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thegreatestsorcerertoeverserve · 6 years ago

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Merlin’s Just a Fast Learner Chapter Six: A Wizard in King’s Clothing

First things first, study up on battle spells. No, first things first, find out which of the knights knew he had magic. No, first things first, do Arthur’s laundry.

Merlin had a couple things on his mind.

He settled on the laundry, firstly because it was the one problem which required the least amount of thought and/or stress, and secondly because he was tired of Arthur smelling like he had lost a fight with a donkey. He had to spend practically every waking moment with the guy; it wouldn’t do for him to act like an ass and smell like one too.

“Merlin!” Leon exclaimed cheerfully as he wandered into the antechamber of the knights’ changing room, surprised to see Merlin shoving Arthur’s clothes roughly around a washbasin.

“I would’ve thought you’d be using a magic wand for that kind of thing by now!” Merlin shrugged and poked at a particularly dirty trouser leg.

“Eh, you know, sometimes you just want to work with your hands, right?” He mimicked strong-arming the clothes and Leon laughed. A little bit of macho-Merlin humor was always a hit with the knights. Inwardly, Merlin guiltily admitted he was doing this by hand to continue procrastinating.

“Hey, Merlin, you don’t have to pretend around me, you know ,” Leon looked at him with what Merlin could have sworn was a touch of sympathy. It made his whole body light up with panic. So Leon knew too?

“It’s okay if you’re still getting the basics down. There’s no shame in switching back to manual labour if you can’t get quite get the spell right.”

Merlin was struck speechless. He bobbed his head along dumbly a couple times, and Leon seemed to take that as agreement, smiling warmly. “Th-thanks, Leon.” he stammered finally.

“Anytime, Merls,” he waved over his shoulder as he went back into the changing room, greeting the rest of the knights and Arthur as they came in from the training yard.

“Merlin!”

Merlin groaned. That yell never meant good things for him. “Yes, my lord?” Merlin walked wearily to Arthur’s side, almost successfully ignoring all the knights undressing around him. Definitely not successfully ignoring how very shirtless and sweaty Arthur was. Or how much he reeked. You have to take the good with the bad.

“Where are my clothes?” Oh no. Oh god. There was that clipped and careful tone Arthur always uses right before Merlin realizes he… royally screwed up.

“Oh. Erm… which clothes would that be sire?”

“Merlin…”

“Now, sire, I was actually doing you a favor-”

“Merlin, I am meeting a very important trade delegation in thirty minutes. Tell me I’m not going to have to kill you and get ready in that time?” Merlin swallowed hard, dread hitting him like a pile of rocks.

“Magic, Merlin!” Percival called over a crowd of heads.

“Magic?” Merlin repeated in bewilderment.

Gwaine appeared behind Merlin from the middle of a mass of knights. “Yes, Merlin. Magic. You have that?”

Merlin gaped in utter shock at his own stupidity. “I do! I mean, I can use it-” He clamped his mouth shut before he could half give away anymore secrets.

Did Gwaine word his sentence that way on purpose?

Arthur grabbed his shoulders and began pushing him through the rest of the knights to where his clothes sat drifting sadly in a tub of suds.

“Um, let’s see…” he stood there, staring at the tub as if trying to remember a spell he wanted to use.

“Need any help there, Merls?” Leon poked his head back into the chamber.

“How could you possibly help him with magic, Leon?” Arthur asked quizzically. Leon shrugged, conceding his point.

“Emotional support?” Leon offered.

Merlin shook his head as if attempting to clear it. “Thanks Leon, but I’ve got this.”

‘Oh, he’s got it!’ Arthur mouthed to Leon, putting his hands up mockingly.

Merlin saw him in the reflection of a looking glass and smirked, flicking his finger and and murmuring a spell. Arthur’s hand flew back a couple inches off course and hit him squarely in the nose. Leon burst out laughing, and Merlin grinned.

“I know you did that, wizard!” Arthur chided. “Now if only you could put all that cleverness into something actually useful.”

Merlin rolled his eyes and performed the spell, making sure to stutter a few times and drop a few things on the floor. Each mess up elicited a heckling from Arthur, but by the time he was finished, Arthur actually looked impressed. His formal royal garments looked cleaner and more orderly than ever before, and they actually smelled kind of nice.

