september recs, day twenty-nine: hockey rarepairs

Second-to-last day of September Recs! Oh dear. Well, my quest to incept the few of you remaining who haven't surrendered to your dark overlords of hockey fandom continues, I guess. I usually go for the big pairings first in fandoms I don't know the canon for, on the grounds that it's easier to absorb the fanon that way, but theoretically you could also go the opposite route and try out rarepair fic, since it generally assumes there is no established fanon to recognize anyway. A lot of these fics feature people I'd never heard of before I started reading, and I liked them anyway! I consider that a pretty strong endorsement.

young punks takin' shots, strippin' down to dirty socks, by hanet [Sam Gagner/Nail Yakupov]
A very old plotline -- I'm gay, you're gay, we're both closeted, let's make sweet love since we have no other options -- that's refreshed with a charmingly frank POV and the oddest, most perfect details. Nail can't drink because he's Muslim! Jizz socks! Nuge looking like a gay porn centerfold! Went in not knowing who Gags or Nail was, came out shipping them like the Titanic.

If the Right One Came Along, by hapakitsune [Kris Letang/Marc Staal]
Nominally this is the sequel to a Sid/Geno fic, but I don't think any prior knowledge is really necessary except that Kris and Marc both played small mentoring roles in Sid's great homosexual awakening. I think the story would actually work without any connection to hockey fandom at all, as just a very lovely slow build romance set mostly in New York City. The hurricane forcing them into a situation where they finally admit their feelings is maybe a bit cliche, but it works; it's a very New York story.

don't think I'm coming home, by 12ways [Curtis Hamilton/Josh Nicholls]
These aren't even NHL players; I guarantee you, nobody has heard of them, so don't worry. They're baby hockey players, and they're so cute, and so in love in a very bro sort of way. It's an adorable story guaranteed to give you feelings.

Fall Down At Your Door, by level3puckbunny [Ryan Nugent-Hopkins/Nail Yakupov]
Meet-cute with a slightly implausible level of yenta-ing from a variety of side characters, but if you're willing to suspend your disbelief it's adorable!

A Month of Sundays, by Kelfin [Erik Johnson/Gabe Landeskog]
Warning right off the bat that this is still a WIP, but if I have to suffer while I wait for it to be finished so can you. And it's really, really good so far, with an eye for the details of Midwestern Christian life that's sometimes funny and sometimes absolutely brutal. I personally adore Gabe Landeskog (Swedish Prince of My Heart) and always want him to have nice things, but more than that this story makes me want for things to be okay for Erik. I genuinely just want to hug him at this point and tell him he deserves to be happy. (Author, if you are reading this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE finish soon, I can't take this heartbreak anymore.)