#admittedly they were a lil codependent but Still

[birlwrites]

somthing that annoys me SO MUCH about a lot of Regulus fics (other than how many of them are jegulus. seriously so many of their plots look so interesting but i just can't read jegulus it Reallly doesn't do it for me) is how in almost every single one, Regulus has no friends. not a single one. and the authors always just sort of add him on to the end of the marauders and call it done. SO, I just wanted to say that I appreciate it a lot that in ttdl (and career goals) you gave Regulus FRIENDS!! I like that you've given the Slytherins personalities beyond "Evil" and "Bully," even the ones that are Bullies and will be Evil! (Regulus' camaraderie with the quidditch team my BELOVED. the group celebration after the winning game in ttdl? that heart stopping moment in career goals: tyrant when Megan fell off her broom and Regulus was so worried? His protective thoughts about her ex. 'my second year'? Geoff being Dad? Theophania? (her matching hair ribbons with Megan and Emma was soo cute (nothing to do with Regulus but jsyk I really liked that detail)) Travers (i can't remember his first name but i appreciate him anyways) I totally just got sidetracked but <3<3<3 REGULUS HAS FRIENDS!!)

ok SAME. regulus is another character, like james and lily, who is very easy to reduce down to like. 1-2 canon moments and a couple of character traits, and i think a lot of the 'regulus doesn't have his own friends' fics are also the ones that tend to infantilize regulus and/or just make him someone who exists to Be Saved (by either james or sirius, usually)

which!! i cannot stress enough!! is easy to write. there's a reason these fics are all over the place. if regulus doesn't have his own friends, then you don't need to figure out who they are or what their personalities are like or how they impact him and his relationships with the marauders (who tend to be the focal point of the story). simple casts of characters make things simple. that's valid as a writing choice.

however. GIVE THE BOY SOME GODDAMN FRIENDS. i s2g it's like canon lily. she just has the convenient muggle sister (bad relationship), snape (bad relationship, also he's in love with her which reinforces lily as Romantic Interest™ instead of a person), james (canonically, they apparently seem to be on bad terms until lily finally gives in and starts dating him, which, yuck), and harry (so lily can die for him!!)

(more ranting and the joys of regulus with friends under the cut)

whereas regulus, in contrast, tends to have walburga (bad relationship), sirius (estrangement), MAYBE narcissa (who is usually older than him by enough that she's already graduated from hogwarts), and james (JEGULUS)

there is absolutely no way that the entire house of slytherin was a complete monolith of asshole death eaters And Then Regulus, and personally i find it very dull as a narrative choice - even if it's a house full of asshole death eaters, regulus has been living with these people since the age of eleven. he's on a sports team. he has friends.

but i think frequently the reason he doesn't is because that makes it easy for him to be a damsel in distress who gets saved, insert jegulus, and when regulus gets swooped out of that Horrible Nasty Dungeon Full Of Slytherins, it doesn't leave any inconvenient loose ends, because he doesn't have any personal connections. the marauders (primarily sirius and james) never have to learn how to interact with regulus's friends. they can comfortably continue to be super anti-slytherin because regulus isn't 'like the rest of them,' so he's not REEEEEALLY a slytherin :)

(and regulus not being friends with any of the Asshole Death Eaters also conveniently makes him a very Pure character who has only ever been a victim and doesn't introduce any complex or nuanced moral questions to the narrative)

in general i just really hate when regulus is treated as an appendage of one of the marauders, and it happens all the time. that was a big driving force behind writing ttdl in the first place. i'm tired of regulus getting saved sjflsghjsgjkdhkjsf and i'm tired of him just being characterized however is convenient to the marauders

and i do STRONGLY BELIEVE that regulus had friends. maybe he wasn't ✨super popular✨ like ✨sirius and james✨ but like?? that's not a requirement to have friends???

and the slytherin quidditch team is a SLYTHERIN. TEAM. they are going to be both aggressively competitive (regarding the other teams) and AGGRESSIVELY TEAM-ORIENTED (because that's how you fucking wIN). ambition does not mean 'everyone for themself' (we don't have time to get into That canon theme) and IF SOMEONE DOESN'T PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS, THEY ARE HURTING SLYTHERIN'S CHANCES AT WINNING. IT IS A TEAM SPORT.

