A/N: Don't worry! I'm still working on my other story! This one is just coming a lot faster. Read and Review :) also since I forgot to include my disclaimer last time. Here:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these songs or characters. BBC owns the Merlin characters and Justin Timberlake owns the songs. Also Bradley James and Colin Morgan are not real actors in this fanfiction. This is NOT an RPS.
Chapter 3: Finding My Way
When Kyle dropped him off, there were already thirty people in line. The line moved steadily though, each person getting their autograph and a picture and then moving on. Arthur was the only male in the whole line and that alone was starting to annoy him. Most of the fans were trembling with excitement and Arthur was just bewildered how someone could be so excited for his idiot of a manservant.
Except Merlin wasn't an idiot. He never really had been. He was the smartest and bravest man Arthur had ever met. In his last moments alive, he had seen that. He had seen Merlin stand taller than Morgana, his sword piercing her skin and tissues and organ. He had watched as Merlin had said his goodbyes, had glanced at Arthur as if worrying Arthur wouldn't approve of this new Merlin. Merlin had always been fragile and weak to him, and now he was the opposite of that. He was something much more than Arthur had ever imagined.
Just as Arthur was smiling to himself about memories he had had of times simpler than this, a person moved forward, allowing Arthur to finally come into full view of the room.
Against the back wall, a table was set up. A giant poster with a silhouette of a man was hung up behind it. And sitting there at the table, dressed in a long sleeve white shirt with his sleeves rolled up and dark blue jeans was him. Merlin.
Arthur felt something in him turn. Good or bad, he wasn't sure. He looked different, older, but at the same time younger. His eyes still crinkled when he smiled and he still gave that heart warming smile that Arthur was familiar with. It had always warmed him, made him feel like everything would be okay. He was more muscular, his arms and chest wide with strength.
Merlin stood to hug a fan, asking her where she was from and then signing her picture while she stood shaking. Arthur's eyes remained glued to him the entire time, willing Merlin to turn around and notice him. The girl in front of him in line was proving to be a distraction. She kept giggling to her friends and jumping up and down every damn time she moved up in line. He was starting to wish Merlin would notice him just so he could leave.
It wasn't until he was second in line that Merlin glanced up to judge how many people were left, his eyes roaming over the crowd, blue eyes skimming past Arthur. Immediately, he did a double take, eyes shooting back to Arthur, his hand falling from the girl's shoulder who was still trembling in excitement.
There was immediate recognition in his eyes, and pain. Unveiled, unrestrained pain. Merlin's personal assistant was saying something, but Arthur could tell he wasn't listening. He understood this must be a huge deal for Merlin. It had only been 6 months for Arthur. It had been 1500 years for Merlin. 1500 years of being alone.
Arthur stepped forward, towards Merlin, Merlin moving forward at the same time. He didn't' say anything, just reached forward, grabbing Arthur's bicep and yanking him forward. He pressed his face into the crook of Arthur's neck. Arthur's hand clapped Merlin on the back, but he could tell Merlin was struggling to hold emotions back. He could tell Merlin was on the edge of breaking.
Everything about Merlin felt different, and it made Arthur uneasy, but he tried not to focus on it.
He saw flashing out of the corner of his eye and realized people were videotaping them, he pulled back. Merlin's face looked wounded, and he used Arthur's body as a shield from the cameras. His eyes were different, having lost some of the light in them, but he looked better than when Arthur had last seen him, cowering over him, crying as he died.
"How…I…waited….how." Merlin was stammering.
"Merlin, you have fans waiting." Arthur whispered, "And we'll discuss later how you managed to get fans."
"Colin. My name is Colin. Will you stay?" Merlin whispered, fiercely brushing a tear out of the corner of his eye.
"Don't be daft. Of course."
"I have just a few more fans. Can you wait for me please?" Merlin said when he pulled away. He motioned for a girl standing off to the side to come towards him, his personal assistant Arthur assumed. "This is a good friend of mine. Can you take him to the back until I'm done?"
"Yes, sir." She placed a hand on Arthur's arm and led him away. Arthur reluctantly left, a part of him fearful that if he left, he would never see Merlin again. And he would be alone again.
Shut up, Arthur, stop being a girl. He whispered to himself.
"What is your name? I don't think I caught it out there." The girl had led him into a back room, a large couch and table set up in the middle.
"Bradley. Bradley James." He looked around, his eyes falling on the tray of fruits and vegetables in the middle of the table with a note "Welcome, Colin!" written on it. He moved towards the couch, taking an apple and dropping into the sofa because hell if he didn't deserve one of Colin Morgan's damn apples.
"Er, make yourself comfortable. My name is Sarah. I am Colin's personal assistant." Arthur looked up at her, just to take her in for a moment. She had long blonde hair that was tied up into one of those odd hairstyles girls considered fashionable. She wore jeans, skin-tight, and a white t-shirt with a black leather jacket. Red lipstick was painted onto her lips and all Arthur could think was, not bad, Merlin.
"Personal assistant, huh?"
"Yes. Can I get you a drink?" She moved over to a refrigerator (a storage device for food, according to Mr. White).
