the idea that there can only be one queer person (+ an outside love interest) in tv shows/movies is so stupid and unrealistic

like besties,,,, we flock like ducks

if there’s one, there’s another ten

in the last seven years of my life (age 12-19) my best friend (at the time) came out and there was like a ripple effect, now i’m a lesbian and friends w more queer people than cishet people

i was gonna say i need a show with a Token Straight Friend™️ but that’s literally tao in heartstopper

thinking about. how merlin brings out the best in arthur and on the other hand arthur brings out the darkest parts of merlin. how arthur always tries to be better and do the right thing because merlin believes in him and he wouldn't want to disappoint him. because he believes merlin is good and he wants to be good for him. how merlin always ends up making the worst decision in his desire to protect arthur, doing things he never thought he'd do. how from saving arthur's life because that's a right thing to do, he goes to putting his life above any of his own morals.

i'm like absolutely obsessed with the way merlin and arthur care for each other. they're such polar opposites. like arthur loves merlin so goddamn loudly in front of everyone else, he rages when he's gone, refuses to accept his likely death, he shuts down until merlin is returned to him, it's a loud and public love. and yet in private arthur loves so secretly so shyly, loves behind a thousand insults and a hundred complex justifications (#it'stherepression) whereas merlin loves so privately. like his devotion is clear for all to see but very few understand the depths and truths of it but when it's just him and arthur merlin loves so loudly even if it feels like he gets nothing in return because he wants arthur to know he's cared for. arthur who has to put his people first always, loving merlin in front of his people where he can hide behind righteousness and duty and compassion then there's merlin who gets to love however he pleases choosing to keep it between them, quiet and pure and no less special, to give arthur something just for him that he doesn't have to share with the world like everything else. idk it's just very special to me.

Back on my merlin doesn't spend 1500 years being a sad wet cat and has a life agenda but I think it would be very interesting if Merlin never shies away from talking about Arthur. He grieves him in some way yes but as he lives his life he talks about him to his (immortal or not) friends/lovers/spouses/children to the point where (and it's where it becomes funny) it becomes litteraly common knowledge that Emrys is in love with the once and future king and NOBODY even think about the fact that Arthur may not know

Imagine Arthur's face if someone say to Merlin "Don't worry, I can manage to babysit the Love of your life for 5 minutes!!" and Merlin doesn't blink/blush, he just nod and smiles "Good luck, see you later!"

Arthur being utterly confuse because it should be a big deal, right? Why Merlin act like nothing happen?? What the hell????

And if the Knights came back too, just IMAGINE their face when someone just casually break the 10 years "Don't ask, Don't tell" Merthur version

“I love you” “it will pass” but it’s a Merthur magic reveal fic and Merlins “I love you” and Arthurs “it will pass ” because every time something this big was revealed the person revealed “stopped loving him”. (“Why are you still doing this”)

Arthur stumbles upon the dragon purely by happenstance, but by gods is the beast a chatty thing. It goes on and on about destiny, Albion, peace, and Arthur’s favorite part how the once and future king (himself) and his fated other half (Emrys) are two halves of the same coin, and everything will become clear when they realize this. Then the beast tells Arthur that Emrys not only has magic, but is magic, and Arthur’s head begins spinning—not with fairy tale romance where he gets swept off his feet as he’d been imagining moments before—but how anyone could have magic and not be evil.

‘Merlin could do it,’ he thinks wistfully, his unrequited crush upon his manservant rearing its ugly head even as he contemplates his soulmate.

He’s pulled from his daydream by said crush ambling clumsily into the cavern, gaping wildly, and then blurting out, “I can explain!”

The dragon laughs. “I already have, Emrys.”

And Arthur’s head starts spinning again. He pushes himself off the ground, takes a single step toward Merlin, and pulls himself back as a landslide of realization clobbers him like a thousand stones. “You knew?”

Merlin looks completely broken when he says, “I didn’t want anything to change between us.” I didn’t want you to have to choose between me or your father.

Arthur’s heart aches. Tears burn behind his eyes. “Of course,” he bites out, but all he can think, is what kind of man can’t be loved by his own destiny? What kind of monster must he be?

Things do change. Merlin’s stiffer. Arthur’s quieter. The dragon beneath the castle becomes one of Arthur’s closest confidants even if it speaks in riddles and leaves Arthur’s clothes smelling so strongly of smoke even his father notices.

