Merlinfic: Born of Magic 4/12
Title: Born of Magic
Author: Destiny_Chicken
Characters: Arthur, Merlin, Uther, Gaius, OC Lord Aden, OC Lady Alys
Genre/pairing: Slash, Merlin/Arthur
Rating: MA Mature Adult due to language, and explicit sexual content
Word-count: 33,833 total
Chapters: 4 of 12
Spoilers: Mention of 1.1 (The Dragon’s Call), 2.8 (The Sins of the Father) and 2.13 (The Last Dragonlord)
Summary: Arthur suffers yet another blow to the head, but this one causes amnesia. He and Merlin are quarantined to Arthur’s chambers in an attempt to avoid revealing the amnesia to Uther. Once Arthur is cured by Merlin’s magic, strange incidents begin to occur.
Arthur only ate a few spoonfuls of broth and a part of a roll for breakfast, but he at least kept it down. Then he paced a bit and settled on reading as his pastime for the morning. He delved excitedly into the tome on Roman siege machines Merlin offered him. Despite the topic being of great interest to him, his eyelids got heavier and heavier and then he was asleep.
Merlin took the respite Arthur’s sleep offered and settled down to nap himself, when there was a knock at the door, not at the main door but at the servants' entrance in the anteroom. “Merlin, it’s Gaius.”
Merlin cracked this door and saw Gaius holding a new potion, his pack and a pillow, and behind him, standing on end, a mattress with some arms visibly wrestling to hold it upright.
Gaius directed, “Return to the other chamber, Merlin, and then we can enter the anteroom with the mattress.” Merlin did as he was told, distancing himself from the visitors to prevent the ‘contamination’ that was feared.
Gaius called out loudly over the sounds of footsteps and the mattress being shuffled into place. “I’m leaving the potion for Arthur we discussed this morning on the sideboard. And I’ve brought a pillow and your pack with your clothing. I’ll leave it here on the mattress.”
“Thank you Gaius. I can’t thank you enough for the mattress-I’ll sleep so much better.” Once they had departed and the anteroom door was closed, Merlin entered the small annex, found that the mattress looked to be from one of the guest chambers so should be a delight to sleep upon, much better quality than his own servant’s mattress. He dug through the pack and put the few clothes he had in the sideboard, and returned to Arthur’s bedroom for the blankets and furs. Once the bed was made to his satisfaction, he dropped onto it. It was heavenly, soft and smooth, almost as nice as Arthur’s bed. He settled under the blankets and started on that nap which Gaius had interrupted.
At lunch, Arthur only ate the bread, and refused anything more. Merlin administered the fever-producing potion, and the pain-relieving liquid as Arthur said his headaches were still bothering him, and Merlin could see that the limp had not diminished. The medicines made Arthur drowsy so within a few more pages of the book, he was asleep again. But he was much more restless than earlier. He was tossing and fighting with the covers as his fever began to build. Merlin requested some cool water and cloths to be delivered.
Once they arrived, he soaked a cloth and dabbed at Arthur’s forehead. He was sweating now. He plucked weakly at his shirt and Merlin obliged him by removing it. This, of course, exposed Arthur’s sweating chest to Merlin’s avid gaze. He had seen it many times before, but he couldn’t usually stare without Arthur realizing his inappropriate behavior. But now, with Arthur asleep, he gazed over the muscular shoulders, the dip above his collarbone, the fine downy hair on his pecs, his nipples that begged to be touched, and the hard surface of his stomach. He almost flinched as he realised he could touch Arthur to cool him with the wet cloth.
His hand shook as he dipped the cloth in the water again and started with Arthur’s face, then moved to his neck. Arthur moaned slightly and Merlin halted and waited. But Arthur wasn’t waking, just moaning in his sleep. Merlin continued wiping across Arthur's collarbone and then to his nipples and pectorals dusted lightly with dark blonde hair. Merlin felt his own trousers getting tighter. With a deep breath, he told himself that this could not continue. His hand was betraying him by continuing to stroke Arthur’s neck with the cloth. He forced himself to physically step away from the bed, so he could not reach out to touch Arthur, breaking the connection he felt.
Merlin retreated to the antechamber, and lay down on his bed. Physically, he needed some relief. He lifted his tunic a bit and slid his hand, still wet from cooling off Arthur, slowly down his flat stomach to undo his trousers. He pushed his trousers and smallclothes down to his thighs, and took his heavy and stiff cock in hand. He allowed images of Arthur to fill his mind. Arthur breathing heavily with his luscious pouty lips parted. Arthur in the bath with his neck exposed. He pumped slowly from the base of his cock to the head, and when he reached the head, he added a twist to his hand. His thumb rubbed over the slit, spreading the moisture on the foreskin and down the shaft. He imagined Arthur kissing his neck, sucking at the curve where his neck met his shoulder. Moving lower down his chest to lick both nipples. He could almost hear his own gasps in response. Arthur’s mouth moved lower yet, following the trail of dark hair past his belly button down to his hard cock.
