polkad0tting (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
polkad0tting) wrote2021-10-17 02:55 am
polkad0tting) wrote2021-10-17 02:55 am
Dear Yuletide Writer, 2021
Hello, I’m polkad0tting (polkadot on AO3). Welcome to my little world!
I’ve been taking a break from exchanges for a few years, so this is my first Yuletide since 2018! I’m excited to get back in the exchange groove – Yuletide always used to be a wonderful holiday highlight for me – and I’m thrilled that you’re interested in writing for one of my requests. I hope you have as much fun writing as I will undoubtedly have reading! :)
My slate:
Kim’s Convenience – Jung Kim
Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout – Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, Inspector Cramer, Fritz Brenner
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – Xu Shang-Chi | Shaun
~~~
General likes:
• Competence, sports, friends-to-lovers, falling in love, comfortable established relationships filled with affection and in-jokes, couples kicking butt together and saving the team, people knowing each other and their strengths/weaknesses really well, banter, emotional support, plans, plans that don’t go according to plan, working together and using different strengths, coming-out stories, five-times fics.
• In romance: Snark, banter, fond teasing, zaniness, affection laced with humor, snuggling in bed, having sex on sports equipment/in the gym.
• In porn: Kissing, exploring a partner’s body, unexpected erogenous zones, talking during sex, sex that doesn’t go quite right but they run with it and make it awesome anyway, incoherent noises, morning sex, well-developed biceps and shoulders, fingering that's enjoyed for itself, wall-sex, multiple orgasms, laughter.
DNWs:
• Infidelity, bullying, cruel jokes, noncon, dubcon, incest, bestiality, underage, character death, graphic descriptions of character injury, unrequested ships, slutshaming, racial slurs, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, depression and other mental illnesses discussed in detail “on screen”.
• In romance: Unrequited love, gaslighting, characters who are in love but don’t seem to really like each other very much, A/B/O.
• In porn: Pain as a kink, someone not caring about their partner's comfort and pleasure, humiliation and/or degradation.
~~~
On to the requests!
Kim’s Convenience – Jung Kim
Love this show, particularly when it focuses on the family drama (and I include Kimchee as a honorary Kim here). The writing and characterization choices did decline steeply as the seasons went on, so I’d prefer fic that either was set earlier or kept earlier characterization (I’ll explain what I mean by that).
I’m requesting just Jung because to me Jung, his backstory, and the family drama surrounding it is the fulcrum upon which the whole show rests. I have prompts for Jung & every one of his family members, plus Kimchee & Shannon, and am happy for Jung-focused ensemble fic as well. :)
Note: Jung’s characterization is the one that I felt slipped the most and became the most stagnant and oddly pitched as the series went on. In the first two seasons, he is ambitious, career-motivated, and moving forward in his life after his past struggles. He’s also a genuinely nice person (despite his obvious emotional scars from his past, and his sometimes hair-trigger anxiety/temper about it), and although played a bit as a himbo at times is much more than that. He’s sensitive and has emotional complexity, values his relationships (particularly with Kimchee, but he’s also maintaining what looks like close connections with Umma and Janet despite the past), and is slowly and tentatively working his way towards a possible détente with Appa.
Yet this all starts to turn around when he loses his big step up and has to eat humble pie and be demoted at Handy. (That also feels unrealistic to me? Juvie records are sealed? He can’t find a job anywhere else??) He deals with it because he has to, but the writers put a sudden end to all ambition, career motivation, dreams, etc. And then once he finally gets together with Shannon, he becomes … almost mean? Out of nowhere? Like, he and Shannon had fantastic chemistry early on (after the weird first couple of episodes), and were great friends. Yet they get together, and suddenly he becomes this guy who no longer seems to like her very much. And she doesn’t seem that into him apart from sexually, either. None of this progression felt realistic to me and it bummed me out big-time.
So! I am looking for Jung-focused fic that gives me early-Jung, either set early on or in a more satisfying (and arguably realistic) version of later-Jung.
