it’s been over a year but i am back with a merlin fic! i love this show sm and these silly boys even more.
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read on ao3
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The winter chill seeps into the castle grounds, into the walls, floor, ceilings, turning every stone into a freezing touchpoint. Arthur finds himself wearing two pairs of socks to bed and he hates wearing socks to bed, but it’s just that cold.
It’s like this every winter season. The castle keeps itself cooled off well enough in the summer months, but when winter comes around, there are not enough fires that could be lit to warm the castle. Though Arthur seems to be the only person in the castle with that complaint. Everyone else seems to find enough fires to warm them.
Arthur only finds that his clothes forever smell like smoke because of how often his room’s fire is lit. The windows have to open to let the smoke out, but it only lets the chill back in. It’s an endless process with no end in sight. Much like how Arthur finds the process of ruling all alone.
He’s not normally alone. Usually, he has his knights and Merlin and Gwen at his side. But this week Merlin and Gwen went to visit Merlin’s mother in the country, and the knights have all gone off to visit someone or another. Arthur can’t honestly remember a time since his father died when everyone has left him.
It makes sense then that while everyone is away, the coldest storm blows in and the nobles cancel the only meeting of the day. Normally Arthur would have no issue with this, hence why he doesn’t push for them to meet anyway as is within his power as King. But today is not a normal day.
Today, Arthur woke from a nightmare where Merlin burns at the stake. It’s been a recurring nightmare ever since Arthur found out about Merlin’s magic. And it doesn’t seem to matter that he repealed the ban on magic, that he appointed Merlin as the Court Sorcerer, the dream still happens.
After speaking with the nobles’ messenger sent to inform the king about the decision to postpone the meeting, Arthur finds himself back in his chambers, curling up with his arms wrapped around his knees in front of the fire he had George light. He pulls a soft blanket off the edge of the nearby chair and wraps it around his shoulders and stares into the fire. He has kingly duties to attend to–this moment of weakness would never be allowed by his father–but Arthur is just so tired and the cold doesn’t help matters.
Arthur remembers when he was younger, he used to love the snow and the chilly days spent in the fluffy precipitation. He’s not sure when that changed. He’s not sure when he went from wearing a simple tunic around the inner castle to a full elegant robe. He’s not sure when the layers became necessary even in the summer months. He’s not sure when the chill settled deep in his bones and only the warmth of a relaxing night with his few friends shakes the chill loose. But it always returns in the morning without fail.
The door to his rooms opens without a knock, and Arthur turns to look over his shoulder at who dares enter the King’s chambers without asking. Arthur’s brow furrows when he sees who it is.
“Gwaine? I thought you weren’t due back until tomorrow.” Arthur pushes himself to his feet, letting the blanket fall to the floor and ignoring the way Gwaine’s eyes track the movement.
“Cold afternoon, Arthur?”
Arthur shrugs because he can’t explain the way his body hungers for warmth to the point of desperation.
Hello! I've been scrolling through your ace head cannons and saw u head cannon Arthur as Ace and got super excited! I always saw Merlin as demisexual and never thought much about Arthur on the ace spec until a friend and I were talking and like. In the show characters are shown to have sexual relations but Arthur never is? It's not even really hinted at? Even when he's married! He has many romantic interests but it's never sexual unless he's under a spell. (Anyway random hi!)
hey random new friend!!! i’m really invested in my ace!Arthur headcanon, lol. it’s prooobably just because it’s a Family Friendly Show and so they didn’t want to too heavily imply anything sexual, but i am more than happy to take that lack of implication and imply an absence XD
(i have no idea if that actually makes as much sense as i think it does, lmao)
but yeah, considering Arthur is usually shown as this big macho man, we don’t get nearly as sexual a vibe from him as we usually do from characters like that, or that we get from someone like Gwaine who practically oozes lust lmao.
and just generally speaking, i really enjoy subverting the hypersexual macho man stereotype with ace headcanons. and i love the idea of a teenager Arthur sitting around the campfire on patrol with a bunch of older knights and just.....not understanding all the ribald talk going on around him. but everyone else seems to get it no problem so maybe it’s just because he’s younger? or because he’s sheltered and privileged?? whatever it is, Arthur doesn’t want to admit to his men that he doesn’t get it (that he isn’t as virile as they expect him to be) so he falls back on his status and disappears into his tent where he can be confused and frustrated and lost where no one can see.
until of course he finds someone who understands him and doesn’t respond like he’s missing something or broken or anything less than perfect just as he is. (hint: that person is probably Merlin lol)
Do you ship merthur as demi because if so same!!! More demi hcs please
i’m tooooootally down with demi!Merthur yo!!! i lean towards ace!Arthur and demi-romantic!Merlin personally, but demi-ace!either one of them works for me too.
