The fics I’ve read and enjoyed for the month of April. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
The fics I’ve read and enjoyed for the month of March. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
No one has ever cared about the vod’e. But the jedi had taken one look at Rex, trapped on the other side of Fett’s blaster, and given up his one chance at freedom for a clone he did not know—in the way only a brother would.
Cody doesn’t know what to do with that.
(Same age AU where Padawan Obi-Wan is captured on a mission and brought to Kamino.)
The fics I’ve read and enjoyed for the month of February. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
“Games,” Dick says softly. “He… he likes to play games. With your… with your head. He won’t…” He shakes his head a bit, some of the distance in his eyes fading. “He won’t come at you head on. That’s not… That’s not what he does. He wants you scared, first. Helpless. Knowing there’s nothing you can do. He… He calls it… softening up the target. So when he… when he actually shows up… they’re so afraid they… they panic.”
“And if he does…” Jason swallows. “If he does, you… there’s no way out. He won’t… If you fail, he doesn’t care. What you do. It doesn’t matter. He won’t stop no matter how much you…” Jason blinks a few times, and Roy’s fairly positive he’s trying to blink back memories. “He’s going to do what he’s going to do. You can’t stop him. He doesn’t care.”
Roy takes a deep breath. Let’s it out slowly, so it’s only an exhale, and not a sigh, because Jason looks haunted, and Dick looks blank.
“Ms. Bustier,” Marinette says a little desperately. “I have been fighting akumas nonstop for the past twenty four hours, I’m running on seven expresso shots right now and I can barely read the words on the board. Can we please reschedule the test?”
Adrien doesn’t look up from where his head is buried in his arms but he waves a hand and says, “Agreed.”
Or: the world knows their identities, but life goes on.
Later, they agree that Hawkmoth did it on purpose.
But in the moment, Chat Noir can’t think that far. His head is pounding, possibly from a concussion, and he has just enough time to look into Ladybug’s scared blue eyes before the flash of light overtakes them both. Then, suddenly, he’s looking at Marinette Dupain-Cheng and the journalists around them are screaming. Their names, including Adrien’s real one, are so loud that it’s disorienting.
“WHERE IS LADYBUG? The headlines scream Sunday morning, and Caline Bustier feels her stomach just drop.”
After a terrifying akuma attack, Paris and its heroes are left reeling. All most people want is to know what has happened to their beloved Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Marinette and Adrien just want to be okay.
Alternatively: Plagg has a whole lot of feelings, Marinette lies and says she’s fine every other paragraph, and Adrien cries more in two days than he has in two years.
A few days after the destruction of Lumon and the innies’ escape, Mark S. requests that his outie take their consciousness, and not swap back for anything. Not even (especially not) for their rebellion’s firecracker leader, Helly Riggs.
From Lightswitch AU–a separate but related continuation of my fic “Lay Me Back Down.”
Breaking company rules is a form of self care. OR a story about the revolutionary act that is choosing to love yourself. OR the aftermath of the party and Mark S.’s role in it– part character study, part plot, all angst, baby!
Ever since the court order requiring that Lumon employees be provided with co-neural switches - a modified version of the overtime contingency device - Mark’s world had become so much larger than he’d ever imagined.
Unfortunately, with a world of new experiences comes a world of new fears.
I.e.: Mark S. experiences his first thunderstorm. It does not go well. Thankfully, Devon is there to help.
The fics I’ve read and enjoyed for the month of January. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
He has never argued with a punishment, not since he was a toddler, if then. Surely she’ll listen, surely she’ll see this is too harsh, that he wouldn’t be disrespecting her like this if he was simply sulking over not getting his way. He needs that food, needs to be able to eat enough if he wants to be Robin.
He’s been hungry before, but back then, it never mattered if he was a little weak or dizzy. It never risked his life or the life of his partner when he was a kid.
She turns, sighing softly and pursing her lips. She reaches out to pat his cheek, and for a moment his heart soars hopefully, and he barely restrains himself from leaning into the rare bit of contact and soaking up his mother’s touch. “Oh, Timothy,” she tuts. “This is for the best. And honestly, I think it’s wise for you to cut down a bit on the snacks. I’d hate to have to listen to anyone tittering at the next gala that you’re getting chubby.”
And without another backwards glance, she turns and heads upstairs, leaving Tim alone and frozen at the bottom of the steps.
