fan and web fiction i like

work-in-progress list of fanfic and web fiction I like, mostly and/or slow burn love stories. the list is up top, little blurbs about each are linked below.

... haven't flagged all CW, warnings, and/or ratings, as you can generally get that from like, ao3 or scribblehub, but have tried to flag some things, when i've remembered. i generally like things not too thirsty or spicy , have flagged accordingly, i may not have remembered in all cases. most links here are to completed works (i'll try and mention if otherwise)

Faves List

• An Orphan Generation Of Elephants (griddlehark, Locked Tomb)
• We, After Everything (aerti, FF7)
• Bloom (max+chloe+rachel, Life Is Strange)
• Kaleidoscopic Grangers (HP)
• Those Called by the Storm series (aerti, FF7)
• Just Super (superheros, original web serial)
• a Little Vice (magical girls, original web serial)
• Your Necro Questions Answered (griddlehark, Locked Tomb)
• Pen Pals (or A Brilliant Idea And Its Consequences) (azutara, ATLA)
• yours, eurydice (wenclair, Wednesday)

Also good (despite being not queer)

• everything i am (zutara, ATLA)
• Darkness and Starlight (celes+locke, FF6)

Faves (blurbs)

An Orphan Generation Of Elephants [ao3] (Griddlehark, Locked Tomb) by hyperfixity.

Gideon + Harrow .
novella-length, modern AU: Gideon is in college and Harrow is a little goth-ferret-monster of a grad student, frienemies falling in love. (what kind of grad student is harrow? well, she insults ianthe by quoting bataille)
the writing is smart and sharp and feels like the source, and i can mentally hear all of the various characters' dialog as if read by Moira Quirk from the locked tomb audiobooks.
Also appearing: Dulcamedes (Dulci+Cam+Pal), Corona, Ianthe (deliciously horrible, and i love it when a fic just has "CW: Ianthe" as a warning), and some minor interactions with others (Silas Octakiseron, Magnus+Abigail, the teens). Can get by having just read Gideon... (source), but probably more enjoyable to have read at least the first two locked tomb books (need the second to totally get the Ianthe bits, but you get most of it and you can enjoy how beastly she is no matter what). Rated M, no sex scenes but sex and drugs mentioned, also source-series-level past trauma.

We, After Everything [ao3] (Aerti, FF7) by BitterGoblin.

Aerith + Tifa , novel+ length collection of Aerith & Tifa moments in canon-divergent FF7. The writing in this is stellar.
My favorite Aerti and favorite love story. Somewhat follows Remake/Rebirth plot up to a point and diverges, pov alternates between the characters, it is a slow-burn love story between two amazingly-written characters. Won't really make sense unless you know the source plot, since its really just a collection of the best interactions along the way, but stars it is good, the writing craft in this one is really good. delicious angst and longing. not too much, but it does have eventual sex scene or two.

Bloom [ao3] (poly, Life Is Strange) by Mogatrat.

Max + Chloe + Rachel, poly .
novella-length Max/Chloe/Rachel poly (AU: no Jefferson / no one dies / no powers).
trans Max Caulfield comes back to Arcadia Bay. rachel wants to stir up trouble, chloe is actually really sweet. sex, like almost too much for me and i almost put it down, but the story does get past it and keeps moving.

Kaleidoscopic Grangers [ao3] (trans HP) by AdmiralPegasus.

ariadne potter + ginny .
massively long (1.5M words!), series length, spite-fiction-turned-full-HP-fixit, cannon-divergent (and with fully like several novels' worth of post-canon).
trans main character - since reading this like a year ago i've been unable to say or write harry because i'm not going to deadname ariadne.
The writing is rough, and improves throughout the series. Mostly follows the plots of the HP movies for the first half, but fixes them in every possible way, then goes off and does its own thing for a loving additional 500k words. Basically redefines the series in the best most queer neurodivergent ways possible, there's a lot to love in this - found family love, comfort, and healing from trauma - it is pretty heavily CWd for trauma, deals with PTSD, etc. also has enemies-to-friends, which is a thing i always love. and werewolves, so much love for doggo friends. rough in craft in places, but amazing heart - basically everything that HP could have/should have been. the "post-canon" (which is the length of several novels on its own) is so wonderfully enjoyable, like you just don't want to leave these characters (and you don't have to!)
(also it has a sequel with original character kids! in progress, and i haven't read it yet: Birds of a Feather [ao3]

