#top tier Gwaine moments!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

queerofthedagger · 8 months

Text

I went down an entirely unintended brainrot-rabbit hole today, so people might as well get something out of it; six quick and dirty oneshot recs, three for Arthur/Gwaine, and three with Merlin on top (ha), enjoy the chaos duo-slash-trio!

If All Else Fails, Lower Your Standards by giselleslash

[Arthur/Gwaine | E | 7k | Modern AU]

Somehow Arthur ended up Gwaine's full-time booty call, which was really rather annoying. Except when it wasn't.

This perfectly hits their dynamic on the head for me, and there is so much affection swinging between the lines that really is the crux of them for me; the way they will bitch at each other but really, they're in loveeee. Disgusting. <3

---

Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Dart to the Neck by Malu_3 (Grainne)

[Arthur/Gwaine | M | 4k | Canon]

A celebration of S3 Arthur and Gwaine, tweaked for shipping comfort and ease of use.

Both of their characters feel so true to themselves, and it's such an excellent take on their slowly developing season 3 dynamic. Not to mention that the pay-off is excellent, and Merlin deserves compensation for putting up with them. Top tier Arwaine dynamic.

---

Take Care (The Dart to the Heart Remix) by Polomonkey

[Arthur/Gwaine | G/A | 2.5k | Canon]

Arthur and Gwaine take care of Merlin whilst in Jarl's captivity. Merlin only wishes they would take care of each other too.

An excellent missing scene remix of the above fic featuring both buckets full of classical Arwaine tension, a dash of Merlin whump, and an outside POV on their specific brand of oblivious, pining fools.

---

With You I'm Warmest by LiGi

[Arthur/Gwaine/Merlin | T+ | 5k | Canon]

“It’s so c-c-cold,” Gwaine said rather unnecessarily after a few moments, when the freezing wind snatched at his hair again. He shuffled closer to the fire. But the fire and blankets seemed to be doing little to warm him and Merlin chewed his lip anxiously. They needed to get his temperature up higher, faster. “Arthur, take your clothes off.” “I really don’t think this is the time, Merlin,” the prince answered exasperatedly, shaking his head. “Body heat,” Merlin explained, already standing up to shuck his cloak and jacket off. The wind whipped the jacket from his hand. “It’s the fastest way to warm him back up.”

Hurt/Comfort, huddling for warmth, emotionally stunted but sweetheart Arthur, and a happy poly ending for all of them? Yeah. This entire fic feels like a warm blanket itself and single-handedly turned me into a whump!Gwaine fan I think, 10/10 no notes <3

---

All's Well by arthur_pendragon

[Arthur/Gwaine/Merlin | E | 1k | Canon]

Arthur and Gwaine, both hopelessly in unrequited love (or is it?) with Merlin, use each other to get off.

I'm such a sucker for this trope and it just works SO well for the three of them. The trio is mostly implied at the end but I actually liked it best that way, it's such a great snapshot of the dynamic between Arthur and Gwaine, what's missing and what isn't, with the 'fix' mostly left in the air because really, they probably don't know exactly, either.

---

Playing Dirty (orphaned)

[Arthur/Gwaine/Merlin | E | 2.5k | Modern]

Arthur's not a prude, but he does think the number of times he's walked in on his flatmates having at it probably qualifies them for some sort of general obscenity charge.

While this is mostly PWP, it just feels SO true to the dynamic of Merlin and Gwaine being little shits and entirely making it Arthur's problem. There's bets about who will get whom of quicker. It's excellent.

#bbcm #bbc merlin #arwaine #merwaine #arthur x gwaine x merlin #merlin fic #fic rec #i did not have 'spend 4 hours in the arwaine tag' on today's bingo card but here we are. sigh #enjoy <3 #merwainthur

105 notes · View notes

lit-in-thy-heart · 10 months

Note

what's your favourite fic that you've written? (Or, I suppose a scene from a fic that you're particularly proud of?) (although saying that so much of your fic is top tier ��🩵🩵)

hello anon!! this ask made me 🥺🥺, thank you so much for dropping it in my inbox <3

my favourite fic that i've written... this is actually more difficult than i thought, as there are some that were hell to write but i'm really pleased with how it turned out, and some that are not absolute masterpieces but i had so much fun writing them. and the one that's a mix of all of the above (as contradictory as it may seem) hasn't even been finished and posted yet lmao. i think, overall, my favourite that i've posted is we left the book of love signed in blood on every page, which looks at the breakdown of gwaine and merlin following lancelot's death. i enjoy writing angst like that and i also had fun with the sustained imagery

