'One Year of Challengers' Fic Recs! Pt.1
I've had so much fun creating this list!! Ty to everyone who sent me links to fics they love, ty to everyone who has written anything for this fandom, and ty to Challengers!! Movie of all time :)
We're going by categories, starting out with:
AUs
With A Racket
Tashi, My Beloved
Innocent Bystanders
Stanford and its Diversions
They Go Back to the Hotel
Patrick Takes the Guest House
Okay, buckle up! It's going to be a long one!
Category #1: AUs
Near canon and far flung, this is Challengers with a twist.
down on one knee by benhargroveisdead Rated: M Word Count: 16,863 Summary: Someone else gets injured, someone else gets married, or no one does. It doesn't fix much. 5 2019 US Opens that never happened (+1 that did)
Rec: Challengers run through a kaleidoscope.
you're in my blood like holy wine by goddesspharo Rated: T Word Count: 3,714 Summary: "Don't," Tashi warns him with a hard edge that makes her decidedly her. It's almost a comfort to hear it – her leg might be broken, but she's not shattered. That feels like an important distinction to make. "Don't say it unless you mean it." Patrick doesn't miss a beat this time. His voice is steady when he promises that it's going to be okay. "We're going to make it okay."
Rec: A Practical Magic AU that keeps things messy.
not your savior by sundermount Rated: T Word Count: 2,370 Summary: Art and Patrick don’t meet Tashi. They’re worse off for it.
Rec: The summary says it all. Art is 31 and doesn’t play tennis and has a best friend he’s never kissed. Patrick can’t afford his motel room. Life has never been worse.
it's getting better by spqr Rated: T Word Count: 9,025 Summary: “Okay,” Patrick says, looking away from Art and clearing his throat – whatever discussion they were having with just their eyes, it’s resolved. “You remember back at the Junior Open? That night in our hotel room?” Tashi almost chokes on her drink, but she saves it. “Yeah,” she says. “I remember.” Patrick glances at Art, like he’s checking in one last time, then says, “You remember when you asked us if we ever…” he trails off significantly, holding her eyes. Abruptly, Tashi gets it. “Oh,” she says, then, “oh. The two of you? So you’re roommates-roommates.” ## Or: Tashi goes pro.
Rec: One of the only ‘Tashi doesn't get injured AUs on the market’ which is a damn shame.
Freaky Friday by mr_ghostpanther Rated: T Word Count: 58,903 (wip) Summary: On Friday March 2nd, 2007, the world turns upside down for Tashi, Patrick, and Art when Tashi is severely injured during a match. The next morning, Art wakes up to a startling discovery that threatens to change all of their relationships for good unless they can find a way to work together again. Or, a Freaky Friday AU. Basically. It's body swapping. It's fun!
Rec: Literally “spend a day in each other’s shoes” that these three desperately need.
turning me over by vokdas Rated: E Word Count: 6,010 Summary: Art dies at twenty. Patrick and Tashi deal.
Rec: It’s the best kind of hurt. A real shock to the system.
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Category #2: With a Racket
Remember when Patrick said “I’d let her fuck me with a racket”? Well-
reset/replay by radialarch Rated: E Word Count: 3,934 Summary: “So you, uh. You ever done this before?” Patrick scoffs. “Have I ever gotten fucked with a racket during a threeway?”
Rec: Patrick’s words come to bite him in the ass.
Determined by blindvigilante Rated: E Word Count: 1,441 Summary: “He can take it.” Art’s skin glistens over the hotel sheets, milky white under the artificial lighting as legs get spread as far as they can go. He’s always been flexible. Tashi’s look is determined, like most times.
Rec: Art isn’t left out.
i'd let her fuck me with a racket by serenfire Rated: E Word Count: 6,801 Summary: Tashi says, soft as an apology, “I have to go.” A line of spit snaps between Art and Patrick, and Patrick is staring at her and looking like he’s given up, like he’ll just let the blood-thumping moment of glorious, untold possibility pass them by. Art swallows the first plea that eternally lives in his chest, and instead says, “But Patrick told me he’d let you fuck him with a racket.”