Day 6 - TOUCH AND GO bruises | touch starved | hunger
The boy makes a choked off noise, but slowly, with trembling hands, he pulls the hood of his hoodie down. “I… I… I’m… Robin.”
Immediately, Oliver steps back, pulling the knife out of his bathrobe pocket.
Robin. There’s no way this boy is Robin. Logically, Oliver knows that ‘Robin’, protege to the greatest serial killer in American history, is young, but there’s been sightings of the boy for over a decade. The young man standing in front of him is Roy’s age. Robin, with over thirty suspected kills of his own, can’t be this scared, frightened looking thing standing in front of him.
Dick’s kept his promise, and finally escaped with his brothers. Now he just has to figure out what comes next.
Cody’s mouth is dry, words stuck in his mind. Which perhaps is a good thing considering in response to I think I may have you, all Cody’s brain is providing him is please do.
And it’s then, Cody realizes, that with the most inconvenient, embarrassing, unprofessional timing ever, he’s hard.
Kriff. Fucking kriff.
or: cody thinks he’s doing Real Great at the friends with benefits thing with his general. spoiler: he is not…and somehow this saves the entire galaxy
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! We can’t wait until we can say Happy Hunger Games in earnest (only another month!), but in the meantime, we are celebrating the best moment of Games from years past. Make sure you also check out our list of the most iconic final showdowns and our favorite post-victory moments.
What’s on the plate for today? Glad you asked! The Games are all about triumph, but they’re also all about tragedy (which makes those victories even sweeter). Today, we’re looking at 17 final moments from Tributes that we are still thinking about. To make it harder for ourselves, we could only pick one from each Games (so if your favorite didn’t make the cut, that could be why!). Some made us scream, some made us cry, and a few even made us laugh (you’ll see!). Read on!
On the desk in between Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu was a printout of the email. Shen Qingqiu refused to look at it. If he tried very hard, he could pretend it wasn’t there. When the email had hit his inbox this morning, Shen Qingqiu had read it and reread enough to have it memorized, as he tried to comprehend the meaning of these words arranged in this order. The second that comprehension dawned upon him, he’d deleted the email then promptly tried to forget everything about it.
He wasn’t being very successful on that front.
The message, written with the extraordinary eloquence that Shen Qingqiu knew Luo Binghe was capable of, had been sent en masse to the entire faculty and student body. It stated two main points. Firstly, that Luo Binghe attested that Shen Qingqiu had never slept with, assaulted, molested, groomed, or was in any way inappropriate to him during his time at Cang Qiong Academy (thanks for the endorsement, Binghe!!). Secondly, that Luo Binghe was announcing this because he intended to marry Shen Qingqiu and did not want even the whisper of false impropriety to stain his Shizun’s name.
I have a sudden urge for “undercover post-canon Zuko” fics (because the “hidden king” trope is one of my favourites). I’m going to go hunting on ao3, but please send me your recs for this trope if you have any 🙏🙏
Thank you to everyone who responded to this!!! I promised I would reblog this post eventually with these recs so I’m here to deliver.
Please free to add on more fics if you know any that aren’t on here
It’s accidentally been 3 months since I posted my last fic round up, so this post contains months worth of reading and so is much longer than normal. If you’re curious, this round up includes the following fandoms (in this order):
“You think…” Obi-Wan’s tongue is heavy in his mouth. He fumbles for words for the first time in recent memory. “You think that I would abandon a child in the middle of a warzone?”
Anakin raises his chin. A silent challenge. “Haven’t you?” “And this warzone,” Obi-wan says, because he has to be sure. “Did you hear where exactly–”
“Melida Daan.“
Or: Rumours fly about a Jedi Master abandoning a Padawan on a war-tone planet. No one knows exactly where the rumour began, but they do know this: Obi-Wan Kenobi is involved.
(Written for the Bad Things Happen Bingo. Prompt: Misunderstanding)
Another BTHB fill!! One day I’m going to get bingo….. one day…..
All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
At least there wasn’t an audience for the look Ludvic turned on Kip and the too neutral way he said, “Tor?”
Kip could feel himself flushing - in Astandalas this was the kind of thing that had lost him jobs before - but he had the excuse of, first of all, amnesia, and second of all, “He didn’t give me any other name!” Kip hissed. “He deflected me off the topic twice!”
-
AU where the landslide at the Liauu happens several years earlier, and the younger Kip has a rather different experience of the future.
It took me an appalling three hours and thirteen minutes to even realize that Kip was gone.
