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I succumbed. This has been an idea i’ve been toying for a while now, but the stupid jc fic that made me cry at 6pm on 26/11/2025 instead of studying for my finals sealed the deal so here we are. an archive page consisting of reviews of my fav fics. this is like a temporary media journal for fics because to be cringe is to be free and I like noting down my thoughts


last updated: 15/12/2025


To All the Vigilantes I’ve Loved Before | Hayleythewriter

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15/12/2025

letters

Image credits: White printer paper on brown wooden table by Ignat Kushnarev

Rating: 3.5 ★

I have only ever discovered TWO “To-All-the-Boys-I’ve-Loved-Before” trope fics in my lifetime (both of which were really good) and I now have found a third one. Granted I feel like there aren’t many TATBILB type fics or maybe I’m just not looking hard enough but I digress. This fic actually hit a lot of my fav tropes LIKE timkon, alternate universe - college/university, TATBILB, tim drake centric, yearning, YJ98 core 4, miscommunication and that angst which made it really good. It also had good bat family dynamics with damian playing a large role, steph and cass ANDDDD DUKE WAS MENTIONED AND FEATURED which is such a rare thing like people always forget about him so it was really cool to see a complete batfam dynamic in this fic

I know 3.5 stars is kinda low but it’s because my issue was with bernard. Bro was introduced and it made sense since yea he had a crush on tim. it was kinda cute and stuff at first BUT THEN I KNOWWWW timkon were fake dating but it lowkey pmo that tim kinda cheated on kon by sleeping with bernard and then he gets his number and then there’s no mention of him ever???? even at the end???? like bernard plot lowkey just disappeared and it gives the story a weird plot hole which just leaves me unsatisfied and wondering what happened at the end and the implications on their relationship. i know they were fake dating so the confession scene at the end seals the deal of them really dating but it also just feels so messed up and to bernard too even though he just got completely wiped off. also why didn’t kon get more angry cos if i were him, i would get mad my fake partner pseudo-cheated on me with his past crush and then had the audacity to also give their phone number to that person when i am in the room too. like ok pull up hoe????? tim drake can you be fr??? i feel like a few more words could have been said to tie up the random bernard plot hole cos the writer did a really good job tying up the cass-steph-tim tension and even the damian-tim tension so it was a little disappointing. Tim’s reaction to Kon’s letter was sweet though but I think again, the gaping hole of bernard dowd just made the ending less satisfactory which is lowkey a shame cos the fic was building up to be soooo goof.

But minus that, the fic was so good. I haven’t read a satisfying new timkon fic in a while so this truly felt like a rare treat. i love the small moments between them like the movie night and the flirting when kon brought the tomatoes on their date. the letters were also lowkey heart wrenching and kon’s confession letter at the end was sooo sweet. also if i had a nickel for every time i read a TATBILB trope fic where there is a frat party and it leads to them having an intense make out scene on the basis of one of the characters grappling and having Anxiety and Thoughts over everything that has happened, I would have TWO nickels which isn’t bad but definitely an insane coincidence.

I do appreciate how the writer featured so many characters without it feeling like it was an overload though. Like with the YJ98 core 4, and cass, steph, and tim sharing about it with jason, dick, even roy harper being pulled in. it doesn’t feel very overwhelming but it feels natural and meaningful with each character providing development or moving the plot along. I do like how tim’s avoidant tendencies with steph was so real though and then the realisation at the end cass knew all along and that he never needed to hide or be so avoidant was a nice touch to helping to resolve everything and highlights his way of thinking and rationalising almost everything.

I would say this fic is solid but it doesn’t feel as life changing as yours truly or bbts if you know what I mean. like it’s a solid timkon fic that’s cute and has good development but I feel like it don’t hit enough for me to consider it an insane reread or to go into the Archives. BUT i still am an appreciator of all good timkon fics I stumble across. PLUS I have been trying so hard to find a timkon college/university AU fic for the longest time so this might be it.



Carry Me Home Tonight | Nineafternoons

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14/12/2025

https://files.catbox.moe/xgaftk.jpg

Image credits: White printer paper on white table by Jornada Produtora

Rating: 4.5 ★

Recently reread this masterpiece of a fic and wow. Just wow. Where do I even begin?

I need to start this off by saying I don’t normally love amnesia as a trope or plot point. It always felt very finicky to me because a lot of things can go wrong and sometimes it feels very cliche or just awkward in terms of making the plot move along and develop coherently but somehow, this fic made it work really, really, really well.

