Arthur didn't came out of Merlin's bedroom until an hour later.

He had be thinking all that time. Thinking about decisions that needed to be made and thinking about how his future would look like if he actually told his father about Gwaine. But in the end it didn't matter. He knew that if he wouldn't tell his father, he also wouldn't be able to stop Gwaine, and it would put a strain on his and Merlin's relationship.

But deciding to tell his father everything didn't make that tight feeling in the chest go away so easily. He was still so scared for his father's reaction and whether his father would still love him if he knew what had happened.

Arthur ran a hand over his face. This was it, this was the moment he would stop hiding. He just couldn't do that anymore, he couldn't lie anymore. He was exhausted from it.

Arthur walked softly over the tile flooring, making his way into the dimly lit living room. He kept standing in the door opening once he saw a very much concerned Merlin sitting on the couch with his knees drawn up to his chest and he was biting his thumbnail. Morgana was sitting next to her brother, a hand placed on his shoulder for comfort and a solemn expression was on her face. Arthur could see how she cared a great deal for her twin.

Arthur saw that his own phone was lying next to Merlin on the arm rest and there was a steaming cup with (what Arthur assumed) tea on a cork coaster on the glass coffee table. The tendrils of steam were traveling up and evaporated once reached high enough. The next thing he noticed was the rain softly tapping against the window and it somehow made the moment even more serene.

Arthur still didn't move. He just wanted to look at the sight in front of him a little bit longer.

Arthur then took a few more steps forward and it attracted the attention of the Emrys siblings. Merlin's head immediately shot up and turned to him as soon as he heard footsteps.

Before Arthur could say a thing, Merlin was already at his side giving him a hug with one arm and favouring his right side. Arthur actually didn't know why Merlin did it, but he let himself relax into the warm and comforting embrace.

They stood like this for a few moments enjoying the serenity of their surroundings, but Arthur knew he couldn't stand like this forever, he needed and wanted to tell his father and he rather would have it over and done with, before he could change his mind and go back to the Arthur he was this past year. That Arthur was living in fear and he didn't want that anymore, it was time to face his fears.

He slowly backed away and held Merlin's gaze before taking in a deep breath and then letting it all go.

"After thinking long and hard about it, I've decided to tell my father about Gwaine." He heard Merlin gasp softly. "I can't live with the secret anymore, I want it out and I want that Gwaine gets what he deserves." He took a moment to regain himself before he reached out to softly touch Merlin's hand and Merlin curled his fingers with Arthur's.

Arthur glued his eyes glued to the floor as he asked the next question. "But I can't do this on my own, I know I will back down otherwise. I just know that I can't face my father alone with this."

Merlin smiled softly, he was proud at Arthur at wanting to tell his father. He was aware that Arthur was feeling more and more miserable as he carried that weight around for so long. Merlin could see how it was breaking him up and tearing him down.

He wished that Arthur would tell his father for weeks now, but he knew he didn't need to push Arthur into telling, because he felt that Arthur needed to be ready for that himself, and today seemed to be that day. And the fact that Arthur trust him so much to ask him to support him in it was making Merlin even more happy.

Merlin got closer to Arthur again, squeezing their intertwined his fingers reassuringly. With his other hand he tilted with Arthur's head up. "Arthur, I'll go wherever you go. You know that. And I want to be there for you."

"Merlin…" Arthur breathed. "That's all I want."

Merlin gave a soft nod and walked back to the couch with Arthur's hand in his. Morgana was still sitting on the couch and could only sit and stare. She watched how Merlin and Arthur sat down and then stood up from the couch, grabbed Merlin's cup and announced that a fresh cup of tea was well deserved and disappeared into the kitchen.

Arthur placed his palms together with his forefingers pressed to his lips his and his thumbs placed under his chin. His elbows were supported on his restless legs as he kept them bouncing up and down. At the same time he started to bite his bottom lip and Merlin noticed.

Merlin placed his hand on Arthur's thigh and Arthur looked down to it, only then finding out that he was bouncing them. "Sorry." He mumbled, immediately keeping them still and he sat back against the backrest. He was just exploding with nerves venturing through his body and he willed himself to relax.