“Well, Merlin, if this proves one thing, it proves how lousy you are at washing my clothes by hand.” Arthur shrugged on his clothes and let Merlin make adjustments.

“I wouldn’t have to wash them so much if you could learn how to eat without spilling all over yourself, my lord,” Arthur swatted Merlin softly on the side of the head.

“Shut up.”

“My lord, the trade delegation are approaching the city gates.” A servant announced to the room, appearing suddenly in the doorway and disappearing just as quickly. Arthur nodded, instantly serious. Then he looked at Merlin.

“What the hell are you wearing?!” He blurted out. Merlin’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Erm, the same thing I always wear?” He tugged at his red scarf as if to prove his point.

“Merlin, you can’t possibly meet the trade delegation dressed like that .” Arthur rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm, beginning to drag him up the stairs to the belly of the castle.

“ I’m meeting the trade delegation? ”

Arthur paused and turned around to face Merlin on the stairs. “This delegation will be our first trade deal of goods involving magical items. So yes, my Court Sorcerer, however much an idiot he may be, has to be there!”

“Why did no one tell the Court Sorcerer about any of this?” Merlin muttered grumpily. Arthur looked at him sourly.

“I’ve only been talking about it nonstop for the past three weeks. Really Merlin, do you ever listen?”

“Ah, that would be the problem. No.”

Arthur huffed and turned on his heel, continuing his hurried pace. Merlin started to jog to keep up with his long strides. “Where the hell are we going? I don’t have any nice clothes. And I am not wearing that stupid jester costume again.” Arthur let out a breathless laugh.

“You’ll just wear some of my clothes. It’ll be fine.”

Merlin tugged on Arthur’s arm to get him to slow down. “Arthur. You are so much bigger than me, I’ll never fit in your clothes.”

Arthur kept walking. “That’s very kind of you, Merlin, but you’ll just have to deal with the extra crotch space.” Merlin stood stock still, watching Arthur’s back incredulously, knowing the stupid self-satisfied look he had on his face.

“Really? A dick joke? That’s what you decided on?”

“Come on , Merlin!”

-------

Merlin was fairly sure he looked like an idiot. He was dressed in Arthur’s clothes, alright: baggy brown pants met a baggy blue shirt, topped off with a … okay, the red cape wasn’t baggy, but that was it. Even the shoes were too big.

“I look ridiculous.”

Arthur looked him up and down, a somewhat pained expression on his face. “No… you-” he cleared his throat. “You don’t.” Merlin narrowed his eyes at him.

“Arthur, all the things in the world to make fun of me for, and you don’t choose this moment?” Arthur gave Merlin another once-over then cleared his throat, turning away.

“Let’s just go. The delegation will be arriving any minute.”

Merlin followed reluctantly, muttering spells to just slightly shorten and tighten his clothes, hoping he would remember to undo them before Arthur tried to wear them next. He didn’t need to be told off for another laundry incident today.

He was almost feeling good about himself and confident for this meeting, he was almost all the way down the front palace steps, in fact, when he saw someone who could cause very big problems for him. The person leading the delegation. Gilli.

#merlin's just a fast learner #mjafl #merthur #fanfic #bbc merlin #chapter six #arthur #merlin #gilli

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thegreatestsorcerertoeverserve · 6 years ago

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Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Merlin (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) Characters: Merlin (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) Additional Tags: in which arthur's an idiot, and merlin is also an idiot, but for different reasons, but they're in love, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Canon Era, Alternate Timeline Summary:

A mysterious sorcerer saved the army of Camelot at Camlan, but more than that, he saved Arthur Pendragon. Upon returning home, Arthur discovers the errors of his ways, and vows to correct his father's wrongs. He starts by lifting the ban on magic. But he realizes to fully understand the new world, he needs a court sorcerer. So he asks his most trusted friend to learn magic. Merlin, being an idiot, said yes. He quickly finds out that hiding his knowledge of magic while doing magic is almost as hard as hiding his deep unending love for Arthur. Arthur is still an oblivious idiot in every aspect of his life besides Uther, and doesn't realize that he's in love with his obvious sorcerer friend Merlin.

