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Entry tags:
M: Deja Vu All Over Again
Fandom: Merlin
Main characters: Arthur, Merlin
Referenced characters: Uther, Gaius
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Contains: Angst, AU?
Rating: PG
Summary: Merlin is so cursedly familiar and Arthur really can't figure it out.
Notes: Intended as a reincarnation type thing, but you might prefer to see it as AU. Relatively silly and plotless; angst crept in where I didn't expect it. For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
feywood for Christmas. Thank you for everything, love.
There is something awfully familiar about Merlin. Arthur can't put his finger on it, but there it is. Like right now, the insolent look Merlin is giving him, as if he actually thinks they're equals. "Do you want me to clean anything else while I'm at it?" he asks, abrupt, meeting Arthur's eyes squarely, easily. There's something unsettling about those eyes, something ancient and knowing. Magical, almost. And horribly familiar, like everything else about him.
"Do you want me to clean anything else while I'm at it, sir," Arthur says, pointedly. Merlin blinks at him -- he looks so stupid and ridiculous and Arthur doesn't know why he can't keep him out of his head, not just this stupid familiarity but also the way he keeps getting fixated on little things like the dark sweep of his eyelashes or the sharp lines of his cheekbones.
"Do you want me to clean anything else while I'm at it, sir?" Merlin says, with an air of both insolence and of a great feeling of persecution. Arthur kind of wants to bite at his neck, just there where his pulse flickers, or maybe at his adam's apple, or --
"My boots," he says, blandly. "Lick them clean if you have to."
Merlin gives him another insolent, insubordinate look, but he gets to it.
---
The Camelot is a good ship. There have been some trade-offs -- there are some kinds of people who are not precisely welcome on the ship -- for the sake of that peace, but it's a good ship. Almost a space station in its own right, offering shelter to hundreds of people. There have been... incidents. But it's a good place to live. And being the captain's son has its perks -- like having a servant. Oh, you're not supposed to call them that -- sounds so medieval, so feudal -- but it's more or less true. Assistant, servant, it comes to the same thing.
The trouble is, sometimes Merlin makes Arthur forget it's a perk. Like right now.
"Look, Merlin, I'm going to look like an idiot if I don't do this."
Merlin looks more pinched and angular than ever. He folds his arms across his chest. "You're putting yourself in danger."
"You've got no right to order me around."
"I'm not ordering! Just giving advice."
"I advise you to shut up," Arthur says, and thinks that probably counts as scoring a point. He's irritatingly far behind today, as far as his mental tally goes. "Help me get my suit on."
The suit is cumbersome, prone to getting damaged and dirty. He has those familiar waves of deja vu as Merlin helps him into it -- something about the way Merlin looks, and also something about the closeness of them and the way Merlin does up the buckles, the way Merlin's fingers brush his skin... He pushes the thoughts away.
"Dragon Head Nebula," Merlin mutters. "I have a bad feeling about this, Arthur."
"Go ask Gaius to give you some kind of medicine, then."
"I don't need medicine, I need you to be careful!"
Arthur blocks it out, gathering up his weapons, more or less only hearing blah blah blah and focusing mostly on the circles under Merlin's eyes -- is he getting enough sleep? -- not that he cares, not that he cares at all.
---
"I told you I would have to save your ass," Merlin says, infuriatingly, but before Arthur can answer he's kissing him, terribly sweet and familiar, and god, why does Arthur feel so much like he knows him, like this has all happened before?
"My ass was perfectly safe!" he says, indignantly, when Merlin has stopped trying to lick his tonsils -- not that Merlin is actually bad at kissing, he's distractingly good at it, but Arthur has to admit that mostly what he's doing, even just in his own mind, is disparaging Merlin because this is too much.
"I always do this, always," Merlin says, and his eyes -- his eyes are haunted. "If I lose you, if it happens again -- "
"What do you mean, again?" Arthur says, and then, "Damn it, Merlin, I can look after myself -- "
He has to shut up when Merlin kisses him again, his lips so cursedly soft, and his hands everywhere, like he can't stop touching him.
"Not going to let it happen again, keep you safe this time," Merlin mutters, and Arthur has no idea what he's talking about, but he has this feeling that one day he'll understand -- and he's more interested in the kissing, in the way the back of Merlin's neck fits perfectly to his hand.
