#Also Gwen and Lancelot get together because I say so

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

1: Magic is a Metaphor < 2: Morgana is a Lesbian < 3: Merlin is Gay > 4: Arthur is Bi

Again with the whole metaphor thing, Merlin's entire character is about having to hide his identity and wishing that he could be free to be himself so that he wouldn't have to lie about how much Arthur means to him. So that's all very gay, but he's also just very queer-coded generally. There are so many jokes about him being more effeminate or wearing women's clothing, most notably in this episode where he dresses in full drag and then takes the opportunity to shamelessly flirt with Arthur. Unhinged.

Basically every other character seems to just assume that he's gay, at least towards the end, because Gaius and Arthur are in utter disbelief that Merlin would be 'seeing a girl'. And of course he isn't, he's actually sneaking around with that druid guy, leading Arthur to question how courting a girl would leave him 'walking with a limp.'

I also think it's very interesting how often Merlin has to pretend to be attracted to women to avoid people discovering his secret, like with Gwen in Series 1 or Morgana in Series 2. Or this scene, where Gwen and Merlin are the only people not affected by the Lamia's seduction charm and they're trying to figure out why. And Merlin says, 'it doesn't affect you because you're a woman'. And firstly, Gwen is like, 'so what?' So, bisexual queen. And then Merlin says, "it only affects men," and Gwen says, "so then why haven't you fallen under her spell?" And Merlin is just like, 'oh shit, I don't know. I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't be seduced by a woman.'

Now, you might be saying, "but Merlin is attracted to women! what about that one female love interest he had for literally one episode who immediately died?" Oh, you mean:

I'm sorry to all of the Freylin shippers out there, but this was so clearly just the writers' last-ditch attempt to make Merlin straight. If you think about it, Freya also 'has magic' if you catch my drift, and that is the only thing that she and Merlin have in common, and the only thing that they talk about. And if you look at their dialogue out of context, it really doesn't seem like it's magic that they're talking about. It's just gay/lesbian solidarity. Also, never forget when Colin Morgan accidentally referred to Merlin's potential love interests as "him or her." So who else could he have been thinking of?

Merlin definitely had a crush on Lancelot. From the moment that they first meet, he just keeps going on about, 'omg, isn't Lancelot so strong and brave and chivalrous? God, I hope he becomes a knight, he would look so good in a suit of armour.' And then he says to Gwen, completely unprompted, "so just for the sake of argument– Arthur or Lancelot?" Why are you thinking about that Merlin? Then that scene ends with Merlin and Lancelot getting drunk and stumbling home together and waking up the next morning having shared Merlin's single bed. So take from that what you will. I don't necessarily think that anything happened between them, not because I think Lancelot is straight, don't get it twisted, just because I think he's a fucking virgin.

But certified pansexual manwhore Gwaine on the other hand, oh they definitely fucked. And it's a very similar situation to Lancelot, Merlin's only flirting technique is just to find some buff guy who's just saved his life and be like, 'oh my god what can I possibly do to repay you? Maybe you could come back to my place and I could tend to your wounds and then we could go down to the tavern, have a few drinks'.

And it works. Merlin literally used his job as apprentice physician to the Knights of the Round Table as his own personal Grindr, and i love that for him. But, of course, these are just side hoes to Merlin's main bitch, Arthur.

You can deny everything else that I've said, but you cannot deny that Merlin was in love with Arthur. And don't even try to say, 'but it's just because it was his destiny'. Because, yeah, like that's any less gay. They're two sides of the same coin, destined to be together, Merlin 'uses magic only for Arthur'. Come on.

Also, it's pretty clear that Merlin cares about Arthur more than he cares about his destiny, throughout the entire show. But it culminates in this scene in series five where, because of very contrived plot reasons, Arthur has to choose between legalizing magic and saving the life of Mordred. And Merlin convinces Arthur not to legalise magic so that he will let Mordred die. He literally enables the genocide of his own people and condemns himself to a lifetime of suffering just on the off chance that he can spend a bit more time with Arthur.

And if that isn't heartbreaking enough, of course, every action that Merlin makes only confirms Arthur's fate. And after he very platonically dies in Merlin's arms, as dudebros do, what does Merlin do? does he go back to Camelot and live a full happy heterosexual life? Of course not. No, he spends the next one and a half thousand years just waiting at Arthur's resting place, waiting for the day that Arthur will be resurrected and they can be together again. What the fuck kind of Greek tragedy, Achilles and Patroclus level shit is that? That is fucking gay.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Alana Bloom

she kissed will graham in s1 and dated hannibal in s2 so you can imagine how bad the fandom is to her. fun fact she's in a canon lesbian relationship now tho <3

The show literally does the yaoi treatment of victimisation for the benefit of the male leads to her. And then the fandom mistreats her

I'm not sure if this even counts but...Literally a victim of Yaoi along with several other characters in-series, but she got it almost the worst. The entire show is just people dying because the two male leads are OBSESSED with each other and can't be normal about anything. Alana Bloom, actual PhD of psychology and consultant to the FBI, got kissed by one guy, fucked and fed people-meant by the other, and pushed out a window by the murder husbands' forced-surrogate daughter. Like. Actual victim of several crimes caused by yaoi. She's probably one of the few examples of a Yaoi Victim overcoming and evolving past her yaoi-related trauma into a stronger person/character, though: She gets an entire character overhaul and a hot, millionairess for a wife. She kills a man with an eel. She becomes head of the BSHCI, effectively putting her in complete power over her jackass cannibal ex-bf. She does quite well. Unfortunately, the rest of her screen time is spent trying not to get killed in the ongoing fallout of Hannibal and Will's fucked up courtship, but hey. Can't have everything. I don't even know if I'm saying anything valid here: the fandom loves her, but I supposed her position outside of the Hannigram relationship relegates her to a non-subject in a lot of Hannigram-focused fanwork. She's an 'obstacle' to their relationship only in the sense that Will had a crush on her once that went nowhere and Hannibal started an actual relationship with her SPECIFICALLY to piss off Will. I guess she's also a more literal obstacle as Hannibal's jailer and Will's friend who's constantly pointing out to him that Morals exist and he should try having some of those, maybe.

Gwen

She stands in the way of Merthur, by far the most popular ship in the fandom. I haven’t seen it as much in recent years, but back in the days of fanfiction.net she got slut shamed so badly for having been romantically interested in three of the male characters over the course of the show, which is just... normal straight woman behavior, meanwhile Merlin crushed on pretty much every woman who even looked at him in the early seasons of the show and got no hate for that whatsoever. I barely even read Merthur fics (not because it’s m/m, just because certain aspects of their relationship don’t appeal to me) but the “Gwen is a slut” attitude was so pervasive across the fandom, even fics that weren’t explicitly anti-Gwen would “jokingly” call her a slut. I even saw a few fics demonizing her for having an affair with Lancelot despite the fact that SHE WAS ENCHANTED when that happened, and surprise surprise, Lancelot (who was also under the influence of magic) got none of that hate, and neither did Arthur, who got enchanted to fall in love with multiple women over the course of the show.

Canonically Arthur Pendragon's love interest and an important and interesting character in the show who's completely shoved aside and ignored in favour of the medieval bbc yaoi ship. At best they put her and Morgana in Lesbian Timeout (ie make them get together and then reduce them to wingwomen at best because god forbid we focus on the medieval bbc yuri). Justice for Gwen right now!

She is prince Arthur's love interest (eventually wife). Arthur is MADLY in love with her. He tells his tyrannical father he would give up his crown to be with her (she's a servant in the series). He forgives her cheating on him with Lancelot (!), which in the show is caused by an evil enchantment, but the characters never find out about it. He chooses her time and time again. His love for Gwen is literally never put into question. Many fans insist to this day that there was no chemistry between Gwen and Arthur compared to Arthur and Merlin. Arthur isn’t even particularly nice to Merlin most of the time! The funny thing is that Merlin himself ships these two so hard and does everything he can to help them get together!! Gwen & Arthur are adorable and too many fans were drunk on the yaoi fumes to see it. ARTHUR WAS A SIMP FOR GWEN.

[chloe-skywalker]

Magic Divide - Arthur Pendragon (Part 1)

Arthur x fem!reader

Warnings: judgy-ness?

Word count: 2,310

Summary: Arthur has found out Y/n has magic. He didn’t react in the nicest way so Y/n decides to leave Camelot.

Authors Note: My first writing for Merlin BBC, love Arthur from the adventures of Merlin. Hope you all enjoy it! P.S. theres a part 2! (an its already written!)

Masterlist

Merlin BBC Masterlist

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Y/n stood not far from the stables as she packed up some of her stuff, getting ready to leave when she heard footsteps and yelling of her name.

“Merlin?” Y/n spoke as she turned to face the people she considered family. She was confused as to what the rush seemed to be.

“Y/n!” merlin shouted again as they all came to a stop around her. “What are you doing?”

Y/n looked to all their faces before looking to the floor feeling slightly ashamed. “Leaving.”

“Leaving Camelot?” Gwen wondered with a furrowed expression like the rest as to why she would be leaving.

“Why?” Lancelot asked feeling concerned about the girl he considered like a sister.

“Arthur found out.” Y/n sighed out softly.

“About your magic?” Merlin questioned now feeling alittle worried.

“Yes. And feels betrayed, as he should.” Y/n added feeling disappointed in herself. It was a lose lose situation. Tell him about her magic and risk losing him or he find out and still lose him. Or worse.

