Mistletoe meme
Dec. 29th, 2010 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renrenren3Have you got any idea how difficult it is to get a good image of a sprig of mistletoe? Seriously. Try looking on Google, over half the hits you get for "mistletoe" are actually images of holly. I even tried in Italian, no luck. I'm no plant expert myself and even I know the basics of the age-old kissing tradition:
See? Idiot-proof. I suppose if it's just for the sake of a snog it wouldn't matter if it was a cabbage, but I want to do this properly. So I went and yanked this nice little image from Subeta (of all places) and now that we're all set we can start!
I suppose you know my fandoms anywaysince I subject you to my fics all the time but here's a non-comprehensive list.
TV series: Glee, Merlin, SPN, The Vampire Diaries, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sherlock, Gossip Girl, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, Psych
Movies: Inception, (almost) any Disney movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings
Books: Gentleman Bastard sequence, Discworld, Good Omens, Temeraire, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes
Anime/manga: Axis Powers Hetalia, Baccano!, Bakuman, D.Gray-Man, Durarara!!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam 00, Gundam Seed, Karneval, KHR, Kuroshitsuji, One Piece, Saiyuki, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic (and most other CLAMP series too)
Wow, I have a lot of leftover anime/manga series. And I probably forgot some too. Aaanyone if fair play, even if it's two characters I don't like together or some crackpairing or a crossover. I mean, it's just a kiss under the mistletoe, not twu wuv. Hint: don't give me the easy option like Arthur/Merlin, it's boooring. Give me some rare pairing or pairing I've never written, so you can watch me squirm. Bring popcorns.
I make no guarantee as to the length, though I'll try to make it at least 200 words, aiming for 500 words. Unless inspiration strikes and I decide to write some epic saga, and knowing me it might well happen. No idea how long it'll take either but I hope they will all be done at some point in 2011.
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gallifreycalls - Gwaine/Merlin
hiza_chan - Locke/Tharkay or Granby/Crowley
bizarre_esque - Meeko/Percy (I regret nothing)
sheswatching - Locke/Bug or Lukas/Don Salvara
batgurl88 - Freya/Vivian or Arthur/Gwaine
darkmagic_luvr - Damon/Lenore or Vivian/Will
imyourheroine - Minion/Minion or Arthur/Merlin but that's just Pat trolling
~THE NEXT ONE COULD BE YOUR CRAZY PAIRING!~
| ✔ white berries | ✘ red berries |
| ✔ rounded leaves | ✘ pointy leaves |
| ✔ mistletoe | ✘ holly |
See? Idiot-proof. I suppose if it's just for the sake of a snog it wouldn't matter if it was a cabbage, but I want to do this properly. So I went and yanked this nice little image from Subeta (of all places) and now that we're all set we can start!
multi-fandom kiss under the mistletoe
Prompt me any two characters from a fandom of mine and I will write you a ficlet in which they kiss under the mistletoe.
I suppose you know my fandoms anyway
TV series: Glee, Merlin, SPN, The Vampire Diaries, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sherlock, Gossip Girl, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, Psych
Movies: Inception, (almost) any Disney movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings
Books: Gentleman Bastard sequence, Discworld, Good Omens, Temeraire, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes
Anime/manga: Axis Powers Hetalia, Baccano!, Bakuman, D.Gray-Man, Durarara!!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam 00, Gundam Seed, Karneval, KHR, Kuroshitsuji, One Piece, Saiyuki, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic (and most other CLAMP series too)
I make no guarantee as to the length, though I'll try to make it at least 200 words, aiming for 500 words. Unless inspiration strikes and I decide to write some epic saga, and knowing me it might well happen. No idea how long it'll take either but I hope they will all be done at some point in 2011.
gallifreycalls - Gwaine/Merlinhiza_chan - Locke/Tharkay or Granby/Crowleybizarre_esque - Meeko/Percy (I regret nothing)sheswatching - Locke/Bug or Lukas/Don Salvarabatgurl88 - Freya/Vivian or Arthur/Gwainedarkmagic_luvr - Damon/Lenore or Vivian/Willimyourheroine - Minion/Minion ~THE NEXT ONE COULD BE YOUR CRAZY PAIRING!~
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 11:24 pm (UTC)Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-30 01:54 am (UTC)---
Try as he might, Uther hasn't been able to erase all traces of the Old Religion from his kingdom. Some traditions are too old, going back for thousands of years, and it would be impossible to get folks to stop celebrating the winter solstice. So instead Uther has taken over the celebrations, hosting a large banquet at the castle and distributing food to the people so that the festival has turned into a celebration of his own kingdom.
