fancake | Entries tagged with theme: pining

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Svetlana Vetrova, Yuna Hollander
Rating: Explicit
Length: 6087
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Shane is probably unfaithful to Rose - he doesn't seem to think their relationship's over at that point in the fic.
Creator Links: tackytiger on AO3
Themes: Pining, Ambiguous relationships, (not really) Unrequited love, Unreliable narrator, Canon LGBTQ+ characters

Summary: Does it count as Shane Hollander walking Ilya like a dog if Ilya buckles the collar on himself and hands Hollander the leash?

Reccer's Notes: Tackytiger describes the fic as a small character piece looking at Ilya's feelings at various points in his life. It's not tagged for "pining" but to me, that's very much part of Ilya's feelings. There are dog metaphors throughout, with young Ilya longing for a dog (but knowing his father would never allow it), then, in the Rose era, Ilya longs for Shane and snatches any scrap of Shane he can. It ends at the Cottage with their relationship restored and acknowledged, but there's still a sense of Ilya being dependent on Shane's attention and affection, still feeling like a stray who got lucky. Poignant, and really well written.

Fanwork Links: Lick, Lick - locked to AO3.
And there's a podfic by me.

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Explicit
Length: 2882
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: sabinelagrande on AO3
Themes: Pining, Mutual pining, Friends to lovers, First time, Humor

Summary: John goes with everything. Rodney doesn't.

Reccer's Notes: A delightful short fic in which Rodney, fed up with pining and goaded by Ronon to "go off and fuck already, just to get it out of the way", finally makes a move on John. Who turns out to have been pining as well. It's hot and funny, as Rodney's POV is amusing - impatient and uncertain and acerbic. An excellent read!

Fanwork Links: LBD

mific

Fandom: due South
Characters/Pairings: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, Diefenbaker, Stella Kowalski
Rating: Gen
Length: 5180
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Head injury with long-term disability.
Creator Links: dessert_first on AO3
Themes: Pining, Amnesia, Friends to lovers (imminent), Friendship, Hurt/comfort, (not really) unrequited love

Summary: Amnesiac Mountie with broken long-term memory storage moves in with lovesick Polish cop.

Reccer's Notes: In this story Fraser, after a head injury, develops both retrograde amnesia so that he recalls working with Ray Vecchio but not Ray Kowalski, and anterograde amnesia so that he can't lay down long-term memories and starts each day afresh. It's fanfiction amnesia of course so handwave how a relatively minor injury could cause this, and ignore the wildly unlikely notion of a hospital letting an amnesia patient occupy a bed for several weeks. In the fic, Ray K has already been pining for Fraser and he takes Fraser home to his flat to look after him, despite how it aches when every morning Fraser's forgotten him again. Or has he, entirely? It's a bit sad, yes, but there are so many great details like the techniques Fraser develops to orient himself each morning, and the muttered arguments with his father's ghost. It's all told from Ray Kowalski's inimitable perspective and Ray's support from Stella is another heartwarming aspect. The ending isn't a cure or fix-it, but it is hopeful. Beautiful writing, and a lovely, heart-tugging read.

Fanwork Links: Lost

mific

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Rose Landry
Rating: Explicit
Length: 14,416
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Note that their hookups continue for a while despite Ilya being married to a woman, so there's infidelity.
Creator Links: Anna__S on AO3
Themes: Pining, Mutual pining, AU: Fork in the road, Canon LGBTQ+ characters, Established relationship, Future fic,

Summary: They've already been so careless, unbelievably, intoxicatingly careless. Shane can’t shake the sense that they’re on the lam. It feels like their bodies belong to each other, but at the end of the day, they are both stolen property.

A 'what if' that diverges from canon at the beginning of Episode 6 and explores what could have happened in the absence of the Ottawa plan.

Reccer's Notes: This is kind of the opposite to a fix-it fic - it takes canon and makes it worse, more angsty and painful! It also transforms the genre from a romance into a much more realistic literary fiction story. In this AU, Shane's dad never discovers them at the Cottage so Shane's fear of others knowing, even his parents, is never forcibly overcome and they just go on much as before, seeing each other only rarely and having summers at the cottage. There's no longer-term plan except the terrible "once we retire" one. The author shows how this wears on them both and harms their relationship, and there's masses of yearning and pining both while they're together and after they stop seeing each other. Their special connection doesn't ever die, though, so there's a hopeful ending by the time they get to 2027, close to retirement, but it's a far sadder, realer story than the romance of canon which relies on happy accidents. The writing is excellent, and it's told from Shane's POV.

Fanwork Links: No smoke without you

kingstoken

Fandom: The Old Guard
Pairings/Characters: Joe/Nicky
Rating: M
Length: 15,046 words
Creator Links: Survivah
Theme: Pining, backstory, pre-canon, historical, fandom classics, enemies to friends to lovers

Summary: He wants Yusuf to hold his hand again. Grab his ankle. Flick his ear. Thrust his sword into his chest and breath into his mouth.

Yet, they have the long ocean of eternity ahead of them. These whims are nothing but a swell under their ship: gone as soon as they come. Nicolo knows better than to jump overboard and drown alone trying to chase them.

-----

Alternate title: "You'd Feel Pretty Weird If You Developed a Crush on the Only Other Immortal You Know, Right?"

Reccer's Notes: The story spans large swaths of their history, it starts during the crusades in Jerusalem up until they finally meet Andy and Quynh decades later. It's from Nicky's POV and deals with his growing feelings for Yusuf, and how he tries to deal with them, believing they could never be returned. I pretty much consider this one a classic in The Old Guard, and one of the best historical Joe/Nicky fics out there.

Note this was written after the first film, so won't be canon compliant with the second film.

Fanwork Links: AO3

kingstoken

Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone Movies)
Pairings/Characters: Holmes/Watson
Rating: G
Length: 2,236 words
Creator Links: olivverie
Theme: Pining

Summary: Though everything had, by all appearances, finished well, with Doctor Tobel and his bombsight safely under Scotland Yard protection, Moriarty dead and his crew captured, Holmes could not help but feel that this had been one of his worst cases. He had been too slow, too conceited, too foolish. People had died because of him. He had nearly died. No, it could hardly be called one of his successes.

Reccer's Notes: This fic takes place after the events of Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, however, the pertinent information needed to understand the story is that at one point Moriarty had Holmes strapped to a table and was slowly bleeding him out. This deals with the aftermath of such an action, and deals with a Holmes that is not his clear headed self, but exhausted and emotional. Mixed up in these emotions is a pining, touch starved Holmes.

Fanwork Links: AO3

kingstoken

Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairings/Characters: Mycroft/Lestrade, background Sherlock/John
Rating: E
Length: 90,591 words
Creator Links: green_violin_bow
Theme: Pining, Pretend Couple

Summary: “I’m sorry, Sherlock, but I think what you just said is that you’ve been catfishing a murderer online, pretending to be a couple, your brother and I, and now you want us to meet him? A murderer? As a couple!” The last few words are really quite loud, and Rosie makes a startled squeak in the kitchen.

Sherlock glares at him.

Greg takes a deep breath. “Sorry,” he says, automatically, then – “No – no! Not – not sorry, because – of all the things, Sherlock, that you have ever done, this is undeniably the most – the most utterly – I –”

He closes his eyes, fists clenched, and takes several deep breaths.

“Overlooking many, many other problems with this entire scenario –” he pauses and takes another breath, “– what on Earth makes you think that, as a couple, a detective and a – a – whatever he is –” he gestures wildly at Mycroft – “would put themselves online on a dating site?”

