Fancake

Fandom: due South
Characters/Pairings: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, Diefenbaker, Victoria Metcalfe, original characters
Rating: Explicit
Length: 19,093
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings
Creator Links: thehoyden on AO3, luzula on the Audiofic Archive
Themes: Uncommon settings, Friends to lovers, First time, Working together, Complete AU: academia

Summary: "What the hell is this, an Austen novel?"

Reccer's Notes: Complete AUs are unusual in due South, and this is that rarity, a dS AU set in academia. Fraser is a new professor, looked down on by his colleagues as he's from the University of Guelph, and only Ray Kowalski, a punky, nonconformist professor, befriends him. They both have offices on the unpopular top floor (Fraser as he's bottom of the pecking order, and Ray as he likes to get away from the rest of the department), which helps kickstart their friendship. The story is about the highs and lows of academic life and there are some great sections showing Ray's unconventional teaching style which the students love, and Fraser's more traditional, but solid, approach. There's academic politics and also drama with the return of Victoria, Fraser's ex and his academic rival. It's about character development, and about Fraser and Ray's friendship which blossoms gradually into much, much more. The fic's beautifully written, and an extremely good read - highly recommended.

Fanwork Links: Academic Punk on AO3, and the excellent podfic by luzula is here

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Gen
Length: 1133 & 700
Content Notes: No AO3 warnings apply. There are explicit details about a normal full-term delivery in Plus Ça Change.
Creator Links: toomuchplor on AO3
Themes: Uncommon settings, Friends to lovers, Complete AU: hospital, Humor

Summaries: Technically he *wasn’t* Dr. Sheppard, not for another two months, but it was standard for medical students to introduce themselves that way. It reassured the patients. It didn’t do anything for John’s sense of inner calm.

---

“Unh,” said McKay, and folded his arms under his face before flopping down again. The position pulled the sleeves of his scrubs top taut around his biceps. “If I hide here it’s harder for the interns to find me.”

Reccer's Notes: For a fandom rich in AUs, there are very few medical AUs in SGA. This is an excellent two-part series and I recommend reading it in reverse series order, as the second part is a prequel. In Plus Ça Change, John blunders into an unexpected ER situation as a 4th year medical student doing an ambulance ride-along, and meets Rodney, a medical resident. The other story, Living Will, is set 3 years later by which time they know each other well and John's an ER resident, Rodney now being chief medical resident. The stories are funny, with great characterisation and snark, and accurate medical details. Very much recommended!

Fanwork Links: Plus Ça Change, and Living Will

Fandom: due South
Characters/Pairings: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, Ray Vecchio, Harding Welsh, Renfield Turnbull, Sam Franklin
Rating: Mature
Length: 26,765
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: feroxargentea on AO3
Themes: Uncommon settings, Friendship, First time, Action/adventure, Complete AU, In Space

Summary: Androids are going missing on the giant spaceship Chicago! A Mountie and a space cop team up to investigate why, and to find their friend before it’s too late.

Reccer's Notes:
As I mentioned earlier, there are very few due South fics set in space - and this is an excellent one! The familiar due South characters and settings are translated into space, with their base being on the Spaceship Chicago, and Vecchio in trouble over at spacehub Vegas. There's action, adventure, banter, romance, plot and drama as Fraser and Ray work to solve the case and rescue Vecchio. A cracking read!

Fanwork Links: Build a Rocket, Boys!

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka, Jack O'Neill, Janet Fraiser
Rating: Mature
Length: 3592
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: smilebackwards on AO3
Themes: Uncommon settings, Action/adventure, First time, Complete AU, Fusion

Summary: Atlantis Prime is the best Jaeger ever built. Of course it is, Rodney built it himself. Too bad he can’t find anyone Drift compatible to pilot it with him.

John Sheppard was one of the best Jaeger pilots the program had, until he lost his partner in a Kaiju attack off the coast of Alaska. He’s not eager to go back, but the right Drift partner might just convince him.

