What Are The Top Fanfiction Tropes In Barnaby X Wally Stories?

Barnaby and Wally? That's a pairing I can never get enough of, though honestly, the best stuff isn't always the most kudosed. A lot of popular ones lean into pure fluff, which is sweet, but sometimes misses the weird, quiet melancholy the original show has. The ones that stick with me are the ones that feel like they belong in that world—not just two characters slapped together. One I keep coming back to is 'Static Interference' over on Ao3. It's not even a romance-centric fic; it's more about the mechanics of existing in a looped broadcast and how that would affect a relationship. The author really gets Wally's performative cheer and Barnaby's grounded exhaustion. They write their banter like a familiar, worn groove, not just jokes. It’s slow, a bit sad in places, but the connection feels earned. Another is 'Dog Days Are Over'—a human AU that I normally avoid, but this one captures their dynamic so well. Barnaby as a burnt-out barista and Wally as this relentlessly sunny regular who slowly chips away at his cynicism. It’s softer, but the character voices are startlingly accurate.

Barnaby x Wally stories tend to zero in on a specific kind of dynamic: the tension between performative cheer and quiet vulnerability. It's a built-in trope because their core personalities set it up. Barnaby's the outgoing entertainer, always 'on,' and writers love exploring what happens when that act drops. Is he secretly exhausted? Does he feel a pressure Wally just doesn't perceive? Wally's calm, methodical nature becomes a safe space for that unraveling. He's not demanding more energy; he's just there, steady. So many fics I've read hinge on Barnaby having a bad day, retreating, and Wally just... staying. Not with grand gestures, but by quietly making tea or sitting in companionable silence until Barnaby feels real again. That contrast between Barnaby's loud love and Wally's quiet devotion is the heart of most romance plots I come across. Another huge theme is the 'understanding beyond words' angle. Because Wally communicates so deliberately, fanfiction often gives him an almost supernatural ability to read Barnaby's real feelings behind the jokes. It flips the script on their public dynamic. The big, loud guy isn't the one who fills the silence; it's the quiet one who understands it. I've seen some amazing stories where Wally points out the specific micro-expressions Barnaby makes when he's genuinely happy versus when he's forcing it, and Barnaby is just floored that someone noticed. It creates this incredible intimacy that feels earned, not just shipped for the sake of it. Less common but really compelling are the fics that play with artistic synergy. Barnaby's comedy is a performance, and Wally's painting is a craft. Stories that have them collaborating—Barnaby inspiring a series of joyful, colorful paintings, or Wally helping Barnaby design a more visually cohesive stage persona—add a layer of partnership that goes beyond just emotional support. They become each other's muse, and the romance blooms in that creative shared space, which feels very true to their characters.

So I've been neck-deep in the Super Crooks fandom for years now, and the Barnaby/Wally dynamic is this weirdly perfect engine for fanfic. It's all built on that classic 'opposites attract' but with so many layers. You've got Barnaby, the celebrity cynic who's seen it all, and Wally, the genuine, almost naive powerhouse. The most common conflict I see isn't just 'will they/won't they'—it's a complete clash of worldviews. Fics often dig into the tension between image and reality. Barnaby is hyper-aware of public perception, of the brand. Getting involved with a teammate, especially someone as open as Wally, is a PR nightmare waiting to happen. A lot of plots revolve around him trying to manage that, to keep things secret, which of course clashes with Wally's straightforward nature. Wally doesn't get why you'd hide something good. Then there's the emotional baggage. Barnaby's past, his family legacy, his jadedness—it all builds walls. Wally's conflict is simpler but just as potent: how do you love someone who seems determined to push you away for your own 'good'? I've read some incredible fics where the central conflict is Wally slowly dismantling Barnaby's defenses not with grand gestures, but with persistent, quiet kindness that Barnaby just can't rationalize away. The best plots make you feel the ache of two people who fit together perfectly logically, but emotionally they're speaking different languages until they learn to translate. The real juicy stuff often comes after they get together, too. How does a relationship even function when one of you can level a city block by accident? The conflict shifts from 'getting together' to 'staying together' amidst super-powered crises and the sheer weirdness of their lives. That's where the fandom really shines, inventing new problems only they could have.

