Bite.

With one final shove Arthur managed to get the last takeaway box wedged tightly but neatly in the bin. It was close, but the lid shut just fine and he puffed out the breath he'd held in. Why he bothered to clean up in the first place he couldn't understand, but Merlin hadn't wanted to come round for weeks. Merlin hadn't wanted to spend any real time alone with him in weeks. At least not time he actively sought out.

If that's what this even was. Maybe it was the final blow he'd had partly expected and fully dreaded. The 'I'm sorry, Arthur, but this isn't working' blow which had in effect already happened, even if it had happened slowly, painfully and very politely, to Merlin's credit. Either way, he had to make an effort not to appear the stressed, messy and generally ticked off guy he'd become.

Arthur collapsed onto the sofa and ruffled his damp hair in a half-hearted attempt to dry it faster. The distant sound of traffic kept him sane as he tried to stop the negative thoughts. There was too much, so much that he could barely breathe half the time. A year earlier he didn't even know someone like Merlin existed. He didn't know about magic, didn't know about how much he could feel and not understand, didn't know about how complicated and generally screwed up the world was. He just hadn't known, and now that he did he'd been taking Diazepam most nights for the last five months. Something Merlin didn't know about. Was the bottle still on the nightstand?

His mobile buzzed at him and shuffled across the coffee table with the vibrations. Merlin's picture popped up on the display. Shit. Arthur grabbed it and swiped answer as he went down to open the main door of the house.

'I'm coming,' he told him and hung up before Merlin could reply, or change his mind, or anything. When he swung the door open with a bit too much strength Merlin raised one of his eyebrows. Sunlight created different shades in his dark hair and lent an odd gravity to the lifted brow with the angled shadows that filled one side of his face.

'Everything okay?' he asked and hovered outside in spite of the space left for him in the narrow hallway.

Arthur looked at him. He was dressed casually, black jeans and a light grey button-up shirt that fitted him closely under the leather jacket. He didn't recognise the shirt, or the jacket. Arthur swallowed down the pang of a memory - the one where he'd never been surprised by what Merlin wore cause he'd seen it all before in their wardrobe. Surprises were all around now, of course. When his eyes reached Merlin's face there was no smile, no frown. His expression was like one of those air brushed posters in airports and shops. You could see the model, admire them and get what they were promoting, but beyond the surface you couldn't tell a whole lot. 'Isn't that what I should ask you?'

'Go on, then,' Merlin said and tucked his hands into his trouser pockets, head cocked to the side slightly. His skin was too pale for the middle of summer, but there was something in the stare that dragged Arthur's attention away from his concern. Merlin didn't look particularly weak stood there with a glint in his eyes. It added a sharp and consuming edge to his gaze, as if he could see through him. See into him.

It was a strange look, and Arthur hesitated before he asked, 'Are you okay?'

'I will be.' Merlin came in and brushed past him, a ghost of a smile on his lips when he added, 'Thanks for asking.'

'Merlin,' Arthur started as he shut the front door, but the other man had already gone up the stairwell and into his flat. Part of him hated how dim the lighting in the hallway was. It made the journey back up feel ominous. Sliding his mobile onto the small table by the flat's door he closed that too. Merlin waited for him behind the sofa, one long arm outstretched so his fingers touched the top of the leather fabric with his jacket thrown onto a cushion. 'So?'

Merlin seemed confused by his minimalistic approach to the situation and repeated, 'So?', with wary intonation.

'So,' he drawled out, 'why did you want to meet me?'

Merlin's eyes trailed up his body to his eyes, then higher. 'You showered.'

'You're being more of an idiot than usual,' Arthur said and watched the confused crease of a frown between his eyebrows smooth out at the relaxed tone. As much as he wanted to go back to that, go back to January before it all changed, they couldn't. It would be a lie. Part of him was definitely still pissed off, too. He sighed. 'Kilgharrah said we couldn't do anything, Merlin, and without your magic-'

'I don't want to talk about that now.'

Arthur paused and eyed him. Merlin held his body differently. It wasn't as controlled as it had been the last few weeks. While the tiredness clung to his frame he didn't let it weigh him down like he had yesterday at Scotland Yard. God, he hated how ashen he'd looked in that fluorescent lighting. Hated how he'd pulled away. 'We have to talk about this stuff eventually.'

