Merlin woke up the next morning to a headache, but that didn't stop him from showering and getting dressed, he was hungry and wanted to go get breakfast, before he had to go meet Uther and Hunith to take family photos in their wedding clothes. Merlin didn't know why he had to be there, he hadn't even been in the wedding, but oh well. He also wanted to go check on Arthur, because he had been pretty drunk and had just left the night before, which was unlike him.
But as Merlin was getting his shoes on, to leave, he heard a knock at the door. He walked over, with only one shoe on, and pulled open the door, there stood Arthur, looking very rough indeed. Merlin grinned at him, Arthur just stood there, staring at Merlin, without speaking. "Hello?" offered Merlin. Arthur seemed to be a little out of it still. "Wanna come in or just stand there? I could shut the door...?"
Arthur seemed to snap out of it now, and he frowned, walking into the room, Merlin shut the door behind him. He went over to Merlin's bed and fell face first into it, Merlin followed him into the room more, watching him. "I'm dying..." muttered Arthur. "This is why I don't like drinking like that..."
"Well...you did it," said Merlin, he wasn't being supportive to Arthur, unlike Arthur always was to him, but he couldn't help it, it was amusing to him. "And then you left me...you told me to wait for you and you never came back..."
Merlin didn't know if that was exactly true, he might have come back while Merlin was singing, but he hadn't seen him, so he just amused not. Arthur popped his head up at this, and stared at him, with a scrunched up face. "I what...?"
"You literally asked me to wait for you, because you had to pee, and said you wanted to walk me to my room..." explained Merlin, Arthur looked at him, as if he were crazy. "Which is stupid, as our rooms are three doors apart, but I didn't want to question you..."
"I don't remember that," said Arthur, sitting back up and looking worried at the turned off telly, he seemed to be thinking about something now. "Don't take anything I say when I'm pissed like that seriously, alright? I can't control myself..."
"I've been drunk before," said Merlin. Arthur stood up and shook his head, which then made him grab his head and complain. "Let's go get something to eat, maybe that'll help."
Arthur agreed and they headed out of the room. In the elevator Arthur stopped looking as sick as he had in the room, he looked over to Merlin, as they waited for the doors to open and reached over, petting his messy hair. "What's happened here?" he asked, tugging at one of the rather pointy tuffs of hair. "You auditioning for Harry Potter later?"
"It's from all the shit I had to put in it yesterday, I'll have to figure out how to tame it again...for later."
They sat down at one of the tables in the cafe, and Merlin had ordered pancakes while Arthur ordered black coffee and some eggs. They only waited a few seconds for their drinks, and Arthur drained his coffee cup in seconds. He did start looking a little pinker in the cheeks afterward. Behind Arthur though, Merlin noticed, as they just sat there and talked about nothing important, he noticed someone...someone he knew.
"Oh my god!" he said, loudly, as the person walked nearer to them and he finally recognized who it was. "Gwen!" he said, he had thought she had gone home with some old guy, the night before. "Gwen!" he yelled out, and she saw him there and started heading toward him. It seemed like she was looking for someone, and if not him, he didn't know who. "What are you doing here?" he asked, once she was close enough to hear him.
"Oh...I'm just leaving now, my dad is waiting outside in the car, I wanted to say goodbye..." she said, but then turned to Arthur instead and smiled, sweetly. "Thanks for last night..."
Merlin was confused, for about a total of three seconds, until Gwen leaned down and kissed Arthur...kissed him right on the lips. And then it all made sense, it all made so much sense that Merlin suddenly felt a rage like he had never felt before. That's where he went! That's why he didn't come back! Merlin never got angry, he never raised his voice, but right now...he didn't care.
"What the hell?!" he yelled, just as Gwen pulled away from Arthur, Gwen looked back, confused, but Arthur looked...well, Merlin didn't want to look at him right now.
"You didn't tell him?" asked Gwen, taking a step back, and looking between Merlin and Arthur.
"No..." said Arthur, slowly. "I hadn't told him..."
