#case fics

Enjoyed the world building in this story. Loved the complexities of LZ and WY’s relationship. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Quotes:

Wei Ying is looking around the interior, clean from last weekend’s vacuum. “Nice car. I kind of pictured you driving a Porsche, or an Audi maybe. You know. Something sleek and sexy.”

Lan Zhan glances at him, and he grins. “I don’t know. You just give off that mysterious hot dude aura. Like James Bond, but you know. Hopefully less misogynistic.”

His car is, in fact, a Honda Fit. He had been considering a Leaf, but his battle to get his Strata to install charging stations in his building has been an uphill one.

“This has good mileage and a user-friendly eco-mode,” he says, fairly sure Wei Ying is not being serious but unable to reply in kind.

“Wow Lan Zhan, you really sell it. I’ll put Honda on my list for future me’s vehicle choices.”

————

Lan Zhan draws in a breath, slow, so deep his chest aches with it. He can feel his heart pressed tight within him, the feeling uncomfortable, distressing. But he can’t just keep sitting here and letting Wei Ying carry the conversation. The conversation he initiated, and now finds himself unable even to lead.

“You and I are very different,” he says, slowly. For once, Wei Ying doesn’t interject. “You are very different from anyone else in my life. I have been. Dazzled. By you. I thought that perhaps, despite our differences, despite my doubts, we could be… something.”

“And now you don’t?” asks Wei Ying, quietly. Lan Zhan turns to look at him. He’s sitting stiffly, his eyes wide, worried. For the first time he looks vulnerable – more than he did luring out a yao, more than he did walking into a house with a violent spectre.

“How could we, when I cannot even find the words to tell you what I want?”

Wei Ying leans forward, reaches out and hooks his long fingers over Lan Zhan’s. “I thought that was a pretty clear message just now. You’re right – we are different. Maybe too different – I don’t know. But I want to find out. I want – I want the way you look at me, like I’m the only person you’re thinking of.”

Lan Zhan swallows dryly, his throat tight. With fear, with desperation, but also for the first time with an ounce of hope. “You are. Since we first met, I have not been able to stop thinking about you. Each time I see you, it just makes me want to see you again.”

M, 68k

Summary:

The Lans were one of the founding families of the Vancouver Guild; part of their legacy is to maintain their place in it for the benefit of all. Cultivation is important, essential, serious.

In the distance, something squeaks.

A disaster, is Lan Zhan’s first impression as the bike squeals to a halt on the far side of Song Lan’s car. The man riding it – and he’s tall, and lanky, and sure-footed – hops off and locks it to the car’s back door. The back door of a police vehicle. He pulls his helmet off to reveal long, sweat-soaked hair with a shaggy undercut, bright grey eyes, and a smile that launches like an arrow straight through Lan Zhan’s chest.

thank you!! <3

Hi there! I don’t know many case fics within that range but I’m listing a few below. I also did a reclist a while ago, but most of those are over 20k. You can check it here if you like. Enjoy!

Fool Moon by @piarelei (2021, E, 10k)

Nobody ever told Harry that becoming a werewolf makes you stupid. Yes, being a werewolf gets him fired; yes, parents keep their kids away from him; yes, crowds smell awful. Everything that Hermione has told him after his first full moon has come true. But there was no one to sit him down, pat his back and inform him that his wolf-self would turn out to make the dumbest decisions one could ever settle on.

This Unexpected Windfall by mindabbles (2018, E, 11k)

Harry doesn’t like it when Draco is called in to work one of his cases. No. He doesn’t like it at all — at least that’s what he tells himself.

Polar Night by hereticalvision (2012, E, 13k)

Still in recovery from their break-up, Harry and Draco must travel through the arctic conditions of Svalbard to catch the last Death Eater still at large.

Spirited by mindabbles (2019, E, 14k)

Draco needs just a few good reviews on something called “The Yelp.” He’s finally on the verge of the perfect case when Harry bloody Potter decides to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong.

...and with persons even worse by Leela (2013, M, 14k)

Someone's killing rentboys in Lower Knockturn, and the case is getting attention from the top. No one at the Ministry wants another Ripper, stalking Knockturn Alley or moving into Muggle London. Harry Potter agrees to go undercover, but can he keep his identity a secret when Draco Malfoy is the rentboy assigned to show him the ropes?

