FIC: Added Benefits
Title: Added Benefits
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Merlin/Arthur
Word Count: ~5,000
Spoilers/Warnings: This is a high school fic - Merlin and Arthur are both above the age of consent, but they are 17. Modern, non-magic American AU.
Summary: In which Arthur finds out that Merlin's been keeping a secret and uses it as an excuse to jump his bones.
Author's Notes: Thanks to corilannam for the beta and for the squee to keep me going, and to S for lending me her eyes when mine started to fail me. Written for prompt #93 in hs_merlin.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.
Arthur was tired. He’d stayed late to run some drills with the coach; normally they had games on Fridays, but it was a rare bye week and as quarterback, Arthur needed to stay on top of his game. Now all he wanted to do was change and go home to play Call of Duty.
It was getting close to 5:00, so the hallways were deserted as Arthur made his way to the locker room. Not wanting to get reamed out for tracking dirt onto the tile floor, he toed off his cleats before pushing the door open. He was about to round the corner when he heard them.
“Man, that is wicked. I’d never let anyone near me with one of those.”
That was Gwaine, one of Arthur’s running backs. Arthur didn’t have time to wonder what he was still doing there before the voice that replied stopped him dead in his tracks.
Merlin laughed. “Tell me about it. I was so nervous. The first few times he tried to do it, I jumped every time he touched me.”
“Did it hurt?”
“When he first put it in, I thought I was going to die,” Merlin replied, “but then it was fine.”
Arthur’s fingers suddenly went numb, causing him to nearly drop his cleats. He fumbled them for a bit before securing his grip, his thoughts racing. What were they talking about? Surely it couldn’t be what it sounded like. Merlin was Arthur’s best friend. As such, he had no business talking to Gwaine about…whatever it was they were talking about, not before he’d talked about it with Arthur.
“How long did it take to heal?”
Curiosity piqued, Arthur crept closer to the corner.
“Um, a couple months before it stopped being sore. It’s still healing, technically, but I hardly notice it anymore.”
“Can I see it?” Gwaine asked, getting Arthur’s attention.
“Sure.”
Arthur heard some shuffling and finally chanced a peek. Merlin was leaning against a locker - Arthur’s, actually - lifting his shirt up to bare his thin chest. Gwaine leaned forward to get a better look at…was that a nipple ring? Gwaine leaned in closer, blocking Arthur’s view. He let out a low whistle.
“I’m impressed, Emrys. You’re full of surprises.”
Merlin grinned, letting go of one side of his shirt to thumb at his nipple. Arthur felt his face go a bit hot as he watched, his eyes zeroing in on the way Merlin tugged gently at the small ring.
“I like it. Might get the other done, too.”
Gwaine shot him a grin that could only be described as lecherous. “May I?” he asked, raising a hand like he was going to touch Merlin’s nipple.
As if. Arthur snuck the few feet back to the door and pulled it open hard so it hit the lockers with a bang. Clearing his throat, he gave it a second before he strode 'round the corner into sight. He feigned surprise at seeing the two boys standing at his locker.
“Oh. What are you still doing here?”
He directed the question at Gwaine, so it came out a bit more accusatory than he intended. It was Merlin that answered.
“I had a yearbook meeting,” he said, pulling awkwardly at the hem of his shirt. “Had to stay late to finish something, so I thought I'd see if you were still here.”
“Oh. Cool. What about you?” he asked Gwaine, moving to put his stuff down on the bench. He shuffled Merlin away from his locker, effectively putting himself between Merlin and Gwaine’s dirty, grabby fingers. Gwaine didn’t seem to notice.
“Worked out a bit after school. Leaving now, though. You boys have a good weekend.”
Good riddance, Arthur thought, resolving to keep a much closer eye on him from now on. Seriously, who went around asking if they could touch people’s nipples? It was just wrong. He unlocked his locker and threw his cleats in at the bottom.
“So how was practice?” Merlin asked, watching as Arthur pulled his jersey up and off. When he saw that Arthur wasn’t wearing anything underneath, he blushed a bit and averted his eyes.
“Fine. Coach says we’re gonna make the state finals this year.”
“Neat,” Merlin said, with forced cheer. Arthur rolled his eyes; Merlin didn’t know the first thing about football, no matter how many hours Arthur spent trying to explain it to him. When he was done dressing, he turned to Merlin, who looked at him and opened his mouth, like he was going to say something. Arthur arched an eyebrow.
“Err, do you want to come over?” Merlin eventually asked. “We could have a movie night.”
“Sure,” Arthur said, a bit disappointed. He’d thought Merlin was going to tell him about the piercing. “Let’s go.”
Arthur spent the entirety of Let the Right One In thinking about what he’d seen in the locker room. Not the conversation with Gwaine, really, though it still stung a bit that Merlin had told Gwaine first. No, the part that was stuck playing on constant loop in his brain was Merlin toying with the ring and smiling, like he liked it.
Merlin had long, thin fingers - when they were younger, Arthur had often teased him for having hands like a girl’s. He’d stopped after Merlin hit his growth spurt, when he’d shot up to Arthur’s height - and maybe a bit more - seemingly overnight and had started to fight back when Arthur teased him. Arthur hadn’t thought about his hands since, but now all he could think about was the way Merlin had hooked his pinky finger through the small loop to tug on it.
The lower half of his body felt warm, tingly - like the time when they were fourteen and they’d snuck wine from Uther’s cellar and gotten drunk for the first time. It also felt kind of like when Arthur was at home in his bed in the dark, watching porn on his laptop.
He snuck a peek at Merlin out of the corner of his eye. He was stretched out on the couch, his gangly limbs flung out in multiple directions. His hand was resting on his chest, his thumb making slow, sweeping motions back and forth over the thin fabric of his shirt. It took Arthur a moment to put that together with the placement of his hand, to realize that Merlin was once again rubbing at his nipple.
Arthur snapped his gaze back to the television. Grateful they'd turned the lights off, his cheeks heated up and he knew they were turning bright red. He was determined to keep his eyes on the screen, but every few minutes they would creep back to see Merlin still toying with the ring, his eyes lidded as he watched the film. Just as Arthur thought he might suffer permanent damage from the persistent heat in his face, the movie was over.
