May the 4th Be With You Fanworks Exchange

One Week to Deadline! Treat Tracker!

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:22:43 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Your works are due at 2359 UTC on April 25, or just under seven days from now. Countdown to assignment deadline.

Reminder: works that are still in Draft form do not count as a fulfilled assignment. If you have not submitted a full length completed assignment that is a) minimum length/size, b) complete (no 1/? or 4/? chapter counts), and c) is NOT in Draft form by the deadline you will be defaulted and you will not be guaranteed a gift. Stories that are bullet point lists or outlines will not be considered complete works. Stories that have [insert planet name here] or other placeholder text will not be considered complete works. Stories or art that have a listed DNW, or do not contain at least one of your recipient's requested tags, will not be considered complete works so do check your assignment email carefully!

If you have already turned in your assignment, thank you! If you would like to leave a request for treats, check out the Grab Bag post, or if you want to browse treats, try out the Automagic App List of Requests or the Treat Tracker Spreadsheet.

Contact the mods by replying to posts or by email: maythe4thmod@gmail.com

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Pinch Hit #4

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 02:34:28 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

~~We have one pinch hit due 25 April 2026. Please reply to this post with your AO3 name if you'd like to claim it. (Comments are screened.)~~ Claimed! Thanks, pinch hitter!

( Pinch Hit #4 CLAIMED! )

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Assignments Out and Pinch Hits #1-3

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 02:37:22 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Assignments have been sent out. You can check the email associated with your AO3 account, or look at your assignments page here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOURUSERNAME/assignments

If you have questions or think you have been assigned something you didn't offer, please contact the mods in the comments of this post (comments are screened) or email us at maythe4thmod@gmail.com. Please do NOT discuss identifying details of your assignment in public: this is a secret exchange. Any questions for your recipient can be asked via the mods. We are happy to pass along questions.

Assignments are due on or before 23:59 UTC on 25 April 2026. The minimum requirement is 500 words or a 500 x 500 pixel artwork on unlined paper matching one of your recipient's tags and not containing any of their listed Do Not Wants.

If you missed signups, pick up a pinch hit, or have an extra request you'd like to make, the Grab Bag post is open for all requests.

~~We have three initial pinch hits. Please reply to this post with your AO3 name and the PH number if you want to claim one. (Comments are screened.)~~ Pinch hits are due 25 April 2026. All pinch hits are claimed! Thank you, pinch hitters!!

( Pinch Hit #1 CLAIMED )

( Pinch Hit #2 CLAIMED )

( Pinch Hit #3 CLAIMED! )

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Grab Bag

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 02:28:31 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Sometimes you miss nominations and don't think about asking for your Babu Frik/Jacen Solo tag before the deadline. Sometimes you can't fit all the requests you want into your sign-up. Sometimes you see something you wanted after sign-ups have closed. Sometimes you want to leave an anonymous request for a pairing you have no intention of admitting you ship. Sometimes you want a crossover request that would be outside the bounds of the regular exchange nominations but you know in your heart that Vader/Dobby is the greatest ship of all time and space. Sometimes you pinch hit and would like to throw your hat in the ring to ask for the story of Grogu and Anakin's excellent adventures.

This post is for those extra requests, one request per comment, no limit on the number of comments you leave. You can provide as much or as little detail as you want; if you would like your treat to be gifted to you, you should include your AO3 name. Fills to the grab bag can be posted to the regular collection, but should be labeled in the tags or the notes that the fill is for a grab bag request. In cases where the requester has chosen to remain anonymous, these can be gifted to the mod account, or they can be posted without a recipient.

You do not have to have signed up for the exchange to leave a grab bag request.

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Sign Ups Closed

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:02:20 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

We will be running matching shortly. If you are unmatchable (as in you have no one to create for who has requested what you are offering) we will contact you via the email associated with your AO3 account to ask you to add offers. Please check your email and your spam filter.

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Last Day of Signups

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 04:06:15 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Sign Up Form

Nominations are closed but we can still manually add last minute tags to the tag set if you reply to this post with the tags in the requested format.

Nominations questions:

"Kad Ha'rangir/Mand'alor of Choice" - What are you trying to nominate?

Countdown to end of signups

Now is a great time to look through the Sign Up Summary or the Automagic App to browse requests to offer. You must have someone you are able to create for. We will attempt to contact anyone who is unmatchable (no possible recipient) but if you ensure you have offered things other people are requesting, this will be a much easier process for everyone.

