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Rare Male Slash Exchange letter 2025
Thank you for writing me a fic in one of these lovely rare slash ships! I'm ![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
regshoe on AO3. I've said a bit below about what I like about my requested ships and given some prompts, but if you have a completely different idea you want to write, please go for it—I'll look forward to seeing whatever you come up with!
Some things I like:
Do Not Wants:
All requests are for fic. I have gifts enabled and am open to treats.
Étoile (TV)
Tobias Bell/Gabin Roux
My newest OTP! I watched the show a month or so ago and fell completely in love with them. I love how they're both complete weirdos who seem very different but turn out to be perfectly compatible in their weirdness; I love how they connect through dance; I love how intense and obsessed they both are about each other so quickly and committedly, and how they take each other seriously and really see each other when both of them are so often overlooked or misunderstood.
And of course I adore everything about them in the finale, and the ways 'Whatever This Is' is—in the construction of the dance, the lyrics of the song, the way it all happens—Tobias's very Tobias way of telling Gabin how he feels (a clear message indeed ♥). I'd love to see a bit more of what happens afterwards, and especially a bit more of how Gabin feels about/reacts to being love-confessed to like that.
Besides these two, Geneviève is my fave, and her interactions with both Tobias and Gabin are fantastic, so I'd love something about them featuring her/from her POV. What happens the next time she sees each of them (separately or together) after the finale, and what happens for all three of them and the National afterwards? She might have an especially interesting perspective on the publicity and fame which they'll surely have to deal with now (I imagine e.g. Geneviève experiencing some comedic logistical problems over organising another photoshoot, which Tobias actually turns up to this time for Gabin's sake—I'm sure Gabin would make sure he's suitably rewarded!).
Cheyenne could also be an interesting character to include in a Tobias/Gabin fic—she only gets one scene with each of them in canon, but they're both great and suggest lots of fic potential. What does Cheyenne make of them together? Might she be willing to revise her low opinion of Gabin when she sees how much Tobias, whose judgement she respects, likes him? What if Tobias, on the sensible grounds that they're the two best dancers he knows, decides to choreograph something for Gabin and Cheyenne to dance together? Their styles as well as their personalities might clash, Gabin being a very different kind of male dancer from e.g. Gael; how might they, and Tobias, deal with that?
What does Tobias and Gabin's future together look like? I most like the idea of Tobias staying in Paris in the long term (because of his speech about it, and because it lets them both stay with Geneviève!); but perhaps they end up in New York for a while—I'd love to see Jack's reaction to the new Tobias and to their relationship. Or perhaps they have to go temporarily long-distance while Tobias sorts out things in NYC—I can imagine they would not be very happy about that, possibly with comedic consequences for various other characters.
Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson
David Balfour/Alan Breck Stewart
I love this book for the adventure-novel drama, and the historical setting and detail, but most of all for the lovely, hilarious, adorable relationship between Alan and Davie. I love ships with two weirdos who are outwardly very different and clash at first, but who turn out to be perfectly compatible in their weirdness, get each other and end up deeply caring for each other—and the terribly serious eighteenth-century gentlemanly honour, the folk songs, the twelve-inch height difference and the derailing a quarrel through tactically provoked hurt/comfort are all pretty appealing also.
There are lots of opportunities for missing scenes during their flight in the heather, and especially at Corrienakiegh (and what a beautiful setting it is, too). Perhaps Alan sings David some of his Gaelic and/or Jacobite folk songs to while away the time while they're hiding at Corrynakiegh; or you could write about their fishing and sword-fighting lessons (David observes that 'as I had sometimes the upper-hand of him in the fishing, he was not sorry to turn to an exercise where he had so much the upper-hand of me'—I'd love to see that in more detail!); and then there's the 'there was only one coat' sleeping arrangement, which is perfect material for slash fic...
The Balquhidder interlude, when David is recovering from his illness in the aftermath of their quarrel, is a lovely opportunity for hurt/comfort, emotional heart-to-heart conversations and generally a bit of quiet relationship development in between all the adventure novel drama. How about this poem as a prompt (it's too recent for 1751, but strict historical accuracy didn't stop RLS!)?
I'm interested by David's presumable future as a respectable Whig proprietor at Shaws: how do his canon adventures, his relationship with Alan and his appreciation for the worthwhile things in Alan's strange Highland Jacobite ways affect his future life and choices? What does Alan, who will surely come back to visit him in secret, make of it all? And how might they figure out a happy ending together, given all the obstacles in the way?
As is clear from my requests, I also love the NTS stage adaptation; if you know it and would like to take inspiration/include some elements from the play in a book fic, please do!
