#vanderbaizen

Destiel

Stelena

Captain Swan

Frozen Swan

Red Beauty

Curious Archer

Eriel

Clizzy

Malec

Merthur

Morgwen

Klayley

Bonenzo

Sparrabeth

Sterek

Malira

Marrish

Thiam

Damie

Erin and Riley

Owen and Hannah

Sparia

Paily

Spoby

Rosalie and Emmett

Japril

Vanderbaizen

Snufmin

The main four (Nate, Chuck, Serena, and Blair) were consistently my favourites, though I had my moments of disliking and being frustrated by each of them. Some of my favourite moments were when they were all teaming up to help each other or protect each other. Like no matter how much they'd hurt each other, they were family! They'd still find their way back to each other! They were all raised together in a messed-up environment and they get each other in a way no one else could because of that! I just love how found family was such a huge part of the show, both with their friend group and later with the Bass-Humphrey-van der Woodsen clan, ESPECIALLY the sibling dynamic between Serena and Chuck and the mother-child dynamic between Lily and Chuck.

As for the Serena ships ... I disliked all but two.

I don’t know who sent this or what fandoms/parrings they like, so I’m gonna take this as an opportunity to go niche! YAY!

✨ A fic you wish you could read again for the first time

I’m gonna recommend more than one to raise the off-chance that one of these sticks. 

Broken Toys by theohara is my favorite Lily lives AU in the Veronica Mars fandom. It is the classic LoVe parring, but Logan and Veronica’s coming and being together is complicated and twisted by Lily’s betrayals and continued life. It’s spectacular.

Burn by thestarsjustblinkforus (who has also written some great LoVe) is one of my favorite Ryros. Basically, Pyro and Rogue meet just after she gets the Cure, and romantic angst ensues.

anyone else would be long gone by firstaudrina (now secondaudrina?) is a van der Baizen that I’ve rec’ed before. It gets Carter and Serena’s voices perfectly, and is just heartbreaking recognition of self in the blorbos. The line that makes up the summary really is all you need to know for what you’re getting into: "I don't know what kind of life I want," Serena confesses. "All I know is that I don't like any of the ones I try." You don’t need to have watched Gossip Girl to understand this fic, a testament to the author’s talent.