The Fic Navigator

A fanfiction reading blog.

[theficnavigator]

Hello and welcome to The Fic Navigator!

If you’ve found this blog, congratulations! How did you manage that? I did next to nothing to promote it. Aw well, while you’re here I might as well tell you what it’s about.

It’s about reading fic of course! And talking about it. And making lists. I do love making lists. Basically this whole thing is just a big excuse to satisfy my neurodivergent need to collect things in a way that makes sense to me. Hopefully, it will be useful to some other people. If not, well, that’s okay too.

Although, if you decide to follow along with my journey, beware! While I can get over involved and obsessive about a thing, I might just disappear at any moment! Such is the case with most things. But I usually come back eventually. You’ll just have to wait and see. You have been warned.

Oh, and I should probably say what fandoms I’m gonna go into. I’m currently reading Harry Potter and One Direction fic. I might revisit some Bandom fics from time to time. And who knows what else, really? I’m looking to explore (but I can’t promise that I actually will, so let’s say HP and 1D for now).

If you have some suggestions or recommendations of your own, feel free to share them with me! I’m very friendly, I promise! :)

[theficnavigator]

First up in the favourite tags series is Healing.

Be it physical, mental or emotional healing (are those last two the same thing? anyway) there’s so much to love about this element being included in fiction in general.

Do you, like me, have some kind of fixation with seeing the characters you love get hurt? Of course you do, that’s why the hurt/comfort tag is so damn popular. So why did I choose healing and not hurt/comfort you ask? I guess because “healing” implies a lot of hard work. The hardest part of getting hurt is not actually getting hurt, it’s having to pick yourself back up again. It’s something we all have to do in some form or another. So, it makes for some of the greatest stories.

I’m going to spend some time with this tag for the next however long and keep you updated. For now, here are a few fics I’ve already read with the healing tag:

there now, steady love (so few come and don't go) by we_are_the_same @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed​

harry styles/louis tomlinson, 42k

It becomes just another fact of life. The sky is blue. The grass is green. Louis sees when people are about to die.

This Multiplicity of Powers by HelloAmHere @helloamhere​

harry styles/louis tomlinson, 149k

Maybe in another universe he isn’t different. Maybe he hadn’t been given an impossible choice. Maybe he wouldn’t have lost everything and broken everything and then fallen impossibly, irrevocably in love with the first next thing that was kind. Maybe in that universe he doesn’t feel like he’s never breathing, always pretending, teaching the kids even though they all have to learn alone, trying hard not to read the headlines, and so afraid, every day, that he won’t be a good enough teammate to the superhero he can’t live without. He knows that love isn’t supposed to feel this way, slid secret under your skin like a surgical razor, an invisible war held close over the tender vein that keeps you alive. On the other hand, Louis wonders, had he ever known how to do it any other way?

Maybe there’s a universe where he doesn’t have to keep all his secrets on the inside.

But this isn’t that universe.

//an X-Men AU.

driving down a one way road (to something better) by we_are_the_same @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed

zayn malik/louis tomlinson, 26k

When Zayn breaks up with his boyfriend, he needs a place to stay. Louis wouldn't be Louis if he didn't immediately open his doors to him. Never mind the fact that he's been in love with him for two years. That's not important, right?

Stairway to Heaven by fleurdeliser @fleurdeliser, tuesdaysgone

frank iero/grant morrison/gerard way, 57k

Father Way accidentally taps into the memories of an angel, and stumbles into the middle of a millennia-long doomed romance.

helplessness blues by temerity (forsanethaec)

Niall Horan/Louis Tomlinson, 32k

Louis gets dumped and gives up on himself at the end of 2014. Niall steps in to help.

[theficnavigator]

So, now that I’ve introduced myself, let’s get right into it.

One of the best ways of looking for fics on AO3, is using the incredible tag system that they have. So I’m starting a series where I’ll delve into some of my favourite tags and see what AO3 has to offer. I’ll link some of the tags here as I go along, but I’m probably gonna spend a decent amount of time on each one.

First up, Healing.

In the mean time, let me know some of your own favourite tags and what you love about them!