rudigersmooch

*
Dear Ambitious Creator,

Thank you so much for offering to create a fic/comic for one of my fandoms! I am delighted to be participating and very excited to see what you come up with. I hope that this letter and my thoughts on these pairings/tags are helpful for you, and that the length of especially the general section isn't too overwhelming. If you have any questions/concerns/need clarification about any of it, though, please don't hesitate to ask either through the mods or by an anonymous comment on this post.

Now: onto the letter!

AO3 Account:

rudigersmooch
Exchange/Event:

fffx / Five Figure Fanwork Exchange 2020

General Preferences
Do Not Wants
General Things I Enjoy
Smut Things I Enjoy
Comic & Art Things I Enjoy
Crossovers
Person of Interest
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Stargate Atlantis

General Preferences
I'm not going to lie, my DNW list is pretty extensive, but hopefully you find it manageable enough. Some of these are things that seem opt-in to me anyway and I've listed them just in case; if you don't see something on the DNW list, you can safely assume that I don't mind seeing it in fic.

DO NOT WANTS

unrequested crossovers/fusions/AUs

permanent character death within the ship

disease or serious illness fic (cancer, HIV/AIDs, etc.)

loss of limbs or eyes/other permanent injuries

Hanahaki disease

non-canon relationships other than the ones requested

unrequested poly ships or open relationships

infidelity

unrequested pregnancy (mentions of canon pregnancies fine)

hurt without comfort

dark!characters

shovel talks

character or ship bashing

Dom/sub or BDSM

permanent telepathic/empathic bonds (soulbonds fine as long as they are temporary and/or don’t include telepathy/empathy)

daddykink/mommykink/ageplay in general

trans* or genderswapped characters

identity headcanons

sexualities other than heterosexual, gay/lesbian, or bisexual

a social justice/current event focus of any kind (for example, no long discussions about the importance of consent/age of consent, no discussion of politics and the awfulness therein, no COVID stuff, etc.)

rape/non-con

scat

non-canonical nicknames or endearments OR non-canonical use of first names

fic longer than 50k

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GENERAL THINGS I ENJOY

pining. There are very few situations where I don't want or like pining.

everybody lives, or at least the people in the ship do.

a whole host of ridiculous romance tropes, including but not limited to: fake dating, arranged marriage, mistaken identity, blind dates gone wrong, jealousy/insecurity due to misunderstandings, temporary telepathy, convenient amnesia, bed sharing, sex pollen, A/B/O, identity kink, secretly pining friends-with-benefits, huddling for warmth, misheard confessions, etc. Whether I like setting change/time period change AUs depends on the fandom, but I'll note that in the fandom-specific sections.

on jealousy: I love it especially when one character thinks the one they want is already taken. They keep it to themselves mostly (obvious to the reader but not the characters) but it simmers there nonetheless.

a ship focus. The romantic ships for these fandoms don't need to be the central focus the entire time (I also like mission fic/case fic that has more of a pre-relationship feel) but I don't really like established relationships where ships get a one-line mention at the end. My favorite type of shipfic in general is first time/get together fic, but really, as long as the ship is noticeably there throughout the story, I'm fine.

POV character thinks the other ship half is THE MOST ATTRACTIVE EVER (whether they like it or admit it or not.) "Damn it, why are they so hot" and loving narrative descriptions of the hotness are equally welcome.

characters who are competent in their respective roles, whether that's a sniper, farmer, werewolf, hunter, ice skater, vampire, whatever.

characters experiencing same-sex attraction for the first time, especially if the character is over-40 and/or from a time period or setting where this is more plausible. I'm not much a fan of Only Gay For You, but I do like Didn't Realize I Was Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Until I Realized I Had Feelings For You.

while we're on the subject of first time attraction: also something I love for my alien/human ships. First time that alien found a human attractive, or vice versa? I'm into it.

age differences leading to guilty "I shouldn't be attracted to this person" feelings from one or both parties, where applicable. I still don't care for power dynamics, but I am all about using an age gap as an excuse for pining/repression.

mysteries and case fic. I know some people worry about writing mysteries because they think the villain is too obvious/not subtle enough, and I'm here to say that I don't care. I love mysteries whether I guess the ending along the way or not, and I adore case-of-the-week type canons to begin with.

