Dear Id Pro Quo Writer

[partypaprika]

Dear Id Pro Quo writer,

I’ve included some thoughts below on my preferences and fandoms. Please don’t stress too much if you’re inspired to write something else (although I’d prefer if you didn’t delve into my DNWs). I’ve given some specific prompts, but feel to take a general theme from my general likes if that’s more inspiring!

 I'm not active on LJ/Dreamwidth anymore, although you're welcome to poke around here. I'm slightly active on tumblr and you can also check out my pinboard. I'm on ao3 as partypaprika.

General likes:

-Hurt/comfort
-Conflict
-Slow burn
-Pining and UST
-Sacrifices, especially if characters are making big sacrifices on behalf of someone that they care deeply about
-Angst (ideally ending in a HEA)
-Having dysfunctional relationships
-Enemies being forced (either directly or by circumstances) to work together
-Enemies to lovers
-Opposites attracting or coming to understand each other
-Marriages of convenience, fake dating, etc.
-People being thrown together in wildly unexpected situations
-Magical realism and magical powers
-Time travel, time loops, time do-overs etc.
-Modern royalty AUs
-Secret identities and identity porn
-Settings that have a sense of mystery: cemeteries, forests, abandoned temples etc.
-Epistolary and non-linear storytelling
-Canon divergence
-Mythology
-Hidden displays of affection

 

General dislikes:

-Major character death
-Noncon
-Incest
-Painplay
-Torture
-Humiliation kink
-A/b/o
-Dom/sub
-Mpreg
-Knotting
-Coffee shop AUs
-High school AUs

 

Hikaru no Go
Shindou Hikaru/Touya Akira

I love everything about Hikaru no Go and Hikaru and Akira. I love how much history they’ve shared and how o b s e s s e d they are with each other and go. I love how they (mis)communicate but also are there for each other when they really need the other one. I love how they’re each a champion for the other and they care so freaking much about each other.

I’ve nominated the following tropes:

-"Oh No They're Even Hotter Now"
-Self-Sacrifice - of Reputation
-Character A thinks they're just character B's rebound but they're not
-Character Forced To Reveal Their Secrets
-Character A Nonverbally Expresses Their Affection for Character B Who is Oblivious
-Fake/Pretend Relationship
-Identity Porn
-Identity Porn - Online Dating
-Loyalty - Characters repeatedly choose each other over everyone else
-Loyalty - Willing To Sacrifice Career For Loved One (except hurray things turn out okay!)
Pining - A thinks their pining is unrequited; B thinks they're in a relationship already
Pining - Character fucks people who look like their crush (until they get together)
Belligerent Sexual Tension
Pining - pining character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
Kidfic - Poorly suited to take care of a kid but must do it; mostly succeeds

I love all of these tropes and think that any of them would be a lot of fun with Akira and Hikaru. I definitely see pining as a big thing for them—they’re communicate constantly about their feelings about go, but both tend to hide behind go instead of addressing their feelings (about each other). They are also so obsessed and loyal to each other—would absolutely love to see that explored more, especially if one of them self-sacrifices themself to try and protect the other.

I also love the idea of them connecting romantically online—maybe on a go forum? Or some other type of online situation where they’re interacting and just completely connecting (and then both of them are feeling guilty because they also have feelings for the other in real life).

Fake/pretend relationships are also great—I have this vision of some rumor going out about either Akira or Hikaru and the other character is like…I know the perfect solution! We will pretend to have been dating to definitely prove that such thing didn’t happen. Or someone assumes that they’re dating (also feeding into the Misunderstandings trope) and if they deny it, it’ll look worse (or like one of the characters dumped the other one), so they pretend to date to save face. And then…hijinks!

Kidfic—I feel like this is also ripe for hijinks. Both of them are so ill-suited to care for someone else (although Hikaru is way worse than Akira), this would be hilarious.

Lastly, I am definitely down for angst with a happy ending for these two—they both have so much baggage. Does Hikaru have to reveal his secret about Sai to Akira in a way that leaves both of them hurting? Do they finally hook-up but think that the other person isn’t that into them? Does one of them date other people thinking that the other isn’t into them, and everyone that they date is a stand-in for the other? Fluff is also fine as well!

 

Gossip Girl
Dan Humphrey/Blair Waldorf

So, embarrassing confession: I've been into this pairing since that episode in season one where Dan shared with Blair the story about his mother leaving after the photoshoot debacle with Eleanor and Serena. I love how Dan was the only person to really see Blair, for better and worse, for who she truly was. And I loved their slow relationship evolution: from mutual disgust to situational allies to friends and then close confidants.

