Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Length: one-shot
Author on LJ: goddessleila
Author Website: Sorrel fanfic site: Dream-On
Why this must be read:
Usually, I dislike fics, that have a rather ambivalent or open end, with no real resolution.
But with this one? NOPE, not at all.
Its perfection, sheer and utter perfection with the non-answer at the end.
I have never come close in any fandom to such a fic again, where I could have whole-heartily said: yes, I do not need more.
Clark and Lex remained who they are , and what they ever will be. And its up to the reader to decide on their own, to make up their own mind, what they could be. I know, its sounds all cryptic, but really you MUST read this one!
One of my most favorite one-shot futurefic.

Lilies
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Lilies

Fandom: POPSLASH
Pairing: Brian/Nick
Length: short story
Author on LJ: zoicite
Author Website: Commoner's Tales
Why this must be read: I know I've been reccing the Brian/Nick a lot (because a few people have asked for it) but this will be the last one this month. This one by Zoicite presents what I think is a different and somewhat unusual take on Brian and Nick's relationship. The days of Frick and Frack are now passed, and they're both adults with different interests and values.

Nick's, ahem, lifestyle makes the rest of the group uncomfortable. So Brian fixes it, in a way that's very characteristically Brian. There's understated tension here as well as quite a bit of nostalgia. It's not the typical happy ending, but it shows what has remained constant amidst the change and I think it highlights what is really fundamental to their relationship.


Fixed

Fandom: MERLIN
Pairing: Arthur/Gwen
Length: 4,000 words
Author on LJ: paperclipbitch
Author Website: Her fic masterlists are all linked here.
Why this must be read:

Arthur/Gwen is a pairing that I love a lot more than I expected to. I've been thoroughly charmed by the moments of Arthur/Gwen that we've been given on the show so far, and I'm really excited to see what happens between them as Series 2 unfolds. Maybe it's the way that Arthur calls her Guinevere, I don't know, but there is something very compelling about the two of them coming together. (Also, reccing this gives me an excuse to use this icon oh so ironically.)

Sometimes I Forget I'm Still Awake captures all of the marvelous potential between them just perfectly. It remains, in my mind, the gold standard for Arthur/Gwen fic. paperclipbitch does a great job of laying out a number of crucial small moments- some funny, some painful, but all utterly true to both characters. Check it out.

Sometimes I Forget I'm Still Awake

Fandom: HEROES
Pairing: Audrey-centric, minor Matt/Mohinder and Sylar/Luke in the background
Length: ~30k in total
Author on LJ: kethni
Author Website: Fic Masterlist

Why This Must Be Read: I was planning on reccing Trust later in the month, but kethni just posted a wonderful sequel, Loyalty, and I had to get this rec out there early before I died from internalising my squee. ;)

Audrey is one of my favourite characters ever on Heroes -- I loved her no-nonsense attitude and her gritty cynicism. In a show that, sadly, doesn't have many strong female characters it's been my not so secret wish since S1 that Tim Kring would find a way to bring her back. Trust, a mostly gen, Audrey-centric epic, is the absolute next best thing until that wish of mine comes true.

This is a fast paced action/adventure style case fic in which Audrey and Matt are working together to solve a string of murders and in the process develop an easy, bantery cop-partner-style friendship. What's so great about it is that not only does kethni have a superb Audrey voice, but she's great at developing real meaty plots that suck you in. The secondary characters in both Trust and the sequel, Loyalty, are really well fleshed out: Luke, Sylar, Flint and Knox all feel very in character, bringing various levels of menace and criminal activity to the table.

( Excerpt )

Trust: part 1, part 2, part 3
Loyalty: part 1, part 2, part 3

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (NEW)
Pairing: Gaeta/Eight, with implied Caprica/Baltar, Gaeta/Hoshi, and possible Gaeta/Baltar
Length: 40,000 words
Author on LJ: kappamaki33
Author Website: Fic list
Why this must be read:

The "Face of the Enemy" webisodes were most definitely crucial viewing, giving Gaeta some motivation and some transition for his actions in Season 4.5. However, as much as I liked the webisodes, the Eight frustrated me. She was a bit Bond-villain-ish, kind of flat and confusing in her conflicting actions.

Not anymore! HAHA!

