Do you feel like fandom today is no fun? Too isolated, not enough community, too many people policing what you can or can't create? Then do I have a suggestion for you!
DO SOME EXCHANGES!
I'm talking specifically about multi-fandom exchanges, here. Single-fandom or single-ship exchanges can be fun, but they normally happen once or twice a year (unless you do a lot of different ones for different fandoms/ships...) Multi-fandom exchange communities are so active these days that any day of the week you can find an exchange to join in. Flash exchanges, themed exchanges, big annual events, exchanges with small minimums (300 words or even less) or large minimums (10k or more), exchanges where you create in different mediums (art, podfic, crafts).
Problems that multifandom exchanges can help with:
"I feel like I'm posting into a void, no one comments or pays attention to my fic." In exchanges, you are creating a work for someone! That someone, at minimum, should read your work and comment on it. Many exchanges have a specific rule that they have to comment, but even if there isn't a rule, it's strongly expected that they'll comment. (Of course it can happen that they don't, but the norm is heavily in favour of commenting.) Moreover, participants in exchanges will often look through other works in that event, recommend works to check out, etc. Especially if it's a collection of works that revolve around a specific theme, they might read fandom-blind or things that they wouldn't normally check out.
"I can't find other people who share my interests - I like rare pairs, small fandoms, or other non-mainstream interests." Guess what, there are exchanges and events for all of those things! And doing exchanges is a great way to lure people into your specific small fandom or rare pair! Matching with someone who wants a fic for your favourite minor character or niche trope is an amazing feeling, and can be the first step towards making a new friend. And it's also a way for you to learn about other fandoms, maybe pick up some new interests!
"I feel insecure about my writing skills." See point 1 above - you're making a gift for someone! Just as the expectation when someone gifts you a handmade gift is to thank them sincerely for their effort, the norm when someone writes a fic for you is enthusiastic thanks because they made you a gift. People are often just thrilled to have another fic for their favourite ship/fandom/character, let alone one that was made with their specific likes in mind. If you read through the collection for events, you'll see that there are a wide range of skills, and that's fine!
"I feel nervous about liking something controversial or unpopular or that is considered 'problematic', what if people are mean to me?" This is where I think multifandom exchange space in particular is GREAT. The overall culture is very strongly 'old fandom', your kink is not my kink and that's ok. If someone doesn't like your ship or your prompt, that's their problem, and they are still expected to be polite in communal spaces and follow the rules. You will find exchanges themed around kink, including highly specific/niche kinks. Every single archive warning has an event or several geared just towards creating that content. You will see people asking for exactly what they want and what they don't want, without embarrassment and without experiencing harassment. It's a wonderful environment for unlearning shame, if that's something you deal with.
So, you might say, how do I find out about these events? How do I actually join them?
You can join a discord server. The two I would recommend most highly are Exchanges After Dark, which is an 18+ multifandom exchange server and a hub for many events, and the Yuletide discord, which is not only for Yuletide (a huge annual small fandom exchange) but has channels for a lot of other events as well. (If you see this post after those links have expired, feel free to message me and ask for a link.) These are the main ways I find out about events, but they can be large and busy - mute channels you aren't interested in with impunity. Lurk if you wish, just see how the spaces work, or ask questions (but be prepared to get a dozen different answers).
If you really aren't into discord, you can follow this Dreamwidth community: https://fandomcalendar.dreamwidth.org/ - many events advertise there, so you can keep an eye on it and see what interests you, and follow the links back to their specific communities or spaces for more info.
You can look on AO3 under Browse -> Collections, and then select Multifandom, Open, Gift Exchange from the sidebar filters like this. This is probably the least efficient way, since you'll have to wade through many, many collections, but you might find interesting stuff there that isn't otherwise going to come to your notice.
At this point in my life, I feel like exchanges are my fandom, moreso than any specific show or book or movie. Because no matter what I'm currently interested in, I can explore it through exchanges, and probably find other people who like it too, or get other people interested in it. I can have an active community and a social space that is enjoyable and fun and makes me feel connected to other fans.
I am totally willing to answer questions about how exchanges work if anyone wants to ask them! If you're like... aware of exchanges in general but nervous about participating, I can try to provide guidance or reassurance. I want to encourage people who are feeling isolated in their current fandom experience to consider this option!
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With 30 sign-ups so far, 2026 officially has the most participants of any Wildflowers Exchange yet!
And we've still got another 24 hours to left to sign up!
