Smut4Smut 2022 Letter

Smut4Smut 2022 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, dear creator. Some of my requests might seem a little longer than others, but please don't read anything into that: I would be thrilled to receive any one of these fandoms and ships. I’ve provided some prompts but please consider these as suggestions – ignore or adapt them as you want or go off my general likes. All requests are for fic.

Table of Contents

• General Preferences
  
  • General Likes
  • Smut Likes
  • DNWs
• Death Goes to School (1953)
• Doctor Who (1963)
• The Professionals
  • Request One: William Bodie/Ray Doyle, George Cowley/William Bodie
  • Request Two: George Cowley/Annie Irvine, George Cowley/Geraldine Mather, George Cowley/Elizabeth Walsh
• Upstairs Downstairs
• Whisky Galore!

General Likes and DNWs

General Likes

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mustery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc. (Please note the exception for Whisky Galore!)
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it. (and for the record, I’m not sure why The Professionals has become the fandom I would really love to see crossed over with basically everything, but for some reason it has.)
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, with focus on angst and the struggle for survival. This includes zombie apocalypse AUs.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, us against the world, deep mutual dependence on the other party because there’s no one else around (which may not be entirely healthy)
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details, and sewing in general. Oh, and I cannot emphasise this enough: men in pyjamas (potentially highly relevant to many of the ships I'm requesting. XD)

Smut Likes

• Sex Pollen and aftermath
• Angry Sex, and hate sex
• Careful Sex with an Injured Partner
• Clothing kink, pulling clothes aside, one partner clothed, the other naked, etc.
• Comfort Sex, and sex as solace.
• Cunnilingus, especially with fingering, and Cunnilingus while the receiver is masturbating at the same time.
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint, such as pinning a party down.
• Oral Sex
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes

DNWs

• A/B/O
• Noncon (Bad Guys Made Them Do It scenarios are fine though)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage (normally <18, but for Ceolbert, <16)
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Sexualised lactation
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)
• Infidelity involving requested characters

Death Goes to School (1953)

Requested ships: DI Campbell/Miss Shepherd
Requested Freeforms: Awkward First Times, Characters mutually pining finally get together and have amazing sex, cigarette kink, Clothes and Hair Disheveled, Competence Kink - Rivals Are Incredibly Turned On By Each Other's Talent, Cunnilingus - Receiver Grabs/Pulls Giver's Hair, Kiss - Desperate Kissing in the Rain, Mutual Pining, Tender Sex with Lots of Eye Contact & Barely Repressed Feelings, trapped together, Repressed and serious character gets to be horny, Established Relationship – The Inherent Romance and Eroticism of Being Known, "Thank God You're/We're Alive" Sex

Available on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnOlzfp3bgo. It’s a second feature, and is very short, just over an hour long.

Note: I don’t think either of them actually gets a first name at any point in canon. It’s based on a novel but I haven’t been able to get hold of a copy or find out much about it. I do semi-headcanon hers as Anne, probably because I read Cat Among the Pigeons at about the same tame and associated her with Ann Shapland, but go with whatever you want.

~~

This. Is. Delightful. I’m a sucker for murder mysteries with schools as the setting, so this appeals so damn hard with its closed circle-esque setting and everyone into each other’s business, and the two leads are so, so shippy and charming together, even with Campbell’s occasional sexist dickishness – he’s otherwise so sweet (the scarf he gives her at the end, and the way that whole business pans out – I’m sure he knows exactly where those pills came from.), that I can’t take his comments seriously, and they just make his dynamic with Miss Shepherd more appealing. YMMV, of course, but I can’t help thinking his pronouncements are mostly bullshit and he doesn’t mean half of it, and it’s at least partly to tease her, but then I’m wearing shipper goggles, so who the fuck knows. I love what a period piece it is too, with the way the plot depends on rationing and his precious hoarded bars of chocolate, and the way his manner towards her shifts from disinterest to respect/admiration, winding up on him asking for her help in the case. And especially the way the help she gives him is part cooperation, part competition, with her staying one step ahead of him until the end.

I’d love to see a post-canon fic, where their paths cross again, possibly involving another murder, although I should stress that I am absolutely fine with the case not being fully realised, with maybe just snippets from a case as background to the ship. I’d love to see more of their semi-competitive dynamic, with her trying to prove his chauvinistic nonsense wrong. Or skip ahead to a future where they’re in an established relationship of any kind – married, engaged, or right at the point of becoming engaged. I’d particularly love something tropey and romantic and smuttily indulgent for these two, and despite what I said about case fic a minute ago, PWPs are absolutely welcome.

Optional Prompts

• cigarette kink – Ah, the 50s. When everyone and their mother was lighting up, and that includes the schoolkids. When it comes to cigarette kink, canon alone is pretty damn good to me. I love all the sexual tension descriptions and focus on smoking can provide, and the intimacy that comes from offering each other cigarettes, lighting up for each other, sharing their last cigarette, etc…
• A first time, whether it be their first time together, first time as a married couple, first time as an engaged couple, first time for full sex…
• Competence Kink - Rivals Are Incredibly Turned On By Each Other's Talent – I LOVE this for these two. I’d just love more of them competing with each other to solve a case, and that whole thing bringing them closer together.
• "Thank God You're/We're Alive" Sex – A slightly more hazardous case leads to frantic sex, with optional get together and feelings confession.
• trapped together – yep, I will never get sick of this trope as a catalyst for shipfic. Interpret this however you want, whether a very small cramped space like a wardrobe or the two of them being stranded in an isolated building. Either way, I love the awkwardness of forced proximity, especially when the sexual tension is laid on with a trowel.

