I BRING YOU RECS

[sophia_sol]

Because calvinahobbes expressed some slightly worried interest in maybe reading more bandom as a result of my recent bandom barista AU, here is a post of bandom barista AUs!

Actually I think I will start with bandom barista AUs and then move on to barista AUs in general because barista AUs are awesome and you know it.

(oh god. Somehow this turned into a post with SIXTEEN fics in it, which is RIDICULOUS. I don't even want to think about how much time it took me to compile this, especially since I kept getting distracted to reread. OH WELL. ENJOY.)

(a note: I'm not always good at balancing my squee levels between different recs in a rec post. Assume that if I posted a link to a fic in here, it is great and I liked it a whole lot, even if I don't actually say anything to that effect in the rec itself....)

To begin with! More Panic! at the Disco, since that's the easiest place to go from my fic! You will notice that almost inevitably it is Jon Walker who is the barista in any given Panic barista AU. This is because Jon Walker has canonically worked at Starbucks in the past.

The Way I See It #186, by beingothrwrldly
Spencer/Jon, ~5,800 words
In which Spencer and Brendon and Ryan are college students and Jon is a barista. And then there is flirting and, as the author says, no angst whatsoever. A lack of angst is so delightful!

There's A Reason They Call It A Crush, by iamtheenemy
Brendon/Jon, ~10,000 words
In which....Spencer and Brendon and Ryan are college students and Jon is a barista. This one has a wee bit more angst but that is okay! Because everything is adorable and there is a happy ending still! This one also has Tom Conrad as an important character, who if all you know of bandom is my fic you will not have heard of. Tom is (was? idk these things) a close friend of Jon's but he is not a part of the band, and that's all you really need to know.

Wind in Your Eyes, by la_dissonance
Brendon/Jon, ~3,000 words
Yeah, in which Brendon is a college student and Jon is a barista. In particular, though! Brendon almost gets hit by a bus and Jon helps him!

Hold the Pose, by zarah5
Brendon/Ryan, Spencer/Jon, ~42,000 words
Oh hey, this one's a bit different! Jon and Brendon are college students and roommates, Ryan's a famous author, Spencer's opening a cafe and Jon is one of his employees. And it is awesome in pretty much all the ways.

Accidents, Trolls, and All Night Coffee, by mahoni
Spencer/Jon, ~5,200 words
Also a bit different! This one's an urban fantasy AU, but Jon's still a barista. The other three get a little lost, and Jon helps them out.

About This Old Coffeeshop, by twentysomething
Brendon/Spencer, ~2,200 words
This one's even MORE different! Jon isn't involved at all. Whaaaat. In which Spencer opens a coffeeshop and Pete convinces him to hire on Brendon for baked goods. (although actually in broader fandom, pairings involving Jon tend to be backgrounded. Barista AUs are just unusual like that. The most popular Panic pairings are actually Brendon/Ryan and Brendon/Spencer, afaik)

OKAY, moving on now to the other band that has a lot of barista AUs out there, that being My Chemical Romance! As with Panic, where there's one dude who is most often the barista, the same holds true for MCR. Usually the barista is Frank, and I'm actually not entirely sure why. It kind of makes me want to see a fic where Gerard is the barista, just to see how that would work! (Gerard/Frank is by far the most popular pairing, so all of the following fics are for that)

Anyways.

On Measuring Life With Coffee Spoons, by iamtheenemy
Gerard/Frank, ~7,500 words
In which Frank is a barista and Gerard is an artist who spends too much time hanging out at Starbucks and being a little bit of a creeper. Um. This could actually be the summary of the next two fics too? BUT THAT IS OKAY because it is a delightful formula! This one is my favourite of the three but they're all great.

I've Barely Been Gone, by annemari
Gerard/Frank, ~13,700 words
This one features a recurring theme in MCR fic, that of Frank being sick. Frank has a canonically crappy immune system and gets sick really easily. So. Frank, Gerard's favourite barista, is off sick and Gerard is worried about him!

A Latte and a Cookie, by mistresscurvy
Gerard/Frank, ~3,200 words
In which Frank plies Gerard with much-needed coffee and cookies.

To complete the bandom part of this post, have the sole non-Panic-or-MCR barista fic that I have bookmarked. It is The Academy Is.../Cobra Starship.

