Prologue : Father and son
Genre : Romance +18 years old, drama / MPREG / comfort / marshmallow (also)
Status : Complete
Couples : Merlin & Arthur / Gwaine & Leon
Have a good read
Summary:
Because of one night, just one night, Merlin had dared to confess his love to Arthur. The latter did not want to hear anything and dismissed him. Ten years passed, Merlin lives outside Healdor with his son Adrian and his friend Gwaine. The knight, a faithful friend, shared his life and sometimes, like an incestuous brother, he comforted him...
At the closed door of his father’s room, Adrian, a nine-year-old boy, was silently crying. As the summer equinoxes approached, he always heard his father Merlin stifling his tears. Adrian, who had inherited his father’s powers, had been able to feel his inner sufferings for two years.
The first time it happened, he was so upset that he had gone to the common room and threw himself against his uncle Gwaine. He did not understand his father’s wounds. They had been so difficult to bear that he could not utter a word.
But today, it had to stop. Merlin had the right to have peace of mind and to live like any other man. No matter what Arthur Pendragon represented, his father needed him to heal.
“Adrian,” his uncle Gwaine called softly from the adjacent room.
He joined him, head down. Without a word, the adult’s arms drew him to sit on his lap.
“Uncle Gwaine?” he muttered in a small voice. “Dad is still sad, he’s still crying.”
The big hands wiped his cheeks, then slid each one to the side, thus pushing his blond curls behind his ears. Adrian, with teary eyes, closed his eyelids and let the knight place a kiss on his forehead. He loved Gwaine because he was the one who made his father happy. Even if he returned to Camelot to perform his duties as a knight, he had always been present in his little life.
“This can’t go on,” his uncle whispered to him. “Your father will be mad at me, but I think it’s time for Arthur to take responsibility.”
Adrian widened his blue eyes, surprised by these words. He had been asking Gwaine to do something for days, and today, finally, his uncle was going to act.
“Can I come with you?” he asked, jumping up and down to face his uncle.
Adrian had long had a plan, but it had to work only if Gwaine took him to Camelot on its own initiative. This was the chance of a lifetime!
“Can I come with you?” he asked, jumping up and down to face his uncle.
Gwaine looked up at the closed door for a few seconds, then back at the child before agreeing. He had taken the time to think about the situation in recent months. He knew that during this period, Merlin could trust him. Then, he thought, Arthur would only have to look at Adrian to understand that he had a son: an heir.
“Okay, but you promise not to use your magic at the castle.”
“Promise, Uncle Gwaine.”
“Perfect. Go prepare a bag, I’ll saddle the horses.”
Half an hour later.
Gwaine sighed, pitifully raising his eyes to the sky. Adrian had just made his pupils sparkle to change the color of his tunic.
“What did I ask you earlier?”
The child shrugged and innocently smiled as he replied, “We’re not at the castle yet, and besides, red looks better on me.”
“You’re right, but be careful, I’m keeping an eye on you.”
When they were about to leave the cottage, Gwaine left a note for Merlin, informing him that he was camping with his son at the Lake of Avalon. He wasn’t proud of having to lie to his friend, but he was ready to endure his anger if he ever found out.
They both set off in the early afternoon toward Arthur’s kingdom. The weather was mild, and the breeze was refreshing. Summer seemed to announce stifling heat and days of swimming ahead.
However, it was one of the seasons that the knight had been appreciating less and less over the years. Merlin was inevitably plunged into his worst memories, and no one had ever been able to get him out during those three days of total solitude.
Of course, it had taken Gwaine years to know the true reason for this torture. The sorcerer felt so guilty that he no longer used his magic. And for Gwaine, this was no longer bearable. Merlin, his lifelong friend, had to turn the page and accept his new life.
When the forest began to darken, they stopped at the edge of the lake, which was halfway to Arthur’s kingdom. There was no point in rushing. The horses needed rest, and Gwaine needed to convince himself that his decision was the right one.
