I was Enchanted to meet you (Merlin)

[Arthur]

"...you'll like Camelot. There's a lot more space, more fields and stuff to run about in, more rabbits to chase," said Arthur packing the large wooden trunk in front of him, only glancing back at the rather disgruntled looking puppy who lay on the bed, one paw over the other, "you like chasing rabbits. And ferrets, and hares, and badgers, oh there's lots of badgers to chase, you'll like it Sookie."

The puppy wasn't convinced and snorted a rather annoyed snort before putting her head on her paws. (Hey there in a magical world which is clearly influenced by Disney, thus, smart dog.) Arthur shook his head and turned his attention back to the packing. It was important he kept his mind on it, because he didn't want to think about anything else, otherwise he might change his mind and throw everything away...which didn't actually sound like a bad idea...he could stay here in Tintagel, Morgana could take care of things back home, and he would be happy, and-NO! No not that, he couldn't think of that. No. Socks. Check. Shirts. Check. Boots. Check. All of Sookies toys Ch-...no he couldn't take them. In fact a lot of the things he was packing he couldn't take, otherwise his father and the others back home might start accusing him of magic or something. Camelot wasn't quite ready for technology yet, and no matter how many times he attempted to explain it to his father, he just wouldn't refuse to give up the idea that his iPod was in fact tiny minstrels that had been shrunk and placed in the weird metal box by magic.

There was so much he was going to have to leave behind, so much that he would be cut off from, that he had relied on during his time here...and he wasn't just talking about the technology....

Sookie whined and he pulled himself out of his daydream and noticed he had paused his hand halfway to the trunk with a bunch of DVD’s. He sighed and sat down on the bed next to the puppy, patting her head and she moved closer to him. “I know…I know…” he said a little sadly, “…I don’t want to go either.”

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin was breathless by the time he got to the frat house, fumbling with his key (so he could get in and tidy without waking anybody up) and wishing the whole process could just go a lot quicker - not that he expected Arthur to have left already, but the idea that he might even be thinking about it filled him with a sense of panicked urgency. He had to fix this, right now.

Finally getting into the house, he took the steps two at a time and burst into Arthur's room without knocking, he was so worked up and ready for action that even as he began speaking he moved over to the half-packed trunk and started pulling things out of it.

"What the hell are you doing? Gwen says you said you were going home, home to Camelot home, why are you doing that?"

[Arthur]

When the door burst open Arthur and Sookie both stood up in surprise and turned to face Merlin as he came in to the room. Sookie immediately started barking excitedly at the new arrival and leaped off the bed to go and sniff around the bottom of Merlin’s trousers, trying to ascertain whether his smell was a good smell or a bad smell. Arthur, meanwhile, crossed over to where Merlin was now unpacking his things from the trunk and said, “I am going home to Camelot and would you stop that!”

As Merlin took things out, Arthur began throwing them back in, “My father wants me to go home and I think it’s just better for everyone involved if I do, be careful with those! I ironed them myself!”

Grabbing the shirts off of Merlin he glared at him and said, “Now go away, I’ve got this covered.”

[Merlin Emrys]

"Oh, that's where the burns came from." Merlin commented dryly as he gave the dog a quick pet and shooed her away before turning back to folding Arthur's things and putting them away again. Halfway to the drawer he paused and looked back at Sookie.

"When did you get a dog?" he asked, confused, then shook his head and dismissed it at unimportant "What do you mean your father wants you to go home? You told Gwen on the stairs you were going home, and since you never said anything to me that means you decided it somewhere between leaving and seeing Gwen, definitely not enough time for you to have recieved any message from your father, and anyway he's wanted you to go home since you got here, I thought the whole reason you were marrying Gwen was so that you wouldn't have to. So why are you packing?"

He whirled away to hide the worry and panic in his eyes and carried on removing things from the trunk.

[Arthur]

Gods damn it why wouldn’t he just leave?!

Arthur closed his eyes tightly and ran his hands through his hair before once again repacking the things that Merlin was trying to remove. Sookie after being petted decided that Merlin was ‘ok smelling’ and had retreated back to the bed, jumping up on it and lying down, ready to watch the ensuing argument. “You are not my keeper Merlin, I don’t need to tell you anything,” said Arthur angrily as he began stuffing socks in to the side of the trunk.

