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Merlin was trying… no, really, he was!
It’s just that when you have the prince of Camelot pressing you against the wall while he’s trying to kiss the air out of your lungs it can be, well, you know… distracting.
“Arth-Mmm… Arthur…” Merlin was able to break the kiss for a moment, but Artur didn’t really care and started kissing down Merlin’s neck instead.
“My chambers. C’mon.” Arthur’s voice was rough and filled with so much desire while he pressed kiss after kiss to Merlin’s skin, that it made his heart tremble and his knees threaten to buckle.
Fuck, he loved this, he loved Arthur, so very, very much.
It wasn’t that long until they were in Arthur’s room with Arthur slamming the door behind them with his left foot and trying to unlace and get rid of as much clothes as possible.
“Mer-Merlin, can’t you just…” Arthur stopped for a second and Merlin took the opportunity to calm himself down a bit, he needed to think and get a hold of himself. Just then, he caught Arthur’s gaze and had to stop himself from going back to what they were doing.
Arthur’s lips were red from all their kissing, his hair was up at odd places because of Merlin’s hands roaming through it, color high on his cheeks and his pupils had mostly overshadowed the blue of his irises
“…. don’t you think?”
Merlin blinked and stared blankly at him, Arthur snorted and put a hand to the back of Merlin’s neck and brought their foreheads together.
“I said,” He had his eyes closed and he was using a tone of voice that wasn’t meant to travel further than the space between them, amused and gentle. “that this would be so much easier if you could just magic our clothes away, don’t you think?”
Merlin tensed and started to pull away. Arthur held firm and pulled him back, his right arm around Merlin’s waist and his left on Merlin’s left bicep, not hurting just preventing Merlin from leaving.
“Arthur, you know we can’t. That I can’t.” A sense of irritation was quickly starting to boil inside him, and Merlin had to very consciously try to not let the magic out. It was begging Merlin to let it free.
He gritted his teeth.
“Why not?” Arthur smirked and his eyes shone with mirth. Merlin wanted to punch him. “It would make everything so much easier and besides,” the hand around Merlin’s waist dropped down and squeezed his ass. Merlin jumped and then glared at Arthur even harder. “The faster you are, the faster I can get to what I promised this morning.”
The last part of the sentence was low and suggestive and any other time, Merlin would have complied almost immediately, but right now, he just wanted to get out of the room and not speak to Arthur until next week.
“You’re an idiot, you know?” Merlin started pushing at Arthur’s chest, tone angry and magic rebelling against him. It loved Arthur as much as Merlin did and usually, Merlin had no qualms in letting it out and envelope Arthur in a golden cocoon; but not tonight.
Arthur frowned and his mouth turned down. Merlin’s magic flared inside him, trying to go to him and comfort him. Merlin huffed, annoyed.
Of all the days Arthur wanted to be like this, it had to be on the spring solstice.
Merlin loved solstices, but the spring one was his favorite. Everything was blooming and life was thriving, it was the time of the year in which he felt most in tune with nature and by extension, his magic.
It was also the time in which his magic asked, or more like demanded, Merlin to soul bond.
Last year it had been manageable, spring and the eve of Samhain were when his magic seemed to almost have a mind of its own, because he had been alone for both, so it hadn’t really been an issue (aside from waking up covered in forget-me-nots and peonies). But this year was different.
Him and Arthur had gotten together at the start of the new year, after Merlin had told to Arthur about his magic and Arthur had said that he knew, that he’d been waiting for Merlin to tell him and that no harm would come to him as long as he was the prince of Camelot. Merlin had felt such an immense amount relief that he’d thrown himself at Arthur and hugged him like his life depended on it while he cried on his shoulder.
Arthur had held him, making shushing noises and kissing his hair to try and make Merlin calm down. After that, it was easy to let everything pour out of him, filling in the gaps in Arthur’s side of things and then it was easier still to kiss Arthur and for Arthur to ask Merlin to stay.
Arthur knew about how Merlin couldn’t use his magic before, during and for a while after a solstice happened. Once it was out, Merlin knew that he still wasn’t skilled enough to order it back in. It would just slip out of Merlin’s grasp and then latch onto whatever Merlin wanted most and bound it to Merlin.
Right now (and probably it would never change), the one Merlin wanted the most was Arthur and his magic was clever enough that it would, without a doubt, bond his soul and Arthur’s together. It already did, when Merlin and Arthur were alone, things for Arthur without Merlin consenting to it; heating up the room, turning down Arthur’s bed and laying his sleeping clothes out just for Merlin to help Arthur put them on.
Each time, Arthur would make an incredibly smug expression and while Merlin wanted to smother him with a pillow, his magic curled warm and content inside him at making Arthur happy. Merlin did nothing else but roll his eyes and call Arthur a ‘spoiled prat’ after.
Merlin’s expression had turned darker and darker. He’d told Arthur that they wouldn’t be able to have sex for the next five days since Merlin tended to lose any and all control over his magic when he and Arthur did anything more than kissing and some light frottage.
