Saffic

I'm so excited to be taking part in trickortreatex for the first time. Thank you so much for offering one of these beloved fandoms of my heart!

I have been fairly lazy and copied and pasted a few fandom sections in from previous letters. This means a lot of shippy prompts but please don't think that I have my heart set on ship fic / art. I love friendship, case fic, introspection, gen humour, etc, etc. All I really want is to see my fave(s) being interpreted by someone else. The prompts in general are only meant as starting points for those who like that kind of thing, so don't feel compelled to stick to them. If you have an idea already, go for it! I don't really have any DNWs - anything can be awesome in the right context, you know? - and I'm more than happy for people to go wild with anything from tentacles to historical AUs. :D

(I should mention here that I love all kinds of fic formats too. CYOA / interactive fic, multimedia, epistolary, mock magazine articles, etc, etc. If you feel like doing something experimental, go for it!)

If that all sounds a little too open ended, here are some of my favourite fandom things:

☆ Age Difference.

☆ Mutual Pining.

☆ Hurt / Comfort.

☆ Stock romance tropes - bed sharing, fake dating, didn't know we were dating, identity porn, general miscommunication... No trope is a trope too far for me. (For darker fannish tropes I can't get enough of, I went on about them at length in my darkest night exchange letter.)

☆ Smut. (For more rambling on that, check out my Smut Swap letter.)

When it comes to art, I like a wide range of styles from hyper realistic through to chibi cuteness. In single character pieces I particularly like eyes, hair or hands as focal points. The thing I most look for in shippy art is a sense of connection between them - eye contact, casual touching, almost but not quite touching, secret smiles, etc. I'm a sucker for anything that depicts tenderness, even if it's half hidden under arguments or exasperation.

For more on what kind of stuff I'm into / typical exchange stalking, my fandom presence is spread across here (Dreamwidth), Tumblr, and Ao3 where my username is falsteloj.

On to the requests - all are for both art and fic.

[Quick Links: Gotham | Life on Mars | Southland | Whitechapel ]



Gotham (Harvey Bullock | Jim Gordon)
I'm really loving Gotham right now - it puts me in mind of a darker version of the classic 60s Batman series, it's so kitsch!

I love these two apart and I love them together - it's all good. Jim and Harvey hit just about every 'friends to lovers' feel I've ever had and then some. Jim is so dour, so miserable, but no matter how self-destructive he's being, Harvey's there for him. Can make him smile, and even if Jim doesn't act on a word of it, he will at least listen to what Harvey has to say about it. On the flipside, Jim has given Harvey back his sense of purpose and the loyalty that binds them together is just beautiful. I totally buy into the idea that Harvey's confidence is largely bluff and bluster, and he can't really believe that Jim could want to be with him. Jim, of course, is stubborn enough to eventually prove otherwise!

Prompt Ideas:

☆ Harvey and Jim mutually pining, both believing that the other would never go there. Jim because, well, Harvey has told him often enough that anybody who gets involved with him needs their grip on sanity examined, and Harvey because underneath all the bluff and the bluster he's too insecure to imagine somebody like Jim could even be interested. (On finding this out, of course, Jim puts his considerable stubborness to good use, convincing Harvey that he is totally wrong about him.)

☆ Undercover as a Couple. There can never be enough of this in the world. Maybe Jim's about to blow their cover so Harvey has to take action, or perhaps Harvey sees this as the only chance he'll ever get to know what it's like to be with Jim and determines to make the most of it.

☆ Case Fic. I love police procedurals, murder mysteries, etc, and any fic focusing on their lives as police officers would be awesome. It could be the impact of a harrowing case, or something light hearted like Harvey being ordered to improve the GCPD's community engagement program with Jim in tow. It's all good!

☆ Identity Porn. Did they ever meet (virtually or otherwise) somewhere before? Maybe Jim was writing letters to someone who wasn't quite who they made out they were during his time in the army. Perhaps Harvey was so wasted in a club one night he now thinks he is just dreaming he once made out with a guy whose eyes were as blue as Jim Gordon's... I'm sure you get my drift! (My kind of half sketched out headcanon is that Harvey was one of the beat cops who dealt with the traffic collision that killed Jim's dad, for all the parallels between the way Jim tries to comfort Bruce after the Waynes' murder. Feel free to do with that what you will.)

☆ Taking care of each other. Let's face it, at any given time one of them will probably be receiving or recovering from a near fatal beating. I can never get enough hurt/comfort as they're lovingly patched up afterwards.