'I don't want to talk, Arthur,' Merlin continued and walked up to him slowly. The shock of his cold fingers as they ran up his jawline to the back of his neck made him draw in a sharp breath.

'You're freezing.'

'And you're hot,' he countered.

That caught him off guard. Merlin leaned in, but the second warm breath hit his lips Arthur stepped back. He took the icy hand into his own and pulled it away.

'What are you doing?'

Merlin closed his eyes. 'Arthur. Please.'

'I don't understand,' he said. Weeks of distance, of minimal, if any, touching, and suddenly he wanted to kiss? Mordred, bastard that he was, had been kidnapped by a psycho witch, Morgana was in a prison cell, Vivian had been murdered and he wanted to kiss?

'You don't have to. Just,' Merlin stopped and opened his eyes again as he laced his cold fingers through Arthur's. 'Just this once, can you be the one to shut up?'

'Merlin-'

'Shut up,' he breathed and closed the gap. It was hot and soft. Arthur closed his eyes after a second. The heavy lids and dark lashes, joined with the warm breath that ran over face, left little in the way of resistance. He hadn't kissed him enough with everything that had happened. Hadn't felt him enough. Merlin's hand slipped out of his and both hands, now free, moved to rest on his hips. They pulled Arthur forward until they pressed against each other from thigh to chest.

Arthur placed his hands on either side of Merlin's neck when the kiss deepened, tongue pressing into tongue before running against smooth teeth, then back again to the feathery lips. Merlin's jaw moved with enthusiasm and brushed down against the thumbs resting in the hollows of his neck. It wasn't right, though. This wasn't the Merlin from yesterday. Something wasn't okay. Arthur made to pull away. It was warm, it was wonderful, he loved him, but it wasn't right.

Merlin let out a low humming sound, a sound that verged on a growl, before he pulled his tongue back in to bite Arthur's bottom lip. His eyes flashed open at the sensation and he saw Merlin's furrowed brows, then felt Merlin use the new hostage to pull him back and he obliged the odd tugging motion. It didn't hurt, and the second he renewed the kiss all teeth snd growls were gone, replaced with the soft wet and generous attention paid to the wounded lip. The contented hum Merlin made into his mouth sparked a dense heat in his groin and he groaned. Rationally, it wasn't right. Emotionally, it was fucked up. Physically?

Cold hands slipped up under his t-shirt. He shivered with the goosebumps that rose wherever Merlin explored and touched with light fingers. One motion of hands sweeping upwards and Arthur's shirt was tugged off over his head. It broke the kiss and his face burned, chest rising and falling with the full breaths he could now take.

'You bit me,' he accused breathlessly and Merlin smiled as he dropped the black t-shirt to the ground. Cool air hit his exposed skin, but he grew warm again when Merlin started to stare. Started to touch.

'It was a love-bite,' was all he said, and Arthur's breath hitched in his throat. 'You can't complain.'

'Merlin,' he started but lost grip on what he was going to say when fingers hooked under the waistband of his trousers and pulled him down the hall. Merlin walked backwards, not losing sight of Arthur once the whole journey. He looked straight into Merlin's eyes. 'I'm not sure this is the best time.'

They were in his room now, the light still on from earlier. 'Remember what I said about shutting up?'

'We've never actually,' he trailed off and took a deep breath to fight off the heat of a blush which made him blush even harder. They'd never actually had sex. He'd never even slept with a guy. Not that he hadn't wanted to sleep with Merlin, but the time hadn't been right, then he'd disappeared. Things had kept getting in the way.

'Don't worry. We can take it slow.'

When Merlin slipped the belt out from around his waist in a quick and controlled motion his stomach twisted. A wave of hot and cold nerves left him feeling like a bloody teenager again.

'Why now?'

'Because.'

Arthur scoffed before Merlin gave him a fast but surprisingly successful shove. He fell back onto the bed and propped himself up on his elbows to watch the other man lean down and press a kiss against his abdomen. Merlin's lips barely left his skin before the searing heat of a tongue pushed down against it and licked a hot and steady stripe up his stomach.

'Shit,' Arthur managed to say thickly. When Merlin chuckled in that throaty deep way, something he hadn't heard in months, Arthur squirmed. A hot, rather uncomfortable situation had developed in his trousers and Merlin balanced himself over Arthur with hands against his thighs for support. He'd trapped him there. The discomfort grew when Merlin climbed up on the bed, straddling his hips and placing too much weight on his lower half. By the smile on his face, Arthur guessed he felt what was going on beneath him.

