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crabknee · 4 months

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crab I would love nothing more than to hear about war of the elements….. do regale me with your wisdom

OMG YIPPEE OK OK OK OK

ok so the main idea for the world/story (gonna call it the story from here on out) is that people can conjure weapons from elements (or at least some people can, haven't really figured out the criteria yet) What element their weapon is conjured of depends on their heritage/what country they're from. I haven't figured out a lot of countries yet, but there are two major ones that I have figured out. The japanese inspired kingdom with the element of light/sun and the german inspired kingdom (might branch out to some other central european countries) with the lightning element. By the time of the story these two countries are at war with each other and have been for quite a while (thinking about making it a 100 year war, seems like it would be cool)

Archer lady is a high ranking general in the sun nations army, and she wields a sun-energy Yumi (which is a traditional japanese bow that is very tall) Another great drawing of her below that I'm very proud of

The entire sun kingdom has a whole bird motif going on so that is encorperated in her design with the feathers on the yumi. She is also, like, early to mid 50's in age

There is also another character that I have yet to draw from the sun kingdom that is just stuck in my brain but I love her. She is the kings right hand woman and she will wield a long kind of katana (have to figure out which kind exactly) I also want her to have a helmet with a bird motif, somewhat like this (ignore fake png please)

Also, the way I want sunlight weapons to look somewhat like this, with a white light in the middle surrounded my a warm soft orange (ignore that this is lightning which is litterally their main enemy, in my defense this is sunlight spear from dark souls which is both sun and lightning)

But neither of these to people are the main character, the main character is this guy

He is also yet unnamed but my irl friends (aside from pie) have taken to calling him john lightning (NOT HIS NAME) do with that information what you will

anyway, notice that he has a katana (japanese) that is lightning (german)? huh how curious, wonder why that could be...

To make a long story short (you can find his story in more detail under my save tag on my blog if you want, this post is just for an overview of the story, my save tag is "save" archer lady is also there as well as a demon slayer oc) His dad is an emmigrant from lightning kingdom who fled to sun kingdom after [something I have not decided yet] and fell in love with mcs mom and they had mc. Dad died when mc was pretty young but he lived a happy life with his mom until one day the lady with the bird helmet came to their village and slaughtered all the villagers because of a rumor of a lightning kingdom spy. She then kills mcs mom right in front of him and mc charges out from their hiding place full of anger to kill. The lady is surprised, but very interrested in mc because of his mixture of the cultures, which is a thing that almost never happens, especially between sun and lightning, and therefor decides to let him live, but she does cut of his arm as a warning. Then he ran. he ran far. he ran until he couldn't see the village anymore. And now he was alone.

After this I haven't really had his story as set in stone, but I want to things, I want him to rebel against the sun kingdoms tyranny and I REALLY want his story to follow maslows hierarchy of needs in some way, I think that would be very interesting.

That's about all I have so far, the sun kingdom is definitly the most fleshed out so far since it's where it all takes place, but I also really like lightning and german weapons and will definitly be expanding that at some point.

The things I also want to include are things like

A middle eastern inspired nation (the middle east has some sick weapons, especially their curved swords, fucking love middle eastern swords)

A fire kingdom (obviosly)

An extensive lightning kingdom noble family

RETAINERS FOR THE NOBLE FAMILY!!! FUCKING LOVE RETAINERS AND UNDYING LOYALTY

possibly a spanish/italian country, they have some cool weapons that I could do something with, also france, but I need to research their weapons more

A water place (MAYBE with ice but that might also be sepperate)

Extra lightning guy pic here

really proud of the arm on this one, I also have a few others, but they are from before his outfit got a major overhaul so I don't like them, and another one that I LOVE I can't really show because it was made by a friend and I haven't asked for permission and I don't want to disrespect my friend even though it would probably be ok

Anyway suggestions and feedback greatly appreciated!!!

#I love this story so much #it takes up so much space in my brain #despite only being my “”“secondary”“” oc world #it's slowly taking over a little bit #definitly has more art than the main one #<-maybe I'll tell you about that one also in the future #but not today #asks #beantothemax #war of the elements

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canonically-a-genloser · 11 months

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platonic!Ranboo x reader blurb!! end of the school year drabble thingy yippee :D

this is the first one I've done in a while, for those of you who may not have seen my update a few weeks ago it's been a ride but I'm learning how to be productive again and I'm very proud of myself today despite some stress I went through, I'm working towards getting my life back on track :]

ANYWAYS ENOUGH OF MY RAMBLES AND ON WITH THE FIC/HEADCANONS/WHATEVER THIS MAY END UP BEING, REMEMBER TO STAY HYDRATED AS WELL AS YOU'RE ABLE AND REMEMBER YOU ARE LOVED <3

no pronouns for reader are used besides you/yours!

