Tristesse [5/8]

Jan 11, 2013 17:16



A Fanfic in 8 parts,
Title: Tristesse [5/8]
Author: Camelittle
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur
Warnings/Spoilers: Post season 5. Major 5.13 plot spoilers
Summary: Merlin is suicidal, crushed by the weight of his destiny. Can Arthur save him, and save Albion
Disclaimer: The boys belong to themselves, their characters to the BBC, I'm just doing this for fun
Author's notes: Merlin is reunited with Arthur at last. Fluff ensues

Chapter 5. The thawing
December 2012

When Arthur awoke, he was lying naked in the bottom of the boat, breath stuttering in the cold air, tendrils of fog rising from the lake. Shuddering painfully from the cold, he tried to sit and managed to overbalance the boat, falling into the lake with loud curses and a whoosh of air as he surfaced. He splashed around for a bit, yelling and floundering. Where was his armour, his sword, his clothes? Where was Merlin? What had happened, how did they get to the lake? What the hell was he doing in a boat? Was Morgana truly dead? Between gasps, he looked around and could see a figure that looked remarkably like Merlin standing by the edge of the lake.

"Merlin!" he bellowed, "Don't just stand there you bloody idiot!" he managed to cough before falling under the water's surface again. Bony arms gripped him under the arms and towed hi to the side, dragged him onto the stony shore, with algae dripping from his blond hair, goosebumps all over his now-healed body, and a foul mouth croaking vile curses and threats at his former manservant. He felt undignified, helpless. He replaced these unfamiliar and uncomfortable emotions with incandescent rage, which felt much more manageable, as Merlin fussed around him.

"How long have I slept?"
"Long enough, lazybones."

Merlin rubbed him down with some sort of drying-cloth before dressing him in unfamiliar-feeling clothes.

"Come on Arthur, it's freezing, let's get you somewhere warm. We can go to my cottage in the village."
"Can't you just take me back to Camelot?"
"Arthur, you have slept for a long time. Things have changed. I'll explain when we've warmed you up a bit. Come on, walk with me."

And he pulled Arthur to his feet, half dragging him along. Arthur's legs crumpled under him and he fired off another volley of curses.
"At least tell me you have brought horses you ridiculous incompetent."
"Arthur, I didn't know you were going to choose today to wake up! And anyway, it's not that easy to procure a horse at short notice. I have brought my bike but it's really not far to my cottage. Or I can go for a wheelbarrow and bring you back in that."

Arthur tightened his grip round Merlin's damp waist. "Don't leave me!" he gasped in sudden panic. Merlin turned and embraced him, forehead to forehead, still panting with exertion, eyes glistening in the dark with unshed tears.

"Now you have returned to me at last, I will never willingly leave your side," he said fervently, in one of his sudden intense moments of breathtaking sincerity, which made Arthur's heart jump. He smiled uncertainly, Merlin's face-splitting return smile like the sun coming out from behind a cloud.

The two of them stumbled through the forest to reach a tiny cottage in a still, quiet village just before dawn. Merlin unlocked the door and they entered, Arthur's eyes round with shock and wonder as he took in the metalled roads, amber street-lights, and unfamiliar objects that were neatly arranged around the cottage. He couldn't speak, he was so cold, he could barely stand. He stumbled into the room, wobbly-legged.

Merlin seated Arthur in front of the fireplace, lit the fire with a quick verbal command, and ran upstairs, returning in dry clothes to his shivering friend with warm coverings. And then the two men burrowed into the covers in front of the fire, teeth chattering, embracing each other for warmth, Merlin murmuring all the while.

"Here, Arthur, move closer to me, I can warm you with my body and my magic, you have hypothermia Arthur, you need to warm up. Come on my old friend, my dear dear friend, I have missed you so. Arthur, let me warm you." Merlin scooted along the long comfortable seat, pulling Arthur's shivering body closer, closing the spaces between them until every part of Arthur was touching a part of Merlin, Merlin everywhere like a blanket pulled round him, Merlin's strength and warmth and magic embracing and enveloping him. Arthur was shivering violently, juddering, fingers and toes on fire as they reawoke, nerve endings tingling, pins and needles everywhere, his thudding heart soothed by Merlin's gentle voice, blond hair damp with Merlin's tears.

Gradually peace settled on them both and Arthur's heart stopped pounding. He felt strength and vigour returning to his long-unused limbs. Merlin was regarding him with a peculiar intensity; Arthur grinned at him and spoke:

"What?"

Merlin laughed shakily.

"I've waited for this moment such a long time, now I don't know quite what to say."
"Well you never were particularly bright. Or was that just for show. You know..." (Arthur pulled an idiotic face and spoke in a sing-song voice) "I'm just dopey old Merlin, never mind me, oops just spilled something, meanwhile I'm," (Adopts dark, doom-laden voice) "plotting how to slay all Arthur's enemies without anyone knowing who I am."

Merlin laughed again, less self-consciously, as Arthur went on.

"You know, if I'd only known about your... you know... " Arthur pantomimed making spells by wild hand-flapping movements, "I could have promoted you and then we could have been. You know. Friends. Properly I mean."
"We are friends." Merlin gulped and looked away. "More than friends," he whispered, and then peered cautiously back at Arthur between long black lashes.

