What Are Popular Freminet X Reader Fanfiction Plots To Explore?

Okay, maybe I'm in the minority here, but I get tired of the same soft, healing-focused fics. I want to see his diver skills and combat training actually matter. There's potential for a great plot where the reader is a Fatui agent from another division, assigned to observe or retrieve something from his area. That initial distrust and professional tension, layered over whatever personal connection forms, writes itself. Does he report the suspicious outsider? Does he help them against orders?

Or a mystery where the sea itself is a threat—a curse, a spreading blight—and he's the only one with the knowledge to navigate it. The reader could be a researcher or a victim's family member dragged into it. His quiet competence under pressure is more interesting to me than another introvert bonding session. Those are fine, but the setting offers so much more.

I did read one once where the reader was another 'failed' creation from the same batch of experiments that produced him, which was a wild but compelling take. It explored shared trauma without being overly saccharine.

Most plots hinge on proximity and forced interaction, given his nature. Common ones: the reader as a new mechanic at the dock needing his diving expertise, getting stranded with him after a boat failure, or being a patient at the hospital where he's recovering. The appeal is watching his meticulous, careful personality slowly extend to include another person. The best ones don't change him overnight; he's still hesitant, still most comfortable underwater, but the reader becomes a part of his limited surface world.

Freminet's whole thing is being underwater—literally and emotionally. A really common setup I see is the reader character somehow ending up in the underwater ruins of the Fontaine Research Institute, maybe as a diver or an accident victim, and he's the one who finds them. It creates this immediate, isolated setting where he's the only one who can communicate or help, forcing him out of his shell. The tension often comes from his quiet protectiveness clashing with his social anxiety.

Another plot I've clicked on a few times involves the reader being another outcast from the Court of Fontaine, maybe someone who also doesn't fit the 'ideal' mold. They bond over shared silence or a mutual understanding of being overlooked. It's less about grand adventure and more about quiet moments—repairing a music box together, or him showing the reader the safe, shallow parts of the sea where the light filters through.

Sometimes writers flip it and make the reader the assertive one, someone who persistently but gently draws him out. I'm always a bit skeptical of those 'manic pixie dream girl saves the shy boy' versions, but when it's done with care, focusing on his gradual trust and small acts of reciprocation, it can feel earned. He might start leaving little repaired trinkets for the reader, or finally share the name of his penguin friend.