"Up." Came a short command and Arthur automatically rose his legs so Merlin could hover from under them. He was cleaning their room with a furious energy, the hoover hitting their furniture now and then and even if the noise covered Merlin's muttering, Arthur could see his lips moving nonstop.
Merlin had been in a foul mood the whole day, the whole week. Arthur had been so preoccupied with his own thoughts he wasn't sure anymore. His call to Morgana on New Years had gone well, better than ever and just two days after that, she had called Arthur for the first time. She had told they could meet on the last saturday of Arthur's holiday, at a cafe nearby her university at four o'clock.
Arthur had given up on the hope of meeting his sister when she hadn't said anything about it when they had talked in New Year's so of course he had been thrilled. He had told her right away that he would be there, written down the address, asked if Merlin could come too, promised to be there in time and the minute the call had ended, asked Hunith a permission to go.
Of course about half an hour after that, he had started to stress of the meeting. What would he say to Morgana? How should he act? Could he hug her? Shake her hand? Wave casually and say 'hi'? How would he introduce Merlin? Would Merlin like his sister? He wanted so much to make a good impression of himself and Merlin to his sister, but what he feared more, was how Morgana would act.
Arthur knew his sister. She was pretty, strong, intelligent, compassionate and strong willed. Arthur wished Merlin would get to see that too, but at the moment, Arthur was very much aware of how moody Morgana could be. Mean, furious, hurt and cruel were just some of the emotions Arthur had witnessed over short phone calls and having a coffee with her would definitely be awkward at least part of the time. Arthur could just hope Morgana would try to act polite when she met Merlin. Of course Morgana would see how well Merlin was doing and how incredible that was, but could he really trust her to be someone Merlin would like? No, she was just too unpredictable and at times, if Arthur was being honest with himself, almost a stranger to even Arthur.
Arthur sighed. Merlin had moved on with the hoover and Arthur could hear him mutilating the walls downstairs now. He should stop worrying, he told to himself. There was really not much to do besides worry before he actually sat to the same table with his sister and all the decisions had already been made anyway. He already knew what he wanted, but he had already done everything in his power for them, so there really wasn't a point of asking the same questions from himself the third time.
He just looked at their ceiling for a while and listened to the sound of the hoover. Merlin… He was so glad that Merlin was coming with him. It was almost funny really. Arthur knew maybe better than anyone how Merlin could be unbalanced, had his issues, bad days and at times it was inconvenient and hard to deal with his moods, but to Arthur, Merlin was his rock. If Merlin was with him, he knew he could deal with whatever Morgana would say or do. He would be alright even if Morgana would tell him she didn't want to see him again, didn't want him to call… He would survive it and leave with dignity, give Morgana the space she wanted, if Merlin would be there with him. Besides, Merlin's presence made him a better person, so if he wanted to be in his best, it would be wise to keep Merlin close.
Arthur dragged himself up from their couch and out of the room. This weekend was the last of their holiday and he wanted to spend it properly with Merlin. Even if he had no idea of how his weekend would go, they still had friday evening and maybe that was still salvageable.
Just when Arthur got downstairs, Merlin knocked a pile of magazines over and he cursed under his breath with some most imaginative words Arthur had ever heard (most of them weren't even real swear words) before he yanked the hoover's cord from a socket and started to collect the mess. He glanced at Arthur, but didn't react otherwise to the fact that Arthur was in the room. That felt… not great.
Arthur didn't take Merlin for granted, he really didn't. At times he was really worried that someday Merlin would not need him anymore and then he would find life from somewhere else. That he would someday see Arthur as a part of his painful past or just realise how there were other men in the world with better personalities or whatever quality Merlin held high in his books. He could see and feel the love Merlin had for him and that kept him confident when it came to present, but at times like these, he felt that he still needed to learn to show Merlin that he was important to him. That they could have fun, that their relationship worked. Arthur didn't really know how exactly, but now he knew that he had been neglecting Merlin for too many days. He really should make effort to show Merlin some good time and cheer him up and so he went and took the hoover.
Merlin just blinked when he realised that the hoover was not where he had left it after he crawled from under the table some of the magazines had slid under. When Arthur came to his line of sight, he was ready to be cross with his boyfriend. That would have been so much easier at the moment and so very wellcome to replace this slow burning annoyance he had felt for days now.