Arthur hadn’t been happy about it but had said he’d be on “his best behavior”.
And everything had been going well, until that morning, when Merlin had gone to wake Arthur up, he had tumbled Merlin onto the bed and whispered on Merlin’s ear about how he ‘was going crazy. Crazy. Merlin. I want you. I can’t stop thinking about licking down your back and opening you up with my tongue, fucking you good, long and hard, just how I know how you like it. About all the gorgeous sounds I could make you do. You have no idea, Merlin, no fucking idea, how much I just want to see your hands wrapped around my headboard and your legs tight around my waist while I push inside you. You’re just so pretty, so, so pretty, my Merlin. You’d look so lovely with my come oozing out and down your thighs with bite marks down your chest, wouldn’t you?’.
Merlin had been hard and breathless by the end of Arthur’s little speech. Arthur had just laid there, breathing against his neck and raising goosebumps on Merlin’s skin and as soon as it had started, Arthur had been up and ordering Merlin around. It had all been said with a tone filled with promise and Merlin had never wanted the equinox to be over and done with as much as he had then but had resigned himself to three more days of celibacy.
But then Arthur, fucking Artur, had gone and snogged the life out of him on the way back to his chambers from dinner with Uther and was now asking him to use magic. Arthur knew that if they did anything, Merlin’s magic would be only so happy to form the bond and while it was something Merlin craved to his very core, it wasn’t something he was sure Arthur knew what it meant, what it would mean for them both.
Arthur’s expression softened suddenly, and he put both hands on Merlin’s lower back and started rubbing up and down.
“Merlin,” Arthur said, emphasizing the ‘r’ on his name and making Merlin look him in the eyes. “I love you.” Merlin’s breath hitched and his heartbeat stuttered. “There will never, look at me, ever be anyone else but you.” Arthur was talking with the most serious voice Merlin had ever heard him use. “I may have to become king, I may not be able to promise to always be here because Camelot will always have to come first, but” Arthur paused and Merlin’s heart with him. Arthur started talking softly and his right-hand cupped Merlin’s neck. “even if at some point I may be absent, know that my heart will always be yours, my soul, my body, all of me is yours.” Tears rolled down Merlin’s cheeks at that and Arthur used one hand to wipe them away, continuing with nothing but love in his tone. “This, us being together like this may be new, but we’ve always been each other’s, haven’t we?” Merlin’s left hand was clutching at Arthur’s neck while the other was digging onto Arthur’s waist. “Since the start, it’s always been me to you and you to me. So, will you soul bond me?”
Arthur’s tone was light, and his nose was slightly grazing Merlin’s wet cheek, he seemed calm, but the hand on Merlin’s face was shaking a bit and after almost half a decade of knowing Arthur, Merlin was able to detect the barely there tremor when he asked the question.
Merlin craned his neck back a bit and Arthur leaned back too se he was able to look Merlin in the eyes. His hand was still trembling, but his gaze was unwavering, and after inspecting, Merlin still couldn’t find a speck of doubt on Arthur’s face.
“You understand what you’re asking, right?” Merlin said, serious, still searching. He needed to be sure. “This is not something that can be undone, our souls will be, literally, woven together. There’s no going back, there’s no ‘Oh, I don’t want this anymore, sorry”. Our souls will be one and the same.”
Arthur smiled a little and Merlin felt a pang of uncertainty, but it was quickly squashed and replaced by liquid gold, his magic singing inside his veins.
“Aren’t they already?” It was said tenderly but with the surety of someone who knows is stating a fact. “I know Merlin, I read about it, I talked to Gaius about it.” Merlin was about to ask but was cut off. “I want this, Merlin. I want you in all the ways I can and if I can make sure that I’ll also have you in any other lifetime besides this one, then I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.” Merlin’s eyes stung again, and he bit his lip, annoyed at himself. “Merlin,” Arthur eyes turned liquid and Merlin wanted Arthur’s gaze to never stray, to stay on him until the end of time. “there’s no life without you in it. Merlin, my soul, please, let me have the certainty that no matter what, I’ll always be able to find you.”
Even if he had wanted, Merlin wouldn’t have been able to prevent himself from kissing Arthur just then. He wrapped both arms around Arthur’s neck and pushed against him until there was no space between them. The kiss was demanding, wet, uncoordinated with too much tongue and desperation, but above all, love was all Merlin felt and he didn’t want it to end.
Arthur broke away and Merlin whined, Arthur smiled against his cheek.
“So,” Arthur panted, holding Merlin close and a tad too hard, but Merlin didn’t mind. “what do you say? Do you want to soul bond with me?” Merlin laughed and pressed a hard kiss to corner of Arthur’s smile.
“You’re insufferable.” Merlin laughed when Arthur lightly bit his jaw in retaliation. “Yes, yes, of course I want to.”
They kissed again, giddy and close mouthed, but perfect all the same and the room erupted in golden light.