This Must Be Something

Gwaine don't say it

Arthur could hear the muffled sound of his knight's low chatter a few feet away from where Merlin and him were lying on the cold ground. They had set out an improvised camp after finishing the mission they had to take care of. It was a quest involving some secret castle and a bunch of magical creatures, but the knights of the round table and him managed to triumph over them.

Despite what Gwaine said, they all made it out of there alive and victorious, and that's what mattered anyway. Everything could have been perfect if it weren't for Merlin. But it was always Merlin, wasn't it? The idiot somehow got himself injured during the battle, and he had fallen sick. They were alone and with no physician with them, so the only chance of having Merlin getting better was going back to Camelot as soon as they could. The problem, the damn problem was that they were quite far away from home, so Arthur hoped it wasn't anything too serious. He knew his servant knew about healing, but as it was Merlin's own life there that was at stake they might as well wait to get to Gaius before the clumsy excuse of a servant he had killed himself in the process.

Arthur sighed heavily and closed his eyes, trying to regain himself before Merlin, who was rather close to him, could notice how troubled he was. Because that was the sad truth: if anything happened to his friend Arthur couldn't bear it. Merlin's death would tear him apart and would haunt him for the rest of his mournful life. But that came with another hard truth that Arthur was perfectly aware of, and he didn't really feel like that was the time to analyse it.

He was so lost in thought that at first he didn't notice the body next to him trembling violently, until a sudden gasp made him leave his self-absorption and turn his attention to the man alongside him. Merlin had his eyes shut down fiercely and it was clear that he was trying to hold back groans of pain. It hurt Arthur more than he excepted, and suddenly the prince found himself closing the distance between them and wrapping his arms around Merlin's tiny figure, trying to ease his suffering, whatever it was.

"-thur" Merlin spoke so softly he nearly missed it, but the sound of his name said by his servant had always managed, inexplicably, to claim his attention in some kind of way. "I'm here, Merlin." He couldn't bring himself to say anything more, so instead he hugged him tighter and hoped Merlin wouldn't notice the tremor in his voice.

"Not planing on dying anytime soon, you prat, m'okay" Merlin whispered against his shoulder. At this Arthur let out a soft laugh. "Of course you're not dying, idiot. I'm sure you'll be doing my laundry and mopping up the stables in no time." He had to joke about the whole issue because it was what they always did anyway, but he could tell by the way Merlin smiled kindly that he had understood what Arthur had meant. He would never let anything happen to Merlin.

"Hey lovebirds, you sure you don't want something to eat before we go to sleep?" Gwaine shouted, making Arthur curse under his breath. He felt Merlin tense beneath him, but then he relaxed again and asked Arthur if he wanted to have dinner. The prince looked at him weirdly, but decided that if he tried to eat anything he would surely throw up. "Shut up, Gwaine, mind of who you're talking to. And we're not having anything, thanks for asking."

"As you wish, sire," Gwaine said mockingly, and Arthur heard Lancelot and Percival laughing too as he kept talking. "Take care of Merlin, Arthur. I'll take the first watch." Gwaine added, and he didn't quite know what to make of that. Finally, he decided that he was far too tired to do anything more, so he disentangled himself from Merlin and laid back on his bedroll, facing the forest. He heard Merlin shuffle under the blanket until his back was pressed against Arthur's, and suddenly his blood was running fast through his head. He whispered a quick "Good night" before he drifted off. Arthur thought he heard some "Night, prat" , but he wasn't sure if he had imagined it or it had actually been Merlin. He wanted to say something more, but sleep came and everything went black.