#I almost put Lancelot saying this

[thefabledpheasant]

*Merlin juggles flawlessy*

Arthur: That’s impossible…

Gwaine: Well, first of all, through Merlin all things are possible, so jot that down.

[bisclavret]

there's a palpable missing link in gwen's characterization that the show has almost hinted at but never explored in a satisfactory way and after hours of riffing with @morganadismay i think it might be summarized with just. ambition? on a show as juvenile in its moral politics as bbc merlin ambition might be seen as a hunger for something and therefore a sinful bad thing so gwen just seemed to kind of seamlessly and elegantly rise to power, but honestly when you attribute a sense of ambition to her, the entire character that is guinevere clicks into place:

she has the most solid moral compass out of everyone in that castle - and she knows it. by her late teens she is already lady morgana's servant (morgana who, at this point, is the progressive and rebellious "adoptive" daughter of the king - perhaps someone to stay close to if you want to see reform?) and she flocks to merlin the second she sees him stand up to the prince. then, as soon as she realizes prince arthur actually listens to what she has to say and that it has an effect on his actions (makes him more progressive, open-minded, and class conscious) she subtly moves her interest from merlin and morgana onto him.

((affection is a propelling part of all these decisions, of course, anyone that's seen how gwen treats people doesn't doubt that it's with genuine love and kindness and care for their well-being. i'm just trying to argue that there's more to her than that, or rather that it's precisely this love that is driving her ambition as well:))

the show is written in such a way that only one person per episode can have a braincell so gwen's cleverness is often cast to the wayside so another character can have a go at using their brain, but we can all agree she is overall the smartest character out of the core four. and when you're as smart and full of love and worry as gwen is, it's intolerable to acutely feel the kingdom's injustices and do nothing about them. people often talk about how gwen is impossible to upset or make angry because she is just that empathetic and understanding and can easily put herself in people's shoes. these are definitely elements of gwen's personality, but i don't care how empathetic you are, when someone kills your dad - a sweet, innocent man - in the name of tyrannical ethnic cleansing of people with magic, you do not, you cannot brush it away. especially if you are as clever and empathetic as we know gwen to be.

and yet that's what she seems to do. in one of the most tone-deaf and frustrating and nonsensical conversations in the entire show, she tells merlin she would not kill uther, the mad tyrant king that just killed her fucking dad and is killing so many people on a daily basis, because then she would be just as bad as him. and i do think she believes this. because that's how she was written. however, there were other ways for her to show her displeasure with the royal family after they killed her literal dad. and she chose none. instead, she stayed close and hardly ever acknowledged her huge, enormous loss (elyan had been away for years and she had no mother to speak of - they killed her only family).

because she's strong? sure. but have you lost a loving parent? strength has nothing to do with what that sort of grief does to you. and i think it is precisely through that grief that gwen makes her choice to stick around and see this relationship with the royal family through as far as it can go. she lets her anger solidify into determination - determination to turn arthur into a better version of his father so these injustices have a chance at stopping once he's king.

she lets go of lancelot. she becomes more feminine, her hair longer and her corsets tighter every time we see her. she tolerates arthur's indecisiveness and brashness and morgana's increasing outbursts of cruelty. she never fully seems to expect to become queen, always quick to offer to let go of arthur for The Greater Good (merlin could take a page from her book), but that's precisely what makes her ambition a good trait. it's steadfast, it's logical, and the end goal isn't power for the sake of power. it's a slow, borderline sisyphean climb up the social ladder until she has stable enough footing to enact the reform that her contemporaries were too undiplomatic to achieve.

TL;DR you cannot get where gwen gets by the end of the show through true love or luck or a series of accidents. it would be a disservice to gwen's character to ignore the hints of calculating ambition in her actions and to pretend the compromises she had to make to get where she ends up were easy. what's amazing about her is that she is the sort of lovely, warm woman whose kindness could get taken advantage of until there is nothing left, but instead she turned her love and wisdom into an asset that helped her, essentially, win the game of thrones. i just wish the writers had let this side of her shine through.

[justaz]

arthur has always been suspicious of the tavern excuse for merlin’s absences, but he has no proof on the contrary and when confronted merlin either tells him outlandish tales of near death experiences that have no chance of being remotely truthful or he admits to and apologizes for slacking on his duties to get drunk. one day, he decides enough is enough and he and all the knights go to the tavern with merlin and arthur casually brings up merlin’s history in the tavern and says he could probably beat gwaine in a drinking contest. merlin tries to divert the discussion away from the idea but arthur is determined. they receive a round of drinks and arthur pushes a pint of ale into merlin’s hands with a look of challenge. merlin’s options are to either commit to the lie to hide his secret or admit to the lie and risk exposing his magic. he takes the former. merlin gives lancelot a Look and then slams back the pint of ale with a minor bit of gagging and pauses to breath. gwaine already finished his pint thirty seconds ago but its entertaining to watch merlin so he doesn’t say anything.

merlin (built like a twig, rarely drinks, lightweight) is proper sloshed. arthur is almost vindicated but he needs merlin to admit it. he orders two more pints and gives one to gwaine and the second to merlin, instigating the competition further despite the fact that gwaine won already. merlin grimaces and tries to do the same thing again but only gets a few gulps in before he folds. he slams the mug down and gives arthur a kicked puppy look before admitting and apologizing for lying. arthur is Vindicated. merlin is still wasted.

the nights wears on and merlin feels the effect of the ale more and more every minute that passes. he sits between arthur and lancelot and feels almost unbearably warm but that could be bc of the alcohol in his system, or the crowded tavern. merlin looks around and watches the people that pass their table by while the knights talk and joke and laugh amongst themselves. merlin feels relaxed and excitable now, his worries seem to have melted away and he cant seem to remember why he was always so stressed and worn down before. he sees a game of [insert game here] (i was gonna say darts but google says that game hasn’t been invented in canon time so ill leave it up to interpretation) going on and climbs over lancelot to join in.

the knights watch with amusement and anticipate merlin’s clumsy attempts at [whatever]. oddly enough tho, merlin is a fucking god at [game]. a small crowd gathers and betting pools form and then challengers approach and put money on the line to go against merlin and merlin absolutely demolishes them all. honestly if arthur didn’t know any better, he’d think merlin was using magic to win bc there was no way his bumbling fool of a servant was that good at…anything.

the challengers take their defeat with honor and grace. the audience is a huge fan of merlin and they keep buying him drinks but he just sends them to the table for the other’s to drink. many people come up to him and flirt, maybe motivated by all the money he won that night or maybe just bc he’s merlin, and when merlin responds to them he’s………..he’s a real good fucking flirt? like could put gwaine to shame and he’s rejecting them???? how can someone come across so flirtatiously while turning down offers to take various beautiful people to bed??

arthur was already itching to intervene when people were flirting with merlin but he seemed to have a handle on it so he let it slide, but then people started touching merlin and arthur’s hand had drifted to his hip where his sword was usually sheathed. however, again, merlin was very skilled at escaping the situations with little to no conflict and he came back to the table with his winnings. the knights cheer for him and order more drinks with his money which merlin is too inebriated to notice and truthfully doesn’t really care about. his eyes are on arthur and if arthur thought watching merlin flirt from afar was bad then having him up close in his personal space, hands brushing against his arms and dark eyelashes fluttering softly against his pale skin, breathing his name into the space between them and licking his full pink lips was absolute torture and the worst and best agony he couldn’t even dream up.

[librathefangirl]

i've already watched the new ep too many times so... SOME OF MY FAVORITE DETAILS OF THE MELIODAS VS ARTHUR FIGHT

The Full Counter! (Meliodas swooping in at the last moment to protect his loved ones will never not make me sob)

The first sate sate sate of the season? With that epic pan over him holding his sacred treasure?? Also with him saying it in a way that reminds me of the sate sate sate of the Kingdom Infiltration arc??? HYPE!!

my sweet baby arthur what happened to you?? 😭😭

Meliodas managing to shield Tristan behind him AND looking intimidating while doing so (despite the height difference!)

Oh my pretty beautiful man, I've missed having you on my screen 😭🥹

The fucking power and destruction behind these attacks! Just the sheer visualization of it 👌

The way the new characters are FREAKING OUT and the old ones are like welp his majesty's got this, let's get out of the way

Tristan's wings!! I LOVE the black feathers (especially how they actually fall off in all the action)

i can't capture this through the screenshot but- The way you can just see and hear how much more uncontrolled and rage-driven Tristan's attacks are

Meliodas flipping the tables on Arthur! (the way Arthur goes from nearly landing a potentially fatal hit on Tristan to having to jump out of the way of Meliodas' attack)

Meliodas' demon mark! (and the way it only comes out AFTER Arthur almost harms Tristan 😭)

Trillion Dark!! The love I have for this move! And it looks fucking amazing here!

The oh shit look(s) on Arthur's face

Kick that racist, baby! 👏

The sound effects of Tristan's out of control darkness here... 👀

Tristan's reaction to realizing Meliodas got hurt 🥺 The gasp! The look on his face!

