Fanfic that has a domestic chore as the plot. The classic situation is shopping for curtains, hence the name. Other sorts of shopping also work.
This can also mean just a fic of a couple, either Het or Slash Fic, spending the day at home.
This is a variety of W.A.F.F., a fan-created Breather Episode; the point is to show the characters doing something quiet and mundane together. Interestingly, this genre is popular even (especially?) for fandoms where the work itself (including official Breather Episodes) is action-packed. The phenomenon of fanfic written about characters shopping for curtains was first noted in an online article about fanfic for The Sentinel.
True examples of this trope rarely contain sex; the trip to IKEA rarely ends with IKEA Erotica. This trope is all about character study... or about a 'plot' as paper-thin as a writer can make it (with the possible exception of the plot of a Lemon fic.)
This can also be played for laughs when a character with No Social Skills acts like a Fish Out of Water for something as "simple" as buying toilet paper.
Sub-Trope of Lighter and Softer and Slice of Life. See also Villains Out Shopping. Might overlap with Modern AU Fic.
Examples:
Fan Works (sorted by source material):
- Tokimeki PokéLive! and TwinBee: Some of the main stories are about certain couples at home relaxing and chatting with each other. A particularly heartwarming example is the Risa Selden/Emma Verde-focused "The Problem with Running!".
- Ever wanted to read a fic about Allen and Kanda going grocery shopping? Well, Nea-writes has got you covered with Nine in the Afternoon.
- Tampon
: Edward Elric goes on the Errand of Doom; picking up tampons for Winry.
- I Wish This Year to be Full of Laughter: Shouyou and his students preparing a traditional Japanese New Year meal.
- The Arrangement (Maldoror): The second half of the epilogue depicts Wufei and Heero shopping for a bed (which has significance given previous events in the story), though the author has expressed some regret at including it in the fic.
- An Akatsuki's Life turns the deadly Akatsuki members into characters straight out of a Sitcom. As a result, most of the plots are petty, inane, slice-of-life issues such as someone not wanting to do a chore.
- A Growing Affection: Chapter 41 is about Naruto and friends checking out his mother's condo.
- The Great Snowball Battle Trilogy has the cast of Evangelion playing in the snow, going shopping together.
- The Second Try: Subverted, since the activities in question are survival in a post-Third Impact world and revolve around things like getting food, self-education, and property maintenance.
- Those Who Earn It has plenty of scenes with Shinji and Asuka going shopping or fishing, or cooking meals together.
- I Became a Housewife is about Madoka trying out an online potato salad recipe for her new partner.
- Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon, has "Mister Tsukino Does His Taxes and the Household Budget." Well, at first. It gets kinda weird around the halfway point.
- Cirque Mystique: When an arc isn't proposed yet, users will have their characters interact with domestic tasks inside Cirque Mystique, such as shopping and rehearsing.
- Shows up often in Sterek fic, usually featuring Derek renovating the burned-out shell of his family home. As a prime example of this sort of thing, "five times Derek and Stiles weren't actually boyfriends (and one time they were)" by HalfFizzbin actually starts with Derek saying "I need curtains."
- The surprisingly in-character Vetinari/Death fic called, reasonably enough, "Curtain Call."
The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat
- The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat follows a group of friends finding a magical stone cat that grants wishes. The Boredom of Yoto Yokodera follows the cast on a normal day. Well, sort of normal.
- "House Proud" is about Draco helping Harry to refurbish a vaguely sentient Grimmauld Place by means of various domestic tasks. Curtains feature heavily.
- "Valued Customers": Cecil and Carlos go on a typical grocery trip for things like mayonnaise and Imaginary Corn.
- "Grocery Day" is about the trolls going to an Earth supermarket for shopping. Hilarity Ensues though, choking all possible W.A.F.F. under a payload of wacky hijinks.
- Blizzard of the Red Castle: Mother and Daughter go shopping for clothes – something neither Akagi nor Fubuki had the chance to experience before.
- Other Halves, and Other Tales describes the lives of most of the Square Enix characters in Traverse Town after the first game is over.
- The Most Massively Useful Thing: Snake and Otacon shop for stuff and have a competition involving a towel and a box.
- Maslow: Many of the scenes are slices of routine life in between evil schemes: conversation, eating dinner, watching TV, assembling new furniture to replace stuff that got trashed during Kim's last visit...
- Voltron: Duality: "Dungeons and Dwarf Stars" is about Team Voltron sitting down to play a game of Paranoia.
In-Universe Examples:
- Moriarty the Patriot: By the time of "The Final Problem" arc, there's a reference to this kind of fic when William and Sherlock discuss buying curtains after moving together.
- Supernatural: In "Atomic Monsters", Becky admits most of her current fan fiction writing is about the Winchester brothers doing laundry.