Facade
Author: archaeologist_d
Title: Façade
Rating: G
Pairing/s: none
Character/s: Merlin, Arthur
Summary: Surely Arthur hadn’t seen Merlin use magic this time. After all, Merlin used magic all the time and Arthur never noticed.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 300
Camelot Drabble Prompt 523: Masquerade
Author’s notes: A companion piece to A Trick of the Light from Merlin’s perspective.
Disclaimer: I do not own the BBC version of Merlin; They and Shine do. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Arthur was acting really weird, looking at Merlin as if he had soot on his face, as if he were dirt underneath his feet or something. Less than a person, more like a puzzle that he didn’t want to solve.
Giving him a grin, Merlin sat back and nodded toward the fire he’d just started, thinking that the gossip about Gwaine and the cook chasing him with a stew-covered ladle might turn Arthur’s scowl into laughter. But instead, when Merlin got up and started toward him, Arthur jerked back, stomping over to the table and staring down at the newly sharpened sword.
Then Arthur dismissed Merlin as if he couldn’t wait to be rid of him.
It was odd, it was worrying, and it set off alarm bells in Merlin’s head as he walked away.
Thinking back, wondering why Arthur was acting the way he was, it finally hit him. Merlin had been impatient with the wet wood and useless flints. He had used magic to start the fire.
It couldn’t be that Arthur saw him, could it? Surely, Arthur would have confronted him, would have threatened him, would have grabbed for the sword or called for guards. Not this cold dismissal.
No, it was just Merlin worrying, as he had every day he had been in Camelot, worrying that the façade he used to hide who he truly was had finally been pieced. Merlin worried about everything and sometimes he saw shadows when there were none.
No, Arthur couldn’t have seen him, or Merlin would already be dead.
Someday, he hoped that Arthur would see him properly, as friend, as confidant, as someone who would protect Arthur all the days of his life, someone who used magic for Arthur and him alone.
But today would not be that day.
Title: Façade
Rating: G
Pairing/s: none
Character/s: Merlin, Arthur
Summary: Surely Arthur hadn’t seen Merlin use magic this time. After all, Merlin used magic all the time and Arthur never noticed.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 300
Camelot Drabble Prompt 523: Masquerade
Author’s notes: A companion piece to A Trick of the Light from Merlin’s perspective.
Disclaimer: I do not own the BBC version of Merlin; They and Shine do. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.
------------------
Arthur was acting really weird, looking at Merlin as if he had soot on his face, as if he were dirt underneath his feet or something. Less than a person, more like a puzzle that he didn’t want to solve.
Giving him a grin, Merlin sat back and nodded toward the fire he’d just started, thinking that the gossip about Gwaine and the cook chasing him with a stew-covered ladle might turn Arthur’s scowl into laughter. But instead, when Merlin got up and started toward him, Arthur jerked back, stomping over to the table and staring down at the newly sharpened sword.
Then Arthur dismissed Merlin as if he couldn’t wait to be rid of him.
It was odd, it was worrying, and it set off alarm bells in Merlin’s head as he walked away.
Thinking back, wondering why Arthur was acting the way he was, it finally hit him. Merlin had been impatient with the wet wood and useless flints. He had used magic to start the fire.
It couldn’t be that Arthur saw him, could it? Surely, Arthur would have confronted him, would have threatened him, would have grabbed for the sword or called for guards. Not this cold dismissal.
No, it was just Merlin worrying, as he had every day he had been in Camelot, worrying that the façade he used to hide who he truly was had finally been pieced. Merlin worried about everything and sometimes he saw shadows when there were none.
No, Arthur couldn’t have seen him, or Merlin would already be dead.
Someday, he hoped that Arthur would see him properly, as friend, as confidant, as someone who would protect Arthur all the days of his life, someone who used magic for Arthur and him alone.
But today would not be that day.