nonstop (merthur AU)

thirty two

to say merlin was terrified when arthur stumbled home three hours after the school bell had rung, sobbing, would be an understatement.

merlin had run to the boy as soon as he took in what happened, not caring that his bloodied nose was dropping onto his jumper. arthur didn't do anything except cry, just letting merlin pull him to the bedroom.

when the blonde collapsed onto the bed, the brunette collapsed right with him, wriggling until he was sitting cross legged, directly across from him.

merlin had absolutely no clue what was happening or what to do. he assumed arthur was having an attack of some sort, having not experienced anything but a heart attack before.

'arthur?' merlin asked 'what's wrong?'

arthur was completely silent, making merlins concern grow.

'arthur?' he repeated, gently placing a hand on his cheek

arthur looked up and met his eyes briefly, shaking his head. merlin was starting to panic as arthur began to shake, tears flowing at a more rapid rate.

either arthur was completely ignoring him or he actually couldn't hear him. merlin could only think of one way to find out.

'ARTHUR?' he yelled as loud as his voice would let him

arthur didn't even flinch

'fuck,' merlin breathed, taking the older boys face in his hands 'what's happened to you?'

arthur's nose was most definitely broken from the amount of blood dripping off it and something with his ribs by the way he was clutching them.

merlin suddenly remembered the notebook he kept under his pillow and frantically grabbed it

arthur kept his eyes trained on the ground the entire time merlin fiddled with the notebook.

where are you hurt? he scrawled and waved the notebook in front of arthurs face

arthur halted his crying for long enough to motion to his face, ribs and ears and merlin internally congratulated himself on his brilliant medical skills

im going to take you to the bathroom, okay? you need to get cleaned up

it took the boys exactly seven minutes and twenty three seconds to get to the bathroom despite it being just down the hall. mainly because of how little upper body strength merlin had but also because every time he heard any sound of sadness escape arthur, he wanted to cry himself.

merlin leant against the tiled wall heavily as merlin rummaged around the cupboards for anything that could help them.

'merlin,' arthur said slowly, speech slurred 'you don't have to-'

merlin gently put a finger to his lips

'do not tell me what to do when it comes to the man i love'

shitty fillers r us