One Direction recs
More updates behind the cut (and added to the masterpost). Behind the cut: 8 Harry/Nick, 2 Louis/Nick, 2 Liam/Louis, 1 Harry/Louis, 1 multiship, 1 threesome.
Also, I forgot to thank noeon, whose Rectober 2014 posts got me reading 1D fic via the rec to sunsetmog's If This is Love (thus dooming her to eternal suffering as I talked to her about nothing but 1D for six months). Ty! :D
Harry/Nick
Adolescent graces great and small, by becka, 1.5k. Nick/Harry phone sex, with some great funny banter, super hot. (Some discussion of underage, but no actual.)
i should ink my skin with your name, by crucio, 10k. Harry and Nick are clearly attracted to each other, but keep chickening out of actually making a go of it. Then Nick gives Harry a key to his flat just before Harry flies out of the country; most of the rest of the fic is Harry dealing with what that means. Just a really great version of the Nick/Harry relationship.
feel it in the morning, by cyclogenesis, 2k. That first shopping trip in Manchester, only with sex in the changing room. Blazing hot, and sweet with good characterization at the same time; there's a line in this fic that makes me giggle a little any time I think about it.
Like a Lightning Strike, by Hllangel, 22k. One Direction were eliminated at judges houses, and two years later are trying out for X Factor again when Harry and Nick accidentally swap jackets at a bar. They're both into each other, but events conspire to drag out the two of them actually getting to shag, which means we as readers are treated to a lovely extended period of flirty banter. Lots of humorous things in here, in fact, as well as the good Nick/Harry stuff.
If These Ears Could Talk, by LittleMousling, 5k. Thurston's POV of Harry/Nick. Mostly I'm pleased by the language in this (the doggy interpretation of kissing makes me laugh every time), but it's also got a nice slightly angsty Nick/Harry development that you're a bit buffered from because you're seeing it from Thurston's POV and he doesn't really understand. It's also fun because you get a sense of what Harry and Nick are feeling through what Thurston knows, but it's not always clear to the men themselves.
Most Dauntless, Voiceless Fortitude and Arrangement, by mrsronweasley, 29k and 12k. Regency AU, where Harry is new in London, and meets the fashionable Nick Grimshaw who offers to show him around. Pretty period-accurate treatment of other people's opinions of homosexuality (AFAICT), so not exactly a happy fic when it comes to how they must interact with the society around them, but Harry and Nick take such joy in each other that it more than makes up for it. Some very heartwrenching bits towards the end of the first fic; the second is the extended happy ending, which I'm quite pleased to have, while still being in keeping with the world.
On the Catwalk, Yeah, by rivers_bend, 22k. Harry's a model who ends up working Henry Holland's show, where he meets Nick. The early part of their friendship parallels the real-life early stages of the Nick/Harry friendship, with them getting closer and closer pretty quickly. The other boys are Harry's housemates. A slightly different treatment of Harry's orientation than the usual fanfic modes, which I liked, and some laugh-out-loud funny bits throughout.
nick/harry angst ficlet of doom, by tilda, 1k. Nick and Harry have a conversation after they've broken up. Hurts so good, man, neither too maudlin nor too OTT angsty: just painful enough to be real.
Louis/Nick
The One Where... series (Three Cheers for Involuntary Attraction, I Think You Have a Problem With Your Brain Being Missing, One True Calling) by checkthemargins, 34k total. Harry suggests seduction as a way for Nick and Louis to get along. This seems ridiculous, but actually works. The relationship doesn't necessarily go smoothly, but it has some very sweet moments in addition to the fights and small stupidities of boys who don't want to admit they want each other that much. The third one in this series is far and away my favorite, dealing with the pressures of the press and the closet and things, but of course they're all good.
explosions only you and i can hear, by stigmata, 7k. Louis and Nick keep needling each other, until Louis accidentally sees Nick's enormous penis. Then they have some very good size kink-esque sex (both in the sense of enormous penii and the sense of a height/weight difference between the partners), and end with a cute kind of...affectionate hatred? for each other. Frequent POV switches (with proper scene breaks and such), which is a little less common in this fandom, I've found. Very funny and very hot.
