#merthur engagment

[tansyuduri]

Chapter 13 Of Our Stars Still Shine Together

It was sunset by the time they stepped onto a capsule of the London Eye. Merlin looked around their roomy capsule as they entered, taking in the clear glass and white material of the pod.

Arthur immediately moved forward to gaze out, holding the metal bar that looped around the pod.

Merlin could see the excitement and eagerness in his eyes. He felt his own eyes crinkle up slightly as he smiled. It was nice to see Arthur like this. All excited and enthusiastic. Though there was a bit of nervousness in Arthur’s face as well. At the height? They were not even high up yet. And Arthur had never been afraid of heights…

“It usually takes a half hour to get all the way around so we have some time.” Merlin mused, then went to stand next to his king and the love of his life. His own long hands ran over the railing.

Arthu put away his phone. “In that case we’ll have to wait to take pictures.” 

“Is that why you wanted to come here? To take pictures?”

Arthur gave Merlin a smile that made his heart turn over and then scooted closer to him. “Partly.” His king admitted. “I had other things I wanted to do as well.” There was a low sensual tone to his voice.  

“I like other things.” Merlin moved ever closer to the man so that their hips touched. “But if you try to fuck me here I will have to draw a line.” 

Arthur sputtered. “What? Here? With everyone… No!”

“Good.” Merlin replied.

“Good.” Arthur said as well.

There was a pause as they continued to ascend. Merlin admired how the fading sun and beautiful sky contrasted with the colors of Arthur’s skin and hair.

He turned his head and lifted a hand to grab Arthur’s before kissing him deeply.

Arthur’s arms wrapped around him and his mouth met Merlin’s tenderly and passionately. It was a softer kiss to start but quickly started to increase in intensity as they breathed each other's air. Merlin pulled Arthur closer to him and found his king had the same idea. He tilted his head to the side, exploring the angles Arthur’s lips could press to his. It felt so right. It felt like home. 

How had he gone so long without doing this? Kissing Arthur seemed as crucial to him as drinking water and breathing air nowadays. And there were no words for the warm softness that spread through him at Arthur’s touch. There were no words for what this meant, for having Arthur like this. Suddenly Merlin knew what else he needed. As much as sunlight, as much as air. He would handle it if… if it didn’t work out but…

Merlin stood back as they neared the top of the wheel. Time passed so quickly when kissing Arthur. He took a step back, prepared himself and then looked up to meet Arthur’s curious eyes. The sunset colored the sky behind them golden red. Camelot colors. 

“Arthur, when we go into this fight… or whatever we will face…. I want us to be together in another way… I want us to be engaged. Arthur, I want us to be engaged.”

Find it here

Art by @kairennart

[theroundbartable]

Arthur: i'm dropping hints that I like this person...

Merlin: Arthur, you literally gave me your mother's sigil.

Arthur: ... And?

Merlin: That's a proposal, not a HINT, Arthur!

[merthurao3recs]

Gethsemane 

Author: nooneblue 

Rating: Explicit 

Word Count: 17,663

Details: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Photographer!Arthur, School Teacher!Merlin, Background Lancelot/Merlin, They Are Not Endgame, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Kissing, Grief/Mourning, Astrophotography?, Bottom Merlin, Top Arthur Pendragon, Friends To Enemies To Lovers, Background Elena/Arthur, Middle Dubious Consent, Because Honestly Even Established Couples Would Have A Hard Time At The End Of This, Drug Use. 

Summary: In which Arthur kisses Merlin in front of his girlfriend.

And Merlin, well.

Merlin's fucking engaged. 

-

Or,

Arthur's pushing thirty and yet, he chooses the worst possible moment in history to make a move on his best friend, Merlin.

Trouble is, they could've been happy once. But for some people, it's difficult to walk away from someone when you spend your entire life waiting for them.

Unfortunately for Arthur, his life was over the moment he saw the ring. And thus, he ran.

Mouth-first, then ass-backwards in the opposite direction.

