Chapter 2
Merlin sighed again. He hated waiting, he always had. Especially if there was nothing for him to do meanwhile, apart from stupid little jobs, like polishing boots, to keep himself occupied. Once again he tried to hear the sounds coming from the training field, but the noise of the rain that had been falling for the past hour was denying him the chance, being as he was at Arthur's room, way up too high to hear anything but the tapping of the raindrops.
Normally he would be at the training field too, seeing his lover fight and trying not to flinch whenever he received a careless blow or one of the new knights put himself and Arthur into danger due to their inexperience. He hated that part of the activity, but if he was honest with himself, sometimes he loved seeing Arthur let himself go, his blond hair shining with the sun, his face concentrated but contented at the same time. Training was something that always helped Arthur to deal with his stress and his frustrations, so Merlin never complained about the long hours spent with it. Especially those difficult days.
But today he was not at Arthur's side. The second it had started raining, the King had insisted for all the people who was not directly involved in the training to go back inside the castle, making it especially obvious it was Merlin who he wanted out of the cold rain. Merlin had protested, but only a little because he knew when Arthur's mind was set on something, there was no way of changing it. And besides, he was only trying to take care of him, Merlin knew, and the thought warmed his heart too much to let him whine for too long.
He was so abstracted thinking of his lover, a goofy smile on his lips as he polished Arthur's spare boots for the third time that afternoon, that he almost missed the entrance of the person he had been daydreaming of.
"Merlin, I'm..." Arthur announced as he entered, making his way firmly towards the brunet.
"Stop right there!" Merlin warned him strictly, and surprisingly enough, Arthur obeyed.
"What?" he asked, confused.
Merlin made his way towards the fireplace, already with a fire going, in front of which a white soft cloth had been set on a chair's back to be kept warm, and picked it up. He then moved to his lover and so very gently he started drying Arthur's hair and face with it, taking his time to caress every portion of skin that was visible out of the heavy armour.
"You're dripping all over my floor" Merlin admonished him, with no trace of reproach in his voice as Arthur let himself be taken care of under Merlin's experienced and loving hands.
"Since when is it your floor?" Arthur joked back as Merlin started pushing him towards the bed and made him sit.
"Since I spend so much of my time cleaning it" Merlin joked back, kneeling in front of him to remove the dripping boots, feeling the need of taking care of his lover, who seemed so vulnerable being all wet and tired.
"Then I'm sorry, love, for ruining your hard work" Arthur answered, placing a kiss on top of Merlin's head before the latter was already standing up.
"And how was the training, love?" Merlin asked with a loving smile, motioning for Arthur to turn a bit around so he could sit behind him and start undoing the belts that kept his armour in place.
"It was alright. The new knights are getting better every day"
"That's good" Merlin agreed, removing the remaining pieces of the armour and making Arthur lift his arms so he cut get the chainmail off of him too.
"Well, all of them except for Sir Gilow. The poor boy is so clumsy he doesn't even know what hit him most of the time"
"Hey, what's that on your shoulder?" Merlin asked, moving Arthur's tunic a little to the side to look at the offending bruise forming in the King's skin.
