Oh man. I got FIVE YULETIDE STORIES this year, and they are all so wonderful and so lovingly tailored to me, I am overflowing with gratitude and joy. Which I first typed "overglowing", which I am ALSO doing. I recommend these stories!!

Two are for the Japanese BL "Old Fashion Cupcake", about a pair of salarymen who fall in love over desserts. Two are for "The Sting", about a pair of Depression-era grifters. And one is for the "Lord Peter Wimsey" mystery novels from the golden age (1920s-30s), focusing here on Peter's manservant Bunter as well as Peter himself.

First, the Old Fashion Cupcake stories--one of them is my official present, though I admit I wasn't a hundred percent sure which one. I think it's the first of these two:
( Old Fashion Cupcake stories: 'Next to You' and 'Old Fashion Road Trip' )

Then there are two "The Sting" stories, coming from really interesting different angles:
( The Sting stories: 'Timing and Lighting' and 'the last train to wherever you need to be' )

And then the Lord Peter Wimsey story!
( Peter and Bunter: 'Lord of Misrule' )

I am awash in riches, and I deeply appreciate and savor every single one of them. ♥ !!!

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