Merlin came into Arthur's room as quiet as a mouse, watching and listening to the sleeping form of Arthur breathe more easily than yesterday. However his breathing was still noticeably heavy as well as being interrupted by his gut wrenching cough.
Merlin let out a small chuckle as he noticed that Arthur was snuggled up in bed, with the duvet loosely covering his body. To Merlin Arthur's inner child was mostly shown when he was asleep as well as when he was sick. Arthur could boast about being a strong fearless man he made himself out to be, however let him catch a cold, sit back and watch him turn into the child he once was.
Moving around the room almost silently, Merlin took the time to observe how Arthur's illness had lightened up over the past couple of days. Merlin brushed away a few strands of hair from Arthur's forehead to check his temperature. It was an improvement from last night, but he was still hot to touch.
"What on earth are you doing?" A muffled voice asked almost accusingly.
"Just checking your temperature "Merlin replied truthfully.
"And?" Arthur questioned with the same tone.
"A bit better than yesterday, but your still hot enough for me to be able to cook my breakfast on you" Merlin said trying to pull off a joke.
"I'm too ill to take notice of your attempts to be witty" Arthur groaned.
Ignoring Arthur's comment Merlin said "Do you feel any better?"
Arthur sat up before speaking "erm a bit, but if I get up too quickly I get dizzy"
"Come on let's get you up for the evening, you've spent most of the day in bed" Merlin said in a mocking tone.
"You were supposed to wake me up in the afternoon" Arthur said, slightly angry at Merlin.
"I forgot" Merlin lied, the truth was that Merlin didn't want to wake Arthur up just in case it was the only bit of sleep he was going to get.
Before Arthur could say anything else Merlin interrupted, "let me just get dinner ready while you have a shower and a change of clothes".
Arthur gave Merlin a nod before pointing at the door, signalling Merlin to leave.
Half an hour later, Arthur came down the stairs in a plain white t shirt and a pair of grey tracky bottoms.
Merlin gave him a smile before commenting on the clothes Arthur was wearing, "you look like your about to run a marathon in those".
"I certainly couldn't, not the way I feel at the moment" Arthur replied while sniffing.
"Yeah, like you run when you're not ill" was Merlin's mocking remark.
"There really is no end to your wit Merlin" Arthur replied sarcastically before adding "what's for dinner?"
"Chicken soup, homemade and guaranteed to help raise clot poles from their sick beds".
"That's why it looks so good "Arthur said, ignoring the clot pole remark.
"Smells wonderful too" Merlin added.
"Let's just hope it tastes good" Arthur said with a small grin on his face.
Merlin chuckled while getting out a spoon to pour the soup into the two bowls on the kitchen desk top.
They ate in a comfortable, relaxing quiet atmosphere. Once they had finished Arthur let out an accidental yawn which he hoped Merlin hadn't seen. Unfortunately Merlin had eyes like a hawk and noticed Arthur's wide yawn.
"Why don't you sit on the sofa, while I tidy everything away"? Merlin asked, his voice gently matching the atmosphere in the room.
"No Merlin, I'll help" Arthur said determinedly.
Merlin couldn't believe what he was hearing; it was such a shock that he thought his ears were playing tricks on him.
"Did you just offer to help"? Merlin asked with surprise and a little bit of excitement in his tone of voice.
"I did actually" Arthur replied in a small voice.
Amazed that Merlin got a confirmation of Arthur's offer to help he let out one of his stupid grins before also noticing that Arthur was yawning a lot, and trying to cover up the yawns by placing his whole hand on to his face.
"It looks as if you're too tired to help me" Merlin said, the grin returning.
"Just let me help it will quicker and besides you will take ages without my help" Arthur replied.
Before Merlin could speak Arthur yawned again, afterwards he went into an unexpected sneezing fit.
Giving Arthur a few tissues Merlin suggested "why don't you have a little nap on the sofa"?
"Don't need to" was Arthur's mumbled response. But after yet another yawn Merlin decided to be a bit more firm.
"Lie down on the sofa; you look like you could do with some rest".
When Arthur showed no sign of leaving, Merlin added "you won't be any use yawning every two seconds, so sofa now".
"Fine" Arthur grumbled before doing as he was told.
