Where to find it: It's in the same-titled Georgette Heyer short story collection, 'Pistols for Two' and also in 'Snowdrift and other stories' which I think is basically the same book under a new title (?)
What is it, in summary?: A surprisingly-slashy short story about a duel between two young hot-heads after a country ball.
What do you love about it?: It's the perfect dose of Georgette Heyer, a Regency romp with some surprisingly serious and heartfelt moments. The straight romance is worked out mainly off-screen and what we focus on is the life-long friendship and recent romantic rivalry between Tom and Jack (spoilers, neither of them gets the girl). It seriously reads like the set-up for a KJ Charles book.
"In the end, the quarrel, smouldering for so many weeks, flared up over such a trifle that anyone, Tom reflected, would have laughed to have known the cause. Only they had not really reached pistol-point because Jack had stepped backward in a doorway, and cannoned into him, making him spill his glass of champagne, and treading on his foot. Nor had Jack turned pale and tight-lipped with anger because he had cursed him for being a clumsy oaf. If you had known a fellow from the cradle, had played with him, gone to school with him, shot, fished, and hunted with him, you could curse him with impunity, and either it ended in a bout of fisticuffs or in laughter: not in a meeting in the chill morning, attended by seconds."
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Tom/Jack now and forever please
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, but the story is short and sweet
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Threatened murder in a duel, nothing graphic though
Pistols for Two (Georgette Heyer)
Media: Short story
Approx length: 20 pages
Where to find it:
It's in the same-titled Georgette Heyer short story collection, 'Pistols for Two' and also in 'Snowdrift and other stories' which I think is basically the same book under a new title (?)
What is it, in summary?: A surprisingly-slashy short story about a duel between two young hot-heads after a country ball.
What do you love about it?: It's the perfect dose of Georgette Heyer, a Regency romp with some surprisingly serious and heartfelt moments. The straight romance is worked out mainly off-screen and what we focus on is the life-long friendship and recent romantic rivalry between Tom and Jack (spoilers, neither of them gets the girl). It seriously reads like the set-up for a KJ Charles book.
"In the end, the quarrel, smouldering for so many weeks, flared up over such a trifle that anyone, Tom reflected, would have laughed to have known the cause. Only they had not really reached pistol-point because Jack had stepped backward in a doorway, and cannoned into him, making him spill his glass of champagne, and treading on his foot. Nor had Jack turned pale and tight-lipped with anger because he had cursed him for being a clumsy oaf. If you had known a fellow from the cradle, had played with him, gone to school with him, shot, fished, and hunted with him, you could curse him with impunity, and either it ended in a bout of fisticuffs or in laughter: not in a meeting in the chill morning, attended by seconds."
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Tom/Jack now and forever please
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, but the story is short and sweet
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Threatened murder in a duel, nothing graphic though