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awwyeah107 · 5 months

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2023 Fic Recs

Hello and welcome to my GIANT fic recs from 2023 post :)

I have been utterly obsessed with Tolkien’s works this entire year, and I’ve read more fanfiction in one year than I ever have before. My primary fandom this year was Tolkien, and I’m honestly rather astonished that it’s held my attention as long as it has, especially considering that this is a “recurring” hyperfixation (aka, this is not the first time I’ve had this hyperfixation).

So buckle up, ‘cause this is going to be a crazy long ride. The vast majority of these fics are Tolkien fics, but I’ve got a couple of non-Tolkien fics at the very end, and overall there's about 90-ish fics here in this bad boy XD

For each fic, I’ll give a one-sentence summary and then my thoughts on the fic!

I’m sorting them into oneshots, multi-chapter fics, series, in-progress stories, and misc & non-Tolkien fics. Within those sections, I'll loosely group them by various qualifiers like characters, time periods, and locations.

Intro: What to Expect & Fics Legend

Expect: Lots of fluff, lots of angst. Mostly genfic. Mostly Silmfics featuring or focused on kidnap fam, Fëanorians, Halenthir, Arafinwëons. Some Lord of the Rings and/or Hobbit characters are featured, so if you aren’t familiar with The Silmarillion, there are definitely fics that include characters a non-Silm reader would know. Most fics are rated T, with a few rated M.

Do not expect: Stories with a focus on romantic!Russingon (or any other first cousins x cousins ships—those really give me the ick), smut, or really gory or dark stories. No E-rated fics (with one *singular* exception where I did not know it was E-rated at first and only has a few E-rated scenes that can be skipped).

Fics Legend/Key These emojis are used to denote any stories that do have the following elements, and I’ll do my best to put appropriate warnings/mentions of certain potentially triggering topics as well, when needed.

🔒 Fic only available to AO3 users

⚠️ Features smut (skippable/not essential to the story or the focus of the story)

*️⃣ Features background/non-primary romantic!Russingon

🩸 Features somewhat graphic violence and/or heavy topics (including abuse and severe trauma or mental illness)

As I said, I’ll do my best to put appropriate warnings. However, a) there’s some stuff that just comes with the territory; Tolkien does not shy away from violence and trauma, and b) this is such a long list that I honestly may not remember if some of them apply to certain stories. Most if not all the stories do have content warnings given by the author as appropriate/necessary, so if I miss something, the author and/or the fic tags should tell you about it. My apologies if I do miss anything.

I will tag authors who are here on Tumblr; I've included multiple fics by the same authors, so I will only tag each author once.

Also, this may go without saying, but I feel like it does need saying: Your mileage may vary with these fics, especially those that are not particularly fluffy. For example, I don’t like romantic!Russingon, but I’m willing to read some stories with them in the background. I also don’t like smut, so I don’t read stories that prominently feature it, but if I’m already enjoying a story and I come across it, I will skip it. Same kind of thing with intense violence—I’ll skip or skim what I need to. So, read what you’re comfortable with, and don’t read or skip what you aren’t.

I want to give a massive thank-you to all of the fic authors, all of the people posting meta, and all of the artists out there. I was inspired to re-read The Silmarillion (for the third time) this year, and I highly doubt I would’ve been able to actually get myself to do that without all of the amazing stories and musings and art out there that drove me back to the canon we all love. So thank you ❤️

Oneshots

Haleth x Caranthir (Halenthir)

She is the Sunlight by @dreamingthroughthenoise (aka Alantie)🔒 - Caranthir and Haleth have a hike and a conversation. When I saw the title of this fic, I immediately thought of the Trading Yesterday song with the same name—and it turns out, the fic was named after the song, which fits Caranthir/Haleth as a ship so well! The fic itself is (bitter)sweet and beautiful, and I really enjoyed it.

easily sever what was never one by vauquelin - Haleth and Finrod have a discussion, and Haleth pays a visit to Caranthir. I loved reading this fic, and I’ve come back to reread it at least once. It was quite amusing at times, and I really enjoyed Haleth’s no-nonsense characteristics. The debates and discussions she has with Finrod and Caranthir are delightful to read—plus, I enjoyed Haleth and Caranthir’s dynamic and the waxing and waning tension between them. (Warnings: The fic outright says that Caranthir and Haleth have had and do have sex, in generally crude/slang terms, and there is one paragraph/section where things are described a little, but it can be easily skipped and I would not consider it explicit.)

Call It What It Is (Whatever It Might Be) by @sweetteaanddragons (aka Drag0nst0rm on AO3) (featuring art from @lidoshka) - Haleth is visited by several elves related to Caranthir, which raises her suspicions. A delightfully fun oneshot that had me grinning a lot! I love Caranthir/Haleth fics, especially when Caranthir’s denying he’s got a crush on her. Not a lot of Caranthir interacting with Haleth directly in this one, but it’s a great fic. The art was fantastic, I absolutely love Lidoshka’s art style!

Kidnap Fam

Enough by dreamingthroughthenoise (aka Alantie) 🔒 - Maglor and Maedhros argue over the twins, but later Maedhros comes to join Maglor and the twins on a picnic. This one’s a bit angsty, but it does have some sweet moments in it! I like the discussions the characters have; they feel thoughtful and well-characterized, especially in terms of how Maglor and Maedhros respond to each other. Both brothers have strong emotions, but they don’t go out of their way to be hurtful to each other.

Nightmares by @brievel - Snapshots of Maedhros experiencing nightmares and how Elrond and Elros respond. This is one of my favorite “Maedhros is having nightmares” fics where it features Elrond and Elros. It’s definitely angsty and tense, but I love seeing how the twins’ responses change over the course of the story. It really shows how their trust of Maedhros and Maglor develops.

Dawn (The Nightmares Remix) by sweetteaanddragons (aka Drag0nst0rm on AO3) - The aftermath of one of Maedhros’ nightmares from “Nightmares.” Good and angsty with relief by the end! I loved Maedhros’ reflections on the past (his memories of how he was trusted in Tirion with little ones are especially painful) and every aspect of Maglor’s interactions with his brother.

Chill in Your Heart, Life in Your Wings by @jaz-the-bard - After the Third Kinslaying, Elrond and Elros are kidnapped by a band of human raiders in Sirion, who decide to bring them to Maedhros and Maglor. I love JaztheBard’s kidnap fam fanfics, and this one is no exception. It’s a lovely oneshot with lots of feels! Features VERY cute Elrond and Elros. I just about died from cuteness during the fish book part, specifically.

Outrun the Storm by @secretlythranduil - Elrond and Elros are scared of the storm. I love a good kidnap fam thunderstorm fic, and I particularly love all the little details in this one: the guards joking about the claps of thunder being Morgoth’s footsteps, the twins thinking about what kind of state they would find Maedhros in, the reminder of how the Fëanorians found them in Sirion, and how Maedhros picks them up like Maglor had.

In Valinor pre-kinslaying #1

Unruly and ill-behaved, downright feral even by @swanhild - Fëanor and Nerdanel wrangle their rowdy, unruly bunch of elflings. This was quite amusing and adorable!!! I love the younger elflings’ antics and the older elflings’ “teen troubles” (so to speak), and Fëanor and Nerdanel parenting all of them.

Lack of All Trades by @darkfrozenabyss - Young Maitimo doubts that he has a trade or a craft. Cute father-son feels! I loveloveLOVE baby Maedhros and I loved getting to see Fëanor comforting him.

In Valinor post-kinslaying #1

The Spirit of the Law by @mynameisjessejk - Caranthir is re-embodied in Valinor. mynameisjessejk is one of my favorite authors who write the genre of “elves dealing with re-embodiment in Valinor.” This oneshot, along with the other re-embodiment fics they’ve written, is super super good. I really liked this take on Caranthir’s return, and I enjoyed the development of the Caranthir-Finrod friendship—one that isn’t usually seen in fic!

The Return of the House of Finwë by mynameisjessejk - The tales of the re-embodiment of five different members of the House of Finwë. Aaaaaa, this was such a heart-wrenching, feels-filled read! And so wonderful. I loved reading about each character coming back and seeing their reactions to those who came to meet them.

Pity Found by brievel and darkfrozenabyss - Fëanor and his sons are re-embodied in Valinor. Such an emotional fic! All the feels were amazing. I really enjoyed the fic, and I liked how the end left it open for the family to work things out further.

Beyond the Western World by thearrogantemu - Finrod and Curufin meet in Valinor. I really enjoyed this reckoning between the two of them! Finrod has such control in this conversation, yet he still has compassion for Curufin in a way. I liked how their conversation flowed and alternated between focusing on the present and the past. I think both of them needed to speak to each other, not only for closure but also to fully realize things about themselves. It was already a detailed story, but all the little reminders that they knew each other so well lent an even greater sense of depth to the story, which was beautiful. (Plus, I love the title.)

Though All Whom Ye Have Slain Should Entreat For You by thearrogantemu *️⃣ - Thingol has a conversation with Maedhros in Valinor. VERY interesting fic. I had never thought about Thingol and Maedhros interacting before, but hey, that’s what fanfiction is for, right? This was an incredible ride. I loved reading their back-and-forth debate and how calculating and emotional both were. Highly recommend if you’re in the mood for unusual character interactions and a very intellectual and emotionally charged discussion.

There Are Fires, There Is Laughter by ithilielthechosenone - Galadriel and Aredhel take a walk and catch up after Aredhel is re-embodied. I really enjoyed this. It is so beautiful and contemplative, and I love reading about the only two female descendants in the 3rd generation of the house of Finwë.

Finwëons in Beleriand/Middle-Earth

Regrets by dreamingthroughthenoise (aka Alantie on AO3) 🔒 - The Ambarussa have a discussion before the Fëanorians attack Sirion. I really like the characterization of Amrod and Amras in this fic! The way they decided to try to take responsibility for leading the attack in order to spare Maglor and Maedhros is heartbreaking but makes so much sense. I also had never considered how the situation with Eluréd and Elurín might have affected them, so it was interesting to read an interpretation of that!

Lands of the March by @cycas (aka bunn on AO3) - Maedhros discusses the lands and duties he has given to each of his brothers with Amrod and Amras. Quite an enjoyable oneshot! Maedhros is logical…but also quite caring, at the end of the day. I found myself smiling reading it!

Oh Makalaurë… by caeciliusestinforo - Maglor’s guilt over never going to find Maedhros in Thangorodrim causes him to neglect his health, which has consequences. I loved this fic. I’m a sucker for Maglor beating himself up over Maedhros’ torment and then coming to accept it, and Maglor’s desperation is depicted very well.

All the scars we can not see by waitingfover - Fingon has a flashback when he visits Himring. Awwww, poor Finno! Felt a lot of sympathy for him. It definitely felt like he didn’t really want to say what was going on, perhaps because it felt so obvious, but he did. Wish I could’ve given him a hug like Maedhros did.

i will not say the day is done by @southfarthing - Fingon and Maedhros avoid the conversation waiting to happen after Fingon rescues Maedhros from Thangorodrim. SO angsty, so intense, and so good!!! Maedhros and Fingon both have such different viewpoints on what happened and the context surrounding it—it pulls on my heartstrings to see them both struggling, but it makes it all the more poignantly beautiful when they can finally face each other.

Mithrim by @warrioreowynofrohan (aka WarriorEowyn on AO3) - Maedhros has three conversations with different people after his rescue from Thangorodrim. Oh my gosh, this fic is so freaking GOOD! Maedhros and Fingon’s first interaction was so intense and so good (“I’m sorry—” “You’re sorry?” was absolutely iconic. I practically shrieked and had to stop reading for a moment to compose myself). The fic also has a good dose of Maglor guilt, which I’m always happy to read!

Non-Finwëons in Beleriand/Middle-Earth

An evening off by earthbound_misfit - Rog enjoys spending an evening with his friend Egalmoth after work. This was such a good oneshot! So refreshing and peaceful. It felt like having a home-cooked meal :) Lovely!

Sharp Things in the Way by @dawnfelagund - A character study of Daeron, of sorts. This fic is a beautiful mosaic of moments in Daeron’s life—it’s all so bittersweet and deep and full of twisting emotions, and I honestly feel a bit of pity for Daeron after reading it. I haven’t read many fics focused on him, but I really like this one. I thought his and Maglor’s dancing around each other and the musical techniques they shared and took from each other were particularly fascinating parts of the story.

Reflections on Injustice by @hwestalas - Túrin sees Beleg heal a march-warden, and he himself later has the chance to help Beleg heal. Sweet, and a little painful! I enjoyed it. Beleg as a healer and a warrior is awesome, and I liked reading Túrin’s shifting emotions.

see it fall, child of war by swanmaiden 🩸 - Elwing says goodbye to her children. If I had to use one word to describe this fic, it would be “heartbreaking.” I expected it to be painful, and it really, truly was. I teared up reading Elwing telling Elrond and Elros she loved them, and I could feel the fear and anguish felt by the elves around Elwing. This fic really made me feel the terrible weight of the Fëanorians attacking Sirion, which was meant to be a refuge, and I think it was meant to do that. Very well-written!

Among the reeds by Adlanth - Elwing, Tuor, and those of Edain heritage spend time together in Sirion. I absolutely LOVED this!!! This is one of the first fics I’ve read that focus on the Edain and their heritage. I feel like they tend to be less appreciated in fandom, in favor of the house of Finwë (although I’ve definitely seen fics and meta about the Númenoreans). In any case, this was a delightful fic; I really liked seeing the small community of humans grow together and share their culture and history (mainly of the house of Bëor). Beautiful.

LOTR/Hobbit Characters

In A Yellow Wood by @lordgrimwing - Modern AU where Thranduil, wife, and young Legolas go on a hike. SUPER super cute oneshot!! Really enjoyed it. I love how Thranduil and his wife play with Legolas!