Sign-ups for Critical Role Summer Wildflowers 2026 will be closing on Saturday, 30th May at 11:59 PM EDT/Sunday, 31st 3:59 AM UTC! Make sure you have submitted your requests and offers before then!
More information on how to sign up here!
Join the Discord server here!
If you miss sign-ups, you will still be able to fill prompts as treats, but you will not receive an assignment and you will not receive anything for yourself.
Coast Guard members were given the opportunity to line the commander-in-chief's pockets directly by purchasing his branded alcohol.
Coast Guard members were given the opportunity to line the commander-in-chief's pockets directly by purchasing his branded alcohol.
Nov. 10, 2025, 7:09 AM EST
By Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Writer/Editor
President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term so far doing, well, exactly the sorts of things he would be doing if he werenβt president. Heβs been busy renovating the White House to more closely resemble his gilded temple to opulence at Mar-a-Lago. Heβs been hawking wares with his name slapped on them to anyone willing to open their wallet. And at least one branch of the military has been given the chance to give back to their commander in chief directly.
Forbes reported Friday that bottles of Trump-branded wine and cider were available for purchase at two Coast Guard Exchanges, which βsell tax-free goods to members of the Coast Guard and other qualified customers, such as active duty and retired military, and civilian employees.β A display of the Trump-brand beverages was posted on Instagram last week, before Forbes confirmed their presence with both the Washington, D.C., and Centreville, Virginia, stores.
Hiya! This July, I and 279 other people will be playing a fanworks exchange game called Battleships! While sign-ups are closed, prompts are still open and will be throughout the game (which starts on July 12 and will probably go until near the end of the month). Battleships is basically played like the Battleships board game, but to call squares, you have to make fanworks first, and each fanwork has to be a gift for someone's prompt - so having prompts to work with is a super important part of the game. And you might get a fic, art, or podfic in response to your prompt!
You can go to the prompt form here to get started! If you want more instructions on filling it out, I've included an explanation below.
How to leave a prompt:
The full prompting rules are here, but here's a simplified version: First of all, you need an AO3 account, and your account needs to be set to receive gifts, or else nobody can give you a response to a prompt! Receiving gifts is disabled by default for newer accounts. Go to your preferences (you can find it from your dashboard or by selecting 'Hi, [your username]') and check that the 'Allow anyone to gift me works' setting at the bottom is checked.
At the prompt form, if you want to add more than one prompt, you can click the 'add another request?' button at the bottom to add up to 50. You can edit the prompts afterward (although you shouldn't make big changes mid-game) or remove them or add more whenever you want.
The fandom has to be one that has already been nominated by someone for the game - you can search for fandoms by typing in the box and clicking if you fandom shows up, but the search boxes can be a little glitchy, so you can also check the set of nominated fandoms (alphabetical here, or by medium here).
Then you select whether you want to ask for fic, art, and/or podfic.
The relationships box is used for both relationships and single characters (and sometimes objects, places, or ideas like worldbuilding). A tag like 1: Character means you are asking for a work centered on that character; this can be filled with a gen work, or a work with any relationship featuring the character, unless you add relationships or something like 'no romantic relationships' to your do not want list (see below). A tag like Character/Character means who are asking for work with a romantic and/or sexual relationship between the characters. A tag like Character & Character means you are asking for a work with a platonic relationship between the characters. Relationships also have to already be nominated; you can search with the box, but this one is also a bit glitchy sometimes, so you can also look for your fandom in the big list of nominated fandoms and relationships and click the arrow next to it to see what has already been nominated.
The additional tags and the optional tags field are basically the same thing, but the additional tags box has a limit of 20, and any after that go in the optional tags box. You have to request at least one additional tag from the list of additional tags, but you can request as many as you want. Be warned that the additional tags box can search the Battleship tags, but if you want to include more in the optional tags box, you have to copy and paste from the tag list. (Putting anything in either tags box except the tags from the Battleship tags list will get your prompt deleted by the mods!) If you want to add a lot of tags, there's a tickybox sheet that can help.
A fill for a prompt has to contain at least one relationship (or character) you requested and at least one additional tag you requested in a medium you requested. You can make more than one prompt for the same fandom if you want to ask for different relationships in different mediums or different additional tags for different relationships.
In the optional details box, you need to include at least a little bit of info for a potential creator. You can write about what you like in the prompted medium in general or any ideas for more specific prompts you have, like tropes, scenes, or AUs. You also need to either clearly list your do not wants (DNWs) or say that you don't have any. DNWs are things that you don't want to receive for any reason (you don't need to explain why), and creators are not allowed to include them when fulfilling a prompt. They should be stated neutrally, and you should try to make them clear and easy to understand. (For example: 'DNW: explicit sex, A/B' is good, while 'DNW: gross stuff' doesn't clearly state what it encompasses, and 'DNW that disgusting ship A/B' is not neutral.)
