Title: First Time

Setting: Modern day, London, England

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing, also, they may appear to be OOC in some songfics and I'd like to chalk that up to the songs not exactly fitting them – I put it on shuffle so it was kind of a mix, I've stretched them but I just hope they don't break =P

Song: Lisa Mitchell – Incomplete Lullaby

Merlin was through fooling himself. He'd spent the entire night trying to convince himself that checking your watch more than three times in a minute was normal, that he was just really invested in the knowledge of time and organization. It had nothing to do with the fact that he had nobody to talk to, and he most certainly was not bored stiff and slightly achy at this party.

So, after not being able to convince himself, he decided to try his luck at convincing someone else and as usual, chance offered itself to him keenly. Gwen was making her way over to him, her usual bright smile on her face. It was her birthday party he was currently attending and he was glad of an invite. He'd just moved to London from his hometown of Armagh and the only person he knew so far was Gwen but they had only just met at work a few weeks before and Gwen being such a nice girl, thought Merlin might like to come along. The problem for Merlin was that he'd always been a painfully shy person, hardly ever getting the courage to go up and talk to people, especially in large groups like these people were. So for now he just sat out of the way and tried to avoid looking awkward, he even looked to be failing at that too.

"Hi Merlin." Gwen greeted him with a glowing smile.

She'd just been talking and laughing with a few of her friends so her face still carried traces of mirth around it.

"Hey Gwen, having a good time?" Merlin asked, sincere but with a small touch of envy.

"I'm having a wonderful time, but I'm more worried about whether you're enjoying yourself. You look a little lonely over here…" Gwen gave him a concerned look and hoped he didn't dislike her friends.

"Gwen, I'm fine! I'm new; it's going to take some time for me to get acquainted with this city, not to mention the people. You go, have fun. It's your party so enjoy it and stop worrying about silly old me!" Merlin hurriedly tried to correct the situation.

He felt a trickle of guilt in his gut. Here he was at a rather nice party, invited by the lovely Gwen, presented with the opportunity to meet new and interesting people. So what does he do? He goes and ruins his chances of conversation by hiding in the corner and making Gwen worry about him when she should be enjoying herself.

Gwen eyed him carefully to make sure he wasn't in too terrible spirits and then broke into a very sincere smile.

"Well thank you Merlin! As long as you're sure you'll be okay and hopefully more social from now on…"

"I'll try, I really will. Just please forgive me if I'm a little standoffish tonight, I'm still very new to all this. You go have fun."

Merlin remained at the party for a short while longer. He attempted some conversation, which was received well but without knowing many people at all, most conversation led to awkward endings. After another two hours of slightly uncomfortable conversation, Merlin decided quit while he was ahead. He'd gotten a few names and he'd learned a bit more about Gwen's personality, especially while she was relaxed around friends. He approached her before leaving.

"Gwen, I might head home now."

"Oh no! We've only just started having fun! Are you sure?" she looked concerned again.

Merlin felt the guilt again.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I'd love to stay longer but I get cranky when I get tired. Really, I should get going."

"Aw, well, okay. I'll walk you to the door."

They walked down the short hallway from the living room to the small foyer area. Just as they reached the door it swung open suddenly and they both jumped back quickly to avoid getting a door to the face. Two people, a young man and woman were on the other side of the door, looking a little surprised at the close proximity that had previously been divided by the door. The young woman was very striking with long, deep brown hair, which flowed, from the top of her head to her waist and her eyes were a mixture of gray and green. Merlin had managed to tear his eyes away from those intense green-gray irises to take a look at her companion; who turned out to be even more astonishing than she was. He wore his light blonde hair in a controlled mess over his warm blue eyes, his strong jaw-line made Merlin's knees positively incompetent and the man's scent of soft grass and honey filled Merlin's slightly large nostrils. The instantaneous reaction of want from inside of Merlin was enough to make him come to a full stop, with a sharp intake of breath following shortly afterwards.

"Hello." Arthur greeted, looking directly at Merlin and cracking a smile that wiped all of the latter's thoughts.

"Gwen! Sorry we're so late! Imbecile here decided to take ages at practice and then spend three hours getting ready. Men!" the young woman exclaimed as soon as she saw Gwen.

"Morgana, I did NOT take three hours that's ludicrous!" the shocking young man replied huffily.