#as soon as i can find out how to update by chapter i will be invincible #merlin's just a fast learner #mjafl #merthur #merlin #arthur #fic #m writing

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thegreatestsorcerertoeverserve · 6 years ago

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MJAFL Chapter Ten: Strategizing is an Emotional Act

You can find the newest chapter of Merlin’s Just a Fast Learner here or below. Enjoy! Happy holidays!

Merlin showed up to Arthur’s chambers with a little bit of anxiety. This would be their third strategy meeting, and each one had gone over without so much as a hitch. Which was exactly the problem. It’ s been all business between Arthur and Merlin ever since their fight.

Merlin knew he was mostly to blame. After all, he had been the one foolish enough to think that maybe there was a place for him in Arthur’s heart. And Arthur had made his own feelings painfully clear on that matter.

He knocked on Arthur’s door, fully expecting to have to go in and wake Arthur up

himself. Not even the hustle and bustle of a running a kingdom could make Arthur get out of bed early. He had his hand on the doorknob when Arthur burst through the door. “Merlin!” Arthur acknowledged him. He breezed past Merlin where he still stood in the doorway, carrying a basket.

“Sire, what’s that?” He pointed at the basket in his arms.

Arthur glanced down, his brief lightness seeming to settle into a more concentrated one. “Well, everyone’s been cooped up in the castle for weeks, with preparations for the battle. I thought it would do well to have a break.” Arthur looked up, clearing his throat nervously , to see Merlin still confused. “I was... thinking we could go out to the lake.” Merlin gaped.

“The… erm, yes, okay, sire.”

Arthur wrinkled his nose, looking away. “Please, Merlin, I want away from ‘sire’ for just one day. Now come on.” He shoved the basket in Merlin’s direction and began down the hall . Merlin followed behind , deciding whether or not to point out the conflict of still having to carry the basket but not having to call the king ‘sire’. Better not; he didn’t want to push his luck.

They rode out to the lake along a familiar route, both savoring the unusually fair morning weather. Upon reaching the lake, Arthur spread out a blanket he’d been carrying on the back of his horse, letting Merlin lug the picnic basket to the lakeside. Everything struck Merlin as startlingly... romantic.

“So, what, did you and Gwen have to cancel a picnic date?” He asked somewhat bitterly, nudging the basket with his foot. Arthur paused in the act of sitting down, flushing a light pink and looking around at the trappings self-consciously.

“Merlin, don’t be ridiculous. It’s not like this is… it’s not… too much, is it?” Arthur was fiddling with his hands in a very unArthur-like way, and Merlin might have softened if he’d seen it. Still, he was focused on further investigating the basket, and he laughed as he opened it.

“Arthur, there are flowers in here!” He pulled out a bunch of daisies tied together with a rough cord, looking up at Arthur incredulously. Arthur snatched the flowers away from him, hurriedly throwing them to the side as crimson bloomed deeper in his cheeks.

“I don’t know how those got in there! Must’ve been a mistake-” Arthur cleared his throat and looked away, and Merlin just managed to keep his heart from jumping out of his chest. “Anyway, erm, I’ve brought you out here for… strategy. Magic… strategy.” Arthur was doing that weird twisting thing with his hands again, and Merlin instinctively reached out to still his fidgeting. He only paused when he heard Arthur’s soft intake of breath at the contact. Arthur looked up at Merlin, wide-eyed, and Merlin withdrew his hand jerkily, muttering “sorry” under his breath, the disgust in Arthur’s tone from that morning rushing back to him.

“Could we just, erm, relax for a bit, before we start the whole ‘magic army coming to destroy us’ talk again?” he proposed.

Arthur nodded, a cautious grin on his face. “Always one to find a way to avoid work, aren’t you, Merlin? I should have known.” Merlin responded by lobbing a bread roll from the basket at him, hitting Arthur squarely in the forehead. Arthur stuck his tongue out in return, biting into the roll.

