AU Exchange

[fencesit]

Hi! Thanks for writing for me, or for otherwise taking a look at my letter. I’m fencesit on AO3!

General likes:

• Canon divergence
• time travel (especially peggy sue/with a fix-it focus)
• timeloops
• dimension travel (eg from the canon timeline to a divergent timeline)
• slice of life
• loyalty/loyalty kink
• worldbuilding & very specific descriptions
• casefic/missionfic
• codas and other canon compliant stuff
• fake/fantasy politics
• character backstory
• noodle incidents
• friendship
• characters who have to work hard to function in the same space
• happy and bittersweet endings
• angst
• hurt/comfort

Ship likes:

• Slow burn, friends to lovers, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers — The slower the better. FWB-to-lovers is also great.
• Characters who have history with each other — established relationships are good, but what I really love is feeling like the characters know each other well and think about each other often. In characters who are already friends, that probably looks like, say, knowing what kind of coffee the other person likes. In characters who were enemies, they probably know each other’s weaknesses and faults really well.
• Arguments where each person thinks the conversation is about something subtly different — I mean, misunderstandings in general are great for tension, but I like it when characters are trying to communicate but they’re coming from perspectives so different that they can’t even argue without clarification.
• Cynical/pessimistic/distrustful characters being proven wrong by things turning out better than they could have hoped for — for example: "I could never be loved!" -> Is absolutely loved, "We could never have peace." -> Peace is had
• Casual physical affection — a lot of my ships involve people who have massive or very specific personal bubbles, so seeing the way the characters touch each other when they’re not already in Kissing Mode is really great.

DNW:

• intense descriptions of wounds/medical procedures
• unrequested poly
• unrequested noncon
• vehicle accidents
• bodily waste
• sex scenes with underage characters
• incest
• beastiality
• unrequested AUs (canon divergence is okay)
• suicide/suicidal ideation
• dissociation, which includes:
  • derealization — An alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems unreal.
  • depersonalization — The persistent feeling of observing oneself from outside one’s body or having a sense that one’s surroundings/body aren't real.
  • this does not include dehumanization (which involves characters not thinking of themselves as a people but still recognizing that their hands as their hands and that they’re the ones in charge of directing their hands)
• unrequested or noncanonical character death of canonical characters (killing Izuna is always okay)
• inclusion of details from Boruto
• Billy Hargrove/Anyone
• sex/romance involving Controllers

Stranger Things

Fandom note: I liked most of season 3! Pretty much all my favorite parts of the show are the parts where weird character combinations gets thrown together and then friendship/shared trauma happens.

Per my DNWs, please don't write me any ships with Billy Hargrove.

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested ship(s)/Character(s):

• Group: Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson (Stranger Things)
• Steve Harrington (Stranger things)
• Robin (Stranger Things)

Shipping note: I came out of season 1 really shipping Nancy/Jonathan/Steve, and although I've since cooled on it too much to request it on its own, I definitely don't mind its inclusion as a background ship. Just plain Nancy/Jonathan is cool too, of course.

Steve Harrington
Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson

I love Steve so much and I especially love it when he's doing what needs to be done, like babysitting! I'm requesting just the character tag and Steve & Dustin because I do deeply love friendship fic where Steve teams up with and mentors Dustin, but I would be equally interested in a character piece that focuses just on Steve.

Requested freeform(s)

• ALL: Detectives — Any kind of Steve-is-a-police-officer AU would be great, really, but I'd love for Steve (and Dustin, if you want) to investigate something. Maybe Robin is Steve's partner? Or Nancy? Maybe Dustin is still younger than them; if not a kid then definitely a rookie?
• ALL: Private Investigators AU — Basically the same sentiments as above except instead of trying to solve crime they're trying to, like, catch cheating wives and everything is hopefully super tropey. I love all the tropes, okay?
• ALL: Ghost Hunter AU — This is only a jump to the left from canon, but I love the idea of them running into spooky shit in Hawkins. Or if you want to go more AU and do the whole Ghost Hunting Show set up, that sounds fun too! I would highly prefer that there be real, actual ghosts, though.
• ALL: Snowed in at a Haunted Hotel — I'm imagining that Steve works there and Dustin (and his mom, probably, if he's still a kid?) are guests.

