Candy Hearts Exchange Letter 2025

[slumber]

{{ Dear Candy Heart }}

Thank you so much for signing up this year, and I’m so excited to have you assigned to me! I'm Slumber on AO3 as well, and I hope you're as excited about this exchange as I am!

For what it’s worth I’m incredibly easy to please, so feel free to run away with whatever ideas you may already have! But if you wanted some prompts, I hope this letter helps inspire you.

{{ General Likes and Dislikes }}

Ratings: G to E are fine!

Likes. It depends on the ship and the dynamics that attracted me to them in the first place, but I quite love canon-centric studies of relationships and dynamics and seeing the different nuances other people have on a character over AUs. I love magical realism, but especially when it's baked into canon settings!

Tonally I gravitate to lighter fare, but I'm also very happy with pieces that go deep into character studies and introspection are more than welcome too!

If you would prefer to do something lighter and warm-hearted, I'm always up for those tried-and-true romcom tropes of idiots in love, mutual pining, friends to lovers, fake dating, didn't know they were dating, practically married, etc. 5+1 fics are great too! I love domesticity but not established relationship, so anything in that vein would be amazing too!

Opt-in stuff that people might be hesitant about that are totally okay with me: (stealing this from marks because I found this very helpful) any form of dubcon (sex pollen, somno, drunken shenanigans, mistaken identities, etc), omegaverse, trans characters, rule 63, infidelity (as long as ships requested are endgame, I don't mind if they're cheating on other people to be together), feet, needles, blood/gore mention, canon-typical violence, abusive pasts/parents, unhealthy coping mechanisms, reckless sexual behavior, pregnancy, vomit/emeto, incest -- like, I'm not sure if/how any of these would somehow pop up, but if you end up with something that does, don't worry about it?? XD

DNWs:
- COVID settings
- first-person POV
- noncon (dubcon and dubcon-adjacent situations are fine — as long as everyone's having a good time by the end works for me)
- kink-centered PWPs
- explicitly saying "I love you"
- unhappy endings (bittersweet/hopeful/ambiguous endings okay)

The Prompts. Here’s a blanket disclaimer on the prompts here — feel free to absolutely ignore them and run away with your own ideas! If something I’ve said sparks an offshoot kind of idea, please pursue it! All I’d be truly happy for is another round at reliving these characters in their worlds, and I am SO looking forward to what you come up with whether it’s from one of these prompts or not! So please consider them starting points, if anything, or some way to get a sense of what drew me to these characters/fandoms to start. Thank you so much! <3

And with that, feel free to navigate to the fandom that makes sense to you!

{{ Apothecary Diaries }} {{ Chihayafuru }} {{ Daiya no A }}
{{ Sasaki to Miyano }} {{ SK8 the Infinity }} {{ Tian Guan Ci Fu }}

{{ 薬屋のひとりごと | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries (Anime) }}

Jinshi/Maomao (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Anime)

General: ODAO! I'm anime-only so no manga spoilers please! But I love the relationship Jinshi and Maomao have with each other, and the mystery-solving, political-intrigue aspects of the setting as well. I love Maomao's obsession with poisons and Jinshi's growing affection for her, and Maomao's stubborn refusal to use that big brain of hers to piece two and two together because I think, the way I see it, part of her is a little scared about what she might discover.

Possible prompts:
+ Maomao discovers who Jinshi truly is

+ Jinshi fell first, but Maomao fell harder?

+ Crossdressing Jinshi catches Maomao's eye... wait, why is she more interested now??

+ Maomao putting courtesan makeup on Jinshi and things get a little heated

+ Jinshi/Maomao through the perspectives of outsider(s)

{{ ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) }}

Mashima Taichi/Suou Hisashi

General: ODAO! I'm allllll caught up in the manga so no worries on spoilers there, and Taichi after all this time is still my one true boy. I love the way karuta is a sport for everyone, and I LOVE the way their relationships and friendships have developed over the course of the series.

I would be thrilled with a character study of Taichi and Hisashi's relationship as it develops especially post-canon, but I'd be equally happy with canon divergences or different first meetings, as I feel like there's a little bit of right person, wrong time vibes between the two of them

Possible prompts:
+ Taichi the doctor, and Hisashi the patient a) who seeks him out?, or b) that shapes the direction of his career/studies/research/etc

+ A reunion a few years later, maybe now they are different people who may or may not be better equipped to face each other :'3

+ Suou's senses are sharper, when it comes to Taichi

+ Taichi observes Suou when he thinks Suou isn't looking

+ This time, Chihaya figures it out before Taichi does

{{ ダイヤのA | Daiya no A | Ace of Diamond }}

Kominato Haruichi/Kuramochi Youichi (Ace of Diamond), Okumura Koushuu/Sawamura Eijun

General: ODAO! I miss Daiya no Ace. I wish we had more of the next year for all of these guys too! For KuraHaru, I enjoy the added wrench of there being a Kominato Ryousuke before there was a Kominato Haruichi, and how Kuramochi's experiences with them may be different, especially as they come together as a keystone combo. I'd love to see how Kuramochi deals with this in a position where he's the one who's essentially seeing Haruichi become a combo with one of the newer members of the team, now that he's in college. For Koushuu and Eijun, I would love love LOVE to see them grow closer over the next year, maybe even beyond, as they both mature in their positions and figure out how to play together. I love the way Koushuu is such a grumpy little cat, but is clearly so devoted and dedicated to being a catcher who surpasses Miyuki Kazuya--maybe especially in Eijun's eyes? (I'm not sure if it's clear here, but I'm totally okay with past relationships! No character bashing, please, or past toxic relationships!)

