Rare Pair Fest 2016 Letter

[minebyrights]

Happy rare pairs!! Whoever you are and whatever canon(s) brought you here, I hope you find this pleasing, rewarding, and low on stress.

The following skirts the lines of TL;DR, but I want to emphasize up front that I am genuinely in love with all of these relationships, as well as desperate for content for them, so anything you produce that doesn't hit my squicks will be A++. Prompts are mostly me throwing wild ideas at the walls and seeing what sticks; if you have something roiling around in your brain you really want to do for these relationships, go for it! In general, all ratings from gen to depraved NC-17 porn are good, and all gender combos are fine for background ships or whatnot.

Any differences in length of section below are due to different numbers of ships per fandom and also writing this piecemeal over a couple days and not because I'm more excited for some canons over others!

If you want to find me in the wild, I'm:
theoldgods
theoldgods
minebyrights
minebyrights

And with that, on to the letter itself!

Likes and Dislikes | The Americans (TV 2013) | The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison | Hamilton - Miranda | The 100 (TV) | Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) | The Man from UNCLE (2015) | The Nice Guys (2016) | Tortall - Tamora Pierce

LIKES AND DISLIKES

Likes: worldbuilding, Holmes/Watson dynamics, undercover work and casefic, bedsharing, huddling for warmth, fake relationships/fake married, bickering and bantering like old marrieds, clothing descriptions (especially period clothing, suits, kilts, tall boots), hands and feet, bathing and cleaning one another, adrenaline junkies and partners in crime, found families, snow/winter/autumn settings, 5+1s/vignettes with some thematic growth/resonance, daemons, clothed sex, frottage/intercrural/nonpenetrative sex, dubcon (sex pollen etc), light/casual BDSM (especially with subby men), topping from the bottom, oral sex, dirty talk, threesomes, masturbation, outdoor sex, voyeurism/exhibitionism

Please no: first or second person POV, pregnancy/childfic, deathfic, angst without some light at the end of the tunnel, horror/gore, character bashing, AUs (except canon divergence, future fic, and daemon AUs), tentacles, body horror/extreme body modification, omegaverse, rape/noncon, bodily fluids/watersports, anything dealing with the sexual humiliation of women (even for kink)

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THE AMERICANS (TV 2013)

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I love The Americans for so many reasons: the period piece setting, their flawless use of 70s and 80s music, the subtle pisstakes they do of Reagan, the gray morality/use of antiheros, the deliberate blurring of lines and parallels between Americans and Soviets (both legal and illegal) and their relationships with their governments, the action, the black humor, the absurd wigs and costuming. With these, I'm all about exploring those levels of grey, the life of spies, the adrenaline thrills they get, the blurring of selves and that influence over time as American and Soviet worlds collide and absorb one another.

Arkady/Oleg has some great authority power games possible (along with a little borderline father-son/mentor-mentee stuff), in addition to a lowkey sad bureaucrat aesthetic I enjoy. Elizabeth/Gregory has the potential for great desperate sex/relationships amidst the drudgery of America. Elizabeth/Philip is so much to me--fake becoming real, love undercover, the twisted memories of the motherland they can so rarely acknowledge. Elizabeth/Viktor is glorious for all sorts of mentor/mentee stuff, especially with Viktor showing Elizabeth love and comfort and respect precanon. Nina/Oleg and Oleg/Tatiana are more Soviet bureaucratic sads--bonding over being Soviets in America, Oleg working through his desire to save Nina and how it tears him from his duty, Tatiana's twisted loyalties to the Rezidentura vs. Department 12.

• Arkady/Oleg: God, these two looking out for one another despite themselves <3 Hatesex in Arkady's office in S2? Oleg pranking Arkady (about the radio room?) and it going wildly out of control? D/S (either configuration--Arkady taking Oleg out of his worries about his dad or Oleg taking Arkady out of his worries about being Rezident and/or being kicked out of the US)? Bitterness about Nina? Playing on the whole "you're a good son" thing in the S4 finale? Do they end up together back in Russia since they both seem to be headed that way, and if so, what do they do? (Do they get tied up with Mischa Jr. somehow?)
  
• Elizabeth/Gregory: I really loved Elizabeth being able to have a relationship with someone so very American in her early years in the States, how despite the fact that she hates America they can bond over social justice and how Gregory seems to know quite a lot of who she really is, certainly more than any other mark. Them running hits, Elizabeth using him for sex, Gregory showing Elizabeth some American cultural thing, complaining about Philip or the kids, how they met, and more welcome.
  
