As World's Collide: Part Two
Title: As World's Collide
Chapter Two: Fabrications of the Mind
Author: krillitanestorm
Summary: Modern AU: Plagued by nightmares, Merlin beings to question his sanity as his nightmares begin to invade reality and the Arthur from his dreams re-appears. He must then choose between worlds to stop his past coming back to haunt the future. Merlin/Arthur
Rating: T
Warnings: Slash. In other words male/male. Besides that, there's nothing. Contains a kink I created called Phantom Smut! It's mine, no stealing! *barks*
A/N: Okay, so I was convinced on fanfiction to continue this story, so I figured I'd continue it here as well. I hope you enjoy. =)
When Merlin awoke from his slumber and grasped his head in agony as he was quickly taken aback by the most colossal hangover, blood pounding away in his ears like the repetitive beat of an African drum beat.
Dragging himself sluggishly out of bed, Merlin managed to find his way to the bathroom, splashing icy cold water across his face. Turning off the tap, the final droplets of water hit the bottom of the basin, Merlin found his gaze shifting into the bathroom mirror.
Even with the hangover screwing with his mind, Merlin hated his body; it made him self-conscious. Removing his nightshirt and chucking it on the floor, he began tracing his ribcage with his fingers, the bones sticking out at awkward and unnatural angles. Then there were his hips, their jagged outline almost could be classified as a potential weapon on a bad day.
His entire body in general was just too horrific, that Merlin couldn’t help but hate himself for it. No wonder girls, let alone guys, found him the least bit attractive, and he couldn’t blame them either.
Trying to feel more positive about himself for the time being, Merlin picked up his nightshirt from the ground and walked back to his bedroom, randomly selecting the clothes he was going to wear for the day. In the end he found himself wearing a fresh pair of navy blue jeans, a white shirt and his red neckerchief tied up at the back of his neck.
Once he was certain that he had everything, Merlin grabbed his bag and hurried downstairs. Thankfully there weren’t any classes on, but unfortunately there was no rest for the dark haired boy, as some higher being had made him promise to do the shopping.
“Do I have too?” Merlin complained as he walked into the kitchen. Opening up the medication cabinet, Merlin fumbled through the bottles and strips of drugs that lined the shelves, eventually pulling out his anti-depressants and a painkiller for the hangover.
“Merlin,” Hunith said whilst crossing her arms. “You promised me weeks ago, and unless you want to be eating spinach and cheese for the rest of your life...”
“Okay, okay,” Merlin interrupted, cringing at the thought of having to eat anything green for eternity. “I’ll do it.”
“That’s a good boy,” Hunith said with a grin, stroking Merlin’s head before kissing him on the cheek. “Here’s the list,” she continued, passing him an incredibly long list that made Merlin’s head hurt even more.
“But this has at least one hundred items on it!” Merlin’s vision began to go blurry just by staring at the list.
“One hundred and thirty-three now to be precise,” Hunith corrected, grabbing the list out of his hands, and taking a pen to it, writing down something else. “I forgot to add flour.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Merlin folded the list up, shoved it into his pocket and grabbed the car keys from the kitchen table.
“I’ll be back later,” Merlin walked out of the house, closing the front door behind him as he pressed the automatic button to open the jeep.
The jeep, itself, wasn’t new in the slightest; half of the blue paint had been washed away, revealing the rusted metal beneath and there was a large indent in the side from where another car had ploughed into while it was parked. Fortunately no one was inside the jeep at the time.
Before long, Merlin was stalking the shopping isles with a trolley, hopelessly trying to find the cooking oil with not much luck.
“Well, look what we have here boys,” an all too familiar voice came from behind him.
“Piss off Will,” Merlin snapped, not even bothering to turn around and face his childhood friend who’d betrayed him, just because Merlin wasn’t ‘cool’ enough.
“Or what?” Will replied, gripping tightly on Merlin’s shoulder, spinning him around and violently pushing his back into the aisle shelf.
He wasn’t surprised in the least to see Valiant and Lancelot standing to the side, chuckling hysterically as Merlin tried to release himself from Will’s grasp.
“Just leave me alone!” Gathering up all his strength, Merlin kneed Will in his manhood. The cry that came with it was painful to hear, but pleasurable to know that Merlin had made his point crystal clear.
