Ilya felt like his smile was going to split his face. He was overwhelmingly happy. Shane was beaming up at him, eyes bright and freckles crinkled, and Ilya loved him. And Shane loved him. Holy fucking shit. Shane Hollander is in love with me.
seen a lot of great recs recently and i wanted to add my own to the void.
these are the fics i most cherish, the stories that have inspired me, surprised me, the ones i still think about after countless hours doom-scrolling through the night. mostly harrymort / fast-burns / time-travel + alternate realities.Â
if youâve stumbled upon this list, i hope thereâs something here that will bring you joy âĄ
The thrillersÂ
The ones that had me on the edge of my seat Â
something precious by mosivaÂ
What he grows to be by asakiii
malediction by eleven_eaves
Heartbeat by Phantomato
He says 'Hate Me' by lordmarvoloriddle
Love's Loathing by The_Fictionist
Tender Reigns Our Night by noumena
These steep woods and lofty cliffs by Rimeme
Rapture by ErisDawn
The toe-curlersÂ
The ones that made me weak in the kneesÂ
Night Walker by Dangereuse
Twelve Weeks by ohyondermemphis
What Happens in Vegas by Divida
Prison Blues by exarite for RedHorse / Redemption by oops (hobbes1234)
That Dream Within A Dream by doshuÂ
tempor · al | ary by asterismal (asterisms)
The whimsy
The ones that made me go naaw
Mary Magdalene by hanamichi, vash (hanamichi)Â
don't blame the stork by TheOnceandFutureQueenofTarts
The dramediesÂ
The ones that warmed my cold, dead heartÂ
The two hundred and twelfth loop by Bakuko, cyberslut404
Diagnosis: A Medical Dramedy by MaidenMotherCrone (orphan_account)
Hell is Your Son from Another Dimension by wynnebat
Too old to be this young by Nadia_Castillo
The classicsÂ
The ones that youâve probably seen around, for good reason  Â
Sunspots by crowthing
Of Your Making by purplewitch156
Revolution of Configured Stars by ReminiscentBells
of various storms and saints by MaidenMotherCrone (terrorgold)
howdy!! two literal people have asked for some andreil rec so here they are!! my most favest fics EVER in the first 60 ao3 pages (I'll keep updating tho as I read!)
Not yours to bleed:
The Pros were never in the cards. Not for an ex-medicated alleged psychotic with a dysfunctional family and an Exy career heâd rather not have. But even if it wasn't his first choice, no matter what happens, it canât possibly be worse than that one fucked up sophomore year when he stood toe to toe with the Yakuza-and won.
At least, thatâs what Andrew thinks until a familiar face shows up.
Another Raven!Neil AU. Or, the one where the boys donât meet until the Pros.
Â
**Updates every other Wednesday, whatever hell may come.**
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
The Sun Still Rises:
Somewhere on the road, Mary Hatford gets pregnant with her second child. When she passes, she leaves behind not only Neil, but his toddler brother. Survival is difficult without also raising a kid. Worn out and desperate, Neil still somehow ends up at Palmetto, only this time, he brings his four-year-old brother with him.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
TALE OF A MARTYR IN XII PARTS:
Neil closes his eyes and counts the things that he knows:
One: Death has a name.
Two: He has met Death before. Several times, in fact.
Three: Someone is trying to kill him. Permanently. But it's only kind of working.
Or, the one in which Andrew is the Grim Reaper, Neil is very, very good at dying, over and over and over again. They teach each other a few things over the centuries.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Hearthlines:
The Fae king and queens have gone away, closing the knowes behind them and abandoning their offspring to the mortal world. As the Fae have spread far and wide, their bloodlines thinning if not vanishing forever as they flee from mortal persecution... two Fae have found a way to reopen the knowes - Kayleigh Day and Tetsuji Moriyama. The Fae regroup once more, the balance of power shifted amongst them, and 'changelings' appear now and then in the mortal population.
Andrew Doe is one of those changelings, a young child suffering in the foster system, shunned by his peers for some reason and hearing voices in his head.
Alex - the latest name gifted to him by a charm - is on the run along with his mother from his father, using their talents as shadow walkers to slide between worlds and stay one step ahead of the powerful Fae. Except even that is not enough anymore. Except that's not Alex's only talent.
*******
An urban fantasy where I throw Fae, necromancy and magic at TFC characters, pretty much!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Scared to Live (But I'm Scared to Die):
Neil Josten goes to the Nest for Andrew, but he stays for a lot more.
