Rare Pair Fest Letter
Dear Author,
Thank you for whatever you happen to write. No, really. These aren't exactly popular pairings and I will be thrilled to receive any of them. The letter is long, because I tend to max out on requests, but you can skip all the parts you do not need.
General squicks, triggers, and loves by category.
General:
I love deep platonic love, family fic, complicated relationships, backstory and history and established relationships. There's something about something with history and weight and depth that just does it for me. That said, I like developing trust and slow build fics, making friends, falling in love when it's not too-romance-movie-cliche. I love everything from gen to asexual romance to rated M or E romance, as long as everyone's in character. I like deep characterization and backstory, worldbuilding, chosen family, digging into a character's mental/emotional space, character studies, identity exploration, character competence, fluff, angst, and situational humor.
Please don't write embarrassment, graphic violence or gore, body-related humor, betrayal/infidelity, tragedy/deathfic, horror, character or ideology bashing, PWP (with plot, more than fine), first person fic, on-screen uncensored profanity. I also have no problem with assassination but do have a problem with murder. I know. Fine line.
Tropes:
I like soulmates, soulmarks (not names), soulbonds, secret relationship, sharing a bed, domestic fic, holiday fic, arranged marriage, fake marriage, friends to lovers, rivals to lovers, AIs, accidental relationships, time travel with consequences, animal transformations/shapeshifter, brainwashing, amnesia. I like well thought out crossovers and the occasional fusion, canon-divergent AUs more than total AUs.
I tolerate coffee shop AU, school AU, reincarnation, historical AU.
Please don't write alternate gender norms, mind control, zombie, supernatural, daemons, post-apocalyptic, instalove.
Kinks:
I like bondage, breathplay, sensory deprivation, bloodplay, weapons play, delayed orgasm, some D/s, situational power dynamics type dub-con.
I tolerate pain play, dirty talk, oral, and cock rings/cages. Include if you must; omit if you can.
Please don't write scat, water sports, bodily fluids other than blood, lifestyle D/s, ageplay, mpreg, consent play, incest, underage, a/b/o, straight up dub-con.
THE FANDOMS
Crossovers - Fandom
Colin Craven (The Secret Garden)/Sara Crewe (A Little Princess) | Colin Craven (The Secret Garden)/Susan Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Colin/Sara or Colin/Susan have such strong common background material with their exposure to "magic" and I just feel would understand each other at a level most don't. I would love to see Mary bringing home her friend Sara or Colin meeting either elsewhere, watching them realize each other knows things about magic.
Canon-Specific Issues: I prefer the 1993 Secret Garden movie or the book to other versions. I love the Narnia books but am not overly fond of the modern movies and ignore them. I liked the BBC adaptation growing up.
Honestly, I love Susan, I love the idea of the books trying to show the difference between loving social things and making the "game" your primary focus, and I'd love to see the fallout of post-books and what's going on under the surface without bashing Aslan please. I think with Susan there was an attempt to put not wanting to grow up and mature into simple language (for kids) and I've seen a lot of Susan fics that make it all about she did grow up and that was the problem, but that's not what the books say. It said she tried not to, which makes a lot of sense as a coping mechanism against being forced to.
Kaylee Frye (Firefly)/Seamus Harper (Andromeda)
Kaylee and Harper both have a thing for engines and space ships and are canonically turned on by them. They adore their ships, they adorable, and once a prompter put this pairing in my head, I wanted to see them. AU with them being mechanics and/or engineers in other kinds of worlds environments just fine. I'd love to see them working together, Harper admiring her genius, awkward first meetings that turn into fast friendships, etc.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no Reavers or Magog, other than Rev Bem.
James "Bucky" Barnes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)/Jemma Simmons (Agents of SHIELD)
Bucky or "James" and Jemma are an unlikely pairing perhaps, but hiddencait got me started on them and I've never looked back. Her gentleness and understanding of where she's been with Fitz vs. his needing gentleness in his life and where he is with Steve and finding himself is just ripe for more. I love the idea of her helping him as he puts his identity back together or together anew, or helping him with the physical recovery, and I love the idea of him supporting her through the trauma she's gone through and losing people and being betrayed and becoming so much stronger and an even better spy. Someone pointed out once she doesn't actually get a lot of support other than from Fitz because she's always hurt but not as bad as whoever's priority one. It would be great to see her get support. I love developing or established relationship and would be happy whether you go angsty, fluffy, or drama with this.