Merlin's ears were burning, if this were a cartoon, his head would have turned into a volcano by now. He stood up, knocking the chair back as he did so. "YOU...YOU SLEPT WITH HIM?!" He shouted, and then turned to Arthur, who looked very pale again, and hadn't moved nor spoke again, since answering Gwen's stupid question. "AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!" Arthur opened his mouth, like he was going to speak, but then shut it again, and didn't say anything. He turned back to Gwen, he just wanted to shout, he wanted to scream at someone. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!?"
"It's not a big deal, Merlin..." said Gwen, looking very ashy in the cheeks and like she wanted to run off and cry. Good, Merlin hoped she cried...and cried a lot. "People have sex all the time. I don't know why he didn't tell you, he told me he was going to when he left the room this morning...I figured he did, that's on him."
"Nooo, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" he yelled, it was 'on him,' of course it was, she always pushed the blame to someone else, she even blamed Lance for HER cheating on him. Merlin was done, he was beyond done. "THIS IS ON YOU, FOR BEING THE WORLDS BIGGEST FUCKING SLUT! You don't have ANY respect for anyone but yourself...you're a low-life whore...no, a whore is better than you, at least the whore probably get's paid!"
Gwen gasped at this, covering a hand over her chest and looked very offended, Merlin was glad about that. "I'm leaving, I'm not going to sit here and let you talk to me like this...you don't have the right."
"You don't have the right to cheat on your boyfriend, but ya do...you didn't have the right to have sex with Arthur, but ya did, so now I hope you're happy...because whatever one sided friendship this was is over...big time!"
"I just thought you cared..." Gwen trailed off, she always did that, to make Merlin feel guilty, but not this time, that would not work again, sleeping with Arthur had finally broken the already broken camel's back. "And Arthur is an adult, he can do what he likes."
"Oh yeah...sure, and apparently what he likes to do is fucking sluts, but don't worry...I already knew that!" Merlin glared down at Arthur, who said nothing, not a single damn word. "But fuck...fuck it all, I don't care...I don't care about him, I don't care about you...I don't care that you treat your vagina like a train station...I don't care, ya dumb fuckin' c-"
Merlin's voice broke, from over-use, and he stopped and glared for a long moment, before he walked off, or more like stormed off, leaving the dumb bitch to rot there, and for all Merlin cared, Arthur could stay with her. He was done, just completely done, he didn't want to see either of them ever again. But it wouldn't last, as soon as Merlin had made it out of the cafe's doors, he could hear someone shouting after him. It wasn't Gwen, of course it wasn't going to be Gwen, it was Arthur. Merlin felt a fresh wave of anger, but he pushed it back, and continued walking without stopping. But he had to stop, to wait for the elevator, because he didn't know where the stairs were, and this gave Arthur time to reach him.
"Don't talk to me...don't say a single fuckin' word..."
"Merlin..."
"YOU JUST SAID A GOD DAMN WORD!"
"Merlin...please, calm the fuck down!" Merlin looked over at him and he glared daggers, Arthur was still very pale and looked very stressed, but he just didn't look the same to him, he didn't feel the same, and that was hurting Merlin very much. He felt tears burning his eyes, but he refused to cry, because he was still so angry, crying was showing weakness. "Can you just let me explain myself...please?"
"No," said Merlin simply, as the elevator doors open and he walked inside, he was hoping Arthur wouldn't follow, he slammed his finger into the close door button, but Arthur still walked in away, Merlin growled. "Please...Merlin, you have to understand, I don't fucking remember anything!"
"Bullshit..."
Merlin crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down at the floor. "I don't...I don't remember talking to you before that, remember? How am I supposed to remember anything else?" asked Arthur, Merlin looked back up at this and scowled.
"Because talking to someone is a lot different than having sex with someone!"
"You wouldn't know...you're a virgin..."
Merlin's rage was returning, tenfold, and he himself, had no idea what sort of horrible curse words he uttered, as he took a swing at Arthur's face, but missed dramatically, as Arthur simply just stepped out of the way. This was their fault, Merlin thought, as the doors open and he stepped out, he was never violent before living with the Pendragon's, they were just horrible people.
