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bitsandbobsofwriting · 3 years ago

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Twin!AU Part 2:

Gwaine is ecstatic to find that he’s technically dating Royalty (Arthur still isn’t best pleased), and Merlin begins to recover his true heritage.

Part 1 Part 3

Gwaine stares at the two of them open-mouthed from where he sits on the edge of the bed.

Re-telling the story had re-ignited Merlin and Arthur’s anger, but they do a good job of keeping it in as Gwaine tries to process that his partner and The Prince of Camelot are... twins. Gods this sounds like something out of one of Leon’s ridiculous fiction books: long lost royal twins and insane Kings and emotional reunions with long-dead, ghostly relatives. But to be fair, Gwaine has found that in all of his travels, Camelot has definitely been the weirdest place he’s ever been. Or perhaps it’s just the people.

He finally shuts his mouth, nodding slowly as he takes a deep breath and stands. He wipes his sweaty hands down his trousers briefly before stepping forward and pulling Merlin into a hug, making pointed eye-contact with Arthur over his shoulder. The only thing that Gwaine and Arthur had ever agreed on was that Merlin’s safety was of the upmost importance; this whole ordeal had just strengthened that agreement:

“That’s... you guys have had one hell of a day, huh? You said Gaius, and your mo- Hunith, and that bloody Dragon knew?”

Merlin tenses in his arms before pulling away, and Arthur’s expression turns stormy once more as he nods. Gwaine frowns, keeping one hand on Merlin’s shoulder as the servant (Prince?) responds bitterly:

“Hmm. We haven’t spoken to Kilgharrah or Hunith yet, but they’ll be getting a bloody mouthful from me, when we get time.”

Gwaine nods sympathetically, muttering his reply more to himself than the others:

“...Bastards.”

Arthur nods, but takes a deep breath as he puts his own hand on Merlin’s other shoulder:

“Agreed, but we’ve been gone too long; Leon’s been dealing with the council for at least half an hour and we need to go explain things sooner rather than later. News of my- The King’s arrest will spread like wildfire once it gets out.”

Merlin sighs, sagging slightly where he stands, and Gwaine steps even closer to him, moving his arm to be over his shoulder in a side-hug:

“Hey, I’m sure Arthur and Leon can deal with this if you’d rather hide out in here for a little peace. We could always set Morgana loose on the council, she’s bound to whip them into shape.”

(Yes, this fic is ignoring the timeline both in terms of the knights AND Morgana. She knows about Merlin’s magic, and Merlin, Arthur, and Gwaine (and Lance) know about hers.)

Merlin lets out a quiet huff of laughter, leaning into Gwaine’s side slightly as he looks up:

“No, I can’t. Arthur’s right, we need to sort this out sooner rather than later. I’d be perfectly content to not tell anyone about who I really am-”

Gwaine raises an eyebrow and Arthur narrows his eyes, ready to protest, but is interrupted by Merlin’s loud continuation before he can say anything:

“-but I know neither of you will let me get away with that so... here we are.”

Arthur nods decisively and Gwaine hides a grin, clearly thinking about how he’s technically courting a Prince. Arthur rolls his eyes at Gwaine’s expression, a small part of him cursing himself for letting the drunkard stay in Camelot, but the rest of him is grateful, knowing that Merlin needed more than Arthur on his side, especially now he had lost, or partially lost, Gaius, Kilgharrah, and Hunith.

The blonde Prince lets out a deep sigh, looking towards the door despondently as he decides that they really can’t leave Leon to fend for himself any longer. The three of them make their way from the room wordlessly, but Arthur halts the group again at the end of the corridor, turning to Gwaine with a thoughtful frown:

“Go find Elyan, Percival, Lancelot, Morgana, and Gwen. Gaius is a member of the council so he should already be there but double check he isn’t in his chambers, and Leon may have fetched Morgana himself, but I don’t know.”

Gwaine turns to look at Merlin and speaks quietly:

“What should I tell them?”

Merlin’s frown deepens and he glances at Arthur, but he just shrugs slightly, giving the choice to Merlin:

“They’ll all find out in the meeting anyway, so it might be best to pre-warn them so they aren’t blind-sided. Tell them the truth, I was born with magic, and am Arthur’s long lost twin brother, confirmed by Igraine’s ghost and then Gaius.”

He looks bewildered as he says it, almost as though he doesn’t fully believe it quite yet; Arthur nods in agreement and continues his instructions to Gwaine:

“Have everyone meet us there as soon as possible, I want to get this sorted now and I’m going to need as many people on my side as I can get.”

Gwaine nods seriously, pressing a brief kiss against Merlin’s forehead before rushing off in the other direction, hurriedly knocking on the knights’ doors down the corridor as Merlin and Arthur turn the corner.

They make quick work of the journey back through the castle, stopping just outside the doors to the Throne Room with sweaty palms and shivering lungs. The two of them listen to the annoyed sounding murmurs coming from inside for a few moments and the guards try not to give them odd looks as Arthur glances to Merlin—stood at his side instead of behind him—with a fond, though nervous smile. He puts his hand on the other man’s shoulder:

“We’re about to cause one hell of an argument, you ready?”

Merlin takes a deep, calming breath, smiling briefly as he hears Leon pleading with the council to be patient for just a little longer, looking to Arthur with anxious eyes and pale cheeks:

“Yeah. Come on, I think Leon might hurl himself from the window if we make him wait much longer.”

Arthur chuckles quietly, and the guards quickly divert their gazes when he looks back to the doors, taking one last fortifying lungful before walking forward and pushing them open with a bang, Merlin at his side.

The room goes suddenly quiet and Leon visibly relaxes when they walk in, bowing briefly before stepping aside and allowing Arthur to take his place in front of the thrones. There is no table in the Throne Room, so the council stand gathered in the middle, staring up at Arthur incredulously as he runs a hand down the arm of The King’s throne absent-mindedly. He was grateful to see Gaius present, despite not being in any sort of mood to talk to the man; he holds a smirk in when he sees several of the councilmen raise eyebrows at Merlin, still stood at his side when he technically shouldn’t even be in the room. There was even further incredulity as Sir Leon moves to stand guard behind him, as opposed to The Prince.

One of the Lords nearer the front of the small crowd finally breaks the tense silence:

“My Lord, what is the meaning of this? We were told it was an emergency, that we were meeting in the Throne Room as opposed to the council room, and were then made to wait for almost a candle-mark. The King has yet to arrive, what is going on?

Arthur turns to look at them with a raised eyebrow, back straight and face impassive:

“Patience, Lord Angar, The King will not be joining us, though we are waiting for a few more-”

The doors open before he finishes and every head turns to see the remaining knights, Gwen, and Lady Morgana enter, led by a serious looking Gwaine. All of them give Merlin a small smile and a bewildered nod, bar Morgana, who looks nothing short of furious as she moves to stand protectively at his side, glaring at any councilman who dares to look their way. The knights spread out, standing to attention with hands on their swords around the edge of the room, whilst Gwen moves to stand against the wall behind Morgana, Merlin, and Leon. Only Gwaine, Leon, and Lancelot are in full armour, but all the knights are armed and angry looking.

The councilmen, looking more confused and annoyed, look back to a still impassive Arthur. He fixes a short glare on each and every one of them before turning to face them properly and speaking confidently, his tone inviting no argument:

“The King has been arrested and confined to his chambers for the murder of the late Queen, and gross crimes against the Kingdom.-”

The room immediately explodes into angry and incredulous yelling, and Merlin flinches away from the sudden noise. Morgana squeezes his wrist comfortingly, knowing that it was only going to get worse when the rest of the truth is revealed, and Leon steps out from behind him, moving to be at his side with his sword halfway out of it’s sheath.

The other knights and Gwen all tense in place and Gwaine has to resist the urge to run to Merlin, knowing that the council’s disdain for both him personally and his courtship with Merlin would just make things worse. Arthur rolls his eyes at the cacophony of noise and slams the metal part of his gauntlet against the arm of the throne with a bang:

“ENOUGH! You’ll find, gentlemen, that remaining calm and quiet will make this conversation much easier.-”

He glowers at everyone until the hall is drowning in another tense silence before taking a deep breath, forcing himself to keep his hands from fidgeting as he continues:

“-It has come to my attention, through the Witch Morgause-”

A few murmurs of dissent go around the room, but they quickly cease when even the ever-calm Sir Leon begins to glare at people:

“-and further confirmation by The Court Physician, that King Uther used sorcery, against The late Queen’s wishes, in order to conceive a child. He was warned of the dangers, and went ahead with his plan anyway, which resulted in not only the birth of twins, one of whom was magical, but the death of the Queen.-”

At the mention of Gaius, the elderly Physician gets a few confused glances, and even more glares; no one likes being kept out of the loop, especially when everyone there is a Lord except Gaius. At the mention of twins, everyone’s attention is abruptly back on Arthur, and the knights have to resist the urge to look at Merlin, in fear of giving anything away too early.

Before he can continue, Arthur is interrupted by Lord Angar again:

“My Lord, I very much doubt the validity of anything you have just said, but either way, is this really the sort of meeting to be had with servants, a Lady, and your peasant knights present? I know you’re oddly fond of them but-”

Arthur, Leon, and Morgana have to resist the urge to punch the Lord in the face at his words. Gwen, Percival, Lancelot, and Elyan manage to keep their faces neutral, though Gwaine glowers openly. The knight does however hold in his smirk when he notices the fury on Arthur’s face. The Prince takes a threatening step forward but doesn’t lower himself from the dais as he speaks, his tone cold:

“Lady Morgana, Guinevere, and Merlin have proven to be better advisors to me than you ever have Lord Angar; Sirs Percival, Elyan, Lancelot, and Gwaine are amongst the best knights this Kingdom has ever seen, and you will show every one of them the respect they deserve, or you will excuse yourself from this room, and this council. Am I understood?”

The red of Angar’s face gets more severe as he splutters:

“My Lord you can not be-”

“Am I understood?!-”

Arthur’s voice cuts through everyone in the room, despite it’s low volume, and where Leon hides his proud smirk, Morgana doesn’t hold back at all, especially when Angar takes a deep breath and nods his purple head in embarrassment. The rest of the council seems to finally have grasped the seriousness and severity of the situation and play close attention to Arthur as he continues, no one daring to interrupt again:

“-This information changes everything we know about sorcery; my father started a genocide against an innocent group of people because he was too much of a coward to admit his mistakes and refused to take the rightful blame for killing his wife. I will not stand for this, and things will change very soon. If you are not outraged at the unjustness of his actions, at the death and suffering he has caused our people, the people we are meant to serve and protect, then you are more than welcome to leave. Meetings to organise and begin the process of legalising magic will start early tomorrow, and I will be accepting no excuses, this is non-negotiable. As for the matter of my twin brother...-”

Arthur glances back to Merlin, and at his slight nod, Arthur shoots him a small smile and holds his hand out to him. Merlin walks slowly forward to the sound of the council gasping and muttering to themselves, Leon stays barely a hair’s breadth behind him with his sword fully drawn:

“-may I present Prince Myrddin Pendragon.-”

Lord Angar, among others, looks seconds away from bursting once more, so Arthur hurries to continue, though still manages to keep his voice forceful and confident:

“-This information was unconfirmed for both of us until around a candle-mark ago; I have never believed in fate before now, though I think we can all be grateful that The Prince managed to return to Camelot all on his own.-”

He settles his hand on Merlin’s shoulder, but doesn’t pull him forward too much, understanding that his serv- his brother, probably wants to be as far away from the centre of attention as he can get.

“-I want him presented to The Kingdom and crowned before the month is out, this matter is also non-negotiable. Any questions?”

Lord Angar looks desperate to start yelling, but he also seems to have finally accepted that his influence over this room, and now the council in general, was tenuous at best. One of the newer councilmen, a young Lord who Arthur has a slowly growing respect for, steps forward slightly, bowing his head before meeting Arthur’s gaze and quietly asking:

“And The King, My Lord? Should we plan for your coronation as well?”

It was clear that the question was unexpected and Arthur frowns at the realisation that he had... arrested The King. Uther may have deserved it, but Arthur couldn’t bring himself to order his execution, and knowing Merlin he’d argue against it endlessly anyway.

Morgana senses Arthur’s hesitation after a second or two, thankfully before the council becomes restless and annoyed:

“You could always take over as Regent whilst we sort all of this out; that way we can revisit the issue of actually crowning you King later. Though we can’t confine Uther to his chambers forever, we’ll have to deal with him at some point.”

Arthur hums and nods, giving her a thankful smile before looking back to the young Lord:

“Lady Morgana’s suggestion is sound. I’ll take over as Regent,-”

He nods at Geoffrey of Monmouth, who takes a note down in the giant leather tome he perpetually has under his arm. If Arthur thinks about it for too long, he might come to the conclusion that the older man looks proud:

“-and we can revisit the issue when the dust has settled.-”

He rubs his eyes tiredly, as though the last day or so of drama had finally landed with it’s full weight upon his shoulders:

“-I think it goes without saying that, for now, none of this is to leave the room. I trust only Sir Leon with assigning who is to guard The King,-”

He glances to Leon, who nods seriously at his words:

“-keep it discreet Leon. I want to keep as much of this under wraps for as long as possible to avoid public panic; this is going to be a lot of hard work gentlemen, but I mean to see it through with or without your support, the choice is yours. The first meeting will take place in the normal council room tomorrow, two candle-marks after dawn. You’re all dismissed.”

The councilmen—including Gaius, after he sends a forlorn look Merlin’s way—slowly trickle out of the room, some looking angry, most looking resigned, but a few looking rather content, happy even (Arthur and Morgana take mental notes of who is who). The door shuts quietly behind the last man, leaving only Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Gwen, and the knights left, all of whom understanding that the dismissal did not include them. Arthur lets out a deep sigh when the room quietens, looking back up to Merlin with a tired smile and even more tired eyes:

“Ready brother?”

He quirks an amused, but hugely pleased eyebrow as he says it and Merlin grins, rolling his eyes fondly:

“Not even close, but that’s never stopped me before.”

Arthur chuckles as the others all move closer, an odd mix of exasperated, because Merlin turning out to be Arthur’s long lost magical twin is exactly the sort of insanely dramatic thing that’s likely to happen in Camelot, and hesitant, because... how do they even deal with that? Other than with a great deal of confusion?

Gwen is the first to reach him, pulling Merlin into a tight hug that is very well received:

“I’m sorry Merlin, I can’t imagine how difficult this must be, and I’m so terribly sorry for all the horrible things I’ve said about magic.-”

She pulls back but doesn’t let go of his shoulders, staring up at him with tears in her eyes and a desperate look on her face:

“-You know that we all love, and trust you, don’t you??”

Merlin rolls his eyes fondly and pulls her back into a hug with a wide smile on his face:

“Of course I know that, I love you too Gwen. And don’t worry about it, you believed what you were taught, it’s not your fault.”

She looks like she wants to argue again when she pulls back, but Merlin just pats her cheek softly and gives her a warning glare. She huffs but dutifully steps back, allowing Gwaine to take her place as the rest of the knights pat his shoulders and run soft hands through his hair as way of apology and comfort.

Merlin smiles at them, but sobers quickly when a particularly horrible thought re-occurs to him. Gwaine squeezes his shoulder in question and Arthur furrows his brows:

“Merls?”

Merlin just sighs and leans into Gwaine’s side slightly:

“I need to talk to my... Hunith. And Kilgharrah, but I really don’t have the energy for him right now.”

Arthur nods in understanding, thinking for a moment before looking up to the huddle of knights (most of whom look marginally confused at the mention of whoever the hell Kilgharrah is):

“Percival, Lancelot, you know where Ealdor is?-”

The two of them nod, remembering the route from visiting with Merlin a few months ago:

“-Leave at dawn, take an extra horse and bring Hunith back with you. With all that’s going on, me and Merlin can’t afford to be gone for even a day and it’s a four days’ journey there and back.”

They nod, but Lancelot quickly responds with a quiet:

“We can leave now if you like, it’s not like the journey will take much prep. What should we tell her?”

He looks to Merlin, who frowns slightly as he replies, his words slow:

“Don’t tell her anything, Arthur and I need to have that conversation with her. She’ll panic when you turn up without me so feel free to tell her that we’re all alive and uninjured and not in any danger but... just don’t tell her the real reason.”

