Merlin
The afternoon that he had spent with Arthur had been wonderful to say the least. He was honestly surprised at what a good time he actually had.
They'd started texting, a lot.
It was Saturday morning and he was on the tube to London with Gwen. He'd just thrown on a plaid black shirt with jeans and scarf that day, but Gwen had actually made an effort, wearing a baby pink summer dress and denim jacket. She looked extra radiant.
Is there anything good on at the movies? A.
Merlin held back a smile.
Nothing I'd be interested in. Besides, I'm shopping with Gwen in London today. M.
Ok well I'm bored. A.
You're prat. Go kick the football around or something. M.
"Who are you texting?" Gwen asked cheerily, sliding down her aviators to the end of her nose.
"Just Will," Merlin lied. "He's coming up to visit, in three days, and I'm going down to Ealdor before to visit my Mum and we're going to catch the train back together, because he's staying over."
"Sweet. So do we get to meet him then?" She questioned excitedly.
"Yeah, yeah of course! He's looking forward to meeting you guys," Merlin laughed.
"Oh, Merlin, I have something to tell you," Gwen smiled.
"What, what's up?" Merlin asked nervously.
"Well, I haven't seen you lately because of all the studying and everything, but I applied to go for an exchange, in France, Paris to be exact, through our school, before the school year started and guess what, I got in, I only found out two, three weeks ago. So, I'm going to France in a nine bloody days, leaving on Monday evening. " Gwen squealed.
"Oh my god, wow, Gwen, I am so happy for you! Isn't a little short notice though? I'm going to miss you though, but now I finally understand why you were so insistent on going shopping." Merlin beamed.
"Yeah, it is short notice but that's only because the girl who originally got in, got pulled out cause' she was arrested for drug possession or something, and I was the second choice." Gwen grinned.
I can't be bothered kicking the football around. MERRRLINNNN. A.
…
After a whole day of relentless walking, gliding between shop to shop, being confronted by posh shop assistants and shoving food as quick as they could into their mouths, they were finally done.
It was past 4pm and they were shuffling through the streets carrying bags filled with different dresses, shirts, trousers, most of it all belonged to Gwen, but Merlin had brought a plain black shirt with a beautiful silver dragon on the front, it was expensive but so worth it.
Arthur
Morgana kicked open the door to his room.
"Dinner," She said coldly.
"Morgana, you've been treating me like shit for the past month, what have I honestly done?" Arthur exploded.
"I've given you a month to explain yourself to me. A month! You seriously don't know?" Morgana huffed.
"NO!" Arthur yelled.
Morgana wandered over and threw herself on the spin-chair of his desk.
"I actually wanted you to tell me." Morgana admitted.
"Tell you what?" Arthur sighed, he had no fucking idea what his sister was going on about.
"That you're gay?" Morgana said nervously.
"I'm not- I'm not GAY. Jesus, Morgana, where did you get that idea?" Arthur shouted.
"I saw you at the 'Palace' ages ago, on Saturday night." Morgana said quietly.
"You must've seen someone else that looked like me," Arthur suggested, fiddling with the fabric of his jumper.
"No, it was you, you were right in the centre, dancing with as many blokes as you could." Morgana explained. "I thought you saw me. Because you looked in my direction. But you were probably too piss-drunk and high to even notice I was there!"
"Morgana." Arthur said silently.
"What are you doing Arthur?" Morgana cried out.
"Are you going to tell Dad?" Arthur asked curtly.
"No, no, of course not. I wouldn't tell Uther. But what the bloody hell were you thinking?" Morgana spat out.
"Nothing." Arthur answered.
"Anyway, Rita just left, dinner's ready, and as usual, Uther isn't at home, he's out working. So it's just you and I." Morgana said coldly.
"I don't want to talk about this." Arthur warned.
"We'll talk later, don't think I'll forget. Now let's go have tea. The lasagne she made smells amazing." Morgana sighed.
