M/M Rares 2015: Dear Writer
Thank you for writing for me! I hope this match is okay for you and you can find something you like/something that’s inspiring. The letter is TL;DR-y, but I want to emphasize upfront that I will most probably like/love basically anything that doesn’t hit my squicks and at least tries to play with some of my favorite characters and tropes. This is meant to be only a guide to what I like (which is a pretty wide-ranging and flexible field), and playing around/remixing is totally fine as long as it avoids the squicks. (All my “prompts” are mostly just brainstorming, and if you have something involving the characters you really want to do that doesn’t hit my DNWs, feel free.) Also, I’ve tried to provide a decent range of both nonexplicit and explicit/porny--anything I like in general I also like sexually, and if you’re not comfortable with anything super porny, feel free to tone it down.
Where else I can be found
AO3: theoldgods
Tumblr: theoldgods (my general post on ships and favs/DNWs is here)
Twitter: minebyrights
[General Likes and Dislikes]
Likes
Any level of explicitness is fine, from really basic shy flirtation/chemistry to full-on explicit porn (as long as it doesn’t hit my porn squicks listed below). In general I prefer things that stick fairly close to the canon tone and canon events (although spec fic/future fic is fine), but do feel free to tone down or jettison entirely any blatant homophobia, racism, etc. in the source material.
General
--Worldbuilding
--Female friendships
--m/f platonic but intense friendships
--The classic Holmes/Watson dynamic wherein someone with a very high IQ but shit emotional quotient learns from/becomes bosom buddies with someone with a high emotional quotient (especially if it becomes clear that they’re not so different after all)
--Undercover work and casefic where applicable
--Bedsharing and huddling for warmth
--Pretending to be in a relationship or married
--Clever (and also sometimes just silly) bickering and bantering like old marrieds
--Clothing and hand descriptions (I’m especially fond of period clothing, boots, and men in kilts/skirts/whatever)
--“You’re the only person who understands X part of me and i’m the only person who understands Y part of you!”
--Bathing/cleaning each other
--Adrenaline junkies/partners in crime
--Daemons, whether in HDM fic or not
--Snow/anything set in winter
--Shared living situations
--Found families
--5+1s/vignettes if they’re thematically connected and characters evolve in some way across them
--Age differences in relationships (if they’re sexual, please have everyone be adults)
Specifically sexual
--One character is dressed (the fancier the better) and the other isn’t
--Clothed or semiclothed sex
--Coming in pants
--Consensual cousin or sibling incest
--Dubcon, especially of the drunken/sex pollen variety
--Public or nearly-public sex and related elements of exhibitionism/voyeurism
--Codependency
--Elements of BDSM (light bondage and some whipping/spanking), especially involving mouthy, subby men who need the aggression fucked out of them, although I don’t really like formalized D/s relationships where one character always plays the same role in relation to the other
--Casual/reluctant tops/doms who are nonetheless caring
--Topping from the bottom
--Shower/bath/pool/other water sex
--Frottage/dry humping/intercrural/otherwise nonpenetrative sex
--Dirty talk
--Oral, especially cunnilingus
--Threesomes, especially m/m/m or m/m/f
--Masturbation, both solo and mutual
Dislikes
General
--First or second person POV
--Pregnancy/childfic (this includes mpreg)
--Death fic
--Really, really dark/angsty stuff (I don’t mind touching on darkness/angst, but overall I’m into at least ambiguously positive endings when it comes to fic)
--Horror/gore
--Character bashing in general (even of characters I’m not fond of), especially bashing of canonical love interests in the background of noncanon ship fics
--AUs, especially modern AUs of historical/fantasy settings; future spec fic or canon divergence is fine, but I’m usually into canons because I like their worldbuilding the way it is and want to play in that world. (EXCEPTION TO THIS IS DAEMON AUs--I absolutely love daemons and don’t mind them being integrated into non-HDM worlds.)
--Tentacles
--Body horror/extreme body modification
Specifically sexual
--Omegaverse
--Rape/noncon
--Bodily fluids/watersports
--Parent-child incest
--Pedophilia/kinking on how youthful-looking characters are (in general, if the character isn’t at least 16 or 17, please nothing harder than kissing, unless you intentionally age them up)
--Anything touching on the humiliation of women, even just for kink
[The Americans (TV 2013) (Oleg/Arkady, Stan/Oleg)]
The Americans (TV 2013)
Oleg Igorevich Burov/Arkady Ivanovich, Stan Beeman/Oleg Igorevich Burov
I did not expect one of my favorite parts of season 3 to be Oleg, but here we are! I love his relationship with Arkady, the distrust (“Is President Nixon personally scaling our walls in his cowboy hat?”) that develops into quite a strong bit of loyalty between them as they deal with Oleg’s father, and I actually thoroughly enjoyed odd couple Oleg and Stan. I’d love some average day Arkady/Oleg office banter/flirtation/sex, wherever the mood takes you--maybe they’re working late and end up bitching about the motherland and/or the United States, maybe Oleg goes to Arkady with his suspicions about Stan and Stan being set on him, who knows. For Stan and Oleg I’d love more awkward cultural moments between them as they’re forced to work on something (to save Nina, as part of Stan’s post-S3 orders to turn him, whatever), missing scenes from S3, anything exploring the cultural clash there and how they are both just peons of their respective nations in the end.