Merlin rolled off the couch and turned on the Wii so they could play Mario Kart. Arthur tried to focus on the game, but eventually Merlin reached over and shoved him after he’d driven off the course for the fifth time in the first circuit alone.
“Wake up, stupid,” he said, the tip of his tongue peeking out as he maneuvered Yoshi around a banana peel. “It’s like you’re not even trying. We’re only doing 50cc.”
“Sorry,” Arthur replied, tearing his eyes away from Merlin’s mouth to see that while he’d gotten back onto the track, he was now going the wrong way. Merlin beat him two more times before Arthur decided to call it a night.
“Time to go,” he said, standing up. “Feel like I’m gonna crash any minute.”
“Do you wanna stay over?” Merlin asked, pausing the game and looking up at him.
“Nah. I’ll be fine.”
“K - text me when you get home.”
Arthur let himself out. Contrary to what he’d told Merlin, he wasn’t tired - he was actually feeling a bit antsy, so he practically jogged the four blocks back to his house. He called out a quick greeting to his mother to let her know he was home before making a beeline for his room.
After he’d turned off the lights and climbed into bed, he opened his laptop and pulled up Google. Hesitating for a moment with his fingers hovering over the keys, he typed in nipple piercing. After some truly horrifying image results, he decided that reading was probably the safest way to go. He skimmed the articles that came up, most of them about aftercare.
It was a bit disappointing, and not what he’d been hoping for (not that he was entirely sure what he had been hoping for), but one finally caught his eye. He opened it up, reading through it quickly. It was all about people who’d experienced increased sensitivity after getting it done, and how it’d done wonders for improving their sex lives.
Arthur blinked. He’d assumed that Merlin had been playing with it to show off, or because it was still new. Could it have been because it…felt good?
The warm feeling in his belly rushed back full force, having subsided at the clinical nature of the articles. It was sharper, more focused now, uninhibited by Arthur’s embarrassment or Merlin’s presence. He shifted his laptop further from his body as his dick started to swell. He reached down to adjust it, nearly groaning aloud when it jumped against his hand.
Inspired, he opened a new search window. This time he typed in nipple ring porn, casting a furtive look around as he hit Enter. When the porn police didn’t jump out of the closet to arrest him, he started scrolling through the results. Most of the videos that came up were of women with piercings - which was nice, but not quite right. He modified his search to gay nipple ring porn.
Ah. That was more a bit more like it.
The first few videos he clicked on were fine, but nothing special. The fifth one he played really caught his attention, though, because the boy with the nipple piercing had a mop of dark, unruly hair. His breath catching in his throat, he maximized the video player to full screen.
His dick gave a painful throb when the camera zoomed in on the nipple ring, currently held between the teeth of his partner. Arthur watched, fascinated, as he toyed with it, alternating between tugging at the ring with his teeth and using his tongue to tease the nipple itself. When he sucked the entire thing into his mouth, ring and all, Arthur shoved his hand into his sleep pants. He didn’t even need the lotion he normally used; he was already slick with pre-come.
He was so fucking hard, pumping himself slowly as he watched the boy fall apart under the skilled tongue of his partner. Fuck, if Merlin was even half as sensitive...
His brain took over from there, thinking about pinning Merlin to a wall, or to his locker, or holding him down on the bed so Arthur could do that to him. Arthur wanted to know what it felt like to hold the small ring of metal in his teeth, to learn how much pressure it took to make Merlin arch up under him, against him. He wanted to know if he could make Merlin come from that alone.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said, shoving his computer away as he started to come, hunching over his lap as he stroked himself through it.
It went on and on, and Arthur had to bite his fist to keep from groaning out loud. When his cock finally, finally started to go limp, he released it and slumped forward, panting. He looked down at the mess he’d made of his sleep clothes - fuck, he’d come so much. He’d have to sneak into the laundry room in the morning to wash them himself so his mom wouldn’t see.
Feeling a bit uncoordinated, he went to the bathroom to wash up and change. His knees were still wobbly by the time he got back to bed and put his laptop away, so he just flung himself onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.
He spent the rest of the night wondering how he was ever going to face Merlin again without popping a massive boner.
The weekend passed in a haze of jerking off and ignoring Merlin’s increasingly frustrated texts. His phone finally stopped beeping around 8:00 on Sunday night. He felt a bit guilty - it was rare for them to go two entire days without seeing each other, or at least speaking. He should probably text back, but he didn’t feel ready after spending most of the weekend humping his mattress, pretending it was Merlin beneath him.
The problem wasn’t that he’d beaten off (a lot) thinking about Merlin; if he thought that Merlin had simply opened his eyes to a new kink or something, it’d be fine. But that wasn’t it. He’d tried dozens of other videos, practically up to his eyeballs in pierced nipples, but none of them had done it for him. He’d gone right back to thinking about Merlin every single time.
So he’d been forced to admit that maybe he kinda sorta had the hots for his best friend. Maybe he’d always had them - Arthur wasn’t dumb; this sort of thing didn’t happen overnight. So now how did he go back to being just friends with Merlin?
He worked himself into such a frenzy imagining the different ways it could all go wrong that Monday morning turned out to be an anticlimax. Arthur didn’t even see Merlin until sixth period, which was their only class together on Mondays.
“Hi,” Arthur said cautiously, setting his AP Chemistry text down on the table. Merlin just glanced up at him and then went back to fiddling with his phone.
Ah.
“All right, I deserve that,” he admitted, dropping into his seat. “I was home in bed all weekend, but I should’ve at least texted you or something.”
Merlin looked up again, momentarily surprised at the admission. He apparently decided that Arthur meant it, because he set his phone down. “What’s going on with you? You were acting funny on Friday night, too.”
And that was a reminder that Arthur didn’t really need. Involuntarily, he dropped his gaze to look, but Merlin’s shirt was too baggy to see anything.
“Yeah, I don't know,” he said, clearing his throat. “Just don’t feel like myself lately, I guess.”
No, he didn’t feel like himself, because “himself” wasn’t someone who wanted to pin his best friend to the nearest flat surface so he could put to use all of the fascinating things he’d learned from watching porn all weekend. Merlin was watching him, an odd expression on his face.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, licking his lips nervously. “Do you need to like, talk it out and shit?”
