Arthur stared into Merlin's eyes for a few moments before looking into the direction he knew Gwaine now was standing. He had to control himself, and not let Gwaine wind him up.

"Why are you here with him. Are you two dating?" The disgust on Arthur's face was clearly evident. He made himself turn back to Merlin again.

Merlin stared incredulously into Arthur's eyes. "Dating?" He lightly squeaked as he spoke."No, no, you've got this all wrong. It's nothing like that. Well there was this one time-" Merlin stopping himself and instead said, "No, really, he's just a friend."

Although he hoped that Arthur wouldn't think too much about that little slip up, he could see some flashes of anger going over Arthur's face.

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "One time... what?"

Merlin knew he shouldn't even brought it up, but it just flapped out. He just couldn't keep his mouth shut, like usual. He started to let his head hang for a moment. "Just forget that I said it. It's not important."

"No Merlin, you're not coming out of this so easily. What has he done?"

Merlin sighed deeply. "I really don't want to talk about this with you now, Arthur."

"Too bad, you'll have to."

"Fine." Merlin sucked in a breath. "To make a long story short, I was drunk and then Gwaine -that's his name by the way, showed up at my door. We started to make out and the next morning he was gone, left me a note, and-"

Arthur didn't let Merlin finish his sentence. A flurry of rage went through him. "That bastard did what!" His hands flew up in the air in frustration and then settled them onto Merlin's shoulders. "He will not hurt you anymore Merlin." He whispered. "I'll make sure of that."

"But Arthur, just listen to me. It wasn't like that-"

Arthur cut Merlin off for a second time and pulled him into a tight hug. "I'll make sure of it." Arthur repeated softly in Merlin's ear.

~oOoOo~

Gwaine was an impatient man, and to be listening to this… guy, he didn't even liked, was getting onto his nerves. Will, he believed his name was, rambled on and on about why the colour green was such an awful colour according to Merlin, but he didn't really listened. He was more looking around, looking for his man. He just knew he was there, he just hadn't seen him yet.

"You know… Will. Why aren't you just going back to Merlin. He's probably standing there alon-" Gwaine started to turn around to look at the spot he and Merlin stood a few minutes earlier, but was roughly turned back around by Will.

"No!"

Gwaine quirked an eyebrow. "No?"

"It's just that…" Will rubbed a hand behind his neck, he needed to keep Gwaine's attention away from Merlin who at that point was just being hugged by Arthur. "it's just that… you… don't know about his distaste for the colour beige!"

"Oh… bugger off Will." Gwaine turned around and his breath hitched right into the back of his throat. After a few seconds his shock died down and changed into anger. He started to ball his hands into fists. There, across the room, Merlin had been wrapped into a hug by his man.

Will tried to get Gwaine's attention again by tugging at his arm, but Gwaine just pushed him away and he tripped and fell down on his arse. By the time he got up, Gwaine was already halfway across the room. Will looked around, for anything, anyone who could help. His eyes caught Leon's and he motioned his head towards Gwaine, who was now just a couple of meters away from the couple.

Leon knew he had to act quickly, but Arthur was too far away for him to scream his name. Even if he managed it, the music would just drone it out. Acting on instinct, Leon sprinted as quickly as he could to Arthur and tapped him on the shoulder. All he got in response, was some grumbling and a hand that Arthur waved behind his back.

"Arthur." He tapped impatiently on the man's shoulder again, but again he got little to no response back. "Arthur, don't ignore me. Gwaine is heading your way as we speak and let me tell you, he's not looking happy."

That was just the thing that Arthur needed to hear to be immediately on his guard. He turned around and saw Gwaine just a few feet away from him.

"Arthur." Gwaine breathed out, almost lovingly, and stood in front of him. His fists were still clenched tightly at his thighs and his angry gaze was clearly set on Merlin.

Arthur tried to look as calm as possible and took a deliberate step in front of Merlin. He would not let Gwaine near Merlin. He'd have to go through him first.