unexpected life saving. POV character is convinced no one is coming for them/they're going to die, etc., and then RESCUE.

you know that thing in movies, where a character gets winged in the side by a bullet/arrow/etc. and they hide it, and later another character notices blood coming through their shirt/jacket and immediately goes "you're hurt! D:" and tries to take care of them/their wound? THAT, I LIKE THAT.

characters working hard to build trust/earn forgiveness/eventually settling their differences. It's like fictional catnip for me.

xeno! This is pretty far down the list, considering how much I actually love it, but I really enjoy when creators take aliens and emphasize the less-human elements (in a porn way or not.) I love my lizard/buggy humanoid faves and like the ways they're not human, so by all means, go into detail.

related to xeno: weird alien worldbuilding! Make stuff up to explain the things we don’t know about Wraith/Cardassians/other non-humans. I love minor details like all Wraith being left-handed or kanar being fermented tree sap (two examples of things I like with no canon basis – just details) and would love to read yours.

dramatic, unexpected first kisses, where the UST builds and then one character just cups the other's face and kisses them passionately. POV character is surprised. Said kissing might involve pushing someone against a wall or pulling them closer by the waist.

related to the previous point: lots of kissing in general, especially when there's some contrast with the situation (didn't expect kissing at all during a sex pollening or FWB or fake marriage situation, gentle kissing between enemies, rough kissing during slow sex, etc.) I'm a sap, and I just really like kissing.

cuddling where the taller character has their head resting against the shorter character's chest or in their lap. Tentative hair petting while they rest is really nice in combo too.

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SMUT THINGS I ENJOY

"Cock" for penis, "cunt" for vagina, and "slit" for cloacas, but feel free to use whatever you think is best for the time period/narrating character/your own preference.

xeno! (cloacas, tentacles, Todd's feeding hand, etc.)

biting/nibbling/nuzzling. I love nuzzling into throats, it's my favorite.

hair pulling or petting

nice wet oral sex (and also rimming)

partially-clothed sex, either of the "clothes pushed aside in desperation" flavor or the "one character clothed, one not" variety

first time sex

rough/desperate/conflicted feelings sex

gentle/loving/tender sex

handjobs/frottage

tribadism

nipple play (for female characters)

anal sex (men or women receiving)

aliens bottoming

sex noises (moans, gasps, mewls, etc.) as long as they're not written out (no "ahhhhhhhhh!"s please)

taller person kneeling at the feet of the standing shorter person, in a sexy using-their-mouth kind of way (oral sex, foot fetish, boot kissing, licking their stomach, whatever and etc.)

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COMIC & ART THINGS I ENJOY

I rarely request art because I’m bad at describing what I like about it, but the possibility of a comic was too good to pass up, since I ridiculously love comics. I’ll try my best to explain the styles/visuals/etc. that I’m into, and I’ll try to link examples when I have them; please note that most of my examples come from Alfie (an ongoing porn-with-worldbuilding webcomic) and should be assumed to be NSFW.

Now, onto comics info!

Some comics I’ve read and enjoyed, just for reference: Archie comics, Lucille (NSFW horror comic; the same artist draws a lot of sexy monster art that I also enjoy), The Point is Dolphins, Lady Killer, Fables, Alfie (very NSFW), Calvin and Hobbes. I like darker stories, funny stories, sexy stories, surreal stories, etc., and Archie was something I grew up with—if you’re looking for something simple, I’m super primed for short stories that end with bad jokes and/or puns.

interesting character designs, particularly my alien faves. I like the details that make them stand out (Todd’s facial markings, Cardassian neck ridges, etc.) and whether you prefer a detailed style or a simplified style, I look forward to seeing what you do with that!

black-and-white or colored are both things I like, and I kind of dig the black-and-white heavy flat shading style (example1, example2, example3) as it’s own thing too.

sweeping vistas/background shots. The canons I requested have lots of alien planets and stuff that make for cool visuals, and I just love occassional panels with the “two tiny figures against a huge scenary shot” look (example1, example2, example3)

if you go for coloring, I’m a sucker for mood lighting. Porny reds, sad dark blues, realization white, etc. It’s a nice visual shorthand for me, a non-artist. (example1, example2, example 3)

canon scene comics (such as The Point is Dolphins) but with an interesting art style or different camera angles. Inner thought bubbles to build on the shippyness are awesome with this as well, to take a gen-in-canon scene to shippy-in-comic scene.

unnecessary close-ups of hands or faces or innocuous things while dialogue bubbles come from off-panel. (I don’t know if this is a comic faux pas or something, but I like it.)

stories told without dialogue or narration at all. I like dialogue-heavy ones as well (walking-and-talking or eating-and-talking being two of my favorite kinds of comic scenarios) but I find silent comics really impressive in general.

other things that I’m working on adding as I think of them!

