Dear HurtComfortEx Writer - 2019
Mar. 7th, 2019 07:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
simplecoffeeHey there! Thank you so much for sharing my fandoms and for writing for me! <3 Hurt/comfort is my literal favourite thing in fandom (as my ao3 and tumblr will attest), and I am So Excited for this exchange!
So, the thing I love most in fanfic is taking canon character dynamics and just...making them More. Taking them further, exploring their natural progression, in either a gen or a shippy way. Most of my requests include the gen variant of a character dynamic as well as the romantic version, so I'd love either the & or the / just as much! (There are just a few where I have a clear romantic-or-platonic preference, and for those I have requested only the & or the / version, not both.)
With that reasoning, I've arranged my requests by pairing: for each request, each tag in the cloud can be taken as a prompt on its own, or you can read the tags for that request as a whole and get a pretty solid idea of the general vibe for that pairing that I adore. I'm going to ramble a bit in this letter about some individual tags that catch my fancy, but I do love all the tags very much, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to love whichever one(s) you choose, regardless of whether or not I mention it separately here. <3
My general likes:
Hurt tropes: fevers, headaches, migraines, exhaustion, respiratory illnesses, illness messing with a character's grip on reality, combat/mission injuries, scars, old injuries acting up, touch starvation, sensory deprivation / sensory overload, characters not believing they deserve comfort or being surprised to receive comfort, hurting characters choking up at moments when they really need to speak (eg. leader unable to tell their worried team they're fine, submissive unable to safeword), stoic characters breaking down when faced with comfort, subdrop, anything exploring the fallout of canon trauma
Comfort tropes: carrying, cuddling, larger characters wrapping smaller characters in their arms, another character wrapping the ill/injured character in soft blankets/clothes/their own jackets (especially jackets that are too big for them!), sweater paws, gentle dommes, keeping characters warm, aftercare, forehead kisses, hands and touch
In general, I will love every h/c scenario (within the tags) there is - whether or not you'd like to put it in a larger context, plot or no plot, casefic, fluff fic, getting together fic, wherever you'd like to take it, I'm game. If taking the romantic route, please don't feel pressured to write me sexy times if the story doesn't go that way - in fact, I'm of the opinion that heavy petting and making out can be just as smoking hot as actual sex, so feel free to go there and then fade to black if that's where the muse takes you - or not go there at all! I love my h/c with or without the lovin'.
That said - my sexual likes:
Femdom. Service subs. Subs With Issues. Praise kink. Hands, fingers, touch; touch starvation. Finger-sucking. Aftercare. Tenderness, especially if the person receiving it isn't expecting it, isn't used to it, and it breaks them just a little.
Marking - bruising with lips or teeth; hiding the bruises under clothing. Suit kink. Wrists bound or held down. Honour bondage. Careful sex / making out when one partner is hurt or ill and feverish (fever sex is, uh, a Thing of mine). Or rough, desperate, life-affirming sex / making out.
I do have a preference for an M rating over an NC-17 rating, and a preference for no anal.
My DNWs:
- permanent character death (ie, for M:I, YES please ignore Hunley's death, my heart can't take it)
- pregnancy
- major permanent injury
- (for M:I only) infected wounds
- life-threatening illness
- gastrointestinal illness (nausea/vomiting is okay but not as a result of GI illness)
- terminal illness
- maledom/femsub
- noncon
- humiliation as a kink, unless it explicitly triggers the character
- dirty talk, ageplay, scat, watersports, rimming, emeto, A/B/O, d/s-verse, hurtcomfortverse
And now for some rambling about character dynamics and h/c tags, lovely writer!
Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Ethan & Everyone (hurt Ethan), Ethan & Jane (hurt Ethan), Ethan & Jane (both hurt)
I'm fascinated with Ethan and Jane's friendship because they're rather similar people - they both like to be in control but know whom to trust when necessary, and they're both excellent mission leaders who are tough as hell but (not-so-)secretly gentle. Their dynamic is full of mutual respect, collaborative ass-kicking and...that one moment of quiet grief on the plane to India, when Ethan tried so hard to help her, and maybe even succeeded a little. I'd love to see them looking after each other when they're both miserably hurt or sick - maybe on a mission or after it - or maybe Jane having to patch Ethan up, neither saying much but both grateful they don't have to face this moment alone. Perhaps they have to be in a fake relationship as part of their cover identities for a case, and Jane has to help Ethan get by when he's hurt or sick behind enemy lines.
For the Ethan & Everyone option, I'd love to see the IMF team fussing over Ethan while he's hurt or sick. Maybe it's just after a mission, when the world is saved and he can let himself collapse. Maybe he's trying to pretend he's fine, but is clearly not. Maybe it's an off-mission day when someone hears he's called in sick to HQ and the whole team shows up at his apartment to make sure he's okay. Maybe it's in the middle of a mission and he's feeling bad enough to step back and let the others handle it - or handles it himself anyway despite feeling steadily worse and the others' growing concern. Hell, maybe he's captured and hurt, or gives himself up for the greater good, and the others manage to save the world and rescue him. Maybe there's a quiet moment afterward when he's half asleep and softly content because everyone has their own way of making him feel Loved. I'd particularly love to see what Ethan is like when he's finally able to let his guard down and let himself be taken care of, protected and loved by the people he is usually the one to protect and love.