Reccer's Notes: Because of Sherlock shenanigans, Mycroft and Lestrade have to pretend to be a couple and live together for a week in order to catch a killer. It's a classic living together brings forward feelings. The story is from Lestrade's POV, and the first half features some pining as he tries to figure out if he wants something with Mycroft and if Mycroft would want that in return. All while the case slowly percolates in the background.

Fanwork Links: AO3

runpunkrun

Photograph of a person in complete darkness faintly illuminated in red by a glowing neon heart held against their chest. Text: Pining, at Fancake.

Our theme for August is pining!

Since this is a Flashback Round where we revisit a theme from the early days of the comm—pining was round 46 back in 2014—this month it doesn't matter if a work has already been recced for this theme, go ahead and rec it again!

The tag for this round is: theme: pining

If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.

( Rules! )

( Posting Template! )

( Promote this round! )

Reblog on Tumblr | Reskeet on Bluesky | Retoot on Mastodon

full_metal_ox

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Mo Xuanyu, Wei Wuxian (mentioned), Nie Huaisang (implied), Lan Wangji (mentioned; implied); Mo Xuanyu/Himself, Mo Xuanyu & Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (mentioned; implied), Mo Xuanyu -> Nie Huaisang (one-sided)
Rating: Explicit
Length: 4,927
Content Notes: Body Modification (voluntary), Cannibalism (mentioned as part of the culture), canon-typical ritual bloodletting, Classism, First Person POV, Needles, Scenery Porn
Creator Tags: Masturbation, Voyeurism, mermaid Mo Xuanyu, Non-Human Genitalia, Prehensile dick, Worldbuilding, Abyssal Mermaids, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, In that most of the sects are benthopelagic sea critters, And Wei Wuxian actually gets to talk to Mo Xuanyu, Monsterfucker Mo Xuanyu, POV Mo Xuanyu, Hair Kink (minor), self-bondage (minor), Misunderstandings

Creator Links: (AO3)

LesbianlazerOwl; (Dreamwidth)

lazerowl; (Twitter)

gay_lazerOwl

Theme: Unreliable Narrator, Cultural Differences, Interspecies Pairings, Languages & Linguistics, Mermaids, Pining, Worldbuilding, Xeno/Alien Biology

Summary: Mo Xuanyu lives alone at the edge of the habitable world, continuing Wei Wuxian's work and strengthening his cultivation. One day soon, he hopes to surpass the Yiling Laozu's power and follow him into the unknown. Complications arise.

Creator Notes: (Cut for length.) ( Continue. )

Reccer's Notes: LesbianlazerOwl’s AU where the Jiang and Jin Sects are deep-sea merfolk is a strange and rapturous gem that turns Lovecraftiana upside-down (from the POV of a character embodying everything Lovecraft abhorred: a queer Asian—here turned sea creature—looking to monsterfuck.)

With all the haughty smarter-than-the-sheeple dudgeon of the alienated Emo Kid, Abyssal Merman! and Seeker of Arcane Knowledge Mo Xuanyu follows his idol the Yiling Laozu’s forbidden explorations of the mysterious and unfathomable surface—where, according to rumor, he found love with an eldritch air fairy! (Should the author ever see fit, I’d love to read a Wangxian prequel.)

LesbianlazerOwl compresses an incredible amount of atmosphere and implicit worldbuilding into just short of 5000 words, in ways that encourage still further speculation (the Sunshot Campaign is referenced; what could justify such a name in this world, and what were the Wen—creatures of the infernal blazing heights of the Epipelagic Zone?)

Fanwork Links: Rise and Shine, by

LesbianlazerOwl for

Shadaras: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42602655

Collections: Mutual Masturbation Exchange.

full_metal_ox

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Past (and future) Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 484 characters (Chinese); 563 words (English)
Content Notes: Major Character Death (canon, temporary), Angst, Epistolary, Poetry, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mourning, Written in Chinese
Language: 中文-吴语 (original); English (translation)
Creator Links:
Lan Wangji: Unfortunately, their Baidu profile has gone 404.
zenzenzense: (AO3): zenzenzense(rebirth9981)

Theme: Just Like Canon, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Fandom Classics, Non-AO3 Works, Pining

Summary: Lan Wangji mourns his lost Wei Ying, in gentlemanly and poetic fashion.

Creator Notes:
Lan Wangji: (cut for length): ( Continue. )

zenzenzense: Translation (or butchering session as I would call it) of a certain fanfic... Lan WangJi writes a letter to Wei WuXian while drunk sometime in the thirteen years during which he's gone. The original Chinese version is highly poetic and uses a lot of difficult language; I tried to keep some of that in the translated version; not sure if it worked out or not. Only angst. No fluff. You have very much been warned...

Reccer's Notes: This 2016 Baidu fic by “Lan Wangji”(a Chinese ground-floor fan who got to claim a prime pseudonym!), translated into English by zenzenzense, is historically important as the origin of the Thirteen Years of Inquiry: a plausible trope that swiftly disseminated into not only the fandom but subsequent adaptations.

Fanwork Links:
Archive.today: https://archive.ph/Q2WZH
Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20221113075541/https://archive.ph/Q2WZH
English translation: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16172624

Current Mood: tired

mific

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Scott Hunter/Kip Grady, Cliff Marleau, Eric Bennett, Carter Vaughn, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Greg Huff, JJ Boizeau, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike, Gloria Grey, Svetlana Vetrova
Rating: Teen
Length: 6606
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: Cricket_Writes on AO3
Themes: Journeys and Travel, Road Trips, Friendship, Teams, Families of choice, AU: Fork in the road, Pining

Summary: “Holy shit,” Carter says from the stall next to Scott, also staring at his phone. “Did you all see about Rozanov and Hollander?” The way Vaughan says it, it doesn’t sound like good news. Carter thrusts his phone in Scott’s face, and he takes it, pulls it back so the headline will focus. HOCKEY STARS CAUGHT IN STEAMY AFFAIR, the headline proclaims, and Scott skims through it quickly. Rozanov and Hollander, years—years?!—worth of videos and photos leaked. Scott is in an NHL locker room, watching his worst nightmare happen to someone else. Holy shit.

Reccer's Notes: This is a reversal of canon, as Shane and Ilya are outed much earlier and that kick-starts Scott into coming out and resolving things with Kip. After the public outing, Scott, Carter and Eric embark on a long (there and back) road trip from New York to Shane and Ilya's very suddenly organised wedding in Montreal. It's a lovely fic told from Scott's POV, in which Shane and Ilya are crucial but largely in the background, and are overwhelmed by the support of their friends, teams, and family, while Scott finally gathers the courage to love Kip openly.

Fanwork Links: Scott Hunter's Life-Changing Road Trip

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Teen
Length: 5473
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: trinityofone on AO3
Themes: Journeys and Travel, Road trips, First time, Friends to lovers, Pining

Summary: “Don’t be silly,” John says. “You’re Bob and I’m Bing; now get in the car and let’s go find ourselves a Dorothy.”

Reccer's Notes: A classic road trip fic, with John and Rodney meandering across the USA toward California. Eventually, after some pining on John's part, the inevitable happens and the trip becomes a metaphor for them wandering towards each other.

Fanwork Links: Looking for Lamour

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Explicit
Length: 18,910
Content Notes: No AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: crysothemis on AO3, nny (villainny) on Audiofic Archive
Themes: Inept in love, Friends to lovers, First time, Humor, Pining

Summary: John never sleeps with anyone twice.

