#adios avalon

[little-ligi]

The Sorcerers’ Guild – Quest 1 – Adiós Avalon

Helloo!! Another short little ficlet about resurrected Arthur failing to manage a simple everyday task in the modern world (which was partially inspired by a canon era fic where he fails at exactly the same task that is sitting in my wips folder only half written... (I’ll get to it at some point 🙈))

Day 3 - “Oh! You were going for a hug this time!”

“Here, let me help,” Merlin said, taking the electric razor out of Arthur’s hand.

Arthur’s hand fell to his side, his head dropping in defeat as he slumped down to sit on the side of the bath.

“I just can’t work it out,” he complained quietly.

Arthur was different since he’d returned from Avalon. He’d lost his confidence, become more reserved. And he was now prone to bouts of moroseness, drifting aimlessly around the house after Merlin, desperately trying to understand things, but more often than not being stumped by the simplest of tasks.

Like shaving. In Camelot, Merlin had shaved him, using a lethal looking straight razor. But modern Merlin did not own one of them and only had the electric one. Luckily, Arthur’s facial hair didn’t grow too quickly and he had managed to avoid shaving in the few weeks since his return. But now the scruffy stubble had begun to annoy him and after several days of running his hand over his jaw and grumbling, Merlin had dragged him into the bathroom to show him how the electric razor worked.

He had talked through what he was doing as he’d shaved his own face, then handed the razor to Arthur as he went to get dressed. After which followed a lot of swearing and muttering until Merlin went back into the bathroom to find Arthur covered in shaving foam and fighting with the cutting length adjuster.

He’d only just managed to hold back his laugh at the state Arthur was in.

“Would you like me to do it for you?” he asked now as he set the correct level, ducking his head to catch Arthur’s eye.

Arthur kicked his feet into the bathmat, sighing. He looked up at Merlin and nodded.

“Yes. Thank you, Merlin.”

Merlin had noticed that the resurrected Arthur also seemed softer, more inclined to be nice to Merlin. He even said thank you on a regular basis. And every now and then he would move towards Merlin as if going for a hug, before promptly seeming to remember himself and punching him on the arm or cuffing him around the ear instead.

“Of course. I always used to anyway,” Merlin said, letting them slip back into the familiar master and manservant roles that Arthur understood.

Standing in front of Arthur where he still sat on the bath edge, Merlin put one hand on Arthur’s cheek, tilting his head and stretching the skin taut as he pressed the electric razor to his jaw. Arthur’s body visibly tensed as he tried not to flinch away, his hands reflexively clenching in his lap. Slowly Merlin worked over his face until his chin and cheeks were smooth and slightly pink.

“There we are, all done, back to your usual clean shaven beauty,” he joked when he finished. He gently washed Arthur’s face and patted it dry with a soft towel before rubbing in some aftershave balm.

As Merlin cleaned out the head of the razor, Arthur stood up and admired himself in the mirror, turning his head from side to side as he slid a hand over his hairless jaw.

“Look good?” Merlin asked, putting the razor away in the cabinet beside the sink.

Arthur hummed his approval, nodding several times before turning away from the mirror.

“Well, um…” He brushed his hands off on his pyjama trousers, grinning sheepishly. “Thanks.”

He stepped towards Merlin with his hands raised. Merlin ducked away from him on instinct, expecting the customary fond smack around the back of the head.

“Merlin!” Arthur complained, his arms drooping and the expression on his face halfway between irritated and hurt.

“What?” Merlin pulled a face at him.

“I wanted to…”

Merlin’s eyes went wide and he couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face.

“Oh! You were going for a hug this time!”

“Shut up, Merlin.” Arthur scowled and folded his arms, taking a step backwards.

“Oh come on,” Merlin wheedled, his hands jumping to Arthur’s arms, pulling him in closer again.

Arthur resolutely kept his arms crossed over his chest, not looking at Merlin as his newly bared face tinged even darker pink. He stuck his jaw out mulishly. No matter how much the resurrection had changed him, Arthur was still as stubborn as a goat. And now of course he was angry because he thought he had made a fool of himself, on top of his embarrassment at not being able to work the razor.

“Arthur…” Merlin chided fondly. He tugged Arthur’s arms away from his chest, slipping between them and wrapping them around himself. “Come on.”