• Elizabeth/Philip: They don't want to love each other, really, but they do anyway, slowly, and I love that. They are forced to rely on one another above all else, even when they cannot be fully honest about themselves, particularly in the earlier days. Claustrophobia, hate sex, sex on a mission, interacting a bit with their kids (as long as the focus is still on them), complaining about America, remembering something about the homeland, spy hijinks...
  
• Elizabeth/Viktor: For this I see mostly a mutual respect/sexual only thing, without a deep romantic element. Viktor giving Elizabeth the pleasure she really needs, teaching something about honeypots via experience, even just a mostly platonic exploration of her respect for him and how he seems to know so much about her personal life as well as her work (is it true?)
  
• Nina/Oleg: Bureaucratic Rezidentura shenanigans, more practicing to help Nina fool the FBI, Nina helping Oleg in some way like how he tries to help her, Nina learning to let him go while in detention, Oleg hunting down what he can find of her as he returns to the Soviet Union post-S4...
  
• Oleg/Tatiana: I loved them playing off each other in season 4, their sex that seemed mostly for release but also the respect they have there. Canon divergence where Oleg goes with her to Kenya? Tatiana as Rezident after all in the States with Oleg at her side? More reminiscences of the Soviet Union? Them having a coded pen pal-ish relationship post-S4? Tatiana learning how Oleg betrayed her program to Stan?

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THE GOBLIN EMPEROR - KATHERINE ADDISON

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I love the worldbuilding, the loyalty kink, the playing around with language and formality and customs and blending of elves and goblins. With these I'm particularly interested in all of that, as well as the burgeoning feminist movements in the Ethuveraz, secretly transgressing the office of the emperor, and in general the ways races and sexes mix and match, changing bits of culture and their own levels of formality over time, in the lavish world Addison has created.

I love Csevet/Maia as a loyalty kink thing, especially where Maia gets to show his appreciation for Csevet and all the help Csevet provides. The nohecharei provide a similar thing, so I'm very into Maia and his nohecharei getting some weird intimacy/slow trust on over time that turns sexual, especially if there's an element of teaching involved (prepping Maia for his wedding night?) I also love Csethiro teaching Maia about the Ethuveraz as well and helping him to rule, working through specific problems or just helping him to not be entirely hopeless.

• Cala/Deret/Maia: Nohecharei loyalty porn ahoy! Slow trust devloping would be great, specially working in all the incredibly awkward bits of the job (do you have to watch Maia fuck for real? Or go to the bathroom? Etc). Them protecting him from another assassination attempt? Them helping him dress for some super formal event and later helping him take it off? Maia impressing his nohecharei with some competency in diplomacy? Them teaching him more self-defense?
  
• Csevet/Maia: God, the trust that develops between these two is so beautiful. I'd love a bit of loyalty kink-ish devotion there, playing with formality, but also turning that on its head and Maia worshipping Csevet the way Csevet deserves to be worshipped. Office/desk sex? Maia taking Csevet to his bed despite the danger? Everyone secretly knowing they're together and the potential danger involved, but how it works out mostly okay in the end?
  
• Csethiro/Maia: These two took time to grow on each other and on me, but I really like Csethiro's spirit, how she opens Maia, and also Maia being forthright with her. I'd love experienced!Csethiro and virgin!Maia, their first time maybe? Csethiro teaching Maia something sexually and them letting go of formality? Csethiro helping Maia navigate something particularly difficult at court?

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HAMILTON - MIRANDA

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I really enjoy the period setting of the American Revolution in general, all the potential trappings of clothes and politics and the juxtaposition of being proper with being, you know, revolutionaries telling the crown to go fuck itself. Sexuality and romance in this era seems to take o a circumspect aspect I really enjoy exploring, seeing how people manage to get together and love one another despite that. I'd love something that works in a bit of these contrasts and the worldbuilding in addition to the characters and their interactions. This is obviously musical canon, but if you know pieces/facts from real-world history you want to drop in a bit, feel free.

For Angelica/Hamilton, I do kink pretty hard on the infidelity angle, but at the same time I (perhaps selfishly) don't want Eliza demonized in the process. Please don't make Eliza into a raging bitch or anything or have them trashtalk her, and if you want to write an angle where she knows and mostly approves, that's fine too. I love the mentor/mentee aspects of Hamilton/Washington, and the lowkey father/son dynamic as well, although I'd also love to see it upended a bit and see Washington loving on Hamilton or Hamilton attempting to boss Washington around. (Daddy kink-ish vibes are okay, but please no actual use of "daddy"/"little boy" words.)