The knight Leon had just finished training his students when, walking towards the castle’s courtyard, he spotted Gwaine. He frowned because it was his rest period, the one where Gwaine usually went away for about ten days to see Constantin, the latter’s younger brother. Even though sometimes Leon admitted that their relationship was limited to courteous greetings and verbal jousts that he sometimes found aggressive since the departure of the sorcerer, he remained polite.
Suddenly his steps froze upon seeing the child who accompanied his friend. His heart started pounding so much that the resemblance to his sovereign was striking. The curly hair reminded him of Queen Ygraine’s but the eyes were not those of a Pendragon.
“Gwaine!” he greeted him, trying to hide his confusion.
“Hello, Leon,” the younger knight replied. “I would like to speak with the king if he is available, and oh, let me introduce you to Adrian, my nephew.”
“Constantin’s son?”
He looked away upon hearing Gwaine’s burst of laughter, who corrected sarcastically:
“My little brother is only seventeen! It’s... someone else’s.”
Uncomfortable, Leon turned around, telling him he would inform Arthur of his visit.
“Very well, I’ll be in Gaius’s chambers,” Gwaine warned him.
Since Gwaine had decided to take care of Constantin after their mother’s death, Leon had to beg him to remain a knight. For this, Gwaine had submitted several conditions to him: to serve the king by alternating periods that would always correspond to ten days, and that in case of emergency, he would be entitled to leave his post without having to justify himself.
At first, Leon had cowardly lashed out at Gwaine because he could not understand the link that bound him to Merlin. However, as the leader of the cavalry, he knew that he should have relieved him of his duties to provide for his younger brother’s needs. Leon had refused to let him leave the ranks permanently and had come to accept them. He had grown accustomed to his presence, and not having him by his side anymore was unthinkable.
Arriving at the king’s door, Leon took a deep breath, knocked three times, and then entered the room. He no longer waited for Arthur’s permission since the latter seemed to be slowly relinquishing his status as sovereign.
It had been three years since the queen had died without giving him an heir. Leon never allowed himself to be reminded of his role, but the people made it clear that he was entitled to find a second wife. Arthur was not old. At thirty-two years old, he was one of the handsomest men in the kingdom, and most of the young girls who were potentially of marriageable age had come hoping to be courted in turn. However, none of them had succeeded in making his heart beat, and Leon had always known that the queen’s heart had been taken by Lancelot.
“Sire, Gwaine would like to speak with you.”
Looking at the king’s back, the heavy silence of the room forced him to continue:
“Shall I bring him here?”
“No, where is he?” replied Arthur, without moving.
“To Gaius’.”
“Well, you may go.”
Gaius, far from being surprised by Adrian’s presence, embraced him in his arms. It had been a season since he had last seen him.
“I’m worried about my father,” the little man told him.
“I know, my boy.”
“Say,” whispered the knight, “do you think the king would agree to meet Merlin?”
“Given the way Merlin left,” Gaius replied to him, “Arthur will never be ready...”
“But,” Gwaine interrupted through gritted teeth, “it’s been ten years! And Adrian has the right to know his second father!”
“I don’t care about the king!” the child snapped coldly, “he means nothing to me! But for my father to get better, I know that idiot has to be there.”
“Adrian!” Gaius scolded him. “If Gwaine had let me finish my sentence, you would have understood what I think about all of this. To answer both of you, I am wholeheartedly with you because both of them need to see each other again and sort out what they have to say to each other.”
“No! My father will never agree to talk to him!” the child shouted, taking a step back. “It won’t work! And I’m tired of my father crying all the time when the sun is shining! I’m tired of him punishing himself! And...”
Tears streaming down his cheeks, Adrian continued more softly, “And it’s hard to... to no longer exist when... he locks himself in his room...”
“Adrian,” the doctor whispered, trying to calm him.
“No!” the child muttered from his trembling lips. “During those days, my father doesn’t see me anymore! All that matters is...”
Adrian fell silent upon seeing a man as tall as Gwaine enter the room. For a split second, he met the gaze of the unworthy father he hated with all his being. He wanted nothing to do with this man. All he wanted was Merlin’s happiness.
