{ fic recs. }

On the Day of Your Resurrection: Number Five (BtVS/AtS) by viciouswishes

"I died again?" Dawn asks. She asks this about a thousand times when she comes back to life. She always comes back as a 13-year-old just as she was when the monks created her.

Post-series, Dawn and Gunn. A short ficlet which takes an interesting idea that and plays out wonderfully. The prose is affecting, and says a lot in a short space. I kept going back to it today because I'm trying to work out how it's so effortless. I can't really pinpoint why I like it, or why it's so good. I guess mostly because it's an excellent example of show, don't tell. Definitely a satisfying read, though.

We'll See What Gets Left Behind (Friday Night Lights) by tangleofthorns

Months had passed, a whole season, and Tim still woke up confused some days with his head full of Jason. They're down at the lake, on a Tuesday morning when they should be in geometry but can't stand the idea, Jason skipping stones across the green water with a practiced jerk of the wrist. He runs out of stones and dashes down into the lake, wadding up his shirt and flinging it backward without looking to see if it clears the water's edge, because he knows. Tim wades in after him, and Jay drops and rolls to float on his back, kicking up a splash aimed right into Tim's eyes—

Tim, Jason at the periphery. Tim is trying to adjust to the absence of his best friend in this touching, nostalgic piece where memories flick past your eyes, and by the end of it, you hurt in sympathy for this messed-up kid who basically just wants to play football and be unfettered by whatever else life has to hand him. The author is a favourite of mine from The West Wing fandom and her writing is so good that you don't notice that it's a piece that's been constructed by someone. It feels like it just exists.