meretricula | ye olde annual fic meme

January

All The Things We Did And Didn't Do
Football RPF - Messi, Pique and Fabregas - PG
Gerard calls in the cavalry. (AU branch of It's Going To Take A Lot To Drag Me Away From You.) (Ficlet)

Morning Comes In Paradise
Football RPF - Iniesta/Valdes - PG-13
In which puberty hits Andres like a freight train, and Victor is an innocent victim of the collision.

Growing Pains
Football RPF - Bale/Walcott - R
Boys will be boys.

February

Kissed The Cobbler's Wife
Football RPF - Silva/Johnson - R
In which Silva throws a tantrum, Adam displays unexpected reserves of self-restraint and Joe winds up seeing way more than he bargained for.

It's Been A Long Time Since I've Seen You Smile
Football RPF - Xavi/Iniesta - PG-13
In 2006, the World Cup is held in Germany: Andres Iniesta receives his first call-up to the senior national team, Xavi Hernandez's behavior escalates from mild neurosis into the realm of the genuinely bizarre, and Spain's campaign for the title ends once again not with a bang but an inglorious whimper. (Part of It's Going To Take A Lot To Drag Me Away From You.)

March

Put Our Able Hands To Labor
Football RPF - Messi, Pique and Fabregas - PG
Nothing bad will ever happen to Leo if Cesc and Gerard have anything to say about it. (AU branch of It's Going To Take A Lot To Drag Me Away From You.)

Tempest In A Teacup
Football RPF - Silva/Johnson - PG-13
Based on a conversation I had with

justkisa about Silva throwing crockery at Adam's head during a fight, and the inevitable aftermath. (Drabble)

Cut-Scene Between Books IV and V of P. Vergilius Maro's Aeneid
The Aeneid - Aeneas/Achates - PG
In fairness to Achates, passive-aggression is the very least that Aeneas deserves at this point. (Drabble)

April

And We Are All Together
Football RPF - Messi, Pique and Fabregas - G
Everyone told Leo two things afterward: he'd been stupid, and he'd been lucky. (Part of It's Going To Take A Lot To Drag Me Away From You.)

Your Love Is Gonna Grow
Football RPF - Casillas/Sara Carbonero - NC-17
Iker finds an innovative way to get Sara to eat more.

With Grace In Your Heart And Flowers In Your Hair
Football RPF - Guardiola/Estiarte - G
What else are guardian angels for? (Drabble)

Build It Up With Iron And Steel
Football RPF - Mata/Romeu - PG-13
Five places in London Juan Mata took Oriol Romeu.

May

The Distance From Here To Where You'd Be
Football RPF - Xavi/Iniesta - PG
David Villa learns some surprising things about Xavi Hernandez during the 2009 Confederations Cup. (Part of It's Going To Take A Lot To Drag Me Away From You.) (Ficlet)

Facilmente A T'Ingannar
Football RPF - Mancini/Balotelli - PG
but if you think that in return I ought to love only you, gentle sir, you are easily led to self-deceit (Drabble)

Uptown Downtown (A Thousand Miles Between Us)
Football RPF - Bale/Walcott - PG
Transfer angst based on rumors that Gareth might be leaving Tottenham. (Ficlet)

June

The extremely rough beginnings that I expected to be abandoned but eventually spawned Que Te Escuche El Sol

July

A Bit Unfortunate
Football RPF - Balotelli/Paloschi - PG
In which Mario Balotelli receives a very peculiar text message. Crossover with Doctor Who. (Drabble)

M'Ha Dit Que T'Ha Vist Per Barcelona
Football RPF - Iniesta/Valdes - PG-13
On May 25, 2004, Catalonia play a friendly against Brazil and lose 2-5. (Fact.) Andres Iniesta then takes it upon himself to cheer Victor Valdes up. (Fiction.)

August

I Believe In Every Breath You Breathe
Football RPF - Xavi/Iniesta preslash - G
In 2005 Barcelona lose to Chelsea in the first knock-out round of the Champions League, and Andres crawls into Xavi's bed for a change. (Part of It's Going To Take A Lot To Drag Me Away From You.) (Ficlet)

Girl It's True (I Can Never Be Away From You)
Football RPF - Thiago Alcantara/Rafa Alcantara - PG-13
Last-gasp days of summer by the pool. (Drabble)

Let's Not Try To Figure Out Everything At Once
Football RPF - Messi and Villa - PG
Some things you just have to work out for yourselves. (Final installment of the AU branch of It's Going To Take A Lot To Drag Me Away From You.)

