It's fantastic to know that people are enjoying this! The plan is to hopefully take it to the beginning of the series, but we shall just have to see what happens!
Hope you like this one!
There was an uncharacteristic scowl on Leon's face as he strode purposefully through the castle. Despite having already known the answer, he had still felt like he needed to check Arthur's chambers before heading outside. He hadn't been surprised when they had been empty of the prince, however. He had known ever since Bors had approached him and told him that Arthur hadn't turned up for his lesson that the boy would not be in his chambers. Leon had kept his fingers crossed anyway and gone to check, just in case Arthur had decided to turn his behaviour around and was waiting for Leon.
But it seemed that Arthur wasn't prepared to give in just yet. Leon had no idea when it had happened, but Arthur seemed to have found a rebellious streak within him that seemed to be driving everyone in the castle mad. He had always been mischievous, but had the power to look up at the person who had caught him in the act and smile. Arthur's smile tended to make even the king melt and Leon knew they had let him get away with far too much while he had been growing up. Yet even though Arthur had always been cheeky, he had never been disobedient.
Even as a small child, he had done precisely what Leon had told him. The same thing was true of Bors. Arthur spent his first year with the man never disobeying him in the slightest and always given his lessons the utmost attention. But then a few new noble families had moved into Camelot. Uther had instantly granted them chambers within the castles as all three families were of noble standing and their bloodlines long and ancient. Arthur had initially scowled, believing it to be another case of someone else taking his place with his father's affections now that the Lady Morgana had come to stay at the castle.
But instead, he had thought he had found some friends in the noble boys. Knowing how put out Arthur had been about Morgana's arrival, disrupting everything he had known, Leon had allowed it to happen. He was kicking himself now, but when he had found Arthur in tears after his father had snapped at him because he wanted to tell him something while the man had been talking to his new ward, Leon had been unable to refuse. He had even encouraged Arthur, knowing the boy had never had a friend his own age.
The other boys had waited just long enough to make sure that Arthur believed in their friendship enough to not go to his father and then had started influencing the prince. It had started off as small things to begin with, and Arthur had been tearfully sorry when Leon had scolded him firmly for harassing the serving staff. But he knew it was getting worse, and Arthur was no longer looking so apologetic. He would say that he was sorry, Leon and Bors – not to mention the threat of bringing his father into it – forced it from him. But his eyes burned with indignation and his stance remained defiant. He no longer meant his apology and Leon wondered how long he would even be able to get Arthur to say sorry. The prince had been sent to his chambers without dinner after he had been caught stealing from the kitchens the night before, but when Leon had gone in to see him an hour later, Arthur had stubbornly refused to look at him.
Leon still wasn't sure whether he had imagined Arthur's small sob as the knight had left, declaring that he was disappointed in the twelve year old. But unless Arthur was willing to show how he was feeling, there wasn't a lot Leon could do. It had been with a long suffering sigh he had agreed to try and track down the troublemaker when Bors had asked him to, knowing the man was getting on now and found searching the entire castle for his missing squire was not something he could do easily.
Leon had searched all of the obvious places, desperately hoping that Arthur had just lost track of time and would be rushing to his lesson even as Leon found him. But the corridors remained Arthur free and Leon sighed as he turned his attention to the courtyard. He had heard reports from the guards that Arthur and his new friends were often found heading towards the lower town. Leon knew why; the friends believed they were protected behind Arthur's status and Arthur was so desperate for them to accept him he did nothing to try and put them off. But they were still boys, all of them, and Leon's hope that Arthur hadn't forgotten his warning from years ago seemed to be in vain as the children tried to act like they were men. Leon knew the trouble was people would still give way to them through fear of word getting back to the king. There once had been a time when Leon had been certain Arthur would have never told, but now he wasn't so sure. The prince was the youngest of this group and Leon knew himself what the pressures of so called friends could mean.
Heading down towards the courtyard, Leon knew his suspicions were confirmed. He could hear the jeering laugh of the older members of the group and was just thankful they hadn't yet made it into town. Picking up his pace, Leon got to the courtyard just as they made for the gate.
"Arthur." His voice rang with authority and the group stopped. Arthur was right in the centre and he turned slowly at Leon's voice. The knight knew in that one look Arthur was fully aware that he was in trouble, but that he didn't want to back down in front of his friends. But unless Leon was mistaken, he could also see by his body language that Arthur didn't particularly want to be going either.
