Under Mistletoe Story: Red Tape
Dec. 13th, 2004 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scribblinlenoreWell, I finally finished my story, and I still had 53 minutes to burn! *g*
Title: Red Tape
Author: Lenore
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Government red tape can make for interesting bedfellows.
Note: Big thank you to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theantimodel for doing an emergency beta reading for me.
You can read it at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
undermistletoe.
Red Tape
Title: Red Tape
Author: Lenore
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Government red tape can make for interesting bedfellows.
Note: Big thank you to
theantimodel for doing an emergency beta reading for me. You can read it at
undermistletoe.Red Tape
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2004-12-13 09:57 pm (UTC)Favorite lines include the stereo complex enough to control the weather while blasting out sound and the tailor deciding that discretion was the sum total of valor when it comes to dealing with Lex. That last is just so true.
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Date: 2004-12-15 09:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-13 10:30 pm (UTC)And the line about the OTB cracked me up! :)
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Date: 2004-12-15 10:02 am (UTC)Thanks so much for the feedback!
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Date: 2004-12-13 11:47 pm (UTC)The tender quality throughout was lovely, especially the contrast between Lex caring for Clark and not being sure how to get him apart from concocting the wedding.
And also, Martha's reaction almost forcing Jonathan to be more accepting of Clark's marriage... a pleasure to read.:-)
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Date: 2004-12-15 10:07 am (UTC)I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I really appreciate the feedback!
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Date: 2004-12-14 07:18 am (UTC)Aw, that was so good. Just. Sigh. Now you've made me late for work. But once I started reading, I couldn't stop.
Thanks, sweetie. What a great story. I love Clark's loneliness when he thinks things are over. And how Lex is experiencing the exact same thing. They need each other. They just do.
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Date: 2004-12-15 12:43 pm (UTC)They need each other. They just do.
*nods* I'll always believe that!
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Date: 2004-12-14 07:42 am (UTC)That was lovely and sweet, and you even used one of my all-time favorite moments in the series as a plot point (when they met as children after the meteor shower brought Clark to Earth).
*happy sigh*
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:03 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for the feedback
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Date: 2004-12-14 08:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 08:21 am (UTC)But then, it's a Lenore story, so it is bound to be awesome.
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 09:08 am (UTC)Thank you Lenore.
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 10:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:18 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you liked this! And when should I book city hall? *winks*
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Date: 2004-12-14 11:03 am (UTC)Still a sweet story and a nice resolution, I really enjoyed it! And thanks for inadvertently providing me some relief from studying for evil finals :D
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:21 pm (UTC)And I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. I always have fun writing Lex when he makes things overly complicated and Clark when he's...well, maybe not the sharpest alien in the drawer. *snickers*
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Date: 2004-12-14 11:58 am (UTC)Typing up a feedback mail.
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:25 pm (UTC)And the part where you were convinced the tailor didn't come back because he was dead? I laughed so hard. That would be so Lex.
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Date: 2004-12-14 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:26 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for the feedback, doll! *hugs*
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Date: 2004-12-14 02:39 pm (UTC)Your great sense of characters, smooth narrative, and wicked eye for detail brought fresh life even to a cliche as well-worn as the old "marriage of convenience" chestnut.
I loved Martha's use of the "good" china for Lex, and I loved it that for once *she* was the parent who didn't warm up to Lex fast. That was a great change of pace, and it actually brought more depth to her character, too. Oh, and the horny perverted tailor was priceless!
I could go on, but I want to go re-read your story! *g*
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 06:15 pm (UTC)So many things I loved about this story. Sure “forced to marry” is a romantic standby, but I like cliché fics. There’s something very comfortable about them. I’m beginning to prefer AUs in SV, too. I still pretty well enjoy the show, but purely for the pretty, cheesy factor, and at least in an AU you get to see characters that act with sense and something like earth logic. Somehow fanfic AUs feel truer to the original Clark and Lex we saw, so I don’t feel too bad in ignoring canon for them.
I think what I liked best about this fic was how much it showed about how alone Clark is. I loved, loved how you pointed out how the Kents don’t like to talk about Superman/Clark’s alien side. Because on SV, they don’t. It’s just something they kind of ignore until it comes around to bite them in the ass and then still Jonathan has a kind of “don’t worry about it, son, we’ll deal with it when we have to” attitude that I find mysterious and aggravating. And that line about a perpetual low-grade sense of failure was so true and so sad. I can totally see Clark feeling that way, and that’s why he needs someone like Lex or Lois to remind him he can’t save everyone.
Lex’s vulnerability was such a great mirror to this, too. He acted all cool and in control in the beginning but there were hints about how important it was to him. That’s so Lex to act all deliberate nonchalance when he really cares so much. His approach to wooing Clark was so obsessive and manipulative and crazily desperately romantic that I had to love him for it. Only Lex could pull that off. In his own way, he’s even more alone than Clark is, so having a happy ending for those two just makes me smile.
Then there were the little moments—Lois’s approach to comfort, her wedding hat, their “displays of realism”, the good china. Oh, and my absolute favorite, Lex’s righteous indignation over the tailor. Lex getting angry and defensive with disproportionate acts of vengeance over Clark is like one of my top emotional kinks.
Thanks for sharing this. It was like an early Christmas gift.
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Date: 2004-12-15 02:46 pm (UTC)One of the things I find so romantic about Clark and Lex is that they are each so alone in their way. And the only person in the world who can really understand them is the other.
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Date: 2004-12-14 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:48 pm (UTC)And Joint Resolution #512 reminded me of embarrasing working life facepalm moments.
Oh God, me too! It's always so hard to explain how you've missed the obvious!
Thanks so much for the feedback. I really appreciate it! :)
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Date: 2004-12-15 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 05:55 pm (UTC)That was the most convoluted sentence I've ever written. Suffice it to say, I liked Red Tape v.v. much. *g*
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Date: 2004-12-17 08:55 am (UTC)I'm so glad you enjoyed this, doll! *hugs*
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Date: 2004-12-16 05:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-17 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 09:49 am (UTC)That was such a wonderful story!
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Date: 2004-12-17 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-18 03:08 pm (UTC)Oh! So lovely!
And hot. And fun.
Thank you thank you.