#3 fics

@totallysilvergirl tagged me in this: name your most popular fic and two “hidden gems” that haven’t circulated as much.

Most Popular: by hits and subscriptions, it’s hands down this one: 

Lift Me Up, O Lord (rated E, 37K words)  lived for a long time in my slush document as the first two scenes and a few sketches for an AU that embodied my love of strength training (Aziraphale) and roadwork (Crowley). I wasn’t sure exactly how they’d get together or what their human-AU stories were, so I just let it simmer there on my hard drive until they told me that Crowley was bisexual, had moderately pronounced ADHD (like many of the runners in my bodywork practice), was still stinging from a failed marriage and had cultivated a cantankerous demeanor that discouraged further relationships. Aziraphale turned out to be Polish-British, gregarious, and unexpectedly literary for a man whose life is invested in lifting heavy things (author admits to being that person, kinda). There’s a charity bike race, an Arrangement that turns into a bromance that... well, you know where this goes. Dame Marjorie Potts as the titled board member of a sports charity, Young Shadwell as a bad-boy football star, Pollution as a Channel swimmer, Gabriel as... well, an asshole.

Crowley hated gyms. They reminded him of secondary school, where dressing out was always a prelude to being bashed on the playing field (once, in a post-race newsclip that had flown around the Internet for five seconds or so, he’d said that was when he learned to run fast). They all smelled like a barrel-aged jockstrap and, as if it weren’t bad enough to be in the presence of dozens of people you’d prefer not to meet, were lined with mirrors that reflected them all back at you. 

I’m going to cheat a little on the 3-fic rubric here because by kudos, a niche fic from my first year on AO3 has consistently remained at the top of the heap almost since it was posted, and I’ve never been sure why. Funny Old World is a short (under 2000 words), T-rated narrative of an awkward encounter between Aziraphale and John Constantine, the working-class demonologist who appears in several DC Vertigo Comics including Sandman, and was gender-swapped in the TV series. It’s curious.

Hidden Gems:

There’s no shipping or romance in Don’t Run (rated G, ~4500 words), a parallel story of what Aziraphale and Crowley did on the Sunday after the Crucifixion -- encountering Mary and Judas, respectively. Serious cold-open Flood/Golgotha energy. 

"We’re all supposed to just do our jobs, they never give you a reason, never say well done, here’s why we asked you. He gave you a job. You did it. It hurt. Welcome to the Great Ineffable Bloody Plan. Don’t run now. That’s what cowards do.”

Our Man Crowley (rated G, ~6000 words) is another crossover, this time with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in which Crowley’s canon journey through the London telephone system runs into a trans-temporal computer glitch and lands him on the space station in the middle of a holosuite malfunction. Crowley and Julian both get to play James Bond games, the holosuite program seems determined to produce an actual Armageddon of sorts, and all the characters in the immersive drama look strangely familiar. The comments spawned a multichapter sequel, which was an absolute rip to write.

“In a very few minuteszzz,” said Dr. Musca, “my master computer will initiate the sequence that launches a nuclear Apocalypse. Silos around the world are already under its control. Meet my most beloved brain-child, the world’s first self-aware computer –  ADAM, Assured Destruction of All Mortality. Say Hello, ADAM.”

“Hello,” echoed a tinny voice with an oddly childlike timbre, coming from all directions at once.

Okay so I've decided to do my top fics in honor of Steve's birthday and here's what I've got...

^^This story OMG!!! If you haven't read it yet please go do that like right this second! Anything by Orison is perfection and I love them so so much.

I love this story by @sloanza, if you know me you know I'm a sucker for Steve, Danny, Grace, and Charlie. I live for that little family

More info added in 2nd ask: “The first fic was definitely on ffnet. 2) This one I remember only vaguely. It was an AU, I think that takes place in the US, and it had Nine, Ten and Rose, plus other characters. I just remember a scene where Nine was talking to Rose about Ten (one of them named John Smith I think) and encouraging her to give him a second chance I think. I believe the scene took place on an airplane. It was on either ffnet or TSP. 3) A RP fic with Matt Smith and Alex Kingston. It was on ffnet.”

EDIT: @lastincurableromantic has found the first one.  Last Children of Gallifrey, by Doctor WTF, wip/unfinished.

Still looking for the second, the AU.

The RP fic request is broad, but since @doctorroseficreclists doesn’t make RPF lists, I’ve got a list for you of some authors on ffnet who’ve written older MSxAK stories.  (These are not recs since we don’t do that; this is simply a list of the authors I found with these works listed. -EDIT TO ADD: I know @lastincurableromantic wasn’t asking for a rec list, and this isn’t meant to be one.  Just covering my bases  I found some fics that fit the description and thought, “Oh, okay, a list then!”. ;))  I hope one of them has the one you’re looking for!

issy557

IssyEmm

make-my-heart-beat

HelenLeana

SpaceGirlForever

ManWhoCantBeMoved

easybakemeth

Magnolia84

You-Me-Handcuffs (most in Spanish, but scroll down and you’ll find the fic in English)

Phoebs1235 (this is Ao3 - she moved her stories there).

if you haven’t already, you can also check out @mattexficexchange and @mattexfiction.  More generally, the ship tag is #mattex.

The list goes on a long way, but I should stop here.  To find more, here is a Googling tip just in case you didn’t already know: you can narrow your search to a specific site by typing “site:url” then specific words you may be looking for.  If you want to get even more specific, put phrases in quotes.  For example, I used this search for what I found above: site:fanfiction.net “Matt Smith”+“Alex Kingston”

Hope this is helpful!  ~pyf

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