Fic: there are only walls to hold me here

[little_giddy]

Title: there are only walls to hold me here
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: entire first series
Warning: language
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur (assumes established relationship)
Summary: Merlin felt his stomach lurch when he carefully and deliberately said, "Lad, I don't think I can save the arm." Not a tag but set a few months after 1x13.

Comments

[cometotheedge]

ohh, I heart this bigly, it made me melt :D

And it's hit on one of the things I really want to see in series 2, namely some acknowledgement that Merlin is now messing with things that will eventually mess back

[little_giddy]

Hee, thanks! :D

some acknowledgement that Merlin is now messing with things that will eventually mess back

I don't see how they can avoid it, really - one of the running themes of s1 was the actual lack of consequences for Merlin in a lot of what he did, even if they didn't intend it to be like that. The Beginning of the End wasn't quite that way, but in almost everything else, the punches have been seriously pulled. And they haven't touched on any form of exhaustion or cost to Merlin personally, which I know is the fandom's special heroin, Merlin draining himself to fight things etc., but I really don't see how they can *avoid* it much longer.

I'm kinda hoping they throw him some responsibility for the magic community: Nimueh was corrupt, but she was priestess of the Isle and no one's going to be petitioning to her now.

Sorry for the essay, lol - you hit on my one actual criticism of the show. *blush*

[cometotheedge]

oh essay away, you know I don't mind :D Especially when I agree totally. ASH's comment that next series is going to be darker give me some hope that we will see some consequences, so fingers crossed. Consequences, and Arthur finding out*, that's my series two wishlist.

(*And ideally, them having the balls to stretch his reaction to that over at least two episodes)

[little_giddy]

So nice of you to distract me with your SHINY ICON with its CHEEKBONES and you know, CUTENESS, while we're having a serious discussion. *uses neck!porn pointedly* Oh, dude, RH!moment. Harry Lloyd had a monopoly on neck porn until they showed Merlin sans scarf.

YAY! No, wait, that means Heroes In Pain. Which means angst and angsty icons. *conflicted*

God, Arthur has to find out soon. And YES, more than a one episode arc, please. I wouldn't even mind them chucking Merlin in the dungeon for an ep (yes, Camelot/Arthur, see how you survive without your sekrit friendly neighbourhood wizard).

You know, this comment sounded much less superficial in my head.

[j_apollo]

This was gorgeous. The fact that Merlin composes speeches to tell Arthur off was very cute.

[little_giddy]

Thank you very much! Lol, it seemed like a thing he'd do while he was you know, not worrying. At all. :D

[eruminator]

LJ ate my comment so to reconstruct:

Gorgeous fic. Everything flowed together fabulously. Graceful prose, exquisite phrasing. Awesome. These lines stuck with me:

He wanted to tell Arthur not to bother trying not to scream or to struggle, but Merlin needed every bit of help to claw together the contradiction he was weaving by keeping Arthur alive and threading his veins with fire at the same time so in the end, he settled for something stupid and simple about how it would all be okay.

The imagery! Treasures of the purest gold.

[little_giddy]

Bad!LJ. Thanks very much for taking the time to comment (twice!) - and thank you. This one went unexpectedly descriptive at some points and I was a little worried that it turned out clunky (like lumpy cookie dough), so your comment made me feel much better :D

[b_hallward]

This is just such a smart look at Merlin's powers and what an established relationship between them would be like. <3

[little_giddy]

Oh, wow - thank you very much! I'm incredibly flattered.

[hariboo]

He took a shuddering breath, feeling his heartbeat speed up in a reassuringly human way, and reached over the space in the bed to put a fingertip on Arthur's cheekbone like the sap he was.

Out of all the absolutely wonderful lines in this fic, I think this is my favourite. You are a sap, Merlin, but for Arthur it's okay, because I think WE ALL ARE.

[little_giddy]

I want a badge and I want it to say "SAPS FOR QUEEN ARTHUR UNITE CATCH UP MERLIN AND DON'T DROP YOUR SPORK".

/endrandom

And: thank you.

[hariboo]

I *heart* your random.

[little_giddy]

I love the volumes a mere icon can speak juxtaposed with text. *bows*