Socks. These were the last lot of clean ones he would have, the last ones washed by Merlin…ever… He turned away from him and stormed towards the wardrobe, throwing the doors open and lifting out as much of the things hanging there as he could carry. “Besides you would have come up with some ridiculous reason why I should stay and do something…stupid. Like you’re doing now and I wanted to avoid all that.”

Feeling slightly more composed he turned back to face him and stormed back towards the trunk, dumping the clothes in. He focused on stuffing them all in, making sure nothing was hanging over the side as he said, “And agreeing to marry Gwen was…inevitable. She is the closest, and most advantageous suitable match, it was always going to be her, whether I stayed or not, my father still wishes me to return to Camelot.”

Arthur finally built up the courage to look at Merlin and instantly regretted, sure they could he could feel his resolve dissolving, “And…and you need to stay here…and…stay. Look after Gwen. I need too, too sort things out back home before she can come back and…who better to look after her than you, and…and it’ll be safer for you too, Camelot isn’t the right place for people who do magic…but it will be, I just, I need time to change that and you’re safer here.”

Turning away from him towards the drawer he said, “And I’ll call for the two of you when…when things are right.”

[Merlin Emrys]

He just wasn't making any sense, and Merlin wasn't sure where to begin, so he focused on putting away the clothes and listened, for once, to everything that Arthur had to say before responding. Even once Arthur was finished, he paused for a moment, stopping what he was doing as he placed another of Arthur's shirts back in the drawer, smoothing his hands absently over the fabric as he gathered his thoughts, trying to understand what the hell had brought this on.

"I'm not your keeper, but I am your manservant, and your friend, so what the hell were you going to do? Just let me figure it out when I came to do your laundry and found you gone?" He tried to keep his voice even, but he couldn't help but be a little hurt and angry by that notion "And you're being ridiculous, what do you mean do something stupid? And look after Gwen, really, are you kidding me? What do you think she'd say if you told her you were leaving someone to 'look after' her? This can't be just about your father, it's too sudden, what's really going on Arthur?"

He stopped himself from continuing, the idea of being 'called for' was just... it wouldn't sit well with Gwen and it didn't sit well with him, but he didn't want to get angry, he just wanted answers

[Arthur]

“Stop it!” said Arthur once again, grabbing his clothes from Merlin and stuffing them in to the trunk, “and of course I was going to say something, I was going to leave you a letter, you know, once I was done packing, but since you’re so bloody determined to make this go as slowly as possible, I guess that’s not happening!”

This was supposed to be avoided, he wasn’t going to see him again, that was the whole point. Why did he need to be so difficult?! Why couldn’t he just do what Arthur did and walk away, be all hurt and angry away from him! Then he wouldn’t want to rush over and tell him everything, then he wouldn’t want to…comfort him, tell him it was for his own good, then he wouldn’t gave in, then, then, then…he was going to have to take drastic action soon.

“You’re right, that was a lie I was telling to spare your poor feelings. I thought it would sound better if you were looking after Gwen rather than the other way around, which, lets face it, it is,” he said, glaring at Merlin, “I just don’t have time to be watching out for you and, and your damned magic.”

Yes, insult the magic, that was a good way to go about it. Pretend you don’t care. Yes. It hurts but it works. Now stick another knife in, “Besides my father want’s rid of you. He thinks you have surpassed your usefulness and he has provided me with a new manservant, which you know will be nice, to have a normal manservant that doesn’t do magic and isn’t completely useless at everything and…and…” lets see if he could make this any worse, “isn’t, head over heels in love with me.”

Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Did you hear something breaking?

[Merlin Emrys]

Objectively, he knew Arthur. He knew him so well, that he could see right through everything the stupid prat was saying, he knew that Arthur was deliberately saying all the right things to make him go away and stop prying so that he didn't have to face up to whatever was the real reason he was leaving.
Objectively, he knew all of that. That didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Acting on impulse, he took the clothes he'd most recently lifted out of the trunk and threw them in Arthur's face as hard as he could. It didn't really make much impact, it was difficult to throw clothes with any sort of force, but that was probably for the best.