Doctor Who (1963)

Requested Ships: Jo Grant/The Third Doctor, Peri Brown/Sixth Doctor
Requested Freeforms: Bad Guys Made Them Do It, Characters mutually pining finally get together and have amazing sex, Clothes and Hair Disheveled, Cunnilingus - Receiver Grabs/Pulls Giver's Hair, Devotion Through Sex, Dubcon - Both Suffer from Memory Loss, Final Fuck Before Certain Death, In Captivity Together, confessions during sex, Kiss - "We Lived" Kiss Reveals Feelings, Kiss - Desperate Kissing in the Rain, Loyalty Kink - Risking Self For Someone, Sex With Alternate Universe/Timeline Version Of Character While Longing For Own-Universe Version, Sexy Shenanigans at a Masked Ball, Soul Bond - Accidental Soul Bond, Stranded - On Another Planet/World With No Way Home, Time Travel - Time Loop can only be broken by having sex with specific person, Undercover Work Used As Excuse To Have Sex They've Always Wanted, Sex Pollen, Clothing - costume porn

*On the subject of my infidelity DNW, if it comes to it (e.g. for anything more than unrequited or unrealised pining), then either disregard Clifford Jones or have them be separated UNLESS you choose to indulge my ridiculous 'Clifford Jones is actually the Doctor' headcanon, in which case anything goes.

~~

Jo Grant/The Third Doctor

”Jo, you've got all the time in the world, and all the space. I'm offering them to you.” *hearteyes*

I was already kind of shipping them because I am a sucker for hand-holding and they are always holding hands or hugging, but then I skipped ahead to The Green Death and oh my fucking god. I can’t see that speech at the beginning with the Doctor offering her the universe as anything but a love confession. It’s not just the words, but his delivery, which is ridiculously solemn given that he’s just giving her the choice of which shithole planet she wants to fail to get to. And she says no! And then the end of the story where he says goodbye to her and gives her the sapphire from Metebelis 3 as a wedding present (the way their hands touch!) and then she looks back at him as he slips out of the celebrations. Uh, which is to say that The Green Death got me from kind of shipping it to shipping it like burning.

Even if you set the ship aside, the Third Doctor and Jo are one of my favourite Doctor-Companion combinations. I absolutely fucking love the Pertwee years, and I love Jo so much: even back when Dr Who wasn’t on TV I had a battered novelisation of The Daemons that I read to death… (and rewatching it recently I’ve realised that may well be the source of my love for the trapped-in-a-creepy-village trope. The bit in Time Monster where the Master calls the Doctor's bluff and the Doctor can't bring himself to sacrifice Jo, so she makes the decision to sacrifice the both of them? <3<3<3 Not to mention all the handholding and hugging and self-sacrifice that goes on. Jo’s tougher than she looks and she’s adaptable, but she’s still so vulnerable at times, and he’s so protective of her – all the putting his arm round her, and her flinging herself into his arms and being willing to sacrifice herself for him, him going in to kiss the top of her head… Yeah, I ship them hard.

Set it during canon or alternatively years late when Jo is older and wiser. I’m not really familiar with what the extended media has Jo doing after she leaves the show, so you’ve got an open book there as far as I’m concerned and I’m not bothered about spoilers for other media. Follow that canon or disregard it entirely: it’s up to you. The same goes for the fate of UNIT.

And, uh, if you’re familiar with The Professionals and feel like writing a crossover, than OMFG, please, please do.

Regarding Clifford Jones, I happen to have a completely unsubstantiated headcanon that he's a previously unmet regeneration of the Doctor under the influence of the Chameleon Arch (perhaps one prior to Three who’s been forgotten about for some reason). It all kind of fits – his eccentricity, his name, his research being, according to the Doctor, remarkable for the age he lives in. Alternatively, I’m fine with him being ignored completely or for him and Jo to have gone on to divorce further down the line.

Peri Brown/Sixth Doctor

Somehow, I’d managed to go my entire life of being a Dr Who fan without having seen a single Colin Baker episode. Turns out season 22 is the most fun I’ve had watching Dr Who since Three & Jo’s run. I adore Six as the Doctor, love him and Peri together, and thoroughly appreciate the darker edge to the character (a fucking acid bath? God, Vengeance on Varos was glorious from start to finish). I love the way he bickers with Peri, his terrible jokes, even the coat… And that regeneration scene, damn. There’s a moment after he tries to kill her in his fit of mania when he realises she’s terrified of him, and I love that moment so damn much, the utter bewilderment in his voice. He’s the Doctor – innocent young women aren’t supposed to be scared of him, and yet...

Shipwise, I love the bickering, the way he keeps putting his arm around her, (I’m a simple girl – gestures of affection like that get me every time). I really love the idea of them being drawn together despite everything – despite the bickering and the rocky start and his fashion sense and the sheer weirdness of how the whole situation must have felt for Peri, going from Five (who she called sweet!) to Six, who almost immediately tried to kill her (especially since that came straight after everything that happened with Sharaz Jek). But she’s tough and she sticks things out, even when she isn’t feeling entirely courageous, and I really like the way they sometimes each have to encourage the other to get involved. I like that this Doctor is dangerous, I like that he’s more violent than he usually is and more inclined to kill to solve his problems. And I also like the trust that develops between them despite the rocky start to their travelling together.

