Merlin: The Return Of The Once And Future King. (BBC MERLIN)

-10-

Merlin stood outside Arthur's door, hesitant and indecisive.
His hand hovered mere inches in front of the door, Merlin too afraid and reluctant to knock.
He pulled his ear to the door and listened; nothing.
His hand began to tremor, his nerves getting the best of him. Merlin pulled his hand away under his sleeve and took a few deep breaths in to calm himself. Once he was breathing steadily again, he gathered some courage and thought,
Well here goes nothing.

He knocked on the door, three times and waited. There was no answer.
It's past 1am, Merlin thought. Of course Arthur's not going to be awake.
Merlin waited outside for a few moments, not sure on what to do. Finally, he made his decision. He slowly reached for the door handle and turned it subtly and quietly, trying not to alert Arthur of his presence. He poked his head into what he thought would be a dark room, instead the lights were blaring, the furniture was destroyed and tossed across the room, and Arthur was crouched in a corner, his hands frustratedly gripping his hair. He was panting loud, his chest rising and falling frantically as tears silently fell from his cheek.

Merlin immediately pushed his emotions to the side, barging into the room and, halted. His jaw hit the floor, not expecting to see the destruction.
"Arthur!" He yelled, "Are you okay?"
Arthur shot up as if he were a black cat, eyes wide, searching for the intruder. When his eyes settled on Merlin, his posture softened, but there was still alarm in his eyes.
He shout back,
"Geez Merlin! Do you not knock?"

Arthur casually, yet quickly, brought his sleeve up to his face and wiped his eye, pretending not to notice the tears that had fallen there. He swept his hair to the side, subtly fixing up his appearance in Merlin's presence.

Merlin answered, still concerned,
"I did knock. Three times..."
"Oh," Arthur replied, not sure where to look or put his hands. He finally settled on crossing his arms and sitting on the bed.
Merlin walked over and sat next to him, oblivious to Arthur's obvious discomfort.
"Arthur," he began.
Arthur shot Merlin an annoyed look before interrupting:
"I'm fine, Merlin."

Merlin disagreed, "No, you aren't."
Arthur ignored him, hoping that Merlin would let it go. After a few moments, it became apparent that the conversation had hit stage: Awkward, as it slipped into silence.
The two of them sat quietly, picking at their cuticles or fiddling their thumbs, feeling the instense silent yet awkward atmosphere that surrounded them. Although, while it was awkward, they both secretly couldn't help but enjoy the company, even if it did come with its disadvantages.

They continued like this for a while, before Merlin decided it was time for conversation.
"Arthur," Merlin began.
"Jesus!" Arthur interrupted, jumping at the sudden spark of noise in the vast silence.
"You never could stop talking, could you Merlin?", Arthur teased.
"Oh no," Merlin replied. "I was always in constant competition with you."

Arthur smiled to himself, recognising some familiarity with Merlin. Merlin returned the smile, but it quickly melted into a worried glance.
Arthur looked Merlin in the eyes, never really having torn his eyes apart from them, and sighed.
"I'm fine, Merlin."
"Your room says otherwise," Merlin answered back.

Arthur shrugged, purposely being oblivious. Merlin rolled his eyes, realising the brick wall he was going to have to drill though before he and Arthur returned to their previous state of friendship. Afterall, Merlin considered, their friendship had never been easy in the first place. There was always obstacles to go through, but that made it worthwhile in the end, did it not?
They subtly shuffled closer together, yearning for eachothers company, for some sense of familiarity in this unfamiliar world, while they stared hard at opposite walls of the room, afraid that their eye contact would frighten them away from eachother, like frightend kittens.