"Arthur?" Merlin grumbled as he tossed and turned in his bed. His head was sore, as were both of his arms and back. Hunith heard the call from downstairs and somewhere her thoughts traced back to the previous night, when Merlin had been injuried. Arthur mentioned that Merlin might call for him when he woken up. Realising this, she dropped the TV magazine and approached her son, slightly opening the door and perching herself at the foot of the bed. "Merlin, what's wrong?"

Merlin was clamped to his bed, raven strands of hair sticking to his forehead. From the looks of things, Merlin was running a slight temperature. "Where is Arthur? Last thing I remember, Arthur was treating me from a fall I had and brought me home." Poor Merlin, not realising exactly how long he'd been out for. "Merlin dear, it's Tuesday evening." Merlin's expression was of a confused one. Tilting his head to his alarm clock on the bedside table, he noticed that the clock read 5:15pm. Okay, so it was evening. Merlin had been asleep all that long?

"I missed college. Great, that's going to go down well."

"Arthur told your lecturers that you were ill and explained the situation to them. I phoned the college to say that you were too ill to go in and would probably be back either the day after or by Thursday at the latest."

"Wait, how does Arthur know I weren't in?"

Grabbing Merlin's phone and the slip of paper which contained Arthur's number, Hunith passed the objects over to Merlin. "Arthur wrote his number down. He said for you to give him a ring once you're awake.." Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Ugh, damn advertisement people!"

"It could be Jehovah Witnesses." Merlin addressed, thinking of the possible people on the other side. "At this time of hour?" Hunith questioned her son, as if 'really, someone preaching at this hour?'

"Who knows, now go!"

Hunith closed Merlin's door behind her, Merlin sinking back into the mattress, fingers tracing Arthur's handwriting of the numbers that were written down. For keepsakes and future reference, Merlin keyed Arthur's number into his phonebook. Mumbling sounds and a few closed doors could be heard from downstairs, so there was obviously a visitor inside. Two sets of feet were growing louder as they assembled the stairs. A knock on Merlin's door allowed Hunith to open it, a small grin forming across her face. "Merlin, you've got a visitor."

"Oh," was all Merlin could say, as Arthur entered Merlin's room, dropping his bag on Merlin's chair and approaching the bedsick adolescent. "Cup of tea Arthur?" Hunith glanced her eyes from one boy to the other. "Please." Leaving the two boys alone, Hunith went to make tea.

"Hey, you didn't phone me earlier so I was guessing you were still under the weather." Arthur grabbed a carrier bag out from his college bag, handing it over to Merlin as he joined Merlin on the bed, Merlin now sitting up. "I bought you these."

Merlin opened the bag to find a box of Cadbury's Roses in there. A faint blush came to Merlin's cheeks along with a wide grin. "Arthur, you didn't have to, but thank you anyway. I haven't long woken up, so I never knew about half of the things that happened last night. The last I remember was being in your arms."

Arthur made a face and teased the other. "You've been asleep all that time whilst I've been hammering away at college? You lazy bugger!"

"Lazy or not lazy. I'm bored and stiff."

"You're also running a temperature. Hold on, have we got a thermometer in here."

"Yeah, in the kitchen."

Arthur couldn't be bothered to run downstairs, so he shouted for Hunith to bring the thermometer up. Luckily, Arthur's call was loud enough for the sound to travel from the bedroom to the kitchen. "Arthur! It's in the bathroom."

Arthur got up from the bed, and went into the bathroom. He noticed the thermometer on the windowsill, next to a clean dry cloth and picked up the both. Damping the cloth, he brought both over to Merlin's bedside, where Hunith came up with the two mugs. Arthur took Merlin's temperature, the mercury stopping at 38°C. "You've got a temperature Merlin."

I'm boiling!"

"How do you feel, other than what you've already mentioned?"

"Sore. I've got a headache and my limbs are sore." Arthur pulled down the duvet, where he noticed that Merlin's sleepwear was also clamped to him. "Ugh, god! These stink!"

