For Your Entertainment

[ayoungboy]

The circus comes into town in the late afternoon. It's a quiet caravan, but the whispers start immediately. It's not a regular circus. This one - this is the Camelot circus. One of the most esteemed traveling acts in the country, and not for the faint of heart. This one has a flaming sword eater and a terrifying magician.

A few brave people try to peek at the preparations, but once the big tent is up, all that can really be seen are food stands being set up, and a few podiums for acts unknown. Everything else is hidden from view. You want to see? Come buy a ticket.

Comments

[ayoungboy]

Merlin has a coughing fit soon after, and sprays a bit of blood. If left untreated, pneumonia would make the lungs fill up with fluid.

[royalpratness]

Even though his household staff assures Arthur that they will look after Merlin over night, Arthur refuses to retreat to his own room. He only briefly leaves to eat some dinner and when he returns, there are wet pieces of cloth wrapped around Merlin's legs to lower his body temperature. Arthur sits back down in the chair, leaning over Merlin to see if he's awake.

[ayoungboy]

Merlin groans, vaguely lucid. "...'thur?" He shivers under the cloth, still cold despite his raging fever.

[royalpratness]

"Yes, I'm right here." Arthur takes Merlin's hand, rubbing the back with his thumb. "You managed to catch pneumonia, but you'll be okay."

[ayoungboy]

"Oh, great," Merlin's hand twitches against Arthur's. "M'gonna die."

[royalpratness]

"You're not going to die." Arthur says firmly. "Not under my watch."

[ayoungboy]

"Pneumonia's deadly, isn't it?" Merlin coughs and closes his eyes.

[royalpratness]

"Not necessarily. You're young, you're otherwise healthy..." Arthur drops his voice, "and you've got magic. You will pull through."

[ayoungboy]

"Magic doesn't have shit to - do - with - this - " Merlin coughs violently.

[royalpratness]

"You mentioned healing magic." He also mentioned that he wasn't good at it.

[ayoungboy]

"...yeah..." Merlin peeks up at Arthur blearily.

[royalpratness]

"Anything you can do with that?" Arthur asks, hopefully.

[ayoungboy]

"I don't know...I'm pretty weak..."

[royalpratness]

"Then don't. Wait until you feel a little better. I don't want you to overexert yourself."

[ayoungboy]

"Why are you so nice to me?"

[royalpratness]

"What kind of stupid question is that? Really, Merlin." Arthur sighs. "You're seriously ill and you need help. I'm in the position to grant you this help."

[ayoungboy]

Merlin looks at Arthur like the man is nuts and just closes his eyes.

[royalpratness]

Arthur sighs, wondering if nobody had ever shown Merlin any kindness before. "Go to sleep."

[ayoungboy]

"See you," Merlin murmurs, but he squeezes Arthur's hand tightly.

[royalpratness]

Arthur stays with Merlin through the night while his maids take care of exchanging the wet pieces of clothes around Merlin's legs every other hour. The chair isn't exactly comfortable and Arthur finds himself waking up repeatedly.

[ayoungboy]

"Sir?" One of the maids asks gently, offering him a blanket. "Your friend has made it through the night, sir...his fever is starting to break."

[royalpratness]

Arthur sits up slowly, wincing at his sore neck. "That's great news, thank you for taking such good care of him." He smiles warmly at the maid before turning to Merlin.

[ayoungboy]

Merlin still sleeping, and the maid gently drapes the blanket over Arthur.

[royalpratness]

"Thank you." Arthur smiles, staying where he is for the next few hours.

[ayoungboy]

Merlin eventually groans and his eyes flicker open.