Arthur's breath hitched in the back of his throat. He was leaning heavily on his hands that he had placed on the desk, the knuckles of his left hand turning white by the tight grip he had on the edge of the desk. His father couldn't be seriously injured, he just couldn't be! They hadn't always seen eye to eye, but he didn't want to lose another parent. He might not be able to cope with that.
Merlin saw Arthur's reaction and quickly filled a plastic cup with water and came to Arthur's side. He placed a reassuring hand on the small of Arthur's back and started to whisper equally reassuring words in Arthur's ear. He then gently guided Arthur down to one of the chairs and pushed the cup in Arthur's hands, convincing him to drink some.
Merlin crouched in front of him, placing his hands over Arthur's knees and gently rubbing small circles on them with his thumbs. He didn't mind nor cared that Arthur's father was in the room now, momentarily he just hoped that him being there might calm Arthur down. Only then he and his father could properly explain what was Uther's injury and what the solution would be.
"It's going to be okay Arthur, it's going to." Merlin whispered so soft that Arthur was the only one in the room that heard it. He tilted his head up and started back at Merlin who gave him a caring and lovingly smile. Arthur finally nodded softly and Merlin nodded back and stood up. Before walking back to the place behind his father, Merlin gave one reassuring squeeze in Arthur's shoulder.
Uther was a bit shocked to see that kind of heavy reaction his son was having when the doctor told it was bad news. The doctor didn't even had time to explain what was wrong because of Arthur. He was about to comfort his own son (he'd find a way), but Merlin already beat him too it and it seemed that he had a good influence on Arthur.
Uther was sure that he wouldn't be able to reassure his son that way. He might would make it even more worse.
When Uther saw that Arthur was more calmed down, but still a bit on edge, he turned to Balinor and nodded.
"Mister Pendragon, Arthur, please let me explain properly." Balinor said, folding his hands together. Arthur sat up straighter and glanced towards Merlin. He inhaled deeply and waited for what Balinor would say.
"My son and I assessed the MRI and discovered that there was a little tear in the shoulder muscle, also known as the supraspinatus. This is the main cause for the pain, because that muscle is supposed to keep your shoulder joint in place and because it's damaged now, the joint shifts more."
Uther silently nodded along, but Arthur was still not hundred per cent reassured. He was biting his lip and waited anxiously for how the muscle tear could be fixed.
Balinor continued explaining. "The somewhat good news is, that the tear appears to be small and we will be able fix it with a small operation. We will make two small incisions instead of a big one, this will result in you having a much smaller scar when it's healed. The whole operation shouldn't take more than forty minutes."
Merlin nodded towards Arthur who let out a breath of air, he didn't knew he was holding. He was relieved that in the end the whole bad news seemed to be a lot less horrific than he initially thought. Of course with every operation there were risks, but he trusted Merlin and Balinor to give his father the best care that they could possibly give.
"Okay," Uther nodded, trying to understand everything that Balinor had said. "And do I need to keep rest, or can I go to work immediately after?"
Balinor unclasped his hands and sat back into his chair. "I understood from your chart, that you're not doing manual labour, so you can go to work when you are feeling up to it. Although, I recommend that you wear a sling for about four weeks, because it's important that you will not overuse your arm. That way you get the best and fastest healing. You will be also required to do some small up and down motions with your arm on a daily base and to do short exercises with one of those small stress balls, just so you keep up the strength in your arm. After that, you can start doing a bit heavier exercises, but the physiotherapist can tell you more about that."
Arthur was nervously biting his thumbnail, his legs kept bouncing restlessly up and down. He was a little bit more reassured, but he still didn't like that his father had to undergo an operation.
He looked up to Merlin who gave him a soft smile and it calmed him down the slightest. He needed that, and it helped him at reminding that he had that lunch with Merlin in about two hours and was happy that he could think about that instead of his father's surgery. For the lunch, he had something planned and he hoped that Merlin would like it.
Arthur looked back down when Balinor started talking again.
"If you don't have other questions, then you can make an appointment for the operation at the front desk." Balinor stated and when he saw Uther shake no, he stood up and put his hand out. "I wish you all the best." He added while shaking hands with Uther.
Arthur slowly got up and was waiting until Balinor and his father had left the room. He waited a few extra seconds to make sure before making his way to Merlin who was waiting for him close to the door.