Okay. I wasn't gonna include any dialogue details here (because I've mostly been able to watch without subs) but... The dialogue that I know is happening here 😭 the how can I be a king if I don't care about my son bit from Meliodas and the to be a king we have to set aside our own feelings from Arthur, and this especially in light of Meliodas' past with his own father and his lack of care for his sons and opinion on personal feelings/emotions🥺😭😭

Meliodas immediately going to Tristan's side (even putting away his weapon and turning his back on his very powerful enemy because he loves his kid so much)

THE WAY HE'S HOLDING TRISTAN (I could make a whole post about everything I love about this one shot)

Despite how many characters can fly in this universe, there's something unnerving and powerful about the way Arthur does it in this scene - like. specifically the way he lifts off the ground

Meliodas willingness to die protecting his family is also something that will never not make by sob 😭😭

There's something about Percy's scream for Meliodas, and the way it's visualized, that just hits hard (and especially considering how he actually just met him)

Not the shook on his face 😭 he was fully prepared to take that hit

That catch!! 🥺

And the way he holds him 🥺🥺 and the worry in his voice 🥺🥺

The way he's just so happy that Tristan is okay and back to his normal self and nothing else matters at that moment 😭

Blurry background family!

And I'm gonna stop now because this was supposed to be about the Meliodas Vs Arthur fight and not the entire episode - but some final things I loved: Lancelot and his dramatic entrances, Percy literally vibrating with his want to help fight Arthur, the casual way Lance fights, Donny and Gawain's expressions/reactions throughout the whole thing (which tbh deserves its own post), and of course-

THE WAY THE OTHER SINS WERE READY TO PULL THE FUCK UP BECAUSE THAT'S THEIR FAMILY YOU'RE MESSING WITH DAMMIT!!

[bunji-enthusiast]

Hi!!! Could you do a one shot fir Lancelot with a gem s/o who likes to could him in his fox form

Absolutely!

"Hm, Lance?" You looked over to see that he was approaching you as Sin. Red-furred and all white coloring his underbelly, "Hey." You smiled at the shifter, who looked up at you with a mischievous grin and those closed-eyes of his. You much rather preferred seeing his beautiful ruby-colored eyes, but you supposed that you would simply have to be content with what it was for now. The would-be fox approached you, pawing at your thigh.

"What is that yer' doing?" He asked, breaking his sullen silence finally. You raised your hands to lift, revealing the little project that was nestling the in-between crook of your legs. You just nodded at him with a smile.

"Just something I've been working on for a while, I haven't had been able to find the time to work on it with all that's been going on." You said, "Finally having time-off from duty did me wonders, dare I say." You chuckled, your lips curving into another smile. Sin nodded thoughtfully, a small hum of agreement with the constant working, even with his own goals of perusment mentally weighing down on his shoulders. He was rather extraneous on himself, he'll admit.

He took another moment to think, before he decided to ask. "Could you," He paused for a moment, before finally adding, "move it?" Your eyes flit over to the fox form, then let out an noise of understanding. Moving it to the side, taking careful consideration to make sure it didn't suddenly fall apart or fly away, you then turned your gaze back to Sin.

You patted your lap, waiting for him to take a seat. He put one paw up-front first, then the next. Then the last two, he was steadily checking that he didn't accidentally scratch you with his claws. Soon enough he took a seat on your lap, curling up into himself, and laying his head onto of what appeared to be his very fluffy tail. In this form, he was simply adorable, to no end you may admit. Never aloud however.

After a few moments, you could see that he began to loosen up. So you took that as a chance, taking a tentative moment to pet him.

A small rumble escaped Sin, so you had taken that as a careful assumption that it was quite alright to continue petting him. So you had did, taking each pet and reveling the softness of his fur. You envied him for being able to posses the ability to shape-shift into any form he could want to.

You were pulled out of your reign of thinking by a soft call of your name, opening your eyes to see his own looking at you. Almost, worried, if that was anything to discern from what you could understand in his small expression.

"Did you?" You asked, trailing off. Huffing as you waited for him to respond, he only nodded his head, eyes closing once more as he laid back down.

"You were quieter then usual, is all." He said, making your heart warm at the endearing gesture of concern, even in it's simplicity. You held him up, "Hey!.." causing him to yelp as you held him close, clearly hugging him.

You just said nothing, holding him close as you let out a content sigh. So he loosened, just simply accepting defeat as he dozed off alongside you.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Alana Bloom

she kissed will graham in s1 and dated hannibal in s2 so you can imagine how bad the fandom is to her. fun fact she's in a canon lesbian relationship now tho <3

The show literally does the yaoi treatment of victimisation for the benefit of the male leads to her. And then the fandom mistreats her

I'm not sure if this even counts but...Literally a victim of Yaoi along with several other characters in-series, but she got it almost the worst. The entire show is just people dying because the two male leads are OBSESSED with each other and can't be normal about anything. Alana Bloom, actual PhD of psychology and consultant to the FBI, got kissed by one guy, fucked and fed people-meant by the other, and pushed out a window by the murder husbands' forced-surrogate daughter. Like. Actual victim of several crimes caused by yaoi. She's probably one of the few examples of a Yaoi Victim overcoming and evolving past her yaoi-related trauma into a stronger person/character, though: She gets an entire character overhaul and a hot, millionairess for a wife. She kills a man with an eel. She becomes head of the BSHCI, effectively putting her in complete power over her jackass cannibal ex-bf. She does quite well. Unfortunately, the rest of her screen time is spent trying not to get killed in the ongoing fallout of Hannibal and Will's fucked up courtship, but hey. Can't have everything. I don't even know if I'm saying anything valid here: the fandom loves her, but I supposed her position outside of the Hannigram relationship relegates her to a non-subject in a lot of Hannigram-focused fanwork. She's an 'obstacle' to their relationship only in the sense that Will had a crush on her once that went nowhere and Hannibal started an actual relationship with her SPECIFICALLY to piss off Will. I guess she's also a more literal obstacle as Hannibal's jailer and Will's friend who's constantly pointing out to him that Morals exist and he should try having some of those, maybe.

Gwen

She stands in the way of Merthur, by far the most popular ship in the fandom. I haven’t seen it as much in recent years, but back in the days of fanfiction.net she got slut shamed so badly for having been romantically interested in three of the male characters over the course of the show, which is just... normal straight woman behavior, meanwhile Merlin crushed on pretty much every woman who even looked at him in the early seasons of the show and got no hate for that whatsoever. I barely even read Merthur fics (not because it’s m/m, just because certain aspects of their relationship don’t appeal to me) but the “Gwen is a slut” attitude was so pervasive across the fandom, even fics that weren’t explicitly anti-Gwen would “jokingly” call her a slut. I even saw a few fics demonizing her for having an affair with Lancelot despite the fact that SHE WAS ENCHANTED when that happened, and surprise surprise, Lancelot (who was also under the influence of magic) got none of that hate, and neither did Arthur, who got enchanted to fall in love with multiple women over the course of the show.

Canonically Arthur Pendragon's love interest and an important and interesting character in the show who's completely shoved aside and ignored in favour of the medieval bbc yaoi ship. At best they put her and Morgana in Lesbian Timeout (ie make them get together and then reduce them to wingwomen at best because god forbid we focus on the medieval bbc yuri). Justice for Gwen right now!

She is prince Arthur's love interest (eventually wife). Arthur is MADLY in love with her. He tells his tyrannical father he would give up his crown to be with her (she's a servant in the series). He forgives her cheating on him with Lancelot (!), which in the show is caused by an evil enchantment, but the characters never find out about it. He chooses her time and time again. His love for Gwen is literally never put into question. Many fans insist to this day that there was no chemistry between Gwen and Arthur compared to Arthur and Merlin. Arthur isn’t even particularly nice to Merlin most of the time! The funny thing is that Merlin himself ships these two so hard and does everything he can to help them get together!! Gwen & Arthur are adorable and too many fans were drunk on the yaoi fumes to see it. ARTHUR WAS A SIMP FOR GWEN.

[lovelytsunoda]

yule shoot your eye out // lance stroll

summary: it was supposed to be a relaxing getaway. instead, a snowstorm traps y/n ocon and lance stroll inside the mount tremblant cabin they had rented, and strands esteban and his girlfriend at the airport. so until the snow melts, she's trapped with her brother's best friend, and forced to reckon with her feelings.

pairing: lance stroll x female ocon! reader ( forced proximity, brother's best friend )

warnings: sexual tension, smut scene that really does nothing for the plot but i wanted to put it in there anyways, super brief mention of masturbation (one sentence), drinking, discussion of kinks (or lack thereof because y/n is like me and needs to constantly know she's loved and desires closeness and intimacy-), mentions of poor mental health, half-assed love confessions where they somehow both know exactly what the other was going to say, esteban walks in on lance and y/n making out on the couch. i use too many romance tropes.

mount tremblant, quebec.

y/n ocon had never seen snow this bad. and she considered herself a country girl through and through. or at least, as close to the countryside as one could get in normandy. she drove at a cautious pace, a sharp detour from the way that she normally drove, in an attempt to keep control over the rented toyota.

"lance, i can't even see three feet ahead of me." she huffed, phone resting in the cupholder at the highest volume. lance stroll, her brother's best friend of over a decade was on the other end of the line, chuckling to himself as he tried to calm the girl down.

"calm down, y/n. you should be almost there, if the find my friends app is working the way that it should."

"that doesn't instill me with a lot of confidence, sir lancelot." she rolled her eyes, taking a turn far too cautiously for it to have been safe if there were any other cars on the road.

it's not her fault she's never experienced a proper canadian winter.