Possible prompts:
+ KuraHaru: Kuramochi tries not to be jealous when he watches Haruichi develop some on-field chemistry with the new Seidou shortstop

+ KuraHaru: Kuramochi assumed he'd drift away from Seidou and Haruichi now that he's in college, since Ryousuke-san did the same, but why are he and Haru texting much more often? And he's not... mad about it??

+ KuraHaru: Haruichi visits Kuramochi in college

+ KouSawa: A catcher may be in charge of "managing" his pitcher's skills, but Eijun learns to read Koushuu's different moods too

+ KouSawa: The difference between "Okumura Vision" (remember those times he just assumed Miyuki was taunting him despite the absolute harmless intention in his words) vs Reality -- especially when it comes to Eijun's growing feelings for him!

+ KouSawa: Eijun's family shows up for a game and Koushuu gets adopted in

{{ 佐々木と宮野 | Sasaki to Miyano (Manga) }}

Hirano Taiga/Kagiura Akira

General: ODAO! These boys are all so precious and cute! I love how soft and sweet this series is, and especially how Hirano and Kagiura are ready to bring their own strong brand of slow burn to the Pining Olympics aren't they? I'm pretty caught up to their manga story too, if that helps!

Possible prompts:
+ Feelings realization and/or getting together: Please I don't care what it is, I'm dying to know what you think would make Hirano realize he not just doesn't mind Kagiura's affections but maybe even welcomes?? or likes?? them???

+ A date: whether or not they're on the same page feelings-wise yet, maybe Kagiura manages to talk Hirano into going out with him on something more date-like~

+ Valentine's (or other holidays): Special occasions sure have a different meaning/feel a different way when you've got a kouhai with a massive crush on you, who you haven't fully rejected yet, huh?

{{ SK8 the Infinity (Anime) }}

Kyan Reki/Shindo Ainosuke | Adam

General: ODAO!! I kinda like the scared-but-horny vibes Adam inspires in Reki but I'm also wondering how they'd be like, years into the future, when their adversarial relationship slows to a simmer. Past relationships with any of the cast are okay, but not required!

Possible prompts:
+ Adam asks Reki to fix his board

+ Years post-canon, Adam and Reki fall into a casual, physical relationship that makes sense to no one, least alone the two of them

+ Age changes (same age): what if they were the same age? What if Reki was there when Adam started S?

+ Age swap (Reki is older): there's a wildly talented new kid at Crazy Rock that Reki feels like he needs to look out for

{{ Tian Guan Ci Fu }}

Feng Xin/Xie Lian, Pei Ming/Shi Qingxuan, Quan Yizhen/Yin Yu

General: My god do I love so many of these characters, the plot, the nuance between everyone's relationships. I'd be down for modern settings here, I think they lend themselves well to the material either in a reincarnation type setup or a lived-long-enough-to-modern-times scenario.

Anyway feel free to fuck with genders all you want with these too. XD

Possible prompts:
+ Fenglian: Pre-ascension getting together and mutual pining? Forbidden feelings, esp with XL's role as Crown Prince as well as his cultivation style but maybe Feng Xin doesn't care about that, he'll have XL however way he can have him?? Or maybe Xie Lian doesn't care about his cultivation style anymore -- there are other ways to cultivate!

+ Pei Ming/Shi Qingxuan: Can we also talk about how Pei Ming is that annoying bestie for an older brother SQX adores??? Who is kind of a dick most of the time but actually, relatively speaking, not the WORST heavenly official there is??? Maybe Pei Ming and Shi Qingxuan have to work together over something and SQX sees a side to PM he hadn't seen before?? Maybe Pei Ming looks for SQX post-canon and just looks over him, whether or not SQX knows/wants him to/etc, and maybe it's more than just because SQX is his dead friend's younger brother? Maybe SQX and PM have one night together they never ever ever ever ever talk about! (OK not to shy away from all the complexities of, yk, Shi Wudu and He Xuan as well! I think acknowledging they exist and the way they make things between PM/SQX all the more complicated adds flavor to this ship as a whole!)

+ QuanYin: I cannot explain how drawn I was to their dynamics. I just LOVE Yizhen SO MUCH, he's such a well-meaning clusterfuck of a bumbling fool, Yin Yu is an overthinker with a heart of gold with a streak of maybe just, idk, the unfortunate luck of being adored by someone who shines so much brighter than he ever could, but wow. WOW. I love how little Yizhen understands that. I love how Yin Yu has so much resentment tied up in admiration AND goodness that just causes him so much frustration. I will take ANY AND ALL QuanYin forms, ngl! Pre-canon fellow disciple days, yes. Pre-canon early godhood days, sure! Post-canon fix-it??? Oh my god, yes, please! Missing scenes from canon? Times when Yin Yu was actually so close to Yizhen but hid away in time, times Yizhen almost, ALMOST found his shixiong again? *grabby hands* ANY modern AU where the dynamics of both these two rising up together but only Yizhen succeeding while Yin Yu falls into obscurity, and the ways they find their way to each other since? (Some kind of celebrity AU, professional sports AU, corporate AU, hell, gangster AU??) When I say I cannot get enough of them, I truly mean it.