Okay usually there’s one or two fics in every big fandom that are So Good I feel the need to get people into the show in order to recommend them to read this fic.
I figured this time, given the material, I might recommend the fic to people regardless because it is That Good and it’s a perfect genre re-write of the show anyway, so reading this fic is honestly just as good.
Hello, today I am here to talk about Overcoming by @jadegreenworks the only good A/B/O fic on the internet.
Don’t read A/B/O? Feel like it’s kinda gross? Squicked by any of its more out there components? Never really seen the appeal? Can’t put your finger on why, but you’re pretty sure it’s transphobic somehow most of the time?
You will still like this fic.
Don’t like Hannibal the show? Have no desire to watch a show where a serial killer manipulates, torments, and occasionally outright tortures an FBI profiler into a twisted murderer courtship (that ends up being kind of sweet at the end)?
You’ll still probably enjoy this fic, honest to god.
I haven’t mentioned the best part you see.
It’s a 500k slow burn regency romance where they get together for real around like the 150k mark.
It takes all the Good Shit in Hannibal and all the stuff the people Really find appealing about A/B/O (and then improves on them immensely, more on that in a second), and honestly y’all, y’all???
I haven’t finished it yet. I’m at chapter 45 or something and I’m already here to declare this not just my favorite singular work in the Hannibal fandom, but like, one of my top five favorite fics of all time.
This is not said lightly. I have been reading fic basically daily since around 2007 and I have a couple thousand bookmarked fics across multiple platforms. I take my fic recommendations seriously dammit.
Okay. So. Back to the fic.
Specifically it takes all the important elements of Hannibal and all of the major characters and transposes them in interesting ways into this nondescript regency setting, that includes all the fun shit you’d get in an Austen rip-off. It’s beautiful.
The relationship develops slowly and in the context of layers of miscommunication and secrets and manipulations from outside forces and from within the relationship itself, just like in the show, but with less of the stabbing in the stomach as a way to tug on the love interest’s pigtails. It’s still very much about different masks that people wear and hide beneath and become lost in. All of the compelling elements of Hannibal and Will’s relationship are present.
And also at one point Will hits Hannibal in the face with a really big trout, and then Hannibal refuses to shut up about it ever again because he’s so amazed that Will hit him in the face with a fish. It’s Great.
Also, as I said, they start getting together for real around the 150k mark, and the entire epic is 500k, so there’s gratuitous amounts of fluff and smut for like...most of it.
Onto the most important part: the A/B/O stuff. In short, rather than having male omegas and female omegas, all omegas in this universe are born fully intersex with two sets of functioning reproductive organs, and they are culturally encouraged to adopt whatever pronouns, including nonbinary pronouns, they choose.
AND there are specific nonbinary and gendplayful cultural elements that specifically cater to Omegas, and even the way that the other two dynamics are presented is interesting. Because it’s a regency story, the social roles expected based on dynamic as well as gender are well explored.
However! The source material is Hannibal. It’s still pretty dark, even if it’s not as dark as the show. There’s still murders and attempted murders and Intrigue and discussions of pretty dark child abuse and trauma and a lot of stuff that’s pretty fucked up, so heed the tags.
Also the first few chapters are really rough to read, and Hannibal as a character starts off very Hannibal, but if you get through the set-up, I swear the pay-off is worth it. The author says in the notes to just trust them until you get to chapter 7, and they’re right.
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