Merthur love❤️

chapter 6 - Apples!

Merlin woke up in the arms of the man he loves. He didn't open his eyes, he just stayed there close to Arthur. He felt the sun shining on his back and remembered that he'd forgotten to close the curtains. It was still early and it took quite a while for Arthur to finally wake up. Merlin was still awake, still enjoying Arthur's warm skin against his own. Arthur shifted slightly and groaned, he opened his eyes and saw Merlin's head resting on his bare chest. "Good morning love," he whispered in Merlin's ear, a wide smile on his face. Merlin chuckled and replied, "Good morning." He finally opened his eyes and saw Arthur smiling lovingly at him. He smiled back at him and said quietly, "I love you."
"I love you too," Arthur replied, looking into the eyes of the man he loves.

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It was now noon, the sky was covered in clouds but it was still quite warm. There were darker clouds on the horizon, and it would most likely rain later. The distant trees by the far end of the darkling woods were bending in the strong an rather cold wind. It was blowing the stormy clouds nearer with a frightening speed. It would quite possibly bring an even bigger storm than just a rainy weather.

Merlin and Arthur walked back inside from the balcony above the courtyard. Arthur had just announced the ban on magic to be lifted, not just that, but he'd announced to everyone that Merlin was the sorcerer who helped them win the battle. The courtyard had been silent, only slight gasps of surprise could be heard. Merlin had started to panic, afraid that the people wouldn't accept him or the new laws on magic. He thought of every possible way it could go wrong, his mind was racing at full speed, his face was starting to burn from the anticipation. What had felt like hours to Merlin, in actuality went by in less than ten seconds. The crowd below had started to cheer and shout Merlin their thanks and Merlin let out a deep breath of relief, trying his best to hide how scared he'd been. But Arthur noticed, he'd wanted to take Merlin's hand and make him feel better but pretty much everyone in the kingdom had been looking straight at them and Arthur wasn't ready for everyone to know that he was in love with his warlock manservant. Especially since his wife had died just days ago...

Once they were both inside and Arthur had checked there was no one at sight, he pulled Merlin close by his waist and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. Merlin wrapped his hands around Arthur's neck and smiled into the kiss. They pulled apart and stared into each other's eyes like they always do, like they were looking at the brightest of stars. "Thank you, Arthur," Merlin whispered into the air between them. Arthur just smiled at him lovingly, looked into his eyes and said, "Whatever you need, my love." Merlin let out a slight chuckle an kissed Arthur again, this time a little longer, with more passion. They didn't notice the three knights standing not too far away from them, until Gwaine cleared his throat to announce their presence. They pulled apart from the kiss and turned their heads towards the others, dramatically slowly, with serious and slightly annoyed expressions. To that, the other three started laughing. Merlin and Arthur looked back at each other and laughed a little too. Arthur planted one more short kiss on Merlin's lips before they let go of each other and turned to Leon, Percival and Gwaine.

"There are some that seem to be sceptical about your latest decision, but most seem to be accepting and excited even," Leon stated, and Arthur nodded gratefully, "Thank you, Leon."
"So, when are people going to find out about you two?" Gwaine asked with a smirk. "Not anytime soon. I'm not ready, and I don't think Merlin is either, for our relationship to be public yet," Arthur replied, and Merlin shook his head. Arthur was right, Merlin wasn't ready for that either. He was already overwhelmed as it is, from everything that's been happening. He needed time to recover from all that stress, all that stress that came from all the years of protecting Camelot and Arthur, from all the years of keeping his secret, from the overwhelming destiny weighing on his shoulders, from the great battle of Camlann, from the stress that came from thinking Arthur was going to die, from feeling helpless to do anything to save the man he loves. Now he was past that, and even though he still protected Camelot and Arthur, everyone knew his secret, Arthur would be there to share the weight of his destiny, the battle of Camlann was won, and Arthur was alive and well. But he needed rest, some peace and quiet to recover from all that, and surely Arthur would help. After all, Merlin still hadn't got the two days off that Arthur had promised him earlier.

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Merlin and Arthur were in Arthur's chambers, not really doing anything, but Arthur had said he needed to talk to Merlin. "I called you here because I feel wrong to keep you as my servant after all that's happened," he started explaining after he had sat down on his chair. Merlin was standing, facing Arthur, looking very curious after what Arthur had just said. "So maybe I could appoint you as my loyal advisor, or a court warlock perhaps," he continued, and Merlin was surprised to hear what Arthur was proposing. "Some kind of a title of an important member in my council anyway," he finished what he was saying and waited curiously for what Merlin would reply. At first Merlin didn't know what to say, but soon he opened his mouth and Arthur was surprised to hear what had come out of it, "I told you before. I'm happy to be your servant, till the day I die." They were looking into each other's eyes, Arthur's mouth parted in surprise, Merlin smiling reassuringly at Arthur. "And that way I get to be with you pretty much every minute of everyday," Merlin added with a wide grin on his face. Arthur gave a little laugh and stood up. He walked in front of Merlin, a smile on his face, and wrapped his hands around Merlin, who hugged him back and put his head on Arthur's shoulder, closing his eyes.

After a while, Arthur pulled apart from the heartwarming hug and asked, "Are you sure that's really what you want?" Merlin looked at him and replied with a smile, "I'm sure."
"Well, just tell me when you want those two days off," Arthur said with a gentle tone all the while looking at Merlin lovingly. Merlin chuckled and leaned in to kiss him. It was sweet and short, but with a lot of love. "Well, I could take those days off now and spend them with you, doing absolutely nothing," Merlin suggested afterwards. "Sounds good," Arthur replied with a smirk, loving the idea of spending two whole days with Merlin, and just Merlin. No distractions.

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Things were going well in Camelot, better than in a long time, so Arthur was able to arrange it so that he wouldn't really need to do anything for the next two days. "No one is allowed to disturb us unless it's an emergency, understood?" Arthur explained to his knights who now all knew about his and Merlin's relationship. Gwaine really should be the last one to tell any secrets to, he's not capable of keeping anything to himself. The knights didn't seem to mind though, and Gwaine definitely didn't mind, judging from his smirk that had appeared when Arthur had told them he would be spending two days with Merlin, doing who knows what. "And Gwaine, it's not an emergency that we're all out of apples!" Arthur added, remembering what happened last time. "What? Of course it is, I need apples!" Gwaine replied, shocked at what Arthur was implying. Arthur rolled his eyes and slightly shook his head in annoyance. The last time they ran out of apples, Gwaine had ran around the castle, bursting into every room, asking if anyone had any apples. Then he'd went to town and did the same, until he finally found one apple left. He'd looked like a little child who just got a new toy. "Fine," Gwaine said in surrender, and the other knights were amused by the conversation.

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It had started to rain. The sun was setting on the horizon, not that it could be seen from the thick storm clouds covering the entire sky. The sound of thunder was filling the air, and every once in a while you could see the lightning strike, not too far away. Merlin and Arthur were enjoying dinner, sitting in Arthur's bed. The fire was crackling in the fireplace and there were candles all around the room. The two were snuggled close to each other under the covers, leaning on each other, not even minding the storm outside. The air was cold, but Arthur's chambers were warm an silent, apart from the two talking and laughing together.

They soon fell asleep next to each other, both happy, Merlin snuggled against Arthur's chest and Arthur's arms holding Merlin lovingly. For maybe the first time ever, they were feeling like everything was right with the world. Arthur may have married Gwen, but he always knew it was Merlin who he truly loved. He never thought though, that this would be possible, to be with Merlin like this. For it to be possible that Merlin loved him back, for there to be people who accepted it.