Hullo! Once upon a time I used to do themes for these rec lists, but these are honestly just my top favorites. I have attempted to categorize and annotate them for convenience, however, some may belong to one or more categories and I just chose the one that I thought fit the story best.
As always, I reserve the right to add more to this later. :DD Enjoy~~
Slice of Life/Family Dynamics--
Upon These Lovely Lives by abstract_moth:
Summary: One by one the moments when the girls realized that Master Qifrey and Olruggio were in love. Plus one moment where someone knew their love was not meant to be.
(also analyzes Qifrey and Olruggio's parental relationship with the girls)
Unlike all the other apprentices, Riché had immediately assumed that Master Qifrey and Master Olruggio were married. For her, it was a far greater shock to learn that they were not.
Notes: Rated G, 19k words, WIP (4/6). What can I say besides this is the cream of the crop top tier character study and dynamic exploration amongst the entire atelier? REALLY good, instant fave.
Material Girls by CalamityUnlocked:
Summary: “We’re rich?” Tetia exclaimed. She had been sitting with this information for approximately thirty seconds, which was about her limit. “We’ve been rich?” She pushed back from the table. “Master Olly.” She pointed at him, scandalized. “Last month, when I asked if I could have that embroidered skirt from the market in Kalhn, you said—”
“I said you didn’t need any new clothes. Which is true.”
“You said we had a budget.”
“We do have a budget. A budget is just—” But he had already lost control of the conversation.
Olruggio never made a big deal about the money his specialized commissions got him. They got what they needed, and some extra at that. To the others, however, it is quite a revelation.
OR: everyone gets a shopping episode to themselves <3
Notes: Rated G, 14.5k words. Everyone goes shopping! Really fabulous mini character studies for each of the atelier members. With some angst at the end because that's where we live.
first kisses pair well with wine by hrzntlghost:
Summary: Qifrey is free of The Curse™, but it leaves him with low vision. He adapts with a little help and some nifty new contraptions from his smart and awesome apprentices. He also finally gets to have good things, like way too much wine and the best friend he's longed after for ages.
Or: I write out my ideal post-canon for my beloved family. I am un-dooming them from the narrative because I'm too impatient for Shirahama to do so herself in 10 years. Characterization/plot leans sweeter and less tragic. I like my imaginative whimsy and queer joy!
Notes: Rated T, 29.3k words. This is also a post-canon but I think it fits better in slice of life category. Post-curse, Qifrey is very low vision/blind, and his family help him adjust. All the while Orufrey navigate the change in their relationship. Just lovelyyyy.
Days In The Sun by princesscas:
Summary: Qifrey keeps his secrets. Olruggio tries to learn him anyway.
Notes: Rated T, 4.4k words. Snippets of life at the atelier, really lovely character dynamics and glimpses of Qifrey's eternal suffering ofc.
thig crìoch air an t-saoghal ach mairidh gaol is ceòl by drifloon:
Summary: Gaelic proverb: the world will come to an end, but love and music will go on.
To attend his cousin's wedding, Olruggio brings the atelier to Ghodrey.
Notes: Rated T, 13k words. Everyone except Qifrey has a great time and Orufrey are able to indulge in a fantasy for awhile. Just gorgeous. I am only listing one to save space but you should read everything by this author.
Like Moths to the Flame by Downsayed:
Summary: “Come on, Olly.” Qifrey rolled onto his stomach to fix Olruggio squarely in his sights. The last few years of boyhood had rounded out Qifrey's sharpest edges, leaving him mostly handsome and amiable. From time to time, though, he still got this look in his eye like an impending tsunami.
Olruggio had long since given up any illusions of outrunning the destruction.
Before the atelier and the apprentices, young Olruggio and Qifrey have recently passed the fourth, and final, test to become full-fledged witches. With their newfound freedom from the Great Hall, they decide to pay a visit to Ghodrey in the north--Olruggio's hometown.
Between dealing with his embarrassing relatives and planning for life as an adult witch, Olruggio grapples with growing desires towards his best friend. He is unsure what the future holds for them and whether he can follow Qifrey wherever it takes him.
