Title: Like Father, Like Son
Author: OCDegrassi (Holly)
Pairings: Merlin/Arthur
Rating: T
Warnings: Angst, Slash, Mentions of Sex, Some Language
Note: So I've been in an angsty mood lately, and this was the result. It's the always depressing break up with a boat load of angst sprinkled on top. I'm sure that Arthur is out of character, but hopefully you still enjoy it anyway.

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Arthur Pendragon stared at Merlin with confusion on his face. "What did you just say?" His manservant looked at him with sad eyes and sighed. "We need to break up." Arthur felt his stomach churning as a rock formed in his chest. This couldn't be happening. Merlin couldn't be breaking up with him. This whole thing was just ridiculous. It must be a joke. He shook his head. "Yea right, Merlin." He stood and walked towards the window, ignoring the exasperated look on his manservant's face. They were happy. At least, it seemed that way to Arthur. Sure, he was always making jokes about Merlin and bossing him around, but he was still his manservant, boyfriend or not. He had an appearance to uphold. If anyone found out about the two of them, the consequences would be terrible for both of them.

"This isn't a joke, Arthur. We need to break up." Merlin tried to keep his voice quiet yet insistent at the same time. He didn't want to hurt Arthur, but he had to. He couldn't keep living this lie. "No, we don't," was Arthur's simple reply. Merlin's mouth hung open in shock, but Arthur pretended not to see it. This felt surreal. Like maybe he was dreaming. He silently prayed that he would wake up from this nightmare soon. "Yes, we do, Arthur. Don't make this harder than it already is!" There were tears in Merlin's eyes and Arthur felt a sharp pain in his heart. He couldn't accept this. Merlin was his, and there was no way he'd leave them. "Merlin, this is ridiculous! We are not breaking up; there's no reason too!"

The tears started to fall down Merlin's face now, and Arthur wanted desperately to look away, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt stuck, unable to bring his eyes away from his lover, even thought every look was breaking his heart. This was real. The realization started to sink in and tears filled his own eyes, but he fought them down. When Merlin spoke again, his voice was soft and sad. "Yes, we are, Arthur. I'm in love with Gwaine." Arthur was going to find out eventually, and as much as Merlin hadn't wanted to tell him, he knew it would be better coming from him than someone else. He hadn't meant to fall in love with Gwaine; in fact, he hadn't even realized it was happening at first. They were friends, and it gradually grew deeper until Gwaine had kissed him. In that one kiss, Merlin had felt things that he never experienced with Arthur and he knew this was what had to be done. "I'm sorry," he added quietly.

Arthur was temporarily stunned silent. His mind was racing with every memory he could find of Gwaine and Merlin together. Then he started to realize it; the looks and the little touches that he had never even given a second thought to. The anger boiled within him and he lashed out. "You're leaving me for Gwaine. Why? So you can be cheated on with hundreds of different men and women that he meets at the tavern? It's no secret that Gwaine gets around. He's not going to change for you." There was venom in his voice and he saw the hurt flash on Merlin's face, but Arthur didn't care. He wanted Merlin to hurt the same way he was hurting. "Please don't do this," his manservant pleaded. But it was too late. Merlin wanted to leave him, then fine. He was going to hear everything Arthur had to say about it.

"Don't do what? Tell you the truth? Because from the beginning of our relationship, I have been nothing but good to you and loved you unconditionally. If you think you're going to get that from Gwaine, then you're an even bigger idiot than I thought." The words caused Merlin to flinch. Arthur had never been this cruel to him. He swallowed as a lump formed in his throat and he turned to walk out the door. Upon seeing Merlin leaving, Arthur's feelings of anger and hurt reached their peak and he lost control of his actions. He grabbed a pitcher that was sitting on his table and flung it at Merlin as hard as he could. It hit his manservant in the head with a loud thud. Merlin turned around to look sadly at his ex-lover as he held his head where he had been hit. He shook his head and walked out, leaving Arthur alone.

It was then that the prince finally broke down and slid to the floor. Sobs racked his body as he started to shake uncontrollably. He'd chosen Merlin over Gwen. He had chosen to spend the rest of his life with his manservant, regardless of the consequences to him. And after all of that, Merlin had chosen Gwaine over him; loud, drunk Gwaine. What the hell did he have that Arthur didn't? He was torn between anger and sadness as his mood quickly changed from one to the other. This wasn't fair. Love did nothing but cause pain. He should have known that well enough after what happened to his parents. But no, he'd taken a chance, thinking that things would be different for him and Merlin. But nothing was different. He was still alone at the end of the day, bitter and heart-broken, just like his father.

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A/N: So what do you think? Please Review!