#fic: kasperi kaparnen and willy nylander

[grittyreadsfic]

hi, what are your favorite pretend/fake dating fics? i really appreciate your recs <33

some fun gritty lore for you, my friend, is that fake dating? it's my all time favorite trope. so this list is gonna be a lil bit uhhhhhhhh excessive? hope you don't mind

but because it's long, i will stick it below the cut

throw me on the first line by lotts is my all time favorite fake dating fic, and more fun gritty lore: i tweeted about rereading my fav fake dating fic recently and then had to explain to ao3 user lotts that it was their fic. the mortifying ordeal of being perceived, ya know? but it's an absolute gem of a zach hyman/willy nylander fic. their characterization and dynamic are so fun, and zach is his own biggest enemy. it's fun and charming and sweet, and cannot rec it enough

something old by uraneia is a danny briere/claude giroux fic that on top of being fake dating, is a break up and make up fic. i really love the twist of having the fake dating be between exes, because it's a different kind of tension than you normally get

all i wanna, ain't no other by crookedsilence is actually a nate mackinnon/cale makar fic that i read for the first time this week-i didn't know crookedsilence had a fake dating au, and when i stumbled across it i was so excited-add bonus of also being a "didn't know they were dating" fic, which meant that about half way through my second hand embarrassment got so bad that i had to close out of the fic and put my phone down for a few hours until i could finish it. absolutely worth it though

give you the moon by therainbowsedge is a travis konecny/nolan patrick fic where they're both long term camp counselors at summer camp. it's funny and sweet and the take on fake dating is a personal fav of mine

figures drawn to scale by lotts back again with more lotts but this time it's nate bastian/mikey mcleod/dylan strome, an absolute gem of a college au with fake dating and polyamory negotiations. it's a slightly different take on the trope (fake dating for a study, rather than one of the usual reasons) and it's fresh and fun and one of my favorite polyamorous ships in hockey, tbqh

baby that's the fun of me by blamefincham and thistidalwave is an absolutely stellar carter hart/kevin hayes fake dating au, with the best twist-they're pretending to date, not to fool anyone or anything like that, but so that carter can (kind of reluctantly) learn how to date. we all know i love a good trope inversion

stop making sense by vidriana is a kasperi kaparnen/willy nylander is just, peak soft idiots to lovers, which is entirely what i want to see in the trope. the dynamic between them, the chirping and how much they care about each other, is just so so so good

wait and see by marmolita is a sidney crosby/nate mackinnon BDSM verse fic where doms have to collar a sub by a certain age to stay in the league. it's a super fun, and i think that sid/nate is a ship that is just so overlooked for those who are into friends to lovers

too fragile just to guess by spiritsflame is jamie benn/tyler seguin and it is an excellent example of miscommunication and how complicated things can get when the people faking a relationship have a history beyond friendship

swear to be overdramatic and true by lotts i know this is the third lotts fic on this list but hear me out it's tyson barrie/nate mackinnon and an absolutely beauty of the idiots to lovers trope, as well as being a nontraditional take on fake dating.

sure thing by bitter_leaf is just the loveliest nate bastian/mikey mcleod fake dating fic-it's messy and delves into the ways that fake dating can hurt the people involved, and it just feels so real, when it comes to the emotions

[grittyreadsfic]

ooh do you have podfic recs? I just got into them too they have made my life so much better

i DO have podfic recs!

stop making sense (by vidriana) read by frecklebombfic is a kasperi kapanen/willy nylander fake dating fic, and actually the first one i ever listened to? i relistened to it today and i'm truly amazed by how they read the dialogue during the big emotional scene, it's absolutely perfect and makes it hit so hard

how winning is done (by jolach) read by frecklebombfic is a travis konency/nolan patrick fic and it's such a gem-the podficcer also picked out the perfect song for the intro that just sets the tone so well

the ballad of the worst barista in the worst cafe in detroit (by thescrewtapedemos) read by annapods is an andreas athanasiou/tyler bertuzzi fic where one of them isn't a hockey player/coffee shop au, and it has a lot of fun audio added in to really enhance listening-annapods does that in a lot of fics and it always is really fun

my unicycle has one wheel (by mcspot) read by annapods is a brock boeser/elias pettersson fic where elias is a wiggle. it's fun and absurd and i think that annapods nails the comedic timing in it

life in living color (by catchascatchcan) read by matriaya is a radio show au that's kind of like a love actually style take? pairings are uhhh carter hart/kevin hayes, travis konecny/nolan patrick, scott laughton/michael raffl, and joel farabee/morgan frost. matriaya straight up nailed the delivery of hardhitting lines in this

never going back again (by lilcrickee) read by ofjustimagine is a lawson crouse/travis konecny roadtrip fic, and ofjustimagines intersperses the driving mix mentioned in the fic throughout and it's just so well executed

throw me on the first line (by lotts) read by lotts is my all time favorite fake dating fic ever, and it's zach hyman/willy nylander. i did embarrass myself on twitter by talking about that where they could see it rip 2 me but they do such a great job with reading and the emotion they convey in their tone is *chef's kiss*