AU Exchange 2018
May. 13th, 2018 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aurillyI’ve never before signed up for an exchange without having nominated things and knowing from the get-go what I'm asking for. This somehow resulted in an even longer letter than usual, because I didn’t have time to edit it down. I’m so sorry.
General
I'm often more interested in watching characters deal with what comes after a prompted tag/premise than I am in the premise itself. I don't particularly care how they got to the same world and met or how/why the prompted scenario started. What I'm most interested in is what happens next--the friendship or romance that develops, the adventures they have, the things they learn, etc. Feel free to skip the set-up and start in media res. If you have the time and inclination to include the set-up as well, then great! However, stories that end shortly after the introductions or before the characters actually do anything in the premise make me sad.
Do Not Wants
— goofy crack, fusions, alternate setting AUs
— romantic pairings or threesomes other than the ones specifically requested
— fics where none of the main characters ever find out about the others' backgrounds or magic (the reveal doesn't have to happen 'on-screen', but please don't end it with everyone thinking everyone else is normal or from their world!)
— characters written as ace, aro or demi; gender identity headcanons
— Things That Upset Me: major character death; the afterlife; bleak endings; shovel talks; "it was all a dream" endings
— Schmoopiness: plotless fluff; non-canonical pet names or terms of endearment; people saying "I love you" verbatim (I love other ways of demonstrating feelings!)
— Sex & Relationship-Related: D/s dynamics; soulmates; yentas and matchmakers; pregnancy; adultery; underage/overage romance
— Writing Things: 1st & 2nd person POV; phonetically spelled dialogue (my brain genuinely struggles to process it)
— Crossover-related: tragically unresolved lifespan incompatibilities; fourth wall breakage
Things I Always Love
— Devoted Odd Couples: enjoying one another's company; laughing at one another; fond exasperation; quietly self-sacrificial loyalty; contrasting speech patterns; friends to lovers (for crossover ships, I'd be totally happy starting when they're already friends so you can focus on 'to lovers'!)
— Earning Your Happy Ending: self-help; tough love; getting over some of your baggage; finding home where you least expect it; whump and angst with a happy ending
— Adventures & Journeys: exploring unknown territory; fish out of water; captured or stranded together; daring rescues or escapes
— Badassery: competence and resourcefulness; high-functioning teams; laughing in the face of danger or absurdity; the pen is mightier than the sword; but swords are more fun
— Sexy Times: I'd be thrilled to get higher rated fic! See here for general porn likes applicable to any of my ships (not just the ones listed there); or here for the more egregiously detailed version.
Groundhog Day/Time Loops:
I requested this for all fandoms, so here’s a general write-up. (I don’t know what the difference between the two tags is, so I requested both.) I love individual journeys of self-discovery, as well as self-help adventures in which people learn life lessons, overcome some baggage, figure out priorities, etc. This trope is amazing for all that! I don't really care how/why it starts or stops; feel free to handwave or leave things unexplained. I also don’t care which of the requested characters is in the loop (or maybe both!).
I love all variations—maybe canon was the last iteration after a series of worse possibilities, or canon gets fixed, or the loop centers around an uneventful slice of life to be more about personal growth. The only thing I don’t like is when the loop person spends the entire time focused on making someone fall in love with them, or where character B is treated simply as character A's oblivious reward. As long as the loop person has other goals/projects, too, I'll be ecstatic. Or maybe find a way for the non-loop person to have agency? Or maybe two people are in the loop together, which perhaps they don't initially realize?
Is the loop length always the same (it doesn’t have to be a single day), or does it differ depending on what the reset factor is? I love the bit you sometimes get where the loop character has a breakdown and does crazy stuff for a few iterations, since there are no consequences; what does “give no fucks” look like for these specific character(s)? I also love when it goes super dark, like they're suicidal or something. Or don't do these, if they would be OOC for this character, even in a time loop. What's the darkest timeline like (make it as fucked up as you like)? What’s the wackiest or weirdest timeline like? I also love the bit in these tropes where the character thinks he’s successfully ended it, only to get reset again, poor dear. Or maybe include some post-loop time, as the character transitions back to normal. Anything!
Whitechapel
Pairing: Kent/Chandler
Kent’s quiet dedication, unshowy competence, and tragic, jealous pining slay me. His face!!! Chandler’s a delicious mix of contradictions; commanding yet sometimes unconfident, posh yet down to earth, cold one minute and goofily warm the next, publicly in control and privately breaking light switches. Kent’s crush is epic, but I equally love the moments when Chandler looks at him a little too fondly and long. I'm desperate for fic where they unambiguously get together (with actual makeouts, or more!). The yenta-ing and shovel talks were the only aspects of canon I didn’t like, so I’ll reiterate those general DNWs.
Random Extra Details for Any Tag: Chandler getting off on how much Kent gets off on praise; Chandler’s righteous fury when Kent gets whumped; Kent encountering Chandler during one of his shirtless bathroom moments; Kent having trouble not calling Chandler 'sir', even in bed; relatively inexperienced Chandler; Kent cuffing and manhandling suspects larger than himself; Llewelyn doing anything (she’s my other favorite character), particularly serving as non-yenta sounding board for Kent
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general notes above. Do they have to keep redoing a case until it’s solved or the murderer doesn’t die, or whatever? Or maybe it’s something non-work related? Or they’re the only two in the loop but having to deal with the rest of the team? Is it a curse Louise has put on him/them? While I definitely want them to get together, I’d prefer the resolution hinge on something besides that (or on nothing at all!). Other than that, I’m down for anything!
Sex Pollen:
Preference for only one--either one!--affected, with lots of guilt and angst and longing and uncertainty about helping the other out/receiving the help. I also love the awkward mornings after. OR! Kent and Chandler are the only ones unaffected, stuck working while everyone else fucks. Frustrated! Awkward! Longing! Hopefully they end up doing it at some point anyway?
