Might As Well Face It
Merlin Emrys bounced up to his friend grinning. "Morning, Mordred." He said in a sing-song voice.
"What are you so happy about?" Mordred Dru asked.
"I have planned the most amazing prank." Merlin said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a tiny vial full of purple liquid and showing it to Mordred for a few seconds before tucking it away again.
"Is that a love potion?" Mordred asked.
"Shhh!" Merlin hissed. "Keep your voice down."
"I know you and Arthur don't like each other but this prank war is getting ridiculous." Mordred said.
Merlin said nothing and began stride toward the entrance of the school. Everyone thought that he and Arthur Pendragon were enemies but in reality Merlin rather admired him. Arthur was the most popular guy in school and he was rather arrogant, but he was also smart, and funny, and personable, and never cruel or hateful. Merlin just enjoyed taking him down a peg every now and then.
It was almost too easy to slip the potion into Arthur's orange juice during breakfast. All that was left to do was wait. For a couple of hours, nothing happened. Breakfast ended and homeroom went on as normal. It wasn't until about 10 minutes into Dr. Blake's history lecture that things took a turn.
"Arthur, what's wrong?" Leon cried, causing the rest of the class to turn to the back of the room, where Arthur was now on the floor next to his desk. He was alarmingly pale, sweat beading on his brow, and his eyes looked unfocused. Merlin, horrified, rushed to his side.
Arthur felt feverish and Merlin could see now that he was shaking. Before he could reach out to him, Dr. Blake spoke behind him. "Get back, Merlin." he said. "Leon, Gwaine, help me get him to Gaius's office." the two boys leapt from their chairs and Merlin helplessly got out of the way until they carried Arthur out of the classroom.
He followed them down the hall to the school physician's office, ringing his hands. Something had gone terribly wrong. Arthur was supposed to be making a fool of himself, not passing out on the classroom floor. Merlin would never forgive himself if something bad happened to him.
He was made to pace in the hallway for several minutes before Gaius walked out the door, followed by Arthur, who now appeared somewhat recovered.
"What happened!" Merlin blurted, grabbing a still wobbly Arthur by the arm.
"Arthur has tested positive for love potion." Gaius said matter-of-factly. "Although an improperly brewed one."
"Im-Improperly brewed?" Merlin stammered.
"Yes." Gaius said. "From what I can tell, the potion has made Arthur addicted to physical affection."
Arthur, while no longer pale or sweating, looked rather dazed as Gaius spoke. He glared at Merlin now. "You." he growled. "I know this is your fault. Only you could cock something up this badly."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Merlin said unconvincingly.
"It does not matter, Arthur, there is no real harm done." Gaius said good naturedly. "The effects will wear off in a day or two. Until then I am sure Miss Nemeth will be happy to provide you with as much affection as you require."
After thinking about this for a few moments, Arthur grinned and sauntered off down the hallway.
It wasn't until near the end of the school day that Arthur and Merlin crossed paths again. Arthur was standing outside his locker alone and looking slightly green. Without thinking, Merlin jogged up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Where's Mithian?" he demanded.
Arthur looked up with wide, clear eyes. "You have got to be kidding me." he said. Merlin wrinkled his brow in confusion but Arthur went on before he could speak.
"It seems your little potion can tell the difference between an actual affectionate touch and touch for the sake of touching." he said. "Mithian stopped doing the trick by lunch, but it seems your touch works just fine." he said the last bit angrily and crossed his arms over his chest.
Merlin fought not to grin in spite of the true gravity of the situation. "Perhaps you've just developed an immunity to Mithian." he said. By this time Merlin had dropped his hand off of Arthur's shoulder and the blonde boy began to sway as he took a step toward the gym corridor. Merlin caught him before he fell over and casually slipped his slender hand into Arthur's much wider one.
Arthur looked down at their joined hands for a moment before shrugging and walking on, Merling in tow. "Perhaps." he replied finally. "Or perhaps there's just not much affection between us."
