i am very picky about quality and incredibly un-picky about ships

chili

• dare to breach the surface by reuniclus, 9k, zhongli moults
• Matryoshka by longk, 34k. goes along with the liyue archon quest, nice characterization

cynari

• oof, tough crowd by goodnight, 38k, cyno visits gandharva ville for a few weeks during tighnari’s rut and stumbles onto a somewhat unserious assassination plot. not an a/b/o fic tighnari is just like that
• when i look at you by shrimpheavnnow, 12k. fluff and porn. i love this tighnari

gen

• xiao & collei: fragile things by isnt_it_pretty, 20k. chronically ill xiao
• kaeya & childe: the woods, whispering by izabellwit, 63k. when childe falls into the abyss he meets kaeya because of abyss time shenanigans
• kazuha & beidou: enkindle by taiyakii, 17k. kazuha grieves
• kaebedo & klee: it takes a village by anonymous, 9k. canonverse, so sweet

itto/whoever

• ittogorou: bringing a bouquet to battle by wormkinnie, 7k. itto writes to ms hina, lovely voice for itto
• ittogorou: dog days, dog days by caniculeo, 14k. gorou tells itto he’s ms hina but lets itto keep telling him his problems anyway
• ayaitthoma: our stupid secret by goodnight, 23k. i love a romcom and i love goodnight’s fics and i love their take on itto
• ayaitto: the nights are for us by maximilliandelirium, 63k. modern au where ayato is a politician, part of a series but you don’t have to read the rest to understand it
• itthoma: aim to please by goodnight, 4k. a fun little comedy of errors

kavetham

• silviculture by sunsmasher, 13k. canon-era alhaitham swaps places with akademiya-era alhaitham
• fever song by atropinings, 11k. if you like aphrodisiacs this is the only one you should read and then you’ll never read another again because it won’t be this good
• it’s in the ions by heeho, 8k. deshret gets all up in alhaitham’s business

traveller/whoever this is all ao3 user sath sorry

• albether: alchemy in the blood by sath, 107k. modern vampire au, the vampire au to end all vampire aus. this is my favourite fic on this list
• albether: silvery water and starry earth by sath, 75k. aether is an immortal alien auditing classes for free because no one except the professor he is trying to sleep with has noticed he isn’t actually a senior citizen
• scaraether: high-speed romantic connection by sath 51k, ongoing, maybe abandoned but worth it anyway. aether and scaramouche fight for the #3 camboy spot, and then plot happens. i don’t even like traveller ships that much but you will be convinced into liking them by sath

wriochi

• house of wolves by rire (series), 16k. set during childe’s time in meropide

xingyun

• the purest form of water is rain by eversall, 20k. can't believe i forgot the xingyun bible

zhongxiaoven

• very sane and normal people by relationshipcrimes, 16k. unethical but delicious therapist-patient relationship

a bonus hsr section:

• the imaginary perks of higher education by goodnight (series), 87k, pre- and post-penacony. i love aventio so much but this is the only one i can possibly read because every time i read a new one i think wow, it is not as good as the imaginary perks of higher education
• stride, spoils seized by goodnight, 36k jingrenheng, hcq-era. goodnight is just that good okay
• old-fashioned lover boy by DFP, 10k, welt/caelus, pwp