#fireinmywoods fic

[fireinmywoods]

fic: a battuta

It’s deep into gamma; he hardly saw a soul on his trek up from the shuttlebay. Jim must have forgotten to order the lights off when he headed to bed.

In which Leonard comes home. Teen, ~5k words.

As always, spoilers for palimpsest. Please please please read that first!

[read on AO3]

[handwrittenhello]

everyone wake up new @fireinmywoods fic just dropped

this was an exercise in simplifying because i always go so over the top but often feel like i rush the sketch/lines to get to the coloring, and get frustrated when it doesn't turn out like my perfectionism wants. by forcing myself to keep it simple i found myself actually enjoying the process more!

[lokilenchen]

I read @fireinmywoods new fic a battuta and I just couldn’t resist drawing them in the way I imagined them while reading 💛💙

[katierosefun]

📚

thank you for the ask, anon! // from these asks

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

god, so many! i will admit that like. i do not read as much fanfic as i write it, especially these days, so my list of recommendations by no means captures every single amazing fanfic writer / fanfic there is out there in whatever fandom i'm about to list, but some fics that have been living rent-free in my brains these days have been:

gift horse dentistry by RC_McLacklan (beyond evil: hilarious writing, i literally hadn't laughed so hard at a fic in a really, really long time)

if every house is haunted by pale_and_tragic (beyond evil: the way i literally started crying like. twice. it also awakened something in me i think, because i think i started crying while writing out my comment for the author lmao)

all is well (in this blighted world) by fadeinwinter (beyond evil: ie. perhaps one of the most zombie apocalypse fics ever in that god god god god god god god finding love again at the end of the world jesus christ)

to the stars by merryofsoul (beyond evil: the star trek and beyond evil crossover that i think might have honestly been the fic that re-triggered my love for star trek because. jesus christ the way i am obsessed with science officer han joo won grouching about dong sik even on a spaceship. and also, typical star trek shenanigans but with the beyond evil crew is just. so fun. put those men in situations! put those men in situations that originated from perhaps one of the gayest franchises of all time!)

such a wonderful life by @b1uetrees (beyond evil: god can you see a pattern. i swear i read other fics. but like. beyond evil but now add in a dash of it's a wonderful life magic. this one moved me a lot just because maybe i love dong sik and i love dong sik being told his life is significant or whatever!!!)

i remember who i am when i'm with you by @electricalkittens (beyond evil: nur i am so sorry i haven't commented yet i read it and then said that i was gonna comment and then haven't done it but i swear i'm gonna leave a comment so u know the full scope of my appreciation for this fic but like anyways, yet another one of my faves right now because ohhh i'm always a sucker for joo won finding his way back to dong sik and dong sik wanting joo won to stay but none of them know how to quite communicate that yet and anyways!!! so normal)

pas de deux by @fireinmywoods, although you would need to read palimpest first, which is perhaps one of the most. genius fics that i have ever read. i mean it. (star trek, aos: just like. i dunno! i'm sort of obsessed with this fic especially, just because i think it! unlocks! something insane in me!)

rhapsody in blue by @kckenobi (star wars: the clone wars: i am. only a few chapters in this fic but i would be remiss if i didn't mention this one because a) i will always adore kasey's writing and find a way to mention her writing, even if i don't actively read as much star wars stories these days, and b) it's literally been so long since i've read an au where it's very clear that someone is so passionate about the exact setting they're writing about, and it's just something i thoroughly enjoying seeing in any story, and c) i mean? suspense + family trauma? sign me up.

i could. honestly go on forever about fic writers and fics that i would recommend, but. for the sake of length + also time, i'll leave this list here! and my bookmarks page is actually. substantial these days, so anything that i've bookmarked is almost always an indication that i recommend it.

