Fandom 5k 2021!

[shinyfakehard]

Dear writer,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write for me, I’m so excited to see what you come up with! I hope this letter is useful to you if you’re looking for some guidance, but please know that it’s far from an exhaustive documentation of everything I enjoy.

Broadly speaking, I’m very character-motivated. I’m not saying this to dissuade you from really digging into some worldbuilding or plotting, but 5k of character/relationship study or some particularly feelsy PWP would also make me perfectly happy. Similarly, I can get into most tropes and AUs that maintain or expand upon what’s laid down in the canon.

I’ve tried to copy over everything that should be relevant, but you’re welcome to peruse my other letters on this DW. The only taste that’s waivered is that I’m not super feeling horror right now, but I’m still open to darker fic and stories that have less-than-happy endings.

- 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, and the like. 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. As an extension, I really love AUs that still capture the dynamics at play in the original setting.

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!!!

Some tropes that trope sorter quizzes told me I liked, in roughly alphabetical order

A/B/O • Accidentally Fell In Love With The Mission Target • Arranged Marriage • Temporary Amnesia • Break Up/Make Up • Childhood Friends • Enemies to Friends to Lovers (or any order therein) • Fake Dating/Fake Marriage Accidentally Turns Into Feelings • Falling For A Coworker/Teammate Is A Bad Idea • Found Families • Hidden/Mistake Identities • Highly Specific AUs • Loyalty Kink • Organized Crime • Regency • Rivals • Royals/Political Marriage Turns Into Feelings • Seemingly Unrequited Pining • Snowed-In Cabin/Isolated Together • Soulmates/soulbonds • Sports! • Supernatural Creatures

Smut

assplay • begging • bruising or biting • casual sex • come marking • desperation • dirty talk/verbal humiliation • drunk or high sex • dubcon • 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

In general, I’m a bit basic in that I do like dommy, bigger, stronger, older tops/alphas/penetrators, who are maybe a little (or very) mean. They don’t have to be all those things or extremely those things, but if you’re wondering who’d I prefer on top, it’s a fairly reliable preference.

I also really like things on the dubious to noncon scale, from things as small as "they probably should have talked about this more but didn't" straight up to "Character A straight up does not want this but it's happening anyway." I do like it when there are some complicating factors that keep it from being a boring, painful time for the victim: forced orgasms, being in love with the perpetrator, manipulated into place...

Do Not Want

apocalypse, devastating natural disasters, or complete dystopias - explicit underage sex (<15) - gender or sex swap, feminization, crossdressing - violent hate crimes or other extreme instances of bigotry, fighting isms as the main plot - heavy focus on IRL religions - incest treated as normal or culturally accepted, intergeneral incest - kidfic, unrequested pregnancy/parenthood - major character death, graphic injury, gore, body horror, serious illness, injuries resulting from sex, impact play (but wrestling, bruising, etc. with some soreness is all good) - slavery - unrequested poly - unrequited romantic/sexual interest between requested ship

For the ones italicized, I don’t mind if they appear in the background or with tertiary characters, I just don’t want them to be in the foreground with the requested characters/ships.

REQUESTS

Adam — Alex G (Song)

Requested characters: Adam/Narrator, Narrator

The Gay Bully is a trope that I can’t really blame anyone for being over, but I still love it and all the conflicting feelings and guilt and shame that comes with it.

Re: my kidfic and underage DNW: If you want to tackle them at the “canonical” age, which I’d be fully into, I’d like to say ages ~8-13 makes sense to me, but the “How much could one banana cost? Ten dollars?” quote (:() is essentially me when it comes to children, their approximate ages, and related developmental milestones. Mostly I just want them to at least start resembling adults, if that makes an ounce of sense? I’m not really looking for fluff about the joys and naivete of childhood.

The DNW about explicit extreme underage holds; I’m not really interested in the erotic while the characters are very young, but things played for drama or angst are good. Some things that I wouldn’t consider a violation for this fandom include: Totally Not Sexual Menacing, confusion and insecurity about puberty, off-screen COCSA and related fallout.

… and if all that hasn’t scared you off, some prompts! I’m fine with either the narrator and Adam developing some sort of relationship, or the narrator having to some eternal work (and maybe failing at it).

— The song, but make it a short story.

— The boys are a bit older, and the intensity that’s always been there takes a turn. But that doesn’t make it easier.

— The narrator has grown into himself as an adult (or is maybe still in denial, but his coping methods have gotten less sadistic), and feels guilty for how he treated Adam.
— — Then they run into each other, at a bar, on the street, while home for reasons.

And, while I obviously I do not expect you to look beyond what was nominated, requested, and offered, this song exists in my head as part one of the Gay Bully Duology, with Gnaw as Pt. 2, if you want a little more to build off of.

