#accidental timeloopposting *on* groundhog day

[sidleyparkhermit]

Snowflake Challenge #13 (crosspost from DW)

Snowflake Challenge #13: Make a rec list of fanworks.

I almost invariably rec only completed fics, so this time I thought I'd do a rec list of just WIPs. I'm telling you right now, none of these works have been updated more recently than March 2023. I invite you to enjoy them as they are and to leave feedback that is encouraging but not bullying. ;)

1) If Tomorrow Never Comes by @eau1636. Endeavour Morse/Peter Jakes (Endeavour). A time loop story with wonderful characterization in one of my most favorite rare pairs.

He already knew what the paper’s headlines would be, what the answers to the crossword puzzle were, what date would be printed across the top. He unrolled the paper and there it was, irrefutable in black and white. Monday, February 2, 1967. Morse called the station to say he was ill and wouldn’t be in today. Then he walked over, took the bottle down from the shelf, and set to work. At least the scotch had refilled itself overnight. Small mercies. Once darkness fell that evening, Morse walked to the park. He sat on a bench in the freezing night air, looking up at the stars. He would stay awake all night. He wouldn’t go home, he’d stay right here under the open sky. Whatever it was that was happening, it couldn’t get him here.

2) fidelity, undying by @joycecarolnotes Loki/Mobius (Loki TV series). The deeply evocative scene-setting first chapter of an arranged marriage canon-divergence. 

Frigga sighs and strokes his raven hair, perched beside him on the edge of his bed. "While you may not wish to hear it, I believe that your marriage to this Midgardian prince is for the best." Loki scoffs. "Oh do you?" Her own marriage, Frigga says, had been arranged by her father. She did not wish to leave her home, to travel to Asgard and marry the gruff, imposing, one-eyed man who called himself the All-Father. But she peered into her future and saw that she would have two sons, and raise them beside Odin, and that she would love them very much. And so she went. "What of my future," Loki asks, "have you had a look?" Frigga shakes her head. "And would you tell me if you had?" Frigga shakes her head again.

3) i thought you should know, by @odekirk. Howard Hamlin/Chuck McGill (Better Call Saul). The tragedy of Howard and Chuck, of the Hamlins and the McGills, over the decades. Fun fact: odekirk is straight-up the only fic writer who understands these two characters at all.

In the dream, Howard stands on Chuck’s porch and knocks three times on the front door, and tries to call out Chuck’s name. He’s holding something in his arm—one of the lights from the HHM conference room, glowing softly in the dark of night. “Maybe he’s at the grocery store,” Julie says. Yes, of course she’s right. Howard turns around and panics—where is his car? He just parked it right there in front of Chuck’s house. “I don’t have a car,” he laments to Julie. “I don’t know where my car is.” “Maybe it’s inside.” Yes, of course the car is inside. Howard turns around again and the front door is open. He walks in and sees the state of the house. Walls are torn up. Books are scattered all over. Appliances are strewn across the floor, the windows are boarded up, space blankets are hung everywhere. “Where’s your car?” Jimmy asks him. “What did you do?” Howard is frightened. If he can’t find his car, he’ll never be able to drive to the grocery store to get Chuck. He has to talk to Chuck.

originally posted on dreamwidth for the 2024 snowflake challenge prompts. (no, I still don't like dreamwidth, but it's... there.)