Arrow

ch 2; Take my hand

Saturday. The first day of his weekend without the duty of taking care of Arthur's royal ass.
Merlin is sleeping with a smile plastered on the face. There aren't anything who could screw his perfect day.
"MEEEEEERLIIIIINNN!!!" Arthur yells from downstairs, making Merlin to grunt in the sleep and turn onto his back.
"MEEEERLIIIINN...I KNOW YOU ARE HERE..." Arthur shouts and makes Merlin to furrow his eyebrows.
The half asleep Merlin starts blinking his eyes a little opened when the door swung opened.
"MEER-..." Arthur starts yelling when he let's the air out from seeing Merlin on the bed.
"There you are... I have been looking for you the whole morning..." Arthur shakes his head. His cheeks are red. Either from all yelling. Or from anger of not finding Merlin.
Merlin grunts surprised and sits up on the bed and starts rubbing his eyes with the arm.
"... Why?..." he yawns.
Arthur raises an eyebrow.
"Why? Since you never showed up on your work... Because of you have overslept, I've missed the meeting I was supposed to have with the knights... "
Merlin exhales.
"My king... Don't you remember you have given me the weekend off? I don't work today..."
"Don't-..." Arthur starts saying while pointing accusing at Merlin when he gasps jolting. He lowered the hand and furrows his eyebrows.
"Oh-...That...That explains everything..." Arthur gulps and starts blushing of embarrassment.
Merlin starts grinning and lays back down with the arms crossed behind his head.
"So... I will forgive you if you give me breakfast on the bed" Merlin smirks.
Arthur glares at him before snorting walking against him there he yanked Merlin's tunic and pulled him up from the bed.
"Or you can follow me since I'm here anyway..." the blonde suggests and tugged Merlin stumbling against the door.
"Arthur wait..." Merlin begs.

They were about to walk out through the door from downstairs, when Gaius came inside.
"Mer-..." the old man starts saying when he noticed Arthur.
"My king..." he nods with the head.
"Do you need my help?" He adds asking and ignored Merlin's pleading face.
"I'm fine Gaius, thanks for asking... I will only borrow Merlin today, if that's okay..." Arthur asks and doesn't noticed how Merlin shakes his head at Gaius. Hoping the old man could save him from Arthur.
Gaius nods.
"Very well then... He is all yours" he tells Arthur and keeps ignoring Merlin who wides his eyes and stares accusing at him.
Arthur smiles.
"Thanks-... I promise he will be back to dinner" he says and gives Gaius a gently pat on the shoulder while he pulls Merlin out through the door with him.
"Gaius..." Merlin glares at him while passing him.
"Have fun Merlin" Gauis smiles.
"GAIUUUUS..." Merlin shouts while getting farther and farther away.

Arthur looks rather confused at Leon who stands outside the castle with a horse.
The king shakes his head.
"Where is Gwaine and why do you only have one horse ready?"
Leon shrugs.
"Gwaine asked me bringing one horse for you since he was busy with something else, sire... Which I assume is the tavern..."he rolls his eyes snorting.
Arthur starts furrowing his eyebrows. He really doesn't have the time to get another horse ready.
"Very well... Then she will be enough..." he says and grabbed the bridle from the knight.
Merlin exhales a slightly relieved. It seems he will be able to get back home since there isn't any horse for him. But with his luck will Gaius probably force him to get out to the forest and gathering herbs. Maybe he should stay away from home too?
Leon and Arthur exchanged a few words before Leon walked away.
Then Arthur jumps up at the horse and sits down.
Merlin clears his throat with nervous fiddling.
"Then I suppose I can get back home... I hope you will enjoy your ride..."
"Don't be ridiculous Merlin... You will ride with me"
"Huh?!" Merlin jolts shocked while his heart starts pounding faster. Is Arthur implying they would ride together? Snuggling closely?
Arthur extends a hand against him.
"Now...Take my hand... I don't have the time for pointless things"
Merlin starts blushing.
"B-but... I can't!" He protests nervously.
"Yes you can! Now... Do as your king tells you"
Merlin gives Arthur's hand a gaze and then he looks up at Arthur's face. He swallows hardly and moves his shaking hand over to Arthur's steady hand.
The moment he grabbed his hand, Arthur pulled him easily and swiftly up.
The dark haired man let's a surprised air out.
Merlin's heart pounds loudly in the ears and he doesn't dare leaning back against Arthur.
"You have to lean backward Merlin...Or else it won't be an easy ride..."
Merlin gulps and starts leaning slowly backward until his back touches Arthur's chest.
He almost jumped shrieking when Arthur ran his arms around Merlin's waist to grab the bristle.
The blonde hunk starts snuggling closer him and almost putted the chin on Merlin's shoulder. But only almost. Despite Arthur sees Merlin as a friend, he wants to give him some privacy.
The king clicks his tongue while kicking his heels gently at the sides of the horse. Which makes the horse to move forward.