Merlin didn't like Morgana, he was quite sure of that. First of all, who calls their brother to drive hundreds of kilometers to have a cup of coffee without even inviting them to visit their house, much less to sleep over? Merlin was quite sure Arthur didn't even know where Morgana lived! Then again, this wasn't why Merlin didn't like her. She had obviously made Arthur stressed. He was so emotionally invested in their relationship and Morgana didn't even bother to act like she appreciated it! She was five years older for Christ sake! She was an adult and she had lived by herself for years and still, she had been unable to reassure Arthur that they would be alright in the end, comfort him once in awhile or even thank him for his troubles!
Merlin had tried to understand her, he really had. He knew what she had gone through, maybe better than anybody ever could and that should go in both ways, but when Arthur had asked if he wanted to come, he hadn't been sure if that was a good idea. If he had gotten any intentions of letting Arthur out of his sight, he would have asked that out loud too.
It didn't help his mood that Arthur had been too spaced out to even notice that Merlin had cleaned their room, gotten their school stuff ready for monday and packed for their trip. He had even answered to Arthur's phone couple of times and dealt with his friends who had wanted to drag him to wherever when Arthur had been clearly not in the mood. At the moment Merlin doubted if Arthur would even make it out the city without him!
And while doing all that, he had swallowed every comment and every feeling in order not to add to Arthur's stress.
"Huh?" Was his smart comment to the missing hoover when Arthur sat next to him on the floor, but Arthur didn't comment. That was a wise decision for Merlin was still wondering if he wanted to get angry at Arthur or not. "Do you know how to ice skate?" Arthur asked and Merlin needed a moment to understand what was being said to him.
"Yes. That's one of the about four things to do during winter in my home village. Why?" he said ready to get offended that Arthur thought he couldn't ice skate. "Pellinore told me that there is an ice rink in Central park. Would you like to try that?" Arthur asked looking like he really wanted to go with Merlin. That effectively ruined Merlin's carefully nurtured angst and a smile started to tuck his lips upwards.
"Sounds great..." Merlin said even before he could comprehend how quickly his foul mood had evaporated. Was Arthur asking him to a date? It really seemed so and to ice skate… Merlin hadn't done that in years! "I'll just… change." he continued with a flat tone that had nothing to do how many feelings he was feeling and made his way to their room.
When he closed their closet door, Merlin let himself smile a stupidly wide smile. How had Arthur managed to find the one thing that could break through Merlin's bad mood? A date... he just loved those! In dates he knew where he really stood with Arthur and felt normal in a way he didn't really feel even in their home half of the time.
It was kind of something very different what he and Arthur had in so many ways. A bit like they were just two teenagers dating and not this complex swamp of feelings and affairs. There were so many things of course and the fact that they had started to live together before even knowing each other's didn't really help. It made some things quite unique (as Gwen had said) or weird (as Merlin had said). Merlin had talked about it once with Gwen and it really had been an interesting discussion.
Arthur had seen Merlin in his very worst in every aspect there was, but still when they had a date, Merlin had this need to look the best he could, to be his best. Yes, he did get quite a motivation to for example clean and cook from the fact that Arthur lived with him, but he didn't exactly stress about it, Arthur was his motivation in many things and if he left a shirt lying around wasn't even in his list of every day concerns. In a restaurant however he kept thinking if his posture was fine or if he used the cutleries the right way or if Arthur liked the colour of his shirt. Now he tried to decided if Arthur would like a button up shirt better than the t-shirt Arthur had told him he liked while also trying to find clothes that would keep him warm and hoping one really didn't forget how to ice skate once learned.
It felt great, to be able to feel concerned of these kind of trivial things, maybe that was why Merlin loved their dates this much.
The ice rink was full. There were so many people that Arthur seriously doubted they would be let in, but after paying a small fee, the cashier indeed deemed they would fit in. Renting skates was pure luck, two of the last three pairs happened to fit them and even then, the pair Merlin rented were figure skates. Arthur looked at them pointedly, a comment of them being girl's skates on his tongue, but Merlin shrugged it off before Arthur could even open his mouth by telling him he had always gotten Will's cousin's old skates and besides those he had only tried Will's racing skates. He would just kill himself if he tried the hockey skates Arthur had rented for himself.
