Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Merlin, that morning, had really thought it would be a good day.
He woke up at the perfect time, got ready without needing to hurry, ate his favorite breakfast, which Gaius was so kind to make for him as a present.
It was, in fact, his birthday.
The cook in the kitchen even promised him a lunch as abundant as the king's.
That would be a marvelous morning, he was sure of it.

But it wasn't.

Who's fault was it?
Arthur's, of course.

Well, kind of, at least.

I mean, the king was always cautious and he was able to protect himself, at least in his own chambers.
At least most of the time.

But of course, when Merlin enters Arthur's chambers, he finds a hooded figure overshadowing the kings bed, reciting a spell.

The hooded person finished the spell in a hurry and turned around, grinning at Merlin.

The hooded person got impaled by a sword Merlin collected from the ground.

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Fast forward 3 hours later, all the council was reunited in the king's quarters, while Arthur was still sleeping.

Nothing seemed to be able to wake him up.

Gaius was confronting the council's men.

- It obviously was magic. Powerful magic, too. They trapped him in an endless sleep. It should not be difficult to remove as a curse, but the problem is there are a variety of sleeping curses. I've got 7 books just for all of them, and many are still unknown to me. It will take time, probably more than a couple of days. - he said.

- Well then, - a young council's man started, - we have to crown a successor, for the time the king won't be able to reign. -

From all the men came some noise that meant nothing but agreement.

- The king doesn't have kids or a wife. He's not courting anyone either, so one of the council must be the successor. - the man from before said.

And it was hell.

All of them talked of themselves as the only possible choice, and then were reprimanded by the others.

After a couple of minutes of it, Gaius' head was aching.

He always hated the council's men.
He knew they were probably necessary, but he hated them nonetheless.

So he spoke, in the only moment of complete silence there had been since the start of the conversation.

- I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to ask about the proof of what you said. - he told the first guy to talk.

- It's obvious the king doesn't have a wife. He hasn't recognized any child as his heir. -

- But how do you know he wasn't courting anyone? -

- He hasn't announced anything yet, and he still has both of his parents sigils. - the young man affirmed.

- You're wrong. He hasn't announced anything, but he doesn't have one of his sigils anymore. -

The council was shocked.

- He gave someone his mother's sigil. It wasn't here when the guards searched the room, am I right? -

The guards in the room nodded.
There were 5 of them.
3 seemed fine, maybe a little sad for the king's fate, while the other 2 were slightly shaking.
It seemed kind of strange, but no one commented on it.

- Then we must find the king's betrothed. It will take time, we will probably have to search in every maid's and poor girl's room of Camelot. I heard their his type. - he joked.

- We do not have time to search for the sigil. We must name the new king now. - the man finished.

- Oh, but I know who has it. - Gaius said.

- Then call her here. -

- Merlin? - he announced, turning around.

The boy was still near the bed, watching at moment the king, at moments the council.
He was completely lost.
He heard all of the conversation, but registered none of it.

- Yes? - he answered.

- Can you take out of your pocket the peace of iron you always take with you? - he asked.

Merlin, without understanding why, did.

A council's man fainted.

- There is no way it's true. - the young man said.

- It is. The king gave it to Merlin before Uther died. -

- How do you know it? - Merlin asked.

- You leave everything on the floor, it was only a matter of time before I found it.

- There is no proof. The boy may as well have stolen it. - the council man continued his arguing.

- Now, wait a minute... - Merlin tried to defend himself, but was blocked from a guard.

In fact, one of the 2 guards who were shaking before spoke up.

- I'm really sorry to interrupt! I know I shouldn't talk about it, but I'm one of the guards of the king's chambers, and I can assure you that Merlin, the serverant boy, is the king's lover. -

- How can you prove it? -

- Sir, today the king asked me which flowers mean love, appreciation and loyalty. I'm kind of an expert about flowers and... Anyway, he told me to go buy a bouquet of them and to deliver them this evening to the boy's chambers. -

- What is it, exactly, that you are angry about? That I'm a servant or that I'm a man? - Merlin asked, suddenly angry himself.

- Does it matter? - the man asked.

- It does to me. There is no law against either thing. As long as I don't go around naked I can love whoever I want. So does the king. - the warlock answered.

- As you can see, he is really protective of his lover. - Gaius defended him.

