The Sorcerer's Knight
The thing is, being a knight? Totally overrated.
It was nothing but a long string of patrols and duties and training in the grounds under Arthur's unending complains and too little tavern time, if you asked Gwaine. Not that people generally did.
It also didn't help that for all that Gwaine had seen time and time again how noble and good Arthur could be; he was still, as Merlin put it, a total prat. They'd spend hours every day slaving away with unending drills, and while Leon was their captain – being both a knight longer than anyone else, including Arthur, and being much better in tactics and plans then the rest of them – it was Lancelot that Arthur praised to the skies. Honestly, it was as if the man could do nothing wrong. It would have been bad enough to have to spend long hours sweating inside an armor, but it was ten thousand times worse when he had to keep hearing how Lancelot was a model knight, how he was a skilled fighter, how he was the best Arthur had ever trained – and even the many times that Gwaine had bested Lancelot meant nothing for their Prince Regent, because every nice word he had was for Lancelot.
Not that he cared that much about Arthur's approval, but it would've been nice to have some sort of encouragement when there was nothing that he wanted more than running away to drink and whore his life out. Honestly, he didn't even know why he had stayed.
Well, right, that was a lie. He knew very well why he had stayed, and it had had nothing to do with Arthur in the end – but with someone else, that seemed to glow with pride every time that Arthur praised Lancelot; which, honestly, was just rubbing salt to the wound.
He wasn't that good.
So, of course, Gwaine was in a rather shitty mood when Merlin met him in the armory, hours after the training had finished. While there was no feast, Arthur tended to share his knights meals, and it had been just another long string of praises towards Lancelot that had left Gwaine ready to beat something dead – or, at least, get his things ready to beat something dead.
He had been working on a particularly ugly moss in his breastplate when the servant came in, bringing Arthur's armor with him. Gwaine barely looked at him before going back to hammering the thing back into place.
"Whoa" Merlin said, surprised at his vehemence. "Is everything alright?"
"Perfect" Gwaine replied his voice clipped. "Just like your friend Lancelot."
That made Merlin frown, looking at the knight wearily.
"Did the two of you fight?" he asked, finally, and Gwaine snorted.
"What is there to fight about? Have you ever seen Lancelot giving anyone a reason to be upset?"
"No" Merlin shook his head. "No, he would never."
"So you have it" Gwaine gave the plate another loud hit. "No fighting Lancelot."
"Why are you so upset?" the man seemed at loss with his behavior. "You're upset Lancelot doesn't give you reasons to get upset? You're upset that he's, like, the nicest person I've ever met?"
Gwaine just threw his hammer away.
"Yes, Merlin, he's perfect" he said, his teeth greeted. "Now kindly let me and my temper alone."
But instead of moving away, Merlin moved closer, staring at him softly.
"It's because of Arthur, isn't it?" he said, putting the things he had been carrying down. "Because he's always going on and on about Lancelot."
"I don't care about Arthur" Gwaine grumbled, moving to put his plate away.
"Sure you don't" Merlin agreed, a smile in his voice. "That's why you're like that."
"It's like…" Gwaine threw his hands up in exasperation. "Lancelot can't do anything wrong."
Merlin snorted, and tilted his head.
"You've got to understand that…" he sighed, shaking his head. "This thing with Lancelot? It goes back years. I mean… Lancelot was Arthur's first knight – truly, his first, the first one he chose. They just get each other. I mean, even when Arthur found out that Lancelot had lied and that he wasn't a noble – that was my fault, by the way – he didn't get angry with him; he got angry he couldn't keep him among his knights. He fought Uther about it, really, and wouldn't have stopped if Lancelot hadn't decided to leave – and Lancelot did it because he didn't want to be a cause of problems between them, so, really, Lancelot was the first knight Arthur ever chose and it means a lot to have him here now…" Merlin had organized the armor while speaking, and Gwaine couldn't help but admire the crude efficiency of his movements while he spoke.
"And that is the reason he can do anything, including looking passionately at Gwen and Arthur's fine with that?"
The question made Merlin frown, and then he shrugged.
"Lancelot and Gwen…" he took a deep breath. "Well, that also goes back years – I mean, nothing had happened, I don't think, but Lancelot did fall for her long before Arthur did – as soon as he came to Camelot for the first time, really. I don't think Arthur even noticed her then, so…"
"… Probably Lancelot is the only reason Arthur finds Gwen so attractive" Gwaine replied, his voice full of mockery and it made Merlin flinch.
"Now, that's…" he seemed at loss for words. "Not fair."
Gwaine felt his shoulders dropping, his anger gone and leaving hollowness instead.
"I know" he said, sighing. "It's just… You all think the world of him – and I knew… I just can't be that sort of man."