Ethan/Max (hurt Ethan)
OKAY CANON DOMME/SUB DYNAMICS UP TO HEEEEERE. These two were flirting so hard from the very moment they met, Max was so very domme and Ethan so very subby and eager, and it was fully mutual and consensual - they may be rivals in an uneasy allyship, but they like and respect each other so damn much; they both play completely fair at all times, clearly enjoy their banter, and look like they'd be all over each other should circumstances permit. So my prompt here is...let circumstances permit.
There's a sort of deep affection between these two that goes beyond their fiery sexual tension. When Max and Ethan met, Ethan was at his shakiest and most vulnerable; he'd just lost his whole found family in one night, and been framed for their deaths when he tried to call for help. He put up a damn good front for Max - he had to, playing the high-stakes cloak-and-dagger spy game he was forced to play - but it's not unreasonable to figure she might realize there's something else beneath the surface. Not unreasonable to figure an experienced domme could tell what he needs, and that she might want to give.
Max is a whole lot taller than Ethan as well as being much older, which I find all kinds of lovely; she also lives a super luxurious high-society life. I imagine she also has fine taste in clothes and jewellery and would take them off a partner with some attention, and appreciate the same being done for her, especially at her direction. Ethan is the kind to be similarly attuned to detail, and (especially when as young as he is around the time of MI:1) he is also the kind to be breathlessly eager to please and to be Good. He's also shaken up and miserably touch-starved, and might tear up on receiving unexpected physical affection, so make of that what you will.
Maybe Ethan lets Max take him to bed during MI:1, or maybe they run into each other afterwards by chance, and pick up their recent acquaintance right where it left off. Maybe Max takes him out to dinner or the opera or something equally opulent and befitting her position in high society, and spoils him rotten for the night; what's Max's belongs to Max, and nobody gets to touch him but her. Especially if he's fresh from a mission and hurt or ill, but still so very eager to suit up and take her arm and be the best damn service sub for her. Maybe she'll keep him protectively close at her side all evening, gently clean blood off his injured face and hands with her handkerchief, make sure to let him know how very good he's being, and then bind his wrists or cover his eyes with his own necktie in the bedroom later.
...Or maybe they just fall into bed, and it just so happens that Max is completely in control, as Max is wont to be. And Max, good at being gentle but firm, can tell when a sub is hurting, or when they want to safeword but don't, or when they want to keep going but are too injured or sick to make it much further, and she breaks the scene to give Ethan the comfort he needs, even if she may never know what caused the hurt.
Basically I am 100% Here for Max Giving Ethan A Whole Lotta Love And Praise In Luxurious Surroundings. And for that love and praise and gentleness just...kinda destroying him, and maybe even making him cry, because he needs it so badly. (Max knows that, too.)
Ethan&Hunley, Ethan/Hunley (hurt Ethan)
This is such an oddly charming character dynamic and I love it! Hunley spent most of Rogue Nation trying to chase Ethan down, but by the airport scene in Fallout he's clearly at least a little bit in love or hero-worship with him, and whether or not they end up dating, it's adorable. They're so different but so complementary! Hunley's so vocal and Ethan so quiet, but equally intense! Ethan's such a ray of sunshine that he apparently converted Hunley from a cynic to an idealist by deciding to trust him! Hunley heaps praise and reassurance on Ethan, while Ethan looks as though he's in physical pain from being told he's worth believing in! Ethan calls Hunley 'sir' and it somehow means all the things! And as always, Ethan is canonically pretty damn touch-starved and might tear up on receiving unexpected physical affection, especially if he's otherwise hurting and overwhelmed.
Whether platonic or romantic, there is so much unsaid between these two characters, so much unexplored. I'm here for them spending some time together, getting to know each other, becoming affectionate toward each other, especially through adversity. Does Ethan's seniority in the IMF mean that Hunley is his handler? And, therefore, would Hunley be the person Ethan calls for emergency extraction from a solo mission gone wrong - Hunley the one to hear please, sir, I'm sick and alone, bring me home? "caretaking in secret" - would Hunley be the one to hide Ethan in his office and let him get some rest, away from the other government/agency brass who want to interrogate him while he's medically unfit?
Some more tag rambling - "injury on top of old injuries" - Ethan probably reinjured an old sprain/fracture in his right leg during Fallout; "careful sex because partner is bruised" - could be a mission aftermath; "aftermath of torture" - how would Hunley deal with seeing Ethan that badly hurt; "handler comforts honeypot after traumatic mission" - Ethan has to seduce someone, or try to, and he's badly shaken or even in subdrop afterwards, and Hunley tries to help; "character interacts with people after long period in solitary confinement" - maybe Ethan had to go undercover in prison again, and Hunley is the first to see him after; "loss of voice" - Ethan doesn't talk much anyway, but it's different and all kinds of unnerving when he can't; "too sick to sleep" - maybe Hunley keeps him company, keeps him warm; "scars" - perhaps they share theirs, share stories, take turns pressing kisses to old wounds.
As mentioned above, please assume Hunley recovered after Fallout - I love him a lot and my heart can't take his death.
Ethan&Luther, Ethan/Luther (hurt Ethan)
How do I love Ethan and Luther's adoration for each other? Let me count the ways. ("What's up, baby?" "Hey, man.")
