Just like the title says, what are some killer fanfictions that have stayed with you months, weeks, years later? Whose plots you can still recall quite well and who had you on the floor sobbing, laughing, covering your face in secondhand-embarrassment, or just plain smiling like a fool because of the fluff? And, hell, if you can find them again, why don't you leave them here for the rest of us hooligans to read if it so piques our interest? What was your favorite moment from them? Go on! Tell me! Inquiring minds are dying to know! (I rly hope there's not already a thread like this rip me)
Designations congruent with things was the first thing i put in my ereader for a 3 day trip They did music and a good portion of it as a podfic but unfortunatrly something happened while i wasnt paying attention and the author and narrator have closed their blogs But yeah it had its own little universe with a prequel and further back prequel and lots of fanart and i still like it. (im on my phone unfortunately or i would link it, its still on ao3 and the podfic is... around? Someone may or may not have saved all 19 recorded chapters, i have up to 18 i think) Edit: duh i forgot the fandom. Pacific Rim, post canon, newton geiszler/hermann gottlieb, no explicit sex but the relationship does go somewhere. Its like 600 pages in my ereader i forget how many words it is. Its. A lot. The audiobook chapters got to like an hour long as the fic goes on. The author folds in some of the debatably-canon comic that was based on an early draft of the script, adding another character to the science team pre-movie. She also features heavily in one of the prequels, The Blue Guitar, but basically only appears in the fic in flashbacks. Spoiler: spoiler for the blue guitar the blue guitar includes her death and the audio version of it is. Wow. Which i guess is to say possibly disturbing? I forget, there was one audio thing that had warnings on it because she was like screaming but i forget if that was it. God was there another prequel about the first time she drifted? Aaaaa anyway lets move on I dont know what audience im writing this for anymore More about the fic: Spoiler: fic/canon spoilery warnings Part of the drama/tension of the fic is that their brains are kinda Screwed Up after they drift with that alien in the movie, so, that may hit some peoples issues but i recall the author warns at the start of particularily possibly-triggery chapters And the only 8tracks playlist ive downloaded is The Pioneers, which i will try to link at some point if its not easily googleable. Its sort of nostalgic now? I downloaded it in 2013 lol (edit edit: the pioneers being a ship playlist for this fic and includes such classic hits as oceanographers choice and a version of Fugue In D Minor with like, some rock drums because thats a thing in this fic i guess, is that newton used to have a band (which is called the superconducting supercolliders, i think in contradiction with the movie novelisation but whoooo caaaares. There are still some supercos tracks that i listen to and some i keep forgetting to download but yeah this sure is a tangent im going off on isnt it)/edit edit I like the phrasing and the narration is distinctly different between the two protagonists and also i stayed up extremely late reading it the first time, like wow
You had me at Pacific Rim. I don't even ship the two but you had me at Pacific Rim. MOVING ON I went and hunted some of my favorite fanfics back down because even if I now hate the main series or the fandom or both these fanfictions stick with me... so good. Not listed here is a Dean Winchester/Castiel fanfic that actually became a book once the characters were renamed and some descriptors were changed! I wish I could find it again, but it was so good and if I ever track it down I am most certainly buying it in it's current form. It was a complete AU but still kept the supernatural element and completely blew the actual show out of the fucking water. I don't seem to remember all the details but it was written like a true thriller. I've only read one other book that has kept me on my toes so much. Anyway, this is going to be more of a rec list because I can't list every thing I liked about these fics, but even if you don't know the characters or the fandom, I'd so recommend reading them. They're SO good and my favorite thing to look for in a fanfic is whether or not it can stand on it's own, with or without the canon to work off of. To which all of these meet that standard quite well, though they still keep true to the canon personalities, all things considered in the instance of characters from attack on titan. (Personalities change drastically when not going to war, yada-yada) Shut up it's mostly all attack on titan. I am ashamed too. If you know any of these, you can tell that I love to suffer. Spoiler: dear lord help me My Beating Heart/His Beating Heart (AOT, Jean/Marco) Droplets (AOT, Jean/Marco) Once Then, Twice Again (AOT, Jean/Marco) Strings (AOT, Jean/Marco) Render (AOT, Jean/Marco) No Reins (AOT, Jean/Marco) As Much As I Ever Could (AOT, Jean/Marco) Wisteria/Forget Me Not (AOT, Jean/Marco) Ghost Story (AOT, Jean/Marco) Campus and Complication (AOT, Levi/Eren) Legal Partners (Ace Attorney, Edgeworth/Phoenix) Call to the Post (Supernatural, Dean/Castiel) Sniffs Now that I mention it I may go read all of these again. Fuck my life.
