Merlin was crouched in front of the fire, making yet another type of stew for the knights' dinner. He jumped when Arthur put a hand on his shoulder and kneeled next to him.
"You should let them out Merlin" he says, no more than a faint whisper
"The knights already hate me for glimpsing them in the woods when we were…." Merlin blushes and his ears turn that amazing tomato red again," so I don't know how they would react to me making them dinner with my wings out."
"Merlin. The prince of Camelot told you to bring your wings out. Full size too please. I know the bandages are tight on you, why not indulge a little?"
"I guess you're right Arthur. Come on then you prat, help me with the bandages."
Merlin stood up and pulled his tunic and neckerchief off so that Arthur could get to the bandages and well, his wings were coming out. When Merlin's shirt came off and Arthur put a hand on his shoulder, gwaine definitely noticed. Also seeing the bandage across his chest, he hit percival's massive bicep and pointed in the direction of Arthur. Soon, the whole group of knights was watching Arthur try and undo the knot on Merlin's bandages.
Lance finally gave up and went over to cut the knot with his small hunting knife. Once that was done, he retreated back to the group of other knights and stood waiting. Arthur unwound the bandages more intimately than he would have with anyone else. Considering the events of last night, he was certain Merlin liked it as much as he did.
As the bandages slowly came off of his chest, the knights saw the red marks and indentations Merlin had from wearing them for a longer period of time. Gwaine was worried, so he made a move to step forwards, put Percival help him back. The look in percival's eyes was one of worry, fear and betrayal. Up until then, gwaine had forgotten about the wings.
Gwaine was jolted back to reality by the sound of a massive wing beat and collective gasps. To his surprise, he found an enormous pair of black wings sprouting from Merlin's shoulders stretched out to a gigantic wingspan. The wings had pulsing trails of gold that ran through them and seemed to be alive.
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After a moment of stretching his cramped wings, he folded them loosely against his back and the tips dragged across the ground. Arthur knew Merlin would complain about his wings getting dirty later and that he would have to groom them. But for now, Merlin just let the tips brush the forest floor. It was right about now that both of them noticed that the knights had been watching this whole time. Embarrassed, Merlin flushed red and turned to keep making the soup. Arthur just nodded in the knights' direction and walked into the woods.
At dinner, the knights mentioned things to Merlin. Like when gained thanked him for the soup. His happiness must have showed through his wings, because gwaine just chuckled and finished his stew. After a nudge and a stern look from gwaine, Percival too thanked him for the stew
Arthur was happy to see the changes beginning to form in the knights, so he convinced merlin to keep his wings out until they were almost at Camelot. He told merlin that it was because seeing him do the normal routine with the wings will get them to see that the wings won't hurt anyone. Arthur didn't tell merlin it was because he really really liked the wings.
merlin wasn't so sure that it was a good idea, but after the next few days of riding and hunting, the knights were warming up to him again. resuming the natural teasing that went on before the knights found out about his secret was as always, they picked on his wings more than anything else.
Merlin learned that even though the knights picked on him even more, it was a way of coping with his secret. After he recognized that fact, he start to tease back, picking on Percy's arms, Gwaine's flowing mane of hair, leons almost beard and elyan's inability to cook. It was beginning to be normal by the second day he had his wings free, so Merlin figured Arthur was right – they just needed time to adjust.
Merlin felt like everything would work out in the end, but his magic kept telling him to prepare for something that might tear the group apart. Knowing his magic was never wrong, he told Arthur immediately. Arthur scoffed, but took the warning all the same. It turned out that it was a good thing that Merlin gave Arthur the warning, because that night at dinner, Gwaine asked if he could touch Merlin's wings.
Arthur immediately scooted a little closer to Merlin, and Merlin looked at the ground.
"Arthur, you answer. I'd prefer no, because not many people have touched my wings, just two or three. But you can choose, I trust you." He whispered to Arthur.
"Gwaine, I would prefer you didn't touch my manservant's wings." arthur had suddenly become very possessive of merlin
"Yes sire." Gwaine looked a little saddened by this, but if he was he kept it to himself.
"that goes for everyone. No one lays a hand on his wings without his or my permission."
Leon was the first to question it. "why do you get to grant permission, sire?"
Arthur looked at merlin and whisper-asked if he could tell the knights. Merlin nodded his consent.
"merlin and I have had a bit of a…" he pauses and takes a deep breath "a sort of relationship going on."
Everyone was surprised, including merlin. He hadn't considered them an item, simply because he was the prince. And now he could say that he as indeed in a relationship with the crown prince of Camelot.
Lance was the first to voice his cautious congratulations, and everyone else followed. That night, there was talking laughing and on arthur's part, a few wandering hands that made their way into merlin's wings.
The knight pretended not to notice, but how could you not?
