Oh Summer Days: Part 10
Title: Oh Summer Days
Chapter Ten: Into the Storm
Author: Krillitanestorm
Summary: Modern AU: Merlin finds himself enrolled in the Camelot Summer Camp program. At first he believes it to be the worst summer of his life, but as the days progress he slowly finds himself wishing this summer would never end. Merlin/Arthur Slash
Rating: T
Warnings: Slash. In other words male/male. Besides that, there's nothing.
A/N: Howdy ya'll, Aloha, Guten Tag, Hola, Ciao people! Sorry it took a bit longer than usual to write the next chapter, but I needed some time off from writing so I hope you forgive me. I'm not sure what exactly is going to happen, but the next chapter may or may not be the last. If I'm lucky, I can strech the next one into two parts. I'll just have to see what happens, I hope you enjoy! And thank you for all the lovely reviews so far.
Icy droplets of water fell from the circling storm above, drenching Merlin with their cool touch until he could no longer feel his clothes rub against his skin. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
A blinding light filled the sky followed by a crash of thunder that caused Merlin to flinch in fear as he ran through the trees. He had no idea where he was, not to mention he had no clue whatsoever where he was headed. This entire plan was just another one of his stupid ideas, in a very long line of stupid ideas since that very first stupid idea of getting involved with Arthur. So far all it had done is cause more pain that it was worth.
His shorts and shirt provided no protection from the elements. Already he could feel his body numbing from the rain as his leg scraped up against a rock, leaving a long gash.
Merlin couldn’t help but cringe in pain as blood slowly began to trickle out of the wound. He wasn’t going to make it. He wanted to go back to Camelot where it was safe. But where was it? Which direction was the right way back?
Another flash of lightning filled the sky and Merlin jumped in terror. He wasn’t afraid, not one bit. Thunder roared throughout the sky once more. Okay, maybe he was a bit more frightened than he wanted to admit.
Merlin kept running, almost as if he was trying to outrun the storm itself, until he could run no further. His legs ached like fury and the gash was bleeding in a steady stream by now, only to be washed away by the icy rain.
Freezing and alone, Merlin began to wonder how he would survive the night. Securing his bag on his back, he made haste to the nearest shelter; a small cavern in the midst of a pile of rocks, which he sat in with his knees clutched up against his chest.
Although the cavern offered some protection from the elements, Merlin was still wet and loosing sensation of his limbs.
Taking a shaky breath and closing his eyes, Merlin prayed for the storm to be over soon as he looked out into the darkened forest before him. If only he hadn’t been so damn stupid, perhaps he still might be in a nice warm bed, but no, instead he decides to walk back to Ealdor just because he sent Arthur a letter. By now he most likely would have read it and torn it up, which was probably for the best anyway. Someone of Arthur’s stature would easily find someone else in a heartbeat, without even thinking twice about Merlin.
Shivering, Merlin fumbled through his bag for anything that might provide warmth. Instead he found a lot of drenched shirts and shorts as the bag had absorbed the water and was now leaking inside.
Throwing the bag away out of the small cavern in fury, Merlin’s body trembled beneath him as he tried to savour up the last of his body heat.
“Arthur... I’m sorry,” Merlin mumbled as he eyes began to force themselves shut.
*
Arthur ran all the way back to the dining room where everyone was still gathered. How could Merlin be so stupid!? Didn’t the idiot realise that was dangerous wandering through the forest at night, right in the middle of a storm? No, of course he didn’t!
Frantically pushing the door open, Arthur dashed inside to where Morgana and the others still sat, chatting away.
“Merlin’s... he’s gone,” he gasped, trying to regain his breath as keeled over suddenly feeling nauseous.
“What do you mean, he’s gone?” Morgana queered after laughing at one of Lancelot’s jokes.
“Are you deaf or just stupid?” Arthur snapped. “Merlin’s gone, as in he’s no longer occupies his cabin.”
