good tidings

[daken]

dear yulecreator,

I'm spock and thank you for offering any of these beloved fandoms of mine ♡

The tl;dr 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 try to make this as skim-friendly as possible, so please take whatever you need from it & I'll see you when the collection opens ♥

LIKES | DISLIKES
300 | American Horror Stories | The Nevers | The Power of the Dog | Romulus

( quick note )

⟡ Prompts are formatted to (hopefully!) work for the less-is-more & more-is-more creator. Top-level prompts like this are generalized, complete ideas &/or references. Know what you want to make by this point? Go for it.

The comments, ideas, tropes, questions & specific references exist 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 combined or to have some of my general likes used to shape their direction.

likes!

⟡ The main thing I'm looking for in all my fannish pursuits is a focus on relationships!

What are their unique dynamics? How do they support or challenge one another? How do they interact pre-, post-, & in the off-screen canon moments? Where do their needs match up, where do they differ, and how do they resolve that? I'm not much for found-families or ensembles, & generally prefer good ol' fashioned us versus the world dynamics for the character(s) I request.

Established relationships are near & dear to my heart for this reason — after they've (at least somewhat) gotten together all the fascinating ...and then? aspects become possible. Regardless of the plot or tone of canon, I am always hungry to see what the day-to-day is like for them, and the intricacies therein. How do their priorities shift now that they have someone they care about & who relies on them? How does the relationship muddy or strengthen their existing priorities or moral compass? How does the world or their general social sphere treat them, and how do they react to that treatment? (That said, I enjoy get-togethers as much as the next person, especially if it has them dealing with these considerations outright as they become an item.)

When it comes to incest, I don't mind if it's enthusiastically consensual or dubcon (or noncon that doesn't hit my DNW below), underage and age gaps are fine, and you're welcome to make the incest itself be a non-issue or to lean into that as much as you want — pretty much the only preference I have is that if you do want to lean into the incest angle, I'd rather it not all be about them getting off on the general dirty-bad-wrong taboo. I prefer whatever conflict or arousal to hinge on their interpersonal relationship & the power dynamics therein (who is more invested? who has more to lose if it became public? is it physical desire they can't control or is the sex another factor in making sure the other's world is all about them/they stay one another's most important person & don't ever look elsewhere for that connection? are they terrified of losing their family member should the relationship not work out?) than a back & forth about how wrong-hot-dirty it is that they're together.

⟡ As a sub-category to the above, I never tire of fucked-up, unhealthy relationships!

Codependent relationships, obsessive relationships, & so on: you can be giving it all to me. Doing questionable things or neglecting themselves to make their partner happy? Putting themselves or the other person in precarious situations just so they can have their desired outcome? Letting the ends justify the means? All amazing.

I love digging into the realities of what that kind of life & dynamic would look like. What does it mean when characters know — be it a growing suspicion or outright surety — that what they're feeling, the degree to which they're feeling it, isn't healthy, but they enjoy it so much they can't bring themselves to care or change? Them being equally, fuck-up-ed-ly invested in their relationship is what I live for. Character(s) willing to let the world very literally burn if it keeps the world from coming between them & the person they love — or perhaps better yet, being willing to set the world on fire if it ensures that person remains theirs alone.

⟡ Rather than miscommunication causing drama, I love it when bluntness & frankness cause tension instead.

Characters saying what they want or confessing what they've done, point-blank, & leaving it for the other to decide if they can handle that; quiet characters taking their time & mulling over their choices before telling the other person what they want; different cultures or moral constructs & the unique ways needed to bridge/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 timeless sources of conflict that engage me.

⟡ Codas, alternate canons, canon divergences, &/or slight changes to canon that don't end up changing much at all because fate always finds a way are all my bread & butter. My prompts typically range from potential plotty monstrosities to short, domestic slice-of-life details & I'd adore receiving either, or seeing you depict a prompt that might fall into the former camp into something that fits the latter.

⟡ Stories that start in the "middle"/in medias res of the overarching prompted 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 alternate canon, AU, or divergent ideas, please rest assured that I already know the basic background of what's going on & you are welcome to go right ahead with the action of the story, if that's what you want. (However, if half the fun in creating involves delving deep into the universe & making yourself at home there, go wild!)

⟡ I love, love, love genre mashups.

Slice of Life Action, Noir SciFi, Heist High Fantasy, Historical Dynamics Set in the Modern Era, Vampire Westerns, Werewolf RomComs, Social Commentary Horror — many of the, uh, out-there prompts below probably get this across, but I'm the person who you can create weird, off-the-wall works for any day of the week.

⟡ Here are my Yuleporn & Crueltide & Wrapping Paper signups, which include additional prompts and likes! My Trick or Treat letter has a section of darkfic tropes that may also be useful. I'm also participating in and a Partridge in a Pear Tree if you're looking for more fandoms. 

⟡ 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 gap ∿ underage ∿ made-them-do-it ∿ water sports for marking/scenting &/or intimacy (rather than humiliation) ∿ conditioning ∿ frottage ∿ gentleness ∿ identity porn/anonymous sex ∿ rough sex ∿ marking ∿ switching/no set sexual “roles” ∿ possessiveness ∿ power dynamics ∿ abuse of power ∿ dubcon ∿ semi-public sex (e.g sex in places where they could be caught, but aren't) ∿ sensory overload ∿ sex addiction/compulsion ∿ silence ∿ d/s that’s focused on taking care/being cared for (rather than for wont of pain/humiliation) ∿ size differences and power dynamics (feel free to have the "smaller”/younger/more docile be more "dominant”/aggressive member of the relationship) ∿ touching ∿ slavefic ∿ delayed emotional intimacy paired with very quick physical intimacy

⟡ And finally, tropes that I never fail to eat up regardless of the plot you attach to it:

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 ∿ soul mates/soul bonds ∿ fake relationships ∿ sugar daddy/transactional relationships ∿ forced/arranged marriages ∿ woke up married ∿ bodyswap with themselves from a different universe (both or one party) ∿ mirrorverse-type alternate universes in general (bonus points for a version of someone from universe!A being transported into the bleaker mirrorverse) ∿ stuck in isolation together ∿ sex before feelings ∿ exploring physical disabilities (e.g. losing sight/hearing/the ability to a speak) temporarily or permanently

dislikes!

⟡ Deathfic as an ending.

If they’re brought back to life via the supernatural, reincarnation, consciousness uploaded into an android, et cetera — 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. The death of non-requested characters or original characters are all fine, although a focus on that as a driving plot point may hit my next item.

⟡ 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 the events are sad but the character(s) experiencing them believe their lives to be normal, content, &/or are generally blind to the awfulness of their situation, then that's fine! I dislike when half or more of the work focuses on a character's sadness/angst and how they react or wallow in said angst.

⟡ Plots driven by embarrassment &/or humiliation (as a kink or situationally) that rely on actions that focus on humiliating them (e.g. A and B are forced to have sex in front of an audience; A verbally humiliates B in a sexual context or just to be cruel and B is thoroughly humiliated) are agony to me, especially if they are shown or described in detail with particular focus on the embarrassment the character feels.