“What? No,” Arthur said, dragging his gaze up from where it’d gotten stuck on Merlin’s mouth. “It’s cool. I’m cool, I swear.”
He smiled brightly to prove his point. Merlin didn’t look at all convinced, but he decided to drop it, because he started babbling about the weekend. Arthur listened, resisting the urge to stare because fuck, Merlin had a pretty mouth.
Dr. Kilgarrah saved him from embarrassing himself by calling the class to attention. Relieved to have something other than Merlin to concentrate on, he took his most diligent notes of the term so far. He would’ve made it through the whole class, too, had he not happened to glance over at Merlin just as he raised his hand to answer a question.
Merlin’s clothes were always baggy, and as he bent his arm to raise his hand, Arthur could see right down his sleeve to where the fabric gaped away from his body. He caught a flash of silver against Merlin’s pale skin before it was gone, but it was enough to send a hot flush straight down into his groin.
He’d never gotten hard so quickly in his entire life. He nearly groaned aloud, clutching his pencil so hard that it snapped right in half. Merlin shot him a concerned look when he was done speaking. He mouthed something at Arthur, but there was no way he was gonna pay that close attention to Merlin’s mouth, so he just shook his head.
He stared steadfastly at his notebook for the remainder of the period, willing his dick to go down. It was having none of it, though - like it knew that the object of Arthur’s obsession was in the vicinity, and it wanted to lead the way, like some fucking perverted beacon. He was just thankful he’d worn a longer shirt today.
When class was finally done, he packed up his things slowly, painfully aware that Merlin was waiting for him. Luckily, he had last period free, while Merlin had History. He was seriously contemplating heading to the locker room and dousing himself in cold water. The bell rang, and he realized Merlin was still standing there waiting for him.
“Shit,” Merlin swore, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder, “gotta run. I’ll see you in a bit?”
“Yep,” Arthur croaked, relieved. He stood slowly, feeling a bit lightheaded, and made his way to the locker room, holding his bag firmly in front of him the entire way.
All of the PE classes were early in the day, and there were no after school sports on Mondays, so the gym lockers were completely deserted. Arthur did actually take a cold shower, and it helped, enough so that he texted Merlin to meet him there. He just needed to get through a few more hours, and then he could lock himself in his bedroom and jerk off all night.
Steering his thoughts firmly away from thoughts of jerking off, he dressed quickly. He was just sitting to put his sneakers back on when Merlin appeared, tossing his backpack on the floor.
“Fuck, I hate Mondays,” he groaned, leaning against the locker next to Arthur’s. “I am so fucking glad it’s over.”
“Language, Merlin,” Arthur muttered, though he smiled as he laced up one shoe before moving to the other. Merlin hummed, but didn’t otherwise answer. When Arthur was done, he looked up at his friend and froze.
Merlin had his arms crossed, staring at a spot on the far wall. Merlin's arms pulled the fabric of his shirt taut across his chest. It was a bit cool in the locker room, and both his nipples had hardened and were clearly visible. Also visible was the nipple ring, which he was unconsciously flicking at with his thumb.
Arthur’s mouth went bone dry as he followed the motion of Merlin’s thumb. He wasn’t actually touching his nipple, just prodding at the tiny ball at the bottom of the ring. All the equilibrium Arthur had gained back was totally shredded, and he stood abruptly, startling Merlin out of his reverie.
“What?” he asked, looking at Arthur and then following his gaze down to his chest. He quickly realized what he was doing and balled his hands into fists, dropping them to his sides. Arthur just blinked at him when he reached down to grab his backpack.
“Ready, then?” Merlin asked, voice overly chipper. His cheeks and neck were flushed a bright red, and Arthur wondered how far down Merlin’s blush actually ran. Suddenly, it seemed the most important thing in the world that he find out.
Before he even knew what he was doing, he put a hand on Merlin’s chest and pushed him back against the locker, probably a bit harder than necessary. It was just, fuck, he was so fucking horny.
“Arthur?” Merlin asked, squirming against Arthur’s hold.
“Is that…I mean, was that…?” Arthur trailed off, having difficulty forming words when all the blood in his body was currently en route to his dick. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth. “When did you get that?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Merlin seemed uncertain for a minute, trying to gage Arthur’s mood. Arthur could feel his heart hammering beneath his palm. Finally, he just sagged back against the locker.
“A while ago,” he said. “I was going to tell you.”
Arthur looked at his friend, who looked a little nervous and a lot gorgeous, and decided to confess.
“I knew that.”
“What?” Merlin asked, going still. “What are you talking about?”
“I heard you telling Gwaine about it on Friday.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Arthur shrugged, his head clearing a bit at the storm growing on Merlin’s face. “I don’t know. I just…I was surprised. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I thought you might get weird about it,” Merlin said, the words tumbling out in a rush. “And I wasn’t fucking wrong, was I? Fuck. This is why you’ve been acting all weird, isn’t it? Well let me tell you something, I-“
Arthur was losing the buzz of his arousal, and fuck, this was all starting to go horribly wrong, and he just wanted to tell Merlin that he thought it was the fucking hottest thing on the planet, but he couldn’t do that because Merlin wouldn’t fucking stop talking. Obviously, this called for more drastic measures.
Arthur leaned forward and kissed him.
It was a bit awkward at first. He’d never really kissed anyone before, not like this. His hand was still trapped between them, and Merlin had completely frozen in shock. But Arthur squeezed his eyes shut and stayed there, his mouth pressed against Merlin’s, determined to wait it out. It was the right strategy in the end, because Merlin eventually let out a low whimper and nuzzled his mouth against Arthur’s.
After that, it was like a dam broke - literally, Arthur could picture it in his head - as he took all the want he’d felt the past few days and turned it all on Merlin, wrapping both arms around him and licking into his mouth as deep as he could go. Merlin gave as good as he got, his hands grabbing hard at Arthur like he was afraid he was going to disappear. Soon, they were rubbing against each other mindlessly, caught up in the amazing friction.
“Arthur,” Merlin gasped, throwing his head back, banging it loudly against the locker as Arthur sucked on his neck. Arthur could feel how hard he was already, pressed up against Arthur’s hip.
“Merlin,” Arthur mumbled around the flesh caught between his teeth, sucking hard before releasing it and pressing his forehead against Merlin’s. “Fuck, Merlin.”
