February 2011
More than likely, Merlin thought to himself, it was Arthur that Mordred wanted. He didn't openly comment, Arthur would probably refute the claim if Merlin made it, but Arthur had bonded with the quiet, watchful child with an ease that had made Merlin almost jealous. Almost, he told himself. Merlin firmly refused to let the emotion rise. It wasn't fair on either Arthur, who had handled the situation well, or Mordred, who deserved something in the way of stability and friendship.
That was, Merlin thought, just the way Arthur was. He had the ability to walk into a situation, or deal with a person, with a calm logical approach, and people responded to it. Merlin himself had, falling in love with Arthur in the process. He could hardly start complaining about it now.
"Do you think he's all right?" Merlin asked, as Arthur negotiated the traffic to get them across town.
"Physically he's fine, from what she said, but you can't always tell what's going on in his head," Arthur mused, pausing at a set of traffic lights. "At least we know one thing."
"What's that?"
"We know we can make it right."
Merlin couldn't really argue with that.
November 2010
Mordred calmly got himself ready. They were going to see social services, who would tell him where he was going next. They could decide to let him stay with Arthur and Merlin, or put him elsewhere. It didn't make much difference to him. What surprised him was it making such a difference to Merlin and Arthur.
"I could cancel my tutorial, I'm sure they'll understand," Merlin said to Arthur.
Mordred watched them from the half-landing. He had been left alone to get ready. Breakfast had been an affair that had required him to sit with them, but no more than that. It was just normal for them, not a special event. Mordred just followed whatever happened in whichever place he was.
"Merlin, you are not giving up on this. I can do Mrs Bartle and this meeting. I've got to swing by the house to see what Gwaine is waffling on about then I can make the meeting. Just go. Mordred tell him we're fine and we can handle Mrs Bartle."
Mordred went down two steps feeling caught out. "We're fine and I can handle Mrs Bartle. They won't move me unless they have to."
"No one is going to have to," Arthur said. "Come on, we'll meet at the bookshop. I don't know why you said you'd take the afternoon there. But we can fortify you with some lunch before it."
"Freya is in Barbados."
"Good for her, but come on, I can redo my day, Merlin don't put this off, stop putting it off, we'll meet you at the shop for lunch, and I'll get Viv if I have to."
Merlin pouted.
"I hate you," he told Arthur. Mordred blinked. Arthur just smirked and kissed Merlin's pouted lower lip.
"No you don't. I am your knight in shining armour, and you haven't polished me recently."
Mordred saw the effect as Merlin smiled.
He was pondering it as Merlin drove off in his small, innocuous car. Mordred felt impressed as he clambered into Arthur's deep blue sports car, snuggling back into the leather seats and staring around in awe.
"I need to go and look at a project of mine, we can do that before we go and talk to Mrs Bartle, then we can meet Merlin for lunch. We look happy if he's happy, we look sympathetic if he looks down and feed him copious amounts of chocolate cake. Okay with that?"
"Yes," Mordred said, guessing he could follow that. Arthur started the car and it gave, as far as Mordred was concerned, a satisfying rumbling roar.
"When will I have to go back to school?" Mordred asked. Arthur shrugged.
"Probably next week, it's not worth it the rest of this week, and we were going over to my fathers for the weekend, so we can go with that and set about getting what you need today."
"Mrs Bartle might move me," Mordred said.
Arthur shrugged and turned the ignition. "Why would she do that?"
"People think I'm weird."
Arthur shrugged again and eased the car out of the driveway, pausing to allow a cluster of girls in school uniform cross in front of him. A few of them waved and giggled. Mordred recognised the uniform and the girls. They swayed away from the car and Arthur hardly noticed them, only making sure that he didn't run them over. But he liked Merlin, Mordred concluded, so why was Arthur going to be looking at schoolgirls.
"What's weird about you?" Arthur asked.
"I don't talk."
"I never realised that was compulsory, besides Merlin makes up for both of us, and so does Gwaine. When you meet Gwaine, remember, never believe anything he says unless it's about building work, never go drinking with him – not something we need to worry about with you - and never, ever, leave him alone with Merlin."
"Why not?"
"Merlin is far too polite to fend off the flirting and I don't want to have to punch Gwaine, even it if is just on principle. He'll only use it as an excuse not to work, and flirt with Merlin further."
Mordred got the feeling that flirting with Merlin was somewhat of a heinous crime. Although he wasn't quite sure what flirting was, he got the feeling it was a good idea to find out, it might be worthwhile to know. His first impressions of his new foster home were fairly good. Neither of them had fussed him too much. Mordred got the feeling that Merlin might try, but also got the inclination Arthur would regulate it, if he thought that Merlin was going too far. Mordred decided that he might like to stay with Arthur and Merlin, for as long as he was allowed anyway.
