This weekend is our community’s annibirthday (6 years since we started out on LJ) and it’s the tenth birthday of the MCU (Iron Man was released in May 2008)! To celebrate we’re having a good old fashioned nostalgic REC-A-THON.

How It Works: You can pick and choose from the handy meme format below, or use all of it, or just get commenting with recs of ALL THINGS MARVEL. Rec your favourite Clint/Natasha and Clint & Natasha works, branch out and rec things that focus on other characters, pairings, and teams in the MCU, or go really wild and even rec things from the comics. It's party time and everyone's invited!

This is a spoiler free zone so NO INFINITY WAR recs, mentions, or anything. We are here for the last ten years of Marvel and a mountain of nostalgia :)

Copy and paste for suggestions on getting started:

<b>Gateway Drug</b> - rec one of the first Marvel fanfics you can remember reading: <b>Golden Oldie</b> - rec something from phase one/two/three: <b>Master Assassins</b> - go on, rec some Clint/Nat or Clint & Nat: <b>Marvel Rec</b> - branch out and rec from any Marvel film, tv show,comic, crossover… any characters or pairing: <b>Recs for your favourite tropes/tags</b> - team family, road trip, fake married, first times... : <b>AU Rec</b> - rec something alternate: <b>Rec something that ISN'T fic</b> - art, fanvid, playlist, graphic, collage, cosplay, knitting pattern… : <b>Self-rec</b> - something that you’ve written/created: <b>Rec search</b> - describe a fic that you can't quite remember or something that you’d really like to read and someone else can comment with recs for you!



Things to remember:
1) Nothing Infinity War. At all.
2) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
3) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
4) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
5) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

Hello honorable comrades, and welcome to the latest All the Things Friday! I'll be your host this week, sort of. More on that in a minute. If you want to be a host for a future ATTF, go to this page and check out the info!

Firstly, credit to inkvoices and workerbee73, who masterminded the ATTF I'm mostly copy-pasting for this one. They ran a really successful and super fun Friday a few years back, so here's to hoping that spirit will return, and shower us with loads of great fanworks, just in time to procrastinate all out holiday exchange fics :))) not that I'm speaking personally or anything, and/or cushion the blow of November holidays with relatives. One would hope.

There are three parts to this ATTF challenge/game. If you'd like to participate, you can choose any or all of the options, or just sit back and glut! :D

1. Rec a fanwork (fic, art, podfic, graphics, mural graffitied on a wall in town, etc.) by a fandom newcomer, or just an underappreciated work that you feel deserves some love.

2) Tell us the first thing that you wrote/made in this fandom. How did you get into it, what was the inspiration, was it hard to do? What do you think about it now, either in content or composition? Tell the story of your story! Link if you're brave enough :D

3) Rec something you wrote/made in this fandom that you’re most proud of, or that’s your favourite.

Discussion Ideas: How have your thinky thoughts or creative leanings changed since that first thing you wrote/made? How far have we come since the film was released? What is it about the shiny new things coming through that are different, that have changed your thinking?

We've had a few good recs and discussions on this community lately, but with the way the movies, comics, and, basically, 2016, I think it'll do us some good to harken back to the golden days. Maybe it'll give us some inspiration for the future. <3

What are your three things for this Friday?


And a few things to keep in mind:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment has is graphic/images/gif heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

Hello all and welcome to this week's all the things friday's EPIC REC PARTY!

Read a good fanfic lately that you'd like to share or some old favourites? Looking for specific fics or just a general genre you're in the mood for? Watched a great fanvid, seen some gorgeous art, laughed at something on tumblr, found a great gif? Podfics, playlists, icons, all the things? Looking for any of those? SEARCHES AND SHARING OF ALL THE THINGS WELCOME.

Feel free to rec and request things from the wider Marvel universe as well as things featuring Clint and/or Natasha. And if you end up chatting with people about things non-Marvel *gasp* feel free to rec each other books and films and tv shows and other things as well. To keep things easy to spot just please put something in your comment's subject line to indicate the content.

And: this comm is no longer a spoiler-free zone for Civil War so Civil War recs and searches are also welcome.