…
When they had finished eating and Arthur had put his plate and cutlery away in the dishwasher, he returned back to his room and flung himself on the bed. It was just past seven, he wondered if Merlin would be back from London yet.
You back? A.
Just got home. What's up? M.
Morgana knows. A.
Just then he received a new message from Gwen. I had so much fun shopping with Merlin today! He's amazing. Omg I wish you guys would get along. G.
He'd reply to that later, he checked his phone inbox to see if Merlin had replied.
Shit. Is she going to tell anyone? M.
I don't know. I really don't know. Can you come over? Tell Gaius that you're doing homework or something. A.
Yeah. Alright. I'll be there in 15.
"Oi, Morgana, Merlin's coming over," Arthur walked to his sister's bedroom.
"Who's Merlin?" Morgana asked.
"A friend, we have to do an assignment." Arthur answered nervously.
"Okay, well. Why can't you do it later on in the week?" Morgana asked suspiciously.
"Um, he's going to Ealdor for the days we have left." Arthur replied.
"Have fun. Well, I'm going clubbing, don't wait up." Morgana said, placing large silver hoops in her ears.
Merlin
Gaius drove him to Arthur's house, which was massive. It was like a cream coloured mansion with an intricate pebble path leading up to the large red door. A silver Volvo was parked in the drive way. He gaped in silence at it whilst Gaius laughed at his expression.
"Yes, yes it is actually that big." Gaius confirmed.
"I mean, I knew he was well-off. But I didn't think this rich." Merlin muttered.
"Well, what time you want to be picked up, my boy?" Gaius questioned.
"I'll ring you," Merlin responded distractedly.
"Alright, as long as it's not too late, I'm an old man, Merlin, I need my sleep." Gaius waved him off.
Merlin nervously walked up to the front and checked his watch; it was just past seven pm. He held the knocker and rapped it on the door a few times.
He was greeted by a beautiful dark haired girl, with piercing green eyes and porcelain skin. She wore a black lace and emerald strapless dress and long black heels. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and she carried a black and gold clutch.
"Hi! You must be Arthur's friend, Merlin," She exclaimed. "My name's Morgana, I'm his sister, anyway, I'm just on my way out, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too," Merlin greeted.
"Merlin!" Arthur interrupted. "Hurry up."
"Well, I better go," Morgana smiled. "I'll talk to you later."
Arthur suddenly popped up behind Morgana and beckoned him forward. She turned around to glare daggers at Arthur and flashed a smile to Merlin before brushing past him to walk to the silver Volvo out front.
The two boys clambered up the staircase to get to Arthur's room. He had a whole array of shelves on his wall dedicated to the huge amount of trophies and a large, surprisingly tidy desk underneath that. A grey and black four poster bed lay in the middle and he had some odd sort of dresser crossed with wardrobe in the corner. Merlin eyed the wall mounted TV with a Wii and X-Box lying at the bottom with jealousy.
Arthur shut the door behind them.
"So, what happened?" Merlin asked, concerned.
"She saw me in the Palace." Arthur paused. "You do know what the Palace is right?"
"Yes, yes, I am actually gay you know, even though I don't hide behind a girlfriend and fuck guys every weekend," Merlin stated matter-of-fact-tedly.
"Anyway!" Arthur continued. "She saw me there and I don't know what she's going to do, I mean, she said that she's not going to tell Dad, and I don't think she'll tell anyone but what if she does?"
"Why don't you break up with Gwen? Honestly." Merlin criticized.
"Because I love her and I don't want to hurt her!" Arthur expressed vehemently.
"You might 'love' her, Arthur, but that doesn't mean, you're in love with her. You're hurting her and she doesn't even know it. Just, spare her the misery." Merlin sighed, trying to ignore the pang in his chest at the words 'I love her'.
Arthur steered the conversation off topic.
"Let's just talk about something else." Arthur muttered. "What's up with you?"
