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Rare Male Slash Exchange 2020
May. 29th, 2020 11:42 pmDear Author,
AO3 user sadlikeknives here, really excited to find out what you're going to write for me! I'm sure it's going to be great. For all of my requested fandoms, I have requested fic only.
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose. I like pining, hurt/comfort, people using other people's prejudices and expectations of them to their own advantage, loyalty kink, competence kink, scars, soulbonds and soulmates, sexy-type biting and related bloodplay, size kink (I really like both the bigger guy manhandling the smaller guy and the smaller guy loving it, and the smaller guy bossing the bigger guy around and the bigger guy loving it). I'm down with porn or not porn.
DNWs:
- bestiality (including shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon or dubcon
- infidelity/cheating involving requested characters (so like, a PI handling a cheating case is fine)
- omegaverse, aka a/b/o, or any other type of mpreg
- graphic animal harm (for example: mention of a werewolf eating a bunny: fine; graphic description of what happened to the bunny: not fine)
- death of requested characters
Benjamin January Mysteries – Barbara Hambly
Benjamin January/Abishag Shaw
You remember waaaaaaaaaay back at the end of A Free Man of Color when Shaw's standing by Ben's table at the Place des Armes Because Society and Ben's like, "Or you could sit the fuck down one of these days?" Gentle Author, I shipped it then, and I ship it still. I just want to shove them together like a couple of really tall Ken dolls and go, "NOW KISS." I love how they navigate their godawful society's expectations and restrictions, how they often communicate via what's not said. I love how tentative Ben has always been to trust Shaw, in the face of evidence that Shaw is All In on trusting Ben, and then how in Murder in July he realizes Shaw would march off to assassinate the Queen of England if he asked him to (although it sort of drives me crazy that then at the end of the book Hannibal and Ben decided they needed to pull a fast one on Shaw just in case he randomly decided to confiscate the papers at the expense of Rose, like that's a thing he would ever do). I love how committed to justice they both are, and how they recognize that's different from the rule of law, and their mutual frustration with society's preference for a tidy resolution over true justice being done. I love how respectful they both are of the other's skills, and how they both use other people's expectations of their behavior. In short, I love them, and I want more of them.
Quick note: As I said above I'm really not into straight up infidelity/cheating, and Ben, of course, is married. So you could set your fic before Ben met Rose, or handwave the whole relationship away/platonic, or have some form of poly/Rose being really open-minded because she's Rose, but please: no straight-up cheating.
Additional note: I have to confess, I'm shallow. I generally picture Shaw as more, you know, sexy scruffy (like, Hollywood historical scruffy) than with the level of hygiene, if one can even call it that, described in the books, because seriously, he's an intelligent man, he knows what soap is for, why will he not use it?? It's not cute. So, like, if you could steer away from descriptions where he is as unpleasant as in canon, I would greatly appreciate that.
Prompts
1. Possibly Shaw could be pining after Ben. I feel like this makes a lot of narrative sense. Like, he knows it's useless and never gonna happen (but then it DOES?) and probably beats himself up over it, but ooooh that commitment to justice and all that expertise, so sexy. And then Ben finally gets knocked over the head with the clue bat.
2. Concept I know I've been banging like a drum for a while now, but that's because I love it so: Abishag 'what is bathing, and also, I can track you through a hurricane' Shaw is a werewolf. (And just maybe Hannibal is a vampire?) Ben finds out (Silver allergy? Something connected to a case?). He's intrigued. Possibly, together they fight supernatural crime.
3. What if, for case-related reasons (he's posing as part of a band of slave stealers or something), the Best Possible Option in the moment is for Shaw to, say, shoot Ben? Like, wing him, in the arm or something, and then Ben dramatically falls into a river and Shaw's like, "Welp, guess that one's dead dear God please let there not be any snakes or gators and please let me have basically missed for once." And then he spends some amount of time anxiously afraid he's just killed Ben before he's able to sneak off and find him and like, help him tend to his wounds.
4. While so much of these books is in the setting, I just really love modern New Orleans. Like a lot. And it's still very atmospheric, no? Picture it: Shaw's still a cop, Ben's a surgeon who moonlights in a jazz band. Rose is a badass chemistry professor at Tulane. Together, they solve crimes. And make out.
5. Shaw realizes that, vis a vis the end of Murder in July, Ben has not yet gotten the memo that he's All In, and his feelings are really hurt, but he's trying to be, like, an adult about it. Things get awkward. Possibly Rose has to knock some heads together.
6. Instead of Hannibal, Shaw stays in Texas with Ben during Lady of Perdition, aaaaaaand go.
Hidden Legacy Series – Ilona Andrews
I've gotten some great gifts for this fandom lately but they just make me want more, so okay let's go.
Augustine Montgomery/Connor Rogan
Their friendship is really interesting to me, the way they often don't seem to like each other that much, or at least are really prickly with each other—and yet they're also each other's best friend in the world, and know stuff about each other no one else knows. And, like, how we know they'd each kill the other person without a moment's thought if their family was on the line, but they'd feel really bad about it afterward, and in their world, that's really rare. It's honestly almost like they are family, or at least are operating on a higher level of intimacy than most of the relationships around them. I'm into it.
