#merthur rant

[silliestofbilliest]

What if “Kiss me pt1” from Sweeney Todd but Merthu- (I AM FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM THE BUILDING)

Do yall see the manic sleep deprived vision tho?? Like that one ep where Arthur is going through that arranged marriage and Merlin gives his quick “I think you’re all mad… you should marry someone you love not for political gain” rant but instead they’re running away to their little farm together (oh em gosh someone stop me-)

[weird-tea]

Just occurred to me that from Arthur's perspective yes Merlin seems really brave and stupidly loyal but also like someone with a death wish. Not necessarily wanting to die in the straight forward sense but reckless with his wellbeing in a way similar to characters like Lockwood from Lockwood & Co. Arthur doesn't know Merlin has magic so he has no reason to think Merlin is anything other than a defenceless servant who is reckless with his life to a concerning amount.

I've seen discussion and fan fics exploring how it should have been obvious to Arthur that Merlin was in love with him because of how devoted to him he was in such a self sacrificing way but I think you can justify Arthur not assuming Merlin's behaviour was born out of love for him because from Arthur's perspective it seems far more likely that Merlin just doesn't value his own safety and life to a concerning level. He's always joking that Merlin has a mental affliction, doesn't question truly strange behaviour because oh that's just Merlin being Merlin he's an unstable weirdo. Arthur counting the days since he saw Merlin smile because gods forbid Merlin's reckless lack of care for his own life developed into something with more intent.

Basically I think Arthur believes Merlin is legit just mentally ill in some way. Because frankly without the contact of Merlin's magic and the prophecy his behaviour is really concerning (frankly even with context it's pretty concerning by the final few seasons, that boy is not okay) and because to Arthur that is a much more logical explanation for Merlin's behaviour than Merlin actually loving him (platonically or romantically, doesn't matter) because Arthur can't comprehend someone loving him like that.

Also makes his reaction to the magic reveal make some painful sense because he's never factored Merlin's love for him into his understanding of Merlin's behaviour so when the weird behaviour he'd assumed was a mental affliction seems to be revealed as just a lie to hide his magic Arthur has no basis of Merlin's devotion to him to fall back on and use to make sense of why Merlin would be loyal to him despite having magic.

Arthur doesn't see Merlin's self sacrifice as the result of love from him but as a result of lack of love for himself.

[turtlefordestiel]

I need a Merthur fic where Merlin accidentally becomed Modreds pseudo-mom and so Arthur becomes his dad and everyone thinks that Merlin legally adopted Modred and that Arthur and Merlin are an official Thing. Gaius ofc acts as sort of grandfather/great uncle. What's surprising is that UTHER acknowledges him and is slightly less rude with Merlin and Modred. Somehow Camelot catches wind of Uther basically claiming Mordred as his grandson, albeit begrudgingly. Mordred still calls Merlin Emrys but it's become more of a synonym for mom "cmon emryyyss I promise I won't be a bother!" "Arthur already said no and you really expect me to allow you to go after that stunt you pulled last week?" The knights and Morgana and Gwen all refer to Arthur and Merlin as mum and dad when talking to Mordred and he thinks it's in a joking way but they're completely serious because Merlin must have the adoption papers filled out and Arthur finally got his head out of his own arse. Surely with how Merlin mothers (smothers) Mordred and Arthur's over the top overprotectiveness.

Would Arthur be allowed to name Mordred his heir once he's King and married? Ehh. It gets passed through even if not a thing that's allowed.

