Not Stupid
by floss bucket
Arthur wasn't stupid. Really, he wasn't. Although he may have seemed it sometimes, it was all a ruse. People tended to be far less when they thought you were stupid, and a careful enemy was a dangerous one.
So when Merlin finally came to him one summer evening, Arthur was not at all surprised.
"Um… Arthur?" asked Merlin tentatively. "I have something I need to tell you."
Finally, though Arthur. "Well, what is it?" he asked, a knowing smirk on his face.
"Well… um… please don't hate me for this, Arthur, and I'll leave Camelot if you want me too, but I just think you deserve to know." Merlin replied, nervously wringing his hands behind his back.
"Well get on with it then, Merlin" Arthur said, still smirking.
"Um… you see… Iminlovewithyou" Merlin muttered quickly, blushing a deep red. Then, seeing Arthur's shocked face, he added: "But it's okay if you don't want me here anymore. I'll just leave now."
Arthur watched, stunned, as Merlin turned towards the door, head bowed low, before shaking himself out of his reverie.
"Wait, Merlin" he called. The smaller man turned around, a confused look on his face. "So you're not magic?" the Prince asked.
"What?" asked Merlin, his eyes widening. "You know?"
"Of course I know, Merlin, you thought you could lie to me?"
"H-How long?" Merlin asked, eyes searching frantically around the room for an escape route.
"Since that Questing Beast fiasco. Gaius told me you saved me, and it must have been magic which did so. I can put two and two together, you know." Arthur explained.
"So you're not angry?" asked Merlin hopefully.
"Not about the magic, no. Just that you didn't tell me, although that is understandable."
Merlin looked relieved to be free of his secret, a relief which was reflected in his words. "It's going to be so much easier saving you when I don't have to hide what I'm doing."
"I suppose I should say thank you for that, shouldn't I?" questioned Arthur mock-reluctantly.
"It's okay, sire" replied his manservant. "I was happy to. Anyway, I have to get going now. Errands for Gaius, that sort of thing. Bye!"
He was almost out the door when he was yet again called back by his lord and master.
"Merlin" drawled the Crown Prince in that infuriatingly adorable tone of his. "We're not done here yet. I believe you made some comment about your feelings for me."
The warlock made one last half-hearted attempt to leave. "Gaius… errands"
"Gaius can wait" ordered Arthur. "Come here Merlin." He gestured with his head to a spot perhaps a foot in front of him. Merlin approached him slowly, blushing again at his closeness to Arthur.
"Now look at me" said Arthur. Merlin obeyed. "Good. I believe you said something about loving me?" he asked, smiling. Merlin nodded, his blush growing darker.
"Good." And then he leant down and met Merlin's lips with his own.
Maybe Arthur was stupider that he though. But maybe be stupid wasn't all that bad.
I was on a train today from Salzburg to Munich with a new friend of mine (BlackTeaPlease), and at some point I asked her for a piece of paper to start writing a fanfic on. I didn't end up writing everything because we talked the whole way about fanfiction. As a joke she told me not to let the piece of paper go to waste, so I ended up writing this on it. It's short only because it needed to fit on two sides of an A4 piece of paper. (And because I'm too lazy to expand it!)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and please review!