chocolateboxcomm letter!

[deep_dark_waters]

Hello! I'm Deepdarkwaters on Ao3 and Tumblr and ambrotypes on Twitter for any recip-stalking needs.

Short version: I'm easy to please and happy to be completely surprised, as long as you don't include the couple of DNWs mentioned below. If you've got something in mind already then do it your way! These are just suggestions - I will honestly love anything about these people, and any rating if you're writing romance/smut (my yes list from the last Smut Swap tagset is here if that's helpful).

General fic loves: (probably not applicable to every fandom requested, but just so you've got an overview of some of the things I enjoy reading in whatever combination) worldbuilding/exploration of the canon world; dialogue; description (especially of hair, hands, and clothing); competence; petty arguments; unreliable narrators; misunderstandings; found families; really old comfy friendships; really old comfy friendships that accidentally/unexpectedly become more; clumsy inappropriate humour; backstories; melancholy; loonngg dragged out UST that feels like it'll never end and then ENDS GLORIOUSLY; awkward imperfect sex where everyone's still having the best time ever; intense physical fight scenes; huge scale destruction; ridiculous things played completely straight for comedy purposes; kissing; when penetrative sex isn't the only type considered 'real' sex.

Please no: noncon or anything to do with hanging.

Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot/Michael Caffrey

I have far too many emotions about this film, it's slightly ridiculous. I just love their friendship so much, how parts of it feel a bit cautious as they both figure out all these huge changes in their lives, but everything between them feels so honest and comfortable as well. I like the idea of long-distance friendship after Billy starts school in London, maybe through letters? I just want to know how they get on between when we see them saying goodbye and the end of the film - when and how did they get together? Was/is it a serious relationship, or an experiment that didn't work out? Massive bonus points for somehow involving current events too. I love the sense of time in the film, with the clothes and politics and all, so working that in somehow would be brilliant. (Eg someone once suggested a crossover with Pride, since Michael's a gay kid in the 80s from a mining family - not necessarily a crossover, but there's a lot of political stuff in the 80s and beyond that could be interesting as background.) Also ballet! If that's something you're into, no amount of intense dance jargon is too much. One of my favourite scenes in the film is when Billy gives Michael a tutu and teaches him ballet positions - what if that happens again, but ten years later and with bonus UST??

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid/Etta Place; Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid

Butch/Sundance/Etta: This is the OT3 of my whole life. I've had some amazing gifts in previous exchanges but I'm always greedy for more because they're so messy and beautiful and complicated and there's so much nuance to play about with in the way they all act together. How many mainstream PG-rated films show canonical dubcon sex roleplay?? ONE. THIS FILM. Please show me more if that's your thing! Gun kink, undressing, following orders, everything. I love Sundance and Etta's slightly weary established relationship in the film - is the playing something they started doing to liven things up a bit, or has it been like that for them from the start? Would love to see how they met, their first time, and/or the first time one of them suggested it or tried it. Or more of the established stuff - the way she goes along with it immediately implies it's something they've done a lot, but do they ever switch it up, Etta with a gun and bossing Sundance around? Would he go for that? And Etta with Butch is completely different, they're so sweet and sincere. What I really love about this OT3 is the idea of Etta getting different things from the guys, like Etta/Sundance is smokin hot with the roleplay stuff but then there's all that comfortable lovely laughter and cuddles between her and Butch. That contrast is super attractive to me. V or triangle, I'm not fussy, I just love to see people's take on these three as lovers and what makes it all work.

Butch/Sundance: I have no real prompts, I just want to mash these beautiful faces together. Please. Romantic friendship, friends with benefits, lonely in the middle of nowhere, sharing women, omg we're alive sex, stop being a crybaby while I patch you up sex, whatever, literally anything that happens between these two will be doubly as perfect as they already are by themselves. Canon compliant or fix-it, all good.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid RPF
Paul Newman/Robert Redford; Paul Newman & Robert Redford

Newman/Redford or Newman & Redford, MY LOVES. I love them. Tell me anything and everything. Did they know this would end up such a beloved film? What were their memories of it decades later? What was their first day of filming like? And their last? How did they unwind after a day on set? (Answer: ferocious moustachey kissing, if you ship them - promise I'm just as happy with them as friends if that's more your thing.) I don't know what to prompt, I will honestly be delighted with anything at all if you love them half as much as I do.

