Fandom: HOCKEY RPF
Pairing: Brenden Gallagher/Alex Galchenyuk
Length: 4,600
Author on LJ mistfarer
Author Website: mistfarer on Tumblr
Why this must be read:

Gally and Chucky seem to be well on their way to being the Kaner/Tazer 2.0 - both rookies on an Original Six team, who are helping to pull the team out of the league basement (although Montreal never fell as far as Chicago did). In this case, the Canadian is the light-hearted one (Brendan Gallagher) and the American is the more serious and reserved of the two (Alex Galchenyuk). Even with the drastically reduced training camp and the lockout-shortened season, the two rookies already seem to share a deep bond, making fanfic about them inevitable.

The beauty thing about this pairing is that Galchenyuk was born in the US to a Russian hockey player, and thus spent most of his growing up years in Europe, learning to speak several languages including Russian (so we get to claim him, but he's basically Russian!). Thus you get Russian Knitting Circle tropes with him involved, and the other players are some of the other rookies in the NHL, like Nail Yakupov (who is actually in the Western Conference).

This is a 'five things' fic that journeys through the rookies' first season as their bond gradually turns into something else. Neither of them has any issues with it and their relationship seems to blossom without them being aware of it. It is labeled as a denial story, but I think this is far more subtle - these boys are not self-aware enough to deny anything.

i said if i'm honest, i fell for you that last night

Fandom: STAR TREK REBOOT
Pairing: Kirk/Spock
Length: 51k
Author on LJ: kariye
Author Website: kariye’s fic on AO3
Why this must be read:

This story is like a puzzle inside an enigma wrapped in the mystery that is Jim Kirk. It is a story of non-linear, Heller-esque proportions, that jumps around to different points of Jim’s life through the first five-year mission to tell the story of a complex man who holds himself up to the very highest of standards and the Vulcan who calls him on his bullshit.

As the story unfolds, it continually circles back on itself, each twist unveiling a bit more about Jim and Spock, but it’s much more than a relationship story or a mission fic – it’s almost impossible to categorize, actually. It is about the hell that is the responsibility of command. It is about questioning the very mission of your life and the choices you have made. It is about surviving life in general, and finding the people in it that make it bearable.

It’s a stunningly relentless yet touching work – I have so many FEELS for it. And it’s got everything this fangirl could ask for – hurt/comfort, romance (after a fashion), adventure, angst, emotional turmoil and, of course, rocks.

Give this story a read – you won’t regret it, or forget it.

( Here is an excerpt… )

For Gladness of You on AO3

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Length: ~11,000
Author on LJ: raggedass_road
Author Website: Original? writing journal at syntox. Unfortunately, neither journal appears to have updated in several years.)
Why this must be read: Angst is not my usual thing, so it's a little bit of a fluke that I read this story at all. I consumed it via podfic at first, courtesy of one of Luzula's entries into an amplificathon.

It chewed my heart up a few times and caused me to make little whimpering sounds, but my gosh, it was worth it.

"Mosquito Field, AFQ" is set post-COTW and focuses on Ray Kowalski, who has decided that "away from Fraser" is the most healthy place for him to be.  He ends up at a little airfield in Alaska and learns to be a bush pilot.  (The author is a small-aircraft pilot her/himself, so they know what they're talking about, but writes the flying and mechanics simply enough for a non-engineering-type person to keep on track with the action.)  When Fraser shows up in Alaska, much to Ray's dismay, they have to deal with things unspoken and misinterpreted.  It's gritty and rough and really well-written.

It's not an album Fraser's even supposed to be in. It's supposed to be Ray, just Ray, and Marty, maybe the guy who tends bar, and the grocer and his wife and the local State Trooper. The small-town set, twenty faces he knows. But not Fraser. The whole point of the album was not to have Fraser, but now everything's fucked and nothing's what it's supposed to be. His home base at AFQ, the place where he's safe, it's not so safe anymore. The sky where he can't be touched, it's not so high up there all of a sudden.

Mosquito Field, AFQ