#thundershield thorsday

Hearth and Home is a  5+1 fic by thegraytigress centered on Steve and Thor in moments of hurt and comfort. It’s a story that tracks their relationship in seemingly offscreen moments: after the explosions, after the rush to the medical unit, after stumbling home. If a kind, strong Thor attending to a hurting Steve (with one instance going the other way to beautiful effect) is to your taste, this is an insightful fic full of deep feeling rooted in admiration, kindness, and love.

Hurt/comfort is a specific fic subgenre that, in my experience, caters to the desire to see characters go through tough times and be taken care of. This fic makes excellent use of the dramatic potential of the set-up, as well as the rhythm of the 5+1 (five instances of one set-up with an added one that subverts the pattern) to make this a moving, satisfying story.

Steve feels distinctive, even when he’s in a lot of pain (quite literally: there’s a lot of physical injury in this fic, which may or may not be to your taste). Thor’s kindness doesn’t keep him from being firm or make him too perfect to be believed. The final scene in particular really caps off the story with a sense of personal growth and how love helps us be our best selves (and support others when they’re in need).

Cathartic, detailed, and satisfying. Highly recommended!

Tagging: @mandys444

I’m so excited to rec this one. I love work by daphnomancy and this is one of several excellent Thundershield fics you can find by this author.

In a time-honored Thundershield tradition, this one starts with sparring and features an emotionally volatile Steve, kinky lightning sex, and a dominant, caring Thor. The emotional weight of the story feels real and compelling and the sex is fantastic. It packs in a lot of excellence in just barely over 5000 words, making it short-to-moderate read. Some caveats: keep in mind that this fic features Steve’s feelings for Bucky and the experience with Thor is not particularly romantic, though it is deeply caring. 

But it doesn’t stop there! The sequel, Gunmetal, Thunder and Stars is, in my estimation, the WinterThunderShield fic. Featuring emotional depth, imperfect characters (including Thor), and a very slow burn over 68 (amazing!) chapters, this fic is always one of my number one (polyamory-inclusive) Thundershield recs. It features a real commitment to fleshing out the team and exploring some very low places for Steve: it’s a sometimes heavy read, but a really satisfying one. 

So, if this Valentine’s Day, you want a relatively quick dose of kinky Thundershield, go for option A: Ice and Lightning. If you want an epic, complex romance with delicious angst, go for Option B: Gunmetal, Thunder and Stars. But if you want it all, you can’t go wrong with both. 

Happy Thorsday, everyone! If you want to be tagged in the weekly rec, just let me know!

In honour of basched’s Thundershield epic on AO3, I’m going to start doing weekly Thundershield fic recommendations. What could the first one be other than Thundershield Thorsdays itself?

Sweet, fun, and written in 100 words per weekly chapter, this story has been ongoing for five years. It’s a real pleasure to see the world of the story evolve over time and the short chapters make this an easy one to dip in and out of (or binge like you’ve never binged before). So long as you don’t mind Steve and Thor sharing some occasional fun with (spoiler alert!) Sif and Starlord, this is a great story and a fantastic example of how drabbles can add up to something amazing.

So, this is one of those special fics, but it needs some context. asocialconstruct’s “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” takes place in the 4F Universe originated by stoatsandwich. The 4F ‘verse is an AU in which Steve Rogers does not take the serum and joins up as a kind of military prostitute. As the originator says in the linked analysis, the series started as an excuse for PWP but ended up being as much about the dehumanization of war as it is about sex. The 4F universe is not for everyone, but it’s a complex, tragic and thoughtful place. If you want to look into it, definitely read the tags carefully, though.

While “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” takes place in the 4F universe, it’s not nearly as dark as the more typical 4F fare. It’s a beautiful depiction of two strangers making a connection and, happily for us Thundershield shippers, those two strangers are pre-serum Steve Rogers and Thor. While the fic isn’t dark, it is melancholy (remind me to rec a fun, sweet Thundershield fic next week), but that melancholy comes hand in hand with delectable, restrained prose (a hallmark of asocialconstruct’s work) and a self-contained narrative that’s satisfying and sexy.

Pre-serum Steve with Thor is one of my favourite Thundershield subgenres: I only wish there was more of it (Another fic by asocialconstruct, the sun did not yet know, also features this. It’s an amazing fic and deserves a separate recommendation and some important caveats).  Here, Thor and Steve’s size difference receives beautiful attention, and, notably for the ship, the exchange is really even while still engaging in kink. What I mean is that there's a lot of give and take, both literally and metaphorically. 