Reccer's Notes: Rodney (who's attracted to John) bumps into a few women, and then Ronon, leaving John's quarters. He clumsily asks John about these goings on, and mostly accidentally challenges John to have sex with him (because why not with Rodney if everyone else gets to?). It doesn't go swimmingly so Rodney demands a do-over, then another do-over, and another, because there's always something wrong with their encounters. This is partly as Rodney's bisexual and he mistakenly thinks John must be as well, and Rodney also manufactures "mistakes", until they're both entirely hooked and John's joining in with the pretense enthusiastically. It's hot, funny, and clever - a great read.

Fanwork Links: Do Over
And there's a podfic by nny

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Teen
Length: 2492
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: dedkake on AO3
Themes: Inept in love, Pining, Five things, Friends to lovers

Summary: The thing is, he hadn’t really meant to say it. Not then. Not there. He hadn’t really ever even thought about it before, not in such specific terms. So, it’s as much of a shock to him as it is to anyone else.

or, Rodney's trying so hard and John just doesn't get it.

Reccer's Notes: This is a fun read that makes you want to hit them both upside the head just a little. Rodney keeps telling John how he feels (or trying to), and John keeps missing the point each time, so they're both inept in different ways. Until they aren't!

Fanwork Links: on purpose

mific

Fandom: due South
Characters/Pairings: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Rating: Teen & up
Length: 1782
Content Notes: No AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: dance_across on AO3
Themes: Crack treated seriously, Friendship, Humor, Pining, Post-canon

Summary: Ray and Fraser discover that someone's been writing stories about them. Slashy, slashy stories.

Reccer's Notes: This is set after canon, during Ray and Fraser's quest. They've become minor celebrities in the wake of the big submarine/terrorists drama and when they briefly hit an outpost of civilization (a motel with internet), Ray checks his email and finds Frannie's sent him a link to a fanfic someone's written, called "Snowfall in Summer". Hilarity then ensues as they decide to read it together, and it leads to Ray making a big decision. The cracky premise is the existence of fanfic about them, and as far as possible, dance_across shows us how that might actually pan out. In a romantic way, of course, with a hopeful ending! It's a lot of fun.

Fanwork Links: Twenty Cents a Page

mific

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Cliff Marleau, Connors
Rating: Mature
Length: 5144
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Descriptions of illness, choking, vomiting.
Creator Links: Ragazza_Guasto on AO3, sd_ryan on AO3
Themes: Crack treated seriously, Pining, Getting back together, Canon LGBTQ+ characters, Angst with a happy ending

Summary: “Can you believe it? How the hell did he end up bagging her?”

Ilya stared, brain not comprehending what his body already seemed to, that Hollander was dating-

“Rose fuckin’ Landry! How does the lamest guy in the League-”

He knew that smile. He thought it was for him, just for him. But it wasn't.

“No,” he whispered. His stomach spasmed.

“You good, Roz?”

Why would he- How could he-

They were holding hands…

“Rozanov? What the fuck?”

He jumped up from the table and stumbled for the front door, just barely making it through before the first mass of petals came up. He heaved as he ran, trying desperately to get away from the pavement, somewhere he could hide what was happening.

Unfortunately, his teammates had followed, because of course they would. He saw a photo of Shane Hollander holding hands with a movie star and promptly threw up.

Who wouldn't be curious?

Reccer's Notes: Hanahaki disease, where a sufferer of unrequited love starts bringing up flowers, has to be one of the crackiest tropes ever. In this story Ilya develops Hanahaki after seeing the pics of Shane going out with Rose Landry. But it's not some gently romantic fluttering of petals from his lips, it's bloodily bringing up a hard, painful tulip bulb, then more flowers, more bulbs. I guess the trope always has a potentially serious outcome (death vs requited love) but to me the "treated seriously" aspects here are the medical details and treatment, the painful and unromantic way the disease affects Ilya, and the way the fic cleverly incorporates his family history, via his mother. Ilya gets very sick indeed before Shane finds out, with inevitable results. Well written, and a great read.

Fanwork Links: All I Do is Stay Winning
All I Do is Stay Winning (podfic by sd_ryan)

full_metal_ox

Fandom: Chen Qing Ling; The Magnetic Fields (band)
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; the Cloud Recesses bunnies
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2:26
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, anvilicious rabbit symbolism, canon-typical blood, canon-typical phallic sword symbolism, corporal punishment, fluff (figurative and literal), innuendo, societal homophobia (in-story and real-world), sparring with subtext, Xiao Zhan’s A+ rabbit handling, (not you, Wang Yibo, you’re fine.)
Creator Tags: vid, Bunnies, Pining, i'm sorry lan wangji, no really a lot of pining
Creator Links: (AO3)

soupytwist, (Dreamwidth)

soupytwist, (Tumblr)

soupytwist (locked); (YouTube)

twistedsoup

Theme: Amnesty, Angst With A Happy Ending, Animals, Humor, Non-Fic Recs: Fanvid, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Pining

Summary: If you look inside the heart of the mighty Hanguang-jun, you might find... bunnies.

Author’s Notes:( Continue. )

Reccer's Notes: A rec in celebration of the 4 December 2025 Full Supermoon. Stephin Merritt’s wryly anguished anthem of gay pining gains not only an unironic tenderness but the hope of a happy resolution when juxtaposed with CQL’s literal rabbits (and their pervasive symbolism as tokens, symbols, and allegory of Wangxian’s relationship, as well as allusions to a Rabbit God who’d bless a gay union.)

Nor does soupytwist’s pitch-perfect syncing of visuals to lyrics hurt one bit.

Fanwork Links:
AO3 (locked): [FANVID] Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits; Part 2 of Gusu Love Songs.
Vimeo: Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
YouTube:Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits

Current Music: Implicit in the subject.

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Jeannie, other OCs like John's cousin, mother and sister, and Rodney's nieces.
Rating: Explicit
Length: 12,417
Content Notes: no AO3-type warnings apply
Creator Links: Brighid on AO3, Brighid (aka mz_bstone) on sga_flashfic, librarychick_94 on AO3, librarychick_94 on Audiofic Archive
Themes: Marriage of Convenience, First time, Pining, AU

Summary: A marriage of convenience has some very incovenient complications for Rodney, as he deals with the fact that he's still in love with John Sheppard.

Reccer's Notes: Written for a Harlequin challenge, this has the classic structure with John persuading Rodney to marry him so as to access an inheritance and get control of his family's aeronautics company, and Rodney, who's carried a torch for John since childhood, going along despite fearing John will break his heart. It's mostly a complete AU although Rodney used to be in the Stargate programme, and John used to be in the Air Force, so I guess it could be a very divergent canon-divergent AU. The writing's fresh and amusing and of course it has the requisite happy ending. As it dates from 2005 (and is anyway an AU) several details differ from canon, like Rodney's and John's families. A fun, romantic read, and an SGA classic.

Fanwork Links: The Convenient Husband pt 1 & part 2, and an excellent podfic read by librarychick_94

full_metal_ox

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Chen Qing Ling
Pairings/Characters: F/F; Madam Jin/Yu Ziyuan; Madam Jin, Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 600
Content Notes: adultery (mentioned), angst, arranged marriage, bereavement, generational trauma, heteronormativity, marriage politics, possible (unexpressed) adult-> minor pining
Creator Tags: 5+1 Things, Drabble Sequence, Zǐdiàn (Módào Zǔshī) - Freeform, Canonical Character Death, Socially Imposed Heterosexual Marriage, Background Relationships
Creator Links: (AO3):

Zdenka
Theme: Female Relationships, Arranged Marriage, 5+1, Mutual Pining, Pining

Summary:

Five times Madam Jin saw Zidian on Yu Ziyuan's hand, and one time she saw it on her son's.