"just take one more right turn, you're almost there. do you not see the road signs?"

"i can't see through the fucking snow! i don't understand why we decided to come up here instead of going down to dallas with mick."

"you're the one who wanted a proper winter getaway."

"i meant the swiss alps!"

lance laughed down the phone before redirecting the conversation. "okay, i can see your headlights, you're at the bottom of the driveway. give me like, ten minutes and i'll meet you in front of the cabin. why are you using your windshield wipers to fend off the snowflakes?"

the aston martin driver did nothing to hide the laughter in his voice.

"fuck off, stroll."

lance tried to stop laughing, but y/n could still hear the joking tone in his voice. "just park near the top of the driveway, i'll come out and help you with your stuff."

"you're an angel, lance. and when i say 'angel' i mean the fucker from buffy the vampire slayer."

"duly noted." the canadian laughs, tugging on his parka before stepping out of the cabin and making his way down the steps. "where's your brother?"

"we weren't on the same flight. no, dear old estie decided not to come and visit if we were all going up to the cabin together." she rolled her eyes as she hung up the phone, watching as lance braved the snow, stumbling towards the rental car.

y/n had been studying at the university of manchester for the last two years and was almost done her program. staying in continental europe had allowed her to stay close to her family, and kept her close to racing, which had always been her passion. she was studying mechanical engineering, with a student placement at carlin. of course, her ultimate goal was to be the first female race engineer in formula one, and being able to get in at alpine wouldn't hurt.

esteban and elena would be flying out of paris, but their flight was supposed to leave an hour ago and she hadn't heard anything. no confirmation that esteban had boarded the plane, no word on any delays.

she tried not to think about it as she stepped out of the car, the hood on her puffy white jacket pulled up against the harsh wind. "let me give you a hand."

lance shook his head. "you've been driving for hours, and your flight was what, six hours long? no, i am carrying your bags."

"at least let me take the suitcase, it's heavy." she insisted, although there was a fuzzy feeling in her stomach at the stroll boy's enthusiasm to help her out.

lance had always been a sweetheart, and she'd be lying if she said that in the last three years, she hadn't felt warm and fuzzy around the aston martin driver. he always went out of his way to make her feel comfortable and included, make her laugh when she felt down. when she had been having a hard time at university, lance had come up to visit her when esteban couldn't, or when she didn't want to worry her parents.

she'd be lying if she said that picturing lance stroll in her bed was the only thing that got her off when her hand was between her thighs. that the reason she was probably still single was because she never made it past a second or third date because she kept comparing every single suitor to her brother's best friend.

"absolutely not." lance insisted. "but you can take the backpack."

"all the backpack has in it is books, a travel pillow and a fucking water bottle. come on, i feel bad." y/n insisted, making grabby hands towards her hard-scheel suitcase, backpack slung over one shoulder. "lance."

"y/n. stop arguing with me, it's cold out here. let me help you."

"fine." the ocon girl caved, locking the car and trudging her way up to the front steps of the rented vrbo cabin.

the two stumbled inside, dropping bags in the foyer and stripping out of snow-covered winter coats.

lance would be lying if he said that his line of sight wasn't immediately drawn to the tight holly-green sweater that y/n was wearing, and the way it made her curves look perfect in the warm led lights.

"i haven't heard anything from esteban since i left manchester. has he called you at all?"

"i'm sure you're overthinking, y/n." lance tried to placate the girl in front of him. "he'd call if anything was wrong. i haven't heard from chloe and scotty either."

y/n laughed, slumping down on the faux leather couch. the cabin was cozy: all cedar wood and plaid accents, shockingly Canadian in the sense of décor. fairy lights hung from exposed timbers and she tried to allow herself to relax, tucking her feet underneath a thick plaid blanket.

"i guess that's typical younger sibling bullshit, isn't it?"

lance laughed, taking a seat on the couch next to the young woman. it was all he could do to keep a respectful distance, knowing that if he was any closer, he'd probably do something stupid.

like kiss her.

"i'm sure our siblings are fine." lance reassured, thinking about his own sister and her fiancée.

"hold that thought." y/n said, sitting up straighter as her phone began to ring, esteban's name flashing across the screen. "estie? where are you?"

"we're still in paris. our flight just got cancelled because of the storm. the airline moved us to a flight two days from now, so we're going to stay down the road from the airport." esteban sounded exhausted, his voice far off as it flooded through the small speakers at the base of her iphone. "they said they'd call if anything changed. did you land okay?"

"the flight was rocky, but i made it in one piece. lance and i are at the cabin now. there's still nothing from chloe and scotty."

"putain. listen, as long as you're with lance, you're safe from the storm. just hang tight and i'll call when i have more news."

"okay. estie? stay safe. i love you."

"love you too." the phone began to crackle, her brother's next words getting lost somewhere between phone lines.

"esteban? esteban?" the three beeps from her phone indicated that the lines had gone down, the simple 'no service' icon appearing in the top right hand corner.

y/n groaned, leaning further back against the couch, knees drawn into her chest as she dropped her phone on the cushions. "the lines are down."

she knew what this all meant. she was stuck in a log cabin with lance stroll and every fond feeling that she had ever harboured for the aston martin driver. she'd either lose her mind or do something freakishly stupid.

"is esteban all right?" lance asked quietly, gingerly moving closer on the couch. y/n took that as a cue, falling straight into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. breathing in his cologne.

she'd always loved that fucking cologne.

she sighed, closing her eyes. "his flight got cancelled. they're trying to get him on a flight in a few days, but he's not exactly hopeful. it's a miracle that i got here alive, if i'm being frank."

"it's not all bad. we may not have cell signal, but we do have heating, and there's a fridge full of food and wine. a dvd player and a stack of christmas movies."

"alcohol sounds great right about now." y/n agreed, pulling the blanket further over her body.

"red wine or white?" lance asked, getting to his feet and crossing over to the kitchen. "i've also got my mom's sugar cookies."

"red, please. and bring the cookies. tell claire-anne i think she's a bloody legend."

the canadian laughed, popping the cork as he switched on the small radio on the counter, oldies christmas music flooding the open concept main floor, elvis crooning about how he'd have a blue christmas without the one he loved.

me fucking too, mr. presley.

"don't worry, she already knows." lance beamed, coming back to the living room with two wine glasses and a tin of cookies shaped like christmas trees. "have you been doing all right lately? i never felt right about heading back home after that one weekend."

the french girl knew what weekend lance was talking about. she had been in a bad place that entire week, and esteban was worried about her. he was too busy with sponsorship events and couldn't catch a flight out of france soon enough, so he had called lance. the strolls had been at silverstone that week running simulator time at the aston martin factory. lance had driven the four hours from towcester to manchester, and had stayed with her all weekend. as soon as lance came inside the apartment, she had broken down crying in lance's arms. all she had been able to say at the time had been 'i want my mom', repeating it in both english and french while lance held her, whispering that everything would be okay.

"they've been getting better. the semester ended and think the break has done wonders for me. winter semester starts up in january, and my schedule is a little lighter. i'll be working with carlin again, so once the season starts, hopefully i'll be able to get out a little bit more. i'm supposed to be back at the factory three times a week after christmas." y/n started, taking a sip of her wine, still curled up in a blanket. "i'm thinking about getting a rabbit or something. just so i'm not alone in the apartment all the time."

lance nodded along. "that might be nice. how many years do you have left?"

"two years. stephanie carlin is actually really excited about signing me on full time. just as a junior engineer, not a race engineer, but one day i'll get there."

"i have full faith. you'll be coming for brad's job in no time."

y/n laughed, the sound bordering on a snort. "what, so you can tell me that you know the car is already on fire, or that i don't know that the 'pit confirm' and 'ok' buttons are the same thing?"

"you love listening to me and brad and you know it. you think it's charming."

she raised her eyebrows, taking another sip of her wine. "charming isn't exactly the word that i would use."

the duo didn't realize how fast time would fly. conversation flowed comfortably, the wine bottle already halfway empty, the tin of cookies now reduced to a few small crumbs at the bottom of the metal container. they were now sharing a blanket, their legs resting on top of each other.

"this is going to sound completely absurd, but i need to know." lance laughed.

"it's twenty questions. nothing is too absurd." y/n laughed back. "hit me with your best shot, pat benatar."

lance cocked an eyebrow "are you wine drunk?"

"maybe." she giggled, taking another sip. "was that your absurd question?"

"no, not at all. this is: what are you into? like, in bed? because i walked in on your brother and elena once right before a press conference, and i cannot unsee that shit.”

“try hearing him through the walls. our house was small as hell, lance. imagine hearing your older brother have an orgasm. it’s traumatizing.”

“come on, you have to be into something. stop avoiding the question.”

“lance stroll, you don’t ask a woman about her kinks before a first date!”

“what are you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding anything!” she managed to say through laughter. “really, I’m not. I don’t have any kinks.”

lance raised an eyebrow. “everybody has at least one, come on now.”

“really, I don’t. my roommate in freshman year made me take an online bdsm test, and it came back a hundred percent vanilla.”

