Title: Of darkness and spiders
Characters/Pairings: Bradley James, Colin Morgan
Rating: K+
Summary: Pierrefonds experiences a power cut during a storm, and someone is afraid of the dark. With good reason.
A/N: Touches lightly on Northern Ireland's recent past. I am in no way political (although I am a bit of a history nerd), and never discuss my opinion on politics, so this is meant to be nothing more than a tale of one little boy whose life was touched by the Troubles. Based off an interview Colin gave in 2012.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
Bradley leaned forward to flip the telly switch off, fatigue from the day beginning to take its toll on his body. He paused to listen to the sounds of the storm raging outside, a bitter wind occasionally rattling at the back window. The young man shuffled slowly to the lavatory, readying for sleep, exhaustion beginning to pull at his eyelids. As he stumbled back out and plodded towards his bed, another crack of thunder sounded, and the lamp on the bedside table quickly flickered out. Momentarily startled, Bradley peered out the back window into the all-too dark beyond. Great, a power cut. Shrugging in resignation, he quickly set a backup alarm on his mobile, and turned the duvet down, more than ready to forget the storm and the day's strenuous shoot.
Before he could crawl beneath the warm layers, however, a soft pad was heard moving swiftly and quietly in the next room, and a moment later, a gentle, hesitant tap sounded on his hotel door. Bradley scowled in irritation. With one last, longing glance at the empty bed, he turned and pulled the door open wide.
His co-star stood before him, partially damp from the wind-swept rain, looking impossibly adorable in flannel pyjamas and an old tee, his hair sleep-tousled and wind-blown. Colin shifted from one bare foot to the other nervously.
"Did I wake you?" he asked softly, tilting his head to the side and covertly looking up at his friend through thick, dark lashes.
Bradley hesitated. The need for rest was still calling to him, but to his chagrin, he had learned early on in their first year on set, that he would do anything Colin asked of him, when he gave him that particular look. And the thought that terrified Bradley was that he actually, literally meant anything. His only saving grace had been that his co-star seemed completely unconscious of the fact. Not wanting to follow that line of thought any further, the blonde fell back on a proven method of life imitating art. Another discovery he had made during their first months together, was that staying in-character off screen amused the Irish actor to no end, and affecting Arthur's prattishness had many times been a welcome solution to otherwise awkward situations. The blonde straightened his back, pulling his hands up to narrow hips.
"What's the matter, Colin?" he sneered, his eyes sparkling playfully. "Afraid of the dark, are we?"
A hurt expression flittered briefly across the thin, angular face before Colin uttered a weak laugh and plastered a cheeky grin in place. Not before his friend had observed it, however, and Bradley's eyes narrowed, briefly wondering how often the polite, smiling Colin on set was merely an act as well. Another thought for him to file away for a later time. Bradley tossed his head back with a fond grin, opening the door wider. "Come on, then," he invited, and Colin returned the smile, sheepishly following him inside.
The younger actor dropped into a chair against the wall, and stared moodily at the floor, the momentary joviality vanished. Bradley remained in the centre of the room, glancing subtly at his bed. Mentally calculating the number of pillows in the room, he was busy pondering if it would be terribly rude to offer his colleague a pallet on the floor, because there was no way in heck he was sharing a bed with his co-star, fringe-lashed puppy eyes not withstanding, when a soft, small voice sounded from the corner of the darkened room.
"I'm not a coward." The statement was brief but emphatic, the brogue thick with emotion.
Bradley turned, a snarky retort already forming, but the words died on his lips as he looked into his friend's face. Colin was in deadly earnest.
"Cols, I – " the blonde stuttered, nonplussed for the moment. "I was only teasing; of course you're not a coward." He flopped down on the edge of the bed, facing his friend. "I would never think that."
