Notes: Hey there! It's been a while...

I'm so sorry.

Thank you for sticking around and enjoying this work!

This hasn't been beta-read, so let me know if there are too many mistakes.


Chapter 6

"Merlin?" Susan looked around when she entered the room and he wasn't there.

Reep left her side as soon as he saw Athena and the two dogs proceeded to greet each other. Susan chuckled and looked around one more time. No sign of Merlin.

"Merlin?" She called confused. She was pretty sure this was the time they'd agreed upon. Maybe something had come up… But he always let her know if something happened. Merlin was really considerate, and he wouldn't make her come all the way here if he couldn't be with her.

Susan sighed and turned to the dogs. "Athena, where's Merlin?"

The lab just looked at Susan, waggled her tail full of excitement then went back to biting Reep's ear. Susan rolled her eyes. "Thank you for the help."

She went to check Merlin's desk and his glasses were there and so was the Starfighter she gave him. There was also the picture of the New Year at Percival's when they assumed their relationship. It was a very corny picture, with all the agents and their significant others, like a normal family. Susan loved it.

She never thought she would have a family again. Not after Narnia and what happened to her siblings. She had conformed herself to a life alone, with no one by her side, only being haunted by the memory of her lost family.

Susan had been so wrong. Her family did not haunt her, they loved and forgave her, they were the most precious thing she ever had. And she wasn't alone. Not anymore, not when she had all the Kingsman.

The sound of the door opening caught her attention and she smiled when she saw Merlin. "There you are." She looked him up and down. "You're so casual. That's new."

Merlin chuckled, and Susan took the moment to appreciate him. She wasn't joking, she had never seen Merlin wearing jeans, for one. And heavens, that man filled a pair of jeans quite nicely. He was also wearing a long-sleeved black henley, that was perfectly tight in all the right places.

If she wasn't in love –and lust –with this man before, she sure as hell would be now.

"Well, it's Sunday." He shrugged.

"I've seen you on many Sundays, Merlin dearest, but never on a pair of jeans." She teased, then came closer. "I'm not complaining. You look fit."

Merlin rolled his eyes and embraced her waist, pulling her against him. "Let's not exaggerate."

"I assure you I speak nothing but the truth." She smiled up at him. "Now, I brought some food that we can put on the microwave…"

"Actually…" Merlin cut her gently. "I cooked for you."

Susan looked beyond shocked now. "You what?"

"This isn't the first time." He defended himself.

"It is not." She agreed. "But there were so few times that I learned to treasure them. You're a great cook."

"And you're back to exaggerating."

"Can you let me compliment you?" Susan laughed. "Difficult man!"

Merlin tried to look angry with her for a second, but failed miserably, because he had a smile that was almost splitting his face. "Stay put, I'll bring everything." He kissed her forehead.

But when he tried to step back she held him by the belt loops. "Is that what you call a kiss?" She teased.

Merlin narrowed his eyes at her, then put his hand to her nape and brought her mouth to his.

Now that was a kiss.

XxX

Alicia, Eggsy and Roxy stepped out of the pub. The cold wind hit them and Roxy snuggled deeper into her coat, it was already a bit late in the evening and they had a meeting the next day.

"Harry's gonna kill us all." Eggsy yawned.

"It'll be worth it." Alicia smirked. "Your face when I beat you at darts…"

"Oy, I let you win." He protested.

She snorted. "Keep telling yourself that, Unwin. I'm going. See you all tomorrow."

Alicia waved at them one last time before turning a corner. "Okay, spill it." Eggsy demanded, turning to Roxy.

"What?" She asked confused.

"What's going on between you and Alicia? Because you're weird."

"I'm weird?" Roxy was beyond shocked. "What do you mean?"

"She's treating you the same, but you jump every time she looks at you." Eggsy pointed out. "So… What happened?"

Roxy groaned and hid her face in her hands. "This is embarrassing."

"Why?" Eggsy asked confused.

Roxy looked at him for a second, doubt very clear on her face. Then she sighed. "We kissed." She admitted.

Eggsy's eyes rounded in surprise. "You kissed Alicia? When?"

"A few months ago." She hid her face again. "Oh lord, this is so…"

"Hot." Eggsy spoke at once. "Like fucking hot. I mean, this is…" He stopped once he saw the look Roxy was giving him.

Eggsy gave an embarrassed kind of chuckle. "I'm sorry, love, but I'm still just a bloke. No way I won't find this hot."

