last minute yuletide recs

[nerakrose]

i wanted to finish reading everything i wanted to read before making this post, but reveals are tomorrow. ah well! i have two more fics marked for later, which i suppose i'll read tomorrow and hopefully love enough to rec along with sharing the fic i wrote.

first, my gifts! i got TWO gifts, which was unexpectedly awesome, and they're in the same fandom (Mulan!!)

Honored Spouse (2130 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Mulan (1998)
Relationships: Fa Mulan/Li Shang
Additional Tags: Genderfluid Character, Gender Identity
Summary: Ping was a part of Mulan, not simply a role she played. Some days that was more comfortable, some days the feminine was. Shang might not have understood that feeling, but it was part and parcel of who she was, and he loved all of her.

short but sweet and i liked especially that shang was open to questioning his own gender and how it helped him understand mulan.

Be Brave, be true, save the Empire. (8025 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Mulan (1998)
Relationships: Fa Mulan/Li Shang
Additional Tags: Genderfluid Character, Bisexual Male Character
Summary: Mulan never thought she would fit in.
Shang never thought he would marry.
As it turns out, they were both wrong.

guys, this is GORGEOUS. i suspect it's written by an ESL speaker who also got fucked over by autocorrect, but it's easy enough to look past the spag issues - please do, it's so, so good. this fic takes place entirely (or almost entirely?) in the 'gaps', with only the barest hint to canon scenes to set the timeline. sloooow burn. it's beautiful. content warning: dub/non-con, when shang is forced to go to a brothel by his father to 'man up'.

other fics i enjoyed:

Jasmine and Marching Feet (Magpies and Quails) (4342 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Mulan (1998)
Relationships: Fa Mulan/Li Shang, Ling (Disney)/Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Close Canon, Gender Fuckery, Marriage of Convenience, Marriage Proposal, Mutual Pining, Humour, Poetry, Podfic Available, courting, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Summary: "Vigorously faithful in their pairings are magpies;
Boldly so are quails.
This woman is all vicious,
And I regard her as marchioness."

Or: Mulan gets found out earlier, though in fairly similar circumstances. Shang proposes a different future for them.

fake dating!! epistolary! this was a lot of fun and i really loved the format, which i think worked especially well to tell this story.

Nice and Quiet (1604 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: God's Own Country (2017)
Relationships: Gheorghe Ionescu/Johnny Saxby
Summary: He takes the last few steps to the top landing, keeping his hands on Gheorghe's at his waist to pull him along. "I'm frozen, I'm having a bath. Wanna watch?"
Or help. It's never going to be comfortable, doing anything under the same roof as your nan and dad watching Emmerdale downstairs, but what's the alternative? You want to drive for miles up and down hills any time you feel like a fuck? Gheorghe whispered once, teasing and low, pushing Johnny face-first against his closed bedroom door and leaving slow, deliberate fingernail marks in the flesh of his arse as he dragged down his jeans, or you want to stay nice and quiet for me right here? He's rolling his sleeves up now and there's something overwhelmingly fucking hot about that, like he's committing himself to getting a job done right. He doesn't speak, at least not in words—he doesn't have to, not with eyes like that—and Johnny stares him down in a way that starts as a challenge but wobbles and morphs into something molten and helpless when Gheorghe's hand closes around his cock under the water and slowly starts to stroke.

gentle, sweet, with a rough edge. much like the movie, really. a wonderful glimpse into life post-canon.

The Christmas Present (5091 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Relationships: Iskierka & Temeraire, John Granby & Iskierka, William Laurence & Temeraire, Temeraire & Tenzing Tharkay
Additional Tags: copious application of dragon logic
Summary:
"A present," Temeraire repeated. "The white stag. To...show our appreciation of him as our host."

"That seems very foolish."

Temeraire sniffed. "I would not want people to think my host did not have enough things, or sufficiently fine ones."

"Oh, very well," grumbled Iskierka, sounding disgruntled in her turn. "I suppose you are right. I will have to join you."

"No you will not!"

"I will; you are right; there is nothing else for it."

Or: Temeraire and Iskierka discover (something adjacent to) the true meaning of Christmas.


funny and cute! temeraire and iskierka scheming and getting into trouble.

Memories of Unreal Things (3134 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Relationships: William Laurence/Tenzing Tharkay
Additional Tags: Memory Loss, Magical Healing Cock
Summary:
There was a room, and a pallet inside it; a small torch burned low in a socket upon the wall. A man lay upon the cot, his face bruised and battered, his hands curled against his chest bloody, and Laurence did not know him.

Or, a little part of Blood of Tyrants goes differently.

laurence's amnesia gets resolved a little differently - i loved the twist on it here. laurence trying to piece things together and coming to the wrong (but right) conclusion.

As a Shrike to Your Thorn (5704 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Relationships: Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Additional Tags: Heist, Case Fic, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Fae, Fae & Fairies, Pining
Summary: “One month from now Lord Claud of Clan Báicéir, Prince Under the Hill, King of Air and Darkness, will be holding a ball to celebrate Midwinter. And we are going to rob it.”

!!!! this is AMAZING! i didn't know i needed a magic AU, but it's here, and it's fantastic. the best part was absolutely Lou and Debbie's relationship, though, which was spot on and just the kind of burn i like.