The Castaway by warrioreowynofrohan (aka WarriorEowyn on AO3) - Legolas and Gimli meet a stranger as they prepare to sail to Valinor. Quite enjoyable! I loved the difference in Legolas and Gimli’s opinions regarding what they should do, and how Gimli’s perspective and compassion helped Legolas to consider his prejudices. The dialogue between all of the characters was excellent!

A Warg in Sheep’s Clothing by @arofili (aka starlightwalking on AO3) - Fíli and Kíli find an injured warg pup in the woods. This was such a wonderfully fun fic to read! There were a few sad moments for sure, but I love reading stories with Fíli and Kíli because their characters have such a youthful joy and hopefulness to them. I loved “Buddy” and dwarflings’ bond with him was so adorable! (Also, I love the title XD)

General/Misc

Shinystarship Has Invited You To Join A Zoom Conference! by jaz-the-bard *️⃣ - Elrond’s father figures make a plan for how they will support Elrond when he sails to Aman (by using modern technology in Arda). THIS IS HILARIOUS. I love it. The Zoom names are perfect. I’ve reread this a couple times and I laugh every time!

Wealth Enough of Joy by StarSpray - Elrond and Celebrían enjoy time with their newborn twins and more family. This was such a sweet, lovely fic. It has the feeling of a summer evening—which is appropriate, since the description is “Elladan and Elrohir are born at twilight in summer.” I actually drew a picture in my little sketchbook of what I thought Elrond and Celebrían’s room would look like!

Mercy by @nothinghereisworking (aka cuarthol) - Snapshots of Celegorm and Finrod. I haven’t read many fics centered on Celegorm and Finrod, and I really like this! Features scenes in Valinor, Beleriand, and then Valinor again. I love how it comes full-circle and how the meaning of mercy changes over the course of the story.

An Unexpected Friendship by StarSpray (featuring art from lidoshka) - Belladonna Took makes a friend. I didn’t realize how much I needed to read about Maglor interacting with hobbits until this fic—and it made me interested in more fics of the same ilk. This particular one was SO much fun, and I loved how much hobbit culture StarSpray got into. I also really enjoyed Maglor’s and the hobbits’ characterization, too. The art of Maglor and Belladonna is adorable!

To Justify Your Existence by jaz-the-bard 🩸 - Maedhros meets his father and brothers in Mandos and braces himself for the worst. Delightfully angsty! Poor, poor Maedhros. The self-blame is off the charts in this one, whew. The emotional climax is so fulfilling!

AUs

stare death in the face (and never back down) by @oopsbirdficced (aka ingenious_spark on AO3) 🔒🩸 - Instead of returning to Gondolin when Sauron lets him go, Maeglin escapes…and runs into some relatives. This is such a cool AU/twist on what happened in canon! Lots of feeeeels—poor Maeglin. However, I love that he found [spoiler] and that they all essentially took one look at him and decided to adopt him XD

Retaliatory Kidnapping by darkfrozenabyss - Elwing decides that kidnapping the re-embodied Fëanorian twins (Amrod and Amras) might let her make a trade with Maglor and Maedhros for her own sons. This may have been the first fic I read by darkfrozenabyss! It’s so enjoyable and engaging. I loved Elwing taking matters into her own hands and being determined to rescue her sons, as well as the reluctant friendship that began to take root between her and the Ambarussa. Great ending, too! An all-around fantastic story.

Less scary than before by waitingfover - Maedhros is feeling homesick at college and receives a package (modern AU). I seriously enjoyed this oneshot! It filled me with so much warmth, and it reminded me of my family sending me things in college :) I love how each member of Maedhros’ family sent him something that showed how they loved him/thought of him, each in their own unique way.

Wayward Son by @thescrapwitch🩸 - After being re-embodied, Fëanor sets out on a mission to find his second son. This was sweet! I really enjoyed it. Fëanor’s dedication to loving and caring for Maglor is wonderful.

Where the Heart Is by mynameisjessejk *️⃣ - Amarië does not let Finrod go to Beleriand without her. A very cool AU where Amarië goes to Beleriand! We love to see it. I really like how it changes things and how the politics are different throughout Beleriand as a result.

Battle of Sudden Song by AeolianSands - Maglor encounters Sauron and recalls his cousin Finrod. I absolutely LOVE how this is written. I am SUCH a fan of Maglor using Song and living up to his name and reputation! This was so deliciously wonderful.

who could ask to be unbroken (or to be brave again) by @piyo13sdoodles - Tauriel meets a lone elf on the plains of Rhovanion and becomes friends with the mysterious singer. I really like reading “Maglor makes friends with people after being on his own” fics, and this one was so sweet! I enjoyed Tauriel’s curiosity and spirit, as well as how Maglor cares for her. Their relationship is wonderful, and I love how they grow into being each others’ family. It’s a beautiful story :)

Tumblr Oneshots

Wet Boots by @amethysttribble - Baby Maedhros is playing, and Uncle Nolofinwë comes to find him. So fluffy and adorable and silly and SWEET! I love baby Maedhros, and this is one of my go-to fluff fics. (There’s also a super cute fanart/comic of this floating around somewhere—I thought I had saved it but I can’t find it. If I ever do, I’ll add it here.)

Finrod and baby Galadriel in Valinor by @actual-bill-potts (aka oswinry on AO3) - Galadriel wakes up Finrod. SO FREAKING CUTE. I LOVED this little oneshot so much. Tiny Galadriel is super adorable and big brother Finrod is just as adorable. Fluff level 3000.

Multi-Chapter Fics

The following multi-chapter fics are all complete (or have not been updated since 2022), and they all have more than one chapter. If any are incomplete, I will note that.

Girl in Middle-Earth & Modern AUs

Pathology by @wild-houseplant (aka appalled.elf on FanFiction.net) ⚠️ 🩸 - A therapist ends up in Middle-Earth and builds a life in Rivendell. This was one of the first fics I read in 2023, and what a wonderful way to start the year!! I absolutely LOVED reading this fic. This was one of those fics that kept me up late and had me glued to my screen whenever I could spare time to read it. I love its central themes of friendship, grieving, and healing. The relationships that develop between Rhodri and the various Middle-Earth characters felt so real and healthy, and it was simply so wonderful to read! The author adds a lot of notes and information about the mental health care that Rhodri, the main character, provides, which is fantastic. Also, the character-lands-in-Middle-Earth plotline is handled quite well, in my opinion; questions that usually arise with that kind of plot were answered and explained in ways that made sense and added to the story.

(Warnings: There is plenty of language/swearing, a bit of violence [not super graphic, to my memory], and a few smut scenes; the author usually warns ahead of time if there will be any smut, and it’s fairly easy to tell when things are going that direction, so you can skip it if you don’t want to read it, like me. Also, the link I have included is to the fic on FanFiction.net, which is much more updated than the fic on AO3; there are 107 chapters on FanFiction.net as opposed to 29 on AO3. However, the version on AO3 is rated as E, while the one on FanFiction.net is rated as M, just so the reader is aware. I first found it on FanFiction.net, which is why I did not realize it was rated E before I read it, and if you skip the E-rated scenes like I did, I believe it would be considered rated M.)

This fic is incomplete—the last time it was updated was in November of 2022—but the reader is not left on a terrible cliffhanger.

Don’t Panic! by boz4PM - A more realistic "girl-falls-into-Middle-Earth" story. Quite entertaining and interesting! This is a spin on the typical “girl gets transported to Middle-Earth and everything is amazing” story, where things are a lot more realistic: there’s a language barrier, there aren’t high standards of cleanliness, there’s no indoor plumbing…the works! I read basically all of it in one night. I love how Penny and Halbarad’s relationship develops, and it’s fun seeing Penny learn to fit in with elves! There’s also a sequel, which is great too. (Warnings: General…gross-ness, I guess, lol! Also, there’s a LOT of swearing, especially in the first several chapters. This does calm down though.)

Ten Weeks of the Terribles by troiaspider - Maglor is forced to babysit his younger brothers while his parents and Maedhros are away for several weeks (modern AU). I really enjoyed this fic! Didn’t want to put it down. It was so fun, and I laughed several times. It also had many touching moments that I didn’t expect, and I found myself smiling at various moments.

In Valinor pre-kinslaying #1

Make You Pretty by @theladyvanya - Vanifinwë, the only daughter and youngest child of Fëanor, likes doing makeovers for her older brothers, which leads to some…interesting results. This fic is SO CUTE!!! I love how the brothers all give in and allow their baby sister to play with them, even if they know they look extremely bizarre by the end. And when [spoiler] is the only one who is actually truly upset by the game, it does get resolved by the end of the story. The fic is quite humorous and sweet!

Trial and Error by waitingfover - Each of the young Finwëons tries to bake something for their family, with varying results. Adorable set of oneshots! I like how the nature of each of the baking incidents matches the elfling or peredhel that is attempting to make something :)

In Valinor post-kinslaying #1

The Host of the West by mynameisjessejk - Finrod is re-embodied in Valinor. Oh my goodness, this was so good. I loved the exploration of Finrod’s emotions (and how being re-embodied affected him physically as well!) after coming back to life. The tension between him and his parents/those who did not know him in Beleriand felt very palpable, and my heart broke for him multiple times throughout the story. The resolution at the end was touching, and I felt reassured that things would look up for the characters as time went on beyond the ending of the story.

Memento Pugna (Remember, You Must Fight) by sweetteaanddragons (aka Drag0nst0rm on AO3) - Fëanor is re-embodied in Valinor, but from the very start, things are bound to go sideways. This was a great read! I loved the characterization and relationship development throughout the story, and I really enjoyed the chaos and shenanigans that happened. The story is quite hilarious at times and touching and angsty at others!

To save a life by waitingfover 🩸 - Fëanor is re-embodied in Valinor, and he has to deal with several hostile family members and other problems. Really great! It’s quite interesting, and I loved how Fëanor’s character developed over the course of the story, and how he comes to prioritize family over his own desires and pride. I also really liked how the plot changed and how various characters were introduced and included! (Warnings: There is a scene with mention of sexual abuse and a traumatized character expecting further abuse, and a brief scene of physical child abuse by a crowd of unnamed characters.)

More than the Stars Above by sweetteaanddragons (aka Drag0nst0rm on AO3) - Elrond visits his father, Eärendil, in Valinor. This is one of my favorite fics centered around Elrond and Eärendil. Their interactions here are so well-written and so spot-on! I like the alternating point of view, and I simply love how their relationship was portrayed.

The Ransom of the House of Fëanor by @eirianerisdar - Elrond petitions the Valar to return Maedhros and Maglor (and their brothers and father) from the Void. Oh my goodness. This fic broke my heart in the best way. SO. MUCH. ANGST. AND. FEELS. AAAAAGHH. I could see a lot of the different emotional situations coming, which made it even more angsty when they finally hit. I kept having to pause and stop reading because TOO MANY FEELS A;SLDKFJALF. Highly recommend if you want Elrond angst (and just angst in general).

The Last Ember by eirianerisdar - Nerdanel and Fëanor begin to reconcile in Valinor (compliant to The Ransom of the House of Fëanor but can be read separately). I absolutely love this Nerdanel-and-Fëanor-work-things-out-in-Valinor fic!!! Nerdanel’s vacillating emotions were so palpable and real, and both her and Fëanor’s characterization was wonderful. The pacing was done quite well, and I love how things ended :)

Rising as if Weightless by StarSpray - Elwing’s brothers return to life in Valinor. This was such a wonderful, feels-y fic! Elwing’s emotions throughout pulled on my heartstrings—and Eluréd and Elurín were so sweet. I loved meeting so many characters who were important to Elwing, and I really enjoyed the storyline. I couldn’t put this fic down!

In Beleriand & Middle-Earth

Family Reunions by Drapa *️⃣ - Finrod brings his human friend Bëor with him to a family reunion. I don’t think I have ever laughed more at a fic than I have at this one. I fondly remember sitting down to a bowl of soup and some bread for dinner and opening this fic because the premise looked promising…and then proceeding to nearly spit out my soup multiple times while reading. Finrod’s over-the-top behavior, the miscommunications and misunderstandings, the hijinks, and the ridiculousness of all of it was just way too funny. Highly recommend if you’re in the mood for some humor (or even if you aren’t).

Refuge by hwestalas - Maglor comes to Maedhros at Himring and does his best to hide that he is injured; this goes unsuccessfully. I absolutely love the interactions between Maglor and Maedhros in this fic. They are so filled with affection and teasing and the gentle kind of pushing between siblings, and it makes me so happy to read, even though they are dealing with war and deaths of their people. The love they have for each other and their siblings—and their people, too—is clear as day. It’s a lovely hurt/comfort fic, and one that I’ve reread a few times. Wonderful read!

This Taste of Shadow (SPECIFICALLY the Caranthir x Haleth chapters) by Mira_Jade - Caranthir and Haleth meet and slowly but surely fall for each other. I didn’t realize how much I needed a fic that took the question “what would it look like if Caranthir and Haleth really truly decided to get married, and not just in the elvish way [aka, through having sex], but to commit to each other until the end?” seriously and chose to explore it. I literally was obsessing over this fic for three to five days after I read it. SO. FREAKING. GOOD. This is one of the most well-written, satisfying, thorough Caranthir x Haleth fics I’ve ever read; the story is deeply emotionally engaging, and I loved it. Mira-Jade is phenomenal at exploring characters and really understanding them on a fundamental level, and how their relationships play out with other characters. And while it’s her interpretation, it feels very real and true-to-text. (Note: This is specifically a rec for the Caranthir x Haleth chapters; the entire work is a series of ficlets and oneshots that largely make up out-of-order story arcs. The link to each chapter can be found in the index/first "chapter" of the fic, which is linked above. I have not read the rest of the work, so I don’t know if there are any warnings I should give for other chapters. The tags do indicate that there is romantic!Russingon in the fic—there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference in the Halenthir chapters, but otherwise none. Also, warning for a version of Celegorm who lives up to the epithet “Celegorm the Cruel.”)

