CHAPTER - 7
"See Merlin, that's the problem with you and your stupid ears" Arthur was saying as they both entered the imposing Pendragon Corps building together.
Merlin looked offended and quipped, "Hey everybody can't be as shameless as you!"
Arthur only preened as if Merlin had complimented him and Merlin rolled his eyes as Arthur bragged, "And shameless is what women want! It's what they are attracted to…"
Merlin didn't know when they'd become close enough that Arthur was now advising him on seducing women when he was gay for Chris' sake.
"No they aren't, and how would you know anyway?"
Arthur looked at Merlin like he was dim before saying "You know everybody has to go through that phase of experimentation, you don't think I woke up one day and decided I'm gay did you?"
Thinking about it Merlin's comment did seem stupid in hindsight so he kept quiet.
Arthur then pulled him closer and threw his arms over Merlin's shoulder in the elevator, "Now women don't want men who stutter and blush because to women you have to be assertive you know…they like knowing a guy is confident enough to take care of them, in and out of bed."
"Yeah, only those kind of guys always turn out to be jerks, like you!" Merlin said dimpling at Arthur.
Arthur lost track of just what argument they were having when Merlin dimpled at him, my God! This being a friend only business was making Arthur frustrated as hell. Don't you dimple at me like that you infuriating creature!
"Arthur?" Merlin waved his hands in front of Arthur's face.
Arthur snapped out of his Merlin dimple induced trance and said "I still get some more often than you do, so I win anyways."
Merlin huffed and shook off Arthur's arm, "Your fucking heavy!" he complained and before Arthur could launch into an indignant tirade that he did not have fat arms whatsoever Merlin said "This libertine lifestyle will come and bite you back in the arse when your fifty and you have no one important except for a slew of angry vengeful exes who may drug you in your sleep."
Arthur looked down at Merlin disturbed at Merlin's insight despite himself and to quell the uneasiness that had arose on imagining the exact situation Merlin predicted for him Arthur whined "Make me a coffee Merlin!"
Merlin snapped, "Make one yourself, I'm not your bloody wife."
"But Merlin…."
"No Arthur!"
"You guys have the best coffee machine in the whole building, come on just this once….please?" Arthur made sure to widen his eyes and stick his bottom lip out in a subtle pout.
Merlin groaned, never able to resist a person when they were requesting something with such a perfect puppy dog look on their face.
Arthur smiled knowing he'd won and ordered "Great, bring it to my office like always yeah?"
Merlin got off at his floor cursing at himself for being such a push over for Arthur.
Once Merlin got off the elevator Arthur leaned back against the metal wall and closed his eyes in frustration. Merlin and Arthur had become fast friends over the past couple of months and Arthur was nowhere near getting Merlin where he actually wanted him.
Merlin, naïve as ever had actually believed it when Arthur said that he'd only wanted friendship and Arthur had carefully controlled his mounting desires and contented himself with gaining Merlin's trust. At least now he got to put his hands on Merlin, take him into a headlock when all he wanted was to push him against a wall and kiss his lush mouth senseless.
What was worse however was for all intents and purposes Merlin did seem to be entirely straight. Arthur had scrutinized him so hard looking for signs that he might be interested in more but once Merlin got over his initial nervousness to Arthur's presence he was the most horribly straight person there ever was and Arthur couldn't wrap his head around it, he'd never met a man who was so secure in his sexuality that he looked absolutely comfortable hanging around gay men.
And Arthur had looked for the signs and found none, hell Merlin hadn't even stared at his arse even in the slightest curiosity ever and Arthur had one of the best arses this side of the Atlantic damn it! He worked hard to keep them so too.
Another thing that ticked Arthur greatly was that Merlin was absolutely arse over tits for Morgana! Morgana whom Arthur never liked losing to, and by the way Morgana smirked every time Merlin drooled over her she knew exactly how much Merlin fancied her over Arthur and always always rubbed it in Arthur's face that finally there was a man Arthur couldn't ever have.
Arthur got off the elevator at the top most floor of Pendragon Corps and walked into his office.
Gwaine wasn't there yet which was not unusual as the lazy sod only turned up later than Arthur. Still this gave time for Merlin to deliver Arthur's coffee and for Arthur to flirt banter with him which always made the coming day less gloomy than it had to be.
Merlin came in with his coffee in hand and Arthur beamed with only made Merlin narrow his eyes and say "Someday I'm going to spike it with laxity medication!"
Arthur's grin didn't drop however as he plucked the cup out of Merlin's hands and said "You wouldn't, your too noble for those nefarious deeds."
Merlin snorted and Arthur was about to take a sip of his coffee when the door opened to admit Gwaine inside.
Arthur froze in horror the cup raised midway as he looked at Gwaine.
Gwaine looked like a deer caught in headlights before he turned away trying to hide what was too damn obvious on his face.
