Snowflake Challenge 2025 #6

[mrsluigivargas]

Challenge #6: Top 10 Challenge. 

These are the Top 10 fics that I couldn't rec during Rec-cember because I’d either read them after I posted the related fandom post, or I’d completely forgot about them.

The fandoms are Ace Attorney, Black Butler and MCYT (Haunted Winter, Life Series, MCYT Meta, Skyblock Kingdoms/Vampires SMP)

An Imperfect Stomach by purplemonkeypuppet
Ace Attorney
Teen And Up Audiences | F/M
Franziska von Karma/Phoenix Wright
Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe
2,160 words | One-shot
Franziska wakes up feeling terrible, but she's never been one to let that stop her. She drags herself into the Wright & Co. Law Offices anyways, intent on working despite her discomfort, but her body—and a certain spiky-haired coworker—have other ideas.

Inconvenience by SphericalSpiders
Ace Attorney
General Audiences | Gen
Maya Fey & Shelley de Killer. Maya Fey & Phoenix Wright
Crack Treated Seriously
1,068 words | One-shot
Phoenix finds a serial killer in his office.
Yet again.

Oxtail Stew by KissingOnClouds
Ace Attorney
Teen And Up Audiences | Other
Raymond Shields, Original Characters, Gregory Edgeworth, Tyrell Badd, Olúgbémiró Ṣoyinka (OC: Raymond Shields' brother), Miles Edgeworth
Racism, Fluff and Angst
2,856 words | 1 of ? chapters
The hand of the giver stays on top, while the hand of the receiver will always stay underneath.
Or, Remilekun Ṣoyinka learns the hard way that the world was not made for people like him. Raymond Shields learns to fit, even if it means cutting out bones.

Infection Markers; Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Reaper by robotic_writings
Black Butler
Teen And Up Audiences | F/M
Sebastian Michaelis/Grell Sutcliff, Sebastian Michaelis & Ciel Phantomhive
Sickfic, Feelings Realization, Canon Compliant
7,105 words | 2 of ? chapters
Grelle overworks herself and - maybe not the brightest decision - seeks out Sebastian before she collapses from exhaustion. Maybe what infects a reaper won't infect a demon...

can't find my way to the three-acre wood by Crewe
Haunted Winter SMP
General Audiences | Gen
Apokuna & VikingPilot
Angst
2,197 words | One-shot
Apo heaved a sigh, and Viking waited to hear the explanation of just precisely how stupid he was and how he was gonna get frostbite and lose all his fingers and wouldn't even be able to scroll TikTok anymore, but instead she used her teeth to yank off her left glove and shoved it into his chest without looking at him.
"Here," she grunted. "Now we'll both half freeze."
Viking thought he might cry, which would really suck with how cold and dehydrated he was. He didn't trust himself to say anything without bursting into tears, so for once he said nothing and just tugged on the glove and pressed his shoulder against hers as hard as he could. Her bare hand found his and he clung back with all the strength in his frozen fingers.
It could be worse, he thought, staring into the fire until his eyes stung for other reasons. At least we have each other.

BigB’s Soliloquy by theminecraftbee
Life Series SMP
General Audiences | Gen
BigB
Character Study
474 words | One-shot
Alone on the stage, BigB begins his soliloquy:
"I really don't understand why you, uh, think I'm odd, or think I lie for no reason. I have a reason for it, I do! I mean yeah, sometimes that reason's because it's funny, but I really don't think—I mean, I really don't think it's all that different from everyone else, you know?"

Crossing a Boundary: Minecraft Youtube as Real Person Fiction by residentevilxisuma
MCYT Meta
General Audiences | Gen
Hermitcraft SMP, Life Series SMP, Lifesteal SMP
2,216 words | One-shot
Most fans of Minecraft Youtube disagree with categorizing MCYT as RPF—so much so that in early 2022 the AO3 changed the fandom's tags, removing references to RPF in most instances of fandom, relationship, and character tags. However, the line between RPF and FPF in MCYT fandom is blurry.
This essay is an analysis of the relationship between MCYT and RPF.

Keeping Things Platonic: in Conversation with DSMP Authors by antimony_medusa
MCYT Meta
Teen And Up Audiences | Gen
Dream SMP
16,198 words | 14 chapters
If you search the entire Dream SMP tag today, 8 of the top relationships are “&”, with the first 6 tags being platonic and the 7th being no romantic relationships. Entire events with thousands of works posted have taken place with an incredibly high proportion of works being Gen. At the time of writing there are 1,393 works that are tagged with MCYT Fic Fight (Archive of Our Own, 2025), a popular writing event based on Art Fight where teams “attack” other participants by writing fics for their prompts, and 1,111 of them are categorized as Gen. That’s 80% platonic. An analysis of a similarly large fandom with teenage protagonists and a young fanbase—僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)—shows 75,978 of 365,212 works are tagged Gen, or 21% of the whole fandom. Dream SMP’s 44,152 Gen works out of 89,155 is sitting at a cool 50% of the entire fandom.
Why was the fandom so focused on platonic relationships, and how did that impact the fandom space? I spoke to a number of writers about their experiences in the Dream SMP fandom and the romantic/platonic divide.

The Construction of the Eighth Wall: Layered Realities in MCYT Storytelling by iamsolarflare
MCYT Meta
General Audiences
From The Fog, Wifies Debunk, 100 Days Multiverse
3,316 words | 2 chapters
An academic essay on the concept of layered "fourth walls" as a part of the nature of MCYT, primarily focusing on three case studies of interesting interactions with this metanarrative aspect of the medium -- the Librarian's From The Fog series, Kenadian's Wifies Debunk, and Legundo's 100 Days Multiverse.

Conflict Resinlution by Crewe
Skyblock Kingdoms SMP x Vampires SMP
General Audiences | Gen
Legundo, TheM1G, SadMilkman
AU - Universe Swap + Canon Divergence, Fix-it (sorta)
3,033 words | One-shot
"Legs?" Mig prompted again, urgently. "We have a problem. A very… milky problem."
Legundo blinked and came back to himself, taking in his partner's appearance with a quick sweep of his gaze. Mig was on edge, shifting his weight from foot to foot, a nervous, preoccupied look in his eye.
"Tell me," he said, already moving to join him at the door. Mig hopped back to clear the space and lead him out into the open air.
"He's here," he said ominously.
-
In which Dr. Legundo finally gets a win.

I really recommend the meta, in particular. It's very interesting!

Comments

[mekare]

Ah rec lists are always appreciated. :-)

[sarajayechan]

Just read the Ace Attorney fic and oof, poor Franziska. VERY relatable!