Merlin sat uneasy in the back seat, clasping his legs together. "I don't know what you mean."
"You're a shitty liar." Arthur replied.
"Good. Unlike some people, deception is an art I'd prefer not to excel at."
Arthur rubbed the bridge of his nose."Out with it," He snorted. "We haven't got all night."
The wind whipped the car windows, vibrating the glass as Merlin said, "Nimue took me to the back of the school after you and Gwen left. I wasn't sure what she wanted but- Arthur, she saw us. At the gallery. She saw everything-"
Arthur went white knuckled, gripping the steering wheel. Feeling as if he'd been thrown into thick of the storm outside, and left to drown in it. He closed his eyes and asked, "Are you sure?"
Merlin pulled his phone from his jacket pocket, tossing it on the passengers seat. Arthur eyed the iphone as if it were a snake set to strike. He picked up, slowly turned it over and pressed play. Video illuminated the screen, his own husky voice rumbling from the speakers. When the mutual panting began Arthur fumbled, dropping the phone. His reaction making an already nervous Merlin hug his knees even tighter.
"Nimue's trying to blackmail me with that," Merlin said with a wine colored blush. "She expects me to do her schoolwork in exchange for silence. She's dead serious. Arthur we have to tell to Gwen about this before she does-"
"And what would we tell her?" Arthur said, whipping a glint of sweat from his brow.
"That we were drunk, stupid. That it didn't' mean anything-"
Arthur had been injured many times in his life. Been in fistfights that left him with dappled with bruising, even broken a leg from a fall off an ATV at thirteen, the bone popping out at an ungodly angle before it was set. But this, Merlin's blatant indifference to him- it stung worse then all those things combined. "So," He said, his voice barely civil. "That's how you feel-"
Merlin's teeth caught his lower lip. "How I feel about you, about us- it's irrelevant. We have to do what's right-"
The force of Arthur's punch echoed through the dashboard, making Merlin jump off his seat. "Gwen's not finding out. Period. Ever. End of discussion!"
"You're telling me you want me to agree to blackmail?" Merlin snapped. "That you're- okay with that?"
"You don't get the seriousness of the position I'm in Merlin-"
"That's where you're wrong, Arthur. For the first time since I met you, I get you perfectly." The back door flung open with a metallic shriek and Merlin was gone, rain battering him as he trudged up the muddy road.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Arthur said, rolling down the driver's side window.
Merlin kept walking, water cascading down his scowling face. Black converse sinking deeper into the swampy gravel with each step. Arthur stuck his head out of the window and called over the crashing storm. "Merlin, get your scrawny ass in the car or I swear I'll-"
"You'll what?" Merlin yelled, his voice cracking. "What can you do to me that's worse then what you've already done? You've made it perfectly clear you don't give a shit about me! You're the one looking for kicks behind your girlfriend's back and I have to pay the price for it?" He trailed off, his eyes swiming with tears. gulping them back he cried, "I can't believe I didn't realize it before, I'm such an idiot. How many besides me Arthur? No, wait- don't answer that, I don't even want to know. You do realize AIDS is still out there-"
The ignition choked, headlights dimming. Arthur flew from the car, his pajamas soaking up the fury of the storm. "You honestly think I've been trying to fuck every Tom, Dick, and Harry, in San Francisco?" he yelled.
Merlin made eyes at him through his flattened bangs, and muttered something intangible.
"Yes, I flirt!" Arthur exploded, rain trickling into into his mouth, blurring his vision as he trudged behind Merlin's shivering shadow. "That's how I am! But I've never cheated on Gwen by so much as a kiss, let alone stuck it in anyone. Not in three damn years we've been together- don't you roll your eyes at me, Emrys! I don't give a flying fuck if you don't believe me! I may have screwed around in my teens, but she changed that. Gwen and I, our relationship was fine until you and your scarves and your ass tight jeans came along to screw it all up-"
"Me?" Merlin replied, his arms held flat against his chest, as if tying to bind himself together. "How am I responsible for your sexual repression issues?"
Arthur paced through the gravel, his eyes wild. "So I've always been a little off, what hell does that matter? I could still build a normal life with her! Marriage after college, a house in the suburbs, in time a few kids. I've always had control over the depraved part of myself until you-" He snarled, grabbing for Merlin.
"Back off!"
Arthur had no time to react. One forceful shove sent him tumbling backward, his head clonking the side of the Honda with a sickening thud. Merlin's mouth formed a perfect zero in shock. For all their taunting they had never put an unfriendly hand on each other. Even when Arthur instigated in the most shameless manner, Merlin had, before, only defended with words.
Arthur cursed under his breath, rushing Merlin. His feet slipping in the eroding soil as he clamped him into a football hold. "Enough of this shit," He growled, forcing Merlin through the open car door. "You're getting in here, whether you want to or not-"
But Merlin, aided by the rain, slipped from his grip. He scrambled down the road, but before he could make it past the park closure sign Arthur caught him, yanking the loop of his scarf. Merlin jerked backward. With a slip the scarf unraveled, Merlin tumbling face first into the mud, the scarf sinking into a bubbling puddle beside him. He wiped the dirt out of his eyes, spit it out of his mouth, and with a curse of, "That was vintage, you prick!" charged at Arthur's legs.
They grappled in blackness until their clothing weighted heavy with water, their skin pricked raw by twigs and battered by rocks. It wasn't until Merlin's spine wedged against a boulder that he cried mercy. Arthur pinning the squirming man underneath him. "Merlin," Arthur exhaled in a low pant, the throbbing of his erection painful against his tight wet jeans. "You're being obstinate. Do you have any damn idea what that does to me-"
Merlin shuddered as their lips crashed together. Arthur's kiss was all apologies. His true feelings flowing as naturally as the rain that pounded their bodies. They had found each other again, and nothing else mattered. Not Nimue. Not the fight, or the inevitable questions that would sour their return home. Merlin didn't speak, but Arthur felt this warm arms drape around his neck. The exotic nectar of kisses gracing his lips. He pushed his longing into Merlin's hip, aching into him. Begging Merlin with his mouth, and every ounce of his body. Pleading for him to forgive, to keep this secret.
It wasn't just lust that drew them, Arthur knew that now. If it was purely lust that magnetized him to Merlin, he could have fought it. Continued the well-constructed ruse that had become his life. Undeniably he wanted to sleep with Merlin. To explore every beautiful inch of his skin, but it was more than that. He wanted this ridiculous man, with his comely looks and impish grin- to love him.
They struggled up in the rain, groping each other all the way to the dry backseat.
"You really want this?" Merlin whispered, burying his face into Arthur's shirt to mask his desperation.
Arthur's hand slipped down the front Merlin's soaked jeans. "Since the first moment I saw you," he exhaled.
He unbuttoned the waistband, tugged open the zipper. Stroking Merlin with the same light quickness he used on himself.
Merlin bucked at the touch, fingers clutching the car-seat. "Slow..." He whispered.
"Merlin, just how long has it been since you've-"
Merlin's voice was thick with need. "Over a year-" He managed, his head rolling back.
"That's positively criminal," Arthur replied, raising a coy eyebrow. "We'll remedy it immediately."
They shed their drenched clothing layer by layer, along with their inhibitions. Nothing stood between them now but the pulsing desire of skin on skin, the pleasured warmth of friction, and eventually- Merlin's breathless moans.