The archive warnings box allows you to indicate that you are interested in receiving works with those archive warnings. Not selecting them does not mean a fill can't include them (unless you add them to your DNWs) and selecting them doesn't mean that a fill must include them (unless you say 'DNW No Archive Warnings Apply').
Don't check 'Semi-anonymous Prompt?'. Battleship uses the gift functionality of AO3, so a creator can't gift a prompt fill to an unknown person.
When you're ready, click the 'submit' button! And hopefully someone will make something for your prompt π
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Happy summer fic exchange @2manytabsopen !! I hope you love this and it fits what you were looking for. Special thanks as always to @wyattjohnston for hosting this wonderful event for our community and to @captain-huggy-bear for the gif! If you're over 18, go check out my dear Lottie's writing and gifs! It's only fitting considering she has reminded me how much I love Clay <3 I haven't written for Clay in probably almost 10 years so hopefully I got the characterization right. Title from August by Taylor Swift.
Best friends to lovers, wedding fic, "Matthew" could be read as mtkachuk or just a guy lol. 2.7k words, written for a fem reader but I don't believe any pronouns are mentioned.
Clayton Keller was utterly screwed.
Or at least that's what it felt like when his year long situationship told him that she wouldn't travel back to Missouri with him for a wedding for his best friend. In hind sight, it really was a silly question. How could he have expected someone he couldn't even put a label on to travel across the states with him for a wedding of two people she'd never met.
But now here he was, back at home in Saint Louis, mumbling to himself in the grocery store about how he was never going to find a date and how Matthew was going to kill him. He had RSVP'd for a plus one, and really it wasn't that Matthew couldn't afford to eat the cost of his non-existent date. It was the fact everyone in their friend group from back home was settling down, and he couldn't even fathom putting a label on his "situation" with a girl for a year. They both felt that it was better off that way, but now any way he turned it, it just looked silly.
He knew what his friends would say. That he was too critical, too judgmental, just waiting around for someone absolutely perfect to come around and knock him off of his feet. But that really wasn't the case. In Arizona he felt like he was constantly bustling around and couldn't settle down, and then by the time that he felt like he had his feet underneath him, the rug was swept out, he was relocated to Utah.
He swore he could hear the voices of his friends and their snarky comments as he walked through the aisles, trying to find the couple of things that his mom needed for dinner tonight. It was then that he realized that it wasn't the voice of his friends, but there was a voice speaking to him. He thought for a second that it could've been a fan, but there was a distinctly familiar quality to the voice that he heard. It sounded like honey, warming his insides and causing a blush to his cheeks that he hadn't felt in years. When he turned around, his suspicions were confirmed. It was you, his childhood best friend, who he hadn't spoken to since before his move to Utah.
Yeah, that was a low blow. The two of you grew up together, spending every waking moment together from Pre-K all the way until high school. You even spent your summers working together at the summer camp up by your lake house that Clayton had practically lived at all summer. When he spent two weeks there and one week at home on and off for the entire summer, it was hard to say that he didn't live there when he spend more time living at your family's lake house than he did at his house, much to his mother's dismay.
"Did you start talking to ghosts since the last time we spoke, howler? I can imagine you had to resort to something since you all but ghosted me but I didn't think you'd have to stoop this low." You had the teasing tone you always had when you talked to him, still calling him the stupid nickname you gave him when you were 17 years old and your best friend was drafted to the Arizona Coyotes. In a way, it refreshed him to hear that. If you called him howler, you couldn't possibly hate him as much as he thought you must've.
"Lose the light in your eyes, don't think because I called you howler that we're on good terms. I just hoped it would annoy you as much as it did when we were kids," you joked, trying to mask the hurt you felt. "We were 17 when you came up with that nickname," he said back, trying to mask his own hurt at your comment, although he knew it was him in the wrong, not the other way around. No, to him, you were perfect.
"That's the age of children, Clayton. God, those Utah people haven't taught you anything, have they?" You quipped, causing him to smile. "Well then I assume if you're calling me howler then I can call you sugar. Certainly that won't bother you." He came back with a smirk. After your creation of the nickname "howler" he knew he had to come up with a nickname for you. He decided on sugar, your massive sweet tooth was undeniable. Clayton had been bringing you a sweet treat or having one ready for you every time you got together since he had his own money, and before that he always made sure his mom took him to the store to pick out the perfect selection of sweet treats, even if you were just coming over for an hour.
