bustedxflush (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bustedxflush) wrote2023-12-31 10:28 am
bustedxflush) wrote2023-12-31 10:28 am
Entry tags:
Dear Candy Hearts Author
Hi, I’m great_whatsit at AO3! First and foremost: THANK YOU! I am so lucky to be getting a gift from you, and I’m immensely grateful for the time and energy you're putting into this. Taking the time to do something like this is a huge deal.
Request #1: The Glass Key (1942) [WARNING: mention of suicide in the second prompt section]
Available here, if you do ok.ru.
The thing about this movie is, Alan Ladd somehow has wild sexual chemistry with every single other person in it, regardless of gender — hence, the fact that his character, Ed Beaumont, is in each of my pairings.
Ed/Paul Madvig: Madvig is the political boss for whom Ed works, but he's totally devoted to Ed. Like, he's big and tough but also so so so in need of Ed's approval for everything he does, be it political or romantic. He's just the big ball of feelings and affections, and Ed is cold and kind of a prick and, well, I'm super into it? I would love to see what you think they're like together — does Paul's openness draw Ed out/allow Ed to take down some of his walls? Or does it just let Ed know that Paul would do anything for him, and Ed sets out see what that's like in bed (or, you know, wherever)? NGL, I'm extremely into that idea, but also love Paul very, very much and would love to see him sneaking into Ed's heart, and Ed being massively uncomfortable but also accidentally vulnerable about it?
Ed/Eloise Matthews: LISTEN. Literally nothing in the movie is as hot as these two — Mrs. Matthews is very married, and is using Ed to get back at her older, milquetoast husband for lying to her about everything, WHILE HER HUSBAND IS IN THE ROOM. And Ed is all like "Um ... this is hot and I am into it?" (Spoiler: later, her husband comes out, sees them making out, and goes and kills himself. So there's that.) I would die for anything about them, the fact that it's such a frank exchange of physical favors makes the relationship a fascinating one to me, and she's so smart and ambitious that I wouldn't mind seeing the two of them interacting after the events of the movie, just to see how/if they fit together when they're not making out/fucking. (To be clear, I'm also perfectly fine with a lot of making out and/or fucking.)
Ed/Nick Varna or Ed & Nick Varna: I honestly think Nick is Ed's only real equal in the movie, and I think Nick knows it. He's a rival boss to Paul, but is watchful and cautious, and about 20000 times more sophisticated and forward-thinking in his machinations that Paul, so he immediately targets Ed, both for dirt on Paul, and to get him on his side, because he knows how useful Ed would be. Things go ... very badly for Ed, and he ends up suffering an extended homoerotic beating (it's a whole thing), but damn are they great together. So ANYTHING would be amazing: give me an AU in which Ed works with Nick, and their relationship isn't sexual or romantic at all — how does it compare to how Ed and Paul are together? What would Ed be like with a boss who is just as smart and dangerous as he is? Or throw them in the sack, or make them court, or *waves hand* anything! They're both so calculating that I can't imagine them getting into a relationship without a whole lot of extremely unsubtle flirting, just to be sure they both know exactly what's on the table, and would love to see what that looks like. Could it ever get into something actually emotional, or can they only connect in the sack? Trust me — give me Ed and Nick on the same story, and I'll be 100% in.
Request #2: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Available here, if you do ok.ru; also rentable at the usual places.
I am obsessed with the way Cora is with Arthur Keats. (Note: dubcon is more than ok with these two.) If you've not seen the movie, in this version of the story, Keats is her lawyer, and literally the only one who can get Cora off balance. She's completely in charge in her relationships with both her husband and her lover, and she's a dominant presence in the rest of her life, too — an authority figure so sure of her own power that no one dares brook it. But Keats does. Not only that, but he expects Cora to obey him — and she does. Y'all, it's so incredibly hot to watch them together: he is casual in his command because he knows she'll give in, and she's, like, both furious and angrily curious, because she's literally never met anyone who can do this to her?
As someone who is into fucked up fictional power dynamics, this relationship is on my personal Old Hollywood Mount Rushmore. I would weep with joy to read anything about these two, the dirtier the better. I'm not even sure that Keats is into girls (a throwaway line tells us he's got a wife, but his relationship with the DA is so casually close I would 100% believe they were a couple), or even if physical intimacy is his thing, but he likes power, and I would love to see him using it on Cora is a more ~private~ setting, whether or not it was explicitly sexual. How does she get her head in a place where she can accept what he can do to her? Or does she never get there, and their relationship is never anything other than deeply unhealthy and badwrong (but also: hot). Either of their POVs would be fascinating, because Cora is not stupid, and she can improvise like the rest of us breathe — can she even handle being at this dude's mercy, no matter how hard she tries to regain the upper hand? And what does Keats think of her? Is she just someone whose mind he wants to fuck with because he can, or is it more than that? Different?
