Any tips for connecting with readers?

I don't know if it's just the fandom I'm in or something I'm doing, but I get almost no comments on my stuff. I've been posting for about three years now, and while I've never gotten lots of comments, in the past year it seems I've gotten even fewer.

I have a decent amount of user subscriptions and I recognize usernames that kudos and/or bookmark nearly everything I post. I'm not trying to complain here, but I just wish I could talk to the people who read my stuff!

In the past few months I've tried offering to write requests based around the main ship I write for, but that hasn't gotten any bites. I worry it may just be because of the ship I like to write for - it's a rarepair that basically only I ship and one of the characters in it doesn't have many dedicated fans in any context. I do occasionally write for other ships, and whenever I do that I get lovely comments. But I seem to be completely stuck with my main ship.

I write for myself. I'd keep writing even if every fanfiction site shut down tomorrow and I couldn't share it with anyone. But since I do share my stuff, and I do have evidence that there's some people who regularly read my stuff and (hopefully) like it, I'm kind of bummed that I can't talk to any of them. Has anyone else who writes for a rarepair been in this situation before? I really want to be able to connect more with people who are interested in my favorite ship.