Running, they were running and running. Very quickly, through thick trees and brush, the bandits had caught on to where they were, as soon as they had gotten outside of the old castle. One of them had seen them through the window and it was a race to get free. Merlin, who had longer legs, which gave him the slight advantage of running a tad faster than Arthur, he was in the lead and Arthur was falling behind, Merlin couldn't leave him obviously, so he he held back, grabbed hold of Arthur's hand and yanked him forward, running and weaving through trees. They had come to a steep hill, that led straight down into a ravine.

"Jump!" Arthur yelled and Merlin had already been planning that before he said anything. This must have been due to the fact that they spent way too much time together, Merlin was already thinking of the dumb ideas before Arthur even said them. They both jumped, at the exact same time, hand in hand still, they landed on muddy ground, midway down the hill, on the other side, and thus began to roll down it painfully hard. Tumbling and turning even though Merlin tried to stop them with magic, by the time it had worked they had reached the bottom of the hill and somehow Arthur was on top of him. Apparently he had tried to protect him during the fall, but failed as Merlin was being crushed and there was a searing, burning pain on his left forearm. Arthur stared down at Merlin for a few seconds before sitting up onto his knees. He looked completely unharmed, probably due to Merlin's magic and Merlin felt a little jaded about that. "Where do you get off running faster than me?"

"What?" retorted Merlin, as he sat up, into a puddle of mud, he pulled a face. "Probably because I'm thinner than you."

"You're calling me fat?" complained Arthur and Merlin shrugged. "No, I don't think so...I think it's from all the running away you do, you've gotten good at it."

"At least one of us is," retorted Merlin, and then he stood up. The bandit's were long gone, as they were not stupid enough to jump the ravine. "You're welcome, by the way."

"For what?" said Arthur promptly as he too, stood up.

"Saving your life," chided Merlin as Arthur rolled his eyes openly and dramatically. "...again."

They traveled on foot, since the bandits stole their horses, and it was already the beginning of night fall, so they could hardly see as they trekked through this unfamiliar part of the woods. Arthur suggested they stop only after a few hours of walking. Merlin made a fire and nursed the very large scrap on his arm, while Arthur ate something that looked like tree leaves. Merlin supposed that's what he comes up with when Merlin isn't there to bring him food.

"Enjoying your tree?" offered Merlin, still looking at his arm in some sort of irritated acceptance. It would heal, it just stung. Arthur sat down next to him and glared over as he did so.

"It's mint, fool..."

"Right, and that's a proper dinner?"

Arthur ignored this, instead looking at the cut on Merlin's arm. He reached out and touched it gently with the pads of his four fingers. Merlin winced a little. "It isn't too bad," said Arthur, and Merlin could tell he was trying to be reassuring. "I've had worse...I've been stabbed, if I can live through that...-"

Merlin smiled, he was cute when he was trying to relate to you. The only reason he lived through being stabbed though is due to Merlin's magic, and Merlin couldn't use that right now. So, it wasn't really the same thing. Arthur smiled back at him, and slid a little closer, he then offered him a leaf and Merlin shook his head no. "No thanks, I don't want any tree right now..."

"It's not tree, for God's sake, isn't Gaius teaching you anything?" retorted Arthur and Merlin smiled, even bigger at this.

"Loads," he said. "How to learn to put up with you, mostly."

"Hm," said Arthur in a huff, half annoyed and half not-caring very much. Because Merlin said stuff like this all the time, it was just their thing. "Well, he's doing a terrible job."

"I agree," Merlin nodded. Arthur rolled his eyes and then just looked over at Merlin for a long moment. Merlin smiled at him, a cheeky sort of smile, because he was waiting for a comeback, because Arthur was really good at those, or at least he thought he was. But instead Arthur just sort of looked at him, with this pleasant sort of warm look, not really a smile, but he wasn't looking irritated either. It was hard to explain, Merlin wasn't sure how to feel back, or at all really. But then Arthur reached out and wrapped his left arm around Merlin's shoulder, pulling him closer. Merlin gulped, alarmed, but then his head was on Arthur's shoulder and Arthur's other hand was going around his waist. Something was happening here...

"It's a bit cold," Arthur lied, and it was not at all cold. And even if they were cold, they were right in front of the fire. In fact, if Merlin moved his left foot the wrong way it would be in the fire, so no...it was not cold. Merlin didn't question it though, because if he were being honest, he liked being close to Arthur. This is because he loves Arthur, and he knows that he does, even though he shouldn't. Arthur's free hand, the one not behind Merlin's back, was running up and down Merlin's side. From his hip to his ribs and then back again, and Merlin tried not to like it, he tried not to like a lot of things, but that never worked. "Merlin..." Arthur said softly then, and Merlin titled his head, looking up into Arthur's face. "Do you really dislike working for me?"

Merlin was taken aback by this question, he supposed he didn't really know what Arthur had wanted when he said his name, but this definitely wasn't it. "I wouldn't want to be doing anything else..." Merlin trailed off, with the truth and Arthur smiled at this, looking back down at him.

"I don't want you to do anything else either...or be anywhere else."

Something about Arthur's words, which were spoken so softly, almost in a whisper, they made something in Merlin's stomach drop. He swallowed heard and reached up and brushed a few blond hairs out of Arthur's eyes. "Who says I was going to?"

Arthur shook his head, but he didn't say anything else, his eyes were focused so intently on Merlin's then, as if he were pouring the words he didn't want to say into this look. Merlin looked back, trying to take in the silent words, trying to understand them. He didn't really though, he wasn't sure what exactly Arthur was trying to say, but it didn't matter. The next thing Merlin knew Arthur's eyes shifted from his eyes to his lips and then back up, fluttering shut, as he leaned closer. Merlin should have seen this coming, he knew that now. He leaned forward though, into it. Because how could he not? It was such a tender moment shared between them and so many things danced around them without being spoken, but they both knew it was there, that it just seemed foolish for this not to happen.

They met half way, and their lips brushed together gently, in the softest way possible. As if testing it to see how it feels first, but Merlin already knew how it felt. It felt like he could spend the rest of his life just like this, however long that would be if King Uther dare found out about it. These gentle kisses lasted maybe a few seconds at most, before Arthur shifted slightly and turned his head to the right, deepening the kiss. Merlin had been able to think properly up until this point, he thought that his had been the first kiss that they shared that wasn't prompted by something else. No tripping, no excitement of having not died, no drink to cloud their judgment. They were both completely in their right mind and completely and entirely kissing each other, with no remorse whatsoever. Merlin supposed he would have remorse later, because he knew this was foolish, but right now nothing else mattered.

(A/N: I don't really have an excuse as to why it takes me so long any more to update, and I can't even dare say anything about why I haven't updated any of my other stories that need updated, I am just busy. I have been trying to find time to write even a little and with everything...I am just exhausted. Either way, I hope you enjoyed!)