“No, he shouldn’t.” Morgana stated shaking her head ‘no’ as she walked forward to wrap her friend up in a hug. They grew up together, practically sisters. Morgana always trusted Y/n and Y/n always trusted Morgana. It hurt Morgana to see her hurting over stupid Arthur.

Y/n turned to look at Morgana, she could tell the y/h/c-ed girl had unshed tears in her eyes. “Yes, he should. He had every right to feel betrayed and angry. I kept something big from him.”

“No, Y/n. If anything he should understand why you never said anything.” Lancelot agreed with Morgana. With how Arthur was raised, and his views on magic he should’ve understood why Y/n didn’t say anything.

“Doesn’t matter now. He hates me. Arthur hates me now because I possess magic.” Y/n’s voice cracked and it broke their heart to hear. Y/n snuffled and cleared her throat before giving them a tight smile. “So I’m leaving.”

“You can't leave.” Lancelot wanted to change her mind.

“We’ll miss you to much.” Gwen gave her a sad smile.

“Don’t leave. Not because of Arthur.” Morgana scoffed at the future Kings idiocy.

“I value my friendship with all of you. With the other knights, with Gauis. But-” Y/n didn’t want to leave but what was holding her for good anymore. “I don’t have anything holding me here anymore. Not in the way I was. With Arthur and I’s relationship- or even just friendship. I don’t feel welcome in the castle, and if I don't feel welcome where I’m staying what's the point?”

“Your not just staying in the Castle, but in Camelot. We’re-” Lancelot waved around to acknowledge them all who were there. “In Camelot.”

Gwen smiled at Y/n, stopping forward. “You could stay with me.”

“Or me. Gauis loves you.” Merlin added, also smiling at the princess.

“No one want’s you to go.” Morgana pointed out smiling at Y/n. They all would miss her so much if she decided to leave. Who knows when they’d see her again. “You could stay with me. We’re like sisters.”

“I love all of you.” Y/n smiled gratefully at them but she needed time to think. Plus she hadn’t been home in what felt like forever due to her and Arthur's somewhat courtship. “But I think it’s time I go back home. I haven’t been in almost a year.”

As much as it saddened them they all also understood where she was coming from. “You better come visit me.DOn’t leave me alone in that Castle forever okay?” Morgana smiled getting both of them to laugh alittle.

“I won’t.” Y/n smiled at Morgana, who didn’t know that castle needed more women. Y/n looked to Lancelot, Merlin, Gwen, and Morgana smiling at them with a mixture of sadness and happiness. “An your always welcome to come visit me as well. All of you are welcome. Anytime.”

“I’ll miss having you here.” Gwen told her with watering eyes. 

“I know.” Y/n gave her a tight smile. She’d miss them to.

“Be careful.” Lancelot stated as he pulled her into a hug, resting his head against hers.

“I will.” Y/n smiled into the hug.

“An expect a visit soon.” Lancelot smiled sending her a wink as they pulled out of the embrace.

Y/n laughed nodding. “Ok.”

“Arthur’s a clotpole.” Merlin said shaking his head at what the princes’ actions were causing.

“Sometimes.” Y/n nodded in agreement. Arthur could be at times.

“Please visit.” Merlin pleaded pulling her into a hug.

Y/n smiled at his actions. “I will. But I need to be home right now.”

With goodbye’s said and hugs done they did try to get her to stay once more, especially once the rest fo knights found out she planned to leave. Y/n decided she had to tell the her main reason for leaving. The things Arthur had said to her since he found out, they were horrible things. About something, she had no control of inheriting. After she told them they all agreed she needed to get out of Camelot for a while, and away from Arthur.

^     ^     ^

“What's with the look’s Morgana?” Arthur grumbled, he was getting fed up with the looks she had been sending him for a while now.

“Screw you, Arthur.” Morgana scoffed before she stalked off out of the castle, pissed.

“What’d I do now?” Arthur asked looking to Gwen for an answer since he was confused.

“No offense your majesty but I agree with Lady Morgana on this particular topic.” Gwen stated before following out where Morgana had went.

Arthur now shocked and even more confused turned to his knights before asking. “What’d I do?”

“Sorry Prince but we-” Gwaine turned guestering to himself and the rest of the knights, then back to himself looking at the prince. “Agree with the women.”

Arthur walked over to Merlin in a slightly dazed state of shock before asking his servant. “Merlin-”

“Don’t look at me sire.” Merlin shook his head, looking away from the prince. In fact, looking anywhere but at Arthur.

“You agree?” Arthur questioned, with raised brows.

“Yeah.” Merlin gave him a quick nod before he pursued his lips together. Leaving Arthur with no real answer.

^     ^     ^

“Have you seen Y/n around, Merlin?” Arthur asked curiously. He hadn’t seen her in a while even though he had been avoiding her. When Merlin stayed quiet Arthur called his name. “Merlin?”

Merlin gulped he decided having to be the one to tell him this sucked. “She’s no longer in the castle, sire.”

“Then where is she staying?” Arthur asked puzzled to where else she would stay.

“At her home.” Morgana stated giving him a deadly look with her eyes.

“Morgana-” Merlin tried to cut in but Morgana wanted to rip Arthur a new one. She’d been holding her tongue long enough.

“No. He should know. After all if he’s just now aksing after a week of her being gone from Camelot,and many more weeks that he had avoided her. He should know what he did. What he caused.” Morgana continued, letting out her thoughts she’s held in.

“What are you talking about, Morgana?” Arthur squinted at Morgana’s rant. Not knowing what she was talking about. Not a clue.

“Y/n left.” Morgana stated plain and simple. Maybe that he’d understand.

“Left?” he repeated now very interested.

“Yes, left. Y/n left Camelot and went home about a week an half ago.” She explained and watched Arthur’s face morph into one of shock. “You look shocked Arthur? Did you really think she’d stay? After you said such horrible things to her. About something she was born with. Something she’s only used to help people with. You ignoring her, not speaking to her, acting as if she did the most terrible thing in the world.”

Arthur sighed. “She has magic Morgana-”

“So what?” Morgana shouted,how could he just forget about all the good times, how could he forget his love for Y/n over something so little. “Not everyone that has magic uses it for evil intentions. Y/n has saved her kingdom, Camelot, my life, yours, she had done nothing but good things with her magic and you made her feel awful about it. . . SHe thought you loved her more than that- hell Arthur most of us thought you loved her more than that. Thought you loved her enough that something like that wouldn’t matter. Guess we were all wrong.”

Arthur felt hurt by all the things Morgana was saying. He knew they were true which also hurt a lot. But magic, he’s been taught it’s evil. Didn’t that matter? “She kept it a -”

Morgana thought she knew Arthur but if he kept this up she knew she’s been dead wrong.

“From you? Yeah, she did. She kept it a secret from everyone the only reason some of us knew was because we caught her saving someone or something.” How could he not see she was scared? How could he not see why she was scared to tell him? “Arthur, don’t you get why she hid it from you? Uther hates people who wield magic. An you sometimes tlk the same, because he taught you to think it’s all bad and to kill them when you find them.”

That stunned Arthur. Y/n actually thought he would hurt her? Is that why she left? She feared for her life and feared him. “She thought I would’ve had her killed?”

Morgana looked at Arthur and really looked at him to see his emotions. He looked distraught in his eyes, so she sighed. “With the things, you said, how you looked at her and then how you treated her after? I would’ve thought you might of if I was in her shoes as well.”

Morgana left to let him think on her words. And he did. Arthur turned to Merlin. “Was I really that awful to her, Merlin?”

“Yeah, Arthur. You were cruel to her.” Merlin admitted to the blonde. He kinda felt for him though.

“y/n really left?” he whispered hoping if he spoke softer his voice wouldn’t crack.

Merlin sighed sadly. “She said she was here because of you. She no longer had you, so she left. Went home.”

“God, Merlin.” Arthur rubbed his hands over his face and then through his hair. “How do I fix this?”

“I don’t think anyone but you can fix it, Arthur.” Merlin told him, it was one of the rare times he actually wanted Merlin's advice. So he was happy to give it to him.

“Yeah. But how do I fix it is the question.” Arthur muttered to himself before he headed off to his room. He needed to think on this one.

^     ^     ^

“You asked to see me, father?” Arthur spoke as he entered the throne room. Hoping he wasn’t in trouble.

“Yes, Arthur. It seems Morgana would like to go visit Y/n. Now since she had gone home she’ll have to travel. I have to much to do so you’ll be escorting her. You and your knights. For Morgana’s safety.” Uther explained to his son. He was way to busy with King Duties to leave Camelot right now. Besides he had other motives for sending his son. Y/n had gone home 2 months ago maybe this was the chance he needed to fix things between them. The chance he’s known Arthur has been looking for.

“Yes, father.” Arthur nodded, ready to leave now if possible.

“You all leave tomorrow so inform your knights. All of you should pack tonight.” Uther stated.

“Yes, father.” Arthur answered turning to leave to go inform his knights to pack.

“And Arthur.” Uther spoke up stopping Arthur before he could leave through the double doors. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but you might want to fix it.”

Arthur nodded in understanding. “I have a plan.”

“Good. Now go pack.” Uther dismissed his son to leave the room.

“Yes, Father.” Arthur said before leaving the room, nervous and excited.

^     ^     ^

“So where are we heading out to this time, Prince?” Lancelot asked as they finished packing up the horses.

“Valmore.” Arthur stated as they got ready to head out.

Everyone looked at eachother in question before Gwaine spoke up. “Valmore?”

“Isn’t that-?” Leon questioned out loud looking to the others for confirmation.

“Y/n’s kingdom.” Morgana finished and confirmed with a nod and smile. Morgana mounted her horse. “Yes, it is. I miss my friend.”

