Yuletide Letter 2025

[withinadream]

Thank you for writing for me! I am within_a_dream on AO3, and you can read my previous letters here if you want to see some of my previous exchange requests! Please feel free to include anything I don’t DNW – I have very few kink/smut turnoffs (and they’re all in my DNWs), I’ll enjoy pretty much every plot or trope that you feel goes along with my requested characters, and I’m fine with any ships or friendships involving my requested characters. Length of prompts is not a reflection of which fandoms I want more!

DNWs

• Unrequested pregnancy


• Omegaverse


• Modern/mundane AUs (one exception listed for Doctrine of Labyrinths)


• AUs of my historical canons with no homophobia


• Fics that are entirely poetry rather than prose


• Trans characters having PIV sex (other vaginal penetration or use of dicks is fine!)


• Death of my requested characters (deaths of other characters are totally fine)

General Likes

I love all tenses and POVs!

Unusual formats very welcome

Fic about canonical children, Accidental Child Acquisition of OC children (especially for characters who are not at all parental and have no idea what to do with kids)

Casefic, with a loose definition of "case" that encompasses mysteries for mystery fandoms, paranormal investigations for fantasy canons, espionage for spy canons, etc

Ghost stories! Particular favorites include the "ghostly hitchhiker" urban legend and the setup where characters need to spend the night in a haunted house for Reasons

Recovery or aftermath – of canonical traumatic events or noncanonical torture, rape, murder attempts, etc

Characters with disabilities, chronic pain, chronic illnesses

Whump, hurt/comfort, hurt/no comfort

5+1 fics

Epistolary fic

Trans characters, trans headcanons, character-is-trans AUs

Internal or external homophobia

Smut Likes

• Feel free to include any of your favorite kinks if you are writing or drawing me smut! My only squicks are in my DNWs – anything else goes.
  
• Any and all sex acts (vaginal, anal, oral, manual, frottage, intercrural, fisting, double penetration, sounding, etc) are great! I have no top/bottom or dom/sub preferences.


• My favorite words for genitals are cock and cunt, but I have no objections to whatever you’d like to use


• Pretty much anything under the BDSM umbrella. I am especially into unnegotiated or undernegotiated kink, and characters falling into kinky dynamics or things they enjoy (especially with the younger characters). I have no dom/sub preferences


• I would love noncon for any of my requested characters or fandoms – if you want to know more about what I like in dubcon or noncon I have a general list of kinks and tropes here in my Consent Issues letter. I generally prefer noncon with an OC or canonical antagonist as the rapist, and "fuck or die" setups between my requested characters are also great!


• Roleplay – I am into both serious roleplay and goofy scenarios that the characters can’t quite take seriously, and I am especially fond of rape roleplay/consensual non-consent


• Group sex, orgies, and gangbangs


• Gunplay, especially fucking someone with a gun


• Watersports – I am mostly into it for humiliation or marking aspects, and am neutral about drinking piss (and would prefer if any drinking happens it’s someone having their mouth pissed in directly rather than just drinking a glass of pee/etc)

The Sleeping Soldier – Aster Glenn Gray

What is it? A standalone m/m romance novel about a young man cursed to sleep for a century who is pricked by a bayonet during his time in the Union army in the 1860s and wakes up in the 1960s, and the 1960s college student who falls in love with him. My dream time-travel fish-out-of-water gay romance, featuring lots of culture clash and also the 1860s soldier being way less bigoted than his 1960s classmates expect him to be. Published through Amazon, and available on Kindle Unlimited as well as for purchase as an ebook or paperback. (Be prepared for era-typical bigotry including racism and homophobia)
Characters

• Russel Krause
  
  • I love Caleb and Russel/Caleb as well, but I’m only requesting Russel to leave room for less relationship-focused works about Russel getting used to the 1960s
  
  
  • I am so into time travel stories where someone from the past travels forward in time, and this canon was like made in a lab for me. I want so many fics about Russel’s experiences in the 1960s! Talking with his classmates or teachers, reacting to books or movies, what he does after college, or anything else you might like to write
  
  
  • I’m also really into the impact of realizing everyone you knew when you were alive is dead now, and would love some more angst along those lines (or perhaps Russel’s POV on the time he goes missing from the graveyard)
  
  
  • Russel getting sick and thinking it’s much more serious than it is (because it would have been more serious in the 19th century) was also very enjoyable, and I’d love some sickfic exploring other illnesses or injuries he could acquire that have new and/or improved treatments in the 1960s
  
  
  • I love Russel/Caleb, and the preconceptions they both bring to the relationship and have to work through, and I want any and all shipfic you want to write about them!
  
