fic: Repaired With Gold

[merlin-hols.livejournal.com]

Title: Repaired With Gold
Recipient: pavingnewpaths
Rating: R
Pairings: Merlin/Arthur, Gwaine/Morgana, mention of past Arthur/Gwen
Word Count: ~7,300
Content Notes/Warnings: Reincarnation, mention of past major character death in the context of reincarnation
Summary: Arthur hates Christmas. This year he'll spend it alone in a cottage in Wales with a bottle of whisky for his only company – at least that's his plan. But fate steps in and sends snow, strange dreams and a neighbour named Merlin into Arthur's path, and Arthur's life is about to take an unexpected turn.
Author's Notes: Dear pavingnewpaths, I picked and mixed from all your great prompts and hope I came up with something that you can enjoy. Happy Merlin Holidays!
Thanks and love to A and S for the beta work, and to the mods for running this fest!

AO3 link to fanwork: Repaired With Gold

Fic: Destiny (Whether You Like It Or Not)

[merlin-hols.livejournal.com]

Title: Destiny (Whether You Like It Or Not)
Recipient: Glayvas
Rating: E/NC-17/MA
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin; Gwaine/Morgana; Arthur/Others; Gwaine/Others; Morgana/Others; Minor Pairings
Word Count: 66,433
Content Notes/Warnings: Angst, Inappropriate Humor, Humor, Song Parodies
Summary: Arthur doesn't believe in romance - which is ironic, since he writes romantic comedies for a living and lives with Gwen&Lance, also known as the Most Romantic Couple Ever.

Luckily, he has Gwaine around to keep him from drowning in sap and to take him along in his brand of insanity as Arthur fails again and again in every attempt of dating (but, hey, at least they're making friends on the way!)

Even Gwaine's obsession with singing porny versions of Christmas Songs about his sister is nothing but proof that Gwaine brings the right kind of crazy to Arthur's life.

... At least until they meet and it just becomes all sorts of crazy, not just the right one.

Author's Notes:I don't think I've ever had so many notes to write, but here we go; in topics.

First of all, Merry Christmas, Glayvas! I hope this is... Not to scarring. I tried to use as much as I could from the prompts as I could, and the tags, and the original idea I had been nurturing for it, it got a bit out of control. Which seems to be clear by the sheer size of this. Unfortunately, for all the idea to flow, I needed to let go of the Gwen/Morgana thing and work with Gwaine instead, and I'm -so- sorry about it, but that's how things go. Still, I hope you'll like it some.

Second, this was initially inspired by a HIMYM episode (Little Minnesota, I think), because making up porny songs sounded like something Gwaine would do, and then it just spiralled out from there into something... a bit big, with some more influence of it, specially in the whole "Let's tell everyone how we got here" thing, because - well, it felt right - at least until the moment that the real story begun, so, bear with me. As in the show's case, the specifics were heavily inspired by some of my Real Life friends antics, because they're amazing like that and don't mind at all being turned into fiction. And, yes, chapters are titled after HIMYM episodes.

Third, with that in mind, I'd ask you all to remember that in most of the first part of the fic, we're years and years in the past, and those people grew up in a world that is a bit different from the one we have now (and we've improved so much in those things), so please forgive them - and me - if something irks you in language, but I'm a firm believer in period-appropriate conversations (and let's not even talk about how much the show actually failed in this, because, well, I don't have enough characters left for it). It was not my intention, at any moment, to offend anyone with anything.

Fourth, I am thankful for all the help I've got from betas and cheerleaders, and any mistakes left are my own.

Fifth, most of this is absolutely ridiculous and I'm sorry for it, but it was SO FUN, and I hope you can just have fun with it and don't mind much how ridiculous it is.

And just to wrap it up, I thank every one in merlin_holidays organisation that have kept this fest running, and making us happy, and being awesome all around. You guys rock.

AO3 link to fanwork: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5371232/chapters/12404978