DEAR FANDOM 5K WRITER
Apr. 7th, 2018 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arysteiaHi there.
This letter is a bit more lopsided and higgledy piggledy than I usually prefer, and I'm sorry about that. More than anything, I know that two of these fandoms have nice concise signups at AO3 and then I wax lyrical here, whereas the other two have more details in the signup box, and are shorter and less polished here. Please don't read anything into that. All it means is that a couple of sections are cribbed from old letters, and the others are getting made up on the fly. I promise I am crazy in love with all four of these fandoms, and very keen indeed to see what you come up with.
Please don't feel too constrained by the genre tags I chose – I was aiming to give an indication of some of my favourite kinds of stories, while also trying to leave some room for you to work. Let your own muse be your guide, and please feel free to work with the spirit rather than the letter of any prompts, or to use anything I suggest to set the mood rather than dictate a plot. I don't want to cramp your style too much, so please just take this as a wish list that you can mix and match from as suits you. Hopefully I've given you somewhere to start.
I dislike mundane and/or modern AUs, so please keep the characters in their own settings or time periods and retain their own backstories and abilities/powers. Also, please, no non-con, no infidelity, no unasked for kinks. I do enjoy reading explicit sex scenes in fic, though as a general rule as part of character development rather than pure PWP, so if you enjoy writing them please go ahead. If you prefer lower ratings then super intense feelings and emotions tickle my id just as well.
I have a basic preference for third person narration, and also for a fairly tight POV, rather than an omniscient narrator. That’s not a hard and fast rule though, so don’t feel bound by it if it doesn’t suit the story you want to tell.
General Likes:
• found family/families of choice
• friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers
• characters knowing each other really well
• size/strength difference even when it's only a bit or especially if it's surprising
• first times
• reconciliations after rifts
• breakups followed by makeups
• loyalty
• you and me against the world
• identity porn
• fork in the road AUs
General Dislikes:
• infidelity
• non-con
• major character death
• unasked for kinks
• mundane AUs
• bdsm
• obliviousness/drawn out pining/misunderstandings
• parental incest or any related kink
*****
Black Sails
I love this show, and both these relationships, though not together or combined! Please don't mix and match these two quite different requests, though the lingering shadow of a lost Thomas is perfectly welcome in a Vane story, as appropriate.
Captain Flint/Charles Vane
Both these men are canonically in love with someone else, and I kinda love that. I love the symmetry of it first and foremost – I actually really liked the conversation Vane had with Max about Eleanor, too, where they recognised what they had in common despite the horrible oppositional situation they were in – and I love the way they arguably both can be said to have loved "not wisely but too well". Obviously it ends somewhat differently in each case, but let's not be troubled by trifles. I'm more than happy, then, to have that spectre hanging over them, whether they ever discuss it or not, or even just to recognise a sort of fellow feeling.
I would be happy to have a story set at any time, whether pre-show, or at any point during the show. When young, broken hearted, very angry and lost James McGraw arrives in Nassau, does he meet a (presumably even younger) Charles Vane second in command (?) to the famous Edward Teach? Does a newly-made-captain Vane try to make common cause with the other new boy in town? Presumably their paths crossed a million times in the next ten years (possibly to the great annoyance of both, given the terms they're on in episode 1) so what on earth happened in that time? Or post-Charlestown, or post Vane's escape from the noose – that totally happened – when they're both well aware of their status as mythmakers and legend builders. Or into some hypothetical future.
I love pretty much everyone else in the supporting cast, especially Gates, Billy, Jack, and Anne, and would be happy to see appearances from the two crews as appropriate. Except Silver. I'd prefer his presence be kept to a minimum, please.
If you're interested in writing smut I threw up a slightly rough and ready letter for Smut Swap, so feel free to check that out if you like.
Captain Flint/Thomas Hamilton
I could have very happily watched a whole season of these two making cow eyes at each other and arguing about politics, even before they actually got together. But once they did! I would dearly love to have a story set in London, pre the fall. I just adore them, in all their starchy, buttoned down glory.
