Round Table - First Encounters of the MFU Kind

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Here it is, our week of First Meetings and first time partnership exploits.  I think this is one of the most popular categories of stories in MFU, that moment or event that brings the two main characters together.  If Solo and Kuryakin never meet then we have a universe empty of the wit and charm we so love.
So today, here at the big Round Table, let's hear about some of the favorite fiction moments that have been imagined.  Or perhaps you have a new idea about it, would like to remark on the surroundings that would have been present when the American and the Soviet first discovered what the all knowing Waverly had in mind.
The discussion is open.  I should think we have a lot to examine.

Comments

[vmccooley.livejournal.com]

My favorite "first meeting" stories are The Rocky Start Affair and The Better Gadget Affair. Both feature meetings that are wary but not unfriendly. I'm not a fan of "hate at first sight" tropes. These are intelligent men, not children.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for joining in. I agree that their relationship needn't have started off with any type of animosity, although a few stories have gone in that direction quite successfully.

You're welcome to post links to stories.
For the benefit of everyone, we should all inform whether the stories are gen or slash.

[vmccooley.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy reading these discussions and I'm glad to join in.

"Rocky Start" is gen and is at the Chrome And Gunmetal Madhouse.
http://chromeandgunmetal.com/chrome/archive/2/therocky.html

"Better Gadget" is slash and is on AO3.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/454680?view_adult=true

[vmccooley.livejournal.com]

I tried posting the links, but it was marked as spam.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

try reposing the links to your first comment, that might work. I can see your post with the links but here you have to click on "1 suspicious comment." to view them.

[vmccooley.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I can't edit my first post because it's been replied to.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I fixed it.

[vmccooley.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[avery11.livejournal.com]

I've written two "first meeting" stories:

Pandora's Box takes place at UNCLE HQ during the Cuban Missile Crisis: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1028313

Graduation Day follows Illya into the bowels of UNCLE's London HQ on the day of his graduation from Cambridge: http://archiveofourown.org/works/444903

I enjoy reading "first meeting" stories because starting a relationship from scratch opens up so many possibilities. Lots of yummy "what if's." There are lots of great stories out there, but unfortunately, recalling specific titles is not in my skill set. I really should bookmark stuff.

I know the great Pat Foley had a few:

Wonderland, a tryptych at ff.net:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2424914/1/Wonderland-Series-Part-1-Pawns

Partners, a two-parter, also at ff.net:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2459888/1/Partners-part-1

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I think where, in both time and place, can affect how a first meeting is written.

There is more likely to be mistrust if they are both early in their Uncle careers or IK has only just arrived from Moscow and no one knows his loyalties.

If they have a few years with Uncle behind them both and IK has spent the time establishing himself in Uncle in Europe then I can see them meshing almost at once. Both will know the other's reputation and it will just be a matter of confirming their levels.

[avery11.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point. People are generally suspicious of what they don't understand, and the Cold War would have amplified that mistrust exponentially.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Pat Foley's are some of my favorite stories. A gen story I wrote a few years back brings in a Korean war backstory for Solo, contrasting against his new partnership with Illya

It's called "Brothers Old and New"~ https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7316278/1/Brothers-Old-and-New

There's endless possibilities for their first meeting. Since there was an air of competitiveness between the two of them on the show, that leaves an great opening for how it all started. The sky's the limit, really.

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

I was going to rec that story if you didn't!

I'm very bad at remembering names, but one I stumbled across lately is kelliem's Lost and Found (http://www.chromeandgunmetal.com/chrome/archive/2/lostfound.html). It's slash.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

We want to make note that this story is slash, for those who don't want a surprise ;)

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thanks for thinking of my story! :D

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I do like Pat Foleys stories, although she has Illya really young; that's not something I have in my version of the men.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

This is one of my very favorite first meeting stories, appropriately titled First Meeting http://file40.net/file40g/first_meeting.html by Di_T, and the follow up L'Adventure Parisienne http://file40.net/file40g/parisen.html

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

One classic everyone probably already knows, is the slash The Better Gadget Affair: http://www.visionsofprettyboys.com/MFU/TheBetterGadgetAffair.htm

[vmccooley.livejournal.com]

That one may be my all-time favorite MFU story.

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Sorry I missed that you'd already rec'd this. A compliment to LadyRa. It is excellent, isn't it.

[vmccooley.livejournal.com]

LadyRa is such a great writer. I can't think of one story of hers that I don't love.

[threecee.livejournal.com]

One of my favorites is Kellie Matthews' Lost & Found (slash)

http://kellie.mrks.org/fic/mfu/lost&found.htm

http://www.chromeandgunmetal.com/chrome/archive/2/lostfound.html

A lot is written from Illya's POV, but she has the tone of both down very well. There is a nice tension between Illya's immediate liking and feeling of trust in Napoleon and his basic distrust of strangers and more especially of his own feelings when he trusts someone.

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

I have a few stories that take place in the very beginning of their partnership.

They can be found here:

http://archiveofourown.org/series/58338

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

These are all gen.

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

I wanted to go against expectations and not have them hate each other but rather, recognize their affinity to one another. But I did think the moment of their first meeting should be... err... unusual, both embarrassing but characteristic.

So it is in The Devil's Attic Affair (http://file40.net/file40g/crispins/attic1.html).

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

I wanted to add that in my prompt stories "The Second Hundred" Chapter 3 is called "Partnership." In it, Napoleon is telling a group of FBI agents about when he first met Illya.

The link takes you to AO3:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1517555?view_full_work=true

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! I want to respond to everyone's commenst but I'll just write a general response to all. There are so many recs here for first encounter stories, I'll be in a reading fog for the next three weeks! Thanks to everyone for posting their favs here. Some I've read but not all. No plot bunnies are in my Google Drive cage right now, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Thanks for this ,Glenna.

[carabele.livejournal.com]

I've never actually done a true first meeting story, but my story FLOTSAM and JETSAM (http://section7mfu.livejournal.com/714804.html) does go into one of their first missions together.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

The early adventures of Solo and Kuryakin, yes indeed. Perhaps you'll get a chance to do a short story around the theme. This challenge is open through Sunday, and of course beyond if that's what it takes.