Five Romance Novel Beginnings William And Gabe Never Had, by rsadelle
Gabe/William, ~3500 words
Only one fifth of this is barista AU, but an excellent barista AU it is. In which Gabe is a barista bringing sexy back. The other four parts are great too, though, if you want to read them as well! Contemporary, Office, Pretending To Be Together, and Witness Protection!

AND NOW non-bandom time, for those of you who are sick of hearing me natter on about bandom but still want your barista-AU fix!

untitled, by melannen
Star Trek, Kirk/Spock, short
So this is extremely not!fic, it being in fact a comment-discussion of how a ST:TOS barista AU would actually work, in three parts. It makes me all full of warm and fuzzies for barista AUs in general and this one in particular even though this one doesn't technically actually exist. WHATEVER. I'm a rebel like that.

Grande Soy Triple Dirty Chai, by friskaz
Suits, Harvey/Mike, ~38,300 words
Originally written for a kinkmeme, and really I am bad at summarizing fics (WHY DO I EVEN TRY? My broken sense of spoilers makes it SO HARD to get it right!) so I am just going to quote the original prompt: "Harvey is (still) a lawyer. Mike is the only barista that gets his coffee order right, and isn't afraid of a bit of intelligent and snarky banter." Except even better than that! I would totally be rereading this fic right now if it weren't so long.

Ten Cups Of Coffee (A Love Story), by passe_simple
The Social Network RPF, Andrew/Jesse, ~10,000 words
In which Andrew's a Starbucks barista and Jesse's a grad student panicking over his dissertation! And there's communication via notes written on coffee-cups!

untitled, by longsufferingly
Supernatural RPF, Jared/Jensen, no length given but it's pretty short
In which Jared is a barista and Jensen owns the bookstore next door!

I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York), by gyzym
Inception, Arthur/Eames, ~19,000 words
In which Arthur is a lawyer who hates his job and stress-bakes on the weekends, and Eames opens a coffeeshop across the street from Arthur's office. It is exactly the kind of heartwarming that barista AUs are meant to be, the kind of thing Melannen discusses in her not-fic above about what the point of a barista AU is.

The Stars and Scones Bakery and Coffee Shop, by luciazephyr
Dresden Files, Dresden/Marcone, WIP, currently a little over ~30,000 words with one part to go
I AM SORRY. Yes. I am reccing you a WIP, because I am CRUEL like that. But luciazephyr is a fantastic writer and I cannot deprive you of this fic because that would be crueller. Okay, full disclosure, I have only read the first two parts (of five posted) because I do not handle WIPs well but those two parts are great and everything she writes is great so I fully expect the rest to be completely worth it as well. And the last part is in beta right now! So you shouldn't have too much longer to wait! ...er, I never actually gave you the summary, did I; too busy apologizing. OKAY. This is actually closer to being a bakery AU than a barista AU but it takes place in a coffeeshop so it still counts! So let me quote the official summary at you: " In which Harry is the best baker in Chicago, but still ends up starting a few fires along the way." Yeah.

Comments

[calvinahobbes]

That was FAST, Sophia! Now I am slightly worried about how quickly you turned up 16 fics that caters specifically to my whims.

The pertinent question now might be: where are the primers? Because, um, I might need some pictures.

[calvinahobbes]

AND, you know, thank you! Yay!

[sophia_sol]

:D :D :D

I had TOO MUCH FUN doing this! And, you know, I was really aided in my efforts by my careful tagging on pinboard! I love tags so much.

And PRIMERS. I CAN DO THIS FOR YOU. I will go looking. :D

(to start with, the dude in my icon right now is Gerard. YEAH. He is awesome.)

[sophia_sol]

OKAY, let me start with one basic primer for the three main bands of bandom:

BANDSLASH PIMP POST by femmequixotic. Starts with Fall Out Boy (which I didn't include any fics for in this rec-set because I don't actually have any barista AUs for them, but take it as read that they are AWESOME. Also it's important to know at least a little about them because Pete Wentz, their bassist, is kind of the king of bandom. Bandom could also really be known as Six Degrees of Pete Wentz. The main DW comm for bandom is named after Pete's nightclub. Most of the bands are on Pete's label. ET CETERA.), then moves on to MCR and Panic. This primer's kind of out of date, being from four years ago, but gives you the basics of their history and what they look(ed) like.

