Five

Arthur decided a hoodie was most appropriate for venturing into the supermarket. No one should recognise him behind the face mask he had to wear as part of the health orders. But in case he needed to take his anonymity up a notch, he could always pull down the navy blue hood over his head.

Fifteen minutes in, he didn't think that was necessary. No one paid him any attention as they scurried about, filling their trolleys.

Arthur managed to get most of the items on the list despite the shelves still being a little bare, even after several weeks into the lockdown. The meat aisle was popular, as was the bread aisle. And people were still swarming around the toilet tissue shelves.

Arthur noticed one of the aisles that weren't so occupied was the biscuit section. He may as well grab a pack of the McVitie's digestives. After all, Merlin did make the pickled eggs for him. He probably should get two, actually. He lowered a chocolate flavoured one into the trolley alongside the Original. Oh and there was a salted caramel coated one too. Even Arthur was a little curious to try the limited-edition flavour. Might as well make it three packets then.

As Arthur rolled the trolley forward he relished, just for a moment, this feeling of independence, of not having to think about putting on the best HRH front.

He did get to share buying groceries and so on with his housemates back when he boarded at uni. But frankly it didn't count, given the security that would follow him. Or the fact that his housemates were a lord's son and another foreign prince.

But here there was none of that. He was just another guy grabbing biscuits. Finished grabbing biscuits now and standing in line to the checkouts.

Young Royal moves out...to bring home the girls.

Arthur's eyes fell on the magazine rack. You have got to be kidding. The headline was in daffodil-yellow, plastered over a long-shot of Arthur in an urban eatery, bending his head towards a dark haired young woman to talk more privately. Which he was pretty sure was Morgana, his adopted sister. More importantly, it didn't hold any evidence justifying the heading, considering the pair was photographed in some public establishment. Arthur briefly appreciated the King's hard stance on the Royal security protocol, which has ensured he and Merlin had evaded any notice from paparazzi while moving into the apartment, and thankfully his address was very much unknown to the general public.

Arthur reached out and grabbed a glossy cooking magazine from the same rack, pretended to read the cover then shoved it a tad bit forcefully in front of the magazine running the story about him, making it disappear from view.

'You know, you look a bit like him,' said a woman's voice from behind.

Arthur turned to find the speaker standing on the previous green 'social distancing' dot from the one he was standing on.

'Prince Arthur,' clarified the older woman.

Arthur did not know what the response to that should be. In fact, should he even speak, in case she recognised his voice and confirmed her suspicion? He had been on TV and done the occasional speech ever since he had turned eighteen and started taking on Royal duties, so it wouldn't be out of the question.

'Nah,' he blurted out. 'I hear he goes around everywhere in a...hoodie, hiding his face.' For good measure, he added, 'And a cap. You know, at the same time.' He narrowed his eyes, like he was referring to a total weirdo.

The woman gave a laugh. 'Oh does he now?'

'Yeah.' He shook his head. 'Famous people.' Thankfully the self-checkout in front of him cleared and he slid away from the lady and heard the woman move off too.

That was close. Yet refreshing, thought Arthur, as he left the store and loaded the shopping into his car. And he even managed to get Merlin his favourite biscuits as a thank-you for the pickled eggs.

Which he of course ruined by dumping the stack of biscuits next to Merlin on the sofa, saying, 'They were on Special.' Not entirely untrue; Arthur remembered glimpsing the bright yellow 'reduced price' papers near the shelf where he got the biscuits.

'Oh nice!' said a pleased Merlin. 'I don't think I ever saw a caramel flavour.'

Arthur almost smiled. 'Right, we need to ration them.'


The mist soaked trees were a painting. Merlin couldn't help but smile. Instead of starting on the trail, he did a whole one-eighty degree turn of his head, soaking in the bright green of the trees bordering the path.

'Merlin, we are here to exercise, by the way,' came Arthur's voice at his side. 'Not gawp.'

Merlin breathed in the chill air, clear and pure. Especially without the mask over his face. He got a move on but replied, 'I think we should. Considering we've been taking all of this for granted.'

Arthur jogged up the steps that came up in the walking trail. 'I haven't. I've come jogging here a couple of times before.' Though Merlin was right. It was something else when you couldn't just go for a stroll or spontaneously go out amidst the current restrictions. They were only allowed to be here on grounds of exercising and only for a maximum of two hours. It was too easy to get lost in the woods and not return to the tiny rectangles of people on a laptop screen.

Merlin continued trailing Arthur on the path. 'This was the 'Easy' level hike, was it?' he asked.

'Trust me, it is. You better pick up the pace because we have to meet Morgana and Gwen.' It was also currently the only way you could meet up with friends - strictly outdoors and within that two-hour window of exercise. And you must maintain social distancing at all times.

