A/n: Hello is the sequel to "Your Sharks Should Give Me Some Sugar". Fortunately, all you need to know about it is that last time, Merlin moved into the flat next to Arthur's. This flat used to be owned by an old widow named Mrs. Godfrey who owned lots of reptiles, amphibians, and spiders. After a lot of embarrassment and some insult-based flirting, the two agreed to go on a date. This is takes place after the date.
This is the actual prompt Sarah gave me: I have an intense need for a fic where they live in the same building (preferably beside each other) and one (prob arthur) hears a blood curdling scream (for sure merlin) and arthur races over because he thinks his neighbour is getting murdered and it turns out it was just a spider. Smut would be lovely.
Mrs. Godfrey's Spider
Chapter One
Arthur sighed and dropped onto the couch, lazily stripping off his tie and jacket, casting them somewhere over the edge. Work was tiring, but it didn't help that Morgana had caught him grinning like a fool at his phone on break. Now she was on some noble plight to either wring the information out of him or literally steal the phone out of his hands while unlocked. So far, her attempts were fruitless (one of which involved her tripping over Arthur's legs, sending her into a careening somersault, and flashing part of the office. Arthur did not need to know – let alone see – that his sister was wearing red, lacy panties! Nor did he want to have to deal with shooting his employees threatening glares for the next week to ensure their silence). He figured he would tell her eventually (unleashing her tirade to meet the boy), but watching his sister squirm was always fun. Besides, their relationship had only been going on for a few weeks, and Arthur was determined to keep Merlin to himself if only for a little while longer.
Their date at the coffee shop had gone rather well between the banter, coffee, and the general "getting to know you" bits. After telling Merlin all about his work in his father's company, Merlin revealed that he was a primary school teacher, complete with his own class of second graders (which he seemed to adore, given how long he could talk about them). He had moved from down the road mostly because the new apartment was significantly cheaper, but the poor teacher was more unnerved about what was removed from the apartment living moreso than what was removed dead. Merlin hates spiders. So much so that he just kind shuttered, mumbled, and changed the subject immediately.
Subsequent dates told Arthur that Merlin only had a mother, who lived back in Ealdor, a small farm town a few hours away, and Will, a childhood friend that had moved to the city with him. Arthur in turn, told him about his father, whose judgment sometimes betrayed his good intentions, and Morgana, his twerp of a younger sister. While he would never admit it aloud in her presence, he loved her.
Another night, Merlin just knocked on the door to ask when Arthur was next free, and immediately invited himself in upon hearing X-Factor playing in the background. As he dropped on the couch, Arthur just accepted the impromptu date for what it was, rewinding to the beginning so Merlin could catch the opening performances. Before the end of the show, Merlin was slumped against Arthur's shoulder, asleep. Chuckling, Arthur saved the program (after all, two dates for one episode?) and wiggled out from underneath Merlin's deadweight. He pulled Merlin's lanky legs onto the couch and threw a blanket over him, retrieving a pillow from his own bed to tuck under Merlin's head. The brunet rolled over, smashing his face into the pillow, and mumbled thanks.
Smiling at the thought, Arthur squirmed on the couch, trying to figure out how Merlin, the taller of the two, could get comfortable enough to sleep here. Finally finding an acceptable position with both legs dangling off the edge, he grabbed the remote and turned on the television. Infested, that would certainly suffice.
Just as Arthur was about to fall asleep, he heard a blood-curdling scream from next door. Merlin! Arthur jolted awake, practically flinging himself upright before he realized what was happening. Before he gave the situation any conscious thought, he was out the door, socked feet thudding on the carpeted hallway the few steps to Merlin's room. Another yell sounded as glass broke, followed by a loud thump. Fear sunk low in Arthur's stomach as he dreaded the worst.
"Merlin!" Arthur flung the door open so hard it bounced back at him.
The faux wood coffee table was overturned, its contents spilled primarily against the capsized flat edge. Books laid open, pages creased and spines cracked, as childish watercolor paintings scattered around the room, sent swirling and fluttering by the overhead ceiling fan. A few unlit candles cracked upon impact with the carpeting, cheap wax crumbling into the fibers below, while a mug, once-full of green tea, survived, only ruining a copy of the morning paper and a whole box of tissues.
"Merlin?" Arthur called, creeping closer towards the couch. Distressed, shallow breathing answered him. "Merlin?" He followed around the back of the couch and found Merlin curled in an awkward ball, a trembling hand pressed against his chest, another wrapped around his head as he hyperventilated.
