Fic: Coming of Age
Title: Coming of Age
Author: mabonwitch
Paring: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: PG-13
Words: ~1700
Summary: Merlin's magic wakes up.
Notes: Fourth in the In a Time of Magic series. Sixteen year olds snogging, probably completely unrealistic imagining of boarding school dormitories
Many thanks for the beta work by the lovely lolafeist without whom there would have been a great deal more "was" in this story.. Any remaining mistakes are my own!
Merlin was a grumbling mass of blankets when Arthur got to his dorm. It was ridiculous, but also a little endearing, the way he managed to create a blanket nest in his sleep.
"Hey," Arthur said quietly, "are you OK?"
The answer came out indistinct. Arthur sighed. Merlin was not a morning person, but he was usually at least upright by the time Arthur made it to his rooms. Though there had been days…Arthur smiled, remembering the morning of Merlin's first hangover (Gwaine's fault) or the time they'd stayed up until two a.m. to put the finishing touches on a prank (Arthur's fault). But Arthur had tucked Merlin in himself at ten last night, quite sober. Had nerves kept him up, or was something wrong?
"Hey," he tried again, "happy birthday?" Silence. Arthur gnawed on his lip. "It doesn't hurt, does it?" He winced at how plaintive his voice sounded.
Merlin's head finally emerged. His hair stuck up in spikes on one side and fell flat on the other, and his eyes were crusty. "No," he grumbled. "Just exhausting." He hesitated. "I don't think it's hit properly, yet."
"Oh." Arthur nudged him over and sat on the side of the bed. "It's Wednesday. We're supposed to be in class in half an hour," he said.
Merlin gave him a sleepy smirk. "Sorcerers get their sixteenth off."
"What!" Arthur mock-scowled. "Lucky bastard. I wish I'd had my sixteenth birthday off."
Merlin chuckled. His voice had deepened over the last few months, and the rumble of it made Arthur's skin shiver. Arthur ignored it as best he could. "I'll bet," Merlin said.
Arthur's birthday had required a number of state visits and diplomatic maneuvering, so the boys had decided to celebrate the night before. Arthur had got spectacularly drunk. Merlin, at his request, had magically locked Arthur, his five closest friends, and himself, in a room. Merlin had been the only one not wincing the next day.
"Is anyone checking on you?" Ever since Merlin had explained the whole magical coming of age business, Arthur had worried over this day. Merlin's nerves hadn't helped. ("I'm already powerful enough that some of the teachers look at me funny, what's it going to be like after this?" Arthur had patted him on the back and promised he would always think Merlin was weird, which had resulted in a brief tussle.).
Merlin yawned broadly. "Gaius has a magic watch up, in case anything goes wrong."
Arthur was not reassured. "I can stay."
Merlin frowned. "Don't be stupid. Besides, it's sort of private."
Arthur frowned back. "What do you mean, 'private'?"
Merlin's mouth twisted to one side like it did when he was confused. "Having the rest of your magic come is like…an epiphany."
Arthur blinked at him, his skepticism readily apparent when he asked, "An epiphany?"
Merlin rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't know, OK? I've never done this before! I'll tell you when it's over." He flopped sulkily back on the mattress. "Now go away. I'm having a lie in."
Arthur stood back up, defeated. "Promise you'll come get me if you need me."
Merlin peered up at him, his expression softening. He breathed out a sigh. "Yeah, OK." He reached up and squeezed Arthur's hand. "I will," he promised.
Arthur squeezed back, and left.
**
Despite his fussing that morning, Arthur hadn't expected to see Merlin again until at least supper, and maybe not at all. So when Merlin burst into his room, buzzing with energy and looking wild-eyed, Arthur was considerably surprised. He pushed his maths aside and stood. "Merlin?"
"Arthur." His eyes were mostly gold. He managed to focus briefly on Owain and Gwaine, who both looked startled, more so when Merlin ordered, "Out."
Arthur felt his gut knot in anxiety and his body tensed for an emergency. He nodded at the others, a silent I'll-explain-later all that was needed. The door clicked shut behind them before Arthur found his voice again. "Merlin?"
