Two Weeks Notice

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Fanfiction
Title: Two Weeks Notice
Author(s): Ras Elased
Date(s): 14 March 2009
Length: ~37,600
Genre: slash fanfiction, Modern AU
Fandom: Merlin
External Links: Two Weeks Notice (LiveJournal)
Two Weeks Notice (AO3)
Two Weeks Notice (audiobook)
Заявление Об Уходе (translation)
Заявление Об Уходе (translation, AO3)
translation cover by OrangeLusik

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Two Weeks Notice is a Merlin/Arthur AU by Ras Elased. It was written for reel_merlin round #1. The story was the winner in the category 'Best reel_merlin Fic' in the Spring 2009 Merlin/Arthur Fanfic Awards.

Summary: Arthur is a prattish Executive VP of the Pendragon Corporation with a disturbingly non-ironic love of demotivational posters. Merlin is a tree-hugging barista with a "magic" tongue. Morgana's a peeping Tom and her breasts have superpowers. Gwen and Lancelot get married. Owain is the company bicycle. Arthur attempts to steal Merlin's affections from Will through epic DDR combat. Merlin gets drunk a lot. There is a pillow fight, and a helicopter ride, and rooftop confessions, and Arthur decides Merlin really is his destiny, whether he likes it or not.

Jenna Corinth podficced the story[1] and cybel turned it into an audiobook.

Nadis translated Two Weeks Notice into Russian[2] for the Merlin Big Bang 2010.[3]

Coverart modeled after the movie poster by Ras Elased

Recs and Reviews

I love this fic; never seen the film. I found it again a couple of weeks ago on my iPod bookmarks and it was like finding a tenner in your jeans pocket which you didn't expect. There are funny posters, treehugging!Merlin, confused!Arthur and more scheming Morgana - because that's what she does. I like how Merlin's character stays true to his beliefs throughout. There's delicious angst where you end up on the verge of screaming at them to kiss and it's beautifully drawn out. *sigh* Just read it and enjoy.[4]

This fic is -really- funny. I mean, the posters are just perfect for Arthur – and for their relationship. It develops slowly, and makes you go through the journey with them, which is something I love. Also, did I mention the posters? Yeah, that good.

Rating:A[5]

I’ve read this fic before and I loved it to bits. Its got the right amount of angst, and adorable bits, and GOD the banter, and it was just all around amazing. But for reason.. for some dumb reason I decided to read it again last night and God, wow, big mistake. Because now, what used to be adorable and fluff overload became heart-wrenchingly painful I had to stop reading for an hour to stop myself from crying.

Because. Butterflies. GOD. BUTTERFLIES. Merlin is basically a part-time barista who also works/(volunteers?) in an organisation called UniKORN (short for United Kingdom Organization for the Restoration of Nature) and he and Lance are protesting against the Pendragon Org to stop building a shopping centre on a piece of land where the Mortius flower grows, and this flower is the only food source for a particular species of butterfly. basically, you kill all the flowers, the butterflies die of starvation. Merlin is fighting to save the butterflies. But oh oh, it doesn’t stop there. Because dumb Merlin built a fucking butterfly garden on Arthur’s rooftop, and it was supposed to be such an aw moment but it just hurts so much now. Because butterflies means something now, damn it.

Also, real quotes are embedded in the story and it just works perfectly. The only thing that… well, that kind of put me off is the fact that Will is Arthur’s mortal enemy. I dunno, I just love Will so much (maybe because I have a biased love for Joe Dempsie.. honestly, that little fuck just keeps on dying on his tv shows)

So go on! Read it, read it, read it![6]

This is such a wonderful, WONDERFUL fic. It's all a romantic movie cliches, but it fits so perfectly, it goes so smoothly, and the boys are so in character that it makes you feel that it's REALLY HAPPENING IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES. You want to push them into the right direction, you want them to kiss already, and what a sweet torture that is![7]

About the podfic

The reading is good, though there are some background noises, mostly because the recording's clean otherwise. The characters don't have distinct voices but it's clear nontheless at any point who's speaking and the reading's consistent. The Merlin/Arthur storyline's lovely and much of their canon engagement translates into the present and their different situation. The magic prohibition is updated into arguments over environmental concerns, and side characters (Morgana, Gwen, Lance) are likewise updated.[8]

References

  1. ^ Two Weeks Notice, 28 December 2010 (Accessed 15 January 2011)
  2. ^ "Заявление Об Уходе", Артур/Мерлин, NC-17, автор Ras Elased, перевод Nadis, AU, 02 October 2010. (Accessed 15 January 2011)
  3. ^ http://www.diary.ru/~merlinbb/
  4. ^ imnotatotalgeek. Merlin/Arthur Recs, 13 February 2011. (Accessed 20 August 2011)
  5. ^ "Nov 8, 2012 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2023-03-10.
  6. ^ "Dec 30, 2012 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2023-03-10.
  7. ^ "a perfect romantic fic". Archived from the original on 2023-03-10.
  8. ^ podcath in amplificathon. Amplirecathon 2011: Strange Professions, Unusual Identities, 14 March 2011. (Accessed 14 March 2011)