We do have a fanfic recs thread, although it lacks the qualifier of "killer" fanfictions. Predictably, I'm going to rec the Sacrifice Arc again (HP, Slytherin!Harry, Drarry) (link to first fic in series) because it is near and dear to my heart and it's one of the best fic series I've ever read. Spoiler: blurb Arc of Sacrifices, also known as Sacrifices Arc, is a Harry Potter alternate universe in which Harry's not only a Slytherin, but also a twin. His brother, Connor, wears the mantle of the Boy Who Lives, while Harry is devoted to protecting him by making himself look ordinary - but certain people won't let Harry stay in the shadows... Warnings: Spoiler child abuse/neglect, emotional manipulation/abuse, graphic violence, gore, torture, and death; the abuse and the effects of it are a long-running theme throughout, and the violence/gore/etc. are usually warned about before the chapters they occur in. It gets dark. It's a very (very) long, very well-written HP AU whose author has probably put more thought into the worldbuilding than JK herself. Includes a lot of Alternate Character Interpretations, but part of that is because this series' Potterverse has a different history from canon. The worldbuilding is amazing, the original characters are great & very fleshed-out... all in all, an amazing series. The other fic that immediately springs to mind is Bringing Out The Blue, a (sadly incomplete) Avatar: The Last Airbender fic. Zuko-centric, around 250k words. Spoiler: blurb AU. The arrow injured the Blue Spirit instead of knocking him out, and Aang never found out his identity. Zuko made a Plan to find out more about the Avatar. He didn't expect so many truths to come from the lies. Unfortunately, this one comes with the "incomplete" warning label; it was last updated June 2015, and updates very sporadically due to the author's health problems. Still, it's my favorite ATLA fic, hands-down. Also, oh man I totally remember reading Designations Congruent With Things at some point. I remember liking it a lot.
*looks at hoarded fic stash* Well... I've got quite a bit of fic (mostly long-ish) that I reread every so often because it's just. Ugh so good. Or at least v much to my taste. Some, possibly most, of these are famous in their particular fandom s but I don't care, lol. So, in no particular order, here we are. I was going to blurb these and I probably will later, but it's 5am and this got... really long. Blurbs added. The Arrangement - Maldoror (Gundam Wing, Heero/Wufei) Spoiler: blurb "Wufei, struggling with his demons, agrees to a wartime fling with Heero, no affection needed or wanted. But the 'arrangement' lasts and grows as they join the preventers. It could become a source of strength for both... if they let it." Ugh this is good shit right here. The story is long and was written over a long time, so if you find it rough you might want to start with chapter 13 instead - the story is divided into parts, and you can figure out what happened pretty easily. Freeport - Maldoror (Gundam Wing, Duo/Wufei) Spoiler: blurb "Freeport colony: a notorious den of pirates, smugglers and thieves. Wufei persuades one of its denizens, his one-time ally Duo, to help him catch a killer hiding there. Agent Chang thinks he knows what to expect, from this case, from Freeport and from Duo Maxwell. He couldn't be more wrong." This story is basically like "get ur sci-fi worldbuilding and good mystery right here". I love it. Embers - Vathara (A:tlA, Zuko-centric) Spoiler: blurb "Dragon's fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world... " A sequel to a much, much shorter story, Theft Absolute. Listen. This fic is very much a love it or hate it deal. It has a TV Tropes page that calls it "popular, but controversial". It makes the A:tlA world darker and grittier and there's some storytelling