#no arguing

“You dare–” The slide of metal cut off the furious words. Merlin drew back with a hiss. He felt his fangs, sharp on his lip; “you dare to threaten me!” Tears– of rage, no doubt– pricked at his eyes, the betrayal was like a wound, though Excalibur was limp in Arthur’s hand, the deadly tip pointing at the floor. 

Arthur’s gaze softened, “You fool,” he said, his voice low, like the point of his sword, “I can’t let you leave. I can’t. You can’t honestly have expected anything else.” 

“You have no say–” The sting faded under the sadness on Arthur’s face. The look in his eyes wasn’t anger, Merlin realized, it was fear. Fear for him. “Arthur, you can’t keep me here.” 

“I can try. I have to try–” His voice broke when he added; “They’ll kill you, Merlin. They’ll rip you apart.” 

The two princes stared at each other. Human and fey, barely an arms length apart, and yet in two different worlds. Finally, Merlin sighed. “I cannot ignore the summons. They will only come here. Your people will suffer, and then they will take me back to the Court all the same. I can’t escape judgment for my crimes.” 

“What you did wasn’t a crime.” Arthur snapped, frustration adding a sharp edge in his voice. 

“Loving a human is a crime.” Merlin argued, automatically. The words registered a second later and he froze, eyes wide. “I– I didn’t–” Blue locked with blue, and Merlin felt the blood drain out of his face– “I didn’t–” but the human was on him before he could even consider what to say. The legendary blade clattered to the floor as gloved hands fisted in the front of Merlin’s battle leathers and dragged him toward Arthur. The human prince kissed like a man possessed– like this was his last chance. It probably is, some part of Merlin’s mind reasoned, but he couldn’t be bothered to care just at that moment. He met the human prince enthusiastically, leaning into the soft warmth of Arthur’ mouth, so much more yielding than the rest of him. It was like flying, falling, and being pulled all at once. 

Arthur was warm, hot even, flush from the battle and from the rush of letting go. Merlin recognized it, because the same sudden, unexpected freedom sang through his own blood. Merlin’s hands slid across Arthur’s chest, up over his shoulders and to his neck, searching for any exposed skin. There was frustratingly little. Merlin pulled back from the human’s lovely mouth to pant against his lips, “you are wearing armor, human.”