Merlin was watching from the bar where Mordred and Elyan were working. Merlin, because he had some money remaining from food and fuel, decided to treat himself by buying half a pint of Smirnoff Ice - where apparently, employees of the camp got discounts, so he saved himself some money at the same time. Gwaine was working in the entertainment section tonight, Arthur, Percival and Morgause working with him. Merlin was due to perform again, filling in for Helen who was ill. Morgause was calling the bingo where the final game was due to take place. When it came to this stage, the other entertainment staff would try and hide away - it was their ritual.

"Now ladies and gents, you've got a good choice tonight, but they're all men." Some of the woman cheered and applauded, their boyfriends and husbands not looking too happy. "Now, trying to hide at the back of the room but he knows it's impossible because he's our jolly green giant is Percival. If you want Percival to call the final game then shout now." Some cheered, Morgause continued. "Now we also have Gwaine, our lovely Irish entertainer who's working with the kids on the colouring competition. If Gwaine is your man tonight..." - someone wolf whistled, Morgause face-palming herself for her words and laughed. "I don't mean like that. Basically if you want Gwaine to call the final session then shout now." Some more cheered. "Oh Gwaine I think you're winning so far."

Gwaine couldn't help but grin and got his microphone, staring up at Morgause from off the dance floor, a colouring crayon in his other hand. "You'd only say that now wouldn't you? Only you would get your words mixed up because you know that I'm gorgeous and you can't resist me and my charm."

Morgause rolled her eyes and replied sarcastically. "Yeah, sure thing honey."

Morgause cleared her throat and continued. "Or you can go for our golden boy Arthur, who's hiding away with his secret lover over in the back of the ballroom at the bar." Arthur overheard her comment and looked up and away from Merlin flabbergasted, Merlin grinning like an oaf. The crowd turned their backs to where Arthur was chatting to Merlin, Mordred high-fiving Elyan at Morgause's comment as they served the few customers waiting. Many cheered for Arthur.

Gwaine got his microphone and switched it back on. "Oi! Stop talking to Merlin and get your arse over here because you're calling the final session lover-boy!"

"Oh well. It was worth while." Arthur grabbed his microphone and winked at Merlin as he made his way to the stage and swapped with Morgause, handing her the file that contained the money and the book to sign to say you'd won. Morgause then eased her way down the steps and took Arthur's former position by the bar next to Merlin. Arthur sat down in the chair and went to speak. "Oh and F.Y.I. Morgause, he's not my boyfriend actually, he's my best mate." The crowd were shouting "Yeah Right" at Arthur, who only giggled and grinned back. Morgause picked up her microphone and replied back. "I said he's your secret lover not your boyfriend. Have you just gone and outed yourself in front of everybody?"

Arthur felt hot and flushed from that, hoping that with the lights on and him a good distance away from the others, none would see him blushing. "Noo!"

Morgause turned to Merlin, who couldn't help but gaze at the way Arthur's tight crimson red shirt clung to him and his gold tie hung perfectly in place with his black trousers hugging all of the right places. Morgause noticed Merlin and made a comment, widely grinning. "I think he's blushing! Aww, that's so adorable! You're in love!" Merlin turned to Morgause and grinned even more, the crowd going "aww" at Merlin and Arthur, Merlin taking hold of Morgause's microphone, shouting. "C'mon Arthur! Can't keep the public waiting on hand for their prize!"

"Very cute Merlin. Anyway, enough of that and onto tonight's main session. You're playing for a straight full house worth £110. Best of luck and eyes down." Arthur pressed the button to the electronic bingo button, microphone in his right hand. "First number is the lucky number seven."

Following Arthur and the team's dance number as the kids and their parents joined in, Merlin backstage making funny faces to try and get Arthur to giggle and completely muck up, Arthur came backstage and found Merlin giggling to himself as he prepared for his performance. "What's so funny?"

"You dancing."

"I mucked it up. I can dance! You made me go wrong!"

"So instead of concentrating on your job you focused all your attention on me because I'm so special," Merlin closed his eyes and swayed from side to side, outdoing himself as he felt proud of his achievement.

"Shut up, Merlin."

Merlin then went onto stage, Morgause was at the DJ booth and Arthur took a seat with Gwaine, Gwen (who said she'd come and watch a show), Lancelot and Percival. Merlin continued his performances with a good crowd on - some disappointed to see Helen ill, but were happy to have Merlin as a replacement. Some of the things had been shown before, some were completely new. Arthur couldn't help but set his eyes on Merlin the entire time, admiring everything that he performed. Finishing off for the night with using his magic to create complex masterpieces from balloons for the kids, Arthur had gone backstage to greet Merlin afterwards. Arthur noticed how his eyes shone gold each time he created something, and wondered what was that all about.