Ah, but that was too charitable. Once we had a timeline together, we discovered that Franzel had seen Kip last, turning in for bed at twelve minutes before midnight, and it was not until Shoänie went to wake him at dawn that anyone knew he was anything but asleep in bed. This meant that by the time the knock on my study door came, shortly past the third hour of the morning, Kip could already have been missing for more than nine hours.
-
In which Cliopher goes missing midway through The Hands of the Emperor. Fortunately, he has friends and family willing to do whatever it takes to bring him home.
Prompt: Cliopher somehow falls asleep on HR’s robe, and rather than wake him, HR has one of the guards cut that part of the robe off of him. Just looking for something soft and sweet here, but of course go in whichever direction you’d like. Bonus points if Petty Treasons era.
—
Cliopher decides to take a nap. Okay, perhaps decides is too strong of a word.
She extends a hand, ignoring the laugh it gets her, “Welcome to Hawkins, I’m Robin, occasional Dustin babysitter.”
The girl’s smile pulls lopsided at her mouth, kissed with a bit of irony and undeniably charmed. “It’s nice to meet you Robin,” her voice is soft, and a little unsure. Wavering like Becky Simpson’s tone deaf oboe playing, unsure of what pitch and timbre to land on. “I’m Stephanie Henderson, Dustin’s cousin.”
The bit crumbles immediately between Robin’s fingers.
“Stephanie? You went with Stephanie? Are you kidding? We workshopped so many names!”
Erik intends to recruit Raven’s supposedly amazing, all-powerful older brother. Instead, he finds himself dealing with Charles Xavier, a weak, tweed-addled professor who seems to think powers don’t matter nearly as much as personality. Erik’s misconceptions are blown apart when Raven goes missing.
Right, the villain’s beautiful daughter, who had caught a glimpse of the Protagonist from afar and, naturally, fell madly in love at first sight. She’d used her knowledge of her father’s lair to sneak into the dungeon where Luo Binghe was being held and eventually proved the key to his escape, betraying her father for love. “So, you want to try to find some random girl who’s willing to sneak in past the guards to Luo Binghe’s prison and…”
“What random girl could we possibly trust? I’ll do it myself!”
“You know what,” Shang Qinghua said. “Somehow I feel like I should have expected this.”
—
Shen Qingqiu self-detonated at Hua Yue City, but he didn’t die. Instead, he wakes up to a world where Cang Qiong is victorious and Luo Binghe has been imprisoned beneath the mountain. What’s a poor transmigrator to do? He has to find a way to free the Protagonist before he breaks out and razes the Sect to the ground! Clearly, the best way to do this is to pretend to be one of Luo Binghe’s future wives.
Harry had been prepared to save Sirius’ life, no matter what the cost. Harry put himself in danger, and Sirius had come running, and it was the last thing he ever did.
And then it turned out Harry’s life wasn’t even worth saving: Neither can live while the other survives.
At the rate of Voldemort’s rising power, Harry would be lucky to survive the year.
Sirius had died trying to help Harry. He’d died for nothing.
-
Harry is struggling in the aftermath of the Ministry battle to come to terms with Sirius’ death. His isolation and mistreatment at Privet Drive only make things worse. Remus Lupin checks on him in Surrey, but with both of them grieving, his assumptions about Harry might only hurt him more.
All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
Jason’s had a nagging suspicion that Bruce keeps stalker-esque levels of tabs on all the places he’s lived, so when Tim Drake shows up at his apartment door, it takes only a half second for Jason to level his gun directly at Tim’s stupid face and to say, bored, “Give me one reason not to shoot you.”
Honestly, he knew Bruce had a problem, but sending a bat to his doorstep? This is just ridiculous.
Or: in a scheming attempt to make them bond, Bruce forces Jason and Tim on what should be a simple quest: retrieve Alfred’s birthday cake from across town and make it back before the party.
But this is Gotham. And nothing is ever simple in Gotham.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Clark Kent is kind of used to getting phone calls about his too-curious-for-her-own-good wife being held hostage somewhere. Superman usually handles it.
Conner Kent gets a phone call meant for Clark Kent, who is Superman, who is currently in space. Uh…. Have no fear, Superboy is here!
He wouldn’t mind it if Lada collared him, if Khalida or Dimitri collared him, because none of them have forced him to hurt anyone, whether human or wolf. They mostly just want him to—
Live, Jaime. Live.
