Tropes Pining Epic

Best Epic Pining Fanfics

Pining fanfics over 100,000 words — the long-form treatment of the trope. Curated from AO3, ranked by kudos.

Pining 20 epic fics Avg 356,388 words over 100,000 words

Top 20 Epic Pining Fanfics

Ranked by AO3 kudos. Each fic is tagged with pining and falls in the over 100,000 words range.

1

Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love

by isthisselfcare

Hermione straddles the Muggle and Magical worlds as a medical researcher and Healer about to make a big discovery. Draco is an Auror assigned to protect her from forces unknown – to both of their displeasure.Features hyper-competent, fiery Hermione and lazy, yet dangerous, Draco. Slow burn.

101,792 kudos 199,548 words 36/36 chapters Explicit Complete
2

The Way You Used To Do

by 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

72,220 kudos 670,180 words 30/30 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
3

The Shape of Me Will Always be You

by MissDisoriental

A post-canon Hannigram fix-it fic.Fan videos here and hereAnimations hereFanart masterpost herePodfics here, here and hereFan playlist hereTranslations in Deutsch | 中文 | Ελληνικά | Magyar | ไทย | Русский | Polski | Cymraeg | Español | Українська

50,539 kudos 279,874 words 49/49 chapters Explicit Complete
4

All the Young Dudes - Sirius's Perspective

by 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

47,973 kudos 628,178 words 188/188 chapters Mature Complete
5

frequently, secretly fond of each other.

by 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

45,340 kudos 222,222 words 28/28 chapters Explicit Complete
6

(the first time) he kissed a boy

by 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)

44,104 kudos 169,722 words 19/19 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
7

The Right Thing To Do

by LovesBitca8

Hermione felt the pounding in her ears again. She would see him for the first time since the Great Hall, gaunt and stricken at the Slytherin table with his mother clutching his arm. She hadn't meant to look for him. Not in the corridors, not beneath the white sheets of the fallen, not on the way to

42,423 kudos 174,911 words 36/36 chapters Explicit Complete
8

Written on the Heart

by who_la_hoop

Harry doesn’t mind that so many Slytherins from his year have returned to finish their NEWTs, really he doesn’t. It’s just – do they have to be so friendly? He’s not prejudiced, really he’s not. It’s just – they’ve got to be up to something, right? Unnerved by the attention he’s attracting from ever

41,927 kudos 113,984 words 20/20 chapters Explicit Complete
9

The Sleeping Beauty Curse

by who_la_hoop

When Draco Malfoy falls into a cursed sleep and can only be woken – at least, according to the Daily Prophet, that impeccable source of truth – by ‘true love’s kiss’, Harry Potter knows there’s no way on earth he’s the answer to this particular riddle. Is he . . .?

15,621 kudos 152,552 words 23/23 chapters Explicit Complete
10

your hand in mine (pt. ii)

by geralehane

Five months after breaking Lexa's heart, getting her back is Clarke's first priority. She doesn't care about destroying herself in the process. (TW: Toxic Relationship Dynamics in the first part of the sequel. It's unhealthy and might be triggering for those who've experienced toxic/emotionally abus

9,061 kudos 107,626 words 28/28 chapters Mature Complete
11

Imperial Retrograde

by mynameis152

Tired, feeling safer in his captor’s arms than he’d had in months outside them, Izuku drifted into a dreamless sleep.And Katsuki carried him home.---Raised on a continent at the brink of war, Katsuki and Izuku's sides were chosen the day they were born. But now, as Katsuki's birth right is stripped

7,931 kudos 358,781 words 64/64 chapters Explicit Complete
12

Black and Blue

by MTrash (Makaria)

Daichi's new (temporary) neighbor is not only stunningly beautiful but also funny, friendly, with just a touch of mysterious. Naturally, Daichi freaks the fuck out.(AU where everyone lives in the same building and everyone is gay)

7,870 kudos 116,830 words 13/13 chapters Explicit Complete
13

Sitting Behind You

by RedOrange99

AU where Ren is a third year at Shujin and sits behind Makoto in class. If you like ShuMako but you always kinda wished it was the main focus of the game, then this is the story for you! A retelling of Persona 5 Royal with a hard focus on Ren and Makoto, along with general team bonding moments and t

5,378 kudos 1,043,504 words 141/? chapters Mature
14

wasting beats of this heart of mine

by ArgetCross

“You sound like a mortal.” She said, with the faint glimmer of amusement in her eyes. Zagreus chortled too, but then fell silent. Nyx gave him a knowing look. “What is it, my child?”“You said the curse is tied into my godhood, right? What if…” The words tasted unnatural in his mouth, a blasphemy bef

4,085 kudos 192,716 words 43/? chapters Mature
15

Where the Snow Takes Us

by AsamiOnTop

Korra is a ski instructor. Asami is a student. They meet :)

4,057 kudos 283,139 words 46/46 chapters Explicit Complete
16

A More Perfect Union

by holograms

Hamilton survives the duel. He gets more time, and Burr does too.

2,994 kudos 359,273 words 37/? chapters Explicit
17

Hers

by OchiMochiMochi

Kakashi didn’t really think he was the best choice for this. He’d tried to explain this to the official who’d summoned him out of bed just before midnight, tried to explain that they ought to wake Umino, or the Sandaime, or literally anyone else, tried to explain that Naruto had only been his genin

2,861 kudos 885,096 words 207/? chapters Explicit
18

The Autumn Flame

by The_Twisted_Kingdom

Months after the war, Lucien returns to Velaris to see Elain. He is unsure if he will be welcomed, but is pleasantly surprised when she appears open to spending time with him. He is even more surprised when Rhysand sees fit to send him and Elain across Prythian to visit a handful of the other courts

2,635 kudos 726,237 words 651/? chapters Mature
19

The heart behind the lie

by Nekohime19

Possession was the art to break the mind.When LBD left the mind of the Monkey King, she left it in shambles, wretched ruins incapable of standing alone. Leaving behind only a terrified monkey overwhelmed by his most irrepressive instinct.When Macaque agreed to help MK, he didn't sign up to be a baby

2,580 kudos 273,044 words 82/82 chapters Teen And Up Audiences
20

parched rivers run

by skadii

Zack laughs hysterically. “No, no, no. That’s not how this works. Didn’t you hear Jessie the other day? I die for you. Not the other way ‘round.”Zack lives. What next?

2,083 kudos 170,344 words 10/10 chapters Explicit Complete

More Epic Pining Fics on AO3

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About Pining

Unrequited or unspoken longing for someone, often with lots of internal anguish.

The exquisite torture of loving someone from afar, especially when it's mutual but unspoken.

Common scenarios: Secret crushes, assuming feelings aren't returned, watching from across the room.

About This List

273,044
median words
70%
complete
101,792
top kudos
~18.2 hours
median read time

This list of 20epic Pining fanfics spans 7,127,761 total words. Kudos range from 2,083 on the newest entries to 101,792 on the most established. 70% are marked complete — check the status flag before committing to a longfic. The most common rating is Explicit (12 of 20 fics).

Recurring tags across this list: Pining · Slow Burn · Mutual Pining · Angst · Fluff.

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