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
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 TPB, your smut is so lovely. You walk that line between steamy and tender and sweet so very well. This felt true to the Jim and Pam you’ve created here, young and somewhat inexperienced, but still so connected and in sync with one another.
Don’t apologize for the fluff when it’s this good. I mean:
“And I’m sure life continued on around us and the world continued to spin, but I’ll never know, because in that moment, my entire world was in my arms.”
This is the very definition of heart eyes and this whole chapter just melted me into oblivion in the best way. So, so sweet.
Ugh, the comparisons to Roy were heart wrenching. Pam’s history with Roy here does not sound wonderful... I’m glad Jim was a sappy, affectionate drinker and not anything else.
Dwight was a whole lot of fun!
Author's Response: Thank you so much for your kind reviews! :') I loved writing these chapters, and I'm so glad you are enjoying them!
1 “Mark’s super power was retaining literally everything he heard while drunk” Ahh, the ultimate friendship skill...
“as the host he had to do more than just impulsively check the doorway thirteen times a minute” This hits right in the feels.
“finding refuge deep in the walls of his chest” Such lovely imagery!
“and essentially deflated the entire party, she could smile at him and he would lift, no hope of being anchored.” Oh. Oh. This is so, so good.
Boy. I can totally picture that Michael fetish thing.
“Stay.” My god.
Wow. Okay. The way you threw that Casino Night dialogue in there and I felt the end crashing around me and then “yet”. I —
Perfect. Just perfect.
“the promise of an ending and a beginning, all rolled into one” I love this. It’s such a wonderful ending.
Author's Response: Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. You’re so kind!! Thank you so much. I’m so happy you liked it, it means a lot!
Canon-Divergence AU, set during Casino Night.
She could lie to herself all she wanted, she could pretend she had missed all the signs and was taken by complete surprise by those five words of his. But she knew she had only missed as much as he had misinterpreted.
Nothing, that was.
1 “She had simply shoved them in the drawer.
Turns out this was her thing.” Oh. OH. Wow. I love this, Pam rummaging through her desk drawers & only finding more of their history there. The fact she kept those particular sun chips? It’s making me feel all the feels.
The imagery of Pam’s thoughts yelling at her is achingly haunting and so very good.
“But she knew she had only missed as much as he had misinterpreted.
Nothing, that was.”
This line is truly so damn good. I love that it’s in the summary, & to find it here, where is belongs is just perfection.
“those lines that sometimes seemed to haze and others they appeared so stingingly sharp” If this isn’t truly one of the best descriptions of early seasons Jim and Pam I don’t know what is.
All the onlys... my heart.
I love everything about this so very much. Your writing is beautiful.
1 Your description of Jim’s thought process around pouring his heart out is so very lovely. “I looked at you and begged you to take this sinking boat and point it home” This. It’s so good.
“You taste so good. You must know that, he must tell you all the time.” Why does this completely break my heart?! Because I feel like Pam would have no idea, because Roy would never tell her & I just...
“The clock on the wall is ticking the seconds away heavily, lazily, too far apart from each other. Perhaps the batteries are dying, these can’t be seconds. They’re too damn long.”
This is fantastic writing. I’m struggling to find the right words to convey just how lovely it is. I love this so, so much.
“And now you’re in the freezing waters with me, you’re grabbing my hand and I don’t know what to think. You’re the one that pushed me into the ocean, are you back to finish your job?”
Oh Jim. These jumbled thoughts are everything.
“It’s a smile that starts inside me before it even reaches my lips, as if the sun somehow topples down from the sky and makes a home right here in my heart.”
Perfect line is perfect. I adore this.
This whole story is absolutely wonderful and I’m so very glad that you shared it with us.
1 Okay, wow. We’re only in the first line & I already feel like this story is going to break me. This line:
“A charged current was running through their perfect marriage and she was afraid of touching it for fear of causing the wrong kind of spark.”
I’m just... It’s so good & so true to real life & relationships. That precipice of if I bring this up it could make things worse v. it needs to be addressed so it doesn’t fester for the rest of all time.
“But now so much had been haphazardly shoved under there, that the rug was getting lumpy and difficult to walk across”
Oh god. It’s so good. So real, so raw, so perfectly Season 9 and Pam.
“you didn’t ask me” YES. This.
“I would choose my ties based on what I thought you would like” My heart is in my throat. I —
Jim getting his priorities straightened out like that, just so sweet.
This fits really well with canon! It’s a nice balm to the angst.