Chicago:
Roxie Hart/Velma Kelly

Any non-fluffy thing you want to write for this pairing would be amazinggg. Not saying they can't be happy, but I'd much rather see them keeping all their abrasive edges and getting on each other's nerves forever at the same time. Raging angry fight sex if that's your thing! Ripping clothes, pulling hair, slapping, scratching, yelling, threatening each other with guns, give me ALL OF THIS. Or anything about their second rise to fame, and second fall if that happens...? Do they end up involved in crime in some way? Do they ever end up back in jail?

Or what do they do with their lives in the future, like in the 50s or 70s? Some crime writer in the 90s digging up their story and tracking down these vicious old ladies to interview them about what happened?

Crossovers:
Victoria Winslow (RED)/Harry Hart (Kingsman); Victoria Winslow (RED)/Roxy Morton (Kingsman); Victoria Winslow (RED)/Judi's M (Bond)

Victoria/Harry: I ship this pairing SO HARD. I can't explain why. It's partly the aesthetic Mirren/Firth perfection, I cannot lie, but the characters are both so effortlessly competent at everything they do and there's something so similar about their beautifully efficient fighting styles. Look at Harry in the church and Victoria shooting out of both car windows in Red 2. Imagine Kingsman & MI6 having to work together for whatever reason and the two of them team up, imagine what a spectacular fight that would be. Romance/smut-wise, I'm super into the age difference, and the idea of dom Victoria/adoring starry-eyed younger Harry if that appeals. Whether it's 20 year old Harry running like a puppy after 35 year old Victoria or they're 50 and 65, I don't mind, I've just become a bit obsessed with the idea of them together at any point in their lives being gorgeous and competent and enthusiastically into each other. First time? FWBs? Love? I don't mind, just more Victoria/Harry that I don't have to write myself, please!

Victoria/Roxy: I looooove huge age difference pairings and would sell my soul for a sort of Harry/Eggsy dynamic, only with women. And slightly less of the puppy dog eyes and bickering. Handwave some reason for Roxy and Victoria to work together - I can't stop thinking about how great they'd be. Smash my hardcore competence kink: fight scenes; Victoria teaching Roxy some tricks, or Roxy teaching Victoria some tricks; one of them saves the other's life by being in the right place at the right time when a job goes wrong. Bonding in a bar late at night about being exceptional women in a job that's still dominated by not always exceptional men, with more and more innuendo and flirty eyes over the top of wine glasses as the bottles empty. I love the idea of Victoria, this gorgeous clever sixty-something woman who fights like she's been born to it and takes no shit from the guys, as Roxy's mentor/hero/friend/goals, then more.

Victoria/M: I would sell my soul for Victoria/Olivia M at any point throughout their careers. Any rating, any setting, I just want competent brilliant MI6 women hopefully with bonus kissing. Have they known each other the whole time? It's plausible that Olivia started working there in the mid-50s and Victoria in the mid-60s going by the actors' ages - is that what happened, or did they start later? What was it like for them back then? Were they friends immediately? Enemies? Victoria became a spy before Olivia became M - what was their relationship like then, and what changed when Olivia became Victoria's boss? Did she have anything to do with the orders to shoot Ivan?

