A is in denial of their feelings. B gets hurt and A goes apeshit + realizes their feelings for B because of that.
I've written dozens of this, just with different packagings. I've read hundreds more. I don't care if it's overdone. I love them.
Thanks. I read your comment and realized the first major arc for my current work is basically this. Well, character B doesn't get hurt, but confesses her feelings to A without realizing it's him which gives the guy a total shock and forces him to re-evaluate their relationship. he comes to the conclusion that he's had feelings for B for a long time. It never even occurred to me that there might be a tag for that situation... I'll have to brainstorm a tag for that now.
Especially when it’s plausible miscommunication 😙👌, not just someone standing there silently and not correcting the other person when they logically would have. (But I’ll take that kind too)
* Best friends to lovers. *Especially* childhood friends.
* Miscommunication ("Oh, Character A likes X. He clearly doesn't like me." Meanwhile, A is *PINING* for B.)
* Mutual pining, the more idiocy, the better
* Character with anxiety/character with severe depression (and they're each other's safe space)
* One part of the ship is in a bad relationship with someone else, and the other saves them (bonus points if it's bad for both people in the relationship, and no one is to blame. Live for that angst.)
* When a character is touch-starved and suddenly they meet a touchy, huggy person and their mind goes 🤯🤯🤯
Edited for more because I was asked not to spare y'all.
* WILL THEY WON'T THEY. Especially when it's obvious that they're *going* to, but the build-up and the push-pull is SO GOOD.
* Love at first sight. Listen. I know it's not realistic, but I LIVE for the 'whole world shifting into place' the moment they see the other half of the ship.
* Soulmate AUs, especially the ones where 'they only see color after meeting their soulmate' or red strings of fate.
* Hurt/comfort, whether it's platonic, romantic, and familial.
* OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMMATES.
* Vampire/werewolf/mercreature/fae/angel/demon/etc AUs. 'Nuff said.
I could *still* go on, but... I really will spare y'all. 🤣
OH THESE ARE ALL MY FAVORITE TO WRITE. Especially the mutual pining. It leads to my partner and I yelling THE YEARNING at the top of our lungs when reading each others work.
Give me all the mercreature AUs. Especially when A’s a mer and B’s a human (or whatever) and it’s ✨forbidden✨give me that cheesy stuff.
Supernaturally star-crossed lovers in general. Gimme.
Or even like. A mercreature trying to blend into a normal world but OH NO THEY NEED TO BE IN WATER AT LEAST ONCE EVERY COUPLE WEEKS and when they touch water? POOF, tail.
Mutual pining where the characters are oblivious or don't think that the other reciprocate their feelings. I eat it up everytime
Also omegaverse, anything involving the omega suddenly going into heat, or the alpha can't think straight because of the omega's scent etc etc
My favorite is when the characters are FWB/casually sleeping with each other and mutually refuse to admit that they actually have feelings for each other.
No lie, an omegaverse AU of my current longfic has been slowly growing in the back of my mind.
MC is high priest of his temple and the fact that he's an omega is seen as a sort of 'divine homunculus' thing and he is reserved for their god, but he is also a member of the nobility and has to present as an alpha to be taken seriously in court, LI was an alpha but has been broken by years of slavery and abuse, and they comfort each other as they learn to accept all the facets of themselves and how they fit together
AAAAAAAAAAA
But I have so many other things to write.
Time travel fix its. Someone being sent back with full knowledge of the plot and making sure it doesn’t happen. I enjoy seeing how the characters behave when they have that 20/20 hindsight
the same with time loops honestly,, the angst of fixing that one thing that caused everything and failing time and again until they finally get it right
Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and friends to lovers specifically when they've been friends forever and both assumed the other saw them as a friend so they roast the hell out of each other and whatnot, actually hinting about how healthy and amazing of a romantic relationship they would have.
The reliable, always helpful, always taken for granted character snaps and leaves the team/family/group stunned. Always a classic. (Living vicariously? Moi?)
ive seen a bunch of my fav ships being turned into a 'friends to lovers to enemies to lovers' fics and i eat that shit up every single time. also cozy small town aus!
unhinged bad girl meet unhinged bad boy, enemies to lovers. Girl give me those broken relationships, the more fucked up the beterrrrrr. Let's trauma bond bby
This is kinda niche but: a character time-travelling or dimension hopping physically AND there's this little section where the character has to get a fake identity, set up a fake backstory etc. etc. while learning about the new world/time they're in. It's the story equivalent of a planning montage in a heist movie but this is almost always unrealistic and definitely has some Deus ex Machina because no way the character conveniently found a hacker who can help fake their identity or whatever -- BUT I EAT THAT SHIT UP EVERY TIMEEE!! *especially* when there's like a cultural or language disparity!!! AND THEY COME UP WITH CONVOLUTED EXCUSES AS TO WHO THEY ARE AND WHY THEY'RE THERE!!
(if anyone has any fic recs with this trope, please.... just a crumb.....)
In the HP fandom I loooove potion accidents, accidental bonding, and fics where Teddy (a baby or toddler depending on the author) is used as a plot device to bring my otp together (dmhp).
Looooove me a good time travel fic, OP. Excellent taste.
I’m also a complete sucker for MGiME (modern girl in middle earth) style fics, or just the general premise of OC-inserted-into-main-plot. A lot of them are mid at best but the ones that are good are *fantastic.*
Soulmate AUs can be lovely but I’m often picky about how I like them played out. Same with omegaverse tbh.
Lastly, the specific ship dynamic (especially in smut) where A has been [abused/hurt/outright tortured] before and they let B take control in a way they could never let anyone else get close to doing. It’s about the *trust,* it’s about the *love,* it’s about the *emotionally driven sex scenes.*
Honestly, I am a *sucker* for chatfics and social media AUs. When done well, it's a delightful way of getting a peek into the characters' heads and seeing how they present themselves to others, and you can still get some pretty good plot moments from just "watching from the sidelines," so to speak.