[queermediaismypassion]

hey so the ship doesn't fucking change in any way depending on who you think tops or bottoms in the bedroom. also some people switch! stop being so WEIRD about what gay people do in the bedroom.

i am so sick and tired of seeing people argue about ship names because of the stupid fucking practice of putting the top's name first. i'm talking people using harco instead of drarry cause they see harry as The Top (to use a ship most people know as example)

YOU'RE FUCKING WEIRD !!

the ship name should be determined by whatever the fuck sounds best. i've seen people trying to push for using "neuvithesley" over wriolette "because wrio is the bottom". i don't give a fuck what you prefer when you read about them, wriolette is just objectively a better name.

i've seen actual ship wars between people who ship the same two characters but think the top/bottom dynamic is so important that it changes the ship. just goes to show how many mlm shippers simply fetishize gay men and don't give a fuck about the actual relationship aspect.

what people prefer in bed is not necessarily reflected in their behavior in everyday life. not all gay couples have a sub/dom dynamic. some people like to switch it up. y'all seriously need to work on your stereotypes surrounding queer relationships.

not what this post is really about but side note: people also tend to feminize the percieved bottom so much. sometimes it gets to the point where it ends up looking like a straight relationship and it just smells a lot like lowkey homophobia with a whiff of internalized misogyny.

i don't necessarily think this is on purpose/done with malicious intent, but do better.

sorry this was very mlm heavy but femslash readers/writers are usually a lot less weird about this..

[pondermoniums]

I'm never getting over the fact that Arthur, on every single date he goes on, talks about Merlin. Brings Merlin along. Aggravates the living hell out of Merlin right in front of the salad.

Vivian, Elena, Gwen, and Mithian are the epitome of, "Hi, this is my boyfriend, Arthur. And that's Arthur's boyfriend, Merlin."

It's really freaking rich that Arthur made a joke about Merlin being sheltered with no tact with women - meanwhile, this literal castle-bound prince cannot function without his best friend, manservant, and boyfriend.

[justaz]

arthur (prince of camelot) still has to study under a tutor bc yknow uther wants him to be very intelligent before becoming king or something bc its super important idk idc anyways merlin is doing chores in his chambers while arthur is squinting at a book and merlin eventually caves and asks him what he’s reading and arthur gruffly explains that its a collection of stories from greece that make absolutely no sense so merlin asks him to read them outloud to him. arthur of course teases him and calls him an idiot and asks how he could possibly help but does as he’s asked and reads the stories to merlin as he does his chores. merlin (being crushed under the weight of destiny and tormented by the prophecies that kilgharrah spews) understands the stories almost immediately and gets all excited and starts rambling about them with arthur. arthur is glad to have someone who understands so he can give something that reflects a hint of understanding to his tutor who accepts it and moves onto the next unit of education.

the thing is, arthur finds more stories in camelot’s library and brings them up to his room to read them aloud to merlin under the guise of completing his studies but really he just wants to watch as merlin’s eyes gleam when he understands whats happening and listen to him ramble on and on about them bc he’s gay. the stories stick with merlin though and he realizes that they’re cautionary tales, that the heroes who were told too much of their future doomed themself to fulfill them - that them fighting the prophecies led to their completion. merlin takes it to heart and gives a big “fuck you” to kilgharrah before forging his own fate and helping morgana with her magic and handing out an olive branch to mordred and now everyone can live happily and peacefully in an albion teeming with magic.

[fuckingfandomfreak]

the complete mischaracterization of early season merlin (every season merlin actually 🙄) gets me so bad in fanfics bc he actually had the funniest crush of all time on arthur. he’s such a fucking loser teenage boy with a crush. like obviously there was that rivals thing that last for like not even 48 hours, but also merlins complete ranting about how arthur thinks himself so cool and smart and tough (and handsome) when MERLIN is the one who is cool and smart and tough (and handsome).

why doesn’t arthur think he’s the coolest, smartest, toughest, (most handsome) man ever? how could he be so blind? gaius, let me tell you about all the times I was the coolest, smartest, toughest, (most handsome) man ever like when I saved arthur’s life 4 times this week. see, arthur really should just acknowledge how superior I am to him in every way (and swoon at my feet).

