The One

Part 2 of ?

"Umm… Uhh.. Yeah! That's right." Arthur's brain couldn't comprehend what Merlin was saying. He could only understand, no, he could only feel the things Merlin's voice did to him. Merely the voice of someone he's never met. He felt his skin prickle and he shudders as he hears Merlin say his name.

"What's the dress code? … Arthur?"

The young Pendragon shakes himself, blinking dazedly as he nods before remembering that Merlin couldn't see him. "Oh! Sorry! Um, formal… Like a Suit… with a tie." He wants to bang his forehead against his refrigerator. Of course it would be a suit and tie! What else could formal possibly mean? A purple speedo and floaties?

Arthur is fairly sure he has some grave mental affliction no one's bothered to tell him about. The voice is silent on the other end before he hears barely contained laugher. He blushes, his fingers nervously tearing at his cuticles before he hears Merlin let out a fairly obnoxious guffaw.

He glares at the phone, and no matter what anyone else says, he absolute does not pout. And no matter about the pictures of him 'pouting' that Morgana has, she has softwares that make photoshop look like scissors and construction paper.

"Oi!" Arthur calls, his fingers gripping the phone tightly. "Oh- I'm- God! I'm sorry! You just sounded so- so-" Arthur rolls his eyes at the phone, his own lips twitching into a smile. "Yeah, yeah. Don't hurt yourself, mate." And just then he hears a loud crash on the other end, and a very undignified 'Oof!'

Before he knows it, Arthur is standing his phone clenched tight in his hand. "Merlin? Are you okay!" He blushes and sits down again. He barely knew the man! And here he was, getting all worried just because he fell.

Well, it sounded like he fell anyway.

Arthur couldn't subdue the worry pricking beneath his skin and the urge to shake the man for being so clumsy. "Y-Yeah! Sorry bout' that! I'm not the most graceful…" Merlin laughs sheepishly as Arthur listens to someone picking up broken glass.

Arthur sighs in relief, his worry replaced with irritation that Merlin had made him worry in the first place. "Obviously not." There is silence of the other side, before- "You Prat! I was trying to be nice! Friendly! You- You- arrogant clotpoll!"

"Well! At least I'm not an idiot!" Arthur retorted back, watching Morgana leaning against the door frame, amused and smiling.

Arthur stands in front of the mirror, adjusting his tie and his dark midnight blue dress shirt. He is brushing the hair in front of his eyes when he hears Morgana's voice from the living room. He stills as he watches a man enter from the mirror, he is wearing a black suit, his shirt a light blue. His eyes- god, his eyes were beautiful.

Arthur splutters, his breath hitching in his throat as he watches Merlin's pale pink lips spread into a smile. He wanted nothing more than to press their lips together and feel the warmth and pressure of those lips on him. He ducks his head, his dark hair looked soft and silky; Arthur wanted to run his fingers through them.

"I'm Arthur."

The man smiles, his beautiful eyes twinkling.

"Hi, Arthur. I'm Merlin."

Good lord. There was that smile again. Arthur wasn't sure how he'd make it through the night.

Morgana smiles as she leans against the doorframe watching the exchange between two men. It is almost silent in the room apart from the shallow breathing and the shuffling of feet as Merlin and Arthur watched each other. Morgana would remember this moment forever, she would think back on this moment in the darkest of her days, when the hours were the bleakest and the loneliest.

She will remember and her hope will be replenished. Hope that maybe the world isn't such a dark place after all, that maybe she would one day find what they found; love. She'll recall the shallow breathing as Arthur and Merlin walked toward each other, close enough to touch really, but for now; just looking suited them both just fine.

Morgana who was never one to feel shame or get embarrassed, felt her face heat up and cheeks burn. This was- this moment was going to change their lives, and she felt like she didn't belong there. Or anywhere else for that matter. She felt like an intruder as Merlin softly caressed Arthur's cheek.

She felt the bitterness rise in her chest, the tightness in her throat that 'what now?' feeling hit her fast and hit her hard. Arthur had been her companion, her best friend for years; they did everything together. She was going to all alone now. Morgana coughed softly, and the men stilled and laughed nervously as they pulled apart.

Morgana felt like she was slowly coming away at the seams.

"Come on boys, we're going to be late."

Arthur's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he watches his sister exit the room quickly, her heels clicking on the wood floor as she made her escape. Her voice didn't hold any of it's usual heat, instead replaced by a tightness in her voice he hasn't heard for a long time. Merlin hooks arms with Arthur, already beginning to skip to the door.

"Let's make your father eat his tongue, shall we my prince?" Merlin says, his lips stretched wide into a smile that made Arthur's heart beat fast. He laughs, intertwining their fingers together as they neared the elevator kept climbing higher and higher. The young Pendragon couldn't help but feel the dread grow in his gut.

Merlin squeezes his hand, nodding reassuringly at him as Arthur darts him a nervous look. "Wouldn't that make you the princess, Merlin?" The blue eyed man whacked him on the arm as the elevator stills to a stop. "Who wants to marry you? You're just a gigantic prat!"

"Why, I didn't know you were so keen on marrying me! I didn't say anything about marriage, darling."

"… I just screwed myself over, didn't I?"

Arthur flashes Merlin a smug smile as he pushes open the doors to the ball room. Chandelier's hung from the ceiling, dazzling and bright. He nodded and smiled politely at the people who passed him, as he slowly made his way across the room to where his father stood.

Uther Pendragon was surrounded by a throng of people, old men with their young blonde girlfriends and even older women with their boy toys. Arthur felt like he was going to be sick; these were the people he grew up around. This was his family.

"And who is this?"