[goth-emrys]

Help me decide what episode to show my sci-fi gf as the ultimate test of her interest in Merlin.

What is an engaging episode that serves a 'if you dont like this episode you wont enjoy the show' role?!

[onceandfutureclotpoll]

Title: For Worse or For Better

Author: anna_zee

Rating: Teen and up Audiences

Summary: Merthur The Proposal au.

[makmakgoose]

Come Alive

Arthur Pendragon, the youngest Detective Inspector in Camelot, whose job is rumoured to be cursed, stumbles over a series of crimes no one can explain. Merlin Emrys, a constantly broke student working at a shady nightclub to pay the bills, comes in as a sketch artist - one with an unusual gift. The shadow of magic, supposedly eradicated centuries ago, makes things so much more dangerous for everyone. It's hardly a good time to fall in love.

LINK

[cherryblossomshadow]

#baby's first slash ship #THE reincarnated rivals/soulmates ship of all time (tags courtesy of @fandom-hoarder)

.

#these are the best worst ships of all time #I think I gotta go Sasunaru #but damn merthur put in the work #just look at both of these #the baiting. the betrayal. the heteronormativity. the sexism. #the production quality. a rejection of canon that runs so deep it’s barely associated with the source material #and yet the body of fan work for both of these titans make their consumption almost worth it #these are two of the worst shows ever made. I hope everybody watches them so I can talk about them. #anyways good luck op (tags courtesy of @sophies-junkyard)

.

#merthur was just another bbc show that was oddly gay #but sasunaru #sasunaru is the grandfather of 'im gay because i hate women' #they do not compare (tags courtesy of @levia-kun)

.

Sasuke would NEVER sit by and wring his hands while Naruto’s dad oppressed his people. VOTE SASUNARUKEEP VOTING SASUNARU. DON'T LET THE CENTRISTS WIN. (comment courtesy of @casgirl)

AO3 Top Relationships Bracket- Round 4

This poll is a celebration of fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.

[thefabledpheasant]

One of my favorite merthur scenes is Merlin’s “I didn’t want you to feel that you were alone” and it’s so beautiful for so many reasons, but what I don’t see ever mentioned is the moments right after Arthur opens the doors. Merlin doesn’t look at Arthur or give any indication he’s awake until he says Merlin’s name.

I think it’s so special because he’s giving Arthur the choice of what he wants to do. He can leave Merlin there and be alone or he can ‘wake him up’ and have a friend. He knows Arthur might not want to engage with anyone after an entire night spent with his deceased father. It’s a beautiful, understated act of consideration, love, and empathy.

[unfortunatelymerlin]

So I fell in love with this fic rec game to the extent that I decided to just answer all the categories, Merthur style. All are canon era. Enjoy!

1. Recommend a fic that lives in your brain  rent free. 

Golden As I Open My Eyes | E | 2,900 words

Sometimes, the unravelling of secrets is the easy part. Sometimes, what is most difficult comes after; how do you relearn something that you thought you knew better than yourself?

I just LOVE this. The darkness of it, the possesiveness, the obsession, the hints at my shared headcanon with the author of it being weird and awkward post-Camlann... delicious soup!

2. Recommend a fic that is not posted on  AO3.

In Time of Trial | Not rated (E) I 36,807 words

In which Uther is deceived by an old  friend, and Arthur is declared a traitor. 

Not only is this fic not on A03, it's hard to find  anywhere because the original site on which it was  hosted no longer exists. Everyone say thank you to the wayback machine. 

3. Recommend fic that is less than 5,000  words. 

What lf You're Someone I Just Want Around | T | 2,900 words

Sometimes, you love despite, not  because. Sometimes, finding out does not change anything.

My bookmark note on this reads: "It's as if the author peered into your brain, and wrote this based on what it found there." And this fic really does align with my own headcanon about Arthur's thought processes throughout canon to a startling degree. Basically canon. To me. 

