Frustration
By J.C. Vascardi
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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to the television show Merlin are the property of its creators. I am not profiting from this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things about this story that I own are the storylines, places or characters that are not featured on the show.
Summary: Written for beth56764 on LiveJournal. Arthur is irritated and taking it out on Merlin. He just wishes he knew what he'd done to deserve it.
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Warnings: Slash
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It was a quiet day in Camelot. Actually, it had been a quiet month. The kingdom was at peace, there were no threats to the kingdom's safety, no problems that threatened the well-being of its people. Normally, this would be a good thing, but for one Prince Arthur Pendragon, it was turning out to be a bad thing. He craved action, excitement, something to break the monotony of the endlessly boring days and nights that he'd lived through for the last month.
He'd thrown himself into training the knights, but that can only take up just so much of one's day. They expected to be able to rest and spend time with their families from time to time, after all. And with no imminent threats against the kingdom looming, Arthur knew he had no excuse to work them day and night as he may have wanted to. "I'm bored," would not be a valid excuse for working the knights to death as far as his father and the council were concerned.
Morgana, having always been observant, picked up on Arthur's mood and suggested if he needed something to do that he should avail himself of the castle's massive library. Surely there were a few volumes on battles and wars that would appeal to him. Of course, she couldn't help the parting barb of, "Well, that's assuming, of course, you know how to read." She'd hurried away before Arthur could comment that yes, he did know how to read, thank you. Reading was just the last thing he wanted to do, because he wasn't really the reading type. It made him fall asleep. And in the last week or so, falling asleep had become a bad thing because Arthur's subconscious insisted on conjuring dreams that caused him to wake up drenched in sweat, lying under stained sheets.
He usually didn't mind such dreams. But then, when he did have them, they were usually about beautiful and voluptuous women. He'd give anything if that was the case now, but it wasn't. For the last week or so, practically every time he closed his eyes he'd see images that he seriously wished he could forget. There was nothing wrong with a prince his age having dreams of a sexual nature, but, when those dreams depicted him having sex with his servant - who was not only an idiot but very male - well, he could do without those dreams.
True, in Arthur's mind, an argument could be made that Merlin was more feminine, as he certainly didn't fit the image of masculinity that Arthur held onto and believed. He was useless with a sword or any weapon really, he didn't like hunting, and more than once now Arthur had caught Merlin hiding behind something during fights. Definitely not very manly qualities as far as Arthur was concerned. Not that it made the dreams any better because no matter how Merlin might act, Arthur was still as sure as he could be without seeing them that his manservant had boy parts. The prince couldn't help but wince when his traitorous mind started trying to develop scenarios that would allow him to see Merlin's bits.
The situation was not made any better by Merlin's almost constant presence. He was, Arthur could grudgingly admit, actually doing a pretty good job with his chores as of late. The problem was that it seemed Arthur's mind insisted on seeing something sexual in even the most innocent or mundane tasks. Like yesterday, Merlin had finished cleaning and polishing Arthur's armor and began polishing his sword. Arthur wanted to scream at the top of his lungs when thoughts of Merlin polishing the "sword" between his legs flashed through his mind. It didn't help that while Merlin concentrated on his task, his tongue occasionally darted out of his mouth to wet his lips. That led Arthur to start thinking about other things he'd like Merlin to do with his tongue.
Not able to take it anymore, Arthur yelled, "Merlin!" causing the other boy to jump and look up, before Arthur said the first thing that came to mind that would get him out of his sight for a few hours. "Go muck out the stables."
"The stables?" Merlin asked. "I'm not done with..."
"Go! NOW!" Arthur yelled and Merlin went. There were times when Merlin could be just a little slow on the uptake, but even he could tell that the prince was clearly irritated about something. He just wished that he knew what it was or what he'd done wrong.
The next day, Merlin had brought Arthur his lunch and Arthur, tired of seeing his manservant just sit there while he waited for him to finish, tossed a banana at the boy and said, "Eat. You're too thin."
