Unfit for Society Recs

Avengers

as we drifted towards the storm by haipollai
Lovely AU where Steve's a tattoo artist and Bucky's an injured veteran.

Body Studies by Ark
Bucky offers to pose for Steve, and things go on from there. Hot, sweet, funny, and achy all at once.

but hey, you're all right by beardsley
'This is not my fault,' Tony lies. 'It was supposed to be a joke! Christ.'

'Thanks to your joke,' says Coulson, 'we now have a code three-four-delta, with the variable being a Russian immigrant. We're checking his background right now, but it might take a while. Meanwhile, I suggest you civilian-proof the Tower. If any SHIELD intelligence is compromised, I will hurt you.'

Tony takes a step back.

'I can just move back to Brooklyn,' Steve says. 'We don't have to stay at the Tower.' Tony orders Steve a Russian mail order bride. Who happens to be the Winter Soldier. Who happens to be Bucky. Steve's all right with this. Oh my heart. This is hilarious and full of all Steve's Bucky feels. Plus, THUNDER ROAD. <3

Everybody Talks by fade_like_starlight
Everyone gossips about Steve and Darcy's adorable romance. <3

Fresh Snow by legoline
"So was my decision to follow you on that train. You think I was going to let you go in alone? You know, just because you gained a few inches of height doesn't mean I was going to stop trying to save you from doing something stupid. You were Captain America to everyone else. Someone had to look after Steve Rogers."

And there, it's as simple as that. Bucky never followed Captain America, and he never will. He's there to look out for him like he always was, on the sidelines, never condescending, never after glory, never pushing Steve aside to steal the spotlight, never back then and never today. He's there because he wants to protect Steve and he doesn't care that Captain America towers over him now and that he should be able to take care of himself. Bucky will always see him as Steve—not the asthma kid, not the rejected failure, not the super soldier. Just Steve. Bucky drops by Steve's apartment on Christmas Eve. Oh my heart. *happy sigh*

I'm coming home (but I ain't coming home for you) by Renne
Long, fantastic story of who Bucky becomes after he's not the Winter Soldier anymore, and how Steve is there almost every step of the way for him. Heartbreaking and hopeful in the best ways. Oh my heart. *sniffle*

lifehack by edibleflowers
Nicely done backstory for Clint and Natasha.

The Nine Lives of Natasha Romanoff by starrika
This does a really good job of showing Natasha's sense of dislocation in each of the personae the Red Room implants in her, and her growing disastisfaction with how she's being treated. a good read, highly recommended.

Old Acquaintances by BlackRook
Jack Frost is willing to play with any and all the kids, but sometimes, every other decade or so, he gets favorites, the ones he comes back to every winter until they are all grown up. Jack Frost checks up on Steve and Bucky through the years. This is really lovely and doesn't require knowledge of Rise of the Guardians, since I don't have any. I mean, you know who Jack Frost is, right? That should suffice.

Straight On 'Til Morning by arsenicjade
Jane and Thor have a baby. Tony has to learn to deal. This is wistful and lovely and made me cry.

strictly no hugging, no kissing by beardsley
Steve/Bucky Pushing Daisies AU where Steve is the Piemaker and Bucky is his undead soldier boyfriend. Matches the spirit of the show perfectly. <333 'You look at peace with the universe,' Steve says.

'The universe is at peace with me,' Thor replies. 'I shall let the universe take the wheel while I take a nap in the back seat, wrapped in a fluffy afghan of content.'

'I like the fluffy afghan of content.' Steve sighs. He sticks his hands in the pockets of his coat. 'I think my fluffy afghan of content is at the cleaners, and I have to make do with the woollen comforter of okay-ish, which is okay, but a little itchy.'

'Dude,' says Clint, turning his head towards them and letting Darcy steer him in the right direction. 'Are you two high or something, and why didn't you share with me?'

'My spirits are high,' says Thor.

Steve shrugs. 'I'm okay-ish. It itches.'

~*~

Crossovers

Elementary/Buffy the Vampire Slayer

i think you need a shotgun blast by postcardmystery
Excellent crossover/fusion of Elementary with Buffy; epic in scope for something that's only 3K words and completely believable. Joan is a Slayer and Holmes is her Watcher.

*

The Middleman/Star Trek

A Christmas Card From The Middleman – 2012 by themiddleblog
In the past twelve months, Wendy Watson had honed the cool and sardonic demeanor that first got her this job into a weapon as powerful as a 30-Megahurt Definit-Kil Photrazon cannon. Even now, as she made an uncontrolled ascent over the city, hands white-knuckling one of the control line of a massive helium balloon in the shape of one of the adorable characters from "Ferrets of Fury" - the almost criminally popular game app that had taken the country's tablet and smartphone users by storm - her thoughts ricocheted with their usual post-modern tangentiality...but even as her mind ameliorated all the synaptic red alerts over her current predicament by busily trying to replace the lyric "high adventure beyond compare" from the theme to the old "Gummi Bears" cartoon show with the more descriptive "they're gelatinous with sucrose to spare" she truly could not tune out the screams of the fourteen year-old boy clutched beside her in the inflatable paws of this once adorable video game creation turned hateful harbinger of helium-filled hatred. Technically, this is not fanfic, since it was written by the show's creator, but *hands* it is too awesome not to rec.

~*~

Firefly

The Story by Kass
"I recognize your allergy to religion."

"That's one way to put it," Mal agrees.

"But would you object if I held a service on Christmas Eve?"

The request surprises him, though he's not sure why it should. "Object?" Mal shrugs. "What you do on your own time is your own business."

"So you wouldn't have a problem with my holding Christmas services on your ship."

"Wouldn't expect too many people to come," Mal cautions him. "This ain't exactly the godliest of crews."

Shepherd Book's smile is wry. "Doesn't rightly matter. I've observed Christmas all by my ownself before. I can do it again, if need be."

He shouldn't ask, but his curiosity gets the better of him. "Then why bother with a service?"

"It matters to me that I tell the story," the shepherd says quietly. "Whether or not anyone's listening is another matter entirely." I'm so sad we never got a Firefly holiday episode, but this fits the bill. Everyone sounds just like themselves. <3

~*~

Teen Wolf

one more dance to help me sleep by redweathertiger
Lovely future fic in which Allison, after a few years of running, finds Lydia and a place to settle down.

~*~