Super late to this party...
I’ve loved The Office for a few years now & have dabbled in fic for other fandoms. Deep in another rewatch, I thought there’s got to be some amazing fic out there for arguably one of the greatest shows of all time & here I am - potentially attempting to devour the MTT archive in its entirety?
If I manage to stop reading for long enough, I may attempt to add a few ideas of my own. Time will tell.
Edit May 19: Understandably, I've fallen head over heels with this archive and all that it offers. I've started a Fic Rec Friday thread on Twitter, where I enthuse about the many stories that have brought me joy. So, I'm just putting it out there if you'd like to stop by and have a look. I'm also super open if you have any suggestions that you think should be added/are must reads...
My The Office dedicated Twitter: @chilibabies
You can also find me: @standardcatlady
172 
7 authors. 21 songs. The most shameless smut this site has ever seen.
“But her mind seemed to only want to travel into memory, so she gave in for a moment” I love Pam just going about her day & being consumed by thoughts of Jim. I mean, who wouldn’t be after that encounter!
“Pam filed the company name away in her mind, although for what purpose, she didn’t know.” Oh boy, but fingers crossed there is a purpose!
This Roy. Wow. There are so many versions where he’s painted as an oaf or kind of an idiot, even ill tempered, but this version of him feels straight out dangerous. My heart was in my throat at their interaction after dinner. Ugh.
I’ve never hated Helene Beesly, but I guess now I do. Oh my god. What a piece of work.
This is playing out like a movie. “The realization that, in fact, everything had changed washed over Pam.” And she goes to find him. I’m dead.
“Believe it or not, beautiful women don’t just…take me on house tours all that often.” This is such a great line!
“So,” he said, “Now that you have a job, we need to celebrate. Are you free for dinner tonight?” Wow. You’re making it so difficult for me to pick a favorite line. Like I was sure the house tour one would be it, but now here we are...
“Thanks to him, she was wide awake.” And another contender...
The smut. Holy goodness the smut. Sprinkles! I think this story may actually be my favorite thing you’ve ever written (& you know I love it all). I’d like to add chapter 3 to my wishlist. Please and thank you.
Is there a word count limit on reviews?! I think we’re about to find out! Watch me paste at least the entire thing in here as I read...
“He didn't dare magnify the details of his life too closely; the surface scored and etched with some cracks running painfully deep” Oh. Okay. So you’re going to emotionally destroy me. That’s fun.
Also, give me slightly destructive BFF Danny any day of the week!
“The blonde went home with you” So, so good. This is perfect Jim, quippy and fun.
“As her eyes lingered, he couldn't help but feel the flickering of something profound and his head ached a little less.” And just like that I am invested and I will go down with this ship.
“He leaned against the high wall next to her desk” OH. Well, that’s an image plucked right from the heavens/canon and I am so here for it.
“He shifted, putting his hands in his pockets for lack of a better thing to do with them” My god. Stop. London Jim is perfection. I can see him so clearly.
"She seems a little...dorky.” Bored. Girl. The way you take canon and twist it for your own purposes is so damn masterful.
“He fought valiantly but failed against the same stupid grin that seemed to appear in her presence” This is the cutest thing.
Ugh. Could Mia not?
“he looked at her pointedly with a lift of his brow, holding his breath, hoping to God she could see he meant it.” Quickly smitten Jim is a whole mood. I love him.
Protective Jim is something else. Holy god.
"Yeah, I mind." Oh. My. God. Right in the feels.
“It was his eyes, his lopsided grin, the way he smelled like male and fabric softener and home.” Dying. I’m dying. I know I say this every time, but the way you string words together is just something else.
“when she came up for air nine years later, she hardly recognized herself.” Yes. This is the perfect description of Pam and Roy.
"We didn't dance." Help. I have been attacked.
“the way he said her last name felt comfortable and strangely intimate, tendrils of warmth beginning to wind their way up from deep inside” god this is beautiful.
“He reached down for her fingers, pulling them silently into his, those cracks he never wanted to examine in his life filling in with her.” I’m running out of ways to say that this is my new favorite sentence of all time, but like, this is my new favorite sentence of all time.
“and the universal anomaly of time slowing to a standstill” Who do I commission to turn this into a rom-com? It’s playing out like a film and I adore it.
“His meager words paltry in description and he knew it.” Me, trying to review this fic. I feel SO seen.
I —
BORED.
Bored. B O R E D.
