Chapter Text
Gwaine had very quickly caught on to the change in Arthur and Merlin’s relationship. Even though he knew it was bound to happen, he was still not satisfied that Arthur had changed enough, or was worthy of Merlin’s affections.
He first cornered Arthur, ambushing him after a long day of training. The past few days Arthur and Merlin were practically inseparable (even more so than before, which was saying something). However, today Merlin had been sent by Gaius to collect some herbs from the forest, an activity that would take up most of the day, and so Gwaine jumped at the opportunity to interrogate Arthur.
When Arthur returned to the armory to get out of his armor, he found Gwaine leaning casually against the table that normally stored Arthur’s gear. Gwaine looked at Arthur with a feral grin, and said, “Why don’t you get changed, and then the two of us need to have a chat.”
Arthur looked appropriately alarmed, but followed Gwaine’s instructions, keeping an eye on the knight as he got changed as if he feared Gwaine would attack him while Arthur was undressing. He tried to take his armor off as slowly as possible, stalling for as much time as possible. One glance at Gwaine and his unimpressed expression told Arthur that the knight knew exactly what he was trying to do.
Finally, Arthur could not delay the impossible any longer, and he looked at Gwaine, “So are we going to do this here, or somewhere else?”
“I think we should take a walk princess.”
“You know when you phrase it like that it sounds like you’re going to kill me…”
“Hmm… we’ll see. That may depend on your answers,” Gwaine cheerily replied, pulling a knife from a hidden sheath on his leg and twirling it between his fingers. Arthur gulped, eyes growing wide.
They walked in tense silence until they reached a clearing far enough away from the castle that their conversation wouldn’t be overheard. “So, do you have anything you want to tell me, princess?” Gwaine inquired, a fake sweetness to his voice.
“Well, you see… Merlin and I have… decided to move… beyond friendship as it were…” Arthur awkwardly stated, stuttering over his words, staring intently at the knife in Gwaine’s hand.
Gwaine sighed, “I was afraid of that…” he groaned. “I don’t know what he sees in you…” he drifted off, a bitter, jealous tone to his voice. Upon seeing that Arthur wasn’t listening to what he was saying because he was so intent on staring at the knife, Gwaine let out another long suffering sigh.
“I’m not actually going to stab you,” Gwaine muttered, “It would make Merlin sad.”
As Gwaine slid his knife back into its sheath, Arthur sputtered, “That’s your reasoning? Not that killing me would be treasonous? Or that as a knight you’ve sworn to protect me?”
“Did I fucking stutter princess?” Gwaine deadpanned. “You’ve always known where my loyalties really lie.”
Arthur nodded his head in concession. He greatly relaxed as soon as Gwaine has put his knife away, maybe this wouldn’t be that bad, he thought.
“Well if that’s all Sir Gwaine, I’ll be on my way,” Arthur tried to make a hasty retreat.
“Oh no you don’t. I am certainly not done with you.” Gwaine fixed him with a serious stare.
“I understand that you are concerned about Merlin… you should be after what I did to him, but Merlin is an adult who can make his own decisions, and he’s decided that he wants to be with me.” Arthur said defensively.
“I know that. But just because he can make his own decisions doesn’t mean that they’re good ones.” Gwaine shot back. “He is not some plaything for you to use and then throw away when you get bored, or an object for you to collect just because you know that he wants you. He is not your dirty secret,” Gwaine growled.
Arthur stepped back as if he had been hit. “I do not think of him in that way; do you really think that lowly of me?” he asked quietly. Before Gwaine could answer, he went on, “Merlin is possibly the first person I have ever actually loved beyond a sense of duty. I never imagined that I would be able to be with someone that I truly loved. Everyone that my father or the council tried to get me to court was a political ‘object’ as you put it. Loving Merlin is a choice that I have made, not something that someone else decided for me.”
By the time he’d finished, Arthur was breathing hard, trying to put everything he had into the speech. He did not know why, but he felt desperate to receive Gwaine’s approval, even if he wouldn’t ever admit it out loud to the knight.
“And what about the law? What are you going to do about that, Arthur?” Gwaine demanded.
“I…I’ve been planning on changing the law so that I could marry Merlin. I know that being with another man is illegal currently, maybe the only thing that my father hated as much as magic, but I am the King now, I can change what laws I want. And I could appoint someone to be the next in line for the throne…” Arthur looked up at Gwaine, and at his shocked expression, trailed off.
“Why do you look so confused Gwaine, you asked?”
“I was talking about legalizing magic,” Gwaine cried, “I didn’t think you’d ever have the balls to openly be with Merlin. And don’t you think you’re moving a bit fast?” He chastised.