4. Recommend a fic that is over 50,000  words. 

Sorcerer's Bane | E | 264,621 words

Arthur gave Merlin his cloak thinking only of the warmth it would offer in a snowstorm. He never thought his manservant may be mistaken for him and snatched by bandits. Nor did he expect his dashing rescue of Merlin to turn his world so utterly on his head.

Because the bandits hadn't kidnapped a prince. They'd snatched a sorcerer, and now captivity is the least of anyone's problems.

A golden age awaits, but can they claim it together, or are they doomed to fail?

One thing I love about this fandom is how many fics are long and juicy. So many fics could have gone here, including others on this list. However, this one is briliant. A lot is packed into the story — the summary covers only the catalyst at the start of the whole thing — and it is so engaging that the lengthy word count flies by. If you've not read it yet, you need to.

5. Recommend a gen fic (no pairings). 

The Champion of the Arcane Dominion | M | 81,070 words

When the well-being of Camelot's greatest hangs in the balance, Merlin undergoes the trial of the Arcane Dominion. He is alone, forced to enter a magical realm and confront a dangerous enemy in order to save his friends. Little does he know, those very friends are watching his every move. Trapped by the magic of the trial, Arthur and the knights are made to witness Merlin's journey - and discover some uncomfortable secrets along the way.

I struggled to narrow down this one, so decided to be strict with myself and only recommend fics without any background romantic Merthur. That being said, this fic does have a strong emphasis on the Merthur relationship, and it's not romantic in the same way the show isn't romantic. Which is to say, they are so devoted the lines blur.

6. Recommend a fic that does something cool with format or structure (epistolary social media, 5 things, non-linear, etc.)

A Different Wilderness I T | 28,580 words

Merlin dies. Arthur lives.

For 1600 years.

Full of faux media chronicalling Arthur's life as a public figure while waiting for Merlin return to him. I have never read a fanfic that manages anything like this quite so well, especially in the way the author manages to competently mimic works by many incredible real-life literary greats. If you read nothing else on this list, read this.

7. Recommend a fic that uses a trope you love.

You can hold my hand (if you let me hold yours too) | T | 23,775 words

Arthur has long since begrudgingly admitted to himself that his feelings might run a bit deeper than just a harmless case of infatuation. But it isn't until Merlin's mortally injured in an ambush that Arthur learns to what lengths he's willing to go to save him.

Especially when it turns out that his manservant is also a sorcerer and has magically bound himself to Arthur.

And why is it that Arthur doesn't exactly mind?

I am a SUCKER for soul bond tropes, and there are a fair few that contain that in the Merlin fandom. This one has it as the central conflict, however, AND it's accidental, which is my favourite twist.

8. Recommend a fic with an interesting  premise/concept. 

Awake | E l 50,735 words 

King Arthur sleeps in Avalon, waiting to  return at the hour of Albion's greatest  need. But once a year he awakes and  spends a single day with Merlin, who will  never, ever leave him.

The way this author writes this premise is especially pleasing to me, and it was the first and one of the few I've read like it.

9. Recommend a fic from a book fandom.

The Ivy Crown | E | 252,245 words

Merlin couldn't have picked a worse time to finally tell Arthur about his magic. In the wake of the battle against the immortal army, a strange visitor disrupts the court, calling himself the Green Knight and proposing a test of the court's integrity. Although Uther turns him away, several of Camelot's northern allies end up mysteriously beheaded over the next few months, and Arthur, Merlin and the knights set out to investigate. They encounter more than they'd bargained for on the way—a reckless young boy, a lady in search of a husband, a centuries-old fairytale that holds more than a grain of truth... and a challenge that ends up being more than just a game.

This is, I think, not only one of my favourite Merlin fics that is explicitly crossed with Arthurian literature, but also one of my favourite fanfics ever, in any fandom. It also happens to be mainly crossed with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is one of my most beloved stories in the entire world, and one I've not only reread a million times in a million iterations, but also studied extensively in various forms - and this fic does it justice, with a lovely Merthur slant. If you don't know the story, it will keep you on your toes, but if you do know the story, this doesn't rehash it in a way that is boring.

