In the three months Merlin had been married to Arthur he had never had to do this one thing. He had never wanted to do it, it was awful and a horrible thought. It made his stomach turn just thinking about it. He had begged, pleaded and asked both nicely and rather rudely not to have to do it, but Arthur said he had no choice. He had to, he was being forced. Arthur wasn't going to enjoy it either, but it had to be done. So, on this Tuesday, around five o'clock, Merlin watched Arthur sit down at the dining room table and pull his laptop toward him, turning it on and Merlin only pouted. And when Arthur beckoned him over, his pout only grew larger, as he came to stand behind Arthur.
"Stop looking like a sad little boy," said Arthur, looking at Merlin from the reflecting camera. Merlin glared down at him through it. He knew Merlin didn't like when he called him a child, it was degrading because Arthur was older than him, that was the only reason he was saying it, as if he had power over him because he was older. It was the same reason why Arthur didn't like when Merlin called him daddy, it was derogatory because Merlin was saying he was young and fresh while Arthur was old, a father's age. Arthur continued to look at him as he continued to glare at him and Arthur sighed. "Don't be so nervous, they're going to love you."
"You can saying that, but how do you know that for sure...?" Merlin said, glare gone and he was pouting once more. Arthur shrugged.
"I don't know, I know them, I know you..." he said, offended. "I don't know why you care anyway. They're across an entire ocean, in a swamp, they can't do much to you. They won't effect your life in anyway. If Uther or Ygraine Pendragon don't like you, which I am telling you they will, it really won't make any difference."
"But I am supposed to be your husband," said Merlin. "I'm supposed to want them to like me. I'm supposed to want them to be impressed by me."
"You are my husband..." Arthur trailed off, typing things into the Skype login screen that had just popped up on his computer. "I had the same fears you are now when meeting your family. Only they didn't know about me, and I then had to break the news that we were actually getting married...all while you refused to even look at me."
Merlin supposed this must be true, that must have been very difficult for Arthur to do. Much more difficult than Merlin had it now, with a whole ocean and computer screen between him and Arthur's parents. He also had the support of Arthur now, when Arthur didn't have Merlin's then. But Merlin had gotten to know Arthur since that time, he had even gown to like him...sometimes, at least. He took in a deep breath now, and steadied himself. Taking up a position not directly behind Arthur, but slightly to his right, so he could at least be seen more. Even though he really didn't plan on talking much. He was going to let Arthur do the talking, that was how Gwen seemed to like things anyway. That is what she would probably tell him to do.
"Are you ready?" asked Arthur now, as he looked at himself in the reflecting screen and ruffled his hair a little bit. Merlin nodded, knowing Arthur could see him in the screen, too. Arthur smiled, and turned back to him, to actually face him. "Just be yourself, aright?" Merlin nodded again. Arthur looked back and pressed another button or two on the keyboard and then clicked a few things with a mouse and all of a sudden a ringing noise filled the room, do-do-do-do-do, Merlin felt his chest get tight. Tighter than when they had gotten married in front of the blue dress lady who would have probably rather been anywhere else. Suddenly a blonde woman popped up on the screen and started shouting something, that sounded a lot like 'Ayyyy,' but the first few words had been cut off from the delay. "Mum!" Arthur announced into the camera, smiling happily. A lot happier than he had just been smiling at Merlin. "Where is dad...?"
"He's coming now," said the woman, in a kind voice that reminded Merlin a lot of his own mother's. He didn't make any moves to talk or express that he was even standing there. Her blue eyes, which even in the poor camera lens, looked a hell out a lot like Arthur's, did pan to Merlin once or twice, but she didn't say anything about him, as another, deeper voice filled the room. "Oh, here he is..."
"Wait for me...don't start it without me!"
"Too late, Uther," companied the woman and she really did remind Merlin of Arthur. Just the way she spoke and her mannerisms. It almost made Merlin smile, but he didn't. "I told you to be ready!"
"I had to put on my best shirt for the boy!" complained this Uther, which must have been Arthur's dad. He had grey hair and wore sunglasses even though they were inside. He looked as if he didn't quite fit into that overall style, but was blissfully unaware that he didn't.
"It has flamingos on it!" complained Ygraine still.
"YOU BETTER BELEIVE IT DOES!" retorted Uther, loudly, looking at Arthur through the screen. "Looking sharp, lad! Like your old man..."
Arthur shook his head. "Thanks," he said shortly. "But before we get into all that, I want you lot to meet Merlin."