Their smiles are understanding, and just a little pitying, but they turn and march off the moment Arthur nods at them in approval, determined to do everything they can to make things go smoothly and easily.

It’s Elyan that breaks the now slightly uncomfortable silence a few moments later:

“So... do we still call you Merlin? Or is it Prince Myrddin, My Lord?”

Merlin grimaces the moment Elyan mentions what would soon be his official title, and the others grin at his reaction, chuckling as he runs a hand through his hair:

“No one’s called me Myrddin since I was about five, and I think it would be a little odd if that changed now, so Merlin is just fine.”

The others nod in agreement, though Arthur sighs as he responds, faux annoyance in his tone:

“Paperwork’s going to be bloody confusing.”

It takes Merlin all of three hours to figure out that Arthur had subtly assigned him a constant guard. The guard consists of Sirs Leon and Gwaine, so he isn’t... complaining, per se, but it's annoying, to escape company for a quick piss to find his partner and friend casually hovering right outside the door.

But to be fair, Merlin only notices when his brain registers that Gwaine isn’t there, and how odd that is. Whilst Merlin is interrogating Leon, Arthur is cornering Gwaine in a seldom used corridor, though the rambunctious knight beats Arthur to the punch:

“I think we’ve been here before, Princess.”

Arthur raises an amused eyebrow at Gwaine’s teasing grin, before sagging slightly in place and sighing. Gwaine sobers immediately, putting a hand on the blonde’s shoulder and trying to meet his gaze:

“Arthur?”

Arthur sighs again, looking up to him with tired eyes:

“This goes without saying, but Merlin.... he is everything to me. As far as I’m concerned he and Morgana are my only family, though I suppose I believed that before all of... this; but that’s besides the point. I know you won’t ever mean to hurt him, and I do trust you, as... difficult as that is to admit, but I need to you understand, Gwaine,-”

Gwaine nods in understanding and agreement:

“I do understand, Arthur. He’s everything to me as well.”

Arthur shakes his head and steps back, bringing himself to his full height:

“No, you don’t. He is my brother, and he was taken from me. He has suffered, more than I think either of us will ever know, and that stops, this Kingdom is now being built for him. But I would burn it all down if it would make him happy. Everything is for him, for Morgana, for my family. Do you understand?”

Gwaine nods, only once, before holding his hand out. Neither his hand nor his voice shakes as he responds:

“I’ll pour the oil, you light the match.”

Arthur pauses for a moment, as if trying to gauge his own trust in the other man, before clasping Gwaine’s hand strongly.

The seriousness of the moment ends when Gwaine lifts his other hand to tug sharply at Arthur’s hair before ducking under his arm and skipping down the corridor towards where they’d left Merlin and Leon. Arthur just huffs and follows him, definitely not sulking.

Merlin turns to them both with a scowl when they enter, immediately taking note of the residual gravity in the tightness of Gwaine’s shoulders:

“And what have you two been doing all of sudden?”

Leon bites his lip to stop himself from snorting in amusement, but fails miserably the moment Gwaine shrugs and opens his mouth:

“I don’t know, some sort of mutual arson pact I think.”

Arthur rolls his eyes first at Gwaine subtly, then at Merlin, far more obviously:

“Honestly Merlin, we’ve spent practically every second with you all day, you can’t go a few minutes without us?”

Merlin huffs noisily and turns around to grab Leon’s wrist, dragging him from the room and not looking over his shoulder as he snarks:

“Leon’s always been my favourite knight anyway.”

Gwaine and Arthur just look outraged, both speaking at the same time:

“Hang on, what about me?!”

They fix each other with narrow-eyed glares before shoving each other childishly, fighting over who could shoulder their way through the door first.

The next conversation, a few days later, is... a lot harder.

With Kilgharrah’s odd ability to seemingly know about everything that happens in Camelot, Merlin couldn’t get away with putting off speaking to him for long, especially with how The Warlock could feel the way he was angrily clomping about in his cave.

The short journey down through the dungeons, made by Arthur, Merlin, and Gwaine, was made mostly in silence. The oppressive feeling of Kilgharrah’s mishmash of emotions bouncing around in Merlin’s head made focusing on any other strain of thought impossible, and Gwaine and Arthur were too busy stewing in their own anger and worry to want to disturb him.

They pause momentarily outside the large iron gates leading to Kilgharrah’s lair, none of them looking to each other as they take deep breaths in an attempt to gather some bravery. Arthur and Gwaine have never said anything, but Kilgharrah terrifies the shit out of both of them; Merlin normally takes these trips alone—Arthur and Gwaine’s fear wasn’t difficult to pick up on and he never wanted to make them uncomfortable—allowing the other two their blissfully ignorant beauty sleep as he sneaks away to argue with a Dragon. But that’s obviously not in the cards today; no way either of them would let him face this alone.

Kilgharrah is waiting for them when they push open the gate and stalk out onto the ledge, and he raises himself to his full height, sparing barely a glance in Arthur’s direction and sparing Gwaine even less as he stares at Merlin with aloof, golden eyes:

“You have discovered who you are, Young Warlock, at long-”

Merlin interrupts him with a scowl and a held up hand:

“You had no right,-”

His voice is echoingly deadly, and the two knights find themselves being reminded of Merlin’s seemingly endless power. Merlin being angry at Gaius was... was like a child being heartbroken at a parent’s betrayal, which it was in some ways. But Merlin being angry at Kilgharrah... that was much more; like a God being angry at a creature of His own design. Merlin stands before The Great Beast, centuries old, full of unimaginable knowledge, and he stands tall, and proud, and angry.

“-no right, to keep this from me. You claim that no one can know their destiny, and then proceed to prattle on about mine in riddles. In my search for answers, you gave me more questions. In my search for comfort, you gave me fear. In my begging for help, you gave me nothing but pain. I’m done, you’re just as bad as Uther.”

Kilgharrah bristles, flaring his arched nostrils as his furious reaction ripples across his hardened scales:

“How dare you compare me to-”

Merlin interrupts him with a yell, his voice growling in it’s reverberation, a hidden power more ancient than the mountains themselves echoing in his words:

“You separated my brother from me and you had no right! You whine about how Uther took your kin from you, but you took my kin from me! You suffered so you made it your greatest goal to make everyone else suffer just as much. You are cruel, and cowardly, and I am done. You will not manipulate me anymore, you will not lie to me, or mislead me. You tried to get me to kill the boy, but I didn’t, and I forgave you. You tried to get me to kill Morgana, but I didn’t, and I forgave you. You keep trying to get me to free you, but I won’t. You will rot in here until you can tell me the truth, a truth I deem worthy, on why you kept my heritage from me.”

He doesn’t wait for a response, turning on his heel and marching out of the gate without another word, Gwaine following closely behind. Arthur stays, just for a few moments, though with Merlin’s sudden display of power over the beast before him he finds himself significantly less frightened:

“He’s right, you know. Every one of my brother’s successes has come to pass because he ignored you. You have haunted him every step of the way, causing nothing but grief; you should be grateful, Merlin has offered you a chance of redemption that I would not have.”

Arthur doesn’t wait for a response either, jogging up the steps to catch up with the other two just exiting the dungeons.

Merlin doesn’t ask what was said, though Gwaine does raise an eyebrow in The Prince Regent’s direction; Arthur gives him a short nod, acknowledging Gwaine’s need to know, need to keep a tight hold on everything so he could keep Merlin safe and happy. Or as happy as he can keep him in this situation. Gwaine relaxes when he understands Arthur’s promise to tell him later, trusting the blonde to have Merlin’s best interests at heart.

The slight relaxation doesn’t last long however; Merlin heads up through the castle towards the large doors leading into the courtyard. The other two follow him, knowing that the younger man likely needs some fresh air to recover from the pressing darkness and power and heaviness of Kilgharrah’s presence, but they quickly tense when he suddenly halts on the steps just outside the doors.

When they peer over his shoulder, they are abruptly reminded of the amount of time that had passed since Percival and Lancelot had left. And apparently returned.

Hunith dismounts her horse quickly, her mouth stretching into a relieved smile as she runs towards him. Merlin doesn’t move, just stares at her with blank eyes, and Gwaine’s eyes shift nervously between the two of them. Hunith’s relief is quickly dropped when she notices Merlin’s non-reaction, and she slows just before she ascends the steps, looking up at Merlin with her brow creased in worry:

“Son?”

Merlin’s expression hardens; his hands clench and his eyes and tone turn icy as he responds:

“I’m not your son.”

END of part 2!!!

Sorry to be a teeeaaasssee :))))) (Not really)

I’ve recently got a BUNCH more hours at work (which is like... good for me personally but not so great for my social life or hobbies lol) so things might take a little longer to come out from now, but I promise this blog is still ultra active and going!! I’ll just only have time to write in the evenings nowadays.

I’m not sure when part 3 will be, but it’s in the works and won’t be too long!! Two weeks at absolute MOST I imagine :D

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friendlyneighborhoodcapricorn · 3 years ago

Note

okay just one more teensy tinsy ask and then I promise I'm done - for today - lol

we have definitely spent too long without talking about lancelot again, so what would it be like dating him before he becomes an actual knight of camelot? like I imagine travelling with gwaine before the end of season 3 is a lot different from travelling with lancelot back then, even though they're literally travelling the same lands with basically about the same resources (which are none)

Ooh it’s definitely different! For starters, Lancelot doesn’t throw himself headfirst into every fight he sees lol

Fair warning: I kinda got sidetracked with this one lol

You meet him at some fighting ring, which has apparently become his thing after leaving Camelot.

But wait, that’s not right. You’re sure you’ve seen this guy before. You can’t remember for the life of you where, though.

So that night, when he drags himself out of the damn cage with a black eye and blood blossoming on the shoulder of his tunic, you follow him.

You nearly give him a heart attack when you speak up.

“Do I know you?”

“I don’t know, do you?”

The answer is definitely yes, and it comes to you in the dimly lit tunnels of a cursed citadel.

You didn’t just meet this guy before, you used to be his friend.

“Lancelot?”

“I’m sorry, should I- (Y/N)?”

You travelled together a few years back, after he came to your aid while fighting a group of bandits.

Three years later, with his hair cut short and a scar on his cheek, and you barely recognised him. But it is undeniably him.

“So, did you end up finding Camelot?”

“You could say that.”

“I’m taking it you didn’t become a knight.”

“Would I be here if I did?”

You both decide to travel together again.

In many ways, Lancelot is not the same as he was all those years ago. Becoming a Knight of Camelot was his dream, his calling, and now he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

But you drag him along and that’s exactly what he needs, to see that there’s more in the world than just Camelot.

Together, you take on bandits trying to raid villages -making sure no one has to suffer the same fate Lancelot did- or wayside thugs.

Fighting together comes naturally. All you need is to look at Lancelot’s face to know he’s about to toss you his sword.

He asked you out like it was the most mundane thing in the world.

It was late at night, the two of you lying next to each other in a meadow under the stars, and he just asked. Simple as that.

He surprises you with flowers all the time. He just shows up with them and tucks one behind your ear and gives you the rest.

You show up at Hengist’s castle together and both play a part in saving Gwen. Lancelot reunited with her, Arthur, and Merlin, and he introduces you to them.

You can’t go back to Camelot, but you overhear Lancelot giving Merlin the address of a friend if he ever wants to write.

And then back on the road you go.

He's pulled you out of the shelter of whatever cave you were taking shelter in, just so he could kiss you in the rain.

Occasionally, he'll grab your hand while you're walking just to spin you around and start dancing with you.

It's a simple life, but you've got each other and that's all you'll ever need.

Well, it's simple until you receive news from Merlin that Camelot has fallen.

#headcanons #merlin headcanons #bbc merlin headcanons #bbc merlin #merlin #reader insert #lancelot #lancelot x reader #lancelot headcanons

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donttouchtheneednoggle · 3 years ago

Text

@merlinbingo 2021 masterpost

M4 - Gwaine - Drowning (mostly Gen with some Gwaine/Merlin, Teen and Up, Major Character Death, 324 words)

It’s funny. The witch once said you were honourable and you almost began to believe it. Ironic how it was her you believed it from.

You played your part in the golden dream and it felt right, right enough that you could ignore all that was so very wrong. Hate is an easy thing to embrace, especially under the guise of shining honour.

M2 - Elyan - Running (Gen, Teen and up, Major Character Death, 205 words)

Years ago you ran.

You ran and ran like you could outrun what was inside of you and save them from it. But it didn’t matter.

A3 - Percival - Burning (Gen, Teen and up, Major Character Death, 194 words)

Sometimes you wonder if the universe just likes toying with you. Likes watching you carefully build up your life again and again just to kick it into ruin

G4 - Loss of identity - Immortal (Gen, Teen and up, Major Character Death, 765 words)

He takes your hand and you walk through the world together.

You walk through the world and forget your own name.

G2 - Learning to be loved - Servant (kinda Gen, Teen and up, Major Character Death, 245)

The King. The Queen. The Sorcerer.

Round and round they go in your head. You are only here to live for them, die for them, and you give them your whole life.

G1 - Compromise - Meet the polycule (mostly Gen, General Audiences, 3,615 words)

We got to see Percival meeting one member of the round table, but what about the rest?

I'd give you my sunshine

A2 - Jealousy - I'd give you my sunshine (Gwen/Merlin/Lancelot, General Audiences, 2,097)

"Are you sure you're not jealous?"

C1 - Sunset - You are enough (Elyan/Gwaine, Teen and up, 8,109)

Deep in the midst of all manner of chaos, Elyan and Gwaine find each other.

Except they don't. Obviously. Definitely, totally, they don't. They're just great friends who maybe flirt sometimes. That’s all. They're not even that great friends really-

A5 - Lamia - 'All of her victims have been men' (Gwen & Merlin, General Audiences, 1,167)

What if Gwen and Merlin's conversation had gone on for just a little longer?

M1 - Sharing clothes - Knights of the sewing circle (mostly Gen with some Elyan/Percival, General Audiences, 781 words)

Everyone keeps stealing Elyan's hoodie. And really, what is Camelot's pettiest knight supposed to do?

He's not Gwen's brother for nothing.

C4 - Time is running out - To leave the warmest bed I've ever known (Lancelot/Merlin, Teen and up,1,090)

“We have time, right?” There was another long silence before Merlin spoke. “Yeah,” he said at last. “We have time.”

G5 - Love letters - Love letters (Lancelot/Merlin, General Audiences, 1,032)

Lancelot and Merlin's correspondence, from 'Lancelot and Guinevere' to 'The Coming of Arthur'

I5 - Forced to face fear - Revelations (Gwaine/Merlin, Teen and up, 2,120)

Merlin has something he wants to tell Gwaine

M3 - Infected wounds - Let our shadows fall away like dust (Elyan/Gwaine, Teen and up, 3,813)

G3 - Free square - Not on my fucking watch (mostly Gen, Teen and up, 540 words)

Gwaine and Percival want to go after Morgana.

Elyan has a different idea... Let's not do that!

C3 - Gwen/Lancelot - Gwencelot fic rec list

I1 - Freya/Mithian - Come back (Freya/Mithian, General Audiences, 2985 words)

What if Freya had been taken through another kingdom before Camelot?

I3 - Pillow fight - 'fell off the rack' (Elyan/Gwaine/Percival, Teen and up, 1351)

“The axe must have fallen off the rack,” he said gloomily ten minutes later, after he had had an axe embedded in his shoulder. The little bastards were never going to let him live this down.

I2 - Forgiving someone - This brilliant light is brighter than we've known (Elyan/Gwaine, Teen and up, 5,506)

Elyan and Gwaine just want to go on a nice peaceful date. Overprotective friends, lingering trauma and undiscussed opinions on magic threaten to thwart them.

C2 - Romantic comedy - Bi Bi But they're idiots (Gwen/Arthur Pendragon, General Audiences, 2,234)

Gwen and Arthur are married. Everything is wonderful. There is just one little thing they've forgotten to tell each other...

Someone give Merlin a pay raise.

A4 - Aithusa - Why did the dragon honk? (Gen, General Audiences, 1379)

"Merlin!" The warlock turned to see Percival pounding towards him with Aithusa cradled in his arms, wild-eyed with panic and both of them splattered head to toe in mud. "What did you do?" he demanded. "We got in a mud fight, it’s not important, but they honked!" Merlin was confused. “Honked?” "Yeah, like a goose!" "Oh!” Merlin frowned worriedly. “They’ve never done that before." "Exactly!"

