Merthur One-shots

Would You Let Me Burn? Part 2

Summary: Same story, but through Arthur's eyes.

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It wasn’t often that Arthur got to walk through the garden with his husband. There always seemed to be something else taking up his time. Council meetings, open court, visiting dignitaries, the list went on and on. It wasn’t that Merlin wasn’t with him during all that work anyway, Merlin was rarely not by his side. But that was work.

This – as they walked hand in hand through the garden among the blooming flowers – was just them. There was nothing required of Arthur other than to bask in the brilliance of his husband’s laughter. Merlin always seemed to find something to laugh about, mostly him.

“But did you see Lord Ander? I didn’t think that mustache of his could had gotten any more ridiculous. How the hell does he get it to curl like that?” Merlin joked.

“If you think Lord Ander is bad, you should have seen his father’s. They used to dangle off his face like a set of reigns.” Arthur reminiscence. “He even braided them.”

“He did not!”

“Did so.” Arthur assured him. “Some tradition from his area of the eastern region. I never understood it myself. Father would chide me, but I could never stop from laughing whenever I saw him.”

“Ah well, no one could blame a kid for having a good sense of humor.” Merlin assured him. “Your dad was kinda a jerk.”

“That’s an understatement.” Arthur grew more solemn thinking of his father.

Merlin quickly picked up on his change of mood. “Hey, you know. It’s okay to miss him.”

“I don’t miss him.” Arthur said. “I miss the father, the man, I wish he would have been – the man I blindly pretended he was for so long.”

“He was your father, Arthur, of course you saw the best in him. That doesn’t mean you were wrong.”

“Really, because I feel I couldn’t have been more wrong about him. He was so angry, and so cruel. He punished your kind because of a mistake he made. Sometimes I think what he might have done to you if he found out about your magic and I…” Arthur didn’t have to say it. His whole body was shaking with the thought of it.

Merlin stopped walked and pulled him into a tight embrace. “Hey, you wouldn’t have let it happen. Even if he did find out you would have stopped him. I love you and trust you, even back before you knew everything, even before you were ready to say it. That’s all in the past. He can’t hurt me now.”

Arthur nodded into Merlin’s shoulder.

When they stepped apart Merlin was smiling at him. His deep blue eyes filled with love and reverence. In an instant, they shifted over his shoulder and went ice cold, a myriad of emotion passing through them: anger, fear, determination. “Arthur!” He hadn’t even drawn a breath before Merlin was pushing him away.

Arthur hit the hard ground in a daze. Usually, he was always ready to meet any threat, but things had been so peaceful the last few years he wasn’t prepared. Merlin was. He extended his hand at the cloaked figure that had approached them from behind. His magic sprang to life with a spark of gold and the opponent went flying.