A/N: I am so sorry for the delay, my chemistry teacher has decided to give us the workload of that of an advanced class, something we are not. I'm not dumb, but the amount of homework she assigns us just seems ludicrous and has therefore fried my brain. I was practically non-coherent yesterday when I tried to write this so I stopped and decided to wait and give you quality-reading material.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin and never will, even though I cry at the thought that Arthur and Merlin will never be canon except in the minds of people like us.

Chapter 11: Vincit Qui Se Vincit

Merlin

There was knocking coming from the door, but if it were his mother she wouldn't have knocked and instead would have just come right in. Merlin was not in the mood to entertain any guests so they would just have to come back at a later date. The problem was that the knocking wasn't stopping. If anything it just kept getting louder and more pronounced. Slightly put off, Merlin stood up to get the door. He walked at a calm pace; somehow wishing that if he took too long to get there that the person would just go away.

"Merlin! I know you're in there! Come on! Open the door! I really need to talk to you." Merlin stopped walking and stared around at his flat. Everything was a mess, what was Arthur going to think? Who cares what Arthur thinks! What is Arthur even doing here? How did he know how to get here?

Merlin hesitated a second longer before tightening the bathrobe around his waist and stepping forward to open the door. Arthur was looking down at the floor wearing a very dejected expression. As soon as the door swung open though, Arthur darted his glance upwards and stared at Merlin with glee filled eyes. Merlin took a step back in shock at Arthur's sunken eyes and withdrawn cheeks. He looked worse than Merlin had when he had looked in the mirror this morning.

Unfortunately for Merlin, Arthur took Merlin's step back as a sign that he was allowed in and stepped forward into the flat. Arthur sat down on Merlin's couch and waited for Merlin to get a hold of his shock and move from the spot by the door. After a couple of more seconds, Merlin stepped further into his flat until he was standing in front of Arthur.

"So, how do you know where I live? I don't recall ever mentioning anything of the sort to you."

"While I am hurt that you never told me where you lived, when you came to my flat practically every day. I didn't know where you lived until this morning, when your mother stormed into my life."

Merlin's eyes seemed to bug out of his head and he was quiet for a few more moments before plopping down on the couch, he was extremely close to Arthur, but he was too busy thinking to actually shy away as he normally would have. Merlin turned to look at Arthur and made sure to not look him directly in the eyes.

"Merlin, you should have told me how you felt before you ran away. You should have also waited for me to explain. Don't you know me? Don't you know that I never actually thought any of those things about you?"

Arthur turned Merlin's face towards his so that they could be staring into one another's eyes. Arthur leaned forward slowly and caught the edge of Merlin's lips with his own. He pressed another kiss to Merlin's temple before releasing his hold on Merlin's face. Merlin looked up at Arthur through his eyelashes and opened his mouth, almost as if to ask something but closing it again, not knowing exactly how to begin to ask what he wanted.

"It's okay Merlin, whatever you want me to tell you, just ask." Merlin leaned forward just a bit more on the couch so that their noses were almost touching.

"I just wanted to know, if you didn't mean any of the things that you said that day in your kitchen, then why say them at all?"

Arthur stood up and sat back down but this time a little further away from Merlin so that he could look him in the eye. It was Arthur's turn to open and close his mouth like a fish out of water as he searched for the right words.

"Morgana has always been extremely involved in any aspect of my life. I just knew if she were to find out how I truly felt about you that she would completely put off her own worries and concerns to help me. I couldn't let that happen. She is going through a lot right now and I felt that if I lied to her I would be able to protect her better. It was my turn to keep her safe."

Merlin looked at Arthur with pity in his eyes and inched closer and took hold of Arthur's hands between his own. "Arthur, why didn't you go after me? Why did you just let me run off?"

"That's just it, I did go after you. I ran around for almost an hour but I couldn't find you. I was sure that you had seen me go after you and that's why you were hiding. I went back to my flat that day but I haven't been able to focus on anything since."

Before Arthur could continue rambling on, Merlin had already sprung forward and was grabbing Arthur round his neck so that he could angle his face upwards and kiss him deeply. Arthur responded in kind by pushing Merlin back onto the couch until he was lying on top of Merlin. Arthur let his hands go under Merlin's shirt and stroke his soft alabaster skin. Merlin moaned into Arthur's mouth, encouraging Arthur to do more.

Arthur let his hands go lower until they had reached the waistband of Merlin's pajama bottoms. He could already fell Merlin's cock tenting his bottoms only making Arthur want him more. He wrapped his hand around Merlin's member through his pants and squeezed lightly, eliciting a sharp gasp from Merlin. He let his hand wander into Merlin's pants and this time he wrapped his hand around his actual cock and stroked Merlin until he knew he wouldn't last much longer.

Merlin raised a hand and shoved at Arthur so that he would back off. Arthur moaned at the loss of contact, but only until he realized that Merlin was just taking off his clothes. Taking this as a sign that it was alright to continue, Arthur disrobed as well. Once they were both fully naked, Arthur let himself crash his lips back down against Merlin's and the friction of both of their naked cock rubbing together was too good for them to resist for any longer.

They both began to roll their hips in an attempt to increase the friction that they had felt at first. Their movements became more erratic as Arthur continued to plunder Merlin's mouth. Merlin wrapped one hand through Arthur's golden locks while drifting one hand lower until it was wrapped around both of their erections. Merlin began to pump his hand in a different rhythm to that of their hips making the pressure that they both felt starting at the base of their spines crawl up until it encompassed their whole back. The pleasure they felt was increasing steadily until Arthur, in a bold move reached one hand down to fondle Merlin's balls. Arthur let his finger trail lower until it was pressed at Merlin's entrance. As soon as he had pushed the tip of his forefinger in to Merlin's entrance, he felt Merlin's come cover his chest and accompanying spasms wrack Merlin's body. With the feeling of hot come sliding down his body Arthur let himself come all over Merlin's chest and chin.

Arthur let himself fall on top of Merlin as his breathing evened out. Even though he knew he would have to get up to go and clean up, he felt that were he never to move again, he would die the happiest man on Earth. He stood up slowly trying to ignore Merlin's grunts of disapproval.

"Merlin quit your whining. I need to clean your come off of me or I'll wake up feeling gross. So I, am going to take a shower. Care to join me?"

At that obvious sexual innuendo, Merlin jumped up and out of the couch, leading the way towards his bathroom.