Satoka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wallflowering) wrote2019-05-29 12:39 am
wallflowering) wrote2019-05-29 12:39 am
Entry tags:
Rare Male Slash Exchange 2019
[08/06/19, this is still very very incomplete but I'm feeling so bad I've left this locked for so long so I'm making it public! I'M SO SORRY for the wait and all the incomplete sentences and grammar mistakes that will unlikely get corrected ever. I'll probably going to re-write & add more thoughts etc. here and there, and you definitely don't have to come back & check later, please just take it as it is now and do what you want to do! (And if you've already started working on your assignment, simply ignore this letter & keep going!)]
Hello to you fellow fandom creators! I'm![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
wallflowering on AO3 & ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
chrisodonnell @ Tumblr of doom. Thank you so much in advance for creating something for me. Or just being curious or (good-)crazy enough to visit this post, if you're just dropping by. Either way, I'm already excited we share some interests & the love for rare male ships (WOOHOO). I hope you have a great time doing this exchange, spreading & celebrating the rare pair love, and don't stress at all!
IN ADVANCE: I'M SO SORRY THIS LETTER IS A MESS & SO LONG!!
General info:
Fandom Index:
Pacific Rim (Movies)
DC Extended Universe: Suicide Squad
Fast and the Furious Series
Law & Order: SVU
The Longest Ride (2015)
The Following
NCIS: Los Angeles
I've also added Tumblr links to each of fandom sections because that's where I collect fannish stuff and I like to have them handy. You don't have to look through them of course, but if you're feeling like or in need of some quick visual/textual inspiration or distraction, feel free to look around.
Pacific Rim (Movies)
"I stayed. You left. Remember?"
(Apologies for this horrible looking gif, I killed the quality to make it run longer~)
Nate Lambert/Jake Pentecost
Joseph Burke/Nate Lambert
Tag links: Pacific Rim | Uprising | Nate/Jake | Burke/Nate
I LOVE Pacific Rim (2013). I loved it so much I never wanted a sequel to be made. But I still went to the theater for Uprising (in last May, now wish I hadn't waited that long) because if there was a movie named Pacific Rim there was no way I'd miss it. And I hated Uprising like burning but also fell hard for Jake/Nate. I love everyone in 2013 movie; even the characters I don't like that much, I LOVE them all, if that makes sense. (I'm still >:-| that all of my beloved characters from 2013 movie weren't themselves at all in Uprising.) And even though I'm still not crazily in love with Uprising, I've learned a lot about its characters, come to care about them deeply, and I'm very protective of them. So I don't really mind having any other characters in background or in supporting roles or as a POV person of outsider POV, as long as they aren't the main focus of the fanwork.
For Uprising prompts/thoughts, a lot of them are based on/mixed with the aspects from two official novels: 1) movie prequel Ascension (epub dl) & 2) movie novelization (epub dl), there's also mentions of comics. You don't have to read or know anything about them of course, but please know there are spoilers if you plan to read those. I'm also totally bullshitting those movie canons & non-movie half-canons because I ignore the ones I don't like or think make sense, so don't take my rambling about them seriously and simply ignore. ;)
Fandom DNWs: I dig therefore I fandom, and for Uprising I ended up digging up an unfortunate amount (you'll be surprised) of meta/analysis/fics that had Stacker as an actual bad/abusive CO/father and 'literal nobody in background/should've died' Nate for Jake's and Jake & Mako's (back)story to work and I'm just so... heartbroken. I'd totally love to read/see Jake's story focused on him and his relationship with people around him with the hint/possibility of Jake/Nate, but please no abusive father/son relationship (they can argue, disagree, misunderstand, headbutt and fight, but abuse - physically or mentally - just no. I love Stacker Pentecost too much to be okay with this), or dismissing Nate in their friendship/partnership. Thank you.
******
Nate/Jake
The thing I particularly dig for them is mutual pining and the communication failure/miscommunication/misunderstanding between them ※1 - despite them being drift compatible partners holding the longest drift record as the cadets (as the rangers the record goes to Kaidanovskys) and hopefully onto becoming ones of the best rangers in the PPDC history - and their getting-(back)-together wise, the drift actually works //against// them and not as an advantage. Unfortunate emotions/memories spill leads to misunderstanding, leap from sharing everything as teenagers to adults is a scary thing - it's hard for Jake who's been on his own for so long to have another person to share his headspace, how easily and well they could fit together after a decade actually feels daunting, A is hiding/holding something back and B can feel it but can't/doesn't want to ask, B is hiding/holding something back from A but A doesn't know because B does it well and it blows later. Or since there are basically no operative Jaegers left anywhere on earth post-movie, they won't be able to have a chance to drift for a while and during the period they fail to communicate like adults and things get complicated or worse. Or they try to drift and suddenly can't at all. Or it ends up a bad, disastrous one. I love and live for Nate being head-over-heels in love with Jake, but the feeling is mutual and Jake just as fiercely loving Nate back. It's just even though they care deeply for each other things are still complicated and they still have tons of feelings and issues to work out - three deployments just don't magically solve the bad part-ways (or breakup) and eleven years of separation, and for me the movie didn't resolve anything between them. So anything post-movie where things are looking and going all great and dandy or at least okay on surface but actually aren't would fuel my soul.
※1 I've been thinking real hard and long why they appeal me this way and I'm still not sure. Probably because it's easy to assume it's one of the reasons what led them to the fight that made Jake try to pilot the Jaeger solo?
Burke/Nate
There were lines *both* in the prequel novel and movie novelization about the PPDC not starting to build the Jaegers again until four years later since the end of the first Kaiju War (the reason behind it was never explained in either of books), so I'm assuming it was the developed canon for Uprising - at least internally in the production - even though it was never mentioned in the actual movie. Based on this assumption my headcanon for Burke(/Nate) is that Burke joined the PPDC at the age around 21-22 (?) ※2 when they started building the Jaegers and recruiting again in 2029-30 (?) - since him and Nate were both 27 in 2035 (at least around the time Ascension's events took place) and the ones of the oldest Jaeger pilots - and then had become Nate's drift partner. In the movie novelization there was a line on Jake recognizing Burke from when they were the cadets, when he came (back) to Moyulan with Shao as Shao Industries's spokesperson and a drone Jaeger pilot and her favorite employee, but to me it made zero sense. Like I said in the previous exchange letter I think there was no way Nate had to go through 6 drift incompatible partners before Jake if there were already not only Jake but also Burke from the beginning. But of course that's only me.
Anyway whether it's 11 or 10 or 6 years of partnership (post-Jake, post-Kaiju War I, post-Jaeger program reboot), it's literally years of partnership and there are just so many opportunities & possibilities for their relationship and story (romantic or not) - what their first meeting was like, how they established their drift partnership, how Nate had gotten over Jake (in some degree at least, or hadn't at all) and accepted Burke as his co-pilot (or actually hadn't) - and I'm here for it. I also love how Nate was kind of a mess towards the end of Ascension since he'd found out Burke was leaving, and it just cries for more Nate angst, being left by both of his only drift compatible partners.
Burke was last seen in the movie when the Kaiju infection took over the drone Jaeger system and there was no clear description of his fate in the movie novelization, though it did say most of Shao's pilots got their brains fried and died. Burke dead, Burke alive, Burke bad, Burke good, I'm okay with any interpretations of him. I'm very much interested in pre-Ascension Burke/Nate get-together if you go for romantic relationship route; I'm not keen on post-Uprising endgame Burke/Nate but not completely against it if you're so inclined. I'm not requesting Burke/Nate/Jake but okay enough with the idea, again if you're that inclined. ;)
※2 Cadets in Uprising were all around 17 (except Amara who was 15), so I'm thinking the age limit for the Jaeger Program entry is something similar to the one for US Military Academy: 17-23 ish?
******
# Jake & Nate doing some mundane, pretty usual stuff. Just a day in Shatterdome, training and attending boring briefings and doing grades, eating everyday meal in the mess hall, spending a day-off together doing nothing or going out, walking around Fuding city... (or any other cities, on vacation or on the PPDC business trips).
# Jake & Nate birthdays! I've lost the link, but there was a Tumblr text post going around for years about how cute it would be when a Jaeger pilot wants to surprise their partner (with the gift or party or anything) but doesn't want to spoil the plan to them and has to try hard to keep it secret while drifting, or desperately hopes there wouldn't be another Kaiju/deployment until the birthday b/c they can't keep it from them in the drift.
# Jake & Nate going on a 'proper' date.
# I have this tag for Jake/Nate AU ideas, there's only a handful and all pretty much mundane ones. But maybe if you're feeling like it?
# Little Spoon/Big Spoon: I love the idea of Big Spoon Nate hugging the hell out of Jake and Jake who's been alone and on his own for a long time loving it and having the time of his (love) life. But I also love Little Spoon Nate who - secretly, or openly (only to Jake) - loves/needs to be cuddled and Jake is more than happy to provide. *insert 'Both. Both. Both. Both is good' The Road to El Dorado gif* Y/Y? :))))))
# Bring all pure smut & porn! Jake is super determined to wreck Nate (to make him lose control, let go of his guard) and take him thoroughly & completely apart.
# Or, after eleven years of wait Nate simply can't stop himself & goes totally overboard, and Jake is of course 100% on board with this, but even he can't keep up with him and take it anymore and has to give up - which is such a defeat for him. XD
# I was going through Geoff Stults's instagram feed because Scott Eastwood and him seem to be good friends and hanging out a lot and I apparently don't have life, then I saw this, and well… I'm such a filthy minded person all I could think was… *coughcoughcough* What I'm trying to say is I don't think I've ever read or seen the fanwork where Nate is actually ****-******ing Jake's *** ****, maybe you could change this sad state of Jake/Nate fandom?!?! Just saying. XD;
(*whispers* If you're into (or okay with) Burke/Nate, there's a fic by the magnificentLleu that has Nate ****-******ing Burke's *** ****. It's super hot but also: FEELS! ;_; There's also this lovely Jake/Nate fic by the same author (again: FEELS!!) that hints at how good Nate is at it. ;D)
# Burke is back & pursuing Nate; love triangle (or square or pentagon or more??) ensues
Most of Shao's drone Jaeger pilots got their brains fried during the drone Jaeger attack and died. But Burke has survived, and returns back to Moyulan (still working for Shao Industries or officially back in the PPDC or on different career path?), asking Nate a second chance - whether they were actually in a romantic(ish) relationship before Burke left, or drift partners with benefits, or just friends/co-pilots. Maybe Jake and Nate have been stalling and haven't gotten to work out the ~issues and ~feelings between them and haven't gotten together yet - and then there's Burke in the mix and suddenly things get even more complicated? For once Nate finds himself being wanted. How would Nate react to this? 'HOW DARE YOU' or 'I'm listening'? Is he scandalized/upset/angry? Is he overwhelmed or confused? Or thrilled/amused? Or is he just oblivious/too dense to see what's actually going on? And how would Jake take/face this situation? 'GET THE HELL AWAY HE'S MINE' or 'fight me you arsehole I'll end you' on Nate's behalf or 'but wait I basically did the same (to Nate)?' Or feels he has no right to get between them and tries to stay out of it even though it hurts him? Maybe Jules joins this because she doesn't trust those stupid men to work it out themselves, or she's just being protective of Nate (after being there to witness what he went through after Burke left). No Burke/Nate endgame please, but I'm not against the poly resolution for this, whether it's Burke and/or Jules in the mix.