When he first saw Gwaine entering the room he was a bit shocked, he thought that Gwaine was still living overseas and would only come back for the races, but when Will told him that he had taken residency in the same building as Merlin, his hopes were shattered. He really hoped to be finally relieved from Gwaine in his life, but fate had a different plan in mind, so it seemed.

One thing was certain, this man would not control his life ever again.

One part of him was feeling uncomfortable to be in such a close proximity to Gwaine, but the other part was just bursting with unresolved anger. "Lotsson." Arthur managed to say calmly. "I didn't know you were back again."

His breathing did pick up slightly.

Merlin stood by and watched how the two men glared at each other. He had no idea what was going on between the two of them, whatsoever, but one thing he was certain of; this situation would probably become a huge catastrophe if he didn't act fast. He quickly parted the two men by standing in-between them. His left hand was placed on Arthur's chest and his right one placed on Gwaine's.

"What the hell is going on here!" He demanded.

Both men glanced down at the hand on their chest and then looked up to make eye contact with Merlin. Merlin's head switched between Arthur and Gwaine, not knowing on who to focus on. He tried again. "Do you know each other?"

Gwaine chuckled and answered first. "Oh yes. Quite well actually. We go way back, don't we Arthur?" Gwaine took a step closer, pushing Merlin back as he did so.

It was all Arthur needed, to throw the first punch. Normally he wasn't a fighter type of guy, but now he just needed to get it out of his system. He managed to throw a good punch on Gwaine's nose before he was being pulled back by Leon. And that wasn't an easy task, it took all of Leon's strength to keep Arthur in check and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold Arthur there for long.

Merlin's eyes widened and he gasped with his hands covering his mouth.

Gwaine was bending forward and he brought one of his hands to his nose, when he pulled his hand back he saw that it was covered in blood.

The music stopped and people started to form a circle around the two men.

"Oh now, don't be like this." Gwaine said in a soothing manner, wiping the bloody hand on his trousers. He stood up straight and took a step forward towards Arthur who was still in Leon's hold.

"Why didn't you just stay away Gwaine!" Arthur yelled and wriggled more and more to get out of Leon's hold. He finally succeeded and stalked back to Gwaine. He wanted to throw a punch again, but Gwaine held up his arms, holding off the blows. Arthur knew he needed to approach differently and grabbed one of Gwaine's wrists, twisting it behind Gwaine's back.

Gwaine gave a small cry of pain, but was quick to move his body around and release himself out of Arthur's hold. Gwaine took advantage out of Arthur's surprise -he'd probably thought that Gwaine wouldn't be able to get out of his hold.

Gwaine pushed Arthur down onto the floor and straddled him.

Arthur writhed under Gwaine's body, he needed to get away, this was just too much for him. There were already memories pulling on his mind and he didn't want to be reminded of that night any longer.

He was thankful that Will and Leon pulled Gwaine of him and he felt like he could breathe again.

Arthur felt tears prickling at the corner of his eyes, but he didn't want to let Gwaine see that he still had some hold around him. He just couldn't let Gwaine take over his life any longer. Anger flowed through him as he stood up. Gwaine had done so much to him, and he never had the payback he deserved.

Arthur closed the distance between himself and Gwaine, even when Leon told him not too. He hadn't heard how Leon ordered two other persons close to him, to hold him and he was surprised to be suddenly held back.

More and more people formed a circle around the event that played in the middle of the room, but the two fighting men weren't even aware of all the people around them. They only had eye for each other and would be probably still fighting if it weren't for the people that separated the two of them.

Not being able to get close to Gwaine, Arthur started to shout at him.

"I'll kill you!" Arthur shouted, still trying to get out of the tight hold that those people had on him.

Gwaine just smirked.

Arthur continued to struggle and finally managed to get himself free from the hold. Fury had taken over his senses and he couldn't think rationally right this moment.

When Gwaine saw that Arthur got himself free, he pushed himself away from Leon and Will, it was an easy task. He went straight to the man who he thought stood between him and Arthur. Merlin. He raised his arm, aware that he heard Arthur shout, "No!"