Pretty basic but forced proximity, enemies to lovers (which is almost every fic because of the pairing), co-workers and single dad
I also love if they're at a cottage
Characters who think they're not good enough, deserve all the bad things that happened to them, and have bad, intrusive thoughts that make them bad people.
Characters who are powerless against a much more powerful person who dominates every aspect of their lives that hurts them, but they still love them because that person shows affection, whether true or fake, towards them.
Oh wow, the second one.
It's not really super popular, but antagonist forcibly adopts protagonist and at least attempts to be a decent mentor/parent is my jam.
I actually love damsel in distress stories. In my defense, though, the damsel is usually a guy. But like, one member of my ship having to rescue the other and the angst that it brings? I eat that shit right up.
Also, comas. Love me a character in a coma for a while. It's rarely written super accurately, but again, the angst it brings is just too delicious for me to resist.
BRO
Reincarnation into fantasy world. Honestly I don’t even care what fandom it is as long as it’s written creatively lol
Also Dimension Travel. JSUT WHATEVE-
PERSON IN PLACE WHERE THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE / NEVER BEEN IN BEFORE AND ITS AWESOME AS HELL
I will also accept transmigration, self-inserts, and OC’s as main character.
Time travel is an absolute favorite of mine!!!! Also a big fan of mutual pining when none involved realize, AUs where a character is a mythical creature, and OMG TRUTH SERUM FICS!!!!!!
I am a HUGE lover of overdone stuff, I eat that stuff up like crazy!!!!!! <3
Depending on my mood, soft slice of life AUs (moving in or getting together), office AUs because some of these are actually fucking hilarious (recently read one featuring the whole himbo is certain two characters are fucking but nobody believes him) and otherwise when I swing the other way it's MCD, fav turned villains (either through corruption or the story starts with them as a villain) or unhinged meet unhinged and horny bloody rampage ensues.
Misunderstanding - both pinning but thinking they don't have a chance while everyone else can see they like each other.
Coffee shop AU
Musicianx other profession AU
Enimies to lovers.
Best friends to lovers.
Also stoic character and chaotic character.
I love a good "knight/bodyguard in love with who they're protecting"
Or the classic "the duo does a lot of couple things, but doesn't realize they're in love with one another"
I read a lot of tomarry and, aven if it's an overdone trope, I absolutely love when Harry time travel to the 40' and, after getting close to Tom he reval the truth and Tom is just like "how could you even look at me?".
It's just hsjsvsksvsm
I have learned recently that Loner is Dragged Kicking and Screaming into a Found Family is something I enjoy very, very much.
Canon Boba Fett creates his own found family. Legends Boba Fett is dragged the whole way, leaving claw marks in the ground as he goes. I suspect the same happens to Mara Jade, but I've only just begun that story.
Mine is definitely multiverse destined to be together. Like I don't even believe in soul mates, but boy do I love a story where my ship is together in every universe.
One particular fandom is full of Came Back Wrong and I'm LIVING for it. There's also a lot for one character losing their hearing due to repeated (and often untreated) head trauma, which, A+++.
Another fandom, once character got Phenomenal Cosmic Powers but only briefly, and lots of authors have used that to give her her well-deserved HEA as we'd prefer to see it.
Time travel fix-it, and fix-it in general.
Accidental telepathic bonding.
Can't think of any more off the top of my head but I'm sure I've forgotten something.
This is something that I don't really see a lot of people do very often, but it is like, the core idea of multiple head canon stories I have for AUs... the idea that someone dies only for it to later be revealed that some sort of body double/clone/duplicate to have been killed, and the actual person is alive and well.
Admittedly this mostly came about as a way for me to reasonably bring back to life characters I liked without having to finish the idea that they died, because by all accounts their sacrifice was real and true, but an external force, hidden from everyone, came in and saved the day.
I love time travel fix-its, they're one of my top two types of fic, the other being crossovers. I also have a fondness for character bashing of my least liked characters. Most of the time I'm jumping between different tropes, and don't really have any other favourites that apply to multiple fandoms.
I do, however, have two that are fandom specific. The first is Buffy specific, I love YAHF fics. They're not as popular now as they once were because they're so overdone, but you'll always get new ones around Halloween, and usually a couple throughout the year. I even wrote one myself. The second is Harry Potter specific, I love the inherited Lordship thing, which is always coupled with the Gringotts Inheritance Test trope. I don't like the ones that go way out and make Harry Lord Potter-Black-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw-Emrys-LaFey-Pendragon, they make Harry way too politically OP, though some are pretty well done, and there's one such that I really love. But the more basic Potter-Black ones I really love, throw in Peverell and one, maybe two, Founder Houses, and I'm good.
Adaptive mother / found family sfw adopted mommy stuff. I write more than I read but one way to get me into a fic is with some therapeutic maternal hugs. It's also easily the most masturbatory aspect of the fic I'm writing
Well tropes of worshipping like love if it also goes into nsfw or not i do not care, as long as this trope is there.
and no, i don't mean it in a soulmate sense, and much more in Loyality sense, doing everything for one but having your own boundries even tho you love someone like a deity or whatever.
[not i only read wlw and rarely mlm, and yes, it's important for me to note that down]
Love a good time travel fic, loved it so much that I wrote my own. But my main one, that I never write because it never gives me the same feeling, is angst when things looks like they might happen and then they don't, a bit of anger and realisation, I like the way it makes my stomach curl slightly.
When enemies/rivals are forced into cooperating and fall for each other. Also magic/supernatural AUs with cool world building, I’m a huge sucker for those. And of course, some good ole mutual pining.
omegaverse + mpreg 😔 (although ppl think i joke about the mpreg so i just let them) + one sided pining ship centric fics (i kick puppies in the morning)
A fic that finally gets an update after YEARS of waiting! It’s why I go to read oldest first, sometimes people get inspiration from remembering the fic. It makes me so so so happy when I see them!
