My first fic of 2024: dismantle the sun by StarryCleric

Summary:

Beau shudders and holds Caleb's hand, which he squeezes back tentatively. She can feel how it shakes in her grip. She does her best to steady him, despite the fact that she wants to shake apart herself and completely fall to pieces. “I am going to hazard a guess here,” Caleb says softly, “that we may have been drugged.” --- Tonight was supposed to be a fun night off. Unfortunately for Beau and Caleb, the universe has other plans.

2024 fics I kept returning to

January

Winter Song by @proantagonista

Yuri!!! on Ice, rated E. Completed 2018-03-25.

The set of Yuuri’s mouth softened into a private smile as Victor squeezed his knee beneath the table. His hands were bare, free from the gloves he so often wore when they were together on the rink, and the heat of his palm burned straight through the denim of Yuuri’s jeans. He slipped his own hand beneath the table and found Victor’s. Hidden from sight, their fingers began to flirt and play. A secret conversation all their own that needed no words. Yuuri was aware that at some point—a moment in time he couldn’t quite place—Victor had become his boyfriend. There wasn’t a single instant when it happened. It was a slow awareness, as if Victor had silently been asking the question for months now, and Yuuri had been giving him the answer a little more with each passing day.

February

blink by @frockbot

Persona 5, rated M. Completed 2020-11-13.

Summary:

Do you want kids? Ren asked Akechi two years ago, the night they decided to get married. Yes. He did. They do. So when they’re given the chance to adopt a pair of sisters, ten-year-old Maya and two-year-old Sai, they take it. They’re prepared for a rough transition: for arguments, and upset, and struggle. That, they can handle, or find ways to handle. They are not prepared for the resurgence of an old and familiar evil that threatens to destroy the tenuous family they’ve built. They probably should have expected it, though. After all, this always happens to them. [Takes place 17 years post-game and 16 years post-Doomsday. You don't have to have read my other fics to start here, but maybe you should?]

March

In Calm Waters by @dracosollicitus

Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, rated E. Completed 2024-03-04.

Summary:

Rey Smith, an Omega who presented late, meets Poe Dameron, an Alpha unlike anyone she's ever met. Sparks fly, they fall in love — and fight against societal expectations. The two work together to build a relationship built on mutual trust and respect in a world that claims they should be nothing more than their biologies.

April

Investigation Check by @percivalium

Critical Role (Vox Machina), rated E. Completed 2022-10-09.

Summary:

She’s hot. She’s not usually hot. Blankets can be kicked off, but not this time. She’s also sore. She’s not usually sore, either. Muscles can be tender after battle, but not this time. Vex prys one bleary eye open, attempting to take in her surroundings. It’s her bed: check. Her room: check. Her blanket: check. A warm body next to her: check? A heavy arm draped over her belly: check?! Both eyes open now (literally and figuratively), she slowly rotates her head on the pillow to look at the foreign body next to her, smiling when she sees a floof of light-colored hair tucked carefully next to her shoulder. She can’t help herself and sighs contently, making some strands of his unruly tufts wave and ruffle. Her Percy: BIG check with a heart drawn around it.

May

Nightmares by @roninreverie

Star Wars Rebels, rated G. Completed 2016-01-01.

Summary:

After the events of the planet Gorse, Kanan and Hera adapt to living together as a crew, but things get off to a bumpy start.

June

three years, three rules by @akihmorn

Persona 5, rated E. Completed 2020-11-18.

“The truth is, I hate all alphas,” he stares at Akira coldly. “And that includes you.” Three years after getting married, Akira and Goro face an unexpected challenge. shuake week day 3: comfort

July

The Mind and The Maladay by @saltytothecore

Critical Role (The Mighty Nein), rated T. Completed 2022-04-06.

