Intervention
Author:tygermine
Title: Intervention
Rating: NC-17 (apparently)
Pairing/s: Merlin/Arthur
Character/s: Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, Lancelot, Morgana
Summary: Merlin has a secret
Warnings: none, as far as I can tell
Word Count: not sure
Prompt: Tattoos
Author's Notes: I’m kind of addicted to tattoos, but keeping them a secret is hard work.
There was something odd about Merlin. Something different. And Arthur was determined to figure out what exactly it was.
For one, Merlin took to wearing long sleeve shirts in the middle of July. And no matter how red his face turned, Merlin would refuse to change into a t-shirt.
Also, Merlin had taken to disappearing for hours at a time and when asked where he was, would shuffle his feet, dark his eyes anywhere but Arthurs face and mumble something about being busy.
“What if he’s cheating on me?” Arthur sulked, poking at his chicken korma listlessly.
“Cheating? It sounds more like drugs,” Morgana broke off a piece of Naan bread and dipped it in his curry.
“Drugs? Why on earth do you think that?”
Morgana rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I have to wonder if you’re consciously this obtuse. You said he keeps wearing long sleeves, doesn’t tell you where he’s been…”
“And we haven’t shagged in weeks,” he admitted softly.
“Of course - drugs kill the libido. This is serious. We need to have an intervention.”
Arthur pushed his korma away, appetite lost. “How do we do that?”
“Leave it to me.”
**
A few days later, Merlin snuck into the flat. It was close to midnight, but he knew Arthur would be sleeping and didn’t want to wake him up.
What he didn’t expect was to find all his friends gathered in the living room looking morose.
“Uh, hi?” Merlin said, setting his keys on the counter quietly and edging forward. “Is everything ok?”
Gwen sniffled and got up to pull him into a hug. Merlin couldn’t help the hiss that escaped at the contact. She quickly pulled away, her eyes wet, and took her seat again.
Everyone was quiet.
“Seriously, what is going on?” he was getting worried something had happened to his mum, or Arthur’s dad. But what was with the sad puppy eyes everyone was giving him?
Morgana stepped forward. “Merlin, we’re here tonight because we love you and we want you to know that we are worried about you.”
“About me?”
Morgana pushed Arthur forward awkwardly. He cleared his throat a few times and clutched a piece of paper in his hands.
“Dear Merlin,” he began to read. “You are the love of my life and I cannot stand by while you destroy your life with this habit you’ve developed-“
“Wait,” Merlin interrupted. “Is this an intervention?”
Gwen nodded miserably.
“But, I’m not on drugs.”
“Admitting you have a problem is the first step,” Lance added helpfully.
“I’m really not on any drugs,” Merlin insisted.
“But…Morgana…the long sleeves…the late nights…the…you know…lack of…” Arthur stuttered out.
Merlin laughed. “Oh my god. You guys are nuts, you know that?”
“No barbs Merlin, only feeling words.” Morgana said.
“Ok, I feel that you are all crazy. I feel that you need a reality check,” he crossed his arms.
“Then explain your behaviour,” Morgana replied.
With a sigh, Merlin pulled off his shirt. Everyone gasped.
A large dragon twined around a celtic rune ran along his right pectoral over his shoulder and along his arm. It was half coloured in, the rest a stark outline on his pale skin.
“You numpties,” he said. “It was supposed to be a surprise for our wedding.”
Arthur gaped at the sight. “You mean…you’re not on drugs?”
“No,” Merlin laughed. “I’m on ink.”
Arthur turned to Morgana. “Get out. All of you, out.”
“But Arthur -“
“We need-“
“This is-“
“OUT!” he shouted, shoving his friends towards the door. As soon as it closed behind Lance, Arthur went up to Merlin and began inspecting the tattoo closely. It was beautiful.
“You’re doing this for me?” he whispered.
Merlin nodded. “I just felt that a ring was rather redundant.”
Arthur pulled him in for a kiss. “You are amazing.”
“Ow,” Merlin winced as Arthur’s arms folded around him. “It’s still very sensitive.”
Arthur nodded and fell to his knees, undoing Merlin’s belt and pulling his pants to his ankles.
“Bet this still works, doesn’t it?” he mouthed against Merlin’s cock, which quickly proved him right.
He swallowed Merlin as far as he could go and proceeded to suck is brains out through his penis.
If this was his reward for getting some ink, Merlin had another arm free and was already planning a new design. Well, once his brain started working again.