Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Mulder/Scully (ish)
Length: a spare 850 words
Author on LJ: leiascully
Author Website: fic tag
Why this must be read:

..."Because Mulder" is a totally insufficient reason, but it's mine. I'm an unrepentant Mulderist, and this is a beautiful little crawl around (the nicer parts of) his head. And then there's the language, which is spare and beautiful:

His good works were not enough: he was untouched by grace. He was no more than the shape described by his bones, barely three-dimensional, slipping through the Bureau's cracks accidentally on purpose until he found his lair, shoving out the copy machines and making a space for himself, or what was left of him. He built an altar to worship the shreds of hope in the void, the preternatural happenings so improbable as to approach, through a glass darkly, miracles.

This is technically a Per Manum infill, but it contains only a single sentence reference to the episode; it's a character study through and through.

And if I stepped out of my body

Fandom: VORKOSIVERSE
Pairing: Aral/Cordelia, Aral/Jole
Length: 45k words
Author on LJ: dsudis, dira
Author Website: AO3
Why this must be read:

Aral is bisexual.  And although he is very thoroughly indoctrinated with Barrayaran sexual ideals about monogamy and heteronormativity, Cordelia is not.  It's not a betrayal if everyone is happy about it.  This series does a wonderful job of exploring what it might be like to be gay on Barrayar, particularly in the military.  It also does a wonderful job of exploring Aral and Cordelia's relationship, and taking an extremely minor character (Aral's aide, Lieutenant Jole) and fleshing him out to a wonderfully three-dimensional person.  It's engrossing and well-done (as if it could be anything else with Dira writing it).  And, of course, there are a lot of complications: it's not enough to say "hey, let's all get together!"  There is a lot of time spent feeling each other out and misunderstanding and negotiating what exactly is going on and what will happen, and making sure it's all safe, sane, and consensual.  It sounds dry when you put it like that, but oh, it's not.  It is so wonderfully angsty and hopeful and when they finally work through all the issues it makes you want to cheer.

Here's the bit from the first fic where Cordelia walks in on Aral and Jole working together and realizes that not only does Aral have a crush on Jole, Jole has a crush on Aral:

 

( snippet )

 

The World That You Need

Fandom: DC COMICS
Characters: Guy Gardner, Kilowog, multiple Green Lantern Corps members, Tora Olafsdotter mentions
Length: 2535 words
Author on LJ: duskdog717
Author's Website: LJ Fanfic Tags
Why this must be read:

Guy Gardner's character would seem to be tough to write and this author handles him expertly, along with placing one of my favorite GL's, Kilowog, in the stellar place of being Guy's friend and sounding board about relationships. The upcoming Green Lantern movie won't be any better than these characterizations.

Nothing To Worry About

Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Obi-Wan/Anakin
Length: ~4k words
Author on LJ: jedishampoo
Author Website: JedishampooDOTcom
Why this must be read:

Anakin as a submissive? From a discussion about how this situation rarely shows up in fanfiction, this author has crafted a story about The Team. Without giving too much away, Palpatine is at his Sithiest in this fic, and hyperspace gets a lot hotter, very quickly. This author remains a favorite, writing not only classic parodies of Obidala and sequels to threesome stories, but a remarkable takeoff on Stover's Revenge of the Sith novelization. Such riches.

What You Take With You

Fandom: THE PROFESSIONALS
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Length: approx 12000 words
Author on LJ: solosundance
Author Website: Links to JoJo’s stories can be found archived here, here, and here.
Why this must be read: Wild Justice is one of my favourite episodes and this story seamlessly follows on from it. Catastrophe Theory covers the consequences of Bodie’s actions, shows us parts of Bodie and Doyle’s past, reveals the depth of their partnership and relationship, and fleshes out characters like Jack Craine and Kate Ross as well. Beautifully written with the characters captured perfectly this is intriguing and involving and a story you will want to read over and over again.

( Excerpt )

Catastrophe Theory (at the Automated Hatstand) and Catastrophe Theory (at AO3)