They’d forgotten their awkwardness for a blessed moment, and neither of them wanted the reprieve to end. So they instead chose to spend a long, languid lunch out by the lake, watching swans flap around the water’s edge and commenting on how much they fucking hate swans.

“Everyone says swans are so beautiful, but have they ever looked at one up close?”

“Have they ever smelled one up close, you mean!” Arthur corrected, his nose wrinkling as the bird in question tottered several meters away. “Remember that time Gwaine got attacked by a swan?”

Merlin laughed and nodded. “I’ve never seen someone so scared. The man’s fought whole pubs while drunk off his arse, but he gets too close to one little bird and he’s screaming like a little girl.”

“Hey, he was bathing and that damn thing was at just the wrong height, I don’t blame him for his fear” Arthur countered .

“I do blame him, however, for thinking he could charm a bird out of attacking him.”

Merlin doubled over with laughter, the memory of a buck naked Gwaine murmuring quietly to the swan right before it squalked and ran at him still too much to bear.

“Sometimes I miss those days.” Arthur added after a moment. Merlin glanced over to see his expression harden into something that made his face look like dried clay.

“Me too.” He responded quietly .

“Merlin… the other morning… I said some things which I regret.”

Merlin shook his head hurriedly, a wave of humiliation crashing over him that Arthur thought he needed to spare his feelings. “I was entirely out of line, si- Arthur. I- I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable-”

Arthur scoffed. “God’s sake, you didn’t make me uncomfortable, Merlin! I…” he faltered, the tips of his ears turning pink. “I think I may have overreacted because I was feeling… inadequate.”

Merlin blanched. Arthur looked like he wanted the world to swallow him up, and Merlin had no idea how to comfort him. His words just seemed so… foreign to Merlin’s Arthur.

“You… inadequate?” He stuttered.

Arthur smiled bitterly. “It’s because of the delegation, the whole time they were here, I was reminded how in over my head I am.” Arthur sighed. “I just… I don’t know anything about that world. About your world, now.”

Merlin felt himself tear up a little. Arthur sounded so earnest and sincere, about… his world. The world of magic.

“Leon told me you are going to teach some of the knights?” Merlin pulled himself out of his emotions for a second to nod. “Could you… teach me? Just something small.” Merlin looked up at Arthur, surprised. He was smiling at Merlin almost shyly.

Merlin nodded, grinning excitedly, and scooted over to where Arthur was half propped up on his elbows. He tried to ignore how close he and Arthur were, almost laying down together, and cleared his throat.

“Okay… what about… fire.” he said softly. Arthur nodded, looking at him intently. Merlin laughed softly, putting a hand on Arthur’s shoulder.

“Look, here.” he whispered, waving his other arm to call Arthur’s attention in front of them. “ Upastige ignis draca!”

A dragon of fire appeared at their feet, floating happily around before dissipating on the wind. Merlin held his breath, waiting for Arthur’s reaction.

“Come here.” Arthur said suddenly. Merlin looked at him, confused, but Arthur didn’t give him another moment to think. He put a soft hand on Merlin’s cheek, pulling him in and kissing him, slow and sweet.

Merlin pulled away only when he realized he needed to keep breathing, staring at Arthur with wide eyes. Arthur smiled up at him innocently like he hadn’t just done something ridiculous and crazy and reckless, or maybe like he absolutely had. “Can you teach me?”

#merthur #merlin #arthur #fanfic #bbc merlin #mjafl #chapter ten

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thegreatestsorcerertoeverserve · 6 years ago

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MJAFL Chapter Nine: The Morning After is a Pill

Read here on AO3 (and find the rest of the story) or read below:

Arthur woke up feeling cosy, warm, and utterly content. That was the first sign he knew something was definitely wrong. The second being a painfully pale arm wrapped loosely around his chest, producing that safe feeling. His eyes widened as he turned over to see Merlin attached to it.

“What the absolute…” he muttered, thinking very hard about last night. No, he definitely didn’t remember anything close to Merlin being in his bed. In fact, he couldn’t remember Merlin ever showing up to his quarters last night at all. He felt a hand squeeze his chest. That was right, Arthur recalled somewhat irritated, he’d been far too busy having fun with his new magic friends.