A1 - Homesick - The Blacksmith, the Rogue and the Stranger (Elyan/Gwaine/Percival, Teen and up, 8,930 words)

One chance encounter and then another leads to a change in destiny for two wayward souls and one very confused farmer...

I4 - Everybody lives - Sometimes stupid ideas lead to happy endings (Elyan/Gwaine/Percival, General Audiences, Gwen/Merlin/Lancelot, 2912)

“This is a stupid idea,” Merlin announced. “Just letting you know now.”

A tavern, a group of thugs and a lovely barmaid, a prince and his long suffering manservant, and an impulsive hero. The scene is set, everything is as it is meant to be.

Except it’s three years early. And there are a few more players this time around.

Maybe this won’t go exactly the same.

M5 - Marriage - I don't want to write a love song for the world (Gen, General Audiences, 1851)

Leon's father keeps arranging marriages for him. Leon has excellent reasons for wanting to get out of them.

C5 - Anxiety - Baby I am right here (Elyan/Gwaine/Percival, Teen and up, 1,482)

Waking up after 1500 years of limbo is... not easy. But at least they don't have to do it alone.

#i started doing this in grid order #then realsied the angsty knights series needs to be read chronologically #fair warning it does not pull punches 🤣#enjoy the fruits of my labour #when i signed up for this i knew for sure i would never complete it #now here we are :')#it's been so much fun tysm peach for all you do <3 #bbc merlin #merlin bingo #mine #my fic #i swear i tried so hard to put the pics side by side #but tumblr said no <3

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rainbowvamp · 3 years ago

Text

Willow

Modern Reincarnation AU. Merlin and Lancelot go through a photo album. ~1700 words. Lancelot/Merlin. No warnings apply. (Mention of car wreck that killed Lancelot in a past life.)

A late birthday gift for Mod @little-ligi, because I couldn't have made this fest work without her. You're the best Ligi 💗

There’s no need to print photographs anymore. It’s easy enough to look at a screen and and flip through thousands, hundreds of thousands of images. But there has always been something special about choosing individual moments, perfect snapshots, and cataloging them into a book whose pages he can flip through. Merlin has been alive for over 1500 years. Books are one of the most familiar things he knows. One of the only things that hasn’t changed much in 1500 years.

People changed, clothes changed, transport changed, but not books. Those had remained nearly the same. You open the front cover and you look at what’s inside, just like always.

After 1500 years of adaptations, it was nice for this one thing to remain the same.

So when Lancelot hands him the photo album, Merlin is about to break his own face in half with how much he smiles at it. It’s a good thing, no a great thing, that Lancelot has done. The photo album is a deep forest green, the cover embossed with “The Book of Us.” In silver letters that Merlin traces with his fingers.

“What’s the occasion?” He asked, almost unable to take his eyes off of the book.

“Today is the day we met in this life, 10 years ago. I thought it might be nice.” Lancelot’s voice is so sincere, that Merlin has to look at him, has to look at the face of the man that he has loved without end or conditions for 1500 years. Tears prick his eyes because of all the love he see’s in Lancelot’s.

“I love you.” Merlin’s voice is soft when he finally finds it, and Lancelot crushes him to his broad chest, giving him a stability Merlin didn’t even know he needed until he had it.

“And I you,” Lancelot kissed Merlin’s cheek and Merlin’s fingers itched to open the photo album, but he didn’t want to leave the circle of Lancelot’s arms. He’s content to just listen to soft sound of Lancelot’s breaths, feel the pounding of his heart against his chest.

It’s Lancelot who finally breaks the silence. “Would you like to see the photos, my love?” His voice is soft and nonjudgemental. It’s obvious to Merlin that either a yes or a no would be acceptable.

“Yeah,” Merlin finally says, composing himself to pull away and walk with Lancelot to the couch.

They sit and Lancelot waits patiently for Merlin to feel ready to open the book.

The first few pages cover the span of over a year, with so few pictures taken before Lancelot knew him, before he remembered. Several of them are pulled from Instagram, captions included. There’s one of an empty seat and a drained coffee cup, and the caption just reads “I think I’ve met the man of my dreams.” It’s from their first coffee date, Lancelot’s post-date instagram update. Merlin laughed aloud, almost having forgotten it. The next is a candid shot of Merlin. They’d taken a weekend holiday a few months into dating and gone for a hike. The sun was setting behind Merlin, blurring out his features, but the silhouette was so obviously him.

The next was one of Lancelot cooking breakfast, looking over his shoulder to smile curiously at the camera.

Then the first selfie they’d ever taken together, complete with Lancelot pressing a kiss to Merlin’s cheek.

The photographs become more numerous, after that. Some of them and all their friends. There’s the photoset from Morgana’s birthday party (She’d rented a photo booth “because why they hell shouldn’t I spend Uther’s money on bullshit?”) There’s the Christmas photos for the dinner they always throw at Merlin’s because Lancelot doesn’t have any living family to go home to. Arthur and Morgana pop by when Uther becomes insufferable. Gwen and Elyan bring their father by to say hi. Leon stops by with gifts on his way to Mithian’s parent’s house. All these silly little moments caught on camera and made eternal, printed and carefully organized.

There’s the set they took at their third anniversary, a gift from Gwen and Arthur (who had recently gotten their heads out of unsavory places and started dating). There’s the picture of he and Gwaine standing side be side, smiling like old friends despite having just met twenty minutes ago. Merlin has a bruise forming on his cheek, but he’d insisted Lancelot take picture, to commemorate. “It’s not everyday I get in a bar fight, my love. Humor me.” And Lancelot always did.

There’s the terrible sledding disaster of 2015, where Merlin had crashed straight into a tree, and had been having too much fun to stop it with his magic. This is a still from a video, shortly before the actual disaster occurred. By the time the disaster was eminent Lancelot was no longer filming.

There’s the pictures he and Lancelot used to sneak of each other, just to have. Lancelot watching tellie. Merlin having a nap on the couch. Lancelot unclogging the sink. Merlin folding laundry. There was no rhyme or reason, then, for why they took the photos. It was a fun phase, each feeling challenged to take the most mundane pictures, always followed by a faked whining or griping.

There’s the picture of them from two years ago, in tailored suits, surrounded by friends, making their vows, followed by a series of all their friends dancing. A professional photographer had taken these photos, but Merlin always preferred the less polished pictures he and Lancelot took themselves that day.

Like the one Merlin had taken of Lancelot after he’d shoved cake in his face. Or Gwen’s candid picture of them gazing at each other like the biggest idiots in love.

Merlin doesn’t know when he started to cry, but he feels a tear roll down his face only when Lancelot pushes it away.

“I hope these are happy.” Lancelot puts his arm around him and Merlin nuzzles his shoulder. It’s enough, right now, to feel his warmth and smell his soap and just be near him. It’s grounding in a way only Lancelot ever was. The years with Lancelot, and there always seemed to be so many fewer of those than years without him, always made him feel the most alive. The most loved. The memories of Lancelot were good, but they didn’t sustain him, not like this would.

“Come here.” Merlins said, wiping his face and standing suddenly. He takes Lancelot’s hand and leads him out to the car.

“Where are we going?” He asked as they buckled the seat belts, but Merlin just shook his head.

“I want to show you something.”

—

The self storage place they pull up to is one of the last things Lancelot expects.

“Come on.” Merlin gets out and Lancelot dutifully follows, just like always. He lets Merlin take his hand again and watches as he pulls out a key ring that Lancelot’s never seen before and flips through them.

‘I put everything away, every time I meet one of you.” Merlin explains. “I used to have to keep the houses, to keep the things, but these are more secure.” He finally finds the key he needs as they stop outside a storage unit. “This one is from when we lived in the 1960s. Found you in Wales, then, of all places.” He smiled wanly. “We had 10 years together before you died in 1968. Car wreck.”

Lancelot only ever remembers bits of pieces of his past lives, normally only the good bits. “You weren’t with me, I presume?”

Merlin laughed as he wrenched the storage room door open. “You wouldn’t let me.”

“Is that why you never let me ride in a car without you now?”

“Part of it. I also just don’t like to be away from you.” Merlin flicked a light on and Lancelot was surprised by the sheer volume of things that existed in the room. “This was all of your things. I usually give myself about a year to wallow before I pack it away. If it’s here I never have to forget it, but I can still come and see it, if I need to.” He drags Lancelot to the back. On a wire rack there are plastic containers that looks like they’ve been taped shut. Merlin mutters a quick spell to remove the taping and then digs through the box. There are books, folders, papers, but then Merlin pulls out a photo album.

“I want you to see this. Because… I don’t know. It feels important.” Merlin is a very very old man, but he still doesn’t always have all the answers. Sometimes he just has to trust his gut and hope for the best.

He takes the album gently. It doesn’t smell stale the way old books usually do, most likely due to Merlin’s magic, but he flips it open anyway, without question. The first picture is of him and Merlin, a different him, but the same Merlin, Merlin’s arm is slung over him and they’re posing much more like a happy couple than a pair of friends. “Who took this?” He asked, tracing the lines of Merlin’s face. He looks so much older here than the Merlin he knows.

“Elyan. He liked photography. Took well to most of the Arts that life, actually.” Merlin smile and flipped a few pages to show Lancelot a picture of Elyan with a painting. “Abstraction was sort of the thing, then. He does a good job of it.”

“I don’t know anything about art, but it’s very compelling.” Even in the dreamy old photo, which was saying quite a lot.

“I brought it, a few years after he died. It’s in one of the other units.”

“How many of these do you have?” Lancelot asked, turning the page and almost laughing aloud at the image of Gwaine holding Arthur in a headlock. The two of them never changed, apparently.

“Just a couple. There are quite a lot of units in each building.”

“You own this building?”

“I’ve been alive for 1500 years, my love.” Merlin kisses his cheek and Lancelot closes the album. “I have a lot of stuff.”

“We’re taking this with us.”

“That was always the intent.” Merlin closes the box and spells the tape back into place. “That was a gift from you, too, actually, birthday present.”

“I’m predictable.”

Merlin laughed and wrapped an arm around Lancelot, tilting his head up to kiss his forehead. “You’re sentimental, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He pulled Merlin’s head back down to kiss hims squarely on the lips, making Merlin finally pause for the first time since they’d gotten in the car. “Neither would I.”

#mercelot #merlance #minimercelotweek2021 #day 5: gift #I was gonna write a fill for Thursday based on stuff I knew you liked but yesterday was a wash for writing #but maybe I'll get to it before the end of mercelot week anyway 👀#mmw2021fill

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ursus-mari · 4 years ago

Text

Morgana wakes from a dream of Gwen being crowned and is deeply confused.

When Gwen comes to wake her in the morning, Morgana asks her point-blank if she likes Arthur, to which Gwen, panicked at her years long crush asking about her starcrossed boyfriend, panics and says, “No!” then backtracks and says something like, “Not that-- I’m sure he’s perfectly lovely really, if you know him, which I don’t, I didn’t mean--”

Morgana snorts and goes, “Perfectly lovely? Arthur? Hardly.”

With that option (erroneously, mind) firmly off the table in Morgana’s book, she ponders the other possibilities. Uther? Never. Morgana would kill him before he forced Gwen into anything, and Gwen would never marry him of her own free will. So it can’t be any of the current royal family, and Morgana plans to take the throne soon…

That possibility that had been niggling in the back of her mind that she’d been refusing to entertain now seems the only viable option on the table, and Morgana blushes despite herself, butterflies lighting in her stomach.

She holds off on going to Morgause until she’s sure, and in that time, every time Gwen looks at her or touches her (quite often, given the duties of a maidservant) makes her giddy, and she starts to believe it despite herself.

Hating Gwen, kind, lovely Gwen, who holds her after she wakes up screaming and brings her flowers to brighten her day, had been so hard. This is effortless, by comparison. Natural. Like breathing. And if her dream is right, Gwen will feel the same, whether she falls now or later. Morgana is positively giddy.

Gwen deserves wooing, and Morgana starts to daydream of all the ways she could make Gwen happy… flowers for sure, maybe a dress? A romantic picnic, perhaps. The possibilities are endless, and Morgana cannot wait to start putting a smile on Gwen’s face.

Morgana starts by gifting Gwen whatever she seems enamoured by at the market. This includes but is not limited to pastries, pretty bobbles, truly expensive silk, a bouquet of flowers, and way too much jewelry. Gwen is really, really flustered by this and has absolutely no idea how to handle it. She tries to tell Morgana to stop, but Morgana is like “I’m basically a princess and if I want to buy gifts for my maidservant, I’ll damn well do so.”

Morgana’s not really got any concept of subtlety or taking it slow, see.

Poor Gwen is so flustered she feels like she could explode and has absolutely no clue where this came from, which only encourages Morgana to buy more stuff because she thinks Gwen being flustered is adorable. It’s as much the way Morgana is looking at her as it is the gifts, though, warm and fond and like Gwen hangs the moon and stars, and Gwen had missed that look, and she turns into a stammering wreck.

Afterwards, once Gwen’s collected herself, she explains to Morgana that she just can’t buy her things for money reasons, for Uther reasons, the whole shebang. And Gwen doesn’t really want or need those things, she says, and she certainly doesn’t want them all at once.

So Morgana has to go back to the drawing board.

Morgana goes to Morgause like, “Hey, I know we haven’t talked in a bit but I was wondering what you knew about wooing people.”

And Morgause is like, “??? Wooing people???”

“Yea.”

“Uhhhh, find their greatest desire and use it to manipulate them? Chop off their enemy’s head and propose a strategic alliance?”

So Morgana’s like, “...Right, so you’re absolutely useless, bye,” and fucks off to go look for other, more trustworthy sources.

The problem is she trusts absolutely no one other than Morgause so this is a difficult endeavor. She asks Arthur in a bid of desperation because he’s had flings, right???

Arthur goes, “Uh. Slay monsters very impressively? Show personal growth? Offer chicken? Have Merlin do it for you?”

Which is also useless, but she should have expected that, really.

She goes to the library as a last resort and tells Geoffrey, “BRING ME A BOOK ON WOOING!” in her most intimidating voice and Geoffrey scampers off to get that but he’s like. Really slow. Morgana waits as Geoffrey rushes and yet moves as fast as molasses, getting increasingly impatient and snappish.

What she gets is mostly a book on courtly rituals, so a lot of it is useless with Gwen but damn if Morgana isn’t going to try, but it also mentions something about asking family for permission, which, no, but it reminds her to go, oh! I’ll ask her brother!

And Elyan’s mostly like how many goddamn royals are in love with my sister (within the privacy of his own head, of course), but he also tells her that Gwen likes thoughtful, heartfelt gifts and honest work (and privately resolves to tease Gwen so much when she comes home).

So Morgana’s like???? Heartfelt???? What do I do with that??? Crap, what does Gwen like? But she’d given Gwen all the things she liked at the market, so that can’t be all there is to it?? Morgana is confusion?????

Okay, honest work. So should she make a gift?

Morgana doesn’t have any crafting skills though. Fuck. Uh.

She could embroider something? She’s crap at embroidery but she knows how to do it, at least. Something small, there’s only so much embroidering she can stand. Handkerchief, maybe? And that’s like offering a favor, almost, so that’s cool.

Morgana thinks back to the market and all the fabrics Gwen had lingered on and goes for a (relatively) moderately priced one that Gwen had run her fingertips over longingly.

So Morgana utilizes her well-honed sneaking skills to go buy the fabric, then bewilders Gwen by kicking her out to work. This is not her brightest idea, as it makes Gwen feel quite hurt and renews her suspicion.

After many, many hours of pricked fingers, extensive and creative cursing, and a half dozen traumatized servants (except not because if you work under the Pendragons on a regular basis you’ve probably got balls of steel, but Morgana certainly tries her best), Morgana comes out with a crude, messy rendition of a rose embroidered onto the (...maybe a little bloodstained? Whatever. It's fine.) handkerchief.

Morgana presents it to Gwen, shy and yet utterly pleased with her work, and Gwen wavers between fond laughter and bursting into tears. In the end, she just smiles so hard her cheeks hurt and thanks Morgana, then tucks it away like something precious.

