Not Another Cinderella - Chapter Six
Christmas was fast approaching the Destin Inn, bringing with it the sharp bite of winter and the first hint of snow. The roads were covered with thin sheets of ice which a man in a beat up pick-up took care of with a cab filled with rock salt. The cars were covered in the wet wintry mix and the mountain in the next town was now officially open for business. And with that news came a throng of tourist looking to ski and snow board; Gwaine had open the pool of how long it would take for the first one to go missing and need rescuing. Merlin was banking on a day.
He was hanging tinsel and lights on a large seven foot tree in the sitting room that was off of the dining. There was a smaller one in the entryway where a mechanical angel sat on top; it sung Christmas songs whenever someone passed, Merlin figured it would get very annoying very quickly.
He was doing the top branches now, balanced on the tips of his toes on a small stool. They had a foot ladder, but Merlin figured the stool was just as good, if a little rockier. He would have been fine if Arthur hadn’t entered the precise moment he had been stretching to reach the top of the tree, the tips of his toes barely on the stool.
He heard a gasp of air and someone sucking in breath and looked up to have his eyes meet Arthur’s. His pupils were blown wide as if in…..lust. Merlin gasped and jerked back, not such a good idea. He fell, arse and head hitting the floor. He couldn’t figure out which hurt worst.
"Are you okay?"
He opened his eyes to find two Arthur’s swimming in his vision.
"Stay still, both of you." Arthur looked over his shoulder before looking back at Merlin clearly confused. "And what the hell do you think you’re doing sneaking up on someone standing on a stool? You could have killed me!"
"I’d hardly say I snuck up."
"I would, as evidence I present to you the fact that I’m on the floor and am now seeing two of you."
There was a tap of heels in the distance that made Merlin’s head hurt even more.
"Oh God, Arthur, what did you do now?"
It was Morgana. Merlin liked Morgana, much more so than Arthur. Well, that might be a lie. He certainly had never thought about Morgana naked and covered in fudge. Mmm fudge.
He tried to turn his head to look at her but the movement made his stomach roll so he settled for waving at her, only managing to make his hand flop a little.
"’Lo, Morgana."
"I think he’s bashed his brains in. This is surprising considering I didn’t think he had anything in there in the first place."
"Arthur," Morgana stared in a tone that even scared Merlin. He hadn’t seen Morgana angry, but he had a though that it wouldn’t be a good thing for anyone to be in the vicinity when she was. "What did you do?"
"Nothing. He fell of the stool."
‘’s’not his fault Morgana. He can’t help he’s delicious," Merlin mumbled. "Mmm, delicious, like fudge. I want fudge Art…Ar…Arfur. You in fudge. Fudge in you."
For some reason Morgana found this funny.
"We need to take him to the hospital." Arthur said starting to sound worried. Merlin didn’t want him worried. Merlin wanted him naked.
"Yeah. Probably."
Saint Francis was a small county hospital located at the edge of Camden near the border of Ealdor. The doctors were overworked but friendly, it was clean, and Arthur was pretty sure that Merlin wouldn’t get some sort of infection and die on him. He’d hate to have to tell Gwen he killed her best friend.
They were seated in the waiting room of the emergency department; the seats were made of lime green vinyl and cheap wood. They were steady, clunky, and made his arse hurt.
Merlin’s head was flopping to his chest and Morgana kept poking him to keep him awake.
"Don’t go to sleep, Merlin," She whispered in his ear, her breast flat against his right arm. Arthur thought she was far too close.
"Merlin Emrys!" called a nurse with blond curls and a sharp nose. She was thin as a rail and her scrubs hung off her in baggy waves.
"Come on big -ears." Arthur rose to his feet and looked at Merlin expectantly.
"Gosh, you’re hot."
Arthur smirked.
"Yes I know; I’ve dazed you with my hotness."
He leaned down to grasp Merlin’s forearm and pulled the other man to his feet, steadying him with an arm around his thin waist to keep him from falling over. And if enjoyed the warm, solid feeling of having Merlin against him, no one had to know.
Morgana was watching them with a quirked eyebrow and a knowing smirk.
Well, no one important that is.
Merlin had a concussion. The great idiot. Gwen had fussed over him, scolded Arthur, and wrapped Merlin’s head in a towel filled with ice. Arthur wondered absently if there was anyone in the inn that was actually working. Lance and Leon were watching from the doorway to Merlin’s room, which was far better than his. Leon held Brian the turtle in his arms and Lancelot was giving Arthur a headache, his expression a constant play of worry for Merlin and jealousy over Gwen. What he thought a sleepy, injured Merlin was going to do to her was anyone’s guess.
When she was apparently satisfied that Merlin wasn’t about to perish away, Gwen turned to face Arthur with a swirl of lavender skirt and curly hair.
"You stay and watch him. Make sure he takes his pain pills, and make him drink water. Oh, and make sure to wake him up every few hours like the doctor said."
"And exactly when did I become a nurse maid?" Gwen glared at him. "Oh, yes, I remember now."
He ignored the laughing Morgana, Leon, and Lancelot. As he settled himself into a comfortable plush chair beside Merlin’s King sized bed.