# Meet Nate's Parent(s)
Maybe it's been a while since Jake and Nate's relationship has become 'public', or at least semi-official in the PPDC and Jake thinks it's about time for them to meet Nate's parent(s). Maybe it's important for Jake to be on a good term with his partner's relatives because he'd lost his all, and he still regrets the way he and Stacker parted, and with Mako didn't get time to truly make amends. Nate is like, super reluctant, as his relationship with his family isn't reeeeaaally great, but he gets why it matters to Jake and agrees to do that. (Jake of course knows about Nate's family issues too but he insists that they do this, hoping it gives Nate and his family a chance to reconcile). And it blows.
# Variation of 'drift works against them' from the above: Jake's hiding something from Nate: he's trying to deal with something without telling Nate or planning a birthday surprise party or proposal (!!!) & Nate takes it badly or takes it too nicely (?) because last time this - his drift partner hiding something from him - happened it was with Burke and he left, so he's bracing himself for the worst or what he thinks inevitable.
# Jake's relentless flirting/teasing --> Nate takes/misinterprets it as a test
Nate believes a part of the reason why Jake left is him falling in love with Jake. The feeling was mutual back then too, but for whatever reason Jake didn't react it to well when what Nate felt for him got clear in their drift, or when Nate tried to act on it - asked him to 'date' him, went for a kiss, etc. (Maybe Jake didn't want to 'jinx it' - he was scared once they'd acknowledge it they'd be doomed and it'd get one or both of them killed, or it was just the bad timing - he just had a fight with Stacker or Mako or anyone and cranky, or he could just have found out his father was dying and upset, or he wasn't ready to admit it to himself he'd got someone this important that mattered to him this much, while Nate was this hopeless romantic who wanted a proof/promise or the said words, wanted both of them to know they were 'together' in every way when the time comes and they go out together killing Kaiju). They got into the fight, and it resulted in Jake's solo-piloting stunt and his dismissal from the program. So when Jake's got back to the PPDC Nate is all determined to never let his heart get in the way and prove he's well & truly over him. Jake's spent last eleven years regretting it, so he's trying to let Nate know that he ~~likes~~ him, trying to send the message that it's like, totally okay if we're doing this now, if you're still interested? in the only way he knows - flirting & teasing, but since it's Nate it has an opposite effect: he takes it that Jake's testing him - surely you aren't still hung up on me, are you? - kind of attitude. So that's the reason of his 'we're just the guys hanging out & catching up' vibe in the kitchen scene and why he hardly reacts to Jake's teasinglike an average people would do and saying "you and I both know you were going to be great", that's why he runs with The Love Triangle thing seeing Jake's reaction to Jules and says stuff like "not gonna happen/kick your ass" because he knows how Jake gets with this sort of things, tries to shove it in the front of their drift that whatever his feeling was it's in the past and completely gone, that's where all the 'family' and 'brother' stuff comes from. And now that the imminent threat is gone (at least for now), Nate tries to prove the point even harder that he's totally out of Jake's way, of him getting back to the life of PPDC and taking (back) everything he once was promised, and starts dating someone or seeing Burke again, or asks Jules to pretend they're dating. Jake is confused/sad/upset/WTF? because he'd thought they were finally doing it right and getting there, getting together.
# Sydney battle canon divergence
OKAY SO, SYDNEY. Like I said I first watched the movie in the theater, and when Jake got out of Gipsy and ran off to reach Mako, I honest to goodness thought that was the end of Nate - that he gets stomped by Obsidian Fury and dies right here, and Amara is going to turn out to be drift compatible with Jake and they save the day (which actually happened and I still have so many ~mixed feelings about it). My shock for Mako wasn't even registered yet back then because I never thought they would actually go there (SILLY ME). So this right here, I was so truly genuinely scared for Nate for a second - who was still kind of at 'who is this guy really' stage for me at that time - because I was so shocked that a Jaeger pilot would leave his co-pilot behind like that in the middle of the battle, with the enemy standing there just a couple giant robot steps away. It doesn't matter if it's your first time riding a Jaeger in eleven years (eleven years of no training and almost zero updates on Jaeger tech knowledge and still a dominant pilot... mmm okay), it doesn't matter who you are or who your co-pilot is or what's going on between you and them, or what's going on outside the Conn-Pod even, if you're piloting a Jaeger together you don't leave your drift partner behind, you just don't, period. At least not willingly.
So... you could tell that this scene bothered (and still bothers) me greatly, right? Then after the movie I've fallen for Jake/Nate hard, and come to care a lot about Nate, and once I've started to think about how Sydney battle could've gone differently there's a lot of what-ifs and it's super scary and depressing I can't seem to stop.
Variations of Nate's fate in the Sydney battle, fighting against Obsidian Fury alone:
- Nate solo-pilots Gipsy ※3, takes down Obsidian but dies of neural overload/mind strain
- Nate solo-pilots Gipsy, manages to take down Obsidian but Gipsy gets nearly destroyed too, killing/injuring Nate
- Nate tries to solo-pilot Gipsy, but Obsidian is faster and destroys Gipsy, killing/injuring Nate
- Nate has to retire as a pilot due to severe mind strain or injury
(I know that there are backup Jaegers approaching and seeing them Obsidian retreats, but hey, divergence.)
Or: Jake simply just doesn't run off, they get Gipsy up and manage to make Obsidian go away together
※3 If there is anyone who could solo-pilot a Jaeger in 2035, I think it's Mako and/or Nate. (Jake too, but it should take more time for him to get there.) According to the movie novelization Nate has been in this Jaeger business since he was fourteen (four-fucking-teen FFS. During the first war sixteen Chuck entered the program as the youngest cadet in the Jaeger Academy history, and Mako too, and a couple years later there was fourteen Nate (also possibly Jake)? I know it was war time and by the time Nate and Jake enlisted they were losing the war rather rapidly so I get that they needed to train as many pilots as possible but... is this child labor camp or something?). Of course the long career or experience doesn't at all mean/guarantee solo-piloting ability, but in Ascension it was implied Stacker apparently went out of his way and kept Nate in the program, making exception - and if *THE* Stacker Pentecost did that, it meant just how much he saw in Nate. He really must've been spectacular.
# During or post-movie where this 'leaving the drift partner behind' becomes an issue?
I have no idea how Nate would handle this to be honest. He could take it all soldier-ly serious because it's so much bigger than to take it personally, it's about the duty so he could confront Jake about it. But he also knows it was for Mako, and he understands why Jake had to go (I think he would've gone for her too if he had a choice, but he had none, so). Or he could think it's his own fault or failure or lacking that he couldn't stop his co-pilot to abandon the duty and run off. Or he just shrugs it off, doesn't register it as an issue, but it just kind of adds itself to Nate's biggest pile of self-esteem issues, goes undercurrent and ready to resurface on a certain situation. And I know I think too much and too seriously into this but I can't help but think it's an ultimate way of 'being left behind', a Jaeger pilot being left alone by their drift partner in the fight ※4 ("Jake, wait"). And God knows how many times people had left Nate, and what it had done to him, still does to him. And to add to that, in Tokyo he did it too, had to eject himself and leave Jake there, even though there was Amara and it was the only way left. And I can totally see Nate blames himself for it.
※4 It's like the Jaeger pilot's code, I think. There was this ~discussion between Travis Beacham (writer & creator of 2013 movie) and the fans back in 2013-14 about why Chuck had to die, fans said Stacker should've had him ejected (like Raleigh had done for Mako) before setting off the nuke, that he should've saved Chuck and done it by himself since he was already dying. Travis Beacham's answer was no Jaeger pilot would leave their co-pilot willingly, or can 'force' their partner to do something against their will. It was Chuck's own choice and decision he stayed with his co-pilot and saw through their job, and there was nothing Stacker could do about it. (Remember Herc's face when he heard Chuck via the comm? He knew what his son was doing and why he had to too.)
# Jake & Amara Drift compatibility + Nate
This hadn't occurred to me until much later but: when had Nate learned that Jake and Amara were drift compatible? Did he see the training log/data of Jake & Amara's sim drift? (I think they were too busy figuring out what's going on with the rogue Jaeger attack and then fighting the enemy to have a time to actually go through the training data but I don't know, being a committed teacher Nate could check training data everyday no matter what, or they could go through the training data before assigning the cadets to their Jaegers for Tokyo battle.) Or did he just 'catch' it while drifting with Jake during Novaya Zemlya or Tokyo? Did Jake simply lay the info there among other mundane things in the drift since he didn't think it's a big deal? Or did he (sort of) try to hide it from Nate for his own reason? Maybe Jake had been hiding it but it had spilled into the drift when Mega-Kaiju's tail got Gipsy and Nate and their neural handshake shook and wavered? The point of all this is, in any way or case, Nate had to have learned Jake and Amara were drift compatible at some point; because he already *knew* they were when he was getting out of Jake's way - he wasn't worried / hadn't shown any worry for leaving Jake and Amara, he knew they could drift just fine. And I'm just :(((((( because it seemed so... cruel? When Jake came to Moyulan Nate was still looking for his new partner; Gipsy was 'his girl' (Ascension) but he hadn't been able to pilot her since Burke left (Amara: 'You ride Gipsy?' Jules: 'He used to'. / Nate: 'Ranger Burke.'). He's incompatible with pretty much everyone but
# Nate's "worse, I was nobody" during his ~motivational speech to the cadets (and also to Jake) - what the hell does that mean?! And in the movie novelization it sounds even more ~~dramatic~~ because it's "I was nobody from nowhere." SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN.