Notes: Rated E, 19.4k words. The boys visit Ghodrey! And absolutely nothing goes wrong! Fantastic worldbuilding and character study. One of my absolute favorite Olruggio POV fic ever.
fortune my foe by hrchfnt:
Summary: In here, in the deep abyss of the ocean, among winding halls and miserable grey stone and gossiping pointed caps, he finds his Northern Star, the one that changes everything.
An exploration of youth, identity, jealousy, and love all-encompassing.
Notes: Rated T, 12.6k words. Theeee Trans Qifrey character study of all time. You should read everything by this author.
pedagogical principles; or, how to learn by lowbatteryhealth:
Summary: A boy, OLRUGGIO, lies in a pile of scattered paper. Another boy, QIFREY, sits beside him. QIFREY is crying.
QIFREY: You don’t understand. (He touches the crown of OLRUGGIO’s head.) You don’t understand.
OLRUGGIO’s breathing is soft. QIFREY looks DS.
QIFREY: I loved your spell.
OLRUGGIO shifts in his sleep. QIFREY looks back down at him.
QIFREY: (Whispering.) I love your spell.
OLRUGGIO’s hand twitches in his sleep. QIFREY keeps watch over him.
A two-act play on the ways we grow, and how it happens.
Notes: Rated T, 8k works, WIP (2/3). A stunning masterpiece of pain in screenplay format. This one haunts me. Please please please please give it a go.
foreign tongues by franzkafkagf:
Summary: There it was, that thing Qifrey did, where he offered a piece of himself wrapped in observation about someone else, like a gift hidden inside a gift, and you had to decide whether to unwrap the second layer or pretend you had only received the first. Olruggio had spent half his life learning to read these offerings and in doing so he had become the foremost scholar of a language spoken by exactly one person in all the world.
"I'm stubborn because someone has to be," he said. "You'd float away on your own mysteries if no one kept you tethered."
"Perhaps." The maddingly sad smile again. "Perhaps that's so."
In which Olruggio brings tea to Qifrey's study on a damp evening and finds him working in the dark again, the staff out and the fire dying.
Notes: Rated T, 2.7k words. A small, intimate moment packed full of character study for both of them. REALLY top tier stuff here.
mnemosyne by playerofnames (dawl_and_dapple):
Summary: His fright at the thought that Coco might have been in danger when he woke up was heart-stopping. The feeling he had when he thought he’d forgotten one of the simplest spells in his collection was….something else. Like a vice around his throat. A garotte of terror.
Olruggio can't claim to be the picture of perfect health and wellbeing, but things are getting strange. He's forgetting stuff - stuff that he really shouldn't be forgetting. And he doesn't know why.
Notes: Rated T, 22.8k words. He gave that man dementia. Not for the faint of heart, but REALLY GOOD.
don't show me the stars by desmodus:
Summary: Let him have his good time, Qifrey thinks, and, conjoined with that thought: he'd have more of them, after all, had he not thrown his lot in with yours.
Always the one hand, then the other. Qifrey would say he's used to it, but then it wouldn't work, would it?
Notes: Rated M, 1.6k words. Olruggio gets absolutely fall down drunk and messy with his feelings and absolutely no one has a good time. You should read everything by this author.
memento amare by everythingeverything (yiqie):
Summary: Sinocia blinks at him, then says, "You're quite young for that, Olruggio. Are you sure?"
"No. That's why I said I wanted your opinion."
// Olruggio, increasingly aware of and unsettled by the many lapses in his memory, starts keeping a record of his days in order to find out what, if anything, is ailing him. Qifrey doesn't realize what he's doing until it's nearly too late.
Notes: Rated T, 12.7k words. Epistolary style fic of Olruggio trying to figure out who is erasing his memories. Written like a thriller. Do NOT miss this one, one of my favorite fics I've ever read and the Olly POV is peak.
You've Got to Stand It by vaguely_concerned:
Summary: Something, equal parts wariness and weariness, stirs in Olruggio’s eyes whenever Qifrey makes some reference to the future — when he indirectly promises a tomorrow, a next week, an ‘after your commissions are done’. It’s the subtlest thing, a flicker, a spark; someone who knew him less well might not pick up on it. But Qifrey knows Olruggio as well as he knows himself, and he can hardly in good conscience begrudge him his flinch of cynicism. Not when it’s wholly his own fault for having put it there.
