#from my mutilchapter fic that will probably never be written

[camelotsheart]

And it seems, right, then, to close the distance between them. The earth does not tilt on its axis, the stars do not falter in its path. There is no change, merely the universe continuing its course over the span of time, and Arthur being dragged along its current. There is a clarity that overtakes him - the blades of grass beneath their palms, the sound of the breeze that tickles the hair below his ears, crickets singing into the night, vibrating in a cacophony of colour and sound and life.

As if everything is much more than itself.

A tear makes its way down his cheeks. They break away and meet again, and again, and again, continuing until the feeling overwhelms them. Merlin drops a kiss on Arthur's forehead, and for some reason the simple act overwhelms him more than everything they'd shared.

I'm feeling magic, he realises, the buzz thrunning around him. I'm feeling what Merlin is.

"Beautiful," he whispers into Merlin's skin.

Merlin snorts. "You called me a stoat."

"You called me a frog," he counters, pulling back to shoot a grin that was probably too wide to be teasing. "And apparently now that magic itself favours me, I've turned into a handsome prince."