Liam/Louis
Hold You Closer, by harriet_vane, 52k. Liam volunteers at a hospital and ends up wanting to adopt a little girl with kidney problems like him. So, basically without any lead time, he takes a baby home, which leads to a bunch of press and also his boys being worried about him; by collective agreement Louis comes by to help him out. A really good slow build to the relationship, with a well-developed cast of supporting characters (all the boys play decent roles, as do Liam's family). It's nice too because Liam and Louis work as a team with the baby, so you get to see that interaction as well as the romantic one. Basically, this version of Liam will make you want to wrap him up in soft blankets and give him everything he wants.
somebody ought to corrupt you on the dance floor (and take you home), by oliviacirce, 8k. The band votes on getting Liam to try dick when he breaks up with his girlfriend. Louis agrees to take Liam out to a gay club, under some pressure by the other boys. Some really lovely Liam moments, and some lovely Liam and Louis moments, and some humorous meddling friends.
Harry/Louis
You'll Breathe Me In (You Won't Release) and So Baby Whenever You're Ready by LoadedGunn, 95k and 9k. Harry's a 17 year old student who gets a 25 year old Louis as his private driving instructor. Not exactly my version either of the characters or of what a potential relationship between them would be like, but some hot and funny UST and then some boiling hot D/s porn throughout the rest of it (and the sequel, which has some Harry/Louis/Zayn in it, though Zayn's there only sexually not romantically). Should probably note the bit of breathplay and the large presence of daddy kink: the breathplay is warned for so you can skip it, but the daddy kinks is present throughout. Neither of those are my kinks and the rest of the D/s stuff was so hot I didn't mind them, but if that's a squick for you instead of just something you don't care about you should probably give this one a miss. Oh--and a bit of what I think of as dubcon exhibitionism, where the relationship is so cute and perfect that the OTT PDA is at best a mild annoyance to their friends, which I always find kind of unrealistic, but which appears a lot in fic for some reason... Anyway, so some caveats on this one, but if it's up your alley it's got some great stuff in it too.
Multiple ships
swear everything's fine, by ymorton, 6k. Harry/Niall, Harry/Nick. Niall and Harry are hanging out, and Harry starts to tell Niall about his relationship with Nick, and then suggests the two of them have sex; it turns out to be what neither of them wants. Very angsty, but believably so.
Threesomes and moresomes
You're a Rabbit, Louis, by sunsetmog, 6k. Harry/Louis/Nick. Louis goes to visit Harry and Nick, who have gotten together finally, and Louis's sad about it but not showing it. Then he turns into a tiny baby rabbit, and Harry and Nick take care of him. I read this, like, three times the first week it came out, because it's so perfect and the visuals are so great and it's such a nice jolt of angst followed by a happy ending.
Also, I forgot to thank noeon, whose Rectober 2014 posts got me reading 1D fic via the rec to sunsetmog's If This is Love (thus dooming her to eternal suffering as I talked to her about nothing but 1D for six months). Ty! :D
Harry/Nick
Adolescent graces great and small, by becka, 1.5k. Nick/Harry phone sex, with some great funny banter, super hot. (Some discussion of underage, but no actual.)
i should ink my skin with your name, by crucio, 10k. Harry and Nick are clearly attracted to each other, but keep chickening out of actually making a go of it. Then Nick gives Harry a key to his flat just before Harry flies out of the country; most of the rest of the fic is Harry dealing with what that means. Just a really great version of the Nick/Harry relationship.
feel it in the morning, by cyclogenesis, 2k. That first shopping trip in Manchester, only with sex in the changing room. Blazing hot, and sweet with good characterization at the same time; there's a line in this fic that makes me giggle a little any time I think about it.
Like a Lightning Strike, by Hllangel, 22k. One Direction were eliminated at judges houses, and two years later are trying out for X Factor again when Harry and Nick accidentally swap jackets at a bar. They're both into each other, but events conspire to drag out the two of them actually getting to shag, which means we as readers are treated to a lovely extended period of flirty banter. Lots of humorous things in here, in fact, as well as the good Nick/Harry stuff.
If These Ears Could Talk, by LittleMousling, 5k. Thurston's POV of Harry/Nick. Mostly I'm pleased by the language in this (the doggy interpretation of kissing makes me laugh every time), but it's also got a nice slightly angsty Nick/Harry development that you're a bit buffered from because you're seeing it from Thurston's POV and he doesn't really understand. It's also fun because you get a sense of what Harry and Nick are feeling through what Thurston knows, but it's not always clear to the men themselves.
Most Dauntless, Voiceless Fortitude and Arrangement, by mrsronweasley, 29k and 12k. Regency AU, where Harry is new in London, and meets the fashionable Nick Grimshaw who offers to show him around. Pretty period-accurate treatment of other people's opinions of homosexuality (AFAICT), so not exactly a happy fic when it comes to how they must interact with the society around them, but Harry and Nick take such joy in each other that it more than makes up for it. Some very heartwrenching bits towards the end of the first fic; the second is the extended happy ending, which I'm quite pleased to have, while still being in keeping with the world.