Bowing to the crowd, Merlin came backstage where Arthur immediately greeted him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Well done Merlin."

"Thank you Arthur." They weren't actually together, and neither had admitted that they loved each other - even though they did but were afraid to admit it - but everyone joked about it and they were cool with it. If anything at the moment they considered themselves as friends, possibly something more. Arthur seemed a little jittery as one foot went to the other. Percival was to take control of the disco tonight so Arthur could leave and do his own thing, or leave with Merlin - which was his main intention.

Arthur came up close as Merlin removed his top hat and placed it onto the dressing table, a hand going to his arm. "Can I talk to you?"

Merlin gathered his things together as started to undress out of his costume. "Of course."

Arthur lowered his voice to make things between them much more intimate. "I mean, somewhere alone, where no one can properly hear us."

"Sure. Where'd you want to go? Back to yours?"

"Yeah okay." Merlin put his cape in the bag and placed his top hat on as Arthur grabbed Merlin's free hand and took them up the small path towards their quarters. Undoing the key, he allowed Merlin to go in first and switched on the light. Dropping the key onto the worktop by the mirror next to the front door, Arthur went to the kettle to make some hot chocolate for both as Merlin dropped his bag onto the sofa, but never sat down. "Arthur? You don't mind if I get changed here do you?"

"No of course not."

"Thank you." Merlin then started to undress himself to change back into normal clothing exactly where he stood - which was something that Arthur didn't expect. He thought Merlin meant in the bedroom for example or in the shower room. Not that Arthur minded of course as it was a place where Arthur's eyes could gaze at him. Trying to not to spill hot water everywhere, Arthur focused on the drink making, bringing two mugs over to the coffee table. By then, Merlin was fully dressed. Merlin flopped down on the sofa next to Arthur, removing his bag and top hat out of the way and turned to meet his eyes.

A hand went on Arthur's knee, Arthur a little flushed. "Now, what is it you want to talk about? Whatever it is, you know I'm there for you."

"Well first I want to apologise if I never spoke to you earlier when you came to check upon me in the office. I weren't in."

"Yeah you said earlier before you were due to work in the ball room when you came over."

"But I didn't tell you where I was."

"I didn't think you had to. I'm not your dad after all. What you do is your business."

Arthur shuffled closer and placed a hand on Merlin's thigh in encouragement, trying to remain brave but inside Arthur knew he was falling apart and was crying. "I want to tell you though. As a good friend of mine you have a right to know and I can trust you with this information. Today I went to visit my mother's grave."

A few stray tears came down Arthur's face. Merlin leaned in and wiped them away, bringing Arthur close to him so he had a shoulder to cry on as Merlin stroked his hair with the one hand, his other hand on his back. "I'm sorry Arthur. I'm so sorry. Shh, it's okay, I know how it feels."

Arthur mumbled from Merlin's shoulder. "I've never seen her. She died giving birth to me. You told me you lost your dad?" His grip on Arthur began tighter as he buried his noise in his hair as he planted a kiss on Arthur's head.

"Yeah. He left when I was little. I never knew of him. When I got to 17 I searched for him. It took me a whole year and then I found him. I arranged to meet up with him..."

Arthur broke away and looked at Merlin, interested to know what happened, but had his hands on Merlin still, as if they were locked. "And then?"

"He died the day I met him. He was driving home and he was involved in a motorway accident."

Arthur leaned back in for another hug. "M'sorry Merlin. That must have been hard for you. For me I wished I could meet her. Just once to see what she looked like and how life was back then."

"And for me I just wished I could know him a bit better." A few moments of silence came and then Merlin continued. "What was the other thing you were going to ask?"

"When you made the kids balloons earlier, your eyes shone gold. What was that?"

"That Arthur, is my magic. There, you know my greatest secret of them all."

"Magic? How do you...?"

"I'm a sorcerer Arthur and I was born with magic. There's only a few of us left Arthur. Every time sometimes finds us we're used as experiments to find ways to give magic and power to everyone, sometimes the wrong people. Sorcerers are killed through this, and I wanted to use my magic to do good."

"That is so cruel. But why didn't you tell me?"