He settled back in the seat, and watched the scenery pass by, realising he was in one of the better areas of the town. He passed the street where one of his previous foster families had lived, with a horrible brutish boy who had picked on him mercilessly. Mordred's jaw clenched and he turned to look forward instead. Arthur idly inclined his head to watch him, but didn't seem to require anything in the way of conversation. The undemanding, settled, silence prompted Mordred to actually start a conversation.
"Where are we going?"
"One of my projects, a house I'm developing. When it's done I'll sell it on, hopefully at a profit," Arthur mused. Mordred blinked.
"What you mean like those shows on the telly?"
"A bit like that. I've done a few different ones over the years."
"Is that your job?"
"One of them," Arthur said. "I also own some nightclubs, and do some freelance work – that's usually employee management and kind of how to improve your business. Merlin refers to it as doing 'this and that'."
Mordred nodded, concluding that perhaps the filing cabinet was Arthur's.
"You mean you're like one of those guys off Dragon's Den?"
Arthur snorted with laughter, slowing down and taking a left turn onto a quiet street and pulling into the cluttered driveway of a ragged looking house that was surrounded by scaffolding. There were two vehicles already parked up, a flatbed transit piled with wood and another van with the side door open and two men sat in the space drinking tea from a flask.
"I think you watch too much television," Arthur said.
Mordred shrugged. "I dunno."
Arthur gave him an amused look but said nothing further. He got out of the car and Mordred scrabbled out of the passenger side, shutting the door carefully, trying to make sure he didn't get marks on the pristine car. He really, really, liked Arthur's car. Arthur smiled at him and then turned to the two men.
"I'm sure I don't pay you to drink tea."
"Hey! Tea breaks are an important remit of building. It's the rule, and we've been working since eight."
"I've been working since eight," the other man rumbled. Standing up he glared down at his workmate, who looked unrepentant.
"I had to pick up the wood," the unrepentant man announced.
"And no doubt chat up the receptionist."
"Let me guess, Gwaine, that's another rule of building," Arthur drawled. Gwaine flicked his hair back off his face and grinned at Arthur. Then he noticed Mordred tailing along behind him. Arthur turned.
"This is Mordred, Mordred this is Gwaine."
Arthur indicated to the floppy haired man, who grinned at him. Mordred eyed him with interest, mulling over Arthur's advice.
"Hi," Gwaine said.
"This is Percival," Arthur added.
Percival nodded his head at Mordred but took the hint that the rest of the discussion did not include him. Percival looked at Gwaine.
"I'll unload the wood shall I?"
"Yes, I'll give our employer the bad news," Gwaine said, sounding bright, but also moderately irritated.
"So go on, what requires my presence?" Arthur asked. Gwaine put his hard hat on, Arthur was already carrying his and put it on his head.
"Do you want to stay out here or come with us?" Arthur asked Mordred.
"Come with you."
"Percy, can we borrow your hat?" Arthur asked.
"Sure," Percival said. He picked up the hat and dumped it onto Mordred's head and it dropped down over his nose. Arthur laughed as he lifted it off, adjusted the strap inside and put it back on Mordred head. It slipped a little, Arthur took it off and put it up a notch and then placed it back. Mordred felt the tight band of plastic around his head, and Arthur straightened it up.
"Comfortable?"
"Yes," Mordred said. Arthur nodded and they trailed into the house to see what Gwaine wanted to show them. Five minutes later Arthur said.
"Shit! And you didn't hear that," he informed Mordred. Mordred shrugged.
"It's through the entire floor, Arthur. I am going to have to replace all the beams. Who did the survey? I know we've taken longer on this job, but this would have been evident. You did have it properly checked."
"Yes, and it didn't mention a thing. I had to use that other company though, since I needed it in a rush for the mortgage, but there is no doubt this should have been noticed. You've bought in the wood today to replace the beams?"
"Yes, I'll give you the invoice and considering the cost do you want to leave the attic just as storage instead of the conversion on top."
"I might have to. I'll call Alvarr and see if he will come down and assess it, and I'll drag the other company over the carpet. Do the basic work and leave it with me, I'll chase up why the company failed to do what they should have. You passed me the paperwork didn't you?"
"And copied it as well, that's a Sophia job."
"Like she's reliable."
"She does her best!"
Arthur chose not to comment on that.
"I've got copies of what you need, I picked them up this morning," Gwaine announced. Arthur snorted in anger, looking at the damage to be rectified, and then he glanced up at Mordred.
"Let's hope Merlin has a better morning than we do."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"So?" Arthur asked.