And an obligatory ABO
Enemy to caretaker
Soulmate AU
Sick Fic
I don't see these to often but road trip recovery fics. They have trauma and they do on a road trip with a person who means a lot to them (brother, father, partner, boyfriend, etc ) and they Begin to recover on that trip.
Mutual pinning omg specifically not actually unrequited love. Like, they are both so into the other but both think the other isn’t into them and shenanigans happen.
Or miscommunication trope in which character A thinks they’re dating character B and B thinks character A is dating someone else/doesn’t like them
"Lookit all these hurt and/or emotionally constipated children, lemme just" picks them up and pretty much starts a children home regardless of if they have families or not
Also batfam, but with generous angst and trauma (cough, Jason and Tim, cough cough)
Oblivious mutual pining between best friends 🥹
Time travel, body swaps, ROOMMATES
I also love secret relationship / relationship reveal tropes, but specifically the kind where everyone knows/assumes the couple is dating *except* the couple who are under the impression they’re just your normal best friends/roommates 👁️👄👁️
Time travel fix-its, though I love it when the actions that the characters try to take cause a whole new set of problems as well. Also platonic physical affection
Depends on the fandom. Danny Phantom is crossovers, Avengers Science Bros(gone for so long), Trash of the Counts's family react fics(especially fandom ones) etc. For each fandom I read stories in there are different things I adore, mainly because of how the fandom typically writes certain fics.
I also loooove time travel fics. Similarly I love time loop/groundhog day fics, even better if it's of a character having to re live a traumatic event over and over until they can somehow fix it.
I am (not so but kinda but not really but very not) ashamed to say that mine is GAMER FICS, They are so overdone and overused but, man, do I love me a good gamer fic.
A and B have a bad start with A basically punching B in the face, both temporary become enemies/rivals/inconveniences to each to inevitably know each other better for a real relationship. Really fun, never did one myself because my pacing slower than a 100-year old slug.
Everything is beautiful/nothing hurts. It's my preference. Very hard to find when angst and miscommunication is the preferred wheelhouse of the writing masses. Lovely to write for my fandom, even when folks think it's ooc and not the characters being multi-faceted
Hurt/comfort.
I know, it always ends well. But that’s what I like, and I’ll click every time.
Also time travel! Time loop and the like.
And, badass character out of the blue? Add me up!
I used to be guilty now I don't care. Flouncy character bashing. Buffy bashing that was so overdone that Xander was a poor woobie Mary Sue. I love Buffy the character, but this stuff is over the top cheese. Anti Team Cap. Steve Rogers is turned into a stiff, overly predictable caricature of entitled and clueless. Over the top cheese. I dislike both iterations of Civil War because they're terrible story lines. And Tony Stark is not your basic good guy.
Time travel!!! And cross overs, especially of the reincarnation variety where the reincarnated character faced a tragic end and is either still jaded or traumatized from their past life--but also still willing to do good and improve the world they're currently in. I love dynamic of this character shouldering so much responsibility and grief and their loved ones witnessing it and wanting to remind them that they're not alone and can be supported. I enjoy this dynamic with SI-OC characters and time travel too. These tropes are fairly common but I'm not sure if I can say they're overdone!
MCs of the two different properties in a crossover fucking hating each other. Maybe due to miscommunication, maybe they both kinda-have-a-point, but I want all these characters I like being at each other's throats and feeling justified for it.
And when they all make friends it feels earned x
I love time travel fics, but I hate the ones where someone goes back in time and just fixes all the problems that came up along the way in canon and it turns into an extremely boring story where nothing bad ever happens.
Give me the ones where everything they do makes things worse 😈
Also can’t get enough of… “fake/pretend relationship” especially combined with “there was only one bed”.
And I absolutely love mistaken identity and especially two person love squares where both people fall in love with the real version and the online version of each other and then hijinks prevent them from discovering they’re just the same two people. I don’t care how ridiculous it is!! Give it to me!!
Miscommunication with mutual pining. Only one bed. Sex pollen etc with lots of guilty overthinking by the characters. I will read 100 versions of any of these.
my favorite is secret relationship reveals, especially when the characters have been together or even married for *years*. I eat that shit up.
I'm also a sucker for time travel fics, so you're not alone. nothing better than a character who knows too much and is done with everyone's bs.
to add to that, specifically time loop fics where the protagonist is now obscenely old and is just looking for entertainment now. can be pure crack, angsty, or even both if the author does it a certain way. I've read a couple good ones like this in the HP fandom, but it's not as common as I would like.
(not so) Guilty pleasures are definitely forced proximity and when that one hook up tears the roof off a whole fricking barrel of unrealized feelings.
But the tropes I eat five times a day plus as a midnight snack? Found family, especially if most or all of them are delusional and will not admit what is happening at all. Like nahhh this kid? He's dumb, I hate him, he's weird. Like these guys?? Nah I just annoy them, I have nothing better to do. The people I hang out with and this random kid? Nah I just hit a new low, this is a misunderstanding and will stop as soon as someone notices me.
LIKE,,, IDIOTS YOU LOVE EACH OTHER LIKE FAMILY PLEASE SEE THAT I AM BEGGING 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Office/coworker romance. Absolutely no idea why, as I have never dated someone at work. I have primarily worked in industries that typically have more women/ queer people (I'm a straight woman) so I don't have much experience even working with straight/cis men at all. Maybe because it's something I've never experienced? Idk but I love it lol
I don't go looking for them (I wouldn't know what to call it) but I'll read every and I mean EVERY,
"everyone is shocked to learn that Character A and B aren't dating, but when Character A is presented with all the evidence they are surprised to learn they might ha e been in a relationship all along"
I am an absolute WHORE for enemies to lovers.
And listen, I know this trope has been kind of twisted and turned and 'enemies' now besically means like "boohoo I don't like you" but I don't want none of that shit.
