Only the Most Beautiful
The gorgeous, gut-punching, life-affirming fics I come back to time and time again. Sometimes it's love, unrequited or fulfilled. Sometimes it's friendship, family. Sometimes it's angst and horror and unhappy endings, sometimes everything is soft and nothing hurts.
Mostly Marvel, with some other gems. Use the bookmarks to see the full list of works with collector's commentary. Skip to the best-of-the-best if you want to be like that, but they're all the best.
(Maintained by WaterMe)
(Open, Moderated)
Random works
-
Tags
Summary
Sam Wilson had just been outed by Captain America.
Quite an achievement, given that the man had been last seen nosing a plane into the Arctic fifty years ago.
The fact that Captain America's official biography outs him doesn't just have consequences for Steve Rogers.
Sequel to Subjective Histories.
-
Birds Eating Other Birds by aloneintherain
Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
30 Jul 2016
Tags
Summary
Peter wishes he hadn’t gotten out of bed that morning. Then, maybe, he wouldn’t be reduced to this—limp-crawling through the rabbit burrows that is Oscorp Tower, a monster of a man on his heels, bloody and bruised and choking on a panic attack.
Series
- Part 1 of devil in a sunday hat
-
Tags
Summary
"The stars incline us, they do not bind us." For Harry, it's something he learned long ago on the battlefield. But for his son, James, it will be a painful lesson in the form of a friendship with a boy named Scorpius Malfoy.
-
The Sweetest Days by how_long_must_we_live
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
22 Aug 2017
Tags
Summary
It had begun as a dare.
“Hello there,” the whore called out.
Series
-
Time and Again by follow_the_sun
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
31 Aug 2021
Tags
Summary
“Oh, thank God,” said Bucky. “I’ve been shipping the two of you since 1943.”
Steve goes back in time. Things go a little differently than he expects.
Random bookmarks
-
not an end, but (the start of all things) by notcaycepollard
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies)
01 May 2019
Tags
Summary
They keep driving, for lack of anything better to do. A mission, Sam had said, and maybe that's true; maybe wherever they're headed is the way out, the way up.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 11,267
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 3
- Comments:
- 142
- Kudos:
- 2,419
- Bookmarks:
- 569
- Hits:
- 18,598
Bookmarked by WaterMe
06 May 2019
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
endgame, from another perspective
-
Skin Echoes What The Heart Desires by Guardian
Fandoms: Deadpool - All Media Types, Deadpool (Movieverse)
27 Aug 2018
Tags
Summary
"It's only skin, Wade," Vanessa told him, over and over again, until Wade almost felt like he could believe it.
"Soulmates don't go away. They're part of you."- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 5,145
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 56
- Kudos:
- 506
- Bookmarks:
- 58
- Hits:
- 3,827
Bookmarked by WaterMe
07 Mar 2020
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
"It's not a limited resource, dumbass," Cable said, in an oddly fond tone of voice. "You can have someone that you love deeply, truly, and love someone else just as much. Doesn't make either of them any less real."
A poly-compliant soulmark AU. And coincidentally (or maybe not so much) one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.
-
Sealed With a Kiss by follow_the_sun, littleblackfox
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
08 Oct 2018
Tags
Summary
Steve shook his head in disbelief. “So just because I knocked your coat on the floor and handed it back to you, now we both have to be legally married to a stranger forever?”
“Well,” Bucky said, eyeing the ring box on the coffee table, “we don’t have to be strangers.”
Bucky's a selkie. Steve's a clumsy human. They're married now. Oops.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 64,196
- Chapters:
- 4/4
- Collections:
- 3
- Comments:
- 321
- Kudos:
- 2,626
- Bookmarks:
- 786
- Hits:
- 31,141
Bookmarked by WaterMe
20 Dec 2018
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
The summary says it all, really. This gave me major "Sandman" feels.
-
Tags
Summary
In an alternate universe where Sirius Black never went to Azkaban, Harry divides his life between the Dursleys' house and Mr. Black's bookshop -- until Sirius realises what the Dursleys are doing to him, and takes him away from their care.
Series
- Part 1 of Stealing Harryverse
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 99,937
- Chapters:
- 11/11
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 1,597
- Kudos:
- 25,230
- Bookmarks:
- 6,703
- Hits:
- 890,266
Bookmarked by WaterMe
21 Jul 2020
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
I have a total soft spot for "Harry gets to grow up happy" fic :'')
-
Tags
Summary
Andromeda Black's life has been meticulously planned on her behalf. It was past time she refused the path laid out for her.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 27,570
- Chapters:
- 7/7
- Collections:
- 4
- Comments:
- 27
- Kudos:
- 185
- Bookmarks:
- 58
- Hits:
- 3,829
Bookmarked by WaterMe
30 Nov 2019
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
Andromeda Black meets a man in a muggle club (and then it gets sexy). Or: How to deprogram the ideologies you inherit.