demi-ace!Merlin who loved Freya but never improperly about her…never thought improperly about anyone until he finds himself making excuses to watch Arthur train in the summertime when he always insists on taking off his shirt
demi-ace!Arthur who’s never been good at bonding with his knights because of all the ribald talk about ladies that he just doesn’t get
demi-ace!Arthur who starts to get it a few years later when he glances up one day and is suddenly struck by the way the light hits Merlin’s face, how it glistens on the wet curve of his lip
demi-ro!Merlin who doesn’t realize that he wants more with Arthur until Arthur’s already with Gwen and feels like he missed his chance
demi-ro!Merlin who can’t ask either of his best friends for advice because they’re in a relationship with each other and wtf kind of friend is he to only fall for a taken man who’ll never want him
demi-ace!Merlin whose attraction develops sooner than demi-ace!Arthur, who holds back on it because he knows Arthur won’t be comfortable with it
demi-ace!Arthur who doesn’t say anything when he starts wanting Merlin because Merlin is his servant and it’s already bad enough he’s making demands on Merlin’s heart, he has no right to ask for more when that’s never been the way they worked before
Okay, I thought there was going to be a lot of Merthur in BBC's Merlin, especially after seeing all the gifsets. But I didn't see all that much homoerotic subtext between Merlin and Arthur until series 4. In all honesty, there was more chemistry between Merlin and Gwaine. And, I don't know about you, but Arthur comes across as very ace to me. I mean, he's a prince and, in any other show/reality, he'd likely be all over the serving girls and a huge ladies man. But he doesn't seem to care one way or the other. Chivalry aside, he's a teenaged prince who's handsome enough to get any girl, but doesn't go after any of them in that sense. My A-dar's pointing towards "hella-fucking ace".
so keeping with the ace!Arthur headcanon cause that's my favorite, the three of them get together officially but haven't actually done much romantic stuff together, like they have dates but Arthur's a jumpy nerd about this stuff and Vivi and Lewis are very understanding and very affectionate with each other and him while they all settle into a routine and one day Arthur gets it into his head that he hasn't kissed either of them yet so he decides that has to change (cont.)
(p2) So he spends an entire day psyching himself up because he has a hot girlfriend and boyfriend. There’s no reason he shouldn’t kiss them. He keeps having these great, stupidly movie cliche-ish moments throughout the day where he can kiss one of them but it’s only one and he’s not sure if he should only kiss one while the other isn’t there and also he’s flustered and anxious when the chance comes because oh god he’s gonna kiss ‘em gonna do it nope hide face hide away so scared (cont.)(p3) and he’s finally in the house by himself and just really gearing himself up okay Arthur you GOT this you can DO this just go for it the moment that they come in the door. Except when they come inside, it had randomly started raining outside so they’re all soaked and they look stupidly attracted and Arthur’s just standing in the doorway all frustrated and not sure what to do because crap they’re HOT what even is he doing here trying to kiss them (cont.)(p4) But being them, Vivi and Lewis sort of breeze in and are laughing at how soggy they are and when Arthur half-stutters out an embarrassed ‘how are you two even a thing’ and flusters through how hard he’s been trying to kiss them all day, they sort of grin and smooch him on the corner of the mouth and are like come on you giant dork let’s watch a movie and we’ll make out and stuff after we get dry. And there is movie night with kisses and cuddles.
((PRETEND THERES A CUTE REACTION IMAGE HERE BC DUMBLR WONT LET ME POST ONE PROPERLY))
OH MY CHRIST these three are going to be the death of me this is so stupidly cute anon god bless you god bless your cow
So i've heard you have ace headcanons for Arthur. I'd fuckin' love to talk about that.
AW MAN, ANON, I WILL TALK ABOUT THIS ALLLLLLL DAY
SO
ACE!ARTHUR
IMMA STOP SCREAMING NOW BECAUSE IT'S HARD TO TALK ABOUT IN DEPTH YELLING
Okay, so, Ace!Arthur
Yes.
He's part of a very traditional family and is expected to continue the bloodline but he's just like, nah bro, and his parents disown him 'cause of it so he goes to live with Uncle Lance who's just like, "whatever, just go fix this car".
He forms emotional attachments really easily, but never says anything or does anything because he thinks he's hella broke 'cause he doesn't like sex and he was taught that sex=love so he's just a super confused baby because he's like, "I must be damaged because I love these people but that means I have to have sex with them, but I don't like sex, so I guess this means that what I feel isn't love???"
Super confused weenie nerd.
So he kind of just sits out on the sidelines all the time. He tried sex once, with a guy and girl because he thought that since he didn't like the one, he might like the other. But no go, so he thinks he's even more broken.
IF WE'RE GONNA GO THE OT3 ROUTE, SON, THAT'S A WHOLE 'NOTHER CAN OF WORMS
