Arthur had always known.

For God's sake, Merlin was absolutely terrible at keeping secrets.

Nobody had ever beaten Arthur in front of his 'friends'. And, for the record, ropes do not move on their own.

So Merlin just had to go and save his ass from that witch with the cobweb fetish and throw Arthur deeper into his pit of shame. Uther decided to join in and make the hole deeper by declaring that Merlin was to be Arthur's manservant.

Arthur treated Merlin like a useless slave for weeks on end, not giving a second thought to his well-being.

Why?

Because Arthur was angry. Arthur was confused, and angry, and frustrated, and so many other things at once that it made his head spin. His manservant, which his father hadhired, was a sorcerer. He knew that it would only take one word, and Merlin would be sentenced to death, yet he just could not bring himself to do it. He had tried many, many times, spent hours pacing back and fourth across his room trying to explain why he wasn't turning in the biggest threat Camelot had at that moment. Often, he would get nowhere, which made him angry, and he would cause a mess and scream at Merlin for being useless and not cleaning it up.

He waited for all those weeks for an attack. Something, anything, that pointed to danger. But no signs ever came.

Merlin was a terrible, useless, good-for-nothing servant that was was always late, never knocked, tripped over his own feet, and usually made messes bigger then they already were...

But Arthur saw no evil in him.

Frankly, he may have been the most loyal servant Arthur had ever known.

Eventually things changed. Merlin showed Arthur that the whole "saving-his-ass-from-evil-cobweb-bitch" wasn't just a ploy, and continued to save his from any danger that came their way.

Merlin was Arthur's best friend.

Of course, even now, the Prince will never say that to anyone. Not even to himself, for he still wonders how much brain damage he must have suffered to become friends with a servant (who happens to be a warlock, to make everything better). No matter how much Arthur denied it, though, he knew it was true. He trusted Merlin, valued his life...

Loved him. Loved him in the sense that if Merlin was in danger, Arthur felt a jolt. They were two in the same, almost. Arthur actually liked having a friend (he would never admit it), and he did not want his manservant leaving his life anytime soon.

It upset him, still, that Merlin didn't trust him enough to share his 'secret'.

Arthur had dropped the most obvious hints he could think of, but Merlin just looked at him with fearful, nervous eyes. He really was an idiot.

In Gwen's defence, he had confessed to being a warlock, and Arthur had thought fast and covered it up with lies about love being in the air.

He didn't even think Merlin caught the look he was given when an arm was thrown casually around his shoulder and a hand came to grasp at his hair. Didn't notice the way the Prince's eyes had told him that he knew Merlin was telling the truth, but cared too much to let him give his life away like that.

At the same time, Arthur was being a coward. Words would flow from his mouth, and just when Merlin looked liked he was seriously paying attention, Arthur would cover it up with something stupid like him having affections for Morgana. Every time he thought he would finally get to say that simple confession, he would become afraid - afraid that Merlin would run away.

In the end, he decided to be patient. No matter how difficult it was, he would wait for Merlin to tell him.

He just hoped he could wait that long.

~
END

There you have it folks, my first fic.

I'll probably go back and write a few sister stories for this that go into a bit more detail. And if enough people want, I may just write about Arthur getting fed up and confronting Merlin.

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