I ship Jung/Shannon, but I’m also super into gen fic for this fandom. And I also have no problem with Jung/OC relationships, if he and Shannon aren’t together. (Please no Jung/Kimchee, as I love their platonic bromance – but if you do ship them and want some awesome shippy prompts for them, my friend Anabel is asking for them!)
Prompts!
• Jung and Kimchee being bros! Lighthearted adventures, game nights (that Catan game sounded like a lot of fun), going to see movies together and squabbling over plot points (maybe meta with them going to Shang-Chi?). Actually getting on Amazing Race Canada (sorry, "Amazing Trek") and their journey on the show (I love Amazing Race, so Amazing Race fusion would be fantastic!) Or, how does their friendship change, mature, and deepen over the years, from teenage rebels to mature adults? (Maybe with an ending of them being each other’s best man at their weddings?)
• Jung does get that other job at the end of Season 2 and the offer isn’t rescinded. (Either because his background check doesn’t flag, or because he opens up to Shannon or Kimchee and they call and go to bat for him, or the hiring manager doesn’t care about juvie records/has a change of heart, etc etc.) How does that change his relationship with Kimchee? (Or Shannon, for that matter?) What’s it like with him at a competitor, and him no longer butting heads with anyone at Handy but able to relate with them as simply friends?
• Jung and Janet’s relationship, and how it changes as Janet becomes an adult. When she mentioned that she was the kid who couldn’t sleep some nights not knowing if Jung was okay, that made me tear up. How do they build a solid friendship as adults (with sibling teasing still, because of course), and what kind of adventures might they have together? Is Jung a sounding board/support for Janet as she works through her feelings about her bisexuality, because she doesn’t feel she can go to her parents? Does Jung support Janet’s photography career – maybe (again with the meta) his modeling career actually does start to take off a little and become a side hustle, and her photos are why? Does Janet play matchmaker behind the scenes and get Jung and Appa to spend more time together? (Specially if some of her schemes are terrible before one finally works.) Does Janet accidentally tell Shannon about Alejandro’s cheating (that Jung let slip to her), leading to Jung & Shannon getting together much earlier than in the show?
• Jung and Umma’s relationship, and how strong and fragile it simultaneously is. While she obviously loves him and favors him a great deal, she was also a parent in the situation where a troubled sixteen-year-old got kicked out to the streets/ran away because of an intolerable home life. That’s still got to leave scars behind. How does Jung feel about that, and how have he and Umma built an adult relationship? I’d love to see a story where he stood up for Shannon more in their interactions with Umma, and where Umma turned out to be on Shannon’s side more than he expected. (We got a bit of the latter in the show, but I’d love to see Umma and Shannon actually become close, contrary to Jung’s anxious expectations.) I’d also love to see a fic with Jung supporting Umma in her illness, and perhaps that support bringing the whole family closer together. (And I know Umma’s actress was strongly against her having MS, so if you wanted to have her have been misdiagnosed and/or her symptoms have been caused by something curable/more minor, that would be awesome!)
• Jung and Appa becoming closer and moving forward into an adult relationship, still marked by the past but in a new phase. The show kept teasing us and then pulling the rug out, and I just want follow-through, dammit! Let Jung and Appa have lunch together at that takeout place they like – heck, have it become a weekly thing neither acknowledges but keeps happening nonetheless! Let them play table tennis and enjoy the competition without fighting! Let them play soccer in a pickup game together! Or maybe Jung’s the one who stops by the store to bring Umma something and hears Appa fall in the shower, and has to rescue him. Or Appa and Shannon meet and hit it off immediately, which both alarms Jung at some level but also touches him with how much Appa is trying. Or maybe Appa shares the story of the Pot Cookie with Jung, as an olive branch. Or Jung works himself all up into High Anxiety with how to break the news to his parents of his engagement with Shannon, but Appa accepts it immediately and says (without saying it in so many words) that he just wants Jung to be happy. Or any way that Appa can obliquely apologize/extend an olive branch.
