elegantstupidity | Heart Attack Exchange 2021 Letter

Hey there! I had such a good time with this exchange last year, if frantically plotting and outlining and writing for two weeks straight counts as "a good time." (Which it does! I had a blast and am looking forward to this again!)

Full disclosure, this letter is pretty much copy/pasted from last year's. Time got away from me, and I won't have a chance to come up with new prompts before sign ups close. I am as enthusiastic, if not more, about these suggestions as I was last year, though if you'd like something new feel free to shoot me a request through the mod. Otherwise, I'm very easy to please; rating, length over the minimum, ship vs. gen, art or fic, whatever, I'll take any of it! Basically anything that even tangentially touches on one of these prompts—or an old one if I've ever requested this fandom before—or a general like will be a delight!

Thanks in advance and see you on the other side!

elegantstupidity

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Yes, Please! and No, Thanks!
Requests: A League of Their Own, Naruto, Pitch, The Queen's Gambit (TV)

Yes, Please!
genres and styles

adventure, angst (though preferably with a bittersweet or happy ending), canon-typical plots, character studies, fantasy and sci-fi, fluff, humor/comedy, hurt/comfort, mysteries and casefic, romance, slice of life
AUs
- especially canon-divergences, canon+ (basically, the canon setting + some fantastical/magical element, ie: body swaps, unexpected telepathic connections, time loops, etc.), or fusions and genre shifts (ie: daemon AUs, Pacific Rim, Hogwarts, in space!, epic fantasy, etc.)
- exceptions I'm not particularly into: A/B/O, de-aging, soulmate/soulmark AUs, or making the setting more ordinary/mundane than canon
character- and relationship-driven plots
epistolary elements
- both letters and texts/emails/digital communication as well as in-universe texts/published materials
missing scenes
parallels and canon callbacks
x + 1 times

details

competence/characters in their element
- alternatively, I do love a good fish out of water scenario
food, baking, and/or cooking porn
worldbuilding
- Even for canons that ostensibly take place in the real world, I love getting a taste of all the little details that add color and texture to these character’s lives.
  - Stuff like: politics/local government, what's on their TBR list, what's in their fridge/closet/bag/car, what kind of celebrity gossip exists in their world, etc.
Honestly, you can't go overboard on the descriptions and detail, no matter how minute or possibly off-topic. Tell me all about the setting or circumstances, the characters' emotions/sensations, bits of backstory, anything!

gen relationships

loyalty and ride or die friendships
complex friendship dynamics
- I prefer when conflicts are resolved at least semi-happily, but angst on the way is excellent!
found families and/or family feels and/or complex family situations
team bonding/group dynamics
- eg: road trips, pranks, inside jokes, friendship building, nights out, games/game nights, betting pools, roughhousing/physical affection, celebrations/parties, etc.
mutual admiration societies/positive partnerships
- I love snark and teasing and even outright antagonism, too, they just have to end up liking each other—even grudgingly.

romantic relationships

anything from above
- I really love romances that are built on friendships/trust/loyalty or at the very least some kind of shared history
pre-relationship and/or getting together plots
- slow burns, UST, mutual pining, denial, flirting, lingering touches, veiled confessions
- [enemies/rivals to] friends to lovers
  - I'm all about snarky antagonism/belligerence/teasing as flirting
- FWBs catching feelings
- breaking the seal
  - i.e. “We just kissed/slept together/did something unmistakably romantic, but we’re definitely not gonna do it again for reasons,” and then they absolutely do it again.
- basically, any kind of romcom trope that you can imagine
enforced proximity
- bed sharing, handcuffed together, locked in a closet, deserted together, curses/spells tethering them, sharing body heat, etc.
secret and/or "forbidden" relationships
HEAs or HFNs

smut/porn

feelings

basically anything that shows how into each other the characters are
romance, trust, enthusiasm, intensity, tenderness, vulnerability, desperation, neediness [to please], intimacy, hand holding, eye contact, laughing/having fun with it
Alternatively, I can definitely get behind some hate/grudge sex.

firsts

first time together or the first time trying something new or sexual awakenings/kink discovery, shy or desperate or a little awkward, etc. etc. and on and on and on
resolving UST to "get it out of their systems" or other transparently thin reasons to bang it out

sex pollen/curses/generally dubcon-ish scenarios are great for characters who are already into each other but haven't, for whatever reason pulled the trigger on their attraction.

physicality

rough sex, hair pulling, holding each other down, losing control, marking, not making it to the bed, spanking, etc.
use of athleticism/strength/endurance/stamina/flexibility/focus on character's physique
general handsiness
cuddling/close contact, DP, from behind/bent over something, lap sex, riding, three-/moresomes, wall sex

teasing
- banter/dirty talk, body worship, grinding/frottage, hand/mouth stuff, phone/cyber/video/etc. sex, solo action, lots of foreplay, etc.

