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20 Recs from February & March
Mar. 28th, 2026 10:00 pmOh hey, it's nearly the end of March and, while I did post a bunch of Festivids recs at the start of February, I haven't done a general rec list since January, so let's do a jumbo-sized one.
Most of what I have been reading is Heated Rivalry, so let's start with those recs! The difficult part is that I've been bookmarking so MUCH HR fic that keeping track of which are my favorites and what the plot are of all of them from my bookmarks is a bit tricky, but I'll do my best.
❖ all's well that ends well (to end up with you) by heydoeydoey (Shane/Ilya, 19k): Loosely connected series of fics beginning in 1x06 and going through Shane and Ilya's retirement.
❖ Asylum by Evilharlowe (Shane/Ilya, 126k): Absolutely gripping fic about Ilya dealing with fallout from his outing in Russia and seeking asylum in Canada. In my bookmark I said that it felt like Beartown meets Heated Rivalry, which is absolutely a compliment.
❖ 🎥 Buckle by sisabet (Ilya-centric, fanvid): "I made a thousand people love me, now I'm all alone." Great, angsty character study.
❖ Deep Misunderstanding by some1_around (Hayden-centric, 9k): Hayden has to grapple with the fact that he's missed a lot in his best friend's life. Like seeing him start unpacking the ways in which he could have shown up better for Shane.
❖ Different This Time by Pickle_Chips (Shane/Ilya, 8k): "It’s been months since the cottage, and Shane is finally coming to visit Ilya. He hasn’t been back in Boston since the day he ran out the door saying he couldn’t do this. Ilya is spiraling, just a little, not knowing where they stand in this new and fragile thing. Boyfriends, probably. He’s never been someone’s boyfriend before." Defining the relationship post-episode 6.
❖ Ilya Enchanted by Daisies_and_Briars (Shane/Ilya, Ilya-centric, 16k): Truth spells, my beloved. (This is not the only truth spells fic on this rec list.) I always enjoy Daisies_and_Briars' brand of magical realism, and I liked the complications Ilya faces after being gifted with the blessing of honesty by a witch outside a drag bar.
❖ licked by fire by Anonymous (Shane/Ilya, Shane-centric, 5k): Love fic where Shane gets to be ANGRY.
❖ The Only Victory That Matters by TicketToWrite (Shane/Ilya, Shane-centric, 30k): "No matter how much he loved his husband, Shane had always wanted to be a star hockey player first and foremost, not a 'gay hockey player' defined first by his sexuality." Shane captains Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics and has to navigate his own complex feelings about being a "gay athlete" as well as about working with a team outside the Ottawa Centaurs bubble.
❖ Play Hard by Hartzy (Shane/Ilya, 31k): "The start of Ottawa's season feels like a promise. Ilya finally has all the people he loves in one place, a team that can keep up with him, the whole world knows he and Shane love each other, and they have the sweetest, most perfect dog. So why is he so nervous about their first game against Montreal?" The start of a series of post-S1 fics.
❖ Wunderkind by a_good_soldier (Yuna-centric, 11k): I would rec absolutely every one of a_good_soldier's HR fic, but I'm obsessed with Yuna Hollander so enjoy this nuanced character study.
And here is everything else:
❖ highway to hell (and back) by madforyou (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, 23k): "What's a little road-head between friends?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
❖ honesty is such a lonely word by beetlesandstars & kryptonian (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, 8k): As promised, more truth spells (well, maybe it's a truth serum here). Buck and Eddie are exposed on the job, Eddie finds himself unable to reflexively deny having any wants or desires, hotness ensues.
❖ se vive mejor by astrolesbian (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, Chris-centric, 5k): Sweet fic about Chris finding out about Buck and Eddie's relationship sometime post-S8.
❖ Twenty Mile Detour by glorious_spoon (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, 8k): More speculative road trip fic written before the crossover ep. Bed sharing leads to some delicious but not-too-heavy angst. (I read good fic written after the road trip too, I just couldn't pick a specific one to rec.)
❖ narrow escapes by Wildehack (M*A*S*H, Margaret/Hawkeye, 28k): Loved, loved, loved, loved this post-canon romance between Margaret and Hawkeye. It's so true to their canon dynamic and personalities, it doesn't shortchange any of their other relationships, and it really sold me on their relationship.
❖ So It Has Always Been, So It Always Shall Be by Jedi Buttercup (The Mummy, Rick/Evy/Ardeth, 11k): Delightful OT3 fic set post-The Mummy Returns.
❖ Mel King and the Art of Touch by ironcharlie (The Pitt, Mel/Frank, 30k): I'm not going to lie, I do love a didn't-know-they-were-dating fic that makes you ask "Has any person every been this oblivious?" Irresistible trope to me.
❖ Just a Boy with a Nail Bat by That_Silly_Fox (Stranger Things, Steve/Eddie, Steve-centric, 103k): "A time travel fix-it, where 1987 Steve is dropped back into his 1984 self. And now he has to deal with that plus the impending apocalypse on the horizon. But he'll be fine, right? Because, as El informs whoever asks, Steve's 'The Babysitter'. So he gets to work. He can cry later, when he's done."
❖ Problems of a Follicular Nature by insignificant457 (Stranger Things, Dustin & Steve, 2k): "Sometimes, not having a dad around really, really sucks. But recently acquiring a big brother does have its perks." A lovely fic that really captures the sweetness of Dustin and Steve's friendship (minus some of the emotional baggage of the last two seasons).
❖ Undiscovered Country by shysweetthing (Yuri on Ice, Victor/Yuri, canon AU, 114k): Fantastic long read where things go a little differently at the Grand Prix final and Yuri finds himself long-distance dating Victor (much to his disbelief).