• Jung/Shannon, my beloved ship that became canon and then…wasn’t as good as I was hoping it was going to be. (See notes on Jung’s characterization.) So I’m hoping for some better Jung/Shannon than the show gave us! I want to see them falling in love, not just in lust (although heck yeah, I am here for lust as well), and being good together. They were fun work friends and had a genuine close rapport, I want to see that translate into their life together, both in and out of bed. I want to see Shannon respect Jung (I sometimes felt like she still acted like his boss even in their home life, which squicks me except for when the couple is deliberately and lightheartedly playing with it as a kink during sex), and like him for him, not just his body. I want to see Jung being nicer to her, and actually seeming to like her, and not being annoyed by her chattiness during shows/her overpreparation for dinner parties/etc. I would love to read a story about a fun date they had, or a vacation weekend they took, or an adventure they had outside work. Or maybe (like I said in an earlier prompt) Jung got a job somewhere else and now they are just dating and not in a hierarchical work relationship – they could share work horror stories! Maybe they start a new hobby together! Maybe Shannon wants to learn about Korean culture and Jung helps her – or maybe she asks Umma, and Jung isn’t quite sure what to make of this. Or maybe Shannon hears Appa and Umma calling each other “yeobo,” asks them what it means, and then calls Jung “yeobo” one day, either in public or private – what would his reaction be?! (Maybe Shannon starts googling and calling him by various Korean endearments, whether or not her pronunciation is on point…) Or maybe the breakup at the end of the series doesn't "stick" - how might Jung & Shannon work through it, and end up stronger and more in love than ever on the other side?
• In general, I would like the conflict in a fic to be something Shannon & Jung have to face/work through together, not something that comes between them.
• And yes, I am definitely into smut for them! All ratings work for me. My biggest want here is just that they are super into each other and that there is a lot of affection as well as lust. (If the “boss” thing comes into play, please have it be super lighthearted and only a part of the scene – I really like it when it’s clear that they are relating as equals more generally.) And I also would like it if they are great at sex – sometimes it’s fun to subvert a ladies’ man by making him just hot and not actually good at sex, but I’d like to see the sparkling chemistry between these two translate well into the bedroom. Have them drive each other bonkers and you will have a very happy recip! My special requests are Jung being super great at cunnilingus (actually, them both being really great at giving head!) and them both really enjoying cuddling, but they’re not a must by any means.
If you have any questions about what I’d like in this fandom, please check in with Anabel! We binged the show together and have had Far Too Many Conversations about it, so she could probably answer just about any question you could possibly have.
~~~
Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, Inspector Cramer, Fritz Brenner
I recently did a full re-read of this series, and it just reaffirmed me in my eternal love for Nero/Archie. I ship them SO HARD, and I would absolutely love to read a fic that was able to set a romance into a canon-style plot. Friends-to-lovers is my favorite trope ever, and I will eat up confessions of love and first kisses and getting-together fic with a spoon. I really adore fic where the lovers clearly see each other for they truly are, warts and all, and love each other anyways, and I feel that this is such a perfect canon for that.
Prompts!
• What did Nero and Archie's first kiss look like, and how did it happen?
• Five times Fritz almost walked in on Nero and Archie, and one time he did
• Inspector Cramer knows something is going on in that brownstone. Wolfe's hiding evidence again! But he finds out that it's actually a very different secret...
• Nero or Archie is in danger! The other has to save him!
• Smut! Yes, I am wholeheartedly in favor of Nero/Archie smut. Please neither ignore nor deride Nero's size - just let him be a big man who Archie loves, not in spite of his size, but with that just a part of what makes Nero Nero.
• Mutual hopeless pining that turns into a happy ending after all!
• Archie or Nero finds out that the other was in a relationship with a man a long time ago. This causes them to reevaluate the possibility that perhaps - perhaps! - their doomed crush might not be so doomed after all.
• The lengths that Archie or Nero will go to in order to protect the other.
• A case that Archie could never write about for public consumption, because of Things That Happened
Basically, I just long to see Nero/Archie in the most flagrantly romantic of fics. Layer it on, and I will adore it.