but in terms of a scene that i'm particularly proud of, the moment in bitter is the antidote where gwaine begins to relax around lancelot and both of them are pressed close to each other and reaching out to merlin is one that i'm quite proud of. the full scene is below the cut and i enjoyed trying to depict the hesitancy on both gwaine's and lancelot's parts. also i really like the line 'so he let his tea go cold and his shoulder grow numb' but i couldn't tell you exactly why

thanks for the ask anon, hope you have a wonderful day! 💜

Lancelot had one hand buried in Merlin’s hair again, twisting the short strands between his fingers, knees pressed against the bed. Hesitantly, Gwaine hovered on Lancelot’s left side before sinking down to the floor, one leg strewn out beneath the bed. His hand reached for the one Merlin had draped over the edge of the bed, taking it between his fingers and, upon receiving murmured permission, gingerly leaned against Lancelot’s leg. He was aware of the bone pressing into his shoulder, just as he was aware of Merlin’s grip tightening around him, but it didn’t scare him half as much as it should have done.

Never, never had Gwaine thought that he would be so close to two others when all three of them were conscious. Never had he thought he would be confronted with the knowledge of his best friend having magic, either, and Gwaine couldn’t help but wonder what other unexpected things fate had in store for him. He didn’t dare move, in case it all proved to be an illusion and the slightest twitch dispelled it. So he let his tea go cold and his shoulder grow numb, let his abdominal muscles ache with the effort of not allowing all of his weight to fall on Lancelot’s leg and his hand be manipulated by Merlin’s touch.

Merlin, assured by their physical presence, had closed his eyes and Gwaine took the opportunity to use his gaze to sketch out the angles of Merlin’s body in his mind, safe in the knowledge that Lancelot couldn’t see his face. Before, he’d been convinced that he’d successfully memorised each dip in Merlin’s form in the same way that he’d memorised the placement of his own gaping traps in woods over the years. He’d thought that he’d be able to sculpt Merlin flawlessly from ribbons of clouds and wind. But, as Merlin shifted and the tip of what looked like an old scar peered over the neck of his shirt, Gwaine realised just how wrong he’d been. It was a blessing that the hand not holding Merlin’s was engaged with a cold cup of tea because Gwaine could feel temptation running its fingers along his arm, leaving a trail that ended at Merlin’s chest.

The skin looked leathery, much like Merlin’s burned leg, and, if it had been fire… Just how many times had Merlin narrowly escaped the flames? How much of himself had he kept protected from Gwaine with a clumsy cut of material tied around his throat? Dropping his gaze to his right hand, Gwaine pushed one side of it into the bed, careful not to squash Merlin’s hand. He was one to talk.

Faintly aware of a subtle movement behind him, Gwaine rotated his head by several degrees, glancing over his shoulder and through his hair. Lancelot was no longer holding the cup in one hand – if Gwaine shifted his hip, he’d knock against it on the ground – and the hand was now hovering above Gwaine’s shoulder. Gwaine began to phrase a silent question but cut himself off as he reached an answer; it seemed that Lancelot was reluctant to place his hand in his own lap for fear of elbowing Gwaine in the head.

Returning to look straight ahead, Gwaine raised his left hand and took his little finger away from the cup, hooking it around the tip of Lancelot’s middle finger. Careful not to spill his drink, Gwaine slowly lowered his hand, taking Lancelot’s with him, until Lancelot’s palm met his shoulder. As Gwaine rested his own hand on his thigh, Lancelot made port with his thumb at the muscle between Gwaine’s shoulder and neck. It was then that Gwaine registered that, in leaning against Lancelot, his jacket had slipped a little off his shoulders and had dragged the neck of his shirt down with it.

Most of Lancelot’s hand was planted firmly over Gwaine’s shirt, his wrist grazing the collar of the jacket, but his thumb was on that muscle – a muscle bearing layers of tension that Gwaine hadn’t even been aware of – and his index finger was dangling over Gwaine’s collarbone. And then Lancelot began to sweep his thumb back and forth along that single muscle, collecting the tension in Gwaine’s shoulder like a bee picking up pollen, and Gwaine couldn’t hold himself up any longer.

