CATS AU
Title: Effanineffable
Rating: PG-13 mostly, then briefly R
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur (with a hint of Rum Tum Tugger/Mr Mistoffelees), Gwen/Lance
Genre: Modern AU based in the colourful word of Musical Theatre
Word count: 10,005
Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC and CATS belongs to Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Mr T.S Eliot. I’m merely playing in the kitty box kiddies.
Summary: Oh well there never was a cat so clever as magical Mr Mistoffelees...
Merlin and Arthur are actors on the West End
AN: It sunk its teeth in and wouldn’t let go. A HUGE thank you to wordmythology for helping me with all the facts and details that is musical theatre and I only hope I’ve done it justice! I should also point out that chippyofyonder also has a CATS story planned so look out for that :D This is unbetaed so all mistakes are my own. Due to my work load I literally wanted to get this out of my head so maybe I’ll beta it properly later in the year but for now, without further ado, I give you Merlin and Arthur in Lycra! Oh and if you do find you want to use the images please ask first, thank you :D
Act I - The Magical, Mystical Mr Mistoffelees
He really needed to stop listening to Gwen.
Okay so maybe she was right when she said that he would be perfect for the role, and also that it’d be truly amazing for him to get it considering he was straight out of The Academy. Merlin couldn’t really deny that and to be fair what was currently happening actually had very little to do with Gwen’s recommendation and Gaius’s promptings or his possibly getting the role.
It was all to do with Arthur bloody Pendragon, Darling of the fucking West End, as anyone who was anyone was quick to inform you. But everything leading up to his meeting the pompous prat came from well into his childhood.
Admittedly his mother had enrolled him into his first dance class when he was five because she hoped to find a less conspicuous outlet for his...unique abilities. Will, his best friend since he was in infant school, insisted this was also proof it was Hunith’s fault for Merlin’s later romantic tastes but Merlin couldn’t really agree as he had been offered a chance to play football like all the other boys, but he’d picked dancing himself.
Merlin can remember after that being eleven years old and sitting far too close to the television as he watched a video of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s CATS at his Nana’s house (sadly now unwatchable from its years of use, although he had replaced it with the DVD version as soon as he possibly could). He can remember the way he’d smile and sing along when Mr Mistoffelees, his favourite character, came on and how he felt less like the weird kid that everyone claimed he was (even when they did admire his innate dancing abilities).
In this world of singing, dancing cats the fact that one of them could create dazzling lights and explosions with nothing more than his hands was celebrated and sung about. Merlin remembered how excited he was and how he’d run to tell his mother ‘See! See, its okay, I’m like Mr Mistoffelees, its okay!’ before he’d turned on his toes just like the magical cat and just like he’d been taught in his classes.
When he turned 14 his mother had surprised him with not only extra classes in Ealdor’s School of Dramatic Arts but also she’d saved up some money for him to go see CATS live at the Bristol Hippodrome. He’d practically run around like a mad man when he opened the envelope incasing the ticket, hugging his mother tightly everytime he passed her on a lap of the house making her laugh.
To be in that theatre surrounded by his childhood dream meant he spent the entire night with a bubbling excitement in his stomach, just waiting for his favourite character to come on.
What he hadn’t expected was the stirring he felt in his lower regions only six songs into the first act.
The Rum Tum Tugger had admittedly been another favourite of his but he’d always assumed his admiration for the character had been the fact that he was just so damn cool. But when he happened to be only sitting two rows from the stage and the Tom started gyrating his hips making all the female cats squeal, Merlin found it hard to contain a whimper himself. It probably didn’t help that the actor picked up on the audiences pleasure of watching him and winked out to them frequently. Merlin had been so distracted that the next three numbers of the show he could barely remember and he considered it safe to say he developed quite a crush on the character after that.
It had been all those experiences that had led him towards wanting to become a serious West End actor. When he’d told his careers advisor she’d sighed and tried to get him to consider a ‘real’ career but Merlin knew that if he did one thing in his life, it would be to play Mr Mistoffelees and no cynical middle-aged woman was convincing him otherwise.
Which brought him right back to his current situation, standing in front of Arthur Pendragon as the man looked him up and down slowly.
Merlin glared once again at the annoying, arrogant prick standing in front of him, arms crossed over a muscular chest and blonde hair sweaty from practice plastered to his forehead as he quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at Merlin.
“You? Seriously?” he said and Merlin bristled at the tone.
“What do you mean ‘You’?” he snapped and Arthur, clearly more deranged than Merlin initially thought, grinned at him. It wasn’t, however, an entirely friendly grin.
“Come on, you’re a newbie,” Arthur said in a way that suggested he thought that explained everything, “Fresh out of school according to Guinevere, you’ve only just learnt how to stand on your bird like dancing legs. Do you really think you’re ready for something like this?”
Merlin was not a violent man but right then he wanted nothing more than to slap the mocking smirk off of the other man’s (admittedly attractive) smug face.
“Fu...”
“Merlin! Hey, you made it!”
Jerking his head round Merlin felt a little of the tension in his shoulders dissipate and turned bodily away from a now frowning Arthur to face Gwen, who was closing in on him with her arms out. Grinning, he stepped forwards and the two hugged tightly, Merlin even lifting Gwen slightly off her feet and making her giggle. When he placed her back on the floor she beamed at him.
“I’m so glad you could make it, Gaius has been talking Uther’s ear off about you and the other producers are looking forward to meeting you too. Hey Arthur,” she added belatedly. Arthur in reply grunted and walked off the way Gwen had just come.
“What an ass,” Merlin said and Gwen rolled her eyes as she grabbed his hand and lead him the same way.
“He’s usually okay, what did you do to him?”
“Me!” Merlin said indignantly, “ He’s the one that came over and scoffed all over me. Here I am waiting patiently for my harlot of a friend,” (Gwen elbowed him with a glare), “ when all of a sudden this sweaty, and can I say rather smelly, blonde haired ponce comes waltzing up to me and starts insulting me. I did nothing!”
“I thought you liked sweaty men coming over to you?” Gwen said with a smirk and Merlin snorted before elbowing her back.
“I like my men polite and with deodorant thank you Miss DeGrace!”
Gwen laughed and linked her arm through his. The familiar bickering calmed his nerves slightly as he stepped through the door and was greeted with a large dance hall. At the end of the hall sat a row of men and women, Gaius smiling at him from his seat and helping to relax him further.
When his mother had informed Merlin that his Uncle Gaius was on the production team of CATS a few months back and that he’d been recommending him to the notorious Director Uther Pendragon, Merlin had been ninety five percent sure that he’d hit his head and was now living in a bizarre world via coma (course there was always the chance he’d been watching too much of John Simms around the time as well, so he thought it best to leave it at that). It was thanks to both Gaius’s continuous praises and Gwen’s (who already had her part in the musical as Demeter) pestering that Uther had even considered auditioning a recent graduate.
It was obvious also from his unimpressed face that he was ready to endure a painful display of fumbling, inexperienced dancing. It really didn’t help that Arthur (and why was it that whilst they were judging him for using his connections, that no one pointed out the whole ‘Father-Director, Son-Actor’ thing?) was barely suppressing a condescending smirk behind his fist.
Gwen broke away from him and smiled encouragingly as she made her way over to the table where the Director and producers sat, moving behind them and giving Merlin a secret thumbs up.
“I take it your Gaius’s nephew Merlin Emrys?” Uther said lazily as he flicked through the paperwork attached to his clipboard.
“Yes Sir,” Merlin replied, possibly more quietly than he usually would but the nerves were nibbling away at him by this point.
“Fine, go,” Uther said and looked up. The sudden expectation startled Merlin slightly but he gathered himself gamely and quickly glancing over to the sound man he nodded once.
And then he danced.
*************************************
Act II - The Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat
“Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God...”
“Gwen...Gwen, calm down...”
“Oh my God,” Gwen said for a final time flapping her hands excitedly as she bounced on the balls of her feet, “I mean, I knew you were good, I trained with you but...Oh My God!”
“Yeah you covered that bit,” Merlin said grinning. He couldn’t really blame her considering she was merely displaying what he felt like inside.
“I even think I saw Uther’s jaw drop at some point, those fouettés were incredible!”
“Took the words right out of my mouth.”
Both Merlin and Gwen turned to watch Gaius approach them with a beaming smile. He drew Merlin into a hug, whom returned it just as tightly, before letting go and standing with his hands cupping Merlin’s shoulders proudly.
“I knew you could do it, Uther thinks you’re perfect for the role. He’s decided to play up the whole ‘debut’ thing as well, he thinks it’ll make good publicity to feature on a new star.”
“So its strongly advised you don’t fuck up.”
Merlin bristled at the voice and turned to glare at Arthur standing behind him. He was looking considerably less smug now, much more annoyed in fact, and Merlin mentally wondered how a ten minute meet, one audition and now a few seconds of conversation could put them into a place where they already snapped at each other. It was even more of a shame that such a horrendous personality came from something that pretty.
“I may be just a ‘newbie’ on my ‘bird like dancing legs’ in this production but I assure you my dedication to it isn’t, so I’d truly appreciate it if you stopped coming up to me, an only recently acquainted stranger to you may I add, and keep insisting I’m going to fail because you’re just going to upset yourself all over again when you realise, hey, I actually am that good!”
Arthur blinked in surprise, flushing slightly. Gwen had her fingers to her lips watching them both warily whilst Gaius was more curious. He glanced between the two young men before recognising the signs of Arthur gathering himself to say something pretty scathing and cut in.
“Arthur, Merlin you are colleagues now, two major characters in a well-loved play may I add, so I strongly suggest you get your acts together, stop pissing up the wall and learn to get along. If you don’t it’ll seep into your acting, which will seep into your singing, which will then seep into the audience and if you both mess this up for everyone you are more than welcome to stand before both Uther and Andrew lloyd-Webber and explain why their revival of a treasured musical flopped.”
And with that Gaius turned and left leaving three stunned young actors in his wake.
It was Arthur who pulled himself together quickest and turned to look sharply at Merlin.
“Just don’t blow it,” he said tersely and then he too left.
“Prat,” Merlin muttered as he ignored the sigh from beside him, “He’s a rubbish choice for Munkustrap.”
“Munkustrap? Where’d you hear that?” Gwen said looking at him in confusion, a look he returned when he glanced at her.
“That’s what the rumours are. He’s not Munkustrap?”
“No, he’s Rum Tum Tugger.”
Merlin blinked.
He blinked again.
“Dammit!”
************************
************************
Act III - The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore
He was sitting in the make-up chair when the excited nerves began to hit Merlin hard. He was already in the infamous lycra suit, Mistoffelees’ added tuxedo accessories already in place and his wig was being styled into ears as he stared at his reflection wide-eyed. It was only the face to go and then he’d be Mr Mistoffelees, his childhood hero and fellow conjuror.
“Oh my God,” he whispered and clenched his fingers on the arms of the chair tightly.
“You okay?” the make up artist asked and he pulled himself together enough to blink at her stupidly before nodding. She seemed to understand though because she grinned and patted his shoulder as she stepped away to retrieve her kit.
“If you need to throw up bathrooms out back,” she said casually and Merlin huffed out a laugh.
“No I’m okay, just excited.”
“And nervous?”
“Like a mouse amongst cats.”
“Meh, you look more catlike to me.”
Merlin turned to look over the top of his chair and grinned as two women dressed entirely as cats entered the room. Gwen was barely recognisable under the make up but she waved maniacally at him and bounded over making him feel better with her presence already.
“Merlin you look amazing!” she said and tilted his head to look at his ‘ears’ better, “Although I can already tell I’m going to envy your cheekbones once the make ups on. You’re as bad as Morgana.”
“I know who Victoria will be prowling around with tonight,” Morgana said as she walked over to the pair of them gracefully and rested against the dressing table.
Morgana had been well picked for the role of the elegant white kitten so easy to spot amongst all the other Jellicles. She too had been a student at the Royal Academy of Dance but had graduated before Merlin ever knew of her, and they’d become firm friends since because of it. Of course, the fact that they both wanted to kick Arthur Pendragon in the balls and then pirouette around his crumpled wheezing body everytime he opened his mouth had certainly added to the strong foundations of their friendship as well.
