#arthur wont stop calling merlin his servant

[ineffablesheets]

Oh nothing just soldiers and their super model boyfriends

[fishoutofcamelot]

📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂📂 (or as many as you want to answer)

I count 32 folder emojis so you get 32 headcanons. A moment of silence for everyones dashboards, bc im too lazy to add a read-more line.

When Gwen became queen, she decided that they could get a different servant to wake them up so as to let merlin sleep in. George is an early bird, so he is happy to wake them up most mornings (except in special circumstances like birthdays or whatever, then merlin will surprise them with breakfast in bed)

Lancelot was young when bandits killed his family/village, and spent most of childhood and formative years on the streets as an orphan

Gwaine is pan

Sometimes, merlin will use his animation magic to bring balinors dragon statue to life. He'll sit there in his room, watching it eagerly fly in circles overhead. He named it Flappy

As an extension of the previous point, Merlin is really bad at naming things. The name "aithusa" only came to him bc of dragonlord magic. For example, upon catching/killing a rat in arthurs chambers, he named it "Ratravaine"

Gwen, on the other hand, spends a whole day nervously agonizing over what to name something. Elyan caught a caterpillar and asked Gwen what it should be called, but this only drew her into a week-long crisis. By the time she decided on the name "Wilbur", Elyan had already released it back into the wild

Ygraine and Nimueh definitely had a gay thing back in their teenage years, and ygraine was definitely bi, and nimueh definitely used to tease uther about how she hecked his wife before he did

Arthur is a dog person

Percival is afraid of deep water and also doesnt know how to swim. But after elyans lake funeral, percival became determined to learn - perhaps it was merely a coincidence, or perhaps out of some morbid desire to one day wade out into the lake and feel closer to his fallen friend

Arthurs love language is gift giving. Gwaine, leon, and lancelot are acts of service. Merlin and Gwen are words of affirmation. Percival is quality time. Elyan is physical touch

Post season 3, Morgana grew to hate flowers because they reminded her too much or Gwen, but could never bring herself to crush/destroy them

Arthur has a lactose intolerance, but since no one knew what that was back then, no one thought to tell him to stop eating dairy

Pre-canon, Gwaine and Tristan/Isolde worked together on some smuggling gigs

Gwen, Merlin, and Arthur meet up with Tristan to visit Isolde's grave and pay their respects once a year

Tristan turned down Arthurs offer of knighthood, but does come to help out whenever they need it. He makes no secret that merlin is his favorite

Post-canon, Merlin is THE pokemon card collector. Like. He keeps binders full of them. Doesnt trade or compete in card games/tournaments, though. He just likes to look at them

Percival is an artist. As a kid he didnt have any art supplies, but he used to carve amazing sketches into the dirt using sticks. Knowing this, Lancelot bought him a box of paints using his first Knight WageTM

On his deathbed, Percival asked Merlin to fetch his paint box. The paints had long since run out, but he kept the box as a comfort, and as a reminder of all the friends he had lost. He holds it to his chest as he lets out his final breath. Merlin buries him with the box in hand

George is left-handed

During council meetings, Gwen and Merlin will make faces at each other when no one is looking

Merlin actually hates the color gold, for reasons you can probably imagine

Merlin starts season 1 at the age of 17, is 27 by season 5, and 1500+ by the end of the series

Post-canon, Merlin has begun studying robotics in the hopes of one day creating an ai sophisticated enough to be his companion. After all, a well-maintained machine wont die as quickly or easily as a human would

Gwen's favorite color is purple/lilac

Leon suffers from insomnia and also has major PTSD

You know the "Siblings Song" by Brian David Gilbert? That but with Leon, Elyan, and Gwen (leon being the oldest brother, obviously)

Merlin will pack-bond with anything. He once painted a face onto Arthurs chair, named it Mr. Seat, and forbade arthur from sitting on it. Gwen played along, and under her orders Mr. Seat was placed in the vaults

Gwen is poly, but knows that arthur isnt as comfortable with open relationships so she doesnt pursue anything polyamorous out of a respect for his boundaries

Everyone thinks mordred is innocent bc he's the Baby Of The Family, but he actually curses worse than a sailor. And his curses are creative too. He did spend some time working with slavers, after all

Theres this one noble who used to bully servants, even bullied gwen and Merlin. So when gwen became queen, thereby outranking the noble, she was all "ooooh ive been waiting a long time for this" and gave up half of the noble's land to the nearby villages. Merlin wouldve preferred she punch that bastard in the nose, but she insists this way is much more effective (it is)

Between the stone dog, the dragon in the flames spell, and the horse in the smoke spell, Merlins favorite type of magic is animation magic. He likes bringing things to life, bc for just a moment those magical constructs make him feel the tiniest bit less alone

Merlin has very faint freckles that only pop out when he spends long periods of time in the sun. Incidentally, these freckles also glow gold when he uses magic

Thanks for the ask! <3

[maraleestuff]

Another Merlin fic?

