Prompt: For gwaine_quest on LJ. Jamuary – 22. Modern AU - Gwaine and Merlin met through friends on a little party where Merlin provided self cooked food. Gwaine falls for Merlin (and his food) and wants to invite his friends over (only an excuse to have Merlin over) and cook for them in return. Alas, he can't cook so he comes up with a better idea and asks Merlin for teaching him how to cook. They end up making out. Little food fights are encouraged.
AN: I may have taken a bit of liberty with the prompt, but the majority of it is still there and as adorable as ever. ^-^
The first time Gwaine saw him, Merlin was fluttering about Arthur's large and pretentious kitchen. Gwaine didn't even know how a kitchen could be pretentious, but if anyone could manage it, Arthur could.
Gwaine had just been about sneak in to grab what he was sure would be a delightfully delicious pre-dinner cookie (if the wonderful smell circulating the house was any indication of sheer yummy-ness being produced at the moment) when he'd stopped short at the sight of the tall, skinny man flitting about between the many cupboards and muttering to himself about prats and skillets and bashing them on the head with said skillet when he found it or some such.
Now Gwaine was not one to be fazed easily, so it was only a few seconds that he'd paused to acquaint himself with the adorable man (and yes he could confirm that his ass was well worth the two or three glances he took, despite being painfully obvious about it). He shook his head slightly and continued on his way to the large plate of cookies he current had his eyes on.
Gwaine had been just about to bite down on what was sure to be the best thing he'd ever eaten when he'd found his hand slapped none too lightly with a wooden spoon. He let out a yelp and the cookie dropped from his injured hand back onto the plate. He turned to look at his assaulter and was faced with the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. A pair of eyes that were currently glaring at him.
"At the risk of sounding like my mother, I have to tell you that you can have one of those later with dessert."
Gwaine smiled and was about to charm to pants off the gorgeous chef (wow, what he would give to make that literal) when he was interrupted before he could start.
"And don't even try it. Arthur warned me about you and your cookie fetish." Gwaine gave him an incredulous look. It seemed he and Arthur would need to have a Talk soon. Can't have rumors spreading of what he does to cookies; it would ruin his image. Shaking his head again—he seemed to be doing that a lot lately—and schooled his features back to his charming grin. He stuck a hand up between his and the chef's chests.
"I guess my reputation precedes me. I'm Gwaine." The other man raised an eyebrow that was oddly reminiscent of Arthur's old family physician Gaius. He looked down at the offered hand and slowly grasped it in his own. His hand was surprisingly warm and a bit dusted with flour.
"Merlin," then a sheepish look came over Merlin's face and he looked down, eyes alighting on Gwaine's hand that was now sporting a reddish spoon shaped mark. "And, sorry about that. Arthur always said I was too protective of my cooking for my own good."
Gwaine took the apology graciously, "Ah, it's no bother. All of Arthur's friends are used to him beating us. This is nothing." He lifted his reddened hand and wiggled his fingers to show Merlin he was fine. Merlin smiled warmly at him for a moment, then his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hey, I could use an assistant in here. Would you like to help me with something?"
Gwaine blinked. 'Please say you need help with those trousers.' He grinned roguishly at Merlin, giving away none of what his lecherous mind was thinking about at that moment and offered his assistance to the chef.
"I am yours to command. What would you have me do, Oh Chef?" Merlin's lips twitched, obviously amused by Gwaine's obvious antics.
"Well I need someone to chop these vegetables for me. Think you can handle it?"
Gwaine hummed and picked up the knife next to the aforementioned green things and said mock-seriously, "I am good with my hands."
Merlin's eyes twinkled, but he gave no other indication that he was affected by Gwaine's flirting. They spent the next while in relative silence, only the sound of chopping vegetables and the sizzle of fish as it was placed in a hot pan.
By the time the rest of Arthur's guests had arrived and they'd all sat down to feast on the mouthwatering foods that Merlin had cooked for them, Gwaine was absolutely smitten. The adorable chef was not only the most delectable specimen he'd seen in a long time, but also the kindest. Yet at the same time he displayed a sense of wit that only seemed to rival Gwaine's own. Suffice to say that Gwaine was head of heels, and it had only been a matter of hours.
"And then he said, 'This happens to be my kitchen and there's no room in it for prats like you'. The poor little idiot had no idea he was talking to the owner's son!" The tittering of their friends at Arthur's anecdote drew Gwaine from his thoughts. His eyes focused on Merlin once again, to find the other man's face turned a light pinkish tone as he smacked Arthur in the shoulder.
