CHAPTER - 29

Merlin gawked as Morgana swept past the queue of people in a strut of elegance mixed in equal parts with bad assery and Merlin cast sheepish looks at more than a few matronly woman dressed in their fineries glaring at them both in disdain.

"Uhmm Morgana, don't you think we should wait in line like the others?"

Merlin had to lengthen his strides to match hers which was saying something for Morgana's speed as Merlin's legs were long and even on four inch heels Morgana only came up to his chin.

Morgana looked at him like she couldn't understand and asked "Why? Do you like the experience of waiting in queues?"

Merlin frowned and said "Not particularly but…" he looked around catching the eyes of more than a few woman glaring at them both, "The other people are waiting in line…it's just not very friendly for us to skip the line is it?"

Morgana flapped her hands about as she huffed "Oh please Merlin! Those manicured bimbos are only jealous never mind them…"

Merlin rolled his eyes wondering why he still tried and said "You are the most spoilt brat I've ever known and yes that includes Arthur."

Morgana laughed and quipped "Oh Merlin, if Arthur were here he would have demanded he be escorted to the Royal Box by the manager and then served drinks and refreshments even though it's sort of not allowed here."

Merlin wished he could defend Arthur saying he sure wasn't that snobby, "He's not that bad…" as usual his mouth had made the decision to blurt it out long before his brain could tell his mouth to shut it.

Morgana stopped him with a hand on his arm and Merlin was forced to once again acknowledge just how beautiful she was. She was wearing a deep red mermaid style gown with a plunge line and sans sleeves, she'd complimented the look with a ruby and diamond necklace that hugged the delicate curve of her neck and diamond danglers that even standing this close to her glinted and glowed every time it caught the light, she'd pinned her hair up in a chignon and hence all her milky white skin with not the slightest scar or blemish was on display from her neck to tops of her cleavage and Merlin had to take a deep breath once again.

"Want to bet?" Morgana asked and Merlin had to close his tight for a moment to make himself focus on her question as he rooted around in his mind for what they were talking about.

And before he could come up empty handed and look like a fool Morgana thankfully continued, "You call Arthur, tell him that you're in the Royal Albert Hall for a concert with a friend and tell him the queue is too long and you're tired of waiting and I bet he'll say he'll call the manager for you."

Merlin frowned and said "And if he says to stop fussing and wait like everyone else…"

"He won't"

Merlin narrowed his eyes but said "Alright I'll take you up on that bet but I still think he's less snooty than you…"

"The call Merlin…" Morgana said expectantly putting on of her hands on her hip.

Merlin held his hands up in surrender, "I'm calling!" he pulled his mobile phone out from his pocket and opened his screen and pressed 2, and yes he did have Arthur on speed dial. As the phone rang he idly wondered why he couldn't keep Arthur firmly out even when he was with Morgana but then realized it was too confusing to contemplate. He switched his phone to speaker mode so Morgana could hear what they were talking.

Arthur picked up after quite a while when Merlin was just about to give up and said "This better be important Merls"

Arthur sounded out of breath and irritated so Merlin immediately wondered what Arthur must be doing and came up with the obvious, "Am I interrupting a shag?"

"Jee Merlin, do you really think I'm the sort to pick up a phone when I'm having sex? I'm not that dull a nutter!"

Some of the people who were in the near vicinity and heard Arthur looked at Merlin in Morgana in horror which made Morgana giggle softly.

Merlin supposed Arthur had a point but still he couldn't let Arthur have the last word on that, "Who knows though? I imagine it's just the sort of thing you're into being a shameless exhibitionist that is…"

Morgana laughed covering her mouth with her hands and Merlin's eyes twinkled as he smiled at her.

"You do have a wild imagination don't you Merlin? Who'd have guessed eh? And if you want in on all the shameless action you only need ask instead of being so convolute about it and pretending to shame me!"

"Ugh Arthur! Shut up…"

"Hey! You are the one who called me"

"Yes, I did, I have a problem…I mean…not problem problem but…"

"Merlin, I'm not really good at the heart to heart business so spit it out or call Elena…"

"I don't want to have a heart to heart you prat! And why would I call Elena if I wanted to have a heart to heart…I do have friends other than the people I work with you know, one of them hates your guts too!"

