Summary:
Nothing could bring Sirius back to him, he knew that, he knew—in a way, he knew his Sirius had never returned from Azkaban in the first place. His Sirius had died in that explosion 15 years ago, just as surely as if he’d been one of the dozen or so Muggles that Pettigrew had found so disposable. But somehow, Tonks had become such a poignant echo of her cousin that Remus found his eyes turning back to her, finding her, again, and again...
The author calls this story a headcanon turned fic, and it is that, but also so much more. It’s two broken, traumatised people circling the ghost of a third that stands between them but also pulls them towards one another. It’s a story of loss, survivor’s guilt, and finding (questionable) comfort in stand-ins and replacements.
...yet it’s not altogether grim. For there is a spark of hope -- and if it’s shaped like defiance and spite and snarling at fate, then so be it. Because this version of the whole affair -- I’m not calling it ‘romance’, not yet -- reads so much more true to the characters and their unique bodily circumstances than the canon ever could. (Or: the original smacks of shoehorned comphet; this version made me ship it.)
Also, It’s so queer AO3 doesn’t even have a category for it is one of the best tags ever :p
Summary:
No one is thinking much about the Library as Erebor is being rebuilt, no one but Ori.
Because I’m always soft for these two, and this piece is all about them being young and sweet and discovering love together. And for such a short thing, it manages to pack in plenty of meaningful backstory detail and some excellent shippy chemistry.
And that’s it. That’s the story.
Oh, it’s set in a library, you say? Why yes, that’s one of my big ‘YAY’ buttons, too. (Apart from the everyone lives fix-it.) Take a warm cuppa -- guess what, it’s snowing here again -- and enjoy a nice solid moment of fluff!
Summary:
A moment of stillness within the chaos. A really, really hurried and kind of messy moment. With teeth.
What it says on the tin: a hot, tight, breathless moment between “we didn’t die yet” and “but we still might”. And it’s a pretty package too, all wrapped up in beautifully flowing prose and tied with viscerally evocative physical description. Also: teeth.
Or: I’m trawling through the depths of my old bookmarks for nice spicy snacks and you get to sample the catch ;)
afterglow (1650 words)
by DeHeerKonijn
Summary:
A constellation of little white blooms dot the hillside around them. Gimli hadn’t noticed them when they first tumbled onto the grass, but now something about their dainty faces makes him huff an incredulous chuckle.
A son of Durin, made husband on a bed of moonflowers!
A piece of sweet, warm and loving wartime fluff for a day of grey cloud, wind-chill and sleet -- or: a tale of how one elf’s radiant happiness manifests in spontaneous out-of-season blossoming, all the way to the gates of Mordor itself.
Not going to lie: this is one of my go-to stories for happy brain chemicals; a simple handful of golden comfort with abundant flowers and sap. (Also feat. Aragorn being Too Smug, but he’s allowed.)
Treat yourself and enjoy!
Summary:
The whole idea was preposterous. Preposterous.
To sum it up, reading this made me so happy that the mere thought has me grinning stupidly all over again.
I mean… there’s Erestor: high-strung, over-worked, and too alone in his lovely little stone cottage -- though you won’t catch him admitting to any of it. And there’s Glorfindel: lost and lonely and broken; uncertain of why the Valar would send him back in the first place -- and all he wants is peace and quiet and somewhere to garden.
Enter the matchmaking agency. Now, the very notion should be ridiculous, but it works like a charm. (All right, I may be biased, because this is one of my favourite tropes.) Because there’s an instant, audible ‘click’ of chemistry -- followed by much awkwardness, a swift descent to sweet domesticity, and increasingly desperate pining. (Should I mention that There Is Only One Bed?)
Honourable mention for best prop goes to one (1) rose-coloured velveteen ribbon that does a lot of (hot and) heavy lifting ;-p
A soft and spicy springtime treat, with a perfect length to devour in one go -- just sit back and enjoy!
Summary:
Harry’s slumming it. He’s not doing too well. Draco’s doing worse.
A fair warning: this story is not simple, or straightforward, or morally unambiguous. But -- and this is a very important “but” -- it’s still a pretty nice steamy read, because the characters have loads and loads of chemistry, of that mysterious, elusive, hot-and-bothered something that can manifest as anger or curses or obsession -- or lust.
