AU Exchange 2019
Jun. 30th, 2019 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izayoi_no_mikotoAO3: izayoi_no_mikoto
Tumblr:izayoi_no_mikoto
Hello, AU Exchange 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 (here) if you want more insight into the sorts of thing I like.
The structure of this letter is as follows:
··Shipping and relationships
··General likes
··DNWs
··Opt-ins
··AU notes
··Fandom specifics
······Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
······Tennis no Oujisama | The Prince of Tennis
······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 want 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
First off: I LOVE gen. I'd be 100% happy to receive gen. If, for whatever reason, shipfic is not working for you, I would be thrilled to receive gen of the same characters, even if I have not requested the gen version.
As for the ships I have requested, I don't mind in the slightest if you write them gen, but please don't ship those characters with someone else, either in addition to or instead of each other. I tend to OTP pretty hard, and I'm not interested in seeing unrequested ships involving requested characters. (If you want to include background ships involving non-requested characters, feel free to ask via the mods! I'm much more likely to be amenable to that.)
I'll also note that my ships do not have to be straightforward romance. For example, I absolutely LOVE one-sided relationships--unrequited pining is my jam. I'll mention specifically if I especially like A→B (but really, just assume I like it). I also really like relationships that muddy the waters and toe the line between romantic and platonic. If you agonize about whether to tag it A/B or A&B, that is excellent, I eat that stuff up with a spoon.
Lastly, I'm not much interested in sexual content. I usually skip over smut, and even when it's not explicit, I typically hold to a less-is-more policy. Fade to black? That's fine! 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
When it comes to fic, these are a few of my favorite things:
··Intense relationships, as well as all related topics and tropes. "You are my most important person," codependency, us against the world, self-sacrifice, obsession, "I would do terrible things for you," found families, all of it. 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.
··Loyalty, especially mutual loyalty
··Angst (I like tragic/downer endings just as much as happy ones!)
··Pining (mutual or unrequited), especially when it's intense but unspoken
··I'm so desperately in love with you I might be slightly crazy
··Reunions
··Coming home (to someone)
··I would know you anywhere
··I'll face any scandal for you
··Between the scenes/missing scenes
··Outsider POV
··Understated/low-key signs of affection
··Non-sexual physicality (hugging, holding hands, bumping foreheads, leaning on each other, etc.)
··Friends to lovers
··Sudden realization of feelings (one's own or someone else's)
··A somber, dark, or bittersweet tone
DNWs
I would rather not see any of the following:
··Unrequested AUs/crossovers/fusions, including mundane, genderswap, ageswap, etc.
··Explicit sexual content
··Unrequested ships involving requested characters, including infidelity, threesomes/moresomes, and open or poly relationships
··Anything involving pregnancy, childbirth, or young children
··Non-canonical nicknames/pet names/terms of endearment
·· First-person POV (epistolary is OK)
··Crackfic
··DNW for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: a focus on Crow (brief mentions are OK)
OPT-INS
I wholeheartedly welcome the following:
··Character death
··Bad/tragic/downer endings
··Horror
··Violence, gore, adult themes, etc.
··References to/discussion of canon sexual content
··A requested character not technically appearing in the fic (as long as they're still important to the story)
··Second-person POV
··Epistolary fic (letters, texting, newspaper articles, social media, etc.)
AU NOTES
As a general rule, I'm not interested in any AUs other than those I've requested, so please don't add any unrequested AU aspects. That said, for the AUs I have requested, I am interested in any and all takes. Feel free to mix and match at will, play it straight, add a new twist, subvert it entirely, whatever you'd like! As long as it's some variation of an AU I've requested, I would be happy to receive it.
I'm generally requesting the same set of ALL: freeforms for all my fandoms, so I've put my general panfandom thoughts about them here. Fandom-specific likes, dislikes, and prompts are discussed in their respective fandom sections below.
Canon Divergence
I'm more interested in divergences where things go sideways or worse relative to canon; I'm not particularly interested in divergence as a fix-it. I particularly like divergences that are based on canon events, rather than pre-canon setting-type divergences (e.g. "character was raised by someone else"). One type of divergence I'd like to see more of is "ships passing in the night" domino divergences, where two characters narrowly miss meeting each other and their failure to meet sets off a chain of events that's completely different from canon.
Daemon AU/His Dark Materials AU
Mostly, I just like the concept of being able to have a conversation with your own externally manifested soul. I love seeing what animal form a character's soul might take (though I'm less interested in every single character having a super special awesome unique animal as their daemon). For shipfic, I like the idea of daemons being able to express and communicate what their people can't, and of course, touching each other's daemons. I'd also be interested in seeing a more all-encompassing HDM!AU (parallel universes, alethiometers, Dust, whatever), if you can figure out how to adapt it to the fandom in question! If you go that route, though, I would prefer it if the canon setting were kept and the canon world were one of the parallel universes, rather than having the characters transposed into Lyra's world (or any other world that appears in HDM).
Hanahaki AU
I love hanahaki because it plays directly into my love of unrequited pining. Pair it with hanakotoba/flower language and I am a happy camper. I am okay with and and all resolutions to hanahaki, from happy to tragic and everything in between. I also like variations on the theme, so if you have a new twist in mind, I'd love to see it!