"Call me whatever you want, Keller. I'm unphased." You started to turn on your heels when he reached out and grabbed your arm without thinking. "Wait, don't go. I've missed you. I'm sorry, the move was really hard on me. I wish I could go back in time and have reached out after the move but I felt paralyzed. I felt like the further away I got from home, the further I strayed from you. I wasn't sure if you would want to keep waiting around for me to come home." He wasn't sure what it was about the produce aisle of the local grocery store that made him open up like this, but he wasn't sure when the next time he would see you would be, and he wanted to get everything out before you could go.
"Clayton, isn't Utah technically geographically closer to St Louis than Arizona? Anyways. We'd been best friends since we were 4. What makes you think that a relocation, against your will, mind you, would have made me leave? It just feels like you didn't give me the chance to make that decision. I'd think you'd have known that I wouldn't be going anywhere after 20 plus years but maybe I didn't make that clear enough." You scoffed at his impulsivity to make decisions, wishing you would have known he was feeling this way.
"Whatever, what's past is past. Let's just move on, maybe get drinks sometime soon?" Before the word soon is completely out of your mouth, Clayton cuts you off. "Will you come to Matthew's wedding with me?" he blurts out, seemingly still not aware that he's in the middle of the aisle at the local Kroger. "You're joking, right? You think I'd want to go to that asshole's wedding? Last time I saw him he puked his cheap beer all over me in Ballpark Village 8 years ago. No shot," you scoffed, shocked that he had asked.
"C'mon, now's your chance to get him back. Run up the tab at the open bar. I'll buy you a dress if you don't have anything. It's just downtown but we can get a hotel so no one has to drive home. I'm sure the food will be great, his fiance's sister owns a catering company." Clayton tried to reason with you, but he really wasn't panicking. He just had an inkling that you'd give in.
You scowled at him, the both of you knowing that you'd give in. You had trouble saying no to him, no matter how much you wanted to flip him off and leave him stranded in the produce aisle. "Fine. I need a dress, you're driving to and paying for the hotel, and I swear to god, if any one of those goons tries to pester me, I'm leaving immediately." He grinned knowing it would be him.
----------
You had not expected the luxury branded box to show up at your door after you sent Clayton the link to a dress you'd liked from an online boutique, but in hindsight, you really should've seen it coming. Clayton loved to spoil you, and anytime you let him, he went all out. You shook your head, wishing you'd had forced him to honor a price limit with the dress.
The dress fit beautifully, and you made sure to send Clayton a quick message thanking him for the outfit. The two of you texted plans for the night back and forth, getting ready for the wedding that was only in 48 hours. You felt yourself smiling at his messages, wondering how you could fall for his charm so easily again. But the thing about Clayton is that he never changes. He could make a billion dollars throughout his career and he'd still be the same fun loving, boy next door that you've known since you had to be told you couldn't eat crayons even if they were food colored.
When you woke up the next morning, you hoped you could convince yourself that the dream you had about Clayton was purely incidental, even though you knew damn well.
----------------
"3 o'clock means 3 o'clock, sugar," Clayton mused at you from your living room. Despite living in your hometown, you were no longer living with your family. You lived in a 1 bedroom apartment in the city, grateful that you didn't have to settle for a studio. Especially in this very moment. Your palms sweat and shook as you tried to get yourself ready. Your jewelry was slipping out of your hands, your fingers struggling to grip the zipper of the expensive dress. You didn't know why you were so nervous, it was just howler, you tried to convince yourself, but you both knew better. You had been texting constantly since your run in at the grocery store, and even more so since the dress arrived at your house 2 nights ago. You were hoping you could push these feelings aside. There was no logic to being with Clayton. Long distance at this time in your life would be difficult. Who are you kidding, you're still trying to suppress the crush you've had for a decade, not bring it back up.
"I know, Kells. I'm trying my best." You muttered out disconcertingly, causing his brows to furrow. Your tone made him nervous. Were you even ready at all? Maybe you had decided to back out at the last second as payback for the past year of silence. He shook his head, making his way towards your bedroom door, slowly rapping his knuckles on it. "Sugar? You need any help? I've got two working hands if you need help with a clasp or a zipper. I can't help you with the makeup, though. Sorry about that," he rambled along, hearing you scoff on the other side of the door. Your footsteps grew louder as you walked toward the door, opening it slowly.
