The course of true love never did run smooth

[geoviki]

Boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy wins boy back.

Except for the gender switch, it's the oldest plot in the book. Hey, I even used it in A Thousand Beautiful Things, didja notice? I've got a few H/D recs here that follow that well-worn path in clever ways. As a generalization, these fics tend to minimize the magic, the other HP characters, and most everything else - they're all about this wretched relationship, as Harry and Draco struggle towards something approaching love. This list isn't all-inclusive, you know, so feel free to add your own recs in the comments.

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Anything But Ordinary by boniblithe

The one with Harry and Draco at the hot dog roast. Harry is...boring. Draco is bored.

If he was going to have to be in the same place as his ex-lover, he was damn well going to throw the fineness of his arse right in Draco's face.

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Days Before by Rae.

Skateboard!Draco. This one's not perfect - it still has more typos than I like to see, plus a few POV switches mid-scene which I always find horrible and disconcerting. But the emotions are solid, and the backstory a little angsty, enough to offset the sweetness.

When he woke up at four the next day, instead of sitting by the window he packed a garbage bag with his few possessions. He clutched the Begonia to his chest.

I will be free of you, he thought, gaze lingering on Harry from the doorway. Then he turned and left, shutting the door ever so softly behind him.

***********************

6 Days in a Week by dawns56 Communication is way harder than it looks. Our boys still don't have the hang of it.

Harry didn't think Draco wanted to be alone. Sometimes, he wondered if Draco simply left to see if Harry would follow. Perhaps Draco's excursions were simply tests of their relationship.

He was painfully aware that if these were tests, then he was failing miserably.

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Arcadia and its sequel Gloria by Abaddon nothingbutfic

War does funny things to people. I like the toned-down emotion in this one - the story just slowly progresses matter-of-factly from one uncommon event to the next.

"What are you doing here?" he asked Draco, drying plates as the young man handed them to him, and set them aside to be put away later.

Draco nodded to the suitcases that stood by the kitchen door. Harry had seen them when he came into the room, but having Draco acknowledge them made them real. "I thought I'd move in," he said simply, and handed Harry a fork.

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Season in Hell and After the Flood by Cassie Claire.

A classic dysfunctional relationship, and still one of my favorite stories. The oddball humor just grabs me, and the sex is hot as July.

He examines his nails. "You must be wondering why I'm here," he says.

"I figured you came because you're still in love with me and you couldn't stand not seeing me again," says Harry. "Either that, or you had an inexplicable craving for beer and wooden shoes."

"I was never in love with you," says Draco, quickly.

This gigantic lie hovers between the two of them as if a large, embarrassingly naked man had just entered the room and they were both pretending he wasn't there.

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Untitled by Amalin.

Amalin has quite a poetic style. This is an oldie-but-goodie. Rain included.

Because you are both really just one person in two parts; you could be alone together. You could feel the solitude and not mind it at all when your limbs are wrapped around each other and even your minds are tangled in some subliminal embrace. Yes, you could.

You wonder, absently, if it's possible to break one's own heart.

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The Thin Ice by saeva

This fic has more of a plot than most of the others. I don't like this Ron very much - she makes him rather unbearable - but he's easily overlooked. And I've never read a more oblivious-and-in-denial Harry.

He glared at Draco. "You can move out any time you want; I'm hardly holding you prisoner."

"Who said I wanted to move out? I was merely pointing out that living with you isn't easy. Honestly. You're always forgetting to clean up after yourself and refuse to get a house-elf even though mine offered to work for you, you work *nights* which I hate, your annoying Weasel is over half the time when you are here and not sleeping -- doesn't he have a job or something? -- as well as that... Granger, and you snore!" As Draco spoke, he ticked off each thing on his fingers.

"Dobby is not your house-elf." Harry sat up so that he could glare at Draco more evenly. "Like I said, you don't have to be here if I annoy you that much. In fact, why did you move in? It's not as if we're in a relationship; you're just a fuck."

Comments

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

*nods * nods *nods *
to all in your list-

Much as I love "Days before"- and similar fics, I'm trying to keep an eye out for "strong/brave/good" Harry fics..
(since too much of his ennui gets to me)

but...

Ivy's Triptypch - boy loses boy- boy wins boy back...

but the rest are LONG WIP's- usually ending where boy loses boy (and twists readers heart in chest)
- that look like they'll never be updated...

- Abaddon's *Into the Woods*
- Ishuca's *Plague of Legends*

and boy loses boy gets boy, loses boy again, then back, then loses boy forever-
- Olympia's *Tale of the Shining Prince*

man- i need a cheery fic again...
(sweet and domestic- like nattish's "A Ridiculous Notion")

hey!
boy loses boy- then plans to rob bank and win boy's heart forever- also with alternate dimension crossovers!

-franthephoenix's *Worlds Collide*

man- I think I much prefer my Darling to get pissy and leave Harry, instead of the other way around...

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Ivy's Haven series is a great example. It's hard to track down the pieces this month because of Veela's demise. But it's one of my all-time favorite stories. I adore her Draco; I like him downtrodden and desperately in love.