Arthur had known that Merlin’s room was on the same floor as his, though he had never seen it before today. It was done in shades of blue. The walls were a pretty iridescent aqua blue and when the light hit, it had a kaleidoscope effect, while the ceiling was a cornflower blue. The wood floors were covered in blue rugs of different colors, a sky blue rug was positioned near the door and a cobalt blue rug was at the foot of the bed. Beneath the large bay window was an indigo blue that matched the curtains drawn closed over the window. The bed was made of oak, with a rounded headboard and a level footboard. The sheets were teal while the comforter spread above them was azure; the pile of pillows that surrounded Merlin’s head were a mixture of the two.
It was like being inside an aquarium.
There was a small chaise lounge pushed beneath the window that matched the chair he sat in. They were grey. Arthur wondered at that. A telly stood in the far corner and looked to not get a lot of usage. A bookcase was against the wall on the opposite side of the bed from him and was stuffed with books; books even lying upon the top of the case. A clock was positioned on the wall opposite the bed, and as Arthur watched to make sure that Merlin’s chest kept rising and falling with breath, he listened to the clock and allowed it to lull him to sleep.
When he woke it was with a start and sometime later with Merlin looking up at him with lidded eyes.
Merlin smacked his lips. "Thirsty."
"Oh, right." Arthur leaned forward and took hold of the canister on the night stand that had to be filled with now warm water. He poured the water into a plastic cup until it was half-full before handing it to Merlin. "Here."
Arthur watched Merlin closely as he lifted the cup to his mouth, not wanting the other man to spill it on himself. When he was done he handed the cup back to Arthur who placed it on the nightstand, all the while gazing at Merlin.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like an elephant sat on my head." He groaned and rued at his face. "What time is it?"
"Late." Arthur replied without moving his eyes from Merlin’s face.
"Yeah," Merlin breathed. "What are you still doing here?"
Arthur shrugged. "Gwen told me to watch over you. She’s too scary to say no to."
"Yeah."
They lapsed into silence.
"You’ve been avoiding me," Arthur said hurriedly before his brain had the time to tell his mouth to shut the hell up.
"Yeah."
"Why do you keep saying that?"
"Don’t know." Merlin yawned. "You look good. Well not that you don’t always look good, it’s just that all sleepy and whatnot, you look really….soft."
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yeah." Merlin nodded.
"Why have you been avoiding me?"
Now Merlin looked away, but Arthur kept his eyes on his face, not relenting.
"Merlin?"
"Because I felt stupid….and do not say anything or I’ll sic Gwen on you."
"I wasn’t going to."
"Hunh. Away, I felt stupid because….well you know."
"No. No I really don’t."
"Yes, you do," Merlin insisted.
"No." Arthur shook his head. "I don’t."
They kept at that for awhile both of them growing frustrated before Merlin practically shouted.
"I almost kissed you!"
"And?" Arthur questioned completely confused.
"And? All you have to say is and?"
"And why did that make you feel stupid?"
Merlin looked at him incredulously. "You’ve got to be kidding. Maybe it was the fact that you ran away as fast as humanly possible."
Arthur felt himself blushing and frowned. "That’s because I was a little….embarrassed I guess."
Merlin blinked at him, opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Are you saying that you wanted me to kiss you?"
"Maybe?"
"I….I don’t know what to say," Merlin said. "I didn’t think you’d want that. That you even liked blokes. I mean you’re always with Morgana."
"Morgana!" Arthur shouted, eyes popping. "You think I like Morgana?!" He shuddered at the thought.
Merlin shifted on the bed and the comforter slipped to reveal his bare chest. Gwen hand undressed him when they got home and presumably got him into pajamas. Arthur hadn’t checked, not that he hadn’t wanted to check, that is, only it didn’t seem right to do so with Merlin practically passed out.
He wasn’t a pervert after all.
"Yeah, well why wouldn’t you? I mean, she’s beautiful. I’m gay and even I can see that."
"You’re gay?" Arthur asked becoming quickly distracted by Merlin’s bare chest. He was remembering that weird arse dream he had with him and Merlin having sex that had been really, really good after the weird scene in the hallway. He’d woken up the next morning sticky with his own release.
"What? All the rainbow shirts I wear didn’t give you a clue? How about the "Will suck lollipops for cookies" T? Or the fact that’ I’m consistently checking out your arse?" Merlin paused and frowned. "I didn’t mean to say that."
"You check out my arse?"
Merlin blushed and turned away. "Well, it’s a really good arse."
Arthur laughed.
"You should go to bed, I’ll be fine," Merlin said after Arthur had sobered down.
"No. I don’t think I will, and I’m not quite sure you are. I’ll be staying here if it’s all the same to you."
"But you’ll get a crick in your neck."
Arthur shrugged. "Wouldn’t be the first time."
"Arthur…,"
"Shut up Merlin and go to sleep."
"Fine." It was quiet for long minutes. "Are you going to sit there all night and stare at me?"
"Probably."
"Oh." Merlin went silent again. "Well, you mind as well come lay down. At least it won’t be so creepy then."
Arthur couldn’t see how him laying down next to Merlin, a half naked Merlin at that, and watching him would be less creepy than sitting in the chair and watching him. But Arthur was tired, his body ached, and he really wanted to be close to Merlin. So he tugged off his trainers, pulled his jumper and undershirt over his head and crawled into the bed beside Merlin without a fight.
The bed was large enough that they didn’t have to touch; only Merlin didn’t seem to care about that. He rolled closer to Arthur the moment he was settled into the bed until they were touching in at least one place.
"Night, Arthur," Merlin sighed.
"Night Merlin."
……………….
~~~~~ Masterpost~~~ Seven