He scoffed at himself, rolling out of Merlin’s grasp as carefully as possible to avoid waking him. It was ridiculous to feel like that toward the delegates, of course Merlin was going to enjoy himself with a group of like-minded individuals, who were so important to the kingdom. Arthur couldn’t really be feeling jealous of them right now, could he? No… that was preposterous. Nothing to feel jealous of ,Arthur assured himself. He didn’t really care that Merlin had brushed him off, no, he must just be… cranky. Yes. Cranky that apparently his court sorcerer was too lazy or drunk to make it down the three extra stairwells to his rooms.

“I am the king, Merlin, when will you start to understand that I am not your… frat buddy that you can bunk with when you feel tipsy…” Arthur started to speak louder to himself, annoyed that he had to deal with this so early in the morning. Then Gwen came in.

“My lord, I heard you starting to rise…” She started, a tray of food in her arms. “Oh?” She stopped, eyes fixed on Merlin, who, Arthur noticed with a slight degree of panic, was obviously shirtless. “I did not mean to intrude…” Gwen responded slyly, a skeptical tone in her voice.

Merlin stirred where he was, letting out a long yawn. “You are not- intruding! On anything!” Arthur said as he shook his head gesturing no, he felt his face flush, and he reached down to tuck in his shirt in nervously. Realizing too late, how much it would look like dressing himself. Like he’d been undressed. With Merlin.

“Merlin is just an idiot,” he said as he grabbed and bunched up some paper from his desk and threw it at Merlin, who finally started to tune into his surroundings. “Who passed out here after getting spectacularly drunk with his fabulous new friends!” he hated himself for the bitter jealousy that wrapped around his chest. “Believe me, that would never- I would never- the very thought-”, the very thought of him being some jealous schoolboy with a crush sickened him, Arthur rambled frantically to Gwen. Yet Merlin took a different meaning to his words, not having heard the private musings of Arthur’s brain. Arthur glanced over in time to see a brief look of hurt flit across Merlin’s features, only to be replaced just as quickly by one of shame and embarrassment.

“Don’t flatter yourself, my lord,” Merlin responded with heavy emphasis, “I was simply too intoxicated to know your chambers apart from the comfort of the horse stables. By the sight of them, I could probably make the same mistake sober.” He finished with a cutting tone.

“And whose fault is that, servant?” Arthur spit out, another wave of hurt crossing over himself, at Merlin’s words. On a normal day, the same things could have been said between them in a perfectly friendly manner, but today it seemed, was no ordinary day. Gwen recognized the shift in tone, clearing her throat awkwardly in the silence that followed.

“I’ll just leave your breakfast here then, sire. We can dine together another time.” Merlin let out a small squeak, squeezing his eyes shut where he stood. He tried taking deep breaths, reminding himself of his place; of course it was Arthur and Gwen, it had always been Arthur and Gwen, and it always would be.

“Don’t bother, Gwen, I was just leaving.” He said quietly as, he hurriedly tugged on his shirt and carried his boots with him, carefully not looking at either of them as he left the room. He would have given anything in the world to go back to last night and just go to his own chambers. But, of course, he never had much discernment when it came to Arthur Pendragon.

Merlin bathed, redressed, and tried to forget that he, as an entity, existed. It was very difficult when people were always coming up to him and trying to talk to him, however, and it became increasingly impossible when he realized that he and Arthur still needed to discuss the delegations’ offers.

Which is how he found himself begrudgingly dragging his feet along the hallway floor towards the door to Arthur’s chambers just before the start of the court meeting. He ignored the stares he got from the guards for walking so slowly along the corridor, speeding up only when he noticed Arthur was exiting the room.

“Arthur!” Merlin started, then stopped.

Arthur turned toward him, an expression of fixed neutrality on his face, and waited. Merlin faltered under the gaze. “I see- I see that you’ve successfully dressed yourself.” The quip fell flat and stilted even to his ears, and he winced.

“And I see you’ve done a marginally better job at that than last night,” Arthur answered. His cheeks flushed the slightest pink when he realized the implications of the words, and he looked around self-consciously at the guards still flanking them. “Shall we walk?”