# Jake's "I actually didn't want to be here. Still don't." to Amara, when he told her she was dismissed from the program - WHAT THE HELL IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN??? This is another one of the biggest 'WTF???' moments from my first time watching Uprising and it had nothing to do with Jake/Nate back then! Like I know the character's development isn't/can't always be linear, but to have Jake say this at this point in the movie - after Mako, after Nate'slove confession speech, after winning the Novaya Zemlya battle - it just didn't make a fucking sense, felt so wrong and very disappointing.
# And after the movie it also has become about Jake/Nate for me, because I'm a loser like that. What if Nate saw/heard it in the drift (and failed to get the context or the real reason why Jake said/worded it like that, if there was any), believed it was because Jake had to be partnered up with him again. And when it becomes clear Jake isn't leaving/planning to leave the PPDC and starts working hard for the corps post-Tokyo, he figures he doesn't mind staying now that he's got a new partner (Amara).
# Almost too late 'I love you's & love confessions
This is actually one of my favorite tropes that I'd forgotten I love. I got a super amazing life-changingly good epic awesomest gift that actually did something that fit this trope, even though I had never written anything about it in my letters or requested any freeforms or tags. And it reminded me just how much I love this trope, made me even greedier and here I am, requesting for more.
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DC Extended Universe (Suicide Squad)
(Excuse me again for another LQ (GQ's part mostly) gif, this is what happens when you try to zoom in on an out-of-focus background character lol)
GQ Edwards/Waylon Jones (Killer Croc)
GQ Edwards/Rick Flag
Rick Flag/Floyd Lawton (Deadshot)
Tag links: Suicide Squad | GQ/Croc | Flag/Deadshot
Sidenote: this is not an actual DNW, but while I enjoy many kinds of AUs, I prefer *no* 'all human' or 'no superpowers' AU for this fandom. I'll be thrilled to get a Coffee Shop AU about the SEAL guy on leave helps run the cafe his CO's witch ex-girlfriend owns and the Crocodile-Human guy who frequents the place because he's on his ~diet; or a Tattoo Parlor AU where the ex-convict Crocodile-Human artist opens the shop but it's not doing great because the rumor says he eats (or used to eat) people - he's finally got a new client who's apparently a military officer but when the actual tattooing's about to start the client fucking passes out because he secretly hates the needles; or a Sky High AU where Croc is the Hero and GQ is his Sidekick (since the beginning? Assigned to him at the school?), etc etc. You get the idea. ;)
GQ/Croc
HOLY FREAKING WOW THIS SHIP, THIS FANDOM. This is one of my Ships of The Year ™️ 2018, the one I didn't know I needed or think I would ever fall for but now can absolutely NOT live without. I totally blame this one on the incredible authors that areHecate and susiecarter - Hecate for shipping them in the first place and requesting them for rarepair exchanges and providing awesome prompts (she also has written one herself finally and IT'S WOWZA GOOOD!!!!), and susiecarter for responding and writing HOLYSHITAMAZINGASDFGHJKL!!11!!!! fics. This is the scene prompted Hecate to ship them - and then in the water Croc got attacked, and GQ, despite his earlier attitude, turned around to check on him, and Croc sent him away to finish the job, GQ got to the bomb and set it off, (seemingly) killing himself, Diablo and Incubus. And the more I think about this ship or the possibility of it the more intriguing it gets. Like, to me it seems more and more likely Croc was going with them not only because he's the king of underwater but also because he was actually going to detonate the bomb himself. From what I learned from internet his skin is so hard 'it could bear high caliber weapons fired from a distance', so he knew there's a high chance he would survive the explosion, not without some serious damage probably, but he would, while GQ and others definitely wouldn't. It's not that he was suddenly become fond of special ops members or anything, but towards the end of the movie it became clear 'they are all in this together', criminals or men of duty or not, and everybody did everything they could to stop the world ending, so it must've seemed to Croc for the best if he blew it off instead of letting any of those puny humans do it and kill themselves for trying.
But Croc got caught in the underwater battle with those zombie soldiers, so he had to let GQ go, but he got there just in time to pull GQ away from the explosion. He was late for the final face-off with Enchantress, so it was possible he saved GQ, swam him back to the safer ground, and then came back for the Squad.
Also GQ's actor (Scott Eastwood) said in an interview that was published (and taken) *after* the release of Suicide Squad that 'he'd love to come back for SS2' - now I'm convinced Croc did save GQ, lmao. (Unless GQ turns out to be one of those super heroes or someone with special ability and survived the bomb, or he did die *sniff* but for some reason is brought back by someone.)
So basically this is my happy ship out of rather grim and dark movie/universe - Croc saves GQ and he gets to live and they both have a chance at whatever they started there before diving into the flooded subway, and one of the things I really liked about the movie is it's all about love really, all and any kinds of love - some twisted, some doomed, some weird, but love nonetheless. (Croc does love himself ('I'm beautiful'), but that's probably because nobody ever hasn't so he had to do it himself.) And I wouldn't outright call it love what's going to be between Croc and GQ yet, but I hope they somehow find each other and something in each other, which both of them quite didn't expect. And this universe is HUGE, so the possibilities are endless.
# Yet another Croc's body temperature thing
So I requested 'not actually huddled for warmth' prompt which was about Croc's probably not-so-warm body temperature before, and got THE COOLEST GIFT EVER (no pun intended). And here I am again, bringing a new prompt: GQ's got a high fever and Croc uses his body to cool him & bring the fever down. THAT'S IT THAT'S THE PROMPT
(Science? Biology? I DON'T KNOW THEM. Just cool (or not-too-warm) enough to be soothing & keep the fever at bay. :P)
# THIS JUST IN: due to the kind suggestion of the loveliest person (❤️❤️❤️) I'm also requesting GQ getting hurt in the legs. Broken foot or feet, got shot in the legs, something tried to bite his leg off, stepped on a nasty trap, nearly caught in the booby man net in the water & managed to swim (back) to the destination with injured legs/feet but now that there is ground and gravity can't lift himself up - in any way bad enough & impossible to go on any further on his feet, and Croc has to carry him (AGAIN - sorry Croc! But I know you won't mind ;)). Bonus points if GQ is on crutches afterwards because I just love the image & idea of him on crutches. lmao
(This prompt is inspired by Scott breaking his foot last year right before the filming of the movie Outpost began. Just a couple picturesque inspirations (there's TONS MORE pics & videos of course, you know how the guy is -.-; but I'm not linking them for now): during Outpost filming in military gear, hanging out at Dina Eastwood (his stepmother)'s house, on crutches, pictured with his dad.)
# I know human/meta-human crocodile-man sex could be tricky, but I learned a little bit about crocodile sex thanks to susiecarter's fics and internet lmao, and it's practically calling for multiple orgasms/overstimulation, isn't it? ;DDD
# Different First Meeting (canon divergence? in universe au?)
There's already the canon divergent fic that sort of fits this trope out there that I love so effing much (THIS FANDOM IS FREAKING AWESOME, I TELL YOU) and it got me thinking all the possibilities I hadn't considered before so what if: GQ (& Rick's team) is actually who's caught Croc? I don't know why the heck the SEALs got called on to the scene but they did, or just happened to be where the Bad Guys were/were doing something criminals do, and Croc was one of them (I know he's more of a solo type than teaming up, but idk for some reason he was with them), or he was out there alone doing Bad Things, and GQ caught him. Croc never thought there'd be someone who outsmarts him underwater, let alone a regular human (b/c Batman was like, no regular human), but there GQ was, and now he's been caught and locked up. Then he starts to work with Rick's team and GQ (whether there's Squad or not is up to you), and he's like... I have no idea how he'd be like, tbh! He could be fuck you @ having to cooperate, angry at himself for getting caught and at who caught him. It was just one time, a simple fluke, and he swears when he gets himself out he'd never let it happen again, and the next time he sees this human who caught him? He's gonna fucking eat him. But then he learns this guy is good at what he does, capable and reliable, and realizes he doesn't mind having him as some kind of partner. Or he's already kinda impressed at GQ, and while he's not actually eager to work for Waller, he's okay enough about it and more or less looking forward to meeting him again. And GQ's probably like you've gotta be kidding me at first but then finds this crocodile-man is actually awesome to work with.
Or: Croc is hurt by the Bad Guys who want to use him or want him to help/join them but he refuses (I know he does like, regenerate, but maybe they get him by surprise and get him bad), or caught by the Mad Scientists to be experimented. GQ on the mission happens to be there, or the SEALs is hitting the facility etc, and GQ finds him, and decides he has to help this... guy, who or whatever he is, because for some reason it doesn't feel right to leave him there. (Does he already know about Killer Croc or not, and if he does, realizes/recognizes it's him or not?) As a result Croc ends up in jail and working for Waller (as always lol), but now he's decided GQ is his to protect or simply, his.
(Honestly there could be thousands more possibilities for this theme, I'd love to have any and all versions. Go, run wild with your ideas! <333)
# In three words: Came Back Wrong
I got SUPER SUPER DOPEST GIFT for this prompt for another exchange last year and I'm even greedier now, I would never get tired of hundred more fills for it, I also think this would work great as an art prompt so: GQ gets superpower after Midway City, where he didn't die, and for once not because there was Croc to save him, but for some other reason. Or he did die, but came back alive, again for some other reason. Maybe someone or something had something to do with it and he just didn't die. Maybe bomb ignited some super power/metahuman-ness which was already in him he didn't know before. Maybe there was something in the water or in the place, it was full of ancient magic after all, or God knows what Waller or the government doing without telling them and behind them.
It could be anything, the death or bomb or magic or experiment, that altered something about GQ, changed who/what he was, woke something up in him and now he's (been) changed.
And maybe Croc was there to save GQ after he took care of Enchantress's soldiers, but didn't quite make it in time to pull GQ out of the explosion - but to witness what happened. GQ dying and coming back, or him not dying but changing/being changed. And GQ could be injured anyway, or he was totally intact, he could be unconscious/disoriented or completely aware of what's going on around him and happening to him. Maybe Croc kind of saved GQ anyway by swimming him back to the safe side, regardless of GQ's condition.
And then the aftermath. GQ realizing the power he's got and how he's going to deal with it. Does it change GQ's appearance or doesn't change anything on surface? Is he excited/thrilled or overwhelmed or terrified? Does anyone/everyone know about it too? If so, does it affect his work or his position in the team? If he tries/decides to hide it for some reason, does he know Croc knows it too? Does it become some kind of shared secret between them, or they just don't touch the subject? Or GQ believes no one (inc. Croc) knows and Croc is like 'wtf you're so dumb' but also 'I'm here for you' in his own way?