Clint Barton (Marvel Cinematic Universe)/Bobbi Morse (Agents of SHIELD)
Clint/Bobbi is, I admit, the entire reason I signed up for this fest (not that I don't adore and won't be highly pleased with any of my requested pairings). I love their characters separately and together and I love their comics history and the little easter egg in Agents of SHIELD about a mission together where Scarlotti almost killed him. I'd love to see these two together with their MCU characterization in a relationship or marriage just being awesome spies and/or agents together. I adore deaf!Clint and would also love Deaf!Clint if you feel in any way up to tackling Deaf culture and how that would interact with international espionage and law enforcement. (And seriously, why wouldn't Bobbi fall for the guy that gave up his hearing for her?)
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no infidelity or cheating. I'd rather Lance and Laura be out of the picture, though I don't mind Lance as an ex. I do very much mind Laura as an ex or fridged.
Tess Harding (Roswell)/Lincoln (Agents of SHIELD)
Tess and Lincoln interest me because of their shared background in things not human, though one is Antaran hybrid and the other is Inhuman. Honestly, fuse, crossover, or handwave altogether, and I will be a happy camper. I love Lincoln's patience with helping others accept their inhumanness, and I love Tess's way of embracing her alien nature and who's she's supposed to be and yet that intense desire for a family and belonging. There were those hints Gordon dropped about what lengths Jiaying had to go through to save Lincoln. From? I'd love to see Tess go in after him or her being a descendent or Antarans and Kree coexisting in a universe bigger than earthlings realize. Also wouldn't mind if she left Roswell because, you know, unwelcome and ended up finding a place to belong with Inhumans.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing, graphic violence, or cheating. I firmly believe Tess killing Alex was an accident and she looked devastated when Max couldn't heal him. I also firmly believe that Jiaying loved Skye dearly and only tried to kill her because she felt that was the only way to protect her people/plan to save her people. Being literally dissected will give you serious paranoia about a place like SHIELD and Skye was SHIELD and chose it over Jiaying. So please, no bashing. I adore my alien queens, thank you.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse (AoS)
Mack, Bobbi, Hartley, Hunter-these four characters, their history, backstory, meeting Lance on the mission Bobbi needed intel out of him then fell in love - Dubai peoples. The story behind the pendant, how Bobbi asked Hartley not Mack to give it to Hunter, what's the story there? I just want all the epic friendship and espionage and falling in love and the rollercoaster and how that affected the friends who clearly didn't choose or wish to (Hartley was in deep with Hunter and Bobbi both) and Mack loves both so much and just all the relationships here: friends, lovers, etc.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing or graphic violence or cheating/infidelity.
Jiaying/Cal Zabo (AoS)
I'd love to see them with the birth story or the fluffy nesting or their meeting and planning a family and all the sweet things of early life with Skye / Daisy. Or Jiaying realizing she's become a monster and throwing herself into Afterlife and protecting others. The horrible aftermath when their marriage almost came apart, especially if she realized how fragile he was and that's why she wanted him stronger. I really think they are a case of heroes of their own story and I'd love to see that.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing or graphic violence. I also firmly believe that Jiaying loved Skye dearly and only tried to kill her because she felt that was the only way to protect her people/plan to save her people. Being literally dissected will give you serious paranoia about a place like SHIELD and Skye was SHIELD and chose it over Jiaying. So please, no bashing.
Skye | Daisy Johnson/Antoine Triplett (AoS)
Legacy babies, Skye being essentially adopted daughter of the current Director and May, who's the next in line for the job and Trip being descended from the Howling Commandos. His humor, her sarcasm. The way he lightens her up and the way they just seemed to get along so well. I fell for them hard in the first few episodes of season 2 and the way he went after her in the Kree temple just hit all my feels so incredibly hard.
I'd love to see epic cuddling, banter, humor, serious discussions where he doesn't let her get away with deflecting, or whatever's in character that floats your boat.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing or graphic violence. I also firmly believe that Jiaying loved Skye dearly and only tried to kill her because she felt that was the only way to protect her people/plan to save her people. Being literally dissected will give you serious paranoia about a place like SHIELD and Skye was SHIELD and chose it over Jiaying. So please, no bashing. I adore my alien queens, thank you.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
William Brandt/Jane Carter
My favorite things about Carter are her strong personality where she's so sure of herself if she's just dealing with people and work to be done and making plans, but then she's so uncertain and hesitant where it involves letting people know she cares. I'd love to see that juxtaposition in a story, love to see her navigating professional and personal life and growing, maybe spread her wings while Ethan cheers her on from the sidelines?
