Homestuck Fic Recs
Soooo I'm working with limited data, but apparently a few people read the Homestuck Persuasion Post? And are now caught up on the comic? (I mean, it took me weeks, shit is epic, but apparently some people are quicker than me.) So here's the follow-up spoilery-as-fuck rec list for you guys ♥
I've divided the fics into the act their canon comes from so that if you're partway through reading you can manage your spoiler-exposure. But it was arguably pointless because nearly all of them are Act 5 canon. Oh well! (Also, if you are cavalier about spoilers and want to read all the fic anyway, but get confused when stories start talking about kismeses and moirails, here's the wiki on romantic quadrants in troll society! You're welcome.)
FIC
Act 4
Shades of Gray by a_mere_trifle
Dave & Rose, 2,900 words, G. In the doomed timeline, Dave wakes up to find that Rose has stolen his shades. Both funny and heartbreaking; I really love both of them here. Rose's approach to the situation feels like exactly the unnecessary minor mindfuck she would choose as a solution, and the beginning of the first pesterlog in particular is the best Dave voice in any fic I've read.
Act 5
i will buy the flower shop, and you will never be lonely by roachpatrol
John/Karkat, 2,600 words, G. A Veil AU, in which it turns out that PTSD and hopelessness don't make for the best First Contact cultural exchange experience. This starts out as the most beautifully bleak thing, with a Karkat so damaged you ache for him, and becomes something that makes my whole heart turn over. Ugh I love the quadrants.
In Shitty Sidequests Veritas by Cephied_Variable, illustrated by MadSeason
Terezi/Dave, 3,000 words, PG. Terezi convinces Dave to do a sidequest, which turns out to involve taking away Dave's ability to lie. Oh fuck, this is amazing. Dave Strider stripped of his verbal deflections and panicking about it is everything I want in the world. And Terezi in this is so fucking amazing, ugh. ALSO: really great art, especially of Terezi. (Note that the story doesn't make sense without the art.) (PG)
Skeins by feralphoenix
Flushed Kanaya/Rose, ashen Kanaya/Vriska, 2,000 words, PG. High school AU. Rose advertises for membership in a knitting club; Vriska understands her purpose instantly. Oh my god, this has the most amazing Kanaya/Vriska dynamic, and the best bubbly non-angsty Vriska voice. The Rose/Kanaya is also excellent, though less developed. (I failed to read the note at the top, which meant the last line confused me: basically this fic works on the fascinating idea of ashen romance as a 1:1 relationship, in which the auspi(s)tice helps their partner manage their interpersonal relationships in the same way that a moirail helps with their internal issues.)
If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart by SORD
Jade/Sollux, 2,700 words, PG.) Sollux can hack Jade's transportalizer. A fic in four pesterlogs! Pretty great.
stitching up the circuitboards by dellaluce
Jade-centric, Jade/Dave, 7,300 words, PG. This is Jade Harley, her growing-up and her coming-of-age. It uses the idea of the princess in the tower to stunning effect: the weight of loneliness, her complicity in her imprisonment, the stories she spins herself and the ways she relates to her friends in the outside world. Jade is so hard to make sense of, and this fic presents an incredibly appealing and compelling view of her. Also, oh god, her first pesterlog with each of her friends *__*
The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round by odditycollector
Black Feferi/Sollux, 400 words, PG-13. Feferi is saving the universe. Fuuuuuuuuck, this is such a good punch. So bleak and so amazing.
Scarlet and Bible Black by paraTactician
Rose/Sollux, 12,000 words, R. Rose is trapped in her own mind, and nobody can help her; or nobody who's tried so far. Oh fuck, this is so good. How is this so good. The meta, the way they meet and the way they react to each other, the voices of all the other characters, the way I never thought about Rose and Sollux together before, but I would ship them to the lilypads at the end of the world right now. (And in the middle of everything else, the Rose & Dave in this fucking killed me, ugh, I love them.)
