Boxing Day

The Professionals Fanfiction
Title:	Boxing Day
Author(s):	The Hag
Date(s):	1999
Length:
Genre:	slash, Christmas
Fandom:	The Professionals
External Links:	online at the Hatstand Archive
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Boxing Day is a Professionals story and was written by The Hag.

The story was reviewed at at the ci5hq in October 2007 and again in December 2009.

Author's Notes

"In December I had a very nice note from Joan, saying she'd enjoyed my work. I was working on Boxing Day at that point, so I asked was she Sharon's Joan, and if so would she be willing to take a look. Well, she was, and she did, and it was the most enlightening experience. She had a wonderfully minimalist approach, but every suggested change was right on the mark. And after it had been posted she suggested a few more revisions, so we went over it again -- even more interesting, especially since she wasn't making any claim to have been perfect the first time."

Reactions and Reviews

Among the things I love about this story is how sweet it is without being schmaltzy. How the lads are tender without appearing to be anything but lads. How, even on Christmas day, we get a sense of the danger and unpredictablity of their lives. This is the lull in the storm, and they could be dead next week, but today they are safe and warm and rested -- and the only danger is the one they pose to each other's hearts.

The Hag writes with great precision and warmth, and I love the details she includes, those little bits of homely reality.

And I love the little backstory she gives Bodie. Not some enormous, giant, exhausting and fantastic history, but a glimpse into the past that is poignant and believable -- and leaves us thinking about all that lies between the lines.

I love this story--unabashedly and completely. It's one of my favorite Christmas stories because it contains so much of that spirit--the magic, really, of the possibility of that "wonderful thing". There's a tinge of sadness to it, for the past, and for their fears, and for a future that might bring tragedy. But for that moment, in that warm kitchen, absolutely everything is right. And if they can make it, they will. I just love that.

The Hag is well known in the fandom for her witty, lighter stories. She has a rare talent for word play and a feeling for language that makes her comic forays sheer delights, and I enjoy every one of them. Even more, though, I love her serious stories. Her rhythmic, nuanced prose conveys a wealth of emotion along with insights into the characters and what's happening between them. Moving on from the Christmas Day rec last time, we arrive at Boxing Day, celebrated throughout the UK (and in Ireland as St Stephen's Day) on 26 December. This brief but rich story makes lovely use of this particular holiday to chart a new step in Bodie's and Doyle's relationship...

This story is one of my favourites as I love the way everything is so understated. Also. the way that Bodie doesn't want to run from what Ray told him, just to be able to return the trust and show that he feels the same. The tenderness is beautifully written.

Another short-but-powerful fic. Bodie & Doyle spend the night together. Bodie leaves and Ray tries to figure out why. The reason may not be exactly what he imagined... Very real and touching Christmas story, with a perfect ending.

Among the things I love about this story is how sweet it is without being schmaltzy. How the lads are tender without appearing to be anything but lads. How, even on Christmas day, we get a sense of the danger and unpredictablity of their lives. This is the lull in the storm, and they could be dead next week, but today they are safe and warm and rested -- and the only danger is the one they pose to each other's hearts.

The Hag writes with great precision and warmth, and I love the details she includes, those little bits of homely reality.

And I love the little backstory she gives Bodie. Not some enormous, giant, exhausting and fantastic history, but a glimpse into the past that is poignant and believable -- and leaves us thinking about all that lies between the lines.

One of my all time favorite Christmas stories.

I love this story--unabashedly and completely. It's one of my favorite Christmas stories because it contains so much of that spirit--the magic, really, of the possibility of that "wonderful thing". There's a tinge of sadness to it, for the past, and for their fears, and for a future that might bring tragedy. But for that moment, in that warm kitchen, absolutely everything is right. And if they can make it, they will. I just love that. And having it all shown through the use of the gift that Bodie's mother wanted him to have--chocolates included...just perfect. It's Bodie opening up his past to Doyle, trusting Doyle. It's Doyle being there for Bodie, and understanding him so very well. I love the conversation they have around it--the keys and such--and the adultness of it all. Doyle can't regret that "I love you", even though he knows it might have been the end. And if it does, he'll deal with it. But he doesn't have to, and Bodie gives him back a gift of equal value. See? Perfect--for Christmas or for any day. *g*

The ending was all the better (imho) for the tension at the beginning, where Doyle misunderstood Bodie's absence, and Bodie was all worried about how he could measure up to that "I love you". I liked the way The Hag used pov there, to show us the same scene (in bed) from the pov of both. oh and also the slight tension of self-consciously 'spending Christmas together', experimenting with being a couple. That was quite adult (to borrow your idea), and also unusual as an angle on Bodie/Doyle at Christmas.

Some stories are so wonderful that it seems almost sacrilegious to try and analyse exactly what it is that makes them so and I’d say this is one of those stories and I thought it was just about word perfect.

I didn't miss a sex scene at all and much preferred the things we've mentioned e.g. in the kitchen when bodie touches Doyle's neck, his thoughts on doyle in the car scene - I much prefer the subtle references to sex made here. Maybe I've read too many explicit sex scenes and it's nice (and more erotic) when they're just suggested to me by the writer and the execution of them is left to my imagination. (Not always, but sometimes!)

This is one of my earliest favourites (and no wonder I'm in love with Pros, coming on something like this right at the start) and it's still one of my absolute top favourites now. I love Bodie's apparent-and-also-a-bit-real uneasiness at the beginning, with Doyle wanting to know things ... and I love Doyle's reaction to what he thinks is Bodie leaving, when he puts on loud music and makes a start on the kitchen so that when Bodie comes back he almost defends himself from attack with the Vim (remember using Vim?). Their respective characters and their relationship are wonderful - the love, the awkward try at christmas and cooking, everything. And most of all the final scene enchants me and wraps me up and takes me in and away every time, no matter how many times I read it; that perfect moment when they are together in the warm, bacon-scented kitchen is so real I feel that it exists somewhere.

A gem. And this is the perfect moment from it. Something Doyle says sends Bodie off to his lock-up to look for a long forgotten present from his past...

The Hag is well known in the fandom for her witty, lighter stories. She has a rare talent for wordplay and a feel for language that makes her comic forays sheer delights, and I enjoy every one of them. Even more, though, I love her serious stories. Her rhythmic, nuanced prose conveys a wealth of emotion alongside insights into the characters and what's happening between them.

I have great affection for Pros Christmas stories and Boxing Day is one of my favourites of this favourite genre. This brief but rich text makes lovely use of the day to chart a new step in Bodie's and Doyle's relationship, as hinted in this passage in Bodie's pov:

Doyle was wanting to know things. Perilous stuff, information. It gave people an edge on you. There were things Cowley knew, things old acquaintances knew, and things only he knew. There was the thing Doyle had whispered last night when he had hovered on the very brink of sleep, his head pillowed on Doyle's wide shoulder, feeling oddly safe in that bony embrace. Doyle had brought a deadly weapon into play, and he had to answer the challenge before he lost his nerve.