Captain America Reverse Big Bang

I started it from a tumblr rec and didn't notice it was a WIP at first but it's so good I just don't care.

doesn’t mean that i was never afraid by yhronez, first work under this username on AO3.

It's Omegaverse and the worldbuilding is exceptional - darker than some Omegaverse fics in that omegas were severely discriminated against even in Canada until the 1800s, and still are in some nations (like Russia). Shane is a pro hockey player as usual, but not a typical alpha, in that he doesn't have a typical alpha smell, Alpha Voice, can't form a knot, etc. Ilya is an extremely traumatised omega who's been sex trafficked for five years until being rescued in a police sweep, in Montreal. He's placed with Shane by a charity due to Shane's particular characteristics, and as Shane is still an alpha, so able to provide security.

The trauma is extreme but in the past and off-screen, however Ilya does refer to it at least in passing, quite often - sometimes as he's not aware that what he describes isn't routine in Shane's world. The strength of the fic is the really slow development of their relationship in a very realistic and believable way. Like, the fic's at over 80,000 words and Ilya's only lived with Shane for two days! Yet it's absolutely gripping and unputdownable. Unlike canon there's no real homophobia with it being Omegaverse, so the similar-to-canon barrier to their relationship is a) Ilya's trauma which Shane's intensely aware of, and b) An initial 3 month contract with the charity with very strict 'no sex of any kind' rules.

They're both very in-character, and although Ilya was initially a bit cowed we're seeing more and more of his true, snarky self emerging. They're also of course already falling hard for each other (Shane being totally oblivious to that and Ilya too terrified of dependency/abuse to acknowledge it). It's very much "buckle up, this is gonna be a long one." (god I hope so!) The writing is excellent and the author's understanding of the effects of trauma is spot on. It's updating regularly but with no overall chapter count known yet. I spent most of today reading it!