Bring on the party!






Reminder: you can sign up to host ATTF or suggest ATTF ideas HERE. We're looking for hosts and ideas for June and July :)

Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

We’ve all seen them, those blow-uppy action movies.  The kind that ends (or middles, because the very last thing is usually a fist fight) with 57 smashed-up vehicles littering the flyover and the streets below, including a school bus, a Greyhound, a semi-truck with a Humpty Dumpty logo and at least six police cars?  Or the ones with a shootout that leaves seventeen black-clad bodies in a suburban shopping mall, or on the steps of a tourist-rich national monument?  You have?  Thought so.

Now, have you ever left the theatre wondering what people's paperwork would look like, after something like that?  For the agents, who just killed in the line of duty (seventeen times!!  with a letter opener!) or even merely discharged their firearms in public repeatedly?  Or for Nora from Accounting, who has to write off the flying car and reimburse Barton for the vintage Springsteen t-shirt with the bullet holes (“Why can’t that headcase just wear the SHIELD standard issue black Under Armour, like everybody else”)?  Or for Maria Hill ("Banner did WHAT?  At Tiffany's??")

At some point, reality will (or should) come crashing down on heroes with a vengeance – and bless Marvel for bringing us the occasional congressional hearing to make that point.  The paperwork will be as epic as the battles.  And organizations like SHIELD probably don’t self-administrate, either.   This is where today’s topic comes in!

Let’s have your snippets of head canon, your prompts and your ficlets, your recs and your self-recs:  Assassins and Administration!

Some samples/mini promots to get your creative juices flowing, and to unlock the memory banks for those recs:

• Who rents (and services) the safe houses in which Clint and Natasha stitch up their wounds and advance their relationship, in places like Astana, Quito and Milton Keynes?

• Did Fury sign a death certificate for Coulson?  What did he put on it?

• Does SHIELD have a pension plan?

• What did the write-up look like for the lie detector test that Natasha beat?  Or the one Maria Hill took at Stark Industries?

• Can you imagine Hawkeye trying to fill in the expense claim after that mission in New Mexico?  (“You’re claiming meal allowances for how many days, Barton?  You weren’t exactly working for SHIELD the last three, plus your report said you weren’t even fed!”)

 I think you get the idea.

So here's a rec:

“Permit A38” by old_chatterhand (General, no warnings apply):  Phil Coulson died.  And then he got better. The story of the agent who had to deal with the paperwork.  Not a Clint/Natasha story, really, but the gold standard for the bureaucrat’s POV.

And a self rec (sorry, but I want you to feel that that's okay, because you know best what you may have done that fits the bill):

“AfterMath” (T, no warnings apply):  Based on the Promptathon prompts ““Clint and Natasha doing the inevitable paperwork after an assignment is over” and “… bribing each other with the most outrageous things to get the other to do all of the paperwork.”
Ready, set – go!

And don’t forget these essentials:

Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)
 

Welcome to a requested special recs edtion of All The Things Friday! Buckle up, members of the bar, because for this ATTF only we're venturing out into the wider Marvel universe.



We're always happy to have Clint and Natasha recs here at be_compromised even for things that aren't necessarily Clint/Natasha, if they have a focus on at least one of them, or showcase them particularly well, or if there's a fantastic group thing, we love 'em. We even have tags for them! But sometimes we come across a group fic that isn't really about them at all, or a Kate as Hawkeye rec that we'd really like to share, or another awesome female character we think how great it is that we've found something that treats ladies well, or a story about how Thor isn't a moron he's just alien, or a character that isn't even part of the Avengers but the rec is just so, so good... Well now's your chance to share with the bar!

