Of Letters and Unspoken Messages

Arthur loathed writing letters.

Whenever there was an important message that needed to get across to another kingdom or simply a village, Arthur was in charge of writing them to ensure the originality of the content. The king's handwriting was made to be memorized by the whole kingdom; nobles and peasants alike, so that they would know if they were to receive an important decree. His handwriting was also made sure to be extremely hard to copy by others to avoid forgery.

But all that currently didn't matter to Arthur. All he wanted was to finally stop writing so much.

Scrolls after scrolls after scrolls were sent to him almost every week whether to write new decrees or reply other letters from other kings or nobles. Arthur felt as if his fingers were breaking from gripping the quill too long. His eyes were red from lack of relaxation and he was growing steadily grumpy.

So it certainly did not help matters when his manservant, Merlin, came into the room practically brimming with happiness.

"Good afternoon, sire!" he said cheerfully.

"Merlin," Arthur acknowledged him with a groan. "What is it now?"

"Some more letters came in today. You're getting rather popular these days, Arthur," Merlin grinned, placing two scrolls on top of the table. Arthur groaned once again. "Being the king helps boost your popularity, eh?"

"These," Arthur grabbed one of the scrolls. "-are not fan letters, Merlin. They are letters regarding politics and things only nobles would understand," he stressed on that particular word while looking meaningfully at Merlin. Arthur let out a sigh when he revealed the length of the scroll which could be longer than the length of his own body. He glanced at the pile of scrolls he had yet to reply.

This could take all day!

Merlin raised his eyebrow and took one of the opened scrolls strewn across the table.

"Dear King Arthur," he read. "It has been a pleasure working with you. Thanks to you, the safety of our kingdom is more secure…" he yawned as his eyes began to droop. "You're right. What boring letters,"

"I'm so glad you realized that, Merlin," Arthur replied bitingly.

"Oh come on, writing letters isn't that bad. It could be fun actually," Merlin shrugged.

"Fun?" Arthur spat. "Right, Merlin, writing letters is so fun. In fact, it's so fun, why don't you write them?"

Merlin held up his hands in defense. "Hey, hey. No need to get angry. I'm just talking about the act of delivering messages without having to speak it out loud. I think…it's rather…convenient,"

Arthur dropped his quill and messaged his temples. "Really?"

Merlin nodded, a sudden smile tugging his lips. "Mmhm,"

"Then, why don't you prove it to me, if you're so darn sure?" Arthur folded his arms across his chest.

Merlin's smile became wider as he strode over to the king, hands gripping the edge of the table. One of his hands reached forward and lightly cupped Arthur's face. Merlin started to lean in, his breath ghosting over Arthur's face as he got nearer.

"Merlin, what on…" Arthur was instantly cut off when Merlin's lips claimed his.

Arthur's initial shock dissolved slowly when he felt the tip of Merlin's tongue graze Arthur's lower lip, coaxing him. He surrendered and groaned into the open-mouth kiss. Merlin was skillful at what he was doing and in the midst of the battle of tongues and teeth, Arthur found himself leaning back on the chair with Merlin leaning towards him.

He groaned when Merlin's lips abruptly left his. But Merlin wasn't finished. With a soft smile, his trailed his lips across Arthur's cheeks, forehead, eyelids and neck in a certain fashion. Arthur soon realized Merlin's trail of soft kisses were actually a message.

I…

L…O….V…E

Y…O…U

Arthur's eyes were wide when Merlin finally pulled away with a grin. "That enough as a proof for you sire?" he asked calmly. When Arthur made no response, Merlin smiled and left the room with a polite "I'll be going now, sire,"

After a moment, Arthur finally came to a conclusion.

Writing letters wasn't so bad.

Especially when Merlin helped him at it.

A/N: Whew! Things got a little hot in here…*fans self* Hehe xD. PLEASE REVIEW!