It’s so fucking FUNNY. he’s so immature. like im actually convinced that merlin used to fantasize about revealing his magic to arthur in some grand, over dramatic sacrifice, and the main point of the fantasy was arthur crying over merlin’s dead (preferably injured but thinking he’s dead) body and lamenting how stupid he was for never realizing how awesome (and good-looking) merlin was, and could merlin forgive him? gaius is looking at this boy daydreaming like bsffr rn

[springs-hurts]

Sometimes I pick up some famous merlin fanfic and I read the comments and I realize how most people don't get Arthur, and how much people infantize(?)/babify(?) Merlin. I get the reason, how much he's suffered and the same goes for every character different fandoms babify, sad ngl. Like yeah I'd also want to wrap him in big soft blanket and give him a cup of hot chocolate and ask him/order him to stay there and take the long break he deserves. But that doesn't mean I'd crucify other characters( read Arthur) like people in this fandom have always done. Sometimes it feels like Even Nimueh gets more love than Arthur which tbh even I like her and damn she deserves love but So. Does. Arthur. He's not some stupid dumb prince, ykw you're legit insulting Merlin when you say "what did he even see in him" (I hate that line in every single character's case! Guess what, they saw something you didn't, try doing that)

[merlinmylove]

I always find it so funny (in a heartbreaking way) when Arthur says “why didn’t you tell me?”

like dude ??

Merlin’s entire existence is outlawed

he was born a crime

how could he have, especially if Uther was still alive?

I understand Arthur feels betrayed and hurt because Merlin didn’t trust him but cmon let’s look at the show

Merlin has been sent to the stocks and the dungeons for being late with breakfast and missing laundry — what would the punishment be if he told the Crown Prince he was a traitor to the kingdom? Banishment, death, or worse? And what if Uther found out?

I don’t think Arthur would’ve killed Merlin, but he would’ve sent him away or hated himself for harbouring a sorcerer — he’s now a hypocrite for putting one person above the law while his father burns druid children

Gaius would’ve been hanged by association, and his mother killed for having concealed a dragonlord (let alone giving birth to another one)

Gwen was arrested twice on suspicion of sorcery, and Uther ordered her pyre built — the only reason she didn’t burn is because 1.Morgana spoke in her favour and, 2. Another sorcerer took the blame

(I love arthur so much but why does he never consider the fact that the love of his life and future queen, was almost innocently executed twice because there is no way of confirming she didn’t use magic — because how does one prove a negative?)

And I doubt Gwen is the first and only person to be falsely accused of sorcery, but she’s the one of few who had friends in high places who were willing to defy the King in order to save her life

If a Kings word is law then why even bother with a trial?

We’ve seen several times that Witchfinders or Druid catchers can steal people (probably citizens from other kingdoms) and earn a living by selling them to the King of Camelot

(and i don’t belive for a second every one of them had magic or were druids. Besides, the whole court now believes the witchfinder to be a fraud, so why does no one think about the future people accused of magic — how does one prove it?)

Mordred was hunted throughout the kingdom for a week simply for being born a druid (neither the King nor Arthur had any way of knowing if he actually had magic, he was simply guilty for existing within the borders of Camelot)

(Arthur risked everything in order to save the little druid boy — i wish this was spoken about more in the show but alas. Also, Gaius mentioned that Uther drowned several children — why does no one in the show discuss this? Does Arthur not know?

We know he feels immense guilt and grief over the raid in the druid camp he led and he did atone for it. I love Bradley’s acting in that scene, his voice breaks as he accepts the reality of what he has been apart of

Merlin saw all this. He lived all of it. How could he have told Arthur he had magic and expected a good outcome? He wanted to, multiple times — but the risk of banishment was too great.