— First of all, whose POV? I spent awhile imagining both songs coming from the same guy, but there’s another great angle to Gay Bully being The Normal One, why can’t you just be Normal, Adam???? And Adam only taking so much bullshit

— Their relationship was… strained to begin with. Then their parents got married, and now they can’t get away from each other.

Bridgerton (TV)

Requested characters: Simon Basset/Anthony Bridgerton, Benedict Bridgerton/OMC

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. I’m not super genre savvy here, so even super well-worn Regency romance tropes will still get a :O!!! from me).

Simon Basset/Anthony Bridgerton

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 preserve Daphne's image is for him and Simon to get married instead.

— 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 friends’ 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!

— Benedict Bridgerton & Eloise Bridgerton’s Original Female Lover, Eloise Bridgerton & Benedict Bridgerton’s Original Male Lover, Fake Marriage - Gay Couple Marries Lesbian Couple to Appear as Two Straight Couples

Ghost of Tsushima

Requested characters: Ryuzo/Jin Sakai, Jin Sakai & Lord Shimura

The only exchanges I’ve requested these ships in so far have been a marriage exchange, and a pregnancy exchange, so those particular tropes are still quite forward in my mind(/have already been written out), but I would like to emphasize that they aren’t all I would like to see with these characters. I loved the canon, and I would love to see more of it! Also spoiler warning if you haven’t finished the game!

Ryuzo/Jin Sakai

— Probably the most obvious prompt, but instead of being a contrary fuck, Ryuzo joins Yuna in leading Jin down the path of Whatever It Takes, and they get to soak in the hot springs bragging about kill counts as Jin so desired.

— What were their earlier years like together? Clearly jealousy wasn’t a small part of their past relationship, but to what extent? What did the good times look like? Was Ryuzo as bad as Lord Shimura thought, or was he just something as dreadful as… being middle class!?

— One of those legendary weapons/armor/gear that Jin uncovers has the unintended side effect of soulbonding him to Ryuzo, or some other magical shenanigans that drags them together.

— The shogun (and Jin) are a bit more merciful, and instead of both of them getting the death penalty (with varying success), he instead forces them to get married and learn the importance of family, loyalty, and responsibility up close. Maybe it was supposed to have been an insult, forcing him to marry another man… but they have so much history… but being a samurai’s wife was not Ryuzo’s goal in life…

— Some mpreg prompts (totally fine with abortion or miscarriages)

— — They had a very friendly catching up session between that reunion and Castle Kaneda, and that certainly didn’t help with everything else going on.

— — They were together beforehand, and the “what about our CHILD!?” angle to their respective arguments vis a vis going along with the mongols just adds another layer of tension

— — Dramatic reveals during one of their run-ins convinces the other to be a bit more merciful or just switch sides already, Ryuzo, you have been given so many chances!

Jin Sakai & Lord Shimura

— A younger Jin ends up in a situation. Lord Shimura

— — Helps him take care of the situation, discreetly; there will be better times in the future

— — Helps him remain discreet as nature takes its course, and then, surprise, a new baby Shimura appears! (Could you IMAGINE Jin’s daddy-uncle issues combined with son-brother-cousin jealousy issues?)

— — An older Ghost reappears in Castle Shimura, requesting a favor or delivering a gift, and then, surprise, a new baby Shimura appears!

— I’m not usually into intergenerational incest, but that bow in Castle Kaneda… it awoke something in me. Further research is necessary for me to determine if I want to commit to shipping it, but I know for a fact I would love more of them being fixated on each other as their only remaining family, what they bring out of each other, the loyalties that they strain in order to better serve each other, perhaps even with a bit of smarm sprinkled on top…

— — Additionally, how would Jin have responded if he did still have Shimura cousins around with whom he’d have to compete for attention? Would he still be the favorite?

Original Work

Agent Deep Undercover/Member of Group He’s Infiltrated

— Identity porn! The fundamental betrayal of trust! The conflicting loyalties!
— Maybe the agent targeted this particular member as a weak link because he seemed lonely or more isolated than the rest of The Group, and he was right, but he didn’t anticipate actually falling for him.
— Or! Agent caught a different sort of attention from someone higher up than he ever thought he’d reach, so he goes with it. And maybe doesn’t hate it as much as he thought he would
— Or Maybe It Is In Fact Your Organization That Is Evil, Mr. Agent; time to switch sides!

Art Forger/Gallery Worker With Questionable Priorities

— I feel like I don’t know enough about fine art to really have much to add to this one, but I do love a good prank on the ridiculously wealthy.
— Forger’s identity is way more solidified than Gallery Worker; he certainly isn’t going to say anything about this new work he just brought in, you know, especially if Forger felt like buying him a drink or two, perhaps in exchange for some discussions on how this artist actually completed his work
— Worker and Forger both used to genuinely love art but are disillusioned with the capitalist machine that guides everyone’s hand. So they decide to sell out in their own way, too.