Arthur's eyes traced the patterns on the carpet as he nodded slowly. "Father. This is…" He swallowed, eyes tentatively leaving the floor to find Uther's. They were harsh and cold; disappointed, ashamed. He feels Merlin squeeze his hand softly. "I'm Merlin, Merlin Emrys. Arthur's boyfriend."

He can't help how his lips started twitching upwards when he sees Uther's face, the man's disgust and disapproval written clearly on his face. He nods and walks away, his eyes promising Arthur that there will be words of this later on. There will be consequences for what he has done.

Arthur cannot bring himself to care, though he felt the slight panic rise in his chest; he felt Merlin's arm around him, supporting him. Arthur realizes he doesn't care about much. He wants to stay right where he was, next to Merlin. Forever.

The rest of the greetings, and exchange of useless formalities pass in a blur. He only knows that Merlin is on his arm and he is laughing that laugh of his, smiling that smile of his, and he's nudging Arthur's side with inside jokes like they've known each other forever. He's whispering in his ear, secret and warm as his father looks on when he realizes that they do know each other.

It's been only hours since they met and Arthur is sure no one knows him better. No one sees him better. Arthur's excited for the day to come when he can say to the world, yes, I've known him forever. He wonders just how well Merlin will know him then.

Before he knows it he's pulling Merlin's chair out for him, his friend blushes and thanks him. He flashes him a secret smile as Arthur sits next to him, he's dazed and it takes him a couple seconds to realize his father is trying to get his attention. "Arthur!" Merlin hisses, trying to hide his smile in his drink.

Arthur blinks and as his eyes come into focus the first thing he sees is Merlin's smirk and Uther's glare. "Y-yes, Father?" Uther leans back into his seat as the waiters begin to serve the food that was, frankly, way to over priced in Arthur's point of view. Not to mention the fact they didn't taste good. Contrary to popular belief, Arthur Pendragon was a bacon cheese burger and chocolate butterscotch milkshake kind of man.

Arthur pales as he sees the escargot the waiter sets in front of him. Oh brilliant. His eyes dart over to Merlin where he sees him whisper something to the waiter who removes his plate and comes back with a grilled salmon salad. Arthur's mouth watered.

He felt someone kicking him from under the table and his head snapped up from where he was scrutinizing his plate of snails. Merlin smirked at him, moving his chair and plate closer to Arthur, he felt his heart warm as he hears him whisper. "We can share you know. You look like you're going to hurl on the snails."

He says nothing, not daring to as he feels Uther's eyes watching them from across the table, instead he squeezes Merlin's hands in his own. "How did you two meet?" Arthur's eyes widen and he starts to choke on a piece of lettuce, but Merlin just continues smiling and has the decency to blush and look shyly from under his lashes at Arthur.

His breath hitches in his throat, which certainly did not help things as he continued to gulp down water and level his breathing.

"Oh, we just stumbled upon each other one day." Merlin shrugs, smiling lightly. "Literally. I tripped and accidentally spilt my coffee on him, so I offered to buy him some as an apology, and things just… clicked."

Arthur feels the blush spreading across his cheeks as he tightens his hold on Merlin's hand. "It was my favorite shirt too!" And Arthur pretends to glare at Merlin as he shoots him a fairly amused look. He would get hell for that later.

The dinner continues fairly uneventfully, questions are tossed around about what Merlin does and what his passions are; photographer and old movies, Arthur finds out and his smile grows wider and wider as he notices his family warming up to Merlin. By the end of dessert, no one comments on how flirty Merlin had looked as he fed Arthur some of his chocolate cheesecake; Arthur's smile could not be steel wooled off his face.

Uther stands suddenly, the table shaking as he says he would like to speak to Arthur please if he could, in private; with a pointed look to Merlin as he says so. The young Pendragon stands with a squeeze to his friend's shoulder and he follows his father to one of the empty conference rooms; his hands shaking.

The room is dark as he enters, but he isn't given the time to orient himself to his surroundings before he feels familiar arms pushing him against the wall and large hands wrapping around his neck. Arthur knows better than to scream, knows better than to plead, to beg, or to cry.

He just stays silent as Uther continues the string of abuse that wrapped around Arthur's head like a crown- for him to carry forever. "You shame me. How dare you call yourself my son? I told you to come alone or not to come at all- and you show up with that- that thing!"

Arthur feels his vision begin to slip, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He can only hear the sped up breathing of his heart and Uther's voice hissing in his ear. "You are mine. If your mother could see you know…"

Uther stays silent as he squeezes around his son's neck; the only sound filling the air is the quiet gasping as Arthur struggles to breathe. As quickly as it begins, it ends, Uther leaving the room, hissing.

"She would be disappointed in you."

Arthur doesn't know how long he is sitting there, tears streaming down his face; his body racking with sobs, his hands trembling as he wraps his arms around himself. He sees a ray of light cut through the darkness as the door opens, and Arthur wants to scramble backward, to hide in the shadows, but he is too tired to move.

His neck ached, his throat burned and raw. He feels gentle fingers stroke his forehead, and he scrambles back his already hurting body hitting the wall violently cause the other person to gasp, arms reaching out to pull Arthur to them. He shakes his head violently, he wants to scream but he can't- he can't-

"Arthur! It's Merlin! It's Merlin. I'm not going to hurt you, Arthur! Arthur! It's Merlin…"

The voice begins to sob as Arthur stills, his eyes finally seeing but all he can understand is Merlin. Merlin. Merlin is safe. He falls into his lover's arms, who hold him tight; gentle fingers brushing Arthur's cheek and the edges of his jaw and his-

Arthur gasps, the pain searing through him as gentle fingers brushed where others weren't that careful. He remains silent as Merlin begins to assess the damage with slow and gentle fingers.

"Oh, Arthur."

He feels Merlin's head lean against his own, his warm breath on his cracked lips. He leans forward, lips on lips; soft, warm and gentle. Safe.

Merlin.