If the TTSS and Kingsman requests aren’t enough to tip you off: I like spies. I like questions of double lives, what gets revealed when these lives cross, which self is “true” and which is “false” (IMO, they are likely both true to some extent), and more. In the context of the Cold War, confusions over capitalism vs. communism and idealism vs. pragmatism are especially potent for me and make the culture clashes (especially between Stan and Oleg) super interesting. Bonus points for going into their pre- or early-FBI/KGB lives to explore how that affects them at the time of the series.
[Crossover Fandoms (Harry Hart/Mycroft Holmes, Malcolm Tucker/Mycroft Holmes, Merlin/Q)]
Crossover Fandom
Harry Hart (Kingsman)/Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock (TV)), Malcolm Tucker (The Thick of It)/Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock (TV)), Merlin (Kingsman)/Q (Bond - Craig Movies)
So Harry/Mycroft hits my debonair spy feelings pretty hard. They’re technically sort of rival companies, but what does Mycroft think of freelance spies? Does he ever try to sabotage bits of Kingsman behind Harry’s back (and vice versa)? Where do they meet and what do they do outside of work? Did Mycroft ever have a legwork stint like Harry has, and can they ever bond over that?
Malcolm/Mycroft is all about the power games for me, these two older men in suits who could probably spend all day dancing around one another playing stupid games--Malcolm whose fortunes rise and fall with his political party and civil servant Mycroft who is thoroughly embedded into the nation as a whole and in many ways seems to transcend politics and go straight to the dangerous stuff. What does Malcolm do after the end of TTOI--does he go to Mycroft? Does Mycroft ever help Mycroft out behind the scenes during the events of TTOI, and how much does Malcolm secretly love or loathe him for that? Do they gloriously fuck one another over at some point?
Merlin and Q are at least on the surface the designated nerds/tech geeks of their respective organizations, but they have to have more than that, of course. Them bitching about their agents would be entertaining, but I’d also love to see them totally out of a spy context for a night--and maybe when they meet at first they don’t know what it is they both do and only slowly, over the course of an evening/their relationship, actually learn that they’re both spies, and spy handlers at that? (Do Kingsman and MI6 ever do joint stuff in the field?)
For all of these, there’s a pretty strong undercurrent of spying/power games/people who trust relatively few people coming together nonetheless, so anything working with those dynamics is great. I’d also especially love suit porn here, competency porn, awkward meetings potentially turning into something more, middle-aged people forging new relationships with one another (whether or not those relationships are fully healthy or advisable), clandestine dating/sex, and similar--wherever your imagination takes you!
[Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) (Harry/Merlin, Merlin/Eggsy)]
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Harry Hart/Merlin (Kingsman), Merlin/Gary “Eggsy” Unwin
I love basically everything about this movie, but Harry and Merlin and their potential shared past, especially as they drag Eggsy into it, are one of my favorite parts. (My favorite random scene might be the fighting over the clipboard bit while Harry’s in hospital.) For Harry/Merlin I’d love your interpretation of their early days, how they met, who joined Kingsman first if you have a headcanon for that, whatever. For Merlin/Eggsy I’d love some postmovie bonding, with actually!dead Harry or with Harry Lives!, whatever, especially if you can weave in the training as well (I love boarding school/weird education hijinks) and what each thinks of the other going back to training. For either pair I’d love to see them on any sort of mission fic, if you can swing it, especially if it involves one or the other getting hurt and some comfort arising from that. Or even just some hurt/comfort in general, not necessarily arising from a mission. Or how about seeing them doing something profoundly non-spy-like and fumbling through it? (Having to shop for something, or going on a non-work vacation, or going swimming, or….) And finally, I do threesome ship them, so if you want to do that (or do Eggsy/Merlin current day with them having some mutual pining over Harry or similar), that’s also awesome.
I’m fond of the absurdity of the gadgets, suit porn, competency porn, banter between them, Merlin in kilts for even the flimsiest of reasons, spy BFFs/husbands interactions, Harry’s shoulders and dressing gown, Eggsy playing up his chavvy side to irritate people (or for a mission), age gap/mild teacher-student kinking as long as it’s not infantilizing to the younger member, awkward younger versions of Harry+Merlin, late in life friendships/romances, and basically anything similar. I also love the other characters in the movie, so feel free to have them around as well. I just ask that it doesn’t become a “Merlin sets Harry up with Eggsy” fic.
[Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (Bingley/Darcy, Darcy/Wickham)]
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Charles Bingley/Fitzwilliam Darcy, Fitzwilliam Darcy/George Wickham
My fondness for male Regency outfits (and for broody types like Darcy, cads like Wickham, and cheery folk like Bingley) means that I’m always on board with some P&P slash. I’d love some friends-to-lovers Bingley/Darcy (how did they meet and become friends over the years? When did it become more? Maybe Darcy helps Bingley practice-propose, a la 2005, and they do a little kissing/frotting? Or they practice-dance and it turns into more?) or awkward angsty teenage Darcy/Wickham (maybe they have awkward sex as comfort after Darcy Senior dies? Or, going by Death Comes to Pemberley, they comfort one another around the Riley boy’s execution?). If you want to throw all three of them together, go for it. Bonus points for judicious use of cravats as bondage implements, bottom/sub!Darcy, frottage while mostly still fully clothed, and loving descriptions of waistcoats and boots. I do love their canonical relationships with women, so please no bashing of Lizzy/Jane/Lydia---and if you feel inspired to write women in there as well (Darcy/Lizzy/Wickham hatesex, for example), go for it.
Austen’s humor/satire is always one of my favorite parts of reading her, so if you can work that cheekiness in, that would be amazing. I don’t really go for Bennet sister incest or Fitzwilliam/Georgiana incest, but I AM a pretty big fan of Georgiana/Lizzy if you end up working any women in and want to include mentions of that. I’m overall not a version snob and have seen 1995, 2005, and DCTP and enjoyed them all in some way or another, but my mental images of characters/characterizations are Firth!Darcy, Bonham-Carter!Bingley, and Goode!Wickham if you’re curious. (You do not have to write specifically to those versions if you don’t want.)
[Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - All Media Types (Bill/Jim, Peter/Bill, Peter/George, Bill/George)]
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - All Media Types
Bill Haydon/Jim Prideaux, Peter Guillam/Bill Haydon, Peter Guillam/George Smiley, Bill Haydon/George Smiley
For Bill/Jim, literally anything is amazing, but I’d especially love some sort of WWII or its immediate aftermath fic for them (where they’re spies but shit hasn’t yet come close to hitting the fan)--younger versions of themselves working the southern Mediterranean networks (as suggested in the book) would be great (maybe they take a break off work and do something silly together but can’t quite stop the whole spy thing nonetheless)? I’d also love to see them with a third (Peter? Even just some random OC they pick up) and see Jim watching and getting off on Bill being with someone else.
For Peter and Bill, I’d love something kinking a bit on the mentor-mentee aspect that’s especially strong in the book, maybe some awkward office interactions that turn into more, either in the golden days when Bill is riding high or post-Testify when he’s low and angry and melancholic about how everything is going and the sacrifices he’s had to make re: Jim. How does Peter feel about these potential other dalliances and him just being one of many? What does Peter find most alluring about this infamous playboy?
For George and Peter, how about some drunken confessions after George is fired in the beginning of the story, or them in the aftermath of the Karla story in the boarding house in 2011 movieverse? Or hotheaded Peter going off the rails in some way during an investigation and George having to calm him down? (George unwittingly doing a light domming of Peter that Peter welcomes and George tolerates in order to get everything back on track would be amazing.)
For Bill and George, how close friends are they EXACTLY, both before and after Ann/Bill? This pairing seems ripe for hatesex of some brand or another, a weird mutual loathing and yet admiring of one another, as they’re both very good at what they do (and very light cuckolding-esque porn, where George gets off on knowing BIll has had Ann, would be welcome). Maybe they meet right after Bill’s been with Ann and both know that George knows but they don’t openly acknowledge it? Maybe George and Bill were a thing long before Ann/Bill and they reunite in some way after Bill’s started with Ann?
I love the book and the 2011 movie and often sort of cobble them both together in my mind--if you do as well, that’s completely fine. I’m especially interested in how potentially “deviant” sexuality interacts with being a spy in 30s-70s UK, how friendships form (and are strained) among spies (Bill and George?), what the emotional/sexual consequences of living a double life are (both in terms of spy vs. civilian and in terms of moles/USSR vs. UK), and similar. Aesthetically, I’m in love with the 2011 movie’s entire production design, suit porn (especially for Bill and Peter), secrecy, and emotionally distraught men keeping up a brave face (and, potentially, eventually breaking). Also, this is one canon I’d particularly enjoy seeing a daemon AU applied to, if you’re familiar with His Dark Materials (How would daemons change spycraft? Would spies all have very unnoticeable daemons? Would spies all belong to a class of people whose daemons never fully settle, but they keep that hidden from average civilians? What would the repercussions of all this be?), but that is of course completely, extra optional.
Thank you again, and any questions, feel free to ask the mods or get in touch with me anon somehow if you really need to!