Loveless AU
I freaking love Loveless!AUs. I'm interested in the whole worldbuilding set, including true names and spell battles, rather than focusing solely on the virgin kitty bits (though I do love mentions of ears and tails being expressive). Due to the nature of the battle pairs, I particularly love this for ships, but I'd also be interesting in seeing a gen take (is the character a blank, or are they waiting for their Fighter or Sacrifice, or are they looking at the entire system from the outside?). I realize that, to make this work, you might have to take out or change significant aspects of canon, but please keep it to a minimum if you can. Feel free to take or leave Septimal Moon, whatever works better for you.
Soulmate AU (soulmates, soulmarks, soulmate timers, red string of fate)
I'm into almost every type of soulmate!AU, so go wild! Feel free to play it straight or subvert it; as long as there's some sort of drama, conflict, tension, or urgency, I'm in. Some things I'd be interested to see: Timers count down to something other than the first meeting, or that as a rule don't match up; last words soulmarks; can't see your own Red String, or alternatively, only one person can see Red Strings at all (and it isn't necessarily who you think it might be); ambiguous/impossible to prove soulmates; soulmates don't mean instalove; you don't necessarily know your soulmate when you first meet them. I also like gen pondering about/discussion of soulmates as well, including "outsider looking in" type fic from the POV of someone who doesn't have a soulmate (optimistic and sad endings both accepted); however, I'm less interested in platonic soulmates. I'm also not a huge fan of "inside each other's heads, reading each other's minds"-type soulbonds.
Time Travel (time loops/Groundhog Day/Peggy Sue/goes back in time to the body of their younger self)
Any sort of time loop is awesome in my book, and I'm not too picky about the details. It can be a single day or years on end, it can be accidental or deliberate, it can involve one person or several, and canon can be the original timeline or the result of the loop--whatever floats your boat, I want it! I'm also happy with any type of resolution, including--in darker fics--no resolution at all.
I'm also a big fan of Peggy Sue-style time travel (wherein a character engages in some mental time travel and gets the chance to relive their life starting from some point earlier in time). I'd rather not see the second time around go exactly the same as the first (what's even the point of going back in time, then?), but I'm fine with characters trying to keep things exactly the same but failing. I'm also good with characters deciding to change things for the better, of course (success and failure both welcome). Just like with time loops, I'm okay with any length of time, any character, any number of characters, any time of ending, etc. I'm also okay with the time-traveler not being the requested character(s) or the POV character(s), if that's the route you'd like to go.
FANDOMS
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!
Please note that all requests are for fic.
Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Tokoyami Fumikage
Group: Tokoyami Fumikage/Midoriya Izuku
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
I really like Tokoyami. His occasionally melodramatic emo darkness is basically teenage me with a bird head, and deep in my heart of hearts, I still dig it. I like that he's serious and taciturn, but still interacts with people and cares about them. I love the whole "noble darkness" thing he has going on, even when (especially when?) it sometimes goes overboard into silliness. His relationship with Dark Shadow fascinates me--how does Tokoyami deal with something that simultaneously is part of him and yet also has its own distinct sentience, something that is fiercely loyal to him but also terribly dangerous to him?
I feel like Tokoyami and Izuku's relationship would be based on a heck of a lot of mutual respect and understanding. They're both dedicated to their ultimate goal of becoming heroes, but have to learn to control and use very powerful quirks that are potentially extremely dangerous to both themselves and others. I also think they respect each other as strong, capable heroes-to-be with a lot of potential. Give me all of Izuku being fascinated by Dark Shadow and Tokoyami admiring Izuku as a hero-to-be role model and seeking to emulate his good points. They are prime material for some slow burn--friendly first year, friends second year, and inching toward something more third year would be excellent.
My Tokoyami/Izuku ship feels are pretty low-key, so don't feel obliged to include it if you don't ship it. However, please don't ship Tokoyami with anyone else! I'm more flexible about Izuku; feel free to drop me a line if you want to ship him with someone else. I'm currently attempting to catch up on the manga, but I'm not sure I'll make it in time for reveals, so I'd appreciate if you kept manga spoilers to a minimum. I'll edit this post to let you know if I do catch up! Feel free to include other characters (I'm also particularly fond of All Might, Todoroki and Aizawa). Please don't forget about Dark Shadow!
AU Prompts:
Oh my goodness, SO MANY canon divergence options. I'm interested in any and all type of divergences, whether it has to do with Tokoyami (Dark Shadow doesn't go berserk at the training camp?), Izuku (someone else inherited One For All!), or someone else entirely. However, I'm not too fond of "becomes a legit for-real villain" divergences (vigilantes, forced to be villainous, undercover as villain, etc. are all just fine though).
Daemon AUs! I am desperate to see what kind of daemon all these characters have. Is Dark Shadow Tokoyami's daemon, or does he have an actual daemon (and if so, how do the daemon and Dark Shadow feel about each other)? Also, before Izuku's daemon settled, it definitely took the form of All Might's daemon a lot, you cannot convince me otherwise okay And if you want to go all the way into HDM!AU territory, I'd love to see theories on the potential interaction/relationship between quirks and Dust.
A Loveless!AU would be really interesting, especially when you consider quirks. How do the various quirks translate into, or function in cooperation with, spell battles? Heroes actually work in Fighter/Sacrifice pairs! Or, if you want to go more subdued, Tokoyami never had kitty ears to begin with because, you know, bird head, and people jump to conclusions or are wigged out by the fact that he has a tail but no ears or are just fascinated by the interaction of ears and quirk *coughIzukucough*.