Also, I'm super into evil!hypnosis movies recently, and I love the idea of Keats as a stage hypnotist, and Cora as either his assistant or some girl who ends up interacting with him (extra points if she's all "this shit is so fake come on"), and falls under his sway.
Request #3: The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Available for rent at the usual places, plus free at Kanopy and ok.ru.
Y'all. Incest is usually not my thing at all, but J. J. Hunsecker's relationship with his sexual desires is such a shitshow, and he's so profoundly into his sister (and in denial about it) that, IDK, I just really, really need to see it? Like, he's so obsessed with having power over people, but somehow doesn't notice how bound up that need is with sex, even when it comes to the kid sister he claims to be ~protecting~, when he really he just doesn't want any other men to touch her? God. Just, like, anything of J.J. being a big freak would thrill me in the best terrible way, whether it's to do with Susan, or Sidney, or both/and? (I didn't nominate the three of them together, but if that's what you wanna write, hell yeah! Have at it.)
I don't really have specific prompts, only an assurance that there is no such thing as "too dark" when it comes to J.J. Hunsecker. And yeah, dubcon is very ok here, for either pairing (or the threesome).
REQUEST #4: Briarpatch (TV)
In terms of narrative I’m pretty easy to please, and any rating and/or combination of gender identities and bodies is cool with me. That said, I do have a few DNWs, mainly: extreme or explicit violence and torture, noncon or dubcon (unless specified for the fandom), horror, and A/B/O.
Things I love (but in no way require) in fic: found family, sex that is urgent, angry, awkward, or familiar and full of laughter (or all of the above), complicated or fucked up power dynamics (please never think anything in this department will be Too Much), quiet devotion, humor, bittersweet endings, day in the life snapshots, tragically stoic characters who only one other person understands, and damaged people who are trying, whether it's just to do as little harm as possible, or to heal themselves, even a little (ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜).
All of that said: everything that follows is mere suggestion, nothing more. I am already over the moon that anyone else shares any of these interests, and is willing to write something about one of them for me. Anything you come up with will be incredible.
Request #1: The Glass Key (1942) [WARNING: mention of suicide in the second prompt section]
Available here, if you do ok.ru.
The thing about this movie is, Alan Ladd somehow has wild sexual chemistry with every single other person in it, regardless of gender — hence, the fact that his character, Ed Beaumont, is in each of my pairings.
Ed/Paul Madvig: Madvig is the political boss for whom Ed works, but he's totally devoted to Ed. Like, he's big and tough but also so so so in need of Ed's approval for everything he does, be it political or romantic. He's just the big ball of feelings and affections, and Ed is cold and kind of a prick and, well, I'm super into it? I would love to see what you think they're like together — does Paul's openness draw Ed out/allow Ed to take down some of his walls? Or does it just let Ed know that Paul would do anything for him, and Ed sets out see what that's like in bed (or, you know, wherever)? NGL, I'm extremely into that idea, but also love Paul very, very much and would love to see him sneaking into Ed's heart, and Ed being massively uncomfortable but also accidentally vulnerable about it?
Ed/Eloise Matthews: LISTEN. Literally nothing in the movie is as hot as these two — Mrs. Matthews is very married, and is using Ed to get back at her older, milquetoast husband for lying to her about everything, WHILE HER HUSBAND IS IN THE ROOM. And Ed is all like "Um ... this is hot and I am into it?" (Spoiler: later, her husband comes out, sees them making out, and goes and kills himself. So there's that.) I would die for anything about them, the fact that it's such a frank exchange of physical favors makes the relationship a fascinating one to me, and she's so smart and ambitious that I wouldn't mind seeing the two of them interacting after the events of the movie, just to see how/if they fit together when they're not making out/fucking. (To be clear, I'm also perfectly fine with a lot of making out and/or fucking.)
Ed/Nick Varna or Ed & Nick Varna: I honestly think Nick is Ed's only real equal in the movie, and I think Nick knows it. He's a rival boss to Paul, but is watchful and cautious, and about 20000 times more sophisticated and forward-thinking in his machinations that Paul, so he immediately targets Ed, both for dirt on Paul, and to get him on his side, because he knows how useful Ed would be. Things go ... very badly for Ed, and he ends up suffering an extended homoerotic beating (it's a whole thing), but damn are they great together. So ANYTHING would be amazing: give me an AU in which Ed works with Nick, and their relationship isn't sexual or romantic at all — how does it compare to how Ed and Paul are together? What would Ed be like with a boss who is just as smart and dangerous as he is? Or throw them in the sack, or make them court, or *waves hand* anything! They're both so calculating that I can't imagine them getting into a relationship without a whole lot of extremely unsubtle flirting, just to be sure they both know exactly what's on the table, and would love to see what that looks like. Could it ever get into something actually emotional, or can they only connect in the sack? Trust me — give me Ed and Nick on the same story, and I'll be 100% in.