"Happy if he looks happy," Mordred said as they walked into the shop. He was staring at Arthur in awe, he had never heard anyone sound so impressive. Arthur was angry, and then he had paused to be calm around Mrs Bartle. Mordred knew he could handle her, Arthur did just as well, except he had to go to school on Friday. He now had his uniform and homework.
"Do you have anything you have to give in on Friday?"
"No," Mordred said.
"I don't see why you couldn't have taken the week off, all things considered."
Mordred shrugged. "It doesn't matter."
"Well, we'll tell Merlin the plan when he gets here, and I dare say either way he won't take the afternoon off. Merlin works here," Arthur added as they walked through the bookshop and headed up to the café. Mordred felt his stomach quiver at the smell of food, and he decided he was most definitely hungry.
"Are you hungry?"
"Yes," he informed Arthur.
"Good, come on, let's sit here, hello Gwen."
"Hi Arthur," a curly haired brunette came over and kissed Arthur on the cheek. She then glanced at and smiled at Mordred.
"This is Mordred, Mordred this is Gwen. We're fostering him."
"Oh, that's good. Have you heard from Merlin?"
"No, but I didn't expect to. He's turned his whole tutorial into a huge drama."
"He's leading it though, he's teaching today, it's big for him. Oooh, here is is!" she announced prodding Arthur's shoulder, much to his irritation and Mordred's baffled amusement. All of them turned to look down at Merlin as he walked through the door and trotted across the room.
"Does he look happy?" Gwen asked.
"Yes," Arthur said with utter confidence.
"How can you tell?" Gwen asked. "He looks calm enough but not happy. You know when Merlin's happy."
"He's containing it because he trying to be secretive until the last moment," Arthur said. He looked up and smiled and waved at Merlin, who as he reached the top of the stairs broke into a big beaming smile.
"He's happy!" Gwen said.
"He's such a girl," Arthur said as Merlin waved and walked over. Mordred smiled as well, a little less enthusiastically than his companions but he made the effort.
"Hi," Merlin said, still beaming.
"Well done," Gwen said, kissing his cheek. "Wave me over when you want to order."
Merlin frowned at her.
"You're beaming, so it went well," Gwen said.
"Yes, it did, and Arthur's not allowed to say I told you so."
"Okay, I won't. I've got dry rot."
"What?" Merlin said, pulling away from Arthur as he went to kiss him. And he prodded Arthur in the side.
"At the house!" Arthur huffed, batting Merlin off, making him smirk. "That's what Gwaine wanted to show me, I'm going to have to re-budget the whole damn thing. It was fate you trying to kill that spreadsheet."
"How did everything else go?" Merlin said, glancing at Mordred. Mordred smiled at him.
"Fine," Arthur said. "Mrs Bartle is making a guess for about a couple of months. And he has to go to school tomorrow."
"Well, that's good," Merlin said.
"It seems pointless for one day," Arthur reasoned. Mordred shrugged.
"It's okay."
"What about going over to your dad's?" Merlin asked.
"That's what I was considering, I could pick Mordred up from school, and bring him back. If you have everything ready we can pack up the Mercedes, drive to your mum's pick her up and then go onto dad's. It's only going to be takeaways and watching a film, so we aren't fixed for a time. I've let dad know that we need another guest room and he can let Katrina know."
Merlin nodded. "Are you sure we should go? We could just say we'll go next week." He turned to look at Mordred in concern. Mordred shrugged, and smiled again.
"I'm okay."
And he got the feeling he was telling the truth.
February 2011
Mrs Bartle saw Arthur and Merlin arrive, getting out of the car and hurrying to the entrance. She watched Merlin talking in an anxious tone to Arthur. It had made her wonder, during the initial interviews. She was open to accepting same sex relationships, even for fostering. It was not what had concerned her about these two. All she could feel about Merlin was that he himself needed nurturing and caring for. She had taken the risk of recommending them based on Arthur, who appeared so strong and quite obviously devoted to Merlin.
Again Merlin seemed to be giving off those anxious vibes that had concerned her a little. She turned as the door to the waiting room opened. Mordred had also seen their arrival and as Arthur opened the door Mordred hurried over.
Then she watched, very carefully. As Arthur expertly put Merlin ahead of him, and there was a careful inclination of his head as he looked at Mordred. It was something that Mordred appeared to pick up on, as when he reached them he hugged Merlin, wrapping his arms around his waist. Merlin looked surprised, but put his arms around Mordred's shoulders. Arthur watched them both drawing the pair of them into a hug. Merlin wangled an arm free and got it around Arthur's waist. They stayed in that huddled unit for a moment, talking between themselves in a low tone.
Eventually, Arthur looked up and glanced at her, saying something else to Merlin and Mordred.
It had been made quite clear. If you wanted Arthur, you had to accept Merlin. Mordred, it appeared, was well prepared to do so.