It's all pretense, obviously. Out of the king's earshot everyone is singing the old songs, and hanging bells and burning candles to chase off evil spirits. It reminds Merlin of his childhood in Ealdor when he used to do the same with his mother, and Hunith would make a garland with evergreens and hang it in front of the door for luck in the year to come.
If he thinks too much about it, Merlin starts getting a little homesick and wishes he could visit his mother and his friends. Which he can't do, since he's stuck with the hardly enviable task of protecting the annoying future king of Albion, so Merlin tries to bury himself in work and not think about anything else.
It's not difficult to bury oneself in work at this time of the year. Between helping with the preparations for the feast, taking care of Arthur's elaborate festive clothes, helping him choose presents for his father and his knights, and this on top of his regular duties, Merlin reaches the night of the banquet feeling like he's dead on his feet.
Arthur isn't going easy on him either, making him run back and forth to fetch tankards of mulled wine and trays of sweetmeats. Thankfully he's paying host to the daughter of some lord and after a while he gets distracted by their conversation and forgets about Merlin.
This doesn't mean that Merlin is free to slack off now. For from it, since there's still a hundred people in the room and apparently everyone has an endless stomach and is in constant need of food and drinks. But at least now nobody's calling specifically for Merlin and making snarky comments when he takes too long to fetch and carry or reports that there is no more apple pie in the kitchen.
He's about to disappear into the kitchens and see if that leftover roast chicken is still around when someone calls, "Merlin!"
Merlin turns around and his face splits into a huge grin when he realizes that Lancelot is the one waving at him. "Merlin, join us," Leon calls.
At the high table Arthur is still engaged in conversation so Merlin quickly walks over to the knights' table. Lancelot and Leon shuffle their chairs to make room for him and he drags a chair between Lancelot's and Gwaine's, sighing happily as he sits down.
"It's a busy night," he comments, helping himself to a cream pastry.
Lancelot nods sympathetically and reaches for the flagon of mulled wine. "Have a drink," he says, only to pull out a face when he realizes that it's empty. "Gwaine," he says, reproachfully.
Gwaine grins at him, leaning back in his chair. "It was good wine," he says. He's slurring the words a little and his eyes are not completely focused and Merlin knows him well enough to realize at a glance that Gwaine is drunk again.
Lancelot rolls his eyes. "Ignore him," he says. "It's awful to be sitting next to him when he's like this. I can never get a drink in peace, he keeps stealing my goblet."
"It's this why you're making me sit between the two of you?" Merlin jokes. This brings a round of laughter from the other knights, who have all at some point been subjected to Gwaine's drunken antics.
"More wine," Gwaine says brightly.
Merlin can't quite figure out if it's a question or a request. "I'll get some," he says but before he can get up Lancelot puts a hand on his arm.
"Don't bother, we can ask one of the servants," he says and Leon is already gesturing to a serving girl.
Merlin would point out that he is a servant too, but he figures he can take it easy just for this once. He's earned it.
(cont.)
Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-30 01:55 am (UTC)Over the next hour Merlin decides that feasts are quite fun, at least when you're sitting at a table instead of running around at Arthur's beck and call. The knights trade stories and discuss recent events and Merlin shares the story of how once Arthur has fallen from his window into a pile of horse dung.
Just as Lancelot has predicted, Gwaine keeps stealing Merlin's wine. Eventually Merlin decides that the only solution is to steal Lancelot's wine. Lancelot looks at him with a face torn between annoyance and amusement and then eyes Leon's goblet. Leon gives him a stern look and declares he'll challenge whoever touches his wine, but the effect is spoiled when he starts laughing halfway through the sentence.
Shortly after midnight the knights start excusing themselves and leaving in twos and threes. "We should get going too," Leon says, pushing himself to his feet. "We've got patrol duty tomorrow."
Merlin waves them goodnight and considers going to bed as well. Gwaine is still at the table, sleeping with his head pillowed on his arms, and Merlin shakes him awake. "Shouldn't you go to your room too?" he asks. "Don't you have patrol or training tomorrow?"
Gwaine cracks one eye open and groans. "Yeah," he says. "I wish Arthur had given us the day off."
"Me too," Merlin agrees. He tugs at Gwaine's elbow. "Come on, let's get you to bed."
They stumble out of the hall together. Merlin is a bit drunk. Gwaine is very much drunk but he can still walk without needing to lean against the wall for support. Still, Merlin thinks it's better if he makes sure Gwaine makes it to his room without falling down the stairs and breaking his neck.
"It was nice of you to sit down with us," Gwaine says apropos of nothing as they turn a corner. "Instead of Arthur."
Merlin laughs. "I can't really sit next to Arthur," he says, thinking of Arthur's affronted face if he heard such an insubordinate suggestion.
