and Nixon but he's gonna find out. Again, I love Harry Welsh with all of me.
A special mention to String Quartet No. 14 by @oatflatwhite for a HS AU that had me kicking my feet and smiling all the way to the very last word.
If you have similar favorites, PLEASE LET'S TALK ABOUT THEM. There's still a lot I'd like to re-read and revisit so this will highly likely be updated in the future. I'd love to hear your favorites too. <3
