A/N: Written for the May 2011 Merthur Party on Tumblr, for the prompt: A song you ship Merthur to.
Songfic, "Make You Feel My Love" cover by Adele
Rating: PG Warnings: None
When the rain is blowing in your face,
and the whole world is on your case…
Merlin watched Arthur intently as he listened to Uther's harsh criticism boom out across the throne room. The manservant was concerned for his Prince. They had just returned from a failed three week mission, hadn't eaten a proper meal in two of those weeks, had lost half of the men, and Arthur was almost shaking with the effort it took to stand up straight. He had a deep gash in his left leg that Uther didn't know about. But Merlin was pretty sure the King would have made him stand there for the entire debriefing session even if he had known. After all, they had failed to eradicate the druid village east of Brenton, and Uther was furious. If there was anything he hated more than sorcery, it was failure. Especially Arthur's failures.
Uther had been raging at his son about the threat that the kingdom faced from untamed villainy and sorcery for the past half an hour, and Merlin didn't know how much longer Arthur could take. He glanced around the room and saw that Sir Leon was watching Arthur just as closely as he was. The senior knight definitely knew about Arthur's injury, and he was clearly worried.
Luckily it sounded like Uther was drawing to a close, finishing up his speech with some well placed reminders of what druids had done in the past. The little voice in the back of Merlin's head wanted to shout out at Uther and ask him if he wanted to compare the amount of people druids had killed with the disgustingly long list of people Uther himself had killed or sentenced to death.
Obviously Merlin didn't do that. He simply waited it out, as always; standing supportively behind Arthur, ready to rush to his aid if he ever should need it.
I could offer you a warm embrace,
To make you feel my love…
After Uther's vicious words, Arthur turned and marched out of the throne room, without even a trace of a limp. Merlin was impressed. He glanced at Leon and met the knight's eye. They both shared a relieved look, both clearly happy that the prince in their charge hadn't collapsed in front of his angry father. Now they could get on with treating his wounds, feeding everyone, and regrouping. They also had to discuss with what was left of the patrol what had really happened back in Brenton.
Merlin ran to catch up with Arthur just outside the big double doors, and was just in time to throw his arms out to steady the falling prince.
"Arthur! Are you okay? Does your leg hurt? Do you want me to run and get Gaius now?"
Arthur opened his eyes and glared at Merlin.
"Of course I'm not okay you dollop head. My leg is about to fall off and roll down the hallway."
Seeing Merlin's hurt and concerned expression, Arthur softened his tone and said,
"But now, just help me to my chambers. I'll be fine to see Gaius if we can just get there."
Merlin smiled, glad that his prince wasn't going to pass out on him. He really didn't think he could catch Arthur if he had to support his whole weight. But he wouldn't say that out loud. Arthur might accuse him of calling him fat again. He was such a girl sometimes. What he did say was,
"You called me a dollop head, sir."
Arthur rolled his eyes,
"And you just called me sir. I think we can both forget our little mistakes and move on with out lives, yes?"
Smiling, Merlin ducked under Arthur's left arm to help him shuffle down the hallway, ignoring the stares of maids and the more discreet glances of the guards. Leon called down the hallway that we would go get Gaius.
When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one there to dry your tears…
Lying in his bed, stripped to his underclothes, Arthur looked much better than he had in the hallway. He wasn't sweating as much, and he wasn't grimacing in pain for the time being.
Gaius had been by to look at the wound, but realized he would need supplies to stitch it up and splint the leg, as it was much deeper than even Leon had thought. Arthur had only showed the wound to Merlin, and had sworn Merlin to secrecy so the manservant wouldn't tell the knights how bad the injury really was.
While Gaius and Leon were going to get the medical supplies, Merlin cleaned the leg. There was a gash from the left side of Arthurs knee all the way down to the right side of his ankle, curving around the back of his calf. When Leon had seen the true extent of the injury he had wondered out loud how Arthur was even able to walk on it, but Merlin and Gaius knew better. Merlin had been magically helping Arthur along since he received the injury three days ago on the last day of their extended mission. Gaius understood that as soon as he saw the wound, because it was almost all the way through to the bone and no man should have been able to walk with it.
But they were back in the castle now, and everything would be fine in time. Thinking that the concoction for pain that Gaius had given Arthur would have been enough to help him, Merlin relaxed the spell he had put on Arthur.
I could hold you for a million years,
To make you feel my love…
"ARRGHHHHH!"
