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[suburban_sun]

Dear Candy Hearts Writer,

Thanks for signing up for this exchange! I'm glad something filled the gap of Chocolate Box, which I've participated in for a few years now. I'm looking forward to reading whatever you write! (And for anyone else stumbling across this letter, know that treats are always welcomed.)

Below you’ll find the following:

• My Requests
• About Me
• General Likes/Kinks
• General DNWs
• Fandom Specifics/Prompts

My Requests:

• Gilmore Girls - Rory Gilmore/Jess Mariano
• Mythic Quest - Ian Grimm, Poppy Li
• The Other Two - Brooke Dubek, Lance Arroyo
• Russian Doll - Nadia Vulvokov & Alan Zaveri
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze
• Harry Potter - Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

I’ve tried to list some varied prompts for each fandom, but please don’t feel like you have to stick to what I’ve come up with. If the rest of my letter gives you another idea you’d like to write, I’d love to read it!


A little about me to start:

My AO3 name is SuburbanSun; you can also check out my Tumblr if you’d like: unbreakablejemmasimmons.


General Likes/Kinks:

Fave shippy tropes:

• Rivals/enemies to lovers
• Secret dating/sneaking around
• FWBs that turns into something more
• Fake dating
• Mutual pining
• “The love is requited they’re just idiots"/idiots to lovers
• Truth serum/in vino veritas

Fave gen tropes and story elements:

• Found family dynamics
• Competency/mutual respect
• Shenanigans/heists
• Time travel
• Time loops

Subversions of tropes are also great!

Most of my prompts tend toward canon universe ideas because that’s just what I tend to think of first, but I enjoy AUs too, and here are a few types that I’m always a sucker for:

• Secret Service/bodyguard/witness protection AUs
• Private eye AUs
• Politics AUs (like my requested characters running for office or working on a campaign)
• Vampire slayer AUs
• Food truck or food critic AUs

Epistolary style, either as a small part of a story or as all of it, is always fun to me, if it’s up your alley. Phone calls! Emails! Letters! Post-It notes! I love it all!

Smut is cool and fun and here are some things that I like:

• Teasing
• Phone sex/sexting
• Semi-public sex (not actually getting caught though)
• Workplace sex
• Dirty talk
• Oral sex
• Playfulness/joking around during sex.

General DNWs:

DNWs: Superangst and sad endings. Babyfic/kidfic/pregnancy. First person POV (except in epistolary elements).

Fandom Specifics/Prompts:

Gilmore Girls
Jess Mariano/Rory Gilmore

I was #TeamJess from the jump. Loved their banter, how they could go toe-to-toe with each other in a way that they couldn't with other people in their lives. Their minds intrigued each other! Ugh, they were so lovely. And then later in the series, I loved that he continued to know her so well-- "this isn't you, Rory!" gets me every time. I didn't love the revival overall, but would still like fic that takes place when they're adults. If you could just pretend the pregnancy reveal at the end of the revival never happened, that would be awesome (just not my thing!).

 

Prompts:

• Feel free to pretend the events of the revival did NOT happen, and go the route of Rory and Jess reconnecting as adults however you'd like!
• If you imagine the events of the revival DID happen, maybe something where he helps her work on her book?
• Adult Rory and Jess become pen pals, text message buddies-- anything where they can communicate through the written word before eventually coming back together in person.

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Mythic Quest
Ian Grimm, Poppy Li

This show was such a fun discovery for me as I browsed Apple+. I’d heard good things, but the first episode hadn’t grabbed me, and I’m glad I stuck around because by episode 3 I was cackling out loud. Then the quarantine episode had me crying, followed by Everlight, which buoyed my heart. It’s been a wild ride!

I love the relationship between Ian and Poppy as it’s laid out in the show. I don’t ship them romantically (though I suppose the show could convince me if they went in that direction!), but I love their prickly partnership, their codependency, and the way that they are maybe the only people in the world who really, begrudgingly, get each other. I love everyone in this bar, so any other characters are welcome.

Prompts:

• I’d love something that explores either of the characters’ personal lives, since we see so few glimpses of them in the show.
• It really tugged on my dumb heartstrings when Ian sought out Poppy when he was in the hospital in season 2, or when he showed up--unexpectedly, but right when she needed him--at her doorstep in the quarantine episode, so while I don't really ship them romantically, I would welcome more of that neediness and comfort.

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The Other Two
Brooke Dubek, Lance Arroyo

This might be the funniest show on TV right now, to me. I was thrilled when it finally came back for a second season, and laughed out loud throughout. I love every character and the different dynamics between them, but I particularly am charmed every time Lance reappears. He’s the perfect himbo, so genuine and yet so stupid. And yet somehow he’s finding success! I really love that Brooke will always have a soft spot for Lance (and seemingly vice versa) and would love to see these two crazy kids work things out.