Main characters: Arthur, Merlin
Referenced characters: Uther, Gaius
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Contains: Angst, AU?
Rating: PG
Summary: Merlin is so cursedly familiar and Arthur really can't figure it out.
Notes: Intended as a reincarnation type thing, but you might prefer to see it as AU. Relatively silly and plotless; angst crept in where I didn't expect it. For
feywood for Christmas. Thank you for everything, love.There is something awfully familiar about Merlin. Arthur can't put his finger on it, but there it is. Like right now, the insolent look Merlin is giving him, as if he actually thinks they're equals. "Do you want me to clean anything else while I'm at it?" he asks, abrupt, meeting Arthur's eyes squarely, easily. There's something unsettling about those eyes, something ancient and knowing. Magical, almost. And horribly familiar, like everything else about him.
"Do you want me to clean anything else while I'm at it, sir," Arthur says, pointedly. Merlin blinks at him -- he looks so stupid and ridiculous and Arthur doesn't know why he can't keep him out of his head, not just this stupid familiarity but also the way he keeps getting fixated on little things like the dark sweep of his eyelashes or the sharp lines of his cheekbones.
"Do you want me to clean anything else while I'm at it, sir?" Merlin says, with an air of both insolence and of a great feeling of persecution. Arthur kind of wants to bite at his neck, just there where his pulse flickers, or maybe at his adam's apple, or --
"My boots," he says, blandly. "Lick them clean if you have to."
Merlin gives him another insolent, insubordinate look, but he gets to it.
The Camelot is a good ship. There have been some trade-offs -- there are some kinds of people who are not precisely welcome on the ship -- for the sake of that peace, but it's a good ship. Almost a space station in its own right, offering shelter to hundreds of people. There have been... incidents. But it's a good place to live. And being the captain's son has its perks -- like having a servant. Oh, you're not supposed to call them that -- sounds so medieval, so feudal -- but it's more or less true. Assistant, servant, it comes to the same thing.
The trouble is, sometimes Merlin makes Arthur forget it's a perk. Like right now.
"Look, Merlin, I'm going to look like an idiot if I don't do this."
Merlin looks more pinched and angular than ever. He folds his arms across his chest. "You're putting yourself in danger."
"You've got no right to order me around."
"I'm not ordering! Just giving advice."
"I advise you to shut up," Arthur says, and thinks that probably counts as scoring a point. He's irritatingly far behind today, as far as his mental tally goes. "Help me get my suit on."
The suit is cumbersome, prone to getting damaged and dirty. He has those familiar waves of deja vu as Merlin helps him into it -- something about the way Merlin looks, and also something about the closeness of them and the way Merlin does up the buckles, the way Merlin's fingers brush his skin... He pushes the thoughts away.
"Dragon Head Nebula," Merlin mutters. "I have a bad feeling about this, Arthur."
"Go ask Gaius to give you some kind of medicine, then."
"I don't need medicine, I need you to be careful!"
Arthur blocks it out, gathering up his weapons, more or less only hearing blah blah blah and focusing mostly on the circles under Merlin's eyes -- is he getting enough sleep? -- not that he cares, not that he cares at all.
"I told you I would have to save your ass," Merlin says, infuriatingly, but before Arthur can answer he's kissing him, terribly sweet and familiar, and god, why does Arthur feel so much like he knows him, like this has all happened before?
"My ass was perfectly safe!" he says, indignantly, when Merlin has stopped trying to lick his tonsils -- not that Merlin is actually bad at kissing, he's distractingly good at it, but Arthur has to admit that mostly what he's doing, even just in his own mind, is disparaging Merlin because this is too much.
"I always do this, always," Merlin says, and his eyes -- his eyes are haunted. "If I lose you, if it happens again -- "
"What do you mean, again?" Arthur says, and then, "Damn it, Merlin, I can look after myself -- "
He has to shut up when Merlin kisses him again, his lips so cursedly soft, and his hands everywhere, like he can't stop touching him.
"Not going to let it happen again, keep you safe this time," Merlin mutters, and Arthur has no idea what he's talking about, but he has this feeling that one day he'll understand -- and he's more interested in the kissing, in the way the back of Merlin's neck fits perfectly to his hand.
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