Arthur gave in to the slightly awkward hug, his arms loose and his hand slapping Merlin’s back. But he didn’t try to pull away afterwards so Merlin tightened his own arms around Arthur’s shoulders. After a moment he felt Arthur sigh and sink into it.

He squeezed Merlin, the hands on his back snaking further around so Merlin was fully constricted in Arthur’s strong hold. Not that Merlin minded. He was hugging back just as firmly, one hand running up and down Arthur’s spine, keeping his pliant body against his chest. He smiled and rubbed his cheek against Arthur’s soft smooth one, feeling the warmth of his skin. Proof that he was alive. Proof that he was back.

Merlin could hold onto him like this forever.

[little-ligi]

The Sorcerers’ Guild – Quest 1 – Adiós Avalon

Well, the fest is over, but I am still writing to finish these! Have some Arthur panicking and acting on instinct - and what is his instinct? Attack. (Hopefully a slightly funny little ficlet!)

Day 7 – “What have you done?”

“Alrighty,” Merlin called as he closed the front door and put his keys on the table in the hallway. He was clutching the fish and chips bundled in their paper packaging tight against his chest to keep as much warmth in as possible as he made his way to the kitchen. “Get ready for the best thing you’ve ever tasted!”

He pushed open the kitchen door with his foot then almost dropped the bag of fish and chips. He gaped at the sight that greeted him. The kitchen was a state. Half of the cupboard doors were open, an open bottle of milk was on its side on the worktop, white pool spreading out underneath it. The tablecloth had been ripped from the table and was on the floor and Merlin’s tall potted fern that had been standing in the corner of the room was tipped over, soil from the pot strewn across the kitchen tiles. And in the middle of the room was Arthur, brandishing a kitchen knife.

“What happened?!” Merlin shouted, taking a step into the room and feeling broken crockery crunch under his shoe.

Arthur straightened from his fighting stance, his cheeks a little pink.

“I thought there was an intruder!” he said defensively, giving Merlin a sidelong sheepish look. “I heard a voice…”

“What?” Merlin let the fish and chip package slide out of his arms onto the table, his eyes darting around the room again.

“Well, it turned out it wasn’t an intruder. It was that… thing…”

Merlin followed the direction of Arthur’s pointing finger. On the windowsill was the Alexa Dot, the wires ripped out and, most worryingly, another large kitchen knife embedded in the top of it, the plastic casing split around the blade.

Merlin’s eyes went wide. “What have you done?!”

“I think it’s evil,” Arthur said cautiously. “I don’t like it. So I stabbed it.”

Merlin couldn’t speak, he just opened and closed his mouth and made a series of disbelieving croaky sounds.

“There was a voice, I couldn’t work out where it was coming from,” Arthur continued. “I thought it was someone in the house. And when I demanded they show themselves a blue light started shining from this” – he waved his hand at the little speaker – “and it started talking again.” He glared at it. “It said my voice was new and it wanted to learn my name. It wanted to steal my voice and my name.”

Merlin opened his mouth to try and explain but Arthur kept talking.

“Then it started playing some horrible music. It was hurting my head. I couldn’t stop it. The only way I could save myself was by destroying it.”

He gestured again at the knife buried deep into the little electronic device.

Merlin made another strangled noise, staring at Arthur, who was now shifting from foot to foot, a deep frown creasing his brow. He let the knife in his hand slide from loose fingers and it clattered to the floor – Merlin flinched at how close to Arthur’s bare foot the blade landed but Arthur didn’t seem to notice.

“I…” Arthur started, but Merlin cut him off with a raised hand.

“It’s ok. I’m not angry.” He took a deep breath, trying to prove the statement correct to himself. He wasn’t angry, not really. Arthur was more important than a silly device (that he often ended up shouting at himself when she did the wrong thing. He and Alexa were not the best of friends.)

He bent to pick up the plant, muttering a spell to lift the soil back into the righted pot. Then grabbed the tablecloth and shook it out, folding it over the back of a chair.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently, going over to Arthur. He ran his hands up and down Arthur’s arms, feeling the slight tremor in the muscles beneath his fingers.

“Yes.” Arthur looked down, shamefaced. “It just… it scared me.”