These two have known each other since MI: 1, and they've been so deeply fond of each other and loyal to each other ever since. Luther calls Ethan 'baby' twice! He's also the only one apart from Julia, Ethan's canon wife (now ex), who gets to see Ethan truly vulnerable and take care of him when he is; for everyone else in the team, Ethan does his best to be stoic and strong and not reveal much when he's a mess, but Luther's been around long enough to see right through him, and romantic or not, Ethan clearly loves him enough not to mind. I'm pretty sure Luther is the only one of the current team to have seen Ethan cry, and he's canonically the only one to have had Ethan literally cling to him like a lifeline.
That, of course, happens in Fallout, in which Ethan also refuses point blank to sacrifice Luther for the sake of the mission, and looks devastated when he rushes over to ask if he's okay, and shoulders all the blame for what happens afterward, and then has his closest brush with death yet while saving the world. Hence a lot of the tags I put here could be directly tied to Fallout: "aftermath of one character finding out other character wouldn't sacrifice them for the greater good", because that's exactly what happened there; "injury on top of old injuries", because Ethan reinjured the leg that he hurt during Rogue Nation; "altitude sickness" because the climactic fight took place in freaking Siachen and there is no way they had time to acclimatize, "blaming themselves for other character being hurt" goes both ways because they're both idiots who blame themselves for the other one's pain.
Some other tags, for non-Fallout scenarios, which are illustrative of their beautiful, quiet, deeply trusting vibe: "bridal carry"/"catching hurt character as they collapse", because height differences and Luther being so gentle and strong and Ethan being so little; "comforting over the phone/radio" because not only is Luther Ethan's oldest friend (maybe lover) and therefore best suited to comfort him, he's also possibly the only one who could tell over the radio that Ethan is distraught enough to need comfort; "unexpected trigger takes hurt character by surprise" for similar reasons - Luther probably knows Ethan's triggers better than the rest of the team; "dissociation"/"hurt/sick character isn't quite lucid", a situation where Luther is likely the only person whose presence Ethan can trust in; "Character insists on completing the mission despite injuries" because, well, Ethan; "hurt character clinging to comforter" because please let the boy cling, he so clearly wants to; "convalescence" because I'd love to see these two take some quiet time off for Ethan to recover from whatever fresh hell he's been through last, especially if it's an unexpected illness.
Ethan&Sidorov, Ethan/Sidorov (hurt Ethan)
okay so I love Sidorov and his arc so much, I love his grudging (later not so grudging) respect for Ethan, and I love how Ethan tried so hard not to have to hurt him but had to kick his ass anyway, and I love how that's all in a day's work for them both and there are zero hard feelings afterwards. Except possibly in another sense of 'hard feelings', if you know what I mean. 😏
So, I'd love to see what happens the next time they meet after Ghost Protocol. Is it off-duty? A coincidence? A date? Is it on a mission, when Sidorov is investigating suspicious activity and suddenly That Annoyingly Sunshine-Faced American shows up? Or maybe the annoyingly sunshine-faced American is not so sunshine-faced at the moment and Sidorov has to stop him being tortured by his (Sidorov's) own Russian colleagues? Do they run into each other at an airport, or a train station or other transit area, and Ethan is too sick or too badly hurt to be able to conceal it from a fellow agent like Sidorov? Does Ethan seek Sidorov out during the six months he spends on the run tracking the Syndicate in Rogue Nation? Do they swap spy stories, scar stories, love stories? Do they develop a strong and lasting friendship along the way? Do they fall in love along the way?
Edge of Tomorrow
Cage/Rita, Cage&Rita (hurt Cage)
Oh, these two are so wonderful.
I think my favourite thing about Cage and Rita is that Cage's arc can be read not just as becoming a better person thanks to her, but as becoming a better and better sub thanks to her. He straight-up goes from 'bratty sub who doesn't know he's a sub' to 'please tie me the Fuck up and do what you will with me because life sucks and I am so sorry' - a slow Sub Awakening to Rita's domme who doesn't know she's a domme. Unfortunately, since they're living through the literal apocalypse and there's no time for recreation let alone soul-searching, Cage's becoming a better sub translates to his becoming more and more desperately in need of being taken into subspace, and suffering more and more the longer he endures without it. I keep seeing the pre-chopper scene as a breaking point of sorts, with Cage not only begging Rita for a reprieve from seeing her die, but for a chance to spend a quiet ten minutes serving her.
So, broadly, my first prompt: I am very much here for angsty sub!Cage. A lot of the tags in this request would lend themselves to Angsty Sub Situations, such as "Character bottling up emotions is coaxed into expressing them", "Character doesn't safeword when they should", "Character Intentionally Triggers Themself", "Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection", "Consolation/soothing after punishment", "Hurt caused by kink play", "Masochistic character asks for more pain than they actually want"...you get the picture. Is this a post-film scenario, where they've gotten to know each other and are trying to figure out how to live in a post-war world? Is it during a loop, in a darkerkinkier world where Cage acts out and is sent to Rita for punishment? If it's post-war, what causes Rita's domme awakening - does Cage hang around being a sad puppy trying to fetch and carry for her long enough that she starts to get a clue? Does he try to get his fix of subbing elsewhere, and end up dropping to the extent that someone recognizes the signs? Or does she only really figure it out when she puts him on his knees and sees the look in his eyes?