“a kink is anything that turns you on during sex, y/n. there has to be something.”

y/n rolled her eyes, staring at her almost empty wineglass. “there is not enough red wine in the world for this conversation.” she reached towards the coffee table, pouring the last dregs of the deep red liquid into her glass.

lance looked at her intently. “now I’m curious. what secrets is little miss perfect hiding?”

“I suppose if I had to pick something, because you seem so desperate to embarrass me today,” she rolled her eyes dramatically. “I would say that my kink is romance. some girls want to give up control and have someone tell them what to do during sex, or be tied up and shit, and that's perfectly fine, for them, but I just want to be loved and cared for. I want grand gestures and rose petals and hand holding. I want to be called sweetheart, and darling, and pretty girl.”

lance raised his eyebrow again. god, he shouldn’t look that good when he looks at me like that, she thinks to herself. “that’s it? that’s what you’re so ashamed of?”

“grand romantic notions get you nowhere in the real world. I know that men are going to get bored with me real quick that way.”

“I wouldn’t.”

her heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second, her breath caught in her throat. it’s the alcohol talking, she tried to tell herself. there’s no way he just said what he said.

“I’d call you ‘pretty girl’ all night long, fuck you as tenderly and lovingly as you wanted, and I’d hold your hand the entire time, as long as you wanted me to.”

she couldn’t form a proper response. her mouth had gone dry. she stared at the beautiful man across from her, blinking rapidly as she tried to comprehend what was happening.

“uhm, y/n? hello…earth to y/n?” lance said, confusion in his voice as he looked at her. “are you okay? I think your brain kind short circuited there-“

she cut him off by planting her lips on his, practically jumping into his lap. the driver gasped in surprise before gripping her hips and holding her close. her hands flew up to cradle lances face, moaning into his mouth at the rush of sensations, the buzz that she felt throughout every nerve ending in her body.

she was kissing lance stroll.

“that’s my pretty girl.” he mumbled between kisses, pulling the blankets around their bodies.

at the sound of the pet name spilling from the canadians lips, the lips she had dreamt would someday be spilling that same praise for her in a much more intimate context, she thought she would crumble under his touch, moaning faintly as she tried to press herself up against him. she was sitting on his lap now, legs hanging off the side of the couch and lips against his, her fingertips dragging through his hair as he gripped her thigh tightly.

“lance…” she breathed heavily, the french accent in her voice wavering as the driver began to press sloppy, open mouthed kisses to her neck. “lance, baby, please don’t stop.”

lance grinned against her skin. he wanted this as much as she did, if not more. “anything for my pretty girl.”

the driver leaned back on the couch, pulling y/n's body flush against his, sliding his warm hands up the back of her sweater. she shivered under his touch, only spurring him on more.

until the lights went out with a high pitched beeping sound, the entire cabin plunged into darkness as the battery-operated radio continued to eerily play 'baby it's cold outside' as y/n jumped, tripping over lance's legs as she slid off the couch.

"jesus christ" she groaned, leaning back against the couch, the floor a piercing cold through her jeans. "what happened to the lights? even the fucking string lights are out."

"shit. the storm must have taken the power lines out." lance groaned, pulling the blanket over his lap to hide the growing tent in his jeans. "so now we have no cell phone signal, and no power."

"fucking hell." she mumbled, getting to her feet. "and no power also means no heat. esteban and elena are going to find our frozen corpses huddled for warmth in front of the fireplace."

"you're so overdramatic." lance laughed, getting up from the couch and reaching out to stop y/n from picking up the empty wine glasses. "sit down, y/n. let me handle this, pretty girl."

he said it with a grin and a wink, an overall sense of cheekiness that sent shivers down y/n's spine. she was still struggling to comprehend what had just happened.

she had made out with lance stroll, and she was about ninety eight percent certain that he enjoyed it, if the tent in his jeans was anything to go off of.

"do you have any candles or anything?"

three hours later.

the power still hadn't come back on. neither had the heat, and the fireplace couldn't warm an entire cabin. a cabin intended for six that was currently only occupied by two. a bath and body works candle that smelled scarily like a christmas tree sat on the dresser, dimly lighting up a small circle against the wall that allowed her to see just enough to pull on her plaid victoria's secret pajamas. but the flannel fabric wasn't nearly warm enough for a cabin that was rapidly losing heat.

a shiver wracked her body, goosebumps sprouting all along the hairs on her arms as she reached for the plush blanket at the foot of the bed, draping it around her body before blowing the candle out and edging the door open.

she crossed the hallway, her hands shaking from the temperature drop as she knocked on the door. she could feel heat from inside the room, indicating that lance had somehow managed to get the old woodstove in the corner working.

she hadn't bothered to try with the one in her room.

"lancelot?" she said quietly, playing into the nickname she had always used for him. "can i come in?"

the door creaked open. a loud sound against the rusted hinges. nothing wd-40 couldn't fix. "is everything okay, y/n?" lance asked, a confused and concerned look on his face.

"i'm fucking freezing. and you managed to get a woodstove to work." she shrugged, laughing softly as she gestured at the blanket she was wrapped in.

lance opened the door wider. "come on in. i've got piles of blankets, and probably some body heat."

"how reassuring." she said sarcastically, crossing the threshold into lance's room. crossing a line that could never be uncrossed as she dropped the blanket, tucking herself into the left-hand side of the bed. lance followed shortly after, draping himself over her, his arms securely around her stomach as they spooned.

"lance?" she said softly, as they lay there in the quiet and the dark. "i'm in love with you."

lance inhaled, and she could feel his entire body shudder behind her as he leaned in the whisper in her ear, his breath hot on her skin. "i've been in love with you almost since i first saw you. when my dad was first thinking about buying force india and we walked in the garage and you were there arguing with otmar in that cute little top with the bell sleeves, insisting that you knew more than the team fucking principal." he laughed, his chest rumbling against her back. "you were such a little firecracker, you know."

"and i was on a gap year as well. i took time off to help my dad with the garage. god, i thought i knew so much. i wasn't even in university yet."

"otmar followed your strategy calls that race, you know. he was unsure at first, but he got on the phone with vijay and vijay told him to go for it."

"i know. otmar told esteban afterwards, told him to give me a fucking pandora gift card."

lance laughed, trying to hide a yawn. "sounds about right. get some rest, pretty girl. see you in the morning."

eight hours later.

the room was still dark when y/n ocon woke up. she could still hear the howl of the wind outside, but the room still felt cold, the piles and piles of blankets still pulled over her shoulders. she rolled over, eyes still closed as she nuzzled into lance's chest. the aston driver groaned, one of his hands slipping down her back to cup her ass gently.

"mornin' beautiful." his voice was husky and seductive as he leaned in to kiss her.

"good morning, handsome." she said softly, her face breaking into a smile as she kissed him.

their lips moved in tandem, the air punctuated with soft giggles and wide smiles as she threw her leg over lance's thigh, trying to pull him as close as she could as he playfully smacked her ass, rolling the pair over so that he was on top.

her hands slipped up the back of his heather grey t-shirt, sliding the fabric over his head while the canadian trailed kisses down her neck, the stubble on his chin grazing the delicate skin. she moaned underneath him before he pulled away briefly to get the shirt the rest of the way off his body, casting it aside before kissing her again. her arms came up to loop around his neck, his fingers dancing across her stomach as he slowly undid the buttons on her pajama top.

"lance," she breathed. "is that. . . "

"my hard cock against your thigh?" lance winked with a sly grin. "you bet. see how turned on you make me, pretty girl? if you had said something sooner, we could have been doing this for years now. maybe i'd have even managed to put a ring on your finger."

"i guess we'd better make up for lost time, then." she grinned, helping lance take off the remainder of her flannel shirt before urging lance's head towards her rapidly hardening nipples.

"you're so beautiful, darling." he crooned, kissing and caressing as much of y/n's body as she could, her fingernails lightly digging into his upper back as he swirled his tongue over her breast.

they easily could have wasted the morning away like that. in lance's arms, y/n felt safe and secure. she felt loved, and it all felt right. something that her mother said to her when she was eighteen stuck out in her mind: when you know, you'll know.

and as she and lance shed their flannel pajama pants, his arms around her, his hands in hers as he began to thrust into her, she knew.

but she had a feeling that she had known for a lot longer than that.

"that's it, pretty girl." lance groaned, thrusting deeper and drawing a loud moan from the girl underneath him. "tell me how good i make you feel, hey? i want to know that you feel just as good as i do right now."

"yes, god, yes." she whined, eyelids fluttering shut as she watched lance bring her knuckles up to his mouth, pressing kisses to each knuckle before trailing the kisses down her arm until he reached her neck, the pace of his hips never faltering. “oh, lance, you feel incredible, love.”

"yeah? yeah, you look so pretty like this, beautiful. my pretty girl."

"oh, god! i think i-"

"are you going to come for me, pretty girl? i've got you, baby, you're safe, let go for me. milk this cock."

"oh, lance!"

as they were laying together, a tangled mass of limbs and hair, fingers still pressed to skin, sweaty bodies pressed up against one another, the power came back on, dim lights filling the bedroom as lance kissed her gently.

"i love you, y/n."

she smiled. "je t'aime aussi, lance."

four hours later.

they'd wasted the day away in the shower (having more incredible sex while they were at it), cooking together and watching christmas movies on the vhs player in the cabin's living room ("who even uses vhs tapes any more!" "people who live in cottages, babe!")

as the end credits to 'deck the halls' played on the big screen, lance and y/n softly made out in the dim light of the string lights hanging from the ceiling, curtains still pulled shut.

neither of them heard the door creak open, but they all heard esteban ocon's disgusted shout.

