The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

It ws morning, it was Monday, and Arthur was in the salle, going over the edge of his own sword to make sure it was still decent for actual combat. Sure, sharpening the thing wasn't strictly his job, but he liked to make sure just in case something showed up.

He was also still mildly cranky over the phone thing, but it wasn't like mildly cranky and Arthur were strange bedmates.

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Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just continued to give him a look. "You're very adept at ignoring things, aren't you?"

[bitchprince]

"...I do try to block some of these personal issues out of my mind after I've read them, yes."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just shook his head, polishing the greave in his hands. "I'm sure."

[bitchprince]

"What?" Arthur asked, shooting him a confused look.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"You loathe the idea of it and yet continue to perform the duties of radio."

[bitchprince]

"I don't mind the duties of radio," Arthur noted, shrugging once. "I just wish people here weren't so inclined to fetishize everyone else's personal life. I can't bribe all the squirrels to stop talking about it." Beat. "Besides, what does liking or disliking one's duties have to do with performing them?"

Shut up and put up, as Uther would have put it had he lived in a Pudsey-shaped universe.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Didn't bother you when we first got here," Merlin grumbled under his breath, polishing with more vigor than necessary. "Nothing, I suppose, Arthur."

[bitchprince]

"I didn't really get the squirrels back then," he said, and forced any accidental colouring of his cheeks to stay away (he was succesful, at least a bit, by sheer force of practice).

"Now I do," pause, "and I've got something I... want to keep as mine." Stupidly sentimental. He needed to go douse his head in a bucket.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin looked away. "I know," He replied quietly. And there was that nasty bit of worry. "How was your fight club?"

[bitchprince]

Arthur shrugged a shoulder. "Mostly uneventful," he said. "Watched a couple of people brain themselves on the floor, but I didn't get any action."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin nodded along as he listened, still polishing.

[bitchprince]

Arthur finished talking rather quickly, all things considered, and wound up tilting his head as he watched Merlin work.

Curiously.

After a minute or so, he was examining Merlin's face instead.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"...what?" Merlin asked, pausing because hello there self conscious.

[bitchprince]

Arthur squinted at him.

It had been two years. He could finally identify-- "You look troubled," he said.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I--what?" Wait, Arthur was noticing things when it came to emotional states? "I'm--fine. Just thinking."

[bitchprince]

TWO YEARS.

It was like watching a toddler take his first steps.

"About what?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"...us."

[bitchprince]

"Us," Arthur prompted.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Nevermind," Merlin replied at that look. "It's stupid."

[bitchprince]

Arthur managed an exasperated sigh. "Out with it," he said. "If you're going to have thoughts about..." Pause. "Us, I'd like to be included."

NFB - Shoo Squirrels!

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"You--I mean--" Merlin tried to keep his focus firmly on the armor in his hands. "--you don't say it back."

Re: NFB - Shoo Squirrels!

[bitchprince]

"... say what back?" asked Arthur, poking at his newfound but fairly infantile sense of empathy for some answers.

Re: NFB - Shoo Squirrels!

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin shot him a look to see if he was kidding or not. "'I love you'?"

Re: NFB - Shoo Squirrels!

[bitchprince]

Arthur opened his mouth to say 'ah', then thought better of it.

No, he hadn't been kidding.

"I'm not... very practiced at... expressing my feelings," he hazarded, finally.

Re: NFB - Shoo Squirrels!

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Right." Merlin managed a smile, going back to his work. "See? It was stupid."