“Maybe he just went to have a shower or something,” Gwen stated, which only fuelled Arthur’s anger.
“Argh! You’re not listening! Do you need me to get the nurse to clean out your ears?” Arthur was yelling at this point, and everyone in the room including his father and the other teachers, were looking at him. If looks could kill everyone in the room would have been reduced to dust. Arthur was sick of explaining.
“Calm down, surely he-“Arthur didn’t let his stepsister finish and instead he reached inside his pocket and shoved Merlin’s letter into her face.
“Read it,” he ordered in a tone that he hoped Morgana would understand as ‘not fooling around’.
“What on earth is going on?” Uther stood up from the other end of the dining room table and walked over towards his son.
“Merlin and all his stuff is gone,” Arthur replied feel his chest tighten at the thought of Merlin being alone out in the middle of a storm.
“How do you know this? I thought you no longer wished to have anything to do with the boy,” Uther crossed his arms as he stared down upon him.
Arthur paused as he tried to think of a reasonable answer to give his father, one that didn’t involve him telling Uther about the letter Merlin had given him.
“I went to check how he was feeling,” Arthur stated off warily. “But when I entered the room, Merlin and all his stuff were gone.”
It was the truth, just not the entire truth, but it was good enough for the time being. Uther cursed under his breath before looking at everyone in the room.
“I’m sorry Arthur, but this is out of my hands. It’s too dangerous to go out to look for him. If I did, I would only be endangering the lives of everyone else; they are my responsibility. It is not my fault that some stupid boy decided to go wandering through a storm, ” Uther didn’t sound as if he cared very much, and already Arthur could feel his fists clenching tight. Not just for his father, but for Nimueh and Valiant who were snickering quietly to themselves further down the table.
“And you two can shut the hell up!” Morgana snapped harshly as Arthur noticed she had finished reading the letter, and was now folding it up and putting it in her pocket.
“If you won’t help me find him, I’ll do it without you,” Arthur raised his voice and turned around, only for his father’s hand to grip him tightly on the shoulder.
“I will not tolerate being spoken to like that, do you understand?” Uther growled, squeezing even tighter than he already was.
Arthur didn’t respond verbally, instead he pushed his father’s hand off his shoulder violently, taking a few steps back until the door was pressing up against his back.
“Arthur, don’t you dare go out there. You are to remain inside, do you hear me?” Uther warned walking towards him.
“Make me,” Arthur scowled before gripping the door handle and rushing outside into the icy rain.
No one else was going to help, Uther had made that quite clear, which meant it was up to Arthur, and Arthur alone, to find Merlin.
Once in Cabin Four, Arthur began scrambling around the room for some warm clothes to wear. Slipping on a pair of jeans over his shorts and putting on a lightweight raincoat, he closed the cabin door behind him and began frantically yelling out Merlin’s name into the darkness.
He could be anywhere and everywhere, what if he hurt himself? No, Arthur couldn’t think like that, not now. All that mattered was finding Merlin safe, but how was he supposed to do that when he couldn’t even see past his very face.
“Merlin!” Arthur shouted as rain threatened to blind him, the trees rocking violently from where they stood. “Where are you?”
It was no use; there was no way Arthur would be able to find Merlin in this weather. Maybe it would have been a good idea to stay in the dining room after all? But where was the dining hall? Turning around Arthur realised that he had no idea which direction to go in to find his way back. He knew the outskirts of Camelot by memory... in daylight that is, everything looked so much different in the dark.
Feelings of hopelessness and despair surged through Arthur’s mind as he continued running blind in any direction, praying that Merlin would be just ahead of him, but each time he would find nothing but more rain and darkness.
Out of breath, Arthur stopped running in an attempt to catch it. There was no way he was going to be able to find Merlin in time. It was an impossible task.
*
“We can’t just stand here!” Morgana yelled at Uther.
“This is Arthur’s choice, so I will not take responsibility for his actions,” her stepfather replied in a cold and uncaring tone.