Espresso Patronum by tasteofshapes (2020, T, 15k)

When Draco reappears five years after the war and opens a wildly popular coffee shop, Harry’s pretty sure that Draco’s Up to Something. He just has to prove it.

A Little Bird Told Me by Cibee (2021, M, 18k)

Harry and his partner are called to investigate a murder that occurred at an exclusive getaway hosted by Muggle patrician Robert Morton in his own house. The surviving six people are now both witnesses and suspects. There is just one problem for Harry: Draco Malfoy is one of them.

Benevolence and Redemption by silvered_glass (2021, M, 18k)

Draco's the most unlikely Auror recruited to the department in at least three centuries. Ostracised and unwanted, he's been on paperwork duties for the three years since he finished training. Harry is the Saviour of the Wizarding World with nice forearms and too-large hands who suddenly starts turning up in the Ministry gym when Draco’s there, and sitting on Draco’s desk, and asking for Draco’s assistance on cases.

A Light for Another's Dark by @p1013 (2020, M, 19k)

Every touch leaves a memory. For Unspeakable Draco Malfoy, this is literal. When Harry Potter goes missing, Draco is asked to use his ability to Read the memories embedded in the objects he touches to help find Potter. While following his trail, Draco’s only certain of one thing: what he learns about Harry Potter affects Draco's life more than he wants to admit, and, more worryingly, not just his life, but his heart.

A Song Without Words by Omi_Ohmy (2013, M, 20k)

When a violin goes missing, Draco has to work with Potter to clear both their names.

Transmutations by khasael (2015, M, 21k)

Harry needs help with his current Auror case, and it looks as if only Draco Malfoy can provide it. The Draco that Harry knew at school would never have agreed to do so... but maybe he's changed?

Heartlines by @sorrybutblog (2022, T, 22k)

Hello! So glad you've lurked, so glad you're here!

I'd recommend you check out a couple of my previous rec lists. Hopefully you can find what you're looking for there, but if not, feel free to reach out to the Help Desk and I'll try again for you!

Long Fics

Long Fics 2

Case Fics

Oblivious Harry

Harry Centric

❤️ As always, if you find a fic you enjoy, please remember to leave the author a kudos or a comment! ❤️

12. Is there a trope you haven’t written yet but really want to?

fascinating question. my favorite tropes (which I have once spent over an hour rating on this site) are enemies to lovers, mutual pining and friends to lovers, with a close second being college au and coffee shop au (and canon divergence and first kiss...). so honestly? I think I’m doing surprisingly well on the omgcp front.

but to answer the question:

a) I love bed sharing fics, so maybe one day I’ll have to bite the bullet and just come up with a good enough plot to justify it.

SPN Reclist: Gen Casefic! my fic sweet spots for this trope: hurt!sam/comforting!Dean, and for the gen casefic, while I’m not normally big on angst, I’ve found I can really dig angst when it’s paired with a case. A few of my favorite case fic deets. Also, a related but shippy trope, I have an undercover couple reclist. ✧ My entire catalogue of fic recs on my neocities website here ✧ So let’s get started! 🤗❤️  ✧ Category: Gen ✧ The Haunted Hotels series by authoressnebula. Rated PG-13, Gen, 102k words. Summary:  Hotels are usually where the Winchesters can find respite. Not these hotels. Case-fics where the Winchesters find themselves in danger, deceit, and death. They'll have to unravel the mystery of the hotel if they want to get through it alive. Fortunately, the Winchesters are bad-asses, and they have the most powerful weapon they could ask for: each other. ao3.org/series/1425697 my thoughts: Riveting storytelling with our boys at the center of it being the Big Damn Heroes we know them to be. I submitted a post that detailed my thoughts on each story here but you can simply rest assured there’s plenty of mystery, horror, and restrained but still very satisfying hurt/comfort. 

Illusions by Kyriebess (FF.net). Rated PG-13, Gen, 9k. Summary: Sam gets attacked by a rare creature who is trying to scare him to death. Fortunately, there's a small but slightly awkward loophole in the creature's spell that may help the brothers defeat her. fanfiction.net/s/5106989 my thoughts: This fic is in my top favorite spn fics. I loved this story so much because the rules of the monster in this case fic were crafted to brilliantly showcase insight into how the brothers feel about each other.... much to their embarrassment and delight depending on the brother. She wrote another great story that's similarly crafted called Thump in the Night (fanfiction.net/s/4031910). If there had been a web series of short half-hour episodes to coincide with season 1 of SPN, these two stories would be featured. 

