Los Angeles was the first stop on their tour. It might be the City of Angels, but to Merlin the place felt vast and overwhelming as soon as they left the plane. Apparently it was the fifth busiest airport in the world, and Merlin could easily believe that just from the number of people he could see milling around. The arrival and departure boards ( Read more... )

It wasn’t that Arthur was houseproud, or fussy, or had OCD, or was just anally retentive or any of the many things that his sister accused him of on a regular basis. No, he just liked to live somewhere clean and tidy, somewhere that didn’t have bacteria growing.

Unfortunately, Arthur also liked to have a very large and expensive house, and needed to ( Read more... )

Arthur never really looked forward to his birthday. He knew what to expect.

His father was always either in a bad mood or just sad, because it was the anniversary of Arthur’s mother’s death. There were plenty of presents, although Arthur knew it was his father’s assistant who was sent out to buy them.

His friends at school looked at the ( Read more... )

I’m here.

Arthur knew it already, had felt the intrusion. He was used to it now. He was strong. He’d held out so far. He could hold out again. This wasn’t forever. Emrys would come for him. Arthur could stand it. He could.

You know how this goes, Arthur.

Yes, he knew. There would be the question, the same one, over and over. There was no need to ( Read more... )

Flying was, Arthur decided, the very worst way to travel.

It probably wouldn’t have been quite so bad if it had been a short flight. Or if Morgana had let him sit by himself like he’d wanted to. Or if it wasn’t such a small plane. Or if… Well, if Arthur hadn’t insisted Merlin come on the business trip to the States.

Merlin, apparently, had never ( Read more... )

Arthur was impressed with modern technology. Everything was so much easier to find now. Microfiche, for example, had been an amazing invention. All the birth and death records had been transferred over, and the records office was promoting it, letting people come in and search. So much easier than just rows and rows of files.

Arthur had found an ( Read more... )

Arthur had been right to be concerned about Gwaine. He was obviously leading Merlin astray.

Two days after ‘the courier incident’ as Morgana had taken to calling it, Merlin was late for work. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t late as such, but it was almost 8.30 when he arrived so he was late by Merlin’s standards. He’d also left early the previous ( Read more... )

It hadn’t been a great week for Arthur.

Merlin had gone home to his mum. Not because he’d had a row with Arthur or anything. Hunith had slipped over and twisted her ankle, and Merlin had rushed to her side. Well, perhaps not rushed exactly, as he’d first left a week’s worth of food in the fridge or freezer for Arthur, along with cooking instructions ( Read more... )

“It’s the worst holiday in the history of bad holidays, ever,” Arthur declared. He looked at Gwaine when he said it, because after all it was all Gwaine’s fault. “Come to Wales,” Gwaine had said. “We can go hiking and hang gliding and stuff. It’ll be fun,” he’d said.

It wasn’t fun. They’d rented a self-catering cottage in the middle of nowhere, so ( Read more... )

Overhead the sun was beating down. They said it could make you blind, staring at the sun. But Mordred couldn’t close his eyes.

Merlin stood over him, anger radiating off him in waves.

“Don’t you feel it?”

Mordred took a deep, shuddering breath. He could feel many things. But then, that was the intention.

“Survivors guilt. It’s supposed to be a ( Read more... )