So, in a fit of rage, he ran to him, releasing all of his angry, magic-filled tears. If his plan was in motion, Adrian would not have calculated his move so well, because his anger was very real. He couldn’t feign it, especially not in front of magic.
Gaius and Gwaine had only their eyes to act with. It was as if time had frozen, and an invisible force prevented them from making any movements. They could only observe the scene that played out before them. Adrian had just firmly gripped the king, then shouted “I hate you!” so loudly that magic took effect. A light left the king’s body and that of Gwaine, thus exchanging their places.
“Oh my God...” Gaius muttered, seeing all three of them faint on the ground.
Arthur woke up on a bed. As he regained his senses, he remembered being attacked by a kid. Once his eyes were fully open, he realized that he was in Merlin’s old bedroom. The place had become unbearable to him, so he struggled with the sheets in an attempt to get out of bed, but he got entangled with the pieces of fabric and fell flat on the floor. When he managed to stand up, he thought he was having a heart attack as he discovered the face of the man who had just opened the door:
“Good morning, sire!” the man said.
“What...” he stammered, stepping back.
He hit the bed and fell on his butt. Why did he see himself? And, panicked about losing his mind, he quickly grabbed an old mirror to see himself: he had Gwaine’s face.
“But what’s going on here?” Arthur exclaimed.
“Oh, that?” his own voice murmured in his ears. “A misunderstanding. I wanted to introduce you to Adrian.”
With wide eyes and a beating heart, the king scrutinized the child who was the cause of his condition.
“He’s Merlin’s son,” Gwaine, who found himself in his body, had to add.
Then, Merlin had really rebuilt his life.
“And!” Arthur lashed out upon hearing that accursed name.
It was the boy’s turn to reply implacably, “You are my second father! And you are going to come with me by staying in Gwaine’s body!”
Breathless and with a dry throat, Arthur grunted with displeasure, imagining the wizard manipulating magic as he pleased. He was about to reply, but Adrian’s angry voice cut him off sharply:
“I am your son, whether you like it or not! And!” he growled, giving him a dark look. “I assure you, your majesty, that after seeing him, I will banish you from my life!”
These words vibrated in his ears like a promise, making his heart beat even more frantically. Was this child really his? But how had Merlin managed to carry a child? There was no doubt that the wizard had planned everything. Arthur was so angry that he abruptly stood up and looked towards the door, ready to call his guards. However, the child prevented him by placing a small hand on his.
Everything around him suddenly seemed to fly away before the colors reappeared. He didn’t have time to realize where he was before Adrian’s icy voice threatened him:
“If Merlin ever finds out that I made you switch bodies with Uncle Gwaine...”
Arthur didn’t like the kid’s tone at all, but he had to admit that he was a little scared. He felt like he was hearing his own father Uther.
“I promise you, I will make your life a living hell!”
He swallowed and nodded, because deep down, he had secretly prayed to any God to see Merlin again.
“Adrian!” Arthur stiffened at the sound of Merlin’s voice. He had missed him so much that he was afraid to face him.
“Remember,” the blond kid challenged him, “you are Gwaine.”
Meanwhile in Camelot, the knight and Gaius simply stared into each other’s eyes.
“My goodness,” Gwaine concluded. “Perhaps it was the right thing to do for those two.”
“She’ll wear me down,” grumbled Gaius.
“Who, her?”
“No, nothing,” emitted the physician, who seemed unwilling to dwell on her. “Well, my friend, I’m afraid you’ll be king for the next few days.”
“Oh, that! That suits me, I’ll be able to check out the knights!”
“Gwaine!” outraged Gaius.
“It’s ″sire″ or ″your majesty″, please,” the knight amused himself by pointing.
Gaius sighed and begged him not to provoke a declaration of war.
“Oh, no. Just against Leon,” the false king replied, with an amused smile on his face, “the throne is mine!
The physician sensed that this was bound to cause a bit of a mess...