Together We’ll Break These Chains of Love by fogsrollingin Gen, PG, 10k words. Summary: “'HOLD MY HAND’ Sam yelled, laughing so hard he was gasping.” Light-hearted (and then intense) h/c gen fic, set in the beginning of S4. ao3.org/works/1429417 or fanfiction.net/s/9615596 my thoughts on me: inspired by kyriebess, I tried to write a case that’d bring something shmoopy out about Sam & Dean’s brotherhood. It turned out to be pretty funny too (at least to me!)

Disorder by Kohadril (FFnet). Rated PG-13, Gen, 62k. Summary: Order is the fragile illusion of control…a lie we tell ourselves by necessity, because the reality of our impermanence and futility is maddening. What happens to a man who looks upon the face of entropy?  fanfiction.net/s/3223787 my thoughts: While the summary doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, this is one of the best case fics ever primarily because it’s writing Sam and Dean so well as young men and close brothers, set around season 2. It all stays undeniably gen while still having some amazing hurt/comfort hugs and even cuddles along the way. Supernatural-caused insanity/psychosis is the 'Sam Hurt’ here

House of Burden by Maygin (FF.net). Rated PG-13, Gen, 78k. Summary: Within its walls lives a family that has never been touched by hate, fire or the Supernatural… but for one.  fanfiction.net/s/3691343 my thoughts: This fic is in my top favorite spn fics. Where the Winchesters remained a wholesome family in the suburbs and Sam is the only one who grows to realize there's a darker side to the world around them. So much Sam angst! With a happy ending! And a gargoyles case fic! What more could a fangirl want? Teenchesters fic, & definitely counts as a bizarre AU too. 

Fear No More by Jedi Sapphire. Rated PG-13, gen, 35k. Summary: It's just a straightforward salt-and-burn, so Dean and John decide it'll be the perfect job to give Sam as his first solo hunt. And then it stops being so straightforward.  fanfiction.net/s/8226836 my thoughts: Following House of Burden up with this ficrec bc it’s a nontraditional casefic too.  It’s written in first person from Sam’s POV, and before you blow this fic off because of the perspective, pleaaaase just give it a shot. It’s so easy to roll with this author’s depiction of Sam’s inner thoughts, I promise. This fic is very light on John bc the setting is an all-boys boarding school so Sam’s only got Dean as his backup while he figures his first case out. This is a really sweet and angsty casefic for Sammy and it’s awesome. 

Foreseen by P.L. Wynter (FFnet). Rated R, Gen, 58k words. Summary:  In 1967, tragedy struck Point Pleasant, West Virginia. They were given their warnings. No one listened. Now, the warnings are back. Rated M for language.  fanfiction.net/s/2705943 my thoughts: This is a fantastic mothman case fic: the author did her research on the Mothman myth & legend for this. Fantastic thriller/drama. A lot of creepy suspense too (so like perfect for those who enjoyed the understatedly eerie 2002 film). My favorite part was when a gun stays on Sam for so long that it frays both the brothers’ nerves.

Hozho by LadyVic (FFnet). Rated PG-13, Gen, 113k words. Summary:  Misunderstandings and insecurities throw the brothers off balance and land them in the path of a wildfire as they face a dangerous foe and the line between hunter and hunted blurs.  fanfiction.net/s/3900631 my thoughts: I’ll be honest, I read this a very long time ago so I don’t remember details but this is what I said when I read+rec’d it years ago (I still have it! haha): Fantastic case fic where the author did her research on Native American myth & lore and threw the boys into an extremely compelling thriller/drama. 

Fishing for Mermaids by CeCe Away (FFnet). Rated PG-13, Gen, 10k words. Summary: Don't be dead. Don't be dead. Sam floated, legs angled downward by the weight of his heavy wet boots and jeans.  fanfiction.net/s/6563399 my thoughts: This case fic is action-packed from start to finish and features a creature that SPN hasn't tackled before: mermaids! I literally couldn't put this fic down. I had to reread it again because I was zipping through it so fast the first time. Totally felt like an episode - only better. 

