Archive of Our Own

Nomination and Sign-ups: NOW-August 16.
Assignments out: by August 17.
Works Due: August 30.
Work Reveals: August 31.
Creator Reveals: September 6.
All times at 11:59 PM Pacific.

What kind of temperature troubles can I include?
Anything Temperature-Weather Related: illness, inconvenience, you name it!

How should I nominate?
Nominate the fandoms and relationships you want to the tagset. For example, you could nominate Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman so that you can sign up and request or offer works for the stage musical Wicked, and then in the relationship area, nominate Your Ship (Fandom Information). For example, for Wicked, you could nominate Elphaba Thropp/Galinda Upland (Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman) or (Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman) for a relationship. Use / to request romantic and/or sexual relationships and & to request nonsexual (queer)platonic relationships.

Or if you want a character-focused work, adding please Solo: as a prefix at the beginning helps (otherwise Ao3 might accidentally put a character into their own relationship tags). (e.g. Solo: Fiyero Tigelaar (Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman) to nominate Fiyero).

Adding the parenthetical at the end of your nomination is called disambiguation. Please disambiguate by fandom and version of the canon you want if there are multiple versions, or if you're okay receiving all media types, you can use that.

Crossovers should be nominated under crossover fandom.

What are Do Not Wants/DNWs:

DNWs are a boundary - that you do not want to receive something in your gift. For example: DNW: Orange Juice, Christmas, Modern/Contemporary AU, Cannibalism, Smut means that a creator should not make works for this person containing orange juice, Christmas, modern/Contemporary AUs, cannibalism, or smut.

Please don't explain why you don't want to receive something here, or shame the content you do not want. Please list out any DNWs you have in each request you make on the signup form (copy/paste is handy) and feel free to have different ones for different fandoms. A DNW does not mean you hate something, and please don't assume someone else's DNW is a moral judgement. Do not write something containing a DNW for a request.

What if I need more help?
Email [email protected].

Well-behaved socks are welcome.

Nominations:

You may nominate up to 10 fandoms with up to ten relationships per fandom, disambiguated (only one disambiguation needed for single fandom requests, at the end).

Please nominate romantic relationships as / (i.e. Twelfth Doctor/Missy (Doctor Who)), platonic relationships as & (i.e. September Morning Bell & Susan Jane Bell (Fairyland)), and solo character nominations as Solo: Character (i.e. Solo: Achilles (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)). Crossovers, Original Work and Creator’s Choice of Fandom are allowed. You will need to specifically offer Creator's Choice of Fandom if you want to match on it. Please nominate crossovers under Crossover Fandom, with the fandom name in parentheses after each character’s name to disambiguate (i.e. Fanny Brice (Funny Girl) & Kathy Selden (Singin' in the Rain)). Relationships should follow in alphabetical order by last name, per Ao3 tagging.

RPF is allowed, for 18+ year old famous people who are not politicians.

Sign-ups

Sign-ups will run concurrently with nominations. If you want to request or offer for the exchange, you will need to nominate those fandoms, relationships, and freeforms into the tag set. You will need to have Gifts enabled in the exchange.

You may request 1-10 fandoms with 1-10 relationships each and 1-6 mediums (fanfic, poetry, fanart, podfic, filk, or fanvid). If you are requesting podfic, please make sure that what you are requesting has an adequate pool of fics available to podfic from.

In the description box, include any details you would like for your assignee to have. DNWs need to be in the description box to be enforced. You may also want to include in the description box: likes and potential prompts. You can also link an external dear creator letter.

Matching on medium, fandom, relationship, and freeform.

You may offer 1-10 fandoms with 1-10 relationships each and 1-6 mediums (fanfic, poetry, fanart, podfic, filk, or fanvid).

You will be matched on one fandom, one relationship, one medium, and one freeform. Treats are assumed to be welcome in this exchange. Anyone can post a treat, whether or not they are signed up for the exchange. Treats should meet all DNWs and should fulfill all request requirements other than minimum length. Gifts to the collection are welcome.

You must ensure you are matchable (that you are offering at least one thing to match someone else's request) before the end of the sign-up period. You may want to offer to a few requests, in case the person you are offering for ends up being unmatchable themselves and deleted. Gifts are not guaranteed, but any defaults will go to pinch hit and I will try my best to get you a fic.

By signing up, you are also agreeing to leave a comment on your gift fic. Please try to leave a thoughtful, kind comment to your gifter.

Works:
All poetry must be at least six lines, fics must be at least 200 words, and any audio/video recorded content at least one minute. Fan art must be at least a line art sketch drawn on blank paper. AI is not allowed in the making of works for this fest.

Works should avoid DNWs and fulfill the freeform matched on.

Works should be posted on Ao3 as a gift to your recipient and in the collection tempaug2026. The collection is moderated.

Works should stand alone, but can be a part of a series if you wish.

All works should feature temperature troubles of some kind.

If you are unable to complete your assignment, please default so that the assignment can be released to Pinch Hits. Simply click the default button on your assignment if needed, you do not need to provide an explanation. If you need an extension, please email [email protected].

Pinch Hits
Pinch hit requests will go to the Exchanges After Dark discord server. This way, as much as possible will be done to get everyone a gift, but gifts aren't guaranteed.

Anyone, signed up or not, can claim a Pinch Hit by emailing [email protected]. Pinch Hits should meet all requirements of gifts.