Kidnapped - McArthur & McCarthy & Stevenson (NTS Kidnapped)
David Balfour/Alan Breck Stewart
Besides being a great adaptation of a book I love, this play is loads of fun, it combines irreverence and silly humour with real depth where it matters, it gets at the heart of the story, it's just generally a joy of a thing—and it makes my OTP canon :) The play's Alan and Davie are utterly adorable; I love Davie's earnestness and courage, and Alan's dashing, romantic audacity, and I love how much they just go together and how deeply they care about each other despite their quarrels and culture/political clashes.
The part of the play after their big quarrel and Davie's dramatic refusal to betray Alan by helping the treacherous Rob Og definitely presents material to develop a bit more in fic! I adore the bit during 'By Your Side' when Alan bridal-carries Davie across the stage, and a story exploring the hurt/comfort here in more detail, all amongst the reaffirmed love and loyalty between them, would be lovely. Unlike in the book they don't get to stop comfortably in a house at this point—I can see Alan tenderly wrapping his coat round Davie as they take what shelter they can among the heather (in doubtless dreadful weather), almost back at Queensferry but with a way to go yet...
Or you could follow one of the play's very memorable cast of side characters for an outsider POV on their relationship. What do the ex-sailors, re-encountered at the Bam & Anchor, really think about them? Probably my favourite ensemble character is Jannet Clouston—I love how cheerfully fond she is of Davie, and I'm sure she would be supportive (in her way) during his heartbreak after losing Alan and also after the happy ending. After their reunion at the end, perhaps Davie and Alan go to visit some of Alan's Highland friends again together—what do they make of the situation?
Besides the ensemble, I really love the play's take on Frances Stevenson and would enjoy a story from her POV or bringing her in some other way: perhaps you could do something with the parallels between Alan/Davie and Frances/Louis, or with the play's multiple layers of fiction.
Does Alan ever explain the very romantic lyrics of his Gaelic song to Davie? :D
I also love the book; if you know it and would like to take inspiration from it/include some elements from the book that didn't make it into the play, please do!
The Longest Journey - E. M. Forster
Stewart Ansell/Rickie Elliot
This has been one of my favourite books for a long time, for reasons I feel deeply but can never articulate terribly well. I love the things Forster has to say about places ('little worlds'), and the nature of reality and truth and falsehood. I love his prose. I love the flower crowns. And I love how clearly, deeply queer the book is despite it not being out-and-out textual—but I also think it's in need of some fic to make Rickie and Stewart's relationship more explicitly what it really already is, and to let them find some happiness together. Hence this request!
I love the Cambridge setting especially, and would love anything set there or in that part of the book. Perhaps a quiet evening together in Rickie's rooms following one of those philosophical gatherings, alone together after the rest of the student philosophers have left? More lying around in meadows (wearing flower crowns!—I really cannot get over that scene), or a trip further out into the Fens?—it's a really beautiful part of the world, and I think Rickie's aesthetic sense would have some things to say about it. Or perhaps something set while Rickie is staying with Stewart's family during a vacation?—the narrator notes, of the visit we see in the book, that Rickie doesn't fall in love with either of the Ansell girls, and perhaps he thinks about that and makes the further step of realising it's Stewart he's in love with?
Then there are possibilities for things to go differently later on too. What if that exchange of letters in chapter 9 (poor Stewart is so clearly jealous) led to a realisation/confession of feelings, and/or to Rickie actually breaking off his engagement? What about the part in chapter 32 where we learn Rickie has been staying with the Ansells after the Stephen crisis causes him to leave Agnes and Sawston—we see so little of him and Stewart actually together here, but it's full of significant potential (and fix-it opportunities!).
Or, for something more bittersweet, perhaps some post-canon grief and/or ghost fic? This book is so much concerned with the nature and specificity of places, and that seems like it ought to be a good basis for writing about hauntedness. So what does Stewart do later in life, and might Rickie's spirit be not quite 'fled, in agony and loneliness' after all?
Re. my 'unrequested ships' DNW: Whatever amount of background canon Rickie/Agnes is needed to make the plot work is fine; I'd prefer them not to be actually together during the main plot of the fic.
Some things I like:
- A strong sense of place; relationships between characters and places
- Descriptions of nature and wildlife, especially birds
- Historical detail; how the characters fit into historical settings and events
- Comfortable connectedness and 'fitting together' between the characters in a ship; a sense that they're 'each other's people'; characters finding comfort and rest in each other amidst a hostile world or plot-related struggles
- Quietly significant physical intimacy: handholding, long hugs, cuddling, hair-stroking, etc.
