#type:canon

[parth-savyasachi]

My birthday!

I toss and turn all night. I want the morning to come fast. As soon as morning dawns, I'm out of my bed.

Mata is doing Pooja. I can smell the vahigandh, the incense. She turns as I enter. "Shubham Janamdinam, little hurricane!" She says, as I hug her. 'Mata, where is Pitashree? He said I can learn swords from today!' 'Wait for it, Arjun. Not today. Today is a day of celebration, yes?' 'But-' 'No, Arjun.' 'Please, mata?' I make the sweetest face I can. Sometimes, I can talk her into doing what I want.

She shakes her head. 'Go have your food. Look, there's Maharaj.' 'Pitashree!' He lifts me high and swings me in his arms. It's a game we play. His voice is low, conspiratorial as he says, winking, 'Once you eat, I'll take you out, hmm? Then, we'll do what you're waiting for.' He's feeding me out of his own hands as I stare at him. 'Really?' He nods. 'Can we finish eating fast?' Pitashree laughs.

[samwellslibrary]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author: misandrywitch

Rating: Teen and up (not rated by the author)

Length: 16,253 words

Type: Past/Canon

Pairing: Jack/Shitty

Summary: Jack doesn’t really want to be friends with him, or with anyone, not here at this school and with these people. He wants to keep his head down and keep moving forward, keep playing and getting better and power through this year or few years or however long it will be, and move past it.Life seems to have other plans, as life does.

Or: The one where Jack and Shitty hook up.

Commentary: I opened this fic to read (any long-ish fic in this fandom is bound to call my attention) but then lots of hockey rpf happened and I forgot about it. Then the other day a friend sent me a link to it saying I had to read it, and I’m really glad she did, because I enjoyed this a lot.

It is also perfectly balanced: it’s not angsty, it just has the normal sadness you can expect from being in Jack’s head; but it’s not cracky either it has has some really fun moments (Johnson has a few cameos, and I’ll always remember Shitty shouting “Don’t invalidate my bisexuality! Say the B word!”).

I also liked how the story is structured, as if small flashbacks or episodes. Certainly a really good read :) 

[samwellslibrary]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author: applecrumbledore

Rating: Teen and up 

Length: 5,703 words

Type: Canon

Pairing: Jack/Bitty

Summary: [A bunch of ways in which everyone finds out.

Commentary: I hadn’t read this before because it was unfinished, but the plot called me and today I finally gave in. This is a series, but this rec is for the first part, which is unfinished, but the chapters stand alone, so no worries about cliffhangers :)

This fic is a great mix of cuteness and humour. Of course, Jack and BItty are adorable as a couple, but they are also cute separately (Jack made me sigh dreamily a lot here, for some reason. Also, of course he changes into French during sex <3). Besides, Shitty’s characterisation is really well done. He’s great in here. I’m really looking forward to reading the second part of the series (even if it sounds angstier) or any other short chapter for this first part :)

[samwellslibrary]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author: thatfamoushappyending

Rating: General Audiences

Length: 666 words

Type: canon

Pairing: Bitty/Jack

Summary: In which Shitty overhears Bitty introducing his own concert in the shower.

Commentary: Just 600 words of in-character fun. I’ll be forever laughing at Jack’s inability to use technology properly (and at how in this fic he has hockey sticks randomly lying on his bed...). Bitty is adorable (who hasn’t done that in the shower? :) ), Jack is adorable too and Shitty is just great. 

[samwellslibrary]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author: biblionerd07

Rating: General Audiences

Length: 7,020 words

Type: canon

Pairing: Bitty/Jack

Summary: 5 times Jack just couldn't find the right words, +1 time Bitty understood anyway.

Commentary: I loved this fic. On the one hand, because it was adorable. On the other, because I think Jack’s throughts here show a part of anxiety and other disorders we don’t talk so uch about: the struggle to do normal stuff, even when you’re having a good day; feeling terrible because you know you shouldn’t worry about some things, but you can’t stop yourself; thinking you have to stop trying to do something, because you made a mistake once so you’re just not good enough. I think the author made a great job showing that.

Besides, it follows Bitty’s tweets, and that’s always fun :)

[samwellslibrary]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author: Euphorion

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Length: 12,154 words

Type: Canon

Pairing: Holster/Ransom; side Jack/Bitty

Summary: The thing about Ransom was, he wasn’t gay for his best friend.

Commentary: This is a complanion fic to Best Laid Plans (recced by us here). I really liked that one, and I was excited when I saw there was more to the story. This fic is lots of fun, it has clever jokes (I’m still laughing about “Check It Like Crosby”) and then it gets really cute. Besides, the talk about sexuality is really interesting and I enjoyed that a lot (everybody is queer and nothing hurts :) ). And it gets extra points for being long-ish, which I miss a lot in this fandom!

[samwellslibrary]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author: Laliandra

Rating: General Audiences

Length: 2,225 words

Type: Canon

Pairing: Jack/Bitty

Summary: "Jack baking for the team because they are his best love"

Commentary: This is lots of fun. All the dialogues between Jack and Bitty are funny and nice. And the general idea (Jack baking for the team for Valentine’s day) is just adorable. Some of the things Jack says here (no spoilers!) gave me lots of team feels, which are the best kind of feels, if you ask me. It’s beautifully written here, how this team was what made Jack fall in love with hockey again. So, yeah, this fic has a bit of everything :)

[samwellslibrary]

Jack startled awake, still shaking from his nightmare. The closer he got to graduation and the NHL, the worse the pressure was to succeed, not to fail, not to do what he did la— Jack got out of bed to...

Author: thatfamoushappyending

Rating: General Audiences (no rated by the author)

Length: 2,101 words

Type: Canon

Pairing: Jack/Bitty

Summary: Jack wakes up after a nightmare in the middle of the night and, after noticing he has already watched all the history documentaries on Netflix, decides to watch a Good Eats episode about baking apple pies.  (not written by the author)

Commentary: Jack baking, Jack baking, JACK BAKING! Have I ever mentioned how much I love Jack baking? Yes? I have? Sorry, but… JACK BAKING! Besides that, this was adorable, with Jack wanting to have stuff to impress Bitty with talk about with Bitty, and also lots of fun. I think Jack’s voice was really clear and in character :)