Pairings: Arthur/Gwaine, Kid Merlin as Arthur and Gwaine's child. There is no Arthur/Merlin slash in this fic and its purely Gwaine/Arthur.
Loosely based on a movie and other soaps. Contains jealousy, martial troubles, infidelity, misunderstandings.
STARTLING CLARITY
Chapter - 1
"Merlin, did you brush your teeth?" shouted Arthur loudly as he stood in the master bedroom trying to tie a proper Windsor knot.
Merlin screamed "Yes daddy" and Arthur finally having wrestled the tie into place went into Merlin's room to find him in his pants with his favorite red pajamas with santa's clutched in his hands.
Arthur smiled and lifted his five year old on top of the bed before he took the pj's from Merlin's hand and dressed him for the night.
"When will you and pa be back?" asked Merlin chewing on his thumb. Arthur was not in a mood to berate him for it at the moment, honestly, he was tired and he did not want to attend any parties and Merlin always fussed when either Gwaine or Arthur wasn't home with him at any point of time.
"Probably by midnight, you'll be good for the babysitter won't you sweet?"
"I don't want to be with the babysitter."
"No?" asked Arthur chagrined, Merlin was a particularly fussy kid when he didn't have his parents around and Arthur was glad that it was night time, "Tell you what, you just sleep through the night now and pa and I will take you shopping tomorrow to make it up to you."
"How does that sound?" asked Arthur when Merlin didn't respond right away.
Merlin looked sad and if Arthur detected right hurt as he said "Pa never takes me out anymore."
Arthur knew it as well, Gwaine was getting more and more distant and he hated that it was obviously affecting Merlin so.
He kept his expression neutral to not give away the bitterness he was feeling and kissed Merlin on both of his chubby cheeks ending with rubbing their noses together which never failed to make Merlin giggle.
Then he tucked his little boy into bed and drew the blankets around him tightly.
"Leave the lamp on daddy."
"Sure Merlin, goodnight."
"Goodnight daddy."
Arthur walked out of Merlin's room with one last look in his direction. He finished dressing up and just as he was putting on his cologne the doorbell rang and he heard Gwaine's unmistakable voice bellow "Arthur! I told you to be ready at eight sharp."
Arthur huffed, irritated despite himself. Either way he descended the steps faster and went straight for the babysitter.
"Merlin should sleep through the night so you probably won't have any trouble, we'll be back by mid night and I'll hold the cab for you to return home."
Gwaine was eyeing him with impatience, immaculately dressed and hair styled to perfection.
"I've written our contact numbers here," Arthur passed her a paper and then added, "and help yourself to anything in the fridge."
"Sure mister Pendragon, you have a lovely night."
Arthur smiled before heading out; Gwaine had already opened the door and was just short of huffing at Arthur delaying them further.
When they were finally in the car Arthur allowed himself to feel his irritation with the entire situation.
"Why do we even have to go to this party?"
Gwaine turned to look at him like he was a bit dim, "Because we're invited every year and we attend every year Arthur."
"Yes but for once I'd like you to decline the offer; I'd actually like to spend my time at home before Christmas you know."
"What are you getting so testy? He'd an important business partner Arthur, I can't just say no."
"Of course you can't" muttered Arthur but in the confined space Gwaine heard him anyway.
Arthur kept silent for a while and then he heard Gwaine sigh before he sidled closer to Arthur and pulled him closer to himself. Arthur went reluctantly knowing this was one of Gwaine's tactics to distract Arthur from having a confrontation with him.
Still Arthur liked it when Gwaine did this and as Gwaine's hands trailed up and down the sides of his body and he whispered "I promise I'll make it up to you tonight baby" in his ear, Arthur's irritation slowly melted out of him.
They arrived at the Grayson's residence and like every other year Mister Grayson and his wife were there to greet them.