Merlin laced their hands together and pinned Arthur's arms above his head, the soft duvet moulding around them. Merlin bowed his head down until his breath filled Arthur's right ear.

'You're beautiful, Arthur,' he said. Wet lips dragged along the skin before Merlin took his earlobe into his mouth and sucked. The queasy trails of nerves arched up along the back of Arthur's neck and he moaned. He instinctively lifted his hips, which Merlin promptly ground down, and then Merlin returned to his mouth. The kiss was different. Arthur couldn't do anything, hips and arms caught, as Merlin brought their lips together then pulled away. He was in complete control. The next time he dove down his tongue pushed into Arthur's mouth and his hips rose as if on cue. Merlin lifted himself up onto all fours so the motion couldn't reach him and he huffed into Merlin's mouth when he came down for another kiss. Arthur wanted his hands free, wanted to take Merlin's shirt off, then a lot more. His trousers had never felt this tight, this hot.

Merlin was watching him when he climbed back out of his thoughts. Dark hair fell fluffed and messy over his forehead, and his lips were even pinker than before. Arthur couldn't think of anything to say. He could only stare, feel his heartbeat and the blood pump in his ears, in his groin. When Merlin bent down their noses touched and they continued to just stare, swapping heavy breaths. That was when Merlin let one of Arthur's pinned hands go free and stroked down his chest until he reached the ridiculously tight trousers.

Arthur used his own free hand to tackle the horror of the buttoned shirt with clumsy fingers. He swore under his breath and Merlin angled downwards to kiss his neck, then suck, then bite. The biting was back. The scrape of teeth combined with the sucking had his eyes squeezed shut and head tipped backwards. It lasted only a second though, as Merlin pulled back with a wet smack, having successfully handled the button and zipper of his trousers with the one hand. Arthur's own hand had found itself in the mess of thick hair, fingers tangled and pulling at it. It felt empty when Merlin climbed back off the bed.

Propped up on his elbows, Arthur watched Merlin slide his trousers, boxers included, down to his ankles. How he managed to get his socks off so fast was beyond him, but he stopped caring when Merlin toed off his own shoes and unzipped the jeans. They were off in seconds and Arthur's heart thumped at an odd tempo when Merlin crawled back over him.

He finally had the sense to shift further up the bed and another hot blush washed over his face when he realised how exposed he was. Completely naked, very hot, ridiculously hard, and Merlin hovering just inches away breathing with that dark look in his eyes. The blush caught Merlin's attention, and his cool hands found Arthur's face to lift it and catch his lower lip between his teeth. The firm, threatening pressure of the bite loosened as Merlin leaned back again, dragging the lip out before he let it go. Shit.

Merlin definitely knew what he was doing, and several thoughts flitted across Arthur's head. Did he bite everyone? Had he been with a lot of guys before? Merlin reached up and started undoing the buttons of his shirt, sitting back on his heels as he did so. He kept himself perfectly balanced with legs splayed wide open and pressed against either side of Arthur's waist. Such an unashamed display, the sound of their breaths, pulled him back into the moment and the thought of lifting his hips again became too viable an option. He waited, though, and met Merlin's gaze as he reached the half-way point of the procession. He was doing it slowly. The idiot was doing it slowly on purpose. Heat buzzed in Arthur's head, flooded his groin, and Merlin's occasional glances down did more than they should have.

'Merlin,' Arthur warned. Merlin smirked at him then slid the shirt off from his shoulders to throw it off to the side. His hands moved to the newly exposed slim waist, felt the muscle under the soft skin, and he sat up properly to breathe in the warm smell of his chest. He seemed to have lost any nerves about never having been with another guy when he'd lost his underwear. Now he just wanted.

Merlin tried to push him back down, but Arthur caught one of his nipples and Merlin made such an ungodly noise he almost came right then. He tested it out for a few seconds and listened to Merlin react to certain swipes of his tongue, or the graze of his teeth. Hands pulled painfully at his hair and Arthur fell back onto the duvet to see the tent in Merlin's dark blue boxers.

