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“It's beautiful out today, I wish you could take me upstate”
I’m envisioning Arthur by his desk but sat facing the window and Merlin stood next to him. It’s a slightly warm, yet still breezy summer day. It feels like a full day rather than the miserable winter ones that drag because it’s so dark. The day’s refreshing, the sun is bright and they’re looking out the window.
Gwen told Merlin about how on her date with Arthur she was taken aback because Arthur said he practically wanted to run away with Merlin. Get a bit of farmland and take Merlin with him. It shows how Arthur craves the freedom and lack of duty.
Merlin brought it up afterwards in a teasing manner and Arthur gets flustered and tells him to shut up. Merlin turns soft, yet serious for a moment and says he thinks it’s beautiful and he’d love to do something like that. Then starts the teasing manner again suddenly and says something stupid about responsibility and chores.
“To the little place you would tell me about, when you'd sense that I want to escape”
Ever since then, when Merlin can tell Arthur is tense or stressed or feeling insecure about not being enough or feeling insecure and thinking that he’s not being good enough for his people, Merlin will reassure him.
He’ll say what he usually says about being the greatest king Albion has ever known but he also brings up the farm and it evolves into a dream of a little house with a pond as well and other things.
Today is the kind of beautiful, warming day they imagine their haven would feel like every day. They’re both silently thinking of it in unison without saying anything.
“Texas is a landlocked state, it's a little bit far away from the water from the home that I've wanted to make”
Arthur suddenly speaks up and points a small area on the map on his desk. His ring is glinting and sun is filtering through his hair. Merlin thinks he looks so majestic.
Obviously it’s not actually Texas, but it’d be a small quiet area in the middle of nowhere. The water is referring to the pond in their shared daydream which is ‘the home’ Arthur has ‘wanted to make’.
“It's somehow in the city”
I imagine Arthur always wanted to know what it would be like to grow up around other people and be allowed to have friends and people who have things in common around him. I’d like to think he enjoys hearing stories of Ealdor and Merlin and Will growing up.
I don’t think it’d be a city. I think it’d be slightly isolated but within travel distance of a small town with few people.
“You make it there and you make it anywhere, anywhere”
Merlin’s devoted and undivided loyalty to Arthur. It shows how no matter where Arthur goes he believes Merlin would follow.
“But I've been anywhere and it's not what I want and I wanna be still with you”
Arthur believes it doesn’t matter actually matter where he goes because wherever he ends up the only thing that matters is Merlin by his side.
He knows he wouldn’t enjoy a peasant life long after growing with everything he could ever want,minus love and companionship which is why being with Merlin is so important to him. Because Merlin helps him experience what he didn’t have growing up.
“You keep your socks on in bed, keep our hearth warm”
I guess this is the domestic bliss of them living together, away from the rest of the world. It shows how Merlin cares for Arthur. It shows how Merlin is a warm person and protects Arthur from the cold.
“See the tree shadows lie in black the pools in the lawns”
It has a deeper meaning in the actual song. It’s describing life through poetry but in this case I’d like to think of it as Merlin and Arthur, yet again, envisioned their life away from reality.
“You're the breeze in my Austin nights”
It juxtaposes the “keep our hearth warm” line, yet it’s so beautiful. I think Austin is warm (i wouldn’t know, I’ve never been but I assume it is.) and it shows that Merlin in a refresher for Arthur when he’s caught up in the heat and responsibilities of life. Merlin is Arthur’s cold breeze in the blistering heat.
I’m thinking of writing this as a oneshot rather than an analysis. The song is called “Texas Reznikoff” By Mitski. 🫶🏼🫶🏼
SPOILERS!!! (for both MHA and Alice in Borderland)
I’m not one for crossovers BUT i desperately wanna write a oneshot where BKDK dies how Heiya (Akane) and Aguni do in Alice in Borderland. Except in a romantic way instead of it being a friendship.
Heiya, a teenage girl who was a complete bitch and acknowledged it and DIDN’T change.
Katsuki, a teenage boy who was a complete bitch and acknowledged it and DIDN’T change (until later on obviously).
She got thrown into Borderland and had to survive hell physically.
He was suffering with a quiet inferiority complex - surviving hell mentally.
She knew she was a bad person and thought she was paying for her mistakes in boiling death.
