you're still alive, she said

X-Men: First Class

Call Me by His Name by sinuous_curve
Hot and heartbreaking Xavier/Magneto set after XMFC. "I'd rather thought you considered yourself my enemy."

Erik flinches. "It isn't a zero sum game, Charles. There are-- shades of gray."

Fear Death by Water by [anonymous]
Gorgeous, achy, Charles/Erik. Charles knows there are ways he could be better, things he could be making more of an effort to understand. Raven, for example: but he has promised to stay out of her thoughts. Denied this, he knows, he has trouble comprehending the nature of her preoccupation with her mutation, with her body—his own body is something of an afterthought, just a vehicle for his mind. This doesn't mean he has divorced himself from it—he takes care of himself, eats well, has a long run every morning before breakfast, tries to minimize his vices. He likes sex, likes the soft yield of another body beneath his, but he's never been desperate for it. He's never understood how it can ruin a man.

Five Lessons Charles Taught (and One He Learned) by kaydeefalls
Really lovely look at Charles interacting with the kids.

nuclear winter by honey_wheeler
Erik doesn't know what to make of how complicated this became. Charles is still a soft, gentle presence in his mind. There's no pressure, no expectation or insistence; instead he hovers at the edges of Erik's consciousness, soothing and wonderful. Accepting. Seductive. It would be so easy for Erik to abandon himself to this, to forget everything he's fought through, all that he's planned. Erik gets Charles a lapdance. It doesn't turn out exactly like he expected. Hot and achy.

Snakes and Ladders Are Banned In Here by paperclipbitch
Sharp and heartbreaking look at Charles and Erik continuing on with their relationship after the movie ends.

Synthesis and Transcription by frantic_allonsy
Hot and heartbreaking Charles/Erik first time. Good use of telepathy during sex. (also available at the author's LJ here)

[untitled AU] by [anonymous]
Instead of leaving Charles on the beach at the end, Erik and Raven help Hank get him to a hospital. Really lovely. There's also a sequel going on in the same thread, but it's not complete yet. Moira turns up halfway through the night, her eyes red, and he has a brief surge of fury at the sight; she has no right to this grief, this fear. This is his to keep bundled up just behind his heart, burning and terrible and an awful, comforting penance. But he thinks of Sean's fingers tapping against the paper cup, feels the weight of Raven's head on his shoulder, and reluctantly allows that Charles meant something—means something, will mean something yet—to many people.

wait to watch the fire by imogenedisease
Fantastic and heartbreaking. If Charles is an outstretched hand, Erik is a fist. Erik is a disaster.

Wisteria by [anonymous]
"I don't need you to train, Charles."

"Well, certainly not anymore—your progress has been remarkable, you know—but I assumed you gained the same gratification and fulfillment from my companionship as I did yours. Was I wrong?"

No. No, he's not wrong, and damn him to hell—damn Charles Francis Xavier and his honesty in saying what he feels. Erik grits his teeth and slows his pace, trying not to give away his thoughts too freely. He feels like an obvious fool. Even without telepathy, every move he makes could be the one that Charles uses to deduct his problem. Don't read my mind, Charles, he thinks, as hard as he can.

Charles winces and rubs his temple. "I'm not. I've no reason to just now. I was actually hoping you'd tell me of your own volition what's troubling you, my friend." Another hot and achy Charles/Erik first time.

~*~

don't lay down and die

Supernatural

Heaven is High and the Earth is Wide by sixth_seed

Really lovely retelling of season 1 if it were set in the old West and Sam had been born a girl. He's never made a secret of it. Sam's a better person than him. For Dean, it's been the best part of his life, to do whatever he can, whenever he can, to get her just a little bit further. She's the part of their family that deserves to get out of this in one piece. If Dean can do that, if he can just get her safe and whole, his life'll have been worth it.

Her eyes go a little wide, like she's seeing that, like she's seeing something in him. He doesn't squirm or look away or try to deflect. He's too tired for that. (Wincest)

~*~

Sports Night

les autres by raven

Lovely moment in time with Dan, Dana, and a piano at 2 am.

~*~

Thor

The Heart Is My Least Vulnerable Spot by waketosleep

Adorable sequel to "It's Electrifying." "I want a codename," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"I want a codename. I may not be a ripped superhero but dammit, I do things. Fuck being an Avenger, I'd like to see forty, but I want a codename." She considered it. "Maybe like, an animal? Since I have no powers to name myself after."

"Mongoose," said Clint way too immediately. It was like he'd been thinking about it.

