Happy Birthday!
May. 31st, 2011 06:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magog_83![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
giecast, one of my favourite people to write fic for!Tragically, I have not written you new fic lately ::kicks thesis:: but I haven't forgotten the Lap Sitting Series and fully intend to write four and five - once I find the bloody entry and comment thread they were in again :/
ANYWAY, in the meantime, here is a little ficlet I did earlier, WAY WAY earlier - hence the series one vibe (although I think everything I write has a series one vibe) and the references to Will. It's never been posted before though so I thought you would enjoy it, in lieu of proper Birthday fic <3
....
“Arthur?” Merlin said late one night, looking up from the pages of the herbal he was studying, “Do you have a best friend?”
“A what?” Arthur replied absently, frowning slightly at the list in front of him.
“A best friend. You know, like me and—” Merlin’s voice trailed off into silence and Arthur finally looked up, his expression softening as Merlin stared down at the table, seemingly transfixed by his book once more, long fingers worrying the edges of the parchment.
After a moment Arthur sighed and returned once more to his reports. “Princes don’t have best friends, Merlin.”
Merlin’s fingers stilled. “What do you have then?” he asked, his voice curious.
“We have brothers in arms, advisors, courtiers, subjects, and,” he added pointedly with a glance at where Merlin’s feet were propped against the edge of his chair, “terrible serving staff.”
“Oh,” said Merlin (not removing his feet). He turned a page of his book and silence reigned once more, broken only by the crackle of the fire and the scratch of quill on parchment. Outside, the snow continued to fall, blanketing the world in cold, unbroken white, but inside it was warm, fire and candle glowing orange against the stone.
“But don’t you mind?” Merlin asked suddenly, tracing the delicate outline of a leaf on a faded page, his face shadowed in the flickering light.
Arthur rubbed at his eyes, weary. “Why on earth would I mind?”
“Because everyone needs someone. Don’t they? Someone to talk to, someone that you can tell your secrets to. Someone who really knows you and who will look after you when—”
“It might have escaped your notice Merlin,” Arthur interrupted, as he pushed a completed report across the table for Merlin to sort, “but I, unlike you, am not actually a girl.”
Merlin stuck his tongue out.
“And don’t think I don’t know you’re doing that,” Arthur added, without even looking up.
Merlin rearranged his face into a suitably servile expression as Arthur glanced at him. “And don’t do that either, it makes you look simple.” Merlin settled for glaring at the top of his head instead as he carefully rolled the parchment, adding it to the smaller of the two piles at his elbow as Arthur began a fresh piece.
It was some time later, when the candles had burned a little lower and the pile of parchment at Merlin’s elbow had grown a little higher, that Arthur broke the silence again.
“Is that what you and…. I mean...” Arthur looked awkward, glaring at a supply list for winter training, “He was your—”
“Yes,” said Merlin, before he could finish. He swallowed, the sound loud in the quiet room. “He knew me better than anyone. I could be myself with him, you know? I could just be… Merlin. Everyone needs that.” The even you hung unspoken between them.
“Well,” said Arthur after a moment, voice gruff as he neatly underlined a row of figures, “It’s lucky I have you then.”
“Yes,” said Merlin, equally casual, as he turned another page of his book and smiled, secret. “I suppose it is.”
The End.
HOPE YOU'VE HAD A LOVELY DAY!
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Date: 2011-05-31 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 10:37 pm (UTC)Thanks for reading <3
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Date: 2011-05-31 09:36 pm (UTC)I did actually, and your fic was part of what made that happen ♥
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Date: 2011-05-31 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 10:39 pm (UTC)Thanks for reading <3
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Date: 2011-05-31 10:48 pm (UTC)Isn't it kind of late for you to be up?:D
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Date: 2011-05-31 10:50 pm (UTC)It was totally worth it though :D
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Date: 2011-05-31 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 01:16 pm (UTC)Awww now I'm feeling nostalgic for their S1, when everything was beautiful and nothing hurts. Go back to this dynamic, show! *begs* I'm surprised Arthur didn't break into a rash when he said he's lucky to have Merlin haha. I love how they both tried for casual, but didn't quite manage it. Silly boys. *pets them* Thanks so much for this!
Yey for more Lap Sitting comment fic! You know me and laps. If it were up to me, lap sitting would be in every fic ever written. =D Also, I may have bookmarked the thread it's in.
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Date: 2011-06-08 09:49 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you bookmarked that thread! I couldn't even remember the entry :/
I have an idea for the next one at last, some fluffiness and crack is in order I believe...
I shall have to see Kung Fu Panda then! Do you have to have seen the first one to understand it??
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Date: 2011-06-09 11:37 am (UTC)Yey for fluffiness and fluff. That may be the best combination ever! =DD
Yeah, you will understand it even without watching the first one. Though I also encourage you to watch the first movie.