Here we are: Part two of Love is not a Victory March. Hope you all enjoy it.

AN: I used Vivian as the 'serious girlfriend', because however annoying she is, I actually found her quite amusing. And because I can't stand Arthur/Gwen. And, just in case anyone was wondering, there will probably be about four, maybe five parts to this. And yes, this one is a bit shorter than the last, but please, just wait until you see the next chapter. It's the Godzilla of chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the original series.

"Before I wanted to say: "I found love!" But now, I want to say: "I found a person. And he belongs to me and I belong to him."

-C. JoyBell C.

They're sixteen, and things are pretty much as platonic as ever.

Merlin practically pranced through the snow on their way home from school – kicking up his heels and enjoying the sting of December's wind on his nose, decked with knit wool accessories and a poofy orange parka. Arthur walks slowly behind him, as if he was trying to make it look like he was walking behind Merlin instead of with him. Naturally, Arthur was wearing a simple black coat, black gloves and a designer scarf that was a bland shade of grey. Merlin was glad Arthur was finally able to wear black again.

For seven months after his mother's death, Arthur refused to wear black. Merlin had been completely clueless as to why, he assumed it was some weird new thing of Arthur's and left it alone. After all, refusing to wear black was much better than smoking and drinking and partying and doing drugs. That had lasted three months before Uther found out and threatened boarding school in America.

Arthur knew he wouldn't last long without Merlin. So he cleaned up his act.

It's only one day, when they're both slightly delirious because it's four thirty in the morning, and they've just had an intense COD gaming session, and Merlin's fingers are so stiff that he's not sure he'll ever be able to move them again. They're laying side-by-side, and Merlin is extremely aware of Arthur's breath, the movement of his eyes, that his thumb is resting on top of Arthur's pinky finger.

"Arthur," He wonders if his voice has always sounded so child-like. "Why don't you wear black anymore?"

Arthur is silent for a while, and Merlin begins to think he's fallen asleep, until he answers in a hard, but breathy whisper. "I don't want people to think I'm in mourning."

...

"Merlin, why haven't you ever had a girlfriend?"

A seventeen year old Merlin almost chokes on his juicy fruit, and whips his head around to look at Arthur, whose eyes were still on oncoming traffic. This is the question that Arthur springs on Merlin, Friday morning in his glossy sports car on the way home from school. Merlin is sitting with his knees propped up on the dash, enjoying the cool blast of the air-conditioner on his face. Merlin looks at Arthur and when he connects with that oh-so-familiar blue, he feels his stomach drop. He looks at Arthur, whose hair is a little messy, and whose shirt is buttoned incorrectly, with his face flushed from the warm temperature.

And Merlin does the only thing he can do without accidently blurting out 'Well, it's a funny story. See I'm pretty sure I've been in love with you since we were five.'

He shrugs.

...

The next day Merlin asks out Freya, who's had a crush on Merlin for decades.

Arthur sighs loudly when he's informed, and rolls his eyes. "Honestly, Merlin. It was only a question. You didn't have to go and hop into bed with someone."

Merlin can tell he's not saying it to be nasty, that it is not meant to be teasing, but his heart constricts painfully.

"If you're so jealous, perhaps you need a bed to hop into as well."

Merlin feels like his heart was just stabbed with a knitting needle.

...

The next day, Arthur asks out Vivian.

Merlin regrets his words in the car immensely.

...

They're on the phone. Arthur on one end, watching some type of crime show, with Merlin on the other end, finishing up the last of his Biology homework. "Her? Really? Vivian Brown?" Merlin questions, scratching his name at the top, along with the correct date.

"She's hot." Arthur shifts, and Merlin can hear the slight thump the headboard whacking the wall. Arthur must have rolled over.

"She's barmy!" Merlin cries indignantly, zipping his pencil case harsher than it needed.

"I repeat Merlin, she is hot. Hot. All the guys think so."

Merlin rolls his eyes, pushing his backpack off the bed with an unceremonious whump. "Well, what do you think?"

There is silence for a bit, a long bit and Merlin brings the phone away to check that he hasn't ended the call by accident. Sure enough, Arthur's name is still flashing on the screen. "I gotta go." Arthur says abruptly and Merlin frowns.

"Wait Arthur I-''

"See you tomorrow." Is the curt reply, and there's a beep and nothing else.

...

Merlin endures Vivian for a week. She's obnoxious and rude and literally treats him like a servant – not to mention she keeps calling them all by the wrong name. Leon has become Leonard. Percival has become Peter. Elena has become Emily and he has become Marvin. He knows she can't be that stupid, and does it just to be extra vile. When he voices these thoughts to Freya – who is still his girlfriend, after two long months – she chastisizes him, saying Vivian can't be that bad. But Merlin knows better, because even sensible, give everyone a chance Elena hates her guts.

