Summer: *hands Merlin a bowl of ice cream and steals his bed*
\nMerlin: *stares at her in confusion*
\nSummer: What? I can’t bring you ice cream?
\nMerlin: -Of course you can. I’m just confused as to why. And how…-
\nSummer: How is easy. You aren’t the only one who can …*wiggles her fingers* I cheated. Why … *shrugs* I … asked Gaius some things.
\nMerlin: *raises an eyebrow* -What kinds of things?-
\nSummer: *doesn’t look at him* Your past.
\nMerlin: *closes his eyes for a moment and reopens them* -What exactly did he tell you about my past?-
\nSummer: Freya.
\nMerlin: *cringes and sighs* -Look, why were you asking Gaius about Frey–about her?-
\nSummer: Eat that before it melts. Because — I needed to know, okay, Merlin, I needed to understand you.
\nMerlin: *looks at the ice cream and puts it on the side* -I’m not very hungry…- *sighs* -What is there to understand? I fell in love with a girl, she died, and I’m not back on my feet yet. It’s only been a few months.-
\nSummer: I didn’t know any of that.
\nMerlin: -I thought I told you, but I guess I didn’t.-
\n(Merlin: *glaring daggers at [mun] for being forgetful and accidentally making him forgetful*)
\nSummer: I brought the ice cream to apologise.
\nMerlin: -Thanks…-
\nSummer: I’ve been awful to you and I didn’t even know.
\nMerlin: -It’s fine. You haven’t been awful, and you did apologize, which is more than I get from a lot of people.- *takes a small bite of the ice cream*
\nMerlin: *lying about it being fine*
\nSummer: *looks down at her hands* Please don’t lie to me.
\nMerlin: *sighs* -Look, it’s nothing I can’t handle.-
\nSummer: *flaring* Obviously! That’s totally not the point. The point is I’m an idiot, and I’m sorry, and you don’t have to pretend to me that it’s okay.
\nMerlin: -You’re not an idiot; you just made a mistake. There’s a difference. And I’ve forgiven you, because you didn’t mean to hurt anyone. And what do you want me to do? There are lots of things that aren’t okay about losing her. It’s not okay that it hurts to think about her. It’s not okay that I can’t stand to see roses or strawberries because they remind me of her. It’s not okay, but I deal with it, just like I always do.-
\nSummer: *looks down at her hands again* I want you to tell me everything. I want — I want to make it better the \/right\/ way instead of trampling all over you.
\nMerlin: *freezes and shakes his head* -I can’t–I can’t do that. I’m sorry, but I can’t. Don’t worry about it.-
\nSummer: Maybe not now. Maybe not even in a week, a month — you have to talk about it some time. You can’t just keep it bottled up inside you, you’ll burst.
\nMerlin: -I’ll be fine. I can handle this. I always have.-
\nSummer: Stop lying to me!
\nMerlin: -I’m not lying this time! I’ve had to handle things like this by myself, except for Gaius, for a while now. If I didn’t, I would have been executed already!-
\nSummer: What does your being in love have to do with the *wiggles her fingers again*
\nMerlin: -… She was cursed, and she died at Arthur’s hand.-
\nSummer: … he didn’t say that part.
\nMerlin: -I’m surprised. It’s one of the few things I thought he knew about her. I’ve never spoken to Gaius about this, not fully.-
\nSummer: I guess he didn’t think that part was my business.
\nMerlin: *shrugs* -Or he thought it was my place to tell it.-
\nSummer: I guess so.
\nMerlin: -What did he tell you, exactly?-
\nSummer: *twists her hands together* He sees a lot more about you than you give him credit for, I think. He said … I asked him, about your past, about you coming here, and he told me a little, about how you became Arthur’s manservant and all, and then he said I should be gentle with you, because you had a great hurt inside you. So I asked him why, and he said there had been someone you had loved greatly, and she was gone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summer: *hands Merlin a bowl of ice cream and steals his bed* Merlin: *stares at her in confusion* Summer: What? I can’t bring you ice cream? Merlin: -Of course you can. I’m just confused as to why. And how…- Summer: How is easy. You aren’t the only one who can …*wiggles her fingers* I cheated. … Continue reading <\/span>