- Hurt/comfort! Characters seeing the person they love get hurt and realising how much they care about them, or revealing their feelings in their reaction; characters receiving comfort and realising how much they're loved
- Loyalty: characters who are unfailingly loyal to each other; characters facing conflicting loyalties, or caught between their existing loyalties and their feelings for another character
- Magic and the supernatural, especially otherworldly fairy-folklorish stuff, ghosts and hauntings
Do Not Wants:
- Graphic violence, body horror
- Explicit sex (implied/fade-to-black is fine)
- Rape, noncon, dubcon
- AUs that place the characters in a different setting (canon divergence is fine, as is adding supernatural/fantasy elements not present in canon)
- Dogs, wolves, werewolves
- Requested characters in unrequested romantic/sexual ships
- Pre-relationship fic
- Present-day current events/politics
- For Kidnapped: Deliberate inclusion of elements from/references to Catriona
All requests are for fic. I have gifts enabled and am open to treats.
Étoile (TV)
Tobias Bell/Gabin Roux
My newest OTP! I watched the show a month or so ago and fell completely in love with them. I love how they're both complete weirdos who seem very different but turn out to be perfectly compatible in their weirdness; I love how they connect through dance; I love how intense and obsessed they both are about each other so quickly and committedly, and how they take each other seriously and really see each other when both of them are so often overlooked or misunderstood.
And of course I adore everything about them in the finale, and the ways 'Whatever This Is' is—in the construction of the dance, the lyrics of the song, the way it all happens—Tobias's very Tobias way of telling Gabin how he feels (a clear message indeed ♥). I'd love to see a bit more of what happens afterwards, and especially a bit more of how Gabin feels about/reacts to being love-confessed to like that.
Besides these two, Geneviève is my fave, and her interactions with both Tobias and Gabin are fantastic, so I'd love something about them featuring her/from her POV. What happens the next time she sees each of them (separately or together) after the finale, and what happens for all three of them and the National afterwards? She might have an especially interesting perspective on the publicity and fame which they'll surely have to deal with now (I imagine e.g. Geneviève experiencing some comedic logistical problems over organising another photoshoot, which Tobias actually turns up to this time for Gabin's sake—I'm sure Gabin would make sure he's suitably rewarded!).
Cheyenne could also be an interesting character to include in a Tobias/Gabin fic—she only gets one scene with each of them in canon, but they're both great and suggest lots of fic potential. What does Cheyenne make of them together? Might she be willing to revise her low opinion of Gabin when she sees how much Tobias, whose judgement she respects, likes him? What if Tobias, on the sensible grounds that they're the two best dancers he knows, decides to choreograph something for Gabin and Cheyenne to dance together? Their styles as well as their personalities might clash, Gabin being a very different kind of male dancer from e.g. Gael; how might they, and Tobias, deal with that?
What does Tobias and Gabin's future together look like? I most like the idea of Tobias staying in Paris in the long term (because of his speech about it, and because it lets them both stay with Geneviève!); but perhaps they end up in New York for a while—I'd love to see Jack's reaction to the new Tobias and to their relationship. Or perhaps they have to go temporarily long-distance while Tobias sorts out things in NYC—I can imagine they would not be very happy about that, possibly with comedic consequences for various other characters.
Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson
David Balfour/Alan Breck Stewart
I love this book for the adventure-novel drama, and the historical setting and detail, but most of all for the lovely, hilarious, adorable relationship between Alan and Davie. I love ships with two weirdos who are outwardly very different and clash at first, but who turn out to be perfectly compatible in their weirdness, get each other and end up deeply caring for each other—and the terribly serious eighteenth-century gentlemanly honour, the folk songs, the twelve-inch height difference and the derailing a quarrel through tactically provoked hurt/comfort are all pretty appealing also.
There are lots of opportunities for missing scenes during their flight in the heather, and especially at Corrienakiegh (and what a beautiful setting it is, too). Perhaps Alan sings David some of his Gaelic and/or Jacobite folk songs to while away the time while they're hiding at Corrynakiegh; or you could write about their fishing and sword-fighting lessons (David observes that 'as I had sometimes the upper-hand of him in the fishing, he was not sorry to turn to an exercise where he had so much the upper-hand of me'—I'd love to see that in more detail!); and then there's the 'there was only one coat' sleeping arrangement, which is perfect material for slash fic...
The Balquhidder interlude, when David is recovering from his illness in the aftermath of their quarrel, is a lovely opportunity for hurt/comfort, emotional heart-to-heart conversations and generally a bit of quiet relationship development in between all the adventure novel drama. How about this poem as a prompt (it's too recent for 1751, but strict historical accuracy didn't stop RLS!)?