Rec: Nuclear level threat to the “they hook up in Flushing” economy. No survivors!
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Category #3: Tashi, My Beloved
I love Tashi so much. These are Tashi centric fics that ask “What the fuck is wrong with this woman?” and the answer is soooo many things. She’s so fucking awesome.
capacity and purpose by Anonymous Rated: E Word Count: 12,301 Summary: True love blooms. OR, A dog is housetrained. OR, An execution is commuted to a life sentence.
Rec: YOUCH!!! There’s so much wrong with Tashi. She’s never been better.
playback by hydrochaeris Rated: M Word Count: 7,541 Summary: Love was about breathing with someone, about hitting something between the two of you and refusing to give it up. Refusing to take a bad shot, refusing to let your guard down. Volleying it back, giving as good as you got.
Rec: Tashi builds herself up, gets torn down, and reassembles as best she can.
only see by agletbaby Rated: T Word Count: 5,048 Summary: Instead of everything beginning, Tashi retreats to her childhood bedroom.
Rec: A really wonderful character study in the immediate wake of her injury.
back to the baseline by thejourneys Rated: M Word Count: 9,584 Summary: “I wish it had been my fucking— my arm,” she murmurs, brain still foggy from the anesthesia and unsure of whether she’s addressing her mother or Art, both of whom have been in and out of her hospital room the whole morning. “They could just fucking— chop it off— and I’d still—“ “Hey,” comes her mom’s voice, so soft it makes Tashi’s chest ache, “let’s focus on something else, okay?” There is nothing else, she wants to say— nineteen and a mouth full of cotton, nineteen and a has-been before she’d really been anything— nothing else that matters. -- OR: Tashi Duncan, and a now-impossible dream.
Rec: A foundational text!
wicked games by seekrest Rated: M Word Count: 4,010 Summary: It’s a game for him, this teasing back and forth. “I will.” “Okay.” “I mean it.” She looks up, his hair still askew from when her fingers had run through it. “Okay,” she replies then turns to leave. She’ll always be the better player.
Rec: Tashi through her life. She breaks my heart <3
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Category #3: Innocent Bystanders
Outsider POVs that are a fully raised eyebrow. As it should be :)
Homemakers by californianNostalgia Rated: T Word Count: 4,262 Summary: Nicki is unfortunate enough to be present when the Donaldsons show up as an allied pair of blindingly hot jilted exes laser-focused on her depressing mess of a tennis instructor. Alternate title: My ‘Patrick Zweig wins a Grand Slam’ Agenda. (Outsiders POV.)
Rec: Shows off what strange and dependent creators ATP are with some really cool OCs along the way.
let's just say there's a vibe by waltztangocache Rated: G Word Count: 2,141 Summary: becca🌻 @rebeccangel Thu 11:28 AM hey is anybody else watching this new rochelle challenger final right now? its kind of ummmmm | becca🌻 @rebeccangel Thu 11:28 AM let’s just say there’s a vibe (The Challengers post-canon, as told by tennis twitter.)
Rec: A very silly and fun outsider social media POV. #throuple
grownups do brunch by bigwigs Rated: T Word Count: 1,718 Summary: Every week, Helen and her sister catch up over Facetime. This week, Helen's life has been a bit more exciting than usual. (Or: Helen tells her sister about the tennis player who's moved in to her apartment.)
Rec: Helen gets the main character treatment she deserves. Thank god!
bizarre love triangle by tsukkiluvr11 Rated: M Word Count: 5,900 Summary: So, there’s his answer. Art and Tashi are fucking and Patrick knows. Patrick’s okay with it, even. Then, his face crumples as he considers the thought that Patrick messaged them that day and asked them to fuck so he could listen in on the phone. Well, to each their own, he forces himself to think or five times Art's roommate doesn't understand Art, Tashi and Patrick's relationship, and one time he gets it.