decisions I don't agree with. But it is an epic rewrite of the show starting with Season 2 and I really, really like it. It's got good worldbuilding. A Young Radical's Guide to Love - blamebrampton (HP, Harry/Draco) Spoiler: blurb "Memories of the war are still fresh, which is all the excuse Decent People need to do appalling things. In this quietly waged conflict, Draco Malfoy is happy to be on the right side of things for once, and even happier to find he’s not alone." Bad Things are happening to former Death Eaters or people who were Death Eater-affiliated. Draco is looking out for them, and turns out, so is Harry. Take the Heat Out of Me - quipquipquip (Batman, Dick/Jason) Spoiler: blurb "Lost Days!Jason trolls Officer Grayson!Dick in Blüdhaven. Dick counter-trolls with the power of love. (It's super effective.)" Despite the pithy summary, the story is complicated with complicated characters. Set Fire to This House series - norgbelulah (Justified, Boyd/Raylan) Spoiler: blurb Raylan's father dies 10 years before the start of canon. He comes home for his funeral and runs into Boyd. Series is about their relationship from then on. The Girls In Question series - TigerDragon (BtVS, Buffy/Faith) Spoiler: blurb A series that works a Buffy/Faith relationship into canon and beyond. Follows the show plot, so plenty of angst, complicated relatioships, and dark content. Avalanche series - Branch (Naruto, various relationships) Spoiler: blurb " I feel pretty strongly that the second half of Naruto diverted all the momentum of the first half, where what I wanted to see was what would happen if it speeded up instead. This arc is an AU of canon, in which Kakashi dealt with Sasuke differently after the first fight with Itachi and Sasuke never left Konoha. Changes spiral off from that point. This is also the arc where I change all the things that truly made me tear my hair in canon, such as the carbon copy generations, the sidelining of the women, the apotheosis of Naruto as a solitary hero, and Itachi turning out to not be a villain. So none of that happens. There is, however, Sakura/Sasuke/Naruto goodness. Also featuring a dash of Kakashi/Iruka and a side arc about Hinata and the Hyuuga clan that somehow shoehorned its way in while I was innocently contemplating ninja sociology." *cries about the perfection of this fic forever* Get Loved, Make More, Try to Stay Alive - Dira Sudis (Torchwood, Jack/Ianto) Spoiler: blurb ""When we don't die young and violently, we die weird. Well, or all three, case in point."" Warning for kid fic and mpreg, although the pregnancy bit is not the focus. A story about the responsibilities of a parent in a terrible secret career. Not very angsty, surprisingly. I'm just gonna stop there because if I get into my OTP this list will get even more obscenely long.
I've bookmarked all of them on my ao3 lord help me... I'll see ya'll in like 5 years Is this the same one that re-wrote the entire series with slytherin!Harry or am I confusing that with a similar fic. But holy shit.
Well, there are definitely other fics that are "rewrite canonverse except Harry is a Slytherin," but this isn't one of them, since it is pretty AU from the beginning (eta: and Harry being a Slytherin is only one aspect of that). But it does go through the entire series (one fic per book), and it is complete, and I think its total wordcount is somewhere between twice as long and three times as long as the combined HP books. Holy shit indeed.
I think it may be the one I'm thinking of... unless there's another slytherin!Harry Drarry fic out there that rivals the core series in terms of word count LOL. But I don't remember if the one I'm thinking of just went on a hiatus or was orphaned. Hm. I don't ship that but I may give it a shot if I got the spoons like... ever. It sounds rly interesting!!