Thundershield sometimes features a power imbalance between Thor and Steve, often pairing Steve being more emotionally vulnerable than Thor with Steve bottoming (and I do adore that) but this fic provides a great example of Steve and Thor feeling much more like equals. It’s a really deft piece of writing for a number of reasons, but my one of my favourite reasons is what neither the reader nor Steve know about Thor somehow adds focus on Steve choosing this experience on his own terms rather than taking away from his agency.

It’s not an emotionally charged encounter: that’s not really what this story is about. Instead, it’s about Steve enjoying some friendly, kinky sex and feeling good about the experience, and showing how powerful that kind of experience can be. Highly recommended. 

Tagging: @mandys444

This week’s recommendation is A Matter of Timing by Rhiw. It’s an A/B/O fic and for some folks, that’s a barrier to reading. If you’re willing to read an A/B/O fic or you adore them, this is a fantastic Thundershield fic with a strong focus on romance, character development, and action.

Steeped in Norse lore, this fic features a richly detailed world that both draws from and deviates from MCU canon about Asgard and Vanaheim. The choices to preserve or change MCU details are always smart and underline the central turn that creates this AU: the Aether takes Steve as its host, instead of Jane (as in the events of Thor: The Dark World). The result is a gorgeous backdrop for a classic romance with tight plotting.

In this fic, Thor is an Alpha and Steve is an Omega and Asgardian / Vanir norms about A/B/O gender are very much in play: Thor’s not perfect in this fic, which I actually love. His imperfections aren’t excused by the A/B/O setup, but the story does explore some of the tensions of the subgenre. This is a soft Steve and a thoughtful Thor and the combination makes for a story you can just sink into. It’s a sweet story with elements of hurt/comfort and plenty of mutual pining. If you’re looking for combative, dark Thundershield, this isn’t it, but it’s an empathic story with a clear investment in its secondary characters (including an Omega Jane, who begins the story involved with Thor and a Clint Barton /Matt Murdock subplot back in Midgard that is sexy and fun). 

The journey of Steve and Thor’s relationship (their mutual respect, their evolving understanding of each other) is the essential core of the story, but it’s also a romance in a more literary sense: this is a tale of chivalry, of bravery in both love and battle. And in keeping with that, there’s some heartbreak. Technically, this is an unfinished WIP, but what’s here is still a really satisfying narrative and I recommend you give it a try: this is a romance wrapped in adventure and it’s a great ride.

Don’t forget to check out the delightful fanart, which pops up in some chapters!

Tagging: @mandys444

This week’s recommendation is the sun did not yet know by asocialconstruct.

I’m going to start this recommendation with a number of caveats, and then we’ll get to the ceaseless praise.  This is honestly one of my favourite Thundershield fics ever, but it’s not your standard Thundershield. This is a really dark fic that features a version of Thor who has not grown the way canon Thor has, who has a much more morally compromised center as well as a Steve who has had the serum reversed and been given to Thor essentially as a toy.

This story falls under the genre of slavefic: it’s an intense example of the genre in which Steve’s humanity and autonomy are repeatedly violated. The story takes place in a dark version of Asgard that has tense political relations with a Midgard ruled by Hydra.  In a different vein, the Steve/Thor, while incredibly nuanced and complex, is fundamentally not romantic and Steve/Bucky ends up being a key relationship. If this isn’t for you, for any reason, that’s okay. 

But if you enjoy dark fic (which is also okay) or you’re willing to try it out, this is an immensely rewarding story. The prose is simply fantastic: the work abounds with smart, scintillating imagery and a rich world of court intrigue. From the composition of similes to the overarching plot, the writing is incredibly well-crafted on every level.

The fic features a lot of sex and doesn’t shy away from the deeply laid issues regarding consent that are an inherent part of the set-up. The writing embraces Steve’s conflicting feelings as he tries to survive, including his extreme ambivalence about moments of kindness from people who don’t value his personhood. Steve suffers in this story and the writing manages to honor his humanity (and sheer stubbornness) while still really embracing his pain. The content is intensely sexy if you enjoy dark content, but it also approaches its own topic with nuance and thoughtfulness.

I think one of my favourite things about asocialconstruct’s writing is a really elegant ability to show how things could be different if characters were willing to change, but they’re just not. It’s just heart-rending because without the prose ever hitting you over the head with exposition, it’s so clear how things could have gone better. And yet the way things go wrong feels somehow inevitable. It goes back to the quality of the writing as a craft in this author’s work.

As a note, this is a WIP nearing its end. What’s here is still a satisfying work, but I’m really excited to see how it ends!

Intense, painful, and transcendent all at once. Highly recommended.

Tagging: @mandys444