Even after saying that, on ice Merlin really surprised Arthur. After just few fumbling minutes Merlin seemed to find his rhythm. He could spin around in a middle of a movement and continue to skate backwards. He could skate around Arthur and turn as he pleased while Arthur had hard time controlling his movements. Sure he could skate and turn and stop so and so, but he had only skated when his school had dragged the whole class to an ice rink. Or had he gone with Morgana once or twice? he wasn't sure.
When Merlin chatted how different it was to skate in machine made ice compared to a naturally frozen lake, Arthur felt a bit jealous for he had never tried that until Merlin told him how it wasn't that often it could be done even if you happened to live by a lake. Most of the time it was too dangerous or too bumpy to even try. "Although Will and I used to go anyway. Once I had to carry Will home and dump him into a hot bath so he wouldn't freeze to death." Merlin laughed at the memory and Arthur tried to smile with him. It wasn't that the mental image wasn't funny, but...
All the feelings Arthur had for that must have shown in his face for Merlin soon got more serious and explained very carefully how they had been eleven and how Will had been fully clothed, with skates and all. Will's mother had gone crazy when she had found the scratches made by the skates.
"No, it's not that… I just wish I could have known you back then also." Arthur tried to explain, but even if Merlin nodded like he had understood and let the subject go, Arthur was still sure he hadn't been able to convince him of how much he would have liked to get to know Merlin when he had been living happily with his mother, be the way he had been meant to be. At times Arthur thought that Merlin was cute, or that he acted shy or that it was truly capturing how Merlin could appreciate things that Arthur didn't remember existed just to remember that it was not necessarily it. That he would maybe never be able to say that Merlin was shy by nature for there was no way of knowing how Merlin had been before... It saddened Arthur and even if meeting Will had given him some hope of that knowledge was not lost, he was still hit with a strong desire to go back in time and get to know Merlin without all of his protective walls and traumas. That of course on top of wanting to change so many other things. Even if he had tried to come to terms that he could do nothing for the past anymore, it still hurt from time to time.
The silence that followed Arthur's thoughts was not acceptable, so Arthur tried to compliment Merlin for once. "You do skate better than me..." He said very avare that he had not really found the right word, but even if Merlin tried to be modest and brush it off, Arthur could see how happy admitting that Merlin was actually better than him in one form of sport made him.
After that, they had the fun Arthur had wanted. Merlin taught him to skate backwards and that did require quite a lot of holding hands and at times Merlin even placed his hands on his waist to help Arthur keep his balance. At one point Arthur just tried to make Merlin lose his balance and even if they almost crashed to at least ten other people, they just kept laughing almost hysterically.
When Arthur started to see signs of tiredness in Merlin, he deemed it the time to go. When they got their skates of, Arthur's feet were ice cold and it felt weird to walk in normal shoes. Merlin seemed accustomed to that feeling and he laughed at Arthur's attempts to walk normally.
They didn't even reach the car before Merlin complained how hungry he was and Arthur seconded him without a joke. He suggested the Italian restaurant they had visited few times and to his delight Merlin was very happy to go there. It was good because Arthur had thought of going to somewhere anyway.
The restaurant too, was quite full, it was friday after all, but they managed to get a table. Arthur ordered what he always did and Merlin took his time on deciding what to eat. It was just… Arthur had no words for it. Being with Merlin like this was like a happiness overflow. He didn't even care where he was or what he was doing, the important thing was that he was with Merlin and that they were alone.
Merlin had to be careful not to show to the whole world how excited he was. He loved every single one of his dates with Arthur and to him it seemed like every single one was better than the last one had been. Right now, the date he was currently having was the best yet. He could have maybe listed some reasons why. How for example Arthur had actually picked an activity Merlin was better than him or how they were now in his favourite restaurant in the whole world, but those things didn't really matter. What mattered was how Arthur was focusing just on him, how he was smiling and seemingly having fun and how Merlin felt comfortable with himself.
Merlin was almost there to place his hand on the table in hope that Arthur would take a hold of it when Oliver appeared. "Arthur! Merlin! What brings you here?" Merlin looked stiffly at Oliver who stood up from his table leaving a pretty brunette to wait for him. Merlin still had his hands safely on his lap, but when Oliver approached, he sat on top of them. What had he been thinking?! It was friday and now that he looked around, he noticed that many of the tables were filled with couples. Besides, it was a popular restaurant near many well of areas, so naturally most of their school population lived nearby!
