What Are The Best Gallagher X Reader Fanfictions?

Ugh. This seems counterintuitive to me. The goal of most horror is to have characters make mistakes while we watch from the safety of our own homes. Having it be ‘me’ would be way too anxiety-provoking. I suppose that’s the draw for some people though. It must be a really personal thing as to where one draws the line between fun-scary and too-scary. These discussions are really interesting to read though. As for me, I’ll stick to my third-person omniscient narrators.

Honestly, I think you have to start with 'The Heart's On Fire' on AO3. It’s not just a collection of sweet moments; it builds out their post-canon life in a way that feels completely plausible, with all the political tension and personal loyalty you’d expect. The author nails Kyoshi’s voice—that careful, heavy sense of duty—and contrasts it so well with Rangi’s fierce, focused protectiveness. They don’t shy away from the arguments either, the kind that come from two people who are utterly devoted but also stubborn as hell. Another one I keep going back to is 'Smoke and Stone.' It’s a canon-divergent AU where Rangi joins the Flying Opera Company earlier. The dynamic shifts are fascinating, watching their partnership develop in the chaos of a smaller crew, and the slow burn feels earned. Some of the fight scenes are written with such crisp energy, you can almost see the fire and earth bending in your head. It just clicks. For something shorter but incredibly potent, 'Ashes on the Wind' deals with a moment of injury and vulnerability. It’s less about grand adventure and more about quiet, desperate care, and it highlights a tenderness between them that larger stories sometimes gloss over in favor of plot.

Good luck. Finding an author who can write both characters well is relatively rare, so start by looking at the bookmarks of good authors for either character. Sometimes they’ve written a one-shot for the other character. I once read a fairly good short story in which Kiba and Kankuro were both sensei to a new generation of genin. They had different methods of teaching, and the story followed them as respect for each other’s professionalism turned into something more. It had nice moments of Kiba coming to an understanding of Kankuro’s puppet-perfectionism, but I forgot the author’s name.

One of the redeeming fics of the Lucifer x Alastor pairing is ‘Shadows of Redemption’. It follows the overlord Alastor as he learns to care for others, with the guidance of Lucifer. Their journey begins as rivals, but slowly develops into respect and affection for each other. There are plenty of emotional scenes, to be sure, but overall it is a beautifully written fic. ‘Burning Bridges’ follows the path of redemption of Lucifer, and his attempts to reappear to Alastor. The portrayal of their bond in this one is extremely raw and heartfelt, making it an amazing read. ‘Hell’s Redemption’ is a more action-packed take on the same idea, but follows the story of Lucifer and Alastor teaming up to stop a celestial threat. Both the Redeemer pair and their battles are amazing in this one, so I highly recommend it. Fans of emotional storytelling and complicated relationships will love these fics.

There are lots of podcasts discussing the series, PJO. Many of these will have an episode or even a whole segment on fan creations including lots of fanfiction. It’s lovely to hear the hosts discussing the different stories and debating over their favorites. It makes you want to read the story for yourself! They usually include links to access the stories in the show notes. It’s like getting a book recommendation from your friend.

Reading an author's notes on a high-kudos fic is really cool. Sometimes the author will even admit that they were surprised by how the story received, or thank specific early commenters for encouraging them to keep writing. It's really impressive to read, because it really humanizes the number and makes you realize that every fic starts with one person posting a chapter into the void, hopefully to get some sort of reaction from someone. The journey to get to that final number is way more interesting than the number itself.

Huh. Never really noticed that he wasn’t a dad. The Smartest Gallagher Kid of them all in a show where family is the most important thing in the world, and there are babies abound, never seems to find himself in the position to become a father. Perhaps it’s because he saw first hand the damage that Frank caused by having children that he couldn’t take care of. Lip must have subconsciously not wanted to become Frank. Obviously his birth control is working well, ha! But seriously, that is an important character trait for Lip and it shows in so many ways how he is careless in his life but responsible in this way until he can handle it. The one responsibility he can constantly manage to uphold until he is ready to have children is avoiding the creation of another life that he cannot provide for. That is huge for a Gallagher.

All the deep emotions people are discussing are all well and good, but the AUs are really where the fun is at. Right now I’m really enjoying the modern no-curses, coffee shop AU where Megumi is a tired barista and Yuji is a very cheerful customer who orders bizarrely complicated drinks. I’ve also been enjoying a couple of fantasy AUs where their roles are reversed. The core dynamic of sunshine vs. shadow, of optimistic vs. pragmatic works so well in pretty much any setting, so I can follow this ship in lots of different contexts. After a long, grueling chapter of canon I can easily binge-read ten such AUs in a row and just enjoy the happy, argumentative Megumi and Yuji doing laundry or whatever.

When I’m searching for quality Phan fanfiction (that’s Dan and Phil to those who don’t know) on Archive of Our Own, a lot of the time I have to dig through a lot of mediocre stories to get to the really good stuff. Most of the quality stories I’ve found have been through sorting the fic by kudos, bookmarks, or comments, and then browsing through tags such as ‘Dan and Phil AU’ or ‘Phan Fluff’ (for non-Phan readers, this sort of thing is typically pretty easy to find). While many writers in the Phan fandom do a great job of portraying the two, some individual stories are really, really good at capturing the pair’s relationship, whether that’s in an AU where they’re soulmates, in college, or even in a dystopian future. Many of these stories are hidden amongst others of far fewer hits, and are truly gems. Also note that lots of fandoms (especially this one) have curated collections of fanfiction on Tumblr or Twitter or even just lists of recommended stories. This is how I found some of my absolute favorite comfort fics – there’s a slow-burn coffee shop AU that I read at 2AM and beamed with a large, idiot grin on my face for the rest of the day. Comment and kudos, etc – writers in this fandom work SO HARD for their creative output and need all the love they can get. Many of these stories are actually better written than a published novel, and there is just so much creativity here. Good luck, and I hope you find a whole lot of feels on your new read.

For comparison, I look at a lot of TV shows with smart kids from the wrong side of the tracks, and most of them manage to rise above their circumstances in some way. Lip’s story on Shameless, however, is different. Rather than being a magic ticket out of his situation, Lip’s intelligence serves as a near-curse that allows him to fully comprehend the dire circumstances of his family. But he doesn’t have the tools to do anything about it. In leaving college, Lip believed that the narrative of upward mobility was a myth for someone with his particular brand of baggage. And the system isn’t designed to catch someone of Lip’s stature falling from such great height with such incredible velocity. The show is a harsh critique of the ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ type of thinking.