In The Still Of The Night

Chapter one

He was lying in his tiny bed, thinking about the events of the night. Well, not much to think about, it was quite uneventful, really. It had been a spark of moonlight shining through the window that had caught Arthur's eye just right, and made Merlin's heart beat a little bit faster than normal. His room was hot from the August sun beaming on it during most of the day, and despite his semi-nakedness he was sweating profusely. With a sigh he closed his eyes. Great, he thought, he'll have trouble sleeping again. He blamed it on the heat.

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Lying in his bed awake became sort of a habit these days. The precious little time he could spend sleeping was wasted. He idly traced a line from his chest to his bellybutton, a featherlight touch, fingers barely brushing the surface of his skin . The contact sent shivers running up and down his spine making his whole body shudder, and he had to close his eyes and grab the side of the bed for fear of falling. Although he had no idea where that fear came from.

'God, this has to stop' he whispered to the dark, empty room.

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'It really must be the heat. Or those thoughts. Those confusing thoughts and conflicting feelings running through his head as soon as it hit the pillow.' No matter how tired he was, sleep wasn't merciful enough to rob him of them. He desperately tried to focus on clearing his head and will himself to sleep. The list of tomorrow's chores flashed through his mind, reminding him that he needed to be fresh in the morning to be on time, and not fall asleep while...say, mucking out the stables. A replay of that particular scene would be beyond embarrassing.

He failed.

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No wonder that they call it beauty sleep. The bags and dark circles under his eyes were the clear evidences of his restless nights. There has to be a spell for this. The only spell he knew that put others to sleep easily failed him, but there has to be something else that would work. How long can someone be deprived of the much needed rest before they reach breaking point? Between working for Arthur, helping Gauis and defending Camelot he had to find the time to deal with this. He had to be on his guard at all times.

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Fifth night in a row. This was getting ridiculous. He couldn't understand why his own mind was playing this cruel game, making him suffer. It was just Arthur. Same arrogant, insensitive, pompous... beautiful Arthur. He groaned inwardly. Since when did he begin to think about his master's looks? But it wasn't about looks, was it? No, it was more than that, and it was much worse. It must be some sort of enchantment because there was no way he would lose sleep over HIM. He turned on his other side. If he could only get an hour. Just one. Just...

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He cried out and woke up panting heavily, covered in sweat. His length was pulsing in time with his quickened heart, warm liquid pooling around his bellybutton. A desperate moan escaped his lips. 'What the...?' Nothing like this ever happened to him before. His whole body relaxed and he could feel the disturbing pictures of the dream slipping away with the tension draining from him. Only a pair of striking blue eyes buried themselves deep into his own, burning into his mind.

'Merlin, are you alright?' came the concerned question from the other side of the door.

Great. Just.. great.

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He wasn't sure if he wanted a repeat of last night or not. It wasn't bad after all, far from it. Only weird. But the weirdest thing was how different Arthur seemed today. He was just smiling at Merlin for no reason at all, watching him, like he was trying to get into his head. Until Merlin realized that he was staring and Arthur was only amused by his strange behavior. But he never looked more lovable than today. No, last night wasn't bad he decided, at least he got two hours of rest. It was better than tonight's... nothing.

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'...you are getting curiouser and curiouser by the day, Merlin'. That's what he said today, but Merlin couldn't concentrate on the words, just watched those lips forming his name, the corners turning slightly upwards. But now that he thought about it, what did he mean by that?

Tonight would not be wasted. If he's unable to sleep, then he might as well start looking for a cure for this enchantment. He was losing his mind. Who would curse him with such a thing? Or was it a spell made for someone else but went wrong? Of all people, why Arthur?

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Arthur was particularly mean today, but honestly, he had it coming. After so many endless days and sleepless nights Merlin was on edge and just snapped. He was always a bit out of line but today he went too far, even by his own standards. It wasn't the regular teasing, his comments were just plain rude. He should be apologizing first thing tomorrow, and he knew he had a whole night ahead of him to think of ways to make it up to him. His attempts at finding a solution to his problem still proved futile. Gaius could probably help.

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He woke with a start, shivering despite the heat, his skin tingling where Arthur's fingers touched him just moments ago deep in his dream. He was so hard remembering those images, and they weren't something Merlin ever wanted to forget. They were so vivid. He touched himself just to relieve some tension, but without the intent of coming, he was just satisfied as he was. No matter what curse this was, he never again wanted to be rid of it. He smiled to himself. At least Gaius's sleeping-draught worked, and now he was finally more than ready to face Arthur.

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