Day one.
Arthur Pendragon was a very successful and well-paid lawyer. though he was not always the happiest person, he did posses a great deal of self-confidence. When he had declared his sexuality to his sister, Morgana, and their dad, Uther, he had been afraid that they would turn his back on him, but, instead, they had shown him nothing but support and love.
Arthur had lost his mother at a very young age and this made him closer to the remaining family he had left. Morgana, who was two years his junior, was married to her long-term girlfriend, Gwen, and they had recently adopted a baby girl, whom they had named Vivinne, after Morgana's mother, who had been Uther's second wife.
At the age of 30, Arthur had now had a couple of boyfriends; his most recent relationship had been with a man named Gawaine, with whom he had been friends in secondary school. They had been together for 2 years and had even been engaged to be married, but Arthur had broken off, both their engagement and relationship; he knew deep down that Gawaine had not been his soul mate.
He wanted, more than anything, to find that person and hold him forever and ever.
Ω Ω Ω
"Mordred-come on!" Merlin Ambroise shouted up the stairs to his 10-year-old son. "You're going to be late for Auntie Gwen and Aunt Morgana's."
Walking down the stairs, Mordred rolled his eyes and replied, "Yes, Dad, I know. I'm not an idiot. On the bright side, I get to see Vivvie."
Merlin smiled at his son's emphasum. He could hardly believe that Mordred was 10 and that he was 28.
In the car, on the way to Morgana and Gwen's, Mordred asked, "Aunt Morgana has a brother, doesn't she? Have you ever met him?"
Shaking his head, Merlin replied that he had not. It was a lie; he had known Arthur Pendragon at secondary school, he had been a bully and from what his foster-sister, Gwen, had told him, age had not altered the billionaire's son.
"Dad?" This time, his son's tone was different and it worried Merlin. "Dad, why-why do I never see Mithian?"
Merlin's hand tightened on the steering whell. He inhaled a deep breath in order to compose himself, then asked, "Do you want to see her, Mordred?"
Mordred shook his head. "No. I just-when I'm older will you explain it to me, Dad?"
The car pulled up in front of Gwen and Morgana's house. Merlin turned to his son and replied, "Yes, I will."
Mordred's blue eyes-his eyes-let up and he hugged his dad, before getting out of the car and Merlin made his way out of the other side.
Merlin said a brief 'hello' to Gwen, Morgana and Vivienne and was about to get back into the car, when a voice from behind him said his name.
"Merlin Ambroise? Is that you?"
Relucantly, he turned to see Arthur Pendragon, a man whom he had dipiced at secondary school for bullying him, for being gay.
Arthur smiled. "How are you, Merlin?"
"I'm fine. How are you?" Merlin asked, in a montone voice.
Tilting his head, Arthur replied, "Well-I don't know if Morgana or Gwen told you, but I-er-I broke up with Gawaine."
Merlin felt himself warm to Arthur as he mentioned that; Arthur had always denied who he was-when Merlin had known him years before, anyway. "I'm sorry."
Arthur shook his head, dismissively, then inquired, "So, Mordred, he's yours?"
"Yes." answered Merlin, not wanting to go into the details; he was sure that Arthur had many questions concerning from where Mordred had come. Thankfully, Arthur took the hint, then he asked, "What are you doing on Saturday, Merlin?"
Frowning, Merlin asked, "What?"
Arthur looked down at the floor and came closer. In a whisper, he said. "Merlin, I regret hurting you when we were kids. The truth was-is-I was jealous of you and I-I liked you."
It took Merlin a couple of seconds to process what Arthur had just told him; he had always assumed that Arthur had bullied him because he had been an arce of a person, but it did put some things into prespective. "Are you asking me out, clotpole?" Merlin inquired, with a smile on his face.
Smiling and reisting the urge to gaze into Merlin's eyes, Arthur nodded and replied, "Yeah, I am."
"Right, then-er. Gwen's looking after Mor's on Saturday, so we could"-
"I'll take you out for dinner. At 8:oo. I'll pick you up."
Despite himself, Merlin smiled and backed away. "Fine, Saturday, 8:oo."
"Great." Arthur smiled, then walked back to the house.
When he was sure that Merlin was far away, he did his 'victory dance'; he was no longer afraid of the truth; he liked Merlin.
That evening, after Mordred was in bed, Merlin was sitting on the sofa and reading, but he could not concentrate. There were three people who had been playing on his mind: Mordred, Arthur and…Mithian.
Arthur… Mithian….