Pine4Pine 2021

[izayoi_no_mikoto]

AO3: izayoi_no_mikoto

Hello, Pine4Pine author, and thank you for writing for me!

This letter has been cannibalized from previous exchange letters; feel free to take a gander at those if you want more insight into the sorts of things I like (the masterlist is here, organized by exchange and fandom).

The structure of this letter is as follows:
··Shipping and relationships
··General likes
··A note on AUs
··DNWs
··Opt-ins
··General Pining Notes
··Fandom specifics
······Animamundi: Dark Alchemist
······Hanakisou
······Honoo no Mirage | Mirage of Blaze
······Kyou Kara Maou!
······Na mo Naki Tori no Tobu Yoake | Innocent Bird
······Shuuten Unknown
······Togainu no Chi
······Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
······Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

I hope you'll use this letter in the spirit it is intended: I don't want to be pushy or demanding, I just hope to give you some idea of the sorts of things I like and hopefully spark some inspiration. If it doesn't work for you, remember that optional details are optional. The prompts are ideas, not demands! Please feel free to take what works for you, discard the rest, and write something that you have fun with. The best fic is one that the author enjoyed writing!

I hope you have a good exchange, and again, thanks for writing for me!


SHIPPING AND RELATIONSHIPS

Probably my biggest thing here is that if I request a ship, I'd rather not see any other ships involving those characters (either instead of or in addition to each other). I tend to OTP pretty hard, and unless stated otherwise, I'm not interested in seeing unrequested ships involving requested characters. In other words, if I request A/B, I'd rather not receive any A/C, A→C, or A/B/C, etc. (Canon backstory relationships are typically fine! I'm also much more amenable to background ships involving non-requested characters, so feel free to ask about that via the mods.)

That said, my ships do not have to be straightforward romance. You'll notice that I requested "never requited" for everything. I absolutely LOVE one-sided relationships--unrequited pining is my jam. I also really like relationships that muddy the waters and toe the line between romantic and platonic. I genuinely love gen and vague ambiguous relationships, so if you agonize over whether to tag it A/B or A&B, or if you wonder, "uh, is this too gen-ish?" no worries, that is excellent, I eat that stuff up with a spoon.

Lastly, I'm not much interested in sexual content. I have zero problems with sexual content being referenced or discussed, but I usually skip over smut, and even when it's not explicit, I typically hold to a less-is-more policy. Fade to black? Yes, that's good, very good. Stops at kissing? Great! Just some hand-holding? Yessss excellent. Nothing but gazing meaningfully at each other from across the room? Hold me, I'm going weak at the knees.


GENERAL LIKES

As far as character relationships are concerned, I love super-intense relationships and all related topics and tropes. Show me just how dedicated to and invested in each other these people are--be the relationship romantic or platonic, healthy or otherwise--and I will be there with bells on. I particularly like:

• loyalty above and beyond the call of duty
• us against the world
• I would know you anywhere
• you are my most important person
• I would do terrible things for you
• I'll face any scandal for you
• I'm so in love with you I might be slightly crazy
• little things causing big feelings

More generally, I also like:

• obviously, pining (mutual or unrequited, both are good!), the more intense the better; Sehnsucht; that sense of wanting
• angst (I love me some tragic/downer endings)
• understated/low-key signs of affection
• non-sexual physical intimacy (hugging, holding hands, bumping foreheads, leaning on each other, etc.)
• sudden realization of feelings (one's own or someone else's)
• reunions/coming home (to someone)
• self-sacrifice (for someone else or for a greater cause)
• between the scenes/missing scenes
• outsider POV
• a somber, dark, or bittersweet touch
• wordplay
• things understood only in retrospect

A NOTE ON AUS

I generally prefer fics to be more or less canon-compliant (be it set pre-, during, or post-canon). However, I do very much like the following types of AUs and fusionfics for all fandoms:

• canon divergence/for want of a nail
• time loops and Peggy Sue
• Loveless AUs
• daemon/His Dark Materials AUs
• hanahaki
• soulmates (including--but certainly not limited to--soulmarks, red string of fate, etc.)

I do prefer these to remain--aside from the obvious AU aspect--within the context of the canon universe. For example, if canon is about a high school baseball team, I'm totally on board with characters suddenly having virgin kitty ears, or daemons, or soulmarks... but I prefer it if they're still high school students who play baseball.