"Me and my damned magic can watch out for ourselves just fine, just like we always did before we came here." It was weird referring to his magic as if it was a separate entity, but Merlin wasn't really thinking proper linquistics at that particular moment. "And..."

He stopped, staring at Arthur. He just didn't know what to say anymore, didn't know what would get it through the prince's thick head that he damn well wasn't going anywhere.
He'd always assumed that he was pretty much stuck, that he'd be with Arthur no matter what because he'd never be able to walk away... he never really thought of the possibility that Arthur would, which was funny when you thought about it, given that was Arthur's thing.

"Fine." he said quietly, suddenly feeling like he'd completely deflated, like all the air had been let out of him. "Maybe it's better this way. I'll stay here, become a teacher or something. Have fun in Camelot, be a good king."

[Arthur]

This, of course, only made Arthur angrier.

“Stop that!” he said running his hands through his hair, “Don’t, don’t do that either. This wounded puppy look, it drives me insane. I never know what to do when you do it, before I could just ignore it but now…now I cant. Now I need to make it disappear, I need to make you not look like that because if you look like that, all wounded and puppy like then, then…I…”

Sookie chose this moment to yelp and Arthur turned round to look at her. She gave him a quizzical look as he then rushed towards her and scooped her up into his arms. It was better than the alternative to Arthur, it was better than walking over to the wrong person and doing exactly the same thing. It was stopping him from doing something stupid. He looked over at Merlin as did Sookie, who decided that the wizard looked much more interesting and wriggled out of Arthur’s arms and down to the floor. She padded over to Merlin’s feet, sniffed them and then lay on top of them, looking up at Arthur as if she was challenging him to try and make Merlin leave now.

Arthur groaned and dropped down on to the bed, running his hands through his hair. “It’s no use,” he mumbled, “I can’t stand having you around and yet I cant send you away…this is unbearable.”

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin's own anger was growing at pretty much the same rate, and if it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't that kind of person, he would have kicked Sookie off when she decided to sit down on his feet and basically anchor him to the floor, making him stay there and deal with what Arthur was saying rather than running away himself.

The worst part, the most frustrating part, was that Merlin had no idea what the hell Arthur was on about, he didn't know what had set this off or what was frustrating the prince now.
Well, that and the fact that he did not have a wounded puppy face, dammit.

"You're right, you can't send me away," he spat, he didn't mean to sound so angry, but he just couldn't help it "and you can't run away either. You're going to be a king one day Arthur, you have to grow up sometime. Whatever the hell is going on here, man up and actually tell me about, don't just yell incomprehensible rubbish and then leave."

[Arthur]

“Well it’s all your fault isn’t it?!” he shouted at Merlin, standing up and crossing over to him, fighting the urge to grab his shoulders and shake him, “none of this would have been happening if it wasn’t for you! You are the common factor to my…my frustration”

He broke away from Merlin running his hands through his hair, before placing them on his hips, his back turned to the young wizard. He needed to get things back under control but he could feel the blood pumping through his body, he could feel more anger rising, he could just…feel. There were too many emotions running around like crazy and whilst ‘anger’ was at the top of the list, there was more…something more and…bigger, bursting to get out.

“You have been nothing but a thorn in my side since day one,” he said turning around to face him and pointing at him.

He wanted to be calmer, he tried he really did but he just couldn’t help it. It was Merlin, Merlin made him feel like this and when he was around he just couldn’t hold back. Arthur began pacing the room every now and then turning to look and point towards the wizard as he spoke.

“From that very first day when you stumbled in to my life, protecting that stupid servant, that fight in the market, saving my bloody life! You! And apparently, that wasn’t the only time, no, no you’ve been watching my back ever since then, you and your…freaky magic! And you didn’t even like me very much back then and I didn’t like you very much and that’s for sure…but…even though you were a pain and annoyance I couldn’t let you suffer, I couldn’t let you die. So I would save your life. And…clearly it was a back and forwards thing from that point on! But you…you made things complicated. Too complicated. Firstly the magic. Magic is evil that’s what I was brought up to believe but you…you…UGH! Your practically made of magic, it just comes pouring out of you and your not evil. You’re a pain and annoying and an idiot but you’re not evil. AND And then you were my friend, then you were someone I could trust. You’re my bloody manservant, I’m your Prince, your employee not your bloody friend…only I am and ARGH! what am I supposed to do!? Huh?! What am I supposed to do?!”