I love their friendship, and their love affair of the mind that starts long before the physical one, whereby Thomas, who presumably has learned the hard way from his father that trust can be misplaced, can say to the man who is sleeping with his wife "I have come to trust you very much", and James, who has likewise fought his way to a position not his by right and somewhat precarious, can throw caution to the winds and order a peer of the realm out of his own house.
I'm not a huge fan of pining or misunderstandings, so don't particularly want a drawn out exploration of either of them thinking their feelings are one sided, but I do enjoy internalised homophobia and period-appropriate issues with acknowledging one's very real feelings. Likewise, qualms about class and status difference etc.
I do like to imagine a world where they didn't come to grief quite so spectacularly, so consider this an exception to my usual preference for avoiding AUs: both the "posted to Nassau" AU I mentioned in my signup, or a canon divergence where they weren't given away so early, in quite the same way, or indeed at all.
I really like Miranda as a character, and do believe she loved both James and Thomas very much, and they her, so while I'm not after a threesome story at this time, if she has a role to play in your story please go ahead. If not, that's fine too, but please don't vilify her in any way.
If you're interested in writing smut I threw up a slightly rough and ready letter for Smut Swap, so feel free to check that out if you like.
Whitechapel
Joseph Chandler & Ray Miles
I just marathoned the whole show over Easter, and loved just about everything about it. I've liked Rupert Penry-Jones since I first saw him in Cambridge Spies as a teenager, but I was particularly delighted to see Phil Davis again, who I remember loving to hate as Prince John in Robin of Sherwood even longer ago. Their relationship was everything I like in mismatched colleagues turned loyal friends, from the initial terrible start, to sharing confidences and trusting each other with weaknesses, to firmly having each other's backs by the end. Miles trying to reassure Chandler in the sewer that his coat was salvageable tugged on my heartstrings in the final episode. How far they've come!
I like the whole team, and all their strengths and weaknesses, and would be happy to see any or all of them play a part in your story. I don't mind Kent's crush on Chandler as long as it stays firmly in the doe eyed hero worship sector, but any sort of reciprocation is a hard DNW for me.
I love the sudden swerve the show took in the final season, and would enjoy seeing it more fully explored, but equally, I've always been a fan of serial killers, both historical and modern, and would be happy with a continued focus on more earthly policing. I would be interested, in either case, in the whereabouts of Commander Anderson, and the ongoing impact on Chandler's once promising career.
Lastly, I remain a sucker for faves in peril, so if something ghastly (but recoverable!) happens to Chandler and Miles has to rescue him that'd be grand. Otherwise, facing danger together or with the team, all great in my book.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Will Hunting/Chuckie Sullivan
I love this film so much, and more than anything I adore Will and Chuckie's relationship. Chuckie's part in the movie is comparatively small, but he speaks a thousand words with every grin, smirk, and glare, and I am an absolute sucker for his brand of love and loyalty combined with straight talking and the ability to give a shove where required. It seems very obvious, without much exposition, that he and Will have known each other forever, and always been there for each other through thick and thin. He's also a big enough person to let Will go – heck, make him go – though of course I am selfishly asking you to undo that somehow and get them back together. Sorry, not sorry.
Sean summed it up well when Lambeau was complaining about Will's choice to hang out with a "retarded gorilla" and he responded, "That retarded gorilla would take a bat to your head if he asked him to." [We've come quite some way in understanding inappropriate slurs since 1997 but I think the sentiment is still clear.] Likewise when one of the other boys hesitates about getting into a fight to support Will, and Chuckie says something to the effect, "When I'm done with them I'm coming for you." It's like catnip to my love of found family, "you and me against the world" friendships, and undying loyalty in the face of all common sense.
Anyway, there is so little fic available featuring these two that pretty much anything you can come up with would be very welcome indeed. I would love fic where Will and Chuckie are together, whether they get together before, during, or after the film. I'd prefer for them not to break up, though I'm more than happy for them to make up or get back together after a separation. I'd prefer Skylar be dealt with as briefly and respectfully as possible, whether via off screen break up or simple, time honoured, assuming that's been dealt with and moving forward.