In which the wolves rescue Jaime, but he doesn’t realize he’s free.
Bao lost his ability to walk when he was 19. Despite the prejudice of many Fire Nation citizens, he got a job as an accountant in the Royal palace, in the Department of Education. After 11 years of working quietly, keeping his head down and allowing his work to be claimed by others, he expected nothing to change when Fire Lord Zuko took the throne. He didn’t expect the entire department to be reformed under the new Minister Shu-Lin, and Bao’s overlooked position with it.
Most Jedi only have to take three formal sexual education classes. Obi-Wan, in all their blessed biology has to take five.
Or: Obi-Wan growing up in a galaxy where Stewjoni are Succubi. This changes very little–but it does make certain things a hell of lot more interesting.
A Stewjoni are succubus au that has way less to do with sex, & is more about logistics, medical problems, and cuddling. Featuring Qui-Gon being an excellent master, codywan, aromantic Quinlan Vos, Obi-Wan using he/they/she pronouns, and plenty of costume changes.
Kent rolls his eyes and props himself up on his elbows. “Whatever, we need to get back to Tim and Jon in one piece. They’d both lose their shit if something happened to you.”
“Or you,” Damian says.
Kent peeks up at him, appearing oddly shy all of a sudden. “Yeah. Or me.”
Or: After getting separated from Jon and Tim on a night out, Damian is determined to protect the clone from harm. For Jon. For Drake.
All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
Or, the one where AFC Richmond are leading the Premier League table, and Trent Crimm and the rest of the British press are slowly losing their minds as a result.
“It’ll take two seconds,” Higgins says. “I like to keep up to date with all the players, you know. I just thought, well, you moved recently. And your emergency contact.”
He pauses here, and Jamie raises an eyebrow. His emergency contact? He’d probably filled out some joke response last time, hadn’t he. Fucking Queen of England, Boris Johnson’s wife, something good.
“Oi, let’s see it then,” and Higgins passes over the paper like it’s a live bomb, and Jamie scans down to where he sees his own handwriting sitting over a few dotted lines, and, well. It sure ain’t the Queen.
or: Jamie goes through a series of unfortunate events, changes his emergency contact a few times, and considers the possibility that maybe, actually, letting other people help isn’t all bad after all.
Clone Wars
Take a Knee by lilbuddyBD (Note: Read the warnings on all the fics in this series before starting it, because holy shit)
The emperor of the Ethuveraz and his nohecharei walk into a bar -
Well. Beshelar limped, mostly. Cala supported him, an operation made somewhat more difficult with how they insisted in keeping Maia safely between them.
All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
“To the Generals, Admirals, Officers, Soldiers and Sailors of the Fire Nation, Halt your advance. Pull back to your nearest military stronghold, and await further orders. Do not engage any forces unless absolutely necessary for your own defence. Put out any fires you come across. Sign it only with the full list of the Fire Lord’s titles.“
“Your Majesty, do you not want to put your name to the missive?” A young pimpled scribe squeaked out to the shocked silence.
“No. I want them to obey the order.”
Or Zuko’s transition from child soldier to young monarch in charge of a corrupted nation
Harry is not going back to the Dursleys. He has been out of the cupboard for a whole year; he’s not going back in. It’s tricky - he doesn’t really want to have to explain to anyone. But he’s magic now! He has an invisibility cloak! And he’s had a lot of practice lying still and pretending he doesn’t exist. So he can definitely hide out and avoid being put back on the Hogwarts Express, right? Nothing can go wrong with an eleven year old by themselves for 9 weeks in a wild, magical castle, can it?
Before they can settle into their well-deserved retirement, first Kip and Fitzroy need to return to the Palace of Stars for the Jubilee celebrations. It’s harder than it seems.
His feet were moving again, though he did not recall deciding to go anywhere. He crossed the room, past his desk, past the plinth with the asymmetrical vase, past the tapestry map and the golden nightingale in its cage. Past the terrace, where he had been pleased to break his fast with his Radiancy—only this morning? It felt a thousand years away.
He was standing before the ivory door to the inner apartments, which he had passed through only a handful of times before. His hand raised of its own accord, and the door fell open beneath it.
He became aware, with a creeping dread like tendrils up his throat, that something was terribly wrong.
Or: “He needs affection, and closeness. He is all but starved for it, and we would see him glutted on it instead.” She raised her chin. “However that happens.”