This probably won't be as detailed as my last fic idea, but we'll see. So, since the idea wont leave me alone, here it is:

A body switch.

I've read a similar fic on archive, where Merlin and Arthur switch bodies, and it's revealed that Merlin has magic (but Arthur thinks it's because of the switch) if I'm remembering it correctly. (Don't remember the title of it at the moment, unfortunately.)

But instead of Merlin and Arthur switching bodies, it's Arthur and someone else. It's caused by the usual new visitor to Camelot, probably someone who wants the kingdom in their grip -- to bring magic back, or do some twisted revenge to Uther (if it takes place before Arthur becomes King). Anyways Arthur is the perfect person to switch with, especially since hardly anyone has the authority to question him, as far as they can tell. (And Arthur is gorgeous, so that's a plus 😎).

Of course, their plan is flawed. The switch goes both ways; either they are too inexperienced with magic to realize this, or Arthur is placed into a role where no one will listen to them. (Maybe the doer is a noble and their very loyal servant. Their servant is the one placed in Arthur's body, and after the switch takes place, the 'servant' is cast aside and discredited -- maybe accused of magic. Something that ensure that Arthur will not mess with their plans.)

What they don't count on: Merlin. He's a bumbling, clumsy servant, but effective enough that they can't just do away with him. (Maybe they were in Camelot long enough to realize that Arthur wouldn't just fire Merlin without raising suspicions, or perhaps word has spread of his fondness for his manservant.) A minor inconvenience, but managed by pinning tons and tons of chores and other ridiculous things to keep the boy from noticing anything off.

Naturally, Merlin does notice that 'Arthur' is acting stranger than usual: more rude and demanding, and none of their usual banter. But what set him on edge was how Arthur reacted when Merlin called him a cabbage head: he sends Merlin to the stocks, or even a night in the dungeons. Merlin shares his concerns with Gaius, but neither know enough to do anything, so Gaius cautions Merlin to just do his chores and lay low.

It was Merlin's plan. Truly. But then one of the servants come up to him, one with the nobles visiting Camelot. He's rather unassuming, perhaps ordinary looking, and Merlin might have been more willing to be amicable, but Arthur had piled more chores since the cabbage-head incident and he was busy.

The servant claims he needs to speak to Merlin, urgently. There's a slight wild-eyed look to him. It's almost familiar how he speaks to Merlin.

Arthur, in his new form, had been all around the castle, trying to get someone to listen to him, the Knights laughed -- and the imposter appeared before Arthur could say anything else, Gaius was far too busy with his duties, and speaking to his father was out of the question. Not without solid, undeniable proof. That left only Merlin, who always seemed to be onto something when trouble hits Camelot. He's not sure how, but Merlin ends up usually playing some part in stopping them.

At the very least, Merlin was determined and relentless in sniffing out trouble, and didn't always obey Arthur's orders. Which was exactly what Arthur needed right now.

The challenge of it was trying to get Merlin to actually listen to him. Merlin usually listened to Arthur in his own body, even if he didn't do what he said; but Arthur knew he was not as himself right now, and Merlin seemed too busy to pay Arthur the servant any real mind.

Merlin definitely wouldn't believe him if he just blurted out the truth. And as much as Arthur called Merlin an idiot, his servant was actually quite clever when he wanted to be -- but still stupid when he threw himself headlong into danger, usually in an attempt to save Arthur, true. But still stupid.

Arthur told him that the Prince was in danger. (A bit strange to refer to himself like that.) But it worked well enough; his manservant all but froze, and gave Arthur a suspicious and calculating look. It wasn't a side of him that Arthur usually saw, and it threw him for a second -- mostly because he was on the end of it.

It was also then that he realized that he didn't know what to say next.

After a few moments of stretching silence, he hurriedly told Merlin that it wasn't safe for them to speak there, that they should meet later. Arthur scrambled for a place that they could meet and finally decided in the forest outside Camelot, around Midnight.

Merlin, to his credit, seemed skeptical, and Arthur wasn't sure if it would be enough; but then the imposter was calling for Merlin's attention with his voice. It couldn't be right, because he sounded far too impatient, too irritated--

But Merlin didn't seem surprised. Merlin didn't return to the imposter right away, and Arthur mightve been irritated that his servant was so balantly ignoring his order if the situation was different; Merlin was trying to get more information, but the imposters voice was growing closer.

They shared a surprisingly familiar look, knowing their conversation couldn't continue. But whether or not Merlin was aware, Arthur the servant couldn't be seen here, not by the imposter.

"Don't tell anyone," Arthur whispered urgently. "Not even the Prince. I don't know who to trust. Meet me alone."