[markcampbells]

I posted 373 times in 2022

26 posts created (7%)

347 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@excavatinglizard

@tiberiusmulder

@nadja-antipaxos

@mrsmunsons

@starcitysirens

I tagged 372 of my posts in 2022

#about me - 50 posts

#<3 - 42 posts

#series: star trek - 33 posts

#the magnus archives - 26 posts

#leonard mccoy - 24 posts

#queer art - 21 posts

#series: star wars - 21 posts

#jim kirk - 20 posts

#mckirk - 19 posts

#legends of tomorrow - 18 posts

Longest Tag: 120 characters

#(also i'm always weirdly happy when people associate me with my flag? it's that late in life queer moment i guess lmfao)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

WHAT KIND OF LOSER ALMOST MISSES HER OWN MCKIRKAVERSARY (this one I am that loser)

It has been one entire year since I posted absolution, my first official McKirk fic. I dreamed this baby up on a weekend morning and started writing, after years of admiring the folks in the fandom from afar. I am so, so grateful I did.

to @afterthenovels and @malionnes -- Anna gave me the prompt that became the fic, and Cait asked me the OTP meme questions that sparked me thinking about my own vision. Thank you both for getting me started.

To the USS McKirk folks: thank you for taking me into the fold. You are all so special to me. To mention just a handful of you:

@aishahiwatari and @demerite; best mods ever!

@aroacebones, for being the best partner in angst and never minding a 5 AM DM or fifty.

@lokilenchen and @excavatinglizard, both of whom surprised me with art for my later fic, both of whose talents amaze me every single day.

@better-late-than-nevah for understanding my desperate love for comments 😂

@spockats, my partner in word games, provider of medical knowledge!

@trek-tracks for the humor that keeps me going, and the sweetest words of praise a girl could want.

@sagesiren for loving Jewish Jim as much as I do!

@jenjiy for having the other half of the brain cell 😂

And to @fireinmywoods, thank you so much for giving us SIEL, a light in a dark year and the best communal experience I could have asked for so soon after officially joining the fandom!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: McKirk people best people. I'm so glad I fell in with you all. Let's keep it going a bunch more years. 💛💙

13 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#4

"I'm Jim. … Which friend is this a favor for? I've been coming here for months."

“Christine. These shifts interfere with her nightlife, you see, and as she saw fit to remind me, I have none, so better I be the one to molder away in an underground transfusion center.”

“I liked Christine. But if she sees fit to abandon me to the whims of a grouchy Southerner, I might displace her in my estimation.”

A vampire and a necromancer have a chat at a blood transfusion center.

(Trektober 2022, Day Two: Vampire AU)

content warnings: Jim was turned into a vampire against his will by an intimate partner; there is a brief description.

14 notes - Posted October 2, 2022

#3

"I saw a girl this morning who looked like my mother. It's strange--I haven't thought about my mother in decades, but after I wrote about her, she appeared before me. Part of me wanted to speak to her, this girl who seemed like my mother, but I didn't know what I would say. That I turned out to be so much more than she expected of me? And so much less? That I'm sorry I spent the better part of sixty years barely acknowledging her existence? That I don't remember exactly when she died? "Of course, it doesn't matter at all what I would say to my mother if I saw her again, because I didn't. It was just a girl with the same copper hair."

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson.

16 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

#2

How little we know of ourselves at any moment; how distinctly human that is. There is such little grace given to the perfect messiness of desire. Even queers feel pressure to homogenize the experience into catchy slogans. The 'born this way' narrative, while politically expedient, has done untold damage to narratives of the queer experience, implying any number of horrible ideas: that you cannot move toward desire without some genetic component urging you to do so, that experimentation is inherently problematic, that you have to know your truest and deepest self to act on something. There were times in my adolescence where people asked me if I was gay and I said no, not out of a sense of self-preservation but because I truly believed it to be so. You can be a stranger to yourself; you almost certainly will be, at some point or another. It is inevitable, as inevitable as the moment of rupture that sends you hurtling toward the self you were always going to be.

from "Both Ways" by Carmen Maria Machado, her essay on Jennifer's Body in It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (ed. Joe Vallese).

25 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

desire to learn how to draw, if not well: losing

years of memories of art teachers telling me how bad at art i was: winning

30 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[trek-tracks]

It's an old, well-worn routine.

Whenever Jim says, “you were right, Bones,” Bones quirks that funny half-smile and tells Jim, “I wish I’d gotten a recording of that as proof. I’d play it non-stop to get to sleep, care to say it again?”

And Jim just grins at him and won’t repeat it for the recorder, tells him it’ll go to his head, that he'll just have to wait for the next time; if it ever happens again, that is.

Bones is a man of many opinions, and Jim hates to admit, they're often correct. As he's matured, he's learned to give credit where credit is due.

Plus, he likes it when Bones smiles.

