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MERLIN
The Christmas music is loud, but the customers are louder. Merlin is just coming to the end of his shift, anxious to leave the packed bar and climb under his heavy duvet, when Gwaine sidles up to him, nodding his head to the side. “We better watch that guy.” When Merlin follows where Gwaine’s gesturing to, he finds a man slumped on a barstool, head bowed and staring thoughtfully into the bottom of his glass of amber coloured liquid. Gwaine makes a small tutting sound as he grabs a glass from the bar and fills it for one of his waiting customers. “He’s gotten absolutely hammered in the thirty minutes he’s been here.”
Gwaine goes off to take payment from his customer and Merlin adjusts his waist apron before moving over to the slouching man, trying to ignore the way the soles of his black Converse stick to the tacky bar floor.
When he comes to a stop, the man lifts his head, dishevelled dirty blonde hair flopping to the side a little pathetically. Their eyes meet and Merlin pushes a smile onto his face, getting into customer service mode. “Merry Christmas,” He says in the most polite tone of voice he can manage. The man makes a grunting noise, rolls his eyes and picks up his glass, downing its contents in one big gulp. “Oh, boy,” Merlin mutters to himself before clearing his throat, “You okay?” The man slams the glass back down on the counter so fiercely that Merlin worries for a moment that he’s cracked it. He then sits back, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, grins maniacly and practically starts yelling. “No, I am not! Everywhere I go, it’s Christmas this and Christmas that. Everything is covered in glitter and there's tinsel hanging everywhere.” His words are extremely slurred, and Merlin has to reel back a few times to avoid getting hit by his drunkenly swinging arms which he uses to emphasise every other word. “Why does everything smell like gingerbread? Ugh! And you wanna know what’s worse? I made the mistake in thinking that maybe this bar would be free from it all but—” With a look of disgust, he gestures towards the decorations that Merlin had put up at the start of the month, “I guess I’m stuck in goddamn Christmasland until the New Year. So yeah, I’m just peachy, thanks for asking.”
Merlin straightens up, grabs a tea towel from on top of the bar and tucks it into the front pocket of his apron, all the while thinking about how he could have sworn he’d seen this guy somewhere before. Maybe he’d been in the bar some other time this week? There’s something so familiar about him, but he just can’t seem to put his finger on it.
He decides to ignore it for the time being, and instead says, “Not much of a festive person then?”
The blonde man laughs, but it’s void of all humour, and his voice is flat when he speaks, “Not an ounce of festivity in me, mate.”
Merlin momentarily contemplates trying to find something reassuring to say, but past experience has taught him that people who sat at the bar with that type of facial expression needed nothing more than some peace. So he pours him another drink and goes off to tend to the few other customers waiting to be served.
****
Merlin only manages to serve about two customers before he’s being summoned again.
“Oi!” The blonde man from before shouts so loudly across the bar that it causes a few people to turn in their seats. Merlin hurries over to plant his hands on the counter in the hopes that it would convince the drunken man to lower his voice.
“Doing okay over here?” Merlin can hear the strain in his own voice as he speaks through clenched teeth.
“What’s your name?” The man slurs, pointing a finger right in Merlin’s face. The alcohol has clearly settled in quite nicely now, and Merlin is quickly beginning to regret pouring him that last drink. “You look like a Fred.”
“A Fred?” Merlin questions, “Is that an insult or a compliment?”
The man tips his head back to laugh before aggressively hiccuping a few times. “Why on earth would it be a compliment?”
Merlin rolls his eyes. “My name is Merlin.”
The man gapes at him for a moment, his mouth slowly opening before a chortle bursts out. “Your name is Merlin? What type of name is that?”
I should have just gone with Fred, Merlin thinks as he presses his lips together and nods his head. This type of reaction is very common – especially from pissed guys.
“No wonder you don’t wear a name tag!” The man struggles to say through his laughter – he looks as though he were actually crying, for god’s sake – but once he’s calmed down a little, he nudges his empty glass back across the bar top. “Top me up!”
Merlin squints at him for a moment, still trying to work around the strange familiarity he feels every time he looks into his face, and then tries to guess what percentage of alcohol currently made up his bloodstream. “Sorry, buddy,” he says after a moment, taking the man’s glass and putting it under the counter. “I’m making the executive decision to cut you off.”
“You can’t do that.” The man makes a pffsh-ing noise.
“I most certainly can. I’m the owner.”
That wipes the grin off his face and he sits there for a moment, seemingly stumped. He makes a grumbling noise, but sits up a little straighter before slipping off his bar stool and using the edge of the bar to steady himself.
“Well, t’was nice to meet you, Merlin.” He says in a mock regal tone, bowing his head slightly and turning on his heel to stumble towards the exit.
Merlin leans his elbows on the bar, watching in silent amusement as the man trips over a few chair legs and apologises loudly as he goes. It’s only a few minutes later, when Merlin’s wiping down the bartop where he’d been sat that he notices he’s left his phone behind. He looks up at the door, considering whether he should try and catch up with him, but on a night like this, where everyone is out in droves, it would most likely be impossible to find him.
He decides to keep it behind the bar and finds himself secretly hoping he’ll come back before his shift ends to claim it.
incorrect quotes fuel me, it gives me everything i want and need in life, it cures me depression multiple times, its so much more accurate to the characters than the actual content, whoever's ever written one, may life give you everything you wish for, may your enemies perish, may you be worshipped in centuries to come, may your tales always be told in the light of glory for as long as time lasts
It's so funny to me that when Merlin is gone and someone in the castle decides to send a new servant in Arthur's way, they decide to dress him up like Merlin.
Like, George is 100% cosplaying as Merlin.
I imagine the people in the castle in charge of that decision having a conversation about it:
"So, Merlin is dead. We need to find the king a new manservant."
"Already did. This is George, the best servant on the job. Arthur won't have any complaint about this one. He will be so pleased that he won't even realise Merlin is gone."
"Are you sure? He was quite fond of him… You know what? I have an idea to soften up the blow for him." (They proceed to irrumpt into Gaius' place and demand some of Merlin's clothes to dress George up with.)
"Do you think he will notice?"
"something's missing... Oh, I know" *ties a red scarf around his neck and George ends up using it as a cravat* Perfect
Dont suppose any other Merlin fans have read the Ice Mark series. And spent ages pondering how Thirrin (Princess) and Oskan (witch guy) match Arthur and Merlin very well.
1) hotheaded young royal who longs to prove themself in battle and is a proficient fighter.
2) said young royal’s father who started a war against magic and/or magical creatures
3) guy with magic and tendency for healing. who starts off a pacifist and gradually gets more proficient at violent fighting.
4) magic guy initially thinks young royal is prat and far too full of themself, yet nevertheless becomes extremely protective of them.
5) they go on adventures to protect the kingdom together.
6) point of story is magic/magic creatures aren’t evil and are instead a strong ally.
7) young royal wants only to do the best for their people. even if that means dying.
Please someone tell me they’ve noticed this. I’m going insane over all the parallels.