"Y/n!" Ranboo called from behind you, evidently out of breath from running.

You turned to face them, forgetting for a moment how tall they really were. They had grown a lot physically the past year, you thought vaguely as you made eye contact with them.

"Hey," they said, far more quietly than they had been speaking. "So it's summer now, huh?" They paused for a breath. "Never thought I'd miss.. y'know.." he waved at the school. "Anyway. It's just- I don't think I'll be coming back."

Your heart nearly stopped. "What?"

"It's not bad, it's not bad."

You couldn't stop yourself from thinking of every possibility as they paused, seemingly trying to figure out how to explain.. whatever this was to you. Was he okay? Were they going to move? Change schools?

"So- remember the restaurant jobs that kinda just all fell through?" they asked in a low tone.

You nodded hesitantly. What would that have to do with school-

"I've started.. kind of a job? Like- yeah, it's a job, I'm just-" they paused and sighed. "I started making YouTube videos. And- it's doing like, really unbelievably well."

A moment of silence reigned. They looked anxiously into your eyes, silently begging you to react.

"It's okay," you said, putting a hand on their arm in an attempt at comforting them. "It's just- you're sure it's enough that you won't need to come back?"

They nodded, sure of themselves this time. "It is. I know that much."

You started walking slowly, barely registering where you were headed. They really weren't coming back to school, then. They just didn't need it. There wouldn't be anything to look forward to next school year. You wouldn't see them on the daily next year. You wouldn't get to sit in the library together during study hall anymore. You wouldn't get to play Sticks with them during boring classes. You wouldn't get to make dumb jokes at each other over nothing anymore.

You should've had two more years.

You should've had your best friend right there with you until the two of you graduated and after that, even.

"Hey," their voice broke into your thoughts. "You're not mad, right?"

You looked up at them, tears you hadn't noticed before ready to spill down your cheeks. "No, no, I'm not mad, never mad, just-" you couldn't look them in the eyes anymore. You barely trusted your voice to crack. "I'm gonna miss you. So, so much."

Their arms wrapped around you almost instantly. It was warmth, it was love, it was home, you didn't want him to let go-

"Y/n," they said in the most gentle tone you'd ever heard them use, "this doesn't mean you and me are gonna change, okay? I know this is a lot. I'm scared too. Just please.. try to trust me? We can keep in touch and everything, this doesn't mean we'll never see each other," they reassured you. "Maybe I could introduce you to some of my new friends? I don't mind streaming with you," they offered.

You looked up, a playful smile barely beginning to break through the tears. "It's a deal then," you said. "I'm still making you help with Spanish homework though."

A half-pretend groan escaped the taller as the two of you began walking towards the bus for the last time that spring.

have a picture of ranbaba with the unedited unproofread fic

it's late and this took longer than anticipated but I love you all <3 I'm just gonna post this and add tags later :] goodnight gamers!!

#platonic ranboo x reader #dsmp x platonic reader #ranboo x you #ranboo x reader #ranboo x y/n #ranboo x gn!reader

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mushroom-jack · 2 months

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okay hi hi hi

I just had a thought about the lay universe!!!! I have many thoughts in my head I swear this is not my first time having a thought.

anyway so does. does Tom ever find out about the time travel???? it's been a min since I read lay so forgive me if it's mentioned and I just. blanked . but I'm trying to think what his reaction would be and honestly i don't know. I know it'd be an extreme reaction. I don't know what though.

Nope! Tom never finds out about the time travel in Lay all your love, and Percy never intends on telling him. TBH I also never really imagined him finding out, but there's a few ways it could happen; Percy does still have to go talk to McGonagall to discuss warding and her apprenticeship offer, and he promised to tell her a "strange story" in ASOR once everything was over, so if Tom eavesdrops too hard on that conversation he could very well find out about the time travel – I think he would both feel proud (of Percy's conniving) and betrayed, and Percy would be frustrated that Tom's still spying on him/doesn't trust him, but also relieved that the secret is out. I couldn't be sure exactly how that conversation would go without writing it out (which I'm too lazy to do, lol), as these characters have a mind of their own, and working on Lay all your love looked an awful lot less like me deciding what they would do, and more just tompercy doing whatever they wanted and me writing it down as fast as I could.

