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
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Daydreaming by Gement
Fandoms: STAS, BTAS, Superman - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types, Sandman (Comics)
18 Jan 2021
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Summary
Bruce Wayne is being haunted. Whoever heard of a ghost that only comes out in sunlight?
(Or, the least goth ghost story of all time, in which Bruce alarms his loved ones, spites Lex Luthor, and makes
outfriends with a ghost.)Series
- Part 7 of Superbat Saturdays
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powerful (with a little bit of tender) by orphan_account
Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Deadpool - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
26 Nov 2019
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Summary
There’s little fanfare, when his heat finally hits. Peter goes to bed with a sore throat and wakes up feeling like he could crawl out of his skin. He strips. It helps only a little bit. He showers. It helps only a little bit more. He sends Wade a quick text (get over hrere im dyign please rbing quesadillas).
Wade sends him several gasping emojis and then thumbs-ups of all different skin tones. He’s so much. Peter giggles, and then rolls around on his bed to distract himself from his brain trying to tell him that no one loves him.
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Summer Ice. by elastic honey (infernoconcealed)
Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Deadpool - All Media Types, Spider-Man/Deadpool - Joe Kelly (Comics)
11 Apr 2019
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Summary
Spiderman/Deadpool, teamup comics.
They decide they're gonna try taking the weekends off.
Slice of Life. Emotional Porn. Real Porn.Video Games | Krav Maga | Sex | 911 Calls
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"I see you found us a couple of wounded birds," the man says to Kaylee. The words are dismissive but his tone is kind.
"They're headed for Judah," Kaylee says. "And they're broke."
Series
- Part 6 of Author's Favorites
- Part 4 of Firefly fanworks
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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.
Random bookmarks
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when i die i’ll sacrifice (more than enough for the afterlife) by notcaycepollard
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
26 May 2019
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Summary
The fall is longer than Natasha expects.
It’s tears cold on her face, teeth bitten all the way through her lip and the taste of copper in her mouth; she’s falling and falling and then, bracing for impact—she wakes up.
Series
- Part 1 of a flame in two cupped hands
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 41,322
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 10
- Comments:
- 468
- Kudos:
- 4,178
- Bookmarks:
- 1,615
- Hits:
- 57,703
Bookmarked by WaterMe
28 May 2019
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Bookmarker's Notes
We survived the Thanosverse. We deserve the Betterverse.
If I could only recommend one story, ever, for the rest of my life - it would be this one.
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The Department of Underdogs and Lost Causes by what_alchemy for fandomlucky
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
12 Jan 2019
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Summary
Searching for a way out of her dead-end Ministry job, Hermione finds Severus Snape instead.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 32,869
- Chapters:
- 4/4
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 294
- Kudos:
- 1,365
- Bookmarks:
- 453
- Hits:
- 24,157
Bookmarked by WaterMe
31 Jan 2019
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Bookmarker's Notes
“I’d boxed away my records back at Spinner’s End, but I hadn’t the heart to get rid of them. One day, I was out running some errand for Himself in Muggle London because I was the only one who could do it without bollixing it up, and I passed a record store. Sex Pistols posters in the windows, the Ramones, the Cure, Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees. All music I’d missed whilst I was—away. I don’t know why I went in, but it was like a compulsion. They were playing ‘Transmission’ on the sound system and I was suddenly back in my body, though I never knew I’d left it. All bass and buzz. Dance to the radio, Ian Curtis said to me. No language, just sound, he said. I bought the single, and this album, and I went back to my empty house and dug out my record player and put it on and…”
Severus fell abruptly silent, mouth curving violently downward. He was holding Hermione’s hand too tightly. She kissed his knuckles and he let her go.
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Summary
Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.
Series
- Part 1 of Running on Air
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 74,880
- Chapters:
- 17/17
- Collections:
- 18
- Comments:
- 5,694
- Kudos:
- 69,985
- Bookmarks:
- 22,877
- Hits:
- 1,736,742
Bookmarked by WaterMe
01 Jan 2019
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Bookmarker's Notes
The colour of the bones almost matches the summer-scorched grass pushing between the vertebrae. The ribs bend like stalks of wheat, permanently bowing to an invisible wind; the finger knuckles look like sun-bleached pebbles.
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Take Your Time Coming Home by odetteandodile
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
02 Jan 2019
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Summary
It all started with a drink ticket. Or was it with a letter?
No, probably it all started the day Steve Rogers decided to move into an apartment-share with a guy he's never laid eyes on. And since their agreement is that Steve has the place at night and the other fella takes it over during the day, there's no reason they ever even need to meet.
Unless there are a whole lot of reasons why they absolutely should.
Or: Steve pines for Bucky without even knowing he's pining for Bucky thanks to a series of letters and an unusual roommate arrangement in 1930's Brooklyn.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 13,047
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Comments:
- 188
- Kudos:
- 1,518
- Bookmarks:
- 413
- Hits:
- 13,504
Bookmarked by WaterMe
21 Jan 2019
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A strange and wonderful romance built on letters <3
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morning in the burned house by antivenom
Fandoms: Deadpool - All Media Types, Spider-Man - All Media Types
02 Jul 2020
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Summary
Wade’s got a defense mechanism. Grin and bear it.
But the thing is, Wade’s angry into his bones.
(Or, this is what happens when a seemingly unassuming, run-of-the-mill hit gets personal)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 50,344
- Chapters:
- 13/13
- Collections:
- 5
- Comments:
- 407
- Kudos:
- 2,210
- Bookmarks:
- 585
- Hits:
- 42,337
Bookmarked by WaterMe
06 Jul 2020
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Bookmarker's Notes
In the burned house I am eating breakfast.
You understand: there is no house, there is no breakfast,
yet here I am.
(A deep dive into the past and present of one Wade Wilson. And also one of the most exquisitely heart-wrenching things I have ever read.)