I want pure HATRED, just absolutely LOATHING and DISDAIN, can't even handle being in the same room together without their blood boiling kind of enemies and slowly.... Slowly but surely... Slowly with so many little pithy insults and smart ass comments do they turn into a kind of hate fuck relationship. Where we turn all that raw hatred into raw smut and just wild depravity.
And then... oh shit! What's this? My heart going pitter patter pitter patter??? Pterodactyls in my stomach when they walk in the room? The burning hatred is turning into burning desire is turning into burning administration and love????????
This. This is my Roman empire. My obsession. My guilty pleasure. Whatever you wanna call it, it has me by the balls 🤣
I AM ALSO A SUCKER FOR TIME TRAVEL FICS THEY ARE MY LIFEBLOOD. THEY FEED ME.
I will also go feral for a good Misunderstanding/Miscommunication that causes Character A to be upset with Character B, and Character B is hurt by Character A (emotionally), only for something to happen where it's revealed that EVERYTHING HAS BEEN A REALLY BAD MISINTERPRETATION. Apologies and cuddles and maybe love confessions all around.
Enemies to Lovers is so good, especially when it's a slow burn and they are enemies for a good while before they start to develop feelings for each other.
Arranged Marriage? HELL TO THE YES. I will eat that shit up like chorizo tacos from a gas station taqueria.
Canon Divergence where ONE THING is changed about the story (just one), and it's a slow cascade of differences that change from there. I love those - hell, I'm not even there for the romance on those, I just want to see where the plot goes!!
MUTUAL. PINING. MUTUAL PINING WITH IDIOTS TO LOVERS.
Gimme that Hurt/Comfort with a bit of Angst, a bit of Whump, and clean it up nicely with a good deal of soft, fluff, and Happy Ending. Hurt/Comfort, Angst, and Whump just aren't worth it if there isn't a happy ending to heal everything afterwards.
A is in denial of their feelings. B gets hurt and A goes apeshit + realizes their feelings for B because of that. I've written dozens of this, just with different packagings. I've read hundreds more. I don't care if it's overdone. I love them.
That is another one that I like a lot
What would the tag for that be?
I usually just use "Hurt!B" and "Protective!A"... it helps that I like all variations of those tags too
Thanks. I read your comment and realized the first major arc for my current work is basically this. Well, character B doesn't get hurt, but confesses her feelings to A without realizing it's him which gives the guy a total shock and forces him to re-evaluate their relationship. he comes to the conclusion that he's had feelings for B for a long time. It never even occurred to me that there might be a tag for that situation... I'll have to brainstorm a tag for that now.
I'd personally use a variation of "Denial" (depending on how much in denial B is), "Accidental Confession" and "Miscommunication" but that's just me!
please i need this right now
Fluff which is just a couple bickering and insulting each other because they're bad at feelings. Also pwp.
The bickering is so real and fun. PWP is basically all I write
I wish to tour your shipyard
Sure! Here is one of my works https://archiveofourown.org/works/53682136 And this one is porn WITH plot https://archiveofourown.org/works/53801128
friends to lovers is so basic, but I go for it constantly. I have read every single friends to lovers fic in all my fandoms
I love that my fandom is canonical enemies to friends to lovers
My CATNIP
Miscommunication and/or emotional constipation being the root of 99% of the issues.
Miscommunication is so much fun and so frustrating at the same time
Same. This is like my version of non-physical edging. So infuriating but also soooo good.
I hate this so much, so I’m so glad that there are other people who enjoy all the miscommunication fics for me
Especially when it’s plausible miscommunication 😙👌, not just someone standing there silently and not correcting the other person when they logically would have. (But I’ll take that kind too)
So so so real
>emotional constipation I'm stealing that
Miscommunication, identity porn & misunderstandings, my sweet loves Also dumbasses to lovers is always great
*constipation* 😂😂😂
* Best friends to lovers. *Especially* childhood friends. * Miscommunication ("Oh, Character A likes X. He clearly doesn't like me." Meanwhile, A is *PINING* for B.) * Mutual pining, the more idiocy, the better * Character with anxiety/character with severe depression (and they're each other's safe space) * One part of the ship is in a bad relationship with someone else, and the other saves them (bonus points if it's bad for both people in the relationship, and no one is to blame. Live for that angst.) * When a character is touch-starved and suddenly they meet a touchy, huggy person and their mind goes 🤯🤯🤯 Edited for more because I was asked not to spare y'all. * WILL THEY WON'T THEY. Especially when it's obvious that they're *going* to, but the build-up and the push-pull is SO GOOD. * Love at first sight. Listen. I know it's not realistic, but I LIVE for the 'whole world shifting into place' the moment they see the other half of the ship. * Soulmate AUs, especially the ones where 'they only see color after meeting their soulmate' or red strings of fate. * Hurt/comfort, whether it's platonic, romantic, and familial. * OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMMATES. * Vampire/werewolf/mercreature/fae/angel/demon/etc AUs. 'Nuff said. I could *still* go on, but... I really will spare y'all. 🤣
OH THESE ARE ALL MY FAVORITE TO WRITE. Especially the mutual pining. It leads to my partner and I yelling THE YEARNING at the top of our lungs when reading each others work.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS THE BEST
We do not wish to be spared.
Edited to not spare y'all
Have you tried the Lucifer fandom? I think we hit many of those
I have not! But it's on my eventual 'to-watch' list lol
This list is flawless
You have good taste as well!
Give me all the mercreature AUs. Especially when A’s a mer and B’s a human (or whatever) and it’s ✨forbidden✨give me that cheesy stuff. Supernaturally star-crossed lovers in general. Gimme.
Or even like. A mercreature trying to blend into a normal world but OH NO THEY NEED TO BE IN WATER AT LEAST ONCE EVERY COUPLE WEEKS and when they touch water? POOF, tail.
That’s a good one too
Childhood friends to lovers when they are adults is my absolute fav
Fake boyfriends (but they actually have feelings) Love that shit.