- I see. - the council man said, finally resigned.

He clapped his hands.

- Well, that seems to settle it. - he told the rest of the council.

He turned to Merlin and bowed.

- My lord. - he addressed him.

All of the men in the room followed him.

Just as Merlin was becoming uncomfortable,, the young man spoke again: - Of course, you'll have to talk to the people. The rumor about the king's health has already spread through the town. We can't make them wait any longer. The guards will precede you, riunite the people and announce you. -

Chapter Text

He was feeling so afraid.

Merlin was currently looking at a mirror, while wearing one of Arthur's tunics.

There were no shirt or pant which fit him or that were right for the occasion.

The only clothing that fit him was the red tunic with Camelot's crest embroidered in it.

He used a small ribbon to tighten the vest around his waist.

It made him look kind of feminine.

He liked it.

Anyway, he didn't have time to wait look at himself or have a gender crisis.

He needed to go out, on the castle's balcony, and talk to the people.

He thought he would probably prefer a gender crisis.

It wasn't like he was incapable of talking to the people, he was actually good at it.

The problem was: how can you tell an entire reign their king is sleeping and you are his substitute, that you have been the king's consort for more than a year, but you didn't know about it?

Well, he decided, better keep it simple: they were people like him, they would eventually accept him.

He probably shouldn't mention anything about not knowing about it.
Just to be sure the people wouldn't laugh at his face.

Meanwhile, his public was waiting. They had been told that they would soon get to know the king's consort.

At first, all the people in the crowd thought they knew who they were waiting for: obviously Guinevere.

The problem was that Gwen and Arthur broke up long before, and eventually the girl showed up in the crowd.

So, Guinevere was out of the list.

Who other could possibly be in the list?

Some people were ready with fake scandals, full of either lust or an impossible love.

There was this girl to whom he looked at weirdly, the other day.

But the girl was between them.

He complimented a girl at the last banquet.

And yet the girl was the one that started the rumor.

And so on, until the real consort showed up.

As Merlin began talking, the people didn't understand he was the one they were supposed to wait for.

He described what happened to the king, and told them not to fret, they would soon find a cure, and...

- I know you are asking yourself why you are listening to me. Why the king's consort, probably a beautiful girl from the people you know, possibly a princess, isn't explaining hers and his wonderful and secret love story. Well, I think some kind of stories are private. Just to clarify, it wasn't any kind of scandalous encounter or lust-to-love story. The courting started after the regular time since the first meeting and everything went as the traditions dictate. The king just thought to be cautious, not to go too fast, exposing the relationship to you and putting both in danger. - he lied

The crowd looked at him confused.

He couldn't believe what he was saying.

- As some of you may have understood, I am the king's consort and successor. -

Silence.

- I hope you understand nothing has changed, I still am the same person I was before, and in the same way the king's positive traits have not reduced. -

Silence.

- And if someone of you has some bigot idea about how romantic relationships should work, I would like to bring to your memory the fact that Uther, a really conservative and traditional sovereign, decided to take down every single law against relationships between two people of the same gender, as he himself thought them restrictive and useless. If they are discontent with the way things are going they may as well leave the kingdom. -

Silence.

- Uhm, this may not have been the kind of reaction I was exp... -

The crowd erupted in clapping.

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- How come you haven't told me anything? - Gwen asked him with a grin.

- Because it isn't true. It never happened. Arthur gave me this sigil and he didn't know the meaning, and now it seems like we're courting! -

- Oh, come on, I know, Merlin. You don't have to pretend. -

He looked at her perplexed.

- The flowers he was going to send you? They were my idea. - she told him.

- As a birthday present? -

- Actually, he was going to... Talk to you about some things and actually thought that... If things... Escalated, we can say, he would've like to give you another kind of gift. -

Merlin was redder than his tunic.

- Obviously, he was ready for other ideas too. He was actually going to gift you a horse, Enthror, because he saw he is your favorite one. And he was going to also talk about another thing, if he decided to cower at the last minute. -

- Another gift, as in...? -

- Not exactly a gift, more like an idea he got. A document, already crafted and just ready for his sign, for you to inspect. A document about... Removing the magic ban from Camelot. -

Merlin fell silent.

They were near Arthur's room, and he thought that in that moment he really would've liked to strangle him for not telling him sooner.

