Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Categories: angst
Length: Medium (~10,000 words)
Warnings:
Author on LJ:
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Website: n/a
Review:
When Arthur runs afoul of a water creature that lures men to their deaths, Merlin intervenes. Unfortunately, this does not work quite as well as planned.
In most Aliens Made Them Do It type stories, the dubcon nature of the sex is usually smoothed over or completely ignored, because either the characters were already secretly in love, powerful aphrodisiacs were used, and/or because they were already being intimate. And that's fine -- given a choice between dubcon or not having dubcon, I'll usually pick the latter. That said, it's nice to occasionally read a fic that really considers what it means to have two people forced to have sex. It's not all roses and rainbows.
I do have to say that the ending to this fic is a bit rushed, but that's a minor quibble next to the fascinating exploration of Arthur's psyche as he is betrayed by his own body. An excellent fic for anyone interested in the darker side of Aliens Made Them Do It fic.
By Strength and Virtue
Comments
Um...the link goes to a Trek fic...
It would have been nice to see the bondage issue fleshed out a bit more though, as most reasons for bondage bother me a bit usually but this felt very natural. I do rather wonder why "must have sex" fics tend to have very strict ideas about sex meaning penetration and that only one of the pair is usually ever the catcher.
Ah well, as you say, small quibbles and perhaps just personal preference in the last bit.