A/N: This is just a short little fic that's been begging to be written. Hope you enjoy it!
Xxx
Arthur barely feels the barbed head of the arrow as it pierces his back. He keeps rushing forward, trying to get to Lancelot. His knight is in trouble and needs help. With a yell, Arthur slashes at one of the men crowding around his most fiercely loyal knight.
Others rush in to help, shouting battle cries, but the sounds seem to fade in Arthur's ears. A strange rushing fills his hearing and blackness enters the edges of his vision. He swings his sword again, but it seems to have doubled in weight in the last few seconds.
"Arthur! Arthur!" Arthur smiles as he hears Merlin's voice. His sorcerer will save him, like always. He tries to say Merlin's name, but before it can leave his lips, he is engulfed in blackness.
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Arthur wakes up rather uncomfortable, but not really in any pain. His back twinges as he moves and he remembers the arrow. Merlin would have removed it and healed him with magic. He glances around to see that he's in his chambers. Merlin is dozing off in a chair next to his bed.
"Merlin."
Merlin wakes with a gasp and jumps up, his hands fluttering over Arthur for a moment before he realises his king is ok. "You're awake."
Arthur frowns as he tries to work out the change in Merlin's expression. Instead of the relief he usually sees after waking up from some kind of injury, Merlin's face is closed off, almost cold.
"Are you ok?" he asks.
"I'm fine," Merlin says, but Arthur spots his hands shaking.
He sits up. "What is it?" he asks. "Is anyone else hurt? Lancelot? Gwaine? Leon?" He frantically tries to think which of his knights were with them when they were ambushed, but his mind still feels fuzzy.
"Stop it, Arthur, stop it!" Merlin yells, shocking Arthur into silence with the raw anguish in his voice.
"What's wrong?" Arthur asks again.
"It's – you –" Merlin gives a shuddering gasp and tears start to run down his face.
"You can't keep doing this, Arthur!" he shouts. "Just because I have magic and can heal you doesn't mean you can go risking your life!"
"But Merlin, if I didn't, Lancelot would have died, and I'm fine…"
"Well I'm not!" Merlin yells, leaping to his feet, furious. "What do you think it does to me, Arthur, to see you on death's door, over and over again? How am I supposed to –?"
Merlin snaps his mouth shut, taking deep breaths. Arthur doesn't know what to say, staring at Merlin as though he's never really seen him.
"Merlin?" he says tentatively.
Merlin turns away, gasping and sobbing. Ignoring the pain in his back, Arthur gets out of bed and slowly puts an arm around Merlin. The sorcerer collapses into him and Arthur just manages to catch him and pull them both onto the bed before Merlin hits the floor.
Merlin's head is spinning and he is blinded by tears. He gasps and sobs, but he doesn't seem able to get enough air. His eyes open wide in panic as he struggles to breathe.
Arthur's face is inches from his. "Merlin? Merlin?" He starts to panic as he realises that Merlin's breath is ragged and hoarse, pulled in and out with great difficulty. "Breathe, Merlin, just breathe," he says, stroking the side of Merlin's face, trying to soothe some of his panic.
Merlin writhes in his grip like a fish out of water and Arthur wraps his arms firmly around his sorcerer, holding him tightly to his body and making sure he doesn't hurt himself.
"It's ok, Merlin, it's ok," Arthur says softly. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. I'm not going to die."
Merlin gives a shuddering gasp as he finally pulls more air into his lungs. Arthur's face swims back into his vision, looking concerned and fearful, inches from his.
Merlin's fingers clutch onto Arthur's shirt as he cries hysterically into the king's shoulder. "I can't – Arthur – it's too much – seeing you so close to death, so often. It's – too – much – can't –"
Arthur tries to calm him, but Merlin is in such a state, Arthur doesn't know what to do. He's never seen Merlin like this, Merlin who is always so resolutely cheerful and optimistic.
"Merlin, stop, just stop!" he says, holding tightly to Merlin's flailing arms. "I'm fine, alright? I'm not going to die."
But Merlin seems to get more and more upset every second, shaking and gasping, and Arthur can tell he's having trouble breathing again.
He doesn't know what to do. He wants to call for help, but he can't leave Merlin like this, even for the few minutes it would take to call Gaius.
Without even realising he'd decided to do it, Arthur presses his lips firmly to Merlin's.
Merlin freezes under him, shocked out of his panic. Arthur had just intended to get Merlin to stop, but the feel of the sorcerer's lips under his is addictive and before he knows it, his lips are moving with Merlin's, testing, tasting. Merlin moans and leans into Arthur, letting his mouth fall open.
As much as he doesn't want to, Arthur forces himself to pull away.
"Now that I have your attention, will you please listen to me?" he says. "Merlin, I am not going to die, ok? I'm not leaving you, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I've hurt you so badly, but Merlin, why didn't you say something sooner? How was I to know what I was doing to you when you never said anything?"
Merlin's eyes are wide and wet as they stare into Arthur's. "I didn't think you'd understand," he whispers.
"Of course I understand," Arthur says. "Why do you think I always insisted you stay back behind guards whenever a fight broke out? I know that you're more capable of defending yourself than all of my knights put together, I just can't stand to see… I just didn't think you felt the same way I –" Arthur breaks off uncomfortably, but Merlin seems to fill in the blanks on his own.
"Of course I do, you prat," he whispers, leaning his head even closer to Arthur's.
"Well, I'll be more careful from now on," Arthur says. "Ok? Just next time tell me if something is wrong before you completely lose it."
Merlin nods, his eyes closed. "I love you," he whispers, so softly that had Arthur been any further away, he wouldn't have heard.
"I love you too, Merlin," he says fervently. This time, when he leans in to kiss his sorcerer, Merlin's response is instant. Their arms wind around each other, holding on tightly, never to be parted.
The End
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