Merlin Holidays

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

Title: A Kissmas Carol
Recipient: GeekLover
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin (background Gwaine/Morgana, Gwen/Lance)
Word Count: 4,319
Content Notes/Warnings: modern au; amnesia; mention of minor character death; switching tenses; angst; fluff
Summary: The ghosts of kisses past, present and yet to come.
Author's Notes: Merry Christmas, GeekLover! Amnesia fic is one of my absolute faves so I was very happy to see an amnesia-based prompt in your request - this fic was very much inspired by, but is not entirely faithful to, that very prompt. It was an absolute pleasure to write for you, I really hope you enjoy it even though it's not exactly what you asked for!

Many, many thanks to my very good friend for the beta job - all remaining mistakes are my own.

AO3 link to fanwork: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5339078/chapters/12328022

Title: Broken Inside
Recipient: The merlin_holidays community!
Artist: anonymous
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Morgana/Merlin, Morgana/Gwaine
Medium: video
Song: Broken Inside by Broken Iris
Content/Warnings: Abuse, Character Death
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.
Artist's Notes: Gwaine is a king for the sake of this story because it allowed me to fit in Morgana keeping Gwaine prisoner, which was the original premise for the video, how it morphed into a secret affair between Morgana and Merlin is beyond me. Nevertheless, I do hope you enjoy it :)

( VID: Broken Inside )

Also available on AO3