Merlin fought the wave of sadness that threatened to bubble up his throat. He remembered a time when Arthur would rather die than admit he was scared of anything. Now, the resurrected king found himself scared at every turn and had to lean on Merlin to take the fear away.

“It talks by itself…” Arthur continued.

“It’s AI,” Merlin explained, keeping his hands on Arthur as he looked over at the spilt milk, his magic flashing to clean it up. “Artificial Intelligence.”

“It didn’t seem very intelligent to me.”

Merlin chuckled. “Well, no, I agree with you there.”

“Sorry I broke it,” Arthur muttered, leaning forward to rest his forehead on Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin rubbed his back.

“Don’t worry.” He bent to retrieve the knife Arthur had dropped, putting it safely back away in the drawer, then guided Arthur to sit at the table. “Let’s have some dinner and forget about it, alright?”

Arthur nodded and Merlin gave his shaking hand a squeeze. Getting two plates from the cupboard and opening the packet of fish and chips, Merlin glanced back over at the impaled Alexa. He couldn’t stop the laughter that burst from him at the sight, leaning back in his seat and clutching his stomach as he laughed. After a second, Arthur joined in too and Merlin knew everything was alright again.

[little-ligi]

The Sorcerers’ Guild – Quest 1 – Adiós Avalon

Hello again! Another little ficlet and Arthur is still struggling with those damned electronic items. This one is a lot lighter than I originally planned it to be, but hopefully you’ll find it funny! (I made myself giggle writing it so...)

Day 5 – “I needed you!”

Merlin yawned as he wandered along the biscuit aisle of Sainsbury’s. He’d already dropped three boxes of Chocolate Fingers – his preferred biscuit – into his basket and was now searching for the Rich Tea biscuits that were the only ones Arthur would eat. All other biscuits he deemed too sweet, which considering he’d only been introduced to sugary treats a few weeks ago, Merlin conceded, was a fair assessment.

He’d just found the Rich Teas, and was contemplating the hilarity of trying to persuade Arthur to try Pink Wafers when his phone rang.

Pulling it from his pocket, he was slightly alarmed to see it flash up as ‘Home’. He’d shown Arthur three weeks ago how to use the speed dial on the landline to call him on his mobile in case he needed anything, but so far Arthur had never actually attempted to do so. Dropping the shopping basket, Merlin answered the call.

“Arthur? Are you alright?” He tried not to sound too worried.

“-lin? Help… I don’t…” Arthur’s voice cut off abruptly.

“Arthur?!” He pulled the phone away from his ear. The call had ended. A second later it rang again. He stabbed the screen a little too hard and a halo of distortion lit up around his finger as he swiped to answer. “Arthur!”

There was a lot of rustling then a muffled, “Need you... I can’t…” before it cut off again.

Completely forgetting the basket at his feet, Merlin turned and sprinted from the shop, probably convincing everyone around that he was either shoplifting or insane. He didn’t care, he legged it across the car park and threw himself against the side of his car, his eyes flashing as he flung his magic out to unlock the door. The journey was taken far too fast and he only just managed to slow down in time for the speed camera on the main road, but he got home in less than five minutes.

His heart hammered as he threw open the front door, already yelling for Arthur. What if he’d hurt himself? Merlin knew how bloody useless Arthur was at keeping himself out of danger, and that was without the added hazards of being newly resurrected and completely incapable of working modern technology. What if he’d electrocuted himself or something?

The front door slammed behind him and Arthur’s voice echoed from the kitchen, sounding rather relieved. “Merlin!”

Merlin barrelled into the room, gaze scanning over everything. Nothing seemed out of place. Arthur didn’t look injured at all, just a little annoyed and helpless.

“What is it? Are you alright?” He strode across the kitchen, his hands automatically lifting to run over Arthur’s chest.

“Yes, I…” Arthur scowled, his gaze flickering to the worktop where the kettle and teapot stood. There was water splashed right across the surface from the sink and tea bags strewn out of the box.

“Why did you ring me?” Merlin asked desperately.

“I needed you,” Arthur whined, a pout settling on his lips as he put his hands on his hips. “I can’t remember how to make the tea that you make for me.”