Time travel shenanigans would be awesome for this fandom. A time loop quirk or a Peggy-Sue quirk, yes please. Or I'd love to see one (or both!) of them looping through one of the big events trying to achieve the best possible ending. Tokoyami loops through training camp trying to figure out a way to get out of it without Dark Shadow killing himself or anyone else! Or looping through the cavalry battle until they emerge with enough points! Alternatively, it might also be interesting to see one of them looping only to realize that the best way forward is the unexpected one (every time Tokoyami tries to go help Izuku, Aizawa et al. at USJ, things go horribly wrong?).
Tennis no Oujisama | The Prince of Tennis
Group: Ootori Choutarou/Shishido Ryou
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Hanahaki Disease AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
··ALL: Soulmate AU, ALL: Soulmate AU (no mark), ALL: Soulmate-identifying marks, ALL: Soulmate-Identifying Timers AU, ALL: Red String of Fate AU
This is one of my oldest fandoms, and I can always, always read fic for it. And while I have a lot of ships, the Silver Pair just might be my favorite. I love Shishido's prickliness and stubbornness. I love how Choutarou's gentleness hides a spine of steel. And mostly I love them together--Choutarou's loyalty and Shishido having a soft spot for him that's so big it can be seen from space, yes please. I requested the romantic relationship, but I'd be quite happy with gen if you'd rather go that route.
Generally speaking, give me ALL THE TENNIS. Tennis is a huge part of these kids' lives; if they aren't at least thinking about tennis a good deal of the time, something is seriously wrong. I love it when they're being doubles-pairsy (synchro mode, wordless communication, etc., as well as things like naturally gravitating towards each other even outside of tennis). I also like angsting about the future, or at least for there to be some awareness that some day--maybe someday soon--they won't be playing tennis together anymore. I'd also be interested to see exactly how they started training together--whose idea was it? Was any convincing needed? Was it supposed to be a one-off thing, or did they set up a training menu? How did that transform from training together to becoming a doubles pair?
I haven't kept up with Shin Tenipuri, but I can do the original series in manga, anime or musical form. Feel free to include whatever other characters you'd like, including those on other teams; on Hyoutei, I'm also fond of Atobe and Hiyoshi, and in general, I like Seigaku-Hyoutei interactions.
AU Prompts:
Plenty of possibilities for canon divergence. Shishido doesn't get his second chance? Their doubles attempt fails and they lose in the Seigaku match? Shishido never loses in the first place? They lose to the Golden Pair and angst ensues?
Okay, for hanahaki, what I really want is mostly just to see one of the guys hiding his hanahaki until he can't anymore and he coughs up flower petals right there on the court in the middle of a game. Preferably while playing with/against the person he's in love with. And yet he insists on continuing to play! Cue drama and angst!
All the soulmates, yesyes. Especially if there's some sort of soulmate stuff revolving around canon events (the real reason they got paired up for doubles in the first place?). If you manage to figure out how to make tennis itself be soulmate-related, I will love you forever.only soulmates can synchroooo
Clearly all the doubles pairs should be Fighter/Sacrifice pairs in a Loveless fusion. All of them. If you want to turn canon tennis matches into spell battles, I am entirely on board with that. If you want to have them complaining, "why are we practicing spell battles when we could be playing tennis," I'm up for that too. The rival schools are rival institutions?
For daemon/HDM!AU, I kind of just want the logistics of how to play sports with daemons. They must have, like, a daemon waiting area where daemons can stay while their humans are playing. Daemons should definitely gossip on the sidelines. Also, Shishido and Choutarou acting believably like they're just a doubles pair, except their daemons totally give it away.
Any time loop revolving around tennis is good. Shishido time-looping to get back onto regulars! Choutarou time-looping to figure out how to convince Shishido to practice with him! Time-looping to win a match! Time-looping because if they stop looping Shisido will graduate and they'll be separated noooo
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Group: Bruno/Fudou Yuusei
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Hanahaki Disease AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
··ALL: Soulmate AU, ALL: Soulmate AU (no mark), ALL: Soulmate-identifying marks, ALL: Soulmate-Identifying Timers AU, ALL: Red String of Fate AU
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. Ilove 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.
Relationship-wise, I'd be super happy to see any variation--one-sided from either side, mutual pining that doesn't go anywhere, a full-on romantic relationship, anything. I'm game for any time period, from amnesiac Bruno era to post-canon mourning on Yuusei's part. Speaking of which, I love the tragedy of their relationship, so I'm not interested in fix-it fic where Bruno survives. That said, I would be interested in seeing angst about what could have been, in another world/another lifetime, but wasn't. Did I mention pining, I will take all the pining for them. If you'd rather not go all gloom and doom, I'd also love to see them sharing a moment together before it all goes wrong. Just little moments that are precious in retrospect--laughing over a meal, working together in the garage, whatever.
Please note that I like Crow best in small doses. I don't mind him appearing along with the rest of Team 5D's, but please don't make him the focus of the fic.
AU Prompts:
As I mentioned, I don't really want a canon divergence as a fix-it to save Bruno, but other divergences are 100% welcome. Bruno regains his memories earlier, or never regains them at all, or never has amnesia in the first place? Yuusei decides he can't duel Bruno at the end? They never even meet?