“So we’re visiting.” Arthur stated as he to mounted his horse and the others followed.

“So, do you have a plan?” Merlin asked as he came up beside the prince also on a horse like the others.

“Yes, Merlin. I have a plan.” Arthur rolled his eyes at his servant's question.

“Is it good?” Merlin turned his head to look at the prince.

Arthur scoffed and turned to glare at the scrawny manservant that gets on his nerves all the time. “Yes, it’s good, Merlin. I don’t have bad plans.”

Merlin squinted and gave a tilt of his head, teasing the prince. “Well…”

“Back off Merlin.” Arthur stated before he went ahead of everyone else, leading the way.

“He have a plan?” Gwen asked as her and Merlin became parallel on their horses.

Merlin shrugged his shoulders at Gwen's question. “Says he does.”

“It better be a good one.” Morgana said riding next to the two. Morgana hoped Arthur would pull his head out of his ass and fix things with Y/n. She missed her friend and truthfully she was worried about Arthur. He’d been different since Y/n had been gone, not the bright Arthur he was usually was.

“Hopefully.” Merlin sighed.

~

Tag list:

@gruffle1 @padawancat97 @mininjageek

[rainbowstargazerlilies]

Mechs Ships Tournament: Shipping Round 5 Poll 2

Propaganda:

Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot:

that one post where its like theyre the us government but if it actually did whst it said it did. three different people of equal power keeping each other in check. also they aLMOST SAVED THE STATION WITH THE POWEROF LOVE [Pollrunner's note: post here]

POLYAMORY

I just love them a lot and blood and whiskey is so good and ”maybe just this once there could be a happy ending” makes me cry every time 

blood and whistey

the track where they decide

Polymechs:

They're inseparable they hate each other they would die for each other they actively enjoy killing each other ect ect ect

Look they're immortal and stuck in a spaceship you don't think they've hit all possible combinations over the years and settled into a weird comfortable vibe you can only get if youve murdered, been murdered, and had sex with every one (maybe minus nastya) of your friends?

immortal space pirats.... cuddle piles, romantic... not romanticm... poly mechs <3

(Points to every album) there thats my propaganda. But in all seriousness they are a group of immortals with nothing to do but sing and love each other in their own fucked up ways <3 

Chaotic little guys on a ship for a long time, the relationship web they got going on could rival the coven web

you cant tell me you would live with people for millions of years without it getting even a little gay.

Polygamy

when you spend millennia doing music and violence and shenanigans with the same 8 other people on a ship (and when the ship is technically another person), there's bound to be some group canoodling

i care them

they're everything to each other!!!

i refuse to pick

it’s polymechs!! what isn’t to love

Look at them.

how could you pick individual ships when they are so good together!! with the exception of nastya + jonny cos they are siblings your honour.

a lot of people have polymechs with her and aurora being monogamous but she canonically has queer orgies. on mechs tumblr account she describes herself as "The only one seemingly capable of a committed, responsible and fair relationship" so polymechs with all of relationships besides nastyaurora being on and off and everchanging is both the best polymechs and the most canon compliant polymechs to me

The idea that they're crewmates. You ask one of them what their relationship is with another and they say, "That's my crewmate". And then, maybe one of them meets someone on another ship, and they mention they don't have strong feelings about someone because, "they're only my crewmate" And they just cannot comprehend the idea of being crewmates with someone and not having strong feelings about them. They're immortal and half of them hate life, but even if that wasn't true, they'd die for any of the others a million times over. They've murdered billions of people on a whim, but even if that wasn't true, they'd murder anyone if it made one of their crewmate's lives a bit better. Remember how Tim blew up a moon for Bertie? He had only known Bertie for about 10 years. What would he do for people he had known for about 10 millennia? What would Ashes do for the people who would never betray them? What would Nastya do for the people who would always spend time with her and never die? What would Brian do for the people who would always forgive him for following his beliefs? What would Raphaella do for the people who are always willing to help her with her experiments? What would Ivy do for the people who'd always stay and tell their stories? What would the Toy Soldier do for the people who only ordered it to do what it wants to do and always lets it be involved? What would Jonny do for the people he could never permanently hurt? What would Marius do for his family? They all love each other more than anything, even if they don't have the words for it. (via @mchasmfiend)

Other Poll This Round Here :)

[like-sands-of-time]

So when Arthur's prince it's "oh one day you'll be king and Gwen will wait for you (never mind that she quite liked lance and he just up and left her TWICE, the second because he just immediately gave up when he saw Arthur was hurt even though he gave her up)

And then he just KEEPS pushing her away but wanting her to stay, they're in this sort of open secret relationship that doesn't actually involve any dates, just the occasional moment where she's in a scene to remind us they're passionately in love and destined to be together?? What is it about shows giving us so little reason to ship m/f pairings sometimes honestly. (And don't get me started on how they showed us so much gwencelot potential and then erased it because look! Shiny arwen instead.

Lancelot was able (of the same station as her) to pursue her, and had actual feelings for her that didn't revolve around any kind of duty to anyone else. Was willing to sacrifice himself not only for Arthur because she asks (which, idk I have mixed feelings on but I'll allow it) but also at the end of the day for Merlin bc Merlin will always save Arthur.

Arthur likes her because she was a woman who stood up to him..? Literally what's the difference between her and Merlin as people at that point considering that was Merlin's big thing in season one, only to have every moment rewritten as Gwen making Arthur this better man, she straight up ends up saying some of the same things and having some of the same plots (low-key did they just realize these things worked but made merthur look romantic because it genuinely doesn't make sense, I never even knew people shipped Merlin and Arthur before this show. They have so much chemistry)

just say you don't actually love her you just love the idea of her because she's a strong (when they remember to write her as such) woman and she knows the people of Camelot so will therefore make the perfect queen??? poor Gwen deserved to find some happiness fuck the source material at this point lol it's not like this show stuck to it

[sweet-demiboi]

Roughly 1200 words, making-out, dirty talk, talk about sex, sexual themes and jokes, the knights getting traumatised, Merthur, Male!reader x Gwaine, slight Lancelot x Gwen, and Arthur's and Merlin's dirty talk is based on Merlin's duties as a servant fight me

Merlin and Arthur were a couple.

Leon had heard them in the armory, Arthur was talking with a seductive voice about Merlin needing to polish his sword. The knight had almost died of laughter, but he didn't want them to notice him, so he almost bit out a piece of fabric from his cape.

Nobody of their close friends was surprised about it, even though they weren't told. But they had caught them on numerous occasions, which was equally funny and annoying:

Gwaine had stumbled over them in the night, he had... lent something out of the palace's kitchen and wanted to get to his chambers as quick as possible. Crossing a corner he had seen them, Merlin pressed against a pillar, Arthur against his chest. He did take another way.

Percival only wanted to take care of his horse, cleaning it and playing around when he heard two other people "playing around" in the straw. When he dared to take a glance he had seen Merlin and Arthur, then he left the stable with a very much noticeable blush.

Elyan was on his way for visiting Gwen when he saw Merlin and Arthur dissapearing in a room strictly for servants. He wondered and walked after them, but after seeing what they actually did in there he continued the way to his sister as if nothing had happened.

When you wanted to visit Arthur as friend, you heard voices inside his room and your curious nature took over:

"Mh, Arthur"

"Come on, Merlin, you're a servant - I can punish you as long as I want and how I want."

"Yes, Sire."

Only the following rather passionate moan and "Good boy" from Arthur kept you away from storming in there and defending your friend.

Lancelot also wanted to get to Gwen one day and met Arthur and Merlin on the way. They exchanged some greetings and Lancelot remembered that he wanted to ask Arthur when their next training was, so he turned around and saw the king grabbing his servant's ass. Gwen had to take care of him afterwards.

The knights all had their trauma now and got together one evening for a kind of group therapy session.

"We can't continue on like this!", Leon said "We have to tell them that we know they're together."

"We should rather tell them to keep their dicks in their pants for once", (Y/N) mumbled. Gwaine and Percival were nodding furiously at that.

"For once, I have to say that (Y/N) is right. How would it help to tell them we know they're a couple?", Elyan thought out loud.

"Maybe then we could talk to them about their sexual activities and how they're affecting us.", Lancelot argumented.

"And the truth is best usually.", Gwen, as their certified therapist, said "I'm sure that they will think about their actions when you tell them how they make you feel."

"Okay, but still, who's going to go up to them and say 'Hey lads, just so you know: We know you're a couple and we don't appreciate you fucking at every corner in the castle, please stop it, thank you.'?", Gwaine asked in his typical Gwaine-manners.

"Now we know at least who definetly won't.", (Y/N) said dryly.

"I could do it", Lancelot suggested "I humbly think that I'm the most sensitive out of us knights."

"I think that would be a great idea.", Gwen agreed with her boyfriend (also no secret but not because of the same reasons like Arthur's and Merlin's).

"Yeah, thank you, Lancelot", Percival said, relief in his face.

"Will see you guys tomorrow", (Y/N) got up from his chair and stretched his hand over to Gwaine "Come on, dear. I wanna fuck in a servant's room too" Gwaine laughed while the others were shouting after them of 'not wanting to know', 'not taking their trauma seriously' and 'please no taking of each other in a servants' room'.

You two were walking hand-in-hand from Gwen's house to the castle. After a while Gwaine asked: "Were you serious?" You showed a seductive smile in return "I'm always serious when I talk about you taking me" A hungry growl left Gwaine's lips and he slammed you against the next house-wall, kissing you fiercly.