"Two an a half, that's my final offer." She retorted, suppressing her laughter.

"Arthur, Morgana, I'm so glad you could make it after all! I was worried you wouldn't be able to." Gwen greeted them warmly.

"We wouldn't miss this for the world! Which reminds me, happy birthday!" Morgana congratulated her and gave her a big hug.

Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur was all that Merlin's mind could think at that moment. He felt like his brain had ejected its valuable information and replaced it with a slideshow of Arthur. When he finally broke out of his trance he realized he'd been staring pretty intensely at Arthur but luckily he was able to regain control of his eyes quick enough to avoid being detected.

"Are you still going home Merlin?" Gwen asked.

Merlin hardly heard the question but his mind finally lurched into full function and he became painfully aware of his close proximity to Arthur, and how those blue eyes linked with his when he dared to meet them.

"Ummm…ah. Well…" Merlin stumbled over his answer, not completely aware of how to play this without seeming inconsistent and without making his want to talk to Arthur, completely obvious.

Surprisingly, it was Arthur himself who was to save him from his drowning in his brain.

"You can't leave now! The party has barely started and I insist you have at least one drink with me. I'll bet I can drink you under the table small fry." Arthur looked at Merlin with expectant, proud but also hopeful eyes.

Merlin found he couldn't say no and soon enough he and Arthur were taking a few too many shots out of a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses on the front lawn of Gwen's suburban house.

"Your turn and make it a good one otherwise you'll have to take another and I don't think you could handle that, midget." Arthur announced, winking at Merlin when he ended his sentence with an insult.

"Hey! I'm only like five centimeters shorter than you! Why do you keep calling me short?" Merlin replied with only a hint of annoyance, his head was spinning a little but he could still form sentences at a reasonable level.

"Because you're shorter than me, so therefore you are short."

"But for something to be shorter it must first be short, so you just called yourself short." Merlin hoped that made sense because it seemed coherent in his head.

"That makes no sense Merlin."

Damn it! Merlin thought.

"Whatever, anyway, the question! You must ask it." Arthur said, dramatically.

"Okay, fine." Merlin agreed feeling a little tired but mostly very happy with the situation at present.

Arthur got himself prepared to answer whatever question Merlin might hurl his way. After thinking for a moment, Merlin found a good question.

"What's your most embarrassing story?" Merlin asked, smirking a little in anticipation of a good story.

Arthur laughed and shifted closer to him on the lawn; inclining his head so it was closer to Merlin's as though he were about to tell him a deadly secret.

"Ah, now this is a tale. Let me take you back to the year 1999. I was 13 years old and like many other 13-year-old boys I had recently discovered that special little area below the waist-"

Here he gestured towards Merlin's own nether regions and caused a very obvious blush to settle on the dark haired youth's cheeks.

"-and as you can probably guess, I was not as careful as I should have been while doing the palm-hair-growing deed. So I was found out and that is a moment I will never forget, as long as I live." He concluded, looking a little sheepish and embarrassed.

Merlin tried to hold back his smile but he wasn't able to and burst out in a loud chuckle; earning him a glare from Arthur.

"Who found you out? Was it your mum?" Merlin asked curiously, after the giggles had died down.

"Erm… no actually, it wasn't. It was Morgana." He stated awkwardly.

Merlin was shocked.

"You knew Morgana when you were young? Was that how you guys got together?" Merlin blurted out before his mind could catch him.

The world seemed to slow as Merlin realized what he'd said. Had he just accidentally insinuated that he and Morgana had gotten together at the age of 13 because she walked in on Arthur wanking?

Arthur looked a little confused for a moment, then realization dawned on his face and then he broke into deep, hearty laughter.

"What?" He asked through his laughing fit.

"I didn't mean it like that! I meant did you get together when you were younger because you knew each other?" Merlin quickly tried to rectify his meaning.

"Merlin, me and Morgana aren't together and never have been. She's my sister!" Arthur clarified, laughter still present in his eyes.

"Oh…" was all Merlin could manage to say.

He was surprised, humiliated and relieved all at the same time. It took him a moment to take in that fact and transport it to his brain. Why had he been relieved? Had he been secretly hoping

" Well?" Arthur asked, giving him an expectant look.

"Well… wh-what?" Merlin asked nervously, worried the other man had figured out what he'd been thinking this whole time and was expecting a confession.

