Andaran Abelasan

💖⭐️ The Reverb in These Holy Halls — Reverb is the quintessential time travel fixit for this fandom. Written before the finale, Jon’s memories (and powers) get sent back to the day Gertrude died. He tries very, very hard to change things for the best, to protect the people he cares about, and to not let his feelings for the Martin of the future affect his feelings for the Martin of the past. How much he succeeds is arguable, but it is a great story about reclaiming power & love against the odds. Also has some of the best characterization & worldbuilding I’ve ever seen, hugely influential on my own interpretation of how the Entities & avatars function.

💖 Beholden — [WIP] Another where Jon’s memories get sent back, this time to halfway through s1. Jon tries to not let on that anything has changed while also trying to push things in a better direction, but that’s rather hard when he just cannot bear to be such a prick to everyone again, and also kinda had to burn a blind spot into both his eyes with a laser pointer in order to protect himself from any omniscient bastards who might try to read his mind. (I cannot rec this highly enough, it’s one of my all-time favorites in this fandom with some of the absolute best characterization out there. This is the fic that single-handedly made Tim probably my favorite character with a single chapter.)

💖 where there’s a will, we make a way — [WIP] Jon only manages to send his memories back as far as his coma. He still does his best to make a better future… seriously not helped by the fact he can seemingly only speak in statement quotes.

step in time — S1!Jon gets lost in the tunnels while running from Prentiss. He stumbles out in the s4 finale, just in time to stop the end of the world, and switches places with s4!Jon in an instant. Martin decides to say, “Fuck the timeline,” and just explain everything that’s happened.

💖⭐️ Turning Back to Different Pasts — Post ep.200, Jon & Martin are physically sent back to the early days of the show. Told from the perspectives of the s1 crew, who are all having varying levels of breakdown over the whole situation.

💖 Deja Vu — The s1 crew all have their memories sent back from the moment they died. Due to vastly different levels of information, different priorities, and different assumptions about the situation, they all assume they’re alone in this experience. (This author is one of my faves, and you should absolutely check out their other stuff when you finish this one!)

Awake & Unafraid — [Login Restricted] There is no Head Archivist when Tim, Sasha, & Martin join the archives. There is a spooky voice who records the real statements over them with his own endnote commentary. Everyone has their own takes on this haunting situation, but really, Jon just wants to keep his assistants safe.

💖 The Lives We’ve Shared — Jon finds Gertrude’s secret tapes while recording the very first statement. Elias kills him for it. Jon refuses to die, and proceeds to haunt the archives through sheer force of denial. It takes months for anyone to notice.

⭐️ Something Impossible — Jon & Georgie never have their falling out, so she’s there to tell him how fucking creepy & ominous Elias is being about the promotion. Turns into a rapidly spiraling comedy as they somehow befriend half the avatars in London, and Elias keeps trying to make Jon the Archivist by any means necessary.

⭐️ Fate, or Something — AU where Jon & Georgie never had their falling out, and Martin works for Melanie’s YouTube show. The girls try to set them up together, but it’s not until things start getting Seriously Spooky that they manage to start getting along.

Crimson Honey — I’m a sucker for a decent hanahaki fic with a happy ending, what can I say? Especially if it actually saves a few lives along the way.

💖 Clutching Daffodils — More hanahaki. This time, it’s chronic, and Jon finds out Martin has it in the s1 finale. As a result, Martin’s the only one he feels safe around in s2, because Jon knows full well that Martin wouldn’t hurt him (even if Jon still can’t quite bring himself to trust Martin.)

💖 Full, Riotous Bloom — Martin contracts Hanahaki in s2 from a Leitner. This does not fix much of anything, but does force everyone to be a lot more honest with eachother (and themselves.) . (I want to give this one a ⭐️ so bad, but unlike many other fics on this list, I never saw anyone else talking about it here on tumblr. It was essential to my fandom experience, though.)

💖⭐️ A Home For What Loves You — Jon also goes to do some unauthorized follow-up on the Vittery statement, and so he & Martin end up trapped by Prentiss together. The forced intimacy creates a rapidly amplifying cascade of butterfly effects which ends up changing everything.