You would've continued making-out and not caring about where whom took whom, but a rumble from inside startled both of you and you ran off laughing when you heard the voice of an old woman saying:

"I swear to god, if it's those two boys again, there will be blood!"

You ran until you reached the castle, quietly jogging inside and kissing against almost every surface you could find.

"We should maybe get into one of those rooms though", Gwaine suggested with swollen lips (you loved that sight) "I don't want any guards to find us"

You agreed with him and to your luck there was a door in reach, Gwaine put his lips on yours again and opened it. Pressing you against a wall. He sneaked one hand on your ass and secured your hands over your head with the other one.

Then he went down your neck, leaving hickeys, you screamed when there appeared a third hand pushing up your top to get your chest on display.

Your scream made Gwaine jump and also scream, then your voices mixed with two others, which resulted in more screaming from all of you.

"Who the hell is here?", Gwaine asked, pushing you a little behind him, but he couldn't see anything. In the next moment there was a bright light, made by a torch as you could see after a few seconds - it was a guard.

Your look fell on no one less than Merlin and Arthur themselves right next to you, hair roughled up and Merlin also had some bruises on his neck, then the guard asked: "Apologies, Sire, I thought you were a burglar. But what are you actually doing in here?" - "It's not what, it's who", Gwaine mumbled under his breath, which only you, Merlin, and Arthur could understand.

"What?", asked the guard again "Yeah, (Y/N), tell him what we were doing", Arthur requested, looking at you intensively "Uhh, we were... memorizing some poetry."

The guard nodded, looking weirdly at all of you and then dissappeared.

"We uhm..", Merlin tried to safe his and Arthur's arse, not knowing that you knew of them yet "Merlin, we know what you were doing in here, we have known for quite some time", you interrupted.

"You were doing the devil's tango", Gwaine said "Buttering the biscuit?", he kind of asked when everyone looked at him in question

"Oh my god", you rolled your eyes "Let's go", Arthur suggested, then you all got out of the room.

"We shall tell you to be a little more discreet with your 'sexual activities' as Lancelot put it, we would all be very thankful.", you told them, Merlin blushed, a crooked smile on his face, while Arthur said nothing, only looking at you both in embarassment "We'll try", Merlin answered "Thank you very much", Gwaine nodded his head.

"Who's hand was on my arse in there?", you asked in confusion "Who touched my boy?", Gwaine asked a little overprotective "Merlin, let's go", Arthur said "This never happened, (Y/N) I'm sorry, have a good night!", then they were gone quickly.

You looked at Gwaine and both of you had to start laughing so hard, you wondered why the guard didn't come again.

[earlgreyinpajamas]

hi! sorry to bother, but i’ve been searching for this one specific fic literally all morning and it’s been driving me insane, so i’d thought i’d at least give this a go

it’s a merthur fic on ao3, set in modern times. defintiely longer than a couple thousand but i’m not really sure of the exact length and i can’t remember how well tagged it was (which is very annoying i know, sorry!)

the whole premise is that gwen and lancelot just started dating (or got engaged??) and basically merged merlin and arthur’s friend groups together. however, when merlin and arthur meet, they already know each other because they used to date in high school before they had a big falling out. they keep their history hidden from their friends and pretend they just met. gwaine and merlin move in together and have a house warming party and arthur’s gift to merlin is a giraffe figurine wearing a football jersey with a football glued to its foot, which is an old inside joke between them. gwen and morgana try to do a lot of meddling to get the pair together, like inviting them for coffee and then leaving them alone. arthur eventually blows up on them at some point saying how they need to back off because they don’t know everything. eventually merlin and arthur manage to get back together.

the whole reason their high school relationship went down was because arthur didn’t want to come out and merlin either did or was already out. uther was a big reason arthur didn’t come out i think. they also played on the same football team together in high school but they were really bad and lost pretty much always including to a team of girls like the town over that were younger than them. arthur used to call merlin a giraffe, hence the whole housewarming gift thing. they have a good conversation when they’re older about how they were both wrong, how arthur shouldn’t have expected merlin to stay hidden for him but also about how merlin shouldn’t have expected arthur to put himself at risk for him or soenthing along those lines.

i forget what arthur does, but merlin’s like a young children art teacher. there’s a short scene where merlin’s in his class and causes trouble. after merlin and arthur get back together, merlin is like. scared to be alone with arthur and makes up fake plans that he was planning on going to dinner at lancelot and gwen’s place after arthur showed up and asked if he wanted to go on a date. so then there’s this awkward dinner and gwen’s with the four of them and arthur realizes merlin never went to the college they both planned on going to together because arthur wasn’t there. i also think that gwen like offers support to arthur because he was trying to leave since he realized merlin made up plans in order to not be alone with him

it eventually ends happily with them together, but i can’t really remember the specifics of the end

sorry this is extremely long, i remember a good bit of the fic but just cannot find it for the life of me, if you can help i’d appreciate it but no worries if you can’t!

ahhh you've described it so well but unfortunately i don't know it either but i really want to read it now. anyone? TT

[castelled-away]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mergwenthur beginnings from Merlin‘s pov bc he has the potential to make all of this SO angsty mmm

Like think abt Merlin feeling like he imposed on Arthur & Gwen's relationship simply bc he thinks the 2 are perfect (Merlin is obv so gone for them) & therefore perfect for each other but without him mixed into it bc „he doesn’t have a place there in their relationship“

Or him already feeling insecure abt a potential position in a 3-way-relationship bc of the whole thing with Lancelot’s shade & probably thinks Arthur would therefore react badly or hurt

Or maybe throw in a magic reveal where Guinevere & Arthur are both shocked at first ofc & Gwen gets over that & is all reasonable/starting to understand & Arthur is still blown away/angry & just can’t understand so maybe Merlin sees their different opinions on the magic matter & thinks he’s or at least will soon be tearing a rift between Arwen through that

Or maybe him not feeling good enough for them since not only is Arthur the king but Gwen as his queen has ALSO risen in rank & is now „above“ him as well (tho I think this is a bit ooc for Merlin)

Or to try & keep Arthur away from him/not tempt himself (bc Merlin still has to hide his magic& therefore cannot get too close to anyone) Merlin pushes Gwen & Arthur together with effort & he thinks he’s left alone & that both of them will/can never know how much he loves them or know who he really is. Then Arwen ask why he wants them to be together SO BAD since the 2 don’t really ever want to spent time together without Merlin (bc they’re all in love your honor) & Merlin just explodes with a whole speech like because if you two don’t end up together all of the pain & the suffering I have gone through while having to watch from far away was worth for nothing & then Gwen thinks Merls were in love only with Arthur & Arthur thinks Merlin were only in love with Gwen & then they are all being stupid & sad abt that whole love triangle till it comes out that Merlin loves them BOTH at the end

Or ofc the Lancelot-Gwen-Arthur fiasco, but where Merlin & Gwen get enchanted by Morgana instead & they’re all super angsty abt this (there’s the fic, it’s great: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46578598 by @burglarhobbit)

While reading this fic the idea came to me that maybe Merlin takes the blame for Morgana’s love spell volunteeringly so that Arthur doesn’t get hurt by thinking Gwen cheated of her own free will & takes her back, but Gwen (the goddess that she is) straight up tells Arthur no, Merlin wouldn’t ever do that, it must’ve somehow been Morgana & they ask Merlin why he lied & his answer is I just wanted you two to be happy but then followed with I guess that I’m just selfish for wanting you two to love me as well, that would have been to good to be true anyways

Or Arthur seeing Gwen & Merlin hug like they used to do all the time in the show bc they’re best friends & always help each other through their hard stuff, so cue Arthur having his big bi panic & while still being a bit traumatised by the whole Lancelot’s shade-fiasco, he mistakes his romantic feelings for them as jealousy/insecurity/fear of Gwen leaving him for Merlin & saying smth like „you wouldn’t take her from me would you?“ to Merlin (maybe even just as a dumb joke without all those negative feelings) & Merlin being all surprised no ofc i wouldn’t do that, not to you Arthur, to neither of you, you mean too much to me to do that & being scared that he somehow crossed a line while talking to Gwen or smth to warrant this kind of question from Arthur

Or Merlin thinking: You already have to take care of Arthurs destiny (protecting him, be loyal to him, make him see magic is good without outing himself as a sorcerer etc.) you can’t also take his heart/feelings aswell. You can’t do that to Gwen.Arthur is already forced to spend forever with Merls due to destiny, let him choose Gwen on his own free will, so that means Merlin thinking his connection to Arthur is less important that Gwen’s connection to Arthur bc of destiny

Or Gwen & Arthur together trying to court him & invite him into their throuple so they kiss him on separate occasions without the other one present & Merlin is just alone walking with Gwen through the halls of Camelot & reeling with why did she just kiss me isn’t she in love with Arthur?? & Arthur then also kissing him or giving him gifts & he’s starting to catch on/hope that they might return his feelings but then he overhears Gwen telling Arthur that he (Arthur) is her everything (bc Arthur is emotionally constipated & needs reassurance & affection like he deserves), so Merls tries to gaslight himself à la oh those kisses where just friendly, friends kiss each other sometimes don’t they??? Gwen probably just missed me that 1 time/wanted to reassure me of something & Arthur was probably still high of of a particularly good fight during training OR he thinks maybe they were just playing a joke on him OR he assumes he’s just their mistress/playtoy now & therefore are his connections to them second to their marriage connection OR even angstier, he thinks they’re both cheating on each other with him & don’t know abt it & he fears they have problems in their relationship & is plagued by guilt bc he doesn’t know how to tell them that they’re kind of cheating with the same person (lol) & anytime he looks at them he asks himself how do I tell you that your wife is cheating on you with me, but I’m actually in love with the BOTH of you? Arthur surely won’t believe that for a second, he’ll just be rly angry

OR the 3 of them already being an item but like still in the beginnings & then the magic reveal happens & Arthur is just like you didn’t enchant us to fall in love with you right? (don’t worry, Arthur isn’t that bigoted, he’s just surprised that he feels so much love for not 1 BUT 2 whole wonderful ppl & starts to doubt bc he’s constipated like that) & Merlin says no, I wouldn’t do that, I don’t even know how to do a spell like that, but then comes the rocky acceptance-of-Merlin’s-magic-phase where everything including their budding relationship gets difficult & Merlin is doubting with thoughts like they don’t seem very in love with me anymore so maybe I DID put a love spell on them without knowing? Maybe I wanted them to love me so much so that my magic/I just enchanted them subconsciously??? Maybe all we had, all that THEY felt for me was a lie & I have been using them for my own personal gain?? And he’s just beating himself up over that in a puddle of guilt & heartbreak

[diana-bookfairchild]

People who say 'if Merlin were a girl, Merthur would totally be a thing!'. . .