“You can’t remember how to make tea?” Merlin repeated in a monotone, his hands sliding off of Arthur’s chest. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his frantic heart. The beginnings of annoyance were creeping up on him instead now that he knew there was no emergency.

“No,” Arthur complained, anger rising to cover his embarrassment. “I don’t understand the boiling water maker thing.”

“You rang me because you couldn’t use the kettle?” Merlin asked in disbelief.

“Yes! You told me the… talking thing –” He gestured wildly at the phone, which was hanging off the hook.

“Telephone.”

“Yes, that – I don’t think it works by the way, I couldn’t hear you talking on it,” he said as an aside before launching back into his rant. “You said it was for when I needed you.”

“I meant, if you urgently needed me, you prat. If something was wrong!”

“Something was wrong. I want the nice tea that you make and I can’t do it, so I needed you!” Arthur’s voice shook and he sagged against the worktop, bracing his hands on the surface as his shoulders hunched and his chin dropped to his chest.

Merlin stamped across the kitchen and slammed his finger onto the switch at the base of the kettle. The light came on, the low hissing sound of the kettle heating up filled the room. He turned back to face Arthur, pointing at the switch.

“You didn’t switch it on.”

“Oh.” Arthur blinked wetly.

Merlin’s irritation faded instantly when he saw the vulnerable look on Arthur’s face.

“I’m sorry.” He reached for Arthur’s hand, squeezing it and pulling him close, his other hand rubbing comfortingly up and down Arthur’s arm.

“I can’t do anything here,” Arthur whispered.

“It’s ok, you’re learning,” Merlin told him, running his thumb over Arthur’s knuckles. Arthur sniffed, letting his forehead fall to Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin rubbed soothing circles on his back in time to the bubbling of the kettle then tugged him towards the table to sit down. “Come on, sit down, let’s have some tea and a bis-” He sighed. “We don’t have any biscuits, I left the shop before I could buy them.”

Arthur grimaced apologetically and Merlin grinned.

[little-ligi]

The Sorcerers’ Guild – Quest 1 – Adiós Avalon

Well hello there! Another one! Have some confused Arthur finding himself in a lake with no idea how he got there. It’s the resurrection scene, people! (Turns out as much as I like writing resurrected Arthur, the actual resurrection itself was really tricky to write.)

Day 4 - “Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?”

A ragged yell startled Arthur and he looked up from where he’d been staring down at the water lapping at his feet. He had no idea how he had got there. Floundering and scared, he turned towards the yell. A lone figure had leapt up from a bench by the water’s edge; an unmistakable shock of dark hair shining in the sunlight.

“Merlin!” The name burst from Arthur in a relieved huff.

An answering cry fell from Merlin’s lips as Arthur stepped out of the lake and strode towards him, water streaming down his bare chest in rivulets. He rubbed a hand across his face, pushing wet hair up on his forehead and flicking water droplets away from his eyes. Merlin was staring at him as if he’d seen a ghost, eyes wide, one heavily shaking hand reaching forwards as he stumbled into a run towards Arthur.

He looked different; neater, cleaner, his clothes strange. He ripped two thin black strings from his ears and flung them along with a small black box they were attached to onto the floor as he ran, a frantic laugh bubbling out of him.

“Arthur! Is it…? You’re… are you… back? Arthur!”

Merlin almost collapsed into Arthur’s arms as he reached him, wrapping his arms around him and clinging on so hard his fingers dug into Arthur’s back painfully. Arthur couldn’t stop the rush of feelings that swarmed over him, seeming to rise from his vey soul, or possibly even from Merlin. He was confused and disoriented but at that moment it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was here with Merlin. Something inside him told him this was right. He returned Merlin’s embrace, holding him so tightly that the lake water drenching him was soaked up by Merlin’s top. His heart thudded, matching the thrum he could feel in Merlin’s chest.

Finally Merlin pulled back and Arthur let his eyes sweep over Merlin’s face. He seemed to be both laughing and crying in equal measure, his eyes sparkling with emotion as they raked over Arthur.

“You’re… back, I can’t believe…” He gave another watery chuckle, throwing himself forward at Arthur again.

“What… happened?” Arthur asked carefully into the side of Merlin’s head, his dark hair sticking to Arthur’s face.

