what if star trek fan fics had covers like modern airport romance and pop-sci novels?? | part 1 (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

Celestial Bodies (TOS Kirk/Spock/McCoy)

Pick A Star, Any Star (AOS Kirk/Spock/McCoy)

Never Again (Just one more time) (AOS Spock/McCoy)

Oh. God. Tomas suddenly realizing that Marcus’ eyes are on him, turning to Marcus and asking, “What is it?”

Marcus, a little flustered because he hadn’t realized how enthralled he had been until that moment, shakes it off, laughs, and says, “Nothing. You’re good with him.”

And then Tomas would probably brush that off with a little blush rising on his cheeks and say, “Yeah, well, he already likes you better.”

And Marcus would laugh and follow Tomas with his eyes as he turned to take Luis the sandwich. And he wouldn’t stop watching as Tomas ruffled Luis’ hair and told him to drink his milk. And it would all just feel so normal that for a moment Marcus would forget the horror and the darkness waiting for them both out in the world.

And I just

As some of you might know (but probably not all of you, since it wasn’t the most well-known of shows), FOX’s The Exorcist TV series was cancelled earlier this month. I am actually a really new viewer to this show; I don’t consider myself much of a horror fan at all, and I’m not familiar with the original Exorcist book or movie. But I had seen the gifsets you all had posted, and the praise you had layered on the show, and it prompted me to give it a try.

Besides discovering that this is a really amazing show, the other thing I’ve found after a couple months in this fandom is that, for a community so small, the fic is exceptional. Like, I feel bad that this show has so small of a fanbase because these fics deserve so many more readers. I’ve stayed up late into many a night consuming chapter after chapter of the multi-chapter fics and AUs that this fandom produces. And it occurs to me that it’s time to share them with you. I hope this inspires you, if nothing else, to read these amazing stories. And maybe, if you really like them, you’ll start watching the show as well.

It’s cancelled, yes. But it’s worth it.

(By the way, if you’re recced on this list, I probably owe you a comment on your fic. If it’s a comfort to you, I marathon-read most of these fics so fast and so voraciously that I didn’t leave myself any time to comment! But I look forward to leaving you feedback.)

1) the “León de mi Corazón” series by @clockheartedcrocodile; Marcus/Tomas, explicit; multi-chapter, series, complete

I consider this series to be a seminal work in the Marcus/Tomas fandom. Beautifully, atmospheric writing that gently expands on the characters as we know them. There’s an emphasis on poetry, and on the dance these characters make towards each other, both of them wounded and wary while at the same time impossibly capable of love. Each fic chronicles a different stage in their relationship, and also a different possession “case” in a different location (except the third, which revolves much more around personal spirituality than their careers as exorcists). They’re beautiful and everyone in the fandom should read them. (Also, as an aside: what is it with my fandoms and future-fics where a pairing lives on a plot of land with orange trees?)

2) “Hace Tanto Que Te Quiero” by @meduseld; Marcus/Tomas, teen, one-shot

A meditation on love, and how it manifests in intimate and yet mosty-platonic forms. This one was just posted today, so it’s a little quick to be included on a fic-rec post, but I read it this morning and it was just so beautiful that I wanted to put it in here with all the rest of the stories that have been around for longer.

3) “i’ve got my mind set on you” by @reckonedrightly; Marcus/Peter, explicit, one-shot

This fic contains possibly my favorite Marcus in any fic I’ve read so far- sassy and tortured and emotionally vulnerable all rolled up into one. Peter is just as he is in the series, endlessly patient and careful with him; this author clearly watched the Peter/Marcus scenes in the show itself very closely and their characterization matches perfectly. I would love to see so much more of the way this person writes these two characters in particular; they’re just beautiful. Starts after the final episode of season 2 and continues, in a pretty canon-compliant fashion, from that point onward.

4) “Up Jumped the Devil” by @clockheartedcrocodile; Marcus/Tomas, explicit; multi-chapter, complete

An AU in which Tomas is a preacher from Chicago (like he is in the actual series) who gets sent to a remote rural congregation whose famous feature is that once a month, the pastor reaches into a pit of snakes and pulls one out without getting bitten. Marcus is a roving exorcist (like he is in the actual series) except with the particular flavor of a Southern Gothic tale rather than a religious horror one. Many hallmarks of the show are present here, just in different forms, and the narrative tension is tight as a wire.

5) “i sent you three boats” by @reckonedrightly; Marcus/Tomas, mature; multi-chapter, in progress

This story has been a joy to read so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens as more chapters are added. It throws us right into the middle of an exorcism, and the premise centers around the idea that in the aftermath of this particularly difficult possession, Fr. Bennett arranges for both Marcus and Tomas to “retire” to a small parish in Michigan. There are complications, of course, and questions as to whether the demons follow them even to this new place, but we’re introduced to interesting new characters and we get to see Marcus and Tomas as fish out of water in this new location. They’ve spent most of the fic so far being stupidly oblivious to each other’s feelings, and now that they’re finally starting to realize, things are about to get really interesting!

6) “ego te absolvo” by peacefrog; Marcus/Tomas, teen; multi-chapter, in progress

In which Marcus and Tomas are neighboring small-town parish priests, Marcus a former exorcist and Tomas a regular preacher, who are developing an increasingly close friendship. Marcus is more and more becoming consumed by traumas from his past, and Tomas is (and has been, if the fic is any indication) trying to gently get him to open up and let Tomas in, both as a friend and as someone with the potential for something more. Lots of angst and hurt/comfort here. The slow-burn of watching them inch closer and closer to acknowledging their feelings is really fun.

7) “Martyrs of the Great Plains” by @nookienostradamus; Marcus/Tomas, explicit; multi-chapter, complete

Another slice-of-life on-the-road fic, this one taking place between seasons 1 and 2. Each chapter includes the motif of a saint, called to mind by whatever the characters are experiencing or feeling in that chapter. There’s more Catholic guilt in here, but that’s par for the course in fics for this show; Marcus’ self-castigation could probably be sensed from space, and there’s angst aplenty because of that. But in exactly the way we love most about him, Tomas pushes him out of his shell and gets him to let go of some of that pain. Each of these fics in this fandom gets them to that place a little bit differently, and that’s what I love about them.

Tryin to comfort himself with head rubs because that’s canonically a source of comfort for him and also he has no one else who wants to give them to him, that’s fINE. THAT’S FINE.

Oh. God. And you just know that this is one of those things that’s carried over from his childhood, because after the self-harm there would always have to be the self-comfort. Or in those moments alone in dark rooms with darker things and he was just so tired, and he’d just want someone to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be all right, but he had himself and himself alone.