recs: Tutoring and Needs Must by lizbee

[janeturenne.livejournal.com]

For my last rec of the week, a return to Gallifrey, and two very different takes on the same pairing from the same author: one dark with a hint of sweetness, one sweet with an edge of darkness, each an excellent take on Romana and Braxiatel and their centuries of twisted chemistry.

Story: Tutoring
Author: lizbee
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 1097
Author’s Summary: Braxiatel has a special interest in Romana.
Pairing: Romana/Braxiatel
Warnings: Explicit Sex

Let’s put this as simply as possible: there isn’t a lot of het sex written in Classic Who, and this is almost certainly the hottest I’ve ever read. It’s more than a PWP, in that there’s some leadup and a great deal of atmosphere, but the sex is definitely the focus, and it’s very, very well done. The issue of Romana and Brax’s age difference is touched on (it’s set during Romana’s time at the Academy) but isn’t allowed to dominate, and it ends on just the right bittersweet note.

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Story: Needs Must
Author: lizbee
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 644
Author’s Summary: Romana and Braxiatel have some unfinished business. Post-"Panacea".
Pairing: Romana/Braxiatel
Warnings: None
Recced because:

My personal headcanon on Braxiatel and his hopeless pash for Romana largely involves him being unwilling to admit to himself how much the woman who is his President isn’t the same girl he fell in love with all those years ago. This fic plays on that idea very effectively, with an additional note of him being just as ensorcelled (though differently) with the older and wiser version. Add to that a Romana who clearly has been shaped by her many experiences--as traveler, President, and captive of the Daleks--and the result is a fic that crams an enormous amount of complexity and depth into a very short word count, with a chilling ending that will stick with you long after the story ends.

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