Chemistry
Author: archaeologist_d
Title: Chemistry
Rating: R
Pairing/s: Merlin/Arthur
Character/s: Merlin
Summary: The scrawny kid knew more about chemistry than Arthur did.
Warnings: none, R for language
Word Count: 976
Camelot Drabble Prompt bingo 512: Alchemy
Author’s Notes: will probably be multi-chaptered
Disclaimer: I do not own the BBC version of Merlin; They and Shine do. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.
--------------------
How the scrawny kid always seemed to get the chemistry assignment right, Arthur couldn’t figure out. It wasn’t that Arthur was bad at science. Hell, he wanted to be a doctor at some point, much to his father’s disgust at Arthur not going into politics, but he had to pass the blasted chemistry course first.
At first, it annoyed Arthur. The geeky bloke from the poor side of town and Arthur with his posh public-school upbringing. They shouldn’t even be in the same orbit, never mind lab partners. But Merlin-his real name!- seemed to laugh at Arthur whenever he would grumble about salts and concentrated acids, then take pity on him, and while he didn’t do the work for Arthur-not that he would ask-, Merlin would point to a page in the book, or make a suggestion of what to do next, and it would suddenly all make sense.
It was almost as if Merlin knew what Arthur needed before Arthur did.
In fact, Arthur started calling Merlin his wizardy secret weapon, Merlin rolling his eyes and muttering something about science, not magic, but they seemed to click somehow.
And before Arthur knew it, the course was over, and they were just enjoying the chemistry between them.
Arthur didn’t expect it to last. Uni was fleeting enough, and Merlin wasn’t going for a degree, just taking courses because he could-although Arthur couldn’t figure that out, but when Arthur showed up for the history of medieval herbs next, there was Merlin, lecturing on the damn topic. He knew his stuff, too, never consulting books but just talking about it as if he had first-hand experience.
Of course, they couldn’t see each other outside of the lecture hall while Merlin was teaching but as soon as it was over, they were back to pub crawls and arguing about tv shows and politics and finding out just how much pleasure they could get from fucking anywhere and everywhere.
Because at that point, Arthur wanted to crawl inside Merlin and never let him go.
Merlin was more reticent, talking about alchemy, how some things could be turned from lead into gold, but relationships weren’t that easy.
It wasn’t until after a night of fantastic sex that Arthur began to wonder, though. Merlin rarely let him into his flat, but Arthur had pressed and pressed in all the right places and they ended up exploring each other on the stairs which Merlin said led nowhere, in the corner where he was growing some kind of weird almost-extinct plant, next to a pile of ancient pornographic manuscripts from who-knows-where although they had fun with those, comparing notes and trying out a few positions.
When Arthur woke, Merlin wasn’t around, just footsteps and mutterings coming from the ceiling. It was odd, but then Merlin was a sort of odd sex-crazed bloke anyway, not that Arthur objected in the least. But thinking to sneak up on Merlin and snog him senseless before breakfast, he crept out of the bedroom to find the stair door open after all.
He could hear Merlin’s voice coming from the room above, chanting some language that sounded almost like Anglo-Saxon but older somehow.
Curious as hell, hoping to find out something new from his taciturn-about-himself lover, Arthur crept up the stairs.
In front of him on the table was a pot, grey, looking a bit like beaten-up lead, but before Arthur could say anything, Merlin muttered something, waving his hands about. There was a flash of light, and when Arthur could see again, the container was gold, not some fake shiny metal but the real thing.
“What the-?” Arthur said, startled, thinking that maybe he was still dreaming.
Merlin whirled around, gold flashing in his eyes before turning back to blue.
Arthur expected Merlin to laugh it off somehow, make up an excuse, maybe even deny what Arthur had seen. But instead, Merlin babbled nonsense, “Please, don’t tell anyone. It’s… I know you could never really love me because I’ve been keeping it from you, but it could get really sticky and even dangerous so could you maybe just not say anything?”
“Merlin, calm down,” Arthur said, thinking that he didn’t know what to think or what Merlin was on about.
“It will turn back in a minute. The magic isn’t right, I don’t have the correct… umm, recipe? Merlin stumbled to a stop.
“Merlin, that pot looks like it turned to gold. What did you use? Changeable paint?” Arthur said, frowning. “We both know it’s not real gold because that would be impossible. The physics wouldn’t work. So how did you do that? It’s a neat trick. I bet you could make money selling it.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Merlin said, turning away, biting at his lip and raking his fingers through his hair.
He was adorable and Arthur wanted to throw him down and ravish him or maybe demand an explanation. But with Merlin looking so downcast, the mystery of the pot could wait for another day. “Look, forget about it. We’ll pretend that you’ve discovered the secret to changing lead into gold and maybe we can celebrate?”
Merlin’s gaze flicked over to the pot which had changed back to grey and then he smiled, tentative at first. But when Arthur pulled him close and began to snog him, Merlin’s kisses turned hungry.
“Celebration? What did you have in mind?” Merlin said.
So, Arthur reminded him about that one page in the ancient porny manuscript, and it just made Arthur want him more when Merlin’s face turned pink and then nodded.
It was a fantastic night, full of exploration and chemistry so intense Arthur felt the world might combust. Arthur never wanted it to end.
-------------------
The next morning, Merlin was gone. Arthur didn’t find him again for three years.