Surprisingly, Merlin didn't comment and just peeled the banana. Only problem was that he didn't start eating it, no he was sucking on it. The in and out motion of the fruit brought more of the unwanted images to Arthur's mind, prompting him to slam his fist on the table and shout, "Merlin! Those white things in your mouth. They're called teeth. Use them!"
Merlin was getting sick of this abuse. It seemed that he couldn't do anything right lately. He'd thought he'd been doing a good job, but Arthur seemed intent on criticizing him even more than normal. He doled out punishments for seemingly no reason. This latest incident was just too much and Merlin said, "I know how to eat, you prat."
Arthur gave him a withering look, as he said, "Merlin, don't call me that again or I'll have you thrown in the stocks!" Of course, Arthur soon realized that he should have known better than to think about Merlin and the stocks. With the way his mind was working as of late, it was only a matter of seconds before images of Merlin bent over flashed through his head. Bent over while Arthur did things that a prince shouldn't want to do to his manservant. That didn't stop him from wanting to do them anyway.
Practically growling in frustration, Arthur decided that he had to do something about these thoughts. Maybe, maybe if he just gave in and did some of the things that his mind had been suggesting for weeks then maybe it would be satisfied. Standing up, he stalked over to the door and made sure it was locked. He didn't need someone coming in and seeing him having sex with his manservant. A voice in his head did point out that he hadn't actually cleared this plan with Merlin and that he might not be interested, but Arthur pushed it aside. He was the Crown Prince damn it! Merlin was his servant. He'd do what he was told and like it.
Walking back over to Merlin, who at this point had the most adorably confused look on his face... wait, adorable? Where the hell did that come from? Arthur thought. Oh never mind. Taking the banana from Merlin's hand, Arthur practically threw it across the room before he grabbed Merlin's shoulders, pulled him up, wrapped his arms around him so tightly that there'd be no escape, before leaning forward and kissing him hard on the lips.
Merlin's eyes widened at this. Arthur was holding him. Arthur was kissing him. "Have I died?" Merlin thought. "Because this must be heaven." He certainly hadn't told the prince, but Merlin had been harboring feelings for him for over a year now. He was brought out of his thoughts, however when Arthur's lips moved only a fraction away from his own, still so close that he could feel them moving as the prince said, "Kiss me back, you idiot," before he resumed the kiss. This was one time that Merlin didn't need to be told twice. Leaning into the strong body in front of him, Merlin began returning Arthur's kiss with a fervor, licking and probing Arthur's lips, begging for entrance.
It didn't take long for Arthur to comply and soon their tongues were dancing around each other's mouths, eagerly charting every inch. When the need for air finally forced them to separate, Merlin was just about to comment on the kiss when Arthur ground out, "Bed. Now."
Merlin didn't say anything, too shocked that this was happening at all, and just let Arthur lead him over to the soft and inviting sheets of the royal bed. It was then that he realized they were both steadily losing clothes and they were both naked when Merlin's back hit the bed, the prince laying on top of him.
"You're mine, Merlin," Arthur declared, as he thrust his hips downward, pressing his hardened cock into Merlin's, which was equally hard. The action sent ripples of electricity through both of their bodies and any lingering hesitation that Arthur had still felt evaporated. This felt too good to continue ignoring.
"Yes, sire, I'm all yours," Merlin said breathlessly.
No more words were spoken.
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The End.
Okay, so this probably wasn't NC-17. More PG-13/R probably. Hope you don't mind, beth56764. I tried to think about how to approach your prompt and this was the result. Setting it up, I then ran out of words before I could get into anything really steamy. 1,500 words really isn't as much as it may seem, especially for a person who is used to writing chapters that often exceed 10,000+ words. Anyway, to all of you still waiting for your prompts to be written, yeah, I know I'm doing them out of order. I'd said first come, first serve, but that more or less referred to the spots. For the fics themselves, well, I've got to write them in the order that the Muses inspire me. Hope you all can enjoy the resulting fics in the meantime while waiting for me to get to yours.