Delve into the weirdness of this ship, Peri telling herself she absolutely definitely isn’t attracted to this Doctor (and if you want to explore the potential weirdness of her having first been attracted to the Fifth Doctor first, only to then be confronted by this guy, then do), except, oh wait, actually she kind of sort of is. Or give me a quieter moment between then, more hugging, all the goodnatured(ish) bickering, hurt/comfort with neither of them necessarily being comfortable about it… Whatever you come up with, I’m sure I will be delighted.

Optional Prompts

• Something ridiculously tropey – there’s only one bed, or they arrive on a planet where they’re forced to pose as husband and wife. Or, one of my personal favourites, trapped in a cupboard and hiding from monsters.
• Undercover Work Used As Excuse To Have Sex They've Always Wanted - On arriving on a planet, they attempt to blend in (Curse of Peladon-style) by pretending to a pair of expected visiting government officials. Unfortunately, those government officials are actually husband and wife. Events -- mysterious murders? -- mean they have to pretend to be married so as not to draw suspicion to themselves, and they find themselves enjoying the act a little too much. Or maybe they stage a breakup but the act of arguing actually draws them closer together.
• Soul Bond - Accidental Soul Bond - God, I love this concept so much. I could see this working with either ship and either character in the life-saving role. All the angst and guilt and anger, whether the anger is directed at the other character or that the other character had to be put in that position, or a messy mixture of both. <3
• In Captivity Together - Especially for the Third Doctor and Jo. I mean, is there another pair of characters throughout the series who get thrown into captivity together more than these two? And the canonical hurt/comfort between them is delicious: the Doctor’s Daisiest Daisy story; Jo comforting him in Frontier of Space after their captors have used the mind probe on him. Just give me all the mutual support and protectiveness and hurt/comfort, and fear resulting in at least we’re not dead yet comfort sex.
• An ‘Oh no, he’s hot’ moment – Maybe there’s a moment while they were travelling together when the Doctor’s removed his coat, maybe rolled his sleeves up, or changed his clothes, and Peri realises to her quiet horror/astonishment that this version of the Doctor is, uh, pretty fucking sexy actually.
• Stranded - On Another Planet/World With No Way Home – Look, I’m a sucker for characters being put in the position of being forced to rely on each other and being drawn together because of that. This is recycled from my Three/Jo request, and I’m fascinated by how differently Peri would react given how different her motivations are for travelling with the Doctor compared to Jo.
• Sex pollen and its aftermath, where they’re either both equally affected or Peri/Jo is more affected than he is and he’s resisting but she can’t, and if they don’t have sex she’ll die. For Peri/Six, please err on the pleasurable rather than traumatic side for Peri (awkwardness is fine though), but feel free to delve into Six’s feelings of unease about losing control and what happened when he regenerated (and any residual guilt about not being able to protect her from Sharaz Jek). Or if you’d rather keep it lighter then go with the sex pollen making it easier for them to act on existing feelings, and acting as a catalyst to get them together (with an optional awkward ‘well that was weird’ aftermath)
• Hurt/comfort – the Doctor is injured or sick and is refusing to cooperate with Peri or Jo’s attempts to care for him.
• Huddling for warmth. Especially – especially – if it involves if it involves the Doctor giving Peri/Jo his jacket/coat.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It – Go hard on the angst and hurt/comfort, or lean more towards the ‘secretly enabled them’ lighter side of it. Or alternatively go for the aftermath, and focus on their first time having entirely consensual sex.

The Professionals

Request One: William Bodie/Ray Doyle
George Cowley/William Bodie

Request Two: Annie Irvine/George Cowley, Geraldine Mather/George Cowley, Elizabeth Walsh/George Cowley

God, I love this show so much. I could spend forever watching the dynamic between Cowley, Bodie, and Doyle, the banter, the jokes, the friendly rivalry, the way their different backgrounds give them different insights and skills, and the vibe I get that Cowley (who I fucking adore beyond all reason) is actually harder than Bodie and Doyle put together. Cowley chewing them out because they've disobeyed his orders and then immediately doing a U-turn and supporting them to the hilt. Oh, and the whump. Getting shot and beaten up and captured and generally getting the shit kicked out of them. So damn here for all of that. XD I love the way it subverts expectations too – all the literary references in particular, and the acknowledgement of CI5’s often deeply questionable tactics.

I’d also like to make it clear that I am extremely here for Bad Guys Made Them Do It for all the ships I’ve requested. Handle that however you want with Bodie/Doyle, but for Cowley/Bodie I’d prefer Cowley topping if it comes to penetrative sex. Beyond that I have no topping preferences.