In keeping with my aforementioned infidelity DNW, I would prefer this to be set in either the period before Nevada and Rogan got together, or for there to be some kind of open relationship/poly arrangement going on, or maybe Nevada and Rogan never got together! Just...anything but cheating, yeah. (Good luck cheating on a Truthseeker anyway lol.)
1. Maybe in college they had an FWB thing that got complicated because of feelings/ended poorly when Rogan took off for the military. Maybe Augustine is still pissed about it and now that Rogan's slightly less of a mess he wants to talk it out/get back together.
2. Or maybe they never broke up/stopped talking for a while. Maybe they've been on again/off again for over a decade and they snipe at each other as a form of foreplay. Maybe they're Houston's secret or not at all secret power couple. Whatever you want to do with it!
2. When did Rogan see Augustine without his illusion? What's the story there? Was it something stupid, like a dare (was it another frat thing?) or something serious, like Augustine completely drained his magic somehow and Rogan had to rescue him from a bad situation? Or, at some point, did Augustine just trust him that completely?
3. I just really like the idea of Rogan making Augustine while he's undercover. Like, his illusion is flawless, his impersonation dead to rights, but there is some little detail that makes Rogan mutter, "Hi, Pancakes," in his ear as he walks past. (Maybe this is a game they play at society functions.)
4. Something with Rogan being a tactile okay go.
Cornelius Harrison/Augustine Montgomery
In Sapphire Flames when it's mentioned that Augustine came to the warehouse and picked Matilda up, everyone sort of brushes it off as, "Well, MII has a personal security division," which is true, but doesn't explain why the owner of the company is chauffeuring a random second grader, and so my brain helpfully decided that he's dating her dad.
And I know there was that whole, "Cornelius will never truly love again," thing, but maybe that's not, like, definitive. Maybe science magic turns out to be wrong about that. Or maybe it's an FWB thing and that works for them, or something! Maybe somehow it all works out.
1. Thinking back to Augustine manipulating Nevada into taking Cornelius' case after Nari died, maybe Augustine has been carrying a torch for Cornelius for a while, but he knew it was hopeless and it was never going to be a thing. And now...it is a thing, and he's sort of freaking out, but trying to keep it cool because Augustine Montgomery does not freak out. (Cornelius? Charmed.)
2. Something involving Augustine having to deal with Cornelius' animal friends. There are so many animal friends. One of them is a cat thing from another dimension. Augustine doesn't seem like a pets person, so it's...a lot.
3. Something about Cornelius having to deal with Augustine's best friend, Mad Rogan. It goes way better than Augustine and the menagerie does.
4. Something about Augustine's illusion magic. Maybe he's in disguise but Zeus is like 'oh hai' anyway, or maybe it goes haywire somehow and Cornelius has to help him get out of a situation. Or maybe the illusion magic has, uh, sexytimes applications. (NOT "I can look like your dead wife" as just occurred to me after I typed that. Fun applications!)
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Hugh d'Ambray/Christopher Steed
Okay, so after the part in Magic Triumphs where Christopher tells Kate that A) unlike pretty much everyone else outside the Iron Dogs, he paid enough attention to figure out what Roland was doing to control Hugh pretty early on and B) Hugh took better care of him when he was in the cage than previously thought, and possibly than he was supposed to, considering it's mentioned he fed and talked to him only at night when no one else was around, and Hugh's guilt-flashback re: Christopher in the cage in Iron & Magic and how he thinks about Christopher as the only Legatus he could ever stand, I went back and reread Magic Rises and I realized that maybe Hugh set Kate up to rescue Christopher on purpose with the 'anything in this courtyard' wording (like, maybe not consciously, because of Roland's conditioning and because he really didn't expect to lose that match, but on some level I really think he knew what he was saying there, because Hugh is not wired to withstand someone suffering on his watch like that and he had to fix it somehow).
And now I ship it. It's a whole mess of history and dynamics to dig into and I'm into it. Like: they were horrible men, and they were equals. And then one of them kept the other one in a cage. And now they're both different people in some ways, living in the aftermath of all of that, and it's just...really interesting to me. I really want to see them interact!
Note: If you're writing something set during the era of the books, as opposed to the pre-canon Preceptor/Legatus era, please nothing sexual during the period when Christopher was mentally unstable. As far as the canon relationships go, I'm happy for Hugh's marriage to Elara to remain a professional business arrangement, or with some form of polyamory, whatever you want to do there. As far as Christopher's relationship with Barabas, I can't really see Barabas sharing Christopher with Hugh d'Ambray, but, I mean, maybe? Or maybe they didn't get together. However you can make it work!
Prompts!
1. Some kind of FWB arrangement set during their days as Legatus and Preceptor that maybe gets more serious than either of them meant it to, or mutual pining and both of them aware that it's a REALLY BAD IDEA as far as Roland is concerned, and then maybe after everything they meet up again and realize they have a second chance.
2. Or in that same period, something with Christopher and Hugh working together to salvage a situation, possibly one that's gone south thanks to Roland's meddling/not listening to Hugh/maybe even brainwashing Hugh. Like, when Omaha got broken, was that...was that what was supposed to happen? Or were they both pretty sure for about five minutes there that they were super going to die (and then possibly "I can't believe we survived that" sex?)?