I’ve nominated the following tropes:

-Pitbull Dates Puppy (Prissy High-Maintenance Character)
-Sudden Realization - Oh No They're Hot - seeing after long separation
-"Oh No They're Hot Now" - Knew Each Other Back In College Edition
-Belligerent Sexual Tension
-Self-Sacrifice - of Reputation
-Character A thinks they're just character B's rebound but they're not
-Character A Nonverbally Expresses Their Affection for Character B Who is Oblivious
-Character Forced To Reveal Their Secrets
-Competence - highly effective teamwork

-Enemies to Lovers - working together to save somebody they both care about
-Fake/Pretend Relationship
-Identity Porn
-Identity Porn - Online Dating
-Loyalty - Willing To Sacrifice Career For Loved One (except hurray things turn out okay!)
-Pining - A thinks their pining is unrequited; B thinks they're in a relationship already
-Pining - Character fucks people who look like their crush (until they get together)

-Soulmate AU - culturally inappropriate soulmate

 

SO a couple of thoughts about these tropes. I LOVE the fact that Dan is so much more mellow and chill (generally) than incredibly high maintenance Blair and he just takes her and her craziness in stride.

Canon also ended with them not together so I’d love to either see them further down the line getting together (or back together) or a canon divergent AU where they hadn’t yet gotten together and ultimately do end up together. This could also be played with Blair seeing Dan after not being in contact for quite a while and then seeing him and realizing that she totally has a thing for Humphrey.

Blair is someone that is very concerned about social appearances, so I would absolutely love to see that played with respect to either finding out that they’re soulmates, but digging her heels in and trying to stop it because she knows in her heart that she’s meant for someone who’s got the same social prestige as her (and then falling in love with Dan because he really is her soulmate!) or vice versa.

I also think that there’s so many identity porn ways that you can go with this where one or both of them is using a secret identity (especially with the whole Gossip Girl presence, although you can use any kind of secret identity that you like!)

I also love them being friends (or maybe starting out as enemies again) and having to work together or being friends and there being hardcore pining between them. Maybe they start hooking up (or maybe they’re hooking up with other people) and think that they’re on different pages (but they’re not!).

 

No way to go wrong here.

Generation Kill
Brad Colbert/Nate Fick

Oh my god, I love these two characters—there's so much that I could say about them. I love the complete and utter trust between the two of them, in one of the highest stress situations imaginable. They're always on the same page and they always have each other's back, no matter what. It gets me right in heart, so much. SO MUCH.

I’ve nominated the following tropes:

 

-"Oh No They're Even Hotter Now"

-Self-Sacrifice - of Health/Safety

-Self-Sacrifice - of Reputation

-Character A Nonverbally Expresses Their Affection for Character B Who is Oblivious

-Character Accepts Corporal Punishment For Another's Sake

-Characters who bear the weight of the world getting to be vulnerable with each other

-Competence - highly effective teamwork

-Emotional Hurt/Comfort

-Deposed King made to become concubine of new King

-Ex friends/lovers see each other after years of silence

-Fake/Pretend Relationship

-Hurt/Comfort - A Injured on Mission; B Must Patch Them Up/Get Them to Safety

-Hurt/Comfort - Character being protected isn't used to being cared about

-Hurt/Comfort - A nurses injured B back to health after finding B got tortured to spare A the same

-Loyalty - Characters repeatedly choose each other over everyone else

-Loyalty - Willing To Sacrifice Career For Loved One (except hurray things turn out okay!)

-Pining - A thinks their pining is unrequited; B thinks they're in a relationship already

-Protectiveness - One character is bodyguard to the other while they're on the run

 

I’ve nominated, um, a lot of tropes….I am giddy thinking about any of these tropes with Brad/Nate, especially if it means pining. Both of them are so self-sacrificing and loyal (and you can see that a lot of the tropes are about that LOL). I am all about them being loyal, struggling with their attraction to each other and yet so in tune with each other in other ways. Hurt/comfort is also amazing for these two (I love the angst so much). Have they been apart for a long time, but forced together into a dangerous situation and find that they work like clockwork?

Do they have to marry each other to save one of their political careers or do they have to marry because one of them has been compromised in some other way? Has one of them been falsely accused of treason and now the other has to rescue them and clear their name? Does one of them have to protect the other from reputational injury, career injury or actual injury? I am there for all of it!

I would also totally be down into AUs. Deposed king forced to marry new king? Love it. Alternate wars or situations that they’re forced into?

On the lighter side, I would definitely love to see one of the guys selflessly setting up the other on date after date even while pining the entire time. Or fluffy comfort fic.