“Ah,” Arthur responded self-consciously. “I forgot we hadn’t told you about it yet, we’ve been keeping it quiet, but I’ve already decided that I’m changing the laws surrounding magic. I plan to introduce it to the council later this week.”
They were both silent for a second when Arthur quickly added, “Do you think you can keep the marriage thing between us for now? I don’t want to scare Merlin off, so I haven’t brought it up to him yet.” Arthur fidgeted awkwardly from one foot to another.
“Well fuck me princess, you win,” Gwaine muttered, throwing his hands up in the air. “It’s not like I even really had a chance with you bounding about with your dumb face.”
“What does that mean?” Arthur asked, not sure if he should be offended or not.
“Let’s put it this way,” Gwaine put his hands on his hips, “If I ever find out that you’ve mistreated Merlin, not only will you find yourself dead, but if Merlin so desires, you will find Merlin in my bed.” He paused for a second before laughing morosely, “Huh, that rhymed, I’m a right poet I am.”
Arthur turned bright red, a mixture of embarrassment and jealousy, “Well… as long as you keep your hands off him until then we won’t have a problem.”
Gwaine shook his head, “I said you won, I’ll back off.” He paused, and with a slightly pained face continued, “And I really do hope that everything works out well for the two of you… for Merlin’s sake.”
Arthur didn’t really know what to say, and when Gwaine realized that Arthur wasn’t going to say anything else, sighed, “Well, I’m going to go back to the castle and lick my wounds.” He turned to walk away, but quickly whipped around one last time adding, “But don’t think there aren’t many of us who will be watching to make sure that you live up to Merlin’s expectations.”
Arthur nodded his head up in down in quick succession, trying to convey that he really understood. When Gwaine turned and walked away Arthur let out a breath of relief, slumping against a nearby tree.
While Gwaine was pleasantly surprised by Arthur, (he would never admit it out loud) his mission still was not done. He spotted Merlin walking back to Gaius’ chambers that night with the herbs he had fetched, and grabbed his arm, pulling Merlin into an alcove.
“Wh-what are you doing Gwaine?” Merlin asked crossly. “You just about gave me a heart attack!”
“Sorry, I just needed to talk to you about princess for a second.”
Merlin nodded, “I expected this. Honestly, I was surprised it took you this long to corner me about it.”
Gwaine with his hands, “I just want to make sure that he’s treating you right. That he didn’t pressure you into anything…”
“He’s been a perfect gentlemen Gwaine. It’s not any of your business, but we’ve done nothing but kiss,” Merlin smiled dreamily at the thought.
“I’m really happy for you,” Gwaine smiled sadly. “I’ll always be around for you if you need me. Don’t think that now that you have the princess that any of the rest of us will stop protecting you.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it Sir Gwaine,” Merlin replied cheekily. “Now if you don’t need anything else, I’ll be off. I want to get these to Gaius and then eat dinner with Arthur.”
“Go on, I’ll talk to you later,” Gwaine bade farewell.
When Merlin reached Gaius’ chambers, he quickly threw down the herbs before trying to rush out the door.
“Where are you rushing off to Merlin?” Gaius asked, before adding, “And will you be sleeping in your own bed tonight?” Merlin froze. So far, Gaius hadn’t made any comments about he and Arthur, but Merlin knew that Gaius knew.
“Arthur needs me to help him with something.”
Gaius fully turned to face Merlin, and with his famous raised eyebrow asked, “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Merlin turned bright red and started sputtering. Gaius let him suffer for a minute, before laughing.
“Go have fun. As long as you’re safe, you can do as you please.” Continuing to stutter the entire way, Merlin backed himself out the room, waving awkwardly goodbye to Gaius. Once the door was closed behind him, he practically ran to Arthur’s room; he did not want to run into anyone else who might embarrass him tonight.
Merlin rushed through Arthur’s door, across the room, and promptly faceplanted on Arthur’s bed. Slightly worried, Arthur stood up from his desk chair, and walked over to Merlin.
“Is everything alright?” Arthur asked gently as he sat down on the side of the bed, running his fingers through Merlin’s hair.
Merlin muttered something, but it was too muffled by the bedsheets for Arthur to understand.
“Do you want to try that again?” Arthur asked laughing.
Merlin rolled onto his side, “Everything is fine, except everyone seems to be very concerned about whether we’re having sex or not,” Merlin pouted.
“Gwaine?” Arthur asked exasperatedly.
“And Gaius! Gaius, Arthur,” Merlin was getting agitated now. “He didn’t say it in so many words, but he pretty much told me that as long as we’re having sex safely, he’s okay with it. Gah! Don’t mind me as I D I E.” Merlin turned his face so that it was back to being pressed into the sheets.