This is another “I love everyone in this bar” situation so happy to see any of the other characters pop up!

Prompts:

• I’m really rooting for Brooke to find actual success and happiness in her career. Along the way, is there an opportunity for her and Lance to work together? A collab of some kind between one of Brooke’s future clients and Lance’s fashion line?
• What if Brooke had called Lance instead of inviting Cary over when she was lonely in her new apartment?
• Brooke found out in the finale that Lance had broken up with his girlfriend, right after she’d told him she didn’t want to be with him. How does she handle this newfound knowledge? Does she take it back and make a move, or does her pride get in the way?

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Russian Doll
Nadia Vulvokov & Alan Zaveri

Season one of this show was so completely fascinating and weird and great, and my favorite element of it was the friendship/support system that developed between Nadia and Alan. I enjoyed season two of the show, but missed having as much interaction between the two of them, and would love to read more about them just chatting, searching for Oatmeal, solving time travel problems, anything!

Prompts:

• They've relived the same day on repeat, and they've time traveled to their families' past. What happens when they time travel to their future?
• Alan's got a birthday coming up, and this Nadia's determined he's going to have a party whether he likes it or not.
• Somehow, Nadia and Alan are convinced to start a podcast about the multiverse called "What a Concept." What do they talk about on it, besides saying the word "fuck" a lot?

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze

I just watched Clone Wars for the first time as part of watching through all of Star Wars this summer, and by far my favorite things about it were a) the relationship dynamics between Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka, and b) glimpses into the bittersweet and tragic Obi-Wan/Satine relationship. 

For the former, I love how caring about and training Ahsoka humanizes Anakin (seriously never expected I'd have positive feelings toward Anakin Skywalker but here we are). I love how Obi-Wan and Anakin work together, and how Anakin's brashness balances out Obi-Wan's more adult, cautious approach to adventures. And I just love Ahsoka in general; she's become one of my fave characters in the canon. 

For the latter, I love getting to see Obi-Wan flirt! Their back-and-forth is so great, and while things end tragically, the bittersweetness was already baked in, really. I'd love anything exploring their early relationship, or any glimpses into other adventures they might have had while Satine was still alive. 

Note that canon-level angst, or the bittersweetness of knowing what's to come, is perfectly fine for this fandom. 

Prompts:

• A rare bit of downtime during the Clone Wars. Surely they had a few moments in between messes and battles to do something fun? 
• Ahsoka trains or teaches Anakin and Obi-Wan something that surprises them.
• A secret mission finds Obi-Wan undercover in Mandalore.

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Harry Potter
Sirius Black/Remus Lupin

Harry Potter is kind of always there in the background as something I love, and as far as ships go, Remus/Sirius is my faaaave. I love the complexity of their relationship in the text, and the subtext (THE SUBTEXT). I love thinking about the Marauder era and how deeply all four of them loved each other, and thinking about Remus and Sirius discovering feelings that went even beyond that. I love the (brief) time between Hogwarts and that Halloween night, when they were potentially happy and in love. I’m much more interested in something within the HP universe for them than a total AU, and not into reading about them in their animagus/wolfy forms.

Note that canon-level angst, or the bittersweetness of knowing what's to come, is perfectly fine for this fandom. 

Prompts:

• Hogwarts-era pining! One of them has realized their feelings but thinks the other isn’t interested, and that kind of adolescent angst is so bittersweet.
• Post-Hogwarts domesticity! Moving into a ramshackle apartment together, hanging moving photos of the Marauders on the walls, cuddling under three blankets because the heat is on the fritz but it’s their place so they love it anyway.
  

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The Falcon & the Winter Soldier
Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

I always enjoyed their dynamic, but these two didn't take over my heart and soul until a couple eps into The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, when I thought to myself, "huh, I wonder if people ship them." I looked up fic and almost immediately, I shipped them too. I really love how Bucky was completely on board with Steve handing off the shield to Sam, no doubts whatsoever, because he knows how truly good Sam Wilson is. I think at this point in their relationship Bucky is Sam Wilson's #1 fan and I love it.

Prompts:

• More of Sam and Bucky working on the boat!
• Maybe Bucky moves down to Delacroix, gets a little place near the Wilsons', but it's not like that means he has feelings for Sam or anything. No, of course not. They're partners, that's all.
• What's going on with the Avengers these days? Is Sam the new official or unofficial team leader? Is Bucky an actual Avenger, and if so, how do his and Sam's feelings for each other (whether they realize that's what they are or not) get in the way of day-to-day Avengers stuff? Cameos from other Marvel characters are welcomed!
• Sam, Bucky and Avengers thirst tweets.

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So, that’s that! I really hope you enjoy the whole process this Yuletide season, and thanks for participating! Happy writing!