The other option, I think, is that I mention in I am your boy that Percy once let Tom walk through his occlumency shields; I think that if Percy ever decided to just suck it up and tell Tom (yippee, communication!) he would opt for showing Tom via legillimency rather than telling him the whole story with words. I still think Tom would have mixed feelings about this, but it wouldn't prompt another "keeping secrets" argument at least, since Percy told him of his own volition. The question is, does knowing that Percy was mentally older and was operating with foreknowledge for many of his interactions with the Diary (after all, by the time Tom the Diadem/portrait really came into play, Percy's foreknowledge wasn't doing that much for him anymore) make Tom consider Percy as more of an equal, or less of one? After all, he's less of a prodigy than Tom would've thought, but the fact that he invented a new form of time travel at age 24 is fucking insane. That, too, was for the sake of love – it would force Tom to acknowledge how important Percy's family is to him.

Anyways, Tom doesn't find out in Lay all your love, and Percy doesn't plan on telling him, but even if he did find out I feel like they'd ultimately still be okay – after all, they're stuck together, so they'd have to work something out.

#tompercy #asks #lay all your love on me

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shan-helsing · 5 months

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SSHIP HEADCANONS + VERY BRIEF laszlo hc background

SORRY I FELT TOO CRINGE TO REBLOG, I HATE BEING SEEN BY ANYONE AAAUUUUGH

ANYWAYS. in regards to the whole thing with laszlo and nadja being disapproved off by the aristocrat society..club? committee? i thought about this a LOT with wulfric too.

SO i know back in july i shared wulfric's background but i think i have a better idea for it now.

the committee/society (i'll just call them arisocrats) was involved of wealthy old men, men of high academic scholarships. the way to get in to this crew was through nepotism honestly. this committee was not just seen in london but all across each capital city in every country. this crew was the only connection laszlo had to his father, he HATED his father, yet he stuck with the aristocrats because he had..SOME hope of earning love and recognition from his father. he studied various fields of arts, sciences, the whole shi-bang in hopes to make his father proud. he was close to his mother and nanny, but not in the parental way with his mother. ultimately this guy had 0 PROPER love and affection from his parents. (OKAY THAT'S IT ON LASZLO NOW IT'S JUST FULL SSHIP)

wulfric's father was also top of ze range in HIS capital's committee (still uncertain if it should be germany or what would NOW be austria - i'm not too keen on history learning for this shit)

idk if i've states this but wulfric has t boy swag, so he immediately had no chance at becoming part of the aristocrat community. however he was a great scholar (i might just FULLY self insert and say yea. classics. he knows classics. BUT he's a silly vampire bimbo now so it wouldn't even matter to him anymore) and kiiiinda used this to his advantage. he forged a letter pretending to be his father and sent it over to london to accept wee wulfric into this committee, THEY had no idea he was a little t boy swagger.

of course he got accepted and he left his home, sailing to england to be part of said community there and further his studies. he met mr golden boy leslie cravensworth and because they were a similar young age they bonded very quickly.

a little too much bonding bc they got really intimate and spoke a little bit too much about themselves to one another. they never made anything official..but they did have a few kissie koos. they wanted to remain a secret..thing. in their heads their mentality was like "yea. look at these (aristocrats) bozos; we are doing this and thinking differently from these guys and they all have no idea" kinda like a teenage adrenaline rush of doing something you know is wrong.

this whole situationship would go on for AGES, probably until laszlo was turned by nadja. wulfric was never told personally by laz that he was a vampire, he found out with the rest of the aristocrats - big YEOWCH on terms of their situationship. laszlo marrying nadja meant that he was forbidden from being part of the aristocrats with the position he had, he had to be degraded immensely to a title that was so revolting yadda yadda yadda. before laszlo left however (literally like a month or something after he became a vampire) wulfric BEGGED to come with laz, like proper random DESPERATION. then yaaaay yippee wulfric became his first familiar WOOHOO!

they got intimate again. but it was difficult to adjust to because new baby vampire/mortal human..and also his hot sassy VAMPIRE WIFE. (there is no beef between wulfric and nadja they are so totes besties post-turning)

about a month again, or some period of time SUPER close to when wulfric had first became a familiar, laszlo turned him. he didn't realise familiars kinda..NEVER get turned by their masters..but it's ok he just became a vampire guys it's cool.

wulfric got his huge bat ears bc the first blood he drank after his turning WAS a bats - like with s5 and guillermo laszlo had no consideration whatsoever to the thought of wulfric having human blood. so wulfric got his hairy big bat ears and ridiculous silly appearance :3 then he had human blood so it's all so okay now.

i think ultimately wulfric just ended up leaving nadja and laszlo because of boredom or wanting to travel again. but also the funny imagery of laszlo shipping wulfric to who knows where is also funny. idk i shouldn't be so serious about this; it's a funny vampire show

#self shipping #self ship #laszlo cravensworth #wwdits #wwdits oc #what we do in the shadows ocs #i should come up with a ship name #or a tag so people can find wulfric #oh well

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amugoffandoms · 5 months

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Ooh, 3, 17, and 29 for the fic asks if you want :D

whoopee!! more mug's ao3 writing wrapped!! here's the list!