Pity Party by Cephied_Variable
Terezi/Dave, 2,700 words, PG-13. In which Dave and Terezi encounter some sociolinguistic pitfalls. Or: troll pity will kill your boner. Oh man, all the things people do with the pity/love thing are so interesting. This is fun and affecting.
Double The Pleasure, Triple The Fun by roachpatrol
Sollux/Karkat/Sollux, 3,300 words. In which Karkat walks in on Sollux testing his control of both dreamselves at once. Ughh. This is excellently written and hot and gorgeous and funny, and also treats the x/y/x threesome in a way I've never read before: it's Sollux's POV, and he is both selves simultaneously, trying to balance it. And then, also, it broke my fucking heart. Because apparently that's what PWPs are for, now.
Pretty Little Windstorm by roachpatrol & urbanAnchorite
Tavros-centric, various pairings, 18,000 words, R. (This is the first story in the Hemostuck 'verse, which I sort of rec'd in the persuasion post, but here's the proper rec.) This is an AU in which the hemo-heirarchy is reversed, and Tavros is Grand Premier to Her Imperial Luminescence Aradia. Also there are carapaces (WV <3!) (And more startlingly: HB <3!). Basically this is the story where Tavros gets to be awesome and still an enormous sweetheart, and nobody is meaner to him than he can handle, and Vriska both takes advantage of him and is painfully proud of him. And my heart gasped a little reprieve. It’s gen-ish and excellently written and so lovely (despite the R for violence).
AND FINALLY there are these two, which, I mean, I know metafic can be a difficult line to walk? But these are ridic awesome and also just ridic.
tears of pearls by Anonymous
John/Karkat, John/Eridan, commentfic, PG. Fanfiction by Dave Strider. Oh my god this is the best thing I have ever read.
A Work Of Fan Fiction In Which Everyone Has Undergone A Change Of Gender; Containing Between Three And Seven Examples Of Rampant Multiculturalism And Two Instances Of Uncharacteristically Sensible Behavior So As To Make This A Useful Parable by gogollescent
Terezi/Karkat, 1,600 words, PG. Kanaya Fucking Maryam, ladies and gentlemen. Oh my god. This is perfect.
Act 6
Loops by lantadyme
Post-Scratch Roxy & Dirk's Auto-Responder, 1,600 words, G. Pesterlog fic. Oh man, Lalonde is the best friend any artificial boy could ask for. These two are possibly my favourites of the reboot characters (counting Dirk and the Auto-Responder as separate characters) and this is a great version of their as-yet-unknown dynamic.
deep conversation with the Strider-Lalondes by roachpatrol
Pre-Scratch Roxy & Dirk, drabble, PG. A conversation on the topic of parenting; tiny but hilarifying. (I also adore the idea of pre-Scratch Roxy and Dirk having this kind of relationship, whenever it crops up.)
My Little Devilbaby by stellarbird
Pre-Scratch Roxy & Dirk, 500 words, PG. A pesterlog between beta Roxy & Dirk about baby Rose. Fuck, I love this. I want another eighty thousand words of this Lalonde mother and daughter dynamic.
POETRY
Twelve Gods by RedPen
Troll ensemble poetry, G. If the trolls had taken Earth and ruled as gods, the pantheon might have looked like this. Wow, I really love these. I kept having to go back and read them again. Tavros's and Gamzee's verses may be my favourites, but all of them are startlingly effective.
Hello my name is Clubs Deuce and I wrote this for you I hope you think it’s good by sonnetstuck
Clubs Deuce, PG. This is as inexplicable and weirdly darling as CD himself.
The Hate Song of J. Stabby Noirfrock by sonnetstuck
Jack Noir, PG. 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' must be one of the most rewritten poems in the universe, but maybe that's because you can make it work so well. This is funny and full of ridic references, but it's also epic and clever and sincere.
ART
(All safe for work. If the art has no title that I can see, I've added one in square brackets for convenience.)
[caw caw motherfuckers] by nordreys
Davesprite & Dave. A redrawing of the panel in which Davesprite guards Dave while he sleeps. Ugh, this picture.
