grown accustomed to my rose-colored glasses

Bones

Listening to Body Heat by k.
Lovely snapshot of some Booth/Brennan UST, with a pitch-perfect Brennan voice. Written for me in the catchallathon. *heart*

~*~

Chuck

Cross Your Heart And Hope by mardia
Four ways Ellie finds out Chuck is the intersect. So cool!

~*~

Sports Night

In Which the BCS Makes No Sense, Colt Brennan's Hair Looks Stupid, and Dana Has Big Plans to Live Simple by
"Danny," Isaac says, "the University of Hawaii is not going to the BCS. They're going to do well all season and get left out in the end. No one really wants to see them in New Orleans." "That's a pretty harsh judgment of the BCS voters," Casey says, sticking his head in through the open doorway. "You're saying they'll pick tradition over genuine talent?" Isaac waits. "Good point," Casey says, and ducks back out. Hee! Sounds just like an episode.

~*~

i know that you're not to blame

Dark Angel

The Friggin' Cure by inzane73
The paradigmatic cure fic - Logan sends Alec on a mission to retrieve the cure. The mission goes sideways, Alec is hurt, and Max realizes she's had a change of heart. Toes the line of Logan-bashing (crosses over it a bit, tbh), but I enjoy it enough to reread it fairly often, despite its flaws (which also include some POV slippage and some epithets).

Hopeless Causes by inzane73
He'd either save Max or die trying. There was no other option. Alec saves Max from certain death in very entertaining fashion. (POV issues)

Loose the Hounds by aflightoffancy
"I thought I lost you," he whispered.

"You didn't."

"I thought you were gone and I... I didn't handle it well."

Max gets caught in a riot, and it's the start of things changing in Terminal City. I enjoyed this a lot.

~*~

the heart and the mind on a parallel course

Firefly

And all I ask (is a tall ship and a star to steer her by) by merle_p
Lovely look at the friendship between Wash and Kaylee, full of the quiet strength both bring to the crew, and which the others probably don't even notice until it's gone. Wah! Wash! *sniffle*

~*~

Homicide: Life on the Street

Five Finger Discount by Laura Smith
Awesome Frankentim ficlet written for *me* that sounds JUST LIKE THEM circa season 4. *heart*

~*~

Chronicles of Narnia

and sometimes you hear the silence speak. by lassiterfics
"Do you ever change an ending to please the audience?" Edmund asks. "Of course," Shativa answers. Her long hair tumbles down her back as she sifts through her clothes for a dress to wear. "A pleased audience pays better. Mama Biguda doesn't like to, but I convince her." "How do you do that?" "I remind her endings are illusions anyway. In a story, there are a thousand endings and a thousand beginnings between the first word spoken and the last word said." Beautiful look at Edmund and Susan, at magic and love and storytelling.

~*~

they wouldn't turn around and hate it

Crossovers

Supernatural/Buffy the Vampire Slayer

revving from a central source by hateable
Short but very enjoyable Faith/Dean.

*

Supernatural/Friday Night Lights

Shotgun by july_july_july
Awesome SPN/FNL crossover where John raises the boys in Dillon while he hunts, and Dean is QB1 of the Dillon Panthers. I really like how she reworks the SPN mythos to fit into this verse, and all the familiar touches of Dillon, as well, including Coach Taylor being awesome, Billy Riggins being a jackass, and a lovely cameo by Mama Smash at the end. ♥

*

Supernatural/Good Omens

Write a New Apocalypse by taurenova
Castiel seeks advice from apocalypse stopping experts. And has his first cup of tea. Adorable.

*

Supernatural/Harry Potter

As Small as a World, as Large as Alone by mimblexwimble
On his eleventh birthday, Dean gets a letter from Hogwarts. He makes the only choice he can. Oh, Dean....

