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Merlin had his legs pulled up on his computer chair and was resting his chin on his knee. Gwen had sent him a message on facebook with a link to a profile. The name was Arthur Pendragon, but the profile pic was undoubtedly onceandfutureking. He didn't know what she expected him to do with this information. So now he knew his name and had a way to stalk him (more than he did already, a voice in his head provided). But it wasn't like he could just add him—he wouldn't know who he was.
He could tell him on tumblr first? He chewed his lower lip. If he offered up his facebook instead of popping up out of nowhere and adding him, maybe he would look like less of a creeper? But that wasn't really the issue anymore. It was more about whether or not they would get along outside of tumblr. He didn't want to lose his friendship if they ended up not getting along in real life. But if they did get along…
"Come on, Merlin," he told himself. And great, he was talking to himself again. "It's not like this means you have to meet up or anything."
He went to onceandfutureking's ask box and left a quick message with a link to his facebook profile:
Um. I swear I'm not a creeper, but Gwen says she knows you? And I was wondering if you wanted to be fb friends? But if you don't that's totally fine.
He sent the message before he started rambling about how he wasn't an internet stalker. Because if he let himself keep typing, he totally would. He rambled a bit when he was nervous, and it was a trait that didn't only apply to verbal speech. Once, when he was trying to apologize and explain something to Will, he even forgot about punctuation and just ended up with a huge wall of text.
His foot started tapping almost of its own accord, which caused his leg to jiggle, which was uncomfortable, considering his chin was on his knee. Merlin unfolded himself and got up to pace, only to sit back down again. If he'd thought sending the message was hard, waiting for a reply was even worse.
"Okay. I'm going to crazy if I stay here, so instead I will go the library and study like the good student I am not." He nodded decisively and grabbed his bag, shoving a few text books in half-heartedly before marching out his door.
It's a pity he forgot that his phone got email alerts.
It was some hours later that a certain Arthur Pendragon found time to check his favorite social networking site and saw that he had a message. When he read it, he sat up in his chair so fast that he nearly choked on the granola bar he'd just taken a bite out of.
Merlinsbeard had just sent him a link to his facebook profile. Merlin had actually asked Arthur whether or not he wanted to be facebook friends. He opened Merlin's profile in a new tab and pressed the "Add friend" button, before going back to tumblr and replying privately:
Do you even need to ask? It's about time, Merlin.
A few minutes later, he got another message in his ask box:
Don't be a prat, or I'll unfriend you.
He switched back to facebook and saw that Merlin had accepted his friend request. He went to Merlin's profile to do a bit of proper facebook stalking. He pondered starting up a chat on facebook—because he had to admit, for all that he was addicted to tumblr, it had a pretty crap messaging system. But he decided against it. Tumblr was safer.
He replied to Merlin's message:
As if you would. Besides, it's too late. I've already seen your ears.
Not even a minute later, he got another message:
Oi! Leave my ears alone!
He grinned as he typed:
I don't want to, they're adorable.
Merlin responded:
Now you're just teasing me.
Arthur replied:
I type no word of lie. You have the cutest ears I've ever seen. I want to nibble on them, they're so cute.
Merlin messaged:
You'd be the first to say so.
Arthur couldn't help himself when he typed:
Good, then I have dibs. ;)
It shouldn't have been a surprise, but he still wasn't expecting it when Gwaine showed up at his door.
"Alright, Princess. Let me in, and we are going to have a nice long chat about you and your boyfriend," he said as he sauntered past Arthur like he lived there.
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry. What boyfriend is this?"
"Don't play dumb. I'm talking about whatshisface on tumblr. Merlinsbeard. I think the whole internet knows you're head over heels, the way you've been blatantly flirting with him, left and right."
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Like hell you don't. Now, I'll tell you, it was funny to watch you two at first, but now it's just frustrating. Especially when you two are ganging up on me. Poor, innocent Gwaine."
Arthur snorted. "You insulted Stargate. You had it coming."
Gwaine pointed. "Don't try to change the subject. What's going on with you two? It's more than just teasing between internet buddies. You genuinely seem like you want to get into his pants."
"Maybe because I do."
