Hey guys, here's the next chapter as promised. Thanks again for those of you who have reviewed/mailed me; your comments and suggestions are much appreciated and valued!
Enjoy
Chapter 14 – Socks for Christmas
Going out with Freya and her flatmates was definitely the right decision he later reflected.
Having arrived outside flat 54 he knocked sharply on the smooth wooden door and waited as the sound of laughter from within quietened significantly, to be replaced with approaching footsteps.
"Hi there," breathed the girl answering the door, her light brown hair swept casually into her eyes. She was tall and willowy in stature, and had a pleasant calm heart shaped face.
"Hey, I errr... think I'm expected – I'm Merlin" he added, holding out his hand in greeting.
"Nice to meet you Merlin, I'm Sefa," she beamed, shaking his hand enthusiastically, "Freya told us you were coming up a little bit earlier."
She ushered him into the hallway and closed the door behind him. On looking around it appeared their flat was set out in a similar fashion to his, except with only five bedroom doors rather than 6.
When he mentioned this to Sefa she laughed and agreed that theirs was a slightly smaller flat, "But one less bedroom means a slightly larger kitchen..."
She was not exaggerating.
"Wow!" he gaped as he followed her into the communal room, which was about a third of the size larger than their own kitchen, allowing for another sofa to be easily slotted into place.
The modern design was of course the same, but the far corner of the lounge area also boasted 2 ceiling high windows which bathed the room in the late afternoon sunlight.
"Ah Merlin right on time," waved Freya from where she was helping to build a castle of cards on the glass coffee table, "I see you've already met Sefa..."
She went on to quickly introduce the rest of her flatmates. There was Gilli of course, who she had mentioned earlier on; a shorter stockier lad with a rounded friendly face, striking green eyes and a mop of dark un-kept hair.
Then there was the dazzling Elena who was the picture of a stereotypical beauty, with golden blond silky hair tussled up into a bun, smooth pristine skin and baby blue eyes. The spell was somewhat broken when she tripped over her own feet upon scrambling up from the sofa to shake Merlin's hand.
"Honestly you have got to be one of the clumsiest people I've ever met!" laughed Freya as she assisted Merlin in helping a beetroot faced Elena to her feet.
Finally he was introduced to Daegal, a skinny lad with immaculately styled reddish brown hair and careful dark brown eyes. He wore slightly worn clothes similar to Merlin, indicating that it was likely he had also come from a slightly poorer background.
"Can I get you a cider Merlin?" asked Gilli in a soft Scottish accent, as he wandered slowly over to the kitchen area, "We're all having one as well mind."
Merlin laughed and made a point of looking at the clock on his phone, "It's barely even the evening and this flat is already cracking open the drinks? I think I should come back more often!"
There was a buzz of laughter around the room, which flowed smoothly into a cheer as Daegal managed to place the final card on top of the tower.
"Oh well done Daegal, I can't believe you guys actually finished it!" exclaimed Elena excitedly, "Now if I can just reach to get my glass..."
"NO!" shouted practically everyone but Merlin, making both him and Elena jump in surprise.
"Here, " smiled Freya wearily as she picked up the glass from next to the card tower and handed it to her. "Just for goodness sake stay away until we at least take a photo of it!"
"Elena pouted and hugged the glass into her chest, "I'm not that clumsy you know!"
This earned her a withering look from the others causing her to pause and almost reconsider her statement,
"Yeah you have a point..."
After Freya had gleefully taken a photo of their masterpiece on her phone and everyone had been handed a fresh cider, they all settled down onto the sofas to enjoy their drinks.
"Oh is that the time?!" cried Sefa, frantically waving her watch around on her wrist, "Quick Freya turn on the laptop; we're gonna miss University Challenge!"
There was a flurry of motion as Freya rushed to find the right website on her battered computer and everyone huddled around the screen so as to get a good view.
"So... is this kind of a flat activity then?" asked Merlin, the amusement obvious in his voice.
"It's the highlight of our day!" bounced Sefa.
"She's not even joking," smiled Daegal slightly from his seat next to Elena by the window.
"Right so the normal rules apply," chirped Gilli as he rubbed his hands eagerly, "Whoever gets the most questions right gets a free drink when we go to the pub!"
He should have known alcohol was the incentive; this was a student flat after all, albeit not in the usual sense.
Although he was initially sceptical regarding the entertainment factor of the game, he soon found himself drawn in by the competitive natures of the others and was promptly shouting with glee as loud as the rest of them when he got his first question right.