Of all the ways Essek thought he might find himself staring down mortality, his magic making a cancer of his lonely heart never even entered his consideration. But then, his calculus has never been able to account for the Mighty Nein. There is a remedy for his illness, of course. There is always a way to unwind magic, but there is always a price. The cost of Essek’s life, now that he’s contracted Hanahaki’s disease, can be paid two ways—one is higher than Essek can bear and the other, well. The other can only be paid by someone else. And if Essek could ask that, then he wouldn’t be sick at all, would he?

August

Witch Ways by @aliquistis

Baldur's Gate, rated M. Last Updated 2024-02-16.

Echo has lived her life tucked away in the forests of Tethir, learning magic through the pulse of nature and the songs of creation. She's good with magic, but not people, which isn't really a problem until she's scooped up by mind flayers and has to get along with six strangers lest they all share a tentacle-y doom. And she manages to get along with most of them -- but then there's Gale of Waterdeep. Despite a terrible first impression, she finds he is actually much kinder than all the mansplaining would suggest. This is a series of relationship scenes about my weird little mushroom hermit, a wizard who shows compassion and arrogance really can coexist, and how academic rivalry is like first base for wizards. Spoilers up to Act 2 for main plot and Gale's romance.

(image source)

September

Pacts and Bargains at Night by @feynwiddershins

Critical Role (Vox Machina), rated E. Completed 2023-03-04.

What passes while the sun is set is often the most revealing.

October

Filling the Hourglass by makkachincrossing

Critical Role (Mighty Nein), rated E. Last Updated 2021-10-27.

Every 25 years, omega Drows enter their period of fertility. The time is rapidly approaching for Essek as summer only grows hotter, and his husband grows older with no way to stop it. But he hopes Caleb can leave a piece of himself behind.

November

Learning to Listen by @fivedayslater

One Piece, rated T. Completed 2018-08-14.

For as long as Zoro's felt his soulmate echoes he's hated them. He doesn't know why Sanji, or the rest of his crew mates, care so damn much.

I'm finishing the year with

and on toward the edge of night by @j-plash

Critical Role (Bells Hells), rated E. Last Updated 2024-11-26.

Ashton would love every fucking alpha in Jrusar to take a long walk off a fucking cliff. Orym just knows it's not right that Dorian has to be so careful walking down the street at night. ("There you go, sweetheart, keep breathing for me.” Ashton doesn’t think he could stop breathing that in if he tried.)

Bookmarks (and notes) of 2024

These are the fics I've bookmarked (saved), and the summaries I add for my own understanding of what each one is, so I can come back it it faster.

even darkness must pass by dare_to_do_our_duty

The one where Caleb has a fever and Caduceus is tired.

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart) by @notaficwriter

The one where Vex and Percy don't start of as soulmates.

come morning light (you and i'll be safe and sound) by @chaseyesterdays

The one where Percy is a dad. Good wholesome cure for depression.

the mist upon the hill by BucketofWater

The one where Mollymauk's blood hunter skills are actively harming his soulmate, but Caleb is too frightened to admit it to him.

The Courage Or The Fall by Rowyndodendron

The one where Caleb should huddle with Mollymauk for warmth.

feverish, burning up inside by @ivelostmyspectacles

The one where Caleb goes into heat in the back of their wagon and Mollymauk assists.

burning out, helpless by @ivelostmyspectacles

The one where Mollymauk is forced into a heat and Caleb does his best to assist.

Ship to Wreck by Snailsnol

The one where Gale courts a prickly Drow.

The Wonderful Life of Caleb de Rolo by @historia-gloria

The one where Percy and Vex adopt the kid tortured with Whitestone residuum.

Strong Enough to Bend by @catgirlthecrazy

The one where Essek doesn't really have the drive for sex he expects himself to.

Blackbird by @okadiah

The one where Kanan's weapon possesses him in an AU where he's not exactly a Jedi.

Exit Wounds by @seti-fan

The one where Percy has bullets left over under the skin.

Feathers and Smoke by @feynwiddershins

The one where it's a canon character study of Percy and Vex and it's fucking amazing how detailed it is.

From a Swell in the Ocean by @goose-smoothie

The one where Vox Machina is a pirate ship and Percy was rescued by "privateer" Captain Vex'ahlia.