• Angelica/Hamilton: They know it's wrong, but they do it anyway; Hamilton can't help but care an awful lot about Angelica, and she's incredibly important to him emotionally in a way that is both scary and exhilarating. Hamilton gives pretty good head? Angelica enjoys dominating him a bit? Fucked-up roleplay where Angelica punishes him for transgressions with Maria Reynolds in Eliza's place? Seeking every moment together possible after Angelica goes to London? I'm also entirely game for Angelica eventually turning back to her sister and telling Hamilton to go take a long walk off a short pier a la "The Reynolds Pamphlet."
  
• Hamilton/Washington: They comfort each other on the battlefields when there is no one else to turn to. Washington dictates demands to Hamilton and he really likes it. They spend a pleasant summer evening together postwar in Virginia somewhere. Hamilton shows Washington the life he's building with Eliza and can't help but keep a part of his heart for Washington anyway. Washington shuts Hamilton the fuck up and/or rewards him for not biting Jefferson's head off in a cabinet meeting. Hamilton attempts to convince Washington not to step down.

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THE 100 (TV)

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I love the bizarre worldbuilding of the show, how intensely (if improbably) compact everything is, relatively speaking, be it on the Ark or on the ground. I love the claustrophobia Ark residents had to grow up in and the vicious stakes they were forced to know--and then learn how to break, to some degree, on the ground. I love the culture exchanges with Grounders once they're on Earth, language games and exploring Earth, all sorts of culture and worldbuilding porn. I'd love to know more about the Grounders, how their children are raised, how their warriors are trained, just about anything.

I'd love Abby/Raven love while still on the Ark or once on the ground, comforting each other in some way over Jake or Clarke missing after S2, or Anya's interactions with Clarke once they escape from Mount Weather (or before, when they first meet?) or with her training Lexa and watching her become the commander. I'd love more of Clarke with Niylah while on the run from her past or ALIE, or Clarke visiting Niylah after s3 for some amends, Clarke working together with Raven on issues and learning to love again after Lexa. I'd love to see Lexa and Costia, how they loved one another and even how it went south, as well as some Lexa/Luna preconclave/nightblood training action. And I'd love Octavia learning more than just war from Indra, any sort of bonding over training, more of Octavia pulling Indra back from her depths in 3A and/or Indra maybe hunting down Octavia after S3. My only main thing is please no romantic Bellamy/Clarke (close friends and even fuckbuddies is fine, but I'm not into them as the love of each other's lives).

• Abby/Raven: The mentor/mentee, working-through-self-hate/learning-not-to-hate-yourself with these two is pretty strong, as well as the mutual respect that develops. Precanon (them knowing each other at all before the attempt to go to Earth) is okay, but I'd especially love S2/S3 fic, be it weirdly tender fixing up after their shared ALIE experiences, their brief shared time in the City of Light, trying to rebuild themselves and save Arkadia after S3, whatever. It can be casual or more romantic, and you can include background Abby/Marcus and Raven/Others or not as you like.
  
• Anya/Clarke: I'm mostly thinking of grudging/hatesex for them, but what if they temporarily had to have sex to try to seal a deal with the Grounders in S1? Or canon divergence/Anya survives where Clarke spends time with her in S2 or goes on the lam with her post-S2 and uses Anya as distraction from the rest of her problems? How does Anya think of Clarke and Skaikru, and what would her reaction to Arkadia be? Or just fucked-up borderline hate hurt/comfort sex post-Mount Weather escape.
  
• Anya/Lexa, Costia/Lexa, Lexa/Luna: I find Grounder warrior culture, particularly considering how many women it holds, fascinating. How did Anya and Lexa interact as warrior and second? Were Lexa and Luna close at all before the conclave and her banishment? What did Lexa really think of Luna being "cowardly" by the standards of their culture? And how did Costia fit in--was she a warrior like the others? Did she have a more diplomatic/political/domestic role? How long were she and Lexa together? All the trappings of warrior women cliches--hurt/comfort, learning to fight, mentor/mentee, loyalty kink, armor/costume/weapon porn, etc.--welcome, and the more random Grounder cultural shit you sneak in the more my heart will probably sing.
  
