It’s not all that long until @rs-games 2017 kick off, and it really is about time that I get around to posting my recs from last year’s Games! There’s a wide variety and a lot of genres in the Games, and it’s definitely worth it to browse through the AO3 collection. Here are some of my favourites from last year:
The Fall by carmentakoshi / zealousprince
Rating: PG for non-explicit sexual content
Summary: They’ve told you that dying is like falling asleep, but to you it just feels like falling. But before you fall, you remember.
Why I loved it: This is clever, sad and beautiful. I love the way the formal choices make a powerful impact on this story. The second person POV works well here - I get the sense that something outside of Sirius is showing him this, even if it is in his own head. I also love the language in the story, and the many wonderful descriptions.
Warnings: Racism, sexism, homophobia, violence, HIV/AIDS, drug use
Summary: Love in the time of the 1984-5 coal miners’ strike. Remus is a geologist working for an independent assessment of a disputed coal mine in his hometown in south Yorkshire during the strike. He meets a communist agitator. Non-magical AU.
Why I loved it: This story is layered and vivid and feels true in the way it captures the atmosphere of this part of history. The language and the storytelling aims hard, and it hits the mark, with distinct prose and rich characters we recognise from canon, yet we find a version of them that feel impossible to remove from these particular surroundings. There’s bleakness and frustration in this story, but also beauty.
Warnings: A lot of feelings about scars, implied abuse, mild swearing, and quite a lot of kissing.
Summary: At eleven, Remus boarded the Hogwarts Express ready to keep secrets. In the end, there are none he can keep from Sirius.
Why I loved it: Supportive Marauders! The way Remus can’t quite allow himself to believe in his friends and in Sirius is well described, and I like how the tone matches beautifully with the young, Hogwarts-era marauders and Remus/Sirius we meet here; still innocent in a lot of ways, yet having to face some heavy issues.
How To Suffer a Storm by philatran
Warnings: The main character has depression so there is a lot of self critical/negative spiels. Vague suicide ideation, but it isn’t graphic. Occasional swearing.
Summary: Remus Lupin fought two storms; one outside his lighthouse, and the other inside of himself. Sirius Black, an old friend from seven years ago brought back into his life by shipwreck, was the unfortunate silver lining in the clouds
Why I loved it: I like how… almost soft this story is in spite of the dark themes it touches upon, and I don’t mean soft in a way that it makes light of the heavy issues, but that it’s told in a gentle sort of way that has much goodness for the characters, letting them tell their story in their own way. There’s a lot of emotions in the story; just like in life itself, love and hope and dreams and self-acceptance can be difficult and confusing things.
Leave the Rough Road by blanketed_in_stars
Warnings: Mental health issues, some light body horror, suicidal thoughts, also (clearly) a fair bit of angst
Summary: Between the future and the past, between one moon and the next, there is time enough to find the way home.
Why I loved it: This is chilling and yet somewhat hopeful at the same time. There are many beautiful lines and gorgeous descriptions and observant details that make everything come to life. Especially Sirius’ voice rings very true and clear, and the author has a way with language that makes me love this.
A Past Tense of Drowning by grandilloquism
Warnings: Descriptions of drowning, blood, gore, descriptions of food and eating
Summary: Sirius, six weeks dead, was standing on Remus’ doorstep. He was barefoot, in Muggle clothes, and drenched from his tangle of black hair to the soles of his muddy feet. He was terribly alive, and painfully young. Remus walked forward, drinking in the sight of him. He was pale and wide-eyed, and he looked to be no older than sixteen. “Sirius,” he said, just a whisper.
Why I loved it: I’m impressed by how the author is able to make this so chilling and so beautiful. A lot is happening in a short fic, and it makes sense every step of the way. It’s clever and mysterious, with an ending I really liked.
Time’s Fool by @ruinsplume
Warnings: Explicit sexual content. Character’s ages are 17/16
Summary: It’s only been half an hour since he last shagged Remus Lupin, but already Sirius is beside himself with wanting to do it again.
Why I loved it: There’s so much emotions in this story, and the author does a great job making the angsty parts and the parts where Sirius is trying to control his physical needs flow seamlessly together. An important part of it is how the physical needs are also emotional; Sirius wants Remus in any and all ways that he can. Also, a lot of gorgeous descriptions throughout the entire fic. I loved this.
Warnings: Angst, kissing, brief mentions of canon-compliant character deaths
Summary: He supposes that this is what is expected of him, to sit here and listen to wetness sinking into the earth and remember how it felt when it was sunny, and there were four of them, and Sirius Black looked at him like he was a piece of the universe he wanted to understand so badly that he was willing to take Remus apart completely and then put him back together.
Why I loved it: This is beautiful. I was drawn into every scene; it’s almost like a poem where the different scenes come together, creating a whole. The language is quietly poignant and moving. The ending just about broke my heart, in the best way.
Warnings: Light BDSM, implied PTSD, Catharsis!sex, sex magic, oral sex, anal fingering, anal sex, fisting, rimming, orgasm denial, nipple play
Summary: “Bring a chair,” Remus says, stalling for time. He needs his thinking mind to catch up to what his instinct has told him must now happen.
