to keep the good times rolling, i'm the boy

Elementary

for the sane mad and the bravest monsters by language_escapes
Nice look at Sherlock, pre-series. (subsequently jossed, but still nicely done.)

A Lopsided Symmetry of Sin and Virtue by language_escapes
Joan and Sherlock pretend to be married for a case. this is a really lovely, quiet variation on the trope that felt true to both of them.

your heaven's trying everything (to break me down) by bittereternity
Lovely Joan character study.

~*~

and i cannot hold a candle for every pretty gun

Star Trek Reboot

Please expect that spoilers for the new movie may be present.

For One Last Landing by ignipes
Uhura remembers the first time she saw the two of them, sharing a flask on the recruit shuttle out of Riverside. They had both looked so disheveled and out of place that Uhura had spent the entire flight thinking increasingly unfavorable thoughts about Starfleet's recruiting standards and mentally composing angry notes to everybody who had promised her that her future classmates would only be the best of the best, the brightest minds in the Federation, the greatest hope for the future. She wonders how reality would have come across in a recruiting pitch: Join Starfleet! Explore new worlds! Travel to the stars! And someday those guys you thought were addicts or convicts who wandered onto your shuttle by accident will be your captain and CMO on the worst day in Federation history!

She's exhausted enough and frayed enough that she feels a giddy half-laugh, half-sob rising in her throat. Nyota covers her mouth to choke it down. Nobody notices except Spock, who only looks at her and says nothing. Really lovely look at Uhura (and her relationships with Spock and Kirk) set at the end of the first movie.

Fourteen Days of Shitty Coffee by igrockspock
"Five years ago, I would have danced on your grave. I was plotting your demise. I would have pulled the plug on you myself."

Jim's face is too pale, and the bruises aren't healing.

"If you don't wake up, I am going to kill you." Really lovely missing scene from the (second) movie where Uhura visits Kirk in the hospital.

no traveller returns by jouissant
To keep this non-spoilery: Bones doesn't want his discovery to fall into the wrong hands so he enlists Spock's help to spin the events of the movie so nobody knows what really happened to Kirk.

You Are Beary Stupid (But We Love You Anyway) by waketosleep
The crew visits Jim in the hospital. Aw, crew.

~*~

footprints on the ceiling, how did they get there?

DCU

A Dinosaur, A Giant Penny, And Two Hundred Chocolate Eggs by amathela
"This is a ridiculous holiday," Damian says. Steph swears his face lit up for, like, an instant when Cass showed up (and why does she never get that - wait, no never mind). But you'd never know that now, his characteristic scowl back in place as they traverse the super exciting secret entrance (and laugh if you like, Steph's not even kidding) to the Batcave. "What was so special about Jesus, anyway? He came back from the dead once. That's hardly impressive."

Well, maybe not if you know the people Damian knows. Still, that's one severely jaded ten-year-old. Steph and Dick and Cass and Damian and 200 Easter eggs hidden in the Batcave. Adorable.

if it's crowded, all the better by Ladymercury_10
Steph and Cass team up to save Damian. <3

Mating Displays by Djinn
Diana deals with Bruce's infuriating approach to their mutual attraction.

The Traitors Club (Or: A Conversation About Betrayal and Apple Pie) by rustyhalos
Batman and Hawkgirl share a conversation and a moment of camaraderie. Lovely.

~*~

Crossovers

Hawkeye/Batgirl

The Hawk and the Bat by sevenofspade
Steph falls into the Marvelverse and teams up with Kate to fight a villain. Eggplant avengers ftw!

~*~

he's always good to me, always treats me tenderly

Avengers

Beware Iron Man 3 spoilers in a number of these stories.

All destinations approximate by jonesandashes & pollyrepeat
“Sir,” says JARVIS, “in response to the tone of your voice I have taken the liberty of drawing you a soothing bubble duck.” An image pops up on screen; it is, indeed, a line-drawing of a duck made out of bubbles.

Thor studies Tony’s face for a moment. “I will return with ale,” he says, and exits the room. So JARVIS gets kidnapped and then the Avengers go on a time travel adventure of hilarity. This story made me laugh out loud several times - I had a hard time deciding between the bubble duck and the tomatoes for a pull quote.

babel, babel, look at me now by jumpfall
How Pepper joins the Avengers. <333

Bridal Carry by thingswithwings
Ficlet where Carol carries Steve around when there's flying to be done. Full of wonderful teamy banter plus lovely Steve/Carol feels.