“So you would allow Arthur and Merlin to die in the storm, while you stay in here like a coward?” Morgana stood directly in front of Uther, staring her father down with a deathly glare hoping he would take the bait... he didn’t.
“Say what you will, Morgana, but I will not endanger the lives of everyone here,” Uther scowled, his eyes filled with anger.
“And yet you would risk your son’s death?” Morgana crossed her arms, fully aware of how loud she was speaking.
“For the sake of everyone else, indeed I would,” her stepfather admitted sitting down with the rest of the teachers, indicating that he no longer wished to argue on the matter.
Morgana didn’t know what to do, there was no way she’d get away with running after Arthur. If she tried Uther would undoubtably stop her.
Pulling Merlin’s letter out of her pocket, Morgana skimmed over it once more as the anger set in. No wonder Merlin had been acting so different lately, not to mention his reluctance to tell anyone why he’d broken up with Arthur.
Nimueh and Valiant chuckled from further down the table, and instantly Morgana began imagining throwing knives at them. The thought did occur that there were knives in the kitchen, and that she could always turn fantasy into reality. Oh the pleasure she would have doing so! For now, however, she was more worried about her stepbrother and Merlin somewhere out in the storm.
Rain pelted harder upon the tin roof, the sound echoing throughout the dining hall until Morgana could no longer hear herself think.
“What’s that?” Gwen asked, pointing at the note she still held in her hand.
Passing the letter to Gwen, she began to read it carefully. Morgana watched as Gwen’s eyes widen in shock the more she read until she gave it back to her.
“I can’t believe it...” Gwen declared, eyes flickering down the table until they met Nimueh’s, who was no longer laughing, and was now staring at the three of them with a panicked look upon her face.
“Believe what?” Lancelot asked scratching his head.
“Nimueh. She blackmailed Merlin into breaking up with Arthur,” Morgana whispered so no one would be able to hear except them.
“They what?” Lancelot spat, doing his best not to turn and look at the Valiant and Nimueh.
“No wonder he’s been acting so strange,” Gwen pointed out before grabbing her empty glass and pouring water in it.
Morgana sighed before running her fingers through her hair. Glancing out the window into the storm, for the first time in her life she prayed to the gods that Arthur and Merlin would survive the night.
*
Cold. So cold. Merlin could no longer feel his legs as they brushed up against the rock inside the cavern.
Lightning shot through the sky faster than Merlin could blink, quickly covering his ears as the thunder got louder and louder within each passing minute.
“Arthur,” Merlin kept repeating his name weakly into the night, until his throat was dry and hoarse and his eyelids could no longer remain open. No one was going to come, he was going to die out here tonight and it was entirely his fault.
*
“Merlin!” Arthur continued shouting out as he began running again. Looking at the ground, Arthur began searching for any tracks that might indicate if Merlin had been in this direction. Much to his annoyance, any tracks that may have existed had been washed away by the rain.
Somewhere in the darkness, Arthur heard a voice. It was faint, but there it was, repeating the same thing over and over again.
“Ar-thur...” the familiar voice repeated weakly.
“Merlin!? Where are you?” Arthur shouted at the top of his lungs, but there was no reply, just the constant sound of thunder bellowing throughout the sky.
Rushing to a small opening, Arthur stopped and began turning in circles while he tried to decide which way to go. As lightning flashed across the sky, a semi-large object to his right caught Arthur’s attention.
He ran through the mud until he reached the darkened object. Another flash of lightning and Arthur suddenly realised what it was; Merlin’s bag.
“Merlin!” Arthur shouted out into the darkness until a faint reply echo back.
“Ar-thur...” came Merlin’s voice from somewhere behind him.
Turning around he began surveying the forest until he saw a large group of rocks. Another flash of lightning, even closer now, disappeared just behind the nearby mountains, illuminating the rocks and a figure hiding inside a small cavern.
Instantly Arthur recognised who it was and skidded through the mud until Merlin was only inches away from him.