and like!! they have early morning practices together!! they eat breakfast together because Nobody Else Is Awake!! they work together and they respond viciously if one of them gets hurt and they have BONDED. regulus thinks of himself as being a little bit isolated from the rest of the team but that is the result of HIS OWN ISSUES WITH SELF WORTH and *REGARDLESS* OF THAT, HE STILL IS PERFECTLY AWARE THAT THEY'RE ALL FRIENDS

plus regulus is so much more fun with friends. he needs an outlet for all that drama. he wrote an incredibly elegant 'fuck you' note in a fake locket that he bothered to stash in the basin - LIKE???? HE COULD HAVE JUST TAKEN THE REAL LOCKET AND BLOWN UP THE CAVE???????

and i love regulus being best friends with barty because barty is similarly dramatic and they make the best team. especially when it comes to taking down people they hate. i LOVE the idea of them meeting in first year and both of them immediately going 'ok. mine now' and they are just choosing each other relentlessly from the beginning - and i ESPECIALLY love it because of the difference in their backgrounds, which makes them complete opposites on the surface but the same underneath (which i am a huge fan of as a character dynamic in general alghksgjhkjsdkf, you can see it all over the place in ttdl)

anyway im a huge proponent of 'give regulus his own life instead of just putting him in convenient stasis until the marauders show up.' even if you DO intend to have him sort of merge with the marauders and end up in a relationship with james, it'll be so much more interesting if regulus has his own history and social circle that the marauders have to reckon with, and it puts him on much more equal footing in that relationship, instead of just having it be 'savior/saved'

[thatsnotbeautiful]

hypmic Secret Santa 2018 requests

hi! thanks so much for making me a thing, i’m excited to see what you come up with!

i’ll go into more detail about what i might like for different hypmic characters and/or ships below, but you can also look at my general likes/dislikes and nsfw likes/dislikes. (some of my prompt ideas are nsfw but i’ll flag them accordingly) 

i tend to be pretty long-winded with my exchange requests, but please know that all of these are intended as suggestions or as jumping-off points for you to brainstorm ideas, if that sort of thing helps you. i’d say the only thing you “have” to read are my general dislikes, i.e. things i definitely do not want to see in a fic.

i’ve lumped my ideas according to crew/ship because it was easier for me to organize everything that way, but i’d also be happy with single-character-centric or platonic/gen fic, it doesn’t necessarily have to be shippy!

~ MATENROU ~  - i ship all three of them in any combo tbh, including OT3  - i’d love to see soft domestic moments together, literal sleeping together, or anything relaxing with any ship combo tbh - i like supernatural elements in general, but i quite like the idea of Jakurai in particular being some sort of supernatural or immortal being living among humans (e.g. Shinigami, vampire, some sort of monster person) - please don’t include suicide/suicidal ideation for Doppo. 

hifudo - i really like their whole semi-codependent dynamic where they help each other with things they’re bad at and fill in the gaps for each other (Doppo reigning Hifumi in when he gets out of hand, Hifumi taking care of/standing up for Doppo)  - silly roommate shenanigans - how did they become roommates anyway? what were the early days of them living together and getting used to sharing a space like?  - i really like intimacy and knowing each other really well, better than most other people know you, so, anything with that? - one of them going on a trip and the other missing his presence?  - maybe Doppo doing something to show his appreciation for everything Hifumi does at home??  - going on vacation together! - get-together fic! i especially like UST and/or mutual pining (them living together for a while but not realizing they’re into each other) or them like... basically dating, or everyone around them thinking they’re dating, before the two of them realize oh that’s p much what they’re doing huh?  - that Hifumi apparently wants guys to call him “Hifumin” as well is too cute... Doppo call him “Hifumin” already. please. 

