#tpw fanfic

[fangruninsimp]

Donut's Fic recs

Welcome to my unconventional recs for seasoned Poppy War fic readers! These are not necessarily my go-to or all time favourite works but a fun assortment I love. Please check tags for content and spoilers before you start reading and do let me know if you enjoyed any of them :))

the spaces between the stars by tidesong (Rin/Nezha, T, 20.1k)

Absolutely gorgeous space AU with delightful world-building that made me feel like I was reading a book instead of a fanwork. It's a little bit silly but tugs on the heartstrings at the same time, which is my favourite thing in any media.

he was a soldier (and he was a boy) by CaineGreyson (Ramsa, G, 534)

This fic is a short and (bitter)sweet study of Ramsa in the Cike... there aren't enough fics that talk about our explosive little teenager and this hits right in the feels.

it's with hands that are dying by serendipityinwords (Rin/Nezha, G, 334)

This one of those, short but exquisitely crafted to leave you thinking about it for days. Nezha's voice shines in this fic and reads like a beautiful, awful confession.

Secrets On The Wind by CyclonicJet (Rin&Venka, M, 2.2k)

There are so few Rinvenka fics out there so I'm so happy this exists. This is hurt/comfort with bonding at its finest and I wish this fic actually happened in the TPW series.

i would have followed all the way (to the graveyard) by agnes_writes (Rin&Kitay, T, 1.1k)

Criminally underrated fic featuring bittersweet Rinkitay, promises and love. Smooth, in-character dialogue and general softness make this an amazing read.

Knots by TheStarToSteerBy (Rin/Nezha, E, 597)

The implied smut in this one always gets me, as well as the exploration of Nezha's boat nerd side. This fic is subtle and racy at the same time and always leaves me grinning to myself.

[devotionconsumed]

need the world to know i'm cookin up a coffee shop poppy war au. will be posted on ao3 once i have the time

just need them to be happy in my delusions.

[chalceisdone]

EXCUSE ME MISS KUANG WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

[scottishgremlin]

New fic - i tried to rewrite it but i can’t; it’s the history of man

Synopsis:

Rin and Kitay love each other. They’ve always known that. But sometimes love isn’t enough, and people lose each other.

[t7ner]

IM WEEPING THIS IS SO GOOD 😭😭😭

pspsps rinkitay fans come get your food!! i wrote a rin / rinkitay introspective oneshot that i hope you’ll enjoy. here you go <3

[k9punkout]

I like how both in canon and in fanfic Rin and Venka do and say things that are so fucking GAY and if you took a scene out of context and showed it to someone who's never read tpw before you'd think they're in desperate love with each other and then they keep having moments like that but literally nothing gets done or said about it and the tension never really leaves but it doesn't grow into anything more and you're left imagining that they were dating and clinging to the smallest crumbs of these two because you're a useless sapphic and you love the dynamic between these two and you feel a gaping ache in your heart whenever you think of them

[mousmoula]

(unreasonably long) list of reasons why i need a full trilogy about the cike pre-tpw:

1) THE 3 DAYS IN THAT GODFORSAKEN VALLEY

2) and you know how the reason altan took chaghan to the aforementioned valley was that chaghan was being a bitch. yeah i would do anything to read about chaghan being a bitch

(not that he wasn't a bitch in tpw, i just need more of him being a bitch)

3) how did everyone else join the cike!!!! baji, suni, RAMSA!!!!!, enki etc.

4) all the past cike members we learn close to nothing about from the books?? tyr, feylen, huleinin??? anyone else who's not even mentioned????

5) qara and chaghan joining the cike. seriously they were like 11 years old i need context??? i need tiny little chaghan freaking everyone out

6) the training process that rin never got to go through

7) plus ramsa blowing shit up!

8) I WANT QARA AND ALTAN TO INTERACT MORE PLEASE

9) seriously their potential dynamic is everything to me. i have a fanfic where they dispose of a body together they have SO much potential

10) more of baji, suni and ramsa's friendship pls

11) i understand ramsa joining the cike (10ish y/o pyromaniac that loves exploding things and will otherwise go to prison, makes some sense) but enki??? someone explain how he ended up there???

