Chapter Text
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Merlin quietly opens the doors, wanted to scare Arthur, deserves him right for making me clean the stables late at night again. Merlin thought.
Right before he was going to yell to wake Arthur up he halted. He could hear quiet sniffling like someone was crying. Like Arthur was crying. Merlin looked towards where the sound was coming from and saw surprisingly an already dressed Arthur sitting on the edge of his bed, facing away from Merlin.
"Arthur?" Merlin hesitatingly asked.
Arthur quickly breathed in and froze before wiping his eyes but made no movement to face Merlin.
Merlin slowly walked towards Arthur, making sure his footprints were loud enough to not sneak up on Arthur. He's seen Arthur upset before, usually being angry instead of crying, but never this sad.
When Merlin reached Arthur his head was looking at the ground, so Merlin gently put a hand on Arthur's shoulder, watching as Arthur slightly flinched and tensed before quickly snapping his head to face Merlin, only realising his mistake when Merlin used his other hand to cup Arthur's cheek, keeping his head in place looking at Merlin, so Merlin could see his red-rimmed eyes from him crying.
Arthur's shoulders slid down and began to shake as he began to cry again and let Merlin wrap his arms around Arthur as he wailed.
Soon Arthur quieted down, but did not move to get out of the hug, it was silent except for the sound of their breathing and the occasional servant walking by outside.
A little later Merlin thought it would be alright to speak.
"I was planning to scare you for making me clean the stables late at night yesterday you prat." He said quietly, with fake anger.
He heard Arthur snort and muffle something into his shoulder in response.
"What was that?" Merlin said, moving his head to look down at Arthur, his hair was ruffled but he seemed to have calmed down now.
"I said I'll send you to the stocks for speaking to me like that." Arthur threatened, they both knew he wasn't serious.
They both went back into silence for a bit. There was no rush for the day, Merlin planned to cancel whatever plans Arthur had to do today, he'd get Leon to do it in Arthur's name.
"So.. Want to tell me what happened?" He asked, not saying anything else, giving Arthur a chance to respond if he wanted to.
It was ages until Arthur responded, so long that Merlin thought that he was going to ignore the question.
"My..My Father." Arthur began. Merlin gave an encouraging hum for Arthur to continue.
"We were having a meeting, something about magic users infiltrating Camelot, Morgana was there as well, so obviously those two argued. Eventually Morgana stormed off, so he was already angry. He began saying to increase the tax for the lower regions to pay knights for more searches for magic users, I disagreed, we got into a heated argument and he.." Arthur sighed. "He said he wished my Mother was here instead of me, and that he regretted having a son that acts like how I act."
Merlin froze. He knew Uther was cruel but to his own son? He slightly moved away and put both his arms on Arthur's shoulders and stared directly at him in his eyes.
"Listen here Arthur, that may be what your Father thinks but that's not what everyone else thinks. You helped so many people that you never met except for one moment, you've helped people survive from being executed for a crime they haven't done. You've even helped me from being executed for magic! You helped a random druid boy because it was the right thing to do, even if you risked dying for helping a magic user. You are the most selfless man I know, I'm glad you are here Arthur, plus, from what I hear you are more your Mothers son than your Fathers, she's still here so what your Father was saying makes less sense than a talking donkey."
Merlin moved one hand to cup Arthur's jaw, and pointed with his thumb.
"From what I've the heard older servants and knights say that you look similar to your Mother, they say that you've got your Mothers eyes, your Mothers hair, your Mothers face, and"
He moved his other hand to Arthur's chest.
"Your Mothers heart. Even if she isn't here you'll always carry her around. Your heart and strong mind makes you a better leader than your Father has ever been. You're important to a lot of people Arthur."
Arthur didn't reply, only crashed down onto Merlins chest, crying once again, Arthur's breathing soon quieted down, as he fell asleep.
Once Merlin was sure Arthur was deep asleep he gave him a quick kiss on the top of his head before moving away and taking Arthur's (badly tied) shoes off and laying him down on his bed before putting the quilt over him.
He was staring at Arthur, but his mind was somewhere else, how could Uther say that? How could Uther say that to his own son, how can Uther not see how much Arthur is? How much Camelot improved with Arthur? he curled his hands into fists, his head full of angry thoughts, but they all were related to one thing
Make. Him. Pay.