Best One-Shot Unrequited Love Fanfics
Unrequited Love one-shots under 10k words — the trope distilled to a single complete read. Curated from AO3, ranked by kudos.
Top 20 One-Shot Unrequited Love Fanfics
Ranked by AO3 kudos. Each fic is tagged with unrequited love and falls in the short stories under 10,000 words range.
A Love Potion
by Liepe
The Slytherin House, more specifically Pansy and Blaise, have been unamused by Draco’s behaviour lately. It has been decided that the perfect punishment would be to give Draco a love potion that would make him act like a love sick puppy around Potter. Nothing happens and the Slytherins can’t figure
Alone On the Water
by Mad_Lori
Sherlock Holmes never expected to live a long life, but he never imagined that it would end like this.
third person singular
by sneetlu
There was this day—cold, late March, wind still mean—that stuck in Noelle’s mind like a grain of rice behind the gums.She’d ducked into the corner store after school. Her mom didn’t like her going there, said the magazines by the register were trash and the cashier had too many piercings. But Noelle
She Who Walks Alone
by skyelyr_shepard
Love is a pleasure Shepard has denied herself, for her sake and the sake of those closest to her. This doesn't stop them from loving her anyway. "She Who Walks Alone" is a collection of thoughts from those who knew her the best and—more importantly—loved her the most. Currently featuring Garrus, Lia
Justification
by The_Engineer
Gwen wants to know why Jack has not persued a relationship with her.
Upon the Removal of a Finish Line
by ASongofSixpence
And it's sad because what John doesn’t know is this:It was never a suicide note. It was a love letter.
Donation
by Nary
Evidently someone in Genomics had realized at the last minute that the Warden's imminent departure might mean permanently losing access to some high-quality necro spunk, and put in a request for a donation. "Did they give you the magazines too, or were those your own idea?""Theirs," Pal said. He s
Caught On Camera
by halfeatenmoon
After a sleep-over for Naoko's birthday, a sixteen-year-old Tomoyo goes home to watch her video recording of the night. But at the end of the tape is a scene that she certainly doesn't remember filming.
lift me like an olive branch (i'll be your homeward dove)
by synchronicities
Nokoru/Tomoyo, Arranged Marriage AU. "A good match, his parents call them. She might have believed them had she had any say in it."
Liquid Fire
by Muffdiver
To some cats, the realization of their love hits them like unsheathed claws. It washes them like a tidal wave, consuming them completely until they can do nothing but drown in it. But to Ferncloud, her feelings for Leafpool felt right, expected. As if she knew they would appear at some point in time
Eternal Watcher
by berrynani
Ghost Shin and his lover Saint
Truce
by Raneia
Over time she reconciled the fact that she was just another pawn in their little game. Tommy is formal and businesslike, they talk horses and no amount of prodding will make him open up about his life, or about Alfie.
To Claim a Sky Already Won
by rosemaryandrain
“One day, I'm gonna toss to ya, Shouyo-kun.” Miya Atsumu has never been a man to break his word. It was a promise made on the polished timber floors of Nationals, a declaration born from a hunger to finally find a spiker who would demand the absolute limits of his talent. For years, through the quie
Ratchet is NOT jealous. (ok, maybe he is a little bit...)
by Janayuga
Ratchet never believed in love at first sight. Then he met Orion Pax.Stellar cycles later, Orion is still the kind-hearted archivist Ratchet fell in love with- only now every conversation begins and ends with one name: Megatronus. - Or Orion's friends watch him get into a toxic relationship and see
N Attend his First Human Mating Ritual
by MolenStrawberry
"Ugh, if I heard another 'when are you going to have a boyfriend?', I'm going to sick Samurott on them." Aka Touya took N to his twin sister's wedding as his 'boyfriend' to avoid his noisy relatives.
Goodbye, My German Sweetheart.
by quinnthekitty
Lovino has always been undermined by Feliciano. From the beginning of their lives to the present, he was always terrible in comparison to his younger brother. this is my first fic on ao3 it’ll probably be buns🥹 the rape/non-con elements are referenced maybe once and not explicitly but i don’t want
Bug, Boy, Brought Back
by Helsing (theWrightHell)
“Did you sleep well”(Ken never actually slept in Shu’s bed)“Have you been awake long?”(all night)The two men would drag themselves out of the bed and towards the small kitchenette. Ken would make coffee in silence, opting to chanell all of his focus into the perfect french press. He would pour said
Defile Me
by AlexaSky
c. July, 1798: Napoléon, deeply hurt by Joséphine's infidelity, decides to get his revenge by taking lovers of his own. He bursts into Junot's quarters and demands to be defiled.
Don't Achieve Nothing, Greatness Exists Right There in The Stars
by fanDAM_trASH
Mabel is 14, happy, but bored.Pacifica is 15, sanctimonious, but lonelyNeither of them care about internet safety.OrPacifica Northwest goes on a summer trip to Greece, and misses summer when the Pines twins come to Gravity Falls entirely, but fate has a funny way of bringing people together.
The Assassin that Carried the Crown
by Wildeoddity
Nireli is no hero, trained since childhood in the art of murder. She was meant to rot in the Imperial dungeon for a botched assassination contract, but the Emperor went ahead and practically died in her arms. Now this Dark Brotherhood assassin is free, and in possession of the Amulet of Kings. As sh
More One-Shot Unrequited Love Fics on AO3
AO3's search bar accepts custom word-count ranges. We've pre-filled the short stories under 10,000 words range for you. Then read offline with Fanfict Reader.
About Unrequited Love
One character loves and the other doesn't — or can't, or won't, or never finds out. Some fics resolve the imbalance; the bravest ones don't, and let the loving character carry it, survive it, or finally set it down.
Almost everyone has wanted someone they couldn't have, and this trope turns that universal bruise into art — exquisite when it resolves, devastating when it doesn't.
Common scenarios: A best friend giving the toast at the wedding of the person they've loved for a decade, or a confession made safely to someone asleep.
About This List
This list of 20one-shot Unrequited Love fanfics spans 72,183 total words. Kudos range from 10 on the newest entries to 18,576 on the most established. Nearly all (80%) are complete, so you can start any of them without WIP anxiety. The most common rating is General Audiences (7 of 20 fics).
Recurring tags across this list: Unrequited Love · Angst · Pining · Hurt No Comfort · One-Sided Attraction.
Read one-shot unrequited love 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.