Rare Pair Fest 2017

[minebyrights]

Happy Rare Pair Fest! 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) | Kingsman (Movies) RPF | Les liaisons dangereuses | Dangerous Liaisons - Choderlos de Laclos | Rome (TV 2005) | Sherlock (TV) | A Single Man (2009) | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

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) (exception is some femslash—see below where relevant)

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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. Letter contains spoilers for season 5.

• 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 meet in Russia at all? What has happened to Arkady?
  
• 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, more of their S5 Russian wedding, spy hijinks...
  
• Elizabeth/Young-hee:I really loved Young-hee in S4, and I felt so extremely bad for her (never knowing what would become of "Patty") and, yeah, bad for Elizabeth for having to do something she really, aggressively did not want to do there. I loved how you could tell that Elizabeth—Nadezhda—genuinely liked her as a person, not just within the Patty persona, and how it got to tear Elizabeth up, emotionally, while also giving us such a good side character in Young-hee, how they could relate over being immigrants (even though only Elizabeth knew they were both immigrants). Any scenes of their evolving friendship and its duplicity would be fantastic, and feel free to kink hard on the identity fuckery going on here.

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KINGSMAN (MOVIES) RPF

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I adore these two, their on-screen chemistry, their beauty, and all the potential their many years in the acting world has for competency kink and/or long-term casual relationships. And yet, despite their slow progress toward actually being an onscreen couple in some film some day, I can find almost no fic at all for them in English. I would love any fic for them exploring their acting/them getting together/them fucking and/or being friends through the years/them blending their families/essentially anything at all. My only hard request is to either write in an AU where they're not married, to make them have happy, loving open/poly relationships with their current wives (my personal fave), or to make them amicably divorced; please no cheating/infidelity/bashing of the wives!

• Colin/Mark: Okay, I have absolutely no chill at all for these two. You can see my ship manifesto, links to appearances of them, more prompts, etc in my Yuletide letter from 2015, which I won't repeat here for the sake of space. In general, I am game for almost literally anything with them: "like a married couple" shit on set, any situation with them planning/blocking out scenes where their characters are lovers (be it implicit like with TTSS chemistry or in some future film where their characters have a canonical kiss/sex scene), them having a casual sex relationship, open relationships with their wives (or crazy four-way poly relationships, whatever!), AU without their current wives where they're in a relationship all along (since Fever Pitch or whenever you like) and become a low-key power couple in the British acting world, really and truly anything. They're just so comfortable and attractive together and I love that jocular, secure, mature vibe.

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LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES | DANGEROUS LIAISONS - CHODERLOS DE LACLOS

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I love the decadence of the underlying society, the grotesque riches involved, the constant social posturing and boredom that leads to the amoral insanity in the first place, the aesthetics of letter-writing and affairs and disgusting luxury and long hair on men and crazy balls and dresses. Everyone is an actor in an enormous play, with public vs. private personas and vicious stakes hidden underneath the laconic witticisms exchanged, and that is so fun to play with. I particularly love Merteuil, so richly characterized, protofeminist in a sense (her search for agency/respect/revenge) and yet self-serving and horribly wretched toward other women, but I also love and feel bad for Cecile’s earnestness and naivete and find Valmont’s utter depravity (and his arrogance) amusing. I’m familiar with the book, the Frears movie, and the Hampton stage play and like all three, though I’m personally partial toward the Hampton ending when it comes to Merteuil’s specific fate. Epistolary fic, as well as first-person fic, is welcome for this canon, though not at all required, and feel free to use Isabelle and Sebastien as first names if you like, though overall I have no name preferences.

• Cecile/Merteuil: I really love the underlying affection, of a sort, here—though probably the more correct word is “fascination,” describing Merteuil’s amusement at Cecile’s antics until the spell finally breaks and she realizes how comparatively dull (read: moral after all) Cecile is. Any sort of look at Merteuil’s manipulation of her, and Cecile coming to recognize it for what it is or not, is welcome, playing with that pull of fascination and subsumated lust that come out at certain lines in Merteuil’s letter. More fun with them at the opera? Merteuil teaching Cecile sexual practices? Cecile managing to inartfully seduce Merteuil, in a way? Borderline dubcon is fine here, considering how brutal canon is on those points and how badly Merteuil mindfucks Cecile in canon, including Cecile being naive and/or overwhelmed by Merteuil’s experience.
  
