Fic - A Passage to Italy

Title: A Passage to Italy
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 51,102

Summary: College sweethearts while at Cambridge University, Merlin is in the Department of English studying the works of E.M. Forster. Arthur is studying economics, readying himself to take his place at Pendragon Holdings. After a bitter breakup, Arthur travels to Rome on business. When he isn't consumed with work, the setting invariably elicits thoughts of a happier time when he and Merlin were still together. Everywhere he looks, he sees Merlin, even in the faces of Bernini's angels on the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Are they truly over or can they somehow still find their happy ending?

Author's Note: I’ve been away from writing for a while and I never could have imagined what a fantastic experience this fest would be (or how long this fic would end up! Lol). I feel like I hit the jackpot having the talented Merlocked18 make art for this story. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Her work is truly breathtaking and inspiring. All I’d need to do is give a brief description of a future scene and it was like she pulled the images directly from my brain. You're the M to my A and this was a collaboration in every sense of the word. I couldn’t be happier with the result. So. Much. Gorgeous. Art! I also have Merlocked18 to thank for the title, which she off-handedly suggested in one of our initial conversations and which ended up sticking the entire way though. Additionally, part of her initial prompt is included in the summary.

Thank you also to my wonderful beta OnTheTurningAway who improved this story in so many ways, and especially for her suggestions about one particular scene, which made it infinitely better. It was joy having your comments in my doc again and having you there to hash out any issues. You’re the best! And thank you to my fabulous Brit picker Kate who scrubbed my Americanisms out and saved me from myself when I tried to be British-sounding on my own, and who also did a little betaing along the way. I appreciate all the time you took to answer my many questions. Finally, thank you to the mods of MerlinReverse for running this fest. I loved participating.

 

Story text on AO3.

The amazing art for this fic can be found here. Please show Merlocked18 some love!