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The full moon suspended in the inky black sky lit the way through the woods as Merlin and Arthur hurried down the path they had created from making the same trip many times, giggling like teenagers doing something they weren’t supposed to. Their hands were clasped together, Arthur tugging Merlin along as he tripped over his own feet more times than he could count.
Finally, they arrived at the clearing in the woods, the turrets of Camelot barely distinguishable in the distance.
“Wait,” Merlin whispered, tugging on Arthur’s arm to stop him. “Close your eyes.”
“Merlin, if you really think I’m going to trust you with –” Arthur began to protest, but Merlin cut him off.
“Oh just do it your royal pratness,” He quipped.
“I’m the one who gives the orders,” Arthur grumbled, but complied anyway.
Merlin took a deep breath, releasing his magic into the air around them, so that the seemingly still clearing buzzed and teemed with life, the air alive in an electrifying way, the very earth breathing in and out as all its creatures danced on its surface.
“Merlin, what’s going on?” Arthur whined, scuffing his boot on the damp grass.
“Nothing, keep your eyes closed,” Merlin said gently. Slowly, he reached out his hand and took Arthur’s. The effect was immediate. Arthur’s eyes snapped open in awe.
“What-?” He spluttered.
“Can you feel it?” Merlin asked.
Arthur nodded, utterly dumbstruck. “I can feel… everything. The whole world,” He breathed. “You have the power to do this?” He turned to Merlin, blue meeting blue, and couldn’t help thinking how breathtaking he looked in the starlight.
Merlin grinned in a slightly sheepish way. In answer, he whispered something indistinguishable under his breath, rotating his wrist slowly. Tiny lights appeared at the edges of the trees, faint and fuzzy around the edges, slowly moving closer and brighter.
“What are they?” Arthur asked.
“Fireflies,” Merlin said, as the first dots of light broke into the clearing, looping and twirling through the air. Hundreds followed those first few, gliding gracefully around each other. The shadows on Merlin’s face flickered in and out of depth, and all Arthur could find himself saying was “You’re amazing, you know that?” To which Merlin only laughed and said “Come on, lazy daisy, I didn’t bring them here just to gape at.” He produced two glass jars that he’d nicked from Gaius’ chambers that morning, and handed one to Arthur.
“Don’t let go,” Arthur said quickly, “I don’t want to lose this.”
“You won’t,” Merlin promised. “I can keep it going long enough without contact. But just in case…” He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Arthur’s lips, and the feeling of every particle of life around them increased tenfold, as though pulsing through his own veins. Arthur’s eyes fluttered closed, the sensations leaving his skin tingling.
“Bet I can catch more than you,” Merlin called out as he unexpectedly dropped Arthur’s hand and dashed away after a firefly, laughing loudly. As he had promised, the earth continued to beat its music into Arthur’s skin, so that every fiber of his being was made of it, completely and utterly alive in an overwhelmingly tangible way. And the cheeky bastard caught Arthur so unawares, that by the time he’d sorted out what had happened, Merlin already had a collection of fireflies in his jar.
“That's cheating!” Arthur reprimanded, chasing after a firefly with his jar raised menacingly, but the creature managed to elude him.
Merlin was having much better luck, gently coaxing strings of fireflies into the jar until he determined that if would be unfair to squeeze in anymore. He looked over at Arthur, biting down on his lower lip to stifle a laugh as the king of Camelot dove for a firefly and landed hard on the ground.
"I win!" Merlin announced as Arthur turned over panting on his back.
"Shut up, Merlin," He retorted without thinking about it. Merlin sat down beside him, nudging Arthur's broad shoulder with his considerably slimmer one.
“No one likes a sore loser, sire,” He said gleefully.
“I’ll show you sore!” Arthur retorted, tackling Merlin and pinning his wrists to the ground as he straddled his chest, the jar of fireflies rolling out of his hand.
Merlin gasped in protest, wriggling helplessly in such an adorable way that Arthur couldn’t help leaning down to kiss him, at which Merlin stopped struggling instantly.
When he pulled away, Arthur rolled off Merlin, pulling him across his chest instead as he stared up at the fireflies fluttering above their heads, the tiny pinpricks of light flickering on and off methodically.
“Glad you talked me into this,” Arthur murmured after a few moments of silence. Merlin grinned up at him.
“Me too,” Merlin paused reflectively before adding, “Especially because I beat you.”
“Which makes it, what? Three hundred to one?” Arthur reminded him cheekily.
“I’ll take what I can get,” Merlin shrugged, tucking his head into the crook of Arthur’s neck and pressing a feather light kiss to the easily accessible collarbone.
They had no idea how long they lay there in comfortable, peaceful silence, watching the lights dance onward and onward into forever, until they were only pinpricks in the sky and they became stars, burning for a million different universes to see.