Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

IDI4U part 10 (FINALE): Epilogue + Bonus

A.N.:// Thank you guys so much for your support on this. It was quite a ride and I promise after this I will post fun stuff again. 
I know this last chapter is short. But I feel like the story already ended with the previous chapter. This is just a follow up to show you what comes after. It's just for your curiosity.
Also, I kind of HAD to end the story on something more magic related or else it wouldn't fit the series title. 
Good read and until next time with a fresh story :D 
Sincerely, Rai

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They spend all night, talking. Eventually Merlin had given Arthur some of his own clothes, so they could each take a shower and not stink of smoke for the rest of the night.
Which meant they sat there freshly showered, on Merlin's bed, blankets draped all over them, bowls of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other. A courtesy of Hunith's, after she had taken her time properly scolding Arthur for making her and Merlin worry so much.
Arthur took it with a calmness he hadn't expected. Of course he felt guilty and regretful. But in a way, the normalcy of it all eased his mind.
If he was scolded, that meant he could be forgiven.
If Hunith went out of her way to punish him, that meant she believed he was able to see sense.
He could come back.
He could come back home.

The empty box sat beside them on the ground, the pink pen glaring at Arthur from the corner of his eyes, taunting him to get on with the story.
That was a part, Arthur couldn't wait to explain.
And Merlin was a good listener. Always had been. In the end, Arthur felt guilty for talking so much. He had been afraid of that too. Talking too much. But it lacked the expected side effect that Arthur wouldn't be understood.
Merlin urged him to talk. Merlin listened. Merlin understood.
And perhaps that was the greatest relief of all.

And eventually, Merlin too, shared how he had felt through the week. How scared he had been to get rejected by Arthur. A fear that was entirely reasonable after how the week had went.
How terrifying Arthur's promise had been that after the prank, they would just go back to normal.
Turns out, that part in particular, had been the part that threw Merlin off the math test.
But they weren't back to normal now. They were more than that.
They were more, because now they trusted each other more.
Perhaps people who get in relationships sometimes confuse that part. Because sex and intimacy are not always the same thing. They often go together, but not always. And Arthur felt that whatever THIS was, it was more intimate than any physical relationship could ever be.
Raw honesty was just like that.

Arthur felt like there wasn't just love at play here. Not desire or longing or anything like that. Between them it didn't have to be romantic. It didn't have to be physical. It was that tiny something else that seemed so much more important.
Arthur didn't know what to call it. The word love was so overused that it didn't seem enough. And yet in other ways, it seemed like it was too much.
It was the mutual understanding. The trust, the honesty that seemed so rare with everyone else.
Merlin was something else to Arthur. He couldn't explain it. But for once, Arthur didn't really need a word for what they had. He knew they would be fine. That's all he needed to know.

And when they finally went to sleep, beside one another as they did for so many years, Arthur couldn't help but feel a little thankful for the past week. It was a shitty week. But perhaps it had been necessary for them both.

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A week had passed once again.

Merlin and Arthur had decided to just 'keep up the act' that they were together. Because truth be told, neither of them knew how else to call what they were.
They were more than friends. In a way, they were more than lovers, too. And he didn't know how to call that. Merlin didn't seem to know either. So they just called themselves a thing.
And they decided, that they could just continue like they had before. But with even more honesty. With maybe a little more confessions. With maybe a little more kissing for now.
It's who they were now and that was perfectly fine with both of them.