Loud voices from outside broke through Arthur’s aroused stupor, reminding him exactly where they were. He lifted his head and looked around.
“Shit, we can’t do this here.”
“Why not?” Merlin whined, grabbing at Arthur’s hips, trying to get him to resume the movement they’d built up.
“You know we can’t. Let’s just go to my house. No one’s there.”
Arthur watched as that bit of information filtered through the sex fog in Merlin’s brain and finally registered. “Oh,” he eventually said. “Okay, then.”
They stood there clutching each other, trying to regain their breath. Arthur finally managed to tear himself away, stumbling a bit because he was so fucking hard. He made the mistake of looking over at his friend, who was still reclined against the locker. His lips were wet, red from where Arthur had bitten at them. His hair was standing up a multitude of directions and he looked a bit dazed. Arthur groaned, bending down to grab his things.
“Come on, Merlin. For fuck’s sake, come on.”
Thankfully, they made it to Arthur’s without causing some kind of public incident. In a moment of temporary insanity, Merlin had actually tried to get out some of his homework when they got to Arthur’s room. Arthur had grabbed the AP Chemistry text from his hands, chucked it across the room with a decisive “fuck you, science!” and then tackled Merlin to the bed.
It didn’t take long for them to regain their rhythm. Now that Arthur actually had Merlin under him, all of the fantasies he’d built up in his head over the past few days came rushing back. He slid one of his hands up Merlin’s ribs to his chest, finally rubbing his thumb against Merlin’s nipple.
“Nngh,” Merlin said, his hips jerking up. Arthur took this as a sign to continue.
“You have no idea,” he breathed, circling the small nub with edge of his thumb. “All weekend I felt like I was losing my mind because all I could think about was you playing with your fucking nipple ring.”
Merlin let out a breathy laugh. “Got a nipple fetish?”
“Apparently,” Arthur said, grinning. He scraped his thumb over the fabric and Merlin jerked again. “But I think you do, too.”
He dropped his head, kissing the center of Merlin’s chest, before moving over and flicking his tongue against his nipple, tasting the clean cotton of Merlin’s shirt.
“Oh, shit,” Merlin moaned, arching his back to get closer to Arthur’s mouth.
“I watched so much porn, Merlin. You have no idea. So much porn.” Arthur licked at him until the fabric was soaked through. Merlin was panting now, his legs thrashing where they were pinned under Arthur. “I kept wondering if I’d be able to make you come just from doing this.”
Merlin lifted his head, his eyes a bit wild. “God, I need-“
“What?” Arthur asked, looking up at him. “Tell me.”
Merlin used his grip on Arthur’s hair to pull his head back, his other hand yanking his shirt up his chest. The moment his nipples hit the cool air, he guided Arthur’s head back down. Arthur didn’t need any further encouragement.
He moaned in relief, wrapping his lips around the small nub. The metal was warm against his lips, and he probed at it with his tongue. He brought a hand up to play with Merlin’s other nipple, rolling it beneath his fingers and giving it an occasional tug. Merlin seemed to like that especially, given the way his hips hitched every time it happened. Arthur pushed his thigh between Merlin’s, putting pressure on his swollen cock.
“Are you gonna come?” he asked, flicking the ring up with his tongue and licking under it. Merlin was past coherence at this point, his head thrashing back and forth as he yanked at the sheets over his head.
Arthur took the ring between his teeth and tugged gently, mindful of hurting his friend. Merlin lifted his head to look down at Arthur. When he flicked his gaze up to meet Merlin’s, ring still between his teeth, Merlin’s eyes rolled back in his head.
“Oh, fuck, Arthur…Arthur, I’m gonna-“
Arthur pressed his thigh down harder and sucked Merlin’s nipple into his mouth, grinning around it as Merlin started to shudder. Arthur held him down as his hips jerked, his balls emptying into his briefs.
When Merlin finally stilled, batting Arthur’s head away from his chest and shifting his hips away, Arthur was reminded of his own painful erection. He looked down at Merlin’s nipple, swollen and angry-looking, and let out a loud moan of his own. He got up onto his knees, nearly trampling Merlin in process. He fumbled with his jeans, desperate to relieve the pressure in his aching cock.
Merlin was watching him now, sated, but his gaze sharp as Arthur finally, finally freed his aching cock.
“Fuck,” he gasped as he took himself in hand, “I’m not gonna last.”
He watched a wicked grin spread across Merlin’s face right before he tapped himself on the chest. Arthur’s hand stuttered to a stop as he processed what Merlin was telling him. He scrambled up Merlin’s body until his knees were framing Merlin’s torso right above his waist. Merlin pulled his shirt all the way off as Arthur started pulling frantically at his dick, feeling his balls pull up tight against his body.
“Yeah, come on,” Merlin suddenly said, his voice low and husky and so utterly filthy that it pulled Arthur right over the edge. He wanted to watch where it landed, see where it marked Merlin, but he was coming so fucking hard he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
When he was finally spent, he felt a bit dizzy, and swayed on his knees. A pair of strong hands came up to brace him, and he managed to open his eyes and look down at Merlin, who was grinning up at him like a complete idiot.
Most of Arthur’s come had landed on Merlin’s chest, though it looked like some had made it all the way up to his chin. Arthur’s dick twitched at the sight, even as it softened for the first time in what felt like ages.
“Shit,” Arthur said, wincing at how hoarse he was. Thank fuck his parents weren’t home - apparently he was a screamer.
He collapsed onto the bed next to Merlin, watching as he drew his fingers idly through Arthur’s come, in no apparent rush to wipe it off. Arthur struggled up onto his elbow, looking down at his friend - well, he supposed they were more than that now. The thought made him grin.
“I had no idea you were so filthy, Merlin.”
Merlin peered up at him, returning his grin. “You’re not the only one with weird fetishes, you know.”
“Oh? You have more?”
“I might.”
“Well,” Arthur said, throwing a leg over both of Merlin’s, effectively trapping him on the bed. “Good thing I’ve got plenty of time to get them out of you.”
“Good thing, indeed,” Merlin agreed, pulling him down for a kiss. Arthur allowed it for a while before pulling back.
“So…when are you getting the other one done?”
Merlin grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Arthur kissed his smiling mouth. “Yeah…yeah, I really would.”