  
  • Russel and Caleb exploring more of the gay scene would be very fun
  
  
  • If you’re in a smutty mood, I’d also love to see Russel working through his hangups about sodomy through assplay and anal sex. I would also love a Russel/Caleb/Michael threesome, related to sodomy exploration or not!

Darlene Series - caroline_easom (Web Series)

What is it? A series of TikToks following the titular Darlene, a young woman escaping fundamentalist Christianity and exploring her newfound lesbianism. Also teases a never-created plot arc (so much as any TikTok skit series can be said to have a plot arc) about finally taking down Darlene's father. I watched this fandom via Youtube compilation, located here. (Be prepared for exploration of fundamentalist Christianity and escaping abusive/controlling parents)

Characters

• Darlene
  
  • I am so into Darlene getting out of her restrictive family life and getting to live her best life with her girlfriend! Show me the movies, books, events, food, etc her girlfriend introduces her to
  
  
  • I also love Darlene helping her sister and mother, and would love fic about her going up against her father and/or helping her relatives adjust to life outside of their religion! (The compilation I watched stopped at Darlene's mother telling her to follow the money, so if there are further Tiktoks I missed where Darlene actually does take down her father, forgive the prompt redundancy)
  
  
  • I would be very into fic exploring Darlene's adjustment period to life after fundamentalism - guilt, learning how to do things she's never experienced before, what her therapy sessions look like, gaining job skills/taking her GED/maybe taking classes
  
  
  • If you want to write smut, I am very here for Darlene getting to explore sex with her girlfriend, whether its' pure fluff, angst (maybe involving panic attacks or other anxiety at having sex at all, having sex with a woman, etc), or anything in between

The Radiant Emperor series – Shelley Parker-Chan

What is it? A two-book series based on the Red Turban Rebellions and the founding of the Ming Dynasty, featuring political machinations, lots of queerness, gritty violence, and lowkey fantasy elements. Books, ebooks, and audiobooks available wherever you usually get them! (Be prepared for gore, sexism, homophobia, and a POV character who's a eunuch with a lot of dysphoria about that)

Characters

• Ma Xiuying, Zhu Chongba | Zhu Yuanzhang
  
  • First off, I am so down for post-canon politics and scheming. Draw as much or as little on actual history as you would like.
  
  
  • I'd especially love politics-y fic focusing on international relations (feel free to cross over any other canons, whether they fit into the general timeline of the duology or not), learning new languages/linguistic nerdery, or both
  
  
  • And I am also down for any and all shippy fic you want to create about these two! Anything along the spectrum from G-rated fluff to raunchy smut is welcome.
  
  
  • Niche and specific prompt: I think it would be fun if after becoming emperor, Zhu and Ma either hook up with one or more of the last set of concubines or gather their own harem of noblewomen (possibly specifically targeting women who want more freedom and/or are queer)
  
  
  • I didn't request Ouyang because I only have this one prompt for him, but if you want to write an Ouyang-centric post-canon AU where he lives and ends up being one of Zhu's advisors or something adjacent, and recovers from both the "what do you do after you've completed your life's mission and it didn't fix your trauma" thing and his misogyny, I would adore it

War on Everyone

What is it? Buddy cop action-dark comedy starring Alexander Skarsgaard and Michael Peña as asshole buddy cops, featuring a surprisingly-RTMI exploration of childhood trauma + traumatized-teen-acquisition (think accidental baby acquisition but it's not accidental and the baby is a teen), some really delightful character dynamics between not only the leads but also love interests and family, and Skarsgaard shirtless and covered in blood. Can be streamed on HBO Max in the US, and also has a DVD release. (Be prepared for pretty much every type of bigotry imaginable [not always sensitively handled] including racial slurs, offscreen but plot-critical CSA, and gore.)

Characters:

• Any [Bob Bolaño (War on Everyone), Terry Monroe (War on Everyone), Danny Reynard (War on Everyone), Delores Bolaño (War on Everyone), Jackie Hollis (War on Everyone)]


• I tried to prompt for each character separately but all of the character prompts started bleeding into each other, so I'm just doing one long prompt list. But if you have an idea for one of these characters that isn't covered by the prompts below, go wild! There is so little fic for this movie and I love all 5 nominated characters so much


• So here's the thing – if you give me a traumatized youth I will love them forever and also want alllll the fic about them coping with their trauma. And to that end, I would love any and all hurt/comfort about Danny, and also about Terry being a weirdly good parental figure to Danny, and also also Terry recontextualizing his own childhood trauma by comforting Danny and realizing he would never blame Danny for the things he blames himself for.


