A/N: My first revelation fic! Woohoo!
If you're reading this because you read Excuses: As you know, this is an add-on to the The Book drabble, so since you've read that you can just scroll down and I've marked pretty clearly where the continuation/extra bit starts that was not in Excuses.
If you did not: Don't worry about it.
Disclaimer: Erm, yeah, don't own Merlin, BBC does…so yeah, sadness…
Merlin did not mind if he had to work from the shadows, but he would prefer if he got credit for the lives he saved.
That's why, long ago, he had decided to mark the spells in his magic book that he had used to save his friends and Camelot and how/why he had used them. Later, when his magic was revealed, he would tell Arthur just how many times Merlin had saved his royal arse.
He was just hurrying to pen in the latest "saving" from the previous night when someone opened his bedroom door. "I'm late; I know, I know, Gaius. I'll go right after I finish writing this down."
"I quite like to think I'm easily differentiable from Gaius," replied the intruder dryly.
Startled, Merlin looked up, recognizing Arthur's voice while hastily closing his book and stuffing it under his pillow.
"Arthur! W-What are you doing here?" stammered out Merlin, inwardly wincing at his unstable voice.
Arthur raised a single eyebrow. Suddenly, the prince darted forward and lunged toward the head of Merlin's bed. Panicking, Merlin threw himself over his pillow.
"Well...this is uncomfortable," commented Merlin as their faces came inches apart.
"Merlin..."
"I'd like to point out that you are in my room, on my bed, trying to snatch my things. Sire," said Merlin, pleased with himself. Hopefully, this would get Arthur into a rant about Gods-know-what and the prince would forget about the book. At least until he could hide it and deny remembering this incident at all, o r maybe he could just produce a non-treason type book that could serve as his excuse…
"Hmph. Well then at least tell me what this is that you're hiding; knowing you, this should be interesting."
Or not. Resisting the urge to curse, Merlin replied, "It's just a book. I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this," hoping Arthur wouldn't push it.
However, him being Arthur, of course he did: "Then why were you writing in it?"
"Well...I can explain that...just…hang on…"
"Uh-huh, sure you can. Oh, and why did you hide it as soon as you saw it was me, explain that!" persisted Arthur.
Thinking fast, Merlin blurted, "It's my...journal!"
He internally groaned and smacked himself. Really, Merlin, a journal? That's the best you could come up with? If Arthur insinuated how 'feminine' Merlin was before, now it would be ten times worse. Arthur would definitely twist this and consider his spell book/journal a diary - he knew Arthur well enough. Wait for it...
He was not disappointed as Arthur just stared at him until finally doing the inevitable and bursting into laughter.
"Hardy har har. I am falling off my bed laughing," said Merlin sarcastically.
"You expected me not to laugh?" asked Arthur incredulously,"Blimey, Merlin, you have a DIARY!"
"It's a journal!" protested Merlin, "there's a difference!"
"And yet neither will make you manlier."
"I'm plenty manly!"
"Sure, Merlin, if that's what keeps you going."
"What is that supposed to mean!" said Merlin, exasperated.
"Oh, please, Merlin, an untrained man could at least pick up a sword by the correct end and be able to hold it for longer then two seconds before dropping it and complaining."
"It was heavy! It was made specifically for a certain knight who probably had a larger build then me."
"Everyone has a larger build then you, Merlin. I swear, you're the same size as Gwen. And besides, if I remember correctly, which I do, you were also complaining about blisters."
"I am not the same size as Gwen and anyway if I had gotten blisters, I would not have been able to do all the manual labor you put me through, and then where would you be?"
"Ah, Merlin, Merlin, Merlin. I can think of so very many ways to respond to that, and none compliment you in any way, but I've got to go train my knights and you have to be my example, so..." Arthur dragged out the 'o',"let's go!"
Arthur left first, smiling brightly, as Merlin grumbled unintelligibly and only a few words could be heard such as 'so unfair' and 'prat' and 'Arthur'.