"Your master is expecting you for your lesson, attend to him immediately." It took nearly every ounce of Leon's self-control to address the young prince from the role of a knight rather than as Arthur's friend, but he knew it was the only way Arthur would think of responding to him. The prince took a shuffling step towards Leon and the man found that he was feeling the relief creep up on him at the idea of Arthur coming without a fuss. He should have known it was too good to last, however, as the oldest member of their group put his hand on Arthur's arm.
"You aren't his father, you don't tell him what to do."
Leon felt his eyebrows rise. The boy – Galahad if he remembered rightly – had just turned fifteen and still none of the knights would take him on as a squire. Leon might have felt sorry for him – remembering how it felt despite his late acceptance being due to the king's orders – until he realised just how pig headed the boy was.
"I am a Knight of Camelot and are therefore charged with the welfare of the prince. Arthur, come."
"He doesn't have to go with you if he doesn't want to. Do you, Arthur?" Leon groaned. He knew as soon as Gahalad had given Arthur the choice, the boy would feel stuck. But rather than doing as Leon asked, he would do what he thought was needed in order to keep his friends.
"No. You don't tell me what to do, you aren't my father."
"Your father, the king, would expect you to do your duty, now come along." Leon visibly saw Arthur wince and knew he had just struck a low blow. Arthur hated to be reminded that his father was the king first and foremost and Leon knew he would see the truth in his words. Uther would expect Arthur to do his duty, no matter who his new friends were. This time, Arthur took another step towards Leon, but Gahalad wasn't prepared to back down that easily.
"You're the prince, Sire. Only the king has the authority to tell you what you need to do."
"I'm sure Sir Bors, his master would disagree. Arthur, now." This time, Arthur did come forward, but his head was down and he was dragging his feet. Seeming to know they had lost, Galahad glared at Leon. Leon simply glared back and the boy swallowed, grabbing hold of his brother's arm and gesturing for the others to follow him. It came as no surprise that they no longer headed towards the town now that Arthur's title couldn't protect them.
"What was that, Arthur?" Leon took the prince's arm and began walking him towards the training field. He wouldn't put it past the boy to still try and run for it considering the way his face was burning.
"Nothing."
"I suggest you lose the temper, you know how Bors deals with that."
"Of course you'd know, you had him first. You have everything first! You could do whatever you wanted! Everyone gets to do whatever they want apart from me!"
"You really think that is true?" Leon tightened his grip on Arthur's arm and swung the child around to face him. Arthur stubbornly stared in the opposite direction, the muscle in his jaw working. Leon wasn't sure whether the prince was trying to stop himself from yelling or crying. Possibly both.
"Then why do they get to do what they want and I have to go to stupid training?"
"You love training."
"Shows how much you know."
Leon was genuinely taken aback by the sneer in Arthur's voice and he forced himself to keep his temper. He should have known this day would come, the day when Arthur realised being a prince meant things were expected of him that other boys – even noble ones – would never understand. Leon knew even he wouldn't be able to understand, but he had given up his own childhood to be by Arthur's side, he was not going to just stand here and watch as the boy sulked.
"I know you love training because your actions betray your words. Your eyes light up and you listen to everything you are told when you know it will make you a better knight. You want to be a better knight because you know it will make your father proud…and make me proud."
"I don't care what you think! Galahad is right, you are just a knight!" Leon flinched but simply took hold of Arthur's arm again. Without a word, he began to tug the prince towards the training field again, contemplating whether he could still get away with putting Arthur over his shoulder. He knew the prince would grow out of it, he would begin to see where his priorities lay and with that, he would know in his heart what he had to do. Leon knew Arthur would chose being a prince over those boys any day, regardless of what Arthur was saying. He knew the boy better than Arthur knew himself and was more than aware that Arthur was only acting up because he wanted to prove himself to his father. But right now, Leon knew Bors would have more chance of getting through to the prince than Leon would. He would make Arthur work for it rather than just relying on words.
Arthur seemed determined to make the journey as hard as possible, muttering words that Leon didn't even want to know where he had learnt them from and struggling against his knight as hard as he could. When Arthur's language was getting too bad to ignore, Leon stopped again.
"You were never spanked as a child because you never gave anyone cause to. Do not make me start now."
"You wouldn't dare," Arthur sneered, but Leon could see the flicker of uncertainty in the boy's eyes. He clearly knew he had pushed him too far.