Arthur turned an interesting shade of pink. “Oh… I can see how that would be disturbing,” he said shuttering. He continued to run his fingers through Merlin’s hair in silence, before breaking it to ask Merlin if he wanted dinner.
Merlin’s stomach immediately grumbled at the thought of food. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Arthur chuckled. “Come over here, the chef sent up a lamb roast.”
Merlin dragged himself over to the table and immediately started eating. “How was your day?” Merlin asked around a mouthful of food.
“It was pretty good. Gwaine threatened to kill me on your behalf, but what else is new. I think I also finalized the speech for when I talk to the council about legalizing magic. Would you look over it once you finish eating?”
Merlin hummed in agreement. After they had both finished eating, Merlin stood up, grabbed the speech, and walked towards the bed. “Come on, after the day I’ve had, I deserve to use you as a backrest while I read through this.”
“No complaints here,” Arthur grinned, moving over to the bed himself. They settled in, Merlin sitting between Arthur’s legs, leaning back on his chest. As Merlin read, he mouthed the words as he reviewed them, and Arthur reveled in just being able to hold him.
Eventually, Merlin looked up at Arthur, “I have a few small suggestions, but it’s good. Really good actually.”
Arthur took the papers from his hands, placed them on the bedside table and wrapped his arms back around Merlin’s stomach. “I was thinking that once we legalize magic, I’ll need a court sorcerer to help me out…”
“Makes sense,” Merlin yawned.
“I think it should be you,” Arthur whispered into his ear.
Merlin was suddenly very awake. “What!?”
“You can’t actually be surprised. Who else would it be? You are the most powerful magic user ever born… and you’ve saved me dozens of times over-”
“Try hundreds,” Merlin snorted.
Arthur huffed in response. “Well, then you’ve saved me hundreds of times over; I think it’s time you finally get some recognition, and being named court sorcerer is the least I can do.”
Merlin turned around swiftly, straddling Arthur’s lap, and kissed him heatedly. It wasn’t until they both needed to breathe that they finally broke apart, gasping for air. Arthur started kissing Merlin’s neck, making the younger boy sigh in pleasure, revealing more of his neck for Arthur’s mouth to explore.
They continued to make out for the next hour; neither of them trying to rush to anything more, as they both found comfort in the warm embrace of the other.
Finally, Merlin rolled off of Arthur, and the two of them just laid on their backs, shoulders touching, as they tried to catch their breaths. After several minutes, Merlin made to sit up, and Arthur tried to pull him back down, “Come on, Merlin. Stay.”
“As much as I would like to, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to behave myself if I stay in your bed tonight Arthur, and I still don’t feel ready to have sex with you.” Merlin had a sweet, thoughtful smile on his face.
“Ugh, fine Merlin,” Arthur dramatically sighed, but as Merlin got out of bed and walked towards the door, Arthur added, “I love you though.”
“I love you too clotpole,” Merlin gave him one last smile, and then closed the door behind him.
Three days later, Arthur stood in front of the council and delivered his plan to legalize magic. When he had finished his speech, there was a split second of silence before pandemonium broke out. Every council member was shouting, most of them against Arthur’s proposal.
He let them talk over each other for several minutes, taking notice of who was in agreement and opposition to him. He needed to know who he could trust within the council, and who he should start looking for replacements for.
Finally, he stood, and speaking loudly commanded, “I have informed you all about this information as a curtesy to you, but this is not really up to debate.” At the angered faces on many of the councilmen’s faces, he placated, “I am open to suggestions on how to implement this transition, but I will be legalizing magic whether you like it or not. In the end I am the King, and I get to make the decisions on which laws are enforced. If you are not willing to help me, you are free to be relieved of your position.”
Several members of the council stood up, and left the room immediately, but Arthur knew that there were still many dissenters in the chamber. “That is all for today. We will reconvene in three days to discuss more of the details.”
Arthur and Merlin had decided to wait to reveal that Merlin would be the court sorcerer until magic was legalized, since they did not want any avoidable harm to come to him. Even as he thought about this, Arthur felt Merlin’s hand come to rest on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze of support.
“I need to go attend to some of my other duties now, but I am very proud of you Arthur,” he said quietly.
Arthur turned around, and in his best attempt at being smooth, invited Merlin to come back to his chambers to ‘celebrate’ instead.
In response, Merlin pat Arthur on the cheek and laughed. “Unfortunately not. I really do have other things I need to do today.” At Arthur’s pout, Merlin laughed again. “This is one time that your puppy dog eyes won’t get you what you want,” and he walked out of the chamber.
