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hc_bingo's challenge in March was to assemble a 15 item rec list based on any of three assigned prompts.My prompts are: PTSD, forgiveness, and food poisoning
Since I have no interest in reading about food poisoning, all the stories below the cut feature either PTSD or forgiveness, and are all across the board ratings-wise. Given that PTSD is a prompt, expect to also encounter anything that could be bundled into PTSD including (but not limited to) nightmares, self-harm, suicidal ideation, self-esteem issues, panic attacks, and death.
Fandoms are Daredevil (TV) (including crossovers with the MCU), Forever, Highlander: the Series, and Shazam!
forgiveness
Daredevil (TV)
- Amends -
igrockspock - Gen - 2212 words
Claire told Matt he shouldn’t put so much distance between himself and the people he’s trying to save. She was right. Matt tries to make amends with the people he hurt in season two.
A collection of much-needed missing scenes of Matt apologizing to his friends for the way he treated them. All the choices are believably in-character, because it's all about action rather than the much-more-common-in-fandom approach of having the character grovel. - Can't We Trust Again -
Matt and Karen try to figure out the balance between honesty and boundaries between a vigilante and a reporter. But neither of them is very objective because they're both totally in love.
In an effort to rebuild their relationship, Karen tries to get Matt to agree to be as open with her as she has no choice but to be with him. Their negotiation of what it means to trust someone and how to maintain boundaries in the wake of a major betrayal of trust is very in character and highlights some of the difficulties in determining whether, and if, to forgive someone who has lied to you about who they are. - The Ghosts of Matthew Murdock -
In Foggy’s experience, weird shit only happens to you on Halloween if you go looking for it. But apparently just having known Matt Murdock is close enough to “looking for it” to count, so he’ll have to roll with the punches. Meeting three different, equally troubled versions of your dead best friend is a really shitty thing to have to roll with, though.
Set post-Defenders, Foggy encounters ghosts from three different points in Matt's life as he attempts to come to terms with Matt's death. While it sounds like a "Christmas Carol" type setup, the story isn't about punishing Foggy or trying to get him to understand the error of any of his ways; it's about giving Foggy the chance to understand who his best friend was and why he made the decisions at Midland Circle that he made. - Invisible Distances -
Foggy has been treating Matt differently since the revelation of his vigilante-activities.
After Foggy learns about Matt's powers, he assumes this means Matt can see like a sighted person. Matt, meanwhile, assumes Foggy has stopped accommodating him as punishment for lying. Excellently in-character re-negotiation of their friendship and depiction of Matt's abilities and limitations.
Highlander: the Series
- Adam and Joe -
Once upon a time, a young Watcher named Adam Pierson was sent to Seacouver to help Joe Dawson start a bookstore. This is their story.
This is a canonical AU based on the premise that Adam and Joe met and had a fling early in Adam's Watcher days and then pine for each other until circumstances align for them to finally start a real relationship. The author deftly imagines and re-imagines how the canon events would've played out, and why, with the guys' feelings for each other underpinning everything that happens, which is an especially difficult narrative challenge when the canon introduces other love interests for the characters that needed to be accommodated in the story. Given the word count, it should be obvious that there's a lot going on in this story besides just the prompt; however, the characters are forced to break up, betray, and lie to each other over and over, which necessitates them also having to negotiate forgiveness of each other before their relationship can continue.
Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Daredevil
- Devil's Own -
Set post S1. Daredevil may be the Man Without Fear, but Matt Murdock is terrified. Especially when the law isn’t enough and Daredevil can’t save everyone. It’s said that there is someone in Hell’s Kitchen who will hear a cry for help, but what if the person calling out is Matt? Who saves him when Daredevil can’t?
Case-fic. Matt and Foggy are asked to defend a client who was at St. Agnes at the same time Matt was. Meanwhile, Daredevil is trying to get a new drug off the streets. As part of the case, Matt has to return to St. Agnes and face the nuns who raised him while also coming to terms with the decisions they made in his upbringing. As these decisions ultimately led to him becoming a tormented vigilante with mental health issues out the wazoo, it should go without saying that they weren't all good ones. - His Heart is a Place of Safety -
After an anti-mutant terrorist organization deals a devastating blow to the Defenders and the Avengers have to step in, Matt Murdock, (adult) Peter Parker, and their friends struggle to adapt to a new, very different reality. All the feelings ensue. (Also, sex.)
