Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

Idiots in Love 4

A.N.:// I am currently watching 9-1-1 and I gotta tell you, those dramatic rom-coms really are overrated. I love healthy, communicating, happy relationships.  :) 

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Arthur used to consider himself the man who was always in control. He was the ruler of an entire kingdom. He'd been taught from a young age how to lead it and the only person who had been able to take that control away had been his father. Anyone else who had tried to assume it had been an enemy of Camelot. Arthur being the one in control meant safety, protection, peace and prosperity, not only to Arthur but everyone he was responsible for.

Yet, handing the control over to Merlin felt... easy. Safe. Right. Arthur barely noticed that he'd been doing that.

It had taken them a little over a year to settle into this new rythm. The council was finally listening to Merlin, Merlin assimilating new jobs every day, the druids being more and more included in the law discussions, more and more magical incidents ending positively and being written onto the account of pro-magic decisions and even, finally, the magic ban lifting for good.

All those changes had needed time for Camelot to adjust to. There had been some protests, interestingly enough mostly from younger people even though Arthur had assumed Uther's old council would be his greatest adversary. The magic ban had caused some reckless magicians to rebel against the new law they thought would be a trick to arrest the final few of them; and some anti-magicians tried to invade the castle to stop the law change. It had been a mess. But Arthur had let Merlin handle it. The magic users were his people, technically, so it was only fair if he went to protect them. And he did his job great.

Then there were the questions from neighboring kingdoms such as Annis, and Arthur let Merlin handle those negotiations as well, to prove to his council that Merlin was more than capable. Also, Annis had taken a liking to Merlin and Arthur liked seeing Merlin gain more friends.

Merlin's magic itself was still a secret, supposed to stay that way even for a while after the reveal of the ban, to protect Merlin from accusations against him. To keep people trusting in his decisions.

And it was nice, Arthur thought. Seeing Camelot change for the better, while he was only there to confirm that Merlin got it handled. Paperwork was still done in Arthur's chambers, but not by Arthur himself and afterwards, they'd lock the doors and Arthur would revel in old stories of Merlin's while rewarding the man with all the pleasures he could offer.

Giving up that much control felt easy at first. Like a weight lifting of Arthur's shoulders. Because he trusted Merlin. And Merlin still was, in every sense of the words, the first person he saw when he woke up, and the last person he saw when he went to sleep, and the very person who occupied his dreams.

Until one day everything suddenly changed.

When Arthur woke up to an empty bed, the sun shining way too high to still be considered early (or at least punctual), he found his papers gone from his desk, breakfast readied and a note on his bedside table in Merlin's handwriting.

'Morning, dollophead.
They called for an emergency meeting at the council this morning. You wouldn't wake up, so I took over. Hope it's okay. I got it handled, don't worry. ~Love you, Merlin'

Needless to say, Arthur quickly got out of bed after reading that. Emergencies were never a light thing that Arthur didn't need to worry about, so he quickly grabbed his trousers and put them on under a wave of colorful curses. He threw over a shirt, put on his boots and ran downwards to the council room. When he kicked it open, the entire room was empty, except for Merlin who was sitting at the round table, chatting with Geoffrey on behalf of some reports that Arthur couldn't remember ever laying his eyes upon.