Time Travel:
I don't care about the logistics. Feel free to start once Chandler and Kent are in the past so the fic can focus on their adventure there/then. Do they catch the Ripper? A crossover team up with Penny Dreadful characters (are the Chandlers related)? Joseph Chandler disgusted by Victorian grime? Or do they visit a non-1890s time period? Is Louise there/then? Is she the reason they time traveled? Or is this adventure is why she hates them? How does this lead to them getting together? I’d prefer just Kent and Chandler to time travel, not a whole team fic.
Character(s) as fantasy creatures:
This is weirdly specific but… Kent (and Erica?) as secret selkie(s)! Maybe Kent spends nights scouring the Thames for evidence and gets scolded for falling asleep at work? Or is he quietly freaking out because only he can see that the latest killer is targeting selkies? Or does Chandler accidentally throw Kent’s seal skin away while emptying the bins one night, resulting in them going on a quest to find it again? Or a villain gets hold of the skin and uses it to control or blackmail Kent? For any of these, how does Chandler discover the truth and what is his reaction (he must find out!)? How does all this lead to them getting together? I'd prefer just Kent (and Erica) be the fantasy creatures and it's a thing normal people didn’t know was real; not an urban fantasy story. I know ODAO; however, no vampires or werewolves if you choose not to write about selkies (but the canonical Penny Dreadful ones are fine, if you're writing the crossover prompted for the other tag).
MCU
Pairing: Steve/Bucky
General:
I would love to see Steve/Bucky unambiguously get together (with actual makeouts, or more!) during a crossover adventure or time loop. How does the adventure help them get together? WWII, canon divergent post-WWII, post Avengers I divergence, post-TWS are all good! For all of these, I’m looking for a fic where they still met as kids in 1920s Brooklyn, went to war, and Steve got the serum. Other than that, any divergence is fine!
I love what a well-oiled team they make and how fiercely protective of one another they are. I love when they’re written as tough, sometimes cranky, and possessing a sense of humour. They both have lots of baggage, but I'm most interested in seeing them move forward with their lives and inch towards a healthier place, not just as a couple, but individually. I like their relationship as a positive element, but not the ONLY positive element in their lives. I don’t care when they first develop feelings or get together, but the idea of anyone having been secretly, miserably, seemingly-hopelessly pining over only one person since they first developed hormones is too claustrophobic for me. As long as no one is bashed, you can acknowledge Steve/Peggy’s canon feelings or pretend they were only just friends.
For the crossovers, feel free to start with them already there, no explanation needed, so you can focus on their adventures there, instead of the realm travel logistics. You also don’t necessarily need to think of a way to return them home (though you can if you want). I mean, maybe moving permanently to another world is the solution to them being on the lam post-TWS or post-CW. How do their skills and experiences help others, and/or help them in this situation? In case you're stuck, maybe Hydra or someone had the rings, and Steve or Bucky got their hands on them? Or they use the Tesseract? IDK; again, I don't care about the logistics.
MCU DNWs:
A) Infinity War canon (please diverge any time before then) B) Bucky or Steve saying “ain’t” or using exaggerated 1930s speech patterns (can they please speak as properly as they do in the films? cursing's fine, though), C) Bucky being brainwashed or pathetic for the majority of the story D) characters/canon that appear only in the TV shows, since I haven't watched them E) Darcy, Steve/Sharon or Bucky/Rilian (I know I requested it elsewhere, but I like to keep my Bucky ships separate).
Narnia: Undercover as Master/Slave in Calormen:
See the Bucky/Rilian section below for more of my general hysteria/prompts about this brilliantly hot tag. The same “fuck the timelines” mentality described in the Bucky/Rilian section applies here, too. The Last Battle didn’t end like that, and/or, there is no reason post-WWII Steve/Bucky can’t visit Narnia at any point in Narnia’s timeline. However, coming during WWII, or in some divergence in which TFA went differently is great, too!
It would be cool if Bucky had realm-hopped before, either as a kid or an adult, but it's all new to Steve. Did Bucky ever tell Steve about this apparently split-second adventure? Or did Bucky keep it to himself, either because it sounded nuts, or because they haven’t had a chance to talk about it? Or maybe this is the first time for both of them (that would be just as good!)? Which one plays the slave and master? How does this situation simultaneously stress and deepen their relationship? Are they outraged about slavery and want to emancipate others? Are there Narnia protagonists around during this time period that Steven and Bucky meet and can help (or who help them)? Do they have a mission with this undercover thing, or is this just the awkward situation they’ve found themselves in? Do they ever meet Friends of Narnia back in our world, after the adventure is done? Anything!
Game of Thrones: MCU characters help Danaerys & Co as they rebuild Valyria instead of going to Westeros:
I have only seen the show; however, you can include bits of book canon as long as Steve and Bucky learn about it along with me. Or imagine something different from how the books talk about Valyria (it's not like I'd know any better)! Valeria has been described so wondrously in the tiny bits of exposition we got in the show and dvd extras (and I’m a sucker for ruins and things). I’d love to learn more about the place and how to repair it and what happened and just have characters explore. With bonus fish out of water for Steve and Bucky! What do the GoT characters make of them and the idea of other worlds? How can Steve and Bucky's superness help out? Or how can this adventure help them, individually and as a duo?
I'm even more in love with Danaerys’s entourage—Jorah, Tyrion, Missandei, Greyworm, Varys, Daario—than I am with her individually. Steve and/or Bucky befriending any of them would be great (especially Tyrion, Varys or Missandei). I have shipped Danaerys/Jorah since S1; since she won’t meet Jon in this divergence (and maybe she still leaves Daario in Mereen) maybe that’s a side ship?
