Prosfic - Perfect Alignment

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

At 0.22 GMT (the lads' time!) the northern hemisphere was tilted as far from the sun as it could be, and so the sun has now set in my tiny part of the Subarctic for 20 hours and 19 minutes straight. Also - it's snowing outside! So for this long, dark, cold night - Prosfic.

Perfect Alignment



Title: Perfect Alignment
Author: Slantedlight
Slash or Gen: Slash
Archive at ProsLib/Circuit/Hatstand: Certainly, if wanted!
Disclaimer: Bodie, Doyle and the CI5 universe do not belong to me, and I certainly don't make any money out of them. I'm just borrowing them to play. Good games.
Notes: Gorgeous graphic by empty_mirrors, and many thanks also to her for betaing and general hand-holding!

Comments

[bistokidsfan77.livejournal.com]

Gritty, interesting, poignant, encompassing, with a hint of sweetness that plays about the edges, like the aftertaste of chocolate.

Long nights agree with your fic writing ability, my child. Thank you for a wonderful story.

[crimson-37.livejournal.com]

I realy enjoyed this. What a wondeful insight into their ealier days. I have to say my favourite part was them both hovering close over the radio, all excited at a job well done, waiting for the pat on the head and some long awaited praise from the Cow. I could so feel their almost 'smug' anticipation of their reward and picture the wide eyed expressions on their young faces held close saying 'here it comes, we're clever little boys' lol. Funny how life doesn't always go the way you forsee it...lol
I loved the moment they shared as the sun set too, so serene.

The ending was full of action of every sort, ;) and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story. :)

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Really wonderful story. I enjoyed it a lot. Just the right amount of action and plenty of wonderful moments between the lads, too. I like the idea of them getting together so soon, too.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

I don't know, maybe panic is a good thing--this certainly worked for me! *g* I liked the mix of action/case and emotional/relationship. I liked that it focused on the younger lads, and connected every aspect of their relationship with their partnership. It's intriguing to think that their physical relationship would be so closely tied to their partnership--like the sex was an almost inevitable byproduct of the intensity between them. And then, when the sexual/emotional led to a disconnect, that affected their ability to do the job together. They're still learning what it is between them in this story, and that's fun to read.

I loved the scene at sunset and how they somehow ended up nearly melded together. *g* There was a stillness about them as they stood joined, a quiet, and a *rightness*. Yeah! Thank you!

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Really enjoyed this story for so many reasons and I'll list them, if that's OK:

As in all your stories, I love the clever way you use and manipulate words and phrases often taking them out of their usual context, like so:

In a whisper of footsteps and,

He frowned, and picked up the handset to call Cowley – instant cold water – and was patched through almost immediately

Other great lines:

"Scouser with the fascist hairdo?

"'Help, help, I'm being oppressed!'" Bodie responded instantly, and then he looked up sharply and grinned suddenly, all the way to his eyes. They'd seen that movie together.

And I loved the way you intrigued the reader with the state of their relationship – at first I wondered *what* it was and then, *where* it was going.... I liked the way you just gave out a few titbits of information at a time - I want to be kept guessing, not to have everything revealed at once. Love the tease of just two words: 'first time' - making me instantly sit up and think 'aha, so it's like that is it?' but still not certain *what* it's actually like - how could I be when Doyle doesn't know either?

His breath was soft too, quiet and even. He'd been like this that first time. No front, just… Bodie

Doyle had felt the electricity between them as soon as they met. It was there in every move they made, every glance they shared. And the way they knew, just knew what the other was thinking. It hadn't taken them two weeks to become the perfect team. Suddenly the world was more real, he was more alive – they were more alive. And as usual, just as he always did – see it, want it, have it. So he had.

Beautiful writing, against the beautiful background of the longest night, Stonehenge, the Solstice - very atmospheric.

And my poor old computer screen almost received yet another spray of projectiled coffee when I read this line:

"Bodie, why are your toenails painted red?"

Really enjoyed this, Slanted, thanks so much for sharing it.

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love stories of their early days together! I liked the way you developed the supporting characters and established the mood and place. I also really appreciate the way you let me, the reader, discover the main conflict--that B & D have been intimate and that's why Doyle is looking for a reteam--as opposed to telling me so at the onset. I thought this was wonderful, like all your stories. I quite enjoyed my pressie. :-)

[probodie.livejournal.com]

Yum! Bloody good read that was. I love the Monty Python reference *giggles*, but my favourite part has to be this:

In the dark of the longest night of the year their bodies slid hard together, breath was gasped, and breath was sighed. There was skin, and sweat, and the heat of Bodie's mouth around him, and the feel of Bodie's cock against his own tongue, between his own lips. There was so much pleasure it was almost painful, but even the twist of teeth on his nipples, of a finger, of two, up his arse, was better than anything he'd ever thought possible.

Just sums it up perfectly.

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

This was a wonderful story! I loved so many things about it. Here are a few of them:

I loved how you started it off like a real episode, in Cowley's office getting the assignment. Actually, the whole thing was like an episode, except with sex. This is one of my favorite kind of stories, one that blends action and a case with their relationship/sex.

I liked how Doyle was jealous of Bodie's easy charm and magnetism--that seemed very true to character.

