sakura_no_miko

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: L / Raito

Warnings: explicit sex (gay)

Other notes: romantic comedy, literary allusions, blind dates, love-hate relationship

Length: unknown

Summary: Romance, in general, could be considered the anti-thesis of anything having to do with common sense. Romance, however, must never be mistaken for love.

RomCom AU. Not what you’d expect out of Death Note.

I think I was going on yesterday about how L and Raito really can’t work out in canon without one or the other of them taking a severe personality change or lapse in ethics.

But, in an AU anything is game. Remove the whole mass murdering thing, and Raito and L…still freaking annoy the crap out of each other, challenge each other, and find themselves weirdly drawn together by the outside forces of dating agencies.

I admit, there are some parts of this fic that jar me, little bits of odd word choice for the characters, stuff like that. It’s not a brilliant, brain-melting, head-canon-creating fic, but I’ve always enjoyed it, sniggered at it.

It’s weird writing a commentary for a fic I sort-of like. When a fic is really good, there’s usually a ton to say. I tend to avoid really bad fic, because I’m not skilled enough in critique or humorous enough to really make fun. But there’s a lot of fic out there that I enjoy, even if it’s not the most amazing thing I’ve ever written. Some fic I like because of a single image or character moment or just a punchline.
I suppose I’ll just have to figure something out, though, because there’s no way to keep up a rec every day if I only stick to what truly amazes me.

There has to be something to learn from the fics I rec.

I think this fic actually shows a decent way of integrating outside material. Some people embed art, some people add in song lyrics, and if you don’t pull it off correctly, it can feel disruptive to the narrative flow. I like that this author took the simple step of using the quotes in the scene breaks, rather than just peppering them into a scene. Small step, but it gives the reader a moment to breathe, and consider the quote in the context of the scene.

The author also avoids the pitfall of writing a story that’s taking the lyrics or other material too literally. Some songfics I used to read would have the lyrics go something like, I dunno, “Dancin’ in the club, all the ladies wanna ride” and then the prose of the story would be something like, “He walked into the club, the music booming, women smiling flirtatiously. Oh yeah, they wanted a ride.” You know what I mean. I’ve always tended to like it better when there was a thematic connection between the inspiration and the story, instead of a literal one. That’s personal taste, though.

Last note, this author did another one-shot AU story, Blossoming White, that I…well, it’s a cheesy sort of hurt/comfort thing, but whatever. I liked it.

(Looking for more fic recs?)
Originally posted on tumblr on 10/21/12