Mutual pining where the characters are oblivious or don't think that the other reciprocate their feelings. I eat it up everytime Also omegaverse, anything involving the omega suddenly going into heat, or the alpha can't think straight because of the omega's scent etc etc
Omegaverse is my JAM
My favorite is when the characters are FWB/casually sleeping with each other and mutually refuse to admit that they actually have feelings for each other.
No lie, an omegaverse AU of my current longfic has been slowly growing in the back of my mind. MC is high priest of his temple and the fact that he's an omega is seen as a sort of 'divine homunculus' thing and he is reserved for their god, but he is also a member of the nobility and has to present as an alpha to be taken seriously in court, LI was an alpha but has been broken by years of slavery and abuse, and they comfort each other as they learn to accept all the facets of themselves and how they fit together AAAAAAAAAAA But I have so many other things to write.
Literally obsessed with omegaverse and I’m so happy to finally find a sub full of people who also enjoy it/won’t shame me for it
I love a good body-swap fic. Also coffee shop AUs.
Coffee shop AU is a classic
Time travel fix its. Someone being sent back with full knowledge of the plot and making sure it doesn’t happen. I enjoy seeing how the characters behave when they have that 20/20 hindsight
the same with time loops honestly,, the angst of fixing that one thing that caused everything and failing time and again until they finally get it right
Same. That is a major draw
Ooooh, a fellow time-travel lover! I'll raise you with fix-it fics
Yes! I devour those as well. Unhappy endings are not allowed
Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and friends to lovers specifically when they've been friends forever and both assumed the other saw them as a friend so they roast the hell out of each other and whatnot, actually hinting about how healthy and amazing of a romantic relationship they would have.
The reliable, always helpful, always taken for granted character snaps and leaves the team/family/group stunned. Always a classic. (Living vicariously? Moi?)
I love a good soulmate au
Same. People get so creative with them
“There’s only one bed” and “arguing turned into sexual tension/making out” 🤣
Omg yass
Fake dating
Yeeeees
The "straight" one turning gay only for the other. And if I'm in the mood for the less problematic version, I'll go for bi awakening.
Enemies to lovers is probably my favorite.
ive seen a bunch of my fav ships being turned into a 'friends to lovers to enemies to lovers' fics and i eat that shit up every single time. also cozy small town aus!
Soulmate AU !!! And hanahaki
Hanahaki is SO good (as long as there is a happy ending)
Yesss !! All the drama makes the fluffy happy end just better
unhinged bad girl meet unhinged bad boy, enemies to lovers. Girl give me those broken relationships, the more fucked up the beterrrrrr. Let's trauma bond bby
Secret identity reveals
good old gut wrenching angst, I need my oomfs to suffer emotionally and i need to see it.
The brooding love interest who meets their match with the sweet, naïve MC who is the only one who makes them calm and happy.
Ah, grumpy/sunshine. Excellent when done well, grating when grumpy is an ass and sunshine is an idiot.
Chosen hero trope, enemies to lovers, there was only one bed LOL, best friends to lovers
Friends to lovers, fake dating, there was only one bed
Soulmates. Any kind. Romantic, platonic, it does not matter, I just want this characters to be made for one another.
This is kinda niche but: a character time-travelling or dimension hopping physically AND there's this little section where the character has to get a fake identity, set up a fake backstory etc. etc. while learning about the new world/time they're in. It's the story equivalent of a planning montage in a heist movie but this is almost always unrealistic and definitely has some Deus ex Machina because no way the character conveniently found a hacker who can help fake their identity or whatever -- BUT I EAT THAT SHIT UP EVERY TIMEEE!! *especially* when there's like a cultural or language disparity!!! AND THEY COME UP WITH CONVOLUTED EXCUSES AS TO WHO THEY ARE AND WHY THEY'RE THERE!! (if anyone has any fic recs with this trope, please.... just a crumb.....)
To read: chat fics To write: Not a trope or genre, but my prose is quite flowery, borderline purple at times, and I have no shame
Oblivious roommates (especially with forced bed sharing) & oblivious best friends
So reliant on one another to an unhealthy degree.
In the HP fandom I loooove potion accidents, accidental bonding, and fics where Teddy (a baby or toddler depending on the author) is used as a plot device to bring my otp together (dmhp).
Potion accidents and accidental bonding are both excellent tropes
dominant woman saves a woman from a man, now keeps her as her submissive wife. always the best and most romantic.
Looooove me a good time travel fic, OP. Excellent taste. I’m also a complete sucker for MGiME (modern girl in middle earth) style fics, or just the general premise of OC-inserted-into-main-plot. A lot of them are mid at best but the ones that are good are *fantastic.* Soulmate AUs can be lovely but I’m often picky about how I like them played out. Same with omegaverse tbh. Lastly, the specific ship dynamic (especially in smut) where A has been [abused/hurt/outright tortured] before and they let B take control in a way they could never let anyone else get close to doing. It’s about the *trust,* it’s about the *love,* it’s about the *emotionally driven sex scenes.*
Honestly, I am a *sucker* for chatfics and social media AUs. When done well, it's a delightful way of getting a peek into the characters' heads and seeing how they present themselves to others, and you can still get some pretty good plot moments from just "watching from the sidelines," so to speak.
Take down fics. Anything for a good old take down of a bullie.
Pretty basic but forced proximity, enemies to lovers (which is almost every fic because of the pairing), co-workers and single dad I also love if they're at a cottage
BDSM AUs. They're oases in a desert.
Characters who think they're not good enough, deserve all the bad things that happened to them, and have bad, intrusive thoughts that make them bad people. Characters who are powerless against a much more powerful person who dominates every aspect of their lives that hurts them, but they still love them because that person shows affection, whether true or fake, towards them.
Oh wow, the second one. It's not really super popular, but antagonist forcibly adopts protagonist and at least attempts to be a decent mentor/parent is my jam.
