fic: Merlin, Meet Merlin
Title: Merlin, Meet Merlin
Rating: G
Warnings/Spoilers: none, really
Summary: Future!fic in which Merlin and Arthur encounter the show
Arthur hears the door to their apartment open, and he knows it's Merlin, back from his weekly grocery run.
"Merlin!' he calls, snickering (just a bit), "Come here -- you've got to see this!"
"Hang on, Arthur, unless you want everything to spoil," Merlin returns good-naturedly, albeit with a hint of fond exasperation.
"Oh, alright. But hurry -- you really have got to see this!"
"Naturally, sire." Arthur hasn't been king since Camelot, but that doesn't stop Merlin from using his old titles to (none too gently, oftentimes) prod him away from his occasional prattishness. By now, it's become an old, understood reaffirmation of themselves in a rapidly changing world.
Merlin (he's actually Merlin, this 'life' -- sometimes he and Arthur like to poke fun at the unsuspecting world) finishes putting the groceries away and wanders over to Arthur, who's sitting on the couch in front of the television with what's almost the biggest, most ridiculous grin Merlin's ever seen on his face (the title is held by the expression he saw after an incident that Merlin prefers not to recall, thank you all the same) as he turns to look at Merlin.
His grin seems to grow bigger (Merlin knows it really can't.).
"Look, Merlin! It's us -- they've made a series about us back in Camelot! Although that does not look like Camelot in the slightest." Merlin agrees, but he won't tell Arthur that. "And even you can't say I was this much of a prat at first." Also true. "But do you want to know what's absolutely worst, Merlin?"
Merlin glances at the screen skeptically. It does indeed appear to be them, although the setting's all wrong.
"Do I?" Merlin asks, when Arthur finally looks like he's about to explode from the sheer audacity of the (terribly) heinous crime the producers have committed against Arthur's pride.
"They've made you the main character! And Morgana seems nice!" Merlin can only laugh. The affronted look on Arthur's face is priceless.
When at last he's controlled his laughter and is reasonably sure that Arthur won't smack him, Merlin flops onto the couch, settling his head into Arthur's lap. Arthur glares down at him, and Merlin smirks back cheekily.
They watch with growing indignation (and embarrassment, in some cases -- Merlin remembers with frightening clarity his all-too-frequent stints in the stocks, and Arthur is much less of a prat nowadays, really) and amusement as their counterparts, who don't look too terribly different from them, considering, generally wreak havoc onscreen, much like the original Arthur and (his loyal sidekick) Merlin did once upon a time.
By the end of the episode, they've grudgingly grown fond of the show, historically inaccurate though it may be ("I distinctly recall you being much worse of a manservant, Merlin" "That's only because I was a truly awe-inspiring sorcerer, and you couldn't reconcile Merlin the Horrid Manservant with Merlin the Magnificent Sorcerer, " and, "There's no way I was that oblivious about your magic or your pining after me." "Maybe that's because I wasn't quite that obvious, prat.").
They'll spend the rest of the evening reminiscing fondly about the good old days -- and Merlin's grocery run might be slightly earlier next week.
Rating: G
Warnings/Spoilers: none, really
Summary: Future!fic in which Merlin and Arthur encounter the show
Arthur hears the door to their apartment open, and he knows it's Merlin, back from his weekly grocery run.
"Merlin!' he calls, snickering (just a bit), "Come here -- you've got to see this!"
"Hang on, Arthur, unless you want everything to spoil," Merlin returns good-naturedly, albeit with a hint of fond exasperation.
"Oh, alright. But hurry -- you really have got to see this!"
"Naturally, sire." Arthur hasn't been king since Camelot, but that doesn't stop Merlin from using his old titles to (none too gently, oftentimes) prod him away from his occasional prattishness. By now, it's become an old, understood reaffirmation of themselves in a rapidly changing world.
Merlin (he's actually Merlin, this 'life' -- sometimes he and Arthur like to poke fun at the unsuspecting world) finishes putting the groceries away and wanders over to Arthur, who's sitting on the couch in front of the television with what's almost the biggest, most ridiculous grin Merlin's ever seen on his face (the title is held by the expression he saw after an incident that Merlin prefers not to recall, thank you all the same) as he turns to look at Merlin.
His grin seems to grow bigger (Merlin knows it really can't.).
"Look, Merlin! It's us -- they've made a series about us back in Camelot! Although that does not look like Camelot in the slightest." Merlin agrees, but he won't tell Arthur that. "And even you can't say I was this much of a prat at first." Also true. "But do you want to know what's absolutely worst, Merlin?"
Merlin glances at the screen skeptically. It does indeed appear to be them, although the setting's all wrong.
"Do I?" Merlin asks, when Arthur finally looks like he's about to explode from the sheer audacity of the (terribly) heinous crime the producers have committed against Arthur's pride.
"They've made you the main character! And Morgana seems nice!" Merlin can only laugh. The affronted look on Arthur's face is priceless.
When at last he's controlled his laughter and is reasonably sure that Arthur won't smack him, Merlin flops onto the couch, settling his head into Arthur's lap. Arthur glares down at him, and Merlin smirks back cheekily.
They watch with growing indignation (and embarrassment, in some cases -- Merlin remembers with frightening clarity his all-too-frequent stints in the stocks, and Arthur is much less of a prat nowadays, really) and amusement as their counterparts, who don't look too terribly different from them, considering, generally wreak havoc onscreen, much like the original Arthur and (his loyal sidekick) Merlin did once upon a time.
By the end of the episode, they've grudgingly grown fond of the show, historically inaccurate though it may be ("I distinctly recall you being much worse of a manservant, Merlin" "That's only because I was a truly awe-inspiring sorcerer, and you couldn't reconcile Merlin the Horrid Manservant with Merlin the Magnificent Sorcerer, " and, "There's no way I was that oblivious about your magic or your pining after me." "Maybe that's because I wasn't quite that obvious, prat.").
They'll spend the rest of the evening reminiscing fondly about the good old days -- and Merlin's grocery run might be slightly earlier next week.