Uh. . . You're wrong.

If Merlin was a girl, it's doubtful if 'she' would get the servant's position to the prince, and if 'she' did, there would be riots every thirty seconds about the way Arthur threw goblets at and shoved 'her' around and the way 'she' literally didn't have ANYTHING in 'her' life not about Arthur, and people screaming 'Abuse' and 'Unhealthy and Toxic!!'.

I'll leave it to you to decide if and why Male!Merlin should and doesn't get the same.

Also, if the main reason for shipping Merthur is 'they're destined!! Two sides of the same coin! Merlin would do anything for Arthur!! How can that not be romantic??', it's not just a complete lack of creativity, but also chock full of amatonormativity. Merlin having PLATONIC love for Arthur would also very much be enough to do all that he did for him. Let me remind you this is the guy who was perfectly willing to commit forgery, identity fraud and treason for Lancelot within a day of meeting him.

We have never ONCE seen Merlin try to throw a punch at Arthur after 1x01 or even toss one of the things thrown at him back at Arthur. Why the hell is that?? If this violence so normal for the friendship/romantic relationship these two share, why can't they show it on an equal basis at least once?

And the so oft quoted scene where Arthur apparently tells Gwen he'd leave her behind to go to a farm with Merlin. That ... is so not what happened. Arthur is confessing the dream he holds so close to himself to the girl he loves, and when Gwen laughs, questioning how someone like him would work hard, THEN Arthur says he'd take Merlin too - to do all the hard work while he lounged around. Then Gwen laughs and teases him back - because that is one thing they share in common, which was what brought them together, that both of their best friend is Merlin. Even when she later amusedly comments that maybe they can spend more time together when Arthur goes off to become a farmer, he just looks wistful, definitely not startled the way he would've if he were really having romantic fantasies about his manservant and best friend.

I'm not saying there aren't plenty good reasons to ship Merthur. Through everything, the two of them do genuinely love one another. And there is a sad general lack of queer relations in canon, which means fanon is the way to go.

But I AM saying that Merlin BBC ≠ Merthur.

It's perfectly fine to ship other ships, to see those relationships as the most important ones and best (to me), not bother about romantic relationships at all!!

[sherlockruiningmylife]

I think that at the moment I could come up with a merthur fic idea for just about any song. Every song I listen to at the moment becomes merthur coded to me.

Anyway though, I say this because I've got 2 songs currently stuck in my head as fics. The first is called Empress by Morningsiders.

For this song I imagine a modern day, maybe university au. Where Merlin and Arthur have been friends forever growing up and they room together at university, sharing an apartment. They go out on the weekends together, with regular friend dates at coffeeshops or movie theaters. They even go shopping for home decor much to Arthur's dismay. Throughout Arthur dates Gwen for a while, it started in high school, but eventually they meet Lancelot. Arthur and Gwen try so hard to make it work between them but they both know something is off, they just can't understand what.

When Arthur sees Gwen talking to Lancelot he realizes that he didn't really know what love was meant to look like. He loves Gwen, no question, but it's not that all consuming romantic soul bearing love that it should be. And its not the easy effortless love that it should be either. It's more of a love between friends. And he sees that, if he just let go, Gwen could find that with someone else, possibly Lancelot.

As Arthur comes to terms with the fact that he doesn't know how to love Gwen the way she deserves, Merlin pines over Arthur and slowly starts to pull away from him. It comes to a point, while Arthur and Gwen are still together, that Merlin realizes he's just hurting himself staying roommates with Arthur. He decides that he is going to move out. While Arthur is out on a date, Merlin packs a bag and goes to Gwaine's place to crash on his couch.

Arthur is out late on his date with Gwen. He had been nervous before the date like he hadn't been in ages. They go to dinner and chat as old friends would and it solidifies to Arthur that whatever passion they had, if they had any, is now gone. There is no animosity between them which makes it that much harder to tell Gwen why they should break up. Gwen, much to his surprise seems to understand. She looks at him sympathetically and wonders aloud why it took them this long, the signs had been there for at least a year. Arthur agrees, nodding along, until Gwen says something that stops him in his tracks.

"Have you told Merlin yet?"

Arthur puzzles and responds, "Er, no, why would I. This is our business not his, of course I'll tell him later that we've separated but no not yet."

"Oh." Gwen seems genuinely confused, "I didn't mean about breaking this off. I meant have you told Merlin about your feelings yet?"

Arthur continues to not understand and says so in as many words. Gwen sighs and mutters something about men and their emotional intelligence. Then she takes Arthur's hand and explains how she knew this was coming soon. That she had realized and tried to ignore for quite sometime that what Merlin and Arthur had was more of a relationship than the two of them had ever had. As she lays out all her observations, Arthur realizes she is right. That's what was missing, it was Merlin.

He stands up quickly from the table and drops a few bills to pay before saying goodbye as he runs out the door. When he makes it back home he hesitates, half hoping Merlin will just be asleep so that he doesn't have to admit his feelings just yet. But also wanting to see him, and hug him, kiss him even as he professes his newly realized feelings.

When he works up the courage to go inside, the place is silent. All lights are off and there isn't a single sound. Arthur calls out and there is no response so he knocks on Merlin's door. Opening it slightly he sees a neat, tidy, and more importantly empty bed.

Maybe Merlin is just out with some of their friends, Arthur rationalizes, he'll be back soon. So Arthur sits up for a couple hours waiting, but he grows restless. He'd already texted Merlin asking where he was at but didn't get a response, so now he tries texting both Gwaine and Lancelot.

To his surprise, Gwaine calls him immediately.

"Gwaine! Have you seen Merlin, he's not home and isn't responding to my texts and I'm a bit worried."

"What did you do this time princess?" Gwaine responds.

"Nothing! I swear, I was out on a date with Gwen is all and came back and Merlin's not here!"

"Ah."

"What? What does that mean, Gwaine, please tell me if you know where he is."

"He's at my place, crashing on the couch," Arthur hears an affronted yell in the background from Merlin, trying to get the phone away from Gwaine, Gwaine obviously gets the upper hand as he gets back on the line, "he wouldn't tell me what was going on so I just assumed you'd had some sort of tiff. But I see now why Merlin was sulking."

Arthur didn't really know what to make of whatever Gwaine seemed to be implying so he just said, "I'll be there soon." And hung up.

Arthur rushes over to Gwaine's and the man let him in. Merlin looks affronted at Arthur and complains that Arthur just has to go around rubbing it in, Arthur looks on confused. They wind up in a heated argument before Arthur finally breaks and admits, "I broke up with Gwen."

"What! You idiot, why would you!?"

"Because Merlin, I finally admitted to myself that we were holding each other back, and what's more she helped me realize how much of a complete and utter fool I've been."

"I'm not following you Arthur?"

"I-I, she helped me realize, that I'm in love with someone else, have been for a long time."

Merlin begins to shut down, angry at Arthur for telling him this, but then Arthur stops him and says, "she helped me realize what I've taken for granted, every coffee date and movie night, and cooking together in the kitchen. That love I've been trying to create had been right in front of me and I was a fool for, for loving her over... you."

[archester-creations]

always should be someone you love

Rated: G

Pairing: merwainethur (Merlin/Gwaine/Arthur)

Word Count: ~1k

A/N: love spell; court sorcerer Merlin; briefly mentioned Gwen/Lancelot/Morgana where Gwen is dating them both and Lancelot and Morgana are bi-wlw solidarity

"Sir Leon, we have a problem."

Leon briefly raised his eyes to the sky and prayed for strength. Maybe if he asked nicely Arthur would make someone else head knight. Maybe Lancelot. Lancelot was nice and loyal. Though he knew he wouldn't actually give up the job, but sometimes it was nice to imagine. "What is it, Mordred?"

"King Arthur seems to be under a love spell," Mordred said.

There was a long pause where Leon attempted to let the words sink in. Or maybe they sank in immediately and he just didn't want to believe them. "A what?"

"A love spell," Mordred repeated to his chagrin.

"And what makes you say that?" Leon asked. He already felt tired.

"The flowers he keeps giving to Sir Lancelot," Mordred said.

"Maybe he just wants to show Lancelot how much he appreciates him as a knight of Camelot," Leon said, hopeful if not for how false that sounded even to his own ears.

"He's also giving him love confessions, Sir Leon," Mordred said. Taking the thin thread of hope with it. Of course, why not.