☆ Unrequited Love. Nothing hurts quite like it. My favourite is Harvey pining hopelessly for his boy scout, complete with all the depression and misery you can shake a stick at, but I'm up for all permutations.

☆ Domestic sweetness. It might not seem the fandom for it but, oh, boy, I can never get enough fluffy domesticity for these guys. Jim and Harvey clashing over the former's military instilled neatness and the latter's total indifference to the state of the kitchen counters. Bickering and bantering over redecorating the apartment after yet another villain shoot out, or even bringing up Baby! Babs together. (The lack of canonical mention of Roger in no way limits my willingness to go with the easy 'Babs is Jim's niece' angle.)

☆ Art prompts - somebody looking mournfully at a photograph (I love art tropes just as much as fic tropes!), bloodied hands, Jim 'borrowing' items of Harvey's clothing, any and all Halloween inspired scenes (clowns, ghosts, dolls, etc, etc, etc).

If you want to go darker, I have even more prompts for these two in my darkest night exchange letter.



Life on Mars [UK] (Gene Hunt | Sam Tyler | Test Card Girl)

This is one of my favourite TV shows ever. I love the set up, I love the setting, and I love all the characters. Even creepy test card girl! A recent re-watch has cemented my position as Gene/Sam shipper too and I'm super excited about the potential this exchange has for them. Although they start off antagonistic and vicious in their dislike of each other, by the end they're good friends, partners, and genuinely care deeply about each other's welfare. It's kind of beautiful.

The thing I really adore about LoM is the culture clash between the 2000s and the early 1970s. The way Sam and Gene view the world is so different, their understanding of rape and sexual assault is poles apart, and anything exploring that would be awesome. I'm particularly interested in sexuality angst for this fandom - especially with Gene because his entire sense of self is built upon his being a man, being tough and masculine, and an assault like this would have the potential to completely break him in a way Sam perhaps can't even understand.

Prompt Ideas:

☆ No Means No - Except When... Gene is a man of his times. When Sam gives him the come on, gets him worked up, then turns around and says he doesn't want to go further, Gene refuses to take no for an answer. Sam is crushed, betrayed, frightened, but Gene doesn't really understand why Sam would have ever actually expected him to stop when things got that far.

☆ Gene isn't real, that's what Sam tells himself. So it doesn't matter what Sam does to him, does it? Feel free to go as dark as you like!

☆ Test Card Girl. Does she get lonely? What did she do before Sam came? Does she visit little Sammy too - perhaps Sam has been repressing Test Card Girl related nightmares for most of his life! How about the other characters? Maybe she just watches. And waits... 

☆ Case Fic. Investigating creepy cases, the day to day problems of policing the streets 70s style, amusing incidents on training away days, etc, etc. I love it all! Feel free to relate it to contemporary creepiness too, real or fictional. Exorcist fever swept the country when the film got its UK release in March '74, and you've got all the pagan revival horror culminating in The Wicker Man.

☆ The bad guys capture them, use them, humiliate them. Then maybe they threaten to distribute the footage and ruin their careers. Bonus points if one or both of them cry. I'd especially love a shippy angle with Gene trying to offer himself up to save Sam because protecting people is what he does, and because he's genuinely afraid Sam is too mentally unstable to ever recover from it.

☆ Art prompts - Test Card Girl watching over baby!Sammy, playing with a poppet / voodoo doll, just looking her creepy self... Sam embracing 70s fashion, any of them dressing up for Halloween, ghosts!, trick and treaters getting more than they bargained for (okay, I don't think anyone went trick and treating in the UK in 1973 but we can handwave! Or have a drunken Gene or Sam dressed up as Guy in readiness for Bonfire Night xD), etc, etc.



Southland (John Cooper | Ben Sherman)

I completely missed this the first time around, but I'm glad I found the show eventually! I love police procedurals (and all related genres), especially when there is a lot of focus on the interpersonal relationships. I particularly liked the set up of the viewer going in with the rookie - we learn how things work along with Ben, even as we learn more about his character and those he works with.

I'm more than happy for gen or shippy angles with this fandom. What I really like about the idea of Cooper/Sherman is how unequal it is. Cooper is physically bigger, a superior rank, older, more experienced, etc. Sherman's kind of in awe, even as he pushes against Cooper's authority, wanting the other man to take notice of him. Cooper being reluctant at first, believing that he just shouldn't go there - he's in a position of authority, he's too old, Sherman can't possibly know his own mind, etc - makes it even better, especially when Sherman does his best to prove to Cooper that he's completely serious.