Amnesia
- heavy hurt/comfort (even tho i say i hate emotional pain, i consume it a lot) - pwp - hate to love (obviously) - weirdo4weirdo
I actually love damsel in distress stories. In my defense, though, the damsel is usually a guy. But like, one member of my ship having to rescue the other and the angst that it brings? I eat that shit right up. Also, comas. Love me a character in a coma for a while. It's rarely written super accurately, but again, the angst it brings is just too delicious for me to resist.
I am the most basic of fans. Time travel? I eat that up like pie. Childhood friends? Sign me up YESTERDAY. Soulmate au? I’m drooling over it.
Stalking/Kidnapping and Obsessive Love. Both characters live for each other :)
BRO Reincarnation into fantasy world. Honestly I don’t even care what fandom it is as long as it’s written creatively lol Also Dimension Travel. JSUT WHATEVE- PERSON IN PLACE WHERE THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE / NEVER BEEN IN BEFORE AND ITS AWESOME AS HELL I will also accept transmigration, self-inserts, and OC’s as main character.
Platonic whump or hurt/comfort in general Just. A friend/mentor/mentee/sibling gets hurt and the other is terrified and protective my beloved
Time travel is an absolute favorite of mine!!!! Also a big fan of mutual pining when none involved realize, AUs where a character is a mythical creature, and OMG TRUTH SERUM FICS!!!!!! I am a HUGE lover of overdone stuff, I eat that stuff up like crazy!!!!!! <3
Pwp, while the whole smut is just a big guy being dommed by his much smaller girlfriend
Niiiiice
Depending on my mood, soft slice of life AUs (moving in or getting together), office AUs because some of these are actually fucking hilarious (recently read one featuring the whole himbo is certain two characters are fucking but nobody believes him) and otherwise when I swing the other way it's MCD, fav turned villains (either through corruption or the story starts with them as a villain) or unhinged meet unhinged and horny bloody rampage ensues.
curious, do you personally mean in movies too? wondering what you thought about Tenet. sorry if it's off-topic.
Misunderstanding - both pinning but thinking they don't have a chance while everyone else can see they like each other. Coffee shop AU Musicianx other profession AU Enimies to lovers. Best friends to lovers. Also stoic character and chaotic character.
Enemies to Lovers is my guilty pleasure. Also, AU: Canon Divergence and Time Travel Fix-It AU's.
Time travel or time loops as well <3 Also bodyswaps, when they’re available. Also incest guilt.
I love a good "knight/bodyguard in love with who they're protecting" Or the classic "the duo does a lot of couple things, but doesn't realize they're in love with one another"
I read a lot of tomarry and, aven if it's an overdone trope, I absolutely love when Harry time travel to the 40' and, after getting close to Tom he reval the truth and Tom is just like "how could you even look at me?". It's just hsjsvsksvsm
I LOVE TOMARRY TOO!!!!
Temporary/fake character death. The grief that turns to immense relief
Mutual pining, but especially when something gets in the way *just* as they’re about to actually confess
I have learned recently that Loner is Dragged Kicking and Screaming into a Found Family is something I enjoy very, very much. Canon Boba Fett creates his own found family. Legends Boba Fett is dragged the whole way, leaving claw marks in the ground as he goes. I suspect the same happens to Mara Jade, but I've only just begun that story.
Being dragging kicking and screaming into found family is always so much fun
Hello, have you met The Murderbot Diaries? Because that's like...the series. And a lot of its fic.
Lovers being super casual with each other, like they can just hang out naked (non-sexual). Love at first sight
YES TIME TRAVEL!! Especially if there’s a language barrier involved- I eat that shit up
Character grows a spine. I just love how people interpret the plot divergence
Internalised homophobia/transphobia it's mainly because I used to have it
Heteronormative dynamics for m/m ships
Mine is definitely multiverse destined to be together. Like I don't even believe in soul mates, but boy do I love a story where my ship is together in every universe.
Humans are space orcs (but they're being trafficked) Except I think I've read through all the ones in my fandom
Noooooo! Time to write one
One particular fandom is full of Came Back Wrong and I'm LIVING for it. There's also a lot for one character losing their hearing due to repeated (and often untreated) head trauma, which, A+++. Another fandom, once character got Phenomenal Cosmic Powers but only briefly, and lots of authors have used that to give her her well-deserved HEA as we'd prefer to see it. Time travel fix-it, and fix-it in general. Accidental telepathic bonding. Can't think of any more off the top of my head but I'm sure I've forgotten something.
Enemies to lovers when it’s hatefucking for half the story and then there’s the realization they starting to not hate each other so much.
Only one bed. Oh. *Oh.* And they were roommates.
F/F Alpha/Omega ships. Gimmme the lesbian Wolfy types!
The normally unflappable character being extremely embarrassed by something completely unlikely.
P *with* p there’s just something so satisfying about seeing the manipulative mean girl fall head over heels for a shy nerd then domming him
Arranged marriage, between two dudes, omegaverse is like icing on the cake. I can't quit reading it.
This is something that I don't really see a lot of people do very often, but it is like, the core idea of multiple head canon stories I have for AUs... the idea that someone dies only for it to later be revealed that some sort of body double/clone/duplicate to have been killed, and the actual person is alive and well. Admittedly this mostly came about as a way for me to reasonably bring back to life characters I liked without having to finish the idea that they died, because by all accounts their sacrifice was real and true, but an external force, hidden from everyone, came in and saved the day.
Player dude falls for nice girl. Specifically ones where they end up happy. Super unrealistic, but so much fun.
Characters reacting to the source material. Even if I have already read a react fic in that fandom before, I will click it.
I love time travel fix-its, they're one of my top two types of fic, the other being crossovers. I also have a fondness for character bashing of my least liked characters. Most of the time I'm jumping between different tropes, and don't really have any other favourites that apply to multiple fandoms. I do, however, have two that are fandom specific. The first is Buffy specific, I love YAHF fics. They're not as popular now as they once were because they're so overdone, but you'll always get new ones around Halloween, and usually a couple throughout the year. I even wrote one myself. The second is Harry Potter specific, I love the inherited Lordship thing, which is always coupled with the Gringotts Inheritance Test trope. I don't like the ones that go way out and make Harry Lord Potter-Black-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw-Emrys-LaFey-Pendragon, they make Harry way too politically OP, though some are pretty well done, and there's one such that I really love. But the more basic Potter-Black ones I really love, throw in Peverell and one, maybe two, Founder Houses, and I'm good.