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There are a lot more things that belong on these likes lists, but I'll probably just leave it at this for this exchange because they're getting way too long already. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you’d like more, or if something needs clarification!

Now: onto specific fandoms!

Crossovers
General things that should be mentioned: I am ridiculously excited about the potential in these match-ups, and I like to think they could easily exist in the same universe, much to the misfortune of all involved. For these tags, I’m most excited about show-typical casefic/mysteries/number-of-the-week/job of the week stories that are light on romance, but feel free to include any canon pairing or Harold/John if the mood strikes you!

In terms of story, I have a slight preference for POVs from the perspective of Person of Interest characters (Harold's, John's, Shaw's, whoever's) and more emphasis given to their show's universe, just because it’s the fandom I’m in more deeply and the canon I watched more recently. Time-sharing/multiple POVs is also fine with me, of course; this is more of a "if you're choosing one" sort of deal, and I won’t be disappointed if you’d rather lean into the non-POI fandom instead. I like playing “spot the other fandom” when reading crossovers, and I’d be delighted to recognize John/Harold/Shaw/Fusco/Carter/Zoe/whoever interacting with non-POI characters under a fake name.

For ships-specifics:

Team Leverage (Leverage) & Team Machine (Person of Interest): I’ve asked for variations of this in the past, and I’m still super into the idea of them either a) having a past connection (such as John and Eliot knowing each other) or b) them coming into conflict during a job. Both Team Machine and Team Leverage are super paranoid and cautious, and I like the idea of them being on the same side but just not trusting that until close to the end.

Some thoughts:

I love the idea of Finch and Hardison knowing of each other (Finch being the original hacker, after all, while Hardison is gifted and a probable threat to the Machine if he put his mind to it). Who is trying to hack what, and why? Alternately: I’m super interested in the idea of Hardison as that week’s Number and the absolute surveillance fail that comes from trying to stakeout a tech geek. Suppose Team Machine’s attempts are discovered and they have to explain themselves, leading to a two-team team-up in order to save the day?

Sophie and Hardison are my Leverage faves, and they were the rarest team-up in the show, so I’d enjoy some “lessons in grifting” that take an unexpected turn when they encounter Team Machine. Both Sophie and Hardison are good at noticing when something doesn’t seem right, so John sleuthing around in a secret identity might ping their bullshit detector and cause them to get involved in something dangerous.

I am terribly amused by the idea of Team Leverage targeting one of Harold's richer cover identities for whatever reason, only for things to go belly up in a funny way when, dammit, there are TWO chessmasters on the scene! I'd prefer for this sort of prompt to have Harold Swan (or whoever) not be an actual badguy (maybe the people recruiting Team Leverage are the bad guys this time, possibly even agents of Control?) and for Harold's secret identity to remain intact. I will also lol forever if it ends with Team Leverage wondering wtf just happened while Finch & crew disappear into the night.

Team Machine (Person of Interest) & Temperance Brennan (Bones): Bones is always getting into trouble, that's just life, and I personally believe that her number would've come up dozens of times in the show. Some of them Booth takes care of, obviously, but that doesn't mean Team Machine isn't always on the fringes, aware of the trouble and just out of sight. (Note: I prefer the early seasons of Bones, or at least the episodes prior to the story doing that B.S. with Zack.)

Some thoughts:

Bones has a lot of cases that exist on the fringes of the mob—what if she somehow gets on the radar of Elias after being called to New York to identify a body? How would Team Machine deal with their occassional ally and Dr. Brennan? What cover story would they use? NGL, I think the additional danger of John being ex-CIA and interacting with someone working closely with the FBI again would be super interesting to explore when Team Machine can’t just solve everything from the shadows.

