Merlin

It was the last day of half-term, a Sunday, the day before school started again. Merlin had come to the conclusion that it had been a really good break away from school. He had surprisingly become really good friends with Arthur and they texted and caught up almost every single day. He didn't know why Arthur didn't want other people to know they were friends. What was the harm in it anyway? Arthur had just replied with a stiff 'well we weren't friends before, so we suddenly becoming friends looks really suspicious.'

Merlin kept thinking about the way that Arthur held his hand during Perks; it set off a herd of elephants stomping up and down in his stomach. He had meant to ask Arthur about it afterwards, but it simply slipped his memory and then Arthur just went on talking to him as if nothing had happened. He couldn't stop thinking about Gwaine's party ages ago as well, the feel of the other boy's lips on his own.

And quite honestly, Merlin couldn't believe that he was falling for this fathomless, arrogant, dick. Why couldn't he have chosen a less painful person to like?

It was just his luck.

Merlin was standing in front of the full body mirror in Elena's bedroom while contemplating his thoughts. He was absent-mindedly smoothing out the small creases on his tuxedo jacket when Elena ran out from her personal bathroom.

"You know what, Merlin." Elena said confidently.

"What?" Merlin spun around, glancing at her confusedly as she was just wearing a faded grey hoodie and matching sweatpants instead of her gown.

"I'm coming like this." Elena proclaimed.

"What?" Merlin exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

"Yep!" Elena popped the 'P'.

"You're kidding," Merlin laughed.

"I really am not. I just want to embarrass my father." Elena shrugged.

"But it's a charity function?" Merlin said.

"Darling, the money I've paid for my outfit isn't going towards charity. The ticket prices and my father's donations are. So it doesn't really matter." Elena smiled.

"It's too tight, isn't it?" Merlin guessed.

"Yeah, I should've tried it on." Elena scratched her head.

"But oh well," Elena added brightly. "At least, now, I'll be comfortable."

"Don't you have any other dresses?" Merlin asked.

"Only this yellow one, I don't particularly like wearing dresses, so yeah." Elena said apologetically.

"Well, are you sure you want to go in gym clothes?" Merlin asked unsurely.

"Yeah, I don't care." Elena grinned carelessly.

"Okay then," Merlin agreed amusedly.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," Elena shouted as Lance walked through.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Lance questioned.

"I am," Elena responded proudly, slipping on a pair of lime green flip-flops.

"Seriously?" Lance sat down on the bed.

"Seriously." Merlin confirmed, moving closer to sit next to him.

"Well, we better get a move on then. My dad's already there, and he's sent a car for us just now." Elena glided past the two of them.

"A car, really?" Merlin laughed.

The trio left the house, standing outside nervously for the 'car' to come get them, and when it finally did, Merlin and Lance openly gaped at the sleek black limo while Elena approached it confidently. The driver got out and opened the door for all of them, and after thanking him; they crawled into the vehicle hastily and took in the interior appearance.

"This is so fucking cool." Merlin commented as Lance nodded his head in appearance.

"My dad asked me which car I wanted so I said this one," Elena smirked.

"Won't your dad lose it at you for wearing those clothes?" Lance asked.

"Yeah." Elena sighed. "I don't give a shit."

Arthur

Arthur had just picked up Gwen and now they were driving to the extravagant function hall on the other side of town. He pulled up near the building and jumped out, walking to Gwen's side and opening the door for her. Once he ensured the car was locked, Gwen held onto his hand and they started walking to the entrance with all the other attendees.

The room was really, really nice. Arthur had handed their tickets over to the lady sitting at the desk in the lobby and proceeded to enter with Gwen at his side.

Lance walked up to them, with Merlin in tow, who looked the definition of perfection, not that Arthur would ever tell him that, but that tight black tuxedo fit perfectly over his best features, his arse and waist for example. He struggled not to let his eyes wander down, there.

Arthur excused himself to go to the bathroom; this was going to be a long night. He patted down his trouser pocket for the tiny packet. Good, he hadn't forgotten it.

"Where's Elena?" Gwen asked

"Um, she's having a bit of a row with her Father in one of the back rooms." Merlin said.

"Why?" Gwen wondered.

"It's about her dressing choices." Lance laughed.

"Did she wear a revealing dress?" Gwen asked.

"No, she wore a grey hoodie and track-pants." Merlin stifled a laugh.

"She did not!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Yeah, she did." Merlin said.

The rest of the night flowed smoothly except Elena was nowhere to be seen, Arthur waited patiently as Gwen attempted to call her numerous times, and then when Elena's father came out onto a balcony to make a speech, Gwen followed him afterwards asking about Elena's whereabouts, he had just replied with a mere 'Elena went home'.

The band started playing, and many couples whizzed out onto the dance-floor, slow dancing with the classical pieces being played.

Arthur saw Uther away from the crowd, chatting away to Morgana.

Gwen looked at him earnestly so he asked her to dance, even though he hated dancing, it was polite and Gwen seemed to enjoy it.

"I love this song." Gwen said cheerily, leaning against his chest.

Arthur saw Lance and Merlin sitting awkwardly together at the back of the room on a bench. He wondered how Merlin would be like dancing, the clumsy idiot would probably fall and step on his own feet. He laughed aloud at the thought. It seemed Merlin grew more attractive the more he stared at him.

"What are you laughing about?" Gwen asked softly, staring up at him.

"Nothing, don't worry." Arthur assured, grinning idiotically.