"Thank you for letting me know, Mordred. I'll take care of it," Leon said. Mordred nodded and walked off to wherever he wanted to go while Leon prepared himself to go where he didn't want to go.

When he found Arthur, it was with his hand in an amused, and a little embarrassed looking, Lancelot's. Morgana was there as well. She looked very amused. If this wasn't another thing in a long list of things he felt he had to deal with too much of, Leon might find the horrendous platitudes falling from Arthur's lips amusing, too, but alas.

"Lancelot."

Lancelot looked over at him, eyes alight like he just saw his saviour from the executioner's block. "Leon!" Immediately Arthur quieted– a small blessing. The pout Arthur shot him at being interrupted was the same from when he fought with Merlin. "Thank gods you're here. Help me get him to Gaius?"

"I'll try." Leon nodded. He took Arthur's other arm and they pulled him along between them, Arthur quiet on the way and content to be led by Lancelot. All Leon really did was wave away curious servants and knights. That was fine, Lancelot had his hands full.

"So where is Merlin?" Leon asked, because this was something Merlin would usually help with. Which made Leon suddenly have to question how many love spells Arthur had fallen under over the years without his knowledge. Vivian's first visit to Camelot came to mind. He stopped questioning.

Lancelot shrugged. "I sent a servant for him when I sent Mordred for you, but I haven't seen him yet."

"I see," Leon said.

The one bright side was they got Arthur to Gaius’ chamber without much trouble. There were a few nosy servants, as well as a few genuinely concerned ones, so there would likely be rumours of an injury around the castle for a few days. But those were pretty common. Lancelot managed to guide Arthur to a chair and get him to sit down, staying beside him so Arthur would actually stay. The entire time, Gaius watched, an eyebrow raised.

“We need an antidote for a love spell,” Leon said. The way Gaius sighed and looked knowingly at Arthur did not make him feel much better. But at least it meant Gaius knew what to do.

“You’ll need to find whoever he truly loves. Only a kiss from them will bring him back,” Gaius said.

Lancelot nodded. “Do you know who that might be?”

Leon sighed. He remembered secretly catching Merlin, Gwaine, and Arthur together a month ago. At least they would both be brought to the roundtable so they wouldn’t have to find them.

“I don’t, sadly,” Gaius said. “I wish you luck.”

"Thank you, Gaius," Lancelot said. He turned to Arthur, whose eyes never left him. "Come on, let's go back to the other knights."

"Alright." Arthur smiled dopily up at him. It was a bit strange to see on Arthur; a lot more open than any similar looks Leon had seen. Maybe after they solved this, Arthur would show looks its like more readily. Since this would destroy any relationship secrecy those three had.

 The headache was worse. In front of him, Arthur sat in a chair with Lancelot next to him. He was totally unaware of the chaos around him– a blissful unawareness Leon wished for– as his focus was only for Lancelot, eyes big and occasionally sighing wistfully. It was a good thing Morgana wasn't here because she would have a field day with her brother being head-over-heels for her girlfriend's boyfriend. On his left were the knights. As far as Leon could tell, they'd divided themselves into two camps with Lancelot doing his best to mediate impartially– perhaps he actually thought that Arthur liked them both?– from Arthur's side, the king's hand still in his. The two camps, of course, were whether Arthur loved Merlin or Gwaine. Mordred seemed to be a firm supporter of Merlin. On his right were Merlin and Gwaine, currently in a debate as to how 'kissed by who you truly loved' even worked when you romantically loved more than one person, given that it wasn't exactly clear. They were also arguing over who should kiss Arthur. If anyone asked Leon, though he was sure no one would, neither of these arguments seemed very serious.

"Arthur loved you first, Merls, you should kiss him!"

"You didn't know Arthur back then. I can assure you he liked you first, so you shoul-"

"CLEARLY Emrys is the better choice than some chronically drunken idiot!"

"He's more than just a chronically drunken idiot!"

Yeah. The headache was much worse. Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. He regretted ever getting out of bed this morning. In fact, after this was over, he would retire for the day.

“Why don’t you both just kiss him?” Leon said. It cut off Merlin and Gwaine’s argument, though not the knight’s argument which was still going strong. Leon was pretty sure if it continued, a minor civil war might break out. Percival was cracking his knuckles. Both Merlin and Gwaine turned to look at him, before they looked back at each other.

Gwaine shrugged, eyebrows raised.

“Well it can’t hurt,” Merlin said. Gwaine stood up and walked over to Lancelot with Merlin on his heels.

“Lancelot, my good man?” Gwaine gestured for him to leave, of which Lancelot looked grateful. It took a bit of prying to get Arthur’s hand off his wrist. The second he did, he was at the other side of the room. Arthur reached for him, but Merlin held him back.

"Wait, wait Lancelot my love, where are you going?" Arthur cried desperately, eyes heartbroken. This finally put an end to the knight’s argument. They slowly turned to Arthur. He’d begun to struggle, and Merlin’s eyes were golden as he kept him in place. “Merlin! Unhand me!”

“Ready, Gwaine?” Merlin asked.

“Always.” Gwaine smiled.

And they kissed him as one. Somehow they managed it without knocking their heads together. It made Leon think they must’ve had practice at it. And then he stopped thinking. There was a cheer from Elyan. Arthur blinked a couple times when they pulled back and his eyes lost the doe look Leon barely noticed before now. As a knight of Camelot, he felt a bit shameful that he'd missed the magicked look of the love spell, but it was a little overshadowed by how he clung to Lancelot so he decided it was fine. Besides, now he better knew what to look for for next time.

Next time.

Leon blinked.

"I'm going back to bed," Leon announced. Before anyone could argue with him, he turned on his heel and walked out the door.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 3

Propaganda Under Cut

Suzi Q

This article is incomplete; you help by expanding it

All she's literally ever done is have a few cute exchanges with Joseph and be a sweetheart in the short time we get to see her following her minor introduction, clearly cementing some sort of playful attraction between the two and without fail she's consistently bombarded with extreme mischaracterization to make her seem vapid and cruel (and occasionally homophobic but like in a Completely Oblivious Dumb Blonde way), that she's nothing more than a gold digger who wanted to marry rich, that Joseph only married her because "he lost his actual soulmate and had to settle for her", and that it was HER fault that Joseph cheated on her decades into their marriage. Frankly, everyone who makes jokes at Suzi Q's expense regarding the cheating scandal aren't as funny as they think they are!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Literally all she’s ever done is be adorable and marry the hero and people either dismiss her completely or demonize her. She’s often ignored or made to play wing woman for the hero/sidekick ship OR she’s a horrible gold digger who only wants the hero for his money and/or she was only ever just a consolation prize for him when he couldn’t be with his sidekick. She also gets blamed for her husband having an affair. People like to say that she wasn’t good enough for him and could never replace his sidekick and that clearly he never REALLY loved her and it’s her fault for never measuring up. Her husband’s infidelity aside, she stayed married to that man for at least 60 years and canonically says she always believes in him and trusts him to save the day and yet people wanna say she doesn’t care about him. Or call her stupid for never imagining that her husband would cheat on her. The victim blaming gets really gross. 

Gwen

She stands in the way of Merthur, by far the most popular ship in the fandom. I haven’t seen it as much in recent years, but back in the days of fanfiction.net she got slut shamed so badly for having been romantically interested in three of the male characters over the course of the show, which is just... normal straight woman behavior, meanwhile Merlin crushed on pretty much every woman who even looked at him in the early seasons of the show and got no hate for that whatsoever. I barely even read Merthur fics (not because it’s m/m, just because certain aspects of their relationship don’t appeal to me) but the “Gwen is a slut” attitude was so pervasive across the fandom, even fics that weren’t explicitly anti-Gwen would “jokingly” call her a slut. I even saw a few fics demonizing her for having an affair with Lancelot despite the fact that SHE WAS ENCHANTED when that happened, and surprise surprise, Lancelot (who was also under the influence of magic) got none of that hate, and neither did Arthur, who got enchanted to fall in love with multiple women over the course of the show.

Canonically Arthur Pendragon's love interest and an important and interesting character in the show who's completely shoved aside and ignored in favour of the medieval bbc yaoi ship. At best they put her and Morgana in Lesbian Timeout (ie make them get together and then reduce them to wingwomen at best because god forbid we focus on the medieval bbc yuri). Justice for Gwen right now!

She is prince Arthur's love interest (eventually wife). Arthur is MADLY in love with her. He tells his tyrannical father he would give up his crown to be with her (she's a servant in the series). He forgives her cheating on him with Lancelot (!), which in the show is caused by an evil enchantment, but the characters never find out about it. He chooses her time and time again. His love for Gwen is literally never put into question. Many fans insist to this day that there was no chemistry between Gwen and Arthur compared to Arthur and Merlin. Arthur isn’t even particularly nice to Merlin most of the time! The funny thing is that Merlin himself ships these two so hard and does everything he can to help them get together!! Gwen & Arthur are adorable and too many fans were drunk on the yaoi fumes to see it. ARTHUR WAS A SIMP FOR GWEN.

[queerofthedagger]

So while one could definitely say that I might be biased when it comes to @atlantablack's writing because she's one of my best friends, let me start this by saying that 1) yes, but I'm also right, and 2) I loved her writing before we ever talked to each other; there's proof in the form of a horribly awkward comment on a fic that wasn't even for the Merlin fandom. Anyway, they're one of the most talented writers across all of their fandoms, and so I thought a list of my personal faves from their Merlin fics was in order - and what better time to post that than on her birthday?

It was honestly almost impossible to pick, but I've gone with a bit of variety so here's six fics - two Merthur, two Morgwen, and two Gen - that live rent free in my brain at any given time.

