![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
100 days of enemy recs: 1. Coldflash
Okay, nobody told me to stop, so I'm going to try this! 100 days of recs in enemy-ship fandoms. That should take me about to Halloween. Let's see how far I get! Feel free to follow along however you would like. Or unfollow for the duration, whichever. (I am vaguely inspired by the current ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
100ships challenge but I am not going to use their guidelines.)
Setting myself rules anyway because everything is easier with constraints-
1. Get a randomized enemyship fandom off the list every day. "Fandom" and "enemyship" as defined by me.
2. Rec 1-3 fanworks on the theme in the fandom + a little fandom intro.
3. At least one fanwork rec'd each day must be each of: complete, novel-length, use the canon enemies dynamic, shippy, on AO3.
4. No duplication of authors over the 100 days. (This may end up being the hardest part)
5. Prioritize posting today's recs over answering yesterday's comments if you have to.
Day One the random number was 20, so the fandom is: Captain Cold!Leonard Snart/Barry Allen!The Flash. A very good place to start.
This pairing is based almost entirely from the first three seasons of the Flash TV show in the current DC TV continuity, which I have not watched a single minute of (in any of the shows.) So my opinions on it may seem entirely wrong to somebody who knows canon! (In particular I get the impression the canon het is pretty cute.) But I knew enough of Flash comics going in that I knew I was interested in Captain Cold/Leonard Snart. Captain Cold is really one of the first examples in US superhero comics of the "Anti-villain" - the reverse antihero. Somebody who takes pride in being one of the bad guys, but when you look closely has more honor and a stronger moral center than the hero, is probably better-adjusted and has more fun. Flash is pretty well known for having a Rogues' Gallery pf supercriminals that are not at all grimdark and are nearly as likely to team up with him as oppose him, and Captain Cold is their leader. Comics canon (and Flash continuity) being what they are, this never stayed stable very long, but he is still a favorite!
Not a whole lot of fic for Flash though. Until they put Leonard Snart in the TV show and gave him an arc that really, really played up the "Villain, but not really all that bad, and teams up with the hero" aspect, and then gave Flash an unusually morally grey storyline to start. And cast Wentworth Miller. That helped. Also puns and flirting.
(Besides being pure gold enemies-to-lovers, this pairing also provides the best of identity porn. In canon Len finds out the Flash's secret identity fairly early and then makes a private pact with him to help keep the secret. It's great.)
After the first couple of seasons of the show, Captain Cold went off to a spin-off where he didn't fare very well (and then showed up as a guest star always-a-hero canonically gay AU version which is admittedly pretty cool) but most of the coldflash fic doesn't really worry about that much, except for occasionally bringing him back from the dead.
Recs!
100ships challenge but I am not going to use their guidelines.)Setting myself rules anyway because everything is easier with constraints-
1. Get a randomized enemyship fandom off the list every day. "Fandom" and "enemyship" as defined by me.
2. Rec 1-3 fanworks on the theme in the fandom + a little fandom intro.
3. At least one fanwork rec'd each day must be each of: complete, novel-length, use the canon enemies dynamic, shippy, on AO3.
4. No duplication of authors over the 100 days. (This may end up being the hardest part)
5. Prioritize posting today's recs over answering yesterday's comments if you have to.
Day One the random number was 20, so the fandom is: Captain Cold!Leonard Snart/Barry Allen!The Flash. A very good place to start.
This pairing is based almost entirely from the first three seasons of the Flash TV show in the current DC TV continuity, which I have not watched a single minute of (in any of the shows.) So my opinions on it may seem entirely wrong to somebody who knows canon! (In particular I get the impression the canon het is pretty cute.) But I knew enough of Flash comics going in that I knew I was interested in Captain Cold/Leonard Snart. Captain Cold is really one of the first examples in US superhero comics of the "Anti-villain" - the reverse antihero. Somebody who takes pride in being one of the bad guys, but when you look closely has more honor and a stronger moral center than the hero, is probably better-adjusted and has more fun. Flash is pretty well known for having a Rogues' Gallery pf supercriminals that are not at all grimdark and are nearly as likely to team up with him as oppose him, and Captain Cold is their leader. Comics canon (and Flash continuity) being what they are, this never stayed stable very long, but he is still a favorite!