Then Brandt is this guy that feels rusty in the field because he's been out of that team environment and fieldwork for a long time, and his analysis seems to be really good and come almost without thinking about it, and he should be good at it because he's the chief analyst. I love how complex he is with being sensitive and hating heights but good enough at what he does to compartmentalize when he has to and to be very competent when he's not overthinking it.
I'd love to see more of that push-pull we saw in the movie. They both have issues and they both lost people on missions they ran and made the calls on, and hers is fresher, and there's those missing scenes where "the firm of Carter, Brandt, and Dunn" had downtime while Ethan went and did his thing for intel after the hotel, and they seemed really close and in sync after that as a trio. I just want a lot more.
Jane Carter/Ethan Hunt
I have to admit, I started shipping them just a little when I saw that missing scene where he talks her through the whole issue of seducing the rich guy and opened up and she asked if it helped when he killed the guys who got Julia (not knowing the full story) and he said no, and she was grieving and Julia's alive and it's a rebound and I get all the things problematic about this ship, but he was gentle with her and they're both tough cookies in the field and then the way he said, "Don't hit me" and kissed her. Yes, I ship it.
The Unusuals
Allison Beaumont/Jason Walsh
I would truly adore more about her and Walsh. I love her whole "why isn't he looking?" line and that she seems to initiate a lot in their relationship, but she also likes/loves it when he takes the lead. How did they get started on their games, like the numbers game? Can I see their first date at the opera and him pretending to like it so he can get laid, but she already had those plans?
I love their dynamic, the secret relationship, the fact that Allison actually initiates sex more than Walsh, the fact that they were coming out of the closet at the beginning of "Crime Slut," the games they play, the secrets they share, the way he likes her having secrets, the tough girl who gets to be herself around him, the detached cop who lets down his walls with her. I love how he calls her Al. I'm crazy to know more about that date at the opera where she was going to sleep with him no matter what and he said he liked it in order to score. They're adorable and cute together and yet do sexy or serious just as well. If you're going to write me kink or porn with plot, this is the pairing I'd love to see it with.
Davis Nixon/Casey Shraeger
Oh, I could go on a long time about these two. They have issues, the rich girl who needs rules and the working class upbringing that earned his riches. He likes to eat at a nice restaurant, and she loves how down to earth he is. He loves her cop side and her feminine side and she has to learn to let him be the guy in the relationship from time to time. I would love to see all their awkwardness, the working things out, the cute moments, the coming together at the end of their differences of perspectives, and yes, characterized sex with plot is also great. Wouldn't mind AUs with these two, but no role reversal please, and I adore their characters as is.
Burt Kowalski/Hannah Kowalski
That scene where she talks to Walsh about how he slept with the light on and he was all flaws but he was good to her and Walsh said he loved her just GOT ME so hard, and I would love to see something about that if you feel so inclined. With Walsh/Kowalski partnership please! Clearly she knew Walsh well and it wasn't just from conversations with Burt about him; it was because she knew him herself as Burt's partner.
Amy Burch/Henry Cole
They are sooo cute. And so fraught with the tension of Lutz threatening Amy, even if she didn't know it, and her conversation with Beaumont was adorable and they'll be lovely friends and she offered Henry her family. I just would love to see their cuteness and sweetness together much, much more.
Monica Crumb/Eric Delahoy
He blackmailed her, then got attached, then fell for her, and even though she got fired, the reason she wouldn't get involved with him was only because he wouldn't get help. Working through that, getting help, working through the serious issues of trust, blackmail, etc. all interests me mightily. Then their whole flowers, Korean, and Italian conversation also made me just want to see them actually get to know each other. I really want more of their interaction and dealing and drawing closer more than sex, but whatever works for you.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no graphic medical procedures or discussion of them. The level in the show was almost just right for me, but fewer dead bodies on screen? Post-series, she's no longer at that particular job anyway. I squick easy.