He actually did pretty well for a first timer he decided afterwards, having come third out of 6, closely behind Daegal and narrowly beating Freya. What surprised him the most though, was that Elena had stormed into an easy lead and there was no doubt that she had completely wiped the board with the rest of them.
"Can't believe you won again!" grinned Daegal as he nudged her playfully in the ribs.
"Well what I lack in hand-eye coordination I obviously make up for in brains!" she chirped happily, beaming back at him.
"It's painful isn't it?" whispered Freya in his ear as the theme tune to the show and a buzz of conversation filled the room, "They definitely like each other but both of them are too shy to do anything about it!"
Merlin gave a small smirk and a wink to acknowledge he'd heard her, before she dived into the centre of the circle to turn off the laptop.
He physically felt his mood drop again in contrast as to how happy he'd been during the game and his mind drifted back to Mordred and Kara back upstairs in his own flat. He wondered what they were doing right now...
His thoughts were interrupted by a strange and angry wet noise from one of the adjacent sofas.
"Sorry," blushed Gilli, crossing his arms and smiling in his embarrassment, "That was my stomach..."
They all laughed in unison, before it was decided that it was probably about time they headed down to the pub and ordered some food.
As they rose to their feet and filed out into the hallway, they heard the half-expected sound of a card tower being accidentally knocked over from back in the kitchen.
"Don't worry about it Elena!" called Freya in response to the subsequent whimper behind them.
A couple of hours later, Merlin found himself sprawled over a rather comfortable red leather arm chair listening to the conversation of the group, with a full stomach and a double vodka and coke in his hand.
It was also a testament to the strength of the drinks in the pub that even after consuming probably half his body weight in food he was still experiencing an alcohol induced tingling sensation in his finger tips.
The pub had a sort of cross fusion of modern meets medieval decor, with a stylish and highly polished bar area, complementing the rustic furniture, wooden beams framing the ceiling above and the merrily crackling log fire in the far corner in the room.
"So Merlin," hiccupped Gilli, having loosened his belt and patting his now silent stomach contentedly, "Are your flat mates nice?"
Merlin sat himself upright and placed his drink onto the dark rounded oak table in the centre of the group.
"Yeah they're awesome, we had a bit of a shaky start to begin with but we're all getting on great now."
"How'd mean shaky?" asked Elena, raising her eyebrows quizzically.
Well I'd think that being pushed about by a sadistic homophobic and having a prattish flatmate turn a blind eye to it would be enough to start any group of people off on the wrong foot, he thought dryly to himself with a grim smile.
"Bit of a clash of personalities and some stupid behaviour really," he shrugged.
"You live with Arthur and Morgana Pendragon don't you?" asked Sefa curiously, her eyes alight with interest as she took a sip from her glass of wine, "Daegal swore he shared a lift with them the other day."
Merlin was about to ask her how she knew that, when he saw Freya casually avoiding eye contact and pointedly checking her phone.
He smirked before turning his attention back to Sefa, "Yeah I do; bit of a shock when I moved in I'm telling you..."
Sefa almost squeaked with excitement as she placed her drink down and leant forwards towards Merlin so she could get all of the details.
"So what's he like? Arthur I mean? Is he as hot as in the photos? I bet he is isn't he! Oh and is he - ?"
"A gigantic prat?" interjected Merlin, before pausing for another swig of his drink, "Yeah he is! But he's growing on me I guess."
"He's not that good looking!" moaned Gilli, not even bothering to open his eyes as he dozed, "I don't get what you girls see in him to be honest... Morgana on the other hand..."
"He's gorgeous what's not to like?!" retorted Sefa indignantly, "Casually ruffled blonde hair, a rugged jaw line, toned body and a smile to die for... ".
She sighed dreamily and began fanning herself with a coaster.
"Careful Sefa," warned Freya jokingly, "I don't think the owners would appreciate you leaving a wet patch on their seats!"
Elena snorted with laughter and ended up spraying her WKD down her front, although fortunately for her, Daegal was promptly on hand with some napkins and he wasted no time in helping her to clean up.
"So are the magazines right in saying he's still single?" asked Sefa, unperturbed by Freya's remark.
"I guess so," replied Merlin with a small nod of the head, "I mean he's not technically seeing anyone as far as I'm aware."
He had initially intended on mentioning that Arthur appeared to be still desperately vying for Gwen's attention at present, but rather quickly decided against it. You never know who could be listening in on this conversation and the last thing he wanted, more so for Gwen's sake, was some sleazy reporter publishing an article on it.
