Makoyi's Fanfic Recs and Other Stuff

Title: Lady Captain America
Author: MischievousMartian
Fandom: Avengers
Genre: Fanart, Digital Art, genderswap, Female Superheros

Review:
Absolutely amazing Lady Cap - she has muscles! She got dirty, her hair got mussed, and you just know from her expression that she's in command and she's good at it!

Lady Captain America (on dA)

Title: Brooklyn
Author: togina
Fandom: Avengers
Genre: Romance, Coming Out fic
Pairing: Steve/Bucky
Length: Medium (8,749 words)

Author's Summary:
"Captain America, what's your stance on gay marriage?"Everyone knows that, by now. Everyone but Bucky.

Review:
So Steve comes out at a press conference by talking about his love for Bucky and then there's a romance movie called Brooklyn made about their lives and Steve's giving speeches and people are going to pride parades dressed as Captain America and the Winter Soldier and Bucky comes back and Steve panics thinking Bucky will hate it when he finds out... so Steve maybe sort of tries to keep him from finding out, which is absolutely impossible at that point. It's a great fic. And it's got a happy ending. And I would so love to see the Brooklyn movie!

Brooklyn (on AO3)

Title: art for "The Scheme of Things"
Author: RomanImp aka romans-art
Fandom: Agent Carter/MCU
Genre: art, AU

Author's Summary:
grumpy officer Peggy and overexcitable engineer Angie painting based on the fic: 'The Scheme of Things'

Review:
Very nice digital painting for an Agent Carter AU, can be viewed as Peggy/Angie or Peggy&Angie. Check out the artist's other work - there's a lot of great fanart there.

art for "The Scheme of Things" (on tumblr)

Title: Fast Cars and Slow Jazz
Author: maggiemerc
Fandom: Agent Carter, Marvel Universe
Genre: Romance - femslash
Pairing: Peggie/Angie
Length: Long (34,694 words and counting)

Author's Summary:
1. Angie’s got suspicions on what Peggy does for a living and she’s determined to protect her at all costs…to other people. It’s not like she’s crazy and about to risk her life for a dame that’s more hot and cold than the plumbing on the third floor of the Griffith Hotel.
2. "Tell me something English, if Captain America had gone and wooed you in a spectacular fashion, genuinely connected with you on an emotional level and then drugged you, locked you up in a mansion 'for your own good' and faked his death how would you feel?" After The Lady is a Tramp Peggy tries to woo Angie back. Too bad she's shite at it.

Review:
This fic gets bonus points for being that rare thing that is a long and well-written femslash fic, plus more bonus points for being in Agent Carter fandom. But most of all this fic is great because it really lets Angie's character shine. Her attitude and the lovely, dramatic relationship between her and Peggie make this a great series.

Fast Cars and Slow Jazz (on AO3)

Title: By Choice or By Habit
Author: Sholio
Fandom: Avengers/MCU
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Psychiatric themes, Team feels
Length: Short (6,448 words)

Author's Summary:
He is useful. He holds onto that. He is useful and a useful tool will not be thrown away. (For illumynare's request: How about something with Bucky realizing the Avengers actually think of him as a person? And off I went to the utterly shameless h/c place.)

Review:
Written from Bucky's POV as he recovers from the depersonalization from his captivity.  Even so, its clear that Bucky feels for his teammates and they care about him back and it's lovely when he is finally able to realize that fit himself into that family as a person instead of an asset - lovely warm fuzzy feelings :)

By Choice of By Habit (on AO3)

Title: Home and Family
Author: sanctuary_for_all
Fandom: Marvel/Avengers
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Steve/Bucky
Length: Medium (34,278 words)

Author's Summary:
"You look at him like he's home, and you're trying like hell to figure out how to get back to it."

Review:
I seem to be on an Avengers kick lately so you get another adorable, fluffy Steve/Bucky fic.

Home and Family (on AO3)

Title: Love Is For Children series
Author:Ysabetwordsmith
Fandom: Avengers/Marvel 'verse
Genre: Chosen Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Teambuilding
Length: Epic (248,973+ words)

Author's Summary:
In The Avengers, Natasha Romanova says "Love is for children." It's an expression of life as she knows it, and fits the harsh background most of the Avengers have experienced. Trouble is, people don't do very well without love. In particular it's impossible to form a good team if the members don't care about each other.

So Phil Coulson comes up with a teambuilding exercise to resolve that problem. If love is for children ... then he'll arrange that experience for them. The result is an exploration of nonsexual ageplay to allow a group of very powerful, very broken people to patch up some of the gaps in their lives.

Most of the stories are very sweet in tone and make for good comfort reading. However, canon gives these characters some very unpleasant pasts, and that comes up as they process the aftermath. So the tone does vary, and some stories are more intense than others. They deal with different characters, relationships, and sensitive issues.

