#this is my first time actually contributing to the fandom yeehaw

[heckingambisextrous]

"Canaries should stay above ground."

[patrebka]

TKNP REC LIST HAND IT OVER

omg... thank you to the mysterious anon who asked me this. I do wonder who you are...

okay so I'll start with the best hockey rpf author to ever do it... makeit_takeit the beloved. everything they write is boomshakalaka slam dunk gold. everything! but these are my favourites.

in from the cold | makeit_takeit — this is my favourite fic of all time in any fandom ever of all time ever. in any lifetime I would find it. it's a masterpiece. show stopping. revolutionary. life changing. brilliant. spectacular. this is from makeit_takeit's journeymen series, the premise being that Nolan is in the league still (in various cities across North America) but Travis is decidedly not a hockey player. in this case he's an oil rig worker up in Edmonton and Nolan is on the Oilers. they meet on grindr and thus we enter a whirlwind of passion. omfggggg see now I'm making myself want to reread it right now, heh. I took this fic to my penthouse and I freaked it.

never been dipped | makeit_takeit — more journeymen, yay. here, our beloved Travis is a kind of cowboy gay-lothario line dancing Canadian redneck and he seduces a deeply guarded Dallas Star Nolan in a cowboy gay bar in Texas. yeehaw!

last ones standing | makeit_takeit — as a trash reality TV lover this thrills me. we follow Travis and Nolan meeting for the first time at the altar on Married at First Sight: Winnipeg! and it's everything I could ever want. this fic is so funny and charming, and has a facet to it that is one of my favourite aspects of any fic I've ever read. I won't mention it further because it kind of spoils the ending. but it's just so well done and is exemplary of the kind of incredibly creative and professional writing in this story and all the ones I've mentioned above.

happy endings | makeit_takeit — an exercise in seeing a little bit of humanity in someone with a dark, hateful, and unhappy soul... aka Nolan Patrick, LOL. this fic follows a deeply closeted and self-hating Nolan in this new characterisation of the post-burner era. he's unemployed and gross and mean, and encounters Travis in a happy endings massage parlour spa type of place. it's so good. I've converted people to be (mild in some cases and full fledged in others) tknp enthusiasts with this fic. my bestie Autumn read this in her car at work when the second chapter dropped. it's just that good!

living things [ONGOING WIP] | makeit_takeit — get ready to have your life and mind changed. when you start to read this series, makeit_takeit (the great one. Gretzky who?) will open up your unsuspecting mind and pour abundant light within. everything will alter around you and things like sunlight through trees or a bird’s footprints in snow will suddenly seem so much more beautiful than they ever did before. every song and poem and painting will hold a more divine meaning in your eyes because this story just changes you, down to the soul. and I've never met a hyperbole I didn't love but I'm so serious about this one. imagine being alive when Tolstoy was first publishing Anna Karenina serially, imagine eagerly waiting for the next excerpt of something that would go on to be considered by many to be one of our greatest artistic contributions. I don't mean to sound like a pyramid schemer when I say that you (person reading this. yes! you!) have the chance, with this fic, to be in on the ground floor of something great. we have, as of writing this, three parts of a seven part saga published so far. but don't wait... just start reading! the writing here is so absurdly good it makes me want to walk into the ocean. this story is the magnum opus of somebody that has about 15 fics on their page that would easily be considered once in a lifetime, striking gold masterpieces from anybody else.

okay, my makeit_takeit worship session is over now. although it may not seem like it, I do actually read things other than their stories so I'll stop yapping and lavishing praise at their feet now and will move on to talking about other things!

ratter | toxotes — this isn't even fiction to me. this is, like, fan fact or something because I really do believe events such as these are happening in Nolan Patrick's life. up and until the blossoming romantic relationship with TK, of course. this fic is hilarious and dark and captivating in every good way. when I first read it I was completely enthralled, and stayed up way too late reading it TWICE. and I then read a passage aloud to my family in a restaurant where we were getting breakfast the next morning, because I was deliriously tired and still deep in the honeymoon stage of obsessive love with this fic. I may still be in this stage!

port stanley is for lovers | manybumblebees — I love this fic so much yay. it's so sweet and funny. I once read it aloud to someone on a long car journey (this person does not gaf about hockey and had never heard of any of these people) and they were laughing a lot and genuinely enjoyed it. huge W for tknp nation! the fic's premise is Nolan visiting TK in Port Stanley over the summer and realising that everyone there thinks they are a couple. maybe they should be! maybe they will be! omg read and find out.

dusk breaks light | loveleah — this is really unique, and a very tender and sweet story. this is a favourite of mine for reasons I can't quite put my finger on, but Travis and Nolan are mining for gold in a group of guys in the 1960s, and it's just very sweet. this is Brokeback Mountain for girls who know who Biz Nasty is.

red wine supernova | donderwolk — as a ceramicist myself, I had to include this one! Nolan is out of the league and is dragged by his sister to an amateur pottery class held by one very charming and artistic Travis Konecny. I love how this fic covers Nolan's relationship with his parents, it's really well done. this is an all-timer! it's so sweet. and it's definitely one of my favourite Nolan characterisations.

