Archived fic rec - Like the Sound of the Sun

[sakura_no_miko]

Title: Like the Sound of the Sun

Author: wordslinging

Fandom: Spartacus

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Agron/Nasir

Warnings: slavery, dehumanization, noncon, voyeurism, violence, character death

Other notes: AU

Length: 14k

Summary: Agron doesn’t want to fuck this boy for Roman amusement. He wants to sit and look into those eyes and speak with him, ask his name and how long he’s been in the house of Batiatus and if he likes what he sees when he looks at Agron.

 

I’m feeling a bit fortunate that I can limit myself to three Spartacus recs, at least with this pairing. You get one fic that’s pretty dark and vicious, one that is oddly cute despite the setting, and then one happy fic. Now, technically, if you were to read these in some sort of chronological order, this would actually have the earliest starting point–it actually has Nasir and Agron meeting well before they do in canon, and gets a lot of tension out of their clandestine attempts to find love despite their lives being controlled constantly.

This is, quite simply, a love story–a sweet love story that borders on purple prose at times–set against a backdrop of horrific human cruelty. Which is extremely appropriate for Spartcaus. Now, this isn’t nearly as vicious as it could have been–we’re not talking Django Unchained levels of slavery horror–but it’s a harsh reminder of the very real pain that many people went through because of slavery. To be treated as disposable, lacking emotion or will, traded away from loved ones with no warning and no consequences–that is horror, right there. Makes most of the “lovers separated by circumstances” stories seem mild by comparison.

And yet–it still comes back down to a story that’s full of sweet puppy love and “I never knew I could feel this way” and “you are my new reason for living.” It’s also fascinating how Agron–who is the more stereotypically masculine of the pair–is also the emotional one. This does go back to canon, a bit, but also to the fanfic writers, who tend to resist the typical “stoic masculine guy” and “emotional feminine guy” tropes. I started off reading yaoi (a term for Japanese gay media mostly written for and by women, somewhat like melodramatic romance novels) and there was always this huge adherence to those stereotypes. You wouldn’t expect a blood-and-tits show from Starz to give you nuanced, extremely human gay characters, but they treated everyone pretty well, regardless of sexuality.

If you liked this one, you might also enjoy Threesome, although, as the title implies, that one has both brothers and Nasir, so, depending on how you feel about mild incest. There are also many hot PWP fics in the AO3 tag.

 

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Originally posted on tumblr on 12/10/14