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

i am incapable of picking just one so here's a list aidnjf!!

Sing Your Sins! - yeah this would be an obvious choice but like audhgjgjg it was so fun to write about!! just let them be happy guys please!,!@,&$$

37.2°C -- Yuno Kashiki's Trial 2 Voice Drama - I had a blast rewriting some of yuno's trial 2 vd for this swap au judt man some of the last lines kinda just hit hard and man judt man

a mug of whumptober 2023 fics - is this cheating?? yeah a little bit buy i had so much fun writing some of this!! really can't wait to get to the rest shhffjjf

ILOLL - yeah the characters are historical figures, I like writing and if the story just so happens to be through these figures that were sort of modernized by a musical then yeah ajfjfjf ANYWAYS you can see my favorite part of formatting and also gruesome writing in this ajfhfj love both of those things dearly sjjf

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

yuno.

but there are some close contenders!!

Sayori is really fun to write! There's a balance of bubbly and bittersweet you have to hit and it's always fun standing on that line! also just sayo :]

Es, Mahiru, and Fuuta all because I've written them a few times to understand their character better and also they have beliefs and traits that are so intrinsically woven into their character that it's like Oh we're gonna have fun writing this yippee!!

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

oh man there's so many auauausu

here are some that i picked out sjfjf

“Ha, you know that you’re just pushing everyone away when you’re being honest?” She knows. She knows. It’s stupid, but she knows. No matter what she’s like, she’ll have to lie. Just to have a little warmth. How cruel is that?

Shidou hears that voice. He can’t tell who said that, probably one of the doctors pulling him out of the room. Closing his mouth to stop the next scream, he realizes, for a second, he believes them. He believes that if he lets other people dip their hands in the ocean of blood he wades through every day, his wife will be waiting for him. His wife will be alive.

It's only that noise and him standing around. He can feel his chest tighten with guilt and dread. If he dared to breathe, it felt like something akin to a noose constricted his breath, pulling him away.

"Sometimes I wake up and everything feels frozen. It's cold and I can't feel anything. It's nothing. I can't feel the light against my face. I can't feel my body ache for relief."

"Y-Yuno—" "I can't tell if I'm on the edge of my life or I'm already dead." "!" "Then, Mahiru-san comes into my cell with Shidou-san. He fixes my bandages. And, eventually, I feel something. It's cold." "..." Es stares at the other. "I think we both know, even Shidou. I'm on the verge of dying, Es." Es stands up and slams the table, with Yuno only blankly staring. "Yuno, you aren't going to—" "Am I... really alive?"

so that's it!! :D thank you for asking ^^

#mug answers #ask game!#mug's ao3 writing wrapped

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highpoly · 4 months

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here's my modeling summary YIPPEE... for like most of these i found myself shocked that they happened This Year... like what do you mean sionia (hi damien) was finished back in april...

well anyways... my thoughts on modeling, the lessons i've learned, my relationship to art, and more... it is probably going to be long and personal towards the end but i hope i can share something for all of you...

i realized i'm not sure where i could start. HAJDSFHAJSDF i was gonna talk about each model but i think that it'd make this post too long and i think it's actually better to just get into the lessons i've learned

and with that said i'd like to talk about RIGGING! it has always plagued me but i realized you could just parent the object/mesh to the armature and hit automatic weights in blender and then you'll just have to adjust after. like i actually feel like an idiot doing a lot of my rigging manually and i know Technically you're gonna have to do manual work anyways because i just said you'll have to adjust after it does the process in blender but like. my rigs were hilariously bad HJRGJFHDG like i didnt realize there was an easier way... until past sakura miku there... which btw still proud of that one even if it was a little silly with the rig there. i think if anything doing all that manual rigging did prepare me for the adjusting i'd eventually would have to do with automatic weight painting.

i'd say other aspects of rigging like physics and adding shapekeys/expressions are all pretty easy to me. well more so shapekeys, physics is still kinda hell but not bad. at least i'm not intimidated by them compared to when i was first starting out. i still find myself just doing the same old trick of using animasa's bone setup and then importing that to blender so not much has changed there tbh. if anything i just add upperbody2 manually and 0 bones for fingers and that's it... which by the way... a little tip for anybody getting into modeling just subdivide the bones so you dont go crazy and then adjust after.

also a little ahead of myself here... giving you a Glimpse into my new year plans but i also learned how topology and the amount of vertices you have can affect rigging a bit too. you don't want too much or too little but i added a bit more loops to my upcoming utena and anthy models and they deform better so i feel happy about that too. as an example, the legs would deform bad but after adding loop cuts at the hips area the lowerbody and upperleg bones are weight painted automatically much more nicely so now the legs deform better.

