In his usual nervous habit, Merlin lifted one hand to brush his hair back behind his ear, futile as he couldn't seem to look Zach in the eye so it just fell back down against his face. He brushed it back again.
"You don't understand." he said, sounding distressed but adamant, and then quieter. "I've never felt this around someone before." It sounded like something else, but Merlin let it lie, licking at kiss reddened lips, tasting the foreign flavour of someone else there for the first time ever; he kind of wanted to cry.