If you have specific matching needs, you can email the mods at maythe4thmod@gmail.com.

A few reminders:

- We can only enforce Do Not Wants in your AO3 signup, not DNWs which solely appear in your letter. Do Not Wants are a brief (or not) list of things you do not want to appear in your gift and should be labelled clearly. A set of prompts and a list of things you would like in your gift are both optional but can be helpful to your creator especially as this is what will be sent to them for their assignment. As a reminder, the prompts you give are optional for your creator to fill. Giving your creator several ideas to work with is more likely to result in a gift you're happy with than if you only give one prompt.

- Make sure your letter is visible and unlocked if you have one. Also remember that sometimes letters hosted on an external site may not be available to everyone. All important information should be in your AO3 signup.

- Do not use your Do Not Wants as "railroading" your writer or artist (ex: "Do Not Want anything except E-rated AU where Anakin is a catboy").

- Please remember to state if you are open to treats and have treating enabled on your AO3 profile. You can check here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOURNAMEHERE/preferences in the Collections, Challenges, and Gifts section. Make sure you have checked the toggle for "Allow anyone to gift me works" if you are open to receiving treats.

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Sign Ups Are Open!

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 23:59:26 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Sign Up Form

Signups for May the 4th Be With You 2026 are a go! You may make a minimum of three and a maximum of ten requests, with up to five tags per request. Use the "relationships" field in the Sign Up form. This field is defined as "Character: Name (SW)," "Character A & Character B," or "Character A/Character B" and so on per the nominated tags. You may offer a minimum of three and a maximum of ten offers, with up to five tags per offer. This means a total of fifty possible requests and fifty possible offers. You will match on one request and one offer.

Please note that AO3 is often robust. Tags may not autocomplete from the dropdown menu in which case you may have to copy and paste them from the tag set.

Nominations are still ongoing. If there is a tag you would like to request which is not yet in the tag set, you may nominate it up through February 20th.

( Read more )
Signups will go until 11:59 PM UTC (8 PM Eastern Standard Time) Saturday, February 21, 2026. We will put up a timer closer to the end. You may edit your sign-up until then.

The full FAQ can be found on the May the 4th 2026 profile on AO3. You can comment here with any questions about signups or matching, or you can send an email to maythe4thmod@gmail.com.

Sign Up Form

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Nominations Are Open!

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:54:48 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Welcome to the 2026 edition of May the Fourth Be With You!

The schedule may be found in this year's schedule sticky and also on the AO3 Community Profile. Nominations are now open for this year's round. Sign ups open February 22nd.

Please read this post before you nominate. Incorrectly submitted nominations will take more time to approve and may be rejected. Do NOT disambiguate your nominations. Many AO3-based exchanges will ask you to add an extra tag at the end. This is NOT the case for this exchange.

May the 4th 2026 Tag Set

We will be accepting nominations from now until 23:59 UTC (7PM EDT) on February 20th. (Note this is one day before signups close to allow us to close the tag set.) As always, any character in any permutation of Star Wars is in, with Wookieepedia and Starwars.com as final arbiters. Do not nominate groups as groups (Ex: "Kanjiklub" "Stormtroopers" "Banthas" "Force Ghosts") and do nominate them as individual characters in & or / relationships. Do not nominate objects such as lightsabers, trees, helmets, or holocrons; "Bor Gullet" is a character, "tentacles" is not.

Use the Fandom dropdown field to select "Star Wars - All Media Types" for each individual nomination to help expedite nomination approvals. If you nominate twenty things, you must select "Star Wars - All Media Types" individually as the fandom for all twenty. If you do not add this step, your nominations will not be associated with the correct fandom and they may take longer to be approved.

You may nominate up to twenty relationships. This is the maximum number of nominations allowed by the Archive's software. The Relationships field may also be used to nominate individual characters. To nominate a platonic relationship, use the "&" symbol. To nominate a romantic relationship, use the "/" symbol. (Ex: The nomination "Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker" is very different from the nomination "Leia Organa/Luke Skywalker") You should NOT automatically select the suggested canonical tag that drops down.

To nominate individual characters, you must use the format "Character: Name (SW)" or the submission form may not accept your nomination. For relationships, please remove the (SW) or (Star Wars) from the suggested field. (Ex: "Finn/Rey" NOT "Finn/Rey (Star Wars)")

You may mix and match relationship types in a single nomination. (Ex: "Ben Solo | Kylo Ren/Rey & Grogu")

Use the following formats for all nominations:

Luke Skywalker/Han Solo
Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker & Han Solo
Leia Organa/Luke Skywalker/Han Solo
Leia Organa/Han Solo & Luke Skywalker
Character: Luke Skywalker (SW)

Conversely, "Luke Skywalker/Han Solo (Star Wars)" will not be accepted and may delay approval of your nominations.

