Meet-Cute

Two strangers collide in a charming, embarrassing, or absurd first encounter that all but guarantees a second one. The trope is the romcom opening distilled: wrong coffee orders, shared umbrellas, dogs with better instincts than their owners.

30,000 works

What is Meet-Cute in fanfiction?

Two strangers collide in a charming, embarrassing, or absurd first encounter that all but guarantees a second one. The trope is the romcom opening distilled: wrong coffee orders, shared umbrellas, dogs with better instincts than their owners. With over 30,000 works on Archive of Our Own, Meet-Cute is one of the most beloved tropes in fanfiction.

Why readers love Meet-Cute

A great meet-cute makes the romance feel fated from the first paragraph, and the format's compactness has made it a favorite for one-shots and prompt fills.

Examples of Meet-Cute

Grabbing the identical suitcase at baggage claim and exchanging numbers to swap them back, or a florist and a tattoo artist who keep mis-delivering each other's mail.

Best Meet-Cute Fanfics

The highest-rated Meet-Cute stories across all fandoms on AO3.

1

Slide To Answer

Complete

by relenafanel

"What do I do?” Steve appealed into the phone. “I’m freaking out.”There was silence on the other end of the line. It lasted so long that Steve pulled the receiver away from his ear and frowned at it. Pay phones were old. Maybe this one wasn’t working despite the obvious dial tone when he picked u

35,323 kudos 6,326 words ~26 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Alternate Universe - Modern Setting Wrong Number AU Romantic Comedy
2

Stiles Stilinski, Boyfriend Extraordinaire

Complete

by MereLoup

“Beacon County Sheriff's Department, this is deputy Mahealani speaking.” “Oh thank god!”“Stiles?” “I, uh, I need some advice.” “Advice?” “Yeah. So, hypothetically, say you met your boyfriend’s mother and sister for the first time ever. Completely by accident. In the grocery store. And they convin

27,100 kudos 14,430 words ~58 min read General Audiences
Alternate Universe Alternate Universe - Human Meet-Cute
3

Like Real People Do

Complete

by third_crow

“Could I get a name for the order?” Marlene asked.“Serious,” the man replied. “Like the star,” he clarified, and Remus mentally scratched out 'Serious' and rewrote 'Sirius' in his head.“The… star?” Marlene asked, her pen hovering over the cup as she hesitated.“S-I-R-I-U-S,” Remus said. He stocked cr

19,920 kudos 36,527 words ~147 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés Alternate Universe - Muggle Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
4

Thanks for Thumper, But I Prefer Cheeseburgers

Complete

by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)

The wolf’s head whipped around so fast, Stiles felt like he was watching The Exorcist. Stiles wondered if he could just stand still enough to make the wolf think he was a tree. A very bright red and jean-clad tree. He doubted it, but one could hope. He knew it was a lost cause when the wolf turned f

19,884 kudos 58,339 words ~234 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Meet-Cute Wolf Derek Wolf Derek Hale
5

rose garden filled with thorns

Complete

by galactictsukki

“I’m sorry, but my answer is no. Someone else might be willing to switch if you ask.” “I can’t believe—this is unacceptable! I’m going to call the flight attendant over and get this sorted out right now!” Flustered and cornered, Shane injects his Captain Voice into the conversation. “Ma’am, I unders

19,498 kudos 14,624 words ~59 min read Explicit
Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Alternate Universe - Non-Famous Meet-Cute
6

on my lips (your laughter is the sweetest)

Complete

by luway

Jisung cleared his throat, a sudden feeling of embarrassment coming over him. He stared at the paper cup in his hands as he spoke. "So you're really nice and all, and your cocoa is amazing, but the whole lip thing— I can see you staring when I talk and I just wanted to say it's kind of uncom-""Uh so

17,893 kudos 7,089 words ~29 min read General Audiences
Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés Kind Of Deaf Character
7

Night Changes

Complete

by proseandpulse

Shane is drunk, concussed, and hiding in a phone booth when he calls the only number he knows by heart. The man who answers is not Hayden Pike.

17,411 kudos 20,499 words ~82 min read Mature
Alternate Universe Wrong Phone Number Harassment
8

Save a Horse, Ride a Captain

Complete

by galwednesday

Bucky tapped him on the shoulder, swaying back and forth a little as he waited for the man to turn around. “Hello,” he said, and then promptly forgot what else he was going to say, because this guy was fucking beautiful. “Wow. Good face.”Two of the guy’s friends, a man wearing a suit that fit so wel

15,734 kudos 2,708 words ~11 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Shrunkyclunks Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes Meet-Cute
9

this time it's a tweet cute

Complete

by Owlwinter

Sapnap: Damn, even I think that is one dry-ass trending descriptionSapnap: How much do you get paid to write those again?George: none. this is an unpaid internship and I hate it here.--Or: in which George is the Twitter Description Man, and Dream is the perpetually-trending Minecraft youtuber he has

15,384 kudos 12,122 words ~49 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Enemies to Friends to Lovers Secret Identities Fluff
10

Side bitch out of your league

Complete

by rohkeutta

“I tried to call Sam,” Captain America says, bewildered. He’s sprinting like Usain Bolt and doesn’t sound even a little out of breath. Fucker. “Who’re you?”“Someone who’s watching you live on TV,” Bucky tells him as the tiny patriotic figure on the screen takes the turns like he instructed. Bucky sh

14,951 kudos 2,573 words ~11 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Modern Bucky Barnes Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes Smooth Steve Rogers
11

Covered in Bees

Complete

by ScarlettStorm

“Cloud Reccesses Apiary,” says a toneless, deep masculine voice, with zero question in it. Wei Ying doesn’t care, because whoever possesses that voice is probably going to come save him from bees like a fucking hero while wearing like, a suit of armor. That’s what you wear to catch bees, right?“I ha

12,615 kudos 8,436 words ~34 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Modern AU Beekeeping AU For reasons
12

Know You Better

Complete

by rotasha

Clark asks Bruce on a date, not knowing he’s a famous billionaire. Bruce says yes, because this is the first time this has ever happened to him.

12,556 kudos 6,164 words ~25 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Fluff Meet-Cute Identity Porn
13

took no time with the fall

Complete

by cherryvanilla

When the Avengers had briefed him on Deadpool, they played up the Kills People for Money and Has No Real Morals angle and left out the Is Pretty Damn Funny and Charming in a Weird, Terrifying Sort of Way part. Or, five times they meet on rooftops plus one time they take it to the streets*(*with apol

12,489 kudos 8,648 words ~35 min read Mature
5+1 Things Humor Meet-Cute
14

Meet Cute (these dorks)

Complete

by Mayvn

The instant he turned to dash into the fight, Liu Qingge froze as he saw Not Shen Qingqiu standing coolly over one unconscious thug, guqin in both hands and still in a pose that clearly showed he had, in fact, just bludgeoned someone with the end of his guqin. Not Shen Qingqiu smirked and tilted his

11,856 kudos 66,951 words ~268 min read Teen And Up Audiences
bg Luo Binghe Meet-Cute SY is not SQQ
15

A Lot's Gonna Change

Complete

by etymologyplayground

"Are you each other's beards?" Wei Ying guesses, mostly joking.Lan Zhan says, "I don't know what that means."Wen Qing says, "Yes." Then, to Lan Zhan, she says, "It's what we're doing."--What's even better than attending the wedding of someone you hate? Being the bartender at the wedding of someone y

11,414 kudos 5,752 words ~24 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Meet-Cute Weddings Humor
16

Skull Rock Era

Complete

by chattrekisses

Steve Harrington never planned for Eddie Munson.Steve was supposed to marry his high school sweetheart, have 2.5 children, and take over the family business. He was supposed to live a blissful life on a nondescript cul-de-sac, complete with a white picket fence and a closet full of tasteful polo shi

10,749 kudos 71,794 words ~288 min read Explicit
Friends to Lovers Idiots in Love Internalized Homophobia
17

Quack (Stiles Stop Calling It That)

Complete

by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)

“Stiles, I’m serious, I need a favour.” “That sounds like a trap,” Stiles Stilinski muttered sleepily into both his pillows. “You know,” he continued when the man in his room made no move to leave, “you’d think I’d be used to this. My dad, coming into my room, smacking my ass to get me out of bed, w

10,734 kudos 15,980 words ~64 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Getting to Know Each Other Getting Together Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known
18

Natural

Complete

by withered

Derek goes grocery shopping, and somehow walks out with a kid, a pack and a mate.

10,186 kudos 16,575 words ~67 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire (Teen Wolf) Kidfic Deputy Derek Hale
19

we're awesome, totally genius

Complete

by napricot

At this point, Sam’s scanning the coffeeshop for an exit strategy from this terrible date; maybe he can trip a customer into spilling coffee on one of them, or pretend like he’s seen a friend, something, anything. His eye lands on the white guy sitting at the table behind Mike, directly in Sam’s lin

10,176 kudos 3,920 words ~16 min read Teen And Up Audiences
Alternate Universe - Modern Setting Meet-Cute
20

a paper friend

Complete

by soft_wanning

Lan Wangji finds a paperman far from its body and helps get it home. -Or-Lan Wangji unknowingly meets Wei Wuxian for the first time.

9,672 kudos 4,635 words ~19 min read General Audiences
Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Fluff Paperman!Wei Wuxian

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Meet-Cute fics are on AO3?

There are over 30,000 works tagged with Meet-Cute on Archive of Our Own.

What fandoms have the most Meet-Cute stories?

Popular fandoms for Meet-Cute include MCU, BTS, Haikyuu.

How can I read Meet-Cute fanfiction on my phone?

Download Fanfict Reader for iOS to browse and read Meet-Cute fanfiction with a beautiful mobile interface, offline reading, and custom themes.

Read Meet-Cute fanfiction on the go

Fanfict Reader is the best way to browse, search, and read AO3 fanfiction on your iPhone. Download for free and start reading your favorite stories today.

Free to download
Offline reading
Custom themes