Rec: "Handout" by Lily (The Lost Boys)

[unadrift.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: Handout
Author: Lily (lilysaid)

Episode and type: tag to The Lost Boys, AU from there
Rating: NC-17
Categories: slash, angst, h/c, first time
Pairings: McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: mention of drug abuse and addiction
Wordcount: 8000

"We all have our breaking point," John says tightly, in a low, dangerous voice that usually shuts people up. But Rodney is not other people, so he nods intently and looks distractedly around the room as though he can find a better answer there.
"And yours is...what, exactly?"

Recommended because...
The general idea alone is worth reading this fic -- times a thousand if you take the scarily accurate characterization of John into account. In the aftermath of the enzyme disaster (with that AU spin on it), Rodney is dealing with the damage his addiction has done, to John's continuing ignorance as to why he is affected by this so much. An amazing fic.

Rec: "264 Hours" by Lenore (The Siege III)

[unadrift.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: 264 Hours
Author: Lenore (scribblinlenore)

Episode and type: tag to The Siege III
Rating: NC-17
Categories: slash, h/c, earthside
Pairings: McKay/male, McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 6000
Summary: The battle is over, except in Rodney's mind.

Recommended because...
The Siege III begged for exhausted!Rodney fic, and this is it, in the most fabulous way. The effects of sleep deprivation are described disturbingly realistic, letting you feel very much with Rodney there. The almost dying, John's suicide mission; the way Rodney tries to deal with these issues by ignoring them completely rings very true.

Rec: "Aftershocks" by shalott (The Storm/The Eye)

[unadrift.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: Aftershocks
Author: shalott (astolat)

Episode and type: missing scene, tag for The Storm/The Eye
Rating: NC-17
Categories: slash, first time, h/c
Pairings: McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 2700

"Somebody who had total control over your life put a knife into your arm. I don't care if it's skin deep, it's not nothing. It's never nothing."

Recommended because...
This gives insightful glimpses into John and Rodney's minds during highly stressful situations, and it shows us the moment when everything crashes down on them afterwards.

Rec: "Beyond Oneiromancy: A Rationalist's Guide To Understanding Your Dreams" by The Spike

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: Beyond Oneiromancy: A Rationalist's Guide To Understanding Your Dreams
Author: The Spike (spike21  )

Episode and type: Tag to Grace Under Pressure
Rating: NC-17
Categories: slash
Pairings: McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 5500

"Hey, don't let us keep you," John says. If he sounds pissed, none of that shows in his calm, searing smile. Rodney has disturbingly non-vague memories of pressing his face into the dark hair behind John's ear, sobbing there while a strong hand cupped the back of his neck in burning heat and wouldn't let him drown.

Recommended because...
Thanks to dodificus  for the rec. She said:

Rodney's back up on the surface and not feeling himself so it takes him awhile to notice that *John* isn't really himself either. What's up with that?

 

Rec: "One Way or Another" by esohpe (Irresistable)

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: One Way or Another
Author: Sophie (esohpe   )

Episode and type: AU ending to Irresistable
Rating: PG
Categories: slash, humour
Pairings: McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 3500

Because that was the problem with the common cold. Give him a week, and he’d be breathing in pheromones just like everyone else, and Atlantis would be in the hands of a polygamist baker whose talents extended to sticking a candle in a gourd.

Recommended because...

It's fun, almost cracktastic... but John's plan is actually very sensible. In a hilarious kind of way.

Thanks tododificus for the rec.

 

Rec: "Burnout" by Victoria Custer (No Man's Land)

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: Burnout
Author: Victoria Custer (ltlj  )

Episode and type: tag to No Man's Land
Rating: PG-13
Categories: slash
Pairings: McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 1900

It was, oddly, Hermiod who called John on the radio to tell him that Rodney was freaking out.

Recommended because...

Rodney was absolutely due a freak-out after this episode. The story is about friendship and taking care of each other, and it's adorable.

 

Rec: "Just Like Christmas" by Speranza (Rising II)

[unadrift.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: Just like Christmas
Author: Speranza (cesperanza)

Episode and type: tag to Rising II
Rating: NC-17
Categories: slash, first time
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 1700

"Did the coffee machine talk to you?"
To Rodney's extreme relief, Sheppard nodded solemnly. "Yeah."
"Okay, good." He felt a distinct lightness in his chest. "I thought maybe it was just me."

Recommended because...
...John and Rodney each have their own very different issues with suddenly being stranded in the City of the Ancients on another planet in another galaxy. This is a slow, feel-good character piece about them bonding (amongst other things) in the beginning.

Rec: "Hydro-verse Trilogy" by mk (Grace Under Pressure)

[unadrift.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Titles: Hydroclaustrojohnophobia, Fear Mongering, and The Sum Of
Author: mk (mklutz)

Episode and type: episode AU for Grace Under Pressure
Rating: PG-13
Categories: pre-slash
Pairings: McKay, Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 4000, 5500, 3200
Podfic: on audiofic read by mk (mklutz)

"I could have had Sam Carter."

Recommended because...
Rodney hallucinates a whole different Lt. Colonel to his rescue, and I would have so liked to see that.

Rec: "When Can't And Won't Are The Same Thing" by kHo (Miller's Crossing)

[unadrift.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: When Can't And Won't Are The Same Thing
Author: kHo (lovethesnark)

Episode and type: tag to Miller's Crossing
Rating: PG
Categories: pre-slash
Pairings: Sheppard, McKay
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 1000

John doesn’t really think about it until he’s back on Atlantis.

Recommended because...
This is a powerful John character piece, answering the question of how far he would have gone to save Rodney's life.

Rec: "Theory of Evolution" by Lavvyan (Conversion)

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: Theory of Evolution
Author: lavvyan 

Episode and type: AU to Conversion
Rating: NC-17
Categories: slash, drama
Pairings: McKay/ Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 42000
Podfic: audiofic read by celtic_tigress 

Stuck with a body he can't accept as his own, John withdraws - and Rodney lets him, certain that all John needs is time. But what if he's wrong?

Recommended because...

This is a long, angsty romance that'll suck you in for hours

 

Rec: "We'll Meet Again" by Lamardeuse (The Siege)

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

Recommendation

Title: We'll Meet Again
Author: lamardeuse 

Episode and type: tag to The Siege
Rating: NC-17
Categories: slash
Pairings: McKay/Sheppard
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 1500

After several months ricocheting from one crisis to another, Rodney had figured he was getting pretty good at handling change. But when the realization that John Sheppard was alive came hard on the heels of the certainty he had been incinerated, it all suddenly got to be just a little too much, and he found he had to sit down and put his head between his knees.

Recommended because...

It fixes the 'so long' farewell, and shows the uneasyness of a new relationship beautifully