Which member of the entourage convinces Danaerys to let these strangers into her inner circle? Do the dragons love Bucky? Something about Valyrian steel and his arm? Steve getting really inspired by Danaerys and/or helping her keep her more OTT impulses uncheck? Steve an Danaerys bonding about leadership? Tyrion fussed that he can’t get them drunk? Or does Dornish wine work on them? I once heard a book spoiler that Danaerys and Tyrion are immune to greyscale (though I don't know why). Are Steve and Bucky also immune, either because of the serum or their otherworldliness? Does Jorah’s cured state now make him immune? Did the Doom stem from some MCU-related event or can MCUish stuff help? What magic (if any) do they find in Valyria?
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general notes above. And then more specifically for this ship... I’d love one that happens pre-CW. Like, during WWII, or a canon-divergent post-TWS, or post-Avengers 1 (like, maybe Bucky had already escaped in some other way, without that movie happening?). Does something that happens during an iteration make one or both realize they want more than friendship (I don’t care for mutually pining since childhood)? How do they react and what do they do about these realized feelings? I would prefer the loop ending not be solely dependent on them getting together.
Since there are already a bunch of these in existence for this ship, I’d love a more out of the box version of the trope. For example, I’ve never seen one where they are in it together. How does it work with two people in it? Do they spend the whole time together, or do they have a blow up and take some time apart? Or maybe only one of them is in the loop, but they’re in a more unusual setting/scenario than you usually get in Steve/Bucky fic, like canon-diovergent Asgard or dealing with Kamar-Taj drama or something. Go wild!
What I would love most is if the background characters could be people other than the ones you normally see in Steve/Bucky fic; instead of Sam, Natasha, Tony, Clint or Wakandans as the secondary characters, what about people from the Thor side of things—Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Frigga, Jane, Odin, Valkyrie? Or Aunt May, Peter Parker, Pepper, Ancient One or Jonathan Pangborn? I am desperate for Bucky especially to make friends with new people, not through Steve, so anyone from these “yes” lists would be awesome alongside the Steve/Bucky romance. As long as Steve/Bucky remains the endgame ship, I’m also okay with either of them having casual sex with anyone from the 'yes' lists (except Peter, Frigga and Odin). I love the magic concepts but am less invested in Strange himself; something set in Kamar-Taj or with Kamar-Taj related plot, but before Strange started studying magic would be cool.
MCU/Narnia Crossover
Pairing: Bucky/Rilian
(sorry, this got out of control) Whether it’s Bucky in Narnia or Rilian in our world, what are their reactions to everything? How do their skills, background and personalities complement one another? How does knowing one another affect, change or explain canon? How do they get to making out? I think they have great potential for mutually supportive self-help and friends to lovers. There are many parallels, what with the brainwashing and trauma chairs and being programmed to kill your friends, and bad people telling you you're crazy during the rare moments when you're actually lucid, and being lost for years...
The end of Narnia, train crash, and afterlife are my biggest Narnia DNWs. MCU DNWs are a) Infinity War canon (please diverge any time before then) b) Bucky saying “ain’t” or using exaggerated 1930s speech patterns (can he please speak as properly as he does in the films? cursing's fine, though), c) while part of the fic is totally cool, DNW either of them being brainwashed or pathetic for the majority of the story, d) Bucky and Steve having ever had more than platonic feelings for one another (I like to keep my Bucky ships separate). Also reiterating the general DNW about Steve/Peggy-style tragic age mismatch endings.
Please please assume arbitrary Narnian time shenanigans instead of limiting your options to what ‘makes sense’. I mean, if we pretend the Last Battle never happened (because I’d always prefer it didn’t), then there’s nothing tying the day after Jill and Eustace left to any later moment in Earth’s timeline. For example, maybe Silver Chair happened in the 40s as in canon, but even though Bucky arrives a couple of months after Jill and Eustace leave, it’s post-TWS Bucky. Or maybe Rilian’s brainwashing lines up with late WWII and they meet during the war. Or Rilian was a kid in Narnia when Bucky was a kid in Brooklyn and the timelines progressed apace as they grew up, but then diverged so that Rilian’s brainwashing years line up with some point during the Cold War or post-TWS. Maybe Rilian blunders into our world and rescues the Winter Soldier in a different way from canon, or they meet in Bucharest or Wakanda or something. Or maybe Bucky falls off the train and into Rilian's reign, or he touched the Tesseract while imprisoned with Hydra and it whisked him to Narnia, without Winter Soldier stuff ever happening to him. As long as Bucky and Rilian are still young and handsome, I’m down for whatever.
Identity Porn:
Maybe they met before the brainwashing, and when they meet again years later one or both doesn't remember (lots of angst that gets resolved by the end, please!). In addition to the brainwashing, you’ve got Bucky’s mask/arm/hair and Rilian’s suit of armour to confuse matters.
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general section above. I've never seen this trope for a crossover pairing before. It's a lot, but could be amazing!
Narnians somehow come to England:
The tag says England, but anywhere in our world works. Maybe Rilian just shows up wherever Bucky is to help him or help him with something, the way the Friends would randomly show up in Narnia, no explanation needed. Or, you know how Tirian astrally projected to the Friends of Narnia that one time? Well, what if Rilian had been doing it repeatedly with Bucky, like, through both of their childhoods, or during the ten years of Rilian’s brainwashing? They have always secretly thought they had an imaginary friend (or are going nuts), but one day they meet, either in here (or in Narnia; this prompt also works for the tag below).
Characters met as children:
I love this kind of divergence! The thing is, I’m not really interested in the childhood part. What I care about is the reunion later on when they are adults, and the romance that develops. You can include the flashbacks as well, if you want/have time, or you could set it entirely when they're adults, simply expositing in passing that they knew one another as kids. How well did they know one another back then? For how long have they been separated (if at all)? Rescuing their old friend from canon events or comforting him afterwards?