I guess my major question is: where to from the end of the movie? What happens next? Given that Chuckie was so set on Will leaving, and more importantly not wasting his gifts and opportunities, it seems like he wouldn't accept Will just giving up on California and coming home to the same old same old. So what changes? Does Chuckie follow him out there? Does Will come home but to a new life in Boston? Can Will help Chuckie realise a few dreams of his own? What kind of life can they build together? Is it, by choice or necessity, a closeted life? When and how does that change?
That brings me to one of the other things that intrigues me, namely how much the world has and hasn't changed between 1997 and today. So I'm interested in that too. If you want to set your fic in 1997 or shortly thereafter, great; if you want to look in at what the guys are doing now, that'd also be awesome. Please, please, don't write them as having not spoken or seen each other for huge chunks of time in those intervening years though, I can't bear that thought.
If you are interested in writing smut for this pairing you are a hero indeed, so please feel free to check out the relevant section of my letter for Smut Swap where I let my id flag fly on the subject.
The Man From UNCLE (2015)
Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo
I'm a huge fan of antagonists falling for each other, so Illya and Napoleon's transition from foes to friends to something more works perfectly for me. I'd love to see some of that journey, whether the whole way or just the final step. Equally, I love a tale of comrades in arms who have a whole other relationship going on at the same time, and the way that that impacts their work, and/or the way the dangers thereof impact said relationship.
For me, a major part of the attraction is the setting, so if at all possible I'd love to have a fic recognisably set in the time period, ie 1963. I love the Cold War as a historical period, but I also just love the conventions of the spy game genre – I was practically raised on it as my dad was a big fan, both books and movies. That said, I don't need a complicated plot; some vague caper to act as a backdrop to Illya and Napoleon's relationship is more than fine with me. Likewise if your focus is on movie style shenanigans rather than politics, that's A-OK.
Don't feel you have to do huge amounts of research on the Cold War if you're not a history buff – though if you are please go ahead, by all means – but please don't just handwave societal attitudes to homosexuality etc either. I find it really jarring when reading fic set in the 1960s to suddenly stumble over supportive best friends and organisations that are oddly embracing of their agents' personal lives. Gaby might put her friendships first, but I still think Illya and Napoleon would go out of their way to conceal their relationship from her to avoid putting her in that position. UNCLE, and certainly the CIA and KGB, would absolutely have viewed a homosexual relationship as an intolerable security risk. If you find writing about historical homophobia unpleasant then it's not something you need to explore, but I would very much prefer it if the relationship is kept under wraps.
Other than that, I am super interested in both Illya and Napoleon's backstories. Are they right when they psychobabble each other in that cafe in the park? Was it just a sense of adventure that drove Napoleon to join the army at sixteen? Does Illya have a genuine loyalty to the KGB, or does love of Mother Russia override the pain the state has caused him? How does their friendship, and then their affection for each other, grow?
I'm intrigued by the prospect of what would happen to Illya, in particular, if ties to UNCLE were somehow severed -- he's the one that's going to find himself stranded in hostile territory, unlike Napoleon and Gaby. I'm also dubious that the KGB would really ever allow him to return home after his extended time in the decadent West. Would he ever defect?
I just really love comrades who risk life and limb for each other. I like the stress it places on relationships, but also the way those relationships are intensified by omnipresent danger. I like extreme loyalty, and sticking together through thick and thin. I like the hothouse atmosphere created when you can't share how much you love someone with anybody else.
If you are interested in writing smut for this pairing please feel free to check out the relevant section of my letter for Smut Swap where I let my id flag fly on the subject.
*****
I feel like I've practically written a 5K fic now, but hopefully there's something here that will be useful to you. Anything within the general spirit of these prompts would please me very much. Have fun, and enjoy the exchange. I very much look forward to seeing what you come up with.
