Author:
alilypeaTitle: Sod It
Rating: R for language
Pairing/s: Merlin/Arthur suggested
Character/s: Arthur, Merlin, Gwaine, Elyan, Leon, Lancelot and Percival
Summary: Arthur's father dies, but maybe he wasn't needed.
Warnings: Strong language, speaking ill of the dead.
Word Count: 359.
Prompt: Family
Author's Notes: This is a modern au, and I do speak ill of the dead a bit, but I hope you all like it.
His father is dead.
His girlfriend is gone, and he can hardly blame her. He’d always had more time for his mates than her, because he thought he was mean to love her, but in the end, couldn’t love her as much as his friends.
Or as much as his best friend.
The roof is his place to think, to mourn. Not for his father, not really, but for who he’d wished his father would one day become.
Someone who cared about him, someone who loved him, and would be proud of him.
He mourned the loss of possibilities.
Sniffling he cleared his throat, uncaring about the smoke the swirled around his head as his lit cigarette began burning to the quick.
“Hey,” Merlin came up to him, feet shuffling along the gravel.
“Hi,” Arthur responded, quickly wiping his face as Merlin sat down next to him, hating the way he smiled sympathetically.
“How’s it going?” Merlin draped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him in close, squeezing.
“It’s going quite well, considering,” Arthur responded, nibbling on his bottom lip.
“Well now I know that’s a blatant lie,” Leon sat down on Arthur’s other side, handing him a beer as Gwaine dragged a lawn chair over and Elyan did the same.
“Your father was a dick,” Gwaine told him bluntly, ignoring the way Lancelot sighed as though entirely put upon, and Leon glared at him.
Arthur laughed a bit, “he was.”
“Never let it be said that our Gwaine minces words,” Percivel sat on the cooler, and they all eyed him for a moment, expecting it to cave in.
“You don’t need him to be proud of you, Arthur,” Merlin said in a soft voice.
“We’re all pretty damn proud of you,” Lancelot added, toasting Arthur before he took a drink.
“Fuckin’ right,” Gwaine agreed, downing half his beer. “Sod the old man, we’re all the family you need.”
Arthur lowered his eyes, and tapped out his cigarette, leaning into Merlin a bit more.
Maybe this really was all the family he really needed, remembering how they’d taken care of him, when his father had cast him out.