Undercover as master/slave in Calormen:
Bravo to whoever nominated this iddy hotness! It's even better than 'undercover as a couple'. People who actually like one another forced to pretend to disdain or hurt one another to keep up the ruse (physically, verbally, sexually, I love all variety of whump)... Or starting out as near strangers, but the forced proximity forces them to get to know one another in angsty ways. The 'master' trying to make up for his ill treatment of the other in private? Resigned humiliation? Is he depressingly good at pretending to be a slave because of his history, or is he terrible at it because of pride? Is the other amazing at pretending to be a master, or way too nice (possibly because of his crush)? There are infinite themes I love here, so as long as there’s a happy ending, go where your id takes you and make it as funny, tense, angsty, or OTT whump-y as you like! I don't care how you assign the master and slave roles.
What is this era’s Tisroc or Tashbaan like? Do they go because there’s a nefarious plot that Rilian has to suss out? Or maybe they didn’t intend to be undercover, but they sort of fall into having to do this, maybe because it’s the first lie one of them comes up with in a panic? IDK. Or does Bucky just… show up in that world while Rilian is visiting Calormen, and the only way Rilian can keep him safe is by saying Bucky is his slave? Something else?
Bonus Bucky/Tirian:
Just an extra option! (but I really do want a story focused on either Bucky/Tirian or Bucky/Rilian, not other pairings and not Bucky/Rilian/Tirian) Instead of the Friends of Narnia, maybe it was Bucky that Tirian summoned while he was tied to the tree (or a canon divergence where he blew the horn), and together they defeat the enemy and the apocalypse never happens. Or he comes after the war (just a regular war! no apocalypse!), or very soon before TLB in a way that averts that plot from ever happening. You could use the prompts for the tags above for this pairing, too. The same exhortations about timelines apply here, too.
Wodehouse
Pairing: Psmith/Mike
For all of these, I’m looking for a fic where they still met at Sedleigh sometime in the early 20th century. The odd coupling of Mike’s everyman pragmatism and Psmith’s dialogue is endlessly delightful to me. I love their loyalty and what self-sacrificing heroes they both are, while also being total little shits. Who is the forward one here, or do they bumble equally in their own ways? Does either try to hide his nerves/inexperience? Or not? Or maybe one or both is actually experienced? Is Psmith so overwhelmed that he finally shuts up, or does his persiflage merely turn to this new subject? Any take would be fascinating. Assume any kind of canon divergence you want. What if either or both of their fathers had not gone bankrupt? What if the plan for Mike to manage Psmith's estates had happened? What if...?
I have two main asks: 1) Please set it before they met their wives and/or pretend they never did 2) While a little longing and hesitation are nice--and a touch of quietly understood, low-key forbiddenness does add a certain frisson--I don't want internalized homophobia, anguished coming outs, or serious discussion of social issues. Other types of angst and non-canonical darkness are welcome, though, as long as it turns out okay in the end and retains some sense of humour. Can they just… get away with their romance without having to discuss at length why they’re being secretive?
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general section for this. It could happen while they’re at Sedleigh, or bank days, Cambridge, a canon divergence, whatever!
WWII:
Something where they ended up going to war instead of to the bank or to Cambridge; or maybe the war breaks out while they’re at university. Fighting together, espionage missions, winning a key battle through impertinent ragging, Mike the accidental war hero, keeping one another warm in their trench, making out in a bombed out Belgian village, the desperation of war causing them to reveal long-secret pining, whump/comfort, Psmith goes behind enemy lines to rescue Mike (or vice versa)… Anything! Please ignore the publication dates and assume the first book happened in the late 1930s. Or make it WWI instead. I just want them to be young men during whichever war.
Stranded on a desert island: I don’t care how they got here. But I’d love to see them trying to survive together! How do each of them deal with having to rough it? How does this experience help them get together? Climbing trees to get coconuts, sitting under the stars, joyous ocean swims... Anything!
Optional Lost Crossover Variant: Since they would arrive during the early 20th century, do they end up running into Richard or Jacob or the early Other settlement? Or do they arrive in the 20s but immediately time travel flash into the 70s to hang out with Sawyer & Co (Pro: an actual socialist commune! Con: Psmith hates jumpsuits)? Or maybe it’s just the two of them adventuring and surviving together. Do they face off against the smoke monster, or explore the lighthouse, donkey wheel, wrecked ship, magnetism thing, etc? I really want them to have their own adventures, not rehash season 1 or be incorporated into the S1-3 beach camp seasons.
Sexual Slavery OR Dystoptia: Sexual Slavery
Just... the regular Wodehouse world, plus slavery. What does that look like? I only like this trope when they are slaves together; not one owning the other. All the whump, hurt/comfort, and loyalty, please! As long as an outside master is the perpetrator, I’m fine with physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Does Psmith secretly take Mike's beatings and/or sex duties to spare him? Or vice versa? Or are they forced to watch one another be abused? Does all this trauma get them to finally act on their feelings? Or does Psmith arrange things so that life as slaves is actually pretty good, no rape or beatings? What is the auction (if there is one) like? What other, non-sexual duties do they have? Do they escape? Get revenge on their master(s)? Or do they organize a Socialist revolution and free everyone? Is it true institutionalized slavery, or are they more indentured servants since their dads lost their money? Anything! No body modification or branding, please.
Narnia it GoT Crossover Options: Psmith and Mike blunder through a portal into the Lone Islands or somewhere in Essos (I don’t care how; you could skip over that part and start with them already there), and are captured and sold into slavery. Are they rescued by the canon emancipators? Or do they do it themselves, so that by the time Caspian or Danaerys or whoever arrive, they find the masters already overthrown and Psmith in charge, with Mike as his confidential secretary and advisor? Some wholly other direction you want to take this? Lots of OCs are (obviously) welcome; I don't need canon Narnia or GoT characters to appear, unless you want.
As the sole exception to my preference for “slaves together”, you could also write a “undercover as master/slave in Calormen” Narnia crossover, because I love this tag. See Bucky/Rilian and Steve/Bucky sections for more general hysteria about it and prompts that could easily be tweaked to be about this ship instead. No preference for which one of them is which role.
