Camelot's guardian angel 4
Merlin stirred awake, reaching out towards where Arthur had been, but he just felt his own bed sheets. Without opening his eyes he tried to calm the raging fear in his chest. Arthur hasn't ditched out on him, no, that wasn't what was happening. The fact that he wasn't in the bed was most definitely not a reason to worry.
Just as Merlin's mind started working on overdrive the blonde returned to the room, wearing his jeans from last night and holding his phone to his ear. The brunette let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't sure was necessary. Arthur was decent and wouldn't do the walk of shame as if Merlin was some regretful one night stand. He felt like a fool for even thinking such a thing.
He waved at Merlin silently, talking quickly and in a slightly harried voice to the person on the phone.
"Father! I didn't ask you to do this…I never said I wanted- oh for god's sake, really? Jesus, dad! I'm perfectly happy as I am." He said, walking about in little circles around Merlin's room.
After about fifteen more minutes of Arthur having a difficult conversation with his father he clicked off and threw the phone across the room. Luckily it fell into a pile of clothes rather than into pieces on the desk or something.
"What's wrong, love?" Merlin asked, as he watched Arthur slump backwards on the mattress and throwing his arms over his face.
"My dad got me an interview for a law place down town, and it's in, like, an hour. And I don't want to go, but the guy who sorted it out is a family friend so I kind of have to. But I have nothing to wear. And bleh! I don't want to be stuffy lawyer." Arthur whined, tugging Merlin so they were lying awkwardly across the bed together.
"Seems like you might just have to go. Wear what you're wearing; obviously put a top on though. I mean if you don't want the job it doesn't matter if you aren't prepared, right?" Merlin replied against Arthur's warm collarbone, dropping a kiss to it.
"You're a genius Merlin. I don't tell you enough just how smart you are." Arthur cooed, hugging his boyfriend close, while he absently scanned the room for his shirt.
"So, what do you say we head downstairs for some breakfast and tea, and then I'll walk you to the interview and we can then meet up after…if you want?" Merlin said, crawling onto Arthur's jean-covered lap and wiggling his hips. The blonde looked up at him, thanking whatever god had given him this wonderful boy, nodding enthusiastically before he leant up and kissed Merlin's full pink lips.
"I very much want." Arthur murmured as Merlin nuzzled at his Adam's apple. After a while sitting kissing they decided they should actually make some sort of move towards the kitchen.
Merlin stood at the counter, making tea for him and Arthur, looking askance at his blonde who was searching in the cupboards for something to eat.
"What can we eat? You're out of cereal and somehow out of bread. All breakfast food is dead." Arthur asked, feigning a fearful desperate look. Merlin chuckled and reached around Arthur, pulling eggs, flour milk and butter from the cupboard.
"You're going to make cakes at a time like this? Are you insane?" Arthur gasped, still holding up his distraught charade.
"Oh hush, silly-face. I've got the answer to all your problems; pancakes with blueberries." Merlin grinned, pushing Arthur towards the table and seating him in a chair, pecking his nose. Arthur nodded and smiled up at him.
"Cut the blueberries for me?" Merlin asked a moment later, dropping a handful of blueberries and a knife in front of Arthur as he mixed the ingredients in a bowl with his other hand, balancing it on his bony hip.
After a lot of ladling, frying and flipping later a plate of pancakes lay in front of them, steaming slightly and smelling and looking mouth-watering.
"Best. Breakfast. Idea. ever. But you really need to buy bread. I live on bread at home. It's all I eat when I can't be bothered to cook things." Arthur announced, stroking a hand down over his growling belly, forking two pancakes and placing them on his plate.
"All you eat is bread? But then you miss out on bagels and croissants and pancakes, and the wonder of macaroni cheese." Merlin countered, cutting into his own pancakes and sipping his mug of tea.
"I suppose, but bread with stuff on it is easier, and I'm a lazy punk rocker; I do what I want. Maybe now I'm with you I'll get a few more of those things. Pasta and pastries; I knew there was a reason I wanted to date you. You foiled my master diet plan." Arthur joked, laughing as Merlin gave him a look filled with confusion and fond exasperation.