Jim’s been visiting reception five (or 10, or 15…) times a day for years. It turns out it’s become a reflex, and one it will take some work to get rid of now that Pam sits next to him. She’s got a plan, though. (Also: the story of how Jim lost his virginity.)1 These are always so fun and this is no exception! I think Pam’s reactions were my favorite part of it all. I love the idea of her setting out jellybeans as the solution - not to mention the whole human behavior/retraining talking heads.
When my original character makes it into another fic does that mean I’ve made it?! I appreciate the Valerie love.
Author's Response: It is my firm belief that a very high percentage of issues with Jim and Pam can be resolved with the judicious use of jellybeans. And the human behavior/retraining talking heads were a lot of fun to write. (Pam's reactions were more of a relief, really - I've got a couple of classic "Pam is miserable" WIPs, and it felt good to give her a break.)
Oh, yeah, you've absolutely entered the pantheon now. #ValerieIsCanon
1 Oooh, I should have known to expect a Halloween story from you! I love the supernatural element to your writing - you always do it such justice. The way you blend everyday life with something haunting with just the right balance of both. This was both lovely and kind of creepy all at once!
Author's Response: Thank you so much, Jenna! I like this story, and I'm excited that you like it as well!And I think (if you don't mind) I could use the words 'lovely and kind of creepy' as my signature ;)
1 Oh BT! What a glorious setting of the scene. Your writing is so vivid, I feel like I’m the one stepping into the Savannah humidity. I’m already very intrigued to see where this is going - and to end it like that?! How dare you.
(But also, maybe I’m now a little glad that I have been so damn unforgivably slow to read this so that I can keep reading it immediately!)
1 “someone he didn’t actually know but was now referring to as “the woman of his dreams” in his inner monologue” Weird, because maybe I’m having similar thoughts about Savannah Jim...
“Jim said a quick prayer for the strength that would be necessary to make it through dinner.” I love that Andy and Dwight are still Andy and Dwight. All your set up of them made me chuckle.
Excuse me. Squeaky giggling? I’m —
There were so many snippets of brilliance within the greater brilliance. The little nods to canon were perfectly executed.
1 Hi, hello, thank you kindly for the detailed imagery of Savannah Jim’s night clothes (or lack there of). Bless.
“his heart threatened to permanently take up residence in his throat.” So beautiful.
The chemistry. Oh good god, the chemistry.
“His heart had pieced itself back together, gone from butterflies to a ball of lead that was falling, falling, falling.” Ugh. Could that picture of Roy... not...
No, no, no. “I can’t say no.”
“How much more feeling could he develop for her over the course of a week?” Umm. I have my fingers crossed for a lot of feeling.
Pam is already pranking Dwight? It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just a little in love with both Savannah Pam and Savannah Jim.
1 Holy unresolved sexual tension. BT, I am dying. The way you write their chemistry is so damn good. Jim all soggy & very Mr Darcy & Pam checking him out? The way I’m DEAD.
“I wish that you really could.” Ahhh.
I’m past coherent words. It’s just my jaw dropping open in awe of how good you are at the writing from here on out...
“She rolled her eyes with textbook technique.” This is such a perfect Kelly introduction. I adore her.
“what has two thumbs” Oh. So Packer is still going to be Packer, huh. Thanks, I hate him. (And you’ve totally nailed him and I am very impressed).
“Jim..othy?” Michael. Oh Michael. How is he so ridiculous and so endearing all at once.
“Sometimes I just don’t get Roy.” BT. Girl. I wasn’t expecting this seamless intertwining of canon & I am destroyed. It’s so, so good.
“so scared to break the threads that wove this moment together because he knew that there’d be no stitching them back one they were severed.” I’m done. This is too beautiful. I’m out of words. I just —
“not a bad day” HOW DARE YOU
1 “I don’t know how they plan their parties down here.” This made me smile. It’s such a sweet nod to the PPC.
You know, I’m so wrapped up in this story that I totally forgot someone is going to get murdered at some point. The intrigue of everyone’s dealings with Packer and why he’s invited them there in the first place is already so intriguing.
“a windmill of gangly limbs” Well, this a delightful image.
“He could have sworn he felt his heart explode before stitching itself back into the shape of her.” I’m sorry, but what the actual fuck, BT?! This is PERFECTION.
“Jim didn’t know it yet, but the next time he saw Packer it would be too late.” Ooooh, more intrigue...
BT, I am honestly in awe of the backstory that you‘be built for all the characters that somehow fits into this universe, but also keeps so true to their original characterizations.
