( note: for each list, i did my best not to repeat the same ship twice if from the same author, or the same author twice if from the same ship. however, the same author + same ship combo might appear once in a list and once in the special mentions, or once in each list. )

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💘 shot to the heart

some of these may have porn, because i usually read porn. but even if that’s how i got lured into the fic, i got extremely invested in the plot/characters/feelings. some of these do not have porn, so i just got into them for the plot/characters/feelings from the get go.

these twelve fics are arranged in alphabetical order and not ranked.

a falling star

• vox-centric (hazbin hotel) ✹
• vox’s life pre-death.
• he’s a talk show host in the 1950s and if that wasn’t me-catered enough he’s a SCUMBAGGGGGG. i haven’t given a lot of thought to what he’d be like prior to canon but i’m really into this whole backstory. it’s two chapters and easy to read, and i love how it ends for him. vox is arguably my favorite boy of hazbin rn so it was nice to read a sexy little vox-centric fic. i will say i read this close to the end of the year (literally a couple of days before) so i might be enveloped in ~new fic feels~ but it’s a delicious bite-sized read.

basilisk in the grass

• sir pentious-centric (hazbin hotel) ✹
• sir pentious’ life pre-death.
• i fucking care so much about sir pentious now what the FUCK... he was A JOKE CHARACTER. but this writer wrote an amazing, well-researched four-chapter fic about his life prior to arriving in hell and it’s so good. i was curious about their “sir pentious is trans” headcanon while going through their blog so i read this fic and it didn’t disappoint. i love his marriage to his darling wife, and how it crumbles. i love his rise to power. this fic changed my life. i was still thinking about certain parts after. my god. even if you don’t know or like hazbin hotel, i recommend this fic so bad

be the optimist

• bernadetta-centric (fire emblem) ✹
• bernadetta falls in love again and again, and grows up in the process.
• so good and written by someone who i feel like has one of the best understandings of bernie’s character that i’ve seen so far. i fuck with bernie dating multiple people, not being the uguu shy teen forever, and learning about herself, and it’s nice seeing that alongside the relationships she has when she’s young. i love the choice of boys (bernie’s bad boys, and felix) and the endgame was pleasantly surprising. i was so satisfied after reading this and it gave me happy and bittersweet feels.

broken record

• richie/eddie (it) ✹
• richie gets stuck in a time loop trying to keep eddie alive.
• i don’t like timeloop fics because it takes me 5 years to recover, but i also like the rare timeloop fic because sometimes it’s just nice to be taken on such a gut-punching ride. this was that. i don’t remember much about the fic bc i read it in a frenzy, but i remember how it made me FEEL, and it was so, so good. my insane reddie phase this year was shortlived but beautiful and this fic came at me a little late but felt like a wonderful culminating piece to clip it off.

drifting through stars

• yuri/bernadetta (fire emblem) ✹
• bernadetta has this online friend, okay, from when she was young, but then they disappeared but then, you see, at some point it seems like they’re back, and bernie doesn’t know what to do with that.
• as a child of web communities i was endeared to this concept for them from the very beginning. bernadetta always reminded me of a younger me so i saw how fandom would be good for a tiny bern, and it made me happy to see geek!yuri representation. i love the choice of bernadetta’s irl friends (not just the black eagles as a default) and how they interacted with each other, and of course how bern and yuri reconnect. the character voices are so good. this fic made me feel all fuzzy

good fences → dimitri/bernadetta (fire emblem) ✹

maybe sparrow → yuri/bernadetta (fire emblem) ✹

ruby red → mettaton/reader (undertale) ✹

save the date → yuri/bernadetta (fire emblem) ✹

strange attraction → balthus/lysithea (fire emblem) ✹

training wheels → bellamy/clarke (the 100) ✹

you’ve got a face for radio → alastor-centric (hazbin hotel) ✹

❖ special mentions

• by blood alone ✹ - yuri/bernadetta (fire emblem)
• do the damned get their one phone call? ✹ - alastor-centric (hazbin hotel)
• drawer four ✹ - hubert/mercedes (fire emblem)
• the lavender-haired barista ✹ - yuri/bernadetta (fire emblem)
• snow white queen ✹ - edelgard/claude (fire emblem) 🌶
• loving backwards ✹ - wilbur/lewis (meet the robinsons) 🌶⚠️

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🌶 (sugar and) spice

i sure do love a good porn! because i am me, many of these will still have a lot of tender feelings, but a handful will be less that.

these twelve fics are arranged in alphabetical order and not ranked.

ain’t as bad as all that → lorenz/leonie (fire emblem)✹

australian kisses → junkrat/mei (overwatch) ✹

dark spikes → balthus/lysithea (fire emblem) ✹

good boy → lusamine/guzma (pokemon) ✹

hard to be soft, tough to be tender → sylvain/mercedes (fire emblem) ✹

i realize i'm the one in your bedroom but this is genuinely the last place i expected to see you → alastor/sir pentious (hazbin hotel) ✹

just girly things → ema/klavier (ace attorney) ✹

motorcycles and other things to ride → richie/eddie (it) ✹

mornings → piers/reader (pokemon) ✹ (just this chapter)

nearness of you → beverly/eddie (it) ✹

that’s the best i can do for you → spamton-centric (deltarune) ✹

you know how it is → hilda/claude (fire emblem) ✹

❖ special mentions

• bright eyes and brain fog ✹ - alastor/sir pentious (hazbin hotel)
• cakewalk suite, cakewalk street ✹ - hilda/claude (fire emblem)
• one way to absolve his crime ✹ - bill/mabel (gravity falls)
• (run) where you’ll be safe ✹ - spamton/reader (deltarune)
• worst case scenario ✹ - ema/klavier (ace attorney)
• just once ✹ - piers/marnie (pokemon)