10. Recommend a fic that is more than 10  years old.

Light of Arthur | E | 63,462 words

An epic tale of gods and man, destiny and choices, darkness and light, and eternal love that's fixed as the stars to the celestial sphere.

Another thing I love about this fandom is just how long it's been going, so finding a good fic that is older than 10 years old isn't difficult in the slightest. This is a classic, and one newer fans who stick to the more established Merthur tags on A03 might miss.

11. Recommend a fic you think is a hidden  gem/deserves more reads.

Tumbling Overboard | M | 8,052 words

Unfortunately for Merlin, it’s getting terribly hard to get Arthur alone, these days.

(Or: Five Interruptions)

I really struggled with this one, because I don't know if there are many hidden gems in this fandom... so I went with a fic I loved that I think should have more comments, especially considering it was posted alllll the way back in December 2024...

12. Recommend a fic that formed or changed your opinion on something (characterization, backstory, relationship, etc.)

to go with grace I T | 16,972 words

Morgana is dead.

Morgana Pendragon is dead, at Emrys's hand. Just as the prophecies had foretold.

But before she can enter Avalon and find peace, she must first pay penance for all the sins she committed in her life.

After reading this, imagining a post-finale world where destiny was simply done with Morgana became unthinkable, and now there is always some element of Morgana redemption in any Arthur Comes Back scenario I concoct in my head.

13. Recommend a fic you've re-read multiple times.

Favorite | E | 13,012 words

Arthur was tipped back against the wall, his mouth open for breath and staring at the small arrow-slit window over Merlin's head, trying to work out how it could possibly be that good with Merlin, of all people.

Just SUCH a lovely, fun, and sexy fic. I find myself going back to it often.

14. Recommend your favorite fic.

The Rise of Albion Series | E | 55,295 & 35,964 words (91,259 total)

Merlin arrives at Camlann just in time. When the truth comes out, will Arthur accept him? Will they be able to face the feelings each of them has for the other? Will they ultimately defeat Morgana - together?

Something about this series just makes it stick around in my head, so while I definitely have more than one favourite fic, this ended up being The One I kept coming back to as my main option. It has the perfect balance of angst, plot, and glorious wish-fulfiment that has me coming back to reread it over and over again. I also adore the way magic is written in this. Comforting and lovely.

15. Recommend any fic of your choice

Arthur, Sincerely | M | 47,823 words

No one understands Arthur and Merlin's relationship, least of all Arthur and Merlin. Limping home after Camlann they have time to figure it out.

Now if only people would stop trying to give Merlin a promotion.

A gorgeous read, and I picked it because I love fics that deal with post-finale fics where Arthur lives, and everyone has to work out what comes next. 

If you read and enjoyed any of these, do make sure you leave a kudos/comment for the author! And let me know too! <3

[geraskierfanficprompts]

Prompt 95

Inspired by this not geraskier (merthur) fic In a world where your soulmate's greatest current fear is written on your arm, Geralt's arm fluctuates between saying "Dying alone" and "Being Forgotten", and though they do hurt him to see this is what his soulmate fears above all else, he's happy. Because just a few years ago, his arm would swap between "Mother" and "Father". Geralt is fine with it all. Until one day the words on his arm say his name. "Geralt of Rivia" Geralt deals with this as calmly and reasonably as anyone would. He has a fullblown breakdown in the middle of the woods and cries into his horse's side and digs a really big hole before just filling it back up because the digging a hole was for the therapeutic feeling and not for anything of substance. So later when he killed a horrible smelling corpse monster and had to dig a SECOND hole to bury the thing when he had a big already dug hole earlier if he just hadn't filled it fucking in-! He's having a tough week, is all. But thankfully, soon enough, he'll be meeting back up with Jaskier! The one person who's never been afraid of him, and Geralt is only just starting to feel like maybe Jaskier never will. Jaskier is terrified of Geralt. Not of him! Not of him, nonono.. Of Geralt.. finding out. If Geralt finds out Jaskier is falling in love with him, Geralt will surely throw him aside. I mean, it took him forever to say they were friends, if Jaskier tells Geralt he's in love with him, Geralt would probably do something ridiculous like... Scream at him on a mountain or something. Alright, sure, that sounds nothing like Geralt, but Jaskier's spiraling doesn't really care for what makes "sense" at the moment. He's fine. When he meets up with Geralt in a week, he'll just hide his feelings as per usual. He'll be fine.