This letter is a bit more lopsided and higgledy piggledy than I usually prefer, and I'm sorry about that. More than anything, I know that two of these fandoms have nice concise signups at AO3 and then I wax lyrical here, whereas the other two have more details in the signup box, and are shorter and less polished here. Please don't read anything into that. All it means is that a couple of sections are cribbed from old letters, and the others are getting made up on the fly. I promise I am crazy in love with all four of these fandoms, and very keen indeed to see what you come up with.
Please don't feel too constrained by the genre tags I chose – I was aiming to give an indication of some of my favourite kinds of stories, while also trying to leave some room for you to work. Let your own muse be your guide, and please feel free to work with the spirit rather than the letter of any prompts, or to use anything I suggest to set the mood rather than dictate a plot. I don't want to cramp your style too much, so please just take this as a wish list that you can mix and match from as suits you. Hopefully I've given you somewhere to start.
I dislike mundane and/or modern AUs, so please keep the characters in their own settings or time periods and retain their own backstories and abilities/powers. Also, please, no non-con, no infidelity, no unasked for kinks. I do enjoy reading explicit sex scenes in fic, though as a general rule as part of character development rather than pure PWP, so if you enjoy writing them please go ahead. If you prefer lower ratings then super intense feelings and emotions tickle my id just as well.
I have a basic preference for third person narration, and also for a fairly tight POV, rather than an omniscient narrator. That’s not a hard and fast rule though, so don’t feel bound by it if it doesn’t suit the story you want to tell.
General Likes:
• found family/families of choice
• friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers
• characters knowing each other really well
• size/strength difference even when it's only a bit or especially if it's surprising
• first times
• reconciliations after rifts
• breakups followed by makeups
• loyalty
• you and me against the world
• identity porn
• fork in the road AUs
General Dislikes:
• infidelity
• non-con
• major character death
• unasked for kinks
• mundane AUs
• bdsm
• obliviousness/drawn out pining/misunderstandings
• parental incest or any related kink
*****
Black Sails
I love this show, and both these relationships, though not together or combined! Please don't mix and match these two quite different requests, though the lingering shadow of a lost Thomas is perfectly welcome in a Vane story, as appropriate.
Captain Flint/Charles Vane
AU - Canon Divergence: Take a sharp left at Vane's supposed execution. Billy's mad agitation skills start a riot. Flint knows that everyone else is incompetent and if he wants a job done well he has to do it himself. However it happens, Vane lives to fight (and fuck) another day. He and Flint sail off together, whether into the sunset or to become the absolute terror of the high seas. People thought they were bad separately? They had no idea.
Character Development: I'd like to hear more about Charles especially, whether his escape from slavery, or his decision to break with Teach, or anything else. I love that Vane was the first to recognise and enunciate the value of the pirate legend, and to be willing to put aside his differences to defend the pirate life. How does he go from sitting on the beach waiting to be the first to see Flint brought low, to standing at Flint's side to defend their home?
Smut: What can I say? Despite (or even because of) his bad behaviour and questionable hygiene, Vane's swagger is irresistable to me. Flint's no hardship to look at either, though in his case it's more his broken edges that call to me. Either way, fighting, fucking, fighting leading to fucking, fighting while fucking... is fucking while fighting a thing? It should be. (Unexpected tenderness would actually be a delight as well.)
Both these men are canonically in love with someone else, and I kinda love that. I love the symmetry of it first and foremost – I actually really liked the conversation Vane had with Max about Eleanor, too, where they recognised what they had in common despite the horrible oppositional situation they were in – and I love the way they arguably both can be said to have loved "not wisely but too well". Obviously it ends somewhat differently in each case, but let's not be troubled by trifles. I'm more than happy, then, to have that spectre hanging over them, whether they ever discuss it or not, or even just to recognise a sort of fellow feeling.
I would be happy to have a story set at any time, whether pre-show, or at any point during the show. When young, broken hearted, very angry and lost James McGraw arrives in Nassau, does he meet a (presumably even younger) Charles Vane second in command (?) to the famous Edward Teach? Does a newly-made-captain Vane try to make common cause with the other new boy in town? Presumably their paths crossed a million times in the next ten years (possibly to the great annoyance of both, given the terms they're on in episode 1) so what on earth happened in that time? Or post-Charlestown, or post Vane's escape from the noose – that totally happened – when they're both well aware of their status as mythmakers and legend builders. Or into some hypothetical future.
