round 3 overflow post

[starkmodistries.livejournal.com]

Round 3 Overflow Post

This post is for Round 3 fills only. We ask that when a round hits 8500 comments, fillers begin moving their fills to this post.

Format:
SUBJECT LINE -- Round #, short description of fic (ex: "Alex/Hank, lab partners")
--- Link to the prompt
--- Text of the prompt

--- Link to the fill
OR
--- Entire text of the fill

EXAMPLE:
Prompt: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=1038472#t2038174

Charles/Erik -- Charles is a bakery owner whose most frequent customer is Erik.

Fill: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=0139482#t4502942

Charles started off the morning the same way he always did...

Comments

Re: FILL: Everyday Love in Stockholm 185/?

[levitatethis.livejournal.com]

Damn, this is heavy. I'm still catching my breath. It's been a long time coming but this is where we were always headed -- I'm caught between anxiously anticipating how the rest unfolds and dreading it because it's going to hurt (no matter if there's ultimately a happy ending or not...the road there is going to be torturous).

As always your balance between the outside and inside worlds is perfectly on point. Each one informs the other (with only Erik really seeing how it all painfully fits together) and it's always this balancing act. But as time goes on things are leaning one way over another -- something's going to break.

I'm in awe, totally floored by how beautifully you've written Erik and Charles in this update. The emotions pulsing at the core of their union even as tension builds is incredible. Charles broaching the "I want to fuck you" angle and Erik accepting/wanting it (and the way you write it all unfolding -- rough and sweet, intimate and raw) shows a vulnerability on both sides that speaks volumes. That they can still surprise each other, themselves. That they can still journey together, side-by-side in their own way.

Of course to have that followed by Charles' request to be freed...and I'm caught between wondering if it was just coincidental timing and/or part manipulation on Charles' part. Not in a malicious way but in a "this is the beginning of goodbye though I love you with my entire being, please don't forget that but I can't live like this anymore...love me enough to let me go." And the counterpoint (from Erik) being "love me enough to stay".

Certainly this isn't the ideal circumstance for either. Certainly Charles can understand why Erik thinks this is the only way. But I like that you have Erik increasingly mindful of what the cost of all this has been for Charles, locked away, cut off from the world. I love that Charles argues passionately about why he needs this -- fear of losing himself and disappearing completely, fear of his feelings for Erik being dictated by circumstance rather than genuine connection.

Erik is instinctively holding on to what he loves. He can count on one hand the people in his life who have truly mattered to him, who he's truly loved. And he's lost them all. If he loses Charles it's like game over for him. Maybe he'll disappear all together. And yet he's feeling Charles' pain more acutely now, increasingly it matters and weighs on him. He wants to protect Charles, as always, but the thought of hurting him in the process is taking its toll.

Charles may have let it go this time but this issue is going to grow and get far more aggressive -- yes, it's possible to love someone so much it hurts. Methinks it might end up being third party interference that's going to bring everything to a head.

Can't wait for the conversation with Emma!