“Well, Mistoffelees will welcome the company,” Merlin returned with a grin.
“Except when you’re squealing over Tugger,” Gwen added and smirked when Morgana glared at her. They both let the make up artist slip through when she returned to finish Merlin’s costume.
“You warmed up yet?” Merlin asked Morgana as the cool wet brush of the artist started to paint around his nose.
“Waiting for you,” she answered with a shrug and Merlin nodded slightly in reply.
“As are we all.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Merlin muttered as Arthur’s now unfortunately familiar voice came from behind him.
“Arthur, to what do we owe the displeasure?” Morgana said whilst flicking lint off of her thigh. Merlin grinned and was promptly scolded for doing so as the artist began to work on his lips.
“I figured someone better start rounding up you three ladies,” Arthur said and Merlin could hear the smirk in his tone.
“Called a girl because I do ballet, wow I’ve never heard that one. You must be the first person to make that association ever.”
Morgana snorted softly and winked at Merlin who returned the gesture. Gwen had given up playing mediator long before tonight and had instead moved round to better watch Merlin’s transformation.
“Shouldn’t you be getting into costume?” Merlin said tersely to the other man (who annoyingly was standing out of the way of the mirror).
“I’m ready, just you last stragglers left now.”
“Well, you can make that no longer a straggler because I’m done,” the artist said and then she moved.
Merlin beamed happily when he saw his reflection.
Staring back at him was Mr Mistoffelees in all his glory. Merlin had had bits of the costume on to practice in, had had swatches of make up placed on his skin to check his reaction to it and had done very dressed down versions of the costume in rehearsals but this was his first time seeing the final complete outfit. He turned his head this way and that to fully check out his feline ears, and he resisted the urge to touch his face in its new colour.
“Wow,” he breathed and Gwen giggled at him as he stood. He turned to look at his back in the mirror before turning his head back round to face forwards.
And froze.
Whilst Arthur had just informed him he was already in costume he hadn’t really taken into consideration how much he’d appreciate seeing his hero/crush so up close. Even with the studded belt and infamous mane missing Arthur already personified the rebellious tom more than Merlin ever wanted to admit. The tawny wig had already been shaped into its quiff and Arthur’s facial features were now highlighted in wild stripes and a curved mouth.
Merlin’s mouth felt dry and there was a distant part of him that was telling himself off quite considerably for turning to mush. He squashed it abruptly and swallowed thickly as his eyes scaled up and down the toned body of his fellow actor.
“Merlin? Hey Merlin, you hit your head or something or is your suit on too tight?”
And then Arthur opened his mouth and brought Merlin back to reality with a considerably bump. Shaking his head slightly he scowled instead and folded his arms over his chest.
“For a second there I was impressed, then you reminded me why it is I remain utterly under-whelmed.”
Pushing past a growling Arthur he was followed by a smirking Morgana and an apologetic Gwen. He turned to address Morgana and the two of them went to the next available space to warm up.
*************************************************
Mistoffelees ducked as The Rum Tum Tugger kicked a football at him and slid elegantly to the floor. He rolled his eyes as all the kittens fawned over the insufferable tomcat and decided to get his two cents in.
“The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore,” and then he walked off to the side ignoring the playful smirk from the Tugger thrown his way.
How could a fellow cat be that indecisive about simple things in life? Really, it truly esca...
Mistoffelees paused as Tugger skidded down onto his knees, still singing his own praises, and thrust his hips rhythmically before slipping back up onto his feet, his rear high in the air. Why it made his pause was beyond him but he had a feeling his racing heart knew. It really didn’t help that a few moments later Tugger gyrated his hips round whilst stroking a hand up and down his own body making Mistoffelees feel extremely flushed.
Bombalurina started singing and swinging her tail as she moved suggestively towards The Rum Tum Tugger and Mistoffelees growled low in his throat startling Jellyorum beside him.
“If you offer me cream then I sniff and sneer, because I only like what I find for myself...”
Mistoffelees watched jealously as Tugger ran his hand up the red bodied female.
“...No.”
And then he purred as she was thrown to the floor. Feeling rejuvenated he bounded up and started dancing with the other cats caught in the tom’s thrall.
“The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat! The Rum Tugger doesn’t care for a cuddle!”
************************
***********************
Act IV - Can you look at the King, would you sit on his throne?
Merlin groaned as his alarm clock beeped loudly at him again and reached out from under the covers to swat at it. When he missed he simply sighed, visualised his clock in his mind and then cringed when he heard a loud bang from its general direction.
“Bugger, fifth one this month,” he muttered into his pillow before groaning again and arching his back.
Just as he flopped inelegantly onto his stomach his mobile started blaring out the Ghostbusters theme tune and he sighed.
“Alright, alright, message received.”
Rolling sideways and swinging up into a sitting position he yawned widely, stretched, and as he brought his hand down he flopped it onto his phone and answered it with a lazy press of his thumb.
“Hu-hu-hello?” he said yawning again.
“Merlin! Get out of bed and come have breakfast with me, I have something to show you!”
“Morning Gwen.”
“Get up get up, meet me at the Starbucks just round the corner from you in 15 minutes, bye!”
And then Gwen was gone again leaving Merlin staring at his mobile screen in confusion. Shrugging, he stood up slowly scratching his stomach and made his way to the shower.
****************************
“Look!”
Merlin fell into his seat with the aid of Gwen tugging him down and even before he could get a greeting out he had a copy of Encore magazine shoved under his nose. Pulling it away from his face so that he might actually be able to read it, he flattened it onto the table and read it half mumbled aloud.
CATS opens with a Me-Yoowza!
The New London Theatre became a cats playground last night with the limited time revival of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s CATS. The audience was practically buzzing with excitement, a fever thrilling through the rows until finally the house lights went down and the stage lights took us into the wonderful world of cats!
The dancing and feline grace is phenomenal, the singing exceptional. Lance Du Luc shines as Munkustrap and Dame Helen Aria captivates us in the powerfully delivered ‘Memory’. Arthur Pendragon struts across the stage in a cacophony of sexual prowess making girls want him and boys want to be him, proving once again to his critics that his part was well-earned and not merely handed to him by his father, the Director Uther Pendragon.
This revival also welcomes Merlin Emrys into its fold, a graduate this year from The Royal Academy of Dance but don’t let his inexperience fool you. In his role as Mr Mistoffelees he takes the audiences breath away with his fluid movement and the ability to perform what appear to be near impossible defiances against gravity. Even more surprising is he has decided to take on the singing for his role also, not necessarily a requirement for the character’s actors as the character does perform some of the most difficult choreography that needs the actors full attention. When he first stepped on to the stage I’ll admit there was an initial timidness but it was soon lost as Emrys gave himself up entirely to his part.
The show has officially opened with a bang and something tells me its only going to get better. Now be as quick as a cat and get yourself to the show!
Merlin was beaming by time he had reached the end and when he looked over at Gwen he found her matching him grin for grin.
“Would it be terribly gay of me to squeal really loud right now?” he said and she laughed as she pulled out another copy of the magazine from her shoulder-bag.
“For Hunith,” she said, “And keep that one for yourself. Talk about a well-received debut.”
“I can’t believe it,” Merlin said and placed his fingers to his lips as he tried to hide his widening grin, “I mean...I’ve been building my entire life up to this moment. I feel like...I don’t know what I feel like!”
Gwen giggled and Merlin looked at her again. They both had a glint in their eye and before anyone knew it they jumped up chanting loudly, crowing out their victory (startling the early patrons enough that some spilled their drinks) and jumped on the spot as they hugged.
***************************
Merlin arrived early to rehearsals, already buzzing from the pleasant morning in Gwen’s company. He practically flew into the hallway leading to the dressing rooms and was two doors from his own when the one beside him opened suddenly. Turning, he groaned internally when he was greeted by Arthur leaning casually against his doorjamb with his arms folded across his chest and his feet crossed at the ankle.
“It was too good a day, I knew it, it couldn’t possibly last,” Merlin muttered to himself and made to pass when a hand clamped around his upper arm lightly.
“Hey,” Arthur said and Merlin quirked an eyebrow at him indignantly, looking pointedly at the hand still on him and then back up again.
“Do you regularly grab at those you work with or am I just special?”
“I wanted to say...I made a mistake...it was unfair to judge you without seeing you in action,” Arthur said quietly and even though he had trouble maintaining eye-contact with Merlin, the sentiment sounded honest enough. Honest enough that Merlin was struck dumb and left at a loss to what he should say.
“Um...”
“Look, in my defence the chances of someone graduating and getting a place in a huge production like this is pretty much second to none, so when I heard that we were getting a producer’s nephew in...”
“You decided to make a flash judgement before even meeting me and then continued to treat me like shit all the way through the rehearsals until the big night?” Merlin finished for him and Arthur had the grace to look a little bit guilty.
“I just...my father’s always been in theatre and so I’ve been surrounded by it since I was little. When I saw CATS for the first time I just knew that...”
“...You had to be in it...” Merlin said quietly and Arthur looked up at him in surprise before smiling minutely.
“Exactly,” Arthur said matching his tone, “And I guess...I just didn’t want anything to mess it up.”
Merlin was thrown by the honesty and paused as he studied the other man. Arthur was still a prat, he’d seen him with other people too much to know that he wasn’t, but he had to admit...
Arthur smiled one last time and turned to go back into his dressing room, tossing a casual “Later loser,” over his shoulder.
...He certainly felt like he had a little more insight into how the prat worked. And he couldn’t help but smile, snort in amusement and carry on his way shaking his head.
**************************
Mistoffelees batted at Tugger playfully as he passed him blowing his make-shift bagpipes and Tugger flicked his tail at him in good humour knocking his ‘dog-head’ slightly.
Mistoffelees chirped happily and ran over to Skimbleshanks to do a little impromptu highland dancing.
“Then the Pugs and the Poms, held no longer aloof, but some from the balcony, some from the ROOF!”
Munkustrap lead them all again in a round of barks and continued on with the play. Mistoffelees dropped to the ground with everyone else at Munkustrap’s cry and grinned as the tale of the Great Rumpus Cat unfolded. When they all jumped up to dance again Tugger hopped out with his beloved bagpipes, once more making Munkustrap sigh, but Mistoffelees grinned and let out another chirp of amusement.
Dropping his shoulders in humorous defeat he dragged his bagpipes away but not before giving Mistoffelees a little wink.
Mistoffelees found that he had an extra spring in his step after that.
****************************
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Act V - He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap!
“Drinks!”
Everyone cheered before resuming their conversations. There was no show running that night, only Uther really knew why, but all the cast had decided to meet up at one of the pubs and the local Prince of Wales won.
Merlin swallowed down another gulp of his pint, licking his lips absently to clear it of the foamy moustache and winced when another peanut bounced off his cheek.
“Arthur, throwing peanuts at him won’t endear you to him.”
“Thank you Morgana.”
“You two are no fun.”
“No, we’re just not enthralled by your immature ways.”
Merlin snorted into his drink and coughing placed it back on the table as he wiped his mouth with his hand. Morgana patted his back lightly whilst Arthur snickered and Merlin, fighting his own smile, threw a peanut back at him.
“Oi!”
“Can’t leave you alone for two minutes can we?”
Gwen sat done on the other side of Morgana and Lance, their beloved Munkustrap minus the face paint, sat down next to her. Merlin had been keeping an eye on the blooming romance occurring between these two, and had come to the conclusion that it was unlikely there was anyone nobler than Lance Du Luc in the world meaning his friend’s heart was probably in safe hands.
Plus it was stupidly cute, as Morgana would say.
“I can’t help myself,” Arthur injected after taking his own pint out of Lance’s hand, “I just have to mar that girlish face of his, and ever the resourceful soul that I am, I decided that the peanuts would have to suffice.”
“So in other words you were pulling his pigtails?” Morgana said with a wicked grin and Merlin felt he had to object to that insinuation.
“Hey!”
Curiously though Arthur said nothing, merely scowled at the smug woman across the table before launching one of his projectiles at her instead. He managed to get it down her top, making her squawk indignantly and Arthur crowed proudly. Merlin sighed and returned to his drink trying to look like he wasn’t with them even though he was sat at their table.
