Companion to Trust, so the same prompt. Took a while to get down to 100 words. Hope you enjoy it.

Merlin had lived a lie all his life. It just hadn't bothered him before.

Before, he hadn't felt like it was really a lie. When he or someone else declared his honesty he hadn't felt it needed to be qualified.

But with Arthur, he felt like everything was a lie; and worse, he was lying to a friend.

He really couldn't blame Arthur. His wavering "You can trust me!" was to convince himself as much as the prince.

One day, he'll come clean. And if Arthur still doesn't believe he's trustworthy then, Merlin's going to give up on the prat.