I will understand if you don't like this chapter, it's a little...strange...

Chapter Ten

That was it. Arthur left his father's office with a smile on his face. That previous acceptance that he would be without a father and without Merlin had fled him as an ocean would eventually leave the shore. Or engulf it. Arthur still wasn't quite sure which one had taken over. But he felt better for it either way.

His father's last words were ringing in his ears, like the sound of a horn blaring to announce the beginning of an execution. There was no turning back now. Not after what had just been said,

―

"Arthur! You listen to me!" Uther had beckoned his crying son to step closer to him, overwhelmed by an uncontrollable sense of hatred and betrayal, and for the first time, he'd felt that killing his son was within his swollen mind's reach, "you come in here, and dare to ask my permission, to... To... I can't even speak the words!" he'd screamed, as he'd screamed the night before. As Arthur could imagine he would only ever scream at him again.

"But, father! I don't understand why you can't just accept that if Merlin is the person that makes me happy, that I am going to be with him, regardless of what you say!"

"I cannot allow you to shame my family in this way, you are supposed to be my son, to follow in my footsteps, to carry on with what I have achieved!"Uther had paused, studying his son with a conspicuous eye, gauging what his son was asking, for the first time, he actually felt himself think about it, "But, then, perhaps that is the problem, perhaps you are too much like me..." he'd barely whispered those final few words,

Arthur stared at his father, unsure of what he'd meant, "Father, I am your son," he'd stated, watching his father's watered eyes carefully, "of course, I am like you, but aside from your arrogance, I fail to see the relevance,"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore..."

"Oh stop it, you can't say something like that and then expect me to just forget it! you're acting like a child," for a brief second all of Arthur's anger had been replaced by curiosity and a strange wave of affection an adult might feel for a stubborn child. Role reversal in a way.

"It's unimportant..." he turned away from his son,

"I hardly think so, and anyway, even if it wasn't important, I'm still interested," he shot his father a smug smile, that could be seen as nothing less than incredibly supercilious.

"No."

"Come on! Tell me!" he nagged, repeating himself over and over, "Tell me! Please! I'm not leaving until you have!" and his father was getting more and more frustrated,

"Because I used to be like you!" he'd yelled, charging towards his son as if he was about to pin him against the wall, a flat palm to his throat. Arthur had stopped. And stared at the crazed flicker behind his father's iris'. He's stood, quite unable to move, wondering if he'd misunderstood. "I used to be like you, I thought it was everything, just as you do now." he sighed, giving in to the part of him that needed his son, and the part of him that needed his son to know. "But back then, there wasn't really much of a choice, I loved your mother, I really did. But..."

"Who was it dad?" Arthur didn't know whether he should be happy, that this new truth might give his father a reason to live with what his son was, like an unbreakable contract , or angry, that his father had ever loved anyone other than his mother.

"Morgana's father." Arthur could see by Uther's eyes he was internally cursing himself, "I wouldn't have taken her in if I hadn't. She would have gone to an orphanage or been adopted or something." he gripped his son's arm with such force that Arthur had to grit his teeth to hold in a yelp of pain, his eyes were tilted down in an emphasis of pain, aguish and pain. "I couldn't..." he whispered, sheer desperation in his eyes. He was begging his son, although even he, himself, didn't realise it. "I couldn't abandon her, not when she reminded me so much of him. I still couldn't let him go,"

Something clicked in Arthur's brain, something he could use, something he could hold against his father should he feel it was necessary. 'He had been with his mother at the time, and he'd still loved Morgana's father. That went against everything his father had stood for. He may even have been unfaithful,'

Arthur had welcomed the assumption like a child with a bag of sweets, eager, and excited.

―

He'd left after this, content in that he now had authority over his own father. This, he would not use for selfish means, other than the fact that he could now be with Merlin without having to hide. He would use it to gain his father's acceptance. He knew Uther well enough to know that hypocrisy was not something he could keep up for long, not after he knew he was just as bad as Arthur.

"Merlin, I've got something to tell you," Arthur announce, rounding the dormitory door, addressing the dark-haired boy sat on his bed,

"Oh, yeah? Went that bad then?" he assumed, not quite having the strength to lift his head up to meet Arthur. Not yet, anyway.

"No, completely the opposite, actually,"

"What? He's accepted it,"

"Not quite..."

"So it did go bad then."

"No, shut up, Merlin. God. You've never spoken so much,"

Merlin didn't reply,

"No, my father, is, well... He's gay,"

Merlin was off the bed and had Arthur's head between his hands in mere seconds, "What?!"

"He's gay, so he'll have to come 'round soon, or else he'll have to live with himself loosing a son over his own hypocrisy," Arthur kissed Merlin, gently at first, savouring the fact that he now knew it would never have to end, and then more urgently.

Merlin was surprised at how happy he was that Uther was gay.

He pulled away from the blond momentarily, "wait, you'd honestly give up your father for me?"

"Hell yes, any day of the week..." Arthur was going to expand, but Merlin had silenced him with his mouth again. He knew enough.

Sorry, this is a bit rubbish, but the idea came to me at about eight this morning, and I couldn't resist. I was laughing hysterically whilst writing this (even though the chapter itself is highly un-funny). God knows what mum thought.

Anyway, I am going to carry on with this, see what happens with some snow or something like that, back at school, with Gaius and Hunith, and then. Also, I've realised that after the second chapter I entirely forgot to include anything more with Morgana and Gwen, so I think I'll have to bring them back.

Anyway, thanks for the perseverance.