Gwen still regards it with wariness, of course, because Morgana has up to this point been extremely suspicious and possibly (definitely) evil, but it's very hard to think it might be magically dangerous when it looks like a child's work and Morgana had seemed so sincerely proud. The fear and animosity melts away in the wake of it despite Gwen's best judgement, and, she reasons, it would alert Morgana to her suspicions if she didn't use it, right? It's only logical to use it and treat it like something precious and gaze upon it fondly, right? Right.

And now Gwen has two utterly romantically incompetent people she adores with all her heart doing their best to make her happy. And that's… yeah.

This might work out after all.

(Meanwhile, Arthur finds out who Morgana wanted to woo, and the two of them turn the courting of Gwen into a competition, because of course they do, ignoring entirely that Gwen is perfectly happy to date both of them, and plans of kingdom conquering fall to the wayside, much to Morgause’s chagrin.

Merlin regards Morgana with deep, deep suspicion that she returns with interest, but Gwen won't stand for the animosity so they grudgingly make nice while glaring at each other over Gwen's head and being blatantly insincerely sweet. They forget their hostility only when they both turn on Arthur, at which point they join forces in insulting him, Arthur complains, and Gwen laughs at them all. It turns out to be remarkably hard to sustain ill will in such a comfortable atmosphere; who knew? It's like there hasn't been attempted murder on both sides!

Uther is bewildered by his children’s good moods and Morgana's renewed disdain of him, and they merrily ignore him except when he's being genocidal. When his genocidal tendencies manifest once more, as they inevitably do, Merlin and Morgana are baffled to find themselves on the same side but remain vehement in their assertions that they do something about it, and Arthur is convinced by his very passionate friends and quietly conflicted but firmly insistent girlfriend.

(Merlin and Morgana feed off of each other’s strong feelings and forget to check with Gaius and Kilgharrah and Morgause respectively. As such, they have no one to talk them down into caution and suspicion, which is on the whole for the best as they find themselves a united front.)

This whole situation cumulates into a coup. Also, magic reveals. And long, emotionally involved, serious conversations about magic and its morality and Merlin and Morgana's roles in magic shenanigans thus far. There's a decent amount of shouting, maybe a few threats, hurt all around, but they make it through, and they do it without completely destroying their relationships with each other, so that's cool.

Uther is overthrown (Morgause is very upset to have missed it), the kingdom is absolute chaos, it takes a lot for Arthur to be seen as a legitimate, trustworthy ruler, but he has his people behind him, they call the knights of the round table and knight them, and they make it work.

Work is started on the legalization of magic.

Gwen does become Arthur's queen, and Morgana relives her dream, and finds herself overwhelmingly, brilliantly happy despite having been wrong. After all, afterwards Gwen throws herself into Morgana's arms to give her an enthusiastic kiss and wipes away her happy tears with the handkerchief Morgana had gifted her all that time ago.

And so they live happily ever after (or something mushy like that).)

#bbc merlin #morgwen #mine #mari writes stuff #you cheer me up #this is absolutely and unabashedly silly #and wish fulfillment to a factor of like eleventy billion #i can't figure out how to insert breaks from my phone so sorry ab that #girl of my dreams

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twosidesofthesameidiot · 4 years ago

Text

You Had Me At Cupcake

Characters : Gwen; Lancelot

Warnings: none

Word count : 1325

Summary : Gwen has a paper due in two days, and the really distracting new barista is the only one on duty today. Gwencelot Coffee Shop AU

A/N: Well, there is my first attempt at a coffee shop AU. Ngl, it was difficult at times. The biggest thank you to @rangerofthesouth for helping me through this, and for the name! ILY, bro.

This falls under the meet-cute, i think

Gwen shook the snow from her hair and shoes as she pushed open the door of The Cryptic Dragon.

The warmth was nearly too much after the biting winds outside and she hurried to take off her thick coat.

Coat removed, Gwen felt comfortably warm, with sensation returning to her toes, fingers and nose.

She dropped her coat on the back of her chair and her bag on the table.

Today was very obviously a slow day for the - place.

Gwen had never found a word that quite described The Cryptic Dragon. Some, like Merlin's friend Gwaine, might call it a pub. Others, like Elena, might call it a café. Disreputable, Fine Dining Establishment, a front for an elaborate pyramid scheme, and a waste of space are among the other categories she has encountered in relation to the place.

To Gwen it was a perfect place to work. As long as she ordered a drink every now and then she was left to work through her never-ending mountain of assignments.

It helped that one of her best friends worked here and was the owner's nephew.

What did not help, however, was the newest barista/waiter. He was very unhelpful in that he was distracting. Not that he was actively being so, just his presence was enough.

He was Merlin's friend. Best friend, probably, from the way they went on. From what Gwen had seen, Merlin was actually open with him. The smiles were genuine in a way that Gwen rarely saw around other people.

That was the first thing Gwen had noticed about the distracting new addition to the team.

The second thing she had noticed was his smile, it was a real smile which reached his eyes. And his eyes were really very pretty.

His voice was amazing too.

Gwen had almost forgotten that she was meant to be giving him her order, that first time, and was truly grateful that Merlin had not been there to witness the scene.

And he was coming out from the kitchen now with a tray of fresh cinnamon rolls.

His emergence roused the three other people who were there and they immediately lined up at the counter as Gwen made her way slowly to join them, praying that Merlin would magically appear and save her from this situation.

Merlin, the traitor, did not appear and Gwen was left to manage the interaction as best she could.

"Hi," his voice was every bit as musical as she remembered, "Gwen, right?"

He knew her name?

"Uhh, yeah, that's me." Gwen twisted her rings trying to think of what to say next, "I, uh, I don't think we've met?"

"Oh, no we haven't," his eyes widened and he grimaced, "sorry! That sounded really creepy. I'm Lance, Merlin's friend."

Gwen took the extended hand, he - Lance - had a good grip, and his hand was warm, "I'm Gwen, but you already know that. How do you know Merlin?"

"We met in high school," Lance looked at her for a moment, "I don't know how much you know about that, um, and you? How long have you known him?"

"We met first year uni, I watched him get into and almost win a fight against Arthur Pendragon," Gwen smiled, "I helped him with the minor injuries sustained because his uncle would kill him if he found out."

"Gauis might have," Lance shrugged, "But then, where would he get staff on short notice?"

There was now a tray with a cinnamon roll and a mug of hot chocolate on it sitting atop the counter.

Noticing Gwen's look of surprise Lance grinned, "Merlin left very specific instructions, said you have a paper due in two days."

He was on the other side of the counter now, picking up the tray.

Falling into step with him, Gwen frowned, "Where is he? He's usually working today."

"Terribly sorry m'lady, but that is information I cannot divulge at the present time," He shrugged apologetically although his tone was anything but.

Realising that she was back at her table, with sustenance Gwen shook her head, "Thank you, Lance."

"My pleasure, just call if you need anything."

Gwen watched him disappear back into the kitchen before she sat down.

The hours slipped away and the next time Gwen took stock of her surroundings there were a few more people filling up the tables that were haphazardly strewn about the room.

Her paper was nearly done. All that was left was to go over it a few times and fine tune it, and that could wait until tomorrow.

When she returned from the washroom, she found Freya waiting at the counter and joined her, deciding today was not the day to go home and cook something.

Lance appeared with a bowl of stew which he handed to Freya, nested in a dishtowel.

"What kind of stew is that? I don't think I've ever seen it here before?" Gwen shot a questioning look at Lance who smiled.

"It's special, off the menu if you like. What can I get for you Gwen? Merlin didn't leave instructions for lunch."

"I'm still surprised he left instructions at all."

Gwen looked at Freya in surprise, "You knew he left instructions?"

"Lance told me, before he went to get my stew." she shrugged, "You should get today's special."

"Uh, okay, I'll meet you back at my table."

"I'll bring it to you, you don't have to wait here."

"Thanks!" Gwen had barely finished the word before Lance disappeared into the kitchen.

"You know Lance?" Gwen couldn't keep the curiosity out of her voice.

"Mm, yeah," Freya nodded, "we've known each other for a long time now."

"You have?" Having reached the table, Gwen collected her papers and pens that lay on top of it.

"Yeah," Freya smiled as she sat down, "We met Merlin separately though, none of us connected the dots for a while. How's your paper?"

Gwen shook her head. For as long as she'd known Merlin and Freya, they both had remained so vague about anything that happened in their pasts. "It's almost ready, and for now it's tomorrow's problem."

"Your meal, m'lady," Lance placed a plate of spaghetti bolognaise in front of Gwen, and a coffee.

"Thank you," Gwen smiled at him.

"As before, my pleasure."

"Huh, Merlin was right," Freya watched Lance weaving his way around the tables as he checked on the customers.

"About what?" Gwen asked.

Freya smiled at her, "Don't worry about that. What are you doing this weekend?"

Lunch passed comfortably and Gwen felt decidedly more relaxed than she had that morning.

Eventually she and Freya made their way to the counter to pay. When they had finished Lance tossed a securely wrapped takeaway box to Freya who immediately put it in her bag.

"This one is on the house," Lance smiled as he handed Gwen a box with a bow on it, "Let me know if you like it?"

"It's for Húan," Freya said as they stepped out of The Cryptic Dragon, "Gauis disproves of him getting human food, but burnt biscuits don't seem to negatively affect him, so Lance and Merlin smuggle him stuff."

"You feed your dog Merlin's experiments too ?" Gwen asked.

Freya laughed, "No, that could actually be dangerous."

Now safely ensconced in Gwen's car, Freya turned to her, "What's yours?"

"I don't know," Gwen gently pulled on the ribbon forming the bow on top of the box, "Let's find out."

She lifted the lid off the small box. There was writing on the inside of the lid, but the cupcake was what caught her attention.

The icing was a deep red and there were golden letters on it.

Freya somehow read the word before Gwen did and let out a giggle.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think, if you hold this for a moment," Gwen handed the box to Freya and opened her phone, grinning, "I have a date this weekend."

#Gwencelot #gwen #lacelot #bbc merlin #bbc merlin fanfic #Lance writes #gwenfest #coffeeshop au

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kairos-in-wonderland · 4 years ago

Text

Day 1: Ladies First

Okay, so this is actually the first piece of Merlin based writing I’ve ever posted anywhere and technically (in my time zone) I’m a couple hours late, but this is my day 1 submission for Camelove 2021! I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it - it was originally gonna be about 1000 words but it ended up being about 3500 😅 Here it is!

Pairing: OC/Morgana, with Arwen and Mercelot

Modern AU, fake dating AU

Trigger warnings: forced relationship, arranged marriage (attempted), violence, abuse (mild), homophobia

“Wylla!” someone called after her, and she turned to see Morgana running towards her.

“Morgana,” she greeted as the girl came to a halt in front of her, “are you okay?”

“I really need a favour and I didn’t know who else to ask, can we talk somewhere?” Morgana asked tentatively, and Wylla nodded, dragging her into the currently deserted school theatre, “Brilliant, okay… This is gonna be really weird and it’s okay if you say no – really, it is, I jus-”

“Morgana!” Wylla exclaimed, letting out a short laugh, “Calm down, what do you need?”

“Well, you’re friends with Arthur, he’s told you what my step-father is like?” Wylla nodded for Morgana to continue, “He’s hosting a party this week for investors and he’s trying to set me up with Will Sarrum; he’s the heir to Amata Motors, my step-father wants me to marry him for when he takes over the company, to make sure they continue to use Pendragon Financing.”

“Okay, that’s seriously messed up, but why do you need my help? You need someone from the law a-level classes, not drama, I can’t help you get out of this.”

“But you can,” Morgana was grinning, despite the clear panic flashing in her eyes, “if I were to be dating someone else, he’d struggle to get me to do it. And he’d struggle even more if I were to be dating a girl.”

“Are you suggesting what I think you are?” Wylla laughed.

“Yes. You don’t have to, but I think that Sarrum would be put off dating me if he knew I was dating a girl – his entire family are homophobic bigots.”

“Does Uther know that you’re into girls?”

“I’ve told him, but he doesn’t believe me,” Morgana muttered, and Wylla sighed.

“So, you want me to go to this party with you and pretend to be your girlfriend to a) prove to your dad that you’re a lesbian and b) prevent an arranged marriage that your father wants for a business alliance?”

“That’s pretty much the gist of it, yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll do it,” she said, and Morgana’s eyes widened, “you need this.”

“Oh my god, thank you!” Morgana exclaimed, hugging her tightly, “I owe you so bad for this, how can I make it up to you?”

“Dinner and a movie?” Wylla suggested, “Imagine Uther’s face when you tell him.”

“You are amazing,” Morgana laughed and Wylla joined in, “right, okay. The party is on Saturday, formal dress – I’ll help you decide what to wear – and Geoffrey will pick you up at 4pm. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yeah, of course, and I can’t wait to see Arthur’s face when I show up as your date,” the girls giggled a little and Wylla leaned against the stage, “so, are we keeping up the pretence of this relationship within school? Or just at the party?”

“I think it might be a good idea if we make it look like we’re dating for the next few days within school, otherwise Sarrum and some of our other classmates who will be at the party could suspect that it’s fake. Unless there are people you don’t want to think that you’re dating me?”

“That’s not a problem, Morgana, don’t worry,” she looked up at the clock and groaned, “right, when’s your lunch break? There’s gonna be a class in here for a couple hours but I’m done for the day after that.”

“I’ve got history for two hours so I can meet you here afterwards?” she suggested, and Wylla nodded as her peers started to enter the room, “I’ll see you then,” Morgana pressed a cheek before leaving, and Wylla couldn’t help but blush as the other students looked towards Morgana. To be fair, she was staring too, trying to wrap her head around what she’s just agreed to.

“Was that Morgana?” a voice whispered behind her, breaking her trance.

“Oh, yeah,” Wylla let out a nervous laugh as she turned towards Merlin, “she just popped in to see me before going to her lesson.”

“And since when were you close enough with Morgana for her to think of doing that?” he questioned, and she blushed.

“Uh, since we started dating,” she lied, and his eyes widened, “apparently her step-father is hosting a party on Saturday and she wanted to invite me.”

“Oh yeah, Gwen told me that Arthur’s taking her, to give him a chance to avoid some of the other people who’ll be at the party – all the posh and privileged students who think they’re above us. You do realise that most of Uther’s ‘friends’ are homophobic, right?”

“Why do you think I’m going? Morgana already told Uther, and word is bound to spread about our relationship, I don’t want her to be alone with them for that long,” Wylla argued, and Merlin smiled.

“How long has this been going on?” he asked as they sat down on the edge of the stage, waiting for their teacher to arrive.

“Not long, we’ve kept it a secret till now but we thought it was about time people knew. I’m sorry, I would’ve told you, but-”

“I get it, you wanted to respect her privacy,” Merlin finished for her.

“Yeah. That, and just remember that you didn’t tell me that you were dating Lancelot until you’d dragged me along to three of his and Arthur’s football games.”

“Okay, point proven,” he laughed as their teacher entered the theatre to start the lesson.

The lesson dragged on for Wylla, who was not only eager to see Morgana but also had to endure stares from her classmates because of her new ‘girlfriend’. The whole idea kept going around in her mind – she’d never thought of Morgana in a romantic way before, and yet she couldn’t get the raven-haired girl out of her mind – even when they were meant to be memorising their monologues, her eyes trained on the page, Morgana was the only thing she could think about. She was only woken from her daze when someone clicked in front of her face, “Seriously, Wylla, everyone’s already gone,” Merlin laughed, and she groaned before resting her head in her hands, “how were you that distracted?” she didn’t answer, but she looked up from the table when there was a knock on the theatre’s door which they saw Morgana leaning against, “ah, got it.” Wylla blushed and Merlin grabbed his bag from under the stage.

“See you tomorrow Merlin!” Wylla called as he left and Morgana walked towards her.

“Are you okay?” she asked, and Wylla let out a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, just thinking. Apparently I managed to zone out for most of the lesson.”

“Oh, are you tired? Do you want me to go and get you a coffee or something?” Morgana offered, but Wylla shook her head.

“I’m okay, I was just thinking about us – that is, what we’re going to tell people about us. Merlin asked and I just said that it hadn’t been long, but more people are gonna ask us and we need to be on the same page about this.”

The two girls chatted about what lies to tell and just sat enjoying each other’s company until someone walked into the theatre.

“Morgana!” Arthur called from the door, startling both of them, “What are you doing in here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you set foot in the theatre, I thought Merlin was joking when he said you were here.”