"I'll get you some more pyjamas." Hunith went over to Merlin's chest of drawers, and pulled out a fresh pair for him, as well as some clean underwear. Arthur helped Merlin off the bed and into the bathroom, where Merlin could have the privacy to change, being helped by the fact that there was a washing basket in there. Helping Merlin, he didn't seem to take care that he was now coated in a layer of Merlin.

Fully changed, Merlin returned to his room, Arthur easing him onto the bed. Arthur placed the damp cloth over his head to try and cool him down, brushing the strands of hair away. "Any better?"

"A little. Could I ask of one more favour Arthur?"

"What's that?"

"That we continue working on our World Faiths badge."

"Hmm, hold on, I'll text my dad that I'm over here with you and I'll be back later. A little work then, but you need rest."

"I know, but I get bored."

"I know, but I'll keep you busy."

"Don't make it too late Arthur. I won't. Can you let me know when it gets to seven then?"

"Of course."

Arthur collected Merlin's work off the desk, Hunith bringing over their now luke-warm drinks, the lads enjoying each other's company.

Merlin returned to college on Thursday, thanks to finding a shirt that would cover up the few day old marks, his face though would have to make do with luck. His first class was for his EPQ, so Merlin was on his own. With wishful thinking, Merlin could silently eat his chocolates that Arthur bought him whilst working on his task. As for the afternoon, Merlin and Arthur exchanged glances whilst waiting in the Earth Sciences block for class. Arthur's Geology lectures fell where Merlin had Geography in the room opposite. Although Merlin was with friends, as was Arthur, Arthur's friends Darren and Lucas were on about daily tosh that people would call 'news', as Arthur's pupils followed Merlin's silhouette - wait a minute! When did Arthur care about Merlin's body?

Arthur remembered about the night at Merlin's, when his friend Darren mentioned "Arthur! What type of exercise were you performing earlier. You stink!". He realised that when Merlin made his way to the bathroom, he was coated in sweat. Arthur helped him get from the bed to the bathroom, which meant that Arthur had been wearing a part of Merlin. Yep, the eyes trailing along Merlin and wearing Merlin was going to make Arthur feel much better!

During the Geology class, Arthur couldn't keep his mind off Merlin. Although, from the encounters they had had, it could be presumed that they were now indeed friends, Arthur had never thought of him in this way, in fact, he'd never thought about another man before, which was odd. What was different about Merlin compared to every other bloke. With his teacher rattling on about something to with igneous rocks, Arthur swiped his phone out from his jacket, and sent a quick text to Merlin.

"Nice to see you back!"

As for Friday, lunch was spent with Merlin, Lancelot, Gwen and Morgana debating over which is the best place to camp during a long and hot summer. Arthur noticed the four loudly debating, but then again, the whole canteen was filled with chatter and shouting. Arthur never noticed his friends calling him as he ignored their advances and directed himself towards his scouting friends.

"Hey, what we talking about?" Arthur pulled a chair out, the table having enough room for six, and positioned himself next to Gwen.

Gwen turned to Arthur and spilled the details."Oh, we're just having a discussion, following the camp for this year, where would be the best place to camp out during the summer."

"Camp? Are you Guides coming with us or something?"

"Arthur, don't be so harsh. Of course we're coming with you. And we're not Guides, we're the Senior Section, but the guides are also coming," Morgana spoke after nibbling parts of her pizza.

"That's not the point! I thought this year it was just scouts."

"Like that's ever going to happen. Oh, and we're packing for Glastonbury as well."

"Glastonbury?" Merlin questioned. When was there a trip to Glastonbury?

"You haven't seen the letters have you Merlin?" Arthur directed his set of letters across the table, allowing Merlin to take a look. "Morgana handed a set of letters to your mum last Monday."

"Ah, so they are the letters that are on the fridge door. Thankfully, I've been saving up. I'm so going to this!"