Leo Banks/Bridget Demopolis
I love everything about them, how cute they are, how cute they are together, the notecards introducing himself, that she laughs in her sleep and never stops talking, that he was tongue-tied around her in the first place, the closet and how much she liked that, how she got when she was mad at him. I'll take anything. Serious fic working through his issues with being 42, fluffy fic, expansive fic, anything at all. Even background pairing around the others.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Clint Barton/Maria Hill (MCU)
I imprinted on "And Then There Was Us"*, an epic Clint/Maria that really, really works. I love this little rarepairing and have written short fics for it that give you a feel for how I like them. The way they were snuggled on the couch together in the Ultron trailer, the way they just kind of have that solid ability to work with people professionally and deal with where the chips fall, the way they seem like they'd grate but be close anyway. I love the idea of them and would love something showing them feeling their way into a relationship. They don't strike me as the hit it off, which just makes it better, to be honest.
*You don't have to read it, but the link's there if you need something.
James "Bucky" Barnes/Maria Hill (MCU)
tielan got me onto this pairing. I love her tough girl, his charmer (and how impervious she is to it), and the way I think she'd appreciate a gentleman and they both have issues and she wouldn't really coddle him and I think he'd like that. I'd love deprogramming fic or post-deprogramming where he's learning to be human again and normal and she becomes a part of that or where she's having to deal with running the Avengers and that sort of off-shoot of SHIELD that privatizing global security implies and Bucky just fills in and starts being there for her, maybe even before she realizes it.
Clint Barton/Wanda Maximoff (MCU)
I blame theladymore who prompted this at one point, and yes, I saw that too and yes, I want Laura to not exist if you go this route because I absolute refuse to fridge/break up with canon relationships to make a ship happen. But I just saw a lot in common and while the mentoring aspect was feasible, what I really saw was equals and him telling her what he did because he offers choices and supports and she reacted to being treated as an equal, capable of going out there and doing a job. Hurt/comfort? Pietro died to save him and that affected him and devastated Wanda. I'll take whatever, but especially would love feelsy.
Clint Barton/Laura Barton (MCU)
I want more, more backstory, more the filled-in picture of her family life as something of a military wife who's been there all along and whatever work she does/did on her own before taking it to work-at-home so she can take care of the kids. I want a fleshed out, respected Laura because the kind of woman that would be attracted to Hawkeye, marry Hawkeye, and keep him after that many years has got to be a seriously interesting person (just like Natasha or Bobbi, thank you).
Also seriously in love with the meta someone wrote about how Clint saying no more projects is him saying this is the last one and he always starts a project before leaving because if the house is unfinished, he has to come back to do it, so he'll be okay kind of superstition. And ex-carnie superstitions make it on my love list.
Feel free to pull in comics backstory or not. Throwing in Barney might make it interesting, but so long as the focus is on Laura, I'm good with whichever.
Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Andrew Prior/Natalie Prior
I tend to love well-done canonical ships and they had a healthy marriage and the kinds of strengths that complemented each other and knew so many things, and I'd love to see her arrival in the factions, then going to Abnegation and falling in love and how they got there or raising Tris and Caleb or dealing with losing their children to other factions as parents and spouses. I'd love to see Natalie and Andrew getting to know each other, discovering the recording, or dealing with all the events of book one while they were off-screen.
Marcus Eaton/Johanna Reyes (Books)These two clearly had a lot of history and seemed to fit so well. No, cheating/infidelity please, but I'd love to see more about their friendship and maybe a post-canon or pre-marriage ship?
Jeanine Matthews/Andrew Prior (Books)
Previous Andrew/Jeanine and all that might have gone into their friendship and falling out with the feelings of betrayal when Andrew began to hate Erudite and what went wrong. I really want to see the mess of Jeanine and Andrew when they went from exchanging notes in class as Erudite to hatred of each other's factions at the opening of book one.
Cara/Tobias Eaton
I don't believe in love and lose and done forever, and they had chemistry in their conversations before everything went horribly wrong. I'd love to see a post-grief Tobias working with Cara and something happening there. Just please respect Tris and her memory and no cheating.
Christina/Will
AU all the way where Will lives or else her coping afterward or all the warm fuzzies hidden between the scenes in the first book or wild AU in another world altogether with his tough as cottonballs Christina who's too honest for her own good and too blunt and afraid of moths and wonderful and tough and strong anyway.