3. Something to do with Christopher losing his wing in Magic Triumphs, because I have this notion that Hugh is the healer you call in to deal with the situation when you've got an actual avatar with an extra-crispy appendage, and then you've got Christopher, of course, devastated, and Hugh feeling really guilty about being unable to save the wing and yes good angst. (And then maybe the wing grows back?)
4. Something set during the preparations to face Neig, with Hugh and Christopher both being weirded out by how easily they fall into a groove of working together again and the Iron Dogs enthusiastically embracing Christopher because it's always nice when someone they used to know A) is alive and B) isn't trying to kill them, and possibly also ragging the hell out of Hugh for having A Type, because haha wow are there some similarities between Elara and Christopher. Meanwhile I feel like Elara and Christopher would be somewhere between "initially slightly spooked by each other" and this.
5. Any sex is good sex, but I'm really feeling intercrural for this pairing for some reason, so please, Hugh, fuck Christopher's thighs. It will be so hot. (Or vice versa. It's all good.)
6. So oops it turns out Hugh can't marry Elara to seal their alliance because he and Christopher are already married. Maybe they didn't realize that thing they did as a quick way to solve a problem one time was legally binding. Maybe it was entirely on purpose and a secret. Whatever, just run with it.
7. I noticed on reread that Hugh grows by several inches throughout the course of the series—something in the range of four to six inches. While I'm pretty sure this is just another authorial inconsistency like his country of origin switching from England to France, it could also be fanwanked as the result of his stint healing in a phoenix egg, so something with Christopher reacting to his new height (and Hugh to Christopher's new shoulders?) could be a thing.
Mercy Thompson Series – Patricia Briggs
Kyle Brooks/Warren Smith
Let's talk about how much I have always loved Warren and Kyle. Like, on paper, they don't work: a hundred and fifty year old Texas cowboy werewolf who works at a gas station and a rich, human, Ivy League educated lawyer. And they both know that. And it doesn't matter. I love Kyle's ridiculous marble statues, and his vanity and the chip on his shoulder, and the way Warren loves those things too and sees Kyle's good heart. I love how easygoing and Texan Warren is, and all the pain and violence that's simmering away under the surface, and how Kyle doesn't care about all of the werewolf shit, he just loves him—and how Kyle, as he says in the short story "In Red, with Pearls," is his own kind of predator, and that just because he eviscerates his prey in court, not, you know, literally, doesn't mean he can't understand Warren's wolf.
Prompts!
1. There's like seven or eight rough months for Warren and Kyle between Moon Called and Blood Bound that we know very little about, and I'm really interested in this period—the pining and the draw that kept them coming back to each other (Were they sleeping together at any point in this period? That must have been really bittersweet) and saw Kyle hiring Warren, especially, but also how the 'so, werewolves' conversations went (and the fights, you know there were fights).
2. Concept: Kyle gets turned into a werewolf. I feel like he'd probably be pretty good at it. How does that happen? Is it on purpose, like he's sick or something? Or does some rogue or some other pack trying to come at Columbia Basin, now that they're exiled, attack him? How does that affect the pack structure? How many bed frames do he and Warren break while Kyle is learning his new strength?
3. In Frost Burned, Kyle reveals that his mating bond with Warren is starting to be two-way, but, being human, he just thought he was going crazy. And then we never really hear about that again. So: how does that psychic bond work for a human? Do he and Warren have enough control over it for it to be useful? Does it have sexytimes applications?
4. Something dealing with Kyle's family. Maybe his sister he still speaks to is coming to visit and he's freaking out, or his deploying the nuclear option with regards to his father in Frost Burned comes back to bite him (possibly on multiple fronts, I know you were going through a rough time but using your boyfriend as blackmail material was sort of...not cool, Kyle) and has to be dealt with somehow.
6. As per some hinting in Storm Cursed, Kyle apparently wants kids. I feel like Warren would not even have thought about kids because...that wasn't an option. So either they have an adult discussion about this and figure out whether they, in fact, want to pursue parenthood, or they semi-accidentally acquire like, some kind of magic toddler or something. Or like, both.
Soulbound Series – Hailey Turner
Patrick Collins & Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn, Patrick Collins/Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn
From the first moment Gerard showed up in that phone call at the end of A Ferry of Bones & Gold cussing Patrick out for working with the goddamned vampire again, I was delighted and in love. And then he actually showed up on the page and:
1. Oh, no, he's hot.
2. Oh, no, he has a spear and that's hot.
3. Oh no, he's fucking Cú Chulainn.
Amazing.
A thing you may or may not be aware of: there's a free prequel short story, "Down a Twisted Path," available via Hailey Turner's website (I believe you have to join her mailing list to get access, but don't quote me on that) in which Patrick & Gerard interact, and I have read that, but if you haven't, that's fine, I don't think it's necessary.
