Magic in metal

Arthur looked bemused as Merlin drew a blood sample. It was strange to see his blood outside of his body. And much stranger that this person he had only known for five minutes was drawing it out of him.

Arthur stared at the plastic tube still sticking out of his arm. "Why do you need that?"

Merlin shook his head. "I can't tell what's wrong with the bots if I don't see them." The dark haired nanotechnologist didn't look up from his microscope.

Arthur felt like bolting right then and there. His father hated nanotechnology. As king of Camelot he only barely concealed his resentment. But he didn't stop physicians from pumping the thing he hated into the son he loved if it meant saving his life.

And for that Arthur was grateful.

If it hadn't been the smart thinking of some bystander he would have been dead. That kid had pumped a shot of those things into his body along with a heavy dose of morphine. The first bots had been the ones that saved him. The rest had sped up recovery to day zero.

Now, it was all the better. If anything went wrong, his system of bots sent an automated email to the secret service or his physician, Gaius, whichever needed to know.

The bots also helped him. They reduced the amount of lactic acid (was that what Gaius called it?) in his muscles. All Arthur recalled was that they prevented his muscles from tiring and overheating. The bots also fought off disease. No more colds for the Princeling.

Merlin scribbled some notes and put the Petri dish in the refrigerator that, Arthur noted with disgust, contained other marked samples and a pineapple. The pineapple was just strange.

"Don't bother. It was a welcome gift from my land lord." Clearly this Merlin was psychic. Another thing his father hated.

"Gaius gave you a pineapple?" Arthur gingerly removed the tube after a glance at Merlin. Merlin, only glancing at the tube, nodded.

"Yes, he was under the impression I liked them. Actually, I loathe them. But as always my mother's handwriting is in decipherable."

This was Merlin Emrys the reputable nanotechnologist that was top of his field. His mother, hand writing and all, must be so proud. Merlin ignored Arthur's attempts to question (or interrogate depending of which one you asked) him.

"The simple answer is that it is a programming clash." Merlin explained it and then re-explained it using words of three syllables or less. His eyes never left the screen of code.

Arthur processed that. "So you're saying that the reason why I feel like something is tearing me apart is a bot fight?"

"That is the gist of it. You know as a prince you are fairly slow." Merlin was tapping away at his laptop looking at some complicated code still. Arthur ignored the comment.

"How does that even work?"

"One set of bots, the first set, is extremely advanced. It is designed to save a person from the brink of death. From the looks of it, it is a medical text book in a chip. That thing could save you even if you were clinically dead in every aspect."

Merlin frowned and continued, "The second is less advanced but very violent. It is used to attack cancers. They were fighting to keep you in recovery, but recently they had no need to fix anything. When did these headaches start?"

That was the longest bit that Arthur had ever heard the man say besides the stuff he didn't understand.

"About a month after I was out of rehab."

"You were in rehabilitation?" The techie stared at the computer screen so intensely Arthur was surprised the computer didn't have a meltdown then and there. What it felt like to have that gaze on him? Tearing him apart? He shivered at the thought.

"I was completely crushed by a falling building. Of course I was in rehab." This was actually annoying. The man spent more time looking at code than at his patient.

"Yes well, that would explain why the bots started acting up." Merlin frowned. "Prince, we're you by any chance in the Avalon collapse?"

"Yes, Merlin." Arthur expected that his nano physician would know about it. The bloody genius wasn't as well informed as he expected. "Didn't you read the file?"

Merlin looked at him. He didn't correct Arthur's use of his given name. "File? Oh." Merlin dug one out hastily from under a pile of notepads. How the room managed to get so messy in a day was beyond Arthur. And he was a slob at heart. Just ask the maid.

"Sorry. On the hunt for something earlier. Your sister wanted to know more about nanotechnology. I gave her the beginner's book." Arthur shuddered and hoped Morgana was just going through a phase. The creases in Merlin's brows just deepened.

"Arthur Pendragon?"

"Yes." Merlin didn't know his name? What kind of physician was he?

Merlin's face took on a warm loving look. It was frankly adorable. Too bad it was aimed at the computer. (Though after that stare, it probably deserved it.) "Ah. That explains the coding style. You owe me one, Prince."

Arthur awkwardly crossed his arms. "Just how do I owe you one?"

"I was the one who pumped you full of metal." He said it so nonchalantly that Arthur was bewildered. Merlin resumed scrolling through the code. It was kind of like watching a parent reunite with a child they didn't know they had.