But what about after Arthur is King? How could Merlin tell Arthur he has magic after Uther dies from magic, Morgana has gone mad from magic, and Aggrevaine betrayed him? Merlin could not bring himself to add more betrayal and heartbreak onto Arthur

I adore when fanfic discusses these aspects of the show and actually talks in detail about the horror Uther caused for over 20 years

Make Arthur think for himself and come to terms with what his father did, and also what his own legacy now is

Make Mordred, Morgana, Gaius, and Merlin talk about the horrors of the purge, and the the fear of living under Uthers rule

Make Gwen speak of what she experienced when she, and her father, were wrongly accused of a crime they didn’t commit — they were going to burn innocently, just like those children Uther killed

By Uthers logic Magic corrupts. It is a power one seeks out and must be studied. It is an evil — if that is the case then why did he allow Gaius to remain at court, and privately attend the king and his children? Surely Gaius would be corrupted by now…unless magic does not always corrupt…

I want Arthur to ask himself these questions— why was Gaius (the Kings friend) allowed to stay alive if he simply promised not to use magic again? Why were those innocent druid children not given the same choice?

Arthur asks himself several times if Magic is always evil, or if it can be used for good — and some times it’s almost successful, but in the end it’s like a catch 22 — Arthur sees (mostly) magic being used for evil so therefore it must be evil

I don’t want Merlin to be angry with Arthur or to have a screaming match with him — but I do love when Merlin passively aggressively sets the record straight

The canon answer he gives is “you would’ve chopped my head off” is perfect in my opinion because YES death always a possibility

Especially if Uther found out

(i don’t think Merlin is entirely blameless of course, he could’ve tried harder to sow the seed of doubt in arthur’s mind that maybe magic is not always evil — like after morgause or when arthur requested magic to heal his father, or when magic saves gwens life)

(if only merlin was braver, if only gaius was bolder, if only aggrevaine didn’t betray him, if only gwen spoke up, if only if only if only)

i love these boys so much and i love the angst and arthur’s heartbreak is so painful and merlin’s guilt is all-consuming

thank god for fanfic lol

but anyways this is my rant because i’m bored at my family christmas dinner so

[the-witch-of-woods-beyond]

saw someone point out that bbc merlin never had a ball episode and i have been viscerally ANGRY ever since. it would have been the best thing EVER. if it took place in the earlier seasons, we would have morgana in a stunning gown and gwen and merlin watching her and arthur from the sidelines, never able to join in with the ones they love. BUT if it was in the later seasons, we would have gotten gwen in a gorgeous gown and her dancing with arthur as merlin watches, alone this time and envious because he can never be as lucky as her.

[okiee--dokieee]

when is someone going to make a Merlin edit with the epic “waiting”

[nuwanda24]

Take Me to Church - Merlin

Just realised how perfect Hozier's Take Me to Church fits Merlin:

"A fresh poison each week" - it's meant metaphorically, but we all know how literal that is in the context of Merlin. There's not a single week that goes by without some magical threat or someone trying to poison/otherwise assassinate Arthur

"We were born sick, you heard them say it" - Merlin was born with magic, he's magic incarnate; Arthur on the other hand only got conceived through magic, so they were both "born sick" from Uther's of view

"If I'm a pagan of the good times" - Merlin basically is a God of the Old Religion, a pagan belief that symbolises the "good time" in which magic was free

"My lover's the sunlight" - Arthur is, as is well established in the fandom, extremely sun-coded, not only visualy with his golden hair. He is the crown prince, later king, everybody looks up to him while noone dares to come too close (despite Merlin). He burns with an incredible brightness for his people, for Camelot, but in the end, he burns out, just as every sun will do eventually. Merlin, on the other hand, is the night or moon to Arthur's sun. He keeps in Arthur's shadow, never seeking attention or retribution for all that he has done. He has to work in the dark in order to ensure that Arthur and by extend Camelot can be safe. He hates it (remember his rant in S3E11 "I hate it, to be the most powerful person I know and to have to act like a shadow, to be special and to have to play the fool"), but he willingly and glady sacrifices his own light so that Arthur's can burn brighter.

"To keep the goddess on my side" - I don't remember if this is canon or just something that most of the fanfics I've read agreed on, but the Triple Goddess is presumably responsible for the whole prophecy regarding Emrys and the Once and Future King, and Merlin needs to keep her on his side, in order to fulfill his destiny.