Thank you again, dear writer! :waves:
Thank you for whatever you happen to write. No, really. These aren't exactly popular pairings and I will be thrilled to receive any of them. The letter is long, because I tend to max out on requests, but you can skip all the parts you do not need.
General squicks, triggers, and loves by category.
General:
I love deep platonic love, family fic, complicated relationships, backstory and history and established relationships. There's something about something with history and weight and depth that just does it for me. That said, I like developing trust and slow build fics, making friends, falling in love when it's not too-romance-movie-cliche. I love everything from gen to asexual romance to rated M or E romance, as long as everyone's in character. I like deep characterization and backstory, worldbuilding, chosen family, digging into a character's mental/emotional space, character studies, identity exploration, character competence, fluff, angst, and situational humor.
Please don't write embarrassment, graphic violence or gore, body-related humor, betrayal/infidelity, tragedy/deathfic, horror, character or ideology bashing, PWP (with plot, more than fine), first person fic, on-screen uncensored profanity. I also have no problem with assassination but do have a problem with murder. I know. Fine line.
Tropes:
I like soulmates, soulmarks (not names), soulbonds, secret relationship, sharing a bed, domestic fic, holiday fic, arranged marriage, fake marriage, friends to lovers, rivals to lovers, AIs, accidental relationships, time travel with consequences, animal transformations/shapeshifter, brainwashing, amnesia. I like well thought out crossovers and the occasional fusion, canon-divergent AUs more than total AUs.
I tolerate coffee shop AU, school AU, reincarnation, historical AU.
Please don't write alternate gender norms, mind control, zombie, supernatural, daemons, post-apocalyptic, instalove.
Kinks:
I like bondage, breathplay, sensory deprivation, bloodplay, weapons play, delayed orgasm, some D/s, situational power dynamics type dub-con.
I tolerate pain play, dirty talk, oral, and cock rings/cages. Include if you must; omit if you can.
Please don't write scat, water sports, bodily fluids other than blood, lifestyle D/s, ageplay, mpreg, consent play, incest, underage, a/b/o, straight up dub-con.
THE FANDOMS
Crossovers - Fandom
Colin Craven (The Secret Garden)/Sara Crewe (A Little Princess) | Colin Craven (The Secret Garden)/Susan Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Colin/Sara or Colin/Susan have such strong common background material with their exposure to "magic" and I just feel would understand each other at a level most don't. I would love to see Mary bringing home her friend Sara or Colin meeting either elsewhere, watching them realize each other knows things about magic.
Canon-Specific Issues: I prefer the 1993 Secret Garden movie or the book to other versions. I love the Narnia books but am not overly fond of the modern movies and ignore them. I liked the BBC adaptation growing up.
Honestly, I love Susan, I love the idea of the books trying to show the difference between loving social things and making the "game" your primary focus, and I'd love to see the fallout of post-books and what's going on under the surface without bashing Aslan please. I think with Susan there was an attempt to put not wanting to grow up and mature into simple language (for kids) and I've seen a lot of Susan fics that make it all about she did grow up and that was the problem, but that's not what the books say. It said she tried not to, which makes a lot of sense as a coping mechanism against being forced to.
Kaylee Frye (Firefly)/Seamus Harper (Andromeda)
Kaylee and Harper both have a thing for engines and space ships and are canonically turned on by them. They adore their ships, they adorable, and once a prompter put this pairing in my head, I wanted to see them. AU with them being mechanics and/or engineers in other kinds of worlds environments just fine. I'd love to see them working together, Harper admiring her genius, awkward first meetings that turn into fast friendships, etc.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no Reavers or Magog, other than Rev Bem.
James "Bucky" Barnes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)/Jemma Simmons (Agents of SHIELD)
Bucky or "James" and Jemma are an unlikely pairing perhaps, but hiddencait got me started on them and I've never looked back. Her gentleness and understanding of where she's been with Fitz vs. his needing gentleness in his life and where he is with Steve and finding himself is just ripe for more. I love the idea of her helping him as he puts his identity back together or together anew, or helping him with the physical recovery, and I love the idea of him supporting her through the trauma she's gone through and losing people and being betrayed and becoming so much stronger and an even better spy. Someone pointed out once she doesn't actually get a lot of support other than from Fitz because she's always hurt but not as bad as whoever's priority one. It would be great to see her get support. I love developing or established relationship and would be happy whether you go angsty, fluffy, or drama with this.