John shoots a lot of people in the knee and the Man in the Suit is something of an urban legend, but sometimes those people die of other causes and end up on Bones’ table. Team Machine has to infiltrate the Jeffersonian and steal evidence to keep John’s identity a secret. I’d love especially if the person infiltrating is Finch in his professional academic guise.

Team Machine showing up for a grand rescue while Bones is a number and Bones actually meets them, which causes no end of trouble for them when she assumes they're serious criminals, possibly even associates of her father. Shenanigans ensue.

Team Machine (Person of Interest) & Peter Burke (White Collar): Like the crossover with Bones, I like the idea of Peter Burke being a number that has to be handled delicately because, oh dammit, FBI. How do they keep their cover (whatever it is) intact? How does Peter & Neal’s weird dynamic look when viewed by Team Machine and their weird dynamic? (And, in what is probably no surprise to anyone: I prefer the earlier seasons of White Collar too.)

Some thoughts:

While Team Machine is doing their usual investigation, they end up poking into some of Neal’s secrets and/or initially think that Neal is the threat to Peter. Fun resolution to this: Peter is being targetted because of something Neal totally did, even though Neal is not the actual threat.

Alternately: it’s Elizabeth who is that week’s Number, and the Team ends up saving her, only to look highly suspicious in the process. Now Peter is on their trail with Neal’s shady connections to help—what do they find, if anything?

The variation where nobody is a Number, BUT Peter gets tapped to investigate something that leads him to Team Machine (maybe something one of Finch’s aliases is accused of lands in the white collar crime division, and it leads to a web of “in over our head.”) The investigation makes him think he’s discovered a master criminal, and somehow that puts him on The Machine’s all-seeing radar…

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Person of Interest
General things that should be mentioned: I've mentioned this before in other letters, but my feelings on this show still stand: namely, that I am crazy in love with it and all its characters. Season 1 and 2 are my favorite (I just generally prefer case-of-the-week formats over longer arcs and always will) and the entire show left me with so many questions and fic ideas that I'm not sure where to even start. I love the characters and their interactions with each other, and I love how everyone is more than they seem when the situation calls for it. Reese is a whole lot kinder than he seems at first, while Finch is a whole lot darker, Fusco is a whole lot braver, Shaw is a whole lot more caring, etc. It's just so interesting to me that they all have these contradictory sides, and I like what the show did with them in the end, even if I didn't like their particular endings.

For ship-specifics:

Harold Finch/John Reese: I like Harold/John for the loyalty and the bonding, the slow building trust, the teasing/flirting/snarking dialogue, the secrets, the potential. It takes no effort at all for me to believe that they really do love each other, and although Person of Interest the show was never very big about letting people move on…well, I think they could, together, if they had the chance. I want a happy ending for them more than anything, and I'm a complete sucker for all the canon-plausible ways they could get one.

Harold Finch/John Reese & Nathan Ingram: All of the above applies, but now with the bonus of Nathan being alive! I enjoy Nathan for being entertaining and Harold’s only real friend, and I enjoy all the AU possibilities that would lead to him being around while Harold/John exists in the same point. It’s such a shame to me that Nathan never got to be a part of saving the Numbers with Team Machine, and I would love a bit of Harold/John related teasing. Also a great big fan of Nathan meeting John first somehow, and then Harold meeting John later and going “oh no.” (Uncertain whether he’s jealous of Nathan or protective of his dearest friend, yes/yes? :D) I’d also love some backstory about how the Harold & Nathan (& Arthur) friendship came to be, given Harold’s insane level of paranoia. (For the purposes of this request, I’m fine with Harold having had a little crush on/fling with Nathan in the past, and I’m also fine with Nathan being injured-but-not-killed in that explosion, if you want to go that route.)

Canon pairings: I'm usually fine with canon pairings being mentioned/breaking up within the fic, but for this canon in particular, I'd prefer you avoid any and all mentions of John/Iris (I find psychologist/ex-patient to be squicky and would rather not see it.) Also, when it comes to Harold/Grace: I consider that over within the context of the canon and so I largely ignore the last few minutes of the final episode, but you can incorporate it any way you like as long as they're not actively together while Harold/John is happening.

If you decide to write smut: I prefer bottom!John, but am pretty easy about other details (and, if you'd rather not write bottom!John, I'm fine with non-penetrative sex too.) I'm not particularly interested in painplay/bondage for this pairing, though, and (on a related note) I'm also not married to any given treatment of Harold's injury and its physical effects. I will happily handwave those particulars in the name of vigorous sex.