Request One: William Bodie/Ray Doyle and George Cowley/William Bodie

Freeforms: Bad Guys Made Them Do It, Bodysharing - one of them commenting/giving orders while the other jerks off, Bondage - Handcuffed Together, Careful Sex Because Partner Is Bruised, Casual Sex while Secretly Pining, Character study through porn, Clandestine "we shouldn't be doing this" sex, Dubcon - Both Suffer from Memory Loss, Facial Shaving, First time having consensual sex post-Fuck or Die, Forced to have sex to keep their cover, In Captivity Together, Injuries - Character With Injured Hands Requires Assistance Which Turns Sexual, Loyalty Kink - Risking Self For Someone, sex under the stars, Undercover - Undercover Character Forced To Noncon Loved One Who Fully Understands What's Going On, Mutual Pining, Post-Torture Sex as Coping Mechanism, Sparring or Fighting as Foreplay, Authority Figure Societally Expected To Have Sex With Subordinate

~~

For Bodie/Doyle, explore the mutual codependence that comes as a result of working in close confines in a way that may not be entirely healthy, the tedium of surveillance, working and training together, working late and falling asleep at your desk, actively threatening to murder a suspect if anything happens to your partner… Anything goes here from explicit smut to pining (mutual or otherwise), and including canon-style relationships with women is fine too. Maybe they come to the realisation that while women come and go, their relationship remains immutable. They also sure do seem to get shot/beaten up on the reg, and look very pretty doing it, *especially* Doyle, so if you wanted to go hard on the whump… I absolutely love all the moments of character interaction, the bonding moments in Mixed Doubles and that bit where Bodie interrupts Doyle’s brooding session by just sitting there and looking at him? Yeah…

Give me canon style casefic or something that takes them out of their comfort zones, backstory for either one of them, or post-canon fic. Also here for character studies, and anything that digs into any moral qualms they might have about CI5 and its methods, especially Doyle.

And then there’s Cowley/Bodie. This ship hit me pretty hard after a chance comment got me thinking how it would work, and then in the middle of that I watched Need to Know, and noticed that little bit where Cowley brushes back Bodie's hair after administering oxygen (all Doyle gets is a cheek pat), and huh, okay, turns out I do actually ship it, and turns out I really ship it.

I'm nearly always drawn to age-gap relationships anyway, and something about this particular age gap ship just really appeals -- it's something about the mix of loyalty, trust issues, and the low-level disapproval on Cowley's part - his little dig about how it's not like Bodie will ever have to worry about it when the subject of them needing his permission to get married comes up (also Bodie's 'Wait, what?' reaction, XD). Even aside from the age gap, there are so many fundamental differences between them -- faith, repression, romanticism, etc -- but in a way that gets me wanting to see just how they'd fit together, as well as all the different ways they could fit together.

Repression and trust issues and pining (mutual or otherwise) are always golden, as well as imperfect awkward sex and scenarios where they're both out of their depth and forced to rely on each other. Not to mention having to keep any relationship secret and/or self-denial because of Cowley's 'No Fraternisation Between Agents' rule. And Bad Guys Made Them Do It scenarios, which take on an extra layer of interest if it's Cowley being made to fuck Bodie -- that delicious additional guilt during and afterwards because ultimately Cowley is the one responsible for their safety. Just... fucking yes please. That, and the delicious guilt and angst of the aftermath.

There absolutely doesn't need to be a happy ending. Oh, and I should mention that background Bodie/Doyle is welcome here too.

Optional Prompts (some of these have been written with specific ships/characters in mind, but please feel free to mix and match)

