#crying Aesthetic 

found you.

okay fess up who put the hit on me

middle school bkdk anthem, for izuku specifically

-  There, there

Urgent mental support

i think the reason i love studio ghibli as much as i do is because it encompasses everything i love about life. wearing clothes that make you feel young and free that you can run and jump and climb trees in. the sense of peace that only comes from sitting on a train watching scenes move by the in windows, walking through the city at night, reading on a bench. the way there is so much grief and pain and hardship in each movie, and the world being torn apart but in spite of that, there is wholesomeness and warmth in bowls of noodles and dinner with your family and singing loudly without worrying about what your voice sounds like, and if you love someone enough it doesn’t matter that the world is falling apart around you. it’s about romanticising the little things in life, the hot mug of tea, that moment in the streetlight in the rain, the sunrise looking pretty through your little window; and it’s about the quiet, soft, warm moments you share with other people through those. those the things i cling onto in life, the small moments of joy that make life worth living.

Snape Fic Recs for the Sneptical & Snurious

I mostly run in marauders-centric circles where Snape is largely ignored or treated like an incel, and eventually it gets boring. Boring! The worst sin in fandom! He's an interesting guy and there are SO many amazing fics featuring him.

(That said, I do think that Snape, James, and Sirius would all be thrilled that their beef has continued onto the internet in 2025 and that thought delights me even as the discourse grows tedious.)

These are just a few I've enjoyed in the past couple months as someone who doesn't generally read a lot of Snape-centric fics and who has zero tolerance for Lily bashing. (Sorry this basically became a @saintsenara rec list because I've been binging)

i hope this comes back to haunt you by humanveil (29k, M)

Severus Snape, from first curse to first kill. Or: The making of a Death Eater.

The first Snape-centric fic I read in years, and it's such a good starting point for my fellow Snurious Sneptics. Snape's voice shines through -- resentful, angry, hungry, curious, brilliant -- and his relationships with so many other characters (Lily, Narcissa, his parents) are just brilliantly portrayed.

Scylla and Charybdis by Asenora (64k WIP, E, Severus/Voldemort)

Severus Snape is looking for somewhere - anywhere - to belong. He makes the wrong choice.

The political worldbuilding! The politics! The humanity! The snarky, darkly hilarious Snape voice! This is a fic where the first war really feels like a war with complex politics -- while also completely avoiding that boring trope of 'what if the DEs were right actually??' Everyone is a human, politics is about material reality, and Voldemort is awful. Snape's desire to belong is so physically palpable as you read that it's almost painful.

The War of the Roses by Asenora (51k WIP, E, Sirius/Severus)

Sirius Black does not die. But this does not mean that it is easy for him to live. Or: a butterfly flaps its wings and Sirius does not go to the Department of Mysteries. What follows from that twist of fate is a story about the long, destructive shadow of a schoolboy rivalry; a story about surviving, and how surviving is sometimes more difficult than dying; a story about the fragility of beauty, the gentleness of hope, and the value of choice. It is also a love story.

The fic that made me start binging all of Asenora's work. It's Sirius POV so perhaps a good place to start for my fellow Sirius-obsessives, and the way his experience in Azkaban both haunts him and has deep, real physical ramifications is so painful and compelling to read. Plus because he lives he gets to have a more complex relationship with Harry! Snape has very nice hands and Sirius's fantasies about him are definitely not sexual at all nope nope nope.

Two Boys Kissing by Writcraft (7k, M, Sirius/Severus)

Sirius goes to a gay bar and meets the last person he expects. Under cloudy skies, two boys kiss and that one moment comes to define generations of want, need and hope.

Bittersweet and darling.

A Yultide Tradition by kelly_chambliss (300 words, G, Severus & Minerva)

On Christmas night, Severus Snape relies on tradition.

A mournful bite of a triple drabble.

Plus: bonuses all the way from 2006 Livejournal!

Five Fragments of an Obsidian Heart (Severus/Regulus) & the entire 7Spells series

Reading these fics as a teenager genuinely saved me I think. Very dark and includes a lot of Blackcest and sexual violence and written pre-DH as a heads up. I remember being so invested in this particular version of Snape, and then DH came out and promptly lost all interest in him when his backstory wasn't as interesting as the ones I read on LJ. There's a real old school feel which I can't quite put my finger on, but I definitely recommend them if you like dark and if you like fandom history.