Prompt Ideas:

☆ Backstory. They both have some serious drama in their past - John's father is in prison for the rape and murder of his son's high school girlfriend, while Ben's is a successful defense lawyer who nonetheless kept company with criminals and drug dealers. I'd love something exploring their fears of turning into their fathers; John's struggle to stay clean, and perhaps Ben's realisation that he's already on the slippery slope. The danger he is putting others in through the company he's keeping, for example. Ben is a bit of a tosser by S5, there is no getting around the fact, so redemption fic would be completely welcome. Or maybe it's just too late for him to turn back and find the idealistic rookie he once was?

☆ Dirty Talk, Orgasm Denial, etc. John needs to ensure Ben can work well under pressure. Getting him worked up (and up and up) throughout the day and still demanding he be the model professional is way more fun than the methods laid out in the handbook. By the end of shift Ben is a desperate mess - just the way John likes him. Or how about Talked to Orgasm / Coming Untouched. If it's in uniform, I'll love you forever! (Seriously, those uniforms. I've no idea what the patches and shiny things all over it stand for, but I know that I like them.)

☆ Death Fic. I'm firmly in the 'Cooper made a full recovery' camp but, for the purposes of fiction and making me cry, Ben reflecting on all the things he and John never said and did would be more than welcome. Or flip it around and have John angsting over a Ben who was taken too soon.

☆ John steps in post-series. By the end of the show Ben's character was very difficult to tolerate, yet alone like. Perhaps Ben visits him in hospital after the shooting and confesses how he has messed up. John decides taking him back under his wing would be suitable thanks for Ben forcing him into rehab.

☆ Case Fic. Maybe a slice of life with the usual array of garbage calls, or perhaps one of them puts themselves at risk by investigating after hours and the other has to come to their rescue. Super serious or completely light hearted - just cops doing cop things.

☆ First Time with a Guy. Ben worries that John will lose interest if he finds out that he's never done anything with a guy before - he could not be more wrong. John wouldn't be working as a training officer if he begrudged needing to show someone how things work, after all.

☆ Art prompts - hospital visits, Halloween scares, smut, anything to do with Ben being the (completely inappropriate - viral teenager punching vid, anyone??) poster boy for the LAPD, etc.




Whitechapel (Joseph Chandler | Emerson Kent)

I am a total sucker for historical true crime so I was always primed to be a die hard fan of this show! I loved the creepy elements of the cases, the dark humour, and the relationships between the main cast. I liked that at first glance Chandler was the typical fast-tracked career officer, but it was soon revealed that there was a lot more depth to him. Kent's eagerness to impress Chandler right from the beginning just spoke directly to my inner shipper. :)

Prompt Ideas:

☆ Hurt / Comfort. Kidnapping, injury, ruined careers, whatever you feel like - police fandoms have the best scope for this trope!

☆ Kent and the Dark Side. In S4 it was hinted that Kent was hiding some inner darkness - so let's roll with that. Maybe Kent is so desperate for Chandler to notice him he gets involved in some black magic practices, or has moved into some dingy new flat with a demonic entity just waiting to break his spirit enough for a full blown possession. Feel free to throw all the horror tropes at it. :D

☆ Matchmaking. Everyone knows about Kent's crush on his D.I... except Chandler. Somebody decides to help force things along. (If Chandler initially mistakes it for some new crazy case he has to deal with, so much the better!) It could be sickly sweet and fluffy, or equally perhaps somebody is just encouraging Kent along to see him hurt when Chandler gives him the 'thanks but no thanks' talk.

☆ Undercover as a Couple. It's so close to what Kent really wants, yet so very far away.

☆ Accidental Relationship. When Kent asked Chandler out for a drink the latter never realised Kent meant it as a date. Give me all the oblivious Chandler as Kent is beside himself with happiness, thinking they're just taking things (glacially) slow... Does Chandler freak out when he finally gets the message? Or is he happy with the new direction?

☆ Angst. Kent can't take it any longer and tells Chandler how he feels... Chandler isn't interested. Cue lots of beautiful heartache.

☆ Art prompts - maybe some old school horror tropes? Creepy faces in the mirror, shadows / ghosts of the past, wearing of masks, etc. Chandler and his elastic band. Kent and his puppy dog eyes. 


Thank you again!
falsteloj