...

In theory, Merlin knows that Arthur does a whole lot more with Vivian than kissing, as shown by the hickeys that are generally scattered on both persons – though seeing them on Vivian makes his blood boil, because it was Arthur's mouth that put them there, Arthur's mouth that was on her – but he definitely isn't prepared to see them swapping spit in the school cafeteria.

He suddenly loses his appetite.

...

He's on facebook that night when he decides to do some internet 'creeping' as Leon calls it. He scrolls through his friends list – because Arthur's girlfriends always added him, for reasons only known by them and no one else – and finds her. Vivan Brown. Her facebook profile is full of posts of other popular, bitchy girls posting things like:

'lololololololololol vivi! kewl partyyyyy last nite. i am still wasted! luv yu bbg! Ttyl!'

'caant w8 4 tonite. Lmao. Gonna b so much fuuuun.'

Vivian's status's are all posted in moronic shorthand, using 'u' instead of 'you' and not capitalizing when capatilization is needed. Merlin suddenly wonder's what on earth Arthur is doing with this girl, because he knows that Arthur hates improper grammar. He's having a swell time, making up nicknames for Vivian and sorting through all her posts, snickering at her stupidity when he sees one particular photo.

It's of Arthur and Vivian, crammed in the backseat of a car, between Owain and Kay – who of Arthur's football mates – and smiling into the camera in Vivian's outstretched hand. He clicks the mouse by accident, his fingers slipping when he glances away for a second, and up pops another picture – at a basketball game that Merlin couldn't attend because he had a big Math test to study for.

Click.

Them laying on Vivian's bed.

Click.

Them in the drama room at school.

Click.

Stereotypical photo booth pictures.

Click.

Them kissing at the mall.

Click.

Them hugging in a mirror.

SNAP.

Merlin shuts his laptops closed.

It`s only when he's cleaning his room the next morning, trying to ignore his stinging eyes and aching chest, when he finds it. He's sorting through an old box of junk, when out falls an old, dusty and quite cracked DVD case. He looks down, wiping some dust off with the sleeve of his robe and reads the bright title.

Cinderella

He smiles a little, remembering all the childhood hours spent in here, the times they watched the Disney classic, when he looks down and gets a good look at the case. Smack dab in the middle is of course, Cinderella and he brushes a finger over her face.

Suddenly it hits him like a school bus.

That smooth, angelic face, the big blue eyes, the feminine body, the fluffy bright blonde hair – they were so familiar to him.

Familiar because Vivian looks like a modern day, real-life version of Cinderella. Mind you, she acted nothing like Cinderella, being kind was more Elena's style – but the thought still stood.

"I want a Cinderella. Someone that looks just like her," Arthur whispers.

A seven year old Arthur's voice echoes in his mind as he tosses the DVD case away, watching it crash into the wall opposite to him, and it flips open, the DVD rolling and turning over just beside his dresser.

...

Merlin and Freya break up. It's not fair to her, he realizes. She's genuinely beginning to fall for him – and she tells him so – and he can't allow himself to lead her on anymore than he already has. He ends it gently, and although Freya cries and he feels terrible, she thanks him for being so honest, and Merlin hopes they can still be friends.

...

Arthur is strangely happy that Merlin and Freya broke up.

Merlin's stomach quiver's at his grin.

...

Arthur and Vivian go to Arthur's eighteenth birthday party as their six-month anniversary date. Merlin doesn't go to the bar with them afterwards, a little fact that Arthur 'forgot' but Merlin suspects Vivian has some hand in it. It's not like he missed out on all the fun, just the boozing at the bar they all went to at 11. Not that Merlin would ever, ever, get drunk around Arthur (lest he give into his desires and shove him against a wall and snog him soundly)

Arthur of course receives a car from his father. A sleek black thing that looks fast even when it's stopped. Percival and Leon give him tickets to some sort of sporting event that Arthur whoops in excitement for. Vivian gives him a new sweater – which Merlin thinks is ridiculous, because Arthur used to hate it when his own mother picked out his own clothes – but Arthur smiles in a strained way anyways, pecking Vivian on the cheek.

Merlin, however, gives him gift card to the new mall being built outside of London, as well as suite package and a promise to take him there one weekend for a 'wicked weekend of spending and arcading'.

Arthur grins even brighter, and unbeknownst to Merlin, his heart is pounding just as fast as his.

...

Three days later, Arthur shows up drunk as a skunk on his doorstep at three o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday. Merlin silently thanks god that his mother's working today until eight. He'd been at the bar with Vivian, Valiant, Percival and Kay. Elena and Leon have pretty much abandoned Arthur, they're detest of Vivian is so strong and Percival can only stand to be around her when he's very drunk. Merlin couldn't go, because it's still

He suddenly takes in Arthur's appearance. His pants are on backwards. His shoes are untied, his face is flushed and he smells like perfume and sweat.

