One day, in winter, Merlin walks into the dining hall, with Gwen in tow and ears bright red from the cold, and Arthur wants to scold him for forgetting his hat. It's not as if they are permanently at each other's throats – Merlin tries very hard to be civil for Arthur's sake, and Sophie is far too sophisticated to actually fight – but it's still very clear that they despise each other, which means that these days, Arthur doesn't see Merlin nearly as often as he used to. The only problem is that Merlin doesn't like Sophia and Sophia can't stand Merlin at all. Morgana, of course, accuses him of pretending, of trying to please his father too hard but Morgana is always criticizing everything he does, so that really doesn't say much. He's a bit surprised himself, because he didn't even know that he was interested in women – but Sophia is astonishing, and beautiful, and Arthur figures that maybe gender is not so important after all. Unsurprisingly, the headmaster calls his father, and puts him in detention, which is quite disagreeable but Merlin is waiting for him in the school yard when he is done, embarrassed and grateful, ears red when he holds out a bag of candy, and Arthur knows it was worth it.Īrthur falls in love with Sophia in their first year at university. Of course, he insists that doing so is his, Arthur Pendragon's, privilege, and his alone, and when he finds two big tenth years pushing Merlin around in an empty class room, making cruel comments about the identity of Merlin's non-existent father, and pulling his ears, of all things, Arthur feels absolutely entitled to beat them up. He does it when they are squabbling, or when he thinks Merlin is being particularly stupid, or when he wants Merlin to do something for him and Merlin always flushes bright red and swats his hand away and Arthur finds himself doing it more frequently, without any particular reason, just because he likes the way Merlin blushes and squirms and looks quite simply adorable. Years later, Arthur still likes to pull Merlin's ears. Arthur looks shocked more than anything else, and then Hunith is there, sweeping the sobbing baby up in her arms, and scolds Arthur for bullying smaller children.Īrthur frowns and rubs his face with sand-covered hands, until his nanny comes running to lay into Hunith, telling her that the boy she just bawled out is Uther Pendragon's son, and this will have consequences, for certain.Īnd Hunith says some unflattering things about rich people, and arseholes in general, and hurries away, Merlin firmly enclosed in her arms.Īrthur wrinkles his nose, about to throw a fit because his new playfellow is taken away, but then Merlin turns around in his mother's arms and peaks over her shoulder, waving a shy goodbye with a tiny, chubby hand, and Arthur giggles and waves back. Merlin stares at him for a second, lower lip trembling, and then he starts to cry. The first time they meet, it's on the playground, when Arthur abandons his half-finished sandcastle to crawl over and pull Merlin's ear.
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