"How about Morgana? Is she seeing anyone?" voiced Gilli, trying and failing to sound cool and uninterested.
"Again, not that I'm aware of," answered Merlin casually.
Gilli rubbed his hands together, "So plenty of opportunity then for her to succumb to my charms!"
"Or file in for a restraining order!" piped in Daegal with a pointed grin at Gilli having finally cleared up the most of the WKD residue.
"I'm sure you couldn't believe your luck either could you Merlin?" asked Sefa with a grin, "I think most boys would think all their Christmas' had come at once getting to share a flat with Morgana!"
He sighed inwardly. Oh how sometimes he wished that he could go back in time to tell his 14 year old self that not only would he have to come out to his mum, but also to every new group of friends for practically the rest of his life. It seemed as though there was such a big fanfare made about the first time someone came out, when in fact they'd probably end up coming out many more times afterwards. Still, it was becoming easier each time he did it.
"Actually... I'm not really into girls that way," he stated airily, unable to make eye contact regardless.
"I knew it!" exclaimed Freya clapping her hands merrily.
Merlin cringed, "Is it that obvious?"
"Oh no," reassured Freya with a smile, "I just have an amazing gay-dar, it's a sort of talent of mine!"
He glanced around at the others and was immensely relieved to see that none of them seemed bothered in the slightest at his revelation.
"So is there a special guy in your life at the moment then?" cooed Sefa with interest, looking as eager as when she was asking after Arthur.
Merlin thought about this carefully, his heart throbbing uncomfortably, even in his alcohol-comforted state.
"No, there's no one."
After final orders had been called for the night and everyone had drunk up, they decided to head back to the halls, especially considering Merlin and Freya were the only lucky ones to have the next day off.
They parted ways on the fifth floor when the others bundled out of the lift to head back to their flat and prised a slightly tipsy Freya from the bear hug she was giving Merlin.
"I'll see you on Thursday!" she trilled loudly, causing Sefa to clamp her hand over her mouth so that she didn't disturb the other flats.
Merlin rode the lift up the next five floors alone.
Finally he unlocked the door to the flat and crept inside, taking care so as not to wake anyone up. He wasn't that late in all honesty and most of them were probably still awake anyway.
He half stumbled, half walked to his bedroom door and fumbled with the keys to try and find the lock.
It'd taken him several attempts to open the front door and he wasn't feeling particularly optimistic about managing the next one.
There was movement from the direction of the kitchen which he ignored, however when the approaching shadow stopped to his side, he had no choice but to look up in acknowledgement.
"Good time?" smiled Gwen warmly, whilst wearing a pale blue fluffy dressing gown and clutching a hot mug of tea in her hands.
"Yeah I just went to the pub with some friends" he slurred as he rested his head wearily on the wood of his door.
"Do you need any help getting into your room?" she asked with amusement as he pawed at the handle miserably.
"Nope thanks I've got this..."
She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and a pat on the head before heading off to bed.
Merlin sighed to himself and continued trying to get into his room. He just wanted to get in, brush his teeth and go to bed...
"Merlin?"
Oh shit.
"Hey," he replied, forcing a smile as he turned to see Mordred hovering in his doorway wearing an old t-shirt and loose pair of boxers.
"Are you... okay?"
"M'fine" he sniffed, continuing to fumble with his keys, "S'Kara still here?"
The other boy looked confused, "Umm... no? She left hours ago."
"Oh... that's nice," he forced out through gritted teeth.
He rattled the handle again. Still no joy...
For fucks sake!
WHY. WOULDN'T. THIS. STUPID. DOOR. OPEN!
His vision blurred gold for a moment and he heard the locking mechanism click loudly before his bedroom door swung open.
"Bout time!" he grumbled, stumbling inside and flicking on the light.
He made to shut his door, only to find Mordred blocking him from doing so.
"Are you mad?" he hissed, checking the hallway was clear, "You can't just go around using magic like that, someone could have seen!"
Merlin mumbled to himself as he turned away and crossed the room clumsily, before curling up on his bed. Why couldn't he just be left alone to wallow in peace?
No doubt Mordred realised his attempts to reason with Merlin were in vain, when he promptly dosed off and began snoring softly.
He watched him sleep for a while with a conflicted expression, before turning out the light and shutting the door.
Present day
"NO MERIN!" cried Lance frantically as he grabbed his hands and pulled him away from the oven.
"Wha? What did I do wrong?" asked Merlin, racking his brains in confusion.