“Merlin it’s okay. I’m here now. You didn’t honestly think you would get away from me that easily, did you?” Arthur whispered with a light chuckle as he crammed inside the cavern with Merlin.
“So-sorry,” he stuttered as his eyes flickered beneath their lids.
His clothes were soaking wet, not to mention he was shivering uncontrollably. Arthur glanced down as he examined Merlin’s body to see a semi-deep gash trailing down his leg. Grabbing a decent sized part of the bottom of his jeans, Arthur ripped them until he had a long strip, tying it around Merlin’s wounded leg to apply pressure.
Placing his hand against Merlin’s face, Arthur flinched at how cold his skin was.
“Oh god, you’re freezing,” Arthur pointed out as a shot of lightning illuminated Merlin’s face, causing his eyes to flash a strange gold colour for a brief moment.
Tracing his index finger along Merlin’s lips, he couldn’t help but notice they were blue in the little light he had.
“You need to get rid of those clothes, you’ve got hyperthermia Merlin,” Arthur gripped the bottom of Merlin’s drenched shirt and struggled to get it off in the little room he had. Throwing it outside the cavern, Arthur removed his rain jacket and dry shirt, lifting Merlin’s arms up so he could place it on.
“You-you’ll freeze though,” Merlin complained as he allowed Arthur to place the dry shirt on him. Arthur then put the rain jacket back on himself, providing himself some protection from the freezing temperature.
“I’d rather freeze and know that you’re safe,” Arthur shivered as he pulled Merlin in close, sharing his body heat with him until their faces were only inches apart. Pressing his lips up against Merlin’s, Arthur’s hands began to move up and down, and eventually, all over their bodies.
A few minutes later, Arthur stopped and wrapped his hands about Merlin’s stomach, allowing his head to rest up against his chest.
“I love you,” Arthur whispered in Merlin’s ear as his blood pounded through his ears. “And I promise I’ll never let anything happen to you again”
Arthur raised his hand and began brushing his fingers through his hair, not letting Merlin out of his sight until morning.
To be continued...
Chapter Ten: Into the Storm
Author: Krillitanestorm
Summary: Modern AU: Merlin finds himself enrolled in the Camelot Summer Camp program. At first he believes it to be the worst summer of his life, but as the days progress he slowly finds himself wishing this summer would never end. Merlin/Arthur Slash
Rating: T
Warnings: Slash. In other words male/male. Besides that, there's nothing.
A/N: Howdy ya'll, Aloha, Guten Tag, Hola, Ciao people! Sorry it took a bit longer than usual to write the next chapter, but I needed some time off from writing so I hope you forgive me. I'm not sure what exactly is going to happen, but the next chapter may or may not be the last. If I'm lucky, I can strech the next one into two parts. I'll just have to see what happens, I hope you enjoy! And thank you for all the lovely reviews so far.
Icy droplets of water fell from the circling storm above, drenching Merlin with their cool touch until he could no longer feel his clothes rub against his skin. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
A blinding light filled the sky followed by a crash of thunder that caused Merlin to flinch in fear as he ran through the trees. He had no idea where he was, not to mention he had no clue whatsoever where he was headed. This entire plan was just another one of his stupid ideas, in a very long line of stupid ideas since that very first stupid idea of getting involved with Arthur. So far all it had done is cause more pain that it was worth.
His shorts and shirt provided no protection from the elements. Already he could feel his body numbing from the rain as his leg scraped up against a rock, leaving a long gash.
Merlin couldn’t help but cringe in pain as blood slowly began to trickle out of the wound. He wasn’t going to make it. He wanted to go back to Camelot where it was safe. But where was it? Which direction was the right way back?
Another flash of lightning filled the sky and Merlin jumped in terror. He wasn’t afraid, not one bit. Thunder roared throughout the sky once more. Okay, maybe he was a bit more frightened than he wanted to admit.
Merlin kept running, almost as if he was trying to outrun the storm itself, until he could run no further. His legs ached like fury and the gash was bleeding in a steady stream by now, only to be washed away by the icy rain.