And if you’re writing casefic, you definitely don’t have to write an entire involved case! (Though I would happily devour one!) I enjoy in medias res fics a lot, and/or the denouements are always one of the most fun parts of the books anyways, so starting at the end works too! A tiny casefic will do me just fine. <3
As for narrative voice - I adore Archie's narrative voice, and you're welcome to go for a pastiche if you want to! But I would also be happy with a more-standard tight third, from either Archie or Nero's perspective, or even from Fritz or Cramer's.
P.S. I asked for Fritz and Cramer as well as Nero & Archie, because those two are the next most important characters for me to round out the brownstone's world. Although I'm happy for them to be central characters too if that fits your story, I'm also happy with a fic that focuses on Nero/Archie, as long as Fritz & Cramer at least put in a short appearance of some kind. :)
~~~
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - Xu Shang-Chi | Shaun
For this fandom, what I am most strongly hungering for is for Shaun/Shang-Chi To Get His Groove On.
This could mean either or both of the following:
• Shang-Chi gets some action
• Shang-Chi adapts to his new life as a superhero
I ship Shang-Chi/Katy, but only post-movie (well, I suppose it could start in Ta-Lo, but not before that!). I also am totally here for Shaun/other people, either before or after the movie, and keeping the Shaun & Katy relationship on the BFF level. I do not ship any incest ship with Shang-Chi, however, including the sort of stepbrother vibe with Razor Fist (because I feel Razor Fist totally sees himself as Wenwu’s substitute son). I’m cool with Katy/Xialing as a background ship if you want, but it’s not necessary, and in any case I’d like to keep the focus on Shaun.
Prompts!
• Shaun has been a ladies’ man for years, which has always slightly perplexed Katy – he’s not bad-looking or anything, but she’s never felt sexual chemistry from him. But then it’s post-movie, and she finds his shirtless pictures on Tinder, and she Gets It. (Could be gen, in which she teases him for his corny pictures/matchmakes him with a friend/etc., or shippy.)
• Katy sets Shang-Chi up on a blind date with someone she knows he’s been secretly crushing on/someone who’s totally his type. Could be an Avenger, could be a celebrity, or an OC. Shang-Chi has to admit that she totally knows him, and he and the date really hit it off. (Or, she doesn’t know his type, and he goes home with the bartender instead!)
• Shaun/Shang-Chi in bed. I like my porn with a bit of plot or at least characterization, but I also really like my porn, lol. A soupcon of canon thoughts will do me fine. I’d like the sex to be really good! Sometimes I enjoy subverting expectations and having tentative characters and/or fail!sex, but in this case what I’d really like is a Shang-Chi who’s great in bed and knows it.
• If you’re writing Shang-Chi/Katy, I’d love a lot of tenderness, affection, and laughter in the sex! Their friendship is Life Goals, and I absolutely adore the friends-to-lovers trope. Like, it’s my favorite trope ever. So if you go for it, I’d love to see that friendship translate into riproaring good sex that is also fun and friendly and affectionate and all those lovely things. And then maybe they get takeout.
• The first few months after Shaun, valet, becomes Shang-Chi, superhero, is QUITE the transition! How does he adapt? What is his new life like? What adventures do he and Katy have (in and out of bed)? How does Xialing fit into his life now?
• Shang-Chi explores the powers of the rings and takes them on spins around San Francisco. What kinds of scrapes does he get into? Who does he meet? (Could even have a meta moment with him running into Jung, who’s in California for business school!) [Note: For this prompt, please no super popular comics characters that would take over the fic, like Ant Man or Venom. But RL San Franciscans would be fun, or colorful OCs!]