• Also like, Terry definitely has a tragic backstory, right? What was with that whole speech to the thugs telling them that he's been through worse torture and rape before? Pls give me tragic Terry backstory


• I am so enamored with Terry and Bob's friendship, and I would love pre-canon works about them being asshole cops or post-canon works about what they do with their lives post-quitting/being fired. I am always a hurt/comfort fan, so one of them being injured and the other patching them up would be great. And I am also down for them to kiss, if you are into Terry/Bob. I am also very interested in how they ended up being partners in the first place!


• Delores and Bob's relationship is also so fun to me! I didn't expect to come out of a buddy cop action comedy loving the canon het relationships so much but I deeply enjoyed their dynamic, and their philosophy-related arguments. I'd also love to see a Delores-POV look at the events of the movie. (And I'm curious as to whether Terry dragged Bob into the sorts of disasters we see them get involved in, or if Bob was Like This pre-Terry.)


• And Jackie! I also would love to see a Jackie-POV look at the events of the movie. I also love how she and Terry and Danny end up as this weirdly heartwarming little family unit by the end of the movie, and I'd love to see the three of them post-canon. And not gonna lie, I don't have much to hang this ship on but if you are down for some femslash, I would love to see Jackie and Delores kiss solely on the basis of I love them both.


• And on the subject of niche ships, I think Terry, Bob, Delores, and Jackie should have a foursome. This can go as well or as disastrously as you see fit.

Some Like it Hot - Shaiman/Wittman & Shaiman/López & Ruffin

What is it? A musical adaptation/re-imagining of the 1959 film featuring two musicians disguising themselves as women and joining a jazz band to escape the Mob, a jazz singer with big dreams of being a movie star, a millionaire looking for a wife, tap-dancing chase sequences, and a gender-realization plot for one of the "cross-dressing" musicians. The cast album is available for streaming, and here is a link to a bootleg that still worked as of October 2025.

Characters: Any [Jerry | Daphne, Osgood Fielding III, Joe, Sugar Kane]

• So this musical was like, made in a lab for my specific musical theater interests, and really I just want whatever fic you may want to write about any or all of these four. I haven't seen the movie, so my only context is the musical. If you're feeling shippy, I enjoy the canon ships as well as Daphne/Joe and a Daphne/Osgood/Joe/Sugar foursome. I'm using the name Daphne for simplicity, but I'm down with any pronouns/names in your fic (I read Jerry | Daphne as genderfluid in canon but I think the musical supports several readings)


• I'm down for works delving into race, gender, and/or canon- and era-typical bigotry, but also down for keeping things lighter if that's more your speed


• If you want to roll with my niche headcanon, I'm in love with the concept of t4t Daphne/Osgood with transmasc Osgood. The musical takes places right around the time estrogen was first synthesized (1933) and right before testosterone was synthesized (1935), and I feel like Osgood is well-placed to be on the cutting edge of HRT for Daphne and/or him


• I also love the Osgood backstory reveal, and would love Osgood backstory fic! Would love to see his parents, either during his childhood or him interacting with them during/post-canon, and what living with his two names and dual identities was/is like


• Sugar is also delightful. What's her life as a movie star like post-canon? How do she and Joe move forward after he confesses his lies? Or show me more of her life pre-canon! She's clearly a great vocalist, but also struggles in both her professional and personal life, and I'd love to see more of the details we get in canon fleshed out


• Tip-Tap Twins backstory! I would love to see these two at any point from their childhoods to immediately pre-canon. I do ship them and would especially love to see them have a friends-with-benefits type relationship precanon. When did they pick up their respective instruments? What other trouble has Joe (or Jerry?) gotten them into?


• And/or, I'd love to see Joe and Daphne's friendship (or friends-with-benefits-ship if you're down) post-canon. They've known each other for so long that I imagine it's a bit weird for Joe that Daphne has discovered this huge facet of their identity without Joe there by their side, and I'm down for Joe being a bit of a dick about his feelings before he adjusts. Or, if you're down to get shippy with it, would love to see their first time together post-Daphne's realization, and/or some smut after Daphne starts estrogen if you're down for historical HRT


• Really I would just love to see Daphne post-canon. The wedding! Their new stage show with Joe, and what stays the same vs different with their newly-realized gender! What it's like suddenly being a millionaire!


