Rec: Every Day in Every Way, by Velocitygrass [SGA, McKay/Sheppard]
Title: Every Day in Every Way
Author: velocitygrass
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard, with minor McKay/OC and Sheppard/OC
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~58,500 words
Genre: Angst, straight!Rodney, first-time
Also recced in: Epic fic, previously straight
Summary: "I'm here to propose an arrangement. Between us. I assume you remember our talk from earlier today and how... challenging dating can be on Atlantis. And since we've established that you're attracted to me, I think it would be mutually beneficial for us to have sex."
Comments: The Stargate Atlantis Big Bang challenge is a treasure trove of long, plotty stories, and if you have an hour or twelve, you should be sure to check them all out. This one, however, is one of my favorites. It opens with John being in love with a straight Rodney, who finds out and then has the brilliant idea that they should have no-strings-attached sex, and everyone will be happy. Of course, nothing is ever that simple, as John knows right away and Rodney slowly figures out. I really like the characterizations of both John and Rodney, and I thought their relationship spooled out in a very natural way - it didn't ever feel like the author was forcing the characters to act in order to advance the plot. Also, the sex scenes were smoking hot. Since the changes in their behavior during sex were pretty essential to the plot, each sex scene needed to be distinct, which they were, but there also needed to be enough of them for us to see the gradual nature of those changes. The fact that each scene was unique and hot without feeling rote was very impressive.
As it's a Big Bang story, there is also art to go along with the story. The first is Intimate, by crysothemis. It's a simply gorgeous pencil drawing of one of the scenes in the story, and really highlights the intimacy between the characters. Rated R.
The second is Independent Love Song, a vid by mamoru22. It's a great song choice, and I loved how she used text from the story overlaid onto the video scenes. There are also visual hints of the sexual nature of their relationship using clips from other sources, which I've found to be unusual in vids, but fit very nicely here.
Author: velocitygrass
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard, with minor McKay/OC and Sheppard/OC
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~58,500 words
Genre: Angst, straight!Rodney, first-time
Also recced in: Epic fic, previously straight
Summary: "I'm here to propose an arrangement. Between us. I assume you remember our talk from earlier today and how... challenging dating can be on Atlantis. And since we've established that you're attracted to me, I think it would be mutually beneficial for us to have sex."
Comments: The Stargate Atlantis Big Bang challenge is a treasure trove of long, plotty stories, and if you have an hour or twelve, you should be sure to check them all out. This one, however, is one of my favorites. It opens with John being in love with a straight Rodney, who finds out and then has the brilliant idea that they should have no-strings-attached sex, and everyone will be happy. Of course, nothing is ever that simple, as John knows right away and Rodney slowly figures out. I really like the characterizations of both John and Rodney, and I thought their relationship spooled out in a very natural way - it didn't ever feel like the author was forcing the characters to act in order to advance the plot. Also, the sex scenes were smoking hot. Since the changes in their behavior during sex were pretty essential to the plot, each sex scene needed to be distinct, which they were, but there also needed to be enough of them for us to see the gradual nature of those changes. The fact that each scene was unique and hot without feeling rote was very impressive.
As it's a Big Bang story, there is also art to go along with the story. The first is Intimate, by crysothemis. It's a simply gorgeous pencil drawing of one of the scenes in the story, and really highlights the intimacy between the characters. Rated R.
The second is Independent Love Song, a vid by mamoru22. It's a great song choice, and I loved how she used text from the story overlaid onto the video scenes. There are also visual hints of the sexual nature of their relationship using clips from other sources, which I've found to be unusual in vids, but fit very nicely here.