Pining Exchange 2019

[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
• usually powerful characters who are somehow helpless (eg, drugs, concussion, blood loss)
• happy and bittersweet endings
• angst
• hurt/comfort
• rehumanization
• huddling for warmth

Ship likes:

• 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

I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags...

AO3 matching tag: 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… - 山口悟 | My Next Life as a Villainess - Yamaguchi Satoru (Light Novels)

Fandom note: My Next Life as a Villainess was originally published under the title I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags... and is about, uh, exactly what it says on the tin: a fan is reborn into the body of the villainess from an otome game and tries to avoid all the bad ends. There are light novels and a manga adaptation, and they're basically the same, so I don't really mind which you base things off of!

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested ship(s):

• Katarina Claes & Student Council (Student Council pining)
• Katarina Claes/Maria Campbell (pining in all ways!)

Shipping note: For my incest DNW, I don't mind Katarina/Keith, although I'd rather the "Keith's adopted!" angle be played up over the "They're technically siblings!" angle. Mentioning that Nikol's got that whole siscon thing going is also okay and won't run up against my incest DNW! These things are in canon and I don’t expect you to try and write around them. Poly for this fandom is also okay, go wild!

Katarina Claes & Student Council

Requested status of pining:

• Requited
• Unrequited

Requested relationship(s):

• Katarina Claes & Student Council (Student Council pining)

Requested freeform(s)

• Group pining for Character A works together to share Character A’s time fairly
• Group pining for Character A works together to help Character A
• Everyone Knows Except Object Of Affection
• Everyone knows object of affection is into pining character except for pining character
• Tries to Confess but Isn't Believed
• Social Class Divide

Everyone being in love with Katarina is my favorite aspect of canon and I’d love to receive a fic focused on how her friends pine over her and maybe lowkey jockey for her time and attention but without ever really screwing each other over. I mean, hopefully. I don’t have much to add for this request because I just kind of like everyone equally and would be pleased to get whatever ship(s) you want.

Katarina Claes/Maria Campbell

Requested status of pining:

• Requited

Requested ship tag(s) for matching

• Katarina Claes/Maria Campbell (Katarina pining)
• Katarina Claes/Maria Campbell (Maria pining)
• Katarina Claes/Maria Campbell (both pining)

Requested freeform(s)

• Character thinks they aren't good enough for the object of their pining
• Cooking as an expression of affection
• Tries to Confess but Isn't Believed
• Social Class Divide
• They Both Think It's Unrequited
• Trying to express their feelings through gift-giving
• A thinks B is out of their league
• They Couldn't Possibly Be Ignorant Of How I Feel So I Assume They Must Not Be Interested
• A Pining for B who is in an Arranged Marriage with C
• A pining because they mistakenly think B is uninterested
• A pining because they think B is pining for someone else
• Pining because a third party is interfering with developing relationship
• A pines while loaning B their coat
• Hurt/Comfort

I'm particularly interested in Maria's low status in society compared to the company she's keeping, in the contrast between her very humble origins and the prestige and upward social mobility that her strong Light magic grants her, and in the problems that develop from the natural friction of such wildly different things colliding. I also really love how Maria and Katarina really see the best in each other.

The tags work well as general prompts, but here are a few extra thoughts:

• Does Maria struggle with noble social etiquette? Katarina has had many, many lectures on the subject from her mother and... presumably learned some manner.... or would at least be able to set Maria up with lessons or something.
• In addition to their contrasting social statuses, I think one could get a lot of mileage out of Katarina's frequent disregard of noble social etiquette and willingness to roll her sleeves up and literally get dirty.
• I've really enjoyed the couple fics I've read that involve Katarina interacting with the "canon" version of Fortune Lover where the original Katarina is a villainess for real, and I would love anything along those lines!
• If you're up for it, more fantasy politics or magic mechanics are always welcome.