• Casefic, or elements from a partially realised casefic, whether canon-typical or something which takes them out of their comfort zones.
• 5 + 1 ways of livening up surveillance detail.
• Bonding in captivity – whether as a result of trauma and torture, or being imprisoned together somewhere dark and claustrophobic.
• If they do get together, how does it happen? How do they come to realise they have feelings for the other? When it starts is it just about sex, or is the sexual attraction develop out of a result of their bond?
• The bit in Stake Out where Bodie flung himself across a bowling alley to manhandle Doyle to the floor to stop him from kicking off at an aggressive member of the public, including hooking his leg over Doyle's in the process did things to me. More undercover stuff please, with them both trying to keep a low profile, and having to rely on the other one to rein them in. Additional manhandling is optional, but very much appreciated.
• Casual Sex while Secretly Pining - Neither character thinks the other has any genuine feelings, or maybe the sex is just something that keeps happening without either of them ever intending it to. What happens when tenderness starts creeping in? Is it mutual? Is the other party unnerved by it? Into it? Or both?
• Post-Torture Sex as Coping Mechanism - Either paring, any character. Is the sex unhealthy or does it actually help with the healing process? Tender or rough, or a mixture of both? Especially here for stoicism and refusing to ask for help, especially if the tortured character is Cowley.
• A zombie apocalypse AU, or some other apocalyptic scenario. Always and forever one of my favourite tropes. Or alternatively, if you’re familiar with it, a crossover with Survivors, even if it only uses the other series as a backdrop for desperate ‘us against the crumbling world’ sex.
• While working undercover, one half of the couple is forced to torture the other to maintain their cover
• Estranged Characters – Injured A shows up on B’s doorstep saying ‘I didn’t know where else to go’. –Not a requested tag in this exchange, but a potential set-up for a fic that I love too much to delete. Future fic or canon-divergent where the injured character has gone AWOL or otherwise rogue. Could be combined with the Injured Hands tag the Handcuffed Together tag (well, the other character has to stop him from escaping somehow)
• Sparring or Fighting as Foreplay – I mean, the usual, but for Cowley/Bodie this would probably also include Cowley watching (disapprovingly?) as Bodie gets the shit kicked out of him by Macklin, followed by something that could theoretically be described as comfort if you squint, although if you want to have Bodie and Cowley sparring against each other I’d love to see that too, especially if there’s an element of poignancy over Cowley ageing and not being as able as he used to be.
• Cowley goes rogue. Is it for real, or another ruse?
• Character A and Character B Mutually Pine For Each Other While They Fuck Other People Together -- I haven't officially requested this freeform because I can only see it for Bodie/Doyle (Cowley would NEVER), but dear god do I love it for them. The drunken aftermath of a double date turns orgiastic, or else one of the lads has been stood up or had an argument with his girlfriend, and the other's girlfriend insists he join them to cheer him up.
• And of course now that I've said that Cowley would NEVER, I'm immediately trying to think of situations in which he would. *sigh* I suppose the most likely scenario is a combination of the procuring an undercover Bodie claims to do in Take Away and everything that happens with Anna in The Untouchables -- another party who knows this is a CI5 operation and is working with full consent. So a 'Sex while undercover' scenario, probably?
• Bodysharing - one of them commenting/giving orders while the other jerks off -- Ahaha, <3. I love this tag so much. Either pairing, either character. Although I do have to admit, that while it would be especially weird and filthy and fun for Bodie/Doyle, the idea of this for Cowley/Bodie fills me with glee. God, it would be excruciating and I can't figure out which scenario I like more: Bodie trying to have a surreptitious wank when he thinks Cowley isn't looking, and his dawning horror at the first sour comment, or while Bodie's inside Cowley some of his general horniness rubs off on him, and even when Cowley was young he hadn't been as horny as this all the damn time, what the hell, man? It appeals so much, the two of them trying to make it work as best they can until they can get the mess fixed, and grudgingly actually getting sort of into it, weird and fucked up as it is.
• sex under the stars – Ohhh, I love this tag: the romanticism of sex outdoors, the setting and potential for scenery porn, the low-level risk of semi-public sex, and the suggestion that they’re so turned on they can’t keep their hands off each other. How does it come about? Are they camping for plot reasons, on a stake-out, stranded in nature for some reason?
• Authority Figure Societally Expected To Have Sex With Subordinate – I obviously had Cowley/Bodie in mind for this, but if you want to use it for Bodie/Doyle instead, then please do. I can see a couple of ways that’d work – an AU where either Bodie or Doyle is the other’s subordinate, OR where Cowley being expected to have sex with his subordinates is part of the background to the Bodie/Doyle ship (a Droit du Seigneur situation which arises when two of his subordinates are in a relationship, which is part of the reason why Cowley discourages relations between his agents because he hates having to fulfil his duties and he is extremely unimpressed every time it happens?) Either way, what appeals with this is how utterly awkward and uncomfortable it would be, and Cowley’s reluctance and impatience with the whole business. I’d love to see the worldbuilding explored whichever ship the focus is on. Would Cowley put it off or grit his teeth and get it over with as soon as possible? Is it a one-off, or is he expected to keep it up on a regular basis? (and oh, bless him, but he’s not as young as he used to be and CI5 has a LOT of agents) Or maybe he does usually try to keep it a one-off, although nominally it isn’t meant to be, but for some reason he keeps fulfilling his statutory duties with Bodie more often than he does with his other agents… (or that Droit de Seigneur situation again, where Bodie keeps submitting fraternisation request forms for different people, and Cowley gets progressively more exasperated every time he has to fuck him, until he realises that Bodie hasn’t so much as gone on a date with the party named in the most recent form (but why? Is it an excuse to fuck Cowley, or a form of bratty non-violent protest, which leads to the two of them bonding over their mutual resentment at the practice).

Request Two: Annie Irvine/George Cowley, Geraldine Mather/George Cowley, George Cowley Elizabeth Walsh

Freeforms: Bad Guys Made Them Do It, Character study through porn, Cunnilingus - Receiver Grabs/Pulls Giver's Hair, Devotion Through Sex, Experience – Experienced/Inexperienced, Facial Shaving, First time having consensual sex post-Fuck or Die, Grudging Arousal, Hurt/Comfort Sex, In Captivity Together, Injuries - Character With Injured Hands Requires Assistance Which Turns Sexual, Injuries - Careful Sex with an Injured Partner, Markings - Tracing Scars During Sex, Morning After (Incredible Sex the night before), Loyalty Kink - Risking Self For Someone, Bondage - Handcuffed Together, Post-Torture Sex as Coping Mechanism, Awkward First Times, Pregnancy Sex, Repressed and serious character gets to be horny

~~

Uh, so apparently part of the joy of watching this show for me is the gradual accumulation of people I ship George Cowley with. XD I should probably have seen it coming, tbh. Put it down to the chemistry the man has with, well, basically everybody. He has very fast become one of my favourite characters in anything ever: it’s that combination of implied loneliness and stoicism, dedication to the life he’s chosen even if he might have been happier on another path, repression and self-sacrifice and sarcasm, the clash of his staunch code of ethics combined with some very questionable tactics, and the conflict of him wanting to look after the woman he’s fallen in love with, but of course it’s his fate to only ever fall in love with tough-as-nails women like Annie Irvine, who wouldn’t want to be looked after in a million fucking years. <3<3<3 Look, there are very few characters I love quite as much as Cowley, and I just want him to be happy, dammit. Or, at the very least, for him to get laid.