However, if the character doesn't think they did anything embarrassing &/or it doesn't phase them that something embarrassing occurred (e.g. A walks in on B masturbating. B keeps going while A enjoys the show or joins in; or, A says "sorry", leaves, and then obsesses over hot B is, rather than being mortified), you're fine. Characters briefly doing something embarrassing (e.g. tripping while walking), or a character being 'weird' (e.g. a spy making a scene as cover for their mission; an alien making a cultural error due to not being of that culture), do not bother me at all. The line is crossed for me only when embarrassment or humiliation is the whole point/allure of the scene/plot and the plot/narration leans into that fact.

⟡ Painplay/torture kink ∿ cheating/infidelity (if one or both persons in a ship are in a canon relationship, I'm happy for it to be set pre-that relationship, in a divergence or alternate canon where everything is the same except that relationship never happened, or that relationship ended via break-up or divorce pre-your work) ∿ high school/university au ∿ yentas, matchmaking or meddling friends/family ∿ unrequested polyamory or open relationships ∿ epistolary ∿ crossdressing ∿ noncon wherein one or both halves completely hates the sex (if they come to like it, Stockholm Syndrome kicks in, a convenient mindbreak occurs, or anything similar — we're good!) ∿ genderswap/always-a-[opposite gender]/changes to canon gender

⟡ It's fine if you don't ship any of my various pairings, but please don't pair them up with other characters! I'm also not particularly interested in background pairings (particularly het, although not to the point where you need to avoid or explain away canon het between non-requested characters).

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

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

300 meets Romulus and Stelios and Astinos' fated meeting leads to the genesis of Rome? Sign me the hell up! The Power of the Dog fused with American Horror Stories where Phil and Peter psychopaths that bring out the worst in one another would be amazing.

300 (Movies)
Astinos & Stelios
Catch it here.

💭 For reasons I can never fully articulate, 300 remains one of those films that (for all its nonsense) managed to nail an extremely niche dynamic that I eat up, and that is entirely down to Astinos & Stelios.

I love that they manage to be both the comic relief and heart of Sparta's truncated army, and I wish that Miller & Snyder weren't cowards(!) so that these two could have boned on-screen, as they undoubtedly(!) did in history.

Never feel like you have to be more historically accurate than the film (the bar is on the floor!), but if this period in history interests you, feel free to incorporate as much of actual Spartan life as you like.

The film clearly wasn't interested in the history or actual culture so much as the vibe, which is fine, but the hands-off approach left a lot of areas that I would love to see explored: Astinos as the beloved-but-seemingly-unacknolwedged son that had yet to take part in Spartan society beyond his training; Stelios clearly established within society and yet seemingly without ties to any of the other men he was stationed amongst. The details that were given for both of them, both explicitly and implied, leave a lot of room for what I'd enjoy seeing explored if that's your thing.

Their obsession with one another is pretty much everything to me. I love that they're always next to one another; that they're constantly trying to get a reaction out of each other; that they're both so extremely annoying aggressive that their fellow soldiers seem to keep a distance, which only makes their bond seem all the more unique.

Were they were friends prior and their antagonism came from the training grounds, or is it a dynamic they picked up on the trek to fight the Persians? Stelios has experience, while this is Astinos' first battle — why is it exactly that Stelios seems to be a bit of a loner given that he must have been in battle with some of these men before, or at least trained with them? Is Astinos the only one that is on his wavelength, the first one who really gets him? And why is it that Astinos meshes so flawlessly with Stelios' psychopathic personality? There are times when Astinos' father gives the two of them very alarmed-yet-amused looks, yet never seems to voice any kind of issue — why?!

( PROMPTS )

✨ Stelios is ridiculous.

The majority of his time is spent pretty much equally between either showing off for Astinos or giving Astinos a hard time...to get a laugh out of him — please feel free to run with it.

Give me more scenes of him being a boastful nerd to make the guy he likes smile; what life was like back in Sparta where they had nothing better to do as he tried to pass the time between battles; anything as long as his hammy self is on display.

✨ "Perhaps I was so far ahead you couldn't see me?" "More likely offering your backside to the Thespians." "Jealousy does not become you, my friend." + "You're still here?" "Somebody's gotta watch your back." "Not now, I'm a little busy!"

The originals! My entire kingdom for them to be Thebean-style warrior husbands.

Be as historically accurate with Spartan(/Greek) homosocial relationships as you want: is Stelios technically old enough for it to be kosher (he says he has fought countless times!), and so no one so much as blinks? Did Astinos' father propose the arrangement to begin with to best serve his son's future, as this is his first proper campaign, such as it is, and he has never been with a woman?

Seeing as they're under voting age and won't be married for a while, is it something their families (if Stelios even has one) believe they'll grow out of once the time comes, and so they turn a blind eye to their most-loved sons?Have they not gotten together yet because they know that if they start, they will never want to stop, and it'll be the ruin of them both? What gets them to take the plunge?

✨ Stelios is a psychopath & Astinos never seems bothered by it.

Is he the same, but just doesn't show it as gleefully? Does killing not make much of a difference to him, but he likes to see Stelios happy?

✨ Immortality

Are you looking for an excuse to do an Old Guard fusion? Sign me the hell up!!!!

The first death is the roughest; it takes Astinos a while to have his decapitation sort itself out, only to find Setelios freshly dead along with everyone else — but isn't it a surprise when Stelios comes back to join him?

Does this feel like the ultimate curse, to be the only ones who survived one of history's most honorable deaths while all their brothers lay dead? Does it delight them, to know they will survive until a truly honorable death will take them out? Does one of them take it better than the other, and the other one has to carry them along until they get with the program?

✨ Or: literally any type of fix-it, please.

They're reborn! When? Another historical era? Do they have a part to play in another pivotal battle? Modern times? Do they remember their past lives? They're undead? What's the deal? Gift from the gods? Is there some divine blood in them? Are they now repapers or demons, set upon the earth to do Death's bidding? Are they ghosts with no purpose?

They're very badly injured but otherwise okay? How do they heal up? We know Spartan society has no use for injured warriors, and that they very likely would not be happy with a life of anything less than full-able-bodied-ness. Is there survivors guilt to contend with? Do they find jobs within Sparta?

Do they go elsewhere? Another city-state? Do they settle in a little space to call their own? Beyond Greece?

✨ The Spartan Way

If you aren't of a mind to change history, tell me about their lives before it all went wrong!

When did they meet? Were they together-together there, or merely friends? What made them make the jump to something more? Was Stelios a friend of Astinos' apparently many elder brothers? Did he call dibs on Astinos as it were, and has always kept an eye on him?Do you think they met in this effort to best the Persians? On screen they seem to become friends very quickly, please fill in all the moments where they bonded during the trip to the hot gates & as they prepared for battle.

⬑

 

American Horror Stories: Rubber(wo)Man
Adam & Troy Winslow
Catch it on Hulu or here.

💭 Can't believe it was Ryan Murphy of all people that finally gave me Gavin Creel & Aaron Tveit kissing but on reflection there was no other person who would go out of their way to do that for The Community™.

I love how awful these two are and I just want to bask in it. That's pretty much all I have to add; I'm here for everything that happened between these two and want more, basically.