Gwaine flung his arms out in exasperation. "For all you know, he could be a huge, overweight, wart-covered basement geek! I know beauty is only skin deep and all that, but you have to admit: You've always gone for a pretty face."
Arthur just smiled innocently.
Gwaine stared at him. "You bastard. What aren't you telling me?"
"Checked your facebook feed recently, Gwaine?"
"I never check that shit. Do you know how many friends I have?"
Arthur shook his head. "Which is why I know that Merlin is the most adorable guy in the world, and you don't?"
"His name is actually Merlin?"
"And I am actually King Arthur. It's destiny." He grinned and leaned back, putting his arms back to pillow his head.
"How did you find him, anyway? Actually, forget that, how did you get him to accept your friend request after you found him?"
"That's a bit of a long story… but the short version is, one day I got a message on tumblr and he'd sent me a link to his profile. I didn't initiate anything."
"What if it's a fake profile?"
Arthur sent him a look.
"What? I'm just trying to cover all the bases here, since you're obviously too besotted to see sense. Besides, this sort of thing never happens in reality."
"Gwaine, you've technically known him longer than me. When did you first start following him on tumblr?"
The scruffy man had to stop to think about that one. "I think Gwen was reblogging some of his stuff…"
"And why did Gwen start following him?"
"How should I know?"
"Because she actually knows him from school," Arthur answered his own question.
"Bloody hell, you serious?" Gwaine exclaimed. "It really is a small world, isn't it?" He finally settled down, no longer on the offensive. "So, he's cute, he's got a great personality, but you've never met in person. What's your next move?"
Arthur shrugged. "Nothing for a while. I mean, he's pretty shy. I can tell it probably took a lot for him just to send me his facebook address. I don't want to scare him off."
Gwaine rolled his eyes. "Have you seen his blog? He's nuts about you, too. He probably isn't afraid of you, he's afraid you won't like him. Big difference."
"And so? I still don't think I should push him."
"Gwen's birthday is coming up, isn't it?"
Arthur blinked. "That… is an idea."
Merlin was curled up on Gwen's bed, sinking into a fluffy nest of pillows. Gwen had the best pillows.
"You're ridiculous," Gwen said, but her voice was fond.
Merlin just disappeared further into the pile of squishy soft goodness. He heard a snap and looked up in time to see Gwen lowering her phone from where it was pointed at Merlin.
"This is going on facebook," she sing-songed.
"Whatever."
"With the caption 'I think he needs a cuddle buddy.' Now, to tag, or not to tag Arthur?"
He moaned. "Don't. Please."
"Come on, Merlin. At this rate, when you finally meet him, he's gonna skip the dating and just go down on bended knee."
"Don't even joke about that," he said. "I think I would keel over right then and there."
"From happiness?"
"From embarrassment," he clarified.
"Alright then, in order to prevent your early demise, I have a proposal."
"What might that be?"
"My birthday is in three weeks," Gwen said. "I want to have a little party. You're invited, of course. And though I know not all of them will be able to make the trip, I'm inviting my friends from Camelot. That includes Arthur." She bit her lip, waiting for his reaction.
He blinked up at her from the pillows. "Hm."
"That's it? 'Hm?'"
"I'm processing. Pretend there's a little processing pinwheel on my forehead."
She giggled at the imagery. "Breathe, Merlin. He's just a person."
"I know that. In my head."
She climbed onto the bed to join him in his pillow nest. "It'll be fine. I think you two will get on brilliantly. You already do, anyway."
He hummed. "So who else are you inviting? Anyone I know, or will I be all on my own?"
She grinned. "I know they're small fry compared to onceandfutureking, but Gwaine and Morgana will probably come."
It took him a second to remember that they were limegreenknight and bigbadwitch. He was friends with Morgana on facebook now, but Gwaine didn't even seem to use his account, despite having thousands of friends.
"Is Morgana as scary in real life as she seems online?"
"Only if you get on her bad side."
"And Gwaine? Should I watch out for him?"
"He might spike the drinks or something, yeah."
He nodded. "I think I can handle them. They're your friends after all."
Gwen ruffled his hair. "They're your friends too."
