Fic: Masked Part II (j)
The next morning he dresses quietly and knocks lightly on Will's door. A soft "come in" answers him and he pokes his head into the room. He's not surprised to find Freya awake, sitting up in Will's bed with her back pressed against the headboard, the covers pulled tight around her. Will's t-shirt is swimming on her and she looks painfully small in it; her hands fist into the fabric, holding tight and he sees her visibly try to make herself relax. He keeps his distance, leaning against the frame of the door.
"How do you feel?"
She gives a shaky laugh. "I--it feels like forever since I've slept in a proper bed."
He smiles but it feels forced because dammit that shouldn't be the way it is--she should have had a proper bed and never been forced into a cage and terrorized. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
She nods her head at the bedside table, where there is a bottle of water and a plate of half-eaten toast and fruit. He smiles. "Okay then. I have to go to work, but I'm going to try and get off early. Will will be here the entire time, and I'm a phone call away."
She nods again. "Thank you, Merlin."
He grins. "I'll see you later."
Yawning he makes his way out to the living room. Will is sprawled on the couch, one arm dangling over the edge, and he is snoring lightly. Merlin muffles a laugh and nudges him with a knee. He snorts and flails and opens his eyes, saying "nrrgh".
"Going to work, prat."
"You're a prat," Will mutters sleepily and rolls over onto his back.
"Mhm. I'm going to try and get off early."
Will rubs his eyes and yawns widely. "Like Pendragon will let you go."
Merlin gives him a grin. "If anyone ever asks you, Freya is my sister. I'll see you in a couple of hours."
"You're a good man Merlin Ambryse," Will calls after him as he heads out the door.
He makes it through a couple of hours before knocking on Arthur's office door. "Enter," Arthur says through the door and Merlin shakes his head before coming in. "Did you finish the filing?" His boss asks without looking up.
"Of course I finished the filing," he replies, suppressing a desire to add a fond you wanker to the end of it. He places a cup of coffee on Arthur's desk sliding it within reaching distance. "I have a favor to ask."
Arthur glances up, eyes narrowing. "Did you blow something up again?"
"That was one time and there was an electrical malfunction in the microwave. Besides, how would that have anything to do with me needing a favor?"
Arthur smirks and doesn't reply. "What's your favor then?"
He clasps his hands behind his back. "I need to leave early."
"What? Why?" Arthur's incredulous tone is probably because Merlin has never once requested to leave early before.
"My sister is ill."
"...you have a sister?"
No...he thinks, just a bit guilty. But instead he says: "Yes. Her name is Freya. She's two years younger than me. She's ill and I need to go home and take care of her. I left her with Will--"
"You left her with Will?" Arthur exclaims. "Jesus, you have no common sense do you?" He wrinkles his nose at Arthur, because there is just this thing between Will and Arthur where they pretend to hate each other but secretly kind of like each other. "Go home and take care of her you moron. And I expect a full explanation of why I've never heard about a sister before."
"Maybe you're just a prat who doesn't pay attention." He says, flashing a grin. "Thanks Arthur."
When he walks through the door to his flat he’s not quite sure what to expect-maybe Freya curled into a corner, maybe Will doing his best to be comforting and maintain a distance, maybe an empty room. He doesn’t expect Will in the kitchen whistling while he cooks spaghetti and Freya sitting on the couch with Hunith, talking quietly.
“Mum?” he asks, bewildered. She stands and comes over to hug him.
“Hello dear,” she says, smiling and drawing him into the kitchen.
He glances at Will, who stirs the pasta and gives him a hey there best friend remember you love me? smile. “Panicked, didn’t you?” Merlin asks.
“Yep,” Will replies without shame.
“Good thinking,” Merlin says, and hugs his mother again. He honestly doesn’t know why he didn’t think of it first--no one knows better what to do in a situation like this than his mother. She’s magic, he swears, and sometimes he wonders if he didn’t inherit his powers from two parents instead of just one. She embraces him tightly and then cuffs him lightly on the back of the head.
“You should have called me right away,” she says.
“I would have thought of it,” he protests. “Eventually.”
She rolls her eyes at him--and honestly, she wonders where he got his cheek from?--and tugs him out into the living room again. Freya smiles at him, looking worlds better than she did even just this morning, but he sits out of her personal space anyway and sees her shoulders relax. His mother, on the other hand, sits right next to her, taking her hand and smiling warmly.
“Your mother is wonderful, Merlin,” Freya says softly and he can’t help but grin.
“Careful, praise her too much and her head starts to swell,” he says, carefully teasing. His mother gives him a mock glare and he half expects her to prop her hands on her hips.
“I believe, my son, that you are referring to your own ego.”
“Got that right,” Will calls from the kitchen where he is dumping the pasta into a bowl. They keep up the light-hearted banter until he brings out all the food and sets it on the table, and then Merlin fetches plates and silverware for everyone, and there is a lull as everyone has their mouth full. Once they’ve eaten they regroup in the sitting area, and Will and Hunith strategically volunteer to do the washing up, leaving Freya and Merlin in the living room.
She’s nervous about something, he can tell that much from the way she chews on her lower lip, but he waits it out patiently until she finally says in a quiet voice, “your mother asked me if I’d like to come and stay with her for a while.”
He blinks, a little surprised, although he really shouldn’t be, knowing his mother. “That sounds like an excellent idea,” he says after a moment of thinking it through, and she jerks her head up to look at him.
“Really?” she asks, her tone slightly incredulous.
He nods. “Yeah. I mean, you’re welcome to stay here, with Will and me, but....” She flinches, just minutely but he sees it and bites his lip. He doesn’t want to ask the question on his mind, but at the same time, he needs to. “Did...did he--?” he asks, stumbling over it, and she must realize what he’s trying to ask because she shakes her head.
“No. He--he didn’t touch me, like that. Just...looked. I think--I think he would have, but I wasn’t there long enough--.” She swallows, pulling her knees up to curl into a defensive position and it kills him.
“But it’s easier to be around women, right?”
She nods. “I--you and Will are so nice and you saved me but, I just--” she shakes her head a little helplessly.
“Go and stay with my mum. Ealdor is nothing like the city, so it’ll be a change of surroundings, and it’s quiet there.” He gives her a tiny smile. “Although, you should know that my mum will make it her personal mission to feed you. Whether you’re hungry or not.”
She responds with a small smile of her own, but it dims quickly. “Are you sure?” she asks. “I--I’m dangerous,” she whispers.
His eyes fall on the metal circle around her neck and she follows his gaze with her fingertips, brushing the necklace. He nods towards it. “That contains you, right? So long as it stays on, you stay human?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re not dangerous. I wanted to talk to you about your magic anyway. I think I might be able to help you control it. Without that.”
The smile he gets then, genuine and transforming her face, is completely worth it.
END PART TWO
Part III (a)