Rec: RIP Art’s roommate. Poor guy.
you can watch from your window by rib14 Rated: T Word Count: 3,580 Summary: zara donaldson @federerererer has anyone else seen patrick zweig’s latest insta post??? i swear to god he’s in front of the same wall that’s in tashi’s pic from a few weeks ago That time in 2020 when we all went a little bit crazy about these three tennis players’ personal lives. Does anyone else remember that? What a weird time.
Rec: Speculation is going wild, as it would and as it should.
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Category #3: Stanford and its Diversions
The Stanford!Era is so special. Tashi and Art and Patrick are so young and hopeful :) near and dear 2 me
unavailability is the only thing that turns you on by wizardempire Rated: T Word Count: 3,351 Summary: Art moves to sit on the edge of the bed. He presses the back of his hand to Patrick’s forehead the way his grandma always did when he was sick. Admittedly, he doesn’t really know what he’s looking for, but he definitely feels warm. “I don’t think you’ve just got a cold, man.” “Doctor fucking Donaldson…” Patrick grumbles, swatting his hand away. “Are you still pissed?”
Rec: Art stuck in the middle once again! Applaud wizardempire doubly so for giving Patrick a cold. Someone had to.
dear circle story by mostreverent Rated: T Word Count: 6,619 Summary: Art didn’t have a bag, just a dark blue towel thrown over his shoulder and clashing with the red swim trunks that Tashi vaguely remembered seeing in the Stanford bookstore when she first toured the school. Patrick slowed to a stop and rolled down the window. “Get in the back, bitch.” Art’s eyes rolled, a dramatic, oversized motion that overtook his entire body. “God, fuck you.” He glanced past Patrick, and Tashi could tell the exact moment that Art’s eyes found her. His entire body stiffened up and he went pink up to the tips of his ears just peeking out of golden hair. “Oh. Hi.” Laughter was light as a salt filled breeze on her voice. “Hi.” The moment lingered a second too long, and Patrick leaned back in his seat with a groan. “Oh my god, stop staring and get in the car.” - Art, Patrick, and Tashi have a beach day.
Rec: This is so like, ‘everything is beautiful and nothing hurts’ but it already hurts a lot.
tell me what you'll do, please by snoopyarchie Rated: E Word Count: 5,422 Summary: It had slipped out of Tashi's mouth, surprising herself. She was on top of him, draping herself across his body as they made out. He was being extra pliant today, letting himself be pushed down with ease. "I wish I could fuck you," she's saying before she even realises. Or: Stanford era patashi pegging fic
Rec: Didn’t you hear. It’s a Stanford era Patashi pegging fic!
if you've got leavin' on your mind by cloudninetynine Rated: E Word Count: 24,093 Summary: tashi presses a bit harder as she watches, tosses her hair over her shoulders. “y’know,” she says, her grip firm. “i’ve kissed you. and i’ve kissed him.” art doesn’t need to hear her finish the sentence to know where this is going. “i think the two of you are a bit behind here.” “you think-” he gasps, delirious. “you think the two of us should kiss?” a sardonic laugh, and patrick's fingers are back, carding through his hair. “yeah, she’s not exactly subtle about that one.” or: 5 times patrick visits art and tashi at stanford + 1 time art visits tashi and patrick.
Rec: Had me shaking my head with a wild grin, muttering what the fuck is wrong with them.
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Category #6: They Go Back to the Hotel Room
Post-Canon fics where they fuck it out and/or fuck it up.
cut back down to my knees by hollowcene Rated: E Word Count: 4,354 Summary: It's not like Tashi hasn’t fucked Patrick while he’s looked worse. Except this time it’s not just Tashi that’ll be there, and Patrick hasn’t waited and wanted to get into bed with Art for this long to let the opportunity go to waste.
Rec: A situationship from hell.