Notes:

Written for femslashfete for the prompt "artifact."

Reccer's Notes: Zdenka manages to cram so much into 600 words: an exquisitely painful soromance fulfillable only through generational proxy, imposed in turn—and the reader has the added pang of knowing what’s going to become of that couple.

Fanwork Links: Advance and Retreat, by

Zdenka.

Current Music: An early summer rain, long overdue.

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Explicit
Length: 14,383
Content Notes: mild, essentially harmless exploitation of a baby by Rodney (the baby's well cared for)
Creator Links: Helenish on AO3, dodificus on AO3, dodificus on the Audiofic Archive
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Kidfic (has a child), Pining, First time, Friends to lovers, AU: fork in the road

Summary: It was easy to imagine fucking Rodney, the way he'd groan and clutch at John's arms and be too bossy about the whole thing; it was easy to imagine the problems it could cause.

Reccer's Notes: This is a cut off from Earth AU with the focus on John Sheppard's angst, pining and denial, but the ending, contrary to the title, is not unhappy. We follow John who's unwillingly and increasingly attracted to Rodney (but initially there's no way he'd ever let Rodney know). John tries to pretend he doesn't have feelings for Rodney while being tormented by jealousy, especially when Rodney temporarily cares for a refugee baby, partly as a "chick magnet". Helenish writes pining, self-deluding John brilliantly and this is another tour de force, packed with plot, UST, frustration, humor, and finally, finally, a happy ending, even though they're squabbling and miscommunicating throughout.

Fanwork Links: Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending on AO3
And the podfic read by dodificus is here

full_metal_ox

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Other, M/M; Unnamed Dizi, Wangji Guqin, Chenqing (mentioned), Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Jin Ling; Chenqing/Wangji Guqin (Modao Zushi); Unnamed Dizi & Wei Wuxian; Unnamed Dizi & Wangji Guqin, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (background)
Rating: Not Rated
Length: 556
Content Notes: Major Character Death, POV character death, self-sacrificial jianghu heroism, the sad beauty of transience
Creator Tags: is it weird to feel bad for a spiritual weapon? but I'm doing it anyway, is it mcd if it's about a spiritual weapon that's not really alive or conscious?, i'm gonna tag it anyway, the unnamed Dizi Wei Wuxian makes on Dafan Mountain
Creator Links: (AO3):

Bookworm16
Theme: Outsider POV, Angst, Personified Instruments, Third Wheels

Summary: The sharp biting pain of a sword cutting you off from your roots, and shaping you into a rough instrument.

That’s when you felt it for the first time.

Reccer's Notes: Sapient weapons and instruments (sometimes anthropomorphized), and their complicated parallel relationships with one another and their wielders, have become a popular trope in MDZS fandom (1). This is the first time I’ve seen the dizi Wei Wuxian hastily field-whittled on Dafan Mountain as a Personified Instrument, probably because of its brief existence and lack of a name; yet it plays a crucial role, as the medium of the story’s theme song, the means whereby Wei Wuxian’s true identity is revealed to Lan Wangji, and—being handled, shaped, and infused with power by both—a vehicle of their relationship.

Having thereby developed consciousness, the Unnamed Dizi dies without regret in proper Wuxia fashion, to save life and in the service of love never to be reciprocated; I’m still intermittently sobbing over the line how (Wangji) guqin cried out for a different dizi.

(1) I refer you to

zeldacw as the Trope Maker and Codifier.

Fanwork Links: To the Unnamed Dizi, by

Bookworm16.

Current Music: ”Wangxian” (donghua version)

full_metal_ox

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Chen Qing Ling
Pairings/Characters: Gen; F/M (one-sided); M/M (background); Lan Qiren, Original Female Character, Lan Huan, Lan Zhan
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 1,765
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, Sexual Harassment (comically ineffectual), Written in Russian

Creator Tags: (

Pingwina): Humor, Crack, крэковые намеки на Лань Цижэнь/лиса (hints about Lan Qiren/Fox), ещеболее крэковые намеки на несуще ствующих вжужэней (even more crack hints at non-existent Ruoren, вансяни упоминаются, (Wangxian mentioned), Pre-Canon, Post-Canon

(

tell_some_storm): Illustrations, Foxes, Watercolors, Fanart, Pre-Canon, Fox Spirit, fanfic illustration, One-Sided Attraction, Attempted Seduction, Lan Qiren is So Done, Poor Lan Qiren, Good Parent Lan Qiren, Routine, Childhood, LWJ is young but already unimpressed, LXC is ever caring and helpful

Creator Links: (AO3):

Pingwina;

tell_some_storm.
Theme: Outsider POV, Asexual & Demisexual Characters, Humor, Pining, Pre-Canon, Trope Subversion & Inversion

Summary:

Трудно бедной лисице любить праведного Ланя. (It is hard for the poor fox to love the righteous Lan.)

Reccer's Notes:

I don’t speak Russian, and read this fic by running it through MTL; my renderings of Pingwina’s summary and certain of her tags are italicized.

The story of Yunqiao (a poor innocent fox maiden only two hundred and seventy-nine years old!) and her determined campaign to seduce Lan Qiren. Unfortunately, her crush is not only Grand High Curator of The Rules™, but way out of her power league, staunchly aroace, and fiercely protective of his little nephews (and we know how the Twin Jades turned out); nobody’s buying what she’s got to sell. Poor persistent Yunqiao winds up as the Wile E. Coyote of qi predators, although Word of God is that she eventually becomes an ally to the Lan Sect.

This story came to my attention thanks to

tell_some_storm’s hilarious fanart, portraying the Lan family reacting to Yunqiao’s beguilements with all the enthusiasm that would greet a Tumblr pornbot.

Fanwork Links: It’s the product of a Fandom Kombat involving the two, and so they ought to be acknowledged as collaborators:

Чаровница Юньцяо (Enchantress Yunqiao), by

Pingwina;
Illustration - The Temptress, by

tell_some_storm.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: “Megitsune”, by BABYMETAL.

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Jeannie Miller, Madison Miller
Rating: Teen
Length: 2743
Content Notes: open ending
Creator Links: objectlesson on AO3
Theme: (not really) unrequited love, Friendship, Pining, Outsider POV, Family

Summary: There's something unsettling about having her brother and John Sheppard staying in her home.

Reccer's Notes: John and Rodney are on leave, visiting Jeannie, and behaving in such a married way Jeannie thinks they're a couple. She takes each of them to task about it separately, with interesting results. This fic is beautifully written and a lovely, subtle description of John being fond and Rodney leaning into it, otherwise oblivious though he is. There's no final resolution but, like Jeannie, we can hope.

Fanwork Links: the things you see

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan
Rating: Gen
Length: 3709
Content Notes: none apply
Creator Links: Argosy on AO3
Theme: (not really) unrequited love, Humor, Friends to lovers, Pining

Summary: Pet ownership is a serious responsibility.