Another direction my thoughts are going in, this one less necessarily shippy: I'd love to see some health fallout from the time looping. Maybe it's something Rita recognizes because she went through it herself before, or maybe it's something entirely new that they have to figure out the cause of and remedy for. Maybe Cage ends up with some kind of chronic pain (whether time-bound or permanent) and has to figure out how to mitigate it enough to live with. Maybe there's phantom pain to deal with from some of the times he died. Maybe all the time resetting 'reset' his immune system as well and now he keeps catching colds and falling ill, and it's kinda funny until it's really, really not. Maybe there's a day - during the loops or after - when it all just catches up to him and he just...stops.
Whichever way, I'd love to see Rita get to know Cage, and maybe Cage get to know Rita in ways he never saw her during the time loops: I'd like to see them get to know the ways in which they're both fucked up by the war, get to know each other's tells, develop a friendship, arrive at a new level of mutual respect. Does Cage tell her about the loops immediately, or does he try to play off his role in ending the apocalypse? Does the war even end immediately, or are they as officers still dealing with cleanup? How does Cage cope with people thinking he's still the old Cage - does he bow his head and take it, and does Rita, who never knew the old Cage, defend him? (Does she realize how deeply he knows her, and loves her? Does he dare to believe she could ever love him back?)
Oblivion (2013)
Jack/Vika, Jack/Julia, Jack/Jack, Jack&Jack (hurt Jack)
Oblivion has a whole bunch of delightfully messed up character dynamics. Jack - any/every Jack - is a lovely, lovely man, whimsical and gentle, and he's in a relationship with Vika, who (though it's clearly because she has issues of her own) is subtly super controlling toward him. He can't tell her anything or talk to her about anything he does or finds or thinks about, because he knows she'll find something about it he 'shouldn't' be thinking or doing; he hides his book and his little forest getaway from her, no matter how badly he clearly wants her to share in them. When he tries, just a little, to get her to see his point of view, she panics and throws his flower away, and he looks so very miserable. In short, I don't think Vika really knows Jack at all - nor does she really know herself at all - and so their relationship ends up more or less inadvertently hurting him. I don't think Vika means to be cruel, but I think she kind of ends up being cruel sometimes anyway, and that's the dynamic I'd love to see explored between these two. Maybe Jack's sick or hurt, and Vika refuses to believe him when he tells her so. Maybe they're having sex and she ignores him when he asks to stop. Maybe she believes that for them to be an 'effective team', she needs to discipline him whenever he does something outside of routine. (Maybe he even liked that to begin with, as a roleplay of sorts, and later realized she didn't quite mean it as roleplay.) Maybe she gaslights him into believing he consented when he didn't. Maybe she's dismissive of his illness or pain or nightmares, but he lives for the few words of comfort she'll bother to give him because he knows it's the best he'll ever get.
With Jack and Julia, things are different and possibly even murkier. There's genuine feeling between them, genuine memories, but those memories aren't Jack's own, and so Jack 49 has to come to terms not only with the fact that he's never been loved but that, to Julia, he's a replacement goldfish. There's a reluctance to him when she drags him to bed, a possible feeling that he's being used, and yet he goes along with it for the sake of feeling loved for that one night - and then he gives everything up so everyone but him can live. What's going through Jack 49's head when he's letting Julia love him? Is he desperately drinking in her touch, knowing it was never meant for him? Is he in denial? Half overwhelmed and wanting to stop, but also wanting to go on because he needs to comfort her and keep her safe and happy? What about Jack 52, after the film - does he go through similar things?
And then there's the idea that two random Jacks could find each other, and be better companions than they had in their respective Vikas, and have all the sad and conflicted and uncomfortable feelings that come with realizing you fooled yourself into thinking you knew what love was, and maybe even eventually fall in real love with each other instead. Maybe they spend some time noticing the little differences between them, like maybe they have different scars, or different little meaningless preferences when it comes to the books or stuffed animals in their forest hideaways. Maybe they just marvel at how looking at the other one is teaching them things about themself they never knew before. And then one of them gets hurt or falls worryingly ill, and they get to experience genuine affectionate caretaking and comfort like they've always dreamed.
Once again, thank you for writing for me! I hope you have fun writing; that's what it's all about, after all. 💛
So, the thing I love most in fanfic is taking canon character dynamics and just...making them More. Taking them further, exploring their natural progression, in either a gen or a shippy way. Most of my requests include the gen variant of a character dynamic as well as the romantic version, so I'd love either the & or the / just as much! (There are just a few where I have a clear romantic-or-platonic preference, and for those I have requested only the & or the / version, not both.)
With that reasoning, I've arranged my requests by pairing: for each request, each tag in the cloud can be taken as a prompt on its own, or you can read the tags for that request as a whole and get a pretty solid idea of the general vibe for that pairing that I adore. I'm going to ramble a bit in this letter about some individual tags that catch my fancy, but I do love all the tags very much, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to love whichever one(s) you choose, regardless of whether or not I mention it separately here. <3
My general likes:
Hurt tropes: fevers, headaches, migraines, exhaustion, respiratory illnesses, illness messing with a character's grip on reality, combat/mission injuries, scars, old injuries acting up, touch starvation, sensory deprivation / sensory overload, characters not believing they deserve comfort or being surprised to receive comfort, hurting characters choking up at moments when they really need to speak (eg. leader unable to tell their worried team they're fine, submissive unable to safeword), stoic characters breaking down when faced with comfort, subdrop, anything exploring the fallout of canon trauma
Comfort tropes: carrying, cuddling, larger characters wrapping smaller characters in their arms, another character wrapping the ill/injured character in soft blankets/clothes/their own jackets (especially jackets that are too big for them!), sweater paws, gentle dommes, keeping characters warm, aftercare, forehead kisses, hands and touch
In general, I will love every h/c scenario (within the tags) there is - whether or not you'd like to put it in a larger context, plot or no plot, casefic, fluff fic, getting together fic, wherever you'd like to take it, I'm game. If taking the romantic route, please don't feel pressured to write me sexy times if the story doesn't go that way - in fact, I'm of the opinion that heavy petting and making out can be just as smoking hot as actual sex, so feel free to go there and then fade to black if that's where the muse takes you - or not go there at all! I love my h/c with or without the lovin'.