“Oh no you don’t,” Lancelot grinned, as both he and Valiant grabbed one of Merlin’s arms with a death lock, preventing him from getting away.
Trapped and helpless, Merlin looked around, his eyes pleading for assistance from anyone nearby, but no one came. Occasionally people would glance down the aisle to see what the commotion was about, however not once did they bother helping.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Will scorned, one hand outstretched and turning into a fist, the other protecting his crutch - most likely so Merlin couldn’t do anymore damage to his pride and joy.
“You’re absolutely right,” Merlin replied, not holding back his sarcasm. “Next time I’ll just stand there, waiting for you to hurt me, because we all know poor little Merlin can’t defend himself.”
“Good idea,” and with that, Will drove a fist right into Merlin’s stomach, knocking the wind straight out of him in one go.
And then he did it again and again, harder and harder each time until Merlin no longer had the strength to stand up.
“Not so tough now, are you?” Will spat, kicking Merlin in the stomach with one almighty blow, a thin stream of blood trickling out the corner of his mouth and onto the floor beneath him.
Just when things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Merlin’s eyeballs started burning intensely in their sockets until they felt like someone had taken a match to them.
Will stopped kicking, much to Merlin’s relief, but Lancelot and Valiant had also both stopped laughing and were staring down at him, heads titled slightly as they moved away in bewilderment and horror.
“What the...” Valiant muttered under his breath, stumbling backwards into display stand.
Without forewarning, he could no longer see a thing except for a magnificent golden light that filled him with a sense of refuge, a place where no one could touch him.
As the light disappeared, Merlin shook his head wildly bringing his vision back into focus to the spectacle of Valiant, Lancelot and Will all running away screaming, completely naked down the aisle and out of the front doors of the shop, their clothes nowhere in sight.
Merlin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but as he tried to stand up, crying seemed like the best option and he collapsed back onto the floor in weakness.
“Are you going to sit there all day, or are you going to take my hand and get up?” said a voice in front of him, it was stern and the tone recognisable, but Merlin had no idea from where. Although, whoever this was, obviously they didn’t realise he was in severe pain and unable to get up.
“You arse!” Merlin cried, straining his neck in attempt to see who he was talking too. Unfortunately he couldn’t see anyone; obviously they were to his side or behind him. “Maybe if you weren’t blind, you might notice that I can’t. Although, I thank you and everyone else in this store for helping me when I needed it,” he was yelling by this point, and funnily enough he could hear people chatting all around him.
“Typical,” the person muttered before Merlin felt a pair of warm hands grasp around his waist, slowly raising him off the ground with ease until he stood upright, leaning against the trolley that had rolled over towards him. “You really are the most pathetic person I’ve ever had the chance to meet.”
“Prat,” Merlin said, all his weight pressed up against the trolley as he began feeling extremely dizzy and as if he could throw up any moment now.
“Sounds familiar,” the person replied vaguely with a slight chuckle.
As a discreet smile crawled across Merlin’s face as he stared at the ground and he decided to take a glimpse of the person who had decided to help him.
Raising his head off the trolley, Merlin looked to his left only to see the aisle wall, but when he looked to his right, his vision blurred. He was, however, able to make the faint outline of a rather broad looking guy with blonde hair, though his face was completely distorted and hazy making it impossible for Merlin to see who it was.
Glancing back at the ground, the nausea finally hit him like a tidal wave, sick going all over the ground causing Merlin to misplace his balance and his legs to give way.
As his head collided with the surface of the floor, Merlin began to feel himself losing all sense of time and place, eyelids sliding closed as he was enveloped in darkness.
“Oh no you don’t, Merlin!” the voice stated before Merlin felt the familiar pair of hands, one brushing up against his face, the other stroking through his hair. “I’ve lost you once, never again.”
Merlin never got the chance to ask what he meant by that as he had already fallen unconscious.
*
When Merlin woke up, he found himself occupying a very uncomfortable hospital bed with Hunith and Morgana sitting down in seats on the other side of the small room.
“Merlin!” Morgana shrieked as soon as she saw Merlin awake. “You scared us to death!”
“Sorry,” Merlin apologized, pushing himself up until he was sitting. “I promise never to do it again.”
