Sunshine And Daisies
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It wasn't that Merlin was necessarily unhappy all the time—he did have his fair share of up moments and his fair share of down moments, just like anyone else—it was more the fact that, well, destiny and duty and stress did make it rather hard to be genuinely happy sometimes. It was easy enough to pretend for the sake of his friends that he was blissfully happy even while he was turning over issues and problems and duty and responsibilities and stress and whathaveyou in his head, but, being genuinely happy was...
There were, however, days—rarely, occasionally—when he woke up and felt genuinely...
Happy.
Despite the weight on his shoulders, he could go about his day with a spring in his step, grin on his face, whistle falling from his lips when he had idle time to spare.
Sometimes, Merlin just found himself to be in an exceptionally good mood.
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Being in an exceptionally good mood and staying in an exceptionally good mood as the day progressed were two totally different things, Merlin came to find. Because he couldn't make the rest of the world stop just because he was happy, couldn't push off his chores and responsibilities to keep his mood up. But, he could try to remain happy, could try to stay on the bright side of things, at least for a few hours.
And it was a task that was definitely worth it, he came to find, and became easier as the years wore on and he grew more accustomed to having to work at staying in a good much as such.
But, of course, then there Arthur. Because just as there were days when Merlin was in an exceptionally good mood for no good reason, there were also days when Arthur was in an exceptionally foul mood for no good reason whatsoever.
When those days happened to fall on the same day every now and then...
Well, didn't that just make Merlin's task of staying cheerful and happy all the more difficult?
*.*.*.*.*
One such day when Merlin was happy and Arthur was decidedly not happy, Merlin decided that Arthur was being... even more not-happy than usual, even more foul than he already was on such days, his orders sharper and tone lacking of anything that would convince Merlin that it was possible to have a pleasant sort of conversation or back and forth with him. It almost made Merlin want to glower or frown at the sharp scowl that seemed to be firmly etched onto Arthur's face that day. However, he settled for whistling under his breath as he went about his chores for the afternoon, and avoided getting drawn into his mood and the commentshe was making, deciding that he wasn't about to let Arthur's foul mood ruin his good one.
Which would have been all fine and good, except...
Apparently Arthur was of the opinion that if he wasn't exactly in a pleasant sort of mood, why should Merlin be?
"Would you stop with that racket already?" Arthur demanded, tone much too sharp, causing Merlin to halt in his movements as he went about his chores, raising a wondering eyebrow at Arthur's outburst. Because was he really shouting at him for whistling? Merlin knew he was, for whatever reason, in a bad mood, but...
"Racket?" Merlin repeated, giving Arthur a skeptical sort of look.
"Yes. Racket." Arthur repeated sharply.
"Oh come on," Merlin snorted, hands coming to rest upon his hips. "I know you're in a bad mood, but—"
"I am not in a bad mood," Arthur interrupted, sounding offended that Merlin would even suggest such a thing.
Which really only further proved Merlin's point. Wiith a roll of his eyes, Merlin shook his head, mood slipping ever so slightly. "Yes. You are. Been in one all damn day, and it's really been putting a damper on my good mood, I'll have you know."
"Oh is that so?" Arthur asked, tone sharp and rhetorical as he narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah, it is, actually"
"Well you'll have to forgive me, Merlin," Arthur began sarcastically, "But not all of us can be sunshine and daisies all the bloody time, you know."
Merlin snorted in reply, crossing his arms over his chest now, good mood still there, sure, but masked now, ever so slightly, by the irritation he felt towards Arthur and this moment.
"Mm, too bad, because you could probably use a good bit of sunshine in your life right now."
Arthur simply rolled his eyes in response, fixed Merlin with an irritatingly annoyed sort of look before he turned around and back to his task of inspecting his sword.
Well, Merlin would be damned if he was just going to let Arthur try to spoil his mood like that and then go about as though nothing had happened. Abandoning his work entirely, he quickly made his way over to where Arthur was standing, strides quick and purposeful as he did so, spinning Arthur around by the shoulders to come to face him, irritation on the blond's face melting into confusion as Merlin leaned in towards him ever so slightly.
"How about I make you a deal? I'll be the sunshine," he said quickly, not offering Arthur the chance to interrupt as he leaned in towards him more, lowering his tone with a suggestive smile on his face, "If you'll be the daisies."
Arthur shook his head, small grin on his face as he tried to hold back a pelt of laughter, face softening a moment later as he leaned in more towards Merlin, meeting his lips slowly, carefully, making Merlin relax against him for a moment, hands coming up to rest on Arthur's hips as the blond's own came up to run through Merlin's hair, rest at the nape of his neck as he deepened the kiss before pulling away breathlessly, foul mood from just a moment previous seemingly replace by a smile that Merlin was sure he himself was wearing as well.
"I think you have yourself a deal, sunshine." He murmured, leaning back in to kiss Merlin again and again and again, Merlin leading him towards his bed all the while, now of the opinion that perhaps Arthur being in a foul mood wasn't exactly the worst thing in the world.
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