That made Merlin look up and straight at Gwaine's bent head.
"You already are" his friend said, his voice soft, and his hand came to rest on Gwaine's arm. "Not like Lancelot, of course, but in your own way; you're the same sort of man – inside."
Gwaine snorted, shaking his head.
"Thank you, Merlin."
"But you are" the servant insisted, tugging at his sleeve. "Look… Listen…" he took a deep breath as if getting ready to speak, and Gwaine wanted to tell him to stop it, that he didn't need to try and make him feel better, but the words got stuck in his throat as Merlin looked into his eyes. "You are. Every time you needed help, you came – even when Arthur didn't want you to – I mean… Arthur could always count on you – I could always count on you. Lancelot…" he looked away, pushing the breath out of his lungs quickly. "He left – again and again – because he didn't want to cause trouble to anyone, but you, you came back again and again even knowing it would get you in trouble – and you stayed even if you never wanted this" he gestured wildly to the castle and everything it entailed.
Gwaine couldn't disagree with his words, and it made his heart ache in his chest in weird ways that he knew he shouldn't encourage as Merlin stopped pulling at his sleeve and took a step back, his head bent, seeming to have ran out of things to say.
"For what it is worth…" he said, taking another deep breath, as if he needed it. "For what it is worth, Lancelot might have been Arthur's first knight, his first choice… But you were mine."
As he finished the sentence, Merlin looked at Gwaine through under his eyelashes and it was just too much – he was nothing but a mere man, he couldn't possibly stop himself, not with Merlin speaking like that and looking at him like that, and his legs had already brought them closer, his hands were already clutching at Merlin's shoulders and his mouth was already meeting Merlin's before he could think about what he was doing.
It didn't last – not much, at least, as Merlin let out a surprised gasped, and Gwaine licked into his plump lips before his mind caught up with his body and he let go of the other man.
"I'm sorry" he said, his voice rough with emotion. "I shouldn't…"
But Gwaine never managed to finish his sentence, because Merlin was upon him, all the precise movements from earlier being replaced by a flurry of limbs that worked in disarray to push him against the column behind, a hand in his arm and another in his hair as Merlin leaned down and dived, kissing him back.
On the few times he had allowed himself to think about it, Gwaine imagined that Merlin would be shy, that he'd have to steal kisses and touched from the servant while he blushed and stuttered, until he'd beg and plead for more – but reality was nothing like it. Merlin kissed him thoroughly, kissed him fiercely, hands tangled into Gwaine's hair, his tongue sliding through the knight's lips and tongue non-stop; he didn't brush his lips against Gwaine's, he ran his lower lip against his friend's mouth, feeling all of it, demanding all of it and it would've been impossible for Gwaine not to bite Merlin's plump lower lip.
That made the servant gasp, and Gwaine stopped, wondering if he had gone too far, but Merlin's eyes were dark with lust as he moved back, kissing him again, pulling his head to the side and sliding his face against Gwaine's stubbly cheek. The slimmer man gasped as he felt it, and Gwaine ran his chin through Merlin's partially covered neck while his fingers undid the knot in the back. The piece of cloth slid away, and finally he could kiss and bite the expense of skin that he had dreamed about so often; Merlin moaning and sighing under his attentions.
It did shock him the way Merlin reacted once he kissed him again, cupping Gwaine through his trousers and giving his hard cock a squeeze before undoing his laces. It had been more than he could've dreamed, until he saw the way Merlin didn't look at him as he parted and fell into his knees, ready to pleasure him. It felt strange.
"Stop" Gwaine asked, and Merlin raised his eyes with a question, but there was something dull in them. "You don't have to…"
"Don't you want me to?" he asked and his breath touched Gwaine's sensitive skin. His hips stuttered automatically, and he felt Merlin's partially open lips touching his prick. He took a deep breath, swaying himself further away to resist.
"The real question is if you want to" he said, fighting every instinct to just bring the other man closer.
Merlin didn't answer, and Gwaine felt something inside him die as he manhandled the other man up.
"You don't have to do any of this" he said, gesturing wildly and incredibly conscious of how his unspent prick was slowly deflating. "You don't… Just because I want you, that's not…"
"I want you" Merlin confessed, his voice small, his eyes still not meeting Gwaine's. "Always did."
"Gods, Merlin" Gwaine moaned and the other man flinched.
"I want… I can…" he seemed at loss, and the blushing that Gwaine had been expecting before came around now. "I don't mind being the girl."
Gwaine would've laughed at such an innocent statement if he had heard it from someone else; but it was Merlin and his innocence was as touching as it was a prize. The knight just shook his head, mildly exasperated, kissing him again before replying.
"There's no girl here" he said, holding Merlin close. "We're both men, and anything we do, we'll do like men."
