#his eyes flash gold and the flames of the candles and hearth blaze uncomfotably

[justaz]

arthur works up the nerve to confess his feelings for merlin pre-magic reveal and merlin has to stare the man he loves in the eye and reject him. arthur, heartbroken bc he had been told repeatedly by all his and merlin’s friends that his feelings were reciprocated and to take the risk, doesn’t cry bc his father taught him to never show weakness but maybe merlin can’t see the tears clawing their way into his eyes bc the room sure is getting blurry for some reason. he asks, no, he demands to know why not. he had been paying attention and he’s completely sure that merlin was flirting back with him, that his feelings were reciprocated - everyone said so. hell, half if not all of camelot has participated in a betting pool bc they’ve been so obvious with their feelings. merlin tries to give vague answers without telling him straight up and their argument escalates into a near screaming match where merlin says “you don’t love me, you love a version of me you believe to be true. you don’t know me, you can’t love me”