what's in it? what's in it?

[daken]

that's the point of the thing, not to know!

A very happy early Halloween to you, author, & thank you for sharing an interest in any of my fandoms! I always strive to make this as skim-friendly as possible. The tl;dr of it all is that if you touch on anything I mention liking even slightly — and as I'm sure you'll realize, I have a lot of things that I like — I'll be elated.

I love me a good themed exchange, so I've tried to keep my prompts within the spirit of the season regardless of if they're trick-y or treat-y. That said, if you'd rather play it straight, please feel free to remove whatever themed aspects of the prompt don't mesh with you & run with the rest. Also, for the purpose of the challenge, if you want want to write for a fandom I've requested previously, as long as it's still in the tagset then please go ahead & use me, haha. 

Also, once I realized how much overlap I was having between my requests I decided to go for a combined letter; everything is clearly marked for which exchange it goes to, hopefully, but anon is on if you need clarification.  For ease of formatting, I'm structuring most prompts to on the requested Shipoween requested pairing(s), but if you see a prompt that you would like to apply to one of the other options I mention shipping in Trick or Treat, feel free to alter it so it's [Requested Character]/[Other Dude You Want Him With] instead. 


GENERAL LIKES | TRICKS & TREATS | DISLIKES
TRICK OR TREAT: ACKLEY BRIDGE | THE GENTLEMEN | THE OLD GUARD
OUTLANDER | SUCCESSION | TENET | THAT 70s SHOW
SHIPOWEEN: ACKLEY BRIDGE | THE GENTLEMEN | THE OLD GUARD
SUCCESSION | TENET | THAT 70s SHOW

 

( quick note )
 

 

⟡ Prompts are formatted to (hopefully!) work for the less-is-more & more-is-more creator alike. The top-level prompt are generalized, complete ideas &/or references. Know what you want to write just by reading this? Go for it.

The comments, ideas, questions & specific references following the top-level trope exist just in case you want more to work with. If you come up with an idea that’s similar to a prompt, go for it! If ¾ of a prompt works for you, but the final ¼ doesn’t? Only work with the bit that does. I’d also love to see prompts mixed.

likes!

⟡ Relationships! I'm into reading about how relationships work: their unique dynamics, how they support one another, how they relate to each other, how they interact [pre-, post-, and during-canon when “offscreen”], where their wants and needs mesh up, as well as where they differ.

Established relationships are kind of my jam because I love seeing the and then? aspects of couples figuring things out & carrying on after they've gotten together; that's where the interesting stuff shows up for me. The day to day their lives & intricacies therein fascinate me endlessly. How do they fit one another into their routines? What things do they do (or don't do) because they've got that other person in their lives? How does having a significant other muddle with their ethics or other commitments? How do they juggle contrasting priorities? How does the world — in general, or their specific social sphere — treat them & how do they navigate that?

That said, I enjoy get-togethers as much as the next stan & have rarely met one I didn't like!

⟡ Fucked-up, unhealthy relationships! Codependent relationships, obsessive relationships, & so on: you can be giving it all to me.

Them doing questionable things or neglecting themselves to make their partner happy; I love it when they put themselves or the other person in precarious situations just so they can have their desired outcome; letting the ends justify the means.

My favorites are when the characters know — be it fully or a suspicion — that what they're feeling, and the degree to which they're feeling it, isn't healthy, but they enjoy it so much they can't bring themselves to care. Them being equally, fuck-up-ed-ly invested in their relationship is what I live for.

I love when a character is willing to let the world burn should the world try to come between them & the person they love, or they're willing to set the world on fire if it means finally getting that person all for themselves.

⟡ I love codas, alternate canons, semi-alternate universes, & canon divergences, &/or slight changes to canon that don't end up changing much at all because fate always finds a way. My prompts typically range from plotty monstrosities to domestic slice-of-life that details & I'd adore receiving either, or seeing you change what might fall into one camp into something that fits in the other.

⟡ Rather than miscommunication causing drama, I love it when bluntness & frankness cause that tension instead. Characters saying what they want or confessing they've done, point-blank, & then leaving it to the other character to decide if they can handle that; quiet characters taking their time and mulling over their choices before telling the other person what they want; different cultures and discovering unique ways to overcome them; as well as any other communication-based drama that you can think of that doesn't hinge on not having the full story or hearing the wrong thing at the worst time are always stories that engage me.

⟡ Stories that starts in the "middle"/in medias res of the overarching plot. I don't need a lot of world-building setups, especially if that's not something you're really into doing. If you've decided to take up one of my AU or divergent ideas, rest assured that I already know the basic background of what's going and you are welcome to go right on ahead with the action of the story if that's what you want.

However, if half the fun of AUs & divergences involves delving deep into the universe & making yourself at home there, go wild!

I'd also want to say that I love, love, love genre mashups. Vampire Westerns, Werewolf RomComs, Slice of Life Action, Noir SciFi, Heist High Fantasy, Historical Dynamics Set in the Modern Era, Social Commentary Horror — a lot of my prompts probably get this across in & of themselves, but I'm that person who you can write weird, low-concept plots for any day of the week.

⟡ When it comes to art, I like genre scenes, still life, &/or things that look like they could be proudly displayed in the middle of a chapter, or even as the 'cover' of a comic book, novel, or DVD box.

In terms of color palettes & style/mood/composition, I'm into Renaissance art, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Luminism, Surrealism, & Baroque Art. Extrapolating from that, I guess I like the interplay of dark/light & shadows with a close focus on the subject involved where the background can vary from nothingness to a whole piece in itself.

From a design perspective, sketch-like and rough-edged pieces, as well as watercolors that go "outside" the lines are deeply entrenched into my aesthetic. As are all the Realistic, comic-book, & similar styles!

⟡ Anything from G-rated schmoop to NC-17 sex is alright in my book.

Should you include a sex scene, here’s a general list of kinks/scenarios that I'm cool with:

age regression, age differences, underage, made-them-do-it, a/b/o, water sports (for marking/scenting and/or intimacy; less about being super into pee or humiliation), conditioning, frottage, gentleness, identity porn/anonymous sex, rough sex, marking, switching/no set sexual “roles”, possessiveness, power issues, abuse of power, dubcon, semi-public sex, sensory overload, sex addiction/compulsion, silence, d/S that’s focused on taking care/being cared for more than pain/humiliation, size differences and power dynamics — feel free to have the "smaller”/younger/more docile dude be more "dominant”/aggressive member of the relationship —, touching, slavefic, delayed emotional intimacy paired with very quick physical intimacy, captivity.

⟡ Tropes that I never fail to love:

forced closeness, amnesia, viking au, gladiator/greek/roman au, tribe/barbarian/pre-history au, android aus, western/rancher/farmer aus, power differentials, trope inversions & subversions, d/s that’s focused on taking care/being cared for more than pain/humiliation, soul mates/soul bonds, fake relationships, sugar daddy/transactional relationships, forced/arranged marriages, woke up married, bodyswaps, bodyswaps with themselves in a different multiverse, gentleness, stuck in isolation together, sex before feelings, bodyswaps, exploring physical disabilities (losing sight/hearing/the ability to a speak).

tricks & treats!

For me, tricks & treats are two sides of the same coin, especially in this exchange. As I mentioned in my general likes, I'm a fan of darkfic & unhealthy relationships, so one man's isn't this awful is my wow, look at this idyllic happy ending, haha. Although I didn't request art this time around, art treats are always welcome & what I like in art is up in my likes!

Below are trick-type tropes that I eat up & would be happy to see them played straight or for you to tweak them to be in a more treat-esque way, whatever that means for you, or for them to fall somewhere in the middle. I've pulled the terminology from TV Tropes (search there for a full — & likely proper — definition of the trope, including examples) & gave a brief description of what I like about it & would like to see in a fic containing it.

