Arthur wasn't stupid. When he walked into his chambers one evening to find Merlin sleeping in the corner while rags danced around polishing his armour and brooms swept the floor of their own accord, he knew it was magic.

Merlin woke up with a start, scrambling to his feet. The armour dropped. He saw Arthur.

Arthur took a step forward.

Merlin took a step back.

Arthur took another step forward, predatory, and Merlin started walking backwards. He hit the wall and stayed there.

Through a haze of red, Arthur saw that Merlin looked very afraid. And Arthur…

He wasn't a man of reflection. He had a tendency to act first, think later. That was the only excuse he had for his next betrayal.

Step by step, he advanced towards Merlin. Once he was only a breath away from Merlin, he rested his forehead against Merlin's, boxing him in against the wall using his arms.

"You're a sorcerer."

"Warlock." Merlin corrected.

Arthur laughed, deep in his belly- a little bit helpless, a little bit lost, but laughing because it was ironic, wasn't it? That Arthur should be madly in love with a warlock.

Eventually, his laughter subsided. He couldn't look Merlin in the eye.

"I can't exactly turn you in, can I? Tell me, Merlin, would you have me betray my father for you? Have you enchanted me?"

"No, Arthur, I never would! I am here to serve you."

Arthur looked him in the eye. He thought of his father, and how Uther had dedicated his life to eradicating magic.

He didn't care.

"How else can you explain what I feel, how you make me feel then?"

Merlin lifted his arms to Arthur's chest. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

"Have you enchanted me?"

That made Merlin's head pop up, hitting the wall. He raised a hand to rub it. "Ow. No, why would I enchant you?"

"To make me fall in love, obviously. So you could get away with murder and I wouldn't care."

"That makes no sense. There's nothing in Camelot I want."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing I would ever ask for."

Arthur stood away from Merlin abruptly. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Merlin looked incredibly frustrated for a few seconds. "But I wouldn't. You must know that."

Yes, he did.

"Fine. Let's say I believe you. It's still treason to let you live."

Merlin threw his hands up in the air. "You're the sole heir to the throne! You'll be king in what, no more than what, twenty years? Less, probably. You can do whatever you want and no one can stop you, except the king maybe. So think for a second. You know about my magic now. What do you want to do next?"

His first thought went like this:

I want to kiss all those treasonous words right off those insolent lips.

His second thought went something like this:

Fuck it, I'm doing it.

Then, suddenly, Arthur was kissing Merlin.

Ah.

That was nice.

Very nice.

Merlin responded enthusiastically. Then, he did something with his tongue that had Arthur manfully, er, collapsing into bed, pulling Merlin down on top of him.

He vaguely noticed little lights and colours flashing everywhere, but he only stopped to think I must be good at this before he resumed snogging Merlin.

They broke apart for a second to breathe and Merlin started talking. "Oh, you have no idea how long I've been trying to get you to do that. I thought for sure you would get the hint just from the way I helped you get undressed-"

Arthur kept snogging him.

"The way I kept talking about the person I was in love with, that was you by the way-"

More snogging.

"And I constantly flirted with Lancelot to see how you would react." Merlin finished. He launched another attack at Arthur's jaw. Arthur retaliated by reaching down to tickle him. Merlin squirmed and writhed, giggling breathlessly (which was the cutest thing he'd ever seen).

In that moment Arthur thought he didn't mind the magic at all. In fact, if it took a little magic to bring them together, that was perfectly fine by him.

That's a wrap, folks! I'll admit I didn't love this chapter either, but I couldn't think of anything better and Micheal Phelps is racing in half an hour, so I'm just gonna put this out there.

(Insert shameless self-promotion right about... here!) Like this? Want more? Check out my tumblr, Jabberwockyjinxes.