• Clarke/Niylah: I quite liked how Clarke used Niylah mostly for sex/as an attempt to get out of her head and yet did seem to genuinely like her as well, or at least to protect her as best she could while also, you know, putting her in incredible danger. I'd love to see more of Niylah and what she thinks of the Skaikru maniacs now running around, what her life is like as a trader, her and Clarke having more release sex or something more tender, Clarke coming back for her post-S3, Niylah joining with Arkadia to try to stop nuclear meltdown 2.0, etc.
  
• Clarke/Raven: This is probably my most intense Clarke femslash ship after Clarke/Lexa, and I'd love to see them post-S3 tentatively getting together while working around the whole nuclear fallout thing. Their braniac mechanic/leader dynamic in general is great--competency porn on Raven trying to fix shit or help handle a migration to a new safe space or them working together in general as miniature leaders would be fantastic. And of course any sort of missing scene romance/sex angle on existing canon is great.
• Indra/Octavia: I really love Indra, and I love the confusion but loyalty she can show Octavia, even though Octavia is not always a fully committed Grounder/is torn in two by her loyalty to her brother. I also love Octavia kicking Indra's ass in 3A and getting her to come back to life, so to speak, and would love more of this supportive-warrior dynamic. Does part of being a second involve a sexual/romantic aspect? Does Indra go on a hunt for Octavia post-S3? Does Octavia save Indra from the crosses on her way out of Polis and take Indra on a ride? Do they have angsty duty-to-my-people-but-also-I-need-you-specifically sex somewhere along the way?
  

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KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2015)

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Kingsman is a big exuberant mess of a movie, and I love the absurd spy tropes, the 80s-heavy soundtrack, and the million myriad pornish fantasies it's all inspired. Reveling in that tropey spy goodness is highly encouraged. Precanon, postcanon, at work/on a mission, attempting to relax somewhere, working in Kingsman 2 spoilers we've seen, whatever!

I'd love Harry and Merlin together in basically any way, badass old spies together through the years or more recently thrown together, or them with Eggsy and/or Roxy--Id love to see Eggsy and Merlin taking Harry apart, or Eggsy and Harry taking Merlin apart, or the three men trying their best to give Roxy some stellar loving. And I'd also love to see Harry/Roxy--not particularly romantic, maybe, but some good old fashioned friends with benefits/casual lovers/practicing heterosexual sex for missions/whatever. My only hard request is to ask that you not work in Eggsy/Harry without Merlin, as there's already quite a lot of them, and I love to see rarer configurations.

• Eggsy/Harry/Merlin: Spy threesomes ahoy! I'm particularly fond of established Harry/Merlin working in Eggsy, especially if Harry is at the center of attention, but Merlin getting some love from the other two is also excellent. Their first time with Eggsy? Insane competency porn turning into some romance/hanging out/actual porn? Eggsy teaching the other two something they don't know for once?
  
• Eggsy/Harry/Merlin/Roxy: Similar vibe to the above, with female body parts added for excellent three-on-one/Roxy watching the men get each other off action. There is essentially no foursome porn of them, so anything is good, really: cunnilingus, Roxy pegging someone or multiple someones, voyeur!Roxy, etc. And nonsexually, just seeing the four of them hang out and work each other through issues as one huge messy but joyous poly bundle would be fun, especially involving casework or other adrenaline-creating situations.
  
• Harry/Merlin: My violent baes--two sexy spies being sexy together. I love casefic with them, but also them just hanging around being middle-aged dudes in love with each other, with a bit of a bite. Them as young recruits? Them and their dogs over the years? Their first time together after Harry's magic resurrection? Sex in the office? Basically anything.
  
• Harry/Roxy: I'm mostly thinking of friends with benefits here, casual heterosexual fun they might not otherwise bother with, especially Harry eating out Roxy, but also just seeing them interact in general would be fascinating. What do they know of each other? Seeing them getting to know each other better and trust one another in and out of the bedroom, or on missions or similar, would also be amazing, since I love them both a lot and they have minimal to nonexistent interaction in the film. (Hopefully that changes in Kingsman 2!)

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THE MAN FROM UNCLE (2015)

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MUNCLE is more tropey spy goodness, this time with a gorgeous woman heavily involved as these three ambiguous people, roped into spydom, try to flourish in it nonetheless. The trope potentials, as well as that cracking pull of past vs. future and the idea of relatively unwilling spies learning to be masters together as a threesome, is so potent for me. Bonus points for capturing even a bit of the bright, buoyant 1960s world (and its gorgeous music used in the film).