"You were right, Bones," he says, as they beam up from yet another mission where a near-disaster was averted, this time due to Bones' suspicion of the Emperor's head physician.

"That's a balm to my weary ears, Jim," Bones sighs. "Care to record that? I'll layer it on top of my white noise machine and have the sweet dreams of the vindicated."

Jim points out that asking for a recording of one's captain's voice to have sweet dreams to is probably against regulation. Bones rolls his eyes. No recording is provided.

"You were right, Bones," Jim says, handing Bones a glass of bourbon after a heartbreaker of a mission. Two dead, Spock almost the third, now back in one piece after six hours of surgery. He doesn't break out the Saurian brandy; that's for celebratory drinks. This is mourning.

"I'm always right," Bones says. "That's my curse. I wish I hadn't been. But next time..."

"I'll listen," says Jim. "I'll listen faster. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Jim. You did what you thought was right, and it worked in the end. We got the treaty. We saved more lives than we lost."

"You know that doesn't matter when I'm writing to the families."

"Yeah, Jim, I know that," sighs Bones. "But let's pretend I'm right this time, okay? And, by the way, when I get that recording, you can add 'I'll listen' to the end of it. It's a nice touch."

"You're an asshole," says Jim, but he smiles for the first time since Ensign Simons' death.

"And I'm right," says Bones, raising his glass. They both down it in one go.

"You were right, Bones," Jim says, after finally turning down his second chance at promotion to the Admiralty.

"Of course I'm right," says Bones. "Captaining a ship is your first, best destiny. It's who you are. It's what you do. But I can barely take credit for that. Any fool can see it. Which is why I'm surprised the brass offered you that promotion in the first place. They're the biggest fools out there."

"Well, I guess I'm going to wait a while to join them, Bones. Are you ready for another five years?"

"Who else is going to sporadically admit to me that I'm right?"

"This is why I can't give you the recording," Jim says. "You won't need me anymore."

"That's not true, Jim," Bones says, suddenly looking more serious than when he's performing a particularly delicate surgery. He looks Jim straight in the eye.

"That'll never be true. Do you hear me? You told me you'd listen. That will never be true. And I'm right."

Jim’s final mission is a solo trip, requested by the heads of two warring factions, looking to make peace to show their commitment to their planet's application for entry into the Federation.

Bones tells him not to go, that he’s got a bad feeling about this one.

Jim rolls his eyes. “You always have a bad feeling about this one."

"It's an especially bad feeling, this time. And don't you remember? I'm always right. You promised me you'd actually listen once in a while; this is why I need it on record--"

But Jim has a chance to bring peace, so Jim can’t stay. And Bones knows it.

And it doesn’t work.

Bleeding out after tensions erupt, knowing transporters are jammed and it’s too late for rescue, Jim spends his last minutes recording messages for his family and senior crew.

Bones’ message is last, and Jim knows just what he's going to say.

He puts on his most winning smile and says, “You were right, Bones. Next time, I'll listen. And now, here’s your recording as proof. Thanks for everything. I hope you play it non-stop."

After the ceremonies, the speeches, and the handoff of the Enterprise to Spock, Bones finally pours himself a glass -- bourbon, not Saurian brandy -- and watches his message.

"You were right, Bones."

It doesn't give him sweet dreams. In fact, he doesn’t sleep for three days.

He never plays it again.

[asoulofstars]

Author of Fic: You probably shouldn’t read this all at once!

Me: But I MUST KNOW THINGS.

Me, now, having finished said fic: I am emotionally compromised and will not think of anything else for the rest of the day.

[goingknowherewastaken]

Chapters: 4/8 Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy Characters: Leonard "Bones" McCoy, James T. Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, Spock (Star Trek), Christine Chapel Summary:

“Skip to the point, Jim. The sooner you spit it out, the sooner I can refuse and get back to work.”

“It’s really no big deal,” Jim says as the door slides closed behind them. “I just need you to come down to Hearth with us…as my husband.”

The Enterprise has been sent to negotiate reaccession to the Federation with an isolationist religious group known as the Kindred. While there, Jim notices that some of the children seem to be gravely ill. The problem is, the Kindred practice faith healing and refuse to allow a doctor to be brought in. So Jim does what he does best: he improvises.

If you like the fake marriage trope then boy have I found the fic for you!

