Tuesday's Best 10-12-2010

Good morning, my lovelies. Hope you're all having a great day, and that you're ready to see what Captain Jezebel and Aradi have in store for us today. I know I am! So grab your towels, Kleenex, and a fresh pair of panties, and settle in for a good read. Here we go!

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Two things are guaranteed to catch my eye in a fic: angst and a mystery.  The mystery doesn’t have to be the whodunnit type (although those are fun too).  Some of the best are simply “how did we get here?”

When the Night Comes is Drizl's first slash story, and the first chapters bring far more questions than answers.  Why did Jasper leave Forks for Chicago and never go back?  Who is the ghost that haunts him?  What exactly happened between Jasper and Edward?  What has Edward been doing all these years?  All we seem to know for sure is that Jasper’s been running from his past, but his miserable life doesn’t seem like it could be much better than whatever he left behind.

Jasper grudgingly returns to Forks because his Mama is about to die, and we start getting pieces of the puzzle through his conversations and high-school flashbacks.  The boys apparently began as previously-happy, previously-hetero friends and teammates.

"With your arm, we should crush them," he said bringing out the crooked grin again.

"Yeah? Do you think we'll be able to hook-up on a few long pass routes?"

His face lit up. "Hell yeah, they have one decent cornerback, but I'm faster than him." He laughed and lunged at me, but I was able to slip out of his grasp. We ran down the beach laughing and taunting each other. He finally tripped me up, falling on top of me. His green eyes were almost black as he hovered over me. Strange sensations fluttered in my stomach. Must be the fucking Jack mixing with the beer I had been drinking until Edward fucking Cullen leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine.

My entire body seized up. Was this actually happening?

"Oh fuck," he muttered. "I'm so sorry...I didn't mean...oh fuck...please Jasper...don't...I gotta go.."

He jumped off me, disappearing down the beach before I could even sit up. I ran my finger across my lips and groaned. Edward Cullen had just sort of kissed me and fuck...I kinda liked it...what the fuck did...I jumped up and started sprinting down the beach.

Like I said, “previously-hetero.”  Whatever the impending doom of their young relationship is, the writing was on the wall from the beginning.  

One of the surprises for me in this fic was Alice.  So often in slash she’s a one-dimensional background character.  She’s the evil ex, or the devastated ex, or at the very least a psychicmeddlesomepixie hag.  Here she’s actually three-dimensional.  This Alice is hurt, but still a friend.  She’s helpful, but not selecting outfits.  She’s also integral to the story and not just background sparkle.

When the Night Comes is mainly told in JPOV, and is fairly dripping with angst and heartache.  If you are looking for fluffy bunny tales, look elsewhere.  Both boys bring a lot of baggage to the table, and I suspect there’s still more as the current 15 chapters don’t contain the complete backstory.  Drizl updates with lovely regularity, and I can’t wait to see the past and present storylines play out.

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*big hugs* to my fellow slashaholics. Captain Jezebel again bringing you another of my favorite Slash Backslash 2.0 entries. Being a HUGE lover, of the canon couple of slash I thought I had pretty much read every type of /ward or /sper available in fanfic. There were the dicks, the sweet ones, the lost ones, the slutty ones, even the ones that were slightly effeminate. After I began reading The Measure of a Man by PolkaDotMama I realized I had never read an extremely feminine and flamboyant Edward, and I wondered to myself why that was.

Jasper is a business man who is openly gay everywhere in his life, except at work. While attending a teahouse hosted by Geisha’s, with his colleagues, Jasper meets someone that catches his eye... Edward. This man causes him to stop and rethink everything he has ever known about what he finds attractive in a guy. In fact the draw he feels towards Edward surprises and entices his mind and body, despite what his past dictates to him.

I couldn't stop thinking about Edward either. In the end, seeing him won out over what "my type" supposedly was.

And it won out day after day.

It won out when I finally brushed my lips against his oh-so-soft mouth and tasted him through the fruity tang of his chewing gum.

It won out when we went dancing and all attention was drawn to us.

It won out when we sat at a restaurant and his laughter soared across the room, encouraging stares and whispers.

None of that mattered as I took him home three months after our first date and pressed him into my bed for the first time.

Edward is sweet, sexy and spends his life in full color. He is way more ‘out loud’ than anyone Jasper has ever been attracted to but the spark is evident to them both. When Jasper questions his ability to be with someone that may embarrass him in public; or worse cause him to be outed at work he needs to figure out what it is that truly makes a man.

The answers he finds at the end of his reflection may just shock him. However sometimes you need to understand that you love, who you love ‘ regardless of any silly standards and rules you have set up for yourself. Will Jasper embrace this new discovery of himself or will he succumb to his past limitations? You’re going to have to read it to find out peeps, I can’t say much more here without giving too much away.

I will say this... In many slash stories, so much emphasis is put on Jasper and Edward being somewhat “manly”. I loved the fact that PolkaDotMama colored outside the lines a bit and gave us an amazingly perfect, utterly fantastical, sexy as fuck, flamboyant Edward. I enjoyed this story so freaking much. Okay silly fangirl gush over...and just a note....this is not meant as any disrespect to slash authors....I LOVE slash. I mean duh look where I am...*giggles*  Stop by and give it a read, but don’t forget to leave her some love if you do.

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And there you have it. Another couple of great reads, just waiting for you. Be sure to leave these lovely ladies some lovin', and check back next week to see what the good Captain and I have for you then.