Merlin turned his head to shoot Arthur a questioning look. "We broke up a month ago." Arthur said. "We've been keeping up appearances until Homecoming, but we've found we're better off friends."
"I'm sorry, Arthur." Merlin said and he found he really did mean it.
Arthur shrugged. "It's not your fault." he said, then shot Merlin a sideways glance. "For once. I don't think."
Merlin laughed. "I value my own life too much to mess with Mithian." he said.
Arthur laughed along with him as they entered the locker room, still hand and hand. "How long can you go?" Merlin asked softly. He really did feel terrible.
"About 3 hours." Arthur said.
Merlin nodded. "You should stay at mine tonight." He said.
Arthur scowled. "What for?" he said as he tugged off his shirt to change into his gym clothes.
"Fancy crashing and burning do you?" Merlin said. "Although I guess you could cuddle up with Morgana…"
Arthur pulled a sour face. "Fine, but I'm the big spoon." he said.
Merlin just smiled as they both got ready for gym class.
That evening Gaius had a shift at the hospital so Merlin and Arthur walked into an empty house. Merlin lead the way to his bedroom and dropped down on a pile of pillows, setting his bag down next to him. "Do you mind if there's music while we do our homework?" Merlin asked.
Arthur blinked. "It's your house, Emrys." he said and began to make himself comfortable on the floor next to Merlin.
Merlin murmured an incantation. His eyes flashed gold and music began to fill the room from the untouched stereo. Arthur felt his stomach swoop and shifted uncomfortably, wondering if this blasted love potion had caused him to go round the bend.
Merlin buried his nose in a book and Arthur turned his attention to his calculus homework and they worked in silence for the better part of an hour.
Arthur had barely noticed that he was starting to feel sick when Merlin, seemingly unaware that he was doing so, stretched his foot out and ran it up and down Arthur's calf. His nausea backed off immediately and his leg began to tingle.
He would think this was a side effect of the potion but his skin always tingled when Merlin touched him. He always wondered if that was the magic or just Merlin, but he would have to admit it happened to ask and that he simply would not do.
Arthur lost track of how long they sat there working on homework with Merlin's foot resting on his calf when Merlin announced he was going to order pizza, shifting positions until he could reach his phone.
When Merlin moved his foot, Arthur suddenly felt cold. Surely he couldn't be having a withdraw this fast. He waited but nothing else happened. Merlin ordered two large pizzas with Arthur's favorite toppings. It should have surprised Arthur that Merlin remembered what he liked on his pizza but it didn't. Merlin was just like that.
By the time they had eaten and finished their homework it was nearly 8:00. Merlin clambered up onto his bed. "Want to watch a movie?" he asked Arthur.
Rather than answer, Arthur crawled up beside him and picked up the remote off the bedside table, taking it upon himself to select something from Netflix. Decision made, he settled back onto the pillows, sitting shoulder to shoulder with Merlin.
After a while, Arthur had slumped down on the pillows and Merlin had straightened up so that the top of Arthur's head was level with Merlin's chest. Arthur was tempted to lay his head on Merlin's chest but refused to give in to the impulse.
Unfortunately, minutes later Arthur began to tremble. Merlin reached up and began to toy with Arthur's blonde hair without comment scratching his short nails against his scalp. Arthur's resolve crumbled like wet paper and he allowed his head to drop down on Merlin's chest, embarrassed but the sound of contentment that passed his lips.
"Arthur, I am sorry." Merlin's voice sounded sad above him. "I only meant to play a joke on you I didn't-"
Arthur sat up and cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I know you didn't." he said. "I won't pretend I'm not annoyed but as Gaius said, there's no real harm done."
Merlin opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it and dropped back onto the pillows. They watched the rest of the movie in silence, Merlin keeping a hand in Arthur's hair for most of it.
When the credits began to roll, Merlin jumped up and grabbed a discarded pair of sweats off his bedroom floor. "I'm going to go change in the bathroom, you can change in here." he said.
