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~x~
Merlin let out a mighty sneeze. Sparks, in all the colours of the rainbow, rained down from his mouth. Again. Merlin whined in despair - there was no way he could serve Arthur like this.
“Merlin?” Gaius knocked on the doors of his little chamber, sounding concerned. “Is everything—”
“Achoo!” Merlin interrupted miserably, sparks once again tumbling down.
“Oh my.” Was all Gaius managed at that.
“Gaius…” Merlin whined. “I think I’m sick.”
“I—” Gaius began, but it seemed he was just not meant to finish a sentence that day.
“ACHOO!”
Gaius’s eyebrow twitched. “I’ll send a page to inform his highness about your… condition.”
“Achoo…” Merlin agreed, misery itself.
~x~
It took Arthur less than an hour, after the page had been sent, to turn up banging on the Physician’s doors.
“Merlin! I know you’re in there! Just because the kingdom is safe from the dragon now, doesn’t mean you get to lay about doing nothing, there’s work to be done!” He grinned, and it was small, relieved but still grieving over those lost, and waited a moment for the doors to open. When they did not, the Prince frowned, and pushed the doors open himself, slow and hesitant. “Merlin?” he asked much softer, but again, there was no response. He stepped inside with quiet steps, looking around and finding the chambers empty.
Arthur frowned - when neither Gaius nor Merlin were in, the Physician's chambers usually remained locked, for safety purposes. And if Gaius was not in sight… it could only mean one thing - Merlin was in his own little chamber. Arthur’s frown deepened - maybe he truly was sick.
Now far more worried than annoyed, the Prince rushed through the chamber and was only a few steps away from the doors when—
“Achoo! Ah, damn it, not again…”
There was such misery in the tone, Arthur swallowed, nervous. “Merlin?” he asked again, this time right against the door.
Everything went eerily quiet inside immediately, making Arthur frown again.
Finally, a light shuffle and a couple of moments later, there was a scratchy voice on the other side of the door.
“Arthur?”
The Prince sighed in relief. “Guess you weren’t lying about being sick then, huh…”
“Achoo!”
Arthur chuckled. “The page was lacking in details. Is it serious? What did Gaius say?”
Silence on the other side of the doors.
“Merlin?”
“I… I don’t know. Gaius doesn’t either. Not yet at least. He’s doing some research now and — achoo, godsdamnitall—”
“Merlin?” Arthur inquired, pressing a hand to the doors.
There was a heavy sigh from the other side. “I’m fine, Sire. I'm sure whatever this is will pass soon.”
He did not sound convinced. And then, Arthur was officially Worried.
~x~
Arthur hadn’t seen Merlin at all the next day and the day after that. Any news he managed to pry from Gaius sounded one or another version of the same ‘He’s getting better, but no, for the safety of you and others you cannot visit’. It was driving Arthur round the bend to put it mildly.
Finally, he had had enough and, after making sure Gaius was out on errands, he snuck past the guards and the nosy councilmen who had been lurking around wanting to demand favours of the king through his only son, and found himself, once again, at the doors of the Physician’s chambers. He did not bother knocking this time, simply opened the doors quietly and snuck in.
“Arthur!”
Arthur blinked. There Merlin was. Looking alive and well, if a fair bit startled.
What he wanted to say was something along the lines of ‘I was worried’ and ‘How much longer will you make me be without you?’ and ‘I missed you’. What he said instead, however, was. “You look… like you’re not dying.”
Merlin blinked. “I’m… not? Not dying, that is. I’m just—” and then he paled, so fast Arthur was moving before the movement even registered with him.
“Merlin?” He had his hands on Merlin’s arms to steady him, but that seemed to make Merlin pale even more. “Merlin, what’s wrong? What is—”
Merlin tore from his grasp, stumbled and then straight up ran towards his little chamber, slamming the door behind him.
“ACHOO!”
Arthur blinked.
“ACHOO ACHOO AAAAACHOOOOO!”
Arthur… blinked again.
The doors opened and a sheepish looking Merlin peeked out. “Sorry about that. I… Didn’t want to… um…”
“Spew your peasant slime all over your prince?” Arthur’s tone couldn’t have been dryer if it were the kindling Uther kept safe for the sorcerers’ burnings.
“Yes, that. Exactly that.” Merlin’s grin was brittle. Arthur believed him… Not at all.
“Right. So. When, exactly, can I expect you back and doing your job?”
Merlin looked wretched. “I—” But his eyes widened and before he could so much as turn his head, he sneezed. His face scrunched up and his shoulders got all squished, all adorable-like and, in general - Arthur would have said it was a very cute sneeze all around, if not for the literal shining sparks that came pouring out of Merlin’s mouth.
