Merlin blinked his eyes open, he never knew when he fell asleep, all he could remember was what happened with Mordred last night. He remained in his bed, not moving, for fear of him coming back and god only knows what he'd do, when Merlin was satisfied that Mordred was gone or asleep, he quietly tip toed out of bed, navigated his way around the broken lamp and slowly opened the door. When he looked outside his door, everything was destroyed, plates shattered along the floor, curtains torn down and the TV lying broken on the floor from Mordred's rage. Merlin turned to his door to see the damage Mordred did to it by throwing his bowl at it he saw there to be a massive dent and parts where it shattered. He stepped over the broken pieces of plates, hoping to find a dust pan and broom to clean it up, he looked around in the laundry cupboard where they kept their vacuum and other cleaning appliances and didn't see the broom there, he turned around to see if Mordred had used it himself, but it was placed on top of the table. Merlin carefully walked over to it, thinking it was a trap and Mordred was going to jump out and beat him to a bloody pulp, but when he reached the dust pan and broom, no Mordred jumped out, only a note was left on top of the pan; 'Clean up your mess.' usually Merlin would scoff and joke about it when Mordred come home, but after seeing that new side to him, Merlin thought best to not anger him, so he quickly and quietly picked up the bush, cleaned away the ruined plates, cleared away the fragments of the TV, he picked up the ripped curtains, he tried to see if they'd stay on the rail but no luck, Merlin piled them with the broken TV, hoping Mordred wouldn't mind.
When he was done, Merlin walked into his room and shut the door, he cleared away the broken lamp, once he was done he sat at his desk, he didn't have any plans for the day and was too afraid to sit in the living room so he just sat there. He went over some work but he couldn't focus so he decided to read a book in bed, in the past Merlin would creep into Mordred's room and play on his PS3 for a little while, he never changed games so usually he ended up playing racing games or GTA but he didn't mind, it was an amazing luxury to be even near a working game system let alone play one. But now Merlin didn't think he could go anywhere near Mordred, he'd seem him angry but yesterday, that was something else, he looked like his was going to kill Merlin, a quiet vibrating brought Merlin's thoughts away from Mordred, he reached for the phone on the desk, he was hoping Morgana or Gwen was free and they could meet up or do something, anything which would get him away all this.
'Hey' the text message said, from an unknown number, Merlin looked at the number, trying to see if he remembered it, maybe his phone had again deleted one of his contacts
'hey, sorry who is this?' Merlin asked the stranger
'Cenred, Morgana gave me your number' Merlin rolled his eyes, of course Morgana would give his number out to someone, Merlin just left his phone, not really wanting to speak to someone he didn't know
'So, what you up to?' Cenred asked, trying to keep the conversation alive
'Nothing much, just looking over some work, you?' As Merlin was putting down his phone down, he vibrated again
'Just was working out, thought I'd send you a text' Merlin would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit more interested with talking with this Cenred
'Oh wow' Merlin looked the message he sent, he was trying to try and be chatty but he had no idea how to thankfully Cenred picked up the slack
'So I was thinking, maybe we could go for a drink sometime?' Merlin looked at the message then looked at it again, someone had asked him out on a date! Merlin smiled to himself, passing thoughts of Mordred flew through his mind, what if he found out he went on date with someone? Would he do what he did? Or something worse? Merlin pushed those thoughts away, how was he to find out, Merlin was sitting there thinking about what to say back to Cenred when he got another text, only this one had a picture attached
'Silly face!' Cenred was pulling a semi funny face, but the thing was a photo of him, shirtless and sweating. Merlin got a little hot under the collar seeing that picture, maybe that sealed the deal for Merlin as he sent a text back
'Sure, I'd love to go on a date! But I'm a little busy with some work right now, so I'll text you when I'm free :)' Merlin debated whether sending a kiss or something but he thought that might be a bit too much
'That seems great, see you soon cutie :)' Merlin smiled to himself, maybe not all aspects of his life were going to shit. He got up from his bed and walked around a little more, not entirely sure what to do with himself, he thought about going for a walk, but he wasn't sure where but he needed to get out, so he slipped on his clothes from yesterday, before he left though he looked under his bed and brought out a box. Inside was a bunch of random photos but he had one in particular which he always looked at whenever he felt the world was really getting to him, he kept digging till he found what he was looking for, a picture of his mum and dad. They both were smiling and hugging, it was of their tenth wedding anniversary, Merlin rubbed his thumb over a spec of dust which had fallen over his mothers face, again the tears begun to prick his eyes so he quickly hid the picture and the box and then walked out of the flat before Mordred could come home.