Merlin leant back and his eyes darkened as a furrow of a frown appeared between his eyebrows. He looked away from Arthur and wiped his nose with the back of his hand, pushing tears out of his eyes with his fingertips.

“You died.” Merlin’s voice hitched as a sob caught in his throat. “You died at Camlann.”

Arthur’s gaze drifted unseeingly across the grassy slope beside the lake, his mind filling with images of dead men all around him, the hopelessness of the battle… He sank down to his knees, overwhelmed by the memories, a sudden pain flaring in his chest.

“I… am I dead?”

“No,” Merlin said fiercely, dropping to the floor alongside him, his hands never leaving Arthur’s arms. “Not anymore.” Arthur frowned at him, not understanding. “The prophesies said that one day you would rise again. That you would return to this world.”

“Return?”

Merlin sniffed and wiped his nose again. “And here you are,” he whispered, almost like a prayer, reaching one hand up to Arthur’s face as if checking it was real. “It’s been over a thousand years since you died. I… I thought you weren’t…” He trailed off.

“A thousand –” Arthur shook his head, eyes searching deep into Merlin’s. “But, but you’re still here?”

“Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?” Merlin gave him his cheeky little lopsided grin even as more tears poured down his face and his hands grasped at every bit of Arthur he could reach. “I told you before. I’m happy to be your servant, until the day I die.”

Arthur gave a shuddery breath that was almost a laugh, pulling Merlin closer so their foreheads rested together. His eyes were wet but the fear and confusion he had felt when he found himself inexplicable standing in a lake with no memory of how he got there was fading. His heart was singing; it had found home. He knew this was where he should be – wherever this was. He didn’t need to be scared as long as Merlin was with him.

“You’re here,” Arthur murmured again and again, his hands lifting to cup the sides of Merlin’s neck, and brushing just into his hair.

“I’ll always be here for you,” Merlin promised. “You dying won’t get rid of me.”

Merlin pulled his jacket off and wrapped it over Arthur’s shoulders and Arthur suddenly remembered he was sitting naked beside a lake in some place (or rather some time, apparently) that was not Camelot. He clung to Merlin and buried his face in the crook of his neck. It didn’t matter where he was. He was home.

[little-ligi]

The Sorcerers’ Guild – Quest 1 – Adiós Avalon

Hey hey! I didn’t manage to finish day 6 today, but I did write day 2 which I missed the other day so... Have some more vulnerable Arthur being scared by strange modern noises. (Hopefully I’ll manage to finish days 6 and 7 tomorrow...)

Day 2 – “I’m here.” “What took you so long?”

Merlin took another sip of tea, tapping away at his laptop. He was trying to get some work done before Arthur woke up. He nodded his head in time with the music in his headphones and drummed his fingers to the beat. It was only in the lull between two songs that he heard shouting coming from the bedroom.

He ripped the headphones off, being met with Arthur’s increasingly distressed voice. Pushing his chair back so violently it tipped over, Merlin scrambled to his feet, almost falling over the upturned chair’s leg. He stumbled away from the chair and dashed to the bedroom.

Arthur was sitting up in bed, pressed against the headboard, his knees pulled to his chest and his face buried into them, his hands over his ears. He didn’t notice Merlin’s entrance and kept shouting for him. Merlin climbed onto the bed beside him and put his hands on Arthur’s shaking shoulders. Arthur jumped and looked up.

“I’m here,” Merlin soothed, gently prising Arthur’s hands away from his ears.

“What took you so long?” Arthur demanded gruffly, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you calling. I had headphones on.”

“You had what?”

“Headphones” – he cupped his hands over his ears in demonstration – “to listen to music… never mind.” He shook his head and rubbed Arthur’s back. “What’s the matter?”

Arthur gulped and glanced over at the window. “There were sounds, they woke me. And they keep happening…”

“What kind of sounds?” Merlin asked softly.

“Loud, thudding, like horse’s hooves but –” Arthur cut off, his head whipping around to face the window again, his eyes wide and jaw clenched.

Merlin tilted his head to the side and strained his ears. Sure enough, a second later he caught the unmistakable sound of an approaching helicopter. The thrumming thud-thud-thud of the rotary blades overlaying the deep whining roar of the engines.