Arthur gaped. In light of the happenings, he felt himself entitled to some gaping though, so it was fine.
“Arthur…” Merlin started and he sounded meek. The Prince bristled. If there was one thing his manservant should never be, it would be meek.
“Let me guess,” he started, voice still dry, “you can explain?”
Merlin swallowed. “If you let me, then yes, I— achoo!” Another cascade of sparks flew out and Merlin groaned. “Blast it.”
Arthur snorted at the utter misery on Merlin’s face. “Come on.” He went to the main doors, locked them and then, just to be completely safe, went into Merlin’s own room, closing those doors as well when Merlin followed him in.
After making himself as comfortable as was possible on the cot Merlin called bed, Arthur motioned for his frowning manservant to speak.
“I…” Merlin swallowed.
“Should I start?” Arthur sighed when it was becoming obvious Merlin had no earthly idea about where to begin. Merlin blinked at that, and Arthur sighed again. “I should probably mention that I am, in fact, aware I did not kill the dragon.”
Merlin boggled at that. “You are?! I mean…um…”
Arthur snorted. “Yes, I am. There was no body, no rivers of blood, but…” He shook his head. “You sounded so sure. So completely certain Camelot was safe. It took me a moment, I confess, but well… as far as I figured - there had to be more than one Dragonlord, right? Whoever he was, must have come after we were incapacitated… and, you know, if you know and are protecting him it’s fi—”
But Merlin was shaking his head already. “No. No, I mean, yes, there is another Dagonlord, but no, there wasn’t another, there was just B-balinor and…” He took a shuddering breath, wringing his hands as he looked Arthur straight in the eyes. “The powers of the Dragonlord, they’re… um… they’re hereditary. They pass from father to son after death, s-so when he died…”
“His son became a Dragonlord?” Arthur finished for him, his eyes widening. Merlin nodded.
“But then… how…” the Prince continued when Merlin suddenly sneezed, again, letting another shower of sparks fly. Arthur’s jaw dropped. “You’re a Dragonlord, aren’t you?”
Merlin shrugged, the whole movement sad and defeated. “Yeah. I—” Arthur was on his feet in an instant, his hands on Merlin’s arms. Merlin flinched, but Arthur valiantly ignored it. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Merlin.,” he whispered and then, to Merlin’s utter bewilderment, he hugged him.
“Ar-arthur?” Merlin asked, barely daring to breathe.
“You saved Camelot from the dragon, didn’t you. All while mourning your father.” Arthur hugged him tighter. “I’m so sorry, Merlin.”
It took a moment of processing, but then Merlin was collapsing into Arthur’s arms, a sob wrenching out of him. Arthur just held him closer.
Eventually, they ended up on Merlin’s narrow cot while Merlin calmed. They might have been cuddling. Not that Arthur would admit said cuddling under pain of torture, but, they were definitely cuddling.
“So… Dragonlord. Does that come with anything other than commanding dragons and sneezing sparks?” Arthur finally gathered himself enough to ask.
Merlin shrugged. “I have no idea. Balinor was the last one and he didn’t exactly have much time to teach me much of anything.”
The Prince winced at that, opening his mouth to, most likely, apologize again, so Merlin elbowed him preemptively.
“Enough. Wasn’t your fault.” He took a deep breath then, and squirmed around so that he’d be facing Arthur, instead of leaning against his chest. “But since you’re taking this whole Dragonlord thing really far, far better than I could have ever expected or hoped… I… I have another thing to tell you. I just hope you’ll be able to eventually accept it too…”
Arthur swallowed. “Merlin, I… I don’t know if…”
Merlin raised a hand and softly pressed the tips of his fingers against Arthur’s mouth. “Please. Let me. I don’t think I’ll manage to gather enough courage at another time, otherwise.” Arthur nodded slowly at that, careful enough to not dislodge the fingers.
“I…” but words seemed to abandon Merlin and instead of speaking, he just… sort of, sighed and then molten sunlight poured out of his eyes and there, in the space between them, a small ball of blueishly-white light formed.
“Oh…” Arthur breathed, his eyes trained on Merlin’s. “I…”
“I use it for you, Arthur. Always for you.” Tears were swimming in the once-again blue eyes, and the Prince swallowed heavily. “All that I have, magic and Dragonlord powers and all…. All that I am…is yours. I promise.”
And what was the Prince to do, what was he to say to that, but pull his extraordinary, special, magical man into his arms again, and kiss him. And kiss him he did. Right up until Merlin pulled away all of a sudden and—
“ACHOO!”
Arthur groaned. “We have got to do something about this sneezing, Merlin.”
Merlin laughed. And then promptly sneezed again.
~x~