Adam being a grifter who is willing to murder? Great. His strange sexuality and that he wants to be in an equal yet not romantic yet also fully sexual relationship with this couple? Great. Troy clearly thinking with his dick at all times and have no real moral compass or background? Great. Troy being that kombucha meme once he realizes that Adam isn't going to kill them and instead wants to become their partner, in all senses of the word? Iconic.

I'm not requesting Michael but I'm completely fine if you want to include him or not, and waive my cheating DNW regardless for this fandom. If you can make a genuine threesome work between them, I salute to you and would like to read it.

If it devolves into a cuckold situation or some kind of free use V-shaped relationship (in any combination) that is fine too, the main thing that I ask you keep in mind should you include Michael is my humiliation/embarrassment kink DNW. I'd prefer Michael always be more angry or annoyed than he is emasculated or humiliated by the dynamic Adam inherently brings into the relationship.

( PROMPTS )

✨ "You want to get blizted on Xanax and edibles and watch The Crown?"

Something I loved about this season of AHS was how it just leant into the complete campiness and didn't even really try in terms of much of the dialogue, to the point where it looped back around and became high art.

This isn't so much as a prompt as just me saying that I would love it if you leaned into how batshit the canon is for this request and have fun with the abrupt turns in characterization and the general dialogue of the AHS world this season.

✨ "Do you know what a man who hires himself as a contract to fix his own house is?"

Troy looks so happy to be roasted by Adam. What's the deal with that? Does he like being put in his place or is he not even really listening to Adam at all, and is only smiling because a hot dude is talking to him? I would love anything that goes into what their dynamic is like after we leave them for the other plots? Does Troy ever get a backbone and push back against Adam? Does it bother him? Is Adam reading him to filth something that both of them enjoy?

✨ "You were the only contractor who had a shirtless photo of himself on Angie's List." [...] "Why don't I come back, I'll take a look around and I'll give you a rough estimate of how many BJs it would take for me to do the job?"

If you don't want to write murder or have to navigate the whole cheating thing, I'd love a different-first-meeting between these two where a single Troy gets himself deep into debt by hiring Adam to continually renovate his properties. Does Adam feel guilty about it? Does he hide how messed up he is from Troy or does he not bother to hide it?

✨ "You're cruel. You kind of get off on hurting people. It's subtle, like the joy you take in not returning a phone call, or being the first to tell someone that their partner is cheating or that you just came from a party they weren't invited to — it's so subtle, Troy. It just looks like a bit of naughty fun. I know it's more than that to you." "Wait, you're just now realizing this about me? After 20 years?" "No, I've always known. I guess I liked it. Or I didn't care. But that was because you never turned your cruelty toward me."

Troy sucks! I love it! Adam is fine with physical violence and Troy is good at emotional violence — what type of couple are they like?

A two-headed vicious monster? Turning on one another? I'm not even going to pretend to assume that the script gave that much guidance; all of their scenes oddly dripped with their real-life dynamic so please feel free to have that shape how they'd be as a duo, and the same with Bomer. I love the idea of them being exaggerated versions of their theater kid selves bringing that stage-energy to what should be serious shit.

✨ "If you want your marriage to survive, you should have sex with me as much as possible to distract you until the job's done.

Tell me what their affair would have been like in a non-AHSverse.

How long would they get away with it? They're both assholes, so do they enjoy one another's company beyond the magnetism and mutual attraction? Would Troy leave Michael for Adam? Would Adam even want that? A part of me wants both of them miserable, with Adam ending up in a not-relationship he didn't even want, but he has to put Troy up since he technically did ruin Troy's marriage and contributed to his having no where to go. 

Does it stop after the renovation is done? Does one of them keep sniffing around, asking for more fixes or offering more fixes to keep it going?

✨ "Now all three of us are in this together. I'm just seizing an opportunity. I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm in kind of a tough spot right now, work-wise. I've got a couple outstanding lawsuits, not to mention my divorce, and I may or may not have stolen some clients' funds. I don't have to keep anything from you guys now! Here's my proposal [...] we'd be partners. This haunted B&B thing? I love it. I mean, listen, I'll still help with all the work. I'm actually a pretty decent contractor, except for the stealing and the senseless violence." "Fine, just stay away from our marriage." "Actually... I want in on that, too." "What?!" "Your marriage. I don't wanna sleep in the same bed as you guys, or put my toothbrush on the counter bext to yours, but I want mouth and ass privileges."

While I enjoyed all the various vignettes across this season, I'm so sad that we didn't get a full season of how this played out. I'd love to know how Troy and Adam (and Michael's?) relationship played out in the Murder House.

Did Adam get his wish of having marital privileges? Did he catch feelings? Was Michael willing to sleep with him or was it Troy only? What is cheating like in a house you're haunting? Were they even able to sleep around or was Michael cockblocking?

✨ Michael comes around.

What would a relationship look like between them? Does Michael embrace his inner psycho? Are Adam and Troy mellowed out by his being the only sane one?

Does Adam ever feel threatened by the history between Troy and Michael, or the fact that they're married? Do Adam and Michael actually get along once Michael gets past the whole homewrecker thing, and how does Troy feel about that? Is it an equal relationship, or just both of them being with Michael separately?

Is it a situation where they're awful to Michael — but only they're allowed to be, and they shut down the rest of the Murder House gang who try to be unkind to him?

✨ Fusions with their other roles.

Because I personally would find it hilarious and what is Yuletide for if not this?

Adam as a murderous fuckboy Enjorlas-type who is willing to kill rather than die to mold the world into what he thinks it should be; Troy as a Mormon missionary type letting his dick get him caught up with a boy that's no good for him, something something their Broadway Miscast duet but make it Sweeney Todd-esque — go for it.

✨ Other American Horror Story seasons.

If you want to incorporate anything, I enjoyed the original Murder House and Apocalypse! I don't remember much of any of the other ones or outright didn't watch them, however I don't mind spoilers and will assume anything I don't understand is original content so if you have a great idea for these two that touches on another season, please have fun with it.

⬑

 

The Nevers (2021)
Frank Mundi & Hugo Swann
Catch it on HBO or here.

💭 Genuinely thought I was the only person who watched this show — which? fair — but watch it I did and here we are since I can't believe it's in the tagset. I knew going in that Hugo was going to be the sort of messy upper-class bisexual hedonist with on-screen escapades that conveniently always leant more towards heterosexual, and I made my peace with it — what I was not expecting was Frank, or for their relationship to be what it is.

I'm fascinated by Hugo— who has everything from looks to money to a very sketchy club with which he can indulge himself — and the way he is constantly reaching out towards Frank, and being legitimately bothered that Frank isn't reaching back. Nothing sticks to Hugo — except this.

And then Frank! This hardman cop living in the closet who somehow manages to bag Lord Hugo Swann of all people, and then it! keeps! happening! That it's implied that Hugo doesn't date or really stick around with the same person twice, yet he and Frank have an affair — an affair that Hugo makes a point of stressing happened multiple times — is a lot and I'm here for it.

While the show definitely could have had the actual guts to show them being together, I love the implication that their interacts either involve them meeting up for sex or getting on one another's nerves. I love how Hugo is always left looking thrown off by Frank, even when Hugo's technically "won" whatever they're arguing over; Frank becomes more of himself thanks to Hugo, even if that definitely isn't what Hugo is trying to do.