Or Croc could be the only one who knew/witnessed what actually happened and keeps the knowledge only to himself. GQ doesn't know he actually died (or didn't) but thinks Croc is the one who saved him and is grateful and it makes them get closer - what Croc would do in this situation? What happens when the power starts to manifest and GQ kind of freaks out?
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Fast and the Furious Series
Roman Pearce/Eric Reisner | Little Nobody
Luke Hobbs/Eric Reisner | Little Nobody
Tag links: The Fast and the Furious | The Fate of the Furious | Roman/Eric | Luke/Eric
Roman/Eric
Roman and Eric's relationship was like (grudging) love at first sight! Their banter & pulling-the-pigtails type of flirting were so fun in the movie, it seemed so natural and easy for them to become comfortable with each other and be around each other, I just want mooorrrreee.
# Bickering the way out of the bad/dangerous situations.
# Jealous!Eric and Roman's ego boosted by it lol.
# Badass!Roman and Eric totally getting turned on by it.
# Car sex? Car sex. *nods*
# Also: isn't this cute? (original video @ Tyrese's Instagram) Let's pretend it's Roman & Eric (& Letty & Ramsey & Tej if you want) and get inspired? lol
******
Luke/Eric
MY LIFE WAS MADE WHEN SOMEONE GIFTED ME A FIC, A STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL ONE FULL OF FEELINGS FOR THIS RAREST SHIP. Thanks to the author Luke/Eric tag now exists on AO3, CAN YOU BELIEVE?!?! Hell Yeah Hobbs and Reisner \o/ I loved their relationship and its actual development, from the worst first meeting to reluctant mentor/papa bear & overeager newbie to proud big bro & little bro to real family/team members & open admiration/starry eyes. (And Luke actually thinking Eric was pretty totally helped, too.) I don't really mind if it's platonic or romantic, I just adore the dynamic and development between them.
# Luke teaching Eric new fighting/driving skills and... things happen.
# Luke in ultimate papa bear mode, being super protective of Eric.
# Eric & Luke go undercover as some rich kid (or businessman) & his bodyguard. (Or vice versa: Luke as some kind of CEO/executive & Eric as his bodyguard or secretary, lol.)
# Hobbs & Shaw won't come out until August so it's too early for this kind of prompt but: while Luke is away (for H&S mission or not) the case comes up for the rest of the team and it ends up a bad one, Eric gets kidnapped/injured or goes missing, etc. (already established L/E or was on the way to get together but interrupted because of Luke being away?)
# Eric shows up at one of the Dragons' games or practices - (in pretense of) just stopping by, or as Luke's boyfriend, or with the whole team, or because he's promised Sam he'd be dropping by. What would be Sam's reaction to it? How do the soccer moms react to it? They think he's cute and it leaves Luke... how do I say it, displeased? But is it because Eric takes the moms's attention away from him, or is it because he doesn't like someone's interested in Eric? Or he isn't bothered because he knows Eric's interest is 100% on him?
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Law & Order: SVU
Liv: Hey, you two okay?
Nick: Oh, guys like Barba, too smart for their own good.
Amanda: I'm sure he said the same about you.
Nick Amaro/Rafael Barba
Rafael Barba/Trevor Langan
Rafael Barba/Any Male SVU Character
Rafael Barba/Original Male Character(s)
Tag links: SVU
So I guess it's pretty obvious I love Barba and am here for Barba. And I'm still so very new in this fandom - I fell in love with Raúl Esparza late last year and started watching SVU which I never watched a single episode before just for him. So if you're a hardcore SVU fan reading this - I'm sorry if my offend you. He's one of a very few characters I truly think shippable with pretty much (almost) anyone and everyone; Fin? Alex? Eddie? Anyone from DA office, any defense attorneys, guest characters, NYPD officers? I'll be totally excited to see who you pick or create for his relationship.
Fandom DNWs: if you plan to go for 'hurt Barba' route (emotionally or physically) - it's turned out I can't really take him being *forever* sad/alone/broken/dead. I can handle hardcore hurt, but for him, I need at least a slightly hopeful ending or hint for future happiness.
Nick/Rafael
... is the biggest mystery of all Barba ships, because that elevator scene in S15E06 "October Surprise" alone? Could've produced millions of fanworks in any other fandoms, and it... didn't. I've only found one (1) Barmaro elevator sex fic so far and it's a crime! I just don't know why this ship hadn't sailed back then, like Barisi had after Carisi joined the show. I'm so ready for more stories of two competent headstrong Cubans colliding & falling in love. <3
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The Longest Ride (2015)
Luiz/Luke Collins
Luke Collins/Jared Middleton
Tag links: The Longest Ride | Luke | Luiz | Jared
AHAHAHAHA THIS MOVIE. I watched it in last May? June? and I *still* think about Luke and Luiz and what their relationship/friendship actually is/has been like, so I finally gave up and started requesting them for fandom exchanges. It's my first Nicholas Sparks movie ever, I'd never watched a single one before, not even 'Notebook', and I watched this one for... The Reason. WHY SELF, WHY. And I could be totally biased, but I honestly didn't hate it *gasp*, I didn't hate two leads who couldn't quite act but looked like they actually tried their best, and the stupid All-American-Dreamy Happily Ever After they got, loved supporting actors who were all good, and I think the director George Tillman Jr. did a great job.
Long spoilery movie summary long: Luke Collins (Scott Eastwood) is a professional bull rider living in North Carolina who's just got back in the game after the --spoiler-- life-threatening bull riding injury he suffered a year ago in championship game, Sophia Danko (Britt Robertson) is an art major who attends local uni on scholarship and is about to graduate in months and going back to her hometown NYC for a shiny hard-to-get art internship. They meet at the first show Luke rides (also wins) after the injury, fall in love, go their first date where she tells him about her graduation and leaving, and he tells her about his family ranch & life (and doesn't tell her about anything on injury) and the air gets a little off because they live very different lives and there's not much time left to go into the relationship even though they both feel this is something special. On the car ride back to her sorority house they rescue 91 year-old man Ira Levinson (Alan Alda, younger version: Jack Huston) from car crash, who Sophia befriends and he starts to tell her about his life and the love of his life Ruth (Oona Chaplin), his late wife who was a refugee from Europe during WWII. Two couples, two love stories, of people who are from the very different two worlds.
... ANYWAY.
Like I said I liked the main couple (Luke & Sophia) enough, but what got me more & got me thinking is Luke and his-- friend? fellow bull rider/cowboy? Luiz ※5, who's catching falling Luke in the gif, who doesn't even have a last name, who doesn't even appear in the book; Iskimmed through read the book *HARD GASP* just to learn more about Luiz and noooo, he isn't even there :(.
※5 Played by Tiago Riani who is a Brazilian (former?) professional model who doesn't seem to have a convincing acting career before this movie, like I don't even know how the hell he landed this role but I'm glad he did because although his face is mostly hidden by the damn cowboy hat during the movie sadly, he actually looks like this thank you very much.)
And what gets and fascinates me most is that Luiz is basically the only one who's been with Luke every step of the way throughout the whole duration of the movie. He's always there helping Luke in the chute as he gets ready for the ride, always cheering for him on the side of the ring. He is there for Luke's first ride after the injury, asking him if he's ready for this, to which Luke replies back "we'll see," and watching Luke's hand shake and him having a bit of flashback knowingly and worriedly on his side. And when Luke successfully finishes the ride and wins, he cheers all smiles and full of excitement: "yeah that is my boy!"
There's also a bad ride, affected by seeing the star bull Rango who nearly killed him in that fateful championship game right before his own ride with another bull. Luiz is right beside him before the ride, clearly being aware of Rango's effect on Luke, and after the ride ends badly he waits him at the exit gate and greets him with a pat on his shoulder "good ride Luke", even though Luke is kind of far away and isn't really listening.
And then there's the ride in the gif: Luke manages to stay on the bull for eight seconds and scores great, but gets thrown after and hits the wall hard and goes down. He finally staggers back on his feet waving his hat to the audience but collapses, and Luiz catches him half way. And what can I say, this scene is so... great? Luiz is shouting and cheering "go Luke!" as always through the ride, then seeing Luke being thrown and down on the ground he's "OH SHIT" and visibly so shocked and shaken, apparently knowing about the extent of his injuries and his condition. And as soon as the bullfighters send the angry bull away out of the ring and it's safe to jump in, he immediately does and runs straight to Luke asking if he's alright, to which Luke replies with "I'm fine" as he falls into his arms.
The movie doesn't go into the actual/technical details of Luke's injuries, but enough for us to guess how bad they had been. He takes the pills regularly as he continues to ride while the doctors (and his mom) tell him he needs to stop riding or he *will* die, he was in a coma for ten days after the accident, he's got at least three? scars that look like by the horns on his body, and he suffers a PTSD. And when Sophia learns about his injuries and goes searching a YouTube video of the championship game, we get to see exactly what happened.
(But the injuries were even more severe in the book, it kinda goes extreme on describing them. almost gruesome, as the bull attacked him more viciously and repeatedly. His body, face, everything was a mess, back of his skull was shattered and will never fully heal.)
******
Luke/Jared
Basically I'm just LOL @ Jared because he's supposed to be this cool 'rival' guy to the hero, who's a defending champion & current leading man of the championship with all the shiny sponsors on his vest and money on his back, yet he can't resist to come to Luke and congratulate and welcome him back to the game, he's got sort of passive-aggressive attitude, but it's more like he's trying to be cool when he's actually kind of soft and fond of Luke. And Luke does seem to be... stressed? uncomfortable? seeing all the money Jared currently has but it's only because he's financially very bad off with all the medical fee and desperately in need to win every game for his family ranch to stay afloat. And he's just happy to come back and friendly with Jared and basically doesn't really... care, or mind, or pay attention to him. And it's so funny! Jared keeps ~desperately trying to 'rile up' Luke, but Luke doesn't seem to take notice of Jared's presence, all Jared's attention seeking actions fly over his head. --spoiler-- Later in the movie when Luke finally wins a game against Rango, Jared watches super proudly & with respect, and congratulates him too after, but none of those reaches Luke b/c he's too busy to leave to 'get the girl.' It's just so one-sided and desperate and a little sad. LMAO.
