Well to help out a little I've come up with a list of terms and common themes to maybe help a poor confused person out. I hope it's helpful.
Fanfic lables:
Yaoi: If you don't know what this is, why are you here? Ah, well I'll keep it simple, yaoi is sex between two guys. Period, the end. It comes from a Japanese phrane that translated litterally into "No climax, no point, no meaning" However, this term has also come to mean any sort of male x male relationship.
Ai ahounen: The correct term for most "yaoi" it means guys loving other guys, there doesn't have to be any sex involved.
AU: Alternate Universe, based closely or loosly, sometimes very very loosly, on the series. Sometimes it's the exact same story only in, say, a fantasy world. Some are in the GW universe, only people are alive that shouldn't be, things are slighty different. Or the only thing making it GW is the character's names and appearance.
Lemon: This means the fanfic contains graphic sex. Be warned. However, the sex scene is part of a story.
Lime: Suggested sex, nothing graphic.
PWP: "Plot? What Plot?" Just a sex scene, no real story or plot to go with it.
Ok, look up at the address of this wibsite "gundam/3x4" what does 3x4 stand for? Well it's very simple, each pilot has a number by which they're referred to a lot on websites. Here's a quick list.
Heero: 1
Duo: 2
Trowa: 3
Quatre: 4
Wufei: 5
Zechs: 6
Trieze: 13
I'll give my own reasoning for these numbers, I'm not sure if it's true or not, but here goes. I think the "Yuy" part of Heero's name is where the "one" comes in, I suppose it could just be that he was the first pilot introduced to us, but I think it's in the "Yuy." Duo is pretty easy, Duo is the masculan form of "two" in Latin. Trowa is harder, I'm not positive if "Trowa" cmes from any word for three, it probably does, but his origional name "Triton Bloom" Tri is three. Quatre pretty easy, quatre=4 in French. Wufei is harder, I think the "Chang" part of his name has the parody in it. Zechs caused me a lot of thought, thank goodness for my Latin book. Honestly, what does "Zechs" sound like? It does sound a lot like "sex" doesn't it? No, I'm not being perverted here, the Latin work for six is "sex." It's prounounced more like "sakes"(like the old phrase "goodness sakes") but it's spelled "sex" so this is the best connection I've found so far. Trieze means 13 in French
Most of the female characters are just referred to by the first letter of their name if they're in a pairing. (see "seme/uke" below)
R=Relena
H=Hilde
C=Catherine
N=Noin
U=Lady Une
D=Dorthey
S=Sally
-chan (i.e. Tro-chan): A term of affection, usually used for young girls, as such it can also be used as a light insult when used for guys. However, it can also be used between couples. (Usagi in SM calls her love Marmoru-chan) The name is usually shortened in some way. (i.e. Hee-chan, Du-chan, etc.)
-kun (i.e. Fei-kun): A masculan version of -chan used between young men. It can also be used for refering to any young man. I'm not positive, but I believe shortening the name shows affection of some sort, even just friendship.
-sama (i.e. Quatre-sama): A term of high respect, think "Master Quatre" like in the English version.
"Ninmu": "Mission". Often followed by either ryokai or kanryu.
"Ryokai": "Accepted"
Kanryu: "Completed"
"Onna": "Woman." Wufei uses this word a lot.
"Omae o korosu": "I will kill you". A favorite Heero phrase.
"Kisama": "How dare you!" A very harsh version of this Wufei Approved phrase.
"Arigato": "Thank you". "Kawaii": "Cute." "Kuso", "K'so": "Shit".
"Baka": "Idiot", "fool".
".... no baka!" (i.e. "Duo no baka!") means something close to "..you idiot" or "...... you're an idiot" Probably a closer translation would be "... is an idiot" but I use one of the first translations mentally, since it seems like it's used in a direct statement.
"Nanashi": "No name". Trowa is called this before he takes the codename Trowa Barton.
"Shinigami": "God of death" is the most used translation, I think it can also mean spirit or angel of death.