Freezing and alone, Merlin began to wonder how he would survive the night. Securing his bag on his back, he made haste to the nearest shelter; a small cavern in the midst of a pile of rocks, which he sat in with his knees clutched up against his chest.
Although the cavern offered some protection from the elements, Merlin was still wet and loosing sensation of his limbs.
Taking a shaky breath and closing his eyes, Merlin prayed for the storm to be over soon as he looked out into the darkened forest before him. If only he hadn’t been so damn stupid, perhaps he still might be in a nice warm bed, but no, instead he decides to walk back to Ealdor just because he sent Arthur a letter. By now he most likely would have read it and torn it up, which was probably for the best anyway. Someone of Arthur’s stature would easily find someone else in a heartbeat, without even thinking twice about Merlin.
Shivering, Merlin fumbled through his bag for anything that might provide warmth. Instead he found a lot of drenched shirts and shorts as the bag had absorbed the water and was now leaking inside.
Throwing the bag away out of the small cavern in fury, Merlin’s body trembled beneath him as he tried to savour up the last of his body heat.
“Arthur... I’m sorry,” Merlin mumbled as he eyes began to force themselves shut.
*
Arthur ran all the way back to the dining room where everyone was still gathered. How could Merlin be so stupid!? Didn’t the idiot realise that was dangerous wandering through the forest at night, right in the middle of a storm? No, of course he didn’t!
Frantically pushing the door open, Arthur dashed inside to where Morgana and the others still sat, chatting away.
“Merlin’s... he’s gone,” he gasped, trying to regain his breath as keeled over suddenly feeling nauseous.
“What do you mean, he’s gone?” Morgana queered after laughing at one of Lancelot’s jokes.
“Are you deaf or just stupid?” Arthur snapped. “Merlin’s gone, as in he’s no longer occupies his cabin.”
“Maybe he just went to have a shower or something,” Gwen stated, which only fuelled Arthur’s anger.
“Argh! You’re not listening! Do you need me to get the nurse to clean out your ears?” Arthur was yelling at this point, and everyone in the room including his father and the other teachers, were looking at him. If looks could kill everyone in the room would have been reduced to dust. Arthur was sick of explaining.
“Calm down, surely he-“Arthur didn’t let his stepsister finish and instead he reached inside his pocket and shoved Merlin’s letter into her face.
“Read it,” he ordered in a tone that he hoped Morgana would understand as ‘not fooling around’.
“What on earth is going on?” Uther stood up from the other end of the dining room table and walked over towards his son.
“Merlin and all his stuff is gone,” Arthur replied feel his chest tighten at the thought of Merlin being alone out in the middle of a storm.
“How do you know this? I thought you no longer wished to have anything to do with the boy,” Uther crossed his arms as he stared down upon him.
Arthur paused as he tried to think of a reasonable answer to give his father, one that didn’t involve him telling Uther about the letter Merlin had given him.
“I went to check how he was feeling,” Arthur stated off warily. “But when I entered the room, Merlin and all his stuff were gone.”
It was the truth, just not the entire truth, but it was good enough for the time being. Uther cursed under his breath before looking at everyone in the room.
“I’m sorry Arthur, but this is out of my hands. It’s too dangerous to go out to look for him. If I did, I would only be endangering the lives of everyone else; they are my responsibility. It is not my fault that some stupid boy decided to go wandering through a storm, ” Uther didn’t sound as if he cared very much, and already Arthur could feel his fists clenching tight. Not just for his father, but for Nimueh and Valiant who were snickering quietly to themselves further down the table.
“And you two can shut the hell up!” Morgana snapped harshly as Arthur noticed she had finished reading the letter, and was now folding it up and putting it in her pocket.
“If you won’t help me find him, I’ll do it without you,” Arthur raised his voice and turned around, only for his father’s hand to grip him tightly on the shoulder.
