The taller man, the younger man, the redhead, and the Slytherin.

Quick writing question for you. I don't actually use epithets like "the younger man" and "the Slytherin" when I write. I stick with names: Mulder, Draco, Kaidoh, Jack. It sometimes sounds a little funny to me, since you have to use names a lot more often in slash to get around the pronoun problem. But I think it sounds less funny than all the odd ways to get around it.

Where I get confused, though, is when a character has more than one commonly used version of their name. Not given and family names -- I choose one. But sometimes you have "Wesley" and "Wes". Or "Momoshiro" and "Momo". "Daniel" and "Danny". Is it best to pick one of those and stick with it? Or does it sound OK to vary them? What would you do?

And what about the epithets? Do you like them? (I confess, while I don't like them in general, I have a bit of a kink for reading about Skinner kissing/fucking/beating up "his agent". Mmm.)

What's the best one you ever heard? I recall reading a PoT story which kept referring to Oishi as "the former fuko-bucho" and Momo as "the dunk-smash specialist".

If you have no opinion on that, do you prefer your apple pie with ice cream or cheddar cheese?