I LOVED that you gave us this story today, on the solstice. A solstice story for the solstice! Nice!

I liked the way you put us inside Doyle's head throughout, but especially here:

The sky was coming alive with colour now, pale blue fading to peach and pink, the horizon stained purple with the oncoming night. He looked about for the evening star, couldn't see it. Maybe it wasn't even supposed to be there at this time of year. It was all so far away, Doyle thought, so distant and pointless and unhelpful to the people rushing about on their own solid earth. It didn't matter where the sun rose and set every day, not when there were idiots with bombs down here, trying to kill and maim and cause each other endless pain...

I laughed aloud at this:

Bodie just smiled. "Now, now, where's all that Age of Aquarius bollocks you were spouting earlier, eh?"

There was one bit I didn't get, the part where Ray does something to the table in the caravan:

"Sure thing, was she?" Doyle asked, as doubtfully as he could, eying the table. He seemed to remember from somewhere… Refusing to listen to Bodie's mournful description of Rowena's assets, he slid his hands along one side, found the catch and…

"Et voila!" he announced, "La pied-à-terre!"

I didn't get what happened there, but maybe I'm just not familiar enough with these kind of vehicles.

Overall, a wonderful read. Thanks so much for it!

[(Anonymous)]

Wow Slanted Light! This is a great read, you so know the power of words and have a great feeling and sensitivity for natural forces, as your user names suggests! I can feel the wind, shiver at the cold and feel the rain in your words. I also love what shooting2kill said above – using words out of the usual context – makes them gosh, so much more powerful! But on with the story! Loved it from the very first scene, all their words are so them, you have them all spot on!

"Sorry sir, was…" Bodie paused, raised his hands to straighten his tie, "… well, delayed."

I can see this so clearly!

"Ach Doyle, if I knew I would have said so!" Doyle could hear the frustration in Cowley's voice, could imagine his fist clenched white around the receiver.

I can hear this so clearly!

And I could go on but I would end up quoting the entire story here so I’d best stop!

Love B smacking D’s bottom, and the intrigue behind their relationship, felt very natural. I really like that it wasn’t spelt out for us but builds up a slowly evolving picture. It’s a keeper, this! *G*

Oh and can I just say I have high hopes that you will write a hugely long story next! Please say you have one on the cards for next year and I walk away an even happier lass…

MB x

[blackmushroom.livejournal.com]

Wonderful story for a wonderful night. Winter solstice, cold, melancholic, lethargic, poetic... and so intense and full of life at the same time. Superb scenario. I love Ray’s thoughts and reactions and the way you let us discover the moment in their relationship. I’ve always imagined them getting together very soon: explosive sexual chemistry from the beginning. (I must confess feeling a bit upset at the beginning of your story: De Longford, the bad girl, member of the Animal Freedom Organization. But pleeeease we are good people! ;)
And yes! Bodie’s red toenails. Liked sex too, on such a cold night...
Thank you. Big warm hugs ;D

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was lovely. The story was such fun! I loved the hippy vibe to it, or rather, "the Age of Aquarius bollocks" as Bodie so aptly calls it. *g* It made me very nostalgic for that part of my sevenites life in England.
I liked the way you played around with the early days of their partnership - Will they? Won't they? Have they? So many scenarios, so little time!
Like others, the still moment together at sunset is a standout. And I *love* the way you write a sex-scene. Dreamy, not so graphic, yet HOT, and totally convincing. That "together" moment, when they pause and Doyle realises what he feels? Wow. Just perfect.

Long may you stay in the dark if this is what it does to you..*g*

[izzie7.livejournal.com]

Beautiful writing - very vivid, easy to see as an episode, and great atmosphere. Like callistosh65, it takes me back to the days when you could still walk among the stones, instead of viewing them from behind the wire.

I loved the tantalising hints you dropped about the start of their relationship, both professional and personal, and the action was great too.

[elizabethoshea.livejournal.com]

Well, this was worth rushing back to my computer for *g*. Lovely story (and I'm both awestruck and horribly jealous that you can write something so good so quickly - how?!). As others have said, I love the way you've mixed the romance in with a proper episode-like plot (not to mention some really fun incidental characters). And the way you keep us guessing about the fact that they've already had sex until well into the story. And the prickly, early-partnership relationship where it's still obvious to us (and occasionally to Doyle *g*) that they really can't help being in sync with each other even when they fight it. Well and - obviously *g* - the ending. Perfect alignment. Absolutely. Thank you!

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

Very good games indeed! Just a lovely story. A good mix of case and character stuff.

I really liked the subtlety of the scene in the caravan where Ray is leaning against the wall, licking his lips and completely oblivious about all the signals he's sending to Bodie. There was a nice tension there between them, and a gradual revelation of what it was all about.

I don't think you really resolved things in the end with regards to their relationship, but considering this seems to be early in their partnership, I think that's just right.

And your writing was wonderfully evocative, as well. Thank you!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! I shall keep that one to re-read. The perfect solstice fic. I am so jealous - I write, but I never write Pros because I can't think of an episode. You do it so well, and I absolutely love fics that are like new episodes. Well, in my head they are new episodes. Thank you! :)
(especially for the toe nails!!! )