Take Clothes Off As Directed by Helen. Stargate Atlantis, Sheppard/McKay. I was on a panel about BDSM at a small con, and since I had no idea what I was doing, I spent a lot of my social time before the panel talking to other attendees about it. The night before the panel, someone asked me if I'd read this story. I hadn't, so I looked it up when I got home at 2am. As far as I know, this is the first story out there that used D/s AU to talk about gender. I think this is a foundational story for discussing how fandom specifically handles kinks and the way fandoms create and spread their own kinks and kink tropes that don't exist anywhere else. It's the ancestor of all the dystopian D/s AUs that came after, and the spiritual predecessor of more recent omegaverse stories that are dystopian. And it's a perfect example of how to create a world that's critical of entrenched power dynamics but uses those same dynamics as erotic and/or romantic fuel.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized by the_ragnarok. Inception, Arthur/Eames, different enough AU to be easily read by people outside that fandom. This is one of those spiritual successors I was talking about. An A/B/O story in which a lot of the conflict is powered by the protagonist struggling against designationism (aka sexism), but the author also eroticizes the animalistic aspects of heat and power exchange during sex. One of the things that comes out of these AU tropes are stories that kink on gendered power dynamics but at enough of a remove from reality that people who are uncomfortable with enjoying gendered play in real life can still enjoy it.
In Perfect Trust by mijan. Star Trek AOS, Kirk/McCoy. A wonderful example of characters doing good BDSM in fic. The author specifically set out to write something realistic, in which the characters end up doing well-negotiated play, and it shows. The main activities in this story are sounding and needle play and I made it through the whole thing even though I'm profoundly squicked by needles, and was even more so years ago when I first read this (I've been doing some accidental exposure therapy and I can now watch people do needle play without feeling faint).
Reprimand by severinne, Star Trek AOS, Pike/McCoy. Punishment roleplay and dirty talk. This fic stuck with me because when I read it I was just figuring out that I liked dirty talk.
Flesh Beneath by Isagel. Avengers, Natasha/Steve. It's hard to pick just one Isagel story but if there's only one, this would be it. This fic really *gets it* with Natasha's POV as a dom, the care she takes and the worries of causing harm and what she gets out of it. Mainly knife play.
Nasty by ewinfic. RPF, Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto. This story got me to understand the appeal of enemas as a kink.
Sickness and Shame by recrudescence. Inception, Arthur/Eames. The story that made me realize that I love humiliation kink even though I always thought I'd hate it because I can't stand embarrassment.
Life of Crime by neveralarch. Hawkeye comics, Clint/Natasha, Clint/Bucky, Clint/Carol. Supervillain AU with quite a bit of plot and also Clint being unapologetically a masochist and bloodplay.
the understood boundaries of self by strgyza. Inception, Arthur/Eames. Having to fake a D/s relationship for an undercover job or con is one of my favorite tropes ever and I can't deny it.
no subject
Stark, A.E., and Banner, R. Bruce. (2013). "Biodosimetric Tools for Measuring Induced Isomeric Transition in Inverted Paired States." International Journal of Radiation Biology 89.9, 43-85. by thingswithwings. Avengers, Bruce/Tony
Since someone already recced "monster," which is probably my favorite fic of theirs. This is a much more lighthearted, joyful story about size kink and "we have to do it because SCIENCE" which is a trope I love.
Take Clothes Off As Directed by Helen. Stargate Atlantis, Sheppard/McKay.
I was on a panel about BDSM at a small con, and since I had no idea what I was doing, I spent a lot of my social time before the panel talking to other attendees about it. The night before the panel, someone asked me if I'd read this story. I hadn't, so I looked it up when I got home at 2am. As far as I know, this is the first story out there that used D/s AU to talk about gender. I think this is a foundational story for discussing how fandom specifically handles kinks and the way fandoms create and spread their own kinks and kink tropes that don't exist anywhere else. It's the ancestor of all the dystopian D/s AUs that came after, and the spiritual predecessor of more recent omegaverse stories that are dystopian. And it's a perfect example of how to create a world that's critical of entrenched power dynamics but uses those same dynamics as erotic and/or romantic fuel.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized by the_ragnarok. Inception, Arthur/Eames, different enough AU to be easily read by people outside that fandom.
This is one of those spiritual successors I was talking about. An A/B/O story in which a lot of the conflict is powered by the protagonist struggling against designationism (aka sexism), but the author also eroticizes the animalistic aspects of heat and power exchange during sex. One of the things that comes out of these AU tropes are stories that kink on gendered power dynamics but at enough of a remove from reality that people who are uncomfortable with enjoying gendered play in real life can still enjoy it.
In Perfect Trust by mijan. Star Trek AOS, Kirk/McCoy.
A wonderful example of characters doing good BDSM in fic. The author specifically set out to write something realistic, in which the characters end up doing well-negotiated play, and it shows. The main activities in this story are sounding and needle play and I made it through the whole thing even though I'm profoundly squicked by needles, and was even more so years ago when I first read this (I've been doing some accidental exposure therapy and I can now watch people do needle play without feeling faint).
Reprimand by severinne, Star Trek AOS, Pike/McCoy.
Punishment roleplay and dirty talk. This fic stuck with me because when I read it I was just figuring out that I liked dirty talk.
Flesh Beneath by Isagel. Avengers, Natasha/Steve.
It's hard to pick just one Isagel story but if there's only one, this would be it. This fic really *gets it* with Natasha's POV as a dom, the care she takes and the worries of causing harm and what she gets out of it. Mainly knife play.
Nasty by ewinfic. RPF, Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto.
This story got me to understand the appeal of enemas as a kink.
Sickness and Shame by recrudescence. Inception, Arthur/Eames.
The story that made me realize that I love humiliation kink even though I always thought I'd hate it because I can't stand embarrassment.
Life of Crime by neveralarch. Hawkeye comics, Clint/Natasha, Clint/Bucky, Clint/Carol.
Supervillain AU with quite a bit of plot and also Clint being unapologetically a masochist and bloodplay.
the understood boundaries of self by strgyza. Inception, Arthur/Eames.
Having to fake a D/s relationship for an undercover job or con is one of my favorite tropes ever and I can't deny it.