Recommendations round-up.

Oh my God on my God I don't know what it is that's been kicking my ass from letting me feel the actual joy of things but I hope tonight's a turning point away from that. Because tonight I realize just how much stuff I have to share, good stuff, all of it made for me, and here I am sitting on it for no good reason. It's not worth getting into bad ones, so here we go, two fics and a transformative work, three fandoms all told.

The Fifth Stage (5894 words) by Jayne L
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dawn Summers, Buffy Summers, Spike (BtVS), Willow Rosenberg, Tara Maclay, Rupert Giles, Xander Harris, Anya Jenkins
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comes Back Wrong
Summary:

cosmictuesdays said: "Is there a fic exploring the idea of how [Dawn and Spike] would take care of Buffy if she’d Come Back Wrong?"

A canon-divergent version of 'After Life'.

And this is generous, this is elegant, this itself is less a source of delight and more sorrow that resolves into melancholy - the promise that being here, just being here, can sometimes be enough.

That Mutual Dance of Mighty Heroism (6624 words) by Tassos
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Angel: the Series
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Faith Lehane/The Groosalugg
Characters: Faith Lehane, The Groosalugg (AtS)
Additional Tags: Male-Female Friendship, Romantic Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Friends With Benefits, Developing Friendships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Casual Sex, Feelings Realization, Developing Relationship
Summary:

In a slightly altered canon-world where Cordelia's visions do indeed pass to The Groosalugg, Groo finds himself in need of a warrior companion and he has been reliably informed that recently returned Faith would be most excellent.

Faith's not so sure this is going to work out. But he's pretty to look at.

She wasn't expecting feelings to happen.

Okay, now this is a delight, because you can't put these two in a room together and not get some entertainment value out of it. Because they both, in their own ways, give no fucks whatsoever, but in completely different ways that makes for an excellent read. Go ahead. You'll laugh, I promise.

Curl Up With Tinsnip: a reading of cosmictuesdays's "Stubborn Mouths: Humans in Translation" (10 words) by tinsnip
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Characters: Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Jadzia Dax, Odo, Kira Nerys
Additional Tags: Podfic, Vidfic
Summary:

A live reading of Hannah's "Stubborn Mouths: Humans in Translation".

Exactly what it says on the tin, and you should see how Tinsnip reads this! Her little acting choices, the different voices - my toes were curling and I can't stop smiling. And I hope that the second part is also true for everyone that gives it a listen.