For any and all of these AUs, please feel free to play it straight, add a new twist, or subvert it however you'd like--I love it all!


DNWs

I would rather not see any of the following:

• AUs/crossovers/fusions, including mundane, genderswap, ageswap, etc., EXCEPT those mentioned above
• explicit sexual content
• unrequested ships involving requested characters, including infidelity, threesomes/moresomes, and open or poly relationships
• anything involving pregnancy, childbirth, or non-canon young children
• non-canonical nicknames or pet names/terms of endearment
• first-person POV (epistolary is OK!)
• crackfic

OPT-INS

I wholeheartedly welcome the following:

• Character death
• Bad/tragic/downer endings
• Horror
• Violence/gore
• References to/discussion of canon sexual content and canon prior relationships
• A requested character not actually appearing in the fic (they can be out of the room/missing/dead/whatever, as long as they're still important to the story in some way)
• Second-person POV
• Epistolary (broadly defined, any type of in-universe document--letters, emails, newspaper articles, social media, etc.)
• Interactive fiction

GENERAL PINING NOTES

Pining is an absolute favorite of mine.  Feel free to lay it on as thick as you'd like; there is no such thing as too much pining!

Please note that I've requested one-sided pining for all ships, and mutual pining for only some ships.  Similarly, I have requested "never requited" for all ships, and "eventually requited" for only some ships.  If you're interested in writing mutual pining and/or eventually requited feelings, please make sure that I've requested it for the ship in question!

For ships where I've requested both "never requited" and "eventually requited," that really does mean I'm happy with absolutely anything on the spectrum.  They get together?  Neither of them says anything, but they both know and that's enough?  They both pine obliviously forever?  One of them is pining, but there's hope for a future where they'll be happy together?  One of them dies and the other spends the rest of his life mourning what could have been?  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.   Seriously, for these I would be happy with any sort of ending, be it Happily Ever After, absolute heart-breaking tragedy, or literally anything in between.

For ships where I've requested only "never requited," I do not need outright confirmation that the feelings are unrequited!  I just want the piner to work on the assumption that his feelings are unrequited (even if he's hopeful at the same time--head vs. heart angsting is always welcome!).  The other guy can very definitely Not Feel The Same, or his feelings can be ambiguous/there's no concrete answer.  Either way is fine by me!

If you want some more ideas, here are some general pining things I like that I might not have requested for everything:

• pining while watching them sleep
• pining while watching from afar
• pining in silence, secretly, wistfully, agonizingly; all those feelings
• little gestures from piner because they feel Too Much and can't hold it all in
• little gestures from pinee that aren't meant That Way but still hit the piner in the heart
• "I know that my feelings are not and never will be returned, but I can't stop, oh well I guess I'll just pine forever"
• pinee is oblivious and piner intends to keep it that way because Reasons
• pinee is not oblivious but doesn't feel the same way and thus doesn't say anything, because what is there even to say?

FANDOMS

Prompts are just possible jumping-off points. If you've got another idea, absolutely go with it!

I've written different amounts for different fandoms and relationships, but please do not think that if I've written more, it must mean I want it more. If I've listed it here, it's because I really want to see it!


Animamundi
Georik Zaberisk/Francis Dashwood (Dashwood pining)
never requited

Requested pining tags:

• Character B assumes Character A's flirting is a joke
• Hanahaki Disease
• Missed Opportunities
• Pining Character A Tries to Woo Seemingly Uninterested Character B
• Pining character flirts but pretends they're joking
• Pining character is too sick/hurt to hide their pining any more
• Pining Character knows and accepts that their feelings will never be returned (but still pines)
• pining for someone they (correctly or not) think they'll never see again
• pining for someone you can't have
• Pining while stuck in a time loop
• Soulmate AU - A is pining B’s soulmate but B is not A's
• Soulmate AU - pining for someone who isn't their soulmate
• Unhappy Ending - Romantic Feelings Are Actually Unrequited

Animamundi was the first visual novel I ever played, and it left a huge impression on me. I love the over-the-top gothic atmosphere, the wholesale screwing with Christianity, and the great variety of bad and bittersweet endings. But of all the dark, twisted, melodramatic angst it has to offer, I love it the most in Georik and Dashwood's relationship. Dashwood is probably my favorite character of the lot--I like how his brash, irreverent persona hides an actually good, vulnerable soul with a backstory that consists almost entirely of sadness. I like how he feels trapped in the life he lives, and that he's willing to risk himself for Georik's sake. I live for the way he calls Georik "master" just because. I kind of love how Georik starts out having absolutely zero patience for Dashwood's... everything, but gradually comes to appreciate and understand him. And yes, I do love that they have no happy ending, just different flavors of tragedy.