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He walked around the local park, the swing sets creaking under the strain of happy children, the slide whistling down the children, Merlin looked around to see the children running around with their parents, or swinging on their hands or being hoisted up on their shoulders. Merlin felt like he was a bad choice in coming to the park, seeing all those children with their happy parents he wished he could see his parents, but he couldn't, so he decided to walker faster away from the smiling families as they brought more tears, and right now he didn't need to be crying in park.
He happened upon a large oak tree which had a bench underneath, he walked around the tree, dragging his hand over the bark, smiling a little, being this close to nature always brought his mood up a little even if it was for a moment. He saw a gigantic lake and decided to sit under the tree, there were families gathered around but not as many as earlier, they were all sitting down to eat lunch, Merlin's own stomach grumbled but he ignored it, he didn't have any money to spend to buy something and he couldn't go back to the flat to get something, fearing if Mordred would be home 'I need to leave' he thought to himself, he couldn't keep living like this but another thought crossed his mind, If he can't afford a sandwich, how the hell can he afford to live alone in London? He tried so hard to think of something he could do to escape Mordred 'I could stay with Gwen or Morgana' he thought, but he immediately shot down those ideas as Gwen doesn't have loads of money anyway and he had no idea what Morgana's living conditions were like. He just sat, staring at the tree leaves blowing gently in the wind accepting that he had to stay with Mordred for now, and hated his life more so, he didn't even notice the blond haired man come and sit down on the bench just to the side of Merlin.
The man's phone rung, Merlin wasn't for one listening to other people's conversations but the man's voice lured him in "Hello?" he answered, ripping open packet his sandwich was in "He what? Of for fucks sake! Tell him I'll be there soon. Well I'm on my break right now, trying to eat some fucking food" Merlin eyed up his left over sandwich, it could have been pickles and chocolate spread and he would have eaten it due to his hunger "Alright, alright, for gods sake, let me finish my lunch and I'll be there" he hung up his phone, mumbling 'twat' when he turned to the lake in front of him, he felt eyes on his back so the Blonde man turned to see Merlin staring at his sandwich, he waved at Merlin breaking him out of his sandwich induced trace, Merlin's face went bright red. Merlin turned away and hid his face in his hands, the blonde man laughed "Come over here, no need to hide" Merlin looked up to see the man had moved over and was gesturing to where he was sitting, Merlin didn't move at all, until he saw the man not breaking on trying to get him over, Merlin eventually broke and sat down "Sorry" he said, looking down at his feet, not wanting to look at the blond man
"I'm Arthur" Arthur offered his hand to Merlin and grinned at him, Merlin lifted his head up and grabbed Arthur hand, smiling back. Arthur just froze, taken in by Merlin's face and body, he didn't really get a chance to look at the man when was on the floor but now, he couldn't believe someone could exist who looked so perfect, he thought he had been hit by a bus and was sitting on a bench in heaven, because what sitting next to him was surely an angel "Hello?" Arthur shook his head
"Sorry what?" He said, blushing that he was enchanted by this man
"I said I'm Merlin" Merlin laughed and god Arthur loved hearing that noise and just sat there dumbfounded
"So who was that on the phone?" Merlin questioned, his smile growing on his face
"It was Leon" Arthur said before he realised what he said, Merlin laughed again, this man was going to be the end of him, Arthur thought
"Am I supposed to know who Leon is?' Merlin teased
"Sorry he's my friend who I work with, at Pendragon industries"
"Wow, check out the big business guy" Merlin said, looking back out to the lake
"What do you do Merlin?" Arthur said, leaving his food, and instead reaching for his drink
"I'm at university, studying history, I love it"
"Nerd" Arthur said taking a sip with a smirk
"Dork" Merlin retorted, Arthur laughed, he opened his mouth to ask Merlin another question, but his phone started ringing again, he sighed and reached to hang up, knowing already who was on the other end
"Well I wish I could get to know you a bit more but the 'wife' is calling" Merlin laughed at Arthur's joke "You want the rest of my sandwich?" Arthur offered Merlin, standing up to get moving
"I'm okay thanks" Merlin said, looking at the sandwich, Arthur laughed
"Its okay, I don't have any diseases" Arthur said, picking up his drink and laughing again, Merlin went to argue with Arthur but his stomach argued, grumbling at the thought of food being passed up, Arthur pushed the food towards him "I can't" Merlin said feeling worse, accepting leftovers from someone he'd only just met Arthur saw the pain on Merlin's face and realished what it meant if Merlin accepted the sandwich, he knew Merlin was hungry, but he couldn't force it down the man's throat. Arthur picked up the sandwich and threw it in the bin along with his empty drink bottle
"Thank you for offering though" Merlin smiled Arthur wished he could help this guy, he seemed nice enough but again he couldn't force the man to eat
"Hopefully I'll see you around Merlin" Arthur turned to leave
"Wait!" Merlin shouted to the man, Arthur walked back, Merlin was taking his phone out of his pocket "Could I have your number?" Merlin ask, blushing, Arthur grinned at Merlin and typed his number into the phone and leaving the phone on the bench, walking off again waving at Merlin
"Nice to meeting you Merlin!"