I love pretty much everyone else in the supporting cast, especially Gates, Billy, Jack, and Anne, and would be happy to see appearances from the two crews as appropriate. Except Silver. I'd prefer his presence be kept to a minimum, please.
If you're interested in writing smut I threw up a slightly rough and ready letter for Smut Swap, so feel free to check that out if you like.
Captain Flint/Thomas Hamilton
AU - Canon Divergence: What if Thomas and James hadn't been given away, and they really did sail out to Nassau together, the new Governor and his loyal naval attache? Could they possibly have corralled the rest of the cast into a working, prosperous, Nassau? Could they at least have lived the life they wanted to live, together, away from London?
Getting Together: We know the basics, but that leaves a lot of room to work. Was that kiss a shock to either or both of them, or the natural culmination of a long path from strange pairs to trusted friends to truest loves?
Established Relationship: Realistically they weren't together very long before the disaster, but I'm sure they packed a lot in around the edges of politicking and planning. Life in London, the country, juggling responsibilities... We know they were less discreet than they should have been; was the honeymoon period really so intoxicating they both lost their wits?
Smut: Gentle and romantic first times, or fast and furious fucking once they know what they're about, or anything in between.
(Not remotely a DNW, but a strong preference: We've seen a lot of reunion fics set post S4. I would really, really love to read something set at any other point in their shared story.)
I could have very happily watched a whole season of these two making cow eyes at each other and arguing about politics, even before they actually got together. But once they did! I would dearly love to have a story set in London, pre the fall. I just adore them, in all their starchy, buttoned down glory.
I love their friendship, and their love affair of the mind that starts long before the physical one, whereby Thomas, who presumably has learned the hard way from his father that trust can be misplaced, can say to the man who is sleeping with his wife "I have come to trust you very much", and James, who has likewise fought his way to a position not his by right and somewhat precarious, can throw caution to the winds and order a peer of the realm out of his own house.
I'm not a huge fan of pining or misunderstandings, so don't particularly want a drawn out exploration of either of them thinking their feelings are one sided, but I do enjoy internalised homophobia and period-appropriate issues with acknowledging one's very real feelings. Likewise, qualms about class and status difference etc.
I do like to imagine a world where they didn't come to grief quite so spectacularly, so consider this an exception to my usual preference for avoiding AUs: both the "posted to Nassau" AU I mentioned in my signup, or a canon divergence where they weren't given away so early, in quite the same way, or indeed at all.
I really like Miranda as a character, and do believe she loved both James and Thomas very much, and they her, so while I'm not after a threesome story at this time, if she has a role to play in your story please go ahead. If not, that's fine too, but please don't vilify her in any way.
If you're interested in writing smut I threw up a slightly rough and ready letter for Smut Swap, so feel free to check that out if you like.
Whitechapel
Joseph Chandler & Ray Miles
I'm five years late to this fandom, with tiger balm, and frankly quite broken hearted that we'll never get to see just where it was all going.
Character Development: I love Joe, and Miles, and the whole course of their relationship, from terrible first impressions and stereotyped assumptions, to loyalty and support, to genuine friendship. Tell me more about how these two very different people find common ground and fight the good fight together. Elaboration on Joe's backstory/ongoing issues very welcome.
Worldbuilding: Is the police station built on a Hellmouth? Did Original Flavour Jack the Ripper leave some kind of psychic taint on the vicinity, like calling to like? Is the mythology of the place just a self fulfilling prophecy that affects the easily suggestible? Or is it all the inevitable result of poverty and neglect?
Horror: The final few episodes making explicit what had been creeping in round the edges opened up a whole new world to explore. Is it "real" though, in the sense of demonic activity on earth, or are we witnessing some sort of folie a deux/mass hysteria/psychic assault etc? Strong preference for supernatural/psychological/suspense elements of horror rather than gore.
