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English
Series:
Part 2 of Random Merlin Stuff
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Published:
2019-09-28
Words:
774
Chapters:
1/1
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10
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182
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A story to tell

Summary:

Merlin is hurt, and Arthur has to take off his shirt to bind the wound, how will he react to merlin's large assortment of scars?

Work Text:

"Merlin, are you ok?” Arthur asked, turning to Merlin, who was holding his arm, where a bandit had sliced it just a minute ago. Now that the bandits had been defeated, with the help of a few lucky branches, he could turn his attention fully to his injured manservant.
“It’s fine, it’s just a scratch. Really.”
“Nonsense. I’ll put a bandage on it, it’s clearly bleeding quite badly.”
“No, really” Merlin tried.
“Take your shirt off, Merlin, I need to bandage it.”
At this, Merlin paled slightly. “Arthur, no, really, I’m FINE”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Merlin, you got hurt, I need to put a bandage on that before it gets infected.”
“Arthur, NO.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow at Merlin’s tone, but he still wasn’t deterred. “Merlin. Don’t make me order you to take off your shirt.”
“Arthur, no, I’m not going to take off my shirt, you can bandage my arm through my shirt or not at all.”
Arthur frowned contemplatingly. Coming to think of it, Arthur didn’t think he had ever seen Merlin without a shirt on - he had always had a long sleeved shirt and that ridiculous neckerchief on.
“Merlin, as your prince I am ordering you to take your shirt off.” Said Arthur - what did his manservant have to hide that he would so adamantly refuse to take off his shirt?
“Arthur I’ve said no, and that is my final answer!”
Arthur sighed, pretending to give up. “Fine. But Guias will look at it the second we return.”
“Thank you, Arthur, for respecting my privacy.” The sincerity making what Arthur had to do all that much harder. He dived forward and yanked Merlin’s shirt over his head so that he could access the wound... honestly, did Merlin have no sense of self preservation? That wound would bleed him dry before they got back to Camelot!
Ok.
Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but he'd probably be put on bed rest, and Arthur couldn't survive without Merlin while he recovered. /> Then he noticed Merlin’s body. It was riddled with scars, the most prominent being a large circular burn in the centre of his chest.
Where did these come from?
He just stood there gaping for a good long minute, while Merlin, looking exasperated, just stood there, tapping his foot, before eventually giving up on Arthur ever looking away without a prompt.
“You quite done?”
Arthur, realising that he was staring looked away, blushing slightly, then he turned back to Merlin “where did you get all those?”
“I thought you were going to bandage my arm?”
“Merlin! This is more important! Where did you get all those scars?”
“It’s not important, Arthur, just bandage my arm so we can go.”
“Merlin, please tell me” said Arthur, changing tactics, as he clearly wasn’t going to get anything out of Merlin by being angry.
Merlin faltered slightly at this, so he continued.
“Merlin please, I want to know how you got hurt.” He said, allowing just a tiny bit of the worry he felt for his friend slip into his voice.
Merlin sighed, ”Arthur, I said no, can we please just bandage my arm?”
“Alright.” He resigned - he was still worried about his friend, but he could see that he wasn't about to get any answers out of him.
He stepped forward and ripped a piece of his shirt, which he then wrapped around Merlin’s arm.
“Your gonna make ME fix that shirt, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question, but Arthur answered anyway.
“Yup” then he added a smirk, just to annoy Merlin.
“Tell you what, I’ll tell you how I got each scar, but not any detail, and you get someone else to fix the shirt.”
Arthur sighed “It’s better than nothing, I suppose, ok.”
He held out his arm, and pointing to each scar in turn he started listing how he got them.
“Sword, sword, sword, mace, magical creature, axe, burn, sword, disease, sword, and axe.”
Then he held out his other arm.
“Axe, mace, sword, mace, bolt, sword, sword, magical creature, magical creature, burn, break”
Then his chest.
“Sword, sword, axe, mace, burn, burn, disease, sword, axe, mace, disease, magical creature, magic attack, burn, roof cave in, bolt, bolt, sword, mace, axe, sword, sword.”
And then finally, he gestured to the larges scar in the centre of his chest - “Magical fire ball”
And then, when it looked like Arthur was about to protest, he added “That’s all your getting from me.”
“Arthur sighed and let it rest, he knew Merlin would tell him eventually, and till he was ready, there was no point pushing. He didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.

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