nsfw ideas:  - sleepy languid sex after one/both of them come home from work and scoot into bed together; exhausted sex  - somnophilia if you wanna take that a lil further (Doppo gets so little sleep......)  - Doppo groping/sexing Hifumi up bc he’s stressed out from work and this is a good release, lol. (i’ve seen so many fanarts from Japanese artists of Doppo just, coming home and tiredly squeezing Hifumi’s ass bc he’s stressed and, it’s good,)  - smooching in the kitchen while Hifumi is in the middle of cooking a meal or sth like the good house husband he is  - (tbh i 100% feel like Hifumi is the kind of person who would start cooking dinner in nothing but an apron for Doppo to come home to as a surprise lmao)  - nsfw offshoot of the nickname thing — Doppo calling Hifumi “Hifumin”, but Hifumi gets off on it. i especially love the idea of Doppo wanting to but being kinda embarrassed about it, and doing it really tentatively in Hifumi’s ear when they’re just lazing in bed or something, and Hifumi fucking shivers  - they’ve been best friends forever, i can’t imagine that they wouldn’t have gotten off together at least once as an ~experiment~ or bc they were pent-up university students and it was convenient. and if there’s UST/mutual pining, even better. if the sex is awkward bc they’re awkward and inexperienced, but feels super good anyway bc they’re both that into it/each other, even better - some sort of scenario with multiple Hifumis (magic? clones?)  - Hifumi selfcest???  - Doppo -> Hifumi watersports. and uh by “watersports” i mean Doppo peeing on Hifumi and Hifumi enjoying it. i’m sorry it’s just... the champagne thing......

jakudoppo  - the way i envision their dynamic is very, Doppo deeply respecting Jakurai as this mentor/role model/authority figure, but also thirsting after/crushing on him so hard he doesn’t know what to do w/himself, and lowkey being unable to reconcile the two (thirsting after your role model is rude/disrespectful, isn’t it??)  - buuut he does work thru it eventually bc i don’t want this to turn into full-fledged angst, tho some (perceived as one-sided) pining could be good - but yeah like... Doppo just, reacting really intensely to the smallest goddamn things. Jakurai sitting there but the sunlight hits him in this nice kind of way and makes him look really handsome. Jakurai patting his head or kissing his cheek. chaste kisses.  - my ship manifesto for them is essentially “Doppo dies a lot” - meanwhile, i really like how Jakurai takes care of Doppo, talks him through his anxieties, etc (both in a gen or a romantic way)  - i also feel like neither of them have done much romantically... (or at least for Jakurai it’s been a while) Doppo because he’s too busy and stressed to make time for dates and Jakurai because i don’t really see him dating casually... if he’s really into the person he’ll date them but otherwise he doesn’t go out of his way to find people to date? i guess what this means is: them getting together and Doppo being relatively inexperienced and Jakurai being rusty so they have to kinda fumble through it a bit, at least at the beginning  - get together fic! who confesses to who? how does Doppo even get past his anxiety to talk about it??  - Doppo in Jakurai’s lap is a good image  nsfw ideas:  - with the above ship dynamic stuff in mind... this lends itself very well to Doppo being cool with doing “anything” for Jakurai (not in the sense of, agreeing to things he doesn’t want to do, but perhaps agreeing to more than he can actually handle and ending up being sort of out of his depth)  - i like... a lot of kinks for them, honestly. it’s real easy to fit other kinks into this D/s sort of framework. e.g.s bondage, breathplay (obvs), fingering/prostate milking, edging, overstimulation, being overwhelmed, fisting, even something more AU or supernatural like naga!Jakurai and tailsex or oviposition  - also just D/s in general or Jakurai service-topping Doppo and wanting to take good care of him in a sex way  - that said, i see them both switching rather than Doppo being bottom all the time — Doppo would prob really be into making Jakurai feel good  - kink negotiation; Doppo being nervous/embarrassed about explaining to Jakurai that he’s into a thing (and Jakurai probably sort of guessing from the beginning anyway)  - Doppo’s anxiety compounding with arousal in general  - Doppo being a virgin or, at least not having done very much (e.g. trading handjobs with Hifumi once or twice but nothing else) and Jakurai being his "first” for a lot of sexual experiences  - Jakurai not being that great at sex bc he’s rusty but Doppo being really into it anyways bc it’s Jakurai - Doppo kinking on Jakurai’s hands/hair 

jakuhifu - admittedly i haven’t thought about them as much as hifudo and jakudoppo, but i still like it as a ship... i especially like thinking about Hifumi being really overt about wanting Jakurai’s attention, sort of as an extension of how he acts in canon (just swinging into Jakurai’s office, going fishing together etc) - i see their regard for each other kinda like jakudoppo, but without any of Doppo’s hangups about it since it’s Hifumi, lol. Hifumi respects Jakurai and crushes on Jakurai and! it’s fine!  - pat his head and spoil him, sensei! 