Merlin was shocked into dropping the basin of water he was carrying by Arthur's scream. Shit, he thought, I was holding off more pain than I knew.
Tears were involuntarily streaming down Arthur's face, and Merlin was about to cry himself. He never meant to hurt his prince.
"Arthur, what's the matter?" he asked, even though he knew full well what was going on.
Arthur was trying to be all manly, which usually made Merlin smile, but just broke his heart right then.
"I'm fine. The leg just twinged a bit."
Twinged my arse, Merlin thought. He had to find a way to fix what he had done. He puttered around for a minute, then found the tray of simple healing tinctures and powders that Gaius had originally brought. Luckily Merlin knew what they all did, so he selected the least effective, and applied it to the wound. As he did so, he started siphoning off some of the pain using the same spell he had been using before. He was very careful not to do it too fast or to help too much, though he was sure Arthur really wouldn't notice.
Arthur sighed and relaxed back into the pillows he was propped up against.
"Thanks Merlin."
A thank you was so rare that Merlin decided that the pain must have made Arthur delirious. He also decided to put a mild sleeping spell on his prince to let him get some much-needed rest. He didn't like interfering magically so much, but it really was necessary.
He sat on a stool next to Arthur's bed and watched as he drifted off to sleep. He was startled out of his observing when Arthur said, with eyes still closed,
"Merlin, stay here."
Without thinking, Merlin said,
"For a million years, and more."
I know you haven't made your mind up yet,
But I would never do you wrong.
I've known it from the moment that we met.
No doubt in my mind where you belong…
Merlin spent the next few hours worrying that Arthur had actually heard his response whilst Gaius tended to the prince's leg. He also was dropping and tripping over things a disproportionate amount of time. By the time Arthur finally woke, Gaius had banished Merlin to a chair at the table and was making him fold up bandages.
When Arthur moaned softly and opened his eyes, Merlin was at his side in a flash. He noticed that the prince was sweating a little bit, and hoped that it was only because of the heat of the mid-summer day and not because of a fever. Before he could ask about anything someone else entered the room. It was Gwen.
Merlin was friends with Gwen, but he had started to get a little jealous of the pretty girl every time he saw Arthur smile when she walked into a room. This time wasn't any different. Even though he had only just woken up and was obviously in pain, Arthur smiled and said Gwen's name. Gwen herself hurried to Merlin's side and responded by saying,
"On behalf of all the servants I would like to wish you a speedy recovery, my lord."
Arthur sat up more on the pillows and said,
"And what about on your behalf Gwen? What do you wish?"
The shared a look, and Merlin just wanted to melt into the floor.
What Merlin missed when turned away and walked back to the table was the look he directed towards his manservant, which, where his previous gaze at Gwen had been friendly and familiar, was passionate and burning. But Merlin missed it.
Gwen didn't. She flashed a knowing smile towards Arthur, and giggled when the prince blushed. Arthur scowled at his friend, and called out to Merlin.
"Merlin, are you intentionally ignoring my princely needs, or will you make some tea for us all?"
Merlin was startled.
"Us all, Arthur?"
Arthur smirked.
"Well, you're going to just plop yourself down and drink it anyway so you might as well be included from the beginning."
Gwen turned and mouthed to Merlin "Do it."
Merlin, not quite knowing what was going on, just turned and grabbed the kettle to put on over the fire.
Gwen took advantage of the manservant's turned back and bent down to whisper something in Arthur's ear,
"I'll just leave you two alone then, shall I?"
Arthur almost whacked her, but then remembered that she was a girl and he couldn't go around hitting women, no matter how much he really wanted to shove this particular woman in a cage with a bear for her obnoxious habit of being correct all the time. Sometimes he could swear that Morgana was teaching Gwen the art of being a horrid bitch.
Of course, when Merlin turned back to face the bed he only saw Gwen leaning down over Arthur, and thought she was kissing him, because what else could they be doing.
His heart felt as if it would shatter into a million pieces if he stayed in that room much longer.
Arthur didn't even know there was a choice to be made, but the prince had apparently chosen.
I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,
I'd go crawling down the avenue.
No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love…
Merlin stormed out of the room and turned down the hallway. He finally came to a halt at an alcove a good ways away from the prat's chambers and stood staring at the wall. Then, without thinking, he stared punching it as hard as he could, relishing in the pain shooting through his knuckles and grinning when blood finally started to stain the rough stones of the wall.
The closing door had alerted Gwen to Merlin's departure.