Arthur started to think about their date (yes an actual date!) and couldn't hold back his grin. One of his hand slowly slid down Merlin's arm until he caught his hand and gave it the tiniest squeeze. "Don't forget, eh?" Arthur whispered, already stepping closer.
Merlin looked out the door into the hallway and saw no one in sight. He turned back and pulled Arthur all the way towards him at his shirt and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "I wouldn't dream of it."
~oOoOo~
Even though Arthur knew he had enough food and beverages, he was still panicking whether he really had enough and whether it wasn't poorly. He only had sandwiches, a ton of them though, but didn't know if he had enough variety. He actually didn't know what Merlin really liked and basically threw every kind of sandwich in sight in his cart.
What if Merlin actually didn't like sandwiches, what if he was more a fish and chips kind of lunch person? Arthur sat down on the bench, their bench, and pushed his head into his hands. Had he fucked up before it even started?
Normally, he wouldn't do this much effort for a date. Normally he would just take his date to a fancy restaurant and let cooks prepare their food. But this was about Merlin and Merlin wasn't just a normal kind of person to him, he knew it and hopefully Merlin knew it as well. He just had this… feeling, that Merlin was his –could he say it? – soulmate. Yes, that was exactly how it felt to him, in spite of the only short period of time they knew each other.
Arthur inhaled sharply through his nose and sat up straight, shoulders back. He could do this, just a simple lunch, nothing difficult.
That feeling took well counted nine seconds before he started worrying again and as a last resort he thought of calling Leon, he would know what to do in these kinds of situations.
The dial tone seemed to go on for forever and it did nothing to calm his nerves. With bouncing knees, Arthur muttered, "Oh come on Leon, pick up the phone!"
The dial repeated for about three more times and he was about to give up when he finally heard his friend's voice. "Arthur, what is it? I'm in a meeting with your father." Arthur heard the cautious tone his friend was using when he said 'father' and he knew now that he needed to use his words wisely.
Arthur took a deep breath, and then blew it all out. "I'll blow this, I already know that this will be a huge flop." He already sounded like he had given up. He heard Leon sighing audibly over the phone.
"Arthur, it'll be fine. You have got that thing right?
Arthur felt in his pocket. He had picked it up just minutes ago, but he was making sure he still had it. "Yes." He answered curtly.
"Well don't worry then!" Arthur heard Leon tell him just above a whisper. He didn't know that Leon glanced to his side, only to see that Uther was busy on a telephone conversation of his own and was now standing in front of the windows, but Leon knew that he still couldn't talk too loudly. "Look, Arthur, I'm sure it'll be fine and he'll love it. Okay, sorry, have to go now. Let me know how it went. Good luck!"
Arthur dropped his phone into his lap and felt reassured and relieved to have some moral support from his best friend. He definitely needed that little encouragement. When he heard a clearing of someone's throat, he looked and saw Merlin standing next to him with the biggest smile on his face, like he always seemed to have.
~oOoOo~
Merlin sat back with a satisfying sigh, wiping his mouth off with his hands only to wipe them off on his jeans. Arthur cocked an eyebrow. "I do have napkins you know."
Merlin just shrugged and hoped that his dazzling smile would make Arthur forget about it.
Amused, Arthur shook his head. Then he looked back up to Merlin. "So you really liked it then?"
He saw Merlin nod eagerly and Arthur wrung his hands together. "I have to admit, I never really did something like this before, for anyone."
Merlin not yet blushed, but could admit to himself that he felt quite special. He grinned and placed his own hands on top of Arthur's restless ones. "Arthur, really. It was perfect, I enjoyed it so much, and this coffee is the.best.ever, where did you got it from?"
"Ahhh, that's a state secret" Arthur tapped the side of his nose with his index finger and winked.
Merlin decided to play along with the childish game and leaned on the bench with his arms crossed over his chest and his lips in a pout. "You don't play fair." Merlin muttered.
It didn't took long before they both started to crack up. Arthur laughed so hard that he bumped his funny bone on the bench's armrest and he immediately felt the tingly feeling and tried to lull the feeling by grabbing it tightly. The problem, well not exactly problem, to that was; Merlin laughed even harder at that sight.
"Arthur, seriously stop it. I will die!" Merlin grabbed his stomach; it hurt from laughing too much.