Chess Rules by starspiritgate
Peregrine Mendicant. "The role and functions of a pawn." (Drawn a year before Cascade.) Kind of amazing.
Solo practice by Elanor Pam
Karkat. Karkat using balletic moves to practice with his sickles; really beautiful.
[the windy thing] by hipsterclown
John. Lovely godtier John watercolour, or a watercolour-reminiscent style.
[Oh oh look dead people!] by kuzujuk
Aradia. Adorable Aradia art based on her dialogue in the beginning-of-Act-6 Intermission.
[Terezi will lick your face, Karkat] by thestrangefanatic
Terezi/Karkat. Ahaha the expression on Karkat's face.
[motorbike girls] by fureni
Scourge Sisters. I think this is my favourite Terezi & Vriska art ever. Their poses, Terezi's sprawl, yessssss.
[Sollux/Karkat hug]
Sollux/Karkat. Ugh, gorgeous h/c. (Artist unknown, but I think it was a submission to the community, so that might imply artistic consent for it to be posted? I'm not sure of the etiquette here.)
[Kanaya/Vriska h/c] by skepticarcher
Kanaya/Vriska. My favourite moirails who never were, ugh, my heart.
Tegaki’d patrons by guzusuru
Patron trolls. I don't know what Tegaki means? But this is awesome colour-focused art of the kids' four patron trolls.
[completely legal adventure] by skepticarcher
Scourge Sisters. Shenanigans.
VIDS
How Far We've Come by artisticazurite
Ensemble. (Focus on the kids.) 'How Far We've Come' by Matchbox Twenty. "i'm waking up at the start of the end of the world." Oh god, this is the most perfect song for this fandom, and this vid is so well done it kills me. The dedicated lyrics, the typing quirks, I love everything this chooses to be. Hands down my favourite vid in this fandom.
snapstuck by pancakestein
Ensemble. (Focus on the kids.) An incredibly appealing and effective Homestuck ensemble animation in a dynamic scribble style. I have no idea about the technicalities behind this kind of thing, but this seems amazingly well done to me. (deviantART link, plays on a loop. You can also find it at Youtube.)
I've divided the fics into the act their canon comes from so that if you're partway through reading you can manage your spoiler-exposure. But it was arguably pointless because nearly all of them are Act 5 canon. Oh well! (Also, if you are cavalier about spoilers and want to read all the fic anyway, but get confused when stories start talking about kismeses and moirails, here's the wiki on romantic quadrants in troll society! You're welcome.)
FIC
Act 4
Shades of Gray by a_mere_trifle
Dave & Rose, 2,900 words, G. In the doomed timeline, Dave wakes up to find that Rose has stolen his shades. Both funny and heartbreaking; I really love both of them here. Rose's approach to the situation feels like exactly the unnecessary minor mindfuck she would choose as a solution, and the beginning of the first pesterlog in particular is the best Dave voice in any fic I've read.
Act 5
i will buy the flower shop, and you will never be lonely by roachpatrol
John/Karkat, 2,600 words, G. A Veil AU, in which it turns out that PTSD and hopelessness don't make for the best First Contact cultural exchange experience. This starts out as the most beautifully bleak thing, with a Karkat so damaged you ache for him, and becomes something that makes my whole heart turn over. Ugh I love the quadrants.
In Shitty Sidequests Veritas by Cephied_Variable, illustrated by MadSeason
Terezi/Dave, 3,000 words, PG. Terezi convinces Dave to do a sidequest, which turns out to involve taking away Dave's ability to lie. Oh fuck, this is amazing. Dave Strider stripped of his verbal deflections and panicking about it is everything I want in the world. And Terezi in this is so fucking amazing, ugh. ALSO: really great art, especially of Terezi. (Note that the story doesn't make sense without the art.) (PG)
Skeins by feralphoenix
Flushed Kanaya/Rose, ashen Kanaya/Vriska, 2,000 words, PG. High school AU. Rose advertises for membership in a knitting club; Vriska understands her purpose instantly. Oh my god, this has the most amazing Kanaya/Vriska dynamic, and the best bubbly non-angsty Vriska voice. The Rose/Kanaya is also excellent, though less developed. (I failed to read the note at the top, which meant the last line confused me: basically this fic works on the fascinating idea of ashen romance as a 1:1 relationship, in which the auspi(s)tice helps their partner manage their interpersonal relationships in the same way that a moirail helps with their internal issues.)