They sat in silence for a moment, Bradley wondering how he was going to fix this, and what precisely it was he was meant to fix. Colin Morgan was not exactly garrulous at the best of times, but when he was upset or bothered by something, he invariably closed down to the rest of the world. In fact, it had always been a point of ridiculous pride to Bradley, that he and Richard alone were allowed glimpses into the real Colin's life. Clearing his throat uneasily, he searched for words to say, but the dark-haired lad spoke first, breaking the silence.
"I just…. don't like the dark very much," the Irishman offered feebly, his face clearly reflecting the struggle of sharing personal information warring against the desperate need to not appear weak in Bradley's eyes. Colin shrugged slightly with a soft puff of deprecating laughter.
"Well," Bradley answered slowly, leaning forward to clasp his hands between his knees, choosing his words carefully, "We all have things we'd rather avoid. Me? Not so much a fan of spiders."
Colin snorted, and the blonde ventured to lift his eyes to his colleague's face. The dark blue still held traces of shamed embarrassment, but the younger man held his gaze clearly, and Bradley grinned.
"I'm sure I've got Word Search on here somewhere," the older boy muttered, picking up his phone and swiping through applications.
Colin clicked his tongue from the corner. "You'd better be careful," he advised, nodding towards the mobile. "You'll run down the battery, and it might be a while before you can recharge it."
Bradley tossed the phone down with a growl. "Well, then go get your DS; 'cause if you think I'm going to just sit here looking at your ugly face all night, Morgan…" His voice trailed off, and Colin stood with a laugh, heading for the door.
Twenty minutes later, the two boys were sprawled across the hotel room floor, racing their respective karts furiously. Bradley was in the midst of succumbing yet again to defeat, when his friend interrupted is concentration with a mumble. "It used to be dark a lot back then," the blue eyes had drifted to the carpet, lost in memory, the hand holding the DS falling limply.
"Hmm, what?" Bradley muttered, taking advantage of his friend's inattention to run him off the track mercilessly.
"When I was a kid. Sometimes, the fighting would be bad for a few days, and blocks of houses would lose electricity. It was a bit weird, seeing all the streets blacked out." Colin shrugged dismissively. "Didn't matter much, with the curfew, anyway."
Bradley looked up slowly from the game, ignoring the fact that his Mario kart had ended in a spectacular explosion. As Colin's offhand words began to register, he felt a shamed glow spread through his cheeks, recalling his mocking words earlier. The blonde could only imagine how terrifying it would have been for a small boy, waking in the night to a darkened house, noises of struggles sounding from the street, readying to evacuate the house if needed. Growing up in Florida, Bradley had never given much thought to the Troubles, aside from feeling a detached compassion for all involved, but the thought that it had affected the person sitting before him, turned his stomach ill. No wonder the lad couldn't sleep in the next room alone.
"Col, I'm sorry – " he began, but the dark-haired boy shook his head, unmistakably wanting to change the subject. Bradley swallowed. "Come on," he leaned sideways to nudge his friend in the too-skinny ribs. "This time, I will beat you."
"Keep dreaming, James," the younger man laughed his retort. Both froze as a loud, insistent knock rapped on Bradley's door, coinciding with another clap of deafening thunder.
Colin lifted one eyebrow at his friend. "You don't think…."
Bradley groaned, pushing himself off the floor. Swinging the door open, he squinted out into the now torrential rainfall, before his eye came to rest on two very determined looking women.
"Step aside, Bradley," Katie pushed her way past him, not waiting for the niceties of an invitation.
Angel followed behind, shrugging apologetically. "We've come to keep you company," she informed him brightly, stopping to shake the water drops out of her hair.
Bradley looked past the girls' head into his friend's eyes, silently questioning if his costar would be alright. Colin gave a slight nod. Apparently, sleep was not in the works for the night. Well, if four young actors failed to show up for their call time tomorrow, Bradley was not taking the blame. Sighing in resignation, he shut the door on the rain and the storm, and turned to join one of the best group of friends he'd ever had in his life. Sleep was really over-rated anyway.