Roxy slapped him on the back of the head. "Not funny." She sighed. "I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean? I thought you were cool."

"We are. Kind of. I think." Roxy groaned. "We talked and we were cool, but now I…"

Eggsy arched a brow. "Oh, you want another taste of that caramel."

Roxy glared at her best friend. "Do you want me to hit you again?"

"You're not denying it." Eggsy indicated.

"Eggsy…" She sighed one more time. She seemed to be doing this a lot tonight. "Look, I suck at relationships. I always mess it up. I don't want to do that with Alicia, she's a good friend and a coworker."

"Hey." Eggsy touched Roxy's chin and made her look at him. "You don't mess up relationships. This isn't how it works, it takes two. Unless the other person is a complete arsehole and psychopath, then it only takes one, but you get what I'm saying."

Roxy chuckled. "Yes, I get. Thank you, Eggsy."

"I'm just saying, love." He grinned at her. "Maybe this is what we always heard about, how it's difficult to be with someone from the outside. Well, Alicia is in. She knows the whole truth. Maybe with her things could be very easy."

Roxy had not thought about that.

XxX

"Have you started training Caradoc yet?" Susan asked a lot later, when they had finished eating and Merlin was back to work.

"With all this mess with Harry's daughter we haven't had the chance yet." Merlin told her. "But as soon as this is over we will. He really liked your suggestion."

"I'm happy to help." She offered, her eyes taking his profile.

Merlin was doing some research for the meeting of the next morning, getting in touch with some people and gathering as much intel as possible. He was looking at the screen in front of him, while Susan was sitting on the table, right by his side.

When Merlin was still like that she liked to take the chance to just look at him. He was so handsome, so intense. She just took the time to appreciate the fact that she had someone so amazing in her life.

She'd been so sure she had lost the chance for a lot of things, family and love included. She was happy to be wrong. She was happy that she had him, even if she wasn't brave enough to tell him that she loved him.

Like he noticed that he was being watched, Merlin turned to her. "What?"

"I just like looking at you." She smiled at him.

Merlin chuckled. "God knows why."

"Stop that." Susan punched his shoulder lightly. "I happen to think you're very good looking."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Right." He turned fully to her. "You say you wanted to talk. What about?"

"Us." She spoke carefully. "And our…" She hesitated. "Relationship."

"Is there something wrong?" Merlin asked concerned.

"No, no. I promise it's not that." She assured him quickly. "It's something different. It's about what happened the other night."

Merlin didn't need to ask what she was talking about. "Susan…"

"Look, I don't want you to think that I'm upset over what happened, because I'm not." She told him honestly. "I really like being in your arms and I love it when you kiss me. I want us to move forward with what we have." She took a second. "In every way."

Merlin cleared his throat. "That means…"

"Sex." Susan offered, though she could feel her face getting hot.

Merlin cleared his throat one more time before taking his glasses off and standing. He put himself in front of her and touched her chin. "Susan, we can take this any way you want." He promised her. "I'm perfectly happy to be with you the way we are now. It doesn't mean I don't want you in other ways, but I'm happy to wait until you're ready."

"Yes, waiting sounds nice." Susan nodded. "But… It doesn't mean we can't…"

Merlin arched a brow. "That we can't…"

Susan took a deep breath. She was nervous, but she was getting it under control. It was time to bring the seductress out to play. She looked at Merlin from under her eyelashes. "We can take it slow. You can teach me."

Oh fuck. This should not sound as hot as it did. Merlin had to close his eyes and take a very deep breath. He just hoped that his blood was aware that it should run to his head as well, not just other body parts.

"We can go as slow as you want." He promised her. "It'll be just like being 15 again."

"Fifteen?" She repeated shocked. "Isn't that too soon?"

"I was a teenager during the 70's. Things were different." He grinned at her.

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "So…"

"So…" Merlin arched a brow.

"Would you stop being so difficult and just kiss me?" She demanded.

Merlin laughed and leaned into her direction and kissed her softly at first. Susan felt herself relaxing, just feeling his lips against her with no hurry.

Merlin nudged her knees apart and stepped closer to her. Susan touched his face with her hands, sinking deeper and deeper into his kiss.

This was sweet and gentle and everything she loved about Merlin. But right now… She was a bit curious about that other side. So she bit his lower lip. Very. Slowly.