"I slept with Vivian."

The words pierce Merlin's body, like ice shards through his heart and enter his veins, making his chilled and frozen. His mind is racing, and a part of his wants to believe that Arthur's kidding, but all the evidence says otherwise.

"My mum'll be home soon. I think it's best if you leave."

...

Merlin and Arthur don't talk for two weeks.

Morgana goes with Arthur to the mall.

Arthur can't think of anything except Merlin.

...

It's the longest they've ever gone without speaking.

Arthur tries talking to him, not understanding why he'd suddenly gotten the cold shoulder. Merlin feels the sting of humiliation and the tinkling of shattered dreams every time he's near Arthur.

So he continues not speaking with him.

...

Arthur is sick and tired of being ignored by Merlin; and he knows that this whole thing is stupid, and he doesn't understand why Merlin is so – well – so pissed that he slept with Vivian, or why he told Merlin like he did, why he didn't... then he wonders why it even matters to his best friend that he slept with a girl. Weren't guys supposed to be bump fists and whoop or something? At least, that's what Percival had done when he'd told him. He doesn't even try to explain these jumbled thoughts to Merlin; because he'd most likely see the absence of logic and call him a clotpole. He misses it just being the two of them, together until the end. He misses just hanging out at Merlin's – no Leon or Freya or Morgana or Vivian – just them, in their pyjama's, watching old episodes of Spongebob in Merlin's cramped room.

He misses the times when all they needed was each other.

And it was with this knowledge that he found Merlin in the library, tucked away in the back corner. His long body folded and twisted to sit comfortably in one of the large, overstuffed chairs. He sits on the arm of Merlin's chair, conscious of the fact that his knee is touching Merlin's thigh.

"Merlin-'' The flash of blue eyes tells him that his best friend is listening to him, but before he can get another word out, Mr. Monmouth is bustling around the corner, wheeling a cart stacked with dictionary's like it's stacked with gold bars and shushes him with an obnoxious "SHHH!"

Arthur's eyes watch Mr. Monmouth disappear around the corner with his precious cart, and he turns back to Merlin, who is smiling shyly at him.

So, instead of risk being caught talking again and kicked out of the library – he leans forward, unknowingly resting his hips on Merlin's thighs, which immediately flusters the brunette – and breathes steadily and quickly on the window's unblemished surface. He then smirks a bit, and lifts a tanned finger, carving shapes into the mist his breath has caused, apologizing even though he's not quite sure what he's apologizing for.

He then looks at Merlin one last time, and tries to ignore the feeling's stirring in the pit of his stomach, and picks up his laptop, and troops out of the library.

Merlin is stunned as he watches him leave. Stunned by everything. By the curve of his fingertips. By the press of his hips and flicker of gold lashes across smooth skin. He raises his head, craning his neck to read what Arthur had left him on the window.

"Forgive me yet?

-A"

...

Nobody is surprised when Merlin and Arthur are once again joined at the hip the next day.

...

Vivian is the only one shocked when Arthur dumps her that very same day.

...

Its graduation and it feels like doomsday. Everyone is leaving, splitting up and there are people that Merlin will never see again in his life. As he stands in line, in between two girls he's never spoken to, he looks for his mother's face in the crowd. His mum's already crying and smiling and giving him a cheesy thumbs up and he is not embarrassed at all, because he knows how proud she is. Uther Pendragon is sitting beside her, stoically and claps when the action is expected. Morgana is sitting on the other side of his mum, looking radiant and back apparently, from Paris where she'd been studying Fashion design.

He looks down the line of about 100 or so people, and finds his friends. Leon is off to America for school, attending college in Manhattan. Percival is going backpacking around Eastern Europe for the year. Elena is going to Oxford (on a scholarship) for Women's studies. Will, his old buddy from way back when is taking a year off to work, and then decide about University. Arthur's been scouted by a professional football team, and will begin training when the season's over (Uther was none too pleased that his only son wasn't attending business school like it was always planned) He himself was going to Cambridge for the study of Psychology.

He smiled suddenly, remembering when he'd informed Arthur of his plans.

"Psychology?" Arthur has blurted over the phone. "Why on earth would you want to study Psychology?"

"So I can fix all your issues."

...

It's the night of the dance, and everyone is getting ready. Percival and Elena are going together, as surprisingly, not friends but dates. Leon is going with a sporty girl named Isolde, who he's always had a bit of a crush on. Will is going solo, he'd told Merlin over facebook, and planned to, and this is quoted "Find that girl whose been dumped at grad and give her a reason to stop crying."