Facebook had become infinitely more interesting now that he could get an actual glimpse of the real Merlin. In fact, Gwen had just posted a new photo from her phone. He clicked on it to enlarge and was treated to the sight of Merlin buried beneath a pile of cushy pillows. You could just see the top of his head and his lovely blue eyes peeking out. To go with it, she'd typed I think he needs a cuddle buddy.
That was quite probably directed at him. Their friends' teasing had gotten so bad that even Gwen—harmless, innocent Gwen!—had joined in. But, he supposed he sort of deserved it.
His friends weren't the only ones. A bunch of his followers were apparently shipping him and merlinsbeard. Thankfully, the majority of these new crazy shippers had decided their ship name would be kinglin, as opposed to some of the other, weirder, less creative names out there. Like onceandfuturebeard. He wasn't paying too much attention to them because he knew if he delved too deep, he would find something he would regret finding. There were some parts of fandom even he wouldn't go near.
Abruptly, his door opened and his sister sauntered right in.
He quickly shut his laptop and spun in his chair to face her. "Dammit, woman. Don't you even knock anymore?"
"Nope." She moved to make a grab for his laptop. "What is it you're trying to hide? Porn?"
"Don't be ridiculous, of course not." He tried to slap her hand away, but she was faster, and managed to pull the lid up, revealing the picture of Merlin that Gwen had taken.
She sighed. "He might as well be a porn star, with the way you act."
The thought of Merlin and porn in the same context made his head feel funny, so he tried not to think about it. "Don't you have something better to do? People to terrorize? Evil spells to cast?"
She settled on the edge of his bed. "You're going to Gwen's party." She said this like a statement, not a question.
"Yes…?"
"And Merlin is going to Gwen's party."
"Well, he hasn't said anything to me, but I've got my fingers crossed."
"I have it on good authority that he is." She pretended to inspect a hangnail. "What are you planning to do?"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'm planning to go up to him, shake his hand, and say, 'Hello Merlin, it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person.'"
Morgana made a face. "I was hoping for something more dramatic."
"Like what? A box of chocolates? A bouquet of… roses…?" Arthur was suddenly struck be an idea. "You know what? That's exactly what I'm going to do?"
She lifted a perfectly sculpted brow. "Roses?"
He grinned. "You'll see."
It was the afternoon of Gwen's birthday. Merlin had arrived early that morning to help her with all the cooking and baking for the party that evening, because of course Gwen couldn't be like everyone else and go buy a platter of vegetables and dip and a few bags of junk food.
Though Merlin ended up covered in flour and other ingredients, it had the positive effect of keeping him too busy to think about the fact that he would be meeting Arthur tonight. Face to face. His hand moved to run anxiously through his thick, dark hair, but he aborted the movement in time to remember that his hands were still covered in garlic and tahini paste from the hummus he'd just finished preparing.
He exhaled slowly.
From behind him, Gwen made a soothing sound. "I can finish up here, Merlin. Why don't you go use the bathroom to wash up a bit? The guests should be arriving soon."
He nodded and went down the hall to her little bathroom. He scrubbed his arms up to his elbows, thankfully that Gwen had had the foresight to make him take his buttoned, long-sleeve shirt off, leaving him in just his dark navy t-shirt. He washed his face too, for good measure, then tried to do something about his hair. He'd had it styled to his liking when he left this morning, but now it was back to being its usual unruly self. He tried using his fingers and bit of water to make it behave, but it only seemed to be making things worse, so he gave up.
He stepped back to look himself over. He was… not totally unfortunate looking, he supposed. Tall, a bit gangly, and he had messy hair, but people told him he had pretty eyes, so that was a plus?
He heard a knock at the door and immediately tensed.
"Merlin, can you get the door?"
Thankfully, it was just Elena, one of Gwen's other friends from their school. He'd only spoken with her, but she seemed nice enough, if a bit clumsy. He wasn't all that graceful himself, though, so they'd probably get along if they spent more time together.
She'd brought a brownie dish, which Merlin took from her as she came inside. (And a good thing he did, because she tripped moments later.) When he got back to the kitchen, Gwen had just finished washing her own hands and was taking her apron off. When she saw the new brownie dish, she winced and glanced toward the table covered in their other dishes.