Just a few little conversations and scenes on the topic of Maia becoming, and being, a parent. Fluff with a couple shavings of angst on top for flavor and texture.
All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
“Yes, Billy,” said Superman, with unwavering patience. “That was my mom.”
Billy looked at him for a long moment. He said, “Why?”
“Why?” Superman echoed. “What – what do you mean, why?”
Billy shrugged. “It’s a pretty simple question.”
“Well,” said Superman. “Be that as it may, I got no idea how to answer it.”
In the face of an extraterrestrial threat they don’t fully understand, with all their usual hide-outs compromised, the Justice League are forced to go to ground. Fortunately Superman has a remote location where they can regroup. Less fortunately, it comes with some baggage.
Being Tim Drake-Wayne’s trophy husband and full-time sugar baby was hard work, but not without its benefits. Kon had gotten very used to getting whatever he wanted with Tim around. Clothes, tuition money.
“Shoichi,” Zuko says quietly, fighting to keep his voice steady. “What happened to Izumi?”
Shoichi is milk-pale. He shuffles on the spot, then opens his mouth. Zuko watches his lips move, hears the sound of his voice, and somehow does not fall apart.
“She was taken, my Lord,” Shoichi says, and—
Every torch in the palace goes out.
-
A failed assassination attempt on Zuko results in his daughter being kidnapped instead. Zuko will stop at nothing to get her back.
Li’s scar is suddenly all Jet can think about. The scar, the scar, the old man’s hot hands warming his tea like he thought he could get away with firebending in the middle of a crowd.
or: After getting to know Li on the ferry, Jet sees Mushi heat his tea. Instead of assuming Li is also a firebender, Jet assess the situation and comes to a rather different conclusion.
All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
adjective: directed or moving backwards noun: a degenerate person. verb: go back in position or time.
Seasoned pro heroes Midoriya Izuku and Bakugou Katsuki are mentally transported back to their younger bodies due to a quirk. All they have to do is wait for the quirk to wear off for everything to return to normal. But sometimes the journey is worse than the destination.
dim trake ☑ @timdrakeceo・52min guys what if dick grayson IS batman. that’s why he thought he was getting cancelled. it all makes sense. 784K Views | 142 Retweets | 52 Quote Tweets | 63.9K Likes
tason jodd ☑ @jsntdd・49min ↳ replying to @timdrakeceo asshole last week you said i was batman 461K Views | 88 Retweets | 16 Quote Tweets | 18.3K Likes
or: a civilian overhears a conversation between batman and nightwing. twitter does what it always does: makes things worse
“We can’t squat in some dead guy’s mansion, Damian,” Tim says. Damian, in the midst of packing all their meager belongings into grocery sacks, ignores him.
“Why not?” Jason demands. “It’s not like he’s using it. Finders keepers, losers weepers.”
“Cliopher. Cliopher. Cliopher.” I blink. It’s Conju, standing with his hands on my shoulders, and I go to answer him and realize that I am already speaking, babbling, and Franzel is behind him, wringing his hands and looking near tears. I try to focus on what I’m saying, but it’s like a stream, light and splashing past me, too quick to hold, not enough to catch, somehow, somehow – A few weeks before the start of the viceroyship ceremonies, Kip finds himself the unwitting recipient of a truth serum.
Living horses were in vogue among the high and mighty of the great families, but Peter’s new owners had sent proud motorhorses, clicking over in a blur of cogs and wheels, to draw the carriage. It was a very nice carriage - plush and cushioned. He couldn’t help but think this was sinister. Masters didn’t transport slaves in finery. At least, not slaves like him.
Peter’s spent years under the cruelty of masters who want the Monster inside him to become their weapon. He is quite sure that Lord and Lady Arken will be no different.
Luke/Percy were in a non-consensual ‘relationship’ when Percy was twelve. Percy deals with the aftermath, while constantly convincing himself that his relationship with Luke was fine (IT WAS NOT). Mostly cooperates with canon up to the end of Heroes of Olympus.
When Maia is kidnapped by a faction hoping to halt the construction of Wisdom Bridge, Beshelar, gravely injured, is by his side. It might just be their undoing.
The reign of Varenechibal IV is over; the reign of Edrehasivar VII has begun. The transition, however, is anything but smooth, as the Alcethmeret household navigates grief and worry as well as adapting to the new emperor.
A series of missing scenes and unseen moments centering around the Alcethmeret household over the course of the first few months of Maia’s reign.