But when his phone started to ring again Arthur shot up when he saw the caller-id. He stared wide eyed to the flashing phone.

"My father." Arthur announced softly and not in particular to Merlin. He gulped deeply. Merlin stood up and moved his hand to Arthur's bicep and sent a comforting smile to him.

"It's okay, Arthur. I'm here." Merlin whispered and it was all that Arthur needed to accept the call.

"Hel-" Arthur cleared his throat. His voice was high and creaking, but he wanted himself to be strong. He tried again. "Hello?"

"Oh Arthur thank god!" Arthur heard his father say. Arthur was surprised to find out that his father actually sounded sincere about what he was saying. He must really care about him than.

"Arthur where are you. Are you hurt?"

Arthur looked towards Merlin, who gave him a reassuring nod. Arthur breathed deeply in through his nose. "No father, I'm not hurt. But I- I must tell you something."

"Anything Arthur. Please talk to me."

"No, I don't want to do it over the phone. Can- can you come to Merlin's apartment?"

"Arthur you're scaring me. What's wrong, you know you can tell me everything."

"I k-know." Arthur was already fighting the tears, he didn't want them to fall. "Please father, it's important."

"Of course, what's the address again?"

Arthur told his father Merlin's address, Uther franticly replied with, "I'll be there in five minutes."

Arthur sat heavily down on the couch once more and leant back, swinging his arm over his eyes. "He'll be here soon…" He mumbled.

At that same moment, Morgana came into the room holding a tray that held three mugs. She silently placed them on their appointed coasters. If Merlin wasn't too busy with soothing Arthur and calming him down, he would actually be amazed by how silent and helpful Morgana was.

Morgana sat down with her hands cradling the mug and she quietly blew her tea to get it cooled down. She watched over the rim of her mug at her brother and his boyfriend. Something was going on, but she didn't quite knew what exactly.

It were less than five minutes when the buzzer of the door of the apartment building echoed through Merlin's apartment, and Morgana offered to answer the door as she noticed that her brother was reluctant to leave Arthur.

Merlin and Arthur could hear her talk through the phone next to Merlin's front door and Arthur stiffened. "Yes, that's here. I'll buzz you in…uhm… sir."

Not yet one minute later there was a gentle but loud knock on the door and Morgana answered it. She greeted the two men and led them to the living room.

Arthur immediately stood up when he first caught sight of his father and then Leon entering. His sweaty nervous hands hung restless at his sides. Morgana asked whether the two men liked to have a drink or something, but Uther waved her off. He had only eyes for his son.

"Arthur." Uther said soft and full of worry. He swiftly made his way to the couch and gripped his son with his uninjured left hand by his bicep and then drew him close into an embrace.

Arthur's eyebrows knitted together, this soft man he has been seeing lately felt so unfamiliar to him and he had no idea how to respond to it, so he just stood there, waiting for his father to take a step back again. Eventually Uther did. His eyes did a quick glance over his son and he was happy that his son didn't seemed injured. Or at least not physically.

He sat himself down in one of the vacant chairs as Arthur gestured to it and then he, Leon and Merlin sat down on the big couch with Morgana sitting down on a different chair.

Arthur looked for Merlin's comfort again and took his hand in his own, slightly tugging on it. Uther was sitting patiently, waiting for what Arthur would tell him. He hoped Arthur would tell him soon, because he was almost bursting.

"Father." Arthur began after finding enough confidence to finally share the story that he had been keeping a secret for over a year. He saw his father bending forward ever so slightly, like he had been waiting for a long time for whatever Arthur wanted to tell him. "I want-," Arthur blew out a puff of air. "no I need to tell you something. But I don't want you to hate me for it. I mean I can understand if you do, but please I hope you won't-" Arthur trailed off and Uther got his attention again by saying his name.

"Arthur, we've discussed this before. No matter what it is, no matter what you've done, there is no way that I will hate you. You're my son and I love you. If I ever gave you reason that I don't, than that is my fault, not yours. I want you to trust me Arthur. There's nothing you can't tell me, how bad you think it might be."