Arthur tensed and leant into Merlin as the sound got louder and louder.

“That noise,” he said through gritted teeth, trying not to look as scared as he clearly was. The sound roared as the helicopter passed over the house then began dying down again as it moved away.

“It’s the RAF helicopters,” Merlin explained, patting Arthur’s back as he spoke. “There’s an RAF base just down the road so you can hear whenever they do training exercises.”

“Training exercises?” Arthur latched onto the words he understood.

“The RAF is part of the military. Like… sort of like knights… but flying in helicopters…” Merlin trailed off, giving Arthur an apologetic grin.

“Like knights?” Arthur repeated hopefully, looked a bit less worried. Then his eyebrows creased. “Flying? On… heli– is that a, a creature…? Like a dragon or something?”

Merlin had to bite his lip so as not to laugh at the look on Arthur’s face. He could just imagine what was going through Arthur’s head; the Round Table knights, all astride dragons and brandishing their swords. He snorted at that thought, pressing his knuckles to his mouth to hold back the laughter.

“No,” he managed once he’d squashed the giggle and Arthur was glaring at him. “Helicopters are flying machines. Sort of like cars… but they fly…”

Merlin had been slowly trying to get Arthur used to the idea of the car; he’d got him to sit in it, once, but as soon as he’d turned the engine on Arthur had balked, fighting with the seatbelt and door until he fell unceremoniously out of the car onto the driveway. And he seemed to like the idea of helicopters even less, judging by the absolute horror on his face.

There was the rumbling of another helicopter from outside and Arthur subconsciously curled further into Merlin arms, his hands pressing into his ears again.

“I don’t like the noise,” he muttered.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Merlin said, his heart tugging at Arthur’s vulnerability. He hugged Arthur tight until the helicopter had passed, then got up from the bed and held a hand out to him. “Come with me.”

Reluctantly, Arthur slid from the bed and followed Merlin into the living room where Merlin gently pushed him down onto the sofa. He retrieved his headphones and laptop from the desk, righting the chair he’d knocked over earlier, then went to perch on the coffee table in front of Arthur.

“The thingies…?” Arthur asked, pointing to the headphones and copying the gesture Merlin had made with his hands cupped over his ears.

“Headphones, yep.” He reached forwards and slipped the headphones onto Arthur’s head.

Arthur had gone very tense again, but he watched as Merlin opened up a new tab on his laptop and did a quick search before selecting some medieval music played on lute and dulcimer. Merlin looked up expectantly at Arthur.

Arthur startled and his hands went up to grasp at the headphones, but he didn’t take them off and after a few moments a smile spread across his face. He grinned at Merlin, who grinned back, shifting across onto the sofa beside Arthur and pulling his laptop onto his lap to finish his work. Arthur let his head tip onto Merlin’s shoulder, even as his hands began to tap his knees in time with the music.

And when another helicopter flew over the house a couple of minutes later, Arthur didn’t even blink.

[little-ligi]

The Confusing Modern World of Gadgets

@thesorcerersguild-quests - Quest one Completed!

Now up on Ao3!

Rating: G

Pairing: Merlin/Arthur

Summary: Arthur returns, but the world is not as he remembers it; instead it's full of strange technology and gadgets he just can't work out.

A collection of short related ficlets, featuring Arthur's (mis)adventures with modern life.

Tags: #Arthur Pendragon Returns (Merlin) #Modern Era #Resurrected Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) #Confused Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) #Vulnerable Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) #Caring Merlin (Merlin) #Worried Merlin (Merlin) #Light Angst #Feels #hopefully humour #Arthur Pendragon vs Modern Technology #Arthur struggles with modern life #Merlin is always there for him #soft merthur #Arthur Pendragon Needs a Hug (Merlin) #spoiler: he gets lots of hugs

Thank you to the wonderful Keepers of the Guild for the prompts!! 

[little-ligi]

The Sorcerers’ Guild – Quest 1 – Adiós Avalon

Hey!! I wrote this instead of going to bed. Well done me. Hope you enjoy some resurrected Arthur finding a little more than he expected in Merlin’s search history. (Watch ligi skirting around the word that I’m pretty sure makes tumblr delete posts.)

Day 1 – “What is a… Search history?”