"what the fuck!"

"esteban, i can explain." y/n tried to reason with her brother, aware that lance's hands were in a very compromising position on her body

the alpine driver stood in the middle of the living room, snowflakes melting on his parka as he blinked, trying to make sense of why his sister and his best friend were heavily making out on the sofa.

"are those hickeys on your neck? y/n ocon-khelfane!"

"lance!" she hissed, looking over at the boy. "really? how old are you, seventeen?"

"you didn't notice when you got out of the shower?" the driver asked, trying to avoid making eye contact with esteban. "i thought you said his flight was delayed two days!"

elena shrugged. she had been standing behind her boyfriend, making the conscious choice not to get involved. "we got an earlier flight last minute. we did try to call."

"phone lines are down." y/n said apologetically. "power was out all last night, too."

"and i bet lance kept you warm, didn't he?" esteban glared at lance, ready to destroy their friendship to protect his baby sister's honor. "you have until the count or three, strulovich."

lance's eyes widened. "count fo three for what?"

"one."

"lance, run."

"he's my best friend, he's not going to hurt me. estie, come on!" lance laughed nervously. "let's talk this out."

"two."

"i think she's right." elena piped up. "you can talk it out later."

"three."

lance was off the couch in a flash. "okay, running now!"

they did, in fact, talk it out later.

but not before they wrestled each other and esteban made lance swear not to break y/n's heart.

Tags: @magnummagnussen @libraryofloveletters @daydreamingleclerc @flannel-cures @sidcrosbyspuck

[morganafayes]

i want to talk about the dark tower (5.06) because it is SUCH a frustrating episode for multiple reasons. it’s unique in that it’s one of the only morgana/gwen centric episodes in the entire series - and yet it ends up becoming a detriment to both of their characters’ development. this episode sucks not just because of the evil gwen plotline (which was terrible yes. we love the writers just removing her autonomy over and over again for no reason!) which resulted from it but also because the lost potential of it all - when this setup could have been easily used to create some of the most interesting plot lines for gwen (and morgana) in s5

like. sorry to say but would it be that impossible or insane for gwen to actually sympathise to some degree with morgana here without magical brainwashing. to me its not! the thing about gwen is that she's a morally driven character first and foremost. one of the main reasons she falls in love with arthur is because crucially, she sees him as a good person. she loves him for the values that she believes he upholds and his desire to do justice. it was same with lancelot - it's emphasised that she liked him because he's honourable and good. we also see that she values her morality and doing the right thing above her own emotions at times (re: her not wishing for uther's death even after he killed her father).

with that in mind, would it be that insane for her entire perspective on arthur and merlin (AND magic) to change because of morgana? firstly, gwen never finds out that merlin poisoned morgana. this is very important to me.... because although yes he didn't 'have a choice' (im not gonna get into all of that but i understand both sides of the argument. whatever) he still did something wrong. like. killing 1 or 10 people in the trolley problem still makes u a murderer. she has every right to hate him. he objectively betrayed her and took advantage of her trust. i feel as if gwen would sympathise with morgana and at the very least this would affect her opinion towards merlin to some degree, and make her realise he's hiding things (because she, like arthur, doesn't know half the shit he gets up to and does! she even less than him!). furthermore (and more importantly) i can absolutely see gwen sympathising with morgana against arthur to some degree too. like yes he's her husband but AGAIN she's someone who always puts her principles first and objectively arthur is upholding his father's legacy by continuing the oppression of magic users. he is textually an oppressor. in 5.13 its clear gwen doesnt fully distrust or hate magic from her conversation with gaius (although she might be suspicious of it considering her past experiences) so she would probably be very sympathetic and understanding if morgana were to explain to her what it was like to be a magic user under uther's reign. how demonised and oppressed they truly were and continue to be. like. she would absolutely still criticise and call morgana out for hurting innocent people but ultimately morgana's cause (despite it being not really true to what it claims to be) would be sympathetic. at the very least she would see that arthur is wrong, even somewhat, for continuing to uphold his father's legacy. especially because (as the writers seemed to forget for some reason.) of her extremely complicated relationship with uther in the past, considering he almost had her killed more than once and did in fact murder her father because of his obsession with banning magic. and now her husband is doing the same thing.

no of course gwen would not side with morgana at this point in the story. but she would understand her and sympathise and it would create such an interesting moment of character growth/conflict. it would make her question her marriage, the things she THOUGHT arthur and camelot stood for and whether those things are really true. it would make her doubt merlin's character and realise he's hiding so much more than she thought. it might make her distrust him or demand the truth. it might make her wonder what SHE wants to do as queen, as a ruler in her own right, especially if she starts to have ideological disagreements with her husband. there's literally so much that could have been done with her in s5 as fallout from just this one episode and they did the most boring thing ever and made it suck so bad. bbc merlin writers ur not seeing the pearly gates

[ivyllamauwu]

I hate Guinevere as much as the next person but omfg if Nakaba doesn’t stop sexualizing her I’m going to throw hands. This new episode made me think back about how weird Nakaba is with young characters.

Like no. This is NOT okay, I don’t care that Lancelot and Guinevere are supposed to be together, cause I know there’s nothing I can do about it. But it’s genuinely disgusting how many people know how weird the ship is and still ship it, and don’t even try to age her up. Nakaba thinks he can throw the same ship dynamic at us over again and think that it’s still okay.(Elaine and Ban, but this time a girl looks young and is actually that young 😐) I see people on TikTok still bashing The Seven Deadly Sins for its weirdness and I know I can’t defend it. Elizabeth’s and Meliodas’s relationship is WEIRD. But what gets me the most on it is how is this world 16 is more adult then how 16 actually is (does that make sense?😭) But, no matter how much Nakaba tries to put a spin on it by going: “Oh Elaine is actually over 100 years old, she just looks 12!” NO BROTHA!! I saw a TikTok discussing how even though Elaine is over 100 she has the mental state of a 12 year old because for fairies getting your wings is like puberty basically. And when Elaine gets her wings she’s physically more mature and mentally, so that just proves no matter how old a fairy is they need to be mentally mature too. And that does NOT help Nakaba’s situation. And for Guinevere I know I hate on her so much when she’s not the one to blame, it’s Nakaba. Her potential is so great, and how much it pains me to say it but, her and Lancelot’s dynamic work! In fact, I love ship dynamics like that! She’s sweet and cocky, she knows what will happen but can’t say anything about it! She has personality! She has so much potential, her ability is so neat, being able to see into the future so clearly and knowing what gonna happen, and knowing what’s gonna happen and knowing you can’t do anything about it is amazing writing for a character! That must be so mentally draining, nothings a surprise to you, you know when you’re going to fall in love, when you’re going to die, tell me that’s not a well written character! And she plays it off by being cocky! I love that! Her design is nice! It’s cute! but why couldn’t she be older?! Is it that hard to make a ship that isn’t fetishizing a young girl?!

Anyway that’s been on my chest a lot lately, sorry if some of it is hard to understand, or it’s kinda everywhere. I feel very passionate about this so it’s making me yap without properly transitioning to a different subject (?) so I kinda just put down what came to mind lol. And on a semi-separate note:

TELL ME THEY DONT LOOK LIKE SIBLINGS! They both have ruby eyes, almost the exact same skin tone, and they have a sibling age gap!

And if you think the images look different compared to the new episode you’re trippin… I lied I edited the images 😞 Here’s the original ig 😒

I think I like mine better tho..

[bi-bard]

Mission - Gary "Eggsy" Unwin Imagine (Kingsman)

Title: Mission

Pairing: Gary "Eggsy" Unwin X Reader

Word Count: 1,058 words

Warning(s): argument

Summary: Eggsy is met with a familiar face when he begins the process of joining the Kingsman. That familiar face is ready for the pieces they so careful put in place to completely fall apart.

Author's Note: I found the first two films for free, so I spent my Sunday watching those. This was caused by those.

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It looked bad.

It looked really, really bad.

No matter how I looked at the situation. It all just looked bad.

Eggsy's clearly confused face when he saw me was going to tip off Merlin. I had been trained to handle questioning. But if it was Merlin asking about this specifically, I don't know how well I would be able to hide the truth.

But when Eggsy's face shifted, I felt my heart drop. He looked angry. Angry and confused and sad. I kept facing forward. Reacting to him in any way would tip Merlin off even more. I couldn't afford that.

I had taken a lot of pride in becoming a Kingsman.

Most people would, but mine was just a bit different. It was rare that I felt like I was good at something, but this... this I was good at. I was a damn natural at it.

And then, Eggsy had quite literally stumbled into my life.

A roadblock. An interruption.

I planned on completely forgetting him after we first met.

But we just kept meeting.

I kept a low profile in a place that was apparently close to where Eggsy and his mom were staying. We bumped into each other everywhere. The shop and the pub and just walking around. Like someone was constantly twisting our paths and making it inevitable that we had to meet.

The first time Eggsy asked me out, I refused.

I tried to play it off. Be light-hearted about the whole event. I did like him, but I had a few variables to account for. I truly believed that it was for the best.