We are not providing differentiation between character versions in Legends, the canon EU, the films, the TV series, the comics, the cereal boxes, or Robot Chicken. Go into as much detail as you want in your signup or letter.
( Guidelines, please read )
Any questions or problems getting the Archive to accept your nomination can be emailed to us at maythe4thmod@gmail.com or left as a reply to this post.

The fine print: AO3 sees "Finn/Rey" "Finn(SW)/Rey" "Finn/Rey(SW)" and "Finn/Rey (Star Wars)" as separate relationships, and our spreadsheet sees them as different characters. If you request the "Finn/Rey" tag and Random Participant Ben Solo offers the "Finn/Rey (Star Wars)" tag, he won't be matched to your request. Many Star Wars characters have multiple piped canonical names, some of which have all the pipes included in their canonical ship tags and some which have random (Star Wars) stuck in the middle or at the end. Stripping the extra information out as you nominate, and adding "Star Wars - All Media Types" as the fandom for each nominated tag, makes the rest of the process easier on the back end to expedite approvals and eliminate duplicates. We can and will be cleaning up errant nominations to adhere to the formatting; this may lead to a delay in accepting your nominations.

A special note for those of you into customizing your own AO3 experience: you can add a piece of code to your site skin to list all approved nominations on separate lines:

body,
#main
.tagset .fandom.listbox .tags.index.group li {
display: block;
margin-top: 0.4em;
line-height: 1;
}

.tagset .fandom.listbox .tags.index.group li::after {
content: none;
}

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May the 4th Be With You 2026 Schedule and Quick Links

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 03:03:45 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Profile: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Maythe4thBeWithYou2026/profile

Schedule:
(all times are 23:59 UTC unless noted -- dates may be on a different calendar day for you due to time zones)
Feb 6 - Feb 20: Nominations
Feb 13 - Feb 21: Sign ups
Apr 18: Early default deadline
Apr 25: Assignments due
Apr 26 - May 3: Pinch hits, treats, last minute flailing and panic
May 4 00:01 UTC: Works go live
May 11 00:01 UTC: Creators revealed

May the 4th 2026 Archive | May the 4th 2026 Tag Set | Sign Up Form | Requests Summary | Grab Bag | Automagic App List of Requests | Treat Tracker Spreadsheet

Contact the mods by replying to posts or by email: maythe4thmod@gmail.com

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All Is Revealed!

Sun, 11 May 2025 00:01:51 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

All creators are revealed!

Thank you all for participating, be that by making gifts, posting treats, pinch hitting, commenting, or all of the above! We ended up with a grand total of 117 works this year! Great job, everyone! For those of you who haven't had a chance yet to check out your gift, there's no time like the present. You can view your own Gifts tab at http://archiveofourown.org/users/yourusernamegoeshere/gifts in case the AO3 announcement missed your inbox.

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Emergency Pinch Hit

Sun, 04 May 2025 16:34:24 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Thanks, pinch hitter!! This pinch hit is due ASAP. Please reply to this post with your AO3 username if you want to claim (comments are screeened):

( Emergency Pinch Hit CLAIMED )

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May the 4th 2025 Archive Is Live!

Sun, 04 May 2025 00:01:15 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

May the Fourth be with you!

The May the Fourth Be With You 2025 Archive is now open! Read great fic, look at all the pretty art, and say thanks to your creators. If you have any issues, please reply to this post or email us at maythe4thmod@gmail.com and we'll see what we can do to help.

If you turned in your assignment before the deadline, you should be receiving a gift notification at the email you signed up with. You should also check your Gifts tab (https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOURUSERNAMEGOESHERE/gifts) on your AO3 dashboard, as the emails are often late and Gmail will sometimes miss or collapse items when you have multiple gifts. Remember to redate your works to May 4th! (To do this, click the "Edit" button at the top of your work, click the "Set a Different Publication Date" toggle, and change the date to May 4, 2025.)

The archive will remain open for treats until creator reveals, so if you've got an eye for an extra treat or two, you may continue to post and we'll continue to track.

Works will remain anonymous until 00:01 UTC on May 11th. Please do not crosspost your work or reveal yourself to your recipient before that time. Thanks!