OH MAN DO I HAVE A LIST FOR YOU there's this list of like five or six fics i've read in my time (out of about a katrillion) that just hit me somewhere, and i reread 'em every now and then (instead of reading any of the other million fics i've had bookmarked to read for years, because i'm awful). a lot of these feature explicit porn because if i'm reading fanfic someone better be boning at some point, but most of these have stuck with me for reasons other than sexy. so now, without further ado, in no particular order, the list of fics that own real estate in my heart: Cambiare Podentes - Jordan Grant (Harry Potter, Harry/Snape) Spoiler: blurb One of my very very first Snarry fics. It gets pretty dark, but oh man. Oh man if you love Harry being forced to marry Snape for ~contrived reasons~ and enemies to lover fics, and some really good angst, this is the fic for you. I love the way Snape is written in this one. Tw for graphic depictions of sexual assault (not by Snape) and some violence. It's two parts, each about 50 chapters. Kind of an undertaking, but I love it still. Owned - Jordan Grant (HP, Harry/Draco) Spoiler: blurb By the same author, basically "but what if Harry got to be the master this time." This one is more explicitly BDSM flavored, but it's hot as hell and full of a lot of delicious, delicious pining. Nobody gets raped, and Draco is delightfully sassy the entire time. And, my favorite thing, it's got a happy ending! Performance In A Leading Role -Madlori (Sherlock, Sherlock/John) Spoiler: blurb I actually recommend basically everything Lor has ever written, but this is the one I re-read like every year. The plot: Sherlock and John are actors who meet on a movie where they play lovers. Tropes ensue. But, for all that, it's exceptionally well-written, Sherlock and John's voices are perfect, and it's romantic as hell. Has a lot of interesting stuff to say about homophobia, all of the drama is realistic and believably written, and there's a happy ending. And there's actually a lot of fun references to Hollywood culture, if that's your jam. Blue Sky -wafflestories (Portal, Chell/Wheatley) Spoiler: blurb OH MY GOD THIS FIC YOU GUYS. It literally wrecked me. It's goes into what happens after the end of Portal 2 and it's a masterpiece. Chell's whole character is written perfectly, and the author has managed to capture the voice of someone who doesn't speak once during the games. It's so good!! I have basically accepted it as canon, there's a lot of really interesting back story concerning Wheatley and GlaDOS, and it convinced me to ship a het pairing, which is literally impossible. So good. There was supposed to be a podfic recording of it, they got one chapter done, but I think that project's in limbo rn. In Full Clarity -coldhope (Homestuck, Sollux/Eridan) Spoiler: blurb If there's one fanfic trope I love more than contrived marriages, it's the College AU, and this one's got it all. Hipsters, enemies to lovers, ridiculous college parties, and delicious, delicious pining. Sollux and Eridan are roommates who hate each other, until they realize they don't. From the AO3 blurb: "Features homemade gauze bedcurtains, tropical fish, Theater Parties, pesterlogs, violet capes, underage drinking, graveyards, and one deeply touching journey of self-discovery and profound personal growth." Rose is fabulous as always, and Gamzee and Karkat's deep and loving bromance is the best. Coffee, Black -black_ink_tide (Dragon Age, Hawke/Fenris) Spoiler: blurb And this fic. This is the one. I have re-read it no less than five (5) times, and each time it feels like coming home. Everything about this universe is so tender, loving, funny, and sweet, and it's also the fanfic that convinced me to ship Fenris and Hawke. So I mean, a big deal. No other modern AU I've read has ever lived up to this one. The Hawke/Bela/Anders/Merrill four-way bromance is the literal best thing, Hawke's mother is hilarious, and all of the fun nods to the canon are amazing. ("It’s just not normal for people to go walking around lightly but thoroughly splattered in blood.")Pretty much everyone from Origins and DA2 makes an appearance. It's also got a bunch of side stories & drabbles that explore the future of Fen & Garrett's relationship, and I recommend 'em all. TW for references to past sexual abuse (re: Danarius), but other than that, it's just pure, unadulterated coffee shop au fluff.