So maybe something about Jared gets frustrated/has had enough being a rival yet being basically ignored and takes some action? (And Luke still kind of doesn't get a hint? lol)
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The Following
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Joe Carroll/Roderick Nelson
Tag links: The Following
Soooooooooo, Joe and Roderick. The truth is I don't really 'ship' them, mainly because I just didn't get everyone's Joe Carroll obsession/syndrome/worship AT ALL, I never found him charismatic or fascinating or powerful. But apparently everybody worshiped the ground he spit on and killed for him and kept throwing their lives away for him, and Roderick definitely did, and I thought if I searched Roderick on AO3 I would find at least a reasonable number (like, five) of Joe/Roderick fanwork with them as the main pairing/focus... and there wasn't. And I really didn't get it, because Joe was basically Roderick's creator, his God, and I think I read somewhere Warren Kole (Roderick's actor) said that Joe was sort of his father figure but I think he's more like His Father, and everything Roderick had done was for Joe and this little fucked-up ~community of theirs (or at least that was the way Roderick saw this cult). So that's why I request them from time to time.
For this ship I don't really mind dark, twisted, disturbing, etc, content. Joe personally kills Roderick, uses or does bad things to him, plays with Roderick's apparent childhood trauma and family(/father) issues, goes too far and it backfires on him, or Roderick gets his revenge and kills Joe. Or if you want to go and make them a happy co-dependent murder couple, I'd love it too. No worries for going too far. ;)
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NCIS: Los Angeles
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G Callen/Sam Hanna
Tag links: NCIS: Los Angeles | Sam/G
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Hello to you fellow fandom creators! I'm
IN ADVANCE: I'M SO SORRY THIS LETTER IS A MESS & SO LONG!!
General info:
- Full spoilers for all fandoms in letter, so please beware!
- My requested fandoms/relationships/tags can be viewed here in requests summary (page 2, near bottom; or ctrl+f 'wallflowering').
- Art & fic are both welcome & will be loved! <3
- We got matched on one (1) relationship, that's a minimum you're required to fulfill, and anything else you do with your work is entirely up to you. And yes, I'm aware I'm dropping a huge chunk of prompts & ideas here, but they're merely suggestions/creative process starters. If there is a fic in your draft folder you've been meaning to finish for months or years but haven't quite managed yet, or the art ideas/style you've been itching to try, consider this your chance to do it!
- DNWs: the worlds & AUs where the slavery is legal or the master/slave relationship is normal and supported by society. Anything else, be it the softest gen to hardcore explicit, any rating, any genre, any AU is fine. (There's also a few fandom specific DNWs in letter, but nothing major.)
- I may also do 'in canon...' kind of talk a lot here in letter, i.e. 'when is A/B is where/who is X' etc etc, it's just the way I talk about things, but it doesn't mean your work has to be canon compliant or canonically correct. Absolutely not! I'm only saying this because I really don't want you to worry too much about getting the details ~right and feel like your work has to be canonically correct just because I seem to be picky, and I'm not. Ignore canon all you want, go crazy with your ideas and imaginations! :D
Fandom Index:
Pacific Rim (Movies)
DC Extended Universe: Suicide Squad
Fast and the Furious Series
Law & Order: SVU
The Longest Ride (2015)
The Following
NCIS: Los Angeles
I've also added Tumblr links to each of fandom sections because that's where I collect fannish stuff and I like to have them handy. You don't have to look through them of course, but if you're feeling like or in need of some quick visual/textual inspiration or distraction, feel free to look around.
Nate Lambert/Jake Pentecost
Joseph Burke/Nate Lambert
Tag links: Pacific Rim | Uprising | Nate/Jake | Burke/Nate
I LOVE Pacific Rim (2013). I loved it so much I never wanted a sequel to be made. But I still went to the theater for Uprising (in last May, now wish I hadn't waited that long) because if there was a movie named Pacific Rim there was no way I'd miss it. And I hated Uprising like burning but also fell hard for Jake/Nate. I love everyone in 2013 movie; even the characters I don't like that much, I LOVE them all, if that makes sense. (I'm still >:-| that all of my beloved characters from 2013 movie weren't themselves at all in Uprising.) And even though I'm still not crazily in love with Uprising, I've learned a lot about its characters, come to care about them deeply, and I'm very protective of them. So I don't really mind having any other characters in background or in supporting roles or as a POV person of outsider POV, as long as they aren't the main focus of the fanwork.
For Uprising prompts/thoughts, a lot of them are based on/mixed with the aspects from two official novels: 1) movie prequel Ascension (epub dl) & 2) movie novelization (epub dl), there's also mentions of comics. You don't have to read or know anything about them of course, but please know there are spoilers if you plan to read those. I'm also totally bullshitting those movie canons & non-movie half-canons because I ignore the ones I don't like or think make sense, so don't take my rambling about them seriously and simply ignore. ;)
Fandom DNWs: I dig therefore I fandom, and for Uprising I ended up digging up an unfortunate amount (you'll be surprised) of meta/analysis/fics that had Stacker as an actual bad/abusive CO/father and 'literal nobody in background/should've died' Nate for Jake's and Jake & Mako's (back)story to work and I'm just so... heartbroken. I'd totally love to read/see Jake's story focused on him and his relationship with people around him with the hint/possibility of Jake/Nate, but please no abusive father/son relationship (they can argue, disagree, misunderstand, headbutt and fight, but abuse - physically or mentally - just no. I love Stacker Pentecost too much to be okay with this), or dismissing Nate in their friendship/partnership. Thank you.
******
Nate/Jake
The thing I particularly dig for them is mutual pining and the communication failure/miscommunication/misunderstanding between them ※1 - despite them being drift compatible partners holding the longest drift record as the cadets (as the rangers the record goes to Kaidanovskys) and hopefully onto becoming ones of the best rangers in the PPDC history - and their getting-(back)-together wise, the drift actually works //against// them and not as an advantage. Unfortunate emotions/memories spill leads to misunderstanding, leap from sharing everything as teenagers to adults is a scary thing - it's hard for Jake who's been on his own for so long to have another person to share his headspace, how easily and well they could fit together after a decade actually feels daunting, A is hiding/holding something back and B can feel it but can't/doesn't want to ask, B is hiding/holding something back from A but A doesn't know because B does it well and it blows later. Or since there are basically no operative Jaegers left anywhere on earth post-movie, they won't be able to have a chance to drift for a while and during the period they fail to communicate like adults and things get complicated or worse. Or they try to drift and suddenly can't at all. Or it ends up a bad, disastrous one. I love and live for Nate being head-over-heels in love with Jake, but the feeling is mutual and Jake just as fiercely loving Nate back. It's just even though they care deeply for each other things are still complicated and they still have tons of feelings and issues to work out - three deployments just don't magically solve the bad part-ways (or breakup) and eleven years of separation, and for me the movie didn't resolve anything between them. So anything post-movie where things are looking and going all great and dandy or at least okay on surface but actually aren't would fuel my soul.
※1 I've been thinking real hard and long why they appeal me this way and I'm still not sure. Probably because it's easy to assume it's one of the reasons what led them to the fight that made Jake try to pilot the Jaeger solo?
Burke/Nate
There were lines *both* in the prequel novel and movie novelization about the PPDC not starting to build the Jaegers again until four years later since the end of the first Kaiju War (the reason behind it was never explained in either of books), so I'm assuming it was the developed canon for Uprising - at least internally in the production - even though it was never mentioned in the actual movie. Based on this assumption my headcanon for Burke(/Nate) is that Burke joined the PPDC at the age around 21-22 (?) ※2 when they started building the Jaegers and recruiting again in 2029-30 (?) - since him and Nate were both 27 in 2035 (at least around the time Ascension's events took place) and the ones of the oldest Jaeger pilots - and then had become Nate's drift partner. In the movie novelization there was a line on Jake recognizing Burke from when they were the cadets, when he came (back) to Moyulan with Shao as Shao Industries's spokesperson and a drone Jaeger pilot and her favorite employee, but to me it made zero sense. Like I said in the previous exchange letter I think there was no way Nate had to go through 6 drift incompatible partners before Jake if there were already not only Jake but also Burke from the beginning. But of course that's only me.
Anyway whether it's 11 or 10 or 6 years of partnership (post-Jake, post-Kaiju War I, post-Jaeger program reboot), it's literally years of partnership and there are just so many opportunities & possibilities for their relationship and story (romantic or not) - what their first meeting was like, how they established their drift partnership, how Nate had gotten over Jake (in some degree at least, or hadn't at all) and accepted Burke as his co-pilot (or actually hadn't) - and I'm here for it. I also love how Nate was kind of a mess towards the end of Ascension since he'd found out Burke was leaving, and it just cries for more Nate angst, being left by both of his only drift compatible partners.
Burke was last seen in the movie when the Kaiju infection took over the drone Jaeger system and there was no clear description of his fate in the movie novelization, though it did say most of Shao's pilots got their brains fried and died. Burke dead, Burke alive, Burke bad, Burke good, I'm okay with any interpretations of him. I'm very much interested in pre-Ascension Burke/Nate get-together if you go for romantic relationship route; I'm not keen on post-Uprising endgame Burke/Nate but not completely against it if you're so inclined. I'm not requesting Burke/Nate/Jake but okay enough with the idea, again if you're that inclined. ;)
※2 Cadets in Uprising were all around 17 (except Amara who was 15), so I'm thinking the age limit for the Jaeger Program entry is something similar to the one for US Military Academy: 17-23 ish?
******
# Jake & Nate doing some mundane, pretty usual stuff. Just a day in Shatterdome, training and attending boring briefings and doing grades, eating everyday meal in the mess hall, spending a day-off together doing nothing or going out, walking around Fuding city... (or any other cities, on vacation or on the PPDC business trips).
# Jake & Nate birthdays! I've lost the link, but there was a Tumblr text post going around for years about how cute it would be when a Jaeger pilot wants to surprise their partner (with the gift or party or anything) but doesn't want to spoil the plan to them and has to try hard to keep it secret while drifting, or desperately hopes there wouldn't be another Kaiju/deployment until the birthday b/c they can't keep it from them in the drift.
# Jake & Nate going on a 'proper' date.
# I have this tag for Jake/Nate AU ideas, there's only a handful and all pretty much mundane ones. But maybe if you're feeling like it?
# Little Spoon/Big Spoon: I love the idea of Big Spoon Nate hugging the hell out of Jake and Jake who's been alone and on his own for a long time loving it and having the time of his (love) life. But I also love Little Spoon Nate who - secretly, or openly (only to Jake) - loves/needs to be cuddled and Jake is more than happy to provide. *insert 'Both. Both. Both. Both is good' The Road to El Dorado gif* Y/Y? :))))))
# Bring all pure smut & porn! Jake is super determined to wreck Nate (to make him lose control, let go of his guard) and take him thoroughly & completely apart.
