Yes, I have other things I should be writing but this kinda just happened and I needed to post it. It will probably end up a two-shot depending on the success of this bit.

Edit: Thank you to that guest that mentioned I needed to credit kjayla and their story The Broken Past! You should check it out! It's amazing. I knew I taken inspiration from something and had completely forgotten where! Sorry for not crediting sooner.

Merlin had always liked trees. Trees didn't care if you rambled to them about your day or if you got too excited about finding the perfect skipping stone. They didn't care if you came to them in tears and your words bumbled and bled together. They only listened and shielded you away from the world below in their leafy branches. They were sturdy, constant. But most of all, they kept quiet about a lone child's plights and secrets.

When he was little, Merlin had found a large oak tree overlooking a small pond just a little ways into the forest outside Ealdor. This tree was his first friend which he promptly named Bartholomew.

Bartholomew was an old tree and grand in the eyes of the young warlock. The light always filtered through the leaves in just a way so that when the wind blew, the pinpricks of sunlight danced in a merry manner. Merlin often danced along, humming a tune unique only to this little performance. The branches were large and comfortable and there were knobs and nicks allowing the child easy access to Bartholomew's highest branches were the limbs tangled themselves together to form a sort of nest of twigs and leaves. Merlin took shelter in this nest when everything seemed to be too much and he just let the leaves and crickets sing away all his worries.

Bartholomew became Merlin's safe haven, his home away from home, his constant. If ever there was a time when the teasing of the village children got to be too much, Bartholomew was there to comfort and shield. If ever there was a worry too big to confess to his mother, Bartholomew was there. If ever there was a problem that needed solving, Bartholomew was there to let the boy talk out a solution. Bartholomew was always there and that was why Merlin had decided to entrust his first friend with his biggest secret.

He remembered the day well. It was around the middle of the fall and his magic had begun to act up. It always acted up when Merlin was trying his hardest not to use it. His mother had warned him that the others were getting suspicious and that he couldn't get caught no matter what. So, he held it all in and it was taking its toll. As he climbed up Bartholomew, his hands were shaking, his skin was pale, and his face was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

The boy had rocked himself back and forth in his nest trying to get the feeling to go away. It was a feverish heat that just built inside him and it was like his own skin was too tight. There was just so much inside. So much needed to get out. He had to release it but that would go against everything that his mother had taught him.

Merlin remembered looking to the trunk of the tree as if that was where Bartholomew's face laid. He had chewed his lip and tried to summon the words he needed to say multiple times before he was able to form a small broken question.

"Can you keep a secret, Bartholomew?"

The forest had stilled and the wind rustled the leaves. Merlin let out a breath of relief as if his question had been answered audibly.

"I know you won't tell but I've never told anyone so I'm still a little worried but here goes… I have magic. I've always had it but Mom says it's dangerous if other people know so I have to keep it a secret, all hush hush. But if I don't use it, I get sick and I haven't used it in the past week and it feels like I'm going to burst. It's so hot, Bartholomew. It's too hot. I have to use it but I'm scared to. I've never kept it in this long. What if once I let it go, it hurts something. All the people in town say magic is evil and that all it ever does is harm so when I just let it do what it wants will it be evil? Will I be evil? I don't want to be evil, Bartholomew! I don't want to!"

It occurred to him that he was crying and the boy stubbornly scrubbed the tears from his face and let out another sniffle.

A wind stirred the colored leaves and a few broke from their branch to drift gently down to land softly on the boy's head. He looked up surprised.

"A-are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. Another few leaves landed in front of him and the boy smiled and dried the last of his tears with a determined nod. "Okay. I'll show you."

He placed his hands on Bartholomew's trunk and let that heat flow through his fingertips into the wood. A breath escaped his lips as he felt the pressure inside him subside. The uncomfortable warmth drained from his system as the air took on an energy filled buzz. Around him, the branches steadily grew stronger and the leaves regained their green color and new leaves quickly grew to replace the ones that had fallen in the turning of the seasons. Soon enough, Merlin's little haven in the tree tops was a summer oasis. The child laughed and clapped his hands together, happy to see that his magic had done something good.

"It worked! I did something good!" he cheered wrapping his arms around the trunk of the tree, hugging his friend tightly. "Thank you, Bartholomew."

He spent the rest of that afternoon letting out the excess energy by making some leaves twirl in a happy wind or weaving some branches together to form small animals. At one point, the boy cupped his hands and with a small flash of his eyes created a few small butterflies which now fluttered happily around the hollow. The air was warm despite the chill of fall hovering just outside the green walls of his safe haven and the sunlight filtered happily through the leaves creating the little light show Merlin loved so much.

Merlin was lulled to sleep there that night, both exhausted by his extended use of magic and calmed by the presence of his silent guardian. He returned the following morning, healthy and happy, to a worried mother who fussed over him and picked the leaves and twigs from his tangled hair as she scolded him for not telling her where he had been. The boy only smiled widely and gave a single sentence as a response.

"Bartholomew protected me."