Enyo by legete
Lovely, delicate, heartbreaking rule63!Bucky/Steve.

The Exchange by SLynn
Really lovely story about Clint and books.

Fighting Talk by trace_of_scarlet
"Who would win in a fight?" Darcy asks, and ducks as yet another fireball scorches past her head; she can hear and feel her hair frizzle, which is weirdly disconcerting. "Natasha or Thor?" Even the Avengers discuss it amongst themselves. This is really cute.

Hot Chocolate Is for Heroes by Cedes
Harley visits Tony in NYC. This is both funny and adorable.

How Clint Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nancy Drew by boosette
Another lovely story about Clint and books, this time via the library.

I Love The Fallen Seeds (Premature And In Some Need) by liseuse
They leave Bucky under the care of Hill and Sitwell and take a walk. They end up in Abingdon Square Park. The sky is heavy and no one else seems to want to stand and stay still. The city is full of people dashing about, and Steve thinks he could no more join in than he could turn into a flamingo.

“Thank you,” he says to Natasha.

“I didn’t do it for you,” she says.

Steve pushes his hands into his pockets, and leans back on the railing. “I know.” Steve and Natasha bring Bucky back, and then deal with his recovery. I like how much Steve feels in this, even though he never quite articulates it, and how Bucky (and everyone else) knows.

Medvezhonok by lanyon
The Winter Soldier is on the run and no one is more surprised than he is by the fact that he is accompanied by a little boy who seems convinced that he is his father. Oh Bucky. Oh Stefan. OH MY HEART. This is really lovely - full of hope and melancholy and a really great kid POV. One of my favorite stories to come out of this fandom; a definite comfort reread.

mentha × piperita by Siria
Steve takes care of Natasha when she's ill. <333

Mighty like Love, Mighty like Sorrow by Regann
In those empty years, he had reacted to such displays in a variety of ways: sometimes he couldn't help but react with tears of his own, choked and burning in his throat, and sometimes there was anger when someone tried to twist it into something hateful and bitter, but there was always another layer of sadness to it. Because those people, no matter how well-intentioned, they only remembered Captain America -- the strong, handsome soldier in the newsreels and propaganda films, the carefully cultivated image that had sold war bonds and kept spirits from flagging the darkest days of war. There were so few of them left who did, or even could, remember Steve, especially the way Bucky did. Sometimes that dissonance was what drove him into hitching jags of ugly emotion, a weight of sadness-pain-loss that could steal his breath for days. Whatever HYDRA had done to trap him in this almost-ageless body, it hadn't dulled its ability to feel, no matter the source of the pleasure or pain. Bucky frees himself from the Soviets' programming and lives a lonely, isolated, empty life until the day he sees the new Captain America on the news and decides to give SHIELD a piece of his mind about not respecting Steve's legacy. It doesn't go exactly how he expects, but he and Steve get a happy ending after all. *happy sigh*

Night Run by LtLJ
Fury flowed along ahead in his dark coat, blending with the night, and Tony started to stock up Batman references to make later.

He didn't actually see the two guards Fury had taken out until he stepped on one's hand and tripped over the prone body of the other. He stumbled into Fury's back, and Fury whispered, "Watch it, Stark," and grabbed the shoulder of his hoodie to steer him around a third body.

"My God, you are Batman," Tony muttered.

"Shut up," Fury hissed. Apparently he was taking this whole thing personally. Bruce gets kidnapped and Tony and Fury have to work together to get him back, just like in a buddy cop comedy. Hee!

no tragic backstory by twistedingenue
Adorable movieverse/616 fusion where Clint brings Darcy home for a one-night stand (and maybe more) and Kate decides she passes muster. Lots of fun banter.

Our Broken Parts (Smashed on the Floor) by non_sequential
Steve gets sent in undercover to capture the Winter Soldier. He goes a little off the plan, with interesting results. Hot and heartbreaking, with a little bit of hope at the end. Oh Steve.

The Personal (Assistant) Is Political by hollimichele
“I mean, you seem like a perfectly nice dame-- lady-- person! But I don’t want an assistant,” Steve says.

“Oh, I get that,” I say. “The question is, do you need one? Because at the interview, they made it sound like you did.”