"Oh dear, let's find a place for that…"
They managed to squeeze it in on the counter, beside the dirty cooking pots and pans.
She sighed. "Looks like we'll have to clean up a bit, after all." As soon as she said that, there was another knock on the door.
Merlin smiled. "Don't worry about it, I'll clean up. Go play hostess."
She pointed a chastising finger. "Don't think you can hide in here. Just clean enough to make space."
He made a shooing motion and stood at the sink to start scrubbing some of the larger dishes. He was moving on to one of the mixing bowls, still covered in flour, as the sound of voices drifted in. He heard someone come into the kitchen behind him.
He turned around, "Gwen, do you want me to—"
It wasn't Gwen.
Onceandfutureking, Arthur Pendragon, was even more handsome in real life than he was in videos or pictures. He was tall, probably about as tall as Merlin, but with a broader and more athletic frame. His golden blond hair was fashionably tousled, sky-blue eyes wide and looking right at Merlin. Compared to Merlin, he was a god.
"Hi," said Merlin, unable to get his mouth working enough to come up with anything else.
"Hello."
"I'm Merlin. Um. But you probably knew that."
Now the blond was smiling and moving closer. "Yes. And I'm Arthur. But I think you knew that."
"Yes," he replied, his nerves about to take control.
"You have a bit of…" Arthur's hands came up to hover near his face, as if asking for permission. Merlin hardly dared to move as he felt Arthur's thumb sweep across his cheek. He could feel the heat of Arthur's hand, and Merlin shivered from the close proximity.
"A bit of flour," Arthur finished saying, as he pulled away.
"Uh, thanks." Merlin swallowed.
He gestured back to the room behind him. "I'm not the only one who's been wanting to meet you. Gwen told me to come save you from dish duty, so here I am."
Merlin looked down at the dish he'd left half-scrubbed in the sink, but grabbed the towel to dry his hands anyway, leaving it for later. When he turned back to Arthur, he offered a shy smile.
"Am I good?" he asked, gesturing to his face in case there was any more flour.
"More than," Arthur smirked.
Merlin blushed and ducked his head, following Arthur back into the main room.
Arthur had spent longer than he'd care to admit trying to make himself look good before Morgana had gotten exasperated and dragged him down to their car so they could go pick up Gwaine and Lance. They were picking up Gwaine because his car had failed to start for the umpteenth time and Lance because he'd never had a car at all, and despite having never met Gwen, he was part of their "group" now and they all thought it was about time for him to meet Gwen.
And Merlin. Arthur's thoughts always came back to Merlin. The drive was a couple of hours long and gave him time for more thinking than he cared for. When they finally pulled up in front of Gwen's building, Arthur was about to jump out of his skin.
"Man up, Arthur," Gwaine said from the backseat, messing up Arthur's carefully styled hair.
"Piss off!" he said, smacking the offending hand away and trying to fix the damage.
"You're like a schoolboy on his first date," Morgana said fondly, stepping out of the car in a pair of her newest high heels.
They were already outside the door, Arthur having his minor panic attack, when Lance decided to ask, "You're sure it's okay that I came along?"
"Of course, don't worry. Gwen knows you're coming, and she's sure to love you."
The door opened and the curly haired girl herself was ushering them in, offering smiles and hugging each of her friends. Lance bashfully introduced himself and Arthur took a glance around the room. A blond girl was seated on a couch, looking up at them all curiously. He turned and Gwen was giving him a knowing look.
"Merlin's doing some washing up for me in the kitchen. Why don't you go rescue him so he can join the party?"
And once again all of his friends were giving him smirks. Gwaine even had the gall to wink at him. He rolled his eyes and headed in the direction he assumed the kitchen was. The apartment wasn't that big.
Merlin was facing away from him, wearing a shirt and jeans that were just shy of skinny, washing dishes in the sink. He must have heard him come in, because he turned around.
"Gwen, do you want me to—"
He stopped mid-sentence and he stared, which gave Arthur a moment to take in his features without the filter of a computer screen. And pixels didn't do those cheekbones justice. Arthur was also pretty sure that that particular shade of blue in his eyes had probably never existed before Merlin was born. Though Arthur might be a little biased.
