fanfic recommendations.

god-tier only, because i have perfect taste and have been reading fanfic for over a decade (aka way too long). multi-fandom. heed the warnings.

(after a while) you learn - 132k, nc-17

fandom: exo
pairing: kim joonmyun/byun baekhyun
genre: non-exo au
summary: there are very few things harder for joonmyun than being honest with himself.
warnings: alcohol use, homophobia, past violence, (legal) age difference
notes: i publish chicken noodle soup for the emotionally repressed and chronically self-punishing. it's just this fic.

an education - 135k, nc-17

fandom: south park
pairing: kyle broflovski/stan marsh, kyle/eric cartman
genre: summer camp au
summary: kyle is sent to a fat camp for the summer, where he falls in love with kindly junior counselor stan and experiments guiltily with his corpulent bunkmate, eric cartman.
warnings: weight/food/eating issues, past childhood sexual assault/trauma, eric cartman is a main character, age difference (nothing explicit occurs underage)
notes: this fanfiction is better than does some math on my calculator wow 89.7% of traditionally published YA fiction on the shelves. incredible.

boys - 179k, m

fandom: kingdom hearts
pairing: sora/riku, axel/roxas
genre: 90s high school au
summary: it's about growing up, mostly. sometimes it's about love and sometimes it's about friendship. sometimes it's about hockey. but sometimes it's about the difference between what's real and what's fake, between being a boy and being a man. november, 1995.
warnings: homophobia & recreational drug use.
notes: a piece of writing i've always looked up to, especially once i found out the author was a Real Adult when they wrote it. captures a sublime sense of nostalgia, longing, and innocence.

coffee, black - 133k, nc-17

fandom: dragon age II
pairing: male hawke/fenris
genre: coffee shop au
summary: awkward garrett hawke is a barista with a crush on the guy with white ink tattoos who comes in to bianca's coffee every morning. his friends isabela, merrill and andy take it upon themselves to help him, in the capacity of wingmen, to not totally blow it with him. it's an uphill battle every step of the way.
warnings: heavy discussion of/references to past abuse, drinking/recreational drug use, parental death.
notes: reading this is genuinely such an enjoyable experience. the main relationship is well-paced and thoroughly charming. the characters and their banter are vivid, memorable, and frequently hilarious, regardless of your knowledge on the source material.

fastening one heart to every falling thing - 51k, nc-17

fandom: hockey rpf
pairing: sidney crosby/evgeni malkin
genre: subverted/inverted soulmates au
summary: Geno can't. Sidney won't.
warnings: unfun therapy sessions, probably not the fic to read if you have serious emetophobia, big focus on sensory & intimacy issues. clear metaphor for mental illness in general.
notes: whether you love, hate, or don't feel any type of way about soulmate aus, read this fic. if you're on the spectrum or have severe intrusive thoughts you'll probably get a lot out of it in particular, but either way it's beautifully told with far, far more to say than its premise alone would suggest.

general relativity - 70k, m

fandom: axis powers hetalia
pairing: alfred f. jones/matthew williams
genre: student/professor au
summary: His senior year of college, Matthew’s syllabus was full of literature and English courses. Except for one: Quantum Physics I. Sometimes Matthew hated himself.
warnings: (legal) age difference, ambiguous professional boundaries, what should qualify as illegal amounts of pining.
notes: the best love story ever told catch me on my deathbed whispering 'you and your fucking stars.' *if you're not familiar with the archival horror of lj kink memes, dm me and i'll hook you up with a more readable version.

here's the pencil, make it work - 49k, m

fandom: harry potter
pairing: harry potter/draco malfoy
genre: post-dh canon compliant (sans epilogue)
summary: Harry thinks "Why is Malfoy working in a coffee shop in muggle London?" is a much simpler question than, "Are you going to accept that auror offer and, if you don't, what will you do?"
warnings: some internalized homophobia, recreational drug use.
notes: almost impossibly in-character for a fic where draco malfoy willingly works at a muggle coffee shop. reliably charming from start to finish.

hunger - 35k, nc-17

fandom: TVXQ
pairing: jung yunho/shim changmin
genre: medieval au
summary: sent to minister to a remote parish, changmin finds a community threatened by drought and marauding attacks by a savage wolf. the blacksmith, yunho, has sworn to destroy the wolf, but this is no ordinary creature. when the harvest fails, the villagers lose faith in the power of the church and cast about for a scapegoat. meanwhile, the wolf has already claimed its second human victim. it’s only a matter of time before it comes for a third...
warnings: homophobic violence, regular 'ol violence, schrödinger's bestiality, graphic depictions of death.
notes: it's a priest au. it's a werewolf au. it's a combination priest and werewolf au as done by glitterburn, a noted master of bizarre yet intriguing fic.