Seconding Blue Sky and In Full Clarity, both of those are quite good from what I remember. Also I read A Young Radical's Guide to Love today and it was excellent, thanks @sirsparklepants for the rec! I suppose I'll also rec Hang the Fool - currently the McHanzo fic (ok, at this point it's basically also the big Overwatch fic), and imo its popularity is well-deserved. The prose is gorgeous, and the dialogue & characterization are both spot-on. Spoiler: blurb How the heroic organization Overwatch acquires the talents of one Hanzo Shimada, and how gunslinger Jesse McCree will probably suffer because of it for the rest of his days. Spoiler: my favorite dialogue excerpt "I’m lyin’ there with a bullet between my ribs, and she said somethin’ I’ll never forget. God-damn, you know how it gets when you think you might be dyin’? Sometimes you fix on things and you just can’t let them go. And: let me tell you. She had a way with words. She said, ‘you pull the trigger with your soul.’ "
(I... have it? I forget where I got it but I have I think the first one she put up, i forget if she did another version. idk how to Send Thing and i'm tired but if u want ye olde file, i can probably figure out how to send it tomorrow?)
Stay lost on our way home and its sequel are both one of my favorite pieces of fiction of all time. Including non fanfiction. I love it. Its a homestuck au where lil hal, lil seb, sawtooth, and squarewave get accidentally left behind while the kids and co cheat their way out of the game. Thats all ill say without spoilers
Seconding (thirding?) Designations Congruent of Things. God, that fic changed me as a person. For the sake of not repeating every fic rec list I make, I'm going to lock this down to "fics that make me want to genuinely play in the universes the authors create, sometimes to the degree that I'd rather their take than the canon one." Which for most of these equates to "political longfic I read over and over again for how well done the conflict is." It Could Be Worse - TF2, Sniper/Spy Spoiler: commentary Probably one of the best TF2 fics out there, honestly. Handles the grinding despair of undeath and day-in, day-out murder in a pretty nice way, and if Sniper pussyfooting can be frustrating at times, I really do dig the way he and Spy are pushing and reinforcing their own boundaries and slowly learning how to reconcile them. Fae Tales- original fic born out of Rise of the Guardians fic Spoiler: commentary REALLY FUCKING NSFW AND MIND THE TAGS BUT It's fairies doing BDSM, which means there's going to be a lot of unsafe practices around, but it is a fucking incredible amount of worldbuilding and character development throughout. It's got politics, it's got two people who do the enemies-to-lovers thing (in a wildly fucked up way in the beginning), it's got a lot of broken people working to rebuild. Gwyn hurts me in the soul. It's an absolute monster of a series too. This thing is what got me back into longfic, and got me back into fic as a whole if I'm being honest. Exit Light - Dragon Age, Cullen/Iron Bull/Dorian Spoiler: commentary More of a tight introspection on Cullen and a lot of focus on the quite despair and pain of fighting free of addiction. Handles suicide and depression really well, along with all the d/s elements. Has a fantastic grasp of Dorian and Bull too, despite the focus POV being so close on Cullen, and the side stories attached are great at exploring the other characters' focuses. Filling Blanks and Taking Names - Homestuck Spoiler: commentary OH BOY this one started well before we knew anything about the Dancestors, and with that in mind, I still love how phenomenally close to some of them it got anyways. It's damn long, and damn good, and the way it works the dreambubbles system is so incredibly close to canon that it's not even funny. Hemostuck - Homestuck Spoiler: commentary Remember me saying how these are fics I want to kick around in more than canon sometimes? Yeah. The shift in political spectrum and the way that Alternia still manages to be deliciously fucked up is probably one of my favorite things about this, and I adore the way every character is treated. I think The Fisher Prince was the first fic I ever downloaded to my Nook (haha). The Reboot Series - Star Treak (2009), Kirk/Spock Spoiler: commentary OH BOY THE POLITICAL SHENANIGANS IN THIS ONE