Hunith stood directly next to the bed, placing her hand on Merlin’s, gripping it tightly almost as if she never wanted to let him out of her sight again.
“This is entirely my fault,” Hunith muttered softly, a tear streaming down her face.
“No it’s not,” Merlin countered, reaching over to wipe the tear off his mothers face.
Out of nowhere, Morgana slammed her fist down onto the hospital bed. “I can’t believe that someone would do this,” she stated before looking Merlin directly in the eyes, her anger clearly visible. “Who did this? I want names and I want them now, the last thing I’m going to do is let some bastard get away with what he did to you.”
“It was Will and his friends...” Merlin answered after a few seconds thought, trying to recall what had occurred in the shopping centre. “Do either of you know what happened to the guy that helped me?”
Hunith and Morgana exchanged confused looks.
“What do you mean, sweetie?” Hunith asked, placing a hand on Merlin’s forehead.
“At the shopping centre, some guy tried to help me, but I never got his name,” Merlin answered, curious to as why they had no idea what he was going on about.
The silence was unnerving for Merlin, especially when his mother decided to sit up on the bed, stroking his hair gently.
“Merlin... there was no man,” Hunith said causing his mouth to gape open a little. “From what I was told, one of the female shopping assistants came over to help, but you had already passed out. Nobody saw a man darling.”
“But that’s impossible!” Merlin blurted out without realising.
“Ssh,” Hunith hushed, placing a finger to Merlin’s lips. “You’ve had a traumatic day and not are thinking clearly. Now, you stay here while I go get the Doctor and see if you can go home.”
Gently kissing his forehead, Hunith left the room to go find the Doctor.
“But there was a man,” Merlin felt the need to continue, he couldn’t have been imagining the blonde that helped him, it just wasn’t possible!
“I can’t believe Will did this...” Morgana paced back and forth, eyes ablaze with anger, ignoring Merlin completely.
Merlin rolled his eyes and sunk back down into the bed as Morgana persisted on muttering under her breath, more so when she began contemplating ways to murder Will without leaving and forensic evidence that would lead back to her.
Morgana and Will had never gotten on, right from the start. Especially after Will dumped her for the blonde bimbo, Vivian, just because she offered him... certain extras, much like take away food - without the take away - that Morgana wasn’t quite ready for yet.
That was another thing Merlin didn’t understand, did he really see Will, Valiant and Lancelot run away naked? For a brief moment, he was tempted to tell Morgana everything that had happened, but thought twice as the entire incident would just make him sound like a mental nutcase saying it aloud.
“The Doctor has given me permission to take you home,” Hunith said, walking into the room looking happier than she did before, although Merlin was still waiting for the catch. “However,” Merlin groaned, “You have to stay in bed for at least another day, and that is not negotiable. Do you understand?”
“But-“
“Merlin?” Hunith cut him off, folding her arms over her chest.
“Fine,” Merlin pouted, easing himself off the bed while Morgana grabbed a wheelchair from the far corner of the room for him to sit in.
Trying to enjoy the wheelchair ride as much as possible, Merlin couldn’t help but feel sorry for all the ill patients who were roaming throughout the hospital, nurse’s close by their sides as they directed them to their rooms.
A child, no more than twelve years old, had begun coughing up blood as he passed, nurses quickly rushing to his side to help the boy as they sat him down on a chair.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Morgana shivered, pushing Merlin through the main doors that led outside of the ward.
Five minutes later they were outside the hospital and helping him into the jeep. Funnily enough, Merlin didn’t feel the slightest twinge of pain, but more of a numbing and pleasurable sensation from where he’d been punched. Obviously the Doctor had given him something to relieve the pain whilst he was unconscious; Merlin was very happy about this.
Once Morgana had returned the wheelchair to the hospital reception, Hunith drove Morgana home as it was already way past dark, the streetlamps illuminating the narrow streets.
Morgana said goodbye and they drove back home where Merlin eventually made his way upstairs into his cosy bed. Even though he’d been unconscious for a majority of the day, Merlin found himself instantly tired as soon as his head rested against the pillow, while Hunith tucked him in.
“I’ll ring the university tomorrow and let them know you’re not coming in,” she whispered, laying a kiss gently on Merlin’s forehead as she got up to leave.
