The Search ➳ Merthur

chapter four

ahhhhhh I'm not ready for this

Merlin sighs a bit too much for it to be healthy and I should be concerned

also I'm taking liberties with what he can do with his magic because it's totally necessary

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Merlin narrowed his eyes at Gwen, who gave him an innocent look back. She curled a strand of hair around her finger—something she never did—and looked at him accusingly. He sighed loudly and took his bowl of porridge with him as he sat at the table beside the fire. He picked up his spoon and shoved it in his mouth, so he could avoid talking to Gwen, who had now moved to sit across from him. She'd arrived at dawn today, practically breaking down his door in a demand to speak with him.

"Merlin," She'd said, sweetly, "How is it you know the King?" And it was fine, because Merlin just told her that Gwaine and Lancelot had come in during a search (she'd laughed when he told her Gwaine was caught in the act of verbal treason) and he had met the king then. It was a very simple request, with a very simple answer, but it didn't quench her thirst for more.

"So, Merlin, why were you and the king in an alleyway?" She'd asked, which was, again, completely fine. He'd had an answer to that as well, which was when he explained that the prat had been wandering through the market and hadn't looked where he was going, so he'd run into Merlin, who then fell on him, and after Merlin had seen he was the king, he'd tried to apologize, really, he had, but it was apparently illegal to call the king "my lord" when he was undercover. They'd argued for a bit, until Gwen had found them, after which the king had left. She'd accepted it with no trouble, but her curious mind seemed to never cease with an end to the questions.

"So why did he look at you like that when he was answering my question?" It was after she'd asked that, with an innocent smile and teasing eyes, had he shut down. He was reminded of "the incident" as he now liked to call it, and his face had a light pink hue to it in a number of seconds. He'd avoided her gaze the best he could, but her eyes were locked on him even as he moved about to make himself a bowl of porridge; almost like the eyes of a hawk as it looked upon its prey. The thought of it made him shiver.

And so, he sat at the table, shoveling spoonful after spoonful of tasteless porridge down his throat, as Gwen sat across from him, looking on as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. He dared a look up, and knew it was the wrong decision to make as soon as she stood and shoved her chair back, before roughly placing her hands on the table, causing it to shake. Merlin dropped his spoon into the bowl and it landed with a thunk followed by a splat. Sighing, he looked up at Gwen with bored eyes, before pushing his bowl to the side and crossing his arms on the table. She proceeded to look down at him expectantly, raising an eyebrow for good measure.

"We... shared an inside joke...?" Merlin tried, but to no avail Gwen just shook her head.

"Tell me exactly what happened. All of it." She said. Merlin could only sigh for what felt like the hundredth time before he begun the retelling of the course of events, as they happened.

"The parts I told you earlier, they were all true... but I may have left out a tiny detail?" He started, almost visibly shaking in his seat. How would Gwen react? Should he lie? She just looked at him and nodded, as if to say go on. "We were mad at each other, you see, and... he had pushed me to be up against the wall... and we exchanged a few words... but something changed? We weren't angry anymore... and that's all I know." He shrugged before rising up and out of his seat to walk across the room to retrieve his jacket and put it on. A look outside the window showed the sun was up and the sky was bright, and he was late for work.