#cr fics

This week we have the 13th edition of older favourites and the last list of 2025! Check under the cut for fics that had their last update more than two years ago, and don't forget to kudos and comment if you enjoy.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Critical Role: Aramán (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Julien Davinos/Vaelus, Julien Davinos & Vaelus Characters: Vaelus (Critical Role), Julien Davinos Additional Tags: Nightmares, Grief/Mourning, Literal Sleeping Together, Light flirtation, Vaelus Makes Jokes All The Time Summary:

Julien's sleep is beset by nightmares. Luckily, Vaelus intimately understands the grief Julien is dealing with, and is willing to help.

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Critical Role: Exandria (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Keyleth/Vax'ildan (Critical Role) Characters: Keyleth (Critical Role), Vax'ildan (Critical Role) Additional Tags: Post-Campaign 3 (Critical Role), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Post-Campaign 1 (Critical Role), Hurt/Comfort Summary: Seven days after the end of the Era of Reclamation, Keyleth, Voice of the Tempest, gets a knock on her door that not only has been greatly expected, but that will also turn her world upside down.

“Who knows what will be of the Champions now that the Gods are gone. Will they be gone, too? Will they be able to live normal, mortal lives? Keyleth stopped wondering two nights ago. She stopped waiting every night for the knock on her door that will never come. Just last night, Keyleth resigned to the fact that all she had was just a fleeting night a week ago and that she will never have it back.”

___

This is my submission for day 7 of @vaxlethweek Fresh Start / Reunion.

“Oh, ja,” he says, catching himself. “This is where we first met. The Mighty Nein, I mean.”

Essek’s eyes widen. The room takes on new hues, a history he hasn’t been able to read from the furniture and the beer spilt in the corner. He can see the ghosts of younger versions of his friends, set lightly upon this space like a memory - Jester laughing and carving a dick into one of the tables, Beau and Fjord drinking from steins and ribbing one another. Caleb sitting with Veth, who presumably would have been Nott then. Yasha by the bar, perhaps, with the infamous Mollymauk. They had started off with only seven, not having any idea that someday they would be the nine of their strange moniker.

“Ah,” says Essek, not sure how to put all of these impressions into words, especially not in Common. “An auspicious beginning, I see.”

Caleb shares a small grin with him. Essek knows that smile; it usually forecasts some statement that Caleb knows will horrify Essek’s delicate sensibilities, looking forward to how Essek will react.

“Yes, what is it, Caleb Widogast?” Essek asks, trying to keep the answering smile from his own lips and already planning to act as affronted as possible.

“I was covered in mud and shit, you know,” Caleb says conversationally, a gleam in his eye. “When we first met. You would not have come within five feet of me.”

Essek has heard tales of dirty Caleb, and privately been amused at the thought. “I would have Prestidigitated you clean long before you came close enough to be a problem,” he says confidently.

Caleb laughs openly; it’s good to see him comfortable and safe enough to do so. “Perhaps I should fall in the mud and see how cool you would act around me now,” he says with a straight face. His eyes gleam with mischief.

“We shall see then, who is faster on the draw,” says Essek smugly. “My Prestidigitation, or your determination to get dirt upon me first.”

Caleb laughs again and moves to the bar to order them trosts, while Essek sits at the table and waits for the others to arrive. It seems fitting, that Caleb chose this place for their first monthly reunion since Uk’otoa had been vanquished. A new beginning, in a place where a beginning had been forged once before.

Caleb returns, carrying two trosts and wearing a thoughtful smile. “Wishing you had been here to join us from the start?”

Essek is rarely surprised at how well Caleb knows him, these days. This comment still throws him, putting words to a yearning that Essek hadn’t even begun to understand himself. “Had I been here from the start,” Essek says, “the story would have turned out very different.”

Caleb hums and clinks their glasses together, sipping from his trost with a hum. “True,” he acknowledges. “And in the end, you found us assholes anyway.”

