Curate, connect, and discover
hear me out:
Arthur is a rich bachelor who owns a farm
Merlin is his farm hand who lives in the local town
He’s been working for Arthur for 3 years- they got off on the wrong foot by insulting each other but since then have become close friends (not that either of them would admit it)
Morgana secretly signs Arthur up to the TV show Farmer Wants a Wife
Arthur has to host 4 beautiful women on his farm and take them on dates (and everything is being filmed)
Arthur starts to realise he misses Merlin- that he would rather be mucking out the stables with him, than on a boring picnic date
Maybe he kisses one of the women and realises he’s not attracted to her and he’s like Oh Shit: Sexuality Crisis
Of course some fun banter between Merlin and Arthur around the farm when they’ve stopped filming for the day- Merlin teases Arthur about the whole Wife thing
Maybe one of the women is Gwen and she Notices how much Arthur talks about Merlin, and she Notices how awful it was when Arthur kissed her, and she puts the pieces together
Maybe Arthur and Gwen become close as friends, and at some point he confides in her (off camera) and she’s like “I know.”
MAYBE ALL THE GIRLS HAVE INDEPENDENTLY FIGURED IT OUT- and they compare notes “yeah, he was SUCH a bad kisser” “definitely gay for his farm hand” AND THEY WORK TOGETHER TO COME UP WITH A PLAN TO GET ARTHUR AND MERLIN TOGETHER
Arthur doesn’t know what’s going on, but the girls keep calling in “sick” and he keeps ending up on romantic dates with Merlin???
Don’t really know how to end this, but of course they end up together, Arthur’s a good kisser when it’s Merlin he’s kissing, he remains good friends with Gwen and the girls, and they make television history
(Edit: I started writing it. Stay tuned)
(Edit: chapter one is up- read it here)
Merlin (talking about gay marriage): “it’s legal now”
Arthur (thinking he means sorcery)
*cue a bunch of hilarious miscommunications*
do you guys think merlin and arthur knows its legal now
concept: Arthur dies at Camlann and Merlin’s magic goes feral and resurrects him right then and there. like, he doesn’t heal him, Arthur is actually dead and Merlin is just like “nope” and bends the laws of life and death for him.
and what if Arthur comes back changed? like maybe he takes something back with him (an ability, some sort of magic?) and Merlin has to help him adjust
I’m sure there are probably fics like this- please drop any recs!
Arthur has a minor magical ability: he can hear people’s thoughts when he touches them (unluckily for him, he never learned to control it so he gets this overwhelming and painful rush of thoughts whenever he touches someone… but as the crown prince he can usually avoid touching people and he always wears gloves).
BUT THEN he meets Merlin, his sassy and clumsy manservant. He doesn’t let Merlin dress him at first, too scared of the barrage of thoughts/feelings/memories/emotions. But one day Merlin trips and Arthur instinctively catches him, accidentally brushing his skin. He braces himself for a loud flood of Merlin’s thoughts, but instead all Arthur can sense is just a 'wall' and he can’t hear anything beyond it. So he starts becoming super handsy with Merlin to try and figure out why Merlin is different. Arthur has never had to wonder what someone was thinking before, but Merlin is a complete mystery to him.
Cue: Arthur watching Merlin closely to learn his mannerisms and facial expressions, Arthur asking Merlin about his life back in Ealdor, Arthur falling in love in the process.
BUT LIKE ALSO Arthur is touch-starved because of his gift, and suddenly Merlin is the one person he can touch without being completely overwhelmed with their toughts, and Arthur takes every excuse to manhandle touch Merlin because he's never been able to be physically affectionate before.