Shantae X Bolo Novels & Stories

Honestly, I haven't seen much that purely focuses on Shantae and Bolo as friends, like, in a deep platonic way. Most fics that put them together tend to veer into romance territory pretty quickly, which is fine I guess but misses the point of their actual dynamic in the games.

If you dig around, you might find some older one-shots on FanFiction.net from back when the series was newer, where they're just hanging out in Sequin Land or Bolo's trying (and failing) to impress her while she's just tolerating his nonsense. That felt true to them. Nowadays a lot of the stuff on AO3 tags them as a pairing, so you have to sift through the shippy stuff. I did read a cute gen fic once where Bolo helped Shantae fix her hair ribbon after a fight and they talked about nothing important. It was small, but it felt right.

Honestly, I've always thought the Bolo/Shantae stuff felt a little forced by the fandom. She spends so much time in canon either saving him or being exasperated by him—it's more sibling energy than anything romantic. But people really latch onto that 'childhood friend' trope, I guess. The themes I see most are either 'Bolo finally grows up and proves himself worthy' or 'Shantae realizes what was right in front of her all along.'

There's also a surprising amount of role reversal, where he's the one who has to save her for a change, which can be fun if done well. A lot of the fics I've clicked on are set after a big crisis, exploring that quiet comfort between two people who've known each other forever. It's less about grand passion and more about finding a safe harbor, which has its own appeal even if I don't personally ship it.

Honestly haven't come across anything that truly nails Shantae x Bolo for me yet. Most fics just pair them up because they're the most obvious 'friends to lovers' set-up in the series, but then they forget to actually build the tension. They either make Shantae way too oblivious or Bolo way too suave, and neither feels right.

I did read one ages ago on FFN that was a decent slow-burn, set after the events of 'Half-Genie Hero'. It focused on them dealing with the fallout of a big battle, Bolo getting hurt trying to protect her, and Shantae realizing she's terrified of losing him. The author got their banter down pretty well. Can't remember the title, but it had 'Gears' in it, maybe? The site's search is a nightmare now, good luck finding anything specific.