Arthur was stabbing at the buttons on Merlin’s laptop when Merlin came back into the lounge, two cups of tea in his hands. He put them down on the coffee table beside the laptop then flopped onto the sofa, jostling Arthur.

“Merlin!” Arthur complained, shuffling over a bit then hunching forwards again to squint at the blank screen. “Why won’t your infernal” – he waved his hand around in irritation, gesturing at the laptop – “thing work?”

“Computer,” Merlin supplied.

“Whatever. Make it work.”

Merlin leant forwards and pressed the power button, picking up his tea and taking a slurp as the screen blinked to life. He grabbed Arthur’s hand as he impatiently hammered at the keyboard again.

“Wait for it to finish loading,” he chastised and Arthur gave him a glare. “What do you want on it anyway?”

The tips of Arthur’s ears went red and he drew himself up haughtily.

“I want to watch a tournament.”

Merlin smirked. In the four months since Arthur had returned, Merlin had been easing him into the idea of watching television by showing him videos of medieval re-enactors jousting. Arthur loved them, once he got used to the fact they were in a screen (and that had been a long and exasperating conversation Merlin would really rather forget). He would sit for hours watching and commenting on their form, critiquing any of them that weren’t up to standard.

“Go ahead, you know how to find it,” Merlin said, rolling his eyes.

Arthur frowned at the laptop, poking the screen. After a long moment of frustrated grumbling from Arthur, Merlin decided to take pity on him (and to stop his laptop from being smashed) and reached across Arthur to click the right icon.

“There, now go to the search history and you should find it.”

“What is a… search history?” Arthur said the words like they were entirely foreign, even though individually he knew exactly what the meant.

“It shows you what things you have searched for before. The jousting will be in there.”

Content that Arthur could handle it from there, Merlin leant back on the sofa with his cup of tea and retrieved the book he had shoved between the sofa cushions then put his feet on the coffee table. He opened the book and began reading where he’d left off yesterday.

Arthur made several disgruntled noises as he scrolled though the search history, clearly looking for a particular jousting match. Then he suddenly made a choking sound and his hands leapt away from the laptop as if he’d been burned.

“What?” Merlin peered over the top of his book, but at the angle he was sitting he couldn’t see the screen because of the reflection from the window.

“This… this man looks like me!” Arthur snapped. “And he’s…” He made a strangled noise then a vague gesture with his hand that Merlin couldn’t interpret.

But before Merlin could ask any other questions Arthur reached forward and pressed something on the laptop. A moment later the room was filled with loud erotic groans. Merlin’s eyes flew wide as he dropped his book in his lap and sat up, slopping most of his cup of tea over himself. He just managed to get the mug onto the coffee table and slam the lid of the laptop shut before the video got even more explicit.

But Merlin had seen – and heard – enough to know exactly which video Arthur had clicked on. It was a personal favourite of Merlin’s; a broad-shouldered blond Adonis of a man, with startlingly blue eyes and pouty lips, and a slim brunet man with cutting cheekbones and long limbs. And, well, the context of the video was expressed rather obviously by the sounds the two men made throughout.

With his face hot enough it felt like he might spontaneously combust at any second and tea still dripping down his chest, Merlin turned to look at Arthur. He was frozen, one hand still hovering near the laptop and his mouth open in shock.

“Uh…” Merlin said croakily, not moving.

“That… that wasn’t the type of jousting I meant…” Arthur said slowly, his eyes still on the closed laptop.

Merlin let out a rather high-pitched nervous laugh, his hands grasping at the knees of his jeans, just for something to do. Arthur slowly turned towards him, something in his eyes that Merlin couldn’t place.

“They…” Arthur swallowed and cleared his throat. “There are vidos –”

“Videos,” Merlin corrected.

“Videos. Of… that…?” Arthur waved his hand again.

“Uh huh.” Merlin nodded his head jerkily.

“Oh.” Arthur shifted on the sofa, then bit his lip and looked away from Merlin, his own cheeks tinting red. “We could watch that instead of the tournament, if you want?”

Merlin stared at Arthur for several long seconds until Arthur gave him a nod. He slowly opened the laptop up again and pressed play. As the moans restarted, Arthur leant forwards and captured Merlin’s lips in a hot kiss.