~*~

burn the length and breadth of sky

Supernatural

Eight Things You Should Know by candle_beck
Sam had always had trouble distinguishing between positive attention and negative when it was coming from Dean. He had trouble caring, as long as Dean was looking at him, as long as Sam had him in thrall. Sam didn't like being emotionally twelve years old around his brother, but what could he do. Lovely. (wincest)

Entertaining Angels by maychorian
After being ambushed by demons, Castiel gets turned into a little boy, and the Winchesters have to protect him. ridiculously heartclenchy despite the crazy premise.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving by dark_roast
Dean wakes up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and has a couple of visitors. Over and over again. Heartbreaking and funny and really well done.

Hidden Mouths of Stone and Light by maboheme
He's her first everything, really. Kiss. Grope. Fuck. She's probably none of his firsts, but that's okay. She doesn't mind being somewhere in the undefined middle. / That first kiss is messy; all tongues and no finesse, stringy spit and clanking teeth. It tastes like orange pop and Doritos. / When they fuck, it's a little better. Hurts a lot more, but she's used to pain. Gorgeous look at Dean through the eyes of a girl he meets when they're fifteen.

Highway Chile by art_savage
But he couldn't risk letting his guard down, not in the middle of a hunt, not without someone to watch his back. / The TV murmured on, the low drone of speech, the occasional clink as a chef stirred or scraped a bowl. A sliver of light filtered in from the parking lot. He stared up at a water stain on the ceiling. Kicked at the scratchy blankets, punched the flat pillow into shape. Reached for his phone, flipped it open, checking the display. / Plenty of battery. Plenty of bars. Not that that made any goddamn difference. He'd learned the hard way after Sam left: it was never a problem with the phone. John sends Dean off on a hunt, and Dean doesn't have the best time on his own. Well done, intriguing casefile that really gets at Dean's loneliness and bewilderment during the Stanford years.

I Will Always Be Hungry by ninhursag
Sequel to "Fire Took My Baby Away." Girl!Sam and Dean investigate a mysterious death, and Dean learns a little more about the girl he picked up, as she deals with Jess's death. Lovely.

Jigsaw Lives and Corner Pieces by riverbella
Fantastically creepy casefile set after 4.08, with some really lovely and achy Sam and Dean interaction.

A Midnight Clear by teand
Sam and Dean save a girl and deliver her baby. All in a night's work. "Are you angels?" "Oh sweetheart, you don't want angels, trust me. I'm Dean." ♥

Only The Devil Ain't Tired Of History by onceuponatown
Because Dean had a knife, they scratched their names everywhere, into trees and onto gas-station bathroom walls and rest-stop picnic tables across all 50 states. Wherever they could find a blank space, so that it all belonged to them, like the backroads belonged to them, all those hidden places nobody else had ever been to, and like they belonged to each other. They made it so that each new town belonged to them. Brilliant young Sam POV, full of the magic and cruelty of childhood.

Rumspringa by july_july_july
In October of 1995, Dean walked out of an apartment building in Tampa with the clothes on his back and a semi-automatic. Then he walked off the reservation. Dean, sixteen, on his own. *sniffle*

Swimming in Suwannee by regala_electra
"Got a thing for blondes," he says, biting into his burger, chewing loudly and openly. "Natural dirty blondes." / Her face is frozen a moment too long like at first she's so fucking pissed she doesn't know whether to chuck her drink at him or throw a punch but when the moment passes, she breaks out in honest (and loud laughter), clutching her side. "Oh my God, you are that guy. Sleazy James Dean, that's what people call you, you know." Sweet, wistful, hot story of 17yo Dean and the swimmer he becomes friends with. Beth is a wonderful OC - vivid and likable, and Dean's unexpected connection with her is lovely.

Thorn in Your Side by smilla02
And it comes to Dean suddenly, light going on, that he doesn't know where he's sending them, but the chance is too great that that they'll end up down there and his hand goes slack around his shotgun. Beautifully heartbreaking - sharp look at Dean's jagged edges post 4.10, perfectly evocative of what he must be feeling, with a small bright ray of hope at the end.

~*~