"Try me." Leon responded shortly, marching Arthur the remaining distance and handing him over to Bors. Leon might have known Arthur well, but Bors knew his old pupil. He didn't need to ask to know things were bad with the prince and simply handed the boy a sword. As Leon turned away, he knew that Arthur was going to be stiff come the following morning. Bors never took any sort of disobedience lightly, especially not from future kings.
He passed the rest of the day in a bad mood, frustrated that he was losing Arthur and being able to do nothing about it. The worst part of it was that he knew it was coming. He had known there would be a time when Arthur would seek out the company of those his own age, regardless of how he truly felt about them. He had seen the way his father had received their families and knew they were the type of people he should be associating himself with. Upset and angry over Morgana's arrival and Uther's lack of attention, this was the only way he felt like he was controlling his own life.
But even with knowing and understanding the reasons behind Arthur's behaviour didn't make it any easier for Leon to deal with, wanting the return of the sweet little boy who would have done anything to please him rather than deliberately pushing his luck too far time and time again.
It was only when he had eaten and was sitting slouched in his chambers, staring moodily into the fire that Leon truly realised what was annoying him so much. He had done the opposite to Arthur, ending up in the company of those much older or much younger because of how his duties to the prince had dictated his path. While he wouldn't change it for the world, Leon realised he was only so angry because of how much it hurt for Arthur to try and act out now after all of this time of listening to his older friend.
A soft knock on the door made Leon grunt in answer before realising that hadn't been the best of ideas. He wasn't in the mood for company and now found that he was wracking his brains for a way to get rid of his unwanted guest. But as he looked up, he sighed.
"What?"
He was in no mood to try and pander to Arthur's whims now. But dressed in his nightclothes, his hands twisting the bottom of his top in a familiar gesture of uncertainty, Arthur looked his age for the first time that day now that the sneer had gone from his face.
"Sir Bors said I had to apologise."
"Well, don't bother. You clearly don't mean it and are just going to do it again tomorrow.
"No! No, that's not true, I won't, I promise…" Arthur darted forward as words fell from his lips and Leon found that he was relaxing despite himself. This was the Arthur he knew, the one desperate for companionship. Leon sighed, forcing himself to instantly not give in.
"You said that last week, Arthur."
"But I… I didn't mean to, honest. Please say you forgive me?"
"I thought you didn't care what I thought?"
"I do! Honest I do! I didn't mean any of it, I'm sorry! I won't do it again, I won't see them again if you don't want me to, please…"
"Come here, Arthur," Leon gently took the boy's hand, drawing him in closer and finding he was adjusting the ties on his shirt without thinking about what he was doing. Arthur stood still – the opposite of what he had done the night before when he had practically slapped Leon's hands away.
"You know that one day, you will be Crown Prince and after that, King. What is said in rashness then will have consequences far worse than a knight making you work hard all afternoon. You could start a war, people could be hurt or killed because of what you chose to say or do."
"I know."
"Do you, Arthur? Do you truly know that or are you just saying that because it is what you want me to hear?" Leon sighed as Arthur bit his lip, clearly not knowing what answer Leon wanted.
"It is not my decision to make whether you see them or not. The choice remains with you and you alone. You have to decide whether you want their company or not, not simply doing it because of who they are. The fact you are even willing to not see them just to please me shows you already know the answer to that."
Arthur stayed quiet for a long moment before tentatively nodding.
"You wouldn't have really spanked me, would you?" Leon lifted an eyebrow and looked at Arthur sternly. He wasn't sure whether he would be able to or not, but he didn't want Arthur knowing that.
"I hope you never give me another reason to find out."
"I won't," Arthur's voice was a whisper this time and tears were in his eyes as he looked up at his friend, lip trembling. "I really am sorry."
This time, Leon believed him. It wasn't what Arthur was saying; it was the way he was saying it that made the knight believe him. He ruffled the boy's hair before finally relenting and drawing him into a hug. The way Arthur simply melted into it made Leon realise the prince had no intention of leaving the room until he had managed to get at least one.
"You brat," Leon muttered fondly, realising he had just given Arthur what he wanted. He wondered who else Arthur could manipulate so successfully in the castle; for Leon was sure he was not the only one. He felt the prince smile against his neck and knew in that moment that they were going to be alright. No matter what it took or what they went through, they were always going to be alright.
