Guess who’s back?! Back again! Frenchie’s back! Tell a friend!

Anyone who consumes media likely has tropes they gravitate to without noticing it. Those of us who voraciously consume fanfiction, however, tend to be greatly aware of our personal favorites. After all, tropes are tagged; even if you went in ignorant of what tropes were as a fic!n00b, you’d learn soon enough and target your reading accordingly. For the record, a trope is “a storytelling shorthand for a concept that the audience will recognize and understand instantly”. You know those “secret baby” plots that run rampant in the romance novel genre? That’s a trope. *Side note: ZOMG, HOW MUCH DO I LOVE “SECRET BABY”?! I digress. Tropes are something we return to time and again because we know what we like and how we like it. Here’s a rundown of some of my top fics featuring some of my favorite tropes.

Mates:

So Shed Your Skin And Let’s Get Started by halfhardtorock (Sterek i.e. Stiles/Derek, Teen Wolf, Explicit rating, complete) – Mates being one of my top tropes should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. I mean, we’ve already covered my deep and abiding love for all things omegaverse and the mates trope is usually intrinsically tangled with it. Although, fear not, there’s plenty of a/b/o (Alpha/Beta/Omega) coming your way in the future. Anyhoo, yeah, I’m a giant sucker for romance with a darker edge, as we all know. While this fic isn’t Omegaverse, it still retains the air of inevitability through the “mates” trope, a more animalistic take on the “soulmates” trope; yes, they ARE different. This trope, by nature of BEING what it is, isn’t specific to the TW fandom or to the Sterek pairing at all. However, it happens to be the strongest here (along with a/b/o) for the obvious reason of taking place in a world where werewolves are totally a thing.

This fic dings twice for me because, not only do we get mates, we also get a High School AU (alternate universe) which…c’mooooooon. GIVE ME ALL THE THINGS! THEN MAKE THEM NUBILE AND CONFUSED! Yeah, yeah, brb building my nest in Hell, whatever. So we start with Derek going a bit feral (grr, baby, very grr) in the woods where Stiles is because Stiles is always everywhere he’s not supposed to be. Derek catches a juicy whiff of his mate and gives him the claiming bite before either of them realize what’s happening, to the mild horror of their families. Non-consensual and all that, you know? Still. I felt free to insert my first fap here. Now Stiles is left with the decision of whether or not he’s ready to commit his human life to a werewolf or sentence said socially awkward werewolf (Derek) to being forever alone. In the midst of this is a sexual tension born of mating instinct so thick the reader is swimming in it. In ways both big and small! I mean, there’s a part where Sterek “talk” on the phone (Derek isn’t a talker) after not having contact for a few days and they’re just breathing together because it takes the edge off which leaves you literally panting in empathy and arousal. And scent!kink. All the scent!kink! MOUNT HIM LIKE THE BEAST YOU ARE! * crymaxing* Goddamn, I love mates! \o/ And at some point you need to stop asking why something is getting you off and just embrace it, savvy? Not that I ever question that sort of thing but I say this for the ones in the back who need an excuse to cut loose. Read this fic, leave your fucks at the door, and join me.

Sugar Daddy:

Consenting To Dream – by emugere (Hannigram i.e. Hannibal/Will, Hannibal TV Show, Explicit rating, complete) – Let me just…listen. ESCUCHAME! There is something about “slow burn” that unnnnn. IT’S BASICALLY LITERARY FLUFFING, OKAY?! And this fic does slow burn so well through the “Sugar Daddy” trope. This is a trope that can be a bit hit or miss most of the time so it’s always lovely to find a good ‘un. Who doesn’t want to be self-sufficient yet have a fine boo willing and able to take care of you, in bed and out, so you can live?! This naturally goes doubly for disturbed empaths burning the psychopath candle at both ends. Especially when the Sugar Daddy in question is Hannibal Lecter.

Hannibal seduces Will by buying him things but it’s not the monetary spoiling that gets him (Will). The true seduction comes from Hannibal wanting to pamper Will in all ways, primarily personal attention, which happens to lead to pampering him with material things that further reflect that attention; it’s not about buying Will a car or apartment in the conventional “Sugar Daddy” sense at all. For instance, when Hannibal lends/buys Will clothing accessories and Will gets so turned on at the thought of being taken care of that he needs to masturbate with those same accessories. LAWD! Achievement motherfucking unlocked! Or when Hannibal takes Will fancy!cannibal shopping and makes Will model suits with a D/s subtext coursing throughout the entire scene. That alone is porn so the ACTUAL smut we get on top of it only makes the situation all the more sweet. And by “sweet”, I mean like honey drizzled on my invisible dick and then licked off. I’m just saying. Nom. Give it to him, Daddy!

Genderbending:

as if drowning at the heart (or collapsing from skin to soul) – by arestlesswind (Hannigram, Hannibal TV Show, Mature rating, complete) – In a stroke of irony, the trope of “Genderbending” in media has been quite the topic of discussion amongst the Rat Queens. I’m a fan while others think it’s lazy storytelling. To be fair, genderbending has to be done right, the same as all else, in order for it to hold weight. So I completely understand the sentiment. This fic is a perfect example of the glory that genderbending characters can achieve. It’s also pretty sick and delicious, exactly how I like it. Jah bless! By the by, I’m perfectly aware that this sort of straddles the border between trope and plain au but I do what I want, Thor! * Harlem Shakes *

Will Graham is now Wilhemina Graham without any other changes to the character. Wil is still as much of an unstable loose canon as usual without the author attempting to morph her into Clarice Starling, a character who stands on her own in both canon and fanon. Hannibal is still Hannibal and believe me when I say that this is an actual tag in existence on the wonder of AO3; that tag is all one needs in order to predict the mindfuckery coming their way in Hannigram fics. I love that this fic is granted some intersectionality in it due to Wil now being a woman dealing with all the expected sexism present in law enforcement, as well as with the “ailment” of her empathy disorder. The combination of Hannibal remaining his apex predator self and Will now being Wil manages to heighten the dread we already feel whenever these two are in a metaphorical room together. Wil is vulnerable in ways she wasn’t as Will and yet…not. By the grace of the genderbend, Wil is somehow more an equal to Hannibal while also being more of a weakness for him. THERE’S A LOT OF ENDLESSLY FASCINATING SOCIAL COMMENTARY, FFS! AND IT’S WONDERFULLY EXECUTED!

Okay, there are the expected amounts of wrongbadwrong sex here because these are recs coming from me and I have defined preferences. I’m not cruel enough to leave anyone hanging. But there is so much more that makes this fic worth reading. You should also take whatever heterosexual recommendations I throw out because it is a puddle in comparison to the biblical flood of gay sex on my hard drive. Ergo, it must be good.

Are these all of my favorite tropes? Not by a miiiiiiiile. But they’ll tide you over until next time. Comment and tell us what some of your favorite media tropes are! We may have some in common.