The pace of the strokes of his hand increased, firmly gripping his own cock now, not lightly as before. His other hand, which had been lazily stroking his side, moved to his own nipple and twisted it. He was close to the edge, just a little bit more…he could see Arthur taking his cock in his mouth, his tongue laving the head, tasting the bitter pre-come at the slit, tonguing the vein underneath. Then he went deeper, taking as much of Merlin as he could. That was enough. A moan escaped Merlin's lips as his pulsing come painted his stomach and hands.
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“Merlin, I’m bored.” Arthur whinged after a dinner where he had finally drunk most of the broth and eaten the entire slice of bread, keeping it down. He was still feverish, but awake and restless.
“Have you finished your book?” Merlin was circling the room, lighting candles, as the last of the daylight faded from the window.
“No, but I am tired of reading and it is dark now.” Arthur was up and pacing the room in his agitation over the confinement.
“What about chess? Are you up for a game? Merlin offered.
“What? You know how? Yes, yes, by all means.”
Merlin opened the bottom drawer of the nightstand and pulled out the chessboard and the bag with the pieces. It was a wooden set, with the board inlaid with different colors of exotic woods to make the squares, and an intricately carved woven border around the edges of the board. The pieces also were the beautiful handiwork of a skilled craftsman. The Knights were carved on rearing chargers, the Castles had such detail you could see the carved outlines of the stones. Each of the Pawns was a coiled dragon, just like that on the Pendragon crest. It must have been a gift to Uther or Arthur from another king.
Merlin avoided mentioning that it was Morgana who had taught him chess. They’d played when the weather was too bad to go out. Arthur was still sensitive about the loss of Morgana, at least the Arthur-with-memories was. Merlin realized he wasn’t sure about this Arthur, he didn’t think he had remembered Morgana at all-he hadn’t mentioned her.
“It is a lovely set. Where did it come from?” Merlin asked.
Arthur sighed. “You are asking me like I can remember things. I can’t.”
“So do you remember how to play chess? Or will that be your excuse when you lose to me?” Merlin taunted with a smile on his face. He knew Arthur wouldn’t resist that challenge-he loved any sort of competition.
Arthur smirked back at Merlin, his eyes glinting from the dare-or was it the fever? “Oh, you are going to lose. Count on it.”
Morgana had taught Merlin chess and its strategy well, well enough that even though he had never played Arthur before, they declared the match a stalemate after over an hour and a half.
“It’s time for the mind medicine, now Arthur.” said Merlin as he went over to the sideboard where he was keeping the medical supplies. “Do you need more pain medication too?"
“Yes, my head is still pounding.” He downed both potions dutifully, and Merlin asked the usual question, “Are you remembering anything more, Arthur?”
“No, I wish you would stop asking me that,” the prince barked. “I’ll let you know if something new occurs.”
“Gaius told me to ask every time I gave you the potion, so I'm just following directions. I’m not doing it to irritate you,” Merlin explained.
Merlin tended Arthur’s bed, smoothing the sheets and straightening the covers. Then he sat on the bed. “Arthur, come over here,” he said quietly.
Arthur’s head swiveled to look at Merlin. “What?”
“Come here.”
Arthur couldn’t resist, and moved from the table to stand beside the bed, as if he were a moth drawn to Merlin’s flame. Merlin scooted up to lean against the headboard, patting the bed beside him as he stretched out his lanky legs, crossing his ankles.
“What on earth are you trying to tell me, Merlin? Are you presuming to invite me to my own bed? The prince snapped haughtily. “Why are you in my bed anyway?” Arthur regarded Merlin with narrowed eyes.
“Yes...no. What?” Merlin was not following Arthur’s thoughts. Then it hit him what Arthur was really asking was in response to Merlin’s invitation. Merlin closed his eyes as he recognized what Arthur must be thinking, that Merlin had invited him to the bed because they were lovers.
“No, I didn’t mean to imply anything. No, no. We aren’t…we’ve never…well, I was just going to massage your head to help with the headaches. I can see they still bother you.”
Arthur let out a small “Oh.” He was shocked at the intensity of his disappointment. He recalled all the images of Merlin that had come to his mind as he tried to find memories. He finally admitted to himself that evidently he was really attracted to Merlin, but no, he was just a friend. Brushing away the feelings of desire and regret, he decided to focus on what Merlin was offering, and sat down on the bed.