[animetrashmuffin]

As I hinted it's that time where we celebrate all things McKirk and for me that means @fireinmywoods who is literally the reason that I ship these two idiots as hard as I do. Em you have my whole damn heart and you are my favorite grumpy lesbian.

This is a scene from Em's fic stellae fixae.

As always please read palimpsest first!!!!

[hopefulcanary]

Some art based on @fireinmywoods' entirely too lovely fic, smoke in every lane (M-rated, pls be advised)

cut for spoilers and suicidal imagery

come back

i'm gonna be thinking about this for a while

[fireinmywoods]

fic: the polished surface of our being [1/3]

“Where the hell are you?”

“Kinda busy right now,” Jim says, his voice tinny over the comm channel, crackling with static. “Can we save the yelling for later? Pretty sure it’ll keep till after none of us are being hunted for sport.”

The moments that never happened. Teen, ~5k.

MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SMOKE IN EVERY LANE. Please read the main story first.

[read on AO3]

[bewires]

🔁

or, alternatively,

✨

why not both

🔁 A fic you’ve re-read several times

I read pretty fast, so I also reread a lot. I've been on a bit of Red, White & Royal Blue kick recently and have been rereading a lot of clottedcreamfudge's work, and I also reread a lot of @dreamtiwasanarchitect's fics, and @emjee's fics, and many others I am not thinking of right now

✨ A fic you wish you could read again for the first time

the palimpsest verse by fireinmywoods. It's AOS Kirk/McCoy, which is one of my favorite ships, and it combines both an amazing casefic and some of my favorite dynamics otherwise. I won't say more because this fic ought not to be spoiled, but I highly recommend it if you like this pairing

[markcampbells]

WHAT KIND OF LOSER ALMOST MISSES HER OWN MCKIRKAVERSARY (this one I am that loser)

It has been one entire year since I posted absolution, my first official McKirk fic. I dreamed this baby up on a weekend morning and started writing, after years of admiring the folks in the fandom from afar. I am so, so grateful I did.

to @afterthenovels and @malionnes -- Anna gave me the prompt that became the fic, and Cait asked me the OTP meme questions that sparked me thinking about my own vision. Thank you both for getting me started.

To the USS McKirk folks: thank you for taking me into the fold. You are all so special to me. To mention just a handful of you:

@aishahiwatari and @demerite; best mods ever!

@aroacebones, for being the best partner in angst and never minding a 5 AM DM or fifty.

@lokilenchen and @excavatinglizard, both of whom surprised me with art for my later fic, both of whose talents amaze me every single day.

@better-late-than-nevah for understanding my desperate love for comments 😂

@spockats, my partner in word games, provider of medical knowledge!

@trek-tracks for the humor that keeps me going, and the sweetest words of praise a girl could want.

@sagesiren for loving Jewish Jim as much as I do!

@jenjiy for having the other half of the brain cell 😂

And to @fireinmywoods, thank you so much for giving us SIEL, a light in a dark year and the best communal experience I could have asked for so soon after officially joining the fandom!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: McKirk people best people. I'm so glad I fell in with you all. Let's keep it going a bunch more years. 💛💙

[trek-tracks]

Jim!

Bones!!

[unculturedmamoswine]

AoS McKirk Recs

At the request of @fireinmywoods​ I’m finally getting around to making a McKirk rec post, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while. All these fics are McKirk endgame. This isn’t organized in any way whatsoever, and is also not a comprehensive list. I mostly just scrolled through my bookmarks and picked the things that weren’t outright porn. I always wish reccers would include their own notes along with the author’s summaries so... I did that. Hope y’all don’t mind. I’ll try not to be too spoilery, but I think it’s valuable to see what other fans like about a fic. Also, always heed the author’s notes, warnings, and tags. Definitely check out other fics by these authors, because I’m mostly not reccing a bunch by each person in order to keep this post slightly less long. And please consider leaving comments on the fics!

The palimpsest verse by fireinmywoods (series is 100k words)

Author’s summary (of the first fic in the series): “Skip to the point, Jim. The sooner you spit it out, the sooner I can refuse and get back to work.” “It’s really no big deal,” Jim says as the door slides closed behind them. “I just need you to come down to Hearth with us…as my husband.” The Enterprise has been sent to negotiate reaccession to the Federation with an isolationist religious group known as the Kindred. While there, Jim notices that some of the children seem to be gravely ill. The problem is, the Kindred practice faith healing and refuse to allow a doctor to be brought in. So Jim does what he does best: he improvises.