General
I'm often more interested in watching characters deal with what comes after a prompted tag/premise than I am in the premise itself. I don't particularly care how they got to the same world and met or how/why the prompted scenario started. What I'm most interested in is what happens next--the friendship or romance that develops, the adventures they have, the things they learn, etc. Feel free to skip the set-up and start in media res. If you have the time and inclination to include the set-up as well, then great! However, stories that end shortly after the introductions or before the characters actually do anything in the premise make me sad.
Do Not Wants
— goofy crack, fusions, alternate setting AUs
— romantic pairings or threesomes other than the ones specifically requested
— fics where none of the main characters ever find out about the others' backgrounds or magic (the reveal doesn't have to happen 'on-screen', but please don't end it with everyone thinking everyone else is normal or from their world!)
— characters written as ace, aro or demi; gender identity headcanons
— Things That Upset Me: major character death; the afterlife; bleak endings; shovel talks; "it was all a dream" endings
— Schmoopiness: plotless fluff; non-canonical pet names or terms of endearment; people saying "I love you" verbatim (I love other ways of demonstrating feelings!)
— Sex & Relationship-Related: D/s dynamics; soulmates; yentas and matchmakers; pregnancy; adultery; underage/overage romance
— Writing Things: 1st & 2nd person POV; phonetically spelled dialogue (my brain genuinely struggles to process it)
— Crossover-related: tragically unresolved lifespan incompatibilities; fourth wall breakage
Things I Always Love
— Devoted Odd Couples: enjoying one another's company; laughing at one another; fond exasperation; quietly self-sacrificial loyalty; contrasting speech patterns; friends to lovers (for crossover ships, I'd be totally happy starting when they're already friends so you can focus on 'to lovers'!)
— Earning Your Happy Ending: self-help; tough love; getting over some of your baggage; finding home where you least expect it; whump and angst with a happy ending
— Adventures & Journeys: exploring unknown territory; fish out of water; captured or stranded together; daring rescues or escapes
— Badassery: competence and resourcefulness; high-functioning teams; laughing in the face of danger or absurdity; the pen is mightier than the sword; but swords are more fun
— Sexy Times: I'd be thrilled to get higher rated fic! See here for general porn likes applicable to any of my ships (not just the ones listed there); or here for the more egregiously detailed version.
Groundhog Day/Time Loops:
I requested this for all fandoms, so here’s a general write-up. (I don’t know what the difference between the two tags is, so I requested both.) I love individual journeys of self-discovery, as well as self-help adventures in which people learn life lessons, overcome some baggage, figure out priorities, etc. This trope is amazing for all that! I don't really care how/why it starts or stops; feel free to handwave or leave things unexplained. I also don’t care which of the requested characters is in the loop (or maybe both!).
I love all variations—maybe canon was the last iteration after a series of worse possibilities, or canon gets fixed, or the loop centers around an uneventful slice of life to be more about personal growth. The only thing I don’t like is when the loop person spends the entire time focused on making someone fall in love with them, or where character B is treated simply as character A's oblivious reward. As long as the loop person has other goals/projects, too, I'll be ecstatic. Or maybe find a way for the non-loop person to have agency? Or maybe two people are in the loop together, which perhaps they don't initially realize?
Is the loop length always the same (it doesn’t have to be a single day), or does it differ depending on what the reset factor is? I love the bit you sometimes get where the loop character has a breakdown and does crazy stuff for a few iterations, since there are no consequences; what does “give no fucks” look like for these specific character(s)? I also love when it goes super dark, like they're suicidal or something. Or don't do these, if they would be OOC for this character, even in a time loop. What's the darkest timeline like (make it as fucked up as you like)? What’s the wackiest or weirdest timeline like? I also love the bit in these tropes where the character thinks he’s successfully ended it, only to get reset again, poor dear. Or maybe include some post-loop time, as the character transitions back to normal. Anything!
Whitechapel
Pairing: Kent/Chandler
Kent’s quiet dedication, unshowy competence, and tragic, jealous pining slay me. His face!!! Chandler’s a delicious mix of contradictions; commanding yet sometimes unconfident, posh yet down to earth, cold one minute and goofily warm the next, publicly in control and privately breaking light switches. Kent’s crush is epic, but I equally love the moments when Chandler looks at him a little too fondly and long. I'm desperate for fic where they unambiguously get together (with actual makeouts, or more!). The yenta-ing and shovel talks were the only aspects of canon I didn’t like, so I’ll reiterate those general DNWs.
Random Extra Details for Any Tag: Chandler getting off on how much Kent gets off on praise; Chandler’s righteous fury when Kent gets whumped; Kent encountering Chandler during one of his shirtless bathroom moments; Kent having trouble not calling Chandler 'sir', even in bed; relatively inexperienced Chandler; Kent cuffing and manhandling suspects larger than himself; Llewelyn doing anything (she’s my other favorite character), particularly serving as non-yenta sounding board for Kent
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general notes above. Do they have to keep redoing a case until it’s solved or the murderer doesn’t die, or whatever? Or maybe it’s something non-work related? Or they’re the only two in the loop but having to deal with the rest of the team? Is it a curse Louise has put on him/them? While I definitely want them to get together, I’d prefer the resolution hinge on something besides that (or on nothing at all!). Other than that, I’m down for anything!
Sex Pollen:
Preference for only one--either one!--affected, with lots of guilt and angst and longing and uncertainty about helping the other out/receiving the help. I also love the awkward mornings after. OR! Kent and Chandler are the only ones unaffected, stuck working while everyone else fucks. Frustrated! Awkward! Longing! Hopefully they end up doing it at some point anyway?