That said - my sexual likes:
Femdom. Service subs. Subs With Issues. Praise kink. Hands, fingers, touch; touch starvation. Finger-sucking. Aftercare. Tenderness, especially if the person receiving it isn't expecting it, isn't used to it, and it breaks them just a little.
Marking - bruising with lips or teeth; hiding the bruises under clothing. Suit kink. Wrists bound or held down. Honour bondage. Careful sex / making out when one partner is hurt or ill and feverish (fever sex is, uh, a Thing of mine). Or rough, desperate, life-affirming sex / making out.
I do have a preference for an M rating over an NC-17 rating, and a preference for no anal.
My DNWs:
- permanent character death (ie, for M:I, YES please ignore Hunley's death, my heart can't take it)
- pregnancy
- major permanent injury
- (for M:I only) infected wounds
- life-threatening illness
- gastrointestinal illness (nausea/vomiting is okay but not as a result of GI illness)
- terminal illness
- maledom/femsub
- noncon
- humiliation as a kink, unless it explicitly triggers the character
- dirty talk, ageplay, scat, watersports, rimming, emeto, A/B/O, d/s-verse, hurtcomfortverse
And now for some rambling about character dynamics and h/c tags, lovely writer!
Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Ethan & Everyone (hurt Ethan), Ethan & Jane (hurt Ethan), Ethan & Jane (both hurt)
I'm fascinated with Ethan and Jane's friendship because they're rather similar people - they both like to be in control but know whom to trust when necessary, and they're both excellent mission leaders who are tough as hell but (not-so-)secretly gentle. Their dynamic is full of mutual respect, collaborative ass-kicking and...that one moment of quiet grief on the plane to India, when Ethan tried so hard to help her, and maybe even succeeded a little. I'd love to see them looking after each other when they're both miserably hurt or sick - maybe on a mission or after it - or maybe Jane having to patch Ethan up, neither saying much but both grateful they don't have to face this moment alone. Perhaps they have to be in a fake relationship as part of their cover identities for a case, and Jane has to help Ethan get by when he's hurt or sick behind enemy lines.
For the Ethan & Everyone option, I'd love to see the IMF team fussing over Ethan while he's hurt or sick. Maybe it's just after a mission, when the world is saved and he can let himself collapse. Maybe he's trying to pretend he's fine, but is clearly not. Maybe it's an off-mission day when someone hears he's called in sick to HQ and the whole team shows up at his apartment to make sure he's okay. Maybe it's in the middle of a mission and he's feeling bad enough to step back and let the others handle it - or handles it himself anyway despite feeling steadily worse and the others' growing concern. Hell, maybe he's captured and hurt, or gives himself up for the greater good, and the others manage to save the world and rescue him. Maybe there's a quiet moment afterward when he's half asleep and softly content because everyone has their own way of making him feel Loved. I'd particularly love to see what Ethan is like when he's finally able to let his guard down and let himself be taken care of, protected and loved by the people he is usually the one to protect and love.
Ethan/Max (hurt Ethan)
OKAY CANON DOMME/SUB DYNAMICS UP TO HEEEEERE. These two were flirting so hard from the very moment they met, Max was so very domme and Ethan so very subby and eager, and it was fully mutual and consensual - they may be rivals in an uneasy allyship, but they like and respect each other so damn much; they both play completely fair at all times, clearly enjoy their banter, and look like they'd be all over each other should circumstances permit. So my prompt here is...let circumstances permit.
There's a sort of deep affection between these two that goes beyond their fiery sexual tension. When Max and Ethan met, Ethan was at his shakiest and most vulnerable; he'd just lost his whole found family in one night, and been framed for their deaths when he tried to call for help. He put up a damn good front for Max - he had to, playing the high-stakes cloak-and-dagger spy game he was forced to play - but it's not unreasonable to figure she might realize there's something else beneath the surface. Not unreasonable to figure an experienced domme could tell what he needs, and that she might want to give.
Max is a whole lot taller than Ethan as well as being much older, which I find all kinds of lovely; she also lives a super luxurious high-society life. I imagine she also has fine taste in clothes and jewellery and would take them off a partner with some attention, and appreciate the same being done for her, especially at her direction. Ethan is the kind to be similarly attuned to detail, and (especially when as young as he is around the time of MI:1) he is also the kind to be breathlessly eager to please and to be Good. He's also shaken up and miserably touch-starved, and might tear up on receiving unexpected physical affection, so make of that what you will.
