Recap:
Arthur then sits in front of him on the bed. "So if I were to kiss you, you wouldn't mind?"
And that's when Merlin feels his whole world come to a stop.
"What." He breathes out and Arthur sits patiently waiting for an answer from Merlin who has seemed to have lost his ability to speak- and of all god awful times that could happen as well.
"Could I kiss you?"
Wow, way to be blunt about it Arthur.
Merlin clears his throat and blinks before slowly nodding his head.
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"Are you sure?" Arthur says but doesn't seem to concerned that Merlin will turn him away.
"I'm sure." Merlin whispers either to himself or Arthur he doesn't really know or seem to care at the moment.
Arthur then slowly closes the distance between them and stops short at the last possible moment and Merlin starts panicking that he's changed his mind and is about to start freaking out but that all stops when he feels Arthur's chapped lips on his.
Actually everything stops.
Time, the world, his breathing, Arthur, just everything.
He realizes he hasn't made any move to kiss back and he closes his eyes and kisses him back gently, just like Arthur is doing.
He's dreamed of this moment for so so long, he never ever thought it could ever happen in a million years.
But here he is. Kissing King Arthur of Camelot on his bed and um only in a towel.
He forgot about the towel thing.
Seems like so did Arthur.
Arthur slowly moves closer to Merlin and slowly and very hesitantly adds tongue into the kiss and Merlin swallows a soft moan that tries to escape.
If he let it out, Arthur would never let him live it down. And that's a long time to be teased about it.
Merlin slowly places his right hand on the kings right cheek and then puts the other one on his other cheek.
Arthur's hands seem like they don't know what to do or where to go so they gently sit on Merlin's legs. Once in a while squeezing.
Merlin pulls back a little and slowly opens his eyes to see Arthur's are still gently closed.
They slowly open to a bright blue and Merlin starts panicking again at how Arthur will react.
It was his idea to begin with anyway. But still this is Arthur he's talking about. He's very unpredictable as he can clearly see.
"I uh." Is all Arthur seems to be able to say and he doesn't make any move to pull away or to take Merlin's hands off his face.
"Yeah?" Is all Merlin says and Arthur's gaze flicks down then back up to Merlin's eyes and he slowly gives a small smile, cheeks pink.
Arthur clears his throat. "I enjoyed that more then I thought I would." He mumbles before glancing at Merlin's mouth and then back up to his eyes again.
Merlin grins and Arthur soon joins him. Then he's shocking Merlin even more by kissing him again.
Merlin's eyes are wide at the sudden force that's pushed him over and is now on him, kissing him.
He closes his eyes and kisses back with just as much force and moves his hands from Arthur's face, through his hair and to the back of his neck and Arthur's hands go to different places as well. One is on Merlin's face and the other is holding him up so he doesn't crush Merlin.
This kiss is nothing like the first one they just shared a few moments ago. Arthur pulls back and looks down at Merlin with a look Merlin has seen very few times but didn't know what it was.
He still doesn't know what it is if he's being completely honest.
But then Arthur just has to go and break the mood.
"Merlin you need to shave."
Merlin then starts chuckling and Arthur soon joins him. Once they stop laughing neither of them seem to know what to do.
By the feel of things they both know what they want to do.
And Arthur seems to like that idea because just as quick he's back to kissing Merlin again and Merlin smiles into the kiss. Arthur moves so he's between Merlin's legs properly now and then frowns pulling back from him and looking down to see the towel is in the way and his gaze goes back up to Merlin's face.
And that's when Merlin sits up and making Arthur sit up with him confused as to what he's doing.
When clearly this is what he wants to be doing.
"Merlin, what's wrong?" Arthur asks his blonde hair tousled and his white t-shirt crinkled. And his jeans look a tad uncomfortable.
Merlin blinks at Arthur and then clears his throat. "Nothing it's just that, well you're new to all this.... stuff and it's only been a day sense I got you back and you literally know nothing about this world now." He says and not caring that he's jumping topics like a frog. He stands up and moves towards the closet and away from the blonde with the tempting blue eyes.
"I thought you said you didn't mind if I kissed you? Or was that just to be nice to me?" He says frowning and is now bright red. Nervous.
"I didn't mind. Not at all. Just that it's been a day Arthur. Just last week you were still in the lake dead." He says and tightens his now very lose towel but then regrets it.
He clears his throat again. Not that it needed to be cleared. His mind needs to be cleared though.
"Merlin, sure it's only been a day sense I've been back but I've known you for years and same for you to me. We know each other already very well if I do say so myself." He says coming over to Merlin so there face to face, even though Merlin is just a tad taller than Arthur .
