.
There's a fantastic new community on LiveJournal, called Camelot_Drabble. Each week, a prompt is issued, and the responses can be 100-1000 words, and you can write as many responses as you like. Come and join us :)
http:/ camelot-drabble . livejournal . com/
.
Prompt: SKIN
This plot arc is called Underneath - there will be several chapters.
Summary: Merlin loves life drawing, especially when a particular model poses for the class. Asking Arthur out for coffee seems a no-brainer, until Merlin realizes he has to talk to him. In words.
.
Merlin sharpens the tip of the conté into a point, then fusses with his toolbox to stop his hands from shaking.
It's him again, the same model as last week, the one who came over to see everyone's work after class as they were packing up.
Merlin had lingered, his eyes full of skin peppered with tiny freckles across the shoulders, and delicious dimples accenting a shapely rump. Then, he'd rushed home to draw and wank himself silly.
Last week, the pose was a reclining one. This one though, this one might kill him.
The model—the lecturer calls him Arthur—stretches his arms above his head and suddenly it's not just beautiful skin Merlin can see, it's the power of his muscle and the strength of his bones.
Immediately alive and in his element, Merlin sets the conté to paper, intent on finding the magic underneath the model's skin- that secret appeal, the indefinable something that makes this particular man so magnetic.
When he looks up, the model's blue eyes are smiling at him from beneath a quirked brow.
Ah, Merlin thinks, a challenge.
His hand steadies.
This, he knows. This, he understands.
Breathing deeply, he reaches into the pocket of his heart where inspiration lives, and draws the model's beauty from within himself.
Later, he'll linger once more and show Arthur his drawing, proud of what he has achieved, and excited at what he's about to attempt.
.
.
A/N: Want to see Merlin's drawing of Arthur? It's mine really, but I'm letting Merlin take the credit for it. http:/pics . livejournal . com/alby_mangroves/pic/0000qfye - just remove the spaces.