Arthur and Merlin?

They're wearing a sweatpants/longsleeve and plaid-pajama-bottom/sweater combo respectively, and leaning against their tree in Farmer Odin's backfields. It's a nice night, though a little chilly, and their leaning with their shoulder's touching, and Merlin tries to control his breathing.

They spend their night reminiscing over past memories, talking about old memories and promising to always be best friends. Arthur's half in the bag – compliments of a bottle of spiced whiskey in his left hand – when he leans over and plants a kiss on Merlin's cheek and whispers "Love you Merlin."

Merlin stiffens, blood rushing to his nether regions at the simple touch, and hastily stands, proclaiming it to be getting chilly. He's glad he has his drivers now, when Arthur has trouble walking in a straight line to the car.

...

They go their separate ways, though they text all the time, and Arthur makes the hour and a half drive to Cambridge every weekend, no matter how tired he is from training. Arthur sees a woman named Mithian and brings her to Merlin's birthday in December, but after only three weeks she's hearing wedding bells and Arthur hightails it out of there.

But Arthur's coming today, he should be just about there, and Merlin has a surprise for him.

He's going to tell Arthur he's gay.

He's always known, he thinks, when his body had more of a reaction to Arthur than to girls. He's always preferred a man's body to a woman's (just for looking of course, he's still a virgin) But now he defiantly knows.

Arthur arrives, and as usual lets himself into Merlin's dorm room. But now, Merlin is hyper aware of everything Arthur does. He's keenly aware of Arthur's breathing, of the shuffle of Arthur's trainers on the cheap carpet of the dorm.

Arthur rounds the corner, and tosses his coat on Merlin's bed, rubbing his hands because he didn't bring gloves even though it's February and freezing outside. He's looking utterly gorgeous, as always and Merlin's heart stops for a moment.

They go through the usual routine of hugging and laughing and the banter ensues and questions about the other's week – what've you been up to? Pass that exam you had Wednesday? How's your mum? Heard from Morgana this week? – and Arthur starts laughing.

"Oh I've heard from her alright." He pauses, leaning back in Merlin's creaky desk chair. "Last week she came back home – after a whole five months of staying in France – and boy did she have a surprise for father."

Merlin quirks an eyebrow, momentarily distracted. "What? Is she sick? Dropped out of school? Married an American hipster?"

Arthur snorts, but shakes his head. "Nope. She's pregnant."

Merlin's eyes bulge out of his head. "Pregnant .. but – she – wasn't she just- and you said that - oh my god."

"You should have seen father's reaction."

"How pregnant?" Merlin asks, trying to conjure up a mental image.

"She said she was almost four months. She just has a little bump," Arthur actually smiles a bit. "She refuses to say who the father is."

"Is she scared?" Merlin feels sympathy, and makes a note to email Morgana later.

Arthur makes a non-committal noise. "On the contrary, she seems pretty excited." Arthur smirks. "I can't wait until the kid is born. I'll be an Uncle! And you'll be one too! How weird is that."

Merlin's mind finally refocuses on his original life-altering confession and takes a deep breath. "Well, Uncle Artie-''

"Don't call me that."

"I have to tell you something," Merlin's tone is nervous without him meaning it to be.

Arthur narrows his eyes a bit, and looks him over. "You aren't pregnant too, are you Merlin?"

He snorts, tension broken and smiles. "No. Not pregnant... Actually-'' His stomach clenches and he clasps his hands together behind his back. "What I'm trying to say is ... Arthur – I'm – I'm g."

Arthur leans forwards.

Merlin's muscles all contract as he forces the words out. "I'm gay."

There.

Nothing happens. The word doesn't collapse. The sky doesn't turn red.

Arthur just stares at him, not moving with an unreadable look in his eye and Merlin's world falls out from under him for a moment. He'd been so nervous about actually saying it that he hadn't thought about Arthur's reaction. What if he hated him? What if he called him a fag? What if-

"Okay."

Merlin's breath returns with that one single world. "Okay?"

"Okay Merlin. You're gay. That's cool."

Merlin feels a rush of emotion so powerful that it almost bowls him over.

Arthur, naturally, takes this moment to be a prat. "Well, I mean, really, it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. I mean really Merlin, your favourite movie is Cinderella and-''

Merlin doesn't hear a word that Arthur says.

All that registers is that Arthur is sitting in front of him – all tousle haired and wearing that knit sweater that Merlin bought him for Christmas, and laughing at his own remarks and accepting him and years of feelings crash upon Merlin like a typhoon and words slip through his lips before he can stop it.

"I'm in love with you."

*SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC*

thanks to: ILOVEHULK, Merthurfan1, Guest, tank602,Loving Dragon1 and Lady from Poland for reviewing!