"She demands a sacrifice" - this could either be the Cailleach in S4E1-2 The Darkest Hour who demands a life as sacrifice to close the veil between the world of the living and the dead; or it is about Arthur, who needs to die in order to be able to rise again in Albion's greatest time of need.

The Bridge is: "No masters or kings when the ritual begins / There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin / In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene / Only then, I am human, only then, I am clean". - that part is less concret, but it still reminds me of Arthur's death scene - only Arthur and Merlin are left to witness it, there are no knights, no Gwen, no Camelot, no titles or rank, nothing but the two of them and their love for each other, the bond they share. And I think that in many instances Arthur was the one who kept Merlin in touch with his humanity. Yes, he was also the reason why Merlin crossed boundary after boundary, making him hate himself more and more and making him believe himself to be a monster, but I don't think he's ever felt as human (and as powerless) as the moment he felt Arthur die in his arms.

And then there's the chorus: "I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies" - Merlin worships Arthur, there's nothing he wouldn't do for that man, no matter how much he insults him or how hypocritical his actions might be. Arthur can break any promise, tell any lie (not that he does that very often), Merlin will still be there. And in the end, like Odysseus' dog Argus, he waited and waited on the shores of Avalon for the day that Arthur might finally come back to him.

"I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife" - I mean, that's literally what happens. Merlin tells Arthur about his powers, and you can't tell me that he wouldn't have allowed him (after he'd have forced him to get healed and ensured that Arthur would live) to put any punishment upon him, even death, that he wouldn't have preferred to die by Arthur's knife than to have to live without him.

"Offer me that deathless death, oh, good God, let me give you my life" - how often does Merlin offer his own life for Arthur's? From the very episode on, he throws himself between his prince and everything and everyone trying to harm him, from knives over curses, to drinking poison and Dorochas. And there were so many instances where he should have died but didn't, suffering (or surviving) a deathless death.

The song just perfectly depicts Merlin's (unhealthy) devotion to his king, and how that feeds on his soul.

[ladyofthelake]

Look if people just gave Arthur more credit they'd get that not every second of him understanding everything Merlin had done for him in the finale is shown but he absolutely puts it all together.

I think the first thing he would do would realise that the blue orb was Merlin and from then it would be an avalanche of the weird coincidences, events etc all suddenly adding up even to why Merlin hadn't smiled for 3 days.

Please understand we can't be shown or told everything but if you have faith in the character then its absolutely true and Arthur knew Merlin wholly at the end and yes of course there would be tons more for them to talk about but the fundamentals were already in the open.

Arthur was so content when he died because all those things finally added up and the person that had always been by his side hadn't betrayed him, he'd protected him like he always told him. Acceptance and love doesn't come better than in Diamond of the Day.

[regulusrules]

Man do you ever like over-obsess for a straight month on a chapter in your fic, bleed yourself in writing the best you can for it, overthink every single word in it, but then entitlement 101 guest arrives

[salty-we-never-got-mergana]

I know I probably should just use this for mergana content... I've made this blog a bit for escapism and to indulge my own obsession with Mergana and Merlin and Morgana le Fay but... I feel like it would be selfish not to share the posts of the very many who are currently enduring and suffering the genocide in Palestine.

And in a way it partakes a bit to my own obsession to the Mergana ship and BBC Merlin when in the storyline of BBC Merlin, there is a genocide going on against those who have magic, a witch hunt, a massacre, and people both trying to survive and fight for their own freedoms. The difference in the show gives us the point of view of the oppressors when I am more interested in those that were oppressed. I think many of us who understand what oppression is to a certain extent could understand whose truly right and that the world isn't simple black and white. If we can support the good guys, the freedom fighters in fiction, then we need to do so in our own world as well. Not just complain about the injustice in fiction, because that's a mirror to our world, and while we can make everything better in fiction by writing our own fanfiction, in the end of the day fiction is fantasy, but with real life, there are real people suffering the very oppression our favorite characters had endured and fought against today.