Time Travel:
I don't care about the logistics. Feel free to start once Chandler and Kent are in the past so the fic can focus on their adventure there/then. Do they catch the Ripper? A crossover team up with Penny Dreadful characters (are the Chandlers related)? Joseph Chandler disgusted by Victorian grime? Or do they visit a non-1890s time period? Is Louise there/then? Is she the reason they time traveled? Or is this adventure is why she hates them? How does this lead to them getting together? I’d prefer just Kent and Chandler to time travel, not a whole team fic.
Character(s) as fantasy creatures:
This is weirdly specific but… Kent (and Erica?) as secret selkie(s)! Maybe Kent spends nights scouring the Thames for evidence and gets scolded for falling asleep at work? Or is he quietly freaking out because only he can see that the latest killer is targeting selkies? Or does Chandler accidentally throw Kent’s seal skin away while emptying the bins one night, resulting in them going on a quest to find it again? Or a villain gets hold of the skin and uses it to control or blackmail Kent? For any of these, how does Chandler discover the truth and what is his reaction (he must find out!)? How does all this lead to them getting together? I'd prefer just Kent (and Erica) be the fantasy creatures and it's a thing normal people didn’t know was real; not an urban fantasy story. I know ODAO; however, no vampires or werewolves if you choose not to write about selkies (but the canonical Penny Dreadful ones are fine, if you're writing the crossover prompted for the other tag).
MCU
Pairing: Steve/Bucky
General:
I would love to see Steve/Bucky unambiguously get together (with actual makeouts, or more!) during a crossover adventure or time loop. How does the adventure help them get together? WWII, canon divergent post-WWII, post Avengers I divergence, post-TWS are all good! For all of these, I’m looking for a fic where they still met as kids in 1920s Brooklyn, went to war, and Steve got the serum. Other than that, any divergence is fine!
I love what a well-oiled team they make and how fiercely protective of one another they are. I love when they’re written as tough, sometimes cranky, and possessing a sense of humour. They both have lots of baggage, but I'm most interested in seeing them move forward with their lives and inch towards a healthier place, not just as a couple, but individually. I like their relationship as a positive element, but not the ONLY positive element in their lives. I don’t care when they first develop feelings or get together, but the idea of anyone having been secretly, miserably, seemingly-hopelessly pining over only one person since they first developed hormones is too claustrophobic for me. As long as no one is bashed, you can acknowledge Steve/Peggy’s canon feelings or pretend they were only just friends.
For the crossovers, feel free to start with them already there, no explanation needed, so you can focus on their adventures there, instead of the realm travel logistics. You also don’t necessarily need to think of a way to return them home (though you can if you want). I mean, maybe moving permanently to another world is the solution to them being on the lam post-TWS or post-CW. How do their skills and experiences help others, and/or help them in this situation? In case you're stuck, maybe Hydra or someone had the rings, and Steve or Bucky got their hands on them? Or they use the Tesseract? IDK; again, I don't care about the logistics.
MCU DNWs:
A) Infinity War canon (please diverge any time before then) B) Bucky or Steve saying “ain’t” or using exaggerated 1930s speech patterns (can they please speak as properly as they do in the films? cursing's fine, though), C) Bucky being brainwashed or pathetic for the majority of the story D) characters/canon that appear only in the TV shows, since I haven't watched them E) Darcy, Steve/Sharon or Bucky/Rilian (I know I requested it elsewhere, but I like to keep my Bucky ships separate).
Narnia: Undercover as Master/Slave in Calormen:
See the Bucky/Rilian section below for more of my general hysteria/prompts about this brilliantly hot tag. The same “fuck the timelines” mentality described in the Bucky/Rilian section applies here, too. The Last Battle didn’t end like that, and/or, there is no reason post-WWII Steve/Bucky can’t visit Narnia at any point in Narnia’s timeline. However, coming during WWII, or in some divergence in which TFA went differently is great, too!
It would be cool if Bucky had realm-hopped before, either as a kid or an adult, but it's all new to Steve. Did Bucky ever tell Steve about this apparently split-second adventure? Or did Bucky keep it to himself, either because it sounded nuts, or because they haven’t had a chance to talk about it? Or maybe this is the first time for both of them (that would be just as good!)? Which one plays the slave and master? How does this situation simultaneously stress and deepen their relationship? Are they outraged about slavery and want to emancipate others? Are there Narnia protagonists around during this time period that Steven and Bucky meet and can help (or who help them)? Do they have a mission with this undercover thing, or is this just the awkward situation they’ve found themselves in? Do they ever meet Friends of Narnia back in our world, after the adventure is done? Anything!
Game of Thrones: MCU characters help Danaerys & Co as they rebuild Valyria instead of going to Westeros:
I have only seen the show; however, you can include bits of book canon as long as Steve and Bucky learn about it along with me. Or imagine something different from how the books talk about Valyria (it's not like I'd know any better)! Valeria has been described so wondrously in the tiny bits of exposition we got in the show and dvd extras (and I’m a sucker for ruins and things). I’d love to learn more about the place and how to repair it and what happened and just have characters explore. With bonus fish out of water for Steve and Bucky! What do the GoT characters make of them and the idea of other worlds? How can Steve and Bucky's superness help out? Or how can this adventure help them, individually and as a duo?
I'm even more in love with Danaerys’s entourage—Jorah, Tyrion, Missandei, Greyworm, Varys, Daario—than I am with her individually. Steve and/or Bucky befriending any of them would be great (especially Tyrion, Varys or Missandei). I have shipped Danaerys/Jorah since S1; since she won’t meet Jon in this divergence (and maybe she still leaves Daario in Mereen) maybe that’s a side ship?
Which member of the entourage convinces Danaerys to let these strangers into her inner circle? Do the dragons love Bucky? Something about Valyrian steel and his arm? Steve getting really inspired by Danaerys and/or helping her keep her more OTT impulses uncheck? Steve an Danaerys bonding about leadership? Tyrion fussed that he can’t get them drunk? Or does Dornish wine work on them? I once heard a book spoiler that Danaerys and Tyrion are immune to greyscale (though I don't know why). Are Steve and Bucky also immune, either because of the serum or their otherworldliness? Does Jorah’s cured state now make him immune? Did the Doom stem from some MCU-related event or can MCUish stuff help? What magic (if any) do they find in Valyria?