⟡ Actually A Vampire — The character we know is actually a vampire (or any other supernatural being) & however that changes things! If a character is a certain religion &/or ethnicity that has a specific view or take on [insert-supernatural-being], I'd love to see that explored too, if it's something you're into, e.g. a Muslim or Jewish Vampire perhaps still trying to remain kosher/halal with their blood use or a Chinese character specifically being a Chinese-style Vampire rather than of the Western canon. This is by no means a requirement, just giving you the option if going really niche on creaturefic is your thing! ⟡ Adult Horror / War is Hell — This is my favorite type of horror genre. Real life things that are terrifying, no supernatural elements needed. ⟡ Affably Evil — The best. Characters who are undeniably evil & have no remorse over it. Even better: they may actually have a point. Sure they're extreme, but did playing nice ever get anyone anywhere or enact change? ⟡ Backstory Horror — Character has a mysterious past or no past given to us at all? Might as well make it messy. ⟡ Barred from the Afterlife — Love this! Characters with 'unfinished business' being reborn, extremely good or bad characters being turned into angels or demons, characters tasked with becoming reapers: go! ⟡ Behavioral Conditioning — One of my favorite unhealthy relationship add-ons. A loves B, but B questions it, or the love doesn't manifest in a way that's satisfying to A — what's a boy to do? Manipulate & condition B until they get with the program, that's what. ⟡ Beware Superman — Someone has powers or isn't human & they're selfish about it. A superhero that devotes themselves to the world is nice & all, but give me the Superman that uses their powers to stalk or control the person they love, get things that the person they love wants, or quite literally enslaves the world with their love as their co-ruler (or slave, if their beloved doesn't quite agree with Superman's program.) ⟡ Blood Magic — In all forms. Soulbonds, mutual telepathy, shared sensations — either on accident or by design. ⟡ Blue-Collar Warlock / Working-Class Werewolves — Probably my favorite type of supernatural creature fic. They're a werewolf, vampire, zombie — whatever, but they still have to pay the bills. The best way I can think of describing my favorite version would have to be referencing mid-80s Polish Social Realism films where characters go about their very mundane lives & it feels utterly slice of life — except, you know, they're some sort of supernatural/paranormal being. ⟡ Body & Host — Split personalities, actual symbiotes, body snatchers. Situations where the thing inside of them encourages them to act on their worst impulses. ⟡ Broken Smile — Love a good mind break. Either caused by outside situations, a specific person, or whatever internal struggle they've been dealing with finally hitting peak cognitive dissonance they just stop caring. ⟡ Craziness By Career / The Anticipator — Mad scientists, doomsday preppers, psycho for hire, psycho supporter, shell-shocked veteran, sociopathic soldier, yandere couples, mad god, mad artist — anything dealing with people making a career out of their madness (or supporting someone who has clearly lost the plot). As always, bonus points for if they were right or called it. ⟡ Cybernetics Eat Your Soul — Becoming a cyborg removes some (if not all) of a person's humanity & makes choices very easy to make, although they likely seem heartless & cruel to anyone that still maintains empathy. ⟡ Daywalking — Using this as a catch-all for any fun changes to the typical [insert-creature-here] lore. Vampires who have no issue with the sun, zombies keeping their wits, humans being the invading aliens rather than the other way around — feel free to invert tropes or create your own rules if that's what you're into. ⟡ False Innocence Trick — Please turn innocent characters sinister, or have more blatantly assholish characters learn that playing nice can get them better results. ⟡ Feral Vampires — Again: or any other types of creatures. I love feral-ism in general, but give me supernatural beings going wild because something happened one someone they cared about, the moon is in the right position, they smell blood, the list ranges on. ⟡ Genre Mashup — The best of all! Think Get Out, Midsommar, The Lighthouse, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil: I love it when two different types of genres are mixed together. Give me slice-of-life werewolves, magical realism vampires, western mummies, criminal zombies, war witches, and more. ⟡ Gone Horribly Right — A does something bad...and it works! Possibly in the worst possible way, but it's the outcome they wanted. Now they have to live with it & get over whatever guilt they may have over it. (Or try to fix it, if that's more your thing.) ⟡ Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday — Feel free to use generic holidays as the starting point for when stuff goes wild, but I really love it when canon-specific or character-specific dates are when shit hits that fan. Maybe Ramadan, Passover, or Rosh Hashanah is when the apocalypse strikes, or a characters birthday, or some in-universe made-up holiday, or an important date for the character(s) in question, like the anniversary of the day they or someone else died or first kissed. ⟡ "Join Us" Drone — Love a good cult indoctrination, voluntary or otherwise. A joining up with whatever bad-idea B has fallen into just so that B isn't alone? You got it!

⟡ I Hate You, Vampire Dad! / I Love You, Vampire Son — These two tropes crack me up. If you're going for a creature that is 'made' rather than born, please feel free to lean into either of these. The betrayal of feeling like they weren't fully warned of what their new life would be like; the utter devotion & possession that drove their maker into binding them together, likely forever. Them having to forgive & be forgiven, and reestablished whatever good will may have been there to begin with, or creating good will from scratch if they had been strangers. ⟡ Inscrutable Aliens / Planet Looters — I love stories where one or a few aliens end up on Earth & kind of have to deal. Maybe they have superpowers by our standards, maybe not. Maybe one of them has decided that all they want out of life is to get A to fall in love with them. I also love the whole Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (or Guardians of the Galaxy) concept of Earth pretty much being done, and my requested character(s) going off to another planet & being the weird alien that has to fit in. ⟡ Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane — My bread & butter. Never feel like you have to explain it (or do, if you like!) or give me the mechanics of why something works the way it does. My canons will probably speak for themselves on how I'm happy to buy into a universe & follow whatever logic you say exists in it. ⟡ Mirror Monster — I love mirror universes a lot. Have Mirror!A get swapped out with themselves in another universe. Will Original!A ever come back? Up to you; I don't care. I love this trope especially when things went wrong in the Mirrorverse and this is Mirror!A's chance at redemption. Unlimited bonus points for Mirror!A having been broken by whatever went on in the Mirrorverse, so they're a lot less chill than their Original!A counterpart in terms of morals & ethics. ⟡ Monster Mash — While some people fall into the "everyone is gay? unrealistic!" camp, & I can respect that, I've never been one of them. Similarly, if you want to make everyone some kind of monster (either all the same or a consortium of weirdos), please have fun with it. ⟡ Mummies — I just really like them! It works best with my fondness for reincarnation & immortal tropes, but someone long dead coming back to life to either wreak havoc or struggling to fit into whatever period they dropped into (see: Working-Class Werewolf) is my jam. ⟡ Nature is Not Nice — This trope isn't as much as a fantasy trope as it used to be given climate change really ramping up, but geographies & worlds really coming for characters (either by intention like The Happening or Apostle or through the cruelty of random happenstance like disaster films) always gets me. ⟡ Random Events Plot — I really like it when a lot of random events in someone's life pushes them to become the hero or villain they eventually become. Feel free to use this trope to show how someone ordinary or generally pleasant in canon becomes a cruel villain (or superhero!) or to give context for why someone who we know is great or awful in canon actually came to be that way. ⟡ Sugar Apocalypse / Bitch in Sheep's Clothing — Something about this trope is always fun. I love when otherwise mundane or outright idyllic places (regularly?) have to deal with random awful things & don't seem to mind it, or who are the ones who go out & do awful things just for the sake of it. An outsider discovering this is the case is always [chefs kiss] ⟡ The Bad Guy Wins / Well-Intentioned Extremist — My favorite, especially when, as I said before, the bad guy Has A Point. Sometimes the Benevolent tyrant, A.I., invader, Bad Superman, or any other I can fix this grey-morality anti-hero actually wins. Tell me how that goes. ⟡ Überwald — Character(s) show up in a random tiny town & find that things are wrong, wrong, wrong. Do they actually like it & weirdly find themselves fitting in after being an outsider elsewhere? Or are they keen to get the hell out of Dodge? ⟡ Urban Legend — The more niche & weird the better. I love trying to figure things out! Please don't feel like you need to explain everything at the end or give me a clue about whatever you were referencing. Like I've said, I do enjoy magical realism & sometimes the fun is just living with this thing you don't fully comprehend. A lot of these canons don't give explanations & backstory, so I certainly don't expect you to fill in those blanks or do the heavy lifting when the original creators didn't themselves! (If you like doing detailed footnotes, however, I'll read them!) ⟡ Vampire Vannabe / Voluntary Vampire Victim — I love this especially when paired with the [creature-in-question] knowing that being supernatural isn't all it's cracked up to be, and so they try to resist turning their familiar. Unlimited points for the turning happening because [creature] can't deny their love anything, & said beloved person is actually a natural at being a [creature] & takes like it to a fish to water. ⟡ Was Once A Man — That awful monster (literal or figurative)? They were a (literal or figurative) person once too! I love it when another character is the only one who can see this; or, perhaps, they're the only one deluded enough to buy what said awful monster is selling, & there's a reason no one else is willing to buy into their humanity any longer. ⟡ Who You Gonna Call? — Requested character(s) find themselves tasked with saving the world, or perhaps they're an old hat at it by now and so this is their slice-of-life reality. ⟡ With Friends Like These — The jam to the toast that is unhealthy relationships. Things never seem to work out for A, their friends & family always let them down, they're always on the verge of everything falling apart — thank god that they have B, who always seems to save them.

dislikes!

⟡ Deathfic as an ending. If they’re brought back to life via the supernatural, reincarnation, turned into a cyborg, etc — or the story continues in the afterlife, I'm good. As long as the story doesn't end with "[…] and they died, the end", you're fine.

⟡ Whump/excessive angst wherein the majority of the fic is self-pity/sadness or miscommunications, and a tiny section at the end is happy/resolution; if from the outside, or as an observer, the events are sad but the character(s) experiencing them as their everyday life are happy, content, and/or blind to it, then that's fine! I dislike when half or more of the fic focused on someone's sadness/angst and how they react or wallow in said angst.

⟡ Embarrassment/humiliation (kink or otherwise), painplay/torture kink, cheating/infidelity, high school/university au, yentas/matchmaking/meddling friends, unrequested polyamory, epistolary, crossdressing, noncon (wherein one half completely hates the sex; if they come to like it, a convenient mind break occurs, or anything similar — we're good!), genderswap/always-a-[opposite gender].

⟡ No preference between past and present tense, although I only prefer 3^rd-Person Narration.

⟡ For Trick or Treat it is absolutely fine if you share none of my ships! I opt in to OMCs for nearly all of my requested characters to give you as much shipfic freedom as possible, so all that I ask is (a) that you don't write het with them and (b) if you go pure gen, please don't go out of your way to insist that any of my various ship options could never, ever happen.

⟡ Not a fan of crossovers unless requested, but fusions are my lifeblood.