nsfw ideas: - D/s and petplay is... a really good thought for this ship 

OT3 - please let them go fishing together/do something relaxing together - established hifudo and fitting Jakurai into their relationship  - established hifudo talking about how into Jakurai they are  - h/c or healing each other up after receiving battle damage  - i have this really persistent mental image of them all laying in bed together and hifudo just on either side of Jakurai curling into him... 

nsfw ideas: - hifudo talking about how into Jakurai they are while they get off together - taking “competing for Jakurai’s attention” to a sexual level (who can make sensei feel better?)  - Jakurai getting hifudo off using his hypmic/voice 

~ JYUTODOPPO ~  - the basis for this ship is mostly the fact that they knew each other before and the stuff in Death Respect tbh - riling each other up or angry UST - what they say to each other in Death Respect seems... really personal to me, like they used to know each other way better than just a casual acquaintanceship and/or reading up on each other before the battle. how did they know each other? - i really like knowing each other p well but also being enemies, and weaponizing all the shit that you know about each other  - moving away from the Death Respect/enemy dynamic, Jyuto being a really smooth flirt and Doppo being drawn into it in spite of himself is good too  - or, actually liking each other romantically and managing that relationship on top of being on rival rap battle teams 

nsfw ideas: - angry sex - pain kink, blood  - using sex as a means to feel powerful/dominant over the other  - suit kink; hand/glove kink (it is Jyuto after all)  - semi-public sex  - Jyuto on his knees reducing Doppo to nothing via BJ while Doppo grabs his hair 

~ DICE SHIPS ~ - ...namely: Ramuda, Rio, Doppo (& Hifumi) - tbh mostly i like thinking about the others “adopting” Dice in some way (i mean, for Ramuda this is basically canon lol since Dice goes to live in his house)  - Ramuda just thinking Dice is a teammate (and then maybe an FWB) but unexpectedly catching feelings and not knowing wtf to do about it  - Ramuda using Dice to model his fashion designs  - Rio/Dice and the adventure of living in the woods, Rio feeding Dice and Dice enjoying his cooking etc - tbh out of all of them i actually think Rio/Dice would be the most stable romantic relationship? i just like thinking about them being cute domestic loving boyfriends. Rio seems like he’d be a good rock for Dice’s erratic Dice-ness  - Dice being an actual catboy that gets adopted (i particularly like this one for Doppo + Hifumi) 

nsfw ideas:  - taking the “adopting Dice” idea a step further to sugar baby Dice, except he’s not really a good sugar baby like... at all. instead of coming home to find him being all sexy in bed or something the other person just finds him lounging on the couch with empty chip packets everywhere  - Dice has a thing for thrills and risking himself/risking being in danger and i can definitely see that extending to sex as well. 

~ JAKURAMU ~  - supernatural AU with either or both of them being some sort of monster person (again, Jakurai being a naga. Ramuda being a fae or a changeling. but basically open to any supernatural creature possibility, not even necessarily humanoid ones)  - full-on fantasy AU where they’re not even in the hypmic ‘verse anymore  - i’m really curious about why they hate each other so much or why they both feel betrayed by the other. the common idea is that one broke the other’s heart or left the other, but i’d be interested to see other ideas of what might have lead to this deep betrayal, to the extent that Jakurai thinks of Ramuda as lacking humanity and Ramuda can’t even bear to talk about Jakurai anymore  - both of them seem to have? potential shadiness about them? Ramuda bc of the reveal that he’s connected to the govt (and just, general fake cute fronting, what is it exactly that he has to hide?) and Jakurai bc to me at times it feels like his saintliness is almost too good to be true, plus if he’s such a good person, what exactly did he do to make Ramuda so angry at him? it’d be interesting to explore that as well