Regarding my infidelity DNW: Legendarily speaking, Cú Chulainn was a giant slut, so I'm assuming that Órlaith is fine with that and they have an open relationship (and like...maybe it's an AU where Gerard happened to mention he was engaged at some point in the past instead of awkwardly blindsiding Patrick with, 'My fiancee's been kidnapped btw I have a fiance.'). On Patrick's end, if you're writing a fic set after he met Jono I'm good with whatever AU or poly arrangement you come up with to make that work.
Some prompts!
1. Something set during the Hellraisers era, whether that be, like, "I can't believe we survived that," sex, or facing down some unspeakable evil together, or drinking games. Or all three.
2. Or maybe Patrick had a puppy crush on Gerard (because, look at him), but he was young and already fucked up and under his command so that never happened, but now two of those three things are no longer true, so: maybe?
3. Cú Chulainn's berserker state, the warp spasm, is hinted at several times, especially in the third book, but it hasn't happened yet. I would like to see it, please, and everyone else freaking the fuck out. (And possibly Patrick just being like, "Oh great he's back on his bullshit.")
4. Something dealing with the revelations of book three and Gerard and Patrick working to repair their relationship.
5. Something with Gerard standing up to other immortals for Patrick. Please, let him give Persephone a piece of his mind. Please.
Patrick Collins/Jonothon de Vere
This canon and this pairing could have been tailor made for me, holy shit. HE'S a lonely alpha werewolf who just wants a pack to take care of, to whom the god Fenrir speaks. HE'S a mage with secrets, dramatic scars, and metaphysical damage that makes his magic painful and draining to use, resulting in many opportunities for h/c, despite the fact that he takes to h/c about as well as a cat does to water. Also he's indebted to the gods and they keep trying to run/ruin his life. They have an ACCIDENTAL SOULBOND and one of them thinks it's great and the other one thinks it's the worst thing ever. Together, they fight crime and learn about found family. AMAZING.
PROMPTS!
1. See above re: opportunities for h/c. Maybe Patrick overtaxes his magic again. Maybe he just has the flu! Maybe something else. Whatever way you go with it, Jono's caretaker instincts are triggered and Patrick is grumpy about it (But humoring him. Yeah, that's what it is. Humoring him.).
2. Something involving their CANONICAL SOULBOND (and possibly sex applications thereof). I'm not picky.
3. Listen just make them fuck and I'm happy. Bonus points for something about Patrick's scars/self-consciousness about his scars and/or Jono's need to make Patrick smell like him.
4. Something involving the various gods in their lives! Either something about Jono dealing with Fenrir's opinions/interference or just, like, Patrick's whole situation. Or both, both is good.
5. "We are trying to have date night/Valentine's Day like a nice normal couple but supernatural bullshit keeps interfering so much."
6. Jono attempts to teach Patrick to cook. It...it goes...on the bright side, the kitchen did not burn down? At least Jono's really hard to poison? (Gerard & Keith: "Wow you're so much braver than us.")
West Hell Magic Series – Devon Monk
Real talk I don't understand how this series doesn't have more of a following in fandom. It's about werewolves and wizards playing hockey! It's super slashy! What more do I need to say?
Hawthorn Graves/Random Hazard
Okay so in the scene where Ran sees Graves for the first time, when he's just some random guy at the skating rink, the way he described him had me going, "Is this...is this an M/M book? It didn't say anywhere that it was an M/M book but YAY!" And then the female love interest showed up and it turned out to not be an M/M book after all, but for a while there I really thought it could be! And like, it only continues with the way Graves is willing to toss himself on the sword of the Dead Man trade for Ran and Ran's promising career in Spark, and just, like, it's slashy as hell, okay?
1. Seriously what the fuck is Graves? My best guess at the moment is, "Dragon? Maybe?" but take your best shot. Or don't and just play around with the weirdness we've been given.
2. "You're just starting your career, I'm near the end of mine, this can't last....but we really want it to last..."
3. Maybe Graves helpfully points out to Ran that if his middle name is somehow disastrous enough to not be preferable to being known as 'Random Hazard,' there is always a thing called a legal name change he could explore. Maybe that.
4. Graves tests Ran's control over his magic...during sex.
Hawthorn Graves/Elliott Clay
This might actually be canon? They've known each other for ages and that scene in Spark where Coach Clay borrows Graves' phone but Graves won't actually let him touch it because he'll just break this one, too did nothing to convince me they're not an old married couple, anyway.
1. See above re: WTF is Graves? I feel like Coach Clay might be the one person who already knows the answer to this question.
2. Something with them sneaking around hiding their relationship from the team. Sex in an equipment closet. Sex on Clay's desk, possibly with "you've been a bad bad player and you need to be punished" roleplaying. Also, "We're too old for all this sneaking around."
3. The two of them watching the younger generation's *cough*Ran*cough* drama like "Were we ever that young?"
4. Or! Maybe they're NOT in a relationship yet. Maybe they've been like two ships passing in the night their whole careers and it was just never the right time, and now Clay is in a position of authority over Graves and it just wouldn't be right, he feels, and there is pining, and then Graves finds out that THAT'S what the holdup is this time and is like, "LOL sure authority, screw that, let's get it on."