I love that they're weirdly always bringing out the best in one another and that to a both literal and almost philosophical degree, they are only their complete selves around each other. There isn't a hidden softness inside of Frank and I love that, but there is a passion in him, needs that he has that no one knows about. He's made himself stand as a man outside the world, rather than of it.

Hugo allows the world to think that he is an idiot and frivolous, but there is an driven ambition there (obligatory love for Augie mention, and his relationship with Hugo — please feel free to throw him in as much as you like; I love the somehow platonic flirty vibes between Hugo and he; how Hugo both looks out for him and is just a complete leech, or the fact that they're somehow friends at all, likely the Original stray that Hugo picked up and the closest person he comes to showing his true self to someone besides the total-disclosure Frank gets) that literally only Frank knows about and can bring out in him.

( PROMPTS )

✨ "I often wonder, did she realize she could never give you what you wanted — or did she find out I was?" "I was drunk! I were blind drunk." [...] "The first time, Frank. You were drunk the first time."

Backstory! Frank was super duper drink the first time they hooked up - emphasis on the first time.

How did that happen? Did Hugo come up to Frank at Frank's local in a right time, right place sort of pickup? Did Frank somehow end up at the Ferryman's club? If so, how?! Undercover mission where he lost control of himself? On an invitation (by Hugo? was it a taunt he didn't expect Frank to take him up on?). Schmoozing and left uncomfortable?

Even more than that, how did that one-off become something more? I wouldn't put it past Hugo to blackmail as was implied, but blackmail does not require repeated sex, so what's the deal?

Did Frank like it and so it was a quid pro quo? Was it Hugo who wanted to keep it going? Does Hugo feel any sort of way towards the fact that he's got an ongoing sexual arrangement with a much older man, despite all the hot young things he has on tap? That he gets jealous of Frank having emotional connections with other people, even ones Hugo knows aren't a threat? How does he reconcile that with his sense of identity as a playboy? Or, if you don't think he has that self-awareness, how does he lie to himself to keep the cognitive dissonance at bay?

✨ "Look at you: a shadow afraid of shadows. Such a lonely life." "Yeah? Where are all your friends then?" [...] "What a strange fate! We've become men with offices." "...yeah, it's like looking in a mirror."

I love that despite them going at it from different angles (Frank closeted; Hugo indulging in every sexual whim) they've ended up as the same man, basically.

I love that literally no one would ever even think of mentioning them in the same breath, let alone saying that they're alike, yet every single conversation they have dissolves into them taking turns in calling out their similarities and shared hypocrisies. I love that despite the age, class, and even sexuality differences, they are just so alike and well suited.

Anything with them supporting one another or teaming up together would be great. What if Hugo or Frank were being blackmailed genuinely? I can only imagine how the other would use their resources to help them.

Or what if they were forced to share space — Hugo needing protection from a disgruntled Touched; Frank needing Hugo's resources for some big case — and truly delve into just how similar they are, and how well they work together as a result?

✨ "What are you spending your day doing, with this panto-Moriarty crap? Is this what you think a job feels like?"

I have consistently ended up watching some truly awful content for my fondness of James Norton and it comes down to this: the man is a goofy ham and he looks good doing it.

If you want to write an alternate canon where Hugo is a bit more actively malicious than he is in the show, I'm here for it.

I'm also here for it if you want to go full Grantchester and somehow Hugo gets involved with helping Frank solve cases despite a Priest Lord really having no business in active crime cases. Norton has said that Hugo is both dangerous and delightful, that there is both darkness and a humanity to be found in him, and I'd love to see it explored.

✨ "I had nothing against Mary." "She was a rival." "I think you know she wasn't."

Give me Hugo winding up Frank whenever he can by insinuating that Frank feels something toward him, and how strange that is for him to actually be doing.

I'm interested in the way that Hugo never seems to really be saying that Frank wasn't into Mary because he's gay (even though that's true), but that it's specifically that Hugo has had him, that Hugo keeps having him — that he's under Frank's skin —, and that's what caused it all to come tumbling down.

I understand why that's so annoying to Frank and works as bait every time, but it's such an odd choice for playboy Hugo to make, as if he wants Frank to think of them as a couple or duo or something, which seems to be the last thing he wants from anyone else. Hugo's a narcissist but for a man who seemingly has made sure he has a reputation that nobody can truly have him and who doesn't seem to want to be responsible for anyone else, yet so many of his scenes revolve around making sure that Frank never questions their shared desire and link between one another.

✨ Opposites attract.

I know I waxed poetic above about how similar they are as people, but literally Frank is a grumpy self-loathing middle-aged man who is as rough as can be with a personality to match...while Hugo is literally young, dumb, full of come, and able to have anyone he could possibly want, yet here he is going after Frank on the regular.

Beyond the pretty shell, why is it Hugo Swann of all people that apparently managed to get Frank in a pesudo-relationship, especially as maddening as he is?

Why is it that Hugo hits it and quits it with every Touched and hot young thing he comes across, yet Frank garnered a repeat performance?

What draws them to one another despite both of them surely having much simpler options available? Why does Hugo seem to make Frank see past his very clear moral code, and how is it that Frank seems to bring out the seriousness in Hugo?

✨ "We're done Swann, across the board. Out little arrangement, my debt, is done. Cause I got something over you now: I don't fucking care."

Has Hugo ever looked more aroused (and truly bothered in a way none of the other comments on his character seem to even touch him?!) than when Frank dumps him!? Sir.

Anyway, give me what the second part of the season is going to be!

How does Hugo get Frank back? Repentance? Persistence?

Is Frank actually able to keep away from Hugo? Is this actually not the first time Frank's "finished" with him at all, or just another in a series of makeups?

Does Hugo get some form of a wake-up call when Augie eventually comes out to him, and does that shift in how he treats the Touched bring him back into Frank's orbit, or provide an opportunity for Frank to see him in a better light?

✨ "Look, think about this: if they said it was Lord Such-and-what, you'd be gathering evidence, having him followed...behaving like a detective. Someone pointed you and pulled your trigger. It's no secret that you loathe me."

Them finding excuses to be around one another! Because hooking up is one thing, but you cannot tell me that half the times that Frank goes seeking out Hugo (and it goes double when Hugo is seeking out Frank) there were absolutely no reason for it. Send somebody else, go meet in private, mail a fucking letter — but no, it's always some excuse to meet up in a way that's at least slightly public, and to get on one another's nerves.

Legal troubles? Of course Hugo will run straight to Frank and lament about how hard his work is.

Extremely desperate for an update that he knows Frank doesn't have but since when has that stopped Hugo from getting in his Frank-time? May as well invite him to a mollyhouse and get some flirting in!

Give me all the times that they knowingly (or unknowingly) manufactured reasons to meet up just to talk as much as they do to have sex.

✨ Fuckboy, rentboy Hugo.

I don't care how it happens — Hugo pretending to be down on his luck after Frank catches him done up in a poor man's drag; Hugo on the lamb and having to rough it; Hugo falling into a rough patch and actually being broke — but my kingdom for Frank being forced to take Hugo in for a while and Hugo having absolutely no shame about being a kept man and Frank being so, so annoyed with himself that he can't tell the fuckboy haunting his home to get out because he actually, god help him, enjoys Hugo's infuriating company.