“Well, I wouldn’t expect you to be paying attention to my whereabouts at all times, Arthur,” Morgana rolled her eyes and subtly reached for Wylla’s hand, “I was just here chatting with Wylla, what do you want?”

“Geoffrey is waiting for us outside, come on,” he beckoned, and Morgana sighed.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, planting a long, soft kiss on Wylla’s cheek before winking and following Arthur out.

A couple days had passed and Wylla still hadn’t decided what to wear so she dragged Merlin and Gwen round to her house in the afternoon to help her decide, “Gwen, what are you going to wear?” she asked as she frantically looked through her wardrobe.

“I don’t know, I’ll probably just decide on the day or the night before,” Gwen admitted, and Wylla groaned, “why are you so worried about this?”

“Because Morgana is gonna look like, well, Morgana and I don’t want to look totally disappointing. We’re going to a party with some of the biggest names in business and the richest kids in our college – they’re all going to hate me for being there because I’m not rich and I don’t want to make Morgana look bad.”

“You won’t be the only person there that isn’t rich,” Gwen reminded her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder

“But at least you and Arthur are a heterosexual couple, most of Uther’s friends are homophobic bigots. They won’t be focused on you and Arthur when there’s me and Morgana to gossip about,” she sighed, running her hands through her hair.

“How about some kind of suit?” Merlin suggested, walking over to grab a red floral blazer out of her wardrobe, “what’s Morgana wearing?”

“Uh, dark green. She sent me a picture, hold on,” Wylla grabbed her phone out of her pocket and scrolled until the found the picture before passing it to Merlin.

“Okay, yeah, you’re definitely wearing that jacket,” Gwen said, excitement lacing her voice.

“I have matching trousers,” Wylla added and Gwen practically screamed, “are you trying to deafen us?”

“Sorry, sorry. Merlin, find some shoes that could go with the suit,” Gwen reached into the wardrobe and pulled out a plain white shirt before shoving it all into Wylla’s hands, “shoo, go put it on. Oh, make sure it’s inside out!” Gwen grinned as she pushed her friend into the bathroom; Wylla emerged a couple minutes later and Gwen immediately rushed over with a bunch of pins and started tapering the suit.

“What are you doing?” Wylla asked as Gwen busied herself putting pins in the suit.

“You called me to help you choose and outfit and I do textiles – I’m tailoring your suit dummie. You want to look good in front of all of the rich people? This is how you do it. You make the, what, fifty pound suit look like it cost a couple hundred, because it only fits you, not anyone who wears that size.”

“Have I ever told you how amazing you are Gwen?” Wylla laughed, and her friend smirked.

“Now would be a good time.”

“Uh, Wyl, you literally have no shoes that you can wear with this suit,” Merlin added.

“What about my black converse?” Wylla suggested.

“Let me rephrase: you have no shoes that you can wear to this event if you don’t want to look like a basic lesbian hipster,” he said, and both girls laughed, “right, what size are you?”

“Six, why?”

“I’ll be back,” was all he said before walking out, and Wylla saw him get in his car to drive off.

Merlin returned about an hour later with three pairs of heels and forced her to try each of them on, “Can we please go with the short heels? I’m gonna be shorter than Morgana anyway and I don’t wanna kill my feet if I have to stand up for hours.”

“Agreed,” Gwen chipped in, “right, go take off the suit, I’ll give it to you Friday.”

Days passed and finally the Pendragons’ chauffeur was driving Wylla to the party – when she arrived it was in front of huge mansion and it was Arthur who opened the car door for her, “Hey Arthur,” she greeted, and they started walking towards the front steps.

“Wylla, are you sure you’re prepared for this?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder as the got to the front door, “The rich kids at school will be worse here, and their parents will be ten times worse than that. Geoffrey hasn’t left yet, there’s still time to go home.”

“I promised Morgana that I’d be here, I’m not backing out now,” she said, meeting his gaze as he opened the doors into the hall. Whatever she’d been expecting, it hadn’t been quite as extravagant as what she could see in front of her. Even the entrance hall was bigger than her entire house, and decorated with marble and what was probably solid gold. Everyone there was staring at her, and she scanned the faces until she saw who she was looking for – the raven-haired girl in the emerald green dress. Wylla bid farewell to Arthur before walking over to where Morgana stood, eyes a little wider than usual, or was that just the makeup?

“Wow,” was all Morgana said, and Wylla grinned as she pressed a kiss to her cheek, “you-you look amazing.”

“I have Gwen to thank for all of it, thank god she knows how to tailor,” Wylla laughed nervously, looking around at the still staring faces, “I… I may be dressed up but I still feel like I don’t belong here.”

“You do. You belong here, with me,” Morgana assured her, taking her hand, “you don’t have to stay long. I just need you here long enough to be able to deny the arrangement from my father,” they stayed in the entrance hall and made small talk with whoever walked past, both of them still hand in hand; Wylla assumed that Morgana was just doing it for appearances, but to her it was comforting – an anchor in an unfamiliar environment, “do you want to go up to my room for a bit? Get away from all of these people?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Wylla breathed, still gripping Morgana’s hand as she led her up the stairs and into smaller, brighter room. She ran her hands through her hair as Morgana sat down on her bed, “how do you deal with these parties as often as you do?”

“You get used to it, I guess. I’ve been going to these parties for almost a decade now, but I still hate it.”

“People will notice that we’ve gone upstairs, how long do you think there is until word gets to Uther?” Wylla asked as she sat down next to Morgana.

“Not long, and we’re gonna have to keep up the lie… But I don’t want you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with…”

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we should be kissing when they walk in,” Morgana said sheepishly, and Wylla’s heart started beating faster, “my father will undoubtedly have Mr Sarrum with him, it’d help get the point across.”

“Okay,” Wylla agreed, probably quicker than she should’ve. She was about to say something else when she heard footsteps getting closer to the room; without a second thought, Wylla cupped Morgana’s face in her hands and kissed her. Morgana let out a small noise of surprise but soon melted into the kiss, pulling Wylla closer by her waist. It took more than a few moments for them to realise the door hadn’t opened and stop kissing, but their foreheads still rested together, “okay, I guess I have to say something now.”

“Say what?” Morgana asked, breathing heavily.

“I like you Morgana, I really like you, and not just as a friend. I-I don’t think I realised it before, but this whole fake girlfriend thing brought it to the surface. I just… I want to be honest with you,” Wylla had closed her eyes as she spoke, and when she finally opened them, she saw Morgana grinning with tears in her eyes, “are you okay?”

“There’s a reason I asked you to pretend to be my girlfriend, Wylla.”

“Because I’m a drama student and I’m literally doing a whole course on pretending to be something?”

“Because I think you’re really sweet, and funny, and kind… and you’re gorgeous – even more so in this suit, you’re killing my Wyl,” Morgana laughed nervously, and Wylla stroked a thumb across her cheek, “I really like you too. I asked you to be my fake girlfriend because I really want you to be my real girlfriend.”

“Are you seriously asking me out?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, we already have dinner and a movie planned, so the date is sorted. I just have to ask the question…”

“Then ask it.”

“Will you be my girlfriend? My actual girlfriend?”

“Take a wild guess, Pendragon,” Wylla grinned as she pressed her lips against Morgana’s, kissing her passionately. And then the door opened.

“Morgana!” Uther gasped loudly, the sudden noise breaking the couple apart, “What is going on here?”

“Father…” Morgana started, standing from the bed and taking a step towards Uther and the man Wylla assumed to be Mr Sarrum, “this is my girlfriend, Wylla Lionel.”

“I thought we agreed that you were going to date Will Sarrum,” Uther argued through gritted teeth, “he’s a nice young man-”

“Exactly!” Morgana exclaimed, “Young man. I told you already, I don’t like men.”

“It’s just a phase, Morgana,” Uther sighed, and Wylla tensed, clenching her fists and moving to stand beside Morgana, taking her hand and squeezing it gently.

“It isn’t a phase, Mr Pendragon,” she said, “my father thought the same, he left us the day my mother decided to fight his idea of sending me to therapy to try and change what gender I love. I hate to break it to you, trying to prevent Morgana from being herself will just distance you from her, and forcing her into a relationship with a man to serve your business goals will make it worse. I love your daughter, Mr Pendragon, and nothing-” Wylla was cut off when the back of Uther’s hand made contact with her face and he grabbed the corner of her jacket.

“Get out of my house, now!” he shouted, and Wylla threw a terrified glance at a crying Morgana as someone grabbed her arm and dragged her from the room. She tried to fight it but it was pointless, she was dragged out of the house and thrown to the ground outside the house. Wylla was crouched there for a few moments, gathering her thoughts as tears fell, before she picked up her phone and dialled the first number she thought of.

“Wylla?” Merlin answered, “Aren’t you meant to be at the party?”

“Ca-can you come and pick me up, please?” she choked out, “I’m still at the house, I don’t know how to get home.”

“I’ll be there in 15, hang in there Wyl,” he said before hanging up, and he was true to his word – just shy of 15 minutes later, Merlin’s car parked up outside the gates. He rushed over to her and helped her get in the car, driving to the nearby park, “come on, you need some air,” he walked around to help her out, and they started walking through the park together, hand in hand, “do you want to talk about what happened?”

“Uther,” she muttered, “he wants Morgana to date, well, marry Will Sarrum.”

“The snobby prick from Arthur’s business class?”

“The very same – Amata Motors uses Pendragon Financing to manage their accounts, Uther wants them to be together to make sure that continues when Will takes over the business. But, of course, Morgana isn’t into guys at all so she asked me to pretend to be her girlfriend to go against Uther.”

“Wait, you’re not actually dating?” Merlin questioned, and Wylla sighed.

“Let me give you the full story first,” she said, and he nodded for her to continue as they sat down on one of the benches, “I agreed, of course, because just the idea of it was horrible. But, in the days approaching the party, I realised that I actually really like Morgana. I confessed to her, and she said that the reason she asked me to do it was because she liked me too. We were kissing when Uther walked in with Will’s father, and he got really angry. I tried to stand up for her, but he hit me and threw me out of the house. And now, I-I don’t know what he’s going to do to Morgana for not obeying him,” Wylla’s voice broke as she cried, and Merlin hugged her tightly.

“Morgana is strong, she’s really strong, I’m sure she’ll be okay,” he assured her, and then there was a shout from across the park.

“Wylla!” it was Morgana, running towards them, so Wylla got up to meet her halfway.

“Morgana,” she sighed, relieved as she embraced her girlfriend, “you’re okay. Wait,” she pulled away from the hug and held Morgana’s face in her hands, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Morgana assured her, before wincing away as Wylla touched a rapidly forming bruise on her jaw.

“He hurt you,” Wylla cried, “I’m sorry, I should’ve fought back harder, I-”

“It’s okay. We argued for a while and he hit me, but then he threw me out.”

“Oh god…”

“No, this is good,” Morgana assured her, wiping away the tears that were spilling down Wylla’s cheeks, “I have the money I inherited when my real father died, I’m finally free from Uther, and now we can be together,” Wylla let out a relieved laugh and pressed her lips against Morgana’s, tears streaming down her cheeks as they kissed. But they were happy tears, Morgana was safe and they were together – and that’s all she needed.

I really hope I got all of the warnings that I may have needed but feel free to let me know if there’s anything I missed and I’ll add it to the tags.

Happy Camelove 2021! 🥰💜💙

#camelove2021 #day 1: ladies first #fanfic #modern au #fake dating au #forced relationship tw #arranged marriage (attempted) tw #violence tw #abuse (mild) tw #homophobia tw #oc/morgana #merlin/lancelot #arthur/gwen

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hayleysstark · 4 years ago

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Elena <3

in 👏 this 👏 house 👏 we 👏 stan 👏 Princess 👏 Elena

first impression: to be honest, I just felt really sorry for her when I saw The Changeling for the first time - she’s so awkward and out-of-place and uncomfortable in her own skin, and she never gets the chance to find out why. she never knows why she was the way she was for the first twenty-something years of her life, and no one around her, except Merlin and Gaius, ever find out, either! she never finds out what was “wrong” with her, she never has a concrete thing she can pick out and point to, and say, that’s what it was, that’s why I was the way I was, that’s why I am the way I am, and that’s gotta be hard! It’s hard enough going through your childhood and adolescence knowing something is wrong with you, but when you grow up and you finally figure out what it was, it’s such a freeing, exhilarating moment, and Elena never got that, and I don’t think that was fair. impression now: I do still feel sorry for her and I wish she had found out about the Sidhe, but all in all, I’m just happy she’s happy and comfortable with herself at the end of the episode!! favorite moment: when she hugs Arthur at the end of their terrible date. poor girl is doing her best. idea for a story: it would be nice to see her return to Camelot at some point after S3!! preferably as leader in her own right after her father has died. I’d love to get to see her a little more grown up and confident in herself!! unpopular opinion: she should!!! have gotten the chance!!! to be friends!!!! with Gwen!!!! favorite relationship: her dynamic with Arthur was super fun - the minute she wasn’t being forced to marry him, she became like 10000% less awkward with him, and I really liked the way they ended things!! it was clear they didn’t hate or even dislike each other - they just had no spark, and it was treated as a perfectly rational reason to break things off. favorite headcanon: she loves animals and she has at least a dozen dogs of her own back home!! she’s terribly allergic to cats, though, and she’s very sad about that. she still pets them when she sees them though, even if she can never have one.

send me a character

#ask #patterfly-pat

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oncefutureemrys · 4 years ago

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👄 for Merlin/Arthur, please? And if we can do 2 at once, perhaps 👗as well?👀

Ooo! I like doing two at once! And these are very cute options!

Alright so for 👄 I do think that Merlin would initiate it just because he understands more of what he’s feeling than Arthur (because Arthur is emotionally constipated). I think that Arthur might not understand fully what he feels for Merlin, but he knows that he feels more than what he’s supposed to feel for his servant. So, he bottles that feeling up and pretends it doesn’t exist and every time Arthur wants to kiss Merlin, he imagines Gwen because that is the person that he’s meant to be with.

Anyway, I would say their kiss happens right before a huge battle, perhaps Battle of Camlann? They’re in a tent and Merlin is putting on Arthur’s armor and they both realize they could die. Merlin realizes that he doesn’t want to die, not knowing whether Arthur ever loved him or not. And so he kisses him one last time. Arthur is confused but before he can ask him anything, Leon is entering their tent and telling them that they need to move because shit is hitting the fan. And Arthur, lost and confused, has to lead his men to victory. And then same events happen, Mordred dies and Merlin reveals his magic except there’s another layer of ANGST because Arthur realized he was kissed by a sorcerer who was his best friend for 10 years and who lied to him for all of that time. Not to mention that Arthur liked it because he’s been in love with the idiot for years. and big whoops i just realized the question was who initiates the kiss not the entire scene of the kiss but oh well you have this weird monstrosity now enjoy

Anyway, for the👗 I feel like they would both be total idiots. I can just imagine Arthur pretending everything is fine and then trying out every outfit and showing it to Morgana and being like “is this good?” Meanwhile, Merlin is at home doing the same thing, trying out every outfit he owns and repeatedly asking Gwen if it looks great. Morgana and Gwen texting each other just complaining about how idiotic the two are being. And then the date happens and Merlin compliments his appearance and Arthur’s just like “yeah I didn’t really try... just threw on whatever.” and so Merlin feels flustered so he’s just like “oh yeah pshhh these clothes? I found these at the bottom of the closet and just figured why not?” They soon break down and tell each other how much they agonized over their clothes and they have a good laugh about it because they realize their both dumb dorks who are nervous as hell.

Put an Emoji or Two in My Inbox and I’ll Answer A Few OTP First Date Headcanons!

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supercalvin · 5 years ago

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6P for merthur?

6. University AU + P. Pining

Prompts (or any prompt) + Ficlets

***

The problem was Merlin couldn’t stop looking over at Gwen and Arthur. They were cuddled up together across the pub. Arthur’s eyes said it all: Gwen had hung the moon and stars.

The problem was Gwen was a wonderful person. Technically, Gwen had been Merlin’s friend before Arthur’s. After he had introduced them, Arthur had been besotted with her and Merlin could hardly blame him. Gwen was gorgeous, cute, and brilliantly smart. Merlin tried to not feel bitter about his own friend. It wasn’t Gwen’s fault Merlin was in love with Arthur.

The problem wasn’t Arthur. Nor Gwen. Nor even ‘Gwen and Arthur.’ The problem was Merlin.

