Merlin Holidays

Title: A Midwinter's Tale
Recipient: disco_mouse
Author: anonymous
Rating: R
Pairings: Merlin/Gwaine
Word Count: 3120w
Content/Warnings: Post-series canon au.
Summary: Merlin gets a long-awaited visitor on the longest night of the year.
Author's Notes: Happy Holidays, disco_mouse! I hope you enjoy this fic and that the season is a joyful one for you! I loved working with your prompts and the strong sense of loneliness and hope that they evoked.

Many thanks to my beta readers ♥

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

A Midwinter's Tale

Title: A Bright Blade in a Shielded Sky
Recipient: j_corrosion
Author: anonymous
Rating: R
Pairings: Lancelot/Merlin
Word Count: 47k
Content/Warnings: Fantasy AU - violence, character death
Summary: Merlin and Lancelot are two sides of the same coin, the Shield and Sword of the King. They are bound together by destiny and well on their way to greatness. That is, until Merlin’s past catches up with him in the form of a long-lost brother from another world. When Merlin is torn away from Camelot, Lancelot follows him to the strange land of Ælfheim determined to bring him back…no matter what the cost.

Author's Notes: Dear j_corrosion, I took your wishes for angst, winter, war, violence and high fantasy and ran with them! I listened to Blind Guardian and the GoT soundtrack (endlessly) for inspiration. I sincerely hope you enjoy the results. Merry Merlin Holidays!!

Extra shiny thanks to rocknvaughn for the amazing beta and the hand holding (aka repeatedly talking me down from the roof). Thanks to jelazakazone for the input and daily support (listening to me whine) from start to finish. Also, thanks to the Merlin Holidays mods for their endless patience.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor

A Bright Blade in a Shielded Sky

Title: Brink
Recipient: dk323
Author: anonymous
Rating: Explicit
Pairings: Merlin/Morgana
Word Count: 3700
Content/Warnings: dub-con elements (see author's notes), angst, violent/homicidal thoughts, Morgana POV, angry sex
Summary: Merlin is Emrys. Morgana is going to kill him.
Author's Notes: dk323, I took your "secret, angsty meeting" prompt and ran in weird direction with it. Hope you enjoy!
This fic was beta'ed and made 100% better by verity.
Canon-compliant up until 5x07. One tiny spoiler for the first two minutes of 5x03; otherwise spoiler-free for S5, including casting spoilers.
The dub-con element: Morgana has sex with Merlin while she is in disguise; there is some ambiguity about whether Merlin knows it is her.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

Brink

Title: The Warmth of Winter
Recipient: scotscookie
Author: anonymous
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Word Count: ~25K
Content/Warnings: Dystopian Future AU; With Magic and Dragons; Balinor/Hunith;
Summary: Dragonlord Prince Emrys of the Druids is assigned the task of negotiating a treaty with King Arthur Pendragon of England in hopes that dragons and magic will be permitted to come back home to help. (Hopefully that teenaged tryst Merlin and Arthur once had doesn't make things awkward.)
Author's Notes: Happy Holidays, scotscookie! I took your prompt of dystopian AU and Merlin as Prince and sort of went wild with it. I had a lot of fun, and I truly hope you enjoy. Many thanks to my cheerleader/betas!
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

The Warmth of Winter

Title: Pull You Into Me
Recipient: sitruunavohveli / Tossukka
Author: anonymous
Rating: R
Pairings: Merlin/Arthur, Gwaine/Elena
Word Count: >30,000
Content/Warnings: Modern AU. Swearing. Mentions of homophobia.
Summary: Arthur is rich, famous and miserable. One evening fate leads him to Dragon Books and to Merlin. What follows is a year of love, heartbreak and hope.
Arthur is a film star with daddy issues, Merlin is a bookseller with a heart of gold, Elena is a rabid fangirl, Freya is wise and wears a lot of black, Will is inappropriate in so many ways and Gwaine turns out (worryingly enough) to be the sensible one. Featuring: the peculiarities of bookshop life, the power of slogan t-shirts, true friendship and the wonders of dumpster cake.
Author's Notes: This fic would not have been possible without the kindness and infinite patience of J,J+M. Thank you guys so much!
A huge thank you (and many cups of cinnamon tea) to my fantastic beta Aly. I told you this was going to be short. I was wrong. Sorry! Couldn’t have done it without you.
To my recipient - I was trying to write a pretend boyfriends story, honest. They just weren’t cooperating. Hope you enjoy the other elements anyway.
To the Mods - Thank you for running such a brilliant exchange.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.
The title is taken from the Newton Faulkner song ‘Pulling Teeth’ - Instead of pushing back, I’ll pull you into me.

Pull You Into Me

Remember, all our submissions this year can be found on our twitter and our tumblr for easier sharing.

ART

Sunday Morning for beautifulblues1 [Merlin/Arthur:PG - digital art] also on ao3.

Of Honey and Lizards: In The Beginning for k_nightfox [Merlin/Arthur:G - canon!AU] also on ao3.

