The one I see pop up again and again is corruption arcs. Geto’s descent into a villain and Gojo’s refusal to follow him—or worse, deciding to join him—is such a rich vein of angst. People love exploring the moment Gojo might have snapped, what could have pushed him over the edge, or how he might try to pull Geto back from the brink after all those years. It’s all about that intense, broken loyalty.
Time-travel fix-its are also huge, which makes sense. The fandom is collectively traumatized by that one day in October. So many stories have Gojo going back, armed with future knowledge, trying to prevent Geto’s defection. The variations are fascinating—does he succeed? Does he make things worse? Does he just end up stuck in a time loop, reliving the failure over and over?
The college or childhood friends AU is a softer counterpart. Just them being dumb students at Jujutsu Tech, before everything went wrong. It’s pure, uncomplicated friendship with a slow-burn romantic undertone. Those stories are like a warm blanket—you know the tragedy is coming, but here, for a little while, they’re happy.
Body-sharing or soulmate AUs also pop up a lot, given the canonical ‘my one and only’ dialogue. Fics where they can feel each other’s pain, or see through each other’s eyes, or are forced into some magical binding. It’s a literalization of their already insane connection, with tons of potential for both hurt and comfort.