#conclave fics

[rodamned]

✨ Conclave (2024) @ao3org Fic Overview & AWARD SEASON – As of Feb 4, 2025✨

TOTAL FICS:

Conclave (2024) → 208 fics

Conclave - Robert Harris → 52 fics

Conclave RPF → 7 fics (the authors here are braver than the marines)

Fandom Shipping Report

We are a M/M hellhole (in Vatican? who’s shocked? not me) with 159 fics in that category. Gen (56 fics) is holding on like a Victorian child, and Multi (6), F/M (5), Other (2), and F/F (1) are basically cryptids.

Top Ships

Vincent/Thomas (98 fics) – Winning by a landslide. "I can fix him" meets "I can break him."

Aldo/Thomas (41 fics) – They’re divorced, they’re yearning, they’re devastating.

Vincent & Thomas (22 fics) – Oh, you don’t ship them? You just think about them 24/7? Okay.

Aldo & Thomas (11 fics) – Relying on the worst emotional support system imaginable. My boys...

Aldo/Goffredo (9 fics) – This one’s for the toxic, nasty little freaks (respectfully as I'm actively one of you)

Thomas/Raymond (9 fics) – …ok, og book shipers <3

Thomas/Goffredo (8 fics) – Why is Thomas collecting these flawed men like Pokémon?

Aldo & Vincent (7 fics) – YES & "We don’t talk about it."

Aldo/Vincent (6 fics) – Oh, but some of us do.

Aldo/Vincent/Thomas (6 fics) – So you want to destroy three men at once? Good. The Holy Trinity for real!

Ratings & Warnings

General (72 fics) – Congrats, some of you are sane.

Explicit (54 fics) – And some of you really, really aren’t.

Teen & Up (52 fics) – Angst hours.

Mature (17 fics) – "I could make this smutty, but what if I made it devastating instead?"

Not Rated (13 fics) – The wild west. No rules, just vibes.

Warnings:

No Archive Warnings (142 fics) – We are a people of peace.

Chose Not To Use (60 fics) – You don’t want to spoil the suffering.

Major Character Death (7 fics) – But when it hits, it hits. (RIP)

Graphic Violence (7 fics) – Vatican MMA when? 👀

Rape/Non-Con (3 fics) – ...

Character Leaderboard

Thomas Lawrence (172 fics) – Poster boy, poor little meow meow, king of suffering.

Vincent Benítez (138 fics) – Beloved. I will haunt you even in death.

Aldo Bellini (84 fics) – Doing so much and nothing at the same time.

Goffredo Tedesco (36 fics) – Problematic fave, menace behavior, probably gives people ulcers.

Raymond O'Malley (30 fics) – Short king <3

Sister Agnes (24 fics) – "Guys, can you be normal for five seconds?"

Cardinal Sabbadin (11 fics) – Our 🇬🇪 king of "I have three scenes, and you’re gonna make it your entire personality."

Joseph Tremblay (11 fics) – Exists. Oh Canada. Alexa play 'Money Money Money'.

Original Characters (9 fics) – Love a good self-insert. Or just any sorts of unhinged creativity!

Joshua Adeyemi (8 fics) – Sir, you are so underwritten, but we got you.

Top Tropes & Tags

What’s the Conclave fandom obsessed with?

Post-Canon (29 fics) – "So anyway, what happened AFTER?"

Character Study (27 fics) – Read: brain rot with love <3

Hurt/Comfort (20 fics) – It’s never just hurt. We need a little fix-it.

Pining (20 fics) – They will NEVER be normal. They swore not to after all. Collars and all...

Angst (17 fics) – The pain is the point.

Fluff (12 fics) – You’re lying to yourself, but okay.

Pre-Relationship (12 fics) – 40k words of slow burn eye contact.

Pre-Canon (11 fics) – "Before the disaster, before the trauma…"

Religious Imagery (10 fics) – Bible study, but make it ✨gay✨

Religious Guilt (9 fics) – These numbers feel low, honestly.

Longest Fics (Congrats, You (We) Win at Word Count)

Some of y’all (us) are writing entire novels.

1. Crown of Thorns (183,786 words) by rodamned – An actual brick. A thorn in my ass (disrespectfuly).

2. 21 Syllables (49,116 words) by Piersanti - “I have nothing to grieve for.” 👀 I'm still speechless here.

3. Everything’s Alright (44,016 words) by rodamned – No, it’s not <3 Jesus Christ Superstar reference, whoo?

4. Divine Revelations of Love (27,606 words) by Piersanti - We are kept all as securely in Love in woe as in weal, by the Goodness of God. - Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love 🥹

5. Stories from the Vatican (25,602 words) by Lost_In_Ace – Fic drabbles but make it THE saga 🫶

Most Beloved (Kudos Kings) 👑

Fanart Collection (Kudos: 601) – 1848/YOSB owns us all and we're grateful <3

Canticle (Kudos: 546) – Marie (VampireSpider) supremacy.