"I told no one when I came here. Only my mother knows - and now you. If you were in my boat, wouldn't you be scared if someone caught you and turned you in. I was scared that if you found out, you'd the same. You'd have my head off."

"No Merlin, no, never would I do that. It's cruel what they do and I wouldn't let you die."

"Please, swear on your life that you will never tell anyone or turn me in?"

Arthur hugged Merlin tighter, literally gripping onto him as if some force was separating the two. "I swear I'll never let you go, and if they did try to take you, then they'd have to take me first."

Merlin chuckled from Arthur's expression. "What am I? The damsel in distress and you're my prince or knight in shining armour?"

"Yeah. I'll stop them with my sword-fighting and then save you. You'd hug me and give me a kiss for saving you and..." Arthur's finger traced Merlin's lips, finger pressing down on the bottom lip. "...then I'd kiss your perfect lips so lovingly, hold you close and then we live happily every after."

"Okay, strange fantasy, but if you want that to happen then your sword-fighting could do with some work. It is a bit shoddy in places." Arthur gave Merlin a little shove and Merlin giggled. "Oi!"

"Just kidding. You're perfect." Arthur beamed and kissed Merlin's cheek, Merlin beaming back. "What was that for?"

"Cheering me up, like you always do when I'm down."

"This is for cheering me up then," and Merlin kissed Arthur back. Merlin then had an idea.

"You said you wanted to see your mother."

"Yes."

"I can do that. It'll just be an image, but she can hear and talk to you as well see you. It'll only be for a few minutes, because my magic is like a battery. The more you use it, the more the power goes. You have to charge it up by not using it for a certain amount of time."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you." Merlin closed his eyes and whispered words as Arthur held Merlin's hand, giving him encouragement. An image of his mother appeared on one of the dining table's chairs. Arthur stood up as Merlin opened his eyes. "Arthur?"

"Mum?" Arthur was amazed and couldn't love Merlin any more than he did then, and kissed him to say thank you. Merlin squeezed Arthur's clasped hand. "Go and talk to her whilst you can." Arthur got up and kissed Merlin's temple as he joined his mother at the table, Merlin watching from a distance this rare moment, and was happy that he got to share this with him.

"How are you Arthur?"

"I'm fine, well now I am. Today we mourned your death but I'm so happy to finally see you."

"I bet you are. It's nice to see my son at such an age. The last time I saw you, you were so small, and you were crying a lot. God you didn't shut up!" Arthur grinned and chortled, Merlin also grinning. Ygraine turned to Merlin. "Does he still talk a lot now?"

"Quite a bit, usually though teasing and moaning."

"Come and sit with us Merlin. I insist." Merlin gave in and took the stool that was under the round table. Arthur put an arm around Merlin's shoulders and drew him closer to him, Merlin trying to stay on the stool. "Merlin here never shuts up, ever. It's a good thing though."

"You two seem to get on really well."

"Yeah, we do."

"That's good. So, what year is it?"

"2013."

"So Arthur you'd be... 22 now?"

"Yeah, 23 later in the year."

"And how about you Merlin?"

"I went 20 earlier this year." Merlin felt his magic running short, and motioned to the other two. "Guys, you've got a minute because I don't think I can hold much longer. Arthur, Ygraine, if there's anything you need to say, then say it now. I'm just popping to the loo." Merlin broke away from the crowd and went to the toilet, leaving mother and son alone.

"I see the way you look at him, and the way he looks at you with admiration and compassion, you look at him lovingly like he's only person that exists in the world. As your mother I must ask, do you love him?"

"Yeah, I barely know him but it feels like I've known him for ages. I've only known him about a month now but I loved him from I moment I laid my eyes on him, and I loved him even more when I saw him perform. I love his charm and his quirks and now I can't take my eyes off him."

"I hope you two do get together because he'd be perfect for you son. Tell me quickly before I go, how's your father and did he find someone else?"

"He's well. We now have four parks in the business. I'm running this one - look at me, I'm 22 and I'm a boss already, dad runs one, Agravaine runs another and Bayard also runs one. Life was hard growing up, and he met a few people. Catrina was an utter troll but still - he's had worse though. I have a half-sister called Morgana and she has a sister called Morgause. He's not with anyone now."

"I see. Where is Merlin from?"

"Baaa." Ygraine then chortled. Merlin didn't hear Arthur's confession but when he returned, they said their goodbyes and Merlin waved a hand, the image fading. Arthur got up from the chair and wrapped his arms around Merlin, guiding back over to have their drinks before going back to his own caravan and off to bed for another busy day.