AN: Here's the latest, please, enjoy!
Thank you all for the support, it's great you're enjoying it :) Thanks to those who have commented:
MerlinEmrys88 - I'm glad you think so!
ninagayler - There's not long to go now, so we'll see ;) Glad to know I at least update earlier than some!
GuestM - Yeah, I think we've all been in that sort of situation before! Morgana should sort him out, if nobody else can
Guest - Ah right, fair enough! I think mostly it's just if someone told Arthur that they saw Merlin, he knows that it's just a job, so he can either tell them that or just not get embarrassed by it because he knows the truth. That's just how I look at it really, but I do see your point!
It was still rather early in the day when Morgana came by, Arthur offering a fake smile as he tried to hold the door so she would not be able to come in. His eyes caught Gwen standing behind his sister though, and he could not hide the frown of intrigue as she looked more apologetic than her sister at their visit. Although, it was not much more, he noticed.
"Morgana," he stood with his hand gripping the door, wondering if he was too tired to hold them back if they were to just push past him, something Morgana was not against doing if need be. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
His sister rolled his eyes in her way before doing what he hoped he could prevent, but found himself lacking the energy to keep her from passing over the threshold. "Come in," he muttered to himself, "make yourself at home." Gwen followed, at least having the decency to appear guilty, but she still sat herself down as Morgana paced to the kitchen with a stride that only meant something bad was coming Arthur's way.
"Please, help yourself!" He shouted into the kitchen, hearing his sister grabbing something as he threw himself back on to the sofa, his place of comfort for the past few days. He tried to tell himself he was allowed the break after leaving his job, but he knew he should probably be doing more than he had. Maybe that was what Morgana was here for, because she never could keep out of his life for more than a second.
Gwen sat in the armchair, watching him with a strange smile, "I heard you left the company?"
"I see Morgana has told everyone," Arthur rolled his eyes, but at Gwen's hard stare he regretted it in an instant. "Sorry," he shrugged, and her gaze softened a little. "It's been quite a strange week."
"I can imagine," she nodded, "it's probably all quite overwhelming, but it's great that you quit."
Arthur's attempt at a smile merged with a grimace, as his thought process had been all over the place recently, and he found himself many times panicking that he had made the wrong decision. It might not have been the best job in the world, it might have been something he hated with a passion, but it was stable, right? He could have replaced his father eventually and lived a somewhat comfortable life, and in a second he had thrown it all away. Just thinking about it now made him want to roll back into bed.
"Gwen's right," Morgana announced then, handing over a coffee to Gwen before wrapping the now free hand around her own as she sat down.
"I suppose I don't get one?" Arthur pouted childishly, but Morgana only shrugged.
"I only have two hands, couldn't carry three."
"Whatever," he blinked slowly, taking a deep breath before facing his sister. "What is this, then?" He waved his hand between the two women, settled in his home as if they had been there all morning, trying to appear innocent. Arthur knew them both better, though, then to believe that. "Some kind of intervention or something?" He grinned.
Gwen was the first to look over, sharing a glance with Morgana, before they stared directly back to him. Arthur's expression dropped, along with his patience.
"I'm just here to mediate," Gwen spoke after a brief pause, but the sweetness in her voice did not hide the seriousness of whatever this was about.
"What could I have possibly done wrong now? I left my job, what else can you lecture me on?" Arthur growled, throwing his hands in the air.
"Arthur," Morgana stared at him, speaking sternly but not raising her voice, "you know."
"Do I?" He argued back, just for the sake of it.
"It's Merlin," Gwen let out after a ridiculous staring match ensued between the siblings, neither wanting to give in.
"You know, the boy you've had following you around to every event," Morgana raised her eyebrows as Arthur crossed his arms, "the one you just dropped because… what was the reason again?" Her finger tapped against her chin, and Arthur looked away with a sigh.
"It's none of your business, Morgana," he shook his head. "Leon's already given me the talk, so you can leave now. Goodbye."
"I thought the reason you left daddy's business was to show you were more mature,"
"And to make my own decisions," he swivelled his head to face her, neck protesting against it, but he refused to show the ache it caused.
"Well, I'd let you, but right now you're not making the right decisions."
"Oh, and you always do?"
"Alright, stop." Gwen sighed before Arthur might say any more, an irritated note in her tone. "This is getting us nowhere, let's start over."
"Or end here," Arthur smiled bitterly.
Gwen rolled her eyes towards him, piercing him with a weary glare that he might not have accepted from anyone else; Morgana's friend was a sweet woman, but Arthur knew her well, and while he openly showed his disdain for his sister, Gwen had a temper that actually, sort of, only a little, frightened him.
"You don't have to take the advice," she continued as if she had not been interrupted, "but would it kill you to listen?"
"I wouldn't put it past Morgana to kill me if I don't follow it," he muttered.
"He's right," his sister nodded to Gwen.
"Well, that's something for when he does, and I am not getting involved in that."
Arthur sniffed, "alright, fine. What about Merlin? I'm sure you won't tell me anything I haven't heard."
Morgana leaned forward then, hands intertwined as if she were a therapist helping a patient, a condescending image Arthur did not need. "Arthur, you know I don't enjoy getting involved in your life,"
Even Gwen joined him in scoffing then, Morgana rolling her eyes.