~
"I'm sorry Coach," he muttered.
"For what kid?" Wymack shifted. "You've got to give me something to work with here."
Wymack watched the thin traces of sorrow as paper exchanged hands and he was looking down at a contract with the Edgar Allan Raven's.
"I signed them Coach, I'm sorry."
~
The one where Neil doesn't come back from Winter Break.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Amor Vincit Omnia:
âI said it already,â the man said, âYour cluster.â
âBut what does that mean?â Neil asked.
âIt means that you are no longer just you,â the man said tersely, âCongratulations.â
It didnât feel like anything worth celebrating.
A Sense8 AU where the foxes all share one subconscious and kick a lot of ass
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
The Real Thing:
Andrew was more than willing to turn down the Ravens' offer to be their newest goalie, unwilling to play five more years of Exy - let alone for someone with a too-sharp smile and a manic gleam in their eyes.
That was, until he realized that a member of their Perfect Court was his soulmate. (That was, until Riko Moriyama realized that Nathaniel Wesninski, the Ravens' #3 in waiting, was Andrew's soulmate.)
Andrew always knew that Fate loved tormenting him, he didn't need a reminder yet again via a too-attractive soulmate who appeared to loathe him. Yet things aren't always what they seem, especially in the Nest.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
mad girl says she's wolf-proof:
Keeping her grip light on Ninaâs throat, Andrea drops her gaze to her plump lips. She smilesâcoldly, slowly. Fangs on fangs. Salt tombstones. It is not a nice smile, none of Andreaâs smiles are, but Ninaâs eyes are stuck in it regardless. âAnd I will answer, all the better to eat you with.â
Â
(Andrea Dobson vs girlhood and lycanthropy.)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
lessons in caretaking:
Neil was acting shifty, and Andrew knew why; that motherfucker was leaving. Despite the promise between them, Neil was prepping to run. Andrew wasn't upset about that, not at all. After all, if notorious Neil "No-Swing" Josten needed to leave after Andrew admitted his desires regarding his proximity to Neil's shorts, who was Andrew to stop him. But that doesn't explain why Neil was stealing socks, or why he wanted Andrew's clothes.
Whatever. That was probably unrelated.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Sauntering Vaguely Downwards:
Theyâve known each other since the Beginning. Not the Beginning Beginningâthey didnât meet until after the War in Heaven, where they kept to their own sides, or until after the subsequent Fall. It wasnât even until after the Exodus from Eden, but only by a couple minutes. Theyâve witnessed the rise and fall of empires, sampled all the cuisines the world has to offer, and weathered several very silly fashion trends.
Andrew doesnât think theyâre friends, exactly, but it is natural to become accustomed to the presence of the only other being who has been around more or less consistently for six millennia. It wasnât anything more meaningful than that.
A Good Omens AU where Andrew is a grumpy angel, Neil is a sharp-tongued serpent, and it takes them literally six thousand years to figure out they belong together.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
In regards to chapter 137 of the manhwa, what expression did Han Yoojin make for Sung Hyunjaeâs smile to collapse? What devastation was written out on his face? What despair danced in his eyes? What helplessness painted it? What grief shined in his eyes?
What did Sung Hyunjae see that even he was struck silent?
!Spoilers for pretty much all of Teenage Mercenary!
I just need to get my facts down about some of the things going on in the background cause it's confusing to me and I have shitty memory. This is pretty much how I've interpreted everything that is going on, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
Iron is the head of the whole organization that Camp and Forest were a part of. They take in jobs and send them down as orders to either Camp or Forest. Forest was formed after camp and considered inferior to the numbers
None of the numbers know where these orders are coming from and they are currently investigating
They are likely the ones who killed those 26 numbers Ijin disabled during his escape, ordering someone from Forest to do it or directly ordering a traitor number (my theory) to do it because Mad Dog didn't seem to know who killed them that day. They probably killed them because they were becoming too uncontrollable and there was no real leverage they had over them to keep them working for them the way they were doing to Alice with her little brother and Ijin's escape was their best bet to get rid of them all as they were incapacitated and unable to protect themselves
The Camp has completely dissolved at this point in the story and of the 14 still living, we only know 9 so one of the missing five is likely a traitor. Maybe all five of them are and they've been integrated into Forest. 002 doesn't seem to care much about them so it's possible. Or maybe they just died. Who knows?
