"I have a secret."
Arthur looks up from a report and glances across the room absentmindedly to Merlin holding a dagger he was polishing in his lap as he watches Arthur with a tilt of his head.
Arthur huffs a laugh, "Is it that you're secretly a girl?"
Merlin's lips tick upward for just a moment before continuing his stare.
Arthur watches him for a few moments, and then puts his quill down.
"You have a secret." Arthur repeats seriously.
Merlin just smiles, a small one, "I have a secret. It's an important one. But I can't tell you the secret. And I can't tell you why I can't tell you."
Arthur squints his eyes as Merlin looks down to keep polishing.
"Are you in danger?"
Merlin pauses to think which makes Arthur clench his fists in worry, not that he'd say that.
"...I suppose," He says slowly, thinking over his words, "But it's to my understanding- at this time at least -that it's no more or less dangerous for me whether you know or not. I do think it may be more dangerous for you if you know though."
Arthur hums and watches Merlin's face but sees nothing but earnestness as they meet eyes across the room.
"And why do you tell me this?"
Merlin just smiles again, but bigger this time, "I've decided I trust you with it. I trusted you before of course," he add hurriedly as if Arthur would ever think otherwise,
"But I just realized that I trust you with this, too. And this is something I've never trusted anyone enough to share it with- before I mean. And if it comes up, well, I'd rather be able to tell you that I can't tell you then to lie to you. So, this is me telling you there's a secret."
Arthur looks thoughtfully before raising one eyebrow along with a ghost of a smirk on his face, "So you have a secret you can't tell me. But you trust me with it. When do I get to hear the secret?"
Merlin leans his head on his hand as he looks sideways at him impishly, "I will tell you no lie if you ask."
Arthur hears the unspoken words bright as day:
I'm not going to say anything by myself cause I don't think it's time yet, but I will tell you the truth regardless if you so choose.
Arthur hums to himself before nodding once and then twice, ignoring the giddiness in his heart.
Picking up his quill again, he says, "You missed a spot," so he can hear his manservant squawk from across the room, "I'm not finished yet, you prat!"
They meet gazes one more time with matching fire in their eyes and grins on their faces before resuming their activities.
It's nice to be trusted.
Magical Reveal Sequel: Here
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I have finally finished 2.4 and oh my GOD watching Dan Heng be so protective of his friends nearly killed me, MY HEART.
And yes, the cutscene where he pushes the trailblazer out of the way and even cushions their fall with his own body, but I mean even before that! When he was already trying to protect them and March 7th from Feixiao and Lingsha!!
Because if you watch the dango trio throughout the main quest, you'll notice that they often position themselves in the same way, which is a detail that makes me super happy that Hoyo thought to include- when the three of them aren't evenly spaced, March 7th and the trailblazer tend to gravitate towards each other and stand very close together, frequently side-by-side. And by comparison, Dan Heng usually stands slightly away, and often even slightly behind them, where he can pull on their leashes to wrangle them keep an eye on them.
This is probably a habit learned through experience, since March 7th said during Belobog she is the "queen of unannounced disappearances" fjdksajfkldjsak
And of course at least a little bit of it is just done for like, aesthetic purposes. It's a video game. Things have to look nice for the player. The trailblazer and Dan Heng are the same height, March 7th is a bit shorter, and Yanqing is even smaller. It makes sense to have the trailblazer and Dan Heng stand on the ends, with March 7th and Yanqing in the middle, it just looks nicer and more balanced that way. But still! Even when they're accommodating for Yanqing in this quest, they still all arrange themselves the same way, almost every time!
But this changes after Dan Heng and Yanqing become suspicious of the visitors from the Yaoqing.
The dango trio still stand around relaxed and in their usual manner when they go to the artisanship delve and meet Skott,
but Dan Heng takes notice of Lingsha when she arrives, and he and Yanqing mentioned her specifically when discussing their worries.
Yanqing worrying so much about Jing Yuan got me right in the heart, he's such a good boy WEH
And when the four of them go out to the alchemy delve to meet Lingsha for tea, the pattern breaks. Suddenly Dan Heng is standing right up front, and even walks in and enters the scene before March 7th and the trailblazer to get to Lingsha before them. He stays a step in front of them the whole time, too.
And then when Dan Heng and the trailblazer have to go be interrogated by Feixiao! The same deal! Dan Heng walks in ahead of them and stays in front of them! Noticeably so! Enough that even Feixiao takes note and voices it!
Dan Heng is so so fiercely protective of his companions, and I love it, I adore hyper vigilance in the wake of trauma like this, I'm so excited to see what else he does in 2.5, I hope we either get to see him get fucked up or the trailblazer gets fucked up in his place, I wanna see them run through the meat grinder!!!
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I'm thinking about it real hard and tbh Neil would take Kevin's phone and block his account from Kevin's Twitter and then be the most ridiculous Kevin Fan Account. He would reply to fan theories, check them, debunk/confirm them. He would share Kevin's stats and talk so often about how much he looks up to him and his skills. the whole team just thinks Kevin knows and doesn't care.
and then one day an interviewer brings the account up and Neil can't get out fast enough, tries to deactivate it. but it ends up being something Kevin likes. The attention he enjoyed as a Raven but not the objectification. Neil telling people to fuck off and then agreeing with another that Kevin has improved. Showing details and stats and it's touching to him, even if it would be weird to anyone else. Kevin who still really craves that adoration and attention bordering on stalker/codepency and Neil who can deliver it perfectly.
Kevin bestows him with the #1 Fan title and Neil is even more insufferable after that.
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