Some prompts:
··Dashwood makes a late-night delivery and is suggestive and flirty, Georik doesn't take him seriously but Dashwood is dead serious
··Dashwood makes a deathbed confession with zero expectations, or alternatively, does not make a deathbed confession because he has zero expectations
··Mephisto, meet Dashwood, FIGHT (over Georik)
··what is Dashwood getting up to in the non-Dashwood routes? aside from pining from afar and wishing he could do something to help as Georik gets mixed up in all sorts of terrible stuff, of course
··all the one-sided soulmates plz

Go as dark, gory, or macabre as you'd like. I'd rather not receive outright smut, but do feel free to reference/discuss sexual content. Also feel free to include other characters if you'd like (I'm particularly fond of Ruth and Lillith). I'm okay with all routes, including bad ends and non-Dashwood routes.


Hanakisou
Hanashiro/Kuroto (Hanashiro pining, Kuroto pining, both pining)
eventually requited, never requited

Requested pining tags:

• Character A pines over amnesiac Character B
• Character A pines while watching Character B sleep
• Character A suddenly realizes that they've been pining for B and didn't know it
• Character is forced to kill the one they're pining for
• Grief/Mourning
• Hanahaki Disease
• Pined After Character Is Dead Or Going to Die
• A pines for B after B refuses to kill A when they ought to
• A pines for B while feeling responsible for B's death
• A pining after betraying B
• Pining character will never love another
• pining for someone they (correctly or not) think they'll never see again
• pining for someone to come home to
• Pining for someone who died before feelings could be revealed
• pining for someone who will come home to them
• Pining for the Character They Hurt the Most
• Pining while in conflict
• Pining while stuck in a time loop
• Tiny Acts of Affection that Doom Pining Character to Ardent Love
• Two Ships Passing

As ever, this is a very incomplete list of freeforms that I like, go wild I trust you

Okay, I know Hanakisou is ostensibly about the apocalypse and war and murder and collateral damage and whatnot, but ultimately, isn't it all essentially based on love?  "How do I love you, what form does that love take, and what am I willing to do for that love."  Hanashiro's willingness to kill the world or kill Kuroto, Kuroto's willingness to die or to live, love of an individual or love of humanity.  Yeah, this entire story is based on two loves that cannot both come true (except in the rare ending where they can).

Hanashiro and Kuroto are excellent for all the "never requited" variations, of course, but I am also very much a fan of things being requited in a good ending.  Or, you know, split the difference and have them requite before everything falls apart and tragedy strikes, that works too. 

Some prompts:
··"you're dead because of me, I guess I'll spend the rest of my life stewing in guilt as I pine for you"
··feelings are so much easier when today is all you have; or, alternatively, what's even the point if you know there's no tomorrow
··amnesia = much more confused pining feelings
··next time, Shirofukurou will ensure that the Savior does not fall in love
··Kuroto knows better than to believe that the Savior actually cares about him... right?
··both of them spend their days apart yearning for the next time Hanashiro shows up at Kuroto's door
··next life bb Kuroto and bb Hanashiro have cute puppy love pining optional before everything again goes horribly wrong
··pining for a better world, one that will forgive both of them

I have both played the game and read the manga, so feel free to use either one. For the game, I'm happy with any route, including bad ends. Or feel free to diverge from canon into new endings, if that's your bag! All other characters also welcome.


Honoo no Mirage | Mirage of Blaze
Naoe Nobutsuna/Ougi Takaya | Uesugi Kagetora (Naoe pining, Kagetora pining, both pining)
never requited, eventually requited

Requested pining tags:

• channeling pining into violence
• Character A pines over amnesiac Character B
• Character pines for someone they think is dead
• Character pines for someone who is dead
• Character will follow the object of their pining into danger or towards certain death
• Hanahaki Disease
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for
• The Most Ardent Pining Self-Hating Unrequited Love Imaginable
• not hiding the fact that you're pining for someone who has rejected you multiple times
• Obsessive Love
• A pining after betraying B
• Pining Character Throws Themselves Between Crush and Lethal Danger
• Pining character will never love another
• pining for someone after bad personal history between them
• pining for someone you can't have
• Pining for the Character They Hurt the Most
• Pining has been going on for a long time
• Pining while stuck in a time loop
• Realizing your feelings are mutual and it's kind of terrifying
• Reincarnation - Pining in Every Lifetime

FYI, "Kagetora pining" can be Kagetora or Takaya!  Either one is good!

