Dear MCU-AU Writer
Thanks in advance for the story you're going to write for me! I try to foster a low-pressure environment, so just know that I'm fairly easy to please. If you have fun writing for me, I'm sure I'll have fun reading it!
Themes/tropes I enjoy include mysteries, action/adventure, humor (inc. crack!fic), hurt/comfort, rescuing/being rescued (from dangerous situation, not so much emotionally), snappy dialogue, forced to work together (to overcome obstacle, solve puzzle, defeat bad guy, etc), drama, angst, friendship, found family, dark!fic, complex and morally ambiguous villains, and exploration of character back stories.
I'm mostly requesting Gen, but the Bucky/Peggy/Steve threesome can be smutty if you like. Kinks I like include femdom, MMF threesomes, DP, CFNM or CMNM, crossdressing, pegging, partially clothed sex, frottage, bondage, sensory deprivation, tease and denial, and non-sexual affection (where affection is lavished on someone with absolutely no expectation of it turning sexual in that moment - okay, prob not technically a kink but whatever, you get what I mean).
I don't particularly like things like mpreg, A/B/O, gender swap (although trans and non-binary characters are fine), kid!fic, or anything too schmoopy or fluffy. I'm not triggered by non-con or dub-con, but I'd prefer not to go there for any of these pairings.
I have no preference for present vs. past tense or first vs. third POV, so do whatever you want there. Second person is risky, but it's not an instant backbutton for me. The prompts below are just suggestions, so if your muse takes you in another direction that's fine with me.
Bucky & Loki (Angels and Demons, Lost/Stranded Somewhere, Prisoners of SHIELD, Time Travel, VA/Mental Health Clinic Inmates)
I like Loki the trickster more than Loki the batshit insane. Depending on when the story is set, Bucky may or may not know who/what he is dealing with. I'm good with either option!
Steve & Loki (Chitauri Invasion Successful, Lost/Stranded Somewhere, Prisoners of SHIELD, Project Insight Successfully Launched, Time Travel)
Steve does know what he's dealing with, and the tension between knowing that and having to trust or rely on Loki anyway (or help him against a bigger bad) is catnip to me.
Maria & Pepper (Character is HYDRA, Mirror Universe, Mob, Noir, Project Insight Successfully Launched)
Competent women being competent and in charge of stuff! I really like the idea of Maria going to Stark Industries post-CATWS and working with Pepper. I think they'd get along great and I'd like to see them being all snarky and getting shit done.
Steve & Tony (Chitauri Invasion Successful, Gladiators, Lost/Stranded Somewhere, Middle Earth, Mirror Universe, Project Insight Successfully Launched)
I may be in the minority on this, but I wasn't bothered by Steve and Tony's sniping at each other in Avengers and I didn't find it out of character for either of them. They're very different people, and I don't think they really get each other. Not right off the bat, anyway. I kind of like RDJ's take on their relationship - that Tony's kind of jealous of Steve who he perceived was Howard's "Golden Boy." If it doesn't work for the scenario, don't try to shoe-horn it in. But I do like my Tony and Steve dynamic to be somewhat contentious, especially if they can come to a greater understanding of (and respect for) each other by the end of the story.
Steve & Natasha & Sam (Chitauri Invasion Successful, Gladiators, Mirror Universe, Noir, Project Insight Successfully Launched, Reincarnation, Winter Soldier Different Identity, WWII HYDRA Victory)
I love Steve's easy friendship with Sam, and his somewhat uneasy (but getting better!) friendship with Nat, and Sam and Nat's flirting. Apart from the Lemurian Star mess, they really work well together and they've got each other's back. Think loyalty, trust, and hijinx - that's what I want out of these three.
Bucky/Peggy/Steve (Gladiators, Mirror Universe, Noir, Reincarnation, Spies/Secret Agents, WWII HYDRA Victory)
Steve's two true loves! I can't pick between them, so why should he have to? ;-) I'm fine with either Steve being the fulcrum (there's a Steve/Peggy and a Steve/Bucky dynamic, with either a nonexistent or contentious Bucky/Peggy dynamic) or a solid three-way with mutual feelings all around - whatever makes the most sense for the given scenario.
AUs:
Themes/tropes I enjoy include mysteries, action/adventure, humor (inc. crack!fic), hurt/comfort, rescuing/being rescued (from dangerous situation, not so much emotionally), snappy dialogue, forced to work together (to overcome obstacle, solve puzzle, defeat bad guy, etc), drama, angst, friendship, found family, dark!fic, complex and morally ambiguous villains, and exploration of character back stories.
I'm mostly requesting Gen, but the Bucky/Peggy/Steve threesome can be smutty if you like. Kinks I like include femdom, MMF threesomes, DP, CFNM or CMNM, crossdressing, pegging, partially clothed sex, frottage, bondage, sensory deprivation, tease and denial, and non-sexual affection (where affection is lavished on someone with absolutely no expectation of it turning sexual in that moment - okay, prob not technically a kink but whatever, you get what I mean).
