Chocolate Box 2021!

[shinyfakehard]

Dearest writer,

Thank you so much for making something for me, I’m super excited to see what you come up with! I hope this letter gives you some guidance if you’re looking for any, but this is hardly an exhaustive catalog of everything I could possibly enjoy, and what I love most of all is people having fun with what they create.

- plastics

GENERAL

Likes

Scenery, tradition, communities

I absolutely love being transported to a specific time, place, and/or culture. All of them. I love seeing how characters interact with the places and things around them, and I love it as a form of intimacy.

This can also be within smaller groups of people, perhaps within a limited window! I love sports teams, boarding schools or summer camps or colleges, subcultures, intense careers, etc. I also love focusing on less “glamorous” positions—it’s a shitty job or a shitty town or a shitty situation, but goddamn it, it’s your shit.

Relationship messiness

People make the wrong choices for the right person (or the wrong person, but it feels so right) just works for me. This covers a lot of ground: codependent relationships, infidelity, power imbalances, working through internalized homophobia, assholes in love, and so on.

Casual sex (or is it (it is (unless…?))! Best friends (unless!?)! Taking time to figure out what the fuck your relationship is! Knowing what it is and loving and being dedicated to each other but still having to put in the work! Highs and lows within established relationships! The honeymoon period shining a little too bright!

Competency, loyalty, dedication

Really, I’m just very character-focused. I love seeing what people are good at and what (and who) they care about. They don’t need to be saintly about it, and it doesn’t need to come easy—making the choice is what really gets me.

I have also recently rediscovered my love for romance tropes, especially ones focused on how much the two characters just really, genuinely like each other. “As you wish”-ass levels of dedication. Pining because you don’t want to hurt what you’ve got already. Intimate little touches. Wooing your love interest with just, like, all the love languages. People committing to each other!!! (And I am also genuinely into platonic relationships, affection, and dedication between characters, too, although I know I’ve been speaking in very shippy terms.)

Smut

assplay • begging • bruising or biting • casual sex • come marking • desperation • dirty talk • drunk or high sex • edging • familiarity • finger sucking • first times • frottage • hands • informal D/s • manhandling • mouth kink • multiple orgasms • nipple play • oral sex • over the clothes • overstimulation • pining while fucking • playful sex • possessiveness • power imbalances • rough sex • size differences

Do Not Want

apocalypse, devastating natural disasters, or complete dystopias - explicit underage sex (<16) - gender or sex swap, feminization, crossdressing - hate crimes or other extreme instances of bigotry, abuse or fighting isms as the main plot - heavy focus on IRL religions - incest treated as normal or culturally accepted, intergeneral incest - kidfic, requested characters impregnating or becoming pregnant unless otherwise stated - major character death, graphic injury, gore, body horror, serious illness, injuries resulting from sex (including impact play, but wrestling, bruising, and some soreness is all good) - slavery - unrequested poly - unrequited romantic or sexual interest that stays unrequited

Requests

Bridgerton (TV)

Somehow I’d avoided the siren call of Regency romance ridiculousness until last week, but now my head has been pulled fully underwater. I’d like to think this works in your favor—you could roll out the wheel and I’ll still be like “😲 what a brilliant invention!”

Opt-in wise, I’m cool with basically any AU that still maintains at least some of the dynamics in the show, I’m into the idea of A/B/O or D/s universes transporting some of the cultural tropiness female characters go through onto these ships, or maybe it’s a homophobia-is-out-purity-obsession-stays AU or… (and canonically or historically accurate is also welcome, of course).

There are a few prompts below, but, again, I’m not super genre-savvy and they’re far from the only things that I’d be thrilled to receive!

Anthony Bridgerton/Colin Bridgerton

— All Anthony’s weirdness about Daphne, except it’s weirdness about Colin’s debut season
— Anthony does follow through with those threats of more brothel time, except he doesn’t actually trust anyone to handle his family’s affairs as well as he can
— Colin trying to prove he is also a man worth taking seriously, damn it, except Anthony isn’t paying any attention! (Anthony is paying attention, but respect ain’t the only thing he’s raising, so to speak.)

Anthony Bridgerton/Simon Basset

I'm fine with the fake dating plot being maintained for its stated purpose, but I'd prefer that Daphne and Simon don't have romantic or sexual interest in each other for this pairing.

— We hear talk of these two being best friends but they sure don’t seem it within the show. I’d to see it! School days! Raising hell across Europe!

— Instead of calling for a duel when Simon and Daphne get caught in the garden, Anthony instead decides the proper thing to do to perserve Daphne's image is for him and Simon to get married.