Gwaine didn't listen. His fist connected with Merlin's left cheekbone.

Arthur could only stand by and watch how the fist landed on Merlin's face. He might've been too late to prevent it from happening, but he could swing a punch in Gwaine's direction again. It landed in Gwaine's stomach, who let out an oompf and grabbed his stomach and slowly slid down to his knees.

Arthur didn't spare Gwaine any more attention, and was at Merlin's side in just a few steps. He could hear how Merlin breathed out a heavy sigh and saw that Merlin grabbed the side of his face.

"Dammit that hurt!" Merlin exclaimed. His eyes started to water, his vision blurred and the only thing that he saw were black spots appearing in his sight, before it went black all the way. His knees buckled underneath him and he started falling backwards, but Arthur was quick to catch him and gently guided him down on the floor.

"Merlin… oh god, Merlin!" Arthur started to gently slap him on the cheek, hoping it would help in Merlin opening his eyes.

Gwaine growled, he didn't wanted Arthur to be close to Merlin. But before he could do anything, he was grabbed by Leon, Will and another guy and they started to escort him roughly out.

~oOoOo~

"Okay, party's over guys." Leon shouted when he came back into the room. Most people had seen what had happened and quietly walked to the door without protest. There was only a small group of people that stayed behind, they were helping in trying to wake Merlin up. Some ran to the kitchen to get some ice and some wet towels.

"Merlin…. Merlin come on open your eyes." Arthur shook Merlin's body, but got no response. Arthur looked up from Merlin when another man knelt beside him and started to talk to him.

"Merlin, come on buddy, you've got to wake up now." The man also gently slapped him on the cheek.

Arthur looked at the man in confusion and the man caught his gaze. "It's okay, I'm a nurse. and I work with Merlin in the hospital." He held out his hand. "Elyan."

Arthur still held Merlin tightly against his own body, but managed to free one hand to shake hands with the man. Inwardly he sighed in relief. He really had no idea what he had to do, and this Elyan probably knew more about these kind of situationsthan him.

"Why isn't he waking up?"

"I don't know yet." Elyan said with a frown. "From where I stood, it looked like a nasty punch." He turned his body to the direction of the kitchen. "Where is that ice!"

"Here." A girl appeared seconds later through the door. She handed him a kitchen towel with some ice cubes in it and a couple of wet cloths. Elyan put the wet cloths around Merlin's neck and head and pressed the towel with ice cubes on Merlin's cheekbone where an outline of a bruise was already starting to form.

Merlin's eyelids fluttered. Arthur noticed. "Hey, Merlin. Come on now."

Merlin hissed when he started to become aware of his surroundings and felt coldness on his face. His eyelids slowly started to open and then he saw a dozen of people looking down on him. He didn't like that attention too much and tried to sit up. Elyan tried to let him up slowly, but Merlin sat up quicker than Elyan would've liked too.

"Woah!" Merlin stretched his arm out, trying to balance himself. "Is it me, or is the room spinning?"

Arthur shot a worried look to Elyan, but Elyan assured him that it could be because he sat up too quickly. Arthur was not really satisfied with that answer and hoped that Merlin was okay. He let Merlin's head rest his against his chest and softly stroked his hand up and down Merlin's arm.

Merlin could hear the fast beating of Arthur's heart and looked up. "wha-' happen-'?"

"Later." Arthur told him.

Will entered the room with lots of noise. He waited outside to make sure that Gwaine wouldn't come back in again and he also waited for the ambulance that Leon called, just in case.

"Okay people move! Show's over… let the professionals do their work." He pushed the remaining people in the room out of the way and was followed by two paramedics. "Don't let me make you people." Will warned. "Just sod off."

Merlin's head pounded and all he wanted to do was to close his eyes and hoping that it was enough to keep the pain away. He had no objection, however, that his head was resting against Arthur's chest. In fact he quite liked it and made no effort to move when the paramedics knelt down beside him.