Request #2: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Available here, if you do ok.ru; also rentable at the usual places.
I am obsessed with the way Cora is with Arthur Keats. (Note: dubcon is more than ok with these two.) If you've not seen the movie, in this version of the story, Keats is her lawyer, and literally the only one who can get Cora off balance. She's completely in charge in her relationships with both her husband and her lover, and she's a dominant presence in the rest of her life, too — an authority figure so sure of her own power that no one dares brook it. But Keats does. Not only that, but he expects Cora to obey him — and she does. Y'all, it's so incredibly hot to watch them together: he is casual in his command because he knows she'll give in, and she's, like, both furious and angrily curious, because she's literally never met anyone who can do this to her?
As someone who is into fucked up fictional power dynamics, this relationship is on my personal Old Hollywood Mount Rushmore. I would weep with joy to read anything about these two, the dirtier the better. I'm not even sure that Keats is into girls (a throwaway line tells us he's got a wife, but his relationship with the DA is so casually close I would 100% believe they were a couple), or even if physical intimacy is his thing, but he likes power, and I would love to see him using it on Cora is a more ~private~ setting, whether or not it was explicitly sexual. How does she get her head in a place where she can accept what he can do to her? Or does she never get there, and their relationship is never anything other than deeply unhealthy and badwrong (but also: hot). Either of their POVs would be fascinating, because Cora is not stupid, and she can improvise like the rest of us breathe — can she even handle being at this dude's mercy, no matter how hard she tries to regain the upper hand? And what does Keats think of her? Is she just someone whose mind he wants to fuck with because he can, or is it more than that? Different?
Also, I'm super into evil!hypnosis movies recently, and I love the idea of Keats as a stage hypnotist, and Cora as either his assistant or some girl who ends up interacting with him (extra points if she's all "this shit is so fake come on"), and falls under his sway.
Request #3: The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Available for rent at the usual places, plus free at Kanopy and ok.ru.
Y'all. Incest is usually not my thing at all, but J. J. Hunsecker's relationship with his sexual desires is such a shitshow, and he's so profoundly into his sister (and in denial about it) that, IDK, I just really, really need to see it? Like, he's so obsessed with having power over people, but somehow doesn't notice how bound up that need is with sex, even when it comes to the kid sister he claims to be ~protecting~, when he really he just doesn't want any other men to touch her? God. Just, like, anything of J.J. being a big freak would thrill me in the best terrible way, whether it's to do with Susan, or Sidney, or both/and? (I didn't nominate the three of them together, but if that's what you wanna write, hell yeah! Have at it.)
I don't really have specific prompts, only an assurance that there is no such thing as "too dark" when it comes to J.J. Hunsecker. And yeah, dubcon is very ok here, for either pairing (or the threesome).
REQUEST #4: Briarpatch (TV)
Here is my old Yuletide promo post for this amazing show, here is the trailer, and here is a short featurette about the main characters; it runs 10 one-hour episodes and is on Amazon Prime.
I cannot tell you how much I love this show, or how much sexual tension is running through its veins. If you've watched it and are familiar with the characters, please feel free to write whatever you want for any of the pairings I've nominated! If it helps, here are some specific ideas/details about why I am obsessed with each of them.
I cannot tell you how much I love this show, or how much sexual tension is running through its veins. If you've watched it and are familiar with the characters, please feel free to write whatever you want for any of the pairings I've nominated! If it helps, here are some specific ideas/details about why I am obsessed with each of them.
Jake Spivey/Allegra Dill. In episode 8 (AKA my favorite Briarpatch episode and one of my favorite episodes of TV ever), when Jake is listing the qualities that made Allegra so extremely hot, and which make him regret not making a move on her in high school (this is a canonical fact with which I strongly disagree btw), he SPECIFICALLY says that she was the "meanest" girl he knew, which is a positive. GOD. Please write me high school Jake and Allegra: her being her usual badass self, and him just, like, panting after her, not knowing why he's so into this mean, impatient girl, only that he very much wants her to do mean things to him. Or Jake and Allegra now — there's so much UST between them — show me how it gets resolved, and how things end up! Or an AU! Give me a soulmate world in which Allegra is so exasperated by Jake being hers, and he's a gooey mess of joy. Or a story set in the old west, in which Allegra is the badass, seen-it-all gambling hall/brothel owner, and Jake is a new arrival in town who thinks he has her number, but has something else entirely coming. Just ... anything!