Prompts: These are just a few ideas that I think could make for enjoyable longer stories, but don’t feel like you have to follow any of these exactly.

One day Harold discovers that the Machine has been marrying every single one of his and John's aliases to each other. (Details I'd love here: seeing which alias got paired with which and why, and how long some of these couples have supposedly been married.) Subtle hint it is not.

An AU where Harold recruits John during that season 3 episode “RAM” set in 2010 (or Nathan does) because I think a universe where John is working with Team Machine prior to hitting rock bottom/Jessica dying is interesting.

One day/one number, John gets injured badly and has to retire from being a badass in a suit. Finch still keeps him on as an employee/pays for all his medical treatment, which is just baffling for someone with John's low self-esteem (and he eventually realizes that Finch just loves him, because he does.) Good hurt/comfort potential, opportunities for lost “where do I go from here?” thoughts on John’s part, and developing relationship on a different level, especially if the rest of Team Machine (Carter, Fusco, Shaw, etc.) still stay close even without the Numbers.

The new number is a high school friend or acquaintance of John's. Finch listens to their conversations and learns things about John, John's past, or John's thoughts about his own past that surprise him. (1) It leads to a realization of some kind, and possibly Harold reflecting on his own past and realizing he wants to open up to John and be his actual friend. (And more.)

We know that Harold was completely on-board for matchmaking Bear and that John didn't sound weirded out at all at the idea of Finch finding him a date, so maybe Finch actually tries that at some point. Except John doesn't seem interested in any of those potential dates and Finch is deeply frustrated by how imperfect of matches they are anyway ~~I wonder why, Finch~~ and feelings obviously develop.

Finch gets stuck in a time loop trying to save Nathan, unaware that John (who he doesn’t know at this point) is stuck in a similar loop somewhere else in New York. Their paths cross and they realize they have to work together to get out of this.

Will Ingram goes missing during show canon, and Team Machine has to find out what happened to him. Good opportunity to bring Will into the Team Machine fold, and depending on when it’s set (possibly when the Machine has gone silent or is glitching as in season 2) they don’t know if he’s dead or alive.

Past exchange letters where I requested this pairing (for additional inspiration): Pining Exchange 2020, Just Married 2020, Multifandom Tropefest 2018

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
General things that should be mentioned: I love Star Trek and always will, but until a few years back I thought I was a TOS-er for life. That is apparently NOT THE CASE, and a rewatch of DS9 reminded me how much I loved the show when I was younger (with a new appreciation for shipping, though, I do admit.) I like the episode-of-the-week format of the early seasons but I also like the arc format, and I love Cardassians a crazy amount, especially my actual favorites, Damar and Garak. Also, since this is Star Trek, there's so much potential for serious plots or weird-and-wacky tropes, and I'm a big, big fan of most tropes also. Go wild, really!

For ship specifics:

Julian Bashir/Elim Garak: I missed the fandom when the show was airing in real time, but this pairing has been one of my favorites for years nevertheless. I greatly enjoy all their interactions (especially in the early seasons) and I find it interesting how much they clearly think about each other even when going about their regular days (Julian mentioning Garak to the ops crew like all the time, Garak quoting Shakespeare at Tain because Julian made him read it, etc.) They fit together just wonderfully as friends, which means I 100% want all the pining-friends-but-they-both-have-SECRETS-TOO stories. Also: there is no such thing as too many post-canon-on-Cardassia stories, but if you don't feel like doing that, I would LOVE to see something set during the earlier seasons or during the Dominion War. There are a lot of scenes that could fit into the canon (especially the later seasons) and a lot of opportunity to amp up the flirting in otherwise canon scenes.

Canon pairings: I'm usually fine with canon pairings being mentioned/breaking up within the story, and I actually rather like most of the Julian/other pairings in the show (including Julian/Ezri.) That said, I mostly pretend Garak/Ziyal didn't happen or that they were pretending to be a thing for some other reason that wasn't romantic (to make Julian & whoever Ziyal likes jealous? Sure.) You can handle that relationship anyway you want, though I'd prefer less focus on it.

