Silk by Mary Jane (NC-17)

[paian]

Rec Category: Jack/Daniel
Pairing: Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill
Category: SG-1, slash, Daniel/Jack, Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, angst, first time, bdsm
Warning: Explicit adult content
Author on LJ: Not that I'm aware of
Author's Website: stargate sg-1 slash fiction [jack/daniel] by mary jane
Link: Silk

Author's summary: It was Daniel's fault.

Why This Must Be Read: Mary Jane's 'Willemakee' is widely known, and for good reason, but I don't see a lot of mentions of 'Silk' -- sadly for the fandom, her only other Stargate fic, at least under this name, at least as far as I know -- and it's an equally gorgeous work.

Jack and Daniel have acknowledged a mutual physical desire, and Daniel has come up with a way that -- in theory -- they can get it out of their systems without compromising Jack's position in the military. But theory and practice turn out to be dangerously different things; their privately established rules and their technical end-run around the externally imposed rules can't protect them from themselves or from each other once they open this door. The concept of 'compromise' gets turned inside-out, and so do they.

At about 1600 words, this is a great example of a PWP that isn't: a short, compact fic that contains a complete and complex psychological arc and tells a whole story, from problem and solution through conflict and bigger problem to resolution, with one sexual encounter. Jack's headspace is conveyed by a beautifully fractured and interpolation-rich narrative voice that mirrors the headlong crash of desires and expectations and realizations. There's an undercurrent of non-con here too, but of a fascinating kind: the encounter and the set-up are entirely consensual, and what Jack resists, in heartbreaking and desperately internalized silence as being blindfolded and partially restrained heightens his other senses, is the emotional epiphany he's all too aware he's having, and can't do anything, now, to stop.

Excerpt:

Because Daniel had promised: promised fast and hard and impersonal, their shared co-delusion that blinds and gags and ties could keep their identities, their truths, out of this.

Daniel's mouth investigating his bonds hadn't been part of the deal.

Fast and hard and impersonal isn't this.

Even deprived of sight, speech, mobility, his hands cinched up high, in a world comprised entirely of dark silk (strong, and soft), there's still no way for Jack O'Neill to pretend that this is anything like anonymous, that every still-receptive part of his body isn't absorbed with its knowledge of Daniel Jackson. Jack's nose is full of the sharp clean smell of Daniel's aftershave, so well-known, mingling now with sweat and Jack; Jack's ears latch onto each of Daniel's slow syllables, reveling in the husky change that he -- Jack -- is the source of.

Comments

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

I love this fic and have read it often; glad to see it rec'd. I wish she'd written more in this fandom, but the two she did write were just brilliant, both of them.

Willemakee I read once and doubt I could ever reread as it left me weeping to the point where I couldn't see the freaking screen, but it was still brilliant :-)

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

I must be a masochist because I just strolled the streets of Willemakee once again. Yep, just as wonderful as always.

[paian]

I managed a second reading, about a year after the first, and I think that's it for me. Wonderful and heart-shredding indeed.

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

Just thinking about it is making me mist up!

[paian]

I'm very glad she did write the two and that they're still on the web and available to read -- not everything I fell in love with when I first discovered the fandom is still out there, and it's sad to think of new people missing out on beautiful fics. So good to hear that you love this one too!

[centauri-.livejournal.com]

Glad to see that she has another fic besides Willamakee. That's still one of my all-time favorites. *goes off to read*

[paian]

Yay! Hope you enjoyed.

[centauri-.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did *_*


And your icon = love. :)

[paian]

Yay! Very glad to hear it.

And thank you, about the icon. :-) :-) It's one of my favorites, and totally shareable.

[centauri-.livejournal.com]

Oh yay! I might snag it in the future. :)

Which episode is that from, actually?

[paian]

It's from S8 'Sacrifices,' Rya'c's wedding scene, and one of my favorite things about it is that it's not a manip, just a screencap cropped and colored with the background blurred. :-)

Snag any time, and feel free to add text if you want. There's a version with the text 'someday just began' over here.

[centauri-.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for the info. :) I haven't seen any S8 in awhile, so it explains why I didn't recognise it. Heh.

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

'Willamakee' ripped my heart out and shredded it. I had no idea she'd done anything else, thanks for the rec. This one is just as gut-wrenching, just as Jack/Daniel down and dirty and cemented firmly in a place called denial.

[paian]

It's interesting how similar a place the two fics come from. Daniel's the initiator in both, and Jack can't afford that kind of relationship in either, and altho the scenarios are different, it's the same core denial, just as you say. That may be the quintessentially tragic view of them, and it's a killer. Gah.

You're very welcome, and I'm thrilled that you found something new to you! Thanks for telling me. :-)

Silk - story rec

[maxinemayer.livejournal.com]

Does anybody have the link to "Willamakee?" I'd be interested to read this from the comments above! Thanks. Love, max

Re: Silk - story rec

[centauri-.livejournal.com]

Uhm, the story is archived on the author's website, which is listed in this post.:)

Re: Silk - story rec

[maxinemayer.livejournal.com]

OK - I'll go back to the post and check it out - I don't know how I missed it! Thank you. Love, max

Re: Silk - story rec

[paian]

Yup, it's available thru the website link in the post, but here's the direct link too:

http://www.geocities.com/honnaleed/willemakee.html

Make sure to read the warnings, altho the other comments here probably amount to the same thing. :-)

[paian]

The link for 'Silk' has changed to:

http://www.area52hkh.net/asm/maryjane/silk.php