Title: Chemistry
Rating: R
Pairing/s: Merlin/Arthur
Character/s: Merlin
Summary: The scrawny kid knew more about chemistry than Arthur did.
Warnings: none, R for language
Word Count: 976
Camelot Drabble Prompt bingo 512: Alchemy
Author’s Notes: will probably be multi-chaptered
Disclaimer: I do not own the BBC version of Merlin; They and Shine do. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.
--------------------
How the scrawny kid always seemed to get the chemistry assignment right, Arthur couldn’t figure out. It wasn’t that Arthur was bad at science. Hell, he wanted to be a doctor at some point, much to his father’s disgust at Arthur not going into politics, but he had to pass the blasted chemistry course first.
At first, it annoyed Arthur. The geeky bloke from the poor side of town and Arthur with his posh public-school upbringing. They shouldn’t even be in the same orbit, never mind lab partners. But Merlin-his real name!- seemed to laugh at Arthur whenever he would grumble about salts and concentrated acids, then take pity on him, and while he didn’t do the work for Arthur-not that he would ask-, Merlin would point to a page in the book, or make a suggestion of what to do next, and it would suddenly all make sense.
It was almost as if Merlin knew what Arthur needed before Arthur did.
In fact, Arthur started calling Merlin his wizardy secret weapon, Merlin rolling his eyes and muttering something about science, not magic, but they seemed to click somehow.
And before Arthur knew it, the course was over, and they were just enjoying the chemistry between them.
Arthur didn’t expect it to last. Uni was fleeting enough, and Merlin wasn’t going for a degree, just taking courses because he could-although Arthur couldn’t figure that out, but when Arthur showed up for the history of medieval herbs next, there was Merlin, lecturing on the damn topic. He knew his stuff, too, never consulting books but just talking about it as if he had first-hand experience.
Of course, they couldn’t see each other outside of the lecture hall while Merlin was teaching but as soon as it was over, they were back to pub crawls and arguing about tv shows and politics and finding out just how much pleasure they could get from fucking anywhere and everywhere.
Because at that point, Arthur wanted to crawl inside Merlin and never let him go.
Merlin was more reticent, talking about alchemy, how some things could be turned from lead into gold, but relationships weren’t that easy.
It wasn’t until after a night of fantastic sex that Arthur began to wonder, though. Merlin rarely let him into his flat, but Arthur had pressed and pressed in all the right places and they ended up exploring each other on the stairs which Merlin said led nowhere, in the corner where he was growing some kind of weird almost-extinct plant, next to a pile of ancient pornographic manuscripts from who-knows-where although they had fun with those, comparing notes and trying out a few positions.
When Arthur woke, Merlin wasn’t around, just footsteps and mutterings coming from the ceiling. It was odd, but then Merlin was a sort of odd sex-crazed bloke anyway, not that Arthur objected in the least. But thinking to sneak up on Merlin and snog him senseless before breakfast, he crept out of the bedroom to find the stair door open after all.
He could hear Merlin’s voice coming from the room above, chanting some language that sounded almost like Anglo-Saxon but older somehow.
Curious as hell, hoping to find out something new from his taciturn-about-himself lover, Arthur crept up the stairs.
In front of him on the table was a pot, grey, looking a bit like beaten-up lead, but before Arthur could say anything, Merlin muttered something, waving his hands about. There was a flash of light, and when Arthur could see again, the container was gold, not some fake shiny metal but the real thing.
“What the-?” Arthur said, startled, thinking that maybe he was still dreaming.
Merlin whirled around, gold flashing in his eyes before turning back to blue.
Arthur expected Merlin to laugh it off somehow, make up an excuse, maybe even deny what Arthur had seen. But instead, Merlin babbled nonsense, “Please, don’t tell anyone. It’s… I know you could never really love me because I’ve been keeping it from you, but it could get really sticky and even dangerous so could you maybe just not say anything?”
“Merlin, calm down,” Arthur said, thinking that he didn’t know what to think or what Merlin was on about.
“It will turn back in a minute. The magic isn’t right, I don’t have the correct… umm, recipe? Merlin stumbled to a stop.
“Merlin, that pot looks like it turned to gold. What did you use? Changeable paint?” Arthur said, frowning. “We both know it’s not real gold because that would be impossible. The physics wouldn’t work. So how did you do that? It’s a neat trick. I bet you could make money selling it.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Merlin said, turning away, biting at his lip and raking his fingers through his hair.
He was adorable and Arthur wanted to throw him down and ravish him or maybe demand an explanation. But with Merlin looking so downcast, the mystery of the pot could wait for another day. “Look, forget about it. We’ll pretend that you’ve discovered the secret to changing lead into gold and maybe we can celebrate?”
Merlin’s gaze flicked over to the pot which had changed back to grey and then he smiled, tentative at first. But when Arthur pulled him close and began to snog him, Merlin’s kisses turned hungry.
“Celebration? What did you have in mind?” Merlin said.
So, Arthur reminded him about that one page in the ancient porny manuscript, and it just made Arthur want him more when Merlin’s face turned pink and then nodded.
It was a fantastic night, full of exploration and chemistry so intense Arthur felt the world might combust. Arthur never wanted it to end.
-------------------
The next morning, Merlin was gone. Arthur didn’t find him again for three years.