If you decide to draw smut: I vastly prefer bottom!Garak, but if you don't want to do that, non-penetrative sex is my preference! To that effect, I also really like xeno for this pairing, especially if Cardassians have cloacas/retractable penises or something, which makes the potential for oral sex a lot of fun.

Prompts: These are just a few ideas that I think could make for enjoyable comics, but don’t feel like you have to follow any of these exactly.

Garak was totally down for hooking up the one time he was sauced in canon, so assuming better circumstances, maybe it actually happens? And then oh no feelings.

Garak is claustrophobic (thank you, canon, for giving me this!) and they get trapped somewhere. Julian has to calm him down, possibly with lots of soothing touching. Cuddling is always good (Garak doesn't strike me as a cuddler, but hey, when needs must.)

Post-canon on Cardassia! I love what little we see of Cardassian architecture, and I’d like to see some rebuilding-after-the-destruction scenes. Bashir can be there providing medical aid or just there as a friend/something more, and maybe Garak finds it more comforting than he’d expected. (He’s clearly going soft in his old age.)

DS9 had a sad lack of bodyswap, so let's rectify that with a classic. Somehow Julian and Garak switch places (or, if you prefer, Julian and Ziyal switch places, or Garak and Ezri switch places, or whatever) and the result is that they overhear/realize that the other person was keeping a secret from them. Maybe Garak-as-Julian is weird enough that Miles goes "oh God, you're not pining over Garak again, are you?" and it's that simple.

One of their flirt-and-discuss-literature lunches as seen with some internal narration and unnecessary amounts of thirst for each other. I am easy to please.

Past exchange letters where I requested this pairing (for additional inspiration): Pining Exchange 2020, Just Married 2020, Heat Fic Summer 2020, Multifandom Tropefest 2018

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Damar/Kira Nerys: I have all the fondness for this pairing because of what it could've been (and having watched the DS9 documentary, it really could've happened!) I have a lot of love for the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers tropes, and it could've been truly excellent between these two, given the animosity and understandable baggage they started out with. (Also, Kira kicked his ass for him, and I like that.) I love the idea of a slow build, friendship-developing-during-war-leading-to-more route, but since that’s a lot to ask of an exchange, I’m fine with the feelings between them ending up no stronger than sexual attraction and grudging respect.

Canon pairings: I'm usually fine with canon pairings being mentioned/breaking up within the story, and I like Kira/Odo and Kira/Bareil on their own merits, so time spent on those (or ignoring them) is fine with me. For Damar/his first wife, I'd prefer that that relationship be over before Damar/Kira needs to happen, but how that is handled is up to you. I generally like stories about people finding love a second time or getting a second chance at it, so it's fine for me if it's included somehow.

If you decide to write/draw smut: They're both soldiers in pretty peak physical condition, and I rarely have ships like that, so ALL THE ATHLETIC SEX. Holding people down (probably not Kira), lifting people up, much stamina and endurance. "You were supposed to be bad at this" surprise afterglow would also be a win.

Prompts: These are just a few ideas that I think could make for enjoyable comics or longer stories, but don’t feel like you have to follow any of these exactly.

Post-canon, Damar keeps in touch with Kira because they now have a smidge of that battle-forged-friendship-comrades thing going on. It's a very uneasy friendship for everyone involved, and they both refuse to admit that there might be an attraction for literal years, until some sort of political something brings them to the same place again.

Always up for a nice, juicy “fuckbuddies during the War, oh no what comes next” type story. Spin that angst and guilty-still-existing attraction out for ages.

Jump to the future with a surprising spouse! I'd be curious about Damar's perspective on this one, though, especially if it's relatively early in his show appearance and he's still ra-ra-Cardassian!

I’m a sucker for post-canon stories for this pair, and I like the idea of one of them adopting (or “adopting”) a war orphan and then their relationship developing from there. (YES I SAID KIDFIC. If, you know, you feel like writing kidfic.)

While on Cardassia, Nerys gets exposed to a sex pollen thing that affects Bajorans but not Cardassians. Damar quietly helps her by fingering her to orgasm (several times) without looking; its not quite enough, but Nerys is too stubborn to ask him to just fuck her. And then aftermath.

Matching soulmate marks appear while they're having a public, physical confrontation at the start of the rebellion. It complicates things enormously (Kira/Odo still happening, Damar's wife just died, everyone saw it happen, etc.)