Hero Slipping Into Evil/Their Loyal Best Friend Who Has a Crisis of Faith

— I prefer a moral greyness than slipping into mustache twirling; Hero and Best Friend have always believed in The System until it starts failing them, Hero has bore the brunt of it and his coping skills are slipping.
— Hero has been experimenting with Dark Magicks; Best Friend is their only anchor. That is a lot of pressure.
— Or Maybe It Is In Fact Our Organization That Is Evil, Best Friend; time for us to switch sides!

Male Athlete/Male Character

— Sports! Competition! The psychological and physical extremes athletes push themselves to! The claustrophobic demands of the sport’s culture and also having potentially millions of eyes on you!
— Teammates blowing off steam on the road, then it turns into more.
— Athlete’s childhood best friend/sweetheart who understands the demands of the demands of the job, really, but maybe it starts wearing after awhile
— Athlete is totally super duper straight and has the girlfriend to prove it and what he does on roadtrips is no one’s business but his own and this is all totally sustainable.
— Athlete/Coach. Especially if the athlete is younger and impressionable and the coach absolutely should not take advantage but Athlete is literally throwing himself at Coach in order to squeeze out some more approval.

Man/His Brother’s Ex/His Brother

— I really love how twisty this has the potential of being. Why did the brother and the ex break up? How did Man feel about their relationship? How does he feel about his brother? What brings them all together?
— I’m also fine with “man” being “teen,” or this being more of a A/B then B/C story than an A/B/C story, as long as the brothers are both there to slapfight over B

Prince/Prince of Enemy Country He's Marrying to Seal a Treaty

— It’s just a good prompt! I don’t know what else to add!
— Figuring out differences! Finding common ground!
— — It goes very, very slowly. The mistrust makes sense, but maybe still chafes a bit.
— — It goes very, very quickly, and their mother countries are more than a little surprised by it/don’t warm up as quickly
— The “enemy” part developed during their lifetime; they were childhood friends or the arrangement was established then, and aren’t sure how this new phase is going to go for them.

Teen/Older Authority Figure

— Athlete/Coach, a second time. Especially if the athlete is younger and impressionable and the coach absolutely should not take advantage but Athlete is literally throwing himself at Coach in order to squeeze out some more approval.
— The same as above, but replace it with any sort of wunderkind musician/artist/mathematician/whatever and his mentor who he’s desperate for approval from.
— The same as above, but the student is just kind of normal and underwhelming, and so is his favorite teacher at school. This is a terrible idea. Teacher knows this. He doesn’t stop it.
— (Perhaps minor) Celebrity has returned to his hometown, because he totally wants to. He is certainly not using Dubiously Young Fan to inflate his ego again, the kid just wanted him that bad.
— To borrow from smut 4 smut: Guilt Ridden Middle-Aged Man/His Teenage Son's Best Friend
— In general, I’d really love the guilty-but-not-enough-to-stop element to this. I’d also prefer it stays at least a little dubcon; maybe Teen thinks he’d be into it, and maybe he is to a certain extent, but the reality of the situation is still more than he could really prepare himself for.

Point Break (1991)

Requested characters: Bodhi/Johnny Utah

YOU WANT ME SO BAD IT’S LIKE ACID IN YOUR MOUTH.

Y O U N G D U M B A N D F U L L O F C O M E

I just got around to watching this movie last summer, and while I’d heard about it and Keanu Reeves’ love for Patrick Swayze in it long before then… oh my god. It was everything I’d dreamed of and more. And now I want them to fuck instead of (just) sublimating it into increasingly dangerous stunts.

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 receiving punishment in the form of a prison sentence.

— 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 surfing mentor but has Feelings about the sport’s commercialization.

— 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 just a kind of football player they just do not get in Ohio. Johnny remains starstruck.

— Additional smut-flavored tags: [blank] to Lovers - Sexual Coercion, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Antagonism Leads to Sex, BDSM AU - organisational hierarchy is also dom/sub hierarchy, Dub/Noncon - Aggressor Tries to Arouse Victim, Face-Fucking as an Act of Trust, Markings - Hickeys/Bite Marks, Non-Consensual Groping, Noncon - Falsely Intimate Threatening Touches, Reluctant attraction - sexual attraction to someone they (should) dislike, Sex as an Assertion of Dominance, Unexpected Tenderness During Rough Sex

— Additional marriage-flavored tags: Arranged Marriage - Arranged as a Means of Keeping Reluctant Ally Under Control, Elopement - Eloping While on the Run from the Law, Forced Marriage - Marriage Being Used as a Punishment, Forced Marriage - Marriage Required as a Form of Criminal Rehabilitation, Marriage - Hidden Identity is Revealed, Marriage of Convenience - Volunteering to Marry Condemned Criminal to Save Them from Punishment, Newlyweds - Mismatched Expectations of Marriage, Soul Bond - Soulmates Legally Obligated To Marry