I didn’t think it was possible for “I can’t” to be more gut wrenching, but here we are.
“it is more than that” How?! How are you managing to take everything significant from canon and completely make it your own?! I am so in awe.
“She let the current of him sweep her out to sea” Well, that’s just about the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read.
Umm. Don’t leave us hanging on date number 4 in Paris. How about we make chapter 21 part 2 of London Jim? Deal? Deal.
Author's Response: I love, love, love hearing all your favorite parts SO MUCH. I love that you appreciated all my little injections of canon. I was afraid it was too heavy handed so I'm glad it doesn't seem to be. Your reviews are always so epic and adore them.
1 Are you ever going to run out of very unique disclaimers? That’s the real question here...
This was pure chaos - which for a cold open, particularly a rejected one totally fits. I think I liked your Oscar voice the best. It’s not an easy choice though! They’re all a whole lot of fun.
Author's Response: I've got a lot more disclaimers ready to go than I do stories ready to post, so I think we may be good for a while. There are a lot of good rants to drop some legalese in in this show.
Oscar's really fun to play with because he's relatively normal and kind of detached observer in his own mind, but is actually pretty prone to get involved in office shenanigans. I'm glad you enjoyed them!
1 My heart. You told a lot of story in so few words here. Lovely writing.
Author's Response:
Thank you so very much.
I honestly can say I was inspired by the talent I am coming across as I read more and more here.
I wanted to see if I could do it.
A series of Jim/Pam one-shots, inspired by lines in the show (now in chronological order!)
1 Oh, this is all kinds of lovely! I love, love, love this version of a backstory for Pam’s dorky dance moves. It totally works!
1 This was delightful! Truly. Such a lovely blend of sweetness, steam and humor.
“I never thought I’d get this lucky.” I legitimately choked up. I can totally imagine this scene playing out with Pam’s gentle teasing and Jim’s complete sincerity.
1 There are never too many versions of Pam teaching Jim to drive stick and this is no exception.
“the most fleeting smile (like a snatch of sunlight)” I absolutely adore this line. It’s so very fitting for Pam.
This was completely adorable. Your writing is really lovely.
1 This was such a lovely version of their wedding day. It made me smile the whole way through. The humor running through it was delightful too.
1 Oh this is just perfect. It’s that beautiful balance of humor and sheer awkwardness. I could see it all playing out. The idea that Kelly would set Pam on an incredibly uncomfortable first date seems so very plausible. Jim’s reactions and his conversations with Karen were just the right amount of revealing - I love how they capture how well he knows Pam. Plus, him missing at the end to try and make Pam feel better was so very lovely.
This was perfection. Absolute perfection.
Be still my Season 9 well written angst heart. I love this. It’s heart wrenching and real and keeps so very well with the tone of the episodes.
Author's Response: Sorry for ridiculously slow reply to this review (just catching up...) - but thank you so much!! I'm really glad you liked it.
Okay. Wow. I love so much about this. Pam having a one night stand after Roy and during Jim’s absence is so perfectly in character. I think she’s stretching & growing & trying to separate herself from the version of herself she’s been with Roy. I am such a fan of any Pam has a moment of independence/wilder streak than anticipated story. It’s such a human thing to do. Isabel telling her it’ll be good to get Roy out of her system & it’s not about Roy? Perfection. It’s all so, so good.
Author's Response: Thanks so much! And yeah, the Pam stretching and growing post Roy was an element of S3 that I really loved - it felt in character to me, so I'm really glad that came across.
I love your writing. Truly. I’ve been terrible with reviewing lately, but I’m so glad to be catching up on this. This chapter was gorgeous. I love that they both have their moments of freaking out and their moments of supporting one another, because it is terrifying - especially a first pregnancy - and there is just so much to think about. You capture it all so well.
Author's Response: Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave reviews on these - seriously, it means a lot :) And yeah, I really enjoyed those moments in The Delivery, I would've loved to see even more of them.
There’s nothing I adore more than Season 3 angst. And oh boy does this deliver. I’m so glad you added this continuation!
This premise is completely delightful. I love that you’ve taken Jim’s comment from Email Surveillance and built this whole wonderful backstory behind it.
“Doing your mom was not a joke, Pam,” Well, this is absolutely perfect pre-canon line.
Oh. This is all so incredibly sweet. This is the very best of Jim, both in terms of how he treats Michael and how he supports Pam.