✨ Frank's thirst.

I know that I've said Hugo is more than meets the eye but if you just want Frank to find him annoyingly, depressingly hot and so even though perhaps Frank genuinely does not care for Hugo as a person, he also isn't stupid enough to let that stop him from having that dick on tap? I accept this headcanon.

✨ Hugo's thirst.

Similar to the above. I've pitched my theory on why they much a lot of sense, but does Hugo, above all the people that he pulls regularly, have one type that eclipses them all?

⬑

 

The Power of the Dog - Thomas Savage
Phil Burbank & Peter Gordon & Bronco Henry
Read it here or watch it here.

💭 The filmed adaption brought back all the feelings I have for the book, so I dug up my copy and could not help but reread it from cover and cover just about the moment the film's credits began to roll. Just — damn, this book.

Phil is so insanely dynamic and I don't even feel bad about actively rooting for him despite him being the villain of the piece. I love that he met the love of his life as a teenager and had a few good years; I love the strange worshipful relationship he has with that man's ghost.

Phil is something beyond closeted, he has...evolved? regressed!? into the archaic model of masculinity, has created or revived a culture where somehow everyone around him has bought into the theory that desiring or even simply enjoying the presence of women is something deeply, disgustingly effeminate, and thus manages to be completely removed from any sort of suspicion as to why he exclusively keeps to the company of men. That his parents know he is gay, have always known, and yet dare not really ever comment on it.

I love that he is so extremely smart; that he's a millionaire that doesn't bathe; that he's duplicitous enough to want to drive a woman to madness by "taking" her son, and yet still soft enough to fall in love with that boy and have it be his undoing.

Then there's Peter! Similar to Phil, I love that Pete is so throughly himself. Everything from his brand new Levi's to his lisp, he won't let these hyper-masculine men bother him. He's self-aware enough to want to keep his possibly-maybe boyfriend from coming to the ranch, but he has enough self respect to keep from hiding away or being bothered by the mistreatment lobbed at him. Pete doesn't mesh with his parents, doesn't mesh with other children, is smart and detached.

He's so much like Phil, and it shouldn't have come to a shock to anyone (least of all poor ol' Rose) that they actually got along, since Pete is essentially more suited to Phil's way of life than Phil himself is.

And then we get to Bronco Henry, the unseen hero of this tale. The man fascinates me. The way that Phil cannot keep from speaking of him even twenty-five years after his death, (if you'll allow me to pull from the film) the sensual way Phil is with Bronco's saddle, the way Phil masturbates with Bronco's monogramed scarf after all these years!!!!

It points to a tenderness, a loving sensibility that Bronco must have introduced into Phil's no-nonsense, hard life. The way he saved Phil's life and cradled him naked, the short time they had together, that Phil apparently never even considered another lover until Peter even though Phil had those vagrant seasonal workers he clearly was soft towards — the way that Phil clearly used the very same method of courting Bronco's used on him to court Peter: it's rare that the ghost of a character has such presence in a canon, but with all the complicated and grey characters that make up this story, Bronco is undeniably the hero, a figure from an era long passed when things were simpler.

Although I'm requesting the book, the film is such a (loving, wonderful) adaption that I am absolutely fine if you want to incorporate aspects of it into whatever you make for this, and if you've only seen the movie and have no interest in reading the book, I am genuinely so thirsty for content at this point that I wouldn't mind film-only fic!

Despite I requested all three characters, I'm happy with either Phil'n'Bronco or Phil'n'Peter — or, as one of my wilder prompts down below will make clear, Peter-is-Bronco'n'Phil. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

( PROMPTS )

✨ “But his habits and appearance required strangers to alter their conception of an aristocrat to one who can afford to be himself.”

I am going to do my best not to wax poetic about Phil in every one of these prompts, but no promises. But in this case — Phil! So smart, so talented, so rich, that he could pick any job he wanted and it's ranching he went for because he's smart enough to know that working with the land is the best job for a man.

I'd love to know what Bronco must have thought when he first met Phil; to hear Phil tell it, Bronco taught him everything he knows. Is that modesty on Phil's part, or was he just as clueless as Peter was? How did Bronco get Phil to become, well, Phil?

✨ “Phil might tell an anecdote of Bronco Henry, that best of riders, that best of cowboys, who had taught Phil the art of braiding rawhide.” [...] “Bronco Henry, sick with fever, had made one of the prettiest rides a fellow ever saw — at age forty-eight. God damn it — sometimes he longed to tell the whole story. One reason he hated booze, he was afraid of it, afraid of what he might tell.”

“He’d failed to capture the nostalgia his heart required; when they went around to the far side of the stack again to finish lunch, he spoke again of Bronco Henry. ‘No,’ he said, ‘Bronco Henry came to these parts ignorant of every damned thing about riding and roping. Knew less than you, Pete old dear. Why, you’re sitting up there these days on a horse good! But by God, he learned. Oh, he taught me things. He taught me that if you’ve got guts, you can do any damned thing, guts and patience. Impatience is a costly commodity, Pete. Taught me to use my eyes, too. Look yonder, there. What do you see?’ Phil shrugged. ‘You see the side of the hill. But Bronc, when he looked there, what do you suppose he saw?”

Phil loves Bronco so much and I do too, honestly!

Give me the truth behind any number of Phil's Bronco epics, the bits he keeps back; Bronco's the one who had the gay porn, who clearly taught Phil how to love — I'd have to imagine that for every amazing show of prowess or ingenuity or survival instinct, there's a kiss or celebratory roll in the hay that Phil's keeps to himself. And if you're going for during his time with Peter, how does Peter feel about the love and adoration Phil has for Bronco after all this time? Is he threatened? Charmed? Jealous? Turned on?

✨ "When at last he talked, the boy astounded them by speaking with a faint lisp in measured, adult cadences that assured them he was advanced and not retarded in spite of his slightly enlarged forehead, his wide, innocent eyes, and a disquieting habit of seeming to listen to the distance. At four he was able to read." + “Peter escaped the pain of the daily Gethsemane at school, the taunts and jibes; there he lost himself in a private world, the world he never doubted” + “he had come to look forward to the boy’s being near while he worked, braiding and molding, for Peter was a perfect audience, rapt as Phil told him of the early days, and so receptive and caught up in the gray web of the past that Phil had once laughed aloud [...] “What do you see out there, old-timer?’ Phil asked, amused to see the kid caught off guard. His hands were still. Peter’s eyes moved slowly to Phil; they looked like a sleepwalker’s. ‘Phil, I was thinking about the old days.”

“Phil selected a cured blade of timothy from beside him and sucked and nursed the end of it, thinking how curious that Peter’s face and arms seemed to glow. He coughed and removed the blade of hay from his mouth. ‘You’ve got quite a tan there,’ he said, and fell silent. Then, ‘What it was about Bronco Henry, is he never did any roping, never any riding till he was anyway your age.”

One word for you: reincarnation.

I'm such a sucker for soulmates of the reincarnated variety, especially when it presents and age gap and even more when that age gap is a reversal of how things were the first time around.