Like a Heathen Clung (Kudos: 467) – unrealshrike is making everyone insane.

Oldest vs. Newest ⌛🕰️⏳

📜 Oldest Fic:

Uncertainty by funnybabyvideos (Nov 11, 2024) – They were first, respect, love, thoughs and prayers!

🆕 Newest Fic:

Iliw (longing) by A_Retired_TimeTraveler – We love fresh pain.

🏆 CONCLAVE (2024) AO3 WINNERS (so far) 🏆

🏅 Most Popular Ship (aka ‘Fandom’s One True Pair’)

🏆 Vincent Benítez/Thomas Lawrence (98 fics)

You guys saw two old men making intense eye contact, one (1) single date by the turtle fountain, and collectively decided this is a love story now. Good.

🥈 Runner-Up: Aldo Bellini/Thomas Lawrence (41 fics)

The divorced vibes were too strong for you to ignore. The ultimate work husbands. The blorbos of the year!

🔥 Most Unhinged Ship (aka ‘Why Are We Like This?’)

🏆 Aldo Bellini/Goffredo Tedesco (9 fics)

Oh, so we looked at Aldo Bellini, the most emotionally repressed man alive, and said “give him a nemesis with unresolved tension”? Okay.

🥈 Thomas Lawrence/Goffredo Tedesco (8 fics) – same thing, different font.

Special mention to:

Aldo Bellini/Goffredo Tedesco/Sister Agnes (one fic) - literal perfection 🫶

😭 Most Devastating Tag (aka ‘Fandom Pain Olympics’)

🏆 Pining (20 fics)

Half this fandom is just writing 30k of two men not touching.

🥈 Religious Guilt (9 fics)

No one is enjoying their romance here. They are suffering through it.

💀 Most Tragic Fic Trend (aka ‘How Many Times Must A Man Die’ Award)

🏆 Major Character Death (7 fics)

Seven people said, "this isn’t sad enough."

🎭 Most Likely to Be an Accidental Bible Study

🏆 Religious Imagery & Symbolism (10 fics)

"Oh, it’s just Vatican aesthetics!" No. You’re writing 4,000 words about a man standing under a stained-glass window, questioning his faith and his love for another man. This is Bible study.

📈 Fastest Growing Ship (aka ‘The Dark Horse’)

🏆 Aldo Bellini/Thomas Lawrence

Started from the bottom, now we’re here. This ship DOUBLED in the past month. Aldo/Thomas truthers are rising. Hi :)

🥈 Thomas Lawrence/Goffredo Tedesco

I don’t wanna ask why, but I feel like I should. I have some reading to do.

🫂 Most “Just Kiss Already” (or don't) Pairing

🏆 Aldo Bellini & Thomas Lawrence (Gen) (11 fics)

These fics are like "they are JUST FRIENDS," but also, he looks at him with tears in his eyes.

🥈 Vincent Benítez & Thomas Lawrence (Gen) (22 fics)

I know what you’re trying to do, but it’s still fruity (respectfully).

⬇️📚📈

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Conclave%20(2024)/works

[chillentertainer]

ok now the fics have escalated from the cardinals having sex to the cardinals having sex AND self-harming about it. love that, keep writing these repressed sex dream fics you freaks

maybe it’s because all these catholic bitches are repressed but a funny trend i noticed in horny conclave fics is that most of the sex take place in their dreams 💀

[vampiresinthedaylight]

this also happens in the book btw

[ellicler]

okay a list of things making me insane about vincent & thomas in no particular order:

vincent is an A grade bullshitter. 'my health is perfect thank you!' -> he realises it's only a matter of time that lawrence learns about him. ['you must tell me about this treatment'] 'must i, dean?' (with the full intention of telling him lol. can't stop himself from trolling a bit.)

'his holyness refuses to get dressed' 'i was waiting for you to come' bitch??? one of thee most insane changes from script to movie??

vincent knows he doesn't owe him an explanation. they both know there's nothing lawrence can do about any of it by this point. but vincent still wants to tell him!! he believes lawrence will judge him fairly!! he wants to help him understand!

he's still nervous though. and very good at hiding it. but the way he sits in the corner, hand in his lap, and looks up with that uncertain quick smile once lawrence towers over him...... ughhhhh.

ok. lawrence thinks he has failed. he hasn't uncovered the truth in time, the only purpose the late holy father put him in there. he's not only scared about the Repercussions but also bitterly reproaching himself.