💖 paved with good intentions — Martin becomes the Archivist, and tries his best to help everyone he comes across. Unfortunately, this only accelerates his Becoming. (Stand-alone, but intended to have sequels which sadly never materialized. So it’s very open-ended & bittersweet, but still a wonderful read.)

if not for hope, the heart would break — [WIP] An AU by the Jon/Gerry author I mentioned before where Jon became Gertrude’s assistant right before she died, and so knows too much to risk giving the Archivist position. Martin gets pressured into the job instead. (Like I said, I’m not a fan of Jon/Gerry, but I do have a lot of respect for this author so if you like that ship then you should probably give their other fics a read.)

💖 all of us were there — A text-fic (which I normally hate, so you know it’s good) where Jon makes the mistake of going out for drinks with his assistants in s1. The additional closeness turns into a delightful found family arc, while the spookiness ramps up intensity with some of the most creative manifestations I’ve ever seen and excellent use of the medium to convey the dread.

The Magnus Institute vs the 21st century — Crack taken seriously, emails between the other departments of the Institute. What do the HR e-mails over there look like?

💖 Missed Messages — The magic of cloud data means that Martin actually gets to see Premtiss’s text messages once he gets a new phone. (CirrusGrey is back, and while this whole series is delightful, this first one is my favorite!)

Taking a Shot — Martin takes the opportunity, hiding in document storage & waiting to die, to confess his feelings. Jon, reacting totally on instinct, kisses him. This becomes slightly complicated when they then, y’know, don’t die. (Oh look, CirrusGrey again.)

roses, roses, roses — For the record, Martin fucking hates his new boss. Hates him. He’s too polite to say so to Jon’s face (which in Martin’s opinion is Jon’s only redeeming feature) but Martin just cannot stand the bastard. All of which Martin does have to reconsider after the Prentiss incident, when Jon seems to be genuinely attempting to be nice.

💖 A Bit of Hazing — A missing scene from Dreamer, where Jon goes to Tim for help because he trusts Tim more than anyone else down here. (For the record, this author is also amazing and basically any of their stuff is worth taking for a spin.)

💖 See Me Drown — This author has a whole bunch of fics about Jon having chronic health problems where he struggles in his early days as Head Archivist, but Tim & Sasha are too busy being salty about the promotion to notice until things go too far. I like almost all of them (it’s about the reunion & recovery) but this is my favorite.

Relation — Pre-series fluff where Jon sets off all Tim’s big brother instinct, and Tim is determined to become his best friend.

The Breaking Down of Walls — Tim is very, very good at figuring out people’s boundaries. That’s why he teases Jon so much, and why he stops after Jon becomes Head Archivist. He’s still going to look after the idiot, though. (Voiceless_terror is back with the Jon & Tim dynamic I endlessly crave.)

a deeply annoying child — Jon reads a Leitner that turns you back into the version of yourself who first encountered the supernatural. The s3 crew then needs to grapple with having a small child and no Archivist for a while. (Canon-compliant, but anything where Jon brings out Tim’s big brother instincts wins a thousand extra kudos from me.)

scenes and things — Melanie finds Nikola’s “ransom” message. The entire s3 crew is horrified, and immediately launch a rescue mission.

💖⭐️ The Kindness of Strangers — Another serious contender for my favorite TMA fic of all time. Set in s3, Martin finally convinced Tim & Jon to talk about their issues. Unfortunately, Breekon & Hope interrupt them while looking to kidnap the Archivist; not knowing which of them it is, they just take them both. Trauma-bonding ensues, especially when the situation basically forces both of them to revisit their original supernatural traumas and finally get to make the choices they wish they had the first time around. (Mind the warnings. No, seriously, mind the warnings. This one is pretty intense as it points out Nikola wasn’t exactly going to stop her beauty routine at Jon’s face, now was she? And then it describes that.)

a melody played in a penny arcade — Everything takes a hard left turn in mid-s3, when suddenly no one in the archives crew can leave the building.