Seme/uke: Lets see, don't want to get too nasty here.... Ok, as diplomatically as I can put it. the seme is the "top" or "giver" and the uke is the "bottom" or "reciever." In other words, the uke is the one with the sore butt afterwards. When listing the pair, the seme is listed first, then an x, then the uke. Like Trowa x Quatre (3x4) or Quatre x Trowa (4x3)
"Did you know? Did you know? Did you really know?" True/False. Information you see over and over in fanfics, but is it true?:
Quatre is a test tube baby: Well, this one is both true and false. Quatre had a 100% natural birth (and I assume, conception). However, his mother died shortly afterwards. All of Quatre's half sisters had been test tube babies, and his father saw no reason to make him feel any differently, so told him he was a test tube baby, same as his sisters. So Quatre believe he was a test tube baby, but that's not true.
Trowa and Catherine Bloom are brother and sister: True! Very true, they are biologically related through the same parents. There are probably fanfics out there that put the two together, but I never want to read one. I dislike incest, I really do.
Quatre has 29 older sisters: Yup, that's true. Well technically 29 half sisters, but lets not get picky.
Trowa is a rape victim: Gah, I really don't want to touch this one, too many people with strong opinions about it. Lets me just say that as far as I know there's no official information saying that he is, there also is none that says that he isn't. The very best essay I've ever read on the topic is located Here "An in-depth research resulting from over one year of active research. This dissertation discusses Trowa's possible experience in his past as well as in the mercenary based upon official sources as well as outside research with regards to anime and the subject matter that pertains to this analysis." If someone will reserch and state the opposing view, I'd be very happy, if only for the Devils Advocate sort of thing. I think there may be a somewhat rational essay opposing this somewhere at this site. I will say that I will neither condem nor praise a fanfic using that Trowa was raped as a topic, if it's a good fanfic I'll praise it for the good work the author put into it, if it's a poorly written fanfic, I'll hate it no matter what the subject matter is.
Whew, now onto lighter stuff.
Heero or Duo or Trowa or Quatre or Wufei can't cook: So far as I know there's no evidence to support or disprove this theory, but botched cooking attempts are great for the humor factor, so feel free to use this. Artistic liscence.
Trowa hardly ever eats and tends to starve himself to stay so thin: Honestly I don't know about this one. As far as I know there's no official evidence about this. It could very well have have just been a fan started thing, perhaps from the scene where Catherine brings Trowa and Wufei soup and neither one makes any move to eat? I don't know, if anyone knows where I can find proof, please let me know.
Duo will eat just about anything, in large amounts, at any time: Again, I have no clue if this is true or not. Maybe it just fits in with the common anime theme that one of the main characters must be obsessed with food (Usagi from SM, Goku from DBZ, Lina Inverse from Slayers, Miaka from FY, etc.) if they don't put it into the actual series, the fans must to keep with the theme. Heck if I know.
Heero is a jerk: Ah, seems like in every fanfic Heero's either a sweet loving uke to Duo, or he's an absolute ass. Basically it depends on if the writer likes him or not. One should keep in mind that Heero is dedicated to being a perfect soldier, but he also follow his feelings. So it's probably not fair to make him too much of a jerk, but it's so much FUN!
Quatre is a crybaby: Ermph, mean but true I suppose. He does cry a lot in the series, but I dunno if that makes him him a "crybaby" per say... You wanna see crybaby just set me down with one of the horrible FUNimation dubs of DBZ, I cry my eyes out the voice acting is so horrible. (Though I'm afraid I can't pick on the voices of Goku/Nail/Kaiosama and Cell/Adult Gohan too much, because they seemed to be very very nice people when I met them. Back to GW...)
In the GW Future, men can get pregnant: Ahh, as far as I know none of the G-boys goes shopping for maternity clothes during the show. Wait, maybe.. no, that was when I was high on MT Dew, so anything seen then doesn't count. Nope, the pregnant men thing is a purely fanfic thing.