# Or, after eleven years of wait Nate simply can't stop himself & goes totally overboard, and Jake is of course 100% on board with this, but even he can't keep up with him and take it anymore and has to give up - which is such a defeat for him. XD
# I was going through Geoff Stults's instagram feed because Scott Eastwood and him seem to be good friends and hanging out a lot and I apparently don't have life, then I saw this, and well… I'm such a filthy minded person all I could think was… *coughcoughcough* What I'm trying to say is I don't think I've ever read or seen the fanwork where Nate is actually ****-******ing Jake's *** ****, maybe you could change this sad state of Jake/Nate fandom?!?! Just saying. XD;
(*whispers* If you're into (or okay with) Burke/Nate, there's a fic by the magnificent
# Burke is back & pursuing Nate; love triangle (or square or pentagon or more??) ensues
Most of Shao's drone Jaeger pilots got their brains fried during the drone Jaeger attack and died. But Burke has survived, and returns back to Moyulan (still working for Shao Industries or officially back in the PPDC or on different career path?), asking Nate a second chance - whether they were actually in a romantic(ish) relationship before Burke left, or drift partners with benefits, or just friends/co-pilots. Maybe Jake and Nate have been stalling and haven't gotten to work out the ~issues and ~feelings between them and haven't gotten together yet - and then there's Burke in the mix and suddenly things get even more complicated? For once Nate finds himself being wanted. How would Nate react to this? 'HOW DARE YOU' or 'I'm listening'? Is he scandalized/upset/angry? Is he overwhelmed or confused? Or thrilled/amused? Or is he just oblivious/too dense to see what's actually going on? And how would Jake take/face this situation? 'GET THE HELL AWAY HE'S MINE' or 'fight me you arsehole I'll end you' on Nate's behalf or 'but wait I basically did the same (to Nate)?' Or feels he has no right to get between them and tries to stay out of it even though it hurts him? Maybe Jules joins this because she doesn't trust those stupid men to work it out themselves, or she's just being protective of Nate (after being there to witness what he went through after Burke left). No Burke/Nate endgame please, but I'm not against the poly resolution for this, whether it's Burke and/or Jules in the mix.
# Meet Nate's Parent(s)
Maybe it's been a while since Jake and Nate's relationship has become 'public', or at least semi-official in the PPDC and Jake thinks it's about time for them to meet Nate's parent(s). Maybe it's important for Jake to be on a good term with his partner's relatives because he'd lost his all, and he still regrets the way he and Stacker parted, and with Mako didn't get time to truly make amends. Nate is like, super reluctant, as his relationship with his family isn't reeeeaaally great, but he gets why it matters to Jake and agrees to do that. (Jake of course knows about Nate's family issues too but he insists that they do this, hoping it gives Nate and his family a chance to reconcile). And it blows.
# Variation of 'drift works against them' from the above: Jake's hiding something from Nate: he's trying to deal with something without telling Nate or planning a birthday surprise party or proposal (!!!) & Nate takes it badly or takes it too nicely (?) because last time this - his drift partner hiding something from him - happened it was with Burke and he left, so he's bracing himself for the worst or what he thinks inevitable.
# Jake's relentless flirting/teasing --> Nate takes/misinterprets it as a test
Nate believes a part of the reason why Jake left is him falling in love with Jake. The feeling was mutual back then too, but for whatever reason Jake didn't react it to well when what Nate felt for him got clear in their drift, or when Nate tried to act on it - asked him to 'date' him, went for a kiss, etc. (Maybe Jake didn't want to 'jinx it' - he was scared once they'd acknowledge it they'd be doomed and it'd get one or both of them killed, or it was just the bad timing - he just had a fight with Stacker or Mako or anyone and cranky, or he could just have found out his father was dying and upset, or he wasn't ready to admit it to himself he'd got someone this important that mattered to him this much, while Nate was this hopeless romantic who wanted a proof/promise or the said words, wanted both of them to know they were 'together' in every way when the time comes and they go out together killing Kaiju). They got into the fight, and it resulted in Jake's solo-piloting stunt and his dismissal from the program. So when Jake's got back to the PPDC Nate is all determined to never let his heart get in the way and prove he's well & truly over him. Jake's spent last eleven years regretting it, so he's trying to let Nate know that he ~~likes~~ him, trying to send the message that it's like, totally okay if we're doing this now, if you're still interested? in the only way he knows - flirting & teasing, but since it's Nate it has an opposite effect: he takes it that Jake's testing him - surely you aren't still hung up on me, are you? - kind of attitude. So that's the reason of his 'we're just the guys hanging out & catching up' vibe in the kitchen scene and why he hardly reacts to Jake's teasing
# Sydney battle canon divergence
OKAY SO, SYDNEY. Like I said I first watched the movie in the theater, and when Jake got out of Gipsy and ran off to reach Mako, I honest to goodness thought that was the end of Nate - that he gets stomped by Obsidian Fury and dies right here, and Amara is going to turn out to be drift compatible with Jake and they save the day (which actually happened and I still have so many ~mixed feelings about it). My shock for Mako wasn't even registered yet back then because I never thought they would actually go there (SILLY ME). So this right here, I was so truly genuinely scared for Nate for a second - who was still kind of at 'who is this guy really' stage for me at that time - because I was so shocked that a Jaeger pilot would leave his co-pilot behind like that in the middle of the battle, with the enemy standing there just a couple giant robot steps away. It doesn't matter if it's your first time riding a Jaeger in eleven years (eleven years of no training and almost zero updates on Jaeger tech knowledge and still a dominant pilot... mmm okay), it doesn't matter who you are or who your co-pilot is or what's going on between you and them, or what's going on outside the Conn-Pod even, if you're piloting a Jaeger together you don't leave your drift partner behind, you just don't, period. At least not willingly.
So... you could tell that this scene bothered (and still bothers) me greatly, right? Then after the movie I've fallen for Jake/Nate hard, and come to care a lot about Nate, and once I've started to think about how Sydney battle could've gone differently there's a lot of what-ifs and it's super scary and depressing I can't seem to stop.
Variations of Nate's fate in the Sydney battle, fighting against Obsidian Fury alone:
- Nate solo-pilots Gipsy ※3, takes down Obsidian but dies of neural overload/mind strain
- Nate solo-pilots Gipsy, manages to take down Obsidian but Gipsy gets nearly destroyed too, killing/injuring Nate
- Nate tries to solo-pilot Gipsy, but Obsidian is faster and destroys Gipsy, killing/injuring Nate
- Nate has to retire as a pilot due to severe mind strain or injury
(I know that there are backup Jaegers approaching and seeing them Obsidian retreats, but hey, divergence.)
Or: Jake simply just doesn't run off, they get Gipsy up and manage to make Obsidian go away together
※3 If there is anyone who could solo-pilot a Jaeger in 2035, I think it's Mako and/or Nate. (Jake too, but it should take more time for him to get there.) According to the movie novelization Nate has been in this Jaeger business since he was fourteen (four-fucking-teen FFS. During the first war sixteen Chuck entered the program as the youngest cadet in the Jaeger Academy history, and Mako too, and a couple years later there was fourteen Nate (also possibly Jake)? I know it was war time and by the time Nate and Jake enlisted they were losing the war rather rapidly so I get that they needed to train as many pilots as possible but... is this child labor camp or something?). Of course the long career or experience doesn't at all mean/guarantee solo-piloting ability, but in Ascension it was implied Stacker apparently went out of his way and kept Nate in the program, making exception - and if *THE* Stacker Pentecost did that, it meant just how much he saw in Nate. He really must've been spectacular.
# During or post-movie where this 'leaving the drift partner behind' becomes an issue?
I have no idea how Nate would handle this to be honest. He could take it all soldier-ly serious because it's so much bigger than to take it personally, it's about the duty so he could confront Jake about it. But he also knows it was for Mako, and he understands why Jake had to go (I think he would've gone for her too if he had a choice, but he had none, so). Or he could think it's his own fault or failure or lacking that he couldn't stop his co-pilot to abandon the duty and run off. Or he just shrugs it off, doesn't register it as an issue, but it just kind of adds itself to Nate's biggest pile of self-esteem issues, goes undercurrent and ready to resurface on a certain situation. And I know I think too much and too seriously into this but I can't help but think it's an ultimate way of 'being left behind', a Jaeger pilot being left alone by their drift partner in the fight ※4 ("Jake, wait"). And God knows how many times people had left Nate, and what it had done to him, still does to him. And to add to that, in Tokyo he did it too, had to eject himself and leave Jake there, even though there was Amara and it was the only way left. And I can totally see Nate blames himself for it.
※4 It's like the Jaeger pilot's code, I think. There was this ~discussion between Travis Beacham (writer & creator of 2013 movie) and the fans back in 2013-14 about why Chuck had to die, fans said Stacker should've had him ejected (like Raleigh had done for Mako) before setting off the nuke, that he should've saved Chuck and done it by himself since he was already dying. Travis Beacham's answer was no Jaeger pilot would leave their co-pilot willingly, or can 'force' their partner to do something against their will. It was Chuck's own choice and decision he stayed with his co-pilot and saw through their job, and there was nothing Stacker could do about it. (Remember Herc's face when he heard Chuck via the comm? He knew what his son was doing and why he had to too.)
# Jake & Amara Drift compatibility + Nate
This hadn't occurred to me until much later but: when had Nate learned that Jake and Amara were drift compatible? Did he see the training log/data of Jake & Amara's sim drift? (I think they were too busy figuring out what's going on with the rogue Jaeger attack and then fighting the enemy to have a time to actually go through the training data but I don't know, being a committed teacher Nate could check training data everyday no matter what, or they could go through the training data before assigning the cadets to their Jaegers for Tokyo battle.) Or did he just 'catch' it while drifting with Jake during Novaya Zemlya or Tokyo? Did Jake simply lay the info there among other mundane things in the drift since he didn't think it's a big deal? Or did he (sort of) try to hide it from Nate for his own reason? Maybe Jake had been hiding it but it had spilled into the drift when Mega-Kaiju's tail got Gipsy and Nate and their neural handshake shook and wavered? The point of all this is, in any way or case, Nate had to have learned Jake and Amara were drift compatible at some point; because he already *knew* they were when he was getting out of Jake's way - he wasn't worried / hadn't shown any worry for leaving Jake and Amara, he knew they could drift just fine. And I'm just :(((((( because it seemed so... cruel? When Jake came to Moyulan Nate was still looking for his new partner; Gipsy was 'his girl' (Ascension) but he hadn't been able to pilot her since Burke left (Amara: 'You ride Gipsy?' Jules: 'He used to'. / Nate: 'Ranger Burke.'). He's incompatible with pretty much everyone but
# Nate's "worse, I was nobody" during his ~motivational speech to the cadets (and also to Jake) - what the hell does that mean?! And in the movie novelization it sounds even more ~~dramatic~~ because it's "I was nobody from nowhere." SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN.