#hey nonny nonny asks #honestly i was not expecting this ask and it was such a lovely surprise when i checked tumblr last night #(i was in the middle of a rewatch of go2 at half 11 at night so decided to save it for this morning)#for the record i am also proud of much of mortality clings to butterfly wings but i'm trying to appreciate my recent writing #as my brain has been telling me it's not as good as my writing from 2021 and yeah it's slightly different but that doesn't mean it's worse #i am very excited for the day when i finish a fic i started last year and post it bc it is frankly hilarious if i do say so myself #it's the first fic that actually feels like a comedy and it's just. silly.#it's a merwaincelot fairytale au based on a tale called the bear that was collected by andrew lang in the grey fairy book #but with some changes and more comedic value #anyway i'm aiming to get it done for au day for merwaincelot week 2023 #currently have 6 active wips and 4 of them are merwaincelot whoops #thanks again for the ask anon and for enabling me to ramble!!#lit talks #lit writes

4 notes · View notes

cinematicnomad · 3 years

Note

Ooo what's your favourite Merlin x Arthur moment? ❤️️🥰️

honestly i haven't watched merlin in s e v e r a l years but i guess two top tier moments have be in 4.02 when merlin tries to offer up his life for arthur's and is like "what's the life of a servant compared to that of a prince?" (this coming like...IMMEDIATELY on the heels of arthur just getting merlin back after thinking he was dead and being devastated) and then of course the entire 2 part finale.

like i haven't watched the show in years, but i DO watch the series finale like once every six months just to emotionally devastate myself a little

#ask #skylessnights #i dunno i'm just such a sucker for those moments where arthur is emotionally vulnerable with merlin #and merlin is as honest as he can be with arthur #other high points include when arthur goes with merlin to his home village to help out and they have that late night talk #or ooh the beach scene where merlin offers to drink the poison instead of arthur #or every time arthur risks his life for merlin #(also a top tier personal favorite episode is when arthur goes on his quest and merlin ropes in gwaine to help go after him)

3 notes · View notes

thegeminisage · 5 years

Text

on a lighter note 4.10 is probably one of my favorite episodes in the entire series...i did re-stan arthur for like ten minutes near the end...it was So Good. a cut because i talked for so long about how good it is:

first of all i love that the episode opens with everyone giving elyan shit not because i dislike elyan (i love him he does not deserve to be the butt of jokes) but because i like that as far as this group of guys goes their primary form of affection is roasting each other. that’s toxic masculinity! it’s also a little charming

when i first watched this episode i thought the reason arthur looked so spooked at the shrine was that it was spooky and potentially magic and he’s not down with magic. rewatching it now that i Know has me screaming into my hands!!! when he first catches sight of it he looks as though he’s seen a ghost and watching his slow creeping recognition is like. mm. really good. good stuff

(as an aside: i’m not talking about it: but if i was: merlin calling arthur nothing but sire during this ENTIRE EPISODE as a form of rebellion because he’s still pissed about gwen is a whole ass mood. i have never loved merlin so much as i did when he was gwen’s only friend and stuck up for her and stuck his neck out for her REPEATEDLY despite knowing it could cost him)

gwaine talking about salt circles made me nostalgic for a different show :’)

arthur with stew in his hair is what he deserves

i was VERY MAD AT HIM for this WHOLE EPISODE so when (possessed) elyan was trying to kill him i was all YEAH BABE CMON GO RIGHT FOR THE NECK but then arthur USED HIS FOOTSTOOL AS A SHIELD and effectively fought off an ARMED ATTACKER while TOTALLY WEAPONLESS. it’s so under-appreciated there aren’t even gifs of it (i know, i looked, i would kill for some). it’s one of the coolest fight scenes in this entire series despite only being 20 seconds long. my love for arthur pendragon returned with a vengeance and i had a good bit of difficulty shoving it back down

elyan’s buddies all tracking him down and tricking him into surrendering peacefully only for percival to punch him in the face to knock him out. GUUUYSSS come on

merlin like straight up weeping upon witnessing the BRUTAL GENOCIDE that “uther” committed there 20 years ago is like...jesus FUCKING christ. they went SO hard.