Maybe Ethan lets Max take him to bed during MI:1, or maybe they run into each other afterwards by chance, and pick up their recent acquaintance right where it left off. Maybe Max takes him out to dinner or the opera or something equally opulent and befitting her position in high society, and spoils him rotten for the night; what's Max's belongs to Max, and nobody gets to touch him but her. Especially if he's fresh from a mission and hurt or ill, but still so very eager to suit up and take her arm and be the best damn service sub for her. Maybe she'll keep him protectively close at her side all evening, gently clean blood off his injured face and hands with her handkerchief, make sure to let him know how very good he's being, and then bind his wrists or cover his eyes with his own necktie in the bedroom later.
...Or maybe they just fall into bed, and it just so happens that Max is completely in control, as Max is wont to be. And Max, good at being gentle but firm, can tell when a sub is hurting, or when they want to safeword but don't, or when they want to keep going but are too injured or sick to make it much further, and she breaks the scene to give Ethan the comfort he needs, even if she may never know what caused the hurt.
Basically I am 100% Here for Max Giving Ethan A Whole Lotta Love And Praise In Luxurious Surroundings. And for that love and praise and gentleness just...kinda destroying him, and maybe even making him cry, because he needs it so badly. (Max knows that, too.)
Ethan&Hunley, Ethan/Hunley (hurt Ethan)
This is such an oddly charming character dynamic and I love it! Hunley spent most of Rogue Nation trying to chase Ethan down, but by the airport scene in Fallout he's clearly at least a little bit in love or hero-worship with him, and whether or not they end up dating, it's adorable. They're so different but so complementary! Hunley's so vocal and Ethan so quiet, but equally intense! Ethan's such a ray of sunshine that he apparently converted Hunley from a cynic to an idealist by deciding to trust him! Hunley heaps praise and reassurance on Ethan, while Ethan looks as though he's in physical pain from being told he's worth believing in! Ethan calls Hunley 'sir' and it somehow means all the things! And as always, Ethan is canonically pretty damn touch-starved and might tear up on receiving unexpected physical affection, especially if he's otherwise hurting and overwhelmed.
Whether platonic or romantic, there is so much unsaid between these two characters, so much unexplored. I'm here for them spending some time together, getting to know each other, becoming affectionate toward each other, especially through adversity. Does Ethan's seniority in the IMF mean that Hunley is his handler? And, therefore, would Hunley be the person Ethan calls for emergency extraction from a solo mission gone wrong - Hunley the one to hear please, sir, I'm sick and alone, bring me home? "caretaking in secret" - would Hunley be the one to hide Ethan in his office and let him get some rest, away from the other government/agency brass who want to interrogate him while he's medically unfit?
Some more tag rambling - "injury on top of old injuries" - Ethan probably reinjured an old sprain/fracture in his right leg during Fallout; "careful sex because partner is bruised" - could be a mission aftermath; "aftermath of torture" - how would Hunley deal with seeing Ethan that badly hurt; "handler comforts honeypot after traumatic mission" - Ethan has to seduce someone, or try to, and he's badly shaken or even in subdrop afterwards, and Hunley tries to help; "character interacts with people after long period in solitary confinement" - maybe Ethan had to go undercover in prison again, and Hunley is the first to see him after; "loss of voice" - Ethan doesn't talk much anyway, but it's different and all kinds of unnerving when he can't; "too sick to sleep" - maybe Hunley keeps him company, keeps him warm; "scars" - perhaps they share theirs, share stories, take turns pressing kisses to old wounds.
As mentioned above, please assume Hunley recovered after Fallout - I love him a lot and my heart can't take his death.
Ethan&Luther, Ethan/Luther (hurt Ethan)
How do I love Ethan and Luther's adoration for each other? Let me count the ways. ("What's up, baby?" "Hey, man.")
These two have known each other since MI: 1, and they've been so deeply fond of each other and loyal to each other ever since. Luther calls Ethan 'baby' twice! He's also the only one apart from Julia, Ethan's canon wife (now ex), who gets to see Ethan truly vulnerable and take care of him when he is; for everyone else in the team, Ethan does his best to be stoic and strong and not reveal much when he's a mess, but Luther's been around long enough to see right through him, and romantic or not, Ethan clearly loves him enough not to mind. I'm pretty sure Luther is the only one of the current team to have seen Ethan cry, and he's canonically the only one to have had Ethan literally cling to him like a lifeline.
That, of course, happens in Fallout, in which Ethan also refuses point blank to sacrifice Luther for the sake of the mission, and looks devastated when he rushes over to ask if he's okay, and shoulders all the blame for what happens afterward, and then has his closest brush with death yet while saving the world. Hence a lot of the tags I put here could be directly tied to Fallout: "aftermath of one character finding out other character wouldn't sacrifice them for the greater good", because that's exactly what happened there; "injury on top of old injuries", because Ethan reinjured the leg that he hurt during Rogue Nation; "altitude sickness" because the climactic fight took place in freaking Siachen and there is no way they had time to acclimatize, "blaming themselves for other character being hurt" goes both ways because they're both idiots who blame themselves for the other one's pain.
Some other tags, for non-Fallout scenarios, which are illustrative of their beautiful, quiet, deeply trusting vibe: "bridal carry"/"catching hurt character as they collapse", because height differences and Luther being so gentle and strong and Ethan being so little; "comforting over the phone/radio" because not only is Luther Ethan's oldest friend (maybe lover) and therefore best suited to comfort him, he's also possibly the only one who could tell over the radio that Ethan is distraught enough to need comfort; "unexpected trigger takes hurt character by surprise" for similar reasons - Luther probably knows Ethan's triggers better than the rest of the team; "dissociation"/"hurt/sick character isn't quite lucid", a situation where Luther is likely the only person whose presence Ethan can trust in; "Character insists on completing the mission despite injuries" because, well, Ethan; "hurt character clinging to comforter" because please let the boy cling, he so clearly wants to; "convalescence" because I'd love to see these two take some quiet time off for Ethan to recover from whatever fresh hell he's been through last, especially if it's an unexpected illness.