“The Rum Tum Tugger has perfect aim!”
“The Rum Tum Tugger is going to get neutered by Victoria if he does that again!”
“...Mr Mistoffelees thinks both Tugger and Victoria are clinically unhinged as they are referring to themselves by their character’s names.”
“Demeter is going to leave you guys to it and go ravish Munkustrap back at home if you all don’t behave.”
“Guinevere!” Morgana said laughing and Merlin plugged his ears with his fingers.
“I’ve known you since you were seven, I don’t want to hear such filth!”
Lance and Arthur laughed as Gwen slapped his hands down lightly.
“Big prude.”
“I’m not a prude, I just don’t need to hear about your sex life...especially considering how dry mine is right now.”
“Ah don’t worry Merlin,” Arthur said as he patted his hand condescendingly, “I’m sure one of the girls here will get drunk enough to let even you have a go. In fact Nimueh in the corner there is looking particularly hammered.”
“As nice as that is,” Merlin said tugging his hand out from underneath Arthur’s hand and blushing ever so slightly (a reaction he was studiously ignoring because that took him places far too complicated) he returned the annoying hand-pat, “I’m afraid they severely lack something I rather enjoy.”
Whether it was the couple of pints in him or whether it just never occurred to him before, it clearly took Arthur a moment to work out the cryptic meaning behind Merlin’s words before his eyes widened in surprise.
“You’re gay?”
“Arthur’s gaydar needs upgrading, he’s missing even the obvious ones these days...no offence Merlin.”
“None taken Morgana.”
“You’re gay?” Arthur said again.
“Quick, hit him, he’s stuck in a loop!”
“Yes Arthur,” Merlin said quickly as Morgana made to beat the stunned man around the head, “I’m gay. I’m warning you now though any connection you make between me being gay and a danseur will result in me holding you down as Morgana sticks you in her costume.”
“He’d make a very pretty Victoria,” Morgana agreed before sipping her drink.
“No I...I just...but you’re always with these two! Flirting”! Arthur said and it almost sounded indignant to Merlin, as though the concept of a gay man flirting with girls was beyond him.
“Fun flirting, not serious flirting Arthur,” Gwen said and Lance nodded, which made Arthur scowl at him.
“Don’t tell me he’s been flirting with you too!”
“No he just shags me rotten,” Lance said calmly and Arthur choked on air making Merlin roll his eyes.
“He’s kidding you prat.”
“Oh.”
Merlin took pity on Arthur (who looked thoroughly confused by everything around him) and leaned in towards him.
“Look, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t make a habit of going around introducing myself with ‘Hi, I’m Merlin! By the way I’m gay!’ If someone asks me right out, then I won’t deny it, but it really isn’t that big a deal. I mean, you work in the West End for goodness sake, surely you’ve encountered more gays working here than if you’d gone on the pull round Soho!”
Arthur snorted in amusement (and if it seemed a little panicked Merlin chose to ignore it) and after staring at Merlin for a couple of seconds he nodded, grinned and slapped him playfully on the shoulder.
“Should’ve guessed really, what with your undying love for me and everything.”
Merlin quirked an eyebrow at him, picked up one of the discarded peanuts and threw it at Arthur where it connected rather beautifully right between the other man’s eyes.
****************************
For the next week after their night out Merlin noticed that maybe Arthur wasn’t as entirely comfortable with him being gay as he initially made out.
It wasn’t that he said or did anything cruel, quite the opposite in fact, his banter with Merlin had reached new heights that if one was being honest then one might think it was flirting. He’d find ways of touching Merlin, whether it was through a pat on the shoulder or a quick light grip to his arm to get his attention. He’d started to hang around with him through breaks, and helped him with his stretches when Merlin required someone just to push his leg back just a little further as he lay on the floor arching his back (and the suggestive position that put them in left Merlin more confused and flushed than he would rather be).
No, it was afterwards that made Merlin question Arthur’s comfort. It wasn’t every time, only ever after the extreme incidents (such as the stretching) where he would suddenly go still, excuse himself and head towards some of the female cast who would promptly simper at him. Sophia especially enjoyed running a possessive hand down Arthur’s arm when he neared, looking over Arthur’s shoulder at Merlin with a look that suggested he was to make himself scarce. Not that Merlin ever did, he simply stared back at her with a raised eyebrow, smirked before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Morgana or Gwen.
“Oop, looks like Arthur’s running low on masculinity again, too much gay for him today. Good job he has the local bike station to refuel at,” Morgana said and smirked herself when Gwen swatted her arm.
“Stop calling Sophia the bike station.”
“I’ll stop calling her that when she stops acting like the village bike.”
“Meow,” Merlin said, “Someones catty.”
“Ugh, old joke. I’ll let you get away with it because this is your first year, but just this once,” Morgana patted his shoulder as she spoke and Merlin chuckled.
“Arthurs silly,” Gwen said decisively, “You’d think a man who wears a lycra suit, dances and sings in the West End would be able to handle high doses of gay.”
“Maybe because he wears lycra, dances and sings that he’s all maxed out.”
“Who could get enough of Merlin? Hey gorgeous,” Lance said to Merlin as he joined them.
“Hiya honey,” he said in return and the two air-kissed each other’s cheeks. Gwen giggled and put her arm around Lance’s waist whilst Morgana just looked like she was imagining pleasant, filthy things.
“We were just saying that apparently Arthur freaked out because he exceeded his gay for the day,” Morgana said looking over to the man in question and scowling as she watched him place his hands lewdly on Sophia’s hips.
Lance, rather curiously, looked like he was seeing more there than they all were. He glanced at Arthur’s display of being the ladies man, glanced at Merlin, before looking back at Arthur with a small knowing smile.
“What?” Merlin said, stretching the word out as he glared suspiciously at his friend.
“Nothing,” Lance said pleasantly, “Don’t worry.”
Merlin continued to glare at him for a few more seconds before turning his head to look over at Arthur. Arthur happened to look over at the same time and the two locked eyes for the brief moment before a pink blush spread across Arthur’s cheeks and he looked away.
Merlin looked away too and gamely ignored the heat that spread across his own face.
******************************
Mistoffelees threw out his magic causing sparks to fly up around him, twirled and stretched impressively as Tugger strutted towards him.
“His manner is vague and aloof, and you’d think there was nobody shyer.”
They matched step for step as they stepped forwards. Mistoffelees purred as he turned for his dance and caught Tugger’s proud smirk, making his stomach clench happily.
“But his voice has been heard on the roof, when he was curled up by the fire. And he’s sometimes been heard by the fire, when he was about on the roof...”
They both danced backwards with their arms stretching from one side to the next and Mistoffelees couldn’t resist brushing his fingers over Tugger’s mane as he did so.
“At least we all heard that somebody purred which is incontestable proof!”
He knew his action had been caught when Tugger strolled behind him as he twirled and when he stopped the tom sneakily brushed his fingers across the small of his back. Mistoffelees chirped and grinned.
“And not long ago this PHENOMENAL cat,” Mistoffelees turned and walked towards Tugger, who stretched out his hand and Mistoffelees briefly placed his fingertips to his palm, “Produced seven kittens right out of a hat!”
He then turned to catch the mug he produced from thin air and threw out the rainbow he’d contained inside it. He pulled it around all the other Jellicles before handing the mug to Jemima (who, even though she was smiling, had a look in her eye that suggested she was less than happy to be near him). He smirked and moved to perform his solo dance.
*********************************
********************************
Act VI - And we all say: Oh! Well I never!
Merlin leapt and bent low into a plié as he landed, his thighs quivering with the delicious ache until he pushed his body up and moved into a fouetté. He closed his eyes as he moved until he heard a shuffle from one side of him. Knowing he’d been alone in the hall a moment ago he opened his eyes and stilled all movement until he was facing his visitor.
Arthur was sat on the floor with his back leaning against the far wall and he was watching Merlin silently. His legs were bent up so he could rest his arms against his knees and he had his hands hanging limp between them, his body unmoving in a manner that was a little unnerving to Merlin.
“Christ Arthur, you scared the living daylights out of me,” Merlin said and moved over towards a towel he’d discarded by his gym bag. He wiped at his face but when all he heard was the continuing silence he looked over at Arthur in confusion.
Who was still staring at him.
“Arthur?” Merlin said and started making his way towards the other man, Arthur’s eyes following him the entire time. When he stopped in front of him, Arthur merely dropped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes in a pained way.
“Hey,” Merlin said softly and crouched down, “You okay?”
He’d say later that his guard was down, that it was the only reason he was caught by surprise and he’d scoff at any theories that he may of wanted it. He really hadn’t expected it and some part of him still thought Arthur hadn’t either.
Arthur lunged forwards and Merlin only had time to yelp as a strong hand suddenly gripped the nape of his neck and pulled him forwards until his lips were mashed against Arthur’s. It was more painful than anything, their teeth bashing together and he could taste the faintest linger of cider on Arthur’s lips but the other man simply rectified his problem by tilting his head slightly. The teeth no longer clashed, but Merlin still remained wide-eyed as Arthur, eyes closed tightly, massaged his lips with his own. Merlin’s mind was blank, shocked into submission and it seemed to lull Arthur into a false sense of security as he brought his other hand up ready to cup Merlin’s face. It was then that Merlin’s mind came back online.
Pushing away forcefully he jumped up and away.
“Arthur, what the hell!”
Arthur seemed stunned by Merlin’s sudden rejection and stared at him dumbly. Merlin wiped at his mouth with his knuckles as he glared down at him, his blood boiling with righteous indignation.
“What the hell was that! Have you been drinking?”
Seeming to kick into gear, Arthur’s brow furrowed in anger and he stood up.
“What the hell do you think it was? I kissed you!”
“Yeah, I got that! Why the fuck did you kiss me?”
Arthur gaped for a moment, clearly utterly confused by Merlin’s reaction before shaking it off to replace it again with anger.
“Why does it matter, you’re gay!”
Merlin practically snarled at him and pushed him with all his strength, making Arthur crash against the wall hard, stunning him once again into disbelieving silence.
“Gay does NOT mean I am an experiment for you sexually repressed straight boys! How dare you!”
“How dare I? How dare you!” Arthur said pushing back upright from the wall, “What, you think you can just waltz in here being...being...”
“Being what?” Merlin hissed and Arthur growled at him.
“I slept with Sophia. I slept with her and...” Arthur clenched his hands tightly and Merlin frowned in confusion at the seemingly sudden change in conversation, “She kicked me out, she said I said...said it was disgusting that I...”
“Arthur, what the fuck? What does shagging Sophia have to do with you kissing...”
Merlin stopped.
Arthur went wide-eyed and clenched his hands even tighter.
“Oh,” Merlin whispered.
Arthur pushed past him and ran.
***************************
You.Have.One.Message. Message Received Today at 10am
‘Arthur, its Merlin. I got your number from Gwen. Call me please.’
***************************
“And he just...”
Merlin nodded, his head buried in his folded arms on his kitchen table.
“Just came up and just...”
He nodded again and heard Gwen give a little ‘Oh’.
“What am I going to do?” he asked, his voice muffled and he felt Gwen pat his shoulder comfortingly.
“Be a man, suck it up.”
He lifted his head and blinked at his friend as she grinned at him.
“See, this is why I call you a harlot.” She tutted and swatted at him so he buried his head back into his arms.
“What about you?” she asked a moment later and Merlin twitched.
“What about me what?”
“Well, how do you feel about him molesting you?”
Merlin fell silent. That was it really wasn’t it? How did he feel about it? It wasn’t so much the idea of Arthur kissing him that bothered him really, more that he was an experimental phase, but the way Arthur had painfully told him about saying Merlin’s names while shagging Sophia (at least that was the conclusion Merlin had drawn and Arthur hadn’t seen fit to correct him of it) made it much more complex than that.
Sexual crisis? Probably. But then there he was again, Merlin the Phase. Even if Arthur didn’t just want to kiss-and-see, as it were, that still left Merlin having to deal with his own problems. Arthur and he had not long ago put aside their sniping and were actually getting along, to the point that even Uther said they had great stage chemistry. Did he jeopardise his first role, his first major role for..what? A fuck?