Not a whole lot of fic for Flash though. Until they put Leonard Snart in the TV show and gave him an arc that really, really played up the "Villain, but not really all that bad, and teams up with the hero" aspect, and then gave Flash an unusually morally grey storyline to start. And cast Wentworth Miller. That helped. Also puns and flirting.
(Besides being pure gold enemies-to-lovers, this pairing also provides the best of identity porn. In canon Len finds out the Flash's secret identity fairly early and then makes a private pact with him to help keep the secret. It's great.)
After the first couple of seasons of the show, Captain Cold went off to a spin-off where he didn't fare very well (and then showed up as a guest star always-a-hero canonically gay AU version which is admittedly pretty cool) but most of the coldflash fic doesn't really worry about that much, except for occasionally bringing him back from the dead.
Recs!
- Lesser Evils (7307 words) by tipsybluetips
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Len Snart/Barry Allen, Captain Cold/The Flash
Additional Tags: DC - New 52, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Secret Identity
This is based on a comics storyline I know less than nothing about, but it is the only comics-based fic on AO3 that ships him with a hero, which is a shame! It gives a good impression of comics!Len and Barry as they're older experienced villain and hero and it has the hero/villain thing one of the best ways - Len is at a very very low point and Barry, who is also not doing real well, drags him (literally) out of the gutter and takes him home, because when all your friends have betrayed you who else can you turn to but your favorite enemy? Really satisfying identity porn too as this Len doesn't know who Barry is. - Okay I am going to cheat on my own rules already and sneak in two Nirejseki recs here (but really you should read all of their stuff in all the fandoms.)
Unexpected Development (19802 words) by nirejseki
Chapters: 9/?
Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, Barry Allen/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, Barry Allen/Mick Rory, Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Old Married Couple, Leonard Snart is a secret hero and he will deny it to his dying breath, but everyone knows the truth, especially Mick Rory
“So, wait, let me get this straight,” Allen interrupts, looking thoughtful. “You want me to join a supervillain group in order to – and let me be sure I’ve got this right – protect people from the Families and keep them from doing drugs and possibly also to promote upward social mobility and economic stability for downtown Central?”
This is a wip that sadly hasn't updated in years, but it is SO GOOD and if you want an introduction to this fandom that will leave you wanting more I have to suggest this one! Also it's poly because Leonard's canon partner Mick is invited along, but I promise that just makes it better.
Here is a complete one by the same author as an apology for reccing a wip:
An Internal Affair (133686 words) by nirejseki, robininthelabyrinth
Chapters: 23/23
Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Additional Tags: Coldflash Weeks 2018, Role Reversal, Cop!Leonard Snart, Identity Reveal, Disabled Character
This is a cop AU - well, canon Barry is a cop. The AU here is that Leonard Snart, instead of being a master criminal, has been a master criminal who is also an undercover cop, and when his cover is blown for good, he uses his connections to get himself put in charge of the police department's internal affairs department, and uses all of his formidable abilities against police corruption and abuse. It is a cop AU with the thesis that all cops are bastards, a few bad apples can rot through an entire police force, and the criminal justice system is fundamentally broken. And it does this while also being a rollicking good adventure/crime/superhero story, saying some really smart things about Flash canon, and building a great romance. It's amazing. - A Week on Rogue's Mountain (65744 words) by Chichirinoda
Chapters: 32/32
Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Additional Tags: Survival Horror, tropey as fuck, Auctions, Collars, Rogues Being Rogues, Humour, Threats of Rape/Non-Con
In the world of this fic series, every Christmas Captain Cold gets the Rogues together for a supervillains' retreat in the mountains, since none of them have any other family they're interested in holidaying with. Instead of a gift exchange they each bring something they've stolen that year to auction off to each other. Unfortunately, this year, someone decides to bring the Flash himself as his auction item - and as the only one who knows his secret identity, Len has no choice but to win the auction to keep him safe from the others. And then pretend to do unspeakable things to him for the rest of the week (pretend only of course, he'd never take advantage of a captive. No matter how much he might wish--) Also there is a locked-room horror story going on, as the ghost who is haunting their mountain lodge starts taking out the rest of the Rogues one at a time. It's pretty great. The 'tropey as fuck' tag is fully earned. The Rogues as fucked-up found family are really well done. I have re-read the whole series every Christmas for... several years.