Reccer's Notes: Rodney gets the Pegasus version of a cat, and John suddenly becomes aware of his feelings towards Rodney, due to his jealousy of the animal. Rodney's totally focused on his pet and John suffers, unrequited. Then Rodney's "cat" (an eldru) enters puberty and it all gets so much worse. Eventually, everything works out of course, and John even comes around to liking the eldru, especially in a surprise twist at the end. Teyla is fun in this, springing surprises about eldrus on them in a deadpan manner ("do not your Earth cats do this?"). An amusing read!

Fanwork Links: Rodney's Emo Cat

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: E
Length: 2153
Content Notes: none apply
Creator Links: Resonant on AO3
Themes: (not really) unrequited love, friends to lovers, first time, pining

Summary: McKay was the perfect object for a crush you never intended to do anything about.

Reccer's Notes: This is a classic, and it's so good it's always worth a re-read. John enjoys a secret crush on Rodney while being fully aware of his annoying traits. But they don't bother John because he's not actually in a relationship with Rodney! This goes on for ages with John surprised by how much he can get away with without Rodney, who seems utterly oblivious, noticing, and without anyone else being bothered. Indeed, they seem fond! Finally, John gives himself away, and things are somewhat hilariously resolved. Funny, hot, and with a great ending. A must-read.

Fanwork Links: Reality on AO3
podfic by Zabira here
podfic by Isabelle here

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Les Mis
Pairings/Characters: Enjolras/Grantaire
Rating: Teen
Length: 186k
Creator Links:

idiopathicsmile
Theme: unrequited love, AU, complete AU, modern AU, high school AU, novel length, epic works, book fandoms, old fandoms, small fandoms, happy endings, pining, pretend couple,

Summary:

Enjolras presses his lips together. He already looks pained, and Grantaire hasn't even opened his mouth yet. That's got to be a record, even for them.

"I need a favor," he says at last.

"With what?" says Grantaire. "Ooh, are you forming a cult? Can I join? I'd be awesome at cults, I just know it." He ticks off his qualifications on his fingers. "I love chanting, I look great in robes—"

(High school AU. Grantaire the disaffected stoner is pulled into a cause bigger than himself. Or: in which there are pretend boyfriends for great justice.)

Reccer's Notes: I do not normally care for setting-change AUs, because worldbuilding is such a core interest of mine. But this fic has such amazing characterization, and such thoughtful translation of the Les Mis world into a modern high school, that I re-read it regularly. Of course Les Amis de l'ABC would be a social justice club/GSA. Of course Grantaire would be a stoner. All the details are perfect, and you add in tropey goodness and a fight they can actually win and you get a story that draws you along for 186k words. It's delightful.

Fanwork Links: World Ain't Ready

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Star Trek
Pairings/Characters: OC/OC
Rating: Mature
Length: 151k
Creator Links:
Theme: unrequited love, trauma and recovery, casefic, novel length, epic works, worldbuilding, spies and assassins, telepathy, research, psychic powers, post-canon, pining, marriage of convenience, getting back together, female characters, family, character development,

Summary: Past may be prologue, but it is not destiny.

Reccer's Notes: This is part of the previously recced Pi'maat series, but I pulled this one out to rec separately because a) it's got a different main character from the rest of the series, and the MCs from the rest of the series are bit players in this one and b) unrequited love is not the main theme, but it's a thread running through it. Though it's a bit of an odd take on it, considering that the person the MC has unrequited love for is her husband. (But they're Vulcans, so it was an arranged marriage.)

The MC has been through hell, abused from childhood (including by her husband--he's genuinely changed, and would never again hurt her, and has been telepathically examined to prove it).

This is a story about healing, about the way the past shapes the present but doesn't have to define it. There's a mystery to be solved, with spies and assassins, and a great adventure plot once the mystery is solved. And through it all, as much as Kiri is healing and getting her life together and serving as the catalyst for great, galaxy-changing events, she craves a loving relationship with her husband, which seems forever beyond her reach.

(I have labelled this as Voyager, because Tuvok is a major character in it, but it's set on Vulcan after Voyager's return, with a cast of 99% OCs + Tuvok and Tom Riker)

Content Notes: Child abuse (non-sexual), domestic abuse, violence (canon-typical), mental illness (depression), mentions of suicide (no on-screen suicidal ideation or actual suicide). Mentions of war, genocide, and other nastiness, all more or less canon-typical, and probably not nearly as grim-dark as I'm making it sound...

Fanwork Links: Dah Vohkaya
At AO3

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Simpson, Aiden Ford
Rating: Gen
Length: 1654
Content Notes: none apply
Creator Links: smilebackwards on AO3
Theme: (not really) unrequited love, Friends to lovers, Pining, AU: canon divergence

Summary: “Who’s this?” Rodney said, irritated, and then the Ancient device in Sheppard’s hand lit up and Rodney had really looked at him with his soft-sharp hazel eyes and spiky, non-regulation hair and it had all been over but the crying.

Reccer's Notes: This is an AU as Sheppard joins the expedition once they're established, and Rodney is immediately smitten. But every time he encounters Sheppard, Rodney is filthy, sweaty or covered in grease from emergency repairs, and Sheppard is all gorgeous and slinky. Weirdly, Sheppard keeps hanging around! Written for a past Romancing McShep fest and based on a despairing tumblr post, this is amusing and, ultimately, romantic. A very fun read.

Fanwork Links: The Most Beautiful Man in Atlantis (need to be logged in to read)

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Much Ado About Nothing
Pairings/Characters: Don John/Hero
Rating: Mature
Length: 59k
Creator Links:

perennial
Theme: unrequited love, pining, AU, fork in the road, small fandoms, old fandoms, family, rare pairings, marriage, marriage of convenience, character development, arranged marriage, enemies to friends,

Summary: "My lord." She swallows. "My father tells me I am to be your wife."
"He honors me with your hand."
"I thank you for the compliment, sir." The words are stilted. "My heart, however, is already claimed. I am afraid I haven't another to give."
"I have no need of your heart, Lady Hero—only your hand."

Claudio intends to marry Hero. Don John gets to her first.

Reccer's Notes: Don John decides that making people think Hero unfaithful will annoy Don Pedro and Claudio but not cause them any lasting problems, and so decides to marry her instead. He's not expecting anything other than a business arrangement, but at their estate, far away from the pressures of court and the brother he hates, things change for him ... and then he has no idea what he wants or how to get it. I love the way all the characters involved learn and grow, and the way the family dynamics and politics and gender relations of the play are explored in this AU.

Fanwork Links: after the storm

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Star Wars
Pairings/Characters: Obi-Wan/Cody
Rating: mature
Length: 106k works
Creator Links:

MadMothMadame
Theme: unrequited love, fix it, AU, everybody lives, novel-length, epic, pining, happy endings

Summary: The War is over. With the Sith conspiracy uncovered, and Separatists suing for peace, Obi-Wan knew things would not be the same as they were before. Some changes would be for the worse, but when he thought about Cody, and all they had the potential to become now that rank and the weight of war no longer had to stand between them-

Well, the coming changes could only be for the better, right?

He should have known.

Or, the road home is neither short nor straight, with many trials and tribulations along the way, but it is worth it in the end.

Reccer's Notes: Bring on the angst. The war ends, Palpatine is revealed as the Sith, the Republic is saved, the clones are freed ... and Obi-Wan's personal life falls apart. He'd thought his thing with Cody was requited, and he's looking forward to happily ever after, but all of a sudden Cody gives him the cold shoulder and disappears and a lot of other things go wrong too. This story really leans into the Tragic Backstories from the Jedi Apprentice books, in which poor bb!Obi-Wan is bullied and abandoned repeatedly, and extrapolates that into Obi-Wan having deep-seated insecurities and abandonment issues which get exacerbated by Cody (and others) leaving. It's deliciously angsty in the best ways, and yet everything comes together in the end.