“I’ll get back to you on that,” he said quietly.
******************************
Mistoffelees made to dodge the ball Tugger kicked at him but it still connected hard with his shoulder. He hissed angrily and swiped at the air before sliding to the floor and over towards Munkustrap.
He pushed away, arching his back slightly whenever Tugger neared him but the tom seemed to ignore him, and when all the kittens mewled around him Mistoffelees looked the other way. He caught sight of Demeter who perked up at his look, slid over and started to groom him comfortingly with gentle hands. Munkustrap joined in and soon enough he felt his mood lift slightly (even though his shoulder still throbbed).
When he saw Tugger tickle Jemima’s chin he bristled and moved over to the tom’s other side.
“The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore.”
He threw a look of loathing at the Tugger but paused for the briefest of seconds when he saw it was Arthur looking back at him, and it threw Merlin when he saw the flash of hurt in those startling blue eyes that he almost forgot to get back into character. Refusing to mess this up he pulled himself together and Mistoffelees was back.
***************************************
***************************************
Act VII - You now have learned enough to see
Merlin, wig off but make-up still on, peeled the lycra suit down to his waist and looked into the mirror. He was surprised to see he actually had a bruise forming from where Arthur kicked the ball at him, not realising it had been that hard and he prodded it with morbid curiosity. He hissed quietly when it throbbed and sighed as he reached for the make up remover wipes.
As he swiped at his face to remove the white make-up he recalled the look Arthur had given him in the show. If it’d been embarrassment or anger it wouldn’t have bothered him so much but the fact that Arthur had looked hurt meant something else entirely. It meant that Arthur’s surprise kiss was more than an experimental whim at the very least.
Groaning, he spread the wipe out fully and did one long swipe down his face slowly.
“Merlin?”
Merlin stilled. He kept his face buried in his hands and listened as Arthur’s hesitant footsteps moved a little closer.
“Merlin...I...I came to apologise about the, um...”
Slowly lowering the wipe and his hands Merlin glanced at the mirror to Arthur’s reflection. Arthur was chewing his lip nervously and was studying the floor intently before glancing up and catching Merlin’s eyes in the mirror. He flushed when he saw Merlin already looking and his eyes darted away.
“About...the football,” he finished lamely and gently pumped his fist against the doorjamb.
“...Oh..,okay, um...its fine, didn’t hurt,” Merlin said in the same tone and Arthur very briefly smiled but it disappeared again soon after.
“Liar, I saw it connect.”
Merlin snorted softly in amusement as he toyed with the wipe in his hand. He stretched it slightly then dropped it into the bin and grabbed another one to return to his task.
“It’s okay, really,” he said more honestly, “I’ll just get my revenge via peanut bombardment.”
Arthur chuckled low in his throat and this time when their eyes met in the mirror they held the look. Merlin gave him a small reassuring smile, which Arthur returned before gesturing to his face.
“You going to take that off or are you planning to go out looking like that,” Merlin said and then blushed when he realised what that sounded like. Arthur clearly thought the same as his cheeks coloured also.
“The make up I mean,” Merlin clarified, watching in fascination as Arthur’s shoulders slumped slightly.
“Oh, yeah...guess so...” Arthur turned, ready to leave, and gave Merlin a nod in farewell but for whatever reason Merlin needed to know right then what had happened the other night.
“Arthur, why did you kiss me?”
Arthur froze, his shoulders bunching up and he scowled at the floor. Merlin finally saw the embarrassment he’d expected earlier seep through Arthur’s body but he refused to let it go this time.
“Can’t we just forget about it?” Arthur said tensely and Merlin sighed as he turned around.
“Can’t you even just explain why?”
“...”
Merlin waited.
When it became clear that Arthur wasn’t going to say anything, he sighed explosively and turned back to face the mirror and scrubbed at his face harder.
“Fine, whatever. Should’ve known looking for anything deeper than the consumption of cider was foolish. Well you’ve apologised for attacking me mid-play, best be on your way.”
He gasped when suddenly strong hands turned him round roughly in a firm grip and he glared at Arthur who returned the look, his face livid and centimetres from Merlin’s own.
“Fuck you!” he spat and Merlin growled.
“Fuck you!”
“You don’t even realise what you do, do you! You come in here, all boy wonder and so sure of yourself and you just don’t give a shit about what that does! Do you? Do you!”
“Arthur, what the FUCK are you talking about?”
“I don’t want to be gay! “
They both fell silent and stared at each other in shock. Arthur opened his mouth but when nothing came out he shut it again leaving it to Merlin to say something.
“One kiss doesn’t make you gay Arthur,” he said softly and Arthur closed his eyes as though in agony shaking his head and Merlin understood finally, “...it’s not just one kiss, is it?”
Arthur shook his head again.
“How long?” Merlin said keeping the gentle tone to his voice and tried to ignore the strong grip still on his biceps that were beginning to ache. Arthur barked out a bitter laugh.
“How long have I been...or how long have I liked you?”
“Either, both.”
Arthur, his eyes still closed, leaned into Merlin until his forehead was resting against Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin carefully raised his hands and placed them gently on Arthur’s shoulders where he rubbed them in small soothing circles, ignoring, for Arthur’s sake, the way that they trembled under his fingers.
“Always, since I was little. I just...I remember thinking how silly girls were but how much fun boys were. When I was 16 I realised how much more fun they could be but I..I never...”
Merlin hushed him and pulled him in properly so he had his arms around Arthur’s shaking form. Whether it was because of the confession or whether he’d just given up fighting, Arthur moved his hands to wrap his arms around Merlin’s waist instead and held on tightly.
“Too risky right?” Merlin said and Arthur laughed a little hysterically.
“Yeah, too risky.”
“I’m sorry,” Merlin whispered and even before he’d finished Arthur was shaking his head.
“No, no don’t apologise. This is my mess, I’m sorry for dragging you into it and accusing you of, well, of...”
“Being gay?”
They both chuckled at that and Arthur pulled away enough to see Merlin’s face (but not out of Merlin’s arms). They smiled at each other gently and without really thinking about it Merlin reached up to brush the blonde fringe out of Arthur’s eyes, tucking it behind his ear where it promptly fell forwards again.
Arthur closed his eyes when Merlin reached for the hair again but there was finally a more content look to his face, or maybe it was begrudging acceptance. Either way his body was no longer thrumming with self-loathing, leaving his body trembling slightly in Merlin’s arms.
“It’ll be okay,” Merlin whispered and Arthur (glassy eyes but not actually crying) rolled his eyes but smiled none the less.
“I’ve just realised I’m not going to get away playing it straight anymore and the guy I like has rejected me but hey, it’ll be okay. Thanks Yoda.”
“Rejected?” Merlin said frowning and Arthur quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, remember, you said ‘How dare you’ and all that so I guess...”
“Arthur! That wasn’t me rejecting you like this! I thought you were another drunk straight guy just ‘wanting to see’!”
Arthur blinked at him and Merlin smiled as a dawning awareness crept into his bright blue eyes. A small smile started to cross Arthur’s face and Merlin grinned at him.
“So...no rejection then?” he asked slowly and Merlin straightened his face out into something serious as much as possible.
“Well, you haven’t actually asked me anything yet so...”
Merlin almost ended the charade when the wariness flickered across Arthur’s face but he knew the other man needed to do this, so he waited it out as Arthur nodded decisively to himself and drew a deep breath.
“Merlin, do you want to, um, would...you like to get a drink sometime?”
Beaming, Merlin placed a hand on Arthur’s face and pulled him gently towards him where he placed a chaste kiss to Arthur’s lips. He closed his eyes at the same time as Arthur and smiled a little when Arthur pressed a little closer, their lips massaging one another slowly before he pulled back so their foreheads touched.
“I’d love to...prat.”
*********************************
After Old Deuteronomy placed Mistoffelees back down, allowing all the other cats to welcome back their leader, Tugger moved forward to grip his hands in thanks. Unused to such obvious contact in front of everyone Mistoffelees paused and tilted his head at Tugger.
Tugger grinned and to encourage him into his familiar leaps he turned Mistoffelees around, gripped his hips and lifted him. Mistoffelees contorted elegantly so his back arched over Tuggers shoulder, his hands stretching down across Tugger’s back and his knee bending until his toes pointed to the ground, his entire body melting into the move.
Tugger twirled him and finally placed him back onto the floor where Mistoffelees purred and ran to take Cassandra’s hand, leading her back to the rest of the Jellicles. When he moved again, preparing for his final display of magic, he ran past Tugger who briefly touched his hip before moving to address his audience.
“I give you, the Magical!”
Mistoffelees turned and thrust a hand into the air.
“The Marvellous!”
He threw up the other.
“Mr Mistoffelees!”
He braced himself, leapt into the air and vanished in a haze of smoke and glitter.
******************************************
Epilogue - three months later
Merlin gasped brokenly as he gripped the bed-sheets tighter and threw his head back with a loud moan. He clenched his thighs against the sharp jut of Arthur’s hips and arched his back as high as he could.
“Harder!” he hissed and Arthur, panting as he rocked into Merlin’s body beneath him, gave a great huff of laughter. Bracing himself on one arm he used the other to hitch Merlin’s hips higher and pushed himself in as deep as he could go before pulling nearly all the way out so he could repeat the action.
“Yes! Yes, like that!”
“Christ Merlin,” Arthur managed to choke out, “So tight.”
Merlin groaned pleasurably and without warning Arthur he tightened his legs, gripped Arthur’s shoulders and rolled them so Arthur was on his back. Smirking down at the stunned face he then braced himself and started to ride Arthur hard. The man below him gave a yell of delighted surprise and thrust up when Merlin thrust down.
Their movements become jerky and less rhythmic as they got closer to the edge but it was Arthur who came first, his head pushing back into the pillow, his mouth open in a silent roar and his eyes clenched tightly closed as the pleasure coursed through him into Merlin. The sight of Arthur losing control was enough to push Merlin over the edge and with a great yell (and a vaguely suspicious bang in the background) he arched his back and came before flopping forwards onto Arthur’s chest.
“It’s official...you’re going to kill me prematurely...” Arthur said hoarsely after catching his breath and Merlin grunted as he rolled to one side.
“If you can say prema..prem...that word then I think you’ll be okay.”
Arthur chuckled deeply and Merlin’s body thrilled at the sound regardless of its spectacular release not moments ago. Rolling, he placed a hand on Arthur’s cheek and encouraged him forwards for a lazy kiss, one Arthur gladly returned.
“You blew up the clock again,” he muttered against Merlin’s lips and Merlin glanced over his shoulder to find he had indeed blown up his newest alarm clock. Turning back he stole another kiss and rolled them so he was spread across Arthur’s body.
“Didn’t like it anyway, wanted the Dalek one.”
“Still can’t believe you got away with all that magic on stage and no one noticed,” Arthur said placing little nibbling kisses against Merlin’s lips, pulling away, then moving back in to do it again.
“No one questions the magic of theatre. Or the magic of the Marvellous Magical Mr Mistoffelees.”
“Mmm.”
“Besides,” Merlin said as he lightly lapped his tongue across Arthur’s lips, “I’ve always got Tugger there to distract anyone suspicious with his positively...illegal...hips,” he accompanied each word with a rotation of his own and Arthur simultaneously groaned and laughed.
“Fuck, you in heat or something Emrys?”
Merlin grinned wickedly and leaned down for a kiss. He still couldn’t believe that they were here like this, and as he kissed his lover he took a moment to reflect on what had happened. It didn’t seem right that all in the same year he’d graduated from a prestigious academy, debuted into the West End via an extremely well known musical, his favourite since his childhood, met, argued and then fallen for a fellow actor who bravely came out not long after they got together.
Apparently their onstage chemistry as Mr Mistoffelees and The Rum Tum Tugger, along with them being an out couple in the business, meant that tickets had nearly doubled in sales.
Who knew gay sex could sell?
Pulling away so he could lean on his forearms with his hands in Arthur’s hair, Merlin smiled down at the relaxed man beneath him. Arthur smiled lazily up at him and ran a fingertip down Merlin’s nose making him grin, thankful for everything that had happened.
Because there never was a man so brilliant as the marvellous Arthur Pendragon.