Clint Barton (Marvel Cinematic Universe)/Bobbi Morse (Agents of SHIELD)
Clint/Bobbi is, I admit, the entire reason I signed up for this fest (not that I don't adore and won't be highly pleased with any of my requested pairings). I love their characters separately and together and I love their comics history and the little easter egg in Agents of SHIELD about a mission together where Scarlotti almost killed him. I'd love to see these two together with their MCU characterization in a relationship or marriage just being awesome spies and/or agents together. I adore deaf!Clint and would also love Deaf!Clint if you feel in any way up to tackling Deaf culture and how that would interact with international espionage and law enforcement. (And seriously, why wouldn't Bobbi fall for the guy that gave up his hearing for her?)
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no infidelity or cheating. I'd rather Lance and Laura be out of the picture, though I don't mind Lance as an ex. I do very much mind Laura as an ex or fridged.
Tess Harding (Roswell)/Lincoln (Agents of SHIELD)
Tess and Lincoln interest me because of their shared background in things not human, though one is Antaran hybrid and the other is Inhuman. Honestly, fuse, crossover, or handwave altogether, and I will be a happy camper. I love Lincoln's patience with helping others accept their inhumanness, and I love Tess's way of embracing her alien nature and who's she's supposed to be and yet that intense desire for a family and belonging. There were those hints Gordon dropped about what lengths Jiaying had to go through to save Lincoln. From? I'd love to see Tess go in after him or her being a descendent or Antarans and Kree coexisting in a universe bigger than earthlings realize. Also wouldn't mind if she left Roswell because, you know, unwelcome and ended up finding a place to belong with Inhumans.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing, graphic violence, or cheating. I firmly believe Tess killing Alex was an accident and she looked devastated when Max couldn't heal him. I also firmly believe that Jiaying loved Skye dearly and only tried to kill her because she felt that was the only way to protect her people/plan to save her people. Being literally dissected will give you serious paranoia about a place like SHIELD and Skye was SHIELD and chose it over Jiaying. So please, no bashing. I adore my alien queens, thank you.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse (AoS)
Mack, Bobbi, Hartley, Hunter-these four characters, their history, backstory, meeting Lance on the mission Bobbi needed intel out of him then fell in love - Dubai peoples. The story behind the pendant, how Bobbi asked Hartley not Mack to give it to Hunter, what's the story there? I just want all the epic friendship and espionage and falling in love and the rollercoaster and how that affected the friends who clearly didn't choose or wish to (Hartley was in deep with Hunter and Bobbi both) and Mack loves both so much and just all the relationships here: friends, lovers, etc.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing or graphic violence or cheating/infidelity.
Jiaying/Cal Zabo (AoS)
I'd love to see them with the birth story or the fluffy nesting or their meeting and planning a family and all the sweet things of early life with Skye / Daisy. Or Jiaying realizing she's become a monster and throwing herself into Afterlife and protecting others. The horrible aftermath when their marriage almost came apart, especially if she realized how fragile he was and that's why she wanted him stronger. I really think they are a case of heroes of their own story and I'd love to see that.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing or graphic violence. I also firmly believe that Jiaying loved Skye dearly and only tried to kill her because she felt that was the only way to protect her people/plan to save her people. Being literally dissected will give you serious paranoia about a place like SHIELD and Skye was SHIELD and chose it over Jiaying. So please, no bashing.
Skye | Daisy Johnson/Antoine Triplett (AoS)
Legacy babies, Skye being essentially adopted daughter of the current Director and May, who's the next in line for the job and Trip being descended from the Howling Commandos. His humor, her sarcasm. The way he lightens her up and the way they just seemed to get along so well. I fell for them hard in the first few episodes of season 2 and the way he went after her in the Kree temple just hit all my feels so incredibly hard.
I'd love to see epic cuddling, banter, humor, serious discussions where he doesn't let her get away with deflecting, or whatever's in character that floats your boat.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no bashing or graphic violence. I also firmly believe that Jiaying loved Skye dearly and only tried to kill her because she felt that was the only way to protect her people/plan to save her people. Being literally dissected will give you serious paranoia about a place like SHIELD and Skye was SHIELD and chose it over Jiaying. So please, no bashing. I adore my alien queens, thank you.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
William Brandt/Jane Carter
My favorite things about Carter are her strong personality where she's so sure of herself if she's just dealing with people and work to be done and making plans, but then she's so uncertain and hesitant where it involves letting people know she cares. I'd love to see that juxtaposition in a story, love to see her navigating professional and personal life and growing, maybe spread her wings while Ethan cheers her on from the sidelines?