Fanwork Links: let me lie with you

full_metal_ox

Fandom: Guardian
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 3,101
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, Weather Porn
Creator Tags: Alternate Universe, Happy Ending, weilan week, shen wei has a white umbrella, zhu hong shows up for like 2 lines, Ghosts
Creator Links: (AO3)

willowcatkin, (Tumblr)

willowcatkinblossom
Theme: Happy Endings, Alternate Universe, Fix-It, Pining

Summary: The bus stop that’s closest to Zhao Yunlan’s apartment has a streetlamp, a trash can filled with wet newspapers, a bookstore across the street with narrow rafters, and a man with a white umbrella.

There are some things that even snow and rain can’t wash away.

Reccer's Notes: A 镇魂 | Guardian Fix Fic, in which the ghostly white quietude of snowy urban days is itself practically a character; Zhao Yunlan finds himself increasingly fascinated by the handsome and melancholy gentleman with a white umbrella who shares his regular bus stop. The plot reveal mid-story adds suspense—will they lose one another again after such fragile and tantalizing contact? The reveal behind the reveal affords a hopeful resolution.

Fanwork Links: The White Umbrella, by

willowcatkin.

22degreehalo

Fandom: Fruits Basket
Pairings: Yuki/Kakeru
Rating: T
Length: 11,085
Creator Links:

luftballoons99
Theme: trauma and recovery, essential starter recs, friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, pining

Summary: In the harsh glow of the fluorescent lamps lighting the outer corridor of the apartment building, Yuki said: "This was a bad idea."

Manabe snorted. "You're the one who wanted to dress up."

"You know I never actually said that, right?"

"Well you didn't fight me super hard on it!"

Crushes, curses, and contemporary literary theory: Halloween provides the opportunity to confront fear in all its shapes.

Reccer's Notes: God this fic just fuckin - punched me in the stomach while I begged for more!!! Yuki is just so painfully, perfectly in-character: pathologically self-conscious and deeply affected by his past, unable to even imagine real human connection anymore. But through the course of this fic he takes a risk, and through that he and Kakeru combined manage to break through some of those layers, and it's so cathartic that by the end I was just a huddled mess of tears and yearning ;__;

Fanwork Links: fit back in

_{I'll need a Fandom: Fruits Basket tag, please!! <3}

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Pairings/Characters: M'Benga/OC
Rating: Gen
Length: 9k
Creator Links:

ValiantBarnes
Theme: Black character, characters of color, telepathy, polyamory, pining, old fandoms, minor characters, friends to lovers, going home

Summary: Jabilo G. M'Benga finds that the USS Enterprise grows on him easily, a new home that he is happy enough to inhabit. There can be no match to the way he feels on Vulcan, however. Her majestic beauty; the expansive red of her deserts, stretched as far as her eye can see; her people.

Reccer's Notes: I love the character building and the OCs, and the pining is just delightful.

Fanwork Links: Hot Gold Hush of Noon

(Note to mods: M'Benga didn't get a first name in TOS, so Cimila made one up for him. In Strange New Worlds, his given name is Joseph, so that should probably be the tag for the character.)

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Marvel, Falcon and Winter Soldier
Pairings/Characters: Sam/Bucky
Rating: Explicit
Length: 41K
Creator Links:

napricot
Theme: Black characters, characters of color, comfortfic, first time, friends to lovers, superpowers, pining,

Summary: “I don’t have a problem!” Sam insists. “Bucky is not a problem. Bucky is on a beautiful journey of self-care and healing and making amends with his body, and I support him 100%.”

“Mmhmm,” says Sarah, and when Sam can tear his gaze away from Bucky, he sees that she’s fixing him with a sweetly compassionate gaze. He readies himself for some no-nonsense sisterly wisdom. In tones of deep sympathy, she says, “And you’re horny about it.”

Sam grits his teeth and grips the arms of his lounge chair. “I’m so horny about it, oh my god.”

Bucky is finally ready to make amends with himself, and specifically his body, but he might need to enlist some help. If that help involves kind of, sort of tricking an overworked Sam into doing some self-care and having some fun of his own, so much the better. Sam, meanwhile, is happy to help, it's just that helping Bucky is turning out to have the inconvenient side effect of falling for him too.

Reccer's Notes: This is a delightful fic, sweet and hot and funny. I love how both Sam and Bucky grow in this fic, and the way their relationship progresses so naturally. Napricot does an amazing job of writing Sam and Bucky.

Fanwork Links: the thing is

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Top Gun
Pairings/Characters: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Rating: Teen
Length: 58k
Creator Links:

qin_ling
Theme: time travel, time travel fixit, pining, fixit

Summary: Maverick doesn’t regret it when he takes the hit, when the last thing he hears before he ejects is Rooster screaming his name.

But then he wakes. Not to a vast, white snowfield behind enemy lines—but to an inverted cockpit of an F-14.

And to Goose, alive and well in the seat behind him.

—

Or; the time-travel fix-it in which TG:M Maverick wakes up at the start of TG (1986).

Reccer's Notes: I love the way this story handles Mav's emotions and his reaction to finding himself in the past, and figuring out what he wants to change and what he doesn't. And I love the way Goose knows him and cares about him and supports him, and the way Ice responds to everything. It's so well done and makes me cry.

Fanwork Links: as lions

Can we get a Top Gun tag?

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Rodney McKay/everyone
Rating: E
Length: 3640
Content Notes: The open relationship to end all open relationships, but very cracky
Creator Links: mandysbitch on LJ - old site on Wayback
Theme: just plain fun, established relationship (ha!), humor, pining, crack

Summary: Rodney McKay, as it turned out, was a complete slut.

and the Notes:

The working title of this story was “Poor, poor John and his slutty, slutty boyfriend” for which I thank trinityofone.

Reccer's Notes: John has to deal with Rodney fucking everyone in Atlantis, forcing him to need to schedule an appointment to have sex with his own boyfriend, but the sheer crackiness overwhelms John's frustrated pining. Hot and hilarious silliness, excellent writing, a romantic finale, and great fun!

Fanwork Links: Quality Time on Wayback and Quality Time on LJ

the_future_modernes

Fandom: Star Trek Reboot
Pairings/Characters: Christoper Pike/Jon Archer, but this is most about Pike being a Dad to James T Kirk, Jim Kirk/ Leonard McCoy
Rating: Explicit and Mature
Length: 345,265 and counting
Creator Links: anruiukimi from Ao3
Theme: series, character development, au, parenting, pining, friends to lovers, fix it, rare pairings

Summary: From the author: "All it takes is one little difference to change many things, and when James T. Kirk was born on a shuttle fleeing a tragedy of catastrophic proportions, well, there was one thing not quite...typical about him. A tale of family, love, understanding, Ghirardelli mint chocolates, and clogged vacuums.

Notes: This is an AU/AR wing!fic, with a few concepts borrowed from X-men. No knowledge of X-men is needed to read this story, however. :)"

Reccer's Notes: Oh. My. Goddess. I was subscribed to this story when it begun, then the author took a long break and I forgot it. Then they came back and FINISHED it, and added more parts and I went back and read the whole thing. It. Is. GLORIOUS. The Pike and Jim relationship is so awesome, the pining between Pike and Archer is great and the Kirk/McCoy is perfect! Also I love the peek we get at Joanna McCoy! One of my fave wingfic recs.