another thing i'm proud of is for my vtuber model, i got to paint and actually shade my textures. what i mean by that is, if you couldn't tell, all my models are mainly flat with the exception of the eyes being really detailed but other than that things would just be flat with no shading at all but i'm glad i got to actually challenge myself this year. i also went asset hunting on clip studio paint for some brushes so that was nice. i also got used to that program a little more too so i'm happy. i hope i can do it more in the future because it's actually kinda fun as freak HRJHGJFG

well anyways, i think i'll get a little personal here now and i hope i won't be too overbearing. but i realize since i don't really have much for myself but art i guess i should keep going at it. i was organizing my files on my computer not too long ago and when i took a look at my art folder i realized i've been doing all this 3d modeling stuff since 2020 and it is now 2023 and soon it will be 2024. i have not had income since this pandemic has began and not gonna lie... i feel stressed because if an emergency happens, i'm not gonna be prepared for it. and it's kinda hard to not stress about that. idk i just wish this pandemic didn't happen because i felt like i could still work some bad job while pursuing on the side and i'd be fine with that and i'd live comfortably but. well. we're here now. and when this pandemic started i was rushed into this so in some ways i feel inadequate

but! i realize i have came a long way. i didn't think i'd do this but it's been fun modeling. it's fun to shape, it's fun to model because to me it feels like a puzzle. although i know i could be better at rigging, it's fun to rig anyways. i would make jokes about how i hate texturing, but once you uv unwrap and clean up the islands after, it's actually really nice. i also got to animate a bit in MMD this year, i did some video editing as well in davinci resolve, and i also got to practice creating normal maps with my symphony miku model earlier this year.

when i look back at this, i guess i am being hard on myself. i have made progress and i do enjoy making art. i enjoyed learning the new skills this year too especially since i challenged myself to render something in blender for the first time and editing the render in clip studio paint. it feels good to finish projects.

i guess i hate how hard life is and i hope i can have income soon. the income part is my biggest issue. there are somethings i have thought about in regards to making money... but idk. i definitely do see myself opening commissions one day though.

so uhm... i guess i'll end this off with my artistic resolutions for this upcoming year...

sculpt more next year

paint/texture more it's fun

rig better

release more models? (or probably just keep it to oomfs only most likely)

remake my models

take my time

research more

learn more

render in blender more

stop being hard on yourself

thanks for reading, i hope my writing was bearable and i hope i made sense. RHJGHFJG but i also hope this new year will be good for everyone too. thanks again and love you all YAAAS

#xyz.log #myart

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gmanwhore · 9 months

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Sending this at like, 12 am because I can't sleep and I'm super proud of this, you can answer this ask whenever you please!!

Also I am so sorry for staying up later then I should have, I just had too much energy and couldn't sleep, thanks anti-depressants, really appreciate it/Sar. Anyways, love you so so much and I hope you had a good sleep and or day!!!! I love you a lot my little mantis!!!

I wrote a roleplay starter for my partner Ghost with an OC ship, Lilac x Reno, and a little context for their relationship: They're a bit of a toxic relationship, they broke up at some point, but they kept going back to one another, Lock is protective of Lilac which is why she's giving Reno the dirty look, also, yes, Lock plays electric guitar and sings in her free time, yippee, anyways, I wanted to show you the response because holy crap am I ever proud of it!!!

Also, yes, their dynamic is based around Ghost and Mine, which is why the song Bad Romance is heavily implied.

♡ 𝗕𝗔𝗗 𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 ¡! ♡

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷♡꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

⋆ ❱ He couldn't stay away from them. They were like an addiction and all Reno wanted to do was get high off of them. Off of their love. He couldn't get enough. They were a 𝑩𝒂𝒅 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆.

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷♡꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

⋆ ❱ Here he was, in his element, the music in the club blaring, people on the dance floor, dancing a little too close for comfort, people screaming over the music, crowds of people in the corners, the bartender talking it up with a hooker, people drunkenly slurring over their words and fighting, the lights flashing brightly, neon colors all around the club, but he only had his eye on one particular someone. He leaned back on the counter, smiling like a lovesick fool at them as they laughed and talked to their group of friends which consisted of Koi, Koju, and a few others. He swirled the whiskey in his cup and sighed, placing it on the counter and making his way over to Lilac, adjusting his undone suit, his baton lazily on his shoulder. He noticed Lock who was up on the stage, playing her guitar and singing, giving Reno a dirty look, causing Reno to cringe a little and hesitate to approach Lilac. He knew how rocky he and Lilac's relationship was and he really wanted to make amends, but Locks warning look wasn't helping him at all.