Those Called by the Storm series [ao3] (Aerti, FF7) by Yinza (Those Called by the Storm and In Search of Rain)

(more aerti)
Aeris + Tifa , novel+/series-length canon-divergent FF7, AU where cloud and zack never made it to midgar - mostly follows a bunch of the original game plot with divergences. Main characters are aerith and tifa, but most of the rest of the gang shows up - eventually we collect cloud+zack , vincent , and yuffie . jessie is there through the whole story, and barret is the best dad.
both this and We, After Everything are fantastic, although they're a bit different - We... feels a bit more lyrical in terms of craft, and is more focused on just Aerti, whereas this one is more about the ensemble cast (esp when you get into the sequel, where the narrative shifts to Yuffie), and the found family aspect, and i enjoyed that part very much. not sure if one is better than the other, depends what you like. i say just read both ^_^
also soft cloud is really good in ISoR, and the party at wall market (i mean like actual celebratory party, not like an adventuring party) in the second half of ISoR ch12 is one of my favorite sections, i went back and re-read it multiple times.
TCBtS is mostly Aerti perspective, and ISoR is mostly from Yuffie's (hilarious) perspective (which i didn't expect to like going into it but which is actually super entertaining)

Just Super [scribblehub] (trans web serial original) by PollyChrome

28-chapter original series super-hero web serial. girls love, superhero, slice of life / school life.
... as a friend put it, part of the "egg comedy of errors" genre where all the readers know the protagonist is trans a long time before they've figured it out for themselves. has some heavy themes (unaccepting family) but mostly fluffy/silly. i think pretty much no pre-reqs for this one. accessible even to straight cis ppl! tell the ones you know about it...

A Little Vice [scribblehub] (trans web serial original) by Shadel

18-chapter magical girl web serial, original fiction
another in the "egg comedy of errors" genre, also the fight scene at the bottom of ch12 has absolutely one of the funniest dialog exchanges i have read in a long time. has some heavy themes but mostly fluffy/silly. i laughed all the time while reading this. not really much in the way of pre-reqs required to enjoy this, but it'll probably hit better / make more sense if you're familiar with the conventions of magical girl stories, from Sailor Moon or Madoka Magica or Sleepless Domain. or adjacent media like Symphogear

Your Necro Questions Answered [ao3] (Griddlehark, Locked Tomb) by Magichorse

short (~8k word) total fluff where Gideon has an advice column and people write in and ask questions about caring for their necromancers. Harrow eventually discovers it

Pen Pals (or A Brilliant Idea And Its Consequences) [ao3] (Azutara, ATLA) by GuyFawkes144

Azula + Katara
novel-length ATLA canon-divergence where: what if azula and katara became pen-pals when they were like 6 and kept writing to each other, and so azula grew up exposed to a smidge of love to counteract her terrible father? or: azula (and mai and ty lee!) join the gaang early, and also it is azula+katara love story.
generally won't make sense without being pretty closely familiar with the ATLA source plot, as it really only includes text for where the stories differ or where it is relevant. CW for horrible abusive dad / homophobia, but mostly consistent with the source series in terms of heaviness/lightness. and poor sokka gets no love from azula / katara

yours, eurydice [ao3] (wenclair, Wednesday) by hanjisgirlfriend

wednesday + enid
shortish (~24k word) fluff: best-selling horror author wednesday addams hasn't written in years, and then movie star enid sinclair moves in across the hall

Also good (despite being not queer)

i like queer fic best, but sometimes i read something i like about straight people:

everything i am [ao3] (katara + zuko ATLA) by we-were-angels (untilwefallinlove)

novel-length and i think abandoned, which i am sad about because the writing is so good. like the craft in this one is really excellent. slow burn post-ATLA romance. there is really sooo much in here that i like, almost all the characters are really well-written. i don't know... poor aang, i don't dislike him, i just don't think katara and aang would end up together, like they always seemed too much like siblings, or that katara had spent too much time taking care of aang, really, taking care of everyone - katara needs a partner, and she gets one in this fic. it's really good even unfinished(?) - and it goes through enough of an arc to be worth reading; hurt/comfort, trauma healing, i cried, the relationships and all the interactions are so well-written. has eventual scene or two.

Darkness and Starlight [ao3] (FF6 Celes+Locke) by LaurentheFlute