Arthur looked almost shocked at his father, but nodded in understanding nonetheless and squeezed Merlin's hand once more before he continued.

"I probably don't even have to tell you anything, because you already know."

"Arthur, I don't know anything. I've wondered about… about your behaviour for many years and after you've told me about your sexuality I thought it had to do with that, but even after you've told me I could still see that you weren't comfortable about something. You were just so on edge, you were feeling so uncomfortable about something and I didn't know what to do. I wanted you to talk to me, but I just didn't know how."

There was a moment of silence, a moment of peace. Arthur never saw his father so… vulnerable.

"It's just me Arthur," Uther continued. "You can tell me."

"You say that now-" Arthur turned his head away.

"No, I really mean it. There is nothing you can't tell me."

Arthur nodded his head, eyes averted from his father and lowered to the floor. "Okay…" He whispered. "Okay." Arthur tilted his head up and now looked at Leon. Leon attempted to smile but he nodded instead, he knew how hard this was for Arthur.

Arthur closed his eyes, trying to get his breathing under control and the tears at bay. "The reason that I've acted the way I did was…. was." He saw flashbacks flashing through his mind from that specific night, he wanted them to stop. Shaking his head frantically he stood up.

"Arthur?" Uther gently said his son's name.

Arthur's senses were on high, he could feel the tension palpable in the air. The smells were too strong, the sounds were too loud. Everything in his body twisted and turned and every cell was on the verge of exploding. His worst nightmare was coming true, he was going to tell his father.

But this was the moment, this was it or he would never be able to do it again. Sucking in one final deep breath he blurted it out, he couldn't stop and told everything in one go, not leaving anything out.

"Gwaine raped me! Last year in Germany, he raped me in the hotel. I've had a relationship with him for about a year and a half but in the back of my head I have always known that he wasn't the one for me, so I broke up two day before the race. He was okay with it, at least I-I thought he was but at the race he tried to let me crash. I had confronted him afterwards but he just told me I would pay for breaking up with him. You might remember that, because you and Leon came into the paddock. You had probably thought that he was threatening me because I hit him square in the face, but he was talking about me breaking up."

Arthur took a shuddering breath and before his father could respond, he held up his hand and made eye contact. "Please just listen for now father." Uther reluctantly nodded, his blood already boiling with anger for Gwaine. He would stay calm for now, because he needed to hear this and he needed to be there for his son. But if he would see Gwaine, he would strangle him with his bare hands.

Arthur continued after Merlin had stood up and rubbed circles on the small of his back. "The evening after the race, Leon convinced me we should celebrate my victory and I drink away my feelings for Gwaine in the hotel bar. I did agree, and told Leon to wait for me in the bar as I wanted to take a shower. I was just undressing when I heard the door and I thought it was Leon, but when I turned around I saw Gwaine. I still don't know how he got a key." Arthur muttered under his breath.

"I tried to get him to leave, get him to stop touching me but he- he," Arthur took a deep breath. "He drugged me with something and before I could fight against it, I was unconscious. I don't know for how long, but when I woke up, Gwaine… he- he, he was on top of me, he was… was in me." Arthur stepped forward and leaned heavily against the wall with his eyes closed. "It hurt so much. I t-tried to fight him, but I was still too weak from the drug." Arthur took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He locked them with Leon's. "Thankfully Leon came into the room when he did and got Gwaine off me. Please father, don't blame Leon for anything, I let him swear not to tell you."

Leon looked towards Uther with a guilty expression, but the only look Uther had in his eye was gratitude towards his son's best friend. Leon was there for his son when he wasn't. He turned his head to his son again, when Arthur continued.

"That's the reason I took a different flight than you and the others, I cou-couldn't face you, nor Gwaine. I didn't press charges because I was scared, so scared father. I was scared for your reaction and for what Gwaine would do if he would found out that I pressed charged. I didn't know what to do."

Arthur sighed deeply. "I thought it would be all over, but three weeks after the…incident, Gwaine started to stalk me. He would call me in the night, hang around the places I was and seeking contact with me any other way possible."

