The problem with Elyan is he falls asleep way too fast. Merlin always hated him for it. He had literally just ripped off his shirt, kicked off his shoes, wrapped himself in both duvets and was asleep in about five seconds. Merlin and Arthur were not that lucky, Arthur was annoyed now because of his girlfriends bullshit, or at lest that's what he was calling it. So he was just laying on his back, under the thin sheet they had to share. Merlin plugged in his phone, which was on two percent and was trying to get comfy when his phone started buzzing. It wasn't someone calling though, it was texts, one after another, again and again and again. Merlin knew who it was going to be from, but he looked anyway. Each text was slightly more hurtful than the last, Merlin didn't say anything as he looked at them, hoping not to show Arthur because Arthur was already pissed off enough, Merlin didn't want to make it worse. He rolled away from him, just in case. But the texts continued, hurtful and awful as they were.

Gwen: I know this was your idea, you did this. How could you do this to me?

You are just so quick to defy me, to go against me. WHY?! What did I ever do to you?

You are really disgusting, are you such a fragile person that you have to try to steal your sisters boyfriend? Grow up and start thinking about someone else but yourself!

No wonder Gwaine never loved you no wonder he cheated you, you are a piece of trash not worth anything. Not even a good time. You are nothing Merlin and you never will be. And Arthur will never love you because you are not worth loving.

Deep down you know that, and if you don't I can't wait for you to find out. I'm going to laugh in your face when he rejects you. It's going to be hilarious LOL.

You are a disgrace to me to mum and dad, the whole family. None of us want you here, mum only puts up with you because she has to, she can't stand you, she told me this several times. You are a traitor and a cheat and you don't belong in this good family. You're disgusting. Go to hell Merlin it's where you deserve to be!

Merlin didn't exactly know when but he had started crying at some point, and he tried to hide it, he really did, but the texts continued and continued, how could she possibly have anything else hurtful left to say? Was Merlin really that bad? He had done all this for her at first, it wasn't his fault that she turned into a bitch and he sort of fell in love with Arthur along the way, he never did anything about either of these two things though. He just let it be, he would bow out when it was his time even if it would hurt him to do that, he would do that for her. So was he really that awful? Suddenly however, Arthur was leaning over him, he yanked the phone right out of his hands and right off of the charger, and looked at the messages pouring in one after the other. She had started using all caps now, Merlin didn't even know what she was saying anymore, it was all a blur.

"Arthur..." Merlin said, with a sort of whimper like whisper. Arthur held up his hand and typed something with the other. Merlin wasn't going to respond, he wondered what Arthur said. Arthur didn't hand him the phone back either, instead he turned notifications off and leaned over Merlin once again, put the phone back on charge and put it on the bedside table next to them. He didn't move when he was done with all this either, he hovered over him. Merlin looked up right as he sniffed, his eyes were still overflowing with tears and he wished he could stop, he wished he wasn't crying at all. Arthur shifted his weight and wiped a few tears away from Merlin's cheekbones, with his finger tips. "What..." Merlin sniffed again and whispered, "What did you say to her?"

"It doesn't matter," Arthur whispered back, his voice was soft now rather than before they had 'officially' gone to bed. He knew Merlin was upset, so he was obviously suppressing his anger quite a bit. "Nothing that she said was true, Merlin..."Merlin knew this was true, it wasn't. But yet, at the thought of her words his eyes filled with even more tears again and he tried to turn away from Arthur but he couldn't, so he just gave up and slammed his eyes shut. Maybe it was all true after all, and he just didn't want to admit it, or he had fooled Arthur into thinking something different, along with himself. "Everything she says comes from a cruel, dark place in her heart, she is projecting her own self-esteem issues onto you..." Arthur said, but Merlin just shook his head. "Merlin..."

"I know...I just...I-" Merlin stumbled over his blubbering whispers, tears rolling down, over his cheeks. Arthur hushed him, in a way a person would hush a baby. He was caressing him too, trying to sooth him. Arthur's hand's no longer holding him up, instead he leaned on Merlin, flattening Merlin to the bed, Arthur's hands rubbed up and down Merlin's sides. Merlin welcomed this, as some form of horizontal hug, and wrapped his arms around Arthur's shoulders. Whether or not he may ever be able to love Merlin, he was still good at comforting him most of the time. Arthur, for his part, took Merlin's gesture as acceptance of the closeness, and moved his hands from Merlin's sides to his back, drawing small patterns now. And then his lips were on him, not on the mouth or anything, but with small kisses on the cheeks, pecking away the tears. He seemed to be on auto-piolet and Merlin let him, maybe that's the part that made him a disgusting disgrace. Merlin could only assume one way or another.

"You're amazing to me..." whispered Arthur, against Merlin's skin. "Nothing she says can change that, not for me..." He pressed the softest of kisses to both of Merlin's still closed eyelids, then the tip of his nose, the crook of his neck, the right side of his jaw, the ghost of a kiss on his lips, it was almost like it never happened at all, then the left side of his jaw, and then a few on that side of this neck and shoulder. Merlin thought he could honestly stay like this for the rest of his life and probably this is what made him a traitor and a cheat. Because he honestly loved this man far too much, and that's also probably what made him so fragile of a person...

Maybe Merlin could live with that, knowing he really was all the awful things she said about him, or maybe he couldn't and maybe he really wasn't a fragile, disgusting disgrace, but in this moment he felt like one.

(A/N: Hello! I hope you all are doing good, I meant to update this yesterday but my sister was in my room talking about her job until like 3 AM and after that I did not even have the strength to update. Anyway, I know this is a shorter one, also just showcased Gwen's 100% solid personality, but the next one will be longer. Also, I'm excited for you all to read that one because something happens that I am really interested in seeing you all's reaction to and thoughts on. I have my own thoughts about it, but I won't share them right away. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this update, and I'll be back soon!)