I don't particularly like things like mpreg, A/B/O, gender swap (although trans and non-binary characters are fine), kid!fic, or anything too schmoopy or fluffy. I'm not triggered by non-con or dub-con, but I'd prefer not to go there for any of these pairings.
I have no preference for present vs. past tense or first vs. third POV, so do whatever you want there. Second person is risky, but it's not an instant backbutton for me. The prompts below are just suggestions, so if your muse takes you in another direction that's fine with me.
Bucky & Loki (Angels and Demons, Lost/Stranded Somewhere, Prisoners of SHIELD, Time Travel, VA/Mental Health Clinic Inmates)
I like Loki the trickster more than Loki the batshit insane. Depending on when the story is set, Bucky may or may not know who/what he is dealing with. I'm good with either option!
Steve & Loki (Chitauri Invasion Successful, Lost/Stranded Somewhere, Prisoners of SHIELD, Project Insight Successfully Launched, Time Travel)
Steve does know what he's dealing with, and the tension between knowing that and having to trust or rely on Loki anyway (or help him against a bigger bad) is catnip to me.
Maria & Pepper (Character is HYDRA, Mirror Universe, Mob, Noir, Project Insight Successfully Launched)
Competent women being competent and in charge of stuff! I really like the idea of Maria going to Stark Industries post-CATWS and working with Pepper. I think they'd get along great and I'd like to see them being all snarky and getting shit done.
Steve & Tony (Chitauri Invasion Successful, Gladiators, Lost/Stranded Somewhere, Middle Earth, Mirror Universe, Project Insight Successfully Launched)
I may be in the minority on this, but I wasn't bothered by Steve and Tony's sniping at each other in Avengers and I didn't find it out of character for either of them. They're very different people, and I don't think they really get each other. Not right off the bat, anyway. I kind of like RDJ's take on their relationship - that Tony's kind of jealous of Steve who he perceived was Howard's "Golden Boy." If it doesn't work for the scenario, don't try to shoe-horn it in. But I do like my Tony and Steve dynamic to be somewhat contentious, especially if they can come to a greater understanding of (and respect for) each other by the end of the story.
Steve & Natasha & Sam (Chitauri Invasion Successful, Gladiators, Mirror Universe, Noir, Project Insight Successfully Launched, Reincarnation, Winter Soldier Different Identity, WWII HYDRA Victory)
I love Steve's easy friendship with Sam, and his somewhat uneasy (but getting better!) friendship with Nat, and Sam and Nat's flirting. Apart from the Lemurian Star mess, they really work well together and they've got each other's back. Think loyalty, trust, and hijinx - that's what I want out of these three.
Bucky/Peggy/Steve (Gladiators, Mirror Universe, Noir, Reincarnation, Spies/Secret Agents, WWII HYDRA Victory)
Steve's two true loves! I can't pick between them, so why should he have to? ;-) I'm fine with either Steve being the fulcrum (there's a Steve/Peggy and a Steve/Bucky dynamic, with either a nonexistent or contentious Bucky/Peggy dynamic) or a solid three-way with mutual feelings all around - whatever makes the most sense for the given scenario.
AUs:
- Angels & Demons: Loki is an angel, Bucky a demon. They have a "friendly" trials-of-Job-like bet and their mark is Steve Rogers.
- Character is HYDRA: Maria is a HYDRA sleeper agent. Could be set either pre- or post-CA:TWS.
- Chitauri Invasion Successful: The battle of NY is lost, the Chitauri quickly over-run every major city, and my requested characters survive to avenge the earth. For Loki & Steve, maybe Loki gets everything he wanted but being Thanos' lackey is more than he bargained for and he makes an uneasy alliance with Steve (his favorite pet/prisoner) to help fix things.
- Gladiators: Tony is gladiator Steve's armorer/weapons master, or a wealthy patron that offers to buy him his freedom, or the owner and front-man of the greatest show in Rome, whose headlining champion is Steve. Or Steve, Natasha, and Sam are gladiators and start out as mistrustful competitors but slowly gain each other's friendship. Or Steve and Bucky are gladiators and Peggy is the wealthy patron that takes a shine to them (perhaps requesting a private performance?).
- Lost/Stranded Somewhere: Characters are lost and/or stranded in the location of your choice (an alternate universe? A remote moon? Weehawken, NJ? Whatever!) and they need to work together to survive and find their way back without killing each other.
- Middle Earth: Tony and Steve are somehow transported to Middle Earth OR they have always been there - either scenario works for me. If you go with the latter, I prefer they remain Men and not some other race. Any Age, either taking part in one of the main stories or not. My only real request is that Tony works with the dwarves to invent and build stuff - like dragon- or Balrog-fighting weapons or something.