Arthur huffed, and strode out of the room himself, planning on going out to the practice field to get out some of his energy. He could still feel the adrenaline rushing through his body from giving the speech.
Even though he was certain that legalizing magic was the right thing to do, talking to the council had made him quite nervous, and he needed to wear some of that off if he wanted to be at all productive the rest of the day.
As he was jogging down the stairs, he turned the corner and nearly ran into Gwen. At the near collision, Gwen started to lose her balance, but Arthur caught and steadied her.
“Oh! Arthur, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you much lately.”
“I’m doing quite well actually. I’ve just finished introducing the process of legalizing magic officially to the council.”
“That’s great Arthur! I’m sure Merlin is very happy.”
“Yes, well… that actually reminds me… I should have said this to you long ago, but you have my absolute blessing to be with Lancelot. I did care for you once, but I acted ghoulishly to the two of you, and I hope you can forgive me.” Arthur said sincerely.
“I’ve known that for some time, and I have forgiven you, but it’s nice to hear you say it out loud,” she said kindly. She pushed on, “And I’m so happy for you and Merlin… he will make a good husband,” she winked.
“I told Gwaine to keep that to himself,” Arthur yelled in frustration. “How many people know?”
“Oh, only all the knights and half the staff, Sire.” At Arthur’s panicked look, Gwen chuckled, “I was joking Arthur. He only told me and Lancelot to my knowledge. But don’t wait to long to talk to Merlin about it; Gwaine can only keep his mouth shut for so long, and I don’t think Merlin will be as opposed to the idea as you seem to think.”
“You’re too good for all of us Gwen,” Arthur stated, smiling. “I won’t keep you from your tasks any longer. Talk to you later,” and the two of them walked their separate ways.
When Arthur got to the training field, he set up a dummy, and foregoing his armor, began to run drills. While he was already an accomplished fighter, doing basic drills was still very important; it kept him sharp and continued to refine his technique.
Once he had built up a good sweat, Arthur started warming down. While drills were important, they were still incredibly boring, so he packed up and went back into the castle so he could run a bath. When he was about halfway back to his chambers, he caught sight of Merlin and grabbed him, pulling him into a nearby alcove.
“Gwaine, you’ve got to stop doing this,” Merlin cried, before seeing that it was Arthur. “Oh, hey Arthur!” he said cheerily.
“Why is Gwaine pulling you into nooks?” Arthur questioned, thinking back to his previous conversation with Gwaine.
“He did it when he wanted to interrogate me about our relationship, a conversation which ended in his blessing by the way, you jealous dollophead,” Merlin rolled his eyes.
“Oh ok,” Arthur said, before pulling Merlin into a rough kiss, nipping at his bottom lip as he pulled away.
“You’re incorrigible,” Merlin said.
“Careful, Merlin. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt using big words like that,” Arthur teased, pressing himself back into Merlin.
“Shut up… and ew, why are you so sweaty?”
“I did some training for a bit; I was actually headed back to my chambers now to take a bath. You should fetch some water, and then maybe you could join me,” Arthur leered at Merlin.
“It’s a miracle we haven’t been caught by someone; you can’t keep your damn hands to yourself.” At this rate if Merlin rolled his eyes any more, they would get stuck there Arthur thought. But he did not really mind since Merlin didn’t object as he led him towards his room.
The next month was spent trying to work through all the logistics of legalizing magic, and convincing enough council members that magic could be used for good. One night, after a frustrating day of trying to move the process forward with no luck, Merlin and Arthur lay panting on the bad after making love.
As Merlin was cleaning themselves off with an old piece of cloth, Arthur suddenly blurted out, “We should get married!”
Merlin froze and looked at Arthur shocked. Misinterpreting Merlin’s shock as rejection, Arthur tried to back pedal. “I’m sorry, I do not know where that came from. Probably just the hormones after sex speaking, don’t mind me. Forget about it.”
Merlin shook his head violently, “Don’t you dare take that back Arthur, I would love to get married, but you know it can never happen.”
“Why not,” Arthur whimpered.
“First of all, I am a man. Our relationship is illegal Arthur! And secondly, you need to have an heir; I cannot give you that. You and Gwen will get married so you can sire children, and I hope that you will still be with me when that happens, but I understand if you can’t.”
Merlin tried to turn away so that he could hide the tears welling in his eyes as he said this, but Arthur would not let him, drawing him into his arms as Merlin shook slightly in his arms.
