Whoops a new story

Warning: this story is around 82% dialogue and I am taking full liberties with Merlin and Will's childhood because I don't know what happened

Disclaimer: don't own the characters or their lives or the show or whatever, except for that... one guy... I'll let you find him

Enjoy!

A Spoonful of Stories

… and a Spoonful of Lies

"Your mother is very… kind, Merlin," Arthur said. It did not quite seem like those were the words that he had at first intended to say, but after having been ushered into Hunith's house and immediately sat at a small table in front of a fresh meal—of what, Arthur was not quite sure—it seemed the only appropriate description to give voice to.

Merlin snorted at his master's uncertain choice of words, but smiled anyway. "Yeah, she is. She's… incredible."

Arthur watched with some interest as his friend's smile changed from mirthful to something more fond. "She would have to be, putting up with you all those years," the king declared, bumping their shoulders together lightly.

Merlin laughed. "Yeah, definitely. And Will, too. It was like he was a permanent addition to the family—" The warlock caught himself right then, casting a wary glance in his king's direction before continuing in a softer tone. "She could never get rid of him, so eventually she stopped trying." Merlin's smile was still genuine, but perhaps a bit wistful.

Arthur watched him for a few moments before steeling himself to take the first spoonful of whatever-it-was (peasant food, he tried not to think) to his lips. It was bland, as he had expected, but… quite nice, somehow. It was certainly more pleasant than the first time he had tried it, so many years ago, when he was not yet exposed to the lives of the less fortunate and all-too-aware of his high title. Arthur told himself that he had grown since then.

"Tell me about him," Arthur said, the words out before he had a chance to reconsider.

Merlin fumbled with his spoon, startled. "What?"

"Will. Tell me about him."

Merlin's mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. "Um," he eventually said, "what do you want to know?"

"Tell me about when you met him."

Merlin was wary; he remembered that Arthur had left Ealdor thinking that Will was a sorcerer, back when he was still quite certain that magic was nothing but evil.

Perhaps if he wanted to know about him, his views had changed…?

The manservant cleared his throat. "Well, I was… five years old. He was six. We were playing by the creek with the other children, and some of them were picking on him. He wasn't very big back then, so he was something of a target. I stepped in, told them to stop."

"Just like you did with me," Arthur mused, a touch guilty.

Merlin smiled. "Yes."

"So… they left you alone, then?"

Merlin shrugged. "No. Then they turned on me. The biggest and meanest of them—Elias was his name, I think—came forwards, challenging me to a fight."

"And… did you accept his challenge?"

Merlin let out a puff of laughter. "Well, no. He was a lot bigger than me. I took Will and we tried to leave."

"Seems you were a lot wiser as a child than you were when I met you, Merlin," Arthur said, before frowning. "Wait. 'Tried'?"

"Elias' group wouldn't let us leave. We were surrounded." Merlin paused then, not sure whether he should continue.

"And?" Arthur prompted, giving him no choice.

"Er… Will… attacked them. He never would back down so easily from a fight," he recalled. "But… I could see that they were too strong for him, so I—he—Will used… magic. To protect himself. He knocked a few of them over and cleared a path for us to leave."

Arthur was still. Merlin was hoping he wouldn't see through his lie, as Arthur thought Will was the sorcerer, not Merlin.

"He could use magic back then? When he was so young?"

Well, that was not what Merlin had been expecting. "Er, yes. Since he was… born, actually."

Arthur was thoughtful. "I thought all sorcerers had to learn magic, study it."

"Sorcerers do, but warlocks are born with their powers. For some, it comes a bit later, but they never have to learn it, they simply… have it."

The king was staring at him. "How do you know all of this?"

Oh, right. "Gaius told me," he said quickly. It was not a complete lie.

Arthur nodded, accepting his explanation. "And so that's when you learned he had magic?"

"Oh, no, he—I learned a lot later." He really had to work on his pronouns if he wanted to keep the story authentic-sounding, but he couldn't help it; he had never told this story before.

"Tell me about that, then," Arthur said, slurping up some more of his dinner.

"Alright." Merlin took a moment to think back, mentally switching his and Will's roles.

"It was a few years later that I found out. It was the middle of winter, and a heavy snowstorm had hit the village. As soon as it was clear enough for us to leave our homes, Will and I went out to the forest to collect some wood for the fire. The snow blanketed the ground, making it hard to walk, and the air was so cold it hurt to breathe, but the trees offered some comfort, somehow. We were being very careful, since we knew there were some cavities in the ground around the area, and we didn't want to mistake one for solid snow-covered ground. My mother told us many stories about people falling in them and being engulfed by the snow. They're not found until the spring, when it all melts."

Arthur seemed fully immersed in his story, so he continued.

"Will and I were walking around, looking for some dry wood, when we heard a cry. Following the sound, we came across one of the cavities. This one we knew quite well, since it was so large, and we knew to avoid it, but it seemed someone else hadn't. We knelt by the edge, and there was a gap in the snow, leading deep into the hole in the ground. It was too dark for us to see very far inside, but when we called into the hole, someone answered. It was Elias.

