What are your favorite Merthur fics? I’m always dying to find new ones because I feel like I’ve read them all!

Hi! Sorry about the delay for this. I know that feeling exactly. I’m going to plug my favourites here, but a lot are probably quite well known so apologies if you’ve read them all! (Also apologies if I’m not particularly up to date, I’ve been on a Les Mis kick for a while)

First of all, the classics, in case anyone new to the fandom is reading this, or in case I get messages saying I missed the obvious ones: The Student Prince by FayJay, Drastically Redefining Protocol by rageprufrock (which played out of my phone for half an hour in a silent library while I had headphones connected to my laptop and so didn’t hear… a piece of me died that day.), Ashes, Embers, Flames by unpossible, and Not in this Land Alone by torakowalski.

Next up is my shameless plug for Loaded March by Footloose which, if anyone knows anything about me, they know I love this series and rec it at every possible opportunity. To read me talk about it longer, go here. Otherwise head to the fic here. It is a mammoth series of sixteen parts totalling 1,261,720 words, and I can’t believe that it finished three and a half years ago, it feels like it was much more recently! There’s also 76k of Loaded March ExtrasWe Are All Diamonds, also by Footloose, is a masterpiece. It is the story of Merlin and Arthur meeting just after Arthur’s parents die because Arthur needs a translator for his big speech. Click on it, and thank me later.It also includes (yes, I’ve said it before and I will say it again) the most beautiful extended metaphor I’ve ever read in my entire life.

Paint the World Orange and Blue by ingberry podfic by fire_juggler is an absolute chicken soup read/listen. Merlin wrote a popular graphic novel, and Arthur is trying to adapt it into a film. It’s written so honestly and it just sucks you right into the world.

I know that we all already know that if in doubt, head to lady_ragnell, but I still need to specifically talk about But It’s A Good Refrain and Every Story is a Love Story. The former has Merlin as a radio host, who Arthur offends, then apologises to, and when Merlin accepts the apology on-air without saying who it’s from, the fans assume it’s a secret boyfriend. The latter has an Arthur who, as head of a romance publishing company, is so desensitised to romance that he doesn’t even notice the romcom he’s living.

The One Where Merlin and Arthur Attempt to Have a Tasteful Wedding and Spartacus and the Open Taxi Door by fuzzytomato are both wonderfully fluffy. The wedding one is 21k of wedding antics, and the latter is 8.6k of chicken soup fic.

Seven Magpies by syllic is the best Merlin-and-Arthur-switch fic I’ve come across. Arthur is transported to a land in which he serves Merlin, and magic is a part of life. Easy There by the same author is a great uni!AU in which the boys are rowers at Cambridge.

Fundamental Imperfection by Starlingthefool: in which Arthur and Merlin are authors who argue over Dickens ~hilarity ensues~

Catch Me a Catch by giselleslash is such a fun fic where Merlin uses his magic to be a matchmaker.

Defenders of the Realm is a modern!AU by lamardeuse and is absolutely amazing. However, it does has non-related Uther/Morgana in it (not my cup of tea, but didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the fic) so be aware of that if it’s something that squicks you out.

A Beacon in the Dark by ZairaA with art by crimsonswirls. I had the privilege of being a beta for ZairaA a while back, and the writing style is so beautiful. In this fic, magic users are persecuted, and when Arthur goes to takes on a murder case, the defendant turns out to be Merlin, his childhood friend who disappeared at sixteen.

I actually don’t remember what happens in In Your Name by Bohemia, but I remember reading it, and as soon as I saw the title, I felt a wave of emotions come over me, so my subconscious not only remembers it, but thoroughly recommends it!

Also: just a lil advert for the podficcer who got me into listening to podfic, lunchee. Her voice is amazingly suited for podfics, and I love them.

Hope at least one of these is one you haven’t read!

James and Lily Muggle au where James is on Lily's cousins soccer team and Lily and James are massively crushing on one another which her cousin isn't happy about

Summer isn’t really the perfect time to be suddenly without a single friend. In the movies and in the books, the girl always moves town right before the start of the year, and after being graciously accepted into a wonderful group of friends, she meets the love of her life. Lily is not this girl. Lily’s family had moved town exactly two weeks into her summer holidays, and since it’s too far a distance to travel, she’s currently stuck with only her older sister and the one cousin who happens to live in this town for company.

Andrew, her cousin, is really a very nice boy, whom she hasn’t seen since she was eleven years old. He’s very like her in appearance; green eyes, russet hair and a wide smile that one can never dislodge.

He’s very nice to her when she arrives. Petunia has already taken to ignoring her, and spends an awful lot of time in her room, decorating it. Which is fine by Lily, because they don’t have much to talk about anymore. So Andrew becomes her best friend, which is kind of sad, but Lily’s still hoping that this will change once she starts school in September.

Andrew brings her around the town and shows her shortcuts and the best places to buy coffee and the newsagent’s that she should give her custom, because it’s run by one of his mate’s parents.

They’ve been hanging around each other about two weeks, and Lily’s realized that she and Andrew have a lot in common. They like a lot of the same books and movies, and even if they haven’t seen much of each other, they always seem to find something to talk about. It’s around this time that Andrew brings up football. And that’s where the whole love of her life thing comes in.

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hi! since u mentioned it, what are your fave trc au's (not necessarily pynch)?

These are all going to be Pynch because I don’t really read for any other ship lmao. I already have an AU fic masterlist here so you should check that out first, but I haven’t updated it in ages so here are some more favorites!