Of Bright Stars and Dark Skies by @katinkacassio (aka CassioP on AO3) - The Fëanorians attack Sirion and take the twins, which leads to the twins living at Amon Ereb. This was one of my favorite kidnap fam fics I read this year! The characterization was well done, and I will always enjoy tropes like Elrond and Elros running off and Maedhros and Maglor having to search for them. Elrond and Elros are wonderful, and both parties opening up slowly to each other was heartrending and sweet.

Maglor Plays For His People After Doriath by Himring - Maglor contemplates Doriath and plays a lament for his people. Quite enjoyable—the contemplative nature of this fic is beautiful. I liked how Maglor considers what his people need and what he plays for them, and his memories of meeting Daeron at Mereth Aderthad were amusing and sweet. This fic really conveys deep a sense of wistful mourning.

Generally Interesting Lives by @glorf1ndel - A collection of oneshots for Tolkien Gen Week 2023. I love how unique these are and how each one of them stands out! I really liked the vibe of the stories—they were easy to read and the characters’ “voices” and personalities are strong. I particularly enjoyed the chapters about Maedhros and Lúthien, Huan and Oromë, and Galadriel and Bill the pony!

I need you more than ever right now by @senalishia - Elwing and Eärendil weather Elwing’s pregnancy with their twins. I love how this fic explored Elwing and Eärendil’s relationship, their personalities, and their perspectives on their responsibilities and having children! It’s compelling and well-paced. Also, I really liked the OC healer Curunada’s curious yet brusque nature! (Warnings: Childbirth, which is a little graphic)

General/Misc

Of starlight, s’mores and misadventures by waitingfover - A collection of oneshots about elflings and their adventures. These oneshots are SO CUTE and occasionally come with a serving of angst at the end with a flash-forward. A few of them are angsty in general, but the majority are just adorable, fluffy stories. If you ever need fluff, you will find it here! Also, this fic is how I finally got all of the Quenya names of the House of Finwë ingrained into my mind XD waitingfover uses them a lot in the story and provides lists of the names at the start of chapters, so that was super helpful! (Note: This fic is still being updated, but not on a regular basis, which is why I put it in the multi-chapter fics section instead of the in-progress section.)

As the Tides Flow by @starshipsilmaril 🩸 - The story of Maglor’s life, from start to finish. I loved it! Starshipsilmaril does a great job with Maglor's emotions, and Maglor’s love story and family were so sweet. Telumë is a wonderful character, and she and Maglor fit together quite well, I think. Definitely gets more angsty as the story goes on, which is expected. Great read! (Warnings: Silm-typical violence, not super graphic [to my memory] but it’s there. Also, The fic outright says that Maglor and Telumë have sex, and there are a couple paragraphs where things are described a little, but it can be easily skipped and I would not consider it explicit. It’s also pretty easy to see coming—it’s on the wedding night.)

Some Wild Thing by warrioreowynofrohan (aka WarriorEowyn on AO3)🩸 - Aredhel’s story, from Valinor to Beleriand. I love this exploration of Aredhel’s personality and character. The small snapshots and snatches of dialogue that relate the bigger picture are beautifully written, and Aredhel’s fiery personality shines through so well. I also really liked the depiction of her and Eöl (and Maeglin!)—it felt real and the way things subtly changed for the worse over time was chilling. Great read!

To Safety by jaz-the-bard - Young Elrond and Elros get transported to the Years of the Trees in Valinor and encounter their captors once again. I seriously love this story—I felt so bad for Elrond and Elros, and I felt sympathetic towards a bewildered Maedhros and Maglor (or should I say, Maitimo and Makalaurë). It’s fantastic! I’ve reread this at least 3 times XD

In a Field of Blood and Bone by @theheirofashandfire (aka ScribeofArda on AO3)🩸 - The Battle of the Five Armies, from the point of view of the elves. This was fantastic! It was awesome to read the events from a totally different perspective; the elves (and Bard!) come at the situation with different motivations, needs, and hopes for the future than the dwarves and Bilbo, and I think that ScribeofArda handled that very well. I loved the OCs Belhadron and Rhovaniel; they felt very whole and fleshed out, and it made me wish they were in the actual story so I could read more about them. Also, Legolas and Thranduil’s relationship was so sweet, and I love how much Thranduil loves Legolas even though he doesn’t outright show it much. (Warnings: Battle violence, as can be expected from a fic that’s about the Battle of the Five Armies.)

AUs

What once was mine by waitingfover - Maglor is given a second chance to go back and change things, starting at Losgar. What a great fic! I had the privilege to follow this fic from start to completion, and I loved getting updates. The changes—or lack thereof—were quite fascinating to read! This story features a strong dose of Maglor dealing with guilt and depression, which was heartbreaking but also understandable (and, as per usual, I ate it up with a spoon). This one of my favorite AUs!

The Rescue Party by AeolianSands - Fëanor, Fingolfin, and Finarfin decide to travel to Middle-Earth and save their children before the Doom of Mandos takes them. Really enjoyed this! Quite humorous, with some sweet touches of fluff and some angsty bits. There’s LOTS of chaos and things happening at the same time, and it reminded me of a contemporary fantasy story where all these plotlines are overlapping! There were lots of twists and turns I didn't expect, which was super fun.

Waiting for Dawn by theheirofashandfire (aka ScribeofArda on AO3) 🩸 - The Fellowship of the Ring finds Maedhros alive in the aftermath of the Battle of Pelennor Fields. I love “Maedhros-and-or-Maglor-are-alive-in-the-Third-Age” fics, and this one is quite well-written! I absolutely adore Pippin in this fic; his compassion and sprightliness are so in-character and it’s amazing to read. The rest of the hobbits are delightful as well. There’s also a serving of kidnap fam with a good amount of angst and feels :) Gotta love Maedhros being healed (against his will) and coming to accept that he wants to live! (Warnings: There’s somewhat graphic descriptions of the aftermath of the battle and torture, and there is a very disturbing injury in the first chapter that was done by torture. Additionally, Maedhros is suicidal for a while.)

Say NO To Shiny (And Other Valuable Life Lessons) by @fflewddur-feanorion *️⃣ - Maglor joins the Fellowship of the Ring! As soon as I saw the description of this fic, I immediately knew I had to read it. It is absolutely HILARIOUS. I laughed so much! I enjoyed the more casual, less serious characterization of the Fellowship and felt both amusement and sadness towards Maglor at different moments. The story also features Fëanorion brother shenanigans and some epic Song awesomeness!

Little Bird by darkfrozenabyss - Elwing is lost in the woods of Doriath instead of Eluréd and Elurín, and Amras Fëanorion finds her. Oh my goodness, this one pulls on my heartstrings. It’s beautiful and sad and amazing all at once. I loved Amras as a father, and I felt so much for Elwing, having to be so grown-up so young. I also didn’t expect Eluréd and Elurín’s characterization (though it does make sense) and it made me upset for Elwing. I loved reading about her learning about her birth culture and about her relationship with Eärendil. I also liked how the story ended!

Accidently on Purpose by waitingfover - Curufin accidentally turns Finrod into a younger version of himself. I read this almost all in one sitting and it was delightful. I’ve already reread it once or twice since finding it!! The characterizations and handling of the plot were amazing, and baby Finrod was SUUUUPER cute.

The Ghost of Erebor by @mistergandalf (aka ItalianHobbit on FanFiction.net and AO3) 🩸 - In an “everyone lives” AU, Fíli has intense trauma to work through from the Battle of the Five Armies—but nobody knows what happened to him. *slaps roof of fic* This bad boy can fit so much angst in it. Soooo much angst! Fíli is so traumatized and it’s heartbreaking to read. Kíli and Thorin’s attempts to help Fíli are also heartwrenching; they care about him so much, and their worry is so palpable. And of course, the pressing needs of running a kingdom and having an heir don’t make the situation any better. This kind of story is right in ItalianHobbit’s wheelhouse!

Series

Lengthening Shadows series by waitingfover 🩸 - What if Maglor went to bargain with Morgoth instead of Maedhros? This is a fantastic concept and I loveloveLOVE it! The way things go differently is so interesting, and it opens up a whole new dimension of feelings for the characters to experience (especially Maedhros and Maglor). I really like the inclusion of the other Finwëons in the story too. Go give this series some love, these stories are some of waitingfover’s earliest Tolkien works and they’re great!

Sons of the Star series by brievel (most fics in the series are open to all readers, but a few are locked 🔒) 🩸 - This is the “Sons of Fëanor as a biker gang” AU that you never knew you needed. I certainly didn’t know I needed it. But I LOVE it. Brievel is still writing the series and I’m enjoying it! I love the characterization of the Fëanorians as tough and scrappy criminals, but with generally good hearts (especially Max). I get excited every time a new installment comes out. I also highly recommend Óhchikaape, an in-progress story [at the time of this writing], which is set in (mostly) the same universe. (Warnings: There's a lot of violence, and many of the stories deal with heavy topics.)

Maglor is an Eldritch Horror series by thescrapwitch *️⃣ - Speaking of AUs you never knew you needed, the name says it all: Maglor is an eldritch horror. The vibe is “cozy horror,” which I love; I’m not really a horror fan, but the ‘monster’ is on the good guys’ side, and I think that’s what makes it the good kind of scary. Most of the stories in this series are oneshots of Maglor and various characters living in Rivendell, but other characters come in from time to time. This series is mostly complete, but every so often theScrap_Witch has another idea and I get an update to this series in my inbox (which always gets me flailing with excitement). (Warnings: If you’re particularly squeamish or super sensitive to horror/any scary things, you may want to proceed with caution. However, I will say that I’m fairly sensitive to that, and I could just skim past any things that squicked me out—but there have barely been any.)

Return to Aman series by cycas (aka bunn on AO3) - Maglor sails with Elrond, Bilbo, Frodo, and Gandalf to Valinor. Oh. my. gosh. These were stories. SO well-written!!! I devoured every bit of them, and I think I need to reread them because I inhaled them crazy fast the first time around! (I’ve already reread a few out of order, but they work so well together as an arc and I would love to reread it again fully.) There’s so much that gets explored, the characterization is great, and overall the stories are just absolutely DELIGHTFUL. There are 15 fics in the series, and most are oneshots.

Nossecilmë series by fingonsradharp 🔒🩸*️⃣ - Oneshots of the kidnap fam. These are pretty cute (with a bit of angst from time to time)! I particularly enjoyed Little Stars and Nightingale. (Warnings: 🩸 only applies to the oneshot "Little Stars" for kidnappers physically abusing Elrond & Elros.)

Of Half-elven Children and the Difficulties that Result series by waitingfover - Kidnap fam oneshots. This collection of kidnap fam oneshots is so wonderful! These range from full-on angst to pure fluff, and there’s a whole bunch.

Old Maggie Took series by @tanoraqui (aka NevillesGran on AO3) - “Maggie Took” (aka Maglor) has become a friend to those in the Shire. A delightfully fun and touching series! There’s two works and both are simply fantastic. The first is centered around fighting ‘Sharkey’ when he comes to the Shire; I found myself grinning, cheering for “Maggie,” and alternating between laughing and going “awww” at the hobbits and Gandalf. The second story is about a going-away party held for those sailing west, and it gave me the exact feeling I get from being at a good, fun party with friends: celebratory and joyful in the best way.

In-Progress Stories

These are ones that are unfinished that I've really enjoyed and I hope get updated in 2024!

(Also, for any of the authors who see that I’ve included their in-progress fic, please don’t feel pressured to update—me saying that I'm looking forward to more is simply meant to let you know that I like the story and would love to read more if/when you update.)

Daughters of Therindë by darkfrozenabyss - Nerdanel and her 2 daughter-in-laws go back in time to prevent the kinslayings, but they accidentally bring someone along with them that they weren’t expecting: Haleth. You guys. I am glued to this fic. I get ridiculously excited every time I see an update in my inbox; I love it so much and go back every so often to reread my favorite parts of the chapters (and sometimes just end up rereading most of or the entirety of the fic). The characterization is great, and the plot is super fascinating! The tension between Haleth and Caranthir is highly entertaining, and I eat up every bit of Caranthir’s brothers’ teasing with a spoon like it’s ice cream. You will also find me screeching and grinning like a fool at every emotional moment I come across. I seriously enjoy this fic so much!

Óhchikaape by brievel and The_Anonymous_Coauthor 🩸 - Set in the Sons of the Star universe (read about the Sons of the Star series in the Series section); Riser Way [aka Celegorm, for the uninitiated] wasn’t intending to be a dad…but it seems this scrawny, sassy Native American kid is in need of a parental figure, whether either of them like it or not. I am absolutely LOVING this story and get excited over every update. I’ve stayed up late multiple times to read the newest chapter that’s been posted, and I’m 100% sure that I will do it again, given the chance. I love how Riser and Nikki’s relationship develops over the course of the story. There’s a lot of humor and heartwrenching moments, and some serious and soft moments as well. If you aren’t familiar with Sons of the Star, I definitely suggest you read some or all of the series to get an idea of who the Way brothers are, because they (especially Riser and Ken) are primary characters in Óhchikaape. This story is now one chapter away from being done and I'm super excited for the next installment of the series! (Warnings: The story features violence, and it deals with heavy topics, including trafficking and child abuse.)

if somebody loved you, they'd tell you by now by @aurorapillar (aka auroracode on AO3) - Maeglin escapes Gondolin. I’ve been really enjoying this one! auroracode writes Maeglin so, so well—it breaks my heart to see him so traumatized, but it feels very real, and I feel proud of the progress he’s made so far! I also really love how [spoiler] interacts with him and helps him feel safe. I’m excited to see where this fic goes, and it’s been cool to read it from the beginning.

Identity Theft by waitingfover - Eluréd and Elurín come out of the halls of Mandos and are given to Nerdanel by a Maia who implies that the twins are Celegorm’s children; this most certainly does NOT cause any problems in the future ;) If this fic had an alternate title, I think it should be called something like “Olórin Makes a Habit of Kidnapping Elves” 😂 Because (slight spoiler) it’s something that happens multiple times throughout the story and always causes chaos! Anyway, this bad boy has 80-something chapters and is still going strong. The plot of the fic mutates throughout, but it is largely focused on Celegorm and his adventures, with lots of cameos from various Noldor and Sindar elves. I started reading it back in March, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing Celegorm’s character development as the story has progressed!