I am kind of desperate for a time loop fic of these two, with either Yuusei looping to try to save Bruno (and consistently failing) or Bruno looping to try to save Yuusei (and discovering that he only succeeds by sacrificing himself). Both of them simultaneously looping? each trying to save the other, only to discover that no matter how many times they loop, there is no happy ending. Please, my kingdom for a tragic time loop fic. This would also work with straightforward going back in time with the memory of what happened, no loop necessary. Alternatively, going back in time and knowing it can't be changed, so just angstily living it again knowing nothing can be fixed and just clinging to this unexpected opportunity to see him one last time before it all ends.
Hanahaki plzplzplz. Early on Bruno hiding his hanahaki because how ridiculous is it that he fell in love at first sight! Bruno hiding his hanahaki because everyone knows that Dark Glass has hanahaki and the flowers will give him away! Yuusei develops hanahaki after Bruno dies!
Loveless!AU where duels are actually spell battles, omgyes. That's it, that's all I want.
The prospect of a daemon AU becomes really interesting with Bruno. Does he have a daemon? If not, does he pretend to have a really shy tiny daemon, or does he pretend they're separated, or...? Is the lack of a daemon something that makes Dark Glass so strange and terrifying? If he does have a daemon, how? Is it the same daemon he had when he was Johnny? (Are there even daemons in Johnny's world?!) If you want to go full-out HDM!AU, alternate universes can definitely come into play.
Give me all the tragic soulmates. Maybe Bruno doesn't have a soulmate but Yuusei refuses to believe it. Soulmate timers counting down to their last moment together! Soulmate timers that count down to their most important moment together, and it's supposed to be something happy but instead it's their duel! Red string of fate gives away Dark Glass way earlier!
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Group: Yuuki Juudai & Johan Andersen
Group: Yuuki Juudai/Johan Andersen
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Hanahaki Disease AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
··ALL: Soulmate AU, ALL: Soulmate AU (no mark), ALL: Soulmate-identifying marks, ALL: Soulmate-Identifying Timers AU, ALL: Red String of Fate AU
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 been 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 how he and Juudai are kindred spirits--they hit it off from the first moment they meet, like they were destined to become friends.
I ship them like whoa, but ultimately, what I really love about them is how they're friends who go above and beyond the call of duty for each other. I love that Juudai and Johan put themselves on the line for each other, that their faith in each other is unshakeable, and how they went through terrible things with (and for) each other. How could you not fall in love, at least a little bit? So really, I'd love to see anything focusing on that. The two of them hanging out, just having a casual duel. Their first reunion post-canon, after Juudai starts roaming the earth. Or what it's like when they first meet each other and realize that hey, there's someone else who understands them. Or what it's like to maintain a long-distance friendship or relationship. Alternatively, pining while in a long-distance friendship. Or pining at any point, really.
I'm equally happy with gen and shippiness for these two. Feel free to include whatever other characters you'd like (especially Winged Kuriboh and the Gem Beasts!). If push comes to shove, I would rather see Yubel acknowledged than ignored. Please note that I watched the anime in the original Japanese, and so I'd prefer to see fic about Juudai and Johan, not Jaden and Jesse.
AU Prompts:
Like I said above for 5Ds, Loveless!AU where duels are actually spell battles, that's all, please thank you.
There are so many options for canon divergence that I'm not even sure what I want. Juudai doesn't become Haou? Juudai is never saved from being Haou? Yubel doesn't possess Johan? Johan never stops being possessed by Yubel? Oooh, Johan doesn't fall off the face of the earth for huge chunks of Season 4 would be an excellent canon divergence AU plzkthnx.
Hanahaki with them is so delicious and wonderful and, really, it can happen at any point during or post-series. Hanahaki at the very beginning of their friendship, when they're insta-best friends except one of them is also secretly in love! Hanahaki in the time of Haou!Juudai! Hanahaki in the era of Yubel!Johan! "I'm doing everything in my power to get him back but deep in my heart of hearts I don't know if I'll ever see him again!" hanahaki! Post-series long-distance hanahaki! All the hanahaki all the time. I think Johan might be sliiiiightly less oblivious about Feelings than Juudai, but I am 100% happy to see Juudai with hanahaki, too.
I would love a daemon AU with them. Daemons vs. duel monster spirits, fight! What happens to their daemons when they're Haou!Juudai and Yubel!Johan? How does Yubel feel about sharing Juudai's soul with someone else? (Or is she as possessive of Juudai's daemon?) What all of their, uh, extra-dimensional travels, how does that affect their daemons? Potential for alternate universes stuff herewait what about Misawa staying in the other world with Taniya oh nooooo
Soulmates? Yes, I will happily take soulmates! Soulmates where they knew the first time they saw each other! Soulmates that they figured out because of their duel monsters spirits! Soulmates that went glitchy and traumatic and terrifyingly wrong in their travels across the dimensions! Soulmates that they only realized after parting!
Oh, man, going back in time to try to save each other, omgplz. Juudai trying to make it so that Johan never disappears in the first place! Johan trying to prevent Juudai from going over the deep end into Haou-land! Looping to try to save each other from Yubel, only to eventually realize that trying to destroy Yubel is not the right answer! Also acceptable: looping through the early days, when things were happy and uncomplicated! Also acceptable: Johan looping through Season 4, trying to figure out how to help Juudai find his way through trauma to emerge in one piece (more or less) on the other side.
