Fanfic: “Drastically Redefining Protocol” by Glitterati . [Arthur/Merlin, modern AU] . [N8]
“Drastically Redefining Protocol” by Glitterati/rageprufrock
Read first: 2009
Read second: 21.01.2010
Comments: I have been smiling like a lunatic all day long, don’t tell me how you have been basing your lunatic smiles on mine for years, I know, but today *I* felt I was smiling like a lunatic. A lunatic in love. Because this is what Drastically Redefining Protocol is: a story about falling headlong, irreparably, in love. And also about how essential it is for you to be true to yourself, to give it your all and your best and to take whatever risks you need to make sure you get to you because there’s no other way you get to be happy.
When I read DRP for the first time I was craving Merlin/Arthur fic set in the show’s timeframe and so it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, DRP, although it references canon well as an AU, is by no means the story of Prince Arthur and his wizard/manservant Merlin (although Merlin does have magical powers) but that of Prince Arthur (26 years old, having left behind his rebellious phase of drunken revelry) and almost a doctor Merlin Emrys (25 years old, longtime admirer of his Royal highness), who meet by accident when Arthur hides in a closet in the middle of visiting Merlin’s hospital and finds Merlin chain-smoking inside it and, to Merlin’s increasing incredulity, become more and more entangled by a series of accidental borrowings of objects of extreme sentimental value.
The ficlets and sequels set in this universe are well worth reading as well, I especially liked [huge spoilers for everything] the one where their son’s a seer and knows that the Merlin’s post-shag pictures getting out was no accident at all but planned by Arthur so he would get to keep Merlin, something at the same time born out of desperate love and desperately selfish*
Quotes:
*M* If he was not the prince Uther had wanted to raise, then at the very least Arthur was the man he'd wanted to become, and that was more than he had thought he would have.
*M* On the first floor again, they stood and stared a long time, silent and considering, at the deep, ugly crack that split the length of the concrete floor. Arthur thought about its name-Shibboleth-and then about the spontaneous creation of similar schools of thought, about the great and near-mystic coincidences, about how without any intention at all two things might happen independently and then fit like puzzle pieces when brought together-two people might happen independently-and felt very small and grateful for things he didn't quite have the courage yet to say out loud.
*M* Arthur's mouth went dry at that, his vision blurred. "I love him," he admitted, because he did, and if he had the courage to say it to his father maybe he'd have the courage to say it to Merlin soon-eventually-some day possibly before they died.
"You love him," Uther scoffed, lifting his head to catch Arthur's eyes.
Arthur did. It was too soon, and foolish, and it felt like the chemical rush of a first love, like teenaged fumblings and awkward kisses and searing happiness because you didn't know the consequences, and Arthur didn't exactly know how that worked when they were both old enough to know better, but clearly stupid enough to ignore it.
2010, 2010: merlin fic, merlin fic, fanfic-2010, fanfiction, @read in english, merlin fic: Arthur/Merlin, 2009, fanfic-2009, *fanfic-novella-2009, *fanfic-novella-2010, author: glitterati, merlin fic: recs, [quotes], [quotes] merlin, [quotes] fanfiction, 2009: merlin fic