He paced away, turning the corner just before the imposter came in, demanding to know why Merlin was taking so long. The imposter called Merlin an incompetent, useless idiot; Arthur lingered, doing his best to stay out of sight, and bristled.

He just spent at least an hour shadowing Merlin, mostly since Arthur wanted to have this conversation without any eavesdropping servants and it took some time for his manservant to be alone. He watched Merlin scrub mud off his boots, polish his armor, scoop out the stables, and do his laundry -- the latter of two which smelt so horrible that Arthur gained some respect for Merlin. He also had the feeling that Merlin had more to do, and winced in sympathy as the imposter piled on even more ridiculous chores.

Most were outside Merlin's duties as his manservant, but Merlin didn't seem to have it in him to argue. Odd since Merlin usually protested when Arthur did this (Arthur twisted his expression, and decided not to assign so many chores). The imposter clearly did something to Merlin's spirit as his manservant sighed, almost resigned, and said, "Yes, sire."

Arthur looked around the corner as the imposter swaggered out. Merlin was watching after him, but Arthur couldn't see his expression since his back was to him.

After Merlin left, Arthur thought about their meeting later. It was possible that Merlin might be too exhausted to come, but Arthur brushed that thought away. He had to convince Merlin of the truth, and for that he needed proof.

Arthur sneaks into the rooms where the noble is staying, and starts searching for anything that could prove magic was involved. He manages to find a talisman or something that could be magic.

Later, as he waits for Merlin to meet him, Arthur comes up with an explanation that's mostly true: the noble, his former master, is using magic to try switch his soul with Arthur's. The servant isn't sure how, but the talisman or something is involved. But he isn't sure if the switch has been done yet.

It seems to be enough for Merlin, and the following morning, the both of them are in Gaius' chambers, explaining it to the Physician and trying to figure out what type of magic is being used. Eventually Merlin has to return to the imposter so he doesn't know anything is wrong.

As Gaius and Arthur continue their research, Gaius starts to suspect Arthur the servant. But they manage to find out that the talisman is the Mark of an old religion ritual, which switches the consciousness of two individuals. It's an older, darker magic that most followers of the old religion didn't use -- since those who practiced it usually utilized it for similar reasons.

The talisman needs the blood of both, enchanted, and then a corresponding mark, a magical tattoo of sorts, is embedded in the pairs skin. Gaius finds this bit of information on his own, and notices the mark on the servants inner wrist. It doesn't take him long to figure out that the ritual has been done, and that it was Arthur with them all along.

Arthur panics, but Gaius calms him down and they both search for a way to reverse it. Eventually Merlin returns, and Merlin and Arthur sneak back into the noble's room.

Only this time, the noble knows the talisman is missing, and is waiting for the pair in their chambers. A fight ensues; the noble uses magic, and it seems like they've all but lost in trying to get what they need to reverse the spell -- but then Merlin uses his magic to fight the noble.

After, Arthur confronts Merlin about his magic. To his shock, though, Merlin explains that he uses his magic, putting himself at risk, to help Arthur in threats against Camelot. Usually magical threats.

Arthur is touched, slightly, a little hurt that Merlin hasn't told him. But he unleashes a ton of curses, calling Merlin an idiot, and a number of other insults, for using magic in the middle of a kingdom that executes those who are even suspected of magic--

And Merlin just. Stares at him. After a few moments, he asks, "Arthur?"

They manage to return Arthur and the servant to their respective bodies, and the noble and their servant get due punishment. To Merlin's and Gaius' pleasant surprise, Arthur doesn't mention that Merlin used magic, and their return is chalked up to the nobles inexperience.

Merlin later explains his part in fighting against their weekly enemies. In private, Arthur allows Merlin to practice his magic. Nothing major, but he tests Merlin's reflexes, which has mixed results, since his manservant has learned to (mostly) ignore those instincts. Merlin assumes Arthur is doing it for entertainment, but Arthur is trying to make sure that, if the moment comes and Merlin needs to fight for his life, even against the Knights or his father, he'll be ready. He also makes sure Merlin has basic sword skills, but Merlin prefers to fight with a staff.

Merlin becomes the secret advisor for magic while Uther is still King, and is allowed the time he needs to help with any research. Arthur helps when he can, but with his own influence as crown Prince.

When Arthur becomes King, the law against magic is lifted and Merlin is announced as the Court Sorcerer, who helps Arthur and co. come up with rules for magical practices, to stop something like the Great Purge from happening again.

I'm not sure how Arthur dies in legend, but for this, he lives a long happy life; Merlin sees the prosperous land of Albion, as promised; and Queen Guineviure (I dont know how to spell her full name, ugh) rules over the kingdom for the rest of her days.

And even after centuries pass, after magic and dragons are thought as myths, the hearts and minds of men never quite forget the legend of Camelot.