"No, I'm okay."
She nodded, but pulled out a water bottle anyway and set it on the table in front of Arthur. He rolled his eyes, but said nothing. She returned back to her position at the corner of the room, fidgeting uncomfortably, "So how do you know Colin?"
He hadn't actually come up with a proper story as to why he knew a superstar who lived in America. He probably should have. "Childhood friends. We haven't seen each other in several years. I heard he was going to be in town so I figured why not come see him."
"You're from Ireland?"
Since when was Merlin from Ireland? But he figured, it would make the story more realistic if he agreed so he nodded quickly.
"Strange, you have an English accent."
Oh, shit "Well I've spent most of my time living here."
And with that, there was dead silence. It was slightly awkward and Arthur found himself studying the pattern of the carpet just to avoid talking to Sarah. Could she see through his stories? Had he already managed to mess this up?
Just then, the door opened and Merlin entered. He took one moment to look around before he was moving towards Arthur, a smile splitting his lips. Arthur was on his feet, just feeling comfort in actually knowing someone for once. Merlin's arms were around him in a second, embracing him yet again.
When he pulled back, he was misty eyed, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually missed you."
"I could say the same." Arthur laughed, "And trust me, it's way more shocking for me."
Merlin laughed, and Arthur had a minute to notice his painfully white teeth. They looked almost fake. Merlin turned back to his PA, "Sarah, do you think you could give us a minute?"
She glanced down to her clipboard, "Actually you need to get to sound check."
Merlin's shoulders slumped at the statement and he turned back to Arthur, "I guess we'll talk later."
Arthur nodded, "I've waited six months, I think I can wait five more minutes."
"You've been back six months?" Merlin's eyes turned pained. "I'm sorry. I should've looked for you."
"Colin."
Merlin turned back to his PA, looking slightly annoyed, but didn't say anything about it, other than, "Can you make sure he's given tickets for front row?"
"I don't kn-"
"Thank you," Merlin smiled and patted Arthur on the shoulder one last time before gesturing for his PA to leave. He turned back when he was in the doorway, "Sarah will come get you when it's time for the concert. You can stay here until then or come with me. It's up to you."
Arthur hesitated for a moment, considered following him, but decided against it. He shook his head, "I think I'll stay."
"Prat." And then he was gone.
Arthur laughed, throwing his head back, feeling it shake through his entire body. He remembered back to the millions of times Merlin had called him that, remembered the way Merlin had always called him insulting nicknames and somehow it had never bothered Arthur. A part of him felt so much better knowing his and Merlin's relationship hadn't changed despite the centuries.
He leaned his head back on the couch and allowed himself, for the first time, to think about what used to be. He thought of his wife and her ever-loving smile. He wondered constantly what had happened to her, if Merlin had stayed around until she had passed on or if he had left long before then. If she had ever remarried? If she had ever thought of him. He missed her, more than he ever thought possible.
He missed Merlin, too. He missed their banter and the comments of 'dollophead' and 'prat', of being argued with and hearing his wise advice. Things didn't feel the same anymore. Merlin looked so different and Arthur could only imagine why. So many things had to have happened to him in the last fifteen centuries.
Almost a hour and half later, Sarah appeared and told Arthur Merlin would be appearing on stage in ten minutes and he should take his seat in the crowd. She led him to a seat directly to the side of the stage. The entire room was dark, save for the screen, which had numerous flashing pictures and a large countdown on the top of the screen, near the ceiling. People were screaming, waving around colored sticks that glowed in the dark, their phones held up to tape the events, their faces light up in purple and orange from the spotlights
"Pain, Joy, Betrayal, Sex, 20 Seconds, Life, Failure, Memories, Breakup, Laughter, Love, 15 seconds, Hate, Destiny, Love, Love, Love, 10 seconds."
The screaming increased, as the final seconds counted down, the words becoming a mantra in the background. "Five….four….three…" the crowd was screaming, "ONE!"
The lights fanned out, turning the entire room white, before it went black for a simple second, and when the lights turned back on, there in the center of the stage, his silhouette enlarged on the screen behind him, was Merlin.
The crowd went insane, people screaming as loud as they possibly could, the girl beside Arthur was jumping up and down. He had already started his first song, wearing a strange looking outfit that Arthur had never really seen before. He looked around, raising his eyebrows at the strange reactions of all the girls all around him.
Merlin moved forward on the stage, setting the microphone stand down, grabbing onto it and stepping to the side, tilting the microphone to sing into it.
Arthur didn't quite understand all the words he was singing, but all the people next to him seemed to be singing along to the lyrics as if they knew them by heart. Merlin was only a few feet away from him at this point and his eyes cast down into the crowd, catching Arthur's eyes for a second. He smiled wide, ending his song on a high note and then taking a large breath. He pushed his hand back through his hair and raised a hand to wave at the crowd.
"Hello UK! Are you guys ready for tonight?"
The crowd screamed back and Arthur jumped. He really didn't like how noisy this generation was. It was just annoying.