He looked at them through half-lidded eyes and vaguely recognized the paramedics faces, but he couldn't quite remember their names. He winced when a bright light was shone into his eyes and he squeezed his eyes completely shut to avoid looking in the light. Arthur was now holding Merlin's hand, and didn't let go.

~oOoOo~

After a couple of standard check-ups, Merlin was cleared from any serious injuries. He would probably have a headache for a day or two and there was a possibility that Merlin had a concussion, so they had to monitor that.

"I would suggest to wake him every three hours." The paramedic instructed. "Ask him some basic information; like what day it is, his name, his birthday, that kind of stuff. Just to be safe that there isn't a concussion. Don't be afraid to call the hospital if you need help."

The other paramedic gave Merlin some painkillers and told him that they might make him a bit sleepy. He handed Arthur the left-over painkillers and then left with his colleague again.

Merlin was sitting on the couch, pressing the towel with ice cubes against his bruise.

Arthur gently sat down on the couch, really close to Merlin and put his hand on Merlin's thigh. "You gave me quite the scare Merlin." Arthur admitted softly. "Don't ever do that again, okay?

Merlin looked first at the hand on his thigh and then at Arthur's bright blue eyes. He slowly nodded his head, but groaned as the friction from the towel on his cheek wasn't the most welcoming feeling. Arthur gently rubbed his hand up and down Merlin's thigh.

Merlin surveyed the room to see who else was there with them. The only ones left were Leon, Elyan, Arthur and Will. Although Will had found himself a place to lie down on, or well draped was probably a better description to Will's state. Merlin had watched how Will had thrown back a couple of shots when he had seen Merlin being treated by the paramedics. Merlin knew that Will didn't liked medical stuff and certainly not when it involved his friend. Drinking was more a defence mechanism than anything else.

But even so, his best friend made quite the sight and Merlin couldn't help himself but chuckle at it… immediately followed by a wince and a, "Oww." He closed his eyes for a few seconds. "It's not a good idea to laugh when half your face is busted up."

Arthur frowned when Merlin all of a sudden started to laugh, but when he looked at the spot where Merlin started to laugh at, he also couldn't help it to let out a small chuckle. Arthur pointed his finger to Will when the rest of the people were quirking an eyebrow at him

Shaking his head, Leon kicked Will's leg "Oi, what of it!"

Will just grumbled and ignored Leon by turning himself around, settling himself in a more comfortable position on the couch.

"Well, I suppose you just stay there then." Leon added, putting a blanket over Will. He turned back to the small group of people. "I don't mind him staying here, but I think Merlin is better off in his own bed.

Everyone agreed.

"But I am in no state to drive." Leon said grimly.

"Me neither." Elyan added, looking just as guilty as Leon.

"I am." Arthur said, maybe a bit too cheerful. Leon smirked towards him, making Arthur's face redden just a little bit.

"I mean, I didn't had too much. Merlin where do you live?" He waited for Merlin to answer, but when he didn't got it, he frowned and looked down. He saw that Merlin had fallen asleep against his shoulder. He smiled at the sight and then looked up to Elyan. "Elyan do you know Merlin's address?"

Elyan nodded and gave him the address.

Arthur fumbled in Merlin's jacket to see if there was a key, it took him a few tries, but eventually, Arthur found the single key and put it in his own pocket.

He tried to think of a way to get Merlin in the car, but seeing that the man in question wasn't exactly in control over his own body right this moment, he only knew one solution. He picked Merlin up with one hand under his knees and one under his arms and rested Merlin's head into the crook of his neck. The whole time Merlin just softly snored, and Arthur was sure that Merlin didn't even knew what was happening right now.

Leon held the car door open and Arthur tried to put Merlin in it as smooth and gentle as he could, and without waking Merlin up. He used his own jacket to make a makeshift pillow for Merlin, and it seemed that Merlin was very much appreciative of that gesture, as he snuggled his head into it, the moment his head made contact with it.

~oOoOo~

Arthur hummed silently along to the song that played on the radio. He drove for about fifteen more minutes before Merlin started to stir.

Arthur glanced to his side for a short moment, before turning his eyes back to focus on the road.