Ackley Bridge fused with The Old Guard, wherein Naveed & Cory are centuries-old husbands who died young & try to save the world one newly integrated school at a time? Here for it. Very excited for the prospect of Tenet & Gentlemen giving slightly lower stakes to allow Neil to flirt with Protagonist at his leisure while the Protagonist pretends that he doesn't absolutely love it. Outlander meeting Succession, wherein Black Jack manages to take hold of Jamie's company and claims him as his own personal prize for his trouble would be particularly inspired! Or something that translates pretty naturally, like That 70s Show taking a page from Ackley Bridge with Buddy & Eric becoming best friends that have sex and have to deal with the fallout.

Ackley Bridge (TV)
Naveed Haider(/Riz Nawaz | Corey Wilson | Other Male Characters)
Fic

Catch it on Channel4, Netflix, or here.

Naveed is the best — he's funny but in a kind way, he did an amazing job of inserting himself into Ackley after all the chips had fallen & friends groups had been established, he truly is an amazing friend to basically everyone he knows, & he has the whole world in front of him. What they managed to do by fleshing out his life even outside of episodes where Cory & he were the focus have been great, & I hope the upcoming season(s) give us glimpses of his life off at drama school.

For Naveed & Cory, their non-sexual/platonic romantic relationship is one of my favorite types of unrequited, particularly because it really was Cory driving the sexual aspect between them. Cory literally orchestrating an opportunity for them to finally have sex — never mind how he definitely leant into that first kiss of theirs, even if he placed the blame on Naveed in the end — was great & I'm so glad the show went there. Their feelings are romantic, that much was clear, it's always just been a question of if the sexuality gap was something Cory could bridge.

Cory's whole issue with sexuality in general makes me ache for him, & I feel so bad that he is clearly in love with Naveed but struggles to understand if it's platonic since the only positive attention he's ever gotten is (usually inappropriately) sexual. When Naveed's parents were worried that Cory was Naveed's boyfriend because he treated him like trash I honestly screamed, ahahaha.

I really did like Cory's talk about how he didn't regret anything & how he respected Naveed saying that he needed space; but by that same turn, I really loved how Naveed was always there for Cory up until that point, and after all the news broke, he (& Riz!) were there to try to bring him back in.

Meanwhile — Riz! Riz accepting Naveed once Cory adopted him as a friend was really sweet, but his genuine displeasure at how Cory treats Naveed has me wanting all of the secretly-pining-all-this-time trope. Dude was mad after Cory had sex with Naveed & clearly sided with Naveed once Naveed needed them to take a break. I felt bad for Cory because talk about a dude who was at his lowest & needed a friend, but Riz's loyalty towards Naveed was a thing of beauty. We didn't really get to see how they became so close, so I would love to see whatever little moments between them that happened off-screen.

Trick or Treat: If you can think of other random men from the show that might be good to pair with Naveed, I'm willing to be sold. My standom for Rob James Collier wouldn't mind him getting with Martin, so don't feel you have to keep it to students; Alternate Canon where he's single & have at it. With regards to OMCs, give Naveed someone who appreciates him like Cory but can actually return those feelings! I kind of always imagined that Naveed would do well with someone older than him, and given that he's going to Manchester, if you wanted to do a cheeky Queer as Folk crossover that paired him with Nathan, I'd happily wave my usual dislike of them. That said, anyone of any race, religion, or age that you'd like to see with Naveed will bring me joy. I just want the boy loved & happy!

⟡ Riz/Cory go with Naveed to Manchester.

The minute that things feel through with Nas I thought for sure the solution would be Cory going with Naveed — his life is in shambles, he'd gotten his foot in the door as a chef (a job that could be done anywhere), and Naveed had forgiven him enough that they could be friends again. So! Cory doesn't redo a year at Ackley and goes to Manchester to start fresh after a truly awful year. For Riz, maybe he also gets into the same university as Naveed, or just wants a change of scenery. Maybe the reason Riz sided with Naveed during the break up was that he'd also gone through this with Cory & so he sees a bit of himself in Naveed. (Or heck, maybe the dynamic trio all go!)

How do things go? Is everything platonic and they have to learn how to do with Naveed having a boyfriend? Are they jealous? Are they still living in one another's pockets?

⟡ Naveed sleeps with Riz instead of Cory.

Depending on what ship you're writing, how does that impact that ship? Does it finally get Naveed off of his Cory obsession? Does Riz have the same reaction Cory did or does it awaken feelings? Is Cory jealous or happy for them?

⟡ Riz has been pining after Naveed all this time.

He feels bad that his friends have had a falling out, but Naveed breaking up with Cory means that Riz finally has a chance to get in there.

Is it sweet or is Riz capitalizing on Naveed being lonely & at his lowest?

⟡ Naveed meets the love of his life in Manchester.

Tell me about their love story!

Is it a a Billy Elliot-type at drama school? What's the other boy's major? What year is he in? Do they do any kind of events together? If you want it to literally be Billy, go for it!

Did you watch Queer as Folk & also agree with me that a grown-up Charlie Hunnam reprising his role as Nathan is exactly what Naveed needs? How does that go? Is it serious? Casual?

⟡ The flat Naveed moves into in Manchester is haunted.

What kind of ghost is it? I love alive/dead romances, so if you do too, please go for it!

I'm willing to give a pass on my yenta DNW if it's a fellow gay ghost (maybe from the 80s/90s?) that tries to help Naveed sort his life out.

Or is it a bad sort of ghost? Does he call Cory &/or Riz to help him sort it? Do they make decent ghostbusters, or are they all useless?

⟡ Naveed goes back to Pakistan to visit family & magical realism-type events occur.

Does he go by himself or bring a boyfriend to meet a boyfriend's family? Does he meet a boyfriend there?!

⟡ Naveed makes some sort of deal with the devil to get Cory to love him.

How does it go? Does Naveed feel guilty about manipulating Cory in this way, or does he want it so bad that he doesn't care? Does a monkey-paw, careful-what-you-wish-for rule apply and Cory becomes obsessed with Naveed in a way he regrets? Does he regret it, or does he enjoy having Cory be the more invested one for once?

Does it go awry and actually impacts Riz instead? How does Naveed feel about accidentally trapping his friend in this situation? Do feelings go, or does Naveed get a taste of his own medicine now that Riz is basically to Naveed as Naveed was to Cory? Does it go awry but hitting some other man entirely?

⟡ Naveed makes it big!

I'd love for all of Naveed's dreams to come true. What does his career look like five or ten years down the road? Another exemption I'd be willing to make for my usual crossover aversion would be Naveed getting with Richie Tozier from the IT franchise, since they'd probably get on like a house on fire.

⟡ Werewolves

One of the trio becomes a werewolf — or maybe all of them do. How do they handle it, particularly Naveed & Riz? Can they tell their families, or are they worried about it being haram? If it's Cory alone, how does Naveed find out? Was the reason Cory finally had the inhibition to try sleeping with Naveed due to him being close to his more 'feral' time of the lunar cycle?

⟡ Any kind of Jinn plots

Naveed falls in love with a Jinn, a Jinn takes a liking to Naveed & tries to help him sort out his life, Naveed becomes a Jinn.

⟡ Naveed ends up in a Midsommar or American Horror Story Apocalypse-type situation & has to get the fuck out of there.

Who gets him involved (Cory; obviously it's Cory) & when does Naveed realize something is up and he needs to get out of there — or does he decide he can roll with it and ends up taking charge?

⟡ "I'm sorry about... You know I went, I went a bit too far. I shouldn't've." "You didn't. It made me feel like somebody actually cared. Like someone really...cared, and - Are you laughing!?" "No!" "Why are you laughin'!? Nav, man, come on! I just sat here & poured my heart out to you & you're throwing it back in my face."

⟡ Naveed gets transported into a mirror universe where he's with one of the lads.

Who is he with? Cory? Riz? Martin? Someone else he knows? Is it wonderful? Not as great as he'd hoped? Does it open his eyes to someone else in his life? Does he return?

⟡ Give me an unhealthy, codependent loop that neither of them breaks.

With Cory or Riz, honestly. They always want to have sex with Naveed because they love him, yet can't quite reconcile that with how they see their identities. Naveed goes with it even though he shouldn't, and on and on the cycle goes. Whenever it looks like Naveed is finally moving on, Riz/Cory slide in there and ruin it for him.

⬑

The Gentlemen (2019)
Raymond Smith/(Coach | Dry-Eye | Fletcher | Other Male Characters)
Fic
Catch it on Amazon or here.

This movie is a lot, but all of it's Ritchie-ness is why I was hyped in the first place, & it delivered on pretty much everything I expected.

So — Raymond! It's like Ritchie did a poll of all of my favorite characters from his films & folded them into one perfect package. I love the relationship he had with basically all the men in the film. I love his competence, his cool nature, that he has this mysterious backstory that clearly has him with as much of a reputation & commands as much respect as Mickey, all while being a bit of a dandy.

Fletcher aggressively hitting on him at every turn & Ray's long-suffering acceptance of it is something I could read endlessly. What is the backstory there? Why is he so used to Fletcher & why is Fletcher so bold when it's clear he's a total chicken-shit otherwise? For the Coach, he clearly took to Raymond the moment they met, & their shared sense of intense loyalty makes me think that if they really teamed up, they'd be together forever. Finally, Dry-Eye has no respect or time for Mickey, but he never seemed to ever consider touching Ray — why? Why does Ray have respect & immunity from a guy who was willing to kill his own boss?