art/visual likes

For book/nonvisual canons, I tend not to have strong opinions on the characters' appearances beyond what's established in the text. Feel free to draw them however you like!
Meta art, if that makes sense?
- eg: The design of a character's work ID or baseball/trading card, snapshots they might've taken, or a peek inside someone's bedroom/bag/social media accounts/whatever.
I'm always down for portraits, especially with fun, graphic backgrounds
costume porn, canon-inspired or not
floral prints/flowers are always a plus, as well as other natural elements
domestic scenes or characters at rest/relaxing
any of my narrative likes are also fair game for art
Go as wild stylistically as you like!
Color-wise, I like lots of different things!
- pastels, rich tones, grayscale, minimal palettes, sepia, monochromatic are all great (probably not all together, but I’m not an artist, so it’s not like my opinion on this, or any, front is particularly well informed).
If I've written a fic in one of the fandoms I'm requesting—and you feel like it!—I'd love an illustrated adaptation of something!

No, Thanks!

explicit and/or extreme (14 or younger) underage
graphic violence or gore
- injuries, physical fights, etc. that have happened in canon or are canon-typical are fine to include
humiliation

embarrassment is fine to include, but I'd prefer no lingering/extended focus on it

infidelity
non-canonical character death (unless prompted)
parent/child incest
pregnancy and/or parenting non-canonical children (unless prompted)
- babysitting, temporary accidental baby acquisition, or kids who exist in canon are fine
rape or noncon
requested ships in established romantic relationships (unless prompted or already established in canon)

Requests

A League of Their Own
relationships: Jimmy/Dottie

I have watched this movie more times than I can count, and I am always prepared to watch it again. I just love it that much. I'm always a sucker for a good (and bad to be perfectly honest) movie about female athletes, and this one has to be one of the best. There're lots of things to love about it, like the setting—I'm so here for all the homefront America details, especially stuff about small-town life in the Midwest—and the script—which can be equally hilarious and poignant. Plus, there's the baseball of it all. The camaraderie and the victory and the drama going along with the grind and the effort and the tough losses. The romance and the tragedy all wrapped up into one game. And, to be honest, the romance is 100% what I am here for, specifically between Jimmy and Dottie. Great individually, but even better together. Obviously, they're hugely different—fresh-faced but so serious farm girl vs washed-up but romantic idealist drunk, but deep down, no matter how Dottie might deny it, they really are both just ballplayers at heart. The progression of their relationship—mutual skepticism and derision slowly turning to grudging respect to actual understanding and, yeah, love—is just so good!

Any other characters or ships from the movie you want to include in supporting roles are totally fine by me. Re: Bob, if you don't want to go AU and have him and Dottie divorce/broken up or never get together in the first place, I'm also fine with him dying offscreen and having Dottie as a war widow.

prompts

Maybe the next season, or even a few down the line, Dottie unexpectedly comes back to the league and upends the status quo her team (honestly, more like her manager) have found.

Having to rebuild trust and camaraderie with the memory of what their relationship used to be. Jimmy trying to stay angry after she left the game (and him, not that it matters) while Dottie pretends it doesn't bother her. Or the fact that they're not bickering, are painfully polite, is just proof that things aren't as good as they say.

Knock-down, drag-out arguments that aren’t always ended with furious, angry kissing and/or sex, but it happens more often than either of them would care to admit to. Just like neither of them would care to admit to maybe sometimes picking fights on the off-chance that this one will end that way, too.
Consider: Jimmy on a farm. Not sure why, but something about it speaks to me. Maybe he's trekking out to Oregon to get Dottie to come back (to the team or to him, who can say)? Or she’s boarding at a farmhouse in Rockford because she misses the rhythm of farm life, and he doesn't love the pigs, but the alternative is not seeing her at all? Or the bus breaks down on the way to Kenosha, and the only nearby building is a working dairy farm?
Now that we're solidly in the offseason, I'd love more baseball in any form! Some ideas:

Batting practice: hitting off each other or the machine, getting too competitive—Jimmy overtly while Dottie would never admit that it matters who hits the longest home run, but it really does.
Strategy sessions: cobbling together intel on the other players, listening to radio broadcasts when they can get them, arguing over lineups even as they take the field or everyone else is asleep on the bus.

I feel like the Suds Bucket was not the only time the girls snuck out for a little dancing and fun, and at some point, Dottie must join them. Maybe the first time they run into Jimmy, it's an accident—he's just trying to get a drink that didn't come out of a warm flask and did not count on this gaggle of ballplayers—but all the times after?