Merlin came toward him, right up until he was bumping into him, but Arthur didn't back away. In the next second, he was desperately glad he hadn't. Merlin closed his eyes, and kissed him. His mouth mashed open over Arthur's, his tongue slicking curiously over Arthur's lips. Some distant part of his brain was wittering on about side-effects and vulnerability and doing the right thing. Thankfully, the front of his brain was thinking holy fuck, Merlin is kissing me. Um, badly. and then because he's never kissed anyone else like this, which was enough to let him unfreeze and kiss back.
For someone who tripped over his shoelaces, Merlin was delightfully responsive to Arthur's instructions in kissing, which mostly involved tongues and a hand on his jaw. Arthur was bizarrely reminded of teaching Merlin to play croquet and wished his brain would shut up already and let him kiss in peace. They snogged enthusiastically for a few blissful, heady minutes, long enough to make Arthur dizzy. Just when he was getting to the point when he either needed to pull back for air, or see if Merlin was up for more than a bit of kissing, Merlin abruptly sagged against him. Arthur backed out of the kiss, let Merlin tuck his face against the crook of Arthur's shoulder.
It was about then that Arthur realized Merlin was shaking. Automatically, Arthur reached up a hand and laid it on Merlin's shoulder. They stood there for a moment.
"A-arthur." Merlin's voice sounded pained. "My m-magic…I c-can't."
The shaking increased. Arthur tightened his grip, pulling Merlin into his body. He wanted to protect Merlin from whatever was happening, whatever force was tearing at him. "Ssh," he said, "I've got you."
Merlin made a desperate sound. "Promise?"
Arthur barely managed a "Yeah," before Merlin was kissing him again, and this time it was different. It burned, searing straight through Arthur's veins and seizing his heart. Something tightened and snapped, almost like coming. Arthur moaned in pleasure.
Merlin stepped back. His eyes were bluer now, his expression intense. He cupped Arthur's jaw with his palm, his face glowing with awe. "Arthur," he said. And then, "I hope you meant it."
Arthur swallowed heavily. "'Course I did." He couldn't help it if it came out sounding like I want to bone you against the door. That had been some kiss.
Despite his assurance, Merlin looked nervous. "I- my magic did something."
Arthur nodded. When nothing further was forthcoming, he prodded him. "Start at the beginning."
Merlin nodded, his head bobbing too many times. "Right." He licked his lips, looking a little nervous but mostly just strung out on whatever had happened. "It was…normal. I mean, about how I expected." He went quiet for a second. "Not normal, exactly," he said quietly, "because of the whole, you know-" He waved his arms about. Arthur felt his lips quirking in a smile. That was Merlin for the whole I-am-insanely-powerful thing. Arthur did know, yes. "But then-" Merlin took a big breath, "-then my magic started thrashing. Like that time Percival was trying to tickle Kay to death, and I'm trying to hold onto it for all I'm worth but it's honestly a bit concerning and I can't even tell if I've set Gaius' alarms off so I don't know if I'm in trouble and I was maybe thinking I wished you were there?"
Arthur, who had been getting increasingly uneasy the more Merlin rambled, finally couldn't hold it anymore. "Are you alright?"
Merlin blinked, mouth gaping. "What? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine now." He gave Arthur a sheepish smile. "Sorry, didn't mean to- anyway. My magic goes real quiet all the sudden. Then it starts pulling me. After a minute, I figure out it wants me to go find you. I remember thinking I wasn't sure that was safe. But then, uh." Merlin blushed. "Then I wasn't thinking anymore," he finished lamely.
Arthur had a startled moment to realize exactly what kind of "not thinking" Merlin had been engaged in. "And…you came here."
Merlin shrugged, dropping his eyes bashfully. "I just needed…"
"Someone to snog?" Arthur suggested.
Merlin's voice was low and angry. "You, you utter prat."
"Oh!" Arthur's heart, which had settled down, began to pound again. "Sorry," he offered. "Your magic did something?"