So caught up in his complaints, Merlin did not see Arthur look back into his room to the pillow on the bed or see the determined glint in Arthur's eyes or the mischievous smile that formed its way onto his friend's face.
And as the door closed behind prince and manservant, Arthur brought Merlin out of his mumblings, musing, "I always knew you were a girl, Merlin."
"Shuddup."
IF YOU READ EXCUSES THE CONTINUATION STARTS HERE
After giving Merlin a list of chores to do, Arthur finally found the time to sneak back to Gaius' and Merlin's chambers. He was really curious as to what the book was. He did not really believe it was a diary, as feminine as Merlin was.
Actually, he wouldn't put it past him if Merlin was not already so openly emotional and had no qualms about voicing his thoughts to begin with. The book seemed far too thick and large, anyway. He could practically hear Merlin's voice in his head saying, "just like you," and Arthur's determination renewed as he kept walking.
Reaching the door, he poked his head into the physician's chambers and saw that nobody was there. Quickly making his way to Merlin's door, he walked in and started searching.
When his search of the room itself turned up fruitless, he turned towards the dresser only to trip over one of the many piles of clothes and junk littering Merlin's floor. Cursing, Arthur started to push himself back up only to find the floor board under his right hand wobble tremendously.
Smirking in triumph, he pulled up the small plank of wood and smiled as he saw the familiar book cover. Picking it up and settling on Merlin's bed, which Arthur noted was rather uncomfortable, he lifted the cover. Maybe he should give Merlin a raise to buy himself a new bed. ..
Those thoughts were soon forgotten at the sight of the book's content. His father had trained him well in being able to identify a spell book and there was no doubt that this was indeed one.
But why would Merlin have a spell book? He could understand if Gaius had one – he did , in fact. It was commonly known that Uther allowed Gaius to possess magic based books in case there was a need for the older man's vast knowledge on how to defeat the attack or cure those injured by one.
Could it be? Could Merlin, of all people, be a – sorcerer? But…that didn't make any sense…Before coming to any rash decisions, Arthur sat back in thought.
After a while of pondering, he came to the conclusion that if Merlin did happen to be a sorcerer, he, Arthur Pendragon, son of King Uther of Camelot, would be fine.
Arthur would not tell his father about Merlin's…skills. Although, a much, much more reasonable and pleasant theory would be that Merlin was not a sorcerer and had a darn good explanation for why he was in possession of a spell book.
Speaking of, Arthur looked down at the tone that he had abandoned on his lap. Sitting up against the wall, Arthur re-adjusted himself and started to flip through the pages. There were multiple spells per page that were in an unrecognizable language than English explanation on its usage and sometimes there would be a picture.
About twelve pages in, Arthur came across Merlin's handwriting in the margin. Squinting at his servant's penmanship he could just make out, "Used this to purify a simply-cursed tonic". Frowning, Arthur continued and hours later, his head emerged from the book. Leaning back in shock, Arthur reached up to rub his tired eyes and once again thought over what he had discovered.
It was obvious now that Merlin was indeed a sorcerer but his declaration of loyalty still stood, and was only firmer now that he had read the extent of all of Merlin's deeds. Now the question was what to do with this newfound knowledge. Either he could confront Merlin, or wait until Merlin told him. He was hurt that Merlin had not already but he understood why.
Deciding he would confront Merlin, (since who knows when Merlin would ever tell him), Arthur went back to his rooms to do paperwork and wait until Merlin came back from doing chores. Arthur did not have to wait long as he had taken longer then he thought to read Merlin's spellbook.
He was suddenly anxious as Merlin stumbled into the room, hands full of laundry. It was stupid, as he was not the one with the secret, but he could not help but swallow before clearing his throat.
Merlin managed to put down the pile of clothing before turning to find Arthur simply sitting and staring at him. Confused, Merlin smiled slightly and stared back.
"I read your diary."
And Merlin's heart stopped.