Barnaby and Wally? That's a deep cut from 'Welcome to Night Vale' fandom, isn't it? You're looking for that specific weirdness where Cecil's boyfriend meets the puppet from a kids' show. It's not a huge pairing, so you have to get creative. Honestly, your best shot is on Archive of Our Own—their tagging system is a lifesaver. Use the 'Crossover' tag combined with 'Welcome to Night Vale' and maybe 'Cecil Palmer/Barnaby' or just 'Barnaby'. Sort by date updated; the really old stuff might be orphaned or deleted from other sites. Don't ignore Tumblr, either. The search function there is terrible, but a lot of writers post snippets or link to their AO3 from there. Try searching "Night Vale Barnaby Wally" and then just scroll. It's a digital archaeology project sometimes. You might also find remnants on Dreamwidth communities or super old LiveJournal sites, but a lot of those links are dead. I found a good one once by following a rec list on a fan's personal blog. It's a pairing that thrives on vibes more than volume, so when you find a story, it's usually someone who really gets the bizarre, tender heart of both characters.

I stumbled into the Barnaby/Wally tag after reading everything else in the Welcome Home fandom, and what keeps me coming back is how the dynamic gets used to examine different kinds of strength. Barnaby’s whole thing is this performative, loud confidence, right? But the fics that dig deepest flip it—they show him using humor as a shield, deflecting real vulnerability with a joke until Wally, who’s already operating on this weirdly literal and earnest frequency, just doesn’t get the deflection. He takes the joke at face value or asks a quiet follow-up question that dismantles the whole routine. That contrast becomes a tool for growth. You’ll see Barnaby having to learn new emotional language, something quieter and more direct, because his usual toolkit fails. Meanwhile, Wally’s often written as someone learning emotional nuance from the ground up, so Barnaby’s journey mirrors his own but from the opposite direction. It’s less about fixing each other and more about building a new, shared understanding that neither could access alone. The best ones make their partnership feel like a safe workshop for trying out feelings, with all the awkward pauses and missteps that come with it. Sometimes it’s played for gentle comedy, other times it’s deeply poignant, especially in AUs where they’re both human or facing a genuine crisis. The growth isn’t signaled by grand declarations, but by small shifts—Barnaby telling a joke that’s just for Wally’s understanding, not an audience’s laugh, or Wally initiating physical comfort in his own deliberate way.

Barnaby and Wally's fanfiction hinges on that inherent contrast—the bombastic versus the subdued. Authors love to dissect how Wally's quiet, observational nature actually grounds Barnaby's larger-than-life persona. I've read a few where Barnaby's entire comedy routine is performative armor, and Wally is the only one who sees through it, not by calling him out, but just by being a steady, non-judgmental presence. It flips the expected dynamic; the 'funny one' isn't always the one providing emotional support. That unspoken understanding gets a lot of play. Fics often have them communicating in glances or shared silences that speak volumes, which feels true to their 'best friends' canon status. The exploration isn't usually about romantic tension for me—it's about the deep comfort of a friendship where you don't have to perform. Some of the most touching ones are just slice-of-life: Barnaby trying to teach Wally a joke, Wally patiently listening to Barnaby's latest idea, that sort of thing. It's the stability of it all that gets me.

Barnaby and Wally are from 'Welcome Home,' right? That fandom's still growing, so pure crossovers aren't super common yet. My best luck has actually been on Tumblr or Twitter threads where writers do 'ficlet requests' or 'ship swaps'—you sometimes find someone who's mashed them up with characters from 'Over the Garden Wall' or 'Coraline' for that same creepy-cute aesthetic. I also check AO3 tags regularly. You gotta be a bit creative with search terms. Try filtering the 'Welcome Home' tag and then adding 'Crossover' or 'Fandom Fusion.' Sometimes people don't tag the secondary fandom perfectly. I once found a wild one where Barnaby was a detective in 'Psychonauts,' and Wally was a sentient stamp. The weirdest combos often come from writing prompts on Discord servers dedicated to horror-adjacent cartoons.