We need to do what we can to help them, even if it is re-blogging their posts in our blogs dedicated for our fiction and escapism because they don't have the luxury to escape. So, the least we could do is acknowledge their pain and do what we can to help even if it means donating just a bit or spreading awareness of the genocide going on in Gaza today.

Mainstream media is currently trying to distract us from the people currently suffering, and what's more is spreading the narrative that only helps the oppressors much like how the narrative of BBC Merlin works to demonize the very people whose freedom was promised in the end only to be betrayed because in the end of the day working within the system that contributes to oppression will make one betray their very own ideals over the care of those who contribute to oppression and could change things.

Anyway, I might end up re-blogging a lot of fundraisers and my blog might look morbid a bit. If seeing genocide bothers you, please donate, help and share.

[rubinaitoart]

I would love any crumbs of anything you're writing rn /nf /gen

(I keep seeing you go insane so thought I would see what you are interested in :3)

“I keep seeing you go insane” HAH yeah it’s even worse on discord lmao

The current WIP I have is based completely on spite. That’s it. I absolutely hated how the Lamia episode ended because. BECAUSE. BECAUSE.

You’re telling me after they kill the Lamia, everything is back to normal and perfectly fine between everyone. You’re telling me Merlin was actively threatened by some of the people he trusted the most, to the point he actually started COWERING a little when they got mad at him, and he walked out of that without even a little bit of emotional distress? A smidgeon of trauma? You’re telling me none of the knights apologized to him or to Guinevere, because even though it’s not their fault every single one of them would have still felt some form of guilt over scaring them like that, you’re TELLING ME—

^^^ Live footage of Rubin being carried off before he starts yelling even more /lh ^^^

It made me so MAD that it got wrapped up with everyone in good spirits and Arthur making fun of Merlin for being saved by a girl, and everything was fine and happy and ARGHHHH.

So yeah I started writing a fic to expand on what I feel should’ve happened after that episode I guess? Except make it a Merthur AU where they’ve been dancing around their feelings for all four seasons up until this point.

I’ve been going back and forth on this draft for a bit, so there’s a good chance whatever I end up publishing to AO3 will look COMPLETELY different. It’s also very clunky and not well edited but I figure that’s a given right now lol. Both options start the same before splitting into two different drafts, currently labeled D1 and D2 respectively.

I’ll dump a few snippets below the cut since this is already looking like a long post. Everything so far is in Arthur’s POV.

From the shared start: Set when Arthur shows up just in time to rescue Guinevere and Merlin from the Lamia.

A few seconds of silence stretched out before Arthur jerked forward and rushed to Merlin’s side.

“Better late than never.” Merlin groaned, but that stupid, goofy grin that Arthur loved more than he’d ever admit was plastered all over that smug face of his. “What took you so long?”

“You’re welcome.” Arthur said pointedly. Guinevere moved to help Merlin sit up, and the king didn’t miss the way his servant’s face twisted into a pained grimace, or how his hand quickly grabbed at his side. It hurt to see Merlin in any kind of pain, a dull ache in his chest that was somehow worse than anything Arthur had suffered in the past. “Are you hurt?”

“A little bruised, maybe.” Merlin leaned heavily against Guinevere. “Better off than everyone else though.” He added quickly, and Arthur’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Do you know where they are?” The king wanted to ask an entirely different question, but their objective held priority. They were safe, the lamia was dead, and the others were still missing.

“Elyan isn’t far.” Guinevere loosened her hold on Merlin—reluctantly, Arthur noted—and moved him to lean against a pillar. “I’m not entirely sure about the others.”

Arthur straightened up, gesturing for one of the knights. “Bevan, help Merlin outside. Cecil, with me.” He ordered. The king glanced towards his servant once again briefly before he extended his hand to Guinevere and helped her to her feet. “Lead the way.”

From the corner of his eye, he could see Bevan gathering Merlin up into his arms and hefting him up into the air. The man made a soft, pained sound in the back of his throat that was horribly loud to Arthur’s ears. Carefully with him, or I’ll have you in the stocks lingered on the tip of his tongue, but he bit back his words and turned to follow Guinevere. Bevan’s receding footsteps faded, and they pressed onward.

