Heya guys, thank you for all you wonderful reviews, and here's the next bit.

Roommates

Part 10

Saturday, but only on a technicality.

His phone's text alert tone, echoing through the darkness of his bedroom, stirred Merlin from the sated slumber he had found himself in. He wasn't asleep, per se, not yet anyway, but he still didn't appreciate the harshness of the noise. He sighed, and lent over the bed, careful not to disturb the body sprawled over the right half of his bed. He fished around for his 'phone, still wedged into his trouser pockets, and realised, if he really wanted to read the text, he'd have to leave the warmth of his bed entirely.

Groaning, well, since he was awake, he might as wel, he slid of the bed, slightly less gracefully than he would have done if he'd been slightly more sober, and made it across the phone.

1 New Message

Received 01:58

Arthur Pendragon

Well, it bloody well would be, wouldn't it, Merlin thought, finger hovering over the 'open' key. Arthur-sodding-Pendragon. God, that boy drove him mad. Completely and utterly crazy. One day, they were trying to be friends, the next he was shagging Morgana, and then they weren't even speaking, avoiding each other like they had the plague, or something. And then, and then… There was a memory buried in Merlin's mind, like someone had hidden it from him, something, someone hadn't wanted him to recall. He felt like he could almost touch it, almost, almost…

And then it came back…

---Flashback---

Merlin had been coming out of the toilets, when he had found Arthur standing in front of him.

"I like you Merlin." Odd way to start a conversation, thought Merlin, and his mind, slightly spinney with drink, didn't know what to make of it, so his mouth provided the words without a lot of thought.

"Really, well you've got a funny way of showing it."

"No, I mean, like you, like you, you know."

Huh? Fewer words, more sense, Arthur? Head spinney. You have pretty eyes. And pretty hair. And I hate your right now. Really hate you. You and your pretty hair.

"No, I don't know Arthur. Why don't you go back and be pissed with your mates, and just leave me alone?" Again his mouth spoke before his brain, but at least it was verbalising his deep-rooted anger, not the tumbling thoughts of desire, threatening to overwhelm him.

"But I like you, Merlin."

"You've said that." Pretty, pretty, eyes

"As in, I think you're hot. And sexy. And I want to…"

Pretty eyes… Wait, what? Arthur's not, he's been with all the blond chicks, no Arthur's defiantly not. He wouldn't like me even if he was, so what on earth is going on here?

Merlin had to stop the flow of Arthur's sentence. "OK, is this some stupid dare, Arthur?" Good, his mouth was making sense. Maybe his brain should listen? "What did your Avalon mates bet you, eh, to embarrass me, or was the plan to seduce me?" OK, less sense now, but for some reason he was getting more and more angry. "Did they dare you to sleep with me, Arthur?" No wait, mouth, start making sense. Why are you making a scene? People are looking. Just shut up!

"Did they dare you to break my heart?" Shouldn'thavesaidthat. Shouldn't have said that. Should. Not. Have. Said. That. He glared straight into Arthur's eyes, daring him to say something, anything, but his roommate remained silent.

Rapidly, Merlin's brain, almost overcome with lust and anger, needed to save the situation. Then he saw the girl Arthur had been talking to at dinner. "Go back to her, whatever her name is, tonight's disposable blond bimbo," he said, pointing to the girl, who was standing only a few feet behind Arthur, "And. Just. Leave. Me. Alone."

Merlin marched off, needing to be far, far, away from Arthur, and whatever game he was playing, and saw Jack, standing over the other side of the room.

---End of Flashback---

Arthur had said those things to him. And Merlin had forgotten them. How? Why? And why was he remembering them now? Panic was starting to build up in the young warlock's chest. Were they real?

Glancing over at the sleeping figure on his bed – Jack – Merlin had a sneaking suspicion he knew why he had forgotten them. His flirtation with Jack, his attraction to him, had greatly increased after that visit to the toilets. Before then, he would have thought a quick snog was a promising way to end the night, but after then he had been kissing Jack on the dancefloor, and then he had taken him back to his room. His room. The one he shared with Arthur. Why? Why on earth had he done that? That wasn't him, that wasn't him at all, he wasn't the one-night-stand sort of guy. Will, his best friend, Ed, the older traveller, they guys he had slept with back in Ealdor, they had been on at least three dates before he had considered sleeping with him. Oh, alright two, when it came to Ed, but they had fallen into a romance that had lasted several months, and he hadn't ever had a one-night-stand before. Not with anyone. That was Arthur's trick.

Arthur. Merlin looked back down at his phone, and quickly clicked 'open'.

morgana, I fucked up. made a total cock of myself tryin to tell Merlin how I fee, but now hes fucking sum othr guy .u were so wrong whn u told me he likd me 2. wtf do I do nw? A

Shit. Oh fucking shit. That message was obviously not meant for him, that was clear from the first word, but Merlin read it anyway. Shit. Where was Arthur, anyway? And what on earth did that message mean. Did Arthur actually like him, seriously and properly, and he hadn't just told him as a dare or a prank or something. Oh fucking shit. And Merlin had slept with someone else. Man, did he regret that now, but at the time…

At the time the seduction had been easy. Too easy. But Merlin was going to leave those thoughts for sobriety. He needed to have a conversation with Jack, Jack the sorcerer, Jack the fucker who he had brought home, and slept with, apparently within Arthur's hearing – he knew how thin those walls were – Jack who had made him forget all about Arthur, for an hour or two. Jack, who had made him forget.

Where are you?

Before Merlin knew what he was doing, he found his fingers sending a message to Arthur. He really needed to try and engage his brain in his actions more often. He also needed to find some clothes. If he was going to talk to Arthur, he probably shouldn't do it naked. He heard a phone beep nearby, and wondered if Arthur was still in the flat.

In da kitchn. Y? The text came back, and Merlin found himself, grabbing his jeans and t-shirt, carelessly tossed aside earlier, and throwing them on, before walking out, into the kitchen.

A/N You should know by now that I love my cliffhangers. *evil grin* Review?