The Harrowing by @chthonion 🔒 ⚠️ *️⃣ 🩸- Sauron comes back to life from the Void and brings the Fëanorians with him. This fic has such a cool premise: Sauron being reembodied along with the sons of Fëanor and learning how to Be a Good Person™️ and Do Life™️ with all our favorite characters in Valinor. It does feature Silvergifting (Sauron x Celebrimbor), which I virtually never read because I’m not a fan of them together (in large part because the ship tends to remind me of unwanted stuff from my past); that being said, the fic isn’t just about Sauron and Celebrimbor. It’s mainly about Sauron and the house of Finwë (and Frodo!) learning to coexist with each other and heal from the past. Cthuluion’s writing is fantastic, and I love the interactions between the characters. (I particularly enjoyed Finrod and Sauron’s first conversation.) I’ve really enjoyed reading this fic! (Warning: There is a little smut, but only in chapter 16, I believe; I’ve skimmed and/or given a fairly wide berth to most Celebrimbor-Sauron one-on-one interactions to protect my mental health, so there may be more that I’m not aware of.)

Not About Owing by dreamingthroughthenoise (aka Alantie on AO3) 🔒 - Finrod and Amarië come to rescue Maglor on the beach. If there was an alternate title for this fic, I would vote “The One Where Maglor Gets Loved.” All of the characters are determined to make sure Maglor knows that they care about him and want him in their lives, and it’s so delightful. I also love the strong themes of redemption that are woven throughout, and there’s a deliciously dramatic scene with Eärendil that I practically screamed at. Each of the characters and their relationships feel so real and well-fleshed out, and it’s just lovely to read!

The Longest Night by mistergandalf (aka ItalianHobbit on FanFiction.net and AO3) 🩸 - A mysterious creature has attacked a village near Ered Luin, and Thorin Oakenshield and his nephews go to help. I’ve read all of ItalianHobbit’s Tolkien fics, and as I expected, this fic has got lots of whump, even for just 4 chapters so far! ;) It’s so very angsty and I’m eating it up with a spoon. I always enjoy reading Durin family fics—I just love their relationship and I really love how ItalianHobbit writes them. The link to the fic I put above is to the fic on FanFiction.net, but it is also posted on AO3.

When mercy stayed his blade by BarbieBlue - Maglor and Maedhros take Elrond and Elros with them after the Fëanorians attack Sirion. This is one of my favorite multi-chapter kidnap fam fics I’ve found! It’s got a lot of emotion and a fair amount of angst—it’s not super fluffy. I really like Maedhros and Maglor’s characterization in this one; they aren’t totally falling apart, but they’ve definitely got their issues, and BarbieBlue doesn’t shy away from that. I feel a lot for Elrond and Elros, who are certainly quite traumatized. Seeing the trust slowly developing between them and the Fëanorions is sweet, and I enjoy reading the dynamics between all of the characters.

we will make this place our home by @leucisticpuffin - Elrond and Elros get sent to live with their distant relatives Maglor and Maedhros Finuion. This fic is basically ‘The Secret Garden meets kidnap fam’! It is such a lovely story. I devoured most of it one time when I was up late (I had told myself that I really shouldn’t start a fic that had 40-something chapters at 2 am…but then found myself falling asleep at 4:30 am as I was reading. As soon as my eyes were open the next morning, I kept reading until I caught up!). I love the setting and all the little details that make the story work so well, and it’s really fun to read Silm characters in the mode of 1970s England. There’s a few OCs that help fill out the cast, and I enjoy their personalities and how they add to the story.

Less Wise and More Dangerous by DeepWatersWaiting 🩸 - Legolas is mysteriously transported to the First Age and runs into Fëanor and his sons. Great story, compelling and very well-written! I felt a lot of sympathy for Legolas, being plonked down in First Age Beleriand and facing people who he knew would kill his kin in the future. I like the development of the friendships he started forming (especially with Celebrimbor!), and I’ve been rooting for him as he’s been navigating the strange situation he is in. (Side note: anyone remember the AO3 shutdown back in July? This is what I was reading when that happened, lol.) (Warnings: There’s some graphic violence and injury/illness.)

Life After Death by actual-bill-potts (aka oswinry on AO3) 🔒 - Finarfin and his wife welcome Finrod after he returns from Mandos. So so so SO good. Oswinry writes SUCH good Arafinwëan fic. So carefully handled and well-written, and you can truly feel Finarfin’s desperate love and care for his son and his family. It fills a place in my heart I didn’t know was empty until I read the fic. (There have also been a few updates on Tumblr, too! Check out "my writing" and/or "silm fic" tags)

Yet Open Once Again Your Heart by @luteoflorien 🩸 - Maedhros has a breakdown, and Maglor realizes the twins are not as fragile as he thought. This one’s super heartwrenching, and I love it. The way Maglor treats Maedhros when he’s having his panic attack/breakdown/trauma-induced flashback is so well-done, and I really liked how the brothers had learned how to help each other on those bad days. The exchanges between Maglor and the twins (and between just Maglor and Elrond) are so raw and full of emotion, and Elrond himself is so wise and sweet.

What Was Sauron Thinking? by Chisscientist - Sauron is defeated…but it seems that in the process, he turned Gil-Galad into a child. The premise is so fascinating, and smol!Gil-Galad is adorable! I at turns find myself amused by him and want to give him a hug. The characterization is great, and I feel for Gil-Galad, having been unexpectedly turned into a child with memories of his adult self. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes, and I’m glad Gil-Galad has friends/guardians around him who care for him!

Misc & Non-Tolkien Fics

Tolkien fics that don't fit into other categories:

The Silmarillion Rewrite by Jenavira - A rewrite/summary of The Silmarillion in modern language. Amazing. It was quite an enjoyable read, and it honestly helped me remember a lot of Silm characters! I think this was one of the main fics that inspired me to reread The Silmarillion again this year. I laughed several times, and I often loved the wording or phrasing of certain things that happened. (Warnings: There’s a lot of language/swearing, and there’s Silm-typical violence and trauma that happens.)

Never A Monster He Couldn’t Love by luteoflorien 🩸 - Harry Potter/Silmarillion crossover fic where Newt Scamander finds a new humanoid creature to befriend and care for, and Maglor finds a human who believes he is worthy of care and love. I absolutely adore the friendship that develops between Newt and Maglor. I’ve never read Fantastic Beasts fanfics before, despite being in the Harry Potter fandom, but luteoflorien’s Newt feels so incredibly in-character and it makes me want more. He is so kind and caring and curious, and he is exactly the type of person Maglor needs in his life to start healing from his past. luteoflorien’s writing, characterization, and handling of all the mental/emotional issues the characters go through is phenomenal, and the feels are off the charts. (Warnings: Maglor struggles with his severe trauma, and sometimes self-harms.)

Non-Tolkien fics:

hear you calling from some lost and distant shore by @sighonaraa - Loki meets Thor after the events of Avengers: Endgame (mostly compliant with the Loki TV series). Marvel fandom. This was EXACTLY what I needed after the ending of season 2 of Loki. So, so good. The banter between Thor and Loki, and also Valkyrie/Brunhilde’s character was great—the brothers care SO much about each other, and it's wonderful to read.

Lemon Cake by @afaroffsong 🔒 - Rosalind needs to make a cake for Jane’s birthday. Penderwicks fandom. I seriously enjoyed this fic! It's amazingly well-written—it felt to me like it could've come right out of the books! So lovely.

I mentioned this at the start, but I wanted to reiterate because I truly am very grateful: I want to give a massive thank-you to all of the fic authors, all of the people posting meta, all of the artists out there. I was inspired to re-read The Silmarillion (for the third time) this year, and I highly doubt I would’ve been able to actually get myself to do that without all of the amazing stories and musings and art out there that drove me back to the canon we all love. So thank you ❤️

And thank you to all who read this far XD Hope you enjoy some (or all!) of these fics!

#2023 fic recs #2023 fic review #tolkien fic #silm fic #tolkien fic recs #fic rec list #fanfiction #fanfiction recommendation #fanfiction rec list

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steddieunderdogfics · 1 month

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This week’s writer spotlight feature is: Sleepingoffyourdemons! They have 6 works posted to AO3 and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

Nevertheless_5 recommends the following works by @punkslovepoints:

in the back of your girlfriend's car

The most that I could give to you is nothing at all

"The A is for Ally"

What Happens at Comic Con Stays at Comic Con

obliterations everywhere (we blaze with scorching heat)

Sleepingoffyourdemons’ fics are character studies, grounded in reality with all the painful angst, real world consequences, and heartwrenching love you could want in your Steddie wish fulfillment. They hurt and heal in equal measure. They feel immersive in a comforting way. I fell in love with the first fic I read, and proceeded to read everything else by the author. Also, the research put into the time periods and info in notes is just icing on the cake. -- Nevertheless_5

Below the cut, @punkslovepoints answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I don’t know! I didn’t watch season 4 and immediately think, “These guys are in love.” In fact, during Eddie's first scene, I didn't really even like him. Then, existing on the edge of the wider Stranger Things fandom, I saw a few fics showing up here and there and that was what really pulled me in.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I love a good missing scene fic, although I can understand why there aren’t many of those in this fandom, given that staying true to canon leads to a very grisly end to one half of the ship. I also like a slow burn, friends to lovers and a wee bit of angst.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Honestly, the same that I like to read. I try to write for myself and hope that other people will like it too. As difficult as that can be sometimes, like everyone, I also crave external validation where every comment makes your day.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

A Certain Type and the rest of the series by @anniebass. It’s one of those that burrows into your chest and lives there for the rest of your life. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about that fic.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’m annoyingly resolute to sticking as close to canon as possible (Eddie dying aside!) so I’ve never really strayed away from that. But have had an idea for an AU for the upcoming Steddie Big Bang that I think I could write with enough connection to canon that it’ll keep the part of my brain that screams ‘that wouldn’t happen!!!’ quiet.

What is your writing process like?

I tend to get an idea then focus on that until it’s done and posted. I don’t write that often, and I obsess over small details. I must have read each one of my fics twenty times or more, just going over and over them before I post.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I don’t know! There’s probably a lot that I’m not even aware of. Most of my fics have a lot of references at the end, even ones that aren’t specifically historical, so that’s probably a dead giveaway that a fic is one of mine. That and going off on tangents for whatever my special interest is that month.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely when I’ve finished. Although as I’m posting, people’s comments and feedback may inspire me to make small alterations or add scenes here or there in future chapters. I wrote an extra scene into the final chapter of The Most That I Could Give To You… to give an OC a proper send off because of the number of comments I’d had earlier in the fic from people who loved him. I also re-wrote the final scene of “The A is for Ally” the night I posted it because I decided I didn’t like how it ended and changed it.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Probably “The A is for Ally”, because of the sheer amount of research that I put into it. I wanted to write an exploration of queer history that focused on queer joy in the early 90’s. It can be hard to find that balance, writing queer ships set in less progressive times. Because it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, but, equally, there were moments of joy and communities of real queer people living their lives and fighting for those queer spaces. I wanted to pay tribute to that. [Side note: The title is a joke, the A is not for Ally].

How did you get the idea for What Happens at Comic Con Stays at Comic Con?

As with most of the fics I've written, I wanted to read it, so I wrote it. I was looking for something set at comic con and was shocked when I couldn't find anything, especially with the source material being what it is. I later discovered Descent into the Depths of the Earth (Or at Least Milwaukee) by disastardly on Ao3, but by then I'd written mine. Luckily they are totally different, and I'd highly recommend that one too.

When writing "The A is for Ally", what was something you didn’t expect?

How popular it got! I’m still a small writer, not a big name or anything, but I got so many more comments on that fic compared to all the ones before and @cemeterylight even drew art of it. It was so nice that something I wrote resonated with people.

What inspired in the back of your girlfriend's car?

There’s a song by Lucy Dacus called Christine that has the lines “You're falling asleep on my shoulder in the back of your boyfriend's car” that is a beautiful portrayal of queer longing. Loving somebody who is with somebody else who obviously isn’t right for them. I love Nancy, and wanted to follow that thought: What happens if Steve does win Nancy back, but they’re both different people now? My pitch for the fic is that it's an exploration of trauma and chasing highs, loving multiple people in multiple ways at once, messy relationships and making out in cars. All with a Steddie endgame, of course.

What was your favorite part to write from The most that I could give to you is nothing at all?

Probably the couple of chapters in California. Eddie and Steve have been hooking up on and off for a few years long distance, and after it all blows up, they agree to spend some time getting to know each other without letting sex get in the way. It was fun to write in that space where you have two people who are obviously in love, have a history, but are trying desperately to avoid falling into old habits. That simmering sexual tension.

How do/did you feel writing What Happens at Comic Con Stays at Comic Con?

Really nostalgic for going to comic con! I haven’t been to one in a few years and it just made me miss the feeling of being in a space where everyone is as weird and nerdy as you are.

What was the most difficult part of writing obliterations everywhere (we blaze with scorching heat)?

I hadn’t actually written a proper fic before when I wrote that one. I had written two drabbles over a decade ago and that was it. So just writing it was difficult. At the time, there were next to no fics where Eddie was the one having a bi crisis and Steve was fairly chill in his sexuality (there still aren’t enough in my opinion, it’s a top tier trope) so I just wrote what I wanted to read.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Probably the whole conversation this snippet is taken from within The Most That I Could Give To You… where Steve has the charm turned up to eleven and Eddie is fighting for his life (figuratively this time). I adore writing the Stobin back and forth dynamic too, so there's this one from The Most That I Could Give To You… where they're talking about Sisyphus and May 29th 1992 from “The A is for Ally” where Robin sees something she wishes she hadn't. I also got a lot of nice comments on this scene from “The A is for Ally” where Wayne mistakenly thinks Steve and Eddie are dating and “Steve didn't correct him, didn't feel the distinction was all that important.”

