J2-AU
I like the more ridiculous AUs... like, the more far-fetched and fantasy like the plot, the happier I am. Basically, I want the characters to resemble their namesakes as little as possible.
Superheroes Suck, or, The Unfortunately Extraordinary Life of Jensen Ackles by
SHERLOCK
Unlike with Supernatural, I like my Sherlock slashy - specifically Johnlock. That being said, only one of these is slash...
the sensation of falling as you hit sleep by greywash - I can't for the life of me remember this fic, but I liked it enough to bookmark. It appears to be a post-Reichenbach fic that builds to an eventual reunion and Johnlock. It looks like I'm not the only one who liked it! Also, hey, it's part of a series, and I don't think I've read the rest of the series. Anyway... um, check it out, I guess. Here's someone else describing it.
An Avalanche of Detour Signs by gyzym - A het fic! This is a Molly-centric fic that is excellent and awesome. Molly is a BAMF without losing the fact that she's not really a BAMF, if that makes any sense. It really does justice to the character, I thought. The only warning is that there's a bit of sexual trauma in the fic (due to exploring Molly's brief relationship with Moriarty) - I thought it was EXTREMELY well done, but if anyone has actually experienced a rather traumatic sexual experience they might have trouble reading that part...(it's not non-con, but it's not nice either...kind of really uncomfortable sex that you horribly regret afterward).
Seeds by
Fanmix - J.W. by devinleighbee (there's a link to their tumblr where you can download it in the sidebar) - This fanmix is fuckin' great. I absolutely love it. I don't usually download fanmixes, but since devinleighbee had a youtube playlist, I decided to give it a listen without committing to a download, and I'm really glad I did. The only change I made was to take out the Jackson Five song, because I personally don't like it. Other than that, it gets a little bit Mumford and Sons heavy by the 3rd act, but I mean... it's Mumford and Sons, I'm not really complaining.
MERLIN
Just like Sherlock, I like my Merlin to be slashy - this time, with Merthur (Merlin/Arthur - because I do like to go for the most obvious pairing. I mean, goddamn, they're actually canon if you translate all the metaphors.)
The Dream of Merlin Wledic by anon - this is a Merlin kink meme fill, so you have to read it across 47 comments, but it's worth it (or at least I think so.) It follows Merlin as he basically descends into madness, forced to dream about killing Arthur every night and unable to tell dreams from reality. It's a VERY engrossing story. It does leave subplots unresolved - but so does every episode of Merlin, so there's nothing new there! The ending might also be less dramatic than you expect, but I loved it.
No Law by deepsorskies - This fic is WIP Arthur/Merlin/Gwen fic but it can actually stand the way it is now as a finished fic (though it'd be even better if it continued.)
MERLIN-Modern AU
The nice thing about Modern AUs in Merlin is that you don't actually have to watch Merlin to read them. Because the author has to set up the modern universe, they'll reiterate who everyone is in relation to each other. So I think you can enjoy them whether you're in the fandom or not.
A Binding Contract by
Natural Selection by
A blind eye sees only memory by
Dear Arthur by
Of Essays and Destiny by anon (on DW) - this fic follows Student!Arthur and EnglishTutor!Merlin as Arthur tries to write essays. To tell you the truth, I don't remember that much specific about this story, but I bookmarked it - so I must have liked it a great deal. I do know that it has great literary quotes throughout it and it's kind of beautiful that way.
If you want EVEN MORE recs, I've mostly been reading fic on AO3 these days, and I bookmark things I like with their in-site bookmark feature. I tend to put little notes to myself to remind me what I liked about the story too. So, they're like little not-very-well written reviews.