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Merlin/Arthur
Word Count: ~5,000
Spoilers/Warnings: This is a high school fic - Merlin and Arthur are both above the age of consent, but they are 17. Modern, non-magic American AU.
Summary: In which Arthur finds out that Merlin's been keeping a secret and uses it as an excuse to jump his bones.
Author's Notes: Thanks to corilannam for the beta and for the squee to keep me going, and to S for lending me her eyes when mine started to fail me. Written for prompt #93 in hs_merlin.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.
Arthur was tired. He’d stayed late to run some drills with the coach; normally they had games on Fridays, but it was a rare bye week and as quarterback, Arthur needed to stay on top of his game. Now all he wanted to do was change and go home to play Call of Duty.
It was getting close to 5:00, so the hallways were deserted as Arthur made his way to the locker room. Not wanting to get reamed out for tracking dirt onto the tile floor, he toed off his cleats before pushing the door open. He was about to round the corner when he heard them.
“Man, that is wicked. I’d never let anyone near me with one of those.”
That was Gwaine, one of Arthur’s running backs. Arthur didn’t have time to wonder what he was still doing there before the voice that replied stopped him dead in his tracks.
Merlin laughed. “Tell me about it. I was so nervous. The first few times he tried to do it, I jumped every time he touched me.”
“Did it hurt?”
“When he first put it in, I thought I was going to die,” Merlin replied, “but then it was fine.”
Arthur’s fingers suddenly went numb, causing him to nearly drop his cleats. He fumbled them for a bit before securing his grip, his thoughts racing. What were they talking about? Surely it couldn’t be what it sounded like. Merlin was Arthur’s best friend. As such, he had no business talking to Gwaine about…whatever it was they were talking about, not before he’d talked about it with Arthur.
“How long did it take to heal?”
Curiosity piqued, Arthur crept closer to the corner.
“Um, a couple months before it stopped being sore. It’s still healing, technically, but I hardly notice it anymore.”
“Can I see it?” Gwaine asked, getting Arthur’s attention.
“Sure.”
Arthur heard some shuffling and finally chanced a peek. Merlin was leaning against a locker - Arthur’s, actually - lifting his shirt up to bare his thin chest. Gwaine leaned forward to get a better look at…was that a nipple ring? Gwaine leaned in closer, blocking Arthur’s view. He let out a low whistle.
“I’m impressed, Emrys. You’re full of surprises.”
Merlin grinned, letting go of one side of his shirt to thumb at his nipple. Arthur felt his face go a bit hot as he watched, his eyes zeroing in on the way Merlin tugged gently at the small ring.
“I like it. Might get the other done, too.”
Gwaine shot him a grin that could only be described as lecherous. “May I?” he asked, raising a hand like he was going to touch Merlin’s nipple.
As if. Arthur snuck the few feet back to the door and pulled it open hard so it hit the lockers with a bang. Clearing his throat, he gave it a second before he strode 'round the corner into sight. He feigned surprise at seeing the two boys standing at his locker.
“Oh. What are you still doing here?”
He directed the question at Gwaine, so it came out a bit more accusatory than he intended. It was Merlin that answered.
“I had a yearbook meeting,” he said, pulling awkwardly at the hem of his shirt. “Had to stay late to finish something, so I thought I'd see if you were still here.”
“Oh. Cool. What about you?” he asked Gwaine, moving to put his stuff down on the bench. He shuffled Merlin away from his locker, effectively putting himself between Merlin and Gwaine’s dirty, grabby fingers. Gwaine didn’t seem to notice.
“Worked out a bit after school. Leaving now, though. You boys have a good weekend.”
Good riddance, Arthur thought, resolving to keep a much closer eye on him from now on. Seriously, who went around asking if they could touch people’s nipples? It was just wrong. He unlocked his locker and threw his cleats in at the bottom.
“So how was practice?” Merlin asked, watching as Arthur pulled his jersey up and off. When he saw that Arthur wasn’t wearing anything underneath, he blushed a bit and averted his eyes.
“Fine. Coach says we’re gonna make the state finals this year.”
“Neat,” Merlin said, with forced cheer. Arthur rolled his eyes; Merlin didn’t know the first thing about football, no matter how many hours Arthur spent trying to explain it to him. When he was done dressing, he turned to Merlin, who looked at him and opened his mouth, like he was going to say something. Arthur arched an eyebrow.
“Err, do you want to come over?” Merlin eventually asked. “We could have a movie night.”
“Sure,” Arthur said, a bit disappointed. He’d thought Merlin was going to tell him about the piercing. “Let’s go.”
Arthur spent the entirety of Let the Right One In thinking about what he’d seen in the locker room. Not the conversation with Gwaine, really, though it still stung a bit that Merlin had told Gwaine first. No, the part that was stuck playing on constant loop in his brain was Merlin toying with the ring and smiling, like he liked it.
Merlin had long, thin fingers - when they were younger, Arthur had often teased him for having hands like a girl’s. He’d stopped after Merlin hit his growth spurt, when he’d shot up to Arthur’s height - and maybe a bit more - seemingly overnight and had started to fight back when Arthur teased him. Arthur hadn’t thought about his hands since, but now all he could think about was the way Merlin had hooked his pinky finger through the small loop to tug on it.
The lower half of his body felt warm, tingly - like the time when they were fourteen and they’d snuck wine from Uther’s cellar and gotten drunk for the first time. It also felt kind of like when Arthur was at home in his bed in the dark, watching porn on his laptop.
He snuck a peek at Merlin out of the corner of his eye. He was stretched out on the couch, his gangly limbs flung out in multiple directions. His hand was resting on his chest, his thumb making slow, sweeping motions back and forth over the thin fabric of his shirt. It took Arthur a moment to put that together with the placement of his hand, to realize that Merlin was once again rubbing at his nipple.
Arthur snapped his gaze back to the television. Grateful they'd turned the lights off, his cheeks heated up and he knew they were turning bright red. He was determined to keep his eyes on the screen, but every few minutes they would creep back to see Merlin still toying with the ring, his eyes lidded as he watched the film. Just as Arthur thought he might suffer permanent damage from the persistent heat in his face, the movie was over.