Arthur nodded and grabbed his duffle bag, which he had packed hastily that afternoon and quickly changed into his own pair of sweats and a t-shirt.
When Merlin came back in the bedroom he was wearing nothing but the grey sweatpants, which sat right below his jutting hipbones. Arthur swallowed and they both settled into bed.
Arthur rolled onto his side facing away from Merlin and Merlin took advantage of this, wrapping an arm around Arthur's waist and pressing his chest into Arthur's back.
"I told you, I was the big spoon." Arthur grumbled.
"Not with me." Merlin said simply, his breath stirring the hair at Arthur's nape. He didn't argue further and in a short while they were both fast asleep.
Arthur woke up feeling like his nerve endings were on fire. He stumbled to the bathroom and narrowly made it to the toilet before he was sick. Once he was done heaving he found he could not move. He ached all over, much worse than before and a sheen of sweat coated his whole body.
It was probably only a few seconds before Merlin found him and dropped to his knees, laying across Arthur's back like a blanket. "I'm so sorry, I must have rolled away from you in my sleep." he murmured.
Arthur didn't respond, finding that he didn't care about much but how good Merlin's weight felt. Once Arthur could stand, Merlin lead him back to the bed.
"Lay on your back." Merlin ordered.
Arthur did as he was told but not without questioning it. "What for?" he said.
Merlin didn't answer but crawled into bed with Arthur. He laid his head on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur's arm wrapped around Merlin almost of its own volition and Merlin wrapped his own arm around Arthur's middle.
Throwing his leg over both of Arthur's for good measure he said, "We can't roll away if we have ahold of each other." Arthur saw the wisdom in this and was back asleep within seconds.
The next day at school, the two boys parted to go to their separate classes right before lunch. Merlin watched Arthur walk away with a look of worry. The next few hours were torture, if he was being honest. He knew that he wasn't the one under the influence of the botched love potion but he missed Arthur being at his hip all the same. He said so to Morgana who laughed.
"Of course you do." She said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Merlin asked.
Morgana rolled her eyes. "You used the potion we made in class the other day, didn't you?" she shot back.
"What difference does that make?" Merlin said irritably. "I botched it anyway."
"You made it too strong." Morgana explained. "And that particular potion doesn't work unless attraction already exists."
Merlin looked as though he'd been stunned. "Do you ever pay attention in potions class?" she asked with a huff.
Merlin shook himself and flashed her a sheepish look. He didn't pay much attention that day either.
Merlin met Arthur at his locker before gym with a huge grin on his face, sliding his arm into the one that Arthur offered.
"Why do you have that stupid look on your face?" Arthur asked, his voice a little shaky from how close they had cut it. He would be glad when this bloody potion wore off.
"You like me." Merlin said.
"You're a git." Arthur retorted.
"I may be a git, but I'm your git." Merlin insisted. "You like me." he repeated.
"What are you babbling about?" Arthur asked, starting to feel twitchy.
"That potion I used only works if you're already attracted to the person, and you were fine for awhile after I touched your arm in the hallway." Merlin explained gloatingly.
Arthur froze in the middle of the hallway before grabbing Merlin and shoving him into an empty classroom. He pulled the blinds down over the window in the door before marching over to where Merlin stood.
Without another word, he grabbed Merlin's face in both his hands and pressed his lips briefly to Merlin's with unnecessary force.
Merlin stood there dazed as Arthur began to rant. "You're a bloody idiot, you know that?" he said, pacing the floor. "I was doing just fine, fantastic, even before you transferred here with your stupid hair and your gangly legs and your bloody stupid blue eyes and ruined everything!" By the time Arthur got to the end he was shouting.
Merlin shook his head and grabbed Arthur by the arm, pulling him into his chest and pressing a light kiss to Arthur's lips. "You bloody cabbage head." Merlin, mumbled and kissed him again. They never made it to gym that day and when the potion wore off the next morning, Merlin and Arthur found that they were still rather addicted.