EDIT: Unfortunately like all other websites, AO3 attracts trolls and spammers. The mods of this exchange have zero ability to prevent these or delete them from your works. If you receive a harassing comment (for example, guest accounts posting abuse about AI or spamming requests for you to pay for fan art), you should report them to AO3 Support. You can access the report form here: https://archiveofourown.org/abuse_reports/new.

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All Assignments In!

Fri, 02 May 2025 22:46:42 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

We are on target! Thanks to the heroic efforts of our pinch hitters, all assignments are in and we are ready to reveal in just over twenty-five hours from now!

While we wait, please take the time to do one last read-through of your works. Check your tags, check your summaries, and for those who got a last minute beta, please make sure you have uploaded the correct draft of your document. Remember your author notes should not be de-anoning, and try not to talk down your own work; you made something nice for someone else and it's time to celebrate that effort!

If you're done and ready, consider browsing the Grab Bag post (pinch hitters especially welcome to make requests here!), Automagic App List of Requests, or the Treat Tracker Spreadsheet. The May the 4th 2025 Archive is open for all your treating needs.

Countdown to Reveals

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Post Deadline Pinch Hits 5-9

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 01:15:22 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

We have our first set of post-deadline pinch hits. All claimed! Thank you, pinch hitters! These are due on or before 23:59 UTC on May 2nd. Please reply to this post if you want to claim one, and include the pinch hit number and your AO3 username. (Comments are screened.)

( Pinch Hit #5 CLAIMED! )

( Pinch Hit #6 CLAIMED! )

( Pinch Hit #7 CLAIMED! )

( Pinch Hit #8 CLAIMED )

( Pinch Hit #9 CLAIMED! )

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Deadline Has Passed

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 00:04:26 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

We are going through the collection now checking for lingering issues. Some of you have emails from us; please check asap. For everyone who turned in their complete work before deadline, thank you! Pinch hits will be posted soon. Some creators have requested extensions and if needed, a second round of pinch hits will go out in a few days.

If you have questions or had trouble uploading, you can reply to this post (comments are screened) or by email: maythe4thmod@gmail.com and we can help you work through the issues.

You may feel free to edit your works up until work reveals in a week, or pick up the pinch hits as they come, or create treats. You can take or leave prompts in the Grab Bag or browse the App for ideas.

Grab Bag | Automagic App List of Requests | Treat Tracker Spreadsheet

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Less than 24 hours to deadline!

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:47:44 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Countdown to deadline

Reminder: works that are still in Draft form do not count as a fulfilled assignment. If you have not submitted a full length completed assignment that is a) minimum length/size, b) complete (no 1/? or 4/? chapter counts OR referring to your story as "Part One" in the title or author notes), and c) is NOT in Draft form by the deadline you will be defaulted and you will not be guaranteed a gift. Stories that are bullet point lists or outlines will not be considered complete works. Stories that have [insert planet name here] or other placeholder text will not be considered complete works. Stories or art that have a listed DNW, or do not contain at least one of your recipient's requested tags, will not be considered complete works so do check your assignment email carefully!

If you have already turned in your assignment, thank you! If you would like to leave a request for treats, check out the Grab Bag post, or if you want to browse treats, try out the Automagic App List of Requests or the Treat Tracker Spreadsheet.

Contact the mods by replying to posts or by email: maythe4thmod@gmail.com

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Six Days Until Deadline

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 02:28:36 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Your works are due at 2359 UTC on April 27, or just under six days from now. Countdown to assignment deadline.

Reminder: works that are still in Draft form do not count as a fulfilled assignment. If you have not submitted a full length completed assignment that is a) minimum length/size, b) complete (no 1/? or 4/? chapter counts), and c) is NOT in Draft form by the deadline you will be defaulted and you will not be guaranteed a gift. Stories that are bullet point lists or outlines will not be considered complete works. Stories that have [insert planet name here] or other placeholder text will not be considered complete works. Stories or art that have a listed DNW, or do not contain at least one of your recipient's requested tags, will not be considered complete works so do check your assignment email carefully!

If you have already turned in your assignment, thank you! If you would like to leave a request for treats, check out the Grab Bag post, or if you want to browse treats, try out the Automagic App List of Requests or the Treat Tracker Spreadsheet.