12) at some point in tpw it is mentioned that the cike took an overseas mission once and they completely fucked it up. GIVE IT TO ME.

13) i need a cohesive fucking timeline of the cike for my fics. genuinely every fic i write goes a completely different direction because rebecca, the books and the wiki completely disagree with each other

14) seriously like. my brain is failing to understand how feylen and ramsa co-existed in the division tbh. also how did we decide that feylen was commander once when it was never mentioned??? I NEED A TIMELINE

15) chaghan and altan's relationship over time,,, pls,,,, i can't keep pulling scenes out of my ass for much longer ms rebecca i'm begging tell us what happeend

16) i need light-hearted, wholesome scenes!!!! i need qara making fun of chaghan for his obsession with altan, and baji and ramsa wrestling whenever one of them cheats in whatever game they play, i need tyr to just be done with all of them!!!!!!!!!!

17) MORE OF QARA'S DRY HUMOUR PLS she's fucking hilarious and no one ever acknowledges that

like that scene in tdr where they meet bekter and she says they're not proud of being related to him??? i was crying it was so funny

18) just the cike being as peaceful and happy as they could ever be tbh

[starless-nightz]

Being bisexual means i’m attracted to damn near all of the poppy war main characters because they’re ALL MY TYPE and it’s not fair. Not to mention it’s so underrated that there’s legit only 1 x reader fanfic i’ve been able to stumble upon (yours, thank you btw). Anyways that concludes my rant because i’ve forced all my other friends to listen to the longer version of the rant and i’m all out of fuel tbh

Rip bro🙏 i need to write more for TPW because THERES LITERALLY NOTHING

[rrylies]

hi this is skies from the discord i need to impress upon you how much you ruined my day by posting that altan quote

additionally that spurred me into a reread of tpw and my life is going terrible thank you for asking

omg hi skies !! would like to say that i ruined my own day as much as yours with altan's last words (i will continue to post more altan things im not sorry <3) anyways good luck with the tpw reread !! i am currently doing a tdr reread for fanfic writing purposes and my life is also going terribly

[fangruninsimp]

Crack Fics

Of Course, I'd Let You Break my Heart Again by sir_numso169 (Vaisra/Tarquet, T, 685)

Vaisra had always known the Hesperians would help him, but it turns out they would do so in ways he never expected.

His life flips upside down when he meets him. Neither of them had believed in love at first sight, and yet...

checkmate, I couldn't lose by sloth_slushy (Jiang/Jun, T, 453)

Jiang and Jun's blossoming romance.

Nezha's Tall Tower by sloth_slushy (T, 1.3k)

It starts off with a yard sale, and ends with Rin buying Harry Styles. The usual pipeline.

these characters all need therapy so I gave it to them by chenkitays (G, 7.4k)

Rin, Nezha, Kitay, Vaisra and Jiang attend a group therapy session led by one (1) exhausted Strategy master. spoilers for the entire trilogy.

tags updated with new chapters

You're Just As Sane As I Am by sloth_slushy (G, 2.8k)

Crack fic written at 3 am, so far featuring drunk!Dumbledore among other Hogwarts shenanigans. Read at your own risk.

and He said, "love thy ducks." —Ephesians 3:20 by sloth_slushy (G, 731)

Rin and Kitay walked up to a lemonade stand and they said to the people, running the stand, "Hey!" (Bum bum bum) "Got any grapes?"

Nezha and Venka said, "No, we just sell lemonade. But it's cold and it's fresh and it's all home-made. Can I get you a glass?"

Escapé by sloth_slushy (Chaghan/Altan, G, 1.2k)

The Poppy War cast decide to go to an escape room. Shenanigans ensue.

The poppy war and online classes by nobeliumoxygenoxygen (Rin&Kitay, G, 2.5k)

In which lockdown is announced during the first years' four-day Summer Festival break and classes move online. For Rin and Kitay, that means quarantining together at his estate.

Also, Rin and the many times she wants to kill someone.