Jake Spivey/Clyde Brattle (note: dubcon and noncon are more than ok with these two). In case you're not familiar with the show and are reading this, all you need to know is that Alan Cumming plays this shadyass arms dealer/very bad man whose all-male minions HAVE BAR CODES TATTOOED ON THE BACK OF THEIR NECKS (often involuntarily applied). AND JAKE HAS ONE. Jake also experience serious trauma (and did illegal things) while in the military during a Gulf War or two, and Brattle is very much part of that. The two of them are the main reasons I’ve watched episode 8 so many times: there’s so much in their first meeting since they were in the Middle East, not just volumes of terrible history but also absolute oceans of UST. The power dynamic between them is royally fucked up, too, in that Jake gives into no one except Allegra (who he's pretty much canonically in love with), but then Brattle shows up and Jake almost falls apart — just the awareness that Brattle is nearby nearly breaks him. WHY? What happened? Show me all of the awful things that went down between them! Or, if you're more inclined to recovery, show me Jake putting himself back together (Or someone else doing it? God, is it Brattle?) until he's the guy who meet in the show — and is that guy really back together at all?
Allegra Dill/Cindy McCabe. Funny story — Cindy was literally supposed to be in just one episode, but Allegra Edwards was so good in the role they rewrote a bunch of stuff and she ended up in, I think, all but two of the 10 episodes. And with good reason! Cindy is such an amazing character — a woman completely at ease with her body and her sexuality, smart as a fucking whip, spectacularly resourceful, and with no regard whatsoever for what other people think about or expect from her. And she and Allegra have amazing chemistry — Allegra is checking her out as hard as Cindy is checking Allegra out in their first meeting, and I can 100% see them getting together a time or twelve off screen. ANYTHING about them would thrill me.
Request #5: Suspense (radio 1946)
Available here.
Suspense is an old timey radio show which, every once in a while, puts forward the most adorable possible relationships between two dudes. (And each episode is less than 30 mins, so if you listed to it at 2x speed, you can finish in a snap!) In this case, the dudes are Casey, muscle for a big bad, and Sam, the guy he's been ordered to kill. Virtually the entire story is narrated by big lunkhead Casey and, just to give you idea of what it's like, this is how he introduces Sam: "he sure was a little fella," and "I wanted to be his friend." See? What did I tell you? ADORABLE.
Casey is so lonely and in need of affection, and Sam is kind of sad and almost hopeless, and I just love the idea of them together — it would be so healing for both of them, to have a guy who likes and respects him around! I'm down with them just being bros, if that is what works for you, or with them being adorable boyfriends — just, let them be happy, please? Especially Casey. I feel like he's the kind of good-hearted, perpetually overlooked guy who would do anything for someone who loved him, even a little, and Sam is a nice boy who wouldn't use that power for evil.
Honestly man, just a snapshot of them hanging out (as boyfriends or pals) would be wonderful to see. Or does Casey turn into a protector for Sam, and wreck terrible revenge in the name of the nice boy with whom he just wants to be friends/kinda sorta loves? Do they become friends, and fall in love, but Casey is so dorky and Sam so beaten down that neither one thinks the other could possible want him until, IDK, ~drunken confessions~?
Oh god, or a soulmate AU! I would love a soulmate AU! Or make them old timey baseball players, with Sam the shy rookie who Casey has to protect and, oops, he accidentally falls in love and WHAT NOW?
Anything for real. Anything!
Request #5: Suspense (radio 1946)
Available here.
Suspense is an old timey radio show which, every once in a while, puts forward the most adorable possible relationships between two dudes. (And each episode is less than 30 mins, so if you listed to it at 2x speed, you can finish in a snap!) In this case, the dudes are Casey, muscle for a big bad, and Sam, the guy he's been ordered to kill. Virtually the entire story is narrated by big lunkhead Casey and, just to give you idea of what it's like, this is how he introduces Sam: "he sure was a little fella," and "I wanted to be his friend." See? What did I tell you? ADORABLE.
Casey is so lonely and in need of affection, and Sam is kind of sad and almost hopeless, and I just love the idea of them together — it would be so healing for both of them, to have a guy who likes and respects him around! I'm down with them just being bros, if that is what works for you, or with them being adorable boyfriends — just, let them be happy, please? Especially Casey. I feel like he's the kind of good-hearted, perpetually overlooked guy who would do anything for someone who loved him, even a little, and Sam is a nice boy who wouldn't use that power for evil.
Honestly man, just a snapshot of them hanging out (as boyfriends or pals) would be wonderful to see. Or does Casey turn into a protector for Sam, and wreck terrible revenge in the name of the nice boy with whom he just wants to be friends/kinda sorta loves? Do they become friends, and fall in love, but Casey is so dorky and Sam so beaten down that neither one thinks the other could possible want him until, IDK, ~drunken confessions~?
Oh god, or a soulmate AU! I would love a soulmate AU! Or make them old timey baseball players, with Sam the shy rookie who Casey has to protect and, oops, he accidentally falls in love and WHAT NOW?
Anything for real. Anything!