5. Just like...anything involving Coach Clay being a were-snow leopard, because that's awesome.
AO3 user sadlikeknives here, really excited to find out what you're going to write for me! I'm sure it's going to be great. For all of my requested fandoms, I have requested fic only.
Basic likes: I strongly prefer third person prose. I like pining, hurt/comfort, people using other people's prejudices and expectations of them to their own advantage, loyalty kink, competence kink, scars, soulbonds and soulmates, sexy-type biting and related bloodplay, size kink (I really like both the bigger guy manhandling the smaller guy and the smaller guy loving it, and the smaller guy bossing the bigger guy around and the bigger guy loving it). I'm down with porn or not porn.
DNWs:
- bestiality (including shapeshifters in animal form)
- scat or watersports
- cannibalism/vore
- noncon or dubcon
- infidelity/cheating involving requested characters (so like, a PI handling a cheating case is fine)
- omegaverse, aka a/b/o, or any other type of mpreg
- graphic animal harm (for example: mention of a werewolf eating a bunny: fine; graphic description of what happened to the bunny: not fine)
- death of requested characters
Benjamin January Mysteries – Barbara Hambly
Benjamin January/Abishag Shaw
You remember waaaaaaaaaay back at the end of A Free Man of Color when Shaw's standing by Ben's table at the Place des Armes Because Society and Ben's like, "Or you could sit the fuck down one of these days?" Gentle Author, I shipped it then, and I ship it still. I just want to shove them together like a couple of really tall Ken dolls and go, "NOW KISS." I love how they navigate their godawful society's expectations and restrictions, how they often communicate via what's not said. I love how tentative Ben has always been to trust Shaw, in the face of evidence that Shaw is All In on trusting Ben, and then how in Murder in July he realizes Shaw would march off to assassinate the Queen of England if he asked him to (although it sort of drives me crazy that then at the end of the book Hannibal and Ben decided they needed to pull a fast one on Shaw just in case he randomly decided to confiscate the papers at the expense of Rose, like that's a thing he would ever do). I love how committed to justice they both are, and how they recognize that's different from the rule of law, and their mutual frustration with society's preference for a tidy resolution over true justice being done. I love how respectful they both are of the other's skills, and how they both use other people's expectations of their behavior. In short, I love them, and I want more of them.
Quick note: As I said above I'm really not into straight up infidelity/cheating, and Ben, of course, is married. So you could set your fic before Ben met Rose, or handwave the whole relationship away/platonic, or have some form of poly/Rose being really open-minded because she's Rose, but please: no straight-up cheating.
Additional note: I have to confess, I'm shallow. I generally picture Shaw as more, you know, sexy scruffy (like, Hollywood historical scruffy) than with the level of hygiene, if one can even call it that, described in the books, because seriously, he's an intelligent man, he knows what soap is for, why will he not use it?? It's not cute. So, like, if you could steer away from descriptions where he is as unpleasant as in canon, I would greatly appreciate that.
Prompts
1. Possibly Shaw could be pining after Ben. I feel like this makes a lot of narrative sense. Like, he knows it's useless and never gonna happen (but then it DOES?) and probably beats himself up over it, but ooooh that commitment to justice and all that expertise, so sexy. And then Ben finally gets knocked over the head with the clue bat.
2. Concept I know I've been banging like a drum for a while now, but that's because I love it so: Abishag 'what is bathing, and also, I can track you through a hurricane' Shaw is a werewolf. (And just maybe Hannibal is a vampire?) Ben finds out (Silver allergy? Something connected to a case?). He's intrigued. Possibly, together they fight supernatural crime.
3. What if, for case-related reasons (he's posing as part of a band of slave stealers or something), the Best Possible Option in the moment is for Shaw to, say, shoot Ben? Like, wing him, in the arm or something, and then Ben dramatically falls into a river and Shaw's like, "Welp, guess that one's dead dear God please let there not be any snakes or gators and please let me have basically missed for once." And then he spends some amount of time anxiously afraid he's just killed Ben before he's able to sneak off and find him and like, help him tend to his wounds.
4. While so much of these books is in the setting, I just really love modern New Orleans. Like a lot. And it's still very atmospheric, no? Picture it: Shaw's still a cop, Ben's a surgeon who moonlights in a jazz band. Rose is a badass chemistry professor at Tulane. Together, they solve crimes. And make out.
5. Shaw realizes that, vis a vis the end of Murder in July, Ben has not yet gotten the memo that he's All In, and his feelings are really hurt, but he's trying to be, like, an adult about it. Things get awkward. Possibly Rose has to knock some heads together.
6. Instead of Hannibal, Shaw stays in Texas with Ben during Lady of Perdition, aaaaaaand go.
Hidden Legacy Series – Ilona Andrews
I've gotten some great gifts for this fandom lately but they just make me want more, so okay let's go.
Augustine Montgomery/Connor Rogan
Their friendship is really interesting to me, the way they often don't seem to like each other that much, or at least are really prickly with each other—and yet they're also each other's best friend in the world, and know stuff about each other no one else knows. And, like, how we know they'd each kill the other person without a moment's thought if their family was on the line, but they'd feel really bad about it afterward, and in their world, that's really rare. It's honestly almost like they are family, or at least are operating on a higher level of intimacy than most of the relationships around them. I'm into it.