When his conversation skills returned (heck when his speech skills returned) he asked, "How?"

Merlin still had the sweet, warm look on his face. "Every bot has a style. This wasn't generic save your life. These are highly productive bots that would cost a fortune to buy. Looking at this code, I automatically thought this is a proper genius. Young and inexperienced but genius. It reminded me of my younger self really."

That was impossible. Merlin was what? Twenty? That's what his Facebook said. Then again, the bloke had a degree from Oxford and another from Yale and three articles in world famous journals to his name.

Arthur's voice turned gruff. "Are you tooting your own horn? And how did you not recognize you work the first time around?"

Merlin blushed, the color tinting his cheeks. "A little, and can you recognize that one girl you kissed at a club years after you went your separate ways? I wrote this code back in college. My style has changed since then."

Merlin continued with an air of superiority to rival any king's. "This code is presumptuous and a little unreliable, but that makes it impossible to hack. It had all the hallmarks of genius and youth. I was a noob and I've had hundreds of projects in other kingdoms since then."

"That sounds like the weirdest analogy I have ever heard. But it makes sense. I'll give you that." Arthur interjected a sigh. "How do I stop this?"

Merlin got out of his chair and started moving stuff around. "I have a purger around here somewhere."

A pile of books was lifted with strength Merlin shouldn't have. More were stacked in other places. Papers were tossed into the waste paper basket. None ended up on the shelf or in the file cabinet. Arthur interrupted the sudden housecleaning, asking, "Purger?" It sounded so much more painful than it was. Probably.

"It removes nano-bots from a person's body. I hook you up. You bleed out and the blood gets returned to you. This will only take a few minutes." Yep. Thanks, Merlin.

Arthur blinked. All the bots. Gone. His father would tell him to go for it.

He wasn't his father.

"Is there any way to keep some of the bots?" Merlin looked up.

"Yes. There is a setting for that. Do you want it?" He didn't need Arthur's answer to that. "I'll start it up. Which set do you want to keep?"

"Whichever is more useful?"

Merlin smirked. "That would be my set. They are the ones giving you most of the benefits you enjoy."

Arthur crinkled his nose. "So I'll be walking around with a little piece of you in me?" That sounded so much sappier than he thought it would.

"Yes," Merlin deadpanned.

"Fine." Merlin started adjusting the knobs and punching buttons. Then he stabbed a needle in to an artery and another into a vein. The machine started up and Arthur felt the blood get sucked out of his body and put back in. It was unnerving.

"Relax." And Arthur tried. A firm hand rested over his own. Merlin held his hand for the rest of the treatment, which took all in all two minutes.

Merlin unhooked him from the machine letting go if his hand in the process. His hands lingered over Arthur's arm for a second before retreating. The touch was electric, even after the touch was gone. Arthur had no illusions that it was just a lapse of logic or stupidity.

He rubbed his arm. "Don't tell anyone about this. My father will murder me."

Merlin's voice betrayed a grin. "Which one? You being afraid of your blood being taken, the bots are still in you, or that I held your hand?"

"All three. I will make your life hell." Arthur's voice dropped to what he hoped was a growl. It was more of a purr.

"If I have to do routine maintenance on you, which will include blood drawings, it already will be. Besides I have no desire to tell your father or my boss that I have been having crowning moments of endearment with the prince of Camelot. I have no desire to be mistaken as gay again." Merlin dumped the metallic beads, presumably bots, into the rubbish bin.

Arthur smiled. Then he realized something.

"Mistaken for gay?"

"Yes." Merlin appeared to be burying the purger in papers.

"So you aren't gay."

"Yes." Merlin paused in his work to look up.

"You're straight." Arthur reiterated.

"If you are trying to persuade yourself that this isn't happening and that I may love you eventually, you have another thing coming," Merlin said. Arthur realized exact how he sounded at that moment.

"I'm bisexual by the way." Merlin's lips twitched into a phantom smile as he said that. Arthur's heart beat a little more quickly.

Instead, he asked, "Are we done?"

Merlin was back to his laptop. "Yes. I'll see you next week for another appointment. I want to implement a few changes to the program."

Arthur left the room a little dazed. Merlin Emrys was something new. And his heart didn't stop beating. It was the bot loss.

He looked back at the figure hunched over the laptop.

Just the bot loss.


WALL IS UP.

Written a long time ago in a coffee shop on a drizzling Wednesday morning.