I've just re-read sgamadison's wonderful fic, Death of a Love Letter". It's one of those you could read a dozen times and get a new insight each time. If you haven't already, please go read and let her know how fabulous and touching it is.

What I found interesting when I read it the first time was that she credited a little comment ficlet I wrote to cheer up a friend with her inspiration. Since the other post is f-locked, I'm posting it here because some people have asked about it. It's a rare pairing that I've written before in my fic The Scholar's Melancholy - Lionel Thayer(Joe Flanigan)/Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), which is why I was so intrigued that it would be her inspiration for a McShep fic.

( Lionel took a deep breath into wakefulness... )

Well, this is it kids... the last fic from me for a while. (check my next post for what's coming up) This story was written especially for equusentric who wanted just a little scene from and odd pairing. Once I started, I simply couldn't be satisfied with just a scene.  No beta, so if you find a mistake, please let me know.  The title is from Shakespeare's As You Like It.  It's not perfect, sweetie, but I hope you like it.

Title: The Scholar's Melancholy
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Lionel Thayer/Charles Van Doren (see notes)
Words: 9,200 (uhm, yeah)
Legal: They don't belong to me
Notes: The pairing is Lionel Thayer from Family Album and Charles Van Doren as portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in the film Quiz Show. Under the first cut, you'll find a manip of the pairing and a few pics of Charles. Yes, I do realize that since the timeline puts the characters more than a decade apart, there is some suspension of belief here, but just go with it. For the purposes of the story, I've moved Lionel back to the late 1950s. So also, there are certain aspects of the story relative to that time period.
Warnings: Unprotected sex. I did some research and don't think there were many gay men using condoms in the 50s
Summary: Charles smiled. It made Lionel think of that day in Connecticut, how he'd thought Charles' smile would make even the sun envious.

( Mini-Picspam )

( The Scholar's Melancholy )