They sat in companiable silence as they ate and drank until all the tea and pancakes were gone. Hunith snatched the left over pancake shreds from the plate, whirling around the kitchen drinking from the juice carton and grabbing a muffin from the fridge, before kissing Merlin on the head and leaving the house to go to work with a "bye boys, have a good day!"
Merlin smiled and called goodbye to her retreating form. Arthur watched the mother and son interact fondly, wishing for a moment he could have a relationship like that with Morgana or Uther.
Merlin pulled on some tight black jeans and a loose grey knitted jumper, running hands through his hair and trying to dispel the smell of sex from all around him. Not that he minded, but the lawyer people might not appreciate it. Arthur dragged his jacket from the floor and stroked down the neck of his guitar, promising he'd come back for her. After hopping about replacing shoes and crawling around on the floor searching for his old trainer he'd somehow managed to kick right under his bed (for Merlin), they were ready to leave.
Merlin and Arthur walked down into town holding hands, Arthur really not bothered about the fact that he had an interview to go to. He hummed the song he'd written for Merlin and picked at a hole in his t-shirt, grinning like a fool at the good time he'd had at Merlin's.
"So do you know anything about being a lawyer?" Merlin asked eventually, looking sideways at him.
"I know the tiniest bit from when I did law at GCSE. Morgana and I skulled so hard for those exams I think there's some information that will never leave my brain. But I should be able to throw out a few quips of knowledge to brighten their day." Arthur chuckled, squeezing Merlin's hand.
"Oh right. Well at least you know a little. Not that it really matters. Are we close to the firm now? I've never heard of it." Merlin asked, looking around at the tall buildings and offices of the city, none of them very clearly-named.
"Uh, yeah, that blue building there. So I guess this is goodbye for now, love. Go home and relax a bit, I'll call you when I'm done with this silly interview." Arthur said, pulling Merlin close, being careful with his broken leg and crutch. They kissed and hugged for a long moment. Merlin slid his free arm around Arthur's waist and felt a crusty stain on the side of the shirt.
"Yeah call me. Uh what is that on your shirt, it's all across it?" Merlin asked, stroking his fingers across the stain and looking up at Arthur as he racked his brain. Then his cheeks were flushing pink and he chuckled, dipping his head to Merlin's ear.
"Oh…um yeah. I think it's cum. I wiped us off with this shirt last night." He murmured, scratching the back of his neck. Merlin just giggled and swatted at Arthur's chest playfully.
"Oops. Oh well, you just tell all those stuck up lawyers that! I'd like to see the look on their faces when you tell them." Merlin added, pecking Arthur's lips and letting go of him, still laughing.
"Good luck!" Merlin shouted after him, biting his lip to keep from laughing too hard. Arthur saluted him and walked over to the building. If Arthur did manage to get that job, after rocking up in a cum-covered shirt, hooded jacket and skinny jeans, plus dr martens and at least one big red hickey sucked into his neck, then Merlin would promise to be Arthur's personal pancake chef for the rest of his life.
Merlin decided to nip to starbucks and order his usual hot chocolate with cream and hazelnut syrup and then head home. Once he'd ordered he stepped out into the warm air and started the hobble home, leaning on his crutch as he walked on his broken leg. Damn fangirls causing him to trip off stages and break his legs. Although it did help him get Arthur, so he couldn't be too mad about it. Once home he collapsed onto his sofa, flicked on the telly and proceeded to fall straight asleep.
Arthur walked into the building, usual swagger applied fully. His big boots clunked on the floor, as he looked around the place, spotting a group of people in suits, clutching pages of notes.
"Are you guys here for the interview?" he asked, smiling at them. A young woman looked up at him and nodded, looking nervous as she shuffled her notes.
"Are you going for the job?" one of the young men asked, straightening his jacket and sneering at Arthur.