Merlin rolled off the couch and turned on the Wii so they could play Mario Kart. Arthur tried to focus on the game, but eventually Merlin reached over and shoved him after he’d driven off the course for the fifth time in the first circuit alone.
“Wake up, stupid,” he said, the tip of his tongue peeking out as he maneuvered Yoshi around a banana peel. “It’s like you’re not even trying. We’re only doing 50cc.”
“Sorry,” Arthur replied, tearing his eyes away from Merlin’s mouth to see that while he’d gotten back onto the track, he was now going the wrong way. Merlin beat him two more times before Arthur decided to call it a night.
“Time to go,” he said, standing up. “Feel like I’m gonna crash any minute.”
“Do you wanna stay over?” Merlin asked, pausing the game and looking up at him.
“Nah. I’ll be fine.”
“K - text me when you get home.”
Arthur let himself out. Contrary to what he’d told Merlin, he wasn’t tired - he was actually feeling a bit antsy, so he practically jogged the four blocks back to his house. He called out a quick greeting to his mother to let her know he was home before making a beeline for his room.
After he’d turned off the lights and climbed into bed, he opened his laptop and pulled up Google. Hesitating for a moment with his fingers hovering over the keys, he typed in nipple piercing. After some truly horrifying image results, he decided that reading was probably the safest way to go. He skimmed the articles that came up, most of them about aftercare.
It was a bit disappointing, and not what he’d been hoping for (not that he was entirely sure what he had been hoping for), but one finally caught his eye. He opened it up, reading through it quickly. It was all about people who’d experienced increased sensitivity after getting it done, and how it’d done wonders for improving their sex lives.
Arthur blinked. He’d assumed that Merlin had been playing with it to show off, or because it was still new. Could it have been because it…felt good?
The warm feeling in his belly rushed back full force, having subsided at the clinical nature of the articles. It was sharper, more focused now, uninhibited by Arthur’s embarrassment or Merlin’s presence. He shifted his laptop further from his body as his dick started to swell. He reached down to adjust it, nearly groaning aloud when it jumped against his hand.
Inspired, he opened a new search window. This time he typed in nipple ring porn, casting a furtive look around as he hit Enter. When the porn police didn’t jump out of the closet to arrest him, he started scrolling through the results. Most of the videos that came up were of women with piercings - which was nice, but not quite right. He modified his search to gay nipple ring porn.
Ah. That was more a bit more like it.
The first few videos he clicked on were fine, but nothing special. The fifth one he played really caught his attention, though, because the boy with the nipple piercing had a mop of dark, unruly hair. His breath catching in his throat, he maximized the video player to full screen.
His dick gave a painful throb when the camera zoomed in on the nipple ring, currently held between the teeth of his partner. Arthur watched, fascinated, as he toyed with it, alternating between tugging at the ring with his teeth and using his tongue to tease the nipple itself. When he sucked the entire thing into his mouth, ring and all, Arthur shoved his hand into his sleep pants. He didn’t even need the lotion he normally used; he was already slick with pre-come.
He was so fucking hard, pumping himself slowly as he watched the boy fall apart under the skilled tongue of his partner. Fuck, if Merlin was even half as sensitive...
His brain took over from there, thinking about pinning Merlin to a wall, or to his locker, or holding him down on the bed so Arthur could do that to him. Arthur wanted to know what it felt like to hold the small ring of metal in his teeth, to learn how much pressure it took to make Merlin arch up under him, against him. He wanted to know if he could make Merlin come from that alone.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said, shoving his computer away as he started to come, hunching over his lap as he stroked himself through it.
It went on and on, and Arthur had to bite his fist to keep from groaning out loud. When his cock finally, finally started to go limp, he released it and slumped forward, panting. He looked down at the mess he’d made of his sleep clothes - fuck, he’d come so much. He’d have to sneak into the laundry room in the morning to wash them himself so his mom wouldn’t see.
Feeling a bit uncoordinated, he went to the bathroom to wash up and change. His knees were still wobbly by the time he got back to bed and put his laptop away, so he just flung himself onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.
He spent the rest of the night wondering how he was ever going to face Merlin again without popping a massive boner.
The weekend passed in a haze of jerking off and ignoring Merlin’s increasingly frustrated texts. His phone finally stopped beeping around 8:00 on Sunday night. He felt a bit guilty - it was rare for them to go two entire days without seeing each other, or at least speaking. He should probably text back, but he didn’t feel ready after spending most of the weekend humping his mattress, pretending it was Merlin beneath him.
The problem wasn’t that he’d beaten off (a lot) thinking about Merlin; if he thought that Merlin had simply opened his eyes to a new kink or something, it’d be fine. But that wasn’t it. He’d tried dozens of other videos, practically up to his eyeballs in pierced nipples, but none of them had done it for him. He’d gone right back to thinking about Merlin every single time.
So he’d been forced to admit that maybe he kinda sorta had the hots for his best friend. Maybe he’d always had them - Arthur wasn’t dumb; this sort of thing didn’t happen overnight. So now how did he go back to being just friends with Merlin?
He worked himself into such a frenzy imagining the different ways it could all go wrong that Monday morning turned out to be an anticlimax. Arthur didn’t even see Merlin until sixth period, which was their only class together on Mondays.
“Hi,” Arthur said cautiously, setting his AP Chemistry text down on the table. Merlin just glanced up at him and then went back to fiddling with his phone.
Ah.
“All right, I deserve that,” he admitted, dropping into his seat. “I was home in bed all weekend, but I should’ve at least texted you or something.”
Merlin looked up again, momentarily surprised at the admission. He apparently decided that Arthur meant it, because he set his phone down. “What’s going on with you? You were acting funny on Friday night, too.”
And that was a reminder that Arthur didn’t really need. Involuntarily, he dropped his gaze to look, but Merlin’s shirt was too baggy to see anything.
“Yeah, I don't know,” he said, clearing his throat. “Just don’t feel like myself lately, I guess.”
No, he didn’t feel like himself, because “himself” wasn’t someone who wanted to pin his best friend to the nearest flat surface so he could put to use all of the fascinating things he’d learned from watching porn all weekend. Merlin was watching him, an odd expression on his face.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, licking his lips nervously. “Do you need to like, talk it out and shit?”
“What? No,” Arthur said, dragging his gaze up from where it’d gotten stuck on Merlin’s mouth. “It’s cool. I’m cool, I swear.”