# Jake's "I actually didn't want to be here. Still don't." to Amara, when he told her she was dismissed from the program - WHAT THE HELL IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN??? This is another one of the biggest 'WTF???' moments from my first time watching Uprising and it had nothing to do with Jake/Nate back then! Like I know the character's development isn't/can't always be linear, but to have Jake say this at this point in the movie - after Mako, after Nate's
# And after the movie it also has become about Jake/Nate for me, because I'm a loser like that. What if Nate saw/heard it in the drift (and failed to get the context or the real reason why Jake said/worded it like that, if there was any), believed it was because Jake had to be partnered up with him again. And when it becomes clear Jake isn't leaving/planning to leave the PPDC and starts working hard for the corps post-Tokyo, he figures he doesn't mind staying now that he's got a new partner (Amara).
# Almost too late 'I love you's & love confessions
This is actually one of my favorite tropes that I'd forgotten I love. I got a super amazing life-changingly good epic awesomest gift that actually did something that fit this trope, even though I had never written anything about it in my letters or requested any freeforms or tags. And it reminded me just how much I love this trope, made me even greedier and here I am, requesting for more.
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(Excuse me again for another LQ (GQ's part mostly) gif, this is what happens when you try to zoom in on an out-of-focus background character lol)
GQ Edwards/Waylon Jones (Killer Croc)
GQ Edwards/Rick Flag
Rick Flag/Floyd Lawton (Deadshot)
Tag links: Suicide Squad | GQ/Croc | Flag/Deadshot
Sidenote: this is not an actual DNW, but while I enjoy many kinds of AUs, I prefer *no* 'all human' or 'no superpowers' AU for this fandom. I'll be thrilled to get a Coffee Shop AU about the SEAL guy on leave helps run the cafe his CO's witch ex-girlfriend owns and the Crocodile-Human guy who frequents the place because he's on his ~diet; or a Tattoo Parlor AU where the ex-convict Crocodile-Human artist opens the shop but it's not doing great because the rumor says he eats (or used to eat) people - he's finally got a new client who's apparently a military officer but when the actual tattooing's about to start the client fucking passes out because he secretly hates the needles; or a Sky High AU where Croc is the Hero and GQ is his Sidekick (since the beginning? Assigned to him at the school?), etc etc. You get the idea. ;)
GQ/Croc
HOLY FREAKING WOW THIS SHIP, THIS FANDOM. This is one of my Ships of The Year ™️ 2018, the one I didn't know I needed or think I would ever fall for but now can absolutely NOT live without. I totally blame this one on the incredible authors that are
But Croc got caught in the underwater battle with those zombie soldiers, so he had to let GQ go, but he got there just in time to pull GQ away from the explosion. He was late for the final face-off with Enchantress, so it was possible he saved GQ, swam him back to the safer ground, and then came back for the Squad.
Also GQ's actor (Scott Eastwood) said in an interview that was published (and taken) *after* the release of Suicide Squad that 'he'd love to come back for SS2' - now I'm convinced Croc did save GQ, lmao. (Unless GQ turns out to be one of those super heroes or someone with special ability and survived the bomb, or he did die *sniff* but for some reason is brought back by someone.)
So basically this is my happy ship out of rather grim and dark movie/universe - Croc saves GQ and he gets to live and they both have a chance at whatever they started there before diving into the flooded subway, and one of the things I really liked about the movie is it's all about love really, all and any kinds of love - some twisted, some doomed, some weird, but love nonetheless. (Croc does love himself ('I'm beautiful'), but that's probably because nobody ever hasn't so he had to do it himself.) And I wouldn't outright call it love what's going to be between Croc and GQ yet, but I hope they somehow find each other and something in each other, which both of them quite didn't expect. And this universe is HUGE, so the possibilities are endless.
# Yet another Croc's body temperature thing
So I requested 'not actually huddled for warmth' prompt which was about Croc's probably not-so-warm body temperature before, and got THE COOLEST GIFT EVER (no pun intended). And here I am again, bringing a new prompt: GQ's got a high fever and Croc uses his body to cool him & bring the fever down. THAT'S IT THAT'S THE PROMPT
(Science? Biology? I DON'T KNOW THEM. Just cool (or not-too-warm) enough to be soothing & keep the fever at bay. :P)
# THIS JUST IN: due to the kind suggestion of the loveliest person (❤️❤️❤️) I'm also requesting GQ getting hurt in the legs. Broken foot or feet, got shot in the legs, something tried to bite his leg off, stepped on a nasty trap, nearly caught in the booby man net in the water & managed to swim (back) to the destination with injured legs/feet but now that there is ground and gravity can't lift himself up - in any way bad enough & impossible to go on any further on his feet, and Croc has to carry him (AGAIN - sorry Croc! But I know you won't mind ;)). Bonus points if GQ is on crutches afterwards because I just love the image & idea of him on crutches. lmao
(This prompt is inspired by Scott breaking his foot last year right before the filming of the movie Outpost began. Just a couple picturesque inspirations (there's TONS MORE pics & videos of course, you know how the guy is -.-; but I'm not linking them for now): during Outpost filming in military gear, hanging out at Dina Eastwood (his stepmother)'s house, on crutches, pictured with his dad.)
# I know human/meta-human crocodile-man sex could be tricky, but I learned a little bit about crocodile sex thanks to susiecarter's fics and internet lmao, and it's practically calling for multiple orgasms/overstimulation, isn't it? ;DDD
# Different First Meeting (canon divergence? in universe au?)
There's already the canon divergent fic that sort of fits this trope out there that I love so effing much (THIS FANDOM IS FREAKING AWESOME, I TELL YOU) and it got me thinking all the possibilities I hadn't considered before so what if: GQ (& Rick's team) is actually who's caught Croc? I don't know why the heck the SEALs got called on to the scene but they did, or just happened to be where the Bad Guys were/were doing something criminals do, and Croc was one of them (I know he's more of a solo type than teaming up, but idk for some reason he was with them), or he was out there alone doing Bad Things, and GQ caught him. Croc never thought there'd be someone who outsmarts him underwater, let alone a regular human (b/c Batman was like, no regular human), but there GQ was, and now he's been caught and locked up. Then he starts to work with Rick's team and GQ (whether there's Squad or not is up to you), and he's like... I have no idea how he'd be like, tbh! He could be fuck you @ having to cooperate, angry at himself for getting caught and at who caught him. It was just one time, a simple fluke, and he swears when he gets himself out he'd never let it happen again, and the next time he sees this human who caught him? He's gonna fucking eat him. But then he learns this guy is good at what he does, capable and reliable, and realizes he doesn't mind having him as some kind of partner. Or he's already kinda impressed at GQ, and while he's not actually eager to work for Waller, he's okay enough about it and more or less looking forward to meeting him again. And GQ's probably like you've gotta be kidding me at first but then finds this crocodile-man is actually awesome to work with.
Or: Croc is hurt by the Bad Guys who want to use him or want him to help/join them but he refuses (I know he does like, regenerate, but maybe they get him by surprise and get him bad), or caught by the Mad Scientists to be experimented. GQ on the mission happens to be there, or the SEALs is hitting the facility etc, and GQ finds him, and decides he has to help this... guy, who or whatever he is, because for some reason it doesn't feel right to leave him there. (Does he already know about Killer Croc or not, and if he does, realizes/recognizes it's him or not?) As a result Croc ends up in jail and working for Waller (as always lol), but now he's decided GQ is his to protect or simply, his.
(Honestly there could be thousands more possibilities for this theme, I'd love to have any and all versions. Go, run wild with your ideas! <333)
# In three words: Came Back Wrong
I got SUPER SUPER DOPEST GIFT for this prompt for another exchange last year and I'm even greedier now, I would never get tired of hundred more fills for it, I also think this would work great as an art prompt so: GQ gets superpower after Midway City, where he didn't die, and for once not because there was Croc to save him, but for some other reason. Or he did die, but came back alive, again for some other reason. Maybe someone or something had something to do with it and he just didn't die. Maybe bomb ignited some super power/metahuman-ness which was already in him he didn't know before. Maybe there was something in the water or in the place, it was full of ancient magic after all, or God knows what Waller or the government doing without telling them and behind them.
It could be anything, the death or bomb or magic or experiment, that altered something about GQ, changed who/what he was, woke something up in him and now he's (been) changed.
And maybe Croc was there to save GQ after he took care of Enchantress's soldiers, but didn't quite make it in time to pull GQ out of the explosion - but to witness what happened. GQ dying and coming back, or him not dying but changing/being changed. And GQ could be injured anyway, or he was totally intact, he could be unconscious/disoriented or completely aware of what's going on around him and happening to him. Maybe Croc kind of saved GQ anyway by swimming him back to the safe side, regardless of GQ's condition.
And then the aftermath. GQ realizing the power he's got and how he's going to deal with it. Does it change GQ's appearance or doesn't change anything on surface? Is he excited/thrilled or overwhelmed or terrified? Does anyone/everyone know about it too? If so, does it affect his work or his position in the team? If he tries/decides to hide it for some reason, does he know Croc knows it too? Does it become some kind of shared secret between them, or they just don't touch the subject? Or GQ believes no one (inc. Croc) knows and Croc is like 'wtf you're so dumb' but also 'I'm here for you' in his own way?
Or Croc could be the only one who knew/witnessed what actually happened and keeps the knowledge only to himself. GQ doesn't know he actually died (or didn't) but thinks Croc is the one who saved him and is grateful and it makes them get closer - what Croc would do in this situation? What happens when the power starts to manifest and GQ kind of freaks out?
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Roman Pearce/Eric Reisner | Little Nobody
Luke Hobbs/Eric Reisner | Little Nobody
Tag links: The Fast and the Furious | The Fate of the Furious | Roman/Eric | Luke/Eric
Roman/Eric
Roman and Eric's relationship was like (grudging) love at first sight! Their banter & pulling-the-pigtails type of flirting were so fun in the movie, it seemed so natural and easy for them to become comfortable with each other and be around each other, I just want mooorrrreee.