Past exchange letters where I requested this pairing (for additional inspiration): Just Married 2020, Chocolate Box 2020

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Stargate Atlantis
General things that should be mentioned: I'm relatively new to Stargate Atlantis and I didn't actually expect to get into the fandom, so imagine my surprise when I hit season 4 and realized that I love Todd (unnamed for a while) a crazy amount. Alien characters are always my favorites, but I wasn't expecting a fun Wraith (no one ever expects the fun Wraith) and his presence pretty much took the show from entertaining fun to something I love in one fell swoop. I would love anything you could manage for this canon, following my prompts or not, and I'll probably add it to my list of fandoms that I request forever more too.

For ship specifics:

John Sheppard/Todd the Wraith: I don't even know where to begin with John/Todd, except that it seems obvious to me in canon that Todd has a thing for him and that John tries really hard not to return said thing, as he is weirded out by said thing. I find their interactions in the canon delightful, and while I haven't read the tie-in novels, I've osmosed that they have more reluctant life-saving and trust in there and I like that too.

Special note: While I didn't DNW DADT specifically, I'd prefer stories from this fandom/any in-fic reactions to a John/Todd relationship were a little less "GAYS, in OUR MILITARY???" and a little more "You did what? With Todd?" So, a bit more about the human-Wraith aspects than the two-men ones.

Canon pairings: I've mentioned elsewhere in this letter that I like second chances/second marriages, so if you want to include mentions of or reflections on past John/Nancy, that's fine with me! I don't know if Todd has any past relationships with anyone but I'd rather those not be mentioned if so, just because I'm not familiar with them.

If you decide to write/draw smut: I vastly prefer bottom!Todd, but if you don't want to write/draw that, non-penetrative sex is my preference! To that effect, I also really like xeno for this pairing, because I like Todd's alien-ness and could easily see it be expanded out. Also, I'm really curious about Todd giving head somehow, because I worry about his teeth.

Prompts: These are just a few ideas that I think could make for enjoyable comics or longer stories, but don’t feel like you have to follow any of these exactly.

THE GIFT OF LIFE. I love the gift of life, and I would adore a story that follows up on some potential consequences of that. Maybe it’s supposed to be meaningless when it’s a Wraith/human pairing, but oh no! Unexpected bond/marriage/connection. How does this change Atlantis’s interactions with Todd?

Accidental telepathy! Maybe this happens when Rodney gets Ascension Machine Telepathy or when they discover an unknown alien device, but either way, the next time they see Todd, someone can read his thoughts. Can they even understand them? (The Wraith language is different and the universal translator gate effect probably wouldn’t hit thoughts.) Good opportunity to really lean into the alienness of the Wraith if they both can and can’t understand them.

I love the idea that Wraith-marriage-equivalent just happens when you save someone X number of times (Wraith being Wraith, it's probably rare.) You could swing it to mean that Infection wasn't just Todd asking for help, but him knowing that John helping him this time would mean marriage and so it's functionally a proposal too. He is thus confused when he shows up again in the final episode and John a) isn't happy to see him and b) isn't DTF. :(

I especially like trapped together prompts for this pairing, because I like a situation where Todd has a lot of opportunities to feed on Sheppard but doesn't. Instead, he just likes spending time with him, and it’s about as mushy as this pairing is capable of being.

How about a time loop of Common Ground, or another Todd-featuring episode? Infection would be good for this too, especially if it was from John’s POV. He keeps trying to survive by himself (or just him and his team) and they keep dying, at least until he realizes he needs Todd’s help for them all to get out alive. Cue extremely reluctant alliance and possible? feelings?

Sometime during the post-canon Wraith civil war, John Sheppard gets kidnapped by Wraith for reasons that are unclear. He eventually figures out that it’s because they want to use him as a bargaining chip with Todd…and it works. (Or he escapes. Or take a third option.)

Team Atlantis creates some version of Wraith-Be-Gone spray, but oh no, it makes Wraith act temporarily feral and super dangerous (ala S02E07)…except Todd, who just wants to be all over John. This is a problem for a lot of reasons, but mostly because John is not okay ~~or super okay~~ with 6+ feet of Wraith in his lap.

Past exchange letters where I requested this pairing (for additional inspiration): Pining Exchange 2020, Just Married 2020, Heat Fic Summer 2020, Unusual Bearings 2019