Mistletoe meme

[renrenren3]

Have 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:

✔ 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 since 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.

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!~

Comments

Re: Gwaine/Merlin

[renrenren3]

"Wait!" Gwaine exclaims, freezing in the middle of the corridor.

"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

[batgurl88]

<3 Drunk!Gwaine is every bit as fun as Sober!Gwaine! I'm a sucker for Merlin/BFF!Knights, and the added Merlin/Gwaine is just lovely!

Re: Gwaine/Merlin

[renrenren3]

I wish S4 was all about Merlin and Arthur having crazy adventures with the knights. They're all awesome.

Re: Gwaine/Merlin

[hiza-chan.livejournal.com]

This is so freaking epic, oh my god. Merlin drinking with the knights and Gwaine's drunken assurances that Merlin's more important that the knights and- Ren, you made my day with this and I haven't even gotten to my own request yet. ♥

"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

[renrenren3]

Aww thanks bb. ♥ I love the knights and their epic friendship with Merlin.

This makes me feel a little less guilty about botching up the characters in yours.

Re: Gwaine/Merlin

[gallifreycalls.livejournal.com]

That is awesome! :)

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

[renrenren3]

Thank you! :)

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!