“He’ll be alright.” Guinevere murmured to him. She reached over to lightly squeeze his arm, a small comfort for the moment.

“Mm, he better be.” Arthur said quietly in reply. “He’s a good friend, I’d hate to lose him.” They ducked under a fallen beam, and Arthur lapsed into a contemplative quiet. Merlin was so much more than just a friend to Arthur, something he’d struggled to admit to himself for a long time. What he was, however, was just out of reach.

So in typical fashion the king did what he always did best—try his damndest to ignore what he felt, because it could never come to be.

From D1, which is set as everyone leaves Longstead. Merlin is preparing Arthur’s horse before they leave despite still recovering from his injuries, man is just insisting on staying busy.

The king watched Merlin from afar as the servant busied himself with tacking up Arthur’s steed. He couldn’t look away, even if he wanted to.

Slightly curled raven locks and pale cheeks dappled with sunlight, Merlin’s brow furrowed slightly in concentration. His slender, pale hands deftly checked the leather straps, and his fingers occasionally strayed away to brush against the stallion’s ebony coat. A faint smile finally appeared in its truest and most genuine form as the horse turned its head to bump its nose gently against Merlin’s shoulder with a soft nicker. Arthur watched as Merlin finished securing the saddle and turned to gently take the horse’s face in his hands, rubbing his palm up and down the side of its head in slow, soothing strokes. Beautiful, he couldn’t help but think. That traitorous feeling of longing welled up in his chest and Arthur found himself tempted across the small clearing to join the servant.

Almost immediately, the longing was replaced with guilt and a hefty dose of self-loathing. Merlin was in no small amount of distress, and here he was practically ogling at the man. He turned away before Merlin could catch him staring and searched the clearing for something he could busy himself with, and hopefully rid himself of the shame that had overtaken the king.

From D2, which is set directly after Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, and the knights return to the village so Gaius can treat them: Gaius and Guinevere are busy with the knights, so Arthur takes it upon himself (as any good king no would do, of course) to try and tend to Merlin’s wounds himself. The best he can do is clean the gash on Merlin’s forehead, but he’s trying his best okay?

Far and few between were times that Arthur Pendragon found himself worried about his manservant. Merlin was an odd man, clumsy and strange at the best of times, prone to bouts of misfortune that he’d somehow miraculously overcome. Injuries were as rare as sickness, and he was right there at Arthur’s side day after day. Yet here he was, sleeves rolled up and a damp cloth in hand as he worried over Merlin. Thankfully the only ones around to see it were Gaius and Guinevere—the knights were still unconscious, and the physician and seamstress were busy tending to them.

It was just Arthur and Merlin, tucked away in the corner of the little hovel they were using as an infirmary.

“This feels backwards.” His servant muttered, wincing as Arthur lightly pressed the cloth to his forehead. Blood soaked into it quickly, weeping from a shallow cut on the side of his face that looked far worse than it actually was—head wounds were funny like that. And yet after all these years, after countless battles where he’d seen wounds worse than this over and over, seeing Merlin bloodied and bruised always made his heart lurch. It was so wrong.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Arthur mused, pulling the cloth back to inspect the injury. There wasn’t exactly much he could do other than try to stem the blood flow and clean away any dirt and debris until Gaius could take a proper look at it, but it was something.

He could feel Merlin’s eyes boring into him. “You’ll live, unfortunately.” Arthur added after a moment, flashing his teeth at the servant in a brief grin.

“Unfortunately for me, yes.” Merlin sank back against the cot. “I’ll be back to cleaning your stinking socks within the next few days.” His eyes remained affixed to Arthur, half-lidded and tired, and for the briefest of moments his face betrayed him to his king. Something heavy weighed on him, his gaze reflecting the burden of Atlas; then Arthur blinked, and it was like it hadn’t even been there in the first place.

What a strange thing to see on Merlin’s face.