- Mirror Universe: I love the mirror universe concept from Star Trek insofar as the mirror characters aren't "evil twins" but instead are shaped by their culture and history to be more aggressive, self-serving, and lacking compassion. So what would the MCU equivalent be like? Perhaps HYDRA is the international security organization and SHIELD agents are the moles, quietly subverting the work towards the greater good. Could be a straight mirror universe story, or a "fish out of water" story with one or more characters being transported to or from the mirror universe. Goatees and sleeveless uniforms are optional.
- Mob: Pepper is a powerful mob boss and Maria is her right hand OR Maria is the adversarial law enforcement officer who has a grudging respect for her. Bonus points for the second scenario if they need to team up against someone else or otherwise need to cooperate for some reason.
- Noir: I love all of the usual tropes and stereotypical character types found in this genre, from the hardboiled detective or the anti-hero of the story, to the cynical snarky sidekick and the femme fatale. Feel fee to play around with the role casting to subvert expectations if you like, e.g., maybe Peggy or Natasha is the hardboiled detective and Steve is the femme fatale - if you can make it work without genderswapping :-). For Maria and Pepper, maybe one of them is the detective and the other is her secretary, or the mysterious woman of mystery that brings her a case, or the canary in a nightclub embroiled in the criminal activities of her mob boyfriend.
- Prisoners/Test Subjects of SHIELD: Characters are taken prisoner by SHIELD and must work together to escape. Maybe set during CATWS, with Pierce and the STRIKE team successfully rounding up Steve, Nat and Sam. For Steve and Loki, maybe Steve was held for some reason after they thawed him and Loki shows up - either as a fellow prisoner or offering to help him (to further his own schemes, of course). For Bucky and Loki, maybe post-CATWS SHIELD gets hold of Bucky, and Loki shows up, or pre-CATWS and Loki has some plan for using the Winter Soldier.
- Project Insight Successfully Launched: The helicarriers launched, the algorithm is running, and the Avengers and their allies are all targets. Who survives the initial assault, and how? My preference is that all requested pairings survive but can be dealing with the fallout from those who didn't. Also, how do they continue to survive with that much firepower pointed at them? In the case of Steve & Loki, maybe Loki comes to earth unaware of this development, and as soon as he appears he gets bombarded with bunker busters. He can't leave immediately (possibly wounded?), so he seeks out the surviving Avengers for help and makes an uneasy alliance with Steve.
- Reincarnation: My favorite take on reincarnation is that everyone you know in this life - particularly close family and friends - you have also known in your previous lives, just in different configurations. (I first came across this in an X-files episode in which Mulder is hypnotized and remembers Scully being his father (or something) in a past life.) I also love the "our love is so strong we will always find each other" trope. And post-death reunions of all sorts, so reincarnation into some sort of heavenly realm could also work, or hellish realm if you want to go dark, I'm ok with that - perhaps a rescue mission? Maybe Bucky or Natasha dies with too much red in their ledger, and when the others die and realize he or she isn't with them, they go looking.
- Slavery: (I'm shamelessly stealing this from an anon meme commenter) Gen slave fic in which the buyer purchases a sex slave for reasons not having to do with using them for sex, but the interactions between them are rife with the expectation of sex. Tony buying Steve is the obvious way to go, but it could also be interesting flipped. It would be great if you could keep the tie between Steve and Tony's father. That might even be the reason one buys the other - out of a sense of obligation to Howard.
- Spies/Secret Agents: Steve is a secret agent during the height of the Cold War and Peggy is his superior. Bucky is the turncoat (and possibly brainwashed) agent now working for the Soviets and Steve's mission is to bring him in.
- Time Travel: The timeline is wrong and if it isn't fixed, dire consequences! Specifically for Loki, but also for the earth and possibly large portions of the known universe. Loki must travel back in time (or help Steve or Bucky time hop) to ensure the wrong thing is fixed and disaster is averted.
- VA/Mental Health Clinic Inmates: Set in the '40s or '50s - Bucky survives the war, comes home shell-shocked, and is institutionalized. Loki needs his help/cooperation with something and figures the easiest way to get it is to appear as Bucky's bff Steve (he does a great impression of Steve, after all). Unbeknownst to Loki, Bucky has a lot of unresolved issues with Steve (who he thinks is dead), some of them dating all the way back to that school yard in Brooklyn. Loki needs to help him work though those issues before Bucky will help him.
- Winter Soldier Different Identity: Natasha is the Winter Soldier. Pretty much anything exploring this.
- WWII HYDRA Victory: So HYDRA wins and my requested characters survive. Does Steve still end up in the ice? Do they create an underground resistance movement? Do they (a la Zoe and Mal in Firefly) retreat to the fringes of society to eek out a living while sometimes helping the marginalized? Do they join HYDRA in hopes of changing it from the inside? Maybe each chooses a separate path but somehow must come together again to thwart some specific injustice.