On the Brink by tevinterimperium Rated: E Word Count: 7,840 Summary: Patrick hadn’t minded all of the time it took, all of the media attention, all of the microphones pressed into his face to ask him about the challenger and his performance, and hadn’t even minded that he had lost, for once in his life. “It was a beautiful game,” one woman had said, a gorgeous blonde with an endearing European accent that could’ve been from anywhere, “how do you feel now?” On top of the fucking world, Patrick had wanted to say. A phantom utterance: Code violation. Audible obscenity. Point penalty, Zweig—On top of the whole damn world, he would correct. Instead, with a distinct ringing in his ears, he had said, “Great,” and felt the fresh trickle of sweat fall down his nose and drop to the cement where they were huddled, “Really, really great."
Rec: When a Challengers fic has a ‘voyeurism’ tag you know it goes hard.
in the company of ghosts by addandsubtract Rated: E Word Count: 6,584 Summary: After the challenger, what they should do is talk, but what they actually do is fuck. If it was supposed to fix anything, it doesn’t.
Rec: A torturous holding pattern! But they’re working it out.
Where the fingers forgive each other by theaa Rated: E Word Count: 52,971 Summary: There are hardly any spare seats at all, collective body heat pushing up the temperature in the stadium even further. Except, of course, the seat next to Tashi.
Rec: A very expansive look at the trio's lives over the years. The POVs are excellent, and the tennis even better.
In the Middle by buries Rated: E Word Count: 6,006 Summary: She liked it better when he allowed them to be them, as they were. Her with her scarred knee, Art with his nervous tic of playing with his wedding ring, and Patrick… Patrick stayed the same. He rubbed his hands against his thighs, scratched the back of his neck, and laughed too much. His laughter was too loud, but it fit in their room, littered with wedding photos. Nothing in this room was his, but he fit. He was theirs.
Rec: Tashi and Art make some room :)
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Category #7: Patrick Takes the Guest House
Fics where Patrick inhabits a Guest House - literal and figurative (sometimes a guest house is a state of mind etc etc). Also known as: The Donaldsons bring home a stray
Playing House by somerdaye Rated: M Word Count: 4,238 Summary: "You're staying with us for the lockdown thing?" Art checks, and he's so good at tone regulation, at not sounding like he's pissed off even though Tashi knows he must be, somewhere under that cool exterior. "I wasn't really given a choice," Patrick says, shoulders hunching up closer to his ears. "Is that a problem?"
Rec: A Covid fic. The three of them have forced proximity and they don’t know what to do with each other.
my longings stay unspoken by dharmainitiative Rated: M Word Count: 23,023 Summary: “You can stay in our guesthouse,” Tashi says finally. Patrick stares. “Your guesthouse?” “Yes. Temporarily, yes.” “Why do you have a guesthouse?” “Because my parents use it when they visit, and because we’re rich as fuck, Patrick.” “But — ” He doesn’t want to ask. But he’s kind of a glutton for punishment, and besides, he needs to know. “Is Art going to be okay with that?” For a long moment, Tashi’s narrowed gaze flickers across Patrick’s face. Then she lets out a disbelieving snort and shakes her head. “I’ll send you the address.” And before Patrick can protest, she turns and walks away from him.
Rec: Patrick gets domesticated, but in the way you slowly boil a frog.
giving up the gun by quentintarrantino Rated: M Word Count: 4,543 Summary: Art was always something he had considered a constant in his life, even when the years dragged on without contact he knew that it would come back around sometime. It had to.
Rec: They just can’t help themselves dude!
can't be trusted around you by r_holland Rated: E Word Count: 23,610 Summary: And look: this whole thing could probably be resolved with a single honest conversation. He’s sure that with a little communication they could all manage to come to some arrangement. In fact, Patrick is pretty certain that he could fix their marriage himself by finally getting them both into bed at the same time. But Art is extremely reticent to voice what he actually wants, and Tashi can’t do anything without making it into a game, so here they are, each sneaking into Patrick’s bed and pretending that they’re mad about it. Patrick has no problem voicing what he wants or being direct. He wants Art. And he wants Tashi. If they could get their shit together and realize that they both want him, too, he’d probably be the happiest man in the goddamn world.
Rec: Patrick doesn’t understand how he ends up in the guesthouse. But also he 1000% does.
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Part 2