Katsuki believed he was a bad person in UA, in my opinion. He knew he’d never be as good as Izuku and would never be able to catch up. His admiration turned into jealousy and rage in middle school. I think him throwing himself into Izuku so Shigaraki would stab him instead was him attempting to start atoning for his mistakes and for bullying Izuku and starting to show he does care for him, yet even after he still didn’t believe he was worthy of Izuku’s forgiveness because of his overgrown inferiority complex. He also blamed himself for All Might’s death because he was insecure.
Heiya lost her leg, barely escaping death.
Katsuki sacrificed himself twice to prove himself, still thinking he wasn’t good enough after.
Her leg became infected and needed medical attention - a doctor promised her it in exchange for her body. She didn’t want to die and accepted.
This one is not a comparison to Heiya getting raped. It is a comparison to needing medical attention and im making that clear now. They were ‘in dire need’ of Katsuki’s firepower on the battlefield, Best Jeanist had said. Upon seeing Katsuki crying on the battle field, injured, Best Jeanist came up to him and told him “let me stitch you up” and “we can handle the rest ourselves”. Katsuki ignored it and was muttering Shigaraki’s patterns/ how to attack even while injured. Best Jeanist was shocked at how he was still fighting. Before Katsuki attacked he said, “use your first aid on the others” as if it would BE WASTED ON HIM and attacked shigaraki while bleeding out. 💔💔💔💔
Just like Heiya, he did what he had to do to achieve what he wanted. Their resilience is unmatchable.
Heiya had been shot all along her spine and in multiple other places. Yet she still, in the end, dragged herself to be by Aguni’s side. I think it really portrayed their amazing bond. In the similar way when Katsuki sacrificed himself, his final thoughts and memories were of Izuku and wanting to catch up to him.
Heiya bringing herself to Aguni when she, in reality, should have been dead, showed her extreme will to live. And despite the fact that Katsuki sacrificed himself to save people and win, him saying that he’d “break” himself shows his ambition and perseverance in the same manner i think.
Heiya and Aguni worked together (with the others obviously) to stop the King of Spades and alone in the forest in the same way Katsuki and Izuku work together (with the rest of the heroes obviously) to stop Shigaraki and AFO. Katsuki and Izuku also have a good fighting dynamic (e.g. the Heroes Rising Movie AND SO MUCH MORE.) and so do Aguni and Heiya (they survived the woods together).
I only have one kind of parallel for Izuku and Aguni as they are very different.
Aguni cared so much about his best friend he executed hundreds of people. He hated how corrupted the beach made Takeru (The Hatter) and blamed everyone there; it was wrong to kill all those people yet he did it anyway. He felt guilty for it, of course, but he still operated it.
IMO, Izuku is feral over Katsuki. He saw Katsuki’s dead body and blackwhip basically started choking himself from how much emotion he was feeling. He lost control when he saw Katsuki hurt in the same way Aguni lost his sense of self when he was pushed to/ felt guilt for killing Takeru. I feel like Izuku would definitely kill for Katsuki; going against his own morals. I don’t believe anything would’ve pushed Aguni to murder someone if it wasn’t for the fact it changed or hurt someone he loved, he was a caring person on the inside. This one isn’t talking about how Aguni and Heiya’s friendship but it’s a good comparison between Izuku and Aguni. Even with their opposite personalities.
There are definitely more severe differences than similarities. A lot of the parallels i made were definitely a reach but honestly idc i just think it’d be good angst and would probably write it even if Heiya and Aguni had killed each other (which they wouldn’t but still - it’s a really good death scene is my point).
Anyway a lot of these parallels are really lame, make no sense, probably shouldn’t have been made because one definitely outweighs the other. but idc but it’s fun!!!
i’ve never posted anything, ever. but i have a headcanon so…
OKAY this might have already been written in the vestiges and nooks of the never-dying, long-suffering BBC’s Merlin fandom. And it has definitely been thought but
Arthur heals a lot faster than others - whether it’s from sickness or minor wounds and injuries. Merlin canonically SUCKS at healing spells but tries to do what he can when he sees Arthur wounded and he’s like helping him change and stuff or putting gauze on it.
Also im a strong believer in the fact that Merlin is Emrys and has an insane, unlimited supply of magic so he could definitely learn healing spells. I’d think at some point he’d start learning them to heal Arthur faster but in a way that it wasn’t suspicious, not like “oh i had a massive scar cut into my arm and now it’s suddenly gone” but more like “huh that healed quicker than i thought it would”
Also I’d like to think Leon notices that Arthur heals quicker but doesn’t comment on it.