Stranger Things

AO3 matching tag: Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Fandom note: The first season of this show is one of my favorite seasons of anything ever and the second season was pretty swell, too! I’ll watch Season 3 when it comes out in July for sure.

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested ship(s):

• Karen Wheeler & Ted Wheeler (Karen pining)
• Karen Wheeler/Ted Wheeler (Karen pining)

Shipping note: I’d be interested in reading a sympathetic take on Ted Wheeler if you want, but you can probably tell from my tag choices that I don’t necessarily expect you to write shipfic, exactly. Mentions of background canonical pairings is find. I also have a soft spot for Nancy/Steve/Jonathan.

Relationship

Requested status of pining:

• Requited
• Unrequited

Requested relationship(s):

• Karen Wheeler & Ted Wheeler (Karen pining)
• Karen Wheeler/Ted Wheeler (Karen pining)

Requested freeform(s)

• Pining for emotionally unavailable husband
• Pining for a divorce

Karen Wheeler is a super interesting character, occupying a very interesting space as a parent who doesn’t know about all the weird crap that’s going on in Hawkins but also cares very much and tries to be involved with her kids’ lives. There are a lot of interesting gen relationships I’d love to see explored for Karen, but for this exchange in particular... well, I’ve really been thinking about the friction in the Wheeler’s marriage recently! I can’t decide whether I want her to be determined to keep her marriage/family together or if I want her to be longing for freedom, and honestly that’s what’s got me so excited about this request. When I watch Stranger Things, I wonder a lot about Karen’s internal life, so any fic that explores it would be swell.

Naruto

AO3 matching tag: 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! Also, Dreaming of Sunshine recursive fic is always welcome!

Requested medium: fanfiction

Requested ship(s):

• Hatake Kakashi & Anyone (anyone pining)
• Hatake Kakashi & Rōga Nadare (Nadare pining)
• Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy (Gai pining)
• Hatake Kakashi/Yamato | Tenzou (Tenzou pining)
• Senju Hashirama/Uchiha Madara (Madara pining)

Shipping note: I’ve requested a focus on gen stuff for Kakashi and if you want to keep it all gen I’m totally down! If not, I like Kakashi/Gai

Hatake Kakashi & Anyone

Requested status of pining:

• Requited
• Unrequited

Requested relationship(s):

• Hatake Kakashi & Anyone (anyone pining)

Requested freeform(s)

• Pining for a teacher who’s not interested in teaching

Kakashi has failed so many students before getting to Team 7 and that’s pretty interesting to me! It’s also interesting to me that after the Uchiha massacre he’s probably the person in the village with the most jutsu. I also really enjoy canon divergence. So:

• Who were the students that Kakashi failed before Team 7, and how hard did they try? Do they have, like, a club?
• What kind of non-recent-Academy-graduates has Kakashi refused to teach? Has anyone successfully gotten him to teach anything? (Maybe Tenzō or Itachi?)
• Maybe a canon divergence of some kind where Team 7 has to convince Kakashi to teach them? Time travel welcome!

Hatake Kakashi & Rōga Nadare (or Hatake Kakashi & Anyone)

Requested status of pining:

• Unrequited

Requested relationship(s):

• Hatake Kakashi & Rōga Nadare (Nadare pining)
• Hatake Kakashi & Anyone (anyone pining)

Requested freeform(s)

• Pining for a rivalry with someone who already has a rival

Alright, hear me out! Rōga Nadare is that guy from the Land of Snow movies. In the movie, he’s really pissed off that ten years ago — when Kakashi was like 16? — Kakashi fucked him up with Nadare’s own jutsu. At the end of the movie Kakashi beats him again with just taijutsu and tells Nadare what a waste of time his fancy Land of Snow armor is and that he should have spent his time actually training his body.

So like... listen.... Nadare totally spent those ten years pining for Kakashi to be his rival, right? And then Kakashi destroyed him because he already has the best possible eternal rival at home! And basically: I would like any story about ninja (foreign or domestic) who think that they can cut it as Kakashi’s rival only to find that they really really can’t. A fic about Nadare would be great, but OCs or even just some other canon character would be great, too.