Merlin's breathing increased in speed and it almost sounded as he was panting.
He swallows hardly and couldn't stop thinking how close Arthur and he are sitting with each others.
Never has he ever been affected by Arthur like this. So, why? Why is his body and mind behaving as Arthur is a possible partner?! It doesn't even make a sense! They are both men for God sake...
The second Arthur either with purpose or not, let's his chin resting on his shoulder, Merlin flinched a slightly. He froze. Afraid Arthur would stop doing whatever he does.
His mind spun crazily around. Neither able to think a straight though and at the same time; being more awake than he ever has been.
"Why so tense Merlin?" Arthur asks genuinely which makes Merlin's ear to tingle.
The dark haired man exhales a nervous laugh.
"I ehm... I'm probably not completely awake yet... You literally threw me out of bed today..." he answers with a bit shaky voice. He swallows hardly. Would Arthur believe his lie?
"Oh-..." Arthur exhales.
"I'm sorry about that Merlin... as an excuse I will pay you back one day in one way or another..."
Merlin smiles and starts relaxing there he completely leans into Arthur's bosom.
"Thank you sire..."

Merlin got down from the horse on shaky legs who feel a little stiff from sitting cramped on the horse's back.
But he couldn't care more or less about that. Instead he exhales amazed over the amazing view he has in front him.
Downward the cliffs they are on, are a wide forest with a lot trees whose leaves have changed colors into the typical colors you usually see at fall. Orange, yellow and brown. Some of the trees leaves are even a beautiful red color.
The place is very romantic.
It really takes the breath away from you.
"What do you think?" Arthur asks and stands next Merlin after he had tied the horse to a nearby tree.
Merlin exhales grinning and looks happily at him.
"It's very beautiful... Thank you for taking me out here" he says.
The moment Arthur's eyes are looking deeply into his, Merlin's heart skipped a beat. The dark haired man wides his eyes shocked and breaks the eye contact by turning his face away and looking down on the ground.
What's wrong with him?! It's very foolish of him if he starts getting feelings for the king. There are no way no one would ever approve their relationship... And not only that, there are no chance Arthur would ever see him as something else than a servant and a friend. Plus, there is a little problem too. Perhaps the biggest reason they would never start dating. The reason is...
"So..." Arthur interrupts Merlin's thoughts.
"Do you think Gwen would love getting proposed here? Or is it too simple? He asks curiously which makes Merlin to inhale sharply and lose the color on the face.
And there are the biggest reason he never could dream of dating Arthur. The king is already taken. A wonderful woman he seems even to plan to put a ring on. Then it wouldn't take long before they would let their family grow with few children.
The thought of that makes Merlin's gut to cramping of pain.
"Merlin?"
"What?" Merlin jolts and looks at Arthur as he has seen a ghost.
Arthur raises an eyebrow and grabbed Merlin's shoulders there he turned him against him.
"A-arthur?" Merlin stutters with pounding heart and gasps surprised when he notices Arthur leans forward against him. Is he about to kiss him?
Merlin wets his lips and starts lidding his eyes. The curiosity of getting one single kiss takes over him. He will take care of the bad conscience of hurting Gwen later. Right now he wants to taste Arthur's lips.
He gulps when Arthur's breath hits his face. Soon their lips will touch. And he will gladly receive the kiss.
But the picture of Gwen in his mind keeps popping up. And he starts feeling as the worst friend ever. Gwen would never do anything like that against him. So why... Why would he treat her as a shitty friend?
"Arthur wait!" Merlin begs quickly while opening his eyes to only see Arthur pressing his forehead gently at Merlin's.
"It seems you don't have a fever..."
"Fever?" Merlin blinks confused while Arthur leans away and let's go of him. The tension of almost getting a kiss. But who turned out wasn't at all, makes Merlin heating up with trembling legs. He is really a fool. If Arthur ever found out he thought he would receive a kiss, the king would laugh at his face.
Arthur looks asking out over the beautiful view.
"So... Do you think Gwen would love getting proposed here? Or I should think about something else? And yes... We will obviously do something else here than only looking on the view... We will also have a picnic...So? What do you think?" He smiles at Merlin who tries keeping a straight face without exposing any sign he is against the idea. How he starts seeing Arthur in a different light.
"Y-yeah... I think you have found the right place... I would love getting proposed here..." he clears his throat with nervous laugh. Tears start pushing in the corners of his eyes. He clears his throat and turns against the horse to walk away from the awfully beautiful view. The place there Gwen's dreams would be granted while Merlin's would be shattered.
Hopefully he doesn't has to be a part of that day... Maybe Arthur could let him stay at home as an excuse for forcing him out from the bed today?...