#foxesonstilts

@foxesonstilts und ich haben uns zusammengetan und durften für das @germancrimezine ein double feature zum 🚨 tatort stuttgart 🚨 kreieren!

Ok so I’m still not actually sure which fics would technically be the best place to start especially since you told me in the IM that you haven’t actually seen the show itself yet.. but I’m just gonna list some of my personaly favourites kinda sorted by a few categories? this might end up being way too long, sorry in advance :’)

one small disclaimer: I’ve mostly pulled these from my ao3 bookmarks and/or fic rec tag and some of them have been months/years since I last read them so I don’t always 100% know all the details and tropes etc anymore, just that I enjoyed reading them enough to save them somewhere? I think they’re probably all first time fics because that has my preference over established relationship, so just a heads up for that.. anyway- let’s start with the list:

I’ll start with some fics that are still kind of close to canon as far as I remember and kinda plotty and long-ish and really good and funny:

Finders Keepers - Taliesin(This one is hilarious, things you need to know beforehand for this are: Thrush is the name of the organisation behind the bad guys in a lot of the episodes and they also play a role in this fic I think)

The Ties That Bind - Taliesin(I love this one because Illya and Napoleon spend basicall the whole fic chained to each other with handcuffs while being on the run from -again- Thrush, and it gets them into a lot of funny and awkward situations)

and then there’s one that’s also long and plotty from what I remember that has the character played by william shatner in it as well, it gets pretty angsty at some point though but it does have a happy ending (otherwise I wouldn’t have liked it myself) like I mentioned it’s the first long mfu fic I read myself but idk if it’s necessarily the best one to start out with, but I’m including it anyway: - The Locust Affair - LadyRa

You mentioned you liked multilingualism or fics involving language and since Illya is Russian (but there’s also evidence suggesting he grew up in the Ukraine) there’s definitely fics out there that deal with that, here’s two I really like a lot:

The Truth Shall Set You Free - Orockthro(I really recommend keeping google translate open in another tab while reading this one because there’s some Ukrainian in it that doesn’t get translated in the fic itself but google helps a lot and some of the things he says are really funny.)

Lessons - fallingintodivinity(Napoleon asks Illya to teach him some Russian)

Then there’s this other genre which is kind of a big favourite of mine which on the one hand might be perfect for people who haven’t seen the show because they basically take place BEFORE canon… which are fics that describe how Illya and Napoleon might have met for the first time or first started working together.. since canon itself literally doesn’t say anything about how that happened, fanon could go kind of wild with that.. some of them contain a kind of popular fanon theory that Illya originally started out working in the labs (creating gadgets etc) instead of in the field, this isn’t really proven nor disproven by canon but I kind of like it:

The Better Gadget Affair - LadyRa(This is basically my all time favourite go-to fic to reread 3456 times so it really needed to be on this list no matter what, it’s A+++)

Waging World Peace - Alex51324(this is an author who also wrote AMAZING things for due south - including the were otter fic (!!!) which- if you haven’t read that, please do- so yeah- great writer overall, this fic does deal a bit more with the tensions of the cold war etc than the show itself ever did iirc, but I loved it a lot)

The Big Wheel Affair - Garonne(Napoleon meets Illya in VIenna, has a one night stand with him and then has to work a whole case together unexpectedly :’)

And then there’s a couple of more light hearted fics I just need to mention that fill me with glee, they don’t necessarily fit any of the tropes you mentioned in the IMs but *muffled screaming*, a lot of them are by @truthanddivinity whose fics I recommend a lot anyway, but here’s some specific ones:

All You Need is Love (And Chocolate Cake) - fallingintodivinity(this is basically Illya/food heaven, idk if that’s your thing but it really is my thing a lot and this is a whole fic of napoleon cooking for illya and ahdjksjdkfjh and really well written)

The Mysterious Date Affair - fallingintodivinity(Napoleon gets jealous because he THINKS illya has a date)

Summer Holiday - fallingintodivinity(Napoleon and Illya go on holiday together, but Napoleon accidentally booked a trip to a “romantic getaway” for gay couples- then they also run into Thrush guys, hilarity ensues)

Your Lips, Your Lips (I Could Kiss Them All Day if You’d Let Me)- fallingintodivinity(5 times + 1 format, lots of kissing in the line of duty ;))

The Inappropriate Amusement Affair - trinityofone(Also a fic about kissing in the line of duty but in this one Napoleon keeps getting the giggles in the middle of it and he doesn’t know why)

Another one by LadyRa that I liked is a honey trap fic (idk if that’s your thing) where Illya has to seduce a guy to get information and Napoleon gets all jealous about it, again not sure if it’s quite what you’re looking for at this time but including it anyway: - The Let’s Get Friendly Affair - LadyRa

And there’s also another Taliesin fic I think I liked but I don’t remember much about, but I’m adding it because idk (I think at some point they get accused of being gay by some homophobic coworker and they handle it in a really funny way): “I Took It For A Faery Vision” or The Forbidden Fruits Affair- Taliesin

this post is probably long enough at this point, I hope there’s something in here that you like :)) I got a bit carried away lol

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Hal/Royston Characters: Thom (Havemercy)Royston (Havemercy)Hal (Havemercy) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, POV Outsider Summary: 

There were a number of studios alloted for principals and Thom checked those first. Two of the rooms were empty, but Thom could see a sliver of light from under the door of the third one. He tried to open the door as quietly as possible, aware that his standing as one of the Academy's top physiologists could only get him so far when it came to disrupting a principal's precious training.

Rook wasn't inside. Nor was Amery. Instead, Thom saw Hal in arms of one of the masters.

‘Fuck,’ said Thom. And then covered his mouth.

omg your tags are accurate

aragorn/legolas: sanitized, acceptable gay, 14yo me can deal with this (in secret lmao nobody can ever know)