“Now lean back against me so I can reach your head more easily.”
Arthur did as told for once, without a squabble. He gently leaned back against Merlin’s chest, stretching his legs out in front, mimicking Merlin’s position. Arthur lay partially beside Merlin, but his head fell against the raven-haired man’s shoulder as the prince settled against Merlin’s chest.
“You’re warm,” Merlin commented.
“Well, I am supposed to be suffering from a fever, you know.”
“True. Now let’s see what we can do about the headaches.” Merlin threaded his long fingers into Arthur’s golden hair. His fingers moved in small circles on the temples, then to the middle of the scalp, then down the back of the head. He gently touched the spot where the knot had formed from the fall. “I think the bump is smaller now.”
Arthur closed his eyes and focused on Merlin’s touch. “Mmmm.” He felt some of the tension in his head easing away. “You have magic fingers, Merlin.”
Merlin smiled to himself at that comment. ‘What Arthur doesn’t know.’
“Yes, I suppose I do. Is it good?”
“’Good’ is not the word for it. 'Fabulous' or 'outstanding', perhaps, but definitely not ‘good.’”
Merlin chuckled and continued his ministrations, fingers massaging Arthur’s brow, smoothing the furrows between his eyebrows.
Arthur’s breathing deepened and within a few more minutes he was sound asleep.
Arthur was sleeping too soundly so Merlin stayed where he was. He could feel that Arthur was still feverishly warm, but his sleep was calmer and deeper than the night before. Merlin adjusted his own position a bit so he could lie completely down on the bed, Arthur still leaning against his side. Merlin pulled the covers up over them both. ‘And here I said I wouldn’t share his bed’, he thought.
Arthur turned towards Merlin in his sleep, finally assuming a prone position, and threw his arm over Merlin’s chest, hugging him closer. Now Merlin would have no chance of sneaking out to his own bed without waking Arthur up. He resigned himself to spending the night in Arthur’s bed and trying to ignore the sensations from Arthur’s body against his. He expected he would get little sleep this night.
`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·β¤ȑñ ¤ƒ ɱåğȋç ·._.··`¯´´·.¸¸.·`When Arthur awoke, the sunshine was streaming in the window since Merlin never got a chance to close the curtains the night before. He felt warm--and it wasn’t just the fever--there was a warmth next to him, in the bed. He opened one eye and saw a shock of black hair. Oh gods, what was Merlin doing in his bed now that he had one of his own? Arthur was further aghast as he recognized that his own arm draped over Merlin’s chest. He tried to remember what had happened last night before he fell asleep. Merlin had told him to come over the bed, he’d been disappointed to learn Merlin was only offering to massage Arthur’s scalp. That was all. He didn’t think anything else happened, but with a lot of his old memories missing, he wasn’t particularly confident in remembering new ones either.
He carefully removed his arm from Merlin’s chest and slid to the far edge of the bed, as far away from Merlin as he could. Merlin wasn’t his lover--Arthur couldn’t touch him like that, as much as he was coming to recognize that he did want to. But his movements weren’t careful and quiet enough, and Merlin began to stir.
Still with his eyes closed, Merlin laced his fingers together, clasped his hands over his head and stretched, muttering, “Well, that was a mistake.”
Arthur had no idea what that meant, and before he could stop himself, he asked, ‘What was a mistake?” even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.
“I’m all stiff from not moving all night. I didn’t want to wake you by moving around or getting out of bed.”
“Oh.” Arthur didn’t know what else to say. “Sorry?”
Merlin shifted out of the bed, muffling a groan. “Nah, it is my own fault. You were just sleeping so deeply compared to the night before, that I didn’t want to disturb you. Do you feel like getting out of bed now?
“Yes, I like to wash up a bit.”
“A bath?”
Arthur quickly, almost too quickly, responded “No, just some warm water in the basin.” He didn’t want the temptation that a bath would bring this morning.
After Arthur washed and ate some of the breakfast that was delivered, he began pacing. “I’ve been sleeping enough already. I need to do something more active than read or play chess.” It was understandable that Arthur was chafing at the confinement, given that he was a man used to daily physical activity.
An avid grin took over Arthur’s face, as an idea came to him. “Tell the guards outside that I want one of the knights to come here to receive orders.”
Before Merlin could convey that order to the guards, there was sharp knock on the anteroom door-it was Gaius. He whispered to Merlin, “Tell Arthur, the King is coming to see him. I’ve not been able to hold him off any longer.”
“When? “
“He is on his way now. I’ll only allow him to speak to Arthur from the doorway, so keep Arthur in bed, and please make sure he looks feverish or our ploy may fall apart.”
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