Arthur's return

Merlins truth

It was a few weeks later, February 5th, Merlin and Arthur were walking through town to get to the small park by the river to have a picnic.
They turned the corner and merlin felt his magic pulse through him, instantly he felt an overwhelming anxiety not knowing why, then he heard a few voices, just murmurs behind them but he knew they weren't friendly.
He grabbed Arthur's arm and sped up their pace hoping it will avoid any conflict "merlin what are you doing? Why are we walking so fast?" Arthur said trying to get out of merlins surprisingly strong grip "just walk Arthur and I'll expl-" merlin was cut off by a loud shout from behind them "OI FAGGOT CLEARLY WE DIDNT TEACH YOU ENOUGH OF A LESSON!" Merlin flinched slowly turning around to see a familier group of men, it took him a second but soon realised it was the very same group that beat him up, Merlin didn't know what to do he froze not wanting to use magic in the middle of a busy town, with this he quickly turned back around despite Arthur's confused look "FAG!! IS HE GOING TO BE YOUR GAY VALENTINE? HUH? DISGUSTING!" "Merlin are they talking to you? What do they mean? I'll fight them if they are being mean!" Arthur now clearly frustrated with the groups actions "NO no Arthur it's fine can we just go home and have the picnic another day" merlin now with tears forming in his eyes as he avoided Arthur's gaze as Arthur begrudgingly agreed.

Arthur's pov

Merlin said we were going to stroll down to a park to have a picnic, I'm really excited for a reason I can't seem to figure out. As we were on our way these men started shouting at merlin, I saw how merlin looked scared and instantly tensed when he heard the voices, this showing me that they weren't friendly, I was ready to beat them all up for even causing merlin to flinch. But as they were shouting they said things like "faggot? And valentine? Gay?" What the hell did all these words mean? I really need to ask merlin to catch me up on some new words, I'm clearly not accustomed to this new time as I had let myself think.

When they got home merlin still looking down walked to the kitchen to put the picnic basket down and hurried to his bedroom and locked the door "merlin? Where are you going! What's wrong!" Arthur said following merlin and sat against the locked door "merlin please you're my friend I just want to know what's wrong, is it something those guys said?" "Go away Arthur please" merlin choked out through sobs.
Arthur knew merlin wasn't ready to talk about whatever had happened so he walked to the kitchen and made a hot chocolate and picked up some cookies and then walked back up to merlins bedroom "hey merlin I have a hot chocolate for you and some cookies, can I come in?" For a few seconds it was quiet but then Arthur could hear foot steps and the door unlocking, when Arthur opened the door merlin was sat back on his bed under the covers still hiding his face from Arthur but not crying anymore. "Thanks I guess" merlin sniffled "merlin come on, I'm not giving you the hot chocolate unless you show me your face and actually talk to me or at least promise to talk to me if now is too soon for you" Arthur now sitting on the end of the bed with the hot chocolate and cookies in his hands.
When merlin sat up he slowly looked up at Arthur with puffy eyes "ok I'm up can I have my drink now" merlin reached his arms out and was greeted by a hot mug and a plate of cookies.
Arthur's heart broke a little bit at the view merlins eyes were red and puffy clearly from crying, he knew that no matter how confident and bold merlin holds himself he is still sensitive, He found it an admiring quality of Merlin because he was never good at expressing any kind of emotion back in Camelot afraid it would taint the royal position. Arthur lifted his hand up so merlins cheek and cupped it slightly, Merlin leant into the hand even though he was taking a sip of his drink.
"Merlin can I ask you something?" Arthur now fidgeting with his own fingers "yeh shoot" merlin wondering what he was going to ask "what did those guys mean? Like some of the words I don't know what they meant like faggot, gay and valentine? Can you tell me what they mean?" Merlin froze, he knew he would have to tell Arthur one day but now that the time has actually come he is terrified at what his friend Might think of him.
Merlin took in a deep shaky breath and looked at his hands that were holding the mug "umm ok, I'm going t..to tell you som..mething about me" he stuttered from nerves "merlin you don't have to worry you can tell me" Arthur now trying to catch merlins gaze but was unsuccessful, "um..mm ok i will start with valentine, it means like a date for a thing called Valentine's Day, it's a day of love and it's soon, the 14th of this month actually, usually people in relationships will buy each other presents and go out for a nice meal or something like that and people who aren't in relationships often start them on that day but if your completely single you sit watching tv and eating chocolates feeling sorry for yourself" merlin slightly laughing at his statement "um ok so on the 14th people love each other?" Arthur said slightly confused "yeh I guess, not everyone though, it's just a good day to express your feelings for someone or make them feel special" "ok I think I get it now, ahaha if this was a thing back in Camelot the entire town would have been in danger of gwaine trying to woo them" Arthur fondly remembering his old friend at this merlin loudly laughed and agreeing. "So what do the other words mean?" Merlin froze again "umm s..so umm gay and faggot pretty much mean the same thing but faggot is more of an insult now and is disrespectful" "ok so what do they mean and why did those guys say them to you?" " um they mean um that someone Um likes the s..same gen...der that they are, well sort of, gay means a man likes other men, in a um romantic way, and there's loads of different sexualities like lesbian or bisexual or asexual or Demisexual" merlin now rambling to avoid Arthur's reaction, Arthur was confused " wait hang on, it's allowed to like men if your a man now?" "Yes and they can get married now" merlin now for the first time looking up at Arthur " so why were the men shouting it at you?" " I'm um ... I'm gay Arthur...and they clearly didn't approve" Arthur now partially shocked but didn't want merlin to feel uncomfortable "is that ok with you? Do you still want to live here with me?" Merlin spat out quickly "what! Of course I want to still live with you dollophead and of course it's fine with me but I'm not promising I'm not going to have like a million questions about it all" Arthur now staring merlin in the eyes which had some tears in them " oh my god ok" merlin let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding "thank you so much Arthur, for accepting who I am, trust me not everyone does" "of course merlin, anyways who am I without my man servant" Arthur teased but pulled merlin into a tight hug.
Soon they both fell asleep in merlins bed once again, both finding it more comfortable than being apart.

Hi guys! I'm so so sorry for how long this chapter took to write, I'm not going through such a hard time anymore so I should be posting more regularly, I hope you are all enjoying this story so far, please leave comments with any improvements they will be much appreciated :)