Four hundred years of angst and drama and trauma and tragedy and loyalty kink and mutual destructiveness and codependency. The relationship between Takaya/Kagetora and Naoe is one twisted, glorious mess, and I love it. The obsessive, crazed, dysfunctional lovehatelove, the loyalty and the betrayal, the way they alternately lash out at each other and need each other, all of it. Naoe loathing Kagetora for his cruelty and also loathing himself for loving Kagetora and being unable to leave his side, Takaya's loss of innocence as he remembers being Kagetora and his struggle to balance being both of them, Kagetora jerking Naoe around to prove he holds the leash and Naoe biting back because he's at least half a mad dog and them hurting each other in every way they can but being utterly unable to let go of each other.  Yes, please, all of it.

Feel free to go with backstory (any of their previous incarnations, including their original lives), canon era, or (given that canon is, like, the 90s) maybe their next lives in the modern era?

Some prompts:
··any time one of them dies and the other does not always leads to very mixed emotions
··Takaya is in some seriously confused denial; or, maintaining the status quo is easier, no matter how twisted it is
··Naoe is Done trying to hide how he feels, just DONE
··When does Takaya/Kagetora start to return Naoe's feelings, anyway?
··The Naoe who fought for Kagekatsu would be appalled at the Naoe now
··any time Naoe leaps in to protect Kagetora and hates himself, just hates himself
··Takaya tries to take a step forward and Naoe doesn't believe him
··"I love you but I can't forgive you"

I am 100% good with anime-only fic, but I have read the novels through v.20, so if you'd rather go the LN route, absolutely go for it (but please avoid spoilers past v.20!). Feel free to include other characters (I'm particularly fond of Ayako, Chiaki, and Yuzuru). References etc. to various sexual things are perfectly fine, but please nothing explicit on the page.  References to Minako (and historical wives, etc.) are also OK.


Kyou Kara Maou!
Conrad Weller/Shibuya Yuuri (Conrad pining)
never requited

Requested pining tags:

• B is oblivious to A's pining and A wants to keep it that way
• Character A Pines From Afar
• Character A sacrifices themself for Character B whilst pining for them
• Character A tries to convince themself that a platonic relationship is enough
• Character refuses to confess unrequited feelings
• Guilt over enjoying friendly hugs/physical closeness too much
• Hanahaki Disease
• The Most Ardent Pining Self-Hating Unrequited Love Imaginable
• A pines for B while protecting them from outside threats
• A pining after betraying B
• Pining Character A Trying To Take Care Of B While Not Giving Away Their Feelings
• Pining Character knows and accepts that their feelings will never be returned (but still pines)
• Pining character punishing themselves for their pining
• Pining Character Throws Themselves Between Crush and Lethal Danger
• pining for someone you can't have
• Pining while stuck in a time loop
• secretly pining
• taking what you can get platonically because you're too scared to reveal your feelings
• Tiny Acts of Affection that Doom Pining Character to Ardent Love

KKM is an old favorite of mine, and I absolutely adore Conrad--he's a genuinely good guy, protective and loyal to the very end, but also he's kind of messed up, seriously, don't screw with him he will end you if you do anything to Yuuri. And Yuuri is just such an awkward, adorkable beam of sunlight who makes things harder for everyone by clinging to his own sense of justice and right and wrong, and I love how Conrad is helpless to resist any of it.  I am entirely here for Conrad pining for Yuuri and being both unwilling to do anything about it but also utterly unable to stop.

Some prompts:
··Conrad pines horribly while saying absolutely nothing ever to anyone
··or, just because Yuuri never notices Conrad's silent pining doesn't mean everyone else is as oblivious
··back when Conrad was entrusted with Yuuri's soul, he never imagined it would be like this
··aaalllll the Betrayal Arc angst, he knows he has to do it but it still makes him feel lower than low
··baseball as an expression of feelings
··when Yuuri goes back home to Earth, in some ways it's safer to pine from a distance but in other ways it's so much harder
··this is enough, Conrad tells himself, this is enough, just being able to stay with him is enough
··pining while leaping in to protect Yuuri from mortal danger, or while embarking on a raging rampage of rescue, etc.