"I knew exactly who you were, as you are well aware dollophead. I just didn't feel like dealing with Your Royal Pratness." Merlin smirked at the wounded look Arthur sent him. Then he glanced at Gwaine, curiosity in his eyes. "What about you? How did you and Arthur meet?"
Gwaine gave his own smirk as everyone's focus centered on him, he loved being center of attention. "Oh, you know, the usual way one meets Arthur. He was a prat," that garnered a few more laughs at Arthur's expense and Gwaine got to see how absolutely charming the laugh crinkles in the corners of Merlin's eyes were, "I stepped in to help out with was going to be a very inadvisable bar fight and the ungrateful whelp had the audacity to refuse my assistance and puke on my shoes. Well the burly men he'd chosen to pick a fight with were duly disgusted and ran off. Then a few days later he had finally sobered up and offered to buy me a drink as apology and thanks for getting him out of a scrape. We've been best friends ever since."
Arthur rolled his eyes, "What Gwaine is failing to tell is that had it not been for his ridiculously blatant flirting I would have not gotten up and subsequently barreled into said burly bar men. Therefore I am blaming the entire thing on him."
Arthur's addition drew another round of laughs, but if one were looking closely as Gwaine were, they would notice that something a little like disappointment had shown in Merlin's eyes afterward and didn't really lift for the rest of the night.
As the night drew to a close and the rest of Arthur's guests filtered out the door, Gwaine found himself in the kitchen with Merlin, helping with the clean up.
"You really don't have to do this Gwaine; I'm used to cleaning up. Really." Merlin had been pleading with him for the better part of ten minutes but Gwaine would have none of it.
"Merlin, you cooked a fine meal and I, unlike the Princess, will not leave you to wiping up everyone's messes. At least let me do my dishes." By the time they were done, Gwaine had none-too-sneakily cleaned a few more than his own dishes. Merlin graciously didn't complain about the help.
As the last of the dishes were cleaned, and the few leftovers wrapped up, Arthur popped his head into the kitchen. "You two are still here?" he said jokingly. Both men rolled their eyes.
"Just cleaning up your barely used kitchen space," Merlin quipped. "Actually I'd better be getting home. I've got class tomorrow."
Gwaine immediately latched onto this small piece of information. "Class?"
"Yep," Merlin nodded, "I teach a beginner's culinary class down at the university. Maybe you should join us. Give you a chance to learn a thing or two."
Gwaine looked like he was considering the idea. And really he was. But meeting Merlin in a class where his attention would be divided and all in teacher-mode was not conducive to the kind of seduction that Gwaine had been aiming for. A thought came to him and he immediately plastered on his second most charming smile.
"I would love to join you and certainly get to know more about cooking, however I'm not really sure if a class situation is ideal for me. Not much of team player, y'now?" He steadfastly ignored Arthur's scoff and continued. "I'm a bit more… one-on-one. Keeps me more focused, yeah?"
"Oh, well I guess…" Merlin trailed off, not trying very hard to hide his disappointment. Gwaine hurried forward.
"What do you say to some private lessons, yeah? You could drop by and teach me a thing or two. About cooking."
Either Merlin didn't notice the small pause there or he chose to ignore it. It didn't matter because the next moment his grin was back in full force. "What a great idea! Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"
Gwaine grinned. All according to plan. "I just happen to have my evening absolutely free."
"Here's my number," Merlin produced a pen and scrap of paper out of seemingly nowhere. "Call me tomorrow and let me know where you live, yeah?"
Gwaine was about to reply with something suitably filled with innuendo and roguish grinning, when Arthur cleared his throat. "Shouldn't you be getting home Merlin? Don't want you to be too exhausted to meet Gwaine tomorrow."
Again Merlin was either ignoring Arthur's inflection or he was just that much of a sweetheart to not notice. Either way he reluctantly agreed with him and with a few last goodbyes to his new friend Gwaine and a quick hug from Arthur he was out the door and on his way home.
As soon as the front door clicked shut Arthur rounded on Gwaine with a withering glare. Gwaine checked himself for his immediate urge to bring up his arms in defense.
"I know exactly what you're doing Gwaine and I swear if you even think about hurting a hair on his head…" Arthur trailed off threateningly.
"Merlin's old enough to make his own decisions without your meddling. And besides, I've no intention of hurting him. He… interests me."