"You have a point." He mumbles but Arthur is so close that he hears him and grins. "But we do need to go out and get food and some other things. I'm tired of eating out constantly." He says before going over to his clothes that are on the dresser where Arthur placed them and slipping his boxers on under his towel.
He lets the towel drop and goes over to put it in the basket but bumping into Arthur while turning around to go back to the rest of his clothes.
He looks conflicted for a second before grabbing Merlin's face again and kissing him hard but quick and he then slowly grins pulling away, nodding to himself as he goes out of the room leaving Merlin beyond confused in the middle of his bedroom in his dark plaid blue boxers.
He looks at the doorway and then makes his way back to his clothes and gets dressed while shaking his head. He grabs an extra sweater for the confusing blonde downstairs and grabs two pairs of socks before heading down the stairs.
He goes over to the living room couch and sits on it beside Arthur who is flipping through a book that was on the table. He puts his socks on and hands Arthur the sweater he grabbed and the extra pair of socks. Arthur seems to like going through books.
Arthur gives him a confused look but takes the navy blue sweater and pair of white socks anyway without asking questions.
Merlin puts his on as Arthur looks at him then at his feet then back at his face.
"It's cold out." Is all Merlin says grabbing his phone from the coffee table before heading to the kitchen and Arthur follows silently.
"Um what do I put on?" Merlin looks up to see a confused king in his kitchen and he silently chuckles to himself.
Merlin never thought that this scene would ever be played.
Merlin goes over to his closet where all his extra jackets and shoes and stuff is held and grabs out an extra pair of boots and a jacket that's a tad to big on him that Holly got him last year. And yet it still doesn't fit him.
He goes over to Arthur and hands him the stuff making him smile. "You know," he says. "This used to be the opposite." Arthur says shrugging on the jacket that actually seems to fit him and so does the shoes.
"Well yeah. But you don't have all that stuff you used to." He says putting his own stuff on and throws a blue scarf around his neck and- now the colour change the other day makes way more sense.
He zips up his jacket, grabs his wallet before grabbing his keys and phone off the counter where he placed them.
He opens the door for Arthur to go out and he locks it up behind him, hoping to God Holly doesn't break in like this morning and do something.
"We need to get you some of your own stuff." He says as he walks down the path and towards the sidewalk. "I mean I have some of your stuff, or my stuff..... not sure who's it really is if I'm being completely honest." Merlin says as he stuffs his hands in his pockets to keep them warm from the chilly breeze that's going around them.
He sees Arthur has the same idea.
Arthur looks at him sideways and then shakes his head. "I fought, I died, came back and you're still as boring and confusing as ever." He says and Merlin frowns looking at him, mock offend.
They walk the rest of the way making small chat about stupid stuff as they enter the store.
He opens his mouth to say something but a voice cuts him off.
"Merlin!" He looks from Arthur to the small girl who now has her arms wrapped around his legs.
"Hello Clary. How are you?" He asks as she pulls back a little and grins up at him.
"Much better now that you're here to save me. Mum! I'm going with Merlin now! Bye!" She yells behind her as he sees Joy come up to them shaking her head at Clary who now has her arms around his legs again.
"Clary. Maybe Merlin doesn't want you to hang onto him like that?" She says and Clary gives her a look of disbelief.
"Doesn't want me to hang on him? Well that's kind of silly mum. Merlin loves me." She says and hugs him even tighter and Arthur is just kind of standing off to the side confused as to why a child likes Merlin to begin with let alone wants to hug him.
Clary then looks over at Arthur and looks back at Merlin confused. "Who's that?" She asks.
He looks up and meets Arthur's amused yet still confused expression.
"That's my, uh." He furrows his eyes brows. What is Arthur to him?
His king?
His housemate?
His dead friend who isn't dead anymore?
His-?
He honestly has no idea what to call him.
Then he looks back down at the waiting child and smiles softly. "He's an old friend of mine."
Old is an understatement.
"Oh." She says. "What's his name?" She whispers loud enough for both of them to hear but only meant for Merlin.
He leans down to her level. "Why don't you go ask him?"
She then shrugs her small shoulders and wonders off to Arthur who tries to bite back a smile.
She looks up, crosses her arms and huffs. "Who are you?" She asks and he raises his eyebrows at the demanding tone from such a small human.
"Clary." Her mum says and Clary just smiles at her mum before turning back to Arthur.
Reminds him of how Morgana used to be. He shakes the thought out of his head. Clary ain't even close to what Morgana used to be like. Nothing alike at all. Maybe demanding but what from Merlin has found out- that's most children these days.
"I'm Merlin's.... friend. Like he said." Arthur says and she slowly nods her head, like she's agreeing with him in her own little world.