he believes vincent. in his heart if not with his mind, not yet. he's trying to reconcile it intellectually. he sits outside in the hall and sees a turtle. he sits in his room as the shutters go up. he doesn't know if his failure is good or bad, a divine blessing or a sin. he's doubting. he finally finds a measure of peace in that uncertainty the way he wished in his sermon!!

obviously lawrence is falling ass over teakettle in love with him (and who wouldn't) but it's not... blind love, not just infatuation. it's... a desire to see what the future brings. a willingness to look, in spite of fear. la iglesia es lo que hagamos en adelante.

benitez's love is about care. seeing the best version of you and helping you become that. he challenges lawrence so openly and passionately (i love the dialogue about serving god vs serving the church in the book... benitez is like 'i'm at peace with god wanting us to have a schism') because he trusts lawrence can understand him.

it's about the miracle of changing your mind. because you understand something new the other person has revealed to you. it's hard and scary. it's grace.

[randomfandomss]

Something I can’t stop thinking about is how the late pope already saw Benitez and Lawrence as partners, envisioning their roles together long before it happened.

He knew and worked to make it a reality. He orchestrated things to some extent, clearing the obstacles that might have stood in the way.

For Lawrence to manage and Benitez to guide...

[pinacoladamatata]

please i am manifesting it

[danishphoner]

peter straughan forgot to include “jolene by dolly parton starts playing as bellini walks in” in this excerpt i fear

[veganthranduil]

Oh, Sister

Conclave or no conclave, the life of the sisters continues much as before. Or, The first year of Pope Innocent XIV’s papacy, through the eyes of Sister Agnes.

[crashout-cain]

Should I write a post-Conclave fic about Aldo confessing to the Pope that he slept with Tedesco during the Conclave. The main point of this is for Aldo to be filled with self-loathing neuroses bc I love him. Would anyone read that

[transsexualelysium]

slowburn old man conclave yaoi based of the most gorgeous and tender (here i go with that word again) fanfiction written by @rodamned on ao3 hi this is an ambush i've left like two comments on your work and i'm absolutely taken by it. you write these two old men so convincly in love that it makes my heart hurt.

i was at such a loss with what to do with this colour wise because i always stop at lineart but i hope this can capture the moment even a little bit. their yearning is something else man everyone go read the series Amor Vincit Omnia RIGHT NOW

[chillentertainer]

read a fic on ao3 by Piersanti called 21 Syllables in which long story short (and spoiler alert) lawrence and benitez fall in love. then benitez becomes the pope and leaves lawrence behind. lawrence proceeds to crash out so hard that he catches pneumonia and is now quite literally on his deathbed.

piersanti you get it. you understand lawrence’s sheer dumbassery and martyr complex and deep self-loathing and half-baked suicidal ideation.

the man doesn’t eat, sleep, or even drink water, and then is surprised when he Almost Dies. like yes that is what all lawrences should be like. this is the only characterization of lawrence that i will accept from now on

[conclaveyaoi]

aldo: thomas are we rolling?

[searchingforserendipity25]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Conclave (2024) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Vincent Benítez/Thomas Lawrence (Conclave), Vincent Benítez & Thomas Lawrence (Conclave) Characters: Vincent Benítez (Conclave), Thomas Lawrence (Conclave) Additional Tags: set after lawrence and sister agnes' night of plotting and printing, Trauma, Grief/Mourning, Mentions of Past Major Illness Summary:

After he held Vincent’s hand for support, and he was sitting upright again with some effort, he asked, “Do you think our saintly dead come to us to remind us of our tasks?”

He seemed surprised, to have said it at all. But that happened often, when people spoke to Vincent; all his life, it had been so.

“I think our saintly dead come to us to remind us of their love,” Vincent said. He cupped Lawrence’s hands in his, close, to try to lend them some of his warmth.

[randomfandomss]

WHERE IS THE COMPULSORY BAKE OFF CONCLAVE FIC?????

With these queens in the tent?!?! It would totally fuckkkk!!!!

[fitzykreiner]

i’m gonna be sick. i don’t know if this was an intentional twelveclara reference but either way i feel ILL

[shoujo-wizard]

Ok yes I am currently writing a 3 part fic abt the old man yaoi movie but I just thought of another one,, lawrence/benitez bc I am eating rocks for them

idc abt setting or AU but I am just imagining a scene wherein the whole crew r out celebrating Lawrence's birthday, he gets a few presents tht r relevant to his work or his more well known interests then Benítez gifts him something related to a thing he mentioned once & when he asks Benítez how he knew he would like this specific thing,

"You mentioned it once, and your face lit up."

"But how did you KNOW? Why would you bother to remember?"

"Because, to be loved is to be known. And I love you."

OK THAT IS ALL LMK IF ANYONE WANTS TO WRITE THIS FOR ME