If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart by SORD
Jade/Sollux, 2,700 words, PG.) Sollux can hack Jade's transportalizer. A fic in four pesterlogs! Pretty great.
stitching up the circuitboards by dellaluce
Jade-centric, Jade/Dave, 7,300 words, PG. This is Jade Harley, her growing-up and her coming-of-age. It uses the idea of the princess in the tower to stunning effect: the weight of loneliness, her complicity in her imprisonment, the stories she spins herself and the ways she relates to her friends in the outside world. Jade is so hard to make sense of, and this fic presents an incredibly appealing and compelling view of her. Also, oh god, her first pesterlog with each of her friends *__*
The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round by odditycollector
Black Feferi/Sollux, 400 words, PG-13. Feferi is saving the universe. Fuuuuuuuuck, this is such a good punch. So bleak and so amazing.
Scarlet and Bible Black by paraTactician
Rose/Sollux, 12,000 words, R. Rose is trapped in her own mind, and nobody can help her; or nobody who's tried so far. Oh fuck, this is so good. How is this so good. The meta, the way they meet and the way they react to each other, the voices of all the other characters, the way I never thought about Rose and Sollux together before, but I would ship them to the lilypads at the end of the world right now. (And in the middle of everything else, the Rose & Dave in this fucking killed me, ugh, I love them.)
Pity Party by Cephied_Variable
Terezi/Dave, 2,700 words, PG-13. In which Dave and Terezi encounter some sociolinguistic pitfalls. Or: troll pity will kill your boner. Oh man, all the things people do with the pity/love thing are so interesting. This is fun and affecting.
Double The Pleasure, Triple The Fun by roachpatrol
Sollux/Karkat/Sollux, 3,300 words. In which Karkat walks in on Sollux testing his control of both dreamselves at once. Ughh. This is excellently written and hot and gorgeous and funny, and also treats the x/y/x threesome in a way I've never read before: it's Sollux's POV, and he is both selves simultaneously, trying to balance it. And then, also, it broke my fucking heart. Because apparently that's what PWPs are for, now.
Pretty Little Windstorm by roachpatrol & urbanAnchorite
Tavros-centric, various pairings, 18,000 words, R. (This is the first story in the Hemostuck 'verse, which I sort of rec'd in the persuasion post, but here's the proper rec.) This is an AU in which the hemo-heirarchy is reversed, and Tavros is Grand Premier to Her Imperial Luminescence Aradia. Also there are carapaces (WV <3!) (And more startlingly: HB <3!). Basically this is the story where Tavros gets to be awesome and still an enormous sweetheart, and nobody is meaner to him than he can handle, and Vriska both takes advantage of him and is painfully proud of him. And my heart gasped a little reprieve. It’s gen-ish and excellently written and so lovely (despite the R for violence).
AND FINALLY there are these two, which, I mean, I know metafic can be a difficult line to walk? But these are ridic awesome and also just ridic.
tears of pearls by Anonymous
John/Karkat, John/Eridan, commentfic, PG. Fanfiction by Dave Strider. Oh my god this is the best thing I have ever read.
A Work Of Fan Fiction In Which Everyone Has Undergone A Change Of Gender; Containing Between Three And Seven Examples Of Rampant Multiculturalism And Two Instances Of Uncharacteristically Sensible Behavior So As To Make This A Useful Parable by gogollescent
Terezi/Karkat, 1,600 words, PG. Kanaya Fucking Maryam, ladies and gentlemen. Oh my god. This is perfect.