Reccer's Notes: There are very few Stargate Atlantis AUs set in the Pacific Rim universe, and this is an excellent one. It's in two parts, a Fanvid trailer and then the story. Rodney (with Zelenka) has repaired and re-engineered the jaeger Atlantis Prime but can't find a partner to pilot it. John's a traumatised ex-jaeger-pilot who, after Holland's death, is reluctant to return to the fray. There's romance too, as part of them becoming drift-compatible. The trailer vid is cleverly done and works well with the story - both are very much recommended.

Fanwork Links: Antarctic Drift
and the Fanvid is here
(the works are locked to AO3)

Fandom: due South
Characters/Pairings: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, Ray Vecchio, Diefenbaker, Frannie Vecchio, Margaret Thatcher, Armando Langoustini, Victoria Metcalf
Rating: Teen
Length: 60,820 (whole series) Real Boys is 22,820, Real Worlds is 38,000
Content Notes: Author "chose not to warn", but I don't think any AO3 warnings apply.
Creator Links: MSSalieri (aka Troyswann, Salieri): MSSalieri on AO3 and Salieri's old site on Wayback
Themes: Uncommon settings, Friends to lovers, Action/adventure, AU: Science Fiction, AU: robots & AI, Fandom Classics, Worldbuilding

Summaries: for Real Boys:
Ray looked out from between his fingers. The creature was there, on the other side of Mr. Thug, and it had lots of silvery fur and teeth that would be gleaming really nicely if the 'liner hadn't gone and taken most of the light with it. Between Mr. Thug and Ray, there was a pair of tall boots. Tilting his head back, Ray looked up, up past the red jacket all the way to the head, which was wearing a wide-brimmed hat. On the face under the hat there was a small smile.

"What the," Ray said. "Who the."

for Real Worlds:
"His existence is a violation of Armistice Statute—"
"God laws."
"Yes."
It took only one long stride for Ray to get into Thatcher's space and to her credit she didn’t back down. "You're gonna quote God laws at me?" He jabbed her with a stiff finger. "Who's playin God here, huh? You wave the fucking God laws at me while you got Fraser strapped to a table somewhere so you can put his fucking brains in a blender and take what he is? Look in a fucking mirror, lady."
"For some reason I can't fathom, Mr. Kowalski, I like you, so I'm going to give you a piece of advice." Her chin came up. "You might watch your words. Unless you want to join Fraser on charges of sedition."
"What?" Vecchio was incredulous. "You're yankin me, right? Fraser’s a kitchen appliance, but he's man enough to be brought up on charges? How the Jee does that compute?"

A sequel to Real Boys:
Three years raising sheep on Clementine, and it all comes crashing down in a skip storm, some consequential psychosis, a kidnapping and a global catastrophe. He may be the universe's punching bag, but Ray will fight for freak love. He's getting Fraser back, God Laws be damned.

Reccer's Notes: There are very few AUs that put the due South characters into spaaace! This is a fusion with the Bladerunner universe where Fraser's an android looking for the killers of his AI father and partners up with Ray Kowalski, a futuristic but very recognisable CPD cop. Salieri's a marvelous writer who takes aspects of the Bladerunner universe and expands on them with extraordinary worldbuilding to tell a complex and riveting tale. There's a gradually developing relationship between Ray and Fraser, nefarious villains, and anti-android laws that wrench the boys apart so that both Rays have to fight to get Fraser back. A triumph, and a due South classic. Here's a quote from a comment by Moth: "The other day I was talking to a friend about Philip K. Dick adaptations and I said that it was funny how one of the best adaptations out there was a due South fanfic. So I went and searched for it to see if it lived up to my memories and it actually exceeded them. This is the best type of AU, one that transplants the canon characters, storylines, and themes to a new universe, while also commenting on the both the canon as well as the nature of fiction." It's also a bloody good read!

Fanwork Links: Real Life series on AO3
Podfics of both stories: Real Boys read by Zabira & Real Worlds read by Luzula
Fanart for the series is here (scroll to the end)