“I will not tolerate being spoken to like that, do you understand?” Uther growled, squeezing even tighter than he already was.
Arthur didn’t respond verbally, instead he pushed his father’s hand off his shoulder violently, taking a few steps back until the door was pressing up against his back.
“Arthur, don’t you dare go out there. You are to remain inside, do you hear me?” Uther warned walking towards him.
“Make me,” Arthur scowled before gripping the door handle and rushing outside into the icy rain.
No one else was going to help, Uther had made that quite clear, which meant it was up to Arthur, and Arthur alone, to find Merlin.
Once in Cabin Four, Arthur began scrambling around the room for some warm clothes to wear. Slipping on a pair of jeans over his shorts and putting on a lightweight raincoat, he closed the cabin door behind him and began frantically yelling out Merlin’s name into the darkness.
He could be anywhere and everywhere, what if he hurt himself? No, Arthur couldn’t think like that, not now. All that mattered was finding Merlin safe, but how was he supposed to do that when he couldn’t even see past his very face.
“Merlin!” Arthur shouted as rain threatened to blind him, the trees rocking violently from where they stood. “Where are you?”
It was no use; there was no way Arthur would be able to find Merlin in this weather. Maybe it would have been a good idea to stay in the dining room after all? But where was the dining hall? Turning around Arthur realised that he had no idea which direction to go in to find his way back. He knew the outskirts of Camelot by memory... in daylight that is, everything looked so much different in the dark.
Feelings of hopelessness and despair surged through Arthur’s mind as he continued running blind in any direction, praying that Merlin would be just ahead of him, but each time he would find nothing but more rain and darkness.
Out of breath, Arthur stopped running in an attempt to catch it. There was no way he was going to be able to find Merlin in time. It was an impossible task.
*
“We can’t just stand here!” Morgana yelled at Uther.
“This is Arthur’s choice, so I will not take responsibility for his actions,” her stepfather replied in a cold and uncaring tone.
“So you would allow Arthur and Merlin to die in the storm, while you stay in here like a coward?” Morgana stood directly in front of Uther, staring her father down with a deathly glare hoping he would take the bait... he didn’t.
“Say what you will, Morgana, but I will not endanger the lives of everyone here,” Uther scowled, his eyes filled with anger.
“And yet you would risk your son’s death?” Morgana crossed her arms, fully aware of how loud she was speaking.
“For the sake of everyone else, indeed I would,” her stepfather admitted sitting down with the rest of the teachers, indicating that he no longer wished to argue on the matter.
Morgana didn’t know what to do, there was no way she’d get away with running after Arthur. If she tried Uther would undoubtably stop her.
Pulling Merlin’s letter out of her pocket, Morgana skimmed over it once more as the anger set in. No wonder Merlin had been acting so different lately, not to mention his reluctance to tell anyone why he’d broken up with Arthur.
Nimueh and Valiant chuckled from further down the table, and instantly Morgana began imagining throwing knives at them. The thought did occur that there were knives in the kitchen, and that she could always turn fantasy into reality. Oh the pleasure she would have doing so! For now, however, she was more worried about her stepbrother and Merlin somewhere out in the storm.
Rain pelted harder upon the tin roof, the sound echoing throughout the dining hall until Morgana could no longer hear herself think.
“What’s that?” Gwen asked, pointing at the note she still held in her hand.
Passing the letter to Gwen, she began to read it carefully. Morgana watched as Gwen’s eyes widen in shock the more she read until she gave it back to her.
“I can’t believe it...” Gwen declared, eyes flickering down the table until they met Nimueh’s, who was no longer laughing, and was now staring at the three of them with a panicked look upon her face.
“Believe what?” Lancelot asked scratching his head.
“Nimueh. She blackmailed Merlin into breaking up with Arthur,” Morgana whispered so no one would be able to hear except them.
“They what?” Lancelot spat, doing his best not to turn and look at the Valiant and Nimueh.
“No wonder he’s been acting so strange,” Gwen pointed out before grabbing her empty glass and pouring water in it.