Then Brandt is this guy that feels rusty in the field because he's been out of that team environment and fieldwork for a long time, and his analysis seems to be really good and come almost without thinking about it, and he should be good at it because he's the chief analyst. I love how complex he is with being sensitive and hating heights but good enough at what he does to compartmentalize when he has to and to be very competent when he's not overthinking it.
I'd love to see more of that push-pull we saw in the movie. They both have issues and they both lost people on missions they ran and made the calls on, and hers is fresher, and there's those missing scenes where "the firm of Carter, Brandt, and Dunn" had downtime while Ethan went and did his thing for intel after the hotel, and they seemed really close and in sync after that as a trio. I just want a lot more.
Jane Carter/Ethan Hunt
I have to admit, I started shipping them just a little when I saw that missing scene where he talks her through the whole issue of seducing the rich guy and opened up and she asked if it helped when he killed the guys who got Julia (not knowing the full story) and he said no, and she was grieving and Julia's alive and it's a rebound and I get all the things problematic about this ship, but he was gentle with her and they're both tough cookies in the field and then the way he said, "Don't hit me" and kissed her. Yes, I ship it.
The Unusuals
Allison Beaumont/Jason Walsh
I would truly adore more about her and Walsh. I love her whole "why isn't he looking?" line and that she seems to initiate a lot in their relationship, but she also likes/loves it when he takes the lead. How did they get started on their games, like the numbers game? Can I see their first date at the opera and him pretending to like it so he can get laid, but she already had those plans?
I love their dynamic, the secret relationship, the fact that Allison actually initiates sex more than Walsh, the fact that they were coming out of the closet at the beginning of "Crime Slut," the games they play, the secrets they share, the way he likes her having secrets, the tough girl who gets to be herself around him, the detached cop who lets down his walls with her. I love how he calls her Al. I'm crazy to know more about that date at the opera where she was going to sleep with him no matter what and he said he liked it in order to score. They're adorable and cute together and yet do sexy or serious just as well. If you're going to write me kink or porn with plot, this is the pairing I'd love to see it with.
Davis Nixon/Casey Shraeger
Oh, I could go on a long time about these two. They have issues, the rich girl who needs rules and the working class upbringing that earned his riches. He likes to eat at a nice restaurant, and she loves how down to earth he is. He loves her cop side and her feminine side and she has to learn to let him be the guy in the relationship from time to time. I would love to see all their awkwardness, the working things out, the cute moments, the coming together at the end of their differences of perspectives, and yes, characterized sex with plot is also great. Wouldn't mind AUs with these two, but no role reversal please, and I adore their characters as is.
Burt Kowalski/Hannah Kowalski
That scene where she talks to Walsh about how he slept with the light on and he was all flaws but he was good to her and Walsh said he loved her just GOT ME so hard, and I would love to see something about that if you feel so inclined. With Walsh/Kowalski partnership please! Clearly she knew Walsh well and it wasn't just from conversations with Burt about him; it was because she knew him herself as Burt's partner.
Amy Burch/Henry Cole
They are sooo cute. And so fraught with the tension of Lutz threatening Amy, even if she didn't know it, and her conversation with Beaumont was adorable and they'll be lovely friends and she offered Henry her family. I just would love to see their cuteness and sweetness together much, much more.
Monica Crumb/Eric Delahoy
He blackmailed her, then got attached, then fell for her, and even though she got fired, the reason she wouldn't get involved with him was only because he wouldn't get help. Working through that, getting help, working through the serious issues of trust, blackmail, etc. all interests me mightily. Then their whole flowers, Korean, and Italian conversation also made me just want to see them actually get to know each other. I really want more of their interaction and dealing and drawing closer more than sex, but whatever works for you.
Canon-Specific Issues: Please no graphic medical procedures or discussion of them. The level in the show was almost just right for me, but fewer dead bodies on screen? Post-series, she's no longer at that particular job anyway. I squick easy.