Arthur couldn't find the words to acknowledge the truth of this admission as the two men gazed at each other intently. Instead he leaned towards Merlin and chastely kissed his forehead with chapped lips. Then, emboldened by the lack of objection, kissed Merlin's cheekbone. Merlin's eyes fluttered closed, breath sighing against Arthur's neck, and Arthur's guts overturned at the sight of Merlin's long lashes, thin, vulnerable eyelids. He cupped Merlin's face between tentative hands and gently kissed his eyes, lashes prickling his sensitive lips. Merlin moaned his name softly.

"Arthur... "
"Merlin," he whispered back, gulping. "You were always there for me weren't you. And I never knew. I felt it, somehow, couldn't bear it when you weren't around, but was too stupid, too blind to understand why. Forgive me Merlin."
"Nothing to forgive," croaked Merlin.
"Oh but there is." Arthur could do breathtaking moments of sincerity too. All the more devastating because they came to him with such difficulty. And he leant forward again and grazed Merlin's lips with his open mouth, tentative, breathless, heads turning into the kiss. Merlin was humming, mmmmmmm, eyes closed as Arthur withdrew, gasping, scorched. Merlin's eyes snapped open again, fixing on Arthur's tongue as he ran it round his mouth, trying to regain his composure.

Merlin pulled his face back down, and dragged Arthur onto him as he whispered into Arthur's mouth,

"I have always been yours, here for the taking... Arthur I am still yours, I have waited for you all this time, just touch me, hold me, I need you, I've always wanted you, wanted this, oh god please yes," voice thick, trembling with desire, before Arthur dissolved completely into the embrace, lips and tongues, hands buried in hair, bodies rubbing together

Arthur moaned and shuddered in Merlin's arms, aroused beyond measure by Merlin's declarations, heat, lust. He crammed himself on top of Merlin, body to body, wriggling til he found the right angle to rub his hard cock against Merlin's crotch, encouraged by the bulging erection he found there. He buried his face in Merlin's long hot neck, searching with his lips, tongue, teeth, rasping stubble to stubble, panting and groaning with sudden want.

One strong hand searched frantically, cupped the flesh of Merlin's round arse cheek, wedged between it and the sofa, while the other fist burrowed into Merlin's trousers to encase his hot prick, huge and springy. Merlin's eyes, black and gold in the firelight, opened wide at his touch, and he let out a long, low-pitched, shuddering moan that set Arthur's ears roaring. Merlins hips arched up and down gently at first, and then more urgently, pumping his stalk in and out of Arthur's fist.

"Christ, yes, Arthur, let me fuck your hand, oh god Arthur I have dreamt of this for so long, imagined your hands on me, your hands feel so strong..., you feel so...." He writhed, wiggled his hips under Arthur, eyes ablaze and then it seemed to Arthur that the air around them shimmered, crackling with magic, his nerve endings jangling as Merlin, mouth muffled in his, panted "Arthur! I'm going to... Oh! Oh! FUCK!" and came, sticky and hot against Arthur's palm, eyes closed, neck bulging, tendrils of power cracking from his hands and chest and crotch. It was the most erotic thing Arthur had ever seen. Arthur moaned again, humping Fuck Fuck Fuck frantically against Merlin's thigh until he spilled into his pants, breath rough and hot against Merlin's straining neck
Silent now apart from their breathing, the two men lay wondering, sticky in each others' embrace

Merlin cleared his throat
"Well... er... welcome back Arthur."
"Thanks. Nice to see you again."
"That was... er... " Merlin coughed. "Well, I missed you."
"I could tell. I erm... Well. Nice way to wake up. Bloody hell Merlin. You are intense."
"Sorry. I was erm... lonely?"
"Holy Fuck, you looked like..."

In the throes of his passion, Merlin had looked like a god. Arthur couldn't bring himself to say it, but he couldn't wait to see Merlin like that again, feel his magic snaking round him, caressing him, teasing and delighting him. But there in the afterglow he had to find out one more thing.

"How long?" whispered Arthur, not wanting to know the answer. Merlin turned to him, eyes compassionate
"About 1500 years."
"WHAT!" Arthur could feel the walls tumbling down.
"I'm sorry Arthur. About all of it."
"But that means... they're all gone."
"Yes. Except me. I'm here for you. I'm still here. For you Arthur, always for you."
Arthur turned to him in the midst of his sudden crushing grief and saw. So much
"And what about you. Who is here for you Merlin?" he said gently.
"Only you. Always you."
Arthur sighed and smiled a little. Well, compared to having the hopes of an entire nation resting on your shoulders, the needs of a lonely 1500-year-old sorcerer shouldn't be too much of a burden. Should they?
And to lighten the mood, he said "Well Merlin, I think you, and your smutty magic, have just ruined me for the women of the (counting on fingers - 16th, 17th, 18th...) 19th Century"
"21st actually."
"Seriously?"
"I'm always serious."

rating: nc-17, contributor: camelittle, warnings: character death, genre: porn, fanfic, spoilers, genre: angst, genre: fluff

Previous post Next post
Up