Gotta start with the gal whose fault this list is! When I read the first fic in this verse I was really at a low point in my McKirk obsession. This fic really brought me back into the fold in a big way. The whole series is just very very full of love. I ALMOST read one of the sequels first but thank god I heeded Em’s warnings to read palimpsest before reading the other fics. Seriously. You need to go into the thing unspoiled. Anyhow, if you want Jim and Bones way way super in love, for sure read this fic.(And listen, if you don’t want to read it because you hate fake marriage please read it anyway. I dislike fake marriage and I read it and loved it. Give it a shot, I beg you.)

Manhattan (Weeks Gone By) by blcwriter (8k words)

Author’s Summary: For the jim_and_bones St. Patrick’s Day challenge, because only I can turn a flash fic prompt into 8000 words. I haven't been able to stop listening to Frightened Rabbit’s “In Living Colour”  from their Winter of Mixed Drinks album as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say for my next story, and then this challenge came along, and literal writer! is literal, so, there you go.The prompt was "Manhattan," and the boys wanted to be married in modern times and run a bar in the Village with the whole gang involved.  Non-happy-fun-times ensue before things sort of resolve.

I love a lot of blcwriter’s stuff, but this one is my favorite. It’s a modern day au, and Jim and Bones’s marriage is in trouble. It’s a really wonderful look at people in a long-term relationship struggling to keep it alive and wondering whether to just let it die.

Something so right by blcwriter (series is 13k words)

Author’s Summary (of the first fic in the series): "Don't say we aren't right for each other, the way I see it is.. we aren't right for anyone else."

Okay, I said I wouldn’t rec lots of things by one author and this is my one exception. I HAD to rec this one as well as Manhattan. An utterly fantastic modern day chef au. Jim and Bones knew each other at culinary school but now find each other again as real grown-ups. And the sequel is a Christmas fic! Also contains Jewish Jim, which I’m always a slut for.

That Monogamy Thing by silverlining99 (11k words)

Author’s Summary: Jim thought he was doing it RIGHT.

I also need to mention the fic The Thing About Realizing You Are In Love With Your Best Friend by JenTheSweetie because these two fics are so identical in premise I can only assume they were written for the same prompt. They’re both great, but I slightly prefer That Monogamy Thing, so it got top billing. Both fics are set during the five year mission, or at least they’re set on the Enterprise. Basically, Jim and Bones start sleeping together and Jim assumes they must be now in a Monogamous Relationship(TM) and gets with the monogamy program. Of course, at no point did anyone say they were in a monogamous relationship, so Bones is not on the same page, shall we say. It’s a classic “miscommunication causes delicious but short-lived angst” kinda vibe. You get it.

The Repairs verse by shinychimera and Yeomanrand (series is 69k words)

Authors’ Summary (of the first fic in the series):  Young Jim Kirk is unstable and self-destructive, Leonard McCoy is withdrawn and wary, and the obstacles to surviving their first term at Starfleet Academy are not easy to overcome. A dark and brutal tale of the tangled borders between healing and hurting, where hard choices between emotions and ethics have far-reaching consequences; dealing with abuse and alcoholism, affection and neglect, piercings and bar fights, hot and cold sex, complicated questions of consent, and loyalty and love between people who aren't comfortable with either. A whole new spin on "I want my pain, I need my pain."

This one is kinda...whump porn. Like, read the tags. JIm is suuuper messed up and traumatized but sometimes that’s what you need in a fic, yanno? It’s an Academy fic that deals heavily with Jim having been violently abused as a child, and him growing to trust Bones while also kind of learning how to be an adult, rather than living life as the abused child he’s spent so long being. The abuse in this fic was not sexual in nature, jsyk.

En Promenade by newsbypostcard (series is 86k words)

Author’s Summary: After three months of weekend bar-hopping and a slow process of elimination -- with finding the right bar, that was, and tragically not discovering who Bones was into -- Jim was starting to narrow it down.

A very cute Academy fic that nevertheless deals with a bit of heavy shit for both Jim and Bones. Starts out with Jim bound and determined to befriend Bones by... discovering the perfect bar for them to hang out in. Has a lot of really great exploration of Bones’s character, and he’s written in a really entertaining way.

