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
-
the kubler-ross theory by antivenom
Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), Deadpool - All Media Types
03 Dec 2017
Tags
Summary
Peter loses Gwen in a split-second of motion.
It takes much, much longer for him to find himself afterwards.(In which Peter deals with a loss that immobilizes him and permeates through every drawn breath. In which his grief is a visceral abstraction that he can touch, that he can feel. And in which, with a little help, with time, with acceptance, with anger, with sadness, with Wade, he learns how to live in a world without her.)
Series
- Part 1 of the kubler-ross theory
-
Tags
Summary
When Julian volunteered to spend six months on Cardassia he set in motion a chain of events which forever changed his life - and Garak's.
-
Skin Echoes What The Heart Desires by Guardian
Fandoms: Deadpool - All Media Types, Deadpool (Movieverse)
28 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." -
trouble is i don’t wanna let go by cheekysstyles
Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Deadpool - All Media Types
12 Apr 2020
Tags
Summary
Usually when Wade pictured Spidey straddling him and panting from exertion, it wasn’t quite like this.
or Wade wakes up to Spiderman literally holding an entire building up so it doesn’t crush them. Both of them realize pretty quickly the building is coming down anyway.
Series
-
Tags
Summary
Post-RotJ, Leia and Luke are the most important humans in Han's life.
Series
- Part 1 of Starfall
Random bookmarks
-
Bookmarked by WaterMe
02 May 2021
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
There's this John Darnielle quote about his song "This Year" that I think about a lot, about being seventeen and wearing his dad's old coat with a bottle of whiskey hidden in the lining and sitting behind a pinball machine with a girl, drinking until he's tipsy enough to face driving home and getting the shit beat out of him by his step-dad.
I keep meaning to write about it, because every time I listen to the album it hits me right in the chest and I think about it for days. And I may still write about it, but this one may have done a better job of it than I could have.
-
trouble is i don’t wanna let go by cheekysstyles
Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Deadpool - All Media Types
12 Apr 2020
Tags
Summary
Usually when Wade pictured Spidey straddling him and panting from exertion, it wasn’t quite like this.
or Wade wakes up to Spiderman literally holding an entire building up so it doesn’t crush them. Both of them realize pretty quickly the building is coming down anyway.
Series
-
I'll build a house inside of you by magdaliny
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
30 Jul 2015
Tags
Summary
Natalia is stacking blocks very carefully when the adults come into the room. None of them look at her, because they're all looking at her father. He's wearing combat gear, and the hair on the left side of his head is slicked back with blood. He smells like smoke and something unnameable, sweet and dark and a little sickly in her nose.
Father is saying, “Don't be ridiculous. The only thing children are good at is disobeying.”
-
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.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 336,468
- Chapters:
- 37/38
- Collections:
- 14
- Comments:
- 1,361
- Kudos:
- 6,987
- Bookmarks:
- 2,907
- Hits:
- 504,694
Bookmarked by WaterMe
03 Jan 2019
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
It's long, but so incredibly worth it. Savor it like a well-loved novel.
-
Daydreaming by Gement
Fandoms: STAS, BTAS, Superman - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types, Sandman (Comics)
18 Jan 2021
Tags
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
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 38,762
- Chapters:
- 12/12
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 385
- Kudos:
- 430
- Bookmarks:
- 135
- Hits:
- 7,390
Bookmarked by WaterMe
19 Jan 2021
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
The most lovely and hopeful ghost story you'll ever read. Keep an eye out for big Sandman vibes, exquisitely researched Jewish culture, and A+ Lois Lane cameos.
"I thought of a name I liked," the man said. "But I only remember the story, not the name."
"Oh?"
"There was a wizard, and a shipwreck, on an island. And the name was in a cloven pine."
"The Tempest," Bruce said. Interesting choice. "Ariel."
"Yes!" The man's smile literally lit up his face, glowing from within. "I could be Ariel."