Similar to my KC section, if you have any questions about what I’d like in this fandom, or need clarification on anything, feel free to check in with my friend Anabel! She knows me pretty dang well and we have talked about Shang-Chi a lot. :)
~~~
Thank you again for writing for me! I’m really excited to be back in Yuletide, and I’m happy we matched! :D
I’ve been taking a break from exchanges for a few years, so this is my first Yuletide since 2018! I’m excited to get back in the exchange groove – Yuletide always used to be a wonderful holiday highlight for me – and I’m thrilled that you’re interested in writing for one of my requests. I hope you have as much fun writing as I will undoubtedly have reading! :)
My slate:
Kim’s Convenience – Jung Kim
Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout – Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, Inspector Cramer, Fritz Brenner
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – Xu Shang-Chi | Shaun
General likes:
• Competence, sports, friends-to-lovers, falling in love, comfortable established relationships filled with affection and in-jokes, couples kicking butt together and saving the team, people knowing each other and their strengths/weaknesses really well, banter, emotional support, plans, plans that don’t go according to plan, working together and using different strengths, coming-out stories, five-times fics.
• In romance: Snark, banter, fond teasing, zaniness, affection laced with humor, snuggling in bed, having sex on sports equipment/in the gym.
• In porn: Kissing, exploring a partner’s body, unexpected erogenous zones, talking during sex, sex that doesn’t go quite right but they run with it and make it awesome anyway, incoherent noises, morning sex, well-developed biceps and shoulders, fingering that's enjoyed for itself, wall-sex, multiple orgasms, laughter.
DNWs:
• Infidelity, bullying, cruel jokes, noncon, dubcon, incest, bestiality, underage, character death, graphic descriptions of character injury, unrequested ships, slutshaming, racial slurs, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, depression and other mental illnesses discussed in detail “on screen”.
• In romance: Unrequited love, gaslighting, characters who are in love but don’t seem to really like each other very much, A/B/O.
• In porn: Pain as a kink, someone not caring about their partner's comfort and pleasure, humiliation and/or degradation.
On to the requests!
Kim’s Convenience – Jung Kim
Love this show, particularly when it focuses on the family drama (and I include Kimchee as a honorary Kim here). The writing and characterization choices did decline steeply as the seasons went on, so I’d prefer fic that either was set earlier or kept earlier characterization (I’ll explain what I mean by that).
I’m requesting just Jung because to me Jung, his backstory, and the family drama surrounding it is the fulcrum upon which the whole show rests. I have prompts for Jung & every one of his family members, plus Kimchee & Shannon, and am happy for Jung-focused ensemble fic as well. :)
Note: Jung’s characterization is the one that I felt slipped the most and became the most stagnant and oddly pitched as the series went on. In the first two seasons, he is ambitious, career-motivated, and moving forward in his life after his past struggles. He’s also a genuinely nice person (despite his obvious emotional scars from his past, and his sometimes hair-trigger anxiety/temper about it), and although played a bit as a himbo at times is much more than that. He’s sensitive and has emotional complexity, values his relationships (particularly with Kimchee, but he’s also maintaining what looks like close connections with Umma and Janet despite the past), and is slowly and tentatively working his way towards a possible détente with Appa.
Yet this all starts to turn around when he loses his big step up and has to eat humble pie and be demoted at Handy. (That also feels unrealistic to me? Juvie records are sealed? He can’t find a job anywhere else??) He deals with it because he has to, but the writers put a sudden end to all ambition, career motivation, dreams, etc. And then once he finally gets together with Shannon, he becomes … almost mean? Out of nowhere? Like, he and Shannon had fantastic chemistry early on (after the weird first couple of episodes), and were great friends. Yet they get together, and suddenly he becomes this guy who no longer seems to like her very much. And she doesn’t seem that into him apart from sexually, either. None of this progression felt realistic to me and it bummed me out big-time.
So! I am looking for Jung-focused fic that gives me early-Jung, either set early on or in a more satisfying (and arguably realistic) version of later-Jung.
I ship Jung/Shannon, but I’m also super into gen fic for this fandom. And I also have no problem with Jung/OC relationships, if he and Shannon aren’t together. (Please no Jung/Kimchee, as I love their platonic bromance – but if you do ship them and want some awesome shippy prompts for them, my friend Anabel is asking for them!)
Prompts!