"Arthur." Uther replied, shocked, but Arthur ignored him.

"I was scared for what you would think of me father. I-I wasn't ready to come out then and I certainly didn't want to admit what happened to me. I was ashamed of myself and I was convinced that you would think of me as weak and a failure. Leon had tried to convince me to press chargers, but I hadn't, I only threatened Gwaine with a restraining order and it seemed to help since he backed off after that. I had heard he moved overseas, but I still felt on edge."

Arthur ran both hands over his face. "Leon tried to get me talk to you about what happened, but when I kept refusing, he convinced me to talk to someone else, but I couldn't… I. just. couldn't."

Uther wanted to stand up, but at the shook of his son's head he sat down again. He knew that Arthur wanted to finish telling him first.

"I was depressed and after a while I finally looked for help from a psychiatrist and she helped me, a lot. She helped me to deal with the most difficult part and that was getting matters back into my own hands again. I started to trust people again and I opened up more and more and then, then I met Merlin." He finished with a happier tone and a smile crept up his lips as he looked to Merlin and Merlin looked back at him with quite the similar expression. Uther turned to look at Merlin and saw the love Merlin had for his son.

Uther turned his attention once more to his son and immediately noticed the change of his voice, it was lower again and his fast breathing was uncovering his underlying fear. "Just days before I met Merlin, I learnt that Gwaine was back again. I didn't know what to do and chose to stay as much away from him as possible, but then I saw him at a party and all my anger and fears crawled up and we got in a fight. You've seen his injuries yourself the next day at training. I thought, hoped Gwaine had realised that what he did was wrong, but I was the one who was wrong. He didn't stopped, his stalking began again and now he has even threatened and injured Merlin!"

Uther immediately turned his head to Merlin, but Merlin assured he was okay.

"And then today, Gwaine got physical again. I felt every emotion I felt in the hotel room a year ago tingling under my skin and was afraid that the same fate would overcome me again. I was so relieved when you both came in the room when you did, because I don't know what- what." Arthur closed his eyes and swallowed into his dry throat, "what would've happened if you hadn't."

Arthur sighed deeply and finally allowed the tears to fall and he needed to sit down as his legs threated to give away under him. He perched down on the armrest of the couch and couldn't look at his father. Merlin was rubbing soothing circles with his hand on his back, and was softly reassuring him that the hard part was over, that he could relax now.

Arthur heard rustling of clothing and when he turned to the direction, he saw his father standing up and walking away without saying a word. Arthur started crying as he was sure the thing happened that he was so afraid off; his father was hating him.

"I knew it." Arthur mumbled, burying his head into his hands. "He hates me, he hates me. I knew it!"

~oOoOo~

Arthur was shocked when he heard the door open again a twenty-five minutes later and saw his father appear in the door opening. He had been in complete distress after his father left the room and it took all of Merlin and Leon to convince Arthur that his father didn't hate him, they told him that Uther probably needed time to let it all sink in.

Arthur didn't believe them and now he was absolutely and completely in shock to see his father standing there.

Uther closed the distant between him and his son fast. He placed his left hand on his son's cheek and wiped the tear streak away with his thumb. But it was futile, new tears were already wetting his cheeks again and Uther pulled his son in for a hug.

"My boy, I'm so sorry what happened to you."

Arthur closed his eyes and rested his head on his father's shoulder. The last time his father called him that he was eight years old. He felt himself being that eight year old little boy again and wept freely on his father's shoulder. Uther stroked his hair, shushing him softly. "I took care of it. Don't worry anymore, I took care of it." Uther whispered in his son's ear and Arthur pulled away, looking at him with a questioning expression.

"How?" Arthur's raw voice asked. "H-how?"

"Gwaine is being arrested as we speak. I don't let anyone touch my family and get away with it. I've called my contacts at the police force and called our family lawyer and both say there will be enough evidence to lock Gwaine up for a good while."

Arthur sat down, at loss for words. He put his hand over his forehead and bent forward and let his elbow rest on his knee. "It's over, it's finally over." Arthur muttered to himself and the feeling of freedom overpowered him.