Besides all the trauma the canonical Matt Murdock brings to the table, in this story (the first of a series), he suffers additionally from losing his powers permanently. The story goes deep into how Matt copes (and doesn't) with the loss and how he defines and redefines himself as a person, a lawyer, and a partner to someone who is still an active superhero. Permanent loss of a characters powers is a trope I typically avoid, yet this one pulled it off so well that couldn't not keep reading. - I Need Company, I Need Human Heat -
Five Times Matt had a hard time talking to Foggy about his experiences with sex, and one time he didn't.
In-depth exploration of sex-addiction without veering into issue fic. While it may draw on comics canon (I have no familiarity with the comics), it wraps itself around the TV show canon so seamlessly that someone who's never read the comics will have no trouble imagining these characters negotiating this situation. I also appreciate how well the author explores sex and sexuality while making it clear that Matt's choices and decision making are coming from an unhealthy place, yet make sense to him. - The River Between Us -
After a terrible injury at the hands of an anti-mutant terrorist named Hominus, Matt Murdock asks his boyfriend Peter Parker for a three-month trial separation so he can get used to his new life by himself. Peter doesn't take it very well.
A continuation of the story above, with this one delving even more into the trauma as Matt tries to re-learn how to live alone, at the cost of his relationship with Peter. As a character, Matt isn't exactly known for making good choices, and the author depicts really well the thought process of someone who is acting from a place of trauma, knows he's acting from a place of trauma, and still believes he's thinking clearly. I would also recommend the last story in this series, which is only not here because I wanted to limit how many times any one author showed up. - the secret of burning at the crossroads -
The Avengers are learning how to navigate the heavy restrictions on their activity from the Accords and Registration Act in a post-Civil-War world, all too aware of the dire consequences that await if they don't toe the line. But when Matt begins to suspect that Fisk is going to seek revenge on him from prison, he approaches Steve about being Daredevil's right-hand man--a dangerous move, but Steve never quite learned how to say no to the old back alley fights.
The Marvel TV shows don't give much overt acknowledgement of the MCU events, yet are ostensibly set in the same universe. This story positions Daredevil into a post-Accords world and then explores the challenges and price of being an off-book vigilante. Because it's Matt Murdock, this means spending a lot of time dealing with his issues, and then piling new ones on as he gets on the wrong side of the Avengers while trying to fight side-by-side with Steve Rogers, in his role as Pandemonium. - Training Buddies -
Sometimes the random guy in the street isn't out to get you. And sometimes, he might need your help in ways you never expected.
I feel like any story featuring the two poster children for PTSD--Matt and Bucky--is low-hanging fruit for this prompt. The author crafts a believable slow-build friendship between two characters who have every reason in the world to be slow to trust and quick to fight back when they feel threatened. - What's the tell tale sign that I'm not alone? -
There is this trick that Matt uses. If he concentrates hard enough, he can always find a telltale sign that the person speaking to him isn't really there. Well, besides the obvious fact that most of the voices talking in his head belong to people who are already dead. The system he has in place works. It keeps his friends from worrying. It keeps him from going mad. The system works. Right up until it doesn't.
While most of the Matt-PTSD stories seem to focus on his pathological lying and trust issues, this one digs deeper with an excellent exploration of Matt's hallucinations and what he has to put up with from them before he finally asks for help.
Forever
- History Repeating -
Jo knew. She saw Henry die. Now, it was a matter of hoping she would understand.
I could comfortably rec pretty much anything by this author, which is part of why we became friends and writing partners. Disclaimer aside, this story starts with Jo witnessing Henry shoot himself in the head and goes from there. Jo is, of course, traumatized by what she believes is watching her friend and love-interest commit suicide, but then he shows up alive at her bedside in the hospital and she starts to question her grasp on reality. Meanwhile, Henry has his own traumas to sort through, because of course he does.
Highlander: the Series
- Protective Measures -
While Richie romances Angie Burke, his childhood friend, Duncan labors to establish a new "family" made up of Amanda and Richie. But Czeslaw, an ancient immortal, appears on the scene threatening Amanda's life and inadvertently evoking all of Richie's most primal fears.
Beautifully plotted, paced, and characterized, with a focus that's more on the consequences of the Game and Immortality on our characters than on simply defeating a bad guy. This is one of my all time favorite stories.
Shazam!
- i know (i'm no superman) -
(fighting ten-foot-tall horror movie monsters and a dude with a glowing eye who's got no qualms attacking a bunch of kids is… Well, it's just a lot for a fourteen-year-old to deal with.)
While not a complex or plotty story, the author packs a lot of punch into the immediate traumatic effects of the events of the movie on Billy and Freddie. It also explores their feelings of helplessness as kids, as foster kids with already-existing traumatic backgrounds, and as newly minted superheros who have no idea what they're supposed to be doing.
