King-Sized Sweet Tooth
"Merlin." Arthur's pained groan rang through his chamber.
He hadn't seen the useless manservant all day. Why? Because he had foolishly given his servant – his lover, if truth be told – the day off. He hadn't anticipated this. This agonizing pain.
"Merlin…"
More of a whine this time, needy and frustrated. The prince clutched his stomach, curling into a fetal position atop his bed. He had been laying there for the past half hour, his discomfort growing increasingly worse until he had finally broken down and began to call for the ridiculous boy. He did not plead. Pendragons didn't plead. Well, alright. He didn't plead much.
Frustrated now, he called out to the ceiling. "Oh Gods, Merlin. I swear I will execute you if you aren't here in the next five seconds, you useless idiot!"
As if on cue, the door opened, revealing a grinning manservant. "Who's a useless idiot?" He asked cheekily, sounding far too perky for his own good.
Arthur just groaned, a drawn out and slightly exaggerated cry for attention. At the unexpected sound, Merlin snapped into the present, noticing Arthur's distress as he took in the scene around him.
The floor was littered with discarded paper boxes and hundreds of squares of waxed paper. A stray caramel was ground into the rug, while handfuls of sweets were scattered across Arthur's dining table and bedding. The curtains had been yanked shut against the noonday sun with considerable force, seeing as one had actually been torn halfway off of the wall. The entire room smelt sickeningly of sugar, and in the midst of it all was his beautiful prince.
The blonde's clothes were disheveled, his feet were bare, and his hair was a mess, poking up at odd angles and seemingly coated with a sticky substance. His belt had been flung across the room to free his stomach, which, judging from the way it bulged outwards, was filled to bursting. His pained face was smeared with chocolate, and he appeared as vulnerable as a child.
A child who had been binging on candy all morning long.
Merlin honestly should have seen this coming. After he had confessed to his lover that he admired men of the heavier persuasion, it figured that the prince would have done something foolish to try and please him. After all, few knew it, but Arthur would do anything to make the other man happy. That, coupled with the exotic gifts of candy and chocolate which had been received from the baron of the Northern Provinces yesterday – buttering King Uther up for a treaty of some kind – and it really just figured. The result? One completely stuffed prince.
The warlock shook his head as he made his way over to the blonde's bedside. That stupid, lovable prat had really done it this time. Settling down on the bed beside him, Merlin wrapped his pale fingers around Arthur's shoulders, massaging them gently as he began to speak in a joking tone.
"So, your highness. Are you full yet?"
"Shut up, Merlin. I'm only in this state because of you," the prince snapped.
The brunette winced. He must really be in severe pain. "Look," he began, hands straying down to stroke his lover's belly. "I didn't mean for you to do this. Really."
A moan slipped from between Arthur's lips as those slender white fingers prodded and massaged the taunt curve of his stomach, easing the ache that had settled in.
"Ngh." An inarticulate grunt, followed by another moan of relief.
Continuing his gentle ministrations, Merlin allowed his eyes to wander across the wrappers that coated the floor. He hadn't really appreciated the sheer number of them when he had first examined the scene. How Arthur had managed to eat this many sweets, without being ill or worse, was a complete mystery. Impressed and more than a little surprised, Merlin gave a low whistle.
"I didn't realize that you had eaten so much." His voice betrayed his amazement. "Is there even anything left?" He had no idea that the other had such a sweet tooth.
"Nope." The prince somehow had the gall to appear smug, as if eating his way through three dozen boxes of Northumbria's finest chocolate – and more than forty boxes of assorted candy – was something to be proud of.
"Uther is going to kill you, of course," Merlin observed dryly.
Arthur gave another moan, pressing himself closer to the brunette's warmth. A shiver ran down Merlin's spine as those beautiful green eyes fixed his own in a firm stare. The Pendragon was guilty, pleading, adorable and demanding all at the same time. It simply wasn't fair.
"So, you greedy prat, have you learned your lesson?"
A small pout graced Arthur's perfect lips at Merlin's teasing words. "What business is it of yours what I eat?" He sounded more affronted than he really was.
"It becomes my business when you make yourself sick." Merlin answered patiently. "So, do you promise not to do it again?"
"No," came the stubborn reply.
"No?" Merlin was genuinely shocked.
"No. You obviously have no idea how good all of that tastes, Merlin." Another laviscious moan. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
One of Arthur's hands reached across the covers to snatch up a treat, a dark chocolate gem drizzled with red syrup and liberally sprinkled with powdered sugar. It smelt enticingly of cherries. Licking his lips, in a way that the warlock knew was intended to be seductive, he popped the chocolate into his mouth and made a show of sucking on it, chewing and swallowing.
Then, without warning, he pulled Merlin down into a kiss. Their lips met forcefully, mouths crashing together, tongues darting to and fro as they battled for dominance. It was as Arthur penetrated the warlock's defenses that the brunette tasted the glorious flavor of that chocolate treat. He could not help the sound of pleasure that escaped him. The prince momentarily deepened the kiss, before drawing away, much to Merlin's chagrin.
The blonde wore a triumphant smirk. "Now do you see how hard it is to stop?"
Merlin nodded mutely, reaching over to snag one of these delicious morsels for himself. His fingers were centimeters away from a white chocolate, smothered in chopped almonds and vanilla cream, when his hand was smacked aside.
"Uh-uh, Merlin," Arthur teased. "These are only fit for royalty." With that, he stuffed it into his greedy, perfect mouth.
As he swallowed, however, his face contorted with pain. Alarmed, his lover reached over to continue massaging the royal personage, hands working their way across hard muscle painfully distended by reckless consumption of decadent food; Food so delicious that Merlin could scarcely imagine anything that he would rather spend the rest of his life eating. A few moments at the mercy of those skilled fingers and Arthur relaxed again, sighing and grinning up at the brunette.
"You wouldn't believe how much this pain is worth it. The chocolate is – it's heaven. It really is. And the caramel, my Gods. Those little chewy ones, and the licorice allsorts, and–" He broke off, seeing the disapproving frown on Merlin's face, and then chuckled a bit. "Oh, quit glowering like a wounded nursemaid and pass me that candied orange slice."
The brunette reluctantly obliged – he never could say no when Arthur got bossy – and placed the prize in the prince's sticky hand.
"Mmm… maybe you're not entirely useless." The Pendragon spoke around the candy, which he had stuffed into his mouth almost faster than the eye could see.
Now it was Merlin's turn to grin. "You are an insufferable glutton. My glutton."
With that, he lay down beside Arthur, one hand still massaging that amazingly full, round, perfect stomach. That was how they spent the afternoon, snuggled up in the plush royal bed, the manservant feeding the prince what remained of the candy one bite at a time, pushing the royal beyond completely stuffed and all the way to deliciously, agonizingly overfilled.
It didn't take a Seer to know that this wouldn't be the only time.