“Thanks,” Merlin forced a smile across his lips. “And mum,” he continued as Hunith turned to leave the room and switch off the light. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened today, it’s not your fault, it’s mine.”
“Goodnight Merlin,” Hunith said, not bothering to look at her son as she turned off the light and closed the door behind her, leaving Merlin in a blanket of darkness that stretched from one corner of the room to the other.
Burying his head into the pillow, he closed his eyes, while the wind howled outside rattling the windowpanes constantly.
As the wind calmed, Merlin put his mind to rest on everything that had happened during the day, wondering what the future would bring.
Feeling a cool breeze drift through the room from underneath the bedroom door, Merlin snuggled into the blanket to warm himself up. It was only then that he felt something familiar touch his cheek, like fingers warming his flesh as they travelled across his skin, eventually stopping at his lips, hot gasps of air blowing down upon his face.
His body stiffened as the warmth disappeared, and Merlin refused to open his eyes in fear that whatever it was in the room, might attack him or eat him, or even a combination of both, or...
Merlin gasped as what felt like lips pressed up against his and a hand moved down underneath the blanket, slowly trailing down his naval and down under his satin boxers where it began caressing Merlin in a way that caused him to groan against the hard lips above him.
Knowing that this was completely wrong, Merlin couldn’t help but reach out and began fondling with whoever it was touching him, breathing in the musky scent as he deepened the kiss. His hands wandering under the other person’s shirt and up their back, every muscle distinct and Merlin made effort to remember every one of them.
By this point all his covers had been pushed off the bed, along with his boxers, as the hand wrapped tightly around his member got faster until Merlin came, moaning in the others mouth.
Pulling away and gasping for air, he finally managed to open his eyes to see who it was that had just given him the closest thing he’d had to sex in his life.
With the little light available from the street lights outside, Merlin shuffled backwards in the bed as he stared out into the empty room. The only soul to be seen was a tiny green stuffed dragon on top of his cupboard; it’s tiny black eyes glistening in the darkness.
Frightened, Merlin quickly cleaned himself up and reached down to grab the covers off the floor. Tossing them completely over himself, Merlin squeezed his eyes tight and blocked out the noise of the windowpanes as they began rattling once more.
To be continued...
Chapter Two: Fabrications of the Mind
Author: krillitanestorm
Summary: Modern AU: Plagued by nightmares, Merlin beings to question his sanity as his nightmares begin to invade reality and the Arthur from his dreams re-appears. He must then choose between worlds to stop his past coming back to haunt the future. Merlin/Arthur
Rating: T
Warnings: Slash. In other words male/male. Besides that, there's nothing. Contains a kink I created called Phantom Smut! It's mine, no stealing! *barks*
A/N: Okay, so I was convinced on fanfiction to continue this story, so I figured I'd continue it here as well. I hope you enjoy. =)
When Merlin awoke from his slumber and grasped his head in agony as he was quickly taken aback by the most colossal hangover, blood pounding away in his ears like the repetitive beat of an African drum beat.
Dragging himself sluggishly out of bed, Merlin managed to find his way to the bathroom, splashing icy cold water across his face. Turning off the tap, the final droplets of water hit the bottom of the basin, Merlin found his gaze shifting into the bathroom mirror.
Even with the hangover screwing with his mind, Merlin hated his body; it made him self-conscious. Removing his nightshirt and chucking it on the floor, he began tracing his ribcage with his fingers, the bones sticking out at awkward and unnatural angles. Then there were his hips, their jagged outline almost could be classified as a potential weapon on a bad day.
His entire body in general was just too horrific, that Merlin couldn’t help but hate himself for it. No wonder girls, let alone guys, found him the least bit attractive, and he couldn’t blame them either.
Trying to feel more positive about himself for the time being, Merlin picked up his nightshirt from the ground and walked back to his bedroom, randomly selecting the clothes he was going to wear for the day. In the end he found himself wearing a fresh pair of navy blue jeans, a white shirt and his red neckerchief tied up at the back of his neck.
Once he was certain that he had everything, Merlin grabbed his bag and hurried downstairs. Thankfully there weren’t any classes on, but unfortunately there was no rest for the dark haired boy, as some higher being had made him promise to do the shopping.
