Chapter Text
Prologue
In a land of myth, and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy… Only, no one knew this particular magical baby was a boy, at first, which rather complicated the finding of baby Emrys. For a while, the druids rather frantically searched among other, exceptionally incorrect, babies for the prophesied boy wizard, and it took several years before they were able to figure it all out. They figured it out eventually, though, and were quite confident once they finally declared Merlin the official Camelot shouldering sorcerer.
Tiwasday, the 4th of October, 522
Will’s eyes traced slowly along the curves of Merlin’s body as he got dressed, pausing to watch Merlin lace the two sides of his undershirt tighter, and tighter.
“Why bother with all that? If you can change it with magic, I mean.”
“It’s just a backup,” Merlin explained, casting a soft glance and warm smile over his shoulder at Will before bringing his attention back to the mirror. “In case anything happens, I like to make sure I look as close to the same as possible without the magic.”
“In case what kind of anything happens? Do you go around falling unconscious a lot when I’m not looking?”
“Aren't you always looking?” Merlin teased, before adding, “it’s not really in case of anything, I just want to look as much like myself as possible. So,I keep my hair the same, I build the muscles, I wear the undershirt, and I only make subtle changes to my face no one but you and my mother would ever even notice… in case. ”
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It had seemed foolproof, back in Ealdor. Merlin had known who he was young enough that he’d been able to grow into his system without anyone really knowing. He changed little enough about his appearance with magic that someone would need to be exceptionally close, and pay exceptional attention to his face and general appearance to ever notice a change,even if the magic did fail him someday, somehow.
Later that month, when Merlin’s mother sent him to Camelot, it seemed his secret was even safer. In Camelot he was going to be even more of a nobody, a physician's apprentice. Who would pay that close attention to a nobody ? Who in Camelot could possibly know his face well enough to notice the subtle changes if he was somehow rendered unconscious?
To Merlin’s credit, Arthur didn't notice the first few times. They’d actually known each other well over a year when the inevitable day finally came.
Frigsday, the 29th of Martius, 524
Arthur burst into Gaius’s workshop, carrying Merlin, unconscious, in his arms. The storm raging inside him entirely overshadowed the practically apocalyptic storm of rain and lightning outside.
“He’s been stabbed. Poisoned, I think,” Arthur declared, panic beginning to creep into his voice as he neared the end of the clear series of actions he’d known he had to take to save Merlin. Action had always been easy for Arthur. The rest… not so much.
Gaius indicated Merlin’s room with a slight nod and a serious eyebrow, as he sprung into action and gathered the necessary medical supplies. Arthur followed the direction. Once he’d laid Merlin down he removed his shirt and cut the bottom of his undershirt to expose the quickly festering stab wound on his side. Then, he sat back, perched in worry but letting Gaius work.
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“I don’t think anyone else saw…” Arthur said, once Merlin seemed relatively stable, partly to Gaius, and partly to the empty space in front of him just to process the shock. “Anything interesting I mean, anything…” He sighed heavily before adding, “my father can never know about this.”
Gaius nodded, solemnly. “Not if you want Merlin to live, no,” he answered after a long pause.
It was a testament to Gaius’s character that he didn’t bother to mention his own life also hung in the balance. Gaius had chosen to be so entirely devoted to Merlin’s care and protection since Hunith had sent the young sorcerer to him that his own part in the equation had long since lost all relevance.
Arthur was acutely aware that he’d just made a very similar choice by bringing Merlin to Gaius for treatment, by choosing this of all possible paths. And yet, he couldn’t regret it, regardless of the legal and filial weight of his choice.
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Arthur sat with Merlin until dawn broke over Camelot, never sleeping, but he could stay no longer. For one thing, his duty as a prince had to come first, despite his world altering decision. For another, if he was absent much longer it would cause a panic, and a panic would bring nothing but pain down on Merlin and Gaius.
“If he wakes…when he wakes,”Arthur started, as he bid Gaius goodbye--but he couldn’t bring himself to actually form the feelings into words. Instead, he let out a sigh and settled on “I’ll have a list of duties ready for him, when he’s well.”
Sunanday, the 7th of Aprilis, 524
“Are you seriously mad at me?” Arthur burst in to Gaius' workshop, already tearing into the argument. He was honestly relieved that Merlin was inside--it would have been awkward if his assumption had been wrong and he’d just started a random argument with Gaius.
Merlin looked up from where he was shining a set of Arthur’s boots, manually. “Sire?”
“Don’t sire me, Merlin,” Arthur seethed, grabbing Merlin by the collar as he walked by and pulling him bodily into his room, leaving Gaius in the workshop with a raised brow.
“After everything I did for you, everything I decided,” Arthur continued with a force that really undermined the privacy of the door, finally releasing Merlin’s shirt. “After everything, you get better and you start, start--I leave lists of tasks and the tasks get done. I wake up and my breakfast is there. Everything’s shined and buffed. I didn’t even ask you to muck out my horses and the stable was clean when I got there and now you sire me?”
“I was trying to show you how grateful I am, you idiot . I figured it would be awkward for you after everything so I kept out of your way but I did everything as a thank you . Are you saying I’m only good at my job when I’m mad at you?”
“You are only good at your job when you’re mad at me--usually. Wait, you were” Arthur’s voice suddenly dropped to a reasonable talking volume before he continued. “You were trying to thank me?”
Merlin searched Arthur’s eyes, trying to decide if he was being a sweetheart or an idiot. “Of course, Arthur. In the course of one night you discovered two of my greatest secrets, things only three other people in all of Albion know and you decided to keep that and save my life. I’ve never been so grateful for anything.”
“Two of? What else could there possibly be?”
“You really don’t want to know,” Merlin said with a wry laugh, before his brain caught up with him. Shit, oh fucking… Why had he just said that?
Arthur was reasonably livid upon learning that Merlin had some other life changing, world altering secret after everything else. He closed the space between them, puffing out his chest and towering over Merlin in the way he only ever did when he was enraged, “what else, Merlin?”
Merlin froze, noticing in a way Arthur almost certainly didn’t, how close they were standing, how close Arthur’s lips were, how intensely his eyes burned when he was like this. He couldn’t possibly tell him the truth, but he really couldn’t hide it from him after everything that had happened the week before.
Merlin brought his hand up behind Arthur’s ear, thumb rubbing along his cheek and pulled him in for a long, passionate kiss.
He’d expected to be thrown off. He’d expected to be exiled from Camelot. He hadn’t expected Arthur to kiss back.