It were three more minutes when Arthur heard some groans and moans and when he glanced next to him again, he saw that Merlin was finally waking up. He felt relieved about that. Looking back at the road, Arthur noticed that they were almost at Merlin's apartment building.

Merlin opened his eyes, and needed a moment to focus properly on his surroundings. He was aware that he was in a car, probably Will's.

He tried to remember how he got into the car, but everything came up blank. Lifting his head he groaned almost inaudibly when there was a flash of pain going through the left side of his face, and then he remembered how that happened. He turned his head to the right, and stared straight at Arthur.

Merlin was pleasantly surprise to see him there, but at the same time he tried to think of a reason why Arthur was the one driving him and not Will. He lifted his hand to touch the sore side on his face, but regretted it the second he made contact with the skin. He hissed loudly and it brought Arthur's attention to him.

"Don't touch, you'll make it worse." Arthur said sternly. "Just hold on a little longer, we're almost at your house." Merlin looked out of the window. Arthur was right, they were just one street away. Merlin furrowed his brows.

"How did you know I live here?"

"Elyan told me."

"Oh." Merlin said softly.

Arthur parked his car and got out, rushing over to Merlin's side and held open the door. He wanted to help Merlin out the car, but Merlin waved him off.

"I don't need help Arthur, I can do it myself." Merlin stepped out of the car, but his knees turned out to still be a bit too weak to hold his weight. They started to buckle beneath him.

Arthur had somehow foreseen that it would happen and had kept standing close to Merlin. Now, he was right at Merlin's side to support him and he put Merlin's right arm around his neck. Merlin didn't fight Arthur's help anymore and let Arthur lead him up the steps of his building and towards the elevator.

"Don't refuse help when you need it Merlin." Arthur commented as he pressed the number six button in the lift. Merlin just nodded his head. He caught his own reflection in the big mirror on the lift walls and could see that a purple circle was already starting to appear.

He sighed at the thought of walking around with a black eye when he heard the lift ping. Arthur swiftly made his way to door marked with number 626 and fumbled in his pocket to find the single key of Merlin's apartment.

Inside, Merlin pointed him to the direction of his bedroom and Arthur pulled back the sheets as Merlin started to undress himself to his underwear. Arthur turned around and saw Merlin in his underwear and gulped, but he knew that this wasn't the moment for romantic advances.

Instead he closed the blinds, he knew that much about head injuries. He had sustained a few of those himself when he had crashed during trainings or races and he knew that darkness was already one of the things that made it all feel better.

Merlin had wriggled himself under the sheets and closed his eyes. Arthur looked down at him and started to think back about the two of them at the party, before everything took a bad turn.

Arthur sat down on the side of the bed "Some first date, huh?" He said and Merlin chuckled by that statement, followed by a wince again.

"Sorry." Arthur apologized. "I know I shouldn't make you laugh."

"S'fine." Merlin replied. Arthur could tell that he was almost completely asleep, probably the work of those painkillers.

"I'll be in the living room if you need me." Arthur said and heard Merlin hum in agreement.

Arthur didn't immediately walk out of the room. He stayed in the room until he was certain that Merlin was actually asleep and then made his way to the living room.

He was quite impressed by the room. He smiled, and let himself sink down onto the couch and set the alarm on his phone for three hours later. Just to make sure that he wouldn't forget to wake Merlin up.

The night passed quite calmly. Arthur would wake Merlin up every three hours and every time Merlin would be surprised that Arthur -who might, or might not could be the love of his life- was in his bedroom. Then, he would answer some of the basic questions that Arthur asked, and would swallow down a painkiller, before almost directly falling back to sleep.

Arthur waited ever time until he was certain that Merlin was asleep again. And every time he pressed a kiss on Merlin's brow.

~oOoOo~

A high pitch squeak startled Arthur awake and resulted in him rolling off the couch and falling hard onto his arse. He looked up at the source of the oh-so-high pitch sound and he almost couldn't believe his eyes. The woman that was staring back at him, looked just like Merlin.