"Gwaine!" Mister Grayson and Gwaine hugged each other before Gwaine air kissed his wife making the older woman give him a frankly lewd look. Arthur stood back as Mister Grayson gave him a much more formal greeting and beseeched them to enjoy the festivities.
After two glasses of champagne and a lot more of alcohol on Gwaine's part, Arthur and Gwaine were dancing to some melody that played softly in the background.
"Do you know anyone in this party?" asked Arthur tired of the silence, these days they had lost their inane chattering about everything and nothing and Arthur hated the silence.
Gwaine looked around at the people in the room before saying "Yeah, a couple of them. Why?"
"I don't know any of them and I just wonder why Grayson invites us to these things every year. It's dreadfully boring."
"Don't whine Princess."
Arthur narrowed his eyes and Gwaine twirled him around making it impossible for Arthur to express his hatred at the pet name Gwaine insisted on calling him whenever Arthur nagged him about something or the other.
As the next song started Gwaine excused himself saying he needed the loo and Arthur sat back at the bar table holding his third flute of champagne. Minutes turned into an hour and Gwaine had still not made an appearance again. Then Arthur noticed him across the hall on the opposite side and what he saw made him clench his flute a little harder.
Gwaine was there alright, he was there with two girls linked to both of his arms and by the looks of it he was chatting them up blatantly. It didn't help that the two girls were very hot.
This was exactly what the problem was with these parties, Gwaine almost always left Arthur to flirt to some random bloke or bird and Arthur was segregated to his own corner stewing in jealousy and hurt pride for the remainder of whatever grandiose thing they attended together. Arthur was Gwaine's husband for god's sake and Gwaine never seemed to realize that his harmless flirting as he called it was not so harmless to Arthur.
It didn't help that Gwaine looked like a greek God and spoke like Don Juan making woman and men lust after him helplessly. It also didn't help that Gwaine was bisexual where Arthur was completely gay.
Idly Arthur wondered when he'd become so complacent about it all, a few years back Arthur would have thrown a hissy fit over such a behavior from his spouse but now he was just tired. Tried, incredibly angry and jealous.
Arthur saw the two girls escorting Gwaine somewhere out of the hall and out of his eyesight and frowned wondering if Gwaine was going to come back at all.
In his preoccupation he hadn't noticed a man who'd managed to get quite close to him. He turned to notice a man who was quite tall, atleast three inches taller than himself with graying hair, startling grey eyes which were looking at Arthur with intent.
"Hello, I'm Juliano Bellanti and I am Italian."
The older guy lowered his voice and spoke in a husky tone that told exactly what he wanted from Arthur.
Arthur would usually brush somebody off who was so blatantly hitting on him but tonight he allowed a sly smile to come forth as he introduced himself to the strange man, "Hello, I'm Arthur Pendragon, and I am British."
"Well Arthur, are you here with someone?"
Arthur chuckled, guy went straight for the killer and Arthur stage whispered "Yes, I'm with my husband."
The man visibly deflated but then asked "Why would such a beautiful man like you want to marry?"
At the same time the man offered his hand and tilted his head towards the dance floor.
Arthur took his hand and allowed the man to lead him to the dance floor. From this vantage point he could see that Gwaine was still clinging on to the two girls from before and Arthur scowled.
Then Arthur focused on his own partner as he asked titillating, "And why would I not want to marry?"
The man paused looking unsure for a second before he proclaimed, "A man like you could have anybody he wanted to, why would you exchange that in order to restrain yourself to just one man?"
"You do realize Julian," Arthur got the name wrong on purpose, "that you are saying that I'm worth for nothing except my beauty, don't you?"
The man chuckled now causing Arthur's skin to tingle pleasantly, he didn't know if it was the effect of the champagne or the thrill of being so openly wanted in such a long time by someone else. Gwaine was the shameless flirt in their relationship; Arthur was socially inept and never had as many admirers as Gwaine even if he was handsome.