Guidelines

1. If it features characters from Marvel, you can rec it! Go!

2. I know this is business as usually for our bar, but considering the topic just to reiterate: absolutely no chacater bashing, ship wars, or rubbish like that. We're here to share the love. Sometimes fics have pairings that people don't like, or have other things that aren't a reader's cup of tea, but we're going outside of our common territory of Clint and Natasha here so there's likely to be something that isn't someone else's cup of tea. It there's something you don't like, no need to comment on it; move on. Sharing the love. Thank you :)

Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

Not too long ago my family was sitting around watching “The Avengers” (because who doesn’t do that on occasion because REASONS) when a Clint/Natasha moment came onscreen. I don’t even remember which one it was, but I do remember my stepdad calming announcing to the room, “They have a history. You can tell.” His tone making it very clear what kind of history our favorite assassin pair has.

So if the 70-year-old retired schoolteacher can intuit Clint and Natasha’s relationship based solely on the canon that is “The Avengers”, what do the people who live and operate in said assassins’ universe think? What about people who see them only once in a while? Other superheroes? Average folks? SHIELD agents? Submit your recs – all types welcome!

To help things along, I provide the following:

The Doctor Is In: http://archiveofourown.org/works/468481 (all Avenger’s POV)
Hurry Up and Wait: http://archiveofourown.org/works/685824 (Steve’s POV)
The Skies Over Manhattan: http://archiveofourown.org/works/574373 (Steve’s POV)
[Title in Russian]: http://archiveofourown.org/works/571642 (Loki POV)
Of Languages: http://archiveofourown.org/works/410746 (all Avenger’s POV)
Looking for You (Or Anyone Like You): http://archiveofourown.org/works/458311 (Pepper POV)
Snapshots: http://archiveofourown.org/works/308916 (surveillance techs watch all of the Avengers, Clint and Natasha included)

(I'm posting from my phone because I'm at work. Hopefully it works!)

Hey there, dearest members of the Bar of Bars!  I took the day off to do some writing (!), and now that I finished cleaning up the mess the enormous, fat raccoon that lives down the lane made of our garbage last night (yes, the can WAS secured ...) I thought I’d post today’s issue a bit early.  Here’s hoping this will give our friends on other continents than the one I'm on a sporting chance to play while it’s still Friday there, too!

Right.  Topic.

We just had another great Promptathon – but I just know that your creativity hasn’t been exhausted yet.  Far from it!  So I thought we could tap into it once more.  Like this:

We’ve all been squeeing over glimpses of That Necklace in the stills from Cap2, the trailers for Thor2, and wondering what the MCU future holds for Hawkeye and Black Widow.  If you’re anything like me, you’re hoping for a cameo, a post-credit clip, or a little snippet of script that might put some wind into the sails of our 'ship.  Or you’re just a wee bit ticked off concerned that there is still no sign of the Hawkeye/Black Widow movie they should be making, instead of in addition to the ones that are in the pipeline.

So here’s your challenge:

Give us your pitch, write up your script outline, your single-scene story board, your trailer – for the cameo, the one-minute clip, the extra-feature short, or the whole Big Damn Movie you’d like to see, starring our favourite assassins and their assorted BAMFy friends. 

If you’re muse is on vaca today, there are some fantastically talented artists and vidders out there who’ve already done movie posters, clips and trailers – so rec away!

Just to get you going -- a while ago, sunny_serenity posted this lovely piece of inspiration:




Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

And … remember to have fun!!!

Hi all! This weeks All The Things Friday theme is Hidden Gems.

Those new shiny diamonds that have only just been uncovered. The lost or misplaced jewels, the ones discovered in the attic or at a car boot sale. The precious stones that may have been overlooked when in a treasure room full of precious things.

Rec us fics and vids and graphics and ALL THE THINGS that you feel are new and haven't received much attention, that are difficult to find, that were buried within events, fests, big bangs, or onslaughts of other great things and so perhaps have been discovered by less people than they ought to have been. Bring us the things that we haven't seen, that few of us have seen, that you really think we should see! BRING US THE SHINY.



Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

Want to host an ATTF or suggest a theme for one?
GO HERE!

Hi, everyone, I’m your host for this week’s ATTF. :)

This week, I’d love to talk about Clint and Natasha’s run-ins with law enforcement agencies. After all, SHIELD isn’t the only agency out there, and as powerful as they are, there are probably times when working with other agencies is a necessary evil (CIA, FBI, ATF, INTERPOL, etc).

