Deafening Silence

Nature's Part to Play

Arthur was well aware that people who were deaf often spoke louder and didn't want to point out the times when Merlin was doing it. He didn't mind, it didn't bother him after all. It was enough for Arthur that Merlin was still talking to him, hell even participating in their usual banter.

"Yes, I see you've gotten on with your jobs. Well done." Arthur joked back. Merlin was just picking up some things left on the floor when Arthur spoke, he managed to see 'jobs' and thought he saw 'well done' to boot and smiled. He did think that maybe Arthur would be able to cheer him up a bit, in his own special pratty way.

"I take it you found the potion?" Enquired Arthur, hoping for a certain answer.

"Yeah, eventually. Do you know how many potions we have down there? I'm not even sure all of them do anything." The raven-haired man responded after lipreading Arthur's last word and making a sensible assumption as to what he said. Merlin stood up from crouching to put the various objects he'd picked up away whilst simultaneously looking at Arthur for a response, ready to lipread. Something he had now become so used to.

Arthur let out a small but genuine laugh at Merlin's response. "I'm sure they all have a purpose, Merlin. Or Gaius wouldn't make them." He replied as he walked over to his desk.

"Gaius wouldn't make them?" Merlin repeated, since that was the only part he thought Arthur had said. It could have also been 'Gaius can't make them' but Merlin doubted it heavily. "I do make them sometimes, you know."

"Then God help the souls that drink those ones." Merlin screwed his eyes in pretend annoyance at Arthur, who in turn pretended he didn't see it. He then noticed how Arthur's voice sounded a little clearer after he got closer to him. Merlin wondered why he didn't pick up on that on the training grounds when Arthur approached him but figured he was distracted by the haze of the battles happening in his view.

Arthur noticed Merlin staring at him weirdly, as if he was thinking hard about something. He thought for a split second that he'd gone too far with his last remark.

He looked directly at his manservant. "Merlin? Are you with me?" Arthur said, dancing lightly in case he'd actually hurt Merlin's feelings.

"It's nothing," Merlin replied after seeing Arthur's lips move but couldn't quite catch his words in time. He assumed he asked him if something was wrong. "Well, actually it is something. I'm starting to hear things better."

Arthur's face fell into relief once again since entering his chambers, both times being either because of Merlin's presence or something the idiot had said. "Really?" He uttered with unintended excitement in his voice. "What kind of things?" Arthur simply had to know.

"Hmm?" Merlin responded which told Arthur that he'd spoken too fast for Merlin to lipread him. So, he grabbed the paper that was still on his desk from before training.

He wrote down a message and handed it to Merlin:

"What can you hear?" Said the paper in Arthur's handwriting, the other messages still there from that morning.

"Oh, right," The raven-haired man started off. "I think voices? They're becoming a little clearer...and when you were training, I thought I could hear the swords better."

Arthur listened with eager ears at his friend's explanation. "That's great, Merlin." He replied, happy that Merlin was closer to fully recovering. He turned to look at him. "I wish you told me earlier."

Merlin picked up on 'told me earlier' and responded honestly. "How could I? You were busy with the knights. Plus, I had to get something for this bruise." He said, indicating to his head. Arthur tried to subtly inspect Merlin's head and could just about see the bruise under his dark locks. Merlin's hair was so dark that if he didn't know it was there, he wouldn't have seen it.