Room Temperature

Fanfiction
Title:	Room Temperature
Author(s):	Nyssa
Date(s):	around 2004
Length:	12K
Genre:	slash, m/m, drama-angst, first time, pwp
Fandom:	Man from U.N.C.L.E.
External Links:	Room Temperature at Chrome and Gunmetal
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Room Temperatureis a Napoleon/Illya drama-angst story by Nyssa.

Reactions and Reviews

2004

[Meris]

Oh, wow! I want to read the rest of the story this bit is part of!

I loved the wealth of detail that made the cold and the feel of the room real. I really liked that they were men together, not just a set of opposites: shorter/taller, younger/older, blond/brunet. The sex was hot, but the foreshadowing was better! I liked the question that Illya asked, "Do the women know about it?" because it suddenly showed a million other stories in a new light. I really liked how the story showed another side of Napoleon's life and motivations and thinking. I really liked that Illya wasn't depicted as a needy naive, but a competent, independent person, whose paucity of dates is his own conscious choice.

The punch of this story is tremendous for its length. I wish I could write as well as you do. I'm practicing, but when I do, you'll have moved to another level, so there will always be something to aspire to.

2006

[st_crispins at crack_van]
Okay, I admit it: I’m not a hearts and flowers type fan. I find thoughts and emotions more interesting when they’re unarticulated; motivations, when they’re complex and ill-defined. I prefer Romance that’s more of a dying declaration of "’Tis a far far better thing I do..." than a declaration of undying love.

By anyone’s standards this story is not romantic, which is just fine with me. I know others have found it too cold, too gritty, too understated and matter-of-fact, and too melancholic, which are exactly the reasons I like it. It feels real.

So the time is 1959 and the place is a seedy motel room on Staten Island, the morning after a one-night stand between two near-strangers. Solo is indulging in his usual risky behavior. Illya is distant, foreign and enigmatic. What’s not said out loud is even more interesting than what is. And of course, for a fan reader, the story packs most of its punch, not in what actually happens in the space of a couple of hours, but what will happen in the years ahead. There’s a huge space between the once and future, and the fun is letting your imagination fill in the blank.

But for now, the temperature of that room is decidedly chilly, as spies are wont to be. No wonder they call it coming in from the cold.

Yeah, it is. My favorite story of Nyssa's is still Services Rendered but this story made an impression on me too.

I've always liked this story and given its timing I don't think its that bleak, not if you don't want it to be anyway.