• And if you want to get smutty, I would really love a foursome, especially with a context of past Jerry/Joe hookups and how things are different now that they've both got new partners

Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical – SpitLip

What is it? A comedy musical about Britain's Operation Mincemeat, a WW2 espionage mission involving a disguised corpse. It completely cracked me up but also had some moments that were far more emotionally moving than a comedy musical about a corpse has any right to be. It also has some great usage of cross-cast roles as commentary/exploration of 1940s sexism. It's still showing on Broadway and the West End if you happen to be in the area with ticket money, or the cast album is streaming, many of the big musical numbers can be found in video form on YouTube, and I can provide you with this audio-only bootleg to fill in the plot gaps between songs. (Be prepared for era-typical sexism, Nazis, and some grim corpse-related dialogue, and be warned that if you do even cursory research on the IRL Operation Mincemeat, a photo of the RL corpse used is fairly unavoidable)

Characters: Jean Leslie, Hester Leggatt

• So I love pretty much every character in this musical, but Jean & Hester had me hooked from the first time I heard Useful. So fascinated by the way Hester works within the confines of gendered expectations versus Jean's more open rebellion, and the way they move towards a middle ground throughout the show. I would so love to see more of them working together post-canon. I do love a good spy story, but I would read and love these two in a mundane office slice-of-life as well


• I know absolutely nothing about the RL history of the people used as characters in the show, and am happy for you to likewise use only knowledge from the musical, write me a scrupulously-researched fic with more footnotes than a doctoral thesis, or anything in between


• I am fascinated by the small glimpse of Hester's otherwise-inscrutable personal life that we get through "Dear Bill", and would love to see her open up to Jean about her past or current personal life. Jean wears her emotions on her sleeve and Hester is so buttoned-up, and I would really like to see more of that contrast in interactions between the two of them.


• I would also really love to see what Jean and Hester do post-war, now that they've had this taste of being useful. (Presumably there is RL history to draw on, which you can use or ignore as you wish.) Do they chafe against the sexism of MI-5 even more now that they know they were instrumental in a vital operation that they can never tell anyone about? Do they find success in operating behind the scenes, or perhaps win glory and get their plaques while they're still alive?


• Did I request Glyndwr Michael? No. Would I be very into a fic from the POV of ghost!Glyndwr Michael observing the shenanigans being gotten up to by Jean, Hester, and the lads with his corpse? (And possibly the friendship or romance between Jean and Hester?) Very much so.


• I do ship these two like burning, and was stunned to find that no one who's posted fic for the musical on AO3 seems to share my vision. Hester says she will need to break Jean in! They have a duet! They both chafe in different ways against the sexist societal norms of 1940s Britain! Hester's got a secret tragic backstory and may think she will never love again! I think they should kiss and/or fuck and/or continue to do espionage-y stuff or other work activities together while kissing/fucking and I would like to humbly request your assistance in making this happen.


• If you're going smutty, I love office sex, historical clothing, and nearly getting caught. I'm also very into the age difference and potential experience gap in either direction (I could see Hester having been around the block with women vs Jean just realizing her queer attraction, or Hester being a virgin vs a more sexually experienced Jean)

Copper Script – KJ Charles

What is it? Stand-alone historical m/m romance novel set in 1920s London, featuring a straight-laced police officer falling despite himself for a disreputable graphologist with a supernatural ability to interpret people's handwriting during the course of investigating blackmail and then a murder. Available in hard copy, ebook, and audiobook format through Amazon. (Be prepared for era-typical sexism and homophobia, shitty families, and offscreen rape & child abuse.)

Characters: Any [Aaron Fowler, Joel Wildsmith, Helen Challice]

• First off, I've read all of Charles' other books and am happy for you to cross over Copper Script with any of them, if you feel so inspired! They're very cross-over-able, and I would especially love to see Joel's graphology fit into the supernatural worldbuilding of any of the fantasy series.


• I'm always down for casefic, either pre-canon with Aaron and/or Helen investigating crimes, or post-canon with Joel along for the ride. I think it would be fun if Aaron and Joel went into business as private detectives post-canon! Certainly Joel's graphology would prove very useful.


• I believe Charles has said that there used to be a bunch of Joel backstory that got cut, and I think it shows in the book – I would love to see more of Joel's past (relationship or life in general) fleshed out.