Background Kakashi/Gai would be pleasant but isn’t, of course, necessary.

Hatake Kakashi/Tenzou

Requested status of pining:

• Requited

Requested relationship(s):

• Hatake Kakashi/Yamato | Tenzou (Tenzou pining)

Requested freeform(s)

• Character A incorrectly assumes that Character B knows that A is pining for them
• Character A pines while Character B Thinks They're Already Dating
• Character A pining after fling while incorrectly assuming B doesn't want more
• Character thinks they aren't good enough for the object of their pining
• Mistaking pining for platonic admiration
• Pined-for character reveals feelings to pining character while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
• Pining character doused with truth serum
• Pining character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
• Pining while stuck in a time loop
• Revealed Feelings While Mortally Injured/No Hope but Whoops! They Were Rescued Now It's Awkward
• Pining while sharing a bed
• Unspoken Understanding Turns Out To Be A Mistake
• Pining for commanding officer
• Character pines for the person they're rescuing
• Character pines for their rescuer

I’m going to use “Tenzō” here because I really like stuff set before Part II of canon and I think it’s really cute that Kakashi calls Tenzō a different name from anyone else! But I don’t mind either or both being used in my gift, you should do whatever you want on that front, I won’t mind.

I really love Tenzō and Kakashi together! I’m especially interested in how different their positions are in the village and how Tenzō was/has probably been very dependant on Kakashi... as well as the struggle Tenzō must go through to understand and express emotions given he was a lab experiment and then a ROOT agent and then ANBU.

Most of the freeforms are plot-focused, but here are a few extra thoughts that might fit in:

• ANBU missions as super secret but not necessarily always or even frequently more traumatizing than non-ANBU missions; maybe Kakashi and Tenzō get sent on a mission where they have to very slowly sabotage something, leaving lots of room for Tenzō to have feelings?
• Tenzō captured by Orochimaru or sent back to ROOT
• Kakashi taken by Danzō or foreign bloodline thieves who want Obito’s eye.
• Poison that blocks chakra in a addition to making Tenzō or Kakashi’s tongue looser, so they’re nice and helpless!
• Under the Sandaime, Tenzō was restricted to ANBU only. With Tsunade as Hokage, there’s a chance that that could change... but there’s also a chance she’s not pleased that Tenzō exists at all, what with him being a bloodline theft experimentation.
• In addition to thinking Kakashi could never want him romantically/sexually, Tenzō harbors a deep and terrible suspicion that his entire friendship with Kakashi is just another layer of manipulation from the village... until something proves him wrong!
• Tenzō learned to never leave a teammate behind from Kakashi.

Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai

Requested status of pining:

• Requited

Requested relationship(s):

• Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy (Gai pining)

Requested freeform(s)

• Pining For Someone To Play Ping Pong Against
• Pining For Someone To Play Ping Pong With

I don’t usually request this pairing — I like writing it! — but I can’t resist these tags. They’re so perfect. Obviously if you chose the “Pining For Someone To Play Ping Pong Against” option, then Gai plays against Kakashi. If you pick “Pining For Someone To Play Ping Pong With” as in team ping pong, then here are some suggested opponents, although feel free to pick whoever strikes you as the best choice:

• Genma and Ebisu — especially if this happens when they’re all pretty young, maybe even as far back as when they’re genin.
• Naruto and Sakura — maybe they wanted to play ping pong and they talked Gai into it to talk their sensei into it.
• Team Gai — preferably all three of them are alive... and maybe all playing ping pong at the same time? They’ve improved so much! Gai needs Kakashi’s assistance to give these students a challenge.
• Shadow clones of themselves — the ultimate challenge! Or maybe Gai wants to test that Mirrored Sudden Attacker Technique from the Gaara retrieval arc.