The episode in which Annie appears was an absolute delight. From Bodie and Doyle’s reaction to the idea of Cowley in a relationship with a woman (that conversation in the car! Doyle slightly dubiously describing him as attractive :D) to the way Cowley actually behaves when he meets her and then quietly having his heart broken all over again (and oh god, my heart).

And the backstory we get for him, picking his education back up after the war, as a student going to political meetings, and falling in love with a woman who he keeps loving even after she breaks his heart. Just that line about him watching her. And that line about how she never knew him at all? Damn. It’s so up my street I can’t even say: quiet loneliness and a lingering feeling of regret even while you’re getting on with all the shit that needs to get done will get me every time. Him wanting to look after her when she’s not the sort of woman who wants to be looked after, and if she had been, then he probably wouldn’t have fallen in love with her as hard as he did.

Then there’s Geraldine Mather, the young lawyer from the Rack who somehow manages to outmanoeuvre Cowley at every turn. There’s a pretty good chance that if it hadn’t been for the lucky break in the case at the end she’d have won, and the idea of Cowley of all people losing to a young, idealistic lawyer is just the most delightful thing. Not only that, I’m pretty sure Cowley has a bit of a thing for strong women, and I’m pretty sure he’d be into it, even if he denies it at every step.

I ship them (oh god, do I ship them), and I love the thought of seeing them meeting outside of a trial, either butting heads or, to their mutual surprise, actually getting along. They’re both so passionate about their beliefs, and they share a strong belief in the importance of freedom in particular, but their approaches are so diametrically opposed and they’re both so entrenched in their viewpoints. And still there’s such a strong feeling of mutual respect between them, even if they do spend most of the episode butting heads. I’d just love to see them encounter each other again, have them find each other frustrating and fascinating, and maybe find some common interest over a glass or two of single malt.

And finally there’s Elizabeth Walsh, who out of everyone that I ship him with, is the relationship I can actually see working long-term. Spy Probe worked out as the last episode I watched, so there’s nothing to contradict my head-canon that the two of them get together post-canon, or that one of his primary motivations for getting her involved in the case (other than keeping her safe and the possibility of her being behind the killings) is to buy him a little time while he dithers about asking her out for dinner, and after the case has been solved he’s got the perfect excuse – how else is he going to thank her for all her help? He spends a significant part of the episode making impressed hearteyes at her, and they clearly have a history, but back then he was still deeply mired in pining for Annie, but now… Well, let’s just say that the idea of them finally getting together in middle age really appeals.

And she’s perfect for him: she’s a retired spy so she knows and understands the demands of the work, she’s intelligent and trustworthy enough that he can pick her brains, and she’s independent enough not to mind doing her own thing while he turns up every now and then like an outdoor cat looking for food and affection, and in fact she’d probably hate having him under her feet all the time so the situation works perfectly for both of them.

Optional Prompts

• Okay, so what the hell did happen with Annie Irvine? Explore their backstory. When they meet Annie says it’s been about ten years since they last met, so depending on how you figure the timeline that must have been significantly after their university days. Was he at her wedding? I have so many questions.
• Give me something that follows on from the ending of Look After Annie. Do their paths cross again? Where do they go from there?
• Give me an AU of that episode where events go differently.
• Although when I think of Bad Guys Made Them Do It I had the Cowley/Bodie and Bodie/Doyle ships in mind, I keep thinking about how gloriously horribly traumatic it would be if it happened with any of the ships I’ve requested here (the guilt! The terrible all-consuming guilt!), so holy shit, yes please.
• A zombie apocalypse AU, or some other apocalyptic scenario. Always and forever one of my favourite tropes. Or alternatively, if you’re familiar with it, a crossover with Survivors, even if it only uses the other series as a backdrop for desperate ‘us against the crumbling world’ sex.
• – When Cowley and the other character's paths meet again after a case has gone wrong, she reluctantly starts looking in on him despite his protests.
• Experience – Experienced/Inexperienced – Look, he’s been pining after Annie for, what, twenty years or so, so chances are he hasn’t had that much experience with women.
• They’re stranded at some isolated out-of the way place, which is potentially derelict, where the forced proximity puts them in a position where they have to work together and get over any potential awkwardness.
• Undercover as a couple leads to mutual feelings – When their paths cross again, Cowley poses as Annie’s lover to protect her. Or for whatever reason, Geraldine insists on being involved, perhaps because the case is personal to her.
• 5 Times Cowley had his heart broken.
• Geraldine and Cowley’s paths cross again, professionally or otherwise. They’re drawn to each other, and fall into the habit of meeting on a regular basis to argue politics and human rights over a Scotch or two.
• Pregnancy Sex – Most likely with Geraldine than either of the others due to their age, but I’ve requested it for all three because pre-canon is always a possibility. Is the baby his or not? For the record the idea of a tropey indulgent fic where Cowley becomes a father late in life really appeals (accidental pregnancy? *hearteyes*), but I’m also here for situations where the baby isn’t his, maybe with a little angst and regret over that and him missing the chance to be a father, along with all the awkward practicalities of pregnant sex. Especially heavily pregnant sex.
• The aftermath of Spy Probe. Cowley takes Elizabeth out to dinner as a way of saying thank you (well, he claims that’s his primary motivation), and walks her back to her hotel room afterwards. (and while I haven’t requested it for this particular exchange I do love the freeform: Late-Night Discussions Outside in the Gently Falling Rain.) Luckily she’s not quite as reticent as he is, and since someone did just try to have her murdered, the least he could do is double-check her hotel room to make sure it’s safe.
• Or Cowley/Elizabeth but a slower courtship, where he starts picking her brains on a regular basis and they start to see more and more of each other, until they’ve get as familiar with each other as an old married couple, only without the sex. And then they have sex.
• Back in their MI5 days Cowley and Elizabeth narrowly avoided having to have sex to maintain their cover. They both pretended to be relieved about it at the time, but secretly they’ve both regretted it since then.
• The AU where my completely off-base assumption that Elizabeth was behind the killings wasn’t quite so off-base, and her arranging her own attempted murder was a set-up to get her inside CI5 because she knew Cowley wouldn’t be able to resist. Except he suspects, and the whole thing is the two of them trying to out-think each other, combined with genuine professional mutual admiration and sexual attraction.

