Archived fic - The Student Prince

[sakura_no_miko]

Title: The Student Prince

Author: FayJay

Fandom: Merlin

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Lancelot, previous Merlin/other, Arthur/other

Warnings: explicit sex (gay), homophobic language, bullying, and the aftermath of a violent gay bashing, drunken shenanigans, angst

Other notes: modern day AU, royalty, university, coming out, magic, reincarnation

Length: 145k

Summary: A Modern day Merlin AU set at the University of St Andrews, featuring teetotal kickboxers, secret wizards, magnificent bodyguards of various genders, irate fairies, imprisoned dragons, crumbling gothic architecture, arrogant princes, adorable engineering students, stolen gold, magical doorways, attempted assassination, drunken students, shaving foam fights, embarrassing mornings after, The Hammer Dance, duty, responsibility, friendship and true love…

 

I’d had it in the back of my head to rec a couple of the modern day Prince Arthur fics I’d read, but they were both pretty long and I ended up putting them off much longer than I expected.

So, a bit back I was poking the Sherlock rant community, and someone had left a complaint about how they really didn’t like Performance in a Leading Role, which is a fic I really enjoyed. Someone else replied that it might have to do with people feeling a sense of ‘wish fulfillment,’ particularly from the big coming out scene.

This fic ends with a very similar scene, so I couldn’t help but compare the two. Of the two fics I’m rec'cing, I remembered this one being a bit more light-hearted, a bit more fantastic, while Drastically Redefining Protocol was a bit more dramatic and serious. Re-reading this one, I feel like it’s a little bit scattershot. I can kind of tell it was a story the author wrote week-by-week. A lot of events happen. Not of all them really go anywhere.

I like the overall idea, though–I like how there’s a magical underground to this prestigious university. I like how the author re-interprets some of the Merlin episode plots. (I think Kilgharrah’s new body is quite hilarious). I like how the conversations are incredibly strange and yet sound like the kinds of conversations I’ve had with friends (drunk or not). And, to some extent, it does reflect the wild life some people have at college. Still, I find this to be a fic where I enjoyed certain scenes, but as a whole, it felt like it could use a bit of editing. Some parts seemed to be going a little more for crack and humor, others were deadly serious and dramatic, and they didn’t always match up for me.

To go back to the coming out scenes, though–they’re definitely different. Both stories have a high-profile man coming out publicly in a dramatic fashion. Arthur does it after remaining silent after a gay bashing; Sherlock and John come out after the stress of closeting themselves from the paparazzi and pretending to date women makes Sherlock lash out. Both of them put a big emphasis on the public fallout afterward, positive and negative. And, yeah, I’m not gonna lie–there is some sense of satisfaction, of glee, at seeing something like that portrayed, and having it have a happy ending afterward.

I’m having a hard time really getting a firm opinion here. The story never dragged, really. The detail of university life was quite well done–though, admittedly, I’m not familiar with the UK university system, so whether those details are true is a bit beyond my ken. I just feel like it wasn’t entirely polished. It felt like a week-by-week story, rather than one where the plot was planned in advance. That’s not a bad thing, by any means–it’s closer to a tv show than a book–it’s just something that occasionally felt a bit jarring.

Looking for more fic recs?

Originally posted on tumblr on 02/21/13