Tumblr:
izayoi_no_mikotoHello, AU Exchange 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 (here) if you want more insight into the sorts of thing I like.
The structure of this letter is as follows:
··Shipping and relationships
··General likes
··DNWs
··Opt-ins
··AU notes
··Fandom specifics
······Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
······Tennis no Oujisama | The Prince of Tennis
······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 want 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
First off: I LOVE gen. I'd be 100% happy to receive gen. If, for whatever reason, shipfic is not working for you, I would be thrilled to receive gen of the same characters, even if I have not requested the gen version.
As for the ships I have requested, I don't mind in the slightest if you write them gen, but please don't ship those characters with someone else, either in addition to or instead of each other. I tend to OTP pretty hard, and I'm not interested in seeing unrequested ships involving requested characters. (If you want to include background ships involving non-requested characters, feel free to ask via the mods! I'm much more likely to be amenable to that.)
I'll also note that my ships do not have to be straightforward romance. For example, I absolutely LOVE one-sided relationships--unrequited pining is my jam. I'll mention specifically if I especially like A→B (but really, just assume I like it). I also really like relationships that muddy the waters and toe the line between romantic and platonic. If you agonize about whether to tag it A/B or A&B, that is excellent, I eat that stuff up with a spoon.
Lastly, I'm not much interested in sexual content. I usually skip over smut, and even when it's not explicit, I typically hold to a less-is-more policy. Fade to black? That's fine! 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
When it comes to fic, these are a few of my favorite things:
··Intense relationships, as well as all related topics and tropes. "You are my most important person," codependency, us against the world, self-sacrifice, obsession, "I would do terrible things for you," found families, all of it. 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.
··Loyalty, especially mutual loyalty
··Angst (I like tragic/downer endings just as much as happy ones!)
··Pining (mutual or unrequited), especially when it's intense but unspoken
··I'm so desperately in love with you I might be slightly crazy
··Reunions
··Coming home (to someone)
··I would know you anywhere
··I'll face any scandal for you
··Between the scenes/missing scenes
··Outsider POV
··Understated/low-key signs of affection
··Non-sexual physicality (hugging, holding hands, bumping foreheads, leaning on each other, etc.)
··Friends to lovers
··Sudden realization of feelings (one's own or someone else's)
··A somber, dark, or bittersweet tone
DNWs
I would rather not see any of the following:
··Unrequested AUs/crossovers/fusions, including mundane, genderswap, ageswap, etc.
··Explicit sexual content
··Unrequested ships involving requested characters, including infidelity, threesomes/moresomes, and open or poly relationships
··Anything involving pregnancy, childbirth, or young children
··Non-canonical nicknames/pet names/terms of endearment
·· First-person POV (epistolary is OK)
··Crackfic
··DNW for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: a focus on Crow (brief mentions are OK)
OPT-INS
I wholeheartedly welcome the following:
··Character death
··Bad/tragic/downer endings
··Horror
··Violence, gore, adult themes, etc.
··References to/discussion of canon sexual content
··A requested character not technically appearing in the fic (as long as they're still important to the story)
··Second-person POV
··Epistolary fic (letters, texting, newspaper articles, social media, etc.)
AU NOTES
As a general rule, I'm not interested in any AUs other than those I've requested, so please don't add any unrequested AU aspects. That said, for the AUs I have requested, I am interested in any and all takes. Feel free to mix and match at will, play it straight, add a new twist, subvert it entirely, whatever you'd like! As long as it's some variation of an AU I've requested, I would be happy to receive it.
I'm generally requesting the same set of ALL: freeforms for all my fandoms, so I've put my general panfandom thoughts about them here. Fandom-specific likes, dislikes, and prompts are discussed in their respective fandom sections below.
Canon Divergence
I'm more interested in divergences where things go sideways or worse relative to canon; I'm not particularly interested in divergence as a fix-it. I particularly like divergences that are based on canon events, rather than pre-canon setting-type divergences (e.g. "character was raised by someone else"). One type of divergence I'd like to see more of is "ships passing in the night" domino divergences, where two characters narrowly miss meeting each other and their failure to meet sets off a chain of events that's completely different from canon.
Daemon AU/His Dark Materials AU
Mostly, I just like the concept of being able to have a conversation with your own externally manifested soul. I love seeing what animal form a character's soul might take (though I'm less interested in every single character having a super special awesome unique animal as their daemon). For shipfic, I like the idea of daemons being able to express and communicate what their people can't, and of course, touching each other's daemons. I'd also be interested in seeing a more all-encompassing HDM!AU (parallel universes, alethiometers, Dust, whatever), if you can figure out how to adapt it to the fandom in question! If you go that route, though, I would prefer it if the canon setting were kept and the canon world were one of the parallel universes, rather than having the characters transposed into Lyra's world (or any other world that appears in HDM).
Hanahaki AU
I love hanahaki because it plays directly into my love of unrequited pining. Pair it with hanakotoba/flower language and I am a happy camper. I am okay with and and all resolutions to hanahaki, from happy to tragic and everything in between. I also like variations on the theme, so if you have a new twist in mind, I'd love to see it!