Fanwork Links: Western Skies

beatrice_otter

Fandom: Goblin Emperor
Pairings/Characters: Thara Celehar/Iäna Pel-Thenhior
Rating: 265k words
Length: Explicit
Creator Links:

celebros
Theme: series, canon LGBTQ characters, small fandoms, book fandoms, novel length, epic works, AU, casefic, comfortfic, friends to lovers, pining,

Summary: In which Celehar is stubborn and self-loathing, Anora is worried, and Iäna Pel-Thenhior gets the job done (and looks good doing it).

Reccer's Notes: The sequels to the Goblin Emperor follow Thara Celehar, depressed priest who can hear the dead, as he becomes an investigator (i.e. a Witness for the Dead). He is a deeply kind and principled person, but he also runs himself down a lot because he's had a lot of terrible things happen to him and he thinks that's the best he can hope for. Along the way, he encounters an opera composer/director named Iäna who is queer and flamboyant and kind and very interested in Thara. (Thara's interested back, but can't bring himself to act on anything--or even acknowledge that there is something to act on.) This beautiful series takes their relationship and develops it, bringing them together and exploring their dynamic, woven among cases for Thara.

Fanwork Links: Blackbird

stepps

Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairings/Characters: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, other background pairings
Rating: M
Length: 95680 words
Creator Links:

Trelkez
Theme: comfortfic, alternate universe: music/bands, alternate universe: no powers, humour, marriage, pining, slow burn

Summary: Derek is a wedding DJ. Stiles just happens to go to a lot of weddings.

Reccer's Notes: This fic is a wonderfully funny and sweet trip through Stiles and Derek's courtship. I love a Teen Wolf AU where the Hale family are alive, and Laura Hale in this is delightful. This really is an ensemble fic, every character plays a role and the friendships are lovely.

Fanwork Links: The Skies Above Are Blue

stepps

Fandom: MCU: Captain America
Pairings/Characters: Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers
Rating: M
Length: 107,076 words
Creator Links:

spitandvinegar
Theme: comfortfic, found family, hurt/comfort, amnesia, kidfic, domestic fic, so many more (see tags)

Summary:

It's six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.

For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don't. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It's very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.

I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.

Steve sits down hard on the steps.

Reccer's Notes: There is a theme with my MCU comfortfic, and it's that Bucky takes charge of himself (however tenuously), realises his agency, takes his own revenge, finds his own support network, and figures out how to heal along the way. These kinds of fics just give me so many feelings! The Goddamn Kids in this one are some of my favourite OCs, and the fact that Bucky does not heal in a linear, perfectly complete way is so real and wonderful.

And on a personal note Bucky calling Steve sweetheart or honey or babydoll is just my favourite thing ever.

If you're not familiar with the fic, please do heed the tags/warnings as some of the coping mechanisms Bucky uses are not healthy, and the characters do discuss his (and their) past abuse and trauma.

Fanwork Links: Ain't No Grave (Can Keep My Body Down)

stepps

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America
Pairings/Characters: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes
Rating: T
Length: 64326 words
Creator Links:

owlet,

vmohlere
Theme: comfortfic, hurt/comfort, found families, epic works, older characters, character development, competence, pining, minor characters, friendship

Summary: The mission resets abruptly, from objective: kill to objective: protect

Reccer's Notes: What is there to say?! This is possibly the first fic I think of anytime I consider what Captain America fic would I rec, and I don't think anyone who's read any CA fic would not have read it. Bucky struggles to find himself, and a new mission, and along the way finds a home, a family, and friends. I just had a look back over the fic and wow, so many people love this one! The sheer number of collections it's been added to, and works inspired by the fic is just amazing! The fandom loves this fic, it is warm and soft and sassy and sweet and I could read it again and again. And the best part of cause is that it's just the beginning of the Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail series.

Perhaps the Fic trailer by

shirasade would be a good place to start if you haven't read this fic and think you might like to. And then chose your fic version below!

Fanwork Links: This, You Protect
Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail Series
Требуется прикрытие Russian translation by

Sangrill
Küldetése: Védelem Magyar translation by

AritaReal
This, You Protect French translation by

Lanae
[Podfic] This, You Protect by

DustySoul
(PODFIC) This, You Protect by Owlet by

AvidReaderLady

mific

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis/Stargate SG1
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, usual Atlantis ensemble, many of the SG1 ensemble.
Rating: M to T
Length: 242,078 (310,967 for the series)
Creator Links: auburn on AO3
Theme: Amnesty, Favourite fanworks, Future fic, Getting Back Together, Novel length, character development, action/adventure, epic works, established relationship + plot, pining.

Summary: War and peace, ebb and flow, love and loss, damned duty and dearest enemies, end and begin and come around again. When the Stargate Program goes public, old loyalties are set against new ambitions for the Atlantis team.

Reccer's Notes: I recently re-read this series, of which the fic above is the central, longest work. It brought back to me how much I love this series, especially The Water Grinds the Stone, despite how angsty it is in parts. The series starts with The Taste of Apples, a genfic story where the original AR1 team are infected and subsumed by a planet-sized fungus-creature, then there's Sacrificial Drift, a mission-gone-wrong in which John and Rodney get together and have to grapple with the ramifications of the relationship when things go badly wrong. Then comes The Water Grinds the Stone, a double-novel-length saga about their continuing relationship, being intermittently separated by SGC shenanigans, the progression of their careers and Rodney's research, a worsening separation, a disastrous (all-too-believable) Declassification process, more disasters and eventual reconciliation. There's a lot of loneliness across much of the fic caused by Rodney's love of science/Atlantis keeping him there, with John increasingly bound to Earth by duty and the machinations of the SGC, but there's an eventual happy ending which is expanded on in the coda fic, The Weight of Water. It's all enormously well written and gripping, with truckloads of plot and action/adventure as well as relationship and character development. There's some of auburn's usual dystopian edge with the SGC bureaucracy very much ruthless and Machiavellian, and the political developments after Declassification are harrowing and scarily reminiscent of the past few years in America. A major work, and well worth a re-read if you haven't done so for a while.

Fanwork Links: The Water Grinds the Stone.
The series link is here: Salt On a Wound

meretricula

Fandom: The Untamed
Pairings/Characters: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji
Rating: Teen & Up
Length: 46803
Creator Links:

laallomri
Theme: Going Home, Epistolary, Pining, Slow Burn

Summary:

A burst of talisman-shaped flame appears in the air before Lan Wangji’s eyes. Out of that flame and onto the table drops—a letter.

“What is that?” shufu demands.

Lan Wangji plucks the letter off the table. He recognizes Wei Ying’s scrawl: Lan Zhan, Cloud Recesses, followed by the name of a town several li away, as well as a cramped set of instructions on how to send a reply through the same flame-burst method.

The happiness that shoots through him is so fierce that it almost frightens him.

“Correspondence,” he says finally, tucking the letter into his sleeve, “for the Chief Cultivator.”

In which Lan Wangji wants Wei Ying, and writes to Wei Ying, and waits for Wei Ying to come home.

Reccer's Notes: There is quite a lot of Untamed fic about Wei Wuxian writing letters to Lan Wangji during his post-canon walkabout, but I thought this one was especially delightful! Lan Wangji pines so beautifully, and the slow burn is so good I was almost howling by the time Wei Ying finally came home.