"Arthur, he must have thought you kissed me!"
Arthur banged his fists on the bed.
"What a clotpole!"
Gwen stared at Arthur.
"Did you really just say clotpole?"
Arthur rolled his eyes and said,
"Yes, I did, okay? That damn idiot is turning me into a commoner. I called him a dollophead earlier."
Gwen laughed.
"Wow, you really do have it bad."
"Shut up Guinivere!"
Gwen almost roared with laughter.
"How long have you been in love with your manservant my Prince?"
"I am not… well… ughhh, just stop Guinivere. Just stop."
Gwen smirked at the stuttering man in front of her. She and Morgana had known about Merlin's feelings for Arthur for a long time, but it was only when she received a really cryptic letter from Arthur while he was out on the mission did she begin to suspect that the feelings were returned. This only confirmed it. But the two of them were too stupid to realize that they both liked each other back. She was tempted to go tell Morgana and just wait until they figured it out on their own, but she felt bad for Arthur in his injured state, and offered to go find Merlin.
"Thanks Gwen," he said as she left.
The storms are raging on the rolling sea,
And on the highway of regret.
Though winds of change are blowing wild and free,
You ain't seen nothing like me yet…
Gwen heard Merlin's sobs before she found him in the alcove, and she gasped when she saw him clutching his bruised and bloody hands to his chest, rocking back and forth on the ground.
"Get up you moron! What if someone saw you?"
Merlin just looked up at her and said, with venom in his voice,
"I'm not the only one who doesn't care if someone sees me."
Gwen glared down at him and said, in a harsh whisper,
"You are an idiot. I was not kissing Arthur like you thought. Get up and come with me and we can sort this whole thing out, but we can't talk about it here."
Merlin just stared at Gwen for a minute, then tried to stand up. Putting weight on his hands was obviously too painful, so Gwen finally hauled him up by the shoulders. He looked embarrassed.
"You should be embarrassed you dummy. Now Arthur's worried about you. Come one, lets go back to his rooms."
Merlin stood stock still.
"I can't go back to his rooms like this. He'll want to know why my hands are like this, and I can't tell him its because I love him—"
Merlin clapped his hands over his mouth after he let his secret slip. Gwen simply rolled her eyes.
"You both are idiots. How you can possibly live so close to each other every day and not realize that you each love the other is beyond me. Now come on."
Merlin still didn't move.
"What? What did you just say?"
Gwen huffed and said as slowly as possible,
"Arthur. Loves. You. You. Love. Arthur. You. Both. Are. Stupid."
Merlin almost fell down. But then he thought better of that and pushed past Gwen to race down the hallway to his prince's rooms.
I could make you happy, make your dreams come true,
Nothing that I wouldn't do,
Go to the ends of the earth for you,
To make you feel my love…
Dripping blood behind all the way down the corridor, Merlin barged his way into Arthur's room. Not care about the broken state of his hands, he ran across the room and grabbed Arthur's face, surprising the blond. In a deadly serious voice that Arthur had never heard, Merlin said,
"Gwen just said that you love me. If this is true I am going to kiss you until we both pass out. If it is not I am going to leave right now and never return."
Arthur just stared at his manservant. He had never seen Merlin so intense.
Instead of saying anything he just closed the gap between their mouths and answered with the best kiss of his life.
In between wonderful, breathless, headache-inducing kisses, Merlin managed to get out one question,
"But why didn't you do anything?"
Arthur pushed Merlin back to stare at him, and then did something Merlin did not seem coming at all.
He hit him.
"Are you actually an idiot? Why did I not do anything? I did EVERYTHING? Why do you think you're the only person I tell half of the things that happen in this shitty life of mine? Why do you think you're the only noble manservant with his own horse and tack? Why do you think I wake up before you and get dressed most days, because I'm too embarrassed to let you touch me? Why do you think I let myself get distracted in battle because I'm worrying that you'll get hurt? It's because I love you, you dollop-headed clotpole!"
Merlin just stared, still holding Arthurs face in his bruised and broken hands. He couldn't speak, couldn't move. He was caught between collapsing from sheer relief and throwing Arthur down onto the bed and fucking him silly, his hands and Arthur's leg be damned.
"Well, if that wasn't the most adorable thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is!" squealed Gwen from the doorway. The boys had clearly forgotten about her, and the open door.
Arthur and Merlin turned as if one and shouted,
"SHUT UP GUINIVERE!"
To make you feel my love…
END