"Hi," Merlin said.
"Hello."
"I'm Merlin. Um. But you probably knew that."
Merlin was obviously nervous and fumbling for words. He was adorable. "Yes. And I'm Arthur. But I think you knew that."
"Yes."
There was a trace of flour dusting his cheek and Arthur felt the urge to reach out and brush it off. And he did, his hand moving up before he evern realized what he was doing. "You have a bit of… a bit of flour." Merlin didn't move as he allowed Arthur to touch his face.
"Uh, thanks."
He smiled at him again, and gestured back to where everyone else was gathered. "I'm not the only one who's been wanting to meet you. Gwen told me to come save you from dish duty, so here I am."
Merlin hesitated a moment, looking like he might try to finish washing up, but then he dried his hands and turned back to Arthur. He smiled shyly and gestured to where Arthur had brushed the flour off. "Am I good?"
"More than."
When Merlin blushed, Arthur thought it was something he definitely wanted to see again.
They stepped into the main room. Gwaine let out a wolf whistle. "You guys said he was cute, you didn't say he was a model."
Merlin promptly turned bright red and Arthur glared. Merlin's blush wasn't nearly so welcome when it was someone else causing it.
Morgana ignored all of them and stepped forward to tug Merlin into a hug, which seemed to catch him by surprise. "Merlin! It's so good to finally meet you in person. I'd tell you to ignore Gwaine, but you should know by now that he's all bark and no bite."
"Hey! I resent that!"
"It's great to meet you all as well."
"And this is Lance," said Morgana, continuing to ignore Gwaine and his indignant hair flipping. "I'm not sure you know him. He goes by peacepopsicles on tumblr."
"I haven't had the pleasure," said Merlin, extending a hand to shake.
"The pleasure is all mine," he replied.
"Am I the only person in the world who doesn't have a tumblr?" Elena asked no one in particular.
"Yup," answered at least three separate people.
Gwen clapped her hands. "There's a few more people coming, but now that you all are acquainted, who wants to eat?"
Merlin had helped make most of the dishes, so he was definitely ready to try a few. Everyone seemed quite familiar with Gwen's delicious cooking, so soon everyone had a paper plate weighed down with goodies.
Arthur settled next to Merlin on the couch, content to eat his food and chat in an easy-going manner. Merlin had discovered that, despite being face to face (and despite the fact that Merlin was a lowly peasant sitting next to a real-life Adonis) it was very easy to talk to Arthur.
"I think it really helps being involved in internet communities that discuss the same topics I study in school," Arthur was saying. "I mean, yeah, there are the weeaboos and the trolls, but there are some very intelligent people on the internet who just somehow make what we're studying so much more interesting than the school lectures."
Merlin nodded. "Oh, definitely. I've always been interested in Arthurian legend—because of my name, you know. So I was thrilled to be able to take a course that focused on it. But I'd already learned so much from web discussions that some of our readings feel a little pointless."
"Why are you named Merlin? If you don't mind my asking."
Merlin shrugged. "My mother named me. She'd always been a fan of the stories. I had to put up with a lot of teasing in school, but I like my name." He grinned. "What about you, Arthur Pendragon?"
Arthur grimaced. "It's a bit of a family joke. My grandmother, after marrying a Pendragon, was completely set on naming her kid Uther. Well, when I came around, everyone thought it was a great idea to name me Arthur. Uther Pendragon and his son Arthur. Also Morgana, of course, who is actually my half-sister. She has a cousin named Morgause, by the way, who has a son named Mordred."
Merlin snorted. "Better watch out for him, then."
"No kidding," Arthur grinned. "Don't tell Morgana I said this, because she adores the little twerp, but he's the creepiest kid I have ever met. He stares at me when no one else is looking."
"Plotting your demise?" Merlin giggled.
"But now I have my loyal sorceror and my faithful knights to fight for me," Arthur said with a wave towards Merlin, Gwaine, and Lancelot, plus Gwen's brother Elyan who had arrived a few minutes ago.
"I hope you weren't planning to marry Gwen, because I think there's a serious possibility of her cheating on you with your loyal knight."