"What's your most embarrassing story? You're a bit out of it tonight Merlin, aren't you?" Arthur teased.

"Oh… okay. Well I'd have to say what just transpired between us would have to be the most embarrassing thing, I mean, I was just assuming all these crazy ideas were true and I bet you probably think I'm some weirdo who thinks that masturbation is the basis of a 13-year-old's first relationship." Merlin reeled off quickly, looking at his hands and praying Arthur wouldn't run screaming away from him.

Again, Arthur laughed until his sides hurt.

"Merlin, I don't think you're a weirdo. You're weird, that's a given, but you're hilarious and interesting!" Arthur assured him, trying to make Merlin feel better.

"Interesting is the word people use to describe art and music that they hate without hurting other people's feelings." Merlin argued; slightly offended, slightly afraid.

"Merlin-"

"Interesting is the word I use to describe a web design that uses comic sans and clip art of kittens." Merlin had no idea why he was continuing with this but he couldn't stop himself.

"Merlin-"

"Interesting is the word my mother used to describe the muffins I baked her when I was first learning how to cook and accidentally used salt instead of-"

"MERLIN!" Arthur shouted but there was no anger, just slight frustration.

A long silence stretched between them.

"I'm sorry." Merlin said quietly, breaking the tension and staring at his hands again.

'Sorry' was all he felt he could say.

Arthur lifted Merlin's face with both hands to be parallel to his own.

"Merlin, you're insane but somehow, if you were anyone else I would have already beat you over the head and made off with the whiskey but you're not. You're Merlin and you're not trying to be anyone else. I don't get to meet many people like you and for me, that's a shame. So stop worrying, please." Arthur lectured him, all the while keeping his gaze on the quirky boy whose face he held in his hands.

"Okay." Merlin said quietly, feeling a flutter in his stomach at Arthur's words.

The alcohol had begun taking an affect on Merlin and his body was getting sluggish. He liked the feeling of being this close to Arthur and he could feel his breath slowly flowing against his face. Merlin's mind turned to mush and he began talking gibberish.

"I'm sorr- you're wonderful –blue eyes- pretty- I like your fa- you smell really, really nice…" he slurred out, blushing a little at that last part.

Arthur just chuckled and lay Merlin down on the ground. He would have left it at that but there was something that anchored him to that position and would not let him go. It was Merlin's hand, fisting his shirt and his eyes giving the best impression of puppy dog's Arthur had ever seen. He lost it.

Arthur pressed his lips to Merlin, gently at first but then with more urgency. He didn't know what had come over him; he'd never experienced this level of affection for one person and it felt amazing. He pulled Merlin up so their chests met and rested a hand behind his head, just to keep those sweet lips pressed to his. Merlin, finally aware of what has happening, finally became an active participant in the events that were beginning to take place. He opened his mouth for Arthur to explore and he mewled in response when Arthur's tongue danced with his. Arthur was rapacious in his advances now, breaking their kiss to bite and suck at Merlin's almost supernaturally pale neck. Merlin gripped the back of Arthur's shirt and brought him closer, moving his neck further to the side so Arthur could get a better angle. Just as Arthur began running his hands up Merlin's shirt and revealing more and more of Merlin's lovely skin, Gwen's front door swung open causing the two to spring apart and acquire a set of matching guilty looks. Gwen had come outside to find out what happened to the two and found more than she had bargained for.

"Oh, oh my goodness, I'm sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to come outside and see how you were doing… I didn't expect to… I'll just… go." She finished lamely and quickly scampered back inside.

Arthur and Merlin looked at each other with terrified expressions, before breaking into fits of laughter.

"I think this breaks my record for most embarrassing story." Arthur admitted between giggling fits.

"Me too." Agreed Merlin, he himself almost out of breath from laughing so hard.

They calmed down but the moment of passion was gone, leaving in its wake a greater sense of reality and the excitement of new beginnings.

Arthur pulled Merlin up from the ground and they walked towards the front door to the house. Arthur took side-ways glances at Merlin and in return Merlin slipped his hand into Arthur's.

"Dinner tomorrow?" Merlin asked, giving Arthur's hand a light squeeze.

"I'll pick you up at 8." Arthur replied with a cocky grin.

That very next day, Merlin found out the many ways he was still very invested in the knowledge of time; not one of them involved him being bored and all of them involved Arthur.