"You trust him, don't you?" Merlin sighed at the question.
"Of course."
"Then tell him." It wasn't that Merlin didn't want to tell Arthur the truth, he very much wanted to, but he wasn't sure how the king would react.
"I can't, Lance. I don't know what he'd say or do."
"I thought you trusted him?" Lancelot gave Merlin a pointed look, not getting how the dots connected.
"I do! It's just that... well you wouldn't understand." Merlin took a deep breath before continuing. "I trust Arthur with my life, of course, but he was raised to hate magic. I can't just waltz into his room and go 'hey you dolt, I have magic. Surprise!'"
"You don't have to just," Lancelot puts his hands up in quotes, "'waltz in.' You could approach it slowly and I could go with you." Merlin thought for a moment. It wasn't a bad idea. If Lancelot was there with him, he could protect him from Arthur if the reveal was to go south.
"Okay, but we're doing it tomorrow." Merlin felt happy when Lancelot grinned and clapped him on the back.
"I'll come first thing in the morning and we can wake Arthur." He made the movement to leave Merlin's room, but was quickly stopped.
"Maybe not first thing, Arthur's a little hotheaded when he wakes." Lancelot took a step back and nodded.
"We will bring his lunch and tell him then." With a nod from Merlin, Lancelot was leaving Gauis' chambers.
Merlin laid in his bed but sleep didn't come until hours later. His mind was racing and his heart was beating too fast.
Merlin was scared.
It was time to bring the king his lunch, but Merlin couldn't bring himself to open the door. Lancelot was stood by his side, a patient look on his face as Merlin wrestled with what to do.
"Maybe I shouldn't." Merlin made sure to keep his voice down. It would be awkward if Arthur heard him lurking outside the door.
"This'll be good, but if you really don't want to, you don't have to. I'd just make a decision quickly before Arthur gets too hungry." Merlin nodded swiftly and pushed the doors open.
"Finally Merlin! I was starting to think you got lost." Arthur was seated at his table, an almost fond smile on his face when he saw Merlin. "Lancelot, good to see you. What're you doing here?"
"I have something to tell you." Merlin's sudden outburst surprised Arthur, his voice was loud and unnatural.
"Okay?" Arthur sat up and completely ignored the food Merlin quickly dumped on the table.
"I, well this might be hard to hear but, um..." Merlin trailed off, his nerves making his hands shake and his head dizzy.
"Merlin?" Lancelot put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm here to protect you."
"Protect him?" Arthur almost looked hurt. "You think I'm going to hurt you?"
Merlin shook his head. "No, but...," there was a pause where everybody was silent before Merlin burst out his secret. "I have magic!" The three words were loud and echoed around the room. For a moment Merlin worried if he had spoke too loud and someone outside Arthur's chambers heard.
"You have," Arthur stood up from his chair fast and made a move to grab onto his sword that was no longer by his side, "magic!"
Lancelot was in front of Merlin in a second, his sword drawn and face worried. "This doesn't change him, Arthur."
"He's a traitor!" Arthur was looking around the room for his sword. When he found the glinting object out of the corner of his eye, he formed a plan in his head. "He lied to me."
"Arthur." Merlin spoke softly and sounded distressed. He wanted to cry but he knew he shouldn't.
"Don't talk to me!" Arthur started sidestepping to the left, Merlin and Lancelot doing the same but to the right. "You have no right, traitor."
"You don't understand."
Just a few more steps.
"I use it for good."
One more step.
"Good?"
Perfect.
"Please, Arthur. I use it to help you."
Arthur grabbed his sword and swung it forward. It clashed with Lancelot's sword, hitting the latter's to the ground.
"Move." Arthur pointed the sword at Lancelot's neck, the point so very close to his skin.
"No."
"That makes you a traitor, too." Arthur went to raise his sword, but his hand started to burn hot hot hot. He dropped the sword, the handle red with heat. Arthur looked up just in time to see gold fading from Merlin's eyes.
Pretty, he thought for a brief moment, but soon the disbelief shown through his thoughts.
"Did you just... use magic against me?" Arthur noticed how familiar this scene was; someone in a deadly situation and the attacked suddenly dropping their sword while grouping their hand.
"I'm sorry, I- you were going to hurt Lance." Merlin let a tear fall. "I never wanted to use magic to hurt you, I swear."
"Bandits." Arthur said quietly. His brain was slowly piecing together every odd occurrence that happened while Merlin was around.
"What?" Merlin still sounded small and worried. He wasn't quite sure what Arthur was goin to do.
"Bandits. You've always helped us win by making their sword hot or-or doing other magic things. Like... the branches!"
Merlin said nothing.
Lancelot kept a trained eye on Arthur's sword.
"You used your magic for good."
Merlin nodded, still a little unsure.
"This will take some getting used to but," Arthur walked up to Merlin with the same find smile he was trying to hide earlier and wrapped his arms around the warlock, "thank you."
————————
Not the short I was hoping to publish, but it's good enough.
Thank you so much for 2k, I appreciate it so much!!
I hope you enjoyed this little thing (I wrote it in about an hour and a half so it's not the best).
Have a great night :)