Hidden Royalty Chapter Eight
Merlin sat on one of the swings at the playground with one foot dragging through the slightly frosted sand beneath, and pushing himself forward and backwards with his other foot. He held a Subway sandwich in his hands and was halfway through with it. Will sat on the swing next to him, but sideways with one leg at each side, his head leaned against the chain. He had already devoured his sandwich within five minutes, but Merlin had always been a slow eater.
"So." Will began. "Why did you send away the security guy your boyfriend gave you."
"He's not my boyfriend." Merlin mumbled. "And he did not gave Elyan to me, he just said… never mind, point is that I don't need a babysitter."
"Well if you're not boyfriends, which you totally are btw, you are… what? Friends with benefits?"
Merlin almost barked a laugh but softly shook his head at the question. Will knew damn well he was still a virgin, it was one of the main subjects that he used in teasing him, even when Will himself had only had sex twice. Well more like one and a half, the girl fell asleep halfway through one time. Merlin never laughed any harder than he did at that moment when he found out about that.
"It's a bit more complicated I'm afraid, but alright we're as good as in a relationship. It's more like dating I guess, but with more certainty. I don't know, I first have to have my head cleared before I can eventhink about a serious relationship." Merlin took a thoughtful bite from the sandwich and continued to rock back and forth, Will also started to gently sway back and forth and being careful to not hit Merlin because of the position he was sitting in on the swing.
Will hummed. "You and your mum still having troubles then?"
Merlin gave a one shoulder shrug in return while trying his best to swallow the bread in his mouth. "Pretty much. I mean she acts ninety-nine per cent of the time like nothing is wrong but then I catch her on the sofa or whatever looking like she's miles away and when I ask her what's wrong she gets, well angry isn't exactly the word I'm looking for… more like frustrated. I wish she wasn't so damn secretive and just told me what was going on, that way there won't be any tension and we can happily continue our life. But nooo she has to keep stuff from me. I mean what could be so terrible that it has to be a secret?"
Will blew out a deep sigh. "That's something only your mum can answer I'm afraid. But Merlin, you really should give her some slack."
Merlin opened his mouth to retaliate but Will held up his hand and shook his head.
"No, just hear me out before you start attacking me. What I mean to say is that, if you keep being angry at her whenever you're given the opportunity, chances are that your mother might never tell you what's bothering her. Give her some time and space to let her be, and if you'll be talking to her, don't immediately ask what's bothering her. Just keep it more casual, I don't know talk about school or whatever."
Merlin not yet snorted. "Oh yeah because that'll lighten up the mood, the moment she hears Arthur's name her face darkens over."
"Well then, why just don't say it?" Will raised a questionable eyebrow.
"I don't know… it just slips out before I know it."
"You know what. Do something nice with your mother. Go for a coffee, grab a movie, buy her some flowers."
"That sounds an awful lot like a date if you ask me." Merlin remarked, taking the last bite of his sandwich and scrunching the wrapper up to a ball and put it in his pocket.
Will pulled both shoulders up. "So? It's nice to do something with your mum every once in a while. I occasionally buy mine one of those little cakes. You know my mum and cakes, they're inseparable." Will scrunched up his nose as he continued. "But she's usually a bit leery and questions me about what I've done now." Will shook his head in amusement and threw up his hands. "Am I finally doing something nice, get I scolded at for doing it. I seriously can never do something just because I want too. Someone is always being suspicious."
"Because you usually have done something." Merlin remarked with a laugh, but turned more serious as he said, "You know what. I'll think about it, okay? For now I'll try to give her the benefit of the doubt."
Will nodded and decided to change the subject because the mood was dropping slightly and he wanted to have a fun afternoon and not a depressed one. He decided to bring up some memories. "Remember when we bought a few six-packs of beers and came to this very same playground?"
A faint smile started to appear on Merlin's lips. "How could I forget? Well I pretty much did because I can't remember so much actually, most of it is pretty much wiped out. If we have to believe your dad we were well sloshed and I was passed out on the top of the slide while you were spinning around on the caroussel until you threw up." Merlin shook his head. "Had the worst hangovers the next morning. Never mind the lecture I got from my and your mother." Merlin visibly shuddered thinking back. "And all you did was standing there, giggling like the stupid prick you are."
"Yeah but we had fun didn't we?" Will said laughingly as he bumped his fist against Merlin's shoulder.
