Sorry I didn't post yesterday, my schedule recently changed, and some things unfortunately fell through the cracks. ><;

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Title: An Issue of Proper Protocol (Country Boys Are Shameless)
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Categories: Humor, PWP, Established Relationship
Length: Medium (~7,000 words)
Warnings: kink exploration, bondage, D/s themes

Author on LJ: skellerbvvt
Website: Merlin Fic Masterlist

Summary: Wherein Arthur is considering how one goes about asking one's manservant if he would like to be tied up, and said manservant is kind of depraved.

Review:
This fic hits so many of my kinks, it's not even funny. There is D/s, dorky Arthur/Merlin, sexually-inexperienced!Arthur, slutty!Merlin, copious amounts of fantasizing and snappy dialoge. Honestly, I'm not sure how I didn't find this fic sooner. skellerbvvt has a wonderful way with D/s and BDSM in her fic; she doesn't fall back on the cliched "super-controlled, emotionally-bereft dom" and "innocent, naive sub" dynamic in writing fic, while still making the sex super-hot and emotionally satisfying.
Arthur's oh-so-secret kink is wonderfully done, and I loved how unsure he is about how to suggest it to Merlin. There is a particularly memorable scene where he starts sewing padding onto a set of manacles to fit Merlin's wrists (being the sweet guy he is), and he has this thought:

"[...] it occurred to him he’d spent that last fortnight looking over the stitches in his clothing and tapestries and practicing on a stretch of cloth and that this had all gotten entirely out of hand, but he could either sew or actually ask Merlin if he wouldn’t mind stretching out on the bed naked so Arthur could play loose and free with his willing, powerless body.
Arthur went back to the manacles and the rabbit pelts."

skellerbvvt really ratchets up the tension and self-doubt in Arthur's narration, and when things come to a climax (literally and figuratively), you can see how much trust and affection is present in Arthur and Merlin's relationship.

An Issue of Proper Protocol (Country Boys Are Shameless)