Kingsman:
Harry Hart/Merlin; Harry Hart/Merlin/Eggsy Unwin; Merlin/Roxy Morton

General Kingsman things I love for any pairing: I love all the silly spy gadgets, nothing can possibly be too ridiculous for me, so if you want to have fun with any of the daft spy tropes then please do! So much opportunity for voyeurism/exhibitionism with those glasses especially. Also descriptive fight scenes, and I have this insatiable clothing kink. Especially if you want to write smut, I'm 1000000% in favour of anything focused on dressing/undressing, makeovers, clothes as gifts, sharing clothes, makeover/pampering Pretty Woman type scenes, or lovely quality clothes getting completely wrecked by being ripped off or stained. Same goes for weapons kink (if you wanna write some revolting filth about sucking off a gun or whatever then yes send it this way please and thank you), and general competence kink. Someone watching someone else with swoony starry eyes as they do something really well without even seeming to try. Bottom Harry is always my preference for pairings involving him but I'm really not fussy, just mentioning it because it's still quite rare so if that's your thing as well then this is an excellent match :D (If any more Golden Circle details get released between now and the deadline, feel free to include those if you want. I'm not avoiding spoilers or whatever.)

Harry/Merlin: Harry/Eggsy was my ship for so long but I've slowly become hooked on the idea of Harry/Merlin. There are so many different ways it could go - friends for thirty years and then suddenly, desperately MORE after V-Day? Were they recruits at the same time fighting for the Galahad position? Several decades of happy casual friends with benefits? Obsessively in love? Did they get to know each other with Merlin in Harry's earpiece talking him through missions before they ever met in person? I have a huge thing for voices, conversations not face to face, people being able to read meanings in the way each other breathes, etc, so the agent/handler thing is always delightful to me. Would love to read anything about them! If you want to write smut, bonus points for any kind of voyeurism/exhibitionism through those glasses. I'm slightly obsessed. (Also I'm hugely fond of bottom Harry but it's totally not necessary if you'd rather not - just mentioning it because it seems pretty rare, so if you're into it as well then the stars have aligned beautifully.)

Harry/Merlin/Eggsy: This OT3 crept up on me and TOOK OVER MY LIFE. Usual preference is Harry/Merlin thirty years into an open relationship and Eggsy gets invited in, but I'm totally into any other setup you can think of - friends with benefits? Someone's been pining for years and it all explodes when Harry handwaves back into the others' lives after V-Day? Drunken/unexpected I'm-glad-you're-alive sex? A V-shaped relationship instead of a triangle? - maybe Harry and Eggsy are away on a joint mission and Merlin gets involved from home? Or they're all working in different places and sort of fall in love through late-night conversations? Happy with anything from the most swoony fluffy loving relationship to purely physical stress-relief fucking, whatever you prefer.

Merlin/Roxy: I would love to see a n y t h i n g you want to write for them. Roxy got a bit of a rubbish storyline in the film considering she's the one who actually won the Lancelot job, so I love anything focusing on her as the smart brilliant highly capable spy she obviously is. Where do they go on from V-Day? How much has Kingsman been shaken up by what happened? Are the rest of the agents happy to have her or does she have to work twice as hard to prove herself? I like the thought that Merlin's got a bit of a special bond with both her and Eggsy after the three of them save the world - does he end up working closely with her as her handler? Is he the one she always goes to for advice or to complain about something? Does she think up brilliant new gadget ideas and go and hang about in his workshop while he builds prototypes for her, and they become more-than-colleagues from all the late-night chats? The potential for lots of simmering serious UST as they become close is glorious. (Also I just really really love big age differences in my pairings.)

The Sting:
Henry Gondorff/Johnny Hooker

My all time favourite film. It is perfect. Seriously ANYTHING GOES here, I'll love anything at all. Equally happy with another intricate plot like the film or something more focused on the characters and their relationship. Henry and Johnny after the film events: where do they go and what do they do? What's the next job? Do they lay low for a while and really get to know each other? I have a major clothing kink so bonus points for lovingly described period costume details and/or not bothering to undress properly before getting down to business. SWOON. Or another makeover montage but with more moony eyes in the mirror, lingering hands smoothing out a crease in a jacket, blinding UST, etc. Or honestly anything at all as long as there's banter and cleverness and lovely suits, and the same kind of sense of time and place that the film does so beautifully. Or A FIGHT??? Of course the Newman & Redford powerhouse friendship is the main appeal of the things they were involved in together, but it would be great to see the characters fracturing a bit (cabin fever while hiding out? Different opinions on the best way to do a job? Anything) and figuring it all out in a way that may or may not end in projectile clothes and moustachey kissing.