I was going to leave it a day or two before I upload this, but I really couldn't help myself. Obvious ending, I know... and expect cheese!

Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing, I really appreciated it 'cos this was my first fanfic and everything. So thanks. And I really hope this chapter doesn't turn out to be a disappointment.

So here goes... the finale. (Oh, and Merthurtilidie – well done, you pretty much got it spot on)

Chapter Twenty

Clack.

Arthur's head snapped up from where it had been resting on his desk. He listened for a moment, wondering if the noise had been in his mind... Nothing. He settled down again.

Clack.

There it was again. He paused, incredibly still, in case it had been one of the buttons on his shirt against the desk,

Clack.

He hadn't moved.

Clack.

They were getting more frequent, splitting sounds like teeth gritting together, or maybe glasses in a toast... Or maybe stone against glass... He jumped to his feet, rushing over to the window and drawing his curtains with uncontained force. He heaved open the sash window and another stone was thrown, it hit him square in between his eyes, "Aghh!" he yelped, then cussed, "What was that for?!"

"For not listening to me, and for arguing and for not understanding," Merlin laughed, finding the disgruntled Arthur irresistibly adorable.

Arthur laughed for a brief second, but his nose really did hurt. "Can I help you Merlin?" he spoke softly, almost seductively, his head light against the heaviness of the night air, against the heaviness of the situation at hand. He looked down at the boy, taking his time to absorb the image he was presented with. Merlin was wearing at least fifty layers, orange, blue and green shirt collars poking out from underneath his hoodie. He internally laughed, typical of Merlin to be so over-prepared. His hair was tousled and several clumps stood up on end, but that only made Arthur want to laugh more. ...And want to hug him. But that was different. He was a man for god's sake, men don't have the urge to hug things! But this was Merlin. how could he possible not want to hug him... I mean... look at him!

"Are you going to come down?"

"I can't,"

"Why not?"

"..." he didn't want to say it, "...I'm locked in my room," he mumbled, ashamed of what he had been reduced to,

Merlin didn't hold back the hysterical laughter, and Arthur cringed at how the delightful ringing sound echoed off the nearby houses. He hoped his father couldn't hear. "Yes," Merlin said, once he calmed down, "I guessed as much,"

"Really,"

"Yeah, your father told me to 'piss off' when I rang the doorbell,"

Arthur wasn't angry, as he usually would have been, but happy, pleased that Merlin hadn't given up,

―

Merlin watched Arthur lean forward across his window-ledge, propping his head up on a clenched fist and letting the moonlight play in his hair. It reminded him of France. And... Speaking of France...

"So, am I just supposed to talk to you like this for the whole night? Because conversation out of a window, I'd assume, would be hard to sustain."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll think of a way to get down," Merlin grinned, winking as he said it. He'd been waiting for this.

Realisation sparked in Arthur's crystal blue eyes, and he nearly exploded with excitement. It was that sort of excitement that bubbled up in your chest and wouldn't go away unless you screamed it out. Arthur was nearly screaming now, and so was Merlin. But neither wanted to lose the excitement, so why do something that would cause them to? Arthur retreated into his bedroom, and Merlin faintly heard the wardrobe doors being flung open.

The raven-haired boy just waited, tapping his feet alternately in anticipation and resisting the urge to start singing and dancing, as stupid as it sounds. He did do a few pirouettes when he was sure Arthur wasn't coming back to the window for a while. Forcing himself to stand perfectly still, he bit his lips closed. Must not scream. He looked down at himself and the several stone he had gained in clothes. Not particularly alluring, but he didn't think Arthur would be bothered. Even through all of the layers he could see the erratic beat of his heat, throbbing carelessly under his skin.

He needed to move again, butterflies fizzing around in his stomach and making him feel jittery. His eyes darted around; he hadn't felt like this the first time. In France it had been a lot more naive, innocent, almost, but no more significant. This inability to remain calm was insanity in its highest form, but he wanted more of it, he wanted the thrum of adrenaline to engulf him completely. And he wanted Arthur to join him there. A tree! No, don't be stupid, he couldn't climb a tree, he'd probably fall out and the evening would be ruined. He nearly considered ringing the doorbell. Maybe a run in with Uther would knock the enthusiasm out of him. He honestly couldn't wait much longer. The sky! He looked up. Perfect. Throwing himself rather harshly onto the ground (not that he felt it through the padding) he stared up at it. Taking some much-welcomed serenity out of the stars (and some out of the deep breaths he was forcing into his lungs). His mind swirling with philosophical reciting about love and life and everything else he would need to forget when Arthur came down, through risk of looking like a romantic fool. His lungs, he thought, the two things that without, his heart wouldn't beat. And his heart being the thing that initiated something such as love, he decided he needed to look after it. And therefore, he would need to look after his lungs... Shut up Merlin. He thought. Realising how stupid he was being. Lungs, yes... topical...