September

Couvade
Football RPF - Iniesta and Valdes - PG
"Couvade syndrome is a term used to describe a situation in which an otherwise healthy man — whose partner is expecting a baby — experiences pregnancy-related symptoms." (Ficlet)

October

Three Scenes That Didn't Make It Into Jill Scott's World Cup Diary
Football RPF - Scott/Smith - PG-13
England at the 2011 Women's World Cup: two wins, one draw, one soul-crushing loss, and an infinite supply of shenanigans.

Royalty AU: Xavi says good-bye to Andres

Royalty AU: Xavi has a dramatic exchange with Hierro

November

Royalty AU: The Beckhams are introduced and Iker finally shows up

Royalty AU: Iker and Xavi's meeting before the wedding, with bonus Raul/Mori

Que Te Escuche El Sol
Tennis RPF - Nadal/Djokovic - PG
The story of how Rafael Nadal learned to stop worrying and love Novak Djokovic, and made it to the final of the Champions League along the way.

December

Royalty AU: Sibling bonding in Catalunya always takes the form of political scheming

You Should Come Around More, Alabama
Hart of Dixie - Wade & Lemon - PG
While George is in New York City, Lemon finds companionship in an unlikely place.

47,420 words all together, if I did my math right! Slight decrease from last year, but still respectable, especially since I got slammed with work right before

yuletide and couldn't do my usual bounty of treats. This year I made a concerted effort to write something every month, even if it was just a drabble, with the unsurprising result that I wrote a lot of drabbles and ficlets. But I succeeded! There was no sad lonely month in my accounting that had no fic to its name! So I pat myself on the back, and hopefully I'll be able to keep that up next year, too. I have no idea what next year will bring, fandom-wise: I feel like I'm no longer in the super-productive flush of new love with football, but I still have tons of stories I want to tell. Plus my determination to get some of my tennis AUs finished at last! And of course at the moment I am in the throes of a nostalgic fling with Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, but we'll see how long that lasts. (Ughhhh I have so many feelings about hot dwarves right now you don't even understand what I'm sparing you from. BE GRATEFUL.)

My favorite story of this year: I can't piiiick ugh I don't even know that I was super into anything I wrote this year. Probably It's Been A Long Time Since I've Seen You Smile just because IT FINALLY GOT FINISHED WOOHOOOOO. (And

louis_quatorze made me an awesome mix for it, btw, so you should go check it out even if you're not all that into the fic, haha.)

My best story this year: I think probably Morning Comes In Paradise. Victor and Andres: the tragic angsty teenage years! I'm glad I didn't let myself go with a fluffy happy ending. I think it's a better story for being a little sad.

Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: The Aeneid snippet, none of you assholes appreciates my comedic genius. Okay, no, seriously, probably Three Scenes That Didn't Make It Into Jill Scott's World Cup Diary. I'M GOING TO CONVERT YOU ALL TO ALEX/KELLY IF IT KILLS ME.

Most fun story: So, like, as far as concepts go -- Que Te Escuche El Sol, all the way. TENNIS PLAYERS PLAYING FOOTBALL, GUYS. I would roll around in that AU all day long. The execution could have, uh, used a bit of work, to put it mildly. But I will revise it and put in all the scenes I forgot and make it every bit as fun as it should be, I promise!

Hardest story to write: I kind of feel like It's Been A Long Time… wins this by default because it took like two years to finish.

"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: I wrote a story about Victor Valdes having a sympathetic pregnancy. Yup.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Morning Comes In Paradise. Oh, my poor darlings. You're doomed to tragic backstory now.

Biggest disappointment: Well, Que Te Escuche El Sol will stop being a disappointment once I revise it… for now, though, I think it wins.

Biggest surprise: Build It Up With Iron And Steel was a pretty big surprise! I'd never written Oriol or Mata before, but I was inspired by the looming deadline. That happens to me a lot.

Most unintentionally telling story: The Aeneid snippet reveals that I'm a huge nerd. Does that count?

Sexiest story: …did I only write one explicit story this year? Apparently so. Your Love Is Gonna Grow wins by default! Although I will admit a sneaking fondness for the voyeurism in Kissed The Cobbler's Wife as well.