⋆ ❱ He sucked a deep breath in and exhaled, finally coming up behind Lilac and tapping them on the shoulder, putting on his famous cocky grin, leaning a little lazily to the side as he tilts his head to the side. However you could see a hint of nervousness in his eyes.

"Hey. Long time no see, huh?"

Ooooo, nice!

#also i love you too 💚🩷💚

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newleafover · 3 years

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YIPPEE!! And happy birthday eve, I definitely have a moodboard all set for ya, lmao--anyway, PROMPTS, I would love ennnnn-EEEE-thing Merlin, and I'm kind of the worst at prompts, so let's go with a classic fic trope, could be canon or AU (and for all I know, this already happened, I'm still in season one, help), but fake dating!!!

You are the best!! Fake dating ahead :)) sorry it takes place in like s4 so it might seem crazy to you? I hope you like it anyways!

Merlin’s not one hundred percent sure why he brought it up in the first place. Sometimes it’s hard to tell exactly why what comes out of his mouth comes out of his mouth. Is it flat-out self-flagellation? Aimlessly complaining because it’s one of the few powers he is able to exert over their shared space without giving everything away? Testing the waters of just how much Arthur understands what goes on between men sharing sheets--generally speaking, that is?

“It was sweet, the first couple of times,” Merlin goes on, as Arthur’s silence stretches on. Is he upset with him? Annoyed? Incapable of following what he’s talking about? Merlin will keep talking until they both figure out the purpose of this conversation. “But it’s every single time he gets drunk. I can’t get a word in edgewise without him sloshing onto my shoulder and offering, ‘If you ever change your mind,’ and then winking at me.”

Arthur is staring down at the same square inch of parchment he’s been staring at for five minutes, pretending to read but very clearly paying close attention to Merlin’s tale of Gwaine’s drunken propositions. Any minute now, he’s going to sigh and suggests that Merlin spend less time at the tavern if he wants to avoid Drunk Gwaine, and then actually start reading. Merlin’s almost one hundred percent sure of it. He can read the tension in Arthur’s shoulders like others read runes.

But even the most powerful sorcerers are wrong sometimes. “That is behavior unbefitting of a knight,” Arthur says, his jaw firm and twitching, and Merlin was not prepared for the weakness in his knees he gets sometimes when Arthur tries to act like Merlin needs his protection.

Merlin stops swooning just in time to realize he’s jumping to conclusions and might have to scramble to save Gwaine’s job. He looks up from where he’s making the bed. “When you say it’s unbefitting, do you mean the relentless persistence bit? Or the other bit?”

Surprisingly, Arthur has still not started ignoring him or telling him to shut up. His jaw twitches again. “What men do without coercion I have no quarrel with,” Arthur says, in much loftier words than Merlin has come to expect from their afternoon chats while working in the same room.

Merlin refuses to get his hopes up and believe that means that Arthur has ever willingly thought about two men together in anything but the most abstract way. “He’s not coercing me,” Merlin says, just to be extra clear that coercion would not need to be involved, that Merlin has frequently willingly thought about two men together in concrete ways. “It’s really actually very nice of him. He’s got it in his head that I need to get over an unrequited love, and thinks he can help.”

Arthur is now tossing an apple up in the air and catching it, apparently having given up on working. His jaw’s still twitching, though. “Who is this unrequited love?”

Merlin smiles. He has countless theories about why Arthur would feel compelled to ask such a question, but he’s almost certain that Arthur is unaware of all of them. “Oh, Gwaine’s convinced that I only fall for complete prats who’ll never be good enough for me,” Merlin half-answers. “He won’t rest until I demonstrate good taste in…” He trails off, because implying things instead of saying them out loud is how he gets through every day.

Arthur eats the apple and they don’t speak of it for the rest of the afternoon. Merlin smiles privately to himself, proud as ever to know that Arthur is now more likely to think about two men kissing than he was a couple of hours prior.

“Would a Crown Prince do?” Arthur asks cryptically the next morning, after Merlin has finished dressing him.

“Do what?”

Arthur rolls his eyes, as if Merlin’s the ridiculous one for not being able to keep up with a conversation that sprang from nowhere. “You can tell Gwaine you love someone who loves you back and that it’s the Crown Prince of Camelot. Surely that will convince him you’ve developed good taste in men.”

Merlin is holding out Arthur’s sword, and its weight might be the only thing keeping him from tipping over. He feels suddenly very dizzy and confused. He thinks he just heard Arthur offer to let the whole kingdom believe that he’s sleeping with his manservant.