And now moving on to individualized primers for specific bands!

Three primers by missmollyetc, also four years out of date but that is okay.
Panic!
MCR!:
FOB!

Things it is important to know about Panic since 2007: the band SPLIT in 2009. Jon and Ryan went another direction and just Brendon and Spencer remained as Panic! at the Disco. (this is particularly tragic since Spencer and Ryan are childhood biffles and seriously this split makes me SO MUCH THE SAD. But Brendon-and-Spencer is really awesome too. So. These days they tour with Dallon Weekes and Ian Crawford, but Dallon and Ian aren't technically ~part of the band~)

Things it is important to know about MCR since 2007: Bob Bryar, their drummer, left before their most recent album, so these days it's a four-person band. They tour with Jarrod Alexander who, like Dallon and Ian, isn't technically part of the band. (They used to tour with Mike Pedicone but they kicked him out because he was doing some uncool stuff.)

Things it is important to know about FOB since 2007: they are currently on INDEFINITE HIATUS ~the tragedyyyyyyyy~ and Patrick has started a solo career in which he DOESN'T WEAR HATS. (yes this is a big deal.)

Ooh, here, have a more up-to-date primer for Panic, by roga!

And to finish off, since I did include that one Gabe/William fic, have a Gabe/William primer, by airgiodslv!

….Yay! If you have any more questions DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK.

(and if I am getting too much enthusiasm all over you do not hesitate to ask me to back off too...!)

[kiki_eng]

Because calvinahobbes expressed some slightly worried interest in maybe reading more bandom as a result of my recent bandom barista AU
I have this terrible, terrible grin on my face. (...and so it spreads. *rubs hands together, gleefully*)

I cannot possibly have read all of these, so I am excited. I like barista AUs. :) (I have a couple wee femslash bandom barista AUs bookmarked, also, if you are interested?)

[sophia_sol]

:D I know, right? I am trying to restrain my glee so that I don't scare Calvina off before she's properly caught by bandom, but EEE I AM SPREADING THE LOVE.

I am glad I have managed to include some you have not yet read! And ooh, yes please do share the wee femslash ones! I do not have enough femslash in this fandom.

[verity]

Despite being a barista, I have never read a barista AU! TIME TO CHANGE THAT. PERHAPS FIRST WITH YOUR FIC I HAVE OPEN IN ANOTHER TAB <3 <3 <3

[sophia_sol]

...you have NEVER READ A BARISTA AU? *shocked* Yes that needs changing!

I hope you enjoy!

[kiki_eng]

Yeah, it is an anticipatory grin and a grin of fannish excitement, because fannish excitement is exciting. *nods* I like the sharing thing. I know I wandered in and out a bit before being caught, but, yes, LOVE. ALL THE FANNISH LOVE. (Or something.)

Femslash barista AUs:

Why Wait Any Longer by harborshore
Rating: PG-13; 2,800 words; Annie/Laena
Summary: Annie pines. High School AU, an outtake from an, um, bigger verse. Also, sort of a barista!AU with awkward girls instead of boys.

the girl with the celluloid stare by graceoftheworld
Rating: NC-17; ~2,000 words; Greta/Vicky-T
She likes caramel soy lattés, and assam tea with maple syrup, and chocolate eclairs, and almond croissants. She has the sweetest smile. She wears summer dresses in winter and lots of bracelets on her arms. Her bag is covered in punk buttons.
graceoftheworld calls it a "piece of utter fluffy porny self-indulgence"

[Also: there is a more recent and detailed-seeming (I have not really read it.) MCR primer? ...and there is primedforbandom and 6degreesforbandfemslash which are more recent, though I also have not entirely checked out, because why would I need to know about canon? But they exist! And might be useful!]

[sophia_sol]

Yes exactly!

And :DDDD thank you! I have never read either of these, and for that matter I have never before read anything about Annie or Laena, so taht was exciting!

[thank you! I have...definitely read and enjoyed FAR more recent primers than the ones I linked above but I was crap about bookmarking them. There were a few days where I just read through every primer I could find because I wanted to glory in the wonderfulness of the bands but then for some reason I thought bookmarking them would be unnecessary? Silly Sophia, bookmarking cool stuff is always necessary. And that MCR primer you linked looks new to me! *goes to read it* I mean, I do not need to know about canon (ahahaha I NEVER need to know about canon!) but I like reading primers anyways, idk. Mostly because the fannish joy is so evident throughout and it gets me all fuzzy inside with love, I think.]

