writetomyheart | [Team 1] Once and Future

~1200 words of Red, White, and Royal Blue crossover with Merlin (BBC). Because this idea has been hopping around in my head non-stop for weeks and I would like to write more of it but we'll see. Alex/Henry and some very, very hinted Merlin/Arthur.

“I'm out, work it out yourselves,” Alex threw his hands up in the air as he turned away from the two blonds still arguing behind him. His boyfriend Prince Henry—

And Arthur— the supposed long-dead King of Camelot.

Alex’s day could not get weirder. Hell his whole week was one long confusing fever dream.

It had started normal enough— at least, for his and Henry’s brief vacation in Wales. Three whole weeks of minimal security, long walks around the small lake just steps away from their rented house, and sex.

Lots, and lots of sex. Alex had been counting on it.

All of it ruined on day two when he and Henry decide to walk down to the lake and this dude just— walks out of it.

In full armor. With chainmail and a fucking scabbard. The only thing missing to complete the strange picture was a sword.

Alex wishes he could have made up the conversation that happened after. As it was, he barely understood it.

But between the man’s loud shouting in a language Henry eventually identified as Brittonic, some vague gesturing, and eventually some stilted Welsh between the strange knight and Henry, Alex was finally let in on the fact that the man believed himself to be King Arthur.

Of Camelot.

“Like Monty Python?” Alex had asked once Henry had told him. Henry snorted a laugh but shook his head fondly.

Alex was fully prepared to call Cash and Amy to assist the guy from the lake and get him some much-needed help when the knight stepped fully out of the water. Suddenly his harsh Brittonic shifted seamlessly over to English.

And Arthur didn’t even seem to notice that he and Henry were now speaking the same language.

Somehow even though Alex now understood the man’s shouting, the conversation made even less sense.

As Alex made his way back to the house, he heard Arthur and Henry still arguing behind him. They had moved on from the basic “Where am I? What is Wales?!” questions to “What do you mean Prince of England?!” “What do you mean ‘King of Camelot’?!”

With a sigh, Alex let himself back into the house, reaching into his pocket to gently run his finger over the small box in there.

Maybe later. When ‘King Arthur’ got the help he needed.

His hands needed to do something though, so he started to prepare dinner, the repetitive chopping motions calming his mind a bit. As he started to soften the onions and garlic on the stove though he took his phone out, refreshing his knowledge of Arthurian mythology that wasn’t just Monty Python references.

Dinner was nearly finished when he heard the front door open. Setting a timer on his phone for the last five minutes (in case he and Henry got distracted) Alex went to go see if Henry had managed to send King Arthur on his way.

Nope!

“You can’t keep him,” Alex groaned as Henry started to help the crazy guy out of his armor. For all his bluster earlier, King Arthur now looked fucking exhausted. “We don’t know anything about the care and feeding of long-dead mythical monarchs.”

Looking at the two of them side by side was a little unsettling. Blond hair, blue eyes. Twin looks of exasperation. They could have easily been related. Siblings even. They certainly looked more alike than Henry and Philip.

Henry rolled his eyes, though Alex could see the fondness shining through. “It’s just for a night—”

“How are you going to explain him to security.”

“Oh. He’s a cousin who’s come to visit.”

“Okay. How are you going to explain him to your security?”

“He’s your cousin.”

“I don’t think I wish to be related to either of you,” Arthur grumbled, removing his own arm-armor thingies. Now that the metal was coming off, he was looking a little less like he stepped out storybook and a little more like a regular dude Alex might have hung out with in college.

That was also a little unsettling. Alex always thought King Arthur to be closer to his Dad’s age or something.

And then he shook his head, not believing himself. When did he start believing that this guy was actually King Arthur?

“Alex?”

Alex looked up at Henry, finding concern there. He offered a grin of reassurance. “Dinner’s almost ready if you’d like to eat.”

Arthur seemed to turn green at the mention of food and he roughly shook his head. “Think I’d rather— I should sleep. I gotta find Merlin. That’s what— I gotta find Merlin.”

Arthur barely made it two steps before he seemed to collapse in the hall. Henry and Alex both quickly caught the guy who was now in a dead faint.

Alex threw one of the guy’s arms over his shoulder while Henry took the other. Together they managed to get Arthur to the couch, Alex absently throwing the blanket over top. If this were any other life, Arthur could have been the friend who had way too much at a bar and was sleeping it off at Alex and Henry’s place before heading home.

But. This was their life— and their life had somehow gotten weird.

“Okay, so this is gonna sound crazy but—”

“You believe him too?” Henry turned to Alex. “It’s crazy, right? Long dead king—”

“Long, long dead king. Like— 'may not have even been real' — King.” Alex thought back to the stories he had managed to skim. “Didn’t he say something about Merlin? Like… the old sorcerer guy?”

June had made him watch The Sword and The Stone once when they were much, much younger. Alex couldn't’ say he remembered much of it, but the weird bearded man in the blue hat definitely stood out in his memory.

Henry shrugged. “He mentioned that as well when we were walking up here. However, with the way he talked about him, it sounded more like Merlin was… young. Our age.”

“Huh.” Well, Alex supposed the myths couldn’t be 100% accurate.

And again. That weird feeling that despite what he knew to be a myth, there was just— something— telling him that Arthur wasn’t just some crazy guy stepping out of a lake for a lark or on a bad trip.

Arthur was real. And he needed help.

“You know there’s this saying right?” Henry said over dinner. Arthur hadn’t moved from the couch at all while they ate.

Alex hummed, reaching over to take Henry’s hand in his.

“That King Arthur would return at England’s greatest need.”

Alex’s brow furrowed. “What like 2020 wasn’t weird enough?”

“I highly doubt a royal scandal of that proportions would justify as England’s greatest need.”

Alex chuckled, squeezing Henry’s hand. He was just glad that they could joke about it now. And in a year his Mom wouldn’t be president anymore. And though Henry hadn’t quite come out and said it yet, Alex got the feeling that he was planning on giving up his title.

Their lives would change once more. But they still had each other.

“So, what? You think that something’s gonna happen now that King sleeping beauty over there is back?”

“'Beauty?'” Henry laughed. “I knew you had a type.”

“Shut up, Your Majesty,” Alex used his grip on Henry’s hand to pull him into a kiss.

Pulling back after a long moment, Alex grinned once more. “Okay, so we gotta find this guy’s boyfriend, save the universe, and have our happily ever after— all in a day's work, right?”

I'll tag Nichi on discord! Line is "Okay, so we gotta find this guy’s boyfriend, save the universe, and have our happily ever after— all in a day's work, right?”