Arthur and Merlin both sent sly glances towards Gwen who was giggling at something Lance had said and Lance was staring down at her with a besotted expression.
Arthur slung an arm over Merlin's shoulders. "Not to worry, I am completely uninterested in Gwen. In fact, I have my heart set on someone else."
"Oh?" Merlin's heart started beating twice as fast.
Fortunately (or unfortunately?) Morgana chose that moment to perch on the arm of the couch next to Merlin and Arthur pulled his arm back from around Merlin's shoulders. Merlin might have been disappointed, but was distracted by the somewhat predatory smile he was receiving from Morgana.
"So, Merlin. I've been designing these fantasy-inspired outfits—"
Arthur groaned, "Not this again." He leaned over to mock whisper into Merlin's ear. "She acts like she's some sort of avant-garde fashion designer, when really it's just cosplay."
Merlin laughed.
"Was I talking to you? No. Anyway, Merlin, I was wondering if you might be interested in modeling for me."
He spluttered. "Me? Model? Have you looked at me? I'm tall, gangly, and look like I've never been exposed to sunlight. Unless the look you're going for is a nerdy vampire, I don't think you want me modeling anything."
"That's an idea," she said, smiling. "But no, seriously. Arthur's right, you're far more attractive than you give yourself credit for. And I bet you'd look great in leather trousers."
Merlin nearly choked on his own spit.
"It's fine, Merlin. You can say no." Arthur leaned in close and whispered, this time too low for Morgana to hear, "She's right about the leather trousers, though." Then he stood up like nothing happened, and said, "I'm going to get another brownie. Want me to grab one for you too?"
It was getting late and guests were starting to trickle out. Gwen was letting Arthur, Morgana, Lance, and Gwaine sleep on the floor at her place so that they didn't have to drive all the way back so late at night.
Merlin had stayed near Arthur almost the entire night, which Arthur took as a good sign. But now he was offering a small smile and shrugging on his jacket. "I'm on my way out, too. It was wonderful to meet all of you," he said, turning to include the rest of them. "In real life, that is."
Gwaine smirked, "I'm going to be adding you on facebook, now."
"Like you ever actually go on facebook," Morgana said with a playful slap to his shoulder.
"And I'll be looking you up on tumblr," Lance promised.
"I'll walk you out," Arthur said. "I have something in the car that I've been wanting to give you."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Morgana. "It's a ring, isn't it?"
Watching Merlin's cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink was offset by the heat Arthur felt in his own face. "Sorry to disappoint, but it's not jewelry of any sort, let alone a ring. Honestly, Morgana." He started pushing Merlin out the door. "Come on, Merlin. Let's leave before this lot starts getting any weird ideas."
Outside, Arthur shivered a little, partly from the chill of the night air and partly from nerves. After meeting Merlin in person, he was completely sure that he'd never wanted to be with anyone as much as he wanted to be with the dark-haired young man, and Merlin seemed to be just as interested in Arthur, if a little more reserved in expressing his feelings. Arthur hoped he wasn't reading his signals all wrong.
He glanced back at the apartment when they reached the car, making sure certain nosy people weren't spying on them. He unlocked the trunk and pulled a little handmade bouquet out of a box he'd pushed towards the back.
Merlin's eyes widened as Arthur held it out to him. "I hope this isn't too fast, but I really like you, and was wondering if you would go out with me. Like, not as friends, but on an actual date?" He wanted to be very clear so that there were no misunderstandings about what this was and what Arthur wanted them to be.
Merlin hesitantly took the bouquet Arthur was offering him, then threw back his head and laughed. "It's a bouquet of Roses!" he exclaimed, smiling.
Arthur had spent an hour cutting out pictures of Rose Tyler and then gluing the pictures into a fake bouquet of flowers.
"Is that a yes?" Arthur asked hopefully.
"When?" Merlin was still smiling, but it was softer, shyer.
"Whenever. Tomorrow. The day after. Next weekend. Every day."
Merlin chuckled and stepped closer to Arthur. "Tomorrow?"
