Last Minute Sub Letter
Hello author!
Thank you so much for producing something lovely for me! I’m saltstreets on ao3, and zevons on tumblr, if you’d like to flip through.
I’m bound to love whatever you come up with, and at the end of the day, I want to read what you want to write! The little prompty things I’ve included with the pairing descriptions are mostly because I know it’s often easier to start with some sort of jumping off point, and please don’t feel obligated to write whatever bizarre AUs I’ve started throwing out down there. :D
Likes: Troooopes...tropes tropes tropes. Friends to lovers! Fake dating! It’s-obvious-we-should-get-together-and-everyone-but-us-knows-it! Complete opposites attracted to each other! AUs of all kinds- coffee shop, apocalypse, we’re-in-space-now. Historical, sci-fi, Hogwarts. Pretty much any AU you can imagine, I’ll love it. Also a special mention to future fic, which sits upon the throne of my RPF heart. I like seeing how characters act thrown into different situations. And speaking of characters- I love a good character study so if you prefer writing them to plotty fics go for it! I’m deeply invested in the concept of club loyalty and how it affects how players see themselves/each other, if you’re into that. On the other hand, I have never in my life turned down pwp.
In terms of rating, I’ll read anything from the most casual gen to the most brain-sizzling smut, so really anything you’re comfortable with.
Do Not Wants: Pregnancy/Mpreg, ABO, BDSM, scat or watersports, non-con. Evil wives/girlfriends (I’m fine with the ‘they don’t exist in this universe’ or the ‘open relationship/beard’ approaches.)
Football RPF:
Michael Ballack/Torsten Frings
Okay so the first thing about me is that I am constantly in a state of deep, worrying nostalgia about the 2006 World Cup. Like, dangerous levels. Micha/Torsten is therefore one of those classic pairings that is going to haunt me until I perish from wistfulness. There’s so little of them out there, and anything would make me happy. And of course feel free to throw in as much of the rest of the German squad as you like. You'll get no complaints from me!
Those early days before Micha got bitter and Torsten got Canadian, an AU where Micha also goes to the MLS, h/c after Italy in 2006 (with a nice helping of guilt after Fringser got suspended for the tussle after the Argentina match). A naval AU where Micha is the captain and Torsten the first lieutenant? Really anything and everything you want to show me of them would be loved, appreciated, and treasured.
Pep Guardiola/José Mourinho
The thing that I love about this pairing, what really gets me, is that it is most definitively not all sunshine and roses. I love the mind games, I love the bitterness, I love the we-used-to-be-friends-but-now-I-can’t-ever-trust-you-again suspicions. I could just eat that ~narrative~ up with a spoon. One of the things that really interests me about Pep/Mou is that despite the giant jagged chasm that separates them, they’re more similar than they’d probably like. Mourinho is more publicly abrasive but Pep is absolutely not above playing dirty.
Fic about Barcelona? Fic about Clasicos? Fic about Manchester? Fic where you want to throw Zlatan in to make things more interesting? i y k w i m :^)
If you want to go down an AU route, I have for your consideration that one Crackovia episode where Pep changes the past so that he gets to keep his hair, and Mou ends up Barca manager. I have a feeling that there’s a Groundhog Day fic in this somewhere, if you want to try and look for it.
Thierry Henry/Robert Pires
Did I mention I was a nostalgic mess all the time? Yeah, it doesn’t just apply to Germany. I just want these two buzzing about in their slick and stylish way, whether that’s set during the dizzying heights of the Invincible season or in the (not-so distant...) future when Bobby is coaching Arsenal and Thierry is still being ruthlessly discerning on Sky Sports. What’s their relationship like? Is Bobby trying to get Thierry out of media and back on the touchline?
AUs are, as mentioned, always welcome, and I’m going to throw in a shout for an espionage AU entirely inspired by this single photo, which always gets me going. (Shallowness, thy name is leather jacket!) French agents in a foreign land, mm.
Michael Ballack/Alexi Lalas
This pairing is just oil and water and I love it. There’s this slightly bemused look of consternation that Micha seems to wear permanently whenever Alexi is talking at him that makes me wish that ESPN analysis could be a bit more like daytime TV sometimes, or maybe Prime Minister’s Questions, which is similar. I’m talking indignant shouting about deep-lying playmakers and team character, and being physically restrained when the need demands.
I love how Alexi doesn’t seem at all put off by Michael’s aloofness, and I love how Michael seems to have genuinely warmed to him over the years. And then, this.
Give me Micha aggressively not missing Alexi during the Euros! Alexi ringing up Taylor Twellman telling him to back off the cutesy instagrams! Long-distance bickering! Long-distance phone bills! Bickering over phone bills!
Also, time-travel AU where one of them is thrown back inexplicably and has to deal with the other’s younger self? Historical AU where Alexi Lalas is an Actual Viking instead of just having the hair and beard of one?
Northendgirls Champions League art:
(art is here and here)
Arsenal FC
I was Hetalia trash back in The Day (I say, as if I’m not secretly still into it), so this is a concept that I fell deeply, deeply in love with and honestly anything you want to write about would be amazing. I’m first and foremost and Arsenal supporter so I’d like her character to be a focal point, but any other clubs and players you want to include are welcome.
How do these personifications work? How do they interact with each other/players/managers? Is their existence common knowledge or do they only reveal themselves to certain people? Do they fight each other or what? How to classic club rivalries play into it? Tell me about this world! I’m obsessed with it.
Alternatively if you want to say screw world building and just write about badass club personifications’ hatesex on the eve of The Big Game then...I have approximately zero complaints about that.
I’m excited for whatever you wind up writing! :D Allez, allez allez