--

(some silly headcanons about the Sinegard first years and their lovely experiences with online classes)

[devotionconsumed]

please enjoy my first (wip) fanfic in almost 10 years....i just had to.

first chapter is essentially a rewrite of tpw but

[just-a-donut-who-reads]

(i don't have an ao3 account so i'm writing it here) i really love your "golden tattoo" one shot!

🥺🥺🥺 tysm @darcyyss the fact that you took time out of your day to write this means the world to me💜💜💜

[fangruninsimp]

Angst writers wya

[k9punkout]

I have to put this on here it has been weighing on me so heavily. I wrote the omegaverse tpw fanfic. IT WAS ME. I don't know what to do with all this guilt I even tried to frame Sriya (sorry I didn't mean to think of your life as something to throw away so easily) but yeah should I even keep going. I don't know

OMG IM TALKING TO THE CREATOR!! I live for this fanfic and I think of it daily. If you still feel like going I would love it bcs it makes me wheeze so much but I would hate it if my little pookie wookie omega sugar plum pie was overworking themself. Alpha daddy's happy as long as you're happy kitten/hj

[mousmoula]

επίσης άκυρο αλλά κάποι@ μου είχε στείλει ασκ εδώ και καμιά βδομάδα νομίζω να μιλήσω για τους ocs μου και ήθελα να πω ΔΕΝ ΣΕ ΕΧΩ ΞΕΧΑΣΕΙ απλώς ψιλογραφω κάτι (που είναι αξουαλι δική μου ιστορία και όχι tpw fanfic) πρώτη φορά εδώ και κάνα χρόνο, περιμένω να φτάσει σε σημείο που έχω αρκετά να πω και θα το απαντήσω τότε<333

[fangruninsimp]

1.2k words | Missing Scene | No Angst | POV Yin Nezha | Read on Ao3

Summary: "Challenge sparked in her eyes. Walking to the rack of weapons, she unsheathed a practice sword with a worn leather grip. Its edge gleamed like silver as she swung it around in precise, practiced motions before bringing it down to ready position.

Or: If Rin was going to be obstinate about using Altan's trident, Nezha might as well teach her how to wield it before she killed herself.

---

Nezha strode into the training room on the Seagrim, hoping to find it empty so he could get an hour or so of practice in before dinner. However, someone was already occupying the place, feet pivoting, arms weaving around in complicated motions, over their head and around their body. That someone happened to be a dark girl with a shock of black hair and the impeccable footwork that could only belong to one person.

Rin.

"You know, training is a lot more effective with actual weapons," he called. Despite the fact that they'd gotten closer over the past couple of weeks on the Seagrim, their old rivalry at the academy hadn't really died - he couldn't resist trying to provoke her.

Rin glanced over at him, but did not rise from her third Seejin form, keeping her arms statue-still over her head. 

"Training is also a lot easier when you can actually fight. Which you can't do," she pointed out. Oh, he'd missed their riveting back-and-forth taunts when he'd left Khurdalain - it was one of the reasons he was so glad when she decided to come with the Republic on the Seagrim.

He shrugged off his jacket, pulled his shirt over his head - leaving him in only his close-fitting vest - and stretched his arms, delighting in the way her eyes seemed to follow his movements despite her apparent indifference to him. He came around to face her, but stopped short when he saw the gashes on her front, jagged rents with frayed edges. Even her arms bore scratches, long ones in sets of three.

"Rin, what the fuck?"

She looked down, and rolled her eyes. "Relax. The cuts are on my shirt, not my body. Mostly."

Nezha raised an eyebrow. "And why have you decided to make a shoddy art project of your shirt?"

Rin huffed and jerked her chin at the gleaming trident that lay discarded on the floor a few feet from her. 

Ah. That explained it.

"Guess I can't control that thing," she mumbled. "Yet."

Nezha bit back the urge to say I told you so and goad her into using a sword. It wasn't every day that Fang Runin admitted to lack in any skill, even if that skill was wielding a weapon that she had never been trained to wield. Deciding to forgo his own practice, he approached her.