Arthur grinned and closed the distance between them, pressing his lips to Merlin's in a chaste kiss. Merlin leaned into the kiss, placing his hands against Arthur's chest, and Arthur took that as an invitation to wrap his hands around Merlin's waist. Arthur pulled back to look at Merlin, but one look at his face and he was swooping back in for one, two, three more quick kisses, tilting his head for a better angle.
The moment was ruined when there was a sudden flash of light and the sound of Gwaine exclaiming, "This one's going on facebook!"
They both groaned. Arthur reluctantly stepped back. If he didn't let Merlin go now, he never would.
"Tomorrow, then?" he asked with a smile.
Merlin's answering grin was wide and gorgeous. "Tomorrow."
One date turned into two, which turned into three, which turned into four, and pretty soon they stopped counting and just spent as much time as they could together, between coursework and their other friends. Usually, Arthur came to Ealdor, since Merlin didn't have a car, or even a license, but occasionally Merlin spent the weekend in Camelot with Arthur, when he was able to get a ride with Gwen. Since she had started dating Lance shortly after Merlin started dating Arthur, they both had reason to make the drive to Camelot more often.
Whenever they did manage to get together, there was lots of hand-holding, kissing, and cuddling. Sometimes they went out to see a movie or meet their friends at a pub, but mostly they liked staying in. They both agreed that there was nothing better than curling up together to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who, or even bringing their laptops and liveblogging side by side. But, that often led to arguments, which led to Arthur pinning Merlin down and kissing him until he agreed with Arthur's point of view. (This wasn't the most effective method, because often Arthur just wouldn't stop and then they'd move on to other things and the argument would be forgotten.)
Merlin did end up modeling for Morgana, and the pictures she posted of her outfits on deviantart and tumblr (without naming the model) were actually quite popular. Merlin turned bright red whenever anyone brought it up and Arthur regularly threatened to make the photoset into his desktop background.
When they weren't actually able to be together, they were talking on tumblr or facebook or via text messages. The kinglin shippers online were ecstatic when Arthur made it known that onceandfutureking and merlinsbeard were dating in real life. Now, instead of annoying homophobic anons, they got people sending anonymous messages asking them about their sex life, to Arthur's endless amusement and Merlin's embarrassment.
There were also a few who wondered when, if ever, they would actually get to see what Merlin looks like. So one day, Arthur set up his video camera in his room. He winked at the camera, seeing himself wink back in the little screen.
"Hey, merlinsbeard!" he called. "Come here a sec."
"What?" Merlin put down the book he was reading for a class, and went to Arthur, who wrapped his arms around Merlin's waist and pulled him down into his lap. "What are you doing?"
"Making a new video. Say 'hi!'"
At that moment, Merlin noticed the camera that was currently recording the pair of them. "Oh, no. No, no, no." He struggled to escape Arthur's grip. "I don't want any part of this. I look horrible on camera, anyway."
"What are you talking about? The camera loves you. You and your fabulous cheekbones." He kissed the side of Merlin's face. "Don't make me use the pictures my sister took."
Merlin sighed reluctantly.
Arthur turned back to the camera with a triumphant grin. "Alright, friends. You've been asking, and I can't say that I can't sympathize with wanting to get a glimpse of merlinsbeard. He's very camera-shy and a bit selfish, keeping his gorgeous self a secret from the internet."
"Stop it," Merlin elbowed Arthur.
"Yes, so savor it while you can, followers, because I can't guarantee that I'll be able to trick him onto camera a second time."
"You're ridiculous," Merlin said fondly.
"I love you," Arthur replied.
Merlin smiled and kissed him, and Arthur grinned into the kiss.
"I can't believe you waited until you were on camera to tell me that," Merlin said between kisses.
"I wanted to record the moment."
"You won't post this."
"Yes, I will," said Arthur as he continued kissing his boyfriend.
Merlin sighed in equal parts exasperation and fondness. "I love you, too."
Of course, the video was posted later that evening. It accumulated thousands of notes overnight.
This is the final part (for now anyway-I may continue one day, because I really love this story 'verse). Thank you all for reading my fic and especially thanks to those who reviewed, they made my day!
Finally, the "bouquet of Roses" was an idea I got from thebohemiancircus. tumblr image/ 29235196655 (copy and paste link into browser and remove spaces.)