And then, he kept asking.

He tried to do the same thing that I was. Play it cool and light-hearted. But he was persistent. Annoyingly persistent.

It was about a month before I finally agreed to join him for a drink.

The rest was history.

A very carefully hidden history, might I add.

I spent so long working my ass off to hide my work with the Kingsman from Eggsy and hide Eggsy from the Kingsman. I wasn't an idiot. I knew very well that what I was doing was dangerous and against the rules of the Kingsman. I just thought that I could handle it. I could juggle all of it without getting caught.

But Eggsy had to end up in the tunning for Lancelot's place. Of course.

And now, I was here, attempting to stare him and the other future recruits down without showing an ounce of emotion.

Needless to say, I almost sprinted away once the task was over.

"Hey!"

Well, I tried.

"Hey!" Eggsy repeated as he grabbed my arm. I yanked myself away, more out of instinct than anything else. "We need to talk."

I froze for a moment before sighing and nodding toward a room that was off to the side. Eggsy followed me.

"I can explain everything," I said.

"I'd quite like that," he replied. "Please, explain to me why you never bothered to tell me that you were a secret agent."

"I couldn't."

"After months? I didn't deserve to know after how long we've been together? How long we've known each other?"

I didn't have an explanation. I never thought that I was gonna need one. I should've been better prepared.

"What was I then?" he snapped. "I was a mission, right? Were you just getting information for Harry-"

"Will you keep your damn voice down-"

"Why," he asked. "Are you embarrassed? Or was I some secret mission? Tell me, did you get grossed out every time we kissed-"

I stepped forward and slapped my hand over his mouth, my other hand grabbing the back of his head.

"Shut up," I muttered.

He glared at me.

"Will you stop shouting if I move my hand away?"

He glared at me again for a couple of moments before finally nodding.

I pulled my hands away and held them up for a few moments as I stepped back.

"You weren't a mission," I explained. "Quite the opposite, actually. Eggsy, you were a risk."

"Well, that makes it better-"

"I could lose my position here," I stopped him. "You aren't supposed to have relationships when you're a part of this group. It's... It's high risk and secret. It's just not meant to happen. Being with you..."

"You did it despite the job, not because of it?"

I nodded. "The only thing I lied to you about was my job. Everything else... everything I felt... that was all real. Every last part of it."

He didn't speak for a moment.

I looked down, opting to play with my fingers instead of looking at him.

His shoes came into my line of sight. I looked back at him.

"Was it worth it," he asked. "Being with me, I mean. Was the risk worth it?"

I let a smile cross my lips. It felt like every memory and emotion that I had experienced with him flew to the forefront of my mind. All of them hitting me at once. Not in a bad way. Not even close.

"Every second of it," I said.

There was a pause as a smirk grew on his face.

"Every second," Eggsy repeated. "Is that right?"

"Don't get cocky about it," I muttered.

"Cocky? Me? Never."

I rolled my eyes but was still smiling.

"So... can we-"

"Not here," I stopped him as he went to lean in. He furrowed his eyebrows. "I... I really can't lose this job. It's the one thing I've been properly good at."

"Alright..."

"Survive the tasks and we'll plan from there," I promised.

"How long will that take exactly?"

"I can't tell you that... first because I'm not supposed to and second because you will hate the answer."

Eggsy seemed to deflate in front of me.

"I'm sorry... I never thought this would happen. I really have no idea what to do about any of this."

"It's alright," he shook his head, reaching out to touch my hand. "I can wait."

"You sure," I asked.

He nodded. "It'll be worth every second."

I scoffed as he spun around on his heels and started walking away.

I tilted my head back a bit and mumbled toward the ceiling, "Dear... whatever entity is out there... please don't get him killed...

"I quite like this one."

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[larluce]

I want to talk about Arthur's reaction to Merlin being a sorcerer in magic reveal fics.

There are the ones that portray a very violent and cruel Arthur. Fisically injuring Merlin on impulse or trying to supress his magic with cold iron. Almost killing him by accident due to outburst or ignorance for him to feel very guilty afterwards. I get why they do it. The angst and drama. And, while there are very well written fics with these prompts, I don't actually believe Arthur would react that way. No matter how betrayed, angry and hurt he feels.

True, there were occasions where Arthur reacted badly, or really, just two occasions: when Morgause told him the truth about his birth and he almost killed his father, and when Gwen "cheated" on him with Lancelot and banish her. However, in the first scenario he genuinely believed his father had killed his mother just out of selfishness, the mother he never got to meet and blame himself for her death all his life, and then killed thousands, not really out of guilt or revenge which probably was Uther main motive, but out of pure hypocrisy. Honestly, even the most kindhearted and nonviolent person would react that badly! I don't think we can compare learning your best friend lied to you about being a sorcerer for years with that. When it came to Gwen though Arthur was actually merciful. As King he should have had her executed, he couldn't NOT punish her in some way because there were witnesses and he couldn't be look as a weak or unreasonable King. And even as angry as he was, he let her explain herself, he was willing to listen to what she had to say. Looking a little backwards, when Arthur found Gwen kissing Lancelot and went on full rage, he never draw his sword at her and is actually when she put herself between Lancelot and his blade that he stops. The woman he loved betrayed him, made him look like a fool infront an entire council and probably the entire kingdom as well and yet he never once insulted her. The much he did, besides banish her of course, was shaking her by the arms in his anger but it's short lived and he quickly apologised after that, because even after what Gwen did to him he can't bare the though of hurting her.

Then there are the fics were Arthur reacts too nicely to the news. He is understanding, he doesn't even get mad at all. He is fine with Merlin being a sorcerer right away. While these fics tend to be cute and all fluff, they make less sense to me that the first ones I mentioned. Arthur still was raised to hate magic, that doesn't go away just in a minute. Also while he can be a very reasonable man, he is a very resentful one too, at least when it comes to trust. We've seen this through the series, nothing breaks his heart more than someone he cares for betraying his trust. Returning to the previous example, while he let go Gwen unharmed after the infidelity, it took him a long time to actually forgive her. Also, while not being a violent man normally, Arthur can be very hurtful with words when he's upset. He threathened Merlin with banishment when he was still hurt about Gwen and Merlin kept reminding him about her. When Merlin decided not to go with him to the most important battle in his life, he said his famous "I always though you were the bravest man I ever met... I guess I was wrong". He didn't actually mean the words, but he's hurt so he hurts others to appease the pain. Was he being unfair and selfish when he said these things? Yes, he's not perfect, he has flaws but that makes him human.

So, how do I actually believe Arthur would react if he had found out about Merlin's magic before Canmlan? Not so different really. He would have said hurtful things, would demand to be alone, for Merlin to leave (not banishment), but he wouldn't fisically injure Merlin in any way. He also wouldn't arrest him at least there were other witnesses and he had to keep appearences, because he's still king of a kingdom that bans magic. But even then he would late let Merlin explain himself and make sure he has a fair trial, a trial Arthur would definitely arrange in a way Merlin is found innocent, or he would give him a royal pardon, and he would make sure Merlin is not harm while he's in the dungeons. Banishment would be a last resort if the council is firm about Merlin being punish, because laws and mentalities can't be changed in a day after all.

But if there're not other witnesses, Arthur would simply not require his servicies for a while, ignore him for some days, weeks maybe, but not a long time really. Again, he can be a resentful person, but not an unreasonable one, he would eventually call for Merlin and be willing to listen to him. The intesity of his anger and hurt, and how troubled he feels about his believes on magic, would depend on which season the magic reveal happens. But, generally, the actions he would take would be the same. Let's remember that even when he found out about Merlin's magic in Camnlan, after all the betrayals he suffered, when Merlin left him alone with Gaius, he ordered Gaius, not for Merlin to be arrested or to disclose to someone Merlin was a sorcerer, but to have Merlin take a word to Gwen! To his wife! If he really believed Merlin was evil, that he could hurt him, he wouldn't dare to do that. Also, as soon as he learned he needed Merlin to have a chance of survival, he accepted his help, reluctantly yes, but he did let him take him to the sidhe when he could easly refuse and demand Gaius to do it or refuse to do it all together cause going to the sidhe would mean using magic on himself and put faith in a sorcerer. So, no, I don't believe he ever planed on taking Merlin to the dungeons, much less kill him, even then. He just wanted to be left alone for a moment, he needed Merlin to leave because it hurt to see him after the revelation, after the betrayal.

Anyways, those are my thoughts. What do you think?

[wumiings]

Best Wife

“Gwen is the best at everything, isn’t she?” Merlin remarked as they walked together. “Best seamstress, best friend, best queen…”

“Best wife,” Arthur added fervently.

Merlin hummed at that and made an ambivalent gesture, just to be difficult. He then had to bite his lip to hold back the laugh that bubbled up in his throat at the king’s indignant expression.

Guinevere, of course, caught the glittering amusement in his eye right away. She put on a tone of exaggerated injury as she demanded, “Merlin, you don’t think I’m the best wife?”

Merlin shot her a well-constructed grimace of guilt and sympathy. “Well, I mean, every man has got to be biased in favor of his own wife, hasn’t he?”

“You don’t have a wife, Merlin,” Arthur informed him with a scowl.

Merlin shrugged, unaffected by the pronouncement. “I might do.”