"And what is your name tall blonde man who is my Merlin's friend?"
And Merlin starts to snicker at this as Arthur is now mildly amused. Hers?
"Well small child, my name is Arthur." He says and she frowns at the name 'small child' but then grins at his name.
"Wait!" She says ask she looks back and forth between the two boys. "Like Merlin and Arthur? Like the king and his servant from back in the days where they didn't have wifi?" She asks grinning and Merlin notices she has finally lost that tooth she's been complaining about the past few times she's been over and Arthur looks confused as she mentions wifi.
"You two are a very strange pair, you know with the names and all." Joy says trying hard not to break out into a big smile.
"Yeah we are." Merlin says and looks back at the two others.
Arthur then chuckles and smirks a little at Merlin. "Yes. Can I tell you a secret?" He asks and she nods her head quickly. Arthur leans down and whispers something in her ear to make her gasp and cover her mouth with her hands.
She looks over at Merlin beaming and puts both of her hands on her face and squeals on the spot.
She runs over to her mum. "Mum can I stay with them for the day? Oh please!" She begs Joy and her mom looks up at Merlin and he nods his head once, twice. Not like this hasn't happened before on many similar occasions. You know, just minus Arthur.
"Sure." She says and just as those words are spoken, Clary is at Merlin's side with his hand in her small one and she's got her other hand over her mouth again and is grinning so much that Merlin thought her face would break in two.
"I'll come get her later." Joy says chuckling before waving goodbye and leaving the two lads with the small way-to-happy girl.
"Well," Merlin says as he looks down at a very happy girl. "Why are you smiling like that? What did Arthur tell you?" He looks over at Arthur with narrowed eyes. "What did you tell her?"
Arthur puts his hands up in mock surrender. "Only the truth Merlin." He then turns away but not before Merlin caught sight of the smirk on the kings face.
'Prat.' Merlin thinks.
They walk through the store and find clothes for Arthur and Merlin makes him try stuff on- even though Arthur protests each and every single time.
In the end he got Arthur 4 new shirts and 4 pairs of pants, some socks, boxers and a new pair of boots. Not like he won't steal some of Merlin's clothes that are to big on him anyway.
Merlin isn't buying him a coat yet. He can keep wearing the one he has on.
And Clary still hasn't said anything.
Only grinning and every once in awhile she'll stare at Merlin with huge eyes and dopey smile on her face like a kid at at Disney, seeing their favourite character for the very first time.
Merlin thought the kid was weird before but whatever Arthur said to her amped it up a few notches.
They make it to the house after spending a good chunk of the day buying food for the house and stuff for Arthur.
They place everything on the island in the middle of the kitchen and Clary goes off into the living room, most likely to watch tv. She usually does that when she's over.
Merlin tells Arthur where everything goes and what does what and how things work nowadays. Very vaguely.
Arthur is confused.
Merlin is very amused.
Clary is ignoring them both and watching Disney Channel.
Lemonade Mouth is on and he can hear Clary singing softly to the songs they sing.
"So," Merlin says as he puts a can of soup away. "what did you tell Clary?" He asks and Arthur just shakes his head and keeps smirking.
"Why don't you just ask her?" He says shrugging and going into the living room, leaving Merlin to put the last few things away.
He shakes his head while rolling his eyes as he closes the cupboard and puts the grapes and juice away along with some waffles that go in the freezer. He goes into the living room and as he steps in Clary squeals making both Arthur and Merlin jump a little. She jumps off the couch in a bounce.
"Merlin!" She yells and hugs his legs again. He looks at Arthur confused and he just looks like he's having a grand old time.
He looks back down. "Clary. What are you doing?" She looks up at him and then runs over to the couch again and sits on the arm rest in front of him.
"Show me a trick."
Merlin raises his eyebrows confused as he looks at Arthur who is just grinning at him.
Merlin's heart beat picks up a little.
"A trick? What do you mean?" He asks his eyes going back to Clary.
"Like a magic trick. You are Merlin. You can do magic. Arthur told me you can. He said to me that you're really Merlin. The Merlin." She says and claps her hands together and swings her legs back and forth.
"C'mon Merlin. As your king I command you do some magic for our small guest." He says and Clary squeals as he calls himself king and Arthur then realizes his mistake, wincing slightly.
"You're King Arthur?! No way!"
Clearly she didn't put two and two together completely.
She turns back to Merlin. "He's the king. You have to do what he says. Rules are rules Merlin. Out of all people, you should know that." She giggles.
Arthur snickers but turns it into a cough but Merlin narrows his eyes at him. He then glances back at Clary who is grinning so much her eyes are little slits.