SW is one of Iron's competitors and is growing relevant in the world of weapons export and war. When Jiye's brother reached out to them to kill Jiye, they were more than happy to do so as that would be a blow to their competitor and would give them a way to destroy SW from the inside if the brother signed a contract with him like he initially wanted to. Ijin obviously ruined this.
The Vorrei Family (which consists of Sophia the blond girl, her brother, and Chairman Andrew) is currently in a contract with Iron but is heavily considering signing a contract with SW and their subsidiary SW defence and whether or not this happens will help with the growth of their weapons export business
This obviously angered Iron and they sent Anna to kidnap Sophia and her brother under the care of SW which would of course ruin the relationship between Chairman Andrew and SW but Ijin ruined this. This created a very good relationship between the Vorrei Family and SW
Alice has infiltrated SW because Iron wants insider information on SW so they could effectively ruin them from the inside, however the mess with the numbers and 004 being a presumptuous little prick (I love him regardless lmao) ruined everything for them
Now the timeline of Ijin's backstory
The plane crashed ten years ago when he was nine (Korean age so technically he was eight and is currently eighteen)
The Camp picked him up from the plane crash and patched him up, forcing him to join the whole training with no memory of himself or his past while speaking in a foreign language. He was trainee #982 out of the initial 1000 ppl that were at the Camp
He met 005 almost immediately after joining
Inhumane training and missions had to have continued at least until he was twelve or thirteen before the initial 1000 was whittled down to a measly group of 40.
During that training, he constantly went against the Camp's teachings, never leaving behind anyone who was injured and taking those who were dying to a peaceful area for them to pass away in rather than dying in the middle of a battlefield. He was punished for it a lot but it made most of the other trainees trust him and see him as their leader. Some of them admired 002 and regarded him as the leader and were later upset when they saw that Ijin was granted the number 001 but 002 was fine with it and followed Ijin's instructions
At some point, Mad Dog assigned him as leader of the numbers and went to kill 016 because he collapsed during a roll call of some kind but Ijin got in his way. They got into a fight and that's when Ijin gave Mad Dog his scar. Mad Dog has hated him since
He remained at camp until he was fourteen and at some point, he had killed a mother and daughter, a memory which stuck with him and traumatized him in a certain way. I believe it also provoked his 'betrayal'.
He disobeyed orders from Camp and Mad Dog sent most of the numbers after him. He incapacitated 26 and some of the other numbers like 006 turned a blind eye to let him escape however they became angry when they were told that he killed the 26 numbers even though he didn't
He was heavily injured and passed out in a river where he was found by Lucas, the mercenary village chief.
All the stuff in the village and the looters (Immortal and his gang) happened and then he became Jin for the next five years. He briefly ran into 018 and that one girl who tried to kidnap Jiye during this time and saved Sophia from her kidnapper. Saving Evelyn and her mother also helped jog his memory and remember his mother telling him "--Jin, I love you" and while the plane was crashing with an oxygen mask on his face, his parents hugged him and told him "--Jin, Mommy and Daddy love you very much." I love the fact that he started to remember after he saved Evelyn and her mom, it's such a nice detail man.
Also, someone thank Grandpa Lucas for trying to protect Ijin from the horrors of being a mercenary despite already knowing he was a child soldier. He bandaged him up after he got injured and told him to take better care of himself, gave him a lot of food and practically raised Ijin for a good chunk of his teenage years. His last message to Ijin (Chp. 163) and Ijin crying for the very first time hit me right in the feels
Ijin met Yeona's dad during his time as Jin and after the dad died, word got back to the Head of SW about Ijin.
Major Kang was attacked six months before canon and because he was Jiye's fiance and this was clearly an opportunity to meet his son's savior (and a potential asset for his developing weapons subsidiary but that's another topic -__-), he hired Jin to save the Major and his troop
I do believe SW was involved in finding Ijin's family both in order to fulfill Yeona's dad's last wish to get Ijin out of the warzone he lived in and because Grandpa Shin is shady af and probably wants to use Ijin. I don't think he's a bad person but he doesn't really have Ijin's best interests in mind. He's a businessman, after all. Good men don't make good businessmen.