Fanwork Links: ruined me with your regard

meretricula

Fandom: Transformers
Pairings/Characters: Megatron/Optimus Prime
Rating: Explicit
Length: 21430
Creator Links:

astolat
Theme: Going Home, Competence, Pining, Robots Androids & AI

Summary: Megatron went back to Kaon.

Reccer's Notes: As soon as I saw this month's theme I knew I had to recommend this story! The slow burn and pining between Megatron and Optimus are great, but honestly I mostly love the descriptions of Megatron rebuilding Kaon. As always with

astolat's Transformers fic, a great way to spend some time reflecting on the evils of capitalism and read about hot robot banging at the same time!

Fanwork Links: Coming Home

magician113

Well, we're wrapping up another month and I'm on my last rec. As usual, it's been a blast. Wishing Wei Wuxian happy birthday one day early and happy Halloween and Samhain for those who celebrate it. Cheers.

Fandom: The Untamed/MDZS
Pairing/Characters: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian;
Lan Xichen, canon characters
Rating: Explicit
Length: 45K words
Creator Links:

Vrishchika
Theme: wings, mythical creatures: dragons, canon alternate realities, pining

Summary: During a fight in the Immortal Realm, dragon Lan Wangji is injured, then his power is sealed and he's thrown down to Earth in the form of a snake. Wei Wuxian, Head Disciple of the Jiang sect, befriends him and nurses him back to health. LWJ recognizes that WWX is close to ascending to immortality, but there's something unusual about him.

After he recovers and returns to the Heavens, LWJ keeps track of WWX but can't interfere with the mortal realm without causing dire consequences. When he's tasked to return to the mortal world, he must balance his fears for his love's safety with the precariousness of Fate.

Reccer's Notes: These immortals are neither omnipotent nor omniscient. WWX's uniqueness confuses them and leaves LWJ uncertain in his decisions for perhaps the first time in his long life. Written for 2021's Big Bang, it's enhanced with some lovely artwork. Enjoy.

Fanwork Link: fell by you by Vrishchika

imogeneherdman

Fandom: The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty
Pairings/Characters: Sui Zhou/Tang Fan, Dong'er
Rating: NC-17
Length: 23k
Creator Links:

triedunture
Theme: Clones & Doppelgangers, Families of Choice, Pining

Summary: "You never told me you had a brother!"

"Yes I did," Sui Zhou says. "I've mentioned I'm a second son, haven't I?"

"Yes, but—" Tang Fan gestures with frantic little flicks of his hand at the man currently wearing Sui Zhou's face and examining the baby goat tethered to one of the courtyard lanterns. "You never said you were a twin."

Sui Zhou folds his arms over his chest. "I never thought it was relevant."

----

Sui Zhou's identical twin brother makes an unannounced visit to the SuiTang residence. They may look the same, but they are nothing alike.

Reccer's Notes: Also a bit of a casefic! The pining is real, always love family vibes with Dong'er, and WOW it's not often a fic makes me hate a(n original) character this much!!

Fanwork Links: Double Edged

magician113

Fandom: The Untamed/MDZS
Characters/Pairing: Wei Wuxian, Wen Ning, Wen Qing, Lan Wangji, Jin Guangyao, canon characters
Wen Wuxian & Wen Ning & Wen Qing, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen/Jin Guangyao, Jiang Wanyin/Wen Qing
Rating: Teen
Length: 139K words
Creator Links:

KouriArashi
Theme: novel-length fic, fork in the road AU, families of choice, character development, everybody lives/nobody dies, pining

Summary: In Yiling, street kid Wei Ying finds a lost Wen Ning. Discovering he's an orphan, Wen Qing agrees to take him into the Dafan Mountain Sect, adopting him as a brother. When WQ is ordered to Nightless City to be trained as Wen Ruohan's personal physician, her two brothers accompany her.

Reccer's Notes: I'm a sucker for stories where someone other than Jiang Fengmian adopts WWX. How WWX survives in the easily more toxic Qishan Wen Sect, how his relationships with the various characters change and how he faces the coming conflict all make for fascinating reading. How different would things have been if WWX had grown up Wen instead of Jiang? You'll have to read to find out. Enjoy.

Fanwork Link: The Third Young Master of the Qishan Wen

magician113

Ah, another month has gone by and the Year of the Ox is well underway. Hoping you all are staying safe and strong. Gung hay fat choy!

Fandom: The Untamed/MDZS
Characters/Pairing: Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, original characters
Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian
Rating: Teen
Length: 13K words
Creator Links:

Quixiote
Theme: character development, outsider POV, pining

Summary: Bai Ju is from the minor DushanYou sect, which runs the postal delivery service throughout the cultivation world. Although she's a strong enough cultivator to be accepted into one of the Great sects, the introverted Bai Ju chooses to remain part of DushanYou. After her apprenticeship, she's thrilled to be assigned to the Caiyi Town office as a full-fledged Post-ivator.

Since Great Sects don't use their services, she only knows GusuLan by reputation and has never met a sect member. Until one day, when a man wearing a Lan headband walks up to her counter and asks her to send a letter.

Reccer's Notes: This is a sweet little story of how Bai Ju grows beyond her sect's rules in order to do what she believes is right. Sound familiar? Dedicated to all our post-ivators, who deliver in rain or shine or pandemic. Enjoy.

Fanwork Link: you've got to find a way, say what you want to say

magician113

Fandom: The Untamed/MDZS
Characters/Pairing: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; canon characters
Rating: Explicit
Length: 66K words
Creator Links:

notevenyou
Theme: everybody lives/nobody dies AU, fork in the road AU, pining

Summary: While waiting at Koi Tower for Wei Wuxian to arrive for Jin Ling's one-month celebration, Lan Wangji gets the news he's been killed. Jin Zixuan, in trying to stop the fight between Jin Zixun and WWX, accidentally stabbed WWX. Devastated, LWJ flies to the Burial Mounds to see WWX one last time and provide him a proper burial.

But WWX is not dead, although he's very nearly so. Wen Qing has been able to stabilize him, but without a golden core his prognosis is bleak. And, with WWX incapacitated, the talismans protecting the settlement are failing.

Already feeling he can no longer follow the Lan precepts and overwhelmed with guilt, LWJ decides on a course of action. He'll let the world believe WWX is dead and become the Wens' protector for as long as necessary.

Reccer's Notes: If WWX hadn't died and been restored to life via Mo Xuanyu, losing his golden core would have subjected him to the consequences of mortality. This story explores some of the issues he'd face that cultivators would not: susceptibility to disease, debilitating wounds, and the expectation of an abbreviated lifespan. If you're a wuss like me, you'll shed a few tears. Enjoy.

Fanwork Link: The Fire Lapping Up the Creek

meretricula

Fandom: The Untamed
Characters/Pairings: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian
Rating: Teen & Up
Length: 3:09
Creator Links:

inkjunket
Theme: Favorite Fanworks, Battle Couple, Pining

Summary: "I have regrets." - Lan Wangji

Reccer's Notes: Lan Wangji protec, he attac, and most importantly: he loves his boyfriend very much and wants to pamper him and keep him safe forever. The slow intro sequence of Lan Zhan's many faces of being desperately in love and completely feral with it because he wants to protect Wei Ying and can't is incredible, and the motion and cuts once the bass kicks in... phew. I think I watched this five times the day I discovered it. It's definitely been added to the "favorite vids" rotation.

Fanwork Links: Hold On, I'm Coming

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