Fic: Merlin; G/PG; Almost
Jan. 7th, 2009 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
definewisdomTitle: Almost
Rating: G/PG
Spoilers: None, really.
Author’s Note: Also for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
merlin_the_elf secret santa fic exchange for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andthedescent. This time just for the prompt ‘Body heat’… and it’s G/PG…
Thanks towrennette for the beta work, which was rather in the eleventh hour.
Summary: It's about the times they almost touch.
Almost
It is not about touch.
In all the routines and strictures of the court there is no chance of that.
In every touch there is the memory of a dozen others. A familiar, methodical rhythm lies beneath the touches that can no longer make him pause.
Merlin’s hands could be anyone’s hands as they buckle on his armour. Merlin’s fingers slide between skin and cloth and metal, but they could be anyone’s fingers.
His mind is elsewhere in these moments: caught up in the battle that would come, looking over memories of those that had come before. His mind pays no heed to cool fingers at his throat, nor arms slipping around his waist to attach his sword belt. These touches have no meaning. They are as common and as ordinary as breathing.
It is about the times they almost touch.
At the feasts, when Merlin comes to fill his goblet and leans across, his chest is a hair’s breadth away from Arthur’s shoulder. Through the cloth and the air, the Prince can feel the heat reflected between them, and it increases every second. The wine trickles into the cup and his breath catches imperceptibly.
When he returns from the duel or the threat of the week, it is in the way Merlin’s hands dart towards his injuries but don’t quite dare to touch and soothe them. Still the heat alleviates the worst of the pain.
The heat rises again in almost glances and almost smiles, forever dancing around the subject like a candle flame as they pass each other by and never quite brush against each other.
It is about the hand that hovers an inch from Merlin’s face when Arthur comes back to find him asleep in his chambers, half cleaned boots collapsed at his feet; and the way Merlin smiles without waking up and moves his face infinitesimally closer.
There is no contact; there are no words. It is all about what is not there.
He does not brush the hair from Merlin’s forehead, and Merlin does not touch his arm as he leans forward. Their eyes do not quite meet across the throne room and, when Merlin stands behind his shoulder – a constant warm presence – he does not lean back into the heat.
Every now and then they slip and Arthur catches Merlin’s eye as his gaze slides over his manservant’s smile. Or Merlin will not stop in time and he walks into Arthur’s back.
There is heat there too: in the way their eyes shift away from each other and Merlin’s hasty step backwards. Their cheeks heat up with almost flushes for something that has not happened – yet.
In every almost touch of hands there is a caress. In every time they stand inches apart, a desperate embrace. Every time their bodies get just that close together – close enough to feel the heat shared between them and hear the almost words of each other’s breath in their ears – Arthur can feel the almost collision.
Teeth and tongues and lips are in that moment. He can feel hands grasping and pulling, skin on skin. So much more is promised in these almost touches.
Sometimes, when the heat is growing unbearable and he wants to bridge that gap, he looks up and he thinks he can almost see the heat glowing in Merlin’s eyes.
…they are almost there.
Rating: G/PG
Spoilers: None, really.
Author’s Note: Also for the
merlin_the_elf secret santa fic exchange for andthedescent. This time just for the prompt ‘Body heat’… and it’s G/PG… Thanks to
wrennette for the beta work, which was rather in the eleventh hour.Summary: It's about the times they almost touch.
Almost
It is not about touch.
In all the routines and strictures of the court there is no chance of that.
In every touch there is the memory of a dozen others. A familiar, methodical rhythm lies beneath the touches that can no longer make him pause.
Merlin’s hands could be anyone’s hands as they buckle on his armour. Merlin’s fingers slide between skin and cloth and metal, but they could be anyone’s fingers.
His mind is elsewhere in these moments: caught up in the battle that would come, looking over memories of those that had come before. His mind pays no heed to cool fingers at his throat, nor arms slipping around his waist to attach his sword belt. These touches have no meaning. They are as common and as ordinary as breathing.
It is about the times they almost touch.
At the feasts, when Merlin comes to fill his goblet and leans across, his chest is a hair’s breadth away from Arthur’s shoulder. Through the cloth and the air, the Prince can feel the heat reflected between them, and it increases every second. The wine trickles into the cup and his breath catches imperceptibly.
When he returns from the duel or the threat of the week, it is in the way Merlin’s hands dart towards his injuries but don’t quite dare to touch and soothe them. Still the heat alleviates the worst of the pain.
The heat rises again in almost glances and almost smiles, forever dancing around the subject like a candle flame as they pass each other by and never quite brush against each other.
It is about the hand that hovers an inch from Merlin’s face when Arthur comes back to find him asleep in his chambers, half cleaned boots collapsed at his feet; and the way Merlin smiles without waking up and moves his face infinitesimally closer.
There is no contact; there are no words. It is all about what is not there.
He does not brush the hair from Merlin’s forehead, and Merlin does not touch his arm as he leans forward. Their eyes do not quite meet across the throne room and, when Merlin stands behind his shoulder – a constant warm presence – he does not lean back into the heat.