I'm interested by David's presumable future as a respectable Whig proprietor at Shaws: how do his canon adventures, his relationship with Alan and his appreciation for the worthwhile things in Alan's strange Highland Jacobite ways affect his future life and choices? What does Alan, who will surely come back to visit him in secret, make of it all? And how might they figure out a happy ending together, given all the obstacles in the way?
As is clear from my requests, I also love the NTS stage adaptation; if you know it and would like to take inspiration/include some elements from the play in a book fic, please do!
Kidnapped - McArthur & McCarthy & Stevenson (NTS Kidnapped)
David Balfour/Alan Breck Stewart
Besides being a great adaptation of a book I love, this play is loads of fun, it combines irreverence and silly humour with real depth where it matters, it gets at the heart of the story, it's just generally a joy of a thing—and it makes my OTP canon :) The play's Alan and Davie are utterly adorable; I love Davie's earnestness and courage, and Alan's dashing, romantic audacity, and I love how much they just go together and how deeply they care about each other despite their quarrels and culture/political clashes.
The part of the play after their big quarrel and Davie's dramatic refusal to betray Alan by helping the treacherous Rob Og definitely presents material to develop a bit more in fic! I adore the bit during 'By Your Side' when Alan bridal-carries Davie across the stage, and a story exploring the hurt/comfort here in more detail, all amongst the reaffirmed love and loyalty between them, would be lovely. Unlike in the book they don't get to stop comfortably in a house at this point—I can see Alan tenderly wrapping his coat round Davie as they take what shelter they can among the heather (in doubtless dreadful weather), almost back at Queensferry but with a way to go yet...
Or you could follow one of the play's very memorable cast of side characters for an outsider POV on their relationship. What do the ex-sailors, re-encountered at the Bam & Anchor, really think about them? Probably my favourite ensemble character is Jannet Clouston—I love how cheerfully fond she is of Davie, and I'm sure she would be supportive (in her way) during his heartbreak after losing Alan and also after the happy ending. After their reunion at the end, perhaps Davie and Alan go to visit some of Alan's Highland friends again together—what do they make of the situation?
Besides the ensemble, I really love the play's take on Frances Stevenson and would enjoy a story from her POV or bringing her in some other way: perhaps you could do something with the parallels between Alan/Davie and Frances/Louis, or with the play's multiple layers of fiction.
Does Alan ever explain the very romantic lyrics of his Gaelic song to Davie? :D
I also love the book; if you know it and would like to take inspiration from it/include some elements from the book that didn't make it into the play, please do!
The Longest Journey - E. M. Forster
Stewart Ansell/Rickie Elliot
This has been one of my favourite books for a long time, for reasons I feel deeply but can never articulate terribly well. I love the things Forster has to say about places ('little worlds'), and the nature of reality and truth and falsehood. I love his prose. I love the flower crowns. And I love how clearly, deeply queer the book is despite it not being out-and-out textual—but I also think it's in need of some fic to make Rickie and Stewart's relationship more explicitly what it really already is, and to let them find some happiness together. Hence this request!
I love the Cambridge setting especially, and would love anything set there or in that part of the book. Perhaps a quiet evening together in Rickie's rooms following one of those philosophical gatherings, alone together after the rest of the student philosophers have left? More lying around in meadows (wearing flower crowns!—I really cannot get over that scene), or a trip further out into the Fens?—it's a really beautiful part of the world, and I think Rickie's aesthetic sense would have some things to say about it. Or perhaps something set while Rickie is staying with Stewart's family during a vacation?—the narrator notes, of the visit we see in the book, that Rickie doesn't fall in love with either of the Ansell girls, and perhaps he thinks about that and makes the further step of realising it's Stewart he's in love with?
Then there are possibilities for things to go differently later on too. What if that exchange of letters in chapter 9 (poor Stewart is so clearly jealous) led to a realisation/confession of feelings, and/or to Rickie actually breaking off his engagement? What about the part in chapter 32 where we learn Rickie has been staying with the Ansells after the Stephen crisis causes him to leave Agnes and Sawston—we see so little of him and Stewart actually together here, but it's full of significant potential (and fix-it opportunities!).
Or, for something more bittersweet, perhaps some post-canon grief and/or ghost fic? This book is so much concerned with the nature and specificity of places, and that seems like it ought to be a good basis for writing about hauntedness. So what does Stewart do later in life, and might Rickie's spirit be not quite 'fled, in agony and loneliness' after all?
Re. my 'unrequested ships' DNW: Whatever amount of background canon Rickie/Agnes is needed to make the plot work is fine; I'd prefer them not to be actually together during the main plot of the fic.
no subject
I really hope you get this one.