"Yeah, I am. You lot look kind of over dressed, and over-smart. I'm so going to get this job, just you wait." He thought he might as well pretend he wanted it. The man just looked at him as if he'd turned into a giraffe. The girl giggled though, tucking her notes into her pocket.
An older man came out of a side door holding a blue cardboard folder; he pulled out a sheet and ordered each of them into separate rooms, looking at them all with varying judgement. When his eyes settled on Arthur in all his attire he looked like he wanted to cry, but directed him to his interview room anyway.
He strode into the little room, greeted with two stern looking lawyers in shiny grey suits, their eyes scanned him and they seemed to have made have the decision already. He chuckled and sat cross legged on his chair, running a hand through his spiky hair.
"So, Mr. Pendragon, why do you want this job?" one of his interviewers asked, pen poised at the ready. Arthur grinned at him and picked at the laces on his boot.
"Well, I need a bit of money to pay for my flat, and for my boyfriend's birthday present. And I need to buy more blue hair dye. So I thought, why not? I guess it'd be pretty cool to run around in fancy suits and shout at people. And who doesn't love reading through mind-numbing information and dates and stuff?" he answered, running a thumb over the come on his shirt.
The interviewers frowned and scribbled very fast on their notepads. He laughed and grinned, thinking he might as well fuck it up as royally as possible, right?
They were very boring general questions like 'what do you want to get out of being a lawyer? And 'where do you see yourself in five years?' Arthur really wished they'd be more inventive. He guessed boring lawyers didn't have the time to think up cool and interesting questions.
Arthur answered all their boring questions as well as he could, regaling them with all of his life stories, times with Camelot, times with Merlin, his awesome blueberry pancakes he'd had for breakfast. By the end of the interview they looked exhausted and ready to jump out of the nearest window.
"Do you have any questions for us, Mr Pendragon?" one of them asked, after he'd finished singing his 'Merlin song' after they'd lost the will to try and stop him.
"Yeah I do have a couple. Like, on a scale of one to ten, how much did you create an opinion of me based on the clothes I'm wearing?" Arthur shot back, scraping a black painted fingernail along his lip.
"Oh, that question isn't really related to the job." The eldest man answered, shaking his head at Arthur.
"Heh thought you might not answer that one. I'll go for another. What's the suicide rate for high paid lawyers? I bet it's pretty high with all the stress." Arthur stared at each of them. They said nothing.
"Well Mr. Pendragon, thank you for attending the interview. May I speak with you outside?" the head interviewer said, nodding his head towards the door. He led Arthur out and down a corridor into a small room.
Next thing Arthur knew he was pinned to a wall by the man's heavy hand, the guy breathing his foul breath in Arthur's face.
"Jesus, dude you don't have to-
"Shut your cock-sucking mouth, slut! Did you really think you could just swan in here in your dirty cum-covered clothes and take the piss? Waste everyone's time and it doesn't matter? You aren't even worth it. 'Entertain' everyone with your shitty stories and hope you'll sail through because you've got a rich daddy?" he was just throwing all the insults at Arthur, not that the blonde really cared. He was used to being intimidated by men who thought they were more threatening than they really were.
Arthur brought his knee forward, hitting the man in the stomach, letting Arthur free of his strong sweaty hand.
"I don't give a fuck about you, or this job, or this company. I don't care if everyone here hates me. I never wanted to get the job anyway My 'rich daddy' as you call him set up this stupid interview, I didn't want it but I thought I'd come along and check it out. And it's as shallow and petty and stuck up as I expected. You care more about what a guy or girl wears than what she actually has to say. You don't ask deep good questions, just the usual typical stuffy ones. I'm actually glad you all hate me. I wouldn't want to associate myself with anyone like you!" Arthur replied, storming out of the room and out of the building.
Once he got outside he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Well, that shambles was finally over. Now he could return to Merlin and the boys. All he had to do was wait for his dad's irate phone call.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Merlin's number, wondering if Merlin had spent the few hours better than Arthur had.