Ijin being there has also brought him a ton of opportunities and prevented him from losing his granddaughters and a fuck ton of opportunities if Ijin hadn't been there to save the day so it makes sense that he and Jiye as well, are so adamant about keeping him by their side
But anyway, that pretty much concludes my info dump with a mix of my personal interpretations for now. Like I said before feel free to correct me if I've said something wrong
Now take this random badass panel of my children :)
you know what else is so heartbreaking about orv tonight? 1863, its so painful that the arc that kim dokja almost leaves "his" han sooyoung and yoo joonghyuk for is the arc that they are at their worst. Han sooyoung is sacrificing the entire line for a chance at a better version and yoo joonghyuk has no one and is so deep in his depression that he actually is making steps to permanently kill himself.
Imagine being either of them from 1864 and learning that he almost left you for the parts of yourself that you've been trying to get rid of, Imagine learning that it is all of you that he is dedicated to and maybe the ways that you've split yourself makes you less than what he wants.
Imagine looking at less of him and realizing the same is true for you.
Jason looks so happy. Got to have a fun night out at the gay bar with his big bro then beat up a bunch of bear strippers dressed like cops on Reno 911. Love to see him winning.
Bruce is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce does not want to be one of the richest men in world.
He starts by implementing high starting salaries and full health care coverages for all levels at Wayne Enterprises. This in vastly improves retention and worker productivity, and WE profits soar. He increases PTO, grants generous parental and family leave, funds diversity initiatives, boosts salaries again. WE is ranked â#1 worker-friendly corporationâ, and productively and profits soar again.
Ok, so clearly investing his workers isnât the profit-destroying doomed strategy his peers claim it is. Bruce is going to keep doing it obviously (his next initiative is to ensure all part-time and contractors get the same benefits and pay as full time employees), but he is going to have to find a different way to dump his money.
But you know what else is supposed to be prohibitively expensive? Green and ethical initiatives. Yes, Bruce can do that. He creates and fund a 10 year plan to covert all Wayne facilities to renewable energy. He overhauls all factories to employ the best environmentally friendly practices and technologies. He cuts contracts with all suppliers that engage in unethical employment practices and pays for other to upgrade their equipment and facilities to meet WEâs new environmental and safety requirements. He spares no expense.
Yeah, Wayne Enterprises is so successful that they spin off an entire new business arm focused on helping other companies convert to environmentally friendly and safe practices like they did in an efficient, cost effective, successful way.
Admittedly, investing in his own company was probably never going to be the best way to get rid of his wealth. He slashes his own salary to a pittance (god knows he has more money than he could possibly know what to do with already) and keeps investing the profits back into the workers, and WE keeps responding with nearly terrifying success.
So WE is a no-go, and Bruce now has numerous angry billionaires on his back because theyâve been claiming all these measures heâs implementing are too expensive to justify for decades and theyâre finding it a little hard to keep the wool over everyoneâs eyes when Idiot Softheart Bruice Wayne has money spilling out his ears. BUT Bruce can invest in Gotham. Thatâll go well, right?
Gothamâs infrastructure is the OSHA anti-Christ and even what little is up to code is constantly getting destroyed by Rogue attacks. Surely THAT will be a money sink.
Except the only non-corrupt employer in Gotham city isâŠ.Wayne Enterprises. Or contractors or companies or businesses that somehow, in some way or other, feed back to WE. Paying wholesale for improvement to Gothamâs infrastructure somehow increases WEâs profits.
Bruce funds a full system overhaul of Gotham hospital (itâs not his fault the best administrative system software is WEâhe looked), he sets up foundations and trusts for shelters, free clinics, schools, meal plans, day care, literally anything he can think of.
Gotham continues to be a shithole. Bruce Wayne continues to be richer than god against his Batman-ingrained will.
Oh, and Bruice Wayne is no longer viewed as solely a spoiled idiot nepo baby. The public responds by investing in WE and anything else he owns, and stop doing this, please.
Bruce sets up a foundation to pay the college tuition of every Gotham citizen who applies. Itâs so successful that within 10 years, donations from previous recipients more than cover incoming need, and Bruce canât even donate to his own charity.
But by this time, Bruce has children. If he canât get rid of his wealth, he can at least distribute it, right?
Except Dick Grayson absolutely refuses to receive any of his money, wonât touch his trust fund, and in fact has never been so successful and creative with his hacking skills as he is in dumping the money BACK on Bruce. Jason died and wonât legally resurrect to take his trust fund. Tim has his own inherited wealth, refuses to inherit more, and in fact happily joins forces with Dick to hack accounts and return whatever money he tries to give them. Cass has no concept of monetary wealth and gives him panicked, overwhelmed eyes whenever he so much as implies offering more than $100 at once. Damian is showing worrying signs of following in his precious Richardâs footsteps, and Babs barely allows him to fund tech for the Clocktower. At least Steph lets him pay for her tuition and uses his credit card to buy unholy amounts of Batburger. But that is hardly a drop in the ocean of Bruceâs wealth. And she wonât even accept a trust fund of only one million.