'Good?' he breathed out at Merlin, unable to hide his smile. Even though he nodded, something dark flashed across his face. For a second it looked like pain, but the smirk was back the next second and then he had to think about a very invasive kiss. It choked off his breath and his heart jumped with terror, excitement, but he accepted and sank into it as he blindly explored Merlin's body. His hands reached the waistband of the boxers when Merlin ground his hips down against Arthur's.

The warmth and friction of the cotton fabric coaxed a stifled moan out of him. Merlin's mouth captured the noise and before he could progress any further with the underwear, Merlin's missing hand stroked the skin just above the very hot, very developed situation between his legs. It was taunting, playful, and down right mean. It was nothing compared to what it felt like when Merlin actually did touch him the next second. His hips took on a life of their own and jerked up again. The sudden movement caught Merlin off guard and he made another low sound in the back of his throat that sent shivers through Arthur's body. This was it. He had to decide if he'd just let it go, if he'd just shut up for once and let this happen. Maybe it wasn't perfect, the timing, situation, all of it. It was Merlin, though. That was enough.

Arthur rolled him over and got a surprised noise from Merlin at the motion and at his determination to get his underwear off the next second.

'You're okay with this?' Merlin asked. His voice sounded strangely raw and vulnerable with those thick eyebrows gently pushed together in question. Arthur had gotten his fingers hooked securely under the waistband at that point but paused to move up and press a soft kiss to Merlin's lips.

'You're the most beautiful man I've ever known,' Arthur said against his mouth and pulled back to smile down at him. 'Now, tell me what feels good, alright?'

Merlin grinned at him. That weird look passed over his face again and Arthur was about to ask but he was cut off when Merlin leaned up into his ear and whispered, 'Yes, sire.'

Arthur's smile stretched out wider and he moved back down to slide the boxers from Merlin's legs without a second thought. Merlin looked at him darkly as he shifted back and Arthur's breath hitched when they pressed against one another. Another undignified groan rolled out of his throat.

The way they touched each other, gave in to the pleasure and tested the constantly changing authority made it hard to tell how, exactly, certain sounds and sensations came about. Arthur didn't care about time, about anything besides Merlin's panting and the various ways he could feel his body. From the breathless way he said 'Arthur', which he'd figured out meant he was doing something good, to the occasional chuckle followed by a 'prat', which meant Merlin felt impatient and usually took over at that point, Arthur had never experienced him so completely and honestly. Had never experienced anyone so utterly.

They eventually lost the ability to form coherent words altogether and Arthur buried himself in Merlin's teasing, relentless, touches. It was long, repeated, tried differently, and veered from playful to outright desperate need.

It well past midnight when Arthur held Merlin securely against his chest with the smell of sex clinging to the air, thick and sweet. It had grown lighter since they'd finally given up and collapsed together to sleep away the rest of the night, but Arthur could still taste it with each lungful.

Their legs were tangled together under the crumpled white sheet, duvet discarded after it got in the way a few too many times. The bedroom light's soft glow shone in contrast to the deep blue night outside the window. Part of him wanted to shut it off, but Merlin's breath chased along his skin in a regular pattern with one long arm rested across his stomach. He'd fallen asleep shortly after their last 'session', not that Arthur could blame him, and the thought of disturbing him for the sake of a light was painful. His own muscles protested most movements as well, and the dull ache wasn't getting any better. His prostate was something he hadn't really thought a lot about, and he regretted the last few years he'd failed to discover it. Then again, it was Merlin that really made any of it possible. Without him in the equation, he couldn't see himself caring a whole lot about it, let alone about men in general. Merlin was just different. Perfect.

Arthur's knuckles brushed against the sheet that covered them both waist down as he stroked his fingers lazily up and down Merlin's lower back. He studied what he could: first the slight curl to his hair, then the eyelashes that rested against his skin. How his lips were dry, but pink and wet where they parted. How he'd grown a dusting of scratchy stubble that gave his pale complexion a starkness that suited him too well.

He curled his arm around Merlin's warm waist and turned into his thick hair. Arthur breathed him in and closed his eyes against the light to settle into the embrace. He'd never been into cuddling, it had always felt odd and unnecessary, but Merlin threw that all out the window. He made it feel good, like there was nothing else he should be doing, nothing else he should ever do. As if they were meant to be like that forever: tangled up, exhausted and together.