Mathematics is a story that takes the little bit of backstory that we were given in the webisodes and fleshes it out into vivid color. kappamaki33 captures the harried, anguished days of New Caprica perfectly, with some events we saw in canon and others that we didn't but easily could have happened. And she doesn't just do it from Gaeta's point of view, but the Eight's as well.

It's the Eight that really intrigues me here, although Gaeta is written pitch-perfect. (kappamaki33's other Gaeta fics are well worth checking out as well, by the way.) But the Eight is complicated and conflicted, not overly thrilled with her assignment but determined to do it well. And kappamaki33 doesn't make their relationship love, nor does she simplify it to hate. The Eight has... well, she definitely has feelings for Gaeta, but they're complicated and messy and they aren't anything that's easily categorized, and the same applies to his feelings for her.

But even beyond the relationship between Gaeta and the Eight, this fic is fascinating for the other relationships that are in it- Gaeta and the humans, the Eight and the Cylons. Their relationship sort of serves as an intersection for the two worlds to meet, and it's a fantastic read.

Mathematics master post, link to all ten parts

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Warren, Sam/Gene
Length: 75,000 words
Author on LJ: dakfinv
Author Website: dakfinv at the Collator's Den
Why this must be read:  Now that we have made it to the middle of the month, I think it is time for something long and meaty.  No, get your mind out of the gutter!  I meant story, plot, character development!  This story has all of those (and some sex too, if you insist) wrapped up in the kind of AU some people have said you can't do in Life on Mars.  Go, read, watch Dak prove them wrong. 

You still here?  OK, if you need more encouragement than that, picture this:  Sam Tyler: rent boy.

The Kept Man

Fandom: BANDOM
Pairing: Gerard/Frank, Brendon/Ryan, Pete/Patrick, background Mikey/Alicia, Jon/Spencer, Gabe/Vicky, implied William/Billy Prior, past Mikey/Pete
Length: 54,630 words
Author on LJ: tabula_x_rasa
Author Website: Tabula Rasa's Dig
Why this must be read:

A story of some soldiers, VADs, doctors, and nurses on the Western Front in August, 1918.

This is how you write historical AUs! Lots of little details that are just "there", never intruding into the story but anchoring it firmly in a specific time and place. WWI was such a horrible, meaningless war but the writer has infused this story with so much friendship and love that manages to balance the sad and angry-making parts. There are terrible and heartbreaking moments - the whole sequence when Gerard goes looking for Frank and the scene with the private with the damaged back are two that I know will stay in my memory for a long time - and it doesn't end happily for everyone, but it isn't BLEAK. A wonderful, wonderful story and one of my favourites from this year's Big Bang.

( Excerpt from the story... )

Up the Line

Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Pairing: Doctor/Fitz
Length: ~1600 words
Author on LJ: settiai
Author's website: Library of Fandom
Why this must be read:

The Who fandom is a lot of fun to read in because off all the different companions and facets of the Doctor and his different regenerations. I am a big fan of fics that have companions meeting, who didn't travel together in the Tardis.  Of the older companions, Fitz has always been one of my favorites. Settiai writes Fitz wonderfully, as well as Jack and Rose, when they all meet after the War is over, and Jack and Rose of course are traveling with Nine.

A Face in the Crowd

Fandom: MAGNIFICENT SEVEN(TV)
Pairing: Chris/Ezra, PG-13 to NC-17
Length: 5 parts plus epilogue
Author on LJ: heathenseyes
Author Website: the author’s journal
Why this must be read: This rec is not one that I ever thought I would make. For one, I am a happy ending girl and this story, well... For another, I’m not a Chris/Ezra shipper, although there is good Chris/Ezra out there, I’m just not that into them, not to insult those who are. This is some of the best Chris/Ezra I’ve ever read.

This fic will break your heart. And it’s completely worth the read. You have been warned. Have tissues standing by.

Excerpt: Ezra wanted to stop, but even more than the fear he felt at losing the control he had prized for most of his life, he wanted to feel everything that Chris was making him experience. He wanted the pain and the anguish at knowing that there was no possible way this could end with anything more than heartache, he wanted to soak in the anger roiling off of Larabee in waves so thick he could feel almost nothing but the umbrage of the other man's emotions.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part 5 and epilogue

Please remember to pesterpraise the author, there may be a sequel.