Review:
So I said when I rec'd the first story in the series that I would get around to reviewing the series as a whole later and now that I've read on I have to say I am absolutely in love with this series. Part of that is that I'm into caretaking and competence (including emotional competence) in a big way, both of which are major themes in this series but even if you don't share those interests, there are lots of awesome things about this series. I love that it has a strong asexual character in Clint and aromantic character in Natasha. I love the Comfort-fic aspect as so many characters get help dealing with their abusive childhoods - this fic will leave you full of warm fuzzy feelings :), that's for sure. I love that is focuses on the hard work of teambuilding and becoming a Chosen Family. I also adore all the links to further information that the author took the time to include at the end of each chapter - it really shows that she did her research and it gives the reader a place to start looking for more information on a lot of interesting subjects. So basically, this is another very long story, but totally worth the time.

Love Is For Children (on AO3), (on DW)

Title: Wandering Child
Author: wanderingchild
Fandom: Avengers/Marvel, Norse mythology
Genre: redeemed!Loki, Trauma/Hurt
Pairing: Loki/Svadilfari, Loki/Angrboda
Length: Epic (227,956 words and counting) [you may not get all the way through though - see warnings]
Warnings: Graphic Violence, Rape, Serious long-term child abuse of multiple characters but especially of Loki - all abuse took place in the past but is so bad it is often absolutely devastating to read about

Author's Summary:
Originally a fill posted at norsekink in response to the prompt:
"After the Avengers capture Loki at the end of the movie, they lock him up as a precaution before shipping him off to Asgard. And being the good guys, they decide to give him the chance to bathe and dress in clean clothes instead of sleeping in his own dirty rags.
The problem is, without the whole battle gear and the drawn and mean look, Loki looks surprisingly young, which prompts the Avengers to ask Thor just how old Loki really is. Of course Loki is centuries old, but Thor tells them that in human standard, Loki would still be considered underage!
Cue to horrified Avengers who wants to know exactly what sort of crappy home life Loki must have had to end up like this before even reaching adulthood."
It rather spiralled from there into a behemoth, now in the process of being edited and hopefully cleaned of glaring plotholes!

Review:
Okay seriously, do not start reading any chapters of this fic without reading the warnings. And have tissues, and probably someone you can ask for a hug.  And while I do think you should start reading it, don't be afraid to stop whenever you want.  Because it's really, really devastating at times.  But I also think this fic is an absolutely fantastic redeemed!supervillain story because it gets Loki's complex character so well - he's really, really nasty in complicated ways while still being sympathetic and while you probably won't like him much as a person for awhile that doesn't make you want any less to protect him from the crap he's had to go through. So yes, it's a dark and difficult fic, but a really well-written one.

Also, since I badly needed comfort fic not even halfway through, I'm going to post a caretaking fic as a second rec today.

Wandering Child (on AO3)

Title: The Supersoldier's Amnesiac Groom
Author:casspeach
Fandom: Avengers
Genre: Romance (Harlequin challenge), Amnesia fic, Secret Identity, Arranged Marriage (sort of)
Pairing: Steve/Bucky
Length: (48,240 words)

Author's Summary:
Steve Rogers has always known that the supersoldier serum was a gift, and he's never been afraid to do what's right.

When Uncle Sam asks him to unite the two sides of the Cold War by taking part in a symbolic union with a fabled Russian assassin, Captain America doesn't hesitate to do his duty.

Little does he know how thoroughly his world is going to be turned upside down.

Review:
First, I have to say that I am really not a romance novel fan so this review isn't going to sound as enthusiastic as this fic probably deserves, but I wouldn't rec this story at all if I didn't think it was good and worth reading again so just adjust for my general genre disinterest by turning up the dial on this rec probably three clicks further towards flattery.  It really is a good fic and if you like Harlequin romances, definitely don't miss this one.  The story is well-written from a technical standpoint and the characterization choices are really interesting.  This is such a romance novel, it certainly answers the challenge it was written for to a T - right down to steadfastly ignoring any and all logical or dramatic elements that might get in the way of the romance plot.  That annoyed me several times, but obviously given the success of publishers like Harlequin, many, many readers are not as particular as me, so don't let this discourage you from checking this fic out.

The Supersoldier's Amnesiac Groom (on AO3)

Title:  Darkness, Flooded in Light
Author: galaxysoup 
Fandom: Thor, Avengers
Genre: LGBT, Redeemed Villain, PTSD
Length: Medium (Words: 42,329)
Warnings: Triggers (check fic tags and Author's notes), very sad at times - crying likely

Author's Summary:
“When much is taken, something is returned.” - Terry Pratchett, Nation

Loki falls. Injured and unable to access his magic, he must struggle to restore himself physically and mentally before the Bifrost is repaired and Asgard comes to find him. That would be difficult enough, but one of Asgard’s deepest secrets has followed him...

Review:
Emotional, beautifully descriptive, good OCs, great character development arc, author puts a lot of effort into realism of the issues of trauma/recovery, LGBT themes handled well, very good read

Darkness, Flooded in Light (on AO3)