Dropping to his knees, Arthur scooted closer to Merlin and pulled him into his chest. "Merlin, Merlin, whatever happened it's okay. Just breathe." He rubbed small circles in his back and mumbled reassuring nothings. "Merlin, breathe. Come on, you've gotta try. In, out," Arthur pleaded, pulling the trembling man closer, emphasizing his own breathing, hoping his boyfriend would follow suit.
After a few minutes of breathing in sync, Merlin calmed down, his pulse slowing into a regular rhythm. His quivering fingers gripped at the back of Arthur's button-up, kneading the fabric in even measures. "Are you alright?"
Taking one more deep breath, Merlin wriggled out of Arthur's arms, looking wildly around the room. He focused on something and jolted into Arthur, startling the both of them. "Kill it, kill it, kill it, get rid of it I don't care I just don't want to see it!" Merlin cried, pointing at the large tarantula that calmly traversed the carpet a few feet away.
"Okay, Merlin, remember, breathe. Okay, breathe. I'll catch the spider with your mug, alright? But I need to get up, okay? Just sit here and breathe," Arthur comforted, gently easing himself out from behind Merlin, who immediately scurried over to press himself against the couch, drawing his knees to his chest.
Without much ceremony, Arthur grabbed Merlin's oversized Doctor Who mug, now evacuated of all liquid, and walked over to the spider, carefully plopping the ceramic piece on top of it. He looked back over at Merlin and smiled, gesturing at the mug.
"Put the dictionary on top of it, please," Merlin requested with a watery, grateful smile.
Though Arthur didn't think the spider could escape through its own effort, he obliged regardless, retrieving the dictionary (which was amongst the pile of upended books) and placing it on top of the mug. "Is that better?" Arthur asked, and Merlin nodded. There was an awkward pause before Arthur joined Merlin against the back of the couch. Pushing jokingly at Merlin's bent knees, Arthur chuckled, "You know, we need to talk about you not locking your door!"
Merlin barked a laugh, a few stress-induced tears trailing down the side of his face. "After all this…" He waved around the room. "That is what you're concerned about."
"You live in the city now. You can't just go around not locking your door," Arthur returned with a serious tone, a betraying smile. "You're not in Kansas anymore."
"I never lived in Kansas, prat!" Merlin knocked back into Arthur's knees.
"I know." Arthur's tone sobered.
They sat in silence for about a minute, Merlin fidgeting with his own clothing, casting distrustful glances in the spider's direction, while Arthur placed a steady hand on Merlin's thigh. "Can we go to yours? I don't like being in the same room as it…Could you take care of it in the morning? I mean, you didn't outright kill it and I don't think you're going to because you caught it with my mug – that I don't think I can ever use again, mind you – but if you're going to take it somewhere, it might as well be in the morning so you can actually see where you're putting it or we could take it to a pet store or something I mean it was probably one of Mrs. Godfrey's right?"
Arthur grinned and stood. "Yeah, come on. And it probably was. I'll drop it off at a pet shop tomorrow before work, I suppose."
Merlin stuck his hand up at Arthur, and despite his eye roll, Arthur grabbed it and hauled Merlin to his feet. "Thanks, Arthur…"
"No, no, none of that. Now go get yourself a change of clothes and a toothbrush and whatnot." Arthur waved him off.
Obviously still a little shaken from the whole affair, Merlin slowly made his way to his bedroom and turned on the light, carefully scanning everything before taking a step inside. He would not be taken by surprise by another spider. Nope. As Merlin collected his clothing, Arthur righted the coffee table and started stacking the objects back on top of it to the best of his memory, tossing the pillows back in their rightful place.
He was looking at the poor, shattered floor lamp when Merlin wandered back into the room, carrying his toothbrush and deodorant, pillowed by his unfolded ball of clothing. "Yeah, I didn't know where to put that yet…I guess at least this way, I've got no choice?" Merlin shrugged, grabbing the leather bag he typically took to school.
Eyes crinkling fondly, Arthur wrapped an arm around Merlin's shoulders and led him out of the apartment (this time making sure that Merlin bothered locking the door) and into his own. Upon entering, Arthur glanced at his television, which he had neglected to turn off with all the excitement, and grimaced. Infested was still playing, and the shot depicted a sea of spiders. Scrambling for the remote, Arthur flipped the channel over to anything but that, landing on the shopping network. Well, he did say anything. Giving up, Arthur just clicked the television off, thankful that Merlin didn't seem to have seen anything. "Uhh, you can put your clothes, uh, where ever?" Merlin did just that, dropping them on the nearest end table, and rubbed the back of his head absentmindedly.
"Did you hurt yourself at all?" Arthur asked, noticing Merlin's pallor for the first time in the light of his own flat.