Around half an hour later Merlin came into the living room to find Arthur dozing on the sofa. Merlin ruffled Arthur's hair before he stirred and sat up as if he was trying to be alert and awake.
This gave Merlin the perfect opportunity to look at how illness had affected him. Under Arthur's eyes were black marks that looked like shadows, his nose looked bigger and more red than it did this morning.
Merlin could tell that Arthur didn't like being ill, the way it dulled his thoughts, uncomfortable with being less than the fighting fit man he described himself to be.
Arthur rubbed his eyes before looking at Merlin with sleep heavy eyes.
Merlin looked into Arthur's eyes for a second before suggesting that they watch TV, which Arthur had no objection to.
Watching TV for nearly two hours Merlin had observed that Arthur was clearly tired by the way he kept rubbing at his eyes, desperately trying his hardest to keep himself awake.
"Don't fight it Arthur, your body needs sleep" Merlin said softly before taking Arthur's hand in his.
"Not tired" Arthur mumbled which made Merlin laugh at how childish Arthur sounded when he was ill.
"Go to bed you can have another nap there" Merlin said trying to encourage Arthur, but Arthur wasn't prepared to give in that easily.
"I'm fine here, beside you will be lonely without me" Arthur stated before getting rudely interrupted by a coughing fit.
"But if you go to bed you will be more comfortable" Merlin said, still trying to convince him.
"I'm comfy here" Arthur objected.
Merlin was running out of things to say to convince Arthur to go to bed.
Suddenly an idea popped in Merlin's head "if you go to bed I'll sit in the room with you" he offered which was an offer that Arthur couldn't refuse.
Before Arthur got to reply he was struck by a violent coughing fit which Merlin had intervene and help Arthur to stop coughing. When the coughing had stopped, Arthur winced as well as letting out a whimper of pain.
Looking as if he was about to cry, Merlin took Arthur's hand and said softly "hey don't cry, why don't we both go to your room and I'll keep you company".
Arthur nodded his eyes still watery.
Merlin helped Arthur out of the sofa and took him upstairs to bed; they only had to stop once because Arthur claimed that he felt dizzy.
Lowering Arthur into bed Merlin tucked the duvet around Arthur; all Arthur did was smile at Merlin in deep gratitude.
However Merlin soon noticed that the relaxing atmosphere that Merlin carried around with him was getting disturbed by Arthur's loud and chest heaving cough.
Arthur groaned loudly which was when Merlin remembered that he had some medicine that would help Arthur's cough to calm down and allow him to be gently lured into the world of sleep.
Telling Arthur that he would be leaving him for a minute seemed to break Arthur's heart, which was shown when he clung to Merlin's arm and asking him politely not to leave.
Merlin felt his heart sink and break at the same time, here Arthur was feeling ill and vulnerable and all Merlin could do was to soothe him by saying he would run as fast as he could to get the medicine for Arthur.
Sticking to his promise Merlin ran like the wind to fetch the medicine and ran straight back the second he grabbed it.
"Merlin" Arthur said weakly before trying to give Merlin a smile which he felt he deserved.
"Told you I would run as fast as I could didn't I"? Merlin replied before showing Arthur the medicine.
"Night Nurse"? Arthur questioned nervously.
"Yes, it works a treat for a cold and the flu" Merlin said reassuringly.
Merlin opened the bottle which revealed to Arthur what the medicine looked like.
"It looks like green slime" Arthur said, his facial expression shouting out the word disgusting.
"But its good green slime "Merlin replied.
Without saying another word Arthur let Merlin give him two spoonful's of the medicine which Arthur said and he quoted "tasted vile".
"It will help you sleep" Merlin said kindly.
The medicine soon got to work as Arthur was falling into a peaceful sleep, to add to the calm atmosphere Merlin massaged Arthur's hair until he heard soft snores coming from Arthur.
Thinking that Arthur was asleep Merlin arranged the duvet so that it covered the whole of Arthur's body.
He was about to leave until he heard a muffled "Merlin" from Arthur.
"Arthur"? Merlin asked, worried that the medicine had not worked as he said it would therefore breaking the promise he had made to Arthur.
"Thank you" Arthur murmured just enough for Merlin to make out what he was saying before sleep claimed him.
Merlin just smiled before leaving Arthur to sleep peacefully.