Please give me Bronco's soul being reborn into Peter; have Peter's life-long strangeness come out of this, and make it be the source of purpose he feels when he finally does meet Phil. Pete is drawn to Phil despite having more than enough reasons not to mess with ranching men — why?

Phil grows to respect Peter before they've even gotten close, finds himself coming up with a scheme to justify this fascination — why?

I enjoy any type of reincarnation trope: Peter can remember that he was Bronco, have no idea, whatever.

✨ “Phil made no bones about it that he often laughed and talked to himself — ‘keeping hisself company,’ as he put it. It amused him to repeat the speech of those who amused him, to savor it.” + “Alone, Phil often talked or laughed to himself, aware that he did so, knowing it was not the speech of madness but merely his way of heightening or giving permanence to some thought as others will take a pencil and write it down.”

“Rose had taken pride in Peter’s neatness; now she saw it as a threat to him; she was sickeningly aware of his slight lisp. That and the neatness would draw Phil’s scorn at once, and she now saw the possibility that the boy might be so unhappy."

I love that Peter disappears into his own mind, whereas Phil actively and slightly obnoxiously is of the world: talking to himself, making noises and groans. I love that Peter is a sissy and clean and Phil is a brute that literally only bathes once a month and when he does, it's a lake because he refuses to use a bath.

If you're not interested in doing a fix-it, I'd kind of love to see more of their time together before the end, where they get to learn and find joy in the different ways they achieve a similar sort of self-stimulation.

✨ “Phil was two years ahead of George in college, and as a freshman made some kind of college history: half a million was a lot of money then, and by the time Phil was registered and walking to the dormitory in the California sun, the value of the ranch, via the grapevine, had perhaps doubled in the minds of the young men in the fraternity houses."

The timeline on if Phil met Bronco prior or after he went off to college (or indeed if his meeting was similar to Peter's, where he met Bronco during a summer vacation return to the ranch) has always been a little hazy to me, but either way I am so in love with the idea of all these rich UC boys fawning over Phil (some who I am sure looked at him with desire, given how handsome and masculine he was on top of the money) and Phil having absolutely no interest in them at all, only for him to fall for a cowboy double his age.

Give me Phil not thinking anyone would ever be on his level, would ever catch his attention, and then in walks Bronco Henry! Give me Phil writing Bronco letters or finding excuses to make that long trip from California to Utah just to see Bronco! Give me Bronco coming to visit and all the college boys being thrown for a loop to see Phil so — affectionate? smitten? tactile? aggressive? — however you image they were.

I can't imagine that Phil was any better at keeping quiet about his Bronco standom when he was younger, so did his college friends think that Phil was making someone like Bronco up, and they're shocked to find him to be not only real, but exactly as described?

✨ “Imagine then, his outrage when that summer he stood naked beside the creek preparing to wade in and wash himself when he heard a rustling that was not a magpie, not a cottontail, and turned, and saw Miss Nancy." + “Peter listened, expressionless. He had been exploring when he came upon Phil, naked. He still saw the white, hairless body. He said nothing of the incident to his mother — naturally — and he had a hunch Phil hadn’t mentioned it, either. In a way, he and Phil had a kind of bond — a bond of hatred, maybe, but Peter felt that one kind of bond could be just as useful as another.”

Something I loved about the film was the extremely sensual and drawn out nature of Phil's masturbation session at the lake, the pornography hidden away in a place that no one but "he and George — and once one other" knew about or had ever been to. 

I'd love anything where maybe he takes Peter there and truly introduces him into the space, or just having the first time he went there and Bronco introduced that kind of sensualism to him. The film shows Phil keeping Bronco's scarf/kerchief in his pants — tell me more! Is it there all the time? Is it wrapped around his cock like the scene suggests, and does he do it so that he can keep a masculine scent on it? Was that something Bronco did as well? Anything pertaining to the idea of "one kind of bond" being just as useful as another, and the eroticism of a shared secret and being sexual out in nature.

✨ “Now, Phil always gave credit where credit was due. The kid had an uncommon kind of guts. Wouldn’t it be just interesting as hell if Phil could wean the boy away from his mama?” + “He had long dreaded talks with his mother, for they now led inevitably to nostalgic references to the past”

Alright, this has been what you've been waiting for! Please, please fix it.

I'd love for Phil to succeed in "corrupting" Peter away from his mother, although however that works is up to you. Does Peter allow himself to be molded in Phil's image? Does he drop out of school? Does he finish, but decide to come back and work the ranch rather than escaping to a city? Is he a better doctor than his father? Does he move into that shared room with Phil? Does he no longer see his mother as a pure thing, and succumb to see her as the broken person that Phil managed to gaslight her into?

Is it less of a "corruption", and more of Phil's focus changing? Phil "getting" Peter is going to sting to Rose regardless, but what if love returning to Phil's life — having someone he is able to care for and guide — makes him take less of an active role in wanting to drive Rose away?

Is Peter able to get him to lay off his mother, or perhaps get Phil to move from the main house with him? That big mansion has never seemed to suit Phil anyway; a love nest without plumping or electricity, set off away so they can live more in line with nature seems like a easy sell, should Peter pitch it.

Or is it Peter who "tames" Phil? Phil, for all his smarts, is absolutely malleable enough to fall for whatever Peter wants him to do, as his tragic death certainly evidenced. What if it's Peter who "corrupts" Phil into being kind and civilized for a change? How does he accomplish it?

Phil is pretty blatantly a romantic in his own way, does a return of love and kindness into his world allow him to no longer have the time or energy to go after Rose? Does he just want to keep Peter happy?

Does Peter use sex to get Phil to do what he wants? Is Peter truly as enamored with Phil as Phil is with him, or is he using affection in stead of the brutal, cold-hearted violence he did canonically?

✨ “Not only had Peter defied protocol by expressing his wish for meat before it was offered, but in inquiring whether she wished more meat had suddenly assumed the authority of one able to offer it. Whether Phil would have risen and gone to George’s place and sliced more meat, Rose never knew; for when Peter spoke, he rose, went to George’s place and carved off two pieces. Before Rose could pass her plate, Phil turned a long, reptilian look on Peter, and then on her. He blinked once, pushed back his chair, rose and left the table. She had never heard him excuse himself from the table. Phil made no excuses.” + “Finished, he continued to watch himself, and dragged his thumb across the teeth of the comb. His lips formed a single word. ‘Phil …”

The power play between these two is kind of insane. In Peter being so sure of himself, in being mildly effeminate and yet without shame, he's got that sort of — I don't know, big dick energy(??) — that manages to completely cow Phil in certain situations. 

For all that I am here for Phil introducing Peter into the hyper-masculine homosocial world that he's created, I would also love for Peter to have that same secret sauce that Bronco possessed, and being able to dominate Phil in ways literally no other man ever has been able to. What happened that night of the murder; did Peter give Phil one last taste of happiness to enjoy before his life was over?

Does Phil actually enjoy Peter having sway over him — sexually or emotionally? Does it actually really fucking annoy him, but since he's such a bastard a good dose of being put in his place does a world of good?

Does Peter get anything out of it? Does he even realize he's doing it? Any sort of shifting power plays between them, of them knowing exactly what the other is doing but still letting them do it, would be amazing.

