Merlin's bracelet // IC Contact (Old)

[dragonspeak]

Arthur, you can't be serious. Oh, come on--ow!

[Merlin's voice, slightly muffled because of the distance at first, is much clearer when he speaks again
after a few seconds, though he sounds anything but cheerful. If anything, he sounds sullen.]

It's Merlin. Sorry I missed you. I'm probably at the hospital or... [here, he pauses,
then continues like the words are being dragged out of him in the most painful manner possible.] Or being useful for my amazingly skilled, patient, and forgiving master instead of
dallying about and picking flowers like the girl's petticoat I usually am.

[A pained moment of silence.]

Leave a message for me here and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

[Click]

Comments

[dragonspeak]

[Wherever Arthur's hiding working, Merlin's going to find him.]

What's this for?

[That's the first thing he'll blurt out once he's tracked Arthur down, still wide-eyed and clutching the little gift.]

[pratentious]

[ Arthur only looks up from his work long enough to glance at Merlin's face and then down to the gift before going back to scratching away with his pen. ]

I believe you're meant to wear it.

[dragonspeak]

I know I'm supposed to wear it!

[Merlin shakes the wrist cuff at him.] I meant--you don't usually just give people things, Arthur. Why give it to me now?

[pratentious]

[ A sigh and he holds his left hand up, still writing with his right. ]

If you don't want it, then give it back.

[dragonspeak]

You're such a prat. I'm asking why, not that I--that I'm trying to give it back!

[Merlin sputters, quickly slipping the cuff on with a look that's somehow confused, indignant, and mulish at the same time. It's not the gift he's complaining about. Gods knows he'll keep the cuff with the same sort of reverence as he keeps the red tooth pendant around his neck, and anything else his friends have given him.]

[pratentious]

[ He glances up to catch Merlin slipping it on without lifting his head to hide a small little smirk of sorts and a quiet hum. ]

If you really must know - though, honestly, I don't see how it matters one way or the other, you enormous girl - I realised the other day that it's summer.

[ Yeah, that's all you're getting by way of an explanation. ]

[dragonspeak]

[Merlin stops fiddling with the cuff long enough to stare at Arthur incredulously. That is not an answer, and you know it!!!]

It's summer. [It could be the autumn, with Merlin's voice so dry.] How does that translate to giving gifts?

[Merlin pauses suddenly, head tilting.] Is this...a midsummer's gift? Is that what it is?

[The same midsummer's his birthday practically falls on, though Arthur couldn't know that. Merlin's never mentioned it before.]

[pratentious]

[ Arthur doesn't watch Merlin as he thinks his way through everything. He doesn't really need to, guileless as his servant and sometimes best friend is. ]

If it pleases you to think of it that way.

[dragonspeak]

Sooooo that's a "no" then.

[Because Arthur's dodging around the answer, and that usually means he's hiding something.

The only other significant day near Midsummer's is...his birthday. Merlin stares at Arthur thoughtfully. He was ready to dismiss the possibility before, but now...]

[pratentious]

That would be a no, then.

[ Confirmation. And he keeps his head down until Merlin doesn't say anything else, at which point Arthur looks up to see him studying him. He stares back evenly, betraying nothing other than perhaps a very very slight reddening at the tips of his ears. Why are you looking at him like that. ]

Is that all?