kormantic

Fandom: Night at the Museum
Pairings/Characters: Jedediah/Octavius
Rating: T
Length: 15,551
Creator Links: flowerdeluce
Theme: Amnesty, (Five) Things, Essential Starter Recs, Friends to Lovers, Heists & Capers, Just Plain Fun, Magic, Research, Slow Burn, Uncommon Settings, Working Together, Worldbuilding

Summary: After discovering how lucrative ‘publicity stunts’ are for the museum, McPhee organises a series of art exhibitions in the museum’s gallery. The installations are refreshed weekly, leaving Jed and Octavius only brief windows of time to explore each one.

Reccer's Notes: An absolutely gorgeous fic which integrates real-world museum exhibits; they all sounded so unique and fascinating it made me want to visit my own local museum, too!! The slow build up of the boys' relationship is also just delightful as they explore these new worlds and the many other ways the museum's magic animates each unique exhibit.

Fanwork Links: On Every Horizon

Fandom: The West Wing
Pairings/Characters: Sam Seaborn/Josh Lyman-focus; also includes Sam/OMC, Josh/Amy and Josh/Donna
Rating: E
Length: 347,597 overall
Creator Links: jaegecko
Theme: Amnesty, Ambiguous Relationships, Backstory, Character Development, Epic Works, Fandom Classics, Getting Back Together, Missing Scenes, Mutual Pining, Politics, Research, Series

Summary: The Turningverse is a series of stories that interweave with both canon "West Wing" episodes and each other. Each one is self-contained, so feel free to begin anywhere you feel moved to do so.

Reccer's Notes: THE big Sam/Josh fic, and it earns all of its accolades! The author is incredibly knowledgeable about the day-to-day realities of political campaigners and White House staffers, flawlessly interspersing their own original scenes with canon. And the central relationship is so perfectly, tragically flawed: two men who are intrinsically drawn to one another, struggling to overcome the lack of privacy inherent to their position, burgeoning resentment, and some of the most heart-breakingly realistic internalised homophobia I've read in a long time. And that's not to mention the fic's version of Lisa, Sam's initial fiance, who becomes a very important character just as flawed and with just as complicated a relationship with Sam and Josh as they have with another. I devoured these fics and never wanted to stop!

However, be aware that the final fic of the series (the intended second-last part) was never fully completed. As a result, the series never reached the point where the couple gets back together for good. I recommend ending with 'Interlude for two voices' if you can't bear that; I sure stayed there for a while until I could bring myself to go on! :')

Fanwork Links: The Turning universe