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“I think I’m good at keeping secrets” Merlin announced out of the blue.
Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, and Morgana had managed to sneak out of Camelot for the afternoon and were having a small picnic in the middle of the forest. The two girls had snuggled under a blanket together, while Merlin laid on the ground with his head in Arthur’s lap.
“You? Good at keeping secrets? Merlin are you sure you have a brain?” Arthur laughed.
“I am good at keeping secrets! I have a secret that I’ve never told you.” Merlin smiled.
Gwen and Morgana just looked at each other and started to laugh, Merlin just glared.
“I’m sorry Merlin but you are the worst secret keeper I have ever come across,” Gwen replied.
“Name one time I couldn’t keep a secret.”
“There’s more than one time,” Arthur mumbled which earned him a snack from Merlin.
“My birthday, you ruined the surprise Gwen got me an hour after she told you.” Morgana laughed and Merlin couldn’t argue with her on that.
***
Merlin couldn’t stop smiling when he saw what Gwen had brought for Morgana’s birthday. The young girl had been saving all her money so she could buy something nice for her girlfriend this year.
“Gwen it’s beautiful, she’ll be ecstatic.” Merlin grinned
“I hope so, just don’t mention it to her. She’s been subtly dropping hints about the gems in her dagger falling out and how it's slowly breaking. I don’t think I would’ve been able to take it much longer if I hadn’t brought this,” Gwen laughed
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
Gwen knew Merlin wasn’t the best person to tell secrets to but surely, he would be able to keep a secret for a day at least. He could, right?
No, no he couldn’t. Barely an hour has passed, and Merlin bumped into Gwen again, this time with Morgana and Arthur.
The three were sat in the far corner of the armory, Arthur helping Morgana sharpen her dagger the correct way while Gwen bandaged the princesses’ cut fingers.
“I wouldn’t bother with sharpening that old thing, you’ll get a new one from Gwen tomorrow.” Silence. Then Merlin’s eyes widened and he slapped a hand across his mouth.
Gwen stopped what she was doing and slowly turned to face Merlin. “You have three seconds to get as far away from me as possible before I tie you to a tree with these bandages.”
Merlin sprinted away with Gwen right behind. Arthur just laughed, “I wonder what someone is getting for their birthday.”
Morgana just smiled. Gwen always picked up on the small things, one of the many reasons why Morgana had fallen for her.
***
“That was only one time though,” Merlin protested, “There aren’t any more than that.”
“Oh really? So, you’ve completely forgotten about how you casually exposed our relationship to the knights,” Arthur said staring down at Merlin.
“I mean that wasn’t really a well-kept secret was it Arthur,” Morgana added, jumping in to defend Merlin.
“She is right, you’ve practically been all over him since the day you two met.” Gwen laughed making the two boys go red.
***
When Arthur headed down to the training grounds that morning, he expected it to be like any other day. He’d train with knights while trying to ignore Gwaine telling everyone about the weird dream he’d had. It’s not that he didn’t like Gwaine talking, Arthur just thought he spoke too much. There are only so many times you can listen to multiple dreams about cheese before you get close to insanity. Merlin on the other hand enjoyed taking Gwaine aside to listen to his strange dreams. He did enjoy them, but it also meant he didn’t have to do any work.
Halfway through the session a servant ran over to Merlin, handed him a note, and ran off again.
Arthur quickly made his way over. “Everything okay Merlin? It’s not from your mother, is it? Is she okay?”
“No, it’s just Gaius.” Merlin smiled; Arthur loved Hunith nearly as much as he loved Merlin, “He just needs my help with a few things, I’ll be back later.”
Out of habit Merlin kissed Arthur on the cheek and walked away, leaving Arthur and the knights in shock.
Arthur took a deep breath in, “I can explain.”
“Oh no need, good on you Arthur.” Lancelot smiled.
“As long as I never see Merlin sulking around and crying because of you everything will be fine.” Gwaine smiled and all the knights nodded in agreement. Arthur would never admit it but in that moment,
he felt very intimidated by the knights.
***
“Right so there’s that one too, but the knights don’t care so surely that’s an okay secret to let slip out.” Merlin laughed.
“Plus, we all know Gwaine and Percival are secretly getting it on anyway.”
“Gwen!” The other three shouted while laughing.
“Tell me I’m wrong!” She laughed.
“I mean you aren’t, but I thought no one else knew that.” Morgana laughed.
“Who’s a terrible secret keeper now!” Merlin added.
“Still you Merlin, still you. And we all knew that, it’s not really a secret.” Arthur smiled pushing Merlin off his lap. “Anyway it’s getting dark, we should head back.”
The group managed to pack everything away quickly considering Merlin didn’t stop talking the whole time.
“Merlin would you be so kind as to throw that blanket over here please?” Morgana smiled.
Without thinking Merlin just stared and the blanket, eyes turning yellow, and watched as it flew over to Morgana. The group froze. Gwen immediately ran and stood in front of Merlin while Morgana quickly grabbed a hold of Arthur.
Merlin didn’t say a word. How could he have been so stupid? He was so used to using magic in front of Gwen and Morgana after they caught him using it a few months ago, that he completely forgot that Arthur didn’t know. His body started to shake out of fear, tears running down his face.
Arthur pulled away from Morgana and stood right in front of Gwen, “Stepped aside Guinevere.”
She shook her head, “No.”
“That’s an order Gwen!”
She looked at Morgana, Morgana just nodded her head and Gwen stepped aside.
Merlin closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear to see the look of disgust and disappointment in Arthur’s eyes. He didn’t want to see the love that Arthur once had for him turn to hatred. And that’s when he felt it. Arthur placed a gentle kiss on Merlin’s forehead. He cupped his face and wiped away the tears as Merlin opened his eyes.
“I told you Merlin, You’re the worst secret keeper in Camelot.”
Merlin let out a small laughed and just wrapped his arms around Arthur. From that day on, Merlin never kept anything from Arthur again.