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’ve just posted a new one, Pebble and I've got another one that I’m part way through, both of them returning to my roots and featuring Eddie having a bi crisis. I’m also planning on taking part in the Steddie Bang, but obviously can’t talk about that!

Thank you to our author, @punkslovepoints, and our nominator, Nevertheless_5! See more of Sleepingoffyourdemons' works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

#steddie #steddie fic recs #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve x eddie #stranger things #writer's wednesday #ao3 writer #steddie writers

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daniwib · 6 months

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Fic Writing Review 2023

Words and fics

• 281,412 words published to ao3

• approx. 150,000 more unpublished (unfinished WIP’s)

• 2 fandoms (911 & 911 Lonestar)

• Most recent drop: Night at the (Wax) Museum – an utterly cursed piece of work that is virtually unreadable. Seriously. I dare you to try. I wrote this for a guess-the-writer event and made it so unrecognisable as my own work that virtually no one read it at all. It’s a fun story and I hope that more people will read the grammatically correct version that I’ll be posting hopefully today.

• Longest fic in 2023: empty, broken, lonely, hoping at 44k (Buck and Christopher are presumed dead when Buck’s building burns down) This is one of my favourites this year.

Top 2023 fics by kudos

• empty, broken, lonely, hoping (Buck and Christopher are presumed dead when Buck’s building burns down). I really like this one and am quite proud of it. One of my favourites I’ve written this year.

• Losing Hope (Buck gets pregnant right before the lawsuit but loses the baby). Huh. This surprised me. I never thought I’d write mpreg or lawsuit fic OR that it would be one of my highest kudos’d fic this year. How bizarre!

Upcoming events and projects for 2024

Gah this is scary, I have so many.

Reluctant Werewolf crack – I really need to sit down and finish the last chapter of this. It’s about half done.

Coronation crack – likewise. I got blocked when RWRB was released and featured a polo scene very similar to what I was planning for Buddie in England and haven’t been able to get back to it since. I think I’ll scrap that chapter and just finish it off. I loathe having unfinished wip’s partly posted, it does my head in.

Big werewolf AU – featuring all my favourite tropes of kidnapped Buck, worried Eddie, Buck whump and Eddie whump too. I started it in January 2023. It’s fully plotted and maybe 2/3’s written at around 70k.

Navy Seal Buck – there’s something so fun about secretly bamf! Buck going all out to protect his firefam. He gets whumped during the course of, naturally. Again, started in January 2023, fully plotted and is maybe half done at about 50k-ish.

Angsty Buckley family drama set around the Madney wedding aka the one that will make you all weep. Fully plotted, partly begun.

Kidnapped TK – this one is so big and complex that I’m thinking of turning it into a novel some day. Fully plotted and partially written.

Eddie porn reviewer. Plotted only.

Buck sex worker. Plotted, partially written.

Carla romance novelist gets Buddie together. Plotted, partially written.

Plus the other 90+ ideas in my Ideas folder!

I’m unlikely to get much done before Christmas, too busy with family stuff and am recovering from having to have an emergency appendectomy while also having Influenza A this week. It’s been… rough.

Same for January as hubby and I are going on the first holiday alone together since having kids – Tasmania here we come! I am very glad my surgery didn’t ruin that.

Thank you for the tag @sherlockcrossing

No pressure tagging: @daughterofscotland @rogerzsteven @cal-daisies-and-briars @ronordmann and anyone else who wants to share!

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either.

#tag game #fanfic #my writing #Ao3 #Whump #Angst #911 #Buddie

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epicsteddieficrecs · 1 year

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Epic Steddie Fic Rec (January 9th-15th 2023)

Here are the fics I read last week! I hope you enjoy! :)

Complete

Refinancing Your Mortgage For Dummies (or: How To Fall In Love Like An Idiot) by Humanities_Handbag/ @humanityinahandbag (Future Fic | 4K | Teen): Eddie and Steve have been together for twenty plus years and married for one. No one told Eddie.

it's enough to make a girl blush by judasofsuburbia/ @judasofsuburbia (PWP | 3K | Explicit): or steve has a wet dream about eddie and a sinful blow pop and eddie finds out.

take a slice by infiniteorangepeel/ @infinite-orangepeel (Post-S4 | 11K | Explicit): Or, Eddie soft doms Steve into taking care of himself after the events of vol 2 & it accidentally becomes more than just a one time thing

🖤 Call My Number (and Call Me Yours) by novacorpsrecruit/ @novacorpsrecruit (No Upside Down AU, Parent Steve & Parent Eddie | 53K | Mature): “Fire department is on the way. Stay on the line with me, okay?” A buzz of a radio came over the headset. “Fire station 3 responding.” “Damn,” Eddie whistled. Chrissy looked over at Eddie. “This guy’s voice is hot.” Chrissy’s eyes grew wide. The voice cleared his throat. “Just wait until you see my face. It’s not too bad either.”

WIP

🖤 Steve Harrington's Radical Fun Time Babysitting Service by Humanities_Handbag/ @humanityinahandbag, Invader_Sam (No Upside Down AU, 90's | 22/? | 83K | Mature): Alternatively: Steve accidentally starts a babysitting service, falls in love, panics [in bisexual], and gets himself a boyfriend. (Part 1 of 90's Music Store AU)

🖤 Find Me a Find (Catch Me a Catch) by Humanities_Handbag/ @humanityinahandbag (Post-S4, Wayne POV | 7/11 | 52K | Teen): Eddie fawns over Steve from a hospital bed, Steve has a Grade-A crush, and Wayne is wondering if there's a way to ask someone to be your son-in-law without making it weird. Or: Wayne decides that playing matchmaker between a band nerd and a royal jock might not be the most glamorous job, but someone's got to do it.

🖤 PTA Shouldn't Stand for Pretty Tight Ass by Humanities_Handbag/ @humanityinahandbag, Invader_Sam (Modern AU, Dad Steve, Teacher Eddie | 13/? | 47K | Mature): Or: What happens when your former high school bully raises two absolute nerds, joins the PTA, helps run the bake sale, makes the best cupcakes in Indiana, and may or may not be having a bisexual crisis.

🖤 Same As It Ever Was by QuokkaFoxtrot (Canon Divergent, Time Loop | 10/12 | 50K | Explicit): “Deja-vu? Like you feel like you’ve done this before, because-” “No!” Steve snaps, feeling everyone’s attention snap to him. He lowers his voice, aiming it so that only Nancy can hear. “I mean I’ve carried Eddie’s body back to the rift in the trailer. Twice.”

here be dragons by pukner/ @pukner (Canon Divergent, Autistic Steve & Eddie | 2/? | 12K | Explicit): Eddie Munson has kissed a boy, and now he has to handle the fallout. He's got to grapple with the fact that he likes boys, likes a boy, and the harrowing fact that he may have inadvertently broken said boy's heart. (Part 3 of off-script)

you probably couldn’t see for the lights, but you were staring straight at me by ruinations (Future fic, Friends With Benefits, Rockstar Eddie | 1/6 | 7K | Explicit)

Reboot by plutosrose/ @plutosrose (Modern AU, Actor Steve & Eddie | 1/10 | 3K | Explicit): In 2012, Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson film a scene in the teen drama Normal Stuff that launches a popular ship on ao3. By early 2013, they aren't speaking anymore. In 2024, Robin calls Steve with an offer to reprise his role as Andy Hartley in a reboot of their old show, with one important update--his character gets together with Eddie's.

If you know someone that I haven't tagged, please tag them in the comments!

#steddie #steddie fic #steddie fanfic #steddie fanfiction #epic steddie fic rec #steddie fic rec

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saintsenara · 8 months

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I always love hearing about people’s fandom and reading/writer journeys especially since they usually involve some very cursed content and fun navigating ‘90’s and ‘00’s tech. Where did you start, what got you hooked, how have your tastes changed over the years, what made you decide to go from reader to writer? 💖

thank you for the ask, anon - and you’re correct that my experience was one of cursed 2000s technology, given that i started reading harry potter fanfiction via the twin madhouses of livejournal and fictionalley, nothing ever tagged beyond ‘lemon!!!’, on the family computer using dial-up internet [god bless the fact that the parents of my generation had no inclination to care about what we were consuming online - one of my brothers was a huge fan of rotten.com, and he's perfectly well-adjusted...]

my reading tastes were, initially, lord of the rings focused - i still think* about a particular elrohir/námo mandos fic which had me in chokehold when i was about fourteen - but i was as big a harry potter fan as anyone of my generation [shoutout in particular to one of my pals, who spent the entirety of a geography trip in 2006 speculating what the unknown horcruxes could be with me while we froze our bollocks off in some godforsaken bog in county antrim]. so it wasn’t a surprise, i suppose, that i was clicking on any fan-fiction links i could find for that series too…

[the fic which has stayed with me most profoundly from those days was called something along the lines of murder at malfoy manor which was on fictionalley and was this exceptional combination of the rules of cluedo and the ron-is-time-travelling dumbledore theory. it was incredible.]

but i wasn’t a writer. i was one of those science-y, not-like-other-girls teenagers who was performatively really cunty about other girls who liked to write little stories or draw little pictures, which i thought was fundamentally unserious. the fact that i was an avid consumer of these stories didn’t make me question what the fuck i was being such an arsehole about…

because i loved a bit of fan-fic, and not only did i love fan-fic but i demonstrably had a fandom presence and was clued up on fandom lore - i could quote my immortal, i knew what a snape-wife was, i was on a forum or two - although i went to great lengths to avoid anyone in my real life discovering that. and i do feel extremely proud of myself that i have a reputation among people i know for not having been particularly cringe as a teen [how little they know… i’ve just got a good poker face.]

i lost interest in harry potter when i went to university - i started uni in 2010, when it was still socially acceptable to be really into it, and i definitely went to my fair share of themed parties in the first couple of years, but by the time i graduated in 2016 (i did medicine, so it’s a six-year slog…) i’d not opened the books, watched the films, or thought about the fandom in years. i remember rolling my eyes at the number of people i know who went to see cursed child when it first opened. bit cringe to be in your twenties and into harry potter, isn’t it?

[lol. lmao.]

but a global crisis changes things, i suppose.

like so many people, i got back into fandom during the coronavirus pandemic - although, regrettably, not because i was stuck at home. i don’t think i’ll ever be able to accurately describe what it was like to work in a hospital in 2020, except to say that by the time i got home each day the only thing i could do other than stare blankly at a wall was lose myself in the comfort of media i knew well and its memories of a simpler time. and once i’d re-read the books a few times… well, it was only a matter of time before i was scrolling ao3 at 3am.

and, because my ego hasn’t changed even if my relationship with my own gender has, it did not take a lot to convince me that i could write stories which were just as good as the ones i was reading.

you can be the judge of whether i succeeded.

[*i’m being coy. i have it bookmarked on ao3]

#asks answered #asenora on writing

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sherifftillman · 8 months

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@cheerscoopscentral's cheerscoops week 2023 | day 7: free space

Title: 36 Questions To Fall In Love Pairing(s): Steve Harrington x Chrissy Cunningham Tags: Stranger Things (series), fluff, no upside down au, set approx. 1991-ish, cw eating disorders Word Count: 7.7k Summary: Psychologists claim that they have come up with 36 questions which can lead to two people who know little to nothing about each other beforehand, to fall in love. Curious about the study thanks to their own forlorn love lives, Steve Harrington and Chrissy Cunningham both separately sign up to participate, not knowing who they might get paired up with. A/N: Sorry for the lack of consistency with fic banners! I forgot to change my old one when I changed the idea for this fic, and I don't have my iPad with me to change it in time. Anyway this was heaps of fun and I 100% recommend you fill out these answers with your own ships bc it's great.

read on ao3 here! preview under the cut:

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

CC: [sheepishly] I like to sing in the shower, sometimes.

SH: [amused] Oh, yeah? Shampoo mic and all?

CC: [giggling, nodding] But only when the house is empty so that I can play my boombox in the bathroom to drown out my singing without upsetting everyone else.

SH: Never for anyone else?

CC: Well…

SH: Let me guess, you’re not going to tell?

CC: Actually, I’d sing to my brother, when he couldn’t sleep. When he was super little, of course, he’s in college now!

SH: Stop, that’s adorable. What would you sing?

CC: Just your usual lullaby kinda songs, nothing chart-worthy. What about you?

SH: I think I dedicated Queen’s You’re My Best Friend to Robin at a karaoke bar at the weekend. But a lot of that night is fuzzy, so I’m not sure if she’s just telling me that to fuck with me.

CC: [giggling] I’ll have to tag along next time you go to a karaoke bar!

SH: [flirtatiously] You gonna sing for me?

CC: As long as you dedicate something to me, too.

SH: Deal.

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

SH: Oh god, keep my body.

CC: Really? I feel like I’d want to know what was happening around me, even if it meant needing a little extra accessibility.

SH: Nah. I’ve lived through enough of life’s horrors. Just let me live the last two thirds of my life in blissful ignorance.

CC: [laughing] You make a good point.

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

SH: By the hand of Robin Ulysses Buckley.

CC: You seem scarily certain about that.

SH: We’ve got a thing.

#cheerscoopsweek23 #cheerscoops #harringham #stissy #steve x chrissy #chrissy x steve #steve harrington x chrissy cunningham #chrissy cunningham x steve harrington #*myfics #fic: cheerscoops

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fagtainsparklez · 4 months

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thoughts on ao3 “interest checks” ? I’ve only stumbled across a few of these but they basically post a work with the title, summary, tags, etc. but… there is no fanfic. it’s just checking to see if people would want to read it if the fanfic WAS written. it feels. idk it feels bad to me

i COULD be wrong, but i'm like 90% sure that's against the TOS. anything ephemeral like fic searches, roleplay requests, etc aren't allowed and can (and should) be reported

either way, i hate them. ao3 is not the place for these things

#muse talk #anon #i think these would qualify as well #but don't 100% take my word for it

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melissuhsstuff · 6 months

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BRO I keep having these dreams about season 3.