Spirit of Winter's Chill by Jedi Sapphire (AO3). Rated PG, Gen, 8k. Summary: Sam and Dean are hunting Jack Frost. There's one important piece of information they don't have. No spoilers except to the premise of the show.  ao3.org/works/5342843 my thoughts: This is a fantastic Christmas case fic (therefore included in my Winter Holidays ficrecs list) that  involves a masterful treatment of the amnesia trope (so it's included in my amnesia reclist too). This story totally lives up to its immediate hook. The best part is that the brothers' victory elicits you that melty (harhar) shmoop feel-good feeling you don't get in most straightforward case fics - but these are my favorite kinds of case fics. A parallel amnesia case fic is The Teind on All Hallows' Eve (ao3.org/works/5113700) to this one features fae/fairies and it's equally awesome! (so much work when an author loves the same tropes I do and puts them all together into a solid story, right?!)

The Queen of Light Took Her Bow by LadyVic (FFnet). Rated PG-13, Gen, 141k words. Summary: Battle lines are drawn when the touch of the Fae is felt in the town where the Winchesters have found refuge. The repercussions could change the family’s path forever. Sam 18 Dean 22. fanfiction.net/s/4875088 my thoughts: I’m in love with fae/fairy stories in large part because of this fic. It’s a tremendously imaginative, magical, and lengthy Sam-centric case fic you can really sink your teeth into. Nontraditional casefic in that it’s kinda epic & so brilliantly detailed at 141k words, and therefore kinda similar to the following below, In Reverse by Sodakey.

In Reverse by Sodakey. Rated PG-13, Gen, 148k. Summary: After S1E12 Faith, a job has the boys looking for missing hikers in Wyoming. While Sam worries it’s connected to what happened to Dean ten years ago, Dean wonders if Sam would be better off back in the world of normal. fanfiction.net/s/2787883 my thoughts: One of my top favorite spn fics of all time. A fantastic read especially if you're new to fanfiction and looking for something similar to canon but d e e p e r. This is a superbly written insightful and believable case fic that takes a long time to resolve while exploring so many aspects of Sam & Dean's characters and personal histories. Also I love fics that feature Sam’s Stanford friends meeting him as a hunter.

Blind, But Now I See by Kyriebess. Rated PG-13, Gen, 34k. Summary: Short story where Sam gets a clear revelation about how special Dean is compared to other brothers. Then he tries to thank Dean for it, much to Dean's dismay, while they finish the ghost hunt. Sam POV, hurt!Sam, protective!Dean, minor hurt!Dean  fanfiction.net/s/3512472 my thoughts: This fic is in my top favorite spn fics of all time. If you want to read about sibling relationships and why Sam's and Dean's were so sweet/wholesome/loving growing up bc they're on a case featuring two brothers that weren't, here's your holy grail. This showcases my favorite framing of the brothers' relationship I've ever read (how both of them needed and depended on each other growing up and it wasn't a one-way burden on Dean to have to be there for Sam). It's a great case fic too! 

Vampires Were People Too by TraSan. Rated PG-13, Gen, 48k words. Summary:  The desert is a dangerous place filled with poisonous snakes, spiders and intense heat. With the addition of the civatateo Sam and Dean find themselves battling an ancient vampire along with their own inner demons. fanfiction.net/s/4185694 my thoughts: excellent case fic featuring Sam as the victim of a slow death by illness/life-force-sucking vamp. Lots of tender scenes between Sam and Dean and pretty cool Aztec lore woven into it all.

In Libris Libertas by Jedi Sapphire. Rated PG-13, Gen, 45k. Summary: A disgruntled witch casts an unusual spell on the boys. It's going to take all their guts, ingenuity and badassery to get out of this one. fanfiction.net/s/7614047 my thoughts: A fic that meshes curse casefics with the episode Changing Channels! Kind of amazing, right? No real Supernatural episode could legally visit so many other fictional universes/properties, hahaha. This fic's a tremendously fun adventure.

Case Fics

More fics will be added as I read.

Its an AWESOME drarry series with auror!drarry, mystery, drama, slow burn, a fucking beautiful despiction od their relationship, incredible cases, etc. Seriously the best drarry series I've read so far!