"What the hell happened to you?" Arthur was out of his seat at once and Gwaine stepped back as Arthur came closer and caught him by the shoulders.
Merlin looked at all this with a mix of concern and curiosity, he'd never seen Arthur get so worked up so quickly about anything.
"Nothing" Gwaine lied, not even convincingly and tried to shake off Arthur's grip but Arthur held strong and refused to let him move.
"Who did this to you?" Arthur asked in a no nonsense tone.
Gwaine tried to roll his eyes and then grimaced in what was obviously pain, he had a black eye that covered most of the area around his right eye after all.
"No one, I just tripped and fell down and got hurt."
Arthur snorted and Merlin shook his head silently from where he was observing it all, Gwaine was a crap liar. Nobody could have gotten a shiner like that from falling down.
Arthur shook Gwaine, his face the picture of righteous fury as he asked again "Stop trying to shit me about this, who did this to you?"
Gwaine looked angry too now at Arthur's rather demanding tone and brought both of his hands to push Arthur away from him.
"Fuck off Arthur! It's none of your goddamn business!"
Arthur wasn't a man who could be accused of having common sense when he was in a temper though so he didn't let off.
"Is it the guy you're seeing? I told you to tell me who it was, didn't I? Now look at what you've gotten yourself into!"
Gwaine looked shocked at the suggestion and snapped, "No it's not the guy I'm seeing Arthur, do you really think I'm the sort to let some guy like that do this to me?"
Arthur paused and then looked unsure and Gwaine had just about had it with Arthur and his misplaced concern or whatever the fuck it was.
"If it's not the guy you're seeing then who is it?"
"I'm not telling you" Gwaine said with a nasty tilt to his mouth and tried to move around Arthur to get to his desk.
Arthur caught him by the elbows again however and Merlin thought it high time that he should interfere but something in Arthur's face made him stop and stay rooted to his spot.
"If you don't tell me who did this to you I'll be informing Uther about this right now and you know he'll get the authorities involved and having whichever bastard did this to you arrested."
"Don't you dare" Gwaine warned looking for all the world like he wanted to bash Arthur's head in.
"Why are you even protecting the identity of this person?" Arthur asked flabbergasted.
"Because I'm a grown man and I can take care of myself, you're not my fucking mother so STAY out of it" Gwaine barked but Arthur would not relent the firm grip he hand on Gwaine.
Arthur raised his eyebrows in dubious contempt, "Of course you can take care of yourself" he said incredulity dripping from his voice and Gwaine narrowed his eyes trying to pull away again only for Arthur to tighten his grip punishingly.
"Arthur, let him be…." Merlin said walking forward as both Arthur and Gwaine's gazes turned to him.
"Like Gwaine said, he's a grown-up he can take care of himself….and you don't have the right to go about demanding him to tell you what happened." Merlin said reasonably and Gwaine's eyes softened in gratitude towards Merlin when Arthur only got angrier.
"The fuck I don't have a right! He's my bloody…." Arthur caught himself short unsure of how to finish that sentence, all he knew was that he wanted to rip the man who'd laid a hand on Gwaine from limb to limb, torturously slow.
Gwaine finally shook him off using Arthur's momentary distraction and walked swiftly out barking "I'm out of here"
Arthur went to give chase but Merlin held his hand tight and Arthur turned to look at him like an angry hound about to pounce before Merlin promptly slapped Arthur on his head.
Arthur looked outraged and Merlin shouted "SHUT UP! Seriously, you have no modicum of anything called tact do you?"
When Arthur continued to look outraged Merlin said "He obviously doesn't want to deal with your angry indignation on top of being hurt and he really doesn't want the humiliation of you taking this to your father you clotpole!"
"Clotpole isn't a word Merlin" Arthur said finally calming down.
"Out of all the things I said figures you noticed only that" Merlin said and then sighed, "Look Arthur, you can't force people to tell you things when they don't want to."
Arthur shook his head, "You don't understand Merlin, he's my cousin, and I've always looked out for him."
"Doesn't give you the right to be an overbearing mother hen though…."
"I wasn't being overbearing, he was hurt!"
"He's saying he can deal with it though so I think you should let him be and stop trying to wheedle out who it was from him for your own selfish need for vengeance."
Arthur slumped in defeat at that and Merlin left him a while later leaving Arthur with his own thoughts. The bitch of the thing was though that Arthur could not just let it be, he had to know who and there was only one person Gwaine would confide in other than Arthur. The harpy would ask for something in return Arthur knew but he braved on and got up anyways, the information would be worth it anyways.
Merlin and Arthur BROMANCE FTW!
And oh Gwaine!
I have a tiny huge crush on Bruno Mars and it sucks because unrequited crushes always suck! Waaa, and I saw Nicki Minaj's anaconda video against my better judgment and I'm still recovering from that! Don't mind my ramblings….I do that sometimes….
Happy Reading!
THankyou for the reviews people! I hope you guys like this chapter!