"He told us that his leg was stuck under the snow, and he couldn't get it out. Either way, it was too deep for him to climb out on his own. It was dangerous to leave Elias in the hole for too long, because the snow would eventually pile down on top of him, so we couldn't get help. Will wanted to climb down into it, but that would probably have caused the snow to fall even more quickly, so I didn't let him, not yet. We started clearing snow away from the edge, and we could just make out his form at the bottom when Elias stopped answering us.

"We were afraid the cold had already got to him, so we hurried to clear away the rest of the snow, and then…." It was time to switch the roles. Merlin would have to improvise some parts; he just hoped he wouldn't accidentally reveal himself in the process. "Will jumped down into the hole without warning, leaving me at the top. He managed to land without hurting himself, and he pulled Elias' leg out of the snow. He must have used magic then, I suppose, but I couldn't really see his face. Once he had Elias fully freed, he looked up at me, and then…." This was the part that Will had described to him in great detail, both excited and panicked at once for his friend. "His eyes were glowing gold with magic. He told me to stand back, and then he simply… rose out of the hole, propelled by his magic, carrying Elias with him."

Arthur was barely registering the food he shovelled into his mouth as he listened.

"When he was back on solid ground, we realized that Elias wasn't breathing. We tried everything to get him to wake up, but it wasn't working. Will glanced at me for a second, and then he placed both hands on Elias' body, and his eyes glowed again." This was the part he had been dreading; he could not actually remember much of it. "Elias didn't wake up, but he coughed a bit, and his lips weren't quite as blue, so that was good. And then Will… collapsed. He told me later that healing magic was the most difficult, and he didn't actually know what he was doing at the time," Merlin said with a small smile. "It was purely instincts, he'd said. It wasn't something he had much control over, and it drained him as a result."

Merlin seemed to have finished, but Arthur was still curious. "And then… what? You dragged them back to the village? No offense, Merlin, but you don't seem capable of that. You're too scrawny. I can't even imagine what you must have been like back then."

Merlin blinked. He did not, in fact, know how Will had got them out of there. "Yeah, I suppose I did. Drag them, I mean."

Arthur raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You. Dragged them. Really."

"I'm stronger than I look," Merlin stated.

Arthur laughed. "Of course you are, Merlin." He clapped his manservant on the back before sobering. "He did all that for a bully? That's… incredible. It seems I really have misjudged him."

"Yes," Merlin said quietly, not really thinking. Then he remembered the action Arthur had called 'incredible', and he remembered that he was the one to have performed said act, not Will. Merlin started blushing. And then he remembered that the aforementioned act was one of magic, and did that mean that Arthur was condoning its use in this case?

Arthur was staring at him. "What's wrong with you? You look like there is something wrong with your bladder. Or maybe like you're going to…. Merlin, you're not about to cry. I will not allow it."

Merlin could not help the laugh that escaped him.

It was only sometime after midnight, when he was sure that Merlin was fast asleep, that Arthur told a story of his own.

Arthur sat up in the small bed, watching his friend's peaceful face near his feet.

"You know, Merlin, I was once saved by a warlock, just like Elias. I was stuck in a deep, deep hole, lost in my own importance and unaware of the everyday struggles of those who had less than me.

"And then, one day, he simply appeared out of the blue. I didn't know what he was going to become at the time, but I remember being horrible to him. Perhaps I still am, sometimes, but I think he's forgiven me. He does a lot of that: forgiving. More than I think he should, really, but when has he ever listened to what I say?"

Arthur let out a small laugh before continuing.

"Maybe it's a good thing that he so rarely listens. His disobedience has saved many lives—no, not his disobedience, but… him. Just him. He's saved so many lives while he hid in the shadows, mine being one of them, and I don't think he's ever received a proper thanks. And maybe an apology, too. He's taught me so much, more than I ever thought to learn, and I owe him my life, many times over. I might even owe him more than that.

"He is the most idiotic, wisest, most ridiculous, and most loyal person I've ever had the pleasure of calling my friend."

Arthur's smile was a small as he continued, a tiny window into the precious box where he kept his emotions tightly sealed.

"And I hope that one day he can unravel the lies he has entangled himself in, and he can trust me as much as I do him. I hope he can learn to stop hiding.

"But most of all, Merlin, I hope you can one day understand that you're safe here—you're safe anywhere, because we will protect you from anything, even if you're more than capable of dispelling any threat headed your way. I would never hurt you, and I won't let anything happen to you, because you're my friend, no matter what."

Arthur lay back down, his speech complete. "Good night, my friend."

From where she stood in the doorway, Hunith's smile was only marginally dimmed by the tears shining in her eyes.

Whoo how was that

So yeah, Arthur knew all along. Surprise!

Thank you for reading! :D