On the Catwalk, Yeah, by rivers_bend, 22k. Harry's a model who ends up working Henry Holland's show, where he meets Nick. The early part of their friendship parallels the real-life early stages of the Nick/Harry friendship, with them getting closer and closer pretty quickly. The other boys are Harry's housemates. A slightly different treatment of Harry's orientation than the usual fanfic modes, which I liked, and some laugh-out-loud funny bits throughout.
nick/harry angst ficlet of doom, by tilda, 1k. Nick and Harry have a conversation after they've broken up. Hurts so good, man, neither too maudlin nor too OTT angsty: just painful enough to be real.
Louis/Nick
The One Where... series (Three Cheers for Involuntary Attraction, I Think You Have a Problem With Your Brain Being Missing, One True Calling) by checkthemargins, 34k total. Harry suggests seduction as a way for Nick and Louis to get along. This seems ridiculous, but actually works. The relationship doesn't necessarily go smoothly, but it has some very sweet moments in addition to the fights and small stupidities of boys who don't want to admit they want each other that much. The third one in this series is far and away my favorite, dealing with the pressures of the press and the closet and things, but of course they're all good.
explosions only you and i can hear, by stigmata, 7k. Louis and Nick keep needling each other, until Louis accidentally sees Nick's enormous penis. Then they have some very good size kink-esque sex (both in the sense of enormous penii and the sense of a height/weight difference between the partners), and end with a cute kind of...affectionate hatred? for each other. Frequent POV switches (with proper scene breaks and such), which is a little less common in this fandom, I've found. Very funny and very hot.
Liam/Louis
Hold You Closer, by harriet_vane, 52k. Liam volunteers at a hospital and ends up wanting to adopt a little girl with kidney problems like him. So, basically without any lead time, he takes a baby home, which leads to a bunch of press and also his boys being worried about him; by collective agreement Louis comes by to help him out. A really good slow build to the relationship, with a well-developed cast of supporting characters (all the boys play decent roles, as do Liam's family). It's nice too because Liam and Louis work as a team with the baby, so you get to see that interaction as well as the romantic one. Basically, this version of Liam will make you want to wrap him up in soft blankets and give him everything he wants.
somebody ought to corrupt you on the dance floor (and take you home), by oliviacirce, 8k. The band votes on getting Liam to try dick when he breaks up with his girlfriend. Louis agrees to take Liam out to a gay club, under some pressure by the other boys. Some really lovely Liam moments, and some lovely Liam and Louis moments, and some humorous meddling friends.
Harry/Louis
You'll Breathe Me In (You Won't Release) and So Baby Whenever You're Ready by LoadedGunn, 95k and 9k. Harry's a 17 year old student who gets a 25 year old Louis as his private driving instructor. Not exactly my version either of the characters or of what a potential relationship between them would be like, but some hot and funny UST and then some boiling hot D/s porn throughout the rest of it (and the sequel, which has some Harry/Louis/Zayn in it, though Zayn's there only sexually not romantically). Should probably note the bit of breathplay and the large presence of daddy kink: the breathplay is warned for so you can skip it, but the daddy kinks is present throughout. Neither of those are my kinks and the rest of the D/s stuff was so hot I didn't mind them, but if that's a squick for you instead of just something you don't care about you should probably give this one a miss. Oh--and a bit of what I think of as dubcon exhibitionism, where the relationship is so cute and perfect that the OTT PDA is at best a mild annoyance to their friends, which I always find kind of unrealistic, but which appears a lot in fic for some reason... Anyway, so some caveats on this one, but if it's up your alley it's got some great stuff in it too.
Multiple ships
swear everything's fine, by ymorton, 6k. Harry/Niall, Harry/Nick. Niall and Harry are hanging out, and Harry starts to tell Niall about his relationship with Nick, and then suggests the two of them have sex; it turns out to be what neither of them wants. Very angsty, but believably so.
Threesomes and moresomes
You're a Rabbit, Louis, by sunsetmog, 6k. Harry/Louis/Nick. Louis goes to visit Harry and Nick, who have gotten together finally, and Louis's sad about it but not showing it. Then he turns into a tiny baby rabbit, and Harry and Nick take care of him. I read this, like, three times the first week it came out, because it's so perfect and the visuals are so great and it's such a nice jolt of angst followed by a happy ending.