• Danceny/Merteuil: I found it interesting how Merteuil is able to use Danceny as a boytoy in a way she doesn’t with anyone else—there’s a certain comfort there, perhaps because Danceny means so little to Merteuil emotionally compared to Valmont or even to Cecile. What does she really think of him? Danceny sexually servicing her, and she teaching him further tricks of a sort, would be fascinating. And does Danceny really care at all about Merteuil, considering how his heart is with Cecile? What is he getting out of it—fascination? Education? Her initially seducing him would be great, as would his opinion of her behavior and how he sees her (Does he know exactly how depraved she is? Does he come to know over time?)
  
• Danceny/Merteuil/Valmont: I’d love to see the tension in the three of them interacting, the deep history of Merteuil/Valmont overlaid with how casual and utilitarian they are toward Danceny and Danceny’s awareness (or not) of how little they seem to rate him. Danceny and Valmont servicing Merteuil, with Valmont barely controlling his jealousy and Danceny ignorant of most of it? Merteuil watching Valmont teaching seduction in a hands-on way to Danceny?
  
• Merteuil/Valmont: I really love their combined awfulness, the base level of amoral manipulation each has and how it combines into an enormous mess, the underlying emotions from their past that Merteuil successfully manages to leverage against Valmont while not remaining unaffected herself (IMO, anyway). Anything continuing in that canon vein is great, be it more friendly/based in camaraderie or more savage/vicious/jealous like at the end of canon when the wheels finally come off the carriage. Their first time meeting? Merteuil domming Valmont? Merteuil’s more private thoughts of Valmont when they’re not together? Other people they’ve teamed up to attempt to ruin over the years?

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ROME (TV 2005)

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I love the visual aesthetics of canon, the glorious Roman cityscape and the costumes and jewelry and elaborate hair teasing and social posturing and sprawling cast and scope and mythology/religious/political rites/rituals and the strong sense of family and vengeance. I love Servilia in particular, her Lady Macbeth-ing of Brutus and her attempts to gain agency/respect/revenge, all wrapped up in a more stoic and matronly outside with a strong undercurrent of fascination and seduction, albeit in a much less flashy way than with Atia. I am familiar with but rusty in the historical period and the Latin language, so if you’re really into that and want to throw other stuff in, that’s great, but I’m also fine with just sticking to history and characterization as canon presents it, including the relatively soapy tone and scope.

• Atia/Servilia: They’re so awful, and so witty, and so desperately reaching out for whatever agency they can grab a hold of, and I can’t help but wonder about their past and their potential for vicious hatesex of some sort, or even some sort of more amicable relationship before they became entirely bitter. The contrast in how they try to carry themselves—spitfire/chaotic vs. dutiful/patrician—is delicious to play with, as is the overriding obsession they have, and how even after her death, Servilia manages to unsettle Atia and, indeed, appears to take away a lot of the joy she might have gotten from Octavian’s successes by managing to poison Atia’s mind. (And I love Atia's "better women than you" line in the finale in part because it seems to be a pretty direct callout to Servilia in a way/is easily twisted to imagine it as Atia showing a twisted respect for Servilia.) Them playing fucked up dubconny hatesex games? Them playing with bondage and the like in borderline dub/noncon ways? Them scheming with and against each other at dinner parties and other social events?
  
• Octavia/Servilia: Servilia corrupting Octavia is amazing to witness, but even more so for me is the question of how much Servilia was just playing her and how much it was genuine interest/lust/affection (and how much of that might have been sublimated lust/fascination with Atia). If I’m not misreading canon, they seem to have been some sort of fuckbuddy-type relationship for quite a period of time before it finally fell apart, so exploring how that developed (even though we didn’t get to see too much of it on screen due to time jumps) would be great. What else do they do besides weave? How much experience with women does either have before they start fucking each other? How much is anyone else aware of their sexual relationship? Do they fuck again somehow even after Octavia realizes she’s been played?
  