He smiled brightly to prove his point. Merlin didn’t look at all convinced, but he decided to drop it, because he started babbling about the weekend. Arthur listened, resisting the urge to stare because fuck, Merlin had a pretty mouth.
Dr. Kilgarrah saved him from embarrassing himself by calling the class to attention. Relieved to have something other than Merlin to concentrate on, he took his most diligent notes of the term so far. He would’ve made it through the whole class, too, had he not happened to glance over at Merlin just as he raised his hand to answer a question.
Merlin’s clothes were always baggy, and as he bent his arm to raise his hand, Arthur could see right down his sleeve to where the fabric gaped away from his body. He caught a flash of silver against Merlin’s pale skin before it was gone, but it was enough to send a hot flush straight down into his groin.
He’d never gotten hard so quickly in his entire life. He nearly groaned aloud, clutching his pencil so hard that it snapped right in half. Merlin shot him a concerned look when he was done speaking. He mouthed something at Arthur, but there was no way he was gonna pay that close attention to Merlin’s mouth, so he just shook his head.
He stared steadfastly at his notebook for the remainder of the period, willing his dick to go down. It was having none of it, though - like it knew that the object of Arthur’s obsession was in the vicinity, and it wanted to lead the way, like some fucking perverted beacon. He was just thankful he’d worn a longer shirt today.
When class was finally done, he packed up his things slowly, painfully aware that Merlin was waiting for him. Luckily, he had last period free, while Merlin had History. He was seriously contemplating heading to the locker room and dousing himself in cold water. The bell rang, and he realized Merlin was still standing there waiting for him.
“Shit,” Merlin swore, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder, “gotta run. I’ll see you in a bit?”
“Yep,” Arthur croaked, relieved. He stood slowly, feeling a bit lightheaded, and made his way to the locker room, holding his bag firmly in front of him the entire way.
All of the PE classes were early in the day, and there were no after school sports on Mondays, so the gym lockers were completely deserted. Arthur did actually take a cold shower, and it helped, enough so that he texted Merlin to meet him there. He just needed to get through a few more hours, and then he could lock himself in his bedroom and jerk off all night.
Steering his thoughts firmly away from thoughts of jerking off, he dressed quickly. He was just sitting to put his sneakers back on when Merlin appeared, tossing his backpack on the floor.
“Fuck, I hate Mondays,” he groaned, leaning against the locker next to Arthur’s. “I am so fucking glad it’s over.”
“Language, Merlin,” Arthur muttered, though he smiled as he laced up one shoe before moving to the other. Merlin hummed, but didn’t otherwise answer. When Arthur was done, he looked up at his friend and froze.
Merlin had his arms crossed, staring at a spot on the far wall. Merlin's arms pulled the fabric of his shirt taut across his chest. It was a bit cool in the locker room, and both his nipples had hardened and were clearly visible. Also visible was the nipple ring, which he was unconsciously flicking at with his thumb.
Arthur’s mouth went bone dry as he followed the motion of Merlin’s thumb. He wasn’t actually touching his nipple, just prodding at the tiny ball at the bottom of the ring. All the equilibrium Arthur had gained back was totally shredded, and he stood abruptly, startling Merlin out of his reverie.
“What?” he asked, looking at Arthur and then following his gaze down to his chest. He quickly realized what he was doing and balled his hands into fists, dropping them to his sides. Arthur just blinked at him when he reached down to grab his backpack.
“Ready, then?” Merlin asked, voice overly chipper. His cheeks and neck were flushed a bright red, and Arthur wondered how far down Merlin’s blush actually ran. Suddenly, it seemed the most important thing in the world that he find out.
Before he even knew what he was doing, he put a hand on Merlin’s chest and pushed him back against the locker, probably a bit harder than necessary. It was just, fuck, he was so fucking horny.
“Arthur?” Merlin asked, squirming against Arthur’s hold.
“Is that…I mean, was that…?” Arthur trailed off, having difficulty forming words when all the blood in his body was currently en route to his dick. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth. “When did you get that?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Merlin seemed uncertain for a minute, trying to gage Arthur’s mood. Arthur could feel his heart hammering beneath his palm. Finally, he just sagged back against the locker.
“A while ago,” he said. “I was going to tell you.”
Arthur looked at his friend, who looked a little nervous and a lot gorgeous, and decided to confess.
“I knew that.”
“What?” Merlin asked, going still. “What are you talking about?”
“I heard you telling Gwaine about it on Friday.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Arthur shrugged, his head clearing a bit at the storm growing on Merlin’s face. “I don’t know. I just…I was surprised. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I thought you might get weird about it,” Merlin said, the words tumbling out in a rush. “And I wasn’t fucking wrong, was I? Fuck. This is why you’ve been acting all weird, isn’t it? Well let me tell you something, I-“
Arthur was losing the buzz of his arousal, and fuck, this was all starting to go horribly wrong, and he just wanted to tell Merlin that he thought it was the fucking hottest thing on the planet, but he couldn’t do that because Merlin wouldn’t fucking stop talking. Obviously, this called for more drastic measures.
Arthur leaned forward and kissed him.
It was a bit awkward at first. He’d never really kissed anyone before, not like this. His hand was still trapped between them, and Merlin had completely frozen in shock. But Arthur squeezed his eyes shut and stayed there, his mouth pressed against Merlin’s, determined to wait it out. It was the right strategy in the end, because Merlin eventually let out a low whimper and nuzzled his mouth against Arthur’s.
After that, it was like a dam broke - literally, Arthur could picture it in his head - as he took all the want he’d felt the past few days and turned it all on Merlin, wrapping both arms around him and licking into his mouth as deep as he could go. Merlin gave as good as he got, his hands grabbing hard at Arthur like he was afraid he was going to disappear. Soon, they were rubbing against each other mindlessly, caught up in the amazing friction.
“Arthur,” Merlin gasped, throwing his head back, banging it loudly against the locker as Arthur sucked on his neck. Arthur could feel how hard he was already, pressed up against Arthur’s hip.
“Merlin,” Arthur mumbled around the flesh caught between his teeth, sucking hard before releasing it and pressing his forehead against Merlin’s. “Fuck, Merlin.”