Contact the mods by replying to posts or by email: maythe4thmod@gmail.com

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Pinch Hit #4

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 01:18:12 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

We have a new shiny pinch hit up for grabs. Taken! Thank you, pinch hitter! ~~Please reply to this post if you want to claim it, and include your AO3 username. (Comments are screened.) Pinch hit is due 27 April 2025.~~

( Pinch Hit #4 CLAIMED! )

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Pinch Hits 1-3

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 01:48:53 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

We have three shiny pinch hits up for grabs. All claimed! Thanks, pinch hitters!! ~~Please reply to this post if you want to claim one, and include the pinch hit number and your AO3 username. (Comments are screened.) Pinch hits are due 27 April 2025.~~

( Pinch Hit #1 CLAIMED! )

( Pinch Hit #2 CLAIMED! )

( Pinch Hit #3 CLAIMED! )

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Treat Tracker Is Live, and PH #1 still up for Grabs

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 18:30:55 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Lots of great gifts have already started rolling in! You can browse the Treat Tracker Spreadsheet for the latest updates plus easy-click links to the app for browsing requests.

We still have one initial pinch hit up for grabs. Please reply to this post if you want to claim it. (Comments are screened.) The pinch hit is due 27 April 2025.

Request 1 by Ollie_Otterpops

Cal Kestis/Merrin
Fanfiction

I'd like just some post survival fluff!

Request 2 by Ollie_Otterpops

Trilla Suduri/Cal Kestis
Fanfiction

I'd like a fluff story about Cal and Trilla comforting each other post nightmare!

Request 3 by Ollie_Otterpops

Cal Kestis/Merrin/Trilla Suduri
Fanfiction

Anything Fluff, I love these three!

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Assignments Out and Pinch Hit #1

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:28:45 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Assignments have been sent with a big thank you to deadcowboy for the assistance in getting the program to unstick!

You can check the email associated with your AO3 account, or look at your assignments page here:
https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOURUSERNAME/assignments

If you have questions or think you have been assigned something you didn't offer, please contact the mods in the comments of this post (comments are screened) or email us at maythe4thmod@gmail.com. Please do NOT discuss identifying details of your assignment in public: this is a secret exchange. Any questions for your recipient can be asked via the mods. We are happy to pass along questions.

Assignments are due on or before 23:59 UTC on 27 April 2025. The minimum requirement is 500 words or a 500 x 500 pixel artwork on unlined paper matching one of your recipient's tags and not containing any of their listed Do Not Wants.

If you missed signups, pick up a pinch hit, or have an extra request you'd like to make, the Grab Bag post is open for all requests.

We have one initial pinch hit. Please reply to this post if you want to claim it. (Comments are screened.) The pinch hit is due 27 April 2025.

( Pinch Hit #1 )

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Grab Bag

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 23:58:38 GMT

Matching Update

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 21:53:28 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

The matching program is having technical difficulties. We reached out to AO3 Support for help last night but have not heard back yet. We'll send out assignments when things are moving again. Thanks for your patience!

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Sign Ups Closed

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 23:59:18 GMT

24 Hours Left For Sign Ups

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 23:59:58 GMT

Posted by: maythe4th

Sign Up Form

Nominations are closed but we can still manually add last minute tags to the tag set if you reply to this post with the tags in the requested format.

Nominations questions:

"Vima Sunrider/Revan" - please specify which Revan you want.

Countdown to end of signups

Now is a great time to look through the Sign Up Summary or the Automagic App to browse requests to offer.

If you have specific matching needs, you can email the mods at maythe4thmod@gmail.com.

A few reminders:

- We can only enforce Do Not Wants in your AO3 signup, not DNWs which solely appear in your letter. Do Not Wants are a brief (or not) list of things you do not want to appear in your gift and should be labelled clearly. A set of prompts and a list of things you would like in your gift are both optional but can be helpful to your creator especially as this is what will be sent to them for their assignment. As a reminder, the prompts you give are optional for your creator to fill. Giving your creator several ideas to work with is more likely to result in a gift you're happy with than if you only give one prompt.

- Make sure your letter is visible and unlocked if you have one. Also remember that sometimes letters hosted on an external site may not be available to everyone. All important information should be in your AO3 signup.

- Do not use your Do Not Wants as "railroading" your writer or artist (ex: "Do Not Want anything except E-rated AU where Anakin is a catboy").

- Please remember to state if you are open to treats and have treating enabled on your AO3 profile. You can check here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOURNAMEHERE/preferences in the Collections, Challenges, and Gifts section. Make sure you have checked the toggle for "Allow anyone to gift me works" if you are open to receiving treats.

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