ok so do we all remember in 2.08 when arthur tried to kill his dad (changed my life......) in the throne room or dining room or wherever that is and uther would only block and not strike back because arthur’s rage was just and true?? WELL PARALLELS because now arthur’s the one blocking and not attacking and i know a lot of it is because he didn’t wanna hurt elyan but also in my heart it’s partially because that little kid’s beef with him was LEGIT!!! and i think part of him realized. we even had merlin running up there to put a stop to it and arthur begging him to stop because he didn’t wanna kill him

i think the plot twist at the end of this episode (that it’s arthur, NOT uther, who was responsible for the slaughter of children at the druid camp) was really good and it makes for a very interesting second watch. case in point: arthur’s face when merlin and gaius are explaining to him that the spirit seeks revenge and the only way to save elyan’s life is to atone. very haunting: merlin says that uther is dead, and he can never atone for what he did now. unspoken: arthur’s NOT dead, not yet, and he CAN.

also interesting: merlin’s attempts to comfort arthur fall flat. “you can’t be held responsible for everything your father did” gets a dark look and a quick dismissal. it’s because merlin doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about

it’s a REALLY interesting dynamic swap because usually merlin is the one keeping his secrets close while arthur unknowingly blunders around in the dark trying to guess at what he’s thinking...with this, it’s the other way around, and i gotta say, arthur’s poker face is MUCH better than merlin’s. when he stews on something he stews on it hard. none of merlin’s horsing around and playing the fool and barely scraping by with dumb luck for arthur: he’s a WALL. maybe this is just the arthur stan in me but it makes getting a look at what’s going on in there SO much more gratifying

i know how this sounds, but i almost wonder if arthur didn’t give merlin extra chores on purpose - the extra chores were why he was up so late, and why he saw arthur slipping out of the castle in a cloak...this is far from the first time merlin’s followed him, and far from the first time merlin would witness him totally losing his shit emotionally (2.08 babey), so maybe arthur was scared of going back by himself and didn’t know how to explain the whole thing and ask for the company because toxic masculinity, and it was easier to just set merlin up to do what he naturally does best: be a nosy little shit

evidence: he catches on to merlin’s tailing him VERY quickly (was he looking out for him?) and doesn’t seem at all surprised or angry that he’s there, nor does he order merlin to go back (his exact words are “feel free to go back to camelot anytime you like”) - if you watch very VERY carefully, you can also see his expression shift just a little after merlin states his intention to tag along - there’s just the barest hint of a smile

arthur looks SO SPOOKED walking back into this shrine. it’s so good. he gets real intense

merlin also sort of shifts his weight back after arthur confesses to his checkered past as a WAR CRIMINAL and like...wow

this dynamic. arthur is kind of afraid of magic and merlin is kind of afraid of arthur’s reaction to his magic. and when i say “kind of” what i mean is they’re scared shitless of each other despite trusting each other implicitly. it’s a lot for me. it’s my favorite dynamic in the entire world

i restanned arthur for this section because he was SO GOOD. he’s really actually quite scared of dying (in the opener for s4 he was really troubled by his supposed upcoming doom and in this he lowkey starts to hyperventilate when he thinks the druid kid is about to kill him) but he’s always jumping at the chance to lay down his life anyway - they say atone to save elyan, he fucking atones, even if he has to die for it

AAAAH his whole SPEECH he was YOUNG AND INEXPERIENCED he was TRYING TO PROVE HIMSELF TO HIS DAD he can STILL HEAR THE SCREAMS hes NEVER GONNA LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN god im gonna LOSE MY MIND

like i said aloud going into this “i am still so mad at him he better display some top-tier empathy if he wants out of the doghouse” BUT HE DID...MY BOY...

also i feel like this hug from this kid he GOT KILLED is maybe only the 8th time he’s ever been hugged in his whole entire life

am not a big fan of merlin giving him shit about his lil moment in the end but like also...maybe he was just trying to cheer him up...the way Men do...i hurt

anyway this is like the first sign we’ve seen since arthur’s coronation that maybe he isn’t going to be totally anti-magic like uther forever...the first sign we’ve seen that he truly is anti-genocide...it’s true atonement and it’s Good

and not to give the writers this much credit but in my heart the reason he was so adamant to save that little druid kid (mordred) in season 1?? was because of this, the dead druid children weighing on his conscience. also gives new weight to the very brief scene in i think the s3 finale where he held his sword to a druid kid’s neck in exchange for the cup of life, and maybe explains a little bit why he looked so fucking spooked in there. no they didn’t do it on purpose but why ignore something that’s so good even if it is accidental THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT

#personal #merlin blogging #the short version of this is that somehow i stan arthur more after they revealed he's a war criminal. fantastic #sometimes i even stan him very much against my will. horrible!!#liz's meta #liz's merlin stuff #liz makes stuff

11 notes · View notes