He was rambling, he knew he was rambling and not allowing Merlin to get a word in edgewise but he had to keep this up. He had too keep rambling or might finally get to the point and getting to the point wouldn’t be a good idea. Wasn’t that what he was trying to avoid in the first place, by leaving?

“And now…this. On top of everything. This,” he said finally running out of steam, finally beginning to stop his pacing, he looked at the ground, “you are…so…unsuitable. You’re a commoner, you’re a wizard and…you’re you. This would kill my father, literarlly, he would…have a heart attack and die if he ever knew. Gwen would have field day with it, and Morgana, oh I can hear the mocking…I…I can never make the right choice…but then…I suppose I didn’t really have a choice…you don’t….get a choice when it comes to this sort of thing do you?…”

He looked up at Merlin, standing perfectly still, his face softening, and said, barely above a whisper, “Why did I have to fall in love with such an idiot?”

[Merlin Emrys]

If Arthur had actually paused for thirty seconds, he would have certainly recieved a rant of equal magnitude. Almost everything the prince was saying caused Merlin to open his mouth and try to protest, so much so that even his thoughts were practically tripping over each other to try and be the most important thing, the first words that came out of his mouth as soon as Arthur let him get a chance to speak.
He was going to give that stupid, annoying prat such a piece of his mind that he wouldn't even know what hit him - especially when he started rambling on about suitability and whatever else he was saying, because that made absolutely no sense and that was just even more infuriating.

He was just debating what scathing comment would be the most appropriate starter when his brain actually caught up with his ears. He opened his mouth to yell and immediately felt like the carpet had been pulled from under his feet, like the world had suddenly gone upside down.

"I... it's... did you... wha... are... I..." every word he tried just didn't seem to be right, he had no idea how to deal with this situation because he'd never expected to be in this situation. Eventually, he struck upon the only response that made this make sense.

"Are you under a spell?"

[Arthur]

Arthur ran a hand through his hair and even managed a small smile at that question. “I thought it might be, at first, when I didn’t quite understand it,” he said sitting down on the bed, he even motioned for Merlin to join him.

It was out now, there was nothing left to do, he had said it and he couldn’t take it back, not now that Merlin knew, he had no choice but to tell him everything. He understood that now and more importantly he understand that the younger man needed to know this. For once, he was going to be completely honest, like he should have been all those months ago.

“The first time I heard you singing, it just sounded…I know it didn’t look it that night but I was…moved by it. That sound so ridiculous and cheesy but it’s the truth. I think that’s when I knew, when I knew it wasn’t a spell, when it was real. Because it was you that was singing, not Meredith, and it wasn’t like a fake kind of love…I cant explain it very well, it was me thinking that I loved you, I wasn’t being…forced.”

He glanced at Merlin and said, “And of course, in my particular fashion I decided that the best way to deal with that was to…walk away from it. To hide from it until it went away or sorted itself out.”

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin sat down almost in a daze, he couldn't actually believe what was happening - couldn't believe that Arthur seemed ready to talk about it, rather than fleeing as soon as he'd made the confession.
Maybe it was just the relief of getting it out there, that was something Merlin could certainly understand, it had been painful and difficult, but he knew all too well how it could feel like a weight had been lifted just by saying it.

He didn't ask why it had taken Arthur so long to say anything, or what had finally made him crack when he'd been hiding it so well - though that question would probably come later - instead he stayed silent for a very long moment, processing what he'd just been told.

"So... you're really in love with me?" He said eventually, it seemed the most obvious question he could have asked, but he still couldn't quite believe it.

[Arthur]

Arthur laughed a little half heartedly at Merlin’s question and said, “Yes, rub the salt in why don’t you, don’t make this any easier for me.”

There was no real anger or annoyance behind his words and the fact that he was smiling a little made them come out just a little affectionately. He looked round at Merlin and continued, “Yes, Gods knows why but I love you, I cant help myself from loving you and very much doubt that I’m going to stop loving you any time soon. And of course, like most things in my life, this has probably come at the…worst possible time.”

He looked down at his hands again, unable to meet Merlin’s gaze and said, “…so what do we do now?”