• Jung and Kimchee being bros! Lighthearted adventures, game nights (that Catan game sounded like a lot of fun), going to see movies together and squabbling over plot points (maybe meta with them going to Shang-Chi?). Actually getting on Amazing Race Canada (sorry, "Amazing Trek") and their journey on the show (I love Amazing Race, so Amazing Race fusion would be fantastic!) Or, how does their friendship change, mature, and deepen over the years, from teenage rebels to mature adults? (Maybe with an ending of them being each other’s best man at their weddings?)
• Jung does get that other job at the end of Season 2 and the offer isn’t rescinded. (Either because his background check doesn’t flag, or because he opens up to Shannon or Kimchee and they call and go to bat for him, or the hiring manager doesn’t care about juvie records/has a change of heart, etc etc.) How does that change his relationship with Kimchee? (Or Shannon, for that matter?) What’s it like with him at a competitor, and him no longer butting heads with anyone at Handy but able to relate with them as simply friends?
• Jung and Janet’s relationship, and how it changes as Janet becomes an adult. When she mentioned that she was the kid who couldn’t sleep some nights not knowing if Jung was okay, that made me tear up. How do they build a solid friendship as adults (with sibling teasing still, because of course), and what kind of adventures might they have together? Is Jung a sounding board/support for Janet as she works through her feelings about her bisexuality, because she doesn’t feel she can go to her parents? Does Jung support Janet’s photography career – maybe (again with the meta) his modeling career actually does start to take off a little and become a side hustle, and her photos are why? Does Janet play matchmaker behind the scenes and get Jung and Appa to spend more time together? (Specially if some of her schemes are terrible before one finally works.) Does Janet accidentally tell Shannon about Alejandro’s cheating (that Jung let slip to her), leading to Jung & Shannon getting together much earlier than in the show?
• Jung and Umma’s relationship, and how strong and fragile it simultaneously is. While she obviously loves him and favors him a great deal, she was also a parent in the situation where a troubled sixteen-year-old got kicked out to the streets/ran away because of an intolerable home life. That’s still got to leave scars behind. How does Jung feel about that, and how have he and Umma built an adult relationship? I’d love to see a story where he stood up for Shannon more in their interactions with Umma, and where Umma turned out to be on Shannon’s side more than he expected. (We got a bit of the latter in the show, but I’d love to see Umma and Shannon actually become close, contrary to Jung’s anxious expectations.) I’d also love to see a fic with Jung supporting Umma in her illness, and perhaps that support bringing the whole family closer together. (And I know Umma’s actress was strongly against her having MS, so if you wanted to have her have been misdiagnosed and/or her symptoms have been caused by something curable/more minor, that would be awesome!)
• Jung and Appa becoming closer and moving forward into an adult relationship, still marked by the past but in a new phase. The show kept teasing us and then pulling the rug out, and I just want follow-through, dammit! Let Jung and Appa have lunch together at that takeout place they like – heck, have it become a weekly thing neither acknowledges but keeps happening nonetheless! Let them play table tennis and enjoy the competition without fighting! Let them play soccer in a pickup game together! Or maybe Jung’s the one who stops by the store to bring Umma something and hears Appa fall in the shower, and has to rescue him. Or Appa and Shannon meet and hit it off immediately, which both alarms Jung at some level but also touches him with how much Appa is trying. Or maybe Appa shares the story of the Pot Cookie with Jung, as an olive branch. Or Jung works himself all up into High Anxiety with how to break the news to his parents of his engagement with Shannon, but Appa accepts it immediately and says (without saying it in so many words) that he just wants Jung to be happy. Or any way that Appa can obliquely apologize/extend an olive branch.