Merlin heard his phone ringing as he groggily opened his eyes and stumbled across the room to find it.
"h-hello?" Merlin spoke in a sleepy voice that had Arthur smiling fondly, even though his brunette couldn't see.
"It's me, baby. Are you okay?" Arthur replied, chuckling over the phone. He walked over to the bench in front of the building and sat down.
Merlin ran a hand through his mussed up hair. He grinned as he heard Arthur's voice.
"Uh I'm good. I fell asleep, sorry. How was the interview?" Merlin asked, yawning widely. He collected his keys and bag up and slipped his converses on and grabbed his glasses, his eyes were starting to hurt.
"Oh, conceited bastards mostly. If I was actually bothered about the job in any way I might be a bit upset. But it's cool. It's done with. And it made me realise I never want a job in law, or anything keeping me cooped up in an office in an uncomfortable suit surrounded by depressing people." Arthur summed up, he heard Merlin chuckle on the other end of the phone.
"Oh right, well I'm glad you aren't too traumatised by those big mean lawyers. Shall I meet you at Yo! Sushi across the square from where your law place is, in about fifteen minutes? And we can catch up and eat. I want to show you something this afternoon as well, if that's okay?" Merlin asked, slipping out of his house, after leaving a note for him mum.
"Yo! Sushi sounds great. Ooh a surprise? I'm intrigued now. Can't wait to see you." Arthur said back, not able to keep the smile off his face.
"Yeah I guess it is a kind of surprise. I was thinking the guys could come too, it's kind of relevant to them." Merlin added, trying to keep the mystery up. He started walking down the street, zipping up his hoodie and sliding his glasses on.
Merlin arrived in about ten minutes of fast walking; he was spurned on to move faster through town by the thought of Arthur waiting for him. He looked around the square for Arthur, finally spotting him sitting on a bench reading.
He sidled up and slid onto the bench. Arthur didn't look up, he seemed rather engrossed in his novel.
"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Merlin said in a deeper voice than his own, scooting along until his thigh was touching Arthur's. The blonde looked at him and smiled but didn't bite. He wasn't going to stop reading for such a cheap line. He saw Merlin lean back against the wooden bench, thinking hard.
"Ok, so cheap chat up lines aren't your thing, pretty boy? Ok I thought of some better ones. My name's not Luna but I know how to lovegood." Arthur suppressed a giggle. Merlin tired again.
"Is your name Katniss Everdeen? Because you're causing an uprising in my pants." Merlin attempted hunger games, as harry potter seemed to nearly work. Arthur actually laughed that time, but he wanted to play hard to get, his resolve wasn't going to last very long though. His tummy rumbled but he kept his pale blue eyes on his battered novel.
"I don't have a library card, but do you mind if I check you out?" Merlin practically purred, as he placed a hand on Arthur's knee and squeezed gently. Arthur shook his head, still grinning like a loon. He'd never had a boyfriend that went to this sort of effort before. And it was really fun listening to the chat up lines Merlin could think of.
"No? Okay I have the best one yet. Baby, you're hotter than Mount Doom." Merlin tried, running low on good chat up lines. Luckily Arthur took the bait this time, putting his book down and placing his hand on top of Merlin's. He tilted Merlin's head up with his free hand and kissed him. They were both laughing when they came up for air.
"The Lord of the Rings one? Out of all the others, that was the one that got you going?" Merlin mocked, slipping his hand into Arthur's and grinning.
"What can I say? I like Lord of the Rings. I also like you thinking of nerdy chat up lines for me. Shall we go get lunch?" Arthur asked, standing up and pulling Merlin with him.
"Lunch sounds awesome. I'll keep the love of Lord of the Rings in mind, love." Merlin replied, allowing himself to be pulled along the street. Luckily he was managing to hobble along in Arthur's wake, his leg hurting less now.
Hope this is ok.
Kind of long, sorry.
Just a heap of nerdy references and fun between Arthur and Merlin. Moving along with the story and hopefully getting closer to a plot?