spam for merlin

[onceandfutureprat]

[Arthur stood in front of the Infirmary door for a moment before he straightened his shoulders and stepped inside. He'd spend the weekend with his ego, and that hadn't really gotten him anywhere except to the conclusion that he'd offended Merlin and that had to be set right. Because that was the right thing to do and it turned out that Arthur actually didn't like the feeling of Merlin being angry with him.

He looked around for a moment, not seeing anyone immediately.] "Merlin?"

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[takeyouapart]

Merlin made a slightly helpless gesture.

"I don't know. I could just - start with the week we met and keep talking."

[onceandfutureprat]

Arthur gestures back at him, like go ahead. "I have the time."

[takeyouapart]

So he stood there and started talking. About everything. As much as he could remember, anyway - everything wasn't a realistic proposition when it felt like he'd been using magic in Arthur's defence every other day for six years. It probably wasn't everything, and the further back he went the less likely it was to be in the right order, but it was everything important.

(Except Freya. He couldn't stand there and tell Arthur he'd mortally wounded his first love. If his magic could have made any difference she'd still be alive, anyway.)

It took a very, very long time to get to Morgana and Helios' conquest of Camelot, and the very last thing he could say was that he'd been able to save Gwen's life but not to prevent Morgana's escape.

[onceandfutureprat]

It wasn't exactly... pleasant to hear all of that. It was one thing to know that Merlin was behind perhaps everything he'd done in recent years, it was another to know the details of it. And yeah, Merlin had been the real hero in a lot of places and it sounded like if Merlin hadn't intervened, then Camelot would have been destroyed. His father would have died years ago. Who even knew where Morgana would be. Guinevere would've been lost to him and she was more precious than the kingdom when it came down to it.

Arthur had actually lost track of how many times he owed Merlin his own life while he had been talking.

He'd knighted men for a fraction of the things Merlin had done. But as far as he knew (and still believed) those same men didn't hide anything near what Merlin had. Arthur sighed quietly, staring at the sword in his lap. He hadn't thought to put it away the entire time Merlin had been talking.

Cast me away. There was no place in Camelot for lies of that size. His father had tried that, Morgana and Agravaine had as well and it made Arthur's skin crawl to think about building his kingdom on anything but truth and honor. Take me up. Though if anyone else had ever been so loyally dedicated to Arthur and his kingdom, the king was hard pressed to name them.

"... thank you, Merlin." Whether or not Arthur was thanking him for telling him or everything that he'd done, well. Arthur himself probably wouldn't be able to say.

[takeyouapart]

Merlin picked at the hems of his sleeves, focusing on the movement of his fingertips, and didn't make eye contact because then he'd have to talk and he didn't know what more he could say. He felt lighter, and in a while he'd consider it a weight off his shoulders, but in the moment he just felt hollow and bled dry.

He glanced up and across to where Artur was sitting.

"You're welcome, Arthur." And whether or not it was for telling him everything that he'd done, or for having done it, well...it didn't matter. It was just as true either way.

[onceandfutureprat]

Arthur nodded once before he stood up, sliding the sword back into its place on his belt. Well, that had been serious, and it was a talk that they probably needed to have months ago. And he felt like he need a few hours or weeks to really process all of it.

"You're still the most insolent servant I've ever met," he said after a moment. Like he had a quota when it came to seriousness and had to tease Merlin to relieve some of that tension.

[takeyouapart]

He smiled, still nervy but hopeful.

"You're still a bit of a prat, my lord."

[onceandfutureprat]

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Only a bit? I must be getting soft with you."

[takeyouapart]

"Oh, positively squishy. It's a nice change of pace."

[onceandfutureprat]

"At least you haven't started asking for hugs again."

[takeyouapart]

"Maybe next week."

[onceandfutureprat]

"I'll be sure to avoid you completely."