To Atlanta: I love you (to the moon and to saturn) and I'm so glad that I can call you my friend. Your writing is an absolute gift to this world, and I hope you never stop having marvellous ideas, and causing me great emotional harm with them. Happiest of Birthdays! <3

-

this raging sea, these summer storms

[Merlin/Arthur, G, 4,2k]

Summary:

“I have magic,” he whispers, turning to face Arthur. “I have magic, and I use it for you. Always for you.” He keeps his chin tilted up, his spine straight, and a storm stares back. Arthur’s eyes as dark and wild as the sea.

Why I rec this: Okay so this fic was a gift for me, but that only makes it even more perfect than it already is on its own. I absolutely adore magic reveals where Merlin gets to be unapologetic, and where Arthur gets to have some time to think things through and be (mostly) reasonable about it, and this fic is just so careful and gentle about it without making it unrealistic. The entire mood of the fic is like rain after a hot summer day, and every time I re-read it, it reminds me of why I love those idiots so much. <3

Quotes:

He’s not sure he could pinpoint when that look changed: when they’d stopped looking through each other and started looking at each other instead. He’s not sure when he started silently collecting the pieces of Merlin’s secret as if they were a treasure to be hidden carefully beneath his ribs until the time was right.

---

this graveyard of forgotten love

[Morgana/Gwen, M, 11,8k]

Summary:

Gwen has never fully managed to shake her love for the lady who had once sworn to keep her safe. Now locked in a tower by that same lady, she must face a truth she's long kept buried (even from herself).

An exploration of grief, anger, and the inability to let go of someone you once loved (even when you should).

Why I rec this: So, funny story - Atlanta is the one who dragged me kicking and screaming into the post-season 2 Morgwen brainrot, and this fic is a study in all the reasons of why she was successful. There are no excuses made or actions played down, Gwen gets to have agency and be furious and bitter and grieving (also as a side-note, Atlanta writes the best Gwen in this fandom. Seriously, all her Gwen-centric fics are an absolute blessing), and the way this fic ties all the people who are important to Gwen together and gives them their due weight is so, so perfect. It is fairly heavy (mind the tags), but it's 100% worth the angst, and the ending is definitely hopeful.

Quote:

Morgana snarls, moving forward until her face is so close to Gwen’s that she can feel the heat coming from her. The irony of the position, of Morgana mirroring the specter’s actions, does not escape her. (The heat of Morgana’s body straining towards her does not escape her.)  “What would you have done?” Morgana asks again, low and furious, eyes boring into Gwen’s.  Gwen swallows roughly, leaning back as far as she can. “I would have left you there,” she spits, the lie slipping out of her, bitter and furious. “I would have done nothing at all.” 

---

the weight of one man's grief

[Lancelot & Merlin, G, MCD, 2,5k]

Summary:

He arrives too late to stop Arthur from doing what he’s always said he was willing to do, but arrives just in time to catch the last glimpse of golden hair disappearing into the veil and it feels for a moment as if the world has stopped existing. The entirety of his existence narrowed down to nothing but the veil slowly slipping closed and the after image of sunlight licking at golden hair. Feels as if there is nothing but his own thundering pulse and the earth beneath his feet screaming, screaming, screaming. Or perhaps that is his own voice being torn from his throat, the sound of his own magic ripping through the trees, racing toward the veil that is nearly closed. They would not take him. They would not. They do.

Why I rec this: If you want to cry, this is your fic. It's no secret that I love angst (and dealing each other massive emotional damage is the bedrock of Atlanta's and my friendship) but huh boy, this fic really takes it to another level in just about 2,5k words. I think if Arthur had actually walked through the veil, this is about what would have happened, and as usual, Atlanta's exploration and description of grief is the most flawless thing I've ever read. It's ugly, it's violent, and it hurts, and then there's a little special something that twists the knife when you're already bleeding out. It's one of my alltime Merlin-faves, and I don't think I'll ever get over it.

Quote:

The ground creaks and Merlin stares at Lancelot, the never-ending sky in his eyes, and he wants to laugh. Wants to laugh and laugh until his heart gives up from the force of his grief, his relief, that same question, repeating on a loop. If Arthur is the hero (dead and gone and irrelevant except for all the ways in which he is not), and Merlin the unbeatable, raging storm (one word away from wiping this city from the map), then what does that make Lancelot? What does that make him in this story?

---

a god at an altar, a beggar full of faith

[Merlin/Arthur, M, 4,9k]

Summary:

For every person that sinks magic beneath Arthur's skin like an offering, another tries to murder him, always furious when the magic harmlessly bounces off, Arthur held safe by the sacrifices of those who have died for him.  He wonders if they knew that he was aware of what they were doing. He spends a lot of time wondering why they would protect him. His father has them murdered and still more come, always in disguise, sometimes only brushing past him in the marketplace, a finger to his wrist, a hand to his back, the sweet rush of protection burrowing beneath his skin and promising safety.  He wonders how long it is until they decide to stop protecting the son of their butcher?

Why I rec this: Atlanta's prose in general is on its own level, but this fic? Oh my god this fic; it has such a specific vibe between Merlin and Arthur that I love to pieces, and that doesn't even start on how utterly perfect Arthur is in this. The premise is so, so good, and explores so well what would have happened if Arthur had reason to move away from Uther's influence much earlier. As if that wasn't already amazing on its own, I also love the relationship between Arthur & Morgana in this, and the way Uther gets his due. But also, the tension between Arthur and Merlin, man; Atlanta said 'Arthur has a competency kink rights' and then they fucking delivered.

Quote:

He hums, digs his fingers into Merlin’s waist. “Can’t see a damn thing but your magic,” he says and it’s so freeing, finally getting to admit this, to admit what he can do, that he laughs. “Haven’t been able to see a damn thing but your magic since the day you showed up, sweetheart.”

---

forging a path

[Morgana/Gwen, G, 3k]

Summary:

“You took my will from me,” She slowly swipes her thumb across Morgana’s cheek. “So now I will take what you love from you.”  “I do not love anything,” Morgana spits, trying to pull her face from Gwen’s grasp and snarling when Gwen only tightens her grip.  “You love your magic,” she whispers gently. - The White Goddess may have released Gwen from Morgana's hold, but it does well to remember that even the kindest of deities are fickle creatures.

Why I rec this: So, Gwen with magic has - also thanks to Atlanta - a special place in my heart. A vindictive, unforgiving Gwen does, too, but what I love most about this fic is the relationship between Merlin & Gwen; it's not a huge part, but in a way, that makes it even better, the absolute naturalness with which it takes place. That aside, though, the entire premise is just utterly brilliant, and pulling it off satisfyingly in 3k words is like a masterclass in writing. Again.

Quote:

“If you missed me so much, Morgana, all you had to do was come home.” Gwen continues walking forward until Arthur grabs her arm, preventing her from going any farther. Her eyes never leave Morgana’s, and there is something bright and furious sparking to life in her veins, begging to be let free.  “Camelot was never my home,” Morgana spits, lip curling in disgust.  “And I was not referring to Camelot,” she counters lowly, viciously pleased when Morgana’s nose flares wide, eyes lighting up with a shocked understanding.

---

from blood and bone (to earth and sea)

[Arthur & Morgana, G, 2k]

Summary:

Every time Morgana believes she’s rid herself of affection for Gwen and Arthur, that same traitorous part of her heart roars back to life, threatening to strangle her with guilt.  She was done with feeling guilty, this is what she had told herself, and yet Arthur is screaming at his father as if he would give the kingdom up now all for one serving girl. That is to say nothing of the look on Gwen’s face when she’d met Morgana’s eyes. The betrayal shining in her eyes had cut deeper than any knife ever could.  She had said she was done with this. The throne was hers, Uther corrupt, and she could not trust Arthur with it. She could not but— . . . “You won’t kill her,” she says calmly, voice ringing through the room. “You won’t banish her either.” 

Why I rec this: So first of all, I'm cheating a bit because this is the first fic in a series, and you should definitely read the following three stories in it as well. The way Atlanta writes Morgana and Arthur is phenomenal, as are Morgana's relationships with Gwen and Merlin. It digs a lot into the betrayal that came with this episode, the one from the poisoning incident, and a lot of the grief and broken pieces between all of them that have been building for a while now. Not to mention that, once again, the writing is utterly mind-blowing, I don't know how she keeps doing that. This can technically be read as a standalone, but why would you?

Quote:

He meets her eyes evenly, sword still held between them, blue eyes clear and vast as the sea. They’ve always been polar opposites, the sea and the earth, always fighting for purchase as to who gets a claim of the land they both inhabit.  She takes the sword. 

---

Enjoy reading! And if you want to check out more of her brilliant works, here's their AO3 profile! ❤️

[lesbian-in-leather]

For the fandom ships ask; Merlin, and Once upon a time?

Oooh thank you!!