Canon-Style Plot: I miss the old days of "virtual seasons". What happened next? How does it all resolve? Commander Anderson disappeared as the genre shift ramped up, but I imagine he's still watching; where next for Joe's career? Are the team ever going to bring their villain in?
DNW: any hint of Chandler/Kent.
I just marathoned the whole show over Easter, and loved just about everything about it. I've liked Rupert Penry-Jones since I first saw him in Cambridge Spies as a teenager, but I was particularly delighted to see Phil Davis again, who I remember loving to hate as Prince John in Robin of Sherwood even longer ago. Their relationship was everything I like in mismatched colleagues turned loyal friends, from the initial terrible start, to sharing confidences and trusting each other with weaknesses, to firmly having each other's backs by the end. Miles trying to reassure Chandler in the sewer that his coat was salvageable tugged on my heartstrings in the final episode. How far they've come!
I like the whole team, and all their strengths and weaknesses, and would be happy to see any or all of them play a part in your story. I don't mind Kent's crush on Chandler as long as it stays firmly in the doe eyed hero worship sector, but any sort of reciprocation is a hard DNW for me.
I love the sudden swerve the show took in the final season, and would enjoy seeing it more fully explored, but equally, I've always been a fan of serial killers, both historical and modern, and would be happy with a continued focus on more earthly policing. I would be interested, in either case, in the whereabouts of Commander Anderson, and the ongoing impact on Chandler's once promising career.
Lastly, I remain a sucker for faves in peril, so if something ghastly (but recoverable!) happens to Chandler and Miles has to rescue him that'd be grand. Otherwise, facing danger together or with the team, all great in my book.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Will Hunting/Chuckie Sullivan
With less than ten fics in existence, the world is our oyster.
Character Development: Tell me more about Will and Chuckie. Backstory or where to from here. Chuckie especially is a blank slate I'd love to see filled in.
Established Relationship: They've totally been doing it on the sly since they were kids.
Getting Together: Or maybe not. After California? A few years down the track, older and wiser?
Smut: Maybe one of those ten fics is rated Explicit. That seems like a challenge to me.
I love this film so much, and more than anything I adore Will and Chuckie's relationship. Chuckie's part in the movie is comparatively small, but he speaks a thousand words with every grin, smirk, and glare, and I am an absolute sucker for his brand of love and loyalty combined with straight talking and the ability to give a shove where required. It seems very obvious, without much exposition, that he and Will have known each other forever, and always been there for each other through thick and thin. He's also a big enough person to let Will go – heck, make him go – though of course I am selfishly asking you to undo that somehow and get them back together. Sorry, not sorry.
Sean summed it up well when Lambeau was complaining about Will's choice to hang out with a "retarded gorilla" and he responded, "That retarded gorilla would take a bat to your head if he asked him to." [We've come quite some way in understanding inappropriate slurs since 1997 but I think the sentiment is still clear.] Likewise when one of the other boys hesitates about getting into a fight to support Will, and Chuckie says something to the effect, "When I'm done with them I'm coming for you." It's like catnip to my love of found family, "you and me against the world" friendships, and undying loyalty in the face of all common sense.
Anyway, there is so little fic available featuring these two that pretty much anything you can come up with would be very welcome indeed. I would love fic where Will and Chuckie are together, whether they get together before, during, or after the film. I'd prefer for them not to break up, though I'm more than happy for them to make up or get back together after a separation. I'd prefer Skylar be dealt with as briefly and respectfully as possible, whether via off screen break up or simple, time honoured, assuming that's been dealt with and moving forward.
I guess my major question is: where to from the end of the movie? What happens next? Given that Chuckie was so set on Will leaving, and more importantly not wasting his gifts and opportunities, it seems like he wouldn't accept Will just giving up on California and coming home to the same old same old. So what changes? Does Chuckie follow him out there? Does Will come home but to a new life in Boston? Can Will help Chuckie realise a few dreams of his own? What kind of life can they build together? Is it, by choice or necessity, a closeted life? When and how does that change?