VID

Broken Inside for the community [Morgana/Merlin, Morgana/Gwaine:PG13 - canon!AU] also on ao3 and vimeo.

FIC

Twilight of the Gods for winterstorrm [Percival/Merlin:R:4k - canon era]

Family for aunt_agatha [Gwaine/Merlin:PG:3k - modern!AU]

Five Times Merlin Performs Magic in Front of Gwaine for enviropony [Gwaine/Merlin:R:2.2k - canon era]

Tangled Autumn for elirwen [Arthur/Merlin:N17:13k - modern!AU]

A Dream is a wish your heart makes… for teprometo [Arthur/Merlin:NC17:10k - canon era]

Trouble of the magical kind for happyevraftr [Merlin/Arthur:PG13:15k - canon!AU]

Love on the Campus of Dragons for sstormc [Arthur/Merlin & other pairings:NC17:9k - modern!AU]

Every Cloud for amythystluna [Merlin/Arthur:R:13k - modern!AU]

This Dance of Days for herbeautifullie [Merlin/Arthur:R:8k - modern!AU]

Lying in Wait for magnolia822 [Merlin/Arthur:NC17:2.7k - canon!AU]

Don't forget about what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted. (He lived happily ever after.) for kianspo [Merlin/Arthur:PG13:17k - modern!AU]

With Half-Shut Eyes for bewarethesmirk [Arthur/Merlin:NC17:32k - modern!AU]

Marconi Plays the Palace for alura_embrey [Arthur/Merlin:NC17:11.4k - modern!AU, royal!AU]

Title: Lying in Wait

Recipient: magnolia822

Author: anonymous
Rating: NC-17

Pairings: Merlin/Arthur

Word Count: ~2700

Content/Warnings: PWP, pseudo-somnophilia, dub-con (to be safe), fingering, topping from the bottom, canon era AU.

Summary: It’s all a bit stupid, really. All a bit awkward. All a bit dangerous, to be completely honest. Still, neither of them mentions it. Or stops.

Author's Notes: Happy merlin_holidays, magnolia822! I started some serious work on something that fit the binding!fic prompt you left, but it grew far too complicated for the time I had. So I went with shaping something out of a few of your listed kinks. I hope this brightens your day!  :)

Thanks to C for looking this over for me <3, thanks to my giftee’s contact person for the quick input (though I strayed a bit from the idea we discussed), and to friends for continuous encouragement, also a HUGE thank you to the lovely mods for holding this fest, and especially for putting up with me.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

Lying in Wait

Title: Don't forget about what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted. (He lived happily ever after.)
Recipient: kianspo
Author: anonymous
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Lance
Word Count: ~17,000
Content/Warnings:
Summary: Merlin has big dreams of starting his own company one day, but in the meantime he's working for Arthur. As they start becoming friends instead of just co-workers, it becomes more and more difficult for Merlin to convince himself that it would be worth leaving Arthur's organization to pursue his dream.
Author's Notes: Thanks to B for the beta and C & N for being so supportive. Happy holidays, kianspo!!! You wrote one of my absolute favorite fics from last year's fest, so I was really nervous/excited to be writing for you this year. I hope this tickles your fancy!
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

Don't forget about what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted. (He lived happily ever after.)

Title: Every Cloud
Recipient: amythystluna
Author: anonymous
Rating: R
Pairings: Merlin/Arthur, Morgana/Leon (implied Gwaine/Elena, Gwen/Lance)
Word Count: ~13K
Content/Warnings: None
Summary: Cut backs at work seem like the end of the world to Merlin. But a new job at Pendragon's Restaurant might just be his silver lining.
Author's Notes: Thank you to the mods for their endless patience, to D who betad this into shape, and to everyone who gives up a little of their time to read it. Happy Holidays, everyone!
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavour.

Every Cloud

Title: Trouble of the magical kind
Recipient: happyevraftr
Author: anonymous
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Word Count: ~14,600
Content/Warnings: Canon AU, tiny hint towards canon infidelity near the beginning, some dead bad guys, everything and everyone being on a mission to kill Arthur, Merlin being BAMF, lots and lots of pining, and stupid boys being stupid. And possibly just a bit in love.
Summary: In the court of King Uther Pendragon, there were two rules concerning relationships and marriages in the royal family. The first one was that it had to happen for love. The second was to never, ever fall in love with a sorcerer or a servant.
It was really quite unfortunate that the Crown Prince of all people had to go and fall for his magical manservant.
Author's Notes: Thanks for S for still being willing to read my stuff and betaing this, for E for helping me with figuring out the plot and details, and for F who I spend most of my life complaining about the amount of work I have when I could be working instead. Also to all people who aren’t afraid to slap me and tell me the story will be just fine when I’m having a crisis. You guys are the best!

Happy Merlin holidays, happyevraftr, and thank you for your inspiring prompts! I tried to fit as many as I could in one story, and this is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy your gift!

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

Trouble of the magical kind