Fic rec: Keeping Up Appearances Elizabeth/Hyacinth

Hand-Painted Blue Periwinkles by curia_regis, written for thelittlebang.

Elizabeth is worried about Hyacinth when Richard leaves her after 35 years of marriage. She starts making an effort to see Hyacinth more and be there for her. She remembers how they first became friends, how fascinating Hyacinth is, what she likes about her, and the fun comes back into their friendship.

The whole cast of characters from the show is here, everyone totally in character with his or her charming quirks. Elizabeth's gradual awakening from apathy is wonderful and engagingly written, and it's suspenseful and heartening to see her taking baby-steps in standing up for herself.

I particularly liked the description of female friendship in the lives of two women whose lives revolve around men, and how the presence or absence of those men affect the friendship. The backstory of how Elizabeth first became friends with Hyacinth, and Elizabeth's relationship with her husband John is subtle and thought provoking.

The sex is tastefully non-graphic and alluded only in the degree necessary to understand what is going on, since it is Elizabeth narrating after all.