Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

IDI4U Chapter 1: Sunday

Arthur knew for a fact that Percival had a thing for Gwaine. And Gwaine for Percival. For years, actually. To the point where their oggling each other from a distance became hellishly annoying.
Merlin commented on this almost every other weak and Arthur was decidedly done with it.
That is why he called Merlin one afternoon for a crisis meeting.
"Merlin, we have to get Gwaine and Percival together."

"Oh thank god, I thought you'd never ask.", Merlin's voice echoed from the other line.

Arthur smiled to himself. He knew he could always count on Merlin.

"Well, I was thinking -", Arthur began, but Merlin interrupted him. As always.
"YOU- thinking? Now I'm getting worried."
Arthur grinned despite himself. He shouldn't find Merlin's antics so soothing but he did.
"My plans are always well thought through. Just so you know.", he shot back.
"I think we both know who of us does the thinking and what happens, when you leave me out of your plans."
Arthur could practically see Merlin's smug smirk painted right in front of him.
A small flash of guilt flooded Arthur's mind, but he shook it off easily. He knew Merlin didn't mean anything by it, when he hinted at the two times that Arthur had excluded him from his plans and got really upset.
Merlin wasn't the type to hold a grudge for long,. Arthur shouldn't think too much into it.

Arthur rolled his eyes. And he knew for a fact, Merlin could practically see that too.
"Alright, genius. I was THINKING, that we need to do something really subtle. Neither of them is out. So we can't make it grand. I don't think they know that the other is queer, yet, that makes it even more difficult. So....
Do you want to share any of your no doubt genius ideas?", Arthur asked and smiled. He knew he caught Merlin off guard, by forcing him to map out an idea all of a sudden.
"Wow, you REALLY thought about this. Bravo." It was probably supposed to sound sarcastic, but Arthur knew Merlin's voice. And he knew that the slightly questioning tone behind the sarcasm was actually Merlin's impressed voice.
Merlin liked to think he was subtle, but he really wasn't.

By the way, Merlin somehow always knew what Arthur knew. Who was queer, who wasn't. Who had come out, who hadn't. Either they all told him too, behind Arthur's back, or Merlin could actually read Arthur's mind. Not that he was afraid of that. He had nothing to hide. At least not from Merlin. Sometimes, Arthur wondered, if thinks would be easier for them, if Merlin actually COULD read his mind.
Arthur smiled warmly through the phone.

"I don't know. We could give them letters? Like fake letter where they confess to each other?", Merlin suggested. He sounded nervous. The idea was clearly just the first that had entered his mind.

Arthur shook his head, before he realized Merlin couldn't see him.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Imagine if Brian finds one of the letters. I think what we need to accomplish is that Gwaine and Percy come out to each other, first. Maybe then they will talk.
To do that, they have to feel comfortable with the idea of coming out." Arthur was slowly bringing up the reason why this was an emergency phone call.

"And how do we do that? It's not like there are any gay couples in school they could look up to. You've already been defending everyone who DID out themselves. And you saw what Elyan STILL has to deal with! There is NO ONE who feels comfortable here after they outed themselves.
There is no way to make this comfortable for ANYONE."

Arthur nodded absentmindedly. This was it. The moment of truth.
"What if there WAS a gay couple for them to look up to?"

It was silent on the other line. "I don't .... Arthur, there are none. It's not like we could make one up."
Somehow, Arthur's idea needed a moment to catch up with his actual brain. It felt surreal to him that he was actually asking, after pondering about it for so long.
And when he finally caught up to Merlin's words, he felt his heart beating hard against his rib cage. It was now or never. This was the perfect opportunity to ask. Arthur closed his eyes. Merlin couldn't see him, so he wouldn't know just how nervous Arthur was.
He steadied his voice.