In Bloom, With You by @nekosd43

The one where Caduceus has a season and Fjord offers to assist.

Perceived Impressions by @acinonyx1

The one where Astarion shares a cell with a bear and angst happens.

As I end 2024, thank you again to the writers who've provided me with much comfort in a ridiculously tumultuous year.

Critical Role

Pact Boon: All Inclusive Stay by Demenior 

E, No Archive Warnings Apply. Fjord (Critical Role)/Original Male Character(s)  

“The Mighty Nein are Fjord's best friends. His family. His favorite people in the world. He'd die for them. He spends every waking moment with them.  

They're smothering him.  

Thankfully, Fjord can use his new relationship with his sugar dragon for a private getaway."

the taste of salty summer brine by mischiefseven 

E, No Archive Warnings Apply. None 

"By the third dream where Fjord opened his eyes to a murky, muted underwater vision, he… He wouldn’t say 'was used to it,' or 'knew what to expect,' but it wasn’t surprising anymore. The specifics were surprising, but he was aware by now that he’d gotten himself into something deeply fucked up. He still wasn’t sure what his patron would ask of him next, but he was as prepared as he could be, given the circumstances

So he thought."

Consume.

The Locked Tomb

open up all the faucets (be fruitful and multiply) by NotAFicWriter

E, No Archive Warnings Apply. Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus

Having crawled out of Hell more herself than ever, Harrow finds a mostly-restored Gideon and the two finally have that long-awaited discussion. Many mouths are involved, but very little talking is had.

N.Y. By Night (Web Series)

Blow out the Fire by ladyofrosefire 

E, No Archive Warnings Apply. Reyes Malcolm/Margot “Fuego” Walker 

After Rey suffers a bad night and a frenzy brought on by hunger, Fuego pays him a visit.

The Sandman

dare to eat a peach by tharkuun 

E, No Archive Warnings Apply. Dream/Hob

“Hob had looked into a dangerous mouth of hungry fangs, had felt flayed open and spread before the gaze of innumerable eyes, had felt the insistent pressing of uncountable hands upon his body and Hob had, briefly, thought, Oh, yes please. For all his horror, his stranger had still been beautiful, and Hob could never stop wanting him.”

Or, once upon a time, Hob saw Eldritch Nightmare Dream and thought, "That one, I want that one."

The way they light candles in Rome by ladyofrosefire 

E, No Archive Warnings Apply. Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Johanna Constantine 

Roughly a week after her run-in with Dream of the Endless, Johanna meets him again in his realm. 

Set between episodes 5 and 6, for reference.

陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) 

The soft animal of your body by Ladyofrosefire, NotAFicWriter

M, No Archive Warnings Apply. Sòng Lán | Sòng Zǐchēn/Xiǎo Xīngchén  

 "In the aftermath, the time Song Lan cannot name as anything other than yawning grief, there had been first nothing— a sword on his back and a bag in his hands or tucked away safely inside of his robes. And then he had looked into the bag, just once. Perhaps he had expected stardust, or mist, or light. He had felt Xingchen’s soul a hundred times, tangled up with his own in their bed. He had never seen it.

Song Lan opened the bag, and looked in, and inhaled."

Death, breath, and other things less simple than they seem.

Unbound, Unhallowed by Ritualist 

E, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings. Sòng Lán | Sòng Zǐchēn/Xuē Yáng | Xuē Chéngměi Sòng Lán | Sòng Zǐchēn/Xiǎo Xīngchén/Xuē Yáng | Xuē Chéngměi 

Xiao Xingchen doesn't believe in the Folk, but the Folk believe in him.

Voltron: Legendary Defender

The Monster Mash by Demenior 

E, No Archive Warnings Apply. Shiro/Ulaz (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron)/Original Female Character(s), Shiro (Voltron)/Original Male Character(s), Prince Rahjim/Shiro (Voltron), Antok/Shiro (Voltron)