The Pitt: i want to be the one patrolling your border by Lirazel
Jan. 20th, 2026 12:50 pmThis is my first time posting here, hope I'm doing it right
Fandom: The Pitt
Pairings/Characters: Mel King/Frank Langdon
Rating: Explicit
Length: 15,986
Creator Links: Lirazel on Ao3,
lirazel
Theme: Crack treated seriously, (not really) unrequited love, (something) made them do it, sex pollen
Summary:
There are all kinds of protocols in place to prevent this sort of thing, but of course they mean exactly nothing when faced with the reality of emergency medicine.
Frank and Trinity both complain that Mel has no sense of self-preservation, but she’s actually a very careful and responsible person. Despite what they say, she never puts herself in danger if she can help it, she feels that she makes level-headed decisions even under pressure, and even if she usually finds people hard to read, she’s read The Gift of Fear and is pretty sure she can tell when someone has actually malicious intent.
Pretty sure until, with no warning at all, a patient—Griffin Jackson, white male, 27, complaining of chest pains—pulls out a tiny jar of neon-yellow powder and pops off the top.
Reccer's note: This is a classic fandom trope (sex pollen) treated seriously. Mel and Frank are just co-workers in canon, but in canon it's obvious they have a connection and this fic explores how much they might grow to mean to each other, and it does so while keeping them (and all other characters that appear) tremendously in character. The sex is, of course, very hot too. :D And the fic also does consent right!
Fanwork Links: i want to be the one patrolling your border
Mods, we need a tag for The Pitt and the pairing too maybe, please? Thank you.
Heated Rivalry: All I Do is Stay Winning by Ragazza_Guasto
Jan. 20th, 2026 06:46 pmCharacters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Cliff Marleau, Connors
Rating: Mature
Length: 5144
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Descriptions of illness, choking, vomiting.
Creator Links: Ragazza_Guasto on AO3
Themes: Crack treated seriously, Pining, Getting back together, Canon LGBTQ+ characters, Angst with a happy ending
Summary: “Can you believe it? How the hell did he end up bagging her?”
Ilya stared, brain not comprehending what his body already seemed to, that Hollander was dating-
“Rose fuckin’ Landry! How does the lamest guy in the League-”
He knew that smile. He thought it was for him, just for him. But it wasn't.
“No,” he whispered. His stomach spasmed.
“You good, Roz?”
Why would he- How could he-
They were holding hands…
“Rozanov? What the fuck?”
He jumped up from the table and stumbled for the front door, just barely making it through before the first mass of petals came up. He heaved as he ran, trying desperately to get away from the pavement, somewhere he could hide what was happening.
Unfortunately, his teammates had followed, because of course they would. He saw a photo of Shane Hollander holding hands with a movie star and promptly threw up.
Who wouldn't be curious?
Reccer's Notes: Hanahaki disease, where a sufferer of unrequited love starts bringing up flowers, has to be one of the crackiest tropes ever. In this story Ilya develops Hanahaki after seeing the pics of Shane going out with Rose Landry. But it's not some gently romantic fluttering of petals from his lips, it's bloodily bringing up a hard, painful tulip bulb, then more flowers, more bulbs. I guess the trope always has a potentially serious outcome (death vs requited love) but to me the "treated seriously" aspects here are the medical details and treatment, the painful and unromantic way the disease affects Ilya, and the way the fic cleverly incorporates his family history, via his mother. Ilya gets very sick indeed before Shane finds out, with inevitable results. Well written, and a great read.
Fanwork Links: All I Do is Stay Winning
All I Do is Stay Winning (podfic by sd_ryan)
Lord Peter Wimsey: My True Love Has My Heart by Nineveh_UK
Jan. 19th, 2026 07:40 pmPairings/Characters: Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane (not requited - yet)
Rating: G
Length: 12,200
Creator Links:
Theme: crack treated seriously
Summary: Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey have triumphantly solved the Wilvercombe murder, and only want to return to London. But first they must solve a new mystery: why they have woken up in one another's bodies, and what on earth are they going to do about it?
Reccer's notes Bodyswap is a pretty cracky trope, but here
Fanwork Links: My True Love Has My Heart
Check In: Day 19
Jan. 19th, 2026 01:38 pmHow was writing today?
Today's discussion question: what are some recent influences on your writing? This is less of a question about what fandoms you write for, but rather, what has influenced your writing style or your craft?
SGA: Take Clothes Off As Directed by Helenish
Jan. 18th, 2026 10:31 pmCharacters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, Aiden Ford, Bates, Patrick Sheppard
Rating: Explicit
Length: 11,848
Content Notes: Author chose not to warn - my take would be that no AO3 warnings apply, although there's dubious consent at times, when John's being harassed as a sub.
Creator Links: Helenish on AO3, Ann ciudad on Audiofic Archive
Themes: Crack treated seriously, BDSM, Complete AU: BDSM, Friends to lovers, Worldbuilding, Trope inversion/subversion,
Summary: John entered the Air Force Academy in 1987; it was only the third year subs were accepted into the flight program. John wasn't the only one in his class, but he was the only one who looked like he did, and it didn't make him any friends.
Reccer's Notes: This story is well known in SGA fandom, and it's also crack treated seriously. The cracky premise is that it's set in a BDSM universe - almost everyone is bi and BDSM relationships are the norm, so there's no homophobia or DADT - but in this AU there is discrimination against subs. Unlike several other BDSM universe fics which are very much idfics revelling in the crack of John/Rodney being Dom/sub and the hotness and romance of their dynamic, Helenish turns the concept around, making John the attractive sub, and making the discrimination and "sexual" harassment he faces lifelong, especially as a sub in the military (and how that affects his character), the core of the story. It becomes an analogy for sexism and gender roles, and his expectations about being badly treated by doms come close to ruining his developing relationship with Rodney, an atypical dom who isn't "sexist", which disconcerts John. The story's complex and brilliantly written, and one I'll always return to. Very much recommended.
Fanwork Links: Take Clothes Off As Directed on AO3
The podfic read by Ann ciudad is also excellent.
Round 183 Theme Poll
Jan. 17th, 2026 09:23 amPick the next theme of fancake:
In Denial
26 (32.1%)
Inept in Love
31 (38.3%)
Power Dynamics
24 (29.6%)
Hench/Ask A Manager: my wife doesn't know I hench, by whetherwoman
Jan. 16th, 2026 11:51 pmPairings/Characters:
Rating: teen
Length: 2k
Creator Links:
Theme: crack taken seriously, superpowers, small fandoms, secret identities, crossovers
Summary: It's hench week at Ask a Manager!
Reccer's Notes: Ask a Manager is an advice column for workplace issues, and Hench is a comic about henchmen. This hilarious story is a series of good advice for both evil henchmen and people who manage evil henchmen, dealing with all sorts of workplace hazards ranging from the aftermath of sex pollen to how to manage someone who is using their evil to annoy their own team and beyond. It's amazing and funny whether you know either canon or not.
Fanwork Links: my wife doesn't know I hench, the evil sex ray made my employees do it, and more
Mods, I need some fandom tags.