Naruto
relationships: Tenten & Any, Tenten/Any

I will be honest, much as I love the pure ridiculousness that is the Naruto-universe—Ninja! With magic! And demon monsters! The worldbuilding possibilities alone are incredible!—it is secondary to my love of Tenten. I’ve loved that walking arsenal for so, so long. She’s one of those characters that I come back to over and over again because I can’t get enough of her. What can I say? Love me a girl with spirit, big dreams, and an entire armory at her disposal. To be fair, I also like how much potential she's got because she's such a minor character; there’s a lot of filling in the gaps that could be done with her personality and motivations and relationships, all of which make as much sense as anything else in this world. Essentially, there are any number of takes on Tenten that I would thoroughly enjoy. Does she have a tragic backstory that was never discussed? Is she entirely too well-adjusted for the Konoha 12? Does she have some secret talent or hobby? Who knows! Make it up and there's a 95% chance it will still fit in with canon!

Feel free to play as fast and loose with canon as you like for any of these prompts. Resurrect the dead! Mess around with the timeline! Diverge from canon events! Or don’t. Something that hews close to the on-page/-screen ninja world would be great. Killing off OCs and/or violence in mission fic is totally fine; I'd just prefer not to linger on the bloodier details. Also, please take my Anyone & or / Tenten at face value! I would 100% enjoy anyone from the Naruto universe appreciating (or coming to appreciate) Tenten in pretty much any capacity. Romance or friendship or just the acknowledgment of a worthy opponent, all are A+ to me. Some possibilities, though don't limit yourself to: Tenten+any of the Konoha 12 or their sensei, Tenten+other weapons users, Tenten+mentors or students of her own, Tenten+reluctant (or not) allies, etc. etc. Totally happy if these relationships are the focus or in the background, leaving most of the plot to Tenten herself

prompts

I'd love to see Tenten in her element—or out of it! that's always fun too!—on a mission. Either with Team Gai, with more unexpected partner(s), or completely on her own. Going undercover or embarking on a research/buying trip or a long escort mission or as part of a diplomatic envoy because someone's got to do it. Completely routine or everything's going sideways from the start.
Part of why I find Tenten so impressive is because she has such a novel skillset, especially compared to her teammates and Gai. She must be a great self-directed learner, and I'd love to see more of her taking up new skills, or just honing the ones she already has.
- Negotiating and signing a summoning contract. Developing jutsu on her own or with research partners from around Konoha or beyond. Studying non-projectile weapons (or designing a completely new one to really catch enemies off guard).
- On the complete flip side, I'd also be very into someone asking Tenten to share her expertise. Advanced kunai tricks with Professor Tenten! Or filling in as a jounin sensei for various teams (Feel free to use Boruto characters for this, though I haven't seen any of it, and/or go with OCs).
Time travel nonsense!

Did one of her seals or new techniques go wrong? Did she get caught up in someone else's mistake? Just how far in the past (or future, if you want to go speculative) did she go? Does she get stuck and try to make the best of it or get back home, which maybe isn't as familiar as she left it?

I don't know that I see Tenten actively searching out an eternal rival of her own, but I also can't see her turning one down if it falls in her lap, you know? Or it's entirely possible she runs hard in the opposite direction because one Gai Jr. is more than enough, even if her potential rival doesn't agree.
Honestly, I have simple needs. I want Tenten to have nice things (all the knives she can carry! delicious food! lots and lots of orgasms!) and for someone (or many someones) to admire and enjoy her as much as I do. Give her a secret admirer or the weapons cache of her dreams or the mission of a lifetime—leading to fame and glory or the ability to settle down and focus on a new passion, whatever it may be.

Pitch
relationships: Ginny/Mike, Ginny/Livan/Mike

Truly, there's not enough that I could say about this show, and I have tried, that would adequately capture my whole-hearted love. It was pretty much everything I could want out of a TV show—complex, compelling characters playing out tightly crafted drama with joy, all while playing baseball and looking beautiful—aside from being far too short. I mean, this show gave me Ginny Baker, who's basically my platonic ideal of a main character. She'd be great just about anywhere, but she was perfect for Pitch. Strong and talented and dedicated, but also so aware of her place in history, which can make her doubt what she's earned and struggled for, Ginny was such a joy to watch. And so were Mike and Livan, who I feel are far more similar than either would ever admit—both competitive and talented and cocksure to cover up that semi-tragic past. The development of her rapport with Mike, going from disappointed expectations/pure skepticism to the intensity and intimacy of their bond, was a fun contrast to Livan, who wasn't afraid to be an asshole to pretty much everyone but Ginny. Especially considering the rivalry (AKA ridiculous chemistry) between Livan and Mike.