With these relationships I'm looking to fill in more of that world, be it between Gaby and Napoleon (and the betrayal there that must be dealt with) or the three as a whole (especially on how Gaby and Napoleon get close together and how Napoleon integrates into the much more canon Gaby/Illya). Gaby/Napoleon healing sex of some sort? Canadian shack shenanigans? Casework?

• Gaby/Illya/Napoleon: These three <3 Developing, established, however you want to situate it, I'm game. Sex pollen? Extreme competence kink and getting off on one another? Language fuckery with Russian/German/Italian? Extreme loving on Gaby from the other two? Gaby getting off on the other two together? Casework forcing them to go undercover as a threesome to some weird poly community? One is hurt and the other two comfort? Two are sick and one is left to pick up after them?
  
• Gaby/Napoleon: Gaby learns how Napoleon suffered due to her breaking their cover and feels somewhat bad about it. How do she and Napoleon repair their relationship? Do they go on heists to earn back trust? Do they have some sort of Healing Sex? (Bonus points for nonpenetrative sex, especially Napoleon eating Gaby out.)
  

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THE NICE GUYS (2016)

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I quite loved the bizarre humor here, the classic buddy cop-ness and grudging allies becoming more, as well as all of the 1970s setting and worldbuilding, the heightened sexuality of the time (and the movie, what with the whole "porno saves the world" thing) and the potential for 70s debauchery or just some really good 1970s car and music porn. I also really enjoyed the film's use of Holly overall, her active participation despite her father(s)' disapproval at points, and the widower-kid vibe with March and how that opens up to include Healy.

I'd love shipfic that can include some of the film's humor/absurdity, with Healy and March on another crazy case involving the worst of 1970s pop culture, car hijinks and spy hijinks and absurd violence and drugs and alcohol and some stupidity welcome (but please try to keep the sexism and racism of the 1970s on the downlow). They can be more domestic, too, working through trying to integrate their lives a bit in a still very homophobic world, being #dads with Holly, doing some angst with March's alcohol issues and Healy's rage, etc.

• Healy/March: Like many I am a sucker for buddy cop, odd couple pairings, and the combination of spywork and sheer absurd violence in the film, along with the 1970s setting, made me really enjoy these two. Them setting up their practice and working crazy cases would be great, along with them doing some parenting of Holly (as long as it isn't too curtain fic-y), them continuing to work through their issues, them getting thrown into classic tropes (sharing a bed/drunkenness leading to sex/have to fuck for the sake of the mission/undercover in a gay bar/etc). Snark, absurdity, humor, and the pop culture of the time very much welcome.
  

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TORTALL - TAMORA PIERCE

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I'm a sucker for warrior women fantasy, including all the trappings of faux-medieval-Europe societies like balls, knights, costume porn, etc., so Tortall in general was a formative experience for me as a kid, especially the explicit feminism/woman power! of it all. I've wanted Alanna/Delia specifically for a while, and I'd love to explore the world again some more, via the magic, the crossdressing, dress and dance kink, sparring for the honor of Jon, and all that literal canon goodness that gets involved there. I see this mostly as a weird flirtation/hatesex thing, with all the trappings of that ball from canon and clothing kink and dancing, and it can go to deeper places too. I'm especially fascinated with Delia potentially finding out the truth of "Alan" before anyone else and how that would play out.

• Alanna/Delia: Okay, so to start with canon: the ball, the dancing, Delia seeming quite taken with "Alan" (at least for Jon's sake, who knows). I'd love to see more of that; maybe Jon finds it funny and encourages it at future balls, maybe Alanna is fascinated by Delia and finds herself pursuing her despite Jon, working through her love of some feminine things with her equal love for fighting and her need to keep herself closeted until she is a knight. Seeing "Alan" carry on a legit romance, kissing and all, without Delia knowing would be super fascinating, as would a scenario where Delia finds out and they have vicious femslash hatesex (potentially as weird blackmail for keeping the secret?). Canon divergence where Delia knows the truth and uses it with Roger or similar would also be fascinating, as would any sort of weird Alanna/Delia/Jon threesome (Jon also getting blackmailed as part of this, since he knows, would be fantastically fucked up and awkward and kind of great).
  

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