Which was the opposite to what happened when Arthur nearly collided into Gwen. He shot up another set of stairs and turned to Merlin below him. 'I told them to meet at the Lookout entry.' Arthur skipped a few steps backwards along a path paved through a grassy slope.

'Arthur!'

He turned to find Gwen at the crest of the hill that was the lookout area. 'Guinevere!' For a second neither moved, then Arthur took a big step away from her. 'We should er...'

Gwen moved away too. 'Yeah, keep our distance and everything.'

Merlin caught up with them and narrowed his eyes, looking from Arthur to Gwen then staying on her. 'Great to see you! ' He grinned.

'You too.'

'Where's Morgana?'

'She's making her way here from her CFA meeting,' said Gwen.

'CFA?' Merlin asked.

'Camelot For All,' Arthur explained soberly. He had his reservations. 'One of the charities Morgana is involved in.' A ping sounded. Arthur took out his phone and pressed the power button. 'Yeah, that's her.'

When Morgana arrived, she wasted no time and started grilling Arthur. 'I don't understand -you 're an adult. Why are you doing everything Uther is telling you to do?' She matched Arthur's energy, jogging down the stairs in no time.

'My father isn't...making me do anything,' defended Arthur.

Merlin noticed he cast a brief look at Gwen. She met Arthur's eyes too before looking away. The four took another trail down, back to the starting point.

'I understand where he's coming from,' Arthur continued. 'He wants to support bringing the sorcerers to justice. If they're to blame for the plague.'

'What Uther should be supporting,' said Morgana, 'is organisations like Camelot For All. There's a lot of people who lost work, who need support right now. So many health related causes that needs funding.' She turned to Arthur who was level with her now, with Gwen and Merlin behind. 'You should be an ambassador for CFA.'

'I don't think my father would appreciate it much. There's word that they support people using magic.'

'No. They fund legal fees for innocent people accused of committing a crime using magic. That sounds fair to me.' Arthur said nothing, letting Morgana break the silence again. 'Well, I'm glad you at least thought to donate all that stuff that Uther sent you.'

'Thanks for organising it.'

'Yeah, he sent us the same Doomsday supplies, remember? We did the same.'

Gwen gave a laugh behind them and Arthur's face broke into a smile too.

Morgana slowed a bit so that Merlin caught up with her. 'So, has Arthur been driving you mad in the lockdown?'

'Not yet.' Merlin grinned. He and Morgana now walked together while Arthur fell behind with Gwen.

'The question should be the other way round,' Arthur added from behind them. 'I mean, remember the other day? I have to keep an eye on Merlin's Internet usage.'

'What?' said Merlin, 'You started watching my Youtube playlist too.'

'No, Merlin. I'm talking about the puppy scam you were about to fall for.'

'I wasn't gonna actually hand over any money. Their address was too far. Otherwise, I would have checked out the place and see the dog in real life.'

'Yeah, sure,' Arthur muttered before Morgana asked Merlin about what kind of dog it was.

Merlin replied casually, a little ecstatic at the back of his mind that he was able to hold a conversation these days with Lady Morgana without turning red or blurting out something random. He could hear Arthur lowering his voice as he now chatted with Gwen, catching a few of their words.

'How's your brother doing?' said Arthur.

'Yeah, not bad. He's set up the website really well. So he's able to take orders online now and work on them at the workshop.'

'Oh nice.'

'Working from home, of sorts,' she said. 'How's uni going?'

'Well enough. Can't really catch up with mates.'

'So true. And I miss just walking from one class to another. Those were some great thinking sessions, actually.'

Morgana turned her head to give them a quick look, saying, 'Owain's been texting me about all these clubs he's missing.'

Arthur sniffed. 'The man sure misses his night life.'

'As I'm sure you do,' added Morgana. She and Merlin turned to him at his silence and found Arthur and Gwen exchanging a glance before Arthur replied, 'He's just trying to ask you out.'

'He already knows my answer,' said Morgana smugly.

'He's hoping you've changed your mind,' said Gwen.

They came to the end of the trail, where the signs to the car park were.

'There's a virtual charity event from CFA next month,' Morgana told Arthur. 'I think you should join.'

'I'll think about it.'

They said bye to each other and headed to their respective cars when Merlin spoke. 'So. Anything up with...you and Gwen?'

Arthur climbed down a couple of stairs without words before replying levelly, 'What d'you mean?'

'I don't know, you guys seemed a bit awkward.'

Nothing from Arthur; he looked straight ahead.

'It seemed like you were trying to be really nice to her.' Merlin raised his brows. 'I mean, you trying to be nice - that in itself is a bit unusual, isn't it?'

Arthur pressed his car key and the car's lights blinked. He opened the driver-side door and finally met Merlin's eyes on the other side of the car. With no humour in his voice, he said, 'I kissed Guinevere.'