HP: Skin Against Skin by Sophie Richard (Harry/Ron/Hermione)

There is an amusingly detached sort of disregard for authority figures and normative conventions in srichard's Skin Against Skin. Although it doesn't really get into the trio's heads as they start exploring the sexual aspects to their relationship, that's fine. It's much more about the reactions of the Weasleys, and how those show up what an exclusive, unexplainable bond Harry, Ron and Hermione have with each other.

HP: Good Boy by memorycharm (Sirius/Harry)

JKR has a note somewhere on her website about how the time Sirius spent in Azkaban means he never had a real adulthood. His emotional maturity is still stuck somewhere around 22. Good Boy by memorycharm posits that it's perhaps a bit younger, and perhaps a bit more fucked up than that. This story is creepy-hot, perfectly put-together. It reads (to me) like a completely plausible dark side to the newfound "family" relationship Harry finds himself in with Sirius.

HP: Runaways by Imochan (James/Remus)

Runaways by imochan was written for the remux_remix challenge, where the challenge was, I believe, to write a whole story out of someone else's fic snippet. This whole story hurts like a stone cold bitch. I don't think there's a single phrase in it that isn't fraught with that kind of painful goodbye to boyhood that's so unique to good Marauder fic. It's absolutely beautiful.

HP: Domestic by crimsonclad (Draco, Lupin)

It may be strange to say, but I love that crimsonclad's Domestic has really very little to do with Harry or any of the trio. It's very much about Draco, and what happens in his life outside of school, and the connections he's able to forge when blood ties let him down.

BSG: Stimmed by anr (Kara, Lee)

Trying to break up the HP monopoly, because I do actually have a shiny new fandom: Battlestar Galactica -- the remake.

The first story I read in BSG was anr's Stimmed, set during/after "33." It's got a sharp, minimalist style befitting Kara's state of mind while on stims, but isn't quite as minimalist as a lot of the fandom's writers seem to be. Anyway, for being the first story I read in the fandom, it's held its own. Although this depiction of Kara gives me a sort of young heroin-chic rock star impression, I do like it a lot.

BSG: Laws of Gravity by brynnmck (Kara/Lee, Kara/Zak)

brynnmck's Laws of Gravity (and part two) is my pre-series canon until the show itself tells us different. And even then, it's so good that I'll most likely wish the show went there. The characterizations of the three major characters are excellent, Lee especially, and after just one season the author has a seriously good handle on Kara's issues. Really very well done.

BSG: Twelve and Five Deaths by Rheanna (Apollo, Roslin)

rheanna27's Twelve is the only really long story I've seen in BSG. It's full of some extremely interesting speculation on the Cylons/human relationship -- but to say more would be to spoil. The story didn't quite click with me on an emotional level, but considering it's Rheanna, I think that's more of a Scorsese effect (you know, like comparing The Aviator to Taxi Driver or Raging Bull *grin*).

I also liked Five Deaths, a Roslin-centric series of short what-ifs in the "Five Things That Never Happened To..." format, because it's a skillful experimentation with the character under different lights.