Gruff 'n' Grim

Fanfiction
Title:	Gruff & Grim
Author(s):	HG
Date(s):	September 1984 "written for three friends"
Length:	8 typewritten pages
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	The Professionals
Relationship(s):
External Links:	online here
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Gruff & Grim is a Professionals story by HG. It was an 8-page circuit story that was later republished in HG Collected #2. Two sequels to the story are X-Ray-Ted and Bear With Me.

It is a story on The 1985 Hatstand Express Top Ten Lists.

Summaries

Author's summary: "Bodie and Doyle discover some old friends." On a copy of the circuit zine, these friends are listed as "Barbara, Trish, & Amanda."

Reactions and Reviews

1986

I can hear the groans from here... I guess you either love this story or hate it. I'm a bear person, I love it. As one who lives with bears I appreciate these two - the author obviously understands bears and it shows.

Of all the 'bear' stories, this is one of the two best because the bears have personalities of their own rather than being convenient props. Those of you who are owned by bears will understand.

1988

Another one of those wonderfully charming little teddy bear stories which abound in this fandom; such an engaging flight of whimsy to reunite both Bodie and Doyle with their childhood teddies.

Another short story where characterization is especially fine is in "Gruff and Grimm." Not only the bears are given vivid personalities; the natures of the young Doyle and Bodie are well drawn, leaving the reader with a good feel for what the men were like as boys; thereby giving the reader insight into the adults as well.

2007

So, I wouldn't normally call myself someone who had a big thing for teddy bear fic, but these were HG, so when I found them over at ProsLib (and btw, is anyone else not getting ProsLib emails, even if their settings all seem to be fine?) I had to read them on that basis alone.

And I totally found myself laughing, and feeling a bit warm and fuzzy, and laughing more... the bit after Ray reads the book! Just - heeeeeee!

Yes, there are teddy bears, but there's also Bodie and Doyle, and as HG is so good at doing, they are perfectly themselves, totally together and just... oh, go and read! I promise it'll be worth it - feel good fic at its finest. *g*

I'm ambivalent to these types of stories. The writing in these was great, and they were cute, but I found myself skimming the teddy parts and rushing to the the B/D parts. Reading the book part was fun. Funny for a romance writer to find these types a bit too much, considering the mush I'll read! The "voices" for the teddies was right on, so it's definitely just me. I do believe I'll pass on the Doyle as an elf type stories. I've never found Blair Sandburg as an elf entertaining, so I doubt I'd find Doyle as one my cup of tea either. A cat? Is Doyle a shape shifter of some sort? Is there canon for that? +beg+ You'd better clue me in if I have bestiality stories to avoid! LOL. There are some in Sentinel since both main characters have animal spirits and have morphed into them in vision sequences in canon, so I know where those are lurking. It never crossed my mind there would be those types of stories in Pros. But now that it's been mentioned, I do remember seeing art in a zine with Doyle sporting horns. Not a good look for him I didn't think.