“Do I have too?” Merlin complained as he walked into the kitchen. Opening up the medication cabinet, Merlin fumbled through the bottles and strips of drugs that lined the shelves, eventually pulling out his anti-depressants and a painkiller for the hangover.
“Merlin,” Hunith said whilst crossing her arms. “You promised me weeks ago, and unless you want to be eating spinach and cheese for the rest of your life...”
“Okay, okay,” Merlin interrupted, cringing at the thought of having to eat anything green for eternity. “I’ll do it.”
“That’s a good boy,” Hunith said with a grin, stroking Merlin’s head before kissing him on the cheek. “Here’s the list,” she continued, passing him an incredibly long list that made Merlin’s head hurt even more.
“But this has at least one hundred items on it!” Merlin’s vision began to go blurry just by staring at the list.
“One hundred and thirty-three now to be precise,” Hunith corrected, grabbing the list out of his hands, and taking a pen to it, writing down something else. “I forgot to add flour.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Merlin folded the list up, shoved it into his pocket and grabbed the car keys from the kitchen table.
“I’ll be back later,” Merlin walked out of the house, closing the front door behind him as he pressed the automatic button to open the jeep.
The jeep, itself, wasn’t new in the slightest; half of the blue paint had been washed away, revealing the rusted metal beneath and there was a large indent in the side from where another car had ploughed into while it was parked. Fortunately no one was inside the jeep at the time.
Before long, Merlin was stalking the shopping isles with a trolley, hopelessly trying to find the cooking oil with not much luck.
“Well, look what we have here boys,” an all too familiar voice came from behind him.
“Piss off Will,” Merlin snapped, not even bothering to turn around and face his childhood friend who’d betrayed him, just because Merlin wasn’t ‘cool’ enough.
“Or what?” Will replied, gripping tightly on Merlin’s shoulder, spinning him around and violently pushing his back into the aisle shelf.
He wasn’t surprised in the least to see Valiant and Lancelot standing to the side, chuckling hysterically as Merlin tried to release himself from Will’s grasp.
“Just leave me alone!” Gathering up all his strength, Merlin kneed Will in his manhood. The cry that came with it was painful to hear, but pleasurable to know that Merlin had made his point crystal clear.
“Oh no you don’t,” Lancelot grinned, as both he and Valiant grabbed one of Merlin’s arms with a death lock, preventing him from getting away.
Trapped and helpless, Merlin looked around, his eyes pleading for assistance from anyone nearby, but no one came. Occasionally people would glance down the aisle to see what the commotion was about, however not once did they bother helping.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Will scorned, one hand outstretched and turning into a fist, the other protecting his crutch - most likely so Merlin couldn’t do anymore damage to his pride and joy.
“You’re absolutely right,” Merlin replied, not holding back his sarcasm. “Next time I’ll just stand there, waiting for you to hurt me, because we all know poor little Merlin can’t defend himself.”
“Good idea,” and with that, Will drove a fist right into Merlin’s stomach, knocking the wind straight out of him in one go.
And then he did it again and again, harder and harder each time until Merlin no longer had the strength to stand up.
“Not so tough now, are you?” Will spat, kicking Merlin in the stomach with one almighty blow, a thin stream of blood trickling out the corner of his mouth and onto the floor beneath him.
Just when things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Merlin’s eyeballs started burning intensely in their sockets until they felt like someone had taken a match to them.
Will stopped kicking, much to Merlin’s relief, but Lancelot and Valiant had also both stopped laughing and were staring down at him, heads titled slightly as they moved away in bewilderment and horror.
“What the...” Valiant muttered under his breath, stumbling backwards into display stand.
Without forewarning, he could no longer see a thing except for a magnificent golden light that filled him with a sense of refuge, a place where no one could touch him.
As the light disappeared, Merlin shook his head wildly bringing his vision back into focus to the spectacle of Valiant, Lancelot and Will all running away screaming, completely naked down the aisle and out of the front doors of the shop, their clothes nowhere in sight.
Merlin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but as he tried to stand up, crying seemed like the best option and he collapsed back onto the floor in weakness.
“Are you going to sit there all day, or are you going to take my hand and get up?” said a voice in front of him, it was stern and the tone recognisable, but Merlin had no idea from where. Although, whoever this was, obviously they didn’t realise he was in severe pain and unable to get up.