Robin

Robin was the highlight of season 3 for me and my AU needs for her, as you can see, are really simple. I will also say that as much as I like her and Steve's friendship, I would love to see tension between them since I'm asking for them to meet earlier, when Robin doesn't like Steve and Steve hasn't had a lot of character growth. I love it when characters don't like each other and then slowly become friends because they're forced together due to difficult circumstances.

For either of these freeforms I would love a fic that deals with how exactly Robin finds out about the gate/the Upside Down/El... but I would also just as much love a fic that simply treats her knowing about it earlier as backstory for your main plot! I just want an AU where she's involved earlier than Season 3.

Requested freeform(s)

• Stranger Things: Robin finds out about the gate in season 1 — Maybe Robin was friends with Barb, or sees the Demogorgon, or has the misfortune of hanging around the middle school (helping out with preparations for a band trip, maybe?) when the gang is filling the kiddie pool up for Eleven.
• Stranger Things: Robin finds out about the gate in season 2 — I'm sure there are other places she could get involved, but I love especially the idea of her getting sucked into Dustin's problem with Dart somehow so that she and Steve and Dustin get to team up!

Leverage & Leverage Crossover

Fandom note: Leverage is a forever fandom to me, and I don't think there's much to say about it, but I do have an Animorphs aside: I'm definitely okay with any and all canonical character deaths in Animorphs! It's a series I loved as a kid (and still love!) and I've had a long time to get used to certain characters being doomed. I'm also peachy-keen for most other canon-typical content like body horror and taxxons eating people,

Per my DNW please do avoid Controllers having sex, kissing, etc.

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested ship(s)/Character(s):

• Maggie Collins
• Group: Leverage crew (Leverage) & the Animorphs (Animorphs)
• Group: Leverage crew (Leverage) & Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul (Animorphs)

Shipping note: Eliot/Hardison/Parker is my favorite, but I like them gen too. Maggie/Sophie, Maggie/Sterling, Sophie/Nate, and Sophie/Tara all seem great. I'd prefer Maggie/Nate to stay a past relationship. On the Animorphs side of things, the canon ships are fine if you're going to have canon Animorphs characters showing up. Or throw in a mention of your favorite rarepair!

Maggie Collins

Maggie is great. She fits in great with the team when we see her interact with them, so fic where she interacts with them more would be so good. I also think that her grief over Sam is seriously overshadowed in the show by Nate's feelings, especially because Maggie keeps her life together, so anything that explores her coping with grief or other negative emotions would be so very perfect. Ideally fics will have a hopeful if not happy ending.

Requested freeform(s)

• Leverage: Nate dies because IYS won't pay out and Maggie becomes Mastermind — There's so much I would love to see from this AU it's hard to even start to list them. Maggie keeps working with IYS in canon because Nate hides what the company did from her and I could really go either way with this AU: maybe Nate still hides it, or maybe he doesn't? Either way, I love the idea of single mom Maggie slowly coming around to the idea that she could work with some of Nate's old contacts to take IYS down. Her connecting with Sophie and/or Sterling over shared grief and anger would be especially great. So any exploration of how differently she'd treat Hardison, Parker, and Eliot.
• Leverage/Animorphs: I.Y.S. Insurance is run by Yeerks — Yeerks getting into the insurance business is really funny to me for some reason. I'd love to see the First David job derailed because Hardison and Parker accidentally find a Yeerk pool under the IYS building. Or maybe Nate already knows and he has to talk his team into believing in aliens? I'm just saying, it'd be just like Nate to steal and then ruin an entire alien invasion as revenge for some Sub-Visser let his son die.
• ALL: Animorphs AU — I just really really want these two canons crossed over, have you noticed? Here's a freespace! I'd prefer that all of the Leverage characters keep their canon backstories/jobs as much as possible, but I'll take anything.