Merlin

Since Elena had been forced to go home, he and Lance ended up sitting together awkwardly at the back of the room. No one wanted to dance with them.

"Want to dance with me?" Merlin asked jokingly.

"Nah, I'm all good." Lance laughed. "I'm sure you're a lovely dancer but I'm terrible."

Merlin wondered if Gwaine was here, he would be more entertaining than Lance, not that he wanted to offend Lance, of course, it was just a simple observation. His eyes swept the room, but alas, there was no sign of him. All he could see were couples on the floor, dancing at snail pace.

It hurt him to see Arthur with Gwen, it really did. The feeling of pain and jealously were ebbing away at his heart. He watched confusedly as the pair broke apart and began walking towards them.

"Lance," Gwen asked kindly. "Want to dance?"

"Erm," Lance said unsurely. "Are you-?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Gwen grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him forwards. "It's my last night here, for a while, come on!"

Arthur took a seat next to Merlin.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself." Arthur commented sarcastically.

"Yeah, I totally am!" Merlin retorted.

"Did you watch the films I lent you?" Arthur questioned.

"Yep." Merlin replied. "They weren't bad, I mean I liked Mackenna's Gold, but westerns aren't really my thing. I liked the whole concept. But The Shining was fucking weird, seriously. So many people love it but I didn't see what was so great in it. And I know you gave me Blade Runner because I love sci fi but I've read 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' the novel it's based off and it's so much better, and more realistic in a sense."

"I thought they were bloody well amazing." Arthur protested.

"Yep, that's your opinion. You can't attempt to get me into them." Merlin laughed.

"I will." Arthur said darkly. "Just you wait."

"Never going to happen." Merlin scoffed.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Arthur asked. "Get something to eat? I'm starving not to mention I despise dancing."

"It's only been an hour," Merlin said. "It's going to look bloody weird if we leave together."

"So?" Arthur pressed on. "Just say that you're sick and I'm driving you home. Then we'll stop at Sainsbury's."

"Well, this is pretty boring." Merlin said uneasily. "Yeah okay, we'll do that."

Arthur jumped up and walked up to Gwen and Lance, while Merlin mustered up his best 'sick' face and waited patiently for Arthur to come back.

Merlin dropped his head meekly as Arthur approached him, and walked at a slow pace with him to the lobby, then out the entrance.

"Gwen and Lance say that they hope you feel better." Arthur grinned smugly.

Once they were sitting comfortably in Arthur's silver Audi, which was parked a few minutes away, Arthur scanned the streets for any people and then pressed his own lips against Merlin's and pulled away shortly, leaving a tingling sensation on Merlin's lips.

"I've wanted to do that the whole night." Arthur confessed weakly.

"Why did you do that?" Merlin asked, shocked.

"Because I felt like it," Arthur stated.

"Did you take something tonight?" Merlin questioned angrily.

"Just-some of the good stuff in the bathroom." Arthur muttered.

"Oh great." Merlin barked.

"Well, see, I've been doing a lot less shit since you came," Arthur defended mildly.

"Oh really? Have you?" Merlin gritted his teeth.

"I've been getting the temptation, a lot less, I don't know, the temptation to do things I shouldn't and then get off it." Arthur replied, smiling foolishly.

"You can't just kiss me, like that." Merlin snapped.

Arthur simply laughed, placing his warm palm on Merlin's thigh and leaned over to kiss Merlin's neck. Merlin pushed the other boy off him.

"You're with Gwen." Merlin said.

"I don't care about her, not in the way I care about you." Arthur intoned.

"I don't give a fuck." Merlin hissed, ignoring the creeping arousal flooding through his veins.

"Do you like me, Merlin?" Arthur questioned.

"No. You're an arrogant prat." Merlin growled.

"You're lying," Arthur said. "I see the way you look at me."

"Okay well, you're obviously too fucked up to drive, or take us anywhere to eat. So what's going to happen is that we're going to swap places. I'm going to take you home." Merlin concluded.

"No-one could compare to what I feel for you." Arthur said quietly. "I'm scared, Merlin, I'm scared about what I feel for you, it's never happened before."

Merlin tried to ignore his comments, convincing himself that he was obviously not in his right mind.

"Please, Merlin, please talk to me," Arthur pleaded. "I couldn't stand seeing you with Gwaine that night, I hated every moment of it, I had to try my very hardest not to punch him, Don't tell me you like him."

"I don't like him Arthur." Merlin sighed.

"Why? We could be together right now." Arthur replied hastily.

"I'm not going to betray Gwen again. And I don't want to be just another fuck of yours. I can't allow myself to be with you." Merlin sighed.

"Then, I'll break up with Guinevere," Arthur said.

"No, you won't." Merlin grimaced. "You're not in your right mind."

"I promise." Arthur insisted. "I promise I'll break up with her."

"Shut up, Arthur, and get out of the car," Merlin ordered.

"But I've got a hard on," Arthur giggled.

"Bloody hell." Merlin shook his head and got out of the passenger seat, walking over to Arthur's side to physically drag him out.

Well, that's the chapter for you. What did you all think? (: I can never thank you enough for all the adding to favourites/alerts and feedback. I'm grateful for all of them. Fuck I'm dying right now because of the preview for Merlin 5x11, ugh, ASDFGHJLSKS. Anyway sorry for the sudden off the topic burst, it's just- I HAVE SO MANY FEELS.

Much love, leave a review my precious bbys xxx