For Your Information (Merlin story)

Fanfiction
Title:	For Your Information
Author(s):	reni-days
Date(s):	September 27, 2012
Length:	9846
Genre:	Crack
Fandom:	Merlin
External Links:	kinkme_merlin, archived on AO3
Podfic cover by Caitlin (2013)
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For Your Information is a Merlin fanfic by reni-days. The story is a Modern AU in which Arthur Pendragon comes out as gay to his father, Uther Pendragon, and Uther seeks Merlin's help in learning to accept his son. It focuses on the platonic relationship that develops between Merlin and Uther, and also includes Merlin/Arthur.

The story, along with the rest of reni-days's works, was taken down in 2016. In March 2015, the work had over 5,200 kudos, 2,100 booksmarks, and 65,000 hits on Archive of Our Own. The numbers at the time of deletion are unknown.

There is a podfic of the story by Ceebee, released March 2013: (Podfic) For Your Information

Contents

Summary: Merlin sighs. "After your...announcement," he explains, "your father decided he needed a bit more information. Which is apparently where I come in. I'm sort of like his gay tutor, it's hard to explain."

The Author's Notes thank sunsetmog, "who graciously agreed to do an aftermarket beta and britpick on this for me, despite this not even being her fandom." It also has warnings for "implied bigotry and homophobia."

The original prompt on kinkme-merlin was: Arthur/Merlin, modern AU. When Arthur comes out as gay to his father, Uther decides to be modern and reasonable about it. In his own way. As he doesn't know any gay men, he decides to befriend Merlin, his old friend Gaius' gay nephew and try to learn about the whole gay thing. It takes approximately two minutes before Uther decides that Merlin and Arthur are meant for each other and need to meet. I just want a scheming, embarrassingly obvious Uther, trying to matchmake Arthur and Merlin. Bonus points for him having imaginary discussions with Ygraine about this.

The notes state: "My apologies to the OP, as this fill fits the spirit of that prompt more than the letter of it. The response to this cracky little fic was truly overwhelming. A million thanks to everyone who commented on it at kmm - it was my first fill and my first (completed) Merlin fic, and I was very nervous about posting it, but you were all so kind. <3"

Reactions & Reviews

Tumblr user fanficovers created a fanfic cover edit for the story.

Okay, this just got posted on the kmm, and I hope the author will de-anon it eventually because it was brilliant. I laughed so so many time. The relationships between the characters were witty and dynamic and very well characterize. Uther’s helplessness and desire to understand, even though he was going at it in such a rude way, bordering on bigoted, was sort of endearing as well. Morgana was marvellous Arthur sweet, and Merlin’s POV delightful. I just had a really great time reading it.

This fabulous author had me laughing out loud, but the story's not ridiculous; told from Merlin's point of view, it focuses on Uther's stubborn quest to understand what it means to be gay so he can support Arthur. Several "Odd Couple" moments ensue as Uther and Merlin start to become something like friends. So much so, that Uther's convinced Merlin should date his son.

Uther's backward thinking, his attempts to learn and change, his bossiness, and his inability to cope with street vendor food, all combine to make him both hilariously out of his element and oddly sweet.

Merlin is terrific, offering sound advice, while never being afraid to confront Uther about his assumptions or his steam-rolling behavior. Since Uther is often Merlin's employer or other authority figure, it's refreshing to have Uther hold no power over him here, and to see how that dynamic benefits both of them.

Arthur is nicely flustered when he finds out about their meetings, and his interest in Merlin rounds out the story.

I REALLY love this story. I found it funny and heartwarming and have read it numerous times. I like that although Uther may not be thrilled with Arthur’s “lifestyle”, he is desperate to stay in his son’s life and so seeks out help to learn about everything. I also like how sassy Merlin was with him, and how their relationship with one another developed. I highly recommend you read this.

This was so fun to read. I loved Merlin’s sarcastic narration and his reactions to the whole Pendragon clan. I also really like Uther in this – he’s usually depicted as the bad guy, but in this, it shows him struggling to understand his son, albeit in a terribly bigoted and ignorant way. I loved Uther and Merlin’s interactions, which you don’t usually see. They both don’t hesitate to give each other attitude. It was fun seeing Uther, Arthur, and even Morgana all determined to get Merlin and Arthur together, despite Merlin’s resistance. It was very unlike any other fics that I’ve read, but it works. Very well done.

Very funny! Merlin and Uther were so wonderfully in character that I grinned through almost every part of their interactions. While Merlin was, delightfully, the focus, the other characters were well used and Arthur when he arrived on the scene was perfect. A brilliant read.

This is one of my favorite Merlin/Arthur coming out fics. One of the only fics where Uther is actually a semi decent person

The fic has a Goodreads page: For Your Information. It has 24 ratings and an average rating of 4.25 stars.

This is one of the first few fanfics I read that cemented my love for the Merlin/Arthur pairing. I would even recommend this to people who have never watched Merlin in their life because the characters themselves are just so endearing. Especially Uther.

I never thought I'd say this but Uther's a sweet cuddly grumpy bear. I mean, I still hate his hypocritical guts (in the canon) but somehow, somehow, the fanfic writer made him all likable. [...]

Fans turned to merlin_finders, a fic finder community after the fic was deleted.