never change - 115k, nc-17

fandom: south park
pairing: stan marsh/kyle broflovski
genre: detective/murder mystery au
summary: Thirteen years after his high school girlfriend's pregnancy upended his life, Stan is still in South Park, working with his partner Bebe as a local cop. They're in the process of investigating a series of possibly connected murders when FBI agent Kyle Broflovski returns to town and informs his old friend Stan that this is his investigation now.
warnings: (past) childhood sexual assault, depictions of violence
notes: both a breathtaking look at the mortifying ordeal of being known and a genuinely gripping mystery with complex characterization and pitch-perfect pacing. i know i rec hollycomb way too much on this list, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better writer in the game. this hit me on a deep and personal level very few novels, let alone fics, have managed to reach.

practice & theory - 75k, nc-17

fandom: NCT
pairing: jung jaehyun/kim doyoung
genre: doctor/patient au
summary: doyoung considers himself a moral person, he really does. he’d die before he’d say anything to anyone that a patient has told him in confidence, something that could trace back to them, or any details of a session. no exceptions, no slip-ups, no compromises. but sometimes the rest makes him feel like he’s going to explode.
warnings: (legal) age difference, blurring of professional boundaries, detailed discussions regarding issues with sexual intimacy.
notes: i know it's not kosher to recommend your own fanfiction that you yourself wrote and i feel tacky on some level but also i think it's pretty decent you know.

quid, pro, quo - 123k, nc-17

fandom: hamilton
pairing: alexander hamilton/george washington
genre: modern political au
summary: a senator, war hero, rising star in the theatre of american politics, filthy rich southerner from money older than dirt. a scrappy kid from new york, drowning in student loans, barely getting by, brilliant. useful. you see where this is going. You follow.
warnings: (legal) age difference, power imbalance, D/s themes, daddy kink.
notes: one of the best fics available for this sort of thing, if you find that you're into this sort of thing. (i've read a lot of fics for this sort of thing). avoids the usual cliches and pitfalls in these sorts of fics masterfully.

revisionist history - 30k, hard m

fandom: baseball rpf
pairing: barry zito/billy bean
genre: high school au
summary: zito is a drunk and a pothead and seventeen years old, pitching for the best high school baseball team in the country and still kind of in love with one of his best friends, and wanting to sleep with his new coach is really the least of his problems.
warnings: morally reprehensible age difference, power imbalance, underage drinking, more habitual than recreational drug use.
notes: this fic is a masterpiece. it's so jaded and hazy and searing that it's incredible something this good is fanfiction at all, let alone fanfiction for the early 2000s oakland athletics baseball team.

scions - 70k, nc-17

fandom: dc comics
pairing: tim drake/conner kent
genre: alternate canon/corporate heirs
summary: tim wayne, adopted son of gotham mogul and secret vigilante bruce wayne, shows every sign of being his father's true successor - by day, and by night. tim sets his sights on a valuable metropolis lab for merger with wayne biotech, and all that stands in his way is the city's own rising star: conner luthor.
warnings: minor violence, complicated family dynamics.
notes: readable with or without detailed knowledge of their run in DC, but familiarity helps the sense that's it's on par with that exact pulpy, intense pace.

the real thing - 35k, nc-17

fandom: hockey rpf
pairing: sidney crosby/evgeni malkin
genre: time travel au
summary: Sitting at the table was Sid: Sid as Zhenya had first known him, almost a decade before: dorky, long-haired Sid, his cheeks round with baby fat. He couldn’t have been older than twenty, and even that was generous. “Wow,” baby Sid said. “Are you Evgeni Malkin?”
warnings: selcest, threesomes, age difference within both of those dynamics, voyeurism.
notes: probably the most indulgently explicit fic on this list, but it hits so many of my very particular interests so well that it earns its keep here.

throw up your fists, throw out your wits - 24k, nc-17

fandom: you could make a life
pairing: original character/original character
genre: professional sports, friends to lovers to enemies
summary: Luke doesn’t think he’s ever looked better than he does, right then, bleeding from wounds Luke gave him.
warnings: actually unhealthy relationship, physical/emotional violence, internalized homophobia, people being awful to each other. does not end happily.
notes: is but always in tandem the objectively superior and more substantiative ycmal outing? is in taking it apart more on-brand? maybe, but there's something so satisfying and bitingly bittersweet about this OG series that stands apart from the rest. if you love pain, this more than fulfills that desire.

turn - 322k, nc-17

fandom: harry potter
pairing: harry potter/draco malfoy
genre: post-dh canon compliant
summary: One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.
warnings: internal & external homophobia, mild violence, parental abuse.
notes: i have a literal tattoo permanently inked on my flesh inspired by this fic. don't let the length scare you. this is easily publishable, novel quality work.

under the table and dreaming / to the dogs or whoever - 15k & 23k, nc-17

fandom: toy story
pairing: sid/andy
genre: coming of age
summary: Andy met Sid when he was four years old, and while some things change, a lot of things stay the same.
warnings: parental abuse/neglect, substance abuse, underage drinking/drug use.
notes: the classic coming of age fic that has stood the test of time. sweet in all the right places, no matter how many times i revisit it.