# Bickering the way out of the bad/dangerous situations.
# Jealous!Eric and Roman's ego boosted by it lol.
# Badass!Roman and Eric totally getting turned on by it.
# Car sex? Car sex. *nods*
# Also: isn't this cute? (original video @ Tyrese's Instagram) Let's pretend it's Roman & Eric (& Letty & Ramsey & Tej if you want) and get inspired? lol
******
Luke/Eric
MY LIFE WAS MADE WHEN SOMEONE GIFTED ME A FIC, A STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL ONE FULL OF FEELINGS FOR THIS RAREST SHIP. Thanks to the author Luke/Eric tag now exists on AO3, CAN YOU BELIEVE?!?! Hell Yeah Hobbs and Reisner \o/ I loved their relationship and its actual development, from the worst first meeting to reluctant mentor/papa bear & overeager newbie to proud big bro & little bro to real family/team members & open admiration/starry eyes. (And Luke actually thinking Eric was pretty totally helped, too.) I don't really mind if it's platonic or romantic, I just adore the dynamic and development between them.
# Luke teaching Eric new fighting/driving skills and... things happen.
# Luke in ultimate papa bear mode, being super protective of Eric.
# Eric & Luke go undercover as some rich kid (or businessman) & his bodyguard. (Or vice versa: Luke as some kind of CEO/executive & Eric as his bodyguard or secretary, lol.)
# Hobbs & Shaw won't come out until August so it's too early for this kind of prompt but: while Luke is away (for H&S mission or not) the case comes up for the rest of the team and it ends up a bad one, Eric gets kidnapped/injured or goes missing, etc. (already established L/E or was on the way to get together but interrupted because of Luke being away?)
# Eric shows up at one of the Dragons' games or practices - (in pretense of) just stopping by, or as Luke's boyfriend, or with the whole team, or because he's promised Sam he'd be dropping by. What would be Sam's reaction to it? How do the soccer moms react to it? They think he's cute and it leaves Luke... how do I say it, displeased? But is it because Eric takes the moms's attention away from him, or is it because he doesn't like someone's interested in Eric? Or he isn't bothered because he knows Eric's interest is 100% on him?
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Liv: Hey, you two okay?
Nick: Oh, guys like Barba, too smart for their own good.
Amanda: I'm sure he said the same about you.
Nick Amaro/Rafael Barba
Rafael Barba/Trevor Langan
Rafael Barba/Any Male SVU Character
Rafael Barba/Original Male Character(s)
Tag links: SVU
So I guess it's pretty obvious I love Barba and am here for Barba. And I'm still so very new in this fandom - I fell in love with Raúl Esparza late last year and started watching SVU which I never watched a single episode before just for him. So if you're a hardcore SVU fan reading this - I'm sorry if my offend you. He's one of a very few characters I truly think shippable with pretty much (almost) anyone and everyone; Fin? Alex? Eddie? Anyone from DA office, any defense attorneys, guest characters, NYPD officers? I'll be totally excited to see who you pick or create for his relationship.
Fandom DNWs: if you plan to go for 'hurt Barba' route (emotionally or physically) - it's turned out I can't really take him being *forever* sad/alone/broken/dead. I can handle hardcore hurt, but for him, I need at least a slightly hopeful ending or hint for future happiness.
Nick/Rafael
... is the biggest mystery of all Barba ships, because that elevator scene in S15E06 "October Surprise" alone? Could've produced millions of fanworks in any other fandoms, and it... didn't. I've only found one (1) Barmaro elevator sex fic so far and it's a crime! I just don't know why this ship hadn't sailed back then, like Barisi had after Carisi joined the show. I'm so ready for more stories of two competent headstrong Cubans colliding & falling in love. <3
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Luiz/Luke Collins
Luke Collins/Jared Middleton
Tag links: The Longest Ride | Luke | Luiz | Jared
AHAHAHAHA THIS MOVIE. I watched it in last May? June? and I *still* think about Luke and Luiz and what their relationship/friendship actually is/has been like, so I finally gave up and started requesting them for fandom exchanges. It's my first Nicholas Sparks movie ever, I'd never watched a single one before, not even 'Notebook', and I watched this one for... The Reason. WHY SELF, WHY. And I could be totally biased, but I honestly didn't hate it *gasp*, I didn't hate two leads who couldn't quite act but looked like they actually tried their best, and the stupid All-American-Dreamy Happily Ever After they got, loved supporting actors who were all good, and I think the director George Tillman Jr. did a great job.
Long spoilery movie summary long: Luke Collins (Scott Eastwood) is a professional bull rider living in North Carolina who's just got back in the game after the --spoiler-- life-threatening bull riding injury he suffered a year ago in championship game, Sophia Danko (Britt Robertson) is an art major who attends local uni on scholarship and is about to graduate in months and going back to her hometown NYC for a shiny hard-to-get art internship. They meet at the first show Luke rides (also wins) after the injury, fall in love, go their first date where she tells him about her graduation and leaving, and he tells her about his family ranch & life (and doesn't tell her about anything on injury) and the air gets a little off because they live very different lives and there's not much time left to go into the relationship even though they both feel this is something special. On the car ride back to her sorority house they rescue 91 year-old man Ira Levinson (Alan Alda, younger version: Jack Huston) from car crash, who Sophia befriends and he starts to tell her about his life and the love of his life Ruth (Oona Chaplin), his late wife who was a refugee from Europe during WWII. Two couples, two love stories, of people who are from the very different two worlds.
... ANYWAY.
Like I said I liked the main couple (Luke & Sophia) enough, but what got me more & got me thinking is Luke and his-- friend? fellow bull rider/cowboy? Luiz ※5, who's catching falling Luke in the gif, who doesn't even have a last name, who doesn't even appear in the book; I
※5 Played by Tiago Riani who is a Brazilian (former?) professional model who doesn't seem to have a convincing acting career before this movie, like I don't even know how the hell he landed this role but I'm glad he did because although his face is mostly hidden by the damn cowboy hat during the movie sadly, he actually looks like this thank you very much.)
And what gets and fascinates me most is that Luiz is basically the only one who's been with Luke every step of the way throughout the whole duration of the movie. He's always there helping Luke in the chute as he gets ready for the ride, always cheering for him on the side of the ring. He is there for Luke's first ride after the injury, asking him if he's ready for this, to which Luke replies back "we'll see," and watching Luke's hand shake and him having a bit of flashback knowingly and worriedly on his side. And when Luke successfully finishes the ride and wins, he cheers all smiles and full of excitement: "yeah that is my boy!"
There's also a bad ride, affected by seeing the star bull Rango who nearly killed him in that fateful championship game right before his own ride with another bull. Luiz is right beside him before the ride, clearly being aware of Rango's effect on Luke, and after the ride ends badly he waits him at the exit gate and greets him with a pat on his shoulder "good ride Luke", even though Luke is kind of far away and isn't really listening.
And then there's the ride in the gif: Luke manages to stay on the bull for eight seconds and scores great, but gets thrown after and hits the wall hard and goes down. He finally staggers back on his feet waving his hat to the audience but collapses, and Luiz catches him half way. And what can I say, this scene is so... great? Luiz is shouting and cheering "go Luke!" as always through the ride, then seeing Luke being thrown and down on the ground he's "OH SHIT" and visibly so shocked and shaken, apparently knowing about the extent of his injuries and his condition. And as soon as the bullfighters send the angry bull away out of the ring and it's safe to jump in, he immediately does and runs straight to Luke asking if he's alright, to which Luke replies with "I'm fine" as he falls into his arms.
The movie doesn't go into the actual/technical details of Luke's injuries, but enough for us to guess how bad they had been. He takes the pills regularly as he continues to ride while the doctors (and his mom) tell him he needs to stop riding or he *will* die, he was in a coma for ten days after the accident, he's got at least three? scars that look like by the horns on his body, and he suffers a PTSD. And when Sophia learns about his injuries and goes searching a YouTube video of the championship game, we get to see exactly what happened.
(But the injuries were even more severe in the book, it kinda goes extreme on describing them. almost gruesome, as the bull attacked him more viciously and repeatedly. His body, face, everything was a mess, back of his skull was shattered and will never fully heal.)
******
Luke/Jared
Basically I'm just LOL @ Jared because he's supposed to be this cool 'rival' guy to the hero, who's a defending champion & current leading man of the championship with all the shiny sponsors on his vest and money on his back, yet he can't resist to come to Luke and congratulate and welcome him back to the game, he's got sort of passive-aggressive attitude, but it's more like he's trying to be cool when he's actually kind of soft and fond of Luke. And Luke does seem to be... stressed? uncomfortable? seeing all the money Jared currently has but it's only because he's financially very bad off with all the medical fee and desperately in need to win every game for his family ranch to stay afloat. And he's just happy to come back and friendly with Jared and basically doesn't really... care, or mind, or pay attention to him. And it's so funny! Jared keeps ~desperately trying to 'rile up' Luke, but Luke doesn't seem to take notice of Jared's presence, all Jared's attention seeking actions fly over his head. --spoiler-- Later in the movie when Luke finally wins a game against Rango, Jared watches super proudly & with respect, and congratulates him too after, but none of those reaches Luke b/c he's too busy to leave to 'get the girl.' It's just so one-sided and desperate and a little sad. LMAO.
So maybe something about Jared gets frustrated/has had enough being a rival yet being basically ignored and takes some action? (And Luke still kind of doesn't get a hint? lol)
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Joe Carroll/Roderick Nelson
Tag links: The Following
Soooooooooo, Joe and Roderick. The truth is I don't really 'ship' them, mainly because I just didn't get everyone's Joe Carroll obsession/syndrome/worship AT ALL, I never found him charismatic or fascinating or powerful. But apparently everybody worshiped the ground he spit on and killed for him and kept throwing their lives away for him, and Roderick definitely did, and I thought if I searched Roderick on AO3 I would find at least a reasonable number (like, five) of Joe/Roderick fanwork with them as the main pairing/focus... and there wasn't. And I really didn't get it, because Joe was basically Roderick's creator, his God, and I think I read somewhere Warren Kole (Roderick's actor) said that Joe was sort of his father figure but I think he's more like His Father, and everything Roderick had done was for Joe and this little fucked-up ~community of theirs (or at least that was the way Roderick saw this cult). So that's why I request them from time to time.
For this ship I don't really mind dark, twisted, disturbing, etc, content. Joe personally kills Roderick, uses or does bad things to him, plays with Roderick's apparent childhood trauma and family(/father) issues, goes too far and it backfires on him, or Roderick gets his revenge and kills Joe. Or if you want to go and make them a happy co-dependent murder couple, I'd love it too. No worries for going too far. ;)
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G Callen/Sam Hanna
Tag links: NCIS: Los Angeles | Sam/G
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