This fic honestly has everything I love: the softness, the domestic fluff, the building tension, the pushing and pulling, the flashbacks, everything. I think the amnesia works well here because it makes soonhoon’s relationship feel like an elevated soulmates trope, where regardless of circumstances, they end up always being fated to be together. I honestly remember tearing up the first time I read this, not once but twice — once at the wedding scene and when sy eventually leaves jh AGAIN for japan, and the second was when jh watches the video in the wedding store and sees sy talking about him as a college student and how he loves him so much. This, tied in together with that crazy scene of sy bringing jh back to their college and trying to jolt his memory by sharing about their past moments (Oh my GOD the tire swing set T.T) makes everything hurts so much and it’s so sad but beautiful. Like just struggling through with jh trying reorganise his memories and past life, and how much sy pretended to not know jh and love him again for the “first time”. Their relationship and the build up to jh finding out, and them officially getting together in the end is so so perfect despite the hurting and tensions. Sy also proposing in their old apartment is like wow. Can it get any better?????

The way the plot is so perfectly set up too, with jeongcheol setting them up with each other for a blind date in the beginning, but it doesn’t work out, and then they still somehow end up together and the plot twist and they were roommates. One thing I appreciate is how the fic doesn’t drill too much on their relationship despite it being the centre focus of the whole fic if that makes sense? Like the author writes their relationship but in a very nuanced way that allows the plot to keep moving forward coherently without focusing too much on just the relationship itself. It effectively ties in the other dynamics soonhoon has with the people around them, particularly jh’s family, and the Past which sy struggles with a lot.

ALSO I have to say, I LIVED for all the callbacks to the title. I am SUCH a hoe for when fics or book or media or anything I consume do this. Like this scene in the flashback:

“I want you to carry me home tonight.”

It’s so direct. I remember getting chills and having a hand go over my mouth moment reading this even on my second read. It’s just so tender, simple, the softness of it all. Even after this line, I still found myself continuously wanting to highlight literal phrases within the fic since I did this reread on Books so call me crazy but that’s how good the writing was. For example, this line:

“The hospital is just a block away. Never did he imagine he would carry him to an emergency room. The orange packs in front of the theater are left splattered on the ground.

Soonyoung breathes but he couldn’t feel quite alive.”

Like oh my god?? We should all just kill ourselves??? Why is it always the flashbacks that have the most earth-shattering lines. Another flashback I love is when sy recalls the moment he fell in love with jh, them running in the rain together for his history textbook and then they have their first kiss. I think that’s what I love so much about this fic, it’s that the moments they love each other in are so so simple, nothing fancy or whatever despite the circumstances, it’s all so mundane and beautiful and so, so sweet.

Honestly, my only gripe with the fic was the fact that flashbacks weren’t italicised to marked out to be different than present day which I think made my first read of the fic a little difficult because there were times where I couldn’t distinguish which was the past and which was the present. But other than this silly, small formatting issue, I love love love this fic like I don’t know what else to talk about other than how beautiful soonhoon’s relationship was in this fic. I also genuinely believe it could go into my top 5 fics of all time with buy back the secrets. It’s just so good. Again, idk what else to say, it’s genuinely just so filling and rich in a good way.

Other thoughts extracted from my first read of this fic I noted down (30.06.2025)


stay here with me | orphan_account

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26/11/2025

argh

Rating: 4 ★

NO IG STILL and at this point i might as well redownload it but nobody understands this and im going to burst if i don’t write about it. ANYWAY just reread stay here with me instead of studying for finals (f my stupid chungus life) and i sobbed AGAIN. i cried, like full on crying, not just a tear-slipped-down-my-cheek cry.

Why is it so sad yet so beautifully written. the last scene of them at the cemetery, and jh reflecting on his childhood and reflection with his sister, and how he thinks she would have loved to see her daughter all grown up now. somebody SEDATE ME… i am such a hoe for family trauma which is probably unhealthy but god the way this was written, and how the family Drama and his relationship with his sister was woven in so naturally and with a purpose is so gut wrenching but good at the same time time.

Maybe im reading too much into it, but it feels like there’s 2 simultaneous ideas of grief going on — losing his sister physically and literally, and losing his family emotionally and relationally. Like the last chapter where he has the idea of confronting or talking to his parents (anger/bargaining) but then he sees them with the 2 new kids. Jh then driving away and saying he doesn’t look back feels to me like closure, like it mirrors the notion of the “acceptance” stage in the 5 stages of grief and it just hits so good. maybe im reading too much into this and the author just wanted to wrap up the family issues but that’s how i interpreted it and it feels so emotional.

I know i read this before but rereading this again is like wow. why did i not do a review or something before on this. (side note: it’s cringe but to be cringe is to be free so i should start doing a review of my all time fav fics..) ANYWAY i digress but yea, the way it was written was so easy to get through. Despite it being definitely on the short (?) more medium length of fics i read since it’s the usual ~30k words, the author does such an insane job of evolving the character and psychological growth of dasom in overcoming her trauma, slowly opening up and becoming more confident again. also, as always, i am a sucker for traumatised child in single parent to couple family trope so this is like extra love for me.