💖 Open windows — Jon reaches out to Martin in s2, just once. Martin is a lot more forgiving of Jon’s transgressions because, well, the paranoia & isolation? Martin’s been there already. Very recently, too. (Canon-compliant.)

💖 Inseparable (and it’s sequel) — Left very open-ended, but a pre-series glimpse of an AU where Jon & Martin were childhood friends who fell out of touch after Mr. Spider. (Voiceless_terror at it again with their amazing writing!)

The Sky Turns Green — Jon & Martin spent the night together before the Unknowing. Heartbreakingly canon-compliant.

It’s actually a pretty popular headcanon that Jon & Martin confessed their feelings right before the s3 finale. Have one or two more. (All canon-compliant.)

Oh, have some where Tim survives the Unknowing as well.

because light reverses, because the dead return — After the Unknowing, nobody’s paying attention. Jon ends up buried alive.

⭐️ “the Polish fic” — Jon wakes up immediately after the Unknowing, able to understand all spoken language. He finds out about this when Martin starts proclaiming his affection exclusively in Polish (a language Martin knows for a fact Jon cannot speak.)

💖⭐️ Tangled Up In What I’ve Seen — Jon comes back, and Martin can see the strings the Web has wrapped Jon all up in. Martin sets off to personally squish every spider in the Institute.

Quis Terreat Ipsa Terrores? — Georgie yells, scolds, bargains, and assaults various manifestations throughout London to earn her friends a vacation. That’s it, that’s the fic; it’s borderline crack, but absolutely delightful.

💖 the best policy — Midway through s4, Jon reads a Leitner that forces him to always answer questions with complete truthfulness. It’s a nasty wake up call for everyone around him, getting both the unfiltered truth about how miserable Jon’s been and a taste of what it’s like to be able to compel answers with just a slip of the tongue. Needless to say, nobody is having a good time, but it does get them all on the same page with a healthy does of added empathy & compassion. Also, the ending is super cute.

💖⭐️ Family, Found — [Login Restricted] The s4 crew are only as cold, sharp, & mean as they are inside the archives; Basira realizes they’re all being manipulated, and they all set out to spit in the face of whatever wants them to hurt eachother.

💖⭐️ Resigned, Though Not to Fate — Jon asks Martin to gouge their eyes out & run away together. In this world, Martin says yes. It’s not nearly as simple as it sounds (lingering enemies, supernatural side-effects, and the simple reality of adjusting to total blindness all threaten to stop them) but they find a way to make it work. (Once again: Hoo boy, heed those warnings! These are some of the most intense, visceral, disgusting eye-gougings I’ve seen in this fandom, and there are a lot of eye-gougings in this fandom. If you can stomach it, though, please do not let that stop you from reading this masterpiece.)

(I have a whole selection of character studies set in the safehouse period between 159 & 160, but couldn’t actually narrow them down enough to feel comfortable adding them. This list is long enough, you don’t need a whole ‘nother page of just “And here’s Jon & Martin being super cute while discussing boundaries or addressing their traumas with eachother! They’re healing! Ignore that finale on the horizon, everyone else is.”)

variations on a death scene — Everyone gets their turn murdering the worst boss to ever walk the Earth.

💖 A Break in the Clouds — Jon sent his mind (and powers) back to the moment he first encountered the supernatural, and tries to change the past. He starts by heading to the Institute to give his statement about Mr. Spider, and encounters a very young Elias Bouchard on his smoke break. (This is another one that was so important to my own experience I want to give it a ⭐️, but it is incredibly niche and I haven’t seen anyone else talk about it. Written before s5 wrapped up, so a very different Elias from the one whose statement we ended up hearing, but still one of my very favorite time travel fics ever. Jon & Elias basically both look at eachother, go “Is anyone going to adopt this idiot?” and then don’t wait for an answer. Also, the author takes a lot of joy in reminding everyone the brain Jon is working with is very much that of a child. Like, this is not a 30-something year old man trapped in a 9yr old body, this is a 9yr old with +30yrs worth of memories, and also monster cravings.) . (I did lose the link for a while—which is actually what made me decide to start saving those—and have only just found it again, so I haven’t had the chance to catch up now that it’s done. However, I did finish the entire first section back in the day, and I love it enough that I’m willing to risk vouching for the rest. It’s good, please read it.)

