𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎

#thinking once again about the restraint colin managed to convey in this scene#the way merlin chases arthur’s gaze to keep him with him. awake and joking.#the slight desperation to it that merlin is desperately trying to hide.#the way that when arthur slumps he cant seem to help but put his hand to arthur’s face.#as if by doing so he might hold onto him a little longer#the tender lip wobble. the way he tries to keep it contained even though arthur has already passed out. he’s not hiding it from arthur.#he’s trying to hold himself together for his own sake#the way it seems as though a natural end to this conversation is for merlin to gently kiss arthur’s brow.#how it seems like merlin almost does. but refrains#and the slightest stroke of his thumb against the face that is so dear to him that his hand is tender without him even bidding it so.#colin morgan#you genius (@unfortunatelymerlin)

every once in a while i remember that merlin and arthur had a soul bond with a telepathic link that was shown exactly twice only at the very beginning and the very end of the series and i go a little insane

arthur getting emotionally vulnerable only when there’s a crackling fire and no one else but merlin around