Letting go of his elbow one second, Arthur threw one of the unused napkins towards Merlin. Sarcastically and overdramatic, he added, "Don't make fun of my immense pain yeah! You're the doctor, you should take care of me."
"Oh you big baby, here." Merlin leaned forwards and grabbed Arthur's arm and gave a kiss on his elbow. He sat back again. "There. All better."
Arthur shook his head, but couldn't stop his grin. "Oh god, we are such small kids!" Merlin just gave him one of his overly wide grins.
When the tingly feeling numbed and the serious returned, Arthur had one last thing to do. He drummed his fingers lightly on his thighs and licked his lips.
"Sooo, there is just one more thing I want to give you, do you want it?" Arthur asked, Merlin greedily nodded his head.
"Okay close your eyes and hold your hand out." Merlin does as he's been told; he sits up a bit straighter, closed his eyes and put his hand out. Arthur reached in his pocket for the present that has been there since he went to Leon to pick it up and gently placed it on Merlin's hand.
"Okay, open your eyes."
Merlin slowly opened his eyes and then they grew even wider when he saw what was lying in the palm of his hand. "No way!" He looked up to Arthur, before looking back at his hand again and seeing two tickets to his favourite band. Not only were they tickets, no, they were VIP tickets. "No way, Arthur! How- , when- , why-. How'd you know!?"
Arthur bit his lip when his grin started to tear his head in half, he thought Merlin would've liked them, but he hadn't anticipated this kind of reaction.
"When I was at your place to take care of you last Saturday, I kinda looked a bit through your stuff." Arthur did start to blush when he heard himself admit that he basically violated Merlin's privacy, but he decided that that wasn't important right now, so he continued. "I found your iPod and scrolled through it to see what kind of music you were into. I saw that there were quite some songs from this one band, so I went to listen to it and I have to say they were not bad, not bad at all."
"And then you probably saw the little note." Merlin added almost shyly.
"And then I saw the note." Arthur repeated. "You know, you can draw great sad smiley faces."
Merlin gave him a playful slap. "Ey, shut up!" He looked at the tickets. "But that still doesn't explain how you got these." He waved the tickets in front of Arthur's face. "And even Vee-Eye-Pea ones!" Merlin dragged the letters from the word VIP out. "How did you manage to get that!"
"That, well that's one of the many perks of being a 'celebrity'." Arthur made sure to air quotes the word celebrity, he didn't really saw himself as one, but since most people recognized him, he sort of had to admit that he was one. "But it wasn't just me, I had some help of my mate Leon. He knows people that know people." Arthur did the tapping on his nose thing again and it made Merlin chuckle.
Merlin tapped his chin, letting his fingers touch his skin one by one. "Hmm, who shall I take with me now."
Arthur blinked, parting his mouth in an 'O' shape. He was about to protest before Merlin said, "Of course I'll go with you prat!" Merlin draped his arm around Arthur's neck and kissed him on the cheek. He drew back a bit and then leaned forward to press a kiss on Arthur's mouth who eagerly returned the favour.
"Thank you. For everything."
Arthur couldn't be happier, and his face was all the evidence you needed to see that. He was really relieved that Merlin likes his present.
Merlin looks at his phone to see that his break is almost over. "Shit, my break is almost over, I've got to go." He put the tickets safely in the pocket of his jacket. "I can't wait!" Merlin squealed, hugging Arthur once more.
Arthur didn't stop smiling when he said, "Let me give you a lift." He pressed a kiss on his boyfriends cheek and stood up, already holding out his hand. Merlin eagerly nodded and grabbed Arthur's hand to stand up. When standing on his two legs again, he looked down and saw the paper and plastic garbage that was left from their lunch.
"But first we'll have to clean up this mess."
A.N. I NEED A BAND! I had Bastille as original band when first posting the story, but I want to change it and choose a band (or solo artist) that has songs that will be more suiting, because I need a quote of one of a (love) song for a later chapter. Any suggestions?
I was thinking of maybe using SafetySuit (especially the song Never Stop, the acoustic version)
**As I said before, my dad really had that shoulder muscle injury and I somewhat based Uther's personality on my dad's at the time of his injury (he could be really unpleasant/annoying at times!).
Just so you know; the rest of this story is all fiction and not based on real life experiences.