Morgana sighed before running her fingers through her hair. Glancing out the window into the storm, for the first time in her life she prayed to the gods that Arthur and Merlin would survive the night.
*
Cold. So cold. Merlin could no longer feel his legs as they brushed up against the rock inside the cavern.
Lightning shot through the sky faster than Merlin could blink, quickly covering his ears as the thunder got louder and louder within each passing minute.
“Arthur,” Merlin kept repeating his name weakly into the night, until his throat was dry and hoarse and his eyelids could no longer remain open. No one was going to come, he was going to die out here tonight and it was entirely his fault.
*
“Merlin!” Arthur continued shouting out as he began running again. Looking at the ground, Arthur began searching for any tracks that might indicate if Merlin had been in this direction. Much to his annoyance, any tracks that may have existed had been washed away by the rain.
Somewhere in the darkness, Arthur heard a voice. It was faint, but there it was, repeating the same thing over and over again.
“Ar-thur...” the familiar voice repeated weakly.
“Merlin!? Where are you?” Arthur shouted at the top of his lungs, but there was no reply, just the constant sound of thunder bellowing throughout the sky.
Rushing to a small opening, Arthur stopped and began turning in circles while he tried to decide which way to go. As lightning flashed across the sky, a semi-large object to his right caught Arthur’s attention.
He ran through the mud until he reached the darkened object. Another flash of lightning and Arthur suddenly realised what it was; Merlin’s bag.
“Merlin!” Arthur shouted out into the darkness until a faint reply echo back.
“Ar-thur...” came Merlin’s voice from somewhere behind him.
Turning around he began surveying the forest until he saw a large group of rocks. Another flash of lightning, even closer now, disappeared just behind the nearby mountains, illuminating the rocks and a figure hiding inside a small cavern.
Instantly Arthur recognised who it was and skidded through the mud until Merlin was only inches away from him.
“Merlin it’s okay. I’m here now. You didn’t honestly think you would get away from me that easily, did you?” Arthur whispered with a light chuckle as he crammed inside the cavern with Merlin.
“So-sorry,” he stuttered as his eyes flickered beneath their lids.
His clothes were soaking wet, not to mention he was shivering uncontrollably. Arthur glanced down as he examined Merlin’s body to see a semi-deep gash trailing down his leg. Grabbing a decent sized part of the bottom of his jeans, Arthur ripped them until he had a long strip, tying it around Merlin’s wounded leg to apply pressure.
Placing his hand against Merlin’s face, Arthur flinched at how cold his skin was.
“Oh god, you’re freezing,” Arthur pointed out as a shot of lightning illuminated Merlin’s face, causing his eyes to flash a strange gold colour for a brief moment.
Tracing his index finger along Merlin’s lips, he couldn’t help but notice they were blue in the little light he had.
“You need to get rid of those clothes, you’ve got hyperthermia Merlin,” Arthur gripped the bottom of Merlin’s drenched shirt and struggled to get it off in the little room he had. Throwing it outside the cavern, Arthur removed his rain jacket and dry shirt, lifting Merlin’s arms up so he could place it on.
“You-you’ll freeze though,” Merlin complained as he allowed Arthur to place the dry shirt on him. Arthur then put the rain jacket back on himself, providing himself some protection from the freezing temperature.
“I’d rather freeze and know that you’re safe,” Arthur shivered as he pulled Merlin in close, sharing his body heat with him until their faces were only inches apart. Pressing his lips up against Merlin’s, Arthur’s hands began to move up and down, and eventually, all over their bodies.
A few minutes later, Arthur stopped and wrapped his hands about Merlin’s stomach, allowing his head to rest up against his chest.
“I love you,” Arthur whispered in Merlin’s ear as his blood pounded through his ears. “And I promise I’ll never let anything happen to you again”
Arthur raised his hand and began brushing his fingers through his hair, not letting Merlin out of his sight until morning.
To be continued...