Lance stared at him incredulously for a moment, clutching his chest, before he strode over to the work top and grabbed the pair of pink oven gloves which had been sitting there plain as day.
"These Merlin, are oven gloves; you wear them when you plan to get things out of a hot oven!"
Merlin smacked his hand to his forehead in realisation, "Oh crap yeah sorry I completely forgot!"
The other man gave an exasperated laugh as he sunk onto one of the sofas, "You weren't lying when you said you couldn't cook were you?"
Merlin smiled apologetically as Gwen who had previously been preoccupied watching videos of cats with Morgana on YouTube, picked up a stray magazine and began fanning Lance so as to cool him down.
"Well I think he's quite talented," smirked Arthur as he looked up from his Ipad, "I don't think I've ever laughed so much watching someone trying to stuff a chicken before!"
"Oh har har," retorted Merlin sarcastically as he successfully managed to remove the tray from the oven – albeit this time wearing the oven gloves.
"In fairness he's better than he was when he got here," reasoned Mordred from his seat at the kitchen table.
As Arthur shrugged in half-hearted agreement, Merlin made brief eye contact with Mordred and smiled softly, before hurriedly turning away, the tips of his ears burning hot.
After the misery of that first night, he'd become much more accomplished at composing himself around Mordred, albeit things definitely weren't the same between them since he found out about Kara. Still, following waking up the next morning with the mother of all hangovers, he made a mental promise to put his childish feelings aside and try make do with just being his friend.
It was better than nothing at least.
Thing's had pretty much returned to normal from that point on, although he had not interacted telepathically with the other boy since the night they found out about each other's magic. He didn't think he could bear having Mordred sense the pangs of jealously he had been bottling up over the past few weeks. There had been a few occasions when he had sensed Mordred reaching out with his mind at night, possibly to try and talk to him, but fortunately having consulted his newly acquired spell book, he'd managed to figure out a way to still his conscious thoughts sufficiently to mimic sleeping and so Mordred simply withdrew rather than attempt to rouse him.
Kara had of course been spotted around the flat occasionally to Merlin's irritation, although he didn't wish to be rude and so he made a continued effort to be polite and friendly whenever he bumped into her.
Now he knew how Arthur must have felt immediately following the Valliant incident, albeit with considerably less heartache.
Morgana had inevitably noticed the exchange of glances between the pair of them and even if she hadn't, the tell tale sign of his reddening ears would easily have given it away. She rose from the sofa on the excuse of re-filling her and Gwen's drinks and made her way over to the sink so that she was standing right next to Merlin.
Arthur of course took this opportunity to jump into Morgana's place on the sofa, so that he converse more easily with Gwen.
"So you guys are still on the lingering gaze stage huh?" she asked quietly as she washed out her glass with water.
Merlin grimaced as he stabbed the roast chicken unhappily with a fork.
"I don't think we're going to be going much further than that anyway," he uttered through clenched teeth, "Not now Kara is on the scene anyway."
Morgana had the common decency to look surprised at this statement, "The brown haired girl who I've seen around every now and again? Are they dating?"
He nodded glumly as the juices of the chicken ran clear, indicating he could let the bird rest for a while before serving.
"Are you sure?"
Merlin paused and considered this question, "Well she was all over him when I first saw them, holding his waist and his hand – "
"Yeah but me and Gwen fawn over you like that all the time, but it doesn't mean we're fucking does it?" she tittered impatiently, glancing behind her to make sure they weren't being overheard.
He had to laugh at her bluntness, but regardless he shook his head in disbelief, this wasn't some romance novel like Pride and Prejudice; there wasn't going to be some soppy reunion after a horrific misunderstanding.
He told Morgana as such, which earned him a quick whack over the head with a roll of kitchen towel.
She pursed her lips in determination as she poured wine into hers and Gwen's glasses, before she scooped them up ceremoniously and headed back over towards the rest of the group.
"Oh will you two leave Gwen alone? You're worse than a pair of lovesick puppies!"
Arthur and Lance scowled in unison at her as she approached and both evacuated their seats as she made to sit down.
She certainly knew how to clear a sofa.
"That reminds me," she declared airily, as she handed Gwen her glass of wine and turned round to face the table, "How're things going with your lady friend Mordred?"
Mordred flicked his gaze up from the newspaper he had been pouring over and frowned at her, "We're not dating," he corrected hurriedly.
Merlin did his best to carry on with the cooking, although hanging onto every word of the conversation.
To say he was confused was an understatement; they just had to be dating... didn't they?
Morgana did a good job of feigning surprise,
"Oh really? I just thought seeing as you were so chummy..."
