Title: Thrill as only we know how
Fandom: Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol
Pairing: William Brant/Ethan Hunt
Categories/Genres: Bonding, Romance, Oblivious!Will, Pining!Ethan, Pining!Will
Length: 28394
Warnings: Hurt/Comfort

Author/Artist on AO3: Inmyriadbits
Author/Artist on AO3: Spatz

Summary:

After their meeting on the pier in Seattle, the team goes their separate ways. But Ghost Protocol left the IMF in turmoil, so Will, Ethan, Jane, and Benji team up to take on the Syndicate, a mysterious and widespread criminal organization. Will has to adjust to being a field agent again, and learn how to work with his team when the world isn’t on the line -- all while dealing with attack cheetahs, unexpected amnesia, train robbery, master thieves, and more.

Falling in love was not part of his scenario.


Review:
What's lovely about this fic is how carefully it is built up. It's slow and neat and you get the sense of friendship and trust before you get to any romance at all. And even though it is from Will's point of view you can read between the lines how Ethan is falling for Will way before you ever guess it's returned.

Thrill as only we know how

Title: Stealing Songs
Fandom: Shameless (US)
Pairing: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Categories/Genres: Band!AU, Fake relationship
Length: 29096
Warnings:

Author/Artist on AO3: Knittersrevolt

Summary:
Mickey knew it was a bad idea to start messing around with a boybander, but he was just so pretty. Getting caught meant pretending to date his f*ck buddy. Apparently management thought it was better to be in a gay relationship than to be a gay slut. Now if they can both just get out of this with their hearts still intact.

Or...

That Band AU no one asked for where everyone knows that Ian and Mickey are dating, except for Ian and Mickey.

Review:
The thing about Mickey and Ian is that they are a mills and boon romance about the most unlikeliest characters you will ever see. They love each other but in such vastly different ways its hard to think that how they feel about each other is the same emotion. With Mickey it always feels like Ian stole his prickly shell the day they met and now his greatest defence is useless against the red head. With Ian, a sort of I can't believe I have you possesiveness which strangely always reminds me of strawberry jam.

This fic writes their relationship so that it feels just like the show. It's nice to believe Mickey can have a happy ending, sometimes.

Stealing Songs

Title: Skin Deep
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Clark Kent/Lex Luthor
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Genderswap, First Time, Romance
Length: Long (27573 words)
Warnings: N/A

Author on AO3: rivkat
Author Website: rivkat

Summary:

Clark turns into a girl. Wackiness ensues.

Review:

As a huge fan of pining in romance, I've become pretty familiar with the most common variations of 'I'll take what I can get before it ends'. Typically, it never ends, because there is a grand confession of feelings and blah blah etc, but usually there is a point at which the pining character(s) realize that they're in too deep to pull themselves back out.

Not so for Skin Deep's Clark. This Clark is so thoroughly aware of the transience of his female alter ego's relationship with Lex that the relationship itself seems almost light and airy, not bogged down at all by the feelings for Lex that Clark is simultaneously suppressing and indulging in. There's a kind of contentedness with the superficiality of that relationship, but rivkat takes care to make it seem like genuine happiness. There is always a subtle underlying sense of incompletion on Clark's part that reminds the reader that there is still more to the story.

But what I like most about this Clark is his willingness to walk away from what he has with Lex. He doesn't let himself settle for incompletion or superficiality and instead makes plans to end his fling with Lex as soon as the summer ends. Unlike some characters who seem to lose all rationality in the face of love, Clark holds onto his with a steady, calm grip.

But he's not unfeeling, nor unaffected by his summer with Lex. When his male body is returned to him, he takes a wild risk, betting it all on the favorable outcome of Lex's hypothetical feelings for the real Clark. And Lex, who's spent the entire story being so thoroughly opaque, finally reveals his closely guarded hand. It's at that point that the relationship between the two gains a sense of true depth and honesty.

Skin Deep

Title: An Old-Fashioned Vampire Story
Fandom: Gotham TV/American Vampire
Pairing: Jim Gordon/Alfred Pennyworth
Categories: AU, Crossover, Dark, Supernatural,
Length: Long (29k)
Warnings: Beastialityish - Alfred Shape-shifts into a wolf and there is sex

Author on LJ: manic_intent
Website: Manic-Intents Ao3

Summary: The well-dressed, hard-faced man who had collected Bruce Wayne from the crime scene answered the door with a narrow-eyed look of surprise that threw all of Jim’s instincts. Instead of a polite greeting, there was a curt, “You’re one of the GCPD detectives.”

“Yes.” Jim forced himself to meet the man’s eyes. They were the most unsettling part of him: the pupils were a strange, deep amber that reminded Jim uncomfortably of a feral animal. “You’re… Alfred Pennyworth, aren’t you? I’m Detective Jim Gordon.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“And what do you want?” There was a strange note to Alfred’s voice that Jim couldn’t place, that didn’t seem to sound quite… right: it seemed to pull at something under his skin, somewhere subconscious. It made his skin crawl.

Review: As always Manic-Intent excels at worldbuilding. Even with a relatively short story length and a tight timeline, you will get dragged into the details surrounding the different breeds of vampire, Gotham's politics, and the problems with past lives.

The plot is very straightforward, but given the amount of world building it is nice to not have to keep track of too many details.

Please mind the warnings. There are some sex scenes, and fantasies involving Alfred in Wolf-form so if you aren't comfortable with that, I would suggest skipping this story.

An Old-fashioned Vampire Story