Well, that's a really specific and interesting corner of fandom to ask about. Cray, as a character from the manga and anime 'King's Game', isn't one of the massive mainstream fandoms, so the fanfiction around him—and particularly the 'Cray x' ship, which I'm assuming usually means Cray/Reader or Cray/OFC—tends to develop its own distinct set of patterns. The source material's intense, survival-horror premise where characters are forced into cruel games really shapes the tropes. You see a lot of 'hurt/comfort' taking a very physical, high-stakes form. Stories often begin with the reader or an original female character being thrust into the King's Game alongside Cray. The trope isn't just about emotional reassurance; it's about literal survival, patching up wounds after a failed command, or sharing scarce resources. The comfort part is huge because Cray, in canon, is one of the more morally grounded and protective characters in that brutal setting, so writers amplify that instinct. Another dominant trope is the 'shared trauma' or 'only sane person' dynamic. In a world where everyone is descending into paranoia and betrayal, fics love to pair Cray with someone who hasn't completely lost their humanity. They become a duo trying to outsmart the game together, strategizing and forming a trust-no-one-else bond. This often slides into 'enemies to allies to lovers' if the protagonist starts wary of him. A less common but fascinating trope I've stumbled upon is the 'outsider perspective' fic, where a character from our normal world gets pulled into the King's Game and their complete disbelief and modern sensibility clashes with Cray's hardened, resigned acceptance of the horrors, creating a great culture-shock tension. Because canon leaves a lot of room for 'what happens after,' post-canon fix-its or survival continuations are big. Stories explore the two of them on the run, hiding from whatever entity was behind the game, building a fragile life in the aftermath. The romance in these is typically a slow, weary burn, born from dependency evolving into something deeper. It's less about grand gestures and more about the quiet significance of finding a safe place to sleep or a moment of silence without fear. The tropes here are less about fluffy conventions and more about the specific, gritty emotional logic of enduring an unwinnable situation together, which is what makes this niche so compelling to its writers.

I've spent a fair amount of time on the Mystery Inc. side of things, and the tropes around Shaggy and Scooby as a duo are pretty distinct. It's rarely a conventional romance, obviously, but the found family and partnership aspect gets pushed to its absolute limit. A big one is the 'shared hunger' trope, but taken to supernatural extremes. I've seen fics where their bottomless appetites are actually a side effect of a magical pact or a curse they share, which is a fun way to explain the canon quirk. It adds a layer of shared secret suffering beneath the comedy. Then there's the protective angle, often flipped. Most people write Scooby protecting Shaggy, but some of the more interesting stories have Shaggy overcoming his own fear in a genuine, non-gag moment to save Scooby. It’s a moment of real character depth that the show hints at but rarely fully delivers. The best stories take that seed and grow it into something quietly heroic.

I'll be honest, I mostly stick to 'Tiger & Bunny' for the main canon, so my scope might be narrow. But from what I've seen in that corner of the fandom, the most popular take is a kind of speculative sci-fi. People lean into the android/machine angle, really getting into the mechanics of Fantoccio's existence and what that means for sentience and connection. It's less about traditional romance genres and more about existential questioning dressed up as a ship. I read one recently where the entire plot was Barnaby trying to repair Fantoccio after a major battle, and the emotional payoff wasn't a kiss, it was a single, flickering light in Fantoccio's eye unit. That hit differently than your usual fluff. Another angle I've noticed is casefic, which makes sense given their jobs. Stories framed around solving a mystery or taking down a villain, where their partnership is the central driving force. The relationship builds through action and reliance, not through internal monologues about feelings. It feels very true to the source material's vibe. I tend to skip the pure coffee-shop AUs for this pair; the dynamic just seems to work better when there's some kind of mission or mechanical problem to solve together.