Arthur wasn't so easily swayed. "Oh, so you're interested? And what of that bloke you were iinterested/i in last week, huh? Or that girl the month before that? And giving Gwen those flowers all the time? You're a flirt. You always flirt with everything that moves. You're always interested Gwaine. But you never really stick around once the feeling is returned, do you?"
Gwaine knew the question was a rhetorical one but he hastened to answer before Arthur could continue on his tirade. "Yes, I do flirt. That's who I am. I can't help that. But Merlin is different. I really like him Arthur. I'm not going to fuck him and leave him, like I know you're implying. I want to see where this goes. And I'm not going to ask your permission; you're not Merlin's handler and you're certainly not mine," Arthur's jaw clenched, "I am going to ask, however, that you not actively try sabotage my first real attempt at a relationship."
The silence that followed his short speech had him on tenterhooks. He honestly didn't want Arthur's permission to date Merlin; that decision was entirely up to Merlin himself. However, the best friend's blessing would go a long way to making him feel better about everything. Arthur's fist clenched almost as hard as his jaw had.
"Fine," he grumbled. "I won't interfere. But let me make it very clear. You may be my friend, but Merlin is special and he deserves to be treated as such. You will not parade him about like one of your whores and if he ever so much as complains to me about you, you're a dead man. Clear?"
"Crystal." Gwaine tries very hard not to smirk, but it's a near thing. It's not often that one can get Arthur Pendragon to go their way, even if only just.
Gwaine grinned at Merlin as he opened the door and invited him into his flat. Merlin was hauling a full tote bag on his shoulder and had to angle himself slightly sideways to enter. With a huff he set the bag down and turned to Gwaine with a smile.
"So, how've you been? No hangover?" He asked cheekily. Gwaine rolled his eyes.
"Fine, fine. And I'll have you know that I've never had a hangover in my entire life. So what have you got for me?"
"Well, I thought I could start you off with something easy. Say some cookies? Everyone loves cookies."
"Cookies?" Gwaine raised an eyebrow, "Seems a bit simple, but what the man wants…" He bowed mockingly and pointed Merlin towards his kitchen. Merlin played along, curtsying and transporting his bag into Gwaine's modest kitchen. He took a quick look around as if familiarizing himself with the room. Then he heaved his nag onto the counter and started bringing out an assortment of bowls and bags and spoons.
"I hope you don't mind I brought my own things," he looked over at Gwaine as he ripped open a bag of flour, "I just prefer using my own stuff, y'know?"
"Hmm, I can understand that," Gwaine leaned on the edge of the counter, raking his eyes up and down Merlin's backside. "So… cookies you say. And what kind of cookies will they be, pray tell?"
Merlin's eyes did this adorable crinkly thing as he smiled over his shoulder. "Snickerdoodles. The very same you tried to filch before dinner last night."
"Okay so, now we're gonna add the dry ingredients. Yeah, right in here."
Gwaine leaned forward and dumped the flour mixture into the bowl that Merlin had indicated. The impact of the flour into the bowl immediately made a puff fly up into his face, dusting him in white powder. Merlin giggled across from him. Gwaine slowly raised his head and stared Merlin down. The next second a flurry of white splashed across Merlin's face. Gwaine took a moment to appreciate the wide-open mouth and look of shock on Merlin's face before Merlin made a grab for the flour bag and tossed more of the white powder at him. Gwaine dodged, laughing.
"Okay okay okay!" Gwaine called surrender. He swiped his hand down Merlin's cheek. "And let that be a lesson to you."
Merlin hummed and smiled at him softly. The next moment he was blinking and looking away. "Ehm, so I guess we should mix this stuff together then."
They got the dough mixed and then Merlin took over, explaining that the dough needed to sit for a while before they could start baking. He turned to Gwaine as he put the dough in the fridge. There was something nervous in his eyes and he started to pick at his sleeve. "So… we have about an hour to wait now."
"Hmm, what ever shall we do with the time?" Gwaine smirked and walked close into Merlin's space. Merlin swallowed thickly.
"Well. I guess – I mean. Ah, fuck it." And with that Merlin launched himself forwards and attached his lips to Gwaine's. Gwaine grunted with the force of Merlin's body plastering itself to his and wrapped stabilizing arms around his waist. Arms locked themselves around his neck and Merlin's tongue dragged across his mouth.
They did finally get back around to cooking, but not until much, much later. And later, when Gwaine thought about it, maybe this whole relationship thing wouldn't be so bad after all. The cooking thing on the other hand… well, there'd always be Merlin there to help him muddle through.
The End