Most of what I have been reading is Heated Rivalry, so let's start with those recs! The difficult part is that I've been bookmarking so MUCH HR fic that keeping track of which are my favorites and what the plot are of all of them from my bookmarks is a bit tricky, but I'll do my best.
❖ all's well that ends well (to end up with you) by heydoeydoey (Shane/Ilya, 19k): Loosely connected series of fics beginning in 1x06 and going through Shane and Ilya's retirement.
❖ Asylum by Evilharlowe (Shane/Ilya, 126k): Absolutely gripping fic about Ilya dealing with fallout from his outing in Russia and seeking asylum in Canada. In my bookmark I said that it felt like Beartown meets Heated Rivalry, which is absolutely a compliment.
❖ 🎥 Buckle by sisabet (Ilya-centric, fanvid): "I made a thousand people love me, now I'm all alone." Great, angsty character study.
❖ Deep Misunderstanding by some1_around (Hayden-centric, 9k): Hayden has to grapple with the fact that he's missed a lot in his best friend's life. Like seeing him start unpacking the ways in which he could have shown up better for Shane.
❖ Different This Time by Pickle_Chips (Shane/Ilya, 8k): "It’s been months since the cottage, and Shane is finally coming to visit Ilya. He hasn’t been back in Boston since the day he ran out the door saying he couldn’t do this. Ilya is spiraling, just a little, not knowing where they stand in this new and fragile thing. Boyfriends, probably. He’s never been someone’s boyfriend before." Defining the relationship post-episode 6.
❖ Ilya Enchanted by Daisies_and_Briars (Shane/Ilya, Ilya-centric, 16k): Truth spells, my beloved. (This is not the only truth spells fic on this rec list.) I always enjoy Daisies_and_Briars' brand of magical realism, and I liked the complications Ilya faces after being gifted with the blessing of honesty by a witch outside a drag bar.
❖ licked by fire by Anonymous (Shane/Ilya, Shane-centric, 5k): Love fic where Shane gets to be ANGRY.
❖ The Only Victory That Matters by TicketToWrite (Shane/Ilya, Shane-centric, 30k): "No matter how much he loved his husband, Shane had always wanted to be a star hockey player first and foremost, not a 'gay hockey player' defined first by his sexuality." Shane captains Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics and has to navigate his own complex feelings about being a "gay athlete" as well as about working with a team outside the Ottawa Centaurs bubble.
❖ Play Hard by Hartzy (Shane/Ilya, 31k): "The start of Ottawa's season feels like a promise. Ilya finally has all the people he loves in one place, a team that can keep up with him, the whole world knows he and Shane love each other, and they have the sweetest, most perfect dog. So why is he so nervous about their first game against Montreal?" The start of a series of post-S1 fics.
❖ Wunderkind by a_good_soldier (Yuna-centric, 11k): I would rec absolutely every one of a_good_soldier's HR fic, but I'm obsessed with Yuna Hollander so enjoy this nuanced character study.
And here is everything else:
❖ highway to hell (and back) by madforyou (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, 23k): "What's a little road-head between friends?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
❖ honesty is such a lonely word by beetlesandstars & kryptonian (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, 8k): As promised, more truth spells (well, maybe it's a truth serum here). Buck and Eddie are exposed on the job, Eddie finds himself unable to reflexively deny having any wants or desires, hotness ensues.
❖ se vive mejor by astrolesbian (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, Chris-centric, 5k): Sweet fic about Chris finding out about Buck and Eddie's relationship sometime post-S8.
❖ Twenty Mile Detour by glorious_spoon (9-1-1, Buck/Eddie, 8k): More speculative road trip fic written before the crossover ep. Bed sharing leads to some delicious but not-too-heavy angst. (I read good fic written after the road trip too, I just couldn't pick a specific one to rec.)
❖ narrow escapes by Wildehack (M*A*S*H, Margaret/Hawkeye, 28k): Loved, loved, loved, loved this post-canon romance between Margaret and Hawkeye. It's so true to their canon dynamic and personalities, it doesn't shortchange any of their other relationships, and it really sold me on their relationship.
❖ So It Has Always Been, So It Always Shall Be by Jedi Buttercup (The Mummy, Rick/Evy/Ardeth, 11k): Delightful OT3 fic set post-The Mummy Returns.
❖ Mel King and the Art of Touch by ironcharlie (The Pitt, Mel/Frank, 30k): I'm not going to lie, I do love a didn't-know-they-were-dating fic that makes you ask "Has any person every been this oblivious?" Irresistible trope to me.
❖ Just a Boy with a Nail Bat by That_Silly_Fox (Stranger Things, Steve/Eddie, Steve-centric, 103k): "A time travel fix-it, where 1987 Steve is dropped back into his 1984 self. And now he has to deal with that plus the impending apocalypse on the horizon. But he'll be fine, right? Because, as El informs whoever asks, Steve's 'The Babysitter'. So he gets to work. He can cry later, when he's done."
❖ Problems of a Follicular Nature by insignificant457 (Stranger Things, Dustin & Steve, 2k): "Sometimes, not having a dad around really, really sucks. But recently acquiring a big brother does have its perks." A lovely fic that really captures the sweetness of Dustin and Steve's friendship (minus some of the emotional baggage of the last two seasons).
❖ Undiscovered Country by shysweetthing (Yuri on Ice, Victor/Yuri, canon AU, 114k): Fantastic long read where things go a little differently at the Grand Prix final and Yuri finds himself long-distance dating Victor (much to his disbelief).