Act 6
Loops by lantadyme
Post-Scratch Roxy & Dirk's Auto-Responder, 1,600 words, G. Pesterlog fic. Oh man, Lalonde is the best friend any artificial boy could ask for. These two are possibly my favourites of the reboot characters (counting Dirk and the Auto-Responder as separate characters) and this is a great version of their as-yet-unknown dynamic.
deep conversation with the Strider-Lalondes by roachpatrol
Pre-Scratch Roxy & Dirk, drabble, PG. A conversation on the topic of parenting; tiny but hilarifying. (I also adore the idea of pre-Scratch Roxy and Dirk having this kind of relationship, whenever it crops up.)
My Little Devilbaby by stellarbird
Pre-Scratch Roxy & Dirk, 500 words, PG. A pesterlog between beta Roxy & Dirk about baby Rose. Fuck, I love this. I want another eighty thousand words of this Lalonde mother and daughter dynamic.
POETRY
Twelve Gods by RedPen
Troll ensemble poetry, G. If the trolls had taken Earth and ruled as gods, the pantheon might have looked like this. Wow, I really love these. I kept having to go back and read them again. Tavros's and Gamzee's verses may be my favourites, but all of them are startlingly effective.
Hello my name is Clubs Deuce and I wrote this for you I hope you think it’s good by sonnetstuck
Clubs Deuce, PG. This is as inexplicable and weirdly darling as CD himself.
The Hate Song of J. Stabby Noirfrock by sonnetstuck
Jack Noir, PG. 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' must be one of the most rewritten poems in the universe, but maybe that's because you can make it work so well. This is funny and full of ridic references, but it's also epic and clever and sincere.
ART
(All safe for work. If the art has no title that I can see, I've added one in square brackets for convenience.)
[caw caw motherfuckers] by nordreys
Davesprite & Dave. A redrawing of the panel in which Davesprite guards Dave while he sleeps. Ugh, this picture.
Chess Rules by starspiritgate
Peregrine Mendicant. "The role and functions of a pawn." (Drawn a year before Cascade.) Kind of amazing.
Solo practice by Elanor Pam
Karkat. Karkat using balletic moves to practice with his sickles; really beautiful.
[the windy thing] by hipsterclown
John. Lovely godtier John watercolour, or a watercolour-reminiscent style.
[Oh oh look dead people!] by kuzujuk
Aradia. Adorable Aradia art based on her dialogue in the beginning-of-Act-6 Intermission.
[Terezi will lick your face, Karkat] by thestrangefanatic
Terezi/Karkat. Ahaha the expression on Karkat's face.
[motorbike girls] by fureni
Scourge Sisters. I think this is my favourite Terezi & Vriska art ever. Their poses, Terezi's sprawl, yessssss.
[Sollux/Karkat hug]
Sollux/Karkat. Ugh, gorgeous h/c. (Artist unknown, but I think it was a submission to the community, so that might imply artistic consent for it to be posted? I'm not sure of the etiquette here.)
[Kanaya/Vriska h/c] by skepticarcher
Kanaya/Vriska. My favourite moirails who never were, ugh, my heart.
Tegaki’d patrons by guzusuru
Patron trolls. I don't know what Tegaki means? But this is awesome colour-focused art of the kids' four patron trolls.
[completely legal adventure] by skepticarcher
Scourge Sisters. Shenanigans.
VIDS
How Far We've Come by artisticazurite
Ensemble. (Focus on the kids.) 'How Far We've Come' by Matchbox Twenty. "i'm waking up at the start of the end of the world." Oh god, this is the most perfect song for this fandom, and this vid is so well done it kills me. The dedicated lyrics, the typing quirks, I love everything this chooses to be. Hands down my favourite vid in this fandom.
snapstuck by pancakestein
Ensemble. (Focus on the kids.) An incredibly appealing and effective Homestuck ensemble animation in a dynamic scribble style. I have no idea about the technicalities behind this kind of thing, but this seems amazingly well done to me. (deviantART link, plays on a loop. You can also find it at Youtube.)