Author:
emrys_mkTitle: Gwaine and Merlin's Pre-Date Primping
Rating: R
Characters/pairings: Merlin, Gwaine, Merlin/Arthur, Gwaine/?
Summary: Gwaine helps Merlin get ready for his date with Arthur
Words: 1030
Warnings: fluffiness, bedroom activities of the adult nature, language
Prompt 249: Blind Date
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
“So what are you doing tonight, Merls?” Gwaine asked as he looked at himself in the mirror for what must have been the tenth time in the last minute. “Morgana tells me you and Arthur are going to a party at Vivian’s, but with the way Arthur and Vivian get on I find that a bit hard to believe.” Gwaine picked up the hair gel and dabbed a bit behind his left ear, then he turned and looked at Merlin, who was hopeless when it came to grooming himself. “Turn around and let daddy Gwaine have a go.”
Merlin glared in the mirror but did as asked and sighed when Gwaine picked up the straightener, thinking back to his and Arthur’s morning lovemaking session. Merlin had been resting on his stomach, recovering, when he’d felt Arthur peppering his neck with kisses and running his fingers through his hair. He had then leant down and whispered in Merlin’s ear. “I think your hair is what I first noticed about you. I remember thinking that I wanted to run my fingers through every single curl. “Don’t use the straightener,” he said as he opened his eyes. “These locks are staying,” and he couldn’t help the grin.
“Aw, my wittle Merlin must be in luurrrve if he’s asking me to forego the straightener. I thought you were sick of the curls and thought they made you look too young. I am guessing a certain blond has changed your mind on the matter?”
“Maybe,” Merlin said coquettishly as Gwaine fluffed his hair and added a touch of gel here and there. “I was thinking about getting it cut a bit shorter, but now I’m thinking of letting it grow out some. What do you think?” he asked, looking at Gwaine in the mirror.
“I think Arthur is a very lucky bloke, and if he ever hurts you I will tear him to shreds. And you can tell him I said that,” Gwaine added, his face as serious as it had ever been, but then he let a smile through. “You lucky sod. Vivian sets you up on one blind date and you meet Mr Bloody Gorgeous. And she sets me up the same night and my date ends up being a nightmare.”
“Yeah, well, it takes a special person to put up with your vanity, Gwaine. Who knew that Cenred would be your equal in that department? I still think you should give him another chance. It would be entertaining to see the two of you trying to outdo the other at our annual Christmas dinner up at your cabin.”
Gwaine glared. “Not likely. I share many things, but as you well know, I never did well with someone who was prettier me. I thought I needed to be the pretty one,” and the smile was gone, but Gwaine looked thoughtful.
Merlin sighed and wondered what Gwaine was thinking. He was as pretty as they came, and he knew it, but he had always had problems with other men who were handsome, thinking they were better than him. It made no sense to Merlin, but as Gwaine’s best friend and former lover, he tried to understand and support him.
“So back to this party, Merls, what’s the real story?” Gwaine asked as he retrieved Merlin’s tie from the counter and examined it before nodding and handing it to Merlin. Once Merlin had it beneath his collar and ready to tie, Gwaine took over.
“You don’t know the whole story behind Vivian and Arthur. For that matter, neither do I, but apparently, Arthur and Vivian were pledged to each other at birth. You know how rich families do shit like that. So now that Arthur is with me and it is kind of because of Vivian, she wants to put the past behind her. I don’t know, maybe it is a bit weird, but we’re going and we’ll see what happens. We do owe her since she set us up in the first place, yeah? So where are you off to? I know you’re not primping to sit in front of the telly,” although Merlin wouldn’t put that past his friend.
“I’d rather not say in case it doesn’t work out, but I promise that you’ll be the first to know if it does,” Gwaine said as he finished straightening Merlin’s tie. “There. Now you look positively dashing, and I can almost assure you that all my hard work will go to shit before the night is out. Your hair will be all askew and your clothes will be rumpled on the floor somewhere.”
“Gwaaaine,” Merlin said with a put upon sigh as he turned around to face him. “You are insufferable, you know that, right?”
“I do, and I also know that you love me for it,” Gwaine said cheekily as he pecked Merlin on the cheek. “Now get going before that man of yours thinks that you’ve run away with me.”
Twenty minutes later Merlin and Arthur walked into Vivian’s, hand in hand, and Merlin couldn’t keep the huge grin off his face as he looked at Gwaine and Vivian standing across from them, also hand in hand. “So this was where you were off to? Why didn’t you tell me?” Merlin asked Gwaine, but he was also looking at Vivian, not quite believing what he was seeing.
“I didn’t want to spoil the surprise,” Gwaine said as he looked at Vivian. “Vivian and I have been seeing each other for the past two weeks. After she set me up with Cenred and that went pear-shaped we commiserated over a cuppa and, well, one thing led to another and here we are.”
“Yes, here we are,” Merlin said, still a bit shocked, but extremely happy for someone whom he thought the world of. Then he looked at Arthur beside him and thought how funny the world was. A month earlier he had never known Arthur, and Gwaine had never known Vivian. The world could have continued the same, yet it hadn’t and now four people had found love all because of a blind date gone good and a blind date gone wrong.