Over the course of a year, Merlin tried to tamp down his own emotions. He tried dating (Grindr wasn’t exactly dating, was it? But he did find Gwaine that way, and he couldn’t regret that, even if they were better off as friends.) He drank a little too much. (Merlin also wanted to blame that on Gwaine, but at the end of the day, Merlin made his own decisions). And he avoided seeing Arthur and Gwen together as best he could.

***

A few months before graduation, Arthur showed up at his front door. Merlin opened the door to see Arthur standing there, looking smaller than Merlin had ever seen him. His eyes were red and his hair was in disarray.

“Gwen broke up with me,”

There wasn’t much for Merlin to do but to usher Arthur inside, make him a cup of tea, and let Arthur cry on his shoulder. Merlin hated himself that day. Because his best friend was crying his eyes out and there was a horrible little part of Merlin’s soul that was happy. The majority of Merlin’s soul was truly upset at seeing Arthur so distraught. Arthur rarely cried and seeing him so unhappy was heart wrenching to say the least. So he tried to focus on that part of himself as best he could.

But Merlin didn’t forget about that small part of him that thought, ‘he’s single’ and ‘I have a chance now.’ He had buried that emotion deep in his chest and avoided Arthur for the next two weeks. He barely left the house and focused on the last few assignments of the semester. He told himself Arthur needed space to grieve his relationship. He told himself that he was over Arthur. He told himself a lot of lies.

***

Only a month before graduation, Arthur came to his door and said, “You’ve been avoiding me,” Arthur’s voice sounded uncharacteristically hurt. “I don’t know what I did. Gwen left me and you’re angry with me, and I don’t know what’s happened. Did I do something?”

Merlin felt his heart breaking in his chest. He had royally fucked up.

“Arthur…” Merlin reached out, but Arthur pulled away, still standing on Merlin’s front step.

“Did I fuck up? I can’t put the pieces together. I know that when I was with Gwen I didn’t make as much time for us to hang out as I should have, but we were never this distant. You haven’t answered any of my texts.”

Merlin was a man of many words at the best of times, but sometimes even he was at a loss.

“I can’t lose you too,” Arthur said, looking like he was on the verge of tears again.

Merlin swallowed, his throat feeling too tight. He stepped forward and wrapped Arthur in a hug. Arthur seemed to melt into it. They had hugged before. Briefly. When they went home for holidays and when they saw each other again. But never like this, whole bodies pressed together and chins tucked into each other’s shoulders. Arthur was shaking slightly and Merlin was trying not to let the emotions that he had bottled up long ago crash over him.

“You didn’t fuck up,” Merlin whispered into Arthur’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about Gwen, I really am.”

Arthur pressed his forehead to Merlin’s shoulder and he could feel the warmth of his breath against his shirt.

“We talked about it,” Arthur said with a deeply resigned sigh. “We both decided we had fallen out of love a while ago. It just still hurts. I think she knew far sooner than I did was letting me down easy.”

Merlin felt his throat closing up. “I’m sorry.”

Arthur shook his head, pulling away so that they were face to face, his arms still around Merlin’s shoulders. “I didn’t come here to talk about Gwen. Why are you avoiding me?”

Merlin looked down at his socks, not able to meet Arthur’s eyes, “I wanted to give you space.”

“What space? You never give me space. Especially when I’m in a mood.”

“I was just trying…” Merlin gave up and just ended up giving a weak smile. He wondered if Arthur believed it. “Sorry,” Merlin said, not able to think of much else to say that wasn’t ‘I can’t stand to see you cry’ or ‘I want to hold you’ or ‘I would love you til I the day I die, if you let me.’

Arthur looked at him for a long while, like he trying to figure out what Merlin actually meant. He was still frowning when he patted Merlin on the shoulder and slipped out of the hug.

***

The third time Arthur showed up at Merlin’s door was different. Merlin was buried in assignments, he was scrambling to get a job after graduation, and he couldn’t seem to get a handle on his emotions for the life of him. So he played music too loudly so no one would hear and he let himself cry. Hard. His chest ached and his cheeks hurt from the sobs, but Merlin knew from experience a good cry was the first step to feeling better.

“Your roommate let me in. Why is your music so-?” Arthur’s voice was cut off and Merlin was scrambling to wipe his face, but it was too late. He was in the middle of a pity-fest, and his sobs weren’t going to stop just because someone had interrupted him.

Arthur rushed over and knelt in front of him, “What happened? Is everyone alright?”

Merlin shook his head, his voice stuck in his throat, “Everyone’s fine. Nothing happened…” Merlin couldn’t say much more, his throat caught on a sob.

“Who did this to you?” Arthur asked forcefully, holding Merlin’s arm almost too tightly. Arthur had never been good with emotions, especially when other people were distraught. He wanted to fix it, go out there and punish who had hurt his friend. It was never that easy.

“No one. No one.” Merlin wiped his eye, but the tears were still coming.

Arthur, seeming to realize there wasn’t much he could do at the moment so he sat next down on Merlin’s bed and wrapped him in a bear hug. He pressed Merlin’s face to his chest and tightly wrapped his arms around Merlin’s back.

“I’ll kill him, whoever he is.”

Merlin pressed his face into Arthur’s neck and let himself go. He cried just a little bit harder when Arthur said, “You’re too good, Merlin. Always taking care of me, but never letting me help. I want to be there for you.”

***

As Merlin had predicted, his cry-session had been the first step to feeling better. In the next month he graduated university, got a startingjob in his field, and was moving in his own little cramped apartment on the outside of town.

The saying isn’t ‘fourth times’ the charm, but in this case, it was the fourth time Arthur showed up at Merlin’s door that things slotted into place.

When Merlin opened the door, Arthur was holding a long hanging houseplant, which he awkwardly held out. Merlin teased him about the ‘home warming’ gift and was delighted to see that Arthur was actually bashful about it, telling Merlin to ‘shut it, I’m being nice.’

After they ate dinner, they sat on Merlin’s old sofa and pretended to scroll through Netflix while they talked and talked and talked. Eventually, Merlin’s laptop went dark and they were just sitting there talking about anything and everything.

Arthur looked down at his beer, “I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“We’ve been busy,” Merlin said, “We should do this more. You know, have dinner and talk. Now that we’re no longer in uni we won’t have as much time.”

Arthur seemed to frown at this, picking the label off his beer.

“Arthur?” Merlin nudged him with his foot.

“I miss you all the time,” Arthur said, still not looking up at him. “Sometimes I miss you when you’re right here, and I don’t get that. It’snot even missing you. It’s like an ache in my chest labeled ‘Merlin.’ All the time.”

Merlin’s mouth went dry and he had to put his beer down before he dropped it.

“Is that weird?” Arthur’s voice was hush. “That I feel that way about you?”

Merlin shook his head, “No…”

“It doesn’t feel like what I felt before with my exes…” Arthur said, “With Gwen I always felt warm and fuzzy. With you, it’s nothing like that. It’s bigger and far more terrifying. It’s like if I lose you, then I wouldn’t know how to put my pieces back together again.”

Merlin moved closer. He touched Arthur’s leg, and Arthur’s hand hovered above his own, but stopped mid-air.

“Who was the bloke that broke your heart? When you were crying in your room…”

Merlin let out a small huff of laughter, “You.”

Arthur blinked at him.

“I know that feeling you’re talking about maybe a little too well.” Merlin said with a self-deprecating smile. “I’ve felt it for you, for longer than I care to admit.”

“Yeah?” Arthur’s hand finally lowered onto Merlin’s, twisting around so their fingers could interlock. “So does that mean you might want to go out with me?” Arthur asked.

Merlin laughed, “Yeah, I would say so.”

***

Prompts (or any prompt) + Ficlets

#merlin #merthur #ficlets #Anonymous

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candicewright · 4 years ago

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Kindly requesting that analysis on wangxian being peak romance and how it compares to queerbaiting please 🙏 🙏 🙏

Hello, anon! I am very genuinely happy that my rambling thoughts interest you in any way (because I have a lot of thoughts) so here is my analysis as promised. It is veeeery long (almost 2k), sorry about that but I’ve really been looking forward to talking about this for a very long time. In the end, it isn’t so much about how Wangxian is peak romance and more about the censorship and how it compares to queerbaiting, I may have to do another post about that later on. Without much further ado, here it is!

The Untamed’s tasteful censorship vs. BBC Merlin’s queerbaiting and why I prefer one over the other.

I know most people follow this blog for Merlin and believe me when I say that I love this show more than I can say because it has quite literally changed my life. But The Untamed has opened my mind to a whole new world (insert Aladdin’s A Whole New World here) and it has given me a lot of perspective on a lot of things.

I often joke with my friends saying that my first consideration when choosing a new show to watch is saying “is it gay?” which is not far from the truth, but it’s also not the complete story. What I mean is that I ask myself “does this show have a relationship that I think is worth getting invested in?”. Yes, t usually happens that those are not heterosexual romances, but what can I say, I’m queer and I like my emotional support fictional characters to be so too. This is the exact reasoning that led me to Merlin. I saw a couple of videos about them on youtube and immediately found their dynamic compelling and their story beautifully tragic. But like with most shows these days, the writers failed (among other things) to make their relationship explicit. This has happened with every show I watched after Merlin too; The Witcher, Sherlock and Good Omens being the most notable ones.

You can argue if they are or are not queerbaiting, I at least think Good Omens isn’t, but again, it is pretty subjective.

But i had grown so accustomed to this type of media that I fully went into The Untamed expecting something similar.

And oh boy was I wrong.

Now, the case of The Untamed is a curious one because it is supposed to be a love story between two men due to being based on a BL novel, but because of censorship, it had to be very toned down. I found this out right before actually watching the show while doing some preliminary research and while it did change my thought on what I was getting into I truly thought they would just erase the entire relationship and try to hide it behind straight relationships like in most other shows I had watched.

But that was absolutely not the case, to my endless relief and joy.

But how? How did they get away with censoring all the explicit aspects of a romantic relationship while still managing to tell a wonderful love story? And how does this compare to the queerbaiting of a show like Merlin?

Warning: I will be using different parts of both shows and probably some of the MDZS novel to illustrate my point, so there will be spoilers.

The initial accidental chemistry + innuendos vs. The establishment of the very clear enemies to friends to lovers trope

I’m going to use Merlin to compare and contrast this because it’s what I know best and the other show I've given a lot of thought to.

Merthur and Wangxian are both similar and different dynamics in the way they’re written and it was one of the things that drew me into The Untamed in the first place. Both stories begin with our main duo meeting and instantly disliking each other, ending up in a fight. And while they both set the story up to lead to a more intimate bond being created between the pairs, there’s something very different from the start.

Merthur is deliberately set up to be a close friendship and all innuendos and chemistry are accidental (in my opinion and only at the start). Let me explain.

The concept for Merlin clearly started with the idea of how the story would change if Merlin was a young boy arriving in Camelot instead of an old powerful sorcerer. Then they made the main plot to be his destiny/friendship with the young and arrogant Prince Arthur. I truly believe that the first innuendos were not what they intended and that all chemistry and sexual tension between the characters comes courtesy of Colin and Bradley and how undeniably good they look on screen together. Fans then started speculating (as we always do) and then the production team decided to run with it, making it almost a recurring joke when it shouldn’t have been. Had they treated that developing relationship seriously like what they were hinting it was, the show would have been very different.

The Untamed on the other hand, is everything but accidental. What they’re doing is deliberately establishing the enemies to friends to lovers trope from the very beginning. It’s not an accident that during their first fight on the roof of the Cloud Recesses Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji that women would find his true character very disappointing and that no one would want to marry him. he says so several times in fact and this is clearly both to highlight the change in their relationship as well as to say that Lan Wangji is not at all interested in the opinion of any female (or anyone besides Wei Wuxian for that matter). This is the same stuff we see in mainstream straight romances: one of the characters saying something to the effect of “who would want to date them?” only to end up involved with the other at the end of the story.

You could argue that Merlin does something similar with the conversation between Merlin and Kilgharrah where Merlin is affronted by the idea of having to help Arthur where he says “There must be another Arthur because this one’s an idiot...If someone wants to kill him, they can go right ahead. In fact, I’ll give them a hand.” but the difference between these two is that Merlin is hiding behind the guise of destiny and friendship to make these parallels while Wangxian is deliberately and clearly in a romantic context.

The deliberate continuation of the subtext vs. The suggestion of something more

The accidental nature of the subtext doesn’t last long and in true BBC fashion, it turns into full-on queerbaiting real fast. Again, you can argue endlessly about when the deliberately suggestive comments start, but by the end of the show, we know for a fact the entire production staff and even the staff were aware of the effect and reception their show was having. This was no longer an innocent mistake on people reading too much into it, it was a very purposeful narrative that they were pushing without ever truly committing to it. This is what got fans going crazy over “poetry” or lines like “you’re the only friend I have and I couldn’t bear to lose you”. These are all very intentional choices they made to keep their devoted fanbase interested and while we’re all very thankful for this material it really keeps us wondering what it could have been if they had taken that extra step.

The Untamed can’t take that step because of the censorship laws, but it’s still much more daring than Merlin ever was. While Merlin keeps the soulmate aspect of the Merthur relationship a suggestion, The Untamed outright says it, which was baffling to me. It even does it at a pint where the first kiss happened in the novel, which you would think makes it less romantic. But that's absolutely not the case because of both the non-consensual nature of that original kiss and because of how heartbreakingly beautiful the replacement scene is. Not only that, but they also keep all the elements you could expect to see in any pre-relationship stage of a developing romance story: endless amounts of mutual pining, not-really-unrequited love, jealousy, panicking at the sight of your crush (yes I’m looking at you 15-year-old Lan Wangji) and even some fun in vino veritas moments. They even have a son together! It doesn’t get more clear than that!

This is all the way the show has of suggesting something more without outright saying (even though it’s a pretty not subtle way of suggesting it).

Merlin, on the other hand, keeps trying to deny the romantic nature of the Merthur dynamic, which brings me to my next point.

The introduction of a female love interest as an excuse vs. The awareness that the audience understands the relationship in the way it's meant to be

Now, this one really bugs me, because of all the ways they could have done this they truly chose the worst and destroyed Gwen’s character in the process.

In my opinion, the writers could have done a few different things. They could have fully developed the Merthur relationship as a romantic one while keeping Gwen’s role as a queen and creating a much more satisfying character arch for her, maybe even getting her together with Morgana or Lancelot. They could have focused on the Awen romance and therefore lowered the suggestions of romance between Merlin and Arthur, once again creating a much more enjoyable subplot for Gwen, though it could have also meant sacrificing the very powerful bond between the main characters. They could have even taken advantage of Gwen’s crush on Merlin in the first season and gone on the full-on polyamory direction! That would have been much better! Instead, they halfassed the romance between Arthur and Gwen and made it just...meh. Not that Angel and Bradley didn’t do a great job, it was more of a writing problem than a them problem.

The Untamed (despite the rumours and possibilities of a Wen Qing/Wei Wuxian relationship) decided to just run with the not really platonic relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, making them the complete focus of the story while still upholding the censorship laws. What I think the biggest difference between the two shows is, is that one runs on assuming the audience is stupid while the other one assumes the audience is smart.

Let me explain once more.

The Merlin writers clearly thought that by introducing Gwen as the love interest to Arthur he would just become what? Magically straight? As if we hadn’t seen the last four seasons of sexual tension between him and Merlin? The audience was not fooled for the most part, but some people did fall for this, coming with the argument “But he’s married to Gwen so he’s straight!” as if being gay or straight are the only two possibilities but oh well.

The Untamed does quite the opposite. It relies on the fact that the audience is going to catch onto the romantic aspect of the narrative without them actively saying anything because we are Not Dumb. It also does something that I think is quite beautiful which is leaving it up for interpretation as far as whether it’s platonic or not and even more touching is the way the story has resonated with the ace community (that is according to what I’ve seen, please do correct me if I’m wrong) by focusing on their emotional and intellectual connection instead of in their physical and sexual one.

This is why, in the end, I prefer what I call The Untamed’s tasteful censorship over Merlin and other shows’ blatant queerbaiting.

I feel the need after all of this to state that Merlin is still my favorite show of all time and that this is not by any means me saying that Merlin is absolute trash or something like that. There’s also a lot more that I think can be said in this conversation, so please feel free to tell me what you think and if you’ve ever encountered something similar to this.