"Hmm-hm. Although I am never getting that drunk again."
"We'll see." Will said almost defiantly. "If I remember correctly your birthday is coming up."
Merlin shrugged. "Yeah, so? It's my nineteenth, nothing special 'bout that."
"We'll see." Will repeated. "We'll see."
~oOoOo~
Arthur walked into the room with his head up, topped off with a smile that couldn't get any wider in a way that it was already almost on the brink of splitting his face in two. And to complete his happiness, his eyes lit up like Christmas lights.
Both Ygraine as Uther snuck a glance to each other, both surprised but relieved about their son's sudden turnaround of emotions. They were even more surprised by the fact that Arthur bent down to kiss his mother as well as his father on their cheek before sitting down and commenting, "What a beautiful day isn't it?"
"Well you're certainly more chipper than yesterday." Uther commented lightly.
"How couldn't I? The sun is shining… and it's in the middle of November!" Arthur suddenly turned his attention to his mother. "Oh mum, remember I wanted to invite some friends over?"
"Hmm… yes."
"Can they, well can they come over next weekend?"
Ygraine took a sip of her water before she answered her son. "I can't see why not. But only on Friday or Saturday, not on Sunday, you need to be up early on Monday."
Arthur was trying really hard to resist the urge of signing and eye rolling, and in the end he managed to keep it under his control and mumbled a "Yes mum."
He immediately got his phone out and started to drop a message in the chat group that he made that included Percy, Will and Merlin asking if they want to do a movie night next Saturday, plus they could also stay over for the night if they wanted.
Within the minute he got a reply from Percy that he needed to check with his parents and would reply within the hour. He didn't got an immediate response from Will and Merlin and was getting to quick conclusions again, but he reprimanded himself for that. He had to stop being so paranoid when people wouldn't reply back immediately. Will and Merlin had also something called a life and that life did notrevolve around waiting for Arthur to message them.
He put his phone away when the door opened and their PR-manager Linda entered the room. She was going to tell them exactly how the day would go when the King of Mercia would come and visit the facility. It was usually the same ol' boring info, but his parents insisted that he was present at the explanation and well there was nothing much he could do to get out of it, so he sat up straight and tried his best to listen to whatever the woman was saying and not letting his mind slip towards thoughts about Merlin.
After an almost two hour long meeting slash lunch Arthur was finally allowed to go away and the first thing he did after saying properly goodbye to Linda and his parents, was taking his phone out of his pocket to see if Merlin, Percy and Will had replied already. He saw two messages. One from Percy saying that he can count on him and the other one was from Merlin saying that Will is with him and that both of them are also coming. Arthur couldn't hide his smile as he read that all of them, but especially Merlin, said yes and he send a message right away that someone would pick them up at eight-ish.
~oOoOo~
"Well it seems we're going to stay over at a real palace then." Will said slightly bored as he read the message on his phone when he paused the game that he was playing with Merlin on his PlayStation. They went to Will's house after they were done with their small lunch and spent the last hours in basically the same position, playing games. Currently it was FIFA.
Merlin hummed as he stretched his limbs after sitting crossed legged for the past forty-five minutes. "Well Arthur said it doesn't really feel like some big space because of all the different sections and apartments, but hey at least you can put that on your CV; 'Has slept in Buckingham Palace.' should get us some pointers eh?" Merlin snickered lightly before getting into a more comfortable position again and waiting for Will to resume the game.
Will pressed play. "Now I hardly call that a –oh c'mon you fucker shoot the ball!" Will screamed midsentence at the TV before he continued. "A special skill that I should put on my CV. Now sleeping with the future King of England might be…" Will smirked as he quickly glanced sideways to see his best friend's face getting a beet-red colour.
"I'm just fucking with you Merlin." Will said with a shove at Merlin's arm, causing Merlin to fall over. Will paused the game again as the door opened and Will's mother popped her head around the door.
"C'mon boys, time for a break. Get something to drink downstairs." With that she left again and Will and Merlin soon followed.
~oOoOo~
"Well, I'm off." Merlin said a few hours later as he caught how late it was. "I'll text you if you want to do something tomorrow, alright?" Merlin grabbed his trainers and shoved his feet in them, just loosely tying them, and throwing on his jacket. He yelled a bye to Will's mum who was busy in the kitchen prepping food for dinner.