"No, I, uh, well, might have smacked my head when I fell off the couch…" he admitted, weakly chuckling.
Shaking his head, Arthur approached, backing Merlin into one of the tables. "Are you okay?"
"I –uh, yeah. I've had concussions before. This definitely isn't one. Just a bit of a bruise, I'm sure. This was pretty impressive even for me. I just saw it crawling around on the floor, and I kind of just flipped and knocked my table over and scrambled over the couch, only to fall and knock my lamp over." Merlin laughed at himself as Arthur frowned. "I'm just really tired…"
Arthur looked at his couch and said, "Oh, well, if you want me to leave you alone, I could just—"
"No, uh, I don't mean…Could I sleep with you tonight?" he stammered, looking at his own feet. "Don't flatter yourself. I mean, if my flat is susceptible to spiders, I don't see why yours wouldn't be, but if we're sleeping in the same place, maybe they'll go after you instead what with your…" Merlin trailed off, depicting Arthur's wider frame against his own thin body with his hands.
Arthur scoffed in mock offense, "Are you calling me fat?"
"Maybe…" Merlin smiled coyly before bursting out into laughter. "Okay, yeah, no I don't have anything. Just try not to suffocate me in the night."
"Who even said you could sleep with me in my bed?" Arthur asked, furrowing his eyebrows together in his best impression of annoyance.
Merlin openly laughed, his eyes twinkling. "You did, with that stupid face of yours."
"My face said no such thing!" Arthur protested, and Merlin merely hummed his disagreement, grabbing his things and bounding off towards Arthur's bedroom. Of course he had no choice but to follow. "Merlin," Arthur grumbled as he trotted into the attached bathroom. By the time it had taken Arthur to follow him, Merlin had already created a nest of his things on the sink, and was facing him with that stupid, toothy smirk. "Fine, I'll show you what my face says," Arthur grumbled as he leaned in, ghosting a soft peck along Merlin's lips.
"Does you face always say such nice things?" Merlin's voice was low in Arthur's ear.
Kissing him again, Arthur muttered, "I think you know me well enough to know that it doesn't."
"I think I know you well enough to say that it does." Merlin grinned and pulled Arthur in close for another kiss.
"Cheeky idiot—"
"Supercilious prat—"
The two busted up laughing and separated, giving the other space for when they inevitably doubled over half-laughing, half-sobbing. As the laughter died down, Merlin wiped a few stray tears from his eyes and said, "No, but I wasn't joking when I said I was tired."
Arthur chuckled for the last time, and the two of them set off on their nightly rituals. Giving Merlin the bathroom first, Arthur set off to grab a few glasses of water for the nightstands on either side of the bed. He stared at his dresser, unsure of whether or not to retrieve one of his two neglected pairs of pajamas. Would that be too strange? Arthur wondered as he unbuttoned his shirt and loosened his belt.
Merlin chose that moment to kick the door open, revealing himself in an oversized T-shirt and a baggy pair of striped bottoms, a toothbrush scrubbing away the day's indulgences. "Do you mind if I…?" the blond asked as he pulled at his own shirt.
Waving flippantly, Merlin turned to spit. "It's fine, I don't really care," he confirmed after rinsing his mouth thoroughly. Thankful, Arthur made quick work of his clothes, kicking them over into a pile by the dresser, until he was left in nothing but his boxers. When Merlin turned around to give his boyfriend bathroom space, he snorted. "Your little swimmers are holding your little swimmers!"
Looking down, Arthur noticed the dozens of small, cartoonish fish that adorned his remaining article of clothing. "I'm so done with you," Arthur sighed, rubbing his temples with one hand as he shooed Merlin out of the bathroom.
After Arthur had brushed his teeth (and Arthur had effectively made Merlin "scoot his caboose" — as helpfully supplied by the teacher — when he had laid on his side of the bed), the two set their alarms and settled into bed in the dark room. The couple squirmed in silence before Merlin completely gave up and slid against Arthur, curling into his chest's warmth. "Are you scared of anything, Arthur?"
"Yeah," he began, wrapping an arm around the other man. "Horror movies scare the crap out of me. They always give me nightmares…It was really bad when I was a kid, like wet the bed kind of bad, but I still don't really like them."
Merlin chuckled into Arthur's shoulder. "You've gotten off with the wrong person then…I can fall asleep to horror podcasts, screaming and all. No sleep troubles."
"Maybe it's perfect then," Arthur mumbled into Merlin's hair, eyes drooping slightly.