“I’m sorry,” Merlin whispers one night as the smell of Kilgarrah’s sulfurous smoke fills his nostrils as he prepares Arthur for bed. He misses the smell of Arthur’s sweat, and the combination of leather and grease that clings to his armor. He misses the way Arthur used to look at him, joke with him, befriend him before he knew about the magic. “I’m sorry I’m like this.”

I’m sorry I’m me, Arthur thinks as he silently raises his arms to let Merlin drop a sleep shirt over his head. He only grunts in response.

Months pass, and as the ground thaws so do Merlin and Arthur, because though he may speak as clearly as a mud puddle Kilgarrah isn’t wrong: one cannot truly hate that which makes it whole. Arthur clings to Kilgarrah’s promises. One day. One day. Hopefully one day soon.

And the day comes in late summer when Merlin’s nearly skewered by a bandit while he and Arthur are on a hunt. Arthur’s checking him obsessively for any signs that the blood on him is actually his, while Merlin swats at his hands insisting he’s fine.

“Why wouldn’t you use your magic!?” Arthur screeches shoving Merlin’s hands out of the way so he can look over every inch of him.

“So I could be burnt upon a pyre? No thanks.” Merlin manages to push himself free of Arthur and stalk away.

“We’re meant to marry one day. We’re two sides of a coin, soulmates. Do you truly think me so monstrous?”

Merlin’s eyes are big as eggs. “What? Married? Soulmates?”

“What do you think Kilgarrah meant?”

“He’s an overgrown lizard!” Merlin shouts suddenly feeling too warm and too confined despite the mild weather and endless amounts of fresh air. “That…He…Is that what two sides of the same coin means?” He’s pacing the meadow, ignoring the dead bandits scattered in the tall grass. “I’m sorry, Arthur, I am. I…I don’t think you’re a monster, and I’m sorry you have to choose between your father and I. I’m—“

Arthur sees something then in the way Merlin tugs at his hair, eyes full of concern when they swing toward Arthur. Fools, Kilgarrah had called them, and fools they absolutely were.

“There’s no choice,” Arthur murmurs, sidling up to Merlin to take his hand. “It’s you. It was you before I knew of our fate and your gifts, and it’ll be you no matter what stands in the way.”

honestly the amount of courage it must've taken arthur to admit that merlin might not even be alive anymore is rlly something.

gaius walks into the room and asks "where's merlin?" - we're talking about gaius, someone arthur respects and values the opinion of greatly, but more importantly merlin's guardian, his father figure. sure, "he's alive" is his first answer - the hopeful, optimistic, reassuring answer. the 'don't worry, i've got everything under control and it'll all be fine' answer. but then maybe he realises that could be a lie. he doesn't know if that's true, and maybe lying to gaius' face about it is worse than admitting his failure.

so he continues to look gaius in the eye and tell him merlin (who he lost, in the middle of the forest, injured, weak, unwell, surrounded by bandits) was still alive, last he saw of him. he's saying 'i don't know if he's alive anymore, i dont know how he is, where he is, if he's ok'.

it probably makes him sick to his stomach saying it out loud, but he has to state it plain and true. he has to tell gaius that his ward (read: son) may no longer be alive. that takes guts.

a little something <333 I'm trying to learn how to draw faces from the side and not just the front :D

Love how pretty much every (popular) ship in Merlin has Merlin in it? You have Merthur (classic), Merwaine (amazing), Mergana (for the straights), Mercelot (for those with taste). Merlin can literally be shipped with nearly the entire cast, and I love that for him-

Okay court sorceror this should have had a happy ending that blah blah but what we were TRULY robbed of was seeing Arthur with his dog. Arthur Pendragon, puppy, playing with a puppy JUST IMAGINE

drunk arthur: *covering merlin’s face in highlighter*

merlin: what are you doing, clotpole?

drunk arthur: shhh. it’s because you’re important.

You know what, Arthur shouldn't be mad at Merlin for not telling him about his magic BECAUSE PEOPLE COME OUT THEN THEY READY, and in the show he was forced to come out at the end

You can't be mad at the person who didn't come out sooner, they had their reasons

love when there’s an episode where arthur’s actually nice to merlin, and then the writers are like, “well, can’t have too much of that,” and the next ep he’s back to being a bully.

arthur pendragon can be summed up in exactly one image

i started watching merlin

this may be the greatest mistake of my life

when Arthur finally admits his feelings for Gwen to Merlin and says "my father would never let me marry her", and Merlin goes "you want to MARRY Gwen?!" like "shit, dude, I didn't realise it was this serious"