cannibalcrow
Fandoms
- Merlin (TV) (6)
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Summary
Merlin wakes to the sound of his wooden, frail bedroom door creaking open. Through his tired eyes he watches a figure slip past the threshold–familiar but worrying for this isn’t something that they have done before–and shut the door with a gentle click, so as to not wake his mentor on the other side of it.
“Arthur?” Merlin sits up in his bed, his thin blanket pooling around his waist. The moon shines in from the small window near the ceiling, helping the adjustment of his vision to the darkness. He hopes the redness leftover from his earlier crying isn’t obvious with the streak of moonlight entering through his window. “What are you doing here? Is something the matter?”
“No,” Arthur answers, voice wavering on something that tells Merlin the opposite, “nothing important.”
Merlin frowns. Because yes, it is important if it’s the reason for his weighed down shoulders, the furrow on his forehead, the vulnerability shining through his distant eyes.
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my subconscious savior, i look to you to see the truth by cannibalcrow
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
21 Nov 2025
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Summary
“Hey, Arthur.”
Merlin's voice comes across shaky, quiet but also relieved. Arthur sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, concern ebbing into his mind. “What time is it? Are you okay?”
“No–yeah, I’m…I’m okay. I'm sorry, I know it’s late or, well, early I guess. I just,” he sighs tiredly, “I don’t know.”
It’s not hard for Arthur to wake up fully, sitting up in bed like it’s routine. He knows when Merlin calls him at such hours it’s because he’s in need of something. And whatever that thing is, Arthur will give it to him. But something is different this time; it’s his voice, Arthur thinks, there’s something lurking in it that further feeds his concern.
Or
When Merlin is struggling mentally, he calls Arthur, opening a door to the light that's been shining underneath.
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Summary
“A’thur?” Merlin mumbles, eyes slipping open to reveal a blue that mixes perfectly with the silver light filtering the bedroom.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you,” Arthur whispers.
“It’s alright,” Merlin mumbles. He quickly awakens, thoughts rather than tiredness tumbling in his eyes. Merlin stares and Arthur lets him, knows what will come out of it; the reminder that he has someone who knows him, every real and pure inch, every ugly and mean part. The trace of Merlin's focus presents itself on Arthur's body like a brush on a canvas. It’s smooth and all encompassing, bristles only meant to color a plain background, to bring life to it.
When Merlin speaks again his voice is wise and somewhere amused, fond. “Has your mind sneaked up on your mood again?"
Their forearms lay next to one another in the small space that separates them, their fingers brushing together but not yet tangled. Arthur keeps his eyes pointed on them when he answers. “You know me far too well, Merlin. Have you any idiocy anymore?”
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When Arthur is struggling in his own mind, he seeks out Merlin, who brings him back to himself.
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i'm envisioning all kinds of things (i wanna do right by you) by cannibalcrow
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
06 Nov 2025
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Summary
He turns full bodied towards Merlin and without hesitation pulls him in. His arms wind around Merlin's back, one hand laying lightly on the nape of his neck. Merlin has yet to hug him back, body frozen still against Arthur's. Uncertainty begins to creep against Arthur’s confidence but is soon killed when Merlin arms desperately circle his waist, hands clinging tightly to Arthur's tunic, inadvertently but amazingly pulling them closer together. Arthur brings the hand on his nape up to cradle the back of Merlin's head. “Never change, please, Merlin. I need you to always be you. For my sake.”
“‘Course, Arthur,” he mummers, breath hot against Arthur's neck. Smiling, Arthur goes to pull back from the hug.
“No, wait.” Merlin tightens his grip on him, not allowing himself to be released yet. “I’ll never change on one condition.”
Arthur sighs fondly but relents, twinning his arms around Merlin again. “And what is that?”
or
Arthur opens up to Merlin, leading to further and very much awaited admissions.
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Summary
“Won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” Arthur's breath is warm on his neck, something that could be a beautiful feeling in any other moment than this.
“Nothing is wrong,” he says. He still has the tunic in his hands but he can’t say he's actually mending it anymore, just staring down at it, praying that Arthur drops his inquiry. His love for Arthur is one thing that he truly can call his own—not something messed with by destiny, implemented by fate, just him—and he swore that he would never give that part of himself up to anyone. But especially to Arthur. He couldn’t stand it, laying himself bare for nothing to come of it.
“I know you’re lying. And I think I know what’s wrong.”
A wave of cold, pulsing dread creeps across Merlin's skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. He wants to cower and hide, blanket himself in an isolated place, far away from his heart–the real, bleeding one and Arthur.
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Merlin and Arthur declare their love to one another but they have to come to terms with what can be of it.