Jason wins for best-worst child though because he currently runs a very lucrative crime empire. And although he pours the vast, vast majority of his profits back into Crime Alley, whenever he gets a little too rich for his tastes, he dumps the money on Bruce. At this point, Bruce almost wishes he was being used for money laundering because then heâs at least not have the money.
So childrenâgenerous, kindhearted, stubborn till the day they die the little shits, childrenâare also out.
Bruce was funding the Justice League. But then finances were leaked, and the public had an outcry over one man holding so much sway over the worldâs superheroes (nevermind Bruce is one of those superheroesâbut the public canât know that). So Bruce had to do some fancy PR trickery, concede to a policy of not receiving a majority of funds from one individual, and significantly decrease his contributions because no one could match his donations.
At his wits end, Bruce hires a team of accounts to search through every crinkle and crevice of tax law to find what loopholes or shortcuts can be avoided in order to pay his damn taxes to the MAX.
The results are horrifying. According to the strictest definition of the law, the government owes him money.
Bruce burns the report, buries any evidence as deeply as he can, and organizes a foundation to lobby for FAR higher taxation of the upper class.
All this, and Wayne Enterprises is happily chugging along, churning profit, expanding into new markets, growing in the stock market, and trying to force the credit and proportionate compensation on their increasingly horrified CEO.
Bruce Wayne is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce Wayne will never not be one of the richest men in the world.
TV Show Host: Welcome back to MoneyTalk, I'm here with Bruce Wayne, Owner of Wayne Enterprises and, as many of you know, the richest businessman on Earth. So, Bruce, tell us - what's your secret?
Bruce: I don't know.
TV Show Host: Oh don't be coy--
Bruce: No, I seriously don't know. I GENUINELY don't. I was actually hoping for some advice? I can't seem to get rid of my money.
TV Show Host: '...Get rid of'?
Bruce: I've tried raising salaries, investing in infrastructure, forcing green initiatives, donating to charities, paying extra taxes--
TV Show Host: "........Extra" taxes??
Bruce: --doing giveaways, setting up trust funds, naming multiple inheritors--
TV Show Host: I'm sorry, can we back up a bit? I think I've lost the thread of this conversation...
Bruce: Listen, I made a bet with a reporter from the Daily Planet ten years ago that I could legally get my net worth down under one billion,
TV Show Host: That's... a very cute joke, Mr Wayne, I,
Bruce: --and the deadline is COMING UP in a few MONTHS,
TV Show Host: what
Bruce: --And not only am I not even CLOSE, I'm still in the GODDAMN TRILLION Range--
TV Show Host: oh dear god he's not joking.
Bruce: I keep shoveling money out the door and it keeps showing back up inside!
Bruce: I've updated EVERY public building in Gotham but THAT DIDN'T EVEN MAKE A DENT in my SALARY--
Bruce: I dumped money into R&D but my company ACCIDENTALLY INVENTED TECH THAT'S NOW TURNING A PROFIT--
Bruce, grabbing the mic: I WANTED TO BUY THE JUSTICE LEAGUE AN INTERSTELLAR BASE ON MARS BUT THEY WOULDN'T LET ME
[The tv crawl at the bottom of the screen reads: Wayne Enterprises stock rises 13%]
Bruce: WHAT'S A GUY GOTTA DO TO LOSE MONEY AROUND HERE
TV Show Host: Perhaps we could sit down,
Bruce: I'D SAY SOMEONE SHOULD TRY TO ROB MY ACCOUNT BUT I HAVE A SNEAKING SUSPICION THAT MY INSURANCE WOULD PROBABLY COVER IT BECAUSE LAST YEAR I TRIED TO PAY OFF THE JOKER TO TAKE A VACATION, AND THE NEXT TIME HE GOT ARRESTED, ARKHAM REFUNDED THE MONEY,
TV Show Host: Sir, please,
Bruce: --ACTUALLY, LET'S TRY IT! WHAT'VE I GOT TO LOSE, A COUPLE TRILLION?
Bruce: ALRIGHT GUYS LISTEN UP, MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER IS 555-
[Screen goes blue]
["Apologies, we are experiencing technical difficulties; MoneyTalk will be back on air shortly"]