"Okay...I realize that was a bad choice of words," said Arthur, as he followed him down the hall. "But I'm not lying, I don't remember...I remember being in the loo, and then coming out and she was there, she was upset because she had spilled something on her dress, so I offered to help her clean it, and she suggested going to my room, and then the next thing I know...we're there and she's getting naked...I swear, Merlin...that's all I remember...I swear to God."
Merlin was quiet for a long moment, having paused in the hallway, him saying all this didn't make Merlin feel any better, it was actually making it worse. "I don't believe you..." he muttered, whether he did or not, it didn't matter.
"Why not...?" asked Arthur, sounding kind of hurt now, but Merlin didn't care how hurt he felt, it didn't match how hurt Merlin felt. "I wouldn't lie to you."
"No, you just wouldn't tell me things...so really, it's the same as lying."
"I didn't tell you because I knew you would be mad...I didn't want to hurt you."
"But ya still did...you hurt me by doing it, you just didn't care enough to stop."
"I DON'T FUCKING REMEMBER DOING IT!"
At this point, Morgana came out of one of the room's, as they were on their floor and looked at the two, worried. "What's happened?"
"Arthur had sex with Gwen..." Merlin pointed at Arthur, and Arthur shook his head, but he couldn't really deny it, so then his shoulders kinda just slumped a little. Morgana's lips turned down and she scrunched her nose.
"Ew...why?"
"I was drunk...I don't remember..."
"Disgusting..." she retorted. "Merlin...are you upset?" Merlin nodded, even though he thought it was probably pretty plain to see, that he was upset, more than upset. "I'm sorry, Merlin, he's a dirty bastard, and she's a trash whore...you deserve better than him."
"Excuse me...I'm still here!"
"Oh, I know," Morgana smirked at Arthur. "And you're just lucky Merlin is a sweet boy, and hasn't killed you yet."
Morgana walked off, and now Merlin started walking off too, to his room. Arthur followed him. "Where are you going now?"
"To my room...to be away from you."
"I understand you're mad right now...but..."
"But what?!" Merlin turned back toward him and Arthur stepped closer to him. Merlin took a step back, even if that meant he had to be slammed against his hotel room door. Arthur frowned, and took a step back again.
"In my right mind or not, I would never do anything purposely to hurt you."
Merlin did know that, he supposed, but he didn't want to talk about it now, he didn't want to talk about anything at all. He wanted to be alone. He said nothing else, just went into his room and shut the door in Arthur's face. Arthur didn't press, he didn't knock on the door, or say anything else, Merlin figured he left, but Merlin really didn't care; He didn't care where Arthur went or what he did. He was angry still, beyond angry...he was hurt, even more so, though, stupidly enough...Merlin was jealous, and he hated that, he hated that very much. How could he be jealous, jealous of what? He fell into his bed and felt his stomach turning at his very thoughts.
He was jealous that Gwen got to have Arthur and he didn't, she could do whatever she liked to Arthur, because her mother wasn't married to his dad, it didn't matter. She got to kiss him, Merlin didn't, she got to be with him, and Merlin didn't...and that wasn't fair, because she always got whatever she wanted, even though she didn't deserve it, the bitch...
And Merlin, he couldn't stand that thought, he hatted it, he hated her...
((A/N: In canon Merlin is not a person I could ever see really start just straight up yelling at someone, Arthur yes...all the time. But in this he is a teenager, going through a lot of stuff. He has an abusive mom and no real friends, Arthur was his safety and now Arthur has ruined that safety. I think Merlin had just reached a boiling point, and honestly...I enjoyed the hell out of rereading it just now. Also, this in no way is slut shaming, I have said this countless times that I have a friend like Gwen is in this story, and sometimes...when she does things, I really want to shout at her. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter...and these turn of events. ALSO, ALSO; I am sooo sorry it has been so long since I did an update, I have no real excuse other than I am very busy with college and my other story that I post, it takes up a lot of my time.)