"Okay fine. I'll do something simple." He says as he goes over to his shelf and grabs a candle. He places it on the coffee table in front of the couch. Clary jumps off the arm rest and crosses her legs sitting on the couch cushion facing him now with her hands clasped together in her lap. Even Arthur is watching Merlin with interested eyes.
He sits on his knees in front of Arthur and Clary. He looks down at the candle and whispers, loud enough for them to hear. "Baerne." He can see his reflection in the coffee table as his eyes change to gold. The feeling of magic swells in him and he sighs at the feeling. And then the candle lights up.
Clary gasps loudly and he looks up to see her dumbstruck, staring at the candle with big eyes. He glances at Arthur who can't take his eyes off the lit fire. He looks back at the child.
She then looks up at Merlin and screams.
Then she throws her body at Arthur, completely throwing both boys off guard.
"You're really them! You're really Merlin and King Arthur!" She says as she holds onto Arthur's neck as she hugs him.
She then lets go and rushes over to Merlin like she's done so many times before but this time is very different.
"Can you call a dragon for me?" She asks and Arthur's head snaps up to meet Merlin's wide eyes.
He also hasn't told Arthur about the whole Dragon Lord thing either.
"Uh." He stampers. "Clary. There aren't any dragons left." He says and saying it makes it all so much true. There really isn't any left.
She frowns. "You don't happen to have a dragon egg with you, do you?" She says and he frowns.
"Not that I know of." He says shaking his head and she just sighs. Then he remembers all those boxes in the basement and that he really doesn't know what's in those boxes.
"Okay. Well making a candle light up is pretty awesome to." She yawns and turns the tv back on, ignoring both the king and his manservant.
Merlin then gets a weird feeling in his stomach as he remembers all the random boxes in the spare room once again.
He jumps up quickly and runs down stairs to the basement where the one spare room is that has all the boxes and stuff that is probably by now worth so much.
"Merlin. Merlin, wait." He hears Arthur say to him as he rushes down the stairs behind him. "Merlin will you just hold on a bloody second." He says finally reaching Merlin who is standing in the door way of the spare room. "What are you - oh."
Boxes that he didn't know he had somehow appeared and are all stacked sky high. There was not that many boxes here before.
Well roof high in this case.
"That's a lot of boxes." Arthur lets out a low whistle. "And what does she mean by call a dragon for her? You couldn't have possibly been able to do that?" He says and Merlin frowns, staring at the boxes.
"I really hope I wasn't so stupid." He mumbles to himself but clearly Arthur heard and grows confused. He ignores Arthur all together focusing at the task at hand.
"No Merlin, you were and clearly you still are." He says as he watches Merlin slowly make his way through the boxes to the far back wall.
He comes back out with a normal size box and Arthur reads the side. "Don't open." In all big capital letters in a bold black marker
"Merlin," He says in a warning tone as he follows Merlin over to the couch. "That says don't open on it and I'm sure you wrote that for a very good reason."
Merlin sets the box down on the coffee table and closes his eyes. "I really feel like going back in time and smacking myself. If this is what I think it is, we're doomed." He says and Arthur tilts his head.
Merlin sighs and slowly starts opening the box. He gets the tape off and swallows as he slowly opens the flaps.
He looks inside and closes the flaps just as quick. His mouth gone dry.
"Son of a-"
"Merlin, what are you doing?" Clary asks rubbing her left eye as she slowly walks over to them from the stairs.
"Nothing. Just going through some old stuff of mine and Arthur's." He says but he feels all clammy and he feels a panic attack coming on. "Clary why don't you go find a movie to watch? I'll put it on for you in a second okay? I just have to clean up." He says and she glances at the room full of boxes and nods her head slowly.
She slowly makes her way up the stairs and as soon as she's out of ear shot, Merlin bolts up and starts pacing and biting his lip while fidgeting with his hands. He runs both hands through his hair and slightly pulls.
"Merlin will you tell me what this is all about. And for gods sake stop pacing, you're making me anxious." Arthur says getting annoyed with the Warlock.
Merlin stops pacing and glances at the box. "That." He says nodding to the box. "Is my problem." He says then comes back and sits in front of the box. "We're going to need to move. Somewhere far far away with no else around for hundreds of miles." He says putting his head in his hands.
"That doesn't answer my question Merlin." He says grabbing his arm before he can start pacing again.
"Look in the box. Gently. Don't move it." Merlin says and Arthur grows even more confused.
He lets go of Merlin and slowly opens the flaps of the box.
And he peers inside. He closes it up just like Merlin and maybe even faster.
He goes pale.
"Merlin. Don't tell me that's what I think it is." He says closing his eyes.
"It is."