Give me Roy and Lilina any day of the week. Binding Blade's ending is practically a blank check for writers, and I've seen it cashed in so many beautiful ways. There's a long one called 'A Crown of Roses' that I'm partial to; it explores the sheer weight of responsibility they both inherit, turning the castle gardens into this secret, fragile space where they can just be kids again. The political marriage aspect gets played with a lot, but the best fics twist it into genuine affection blooming under pressure, not just a duty.
On the flip side, the Dimitri/Marianne dynamic from 'Three Houses' offers a completely different flavor. It's less about courtly love and more about two profoundly broken people finding solace. I remember one where Dimitri starts leaving wildflowers by her dormitory door after their shared support conversations, never signing them. The romance is in the quiet understanding, the shared silence that isn't heavy. That pairing feels less like a story about falling in love and more about remembering how to be human alongside someone else. The fandom really latched onto that, and the output is incredibly character-focused.
For something older school, Sigurd and Deirdre fics are a classic tragedy. You can't avoid the doomed ending, so most stories are bittersweet vignettes—their first meeting in the forest, the small domestic moments in Silesse. They're short, often painfully beautiful, and a great change of pace if you want your heart squeezed gently rather than put through a wringer.