Mordred flicked his gaze to the back of Merlin's head and a look of realisation seemed to linger over his face momentarily,
"We're friends, very good friends; I've known her for years... she's like my sister."
Merlin couldn't help feeling as though this was directed somewhat at him, but seeing as he was still refusing to turn around to become involved in the conversation, he carried on with the charade that he was really quite uninterested.
The reality of the situation however, was that his heart had swollen back into life for the first time for what felt like forever, although in actual fact it had barely been two weeks.
Sod that he barely knew him and nothing might even happen between them...
There was still a chance and he'd quite happily live with that hope.
The kitchen door swung open and Percy popped his head round.
"There's someone at the front door for you Arthur," he said with a grim expression, "It's the personal assistant of Valliant's father."
Arthur scowled to himself as he flipped his IPad shut and made to follow Percy into the hallway, puffing out his toned chest to appear business-like and carefully avoiding catching anyone's eye.
Gwen closed her laptop and looked at Morgana worriedly, "Valliant has definitely been expelled hasn't he?"
Morgana nodded silently as she stared at the door intensely, as though half expecting it to burst into flames.
They waited in silence as they all tried to decipher the muffled voices coming from the hallway. They could just about single out Arthur's haughty replies to the stranger, but as for the content of their discussion; well this was anyone's guess.
Finally Arthur re-entered the kitchen to find the rest of them staring at him expectantly.
"Well?" asked Morgana without delay.
Arthur swallowed thickly and held up an odd looking stone tablet with carved snakes etched onto the surface for them to see,
"He was here to apologise on behalf of Valliant for his recent actions," he said disbelievingly, "And he said they wanted me to have this as compensation or something?"
Mordred moved closer to get a better look at what Arthur was holding.
"He gave you a slab of stone?" clarified Lance blankly, as though he hardly believed his own eyes.
"Can I?" asked Mordred carefully, holding his hands out so as to have a hold of the tablet himself.
"Sure, knock yourself out," shrugged Arthur off-handedly, "As far as presents go, that was as disappointing as getting a pair of socks for Christmas..."
Mordred held the stone as though it were an extremely delicate child and slowly moved to the sofa where he sat down next to Gwen.
"Can I borrow your laptop quick?" he asked her, still scanning his cargo with unexplained awe.
Gwen blinked in surprise before flicking open the lid to her computer, "Yeah sure... why?"
"I just wanna check something quick..."
They all carried on with their own activities whilst Mordred tapped quickly and lightly across the keyboard, his eyes glinting with barely contained excitement.
Merlin was crouching down to check on the roast potatoes in the oven, when Gwen asked incredulously, "Medusa's Inheritance?"
He jumped up and rushed with the rest of them to look over Mordred's shoulder with interest.
"I knew I'd heard whispers of this before," gushed Mordred as he traced his fingers across the stone gently.
"Where the hell have you been listening?" asked Arthur amazedly as he squinted to try and read the small print on the webpage open on the laptop.
"History student remember?" replied Mordred sarcastically.
"Oh yeah..."
"It's said," he began quietly, reading the text out to them, "That before her death, Medusa cut out four snakes from her head and turned them into stone, so that should she ever be killed, a part of her might still live and one day pave the way for her return..."
"And you think this... stone, is meant to contain those snakes?" clarified Morgana disbelievingly.
"Of course not," scoffed Mordred, rolling his eyes, "But the point I'm getting at is this is an extremely valuable artefact of Greek mythology... priceless in fact..."
They all stared at the tablet in silence for a moment as they absorbed this latest piece of information.
"Why would Valliant's father give you such a valuable object just to apologise for his son being an arsehole?" questioned Merlin.
"I'm not sure..." replied Arthur, obviously deep in thought, "You'd have thought he'd be trying to hold onto his assets considering..."
"Considering what?" asked Lance,
"Don't worry about it," interrupted Morgana, glaring at her brother, "It's strictly confidential at the moment."
Gwen wrinkled her nose in distaste and turned her honey brown eyes around to the others, "Can you guys smell burning?"
Merlin panicked and raced to the oven.
"OH SHIT THE POTATOES!"
Flashing lights surrounded him and the garbled sounds of screaming and laughter filled his ears. He was running frantically, feeling warm bodies push past him as he squeezed through the crowd of people. "Arthur!" he shouted, looking around wildly. He had to stop him, oh god he had to stop him now!
"He gave me no choice..."
Merlin woke with a yelp and his vision flashed gold, causing his desk chair to topple to the floor with a crash.