Upstairs Downstairs

Requested ships: Angus Hudson/Kate Bridges
Requested Freeforms: In denial - Pretending Sex is for Reasons Other Than Desire, Established Relationship - The Inherent Romance And Eroticism Of Being Known, Sharing a Bed, Having to Stay Quiet/Quiet Sex, Wedding Night, Clandestine "we shouldn't be doing this" sex, Experience – Experienced/Inexperienced, Domesticity - Sex In Bed Before Sleep, Character study through porn, Facial Shaving, Repressed and serious character gets to be horny

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I have absolutely fallen head over heels in love with this series. (I'm still working my way through it, but I've skipped ahead to the last series so I know more or less what happens. Apologies for any rubbishness of my prompts, and please don't worry about spoilers.) I love that so many of the plot arcs are driven by and revolve around women, and the cast of characters, flawed and imperfect though they all are, are the ‘I love everyone in this bar’ kind of ensemble, and I am especially here for life below stairs and for the lives of the women especially, the petty little cruelties and the painful inevitabilities and missed opportunities of that sort of life. And the life of servants in general, the contrast between the absolute chaos when something’s going on and the quiet moments when there’s nothing to do except fall asleep by the fire.

This ship hits me right in the id – middle-aged people getting together, especially when one or both of them have reason to think they’ll be alone for the rest of their lives. And then on top of that there’s everything that happens in the episode where they get… betrothed? Engaged? Well, whatever the hell it is – S1E9, Why is her Door Locked, which was an unmitigated delight from start to finish. Accidental baby acquisition! The store of endless resources Hudson is willing to employ to get the family out of a fix while everyone else is basically useless! His grand romantic gesture! – Proposing! In a court room! While his loved one is in the dock! His dedication to domestic service despite the fact that he clearly secretly wishes he was a lawyer (and what might have been if not for the options available at the time). Lady Marjorie walking the tightrope between callousness and genuine concern for the well-being of her servants (and yes, it really is dreadfully sad, but WHAT ABOUT HER DINNER PARTY ON THURSDAY?).

And then there’s the potential aftermath of Your Obedient Servant (S2 E7), and that glimpse Hudson gets into a life he could have had with a wife and family, and the suggestion that perhaps he’s not as content with the constraints of a life in service as he claims he is after all. And everything that happened with Lily, which was so horribly painful to watch, but which only made me ship them harder. All that quiet heartbreak, and the horrible fascination of almost seeing him throw everything away on an infatuation, and the way Mrs Bridges is ready to support him whatever he wants to do, and that whole speech he makes about what Lily is to him, completely unaware he's breaking Mrs Bridges's heart, and ow, my heart, ow. D:

Loneliness in all its forms is one of my favourite tropes. That includes lonely people finding love, whether or not the finding love brings an end to the loneliness or just mitigates it somewhat. Or maybe it’s not so much love as (non-platonic) companionship, or maybe it starts as the latter and deepens until they love each other more deeply than they ever could have imagined. Neither of them is in the first flush of youth, and he’s pretty damn repressed, but there still might be moments when they realise they don’t have to lead entirely abstinent lives any more – they are engaged, after all (Although it would have to be kept secret from the other servants, naturally). I’d also love to see them navigating the practicalities of a love life in that highly claustrophobic environment, with all the accompanying guilt, and sexual tension, particularly if they’re trying to abstain.

And that last episode after they've finally got married, and how delighted they are -- the hand-holding and the forehead kiss. *hearteyes* They’re two (mostly) sensible people, and they’re probably not going to be all over each other like lovestruck teenagers, but I’d really love to see them navigating a sexual side to their relationship, whether it’s quietly pleasurable and domestic, or so unexpectedly passionate it takes the two of them completely by surprise. What particularly appeals to me about this ship is people finding unexpected joy and satisfaction when they weren't quite expecting it.