Loud voices from outside broke through Arthur’s aroused stupor, reminding him exactly where they were. He lifted his head and looked around.
“Shit, we can’t do this here.”
“Why not?” Merlin whined, grabbing at Arthur’s hips, trying to get him to resume the movement they’d built up.
“You know we can’t. Let’s just go to my house. No one’s there.”
Arthur watched as that bit of information filtered through the sex fog in Merlin’s brain and finally registered. “Oh,” he eventually said. “Okay, then.”
They stood there clutching each other, trying to regain their breath. Arthur finally managed to tear himself away, stumbling a bit because he was so fucking hard. He made the mistake of looking over at his friend, who was still reclined against the locker. His lips were wet, red from where Arthur had bitten at them. His hair was standing up a multitude of directions and he looked a bit dazed. Arthur groaned, bending down to grab his things.
“Come on, Merlin. For fuck’s sake, come on.”
Thankfully, they made it to Arthur’s without causing some kind of public incident. In a moment of temporary insanity, Merlin had actually tried to get out some of his homework when they got to Arthur’s room. Arthur had grabbed the AP Chemistry text from his hands, chucked it across the room with a decisive “fuck you, science!” and then tackled Merlin to the bed.
It didn’t take long for them to regain their rhythm. Now that Arthur actually had Merlin under him, all of the fantasies he’d built up in his head over the past few days came rushing back. He slid one of his hands up Merlin’s ribs to his chest, finally rubbing his thumb against Merlin’s nipple.
“Nngh,” Merlin said, his hips jerking up. Arthur took this as a sign to continue.
“You have no idea,” he breathed, circling the small nub with edge of his thumb. “All weekend I felt like I was losing my mind because all I could think about was you playing with your fucking nipple ring.”
Merlin let out a breathy laugh. “Got a nipple fetish?”
“Apparently,” Arthur said, grinning. He scraped his thumb over the fabric and Merlin jerked again. “But I think you do, too.”
He dropped his head, kissing the center of Merlin’s chest, before moving over and flicking his tongue against his nipple, tasting the clean cotton of Merlin’s shirt.
“Oh, shit,” Merlin moaned, arching his back to get closer to Arthur’s mouth.
“I watched so much porn, Merlin. You have no idea. So much porn.” Arthur licked at him until the fabric was soaked through. Merlin was panting now, his legs thrashing where they were pinned under Arthur. “I kept wondering if I’d be able to make you come just from doing this.”
Merlin lifted his head, his eyes a bit wild. “God, I need-“
“What?” Arthur asked, looking up at him. “Tell me.”
Merlin used his grip on Arthur’s hair to pull his head back, his other hand yanking his shirt up his chest. The moment his nipples hit the cool air, he guided Arthur’s head back down. Arthur didn’t need any further encouragement.
He moaned in relief, wrapping his lips around the small nub. The metal was warm against his lips, and he probed at it with his tongue. He brought a hand up to play with Merlin’s other nipple, rolling it beneath his fingers and giving it an occasional tug. Merlin seemed to like that especially, given the way his hips hitched every time it happened. Arthur pushed his thigh between Merlin’s, putting pressure on his swollen cock.
“Are you gonna come?” he asked, flicking the ring up with his tongue and licking under it. Merlin was past coherence at this point, his head thrashing back and forth as he yanked at the sheets over his head.
Arthur took the ring between his teeth and tugged gently, mindful of hurting his friend. Merlin lifted his head to look down at Arthur. When he flicked his gaze up to meet Merlin’s, ring still between his teeth, Merlin’s eyes rolled back in his head.
“Oh, fuck, Arthur…Arthur, I’m gonna-“
Arthur pressed his thigh down harder and sucked Merlin’s nipple into his mouth, grinning around it as Merlin started to shudder. Arthur held him down as his hips jerked, his balls emptying into his briefs.
When Merlin finally stilled, batting Arthur’s head away from his chest and shifting his hips away, Arthur was reminded of his own painful erection. He looked down at Merlin’s nipple, swollen and angry-looking, and let out a loud moan of his own. He got up onto his knees, nearly trampling Merlin in process. He fumbled with his jeans, desperate to relieve the pressure in his aching cock.
Merlin was watching him now, sated, but his gaze sharp as Arthur finally, finally freed his aching cock.
“Fuck,” he gasped as he took himself in hand, “I’m not gonna last.”
He watched a wicked grin spread across Merlin’s face right before he tapped himself on the chest. Arthur’s hand stuttered to a stop as he processed what Merlin was telling him. He scrambled up Merlin’s body until his knees were framing Merlin’s torso right above his waist. Merlin pulled his shirt all the way off as Arthur started pulling frantically at his dick, feeling his balls pull up tight against his body.
“Yeah, come on,” Merlin suddenly said, his voice low and husky and so utterly filthy that it pulled Arthur right over the edge. He wanted to watch where it landed, see where it marked Merlin, but he was coming so fucking hard he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
When he was finally spent, he felt a bit dizzy, and swayed on his knees. A pair of strong hands came up to brace him, and he managed to open his eyes and look down at Merlin, who was grinning up at him like a complete idiot.
Most of Arthur’s come had landed on Merlin’s chest, though it looked like some had made it all the way up to his chin. Arthur’s dick twitched at the sight, even as it softened for the first time in what felt like ages.
“Shit,” Arthur said, wincing at how hoarse he was. Thank fuck his parents weren’t home - apparently he was a screamer.
He collapsed onto the bed next to Merlin, watching as he drew his fingers idly through Arthur’s come, in no apparent rush to wipe it off. Arthur struggled up onto his elbow, looking down at his friend - well, he supposed they were more than that now. The thought made him grin.
“I had no idea you were so filthy, Merlin.”
Merlin peered up at him, returning his grin. “You’re not the only one with weird fetishes, you know.”
“Oh? You have more?”
“I might.”
“Well,” Arthur said, throwing a leg over both of Merlin’s, effectively trapping him on the bed. “Good thing I’ve got plenty of time to get them out of you.”
“Good thing, indeed,” Merlin agreed, pulling him down for a kiss. Arthur allowed it for a while before pulling back.
“So…when are you getting the other one done?”
Merlin grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Arthur kissed his smiling mouth. “Yeah…yeah, I really would.”