"Why not?" Gwaine insists. "You're important. You're the prince's manservant."
Merlin shakes his head but Gwaine seems to like this subject. "There's only one of you," he continues, scrunching his eyebrows together as he tries to figure out something. "And there's... I dunno... But many, many more of us." He gestures vaguely to Camelot's emblem on his surcoat. "Stands to reason that you're more important than a knight."
It's pointless to argue. "Right you are," Merlin says and catches Gwaine's elbow as he's about to wander off in the wrong direction. "We're almost to your room, come on."
(cont.)
Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-30 01:55 am (UTC)"What?" Merlin asks, a little nervously, praying that Gwaine isn't about to be sick all over their feet.
Gwaine points up dramatically. "Look," he says with the tone of someone who's made a great discovery.
"Oh, the mistletoe," Merlin replies, following the pointing finger to the sprig of mistletoe dangling from a hook in the ceiling. "I helped put it up through the castle a couple of days ago."
"You know the important thing about mistletoe?" Gwaine asks
"It withers and loses leaves and you keep having to sweep them away or some prince will complain and toss boots at you?" Merlin replies with a smirk. It was funny how Arthur had been upset about the mistletoe, but maybe he had a reason to be since he had to walk around the castle arm in arm with the visiting lady all day.
At the time, Merlin had smirked and told Arthur he'd just have to hope that his lady didn't know about the tradition.
"Don't you know about the tradition?" Gwaine asks.
"Yeah, if a couple passes under the mistletoe they have to kiss," Merlin replies without thinking, still distracted by his memories.
He gets no warning at all before Gwaine pulls him down to press their lips together. There's a moment in which Merlin is flailing and almost falling to the floor, but Gwaine wraps his arms around Merlin's waist to steady him.
Merlin opens his mouth to ask him what he's doing and in hindsight this is a poor move since it means that now his mouth is open and Gwaine is quick to take advantage of that.
Merlin's brain is torn between 'Gwaine has got his tongue down your throat!' and 'This is actually very, very good' and 'Maybe if I'm lucky I won't remember this in the morning'.
At some point he closes his eyes and fists his hand in the front of Gwaine's coat. He smells like wine and spices and probably shouldn't feel so good as it does.
When Merlin draws back it's reluctantly, more because he needs to breathe than because he wanted to stop.
"What was that?" Merlin manages to ask as soon as he regains control of his voice.
Gwaine smirks at him. "A kiss?" he supplies helpfully. Merlin can't figure out if he's too drunk to care or too used to kissing friends. With tongue. In dark corridors. While holding them in his arms, and it's around this point that Merlin realizes that Gwaine's hands are sliding down his back to cup his arse.
His breath catches in his throat and he leans into Gwaine before remembering himself. "Stop," he says, pushing the other man away. "We can't do this."
"Do what?" Gwaine asks, reluctantly breaking away from him. "We aren't doing anything. I liked it better when we were kissing," he adds wistfully.
Merlin is privately inclined to agree. "That was just because of the mistletoe," he says instead.
Gwaine considers this. "What if we brought the mistletoe back to my room?" he suggests.
It's such an outrageous idea that Merlin is sure Gwaine can see him blush even in the flimsy half-light of the corridor. But Gwaine is looking at him with his dark eyes, almost holding his breath.
If this is a bad idea, it might be the best bad idea that Merlin has ever had. "Yeah," he says. He steps forward and plants another soft kiss on Gwaine's lips. "Yeah, that might just work."
Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-30 03:55 am (UTC)Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-30 10:22 am (UTC)Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-30 11:24 pm (UTC)"It withers and loses leaves and you keep having to sweep them away or some prince will complain and toss boots at you?" So perfect! You have everyone's characterizations down pat!
Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-30 11:28 pm (UTC)This makes me feel a little less guilty about botching up the characters in yours.
Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-31 06:55 pm (UTC)You capture everyone's voices so well. I love that the knights see Merlin as one of their own, and Merlin's able to have a good time. Of all the knights, it doesn't surprise me that it's Lancelot who welcomes Merlin to the table.
Gwaine's logic...I like how his brain works.
Merlin/Gwaine and some fun camaraderie between the knights and the sweet scene with the mistletoe = lots of win.
Thanks for the excellent fill! (And happy new year!)
Re: Gwaine/Merlin
Date: 2010-12-31 07:02 pm (UTC)I think what Merlin really is missing is a friend. Arthur said it himself, if he wasn't the prince they could be friends... but as it is now they're not equals. Now that Lance and all the others are in Camelot I want EHPEEK FRIENDSHIP between the knights and Merlin.
And happy new 2011 to you too!