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general notes above. And then more specifically for this ship... I’d love one that happens pre-CW. Like, during WWII, or a canon-divergent post-TWS, or post-Avengers 1 (like, maybe Bucky had already escaped in some other way, without that movie happening?). Does something that happens during an iteration make one or both realize they want more than friendship (I don’t care for mutually pining since childhood)? How do they react and what do they do about these realized feelings? I would prefer the loop ending not be solely dependent on them getting together.
Since there are already a bunch of these in existence for this ship, I’d love a more out of the box version of the trope. For example, I’ve never seen one where they are in it together. How does it work with two people in it? Do they spend the whole time together, or do they have a blow up and take some time apart? Or maybe only one of them is in the loop, but they’re in a more unusual setting/scenario than you usually get in Steve/Bucky fic, like canon-diovergent Asgard or dealing with Kamar-Taj drama or something. Go wild!
What I would love most is if the background characters could be people other than the ones you normally see in Steve/Bucky fic; instead of Sam, Natasha, Tony, Clint or Wakandans as the secondary characters, what about people from the Thor side of things—Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Frigga, Jane, Odin, Valkyrie? Or Aunt May, Peter Parker, Pepper, Ancient One or Jonathan Pangborn? I am desperate for Bucky especially to make friends with new people, not through Steve, so anyone from these “yes” lists would be awesome alongside the Steve/Bucky romance. As long as Steve/Bucky remains the endgame ship, I’m also okay with either of them having casual sex with anyone from the 'yes' lists (except Peter, Frigga and Odin). I love the magic concepts but am less invested in Strange himself; something set in Kamar-Taj or with Kamar-Taj related plot, but before Strange started studying magic would be cool.
MCU/Narnia Crossover
Pairing: Bucky/Rilian
(sorry, this got out of control) Whether it’s Bucky in Narnia or Rilian in our world, what are their reactions to everything? How do their skills, background and personalities complement one another? How does knowing one another affect, change or explain canon? How do they get to making out? I think they have great potential for mutually supportive self-help and friends to lovers. There are many parallels, what with the brainwashing and trauma chairs and being programmed to kill your friends, and bad people telling you you're crazy during the rare moments when you're actually lucid, and being lost for years...
The end of Narnia, train crash, and afterlife are my biggest Narnia DNWs. MCU DNWs are a) Infinity War canon (please diverge any time before then) b) Bucky saying “ain’t” or using exaggerated 1930s speech patterns (can he please speak as properly as he does in the films? cursing's fine, though), c) while part of the fic is totally cool, DNW either of them being brainwashed or pathetic for the majority of the story, d) Bucky and Steve having ever had more than platonic feelings for one another (I like to keep my Bucky ships separate). Also reiterating the general DNW about Steve/Peggy-style tragic age mismatch endings.
Please please assume arbitrary Narnian time shenanigans instead of limiting your options to what ‘makes sense’. I mean, if we pretend the Last Battle never happened (because I’d always prefer it didn’t), then there’s nothing tying the day after Jill and Eustace left to any later moment in Earth’s timeline. For example, maybe Silver Chair happened in the 40s as in canon, but even though Bucky arrives a couple of months after Jill and Eustace leave, it’s post-TWS Bucky. Or maybe Rilian’s brainwashing lines up with late WWII and they meet during the war. Or Rilian was a kid in Narnia when Bucky was a kid in Brooklyn and the timelines progressed apace as they grew up, but then diverged so that Rilian’s brainwashing years line up with some point during the Cold War or post-TWS. Maybe Rilian blunders into our world and rescues the Winter Soldier in a different way from canon, or they meet in Bucharest or Wakanda or something. Or maybe Bucky falls off the train and into Rilian's reign, or he touched the Tesseract while imprisoned with Hydra and it whisked him to Narnia, without Winter Soldier stuff ever happening to him. As long as Bucky and Rilian are still young and handsome, I’m down for whatever.
Identity Porn:
Maybe they met before the brainwashing, and when they meet again years later one or both doesn't remember (lots of angst that gets resolved by the end, please!). In addition to the brainwashing, you’ve got Bucky’s mask/arm/hair and Rilian’s suit of armour to confuse matters.
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general section above. I've never seen this trope for a crossover pairing before. It's a lot, but could be amazing!
Narnians somehow come to England:
The tag says England, but anywhere in our world works. Maybe Rilian just shows up wherever Bucky is to help him or help him with something, the way the Friends would randomly show up in Narnia, no explanation needed. Or, you know how Tirian astrally projected to the Friends of Narnia that one time? Well, what if Rilian had been doing it repeatedly with Bucky, like, through both of their childhoods, or during the ten years of Rilian’s brainwashing? They have always secretly thought they had an imaginary friend (or are going nuts), but one day they meet, either in here (or in Narnia; this prompt also works for the tag below).
Characters met as children:
I love this kind of divergence! The thing is, I’m not really interested in the childhood part. What I care about is the reunion later on when they are adults, and the romance that develops. You can include the flashbacks as well, if you want/have time, or you could set it entirely when they're adults, simply expositing in passing that they knew one another as kids. How well did they know one another back then? For how long have they been separated (if at all)? Rescuing their old friend from canon events or comforting him afterwards?