• I love Aaron and Joel as a couple and will eat up any and all shippy fic you wish to write about them! If you're feeling smutty, I would love to see Joel's graphology used for sexy purposes – perhaps Aaron writing him a note while jerking off so Joel can enjoy the sensations that evokes later on. I'd also love more of the promised cutting the laces of Aaron's metaphorical corset (and would be down for literal corset-wearing on either of their parts, come to think of it.) I'd also just love to see what their relationship looks like when it's more established and they're more settled in, and not under threat of death from gangsters and corrupt cops!


• And Helen! I love herrrrr and I will enjoy any Helen-centered fic. You can give me one of her cases (I'm down for graphic detail in terms of rape or abuse, but it isn't necessary to include), or show some pre-canon interactions between her and Aaron or how she fits in with Aaron and Joel post-canon. I would love to see Helen finding out about their relationship, whether they tell her or she figures it out or both. I would also love you to set up Helen with a femslash or poly ship of your choice - my favorite spun-out-of-nothing ship for her is to pair her with Aaron's sister Sarah, with or without Sarah's canon husband along for the ride, but I'm down for anyone including OCs or crossover ships. Not super into shipping her monogamously with a man, though.

Doctrine of Labyrinths – Sarah Monette

What is it: A four-book fantasy series featuring juicy magical worldbuilding (including cultural differences between magical practice that I love to dig into), ghosts, and the saddest main characters ever being put through frankly implausible levels of misery that I eat up with a spoon as a whump-lover. You'll need to get your hard copies used, but at long last they're in print again in ebook and audiobook form (under the author's other pen name, Katherine Addison). (Be prepared for onscreen rape, CSA, abusive relationships, torture, homophobia, violence.)

Characters: Mildmay Foxe

• I love everyone in this series, but Mildmay is my super special fave. Gen is great, feel free to include any other characters you like, and if you're feeling shippy, I'm into pretty much any Mildmay m/m (not as into Mildmay het)


• I am so deeply in love with the series' worldbuilding, and would love a Mildmay-centric worldbuilding fic. Would love to see Mildmay telling more stories, more encounters with ghosts, Mildmay ending up teaching a class in Corambis, Mildmay getting embroiled in more magic either alone or through Felix's bad magic decisions...or anything else you are itching to write!


• I also love Mildmay whump! Noncon, dubcon, physical injury, sickfic, delving into his baggage about his speech and his limp and his intelligence, or anything else


• If you're feeling shippy, here's my request from a prior exchange where I requested Mildmay/Any Male Character: All I want is to see Mildmay’s Big Bisexual Janus Awakening. His insistence that he’s not molly seems very tied to his past with Kolkhis and I would love to see him having a trauma reaction to realizing he’s attracted to/in love with a man. I’d also love to see someone force him to lie back and enjoy himself in bed instead of being so giving (which also seems tied to his past, so you could go hurt/comfort and/or traumatic backstory exploration with that too). Mildmay’s shame about his intelligence and scar and speech difficulties and limp made me love him so much, and I would love to see a lover who maybe helps him work through some of that self-hatred.


• And to finish us off, here's a couple specific AUs or tropes I've requested for this fandom in the past, if either inspires you (some were for ship requests for Felix & Mildmay, so feel free to focus on just the Mildmay portions if you don't want to include Felix):
  
  • Characters deaged to age at loss of virginity; {Character X} is upsettingly young: A lot of the other characters know intellectually what happened to Felix when he was young, and a few about Mildmay and Kolkhis, but there’s a difference between knowing and seeing unsettlingly young Felix and/or Mildmay (feel free to deage only one, or both). Up to you if they remember their adult lives or not. I do think it would be fun to make an adult character or two wrangle the deaged character/s until they figure out how to reverse the effect
  
  
  • Community College AU, Small Liberal Arts College AU - Perhaps the college is the Corambis analogue in Felix’s exile in this universe. Felix loves teaching, and I’d love to see him still teaching in a modern AU. I’d love to see what reasons you’d come up with for Mildmay having to come along with him. How did Kay and/or Mildmay get injured in this AU, and how do they feel about their disabilities? Are all of the characters professors? What subjects do they teach? And honestly I’d love to see how any of the characters’ backstories would translate to a modern AU; don’t feel obligated if you don’t find this sort of thing fun to write, but I’d love to see what you come up with. This is an exception to my modern/mundane AU DNW