YOU!! YES, YOU!! GO WRITE THAT FANFIC YOU THINK NOBODY BUT YOU WILL READ!!

the lil mannerisms and micro-struggles i give these british teenage boys are so . . unabashedly girl-coded, undoubtedly bc im a gal myself, in what i hope is in a subtle way but idek atp,,,

draco slaps half a pound of gel onto his head whenever he's too dead inside to do his hair in the morning, ron gets sidelined and mansplained to constantly and chooses to smile genially and take it bc it'd take just too much energy to get properly offended abt it . . .

draco hides nearly every single emotion he has behind a polite, blank smile whenever he's not (performatively) taking out his pent-up anger on the gryff trio, he is performing for an audience even when he's not supposed to be, when he's taking a break from the mask to be nasty and cruel . . but of course you have to be nasty and cruel in just the right way of course . . .

ron has so deeply internalized the belief that you have to be exceptional (something he is inherently, at the absolute base-level, not, he believes) to be worthy as a person that he's completely stopped putting in any effort at all; has so completely given up hope for himself (his erised-reflected pipe dream of standing out: head boy, quidditch captain, etc) that he struggles to see his own positive/arguably exceptional aspects at all; is living, essentially, in low power mode . . .

Well, I feel attacked.... I didn't need to be violently called out like that.

Any recommendations that have similar vibes to Venom or Valor?

About to humiliate my self because I'm about to list a very limited range of fics that are significantly better than mine with very different styles from mine. But you need this information

I started writing Venom or Valor specifically because of:

Bookbinding by Asenora/ @saintsenara, tom/myrtle - at the time I was only just barely sketching out why I was so fascinated with Tom and piecing together how his grandiosity and drama and mood swings spoke to a primal longing within him and this fic didn't press my buttons so much as smack me up the skull with a 2x4.

A Learning Experience by Laeveteinn, mostly gen - incredible character study of Tom's 10 years at Borgin and Burkes. Ending made my toes curl.

yes I realize the humour that neither of these are tomarry. Sorry I only ship it because I think Harry would make Tom happy like I'm indulging my favourite child

Some other stuff I think contributed:

Strings of Fate, by dizzydreamer, Tomarry - Every chapter has me absolutely screaming in laughter because Tom doesn't know how to act. Just an INCREDIBLE parade of deranged behaviour, really unfolding his worst tendencies like a beautiful flower. Babe you gotta stop licking the book

Consumption by Laeveteinn, Tomarry - quite possibly my favourite tomarry fanfic in the whole wide world. I want to hand-feed this to squeamish newcomers. If you like my Tom Laeveteinn is basically mandatory reading

Innocent (until proven guilty) by Laeveteinn, Tom/Grindelwald - pointing this one out specifically because this fic is activating villain apologia of the likes never before seen within me. Dumbledore bashers don't have the range to write this specific texture of child neglect. I feel like I am witnessing actual family drama. Grindelwald genuinely anguished and trying to find direction in his life grooming Tom is like something my mom would tell me about my cousin. I feel like I got to drive out to see him. I got to drive out across Canada to see Tom and tell him. I got to tell him that he should probably find himself before shacking up with a 60-year-old man famous for manipulating his way out of anything. My baby cousin Tom

Lover's Spit by amelinda and k3u, Tomarry - I keep calling this unrecommendable and then keep recommending it. Cannot repeat enough times that it is about Tom Riddle being inadvertently groomed by 4chan to be an edgelord stalking and threatening to rape the boy he has a crush on in a manner so grotesque he becomes a media sensation as a figurehead of horrifying internet depravity corrupting our children. That all being said. I've never read a fic with such loving worldbuilding it makes me think "should I stop reading fanfic and get back into literary fiction". I absolutely love the cadence of Tom's thoughts and the way he code-switches to slur-regurgitating 4channer. Most importantly: good face-tearing slowburn

dum spiro spero by Asenora/Saintsenara, Tom/Rookwood - Another pseudo-hanahaki, really concretely cemented my desire to ship Tom with anyone who can make him happy. The way Rookwood talks about Tom is truly incredible. The humour is impeccable. The monologue. You know the fic is good when it makes you wail IRL. Asenora a fantastic author, not just for Tom but for character studies in general. 10/10 Merope fics

Sorry this is almost entirely two authors. As always, I am a slow reader of the likes never before seen AND I'm picky. Nothing else has contributed to how VoV reads. It really is just these fics and Thor Ragnarok.