Morgana snorted and then whispered loudly "It's getting late!

Merlin nodded as Arthur said "Well I don't know about you but Gwaine runs off to Elena whenever he gets too melancholy, what is your problem anyway?"

"I'm at the Royal Albert Hall for a concert with a friend and it's taking too long because the queue is absolutely lengthy…"

"Oh, you should have said you were going ages ago, I would have asked the manager to come and escort you in person."

"Arthur you jerk! You absolute snob! You just lost me a bet, no thanks to you!"

And Merlin cut the line as Morgana gave him a triumphant smirk saying "I'll collect my winnings later, now come on!"

So saying she pulled him along and he quickly followed in stride lest he stumble and embarrass himself.


"So what are we watching again?" Gwaine asked making himself comfortable on Arthur's sofa, if there was one thing Gwaine could appreciate in Arthur's apartment it was how every piece of furniture was just so comfy even if the thing was garishly red and out of taste on Arthur's part.

"Tudors I think…" Arthur had a DVD in his hands and he was just about to turn around and pop it into the player when he noticed Gwaine's eye roll and muttered "Figures…"

"What?" Arthur asked defensively, Tudors was his favorite show damn it! And Gwaine best not be throwing shade on the show!

"Nothing" Gwaine said a little too quickly and then gave Arthur an innocent stare as he filled his mouth with popcorn smirking in a way that infuriated Arthur.

"What do you suggest we watch then? Vampire Diaries?"

"Eww! I'm surprised you even know the name of that show!"

"I watch it for that hot twink…what's his name…"

"Ian Somerhalder?" questioned Gwaine and Arthur pointed at him and shouted "A-ha! You watch it too you hypocrite."

"Hey, if you can find him hot then so can I and anyways Jonathan Rhys over Ian any day…"

Arthur frowned at that and told himself it was not because Gwaine had this star crossed look at the mention of Jonathan Rhys.

"He's not the hottest one on the show, it's the guy who plays Charles Brandon who is hotter"

Gwaine looked disgusted his entire face scrunching up in a true display of utter revulsion, "That guy looks like a bear…"

Arthur crossed his arms in front of himself and gave Gwaine a pointed glare, "Me thinks doth protest too much Gwainey…"

"I am not Princess!" Gwaine said getting all affronted and throwing some popcorn in Arthur's direction, "He's huge and brutish and….just…"

"You do realize what this is sounding like coming from you don't you? You who dated Percy who is twice as big as the guy who plays Charles…"

Gwaine's face clouded at the mention of Percy's name and he turned away from him as Arthur sighed and slapped himself for bringing Percy up.

Wasn't it enough that he could feel the shadow of Gwaine's gloominess over Percy hanging on every one of their conversations? And he still hadn't gotten Gwaine in his bed so him bringing up Percy right at this time was a bad move on part of him and knowing not how to remedy the situation now that they'd lapsed into silence Arthur popped in the DVD for the first season and then sat closer to Gwaine on his sofa squishing into him and nudging his shoulder playfully attempting to cheer him up again.

And Gwaine for once was not choosing to be difficult as he nudged Arthur back and quipped "What is this? The ten thousandth time you are watching this show?"

Arthur did tend to pick Tudors whenever they binge watched anything and during every house party they had so much so that all of his friends were sick of his obsession with the show and threatened to steal his box DVD collection.

Arthur kept quiet as the first episode started with Henry's uncle being chased by Frenchmen, surrounded and then stabbed to death.

"Oh man!" Gwaine sighed theatrically enough for Arthur to cast him a dour look to which he responded with his own dour look.

"What?" Arthur asked impatiently as King Henry announced that England will war with France on the screen and Sam O' Neil started to look a bit flinty trying to find excuses to stall the King's wrath on behalf of his murdered uncle.

"You're just going to ignore me the whole time this is running, aren't you?" Gwaine asked and dare he say it sounded almost petulant.

