Dear Chocolatier 2022

Dear Chocolatier,

Thank you for signing up for Chocolate Box this year! I always have fun participating in this one, and I hope you have a good time this year too :-)

Below you’ll find the following:

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

My Requests:

• Mad Men - Peggy Olson/Stan Rizzo
• Marvel Cinematic Universe - Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson
• Harry Potter - Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
• Mythic Quest - Ian Grimm & Poppy Li
• The Other Two - Brooke Dubek/Lance Arroyo

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. On Tumblr, my tags for each of my requested fandoms/pairings can be found here:

Mad Men | MCU | Harry Potter | Mythic Quest | The Other Two


General Likes/Kinks:

I’m a big trope fan in general– faves include rivals/enemies to lovers, secret dating/sneaking around, FWBs that turns into something more, mutual pining and “the love is requited they’re just idiots.” 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 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 to read: 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:

Superangst and sad endings. Babyfic/kidfic/pregnancy. Noncon/dubcon. A/B/O. Mpreg. Incest. Poly/threesomes/orgies. First person POV (except in epistolary elements).

Fandom Specifics/Prompts:

Mad Men
Peggy Olson/Stan Rizzo

I love and miss this show so much. It was so smart and made me feel so many things, and in truth, Peggy Olson is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. I request this every year, but I truly never don’t want more of these characters!

Peggy/Stan is such a great ship, to me, and one I was on board with from the very beginning. Omitting his boorish behavior early on, once they established a rapport, they were such equals, and he seemed to respect her so much, and vice versa. They got on each other’s nerves and knew how to push each other’s buttons, but that’s just because they connected so well and really got each other.

 

Prompts:

• I adore the time period where they’re basically phone buddies. Maybe an AU where they get together earlier in the series, during that time? How their phone conversations evolve from discussing work to discussing everything to falling for each other (or realizing they already had)? Phone sex (or getting ever-so-close to it before realizing they’re in the office and it’s inappropriate) is a-okay here too.
• In the same vein, epistolary fic could be really fun to play around with here. Maybe a story told through a series of interoffice memos, messages, notes in the margins of copy pitches and along the edges of spec art?
• They’re working through the weekend on some pitch or another, holed up in the office with a stash of booze and half-empty cartons of Chinese food, but they can’t focus on work ALL night, can they?

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Marvel Cinematic Universe
Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

You know, I always enjoyed their dynamic, but these two didn't take over my heart and soul until after episode 3 of 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.
• I also love the idea that they might have interacted back when Sam was criss-crossing the globe looking for Bucky, sometimes without Steve. Maybe a near-miss interaction from that time period?
• 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!

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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.

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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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 particularly 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 codependence, and the way that they are maybe the only people in the world who really, begrudgingly, get each other. I would love something that explores that!

Prompts:

• Season 2 ends with the two of them leaving Mythic Quest to start something new, beginning with Poppy’s Hera game idea. How does the next big venture go?
• I’d love something that explores either of the characters’ personal lives, since we see so few glimpses of them in the show.
• Ian loves to hear himself talk, so I could see him starting a podcast— either as part of their new endeavor or separately, about gaming or something else. Poppy thinks it’s dumb and that nobody will listen— but is secretly annoyed that he hasn’t invited her on as a guest yet.

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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.

I love everyone in this bar, so would be 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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So, that’s that! I really hope you enjoy the whole process during Chocolate Box this year, and thanks for participating! Happy writing!