When he finally emerged his lungs were almost bursting. He took in huge gulps of air, trying with one hand to stay afloat and with the other to hold on to Arthur. He would have had problems dragging an unconscious man already, but it was impossible if said man was wearing an armor. An armor!

Merlin wished he had a third hand so he could push the hair out of his face and see which way the shore was. Or punch Arthur. Because, really, the man was impossible. Not only he had tried to elope with a girl who was really a faerie in disguise and who had tried to kill him... He had to do so while wearing his full armor. His nice, shiny, heavy set of armor, which was now dragging the two of them back on the bottom of the lake.

Arthur was still unconscious. With a last effort, Merlin raised his right hand in the vague direction of the shore. He muttered a few words and suddenly the two of them were sent splashing through the water through the few feet that separated them from solid ground. They fell together in a tangle of limbs, but by now Merlin had so many bruises he barely cared about getting a few more.

He got on his knees and rolled Arthur on his back, checking his heartbeat. For a few frantic moments he couldn't hear anything, then realized that probably the armor was in the way. Arthur was still breathing, though shallowly, and his face had regained some color.

This saving-the-prince affair had been going on for long enough, it was probably time to go back being a servant. Merlin started removing pieces of Arthur's armor, trying not to think about who would get to clean them afterwards.
After a couple of minutes Arthur coughed, turned on his side and spat out a mouthful of water. Most of which got on Merlin's knees.

Merlin gave a sigh of relief and grinned like an idiot.
"Arthur?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
He put one arm around the other man's shoulders and helped him into a sitting position. Arthur's eyes seemed still a bit unfocused, though thankfully they were no longer red.

Arthur was frowning. "I..." he started, then trailed off. He seemed to have forgotten what he meant to say.
"Yes?" Merlin said encouragingly. "Are you about to say: I've been an idiot and thank you for saving me again, Merlin? Because that would be nice."
He had meant that to sound like a reproach, insofar as one could reproach Arthur without ending up in the stocks, but the relief at seeing him safe was still too much.

"Merlin, I- I..." Arthur said again. He clasped one hand on Merlin's shoulder, who nodded encouragingly and leaned forward.
"I love you," Arthur said, then leaned forward and kissed him. His lips tasted vaguely like mud.
There was, Merlin thought, something very wrong with this.

He pushed Arthur away, or at least he tried to. Arthur seemed very set on gluing himself to Merlin's face, only pulling back once they were both red-faced and out of breath.
"I love you," he repeated again, wrapping his arms around Merlin's shoulders. "I love you."

Merlin finally managed to regain control of his brain. "What are you doing?" he spluttered. "You- I- Why would you..."
"I love you," Arthur kept repeating, ignoring him, trying to kiss him again. "I'll never let anything come between us."
Something clicked together. "Oh," Merlin said in a small voice. There had better be a way to snap him out of this.

Then Arthur pushed Merlin on the ground and his hands moved down Merlin's back, and things started getting very uncomfortable.
"Arthur, wake up!" Merlin exclaimed. "This is not you, you're under a spell!"
"We love each other," Arthur said in the same monotone voice.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "As if I could fall for a prat like you."
His eyes flashed gold for a second. There was a rushing sound, a thump... Arthur groaned and fell gracelessly on top of Merlin, who gave a sigh of relief.
He considered pushing Arthur away, since him and his damn armor were awfully heavy.

Arthur looked as if he was sleeping peacefully - and really he had no right to look like that, not after all the trouble he'd just caused. Merlin sighed again.
"I hope Gaius can sort you out," he muttered. "That is, after we get back."
And he started the long and tedious business of getting the stupid prince back to Camelot.