“No, you don’t—”

Just then, Merlin caught sight of Lancelot coming down the hallway. His eyes lit up. “Lance!”

The knight looked towards the sound and, noticing the trio, waved in greeting.

“I need you to settle a matter for me,” Merlin told him, the picture of earnestness. When Lancelot nodded, he asked, “Who has the best wife: me or Arthur?”

To the king’s immense shock, a stricken look crossed Lancelot’s face.

“You want me to choose?!” he demanded almost shrilly, and if it was an act, it was the most flawless performance in the five kingdoms, because his voice even cracked on the question.

Merlin’s gaze softened at once. “No, no, if it’s too difficult to say, I won’t make you. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”

Lancelot looked like a man granted a reprieve from execution— an absolutely ridiculous response to an already baffling conversation. Then, with a short nod of farewell, he hurried off down the hallway as if fearing Merlin might change his mind.

Both Arthur and Gwen stared after his retreating back for a long moment before slowly turning those stares back on Merlin.

“Do you have a wife?” the queen asked, incredulous.

Merlin only shrugged again and repeated with a small, mischievous grin: “I might do.”

[kissme-withyour-cherrylipstick]

what’s your favorite merlin ep from each season?

Ooh yay, good question! I don't have these already picked out so I will be giving it a think!

Season 1: I'm gonna have to go with the Moment of Truth. Thought I was gonna go with the Poisoned Chalice, but then I saw MoT on the list and realized it had to be that. There's just so much good in it. It does such a wonderful job of establishing how at home Merlin has become in Camelot, all his friends come to help him, Gwen and Morgana are awesome 😍 And of course all the Merthur stuff. When Arthur asks if Merlin has found a place where he fits in? 😭 Hunith absolutely shipping them? But what really tips this one over the edge for me is Will. I love him so much. He's such a good character, even though he's only in one episode. He's Merlin's best friend!!!! I have put a lot of thought and fanfic into what they must have been like together in Ealdor. Merlin being in the middle of the conflict between Arthur and Will.......... Ugh I could go on but this is already long 😅 And Dr. Bashir as Kanen is always fun 🤣

Season 2: The Last Dragonlord. My favorite episode of the whole series. I love Balinor sooooooooo much. He is just so. How do I put this into words? He's so harsh when we first meet him, but he is willing to help. There's a gentleness to him that has been hardened by years of intense persecution and grief. He's the last of his kind, just like Kilgharrah 😭 He's so lonely and expects nothing from Merlin, but then..........KASJDFIHALKSJAJD;LJAKJSDASJFDSK. Him and Merlin! All their scenes are so good!!!!! When Merlin says "We could be happy," my heart is destroyed. They got no time with each other!!!!! He would have been so good for Merlin!!!! And the little dragon he whittles for Merlin?? 😭😭😭 I am not okay. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HUNITH AND BALINOR. ROMANCE OF ALL TIME. Tolkien level love story. But so tragic. Again, I have spent a lot of time and fanfic thinking about what could have been.

Season 3: The Coming of Arthur, part 2 if I have to pick. One word: Mercelot. Merlin with the sword and Lancelot there and Merlin showing off 😭😭😭 THEM. lakjdlkajlkdjskfasjlkdslkjsalkja. It's also a really good episode and so cool to see the round table and everybody becoming knights. One of the episodes of all time. Honorary mention to The Sorcerer's Shadow. Merlin and Gilli have such an interesting dynamic.

Season 4: Some personal favorites in this season, but I gotta go with The Secret Sharer. Everybody is WORKING in this episode. Agravaine has finally gone too far and it almost breaks Merlin and Arthur 😭 Ugh that scene in the council chambers. "He would not have left without saying goodbye to me." Just kill me now. And then way Gwen is there to check on Merlin 😭 And then Gwaine! GWAINE!!!! A great Merwaine episode. He got bored of playing soldiers! He's really just here for Merlin!! The way Merlin is so dismissive of him at first! But then he helps him and the deleted scene!! And then of course all the Emrys stuff with the Catha is so cool. I'm a bit of a Gaius hater, but I love his relationship with Merlin and it's so strong and good in this one. And then what Gaius says to Arthur at the end 🥲 I'm fine.

Season 5: The Diamond of the Day, part 2. I feel like I don't really need to explain this one? You get it.

Wow okay all my picks are quite sad. What could this possibly say about me.

[r0ckstar00]

EXCALIBUR'S WRATH (Sonic and the Black Knight 2)

Everyone knew the tale.

The tale of a cobalt hedgehog, drifting in from another dimension, swooping down to rid the world of plague that had haunted them for years. The tale of a witch obsessed with immortality and afraid of the changes her kingdom may face. The tale of how the hero ended up the "bad guy", the opposition ending her delusion and restoring the world the way it should be.

Yes, everyone knows that tale. But there is one that no one ever speaks of - one far more significant than the former. One that changed the world for good.

This... is the tale of Excalibur's Wrath.

Do you dare to fight again?

When Camelot recovers from their gruesome battle with the Dark Queen, another sinister evil lurks from underneath. From the dark army reappearing from thin air to the disappearance of the all-powerful sword Excalibur (or Caliburn as he much rather prefer to be called), the Knights of the Round Table are at a loss.

Who is this enemy?

With no answers and far too many questions, they all decide to recall King Arthur otherwise known as the trusty cobalt hedgehog named Sonic the Hedgehog. Perhaps in their time of need might he shine the brightest.

But without the power of Excalibur, Sonic fears that he may not be able to stop the looming doom that taints the world with its dark color. With a dire situation lingering over his head, will he have the strength to push back? Or will he be overcome with powerlessness, unable to fight back?

A/N: Surprise. Sequel to Sonic and the Black Knight 2! This will be my home page for all the chapters and information you might need in order to understand some things in the book (and me too because I know NOTHING about old tales the sword in the stone).

This idea only came to me as a joke. I started saying like “what if I wrote a sequel to a game that doesn’t really need one?” and so then the gears in my brain started to turn and I came up with this.

And so, this idea has been nurtured so much that I would HONESTLY say that this could work as an actual game. I would put it on the switch for convenience (cause the Wii is a little outdated as of now lol), but it could so work. All it needs is Jason Griffith and a whole lot of coding.

Enough of me talking, though. I’m sure you want to know the cast. And might I say I’ve introduced nearly 5 new characters into the world of Camelot, a few you’d be surprised to see.

I also have a few more side notes; since this is basically fan-made there WILL be implied ships. Which ones? I’ll let you figure that out. ~

MAIN CAST (I’ll put descriptions for them later)

King Arthur / Sonic

The King of Camelot. Dubbed the Knight of the Wind in the past, this speedy hedgehog grew to take over the kingdom in a long, treacherous journey that involved various risks. Seeing his potential and bravery to fight for an unknown land, Caliburn - now Excalibur - had decided to grant him the title of King. However, nothing can keep this hedgehog in one spot for long, so he's unable to run his kingdom properly. Although he is the true King, Merlina manages everything he can't.

Merlina

The "co-ruler" of Camelot. Once a tyrant obsessed with the idea of immortality, she now spends her days rebuilding the kingdom that she almost destroyed. She makes decisions for the kingdom in King Arthur's absence and takes charge of the Knights of the Round Table. Merlina wishes to become the best mage in the world to protect her newfound kingdom from harm, and she will stop at nothing to do so.

Sir Lancelot / Shadow

The first Knight of the Round Table. He was the first knight that King Arthur faced, and perhaps even his most loyal follower. Sir Lancelot fights beside him chivalrously, ensuring that his King is not hurt in any way, shape or form. After Arthur's unfortunate departure, he finds himself introverted - perhaps longing for the battles he used to have. He takes it upon himself to fight for the kingdom, even if Arthur isn't around.

Sir Gawain / Knuckles

WIP

Sir Percival / Blaze

WIP

Sir Galahad / Silver

WIP

Sir Lamorak / Jet

WIP

Lady of the Lake | Nimue / Amy

A water deity residing in the Deep Woods, the adoptive mother of Sir Lancelot and Exalibur's original owner, Nimue has a lot of things going for her. She often guides newcomers, the Knights of the Round Table or even King Arthur himself with her words of wisdom, preferring that to the gruesome battles the others face. However, she is not unwilling to use her magic to protect the ones she loves.

Griffin / Tails

The townspeople's blacksmith. Although he's rather young and scrawny, Griffin has been known to be able to fix anything brought into his shop which often comes in handy when the Knights of the Round Table need it. He's known to have certain complex inferiority issues, though all that is pushed aside when he looks at his weapons and armor in action.

Orella / Rouge

A winemaker and a collector of fine jewels and rarities. She's independent, rather bossy, and knows just how to sweeten people over with only a few words and a certain look. She runs the largest wine business in Camelot and gets intel from every place on the map. Perhaps she'll share it with you... if you give her something in return.

Adelaide / Cream

A lonesome child wandering through the forest in search of her mother who she only has memories of. She's a master of the wilderness, knowing which berries are poisonous, knowing which plants you cannot touch under any circumstances, and she even knows how to survive on her own all at the tender age of six. There is also a secret she hides deep within her - one that she must not let anyone see, lest someone abuse it.