As they danced together Arthur glared at the trio on the other side of the room, disdain clouding his eyes at the sight of the giggling girls and pain coming at him in increments. Didn't Gwaine know how much his faffing about hurt Arthur?
And what was worse was Gwaine caught his eye once and noticed him dancing with another man and there was absolutely no reaction from him. Arthur was always the jealous one wanting Gwaine's affections and attention, Gwaine was never ever jealous of Arthur.
"So what do you do for a living Arthur?" asked his company for the night, his very interested company if the man's hands sliding up and down his sides was any indication and in the time he'd been glaring at Gwaine he'd been pulled a lot closer to the man who was holding him in a tight grip now.
"I work at my father's law firm, and I'm also an art collector."
The man hummed and when he was distracted answering the man Gwaine had disappeared somewhere again and the girls were not around either. Arthur's eyebrows pinched together in suspicion, he knew Gwaine was a flirt but he'd never had any reason to believe he was engaging in an affair yet.
A part of Arthur wanted to dash out and find Gwaine now, demand an explanation and rage about the unfairness of it all. But a larger part of him just wanted to catch Gwaine in the act.
Arthur closed his eyes tight and leaned into the taller man's embrace thinking for one minute how it would feel if Gwaine were here to hold him like this now. His champagne addled mind was making him feel more and more uninhibited and when the other man's hand slipped into his shirt to touch naked skin Arthur sighed wantonly before he remembered himself.
Arthur opened his eyes and the man was gazing at him, his pupils blown wide by obvious desire. "The Grayson's have an extensive medieval art collection upstairs…I could show them to you, now."
Arthur understood that art was the last thing on the other man's mind and yet he smiled brazenly and continued to dance with him if only to thaw the angry demon wanting blood and revenge against Gwaine, Gwaine who was coming downstairs thankfully alone. But who knew what he'd been upto for so long upstairs.
Arthur closed his eyes again, not wanting to see Gwaine just yet, the realization of what he might have been upto sinking in slowly and leaving him tense and uncomfortable in Juliano's arms.
When the song ended Arthur was swaying closer and when their hips brushed and Arthur felt the other mans erection he snapped back into his senses. He moved back and said "I..I think I've had a little too much champagne and….and I need to find my husband."
Unfortunately Juliano seemed to be persistent case and held onto Arthur's hand tightly, "Oh come on Arthur, your husband will be fine on his own for a little while longer, don't you think?"
Arthur swallowed the 'fuck off' that wanted to emerge from his lips and instead thought about it, Gwaine probably didn't miss him much and probably wouldn't. After all he must know Arthur was being held by a rather straightforward stranger whose intentions were clear as day and still Gwaine wasn't here to intercept.
Arthur didn't want to think about what that meant for them and their relationship.
"Yes..he'll be fine, but will I?" asked Arthur with a shrewd look trying to extricate himself without causing a scene.
"Of course you will"
The man sounded and looked earnest like wanting to fuck a married man was not at all a wrongdoing and Arthur had reached the end of his tether.
"I have to go Juliano." Arthur raised his hands in a placating gesture putting both his hands up and trying to maneuver away but Juliano caught his arms again.
"No you don't, you know I don't."
"I really really must" Arthur insisted.
"I must see you again Arthur."
Arthur shook his head, "That's impossible Juliano."
"Why?" the guy implored and Arthur snorted, was this guy serious, he was no better than Gwaine.
Arthur roughly pulled his hands away this time and said "Because, I am married." He said each word slowly enunciating it before he brought his fingers to his lips and placed them back on the other mans lips, walking away and finding Gwaine watching him with an amused expression which made him want to punch something in his anger, was he important to Gwaine at all? Had he ever been?
I know you guys want me to update Trials Of Arranged Marriage but please give this story a chance too.
I feel really passionate about this work as it deviates from everything I've written so far and I'd really like it if you guys read and review.
Haven't decided whether Merlin's an Mpreg baby or not yet but I'll let you know in the next chapter.