"Well, my life doesn't revolve around you, anyway. But you just constantly make these decisions, these terrible decisions-"
"Morgana," Gwen frowned.
"Fine, you make perfectly fine decisions that just happen to go wrong." She looked to Gwen waiting for her friend's approval before continuing, "you've been out of work for a few days now, why haven't you called him?"
"I've been thinking," he tried.
"What more is there to think about? You were happy, with him."
"She's right," Gwen nodded along, "you complained a lot less when you'd been around him."
"Does that mean anything? Maybe I just got happier?"
"Arthur," Morgana droned as if he were stupid, "he got you to quit your job, even I couldn't do that!"
"He really has changed you, for the better."
Silence descended then, Arthur already having too much to think about. He brushed a hand over his eyes as he groaned, "maybe." He practically heard the victorious smile appear on Morgana's face. "But it's been longer than a week, now," he sighed, dropping his hand to look at the pair with sad eyes. "I haven't heard anything from him, either. He's probably getting on with his life."
"Arthur, you're the one who told him you needed time." Gwen reasoned softly, "why would he contact you? He's just respecting your boundaries."
He knew it was a poor excuse, but he hoped the escort might have reached out, because he was not sure he could do it himself.
"Still, he's an escort," he sighed, without any real conviction. The silent stares he received in reply told him his second excuse had gone down just as well as the first. "I just want somebody I can trust,"
"Merlin is trustworthy," Morgana almost groaned, "you should know better than anyone not to judge someone based on their job."
Rushing a hand threw his hair, he slouched backwards, wishing he could just melt into the chair and forget about everything for another day or so.
"He even told you his real name!"
He shrugged, "is it that big a deal?"
Morgana huffed, then looked away as she shook her head, "yes." Again, she looked back at him, "I don't know if I should tell you this, but I actually ran into Merlin once at a pharmacy, I think he said he just works in the back."
"He told me he did some work for a family friend," Arthur found himself informing her, sitting up straighter as he waited for the story, which only brightened her stare.
"See, he told you that. When I met him, it was just after the barbeque, and he told me he doesn't tell clients these things, he said he didn't want them getting close to him."
Arthur didn't respond for a few minutes, then only shrugged, trying to appear casual.
"So, it means you weren't just a client to him, Arthur!"
"Didn't you go on dates with him? Like you met his friends?" Gwen chirped in before Arthur could properly react.
"Er," his eyes dropped, "I don't know, we never said they were dates."
"God give me strength," Morgana murmured under her breath, taking in a deep breath as she closed her eyes.
Gwen looked over to her before speaking to Arthur again, "just because you never said they were, doesn't mean they weren't."
"You haven't opened yourself up at all since you dated Richard, but I saw you getting better with Merlin." Morgana's eyes turned tentative, caring, even, so much so that Arthur almost had to do a double take. "You only stopped it because you were scared, and you know it."
Arthur ran the thought over in his head, because really, they were probably, very likely, actual dates. "Even if that's true," he hedged, "what can I do? The last time we spoke wasn't exactly… It," he scratched the back of his head anxiously, "it didn't go well."
The tentativeness in her gaze soon evaporated as Morgana eyed him sternly, searching for something as she spoke carefully, "what did you do?"
"Nothing! Nothing, really." Even Gwen stared at him with suspicion now, and it was hard not to cave under only Morgana's glare. "I might have… I didn't exactly say I was against the idea of anything, but…"
"But?"
"I might have said that whatever it was we were doing wasn't really anything," he rushed out in a single breath, hoping they didn't really catch it. Morgana's ears caught anything she might be able to argue with, though, and her eyes pierced into him immediately with a stare that might turn lesser men into stone. Arthur's eyes widened as he felt his body stop, and he wondered if she might actually have such powers.
"Sometimes, Arthur Pendragon, you can be such an idiot."
Arthur's lips turned into a thin line, "I thought you were supposed to stop this sort of thing," he asked Gwen pitifully, rather than trying to deny it.
Gwen shrugged without sympathy, "I'm only here to stop either of you from saying something that's incorrect."
Arthur flinched, but he knew he probably deserved it.
"What do I do?" He asked finally, all dignity leaving him as if it had never been there in the first place. At this moment, he wasn't sure it had. "It's been longer than a week now, what can I do?"
"Call him," Morgana spoke with urgency, "you call him now, and tell him you're an idiot and you made a mistake."
"Right now?"
Morgana's wide-eyed stare answered him, and he fumbled for his phone in his pocket. Once he dialled the number, he paused before hitting call, looking up at the women watching eagerly as if there were their drama of the day. It was still only morning.
"Do I have to do it with you watching?"
Morgana looked ready to nod, but Gwen stepped in, standing as she eyed his sister, suggesting she do the same. "We'll go in the other room."
Arthur made sure to carefully watch them leave, aware that they most likely would still eavesdrop on his conversation; when they returned, it was likely they would point out every single mistake he made on the call.
With them sufficiently out of the way, his attention turned back to the phone. His eyes faltered, his breath catching as his heart thumped against his chest. He wasn't even sure what it was he was supposed to say.
He pressed the button with a crippling uncertainty, then brought the phone to his ear.
He waited, until it rang out.
His heart caught in his throat, before his hand dropped slowly.
Had he left it too late?