Sirius turns with an agility Remus has not yet seen, and picks up the wooden stool in the kitchen. He places it in the center of the sitting room, between Remus and the daybed. Remus squares his shoulders. Can he do this? His body still aches from transformation and his nerves are shredded. The hollow thinking space he’s made inside himself is full of fractures; he can barely hold back his need for closeness, for tenderness; the effort of trying is threatening to overwhelm him with exhaustion. He is in no condition to do what Sirius is asking.
But he will. He knows he will because he has already started.
Why I loved it: This fic tore me apart and put me together in a way that left me slightly breathless. There’s such raw emotion here, such uncompromising pain, I can feel the pain and sorrow of the last twelve years. The way they need each other and know each other on such a basic level, where the instincts show the truth. Post-Azkaban bdsm is not an easy topic but this fic goes there and shows me the trust and the need and why this was right.
Three Times Teddy Saw the Sea by adistantsun
Summary: In the desert, any water will do.
Why I loved it: Beautiful prose that pulls me in and keeps me there. Every POV works well, and they all work even better because of the other two, giving us layers and knowledge that made each POV all the more poignant.
Ticket to Anywhere by llassah
Summary: There are about four layers of charms on the bike, although the fourth layer is a speed limiter that Sirius and James are quietly not including in the mapping. Peter wants it to shoot flames from the exhaust, James wants it to be able to skywrite. Sirius just wants to fly.
Why I loved this: Heart-warming and very charming. There are many details throughout the story that make everything come to life, and our boys get such a good characterization in few words, which is something I’m always impressed by. There’s a great balance between fluff and a little bit of angst, with some humour on top, creating a lovely feelgood-fic.
Thoughts on Fate and Coincidence by sullen
Summary: In which Sirius learns that a Horcrux is an inappropriate courting gift, despite there being no courting, but there is quite a bit of shouting.
Why I loved it: Wonderful retelling of canon, with great characterization and clever twists, told in a beautiful way. I enjoyed all the characters, but my favourite might just be Regulus.
The Bells by fluorescentgrey
Warnings: sex, violence, some body horror, zombies, lots of death (but it’s hopeful)
Summary: Upstate New York, after the fall. “Some of the ways death had come to work were obvious, and they were new and necessitated negotiation, but other ways were invisible, or at least invisible unless you cared to look very closely, and thus perhaps they had been as such forever.”
Why I loved it: How very fascinating this is, I was intrigued from start to finish. The atmosphere and the language draw me in. I love this way of having He Who Must Not Be Named wanting to conquer Death, and Remus’ and Sirius’ story is breathtaking. There are many wonderful details here, and the last line?? Wonderful.
Percolation by muse_in_absentia
Genres: Coffee Shop AU , Fluff
Summary: Sometimes love doesn’t happen all at once, but rather accumulates drip by drip until it overflows and you have no idea how it got all over the place.
Why I loved it: Just the kind of fic to read when curled up on the couch under a blanket. I have a soft spot for fics that take place in one location; in a way the coffee shop becomes one of the characters. The easy banter between the four friends and how they’ve remained so close makes this a very charming read.
I Do Not Think of You Lying in The Wet Clay by phiso
Warnings: Mentions of canonical character death, depression, mild swearing, PoA alternate POV, present tense, occasional shaky grasp of reality
Genres: Angst, Character Study
Summary: The dead do not reside in graveyards, they live in the places they used to love, and Remus cannot run away from their ghosts.
Why I loved it: Intriguing retelling of PoA; Remus’ voice feels very real and this entire fic is beautifully told. Loved it.
This Bright Familiar Sun, or Lost Snapshots of Summers on an Island by mustntgetmy
Warnings: Some vague sex, some mentions of parental abuse.
Summary: A partial and disjointed account of what occurred on an unnamed Greek island from the years 1977 to 1996. Featuring (but not limited to): boys getting sunburned, boys gathering sea glass, boys kissing, boys preparing for war, boys falling in love, boys struggling to stay in love, an escaped convict’s return, a lonely werewolf’s return, ancient magic, an archway and a veil, and a homecoming.
Why I loved it: This is a fic that I read slowly, savouring every word, not wanting it to end. I could feel the magic when reading, and the love and the heartache, and the hope; vicualising every scene. The setting is captured really well, and these snapshots give us parts of the story we don’t usually see.
Lost Socks and Sealing Charms by dustmouth
Warnings: a fair amount of shirtless smooching
Summary: In which James loses his lucky socks, Remus and Sirius do nothing of any use, and Peter really needs to find himself new friends.
Why I loved it: This entire thing makes me so happy, it’s just so completely and utterly sweet and warm and funny. Dustmouth’s style is always the best thing and it makes me love these guys even more.
Untitled by entirely_the_wrong_sort
Summary: Was that happiness ever even real?
Why I loved it: So much story told in this artwork, everything from youthful joy to the deepest despair. Lots of emotion in every image, and the fragments of notes or letters went straight to my heart. I really like the use of colours, so vibrant and gradually darkening.
Why I loved it: Cute and warm; our boys sharing a moment of comfortable and relaxed love.
