Because we all need to be happier and laugh much, much more :)

Also, this is for Daily who made me feel just as ecstatic and giggly as Merlin is in this with her fic Boom - go read it, I'll wait :)

Omouto-chan, you are the most precious by far, hope you like this :)

Running

Merlin was running and it was breathless and exhilarating and he could feel energy thrumming and racing through his veins and there was nothing like it. He felt that this must be how universes were born, where the sun got its fire; this feeling. His skin tingled everywhere, shivery and on fire and frozen and numb and wonderful.

He passed people in a dizzying blur of colour and they fell behind him before their greetings had the chance to reach his ears. And... your ears... He rounded a corner and found himself stumbling in an effort to avoid a head on collision with a horse-drawn cart of day old produce. Bright yellows, vibrant greens, fiery oranges against the familiar tones of warmest brown – every colour was intensified until Merlin thought he could cry from looking at vegetables sitting in a cart and he put on a burst of speed to get away from the feeling. To bolster it.

The world blurred and he wondered at the state of his face briefly; wondered if his eyes were wet or red. Your eyes... just one look at your eyes... He couldn't have cared less though and the sting faded quickly because of the too-cool breeze in his face that his speed was creating. He didn't mind the breeze. His shaking wasn't from that anyway. He ran faster.

Without meaning to he let out a huff of laughter and found himself deprived of air. Perfect. Brilliant. Nice. Nonetheless he fought to drag the air into his lungs and relished the icy sting in his chest, the feeling too akin to his euphoria to do anything but make him laugh again. Your laugh...

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Gwen, no doubt on an errand for Morgana. He found the desire to talk to her - tell her - wasn't nearly so demanding as the desire to run forever so this feeling could never outrun him. He heard her call his name in a surprised, amused voice and he grinned as he disappeared amongst shoppers and stall owners, cattle drivers and guards and knights and noblemen and peasants. They may as well have been ghosts, insubstantial as wisps of smoke. None could slow him and no one tried. He was completely unrestrained and he laughed freely as he ran. And ran. Faster and faster.

"Merlin I swear, if you've come to tell me you still haven't found it-"

"Well..."

And ran.

Tension filled the room when Arthur was close enough that they couldn't not breathe the other's air. A tension they'd both felt for far too long. A tension they were both so sick of and neither could get enough of. Addictive.

Muscles bunched and released in a constant fluid movement and still Merlin ran. Giddy. Unrestrained.

"This is getting ridiculous."

"Don't know what you mean Sire."

He ran.

"Then you're an idiot." A look. "More so than I gave you credit for."

"That's not nice you know."

And ran.

"Alright then, if you're the authority on 'nice'; where am I going wrong?" Sarcasm. Too bad.

Faster and faster.

"Easy, you could compliment my eyes or my smile or my-"

He ran and he laughed and remembered the press of lips on lips. The whisper against his cheek and eyelids and forehead.

"I like your scarf. Red. Nice." Merlin laughed. "And that, your laugh..." the lightest brush of lips on his own and the laugh was too breathless to be called one. He felt kisses too light to be sure of trail up his jaw to his temple and suddenly soft puffs of air that told Merlin that Arthur was laughing breathlessly himself before that voice was caressing the shell of his ear. "And... your ears..." Merlin grinned before the laughter was back and Arthur nipped his ear before licking the pinked skin. Merlin's head spun and he was sure Arthur had to be holding him up because he sure as hell couldn't do it himself.

Impossibly blue eyes fluttered and opened, shimmering with too many emotions to possibly hold in or decipher and they met Arthur's and suddenly it felt a lot more like Merlin must be the one holding Arthur up because he certainly looked faint. They were so close, eyes blurring into each other, unable to break that hold on each other, as if they both knew the world would shatter and fly to pieces the second they stopped holding it together in each other's eyes. Arthur's whisper against Merlin's lips was too much, "Your eyes... just one look at your eyes..." and it was hot and sweet and didn't end and they stayed locked until breathlessness left them reeling and lightheaded and hearted and just... light.

So light. Still light. Merlin felt the light coursing through him. Just light, body aglow and shining and running faster and faster and nothing could stop him, ever. He was inevitability itself and he adored this feeling. Turning the right corners and passing people who gave him looks that spoke of amusement and delight and knowing and he wondered how many knew before he did and if it mattered. No, nothing mattered. Everything mattered. He passed under familiar arches that could have housed his heart – and did, in fact – and practically vaulted the stairs, taking them two at a time obliviously and not knowing that he was expected. That he had been watched for the last ten minutes as he lapped the castle. That someone else was shining just as bright and watching and waiting and laughing.

And it was breathless and exhilarating and they could feel energy thrumming and racing through their veins and there was nothing like it.

~-~

It's a little... um... weird I suppose :) – I was trying to get across that feeling that you get when you're so euphoric you can't think straight even though everything seems so clear that you don't need to. And I didn't necessarily mean that everyone Merlin passed as he ran knew about him and Arthur but that's the way he saw it – like everyone could see his happiness and knew why it was there.

I was actually inspired by a song; No More by Cassie Davis which is really about having had enough of a relationship but, well, have you ever listened to a song and found that the music tells its own story? Well, I listen to the song and think of it being more about beginnings and sunrises and first kisses and this was the result. Not an overly brilliant piece of writing but something I am infinitely happy with because it's the best way I could think of at the time to put euphoria on a page :) and yes big sis, your fic filled me with euphoria until I was overflowing and had to pass it on :)

Thanks for reading :)

Have fun... always x