Optional Prompts

• In denial - Pretending Sex is for Reasons Other Than Desire – God, I am so, so into this, whether it’s set during canon, and they’re having to be more inventive about their reasons as they really shouldn’t be having sex at all, or after they’re married, where it’s just a necessary part of their marital duties, and they can both definitely take or leave it, although, uh...
• Established Relationship - The Inherent Romance And Eroticism Of Being Known – They’ve known each other for a very, very long time. They both came from Southwold when Lady Bellamy came to marry Richard Bellamy, and the Bellamys have adult children at the start of canon, so by the end of canon they much have known each other and worked in close quarters for, what, forty-five years, at least, so they’ll know each other inside out. Are there any surprises when they finally marry, or is it like settling down on the sofa for a comfort-watch of something you’ve seen a thousand times before, whether they abstain until they’re married or not.
• Sharing a Bed – Always and forever one of my favourite tropes. Maybe they’re supposed to be following the family up to Scotland on the train, but the train breaks down, and the only place they can find to stay in only has one room, and they’re sensible people who are entirely capable of sharing a bed without any funny business, and, well, they are engaged.
• Having to Stay Quiet/Quiet Sex – So hypothetically they’ve decided they don’t have to abstain until they’re married, but finding somewhere to have sex outside of Eaton Place proves trickier than anticipated, and/or they keep being foiled, until finally in frustration they resort to his or her room, which means having to remain agonisingly silent in case anyone might overhear.
• Wedding Night – Yep, I’m a simple girl with simple tastes, and a hopeless romantic. XD It’s up to you whether they’ve abstained until the wedding night or night,
• Clandestine "we shouldn't be doing this" sex –
• Experience - Experienced/Inexperienced – Well, she’s a widow (probably: the continuity’s a bit iffy, XD), and he’s an extremely strait-laced bachelor, so no surprises which way around I have in mind for this tag. For this, I’d love to see some awkward getting the hang of things sex, gentle (ish) guidance, a bit of fumbling, just imperfect but ultimately pleasurable< sex in general/li>
• Domesticity - Sex In Bed Before Sleep – I just think this freeform is lovely. :D After they’re married presumably, and settling into life together, with this as one of those comfortable habits they fall into as man and wife.

Whisky Galore! (1949)

Requested ships: George Campbell/Catriona Macroon
Requested Freeforms: Argument leads to sex, Cunnilingus - Receiver Grabs/Pulls Giver's Hair, Devotion Through Sex, Fluff and Smut, Gentle Sex, Huddling For Warmth Leads To Sex, Kiss - Desperate Kissing in the Rain, Pregnant Sex, Sleepy Sex, Facial Shaving, Tender Sex with Lots of Eye Contact & Barely Repressed Feelings, Wedding Night, Wedding Night is Their First Time, sex under the stars

~~

Canon-specific DNWs: Unhappy endings, Heavy angst, Character death and focus on death (Unless killing off OCs for the purposes of a cosy murder mystery. References to characters who may have died pre-canon such as George’s father and Catriona’s mother are also fine.)

~~

Oh god, this film is absolutely delightful. It’s just the loveliest film, and I adore everything about it: the central message of how every problem can be solved with bootleg whisky, the quiet understated humour, and especially all the scenes of island life, the rèiteach, and all the Gaelic, and the scenery (even if it doesn’t quite come through in b&w), and the two central romances, particularly George and Catriona, who were adorable. I’d love to see more of the two of them post-canon. Tone-wise I’d love to see something either heartwarming and fluffy, or alternatively something which goes a little heavier on the atmosphere and scenery porn.

Other things I’d love to see explored: home guard shenanigans, or some other low-stakes conflict, details of island life or domestic details of married life as their marriage evolves over the years and the seasons. And I know this might sound slightly goofy, but this is a canon where I’d really love some focus on traditional Scottish knitwear if that’s your thing. I’m pretty sure George wears a gansey at one point, and I just… look, I’m weak for that sort of historical detail, okay?

Optional Prompts

• Wedding Night is Their First Time – I'm not kidding when I said I wanted something tooth-rottingly fluffy, whether you focus on just the wedding night itself, or touch on the wedding beforehand. And speaking of that, the trials and tribulations of holding a wedding during rationing, trying to keep George’s mother sweet, pre-wedding nerves, bickering between the sisters, or a minor home guard crisis (suspected German spy who turns out to be a birdwatcher? Unexploded bomb?). Is it a double-wedding?) And then the wedding night itself, I’m a sucker for inexperienced couples figuring things out.
• sex under the stars – I cannot emphasise enough how much I’m here for a tropey, indulgent romantic PWP. I’ll also point out that the Northern Lights can be seen from the Outer Hebrides for additional atmosphere and scenery porn.
• Huddling For Warmth Leads To Sex – Storms and heavy snow and sea fogs, whether just for atmosphere, or for tropey situations like huddling for warmth, mildly perilous rescue attempts, or just a reason for the two of them to shelter inside with only each other for company.
• Falling in love - How did they come to fall in love? Pre-canon quiet pining, or the two of them getting to know each other. Were they childhood sweethearts? Why didn’t his mother like Catriona?
• Scomething plotless and quiet and atmospheric, maybe just vignettes of their life together set at different times of the year. A year (or longer) in the life of a relationship, where the island itself plays a part.
• Pregnancy – Yeah, I really wasn’t kidding about wanting indulgent fluff. All the pregnancy tropes, George sweating it about not being ready to be a father, Catriona and his mother butting heads about how to raise a baby, getting the nursery ready, both the sisters pregnant at the same time… And sex during pregnancy, naturally. :D
• 5 times fic – Five things George and Catriona have argued about.

Thanks for reading!