When Merlin had calmed down, Arthur pushed him away slightly so that he could look Merlin in the eyes. “I don’t know if you’ve realized this yet, but I’m the King. I can change whatever law I want.” Seeing Merlin open his mouth, Arthur shushed him. “Let me finish Merlin. When it comes to an heir, I can just appoint someone to replace me when I’m gone. That’s within my powers. I am perfectly happy to be the end of the Pendragon line if it means being able to openly love you.”
Merlin looked at him like he was seeing Arthur in a new light. “If it is to end with you Arthur, than it will end on a high note.” Arthur smiled.
“And besides, I have given Gwen and Lancelot my full approval of their relationship. Me and Gwen haven’t been anything more than friends for a long time now.”
“I-I don’t really know what to say,” Merlin whispered. “But if you really mean it, my answer will always be yes.”
At that, Arthur pulled him into a slow, passionate kiss.
“However,” Merlin interjected, “I still think that we need to keep our relationship quiet for a while…”
“Why! I want to show everyone how much you mean to me. I want them to see you as I do,” Arthur pleaded, running his hands lightly up and down Merlin’s arms.
“Arthur, think about this rationally. If you go to the council and say, ‘in addition to legalizing magic, I’m making it legal to be gay, and also here’s my boyfriend Merlin, who just happens to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world, and he’s going to be the court sorcerer’, they’ll think I’ve bewitched you.”
Arthur sighed, “I guess you’re right…”
“You know I am. Even though you are the King, doing this would probably lead to a coup. The council members are already questioning your judgement as it is.”
They both lay in a melancholy silence, “But it’s not going to be forever Arthur. Just give it some time, and we can openly be together.” Arthur pressed their foreheads together and nodded in reluctant acceptance.
“I’m glad you said yes, Merlin. Even if people can’t know it for a while.”
“Wait a minute, don’t think that that counts as a proposal. I’m going to say yes, but you need to do better than that,” Merlin laughed.
“Of course,” Arthur responded quietly.
The day that magic was declared legal was one of the greatest days of Merlin’s life. All around him, people were once again practicing magic, and it was beautiful. Several days ago, Arthur had revealed that Merlin was going to be the Court Sorcerer to the public, and so Merlin was wearing a tailored white shirt, a rich purple cape with a bright gold lining clasped around his shoulders.
Arthur snuck up on him from behind, and whispered in his ear, “Now we just need to get you a big, pointy hat and you’ll look the part. It will match your gigantic ears”
“Shut up,” Merlin playfully shoved Arthur.
Once the festivities were over, Arthur asked Merlin if he could go fetch Arthur’s mail.
“You do know that I’m not your servant anymore right?” Merlin asked. Arthur bat his eyelashes dramatically, and Merlin sighed, “Fine. It’s a good thing I love you.”
Merlin looked around, and finding no one, slowly sidled up to Arthur, and pulled him into a gentle kiss. “Go to your chambers and I’ll meet you there in a few,” Merlin smiled.
When Merlin arrived at Arthur’s chambers with the mail, he started reading out who the letters were from to Arthur. All of a sudden, he abruptly stopped.
“Arthur… why is my mother writing to you?” Arthur turned bright red and lunged for the letter.
“It’s nothing Merlin, don’t worry about it,” he said hurriedly as he tried to pull it out of Merlin gasp. Merlin would not let go however, and started to rip open the letter. Before he could fully open it, Arthur was able to take it from him.
Merlin stood with his hands on his hips. “I swear Arthur, what are you and my mother talking about that I can’t know about.”
Arthur mumbled something under his breath. “I can’t hear you Arthur. What is it?” Merlin asked sternly, cocking his head to the side.
Arthur looked around, as if he were looking for an exit before deflating. “I asked your mother if I could marry you,” he confessed quietly, chewing his bottom lip.
Merlin’s eyes softened, and he spoke, “While I officially think that this is ridiculous, it is also incredibly sweet.” Arthur burst out in a smile, and held out his hand to Merlin. At Merlin’s confused look, he explained, “At the celebration everyone was dancing with their loved ones, and all I wanted to do was dance with you, but I couldn’t… so I was wondering if you would like to dance with me now.”
Merlin smiled tenderly and took his hand, “That sounds lovely Arthur. Just because we can’t show our love publicly yet doesn’t mean we can’t in private.”
Arthur pulled Merlin in close and put his hand on Merlin’s hip.
“Wait a minute,” Merlin gasped, “I am not the girl!”
“Of course you are Merlin.”
“No, I am not,” Merlin put his nose up in the air indignantly. “It’s your turn to be the girl,” he said as he put his hand on Arthur’s hip.
“Well… I guess just this once it would be okay,” Arthur murmured mutinously, and they slow danced together, just enjoying the company and proximity of their bodies.
And for a moment, it was as if they were the only two people in the world.