Ethan&Sidorov, Ethan/Sidorov (hurt Ethan)
okay so I love Sidorov and his arc so much, I love his grudging (later not so grudging) respect for Ethan, and I love how Ethan tried so hard not to have to hurt him but had to kick his ass anyway, and I love how that's all in a day's work for them both and there are zero hard feelings afterwards. Except possibly in another sense of 'hard feelings', if you know what I mean. 😏
So, I'd love to see what happens the next time they meet after Ghost Protocol. Is it off-duty? A coincidence? A date? Is it on a mission, when Sidorov is investigating suspicious activity and suddenly That Annoyingly Sunshine-Faced American shows up? Or maybe the annoyingly sunshine-faced American is not so sunshine-faced at the moment and Sidorov has to stop him being tortured by his (Sidorov's) own Russian colleagues? Do they run into each other at an airport, or a train station or other transit area, and Ethan is too sick or too badly hurt to be able to conceal it from a fellow agent like Sidorov? Does Ethan seek Sidorov out during the six months he spends on the run tracking the Syndicate in Rogue Nation? Do they swap spy stories, scar stories, love stories? Do they develop a strong and lasting friendship along the way? Do they fall in love along the way?
Cage/Rita, Cage&Rita (hurt Cage)
Oh, these two are so wonderful.
I think my favourite thing about Cage and Rita is that Cage's arc can be read not just as becoming a better person thanks to her, but as becoming a better and better sub thanks to her. He straight-up goes from 'bratty sub who doesn't know he's a sub' to 'please tie me the Fuck up and do what you will with me because life sucks and I am so sorry' - a slow Sub Awakening to Rita's domme who doesn't know she's a domme. Unfortunately, since they're living through the literal apocalypse and there's no time for recreation let alone soul-searching, Cage's becoming a better sub translates to his becoming more and more desperately in need of being taken into subspace, and suffering more and more the longer he endures without it. I keep seeing the pre-chopper scene as a breaking point of sorts, with Cage not only begging Rita for a reprieve from seeing her die, but for a chance to spend a quiet ten minutes serving her.
So, broadly, my first prompt: I am very much here for angsty sub!Cage. A lot of the tags in this request would lend themselves to Angsty Sub Situations, such as "Character bottling up emotions is coaxed into expressing them", "Character doesn't safeword when they should", "Character Intentionally Triggers Themself", "Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection", "Consolation/soothing after punishment", "Hurt caused by kink play", "Masochistic character asks for more pain than they actually want"...you get the picture. Is this a post-film scenario, where they've gotten to know each other and are trying to figure out how to live in a post-war world? Is it during a loop, in a darker
Another direction my thoughts are going in, this one less necessarily shippy: I'd love to see some health fallout from the time looping. Maybe it's something Rita recognizes because she went through it herself before, or maybe it's something entirely new that they have to figure out the cause of and remedy for. Maybe Cage ends up with some kind of chronic pain (whether time-bound or permanent) and has to figure out how to mitigate it enough to live with. Maybe there's phantom pain to deal with from some of the times he died. Maybe all the time resetting 'reset' his immune system as well and now he keeps catching colds and falling ill, and it's kinda funny until it's really, really not. Maybe there's a day - during the loops or after - when it all just catches up to him and he just...stops.
Whichever way, I'd love to see Rita get to know Cage, and maybe Cage get to know Rita in ways he never saw her during the time loops: I'd like to see them get to know the ways in which they're both fucked up by the war, get to know each other's tells, develop a friendship, arrive at a new level of mutual respect. Does Cage tell her about the loops immediately, or does he try to play off his role in ending the apocalypse? Does the war even end immediately, or are they as officers still dealing with cleanup? How does Cage cope with people thinking he's still the old Cage - does he bow his head and take it, and does Rita, who never knew the old Cage, defend him? (Does she realize how deeply he knows her, and loves her? Does he dare to believe she could ever love him back?)
Oblivion (2013)
Jack/Vika, Jack/Julia, Jack/Jack, Jack&Jack (hurt Jack)
Oblivion has a whole bunch of delightfully messed up character dynamics. Jack - any/every Jack - is a lovely, lovely man, whimsical and gentle, and he's in a relationship with Vika, who (though it's clearly because she has issues of her own) is subtly super controlling toward him. He can't tell her anything or talk to her about anything he does or finds or thinks about, because he knows she'll find something about it he 'shouldn't' be thinking or doing; he hides his book and his little forest getaway from her, no matter how badly he clearly wants her to share in them. When he tries, just a little, to get her to see his point of view, she panics and throws his flower away, and he looks so very miserable. In short, I don't think Vika really knows Jack at all - nor does she really know herself at all - and so their relationship ends up more or less inadvertently hurting him. I don't think Vika means to be cruel, but I think she kind of ends up being cruel sometimes anyway, and that's the dynamic I'd love to see explored between these two. Maybe Jack's sick or hurt, and Vika refuses to believe him when he tells her so. Maybe they're having sex and she ignores him when he asks to stop. Maybe she believes that for them to be an 'effective team', she needs to discipline him whenever he does something outside of routine. (Maybe he even liked that to begin with, as a roleplay of sorts, and later realized she didn't quite mean it as roleplay.) Maybe she gaslights him into believing he consented when he didn't. Maybe she's dismissive of his illness or pain or nightmares, but he lives for the few words of comfort she'll bother to give him because he knows it's the best he'll ever get.