My brain can’t take it anymore 😔💔

#polin #bridgerton #anthony bridgerton #benedict bridgerton #eloise bridgerton #kate bridgerton #season 3 #i’ve read like 90% of fics in the polin tag on ao3

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palfriendpatine66 · 7 months

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20 Question Fic Writer Tag

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

19, soon to be 20! ( three are just little prompt fills/drabbles that I’ve considered removing but also – I want to be able to find them again just in case they ever turn into something more so.)

2.) What's your ao3 word count?

306, 375

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

Star Wars. That’s it, and probably all it will ever be (except for my crazy crossover aus). It’s a full time job over here.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

DX:Lovesick (I had a really weird moment when this passed PIP in the kudos count. Like, I love it and was really proud of it, but also: how dare it). Anakin is an accident prone college student who winds up in the care of one very hot Dr. Obi-Wan Kenobi

Pining in Preschool: My first ever fic (started exactly one year ago!) Anakin is trying his best to be a good dad to his twins, and that probably means he shouldn’t be falling for their preschool teacher.

Hide Here Often: This is bottom Obi-Wan smutty one shot

Helicopter Dad: This is a continuation of Pining in Preschool: 4 times that Anakin was a Helicopter parent and one time Obi-Wan beat him to it. I’ve been intending to do a part two with Obi-Wan ever since, but it hasn’t happened yet.

With a Cherry on Top: This is a ridiculous continuation of Pining in Preschool – Obi-Wan and Anakin get in a fight about eating in bed that results in a sex ban until one of them backs down. Spoiler alert: it ends with a sexy food in bed scenario because *of course* if they break they have to prove a point about it

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to always yes. I used to have a 100% track record, and I really wish I was maintaining it. Comments are my lifeblood. I literally cannot tell you how important receiving comments is to me, it’s like, a problem honestly, and so it’s definitely something I want to encourage. I try to always respond to a comment at least as an acknowledgement of “I appreciate you were here and took the time to let me know you liked this”. BUT also I genuinely love engaging about my fics and am more than happy to go on my “Author’s Commentary” spiel at any given moment.

Life’s kind of been shit lately, and I’ve had a hard time if I don’t respond to comments right away as they come in they get lost in my inbox. Also. ADHD.

6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

OoOoOo Window AU – to be revealed tomorrow. I don’t have the ending for Criminal Minds fully written, but even though it might be a “happy ending” it’s not going to be a happy ending, if you know what I mean. OH BUT if I ever write my post order 66 Obi-Wan on Tatooine vague idea for which the working title is “Obi-Wan Sads”. Yeah. That will probably be the worst.

7.) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmm. Pining for Preschool probably. It ends on a very high note, although also it’s not really an ending because I continued it into a potentially never ending series that seems to be 90% fluff after the angst I put them through in the original fic.

Also Center Stage (dance au)was a happy ending for sure.

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

No, generally all my comments are very positive. There was a weird moment in DX:Lovesick where I wasn’t necessarily getting the hate but Obi-Wan was, and he was getting a lot of it. I wasn’t upset by the comments so much as I was worried that I didn’t write well/clear enough to convey the situation as I thought I was, but I settled on people are going to read their own situations into stories and interpret it differently than intended and that’s okay.

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes. The Obi-Wan and Anakin kind.

10.) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I had a fit of insanity and wrote an Obikin Titanic au.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not. That would be sad

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so no

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope! I think I have too much anxiety to commit to doing this, even with the right people. Put expectations on things and I just…can’t.

14.) What's your all time favorite ship?

IDK man. Kovu and Kiara from Lion King II: Simba’s Pride

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Right at the time I started writing PiP I started a time travel (?) au that resulted in amnesiac Knight Skywalker as master to padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi right when he rejoins the order after returning from Melida/Daan, instead of rejoining Qui-Gon. I would be shocked if I ever get back to thin, I really jumped the gun and there’s so much of it I don’t have in me, but…there’s still something about it that calls to me.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

I always feel super awkward answering this, but I feel pretty good about capturing Obi-Wan and Anakin’s voices, especially their internal voices (if that makes sense) so that they still feel like them in other universes

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh gosh. I am learning as I go. Outlining/having a plan and sticking to it vs. just winging it as I go along. Knowing where paragraphs should start and end – which feels like you should just *know* but I don’t. Descriptions.

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Great! But I’m not fluent enough in anything to do it

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars – Hiiiii!

Also, though, the only other stuff I wrote was Star Wars but the year was 2005 and it was for an audience of one (me!). Your Pal was a nerd who carried around a little notebook and wrote down every piece of jedi wisdom and quotes I encountered while I wrote about Obi-Wan and his OC apprentice who was *definitely*not*me* (their name was literally an anagram of my name lol) on their long term undercover mission on Earth, among other things.

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

This varies by the mood. I genuinely love Pining in Preschool, and it will always have a really special place in my heart. Dx:Lovesick was a very fun ride, I really and truly enjoyed writing it and I feel like it holds up. Right now I’m pretty attached to Criminal Minds, for a completely different dynamic and take on obikin.

No pressure tag to @renlyslittlerose and @grapenehifics

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wangxianficfinder · 2 years

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Fic Finder

~*~

1. Hello, I was hoping that you lovely people can help me find an ao3 fic that I’ve been searching for. WWX is brought back the same way as canon but it wasn’t MXY who summoned him but an original character. WWX ends up in Cloud Recesses because he interacts with LXC AND LWJ a lot in the story. The twist is that the person who brought WWX back hated him so much that he wanted WWX to suffer really badly. WWX figures it out/knows. It does end up with a happy ending. Thank you!~

Hello, beautiful people. Im the anon who submitted #1 from the latest fic finder post. Unfortunately the fic I’m looking for is not Beauty and the Boot. The original character who summoned WWX was male and hated the Yiling Patriarch. The fic had a lot of angst as well if that helps🥲

NOT FOUND! ❤️Beauty and the Boot by PTchan (T, 44k, wangxian, summoned by f!oc, Canon Divergence, Romantic Comedy, Genderbending, Denial, Fem!WWX, WangXian kids, Crack-ish, WIP)

FOUND! A Storm of Laughter in the Stillness of the Jingshi by OnlyMeAndMyBones (T, 73k, WangXian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Recovery, Pain, Mental Illness, Depression, PTSD, Rehabilitation, slow burn but significantly less so than canon, miscommunication is still a thing tho, Empathy, Guilt, Forgiveness, it's not THAT dark actually)

~*~

2. Hey. I've been looking for a fic that I read I while ago for so long. WWX accidentally sets off a talisman and gets deaged.? I remember that he is stuck in that form for a while and takes zidian from JC. Later when he finds out about LWJs scars on his back he threatens the lan elders with it and says something like this isn't even hia weapon and imagine if he dad one of his own.. thanks bye

FOUND? Silver & Gold by beeswaxing (E, 162k, wangxian, Mojo’s post)

~*~

3. Hi! I'm trying to find a wangxian fanfic I read long ago. It's where LWJ is engaged to JYL and WWX is engaged to JZX. I remember a specific part where JZX got jealous when he saw WWX and LWJ hanging out a lot and told WWX that he is his and not LWJs. WWX took offense to this and punched JZX telling him he cant control him. Endgame is ofc wangxian but yeah. I cant find it 😭 @journalsofagoddess

FOUND? Neatly Arranged by thunderwear (T, 45k, WangXian, Arranged Marriage, Angst with a Happy Ending, lwj’s mother is here but only briefly, RIP, Shenanigans, Fix-It, of sorts, Canonical Character Death, but not all, did i forget to tag pining, because this fic is like 90 percent pining, Hurt/Comfort)

~*~

4. Hello! Thank you for your hard work! I'm trying to find a fic there LWJ is a youtuber, and he does these 'day in the life of a college student' where he's just perfect at everything- meticulous, on top of his life and studies, and ultra competent. WWX, at the same college, then posts a response video where he shows what's it really like as a student and its just a troll/spoof of LWJ's vids where he cries like three times a day and eats junk food, etc. This goes on for months, with many videos and WWX accidentally becomes popular. Then wangxian meet and fall in love about it. NHS and JC help WWX with the vids, and i think the summary said something like 'three idiots make a youtube channel'. Anyway, hope someone can put together better search parameters than me. Thank you! @somevariationofgay

FOUND! like, comment, share & subscribe by detectorist (T, 22k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, YouTube, Social Media, Flirting, Humour, Banter, Getting Together, First Kiss, Texting, so much texting, Youtubers For Social Justice, The Gang Gets Political, Competitive Flirting Via The Medium Of Youtube, it's about the yearning, YouTube Rivals To Lovers)

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5. Hi! I recently found this page and it looks amazing. I’ve been looking for the AO3 au fic. The premise is that in this world, people are able to essentially enter their minds kind of like a vr situation and create worlds. This has become a very lucrative business. Wei ying entered a simulation that was MDZS and as a result he entered a 13 month coma. Everyone thought he was dead. But he retired from the business. But then the juniors call him in for “one last mission” which is basically the yi city arc. and he and lan zhan work through some unspoken tension and then they get together. @awkwardly-cry-ing-in-the-corner

FOUND! some lovely, perilous thing by varnes (E, 24k, WangXian, Inception Fusion, Criminal Associates To Lovers, Heist Case Fic)

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6. Hey, it's me again haha so I read this ff long time ago and it was soo good unfortunately i cant remember the title

So like, the cultivation world needs yiling laozu's help and they tried to summon him using mo xuanyu but they failed since yl lz appeared in his own original body and not in mxy. Anyway so history repeats itself, wwx knows everybody especially lan zhan cuz he his "friend" that time. They became curious about wwx, they found his journal and he kept talking about this certain friend eventually they found out the friend's name is lan zhan lan wangji. Time skip they found out that lwj reincarnated, he looks exactly the same as wwx's friend. Lxc said it was impossible cuz all their ancestors died because of an explosion that was caused by wwx bavk in the day.

There is this spefic scene, wwx kept blaming himself because he was the reasom why lz died, ok so lz married a woman (arranged marriage) and had child with her, wy was heartbroken and told lz that he has feelings for him, lz also has feelings for him, so when lz heard that the sects will have a siege in burial mounds he went there and protected wy then something happened and the surroundings explode.

Anyway, they have come to a conclusion that wy is an immortal, he took care of lz's child, lz reincarnated he fought really hard to keep his body and appearance the same

Thank you thank youuuuuuuu for all your hard work @hellothere9597

FOUND? Old Foreshadows by protos_metazu_ison (M, 15k, WangXian, YL WWX, BAMF WWX, War, Universe Alteration, Sunshot Campaign, Rated For Violence, Timeline What Timeline)

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7. Hi hi, I hope y'all are doing well ^^ Ive recently been thinking about a fic i read in late 2019/early 2020 and I was hoping to get some help finding it? What I remember about it is that after Mo Manor, wwx doesnt go to Dafan mountain and instead travels until he finds a village and starts working there as a farmer. wn is also there after a while and he helps wwx. lwj visits the village but doesnt recognize wwx at first. If anyone knows what fic this is id be vv grateful! @storming-raumo

FOUND? focal, filler, and line by bosbie (T, 26k, wangxian, canon divergence, flower shop au, fluff, hurt/comfort, pining, falling in love, WWX is not recognized in Dafan mountain, slice of life, WIP) wwx is not a farmer but the rest checks out

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8. Fic finder! I binged All Of The Yiling Wei Sect AUs recently and they all kind of blurred together in my brain, so I THINK all of this happens in the same fic but I could be wrong and if I am I'm so, so sorry. In the fic Wei Wuxian very briefly worked with the talisman scammer to sell actual Yiling Laozu talismans for a decent penny, then one of the Wen uncles convinced him they should set up their own stall. They made talisman paper out of the burial mounds bamboo and it was red. There was a scene when the Wen went on trial and Wen Ning was able to speak to the people in the room, proving that he's cognizant and not a mindless puppet. The Jiang ended up taking the Wei as a subordinate sect I believe? And WWX started to make friends with Jin Guangyao. @lewiscarrolatemybrain

FOUND! Grave dirt by esama (T, 92k, wangxian, canon divergence, necromancy, demonic cultivation, farming, found family, pre-slash, politics, Fix-it of sorts, yilingwei sect au)

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9. I am looking for a fic, maybe it is part of the Amnesia rec list, or if not it should be! Wwx has lost about 2 months of memory. Turns out that in that time he and LZ got engaged. He tries to work out if this is a real engagement or not. There is also a discussion conference at CR and Jiang Cheng is there. I particularly remember the scene where Wwx finds out the engagement wasn't real, goes to JC and cries about it. Then JC storms to the Jingshi to shout at LZ for making WY cry. I love that scene, but who wrote it again? Thanks for helping me out! @kesterling

FOUND! put your heart where your mouth is by protos_metazu_ison (T, 20k, wangxian, JC & WWX, post-canon, misunderstanding, memory loss, pining & insecure WWX, happy ending, twin prides of yunmeng feels, fluff & angst, protective JC)

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10. Hi, I'm looking for a fic where the sword goes through both JYL and JC at Nightless City. WWX takes them both back to Lotus Pier and essentially locks the place behind a barrier, but the sect itself doesn't really mind. I think it was one chapter in a collection but I can't be sure.