As he opened the door he felt a cold breeze hitting his face. It was certainly colder than that afternoon now the sun was down, so Merlin pulled up his collar and buried his hands in his pockets and began the short journey home. Will's home was just five blocks away, so it was easily in walking distance.
When he was walking he had this strange feeling, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was just like… well he didn't know, like someone watched him, but a quick glance around told him that there wasn't a soul nearby just parked cars. He shook it off for the moment and kept on walking, he still had to go through the dreaded moment of telling his mother that he was going to spend the night at Arthur's.Oh well that should be a fun moment, he told himself sarcastically.
He rounded the corner and the strange feeling returned to him and he stopped to turn around and caught the sight of a large black car quickly turning into a parking spot and turning of its lights. He frowned for a moment before he breathed in deeply and sighed out loudly. Arthur must've still instructed people to follow him. That bloody prick, Merlin thought.
He was determined that as soon he got into his room he'd call Arthur and give him a piece of his mind and telling him to stop the nonsense. After all they were sort of together for just one day, not a lifetime - even when that sounds really great to him. Anyways, he would be telling Arthur that he really, really doesn't need people that'll be tailing him. He's sure that those people have a far better purpose.
Soon he saw his house appearing in his sight and he started to walk faster, hoping to at least get into the house before the car would be coming too close. Merlin felt far too uncomfortable and started to feel some sympathy for Arthur who basically was being followed around since the day he was born.
Alright, keeping that in mind, Merlin would not go too hard at Arthur, but he would ask… tell him nicely that there's no need to let people follow him.
Merlin nodded his head as if complimenting himself with his plan of action and reached into his pocket for his house keys. As soon as he stepped into the house he was greeted by something that smelled great, but he had no idea what it was. His nose rapidly led him towards the kitchen and he saw his mother, hovering at the furnace and a slight swing in her hips as she softly hummed a tune to herself.
That he was surprised by the sight was an understatement, his mother really seemed happy, like sincerely happy. Something that Merlin hasn't seen his mum being in… well it was too long ago to recall and he was glad that his mum was being in such a great mood, whatever the cause may be to put her in that mood.
He cleared his throat softly when he walked into the kitchen and asked, ""Hi mum. What are we having?"
His mother lifted her head gently and smiled at him, she kept stirring in the pot that Merlin soon found out contained some kind of curry type of thing when he leaned against her back and looked over her shoulder to see what she was stirring. That must've been all the spices he smelt when he entered the house.
"Okay Merlin, can you grab a trivet for me and put it on the table. This is almost ready."
Merlin obediently did what was asked from him, since his stomach was already growling loudly in anticipation to eat all of it, well good as all of it. His mother usually kept some of it to store away in the freezer for whenever Merlin would be home alone and she would be at work.
~oOoOo~
Merlin didn't told his mother about the Arthur thing just yet, they had such a great evening, the best in quite a while, and Merlin wasn't going to spoil the mood in saying something that he was sure would get his mother riled up. So keeping that in mind he wisely kept shut and enjoyed how the evening went. He and his mother were talking about everything and nothing, and he even offered to dry up. Hunith joked that she was almost on the verge of calling a doctor when she heard Merlin saying that.
They watched some telly afterwards. Nothing in particular, some detective series on the BBC and when it was half ten Merlin got up from the couch and bent forwards to press a kiss on his mother's cheek.
"I had a lovely time mum, we should try and have more evenings like this." He bit his lip, it sounded so crude saying it out loud, but in return he saw his mother duck her head down and nodded feebly.
Hunith looked up to Merlin again. "We should… I'll try." She stood up and placed her hand against his cheek, her thumb gently stroking the skin underneath and the memory of her brother coming to England, suddenly came in her mind again.
She had tried to call JJ again when Balinor left and telling him that it wasn't necessary to come anymore, that she had everything under control, but the only person she got to talk to was Lyndsey who told her that JJ should be already in the plane. Hunith felt a bit bad for letting her brother sitting on a plane for eight to ten hours for nothing, but then again she would finally see her brother again. It was almost a year ago, the last time he was there was with Merlin's birthday. It would be nice seeing JJ again and catching up with him.
Hunith smiled at that and said to Merlin, "I have a surprise for you tomorrow."
Merlin raised one eyebrow slightly at that. "What kind of?"
"Well you just go to bed and then you'll see it tomorrow, alright?"
Merlin sighed deeply. "Fine. Night mum."
"Good night Merlin."