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SHERLOCK (TV)

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Canon is a flashy hyperactive soapy mess at points, but it’s so visually gorgeous, and everything surrounding Mycroft and the sleek amoral dodgy governmental world he inhabits is delightful to me. I love playing up spy tropes here, in a Le Carre or a Bond sense, as well as the hypercompetency of not only Mycroft but also Lady Smallwood (either Alicia or Elizabeth is fine as a first name) and Anthea, all the opportunities for politicking and stress relief and finding a sort of low-key release/affection/friendship down in the bowels of the nation. I tend to read all of these relationships as more FWB-ish than solidly romantic, but some more classic romance is okay too as long as it keeps that idiosyncratic Holmesian touch. Obviously I have no issue pairing Mycroft with women, but I do like reading him as bi/pan and not just heterosexual, so if you do too and want to throw references to men in as well, that’s fine.

• Anthea/Lady Smallwood: I love to imagine their interactions outside of Mycroft, them as two highly competent bureaucratic women wrapped in the intelligence world to varying degrees, as well as playing up the May-December aspects. Does Lady Smallwood offer any sort of career mentoring (“mentoring”) to Anthea? Does Anthea help Lady Smallwood to manage Mycroft in some way and that’s how they first begin to interact? Does Lady Smallwood keep Anthea as a sort of kept girl/amicable fucktoy? Are there differences in class status as well as age?
  
• Anthea/Lady Smallwood/Mycroft: Mycroft caught between these two competent women is a delicious imagine. Them dual domming him, or playing a sort of good cop/bad cop routine? Lady Smallwood and Mycroft giving Anthea the benefits of their experience in life? Anthea with these two highly important members of the British government wrapped around her little finger, and one of them her direct superior, at that? The three of them solving some massive intelligence cock-up and celebrating with raunchy office sex?
  
• Lady Smallwood/Mycroft: I love the idea of Mycroft being Lady Smallwood’s elegant boytoy/fucktoy, in a sense, part mothering project (playing up Mycroft’s implicit mummy issues is fine, though I prefer no explicit mummy kink) and part sexual release in a stressful world. Mycroft servicing her, or submitting to her, is great, but I also like them being more friendly/casual/”traditional,” for lack of a better word. Their drinks date? Them fucking in the office amongst the chaos of some sort of ongoing operation?
  

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A SINGLE MAN (2009)

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I love George and Jim so damn much--the easy but heady love they share, their glimpses of domesticity despite the very institutionally homophobic setting, the way Jim lovingly calls George "old man." I'd love anything relatively happy that explores their relationship—hinting at the angst to come is okay, but I do want to smile through any pangs. More of them in the bar the night they meet? Skinny-dipping? Decadent sex? The sky's the limit! Bonus points for working in whatever past of Jim you might like (what is his day to day life like?), since he's fairly thinly characterized in the film.

• George/Jim: Anything with them together is great, but I'm especially interested in them talking more about their lives amongst the mountains, them skinny-dipping together, what their first kiss/dance/sex is like, a continuation of the bar scene from the movie, them photographing each other in states of undress, them getting their dogs, whatever.
  

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TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (2011)

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One of the most realistic spy canons possible, a glorious autumnal ache, all beautiful muted colors and deception and emotional warfare and betrayal with none of the classic tropey flash. I love to have that as background for romps in the interpersonal world, be it the Greek tragedy of Bill/Jim or the twisted cuckolded past of Bill/George, along with the issues of betrayal, cuckolding, love despite better sense, or desperate loyalty in order to keep one's sanity in a murky amoral world. I'm familiar with the entire Karla Trilogy/the novels, so if you want to reference those, feel free.

• Bill/George: The cuckold porn, both literal and figurative, is here for the taking, and I love both versions of it. Were Bill and George ever actually close? Do they feel a weird bond/hate-affinity in being lovers of the same woman? Does Bill have a subsumed admiration for George, even later, he can't hide? And of course kinking on fucking each other, knowing full well the cuckolding going on even if it's never directly referenced, is A++.
  
• Bill/Jim: Almost literally anything, but I'd especially love earlier days, thick as thieves together working some case and fucking on the side, or attempting to do something non-spy-like (and failing?). I'm especially fond of seeing the potential ways in which Bill loves Jim (despite himself), even later when Bill is a committed mole, since that's more opague in canon.
  

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