He held his breath and strained his ears to check that no one had been disturbed by the noise.
The flat was silent and all he could hear was the frantic pounding of his own heart.
He'd had that dream again; surely that wasn't normal?
But no... this time there was something more, he could almost taste it in the air.
There was magic in the flat he could sense it.
He quietly climbed out of bed and switched on his bedside lamp.
Whatever it was, it was unlike anything he'd felt before.
He crept into the hallway using his phone as a light, wearing nothing but his boxers and a worn t-shirt and listened again intently.
Nothing.
But still he could feel something wasn't right and it was coming from...
Arthur's room.
Well he couldn't leave now, especially after having that dream.
He'd just check he was alright then go back to bed.
He breezed up to Arthur's door and concentrated his magic,
"Ic ia tóspringe"
The lock sprang open with a click and Merlin tip-toed inside.
From the light cast by his phone he saw the stone tablet had been placed carefully onto a towel on the desk, no doubt after Arthur had learnt the truth about its potential value.
He shone the light towards the bed and saw Arthur was slumbering soundly, lying spread-eagled in just his boxers on top of his duvet.
Wow.
He shook his head and forced himself not to become too distracted by the other boys near naked state and quickly ran his gaze around the rest of the room.
Everything looked in order... but he was happy he'd checked; just in case.
He made a swift exit and locked the door behind him, before creeping quietly back towards his own room.
The door next to his opened gently and Mordred stepped out with bleary eyes, wearing a pair of shorts and a loose fitting vest.
"What are you doing?" he whispered, as Merlin almost died with fright.
"I thought I felt something coming from Arthur's room so I just went to check everything was okay," he breathed back.
He could just make out Mordred frowning in the dark, "I felt it too...I thought it might be you?"
Merlin shook his head before opening his door and heading inside where his lamp was still illuminating the room.
He sensed Mordred enter after him and couldn't help feeling a sense of exhilaration.
He'd missed this.
"Kara isn't my girlfriend," stated Mordred intensely, his pale eyes searching for Merlin's almost desperately.
Merlin blinked in surprise, "What? Oh... yeah I know."
"You've been avoiding me?" asked the other boy, although he could tell it was more of a statement than a question.
He swallowed as his mouth suddenly became dry,
"Yeah a bit," he admitted, feeling his cheeks flushing, "I thought that –"
"I know," interrupted Mordred, his mouth twitching slightly, "I figured it out when Morgana was interrogating me earlier."
They stood in the middle of the room without speaking for what felt like an eternity, just enjoying being along in each other's presence again.
"I've missed you," whispered Mordred quietly, causing Merlin's breath to hitch, "I've gone so long without having someone to share my abilities with and then when you started pulling away I –"
"I'm sorry," said Merlin shakily, grasping his hands together awkwardly, "I know it was childish but I panicked... I don't know..." he finished lamely.
Mordred choked out a laugh in response and smiled softly.
Merlin felt him reach out with his mind and brush carefully against his own.
He tensed slightly, as had become habit of late and he forced himself to relax and not try to block his thoughts.
He closed his eyes and allowed himself to immerse himself in their contact, revelling in the relief he gained from it; a sensation he could tell was closely mirrored by Mordred.
There were no words, as none were needed.
He lost track of how long they stood there together brushing against each other's mind, not making full contact, yet also not withdrawing either.
When he eventually opened his eyes, he found that Mordred had moved closer during their telepathic reunion and was now standing near enough for their noses to touch.
He still had his eyes closed, his dark eyelashes casting shadows over his defined cheekbones and his pale complexion wore an expression of undoubted contentment.
He watched the other boy for a moment, before acting on impulse.
He moved inwards and gently pressed his lips against Mordred's.
He felt him gasp softly at the contact, but he did not pull away. Instead he remained still, eyes still clenched shut as Merlin's kiss ghosted over his mouth.
When Merlin's nerve eventually ran out and he went to withdraw, Mordred suddenly grasped his arms with his hands, holding him in place and pushed their lips more firmly together.
And where do you think you're going? He heard in his mind, causing him to grin into the kiss.
Their contact was gentle, yet no less powerful for the sake of it. He could taste the mint of Mordred's toothpaste on his breath and he clutched at his vest desperately as though trying somehow to get even nearer to him.
A startled yell from across the hall forced them to break apart, their breathing fast and needy.
They looked at each other in confusion, noses still touching gently, before Merlin moved his head away slightly, eyes blaring in alarm.
Arthur!