Finite
Rating: PG-13 mostly, then briefly R
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur (with a hint of Rum Tum Tugger/Mr Mistoffelees), Gwen/Lance
Genre: Modern AU based in the colourful word of Musical Theatre
Word count: 10,005
Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC and CATS belongs to Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Mr T.S Eliot. I’m merely playing in the kitty box kiddies.
Summary: Oh well there never was a cat so clever as magical Mr Mistoffelees...
Merlin and Arthur are actors on the West End
AN: It sunk its teeth in and wouldn’t let go. A HUGE thank you to wordmythology for helping me with all the facts and details that is musical theatre and I only hope I’ve done it justice! I should also point out that chippyofyonder also has a CATS story planned so look out for that :D This is unbetaed so all mistakes are my own. Due to my work load I literally wanted to get this out of my head so maybe I’ll beta it properly later in the year but for now, without further ado, I give you Merlin and Arthur in Lycra! Oh and if you do find you want to use the images please ask first, thank you :D
Act I - The Magical, Mystical Mr Mistoffelees
He really needed to stop listening to Gwen.
Okay so maybe she was right when she said that he would be perfect for the role, and also that it’d be truly amazing for him to get it considering he was straight out of The Academy. Merlin couldn’t really deny that and to be fair what was currently happening actually had very little to do with Gwen’s recommendation and Gaius’s promptings or his possibly getting the role.
It was all to do with Arthur bloody Pendragon, Darling of the fucking West End, as anyone who was anyone was quick to inform you. But everything leading up to his meeting the pompous prat came from well into his childhood.
Admittedly his mother had enrolled him into his first dance class when he was five because she hoped to find a less conspicuous outlet for his...unique abilities. Will, his best friend since he was in infant school, insisted this was also proof it was Hunith’s fault for Merlin’s later romantic tastes but Merlin couldn’t really agree as he had been offered a chance to play football like all the other boys, but he’d picked dancing himself.
Merlin can remember after that being eleven years old and sitting far too close to the television as he watched a video of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s CATS at his Nana’s house (sadly now unwatchable from its years of use, although he had replaced it with the DVD version as soon as he possibly could). He can remember the way he’d smile and sing along when Mr Mistoffelees, his favourite character, came on and how he felt less like the weird kid that everyone claimed he was (even when they did admire his innate dancing abilities).
In this world of singing, dancing cats the fact that one of them could create dazzling lights and explosions with nothing more than his hands was celebrated and sung about. Merlin remembered how excited he was and how he’d run to tell his mother ‘See! See, its okay, I’m like Mr Mistoffelees, its okay!’ before he’d turned on his toes just like the magical cat and just like he’d been taught in his classes.
When he turned 14 his mother had surprised him with not only extra classes in Ealdor’s School of Dramatic Arts but also she’d saved up some money for him to go see CATS live at the Bristol Hippodrome. He’d practically run around like a mad man when he opened the envelope incasing the ticket, hugging his mother tightly everytime he passed her on a lap of the house making her laugh.
To be in that theatre surrounded by his childhood dream meant he spent the entire night with a bubbling excitement in his stomach, just waiting for his favourite character to come on.
What he hadn’t expected was the stirring he felt in his lower regions only six songs into the first act.
The Rum Tum Tugger had admittedly been another favourite of his but he’d always assumed his admiration for the character had been the fact that he was just so damn cool. But when he happened to be only sitting two rows from the stage and the Tom started gyrating his hips making all the female cats squeal, Merlin found it hard to contain a whimper himself. It probably didn’t help that the actor picked up on the audiences pleasure of watching him and winked out to them frequently. Merlin had been so distracted that the next three numbers of the show he could barely remember and he considered it safe to say he developed quite a crush on the character after that.
It had been all those experiences that had led him towards wanting to become a serious West End actor. When he’d told his careers advisor she’d sighed and tried to get him to consider a ‘real’ career but Merlin knew that if he did one thing in his life, it would be to play Mr Mistoffelees and no cynical middle-aged woman was convincing him otherwise.
Which brought him right back to his current situation, standing in front of Arthur Pendragon as the man looked him up and down slowly.
Merlin glared once again at the annoying, arrogant prick standing in front of him, arms crossed over a muscular chest and blonde hair sweaty from practice plastered to his forehead as he quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at Merlin.
“You? Seriously?” he said and Merlin bristled at the tone.
“What do you mean ‘You’?” he snapped and Arthur, clearly more deranged than Merlin initially thought, grinned at him. It wasn’t, however, an entirely friendly grin.
“Come on, you’re a newbie,” Arthur said in a way that suggested he thought that explained everything, “Fresh out of school according to Guinevere, you’ve only just learnt how to stand on your bird like dancing legs. Do you really think you’re ready for something like this?”
Merlin was not a violent man but right then he wanted nothing more than to slap the mocking smirk off of the other man’s (admittedly attractive) smug face.
“Fu...”
“Merlin! Hey, you made it!”
Jerking his head round Merlin felt a little of the tension in his shoulders dissipate and turned bodily away from a now frowning Arthur to face Gwen, who was closing in on him with her arms out. Grinning, he stepped forwards and the two hugged tightly, Merlin even lifting Gwen slightly off her feet and making her giggle. When he placed her back on the floor she beamed at him.
“I’m so glad you could make it, Gaius has been talking Uther’s ear off about you and the other producers are looking forward to meeting you too. Hey Arthur,” she added belatedly. Arthur in reply grunted and walked off the way Gwen had just come.
“What an ass,” Merlin said and Gwen rolled her eyes as she grabbed his hand and lead him the same way.
“He’s usually okay, what did you do to him?”
“Me!” Merlin said indignantly, “ He’s the one that came over and scoffed all over me. Here I am waiting patiently for my harlot of a friend,” (Gwen elbowed him with a glare), “ when all of a sudden this sweaty, and can I say rather smelly, blonde haired ponce comes waltzing up to me and starts insulting me. I did nothing!”
“I thought you liked sweaty men coming over to you?” Gwen said with a smirk and Merlin snorted before elbowing her back.
“I like my men polite and with deodorant thank you Miss DeGrace!”
Gwen laughed and linked her arm through his. The familiar bickering calmed his nerves slightly as he stepped through the door and was greeted with a large dance hall. At the end of the hall sat a row of men and women, Gaius smiling at him from his seat and helping to relax him further.
When his mother had informed Merlin that his Uncle Gaius was on the production team of CATS a few months back and that he’d been recommending him to the notorious Director Uther Pendragon, Merlin had been ninety five percent sure that he’d hit his head and was now living in a bizarre world via coma (course there was always the chance he’d been watching too much of John Simms around the time as well, so he thought it best to leave it at that). It was thanks to both Gaius’s continuous praises and Gwen’s (who already had her part in the musical as Demeter) pestering that Uther had even considered auditioning a recent graduate.
It was obvious also from his unimpressed face that he was ready to endure a painful display of fumbling, inexperienced dancing. It really didn’t help that Arthur (and why was it that whilst they were judging him for using his connections, that no one pointed out the whole ‘Father-Director, Son-Actor’ thing?) was barely suppressing a condescending smirk behind his fist.
Gwen broke away from him and smiled encouragingly as she made her way over to the table where the Director and producers sat, moving behind them and giving Merlin a secret thumbs up.
“I take it your Gaius’s nephew Merlin Emrys?” Uther said lazily as he flicked through the paperwork attached to his clipboard.
“Yes Sir,” Merlin replied, possibly more quietly than he usually would but the nerves were nibbling away at him by this point.
“Fine, go,” Uther said and looked up. The sudden expectation startled Merlin slightly but he gathered himself gamely and quickly glancing over to the sound man he nodded once.
And then he danced.
*************************************
Act II - The Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat
“Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God...”
“Gwen...Gwen, calm down...”
“Oh my God,” Gwen said for a final time flapping her hands excitedly as she bounced on the balls of her feet, “I mean, I knew you were good, I trained with you but...Oh My God!”
“Yeah you covered that bit,” Merlin said grinning. He couldn’t really blame her considering she was merely displaying what he felt like inside.
“I even think I saw Uther’s jaw drop at some point, those fouettés were incredible!”
“Took the words right out of my mouth.”
Both Merlin and Gwen turned to watch Gaius approach them with a beaming smile. He drew Merlin into a hug, whom returned it just as tightly, before letting go and standing with his hands cupping Merlin’s shoulders proudly.
“I knew you could do it, Uther thinks you’re perfect for the role. He’s decided to play up the whole ‘debut’ thing as well, he thinks it’ll make good publicity to feature on a new star.”
“So its strongly advised you don’t fuck up.”
Merlin bristled at the voice and turned to glare at Arthur standing behind him. He was looking considerably less smug now, much more annoyed in fact, and Merlin mentally wondered how a ten minute meet, one audition and now a few seconds of conversation could put them into a place where they already snapped at each other. It was even more of a shame that such a horrendous personality came from something that pretty.
“I may be just a ‘newbie’ on my ‘bird like dancing legs’ in this production but I assure you my dedication to it isn’t, so I’d truly appreciate it if you stopped coming up to me, an only recently acquainted stranger to you may I add, and keep insisting I’m going to fail because you’re just going to upset yourself all over again when you realise, hey, I actually am that good!”
Arthur blinked in surprise, flushing slightly. Gwen had her fingers to her lips watching them both warily whilst Gaius was more curious. He glanced between the two young men before recognising the signs of Arthur gathering himself to say something pretty scathing and cut in.
“Arthur, Merlin you are colleagues now, two major characters in a well-loved play may I add, so I strongly suggest you get your acts together, stop pissing up the wall and learn to get along. If you don’t it’ll seep into your acting, which will seep into your singing, which will then seep into the audience and if you both mess this up for everyone you are more than welcome to stand before both Uther and Andrew lloyd-Webber and explain why their revival of a treasured musical flopped.”
And with that Gaius turned and left leaving three stunned young actors in his wake.
It was Arthur who pulled himself together quickest and turned to look sharply at Merlin.
“Just don’t blow it,” he said tersely and then he too left.
“Prat,” Merlin muttered as he ignored the sigh from beside him, “He’s a rubbish choice for Munkustrap.”
“Munkustrap? Where’d you hear that?” Gwen said looking at him in confusion, a look he returned when he glanced at her.
“That’s what the rumours are. He’s not Munkustrap?”
“No, he’s Rum Tum Tugger.”
Merlin blinked.
He blinked again.
“Dammit!”
************************
************************
Act III - The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore
He was sitting in the make-up chair when the excited nerves began to hit Merlin hard. He was already in the infamous lycra suit, Mistoffelees’ added tuxedo accessories already in place and his wig was being styled into ears as he stared at his reflection wide-eyed. It was only the face to go and then he’d be Mr Mistoffelees, his childhood hero and fellow conjuror.
“Oh my God,” he whispered and clenched his fingers on the arms of the chair tightly.
“You okay?” the make up artist asked and he pulled himself together enough to blink at her stupidly before nodding. She seemed to understand though because she grinned and patted his shoulder as she stepped away to retrieve her kit.
“If you need to throw up bathrooms out back,” she said casually and Merlin huffed out a laugh.
“No I’m okay, just excited.”
“And nervous?”
“Like a mouse amongst cats.”
“Meh, you look more catlike to me.”
Merlin turned to look over the top of his chair and grinned as two women dressed entirely as cats entered the room. Gwen was barely recognisable under the make up but she waved maniacally at him and bounded over making him feel better with her presence already.
“Merlin you look amazing!” she said and tilted his head to look at his ‘ears’ better, “Although I can already tell I’m going to envy your cheekbones once the make ups on. You’re as bad as Morgana.”
“I know who Victoria will be prowling around with tonight,” Morgana said as she walked over to the pair of them gracefully and rested against the dressing table.
Morgana had been well picked for the role of the elegant white kitten so easy to spot amongst all the other Jellicles. She too had been a student at the Royal Academy of Dance but had graduated before Merlin ever knew of her, and they’d become firm friends since because of it. Of course, the fact that they both wanted to kick Arthur Pendragon in the balls and then pirouette around his crumpled wheezing body everytime he opened his mouth had certainly added to the strong foundations of their friendship as well.