That brings me to one of the other things that intrigues me, namely how much the world has and hasn't changed between 1997 and today. So I'm interested in that too. If you want to set your fic in 1997 or shortly thereafter, great; if you want to look in at what the guys are doing now, that'd also be awesome. Please, please, don't write them as having not spoken or seen each other for huge chunks of time in those intervening years though, I can't bear that thought.
If you are interested in writing smut for this pairing you are a hero indeed, so please feel free to check out the relevant section of my letter for Smut Swap where I let my id flag fly on the subject.
The Man From UNCLE (2015)
Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo
I'm still desperately sad there will likely never be a sequel to this beautiful, silly, fantastically charming film, and we'll never get to see the legendary friendship develop.
Character Development: I would dearly like to know more about both Illya and Napoleon. Backstory, their genuine feelings about the Cold War and the espionage game, their "real world" interests when not working/playing a part.
Getting Together: Enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, fuckbuddies to lovers... Any and all paths to sex and something more.
Interpersonal Drama: The course of true love is unlikely to run smooth for these two, and I am totally here for the ups and downs thereof.
Smut: They're super hot. (And super tall. I cannot lie, with the accompanying strength that seems like a winning combination.)
I'm a huge fan of antagonists falling for each other, so Illya and Napoleon's transition from foes to friends to something more works perfectly for me. I'd love to see some of that journey, whether the whole way or just the final step. Equally, I love a tale of comrades in arms who have a whole other relationship going on at the same time, and the way that that impacts their work, and/or the way the dangers thereof impact said relationship.
For me, a major part of the attraction is the setting, so if at all possible I'd love to have a fic recognisably set in the time period, ie 1963. I love the Cold War as a historical period, but I also just love the conventions of the spy game genre – I was practically raised on it as my dad was a big fan, both books and movies. That said, I don't need a complicated plot; some vague caper to act as a backdrop to Illya and Napoleon's relationship is more than fine with me. Likewise if your focus is on movie style shenanigans rather than politics, that's A-OK.
Don't feel you have to do huge amounts of research on the Cold War if you're not a history buff – though if you are please go ahead, by all means – but please don't just handwave societal attitudes to homosexuality etc either. I find it really jarring when reading fic set in the 1960s to suddenly stumble over supportive best friends and organisations that are oddly embracing of their agents' personal lives. Gaby might put her friendships first, but I still think Illya and Napoleon would go out of their way to conceal their relationship from her to avoid putting her in that position. UNCLE, and certainly the CIA and KGB, would absolutely have viewed a homosexual relationship as an intolerable security risk. If you find writing about historical homophobia unpleasant then it's not something you need to explore, but I would very much prefer it if the relationship is kept under wraps.
Other than that, I am super interested in both Illya and Napoleon's backstories. Are they right when they psychobabble each other in that cafe in the park? Was it just a sense of adventure that drove Napoleon to join the army at sixteen? Does Illya have a genuine loyalty to the KGB, or does love of Mother Russia override the pain the state has caused him? How does their friendship, and then their affection for each other, grow?
I'm intrigued by the prospect of what would happen to Illya, in particular, if ties to UNCLE were somehow severed -- he's the one that's going to find himself stranded in hostile territory, unlike Napoleon and Gaby. I'm also dubious that the KGB would really ever allow him to return home after his extended time in the decadent West. Would he ever defect?
I just really love comrades who risk life and limb for each other. I like the stress it places on relationships, but also the way those relationships are intensified by omnipresent danger. I like extreme loyalty, and sticking together through thick and thin. I like the hothouse atmosphere created when you can't share how much you love someone with anybody else.
If you are interested in writing smut for this pairing please feel free to check out the relevant section of my letter for Smut Swap where I let my id flag fly on the subject.
*****
I feel like I've practically written a 5K fic now, but hopefully there's something here that will be useful to you. Anything within the general spirit of these prompts would please me very much. Have fun, and enjoy the exchange. I very much look forward to seeing what you come up with.