Something that I think Ritchie does well is not really telling you anything of importance about a character, & certainly not giving much backstory when he isn't in the mood for it, yet you instantly know what kind of person a character is & what their general deal is. With all four of these men, we get that in spades. I also love that no matter what ship you go for, there's that fact that Raymond's job seems to involve putting Mickey first; how would Fletcher/the Coach deal with that, and how would Dry-Eye feel about it specifically, given that they're rivals?

Trick or Treat: Finally, in terms of random men in which I would like to see Raymond with: the sky pretty much is the limit. Have him finding himself long-suffering end of a crush of one of the Toddlers; Mickey (as long it's before Rosalind, after they split, or if she never existed); one of Mickey's other staff, or some OMC. The only character I wouldn't particularly like to see him with is Big Dave, but if you've got a killer idea, I'm open.

⟡ Genre mashup!

Vampires! Or werewolves. Or anything similar. I've been waiting for Guy Ritchie to really do a genre mashup of his usual heist/funnyman gang film. King Arthur came close, but honestly even The Gentlemen meets What We Do In The Shadows sounds like a genre fusion waiting to happen. If you want to dial back the seriousness, I'll take Interview with the Vampire-vibes as well.

⟡ What is Raymond's background, exactly?

Was he a rough lad? Has he always been as posh as his current status suggests? Has he always hung around with men older than him?

⟡ How did Raymond become a cannabis sommelier?

Was he an actual sommelier that got enticed to the illegal side of things? Was it Mickey who recruited him, and how did that go? Did someone else bring Ray up?

⟡ There's a reason that Fletcher is so familiar with Raymond.

Tell me all about the hookup that happened before Raymond knew who Fletcher was — and tell me, did Fletcher know who Ray was? — where truly nasty fucking went down & now Raymond just has to live with that night Fletcher is never going to let him live down.

⟡ Ray realized very quickly that the main part of his job in working for Mickey was keeping him alive.

⟡ Raymond's got himself a bit of a type. That is: there's a certain kind of man that's drawn to him.

Older, a bit messy, dramatic, & who has an appreciation for his skills — if Mickey, Fletcher, & the Coach are anything to go by.

Young, a bit messy, dramatic, & who have their eye set on the whole world - is Dry-Eye, Aslin, or any of the other lads are anything to go by.

⟡ What type of assignments does Mickey throw Ray's way?

We see that he is well-versed at flirting with Fletcher, goes on collection missions for AWOL rich kids, & is deeply involved in the day to day operations of the business. Doesn't seem like it leaves much time for a love life — or does it so happen that the odd-jobs he runs for Mickey is actually how Raymond meets most of the men he likes?

⟡ All the types that try to lure Ray away from Mickey.

Dry-Eye wants Ray on his team now that Mickey is retiring. Coach wants Ray out of the game altogether. Fletcher is fine with Ray sticking with Mickey, as long as Ray comes home to him each night.

⟡ Did Matthew ever try to get Raymond on his side?

The Succession fan in me can't help but see Matthew as a Kendall who actually managed his coup, so please run with that if you want.

⟡ For all that older men love them some Raymond, he has a way with The Youth™ too.

⟡ That awfully big house can get lonely at times. Ray invites someone over to keep him company.

It could be because Charlie Hunnam has chemistry with every man he stands next to, but Aslan seemed a bit into Ray. Give me his ghost haunting Raymond's house & taking particular care to show up when Ray is trying to wank.

⟡ Raymond's only ever had himself, and then Mickey. It's strange to have someone else looking out for him.

Fletcher giving Raymond an out not to be involved in it all, the Coach coming back for him — seems like Raymond's little universe is expanding every day!

⟡ Mickey 'gives' Fletcher to Ray as a thank-you to do with what he will.

⟡ Teasing aside, Raymond really would make a lovely husband.

Just about anyone is in or knows about the London crime scene knows it. More than a few gentlemen are trying to lock him down.

⟡ Ray works as a freelance journalist so that he can keep his ear to the ground on any big stories that may be coming Mickey's way.

⟡ London's underground Chinese crime world hires Ray before Mickey gets a chance.

⟡ Ray as one of the lads that the Coach tries to get on the right side of things.

⟡ What if — hear me out — Ray is actually Nathan all grown up from Queer As Folk?

Or using any other Charlie Hunnam role as a fusion to help flesh out Raymond's backstory. How does that inform the ways that he might have met some of the men in his life?

⟡Fletcher harassing Raymond. That's it. That's the prompt.

⟡ Ray likes things to be a certain way.

We know Fletcher likes getting a rise out of him over it. Meanwhile, does the Coach go along to keep Ray happy, or is he the sort that does his own thing & knows that Ray will get over it — eventually.

⟡ Ray's seduction technique. A mixed blend and some Barry White, he said?

Or is his style a bit rougher than he lets on?

⟡ Raymond dresses the way he does because he knows exactly what he looks like in a cardigan, thanks.

⟡ Mickey 'gives' Fletcher to Ray as a thank-you, to do with as he will.

⟡ Even though he said he was done, the Coach keeps stopping by Raymond's house.

Or, Raymond starts going to the gym. For reasons, or so he tells himself.

⟡ What exactly was Raymond's plan for when Mickey was out of the game?

Is Mickey still planning to get out? Is there anything for Ray to do help the Coach's operation? Does the Coach offer him a job, or does Ray just start...showing up & finding ways to be useful?

⬑

The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani(/Nicky | Nicolo di Genova)
Fic
Catch it here.

The comic was one of my favorites of 2017 & even though the rights were snapped up quick, I never thought we would get a movie or series — but here were are! Sometimes dreams do come true. This couple was made for me.

I don't know what to say about what I love about Joe because he's perfect. I love that his propensity for violence is equal to how much of a schmoopy idiot he is. I love that his mouth gets him in trouble and in nearly a thousand years he's never learned (or wanted to learn) to control it. I love that he & Nicky have been together basically forever & still seem to find new reasons to love & surprise one another. The same goes for Nicky, I like how he's always on Joe's side & is endlessly charmed by him, & is just as ready to start some violence. How he never backs down & is usually the one in the most dangerous position, that he quite literally is the one to start the killing by wont of being their sniper.

I just want to see more of them. If you're the first-time type of person then go for it, but as I said up top, established relationships are my favorite & that these two have a hundreds upon hundreds of years to explore is like — well, like I said, this ship is made for me.

Also, while I enjoy a well researched & historically accurate story as much as anyone, you won't throw me out of a story if a historical detail is wrong. This is already technically an alternate universe, so don't feel like you have to spend hours researching. Either I won't know the true fact and any flubs will be lost on me — or I'll assume they were intentional changes on your part to suit the story. I am a bit of a history buff for certain periods of history, however, so if you're looking to delight by dropping in something specific, there's a good chance I will pick up on it & be suitably delighted. tl;dr I'm easy. Please don't feel intimidated because of the huge scope of time this canon encompasses, especially for how casual both of these exchanges are meant to be!

⟡ Anything set during their period where Andy & Quynh were off doing their thing so they were alone.

Were they also trying to save the world, or was this a relatively chill domestic period for both couples & that is why they were off on their own? I'm a sucker for farm AUs, so if you just give me them taking a break and being sheepherders & being happy, then I'm happy, man.

⟡ Joe as a Jinn

Joe lets the others think that he's like them, that fate randomly granted him immortality, but he's actually older than Andy. Does Nicky know? Is that the reason he's so much more worried whenever Nicky gets

Alternatively, The Old Guard isn't a thing at all. Joe is a Jinn Nicky summons during the crusades & they're bound together either via a wish gone wrong — Nicky wants immortality, but the only way to do so is to be tethered to the Jinn's own supernatural spirit? Something something handwave because I don't care about the logistics? — or because Joe is fascinated by this beautiful foreigner who he wants for his own?

⟡ They're vampires (or werewolves!) and that's why they're immortal

Who is the maker? How did the other take it? Did either of their religions make it harder to accept than others? Was there a Interview with the Vampire-style period of bitterness or did they take it in stride, like Eric & Godric in True Blood?

⟡ Joe & Nicky as a kind of quasi-Wellington Paranormal team

There's more than immortals in this world. Joe & Nicky take it upon themselves to police the thin line keeping regular mortals from the supernatural.

⟡ I'd love for one of the "missions" Joe & Nicky saved the world from to be a Golden Age of Hollywood-era type monster in general, in addition to real-world historical stuff

Someone summons a mummy — looks like Joe & Nicky (and the gang, if you want) need to go sort some things out. If you want to go full The Mummy, maybe Joe has some Medjai connections, or he's a myth amongst the Medjai, all of whom are very hot. (Willing to waive my usual crossover aversion for Ardeth Bay to make an apparance, because why not!) Nicky being torn with not liking at all how all these men think Joe is the greatest things since sliced bread, while also thinking the Medjai are hot & trying to talk Joe into putting the uniform on? A wonderful bonus.

Them going to take out Dracula, the Invisible Man, a SwampThing, or any other Old Hollywood creature would be a blast.

⟡ Speaking of real-world historical stuff, tell me what roles Joe (& Nicky played) in history

In general, I'd prefer for their historical interactions to be similar to the movie: so they were there, but they weren't "main characters" in events & only had so much control. Again, similar to my preference for fusion than crossover — e.g. there's enough deniability for why Joe (or any of them) didn't just straight up kill Hitler or any other evil person in history; they are just pieces in the larger puzzle, not the protagonist of the events.