FOUND? Chapter 2 of Cosmic by apathyinreverie (T, 10k, wangxian, JC & WWX & JYL, everyone lives au, yunmeng sibling dynamics, protective yunmeng Jiang sect, romance, smitten LWJ, oblivious WWX, powerful WWX, possessive LWJ, soft WWX, streetkid WWX, time travel fix-it, modern setting)

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11. Hi! Love the work you all do. Keep the good work. So for a fic finder... I've been looking for this fic I started reading a while ago but then had to stop. I'm pretty sure I bookmarked it but alas I haven't had any luck finding it. That's why I'm putting my faith in you guys and the readers. So this is what I remember: it was a WIP, it was post canon, wangxian, JC and JL are in CR, JC want a fight, WWX said a few truth and JL goes to WWX, it is said that JYL went to the battle to die on purpose. @multitudeofmes

FOUND! What Happens When The Self-Sacrifing Idiot Snaps by WiFi_Stalker (Not rated, 1k, wangxian, post-canon, not Jiang friendly, not YZY friendly, not JC friendly, not JYL friendly, WWX snaps, WIP)

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12. I'm looking for a fic from 1-2 years ago, in English, was a WIP, where LWJ is Chief Cultivator and WWX is wandering on his own. WWX meets a nobleman who invites WWX to stay with him and encourages him to use his cultivation, to the benefit of the common people. The fic was from LWJ's perspective (I think?) and mostly took place in letters exchanged, with some exposition before or after a letter. Wangxian implied, not confirmed; fic author debating confirmation. Does the fic still exist? @acasualgeek

FOUND? To Start A Bridge From A Single Log by ChilianXianzi (T, 4k, wangxian, WWX & OMC, post-canon, chief cultivator LWJ, inventor WWX, politics, epistolary, pining, jealous LWJ, sugar baby WWX, WIP)

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13. Hi! I need help finding this fic. It's a special agent (James bond style) Lan Wangji and Q Wei Wuxian. I tried looking everywhere and with every tag I could think of on AO3 but I could only find the one where Wei Wuxian is a 007. I remember it starts out with Lan Wangji in the car watching a house or something and then Wei Wuxian talks to him over an ear com. He had to take MianMian's place as she was busy/ on pregnancy leave? I can't remember. Also, Wei Wuxian gets shocked when he realizes Lan Wangji always brings back his kit in perfect condition. Thank you!!

FOUND? 💖 some life yet unspent by Fahye (E, 28k, wangxian, spies & secret agents au)

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14. Is the one fic, where Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji dual cultivate a Yin core in Wei Wuxian still up on AO3? Wei Wuxian, before he knows he’s going to dual cultivate with Lan Wangji, has nightmares that he’s going to have to dial cultivate with Wen Qing. Lan Wangji has to rail him five times in a night.

FOUND! i had to abandon myself (you took all of me) by justdoityoufucker (E, 27k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Novel Characterizations, Philosophy, Illnesses, Chronic Pain, Cultivation Sect Politics, Dual Cultivation, LWJ fucks a core into WWX, On Hiatus) might be this? Unfortunately it's on hiatus right now :[

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15. Hello! I don’t know if this fic is still up. I couldn’t find it so… I can remember some details of this fic, but it’s basically a shameless Lan Wangji time-travel fanfic where he changes the whole story by saving Wei Wuxian from the beginning in Cloud Recesses. I forgot the name… I remember that part of the summary was the line; “If you give me a kiss, I’ll let you go.” Or something like that…

FOUND! could be the deleted "OOC!" by A_flower_in_the_snow. It was reuploaded on Wattpad

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16. i read a fic a while ago where WWX survived the seige but lost most of his memory and ended up finding a shrine and moving in there. He stayed there with a-yuan for years taking care of the shrine. Eventually LWJ found him. thats really all i remember but if you could help me find it that would be amazing!! thank you!!! :)

FOUND? #16 was This House is Loved by Ribena but has been deleted

SIMILAR! And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness by cosmicmilktea (T, 10k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Screw the Cultivation world tbh, The Lan precepts deserves better, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, domestic life, Social justice boyfriends wangxian, Happy Ending) is a deleted fic, however this fic is similar to it (no ayuan tho)

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17. Hi first of all thank you for your womderful work i always find good fics to read because of this blog next please help me find this fic ive been serching all over. This fic is a role reversal instead of wwx its lwj who died. I remember that he died before the 33rd whip and a lan member got guilty and brought him back. His ribbon was also missing in the beginning of the story. wwx is a sec leader now yiling wei sect at wei sizhui brought lwj to get help because lwj is looking for something and he hides is face. Thank you for the help and good job @ladyxyraine

FOUND? Restart from the End by EmBlu (IcyDeath) (G, 71k, wangxian, resurrection, canon divergence, temporary major character death (LWJ), JYL & JZX & NMJ live, yilingwei sect au, sect leader WWX, angst, hurt/comfort, angry WWX, grief, slow burn, wei sizhui, WIP)

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18. i'm sure i'll find it before this is answered, but just in case, i remembered a line from a fic but i don't remember what it's called. it's something like "wwx imagined sizhui's face on a series of progressively younger children. this is what he may have looked like at 13; at 9; at 6. this is how your child grew without you." thank you!!!!! @kisskissgotohell

FOUND! your name, safe in their mouth by astrolesbian (G, 10k, LSZ & WWX & LWJ, WangXian, Father-Son Relationship, Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, More aligned with CQL than novel canon, Miscommunication, Eventual Positive Communication, Trying to be a family, how to tell your dad you want him to be your dad in 6 easy steps!)

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19. Hello! Thank you so much to all of the mods for what you do! I’m hoping to find this post-canon mpreg fic that I read from a while back. WWX didn’t immediately tell LWJ about the pregnancy out of fear that it won’t push through or something. Some people were alive (like Wen Qing who secretly did WWX’s checkup and told him about the pregnancy) but not JYL. WWX also stopped drinking wine and started eating healthier to ensure the baby’s growth? Which kinda made LWJ suspicious? There was also a part where WWX visited JC in Lotus Pier, and JC was able to guess at WWX’s pregnancy and they had a really nice conversation and reconciliation. I’m sorry if some of these details might have been from other mpreg fics that I unknowingly confused with the one I’m looking for, but I hope the others are accurate enough to help! Thank you so much again! Y’all are a blessing!

FOUND? Unexpected Lullaby by SilverStark (T, 30k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Minor Original Character(s), Unplanned Pregnancy, Post-Canon, Mpreg, Non-ABO, Fluff, Established Relationship, Reconciliation, Family, Dual Cultivation Baby)

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20. I'm looking for a fanfic that the modern Wei Wuxian ends up traveling to the past because of a book he found. I also remember that it turns out that all the characters that are dead come back to life

FOUND? Could be the deleted series by yareyarejojosan. Someone uploaded the author's works to Google Drive

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#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic finder #wangxian fic search #the untamed #wangxianficfinder #long post

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hidingoutbackstage · 5 months

Text

Hello! I’m back to talk about Resident Evil fandom misogyny! Are y’all sick of me yet? Too bad!

I know my source for this fucking sucks (it’s ao3) but since I’ve bitched about the horrible way RE fics on ao3 are somewhat reflective of the fandom before, and bc what I saw pissed me off, I’m gonna talk about it.

And unlike some people, if y’all don’t care about it, I’m gonna put it under a cut, and NOT post my annoying ramblings in the main tag as if they’re facts and not just my interpretations and criticism of fandom wide expression

So I was thinking about making a post saying “merry yaoimas (chreon) and a happy new yuri (femslash re ship)” with the latter parantheses actually holding an re ship. But that did make me pause and think, what was the most popular femslash re ship? I know I have my favorites (claida, chamberfield, and ashuela being most prominent), but I’m also aware that those are rarepairs and probably not indicative of the fandom as a whole.

The first thing I did was go to ao3, which, again, while not indicative of the fandom as a whole, is still large and worth looking at. These three under filters should’ve been my first clue that this was going to be abysmal

8.4k m/m fics. f/f isn’t even half of that. Now, when I saw this, I was disappointed but not surprised, and I stupidly saw the F/M being more popular and thinking “Oh right cuz Leon x female reader people are annoying” (keep this in mind for like two paragraphs later)

Anyway, I filtered it to only contain f/f pairings, so I could see which pairings were the most popular, and I genuinely had no idea. After all, most of the games in the series barely have women interact at all, so like, were people shipping Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine in 2000 because they were the only two female protagonists (who had also appeared in two games), even though they’d never interacted? Did the remakes and recent movies instill people with a love for Claire x Rebecca like I enjoyed? Or did we circle back to the late 90s due to the remakes of 2 and 3 where Claire and Jill were protagonists of big re games and thus people wanted to ship them?

In my foolish decision to think about, you know the main characters of the series that spawn multiple games and are iconic staples of the series’ existence as a whole, I forgot one thing: people on the internet are horny first, and human beings second

(gonna use that pic of my dog for image compression, even though this is under a read more)

Ngl, considering that I’d made multiple posts bitching about this very phenomenon, I was more than a little peeved, and also felt dumb for having forgotten about this. So first I decided to filter out the character tag “reader” and-

Um. I mean. What I meant to say, was that I then filtered out all of the relationships that just came from re8 “fans” being horny. Then I was left with this

So out of THAT list of ten ships, only six of them were actually f/f, the most popular having 120 fics and the least popular having 38. If you don’t feel like scrolling back up, there were 3913 fics in the re tag which were tagged with f/f

So I think, generally, that Claire/Jill is the most popular re f/f ship, at least in the ao3 community. Case closed, right?

Wrong. Now I had to see if that was actually true. Because if I know one thing about re writers, it’s that they include f/f as an afterthought or some background bs to a fic focused on a m/m ship

So I counted, and I did my best to split all fics where Claire/Jill were tagged into three types: background, focused, and given equal focus between them and one or more pairings. Some didn’t really fit, like fics that were just a collection of one shots (or more commonly, collection of short smuts) but those I also left out of the Claire/Jill focused count, because they weren’t focused on them. So after going through all 141 (yup that’s really all the Claire/Jill ships there are) fics, here’s the number I ended up with

82 fics where they were the focus ship

14 fics where they were given equal focus between one or more pairings

The rest (45) were neither

Not gonna lie, I was pretty relieved to see that fics where they were the focus was more than half of the total. And as I went further back, more fics focused on Claire/Jill as opposed to having them be a background ship. Also, for fun, I checked the ratings for Claire/Jill fics

And although I didn’t cross reference, I did generally notice a lot more of the fics focused on Claire/Jill were smut first, and fluff secondarily. Most of them too were also either one chapter (complete or incomplete) or generally just short. If a fic had many chapters/high word count, Claire/Jill almost always wasn’t the main ship, and sometimes shared the spotlight with another ship.

So is this reflective of the whole fandom? No, of course not. Is this indicative of a major problem with the fandom not caring about female characters? Yeah, literally all social media is indicative of it.

It’s not like the media itself is incredibly feminist, or full of meaningful character interactions between anyone, regardless of genders, it’s just not good at it and not really trying to be. But I will say that at large, the fandom does seem to prioritize m/m relationships, platonic or romantic, over female characters existences, their relationships to men, and fuck off if you think they care about relationships between women.

I do have a separate post coming about the lack of interactions between women in the media itself, but that’s for another day

#sid rants #sid bitches

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kmomof4 · 1 year

Text

Apologies, Dr. Jones Ch.2 An addition for Zahara’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @zaharadessert !!!! I’m sorry I didn’t wish you a happy birthday while you were awake, but I hope you’ll forgive me when you read this little addition to last years gift! I love you dearly, my friend, and hope you had a wonderful day!

So when I ended the fic last year with “The End” I obviously didn’t think I’d be adding more to it. Oh well, I guess I lied. Hope y’all don’t mind! Enjoy and I’d love to know what you think!

All the love and thanks to @jrob64 for her super fast beta skills. I’ve been working on this all afternoon, ON Zahara’s birthday, no less, and Joni stepped up to the plate and hit a home run! Thank you so much, babe!

Summary: Originally from the post by @lifeinahole27 :

How do I explain to my professor that the reason I didn't show up to class is because in my dream I woke up and checked my email and saw that class was canceled and I believed it?

This new chapter picks up after the semester is over and Emma and Killian can finally go on an official date.

Rating: M (smut)

Words: Almost 3400 of 7255.

Tags: Teacher-Student Relationship, No Power Dynamic Issues, Consensual Sex, Smut

On ao3 From the beginning/ New chapter

New tag list! Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed.

@jrob64 @teamhook @winterbaby89 @hollyethecurious @xarandomdreamx @undercaffinatednightmare @the-darkdragonfly @stahlop @superchocovian @pirateprincessofpizza @tiganasummertree @anmylica @cosette141 @motherkatereloyshipper @zaharadessert @jonesfandomfanatic @ultraluckycatnd @jennjenn615 @allons-y-to-hogwarts-713 @kymbersmith-90 @booksteaandtoomuchtv @wistfulcynic @mie779 @snowbellewells @lfh1226-linda @aprilqueen84 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @pirateherokillian @elfiola @ilovemesomekillianjones @justanother-unluckysoul @poptart-cat-78 @myfearless-love @goforlaunchcee @searchingwardrobes @gingerpolyglot @gingerchangeling @djlbg @cocohook38 @cs-rylie @thisonesatellite @donteattheappleshook @deckerstarblanche @veryverynotgoodwrites @wefoundloveunderthelight @fleurdepetite

Under the cut, unless Tumblr ate it.

Killian stood at the door of Emma’s apartment, his nerves making him fidget slightly as he waited for her to answer the door. The semester was finally over- he had never endured a longer semester either as a student or professor- and to celebrate, he was taking Emma out on a long anticipated, first official date.

He wanted everything to be perfect. The time he’d spent with her the last five weeks of the semester, clandestinely of course, had only cemented in his own heart and mind his esteem for the extraordinary young woman he was blessed to be courting. It was much too soon to be thinking very far into the future, but he had to admit falling into daydreams occasionally, of a happy future with the woman he had no doubt he was already deeply in love with.

His musings were abruptly brought to a halt as the door before him opened. Killian caught his breath as the object of his thoughts was fully revealed.

