My Camelot Romance (A Merthur Fanfiction)

Chapter 4

The nurse was kind. Sweet woman with kind eyes and a stunning smile. Skin like silk and blonde hair like a rats nest. If Merlin was straight, that would probably be his kind of girl. She looked about his age. Maybe a little older. Mid twenties perhaps. She was so careful. Cleaning of the blood and doing so like she was performing heart surgery. Merlin was indeed right. He had gotten a cut on his lip. But the nurse was careful, cleaning it with a tiny cotton ball. When she was finished, she stepped back to adore her work. The entire time Arthur was sitting right next to him, watching the woman's every move. The nurse gave him a final look before clapping her hands together and smiling like the sun itself. "There. All done". Arthur stood up and gave the woman a gentle pat on her back. "Thank you again Elena". Elena gave out a little giggle before waving her hands at him, making a slightly scrunched up face in the progress. "Oh! No worries Arthur. Always here to help". She gave a little shrug before jumping once on her tippy toes. "Besides. It's my job." Arthur reached out a hand to help the hurt boy in front of him up. "Are you feeling better?" Merlin looked at him with a scrunched brow. "Why are you helping me? You're not suppose to help me." Arthur raised an eyebrow at the boy, whom continued. "You're suppose to laugh, or point or kick me or something. Not this! Not bring me to the nurse office or.." He made a wavy hand gesture to the blonde in front of him. "... Worry." And suddenly something seemed to click in Arthur's brain. The boy in front of him didn't understand that they were joking. He thought that Will was in real danger when they were throwing paper balls at him. He didn't know that Will would probably later steal his pyjama bottoms and throw them in a tree or burn cigarette holes in his notebooks. That when Arthur was "threatening" Merlin, he only meant it as a joke. And a little bit of flirting as well. The shoulder lock, the long gazes it was pretty obvious he didn't mean to do any harm. Well the shoulder lock was misguiding but he still only meant well. Playing his part as The Royal Idiot as he was called at Camelot, since he was the son of the head master and was named Arthur. The Once And Future King Of Albion. This boy, Merlin, didn't know any of this. He thought that he was a bully. Was Merlin bullied at his old school? Is that why he was acting so strange? Merlin was still waiting for an answer. Arthur looked at him. Deep into his eyes. Watching every detail. The slightly dilated pupils. The grey and blue mixing into something that looked like a rainy sky. He took a breath before answering: "We don't do that here. No bullying, no beating. Nothing. We make jokes, yeah. Lots of them actually" he flashed the boy a smile. Merlin seemed to be relaxing a little more, but was still on edge. "But if someone doesn't like it, they usually say so and we stop. And later we don't make fun of him for asking us to stop, we just... Stop. And then we go back to normal. Like nothing happened." Merlins eyes trailed to the floor. He bit his lip, hoping that Arthur wouldn't see it. "Is that why you stopped? Why everyone looked so worried? After the shoulder lock I mean?" Arthur gave him a nod and then a shy smile. "We look after each other here. Like we're all Knights Of Camelot. Some even wants to be princesses, and frankly, none of us mind." Merlin chuckled at the idea. If he would even show up with something that would look even the slightest girly, they would beat the shit out of him back in Ealdor. Especially after they found out. He still cringes after the experience in the shower. When they pushed him to the floor and nearly broke his skull in the beating process. Calling him faggot, gaylord, cocksucker and who knows what. It's gotten to that point to where he doesn't ever remember what happened. He just remembers blood mixing in with the water. He snapped out of the memory quickly and looked at the boy in front of him. Arthur still looked worried and Merlin didn't want him to feel that. It was just something about Arthur. Something that felt right, felt safe. That felt like..... Home.

Merlin gave him a cunning smile with a twinkle in his eyes. "Can I be a sorcerer?" He asked and Arthur laughed. But not in a mocking way. It was a warm and full hearted laughter that made Merlin laugh as well. "It's actually good you said that, because with the name Merlin, you would be called one anyways" Merlin gave out another chuckle.

After a good few minutes of laughter their eyes met once more and they could both feel a warm feeling in their chests. Like butterflies. Arthur rested his hand or Merlin shoulder and pulled him closer. "Come on." He said as they walked towards the door. "Let's get something to eat."