Merlin sat on the plane, he hadn't said a word since...well, he hadn't said a word at all actually, not in the car ride, not in the airport and now, not on the plane either. Not even when Arthur and Morgana started arguing about who got to sit by the window. In the end Arthur 'decided' to sit in the middle seat, he said so 'if the plane goes down, as the oldest, I can grab both of you.' But Merlin figured it was more he didn't want to listen to Morgana complain endlessly more than anything else. The plane had yet to take off, still boarding more and more passengers. It was very busy for it being so early in the morning.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Arthur, after Morgana had put on headphones and chose to look out of the window and ignore everything else. "You haven't spoken all morning."
Merlin thought that well...he was the matter with him, Arthur himself, and also his mother, for being an endless bitch, and he supposed something else bothered him too. "I've never been on a plane before," he chose to go with that, as the other two things were much too complicated right now. Arthur looked over at him and looked a little concerned.
"I was just joking about it going down before," he said, seriously. "Planes are very safe...for the most part. Nothing's going to happen."
"I didn't think it was...but I am now, so thanks for that."
Arthur let out a breathy, and maybe a little worried, laugh. "Look, just don't worry about it, close your eyes and just relax. Taking off is the worst bit. Once you're up there, it's like nothing is happening."
"Right," Merlin nodded, looking now, as the attendants were shutting the plane door. He was starting to feel an anxious sort of feeling growing in the pit of his stomach, and he found it hard to swallow or really listen to the woman's instructions of putting on a life vest. But it wasn't for another twenty minutes until they would take off, and he didn't know why, but it worried him that the woman who had shown them how to put on life vests sat down in one of the empty seats and buckled in, was that normal?
The plane was going down the run way, very fast, and gaining speed all the while. Merlin felt his heart racing, he could hear his blood rushing in his ears. He slammed his eyes shut, harshly, as they fought him to close, just in case...he wanted to see it coming. And he gripped onto the arm rests with all his strength. He could feel the plane leave the ground with a jerk, he could feel his ears popping, for some reason, and then... he could feel an unfamiliar warmth, of a hand covering his own. His eyes peeked open and looked over to see Arthur looking back at him. A soft smile formed on Arthur's lips and he winked one eye.
And now suddenly, Merlin's heart was racing for a whole other reason, he felt his own lips forming a smile and he tried to hide it, looking back down and biting his lip, in what he hoped looked like nerves. But even still, Arthur did not remove his hand from Merlin's, even well after the plane had reached the skies. It was only when the seat belt sign turned off and people were allowed to start moving around, did Arthur let go and leaned forward.
"This thing has movies," he said, pressing buttons on the screen, that was embedded into the seat in front of them. "We can watch one?"
By the time Toy Story had ended they were already landing, and although scary, Merlin understood now, what to expect, so he was ready to be bumped all around and his ears to pop. He didn't like that part at all though, the bumping he could deal with. The three collected their bags and Arthur got them a Lift to their hotel. Merlin looked around the city in awe, as they drove there, it was so different than London, or Ireland. The style, the people...everything, it was completely beautiful. Even the hotel was beautiful, it was actually very, very beautiful. It had big, blue tables, with huge vases of flowers and there were no doors to the courtyard, it just opened up to it, with long, flowing curtains to keep out bugs or heat. He had never seen anything like it. But, Merlin had never been rich before either.
It was the room itself, that ended up causing a problem, not that it wasn't as lovely as the rest of the hotel, it was a suite even, with a little fridge and complementary drinks. It was the fact that there was only one, be it quite large, bed. Because it was so last minute, this was all Uther could get apparently. There was at least a sofa, according to the bell-hop boy.
"It looks like one of you two will be sleeping on the floor," sad Morgana, as she plopped down on the bed.
"Excuse me?" offered Arthur, with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm the girl, I deserve to be most comfortable."
"Bullshit..."
The two ended up in a fight, again, for a long while, with Arthur suggesting that Morgana had already been selfish once and wanted the window seat on the plane, she didn't need to be more selfish and take the bed too. Merlin couldn't care less about either thing. He just wanted to get out, get some lunch and look at the city.
"I'll sleep on the floor," he said, after awhile, they both paused their argument and stared at him.
"No, let Arthur sleep on the floor," said Morgana. "You shouldn't have to."
"It's fine, I don't really mind..."
"No, she's right...I'll sleep on the floor."
"Oh my god!" yelled Morgana then. "So, you'll fight with me, but not him?"
"It's his first holiday! I'm not going to bloody let him sleep on the floor!"
"Please!" shouted Merlin, and he never shouted. This made both of their eyes widen in shock "It doesn't matter right now, can we just go do something?"
And that they did, they ended up having lunch at a little pub right next door to the hotel. Where the waiter kept obnoxiously flirting with Arthur every chance he got. He also told them of a party that night, that was happening on of the the streets just outside of the main tourist area, and really suggested that Arthur should go. Apparently, this was a normal thing, to have parties in the streets in Barcelona, but Merlin really hoped Arthur wouldn't go either way. He honestly just didn't want him around this waiter, Pablo, or whatever his name was, he was stupid and very...Gwaine like, and Merlin really didn't like that.
"You aren't seriously going to go to that thing, are you?" he asked, once they were leaving the pub and were walking down the street. There were all sort of little shops that sold souvenirs and vases and fresh flowers. Arthur shrugged as they walked, and Merlin frowned. He knew Arthur was going to go, he wouldn't pass up a party, and Merlin found that rather annoying, because he hadn't flown all this way, to sit in a hotel room and wonder what he was doing. And maybe he shouldn't be too concerned about it, he really wished he wasn't, but he was and there was very little he could do about it at this point.
"You know, you don't have to give me that look," said Arthur, as he paused, because Morgana had just walked into a shop without telling them, she started looking at a scarf and the two boys waited outside. neither interested in scarves. "You can just come with me..?"
"Oh, so you can run off with Pablo and I can sit around alone again?" retorted Merlin. "Sounds like a laugh..."
"I don't give a shit about Pablo...I just wanted to go to see what it was like," said Arthur. Merlin did not believe him in the slightest. "Don't give me that look either, I'm not lying!"
Merlin huffed, he turned away from him, just because apparently, Arthur had learned to read Merlin's faces, and he didn't want to give away anything else. His father had been able to read him that easy too. Maybe Merlin just needed to learn to control himself better. "Whatever you say..."
"Wow...alright," said Arthur, but before anything else could be said, Morgana walked out, wearing the new black and purple scarf she had just bought. "Morgana, are you going to go to that party with me tonight?"
"Yes, but only because I want to see what it's like..."she said, seriously. "I have no interest in being around drunk morons, I want the culture."
Arthur smirked in Merlin's direction, very smugly. "Well...it looks like you're out numbered, Mate."
(A/N: This was another kind of short chapter, sorry about that, but the next few will be longer! Enjoy!)