♡!Optional addons!♡ • Jaskier has discovered that Geralt is his soulmate, because he's mended the wounds on Geralt's arm that clearly says "Geralt dying" or "Geralt bleeding out", or "Manticore Venom". Frankly, he's impressed at Geralt's lack of observational skills. Geralt's arm tends to have the name of whatever monster he's currently fighting on his arm.. But perhaps it's hard to notice that when you're currently engaged in life-or-death battle with aforementioned monster. • Jaskier isn't human. When Jaskier sees "Jaskier" on his arm one day, he feels as if his heart has shattered. Geralt must've found out what he is, and now he hates him. Jaskier can't help himself, when he next sees Geralt, he asks if Geralt would kill him, for he won't be able to keep sane by just separating. Geralt, whose biggest fear is Jaskier being hurt, being sad, dying because of him, dying of old age, loving him, not loving him, etc etc etc, is suddenly very confused over what the fuck they are talking about • Geralt knows Jaskier is his soulmate, and upon seeing Jaskier is terrified of him, Geralt begins acting and speaking completely different in order to "Fix it". Jaskier is confused when Geralt is suddenly hiding his fangs, and never touching his swords near him, and begins speaking exclusively in a soft slightly-higher voice, as if he's a scared animal.

[1shadowhole]

Sometimes I forget how chill the Merlin/Merthur fandom is and how good we have it, but I get inevitably reminded.

I found this artist on Instagram which has recently started to create fanart for Merthur, and as I was scrolling through the comments (interacting with everything because you should always engage artists on Instagram. The algorithm is awful), I've seen quite a few comments from the other fandoms calling this poor artist out because they didn't like that she hadn't made content for their fandom in a while.

Like... What? They weren't that bad, sure... But looking at them I just thought that they would never fly over here. I could already picture a couple of people coming in and saying: "now, that's not a very nice thing to comment. I understand that it might be frustrating for you, but perhaps you should word your request differently instead of making it sound like a demand"

Thank you for making my online fandom experience so chill. I have already a lot of drama in my life, I don't need it in here as well😅

Edit: Remember, the fandom is chill. But I'm... Not. Which is why I love it here because other fandoms aren't good for my mental health. I am NOT able to let go of an issue.

There's a reason why I uninstalled Tik Tok

[cbk1000]

Is anyone using comment moderation on ao3, and if so, how do you like it? For readers, are you put off commenting if an author is moderating comments?

I changed Book of Merthur to registered user only comments, but I've been thinking of just moderating comments instead so that guest users can still comment, they just have to be approved first. If I were having issues with spam or multiple nasty commenters, it would make sense to just change it to no guest comments, but I'm only trying to keep one person from commenting. I have their account blocked, but they just keep leaving guest comments. I don't mind seeing the comments, they don't upset me, it's just obvious they really want attention, so I've just kept deleting their comments. However, their most recent one was trying to goad readers into interacting with them, and I don’t want a reader innocently replying not knowing this is someone who has left like nine or so comments at this point, all deleted, and they're clearly now just trying to get anyone to engage with them, since I won't. I delete the comments as soon as I see them, because it's always obvious they're from the same person, but I want to make sure I get to them before readers see them.

I've actually never enabled comment moderation before, so I was just wondering how useful anyone using it found it, and if some readers might be put off commenting.

