merlin sketch this evening
"one of your funny feelings again, merlin?"
gwaine being like fine i'll join your cringe round table after a whole season of resisting it makes a lot more sense when you put it within the context of the fact that just a day or two before arthur knighted him he fully thought he was about to live out his last days as a slave cage fighter for a guy named jarl and he had been there for god knows how long. hes like yeah okay the tyrant king uther isnt even dead yet and i just watched prince arthur hold a child at knifepoint to barter with peaceful druids for a sacred cup that he then immediately lost and my crush and lifeline and tether to sanity merlin is already ignoring me in favor of this new old friend lancelot and i have 20+ years of conflicting emotions about knighthood because of my dad's mistakes but i have accrued so much fresh ptsd from days/weeks of surviving by killing men with my bare hands as a slave fighter for fucking jarl that idrc about all that right now
@gabstriessomethingnew spot on
dont think im ever going to get around to coloring this but anyway, the boys! havin a drink!
thinking merwaine thoughts but also thinking about how much gwaine looks like balinor
cuz i ship it but i also have eyes
like imagine the knights finding an old portrait of The Last Dragon Lord hidden somewhere in the castle and going, "hey gwaine, it's basically a portrait of you!!!" and merlin is like... no
...NO
and gwaine is like. babe do we need to talk
see also: the Irish accent 😏
The Bear, the Warlock and the Wheelbarrow
Rating: Mature
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: Multi
Relationships: Gwaine/Lancelot/Merlin, Gwaine/Lancelot, Merlin & Nimueh, Hunith & Merlin, Lancelot & Nimueh
Characters: Merlin, Gwaine, Lancelot, Nimueh, Hunith
Additional Tags: fairytale AU, Fluff, Crack, Getting Together, established gwaine/lancelot, Light Angst, only like a sprinkling, Dancing, Animal Transformation, Injury, deriving from ridiculous circumstances and stupidity, Hurt Lancelot, Hurt Merlin, Innuendo, Undressing, Nudity, magic lancelot, Artist Lancelot, based on the fairytale the bear collected by andrew lang in the grey fairy book, ignore the fact that the surname i've given gwaincelot does not mean what i thought it meant, but sounds cool so i've kept it anyway, this fic does not take itself seriously for the first few chapters, many bear puns, this has taken me 3 years to write but was so worth it, wtf do you do when you think a talking bear is coming on to you, inspiration ranges from brave (2012) to paddington, calling them princes in the fairytale way not necessarily the historically accurate way, watch them all fumble over etiquette, alternative title could be 'heart eyes', is it realistic? no, did i enjoy writing it? yes, taking the simple joy that merlin has in s1 and running with it, Merlin is a Little Shit
Words: 50,670
Chapters: 5/5
Summary:
Merlin was not about to go falling in love with the first person they clapped eyes on. That was what happened in fairytales and a multitude of unpleasant events usually occurred between falling in love and the ending of the tale. Besides, Merlin was there to see the world, not the inside of other people’s mouths.
Escaping from the tower they've lived in their entire life, Merlin has a chance encounter with a stranger in the forest that uncovers a path they'd always been told would end in a sheer drop. In tentatively following it, they begin to realise that there is more to survival than fear and that, to truly live, sometimes you have to take a few risks. And pull a few legs along the way.
For @merwaincelotweek (day 7: mistaken identity)
Opening:
In a land where magic’s reign had been usurped and crowns were gilded in blood, there was once a lonely warlock locked in a tower. Since birth, they had demonstrated remarkable magical abilities and their mother, convinced that they would be manipulated and corrupted, kept them shut away. Always an obedient child, the warlock obeyed their mother’s request that they remain inside. But, as their power grew, their mother was forced to employ a witch, Nimueh, to guard her precious child. Under Nimueh’s tutelage, the warlock became stronger and desperate to escape the tower they’d been raised in. For though the warlock, who was known simply as Merlin and could have a tongue as sharp as the bird they shared their name with, was able to spend each day at their small stone balcony, they longed to see more of the world.
One otherwise insignificant morning, some years after Merlin had come of age, Nimueh found them gazing out of the narrow window facing the hills. ‘All my life I have been trapped here,’ they said upon hearing Nimueh’s skirts dust the floor. ‘I know my mother is this scared only because she loves me, but I am weary of the same four walls. It’s suffocating me.’
And Nimueh, who had spent her early years shut up in a convent, felt pity for them. ‘I cannot break the enchantment around this tower, Merlin. Not without your mother finding out. But if I were to allow you to slip through it and create an illusion so your mother would not realise you were missing…’ She put her hand to their cheek. ‘You should have some freedom, little bird. Ask your mother for a bearskin and a wheelbarrow and I will show you the rest.’
Read on ao3
Someone should write a fic where Gwaine and Lancelot meet on the road before Lancelot ever goes to Camelot. They're in a tavern, sheltering from the rain, and over pints of ale Lancelot would tell Gwaine how much he wants to be a knight, how he's on his way to Camelot because he wants to help people, to protect them. And all the while Gwaine is sitting there thinking, "you poor sucker, you've got no clue about the First Rule." But Lancelot's genuine desire to help people gets to him and so Gwaine sits there getting drunker and drunker, wishing that knights were as good as Lancelot idealistically thinks. And he gets this absolutely crazy idea.
When Lancelot wakes the next morning, a still half-drunk Gwaine is sitting across from him. And he tells him, dumping a piece of paper and a signet ring on the table, "You can't be a knight in Camelot. You're not a noble. But I could be. So Congratulations, you're now Gwaine, Son of Lot of Caerleon. Take this to Camelot and they should welcome you as a knight."
Lancelot protests. Strenuously. But Gwaine knows the rules. As a peasant, Lancelot could never be a knight in Uther's kingdom, no matter how good his fighting or how noble his character. And Lancelot wants his dream so much that he agrees. From now on Gwaine will be Lancelot and Lancelot will be Gwaine.
And so Lancelot heads off to Camelot. He and Merlin meet as they do in canon, but Lancelot fumbles the introduction, unused to his new name, then ends up confessing all to Merlin. Merlin is more than willing to help with shenanigans and helps Lancelot practice his introduction so he doesn't screw up again, then introduces him to Arthur. Lancelot gets knighted and doesn't get outed as a fake, since the paperwork is valid (even if it's not his paperwork). He and Lancelot defeat the Griffin, with Lancelot discovering Merlin's magic, but Lancelot gets feted rather than exiled.
This gives Merlin an ally, which has various effects, lets Lancelot and Gwen court, and means that when Merlin meets "Lancelot" in the tavern brawl, he knows who he is.
I think it'd be a interesting change to see the spiraling consequences of.