"Oliver, how are you doing?" Arthur asked as if nothing was out of place and Merlin really felt jealous of his ability to stay this calm in every situation. "Good, as you can see." He grinned and nudged his head towards the table he just came from. "You on the other hand are just sad. Not getting anyone else to date you than Merlin here?" Oliver asked clearly not aware that they really were on a date but his words made Merlin fidget. Arthur on the other hand didn't mind. "Merlin is a far better date that you could ever get." He said grinning making Oliver laugh. "Alright, whatever keeps you going man, Merlin, don't let him take advantage of you!" Oliver said laughing and returned to his table.
Arthur smiled at his friend's back. It was great to be able to say that he was on a date with Merlin even if he knew Oliver had taken it as a joke. He was about to comment on how Oliver should really be jealous of them for he was fairly sure that the girl Oliver was sitting with was actually his cousin, but then he saw Merlin's face. He had been happy and carefree and his posture had been relaxed a moment ago, but now he looked jumpy and like he had shut a part of himself down. That truly saddened Arthur.
Would Merlin ever want to tell Arthur's friends that they were dating? He had of course just told to his best friend and that meant a world to Arthur, but he had never actually heard Merlin call him his boyfriend, he mostly circled around the word and let those who knew assume themselves. Arthur knew what he was afraid of course, but… was it really all?
Arthur was in love with Merlin with his whole being, he couldn't think that there wasn't something, anything he wouldn't gladly lose if it was for Merlin. There was no doubt where he stood and most of the time Arthur felt confident he knew how Merlin felt too, but this was one of the moments when insecurity tried to eat its way to Arthur's heart. Merlin had been through alot and in just months Arthur had seen so much progress, so many ways Merlin had gotten better, healthier and more like himself. Sometimes… just sometimes Merlin was still a mystery to Arthur and when he dived into his mind, a glass of tonic water in his hand and looked Arthur like he was trying to understand something bigger about the universe, it made Arthur nervous. Was it possible that someday Merlin would find what he seemed to be thinking and leave Arthur? Would there be a day when Merlin told him that he was sorry, but in all what had happened he had confused his feelings for Arthur? Was he already thinking that a possibility and that was why he didn't want that many people really knowing they were dating?
Arthur dismissed those thoughts the second time today. He hated how hard it was to stay confident in a relationship like this. Even if it was Merlin who he felt he knew best in this world... Or maybe that was why these thoughts hurt so much. He tried to act like nothing was bothering him at all and brushed Oliver's appearance off. He told Merlin how he was just a blabbermouth and changed the subject hoping that this one time Oliver would stay where he was seated and not be the social, smiley, person who always wanted everybody to have fun together.
To his luck, their food came soon after and it seemed that Oliver and his cousin had something important to do judging by the amounts of papers and weirdly serious expressions on their table.
The food was excellent and it seemed to brighten Merlin up again. They had good, normal fun, but in a way Arthur knew that their date had been ruined by Oliver. He had hoped to let their legs touch under the table and maybe even walk back to the car hand in hand… but Merlin was sitting his legs under his chair and his arms as close to his body as humanly possible while eating and Arthur knew there was no way he would get the chance to make the setting even remotely romantic before Merlin had closed their front door behind them.
However, when Merlin went to bathroom, Oliver and his cousin started to pack their things and on his way, Oliver came to talk with Arthur again. "You know, it's rare to see Merlin like that. He's usually so serious..." He said as a passing by comment. it kind of flattered Arthur, but not really because 'that' wasn't even near Merlin's best. He felt that he needed to speak for Merlin.
"He's like that all the time, he's just focused when he works..." Arthur wasn't even sure what he was trying to get across, but Oliver wasn't that serious. "Oh no, not with me! I'm sure he doesn't want me near. Once he actually hissed when I took one of his folders. Hissed!" Oliver replied cheerfully, but Arthur could tell he needed some sort of reassurance that Merlin didn't actually hate him.
"Well, that's a normal reaction of seeing you." He said for he knew from experience that Oliver reacted to jokes the best. "Yeah, thanks man!" Oliver laughed sarcastically and patted Arthur's back. "You tell hi to Merlin and see you both on monday." Oliver waved him goodbye and left. Arthur waved at him lazily knowing he had managed to act normal and also reassure Oliver that there was nothing wrong with him. When Merlin exited the bathroom and seemingly relaxed when he noticed that Oliver was gone, Arthur just wished he could show everyone who Merlin really was.