These examples may only work if you know the canons, but I'm thinking Joe & Nicky having a Nixon & Winters relationship in Band of Brothers, Schofield & Blake in 1917, or Fick & Colbert in Generation Kill. Small cogs in the much grander story that is real history, & their part in it is mostly making moon-eyes and sneaking away to hook up while they deal with the incompetence of the world & kill their enemies.

⟡ Joe (& Nicky) being on what might be seen as the "wrong side" of history, depending on who you ask.

Please no secret Nazis or anything like that, but something I like about what they highlighted in the movie is that, in retrospect or from certain points of view, what Joe & Nicky have done wasn't all that great, or that they might now regret doing/wouldn't do again — however, and most importantly, they don't feel all that guilty about it because they still think it was the right thing to do, or it felt like the right thing to do at the time & you can't live with that baggage. Complicated "wrong sides" are what I'd like to see, or even truly small scuffles like Magnificent Seven-style massacres for the greater good like they try to do at the start of the film.

Joe & Nicky helping Native Americans slaughter settlers once the two of them reach the Americas & realize what is going on? The two of them being on the Boxer side during the Boxer Rebellion? Supporting the Bolsheviks as they disposed of the Russian imperialists? Supporting local non-Christian countries or communities from missionaries trying to colonize them? Things of that nature.

⟡ Joe & Nicky during the Old West (or in Shōgun Japan)

I like what I like, okay! Give me them as cowboys or samurais. Joe & Nicky deserve some old-west adventures, regardless of which type of western genre it is.

⟡ Renaissance Era

This is one of those periods where I know a lot (but, again, will not be thrown off if you are a laymen). Give me fic about Donatello, Michelangelo, probably da Vinci, & all the other gay as hell artists are out there lusting after Joe & Nicky.

Have Joe actually being Michelangelo (or similar to him), & all his art being based on Nicky, except nobody can know it now because they always have to keep up aliases to slip through history. The two of them returning to Florence in modern-day & Nicky giving Joe a hard time about the cock on David, and Joe saying that he didn't want everyone to know just how perfect Nicky is — all that good stuff.

⟡ Fusions with their other roles

You know it was coming! It's a weird turn of fate but I'd seen most of their filmographies before either of them were even cast for this, so if you want to, go for it. The fandom is big now so you may as well have fun!

Alternatively, check out any of my past letters (or fandoms I've written for) & fuse away. These two seem like they would have fun in Inception, The Borgias, My Beautiful Launderette, Maurice, Westworld, fucking BlacKKKlansman — whatever! Have fun with it. I really do just love fusions.

Also, feel free to lean into their dark sides as well. The Lighthouse with these two being fed up with one another & having a killing spree whenever the other doesn't properly bow to their desire for domination would be hilariously insane. Maybe sometimes their violence bubbles out of them and it's a Cruising situation.

⬑

Outlander (TV)
Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall
Fic
Catch it on STARZ, or here.

Jack is evil as hell and I'm pretty much here for all of it. The unhealthy relationship he has with Jamie straddles the exact line of awfulness with just enough grey area for so many interpretations about what potentially positive feelings & even respect could have happened between them had Jack's utter possessiveness & evil nature not poisoned that well.

Jack's obsession with Jamie was essentially love at first sight. Which would have been really sweet, if Jack's love wasn't so...off. Later on, when John comes into the picture, we get an idea that Jamie probably isn't as straight as he might assume, and which makes looking back on his interactions with Jack just that much more fascinating.

So they're left with this weird obsessive rivalry that comes to a head when Jack rapes Jamie, except that isn't the end of it at all because Jamie is left with Mixed Feelings™ about it all. As I mentioned in my DNWs, outright noncon isn't my thing, so their scenes were exactly the kind of dubcon I love, which hopefully tells you something about where my line for it is if you want to lean into writing a Jack scene like that with another man? Jamie being into the sex, even though Jack's basically forcing & mindfucking him to admit to it, is what makes the rape slide into the type of noncon/extremely dubcon area that fascinates me from a character standpoint.

Jamie's breaking point has always felt like him coming to terms with something about himself that he desperately didn't want to acknowledge to me; to a certain degree, it's almost like all their previous interactions were leading up to one of them forcing the other to submission, it's just that for Jack that always included the goal of sex.

So with that whole psychology in mind, give me Jack with Jamie; Jack and his brother; Jack conning his way into John's heart or Jack & John having a sexual arrangement neither is particularly satisfied with because they can't find another man to have sex with that wouldn't risk the possibility of ruining them; Jack with some poor assuming man who loves him (or hates him).

For Jack/Jamie, my cheating squick is pretty sensitive, so I'd prefer that Claire and Jamie be broken up, or Jack and Jamie's relationship happen before he and Claire meet or in an AU where she didn't travel back in time.

⟡ What is up with Jack's obsession with his brother?

⟡ "What did Randall do to you?" "Too much…and not enough."

Jamie doesn't deal with what happened between them well, and Black Jack would certainly love that.

What if they ran into one another more before Black Jack's death? Is the usual charge between them even more now that they've slept together? Like with John, does Jamie almost position himself/goad Jack into being the aggressor again because he isn't willing to do so himself?

⟡"One way or another, I will get a response from you […] Are you mine? […] Show me you're mine" & "…he made love to me."

⟡ Black Jack's obsession with marking/owning another man in mind, body, & soul.

Does anyone else get under Jack's skin? Or does Jamie hold the honor?

⟡ Had Jack ever had a healthy relationship?

What would that look like? How long does it last? Is the man he's with shocked to see what hides behind Jack's facade — or does he relish it?

⟡ Injury or the weather has Jack & a man he's interested in shacked up together for a good long while?

Is Jack cruel? Kind? Both in turn? Who is he when all of society is stripped away. We know he's a sexual sadist, but can he be tender outside of sex? Can it ever be consensual? How does the man trapped with him feel about seeing this new side of Jack, or being faced with the Jack we know without any hope of immediate escape?

⟡ Good ol' fashioned amnesia trope

Jack gets a second chance at a first impression with Jamie? Does Jamie assume they're together? Does Jack decide to go right for the sadism, or does he realize that its honey that'll draw Jamie to him quicker than scorn? Does he relish knowing the truth of their relationship when Jamie sweetens for him, or does it bring him unexpected guilt?

Maybe it's Jack that forgets everything and it turns out that he isn't as much of a total bastard when his childhood/etc isn't weighing him down? He's at Jamie's mercy — but Jamie can't bring himself to hurt him? Or maybe he wants to get revenge and even out the scales of their abusive past, but without their background as context, Jack doesn't see any of it as a punishment, no matter what it is Jamie throws at him?

⟡ Arranged marriages?

The English take Highlands for good and to rub the victory in to the clans, they force the resistance leader into marrying their most sadistic captain? Do they come to love one another in their way? Is it minor domestic wars that neither of them is willing to lose, punctuated by hatesex for the victor?

The Randalls have an agreement with the Frasers for such-and-such son to be promised to the other? Is it a full-on marriage or an indentured servitude situation that becomes more?

John or some other lord falls on hard times & their family marries/gives them to Jack to pay off some debts?

⟡ Jack as Jamie

Scotland has control over England, with Jamie constantly chasing after the troublesome rebel Black Jack? Jamie doesn't have the same sadistic streak as Jack; how would that change their dynamic? For all that he's a sadist, Jack certainly has a masochistic streak when it comes to his interactions with Jamie, so what would he be like in trying to convince Jamie to be with him? Just how much would he put himself and his cause at risk over that Jamie-sized boner of his?

⟡ Jack taking on a rentboy

Jack or John, or any sort of original male character. Again: is Jack endlessly cruel, or would fully "owning" someone mellow out the part of him that always needs to assert his claim, and he is finally able to find some sort of love?

⟡ Westworld fusion

Jack is an uber-wealthy businessman that goes to HighlanderWorld every chance he gets, all to act out his fantasies on one particular Host? Does Jack start to notice that the host is gaining sentience? Does that change how he feels about treating the host the way he does? Does he not care at all?

Jack and the Host are both Hosts in HighlanderWorld? In a previous narrative they were a homesteader couple but in their current loop their bitter rivals? What happens when the reveries have them remembering more and more of their past lives?

⟡ Era Change

Jack either further in the past or well into the future would allow him to indulge in his passion for men? Would that mellow him out at all, or would it mean that he's hitting up hedonistic functions to get his jollies while still being the evil bastard we know?

Black Jack and Jamie as rival politicians, clansmen, knights, farmers, gladiators, ship captains, Roman Senators — constantly at one another's throats for reasons they don't even know why until it spills over into a release of passion?

⟡ Basically the same except [supernatural].

Interview with the Vampire: Highlands edition.

Jack turns a man and is his progeny/packmate. How does that impact their relationship? The plot? Is the bond so strong that they don't even want to fight this newfound connection/kinship, or do those individualistic streaks light up and make them fight?

If werewolves, do they only feel the pull during the moon? Can young vampires only stay away from their makers for so long before they need a dose of their blood?

This is inspired by the great work Heughan and Menzies did with their body composition during those scenes and how it looks way too much like your typical sexy vampire turning sequences. That and the whole "you owe me a debt [by promising to kill me after we fucked]" and Jack 100% being the type to be like ok I'll end…your human life! type of motherfucker.

⬑

Succession (TV 2018)
Stewy Hosseini/(Kendall Roy | Other Male Character)
Fic
Catch it on HBO or here.

Stewy is the worst, but given how genuinely awful everyone else is? I don't blame him, & keep up the good work of ruining these people's lives, sir.