[merthurao3recs]

Nobody Expected Uther to Approve so Damn Hard

Author: Nakyrah 

Rating: Mature 

Word Count: 45,037

Details: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gwaine (Merlin), Morgana (Merlin), Gwen (Merlin), Uther Pendragon (Merlin), Hunith (Merlin), Morris (Merlin), BBC Merlin, anal sex, sexual content, explicit sexual content, sleeping in the same bed, fake boyfriend, hired boyfriend, Christmas. 

Summary: When Gwaine finds himself in a bind and can’t attend his latest gig as a pretend rental boyfriend, he begs Merlin to cover for him. A certain blond is worried about how his father would react to him bringing a boyfriend home for Christmas but doesn’t want to subject a real boyfriend to the potential backlash. With the amount of money being offered, and Merlin’s conscience reminding him that this is the first time the reason for a rental boyfriend makes perfect sense, Merlin can’t bring himself to let Gwaine - or the client - down.

[intermundia]

So the reason I love fanfiction is intertextuality. I love allusions to canon woven into a new narrative, and building in my mind the complex web of references that all contextualize each other. It's those links that add depth of meaning to a fanfic, metatextual weight to characters and locations. I think the better the transformative process of fanwork, the more of the original it carries inside, the denser and richer points of reference to the story on the other end. If you think of a canon fact as a color, the more vibrant the fanwork, the bigger thrill I get from it. It lights up more of my brain.

There's this thing I like to do where I will find a media property that I know nothing about but has a sufficient high quality body of work, obikin, geraskier, merthur, etc. I will read thousands of fanfics and build up a mental map of the series in my mind, noticing things referenced by multiple stories in different ways and trying to extrapolate back to an original event in the canon story. The more references to an event, the more specific and real it is, whereas other things referenced by one or two people exist in a quasi real state, smaller nodes in the network as it were. 

Once I've built up a robust mental map of a story, I will watch the series. I will watch the Clone Wars, the Witcher, Merlin, etc., and compare my expectations with the reality of the canon narratives. I will observe the ways in which fandom skewed the story via emphasis, or where it improved the story via giving interiority to characters in traumatic or intimate moments. Once I've finished watching the series, and have canon fixed in my mind, I reread all my favorite stories with a richer mental picture of each one, really savoring the work of the author in engaging with a story I love.

I genuinely think this is a sort of wish fulfillment from my time as a classicist where all we could do was build up a mental map of the extant texts, but there was no way to ‘watch the original’ as it where, no way to check how historians and poets transformed their experience. It's a guilty pleasure to apply the same conceptual mapping skills I learned for antiquity to pop culture, one degree removed from reality, but I enjoy it so much and spend way too much time doing it (when I should be writing). I wonder if other people do this though, it's kind of a tumblr ass hobby lmao

[brigid-faye]

Author interview game

tagged by both @kaaaaaaarf and @imsiriuslyreading for this, so blessed

How many works do you have on AO3?

18

What's your total AO3 word count? 295,698

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

(All wolfstar)

Honey If I'm Not - healed wolfstar reunion 10 years post war, (almost) everyone lives

Better in the Morning - Sirius comes back from the veil, set in HBP

Wherever I Am - Remus raising Harry, Sirius gets out of Azkaban after five years

If You're Gonna - Sirius POV of Honey If I'm Not

Snow in June - modern magical american AU. lumberjack!remus and NY old money Sirius @ a mountain retreat

Do you respond to comments?

yeah, i try to!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Can't Look at the Stars (Halloween 1981) - idk if i need to explain why that's angsty...

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

all hea or if you squint it could be hea (in the case of the above). Probably my Honey If I'm Not/If You're Gonna series

Do you write crossovers?

not really? i am writing a wolfstar cinderella/royalty au, but there aren't any crossover characters Let Me Believe (Ever After)

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

yes because i branched out and wrote jegulus. yeesh

Do you write smut?

yes

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

Have you ever had a fic translated?

no

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes with @imsiriuslyreading and @rottendiary <3

What's your all-time favourite ship?