“You arse!” Merlin cried, straining his neck in attempt to see who he was talking too. Unfortunately he couldn’t see anyone; obviously they were to his side or behind him. “Maybe if you weren’t blind, you might notice that I can’t. Although, I thank you and everyone else in this store for helping me when I needed it,” he was yelling by this point, and funnily enough he could hear people chatting all around him.
“Typical,” the person muttered before Merlin felt a pair of warm hands grasp around his waist, slowly raising him off the ground with ease until he stood upright, leaning against the trolley that had rolled over towards him. “You really are the most pathetic person I’ve ever had the chance to meet.”
“Prat,” Merlin said, all his weight pressed up against the trolley as he began feeling extremely dizzy and as if he could throw up any moment now.
“Sounds familiar,” the person replied vaguely with a slight chuckle.
As a discreet smile crawled across Merlin’s face as he stared at the ground and he decided to take a glimpse of the person who had decided to help him.
Raising his head off the trolley, Merlin looked to his left only to see the aisle wall, but when he looked to his right, his vision blurred. He was, however, able to make the faint outline of a rather broad looking guy with blonde hair, though his face was completely distorted and hazy making it impossible for Merlin to see who it was.
Glancing back at the ground, the nausea finally hit him like a tidal wave, sick going all over the ground causing Merlin to misplace his balance and his legs to give way.
As his head collided with the surface of the floor, Merlin began to feel himself losing all sense of time and place, eyelids sliding closed as he was enveloped in darkness.
“Oh no you don’t, Merlin!” the voice stated before Merlin felt the familiar pair of hands, one brushing up against his face, the other stroking through his hair. “I’ve lost you once, never again.”
Merlin never got the chance to ask what he meant by that as he had already fallen unconscious.
*
When Merlin woke up, he found himself occupying a very uncomfortable hospital bed with Hunith and Morgana sitting down in seats on the other side of the small room.
“Merlin!” Morgana shrieked as soon as she saw Merlin awake. “You scared us to death!”
“Sorry,” Merlin apologized, pushing himself up until he was sitting. “I promise never to do it again.”
Hunith stood directly next to the bed, placing her hand on Merlin’s, gripping it tightly almost as if she never wanted to let him out of her sight again.
“This is entirely my fault,” Hunith muttered softly, a tear streaming down her face.
“No it’s not,” Merlin countered, reaching over to wipe the tear off his mothers face.
Out of nowhere, Morgana slammed her fist down onto the hospital bed. “I can’t believe that someone would do this,” she stated before looking Merlin directly in the eyes, her anger clearly visible. “Who did this? I want names and I want them now, the last thing I’m going to do is let some bastard get away with what he did to you.”
“It was Will and his friends...” Merlin answered after a few seconds thought, trying to recall what had occurred in the shopping centre. “Do either of you know what happened to the guy that helped me?”
Hunith and Morgana exchanged confused looks.
“What do you mean, sweetie?” Hunith asked, placing a hand on Merlin’s forehead.
“At the shopping centre, some guy tried to help me, but I never got his name,” Merlin answered, curious to as why they had no idea what he was going on about.
The silence was unnerving for Merlin, especially when his mother decided to sit up on the bed, stroking his hair gently.
“Merlin... there was no man,” Hunith said causing his mouth to gape open a little. “From what I was told, one of the female shopping assistants came over to help, but you had already passed out. Nobody saw a man darling.”
“But that’s impossible!” Merlin blurted out without realising.
“Ssh,” Hunith hushed, placing a finger to Merlin’s lips. “You’ve had a traumatic day and not are thinking clearly. Now, you stay here while I go get the Doctor and see if you can go home.”
Gently kissing his forehead, Hunith left the room to go find the Doctor.
“But there was a man,” Merlin felt the need to continue, he couldn’t have been imagining the blonde that helped him, it just wasn’t possible!
“I can’t believe Will did this...” Morgana paced back and forth, eyes ablaze with anger, ignoring Merlin completely.
Merlin rolled his eyes and sunk back down into the bed as Morgana persisted on muttering under her breath, more so when she began contemplating ways to murder Will without leaving and forensic evidence that would lead back to her.
Morgana and Will had never gotten on, right from the start. Especially after Will dumped her for the blonde bimbo, Vivian, just because she offered him... certain extras, much like take away food - without the take away - that Morgana wasn’t quite ready for yet.