• Jung/Shannon, my beloved ship that became canon and then…wasn’t as good as I was hoping it was going to be. (See notes on Jung’s characterization.) So I’m hoping for some better Jung/Shannon than the show gave us! I want to see them falling in love, not just in lust (although heck yeah, I am here for lust as well), and being good together. They were fun work friends and had a genuine close rapport, I want to see that translate into their life together, both in and out of bed. I want to see Shannon respect Jung (I sometimes felt like she still acted like his boss even in their home life, which squicks me except for when the couple is deliberately and lightheartedly playing with it as a kink during sex), and like him for him, not just his body. I want to see Jung being nicer to her, and actually seeming to like her, and not being annoyed by her chattiness during shows/her overpreparation for dinner parties/etc. I would love to read a story about a fun date they had, or a vacation weekend they took, or an adventure they had outside work. Or maybe (like I said in an earlier prompt) Jung got a job somewhere else and now they are just dating and not in a hierarchical work relationship – they could share work horror stories! Maybe they start a new hobby together! Maybe Shannon wants to learn about Korean culture and Jung helps her – or maybe she asks Umma, and Jung isn’t quite sure what to make of this. Or maybe Shannon hears Appa and Umma calling each other “yeobo,” asks them what it means, and then calls Jung “yeobo” one day, either in public or private – what would his reaction be?! (Maybe Shannon starts googling and calling him by various Korean endearments, whether or not her pronunciation is on point…) Or maybe the breakup at the end of the series doesn't "stick" - how might Jung & Shannon work through it, and end up stronger and more in love than ever on the other side?
• In general, I would like the conflict in a fic to be something Shannon & Jung have to face/work through together, not something that comes between them.
• And yes, I am definitely into smut for them! All ratings work for me. My biggest want here is just that they are super into each other and that there is a lot of affection as well as lust. (If the “boss” thing comes into play, please have it be super lighthearted and only a part of the scene – I really like it when it’s clear that they are relating as equals more generally.) And I also would like it if they are great at sex – sometimes it’s fun to subvert a ladies’ man by making him just hot and not actually good at sex, but I’d like to see the sparkling chemistry between these two translate well into the bedroom. Have them drive each other bonkers and you will have a very happy recip! My special requests are Jung being super great at cunnilingus (actually, them both being really great at giving head!) and them both really enjoying cuddling, but they’re not a must by any means.
If you have any questions about what I’d like in this fandom, please check in with Anabel! We binged the show together and have had Far Too Many Conversations about it, so she could probably answer just about any question you could possibly have.
Nero Wolfe - Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, Inspector Cramer, Fritz Brenner
I recently did a full re-read of this series, and it just reaffirmed me in my eternal love for Nero/Archie. I ship them SO HARD, and I would absolutely love to read a fic that was able to set a romance into a canon-style plot. Friends-to-lovers is my favorite trope ever, and I will eat up confessions of love and first kisses and getting-together fic with a spoon. I really adore fic where the lovers clearly see each other for they truly are, warts and all, and love each other anyways, and I feel that this is such a perfect canon for that.
Prompts!
• What did Nero and Archie's first kiss look like, and how did it happen?
• Five times Fritz almost walked in on Nero and Archie, and one time he did
• Inspector Cramer knows something is going on in that brownstone. Wolfe's hiding evidence again! But he finds out that it's actually a very different secret...
• Nero or Archie is in danger! The other has to save him!
• Smut! Yes, I am wholeheartedly in favor of Nero/Archie smut. Please neither ignore nor deride Nero's size - just let him be a big man who Archie loves, not in spite of his size, but with that just a part of what makes Nero Nero.
• Mutual hopeless pining that turns into a happy ending after all!
• Archie or Nero finds out that the other was in a relationship with a man a long time ago. This causes them to reevaluate the possibility that perhaps - perhaps! - their doomed crush might not be so doomed after all.
• The lengths that Archie or Nero will go to in order to protect the other.
• A case that Archie could never write about for public consumption, because of Things That Happened
Basically, I just long to see Nero/Archie in the most flagrantly romantic of fics. Layer it on, and I will adore it.
And if you’re writing casefic, you definitely don’t have to write an entire involved case! (Though I would happily devour one!) I enjoy in medias res fics a lot, and/or the denouements are always one of the most fun parts of the books anyways, so starting at the end works too! A tiny casefic will do me just fine. <3
As for narrative voice - I adore Archie's narrative voice, and you're welcome to go for a pastiche if you want to! But I would also be happy with a more-standard tight third, from either Archie or Nero's perspective, or even from Fritz or Cramer's.
