hiiii can you please write a small drabble about arthur finally saying i love you to merlin when he comes back đ i feel like we were robbed of it and i'd love to see you write it âĄ
We talked about this last night and I immediately wrote it an hour later because nobody can get me to write like you do đĽş
Hope you like it <3 Here it is:
It was like rain. Except it was hot. It was hot rain.
There were hot water droplets pouring over Arthur with consistent pressure in a small, white room somehow and he could hardly pay attention to it.
He ought to marvel at the wonders he'd been seeing for the past two days. He knew that and superficially, on the outside, he was. He was gasping and jumping every time something beeped or whirred or lit up out of nowhere.
But it wasn't all that was occupying his mind. Deep inside him, something was clawing at him, a gnawing ache that felt like it had been a part of him for centuries. Words he'd never said out loud were desperate to come out now, regret and anticipation welling up in him every time he thought about them.
He leaned his forehead against the cool tiles, breathing in the steam that only served to make his head foggier. Everything was a daze. There was only one thing he knew with absolute clarity. He always had.
Arthur turned off the shower.
Despite the fact that fifteen hundred years had passed, Arthur could remember that morning as though it were yesterday. He remembered himself lying on the grass, his breaths ragged. He remembered Merlin holding him tightly, tears gathering around his eyes as he looked down at Arthur with absolute devastation, like he was about to have everything taken from him.
Everything. That was what Arthur had meant to Merlin.
And Arthur had said thank you to him. He'd said thank you.
Merlin had deserved to hear it of course, Arthur could never repay Merlin for how much he owed him. There could never be enough thank yous.
But it wasn't what Arthur had meant.
Arthur got dressed in odd but comfortable clothes and idly towelled his hair as he stepped out into the kitchen.
Merlin was standing by the counter with two mugs, steeping tea bags into hot water. His hair was a little wilder than usual, his feet were bare and his pyjama pants hung low on his hips. He was humming under his breath.
But it was when he sensed Arthur's presence and looked up at him with a small smile that did Arthur in.
Merlin looked at him differently now.
It was the same yet somehow, it was different.
Arthur could recognise flashes of it from memories of particularly important moments in his life when Merlin had gazed at him and pledged his life to him with not a drop of insincerity. Arthur had been barely able to handle it all then but now, it was intensified tenfold âas though Merlin no longer cared to hide everything he felt for Arthur. It was written plainly on his face.
It was there in the quirk of his lips, the happy crinkles around his eyes, the blue in them. It was in the way he looked at Arthur like nobody else existed.
Arthur no longer cared to hide it either.
"I love you."
He didn't think about it, just said it âa fundamental truth of his life. His body felt lighter as soon as the words were out.
There was a second in which everything froze and Merlin's smile dropped at the same time his eyes widened. Arthur's heart pounded in his chest.
Then the smile returned, turning blinding and brilliant.
Merlin tilted his head to the side and Arthur could barely stand how much he loved him.
"No thank you this time?" he asked, sounding a little stunned.
"No," Arthur answered. "It was never a thank you. Not unless you want it to be one."
Merlin gave a watery laugh and shook his head. "Don't you dare, Arthur. I've waited too long to hear this." He lifted his eyes, meeting Arthur's and Arthur's breath caught.
"Say it again," Merlin whispered.
Arthur did not hesitate. "I love you."
He was never going to hesitate again.
"Again."
"I love you, Merlin."
Arthur only saw a blur of movement before Merlin was upon him, arms clinging to Arthur's neck and their bodies fitting like puzzle pieces.
Arthur would always remember that morning. He would always remember Merlin holding him tightly, tears gathering around his eyes as he looked at Arthur with absolute elation, like he was just given everything.
im absolutely not joking around when i say this made me tear up. literally the best thing to get in the morning, its so fucking BEAUTIFUL đđ
ALL HAIL BESTIE SIM, LITERALLY A LEGEND
so TALENTED
I WILL NEVERRRR RECOVER
