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Summary
Merlin had always known there would be a reckoning for his lies; no secret between friends lasts forever, after all. He just hadn’t thought it would happen like this. In his deepest dreams, he’d imagined it as a righteous, glorious moment. Uther gone, Arthur’s heart already shifted and Merlin finally able to come clean, the loyal servant who had shouldered weight that shouldn’t have been his to bear for years, if only to make the life of his master a little easier. Sometimes, when he played the eventual reveal in his head, he told it as a joke, in some light-hearted, quippy bit that would make it all instantly okay. In other daydreams, Arthur had always known and loved him for what he’d done, but kept quiet for the sake of their friendship, patiently waiting for Merlin to come out of the metaphorical closet. Sometimes, the confession ended with a tight embrace that would stop the world, other times with a kiss that would shatter it. This was not like his daydreams.
___When Arthur catches Merlin using magic to save his life, he makes the choice to out his loyal manservant to his father, setting forth a chain of events that will change their destinies forever. Diverges from canon after S2 Ep9.