i offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses

Hawaii Five-0

All the Girls Out on the Stoop by mirabella
Danny is part Veela and he goes into heat. No, really. This is hilarious.

"The Vicks didn't make it stop," he tells Mike that night. "And the gun runner got away."

"Shit," says Mike. "You might have to man up and mate for life with this guy."

Mr Rosso Goes to Hawaii by Siria
Steve and Danny pretend to be married on an undercover op. Hilarity and hookups ensue. "Danny. Are you ranting to me about cushions? At eleven o'clock at night in the middle of an undercover op?"

Danny opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. "No?"

"Well good," Steve said dryly, and he was such a smug bastard, "because I would be a little worried about you if you were. Just so you know."

"Go fuck yourself," Danny said.

Sugar Never Was So Sweet by topaz
Hot, sweet, funny, Danny/Kono.

~*~

cannot find the candle of thought to light your name

Harry Potter

Marginalia by magnetic_pole
There are three characters in our story, the first and most important of which is the Library itself, an enormous octagonal grey stone building covered over with a thick veil of ivy. Only a dozen narrow, barred windows and a heavy wooden door suggest that it might be anything but impregnable. Two dozen gargoyles perch on the roof and hiss and spit at passersby. Any trace of magic in your blood will afford you entry, but once you are inside the building, just as your eyes begin to adjust to the gloom, someone will stop you and kindly ask you to explain what you need. The Library is one of the most highly guarded places in the wizarding world, and it doesn't share its secrets with everyone. Absolutely gorgeous and layered story of the wizarding library, the librarians who curate it, and a visit from Sirius and Remus. Reads just like the best kind of fairy tale.

~*~

Star Trek Reboot

Lucky Man by penknife
"Okay, but why me? They rescued almost four thousand people from Tarsus."

Pike gives him a look like he's being particularly slow. "Try not to take this the wrong way, but of those four thousand people, some of them are dead, and most of the rest of them are boring. Seif is a poet, and Munroe has actually done some very interesting work on enriching dilithium that most of the viewing audience isn't going to understand, and then there's you. You saved the Federation. It means your name springs to mind."

"What am I supposed to say to that?" Jim says.

"That's up to you," Pike says. "I trust you to handle this. I just didn't want it to come as a surprise." Melancholy story of Kirk dealing with the anniversary of Tarsus IV, and how his crew makes it easier for him.

~*~

Veronica Mars

A Strange New Story Every Time by gyzym
Really fantastic futurefic where Logan and Veronica meet up again ten years later and take a shot at being friends, and maybe a second (third?) chance at romance. I don't even ship Veronica/Logan and I enjoyed this. The banter is spot on, and Logan actually grew up into a decent human being.

"Too hungover to give as good as you get, now I know the apocalypse is nigh."

"Can we just go inside, please," he says despairingly. "Where there's less sunshine and fewer flashbulbs, I hear it's a glorious place."

"There's going to be organ music," she reminds him, and then she laughs as he groans and follows her to a pew, because she's deeply, impossibly cruel.

~*~

and i will buy you a bottle of wine

Crossovers

Psych/White Collar

Fibbie Chic by lemmealone
Adorable Psych/White Collar crossover. Gus and Shawn come to New York in pursuit of Pierre Desperaux, and naturally, Peter and Neal get involved. Hee!

"Hi Juliet!"

The female detective who smiled at him was tiny and blonde and Neal had absolutely no doubt that she could take them all down with one hand tied behind her back.

"Hi Juliet," he echoed.

"Hello Mister Caffrey," she said demurely.

*

Castle/Fringe

If You Can't Stand the Heat by scurvyknavery
"You're staring at Agent Dunham," he says, slowly, enunciating too carefully.

"I'm not."

"Are too," he says, singsonging like they're on the playground together.

She swats him in the arm, more gently than she'd like to. "Quit it, Castle. I'm not staring. I just want to know why they're so interested in this case."

He arches his eyebrow and tents his fingertips under his chin. It looks ridiculous; he's clearly going for some kind of theatrical detective vibe. "You're totally staring," he says, putting on an accent that he probably thinks is British. "But why? Jealous of their cool FBI skills? Concerned that the murderer might be an undiscovered form of extraterrestrial life? Evil genius?"

She stares at him, nonplussed. He gets the point. "If I didn't know better," he mutters, moving out of Beckett's personal space. "I'd say you had a crush. Beckett and Dunham, being hot and awesome together. Yes, please.

~*~

and i blamed you for my freezing and forgetting

Fringe

Spare by chaila
Really lovely missing scene where Astrid comforts Olivia after her return.