Tale of the Shining Prince is another of my big time favorites - I think I talked about it the other day in Novembersnow's LJ, when she was hunting for fics that turn on the ol' waterworks.

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

o yes- the tear-jerker recs-
when i'd read the post, there were about 40 posts already, so i didn't jump in..
but, Tale of the Shining Prince-
mmm... you were right- on re-reading, you read the first few lines, and it all comes back to you, then you're crying to end all.

-Maya's "Your Every Wish" kills me- more because of the horror..
-Amanuensis' "Sea and Shore" (well, as if the Little Mermaid wasn't bad enough)

meh...

You probably noticed already, but Ivy's starting to put up all the Cycatrix cycle on Skyehawke, but I wonder if I can brave another read.

I'm still keeping an eye out for my private "good Harry" list- as it seems from most Harry/Draco fics that we as fen (and our lovely writers- you, especially) love/adore Draco, and thus he's in love and suffers for it, but I rarely come across an equally (and deserving- at least emotionally) good Harry.
One where he's in love, and not in a "turn around and spit judgemental accusations when things are hard" way.

[failing-light.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU.

I've been having a really weird night -- I just couldn't settle to anything -- I think I'm waiting for the weather to break. Anyway, I found this while half-heartedly trying to catch up on my friendslist and it was exactly what I needed. Even though I've read a lot of them before, I sat right down and read all of them in a go. And now I feel up to tackling my psych reading, so...thank you. Great recs :D

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

You read them all together! That's so cool. Which was your favorite, then?

[failing-light.livejournal.com]

Hah. Well that's difficult because "After the Flood" is one of my forever-favorite-fics -- no matter how many times I read it, I love it just as much. But I think for this read-through, I'm going to go with "Days Before." The skateboard thing was kinda 'eh' and you definitely have a point about the typos (my eyes!) but the begonia made me go 'awww' and for some reason I just loved it.

I'm definitely feeling the H/D love these days :D

(Also feeling the babbling.)

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

Thanks for these recs! I actually haven't read any of them save for Dawn's, which I adore and think is brilliant. I'll check them out and bless you every word of the way!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

You haven't read the Cassie Claire? They're on many rec lists; I'm really glad to be able to point you to them. I found them early on and still reread them from time to time. My first angst-fic.

I suppose I should say that they're not everyone's cup of tea, being so stylized, but I think that's probably true for every fic. I haven't seen a single fic that everyone's loved. Gosh, not even mine!

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

Mmm...stylised or sit-comised. She's a very good story teller but long fics are hard for me to thumb a ride on these days. I tried to read it again this morning after reading your post, (I've tried before) but it's too involved and her writing a bit too artless for me. If I want to read novels, I do. When her original book comes out, I will gladly drop six quid to buy it, but for now, the lyrical, the gut wrenching, the poetic, the stabbing, the beautiful splinters of heart slicing observation is what is captivating me. Good story tellers who aren't looking for the interesting connection no on else has made or the metaphor that makes me cry to a starless sky for not having thought of it myself...they just aren't doing it for me as much as they sometimes do.

I got into fan fic, for the most part, reading the big novels: PoU, Draco Trilogy, Psychic Serpent, Thing 1's work...but lately I've been a 2000 word or less bloke most days. Drabbles? Even better when well done.

It's a mood, a phase. I keep telling myself that.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Then on the short-wavelength frequency, try isiscolo's drabbles. She has a terrific way of instant focus in very few words. If I'm not mistaken, she's got them all archived on her site: isis.arithmancy.net

I'm enjoying chatting with you, BTW. I friended you because it looks like we run in the same circles and I've seen your comments popping up all over.

Ha! But everything I'm writing is all "War and Peace".

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying chatting with you, BTW. I friended you because it looks like we run in the same circles and I've seen your comments popping up all over.

Thanks! I've been enjoying our chats as well. Heh, comments, yeah. I've been making a much stronger effort to read, comment and meet new people instead of just writing and chatting with a few close friends. I'm especially making an effort to go through my friends list to read and comment at least once per month if not a few times per month.

We do run in the same circles, don't we? Plus, we both like engineers. ;)

I appreciate the shorter fic site and will definitely look it over. I hope I didn't come across as too bratty. Between my meeting schedule these days, my attention span these days and a general malaise about taking the time that novel length fan fic requires to properly read...it's very tough. With a published writer, they judge sales and could most likely care less whether or not people read once they've purchased a book. On LJ, comments are pay and that's the only way to judge things for better or worse. I'd love to be able to go out, buy the stories by writers I know and those my friends recommend and put them on the shelf until time permits so that they will know I care in the meantime. *sigh* Okay, I have to crack the whip on myself and get back to beta-ing a nine chapter fic someone sent me this morning.

[jetis.livejournal.com]

*dies* I am not worthy.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Oh, but you are worthy, or I wouldn't have posted it. I've had the scribbled note with your story name on it and these others for weeks, because I liked how they all handled the theme. You belong here!

And now I don't have to hunt too hard for the link when I need to reread it.

[graysong.livejournal.com]

Thanks!!! Just what I've been looking for!

*psst - yeah, I noticed you used that brand new plot line "boymeetsboy,losesboy,winsboyback" in ATBT ... *g*