I don't have ideas for my other stories (and I don't have my book for my PJO one) soo, here I am with a second part to THIS story!
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The next few weeks passed with tension between the prince and his manservant, and it was quite obvious. Guinevere was the only peron that knew what was going on between the two, because Merlin had, of course, come to her to ask her advice.
"What happened between you two?" Gwen asked Merlin, concern lacing her voice.
Merlin shifted awkwardly. "Well," he started off nervously. He was scared to tell even Gwen, as two men falling for each other was quite an odd occurrence. " We were in his bedchambers, and I was helping him, of course, becuase he can't do anything on his own," Gwen laughed. "And... he started acting strange, he closed the door and the window. And..." he trailed off.
"Yes?" Gwen asked. "Come now, Merlin, you can tell me anything," she said with a small smile.
"I know that. It's just... weird." Merlin sighed. "Arthur told me that he liked me. A lot."
"Well, you two are very good friends," Gwen said.
"No," Merlin shook his head. "Not-not like that. Like... More than that..." he looked down, scared of her reaction.
"Oh," Gwen said, eyes widening with shock. "Oh. Merlin, that's... well, then. And-and do you, like him, too?"
Merlin gulped. "Um..."
"Oh my, oh you do!" Gwen said excitedly. "Oh, that's exciting!" she squealed.
"Shh!" Merlin said, looking around, even though he knew no one was there. "What should I do, though? I mean, obviously we can;t, you know," he blushed.
Gwen shook her head. "Yes, of course, you're right." She sat and thought for a minute. "Well. I suppose you could try, maybe, doing it in secret? It's not terribly conventional, I know, but. . . You can try, can't you?"
Merlin thought about it. "I dunno, Gwen. That could go horribly wrong. There's so many reasons we can't be together anyway."
"Well," Gwen took his hand. "It would hurt you both, but you can try talking him out of going after you. Why go pining after someone you can't have, right?" She looked at him with pity. "Oh, Merlin, I'm so sorry."
Quite a big secret to keep.
The knights all started teasing Arthur, calling him names, taunting him, tyring to break him out of his foul mood, but they just ended up angering him, causing him to punish them all with extra training.
Morgana tried talking to him endlessly, but he would tell her nothing.
Eventually, Uther got irritated with his son's antics and ended up locking him in the throne room, threatening to keep him there until he would speak his mind.
Needless to say, Arthur had thrown a fit.
So, here they were, exchanging terse words, getting weird looks in the corridors, getting bombarded with questions, some people even going so far as to confront them in large groups demanding to know what happened.
They were both getting sick of it.
Arthur decided to take Merlin hunting. Alone, so they could talk. And, of course, Merlin being Merlin, complained about killing innocent creatures, told Arthur to take someone else, someone who wasn't as lousy as him but Arthur insisted, threatening him with extra work.
And now, here they were, wandering through the forest outside Camelot's boundary, Merlin being loud, trying to scare off any animals so Arthur couldn't kill them, Arthur rolling his eyes at his manservant's actions.
"Relax, Merlin. I'm not actually hunting. I wanted to talk."
"Oh," Merlin looked away, blushing.
"Honestly, you're so thick sometimes."
"I wouldn;t be me if I weren't," he sent Arthur a goofy smile.
Arthur felt his heart beat pick up. "No," he murmured. "You wouldn't."
Once Arthur deemed them a safe distance from the castle, he stopped. "Look, erm, I-I realise that what we discussed a while back was, um, well, a bit odd. I know that that's not very smiled upon here, I know that, and I feel awful to have put this situation on your shoulders. I didn't even expect you to-to return what I feel. And I am so, unconditionally happy that you feel the same way, but I look back now and I can see that I shouldn't have said what I did." Arthur sighed. "I really would much rather never have known that you like me and that I marry some princess than to know that you do and still have the same outcome. I've only hurt us both, and I apologise for that. I hope you can can forgive me."
There were tears in Merlin's eyes at this soliloquy. Everything Arthur said made sense. There were so many reasons that this couldn't happen, and no matter how much Merlin wished he could change everything, he can't. Nothing he can ever do or say will make what they feel right or accepted.
So he sighed. "I do forgive you. I could never not forgive you, Arthur. I wish-I wish things were different. And I hope that one day they are. But for the time being, we just have to deal with the fact that this can never, and will never, happen."
Arthur nodded. "Right." He looked away. "But," he licked his lips, "right now, no one's around. We're all alone out here. Can we at least pretend for a little while?"
"I don't think that would be best," Merlin told him slowly. "If we do, who's to say that we won't do it again? And again, and again? And what happens if we get caught one of those times?" He shook his head regretfully. "No, Arthur. I would really love to, but.."
"Of course. I understand." They looked awkwardly away from each other. "Before we leave, can I just tell you, I really enjoyed our kiss," Arthur whispered.
Merlin smiled, whispering back, "I did, too."
With a last, longing look, they turned and took a long, slow walk back to Camelot.
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Sorry for the horrid ending but.... I dunno. I just didn't feel the happy ending... Lemme know what ya think? Thanks!!