✨ “[...] the first sharp whistle flew like an arrow as the boy passed the second tent; the whistle men give a girl. Why, the boy was better off dead than to attract such scorn. [...]"

Although this is set in the last hurrah of the waning culture of the West, I would absolutely love an alternate canon set during the West-proper, where ranches and settler towns were little more than men — men of color, vagrants, homosexuals, orphans, the destitute — looking to escape the trappings of the East Coast where they didn't fit in, the West a great oasis where they could make a future for themselves, a home.

Kodi missed out on hooking up with Fassbender in Slow West so give he (and me) a second shot at that Athenian ideal with Cumberbatch! I'd love to see the odd courtship of the poncy orphaned doctor's son and the rich rancher.

What would it be like for Phil to have all these men whistling after Peter in a time when his interest in men was more open than secret? What would that courtship look like when companionship was not only on the table, but practically a prerequisite?

✨ “And the boy actually smiled at him” + “It was like pulling teeth to get Peter to talk. You had to toss the kid direct questions. When Peter spoke, he felt curiously rewarded.”

From seldom smiling at anyone save his mother to legitimately smiling at Phil after all the shit they've been through! After Phil showed him the barest minimum of kindness! What does it mean?!

Do you think this is when Peter came up with his plan to end Phil? We know that Peter is kind of a sociopath and I love him for it, so how do you see his feelings towards Phil? Someone who can care for him? Does Peter actually delight in Phil's company?

Right from the start, at the dinner hall with the paper flowers, it was obvious Peter was drawn to Phil and sought his approval; do you think getting that approval, that attention, truly awakened something in him that no one else was able to reach?

Peter went to find the old Lewis & Clark route by himself, but what if Phil had gone along? What would a few days alone in the wilderness have wrought?

✨ “Phil had taught Peter to ride, had turned over to him a gentle bay horse, and together they rode down into the fields where Peter helped him build pole fences around the haystacks, and at noon they ate their lunches of deviled ham sandwiches and apples while Phil told stories of Bronco Henry. ‘We’ve had quite a time this fall, ain’t we, old-timer?’ Phil asked. And for a fact, Phil enjoyed himself. ‘I won’t forget it, Phil,’ Peter said soberly. The rope, the bond between them, Phil kept coiled like a snake in a sack as he worked at the unfinished end, feeding it, as it grew, into the sack”

If you aren't interested in a fix-it, I would love more of this time period, of Phil teaching Peter things he will remember; of Phil having love return to his life, truly breathing fire into it so that he dies having lived again.

In the film, when Phil has Peter sit on Bronco's saddle — the saddle he practically makes love to as a means of settling himself when he's frustrated — it made me wonder if Phil is trying to build Peter up in Bronco's image; how Peter might feel about that, and if Phil even realize that's what it is he's doing?

For Bronco and Phil, I'd love to see Phil learning these things; of Phil being shaped into a man who is prickly and yet so full of depth and affection. What Bronco did to earn that love, so much so that Phil doesn't go a few hours without thinking or speaking of him with devotion.

✨ “What reason for the boy to have rawhide but wanting to braid like him! To emulate him! Why else would he have cut up strips of rawhide? The boy wanted to become him, to merge with him as Phil had only once before wanted to become one with someone, and that one was gone, trampled to death while Phil, twenty years old, watched from the top rail of the bronc corral. Ah, God, but Phil had almost forgot what the touch of a hand will do, and his heart counted the seconds that Peter’s was on him and rejoiced at the quality of the pressure. It told him what his heart required to know. Please, was it not Fate (because a man must believe in something), was it not Fate that the boy had looked on him in his nakedness in that hidden place known only to George and to himself — and to Bronco Henry? Just so, he had looked on the boy’s nakedness in that eternity when the boy had walked proud and unprotected past the open tents, jeered at, scorned — a pariah. But Phil knew, God knows he knew, what it was to be a pariah, and he had loathed the world, should it loath him first. His voice was husky, ‘That’s damned kind of you, Pete,’ and he slid his long arm about the boy’s shoulders. Once before that day, he’d been tempted, and desisted, because he’d always sworn out of that old loyalty never again to make that move. ‘I’ll tell you one thing. Everything’s going to be clear sailing for you from now on in.”

This passage absolutely destroyed me. What if Phil had lived — that's it, that's the prompt.

Phil was on his way to lionizing Peter before they even kissed; had they gotten together, how obnoxiously would he have hyped up his boy? How often would the hands have to hear about Peter in the same tones Phil uses to talk about Bronco, his genius boy?

Would Phil go to visit him at school? Would Peter be eager to come home on the weekends and holidays? Phil says that Peter would never want for anything and he has the means to make it happen — rentboys and keptboys are in my likes for a reason, so please give me Phil being a sugar daddy.

Does Peter enjoy it? Does he even really notice? What about that friend of his, the would-be Professor, back at school? Is he shocked to have Peter coming back talking about a man like Phil Burbank? What are things like after Peter has graduated? How are things when Peter has reached an age where Phil has no possible explanation for why he spends so much time with and dotes so lovingly on his adopted nephew?

And what if Bronco had lived? The reveal of how short a time they had with one another, yet how deep Phil's devotion still runs, that Phil promised never to find another and nearly succeeded in it (and that finding another ended up being his downfall, my heart!!) is just alkdj;skd

Give me Bronco living and Phil not needing his brother quite so much; of Bronco growing old yet still being strong, and Phil going on thinking that he hung the moon.

✨ “Peter was moved, too. In some astonishing way far beyond his pagan petitions, his poor mother had taken his own plan right out of his hands, and as he stood feeling the hand that gripped his shoulder, he seemed to hear a voice whispering that he was as special as he believed himself to be.”

Here's the other one you were waiting for: make it paranormal, baby.

Phil is constantly talking to himself, has no desire for anyone else and seems fine despite it — is that because Bronco's never actually left him? Is Phil able to summon Bronco in their secret spot near the lake, or is Bronco always with him? Is it their love that keeps them tethered, or did Phil make a deal with the devil? Cast some sort of spell?

Same deal with Peter — Phil's love is so strong that a silly little thing like death never has seemed to stop him. Does Phil haunt Peter? Does Peter mind? Was killing Phil far from the end of Peter's plans; does he summon Phil back to him, and bind them together forever? Bleak or schmoopy, I don't care, but please feel free to indulge my enjoyment of character death so long as it continues beyond this mortal coil!

⬑

Romulus (TV 2020)
Enitos & Wiros & Yemos
Catch it on HBO eventually, Sky Italia or here.

💭 Sometimes the universe comes together to make a canon specifically for you. Romulus is that show for me.

I love that its got a cast stacked full of Italy's youngest talent; I love that it's entirely in archaic Latin; I love that the plot hinges on not one but two "I would burn the entire world down for you" ships and both of them center around history's most tragic lad: Yemos. There has yet to be an Andrea Arcangeli performance that hasn't ruined me but Romulus may be the most devastating one yet. (Related: if anyone wants to do a Trust fusion somehow, please do it.)