For Ginny/Livan/Mike, I like each side of the threesome, so I prefer a situation where they're all into everyone else (even if it starts out or even remains grudging on the Mike and Livan axis). I'd also be happy to see any other Pitch characters or ships you want to include in supporting roles.

prompts

Somehow, and getting anyone to agree on the exact sequence of events is a lost cause from the get go, they get left behind somewhere and have to either wait for someone to come back for them or make their way on their own.

Did they get stranded when the team left for the next stop on a road trip? Are they stuck in a small town following some offseason fan-outreach? Did they miss the bus after a spring training game? I really don't mind how contrived it all is if it's in service of impromptu roadtrip/vacation and unexpected bonding/cooperation.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: bodyswap!

How it happens or who's involved, I don't know! But I do want to know all about the fallout. Does dealing with Mike's creaky knees earn him some sympathy from Livan? Does Mike hate how much easier it all is—he doesn't even need a trainer to help him stretch? Does Ginny take her new body for a spin, either on the field or off?

There may have been an inadvisable victory hookup that definitely isn’t going to happen again because Ginny has her code, and intra-team relationships are always more mess than they’re worth. Except now, they're on a serious losing streak and have been since it was decided there would be no repeat performances, and maybe that’s a sign?
Ginny and Mike (and Livan) have got to be three of the most highly sought interviews from the Padres, from the local beat writers to bigger outlets to random podcasts looking for guests, and I'd love to see more about how they handle the media attention.

They've all got media training, but their styles are all so different. Also, I love the way sports reporters wax poetic about players, so seeing Ginny/Mike/Livan react to that kind of gushing about their teammates—who definitely aren't anything more—could be really fun.

Mike has officially retired, but you wouldn't know it from how much he's still around, sticking his nose in Ginny’s (and/or Livan’s) business. Sending along his thoughts on last night's game, showing up on doorsteps, compiling his own scouting reports, making sure they're fully compatible as batterymates.

The Queen's Gambit (TV)
relationships: Beth & Any, Beth/Benny

This show was just so gorgeously done—stylish and smart and serious while still leaving room for unexpected sweetness—and I can't quite get over it. Not that I want to, because so much about it speaks directly to what I want from a TV show: beautiful costuming on beautiful people and rich, compelling storytelling about complex characters who are nonetheless great at what they do. It's basically a really well done women's sports drama, which will get me hook, line, and sinker every single time, with the added bonus of a historical setting. Beth is such a great protagonist—competitive and talented and smart and conflicted—and I loved getting to cheer her on through every victory and misstep. The tension between her innate intelligence and skill and her demons and self-destructive tendencies was balanced so well, letting Beth advance and fall back without truly forfeiting and giving up. And for all her prickliness and the walls she's built up to protect herself, the fact that Beth collected all these people to love and support her—in so many different capacities—is really all I coud ask for.

For Beth/Benny, I love that for how similar they—two young stars of the game, though at different points in their careers—they have such different approaches and sensibilities, but still understand and respect each other. While wanting to trounce the other at every opportunity, of course. If you want to include any other characters, I am more than okay with that!

prompts

Anything that delves into Beth's thought processes/analyses as she plays or trains would be great! Chess is not my game—I know enough to know I'm not good at it—but I love reading about characters in their element, and this is definitely Beth's. Some possibilities: Beth training for and/or at the World Championship, or Beth becoming a Master or Grand Master, or Beth explaining her gameplay to someone (either another player or a reporter or a complete amateur) or Beth competing in a women's tournament.
Beth seemed to pick up admirers/friends wherever she went, and she's got to keep in touch with them somehow. So, Beth getting a chess pen pal (or several), some of which may or may not be clandestine in nature.

I really loved how much respect the Russians—particularly Borgov and Luchenko and Girev—had for her, and would like to see them foster a friendship (and possibly nearly instigate an international incident or two).

How different would Beth’s path to the top of the chess world be if, for whatever reason, she’d never been sent to the Methuen Home?

Maybe her mother survived the bridge or was successful in leaving Beth with her father. Without Mr. Shaibel, though, what’s her entry to the game? Is her talent encouraged or does it take her a while to get into the game competitively? Does she discover it when a tournament is held on campus? Does she visit New York and get hustled by some guy in the park with a ridiculous hat and an actual knife?

After a while, Beth and Benny don’t bother keeping score, except they definitely do.

From the little things—rounds of speed chess and first place trophies and who scores the invite to the really exclusive tournaments and who's just the alternate—to the big ones—stories no one else has ever heard and who instigated their latest adjournment to bed and things they didn't mean to ever say but are true nonetheless.

Beth and Benny as occasional friends with benefits because they're definitely not doing anything as committed as actual dating. But still getting tetchy (definitely not jealous) when they hear the other is “mentoring” someone, hooking up at tournaments, arguing over middle game strategies as foreplay.

Last updated on November 8, 2020