Undercover as master/slave in Calormen:
Bravo to whoever nominated this iddy hotness! It's even better than 'undercover as a couple'. People who actually like one another forced to pretend to disdain or hurt one another to keep up the ruse (physically, verbally, sexually, I love all variety of whump)... Or starting out as near strangers, but the forced proximity forces them to get to know one another in angsty ways. The 'master' trying to make up for his ill treatment of the other in private? Resigned humiliation? Is he depressingly good at pretending to be a slave because of his history, or is he terrible at it because of pride? Is the other amazing at pretending to be a master, or way too nice (possibly because of his crush)? There are infinite themes I love here, so as long as there’s a happy ending, go where your id takes you and make it as funny, tense, angsty, or OTT whump-y as you like! I don't care how you assign the master and slave roles.
What is this era’s Tisroc or Tashbaan like? Do they go because there’s a nefarious plot that Rilian has to suss out? Or maybe they didn’t intend to be undercover, but they sort of fall into having to do this, maybe because it’s the first lie one of them comes up with in a panic? IDK. Or does Bucky just… show up in that world while Rilian is visiting Calormen, and the only way Rilian can keep him safe is by saying Bucky is his slave? Something else?
Bonus Bucky/Tirian:
Just an extra option! (but I really do want a story focused on either Bucky/Tirian or Bucky/Rilian, not other pairings and not Bucky/Rilian/Tirian) Instead of the Friends of Narnia, maybe it was Bucky that Tirian summoned while he was tied to the tree (or a canon divergence where he blew the horn), and together they defeat the enemy and the apocalypse never happens. Or he comes after the war (just a regular war! no apocalypse!), or very soon before TLB in a way that averts that plot from ever happening. You could use the prompts for the tags above for this pairing, too. The same exhortations about timelines apply here, too.
Wodehouse
Pairing: Psmith/Mike
For all of these, I’m looking for a fic where they still met at Sedleigh sometime in the early 20th century. The odd coupling of Mike’s everyman pragmatism and Psmith’s dialogue is endlessly delightful to me. I love their loyalty and what self-sacrificing heroes they both are, while also being total little shits. Who is the forward one here, or do they bumble equally in their own ways? Does either try to hide his nerves/inexperience? Or not? Or maybe one or both is actually experienced? Is Psmith so overwhelmed that he finally shuts up, or does his persiflage merely turn to this new subject? Any take would be fascinating. Assume any kind of canon divergence you want. What if either or both of their fathers had not gone bankrupt? What if the plan for Mike to manage Psmith's estates had happened? What if...?
I have two main asks: 1) Please set it before they met their wives and/or pretend they never did 2) While a little longing and hesitation are nice--and a touch of quietly understood, low-key forbiddenness does add a certain frisson--I don't want internalized homophobia, anguished coming outs, or serious discussion of social issues. Other types of angst and non-canonical darkness are welcome, though, as long as it turns out okay in the end and retains some sense of humour. Can they just… get away with their romance without having to discuss at length why they’re being secretive?
Groundhog Day Timeloop OR Time Loop:
See general section for this. It could happen while they’re at Sedleigh, or bank days, Cambridge, a canon divergence, whatever!
WWII:
Something where they ended up going to war instead of to the bank or to Cambridge; or maybe the war breaks out while they’re at university. Fighting together, espionage missions, winning a key battle through impertinent ragging, Mike the accidental war hero, keeping one another warm in their trench, making out in a bombed out Belgian village, the desperation of war causing them to reveal long-secret pining, whump/comfort, Psmith goes behind enemy lines to rescue Mike (or vice versa)… Anything! Please ignore the publication dates and assume the first book happened in the late 1930s. Or make it WWI instead. I just want them to be young men during whichever war.
Stranded on a desert island: I don’t care how they got here. But I’d love to see them trying to survive together! How do each of them deal with having to rough it? How does this experience help them get together? Climbing trees to get coconuts, sitting under the stars, joyous ocean swims... Anything!
Optional Lost Crossover Variant: Since they would arrive during the early 20th century, do they end up running into Richard or Jacob or the early Other settlement? Or do they arrive in the 20s but immediately time travel flash into the 70s to hang out with Sawyer & Co (Pro: an actual socialist commune! Con: Psmith hates jumpsuits)? Or maybe it’s just the two of them adventuring and surviving together. Do they face off against the smoke monster, or explore the lighthouse, donkey wheel, wrecked ship, magnetism thing, etc? I really want them to have their own adventures, not rehash season 1 or be incorporated into the S1-3 beach camp seasons.
Sexual Slavery OR Dystoptia: Sexual Slavery
Just... the regular Wodehouse world, plus slavery. What does that look like? I only like this trope when they are slaves together; not one owning the other. All the whump, hurt/comfort, and loyalty, please! As long as an outside master is the perpetrator, I’m fine with physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Does Psmith secretly take Mike's beatings and/or sex duties to spare him? Or vice versa? Or are they forced to watch one another be abused? Does all this trauma get them to finally act on their feelings? Or does Psmith arrange things so that life as slaves is actually pretty good, no rape or beatings? What is the auction (if there is one) like? What other, non-sexual duties do they have? Do they escape? Get revenge on their master(s)? Or do they organize a Socialist revolution and free everyone? Is it true institutionalized slavery, or are they more indentured servants since their dads lost their money? Anything! No body modification or branding, please.
Narnia it GoT Crossover Options: Psmith and Mike blunder through a portal into the Lone Islands or somewhere in Essos (I don’t care how; you could skip over that part and start with them already there), and are captured and sold into slavery. Are they rescued by the canon emancipators? Or do they do it themselves, so that by the time Caspian or Danaerys or whoever arrive, they find the masters already overthrown and Psmith in charge, with Mike as his confidential secretary and advisor? Some wholly other direction you want to take this? Lots of OCs are (obviously) welcome; I don't need canon Narnia or GoT characters to appear, unless you want.
As the sole exception to my preference for “slaves together”, you could also write a “undercover as master/slave in Calormen” Narnia crossover, because I love this tag. See Bucky/Rilian and Steve/Bucky sections for more general hysteria about it and prompts that could easily be tweaked to be about this ship instead. No preference for which one of them is which role.