What selfishness, to be alone by blackeyedgirl
A brief story about one of the many things Olivia has to replace on her return home. Heartbreaking and perfect. She can't lie in the bed. The sheets are clean now but she can't lie down there and think of anything else but them. It's stupid, she knows that. She could ask Peter where she can stand safely in this place, what she can touch; she won't.

~*~

you started this fire down in my soul

Supernatural

(All the Things) Come Back to You by topaz
Sequel to Dream On (AU, previously recced). Dean and Sam go on the road to try to get Sam's memories back. I liked the casefile they run into, and the slow reveal of what happened to Sam in the pit. The sex felt unnecessary to me, but I guess if you ship them, you'll be more into it. (Wincest)

Cumulus by paxlux
Once, when Sam was a kid, he'd gotten this cockeyed notion for them to send postcards to themselves, to the P.O. boxes so that when they'd get there, they'd have these postcards; Dean always figured Sam pictured it like cartoon mail, piles of postcards spilling out to bury their ankles. He remembers Sam talking a mile a minute, not stopping to breathe, notes from the past, Dean, to our future selves living in another state, and Sam made it sound like a country song, my cares on the wind, rollin' on down the highway, nothin' but the clothes on my back, and a flip of the coin makes my decisions. One more silver dollar. Sam and Dean and the road, making it all fit together, sometime in season 2.

nobody with a good car needed to worry about anything by paxlux
"One of these days, Dean," Sam warned. "You think you can get us outta everything?"

Dean gave Sam his best trust-me grin and Sam shook his head, probably because he knew better, but he didn't let go of Dean, squeezing Dean's finger almost painful between Sam's own freakish long ones, so Dean said, "Yeah, Sammy, you've got the brains, I've got the charm and we've got the car. Man, I betcha we could drive through hell itself." Sam, Dean and the Impala, circa season 1. Oh, boys. *sigh*

Two Part Invention by de_nugis
Like Dean wouldn't get it, like Sam doesn't think he knows what it's like to just give up one day, to hell with the whole mathematics of saving and killing. The ghost writing that always shows through, no matter how many drinks go to wipe the board clean when the equations don't balance.

"You saved plenty of people, Sam. You saved the fucking world. You don't owe anyone. You don't have to explain. You can quit, free and clear."

Sam doesn't look convinced. He never will. They don't buy it, either of them, but they can go on without. Dean stops hunting, and Sam doesn't, for a while. Bittersweet and achy, with an ending that feels true as well as happy. Made me happier than the show has in a while, anyway. (Wincest)

~*~

twin high maintenance machines

DCU

Aerie by irrelevant
AU in which Babs offers Jason a spot on the Birds of Prey. Short but packs a nice punch.

after the fact by irrelevant
Bruce just has this effect on him. It's as if all the juvenile alpha male posturing he suppressed in high school was saving itself up for a rainy day, or maybe just waiting for him to meet Bruce Wayne. It wasn't raining the night he met Batman, but after he'd displayed with all the finesse of a bull pawing the ground – and Bruce egging him on – it might as well have been. Clark comes back and deals with the aftermath of his "death." Really lovely melancholy but hopeful episode coda for "Hereafter."

Aspire to Touch the Sky by brownbetty
Princess of Lost Island of Women to wed in First Diplomatic Marriage of Twentieth Century
Classicists Stunned; Distraught
Highly enjoyable romance novel-type AU of the Justice League, in which Diana and Bruce make a marriage of convenience that is a little less convenient than they'd planned.

The Bat and the Princess by Mara
Sweet pair of stories in which Diana and Bruce finally get their dance, and sort out some of their relationship issues. I like that Diana knows how far she can push him, and when to let him be.

Come build in the empty house by Liviapenn
Lovely, elegiac yet hopeful look at Bruce and Terry post-Return of the Joker.
"'I'm not the Bat twenty-four seven,'" Bruce mocks, imitating Terry's careless drawl. "'I just work here.'"

"Whoa, first of all, please never do that again. Second, since you bring it up, and since you always forget this, I existed before you met me. Carrying a universal lock-splice is a juvie thing, not a Bat thing."

"Of course," Bruce says, annoyed with himself. He should have known that.

No Restraint by silveronthetree
Ridiculously hot boys being hot and ridiculous. Jason is letting him hold him down and is obviously getting off on it. Dick wonders if this is a Robin thing; did Jason always have a thing for it too, or is it a natural result of being Robin? Oh, Dick, that is a question for the ages.

Of Service by kirax2
Lovely brief snips of Alfred interacting with each of the Robins. Alfred, needless to say, pwns all.

Poker Face by mithen
This is a one-joke story, but that joke is deeply, deeply hilarious. Batman figures out the connection in a series of attacks. Clark is befuddled by his knowledge.

~*~