could you do a merthur ficlet where either merlin or arthur is deaf and they meet and one of them learns sign language so they can communicate better?
(Heads up to everyone: I am not closely acquainted with anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing or otherwise uses sign language to communicate. If I've made a misstep please let me know!)
Arthur first notices him because he catches the flash of hands moving in the corner of his eye and he's curious about why someone is gesticulating so much when there's hardly any conversation in the quiet coffee shop he's doing his work in. It only takes him a second to recognize sign language, though he doesn't recognize any of the signs, the man doing it signing far too fast for Arthur to begin to catch anything. The woman he's signing at laughs and signs back, a little more hesitant, and he beams at her, which is what makes Arthur notice him beyond the movements of his hands.
He isn't handsome, precisely, but he's certainly arresting, the angles of him interesting enough that Arthur itches for a pencil and paper even though he's doing everything in graphic design these days.
Arthur has to leave before he can get too involved in watching them, but he keeps an eye out, since it's his regular coffee shop. Though he hasn't noticed him before, the man seems to be around a lot all of a sudden, sometimes with friends (usually the woman, but sometimes some others, who sign with varying degrees of expertise) and sometimes on his own, when he usually texts furiously.
It takes a week of seeing the man for at least ten minutes nearly every day for Arthur to look up the alphabet and start slowly spelling words out to himself in his bathroom mirror, feeling foolish. It takes two weeks after that before he's confident that out of the corner of his eye he can catch a very little of what the man says with his friends (he's got one friend who spells more than he signs, Arthur has to thank him for the fact that he learns the man's name is Merlin), and another week to start expanding his vocabulary into actual words.
Still, it's Merlin who approaches Arthur first, about a month after Arthur first spots him (and Arthur clings to that "about," he will pretend that he doesn't know it's exactly the first month anniversary forever). He waves, hesitant, reaching for his phone, perhaps meaning to type out a greeting.
Arthur waves instead and spells out an awkward "Hi, my name is Arthur."
Merlin beams, and that's more than worth all the effort and Morgana's teasing. "Merlin," he signs back, slow and obviously aware that Arthur is abysmal and will no doubt need to resort to asking for text at some point in the conversation. "You sign?"
"Not well." Arthur bites his lip and then decides he may as well be honest. "I thought I might speak to you some time."
The beam gets improbably wider. "I'd hoped," Merlin signs, and sits down across from him.