Merlin started on another song, three girls dancing behind him, mimicking his own dance moves. It was so strange, out of this world strange, to see his manservant there, in front of hundreds of people and knowing every single one of those people were here to see Merlin.
Don't be so quick to walk away, dance with me
I wanna rock your body, please stay, dance with me
Arthur felt pain hit him in the core. The feeling of being lost sinking back into his stomach. Everything was different. Merlin was on stage, singing, performing. He knew this was no place to have a panic attack, but these panic attacks were beginning to become so familiar for him.
So go ahead, girl, just do
That ass shaking thing you do
So you grab your girls and you grab a couple more
And you all can meet me in the middle of the floor
The video of Merlin on the screen behind him showed the actual details of Merlin. The way his hair was perfectly gelled to look messy, or how his fingers were clenched white around the microphone, or how tired he looked if you knew the signs to look for.
There was a girl on him, a microphone in her hand, as she stopped in front of him, her hands on his waist as she dipped in front of him. Talk to me boy,
Merlin looked towards the crowd, "Bet I'll have you naked by the end of this song"
Arthur almost went into shock when he heard Merlin singing that. Merlin was a lot of things, mostly an idiot, but sexual was the last thing he had ever associated with Merlin. In fact, to him, Merlin was a complete virgin, never been kissed, and yet, here he was, singing bout having some girl naked.
Of course, if Arthur had known that that was gonna be the least sexual thing about Merlin's performance, he might have thought differently.
The rest of the performance included several songs all with various amounts of sexual innuendos and Merlin basically dry humping a girl on stage, something this generation called 'grinding'. One girl had even attempted it on him mid-performance and it had turned Arthur into a blabbering, blushing mess. What was wrong with these people!?
He had managed to learn, however, that his manservant was far from untalented. He could sing and sure as hell could dance. And he was still in shock from at all.
"Thank you and good night! I love you all!" And Merlin was waving and the stage was swallowing him whole.
Sarah appeared a few minutes later, which caused a whole lot more screaming, and pulled him out of the crowd and back stage. She led him down a bland hallway, back to the room he had sat in before the show. She opened the door, ushering him inside, before closing the door.
Merlin was standing there, still in the outfit he had worn on stage, his hair a sweaty mess, but he was smiling, until he saw Arthur's face.
"What the hell was that?"
Merlin frowned, "Excuse me?"
"You can dance? And sing?"
"Ye-"
"And you're a sorcerer." Arthur finished. "And since when did girls scream over you?"
"Ok, first off, you can't say that kind of stuff around here," Merlin moved towards the door, locking it before facing Arthur again, "Magic is even more forbidden than it was during the Great Purge."
"What?" Arthur shook his head.
"There's no such thing as sorcery anymore. It's all illusions, not real magic. Real magic hasn't been used in years, decades even."
"You," he jabbed a finger at Merlin, "don't have magic anymore?"
"I do, I do. And I use it, I mean I have to, to stay young." He shrugged like it was the most simple concept in the world and moved over to the mirror, grabbing a towel and wiping his face off.
"That reminds me, you're immortal?" Arthur scoffed, catching Merlin's eyes in the reflection of the mirror, "How much more have you hid from me? How many more lies have you told me?"
Merlin leaned forward on the table and dropped his head, letting out a laugh, "Only you, Arthur. Only you, after not seeing each other for years would manage to bring up the one thing I've been trying to forget."
"It hasn't been centuries for me, Merlin. It's been months and I've had nothing but time to think about it and I just can't fathom why you wo-"
"Damn it, Arthur!" He slammed his fist down on the table and Arthur jumped. Never in a million years had Arthur ever seen Merlin break or show any sign of anger, "I haven't seen you in over fifteen centuries! I don't want to talk about this right now."
Arthur was silent for a moment before he nodded. Merlin was right. Now was no time to pick an argument. "I'm sorry. Truly, I am. I just have so many questions."
"And we have all the time in the world to answer them, but right now," Merlin turned around, approaching Arthur, "I have questions for you."
"Okay," said Arthur.
"You said six months. Before the show, you said six months. Where have you been? Why didn't you contact me?"
Arthur scoffed, "Well I don't know if you exactly noticed, Merlin, but I'm not from this time period. I didn't even know what a phone number was until four weeks ago. And even then, I couldn't find a number for you."
"I guess that is true."
"I didn't know who you were until two days ago. You using a different name threw me off, it's by pure chance I found you."
"Yeah…"
"Yeah, you didn't exactly think that part through did you, Merlin?"
"No, I didn't. And you have to stop calling me that. I'm Colin now," Merlin walked over to a wardrobe, yanking off the silly fabric that was wrapped around his neck (a tie) and unbuttoning his shirt, "Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"
Arthur didn't say anything and Merlin turned back to look at him.
"Good, you can stay with me. I have a car waiting out back."
And with that, he turned back to the wardrobe and stripped of his shirt, revealing not only his toned shoulders, but the tattoos covering his skin. He glanced over his shoulder at Arthur, as if he could sense Arthur studying the tattoos on his shoulders, and Arthur was once again left to think about how drastically different things were and how he felt so out of place.