Fandom: NARUTO
Pairing: Naruto/Sasuke
Author on LJ: None Found
Length: Long - 80,000+ words
Author website: Suomynonakun@AFF.net
Why this should be read:

This is a bit of a cheat as I recced this same fic last January. However, I've found the yaoi version, enjoyed it more than the original, and haven't been able to update the previous rec so you get it like this. All the links have changed. And since I'm doing this, expect another rec today as an apology.

Most future/au Naruto fanfics I read, our hero has become Hokage and/or involved with Sakura ... or Hinata ... or Sasuke, if I'm lucky. Usually if he's not Hokage, he's being groomed. Orochimaru is dead and Sasuke was either retrieved before going to the 'dark side' or recovered after killing his brother. As I'm sure you've been able to tell from my recs, I really enjoy happy endings .. ahem, with hot, steamy romance thrown in for good measure.

But sometimes, a great story comes along with a totally different slant on the future. Set when Team 7 would be 25, Walking Corpse is thought-provoking and haunting, a trip to where Masashi Kishimoto, the author and originator of Naruto, won't ever take us but could have so easily gone - if this wasn't just a kid's show. It's mostly about who Naruto could be, perhaps should be, and may one day develop into if Masashi Kishimoto decides to end the series for good. After reading it, I know it changed how I saw the orange-suited wonder. So take a couple hours and try an oldie but goodie that's still in my favorites folder .. even though it makes me cry. ;-o

Warning: Characters Death, Major Characters Deaths, & 3 hankie alert.


Ten years ago Naruto died in the fight against Orochimaru. At least...that's what everyone was told.

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Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Gene Hunt
Length: 4000 & 3400 words respectively
Author on LJ: mikes_grrl
Author Website: List of stories posted to lifein1973

Why this must be read:

Life on Mars is a fandom that produces some really... interesting stories. Given that Tufty the road safety squirrel, the Test Card Girl and Sam & Gene rendered as Camberwick Green characters are all actually part of canon this really shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to anyone. Fanon has produced Sam/Mobile phone, Sam/Pencil case and even Sam/Procedure stories amongst others.

In this particular pair of stories Mikey reveals Sam to be a secret furry and Gene to be much more of a hedonist than even canon might at first suggest.

These stories should, by rights, have ended up being a rather cracky ride to the pervy side of PWP but somehow, despite the fact that yes, they are kinky and hot as hell, in Mikey’s skilled hands they become much more than that. It has everything to do with how she manages to keep Sam and Gene so thoroughly in character throughout while building a logical explanation for how Sam acquired his particular kink and for why Gene is prepared to go along with it.


Since landing in this terrible dream of a coma, or death, or Hell, he had not even felt the urge to have a ‘friend’ to play with. So much of his life had shut down – he barely knew how to ask Annie out for a date, he was drinking whisky straight, and he was wearing Cuban heels – that he was comfortable not feeling his usual desires and needs. Jerking off once a day in his flat with his eyes closed seemed to take care of business well enough, until now. Until Gene became an accidental furry, and Sam was not even sure “furries” as he knew them existed in 1973.


Toys

Boys and their toys

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Fandom: TORCHWOOD
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Length: 7,100 words
Author on LJ: fabluelous
Author Website: none
Why this must be read: This is a grim but wonderfully done time travel story, in which a Jack from the 70s hits the Hub in 2008. Jack and Ianto work together to stop a paradox, but there's a high price to pay in the process. Ianto is totally kick-ass in this, but oh god, there are no punches pulled. It's so good though; hard-edged, but with such a great character pay-off.

Save Me
Warning: violence.

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: None really; same as in show
Length: 32000 words+
Author on LJ: none
Author Website: A Trivial Page of Fanfiction
Why this must be read: Sylvia Volk provides a long, plotty, historical fic. Taking place both in the past and in the show's present, Gogmagog is probably my favorite of the fics in this particular verse. You don't have to read any of the fics that take place before this to enjoy and appreciate this, but it is well worth reading the entire series. Gogmagog is a story about Immortal friendship, about love and answers the question of just how and why the Methuselah stone came about. Sylvia creates rich original characters, while delving into the pasts of familiar canon characters. Her imagined past for Methos and Rebecca is vivid and full and while this particular story doesn't provide the full background, the weight of their history is felt throughout. One of the nicest aspects of this fic is the illustration of the relationships and friendships between the Immortals and teachers and students.

( snippet )

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Fandom: BANDOM
Pairing: Pete/Mikey
Length: 54051 words
Author on LJ: onneonlights
Author Website: Fic journal
Why this must be read:
Wonderful high school AU. Realistically captures the feeling of being in high school and in a fumbling, awkward-yet-sweet relationship.

( Excerpt )


play and record, held down together