Barista AU!

[melannen]

:D

I never actually posted this anywhere, did I? Here, have the only snippet that exists of my TOS Barista AU:

They've worked out the compromise, but nothing's been officially settled yet, and Kirk is still stuck in his supervised house arrest, being all noble martyr-y and emo, when McCoy stops by on a visit..

He has, of course, brought a bottle of something, and they don't even bother pulling out glasses, just pass the bottle back and forth.

"Feeling sorry for ourselves, are we, Mr. Kirk?" McCoy asks, and Kirk replies, "I'm still Admiral Kirk to you until tomorrow morning, Commander," mock-stern, and then he shakes his head.

"I'm just thinking about having civilian spouses, and maybe even children someday, on starships. How different my live would've been if Mom and Sam and me could have actually gone out with Dad."

"Nice thoughts?"

"Hell no," Jim replied. "They probably would've gotten divorced before I was even born. If they didn't kill each other first. Distance was the only thing that made it work. And you joined up to get away from Jocelyn, don't deny it. It'll change things. But all the same... not having to choose between having a ship and everything else..."

McCoy took the bottle back and gave him a long look. "You did a good thing, here, Jim. If I could have even considered the possibility of keeping Joanna... It'll take a while to settle out, but we'll be better for it in the end."

"I know. I'm just sitting here wishing I could be on the Enterprise, watching it with you. It's--" he gave a humorless bark of laughter, "Typical, that's all. We've turned the Fleet in a whole new direction, and I don't get to be there to enjoy it." He noticed the very odd look McCoy was giving him, and added "Don't worry about me, Bones, I can manage civilian life. Maybe I'll buy another sailboat."

McCoy sighed, long-suffering. "Great Bird of the Galaxy, has all that caffiene made you soft in the head or something?"

Jim stared at him quizzically.

McCoy gave him back the bottle. "Dammit, Jim, if Spock won't finally man up and marry you, I'll do it myself. Hell, tell him that, and that'll probably be enough to make him do it."

Jim started laughing, softly and weakly.

"And I'm sure between the three of us, we'll come up with some kind of make-work to keep you busy on board," McCoy added, with an overdone leer. "How do you feel about doing housecleaning in high heels and pearls?"

"God. The obvious solution all along, and I didn't even see it. If you can't win the game, change the parameters of success..."

"And someday," McCoy said, pointing at him, "I am going to finally get the details on that story. Not now," he added, cutting Jim off. "Save it for the wedding reception." He reached into the medical satchel he'd brought with him and pulled out a familiar insulated drink bulb, and handed it to him. "Here."

Jim put down the whisky and turned it in his hands. "What's this?"

"Commodore Katha'sat passed it to me to give to you, with its congratulations on getting out of Starfleet alive. It's Hestv savn'ch. I checked it out for you: apparently it's a stimulant and concentration enhancer for the Hest; for humans it's a mild euphoric. Never let Katha'sat bring this out when it's playing poker with you, but it's supposed to taste pretty good."

Jim saved it for the grand opening of Enterprise's new lounge and coffee bar.

Re: Barista AU!

[sophia_sol]

:D :hearts;:hearts;:hearts;:hearts;:hearts;

I and my journal are honoured to host this snippet! It is excellent.

Re: Barista AU!

[sophia_sol]

...FAIL at coding hearts. That was supposed to be ♥♥♥♥♥

There.

[epershand]

There is also The Rift In the Lute by jocondite, which is a vaguely Romeo-and-Juliet story about Spencer-who-works-at-a-snobby-coffeeshop and Jon-who-works-at-Starbucks. TWO COFFEESHOPS, UNEQUAL IN DIGNITY. IN A COLLEGE AU IS WHERE WE LAY OUR SCENE.....

(And, I feel obliged to add, Jon's Bookstore by foxxcub, which is stored in my head as "The AU where Jon doesn't know how to make fancy coffee drinks.")

As for primers, the very topical fandomcoffee opened up just this week! Or did you mean primers about bandom, not primers for people who want to write about coffeeshops?

[calvinahobbes]

I am BACK on my computer so now I can open all the picspams \o/

I am sad that they have split up ;_; I don't know these people, but their splitting up makes me sad! What is this??