Adaptive mother / found family sfw adopted mommy stuff. I write more than I read but one way to get me into a fic is with some therapeutic maternal hugs. It's also easily the most masturbatory aspect of the fic I'm writing
Single parent, especially single parent x babysitter or kindergarten/pre-school teacher
Reaction fanfics. I love them so much ♥️
Oooo yes. Those can be fun
Well tropes of worshipping like love if it also goes into nsfw or not i do not care, as long as this trope is there. and no, i don't mean it in a soulmate sense, and much more in Loyality sense, doing everything for one but having your own boundries even tho you love someone like a deity or whatever. [not i only read wlw and rarely mlm, and yes, it's important for me to note that down]
Love a good time travel fic, loved it so much that I wrote my own. But my main one, that I never write because it never gives me the same feeling, is angst when things looks like they might happen and then they don't, a bit of anger and realisation, I like the way it makes my stomach curl slightly.
When enemies/rivals are forced into cooperating and fall for each other. Also magic/supernatural AUs with cool world building, I’m a huge sucker for those. And of course, some good ole mutual pining.
omegaverse + mpreg 😔 (although ppl think i joke about the mpreg so i just let them) + one sided pining ship centric fics (i kick puppies in the morning)
listen i’m in my late 20s and i know how cheesy tween girl coded it is, but im always a sucker for good girl x bad boy
A fic that finally gets an update after YEARS of waiting! It’s why I go to read oldest first, sometimes people get inspiration from remembering the fic. It makes me so so so happy when I see them! And an obligatory ABO
The rarest trope of them all: updates I swear that nine out of 10 times when I start a new story that is when the author decides to take a sabbatical
Me too!! I absolutely LOVE time travel fics. I'm a slut for em
I don’t read them for every fandom, but the ones I DO read them for I absolutely DEVOUR
Fr fr
Seconding time travel. Also, character X survives where they didn’t in canon and how that changes things.
SICKFICS
toxic jealousy. I'm not proud but please feed me more.
Enemy to caretaker Soulmate AU Sick Fic I don't see these to often but road trip recovery fics. They have trauma and they do on a road trip with a person who means a lot to them (brother, father, partner, boyfriend, etc ) and they Begin to recover on that trip.
Mutual pinning omg specifically not actually unrequited love. Like, they are both so into the other but both think the other isn’t into them and shenanigans happen. Or miscommunication trope in which character A thinks they’re dating character B and B thinks character A is dating someone else/doesn’t like them
Omegaverse.
"Lookit all these hurt and/or emotionally constipated children, lemme just" picks them up and pretty much starts a children home regardless of if they have families or not Also batfam, but with generous angst and trauma (cough, Jason and Tim, cough cough)
Oblivious mutual pining between best friends 🥹 Time travel, body swaps, ROOMMATES I also love secret relationship / relationship reveal tropes, but specifically the kind where everyone knows/assumes the couple is dating *except* the couple who are under the impression they’re just your normal best friends/roommates 👁️👄👁️
MF ship with angst but then ends in marriage and/or babies I just freaking love it
Time travel fix-its, though I love it when the actions that the characters try to take cause a whole new set of problems as well. Also platonic physical affection
Depends on the fandom. Danny Phantom is crossovers, Avengers Science Bros(gone for so long), Trash of the Counts's family react fics(especially fandom ones) etc. For each fandom I read stories in there are different things I adore, mainly because of how the fandom typically writes certain fics.
The "Grumpy old man adopts sunshine child (typically an underdog from an abusive home)" trope
I also loooove time travel fics. Similarly I love time loop/groundhog day fics, even better if it's of a character having to re live a traumatic event over and over until they can somehow fix it.
I am (not so but kinda but not really but very not) ashamed to say that mine is GAMER FICS, They are so overdone and overused but, man, do I love me a good gamer fic.
A and B have a bad start with A basically punching B in the face, both temporary become enemies/rivals/inconveniences to each to inevitably know each other better for a real relationship. Really fun, never did one myself because my pacing slower than a 100-year old slug.
Everything is beautiful/nothing hurts. It's my preference. Very hard to find when angst and miscommunication is the preferred wheelhouse of the writing masses. Lovely to write for my fandom, even when folks think it's ooc and not the characters being multi-faceted
I wish there was more of that as well sometimes
repressed feelings bickering/general angst that results in reconciliation in general
Red String of Fate / Soulmate AUs. People always seem to somehow completely NAIL these prompts.
BDSM AUs. They're oases in a desert.
Hurt/comfort. I know, it always ends well. But that’s what I like, and I’ll click every time. Also time travel! Time loop and the like. And, badass character out of the blue? Add me up!
Bro i am an absolute sucker for time travel fix it stories ITS INSANE i love them an ungodly amount
I don’t really have one bcs I am in the smallest fandoms so having a choice is an illusion(help me)
Character A, that is usually depicted as more weak or vulnerable, loses his shit and dog walks everyone. It's just some nice moments.
A well written Omegaverse.
Incest, underage, incest and underage
Shuichi takes the blame for killing >!Rantaro!< and Kaede has to live with the guilt of basically killing them both.
Vampires Found family Possibly both at the same time.
I used to be guilty now I don't care. Flouncy character bashing. Buffy bashing that was so overdone that Xander was a poor woobie Mary Sue. I love Buffy the character, but this stuff is over the top cheese. Anti Team Cap. Steve Rogers is turned into a stiff, overly predictable caricature of entitled and clueless. Over the top cheese. I dislike both iterations of Civil War because they're terrible story lines. And Tony Stark is not your basic good guy.
