hrpf rec lists

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8981668

your boy - bluecanvastotebag / @bluecanvastotebag (M, 32k)

We enjoy their portrayal in this fic because frankly, Mack is a bit scummy and unlikeable and unhinged, which is extremely entertaining reading. Plotwise, this is like The Next Next One for Willmack, in that it follows Will after San Jose has won the cup and he’s moved on from Macklin and away from the Sharks (has he really tho? #pining). There’s wistfulness and flashbacks and we love a dysfunctional Will Smith Hockey and a dysfunctional Macklin Celebrini Hockey. Crazy girl Mack is TRULY so special to me, if you have more of this type of Macklin, our box is WIDE open. If you haven’t liked Willmack previously because you are not a Sharks fan and dislike their boyband energy, this genuinely might make you a convert! And if you’re already a Willmack then get on this shit. 

Landlessness - hannah_baker (T, 65k)

McStrome tiny house AU. It sounds like crack but it’s really not because the core fact of “Connor 0is never happy” is in full force here, even though neither of them play hockey. It’s about being completely lost as a twenty-something year old. It’s about the compromise required for every McStrome fic where they end up together and this one is both hard earned and in character. Hannah_baker’s crack is always pure. Trust.  

seventeen nineteen twenty-eight by caphit / @95flex (E, 131k)

Leon Draisaitl x Dylan Strome. Okay wait, wait, just hold on, walk with us here. Yes we know this is 131k words of a pairing with 5 fics and it’s the longest fic in the winner’s room tag. But trust, you will leave this saying, “I NEED more Draistrome” (and also “I need more winner’s room"). You will become a convert. The universe crafted around the winner’s room is so excellent and realistic, I genuinely forgot that it wasn’t a real thing in the NHL (yet, I guess). The premise is that Leon asks for Dylan in the winner’s room and there are 131k of words to unravel all that. Connor haunts this narrative like a fucking ghost and if you’re a fan of either McStrome or McDrai or good literature, this will scratch some kind of itch in a place you didn’t even know you had. The internal monologues are well captured. The sex scenes are good and also really do advance the plot (it’s like what people say about Heated Rivalry, but it might be longer tbh). Heartwrenching. Tears shed. Oh my God please read it. 

River for the Sea - LoveLeah / @love-leah (E, 39k)

There’s something so pure about Travis’ homophobia here, in that it’s untainted by hate. It sold me on NolPat. You can tell it was written by an English major, both because it’s about an English grad student, and because every chapter ends with a poem, and I’ve reread the poems every week, and I’ll do it again next week. Basically, college hockey player Travis gets a one-off tutoring session with grad student Nolan. They’re both believable as people who are friends, and you believe in Travis’s struggle from getting over himself internally first for the sake of their friendship, then for Nolan, then for himself. Everything he does is for Nolan. Loyal dog Travis unlearning homophobia for his boybestie makes me go woof woof woof. 

ask not - litaf1101 / @litafordvsferrari (E, 31k)

The plot sequel to the PWP that is boy blue (which you don’t have to read to read this part but it’s good!). Another Willmack future fic, wherein Will is instead the completely unhinged one, which is not to say that Macklin is hinged, by any means, but one of them has to be the crazy one and Will’s putting in the hours this time. They both win the cup, which sends Will into a post-partum depression over the summer at the age of 31. The treatment of Rick Celebrini in this one got me hooked on Rick being the unwitting third in Willmack’s relationship henceforth. The resolution feels so good in this one because the conflict feels so good, because you REALLY feel Will’s pain and self-sabotage in this one. 

The Next Next One - yourblues (M, 71k)

The Next Next One by yourblues / @msmargaretmurry (M, 71k)

This is so obvious, a classic, required reading. But to omit it would be an admission of bad taste. Because this fic is goated. And we will recommend it on every single post so get ready to be sick of our blog’s namesake. Yourblues has never missed in their life but this fic is the quintessential Connor McDavid career ending injury story. It encapsulates McStrome vibes both past, present, and future; it’s informed by all the McStrome that came before it and it informs all the McStrome after it. And it’s also the fic that got us into not just McStrome, but hockey RPF to begin with, after previously being Hockey RPF antis, we read it in one sitting the first time, and one sitting on a plane the second time. The writing is paced excellently even though it’s a slowburn, it’s soulful, it’s about the horrors of being both Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome, it’s about the city of Toronto as a character (you will enter Scotiabank arena thinking: sick next next one reference).

You won’t want for more after the next next one except for more of the next next next one. You will chase the high forever. Thank you yourblues.

so collect your scars and wear them well by addandsubtract / @postoperation (M,26k)

Addandsubtract is always at the scene of the crime. Yes, this is the 4th most kudos McStrome, but what about it? It’s because the people have taste. This was published in October of 2015, before we knew there would be tragedy, and yet this fic assumed that there would be and predicted the tone of it almost prophetically well. This pioneered the concept of Connor having a career ending injury in this ship and what does he do? Flees to Arizona and smokes a fuckton of weed of course. Dylan Strome and his singular weed smoking girlfriend with chronic pain. 

The Roads You Take to Get Home by hannah_baker / @thewestishharpooners (T, 11k)

We think this is a really sweet starter fic with a recontextualized McStrome separation narrative. You have faith in their relationship, it really sells you on their they-really-wanna-be-together-but-they-can’t-be dynamic. One of the feel good McStromes! 

In the plot, they get married young and Connor goes through the process of being a normal NHLer (not being a generational talent) and Dylan, who isn’t a hockey player, trying to make it work. Flashbacks between the past (where they are sweet and codependent) and the present (where they are sad). 

dandelion by limitedpartnership (M, 34k) 

Hanahaki disease fic. Has there ever been a ship so suited to that genre? This fic really sells you on the PINING of McStrome. A fundamental conflict of McStrome is how there is a disparity between Connor and Dylan, hockey-wise, especially early in their careers, and having hanahaki disease as a vector of this conflict punctuates that part of their dynamic. Much more to say, but we’re sure we’ll be recommending this again after a reread so…gotta save something for that. 

This Year - hannah_baker (E, 48k)

Dylan Strome babysits a very depressed Connor McDavid. From this fic emerges the kind of codependence you only get in a terrible house in Edmonton. There’s physical closeness, but a separation akin to the kind that normally comes from being teammates replaced instead with professional boundaries. Your heart breaks a bit for Connor, but it feels cozy all the same. And the title is a TMG reference!

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