Attracted To Idiots

[million_star]

Title: Attracted To Idiots
Author: millionstar
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur - Modern era, post-reincarnation
Rating: PG
Here There Be: Hint of angst, hint of fluff, banter, reincarnation!Arthur.
Summary: Of one bathtub, two men, words and memories. Oh, and dictionaries in the bathroom.
Disclaimer: I don't own this version of Merlin & Arthur, the BBC does. No profit being made, no offense intended.
Author's Note: For rocknvaughn on her birthday, because she's the best and I love her to bits.  S, I hope you like this thing and that you know how important you are to me.  <333


Never had a tub filled with warm water, as well as a warm, willing body, been more appealing to Arthur Pendragon.

Arthur reveled in it, stretching as the warmth of the water soothed his aching muscles. He sighed happily, leaning back into Merlin's bare frame. The corners of Merlin's mouth turned up ever so slightly; he beamed, pulling Arthur closer.

"S'not really made for two, is it? The tub, I mean," Arthur mumbled drowsily.

"I suppose not. Are you uncomfortable, my Lord?," Merlin smirked, his fingertips tracing a lazy pattern on one of Arthur's wet shoulders. "Shall I leave you to bathe in peace?"

Arthur's eyes shot open at the threat, and in response he pinched Merlin's outer thigh, Merlin chuckled, biting Arthur's earlobe. Both of them knew that neither of them would be leaving this admittedly cramped bathtub anytime soon.

"To do so would only lead to you ending up in the stocks again. Besides, I'm comfortable. I'm fantastic. Utterly fantastic. Stupidly fantastic."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Hmm. That's high praise. You flatter me, sire." Merlin sucked a kiss against Arthur's neck, Arthur's back arching involuntarily.

"Don't let it go to your head," Arthur gasped, as Merlin's arms wound around his chest, stroking and petting every inch of damp skin that they could reach. "You're still a massive idiot."

"Am I?"

"Indeed."

"And yet, here I am," Merlin mused, while watching the way the candlelight played off Arthur's wet hair. "Funny, that. Is it your custom to allow idiot manservants to warm your bed, then? Are you attracted to idiots? Am I destined to be but one in a long and storied line of idiots in the life of Arthur Pendragon, Professional Prat?"

His head falling back onto Merlin's shoulder, Arthur grinned, eyes closed. "Hmmm. No, Merlin, you're something truly special... singularly indelible, you might say."

"Indelible. Do you even know what that means?

"Of course I do."

"Wow. That's a big word, I'm impressed you were able to fit it into your royal mouth without incident."

"You weren't surprised earlier, when proved that I was quite adept at functioning with big things in my mouth."

"Did you just make a dick joke, sire?"

"I did."

"You are aware that it wasn't very funny, right?"

"I disagree. It was extremely funny. On a scale of one to ten, it was an eleven."

"If eleven is your mental age, perhaps."

"Are you implying that I'm childish?"

"I'm not implying anything."

At this, Arthur turned in Merlin's arms, his expression one of pure indignation - at first. He couldn't help but smile softly at the man before him. "Such insolence," he huffed, "how dare y-"

The shrill sound of police sirens cut into their moment, bringing them both back to their current reality. Arthur winced, his eyes darting to the window; even after six months, he still sometimes had trouble coping with the year 2014. To Arthur, everything in this day and age was too loud, too bright, just too harsh. Merlin was the only good thing to be found in the future, as far as Arthur was concerned.

"I missed you so much," Merlin whispered without warning, Arthur turning back to him. "I missed this so much. You can't possibly know, I..." Merlin closed his eyes, biting his lip against the the lump that was growing in his throat. "I don't know how to say what I want to say, I-"

"You don't have to say anything at all, though."

"I do. I let you go once before without saying it and because of that I intend to spend the rest of this life we have together saying it. I've lived a dozen lifetimes since I lost you in Camelot. I've watched regimes come to power and fall. I've seen industry rise across the planet. I've watched while humanity traveled to the moon and back. Nothing, in all of those centuries, nothing, and I mean nothing, Arthur, will ever compare to the moment you came back to me." Merlin whispered, a tremor evident in his voice. "I can't simply say that I love you, because love doesn't even begin to convey what I feel for you. You complete me."

"I don't need words. I only need you," Arthur whispered in kind, smiling still, despite the tear that he, unlike Merlin, had not been able to hold back. He pressed a kiss to Merlin's lips, one hand tangling in Merlin's hair. "You don't have to say anything, because it's in everything you do. It's in the way you kiss me every morning. It's in the way you are helping me adapt to these surroundings. It's in the way you hold me when the nightmares come and I can't hold back the tears. It's even, believe it or not, in the way you tell me I'm an idiot."

"Prat," Merlin commented, their lips meeting again.

Arthur nodded into the kiss. "The worst kind of prat. Also an idiot. An... idiprat."

"Idiprat?"

"An idiprat is the combination of idiot and prat, obviously." Arthur rolled his eyes, Merlin narrowing his own as he playfully pinched one of Arthur's nipples, Arthur yelping loudly.

"That's not a word, Arthur."

"Says you."

Later, after what could only be described as an epic water fight, that had been followed up by a marathon bout of bathtub sex, they collapsed into bed. After they'd made themselves comfortable beneath the duvet, Merlin poked Arthur's shoulder.

"Arthur."

"Hmm?"

"Indelible? I mean, really? You've been reading the dictionary again while sitting on the toilet, haven't you?"

Arthur grinned into the darkness. "Shut up, Merlin."

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