It was an especially lovely surprise this year, since I had to default due to Emergency Family Circumstances, not only still to receive a Yuletide gift, but in fact to receive three!!! All different fandoms, and all so comforting to the soul during a difficult time.

The two stories in the main collection:

Five Times Meng Shao Fei and Tang Yi’s Life Was a Fanfic Cliché and One Time It Wasn’t (3007 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Meng Shaofei/Tang Yi, Jack | Fang Liangdian/Zhao Li'an | Zhao-zi
Summary: Tang Yi has never read fanfic, but his life bears a remarkable resemblance sometimes. It’s probably Meng Shao Fei’s fault, but here we are.


As I mentioned in my comment, after starting their relationship inside an Enemies-to-Lovers tale, of COURSE Tang Yi and Meng Shao Fei would end up inside five other classic tropes. :D This story gives snapshots of fake-dating (fake-real-fake-dating?), h/c wound-tending, One Bed, and more, and Tang Yi and Meng Shao Fei behave accordingly. I especially like the Tang Yi POV voice, it has a very nicely complex mixture of his many aspects, from competence to deep vulnerability to perfectionism to anger, all topped with sheer heart-eyes adoration of Shao Fei. ♥


Scene on a Balcony (1965 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sylvia Marriott/Eiluned Price, Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey
Characters: Eiluned Price, Sylvia Marriott, Gerald Wimsey Viscount St George, Helen Duchess of Denver
Additional Tags: Smoking
Summary: 8th October 1935 and it's the wedding of the year - Lord Peter Wimsey and Miss Harriet Vane have finally tied the knot. But the wedding breakfast (served at the Dowager Duchess' London house) is getting a little heated. So the balcony is an excellent place to which to escape.


I had really been feeling a wish to be able to spend more time with minor Wimsey-canon characters Eiluned Price and Sylvia Marriott this year, the butch/femme-ish domestic couple who are Harriet's deeply protective friends. Here I got a very nice little moment out of time, during the (offscreen) festivities after Peter and Harriet's wedding, with Eiluned running into, of all people, Peter's scapegrace nephew Jerry. Two characters with very different approaches to life, and yet, given Jerry's canon weakness for strong older women, I should have seen it coming. :D


And the treat in the Madness collection!

together we lay down (4114 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Sting (1973)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Henry Gondorff/Johnny Hooker
Characters: Henry Gondorff, Johnny Hooker
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, 5 Times, Sharing a Bed, Exhaustion, Hiding, Undercover as a Couple, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Communication Failure, Confessions, Undercover As Prostitute, Kissing, Yuletide Treat
Summary: Five times Henry and Johnny shared a bed, for good reasons, bad reasons, and then, at last, the best reason.

SIGH, so many of the tropes I absolutely love, knitted into a blanket of FEELINGS and wrapped around characters I adore. It's an Only One Bed + Five Things, and the bed is not the same bed, but the ongoing throughline is, winding Henry and Johnny tighter and tighter. I love this Pining Henry so much, and it's an extra joy to be able to see, through Henry's eyes clouded with longing and fear, little hints of Johnny figuring things out and coming up with his own return tactics. Also, seeing Johnny through Henry's loving eyes is sizzlin hot. :D

I got such a wonderful haul of Yuletide presents this year--a gift and two lovely treats! Everything was tailored to my personal likes so well, with such skill and care...I really appreciate my authors and all their efforts, and these will definitely be re-reads for me to keep around in my pocket. I highly recommend every one of them!:


give way to the new (11676 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Exorcist (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Marcus Keane/Tomas Ortega
Characters: Marcus Keane, Tomas Ortega, Mouse (The Exorcist), Devon Bennett
Additional Tags: Future Fic, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Season/Series 02, Developing Relationship
Summary:

There are buzzards circling above the barn, at least twenty of them, huge wingspans with sharp, dark feathers, carrion-eaters. There is smoke on the air, and when Marcus stumbles out of his stolen truck, he sees why — the far side of the barn is half scorched, blackened siding pushed out of the ground like crooked teeth, specks of ash floating on the breeze, sticking to Marcus’s skin and clothing. Inside, someone is laughing.

Tomas is laughing.

My main gift is so tonally appropriate to the show, so well-characterized, with a controlled sensitivity--and, it resolves the finale's two cliffhangers re: Marcus and Bennett! I particularly love the tiny detail that it mentions as an argument for why Bennett is actually rescuable whereas others in his position were not--it makes good sense and I could imagine it being part of the show's worldbuilding as well. I really felt for Bennett here; and I loooooved Mouse in this, so steely and strong but also a team player. And the Marcus POV, especially toward Tomas, is deep and intense and full of feeling. ♥

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Sanctum (2214 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Exorcist (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Marcus Keane/Tomas Ortega
Characters: Marcus Keane, Tomas Ortega
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Partnership, Crisis of Faith, Trust, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Vulnerability, Hopeful Ending, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

Marcus and Tomas find sanctuary in each other, and in their purpose together.

One of the treats is also Exorcist (TV), and it's a great complement with the other! This one is more zoomed-in on Marcus and Tomas, passionate with all kinds of emotion (including ones like worry), with a Marcus POV so naturally rooted in self-sacrifice that he hardly even notices it. But because it's set between seasons 1 and 2, it can feed in these little issues that we know are going to come home to roost later, and it makes me clutch my heart in such good ways.

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Out of Place (1458 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Meng Shaofei/Tang Yi
Characters: Meng Shaofei, Tang Yi (HIStory)
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Domestic Fluff, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

He found Tang Yi in the kitchen wearing a crisp dress shirt and pants, standing with a furrowed brow and his hands on his hips.

"You got used to living here without me," Tang Yi said.

And then one more treat, a sweet and charming and perfectly in-character post-series scene for HIStory3: Trapped, when Tang Yi comes home. On the surface it's about things like, 'where are things kept in the kitchen', and 'how can it be good to be sad'--but of course, beneath the surface both of those questions are so full of nuance and personality and meaning, and love. I could absolutely see this happening in the show. ♥____♥


Read and enjoy! I certainly did, and will again. \o/