Arthur's return

Understanding

It was February 12th, a week after merlin had told Arthur about his sexuality. At first Arthur was shocked, not in a bad way but more confused as Camelot's traditions were still built into his head, having to find a nice girl to marry and now he's been told that you can love anyone you want without any consequences other than a few dipshits who seem to feel the need to openly disagree with it in violent and unnecessary ways. Over this past week Arthur had been bombarding merlin with questions.

"So wait so they are part of a thing called lgbtq+?" Arthur asked while stuffing a cookie into his mouth "yes, the L stands for lesbian where a girl likes other girls, the G stands for gay where a boy likes other boys, the B stands for bisexual which is when a boy or a girl like the same and the opposite gender, so they like both boys and girls, the T stands for transgender which is if a someone was born a girl and didn't want to be that they changed to a boy and identify themselves as a boy, vice versa if a boy did it, and the Q stands for queer which is when they don't mind what gender they date or like, and finally the + means all the other sexualities such as Demisexual or aromantic " merlin explain now starfishing across Arthur ok the sofa whilst his legs where resting on the arm of it "woah wow ok that's a lot, it's very different from Camelot where I had to find a lady to marry" Arthur said slightly overwhelmed by how much freedom and choice there is now in who you like. "Ahah well if you find that shocking you can't even imagine what it's like at the pride festival" "what the pride festival?" "It's a celebration of all the different sexualities, pride month is June, but during that month there is lots of celebrations all around the world where people gather, often in colourful clothing, ya know because the symbol is the rainbow" "oh that sounds fun, almost sounds like one of the celebrations we threw at Camelot, more colours however"

*later that night"
Merlin and Arthur were both sat on the sofa eating a pizza, Merlin was loving the small amount of peace and quiet as Arthur was eating, he had been asking merlin questions non stop, however that quiet didn't last long.
"Merlin?" "Yes Arthur?" "How did you find out you were gay and that you liked men?" Merlin almost choked on his pizza because he wasn't going to tell Arthur that he already knew back in Camelot "oh um, well I've had a long time to figure it all out I guess... but I think it was a build up of small things that made me realise, like going out on a date with a girl and having zero interest and pulling back when they tried to kiss me at the end of the night, or the fact that I had no desire to do anything with them, or when I was at the beach I always found myself sneaking looks at men and not women, and when I think of an ideal relationship it's always with a man, or the fact that sometimes if I touch a guy that I find attractive, wether that be accidentally or on purpose I always felt this sort of energy flow through me and that it never happened with women" Arthur was silent "Arthur? Did that answer satisfy you enough?" "Oh um yeh, yeh you answered my question well but um I'm quite tired and I think that I'm going to go to bed" "oh ok goodnight I guess, I'll put your leftover pizza in the fridge if you want it tomorrow"

Arthur was lying in his bed, he could still hear that merlin was up and was watching a movie downstairs. Arthur didn't know if he regretted  asking merlin how he discovered his sexuality or if he was happy he asked because since merlins answer it's like something clicked in his head. He thought back to Camelot and he remembered how every now and again when he stumbled across an attractive man he would hold his stare for longer than his father would have approved of, but then he thought of Gwen and how he found her attractive and wanted to be with her, so there was no way that he just liked men. Suddenly Arthur remembered a word merlin had said earlier 'bisexual' he had said its when you like both genders, "I can't be can i?" Arthur whispered into the empty darkness of his room almost wanting something to answer his question, to just tell him what he is so he doesn't have to suffer this confusion. He was silent for a few more moments, thinking back again. "Oh my god I am, or at least I think so, I like girls and I think I also like boys, but I've never done anything so maybe it's just curiosity?" Arthur whispered again into the darkness, soon after he drifted asleep in his ocean of questions and wonder.