P.S. I asked for Fritz and Cramer as well as Nero & Archie, because those two are the next most important characters for me to round out the brownstone's world. Although I'm happy for them to be central characters too if that fits your story, I'm also happy with a fic that focuses on Nero/Archie, as long as Fritz & Cramer at least put in a short appearance of some kind. :)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - Xu Shang-Chi | Shaun
For this fandom, what I am most strongly hungering for is for Shaun/Shang-Chi To Get His Groove On.
This could mean either or both of the following:
• Shang-Chi gets some action
• Shang-Chi adapts to his new life as a superhero
I ship Shang-Chi/Katy, but only post-movie (well, I suppose it could start in Ta-Lo, but not before that!). I also am totally here for Shaun/other people, either before or after the movie, and keeping the Shaun & Katy relationship on the BFF level. I do not ship any incest ship with Shang-Chi, however, including the sort of stepbrother vibe with Razor Fist (because I feel Razor Fist totally sees himself as Wenwu’s substitute son). I’m cool with Katy/Xialing as a background ship if you want, but it’s not necessary, and in any case I’d like to keep the focus on Shaun.
Prompts!
• Shaun has been a ladies’ man for years, which has always slightly perplexed Katy – he’s not bad-looking or anything, but she’s never felt sexual chemistry from him. But then it’s post-movie, and she finds his shirtless pictures on Tinder, and she Gets It. (Could be gen, in which she teases him for his corny pictures/matchmakes him with a friend/etc., or shippy.)
• Katy sets Shang-Chi up on a blind date with someone she knows he’s been secretly crushing on/someone who’s totally his type. Could be an Avenger, could be a celebrity, or an OC. Shang-Chi has to admit that she totally knows him, and he and the date really hit it off. (Or, she doesn’t know his type, and he goes home with the bartender instead!)
• Shaun/Shang-Chi in bed. I like my porn with a bit of plot or at least characterization, but I also really like my porn, lol. A soupcon of canon thoughts will do me fine. I’d like the sex to be really good! Sometimes I enjoy subverting expectations and having tentative characters and/or fail!sex, but in this case what I’d really like is a Shang-Chi who’s great in bed and knows it.
• If you’re writing Shang-Chi/Katy, I’d love a lot of tenderness, affection, and laughter in the sex! Their friendship is Life Goals, and I absolutely adore the friends-to-lovers trope. Like, it’s my favorite trope ever. So if you go for it, I’d love to see that friendship translate into riproaring good sex that is also fun and friendly and affectionate and all those lovely things. And then maybe they get takeout.
• The first few months after Shaun, valet, becomes Shang-Chi, superhero, is QUITE the transition! How does he adapt? What is his new life like? What adventures do he and Katy have (in and out of bed)? How does Xialing fit into his life now?
• Shang-Chi explores the powers of the rings and takes them on spins around San Francisco. What kinds of scrapes does he get into? Who does he meet? (Could even have a meta moment with him running into Jung, who’s in California for business school!) [Note: For this prompt, please no super popular comics characters that would take over the fic, like Ant Man or Venom. But RL San Franciscans would be fun, or colorful OCs!]
Similar to my KC section, if you have any questions about what I’d like in this fandom, or need clarification on anything, feel free to check in with my friend Anabel! She knows me pretty dang well and we have talked about Shang-Chi a lot. :)
Thank you again for writing for me! I’m really excited to be back in Yuletide, and I’m happy we matched! :D
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Thank you for letting me talk you into this, it's gonna be awesome! Welcome back to Yuletide!!!
Also of course I am happy to talk to anybody who has questions about your prompts/things you would like/etc.! That's actually a good idea - I might put you in my letter the same way. You've certainly heard enough about my Shipping Thoughts recently. 😅
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And thank you for the spur to get back into the swing of things! I'm really looking forward to it!
(Also, I haven't officially signed up yet - writing the letter took all my free time today - but I will soon!)