Loveless AU
I freaking love Loveless!AUs. I'm interested in the whole worldbuilding set, including true names and spell battles, rather than focusing solely on the virgin kitty bits (though I do love mentions of ears and tails being expressive). Due to the nature of the battle pairs, I particularly love this for ships, but I'd also be interesting in seeing a gen take (is the character a blank, or are they waiting for their Fighter or Sacrifice, or are they looking at the entire system from the outside?). I realize that, to make this work, you might have to take out or change significant aspects of canon, but please keep it to a minimum if you can. Feel free to take or leave Septimal Moon, whatever works better for you.
Soulmate AU (soulmates, soulmarks, soulmate timers, red string of fate)
I'm into almost every type of soulmate!AU, so go wild! Feel free to play it straight or subvert it; as long as there's some sort of drama, conflict, tension, or urgency, I'm in. Some things I'd be interested to see: Timers count down to something other than the first meeting, or that as a rule don't match up; last words soulmarks; can't see your own Red String, or alternatively, only one person can see Red Strings at all (and it isn't necessarily who you think it might be); ambiguous/impossible to prove soulmates; soulmates don't mean instalove; you don't necessarily know your soulmate when you first meet them. I also like gen pondering about/discussion of soulmates as well, including "outsider looking in" type fic from the POV of someone who doesn't have a soulmate (optimistic and sad endings both accepted); however, I'm less interested in platonic soulmates. I'm also not a huge fan of "inside each other's heads, reading each other's minds"-type soulbonds.
Time Travel (time loops/Groundhog Day/Peggy Sue/goes back in time to the body of their younger self)
Any sort of time loop is awesome in my book, and I'm not too picky about the details. It can be a single day or years on end, it can be accidental or deliberate, it can involve one person or several, and canon can be the original timeline or the result of the loop--whatever floats your boat, I want it! I'm also happy with any type of resolution, including--in darker fics--no resolution at all.
I'm also a big fan of Peggy Sue-style time travel (wherein a character engages in some mental time travel and gets the chance to relive their life starting from some point earlier in time). I'd rather not see the second time around go exactly the same as the first (what's even the point of going back in time, then?), but I'm fine with characters trying to keep things exactly the same but failing. I'm also good with characters deciding to change things for the better, of course (success and failure both welcome). Just like with time loops, I'm okay with any length of time, any character, any number of characters, any time of ending, etc. I'm also okay with the time-traveler not being the requested character(s) or the POV character(s), if that's the route you'd like to go.
FANDOMS
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!
Please note that all requests are for fic.
Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Tokoyami Fumikage
Group: Tokoyami Fumikage/Midoriya Izuku
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
I really like Tokoyami. His occasionally melodramatic emo darkness is basically teenage me with a bird head, and deep in my heart of hearts, I still dig it. I like that he's serious and taciturn, but still interacts with people and cares about them. I love the whole "noble darkness" thing he has going on, even when (especially when?) it sometimes goes overboard into silliness. His relationship with Dark Shadow fascinates me--how does Tokoyami deal with something that simultaneously is part of him and yet also has its own distinct sentience, something that is fiercely loyal to him but also terribly dangerous to him?
I feel like Tokoyami and Izuku's relationship would be based on a heck of a lot of mutual respect and understanding. They're both dedicated to their ultimate goal of becoming heroes, but have to learn to control and use very powerful quirks that are potentially extremely dangerous to both themselves and others. I also think they respect each other as strong, capable heroes-to-be with a lot of potential. Give me all of Izuku being fascinated by Dark Shadow and Tokoyami admiring Izuku as a hero-to-be role model and seeking to emulate his good points. They are prime material for some slow burn--friendly first year, friends second year, and inching toward something more third year would be excellent.
My Tokoyami/Izuku ship feels are pretty low-key, so don't feel obliged to include it if you don't ship it. However, please don't ship Tokoyami with anyone else! I'm more flexible about Izuku; feel free to drop me a line if you want to ship him with someone else. I'm currently attempting to catch up on the manga, but I'm not sure I'll make it in time for reveals, so I'd appreciate if you kept manga spoilers to a minimum. I'll edit this post to let you know if I do catch up! Feel free to include other characters (I'm also particularly fond of All Might, Todoroki and Aizawa). Please don't forget about Dark Shadow!
AU Prompts:
Oh my goodness, SO MANY canon divergence options. I'm interested in any and all type of divergences, whether it has to do with Tokoyami (Dark Shadow doesn't go berserk at the training camp?), Izuku (someone else inherited One For All!), or someone else entirely. However, I'm not too fond of "becomes a legit for-real villain" divergences (vigilantes, forced to be villainous, undercover as villain, etc. are all just fine though).
Daemon AUs! I am desperate to see what kind of daemon all these characters have. Is Dark Shadow Tokoyami's daemon, or does he have an actual daemon (and if so, how do the daemon and Dark Shadow feel about each other)? Also, before Izuku's daemon settled, it definitely took the form of All Might's daemon a lot, you cannot convince me otherwise okay And if you want to go all the way into HDM!AU territory, I'd love to see theories on the potential interaction/relationship between quirks and Dust.
A Loveless!AU would be really interesting, especially when you consider quirks. How do the various quirks translate into, or function in cooperation with, spell battles? Heroes actually work in Fighter/Sacrifice pairs! Or, if you want to go more subdued, Tokoyami never had kitty ears to begin with because, you know, bird head, and people jump to conclusions or are wigged out by the fact that he has a tail but no ears or are just fascinated by the interaction of ears and quirk *coughIzukucough*.