On their way back home Merlin fell asleep. It was almost endearing how his mouth was slightly open and his head was wobbling with the car's movements. Arthur couldn't stop smiling and even if he knew better than to touch Merlin in any way when they were in a car, he decided to hug him as soon as he woke up.
He woke Merlin up by gently calling his name and when Merlin did, he leaned in for a small kiss. Merlin did glance at their surroundings briefly, almost lazily, but he answered the kiss and Arthur decided to just be happy, there was no point in worrying and maybe when Merlin got whatever he was thinking in that head of his, maybe the answer he would find would be that he too wanted to be open about their relationship.
When they woke up in the morning, Hunith had already made them breakfast and sandwiches to eat on the road. She was obviously nervous for the same things Merlin was. How would seeing Morgana affect Arthur? Was there anything at all she could do to help? Was she worrying too much? and then there was some concerns Merlin didn't share, but could understand very well.
It had been Hunith's idea that they spend the night anyway. It was their last weekend before the school would start and she had thought it a great idea to find a hotel or bed and breakfast and just go see sights and eat something nice, have fun together. What neither she or Merlin had said out loud, was that if Arthur and Morgana didn't get along, at least Arthur wouldn't have to drive back home and admit it in the same day. This way, the two hours to there and two more back wouldn't feel a wasted trip in any case.
Hunith fused around them and reminded them to call her when they got there, when they knew where they would be staying and if they just wanted to chat or needed anything or… the list went on and she only stopped when it was time for them to leave and even then, to hug them both. It was almost a bit annoying really, but Merlin knew how much he had been craving for affection like this for years and in a way even the small annoyed feeling behind liking the attention and being embarrassed by it, was something Merlin could feel grateful of. It was bit like the date thing. He was slowly but surely finding a state of mind where the colour of his shirt and a protective mother were his normal source of teenage angst. Life couldn't get better than this really.
Arthur had been sure he would be stressing the meeting the whole way, but Merlin's company and driving was a pleasant combination and in a way he would not rather have been anywhere else. Merlin seemed pretty happy to get to see new places and they talked about where they should visit and where they could stay, Arthur even suggested they could drive along the coast line a bit tomorrow to see some nearby towns. Arthur also learned something new about Merlin: he had never seen the sea.
That surprised Arthur, he had thought that not seeing a sea was an urban legend, something that only happened if you really lived in a country with no coastline at all or in a big enough country that one was really living in a middle of a continent. Even then it seemed foreign to Arthur and Merlin's home village couldn't have been more than two hundred kilometers from the sea. However Merlin just shrugged and told Arthur that he hadn't been in a city either before they moved here, so…
It wasn't an answer Arthur wanted to accept, but he let it go. They would definitely see the sea today and maybe that would help Arthur to deduce if Merlin was interested in travelling more. They could go to trips more often if that was so, maybe on Easter holidays they could go with Hunith to a longer trip? That awoke a question if Merlin had ever been abroad and their destination really seemed to be there too quickly.
It was very hard to find a free parking space even remotely near the cafe Morgana had invited them to and when they had driven around the block twice Arthur found the stress he had momentarily forgotten. Merlin obviously wanted to help, but well, in this he was useless (it wasn't like he could turn into an open parking lot) which didn't help Arthur's stress levels.
It was only half an hour to the agreed time when Arthur finally found an open spot. By the time he had parked, he had also completely lost the track of where the cafe was and that made his stress peak, he couldn't be late of this!
But that was when Merlin just said "Come on...", took his hand and started to pull him to a direction of a small park. Arthur was ready to blow up right them, but the way Merlin was walking in front of him, still holding his hand and walking like he knew what he was doing made Arthur calm down. Of course he would kill Merlin if he managed to get them even more lost, but the moment the park ended, Arthur too knew where they were again and something like an utter relief washed over him. He squeezed Merlin's hand gratefully before they entered the cafe. They still had almost twenty minutes to spare when they found themselves an open table with four chairs.
Arthur went to buy them some tea (which had a calming effect to him too nowadays) and muffins with cherries, nuts and dark chocolate that looked delicious, while Merlin seated himself so he was against a corner. He didn't look nearly as fidgety now compared to how Arthur felt himself. As he sat next to Merlin, Arthur took a deep breath and made himself calm down. His rock was there just next to him and he had gotten himself worked up for nothing. They still had time and everything was still alright.