Leo Banks/Bridget Demopolis
I love everything about them, how cute they are, how cute they are together, the notecards introducing himself, that she laughs in her sleep and never stops talking, that he was tongue-tied around her in the first place, the closet and how much she liked that, how she got when she was mad at him. I'll take anything. Serious fic working through his issues with being 42, fluffy fic, expansive fic, anything at all. Even background pairing around the others.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Clint Barton/Maria Hill (MCU)
I imprinted on "And Then There Was Us"*, an epic Clint/Maria that really, really works. I love this little rarepairing and have written short fics for it that give you a feel for how I like them. The way they were snuggled on the couch together in the Ultron trailer, the way they just kind of have that solid ability to work with people professionally and deal with where the chips fall, the way they seem like they'd grate but be close anyway. I love the idea of them and would love something showing them feeling their way into a relationship. They don't strike me as the hit it off, which just makes it better, to be honest.
*You don't have to read it, but the link's there if you need something.
James "Bucky" Barnes/Maria Hill (MCU)
tielan got me onto this pairing. I love her tough girl, his charmer (and how impervious she is to it), and the way I think she'd appreciate a gentleman and they both have issues and she wouldn't really coddle him and I think he'd like that. I'd love deprogramming fic or post-deprogramming where he's learning to be human again and normal and she becomes a part of that or where she's having to deal with running the Avengers and that sort of off-shoot of SHIELD that privatizing global security implies and Bucky just fills in and starts being there for her, maybe even before she realizes it.
Clint Barton/Wanda Maximoff (MCU)
I blame theladymore who prompted this at one point, and yes, I saw that too and yes, I want Laura to not exist if you go this route because I absolute refuse to fridge/break up with canon relationships to make a ship happen. But I just saw a lot in common and while the mentoring aspect was feasible, what I really saw was equals and him telling her what he did because he offers choices and supports and she reacted to being treated as an equal, capable of going out there and doing a job. Hurt/comfort? Pietro died to save him and that affected him and devastated Wanda. I'll take whatever, but especially would love feelsy.
Clint Barton/Laura Barton (MCU)
I want more, more backstory, more the filled-in picture of her family life as something of a military wife who's been there all along and whatever work she does/did on her own before taking it to work-at-home so she can take care of the kids. I want a fleshed out, respected Laura because the kind of woman that would be attracted to Hawkeye, marry Hawkeye, and keep him after that many years has got to be a seriously interesting person (just like Natasha or Bobbi, thank you).
Also seriously in love with the meta someone wrote about how Clint saying no more projects is him saying this is the last one and he always starts a project before leaving because if the house is unfinished, he has to come back to do it, so he'll be okay kind of superstition. And ex-carnie superstitions make it on my love list.
Feel free to pull in comics backstory or not. Throwing in Barney might make it interesting, but so long as the focus is on Laura, I'm good with whichever.
Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Andrew Prior/Natalie Prior
I tend to love well-done canonical ships and they had a healthy marriage and the kinds of strengths that complemented each other and knew so many things, and I'd love to see her arrival in the factions, then going to Abnegation and falling in love and how they got there or raising Tris and Caleb or dealing with losing their children to other factions as parents and spouses. I'd love to see Natalie and Andrew getting to know each other, discovering the recording, or dealing with all the events of book one while they were off-screen.
Marcus Eaton/Johanna Reyes (Books)These two clearly had a lot of history and seemed to fit so well. No, cheating/infidelity please, but I'd love to see more about their friendship and maybe a post-canon or pre-marriage ship?
Jeanine Matthews/Andrew Prior (Books)
Previous Andrew/Jeanine and all that might have gone into their friendship and falling out with the feelings of betrayal when Andrew began to hate Erudite and what went wrong. I really want to see the mess of Jeanine and Andrew when they went from exchanging notes in class as Erudite to hatred of each other's factions at the opening of book one.
Cara/Tobias Eaton
I don't believe in love and lose and done forever, and they had chemistry in their conversations before everything went horribly wrong. I'd love to see a post-grief Tobias working with Cara and something happening there. Just please respect Tris and her memory and no cheating.
Christina/Will
AU all the way where Will lives or else her coping afterward or all the warm fuzzies hidden between the scenes in the first book or wild AU in another world altogether with his tough as cottonballs Christina who's too honest for her own good and too blunt and afraid of moths and wonderful and tough and strong anyway.
Thank you again, dear writer! :waves: