Mutual Pining
Both characters are in love with each other but believe their feelings are unrequited. Readers can see the truth while characters remain oblivious.
What is Mutual Pining in fanfiction?
Both characters are in love with each other but believe their feelings are unrequited. Readers can see the truth while characters remain oblivious. With over 420,000 works on Archive of Our Own, Mutual Pining is one of the most beloved tropes in fanfiction.
Why readers love Mutual Pining
The delicious frustration of obvious mutual attraction, the anticipation of them finally realizing the truth, and the emotional payoff.
Examples of Mutual Pining
Best friends both hiding feelings, colleagues thinking the other is out of their league, misreading signals.
Best Mutual Pining Fanfics
The highest-rated Mutual Pining stories across all fandoms on AO3.
you took my heart (i was sleeping)
Completeby lameparties
It’s winter in Hawkins, and Mike and Will aren’t speaking anymore. Living in Mike’s house, Will tries to be invisible, spending most of his time in the basement. Then the power goes out — and if there’s one thing he dreads more than facing Mike, it’s the cold. or Seven nights in which Mike and Will
The Way You Used To Do
Completeby edema_ruh
"We're really sorry," his father says, in a teary-eyed, wobbly way. "But your friend, Izuku, he's... He's gone, son."Katsuki can do nothing but blink up at them for moments that feel like an eternity, eyes darting between both his parents in obvious confusion, disbelief, and, more than anything, ind
count your blessings, not your flaws
Completeby PitViperOfDoom
Midoriya Izuku has never been asked out, confessed to, or flirted with, except as a joke.
True Love
Completeby platonic_boner
AU where soulmates can’t lie to each other.(That’s okay, Merlin wasn’t planning to lie to Arthur anyways! Haha.. ha.. ha…)
What The Fuck Did You Just Call Me?
Completeby reading_raindrop
“A-ah B-Bakugou! You dropped some pencils!”Katsuki stiffened. Kirishima and Kaminari froze. Basically, everyone within earshot stopped what they were doing to look at Izuku like he sprouted a second head. What did he just call him? “What the fuck did you just say to me?”Katsuki whipped his head towa
All the Young Dudes - Sirius's Perspective
Completeby Rollercoasterwords
this is an ATYD fanfic first!!! and a harry potter fanfic only by necessity. this is literally just me rewriting each chapter of atyd but from Sirius's perspective bc i love this story so much and can't get enough of it. all credit for the original work goes to MsKingBean89 and if for some reason yo
frequently, secretly fond of each other.
Completeby milominderbinder
Shrugging one shoulder far more casually than he possibly feels, Ilya says, “I like both. Is secret, okay?” “Okay,” Hollander says, voice cracking. He doesn’t say anything else. The air’s so heavy around them that it feels like being in the middle of a scrum, the weight and heat of all those bodies
I Would Bring You the Stars and the Moon
Completeby GutterWitch
“Houston, do you copy?”Caitlyn panicked, feeling extraordinarily unprepared having been thrust into her new position without so much as even a handbook to consult. What were the formalities? What was she supposed to respond with? Where was the damn push to talk button…“Hellooo? I said Houston, do yo
(the first time) he kissed a boy
Completeby buzzcut__season
Reki is insecure about his lack of kissing experience. Langa just wants to help him feel like he's good enough, even if teaching Reki to kiss means breaking his own heart. (yet another practice kissing au)
Heir Apparent
by MonsieurClavier
When a Voldemort in his thirties encounters a time-travelling, seventeen-year-old Harry Potter, he makes a dangerous—and hilarious—assumption. He assumes that Harry is his son. And his son, of course, deserves the very best.A confused Harry plays along for the sake of self-preservation, but living w
re: hi
Completeby fleezerweezer
At eleven years old Ilya Rozanov's class is given an assignment:They will be randomly paired with a student at another school in Canada via email. In order to get full credit on the assignment, they must send at least five emails back and forth and gather enough information to write their project.Af
As the Romans Do
Completeby kooksie
As a straight man, Ilya Rozanov has never had a gay roommate before, but it’s going pretty well. Shane Hollander is kind, silly, and an even bigger hockey nut than Ilya. So when Shane starts bringing men over, and Ilya begins to want to bash their fucking heads in, Ilya comes to a startling conclusi
Summer Stars
Completeby PitViperOfDoom
It's been judged safe to send the students of UA home to their families for the first three weeks of summer, much to the relief of everyone whose name isn't Todoroki Shouto. Luckily, Midoriya has a solution for him, and Midoriya Inko has a lot of love to give.
And like the cycle of the year, we begin again
Completeby katherynefromphilly
Set after the Merlin Series 5 Finale "Diamond of the Day".Canon Compliant. In Character. Arthur Pendragon Returns.Cover art by Lao-Pendragon------For many long years Merlin waited.For the other part of his soul, for the other half of his life. He was born to serve Arthur. So that meant he was al
Remain Nameless
Completeby HeyJude19
How did it feel? It felt like he was barely holding it together. She, of all people, should shun him. Or yell at him. Curse him. Spit at him. Take out her wand and blast him off the face of the earth. It was crushing guilt and relief and confusion all at once when he looked at Hermione Granger.The m
Woodash and iron and leather
Completeby iffervescent
Jaskier is the only person Geralt's ever been around who doesn't smell of fearRussian Translation hereKorean Translation herePodfic here
I Was Screaming Your Name Through The Radio
Completeby ElectricSplatter
“Four months from now will be the seven year anniversary of when you and Osamu Dazai released your hugely successful first and only album Double Black and its diamond single Corruption. After performing with Dazai earlier this year, are you planning anything special to celebrate?”“Corruption is insa
"what's your type?"
Completeby sapphicflower
“Congratulations on getting nine out of ten questions correct! Without further ado, let’s move on to the last question..” Hanazawa paused for dramatic effect as the lights dimmed and the spotlights overhead honed in on their podiums.“What is … your hero partner’s type?”A brief silence.“‘Type?’” Izuk
2am Knows All Secrets [original]
Completeby Unbreakable_Red_Riot
… It wasn’t that he was annoyed.Okay, maybe he was a little annoyed, but that was just the lack of sleep talking. Because a certain explosive punk thought it was a good idea to test the flammability of his sheets at 2 in the morning. Every single morning.(In which Bakugou's quirk wakes Kirishima up,
a turn of the earth
Completeby microcomets
Dean’s your typical half-orphaned, monster-killing 22-year-old until a trenchcoated stranger crashes into his back windshield one September night, claiming he’s an angel that knows him from the future and that he’s on the run. Frigging fantastic. (Or, in which Castiel gets stuck in Dean’s timeline p
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many Mutual Pining fics are on AO3?
There are over 420,000 works tagged with Mutual Pining on Archive of Our Own.
What fandoms have the most Mutual Pining stories?
Popular fandoms for Mutual Pining include Harry Potter, MCU, Supernatural.
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