“Well, Mistoffelees will welcome the company,” Merlin returned with a grin.
“Except when you’re squealing over Tugger,” Gwen added and smirked when Morgana glared at her. They both let the make up artist slip through when she returned to finish Merlin’s costume.
“You warmed up yet?” Merlin asked Morgana as the cool wet brush of the artist started to paint around his nose.
“Waiting for you,” she answered with a shrug and Merlin nodded slightly in reply.
“As are we all.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Merlin muttered as Arthur’s now unfortunately familiar voice came from behind him.
“Arthur, to what do we owe the displeasure?” Morgana said whilst flicking lint off of her thigh. Merlin grinned and was promptly scolded for doing so as the artist began to work on his lips.
“I figured someone better start rounding up you three ladies,” Arthur said and Merlin could hear the smirk in his tone.
“Called a girl because I do ballet, wow I’ve never heard that one. You must be the first person to make that association ever.”
Morgana snorted softly and winked at Merlin who returned the gesture. Gwen had given up playing mediator long before tonight and had instead moved round to better watch Merlin’s transformation.
“Shouldn’t you be getting into costume?” Merlin said tersely to the other man (who annoyingly was standing out of the way of the mirror).
“I’m ready, just you last stragglers left now.”
“Well, you can make that no longer a straggler because I’m done,” the artist said and then she moved.
Merlin beamed happily when he saw his reflection.
Staring back at him was Mr Mistoffelees in all his glory. Merlin had had bits of the costume on to practice in, had had swatches of make up placed on his skin to check his reaction to it and had done very dressed down versions of the costume in rehearsals but this was his first time seeing the final complete outfit. He turned his head this way and that to fully check out his feline ears, and he resisted the urge to touch his face in its new colour.
“Wow,” he breathed and Gwen giggled at him as he stood. He turned to look at his back in the mirror before turning his head back round to face forwards.
And froze.
Whilst Arthur had just informed him he was already in costume he hadn’t really taken into consideration how much he’d appreciate seeing his hero/crush so up close. Even with the studded belt and infamous mane missing Arthur already personified the rebellious tom more than Merlin ever wanted to admit. The tawny wig had already been shaped into its quiff and Arthur’s facial features were now highlighted in wild stripes and a curved mouth.
Merlin’s mouth felt dry and there was a distant part of him that was telling himself off quite considerably for turning to mush. He squashed it abruptly and swallowed thickly as his eyes scaled up and down the toned body of his fellow actor.
“Merlin? Hey Merlin, you hit your head or something or is your suit on too tight?”
And then Arthur opened his mouth and brought Merlin back to reality with a considerably bump. Shaking his head slightly he scowled instead and folded his arms over his chest.
“For a second there I was impressed, then you reminded me why it is I remain utterly under-whelmed.”
Pushing past a growling Arthur he was followed by a smirking Morgana and an apologetic Gwen. He turned to address Morgana and the two of them went to the next available space to warm up.
*************************************************
Mistoffelees ducked as The Rum Tum Tugger kicked a football at him and slid elegantly to the floor. He rolled his eyes as all the kittens fawned over the insufferable tomcat and decided to get his two cents in.
“The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore,” and then he walked off to the side ignoring the playful smirk from the Tugger thrown his way.
How could a fellow cat be that indecisive about simple things in life? Really, it truly esca...
Mistoffelees paused as Tugger skidded down onto his knees, still singing his own praises, and thrust his hips rhythmically before slipping back up onto his feet, his rear high in the air. Why it made his pause was beyond him but he had a feeling his racing heart knew. It really didn’t help that a few moments later Tugger gyrated his hips round whilst stroking a hand up and down his own body making Mistoffelees feel extremely flushed.
Bombalurina started singing and swinging her tail as she moved suggestively towards The Rum Tum Tugger and Mistoffelees growled low in his throat startling Jellyorum beside him.
“If you offer me cream then I sniff and sneer, because I only like what I find for myself...”
Mistoffelees watched jealously as Tugger ran his hand up the red bodied female.
“...No.”
And then he purred as she was thrown to the floor. Feeling rejuvenated he bounded up and started dancing with the other cats caught in the tom’s thrall.
“The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat! The Rum Tugger doesn’t care for a cuddle!”
************************
***********************
Act IV - Can you look at the King, would you sit on his throne?
Merlin groaned as his alarm clock beeped loudly at him again and reached out from under the covers to swat at it. When he missed he simply sighed, visualised his clock in his mind and then cringed when he heard a loud bang from its general direction.
“Bugger, fifth one this month,” he muttered into his pillow before groaning again and arching his back.
Just as he flopped inelegantly onto his stomach his mobile started blaring out the Ghostbusters theme tune and he sighed.
“Alright, alright, message received.”
Rolling sideways and swinging up into a sitting position he yawned widely, stretched, and as he brought his hand down he flopped it onto his phone and answered it with a lazy press of his thumb.
“Hu-hu-hello?” he said yawning again.
“Merlin! Get out of bed and come have breakfast with me, I have something to show you!”
“Morning Gwen.”
“Get up get up, meet me at the Starbucks just round the corner from you in 15 minutes, bye!”
And then Gwen was gone again leaving Merlin staring at his mobile screen in confusion. Shrugging, he stood up slowly scratching his stomach and made his way to the shower.
****************************
“Look!”
Merlin fell into his seat with the aid of Gwen tugging him down and even before he could get a greeting out he had a copy of Encore magazine shoved under his nose. Pulling it away from his face so that he might actually be able to read it, he flattened it onto the table and read it half mumbled aloud.
CATS opens with a Me-Yoowza!
The New London Theatre became a cats playground last night with the limited time revival of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s CATS. The audience was practically buzzing with excitement, a fever thrilling through the rows until finally the house lights went down and the stage lights took us into the wonderful world of cats!
The dancing and feline grace is phenomenal, the singing exceptional. Lance Du Luc shines as Munkustrap and Dame Helen Aria captivates us in the powerfully delivered ‘Memory’. Arthur Pendragon struts across the stage in a cacophony of sexual prowess making girls want him and boys want to be him, proving once again to his critics that his part was well-earned and not merely handed to him by his father, the Director Uther Pendragon.
This revival also welcomes Merlin Emrys into its fold, a graduate this year from The Royal Academy of Dance but don’t let his inexperience fool you. In his role as Mr Mistoffelees he takes the audiences breath away with his fluid movement and the ability to perform what appear to be near impossible defiances against gravity. Even more surprising is he has decided to take on the singing for his role also, not necessarily a requirement for the character’s actors as the character does perform some of the most difficult choreography that needs the actors full attention. When he first stepped on to the stage I’ll admit there was an initial timidness but it was soon lost as Emrys gave himself up entirely to his part.
The show has officially opened with a bang and something tells me its only going to get better. Now be as quick as a cat and get yourself to the show!
Merlin was beaming by time he had reached the end and when he looked over at Gwen he found her matching him grin for grin.
“Would it be terribly gay of me to squeal really loud right now?” he said and she laughed as she pulled out another copy of the magazine from her shoulder-bag.
“For Hunith,” she said, “And keep that one for yourself. Talk about a well-received debut.”
“I can’t believe it,” Merlin said and placed his fingers to his lips as he tried to hide his widening grin, “I mean...I’ve been building my entire life up to this moment. I feel like...I don’t know what I feel like!”
Gwen giggled and Merlin looked at her again. They both had a glint in their eye and before anyone knew it they jumped up chanting loudly, crowing out their victory (startling the early patrons enough that some spilled their drinks) and jumped on the spot as they hugged.
***************************
Merlin arrived early to rehearsals, already buzzing from the pleasant morning in Gwen’s company. He practically flew into the hallway leading to the dressing rooms and was two doors from his own when the one beside him opened suddenly. Turning, he groaned internally when he was greeted by Arthur leaning casually against his doorjamb with his arms folded across his chest and his feet crossed at the ankle.
“It was too good a day, I knew it, it couldn’t possibly last,” Merlin muttered to himself and made to pass when a hand clamped around his upper arm lightly.
“Hey,” Arthur said and Merlin quirked an eyebrow at him indignantly, looking pointedly at the hand still on him and then back up again.
“Do you regularly grab at those you work with or am I just special?”
“I wanted to say...I made a mistake...it was unfair to judge you without seeing you in action,” Arthur said quietly and even though he had trouble maintaining eye-contact with Merlin, the sentiment sounded honest enough. Honest enough that Merlin was struck dumb and left at a loss to what he should say.
“Um...”
“Look, in my defence the chances of someone graduating and getting a place in a huge production like this is pretty much second to none, so when I heard that we were getting a producer’s nephew in...”
“You decided to make a flash judgement before even meeting me and then continued to treat me like shit all the way through the rehearsals until the big night?” Merlin finished for him and Arthur had the grace to look a little bit guilty.
“I just...my father’s always been in theatre and so I’ve been surrounded by it since I was little. When I saw CATS for the first time I just knew that...”
“...You had to be in it...” Merlin said quietly and Arthur looked up at him in surprise before smiling minutely.
“Exactly,” Arthur said matching his tone, “And I guess...I just didn’t want anything to mess it up.”
Merlin was thrown by the honesty and paused as he studied the other man. Arthur was still a prat, he’d seen him with other people too much to know that he wasn’t, but he had to admit...
Arthur smiled one last time and turned to go back into his dressing room, tossing a casual “Later loser,” over his shoulder.
...He certainly felt like he had a little more insight into how the prat worked. And he couldn’t help but smile, snort in amusement and carry on his way shaking his head.
**************************
Mistoffelees batted at Tugger playfully as he passed him blowing his make-shift bagpipes and Tugger flicked his tail at him in good humour knocking his ‘dog-head’ slightly.
Mistoffelees chirped happily and ran over to Skimbleshanks to do a little impromptu highland dancing.
“Then the Pugs and the Poms, held no longer aloof, but some from the balcony, some from the ROOF!”
Munkustrap lead them all again in a round of barks and continued on with the play. Mistoffelees dropped to the ground with everyone else at Munkustrap’s cry and grinned as the tale of the Great Rumpus Cat unfolded. When they all jumped up to dance again Tugger hopped out with his beloved bagpipes, once more making Munkustrap sigh, but Mistoffelees grinned and let out another chirp of amusement.
Dropping his shoulders in humorous defeat he dragged his bagpipes away but not before giving Mistoffelees a little wink.
Mistoffelees found that he had an extra spring in his step after that.
****************************
****************************
Act V - He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap!
“Drinks!”
Everyone cheered before resuming their conversations. There was no show running that night, only Uther really knew why, but all the cast had decided to meet up at one of the pubs and the local Prince of Wales won.
Merlin swallowed down another gulp of his pint, licking his lips absently to clear it of the foamy moustache and winced when another peanut bounced off his cheek.
“Arthur, throwing peanuts at him won’t endear you to him.”
“Thank you Morgana.”
“You two are no fun.”
“No, we’re just not enthralled by your immature ways.”
Merlin snorted into his drink and coughing placed it back on the table as he wiped his mouth with his hand. Morgana patted his back lightly whilst Arthur snickered and Merlin, fighting his own smile, threw a peanut back at him.
“Oi!”
“Can’t leave you alone for two minutes can we?”
Gwen sat done on the other side of Morgana and Lance, their beloved Munkustrap minus the face paint, sat down next to her. Merlin had been keeping an eye on the blooming romance occurring between these two, and had come to the conclusion that it was unlikely there was anyone nobler than Lance Du Luc in the world meaning his friend’s heart was probably in safe hands.
Plus it was stupidly cute, as Morgana would say.
“I can’t help myself,” Arthur injected after taking his own pint out of Lance’s hand, “I just have to mar that girlish face of his, and ever the resourceful soul that I am, I decided that the peanuts would have to suffice.”
“So in other words you were pulling his pigtails?” Morgana said with a wicked grin and Merlin felt he had to object to that insinuation.
“Hey!”
Curiously though Arthur said nothing, merely scowled at the smug woman across the table before launching one of his projectiles at her instead. He managed to get it down her top, making her squawk indignantly and Arthur crowed proudly. Merlin sighed and returned to his drink trying to look like he wasn’t with them even though he was sat at their table.