Wolfstar. Not that I need to prove it but I do have tattoos.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I try not to post WIPs. My one posted one right now is proceeding a little slow, and I adore everyone who's hanging in there with me!

What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and smut where everyone cries

What are your writing weaknesses?

plotting. if i plot too far ahead, i lose all interest in the story

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

lovely when done well. And i generally think doing it well means either being fluent yourself or doing a very intense amount of research, thought & preferably colabing with a native speaker

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

ginny/luna. merthur but idk if anyone reads that anymore?

What's your favourite fic you've written?

they all mean a lot to me. they all remind me of what i was experiencing when i wrote them. Probably Honey if I'm Not/If You're Gonna. I wrote those while getting engaged and married, and there's a lot of my own healing and happiness reflected in that fic. Also it's the one that brought me to so many of my fandom friends, and which the absurdly talented @emjayeingray bound for me and @multiimoments made the most lovely edit for, so I do particularly treasure that one <333

tagging: @emjayeingray, @multiimoments, @januaryfirstreads and any who want to join in <3

[phantomemrys]

I'm not even to S8 of this show yet, which I only started watching because Tiktok edits convinced me to give it a go, but I had one thought based on spoilers I've found which was actually important enough to me that I wanted to dust off the old Tumblr post button, on an account that mostly dried up when I stopped writing, to say it.

I don't find the "will-they-won't-they"/"obvious shipbait" aspect to be too horrendous in and of itself. It does kind of suck to fall for it again, but I grew up in fandom spaces online where anything can be fanon, even if it's never canon. Falling for another one doesn't really faze me. The amazing writers in this fandom will continue to push fics to fill the void left by canon.

What I do find really upsetting is the fact that a lot of people involved in the making of/behind the scenes for this show either partook in the involvement of, or at the very least supported the act of, using non-confirmed (and, I would label as shipbaiting, even if it were to go canon later) Buddie to save ratings they knew would suffer because of Bobby's death.

Because that is what this was.

I don't intend to cast my prediction one way or the other on whether Buddie will be canon next season. Personally, I find it irrelevant to the issue that I feel is the most glaring problem of how this season (based on my understanding of spoilers, to be fair, so take this worth a grain of salt) went, which is the sheer and blatant disrespect given to the fans who support this show. Maybe canon Buddie post-Bobby death would have been a little less than ideal, too. I'm sure it would have evoked similar feelings about abusing a portion of the fans' desires to save face following a bad writing decision. I won't lie and say it would have been met without criticism if they had gone that route.

But what I find truly disgusting in this situation is that they knowingly did utilize tactics of queerbaiting (tactics I am all too familiar with from the trenches of Johnlock, Destiel, Merthur, ect.,) in order to shipbait as a means of rating protection. The joint press tour, the questions about being in love and accusations of competition, the acts of devotion and demonstrations of knowing one another so intimately, just to name a few.

In summary (and because I am very sleep-deprived and trying not to be too rambly for anyone who happens to read this), I think the most glaringly disgusting aspect of Buddie this season isn't that we didn't get it, but that it was teased to us because some of the creatives involved in the show knew it would help soften the damage done by one utterly horrendous writing decision. At its core, it's the way in which the showrunners and creatives involved have shown that the fans do not matter which bothers me so deeply.

Not because we didn't get Buddie, but because when they upset and alienated one large portion of their base by killing off Bobby, they strung along two other sides of their fandom (because yes, the Bucktommy shippers were also victims of this treatment, and it wouldn't be fair not to acknowledge it in this post) to make sure they kept themselves afloat for the rest of the season. This was more than just people doing their jobs, because even if they had no control over losing Bobby they did have the power to not do some of the stunts pulled to keep grabbing for Buddie-dependent viewer engagement. These were conscious decisions that showcased how little regard there seems to be for the fans.