"But…" Merlin started, and Gwaine ignored his words as he kneeled, raising Merlin's shirt and kissing every bit of skin he could find; every last inch, licking around his bellybutton and biting his hips, and they buckled up putting Merlin's hard cock in contact with Gwaine's stretched neck. The knight nuzzled into it for a moment before moving up, his tongue circling Merlin's exposed nipples, feeling the movement of his ribs and he gasped.
"There's no girl" he repeated, moving back down and opening his friend's breeches, freeing his swollen cock and running his lower lip through its length. Merlin shuddered at the touch, but as Gwaine looked up at him, he nodded, understanding. Gwaine wasted no time, opening his mouth to welcome Merlin's prick, hard and leaking, filling his mouth with a bitter and salty taste as he moved his head to the side and back, taking more of it as he moved. Merlin moaned and Gwaine moved to cup his arse.
He kept on sucking as much as he could, trying to find out what was better for the other man, and as he saw Merlin's clenched fists, he held his wrists and moved his hands up towards his hair, letting go of the servant's cock for just one moment.
"Guide me" he whispered, licking the tip once again and swirling his tongue around the head. Merlin moaned louder, and for a split of second Gwaine wondered if someone else would hear; but he couldn't care less. He squeezed Merlin's hand where it rested on his hair, and soon enough the other man was using it as leverage, pulling his closer and buckling up as he sucked, allowing Gwaine to grab his now exposed buttocks and to cups his balls. It made the servant moan louder, and Gwaine took his right hand off Merlin, moving to collect some of the pre-cum that was leaking from his re-hardened cock before toying with Merlin's hole.
He moved carefully as he fingered around it, teasing, trying to move in sync with his mouth, which was harder than it seemed. Slowly, he pushed the tip of his middle-finger inside and heard Merlin's pleasured gasp and the way he moved chasing the feeling, pulling himself out of Gwaine's mouth.
"Too much?" the man asked, looking up, and Merlin's face was completely flushed.
"Too little" he replied, with wrecked smile. "I want more."
"I'd need… Oil or…" Gwaine didn't manage to finish his sentence before Merlin interrupted him, his voice low and commanding.
"Just do it!"
It made something tremble inside him, listening to Merlin ordering him around, so Gwaine merely nodded and worked another finger inside. Merlin's cock pulsed, smearing his face, and the servant used his hair to push it back towards his lips. Gwaine was only too happy to comply, sucking greedily as his fingers moved up, searching until he hit the spot that made his friend let out a yelp and clutch him – hands and cheeks together and he was coming inside Gwaine's mouth, the knights face still turned up at his as Merlin looked at him unseeing, his lips parted and swollen, his cheeks flaming red and his eyes shining gold and it was Gwaine's turn to gasp at surprise and his whole body trembled with the sudden spark of pleasure that took hold of him and made him come untouched.
There were a few moments of stunned silence before Merlin spoke, and his voice was small, pleading, so unlike his earlier command that it killed anything Gwaine could've wanted to say.
"Don't tell Arthur."
The knight blinked, honestly surprised and a bit hurt that Merlin would even make such a request.
"I'd never…" he started, standing and feeling like he had been made a fool of.
"I know" Merlin agreed, sounding more like himself. He cupped Gwaine's face and pushed their foreheads together. "I know. It's just…" he sighed and shook his head. "I trust you with my life – but I had to ask."
The confession and the hopelessness disarmed Gwaine, and he could to nothing but to hold the other man close, cradling his face in his hands and giving him a chaste, loving kiss.
"I'm yours before I'm his" he answered, truthfully, even if it hurt him to be so open. "You never need to ask."
Merlin merely nodded, sighing and meeting his eyes with a teasing smile.
"My knight" he said, and Gwaine laughed.
"I'm no Lancelot, but…" he shrugged, but his mouth had a seducing smirk. "I can do things for you that he can't – like this."
That sent Merlin's face into a range of expressions – wide eyed, blushing, embarrassed and finally a bit sorry as he scratched his nape.
"Actually… Lancelot…"
"Don't tell me he got you first too" Gwaine said, his heart beating fast and trying to hold off his disappointment, and Merlin laughed.
"He knows" he said simply, shaking his head "About, you know…" he gestured towards his eyes as they shone golden again, and Gwaine's inside's got hot – he had never known he had a kink for magic users. "Me, being a sorcerer."
"Oh, that" the knight sighed in relief.
"The… other thing" Merlin said, blushing prettily. "That… That was just you."
Gwaine smiled, his heart warming and swelling as Merlin smiled too, soft and caring in a way he had never smiled to Gwaine before – a promise that he'd do so often again in the glint of his eye.
Maybe being a knight wasn't so overrated after all.