“The Rum Tum Tugger has perfect aim!”
“The Rum Tum Tugger is going to get neutered by Victoria if he does that again!”
“...Mr Mistoffelees thinks both Tugger and Victoria are clinically unhinged as they are referring to themselves by their character’s names.”
“Demeter is going to leave you guys to it and go ravish Munkustrap back at home if you all don’t behave.”
“Guinevere!” Morgana said laughing and Merlin plugged his ears with his fingers.
“I’ve known you since you were seven, I don’t want to hear such filth!”
Lance and Arthur laughed as Gwen slapped his hands down lightly.
“Big prude.”
“I’m not a prude, I just don’t need to hear about your sex life...especially considering how dry mine is right now.”
“Ah don’t worry Merlin,” Arthur said as he patted his hand condescendingly, “I’m sure one of the girls here will get drunk enough to let even you have a go. In fact Nimueh in the corner there is looking particularly hammered.”
“As nice as that is,” Merlin said tugging his hand out from underneath Arthur’s hand and blushing ever so slightly (a reaction he was studiously ignoring because that took him places far too complicated) he returned the annoying hand-pat, “I’m afraid they severely lack something I rather enjoy.”
Whether it was the couple of pints in him or whether it just never occurred to him before, it clearly took Arthur a moment to work out the cryptic meaning behind Merlin’s words before his eyes widened in surprise.
“You’re gay?”
“Arthur’s gaydar needs upgrading, he’s missing even the obvious ones these days...no offence Merlin.”
“None taken Morgana.”
“You’re gay?” Arthur said again.
“Quick, hit him, he’s stuck in a loop!”
“Yes Arthur,” Merlin said quickly as Morgana made to beat the stunned man around the head, “I’m gay. I’m warning you now though any connection you make between me being gay and a danseur will result in me holding you down as Morgana sticks you in her costume.”
“He’d make a very pretty Victoria,” Morgana agreed before sipping her drink.
“No I...I just...but you’re always with these two! Flirting”! Arthur said and it almost sounded indignant to Merlin, as though the concept of a gay man flirting with girls was beyond him.
“Fun flirting, not serious flirting Arthur,” Gwen said and Lance nodded, which made Arthur scowl at him.
“Don’t tell me he’s been flirting with you too!”
“No he just shags me rotten,” Lance said calmly and Arthur choked on air making Merlin roll his eyes.
“He’s kidding you prat.”
“Oh.”
Merlin took pity on Arthur (who looked thoroughly confused by everything around him) and leaned in towards him.
“Look, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t make a habit of going around introducing myself with ‘Hi, I’m Merlin! By the way I’m gay!’ If someone asks me right out, then I won’t deny it, but it really isn’t that big a deal. I mean, you work in the West End for goodness sake, surely you’ve encountered more gays working here than if you’d gone on the pull round Soho!”
Arthur snorted in amusement (and if it seemed a little panicked Merlin chose to ignore it) and after staring at Merlin for a couple of seconds he nodded, grinned and slapped him playfully on the shoulder.
“Should’ve guessed really, what with your undying love for me and everything.”
Merlin quirked an eyebrow at him, picked up one of the discarded peanuts and threw it at Arthur where it connected rather beautifully right between the other man’s eyes.
****************************
For the next week after their night out Merlin noticed that maybe Arthur wasn’t as entirely comfortable with him being gay as he initially made out.
It wasn’t that he said or did anything cruel, quite the opposite in fact, his banter with Merlin had reached new heights that if one was being honest then one might think it was flirting. He’d find ways of touching Merlin, whether it was through a pat on the shoulder or a quick light grip to his arm to get his attention. He’d started to hang around with him through breaks, and helped him with his stretches when Merlin required someone just to push his leg back just a little further as he lay on the floor arching his back (and the suggestive position that put them in left Merlin more confused and flushed than he would rather be).
No, it was afterwards that made Merlin question Arthur’s comfort. It wasn’t every time, only ever after the extreme incidents (such as the stretching) where he would suddenly go still, excuse himself and head towards some of the female cast who would promptly simper at him. Sophia especially enjoyed running a possessive hand down Arthur’s arm when he neared, looking over Arthur’s shoulder at Merlin with a look that suggested he was to make himself scarce. Not that Merlin ever did, he simply stared back at her with a raised eyebrow, smirked before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Morgana or Gwen.
“Oop, looks like Arthur’s running low on masculinity again, too much gay for him today. Good job he has the local bike station to refuel at,” Morgana said and smirked herself when Gwen swatted her arm.
“Stop calling Sophia the bike station.”
“I’ll stop calling her that when she stops acting like the village bike.”
“Meow,” Merlin said, “Someones catty.”
“Ugh, old joke. I’ll let you get away with it because this is your first year, but just this once,” Morgana patted his shoulder as she spoke and Merlin chuckled.
“Arthurs silly,” Gwen said decisively, “You’d think a man who wears a lycra suit, dances and sings in the West End would be able to handle high doses of gay.”
“Maybe because he wears lycra, dances and sings that he’s all maxed out.”
“Who could get enough of Merlin? Hey gorgeous,” Lance said to Merlin as he joined them.
“Hiya honey,” he said in return and the two air-kissed each other’s cheeks. Gwen giggled and put her arm around Lance’s waist whilst Morgana just looked like she was imagining pleasant, filthy things.
“We were just saying that apparently Arthur freaked out because he exceeded his gay for the day,” Morgana said looking over to the man in question and scowling as she watched him place his hands lewdly on Sophia’s hips.
Lance, rather curiously, looked like he was seeing more there than they all were. He glanced at Arthur’s display of being the ladies man, glanced at Merlin, before looking back at Arthur with a small knowing smile.
“What?” Merlin said, stretching the word out as he glared suspiciously at his friend.
“Nothing,” Lance said pleasantly, “Don’t worry.”
Merlin continued to glare at him for a few more seconds before turning his head to look over at Arthur. Arthur happened to look over at the same time and the two locked eyes for the brief moment before a pink blush spread across Arthur’s cheeks and he looked away.
Merlin looked away too and gamely ignored the heat that spread across his own face.
******************************
Mistoffelees threw out his magic causing sparks to fly up around him, twirled and stretched impressively as Tugger strutted towards him.
“His manner is vague and aloof, and you’d think there was nobody shyer.”
They matched step for step as they stepped forwards. Mistoffelees purred as he turned for his dance and caught Tugger’s proud smirk, making his stomach clench happily.
“But his voice has been heard on the roof, when he was curled up by the fire. And he’s sometimes been heard by the fire, when he was about on the roof...”
They both danced backwards with their arms stretching from one side to the next and Mistoffelees couldn’t resist brushing his fingers over Tugger’s mane as he did so.
“At least we all heard that somebody purred which is incontestable proof!”
He knew his action had been caught when Tugger strolled behind him as he twirled and when he stopped the tom sneakily brushed his fingers across the small of his back. Mistoffelees chirped and grinned.
“And not long ago this PHENOMENAL cat,” Mistoffelees turned and walked towards Tugger, who stretched out his hand and Mistoffelees briefly placed his fingertips to his palm, “Produced seven kittens right out of a hat!”
He then turned to catch the mug he produced from thin air and threw out the rainbow he’d contained inside it. He pulled it around all the other Jellicles before handing the mug to Jemima (who, even though she was smiling, had a look in her eye that suggested she was less than happy to be near him). He smirked and moved to perform his solo dance.
*********************************
********************************
Act VI - And we all say: Oh! Well I never!
Merlin leapt and bent low into a plié as he landed, his thighs quivering with the delicious ache until he pushed his body up and moved into a fouetté. He closed his eyes as he moved until he heard a shuffle from one side of him. Knowing he’d been alone in the hall a moment ago he opened his eyes and stilled all movement until he was facing his visitor.
Arthur was sat on the floor with his back leaning against the far wall and he was watching Merlin silently. His legs were bent up so he could rest his arms against his knees and he had his hands hanging limp between them, his body unmoving in a manner that was a little unnerving to Merlin.
“Christ Arthur, you scared the living daylights out of me,” Merlin said and moved over towards a towel he’d discarded by his gym bag. He wiped at his face but when all he heard was the continuing silence he looked over at Arthur in confusion.
Who was still staring at him.
“Arthur?” Merlin said and started making his way towards the other man, Arthur’s eyes following him the entire time. When he stopped in front of him, Arthur merely dropped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes in a pained way.
“Hey,” Merlin said softly and crouched down, “You okay?”
He’d say later that his guard was down, that it was the only reason he was caught by surprise and he’d scoff at any theories that he may of wanted it. He really hadn’t expected it and some part of him still thought Arthur hadn’t either.
Arthur lunged forwards and Merlin only had time to yelp as a strong hand suddenly gripped the nape of his neck and pulled him forwards until his lips were mashed against Arthur’s. It was more painful than anything, their teeth bashing together and he could taste the faintest linger of cider on Arthur’s lips but the other man simply rectified his problem by tilting his head slightly. The teeth no longer clashed, but Merlin still remained wide-eyed as Arthur, eyes closed tightly, massaged his lips with his own. Merlin’s mind was blank, shocked into submission and it seemed to lull Arthur into a false sense of security as he brought his other hand up ready to cup Merlin’s face. It was then that Merlin’s mind came back online.
Pushing away forcefully he jumped up and away.
“Arthur, what the hell!”
Arthur seemed stunned by Merlin’s sudden rejection and stared at him dumbly. Merlin wiped at his mouth with his knuckles as he glared down at him, his blood boiling with righteous indignation.
“What the hell was that! Have you been drinking?”
Seeming to kick into gear, Arthur’s brow furrowed in anger and he stood up.
“What the hell do you think it was? I kissed you!”
“Yeah, I got that! Why the fuck did you kiss me?”
Arthur gaped for a moment, clearly utterly confused by Merlin’s reaction before shaking it off to replace it again with anger.
“Why does it matter, you’re gay!”
Merlin practically snarled at him and pushed him with all his strength, making Arthur crash against the wall hard, stunning him once again into disbelieving silence.
“Gay does NOT mean I am an experiment for you sexually repressed straight boys! How dare you!”
“How dare I? How dare you!” Arthur said pushing back upright from the wall, “What, you think you can just waltz in here being...being...”
“Being what?” Merlin hissed and Arthur growled at him.
“I slept with Sophia. I slept with her and...” Arthur clenched his hands tightly and Merlin frowned in confusion at the seemingly sudden change in conversation, “She kicked me out, she said I said...said it was disgusting that I...”
“Arthur, what the fuck? What does shagging Sophia have to do with you kissing...”
Merlin stopped.
Arthur went wide-eyed and clenched his hands even tighter.
“Oh,” Merlin whispered.
Arthur pushed past him and ran.
***************************
You.Have.One.Message. Message Received Today at 10am
‘Arthur, its Merlin. I got your number from Gwen. Call me please.’
***************************
“And he just...”
Merlin nodded, his head buried in his folded arms on his kitchen table.
“Just came up and just...”
He nodded again and heard Gwen give a little ‘Oh’.
“What am I going to do?” he asked, his voice muffled and he felt Gwen pat his shoulder comfortingly.
“Be a man, suck it up.”
He lifted his head and blinked at his friend as she grinned at him.
“See, this is why I call you a harlot.” She tutted and swatted at him so he buried his head back into his arms.
“What about you?” she asked a moment later and Merlin twitched.
“What about me what?”
“Well, how do you feel about him molesting you?”
Merlin fell silent. That was it really wasn’t it? How did he feel about it? It wasn’t so much the idea of Arthur kissing him that bothered him really, more that he was an experimental phase, but the way Arthur had painfully told him about saying Merlin’s names while shagging Sophia (at least that was the conclusion Merlin had drawn and Arthur hadn’t seen fit to correct him of it) made it much more complex than that.
Sexual crisis? Probably. But then there he was again, Merlin the Phase. Even if Arthur didn’t just want to kiss-and-see, as it were, that still left Merlin having to deal with his own problems. Arthur and he had not long ago put aside their sniping and were actually getting along, to the point that even Uther said they had great stage chemistry. Did he jeopardise his first role, his first major role for..what? A fuck?