I mean: “I told them I was good at bookkeeping but I made some mistakes”
And this is like exhibit 30. Awe I tell you. Straight up awe.
“Jim’s brain felt like someone had taken a puzzle and emptied the box inside, and now he had to pick through the pieces and make sure they were turned picture-side up and separate the edges from the interior.” Perfect analogy is perfect.
“my mung beans” Okay, like I said above. Awe.
“It was a color somewhere between blue and violet” Oh. So it’s going to be like that, huh...
Stop. How are you giving me the one bed in a hotel room trope?! I can’t even begin to bear it.
This is an epic romance and I am here for it. This, holy god, BT, this is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read:
“They relished in that moment for a precious few seconds, their mutual acknowledgement of how they felt about the other blanketing them in the warmth and security that new love can bring despite how uncertain it so often is.”
“They couldn’t.” OOF.
“she kissed him first” Yes, get it girl.
Nothing ends a very good first make out session quite like a bloated corpse...
So here’s the thing. I’m very mad at myself that it took me so long to catch up with this story, but I’m also going to need you to update it like yesterday. Please and thank you.
Okay, but Dwight rushing to Angela is making me feel things & maybe I’m just a Dwangela shipper at heart.
“resonated in Jim’s mind the way that a gunshot would, loud and brash and ricocheting off of everything else” BT, your writing is brilliant. I can never say it enough.
“face to blue-tinged face with death” Girl. This. Utter brilliance.
“As had most of Jim’s plans for the week, and likely the plans for the rest of Jim’s life.” Oh cool. That’s chill. Super chill. We’re all fine here.
“He also felt sure that she was guilty of murder.” Nope. Don’t like that. What I do like is how wonderfully you’ve written it. Jim’s warring thoughts about the scoop of a lifetime v. his newfound devotion to Pam. Ugh. It’s so good.
You know what, in my hierarchy of needs, Jim and Pam getting it in on may just be the entire base of the pyramid.
“It made him feel as though something was squeezing his heart inside his chest and turned his stomach into a thousand sparking fireworks.” Oh. Oh. You want me dead, is that was this is? You have succeeded.
“That if she didn’t share in that intensity, it would break him.” Hard same. I too will be broken.
“forgotten that there was that knot in the thread that tied him to Pam” Girl. I am constantly in awe of how good your writing is.
I stand by my first sentence. This chapter was so, so good!
Please. The domesticity. I literally cannot get enough.
“with a delicate click that was just as loud as a slam” Rude of whoever it is to interrupt them so, but I’m not mad about this particularly brilliant piece of writing.
Even though, he’s right & I’m all for letting go of the minutia like tidying rooms after finding a corpse, I love that this is such a well done link to canon. It’s just there, without being smack you in the face obvious.
Dwight’s frustration with Jim is hilarious. It’s palpable & it is fantastic. He’s such a well written Dwight. “a wavering look of controlled calm on his face”
Oh. BT. What did I do to hurt you? I can’t believe you’re leaving me on a cliffhanger like that. I live in anticipation of your next update...
My brain is melted from being back to work so the coherency of my reviews is down a keleventy percent, but I need you to know that this is perfect & I’m genuinely devastated that Jim and Dwight solving crime in the Savannah isn’t a spin off show that NBC has run with. You should pitch it to them, with this story.
“eclipsing the late afternoon sunlight and giving his every breath a brand new meaning” this is how I feel about my life with your writing in it...
THE BATHTUB. How dare you.
What in the actual cliffhanger fuck is that ending, BT?!!!!! I will be begging you for an update incessantly from this point forwards...
Goosebumps. Actual goosebumps, BT. That last line. DAMN. So good.
Oooh, that’s an answer to the Roy backstory that I definitely wasn’t expecting. You are so good at this.
“ Maybe they could just forget it all and stay locked in his bedroom, sustaining only on each other, and when someone came for them at the end of the week they could say “there’s been a murder? We didn’t know, we’ve been too busy here.”” Would also read this story, not going to lie.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Never before has a storyline about Roy been so damn interesting. I am concerned that the implication will be that Jim pushed him down the stairs & all of a sudden will be suspect number one for everything…
As always, your writing is flawless & I am in awe of your talent.
BT. bt. B. T.
How do you keep ending chapters like this & expecting me to just be chill about it?! There is no chill here. Zero. Please update yesterday. I can’t deal.
I’ve essentially forgotten how to read fic, but I need you to know that in the one moment I’ve had where I’ve felt lucid enough to function I wanted to catch up on my fave Savannah murder mystery.
This was perfect.