Also, if I made any mistakes or wrong points, please don’t be shy about telling me!

I hope this rant was at least somewhat interesting and that you found it satisfactory, anon!

#mdzs/cql meta #merlin meta #the untamed #cql #wangxian #bbc merlin #merthur #merlin bbc #ask response #i have a lot of feelings #someone stop me #long post

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drarry-with-a-side-of-harry · 4 years ago

Text

THAT WAS ONE OF THE GAYEST EPISODES IN A HOT MINUTE LMAOOOO WTF

so i’ve just watched series 4 episode 10 ‘A Herald of the New Age’ uhhhhhh

wait wait wait so gwen’s gone for two (2) seconds and Arthur and Merlin are flirting like they’re in a school playground all over again lmaoooo i’m so done

so first of all they get back to Camelot and Merlin’s falls back into his concerned boyfriend routine 🥺🥺🥺🥺 SIDE NOTE THE KNIGHTS ARE JUST FULLY AWARE OF THESE TWO AT THIS POINT THEY ALWAYS FLIRT AND ARE REALLY TENDER IN FRONT OF THEM I CANNOT BE ARSED anyway Merlin asks Arthur if he’s alright and Arthur’s all sad and brooding 🥺🥺🥺 so Merlin says he was being quiet and Arthur just answers him with a snide remark but with none of the laughter and ARTHUR, KING, SWEETIE WHY WON’T YOU JUST LET THIS BOY HELP YOU???? 🥺🥺🥺🥺

SO THEN WE SKIP AHEAD A BIT AND OMFG LET ME TELL YOU I WAS CACKLING WITH LAUGHTER AND KEPT HAVING TO PAUSE IT. THIS SHIT IS GOLDEN

so Merlin walks in on Arthur asleep at his desk. if you’ve watched the show you will remember this scene because it’s too iconic but am i gonna run through it anyway?? you’re damn right i am because i am obsessed lmaoooooo

SO MERLIN JUST STRAIGHT UP BANGS ON THE DESK REALLY FUCKING LOUDLY TO GET HIM TO WAKE UP HAHAHAHAHHAA AND ARTHUR HAS FOOD ALL OVER HIS FACE I-

who fucking wrote this shit it’s too good man

Arthur jumps out of his mind and Merlin the little shit has the audacity to say “oh i’m sorry i didn’t mean to scare you” HAHAHAHAHAHA YOU ABSOLUTE DICKHEAD MERLIN 😭😭😭😭😭😭 and he barely even cracks a smile how this man holds it together i will never know. honestly how Colin Morgan managed to deliver that just once without cracking up is beyond me.

OH BUT WE’RE FAR FROM FINISHED

so Arthur responds “you didn’t scare me, i was asleep” LMAOOOOO YEAH BITCH WE KNOW HAHAHAHAHAHA IM STILL SCREAMING ABOUT THIS

so now Merlin starts to laugh a bit but he’s holding it together. you know when you’re in school and something funny happens with your mates and you shouldn’t laugh because you’re meant to be working but you can’t not laugh and you’re all just snorting to stop yourselves from laughing??? yeah same energy

Arthur: “why’ve you got that stupid smile on your face?” baby i don’t know what to tell you anymore

Merlin: “it’s nothing. why were you sleeping with your head on the table?” and his face just drops to confusion HOW DOES HE NOT KEEP LAUGHING

Arthur: “i fell asleep while i was reading” uh huh okay sure thing

Merlin: “what were you reading?” this is turning into the most mundane conversation you’ve ever heard but it’s priceless because Arthur’s still half asleep and Merlin’s just fucking with him i’m so done

Arthur looks around trying think of something and realises be can’t lie anymore so this bitch just has to say “i am the King of Camelot i do not have to answer to the likes of you” LMAOOOOOOOO KING JUST ADMIT YOURE AN IDIOT AND LEAVE and Arthur’s almost cracking a smile at this point too we get it you love him

Merlin: “oh you’re in a good mood, you obviously got out of the wrong side of the table” AND THIS MAN JUST STARTS PISSING HIMSELF AT HIS OWN JOKE I-

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

AND ARTHUR’S DEADPAN STARE IS PRICELESS

and Merlin explains the joke while he’s still laughing and Arthur replies “that’s extremely clever and funny Merlin there really are no limits to your wit now will you please just get me some breakfast” HAHAHAHAHHAA MATE WHEN I SAY IM HOWLING WRITING THIS POST

‘there really are no limits to your wit’ sent me

so Merlin goes to get breakfast and Arthur (who has loads of food on his face remember) uses the plate as a mirror OH BOY

THIS SCENE COULD NOT BE ANY FUNNIER I SWEAR

he lowers the plate with another deadpan stare aimed at the door. boy is FUMING LMAOOOOOOOO

he shouts Merlin and i will suck my own big toe if there is anyone in the castle Camelot that didn’t hear him MY GOD THAT WAS PRICELESS

me current state: deceased

OH AND IT DOESN’T STOP THERE OH NO NO NO

so the very next scene we’re at training Arthur tells the lads to pair up and Gwaine asks what’s in his hair. Arthur’s face is just a picture. Merlin helpfully answers that it’s stew. Leon asks him why he’s got stew in his hair. Merlin quickly responds “because he was reading” in that tone when Merlin’s being a right snarky little shit oh you know

the lads just turn to look at Arthur like “wtf man??”

Arthur takes a minute and says “change of plan. i think we’ll try something different” lmaoooo you just know what’s coming next

so Merlin’s used for sword practise

Arthur has first go and the lads are smirking at them and each other like “oh these two had another domestic” “about the stew this time ahhh right” lmaooooo

JUST GOLD

there was a whole two (2) minutes of just solid flirting, taking the piss and just generally annoying the shit out of each other i-

OH AND THERE’S MORE

it’s nighttime now and this cheeky bastard asks “would you like me to make up the bed Sire, or will you be sleeping on the table again?” with a little smile on his face HAHAHAHAHAHAHA it just keeps getting better this episode really is a gift

Arthur doesn’t respond because he’s all moody again and Merlin all but roles his eyes all he wants to do is cheer up his boyfriend 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 so he sighs “is this about Gwen” and Merlin looks kinda irritated and sad and Arthur won’t even look at him and Merlin says “we all miss her. you more than anyone” and Arthur cuts him off with “you can go now” maaaaate the feels

Merlin: “Arthur”

Arthur: “get out” oh so now you look at him

omfg you were happy earlier can you please just let him help you ffs you’re just making each other really fucking sad and it’s not helping anything

and Merlin leaves and Arthur kind of looks over his shoulder and almost shakes his head like he doesn’t actually want him to go 🥺🥺 and every damn time something like this happens i expect him to say “no, wait” 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

and now Arthur looks even more sad. well baby i don’t know what to tell you but you did just do that to yourself a little bit. just leT MERLIN HELP YOU ffs

SO Merlin storms in and dad Gaius is at the table reading and Merlin’s just ranting that he’s done being nice to Arthur and he doesn’t get any thanks and he’s saved his life so many times and all he ever does is shout at him. yeah boy we know aND SO DOES GAIUS because this man does not look up at him!!!!!! tell me that’s not Merlin ranting to his dad about his crush i swear-

Gaius tells him there’s more important things to worry about like the plot of this episode perhaps??? lmaoooo this is getting out of hand now. dad’s so done with Merlin’s lovesick bullshit lmaoo

so we move on a bit and Arthur tells his uncle that Merlin thinks Elyan’s possessed oh so now dad’s dead you value Merlin’s counsel huh king?? we love to see it

we love that Merlin can speak up a bit more now ehehehe

so uncle says that Merlin’s just tryna protect his friend and Arthur just looks at Merlin like “i believe you don’t worry but we need evidence man”

oh my christ we’re only half way through true episode i’ll try and speed things up a bit i think the main Merthur action’s done anyway

Merlin breaks Elyan out. arrives back at Camelot and walks into the throne room. Arthur’s drinking and reading something and just looks up when Merlin enters with the most glorious look on his face like “oh this bitch is back finally” and carefully considers what he’s gonna say to him 😂😂😭😭😭

Arthur: “Merlin! good of you to join me. perhaps i should fill you in on all that’s been happening while you’ve been... that’s a good question. what the hell have you been doing??” LMAOOOOO these two i can’t

Merlin: “i was...”

Arthur (cutting him off): “choose your next words carefully. they may be you last” pahahahahahaha alright king pipe down

Merlin: “i was searching.. in the woods.... for some herbs for Gaius” boy’s just rambling about herbs and says he got lost

Arthur: “you mean to tell me that you’ve been wandering around in the woods all night???”

and the look on this man’s face. WONDERFUL

Merlin says yes and Arthur asks what happened to his head because it’s bruised and i just knew it was coming ffs “i tripped over a root and hit my head on a tree and knocked myself out” this fucking moron. this fool i despair

Arthur just toys with him and offers him some food with him at the table is it a joke though Arthur if you actually just want to have a lunch date with him and Merlin realises he’s joking and we get another golden deadpan stare from Arthur and it’s the funniest shit damn this episode is blessed and Arthur just stares him down as he fucks off out of the room lmaooooooo 😭😭😭😭😭😭 and then to finish it off dramatically picks up his paper again so we all know he’s back to ‘important reading’ uh huh Arthur sure you’re not just thinking about that interaction?? like the rest of us clowns

fast forward and Arthur let’s Elyan go and somehow Merlin’s there again???

anyway Arthur talks to his uncle and when he’s gone Arthur confides in Merlin and Gaius i’m sorry but we have to stan some A+ development (also i really hope Arthur’s starting to lose trust in his uncle because i was sort of getting that vibe from this scene idk we can only hope)

Merlin’s in Arthur’s chambers that night clearing up and Arthur says “that’ll be all Merlin” anD MERLIN REPLIES “are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” UMMMMMMM FOR WHAT????? I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT ARTHUR WAS GOING TO SLEEP UHHHHHHHHHHHHH IDK MAN SEEMS KINDA SUS TO ME WHAT’RE YOU GONNA DO MERLIN JUST SLEEP IN HIS BED WITH HIM??? HMMMMMMMMM THE PLOT MAJORLY THICKENS BECAUSE ARTHUR DOESN’T EVEN FIND THIS AN ODD SUGGESTION BECAUSE HIS RESPONSE IS JUST “think i’m gonna get an early night” OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL THAT IMPLIES THAT HIM AND MERLIN WOULD BE- *BIG COUGH COUGH*

AND SECONDLY THAT IMPLIES THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THEY’VE DONE BEFORE I REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS INFORMATION THE EVIDENCE SEEMS PRETTY CONCLUSIVE TO ME YOUR HONOUR

then they have a nice little joke about Merlin not getting an early night lmaooo we do love to see the bants

so later on Merlin follows Arthur into the woods lmao of course he does would you really expect anything less at this point?? and they have this whole why are you here?! no why are you here?! moment lmao

Arthur tells him he’s free to go back to Camelot at any time sweetie you really think that’s gonna happen?? you fool Arthur Pendrgaaon because obviously Merlin’s not going anywhere AND THEN ARTHUR’S BACK TO BEING A SELF SACRIFICIAL LITTLE SHIT AGAIN BABY YOU’RE KING NOW YOU CAN’T BE SO WILLING TO DIE AT EVERY FUCKING PROBLEM WTF we find out that this whole thing’s Arthur’s fault but this whole scene is honestly so nice and lovely and warm and he knows what he did was wrong and that he was a stupid young man 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and the druid boy forgives him 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and he’s CRYING omg recently Merlin’s constantly on the verge of tears but when Arthur cries you know some bad shit’s going down and the music omgggg 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 “from this day forth the druid people will be treated with the respect they deserve, i give you my word” 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 i love him your honour

so then we’re back in Arthur’s chambers and Merlin says “you know that was incredibly moving what you said at the shrine” Arthur says “it served it’s purpose” because Elyan’s alright ARTHUR STOP PRETENDING YOU DON’T CARE TO LOOK COOL FOR YOU BOYFRIEND MERLIN KNOWS YOU’RE 10X THE MAN YOUR FATHER EVER WAS

Merlin says “you meant it” and then Arthur gets a bit snappy because he’s embarrassed 🥺🥺🥺 and Merlin says “i don’t ever think i’ve seen you cry before. well not like that. you had tears running down your cheeks it’s nice to see this new sensitive emotional side to you, it suits you” doesn’t it just baby???? 🥺🥺🥺🥺 then we get a classic shut up Merlin and this is the first time Arthur dares to look at him throughout this conversation 😭😭😭 and then Merlin mocks him *gasp* “i really thought you’d changed” lmaoooo “then you’re as stupid as you are ugly” lmaooooooo Arthur just tell him he’s pretty and leave

and just to finish things off

Arthur’s walking to the door

Merlin: “so there’s no chance that we could have a hug?” and he’s half 🥺 and half smiling/laughing ready to play it off

Arthur turns back to him and starts play running towards him and Merlin runs away and Arthur tackles him off screen aND YOU CANNOT TELL ME ARTHUR DID NOT GIVE THAT MAN THE BIGGEST HUG WHEN THEY WERE BOTH DOWN ON THE GROUND AHHHHHHHHAHAHAHA THEH ARE SO PURE I LOVE IT 🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 can you not just imagine these two giggling and chasing each other round the room i-

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alittletoo-obsessed · 4 years ago

Text

Echo of a Memory

Merlin and Arthur met on the first day of High School and immediately became a twisted mixture of best friends and worst enemies.

They organized prank after prank and somehow never got in trouble for it. Teachers hated to leave them paired up but separating them always somehow led to more trouble.

Merlin loved learning. When Arthur had soccer practice, he would hide in the library and read any book he could find as he waited, from fantastic stories of knights and dragons to the history of snails. When Arthur came looking for him afterwards, he would find him on the floor amongst the books or at a desk, his nose scrunched up in an unfairly adorable way as he read.

Arthur spent the Holidays at Merlin’s. The Pendragons did not celebrate. They had a nice family dinner, which was more than usual, and that way it. That year, he slept over at Merlin’s. They baked cookies, made some hot cocoa and watched Disney movies late into the night. It became a tradition.

Arthur kissed him for the first time a year later during a movie night with their friends. Merlin had gone to refill the popcorn when Arthur spun him around and kissed him, a hand on his hip and the other cradling his face, in the middle of Lancelot’s kitchen.

One day early into the new year, Arthur showed up on his doorstep, a bloody nose and a black eye the only indication that something was amiss. Arthur had grabbed his hand as soon as he had opened the door and dragged him out into the snow and to his car. When he had tried to ask when it was going on, Arthur had turned up the music and told him to shut up. They drove for a good hour before he had stopped the car in the middle of an empty parking lot. The quiet lingered for a second while Merlin shivered in the passenger seat. Arthur reached into the back seat for a sweater and shoved it at him. He then took a heaving breath, clenched his jaw, and spoke.

“You’re so stupid Merlin. Why would you do that?” Confusion took over as he racked his brain for what in the world he possibly could have done wrong, “I… I don’t know. What in the world are you talking about?” “You can’t do things like that Merlin, you’re going to get us killed. I don’t like getting into fights.” “I don’t understand.” “You and your stupid eyes and that stupid mouth of yours making me kiss you in the hallway.” Merlin blushed crimson as he remembered the way Arthur had pushed him up against the lockers at school only two days before, “What does that have to do with your eye” “I couldn’t let them say those mean things about you. They were rude and had absolutely no right to say that about you.” Everything finally clicked as he reached to skim over Arthur’s face, fingers brushing the split lip. “Jesus, Arthur. Why would you do that?” The answer was so small, he almost thought he had imagined it. “Because I love you.”

The next time, Merlin was the one to initiate. They were in the pool, Merlin squeezed between the wall and Arthur’s body when Uther dragged him up by the scruff of his hair and kicked him out.

Arthur didn’t kiss him again. Merlin never went back to the Pendragon Mansion. They drifted apart as time passed.

Arthur dates Gwen sophomore year, and Merlin cries himself to sleep. He congratulates them and wears a fake smile only the mirror sees through.

Gwen and Arthur break up. Gwen dates Lancelot. Merlin helps Arthur through it, ignoring the cracks in his own heart as they echo in the quiet.

Merlin dates Freya late into the year. She dies in a car crash less than three months later and Merlin retreats further into himself, tearing apart the last salvages of his and Arthur’s friendship. Merlin doesn’t date again.