In keeping with my aforementioned infidelity DNW, I would prefer this to be set in either the period before Nevada and Rogan got together, or for there to be some kind of open relationship/poly arrangement going on, or maybe Nevada and Rogan never got together! Just...anything but cheating, yeah. (Good luck cheating on a Truthseeker anyway lol.)
1. Maybe in college they had an FWB thing that got complicated because of feelings/ended poorly when Rogan took off for the military. Maybe Augustine is still pissed about it and now that Rogan's slightly less of a mess he wants to talk it out/get back together.
2. Or maybe they never broke up/stopped talking for a while. Maybe they've been on again/off again for over a decade and they snipe at each other as a form of foreplay. Maybe they're Houston's secret or not at all secret power couple. Whatever you want to do with it!
2. When did Rogan see Augustine without his illusion? What's the story there? Was it something stupid, like a dare (was it another frat thing?) or something serious, like Augustine completely drained his magic somehow and Rogan had to rescue him from a bad situation? Or, at some point, did Augustine just trust him that completely?
3. I just really like the idea of Rogan making Augustine while he's undercover. Like, his illusion is flawless, his impersonation dead to rights, but there is some little detail that makes Rogan mutter, "Hi, Pancakes," in his ear as he walks past. (Maybe this is a game they play at society functions.)
4. Something with Rogan being a tactile okay go.
Cornelius Harrison/Augustine Montgomery
In Sapphire Flames when it's mentioned that Augustine came to the warehouse and picked Matilda up, everyone sort of brushes it off as, "Well, MII has a personal security division," which is true, but doesn't explain why the owner of the company is chauffeuring a random second grader, and so my brain helpfully decided that he's dating her dad.
And I know there was that whole, "Cornelius will never truly love again," thing, but maybe that's not, like, definitive. Maybe science magic turns out to be wrong about that. Or maybe it's an FWB thing and that works for them, or something! Maybe somehow it all works out.
1. Thinking back to Augustine manipulating Nevada into taking Cornelius' case after Nari died, maybe Augustine has been carrying a torch for Cornelius for a while, but he knew it was hopeless and it was never going to be a thing. And now...it is a thing, and he's sort of freaking out, but trying to keep it cool because Augustine Montgomery does not freak out. (Cornelius? Charmed.)
2. Something involving Augustine having to deal with Cornelius' animal friends. There are so many animal friends. One of them is a cat thing from another dimension. Augustine doesn't seem like a pets person, so it's...a lot.
3. Something about Cornelius having to deal with Augustine's best friend, Mad Rogan. It goes way better than Augustine and the menagerie does.
4. Something about Augustine's illusion magic. Maybe he's in disguise but Zeus is like 'oh hai' anyway, or maybe it goes haywire somehow and Cornelius has to help him get out of a situation. Or maybe the illusion magic has, uh, sexytimes applications. (NOT "I can look like your dead wife" as just occurred to me after I typed that. Fun applications!)
Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Hugh d'Ambray/Christopher Steed
Okay, so after the part in Magic Triumphs where Christopher tells Kate that A) unlike pretty much everyone else outside the Iron Dogs, he paid enough attention to figure out what Roland was doing to control Hugh pretty early on and B) Hugh took better care of him when he was in the cage than previously thought, and possibly than he was supposed to, considering it's mentioned he fed and talked to him only at night when no one else was around, and Hugh's guilt-flashback re: Christopher in the cage in Iron & Magic and how he thinks about Christopher as the only Legatus he could ever stand, I went back and reread Magic Rises and I realized that maybe Hugh set Kate up to rescue Christopher on purpose with the 'anything in this courtyard' wording (like, maybe not consciously, because of Roland's conditioning and because he really didn't expect to lose that match, but on some level I really think he knew what he was saying there, because Hugh is not wired to withstand someone suffering on his watch like that and he had to fix it somehow).
And now I ship it. It's a whole mess of history and dynamics to dig into and I'm into it. Like: they were horrible men, and they were equals. And then one of them kept the other one in a cage. And now they're both different people in some ways, living in the aftermath of all of that, and it's just...really interesting to me. I really want to see them interact!
Note: If you're writing something set during the era of the books, as opposed to the pre-canon Preceptor/Legatus era, please nothing sexual during the period when Christopher was mentally unstable. As far as the canon relationships go, I'm happy for Hugh's marriage to Elara to remain a professional business arrangement, or with some form of polyamory, whatever you want to do there. As far as Christopher's relationship with Barabas, I can't really see Barabas sharing Christopher with Hugh d'Ambray, but, I mean, maybe? Or maybe they didn't get together. However you can make it work!
Prompts!
1. Some kind of FWB arrangement set during their days as Legatus and Preceptor that maybe gets more serious than either of them meant it to, or mutual pining and both of them aware that it's a REALLY BAD IDEA as far as Roland is concerned, and then maybe after everything they meet up again and realize they have a second chance.
2. Or in that same period, something with Christopher and Hugh working together to salvage a situation, possibly one that's gone south thanks to Roland's meddling/not listening to Hugh/maybe even brainwashing Hugh. Like, when Omaha got broken, was that...was that what was supposed to happen? Or were they both pretty sure for about five minutes there that they were super going to die (and then possibly "I can't believe we survived that" sex?)?
