Not Another Cinderella - Chapter Ten
The days flew by in a blur, cabinet meetings, posing for the paparazzi and enduring interviews at Alisha’s needling.
He thought about Merlin every day, had texted him to no vial, and called him with no better results. He checked his phone yet again as he strode into his father’s study, with every intention to replied to some of the messages that had started to pile up in his inbox.
He pulled up short when he caught sight of his father sitting slouched behind his desk. Pale and clearly in pain, it was obvious that Uther should’ve been lying down and not fussing over the papers in his hands.
"Father-" Arthur began, only to cut himself off when Uther held up a picture. It was of him and Merlin. Arthur wasn’t sure where he could he could have gotten it from, but that didn’t matter. There was a something more pressing he was concerned about.
"That hasn’t been printed, has it?" Arthur asked. He hadn’t seen it, then again Lancelot and Leon were both making sure that the glossy pages stayed far from him.
"No. Alisha took care of it."
"Good." He wasn’t concerned about himself; the media would say what the wanted to about him. He was angry for Merlin. Arthur had put Merlin through enough already. He his love deserved privacy, and Arthur would make sure he got it.
"Is he a ‘no one’ as well?"
Arthur swallowed, beginning to agree, to say Merlin meant nothing to him because Merlin couldn’t mean anything to him. Arthur was expected to marry a lady and provide an heir. Merlin didn’t fit into that picture. But he found he was unable to deny his feelings about Merlin, consequences be damned.
"I love him," Arthur said, voice strong and loud, sounding far more confident than he felt.
Uther sighed, running a weary hand down his face.
"Come sit." Uther beckoned and Arthur obeyed, taking a sit before the desk.
"Sire-"
"Father," Uther corrected in interruption. "In this I am your father."
"I know I have disappointed you," Arthur said.
"You know no such thing," Uther said.
Arthur jerked his head up in surprise, taking his gaze from where he had fallen to the floor and resting it on Uther.
"It is not that I am so much disappointed. It is more that I am shocked. I will not deny being happy, although and I was angered when the first pictures appeared, but that was mostly at myself for not knowing before hand. I feel as though I have failed you, Arthur."
"No, Father..."
Uther waved away his words.
"Does this boy make you happy?"
"Yes," Arthur said. "I love him."
Uther smiled a little sadly. "Then far be it for me to break you apart." He laughed a little then at Arthur’s shocked expression. "I once broke tradition and propriety by marrying your mother. I loved her too much to let old ways and small thinking to keep me from her. It would now be hypocritical of me to force you into a loveless marriage when I refused to do so myself."
Arthur didn’t know what to say.
"If you love this man," Uther continued, "then I shall give you my blessing. It will take time, I believe, for me to becoming truly comfortable with the idea of my only son marrying another man, but I have come to realize that life is short Arthur, and I wish for you to have happiness in it."
"I….thank you, sire." Arthur said, sincerely grateful to his father.
Uther smiled again, this time brightly.
"So what is his name? When will you be bringing him to Camelot?"
"Merlin," Arthur said. "His name is Merlin. And I’m not sure he’ll ever willingly set foot inside the country, let alone the palace."
"Ah, he did not to well to the truth about you?"
"No. Not that I can blame him." He laughed humorlessly. "I believe he hates me now."
"I doubt that. He may be angry, and certainly he’s hurt, but love is not quickly replaced Arthur, not if it’s true," Uther said. "You should go to him. I think you’ll find his heart still wanting you."
"Maybe."
Merlin hated Gwen. She had broken into his room, stolen his sweets and bodily dragged him into the shower, clothes and all, and turned on the cold water.
He got the message after that.
He buried himself in work and planting new flowers in the garden. The weather had broken two days ago and was steadily becoming warmer. It had been nearly three months since Arthur had left. Three months of Merlin living like a hermit in his room. Three months of heart ache.
"Merlin?" Freya called from the kitchen. Merlin loved Freya. She didn’t coddle him like everyone else did, and she didn’t look at him with pity and she never brought up Arthur.
Merlin sometimes wanted to kiss her.
"Yeah," Merlin called from the front entry. The winter tourist crowd had dispersed long ago, and the lingering fan club seemed to realized that Arthur wasn’t coming back a few days after his departure. Apparently they were smarter than he was.
"I need you to pick up my order from the bakery. The delivery boy’s sick or something."
"Okay." He went to retrieve a jacket from his room.
He stepped inside, crossed to the closet, and pulled out a denim jacket. He was turning to leave again when the telly snapped on. The telly Merlin was sure was unplugged.