“I’ll get back to you on that,” he said quietly.
******************************
Mistoffelees made to dodge the ball Tugger kicked at him but it still connected hard with his shoulder. He hissed angrily and swiped at the air before sliding to the floor and over towards Munkustrap.
He pushed away, arching his back slightly whenever Tugger neared him but the tom seemed to ignore him, and when all the kittens mewled around him Mistoffelees looked the other way. He caught sight of Demeter who perked up at his look, slid over and started to groom him comfortingly with gentle hands. Munkustrap joined in and soon enough he felt his mood lift slightly (even though his shoulder still throbbed).
When he saw Tugger tickle Jemima’s chin he bristled and moved over to the tom’s other side.
“The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore.”
He threw a look of loathing at the Tugger but paused for the briefest of seconds when he saw it was Arthur looking back at him, and it threw Merlin when he saw the flash of hurt in those startling blue eyes that he almost forgot to get back into character. Refusing to mess this up he pulled himself together and Mistoffelees was back.
***************************************
***************************************
Act VII - You now have learned enough to see
Merlin, wig off but make-up still on, peeled the lycra suit down to his waist and looked into the mirror. He was surprised to see he actually had a bruise forming from where Arthur kicked the ball at him, not realising it had been that hard and he prodded it with morbid curiosity. He hissed quietly when it throbbed and sighed as he reached for the make up remover wipes.
As he swiped at his face to remove the white make-up he recalled the look Arthur had given him in the show. If it’d been embarrassment or anger it wouldn’t have bothered him so much but the fact that Arthur had looked hurt meant something else entirely. It meant that Arthur’s surprise kiss was more than an experimental whim at the very least.
Groaning, he spread the wipe out fully and did one long swipe down his face slowly.
“Merlin?”
Merlin stilled. He kept his face buried in his hands and listened as Arthur’s hesitant footsteps moved a little closer.
“Merlin...I...I came to apologise about the, um...”
Slowly lowering the wipe and his hands Merlin glanced at the mirror to Arthur’s reflection. Arthur was chewing his lip nervously and was studying the floor intently before glancing up and catching Merlin’s eyes in the mirror. He flushed when he saw Merlin already looking and his eyes darted away.
“About...the football,” he finished lamely and gently pumped his fist against the doorjamb.
“...Oh..,okay, um...its fine, didn’t hurt,” Merlin said in the same tone and Arthur very briefly smiled but it disappeared again soon after.
“Liar, I saw it connect.”
Merlin snorted softly in amusement as he toyed with the wipe in his hand. He stretched it slightly then dropped it into the bin and grabbed another one to return to his task.
“It’s okay, really,” he said more honestly, “I’ll just get my revenge via peanut bombardment.”
Arthur chuckled low in his throat and this time when their eyes met in the mirror they held the look. Merlin gave him a small reassuring smile, which Arthur returned before gesturing to his face.
“You going to take that off or are you planning to go out looking like that,” Merlin said and then blushed when he realised what that sounded like. Arthur clearly thought the same as his cheeks coloured also.
“The make up I mean,” Merlin clarified, watching in fascination as Arthur’s shoulders slumped slightly.
“Oh, yeah...guess so...” Arthur turned, ready to leave, and gave Merlin a nod in farewell but for whatever reason Merlin needed to know right then what had happened the other night.
“Arthur, why did you kiss me?”
Arthur froze, his shoulders bunching up and he scowled at the floor. Merlin finally saw the embarrassment he’d expected earlier seep through Arthur’s body but he refused to let it go this time.
“Can’t we just forget about it?” Arthur said tensely and Merlin sighed as he turned around.
“Can’t you even just explain why?”
“...”
Merlin waited.
When it became clear that Arthur wasn’t going to say anything, he sighed explosively and turned back to face the mirror and scrubbed at his face harder.
“Fine, whatever. Should’ve known looking for anything deeper than the consumption of cider was foolish. Well you’ve apologised for attacking me mid-play, best be on your way.”
He gasped when suddenly strong hands turned him round roughly in a firm grip and he glared at Arthur who returned the look, his face livid and centimetres from Merlin’s own.
“Fuck you!” he spat and Merlin growled.
“Fuck you!”
“You don’t even realise what you do, do you! You come in here, all boy wonder and so sure of yourself and you just don’t give a shit about what that does! Do you? Do you!”
“Arthur, what the FUCK are you talking about?”
“I don’t want to be gay! “
They both fell silent and stared at each other in shock. Arthur opened his mouth but when nothing came out he shut it again leaving it to Merlin to say something.
“One kiss doesn’t make you gay Arthur,” he said softly and Arthur closed his eyes as though in agony shaking his head and Merlin understood finally, “...it’s not just one kiss, is it?”
Arthur shook his head again.
“How long?” Merlin said keeping the gentle tone to his voice and tried to ignore the strong grip still on his biceps that were beginning to ache. Arthur barked out a bitter laugh.
“How long have I been...or how long have I liked you?”
“Either, both.”
Arthur, his eyes still closed, leaned into Merlin until his forehead was resting against Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin carefully raised his hands and placed them gently on Arthur’s shoulders where he rubbed them in small soothing circles, ignoring, for Arthur’s sake, the way that they trembled under his fingers.
“Always, since I was little. I just...I remember thinking how silly girls were but how much fun boys were. When I was 16 I realised how much more fun they could be but I..I never...”
Merlin hushed him and pulled him in properly so he had his arms around Arthur’s shaking form. Whether it was because of the confession or whether he’d just given up fighting, Arthur moved his hands to wrap his arms around Merlin’s waist instead and held on tightly.
“Too risky right?” Merlin said and Arthur laughed a little hysterically.
“Yeah, too risky.”
“I’m sorry,” Merlin whispered and even before he’d finished Arthur was shaking his head.
“No, no don’t apologise. This is my mess, I’m sorry for dragging you into it and accusing you of, well, of...”
“Being gay?”
They both chuckled at that and Arthur pulled away enough to see Merlin’s face (but not out of Merlin’s arms). They smiled at each other gently and without really thinking about it Merlin reached up to brush the blonde fringe out of Arthur’s eyes, tucking it behind his ear where it promptly fell forwards again.
Arthur closed his eyes when Merlin reached for the hair again but there was finally a more content look to his face, or maybe it was begrudging acceptance. Either way his body was no longer thrumming with self-loathing, leaving his body trembling slightly in Merlin’s arms.
“It’ll be okay,” Merlin whispered and Arthur (glassy eyes but not actually crying) rolled his eyes but smiled none the less.
“I’ve just realised I’m not going to get away playing it straight anymore and the guy I like has rejected me but hey, it’ll be okay. Thanks Yoda.”
“Rejected?” Merlin said frowning and Arthur quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, remember, you said ‘How dare you’ and all that so I guess...”
“Arthur! That wasn’t me rejecting you like this! I thought you were another drunk straight guy just ‘wanting to see’!”
Arthur blinked at him and Merlin smiled as a dawning awareness crept into his bright blue eyes. A small smile started to cross Arthur’s face and Merlin grinned at him.
“So...no rejection then?” he asked slowly and Merlin straightened his face out into something serious as much as possible.
“Well, you haven’t actually asked me anything yet so...”
Merlin almost ended the charade when the wariness flickered across Arthur’s face but he knew the other man needed to do this, so he waited it out as Arthur nodded decisively to himself and drew a deep breath.
“Merlin, do you want to, um, would...you like to get a drink sometime?”
Beaming, Merlin placed a hand on Arthur’s face and pulled him gently towards him where he placed a chaste kiss to Arthur’s lips. He closed his eyes at the same time as Arthur and smiled a little when Arthur pressed a little closer, their lips massaging one another slowly before he pulled back so their foreheads touched.
“I’d love to...prat.”
*********************************
After Old Deuteronomy placed Mistoffelees back down, allowing all the other cats to welcome back their leader, Tugger moved forward to grip his hands in thanks. Unused to such obvious contact in front of everyone Mistoffelees paused and tilted his head at Tugger.
Tugger grinned and to encourage him into his familiar leaps he turned Mistoffelees around, gripped his hips and lifted him. Mistoffelees contorted elegantly so his back arched over Tuggers shoulder, his hands stretching down across Tugger’s back and his knee bending until his toes pointed to the ground, his entire body melting into the move.
Tugger twirled him and finally placed him back onto the floor where Mistoffelees purred and ran to take Cassandra’s hand, leading her back to the rest of the Jellicles. When he moved again, preparing for his final display of magic, he ran past Tugger who briefly touched his hip before moving to address his audience.
“I give you, the Magical!”
Mistoffelees turned and thrust a hand into the air.
“The Marvellous!”
He threw up the other.
“Mr Mistoffelees!”
He braced himself, leapt into the air and vanished in a haze of smoke and glitter.
******************************************
Epilogue - three months later
Merlin gasped brokenly as he gripped the bed-sheets tighter and threw his head back with a loud moan. He clenched his thighs against the sharp jut of Arthur’s hips and arched his back as high as he could.
“Harder!” he hissed and Arthur, panting as he rocked into Merlin’s body beneath him, gave a great huff of laughter. Bracing himself on one arm he used the other to hitch Merlin’s hips higher and pushed himself in as deep as he could go before pulling nearly all the way out so he could repeat the action.
“Yes! Yes, like that!”
“Christ Merlin,” Arthur managed to choke out, “So tight.”
Merlin groaned pleasurably and without warning Arthur he tightened his legs, gripped Arthur’s shoulders and rolled them so Arthur was on his back. Smirking down at the stunned face he then braced himself and started to ride Arthur hard. The man below him gave a yell of delighted surprise and thrust up when Merlin thrust down.
Their movements become jerky and less rhythmic as they got closer to the edge but it was Arthur who came first, his head pushing back into the pillow, his mouth open in a silent roar and his eyes clenched tightly closed as the pleasure coursed through him into Merlin. The sight of Arthur losing control was enough to push Merlin over the edge and with a great yell (and a vaguely suspicious bang in the background) he arched his back and came before flopping forwards onto Arthur’s chest.
“It’s official...you’re going to kill me prematurely...” Arthur said hoarsely after catching his breath and Merlin grunted as he rolled to one side.
“If you can say prema..prem...that word then I think you’ll be okay.”
Arthur chuckled deeply and Merlin’s body thrilled at the sound regardless of its spectacular release not moments ago. Rolling, he placed a hand on Arthur’s cheek and encouraged him forwards for a lazy kiss, one Arthur gladly returned.
“You blew up the clock again,” he muttered against Merlin’s lips and Merlin glanced over his shoulder to find he had indeed blown up his newest alarm clock. Turning back he stole another kiss and rolled them so he was spread across Arthur’s body.
“Didn’t like it anyway, wanted the Dalek one.”
“Still can’t believe you got away with all that magic on stage and no one noticed,” Arthur said placing little nibbling kisses against Merlin’s lips, pulling away, then moving back in to do it again.
“No one questions the magic of theatre. Or the magic of the Marvellous Magical Mr Mistoffelees.”
“Mmm.”
“Besides,” Merlin said as he lightly lapped his tongue across Arthur’s lips, “I’ve always got Tugger there to distract anyone suspicious with his positively...illegal...hips,” he accompanied each word with a rotation of his own and Arthur simultaneously groaned and laughed.
“Fuck, you in heat or something Emrys?”
Merlin grinned wickedly and leaned down for a kiss. He still couldn’t believe that they were here like this, and as he kissed his lover he took a moment to reflect on what had happened. It didn’t seem right that all in the same year he’d graduated from a prestigious academy, debuted into the West End via an extremely well known musical, his favourite since his childhood, met, argued and then fallen for a fellow actor who bravely came out not long after they got together.
Apparently their onstage chemistry as Mr Mistoffelees and The Rum Tum Tugger, along with them being an out couple in the business, meant that tickets had nearly doubled in sales.
Who knew gay sex could sell?
Pulling away so he could lean on his forearms with his hands in Arthur’s hair, Merlin smiled down at the relaxed man beneath him. Arthur smiled lazily up at him and ran a fingertip down Merlin’s nose making him grin, thankful for everything that had happened.
Because there never was a man so brilliant as the marvellous Arthur Pendragon.
Finite