1 This was both lovely and bittersweet. I really liked the premise - of course their first social event outside of the office is quietly monumental in its own way. Much like Jim I imagine, it broke my heart a little that Pam returned home to Roy at the end of the evening. This works well as a stand alone one shot, but I wouldn’t be mad if you decided to add to it if inspiration strikes.
Author's Response: Thanks for the kind words, friend. I've always been interested in what their relationship looks like outside the office pre-Casino Night, and it's sort of underexplored in fanfic (most of the peak era stuff assumes they didn't really have one, which Niagara indicates is not quite right). That dynamic must have been really complicated, and developing it would have been so fraught - I enjoyed thinking through what it would've looked like right at the beginning. Yeah, that was not a fun end of the night for Jim, who at this point I'm sure is already pretty aware that she was much happier hanging out at the barbecue than she would be with Roy. I suspect I'll return to this part of their relationship at some point, although that wasn't actually central to the concept of the original 5+1 I had in mind.
1 Ah, young lust... This seems very fitting. I can totally envisage a version of events like this, where Pam starts to make excuses for Roy’s inadequacies early on.
Author's Response: Thanks, Jenna! I also imagine this as the start of her telling herself the stuff Roy pulls is “normal” since she knows no different and begins making excuses. I’m sure they had a lot of great times, but after a decade, those excuses start piling up and probably get pretty heavy. *Enter Jim*
1 This broke my heart a little for Jim, but it was a lovely take on their first lunch “date”. Their rhythm felt very natural already.
But oh my god, side note: this made me feel so incredibly anxious for Pam. When I first got engaged my ring was like 7 sizes too big, but I loved it so much I wore it like that for a few weeks anyway & even now I still wake up in a cold sweat & check that it’s on my finger...
Author's Response: Thank you, Jenna!
And I feel you on the ring thing! Mine was also big for a week or two and I walked around with a clenched fist all the time so it wouldn’t come off. 😂
1 “The night she flipped that coin in her head and couldn’t trust herself to pick what it landed on.” Oh wow - this line is wonderful. It conveys so much about Pam’s mixed emotions. It’s all sorts of profound.
From the chapter title I did not expect this to be the sweetest ever, but oh my god it was!
Author's Response: Thank you so much, Jenna!! That means a lot. :)
1 Okay, but how did you manage to make a chapter centered around vomit both romantic and incredibly sweet?! That’s a skill... I’m so curious to see what the fifth thing Pam loses will be - I would never have guessed this one!
Author's Response: Hahaha like I told TPB, Jim and Pam make a lot of things possible. Thank you!!
1 From title alone I am already so invested in this chapter!
Oh, that sweet spot is so very real.
“He flashed her a classic Jim Halpert smile and that’s all it took.” Understandable. Totally understandable.
““Just give him the whole box of Fruit Loops and come back here!” This is such a nice blend of humor mixed in with all the sweetness.
Author's Response: Thank you, Jenna! :)
Jim and Pam meet during their sophomore year of college. They’re at different schools, but somehow, they just might make it work. Modern day college AU.
1 Okay, hard yes to the locking eyes across the room as a first meeting.
“You could be friendly more quietly,” Angela mutters” Oh, I love that Angela is Pam‘a friend, but still so delightfully Angela.
“I really want them to melt some more” Me too. Sign me the hell up for that.
“Whenever we FaceTime, she shows all of them to me and has me talk to them” Not me doing this to all my friends. I feel so seen.
This is such a sweet start! I’m so excited to see where you go with this.
Author's Response: Thank you Jenna! I was lowkey calling myself out with the FaceTime comment as well. I always welcome getting to see other people's pets, although maybe not quite as many as Angela has.
1 “Somehow this did not take my mind off of Pam Beesly.” When I say I laughed, I —
This is all so precious. They really feel like college kids. I love all the tentative longing coming through. The way they both think the other is cooler than they are - adorable. They already seem like such a good match.
Author's Response: Oh, thank you so much! That is exactly what I wanted to hear. I think it helps that I am also a college kid. Lol. ;)
1 “I don’t want to put words in his mouth. My tongue is already there.” This line. Oh my god. Perfection.
This chapter was a pure delight!
Author's Response: Thank you JB! I loved coming up with that line, so thank you for noticing!
1 “Yeah, I was.” Ahh, this is such a great line. It’s both funny and telling of Mark’s friendship with Jim.
“I’m a Target employee!” Oh this is a perfect Jim Halpert costume. So, so good.
So very, very sweet!