Fic: Bold and Modern Christmas

[mrstater]

Title: Bold and Modern Christmas
Author: mrstater
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Characters & Pairings: Mary Crawley/Richard Carlisle
Format & Word Count: one-shot, 3610 words
Rating & Warnings: M for sex and dubious references to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Summary: When Mary insists on keeping with tradition, Richard discovers that sometimes doing things

Comments

[shimotsuki]

*fans self* Nicely hot, m'dear! But with some fantastic character moments, too; I love to see Richard's vulnerabilities under his tough and ruthless exterior, and it's sweet that he loves Mary so much. I suspect she's in a little deeper herself than Richard realizes, too. ;)

Also liked the way Richard's assumption about why Mary didn't want to go to Haxby was way off base. (Though, part of me hopes he gets his chance to show off in front of the Crawley family eventually, heh. Maybe after he and Mary are more secure with each other...)

I hope you keep on with this series from time to time -- it's a fun exploration of these characters and their relationship.

(I love your new take on what PWP stands for, lol. And I've been saving the new GiB chapters for when I can sit down and enjoy them properly!)

[mrstater]

Thank you so much! I had thought this one was actually veering truly towards PWP, but then when I got to the end Richard got awfully pensive so...I just decided to redefine PWP. ;)

I hope I keep this series up from time to time, too! It's fun exploring whether there's any coming back from an engagement that started out the way theirs did can end up a successful marriage. I'm glad you think there are signs that Mary reciprocates. But I think she'd still always chafe, slightly, and Richard would worry that she hasn't truly chosen him. Fun times. ;)

Merry Christmas, my dear!

[gilpin25]

Such fun reading these two celebrate Christmas in some style! The lovemaking is hot indeed, but there are some lovely character moments to get them to the point where Mary is actually saying please and Richard would dearly like to say a whole lot more. The lengthy present exchange was wonderful and felt very much like something they'd do: Mary refusing to admit she's clearly put both thought and care into them, and Richard piling gift upon expensive gift - desperate to impress, and even more to have her touched by them.

"Well we're married now," Mary says, "and you're growing on me, too."

I feel this is the line Richard ought to be paying close attention to, as it seems apparent that he really is. This is a seasonal cracker (you can groan now;)) of an addition to their series. :D

[mrstater]

Coming up with gifts for Richard and Mary was more difficult than my actual Christmas shopping, so I am HUGELY RELIEVED you don't think they'll need to be making any returns. ;) I feel like they would be competitive even in giving each other gifts, but that they really would both be quite thoughtful gift givers and show what they maybe can't say. And I'm so pleased their growing affection in spite of everything. They work too well together. ;)

Thanks so much for reading, even though Christmas is old news now.

xx