Title: Don’t You Shake Alone
Fandom: Generation Kill
Pairing: Brad/Nate
Categories: Drama, Kidfic, Romance, Post-Canon
Length: Epic (62,189 words)
Warnings: PTSD

Author on LJ: dsudis
Author Website: Words Words Words

Summary:
Nate looked exactly like Brad always pictured him: exhausted in the full life-in-a-combat-zone sense of the word.

Review:
As soon as I started reading this fic I knew that unless something crazily unexpected happened midstream, I’d be reccing this fic to others. The author does a great job delivering a story rife with tension from the very beginning. The storytelling is superb, the pacing is wonderful, and the drama is realistic. This story is mature and even and I think the PTSD as well as the support aspect is handled well.

One of the strongest parts of this story was how equal Brad and Nate were. Even though Nate was suffering from PTSD and Brad was his support, they were still equals in the relationship. Brad was the stronger partner through those harrowing first few days when Nate was deep in the weeds, but their roles reversed somewhat as Nate became more cognizant and aware of his own situation to the point that Nate was then able to support Brad and act as a catalyst of change with Brad’s relationship with his parents.

I really enjoyed the picture of familial love in all its messy, glorious, hurtful, and beautiful incarnations. Mr. and Mrs. Colbert, though never seen in person, are fully realized and complete characters through memories, text messages, and phone conversations. Brad’s phone conversation with his parents, towards the end, absolutely made my heart hurt in the very best of ways.

This is a beautiful, mature, hopeful rendering of family, friendship, and romantic partners.

Don’t You Shake Alone