Fool you once, shame on me. Fool you twice, still shame on me. Fool you thrice… well, if it’s any consolation whatsoever, I was fooling myself most of all.
The night Qifrey returns to the atelier for good after his wandering days — old promises kept, new promises made.
Notes: Rated T, 12k words. Orufrey reunite pre-canon and have some hard conversations. Including Olruggio having a sobbing meltdown which is catnip to me. REALLY FUCKING GOOD.
cheers to good friends by cathedralight:
Summary: They'd only just ambled into the Kalhn textile shop when Qifrey caught sight of the short young woman working. She had a round face, rosy cheeks, flaxen hair. Her eyes had locked on Olruggio as soon as they’d entered.
Olruggio, for his part, thumbed through dyed wool samples as though he hadn't noticed. He likely wouldn't.
But Qifrey always noticed. Sometimes this left him as a voyeur: staring at someone staring at someone else. But other times, like today, his fixed presence at Olruggio’s side made him an involved party. There was always a delay, then a moment in which Qifrey became visible and the women realized he might be of help. Some of them were too scared to approach Olruggio outright—they’d built up a more intimidating version of him in their heads, had never heard him laugh wildly or watched dimples form when he smiled. Instead, they’d set their sights on Qifrey. Talk to him, or at least look at him imploringly, as though getting in his good graces might earn them the Torch’s attention.
He never felt like helping them.
Notes: Rated E, 12.2k words. What it says on the tin. Qifrey is fantastically jealous of people mobbing Olly for attention and finagles his way into biting off way more than he can chew about it aka boning on the atelier floor ohohoho. Fantastically done.
i don't want an encore (no more) by lesqueers:
Summary: “Can you show me?” Qifrey asks, feigning just a little of his frustration. Running his fingers up and down his own neck only feels marginally less stupid than Olruggio lying isolated beside him, his want palpable.
“Show you?” Olly’s voice is thready.
“Yes,” Qifrey replies, tilting his head to look at Olly until his gaze is met. “I’ll follow you.”
or; olruggio shows qifrey the best ways to get off. nothing, at all, goes wrong.
Notes: Rated E, 15.2k words. The sweetest, most emotionally fraught and ultimately cathartic mutual masturbation fic there ever was. These men are incapable of being normal about anything they do. This one is a TREASURE and a balm to consider how they might be allowed to enjoy one another post-canon, and the navigations to get there. A top fave.
how do i get where you are by lowbatteryhealth:
Summary: “Can you see me now?” Olruggio asks, leaning forward, and Qifrey’s expression darkens.
“A bit better,” he says, a hand coming around to hover at the back of Olruggio’s head. Olruggio grins, kisses the inside of his thigh, and moves back until his head comes into contact with that hand. Qifrey’s expression darkens further, his eye all pupil.
“Don’t look away from me,” Olruggio says.
Notes: Rated E, 3k words. AKA they try to have sex and Olly's back gives out. Love the way this one explores the intimacy and familiarity between them. Both hot and funny, a treat.
In Any Way That You'll Have Me (series) by fullmetalheart:
Summary (from the first fic): For as long as Qifrey could remember, he’d never properly understood the ferocity with which others felt this sort of thing. He’d reasoned that it was simply that he could not entertain it; true pleasure, and the kind of comfort that he imagined should come with it, had always been far from his reach.
Except, Qifrey could have it now, if he wanted. Qifrey felt quite certain that Olruggio would entertain it, if asked in earnest; his evidence lay in a decade’s worth of stolen glances.
Free from the affliction he's carried with him since childhood, Qifrey realizes his lifelong struggles with desire run deeper than a curse. Olruggio meets him in the middle as best he can.
Notes: Two part series. Rated T and E. 7.1k words total. Aroace Qifrey sorts out his relationship with intimacy post-curse. QPR Orufrey represent!