(There’s a softer side as well, a sweeter thread, but it’s well-hidden between words meant to wound, behind slips of thought dodging half-formed sentiments. In the end, there’s even a whiff of something that could be tentatively called hope.)
In all, there’s an awful lot going on in this tight and lovely package, and all of it is so very, very GOOD. Do yourself a favour and go read!
Summary:
Uncle Bilbo lived Very Far Away, so he never stopped by for tea, and he missed the fireworks Gandalf lit off at the Lithe. It was too unfair. Instead, Frodo had to content himself with the letters and the wonderful stories that Uncle Bilbo would write to him.
A lovely story about a bright and curious hobbit child who gets adopted by a proud, cantankerous, and secretly quite sweet raven, about an uncle who lives far, far away, but sends the most wonderful letters and presents, and about grief, comfort, and choosing your own family.
Makes an excellent use of letters without exactly being an epistolary, and balances warmth, humour and bittersweetness in an effortless, uplifting way that never grows old for me.
Recommended for a gentle and comforting (re)read.
Summary:
James is the natural confidant of both Remus and Sirius. When they both swear him to secrecy on the same topic, James is stuck watching his friends pine for each other without being able to say a word to bring them together. A lesser man might shrink from the challenge of finding a way to break his promise without breaking his promise, but not James Potter!
...and by Devious Plan #43, or thereabouts, James Potter wishes he was a lesser man.
Recommended for ridiculously wilful obliviousness, increasingly convoluted matchmaking attempts, and the resultant ongoing amusement to the reader. Also the ending is very sweet -- in the Marauders style ;)
Summary:
It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always. At first, though, the time loop seems liberating. For the first time in his life, he can do anything, say anything, be anything, without consequence. But the more Draco repeats the day, the more he realises the uncomfortable truth: he's falling head over heels for the speccy git. And suddenly, the time loop feels like a trap. For how can he ever get Harry to love him back when time is, quite literally, against him?
Starts over politics, but quickly branches out into a well-crafted take on the time loop trope, offering a nice balance between devil-may-care shenanigans and some pretty amazing character development.
Speaking of which, Draco's POV is an utter delight to read: snarky, dramatic and indignant, but also endearingly eager for the opportunities the situation allows him -- and eventually desperate to break the loop.
Also featuring a crucial supporting character: the most adorable and fiendishly clever little owl ever to hoot and flutter on the page ♥ ♥ ♥
And as for the shippy part of plot... the chemistry is just crackling -- explosive, but in a good way -- and with a tendency to go sweet at unexpected moments.
Will made you laugh and smile and curse -- or cackle -- over accidents of timing and diction. Happy ending with warm fuzzies guaranteed.
Summary:
The time of the Enemy is ended at last, but Legolas still knows this season in his blood. The sun is setting, the snow is melting, and he is alive and free – and hungry.
Now this is, to put it plainly, a masterpiece.
A powerful ode to love and life and springtime, to that hunger as pure and raw as the growing light that pulls every breathing thing to reach out towards the sun.
Now, replace "sun” with the name of a certain dwarf, and you'll make it sound like a heavy-handed metaphor for sex, but trust me when I say there's nothing so crass in the story itself. Instead, it flows like snowmelt through soil and root, sometimes cold, sometimes muddy, yet easily condensing into an intensely sensual encounter that blazes warmly against the backdrop of awakening nature, joyful like a breath of moist living earth after long months of darkness and cold.
TLDR: This is very beautiful and very hot, and I’ve read it multiple times already, so you should too!
Summary:
The brave line of Thorin Oakenshield was not meant to survive the Battle of the Five Armies. But the love of a hobbit and an elleth might just change the path of history.
A fix-it inspired by my story "Of the Stone of Erebor and the Gardens of the Shire"
I recently reread this, and it still made me so happy I want to share the joy :)
Now, this is by far not the only fic to use the “cabbage patch hobbits” trope (or the “dwarven children carved from stone”, for that matter), but I feel it’s a classic for a reason.