"Welcome back to The Chat with Emery
Grey," a bloke in a grey three piece suite said from the T.V. His hair was black and slicked back from his forehead, and his eyes seemed to be lined with liner. "As promised, I’m here with our regal Prince Arthur."
Merlin sucked in a breath, his heart beating faster; he was having a heart attack, he was sure of it.
"So are you gay?"
Arthur laughed, the sound tearing at Merlin’s heart even more.
"I like men, Emery, yes. But I still find women very attractive and appealing." His smile was blinding.
"So is there someone special?"
Merlin knew he should turn it off now. He had feed his maschistic side enough for one day.
"Yes," Arthur said firmly, looking from the host towards the cameras so that it looked like he was looking straight and Merlin. "Yes, there is."
"Ah," The host perked up, moving to the edge of his seat and leaning forward, sensing a story.
As much as Merlin had been trying to ignore everything that had to do with Arthur, he had not been able to escape the fact that Arthur had never mentioned him in any of the interviews he had given. Gwen said it was because Arthur cared about him, and respected him, and didn’t want his life to be invaded by the media storm. Merlin figured it was more likely that Arthur was ashamed of his small town affair.
"So, a bloke or a female?"
"A bloke. A nice looking bloke," Arthur said, his smile slipping a little. "Only I don’t think he’s happy with me at the moment."
Merlin didn’t need to hear this. He jumped up and grabbed the remote and pressed the power button. Nothing happened.
"Tell me and my avid viewers about him."
Arthur chuckled. "He’s wonderful….."
Merlin opened the remote, saw batteries, and tried again. Nothing!
"He’s attractive, smart, funny….."
Come on, Come on, Merlin growled. He chucked the remote and tried to turn it off manually. Nothing! Argh!
"He thinks I’m a prat…."
Merlin went to pull out the damn plug and found that the telly wasn’t even plugged in.
What the….?
"He doesn’t care about my title..." Arthur trailed off, and Merlin looked up to see a far away look on his face. "Well, he didn’t know about my title."
Merlin paused.
"He probably hates me now."
"I doubt that’s true, sire," the host said.
Arthur shook his head. "I hope you’re right, Emery. Because I’m pretty sure that I’m in love with him."
Merlin gasped and fell over on his arse.
"Oh!" Apparently the host didn’t think that was coming. "And tell us, Prince Arthur, what’s the name of the man that has captured the elusive heart of our dear prince?"
Now Arthur laughed again. "I don’t think so Emery. I just said I loved him, no way am I going to allow you or anyone else invade his life with this mess. He hates me enough already."
Two days later.
Brushing dirt off his jeans he, swiped at his brow as he looked at his newly planted Hydrangea shrub he had just planted, feeling accomplished and rewarded. He had left the bed at four this morning after hours of tossing and turning. He was ninety-nine percent certain that Arthur had been speaking about him, only he wasn’t as sure that any of it had been real. The damn telly hadn’t been plugged in!
His first impulse after the telly had flicked off was to go to Arthur. He quickly brushed that off as stupid. Then he wanted to go to Gwen, but he discarded that idea as well. Both of the decisions were the conclusion of the same reasoning, he could have imagined it. And if it had all been a figment of his fucked up mind….he couldn’t chance it. So he’d done the next best thing. He planted flowers.
With the aid of his special gift, Merlin had the grounds looking alive and lush once again.
"Glad to see I can do something right," he said grumbled.
"Oh I think you can do a lot of things, well maybe not right exactly….."
Merlin gasped as the voice reached him. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t be here. He wouldn’t be.
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, willing the voice to leave.
"Not even going to look at me?" The voice sounded hurt. "I was prepared for you not wanting to talk to me, but I hoping I’d at least be able to see your face."
Merlin could feel tears leaking out of his eyes, despite how hard he clenched them shut. His shoulders shook, and he knew a sob was coming.
"Merlin."
A hand was placed on his shoulder, and Merlin let out a whimper.
"Please…" Merlin said, not knowing what he was begging for.
"Merlin." Arthur gently turned him around, and place a hand on his chin, tilting his face upward. "You’re crying?" He frowned. "I know you’re angry, but don’t cry."
Merlin snorted. "Gosh, you’re such an idiot."
"I know," Arthur said bitterly. "I know I lied to you, but…."
"Arthur?" Merlin said cutting him off.
"Yeah?"
"Kiss me."
.........
~~~~ Masterpost~~~ Epliogue