"What's the problem?" he asked. "I can try and help. Maybe."

Rin raised her eyebrows at him in incredulity, and suddenly he was in Sinegard again, a child playing at war, desperate to prove himself the best fighter in Nikan. "You've had training?"

"A little," he said.

"Show me," she said, challenge sparking in her eyes. Walking to the rack of weapons, she unsheathed a practice sword with a worn leather grip. Its edge gleamed like silver as she swung it around in precise, practiced motions before bringing it down to ready position. The buzz of competition thrummed into Nezha's blood, the kind nobody but Rin excited in him - she had always been the only one in their year who could best him in combat. 

He picked up the trident and passed it between hand to hand, gauging its weight and its reach. It had once been Altan Trengsin's, he thought, with just a touch of reverence. Legend of Sinegard, elite student among the elite, former commander of the Cike. Nezha had seen him training in the garden once, and had made a beeline for the indoor training rooms, too intimidated to even practice in the same place. Altan had always looked so removed and aloof, like his face had been hewn from stone, so Nezha had been surprised when he caught glimpses of the Speerly in Khurdalain, sitting by the fireplace with his motley group, laughing. Rin had been laughing too. 

Shaking the bittersweet memory from his head, he pushed stray locks of hair away from his face and rolled his shoulders in preparation. Whatever happened, this would be an interesting fight. 

Rin nodded. Begin.

He settled immediately into a defensive position, trident held loosely in his hand. From extensive sparring in Sinegard and Khurdalain, he knew Rin's fighting technique as if it was his own. If memory served him right, she'd be more than happy to take the offense, leaving him without the advantage of initiative, but with an opportunity  to study her tactics and work out what his approach was going to be.

Sure enough, Rin lunged at him, feinting a jab at his stomach before swinging upwards to his chest. He blocked both with the length of his trident the way his childhood instructors had taught him to, the sound of metal against metal clanging in the air. Another slice came towards his midriff but he blocked by simply twisting his wrist, wincing at the jolt it sent up his arm. In his mind, a plan was forming: use the trident as a staff until Rin tired and left gaps in her defenses, and then fight back. It was simple, but the simplest strategies were often the most effective. 

Again and again and again she attacked, her sword nothing but a metallic blur in the air, a relentless force pushing him back, back, back. Thrust, swipe, jab, lunge, repeat. He gritted his teeth against the onslaught as his heart pounded in his chest, unsure how much longer he could keep to this plan. Even if he wanted to attack, to get a good move in with the trident he'd need distance, something Rin refused to give even an inch of, and it was wearing him down. But to his relief, Rin's breath soon began to escape her in short pants that belied her exhaustion, and her attacks became marginally slower.

Any moment now.

Rin stepped around him and aimed a thrust to his face. A clever move - but not clever enough. He'd seen her feet shifting before she turned, and had anticipated her strike. He lunged forward, caught her blade between the prongs of the trident and twisted hard, throwing his weight onto the instrument, causing her sword to clatter out of her hand and onto the deck. Taking advantage of her momentary surprise, he swept her legs out from under her to send her sprawling flat on the floor, put his knee on her stomach and lodged the tips of the trident a hairsbreadth away from her neck, close enough to touch but not close enough to kill.

She was tense for a moment before the fight drained out of her, and she relaxed into the wooden floor.

"Fuck you," she huffed, chest rising and falling with her quick breathing. Her eyes darted around quickly, probably checking if the sword was still in reach. He had made sure to fling it far away when he disarmed her though, and her eyes eventually closed in exasperated defeat.

Nezha grinned as he caught his breath. He lowered the trident but made no motion to stand.

Her eyes flickered open. "Get off me, idiot."

Nezha ignored her, and instead moved up, causing the hair that had spilled from his knot to fall in a curtain on one side of his face. 

"How mad would you be if I kissed you right now?" he asked.

He could tell Rin was trying to pretend she was pissed - but her face broke into a grin, and she couldn't any longer. He felt her hands feather from by her sides to twist into his hair.

"Very," said Rin. "But I think I'd get over it."

----