Merlin twitched. "Um. I…think it sort of latched on to you? You…grounded it, somehow."
Arthur struggled to remember the term from his Magic lectures. "Grounding. That's like it is in electricity?"
Merlin wiggled his hand from side to side. "Sort of. The effect was closer to calming it down." He laughed shortly. "Little unnerving, honestly. One minute I'm in the middle of a storm, the next I'm sitting in a calm lake and we're kissing."
Arthur flinched. "Do you regret it?"
Merlin looked at him, and there was such trust, such honesty there. Merlin always looked at him like that, behind the good-natured ribbing. "No," he said. "Do you?"
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. "No." Arthur could feel himself going red. "You know I-"
Merlin smiled at him, joy making his face light up. "Yeah," he said. "I think my magic- I dunno. It's like, all the sudden, I can feel."
Arthur shuddered. He needed to stop having this conversation before he did something stupid. "You still look exhausted," he said, noting it was true. There were dark bruises under Merlin's eyes and he was paler than usual.
Merlin hesitated, then his shoulders drooped. "Yeah."
"Well? Go on then." He tilted his head at the bed.
Surprised pleasure bloomed on Merlin's face. Naturally, he didn't do as suggested, instead stepping close. He leaned into Arthur, chest to chest and cheek to cheek, like they were slow-dancing at a ball. Arthur's arms came up automatically to fold Merlin close and he found himself blind-sided by how right it felt.
"Arthur," Merlin murmured.
Arthur stroked a slow hand through Merlin's hair, trying to speak around the knot in his throat. "Merlin."
Merlin hummed in contentment. After a minute, Merlin pulled back. He shucked his shoes and crawled into Arthur's bed, burrowing under the covers. Arthur sat back at his desk. He watched as Merlin's breathing slowly deepened into sleep.
Then he watched awhile longer.
*Additional note: If you got here via merlinxarthur, you should know that because not all parts of this story feature Arthur and Merlin, most parts have been posted at merlin_tv and my livejournal.
Author: mabonwitch
Paring: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: PG-13
Words: ~1700
Summary: Merlin's magic wakes up.
Notes: Fourth in the In a Time of Magic series. Sixteen year olds snogging, probably completely unrealistic imagining of boarding school dormitories
Many thanks for the beta work by the lovely lolafeist without whom there would have been a great deal more "was" in this story.. Any remaining mistakes are my own!
Merlin was a grumbling mass of blankets when Arthur got to his dorm. It was ridiculous, but also a little endearing, the way he managed to create a blanket nest in his sleep.
"Hey," Arthur said quietly, "are you OK?"
The answer came out indistinct. Arthur sighed. Merlin was not a morning person, but he was usually at least upright by the time Arthur made it to his rooms. Though there had been days…Arthur smiled, remembering the morning of Merlin's first hangover (Gwaine's fault) or the time they'd stayed up until two a.m. to put the finishing touches on a prank (Arthur's fault). But Arthur had tucked Merlin in himself at ten last night, quite sober. Had nerves kept him up, or was something wrong?
"Hey," he tried again, "happy birthday?" Silence. Arthur gnawed on his lip. "It doesn't hurt, does it?" He winced at how plaintive his voice sounded.
Merlin's head finally emerged. His hair stuck up in spikes on one side and fell flat on the other, and his eyes were crusty. "No," he grumbled. "Just exhausting." He hesitated. "I don't think it's hit properly, yet."
"Oh." Arthur nudged him over and sat on the side of the bed. "It's Wednesday. We're supposed to be in class in half an hour," he said.
Merlin gave him a sleepy smirk. "Sorcerers get their sixteenth off."
"What!" Arthur mock-scowled. "Lucky bastard. I wish I'd had my sixteenth birthday off."
Merlin chuckled. His voice had deepened over the last few months, and the rumble of it made Arthur's skin shiver. Arthur ignored it as best he could. "I'll bet," Merlin said.
