Next chapter! As I said, I will try to update every week, but I can't promise, so you'll have to bare with me. I have severe writer's block at the moment and it's killing me because it's my week off from school and I can't think of anything.
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
It had been 3 days since the "incident", as Merlin was calling it, and neither of them had spoken about it. He knew she wanted to talk about it, but everything just seemed to be so awkward. Especially as she lived with him, there was nowhere to hide, they kept bumping into each other and always ended up making unnecessary skin contact, like both reaching for something at the same time.
He had hoped that, in time, she would forget about it, just a silly mistake made by the both of them. Because she had kissed back. Her warm lips had pushed back against his and it had felt amazing. He smiles at the very thought and then frowns at the irresistible urge to kiss her again, what with her constantly being so close. Going to work was a relief and when she wasn't "shooting down enemy planes" as the joke went, they seemed to go everywhere and do everything together.
Merlin sighs and stirs his tea more thoroughly. He turns to go and find the sugar that was hopefully somewhere in the kitchen, but Morgana appears in the doorway and stops him, pushing him back against the counter and slamming their lips together. His eyes widen in surprise, but quickly close again in sensation as he pulls her closer. Her hands are fisted in his t-shirt and his grab her waist. He switches their positions and lifts her up onto the worktop, giving him a better angle to kiss her. She lets out a small groan and her knees lock around his hips as his finger tangle themselves in her long, dark hair. They pull back, panting and about to go again when a loud pounding on the front door interrupts them.
"I'll get it," Morgana murmurs into his ear and slides down off of the counter.
Merlin stands there, stunned. Had that really just happened? His mind whirls with answered questions as he hears the door open. There is a shriek and then an "oomph."
He wanders out into the hallway to find Morgana tightly hugging a blonde haired man. Unexpected jealousy creeps into him and he stamps down on it quickly; he is being ridiculous.
Morgana seems to finally sense his presence and steps away from the visitor with a huge smile on her face. Has she completely forgotten what had just happened?
"Arthur, this is Merlin," she introduces them cautiously. "He's been letting me stay with him."
So this was him. Arthur Pendragon. The soldier on leave from Afghanistan. Morgana's 'brother' and Gwen's boyfriend. Merlin pieced together the tiny bits of information Morgana had given him to try and create some mental fact file. 'Helps Uther with business' was added to the list before he reached out to shake Arthur's hand. He was very... masculine. The sort of movie star guy girls probably fantasized about - tanned and muscly. Everything he wasn't. He couldn't help but think that Morgana had probably once wished they weren't like siblings. Anyway.
"Oh, er, come in," Merlin says suddenly.
"So, you're Morgana's friend?" Arthur asks as he sits down right where Merlin had wanted to sit - next to Morgana.
"Oh, yeah, that's me."
"You don't sound very convinced," Arthur says and Merlin laughs slightly. "I can't really blame you. I don't know how you've put up with her for the past 2 weeks or so."
Morgana hits him on the arm. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, really?" The blonde asks with a knowing smile. "Remember the time when you-"
"Arthur, was there actually a reason to you coming round here or was it just to embarrass me?"
"A bit of both," he admits. "But mainly to annoy you. Now, Gwen said something about you splitting up with Alvarr and she also mentioned to irritate you - as I'm doing now - for not ringing her back the other day. So, go on then. Tell me the gossip!"
Merlin takes this as his cue to leave and says "I can, you know, go... if you want."
Morgana looks up at him and shakes her head. "No, stay. I'm probably going to need help in restraining him soon." She points to Arthur.
"What's the man done now?" He asks impatiently.
"Well, basically he's an alcoholic and I've just found out that he's been involved with drugs," she says bluntly.
"The little shit."
"Uh-huh," she agrees half-heartedly.
"Doesn't it bother you?"
"At the time, I guess. I slapped him," she shrugs.
"I'll flaming kill him if I see him," Arthur promises quietly.
"I really don't care anymore," Morgana admits. "I never really liked him much anyway."
"Then why the hell were you with him for so long?"
She rolls her eyes. "You know why."
"Is this about the deal thing with his parents? For Christ's sakes, you should have just left him, Uther would've had to put up with it. It's his mess," Arthur says, anger rising.
"It wasn't that easy," she tells him and Merlin frowns, this was a part of the story he hadn't heard before.
"How come?" He butts in suddenly and Morgana and Arthur stare at him, obviously forgetting he was in the room with them. "Sorry."
"No, it's okay," Arthur says and then repeats the question. "Why wasn't it that easy?"
Morgana chews on her thumb nail and shakes her head.
"Well, if you're not going to tell us, then we're going to have to guess."Arthur says. "Um, he didn't let you leave?"
"No."
"He threatened you?"
"No."
"He was using you?"
"No. Look, Arthur-"
"He hurt you?"
Merlin sees her stiffen. "No."
"He raped you?"
"Arthur!" Morgana yells. "I don't care what you think of him, we both know he wouldn't do something like that!"
"Well, if you would just tell me then I wouldn't have to guess!" He shouts angrily.
"He did hurt you, didn't he?" Merlin says gently.
"Morgana?"
"It would explain the dream she had a few days ago."
"What dream?"
"Well-"
"Would you both please shut up for a minute?" Morgana demands and they do. "Merlin, you were right - he has been hurting me. And Arthur, a few nights ago I woke up screaming from a nightmare in which Alvarr had been trying to hit me. So, there you have it. Yet again, I have screwed up with my choice of men. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going upstairs," she blurts out and runs out of the room.
He finds her in his room, lying on the bed and clutching a pillow tightly to her chest, her back to him.
"Knock knock," he says quietly, but she doesn't move. "Morgana, I know you're awake."
"Leave me alone," she says thickly, so he does exactly the opposite. He walks round to face her and crouches down.
"Was Alvarr really hurting you?"
Her expression hardens. "You think I'm making it up?"
"No, no of course not," Merlin says quickly. "I just wondered... How long?"
"Does it matter?"
"I guess not."
She sits up. "Where's Arthur?"
"He went home. He said sorry if he made you upset. I'm sorry, too."
"For what?"
He sighs. "Just things."
"Like when you kissed me at the ice-rink."
"Yeah."
"So you remember it then?" Morgana raises an eyebrow and says in a mock surprised voice. "Well, that's funny because for the past few days you haven't mentioned it. I was beginning to wonder if it had happened at all. So I thought I'd try kissing you today, to see if it was a memorable experience or not."
"Oh." So that's what that was about.
"You see, Merlin, I'm really confused. Take it from my point of view. You flirt with me. You say you have a crush on me. You say that you were joking. You kiss me. Then you act like it never happened."
"I'm only acting like it didn't happen because I think you deserve better," he says in a miserable tone.
"It's my life. I get to decide who I like."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," she says gently and then moves over a bit, before lying down again. "Room for a big one."
"Thanks," Merlin laughs and joins her on the bed. "You're cold," he states with a look of concern as he wraps his arms around her.
"Maybe you should warm me up then," she says with a smirk, so he rolls her onto her back and starts kissing her again.
Wooo, that felt like a long chapter, but it probably wasn't.
Okay, so I only added in the kiss right at the end, so this probably didn't make sense, but I hope you enjoyed it! I got them to sleep together, yay, another decision I made about 2 minutes ago, but it felt like the right time, heh, I don't know!
Arthur was fun to write and now he's in the story, I can tick him off the list.
Please tell me what you think and thank you for reading! :D