Climbing Ivy by Grimmseye:
Summary: Olruggio rumbled. He could feel the vibration in his chest, from Olruggio’s to his own. “I’m not leaving you,” he said, voice gruff and fumbling. “I don’t — I want — you know I’ve wanted to hug you too, right?”
He sounded terribly embarrassed. Qifrey giggled, half in endearment and half mind-numbing relief. “Right,” he murmured, fingers relaxing by a fraction. “Sorry. You used to be so affectionate with your hands.”
Notes: Rated E, 3.4k words. Oh gosh just the most delicious cuddling of a touch-starved Qifrey post-canon that transitions into sexytimes.
When Change and Tears Are Past by DrMiniPie:
Summary: A memory-wiped prisoner is rescued by a group of witches who claim to know him; who even claim to love him. How can this be?
Is it better, is it easier to forget, in the end?
Post-canon/canon-divergent orufrey (and their loved ones). Will add/adjust tags as needed.
Notes: Rated T, 22k words, WIP (6/10). Absolutely gutwrenching exploration of a post-canon scenario where Olly is mindwiped and sent to Adanlee. A very hard premise MASTERFULLY written, the Olruggio POV and character study is unparalleled here. Fave fave fave.
In Extremis by neatrogenous:
Summary: It was strange, to think you’d known someone your whole life—known them better than anyone else ever could, better even than you knew yourself—only to suddenly realize out that you'd never truly known them at all.
Notes: Rated E, 9k words, WIP (2/19). Pacific Rim AU! This one just kicked off and I'm already completely obsessed with it. DO NOT MISS THISSSS
To Thaw a Broken Soul by LeafMug:
Summary: It held all the hallmarks of a fairytale dream, but to Qifrey, a man who had abandoned all fantasies against the cruel waves that drowned the world, it was the make of ruin.
The Duke held his gaze in a way that made it impossible to deny the implausible: Olruggio of Ghodfrey intended for him.
"Lord Qifrey," the Duke said, and dropped to his knee with a confidence that spoke of no doubts. "Will you permit me the honour of your hand in marriage?"
When Qifrey receives an unexpected proposal from the most powerful stranger in the kingdom, he has no choice but to agree.
Or: a historical AU inspired by otome isekai manhwa, featuring Qifrey as wary bride and Olruggio as cold Duke of the North.
Notes: Rated G, 33.6k words, WIP (13/?). A non-magic/historical AU written just fantastically with some real courtship novel slowburn tension/drama and political intrigue and mystery abounding. Impeccable, riveting, GET ON THIS.
Written Prior to Silverwood Reveal--
sensible and rational by catachresis:
Summary: Olruggio knew, long before it all came crashing down, that he’d made a terrible decision. That the consequences would catch up to him, and there’d be no avoiding a series of potentially world-ending conversations.
He just hadn’t expected it to happen quite so spectacularly.
The initial idea, prompted by a suggestion from an older noblewoman who’d commissioned him for something completely different, wasn’t bad at all. He’d been working on a set of singing stones, and the lady had made an offhanded comment about the potential of magic that could make an object resonate. She’d meant it as a joke, but where she saw humor, Olruggio saw potential—and told her as much.
And just like that, he’d had a commission. And a problem.
Notes: Rated E, 3.9k words. Qifrey gets a sex toy contraption stuck inside of him. An absolute romp. Weird intimacy bass boosted. A classic.
the constancy of us by Anonymous:
Summary: The idea of a place that makes everyone magically have sex was funny enough as a teenager, but as an adult with taxes to pay and apprentices to shoo out of his room, Olruggio is decidedly less than enthused when he hears a landslide opened up a magical cave that apparently just does that.
But that doesn’t mean he’s going to let Qifrey investigate it by himself, or, even worse, with someone else.
Notes: Rated E, 12k words. A really tasty and angsty fuck or die that ends with a mindwipe, weeee :D
I had to whittle down my bookmarks significantly so this wouldn't get absurd, but you can find the full list here if you're hungering for even more fic.
izzy806
baratheonpilled
2087
snowghoul
germansingergirl
pixelskylines
romaincrisis
areudirty
