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FRIDAY FIC RECCS.

I was going to do a photo post too, but I keep failing to actually edit and arrange the photos. I miss when LJ had a functional photo-sharing application...

Anyhow. Three Avengers reccs this week. No theme, just stuff I liked.

Love = i by steve_tony -- Tony attempts to prove mathematically that he is or is not in love. I don't like math personally but I do like when it's used in fun and unique ways, and this was a great take on how a man with Tony Stark's brain would see the world. Tony/Steve, Teen and Up.

In The Stillness Of Remembering by elise_509 -- A long, slow build between Tony and Steve as they each try to work out their frustrations with the situation on the other; Tony is dealing with the hand grenade of Howard Stark and Steve is dealing not only with losing his world but with possibly gaining Bucky back. It's a great relationship fic with lots of tension and pining and a nice chunk of meaty plot thrown in. Tony/Steve, Explicit.

Job Offer by annagarny -- When I started doing reccs I decided not to recc any WIPs, but I was cleaning out my subscriptions file on AO3 and this one has been fallow long enough that I decided to unsubscribe and archive it as-is, so I wanted to recc it into the bargain. It's a seven-chapter WIP, in which Darcy joins SHIELD as Coulson's PA and accidentally becomes Tony Stark's illegitimate daughter. It's funny and snarky and I'm sad it will probably not be updated again, but it's worth a read regardless. Clint/Coulson, Mature.

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Because I hate basically all plants and can't eat cinnamon without choking, people have suggested, and wisely, that I may be a supertaster. A supertaster, according to Wikipedia, has like a jillion (technical term) more tastebuds than an average person, and experiences flavor much more strongly than the average person.

Fair enough, I thought. That would at least be a good excuse not to eat a salad. My standing excuse at the moment is "Because salad tastes like grass wrapped in aluminum foil."

So I took a little survey and it said I was a supertaster, but it was a five question survey and I've been on the internet before. I decided to do the next scientific test, which is to dissolve saccharine (Sweet & Low!) in water and sip it. If it tastes bitter, I might be a supertaster. But that was confusing because I sipped it and was like "Nope, that's cancer-causing sugar water! Mmm, sweet!" and then two seconds later went gah what the fuck is that taste?

Confusing results. So then I went with the BBC recommendation, which is to dye your tongue blue and count your tastebuds. My hand to god, that's the test. Swab blue food colouring on your tongue and count the bits that stay pink. I bought a little tube of food colouring and swabbed it on my tongue and you guys I can now definitively say this:

I HAVE NO TASTEBUDS.

NOT ONE. My tongue is pure blue. Not a god damned tastebud in sight. Apparently I just don't taste anything at all, ever.

I am left to conclude that I am tasting food telepathically. Which is, by the way, the worst mutant superhero power ever.

But I do have a lovely blue tongue to show for it.