He snapped his jaw shut and shook his head slightly. “You look stunning, Swan,” he breathed, holding out a single red rose. Her hair was gathered into a high ponytail, exposing the graceful curve of her neck and leaving her creamy skin on full display. The dress she wore was a lovely pale pink that draped gracefully down to her knees, the fitted bodice modest with a sweetheart neckline that showed just a hint of cleavage, which had Killian smirking at what he knew lay hidden underneath. She appeared to be a little gobsmacked as well at his appearance, her jaw hanging open slightly and a small gasp escaping her lips. His smirk broadened into a full smile as he waited for her to find her words.

“You look…” She trailed away, her eyes sweeping over him appreciatively from top to bottom.

“I know,” he said, his smirk reappearing as she appeared unable to continue. She took the rose from his hand and rolled her eyes at his cheek, before inviting him in while she put the rose in a small vase.

A wolf whistle caught his attention from the back of the apartment as Ruby made an appearance.

“Hi, Dr. Jones,” she greeted him. “You sure do clean up nice.”

Killian chuckled. “You can dispense with the ‘Dr.’ Miss Lucas. Now that the semester is over and Emma and I can be open with our relationship, I hope you’ll call me Killian.”

She grinned good naturedly. “I’ll be glad to, Killian. As long as you call me Ruby,” she said with a wink. He nodded as Emma returned to the room. He held his arm out to her to take and ushered her toward the door after she’d looped her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Have fun, you two, and I won’t be expecting you back tonight, Emma,” Ruby told them, her brows waggling suggestively. Killian felt his cheeks heat as he cut his eyes toward Emma to see a lovely blush coloring her cheeks as well.

They left the apartment and walked out to the street, where Killian opened the passenger door of his classic SS Chevelle for Emma. Once she was seated, he closed the door and moved to the other side, taking his place behind the wheel.

Emma took his hand as he fired up the car and smiled at him, biting her lower lip.

“I’m so happy we’re finally able to go out together, Killian,” she said.

He turned toward her and smiled gently. “Me too, love.” His eyes turned back to the road before he continued. “I have to admit, I thought it’d never get here. But now we can be open with our relationship, and I couldn’t be happier.” He raised the hand he held to his lips and brushed them against her knuckles.

“So where are we going?” she asked.

“I know how much you like foreign fare, so I’ve made reservations at Marco’s,” he informed her.

Emma gasped. Marco’s was one of the most expensive restaurants in town and she’d never been there for exactly that reason, even though she’d heard nothing but rave reviews since it had opened last spring. Her college student bank account wouldn’t allow for that kind of splurge. But her college professor boyfriend obviously thought she was worth the extravagance. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

“And then maybe take dessert back to your place?” she asked coyly. She hadn’t been to his apartment in the time they’d been together. They didn’t want to risk anyone finding out about them, so their meetings had been limited to his office after hours, or the often deserted corners of the research floor of the library.

He smirked at her and his eyes darkened with lust, making a shiver run down her spine. “A fine idea, love,” he agreed.

It was only a few minutes later that they arrived at the restaurant. Killian jumped out and hurried to open the car door for her.

“You don’t have to open the door for me, you know,” she chastised him, lightly.

Killian didn’t take offense at her teasing tone and offered her a smirk in return. “But I distinctly remember telling you that I am always a gentleman. And if I’m not mistaken, I’ve proved that many times over.”

His last words were nearly a whisper against the bare skin of her shoulder as he opened the door of the restaurant. A shiver of anticipation raced along her skin, making gooseflesh rise.

Once they were seated, conversation flowed easily. Admittedly, their interactions the last month had been much more carnal in nature, acting on their desire all too easily, given the danger of possible repercussions inherent in their relationship. Now, with the pressure of secrecy removed from them, they could take the time to actually develop a mental and emotional attachment, in addition to the physical one.

But that didn’t mean they even tried to rein in their desire. Light and teasing touches were exchanged throughout the meal in between heated and lingering glances. It was all Emma could do to finish the cannelloni on her plate. Just Killian’s eyes roaming over her was setting her on fire, and if they didn’t leave soon, she was sure she’d spontaneously combust right there in the middle of the restaurant.

“That was delicious,” Killian said, leaning back in his chair. But it only took a moment for his gaze to settle on her and his eyes to darken with need. “But I can think of something else I’d like to feast on.” His raised eyebrow and the sultry smile he sent her had her heart beating triple time and set her cheeks aflame. He was the most gorgeous and sexiest man on the planet. And he was hers.

“Me too.” She looked up at him from under her lashes and smirked as she watched him squirm.

“Minx,” he growled, signaling their waiter for the bill.

Once it was taken care of, he ushered her out the door and back to his vehicle. Before he could turn the car on, Emma pounced, not wanting to wait however long it would take to drive to his place. It was a tight fit behind the wheel, and not exactly comfortable, but surely they could have a few minutes to make out in the darkened parking lot.

His touch blazed along her skin and Emma was in imminent danger of throwing caution to the wind and pulling him into the backseat to have her wicked way with him. Pulling back breathlessly, she touched her forehead to his.

“We should probably stop, love,” he breathed into the space between them, squeezing her thigh gently where she was straddled over his lap, “before I can’t stop.” Emma giggled at how his thoughts had taken a similar direction as her own. She pursed her lips into a pout before she carefully climbed off of him, not wanting to hit the horn inadvertently, and settled in her seat.

It didn’t take long to arrive at his townhome near campus, and he all but chased her to the back door, caging her between his arms when she realized the door was locked and turned to face him.

“I’ve caught you now, Swan,” he murmured before capturing her lips with his. His hands roamed up and down her sides, as he swallowed down her breathy moans. She met his passion with her own, one hand plunging into his hair while the other held him close. When air became a necessity, he broke away and unlocked the door behind her, opening it and allowing her to enter before him. He took her hand and led her through the kitchen to the stairs that faced the front door.

“Kitchen, hallway, half-bath, den,” he murmured, pointing out the rooms they passed on their way to the stairs. Once they reached the second floor, he gathered her in his arms and pointed at three closed doors behind them. “Two more bedrooms and a bathroom. And this…” he said, as he reached around her and opened the door directly behind her, “is my bedroom.” His whisper was husky in her ear and Emma couldn’t stop the smile that lit up her face as she pulled him back into a passionate kiss.

He backed her into the room, their lips still fused together. Emma hadn’t had much of a chance to look around his home, but just from the time she’d spent in his office in the last month, she knew him to be very neat and orderly. It was fortunate, because Emma knew she didn’t need to worry about tripping over anything on the floor, like they might have if they were in her bedroom instead of his. Her legs suddenly hit the edge of his bed. It was tall, hitting her just under her ass. She was going to have to jump a bit to be able to sit down on it. But she needn’t have worried about that either, because just at that moment, Killian reached down and lifted her into his arms before lightly tossing her onto the mattress.

Emma couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips as she landed. She caught her lower lip between her teeth as she watched Killian climb up beside her, his eyes ablaze with predatory intent.

“I’ve thought about this for far too long, Swan,” he growled as he reached her. “Imagining you laid out for me on my bed like a banquet.” She reached up and gathered him to her, falling back onto the softest mattress she’d ever laid on.

He kissed her breathless before moving from her lips to her jaw and down the slope of her neck, sucking a mark into the soft skin there. Emma writhed beneath him as he touched and kissed her and began seeking out bare skin underneath the layers of clothing he wore. She got his waistcoat opened and then the dark shirt underneath. Burying her fingers in the hair on his chest, she delighted in the shiver that ran through him as she traced the muscles of his torso.

“You are so beautiful,” she breathed. Killian laughed and raised himself up from her.

“Men are generally not referred to as beautiful, darling,” he informed her, a delighted grin on his face.

She couldn’t help but smile back. “Maybe not,” she conceded, brushing his hair away from his face, “but you are beautiful to me.”

The grin on his face softened into wonder as he stared into her eyes. “You are beautiful to me, too.”

He lowered his lips to hers again and gently coaxed them open. There was no need now for the quick and furious lovemaking they’d been partaking of the last several weeks. They had all the time in the world. She wasn’t expected home tonight and he was in this for the long haul. He was hers as long as he lived.

Reaching behind her, he slowly lowered the zipper of her dress. He couldn’t see the skin his action revealed, but he could feel it- the soft and silky smoothness he’d become very familiar with over the past month. He ran his hands up and down, drawing the dress over her hips and down her legs, enjoying the sight of the skin being revealed. He followed the path of the dress with his lips. When he got to her ankles, he rose from the bed and wrenched off his shirt and waistcoat. His fingers trembled as he unbuttoned his jeans and removed them and his boxer briefs before climbing back up on the bed. He reached over Emma and turned on the lamp on the nightstand. The soft glow from the light made her skin appear luminescent and Killian could hardly breathe. There were no words to do her beauty justice.

Emma reached for her lover and wrapped her fingers around his hardened length. Killian’s eyes rolled back in his head as she began to stroke him.

“Emma, stop,” he begged. “I can’t stand it. This will be over before it even starts if you don’t stop, my love. And for this first time together freely, in my bed, I want to come inside you.” His gaze met hers, full of passion and desire and Emma wondered if he was even aware of what he’d just said. Surely he didn’t mean he actually… loved her. Could he?

She nodded slowly and drew him back down into the cradle of her thighs. They were separated now by only the barest piece of lace covering her most intimate place. She was glad she’d chosen the dress she had. It had a built in bra that made for one less piece of clothing to be removed, before they could enjoy each other fully.

Killian reached down and began pulling off the offensive fabric that had the audacity to hide her from his sight. He tossed it over his shoulder and moved up, inhaling the redolence of her desire for him.

“You smell divine, love,” he murmured, before his tongue flicked out to taste.

Emma writhed above him as he feasted like a man starved, her hand plunging into his hair, holding him to her as her other hand fisted in the quilt covering his bed. It was only moments before her climax was coating his tongue, her cry of completion nearly making him lose himself. He moved up, replacing his tongue with gentle probing fingers, bringing her down slowly.

Her gaze was hazy when her eyes finally opened, and it took a moment for them to focus on him. A lazy sated smile lifted her lips as she drew him down into a gentle, but no less passionate kiss. He rolled on top of her, settling between her legs, his cock hitting her just right, coating him in her juices. She wrapped her legs around him.

“Take me now, Killian,” she begged. “Please!” She raised her hips and he was helpless to resist her. The tip of his shaft entered her and a long shuddering sigh passed his lips as he slid home. She was so slick and so tight, he rested his head for a moment on her shoulder, just relishing the feel of her around him. Then he began slow, long, powerful thrusts designed to bring the most pleasure, while holding that precipice at bay for a bit. This was heaven. This was home. He could make love to Emma for the rest of his days and never grow weary of it.

He captured her lips with his, his tongue mimicking the action of his hips. Her legs around him tightened as she raced toward her peak, so he picked up the pace, determined to come with her. He reached down and flicked her hardened nub, sending her over the edge. Her climax triggered his and he emptied himself into her depths.

Killian could barely catch his breath. He knew now why, in marriage, the act of lovemaking was referred to as consummation, for the love he felt in his heart and the physical act they’d just partaken of had left him utterly boneless. Consumed from the inside out. They may not be married yet, but he knew he belonged to her, for as long as she would allow him, and he could only hope she’d one day agree to a more permanent attachment between them.

He looked down into the jade depths of her eyes, where he could see replete satisfaction, something else he couldn’t quite bring himself to identify, and confusion swirling in their midst.

“What is it, Swan?”

Her mouth hung open slightly and her tongue poked out and moistened her lips before she spoke.

“Did you notice?” Her voice was not much more than a whisper and if he’d been any farther away, he likely wouldn’t have caught it.

“Notice what?”

She moistened her lips again and now he could see anxious trepidation in her gaze.

“What you called me… uh… during…” she stammered.

His brows furrowed as he thought back. He couldn’t think of anything he’d said that might have provoked this kind of response from her. He shook his head slowly.

“You called me my love… you know, when I was…” she trailed off and turned her face away from him and Killian’s heart fell. He had no idea he’d uttered those words in the midst of his passion, and her response wasn’t what he would have wanted to see if he had purposefully referred to her with that appellation.

“Did you mean it?” she whispered, still not looking at him.

Killian sighed and rolled off to the side. He couldn’t lie to her. He knew in his heart that he loved her, even though they’d only been together five weeks, and he knew he wanted to someday make her his wife, raise a family with her, and grow old with her. Even if she didn’t hold him in the same regard, he had no choice but to lay his heart bare. A man unwilling to fight for what he wants, deserves what he gets, after all.

“I may not remember actually saying those words,” he began, “but, I cannot deny their veracity. I do love you, Emma Swan.” He put his finger to her lips as she opened them to speak. “And I do realize it is much too soon to expect the same esteem from you, so hear this now. I will be by your side for as long as you will allow me to be, and I hope that you will at some future time, hold me in the same regard as I hold you.”

Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes and her smile was one of affection and indulgence. As if the words that had just come out of his mouth, the ones that bared his heart for her perusal, were the height of foolishness. His heart tripped in his chest and he scratched at the patch behind his ear that he just couldn’t leave alone when he was nervous.

“It’s not too soon, Killian,” she informed him, a single tear falling down her cheek. “I love you, too.” The smile on her face rivaled the sun, and he returned it in kind before capturing her lips with his own. He pulled back and gently stroked his fingers down the side of her face, basking in the love he saw in her eyes and trying to pour everything he was feeling into his own.

“I love you, Swan. I love you, Swan. I love you, Swan,” he murmured, peppering her face with kisses. She returned his ardor just as passionately until she had to stop for a jaw popping yawn.

They both dissolved into laughter as Emma turned in his arms and settled herself in his embrace. His arms around her middle tightened until they were skin to skin from their knees, to where her head was tucked right under his chin.

“We should get some sleep while we can,” he murmured in her ear. “I plan on wearing you out this weekend.”

He could hear the grin in her voice when she spoke. “Sounds reasonable to me. Goodnight, Killian. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Swan.”

The End… for real this time.

~*~*~

Thank you for reading and sharing! I’d love to hear what you think! Happy birthday, @zaharadessert! Love you!

#apologies dr jones #birthday fic for zahara #krystal writes #art by krystal

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