Bubbling Magic

It was hard, so very hard sometimes, to even breathe. He could always feel it in his skin, in his soul, bubbling up from beneath his self-control. As he sat on the cold floor, another tear fell down his cheek. Uther was dead, Arthur was heartbroken, and it was his fault. Now, that magic that was such an integrated part of him had to stay hidden. Merlin did not think that anyone understood exactly how hard it was for him to control it. It was less like he had been born with magic and more like the magic had been born with him. He punched the floor, more for a distraction than anything else and felt several of his bones snap. He brought the extremity up to eye level in curiosity. His magic jumped eager at the idea of a task. Merlin watched as his bones knit back together. Another tear slid down his face as the magic went back to its' bubbling. He didn't even notice when it reached morning.

Arthur emerged, alerting Merlin to the changed time. The magic bubbled a bit harder, so merlin stayed mostly silent to keep it in check. He sat eating with Arthur in silence, and then got up to clean up the room.

"Merlin, what's wrong?" Arthur was giving him a look from the table, having just finished breakfast.

"Nothing," he managed to choke out around his magic, which was really going haywire now. Arthur continued to ask him, but Merlin ignored the new king. Suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder and he was shipped around. Arthur stood there, just inches from him and somehow the magic managed to get even more agitated.

"Tell me," Arthur said softly.

"I can't," gasped Merlin as fresh tears sprung in his eyes. He couldn't believe how much it hurt. It had never been this bad. Arthur studied him and Merlin could taste the man's breath. "Please Arthur," muttered Merlin, "I can't." Suddenly Arthur lurched forward and Merlin felt the press of lips against his. He acted on instinct, eyes fluttering closed and his lips pressing back. Doing so, he let down his guard. The magic burst forward in triumph. Most of it flowed in and out of Arthur but Merlin heard several objects fly across the room. Merlin lurched away, staring in horror at the objects suspended in midair. Arthur stared at them too.

"What-" Merlin scrambled with his mind to pull the magic back, but it was no use now. It had broken the leash. He bit back a sob as he backed away from his friend. The objects gravitated towards him. Despite his sense of impending doom, Merlin realized he really did like Arthur and kissing him was a fairly nice thing to do before he died. "Who's there," asked Arthur as he brandished his sword around the room as Merlin sank to the ground.

"There's no one here Arthur," Merlin whispered. "It's me. I can't stop it." Arthur gave him a long look again and came to kneel in front of him. Soon, they were kissing again. Merlin wrapped his fingers in Arthur's hair and kissed him back passionately. If the man was going to kill him, he wanted to enjoy life first. Arthur laid a hand on the side of merlin's face as he used the other to pull him closer. All of the objects fell to the ground, several of the post shattering. They pulled apart, looking into each other's eyes.

"I'm not going to kill you."

"What?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to kill you." Arthur ran his thumb along Merlin's cheekbone. "I love you too much."

"I love you too Arthur," Merlin breathed. They kissed again. The next day, Arthur was crowned king and magic returned to the kingdom. The bubbling magic disappeared, allowing Merlin to return to being a normal warlock. The two lived happily together until they died.

AN: I have no idea where this came from. This was a little one shot that popped into my head after watching episode 3 of season 4. This is a one-shot and please don't harp me too bad on consistency, I'm too lazy to edit it. Please Review! :D