Time travel shenanigans would be awesome for this fandom. A time loop quirk or a Peggy-Sue quirk, yes please. Or I'd love to see one (or both!) of them looping through one of the big events trying to achieve the best possible ending. Tokoyami loops through training camp trying to figure out a way to get out of it without Dark Shadow killing himself or anyone else! Or looping through the cavalry battle until they emerge with enough points! Alternatively, it might also be interesting to see one of them looping only to realize that the best way forward is the unexpected one (every time Tokoyami tries to go help Izuku, Aizawa et al. at USJ, things go horribly wrong?).
Tennis no Oujisama | The Prince of Tennis
Group: Ootori Choutarou/Shishido Ryou
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Hanahaki Disease AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
··ALL: Soulmate AU, ALL: Soulmate AU (no mark), ALL: Soulmate-identifying marks, ALL: Soulmate-Identifying Timers AU, ALL: Red String of Fate AU
This is one of my oldest fandoms, and I can always, always read fic for it. And while I have a lot of ships, the Silver Pair just might be my favorite. I love Shishido's prickliness and stubbornness. I love how Choutarou's gentleness hides a spine of steel. And mostly I love them together--Choutarou's loyalty and Shishido having a soft spot for him that's so big it can be seen from space, yes please. I requested the romantic relationship, but I'd be quite happy with gen if you'd rather go that route.
Generally speaking, give me ALL THE TENNIS. Tennis is a huge part of these kids' lives; if they aren't at least thinking about tennis a good deal of the time, something is seriously wrong. I love it when they're being doubles-pairsy (synchro mode, wordless communication, etc., as well as things like naturally gravitating towards each other even outside of tennis). I also like angsting about the future, or at least for there to be some awareness that some day--maybe someday soon--they won't be playing tennis together anymore. I'd also be interested to see exactly how they started training together--whose idea was it? Was any convincing needed? Was it supposed to be a one-off thing, or did they set up a training menu? How did that transform from training together to becoming a doubles pair?
I haven't kept up with Shin Tenipuri, but I can do the original series in manga, anime or musical form. Feel free to include whatever other characters you'd like, including those on other teams; on Hyoutei, I'm also fond of Atobe and Hiyoshi, and in general, I like Seigaku-Hyoutei interactions.
AU Prompts:
Plenty of possibilities for canon divergence. Shishido doesn't get his second chance? Their doubles attempt fails and they lose in the Seigaku match? Shishido never loses in the first place? They lose to the Golden Pair
Okay, for hanahaki, what I really want is mostly just to see one of the guys hiding his hanahaki until he can't anymore and he coughs up flower petals right there on the court in the middle of a game. Preferably while playing with/against the person he's in love with. And yet he insists on continuing to play! Cue drama and angst!
All the soulmates, yesyes. Especially if there's some sort of soulmate stuff revolving around canon events (the real reason they got paired up for doubles in the first place?). If you manage to figure out how to make tennis itself be soulmate-related, I will love you forever.
Clearly all the doubles pairs should be Fighter/Sacrifice pairs in a Loveless fusion. All of them. If you want to turn canon tennis matches into spell battles, I am entirely on board with that. If you want to have them complaining, "why are we practicing spell battles when we could be playing tennis," I'm up for that too. The rival schools are rival institutions?
For daemon/HDM!AU, I kind of just want the logistics of how to play sports with daemons. They must have, like, a daemon waiting area where daemons can stay while their humans are playing. Daemons should definitely gossip on the sidelines. Also, Shishido and Choutarou acting believably like they're just a doubles pair, except their daemons totally give it away.
Any time loop revolving around tennis is good. Shishido time-looping to get back onto regulars! Choutarou time-looping to figure out how to convince Shishido to practice with him! Time-looping to win a match! Time-looping because if they stop looping Shisido will graduate and they'll be separated noooo
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Group: Bruno/Fudou Yuusei
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Hanahaki Disease AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
··ALL: Soulmate AU, ALL: Soulmate AU (no mark), ALL: Soulmate-identifying marks, ALL: Soulmate-Identifying Timers AU, ALL: Red String of Fate AU
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. Ilove 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.
Relationship-wise, I'd be super happy to see any variation--one-sided from either side, mutual pining that doesn't go anywhere, a full-on romantic relationship, anything. I'm game for any time period, from amnesiac Bruno era to post-canon mourning on Yuusei's part. Speaking of which, I love the tragedy of their relationship, so I'm not interested in fix-it fic where Bruno survives. That said, I would be interested in seeing angst about what could have been, in another world/another lifetime, but wasn't. Did I mention pining, I will take all the pining for them. If you'd rather not go all gloom and doom, I'd also love to see them sharing a moment together before it all goes wrong. Just little moments that are precious in retrospect--laughing over a meal, working together in the garage, whatever.
Please note that I like Crow best in small doses. I don't mind him appearing along with the rest of Team 5D's, but please don't make him the focus of the fic.
AU Prompts:
As I mentioned, I don't really want a canon divergence as a fix-it to save Bruno, but other divergences are 100% welcome. Bruno regains his memories earlier, or never regains them at all, or never has amnesia in the first place? Yuusei decides he can't duel Bruno at the end? They never even meet?