A/N Hello! I am officially burried in school work. I... have done this to myself, really. I have used far too much time to do well, this story + some other non-school related stuff during this autumn and I have to work night and day in order to get this year done.
That said, I am still writing. I have sketched four chapters after this one and I have written the next and half of the one after that. But... it is hideously slow for me to get them the way I want them to be without a beta and my brain full of words like 'rivastigmine' 'Anticholinergic' and 'Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease' are circling around in my brain. And yes, I have to read some of this s*** in english... In a nutshell, my concentration in not at its best right now.
So... I kind of told myself that since this story is kind of complited, I can update when I'm ready to do so. So, once again, I am truly sorry that the future chapters will take time, but I will update to my profile page an estimation of how much I have written of the next chapter everytime I make process, so if you want, you can go and see once in a while how I am doing from my pfofile page.
And of course, so many thanks for those who reviewed, It really is very important to get comments and I have to say that I really like this fanfiction commutiny that encourages and gives suggestions to each others. I have learned a lot during this time I have been writing this story and I have actually gotten better with english and writing in general. Please, keep the feed back coming, I would really love to learn more :)
mersan123 Hi! Thank you :) Morgana and Arthur... they are progressing, but as we saw in this chapter, Morgana is a mess. We will get back to that, I promise ;) The party was indeed a huge succes, to the football team, it was a huge thing, Merlin invited them! He liked them after all! (because they all like Merlin, who wouldn't like Merlin, but he has never seemed to be too friendly... :( ) Will, awesome you liked Will :) he really is a true friend. In the show he covered for Merlin even when he was dying and he joked and encouraged Merlin about his magic when he could. I loved that and well, this is what I transformed it to be. I'm so glad you liked it :) And yep, I too think that we all need a friend like him in our lives. Merlin has an amazing suppor group behind him and that gave him courage to talk with Will, who was so important to him and now that Will is a part of his support group... that is a healing step indeed. :) We are now in the part of positive chapters, but that one was really one of my personal favourites. I hope you will enjoy the following Uther-free and healing filled chapters too! Have a great day!
blue-analytic Thanks :) Awesome that you liked the chapter and it's a great compliment for me what you thought about scenes that could have been normal/boring, I think I'm howering on that border quite often, so that you think that I have managed to turn some of that to amusing, I'm very happy to hear that :) And I might have said it before, but realistic is my goal, so it alwasy makes me happy when someone tells me how a scene is beliveable :) Also it's great to know you are still enjoying the story! it is very much alright not to review every time, I'm very thrilled of what I get and so many thanks for you have review so many chapters already. You too, have a nice day and hopefully see you again! :)
Angel Dove1 :D Ah, I'm so glad I was able to make you laugh! And thank you, I was a bit pleased how I wrote will and Merlin, but it's so great to hear you loved them! I really wanted to get the brotherly feeling in between them, how Merlin can't even think of Will being anything else than his friend/brother to the extend where they can even joke about it and Merlin's sexuality and stuff... So happy you got that feeling and enjoyed it too :) Ah, the juggling, I laughed so much when I saw the episode! And then afterwards when Arthur threw is boots at Merlin and told him to explain how he could juggle but not catch those... It was just priceless :D (I might have a continuation for this joke later... ;)) And Gwaine's entrance... I only had so little time for him in this chapter, but I'm a bit happy about that small moment too :P I love writing about Gwaine, he's just funny. I can so imagine Gwaine getting waisted on his seventeenth birthday :P Just seconds after Arthur had dropped the nuts on his plate and yealled for Merlin, I'm sure he looked after Arthur knowingly and told about it to Percy (who was btw talking with Lance about something... I seriously didn't have much time for those three :( ) Morgana... Well, this whole chapter was about her and she was kind of all over the place, but her story will be told better soon ;) Oh! About Arthur being like 'I'm not gay, Merlin is.' I have this sketch of a future setting (that I'm not going to write because reasons) that basically is when Arthur is already a cop and he has this teenager causing real trouble and so the police is involved and one of the kids lash out and needs to be really arrested and when Arthur (with Leon) gets him to the station and try to talk with him, he basically thows at them how nothing really matters anyway because his parents will hate him either way and his friends too. Arthur manages to dig it out from him that he's gay and he