Summer before Junior year, Arthur cycles through girlfriends like his underwear. He dates Mithian, who breaks up with him and dates his sister instead. He dates Elena, who was only into him for his money. He dates Vivian, who is nice, and pretty, but a little too invested in him. He doesn’t see Merlin all summer.

They pass each other in the hallways. It’s as if there was never anything there.

Balinor dies Christmas of their Junior year and Merlin’s heart shatters. Arthur doesn’t find out until Gwen asks him why he wasn’t at the funeral. He’s never felt worse in his life.

Arthur doesn’t find out that Merlin came out to their friends that same year. He doesn’t find out how badly Merlin was bullied for it. He doesn’t find out how close he was to losing Merlin forever. He doesn’t find out until he gets a call at 1 AM from a desperate Gwen begging him to come help her.

By the time he gets there, Merlin’s plugged into an IV and is sitting on a bed drifting in and out of consciousness. He can’t tell where the bruises end and where Merlin starts. He has a cut across his left eyebrow and his nose is broken. Gwen’s arm is in a sling, gripping his hand like the touch alone could keep him alive.

Arthur never leaves Merlin alone again.

Little by little, the trust between them rebuilds. Arthur takes Merlin to school, he comes over on nights where Hunith works at the hospital and cooks dinner as they watch tv in silence.

Arthur slowly coaxes Merlin out of the shell he built around himself, one step at a time. The first few weeks they stay in his room, shutting the outside world away. Then Arthur gets him to sit on the couch. Eventually, Merlin agrees to go to the park. They sit and read for hours before heading home.

Public places take longer but Merlin has stopped hiding in the library and eats with his friends again

With Senior year comes college applications and the fear of being split up again. Fate has taken so much already and time is not on their side.

They go to prom as a group, rather than with dates, but the night sees them both hiding in Arthur's car and making their way to a Five Guys instead when the crowd becomes too much.

The year flies by and before they know it, it's time to graduate.

At the afterparty, Arthur finds Merlin tucked away in the library, reading a copy of "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman

Arthur: "Hiding away are we Merlin?" Merlin: "It's just… been a while, since I was here." Arthur: *deep breath* "yea I don't like the pool either anymore" A long moment stretches between them as they sink into memories of happier times, the echo of silence resonating around them. Merlin: "I'm sorry." Arthur: "What for?" Merlin: "For that day. For the problems I caused with your dad. For pushing you away." Arthur: "I'm sorry I let you go. And for what it's worth, I'm not sorry for that day."

The last time Arthur kisses him, it's hidden away in his library, the possibility of the future and the pain of the past intermingling to form a sacred bond even time cannot break, as roaring laughter from a fleeting childhood rings around them.

#merthur #non-canon era #soft for my boys in love I just love them so much please let me have what they have #in love

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with-all-my-heart-arwen · 4 years ago

Photo

The Scare

A/N: An AU fic about Arthur and Gwen and a possible life changing event.

The sun is bright as it filters in from the wide curtainless windows. The office continues to buzz with busyness and life seems to move right along despite the turmoil Gwen is feeling inside. She sighs heavily as she packs her meager belongings into a cardboard box. She’d had the desk for three weeks and now her dream internship was at an end. She was only standing up for herself, something her father taught her, and now she feels as if she’s being punished for not allowing a client to talk down to her.

She can feel the eyes of the other office occupants as they glance her way, some with sympathy and some with a good riddance smirk. Her choice of vocation is competitive and she has already mired her path to success. The realization of loss is heavy and stifling. She tosses the last few items into the box, grabs her purse and exits with her head held high. Once she’s in her car, the tears start to stream down her cheeks and she can’t muster the energy to start the vehicle and drive away. She reaches for her mobile and taps the last number called.

He answers hurriedly. “Hey. I’m kind of busy at the moment. Can I ring you back?”

She is so choked up she can barely talk. “Ar….Arthur…..”

“Guinevere….what’s wrong? What’s happened?” He asks anxiously, noticing her difficulty to speak.

“I….I need you.”

“It’s fine. Tell me where you are and I’ll come to you,” he offers.

“Can you…..meet me at the park? By the fountain?’ She asks.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Twenty minutes later, they are walking hand in hand as Gwen relays the incident with the client and then her boss and her subsequent firing.

“I thought for sure she’d speak up for me or at least see my side of things. She completely threw me under the bus and told me I should have never spoken to a client in that manner.” She pauses as she looks her boyfriend in the eye. “I wasn’t cross with her like she was with me but I wanted her to know I would not tolerate being talked to like I was an imbecile. How was that wrong?”

“It wasn’t wrong at all.” He shakes his head. “Maybe you can speak with Isabel again, explain yourself….”

“You want me to grovel after the way she treated me? She didn’t have to fire me you know. This was an isolated incident. Maybe I didn’t handle it as I should have. Maybe I should have allowed the client to speak to me the way she did.”

“No. You weren’t wrong for standing up for yourself. I just hate to see you so miserable.”

“Well you’d better get used to it. I can’t afford my flat now so I guess I’ll go back to Reading with dear old dad. That means an hour commute each day for school, add in the wear and tear on the car and it all equals misery in my book.” She stops walking and drops his hand. “Oh Arthur what am I going to do?”

She feels awful asking her boyfriend of six months for answers but she is desperate. Her life here was starting to come together nicely and now she appears to be backtracking. It’s not fair.

He steps in and hugs her tightly. “It will be fine. I promise.” He places his hands on either side of her face. “Why not start plans for your own business?”

“Are you forgetting I have one more year of uni? No one’s going to take a graduating senior seriously. I have to have that degree in hand. Not to mention a bit of experience under my belt,” she reminds him.

“Ok. Well this will leave you more time to devote to your studies. You may even finish early,” he suggests.

“Did I fail to mention my other problem?” She lets out a soft breath. “I need to complete an internship to get all my credits to graduate. I’ve clearly mucked that up now.” Her voice breaks on the last word and Arthur cringes, wishing he could take it all away.

“Let’s solve at least one of these problems. Move in with me. That way you won’t be back with your dad, you won’t have to drive so far, and I’ll cook breakfast each morning.”

Gwen smiles and wipes her tears. “Eggs and toast?”

“Only the best for you.”

“Oh Arthur please be serious. I really need some answers here.”

He frowns. “Who says I’m not serious?”

“I couldn’t do that. I mean, it’s too soon. We’ve only been dating for a few months. What would everyone think?”

“Who cares what others think? I understand this would be a big step for us but….I’m ready.”

“Ready? Ready for what exactly?”

“Guinevere….I love you. Moving in together is a big commitment and I want that…..with you.”

“I…..I love you too Arthur but I don’t want you to feel obligated just because I’m having a bit of bad luck,” she states.

“This is not about your incident today. This is about two people in love….taking the next step.”

She looks at him for a few seconds, recognizing his seriousness. “Well, since you put it that way…..”

They laugh and she loops an arm through one of his as they exit the park.

Two months later

Gwen has ensconced herself into Arthur’s living quarters seamlessly. He made good on his promise to prepare her breakfast every morning, she attended her classes during the day, he worked until six most evenings and she usually had dinner prepared for them once he was home. Their lives merged almost perfectly. The only thing she hadn’t accomplished was securing another internship and she had to have that in place within the next few weeks in order to complete her graduation requirements.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit stressed over it but she had a couple of prospects and she was just waiting for an interview. She puts the finishing touches on tonight’s dinner and goes over a couple of assignments while she waits for Arthur to arrive. She smiles when she hears the lock turn on the door and the love of her life enters their home. He walks over to her and plants a sweet kiss on her lips.

“Sorry I’m late. My father is really bad at knowing when to call it quits.” He sets his keys in a bowl on the coffee table and moves towards the stairs. “I’m going up to change. Be right back.”

That night was like so many others they’ve had. Discussing their days, current events, news from friends, etc. They spend an hour or so on their devices, checking emails, work obligations, school assignments and then they take a long hot shower together that ends with sensual lovemaking in his oversized king bed.

The next day, Gwen is seated at the coffee shop near her school with friends.

“Where’s Jessica?” She wonders.

“Sick with cramps. She has them something awful. I feel sorry for her,” Dreena answers.

The others continue their conversation but Gwen is stuck on the word cramps. It automatically brings to mind her monthly cycle and she realizes she hasn’t gotten it yet. She quickly thinks back to last month and knows she should’ve had her period by now. She takes out her mobile and pulls up the calendar to figure out just how late she is. She gasps and tries not to panic as her heart rate increases with the thought of what could be causing her late period.

“Gwen are you ok?” Eugenia asks.

“Yeah….I…..yes I just remembered an assignment that’s due. I really need to go. I’ll see you guys later.” She grabs her belongings and makes a beeline for her car. She picks up her mobile several times to ring Arthur but she’s not sure what she would say, so she drives home and waits for him. She can’t even think about eating she is so consumed with her thoughts.

The clock reads 7:30 and she scoffs as she thinks, ‘of all nights for him to be late’. He did send a text earlier but she thought late would be 6:30 or 7. At this rate, he could be even later and she knows she will be out of her mind in only a few more minutes. She grabs her shoes and rushes down the stairs ready to snatch up her keys and drive to the nearest drug store.

Arthur walks through the door looking a bit disheveled. “Hi love. Sorry I’m so late. Merlin actually closed a deal and we had to celebrate.”

Gwen stands silently, looking at him.

“Are you ok?” He asks.

“I’m late.”

“Late for what?”

“I mean…..I’m late.”

Her boyfriend’s eyebrows go up in surprise as his mouth forms a silent ‘oh’. “Have you taken a test? Do you know?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

He nods slowly. “Okay. Okay….well let’s uh…..let’s get a test.”

“A test?” She agrees. “Yes we should get a test.”

They take his car and drive a few minutes away to a nearby drug store. The entire time Gwen is racking her brain trying to think of how this could have happened if it has actually happened. She and Arthur were careful. They used condoms and she was on the pill although she was a bit forgetful from time to time. Surely that wouldn’t result in a pregnancy?

She places the test on the counter to purchase it only to have Arthur drop a big box of condoms right next to it. She gives him an annoyed look and remains silent as he retrieves some cash from his wallet and purchases their items.

The silence between them continues on the ride home, her mind still racing as she makes a beeline for the bathroom upstairs. He follows at a slower pace and sits on the bed quietly. He checks his watch, wondering how long this would take. He stands quickly as he hears the door open. She holds a white device in her hand and shakes her head.

“It says I’m not pregnant.”

Arthur lets out a loud ‘Woo!’ He claps his hands together, then scrubs his face with them, releasing a relieved breath. “That was close.” He walks toward her and places his hands on her shoulders. “Gosh I feel like we dodged a bullet.”

Gwen scoffs. “I didn’t know you’d be quite so relieved.”

Arthur scoffs back. “Well aren’t you?”

“Yes…….and……no,” she answers.

“What? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. The thought of being pregnant terrified me but now that I know I’m not…..I guess I’m just a bit disappointed,” she admits.

“Disappointed? Guinevere, we are not ready for a child. You haven’t graduated uni and I’ve just started a leadership role in my father’s company. The last thing we need is a baby.”

“I know that Arthur. Don’t you think I know that? You just…..you’ve just made me feel like a child with me would be the last thing you’d want. If two people love each other, isn’t it natural that they’d want children together?”

“Children? We’ve never even discussed children. You’ve never expressed a desire to have any and to be honest I haven’t given it much thought. All I know is that I’m not ready to change nappies and be up all hours of the night with a screaming infant.”

“You make it sound so dismal and I think it’s one of the most beautiful things in the world,” she answers softly.

“I’m sure it is beautiful for those who plan it and want it. I’m not saying we won’t have kids but it’s just not something that should happen now,” he offers.

“So you’re saying you wouldn’t mind having kids with me?”

He takes his time answering her. For some reason becoming a father is something that terrifies him. His mother died giving birth to him and his father never truly got over her death. He’s not sure he can put the woman he loves in the same predicament. “Can we please discuss this later? I’m feeling a little drained right now.”

“Arthur…..I need to know. I love you but if you don’t see a future for us……..”

“What are you talking about? We had a scare Guinevere. We’re ok now and we know to be more cautious in future.”

“But if we don’t want the same things then how can we stay together?”

“There’s no urgency here. How about we revisit this in another…….five years?”

Five years? She watches dumbfounded as Arthur removes his jacket and tie and leaves the room.

That night, Arthur pulled her into his arms and held her closely. The previous scare and conversation lingered in the room but they didn’t discuss it any further. Gwen was surprised by her feelings and Arthur’s admission. She replayed the conversation in her head again and again, her thoughts keeping her awake long into the early morning hours.

Two weeks later

“Arthur, I need to talk to you,” Gwen expresses as they place their dinner plates in the sink.

He nods. “I know what it’s about and I haven’t changed my mind.”

“So are you admitting there is no future for us…..that we want different things?”

“No, of course not. I’m just saying we aren’t ready to be parents. Don’t you agree?” He wonders.

“Yes but…..if we’re going to have a future together, shouldn’t we discuss the things we want and expect when it comes to family?”

“It’s not a conversation we have to have right now. We have plenty of time,” Arthur reminds her.

Gwen accepts that as his reluctance to discuss a future therefore he must not want a future that includes her and what she wants. This only added to the stress she was experiencing which resulted in a late period. She realizes she needs to relieve some of that stress so her decision was the right one. “Well, I’ve accepted an internship.”

Arthur smiles, relieved to change the subject. “That’s great!”

“In France.”

Her lover falters. “Wh…what? In France? Why?”

“I need to get serious about this, Arthur. I scratched France off my list because I couldn’t bear being away from you but if I truly want to graduate and if I truly want the experience, I need to accept the opportunities granted to me.”

“So you’re leaving just like that?”

“It’s for 6 weeks and I’ve been approved to complete my courses online for that duration. It’s all going to work out.”

“But what about us?”

“You’ve made it clear that we should concentrate on our careers right now and I’ve decided that you’re right.”

“Are you dumping me?” He doesn’t give her time to answer as he steps to her and lifts her chin to look directly into her eyes. “I love you.” He swallows nervously. “If this is about a baby….then….we’ll have one. I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“I love you too but I think some time apart is what we need now. I don’t want you to do something you don’t want to do.”

“Great coz I don’t want this. I want you to stay.”

“I want you to take this time to consider what you truly want. If you don’t see yourself as a father in a couple of years then we want different things, Arthur, and we shouldn’t be together if our expectations don’t coincide.”

He motions to say more but Gwen crushes her lips to his, pushing her tongue into his mouth and wrapping her arms around his neck. She pushes her body against his and gasps as Arthur pulls back.

“Guinevere, we need to talk about this.”

“I leave in two days, Arthur. I want to spend that time wrapped in your arms.” Not another word is spoken as they resume their kiss and move into their bedroom.

The next few weeks are torturous for the both of them but they contend by keeping busy, Arthur in his new position at his father’s company and Gwen with her thriving internship. They talk on the phone daily, send each other text messages and emails and the 6 weeks are done before they realize it.

Gwen can barely contain her excitement as she presses the garage opener and parks her car beside Arthur’s. She leaves her bags in the boot as she hurriedly unlocks the door and enters their home. Arthur stands by the kitchen counter and she races to him, jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly. His arms snake around her waist and he kisses her neck soundly.

“I missed you so much,” she gasps then kisses him gently.

“I missed you too.”

“Arthur, I want to apologize. I did a lot of thinking while I was away but I couldn’t say this over the phone or in an email. I was wrong to make you feel like you had to tell me exactly what you wanted for your future. We have time and I hope you can forgive me. I wasn’t very understanding and I don’t want to lose you. I love you with all my heart.”

He smiles. “I want to apologize too. I allowed my knowledge of what happened to my parents to cloud my judgment about my own future. I will admit that I don’t know what the future holds for us but as long as I’m with you I don’t care. I love you, Guinevere, more than anything.”

They kiss passionately, their love for one another more evident and stronger than ever. She grabs his hand and leads his towards the stairs.

“I’ve dreamt about you almost every night for 6 weeks. I hope you’re prepared to remain in bed for the next few days.”

Arthur laughs as they climb the stairs together, enter their bedroom, close the door and start to disrobe before falling onto the bed where they make love slowly and intensely.

#Gwen #Arthur #Arwen #fanfiction #SBK

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