Arthur's birthday had required a number of state visits and diplomatic maneuvering, so the boys had decided to celebrate the night before. Arthur had got spectacularly drunk. Merlin, at his request, had magically locked Arthur, his five closest friends, and himself, in a room. Merlin had been the only one not wincing the next day.
"Is anyone checking on you?" Ever since Merlin had explained the whole magical coming of age business, Arthur had worried over this day. Merlin's nerves hadn't helped. ("I'm already powerful enough that some of the teachers look at me funny, what's it going to be like after this?" Arthur had patted him on the back and promised he would always think Merlin was weird, which had resulted in a brief tussle.).
Merlin yawned broadly. "Gaius has a magic watch up, in case anything goes wrong."
Arthur was not reassured. "I can stay."
Merlin frowned. "Don't be stupid. Besides, it's sort of private."
Arthur frowned back. "What do you mean, 'private'?"
Merlin's mouth twisted to one side like it did when he was confused. "Having the rest of your magic come is like…an epiphany."
Arthur blinked at him, his skepticism readily apparent when he asked, "An epiphany?"
Merlin rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't know, OK? I've never done this before! I'll tell you when it's over." He flopped sulkily back on the mattress. "Now go away. I'm having a lie in."
Arthur stood back up, defeated. "Promise you'll come get me if you need me."
Merlin peered up at him, his expression softening. He breathed out a sigh. "Yeah, OK." He reached up and squeezed Arthur's hand. "I will," he promised.
Arthur squeezed back, and left.
**
Despite his fussing that morning, Arthur hadn't expected to see Merlin again until at least supper, and maybe not at all. So when Merlin burst into his room, buzzing with energy and looking wild-eyed, Arthur was considerably surprised. He pushed his maths aside and stood. "Merlin?"
"Arthur." His eyes were mostly gold. He managed to focus briefly on Owain and Gwaine, who both looked startled, more so when Merlin ordered, "Out."
Arthur felt his gut knot in anxiety and his body tensed for an emergency. He nodded at the others, a silent I'll-explain-later all that was needed. The door clicked shut behind them before Arthur found his voice again. "Merlin?"
Merlin came toward him, right up until he was bumping into him, but Arthur didn't back away. In the next second, he was desperately glad he hadn't. Merlin closed his eyes, and kissed him. His mouth mashed open over Arthur's, his tongue slicking curiously over Arthur's lips. Some distant part of his brain was wittering on about side-effects and vulnerability and doing the right thing. Thankfully, the front of his brain was thinking holy fuck, Merlin is kissing me. Um, badly. and then because he's never kissed anyone else like this, which was enough to let him unfreeze and kiss back.
For someone who tripped over his shoelaces, Merlin was delightfully responsive to Arthur's instructions in kissing, which mostly involved tongues and a hand on his jaw. Arthur was bizarrely reminded of teaching Merlin to play croquet and wished his brain would shut up already and let him kiss in peace. They snogged enthusiastically for a few blissful, heady minutes, long enough to make Arthur dizzy. Just when he was getting to the point when he either needed to pull back for air, or see if Merlin was up for more than a bit of kissing, Merlin abruptly sagged against him. Arthur backed out of the kiss, let Merlin tuck his face against the crook of Arthur's shoulder.
It was about then that Arthur realized Merlin was shaking. Automatically, Arthur reached up a hand and laid it on Merlin's shoulder. They stood there for a moment.
"A-arthur." Merlin's voice sounded pained. "My m-magic…I c-can't."
The shaking increased. Arthur tightened his grip, pulling Merlin into his body. He wanted to protect Merlin from whatever was happening, whatever force was tearing at him. "Ssh," he said, "I've got you."
Merlin made a desperate sound. "Promise?"
Arthur barely managed a "Yeah," before Merlin was kissing him again, and this time it was different. It burned, searing straight through Arthur's veins and seizing his heart. Something tightened and snapped, almost like coming. Arthur moaned in pleasure.
Merlin stepped back. His eyes were bluer now, his expression intense. He cupped Arthur's jaw with his palm, his face glowing with awe. "Arthur," he said. And then, "I hope you meant it."