Arthur paused the show and said "Hey I am not the one who isn't interested in doing lot more interesting things with this time"

Gwaine threw popcorn at Arthur's head, "Why are you always talking about sex? It's creepy…"

Arthur turned to Gwaine like he couldn't believe what Gwaine was saying and when Gwaine looked all huffy and indignant Arthur screeched "You told me you'd let me fuck you when I got better and I've been better for ages!"

Gwaine pushed himself up and off the sofa, "For God's sake Arthur it's not even been a whole month since the accident, and is that all you care about? Fucking me?" Gwaine was pacing angrily now like a caged lion and Arthur laid low as his thoughtlessness had once again set Gwaine off into a nasty temper tantrum. And to think Gwaine had actually wanted his attention a few minutes back only for him to fuck it all up again!

And worse still was Gwaine looked hurt when he turned to face Arthur and the fact that he left himself so vulnerable in Arthur's presence, enough to show he was hurt was enough to make Arthur feel like he was in twilight zone and somehow that one confession at the hospital had turned Gwaine from being cold and aloof to someone Arthur knew before all his philandering, before his ways that had initially meant to hurt Gwaine and his father had gotten so out of control that he couldn't stop now if he tried.

And then right when Arthur was going to open his mouth and no doubt make the situation even worse Gwaine put a hand up to stall him and Arthur shut up, keeping quiet knowing Gwaine wasn't in any mood to be messed around with.

When he put his hand down Gwaine had wiped his face clean of any emotion and Arthur could only guess what was going on Gwaine's mind behind that blank stare.

"Say…" Gwaine began and then stopped licking his lips uncertainly making Arthur zero in on the pink slightly moistened flesh of Gwaine's lips surrounded by his customary five o clock shadow, God's help him but how was Arthur supposed to not think about sex in the way of such flagrant temptation.

It was bad enough when Gwaine was not living with him were only his waking moments in the office were spent exercising his restrain but now Gwaine lived with him, he sneaked into the showers to catch a peek at Gwaine being au natural under the guise of using the loo even though there were three bathrooms in his penthouse and both of them knew it and Gwaine still let him get away with it, Gwaine made him breakfast and dinner and they'd even went grocery shopping together once which Arthur was sure was some horrendously monogamous rite of passage, they slept in the same bed, woke up with each other's rancid morning breath on their faces, Gwaine had all his million different hair gels in Arthur's bathroom which now resembled a bloody Chemistry lab and suddenly a light bulb flashed in Arthur's mind and as unwanted realizations were wont to do, he panicked.

He was in an almost if not entirely dysfunctional relationship with Gwaine and he was only now noticing it!

Arthur was confronted with the sight of Gwaine in one of his own old uni t-shirts when Gwaine having overcome his obstacle began to speak again and Arthur's mind kept repeating.

'Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!' in rapid succession. 'He's wearing my bloody shirt.'

"Say we do have sex…what do you want to do then?" Gwaine asked and though he knew perfectly well what Gwaine meant Arthur's automatic prat persona took over as he was panicking and he did not in any circumstance panic, he was Arthur fuckin Pendragon!

"Well I do have some positions in mind….I've always quite preferred it with my fuckbuddies bent on some nearly available flat surface…also I'm into spanking…me doing the spanking of course…and cuffs and plugs and breathplay and…"

"ARTHUR!" Gwaine shouted and though he appeared irritated as a devil who'd been unwittingly awakened from a slumber his cheeks were rosy and Arthur felt smug despite himself.

"I'm not talking about that, I meant what about us….after, is it a one-time thing or…more?"

"I'm sure you'll come back to me again, one-time is never enough for my catches to sample my delights…"

"You arrogant bastard!" Gwaine shouted like he couldn't believe in Arthur's audacity to sit here and tell him that he'd what? Come gagging for more when it seemed even now all Arthur ever wanted from him was his arse? He'd confessed love to Arthur for God's sake and Arthur was acting like all that ever mattered was that he got the fuck him.

"It's not arrogance if it's true…"

"So I am one of your catches am I?" asked Gwaine this side of snide and bitter and vying for a fight.

