Author: blackatt
Title: Sincere In Osculis - Fas Nefasque OR of kisses and their timings - right or wrong
Pairings: Merthur
warning: slash
A/N: thank you for all your reviews/alerts, they have made me very happy ^.^ on with the show...

They were in Morganna (Morgan to her friends)'s house, after a few drinks the topic of conversation changed to guys and more specifically kissing them. Morgan, who was striking with her pale white skin, black hair and piercing blue eyes, had had her fair share of guys and even Gwen, with her smooth dark skin and warm chocolate eyes had had a few men. Merlin on the other hand could count the number of times he'd been kissed on the one hand, despite Morgan and Gwen's claim of him being totally adorable with his too big ears and high cheekbones. And now it was his turn, Gwen had been and they'd cut Morgan off half way though not wanting to be there forever, he took a deep breath and thought.

He'd been kissed in the sun,

That time had been his first kiss, well first proper kiss because Morgan didn't count because she was only helping him figure out if he was gay, which he was. It had happened in one of those rare sunny summers in London, him and his best (male) friend then Will were running after each other mucking about. Suddenly Will had stopped, he turned around and looked at Merlin, really looked at him, grabbed his had pulled him forwards and kissed him. It had been awkward and a few days later when his dad died suddenly and his mum decided to move them to Wales to live with his grandparents Merlin didn't say anything. He went round to Will's to make sure he was ok, he helped him pack and even gave him a hug goodbye but he never mentioned the kiss again.

He'd been kissed in the snow,

This time it was winter, the same year Will had left and Merlin had went to see his Uncle Gaius' with his mum. When they arrived they figured out that his Uncle's old apprentice, Ed, was there and he was staying for Christmas too. Him and Merlin had got on well enough, even if he did give off a slightly creepy vibe. Then one night Ed had invited him for a walk and while they were on it, right as they reached the top of the hill at the back of Uncle Gaius' house it started to snow. As soon as the snow started Merlin had laughed like a child and grinned madly at Ed who in response grabbed Merlin by the waist and kissed him.

They didn't last long. By the time it came to pack up their things and head back to London for New Year's Eve they had found out that Ed had came to Uncle Gaius' to ruin him. Ed was starting his own herb shop (bigger than Gaius' but less personal and less trust worthy) and decided that Gaius was too big of a competitor for him and wanted to run him out of business. He had switched around all the herbs so when Gaius had tried to give poor Mrs Higgins's something to help her sleep he had given her a remedy for heart burn. Needless to say, Merlin had not been pleased and ended it soon after along with getting him charged with reckless endangerment.

He'd been kissed in the cold,

The next time he was kissed was in February. Morgan had thrown a single's only Valentines day party, which was never a good idea, a bunch of single people in one house with a lot of drinks and spare rooms? Not one of Morgan's better ideas but him and Gwen couldn't talk her out of it. By the time Merlin walked out the door it was one o'clock in the morning and he was drunk so they had sent Gary with him to make sure that he got home alright.

Gary was new to their school, with brown hair and blue eyes he was automatically popular with the girls in the school, and he was a footballer too which meant that he was popular with the guys' as well. Despite this he chose to hang around with them, they weren't exactly the cool kids in school but no one said anything because they were afraid of Morgan, and was a really nice guy. It was cold, what with it still being February, and Morgan had hid his jacket the second he got to her house claiming "it was hideous" so Merlin was cold despite being warm on the inside due to the alcohol.

So naturally the only thing for Gary to do was to give Merlin his jacket. As he put his jacket on Merlin's shoulders, he made sure Merlin's arms were in the right place, he popped the collar on the jacket and pulled Merlin closer to him and put his arm around his shoulders. They walked like that all the way to Merlin's house, as the stood on the front step Merlin tried to say 'thank you Gary' but it came out more as "than ewe Ga" which Gary found adorable. He said goodnight and before he turned to leave he turned to Merlin and pecked him on the lips, Merlin wasn't happy with this though and put his arms around Gary's neck and kissed him properly.

By the time morning came and Merlin had gotten rid of his hangover, Merlin had forgotten the kiss and the walk home. He never did get why Gary was awkward around him after that.

But nothing compares to a kiss in the rain.

Arthur. He'd been in the background for most of Merlin's life, fluttering just on the edge of his knowledge. He was Morgan's -stunningly handsome-Adonis like- arrogant – completely adorable – brother.

They hadn't had much time together just the two of them in all the time they had known each other, but they were the only people either knew in English. It made sense then, for them to sit together, if Merlin wondered what life was life for the other Pendragon sibling and would now get to see, then all the better. It had been awkward at first, neither knowing what to say to the other but soon they worked out how the other thought and reacted to things. They started walking to class together and even stopping to talk to the other at times about the class or any homework they had due.

This didn't mean that they agreed on everything though. The English teacher, Miss Morose, had them doing Romeo & Juliet for their novel, she had recently gotten engaged and was feeling all love-y apparently. Arthur hated it, claiming that it was not a Romance as how could something that tore two family's apart be a romance? Merlin, on the other hand, loved it saying that he would be happy to find someone he loved so fiercely that he would rather die than live without.

During the walk home after having English last period, they were debating it Merlin going red in the face to try and prove his point. It started to rain about half way home but that didn't stop them from arguing, if anything it spurred them on, Arthur too ardently defending his point. Until suddenly, he stopped. He stopped walking. He stopped arguing. He stopped denying what it was between them. He grabbed Merlin's wrist, spun him round, took his face in his hands and kissed him.

Once he stopped kissing Merlin he leaned his forehead against Merlin's and whispered gently "dying for someone isn't true love, living for someone is, knowing that they are the air you breath, the blood in your veins, the only reason that you were put on this earth was to love them, that is true love". It was sweet and adorable and perfect, Merlin couldn't help the tear that escaped his eye he was so happy. Nearly a year on and so many kisses later and Arthur and Merlin still debated about it but now Arthur would kiss him to distract him. It works every time.

Opening his eyes, not having remembered closing them, he found that Morgan and Gwen had left while he was thinking back and in their place stood Arthur. His English Buddy. His best (male) friend. His boyfriend. The love of his life. The man he would live and die for. Yes, nothing compared to being kissed in the rain.