Feel free to include other characters (I'm particularly fond of Murata and Gwendal). I haven't read the novel series, so please don't do anything that requires too much book-only knowledge, but I am okay with book spoilers. Feel free to discuss the Julia thing (and I am totally game for it being a source of angst), but if you do, please don't have it be the only reason Conrad is in love with Yuuri! In the end, I want Conrad to love Yuuri for being Yuuri. As for Wolfram, feel free to include his and Yuuri's engagement (and again, I'm all for it being a source of angst), and I'm fine with one-sided Wolfram→Yuuri and/or Yuuri being confused/conflicted, but I'd rather not have outright Wolfram/Yuuri.

Na mo Naki Tori no Tobu Yoake | Innocent Bird
Koumori/Jesus (Koumori pining)
never requited

Requested pining tags:

• Character thinks they aren't good enough for the object of their pining
• Grief/Mourning
• Hanahaki Disease
• The Most Ardent Pining Self-Hating Unrequited Love Imaginable
• Piner Betrayed Pined After Character And Thinks That They Deserve to Be Punished For It
• Pining Character knows and accepts that their feelings will never be returned (but still pines)
• Pining character will never love another
• pining for someone you can't have
• Pining for the Character They Hurt the Most
• Pining has been going on for a long time
• Thinks They're Unworthy of Love
• Utterly Certain That Their Feelings Won't Be Returned

Come for the pretty angel and demon wings, stay for the angst and heresy.  What can I say, this manga appeals to my little heathen heart.  "God is not actually God, Heaven is corrupt, and Jesus is a cockatoo," yes please.  My heart bleeds for Koumori.  The sheer depth and desperation of his love, the magnitude of the error of his wish, the millennia he spends bearing the literal cross and atoning for his sin--it hurts so good.  He gave up that which he most valued for his wish, and it blew up in his face.  I love how, despite his love being the source of so much pain, he finds something worth fighting for in the love Shirasagi and Karasu share, and that in the end, his love is not for nothing.  And regardless of what I said about my little heathen heart, I also really love that Jesus, appropriately, is full of love for Koumori and continues to watch over him, even if it isn't really how Koumori wanted it.

Some prompts:
··Koumori watches Shirasagi and Karasu (during or post-canon, take your pick) and has complicated feelings--he's done something good but oh, it hurts all the same, because why not his love, why not him
··Koumori pining as he walks the earth for centuries, it's enough to drive a man to madness
··they may be together, in a way, but all the same Koumori feels so alone
··does Koumori experience a crisis in faith after everything that's happened?
··Koumori goes to places where he can feel close to Jesus again (sometimes it works, sort of, but not really)
··when Koumori stood before the scales, he wavered and he almost stepped away, almost--
··actually, I am v. interested in the evolution of Koumori's love from "Judas standing before the scales" to the Koumori we see today


Shuuten Unknown
Yoruma/Sayatoki (Sayatoki pining, Yoruma pining, both pining)
never requited, eventually requited

Requested pining tags:

• Character A pines while watching Character B sleep
• Character A suddenly realizes that they've been pining for B and didn't know it
• Character A tries to convince themself that a platonic relationship is enough
• Character silently pines for someone due to fear of ruining their existing relationship
• Enforced Proximity Between Pining Characters
• Everyone Thinks They're Already In A Relationship - They're Pining
• Guilt over enjoying friendly hugs/physical closeness too much
• Hanahaki Disease
• In denial about their attraction to the character they are pining for
• pining for someone to come home to
• pining for someone who will come home to them
• Pining has been going on for a long time
• Realizing your feelings are mutual and it's kind of terrifying
• secretly pining
• Soulmate AU - pining for someone they thought wasn't their soulmate but they are
• taking what you can get platonically because you're too scared to reveal your feelings
• Tiny Acts of Affection that Doom Pining Character to Ardent Love

Also known as: Sugiura Shiho knows the route straight to my id.