“Well, I don’t know why they did that,” Steve said. “Honestly, I don’t mind spending an hour a week or so signing autographs, and they’ve even got the interns stuffing the envelopes for me now. And I like the fanmail. Most of it, anyway. Some of it’s a little weird.”

“Who’s keeping track of your calendar, then?” I ask. “And scheduling your public appearances? And managing your media strategy?”

“SHIELD generally lets me know when I have to do a meet-and-greet, and I’ve got them down to a reasonable number lately,” he says. “And there’s a calendar on the desk blotter. And I don’t have a media strategy.”

“Yes, you do,” I said. “I mean, right now your media strategy consists of ‘ignore them and maybe they’ll go away,’ but I guess that is technically still a strategy.”

“You think it’s working?” Steve asks, smiling crookedly.

“I really don’t,” I say. In which Steve's progressivism sometimes makes things difficult for his PA. <3

Probably Not On Purpose by Frea_O
Pepper and Natasha, post-IM3. Yes! This!

So if you grapple, get a grip by caughtinanocean
When a Department X trigger leaves Bucky without memories of his former life—or anything at all, for that matter—Steve and Natasha have a tough call to make. Thus, James, bartender and cat-owner, who absolutely hasn't got a metal arm, and whose roommate totally isn't a secret agent, and whose blood-stained nightmares can't possibly be real, comes into being.

In retrospect, it never was the best-laid of plans. Oh Steve. Oh, Bucky. I love how Steve can't stay away, because of course he can't, and how some spark of Bucky is still there, beneath all the brainwashing, but even if he never remembers, Steve's going to love him anyway. *happy sigh*

The Right Thing in the Wrong Way by igrockspock
Pepper keeps the box on her desk and fills it with little mementoes of good things Tony has done: the opera tickets he bought her the time he actually remembered her birthday, and the tickets to the museum gala he gave her when he thought her birthday was in March. The Payless shoebox stays in the back of her closet because it was where her brother had stored his baseball cards and airline-sized tequila bottles, and she hasn't touched it since the day after his funeral, when she filled it with small souvenirs of his life.

Tony never asks why she keeps his box on her desk, and that's another reason she stays: he lets her pretend she's the functional one. Really lovely, melancholy Tony/Pepper through the years.

a saviour came your way by beardsley
Steve walks in on Bucky jerking off in the shower. Hotness ensues.

There's only one phoenix (and it's not me) by claudiapriscus
you're not the phoenix in this story, you're the pyre. Tony's greatest talent was never his genius but his resilience. He crashes and burns and rebuilds from the ashes, and you're fiercely glad, fiercely grateful for that. But now they'll be your ashes, your flames, and you deserved so much more. You've been Tony Stark's assistant and his babysitter and his boss and his lifeline, but the role of martyr and monument was never one you sought. Excellent look at Pepper in the climactic scene of IM3.

This Is Something. by knitmeapony
"A drinking game?" She was almost disappointed. "What is the point of that when neither of you can get drunk?"

"Passes the time," Bucky said.

"Camaraderie and morale," Steve said at the same moment.

"Brother," Bucky said with a snort, "you can not make drinking vodka sound patriotic."

"Apparently he can." Natasha smirked and stretched out her legs. "Let's play a game that makes you think, at least, hm?" Lovely, low-key Steve/Bucky/Natasha. OT3 of my HEART.

Through the Fire by FannyT
Pepper deals in the aftermath of the movie, and makes her choice. I could easily see it playing out this way. Oh, Pepper. ♥

the timing is right by haipollai
Adorably schmoopy 616 Steve/Bucky.

Try, Try Again. by buffyaddict13
Lovely set of post-IM3 scenes. Spoilers, obviously.

The Velocity of Vegetables by legete
Bucky's hoping for makeouts when he goes to Pepper's to study, but ends up with babysitting. This is an ADORABLE story where teenage Bucky and Pepper babysit Steve, Natasha, and Tony. (A-Babies v. X-Babies.)

We come correct, we keep it clean by jouissant
Kate and Clint, doing what Hawkeyes do.

What We Stand For by scrollgirl
In which Peggy and Howard et al. get together to found SHIELD. *sniffle*

White Heat Red Hot by 51stCenturyFox
Missing but necessary scene from IM3.

Wingman by thingswithwings
Carol and Rhodey meet up again when they're both superheroes. Aw, I love how much they are bros in this, even when they're having sex.

~*~