Raziel / Espio

Being a scribe and a poet isn't easy, especially when witnessing the downfall of both King Arthur and the Dark Queen. He has information about everything - whether it be the sacred legends of time, or even just about any place on the map. Any practical information he has, he's willing to share with anyone he deems acceptable and worthy. But if you also wanna listen to his poems too, that's acceptable.

Kazamir / Metal Sonic

An underling created by Mordred to keep the knights at bay. He was created with the speed and dexterity of Arthur, and to the naked eye, the two could even be mistaken as twins. It's only when they look up close do they realize that he's completely made out of painted metal - and remnants of dark magic.

Mordred

An ancient spirit set from decades ago, desperate to rule the kingdom that was selfishly taken from him by the original King Arthur. A master of dark magic, manipulation, and someone with a whole army by his side, he will stop at nothing to take back the kingdom that was rightfully his.

[mademoiselle-xingyoi]

Attention Needed!

Secret Kiss with Knight

Merlin x Reader

Summary : Merlin is too busy making a potion for King Arthur and you aren’t having any of it.

Word Count : 894 words

Type of fanfiction : Fluff

tw : mention of Lancelot…  needy Merlin (not intimately) 

You laid on your bed and watched from afar as Merlin brewed together a potion for Arthur. He’d been tasked with watching over you as you had, once again, fell going up the stairs because of the sheer lack of balance the woman you switched bodies with had. 

Though your leg felt completely fine now! It’d been a while, and it didn’t hurt much to begin with. You could walk just fine without experiencing pain. But with Merlin ever being persistent, he told you to rest. After some time… it got quite boring not being able to do anything while Merlin did whatever magic things he was doing.

“Merlinnnn…” You called, hoping to get his attention.

The only response was a quiet and questioning hum. Not even a look or glance. Or a single movement directed towards you! That frustrated you as he’d paid no mind to you at all this entire time. Wasn’t he supposed to be your lover?!

Getting up from the comfort of the soft sheets, you walked to Merlin. Peering over his shoulder, you saw him mixing things together. You also noticed how he shied away from how close you were standing to him. But he was wearing his veil, covering his face like usual.

“Why do you still wear that around me? You don’t need to.” You reached up a tucked some hair behind his ear, resulting in him shying away. Again.

“I-I prefer wearing it.” He claimed, his hands now, shakily, working. 

“But I’ve seen you without it so many times! We’re also lovers, right Merlin? Doesn’t it get in your way a lot?”

He didn’t say anything back as he was apparently trying to ignore you in favor of his work instead.

You pouted, becoming upset as it felt like he just simply didn’t want you around right now.

You huffed as you turned towards the door to leave. “Fine. I’m sure Lancelot will keep me company.” Despite saying that, the queen’s secret rendezvous man was the last person you wanted to keep you company.

“No.” Suddenly, Merlin spoke up, clearly not happy about what you said. Or he was jealous.

Looking over your shoulder, you could see he finally put his work down and was facing you. “A-Ah! H-He, I-I…” He stammered, looking away and back at his things. Since he turned away, he didn’t see you start approaching him again. “H-He wouldn’t be good company for you…”

Without warning, you gently pulled his veil off his face, with him protesting after. You couldn’t care that much as you tossed it onto your bed. Cupping his pretty face after, you looked into his eyes. Merlin’s face was almost like a tomato as he started tearing up, like usual.

“You’re so cute Merlin. You know that?” He brought the back of his hand up to cover his mouth as he looked away. You brushed away the tears building up in his eyes and wrapped your arms around his neck, laying your head on his shoulder. With how your bodies were so close together, his face only get redder.

You started planting small kisses to his upper neck and under his jawline, making him squirm. Trailing up further, you kissed all over his face. Leaving just one part that was covered by him. Gently pulling his hand away, you look him in the eyes again. You wait and watch him, making sure he was fine with this and that you weren’t making him uncomfortable. 

When you saw no signs of said feelings, you pulled him closer and kissed him deeply. Savoring the moment and the satisfaction of finally getting what you wanted. You entangled your hand into his hair—a color akin to that of beautiful snow—and brought him closer once again.

Unexpectedly, he wrapped his arms around you. His hands coming around to cross into an ‘x’ over your back. If there had somehow been even a sliver of a space between you two, there definitely wasn’t one now. Your bodies now pressed fully against each other as you kept deeply kissing one another.

You pulled away a moment later, planting a kiss to his cheek and stepping back. With a playful smirk, you spoke. “Well, my ankle is getting tired and I’m sure you still have your magical things to work on.” You started making your way back to your bed when you felt him grab your wrist and turn you around swiftly. 

Merlin tightly wrapped his left arm around your waist and used his right hand to pull you in, his fingers catching in your hair. One of your hands rested on his upper arm, and the other on his shoulder. A few seconds later, he pulled back and rested his forehead against yours, albeit being flustered.

“Merlin?” You muttered, feeling your heart start picking up in pace. “King Arthur can wait. He doesn’t like the potions anyways.” He muttered back quickly, for once looking into your eyes without wavering. Smirking playfully again, you whispered to him. “You were supposed to have been watching over me anyways. I’m getting what I’m due.”

Through the night, you two lavished in the soft affection and closeness you offered the other. Ultimately, you slept in the arms of the man you loved, who cherished you just as much.

And Merlin learned that it’s nicer to postpone work for you.

[sugaredrhubarb]

In honour of her second book, Lancelot in November, coming out later this month, I want to talk about one of my favourite books of the last year and one of my favourite romances ever.

King of Cups 

By @woodswit / @phoebe-woods

available here

Hockey, love, tarot, mystery—this book is so up my alley that I was almost scared to read it. After putting it off for most of the fall, I finally dove in this winter while in the middle of a depressive slump. When I say this book made me laugh and cry, it feels almost diminishing—it made me feel, and anyone who experiences similar slumps of numbness knows what a feat that can be.

King of Cups follows Eloise, a mess of a private investigator, as she gets drawn into the world of the Boston Bruins and the world of Jacques Lavesque, a hockey star and a man finally cracking under the weight of perfection. If you don’t want to read me wax on about this book for ages, give it a look.  If you'll stick around, let me tell you why I love it.

Eloise & Jacques

“She was never comfortable at all – not in her own skin and not in anyone else’s. After all, underneath it all, there she was – a trespasser no matter where she went, an interloper who had never learned to root in any soil, a witch forever in exile.”

Oh, how I was so seen by Eloise. She is a little lost and a little lonely. She is awkward, and sometimes she’s accidentally cruel, but she is good, and she is learning. Sometimes, a character changes in a book simply because the author says so; that is not the case here. Eloise grows and evolves, and we get to see every step forward and backward and every bump along the way.

“Was this what it was like to be in Jaques’s head — to see the vulnerability in everyone, even when they were challenging, and have your heart broken for it?”

I have never related so much to a male character, even in all his big athletic manliness. Jacques is tired. He has given so much of himself to his team, to his family, to everyone but himself. He has so much love and so much anger, and they twist, grow, and burn bright within each other. The story of Jaques is just as compelling as the story of Eloise, and they amplify each other in every way. 

“He was in love with the world and at times in love with every single person in it.”

Hockey 

“She was thinking of church again as she heard the announcer yell, “...BOSTON BRUINS!”  Or maybe not church — maybe something older, something rooted in pagan ritual and wolf-gods and dented armour.”

So yes, this is a hockey story, but you don’t need to be a hockey fan to enjoy it. For those of us who are, however, and have been burnt by hockey books before, this is what we’ve been looking for. The author is a hockey fan, and it shows in how she examines the fanaticism of sports culture, the paradox between the inherent violence of hockey with the perfect family man image it demands, and the bigotry endemic to the whole thing. None of it feels forced; all of it feels real, and you can tell it’s done by someone who both loves the sport and sees its flaws.

Everybody else

“[...] at the end of the day all that matters to me is how I loved other people.”

Every character in this book is a whole person. No side character is there just to serve a purpose, even only for a scene. From the other players on the team to Eloise’s family to the big “villains” and the side conflict starters, every single one has wants and needs and flaws, and I fell a little in love with them all. You will relate to them, you will feel for them, you will love them too.

Love

“Love was the Wheel of Fortune, cyclical and never static.”

The word love has already appeared 11 times in this post (12 now) and is circled frequently in my copy of the book. This is a romance (as I usually talk about very smutty things, I would be remiss not to mention that this is not that), and the love built between our main characters is so strong, even when it is scared or angry. Eloise and Jacques are magnetic to each other and the reader, and every moment they are in each other’s vicinity feels charged and electric. But romantic love is not what makes this book special. Love is woven through every aspect of the story, and it is the familial love, the platonic love, that shines brightest. Love is hard; sometimes love ends, sometimes it refuses to, and sometimes it is new and barges its way in when you least expect or want it. This book depicts it all beautifully.

I don’t even know how to fit in here just how well it’s written. The world is detailed and real. The characters are relatable and full. The mystery is gripping and engrossing. I could talk about the dialogue for ages. It is so incredibly human, funny and aching and awkward and revealing. 

If you read this book, you will want to treat the world as kindly, empathetically, and lovingly as the author treats her story. 

The author is a mutual of mine on here so I do want to say thank you to her for giving the world such a special piece of work, I’m so looking forward to reading the next addition.

And thank you anna ( @winterrose527 ) for putting it in my path in the first place.