bunnysworldTitle: This is me
Rating: G
Pairing(s): Arthur/Merlin
Warnings: none
Word Count: 990
Prompt: This is me/Keala Settle
Summary: The boys are at a convention and things happen
Notes: Not beta’d. I can’t take credit for the video-idea. Been to a convention just the other day and that’s exactly what they did. So, kudos to ‘Gabs’ and her team, it was amazing!
Arthur hauled their backpacks from one shoulder to the other and tried not to be in the way. He had yet another weekend of convention ahead of him with lots of ‘Could you hold my backpack so random person number 749 can take a photo with me?’ and ‘Would you get me a water while I’ll happily explain how I made my costume to this group of avid listeners?’ from Merlin. He didn’t really understand what was so appealing to this. At their first convention, he had been excited. Merlin had told him so much about them, so he had been looking forward to the Q&As, the merchandising stuff and all the cosplayers. There had been some pretty neat things. Now, he had lost count of them and just followed Merlin around.
It had gotten more difficult to get around, though. Merlin’s costumes got more and more elaborate, of course people wanted to have their photo taken. Arthur hadn’t liked that much in the beginning. This was his Merlin and nobody else’s. After a while, though, he started to understand that people saw the character, not Merlin himself. He couldn’t really be annoyed by Merlin talking endlessly about how he made this little detail or how that piece of armour was crafted. When he was talking footie with Gwaine, he didn’t find an end either.
Merlin had decided on a simpler costume for this convention. No armour and no props to haul about, that was great. Since he loved the show about the sorcerer and the king and he had the same name, Merlin had gone for…well, Merlin. If Arthur was honest, he looked so much like the guy from the show that it was almost frightening.
“Hey! Hey, Merlin!”
Merlin spun around and Arthur saw his face light up in a wide smile. “Gabs! How are you?” After a tight hug – a bit too tight for Arthur’s liking – the tall girl and Merlin were engrossed in a conversation and Merlin seemed to have forgotten that he even existed.
“Listen, we’re making a video for the closing ceremony of the con. We’re looking for cosplayers from all kinds of different shows. Are you in?”
Arthur could see Merlin perking up. His boyfriend didn’t really like the limelight and tried to keep in the background in real life, but conventions weren’t real life. Cosplays made him a different person for as long as he wore them. He liked to be seen.
“What would I have to do?”
“Do you know that song from ‘The greatest showman’?”
Rolling his eyes, Arthur knew he was in for another night of the song playing in his head over and over and over and over. It had been difficult enough when Merlin played the soundtrack on infinite loop on the long car ride to his mother’s house that one weekend.
“Which one?”
Gabs explained what exactly they wanted from Merlin and he nodded. Of course he knew the song. If you woke him up at 3 am and asked for it, he would sing it on the top of his lungs.
So it wasn’t difficult for Merlin to walk down the corridor, looking very determined, singing to the music from the iphone they had along.
They drew quite the crowd when Merlin sang “…I’m not sacred to be seen, I make no apologies, this is me!” He stopped and held out his hand in the typical doing-magic-pose of his character and looked straight at the camera at the ‘this is me’ part.
Arthur had to admit that this was very intense and he was already looking forward to seeing this on the big screen at the closing ceremony the next day. What he wasn’t prepared for was the flash of blue-ish light coming from Merlin’s hand.
Merlin seemed to be just as surprised and stared at his own hand.
“Merlin! How did you do that! That’s fantastic!” Gabs let the camera sink and beamed at him.
“Just a special effect he’s been working on.” Arthur reached for Merlin’s arm. “You’re done here, right? He needs a break.” Murmuring a few ‘sorry’s, Arthur shoved Merlin through the crowd until they found a door outside. Fresh air would help. Both of them.
When they finally found a quiet corner of the gardens that belonged to the hotel, Merlin leaned against a tree and then slowly sank down.
“Are you alright? Did that hurt? Have you burnt your hand? Should I take you to the paramedics?” Arthur’s mind was racing. He knew that Merlin hadn’t prepared any special effects. He had no explanation for what had happened and out here, in the bright light of day, it seemed as if it just had been his imagination.
Merlin looked up at him. “I…I don’t know.” He looked at his hand that didn’t look different than before. “It didn’t hurt…it just was like…it was powerful.”
Arthur knelt next to Merlin and examined the hand. Nope, just Merlin’s hand.
“You know…while this happened…no, this is too silly.”
“Nothing’s too silly, tell me.” Of course Merlin said a lot of silly things throughout the day, but this was serious.
Merlin looked at him. “I had something like…like a vision when this happened. There was a castle…and horses…and knights…and a king…”
Arthur took a bottle of water out of his backpack and handed it to Merlin. Of course there was a castle and horses and knights and a king; that was the whole premise of the show Merlin was cosplaying the main character from.
Sipping from the bottle, Merlin still looked at Arthur with wonder. “The king was you.”
“Me? Are you sure you aren’t suffering from a heat stroke or something?” Arthur tried to joke.
“You saw what happened. It was…like…magic.”
“Magic…”
“I should ask Uncle Gaius about it when we’re back.”
“You should.”
Silently, they sat under the tree in the shade for a while, each of them deep in thought.