There may be questions later, who knows, but for now: I don't think you can possibly be too enthusiastic. I love getting someone else's fannish enthusiasm all over me! :oP

[calvinahobbes]

OMG now I want an entire Romeo-and-Juliet type fic in Shakespearean English ;__; But apart from that, it sounds like the AU of my heart ♥ (so does the bookshop one, OMG bookshop!AU \o/ )

I did mean primers about bandom, but that is just because I never thought to dream a coffee primer post. Clearly I'm not dreaming big enough. God, I love fandom so much.

[calvinahobbes]

I find you guys' devious glee adorable. A little worrying. But mostly adorable :oP

Thank you for the femslash recs! Awkward girls instead of boys is the best ever. So much goodness!

Re: Barista AU!

[calvinahobbes]

Did I ever comment on the not!fic? I have a sneaking suspicion I didn't? But it was made of win, and this is even more win! OMG, they are ridiculous and you know (?) I am all about McCoy/Kirk/Spock :oP Heeee! ♥♥♥

[I still don't have a ST icon, boo :o( ]

[kiki_eng]

You're welcome. :) I have a FOB fic bookmarked, too:

Coffee's for Closer's by claire_debonair
Rating: PG-13; 1,800 words; Patrick/Pete
Summary: Coffee-shop fluff. That's it, seriously.

IDK, the bookmarking thing is weird, because I feel like a lot of it just depends on what kind of mood I am in, and there are a lot of variables at play. I end up having to go searching for things what feels like fairly often. *plans bookmarking reforms*

Primers are really exciting, and the work that goes into them and the background that some people have is really impressive. Primers are organised glee. I... often don't read them, though? Because I apparently genuinely enjoy figuring things out on my own or in a disorganised fashion?

[kiki_eng]

:) I'm glad not to be scaring you off.

Awkward girls instead of boys is the best ever.
It so is. :) (I have, um, more bookmarks, if you are interested at some point? Bandom femslash, though no more barista AUs.)

[sophia_sol]

\o/

I KNOWWWWW the split was totally tragic. Spencer and Ryan were, like, spencerandryan since they were kindergarteners, the closest friends EVER, and they were in bands together for like all their teenage years. And now they're -- amicable, but distant. :( Apparently the split was mutual and amicable but it still makes me all the sad. Especially since OT4 is secretly my favourite Panic ship, and the split makes that not really plausible anymore.

(I mean, there are still people who write AUs where they ignore the fact of the split. And I'd kind of be one of them.....)

And YAYYYYY I have so much enthusiasm :DDD I am HAPPY to share it! Because BANDOM seriously all the characters in this fandom are super awesome and I have so many feelings about them and ugh, I CAN'T EVEN.

[sophia_sol]

...HOW HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THAT FIRST FIC? Must read!

(and oops, I totally forgot to include Jon's Bookstore in this post, didn't I! *fail*)

[sophia_sol]

Yay, thank you!

yeah, bookmarking is an odd thing. I try to err on the side of bookmarking more rather than less, because it's frustrating to not be able to find something you want. But even just the way I bookmark is highly mood-dependent, like how much squee I get into my summary, and what tags I choose to put on. Unfortunately it's hard to regulate for things like that!

Haha, I actually ALSO really enjoy figuring things out on my own; I tend not to read primers until I'm well entrenched in a fandom. It's FUN figuring stuff out from fic, and seeing what patterns show up, and making connections and things! And then once I've got what feels like everything straight in my mind, reading primers can be great for filling in the gaps, or for correcting the occasionally erroneous conclusions I reach. And also because, well, as you said -- organized glee! It is great! (one fandom where I DID have to break out a primer earlier on than usual was Due South, because I could not figure out what was up with the multiple Rays....)

[sophia_sol]

If you find yourself wanting recs for any other kind of thing, JUST ASK. I can totally provide, whatever it is, I am quite sure!

[kiki_eng]

:) You're welcome.

Yeah, it's hard to control. I go into the depths of my tags and bookmarks to organise every once in a while, but it's like dusting; I'm not finished with tagging.

Hah. I did the Rays confusion thing for Due South, too. I'm more likely to wiki than look for primers when I'm confused, though. I think that choice has something to do with the way the information is presented, maybe that I want to know specific things rather than ALL the things.