- Alright. This is... A lot, to take in. -

He went silent.

- So he was... In love with me? -

- He is. Still not dead. -

- Oh my... I should've seen it coming. -

- Yeah, you probably could have. -

They both went silent.

- Are you alright? I know it's difficult to find out this way, but I didn't think you would take it this way. - she told him, this time with a calmer and softer tone.

- It's just... I really don't know if I can trust what you're saying. I mean, of course I trust you, but we're talking about his feelings. We can't know for sure he feels that way. -

- You seem to hope for him not to. -

- What do you mean, Gwen? Be honest. -

- Oh, so I can be honest? Perfect. Because I can't understand you. One moment you are constantly flirting with him, as his man servant, and the next, when you get to know he wasn't just joking around, you try to find all the evidence he is. -

- Because we can't know for sure! Once he'll be able to tell me himself, then I'll believe it. -

- Just because you can't believe someone could love you, doesn't mean other people don't. What's the problem? You don't like boys? -

- Don't be stupid, Gwen, you know I do, as much as you girls. -

- Exactly. So why are you so afraid right now? -

- Because one thing is to flirt, one thing is to take things seriously. -

- You can't see Arthur like that? -

- Of course I do! But I can't. -

- Why? -

- What about the other kingdoms? They still are against people like us. It would bring us wars and hate. What about... Oh. -

- What? -

- My mother. -

- You still haven't told her? -

- Yeah, but it's not the point. The point is she is coming here right now. -

- What? -

- It's my birthday! She always comes to me on my birthday! It's not her fault if today Arthur decided to gift me a kingdom! -

- Well, you better prepare a speech for her. -

- Like "hello mum. I have to tell you two things: I like both girls and boys equally, and I'm apparently the king's consort! -

- Maybe in another words... -

- Obviously with other words! She'd die if I told her like that! -

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Merlin had spent his afternoon searching for a curi with Gaius, in his room.

He still couldn't go see Arthur.

He had changed into more comfortable clothes.

The sun had started going down, when someone knocked at his door.

He had dreaded that moment all day long.

As his mother came through the door, he didn't know what to expect: he had never told her anything about his love-life, but she also never asked anything, and always seemed alright with almost anything.

She had never said a word against people who loved people of the same gender, even if in the kingdom they came from was against the law, so he just hoped this would go well.

And that hope was fueled as he saw his mother enter with a smile on his face.

She hugged him, and talked to him like nothing happened.

He wondered when she would actually talk with him about what happened.

After 5 minutes in the conversation, Hunith exused herself.

- I need to congratulate to Guinevere! - she said.

Merlin started to understand why she hadn't brought the new up till that moment.

- Why exactly do you need to compliment her, mum? -

- Because of the new, of course! She is Arthur consort! Have you not heard. -

- Actually, I have. It's just... How did you hear about the new? -

- I chatted a bit with a man while on the road. He told me what happened to the king, and that he hadn't seen it himself, but his consort had given a big speech. He said that Arthur had really picked the most obvious choice, so I assumed it was Gwen. -

- No, she's not. They have actually broken up some time ago. -

- Then who's this mysterious girl? -

Merlin sighed.

Now or never.

- Mum, it's not a girl. It's... It's a man. Mum, I... Arthur's consort is me. - he told her, with trembling voice.

They waited in silence for a bit.

- I know this sounds strange, and that this is a difficult way to get to know this. I'm going to arrange a room for you in the castle, so you can rest and we can talk about it tomorrow, is that alright? -

She de-freezed.

- Why would we need to talk about it tomorrow? - she asked.

She then hugged Merlin tight.

- I know it must've been difficult to keep one secret more, but you can tell me anything, I won't love you any less. -

He hugged her too.

- Thank you. I love you mum. -

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That same day, some hours later, Merlin found himself in the royal chambers, with a sleeping Arthur in the bed he should technically occupy.

Some guards volunteered to move the sleeping king, but Merlin didn't want for him to be uncomfortable.

He also knew he couldn't sleep in there, on the bed, next to Arthur, just to be the only one to wake up in the morning.

He took a pillow, some blankets left around the room and settled for the carpet.

Sleeping, he dreamed of a day when he could sleep happily on the bed, under the soft covers, embracing his lover.