Arthur swallowed heavily. "'Course I did." He couldn't help it if it came out sounding like I want to bone you against the door. That had been some kiss.
Despite his assurance, Merlin looked nervous. "I- my magic did something."
Arthur nodded. When nothing further was forthcoming, he prodded him. "Start at the beginning."
Merlin nodded, his head bobbing too many times. "Right." He licked his lips, looking a little nervous but mostly just strung out on whatever had happened. "It was…normal. I mean, about how I expected." He went quiet for a second. "Not normal, exactly," he said quietly, "because of the whole, you know-" He waved his arms about. Arthur felt his lips quirking in a smile. That was Merlin for the whole I-am-insanely-powerful thing. Arthur did know, yes. "But then-" Merlin took a big breath, "-then my magic started thrashing. Like that time Percival was trying to tickle Kay to death, and I'm trying to hold onto it for all I'm worth but it's honestly a bit concerning and I can't even tell if I've set Gaius' alarms off so I don't know if I'm in trouble and I was maybe thinking I wished you were there?"
Arthur, who had been getting increasingly uneasy the more Merlin rambled, finally couldn't hold it anymore. "Are you alright?"
Merlin blinked, mouth gaping. "What? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine now." He gave Arthur a sheepish smile. "Sorry, didn't mean to- anyway. My magic goes real quiet all the sudden. Then it starts pulling me. After a minute, I figure out it wants me to go find you. I remember thinking I wasn't sure that was safe. But then, uh." Merlin blushed. "Then I wasn't thinking anymore," he finished lamely.
Arthur had a startled moment to realize exactly what kind of "not thinking" Merlin had been engaged in. "And…you came here."
Merlin shrugged, dropping his eyes bashfully. "I just needed…"
"Someone to snog?" Arthur suggested.
Merlin's voice was low and angry. "You, you utter prat."
"Oh!" Arthur's heart, which had settled down, began to pound again. "Sorry," he offered. "Your magic did something?"
Merlin twitched. "Um. I…think it sort of latched on to you? You…grounded it, somehow."
Arthur struggled to remember the term from his Magic lectures. "Grounding. That's like it is in electricity?"
Merlin wiggled his hand from side to side. "Sort of. The effect was closer to calming it down." He laughed shortly. "Little unnerving, honestly. One minute I'm in the middle of a storm, the next I'm sitting in a calm lake and we're kissing."
Arthur flinched. "Do you regret it?"
Merlin looked at him, and there was such trust, such honesty there. Merlin always looked at him like that, behind the good-natured ribbing. "No," he said. "Do you?"
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. "No." Arthur could feel himself going red. "You know I-"
Merlin smiled at him, joy making his face light up. "Yeah," he said. "I think my magic- I dunno. It's like, all the sudden, I can feel."
Arthur shuddered. He needed to stop having this conversation before he did something stupid. "You still look exhausted," he said, noting it was true. There were dark bruises under Merlin's eyes and he was paler than usual.
Merlin hesitated, then his shoulders drooped. "Yeah."
"Well? Go on then." He tilted his head at the bed.
Surprised pleasure bloomed on Merlin's face. Naturally, he didn't do as suggested, instead stepping close. He leaned into Arthur, chest to chest and cheek to cheek, like they were slow-dancing at a ball. Arthur's arms came up automatically to fold Merlin close and he found himself blind-sided by how right it felt.
"Arthur," Merlin murmured.
Arthur stroked a slow hand through Merlin's hair, trying to speak around the knot in his throat. "Merlin."
Merlin hummed in contentment. After a minute, Merlin pulled back. He shucked his shoes and crawled into Arthur's bed, burrowing under the covers. Arthur sat back at his desk. He watched as Merlin's breathing slowly deepened into sleep.
Then he watched awhile longer.
*Additional note: If you got here via merlinxarthur, you should know that because not all parts of this story feature Arthur and Merlin, most parts have been posted at merlin_tv and my livejournal.