And Arthur like always gave him one, pushed every one of his buttons even when he tried so hard not to let Arthur get to him, "No you are the ultimate catch Gwaine…"

"What is that supposed to fucking mean Arthur?" Gwaine asked his lips twitching and fists clenching in anger. What the fuck was he thinking? Did he really let himself believe Arthur was going to change?

"It means out of all the catches you….you I'm going to enjoy thoroughly…"

Foolish! Foolish!

Of course he knew Arthur never loved him and yet…

He'd let himself believe, he'd let himself be lulled into trusting Arthur could come to love him too…he just had to give Arthur a chance…

"So I'm just another notch on your gilded bedpost?"

Arthur hesitated for only a minute, a minute in which Gwaine began to hope fragile as it was…

But then, "What else did you think?"

The sinking feeling in his gut at Gwaine's face crumpling right in front of him must have warned Arthur he was digging his grave deep but he told himself he only hated seeing Gwaine sad.

"And the fact that I confessed to being in fucking love with you changes nothing does it?" Gwaine shouted right into Arthur's face then and Arthur got up knowing not where all his anger was coming from but it bubbled forth and out of his mouth in nasty words he couldn't take back later.

"When I was about to fucking die! Sure you confessed to being in love with me….conveniently when I was at my worst!"

Gwaine put his head down for the first time that night when all this time he'd been rearing his head ready to steam at the minutest slip up from Arthur.

"I said I was sorry…" he whispered but this close to him Arthur heard anyway.

"Well that's never enough is it?" Arthur asked as they both went silent, standing inches apart yet feeling miles and miles away from each other.

Gwaine finally looked up at Arthur after what felt to Arthur like years, "So you want to punish me for abandoning you, is that it? Is that what this is about?"

"What? No!" Arthur said horrified and shocked, he'd never ever force Gwaine into having sex with him as a punishment.

"You're lying!" Gwaine shouted, "I KNOW ARTHUR! I know how fucked up you are and how Uther fucked you up with all his ruthless elitist upbringing! This was always a punishment…wasn't it? You wanted to hurt me when I rejected you back in school and you went around fucking everything in sight to get to me!"

Arthur couldn't deny the truth in that without looking like a barefaced liar anyway and his hesitation was all that Gwaine needed after that.

He looked wounded and before Arthur could do or say anything Gwaine turned around and fled Arthur's house saying he needed to get some air.


"I didn't know this was a Queen concert!" Merlin said loudly to be heard over everyone singing Bohemian Rhapsody.

"Mhmm, you generally have a low opinion of my musical tastes Merlin…" Morgana said back clapping her hands along to the song.

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"Well…" Merlin looked sheepish and self-consciously rubbed a finger behind his ear at which Morgana laughed.

"What was I supposed to think with you always playing Kendrick Lamar and Jay Z on your radio?"

"Oh that was just me testing the limits of your endurance…"

Merlin looked baffled and Morgana threw him a sly wink, "Come now, how else am I supposed to know the guy I'm trying to date is not a complete bore or enough of a tool to listen to bad rap?"

"So you don't actually like rap?" Merlin wanted to clarify because that was definitely a deal breaker where he was concerned, he could not be with a person who wanted to play Eminem on the radio all the time, rap had its place and time which was mostly when you were drunk off your senses and don't know your arse from your elbow.

"Do I have a taste for conveniently thrown in expletives being repeated in a frankly predictable and not very musical manner on the radio? No…no I don't."

"And Amen to that!" Merlin said cheering up as Adam Lambert's voice went into a falsetto singing 'Somebody to love.'

"Mmm, he's good" Merlin said and Morgana nodded.

"George Michael did way better with this song though…"

Merlin turned to Morgana gaping at her like a fish in a bowl.

"What Merlin?"

"You like George Michael?"

"Love him!" Morgana exclaimed, "Faith is the best!"

"ME TOO!" Merlin shouted taking her hands and squeezing it in his excitement.

The song ended and both Merlin and Morgana sang along to the next number which was "We Will Rock You."


Thoughts anyone?

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