"Oh, yes...ye old ball and chain, right...right," said Uther, happily.
"Have you been drinking again?" said Ygraine, looking over her husband now, instead of the screen, judgmentally.
"Three shots of whiskey," said Uther. "Don't mention it."
"Right...Merlin," said Arthur, pressing on. "He's here." Arthur titled the screen back a little more, as Merlin was kind of tall, so they could really see him. Both of them just stared for a long, quiet moment. "Merlin, these are my parents, Uther and Ygreaine..."
"Hi," said Merlin softly, he wasn't even sure they could hear him he said it so quiet. Perhaps not, or the screen was frozen, because they both continued to stare. The frozen theory was debunked though, rather quickly. Because Uther began to laugh, rather richly and very loudly. It echoed through their house...all the way in London.
"You never told us his age!" said Uther, between periods of laughter. "He's a fucking twink!"
Uther started clapping his hands and throwing his head back with a laugh, sounding like a deranged seal. Ygraine slapped him in the arm repeatedly, but he ignored it. Arthur let out a frustrated sigh and started to bob his right leg under the table. An obvious sign he was getting annoyed.
"Yeah...alright, so he's younger than me, what of it?" retorted Arthur. "I didn't tell you because I figured you'd act this way."
"Well, we don't really care about age, Lovebug, but it is kind of shocking..." said Ygraine, sweetly. She clearly knew Arthur was annoyed and even more clearly knew Uther wasn't helping. "I never thought you would be interested in someone so much younger, you always dated older woman who were...well, woman. Not that we care either way, of course. I just want you to be happy."
Uther continued to laugh, so hard that he began to cough. Both Arthur and Ygraine sighed in frustration. "How old is he?" chocked out Uther. Arthur's leg froze it's bobbing and he didn't answer right away. He shook his head when he did.
"Twenty, for fuck's sake..."
Uther laughed again and pointed a finger at the screen. "My boy is having a midlife crises before I even am, what'ere the odds?"
"Your whole life is a midlife crises, Father!" Arthur retorted and Uther laughed harder at this.
"You're right..."
"Merlin, darling, I'm so sorry...you must think we are awful people," said Ygraine now, over her husband's laughter, and Merlin wasn't honestly sure what he thought of them. "Excuse Uther, he has no moral compos. You just have to understand Arthur never told us anything about you, we had no idea you were so young...that doesn't mean we don't still want to get to know you better. I'm looking forward to it." Merlin nodded, but he still didn't say anything. He refused to, at this point. Uther still laughed and Arthur just looked pissed off. Ygraine was the only one still trying. "You are coming for Christmas this year, Arthur, you didn't come last year. And you're bringing Merlin."
That wasn't even a question, it was her telling him and Arthur only shrugged. "I will try."
"No, you will come," said Ygraine. "Your sister will be here as well, I want the whole family together again."
"Oh joy," Arthur rolled his eyes. "Is she bringing another one of her victims again?"
"Stop it, don't be petty about your sister's love-life, you are not so perfect yourself."
"I have not been married three times..."
"No, you just married a twink!" shouted Uther with mirht.
"You know what," said Arthur then, pointedly. "I don't think this was a good idea, we're gonna go."
Ygraine sighed then. "Fine, I will sober up your father and we will talk again soon." She smiled into the camera at Merlin, and she did look a bit like she was going to murder someone in a minute, but did her best to hide it. "It was lovely to meet you, darling."
"Right, bye..."
Arthur didn't wait for them to say bye, he didn't wait for anything actually, he just hit X on their video and quickly shut his computer afterward. He didn't turn around then, or toward Merlin, nor did he say anything. That being said, Merlin's resolve of pretending like this was okay was quickly dissolving and instead of saying anything either, tears just suddenly erupted from his eyes and he ran from the room, into the kitchen. Which unfortunately was the only the next room over, and there, he began to viciously cry.
(A/N: Hello everyone. I know it's an odd chapter I guess, but I actually really enjoy this chapter. I didn't notice when writing this, because I write in bulk, like I just write a lot of chapters at once. Or at least I did. Either way, I really enjoy the chapters without Gwen. There are quite a few of them, even though Gwen is a big plot point. I enjoy these because it's just like...they're two normal married people, with an edge. I don't know, I like it. I also know Uther is kind of OOC, but I enjoy it. He won't be in it much either. Arthur did also say his whole life is a midlife crisis tho, so go with that. I hope you enjoyed!)