Stewy is an enabler & a survivor. I love that he's looking out for #1 & doesn't seem to have any entanglements, yet he's still got a sense of loyalty. He was willing to help Kendall out — multiple times, seems like — yet he is a realist & understands that you can't help people who don't want to be helped. He lets Kendall ruin his own life & sticks by him, but he's not about to let that affect him as well.

I love that we don't really know all that much about him — does he come from money, and how much? From where? How did he and Kendall even really meet? Was it organic or did Stewy make it happen because befriending a Roy would be a great catch? That's what I love about him: you don't really know, and you can see it going either way. Stewy makes things happen, but he's also an opportunist.

Trick or Treat: I ship Stewy with basically anyone with a dick, as my prompts will show. The man just has the energy.

⟡ "How did he get you?" "I just reassessed." "There's a friend card here if you want to play it. You know that, right? There's a human thing standing in front of you. You can talk to me. We had the whole fucking world in our hands & you fucking walked, man. Why?" "Yeah I — I — I saw your plan and, uh, my dad's plan is better." "Uh-huh. Fuck you too. You pusillanimous piece of fucking fool's gold. Fucking silver-spoon fucking asshole."

So. Stewy was hurt that Kendall pulled out. I have so much I would love to see whatever you come up with based off his quote.

How many times has this happened before? How many great ideas has Stewy tried to pull Kendall in on, only for Kendall to back out? How many sex-drunk (or literal drunk) plans & promises has Kendall sold Stewy on? That he's tired of his family's shit. That they'll run off together? How many promises broken? Or did they actually happen, but then Kendall sobered up or his daddy came calling, and Stewy was left in the cold?

⟡ The deal works out in Season One

What does it look like!

Or, give me the story of Kendall breaking down here & telling Stewy what he did, & Stewy helping him fix it. Give me Stewy watching the press conference of Kendall turning on his dad & realizing this is finally it, the moment he's been waiting for, and running with it.

⟡ Vampire Stewy with Kendall as his thrall

Maybe Kendall just likes having someone be in control of him, maybe Stewy dangles the promise of an eventual turning as Kendall's one way out truly being free from the thumb of his father.

⟡ Stewy as a demon or general agent of chaos, similar to Crawley in Good Omens, who lives to sow discord.

Everything bad that happens within the capitalistic system (or just within New York's business scene, if you prefer) is on Stewy.

Is he a kind of opposite-guardian angel attached to Kendall personally, or does he genuinely like Kendall (whatever that means) & that's why he's tasked himself with being the one that's always at his side? Is he intentionally ruining Kendall's life because it gives him pleasure, or is he actually orchestrating things so that Kendall has the best, most kind possible version of the bad outcomes that are destined to come his way?

⟡ Their college days

Give me Kendall happy for five minutes & it's all because of Stewy. Having a good time, going on nice vacations — general bliss until his dad finds out!

It's a good thing Kendall had Stewy by his side during the drug haze of his college days...or is it? Unlimited bonus points for more-into-Stewy-than-Stewy-is-into-him pining!Kendall who gives anything and everything for his first real boyfriend outside of his family's influence. Maybe he knows that Stewy is a moochy asshole that comes from less than him and is milking the cash cow and he's already in too deep to care (and hopes that maybe Stewy will thaw to him)? Maybe he doesn't realize it at all and it hits him hard when he does?

⟡ Stewy likes Kendall needing him.

Kendall getting clean? Getting married & having kids? Figuring out his life in general? Stewy can't have that. Kendall's at his best when he's at his lowest with no one but Stewy to turn to.

Give me Stewy keeping Kendall pathetic & alone with Stewy as the only one who loves him, who cares about him, who tries to help him. The end of Season Two where Kendall has burned all of his bridges and literally only has Stewy left in his corner? Stewy's never been harder in his goddamn life. If he's some kind of misery succubus & Kendall's pain is the best he's ever had? Well ok!

⟡ Or, alternatively, actually way too good of a friend Stewy who is just waiting for Kendall to decide he's someone worth loving, so that Stewy can love him.

Give me a Season Three with Stewy helping Kendall take on the world.

I love this interview by Arian: "Logan is like: 'okay here's the deal. I'm gonna give you three board seats, including Kendall's.' And all of a sudden, if you look, Stewy looks at Kendall being like what!?. Like, looking at his friend and being like, 'you're giving up your board seat? That's stupid; what are you doing?' I mean, we don't have any lines about it, but there is a little - you see it like, 'what are you talking about? Why would you?' It's not him being like 'you idiot'; it's more like 'you're giving me your - why are you, my friend, losing out on this? What kind of bullshit is this'." It goes on, but it's just so good and it's so obvious that Stewy's dream is just for he & Kendall to run their own company & have fun and fuck and Kendall keeps fucking it up in ways Stewy couldn't ever imagine, which sucks and really hurts him.

⟡ Schitt's Creek AU

Based off Dan Levy & Kieran's Actors on Actors.

Give me the Roy's losing their money & ending up in Bumfuck Nowhere and how Stewy fits into that.

Is he a friend that visits or tries to keep Kendall/Roman/Greg/whoever's spirits up? Is he visiting to troll them? Is he actually a local; is he the Patrick to Kendall/Roman/whoever's David?

Is this town normal or is something — off? Is it off in a sinister way, or is it a kinder, gentler spooky type Nightmare Before Christmas-type creature show of town?

⟡ Logan gives Kendall Stewy to hold off the takeover/as a part of the deal

Actual slavery (AU where it's a thing? canon-compliant where it's just something the uber-rich do under our noses?) or he's-your-bitch enjoy the new underling gamesmanship, I don't have a preference.

Logan is tired of Kendall and so he shifts him off to a new "master". The kid can't be a threat to his hold on the company if he's middle-management, right? Maybe with the Pierce deal done Logan finds himself scrambling. He needs something to get Stewy and Sandy off his ass, and a little bit of digging tells him that Kendall might be his last trump card.

⟡ The siblings come over to Logan's for dinner one night to find Stewy sat at Logan's side.

"Don't worry kids, it's not like you'll have to call me dad too or anything!" as his not-so-subtle way of letting them all know he's fucking Logan now. And they thought they had to watch their backs around Marcia!

⟡ Stewy messing around with Lawrence & his husband to help Kendall seal that particular deal.

Anything for a friend in need! I mean, he would have done it anyway, because they're both hot as hell, but now Kendall owes him!

⟡ Stewy going home to his boyfriend who cannot believe the gossip Stewy always has on hand.

⟡ At some point during S2, Kendall hits rock bottom & decides to sell his soul. Stewy is the demon that takes him up on it.

It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Bonus points for Stewy being the chaos agent demon that's been assigned to him since birth that's been trying to make this happen all along.

⟡ Stewy spending the summer with the Roys while he & Kendall were in college & Roman was presumably in high school — and promptly discovering that Roman is a total sub.

Or, Stewy spending an entire summer with Roman's dick on tap, edging him with frantic makeouts with his family around the corner & generally ruining poor Roman for anyone else.

⟡ Stewy being smart enough to realize this country is dumb enough to totally elect Connor, & so once Willa gets the hell out of Dodge he slides in there to become the First...Lord. (Just now realizing how odd First Lady is as a title in 2020...)

⟡ Stewy gets Greg high & they bond over not really caring for the Roys at all and somehow that's how Stewy finds himself married into the family.

⟡ Tom is hurt & bitter at Shiv having left him out in the cold. Stewy has never met a prenup he couldn't work in his favor, and he's always liked men like Tom who are eager to please & have baggage that Stewy can use to his advantage.

⬑

Tenet (2020)
Neil(/Protagonist | Other Male Characters)
Fic
Catch it in theaters or here.

I requested this fandom previously with only the trailers as the "canon", and I am completely fine with anyone wanting to write this canon yet may not have been able to see the film yet to continue to do so. This film really is beautiful & a true cinematic experience; I recommend seeing it in theaters if at all possible, so don't force yourself to watch a cam on my account because you worry I'll be thrown off by wrong details. Similarly, if you don't believe in torrenting & have only seen it once in-person, please don't worry about getting minor details wrong. For new release canons I understand that none of us have the benefit of knowing the intricate details as well as we would something that is easily re-consumable.

I'm going to break up my prompts by generic, non-spoilery ones and specific ones for those who have seen the film. For those who haven't seen it yet, this film is very open & the nature of it means that it's entirely possible to write whatever trailer-based headcanons you may have & they will work because 'canon divergence' to a film like this is not what it means in other canons.

So, this film! It was everything I wanted. Neil ended up being everything I wanted and more, & Protagonist being the definition of competence kink was a delight. I'll save my more specific likes about the characters for the spoiler-y prompts, but I will say that you are free to do whatever you like with Protagonist's name. Call him Protagonist, talk around his name like the film does, name him John or David, or anything else. I'm not picky & don't care; just work with whatever is easier for you.

Trick or Treat: Ives genuinely seems to be in love with Neil & can't seem to stand Protagonist because of their bond, so feel free to go that that. Mahir is also very loyal despite apparently not knowing the full picture of what it is Neil does. And, as always, OMCs welcome.

PROMPTS WRITTEN PRE-RELEASE - NO SPOILERS:

⟡ Neil being disheveled

Hi, huge fan of Neil dressing up as a rich git & then immediately after looking like a chic homeless person whenever he's debriefing with Protagonist? Is Protagonist unable to help himself from jumping on Neil the minute after he finishes his assignment(s)? This reader thinks yes. Alternatively, does Neil know that Protagonist likes him when he looks disheveled & so he reverts back to that aesthetic ASAP? This reader is still nodding.

