rarepair exchange 2024

[belledamn]

General likes: gen, hurt/comfort, whump, physical closeness, unexpected vulnerability (physical or emotional!), people being carried, post-episode aftercare, quiet moments, casefic, adventures, car rides, non-sexual tenderness, slice of life, trauma recovery or recovery of any kind

General dislikes: pwp, torture, hurt with no comfort, bleak endings, surreality / it was all a dream, fate/soulmates, romantic cliches, AUs ("what-if" or like alternate canon AUs are ok! i just usually don’t enjoy coffee shop/university/high school type AUs)

Request 1 (Buffy/Cordelia): Here are some things I’ve considered:

- expansion/aftermath of the homecoming episode
- anything that explores Buffy’s comment about how she used to be similar to/worse than Cordelia before she became the slayer; both of them using femininity and their physical bodies as performance but with different motivations (Buffy's desire to be accepted/wanted/loved vs. Cordelia maintaining social power)
- trapped in the school together after hours
- physically stuck together because of a Cursed Object (feel free to make it as silly or as serious as you want)
- unwilling road trip together
- unwilling partners for a school project
- this pretentious perfume description I haven’t stopped thinking about since I read it: “I limp back to the bench and roll up my training pants. The wound on my knee pounds like my heart. Not sure if I’m embarrassed by the fall or not wanting the practice time to go to waste, sweating at the back of my neck even though I’m under the show. Far away from the training ground, I hear the teacher blowing a whistle and my friends laughing. As my sweat dries, my eyes meet hers. The sweet smell of bubblegum blows over my shoulder even when I turn my head.”

Anything that plays up the bickering and aggression between them and how much of it stems from jealousy/unwilling to recognize themselves in each other… that’s the good shit.

Request 2 (Anya/Giles): As a known fan of the “guy who sucks a little/hot girl who ruins his life” dynamic… I love these two… Since this isn’t a canon relationship, feel free to go as AU as you need! Some ideas:

- trapped in an alternate reality ("wizards see a swirling elixir and r like 'anyone gonna chug this?' then get sent to the mirror dimension")
- we’re the only ones who’ve realized we’re in a time loop
- fake dating/fake married (to gain something or to save face)
- stuck together because of the Curse
- aftermath of possession / sorry for what I did Because Of The Curse
- it’s the end of the world (for real this time!) and we’re the last two standing
- cursed xander/anya/giles cyrano de bergerac au (giles is cyrano. obviously)
- “third base is when i have a panic attack in front of you” do with this what you will
- this other pretentious perfume description I also haven’t stopped thinking about: “I was feeling depressed by the sound of spring rain that started to come down at night. That night it felt like I lost all the qualities of love. Nevertheless, I know that I want to love and be loved, and that I will hide these feelings and live tomorrow. Outside the window, it rained until morning and petals flowed with the rainwater. After all, we are all insecure but lovable beings.”
- or honestly this one: “By the time you’re done unpacking, the yellow sun is already inside the kitchen of the new house. You take out your black tea and a teapot you got as a gift and head out to the terrace. You stare into the color that darkens the more you pour it into the cup, and then suddenly run to the kitchen as if something came to your mind. You take out a lemon from the fridge, slice it thinly, and drop it into your cup before the tea gets cold.”

Request 3 (Daniel/Sha’re): I loved them SO much in the movie and I was always so disappointed by how the show treated their relationship (and Sha’re’s character just in general). I’d love to read either A) a pre-series fic about them getting to know each other after getting married, leaning into the sweet way they taught each other their cultures/languages in the movie or B) an alternate take on the earlier seasons with Sha’re still alive, maybe because she was never taken as a host or something exploring the aftermath of having the Goa’uld successfully removed. Even an episode rewrite with her included could be interesting… I’d just love to see how it would change the dynamic and most importantly, I wanted to see Sha’re treated as a real person and her agency/bodily autonomy respected, because the show never really gave her that.

Request 4 (Callen/Anna): I added this on a whim after seeing it listed in the tagset, but I rewatched part of the show earlier this year and I was feeling the vibes… they are both trainwrecks and honestly that is so special to me ♡ Possible ideas:

- undercover mission going wrong because one or both of them does something insanely reckless (god bless ♡)
- on the run after going so far not even their agency connections can save them
- hurt/comfort (or emotional hurt/comfort) after anna got the shit beat out of her in jail
- anything about how anna was literally in fucking JAIL
- honestly a bonnie and clyde thing could slay
- exploration of what a relationship between two commitment phobic, insanely reckless thrillseekers would realistically look like… both of them put up so many fake versions of themselves that i’d love to see them in any situation that forces them to be emotionally honest/vulnerable with each other
- aftermath of torture or truth serum... yas

Whatever you come up with, I’m sure I will love it!!! Thank you so much for writing this for me, I’m so excited to read it! ♡