"Same to you Arthur!" He shook his head at Arthur wondering why he left his phone on the bench rather than handing it back to him, until he saw a tenner on top
"Hey!" Merlin called but Arthur had already left, he hoped he'd see Arthur again, Arthur seemed so easy to get along with, he seemed nice and kind, well he just gave him some money to buy some food, he felt bad inside just like with the sandwich but Merlin told himself that Arthur had dropped it, it made him feel a little better about buying some lunch with the money. He begun walking in the direction of a shop he walked by earlier, Merlin was glad he wasn't the person Arthur was pissed off with
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Merlin opened up the door to his flat and shouted "I'm ho-" he clasped a hand over his mouth, remembering Mordred could be home, Merlin took some deep breaths, worried if Mordred had heard him it seemed some higher power was against him as Mordred rounded the corner from the kitchen, he didn't even say anything to Merlin, gesturing him to follow him into the kitchen. Merlin was nervous to say the least, he was terrified of Mordred and now he was heading with him into a room with knives inside, he gulped but followed anyway, when he walked in, he saw the kitchen in a state, stains on the counters and dirty dishes in the sink
"What's this" Mordred said coldly
"I'm not s-sure" Merlin said, bracing himself for anything
"Look at this fucking mess Merlin, look at the living room, go on look" Merlin turned his head to see the destroyed TV on the floor again, the curtains further ripped up and all over the living room and now it seemed someone had emptied the bin all over the floor. Merlin turned to Mordred who was fuming "I left you a note Merlin, did you not fucking read it? It said that when I come back Merlin, all your mess be cleaned up" Mordred squared up to him, staring at him, when Merlin looked away, Mordred grabbed his jaw and pulled him to look at him "Didn't I Merlin" Merlin prepared for the punch or slap about to head his way but felt nothing, only Mordred's teeth close to his ear "Clean. It. Up." Merlin shivered at the closeness and coldness of Mordred but didn't move, Mordred grabbed him by his shirt, tearing the fabric a little "Did I fucking stutter?" Merlin shook his head violently and ran to the cupboard and brought out the cleaning supplies, he quickly bent over and begun to clean the flat. He heard Mordred pull a chair out and watched him Merlin turned to him with tears in his eyes
"Please, don-" Mordred slapped Merlin across the face making him fall to the floor
"I'm done hearing your excuses Merlin" Mordred pushed Merlin down onto the floor with his foot, Merlin quickly picked up the dust pan and broom, sweeping up the mess from the bin "Get under the sofa Merlin, don't half arse it" Merlin stretched out to get underneath it, he felt Mordred's eyes on his arse, watching his whole body 'He's watching me clean up the mess, Oh god I feel so dirty' Merlin thought to himself, he willed away the tears, but they dropped anyway falling onto the carpet, he went around clearing up the mess Mordred created, hoping it would be over soon, once he was done, he turned to Mordred to see him staring at Merlin with a hard on
"Out." Mordred said, grunting to him, Merlin ran from the living room and into his room, he shut the door and dived into his bed, wrapping the covers around his shaking form, he heard Mordred shuffle past his door, he wrapped the covers around him move, worried he'd walk in, but he just walked straight into his room, shutting the door there and turning the TV up very loudly, Merlin felt comfortable with crying into his pillow and slipped into a broken sleep, unaware of the texts Cenred was sending him
'Who was that blonde you were with today?', 'Are you seeing someone?', 'Don't fucking lie to me', 'Merlin you're pissing me off you shit'.
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Mordred turned up the TV even further rubbing himself on his bed, Jesus seeing Merlin clean up the living room was hot but what was even more sexy was seeing his face covered in tears, even for Mordred he felt there something wrong with him but the body wants what the body wants. Mordred went over to his dresser and fished around for a shirt of Merlin's he stole earlier, he pulled it out, sniffing it, Mordred smirked he knew he could finish when he's surrounded by his scent. Just as he's about to start, his phone rings, its his friend Jake, annoyed he picks up his phone "What?" Mordred growls
"Woah, calm down tiger, annoyed I ruined your evening with Merlin?" Jake laughed on the other end of the phone, while Mordred grinned
"No you didn't ruin nothing, but don't ring again after tonight, I got some big plans for my Merlin" Mordred put down the phone, inhaling his favourite smell