assures hm that it's not the end of the world. The kid goes 'it's not like you know anything about it, or are you one too' and Arthur is like 'no' (Leon is like 'what the F') the kid looks like he's going to say something but Arthur continues before he can 'but my boyfriend is' and the kid is like 'o.O'. And then the situation resolves itself to quite a happy ending. ... yeah... i have too much free time apparently. Or at least I had during summer.. :P Great that you told me about your views, I have to say I agree to what you wrote about brothers, I too, have friends that are closer to me than my actual siblings, but it's a funny thing what knowing we are blood related does to me. It's just that knowledge and it makes me view them differently. They irritate me while anyone else wouldn't and they feel important when nobody else would. It's a bizare feeling. Also even if some of them are really not there for me, I feel that it hurts in a whole different level compared to a friend who isn't there for me for example. And there is just something that really would prevent me to fall in love with any of them... That is also very interesting for me. I know what you mean when you said that when one's heart starts to beat faster and every thought is nothing but that person, like in my story Merlin and Arthur, but at least to me, it just wouldn't be possible with my siblings. Any of them. It was this one time I was with my sister in a party and near midnight I started to feel really tired and I just casually used her as a pillow. You know like 'it's your fault I'm still here, make yourself useful and be a pillow' kind of way. (she's older than me and she was driving) I was almost asleep when some of my sister's friends were like 'Oh my God! Do you see that?! (My sister's name) over there... I didn't know she was dating!' And me and my sister had this small pause and then we looked at each others utterly disturbed and my sisterer practically threw me to floor and we both shuddered and went 'ewwww!' very loudly until those idiots got that we were siblings. *Shudders* never again... Ok, this reply is very, very long... I should stop not, but really, it was so great to read your thoughts and sorry for this long ranting... :P Oh, I promise to tell when I reach the last chapter, this is not it either :)
Greedy Reader Me too, mee too. I have days when I have no idea what day it is and what time it is... That one gets for working irregular hours I guess... I'm so happy that you liked Will in my story! I'm actually quite pleased myself how I wrote their relationship and yeah, they really are like brothers, aren't they? I really loved your analysis of their relationship and now that I read it, you are so right. There is really no-one who knows Merlin like Will, even Arthur can just wish that he had known how Merlin was before this all and even Merlin himself... he can't remember really that well how he used to wiew thing before Uther and he has no idea how he would be now if he had never gone through something like that, but Will can. Because he really knows Merlin and his views has not been meneded with time, but rather suddenly. That was really also why Will was the one to know how Merlin had felt at the time it all happened. I knew there was a reason why I wanted Will to be the one who told Merlin he would have done the same! With him Merlin can almost start from here they were left, that is truly great. And jealous Arthur... I had so much fun with that idea :D Jealousy is not by any means a good emotion in a relationship, but in this case I think it's accptable ;) I'm so thrilled that this chapter was your favourite, it's one of my personal favourites too :) And then lastly, Morgana. Well, she was quite a lot in this chapter, right? Well, she is kind of all over the place, but I will write her in the next chapter and then in one more later on and it will be explained what she has gone through the last couple of years, so bear with her. I'm a sucker for happy endings, so she will get better with time :)
Kao No worries, sounds vey unfortunate situation, I kind of have those themes in my autumn too... sick and busy, sigh... But great you like the full and these extra chapters I'm writing :) You made my day. As you might have noticed, I'm kind of going backwards with Morgana: the first time we saw her, she was very fourth season and now... well, she's slowly turning back to what she was and we will see more of he. I do have a back story for her written already ;)
Lavitar So great to hear compliment like this! Thank you so much! I had to check which chapter was 24, but of course it was the one with Merlin finaly telling Gaius and Gwaine (a bit anyway...)! I loved writing those scenes and I'm thrilled to hear you liked them :) Actually... I haven't posted the one of Lance's class... I really should, shouldn't I? Alright, since you too asked, I will write it during Christmas holidays. I promise! it was truly marvelous to get a comment for a chapter I posted a while ago, especially for one of my personal favourites. Comments for the latest chapters are what keep me writing on, but you made me feel that this story doesn't just dissappear into some dark corner of the internet after I move to the next chapter, so, a huge thank you! I hope you will enjoy the rest and get a bit of sleep in the middle ;)