Merlin manages to shut out the needy, ridiculous, and vulnerable thoughts rallying for his attention and focuses on one that’s easier to stomach. The one about Arthur’s infuriating obsession with self-sacrifice. It’s a horrible obsession. Gets them into so much trouble. Or rather, gets Arthur into so much trouble, which Merlin then has to get him out of. Merlin hates it. He’s also in love with it.

“He’d never believe me,” he hears himself say. It would probably be something like clever, if there had been any forethought behind it.

Arthur hasn’t taken the sword that Merlin is holding out for him. In fact, Arthur is on the other side of the room, counting keys on a ring, which means either that Arthur is putting off coming close to him, or that Merlin has lost track of their morning routine and is exhausting his arms extending the sword for no reason. Before he can decide which is the case, Arthur says, “We’ll make him believe it,” and Merlin’s thoughts turn swimmy for a long while after that.

Merlin can’t quite find a suitable objection to kissing Arthur.

Telling him he doesn’t need to make this sacrifice would only make Arthur more adamant about doing it.

Supporting Arthur’s alternative plan, which is telling Gwaine himself that he’s courting Merlin, is absolutely out of the question because there’s no way Gwaine wouldn’t use the opportunity to tell Arthur every mortifying detail of how pitifully in love with him Merlin has been for years.

Telling Arthur that he doesn’t want to do it because he’s in love with someone and it would be a betrayal won’t work either, because it will take Arthur only one or two follow-up questions to figure out that he is the one Merlin has been pitifully in love with for years.

The problem is that Merlin’s fairly sure that if he kisses Arthur, it will be obvious very quickly that he’s been pitifully in love with him for years.

But only one of those regrettable scenarios results in both a kiss and Gwaine finally, probably, shutting up, and so Merlin just hopes Arthur’s blind, stubborn stupidity will hold fast.

“Go and fetch Sir Gwaine,” Merlin hears Arthur say out the door to someone in the corridor.

When Arthur comes back into his chambers, all Merlin can look at is his mouth. His wide, pink, chapped mouth, which he has never kissed before. Which he will have kissed, after today. Which he will have to live with the memory of from now until the distant day in the future when Arthur will finally realize that they’re destined to be together, that Merlin has been his magical protector this whole time, that magic is good, and that he’s in love with Merlin, too.

“Right,” Arthur sighs, verbally steadying one or both of them as he steps to the middle of the room, where Merlin stands, waiting, staring at the gentle slope of the lips that won’t really be his to kiss for a long time still.

The silence between them as they stand is so heavy and breathless that Merlin loses track of time. They’d thought it out, guessed that it would take between four and fourteen minutes for Gwaine to be found and brought back to the royal chambers. That meant that at any time between four and fourteen minutes, if they heard the sounds of Gwaine approaching, they would have to start kissing.

Merlin suspects that four minutes have gone by, but he can’t be sure. There’s no sound of footsteps yet, and he doesn’t know why he hadn’t realized how stressful it would be once the four-minute mark passed, when they couldn’t do anything but wait, because they had to be ready to be caught kissing at a moment’s notice. Every single little flutter of the wind at the windows, every crash of armor down in the courtyard below, even the thundering beat of Merlin’s heart is loud enough to jolt him into thinking, This is it. Merlin’s chest flickers like so much unsteady flame, ready to be put out or fanned to life. Arthur’s shoulders twitch, falling like runes Merlin’s too preoccupied to read.

“What’s taking so long?” Arthur asks, in a voice so low it’s soft. He’s probably complaining out of irritation, but the words land sweetly on Merlin’s lips, as close to whispering as he ever gets.

“Patience is a virtue,” Merlin replies, managing to put on a smile and then finding it naturally takes over his entire face.

“Maybe there’s been some miscommunication.” Arthur looks antsy enough to burst out of his skin or start pacing violently around the room, but either of those options would endanger their plan, and no one could ever accuse Arthur of being undisciplined.

Merlin’s gaze has dropped to the open laces of Arthur’s shirt, where the skin is soft and warm with muscle, and dusted with fine hairs Merlin has felt by accident before, but never by intent to touch. He does not give a response, because he’s already forgotten what Arthur said.

The sound of footsteps echoes just outside the door. Merlin’s heart leaps into his throat. Arthur’s eyes fly open wide, and he steps even closer, but not so close that his image goes blurry, not so close that they’re touching with anything but their breath and the toes of their boots. Arthur’s eyes search his, looking for answers, or consent, possibly, but Merlin is too consumed by his consent to be able to communicate it. Merlin parts his lips leans in close, waits for the footsteps to slow down as they approach the door, breathes in the tang of Arthur’s breath, and—

The footsteps continue past the door and begin to fade.