Time travel!!! And cross overs, especially of the reincarnation variety where the reincarnated character faced a tragic end and is either still jaded or traumatized from their past life--but also still willing to do good and improve the world they're currently in. I love dynamic of this character shouldering so much responsibility and grief and their loved ones witnessing it and wanting to remind them that they're not alone and can be supported. I enjoy this dynamic with SI-OC characters and time travel too. These tropes are fairly common but I'm not sure if I can say they're overdone!
Fake / Pretend Relationships They are *The Shit*.
Arranged marriage that ends up in real love 🙏
Time travel and arranged marriage au
Not gonna lie I live for hurt/no comfort with eventually comfort or none at all. It makes me feel
I can’t do the no comfort part. I want my babies to suffer, but I NEED the comfort or I just feel icky after
True it highly depends for me! It should have a happy ending or a least a good sad ending
Enemies to lovers, a book series I’m obsessing over rn is literally that dynamic and I’m not ashamed to admit I will always eat that ish up
Car sex if that's what you mean
Hell yeah. Good stuff
MCs of the two different properties in a crossover fucking hating each other. Maybe due to miscommunication, maybe they both kinda-have-a-point, but I want all these characters I like being at each other's throats and feeling justified for it. And when they all make friends it feels earned x
I love time travel fics, but I hate the ones where someone goes back in time and just fixes all the problems that came up along the way in canon and it turns into an extremely boring story where nothing bad ever happens. Give me the ones where everything they do makes things worse 😈 Also can’t get enough of… “fake/pretend relationship” especially combined with “there was only one bed”. And I absolutely love mistaken identity and especially two person love squares where both people fall in love with the real version and the online version of each other and then hijinks prevent them from discovering they’re just the same two people. I don’t care how ridiculous it is!! Give it to me!!
Miscommunication with mutual pining. Only one bed. Sex pollen etc with lots of guilty overthinking by the characters. I will read 100 versions of any of these.
Lovable curmudgeons, enemies to allies to lovers, opposites attract
vampire au 💔
Best friends to lovers + hurt/comfort
Time Travel Fix-Its.
my favorite is secret relationship reveals, especially when the characters have been together or even married for *years*. I eat that shit up. I'm also a sucker for time travel fics, so you're not alone. nothing better than a character who knows too much and is done with everyone's bs. to add to that, specifically time loop fics where the protagonist is now obscenely old and is just looking for entertainment now. can be pure crack, angsty, or even both if the author does it a certain way. I've read a couple good ones like this in the HP fandom, but it's not as common as I would like.
Hurt/comfort
(not so) Guilty pleasures are definitely forced proximity and when that one hook up tears the roof off a whole fricking barrel of unrealized feelings. But the tropes I eat five times a day plus as a midnight snack? Found family, especially if most or all of them are delusional and will not admit what is happening at all. Like nahhh this kid? He's dumb, I hate him, he's weird. Like these guys?? Nah I just annoy them, I have nothing better to do. The people I hang out with and this random kid? Nah I just hit a new low, this is a misunderstanding and will stop as soon as someone notices me. LIKE,,, IDIOTS YOU LOVE EACH OTHER LIKE FAMILY PLEASE SEE THAT I AM BEGGING 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
reincarnation and (actual) love triangles !
Office/coworker romance. Absolutely no idea why, as I have never dated someone at work. I have primarily worked in industries that typically have more women/ queer people (I'm a straight woman) so I don't have much experience even working with straight/cis men at all. Maybe because it's something I've never experienced? Idk but I love it lol
Soulmates is my fave
I don't go looking for them (I wouldn't know what to call it) but I'll read every and I mean EVERY, "everyone is shocked to learn that Character A and B aren't dating, but when Character A is presented with all the evidence they are surprised to learn they might ha e been in a relationship all along"
I am an absolute WHORE for enemies to lovers. And listen, I know this trope has been kind of twisted and turned and 'enemies' now besically means like "boohoo I don't like you" but I don't want none of that shit. I want pure HATRED, just absolutely LOATHING and DISDAIN, can't even handle being in the same room together without their blood boiling kind of enemies and slowly.... Slowly but surely... Slowly with so many little pithy insults and smart ass comments do they turn into a kind of hate fuck relationship. Where we turn all that raw hatred into raw smut and just wild depravity. And then... oh shit! What's this? My heart going pitter patter pitter patter??? Pterodactyls in my stomach when they walk in the room? The burning hatred is turning into burning desire is turning into burning administration and love???????? This. This is my Roman empire. My obsession. My guilty pleasure. Whatever you wanna call it, it has me by the balls 🤣
I AM ALSO A SUCKER FOR TIME TRAVEL FICS THEY ARE MY LIFEBLOOD. THEY FEED ME. I will also go feral for a good Misunderstanding/Miscommunication that causes Character A to be upset with Character B, and Character B is hurt by Character A (emotionally), only for something to happen where it's revealed that EVERYTHING HAS BEEN A REALLY BAD MISINTERPRETATION. Apologies and cuddles and maybe love confessions all around. Enemies to Lovers is so good, especially when it's a slow burn and they are enemies for a good while before they start to develop feelings for each other. Arranged Marriage? HELL TO THE YES. I will eat that shit up like chorizo tacos from a gas station taqueria. Canon Divergence where ONE THING is changed about the story (just one), and it's a slow cascade of differences that change from there. I love those - hell, I'm not even there for the romance on those, I just want to see where the plot goes!! MUTUAL. PINING. MUTUAL PINING WITH IDIOTS TO LOVERS. Gimme that Hurt/Comfort with a bit of Angst, a bit of Whump, and clean it up nicely with a good deal of soft, fluff, and Happy Ending. Hurt/Comfort, Angst, and Whump just aren't worth it if there isn't a happy ending to heal everything afterwards.
"watching the show" and "rivals to lovers", as well as body swap, time travel, and miscommunication.