Leverage crew & the Animorphs
Leverage crew & Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul

"Leverage crew" could be Nate, Sophie, Parker, Hardison, and Eliot or just Parker, Hardison, and Eliot. Author's choice! I love the Animorphs books so much and I think a AU where there's a Yeerk invasion happening would be really great. I'd prefer that all of the Leverage characters keep their canon backstories/jobs as much as possible — the draw for me is hypercompetent international thieves putting their skills to work stopping the Yeerks — but I'll take anything.

Requested freeform(s)

• Leverage/Animorphs: Leverage crew accidentally steals an Escafil Device — Now, granted, Animorphs canon does hold that you need a morpher to also be touching the cube to get morphing powers (except for the continuity error in The Hidden with the ant and the buffalo) so it might not make much sense for the Leverage crew to get morphing powers just from stealing it without knowing what it is, but I'd love to be indulged with that sort of plot. Or maybe they don't get morphing powers and just have to deal with an increasingly unlikely number and variety of animals trying to steal the Escafil Device back; that sounds fun too!
• Leverage/Animorphs: Leverage crew witnesses Elfangor's death instead of/in addition to the Animorphs — I recently reread the first book and I just desperately want some competent adults to handle this situation, either with the Animorphs or in place of them.
• Leverage/Animorphs: I.Y.S. Insurance is run by Yeerks — Basically the same thoughts as my request in the section above, but I'd love for the Leverage crew to run into the Animorphs while trying to take down IYS or something.
• ALL: Animorphs AU — Yes, a free space! I can't get this crossover out of my head.

Naruto

Fandom note: As a quick reminder, references to Boruto are in my DNWs — I haven't seen it, so that content would be wasted on me. On a related note, the end of Naruto, with Kaguya and stuff, didn't really do much for me, so I'm happy to pretend Madara was the final villain, although if your story idea depends on late canon stuff or if you really love it, I'm not opposed to receiving it!

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested ship(s)/Character(s):

• Group: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
• Group: Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Madara

Shipping note: Gen Madara & Tobirama with background Hashirama/Madara would be fine! If you include Mito, I would strongly prefer not to have her shipped with anyone but Hashirama. Her being single or just not around is also okay.

Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Madara

Tobirama and Madara interacting is so iddy for me no matter the details. I have a particular weakness for canon divergence for them, taking place before the village or avoiding Izuna's death somehow, although something darker and harder set after Izuna's death would also be great! Feel free also to have Izuna die for reasons other than Tobirama killing him.

For this exchange I'm also requesting the gen version, and I would really love either! Especially them interacted as kids, but just them being friends at all would be great.

Requested tag(s) for matching

• Group: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
• Group: Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Madara

Requested freeform(s)

• All: Met while captured together — Meeting as kids in captivity would be great. Maybe kidnapped for ransom, or caught by the same enemies on a mission? Teaming up to escape together would be great.
• ALL: Enemies forced to work together — If not combined with the above prompt, then consider instead: hired by the same very rich or important person. Maybe even the Daimyō? Someone who can afford to have them both work for him and who Tobirama and Madara can't afford to piss off.
• All: Identity Porn — Madara and Tobirama never met or one/both of them are very well disguised and they keep running into each other. Would love this combined with one or both of the other two tags, too. No preference for whether either or both of them don't know who the other is.
  
  Also, actual porn not necessarily required but if they do have sex:
  • I'd prefer they both be 18 (or, like, Late Teens Of Undisclosed Actual Age™) or straight up adults.
  • I've got no problem with plots involving one of them sleeping with the other while lying about who they are. Bring on the pain of betrayal! Delicious.