Merlin freaking growled at that and she felt his chest vibrating with it, then he put his hands to her waist and pulled her to the edge of the table. All right, they weren't playing around anymore.

Her legs went around his hips on their own accord and her hands gripped at his shoulders, while her lips opened under his and her tongue found his.

Susan let her hands trail down Merlin's chest until she found the hem of his henley. She stopped kissing him for a second and looked down at the piece. "May I?" She asked.

"Whatever you want." He guaranteed her.

Susan took another deep breath and started pulling the henley up, her eyes riveted in every inch of skin unveiled, until the moment that Merlin helped her finish removing it.

She discarded the shirt carelessly, her eyes fixated on his chest. Merlin was so fit, especially for someone his age. He was all hard muscle, defined, not over the top, like his muscles weren't for show, they had a purpose.

"Wow." Susan sighed, entranced by her hand against his chest.

Merlin chuckled a bit embarrassed. "Thank you. I guess."

"Oh no, Merlin. Thank you." She teased him, then her fingers skimmed over the tattoo he had on his left shoulder.

It was the symbol of the British Royal Navy, beautiful and detailed and as big as her hand. "This is nice."

Merlin chuckled. "I was young and eager to serve." He admitted. "It was before the Kingsman."

"I like it." She confided, before dropping a kiss to the tattoo.

Merlin groaned and fisted his hand gently in her hair, pulling her for a kiss that took her breath away. Her hands just kept sliding against his skin, feeling all the heat of this body.

Then Merlin touched the first button on her shirt. He looked into her eyes. "Is this okay?"

She nodded and watched fascinated as he opened every single small and delicate button, until her shirt was open and he pushed it gently down her shoulders. "You look like a dream." He told her before kissing her lips gently.

This time, though, he didn't kiss them for a long time, because his lips traveled to her jaw, her neck, her shoulders. When his lips found her collarbone she was shaking all over.

Her legs squeezed him involuntarily, bringing his hips flush against hers and Susan moaned in a way she never thought herself capable. Things were getting very… Intense.

Her fingers found the button on Merlin's jeans, but before she could open it he held her hand. "Wait." He asked.

Susan was about to ask why, when she felt his other hand traveling up her leg, caressing the inside of her thigh. "Ladies first." He spoke softly against her lips a second before she felt his touch grazing the lace of her underwear.

Oh lord…

XxX

It was a good while later that Merlin carried Susan to the couch –really, he was too much sometimes, Susan could hardly believe he existed. They sat together, Susan on Merlin's lap, her head against his chest, just listening to the beating of his heart.

"Well… We should have talked earlier." She sighed.

Merlin chuckled and she felt the vibrations on his chest, making her smile even more.

"You okay?" He asked.

"More than okay." She inclined her head, so she could look at him. "We should definitely do this more often."

Merlin started laughing, his arms hugging her more tightly as he tried to control himself. Susan just watched him laughing, adoring every second of it. Merlin sometimes was so serious. She knew that he still wondered most of the times why she chose to be with him and she didn't want this.

One of these days she wanted to be brave enough to tell him how she really felt about him and she wanted him happy, she wanted him to believe her when she said it.

Because, whenever she was silly enough to think about a future, he was the future she imagined.

"We can still go slowly." He promised kissing the top of her head.

"Yes, of course. I'm not saying I'll jump you and…" She cleared her throat. "Anyway. You should stop wearing shirts when we're alone."

Merlin laughed again. "Who are you and what have you done to Susan?" He teased.

Susan hit him in the shoulder, but without any real intent. Then she turned on his lap, so she was straddling him, looking directly into his eyes. "Thank you for being this amazing to me. Half of the time I'm not sure what I did to deserve a second chance like this in my life."

"Don't say things like that." He asked, hands gently cupping her face. "You changed our lives when you came here. We're so lucky to have you, Susan. I'm so lucky to have you."

"Insufferable man." She spoke, voice charged with affection. Then she kissed his lips gently and got up, looking around for her shirt. "I'll get us coffee."

"I'd appreciate that." He sighed and got up too, picking his own shirt from the floor. "I need to get back to work."

Susan smiled at him before leaving to go to the kitchen, Athena and Reep following her.

Merlin smiled to himself and went to the computer

He wondered -not for the first time -when did he get to be this happy?


Notes: So... This chapter was pure fluff. Sorry not sorry... hahaha

I hope you enjoyed it!

Also, now you can find me on Tumblr, where I've been playing with gifsets for this series.

xoxo