Future Imperfect by Savoytruffle (50k words)

Author’s Summary: Leonard wins the kid in a hand of poker. A hand of poker he plays in the dirty back room of a dive bar in East Bumfuck, Iowa, two weeks after his humiliating divorce is finalized, and on the sixth day of a bourbon-fueled bender that’s somehow taken him from his high-rise loft in Atlanta to a fleabag motel in the middle of nowhere.

This fic is an Academy fic, but in a pretty dark universe. Maybe not Mirror Universe dark, but it’s one where slavery is practiced on Earth. Jim is, in this fic, Bones’s slave. Not in a sexy way. He’s part of an underclass of people who weren’t designer babies. Bones goes to the Academy and tries to become a Starfleet officer, accompanied by Jim, his newly acquired slave. They grow closer as they deal with their pasts, and I guess I should stop there for fear of spoiling too much. This one talks a lot about childhood sexual abuse, so be warned. The story overall though has a hopeful ending.

Let Me Come Home by yawnralphio (7k words)

Author’s Summary:  “Someone asked me what home was and all I could think of were the stars on the tip of your tongue, the flowers sprouting from your mouth, the roots entwined in the gaps between your fingers, the ocean echoing inside of your ribcage.”

For someone who theoretically dislikes modern day AU’s, there are actually a fair few that I really really love, and this is one. Jim and Bones run a travel blog together and journey around the US in a van. It’s a really lovely mix of angst and romance.

The Switch series by Ceres_Libera (series is 269k words)

Author’s Summary (of the first fic in the series):  The life and times of Leonard H. McCoy MD/PhD … If Leonard McCoy's life could get any fucking weirder, it would be … Jesus, he didn't even want to think what that could possibly mean, because it's already been too fucking weird to make any kind of rational sense. A Starfleet Academy story, set in the ST:XI universe.

I don’t need any sass, people. I KNOW you’ve all read Switch, and I know you’re all tired of seeing it on rec lists and I don’t care. It’s famous for a reason! It’s not just long, it’s WONDERFUL. The big, epic Academy fic that kinda sets the Academy fic bar. Goes from Jim and Bones meeting all the way through the end of the 09 film. And that’s just the main fic. I really love that both Jim and Bones are depicted as realistically flawed people, especially earlier on in their acquaintance. Neither of them are angst sponges, they’re both just... kinda messed up dudes. But they’re good people who learn to love each other. Also I guess it’s technically slow burn?

The Greater Good by emiliglia (29k words)

Author’s Summary: Doctor Leonard McCoy thinks he's getting by, working as both a surgeon and a researcher at UCSF Medical Center. A chance encounter with Lieutenant Jim Kirk - who's changed since they first met five years before, and not for the better - forces Leonard to face reality about his own situation while trying to keep Jim from heading down the same path.

This is the only fic on here not on Ao3, as far as I can tell. Anyhow it’s modern day AU. Jim and Bones help themselves by helping each other and falling in looooove.

The aftershocks series by canistakahari (series is 30k words)

Author’s Summary: Jim Kirk turns down Pike’s challenge, and doesn’t get on the Starfleet recruiting shuttle. But neither does Leonard McCoy, who’s actually been in Iowa for six months already, doing fuck-all. Becoming drinking buddies seems like a natural progression.Sometimes the path to the stars is just a piece-of-shit dirt road. You know, the kind that’s filled with potholes and surrounded by brambles and conveniently happens to be located in the bottom of a ravine. But every once in a while, when confronted with such a twisted mess of circumstance and cracked foundation, the universe still does its very best to fill in the holes.

I haven’t read this in a long time, but I remember it being really good and kinda mindfucky. Not in a dark or stressful way, though. Jim and Bones don’t join Starfleet at all. I feel I shouldn’t say more because I don’t want to spoil things, but the tags should give you more information if you want some.

i think i’ll keep you (like a secret) by hoosierbitch (3k words)

Author’s Summary: Bones came to Starfleet with a hell of a lot of baggage. Jim came empty handed.

Some good ole Jim angst. Prominently featuring: Tarsus things! Allergic-to-everything Jim! Jim allowing himself to be vulnerable around Bones! All that good stuff. I just love me some vulnerability.