Where to even begin — right from the start the show let us know that Enitos was his whole world, and then sure enough Yemos' entire universe collapsed when his brother died. I love that he gave up on everything until Wiros, nearly prototypical in his snake-ish-ness, got under his skin.

I love that Yemos' completely unhealthy brother complex transferred nicely onto Wiros and that Wiros, for the first time in his entire miserable life, decided to be loyal to someone else, purely by wont of Yemos' love for him. I spoke in my general likes about how I love unhealthy relationships, what I enjoy out of incest, and the way canon depicted both of Yemos' relationships perfectly rang those particular bells.

Enitos & Yemos are a special kind of hell for me. A part of me actually ended up relieved at Enitos' early death because I don't think that Yemos would have been able to cope with him loving someone else.

I loved how tender they were with one another, and yet how they were constantly flirting teasing within the same breath. The easy way in which they assumed their roles as dual kings-to-be was wonderful. I found myself wondering how they would end up becoming one another's downfall — when I tell you that the way they handled that quickly-doused misunderstanding between them is exactly what I mean up top in how I enjoy that trope being handled? a true masterclass! — because it just didn't seem possible, and of course that's because it wasn't ever going to be the two of them drawn to that particular precipice.

I'd love anything that fixes Entios' death, thus leaving Enitos to have to reconcile with his brother's devotion to him — does he have it in him to Yemos happiness? could another relationship really rival that of his brother's, or is another relationship worth risking losing the easy relationship he shares with his brother? is he willing to give his brother what he desires? — or perhaps something prior to his death when they were on their own during happier times, blissfully in a world that revolved around the two of them.

That said — the elephant in the room is that Wiros. Wiros, who is as devoted to Yemos as Yemos is to him; who is willing to do awful, terrible things to keep he and Yemos alive and together, even if everyone else ends up dead or ruined; who was born and bred to look after himself and has been fighting against that nature time after time in order to use those skills to benefit Yemos as much as himself. Wiros, who will eventually be the one to betray Yemos.

(Unless you think it will be Yemos who does the betrayal, which seems impossible to me but I am willing to be sold, especially if it's due to Yemos being cast aside a second time!)

I love that from the very start, everything is insanely charged between the two of them. The jealousy he has for the spectre Enitos casts over Yemos' heart that keeps it closed to Wiros; the way he insists and schemes and does everything he possibly can to get Yemos to love and care for him. The way he actually cares for Yemos return, the first and only time in his life he hasn't topped his own list of priorities.

Yemos knows that he's lucky to've found another person he loves as much as his brother and when I tell you the bliss I experienced at Yemos forsaking his entire culture and brithright in order to start over with Wiros, author!!!!!!

Although I've requested all three characters, you're welcome to only write about Yemos'n'Enitos or Yemos'n'Wiros. This is one of the few exceptions to my love-triangle dislike, so if you want to make that happen in any sort of combination, please feel free!

( PROMPTS )

✨ Two Kings

Ritualized incest? Alright, twist my arm!

If you'd like for some of the myths of dual kings to involve them binding themselves together in marriage, please go for it.

If that's not your thing, I'd love for one of the reasons Yemos & Enitos feel no jealousy between each other coming down to the love they share, even if it must remain secret.

✨ "We promised our mother we would not be apart for any reason. [...] We are not two. We are the right and the left. The two halves of the same man."

Please just anything about how o b s e s s e d Yemos is with his brother & the loyalty & obligation that puts on Enitos — all of it.

✨ Enitos lives.

However you like.

Faked death the entire time? Magic reviving him? Does he come back wrong, empowered by or sharing a vessel with a vengeful god?

I'm always partial to rebirth of a soul remembering it's past life, as once he is of age to seek out Yemos on his own you get bonus delicious age-gap — but regardless of how you achieve it, give me Enitos showing up!

How does Yemos react? Is he able to return to the loveably younger brother, or has he changed too much? Has that change made him obsessive; is he willing to let Enitos out of his sight?

How does Wiros react to this development, after having Yemos to himself?

✨ "You were hungry and I fed you. What more do you want from me?"

I'm such a sucker for recently, stoically traumatized heroes being unable to shake weasley™ schemers who clearly fell in love the minute our traumatized hero showed a shred of kindness to them, because it was the first time in the weasels life that anyone ever die.

Please just lean into that dynamic or zero-in on any of those moments.

✨ "You saved my life and I don't know your name."

Yemos was such a good boy once upon a time! I will never get over the fact that even before they became everything for one another, he was willing to do truly awful things for Wiros. Please unpack this.

We saw hints of it when Yemos was willing to kill himself rather than be separated from Enitos, but clearly losing his brother made whatever sweetness was in him completely snap into complete unhealthy devotion.

Wiros, unlike Enitos, seems to relish in the darker side of Yemos. Does he cause trouble just to test what Yemos is willing to do or forgive of him? Does Yemos ever feel bad for the depths he reaches for Wiros, or is anything justified if it keeps Wiros safe & happy?

✨ "You have driven death away. I owe you my life." "You don't own me anything. Your brother came back to get you because of me. Because I told the merchants we were brothers." "That wasn't my brother. [...] My brother loves me, he would never want me to die. He sent you to me as a second chance. To save me from the spirits that were killing me."

(Unrelated but also very related: the way Wiros looks at Yemos' lips during this scene, my god. When will Italy lean into its gay roots!?! Have gay characters in shows!!!)

If you want to have them one-upping one another in terms of life-saving & declarations of loyalty & other ridiculous displays of how much they love one another and could not care less for anyone else in the world, then please, have at it.

✨ Rumia makes them do it.

Getting married, another orgy, whatever — and pick whatever tropey outcome you'd like: soulbond, bodyswap, telepathy, immortality, it's up to you.

✨ "You're still alive." "Embrace me as the living do."

They're so dramatic!!!! And gay!!!!!!!!!!

Their reunion in S01E09, one of them having been away on a diplomatic trip as they establish the Roman settlement, or other random reasons — pick whatever you want and tell me all about how they cannot wait to get their hands on one another after even the shortest time apart.

✨ "I had to lose a brother who was the same as me to find another who is different. [...] It is not in Alba I will reign but a different land. [...] A land that is now without a king, a city that now is called Velia. It is your city, Wiros. We are brothers, and we will reign together. [...] Come here, brother." "This man is my brother! He will never say a word against me, and I never a word against him. Our city will welcome all the Gods! [...] Our city, if you want it, will be called Ruma!"

Not Yemos giving up his reign as the king as kings to co-rule with Wiros!!!! Not giving a big speech about it in front of everyone he has ever known & then the two of them walking off into the sunset!!!! Not it literally being filmed like a love confession!!! (Not me knowing the rest of the Romulus & Remus myth and knowing this is going to run my life next season...)

Please give me them co-ruling, having a great time, and fucking the hell out of one another every night — and going at it double when the inevitable strife starts up.

✨ Wiros begging, groveling, & thanking him brings up conflicting emotions in Yemos.

(Wiros knows this, and plays it to his advantage.)

✨ Yemos seeking out Wiros after his nightmares; bedsharing.

✨ Yemos being obsessively possessive with Wiros after what happened with Enitos; Wiros absolutely eating it up since he's never had anyone care for him at all, let alone this much.

⬑

thanks for reading!