 

Kate Daniels Series

-Sudden Realization - Oh No They're Hot - seeing after long separation
-Self-Sacrifice - of Reputation
-Self-Sacrifice - of Health/Safety
-Belligerent Sexual Tension
-Character A thinks they're just character B's rebound but they're not
-Character Hides/Doesn't Mention Special Abilities; Later Must Reveal Abilities Due to Necessity
-Characters who bear the weight of the world getting to be vulnerable with each other
-Character From Future Tries To Convince Current Enemy They Will Be Friends/Allies In Future
-Competence - highly effective teamwork
-Enemies to Lovers
-Enemies to Lovers - A gets in trouble or injured protecting B; which makes B see A in a new light
-Enemies to Lovers - A is in danger and needs to be rescued; prompting B to realize their feelings
-Hurt/Comfort - A Injured on Mission; B Must Patch Them Up/Get Them to Safety
-Hurt/Comfort - A nurses injured B back to health after finding B got tortured to spare A the same
-A loves B; pining B thinks A is only fucking B as revenge for a past mistake and out of convenience
-Pining - Character fucks people who look like their crush (until they get together)
-Pining - pining character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
-Protectiveness - Character being protected isn't used to being cared about

Kate Daniels/Curran Lennart – I love Kate and Curran so much—they have such an amazing back and forth and they care so deeply about each other. I love their banter and chemistry—give me more of the two of them flirting or fighting or making out (or all three!).

A lot of these tropes are pre-relationship so I would totally be down for a canon divergent story, where they hadn’t yet gotten together and there’s pining or H/C. I also would be totally down for a story where they’re an established relationship and there’s some of that precious hurt/comfort or self-sacrifice (I love how much they sacrifice for each other)! I also love how protective they both are about each other.

Feel free to also do a future fic, with plenty of their belligerent sexual tension. I would absolutely love to see some case fic for a new case that Kate and Curran tackle together. You can go as fun and light or angsty and dark as you would like!

Derek Gaunt/Ascanio Ferara – I love their incredibly acerbic and antagonist relationship. They’re both always trying to rile each other up. Everyone notices. At one point, Kate says when they’re being out of the norm: “Neither of them had belittled the other’s wit, fighting ability, or sexual prowess in the last half hour. If I were less badass, I’d be worried.”

I would love to see the banter hiding something deeper between the two of them. They always know how to get under each other’s skin—is that because they’re trying to make the other notice them more?

I would absolutely love to see them go from enemies to lovers or have their feelings erupt during saving one another or helping after an injury. Pining? These guys are ripe for it—Derek keeps all of his feelings locked up and Ascanio can be so flippant, although he’s quickly learning how serious things can be. I love their antagonism because they also have so much in common, although they refuse to acknowledge it.

I love the idea of them hooking up and one of them thinking that the other either doesn’t have feelings or is hooking up just for revenge. I am here for the angsty hook-ups, the misinterpretations of feelings, the catching of feelings at the most inconvenient times. Sacrificing for the other? Yes!

These tropes can happen during a case that they take on (forced to work together!) or maybe they’re forced together during a spell gone wrong. Undercover work!

 

The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
Achilles/Patroclus

-Soulmates - one soulmate mistakenly believes the other does not want them
-Soulmate AU - culturally inappropriate soulmate
-Aftermath of Resurrection
-Resurrection - One character rescues the other from the underworld/afterlife
-Reincarnation - Only One Person Remembers
-Self-Sacrifice - of Reputation
-Self-Sacrifice - of Health/Safety
-Character Hides/Doesn't Mention Special Abilities; Later Must Reveal Abilities Due to Necessity
-Character Hides/Doesn't Mention Tragic Backstory; The Truth Later Comes Out
-Characters who bear the weight of the world getting to be vulnerable with each other
-Emotional Hurt/Comfort
-Loyalty - Characters repeatedly choose each other over everyone else
-Protectiveness
-Protectiveness - One character is bodyguard to the other while they're on the run
-Alternate Universe - like canon except one character is a selkie

I absolutely love the intensity of their relationship and the weight of their feelings between them.

I would love a reincarnation story or a completely AU story about the two of them. Do they meet in another life and find out who they are and what they mean to each other? There are also so many interesting AUs that you could do with them with other famous wars and battles or something completely unrelated to warfare: a celebrity AU or a mob AU where they’re both sons of mob bosses.

Self-sacrifice for each other would also be amazing—are they still protecting each other in another life? They’re both so loyal to each other and would do anything for each other. Further battles in another life? They’ve been resurrected and need to protect each other from godly wrath? They’ve been resurrected but only one character remembers what they mean to each other?

I love the angst between the two of them considering how their story ends and would love more of that, be it pining, forced separation, hurt/comfort, anything.