I am kind of desperate for a time loop fic of these two, with either Yuusei looping to try to save Bruno (and consistently failing) or Bruno looping to try to save Yuusei (and discovering that he only succeeds by sacrificing himself). Both of them simultaneously looping? each trying to save the other, only to discover that no matter how many times they loop, there is no happy ending. Please, my kingdom for a tragic time loop fic. This would also work with straightforward going back in time with the memory of what happened, no loop necessary. Alternatively, going back in time and knowing it can't be changed, so just angstily living it again knowing nothing can be fixed and just clinging to this unexpected opportunity to see him one last time before it all ends.
Hanahaki plzplzplz. Early on Bruno hiding his hanahaki because how ridiculous is it that he fell in love at first sight! Bruno hiding his hanahaki because everyone knows that Dark Glass has hanahaki and the flowers will give him away! Yuusei develops hanahaki after Bruno dies!
Loveless!AU where duels are actually spell battles, omgyes. That's it, that's all I want.
The prospect of a daemon AU becomes really interesting with Bruno. Does he have a daemon? If not, does he pretend to have a really shy tiny daemon, or does he pretend they're separated, or...? Is the lack of a daemon something that makes Dark Glass so strange and terrifying? If he does have a daemon, how? Is it the same daemon he had when he was Johnny? (Are there even daemons in Johnny's world?!) If you want to go full-out HDM!AU, alternate universes can definitely come into play.
Give me all the tragic soulmates. Maybe Bruno doesn't have a soulmate
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Group: Yuuki Juudai & Johan Andersen
Group: Yuuki Juudai/Johan Andersen
AU Tags:
··ALL: Canon Divergence
··ALL: Daemon AU, ALL: His Dark Materials AU
··ALL: Hanahaki Disease AU
··ALL: Loveless AU
··ALL: Time Loop, ALL: Groundhog Day timeloop, ALL: Peggy-Sue, ALL: Groundhog Peggy Sue, ALL: Main character goes back in time to the body of their younger self and changes what happened
··ALL: Soulmate AU, ALL: Soulmate AU (no mark), ALL: Soulmate-identifying marks, ALL: Soulmate-Identifying Timers AU, ALL: Red String of Fate AU
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 been 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 how he and Juudai are kindred spirits--they hit it off from the first moment they meet, like they were destined to become friends.
I ship them like whoa, but ultimately, what I really love about them is how they're friends who go above and beyond the call of duty for each other. I love that Juudai and Johan put themselves on the line for each other, that their faith in each other is unshakeable, and how they went through terrible things with (and for) each other. How could you not fall in love, at least a little bit? So really, I'd love to see anything focusing on that. The two of them hanging out, just having a casual duel. Their first reunion post-canon, after Juudai starts roaming the earth. Or what it's like when they first meet each other and realize that hey, there's someone else who understands them. Or what it's like to maintain a long-distance friendship or relationship. Alternatively, pining while in a long-distance friendship. Or pining at any point, really.
I'm equally happy with gen and shippiness for these two. Feel free to include whatever other characters you'd like (especially Winged Kuriboh and the Gem Beasts!). If push comes to shove, I would rather see Yubel acknowledged than ignored. Please note that I watched the anime in the original Japanese, and so I'd prefer to see fic about Juudai and Johan, not Jaden and Jesse.
AU Prompts:
Like I said above for 5Ds, Loveless!AU where duels are actually spell battles, that's all, please thank you.
There are so many options for canon divergence that I'm not even sure what I want. Juudai doesn't become Haou? Juudai is never saved from being Haou? Yubel doesn't possess Johan? Johan never stops being possessed by Yubel? Oooh, Johan doesn't fall off the face of the earth for huge chunks of Season 4 would be an excellent canon divergence AU plzkthnx.
Hanahaki with them is so delicious and wonderful and, really, it can happen at any point during or post-series. Hanahaki at the very beginning of their friendship, when they're insta-best friends except one of them is also secretly in love! Hanahaki in the time of Haou!Juudai! Hanahaki in the era of Yubel!Johan! "I'm doing everything in my power to get him back but deep in my heart of hearts I don't know if I'll ever see him again!" hanahaki! Post-series long-distance hanahaki! All the hanahaki all the time. I think Johan might be sliiiiightly less oblivious about Feelings than Juudai, but I am 100% happy to see Juudai with hanahaki, too.
I would love a daemon AU with them. Daemons vs. duel monster spirits, fight! What happens to their daemons when they're Haou!Juudai and Yubel!Johan? How does Yubel feel about sharing Juudai's soul with someone else? (Or is she as possessive of Juudai's daemon?) What all of their, uh, extra-dimensional travels, how does that affect their daemons? Potential for alternate universes stuff here
Soulmates? Yes, I will happily take soulmates! Soulmates where they knew the first time they saw each other! Soulmates that they figured out because of their duel monsters spirits! Soulmates that went glitchy and traumatic and terrifyingly wrong in their travels across the dimensions! Soulmates that they only realized after parting!
Oh, man, going back in time to try to save each other, omgplz. Juudai trying to make it so that Johan never disappears in the first place! Johan trying to prevent Juudai from going over the deep end into Haou-land! Looping to try to save each other from Yubel, only to eventually realize that trying to destroy Yubel is not the right answer! Also acceptable: looping through the early days, when things were happy and uncomplicated! Also acceptable: Johan looping through Season 4, trying to figure out how to help Juudai find his way through trauma to emerge in one piece (more or less) on the other side.
