Rec the Thing

Iron House by Parhelion
Fandom: The Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout
Ship: Archie Goodwin/Nero Wolfe
Medium: Fic
Length: 8020 words
Rating: Mature
My Tags: drama, crime/mystery, happy ending, getting together, developing relationship, au: prison, mentorship, h/c (emotional), first time (ship), arrangement to feelings, separation
Author's Summary: Usually, sooner or later, those who shoot others and make cute with the law end up in jail. In this world, that's exactly what happens to Archie and Wolfe.

Excerpt:

"No, Archie. I don't want to make you accessory to a felony--or is it a misdemeanor?"
"Nuts. I'd love to share a cell with you."
---Rex Stout, The Golden Spiders


Sure, I know why you want to hear all about it, Father. You're hoping for one of those "Oh, do not do as I have done" confessions, right? No?

Nice of you to care, but I never spent much time worrying about my immortal soul. Neither did he, as far as I could see, and I could see pretty far. But I'll tell you what I will do. You listen to what I have to say without piping up, you put it under that seal of the confessional that you priests value so much, and I promise I'll give you all the details and let you ask questions after. That's as far as I'll go, though I will add my word's been known to be good for years around here.

It's a deal? Let's go, then.

This fic takes the canon backstory of a young Archie Goodwin entering Nero Wolfe's employ after shooting two men while working as a security guard and imagines instead that he went to trial for the killings and subsequently became the cellmate of an already falsely imprisoned Wolfe. We then get a story set in my favourite missing-scene period of the pair's earliest days together, heightened by the danger and unavoidable added intimacy of getting to know each other in prison instead of in a New York City brownstone. It captures everything I enjoy about Archie's voice and the character dynamics of the source material, with an added twist, and it contains the shortest and most veiled single-paragraph sex scene to ever consistently make me swoon.

Even better, there's also a sequel that picks up after they're both pardoned.

Monday to Sunday by Parhelion
Fandom: The Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout
Ship: Archie Goodwin/Nero Wolfe
Medium: Fic
Length: 1370 words
Rating: Mature
My Tags: character study, romance, happy ending, established relationship, au: prison, reunion, starting over
Author's Summary: The first week of freedom is supposed to be the critical one.

Excerpt:

His first words to the newly freed man were, "That suit is abysmal."

"I can do better, since someone spotted me twenty bucks. Maybe you could introduce me to your tailor?" The chalk-striped blue suit coat he was wearing was bold but businesslike, much like the way Nero Wolfe had moved in on a deal back in the pen.

As for the man himself, he grunted. "You may not wish to commit yourself until you have seen what the young men are wearing in Manhattan this year. Get in."

I did, next to him in back. Some guy I didn't recognize was driving. When I glanced at the back of our driver's neck, Wolfe told me, "Jack will be giving you lessons to refresh your knowledge of controlling these mechanical contrivances."

Of course he was going to start right out by deciding how everything would go, now that we were both free of Mannerheim. I made a note to discuss this with him as soon as there were no ears around that I didn't recognize. Right now, Wolfe was getting a break because of the ride, the twenty, and the fashion advice.

As with the first story, this one likewise captures canon's tension of what it means for Archie to be Wolfe's man, through the additional thematic lens of imprisonment, freedom, and choice.