"Comfort and Joy" and "Sweat and Smoke"
Nov. 14th, 2005 06:31 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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rec50My Table of Prompts
Claim: Horatio Hornblower, general series
Title: Comfort and Joy
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tanacawyr
Characters: Horatio/Archie
Prompt: 42, Holiday
Rating:
Length: Long, 4416 words
Brief summary: AU but follows canon in everything except the death of Archie Kennedy and the existence of Barbara Wellesley. Captain Kennedy relives his life and Christmases past with his Admiral Hornblower. The ending is so sweet, it’s how Horatio and Archie should end up.
It seemed that every gift that Captain Archibald Kennedy had bought for his bosom friend and beloved Admiral Horatio Hornblower over the long decades of their mutual devotion had had to do with books in some way or another. The first gift he had ever bought for Horatio, when they were still silly young mids in Indefatigable, had been a copy of Euclid's Elements to replace the one that had dropped in a pitch bucket, much to Horatio's consternation. Archie smiled; he could still see Mr. Hornblower's shocked face and mouth hanging open in outrage as he stared into the bucket. He had stuck his lower lip out and set his chin like a bulldog, leaving no question as to the book's significance to him, and the first thing that Archie had done when he had gone ashore in Portsmouth that December was to visit a book seller's and purchase a copy to present to his friend.
Horatio's gratitude had been positively fulsome in its quiet way, and had set his nose into the thing for days afterward, not coming up for air until Twelfth Night, when he had met Mr. Kennedy's entreaty to come on deck and watch the shooting stars flying out of Gemini with a glower at being interrupted that had metamorphosed immediately into a wide smile when he saw who had interrupted him. He had put the book down carefully, marking his page and sliding off the thick shelf in the mids' berth where he had ensconced himself, and come up into the waist of the ship to lean back next to his friend and watch as bits of firelit silver darted overhead from the constellation of the twins.
Link to the story: Comfort and Joy
Claim: Horatio Hornblower, general series
Title: Sweat and Smoke
Author:damned_colonial
Characters: Hornblower/Kennedy/Bush
Prompt: 29, Weapons
Rating: PG? PG-13? No real overt sexual references, but we all know what goes on below decks.
Length: Medium, 876 words
Brief summary: There’s nothing like cannon to fire up the men. Archie’s thoughts during Bush and Hornblower’s gunnery drill.
But there was something going on. His attention had been distracted by Bush's approach, and he'd been only vaguely aware of Buckland enquiring
after Horatio's health. Oh no, don't let him be unwell, he prayed. Such a wasted opportunity...
"What's going on?" asked Bush.
"Come and see," replied Buckland with an uncharacteristic grin.
They crossed the quarterdeck, smiles growing on their faces as they heard the laughter and splashing from below. William, reaching the fife-rail first, licked his lips, and Archie's last doubts were extinguished. Oh yes, he'll help us celebrate, without a doubt.
Link to the story: Sweat and Smoke
Claim: Horatio Hornblower, general series
Title: Comfort and Joy
Author:
tanacawyrCharacters: Horatio/Archie
Prompt: 42, Holiday
Rating:
Length: Long, 4416 words
Brief summary: AU but follows canon in everything except the death of Archie Kennedy and the existence of Barbara Wellesley. Captain Kennedy relives his life and Christmases past with his Admiral Hornblower. The ending is so sweet, it’s how Horatio and Archie should end up.
It seemed that every gift that Captain Archibald Kennedy had bought for his bosom friend and beloved Admiral Horatio Hornblower over the long decades of their mutual devotion had had to do with books in some way or another. The first gift he had ever bought for Horatio, when they were still silly young mids in Indefatigable, had been a copy of Euclid's Elements to replace the one that had dropped in a pitch bucket, much to Horatio's consternation. Archie smiled; he could still see Mr. Hornblower's shocked face and mouth hanging open in outrage as he stared into the bucket. He had stuck his lower lip out and set his chin like a bulldog, leaving no question as to the book's significance to him, and the first thing that Archie had done when he had gone ashore in Portsmouth that December was to visit a book seller's and purchase a copy to present to his friend.
Horatio's gratitude had been positively fulsome in its quiet way, and had set his nose into the thing for days afterward, not coming up for air until Twelfth Night, when he had met Mr. Kennedy's entreaty to come on deck and watch the shooting stars flying out of Gemini with a glower at being interrupted that had metamorphosed immediately into a wide smile when he saw who had interrupted him. He had put the book down carefully, marking his page and sliding off the thick shelf in the mids' berth where he had ensconced himself, and come up into the waist of the ship to lean back next to his friend and watch as bits of firelit silver darted overhead from the constellation of the twins.
Link to the story: Comfort and Joy
Claim: Horatio Hornblower, general series
Title: Sweat and Smoke
Author:
damned_colonialCharacters: Hornblower/Kennedy/Bush
Prompt: 29, Weapons
Rating: PG? PG-13? No real overt sexual references, but we all know what goes on below decks.
Length: Medium, 876 words
Brief summary: There’s nothing like cannon to fire up the men. Archie’s thoughts during Bush and Hornblower’s gunnery drill.
But there was something going on. His attention had been distracted by Bush's approach, and he'd been only vaguely aware of Buckland enquiring
after Horatio's health. Oh no, don't let him be unwell, he prayed. Such a wasted opportunity...
"What's going on?" asked Bush.
"Come and see," replied Buckland with an uncharacteristic grin.
They crossed the quarterdeck, smiles growing on their faces as they heard the laughter and splashing from below. William, reaching the fife-rail first, licked his lips, and Archie's last doubts were extinguished. Oh yes, he'll help us celebrate, without a doubt.
Link to the story: Sweat and Smoke