Darcy thought back to all that time in freshman year she'd spent getting high and watching nature programs. "That is either a bird or a rodent." She was pretty sure it was a rodent but she wasn't going to abandon a clue like 'goose'.

"Rodent," said Clint, and before she could kick his ass off the loveseat he said, "It's a little weasel kinda thing and it looks cute and harmless but it actually kills cobras like it's a hobby." Clint/Darcy/taser=OT3!

~*~

she dances alone in nightclubs every other day of the week

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Smaller Under the Stars by lizbee
Fifteen years after the end of the war, and a few years after Mai and Aang have died, Zuko and Katara find some comfort in each other. Quiet and lovely and hopeful.

~*~

The Good Wife

A Hundred Storms by abvj
Sharp, crystal-clear look at Kalinda. (This is where it probably all goes awry, she muses. Kalinda's number one rule has been and always will be about self-preservation.

The moment you lose sight of that, when you start thinking of people as someone other than a means to an end, everything just seems to have a way of imploding in the most spectacular, horrifying way.)

~*~

meet me where your mind won't kiss me

Crossovers

Firefly/The Bible

Ruth on a Firefly by kass
This is a really gorgeous, achy retelling of the story of Ruth and Naomi...in space. On Serenity, to be exact. Quiet and lovely and full of hope.

*

Firefly/Leverage

Bent by Paths Coincident by jedibuttercup

Mal and Zoe run into an old friend at the bar. This is a lot of fun. and can I just say, I would pay real money to see Parker and River interact.

*

Harry Potter/Community

Lee Jordan and the Magnetic Attitude by nicodemusfleur
So the guy who plays Magnitude on Community also plays Lee Jordan in the HP movies. This is the story of how Lee moves to Colorado and becomes Magnitude. Pop pop!

~*~

decisions will now be ours

Firefly

At the Last Reaches by fourteenlines
Achy and beautiful Inara/Nandi that fills in their backstory believably.

Plum Blossom Song by Unovis
In a small scarlet book, in neatly inked numbers, Inara tracked her year according to Sihnon. Today in the city of her birth and training was the feast of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In their celebrations and prayers, people looked to the waning of the Yin and the waxing power of the Yang. Sacrifices were offered to ancestors and red dumplings were eaten in broth. For Companions the day had another, bittersweet taste: it was a day to contemplate the turning of the wheel. It was the day novitiates were accepted to the Academy and girls who had passed the initial training received their first-level names. It was the day a deceased Companion's name was embroidered on her House's banner and retired. Lovely story of Inara remembering Nandi and mourning her.

~*~

the way you hold your knife

DCU

Best Laid Plans by marks
I like you and Tim likes you and you like Tim and me --

I love you, Cassie had interrupted.

Kon had grinned wider and said, I love you, too. And I love Tim, like it was that easy, and with Tim up in the barn with the two of them, not in costume, not with a mask or his stupid cowl, maybe it is. Hot, sweet and funny Cassie/Kon/Tim. As always, ♥KON♥

Good Good Things by ficbyzee
Hot and sweet Tim/Kon, set during the time Tim was living in Bludhaven. "Kon?" His voice is muzzy, thick with sleep. And Kon was right: There's that pillow-imprint on his left cheek.

"Um. Yeah." Kon's mind races to try and think of some explanation that's not 'you're really hot when you sleep, dude'. "Hi."

Tim rubs a hand over his face, further mussing his hair. "You. Did you just... lick me?"

Kon realizes that his other hand is still kind of... cupping Tim's ankle. He doesn't move it. "Yeah, kind of."

"Oh." Tim actually smiles at that, a sleepy, amused smile that makes Kon want to lick him. Again.

"Did you want me to stop?" Kon rubs his thumb over Tim's skin, and listens as Tim's breathing changes slightly.

"Not particularly." Tim moves, just slightly, and Kon realizes that he's arranged himself so that he's sitting up facing Kon, with his legs spread around Kon. Open. Inviting.

He Calls It Investing In The Future by thingamawhatsit
He begins his research as soon as he's home. "Mercy," he begins, "I'm afraid I might like children."

She raises an eyebrow at him but otherwise makes no response.

"I know, dreadful isn't it."

hee! Lex decides to spoil the sidekicks. This is hilarious and adorable and so very Lex. (animated Young Justice)

Heels Over Head by iesika
both adorably sweet and ridiculously hot. Kon and Tim take their time until they they don't. Aw, boys.

Unspoken by shobogan
Really lovely drabble series about Barbara Gordon: ten ways she says I love you without words.

~*~