save your first and last dance for me | manybumblebees — this is, like, so cheesy and so good. I think this is one of the first tknp fics I read, and I loved it so much. I didn't even realise until making this list that it's written by the same person as my beloved Port Stanley fic... wow. small world! anyway, this is just a really good time. Travis and Nolan going to various weddings together and falling in love along the way... what's more fun than that?

it's only gay if you blow him back | isozyme — I just read this recently on the recommendation of my friend Autumn (hey girl👋) and I really liked it. Travis and Nolan go fishing and get into it over the scary concept of being gay and what it would mean if one of them were to stray from the path of heterosexuality. it's more of a character study than it is about any, like, romance between them, but I think it's great.

the flush of the known universe | springsteen — I started to read this in the car on my way to the ice rink about a year ago, and then was so captivated by it that I just sat on my ass in the Papa John's seating area next to the ice and read the rest of it, instead of doing any of the skating I had paid to do. I loved this! Travis works on the training staff for the Flyers and goes for a getaway in nature after quitting his job. Nolan is a guide in a national park and they meet on the trail. it's a real slow burn story that doesn't feel dragged out, just natural!

hagfish, or primitive jawless marine vertebrates | polyabathtub — please don't run scared from the bestiality tag on this LOL, it's really not like that. I mean, it kind of is. but not really. the animal is TK, who turns into an eel-like fish in a werewolf type scenario. all he wants in his fishy form is Nolan, and Nolan obliges. it's really funny, while still being sweet. this is another one I read recently, and I found it really charming and funny. I don't know how anyone would ever think of this idea but I am glad that this author did because it brought me such joy to read!

I'm probably forgetting some big-hitters but I can't think of anything else. I'll put some non-tknp recs below the cut, because I am also an avid reader of other pairings!!! I'll read anything that's put in front of me.

all caps | makeit_takeit | Nic Dowd/Tom Wilson — okay, so I lied before about not saying any more about makeit_takeit. but, would someone really do that? just go on their blog and lie? what a scary thought. anyway. Tom Wilson has a micropenis... need I say more? this is a series and it's very sweet and also funny. it strikes a perfect balance of humour and sincerity about something kind of silly. it's a line that is walked perfectly here and that I tried very hard to walk when I wrote my one fic, which was somewhat inspired by this! #selfpromo #ad

3 ways to know if you're a third wheel - wikihow | jamiemoriartys | Sidney Crosby/Claude Giroux — I could be including this one because of recency bias because I did only just read it, but it made me laugh a lot. I kinda love reading fics where the narrator (in this case, Nate MacKinnon) is super clueless about something that's blatantly obvious. it makes me cackle out loud and kick my feet while reading, so. this did that!

gold rush | claraxbarton | Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk — this is an all time fav for me. we see Leon at probably his most mean and bitchy of all my mattdrai recs, which for a girl like me is a heavenly scenario. the premise here is another one where you're kind of yelling at the screen because the narrator is so dumb, except here it's Leon (yay) and he can't figure out that the unsaved number texting him flirtily is Matthew Tkachuk. this fic is funny along the way and then I found it to be quite moving at times. I love love love!

muscle memory | blaahaj | Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk — this is a fic that could be considered tropey because its premise is basically: what if Matthew Tkachuk got AMNESIA! and FORGOT! his weird RELATIONSHIP! with LEON DRAISAITL? but it's sooooo good. this is one of my favourite fics I've ever read. I just love Leon so much, here (and always, heh) he's so sweet and, like, lame. aw, my little German cringelord.

slip under the tongue into translation | lighthousetowers | Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk — das ist so gut. es ist eine meiner lieblingsgeschichten! thank you google translate. here we must ask the question of how far Matthew Tkachuk is willing to go to get under someone's skin. if this fic is accurate then the answer is: very far! MTkachuk learns German to more effectively chirp Leon on the ice and accidentally becomes obsessed with him. aren't we all! I remember this being so funny.

barons | dilangley | Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk — Matthew has retired from the league after an injury and ends up coaching a new NHL team in Houston. Leon, who is old (like, 37) and seeking a Stanley Cup win before he retires, signs there. and it is so good. I loved how it characterised Matthew, especially. I particularly remember this one moment where Matthew is kinda waxing poetic about how he can't understand why everyone isn't in love with Leon, and whoever he's talking to is like, 'um. because he's an asshole?' yeah. I love their asshole4asshole swag. this is so, so, so, good. a definite recommendation for those who don't even gaf about mattdrai. you will after this!

growing into someone | blaahaj | Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk — another blaahaj banger. set in a lockout, Leon and Matthew are both playing hockey in Germany for the Haie, Leon's childhood team! it's kind of a classic enemies to lovers and I really, really liked it. it's kind of like, they have this little whirlwind in Germany and then, of course, the lockout ends and they have to go back to their real lives, and decide how much of whatever they've built to take with them or to leave behind. I love it so much.

well. that's all she wrote. I don't have anything else to say and this list took me three and a half hours to make because I take this hockey rpf shit seriously. byeee