"Yeah…maybe. I don't know. I know it's an irrational fear…but whenever it happens, I just can't stop it…I'm really scared for the day it happens around the kids…They don't need that kind of example, you know? Like I know I'm overreacting, but I just can't stop it. And it's completely stupid. I grew up in the country. It's not like I've never ever seen spiders before in my life. They didn't scare me at all when I was a kid, but I just remember I was unpacking some produce for a farmer's market. A whole swarm of them bounded up my arm when I disturbed their home, and they just crawled and writhed under my clothing. I can still feel them on my skin." Merlin shuddered, and Arthur pulled him in closer. "I mean, they weren't poisonous, but they just bit me over and over and over again as I was flailing and smashing them between my clothing. A few of the bites infected…it just wasn't much fun at all. They'd even come for me in my dreams every night thereafter for months. And then I couldn't just work outside anymore. I didn't fit in. I was totally useless, and they mocked me for it. So I kind of just moved out here in the city, figuring there were fewer for me to come across."
Arthur huffed, "It's alright, Merlin. I get it. Besides, trust me when I say I know it's completely irrational from some grown man to be terrified at the thought of literally any B-list horror movie in the existence of time, but I'll be damned if they don't make me wake up in a cold sweat."
"Yeah, it just makes me feel so stupid, you know? And then there's just this anxiety because you just don't want to mess everything up. So not only are you absolutely terrified, but you don't want to endure people mocking you or thinking any differently…"
"Yeah…And I've had to decline more than a fair share of movie invites…Or those haunted houses? October is just the worst possible month for socialization, and I never wanted my friends to think I was a coward for always making excuses, but I knew if I actually went, they'd see me like that…"
Merlin snorted, "That or they'd all be too busy pissing their own pants to notice you'd just soiled yours." He paused for a moment, "Sorry that's not funny, but it's true. Haunted houses can still get to even us idiots who've worked them!"
"You worked in a haunted house, Merlin?"
"Hah, yeah, corn mazes? Countryside? Halloween was the best time of the year…" Merlin trailed off. As the conversation died out, Merlin sighed. "Thanks Arthur."
"No problem. Now go to sleep," Arthur murmured, kissing Merlin's forehead before drifting off himself.
"Goodnight, Arthur."
Arthur did not understand how he came to this, but he was currently sitting in his office with a tarantula terrarium on his desk. Somehow, when he had broached the matter of giving the spider to the pet store, the employee had talked him into buying all the necessary amenities and caring for the arachnid himself. Though the businessman could appreciate that sort of tact (surely the company had profited by selling him the supplies moreso than it would have had they just accepted the spider and sold it), he wasn't sure about this whole proud-tarantula-owner thing. Not only did this new role of tarantula owner conflict with his fledgling relationship with Merlin, but it might also put several of his employees on edge.
The spider wasn't terribly boring. Just watching it skulk around the tank was fascinating in itself, and Arthur was afraid he was starting to revere the creature as "cute" every time it looked up at him with those beady little eyes. That and it didn't help that the spider apparently enjoyed being handled (which, given Mrs. Godfrey, Arthur was not surprised). Once it had gotten over the general anger of being confined in a mug for hours on end, it went straight for the shopkeeper's hand and just sat there like it belonged. Arthur had even handled it (with extreme caution because the man told him that dropping the tarantula from any sort of height could possibly kill it), and that was probably the second he was sold on the thought.
Unfortunately, the tarantula seemed to be a deterrent to everyone but Morgana, who loved the darned thing at first sight, spending ten minutes sitting in one of his chairs, cooing at the thing with her face hovering close to the Plexiglas. Of course witches like spiders… She didn't even seem to question just why he had chosen this new pet, and finally laid off the whole "so who are you talking to that's making you smile like that" thing, which was definitely refreshing (though the sound of Morgana cooing at anything was the stuff of nightmares). She had insisted that it needed a name, and Arthur decided on the oh-so-original "Terry the Tarantula". Morgana gave him a strange look and rolled her eyes, saying that a cool spider should have a cool name like Vladamir (after which point she left the office cackling in an obvious attempt to unsettle her brother). Arthur, being the sane person he is, spent the next ten minutes assuring Terry that he should never ever listen to a word his sister says (except the ones that include Terry being freaking adorable because those were 100% true).
Sighing, Arthur set to work, trying to figure out how to tell Merlin about this new development.
A/n: I hope you enjoyed this installment! The next chapter is complete and will be posted tomorrow, December 17th. As owed to Sarah, there will be smut.
As always, don't forget to leave a review and add this story to your favorites. If you don't want to miss an addition to this storyline, don't forget to give me an author alert!
- gecko