— There was once a time when Anthony thought that he and Simon would be getting married. Then Simon got all Daddy Issues and disappeared, only to reappear in time to court Anthony’s sister? Rage. Raaaage. Then confessions and understanding and so on.

— Universe where mpreg is generally known, but of course the Bridgertons are of higher stock than that and it’s not like Anthony would put himself into a position to get knocked up in the first place—oh, wait, oops. Then angst (with even more intense daddy issues this time) and confessions and understanding and so on.

Benedict Bridgerton/OMC

— Further debauchery at Granville and friend’s parties!
— — Maybe perhaps there is a masquerade ball, and the shape of the man is familiar, but no way would Anthony actually show up in a place like this, and Colin has his own friends with whom he does whatever laddish things he does in his free time, so might as well…
— Benedict having a revelation and reevaluating some of his past “friendships” with men!

— Show the man that being with another man doesn’t have to mean a world without romance!

Point Break (1991)

I got around to watching this many, many, many years late, but when I finally got around to it, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. They bring The Absolute Most out of each other, and I’m so into it.

Re: my major character death DNW, I don’t mind Bodhi’s “ambiguous” ending, but I don’t want a fic that’s all about Johnny mourning him being dead, and the story ending with him still being dead, for instance. Fics set before the ending, fix-its, or AUs are all welcome. I’m not super interested in Johnny rejoining law enforcement or Bodhi getting caught.

Bodhi/Johnny Utah

— Young! Dumb! And! Full! Of! Come! Make it a reality!
— Ill-fated soulmates! Bodhi shouldn’t risk the operation by bringing in this guy they just met! Johnny shouldn’t be so enamored with a suspect! But neither of them really has a choice on the matter.
— Johnny goes pro, Bodhi is still his mentor but has Feelings about the commercialization of surfing
— Johnny was a Bruin (or Trojan) instead of a Buckeye, and Bodhi got to him a lot earlier. Maybe Bodhi’s still a surfer, or maybe he’s a kind of football player they just do not get in Ohio. Johnny remains starstruck.

Original Works

Bakery Owner/Injured Former Olympian Recuperating Through Baked Goods & Bakery Staff

— Food porn! Cozy bakeries! Olympian realizing that physical competition isn’t the only thing you can pour your heart into!
— While I’m fine with the athlete backing away from the sort of extreme fitness that competition requires and maybe working through some complexities in their relationship with food, I’d prefer to avoid any focus on weight gain or “healthy” weights or physiques

Celebrity Chef/Food Critic

— Celebrity Chef has their niche gimmick, and they’re fucking great at it. Food critic sees right through it. Chef does not take criticism well, or at least not at first.
— Budding Celebrity Chef hates what the extremely celebrated restaurant owner has them making but is putting in the hours until they can open their own place, and Critic’s disdain for Restaurant keeps them going

Gay Royal/His Fiancé

— Is it a love match? Was it arranged? The worst version of parental “you’re gay, he’s gay, it’s perfect!”? Or was it a childhood arrangement that just happened to work out? Enemies to making this partnership work to lovers?

Male Royal Who's About to Get Arranged-Married/The Brother of His Fiancée

— This scenario just does it for me. Has Royal/Brother always been The Duo, and marrying Fiancee is just the neatest way to explain away that whole situation? Did the relationship develop after the engagement (and was it a positive? Guilt-ridden? Hate-filled? development?)
— I don’t need the Fiancee to be a complete nonentity, but I’d prefer if she didn’t play too major of a role either as a villain, matchmaker, part of a love triangle, etc.

NFL Player/Rival NFL Player

— Bonus points for being Enemies With a History: They played together, were best friends (or more), went one and two in the draft, went one and was sucking up so much attention that the other went basically unnoticed…
— I feel like the focus in rivalry ships tends to lean towards the team captains/quarterbacks, but I’d also love to see other positions and dynamic! The wide receiver who cannot fucking get around this one cornerback! The second string guy coming hard for the starting position! Frivals!!!
— I’d also be fine with “AUs” featuring athletes in other sports, or levels of competition ≥ competitive high school (or club equivalent).

Olympian/Rival Olympian

— A lot of what I just said about the NFL players, only I again want to emphasize that I love So Many Sports and competition narratives, and I missed the Olympics so much this year.
— Solo sport athletes who compete against the same folks, building up that sexual tension! Team sport athletes who are rivals during their pro season but have to put their differences aside! Team sport athletes who are teammates during their pro season but national rivals!