Clayton thought he was going to pass out. He thought it could be possible considering he was wearing a suit in Missouri in the middle of July, but this was certainly what was going to do it for him. Tucked inside in the air conditioning, his heart was going to give out. "Sugar..." he mumbled off, not able to take his eyes off of you. "Do I look stupid? I knew this dress was too expensive," you rattled off and Clayton had to grab onto your hands as you walked past, stopping you in your tracks. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
"Sorry?" You asked, mumbling sheepishly. "The fact that you think that you look anything less than jaw dropping, stunning, makes me sick." He muttered, reaching out to grab onto your waist.
This was foreign territory. The two of you had always used alcohol as an excuse to get touchy. You weren't an inherently touchy pair of best friends, but you used the excuse every once and a while. When you couldn't stand it anymore. But this was in broad daylight, no excuse other than Clayton wanted to touch you and he would be damned if he couldn't. Unless of course, you asked him not to.
"Clay, thank you. Can you tie the strap on the neck please?" You asked, trying to divert your attention to anything besides the tension that was growing between the two of you. You could both feel a shift happening between the two of you. You both were toeing the line between best friends and something more.
Clayton tied the strap loosely, hoping you couldn't feel his clammy, shaking hands, or hear the way his breath was speeding up just at the mere proximity of the two of you. After that, you slipped on your shoes, Clayton helping you walk to the car.
You drove to the venue in comfortable silence, only about 20 minutes away from your apartment. Clayton had insisted on booking a hotel, but you insisted it wasn't necessary. His apartment in the city was a good hike from both yours and the venue, so you offered for him to sleep on the couch if he really needed it.
You arrived at the venue just in time for the ceremony. Taking your seat, Clayton followed you into the row next to you. You sat admiring the art in the church, having no idea that Clayton's gaze was on you. Eventually, the bridal parties started filing in, causing everyone's attention to turn. With the sharing of the vows, you felt Clayton reach down and grab your hand. You put yours on top of his, once again hoping he couldn't feel how shaky and clammy you were. You weren't sure where this excessive touching was coming from, chalking it up to the emotions of seeing his good friend get married.
The two of you mingled both together and separately during the cocktail hour, as well as during the dinner. Clayton was the life of every party, and you were enjoying catching up with some people you hadn't seen in a while. The two of you only sat down to enjoy your meal.
Eventually, the music turned on after the ceremonial dances, and a slow song came on. "Well I didn't put this in the job description, but would you dance with me, sugar?" Clayton asked, sticking his hand out to you like you were guests at a ball. "I'd love to, Mr Keller." He helped you up, guiding you out to the dance floor. It was funny to think about all of the casual times you'd spent with your best friend, definitely never having envisioned the two of you slow dancing.
"Sugar, I can't do this anymore," Clayton's voice broke out of the music, causing you to freeze. "What happened? Did I step on your toes too much? Are my hands too sweaty?" Your heart started racing, not sure what went wrong. You felt like this was perfect, exactly where you wanted to be.
"Nothing, you're perfect. It's just, I can't keep pretending anymore. Sugar, I love you. So much. I've loved you since we met in preschool. I loved you when I was drafted to the league and you gave me that horrible nickname. I loved you when I moved around the country for 82 games, wanting nothing more than to be home with you every night. And yes, I loved you when we were apart. I can't believe I let you slip away for that long. Please tell me I didn't screw this up."
To say you were shocked would be an understatement. You have had feelings for Clayton for a long time, apparently not as long as he had for you, but since high school. You never thought he'd feel the same way, and even if he did, you thought the distance would be too much.
"You don't have to say anything, I'm sorry if I ruined everything." Not wanting words to fail you anymore, you did the first thing you could think to do. You kissed him. You kissed him so hard he took a step back, stumbling, before regaining his steps and grabbing your waist, dipping you down like you two were the ones walking down the aisle. You giggled out loud, always having loved Clayton's playful nature.
"I love you, howler. Even if you think it is a horrible nickname," you laughed, leaning your head against his chest. "Nothing you could ever do or be is horrible. You make every day better. You're perfect. I love you."
Your friends cheered around you, even having seen a few exchange money as bets. Apparently, everyone could see the love you had for each other. You just needed the magic of a wedding and the produce aisle to bring you two together, where you belonged.
Idia learned metalcraft and Made Azul's engagement ring himself. It's a high karat gold, with 3 opal magestones set into it. It's also got really tiny tech that they can configure to whatever Azul might want
Azul's engagement ring for Idia is a blackened Silver ring with purple sapphire magestones set into it.