Most importantly, the worldbuilding is solid and drives the plot like a steam engine, which is a good thing, since I doubt the two resident dorks could manage to resolve the romance plotline without some external incentive (lack of communication is a thing, here). The story also makes good use of the supporting cast, and the ending is appropriately fluffy without being sickeningly so.
In case you want a less sugar-coated take (aka no fix-it) of the same idea, try Of the Stone of Erebor and the Gardens of the Shire by the same author. It’s incomplete, but updated with a summary at the end, and the existing story is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Summary:
Legolas temporarily gains the ability to read minds, but its difficult to seperate mortal minds from one another. Someones mind however is filled with smut. Elven themed smut. Could it be....?
Just a silly little romp where a certain someone in the Fellowship has a very healthy imagination, and Legolas is at turns confused, impressed and intrigued by it.
And that’s it. That’s the rec. The fic speaks for itself: it’s brilliantly hilarious, appropriately horny, and just the right amount of sweet, and you’re very welcome to it ♥♥♥
Summary:
It always begins the same: with an address and a date texted from an unknown number.
What started out as a necessity has grown into a game they play for the thrill of it. Because they will get caught one day, no matter how careful they are.
One day, but not tonight. Tonight they will find each other on the dance floor like any two strangers, and party like there's no tomorrow.
A big helping of smut, garnished with a semblance of plot and topped up with assorted feelings.
Or: another installment to the Freefall-verse, originally written for the Season Kink bingo, prompt 'Flirting or seduction'.
Summary:
It's a Saturday night at the A&E, and Gimli only wants to get to the triage nurse and be done with this whole stupid business.
That is, until he meets a tall, dark stranger (a ridiculously pretty one).
So I read an article about all the strange things people had had removed from various orifices last year... and it gave me a meet-cute setting XD
This thing is short, silly, and kind of fluffy - and also my first proper Modern AU story for these two, I hope you like it!
Summary:
Fíli's hungover enough not to notice that the pile of laundry in his armchair is actually not a pile of laundry for a few minutes.
Pure, unadulterated, escapist fluff.
Or: the meet-cute where a drunk Ori can climb in through a window without a sound but not tell left from right, and Fili has a cute cat, an unexpected (but increasingly welcome) visitor, and oodles and oodles of flirt.
To be honest, this rec is chiefly me being nostalgic, because this piece (by one of my all-time favourite authors!) showcases precisely the sort of dynamic that drew me to the ship in the first place. I hope you’ll enjoy it as well!!
In eighth year, Harry had a toxic fling with Draco Malfoy. Ten years later, a little girl shows up, begging for Harry's help. Could the two be connected? And did Harry misunderstand what Draco was trying to tell him, the last time they spoke?
Feat. angry 8th year Harry being truly horrible to Draco, Draco writing a lot of letters he never sends Harry, and the most Gryffindor-Slytherin hybrid ten-year-old you've ever seen.
Yes, this is a post-mpreg kidfic, because that’s the way I roll sometimes.
With the disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about the kid. I want you to imagine the ultimate Malfoy-Potter lovechild, okay? Proud, smart, stubborn, loyal to a fault, and reckless to boot… only crank everything up a notch and you get the titular character.
But not only is Cassie a brilliant little monster, she’s also the force that sets the love story in motion. And what love story it is.
It begins with two broken young men and a tragic, Shakespearean misunderstanding, only to pick up again a decade later when somewhat dramatic circumstances engender a solution of convenience that quickly transforms into something else. There’s a happy ending, of course, but only after a suitable amount of wrong-footedness, pining, and awkward domesticity. Also letters. The best sort of letters. (I mean, like the dialogue, they’re laugh-out-loud funny… until they make you cringe and cry. This fic is part rollercoaster I tell you.)
Oh, and did I mention this is a perfect read-in-one-sitting length for a lazy Saturday-- or any other day, really. Enjoy!
Summary:
Gimli awakes the morning after Aragorn's coronation in the lap of an Elf with Dwarven courtship braids in his hair. It comes as a bit of a surprise.
Ingredients:
Mix thoroughly and serve on the morning after. Garnish with a sprig of happy resolution and some affectionate teasing.
Makes enough for any number of romance-craving readers.
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