How Whales (Sorta) Brought Jim and Bones Together by highschool-facelesshellion (4k words)

Author’s Summary: For Leonard, first dates are flowers and small, homey restaurants where you talk quietly like you're sharing secrets with your potential girlfriend.They are not supposed to be at a table covered with aquarium maps and aquarium souvenirs. And they are certainly not supposed to be spent with a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy rambling about whales.(Or: Where Leonard is the only person that doesn't think Jim's too crazy for his whale obsession and Jim notices.)

Fairly goofy, slightly cracky remix of The Voyage Home (the one with the whales). It’s just silly and charming and I don’t know why I love the idea of Jim being a whale aficionado, but I really do. 

Any Road Will Take You There by shoreleave (63k words)

Author’s Summary: Slow-developing K/M, beginning right after the shuttle ride and showing what happens the first year at the Academy. Told from McCoy's POV.

This fic is verrrrry good. I know I have a lot of Academy fic on here, but please treat yourself and read this one. Shoreleave is really good at both plot and characterization. I really like this fic in part because it explores the root of Jim’s complete lack of trust in authority figures, while also showing just how dangerous that lack of trust can be for him.

Seeing Stars by lindmere (1k words)

Author’s Summary: Inspired by Chris Pine's wig in Bottle Shock. Jim sneaks into Riverside for an old-fashioned Fourth of July.

A very sweet, sort of domestic established relationship fic.

His Eyes are Opened by tresa_cho (21k words)

Author’s Summary: Lt Colonel Leonard McCoy thought his service days were over. After the Great War, he was ready to disappear into the sanctuary of anonymity, but the government had other plans. Strange men whisk him away from his comfortable existence to investigate an airship crash unlike anything the United States had ever seen before. The year is 1947. The location, Roswell, New Mexico.

Despite the summary saying ‘Great War’, this fic is clearly post WWII, so I think that must be a typo. There is a dearth of McKirk fic set in the forties, and hot damn does this fic ever hit the spot if that’s what you’re looking for. Usually fics that are set in modern times or earlier take out all the sci-fi elements of Star Trek, but not this one! Just a very well done fic with a unique premise.

Investigations by AceOfSpades (series is 93k words)

Author’s Summary: The first thing Jim noticed about McCoy, and what started him on this whole messy path, was that McCoy was just a little…off.

GOD DAMN I love this fic. It’s a Doom (2005) fusion, but you don’t need to know anything about Doom to get this fic. It might even help to not know anything about Doom. God knows I don’t and I adore this fic. Academy era, with Jim simultaneously befriending Bones and trying to solve the mystery of this weird Leonard McCoy guy. Theoretically we’re getting a sequel sometime, and it can’t come soon enough in my opinion. Never fear, though, the fic is complete as-is and has lovely closure. Really really really recommended!

The Galactic Adventures of Major Zeph by winterover (14k words)

Author’s Summary: Jim is a comic book nerd who’s finally found his one true sidekick. Leonard is a convention virgin who really needs a drink. There is only one bed left in San Diego.

Academy fic! For some reason I always love fics where Jim is into some kind of craft or art, or is just generally a nerd about something. This fic provides that twice: Jim is a comic book nerd as the summary says, but also really into cosplay. And Bones just happens to look like the sidekick of Jim’s favorite comic book character. Romantic hijinks ensue.

The Man Who Held Up Atlas by thalialunacy (7k words)

Author’s Summary: Five times Leonard McCoy fixed Jim Kirk’s back, and the one time he didn’t have to.

Really really lovely 5 plus 1 fic with reverse chronology. Starts with Jim and Bones as old old men and moves back in time from there, showing little snapshots of their relationship.

and i can lend you broken parts that might fit (like this) by jeyhawk (17k words)

Author’s Summary: Academy Era. First they fall into bed. Then they fall in love.

Funny and sweet. Nothing too heavy, just loads of Jim and Bones being wildly in love with each other. And sexytimes.

[animetrashmuffin]

Day 28: Shore leave/Risa

This is the opening scene of Chapter 3 of @fireinmywoods​ lovely fic, septenary. Now, if you HAVEN’T read Palimpsest, you have to read that first. And if you enjoy McKirk content or any of Em’s tag rambles, this will be an absolute treat.