like this is some good fucking shit, above and beyond anything that Abrams could have given me, so I'm not surprised I've been disappointed by followup on the reboot. War Games is a monster, and I'm still finding little hooks every time I reread it. I'm going to be honest, this Kirk and Spock are the ones I always picture whenever people say things, and I am not ashamed of that. These Games We Play - Transformers, Jazz/Soundwave Spoiler: commentary A slave fic based off a kinkmeme prompt (that's still ongoing) that actually an incredibly tightly plotted political espionage fic. We're hitting the climax now, I think, and it's so well twisted up that shit mentions in chapter 3 or 4 is just now coming to a head, forty chapters later. It's a phenomenal examination of the characters too, and it hits that master/slave dynamic without letting Jazz lose his identity as a person. Blank Page Waiting - Tranformers, Megatron/Prowl Spoiler: commentary Slave fic of a different sort, where the slave in question isn't even considered a thinking person for much of it. Incredible characterization and political shenanigans again, and the little hints at the worldbuilding are so fascinating that it really draws you in without huge amounts of exposition. It's one of those fics where you desperately want to sink your teeth into the rest of the world around it.
-casually slides a Fallout 4 fic across the table- Freedom Trail, male player character/Deacon Even if you haven't played the games I still highly recommend it :P The story spoilers are actually quite minor? most of it just deals with one companion character and an event that, in game, has already taken place beforehand, I don't think someone from outside the fandom would find themselves too lost. And a couple bits from a side quest or two. IT'S SO GOOD AND SO FUNNY BUT MAKES ME WEEP SOFTLY IN A SPOT OR TWO. -lays down- Spoiler: commentary, no real spoilers, and a video if you want some context before reading just. the dialogue for Deacon. it's SO GOOD AND SPOT ON, OMG, I hear every line in his voice without an issue. No real warnings to speak of, it's pretty fluffy until the penultimate chapter where it earns its Explicit rating. And I gotta say, my particular brand of ace means I hate reading smut and will skim it with discomfort if it's in something I'm reading, but I had to focus a bit more on this fic's smut just because the dialogue was so good/funny. omg. why are u not actually romanceable in-game, baby <3 If you want an idea of his voice/his looks/the way he talks before reading it, I recommend this video- it's just got minor spoilers for the cutscenes you get when you enter a few of the major settlements, and the introductory cutscenes for when you find one of the four major factions in the game (and establishes the reason the fic exists- it's playing with a Sole Survivor that noticed Deacon's (benevolent, promise) spying on you.) Nothing that'll ruin the game for you, I'd say (and if you don't plan on playing anyways, have it away!). (Also Hancock makes an appearance in a couple spots, goddamn I love that ghoul <3)
To not repeat myself from the recs thread (but go read Worry for Me, seriously), I'm just gonna talk about one fic here and that's signal to noise. It's a The World Ends With You sequelfic, and though it's had a serious case of Long Fic Decay in terms of both update schedule and some of the writing, it hits the same sweet spot as the original for me in terms of "teenagers go about their lives with issues of identity, death, and philosophy worked in without being obnoxious." So much so that there's been a number of quotes that I thought were Original Canon at first that are, in fact, from this fic. (And if you haven't played or seen a walkthrough of the World Ends with You, light almighty, do yourself a favor and do it. It's what all these trendy indie games with messages about Death and Growing Up were trying to be before they even existed, it's *so fucking good why haven't you played it*.)
It's a one-shot AU thing, but Ghost Stories is a Homestuck fic that breaks my heart to even think about too hard. I'd say Brainbent qualifies as a fic that's really stuck with me, too. Especially Spaceship, holy fuck. (@Vast Derp, did you happen to run across smol!Acey at some point in her life and base Brainbent!Nepeta on her because holy shit that me.)
