Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan
Length: 2040 words
Author on LJ: hanarobi
Author website:AO3

Why this must be read:

Hanarobi takes the comfortable, satisfying staples of the fandom (character study, some hopefulness and romance) and adds just enough difficulty to leave a taste that lingers for a very long time.  I especially love the insights into Duck's mind.

With a Name Like Duck

Fandom: THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Pairing: Mark/Eduardo
Length: 4,600 words
Author on LJ: jibrailis
Author Website: On AO3
Why this must be read: I have tried and tried to get my recs down to one a day for the month, but I cannot. I have been brutal with myself and I've cut them down to 32, but I just cannot loose another one and it's fics like this that are why.

Mark and Eduardo have post-deposition hate-sex. Or something. Eduardo is feeling the pressure to, uh, perform...

It's when Eduardo takes up yoga so that he can stretch out the kinks in his body, and learn to bend his body in new ways to satisfy Mark, that he thinks this is too much. Exercising in reaction to and in preparation for sex is more than Eduardo is used to. Eduardo is a good Jewish boy with shares in one of the world's most profitable companies. He visits his mother once every two months and he visits Mark's mother every time he's in town. He never forgets birthdays, anniversaries, or to water his plants. Eduardo doesn't do sexercise.

And no matter what Mark and his yoga instructor think, he's never going to be that flexible. He's just not.

Mark puts Eduardo to shame, and that's the crux of it, really. Mark wants it fast, hard, and good, and Eduardo can't keep up. Eduardo is only one man. He can't keep on hitting home runs. He can't be Mark's one stop spokesperson for all things queer. It's too much pressure to handle.

Fandom: BIG TIME RUSH
Pairing: Carlos/Kendall and James/Logan
Length: ~4,000 words
Author on LJ: _kirbylicious_
Author Website: kirbyfics
Why this must be read: In the show, Carlos is generally the least mature of the guys, and he's an epic failure when it comes to girls, so presenting him as a romantic lead can be a hard sell. This fic does a wonderful job, positing that a lot of Carlos' problems with girls come from not having figured out his sexuality yet, and when it comes to approaching boys, he's a lot more natural.

( excerpt )

In Which Carlos is Inexplicably Suave

Since the last rec was a spectacular AU, I thought I'd continue with Alternate Universes for a few days. I've always thought that Stargate:Atlantis fandom held the title for whackiest, crackiest AUs that work, but I think Inception can give it a run for the money.

Fandom: INCEPTION
Pairing: Arthur/Eames (mostly implied)
Length: ~ 9,763 words
Author on LJ: rageprufrock
Author Website: Fics on A03
Why this must be read: There are some people I would read no matter what fandom they write in, and Pru is one of them. No matter what she's writing, you know you're in for something funny and smart and just a little bit different.

In this AU, Eames is an advertising exec working for the Cobbs. (Ariadne shows up as an intern, and Yusuf as Eames' BFF). Eames has become rather smitten with the Cobbs' friend Arthur, who happens to be a yoga instructor. (Yes, you read that correctly. Extra-bendy Arthur.) In order to prove the sincerity of his suit, Eames signs up for Arthur's classes, hoping to impress him (even as he gets to watch him being flexible and annoyed in Eames' general direction). Most of us would do a great deal for love, but I'm not sure how many men (or even women) would suffer through a pre-natal yoga class to impress someone.

Along with the aching back and muscle strains (and perhaps a small concussion), Eames eventually gets Arthur's full attention, but is it enough to convince him that Eames is in this for the long haul?

( 'Right, I'm here for a yoga class?' Eames says, three hours later, standing at the sleekly desaturated reception desk at Inception Yoga. )

On AO3: Breathe Into It

It doesn't matter how old or new or (how popular) a story is, authors love feedback!

Fandom: YAMI NO MATSUEI
Pairing: Watari/Tatsumi
Length: 1,419
Author on LJ: cairnsy
Author Website: Author's Page on FF.N

Why this must be read: This fic was rec'ed to me by the wonderfully helpful laurose8 on the yami_no_matsuei comm. Normally, I tend not to ship Watari and Tatsumi, since I've run across a few too many fics which, in less capable hands, caused it to suffer from a case of Pair the Spares. But this fic is anything but that. The author does more than sketch the personalities of these two very different shinigami -- Watari with his daffiness and artlessness, Tatsumi with his straight-laced nature that hides a surprisingly gentle, sentimental heart -- and shows how, as the saying goes, opposites can attract and lend each other balance.

Sentimental