That was another thing Merlin didn’t understand, did he really see Will, Valiant and Lancelot run away naked? For a brief moment, he was tempted to tell Morgana everything that had happened, but thought twice as the entire incident would just make him sound like a mental nutcase saying it aloud.
“The Doctor has given me permission to take you home,” Hunith said, walking into the room looking happier than she did before, although Merlin was still waiting for the catch. “However,” Merlin groaned, “You have to stay in bed for at least another day, and that is not negotiable. Do you understand?”
“But-“
“Merlin?” Hunith cut him off, folding her arms over her chest.
“Fine,” Merlin pouted, easing himself off the bed while Morgana grabbed a wheelchair from the far corner of the room for him to sit in.
Trying to enjoy the wheelchair ride as much as possible, Merlin couldn’t help but feel sorry for all the ill patients who were roaming throughout the hospital, nurse’s close by their sides as they directed them to their rooms.
A child, no more than twelve years old, had begun coughing up blood as he passed, nurses quickly rushing to his side to help the boy as they sat him down on a chair.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Morgana shivered, pushing Merlin through the main doors that led outside of the ward.
Five minutes later they were outside the hospital and helping him into the jeep. Funnily enough, Merlin didn’t feel the slightest twinge of pain, but more of a numbing and pleasurable sensation from where he’d been punched. Obviously the Doctor had given him something to relieve the pain whilst he was unconscious; Merlin was very happy about this.
Once Morgana had returned the wheelchair to the hospital reception, Hunith drove Morgana home as it was already way past dark, the streetlamps illuminating the narrow streets.
Morgana said goodbye and they drove back home where Merlin eventually made his way upstairs into his cosy bed. Even though he’d been unconscious for a majority of the day, Merlin found himself instantly tired as soon as his head rested against the pillow, while Hunith tucked him in.
“I’ll ring the university tomorrow and let them know you’re not coming in,” she whispered, laying a kiss gently on Merlin’s forehead as she got up to leave.
“Thanks,” Merlin forced a smile across his lips. “And mum,” he continued as Hunith turned to leave the room and switch off the light. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened today, it’s not your fault, it’s mine.”
“Goodnight Merlin,” Hunith said, not bothering to look at her son as she turned off the light and closed the door behind her, leaving Merlin in a blanket of darkness that stretched from one corner of the room to the other.
Burying his head into the pillow, he closed his eyes, while the wind howled outside rattling the windowpanes constantly.
As the wind calmed, Merlin put his mind to rest on everything that had happened during the day, wondering what the future would bring.
Feeling a cool breeze drift through the room from underneath the bedroom door, Merlin snuggled into the blanket to warm himself up. It was only then that he felt something familiar touch his cheek, like fingers warming his flesh as they travelled across his skin, eventually stopping at his lips, hot gasps of air blowing down upon his face.
His body stiffened as the warmth disappeared, and Merlin refused to open his eyes in fear that whatever it was in the room, might attack him or eat him, or even a combination of both, or...
Merlin gasped as what felt like lips pressed up against his and a hand moved down underneath the blanket, slowly trailing down his naval and down under his satin boxers where it began caressing Merlin in a way that caused him to groan against the hard lips above him.
Knowing that this was completely wrong, Merlin couldn’t help but reach out and began fondling with whoever it was touching him, breathing in the musky scent as he deepened the kiss. His hands wandering under the other person’s shirt and up their back, every muscle distinct and Merlin made effort to remember every one of them.
By this point all his covers had been pushed off the bed, along with his boxers, as the hand wrapped tightly around his member got faster until Merlin came, moaning in the others mouth.
Pulling away and gasping for air, he finally managed to open his eyes to see who it was that had just given him the closest thing he’d had to sex in his life.
With the little light available from the street lights outside, Merlin shuffled backwards in the bed as he stared out into the empty room. The only soul to be seen was a tiny green stuffed dragon on top of his cupboard; it’s tiny black eyes glistening in the darkness.
Frightened, Merlin quickly cleaned himself up and reached down to grab the covers off the floor. Tossing them completely over himself, Merlin squeezed his eyes tight and blocked out the noise of the windowpanes as they began rattling once more.
To be continued...