The jc romance was like secondary to me but it’s also so cute and i love the way their relationship was written. i liked how there was the slow and more natural build up in their dynamic, and how they dealt with sc not being her psychologist anymore in a natural manner. it really makes sense and i love how the author did it naturally by introducing mg into the story earlier so dasom had some form of connection or rapport with him already. (PLUS the bunnies oh my god i want to cry.)

I swear these rpf authors are a different breed dawg. like is it cringe? probably. is it problematic? the line’s a bit fuzzy on that because the fics i consume are not the weird and interesting ones, but more of the ones where they feel more like original characters who happen to share names with these people…but the story is so good so i have no choice but to accept defeat and just read it because they have me crying my eyes out instead of locking in and studying for my final exam.

Honestly im so sad this is from an orphan_account. i would have LOVEDDDD to read more of this author’s works or writings but now im just stuck with this one masterpiece from some random person that i’ll probably never find again



all eyes on you | aquariusblues

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26/11/2025

strawbe

Rating: 4.5 ★

i’ve committed to this review thing for this pseudo-media journal so im going to do another one even though i should be studying or sleeping early

Anyway i reread all eyes on you last night took me around 3-4ish hours? 104k words worth of soonhoon and it’s like wow. it’s so good and well-written but also who am I. sometimes i get those “gain consciousness” moments and i hate myself, like i’m so weird and soooo cringe and loser for all *This* but these authors…istg they have insane levels of writing

I remember putting off re-reading this fic for a while because it felt too heavy or long, but then i decided to try reading it again last night and got sucked into it instantly. crazy how this author has churned out not one but TWO masterpieces – this and yours, truly. both i love but this one is based in alternate universe - college/university. the growth and dynamics between jh and sy is so good in this fic like dawg i sound crazy at this point but wtv

I love how it alternated between their POVs each year/chapter so you get to see their perspectives on the growing tensions and their relationship as friends/not friends. the characterisation of each of them is sooooo good too. i love burnout hardworking bright sy and dance prodigy proud quiet jh. both their hardwork and drive, especially sy, honestly felt so inspiring at times it’s crazy. (i would akin it to the library scene in someone’s who’s good for you) i love how detailed their dance class/workshop scenes are or even their daily lives. i think i like this author’s writing because it makes me visualise scenes or objects very easily, and it feels more immersive almost. i also love the whole narration in chapter 2 where sy is going Through it with his 8 classes, like the rushing between classes, practicing till 2am every night and just struggling to stay afloat and being isolated feels inspiring almost in a very twisted way.

Also side note: honestly whenever I read au - college/uni based fics for svt and they all do music/art related things as their major i feel sad. not in a random way but more of in a niche and original experience way in that I sometimes miss art and doing art and learning art so so so so much. reading these fictional experiences and even my job tbh makes me wish i could be creating and practicing god knows what art medium until 3am in the morning again (but this is a reflection for another day)

I don’t usually love enemies/rivals to lovers but this piece did it for me. like the way jh’s feelings of pride and jealousy kind of create that sense of tension from the beginning even though it’s no outright, and then when you compare that against the usual bright and bubbly personality of sy and the way he tries so so hard to get to jh but he’s also internally slightly emotionally troubled…oh gurl…it ticks off parts of my fav tropes EVER. it’s giving his walls were stacked high but sy kept knocking until jh opened up.

Additionally, i think because it’s multi chaptered and again, a whopping 104k~ words, i really appreciated how the author did their progression to friends and then getting together so naturally. some fics feel forced or rushed but i really love how much time she took to build up their dynamic over the years through the chapters. their relationship feels like a wave almost, going back and forth. the way jh slowly offers to help with practice and just being there in a realistic way, the way they do their duet, the way they start hanging out more over winter break. he is just slowly thawing and becoming closer and admitting to himself all this time he was just jealous and hurt before he messes up and freezes everything again because he is emotionally repressed LOL. but then there’s a kissing and confessions in the rain scene which is soooo cliche but oh my god kings im so happy for y'all and the miscommunication is no longer miscommunicating

I honestly also really appreciate how the author didn’t rush them getting together in the end. like i know/have read some fics where after they confess everything goes instant sunshine rainbows 100% but i like how there’s still that emotional turmoil on jh’s end and he is grappling. i appreciate the arguments and the way they try to fix and work things through. like even the ending isn’t some idealistic fantasy beautiful ending – it feels realistic, especially with jh sharing how he really feels about sy’s family and trying to come to terms with it. like it feels like there could be growth and areas of realism rather than just slapping on the domestic fluff and doing the whole everything is amazing thing after they move in together.

I could probably say soooo much more but idk if it’s just gonna even be critical or good but i just like this fic a lot. it’s definitely more on the heavier, angstier side but the development between soonhoon especially jh is really good. idk what else to write cos my brain is going blank but i just really like this author’s writing


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