Self-Rec: idiopathicsmile
rules: recommend five of your favourite fics you've written, and then tag at least five other people
In Defiance of all Geometry, Les Mis modern AU. Combeferre/Enjolras/Grantaire, 51k.
Amis House might not be the biggest student co-op, or the fanciest, but it's got something all its own. Specifically, smoke damage on the kitchen ceiling from that time Courfeyrac lit a political pamphlet on fire. In which there are secrets, pining, pancakes, and revelations, and sometimes the shortest distance between three points is not a triangle but a circle.
This is the very first fanfic I ever finished, so it holds a special place in my heart for that alone. I wrote it several years after undergrad and shortly before moving to Chicago, which is to say at a time I was feeling lonely and directionless, and definitely nostalgic for life in a university co-op. I think my incredibly warm feelings for that way of life really shine through in this story. You can always kind of tell in a highly specific AU if the writer really knows their subject, and I've been gratified to hear from other co-opers that this one nails it.
2. Fools in Love, Nothing Much to Do. Beatrice/Benedick and Balthazar/Pedro, 4.9k.
“Ughhhh,” said Ben a few minutes later. “Ugh, it’s so sappy and, and cliched and she’s gonna think I’m joking—“ Apparently, they could stop pretending this wasn’t about Beatrice. Balthazar appreciated that. “Maybe tell her you’re not, then.” Ben’s eyebrows knit together. “Like, in the lyrics themselves? Or some sort of fine print disclaimer beforehand that you hold up on a notecard while playing an intro on the kazoo?” “In the lyrics,” said Balthazar. He strummed a C chord, then a G. E minor. A minor. “When you’re writing a song for someone, probably helps to get specific. It’ll mean more to them, y’know?” He tried for F minor 7. It didn’t sound right. “If you stay vague and mysterious, they might not know it’s about them. In, like, a you-and-them sense.” He rearranged his fingers on the frets, pressed harder. “Or they kind of—have the option of pretending they don’t know.” (Or: two times Balthazar Jones helped his friends express their feelings via song, and one time he did not.)
Much Ado About Nothing has long been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and so, one day when I was sick in bed and found a New Zealand webseries telling the story through the lens of modern teens making in-universe YouTube videos, I gobbled that shit up. Balthazar is my favorite minor character in NMTD and I think I really did him justice here, both in terms of his dialogue feeling right, and in terms of figuring out what makes a somewhat inward-facing character tick.
3. Impatient to be Free, Les Mis 1950s AU where the Amis are all women. Enjolras/Grantaire, 19k.
In a way, it was almost a relief to see that nothing had changed since school. Seasons came and went but Grantaire was still Grantaire: a bundle of too-tight nerves and awkward elbows, scratchy throat, furtive gaze bouncing everywhere it shouldn’t. Still nursing a fascination with the most dangerous-looking female in the area. A puppy dog panting after a wolf. In 1957, female cartoonist Grantaire meets some interesting new people, joins a secret society, and attracts the notice of a woman named Enjolras. A 1950’s lesbian Amis AU.
I actually owe @theladyragnell a huge debt for this one because way back when, she wrote a 1950s AU where most of the characters were women. Hers was sort of "what if Grease but sapphic and also in no way a regressive bullshit mess," which is to say it was in all ways an 1000% improvement on Grease. And then I read that and went, "what if 1950s lesbians but I finally get to unload everything I remember about studying mid-century lesbian rights groups in college?" I did a bunch of additional research for this one and I think the period details really make it pop, from the music choices to the little historical Easter eggs, and I also think the chemistry between Enjolras and Grantaire is well-done.
4. Nine Moments in the Life of Captain America, Cultural Icon (and One Moment in the Life of Steve Rogers, Human Being), Captain America. Steve/Sam/Bucky, 7.8k.
Wrestling with the legacy of Captain America, via songs, movies, interviews, poorly animated children's shows, curious SHIELD merchandising choices, and ice cream flavors. Also, Steve, Sam, and Bucky work out how they feel about each other.
I love fics that play with time and perspective, and I think this one does interesting things with both. I really like thinking about how stories can kind of bounce around from one era to another and transform, telling us more about the era. I'm also very proud of the slapdash 90s cartoon about the Howling Commandos, which I maintain absolutely would've existed.
5. Ready For Love, Singin' in the Rain. Cosmo/Don/Kathy, 12.9k.
Don and Kathy would move in together. They would have a dog or two and then inevitably, a small parade of adorable little brats who would call him Uncle Cosmo, and they would spend less and less time with him, not on purpose but busy with the rest of their lives, and ultimately Cosmo would learn to make his peace with it because he’d have no other choice and he would have to try to move on and not live too much in his memories. He could picture it so clearly, he figured if the songwriting gig with Monumental didn’t pan out, he could always return to the backwater circuit with a new act: The Amazing Cosmo of the Cosmos—ladies and gentlemen, he sees the future, he reads the stars, he silently pines for his best married pal and all the while tap dancing! Don and Kathy inviting him along on their honeymoon, though—that part was a surprise.
I think that on a technical level, this is maybe the best fanfic I've ever written—in-character dialogue, jokes that feel like they fit in the world of the original and are funny in their own right, a narrative voice that is recognizably The Character, and a compelling love story expanding on canon. I get such a rush writing queer stories set decades ago; it's so fun to try to situate queer characters in another moment in history, plus it still feels exciting to say, "Hey, even if the words and exact identities were different, we've always been here."
okay, tagging other people time! @greenlikethesea, @sparklyslug, @greatunironic, @deservingporcupine, and @thewalrus-said, plus any other mutuals who feel like sharing.
