If it's Sunday, it must be rec day

[norwich36]

A few more spn_j2 bigbang recs. As always, if you don't want criticism with your recs, don't click. And authors who got here by googling yourself, be aware I am often critical in my recs, so caveat lector.

Springboard Helix (Jensen/Misha, Jared/Gen) by paleogymnast

Hands down my favorite Bigbang of this season. I know the pairings won't be for everyone, but this isn't romance, it's action-adventure, if that helps. Jensen is a poverty-rights lawyer who is very worried that his environmental activist husband will run afoul of the law, but then a series of events happen that reshape his whole understanding of their relationship, the universe and everything. I don't want to spoil this story, since the reveals literally had me squealing in delight, but it takes a sci-fi turn that is awesome, and the worldbuilding is excellent. It was over 80,000 words, and never felt too long for me.


Hearthstone (Jared/Jensen) by mollyamory.
One of my favorite Jared/Jensen stories so far this bigbang season. Jensen is a recluse who runs a non-functioning bookstore and spends hours every day not writing during Sacred Writing Time; thanks to a bicycle accident he meets Jared, who has recently moved to their small town and opened a bakery. And because he is new, he doesn't know about Jensen's traumatic past, which is good for Jensen, because Jensen doesn't want to think about it. Really excellent banter, with a great, slow-building romance and a pretty realistic romantic conflict. [I will confess that by combining bookstores AND bakeries, the author has hit two of my favorite AU scenarios--guh, food porn galore-- so I might be a little biased, but I do think the dialogue and characterization in this was excellent].


Black Flag Over Texas (Jared/Jensen), by electricalgwen

A prequel to a story from last year's bigbang (Green Means Go), but I didn't have any recollection of the story and I got along fine. Jensen is part of a Leverage-style group of vigilantes, but the mission he is on is more serious than their usual: a group of radical terrorists are trying to break up the U.S. into separate sovereign states. Jensen's job is to infiltrate what is believed to be a cover organization--a group of polisci grad students--and Jared is their top suspect. A gripping plot and excellent characterizations.


Refringere by ennyousai(Sam/Dean, Michael/Lucifer)

A lovely AU branching off somewhere in season 5: Michael and Lucifer don't actually want to fight to the death, but angels don't have free will. Humans do, though, even when they're vessels--so if Sam and Dean can be convinced, perhaps the apocalypse can be averted. Beautifully written, and I really do adore the "Wincest can avert the apocalypse" trope; I also really liked Gabriel in this.

A Strong Confederate (In my bold design) (Jared/Jensen/Misha) by obstinatrix.

Ok, I will confess that some of the author's language choices in the first part of the story almost made me stop reading (they seemed to be trying to be arty and failing), but I'm glad I kept reading, because the first part of the story had a nice cosy friendship feeling about it, and then when the three of them finally hooked up it was EXTREMELY hot. Also the J's concerns that living in a threesome would turn them into hippies cracked me up. I really loved Misha in this.


The Only Constant (Jared/Jensen) by lazy_daze.

This isn't my favorite story by lazy_daze, but it is definitely well-written and engaging. As Supernatural ends, so does Jared's marriage, and he decides he needs a big change in his life, so he opens an animal shelter. Meanwhile, Jensen feels like he's losing Jared and that causes his relationships with Daneel and Jared to deteriorate. The J's don't have sex in this until Jensen and Daneel have already decided on divorce, but if you have an infidelity squick it still might be tripped by a couple of scenes. The story is told from Jared's POV, and there's a fair bit of angst, but on the other hand, it has Jared with a box of kittens, and SPN fans adopting elderly dogs, so that may balance it out. And it does have a happy (though closeted) ending.


$97 short (Sam/Dean) by selecasharp.

A great Sam POV story--he's just turned 15, and is caring for Dean after Dean breaks both his legs on a hunt. Dean is in his final semester of high school, but drops out because of the injury; Sam is determined to have him at least pass his GED, but to do that he has to raise money doing all sorts of odd jobs (not to mention convincing Dean this is a worthwhile endeavor). It's hard to raise the money while he's busy hunting a ghost at his school, trying to pass his own finals, and lusting desparately after his big brother. The underage stuff in this is just kissing, though there is an epilogue set in 2014 that has actual sex. I really loved the Sam characterization in this.

When the World is Burning (Sam/Lenore, Dean/Jo)

Two main warnings before you read this story: (1) the author says this is the first of three stories, and there is a MAJOR cliffhanger ending. I don't think I would have read the story if I'd realized how major. (2) If you're reading this for Sam/Lenore, you may as well wait for the sequels, because there's very little relationship between them in this, though the ending makes me think more is being set up for the sequels. There's a bit more Dean/Jo, but again, I think it's more of a coming thing. Most of this story read like gen to me.

With those caveats, though, this is a fairly interesting AU spinning off the end of season 5. Sam was not magically cured of his blood addiction; in fact, it is killing him, so Dean couldn't care less that the apocalypse is starting. In a desparate attempt to cure Sam, he turns to Lenore. Meanwhile, Jo had been captured and held by demons for several months, and Ellen brings her to Bobby's to help recover. Most of the plot of this story is about Sam and Jo's slow physical and emotional recoveries, and the beginnings of a plan to fight the apocalypse. It's pretty engaging, if you can put up with the fact that it essentially ends mid-story.