⟡ Experiencing inverted love.

The trailer makes it clear that they're living their lives backwards. Is it a sort of thing where they know the result & have to backwards engineer how it came to be and then somehow find the exact point where they can make a difference? If so, & they're together, what is it like meeting someone and knowing they're the love of your life — the one person you can count on — but having no context for it?

Is it a learning curve? Does one of them buy in quicker than the other? Are they both all for it?

⟡ Neil's got resources.

Very interesting. Alright, I'm asking for you to throw in some Batman elements, you've beaten it out of me! Is Neil's character a Bruce Wayne-type of figure? Is he bringing Protagonist into his world?

Is he a handler/Q-type to Protagonist's Bond? Are the OTT items he puts at Protagonist's fingers a flirting technique?

Has he always been in this backwards spy world or does Protagonist bring him into it?

⟡ Downtime.

The plot of the film looks to be preventing WWIII. Which is very interesting! But also a lot. Give Protagonist & Neil some time to learn one another & build the relationship they're going to need in order to actually save the world.

⟡ Backstory

I love a good they-met-before dynamic between eventual partners, especially when they seem to have fairly different personalities.

Secret organizations like this usually have a military pipeline — what if Protagonist & Neil met there, & had a relationship?

Neil seems to be fairly well off. Did Protagonist end it because he knew he was going to be joining up for whatever this program is? Was he surprised to have Neil come back into his life? Did he miss Neil & intentionally brings him into the program once he has the chance?

⟡ Neil is a bit of a weirdo, but that doesn't mean he isn't competent.

Protagonist wishes he didn't find both sides of him as attractive as he does.

⟡ "Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real-time."

Honestly, give me your spy romance for these two. Pick your favorite tropes and run with it.

Handler/Spy? Spies for rival organizations working at cross purposes? Spies for rival organizations that need to team up? A spy bringing in his civilian love interest to keep them safe — and being surprised at how well they take to it?

Undercover as dating, given all the identity-cons they run, also very welcome. 

⟡ Slip everything into the Westworld-verse.

Does whatever organization that's behind time inversion have something to do with Incite's goal of controlling humankind? Is WW III going to come as a result of Hosts rising up? Is Protagonist a human? Is Neil? Would either of them know if they weren't?

How would what we know of the Westworld mythos help fill in the blanks of this film? (If you can think of another Nolan property that would work, please run with that instead. The Dark Knight trilogy, perhaps?)

⟡ Neil's whole deal is that he loves Protagonist.

Protagonist joins up with some shady ass organization? Welp, sign Neil up too! Running into the face of death? Well, Protagonist is hauling ass in that direction, so what else is Neil supposed to do?

How does Protagonist feel about this? Amused? Concerned? Annoyed? Does he ever try to talk Neil out of it, or does he take it as his due at this point?

⟡ Fuse with their other roles!

Keep as much as the Nolan aspects as you like, or use it as a chance to see RP & JDW put their beautiful faces together.

Protagonist & Neil as spies trying to take down the Klan. Protagonist as a (closeted?) NFL player with Neil as his rich, spy boyfriend? The two of them going mad while working as wickies (or lumberjacks)? Neil is so rich because he's a vampire (confession: I know nothing about Twilight)? There's magic, somehow (another confession: I don't care about Harry Potter; maybe this could be some flirty, aggressive Prestige-type magic)?

They're both artists & one another's muses (Pattinson as Dali in Little Ashes). Neil is a masochistic military man (Pattinson played T.E. Lawrence) & Protagonist knows all the right ways to get him out of his head. Neil is a French prince with a very shaky accent who wants Protagonist to be his Prince Consort once he becomes king. The two of them as explorers? They're prisoners serving a death sentence & that's why they're forced to live their lives inverted & risk it all to save the world?

SPOILERY REQUESTS - BEWARE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM:

⟡ Protagonist saves Neil

You knew this was coming. The fact that he went through hell to help Kat, who he didn't know from Adam & genuinely didn't seem to have any kind of feelings for beyond empathy makes me completely disbelieving that he'd let Neil's death be the final passthrough. Also, and this may be this movie being too high-level for my brain, but if Neil was there at the raid & but also saved Protagonist from being shot at the Opera heist...wouldn't that mean that he is alive, since the backwards flow of time means that happened after they dismantled the bomb? Maybe? Bueller? Or is it the reverse?

Groundhogs day plots where Protagonist runs through the events of the film (or his whole life? Is that what Tenet's whole purpose is — to find a way to save the world & keep Neil alive?) to get the outcome he wants.

Anyway, take this as proof that my brain hurts & I am willing to accept a lot of handwavey or confusing explanations for why Neil didn't have to stay dead! Also, Neil could have been playing dead and hadn't been shot at all, really. All I'm saying is, if Nolan was the sequel sort, this is the easiest retcon. Some other guy took Neil's pack for reasons and that's that. It's not like we saw anyone's face. Don't feel like you need to be really comprehensive in your hand-waving to give me a happy ending.

⟡ Experiencing inverted love

This hits me so hard, especially their first and last scenes. Pattinson does work in how genuinely monumental this occasion is for them. He knows that this is the first time Protagonist has seen Neil & has to pretend like they aren't the most important people in one another's lives; like Protagonist isn't his best friend. The way he orders for Protagonist, knows his preferences — it's all so good.

And again, the end, where Protagonist realizes just how far Neil will go for him and there's genuine love shining in his eyes as he realizes this person he's just met has a whole history he doesn't know.

I would love something that plays with all of this. Protagonist first meeting Neil & being so in love but having to dial it back. Whatever midpoint they had where they were both equally invested. Neil falling more and more in love with each interaction/mission they pull, while Protagonist forgets more and more of him each time until we hit the start of the film.

⟡ "You have a future in the past. Years ago for me, years from now for you." "You've known me for years?! "For me, this is the end of a beautiful friendship." "But for me it's just the beginning." Oh, we get up to some stuff. You're gonna love it!"

Fuck you, Christopher Nolan! Tell me what they got up to. Give me the small ways in which they saved the world, the bonding.

Protagonist knows where this all ends (if you keep this as Neil's death; as I said above, feel free not to) — does he struggle not to let himself get too close, but can't help himself? Does Neil inject himself so thoroughly into Protagonist's life that Protagonist can't help it (what's happened, happened after all! What is fate if not reality?) or does Protagonist go all-in and savor every moment together because he knows their time is finite, especially since towards the end he won't have known what he lost until it's already gone?

I'm not a fan of Time Travelers Wife trope usually, but these two would probably be great for it. Give me Protagonist wanting to maximize his time with Neil & showing up at random points of his life. Give me teenager Neil falling in love/lust with this cool older man that always seems to be taking care of him. Have Protagonist give Neil a way to contact him in the future until they reach whatever point they meet for the first time, and them falling in love through temporal phone calls, or whatever!

⟡  Protagonist was the one who gave Neil his little backpack charm

Tell me how & why; does Protagonist also have something that it takes him a w while to remember(/know) Neil gave to him? Unlimited bonus points if that's their (metaphorical or literal) version of a wedding ring.

⟡ "I'll see you at the beginning, friend."

Neil's recruitment!

Masters in Physics, he said? There's a paradox in there because the reason Protagonist chose Neil is because he knew Neil would be perfect for it based on Neil already having done the job to Protagonist's eyes, but how exactly did he recruit this rich(?) nerd(?) to his side? We know Protagonist loves a good undercover mission — did he pretend to be a peer? A professor? Go wild. Also, since it was "years from now", does that mean Protagonist was older? Lean into hunky, older John David Washington showing up to tell Neil that he needs him and Neil being like "...yes sir", because how else could it have gone, really?

Alternatively, was Neil a secret agent first, but Protagonist bringing him in made him feel like he wanted (or needed) to get a masters in just what in the hell they were dealing with so he could be the best possible handler for Protagonist?

⟡ "But you won't look too hard." "Yes I will [stares pointedly at Protagonist]"

Ives cannot stand Protagonist and I kind of love it. This is cowboy shit!

Neil only ever seems to go against the plan when Protagonist is around. Ives definitely seems fine with taking out Protagonist, but it'll make Neil sad, so he's willing to give it a pass. (He will be looking hard for Protagonist!). I'd be so here for Ives lusting after Neil, who can't seem to open his eyes & realize Ives is always there for him, or for Ives & Neil to be an item and Ives has to long-sufferingly put up with his friendship with that idiot cowboy Protagonist. If Protagonist doesn't go back to save Neil during the second pass-through, Ives definitely would.

⟡ Neil is the key to preventing WWIII

Go with this however you want. Neil has an abusive husband and Protagonist has to get close to him, rather than Kat.

Neil is the physicist who has figured out inversion & Protagonist has to stop it somehow? How does he do it? Seems like getting a love life that takes you away from your work is an easy fix! Or even a type of Inception fusion where Protagonist goes back in time to perform an extraction job on Neil's mind to come up with a reason to get him not to make the inversion process. Maybe he intentionally means to have Neil become obsessed with Protagonist instead of his work, maybe it's an unfortunate byproduct. How does Protagonist feel about it? Guilty? Glad? Somewhere in between?