With Jack and Julia, things are different and possibly even murkier. There's genuine feeling between them, genuine memories, but those memories aren't Jack's own, and so Jack 49 has to come to terms not only with the fact that he's never been loved but that, to Julia, he's a replacement goldfish. There's a reluctance to him when she drags him to bed, a possible feeling that he's being used, and yet he goes along with it for the sake of feeling loved for that one night - and then he gives everything up so everyone but him can live. What's going through Jack 49's head when he's letting Julia love him? Is he desperately drinking in her touch, knowing it was never meant for him? Is he in denial? Half overwhelmed and wanting to stop, but also wanting to go on because he needs to comfort her and keep her safe and happy? What about Jack 52, after the film - does he go through similar things?
And then there's the idea that two random Jacks could find each other, and be better companions than they had in their respective Vikas, and have all the sad and conflicted and uncomfortable feelings that come with realizing you fooled yourself into thinking you knew what love was, and maybe even eventually fall in real love with each other instead. Maybe they spend some time noticing the little differences between them, like maybe they have different scars, or different little meaningless preferences when it comes to the books or stuffed animals in their forest hideaways. Maybe they just marvel at how looking at the other one is teaching them things about themself they never knew before. And then one of them gets hurt or falls worryingly ill, and they get to experience genuine affectionate caretaking and comfort like they've always dreamed.
Top Gun (1986)
Mav&Ice, Mav/Ice (hurt Mav)
...okay, so I just want masochistic sub!Maverick. That Is All I Want. Hell, maybe he doesn't even know he's a sub and Ice has to help him figure it out. This could go in an angsty direction, which I'm ALL FOR; Mav not knowing his own boundaries and accidentally triggering himself and ending up crying would be so good (+ this specific scenario would count as an exception to the humiliation DNW.) Sub drop would be great, too. Mav refusing/genuinely forgetting to safeword because he thinks he deserves more pain than he actually wants is also wonderful. Or keeping on trucking despite an illness/injury he's hiding, and then Ice being shaken and having to haul him to medical when it gets worse. Please lots of comfort and aftercare, especially if going the angsty route!
Character dynamic wise, I'm 100% Here for height differences (small!mav is Small); Mav being just So Stupid (and Ice being like *already taking off clothes* god Mav you're so fucking stupid); Mav annoying Ice into sparring match after sparring match after drinking game after dinner at the Officer's Club after...until they both suddenly realize they are Friends, or realize they've been Dating, and are Extremely Surprised; hatesex turning into affectionate hatesex turning into 'when the FUCK did we fall in Love this is so inconvenient'; friends with benefits; deep platonic friendship; and/or everything in between. :D
I'm also very much here for feverish love confessions when they think they hate each other, Mav thinking Ice will never love him back (in his defence, he's not very bright), Mav having been in emotionally or sexually manipulative/abusive relationships in the past that he doesn't quite understand he shouldn't have had to go through, Mav not being treated right by another Dom (inadequate aftercare, ignored safeword...) and Ice having to help him cope, the classic scenario of Mav being sick and Ice having to help him through it...anything in this fandom is absolutely lovely. 💛
Mav&Ice, Mav/Ice (hurt Mav)
...okay, so I just want masochistic sub!Maverick. That Is All I Want. Hell, maybe he doesn't even know he's a sub and Ice has to help him figure it out. This could go in an angsty direction, which I'm ALL FOR; Mav not knowing his own boundaries and accidentally triggering himself and ending up crying would be so good (+ this specific scenario would count as an exception to the humiliation DNW.) Sub drop would be great, too. Mav refusing/genuinely forgetting to safeword because he thinks he deserves more pain than he actually wants is also wonderful. Or keeping on trucking despite an illness/injury he's hiding, and then Ice being shaken and having to haul him to medical when it gets worse. Please lots of comfort and aftercare, especially if going the angsty route!
Character dynamic wise, I'm 100% Here for height differences (small!mav is Small); Mav being just So Stupid (and Ice being like *already taking off clothes* god Mav you're so fucking stupid); Mav annoying Ice into sparring match after sparring match after drinking game after dinner at the Officer's Club after...until they both suddenly realize they are Friends, or realize they've been Dating, and are Extremely Surprised; hatesex turning into affectionate hatesex turning into 'when the FUCK did we fall in Love this is so inconvenient'; friends with benefits; deep platonic friendship; and/or everything in between. :D
I'm also very much here for feverish love confessions when they think they hate each other, Mav thinking Ice will never love him back (in his defence, he's not very bright), Mav having been in emotionally or sexually manipulative/abusive relationships in the past that he doesn't quite understand he shouldn't have had to go through, Mav not being treated right by another Dom (inadequate aftercare, ignored safeword...) and Ice having to help him cope, the classic scenario of Mav being sick and Ice having to help him through it...anything in this fandom is absolutely lovely. 💛
Once again, thank you for writing for me! I hope you have fun writing; that's what it's all about, after all. 💛
