tygermineTitle: Walk This Way
Rating: G
Characters: Arthur, Merlin
Summary: Arthur needs to learn how to mosey/amble/dawdle
Warnings: none
Word count: 264
Prompt: 396, stalked
Author's note: so many synonyms!
Arthur didn't walk.
He stalked.
His long strides ate up the distance towards his destination and heaven help those who tried to keep up. They were forced into a jog, skip, hustle combination.
Thing is, Arthur never really noticed this. He had places to be and his stride got him where he wanted to be. No dilly dallying or moseying for him.
Merlin caught his hand one night as they were walking home from dinner.
"You in a hurry to get home?" Merlin's tone was playful, but his eyes held a tension around them.
Arthur paused. "No." He frowned and took Merlin's hand.
They carried on walking down the road at what Arthur thought was an amble when he felt Merlin's hand tighten around his.
"Whoa cowboy. Are you sure you're not in a hurry?"
"What do you mean? I'm strolling here."
"More like storming. Come on," Merlin slipped his hand into the crook of Arthur's elbow. "Let's see if this works."
Arthur felt as if he was walking through molasses. The steps took forever to land and the road seemed to stretch out in front of him. But Merlin was right, there was no hurry to get home. Unless…
"Merlin, as lovely as this dawdle is, I'd much rather get us home as soon as possible."
Merlin gave him a confused look and Arthur rolled his eyes.
"Let's just say if we run home, you'll have a reason to strut tomorrow." He followed this up with a salacious wink.
Merlin suddenly lengthened his strides and almost dragged Arthur the rest of the way.