halcyonine

compiling it a bit early bc there's a dinner I gotta go to, but this year ao3 recorded 52 and a half pages of history, which is less than last year! now, which one is the extreme one will probably only be decided in 2023...

anyway, favourites of 2022! by date last read, and not including fics I already recced last year for fairness' sake:

daienkaixoxentei's dandelion heart, a jean/diluc genshin fic. the nice part of starting genshin in january is I unlocked a decently sized part of the AO3 map. which isn't to say I don't jump into things fandom blind, but knowing the characters is always nice. anyway, this was a really lovely canon compliant fic, and also a delightful slow burn
katachresis' Zhang Jiale's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Week? Life.) a zhang jiale tka fic. bless zhang jiale week and this being the year of 22/2/22. this is the funniest shit and also it's true! there's nothing in canon that says zhang jiale WASN'T temporarily legally dead!
suibianitsfine's What I Cannot Put into Words, I Offer You in the Weight of Gold, a childe/zhongli genshin fic. surely one of the childe/zhongli fics of all time. lots of pining and falling in love and slow burn. a delight to while an afternoon away with
appletini's had life before been so slow, a xiao/zhongli genshin fic. huh there's a lot of pining on this list right now isn't there. anyway, pining! and grief and mourning, xiao in the liyue rex lapis left behind. very beautiful.
inareese's if I choose not to see it, it does not exist, a childe/zhongli genshin fic. a hilarious comedy of errors, really. rocks for a brain! absolute idiocy! some of the funniest lines in existence!
intimatopia's ivory and wicked gold, a xiao/zhongli genshin fic. I really really do love intimatopia's take on xiao, it's heartbreaking in the best of ways, reading it leaves something tender as a bruise and twice as lovely
zeitgeistic's Azoth, a drarry fic that stumbled into my timeline and into my life. takes the hogwarts eighth year and does a spin with it, everything feels so natural and organic AND THE TWIST! I think this is the only hp fic I remember reading this year, but it's undoubtedly one of the best
earlgreyhui's yet the thunderstorm dreams, a kazuha/scaramouche genshin fic that delivered in both premise and prose. absolutely haunting and very lovely

strictly this isn't even a fic but AO3 can run Doom! how unbelievably cool is that!

I've come to the KinnPorsche part of my history... this show was like, so crazily up my alley it was insane. hot men in suits! kinn and porsche... pining! getting together! being in love! the fabulousness that is khun tankhun theerapanyakun. arm being arm. vegas and pete, holy shit. if you haven't watched this show you should. it will be good for you. it was so good for me. this show looked at me and through me and gave me everything I ever wanted.
anyway, instead of offering from my history, I'm dropping the lovely tumblr user kinnporsche's curated rec list because yeah everything here is amazing and also I need to reread things in this fandom stat

yellow_caballero's Go Straight at the Cul-de-Sac, a pkmn legends: arceus fic that does some incredibly cool things. the tags are at once absurd, hilarious, and 100% correct. it's quite impossible to describe the fic in its entirety, but I really really loved it.
mnabokov's slowly towards desire, a xiao/zhongli genshin fic. can practically recite one of the scenes in my head, it was that good. top-tier imagery in here, and the grief bleeds out of the words
intimatopia's the breath for all these devotions, a xiao/zhongli genshin fic and also my undoubted favourite of all time. the way it explores identity, devotion and trauma and the expression of love... once again, heartbreaking in the best of ways
dirtybinary's Ephesus, a scipio africanus/hannibal barca punic wars rpf fic. I didn't know it existed up until I read this and disappeared down a history hole. and then never came out the other side. history and fate have, frankly, an incredible sense of humour.
glassdrachma's woe be the wallet of the god of wealth, a keqing & zhongli genshin fic that is so hilariously funny I couldn't stop laughing. poor poor keqing. or maybe, lucky lucky keqing, and poor poor zhongli (financial). how DOES the mora escape from the god of mora?
syncogon's translation, The Bathroom From Which All Evil Springs, a tka fic. sobbing on the floor this was so funny I am so sorry zhang xinjie you didn't deserve this but the shenanigans that resulted are worth your tears
aloneintherain's letter to the editor, an atla fic of epic mistaken identity. it may be only 2k words long but it's an epic in my heart. zuko!!
jury's Mira vs. Sasha Cant, original work and contender for best thing I've read this year. mind the tags, but also what a delight of a fic! the characterisation is so vivid that I know these characters, the worldbuilding exquisitely teetering on the edge of reveals enough and leaves everything mysterious with power, and chapter four lives rent free in my head. a perfect guilty pleasure of a fic, minus the guilty which I don't feel at all
princeliest's Smolder, a xiao/zhongli genshin fic. the hottest one, actually. a banger, in fact (physical AND literal).
darthpumpkinspice's hunger, shaped most intimately, a dream/corinthian sandman fic that is also pining! but is also such a lovely exploration of the mess that no, morpheus, being remade does not fix. the entire dream/corinthian tag is a fun place to be; this one adds some wonderful heartache to the mix.
towine's an opening, petal by petal, a cyno/alhaitham genshin fic that combines the best of everything I love: travel fic, worldbuilding, falling in love. and oh is the falling in love good in this one, it's so easy and organic to trace how the events fall into place, how the supporting cast falls into place, how they fall into place. it's incredibly lovely!
tren's Exchange in Limbo, original work involving Desperate Exchange Mod Who Finds Entrance To The Underworld & Pinch Hitter Who Died Before Posting. first of all, the hilarity of this concept!! elsin, the recipient of this fic must have the most incredible mind or an incredible history with exchanges. in any case this was a delight to read, and the ending! bittermint, dearie, you tried your very damnedest best.
hymn's like a prayer you don't expect an answer (though you ask for one), a dream/corinthian sandman fic that did actually make 2022 a miracle year because hallelujah! I found my third-ever fic that fits the very niche criteria of tentacles + power imbalance between a god-king and worshipper + a very particular definition of kindness. and the prose in this one is just lovely too.

and from yuletide, temporarily unrevealed:

confirm and verify, an incredible seimei/hiromasa onmyoji movies (2001-2003) outsider pov fic. the poor, suffering auditor doing his job to his bestest ability despite being so out of his depth - the narration is just divine. I'm in love with this seimei so much. one of yuletide's highlights for sure
#New channel created: Trying to win Eurovision 2022, an equally incredible subwoolfer/give that wolf a banana/eurovision fic. the effort in this! the remixes! the way its presented! absolute gem, really and truly.

last, but not least, my gift fics! song qiying being forced to listen to bbc sherlock presentations, sun zheping being sun xiang's grandfather, and jsmn worldbuilding feat. catherine of winchester, the curious flow of time and, of course, magic. all three were absolutely delightful in their own individual way, and their existence brightened mine very much <3