Merlin nodded. “I, um, think that the delegation’s demands have been very reasonable thus far.” he said formally.

Arthur’s face twisted, in what Merlin presumed was thought. “So you find them trustworthy?”

“Yes, my lord. They seek to further the acceptance of magical people. Greed among allies would do them no good.” Merlin said assuringly. Arthur stopped; they’d reached the doors of the Great Hall. He looked at Merlin, and the stony expression on his face melted away. He couldn’t find it in his heart to be distant when Merlin looked so earnest. And Arthur did trust his evaluation of the delegation.

“Okay.” Arthur agreed, nodding gently.

Merlin twisted his hands behind his back, emboldened by Arthur’s sudden softness. “Arthur, can we talk about about this morning?”

Arthur opened his mouth as if to speak, his eyebrows furrowed. Then he closed his mouth and turned abruptly on his heel, opening the large wooden door to where the rest of the court and the knights sat waiting. “Let’s just deal with these trade talks, Merlin,” he said finally, leaving Merlin standing lamely in the doorway, alone.

A few days after the delegation left, Merlin carried the knights’ chainmail hauberks down the stairs into the far edge of the training grounds, here he knew no one would find him.

Merlin hadn’t looked at a magic book in days. He hadn’t even used magic to do any of his chores for Arthur. Ever since Gilli, using magic felt… dirty. Despite the delegations’ actions and support, Gilli’s scathing words about pride and shame lingered on his mind. He felt like a fake, questioning if he was really being truthful to himself. His mood wasn’t improved by his unresolved fight with Arthur, which had left their interactions awkward and unnatural in a way they hadn’t been since Merlin had first been employed as his manservant. He threw down the hauberks, took the rag and cleaning polish out of his satchel, and set to work. He’d even started to do extra chores to distract himself!

It had apparently raised a few flags.

“Merlin!” Leon’s familiar breezy voice called from across the yard. Merlin looked up, squinting into the sun before he could make out the three figures coming toward him.

“Hey, Merlin, need a hand?” Percival called, as Gwaine waved enthusiastically

Merlin smiled dutifully ,as they made their way over, and waved his rag hand in response. “No thanks, guys. I’m okay.”

Percival and Gwaine exchanged a look. “Hey Merlin,” Gwaine started, sitting cross legged in front of him, “We’ve been thinking…”

“That’s never good.” Merlin muttered automatically. Gwaine gave him a grin and a friendly punch that Merlin swatted away.

“We wanted to learn some magic.” Percival finished. Merlin did a double take.

“You-you what?” He managed to splutter out.

“Obviously not to the level you’ve been learning,” Leon explained hastily. “But we’ve all been talking, and well, we don’t want to come face to face with a sorcerer on the battlefield and have nothing to throw back.” Leon shrugged. “Only if you’ve got the time.”

Merlin blinked a few times, trying to take it in. He’d never thought of things that way before, but… it somehow made sense. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay!” Merlin stood up eagerly, a proper smile appearing on his face. “When do you- when do you want to start?”

“Well, we know you have your strategy talks with Arthur tomorrow. So, the day after?” Leon suggested.

Percival nodded. “The only thing better than a knight is a knight with magic.”

Gwaine laughed, standing up to go. “Brilliant! We’ll see you bright and early out here on the training fields, then,” he clapped Merlin on the arm and led the other two away, putting a friendly arm around the both of them as they walked back toward the castle.

Well, Merlin thought, maybe with teaching the knights some defense, I’ll feel better about doing magic on my own. I had no idea they were so worried about the enemy sorcerers, poor guys.

“Well lads, I think he bought it!” Gwaine whispered as soon as they were out of earshot of Merlin.

“Yeah, I really just wanted to help him out a bit. Seems like he’s really been in a slump this past week. I can’t imagine the pressure to learn spells to protect a whole army when you still can’t perfect the one to do laundry.” Leon replied, empathy written in every line on his face. Percival grunted in agreement.

Gwaine shook his head and grinned. “Nothing a little study group with the dream team can’t fix.”

#mjafl #chapter nine #merthur #the morning after is a pill #merlin #arthur #my writing #fanfic

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