I love Yoruma's slick-talking ways and how his charisma and charm are basically a defensive shield against a world he doesn't trust. I love Sayatoki's angst and self-recrimination about his past and also how he absolutely has no idea how to deal with people in general. I love how they both have slightly twisted views of morality and people and the world (they're doing their best, okay). But mostly, I love the slow burn of their relationship from "I do not trust this guy, I need to use him and then get rid of him" to "I literally cannot imagine living the rest of my life without him." Oh, man. The way they're thrown into their us-against-the-world circumstances, the way they discover there's so much out there in the world than they ever really knew, the way they unwittingly and unwillingly find themselves starting to care about each other until, at the end, their entire world views have shifted. I kind of love the awkwardness of their relationship, how they have no idea how to communicate or interact with people or even really cope with the fact that there's someone they genuinely care about in a meaningful way. They never wanted to get stuck together, but they go through so much with each other (and for each other) that when it's all over, they've changed each other for good, and for the good.

Some prompts:
··sleeping together used to be weird; now not sleeping together is weird
··Yoruma finally realizes that the Air Old Man voice in his head actually has a point
··they go out shopping or something stupidly domestic like that and don't realize how stupidly domestic they're being
··everyone realizes they're dating except for them.  Actually everyone.   Granny Medora et al.  Their landlord.  The butcher. The random person walking down the street.  Everyone.
··awkward communication fails when trying to confess
··"I finally have someone I care about in my life, I can't risk that because of stupid emotions"
··how many years can you live together before finally admitting that you're not just roommates?  (answer: a lot)


Togainu no Chi
Akira/Keisuke (Akira pining, Keisuke pining, both pining)
eventually requited, never requited

Requested pining tags:

• channeling pining into violence
• Character A pines for close friend who is unaware
• Character thinks they aren't good enough for the object of their pining
• Character will follow the object of their pining into danger or towards certain death
• A does not realize that they are in love with B
• Hanahaki Disease
• The Most Ardent Pining Self-Hating Unrequited Love Imaginable
• Obsessive Love
• Pined After Character Is Dead Or Going to Die
• A pines for B while feeling responsible for B's death
• pining after years of friendship
• pining for someone after bad personal history between them
• pining for someone to come home to
• Pining for someone who died before feelings could be revealed
• pining for someone who will come home to them
• pining for someone you can't have
• Pining for the Character They Hurt the Most
• Pining to the point of worship
• Pining while in conflict
• A thinks B won't want them because of their past behavior

Akira is actually my favorite character in Togainu no Chi--I love his stoicism, his determination, and also his ignorance/obliviousness about human relations and interactions.  He is not the most people-savvy person, and I like that about him, even when it does eventually become a proximate cause to the rupturing of his relationship with Keisuke.  And Keisuke is a very close second favorite--his all-encompassing pining for Akira is delicious, and his devotion (obsession) and his inferiority complex (self-loathing) hurt in all the right ways.  I love the arc of their relationship, from unequal to falling apart to destructive to (in some ends) rebuilt with greater understanding.  The messiness is part of the appeal, and I like it both when they work things out (with difficulties) and when it ends in tragedy.

Some prompts:
··once upon a time, Keisuke told himself that being Akira's friend was enough (spoiler: he was wrong)
··Keisuke detoxes after a bad ending and realizes oh no what have I done
··love and forgiveness are not the same thing, and one does not necessarily entail the other; ditto self-forgiveness
··they both get out alive, but Keisuke is paralyzed by the conviction that he doesn't deserve Akira; a.k.a. pining for the prospect of a future relationship that is simultaneously almost within reach and seemingly forever out of reach
··Keisuke dies, and too late Akira understands and has to somehow come to terms with everything (optional realization that he was in love, too)
··Keisuke time loops trying to save Akira, but there's only one way to do it (a.k.a. the True Ending)

Feel free to go for whatever endings you want (with references to other ships excluded).  Discussion of/reference to sexual content is just fine, but please nothing explicit on the page.  I'm not particularly interested in Vischio characters, although I don't mind them as background.  I have no preferences for how to romanize Line/Rein/whatever.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Bruno/Fudou Yuusei (Yuusei pining, Bruno pining, both pining)
never requited

Requested pining tags:

• B is oblivious to A's pining and A wants to keep it that way
• Character A doesn't realise they're pining
• Character A pines for close friend who is unaware
• Character A suddenly realizes that they've been pining for B and didn't know it
• Character pines for someone who is dead
• A does not realize that they are in love with B
• Grief/Mourning
• Hanahaki Disease
• Pined After Character Is Dead Or Going to Die
• A pines for B while feeling responsible for B's death
• Pining because A believes a relationship wouldn't work out if they got together
• Pining for someone who died before feelings could be revealed
• Pining while stuck in a time loop
• secretly pining
• Tiny Acts of Affection that Doom Pining Character to Ardent Love
• Two Ships Passing