💖 See the Line where the Sky meets the Sea — Jon was claimed by the Vast long before he met Mr. Spider. The Fairchilds all adore him, Mike Crew becomes his mentor, and he still gets involved with the Institute in the form of fucking with Elias whenever he gets the chance and befriending the Archives crew along the way.

When No One Looks — Jon is secretly a Dark avatar. Not a terribly powerful one, but he still does his very best to keep Martin safe after Prentiss.

love on a smaller stage — In an Archivist!Sasha universe, Martin’s not the only one who can see through NotJon’s disguise… but he can tell something’s very, very wrong when so many of his most precious memories of Jon run counter to what NotJon’s personality seems to be. (They do get Jon back, and it turns into an unsettling study of trying to return to a life someone has systematically stripped to nothing.)

💖 Hovering Slowly — Look, it probably won’t make you feel any better, but I am eternally salty I can’t find any long form Archivist!Tim fics that actually take the concept seriously. And this is such a good set-up for one, I love it to pieces.

💖 Don’t Let’s Start (This Is The Worst Part) — [Login Restricted] [WIP] I am eternally heartbroken this fic seems abandoned. Tim goes from his death to the morning of the s1 finale. He prepares himself to do whatever it takes to save Sasha this time around… only to find out he’s trapped in a timeloop.

⭐️ The Eyespot Chronicles — After the end of the world ends, everything is different but the survivors are still here. Jon & Martin open up a cute little bookshop and try to figure out how to make their relationship work after Jon’s been transformed into a literal moth. (That sounds like crack, but this fic plays it 100% straight and actually brought me to the brink of tears a few times.)

💖⭐️ A Matter of Diplomacy — The fantasy AU where Jon is a powerful Witch King and Martin’s just a low-level diplomat from the neighboring kingdom who manages to surprise him, insult him, frustrate him, and humble him in that order, all in one evening. All of which earns Martin a standing invitation to come visit whenever he likes. An invite Martin would have liked to ignore forever but there’s a war on the horizon, his country needs all the allies they can get, and Jon is both famously private and a still neutral neighbor, so... who else could they even send? (Get your fantasy politics here! Funnily enough, while both the main characters have zero interest in playing the political game, this fic has some of the coolest, most in-depth politics I’ve seen in a long time. It is a world-swap style crossover, so I might not be able to credit all of that to this writer, but it’s really interesting to look at that delicate political dance from the perspective of one (1) person who’s terrible at it, watching one (1) person who’s very good at it but hates every second of it.)

💖 a tale as old — The fairytale AU where Jon is monster who lives deep in the woods, said to have the answer to any question for a terrible price. Martin goes to him first to cure his mother’s ailments, but for all Jon’s gruff manner & demands for Martin’s deepest heartaches, there is a kindness to him and he clearly takes no pleasure in the pain he witnesses. When Martin’s mother is healed, Martin returns again simply to spend time with Jon.

weave the dull world around us — The fairytale AU where Martin’s a stitch-witch and Jon’s a fae in the woods behind his house. Elias rips off one of Jon’s wings, so Martin goes on a quest to make him a new one.

💖⭐️ dustsceawung — The urban fantasy AU where the fae live right alongside modern humanity. Martin moves into a fixer-upper far from his home, and quickly becomes enamored with two local mysteries: the guy who walks past his house every few days with an armload of books (despite nobody officially living up the road from Martin,) and the very large moth that came crashing through his open window during a storm and keeps coming back after Martin patches it up and lets it go.

💖 even in another time — The urban fantasy AU where Martin moves into a house haunted by the ghost of one Gertrude Robinson, an old witch whose magic library has seemingly gained sentience and is not happy. Martin’s landlord points him towards the town’s resident medium… with a warning that the medium isn’t exactly pleasant company.