Merlin had to try very hard to resist punching him.
"Nothing really, my mate Will is coming up from Ealdor on Tuesday." Merlin admitted, seating himself on the bed.
"Oh, that's pretty cool." Arthur said. "I never asked you- why would you move here and leave your old school?"
"Straight to the point, are we?" Merlin commented. "But I moved here because I didn't really like my other school, so when I heard CP was doing a scholarship examination for the New Year, I applied."
At least he was telling him the half-truth. Merlin just couldn't go back and think about that night that had forced him to leave, the immense pain, the blood, the bruises scattered all around his body. He shivered at the thought of the scar stretched along the expanse of his thigh. The only ones that knew were his Mum, Will and Gaius, and he wanted to keep it that way.
"Are you alright?" Arthur asked worriedly.
"Mhmm yeah!" Merlin said falsely brightly.
"Are you positively sure? You went dead silent for a second." Arthur said, scratching the back of his head.
"Yes! I just couldn't stop thinking about how much of an utter PRAT you are!" Merlin faked a laugh.
"What's wrong?" Arthur said seriously.
"Why do you think that something's wrong?" Merlin asked, annoyed.
"Your defensive humour really gives it away." Arthur raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah well, as you said before 'let's just talk about something else' alright?" Merlin retorted defensively.
"Alright!" Arthur raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fair enough!"
Merlin rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, are you up for some Halo?" Arthur suggested.
"Yes but let me tell you, that I'm absolutely shit at it." Merlin warned.
"Don't be a twat. I'll go easy on you." Arthur said wickedly.
"Really?" Merlin asked, sarcastically earnest.
"Pfft. No." Arthur scoffed.
Arthur
He was sprawled out on the ivory carpet next to Merlin, who indeed, was horrendous and he gave up, because it wasn't even fun if they were losing all the fucking time.
"Let's… Why don't we just stop?" Arthur pleaded. "Um, we'll play Wii or something?"
"What about all my valiant effort?" Merlin protested.
"Yeah, you are truly the worst player I have ever lived to see." Arthur said apologetically.
"Hey!" Merlin defended. "But fine, we'll do something else."
"Do you want something to drink?" Arthur offered. "I'm thirsty."
"Okay," Merlin agreed.
"Off to the kitchen we go." Arthur led the way down the spiralling stairs to his kitchen.
"Oh wow." Merlin laughed softly, in awe of the huge room.
"Do you want a Coke, juice, water?" Arthur offered.
"I'll have coke," Merlin smiled.
Arthur dug through the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of Coke and tossed one at Merlin.
Merlin cracked it open and pressed it on his lips just as Arthur accidently shut the fridge door on his fingers. Choking with laughter, Merlin accidently spilled his drink all down the front of his shirt.
Arthur winced in pain.
"Merlin! It's not funny! And oh great, you've spilt it." Arthur growled in frustration.
"Sorry!" Merlin, was still laughing, his shirt sopping wet.
"Whatever, you obviously can't wear that, I'll go get you a spare t-shirt of mine, honestly." Arthur huffed.
By the time he had gotten back downstairs, carrying a plain grey t-shirt of his, Merlin had already removed his own shirt.
He pointedly looked away, trying not to stare at his profound hip bones, and his flawless alabaster skin with a smattering of dark chest hair.
He was gorgeous and Arthur wanted nothing more than to ravage that body of his, kiss those flushed pink lips, pull at that soft hair while he-
"Arthur!" Merlin cut in his dirty thoughts.
"What?" Arthur responded hurriedly.
"They're showing reruns of Doctor Who tonight, on telly, I want to watch it…" Merlin insisted.
"Come on. Really? But you've seen the episodes countless times, you were boasting about it yesterday." Arthur argued, drifting away from his previous thoughts.
"Fine, fine." Arthur surrendered. "I'll do it for you. Let's go back upstairs."
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