"You put down the phone first," said Gwen as she snuggled further into her bed and pulled the quilt over her. Lance always called to say goodnight and it was the sweetest thing.
"No, you first."
"Lance –"
"I love you, Gwen." Lance purred over the phone, sending pleasure winding through her.
Unable to stop smiling, Gwen covered her face with her quilt. "I love you too, Lance."
Admittedly, it took a while before the two of them finally hung up the phone. Burying her face in her pillow, Gwen fell into a sleep filled with dreams of Lance, a house in the countryside, a golden retriever and a bunch of art awards.
Oldies played from the old radio that sat in the corner of her studio. Still in a buoyant mood from her good night's sleep, Gwen hummed along as she dug her hands into the clay. Quickly, she lost track of time and without Merlin, she forgot about lunch, so by the time evening came, her stomach started to rumble. Washing her hands, she tidied up her studio, just as she heard Merlin return home.
"Gwen?"
She poked her head out of the studio. "Hey Merlin!"
"Did you eat lunch?" Gwen noticed that Merlin was placing several bags of what looked like takeout on the kitchen counter and smiled. Living with Merlin was possibly the best decision she's made.
"I forgot."
Merlin tutted at her, then waved a box he'd taken out of a bag at her. "You better come out and have some food then."
They ate at the counter, with Gwen idly scrolling through her phone and tapping out the occasional message and Merlin flipping through one of those free metro newspapers.
"These celebrity smush names are ridiculous. Apparently Sophia Lee, that supermodel, is breaking up with that footballer – Harry something and they are having a field day punning on Sorry. It's so dumb!" Merlin tossed his newspaper onto the counter and stuffed a spoonful of curry into his mouth.
"Can you imagine if we were famous and dating? We would be called Gwenlin!" That thought sparked images of little furry beasts with Merlin's prominent ears that turned evil when wet and suddenly she couldn't stop laughing. Her spoon and phone clattered onto the table as she wiped the tears from her eyes, only to see Merlin scowling at her despite the dancing amusement in his eyes.
"Speaking of dating, I've a favour to ask."
"Alright? What can I do for you?" Gwen was still feeling a mix of humour and affection for Merlin. He definitely chose a good time to ask for a favour.
"How do you feel about being my date for some fancy party the company is throwing?"
Seeing that Gwen was thinking more along the lines of making Merlin's favourite dessert or accompanying him to one of those B-movies he seemed to love so much, this startled her a little. Her first thought was that, surely, Merlin wasn't interested in her in that way, a sentiment she blurted out immediately.
Merlin chuckled. "And what if I said I did?"
Gwen opened her mouth, then closed it again when she realized she had no answer. She blinked.
"I'm joking! Not that you're not attractive or anything but – yeah." Merlin waved his hand and flashed her a sheepish smile. "So, be my date?"
"Why don't you take Morgana?"
"Have you lost your mind? Take Morgana?"
Leaning towards Merlin, Gwen grinned. "You two spend every night together. Why not take it to the daytime?"
Merlin rolled his eyes. "She wasn't here last night. And as I've said many times before, it's a sex thing. We're not in a relationship."
"Right. Be pedantic about it. Why do you even need a date? Go by yourself."
"Because Vivian will be there," said Merlin as if that explained everything. At her raised eyebrow, Merlin continued, "Vivian is Arthur's personal assistant and she's lovely. Mostly. But she fancies herself a matchmaker. She says that she can tell if people are compatible just by looking at their faces."
Gwen chewed on her food.
Merlin squirmed. "And she's decided that as Arthur's best friend, I deserve her undivided attention."
"How many people has she set you up with?"
"Give or take 10 people." He let out a sigh. "Believe me, none of them are even remotely my type."
Even biting down on her lip, Gwen couldn't stop the laughter that exploded out of her, but it did stop her from mentioning Morgana again. She reached across the counter and petted Merlin's arm. "Poor Merlin."
"Is that a yes?"
"Oh fine. I hope your boss caters good food."
"The best."
Lance, being the best boyfriend, patiently accompanied her dress shopping. After all, a fancy dinner party required a fancy dress, even if she had to dip a little into her savings. Admittedly, she was quite excited at attending the party. It definitely wasn't anything she'd done before. People didn't usually invite struggling artists to such things.
"I'm jealous that Merlin gets to take you out in that dress," Lance said as they stopped outside her door.
Running a hand down his chest, Gwen smiled up at him. "You'll be the second. We can go out to that lovely Italian restaurant next week. You wear your best suit and I'll wear this dress."
With a smile, Lance dipped his head and kissed her.
Gwen had thought she was prepared for the fancy party – she had scoured magazines and looked online, she went to a hairdresser to style her hair and she'd even talked to Morgana about what to expect – yet she was completely unprepared for the sight that met her eyes when she stepped into the ballroom on Merlin's arm.
A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, catching and casting light around the room. Heavy curtains covered the walls and the tables were decorated with fancy art pieces that called out to her to touch and examine. And the people – they were dripping with jewelry, dressed in clothes that she'd only ever seen in magazines and had hair that Gwen suspected took hours to set.
