IDOM - Merlin and Arthur have a little talk. A direct continuation of sorts after 'There's a Reason you Shouldn't Go Out at Night' which means this is in season 2

And many many, many thanks to my friend Musalamanath Morgana again as usual for being a good friend by not only giving me company while i typed this but also cleaning up any of my typos that I'm prone to making around midnight :D

""Stop looking so panicked, Merlin," Arthur grumbled after bearing through his servant's incessant pacing for the past few minutes, which the pale man had started ever since he finished his story about him being magical. His tone lacked the usual joviality - especially after that long story, and to think there was more to come - it carried underneath the disgruntled tone, but only slightly, and it was that that made Merlin finally sit - albeit tensely - down at the table in Arthur's chambers, across from said man himself.

They said nothing while Arthur refilled his goblet with wine by himself, and it was only after he took a sip did he speak.

"So, you're a vampire as well then."

That had already been established, several times in fact when Merlin was explaining about his time with magic, but Merlin went along with it anyway, nodding. He hadn't elaborated much on his vampiric self, and he wondered if he should have done that earlier, so that it would have made sense beforehand to his previous conversation.

His gaze didn't leave it's spot from the table, but Arthur's exaggerated sigh took care of that.

"For heaven's sake will you look at me? It's not like I'm going to order for the guards to drag you to the dungeons at any moment, I thought we'd already covered that?" Arthur exclaimed, and more out of shock than anything else, Merlin looked up.

"Thank you," Arthur said a tad bit mockingly, once Merlin met his eyes. "Now," And Arthur paused, his own eyes dropping to the table for a moment before he looked back up, and this time his tone was softer. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"

Merlin glanced down, his hands fidgeting in his lap.

"Back in Ealdor, we don't have much of anything to protect us from when the vampires come out at night as opposed to Camelot. Here, you train with swords made from silver, your armor is silver - which is why I try to get it polished or on you when I dress you as fast as possible - even the roads and castle walls are embedded with metal, some being silver. In Ealdor, however, weapons truly lined with silver were a rarity, something very few of us had. The only hope we had was to barricade ourselves within our home, using salt, garlic, even magical artifacts bought off from traders passing through the village, whatever we could use to help ourselves at any possible entrance. When night fell, it was like the village itself had died." Merlin paused, sighing as he looked up, meeting Arthur's eyes.

The prince looked thoughtful, listening intently with his hands crossed in front of him on the table, when he suddenly spoke.

"So, silver. It… weakens you?" Arthur asked. Merlin nodded.

"Yes, coming close to it makes me feel… heady in a way. To have to actively touch it for a prolonged period of time," Merlin cringed. "While it's not exactly… torturous, it isn't a very pleasant feeling either. It's as if," Merlin paused, trying to find the right words to explain the feeling. "You're being doused in cold water repeatedly, and then just being held there, and as you're struggling to breathe, your skin gets all tight and you feel like you're about to explode…" Merlin broke off suddenly, looking unsure as he took in Arthur's pale face.

"...Arthur?"

The prince stared, before shaking his head. "Go on."

Merlin looked back at the prince for a while, before deciding to move on.

"Well… As children, our parents didn't let us know why we were doing what we did at night, only telling after we matured enough to learn how to protect ourselves properly. But Will and I, we hadn't known back then. Probably my mother was going to tell us soon, but we didn't find out that way."

Merlin swallowed thickly, looking back down. "It was a dare, a stupid one really. Will basically wanted me to go and leave something - a rabbit's foot if I remember clearly - in the forest, and when sun rose we'd both go and see that it was there to show that I did go," Merlin sighed, shaking his head. "Like I said, it was stupid. I got attacked by a vampire, and I got bitten," He heard Arthur inhale sharply, but he still didn't look up.

"I was unconscious when my mother found me in the morning. She and Will dragged me back home. My mother… she had to chain me for days until Gaius came to help, feeding me her own blood," Merlin looked away, his throat working as he remembered the memory, disgusted with himself now. If he hadn't been chained, he would have drained his own mother from her blood.

"When Gaius finally came, he helped me learn how to use my magic to control my more potent vampire abilities, teaching me to hunt and satisfy my hunger from animal's blood instead so I wouldn't have to kill anyone. But I was still prone to letting into my vampire self, as I was newly bitten, not to mention people were already starting to give me weird looks. So I came with Gaius, and he taught me how to pass off as a human, how to depend on animal's blood but also how to hold off my hunger so that I wouldn't always wanting to be hunting. Else people would have wondered why I kept disappearing off to the forest every day, and there's only so much herbs Gaius would need at a time," Merlin gave a dry chuckle, thoroughly lacking any humor.

"Anyway, the first thing he taught me was how to make these potions by myself, using herbs and magic," Merlin took out a vial from the pocket within his jacket, and staring at it with a wry smile, he gently handed it over to a curious Arthur, who looked at it, turning it over in his hands. The potion was a greenish black, but in the afternoon light it seemed to have golden flecks that glowed, a reflection of his magic. "It helps me walk out in the sunlight. If any of the other vampires came by this…" he shuddered, shaking his head. "But it helped me pass off as human, especially when I became your servant," this time it was Arthur who let out a dry chuckle.

"I imagine you were thrilled to test out this potion's potency," he said as he handed the vial back, and Merlin carefully put it back in his pocket before he replied.

"Nah. I was too busy trying not to bite you," at Arthur's horrified look, Merlin winced. "Sorry, bad joke. I never was tempted to turn you."

Arthur raised his eyebrows skeptically.