The door flies open. Beauregard and Yasha make their way inside, Fjord and Jester hot on their heels. “What did we miss?” Beau demands.

“Hey Trostenwald,” Jester shouts. “We’re back!” She proceeds to cast Thaumaturgy and blow out all the windows in the inn. The innkeeper glares at her in a way that implies she’s not at all surprised by this occurrence.

As the room fills with the shouts and laughter of the Mighty Nein, Essek sits back with a smile.

Happy Halloween! Here are two related snippets from the Laudna Writes A Romance Novel AU that I might get back to someday:

“I would think you'd like romance novels, darling. Half the point of them is that you already know the end.”

Imogen laughed. “You are never gonna let that go are you?”

“I just think you might like novels better if you stopped flipping ahead all the time!”

“I can't help it, things move too slow and I get all itchy about it. And I use up all my no-peakin’ willpower to not look in peoples’ heads. Reading the ending early doesn't hurt anyone anyway.”

“It hurts the intended experience.”

“Laud, I promise I will not read the end of your story early, alright?”

Laudna sniffed. “Well of course you won't, because I haven't written it yet.”

~*~

Orym stared at her. “Laudna,” he said, with that slow, knowing tone that she knew meant he could see something she couldn’t, which for some reason plucked a string of fear in the back of her brain. “You’ve been reading this to Imogen as you write it?”

“I was, yes. Or…” She started to wring her hands together. “Some of it, I did, but then she said she'd rather wait until it was done, which seemed strange since she’s usually so impatient to tear through books that she spoils them for herself and I do worry it’s because she doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to hurt my feelings. Orym, why are you looking at me like that.”

“It’s just, well. I don’t think it’s that she doesn’t like it, exactly. I mean, don’t you think she might find it a little familiar?”

“I don’t follow.” Laudna concentrated very hard on the motion of Orym scratching his chin - isn’t that funny how he picked at that one spot as he pressed his lips together thin and tight, raising his eyebrows at her, what a particular habit she’d not noticed before, and far more interesting than rising, ringing staccato in her head that seemed to be calling her a liar. “What do you mean?”

“Ok. Let’s try it this way: how do your characters meet?”

Ah, safer ground.

“Oh it’s your classic knight in shining armor situation, the heroine is beset upon by ne’er do wells who have accused her of a crime she didn’t commit, and the love interest saves her, but they’re forced to go on the run together.”

“And how did Imogen and you meet?”

“We-I was-well! She saved me from a mob, yes but. It’s not quite the same-”

I do, as a matter of fact! I've read a few excellent one-shots recently.

Dancing Cheek to Cheek by soot_and_salt is a lovely ballroom au, the butterflies-in-your-stomach kind of romantic. I think we need more self-contained, apparently implausible but ultimately effective, terribly romantic aus (yes, this is a challenge) (by 'we' I mean 'myself'. I need more of those).

whims and days colored orange by lakrisrot (enheduane)/@lakrisrot is a post-canon, established relationship fic that satisfied my craving for carefree seaside days and, especially, nights.

if you earn it by stygius/@stygiusfic is an incredibly hot canon divergent au set after the peace talks. If you're in the mood for some slightly messed up smut, this is your fic (check out their more recent foreign diplomacy as well for a delightful morsel of evil au).

Lastly, but only chronologically, Slip the Blindfold by timbrene/@tarydarrington is a post-canon, pre-relationship Aeor hurt/comfort one-shot that reads like a 6k trust fall.

Honorable mention to fray by saturdaysky/@saturdaysky, which is not a shadowgast fic (the pairing, which I would say is anything but romantic, is Ludinus/Essek), and which offers an interesting, original, and rather fucked up reason why Essek started keeping his hair short.

~

You asked for short fics, anon, but I also want to mention two ongoing wips that grabbed my attention lately and that I haven't recced here yet:

hopeless enough by 06151126 is a Formula 1 au with incredible vibes. I love hyper-specific aus and this one reminds me a lot of the climbing au, if you're in the market for something similar;