⟡ Protagonist becomes Antagonist

Maybe Protagonist decides that this world is too dead-set on ruining itself & wants to become a benevolent force controlling it all rather than leaving things to chance & always being on the offensive. How does Neil feel about this? Does he try to talk Protagonist out of it? Does he agree & they co-run the shadows of our society? Was Priya right and Protagonist is just one protagonist of many? Is Neil the true protagonist of "free will", so he has to work against Protagonist — but their love for one another makes it more of a cold war where they both try to get one another to their side rather than something where they're actually trying to take the other down?

Or, so it's a choice between the world ending & Neil living, is it? Well that's easy. Give me villain Protagonist who is orchestrating a way for the world to end in a way that keeps Neil & he safe. Does Neil know? Is he okay with it?

Even if you want to keep it light, I'm kind of fascinated by this network of quasi-time travelers that Neil & Protagonist managed to seemingly build up from scratch.

Another thing that I love is the type of love triangles that only involve two people. Maybe Protagonist from the future (the one Neil first met) is Antagonist, and the one we know in the film is Protagonist. Identity porn forcing Protagonist to be jealous of himself would be amazing, and so would Neil not knowing who he's dealing with or which of the two versions he loves — if there's even a difference.

⟡ I would die for an Old Guard-fusion

Ives says no one who was in the splinter can live. All three nod stoically & agree it needs to be done. Three gunshots go off, two bodies get up (feel free to use this as a ToT prompt & have it be Ives/Neil, or just Neil on his own that is immortal) & realize they can't actually die. What good (or bad — it depends on the century, after all!) do these two get up to with inversion and immortality on their side?

⬑

That 70s Show
Buddy Morgan(/Eric Foreman | Other Male Characters)
Fic
Catch it here.

I randomly have been thinking about this episode all year?! I will say upfront that I don't remember 100% of what happened during the full run of this show, but I did watch all of it — ...I think — as it aired, so there's no need to worry about spoilers or anything like that. Buddy is my favorite, so if you want to treat this like the bottle episode it turned out to be then that is entirely fine; if you also really liked Buddy or just want an excuse to play around in That 70s universe, don't do a full rewatch on my account (unless you want to!).

So! Buddy! That he was meant to be not just reoccurring, but actually a main character & we were robbed of that is something I'm still bitter over it. He's kind, a good person, has a level of resources (rich kid!) that would allow the gang to get into some fun hijinks, & his crush on Eric definitely seemed like it could have had legs, given that he was billed as a love interest rather than just a friend with a one-sided crush on a campus stoner.

I also feel like he brought out the best in Eric, while also not being so blind due to his crush not to see that Eric is sort of a self-involved jerk at times, which other love interests of his struggled to reconcile. Their friendship, as short-lived as it was, was actually fun & they seemed to have a good time with one another. While the gang certainly had their big-family moments, & all friends have issues, it was nice to see Eric have someone in his life who seemed to genuinely think he was great & enjoyed spending time with him, without the usual masculinity posturing of how he fell to the bottom of the totem pole with Hyde/Kelso/Fez or the way he kind of would fold to the more dominant personalities of Donna/Jackie/Laurie.

Trick or Treat: Buddy with OMCs is fine by me. I also think him being with Kelso or Fez would be fun. It's been a while since I've seen the full show, but if there was another one-off dude cameo that was a lot of fun who you think would be Buddy's soulmate, go for it!

⟡ Buddy as a sugar Daddy

I love Buddy being this random über popular, super-rich kid at their school. Eric truly has no shame, so him eating it up as his due in the episode felt very true to his character & I can only imagine he would be even more obnoxious if they were an actual couple. Like, if Red through him out for being gay, I could see Eric blissfully living at Buddy's mansion. He's ridiculous.

⟡ Buddy being semi-closeted but not for any dramatic purposes

I kind of got the vibe that he would be willing to come out if only he had a reason to (read: a boyfriend). I also love that Fez picked up on it (Why is that? Have they hooked up before? Did Buddy have a crush on Fez the same way he did Eric?) and that Eric was kind enough to do his best not to out him when his friends went grilling, even as he was still dealing with the fallout of his gay panic.

⟡ "Listen...you don't mind me being your chemistry lab partner?" "No, why would I mind?" "Just cause, I, uh tend to blow things up."

Give me mad scientist or warlock Buddy! Is this is Werewolf on Campus situation where he's a supernatural being trying to fit into a regular school, or is he learning the dark arts on his own? Would he make a love potion to get his man to love him? (Does his man already have feelings, so this just removes inhibitions, not that Buddy knows that?) Does Buddy feel guilty about manipulation or is he fine with it?

⟡ "Look, I'm not gay." "Yeah, yeah — are you sure?!" "Yes!" "Cause I just thought— " "Well, why would you think that!" "Cause we've been spending so much time together— " "Because we're friends! I've with friends with Hyde for years & I never put the moves on him." "[scoffs] Well I wouldn't blame you, that guy's a jerk." "Uh, well, yeah — but that's not the reason! Um, it's because I'm not gay." "Well, I'm sorry for kissing you." "It's okay. — Well, I mean..."

The "I never put the moves on him" gets me every time. Dude! Dude?? This phrasing. You like dick, friend.

For ToT: Hyde isn't my favorite, but I can definitely see it. If you want Buddy/Hyde, Hyde being overly invested in figuring out that Buddy is gay would make me interested in a fic where he tries to get Buddy to change his opinion of him (Hyde) so that maybe their can date. Hyde's whole "I don't know, Foreman is pretty irresistible" joking-dig and then almost angry "again!?" (similar to Donna, who is his actual sorta-girlfriend at this point) when Eric hints at his not-being-cool with Buddy going after a dude, if you want to read it that way. Plus the whole weird obsession with knowing everything about Buddy yet "hating" him for it is like — okay, dude.

⟡ Buddy has a rough edge

I loved the moments we got to see of Buddy kind of being an asshole just to flirt with Eric, & then going back to his sweet-self. Please feel free to play it straight, or give it a darker turn. Is the sweet Buddy we see actually when Buddy is playing, and the domineering, straight-forward glimpses

⟡ "Okay what's your problem with Buddy? I mean, he seems nice enough." "Screw him, man! I mean he's got the money, the car, the family, the teachers like him, the counselors like him — everybody likes him! I hate him!"

Hyde's general animosity to Buddy, & Kelso being sure that Buddy would want to fuck him (& Fez doing everything he can to mooch off Buddy now being their friend): normally I'm not one for love rivals but, author, Buddy deserves it.

Give me all the boys either being jealous that Buddy likes Eric — what does Buddy see in him? They're way better! — or the reason Hyde is so prickly towards Buddy is that he has a crush on him himself. And of course: why is it that the usually blind-to-all-social-cues Fez is the one who knew Buddy was gay?

If you're writing Buddy with someone other than Eric, I'd love to see that guy doing their best to get Buddy's attention off Eric and onto themselves in their own unique way.

⟡ "Actually, Buddy, um, I wanna ask why — why — why, um, me?" "I dunno man, it's probably the same reason that Donna likes you. You're smart and sensitive and — you're nice looking. "Okay well, first of all, I'm not really that smart. Those notes I gave you? Copied. And as for sensitive, sometimes I can just be downright mean!" "You're so cute!" "Well that its — well I guess I am.

I honestly have nothing more to add on here. God, Buddy is so great. Eric is so cute around him. Help. If you want to modern things up so Eric might be more flexible in trying out a same-sex relationship, do it, I don't care.

⟡ Buddy is a vampire on the lookout for a familiar

Eric (or whoever, for ToT) is worried because even though he really wants that sweet, sweet immortal life, he's heard that being a vampire's lacky really sucks. Except — Buddy is really great & does more stuff from him than the other way around?! Now if only he could stop getting these pesky erections whenever Buddy feeds from him...

⟡ "It's okay to be confused, Eric." "I dunno. I feel like sometimes, like, I dunno like we're in a movie right and um, I'm nervous around her and I feel like I'm playing this part, right? But it's not me—" "Mmmhmm."

First: Eric likes dick; this show shoulda just leaned into it, shaking my head forever!

Second: I kind of love how Buddy isn't listing to him at all in this moment, even though Eric genuinely is pouring his heart out & trying to make a connection with this new friend he feels like he can be vulnerable with without being bullied or mocked.

It's another one of those glimpses that makes me wonder how sweet he actually is, & if this was a weird form of light manipulation. Buddy gets a crush, he gives the guy he likes a great time, & then once he feels like the table has been set, he moves in. Obviously, the healthy take on this is that Buddy is nervous himself & Eric has finally given him some sort of sign that they both might be pining for one another, & so because he is a brave kid, he goes for it. I would be happy with either take, or a shade of gray in between.

⟡ Dating in the 70s

The 70s/early 80s were an interesting time for the gay lib movement. If that's something that interests you, I'd love to see Buddy & Eric (or whoever) taking advantage of Buddy's privilege to maybe go into a bigger city, or even go on vacations, & be out and proud in a place where there are a lot of other men like them.

⟡ Fusions with other roles

My eternal prompt, haha. There's something about Buddy growing up to be Arthur in Inception, or John Blake from The Dark Knight (the back story changes, but him being a rich kid that wants to help save Gotham from himself still tracks & even makes him a bit more like Nolanverse Batman!) or any of his other roles could be fun to play around with. How does Eric (or whoever you pair him up with) react to grown-up Buddy? What is Eric doing? Have they been together all this time or is this a reunion?

⬑

thanks for reading!
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