But where was Arthur? He called the name into the night, and the reply sent shockwaves down his spine. Not a vocal reply, but a kiss carefully placed on his forehead. A lock of black hair being swept gently out of the way. That single touch brought Merlin's heart rate down, back to its rhythmic beating. Back to the pace his adrenaline could keep up with.

No words seemed right in response, a simple 'how are you' would be too formal, 'I love you' too intense. But those last three words were the only ones that made any sense. He would cry those words as long as it took for them to sink in. Knowing he could say them. Knowing that he actually knew what they meant... Was indescribable. He rolled over, propping his head on his fists and his fists on his elbows. Ignoring the slight irritation as the bony joint made muffled contact with the tarmac. He looked at the boy knelt in front of him, and for the first time in a while the metaphor of pink fireworks was appropriate again. Pink, he decided, was his new favourite colour. That is, after the tan of Arthur's skin, the red of his shirt, the gentle purpling under his eyes, the white of his perfectly asymmetric teeth, the gold of his hair, and the blue of his eyes. But very much the same colour as the pale of his lips...

"All right?" Arthur said, very much in the way a cockney would say to his drinking buddy.

Merlin giggled, this time not getting embarrassed by how girly it sounded. Arthur didn't care about such trivial matters. "Very well, thank you," he replied in an opposite tone,

To which Arthur grinned, "Right, where to now?"

"Anywhere,"

"Oh yeah, I recognise the name," he smirked, leaning inwards and stealing a kiss, but tonight was about so much more than physicalities.

"Just promise me one thing," Merlin bargained,

"Anything,"

"You'll take off those blinkin' Reindeer slippers!" he said, unable to keep the smile off his face, unable to keep the exultancy in the back of his throat he gave up trying to restrain himself from rolling back onto his back to laugh, letting the full-force of his happiness overcome him. Presented once more by the blissful night-sky, he heard Arthur shuffle off his slippers, then gasp at the bitter cold air.

"It's so cold, Merlin," he pleaded, not afraid to sound like a child,

"No, you're not wearing them. They ruined it for me last time,"

"Liar, I saw you checking them out," he teased, crawling into place over Merlin, looking down at his upside-down face, admiring how adorable it still looked. Noticing, properly, for the first time, that Merlin had smiley eyes! He needed to laugh at that.

"Don't flatter yourself," Merlin swatted the lips that were about to try and meet his with little more than a playful tap, but Arthur didn't try again.

"I'm offended,"

Merlin sighed, exasperated, "look," he knelt up once more (he couldn't stop moving!) so he was eye-level with the blond, "If you have to have the slippers, I can live with the slippers, but I would just like to point out..."

Arthur nodded in encouragement,

"Christmas is a month away yet,"

"Minor details, Merlin, minor details," he scoffed,

"It's bad luck,"

"How can anything be bad luck when I have you?"

Merlin knew - that had been a rhetorical question, so didn't attempt to use his mouth to snap a witty response, but instead put it to better use, stopping Arthur from asking any more cheesy, annoying questions. He had said that tonight wasn't about physicalities, but what harm could a kiss here and there do? Hmm?

Arthur took the smaller boys hands and pulled him to his feet, glancing in both directions, down and up the road, before deciding that down the road was better. Down the road lead to the woods. Down the road lead to peace, quiet unlikely to be disturbed, and security. And most of all, seclusion.

Merlin willingly laced his fingers with Arthur's, revelling in the sweetness of the skin that touched his, and held him together. He took a moment to internally explode at the sight of the rope of clothes hanging from Arthur's bedroom window, he didn't much fancy having to try and climb back up one of those again.

―

He'd never known that silence between him and Merlin could be so reassuring, that he could feel that at ease listening to nothing but their two sets of footsteps and the perfect correlation between their breathing. He didn't want to admit it, because it truly was out of character, but it was blissfully beautiful.

―

He'd climbed down from his window approximately seventeen minutes and twenty eight seconds ago... But to Merlin... it felt like no time at all.

The End x

Thanks again, if you have any ideas for other fics I could do, or would just like to express an opinion, hit the green button below!

I can't tell you how depressing it is to know that I've actually finished...