Merlin squeezed her arm. "The food is good."
A waiter drifted pass and Gwen lifted a tiny tart off his tray, popping it into her mouth. "Mmm. Very good. I don't suppose they will be gauche enough to leave the caterer's name cards on the tables."
"We couldn't afford them," said Merlin as he led her further into the cavernous ballroom. "Let's go say hello to some people."
Within minutes, Gwen had been introduced to various important people. At least, they acted as if they were important. Aside from the Minister of Arts and Community, who she tried very hard to charm, Gwen had no idea who any of these other people were. Somewhere between her trying to snag another piece of that incredibly heavenly prawn dumpling and trying to grab a drink, Merlin had disappeared, leaving her all alone. It didn't quite bother her since she had the prawn dumpling and mini quiches for company, until she noticed a young woman walking determinedly towards her.
"Hello. I'm Vivian." She stuck out her hand and Gwen found herself having to attempt to juggle her wine glass and the prawn dumpling. So she did the only sensible thing and stuffed the whole dumpling into her mouth.
Which wasn't so sensible because Gwen suspected she was now shaking the hand of and staring at the very well put together Vivian with bulging cheeks and eyes. With much difficulty, she swallowed her dumpling. "Hello. I'm Gwen."
"I've never seen you around before. Are you someone's date?"
Gwen gulped down some wine, then smiled widely. She would play in love with Merlin so well that Vivian would stop hassling Merlin. "I'm Merlin's date."
"Oh." Vivian looked a little flustered. "Oh," she said again.
"Is there a problem?"
The smile on Vivian's face had somehow, without moving, turned from genuine to plastic. Perhaps she was disappointed that Merlin was off the market. "Oh no. There's no problem. Merlin is a very – uh – very nice man."
Putting on her best in-love voice, Gwen clasped one hand to her heart and said, "He is. He's such a wonderful man. Just last night, Merlin –"
"Oh look, there's Henry. I really have to go speak with him. Enjoy the dumplings." And with a light touch on her hand, Vivian was hurrying off.
Gwen took another mini quiche off the tray of a passing waiter and looked curiously at Vivian who'd inserted herself with another group of people. Perhaps she'd given up on matchmaking Merlin. Her wine glass in her hand, Gwen walked around the ballroom, taking in the exquisite decorations.
She was touching one of the table decorations, wondering how the artist managed to do such delicate work with wood, when someone cleared their throat beside her. Dropping her hand, she looked up.
"I remember you. You're Map Girl." Next to her was Arthur Pendragon, in a tux and smiling down at her. When did he get so handsome? For a moment, she forgot to breathe. "I assume you're Merlin's date?"
"Yeah." Gwen barely croaked the word out as her baser instincts decided that Arthur Pendragon was the most gorgeous man she'd even been so close to and decided to stop her brain from working.
Arthur lifted his eyebrows as his eyes twinkled with amusement. "You do realise he's with my sister? In one of the spare rooms, doing whatever the two of them do when they get together."
Gwen opened her mouth, then closed it. Had Vivian seen Merlin wander off with Morgana? Was that why she looked so flustered when Gwen cooed over Merlin? When they got home, she was going to kill Merlin for cheating on her. Finally annoyance overrode the sharp sting of attraction. Narrowing her eyes, she told Arthur exactly what she was going to do Merlin.
She wasn't sure what she expected Arthur to do but he smiled after her outburst and offered her his hand. "How about a dance to take your mind off Merlin and his cheating ways?"
"I don't know how to dance."
His smiled widened as he closed his hand around hers. "Just follow my lead."
"I have a boyfriend."
"It's just a dance, Map Girl."
It wasn't just a dance. Not to her traitorous hormones anyway. Arthur kept his hand lightly on her back as they moved to the music but to Gwen it felt like his hand was burning through her skin, causing little sparks of desire to shoot through her. He smelled nice and his body was both warm and hard against hers. When her fingers played with his hair, Gwen knew that she was crossing the line. She let go of Arthur and took a step back, slamming into another couple on the dance floor. When she looked at them to mutter a quick apology, she caught sight of Merlin, munching on something, his bow tie askew.
Safe haven.
Quickly she walked towards Merlin, refusing to look back at Arthur.
"How dare you leave me to go have sex with Morgana?" She hissed at Merlin the moment she reached him.
A flush rose from his neck to his cheeks. "She started it."
"Ooh, don't you have any self-control?"
"I'm sorry! I just –"
"Let's just go, Merlin. I'm tired."
The first thing Gwen did when she reached home was call Lance. She told him about the wonderful food, Merlin cheating on her at the party and the dance with Arthur. She didn't tell him about how good it felt to be held by Arthur.
"I love you too," she whispered into the phone to Lance. Closing her eyes, she tried to ignore the guilt that ate at her.
AN: I'm not sure how a light-hearted series turned to this. Oops.
