fic: merlin: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Title: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Prompt: rain, 013. Crackfic; 60_minute_fics's 290908 trigger "And thanks for all the fish"
Summary: In which there is seaweed, nymphs, clothes drying, and fish. Lots of fish.
The water nymph giggles, flashing Merlin one last coy look from under her blue hair, before disappearing back into the ocean. “Thanks for all the fish!” Merlin calls feebly over her splash, and then Merlin and Arthur are left on the shore alone, soaking wet, surrounded by piles and piles of fish.
Merlin looks at Arthur.
Arthur looks at Merlin.
“I think she really liked you,” Arthur says, raising an eyebrow at the sheer amount of fish massed around their feet.
Merlin tries to resist, he truly does, but once one snort escapes he can’t hold any more laughter back. Arthur crosses his arms and his raised eyebrow starts twitching, and that doesn’t help at all because -
“You - your hair,” Merlin manages to gasps out. “There’s seaweed.”
Arthur hunches his shoulders in and replies waspishly, “Yes, well, I was in the ocean, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Arthur eyes him and adds, “You’re looking rather like a drowned rat yourself.” This sends Merlin into another fit of laughter, because, really, Arthur’s face, and eventually Arthur’s scowl lifts and then they’re barely managing to hold each other up.
“I can’t believe we pulled that off,” Arthur says later, lying on the grass with their clothes spread out next to them to dry in the sun.
Merlin jolts upright, shading his eyes with his hand to look at Arthur. “‘We’?” he asks incredulously. “Which of us was hiding behind the rocks from the big scary nymphs, I’d like to know,” he mutters, lowering himself back down.
Arthur throws his boot at him. “Shut it, you,” he says, grinning, “they were big,” and Merlin turns his head to beam at Arthur. It fades a bit, though, and he says, “But really, what are we going to do with all that fish?”
“We can’t let it go to waste, can we,” Arthur says, wrenching his gaze away from Merlin, up towards the summer sky. There are heavy-looking clouds forming in the east, and he frowns. They'll have to get moving soon. “We’ll carry it back to the village, I suppose.”
“There’s that ‘we’ again,” Merlin grumbles, but his eyes slip shut and he’s smiling. Arthur smirks too, because with the rain, Merlin’s going to be smelling like fish for weeks, and it’ll just drive him mad.
Arthur can’t wait.
Notes: 1) Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is win; 2) as is Merlin; 3) written in just under an hour.
Prompt: rain, 013. Crackfic; 60_minute_fics's 290908 trigger "And thanks for all the fish"
Summary: In which there is seaweed, nymphs, clothes drying, and fish. Lots of fish.
The water nymph giggles, flashing Merlin one last coy look from under her blue hair, before disappearing back into the ocean. “Thanks for all the fish!” Merlin calls feebly over her splash, and then Merlin and Arthur are left on the shore alone, soaking wet, surrounded by piles and piles of fish.
Merlin looks at Arthur.
Arthur looks at Merlin.
“I think she really liked you,” Arthur says, raising an eyebrow at the sheer amount of fish massed around their feet.
Merlin tries to resist, he truly does, but once one snort escapes he can’t hold any more laughter back. Arthur crosses his arms and his raised eyebrow starts twitching, and that doesn’t help at all because -
“You - your hair,” Merlin manages to gasps out. “There’s seaweed.”
Arthur hunches his shoulders in and replies waspishly, “Yes, well, I was in the ocean, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Arthur eyes him and adds, “You’re looking rather like a drowned rat yourself.” This sends Merlin into another fit of laughter, because, really, Arthur’s face, and eventually Arthur’s scowl lifts and then they’re barely managing to hold each other up.
“I can’t believe we pulled that off,” Arthur says later, lying on the grass with their clothes spread out next to them to dry in the sun.
Merlin jolts upright, shading his eyes with his hand to look at Arthur. “‘We’?” he asks incredulously. “Which of us was hiding behind the rocks from the big scary nymphs, I’d like to know,” he mutters, lowering himself back down.
Arthur throws his boot at him. “Shut it, you,” he says, grinning, “they were big,” and Merlin turns his head to beam at Arthur. It fades a bit, though, and he says, “But really, what are we going to do with all that fish?”
“We can’t let it go to waste, can we,” Arthur says, wrenching his gaze away from Merlin, up towards the summer sky. There are heavy-looking clouds forming in the east, and he frowns. They'll have to get moving soon. “We’ll carry it back to the village, I suppose.”
“There’s that ‘we’ again,” Merlin grumbles, but his eyes slip shut and he’s smiling. Arthur smirks too, because with the rain, Merlin’s going to be smelling like fish for weeks, and it’ll just drive him mad.
Arthur can’t wait.
Notes: 1) Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is win; 2) as is Merlin; 3) written in just under an hour.