Merlin

OTP: This is not going to be the popular choice but honestly,,, Merlin/Morgana. I think they had such a facinating dynamic and I would have loved to see the writers follow through with it, especially in the later series. Doomed from the start and intrinsically linked, everyone telling him it's a bad idea for different reasons, everyone telling her she couldn't possibly be with him........ yeah, that's the good shit

Favourite canon pairing: Arthur and Gwen were SO cute and I'm happy for them (and their third, Merlin)

Worst pairing ever: Gwen/Lancelot, specifically when he got back because obviously. He wasn't him, she was spelled, and worst of all, there was never any resolution. Still haunted by the fact that everyone expect Merlin (including Gwen herself) really thinks she just. Cheated on Arthur. Heartbreaking

Guilty pleasure pairing: Morgana and Gwen <3 They're so cute and also the HEARTBREAK,,, when Morgana comes back and Gwen pretends to still be her friend and,,,,,,,,, THEM. The guilty part comes from the fact that I know a lot of this ship comes form the "get the women out of the way for mlm ship" mentality, but that's obviously not why I like it soooooo

A pairing you want to see more: Honestly both Morgana/Gwen and Merlin/Morgana. I know everyone loves Arthur/Merlin and they ARE fuckin valid and cute, but I really feel more people should multi-ship because Merlin has SUCH good dynamics with other people, and despite people *saying* they ship Morgana/Gwen there is a suspicious lack of content for them

That pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no”: Honestly I feel like I haven't spent enough time in the fandom for this?? I can't think of any, but that might just be because, again, I am a shameless multi-shipper and polyam enjoyer

Favourite non-romantic pair: Gwen and Merlin! I know they had a lil fling early on, but they became such a solid platonic duo and also I think it'd be really funny when they just casually mention that one time they kissed. Everyone would be scandalous (Arthur especially. "What do you mean you kissed Merlin before me??")

Once Upon a Time

OTP: Swanqueen!!!!! Obviously. They were in LOVE and I will DIE on this hill

Favourite canon pairing: Okay okay okay I know this is controversial BUT. For the reasons of "I enjoy fucked up people and their fucked up dynamics" ........Rumple/Evil Queen

Worst pairing ever: Robin/Regina. I liked that she was happy and that's about the only good thing I have to say about it like,,, come on. I just. Why

Guilty pleasure pairing: Okay okay hear me out. Captain Hook/Evil Queen. I just feel like, in the enchanted forest,,,,,,,, some shit happened. And I also think it makes their dynamic funnier when they meet again in Storybrook (see the non-romantic pair)

A pairing you want to see more: Ruby/Belle! Ruby was obviously fruity af and I always thought they'd be a cute couple but there is. not much support there lmao

That pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no”: Honestly? Belle/Rumple. She deserved better! Girlie was NOT down with the atrocities and they were wayyyy too much a part of him. Every time he tried to twist himself in knots to be a Good Person (especially when he was the Dark One?? Like, we saw with Emma, it was such a strong compulsion warping their minds, he very much tried to resist it but he also. Literally couldn't. The fuckin saviour couldn't like why are you blaming him) and failed, she'd get so mad and leave and then,,,, the writers would throw them back together again. Like lads. Let them go. Please

Favourite non-romantic pair: Regina/Killian. I think their interactions were SO fucking funny and she hated him so much. The bullying. The nicknames. Him sitting there like a wet cat. His best scenes were when he was alone with her and wish we'd lent into that instead of pushing his ~relationship~ with Emma

Send me a fandom and I'll answer these questions!

[weakforarwen]

Lancelot was truly Merlin's biggest ally. It's amazing how every single one of Merlin's friends treated him better than Arthur. In The Moment of Truth, Merlin's relationship with Will contrasted his relationship with Arthur in a negative way - Will knew and accepted Merlin, Arthur didn't; in Gwaine, it was Gwaine who protected and stood up for Merlin and treated him better than Arthur did; in The Darkest Hour, while Arthur had Merlin stay up all night to write his speech, Lancelot tried to protect Merlin because his magic didn't work against the dorocha. Gwen overall also treated Merlin better than Arthur and stood up for Merlin sometimes.

The entire show revolved around Arthur and Merlin's friendship, but Arthur's treatment of Merlin was the worst. Underneath it all, we're supposed to know Arthur cared for Merlin the most, but that was only because the writers didn't want to explore Merlin's other friendships - they made Arthur and Merlin's look worse in comparison. This is one of the reasons why Lancelot had to die. Arthur and Merlin didn't even seem as close in this episode because it was clear that, unlike Arthur, Lancelot put Merlin first and accepted him for who he was. When you see Lancelot with Merlin, it makes Merlin look like Arthur's over-indulgent wife or mom, and I don't mean that in a #married way. For all that Merlin disobeyed Arthur, he also let him get away with a lot.

I truly adored Merlin and Lancelot's friendship. He may not have loved Merlin the most, but that was because they didn't have a lot of time together; he treated Merlin better than anyone else did, including Gaius and Gwen. Both Gwen and Gwaine were close to Merlin once, before those friendships were pushed aside for Arwen and Merthur, respectively. Too bad, because these were my favorite friendships in the show: Merlin and Lancelot, Merlin and Gwen, Merlin and Gwaine.

Arthur thought he would die closing the veil, yet he didn't even say a proper goodbye to Gwen. He had a moment with his father (in which he told Uther he hoped to make him proud; doubtful, since Uther would've told Arthur not to die for Camelot when he had knights to do it for him). But all that Gwen got was a hug and cute chin boop. Don't get me wrong, that scene was adorable, but if he thought he was going to die, shouldn't he have told her he loved her and made sure she was looked after? Was he going to leave her penniless? Arthur always told Merlin to look after Gwen, but what Merlin and Gwen both needed was for the rich Prince to leave them a nice sum of money. But, I guess, the closer you are to someone, the harder the goodbye? His father hadn't been truly aware of Arthur, but Gwen would've worried even more. Still, it was a shitty goodbye. Arthur wasn't going to die so the writers didn't even bother... Typical.

Gaius and Merlin's goodbye was lame too. Just a hug, really? Gaius let Merlin go like that? Didn't even ask him to stay? At least Gwen took precautions to protect Arthur. She asked Lancelot, the noblest of knights who had a soft spot for her, to keep Arthur safe... Desperate times and all. Gwen wouldn't have asked that of Lancelot otherwise. It was a bit cruel, and Gwen is not cruel. But, like Merlin, she'd literally do anything to keep Arthur safe (including using a young girl's execution to get to her father).

Unsurprisingly, Merthur had a longer goodbye than Arwen, and while it felt like an actual goodbye, it wasn't particularly touching. As usual, Arthur called Merlin a coward in the beginning of the episode, but, when faced with death, admitted that Merlin wasn't a coward at all, and that, under different circumstances, they would've been good friends (like they weren't already?), etc. etc.... I swear they had that conversation more times than I can count. They're cute but also... exhausting.

Lastly, on Gwen... She didn't go to the banquet to look after Uther, the man who killed her father and nearly killed her more than once? I hope Arthur thanked her for all she did. I hope he appreciated her sacrifice, but I doubt he was even aware of it. He had short-term memory when it came to his father. Nothing Uther did changed Arthur's opinion of him. It was one of the most frustrating aspects of the series, and why Arthur was always regressing as a character.

Anyway, this was only part 1 of The Darkest Hour. I'll rewatch part 2 later.

Wait! I almost forgot to mention that when Merlin fainted, Lancelot was the only one who went to him. Arthur literally rolled his eyes, like, oh, there goes Merlin again, fainting for no reason... Like, what???

[insanity-laughs-under-pressure]

I had an amazing idea for a Merlin season 6!

So basically, Merlin is sat by Avalon one day and as a last ditch attempt to get Arthur back he does some crazy magic shit where his eyes go full on golden.

Then the squad starts to materialise from the lake. So obviously Merlin runs into the lake to say hi to Gwen, Leon, Lancelot, Gwaine and the rest of the gang.

The last person to appear in the lake is Arthur, so whilst everyone else is catching up Merlin spots Arthur and Arthur spots Merlin (they each whisper each others name when they see each other because that shit makes me smile).

Arthur then stumbles towards Merlin as fast as he can, and then he basically lifts Merlin into a hug, shouting about how proud he is that Merlin finally managed to get them back.

Merlin is just a puddle of joy at this point, in fact he's so happy to see Arthur he kisses him (it's very romantic, it's a bit like that moment in 'Mama Mia here we go again' where Sophie sees Scott again (I think that's their names)).

The squad starts cheering in the background. Gwaine whistles. Leon starts clapping, whilst shouting finally. Gwen turns to Elyan and goes "I told you so". Lancelot and Percival look on proudly and join Leon in clapping.

SO. Now Merlin is showing everyone the way back to camelot - which Merlin now uses for events and stuff because he got bored - and Arthur is one of the only ones who actually has a grasp on modern day. This is because he has had to watch Merlin over the last 1500 years. (yes Arthur has had to wait for Merlin too, it's better that way).

Anyway some stuff happens. BUT. The main problem they need to fix is that magic is dying.

Now. This is where it gets interesting. The knights of the round table + Gwen, all have to try and help Merlin figure out how to fix magic.

Whilst on this quest they run into Morgana and Mordred. Merlin instantly tries to kill Mordred (because you know I'm assuming his hatred towards him has x5 since he killed Arthur).

After a long conversation and a lot of threats from both parties they all decide to forget the past because fixing magic is more important.

PLOT TWIST!

Leon pulls Arthur aside one day to ask Arthur if he's feeling ok. Arthur being Arthur just says everything is fine. HOWEVER, the wonderful sir Leon knows that he's not and asks Arthur if he's worried about the whole "magic dying thing" so Arthurs like "well I'd prefer it if there wasn't a chance of Merlin dying" *reluctantly cries a manly tear*.

Leon is then like "there, there sire". And bam this is where the plot twist comes in. We know that after s2 ep8 Leon knows that Arthur was born of magic. This means that Leon knows that it won't just be Merlin possibly dying but Arthur too.

Arthur tells Leon that he doesn't want to tell Merlin because after last time he's worried about how it would effect Merlin.

In the end love comes out on top (quite literally in this case *laughs in gay*) and Arthur and Merlin get revived together and they all live happily ever after.