Every now and then they slip and Arthur catches Merlin’s eye as his gaze slides over his manservant’s smile. Or Merlin will not stop in time and he walks into Arthur’s back.
There is heat there too: in the way their eyes shift away from each other and Merlin’s hasty step backwards. Their cheeks heat up with almost flushes for something that has not happened – yet.
In every almost touch of hands there is a caress. In every time they stand inches apart, a desperate embrace. Every time their bodies get just that close together – close enough to feel the heat shared between them and hear the almost words of each other’s breath in their ears – Arthur can feel the almost collision.
Teeth and tongues and lips are in that moment. He can feel hands grasping and pulling, skin on skin. So much more is promised in these almost touches.
Sometimes, when the heat is growing unbearable and he wants to bridge that gap, he looks up and he thinks he can almost see the heat glowing in Merlin’s eyes.
…they are almost there.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-01-08 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-09 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 05:25 pm (UTC)wonderfully doen!
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Date: 2009-01-09 12:54 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked it.
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Date: 2009-01-08 06:31 pm (UTC)First of all, I apologize for my English. It’s not my native language, and I’m well aware that I make a lot of grammar mistakes when I write, despite reading everything at least five time before posting (I’ve read your profile and I don’t want to scare you with my bad grammar).
I'm totally new to the Merlin fandom. I'm watching the series on the Italian television, I've just seen eight episodes. But I'm addicted to the Harry Potter fandom, so I was curious and today I've checked for Merlin fanfictions. I honestly intended to do just a bit of lurking, but then I've read this story and I simply couldn't go away without telling you how much I've liked it.
Your writing is pretty amazing. It feels like I've read the story in one single breath, from the first to the last sentence. I was totally mesmerized. You’ve captured that one moment, the most romantic in a relationship, when everything is already there, but still in the realm of dreams and expectations, not yet touched and put in perspective by reality.
I’ve loved every single sentence, but the one that had me sighing for its beauty was:
The heat rises again in almost glances and almost smiles, forever dancing around the subject like a candle flame as they pass each other by and never quite brush against each other.
It’s just perfect.
So, thank you for the wonderful reading. I’m surely going to read more as soon as I can. I’ve added you to my friends list, I hope you don’t mind. If so, you just have to tell me.
Lori
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Date: 2009-01-09 01:01 pm (UTC)I'm happy to welcome you into the fandom. It's a little smaller than the HP fandom (I'm a veteran Puppyshipper [remus/sirius if you don't go to that end of the fandom]) but it's growing slowly and it's really quite fun.
Of course I don't mind you friending me. I love friends: big friends, old friends, new friends, little friends. And now you see how appalling my writing is when I haven't scanned it over a million and one times. ^_^
Thanks for the wonderful comment. ^_^ I'm really glad you liked it so much.
And, for a fellow HP fan my potterpuff icon
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Date: 2009-02-03 12:18 pm (UTC)So, I have a proposal for you. I would be very pleased if more Italian readers could have the chance to read your beautiful story, and despite my not so well structured English, I'm quite good in translating from your language to Italian. So if you like the idea, I would be honoured to translate it in Italian and post it on an Italian FF archive called Fire and Blade - http://fireblade.kawaii-hito.org/
Of course the translation will be full credited and provided with the link to your original story.
It would be my first translation about Merlin, but I do have a lot of experience in translating fanficions from English to Italian in the Harry Potter fandom (I’ve started translating five years ago, and never really stopped).
Just let me know if you like the idea! It would really be an honour for me.
(I’ve read all your Merlin stories, and I just love them all. Even the AU one, and I’m so not into AU stories. I promise that I’m going to comment on them, too!)
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Date: 2009-02-03 12:49 pm (UTC)Okay. Right. That would be awesome. I can't believe you actually want to do that. If you want to feel free to do so.
I'm impressed (and ecstatic) that you liked it so much. Especially in a fandom where there's so much good writing going on. I would be honoured if you'd translate it. Not that I speak Italian (though I did once speak a little bit when I went there on holiday, but I have since forgotten it all).
Thank you.
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Date: 2009-02-03 01:09 pm (UTC)I can send you the direct link when I'll publish it (or the translation itself, if you prefer), if you'd like to take a look at it, even if you can’t really understand. Just let me know!
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Date: 2009-02-09 01:27 am (UTC)I just wanted to let you know that my translation is on line ^_^
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Date: 2009-01-08 07:59 pm (UTC)Congrats!
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Date: 2009-01-09 01:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-13 07:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 03:12 am (UTC)I wrote the "anonymous" comment above without logging in, but I really wanted to say just how much I'd liked it. Well, now re-reading that comment, I've found that the last line - meant as a compliment and an incentive - might not exactly sound/read the way I intended! :/ So, just to be clear, this fic is great the way it is. ;)Wonderful job!!! :)
(And, please don't take my offences against the English Language Grammar personally! ;))
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Date: 2010-02-26 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 01:47 pm (UTC)Love,
LM
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Date: 2012-04-03 09:44 pm (UTC)