Clearing his throat, Merlin hastily spoke. "Anyway. You actually helped though. The only thing left was dealing with my natural sense of wanting to sleep away in the daylight, but what with having to serve you at that time, it wasn't too long before I learned to sleep at night again."

Merlin gave a small smile, leaning back in his chair as he felt a weight beginning to be lifted from his shoulders. Being able to finally let Arthur to know about himself, was more liberating that Merlin could have ever imagined in his dreams.

The look that Arthur gave him back was almost knowing, his eyes soft, but he still didn't smile back.

"This morning… did you… you gave into your vampire.. self," Arthur said. It was a statement, but his eyes were questioning.

Merlin sighed, leaning forward again but letting his hands rest on the table, mirroring Arthur's position. As he did so, his eyes fell on the pitcher of wine and the spare goblet by it. Quick as a flash, he grabbed the pitcher and poured himself the wine. It was only when he was settling back in his chair and taking a gulp of the wine, wincing at the sour taste for anything that wasn't blood was either bland or sour and that too at an extreme, that he noticed Arthur's startled expression. That's when he realized he had been moving faster than a normal human's eye could follow, and that for Arthur, all he saw was a blur of movement until Merlin settled down with a goblet of wine.

Surprisingly, it wasn't about his speed that Arthur commented on.

"Does it even… drinking wine? Does it inebriate you or… affect you in anyway?" Arthur asked.

Merlin scrunched up his face, pondering at the question.

"Well, it doesn't fill me and it does taste sour, but that's only because it has such a strong taste. As for inebriation… well let's just say I can drink Gwaine under the table," Merlin gave a mischievous glare, though he was only met with an unimpressed look.

"And I have yet to see that happen," Arthur said blankly.

"Well, that's because Gaius would rather prefer his ward to be away from the tavern," Merlin said drily. "And yet every time I had to go off and save your royal backside from some magical mishap, Gaius tells you I'm at the tavern.

"Anyway," Merlin moved on before Arthur could make a comment. "Like I mentioned, I hadn't drank in a bit over a week. I was due for a feeding, but I couldn't find any free time and at night as I was too worn out to hunt, and then you wanted to go hunting. Hunting, Arthur. I definitely wasn't going to be able to control myself around even a drop of blood after not having eaten in so long."

At this, Arthur looked pained.

"So… yeah. That's why and how I lost control today," Merlin trailed off, looking back to the table.

For a while, Merlin sat there in the uncomfortable silence, waiting for Arthur to speak before the prince eventually broke the silence by clearing his throat.

"Well. One thing is for sure. From now on, you are to make sure you feed yourself properly every week. I don't want to find out that you've been missing on any meals," Arthur paused, his tone softening when he continued. "I may not be my father Merlin, and for sure I will change things when I am king. But… whilst he is alive and well, you must be careful and not let anyone know of your true nature."

Merlin looked up sharply, but Arthur hadn't finished talking yet.

"Until then…" Arthur suddenly grinned, his smile smug and yet his eyes soft and concerned.

"I guess you might as well keep away from doing my armor. I'll have George do it instead."

It took him a while, but when he realized what Arthur was referring to, Merlin couldn't help the flare of joy in his chest and grinned.

George may find himself with the task of having to polish the Prince's armor from now on, something Merlin suspected the other servant would highly enjoy, but there was no way Merlin was letting anyone else put that armor on his King. Who else would make sure the enchantments Merlin put on it were safe and sound to protect the prat?

As Merlin started to get up, Arthur still seated, the prince asked his one last question.

"Is there anything else, Merlin? That you'd like to tell me," Arthur paused. "I'd appreciate it if we didn't hold any more secrets between us."

Merlin pondered the question, and suddenly winced as he remembered that one last, teeny tiny detail.

"Uhm…" wondering how best to put this in words, and suddenly deciding it would be better to show him than say it, Merlin twirled around to show Arthur his back as he started to remove his coat and tunic.

"What on earth are you doi-" Arthur's voice cut off as Merlin finally removed his tunic, letting it bundle to the ground as he focused on raising the smooth, dark grey wings behind his back, letting it unfurl from it's position almost around his torso where they remained hidden under his tunic. After letting it unfurl completely, extending to its full length - almost the size of Merlin, if not longer, and really how he managed to hide it if anyone asked would need to be taught about the perks of having magic as well - and neatly avoiding the dining table, his wings raised up high almost as if Merlin was readying himself to jump and soar, the vampire turned around, his face sheepish.

"I know that you've seen bits and pieces of me," Merlin said hesitantly, his eyes on the ground because he knew if he looked at Arthur now he wouldn't be able to finish what he wanted to say. "And there's a good chance you won't ever see me in my complete form - I pray that no one ever has to really - but this is a really important piece of my vampire self, and it's a bit obvious and you should obviously need to know about it since it's a big, essential part of me and you wanted to know all about me so-" terribly aware that he was starting to ramble, Merlin cut himself off self consciously and slowly looked up to finally meet Arthur's reaction.

For his part, the prince was still looking at Merlin's dark wings held high above the vampire's head, almost smooth looking but with a closer look Arthur found it to look almost… velvety, and he could just imagine it being soft to the touch. With the last of the sunset's light and the fire from the fireplace, his wings, like the potion seemed to glimmer golden and red colors softly, shimmering and dancing in faded tones but the dark grey color outshone them nonetheless.

Arthur's mouth opened and closed a few times before he got his voice to work.

"And you just remembered to tell me about this now?"

Lol, this to the people who asked about my major jump.. yeah as a drabble it'll be out of order and so those two came first because those two were my first ideas... soon to follow another 'in-betweens'!

R&R?