3. Something to do with Christopher losing his wing in Magic Triumphs, because I have this notion that Hugh is the healer you call in to deal with the situation when you've got an actual avatar with an extra-crispy appendage, and then you've got Christopher, of course, devastated, and Hugh feeling really guilty about being unable to save the wing and yes good angst. (And then maybe the wing grows back?)
4. Something set during the preparations to face Neig, with Hugh and Christopher both being weirded out by how easily they fall into a groove of working together again and the Iron Dogs enthusiastically embracing Christopher because it's always nice when someone they used to know A) is alive and B) isn't trying to kill them, and possibly also ragging the hell out of Hugh for having A Type, because haha wow are there some similarities between Elara and Christopher. Meanwhile I feel like Elara and Christopher would be somewhere between "initially slightly spooked by each other" and this.
5. Any sex is good sex, but I'm really feeling intercrural for this pairing for some reason, so please, Hugh, fuck Christopher's thighs. It will be so hot. (Or vice versa. It's all good.)
6. So oops it turns out Hugh can't marry Elara to seal their alliance because he and Christopher are already married. Maybe they didn't realize that thing they did as a quick way to solve a problem one time was legally binding. Maybe it was entirely on purpose and a secret. Whatever, just run with it.
7. I noticed on reread that Hugh grows by several inches throughout the course of the series—something in the range of four to six inches. While I'm pretty sure this is just another authorial inconsistency like his country of origin switching from England to France, it could also be fanwanked as the result of his stint healing in a phoenix egg, so something with Christopher reacting to his new height (and Hugh to Christopher's new shoulders?) could be a thing.
Mercy Thompson Series – Patricia Briggs
Kyle Brooks/Warren Smith
Let's talk about how much I have always loved Warren and Kyle. Like, on paper, they don't work: a hundred and fifty year old Texas cowboy werewolf who works at a gas station and a rich, human, Ivy League educated lawyer. And they both know that. And it doesn't matter. I love Kyle's ridiculous marble statues, and his vanity and the chip on his shoulder, and the way Warren loves those things too and sees Kyle's good heart. I love how easygoing and Texan Warren is, and all the pain and violence that's simmering away under the surface, and how Kyle doesn't care about all of the werewolf shit, he just loves him—and how Kyle, as he says in the short story "In Red, with Pearls," is his own kind of predator, and that just because he eviscerates his prey in court, not, you know, literally, doesn't mean he can't understand Warren's wolf.
Prompts!
1. There's like seven or eight rough months for Warren and Kyle between Moon Called and Blood Bound that we know very little about, and I'm really interested in this period—the pining and the draw that kept them coming back to each other (Were they sleeping together at any point in this period? That must have been really bittersweet) and saw Kyle hiring Warren, especially, but also how the 'so, werewolves' conversations went (and the fights, you know there were fights).
2. Concept: Kyle gets turned into a werewolf. I feel like he'd probably be pretty good at it. How does that happen? Is it on purpose, like he's sick or something? Or does some rogue or some other pack trying to come at Columbia Basin, now that they're exiled, attack him? How does that affect the pack structure? How many bed frames do he and Warren break while Kyle is learning his new strength?
3. In Frost Burned, Kyle reveals that his mating bond with Warren is starting to be two-way, but, being human, he just thought he was going crazy. And then we never really hear about that again. So: how does that psychic bond work for a human? Do he and Warren have enough control over it for it to be useful? Does it have sexytimes applications?
4. Something dealing with Kyle's family. Maybe his sister he still speaks to is coming to visit and he's freaking out, or his deploying the nuclear option with regards to his father in Frost Burned comes back to bite him (possibly on multiple fronts, I know you were going through a rough time but using your boyfriend as blackmail material was sort of...not cool, Kyle) and has to be dealt with somehow.
6. As per some hinting in Storm Cursed, Kyle apparently wants kids. I feel like Warren would not even have thought about kids because...that wasn't an option. So either they have an adult discussion about this and figure out whether they, in fact, want to pursue parenthood, or they semi-accidentally acquire like, some kind of magic toddler or something. Or like, both.
Soulbound Series – Hailey Turner
Patrick Collins & Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn, Patrick Collins/Gerard Breckenridge | Cú Chulainn
From the first moment Gerard showed up in that phone call at the end of A Ferry of Bones & Gold cussing Patrick out for working with the goddamned vampire again, I was delighted and in love. And then he actually showed up on the page and:
1. Oh, no, he's hot.
2. Oh, no, he has a spear and that's hot.
3. Oh no, he's fucking Cú Chulainn.
Amazing.
A thing you may or may not be aware of: there's a free prequel short story, "Down a Twisted Path," available via Hailey Turner's website (I believe you have to join her mailing list to get access, but don't quote me on that) in which Patrick & Gerard interact, and I have read that, but if you haven't, that's fine, I don't think it's necessary.