I'm a sucker for characters who are instantly great friends, so I was charmed by Bruno and Yuusei's relationship from the very beginning.  I love that Yuusei and the gang basically take Bruno in and accept him as one of their own, and that Bruno slides into Team 5D's so seamlessly.  I love that even after the Antimony reveal, Yuusei refuses to believe that their friendship was a lie; I love that his faith was rewarded in Bruno's final moments.  And that tragic ending hurts soooo good.  I am happy with anyone pining (just Bruno, just Yuusei, or both of them), but I requested only "never requited" because I love the tragedy of their relationship too much to give them long-term happiness.  Whether a potential relationship is cut short by a decision not to pursue it or by Bruno's untimely demise, either is good!

Some prompts:
··Yuusei only realizes too late his own feelings; or, Yuusei isn't sure of his own feelings, but being denied the possibility of ever finding out where it might have gone is painful in its own right
··that thing where you know your soulmate will die; or, only realizing after he died that he was your soulmate (I just want angsty last words soulmarks, plz)
··Bruno's POV, knowing how it will all end but still falling in love despite himself
··is it weird that Yuusei fell in love so quickly? it's weird, isn't it
··all of Team 5D's mourn Bruno, but Yuusei's mourning is something else, and that's when they realize--
··Bruno realizes it's requited, but he can't pursue it, not knowing what he knows

Feel free to include other characters as you'd like (I'm particularly fond of Jack and Carly), but please keep Crow to small doses. I don't mind him appearing along with the rest of Team 5D's, but please don't make him the focus or main POV character of the fic.


Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Yuuki Juudai/Johan Andersen (Juudai pining, Johan pining, both pining)
eventually requited, never requited

Requested pining tags:

• Character A Pines From Afar
• Character A realises pining for B when they move away
• Character A suddenly realizes that they've been pining for B and didn't know it
• Character A tries to convince themself that a platonic relationship is enough
• Character will follow the object of their pining into danger or towards certain death
• epistolary pining
• Hanahaki Disease
• Hurt pined-for character turns up on pining character's doorstep (didn't know where else to go)
• Hurt pining character turns up on pined-for character's doorstep (didn't know where else to go)
• Missed Opportunities
• pining after years of friendship
• Pining Character knows and accepts that their feelings will never be returned (but still pines)
• pining for someone they (correctly or not) think they'll never see again
• pining for someone to come home to
• pining for someone who will come home to them
• Pining while stuck in a time loop
• Realizing your feelings are mutual and it's kind of terrifying
• Rescue Mission while Pining
• secretly pining
• Two Ships Passing

Juudai is quite possibly my favorite shounen protagonist of all time. I love his optimistic, genki, hot-blooded gung-ho attitude at the beginning of the series; I love his descent into darkness; I love the character growth and development he exhibits and how, by the end of the series, he's matured and become jaded and lost some of his blind idealism, but is ultimately still a good person who still believes in goodness. I also adore Johan, for a lot of the same reasons that I love Juudai. He's positive, bright, brave, determined and true. And I love their relationship most of all. They believe in each other, they understand each other, they go above and beyond for each other--they're kindred spirits, like they were meant to find each other.

Some prompts:
··their first reunion post-canon, accompanied by an emotional wave of oh no I'm so in love
··duels are a completely valid method of communication and also of expressing love
··this is where our paths diverge (I can only hope we meet again)
··Juudai's relationship with Yubel is something completely different, but that doesn't stop Johan from feeling like he's second-best
··Johan wants to be the one Juudai comes home to; or, Juudai wants Johan to be the one he can come home to; or both, both is good
··are we not going to have a conversation about how Yubel basically accused them of being in love (answer: no, because whoever's pining knows it's unrequited)
··long-distance relationships are lonely
··they drift apart over time, even though they meant so much to each other back then ;-;

Feel free to include whatever other characters you'd like (especially Winged Kuriboh and the Gem Beasts!). I would rather see Yubel acknowledged than ignored. I watched the anime in the original Japanese, and so I'd prefer to see fic about Juudai and Johan, not Jaden and Jesse.