Of course, let’s not forget that Clint and Nat may have had run-ins with government agencies *before* joining SHIELD. They might very well have been on any number of watch lists and “Most Wanted” lists, and they might have run afoul of local law enforcement in various countries. I assume that SHIELD probably expunged their records, but there may still be people out there who would recognize the names of “Hawkeye,” and “The Black Widow,” and wouldn’t think of them as the good guys. (There may also be those who simply don’t approve of assassins, government sanctioned or not.)

And that only covers canon compliant possibilities. :) Imagine all of the crossover potential with crime shows (a number of which are, coincidentally, set in New York). And there are so many great AU possibilities as well.

So, I’m throwing the door wide open this week. :) Feel free to chat about all things Clint, Nat, and law-enforcement related - discuss, write fics, rec them, or post prompts.

Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

To start things off, a question and a prompt:

Question: How do you think Clint and Nat would be viewed by other agencies? They have SHIELD’s respect, but if someone from another agency knew even just the barest outline of their histories, would they be suspicious? Wary? Angry that they’re working on the government’s dime, instead of locked up somewhere?

Prompt: “This is a warrant for your arrest.”

Welcome to this week's FRIDAY GUEST POST! IT IS ALL ABOUT NATASHA, ALL THE TIME! (Sometimes I think that our lovely community focuses more on Jeremy Renner and that our love for him overshadows the devastatingly beautiful Scarlet.)

PART ONE

With the Valentines Prompt-a-thon going on right now, I thought I'd help everyone's imagination by making a picspam of some of my favourite photoshoots of our dear Natasha. It's a bit pic-heavy and so not friendly to slow connections (although I've done my best to optimize the images).

( SCARLET PICSPAM )

PART TWO

Some of my favourite fics deal with three things:
1. checking in with a partner/asking permission/enthusiastic consent
2. the male worshipping the female/determined to prioritize her pleasure
3. male on female oral sex (aka cunnilingus)

Here are a few fic recs that follow on this 'Clint worships Natasha's body'-theme.

WARNING: ALL FICS HAVE AN NC-17 RATING FOR EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT

( cut for length )

Hopefully this post helps your plot bunnies take over, just in time for filling all those prompts!

If you have any of your own favourite pictures of Scarlet or fics where Clint is focused on her pleasure, PLEASE post them in the comments!!!!!

Welcome to another All The Things Friday! Your co-hosts this week are inkvoices and workerbee73.

First off, a note to say we have a thread at the top of this post for signing up to host, co-host, and/or to suggest themes for future All The Things Fridays. At the moment we have jacedesbff for February 1st and noblealice for February 8th (not sure what topics you folks are going with?) so raise your hands and bring your ideas :D

The theme for today, though, is a three part rec extravaganza. You can do one, two, or all three, or just join in the chatter!

1) rec a newcomer’s or underappreciated story (or artwork, or creative work) that you feel deserves some love.

2) tell us the first thing that you wrote/made in this fandom. (We’re thinking of doing a list of people’s first works that newcomers can add to, kind of a first time not-necessarily-rec list thing, so we can use these to kick off that list. You can tell us your first thing and then tell us that you don’t want it on the list though if you like.)

3) rec something you wrote/made in this fandom that you’re most proud of, or that’s your favourite.

Discussion Ideas: how have your thinky thoughts or creative leanings changed since that first thing you wrote/made? How far have we come since the film was released? What is it about the shiny new things coming through that are different, that have changed your thinking?

( my three things behind the cut )

What’re your three things for this Friday?


And a few things to keep in mind:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment has is graphic/images/gif heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

*koff*   *koff*

Um, is this thing on? *taps mike on the kareoke stage*

*SQUEAL!*   Ooops, sorry! Guess it is!

Hello, everybody! Welcome to the first All Things Friday hosted by Me - Vanessa, AKA TaleWeaver. I hope the time zone thing hasn't confused everyone? It's Friday evening down here in Australia, anyway. Is everyone feeling the love in this bar tonight?

*roar rattles the windows*

Wow, we've got a ton of great people around here! But then, we all know this is the very best bar!

Anyway, tonight's topic... well, it's pretty obviously inspired by the awesome Secret Santa that's been running around here. (hey, I think Koren M's still got a few presents left to hand out, even!) And it is still technically the twelve days of Christmas, so today's topic is....

What kind of things do they give each other?
Ranging from the practical, to the sentimental (for them), to the stuff that makes Coulson facepalm once he’s out of sight behind a closed door.

What occasions are gifts given for?
Do they get hustled into the Helicarrier Secret Santa (where everyone dreads getting Nick Fury, because they always wind up getting him something black)? Do they get each other birthday presents, or to celebrate the anniversary of the day they met / their first mission together / first kissed / XXX / 50th time one of them saved the other's life / admitted in public they were married? Or is their gift giving of the sporadic but constant 'I was hiding out from a hit squad in Paris, found this in a little shop on the Left Bank, thought you'd like it' variety?

Have they ever done the 'couple' thing and joined forces to give a present to someone else?
Maybe Coulson found a wheelchair with 'Agent on Board' on the back and holsters for guns, coffee and paperwork along the sides waiting for him once he was out of MedBay for that nasty stab wound? Has Colonel Fury found an anonymous package on his desk, and opened it to find a collection of eyepatches decorated according to holiday themes? (ie a heart for Valentine's Day, a four-leaf clover for St Patrick's Day, a skull and crossbones for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and so on). Did Tony get a box of pamphlets for erectile dysfunction aides the first April Fool's Day after Natalie Rushman started working for him? Or did a former head of the KGB get a rocket-launched grenade down his chimney on the anniversary of the day Nat escaped the Red Room?

Heck, you could even write / rec something about how difficult they are to shop for!

perspective: a science in optics. a technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface. the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship. a way of regarding situations, facts, etc, and judging their relative importance.

this is your All the Things Friday post.

so technically the SHIELD pool on the are they/aren't they won the poll but that may be a subject matter a bit too narrow. i'm widening it to mean Third Person POV because REASONS. it's easy to dissect and study, to break down seemingly insignificant components to their basest of parts with a detachment. the outside view of what is gives scope and understanding to the overall picture, broad strokes that set the canvas. but, every once in a while, you pick up on a tiny little detail that is of the utmost substance. be it gesture, a meaningful look, a pregnant pause, degrees of separation or the rhythms of movement. they all become the basis of supposition. we form a hypothesis. we speak in conjecture. we dissect the minutia. we assume. we invest. it's a feeling we're all familiar with and you're totally lying if you claim to have never formed an opinion on things. everyone does. it's part of our nature. we like to discuss things that fascinate and capture us.

it gets much more involved when we find like minded people who hold the same beliefs that we do. it evolves into a fever pitch of imagination where we surmise and speculate. often times it devolves into a betting pool just so the victor can gloat in their correctness. this is what i want from you: i want you to deduce, theorise, posit, judge, infer, presume and ascertain various and sundry scenarios of how others view the super sexy spies and their relationship. i want coulson's thought process of forming this team and why he thought this would work. i want nick fury storming around the helicarrier yelling, 'THIS IS WHY WE HAVE FRAT REGS!'. i want maria hill split on odds and giving herself a fifty/fifty chance of winning the pot. i want galaga guy betting on clint to break first. i want thor admiring comrades in arms. i want steve filing everyone out of the room so they can 'talk' about what happened in the field. i want bruce begrudging their intimacy because he misses betty so much. i want tony seeking advice on 'how do you make her NOT mad at you?'. i want erik playing the should be wisened relationship expert, emphasis on the 'should be'. i want pepper scheduling an enforced decontamination scenario because obviously an intervention needs to take place. i want darcy throwing up her hands in frustration and yelling, 'OMG YOU LOVE EACH OTHER! STOP BEING STUPID AND CAN WE PLEASE HAVE CAKE NOW?'

in short bless this comm with all your 3rd Person POVs, please? GO FORTH. ASK FOR HELP COMPLETING YOUR THIRD PERSON PERSPECTIVE. WRITE. DISCUSS. PROMPT. REC. BE AWESOME!


( here are some recs )

So a little over a month ago we discussed fanon clichés and why we love them. Some were fandom-wide favourites, others were new to many shippers but embraced just the same! So there is no denying that there seem to be some general themes among the general Clint/Natasha shipper's headcanon.

This Friday, I say we flex our imaginations and writing muscles and jot down a drabble that has Clint/Natasha going AGAINST the popular fanon consensus. (OPPOSITE DAY!)

Now, I don't mean AU fics, please keep their characterization and background the same, because obviously some things are set in stone. But it would be a neat way to challenge yourself while still exploring these characters and their relationship, because sometimes using fanon clichés is a a bit of a short-cut.

( EXAMPLES & A LIST FROM THE PREVIOUS CLICHÉ POST )

So I encourage you to pick a cliché from the list (or think of your own, perhaps a pattern you've noticed in a bunch of fic) and then TURN IT ON IT'S HEAD. NOTE: this is not an attempt to shame or harsh the squee of people who love or have written fic using the clichés above (hell, I'm guilty of both!) so please NO BASHING. This is meant to be a FUN CHALLENGE and I hope everyone in this bar enjoys it!

Please write your title, cliché, rating and any warnings at the top of the comment (or in the subject line if applicable) IN BOLD FONT. Try and post the entire work in the comment (if it's short enough), or if not, post a link. Multiple people can take on the same cliché.

Welcome to another All The Things Friday! Popular culture is usually something that people discuss in terms of Steve or Thor, specifically their lack of recent pop culture knowledge, but I find it interesting that when it comes to Clint and Natasha every fic I’ve read seems to have a different take.

For example, there are fics where the Avengers have film nights and Natasha doesn’t recognise the films, or she likes black and white movies, or she likes to correct the moves in martial arts films, or she likes musicals, or… When it comes to Clint and music we’ve had great discussions over what music he likes and if he can play the guitar, but then sometimes Natasha recognises the music, sometimes she doesn’t, sometimes she likes it, and sometimes she prefers classical. And so on.

What books, films, television shows, music, etc. do you think our Master Assassins like? Does Natasha like American pop culture, Russian pop culture, or hate pop culture, or hate aspects of pop culture? Was she familiar with American pop culture from her early training, or did she miss out as a kid and she doesn’t care, or she missed out and Clint teaches her? Is she more international in her pop culture tastes? Does she even see the point of pop culture?

What about Clint? If there’s any pattern that I’ve seen it’s that Clint is the more knowledgeable of the two about American pop culture at least, but at the same time SHIELD is often depicted as sending him all over the globe. Has he picked up on international pop culture himself? Has he missed out on pop culture whilst he’s been busy at SHIELD or whilst he may have been out of the country in the Armed Forces or what have you in the past? Does he care about pop culture, or not care, or care about some aspects in particular?

I have a lot of questions, folks, and no answers, just lots of ideas, because I love that all of these and more can be true considering the little that we know about Clint and Natasha from the films. So bring your thinky thoughts, your recs of creative things in which pop culture is a thing, your graphics, new fics or fic ideas, all of the things! Or just grab a drink, settle in, and have a happy Friday :D

Huzzah! We made it to the end of another week. Today we're going to discuss all things AU (alternate universe fics/fanwork), so please share with us:

1.  Your favorite AU fic/fanart, etc.
2.  Ideas for new AU's or comment fic (what would you love to see written? what inspires you?)
3.  Discussion topics: Why think outside the box when it comes to fanwork? What are the benefits of AU's? If you love them, why?

As always, polite anarchy reigns supreme. And above all, this bar is for fun, so make sure you have some. :)

A note on definitions: When I speak of AU, I'm really thinking of a pure AU, as in, a story that exists completely outside the established canon structure (ie, Clint and Natasha as veterinarians, Clint and Natasha hunt vampires, Clint and Natasha in the 18th century, etc.) If a story could plausibly exist within the canon world (is, Clint and Natasha are SHIELD agents or backstory thereto) I don't really think of it so much as AU. I also don't think of butterfly effect stories (ie, "what if we changed one thing in canon and then retold the whole story?") as pure AU's, and I distinguish AU's from crossovers with existing characters in other fandoms. We can discuss both of these categories at a later date; for now, let's try and stick with pure AU's.

Happy Friday, y'all. :)

Welcome to another edition of "ZOMG We Made it to the End of Another Week Hallelujah Amen We Should Really Do Something to Celebrate whether in Squee, Rec or Meta Form" Friday. (Admittedly, we're still working out the title issues-- a poll might need to be involved.)

Last week, we did UST recs and comment fics. This week we are talking fanon cliches (ie, Natasha + vodka, Clint + bourbon/whisky, Clint in the air ducts, Hawkeye + nest jokes, "I'm too old for you!", Natasha's love of tea, Natasha and books, sparring as substitute for making out,etc.) What are your favorites? Got any recs? Share them with the class! (And mucho thanks to _samalander for coming up with this excellent idea!)

Oh-- also? **puts on mod hat for a sec**

A word to the wise: We love cliches around here. Nothing but love. So no bashing, m'kay? Everything (and everyone) should have a sense of humor, and this post is to celebrate those things we see in fic and fanwork that we love and enjoy, that make us giggle or grin, that have worked their way into the fanon consciousness at large. There's always room for discussion and debate and glorious thinky thoughts, but keep it positive and affirming, in the spirit of polite anarchy that reigns over this bar.

**takes off hat**

All right then. Go forth and play. And a very happy Friday, y'all. :)

Welcome back to fanwork Fridays! This week we are all about the UST. We're also switching it up a bit and inviting you to bring the following:

(1)  Any and all fic/fanwork recs featuring assassins + UST. It's always much appreciated when you can drop us a line and tell us why you love that particular work. Remember: sharing is caring. :)

(2)  Any comment fic (or new fic linked here via comment) featuring assassins + UST. It's a little bit like incorporating the informal/impromptu kissing!fic meme but with a different topic. So if inspiration strikes, we'd love for you to share.

(3)  Meta/thoughts regarding the aforementioned assassins + UST. Got something to say on this topic? Let us know! Start a discussion with your fellow bar patrons (Said discussions are guaranteed to lead to more thoughts and feels and fic 99.9% of the time. They've done studies.)

#2 and 3 came out of our suggestion post last week, so we're going to experiement with that and see if it works. So go forth! Have fun! And congratulations on making it through another week.  <3

Actually, it's an entire series. Aggie2011 has created a stunning universe with five multi-chapter stories and two one-shots. (She posted the first chapter in her sixth multi-chapter fic this morning.) It's a Clint-centric series in which Coulson is his best friend/big brother/father-figure, Natasha and Clint develop a deep, intense, healthy relationship, Clint and Tony become bffs, and all of the Avengers make an appearance. The entire series is beautifully written. There are a few editing errors, but they're negligible.

The author actually finishes writing her multi-chapter fic before she posts them and then posts a new chapter every morning until it's all up, so there are no delays in getting new chapters, which is beyond fabulous. :-)

- If you want to start with the first written, the fic set immediately post-film is Vantage Point.
- If you want to read them chronologically, the first story is Youngest in History, about how Coulson recruited Clint into S.H.I.E.L.D. and the two of them became friends. (No slash - just the world's best bromance ever.)
- If you want to test things out with something a little shorter, Arrow Man is a one-shot about the time that The Hulk gets all protective of Clint when Steve accidentally wings Clint during a sparring match. Clint then helps Bruce see the incident from a different perspective. It's awesome. :-)

If you go to the author's FF.net page, everything she's written is of course there, but the author also lists the titles, with summaries, of the other stories she is planning to write in this universe, in chronological order with everything she has already written. It's the icing on top of a yummy, delicious fic-cake. :D

Hey, it's Friday, so it's the day to share, and seriously, I'm running out of positive, hyperbolic adjectives. :-) The individual stories and the series as a whole are something special. :D And I love to share the fic love, b/c I love all the people in this bar and know how much they love the AWESOME! Have a great weekend!