Merlin’s heartbeat, in contrast, does not quiet in the least. He lets out a gulping sound that’s half-laughter, half-drowning, because Arthur’s staring at his mouth, as if he’s struggling with the frustrated anticipation as well, and it should be funny, or victorious, but it’s mostly just overwhelming. It’s one thing to know Arthur has committed to kissing him. It’s another thing to feel that commitment, to see it, to sense it like a tingling on his lips, in these brief moments before Arthur will inevitably realize that his commitment is not required just yet, because Gwaine has not yet arrived.

Merlin wishes Arthur would say something to break up the iced-over moment. He’s about to say something himself, but then another set of footsteps approaches. Merlin’s too overwhelmed to do a single thing, and Arthur doesn’t appear to be able to move, either. They might as well have been enchanted into stone, but for the flutter of pulse at the collar of Arthur’s shirt and the trembling hold of his breath beneath his sternum.

It feels like doom. Like fate. They’re going to just stand here, while Gwaine walks in and sees nothing they’d planned for him to see. They must just stand here, because if this set of footsteps is just like the last and simply fades away and isn’t Gwaine, then they can’t kiss, not yet, because then they would just be kissing, without prompt or time constraint or reason, without anything but the swift tumble of their pulses to drive them.

The second set of footsteps disappears into the distance. Merlin’s breath catches as he tries to brace himself for the agonizing prospect of yet another person coming who may or may not be Gwaine, since apparently this corridor has far more foot traffic than he ever realized.

But the hall is quiet, he thinks, for now, unless he’s deafened by the rush of blood in his ears, which isn’t quelled at all by the way Arthur’s looking at him.

His stomach twists and turns when the third set of footsteps starts outside the door, much too light and flighty to be Gwaine, but still, Merlin thinks, what if?, and still, Arthur huffs choppy breaths across his mouth.

Just as the light footsteps start to wander away, Arthur takes hold of Merlin’s face with both hands and drifts closer. Maybe he can’t stand the waiting any longer, either. Maybe he, too, is about to burst if something doesn’t change soon. These are the thoughts flying round Merlin’s head as he struggles to accept the image of Arthur coming ever closer, close enough that he appears blurry, close enough Merlin has to look down at the parted pink of his lips, then close enough he has to shut his eyes, because there’s no one at the door and no one in the hall, and who knows how long they’ll have to keep this up once it’s started, just to make sure Gwaine sees, whenever he does decide to show up.

Merlin sways, held steady by the warm hands at either side of his face, and then Arthur’s lips touch his, tasting every bit as pink, wide, and chapped as Merlin knows they look, but softer than he could ever have imagined.

This is going to be horrible to recover from. I’m not going to survive this, he thinks as he takes Arthur in, fitting their mouths together, pulling in drink after drink and lungful after lungful of him because he doesn’t think he’ll ever feel full.

There might be more footsteps in the hall after that. Merlin loses the ability to care. It takes a lot of focus to meet Arthur’s kisses eagerly and skillfully enough to maybe convince him that maybe they should do this more often, without also kissing him with all his magic, with all the world, with all the love he’s been harboring for years, just waiting for the right moment.

A door opens, somewhere at the edge of Merlin’s awareness. There are voices, but he can’t hear them. Eventually, the door shuts, and still, Arthur holds him close with an arm barred against his back, and with sweet gasping exhalations Merlin can’t resist tasting.

Eventually, Arthur pulls back to rest his forehead on Merlin’s, which is acceptable because Merlin can still taste his panting breaths and feel the clutch of his hand twisting the back of his shirt.

“He’s seen us, now,” Arthur murmurs, while Merlin watches the blurry, too-close but too-far-away shapes his swollen lips make. His stomach unravels itself when he sees how scraped raw his face is. He’s never seen Arthur like that. He’s never seen Arthur after he’s kissed a man. All this time Merlin has spent looking forward to a day of reckoning when he could kiss Arthur, and he never imagined what it would look like, after. All this time, and he never imagined Arthur thinking about kissing him.

“That’s nice,” Merlin says. His hands are tangled in the laces of Arthur’s shirt, and it’s nice.

Arthur’s eyes slide shut, and only flutter slightly when Merlin nudges his nose against his. “You can go back to pining for your unrequited love in peace.”

Merlin tastes the cracks in Arthur’s voice, weighs them on his tongue. “D’you know,” Merlin starts, trying to wait for the settle of Arthur’s shoulders under his palms to guide his fate, but then deciding it’s a waste of time. “I think it might be at least a little bit requited, after all?”

And maybe it’s no grand reckoning where Arthur realizes they’re destined to be together and sees Merlin for the good, powerful sorcerer that he is, but the way Arthur looks at him in that moment feels a lot like magic, all the same.

#my fic #drabbles #merlin #merthur #writing merlin POV was CRAZY #I loved it #how is this almost 3000 words long

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