Regarding my infidelity DNW: Legendarily speaking, Cú Chulainn was a giant slut, so I'm assuming that Órlaith is fine with that and they have an open relationship (and like...maybe it's an AU where Gerard happened to mention he was engaged at some point in the past instead of awkwardly blindsiding Patrick with, 'My fiancee's been kidnapped btw I have a fiance.'). On Patrick's end, if you're writing a fic set after he met Jono I'm good with whatever AU or poly arrangement you come up with to make that work.
Some prompts!
1. Something set during the Hellraisers era, whether that be, like, "I can't believe we survived that," sex, or facing down some unspeakable evil together, or drinking games. Or all three.
2. Or maybe Patrick had a puppy crush on Gerard (because, look at him), but he was young and already fucked up and under his command so that never happened, but now two of those three things are no longer true, so: maybe?
3. Cú Chulainn's berserker state, the warp spasm, is hinted at several times, especially in the third book, but it hasn't happened yet. I would like to see it, please, and everyone else freaking the fuck out. (And possibly Patrick just being like, "Oh great he's back on his bullshit.")
4. Something dealing with the revelations of book three and Gerard and Patrick working to repair their relationship.
5. Something with Gerard standing up to other immortals for Patrick. Please, let him give Persephone a piece of his mind. Please.
Patrick Collins/Jonothon de Vere
This canon and this pairing could have been tailor made for me, holy shit. HE'S a lonely alpha werewolf who just wants a pack to take care of, to whom the god Fenrir speaks. HE'S a mage with secrets, dramatic scars, and metaphysical damage that makes his magic painful and draining to use, resulting in many opportunities for h/c, despite the fact that he takes to h/c about as well as a cat does to water. Also he's indebted to the gods and they keep trying to run/ruin his life. They have an ACCIDENTAL SOULBOND and one of them thinks it's great and the other one thinks it's the worst thing ever. Together, they fight crime and learn about found family. AMAZING.
PROMPTS!
1. See above re: opportunities for h/c. Maybe Patrick overtaxes his magic again. Maybe he just has the flu! Maybe something else. Whatever way you go with it, Jono's caretaker instincts are triggered and Patrick is grumpy about it (But humoring him. Yeah, that's what it is. Humoring him.).
2. Something involving their CANONICAL SOULBOND (and possibly sex applications thereof). I'm not picky.
3. Listen just make them fuck and I'm happy. Bonus points for something about Patrick's scars/self-consciousness about his scars and/or Jono's need to make Patrick smell like him.
4. Something involving the various gods in their lives! Either something about Jono dealing with Fenrir's opinions/interference or just, like, Patrick's whole situation. Or both, both is good.
5. "We are trying to have date night/Valentine's Day like a nice normal couple but supernatural bullshit keeps interfering so much."
6. Jono attempts to teach Patrick to cook. It...it goes...on the bright side, the kitchen did not burn down? At least Jono's really hard to poison? (Gerard & Keith: "Wow you're so much braver than us.")
West Hell Magic Series – Devon Monk
Real talk I don't understand how this series doesn't have more of a following in fandom. It's about werewolves and wizards playing hockey! It's super slashy! What more do I need to say?
Hawthorn Graves/Random Hazard
Okay so in the scene where Ran sees Graves for the first time, when he's just some random guy at the skating rink, the way he described him had me going, "Is this...is this an M/M book? It didn't say anywhere that it was an M/M book but YAY!" And then the female love interest showed up and it turned out to not be an M/M book after all, but for a while there I really thought it could be! And like, it only continues with the way Graves is willing to toss himself on the sword of the Dead Man trade for Ran and Ran's promising career in Spark, and just, like, it's slashy as hell, okay?
1. Seriously what the fuck is Graves? My best guess at the moment is, "Dragon? Maybe?" but take your best shot. Or don't and just play around with the weirdness we've been given.
2. "You're just starting your career, I'm near the end of mine, this can't last....but we really want it to last..."
3. Maybe Graves helpfully points out to Ran that if his middle name is somehow disastrous enough to not be preferable to being known as 'Random Hazard,' there is always a thing called a legal name change he could explore. Maybe that.
4. Graves tests Ran's control over his magic...during sex.
Hawthorn Graves/Elliott Clay
This might actually be canon? They've known each other for ages and that scene in Spark where Coach Clay borrows Graves' phone but Graves won't actually let him touch it because he'll just break this one, too did nothing to convince me they're not an old married couple, anyway.
1. See above re: WTF is Graves? I feel like Coach Clay might be the one person who already knows the answer to this question.
2. Something with them sneaking around hiding their relationship from the team. Sex in an equipment closet. Sex on Clay's desk, possibly with "you've been a bad bad player and you need to be punished" roleplaying. Also, "We're too old for all this sneaking around."
3. The two of them watching the younger generation's *cough*Ran*cough* drama like "Were we ever that young?"
4. Or! Maybe they're NOT in a relationship yet. Maybe they've been like two ships passing in the night their whole careers and it was just never the right time, and now Clay is in a position of authority over Graves and it just wouldn't be right, he feels, and there is pining, and then Graves finds out that THAT'S what the holdup is this time and is like, "LOL sure authority, screw that, let's get it on."
5. Just like...anything involving Coach Clay being a were-snow leopard, because that's awesome.
