fic: Destiny, Party of Two
Title: Destiny, Party of Two
Recipient: k_nightfox
Author: darksagegrl0
Rating: R
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin, hints of Lancelot/Gwen and Arthur/Gwen
Summary: Arthur knew banishing Gwen would change things. He just didn’t realize exactly how they would change.
Warnings/Content: OOCness that comes with the prompt, Season 4 AU, Lancelot is actually still alive and not simply a plot device used by Morgana, a bit of Gwaine being Gwaine, stupid boys in love are stupid
Word Count: ~1900
Author’s Notes: My beta needs no thanks, as I pay her in chocolate. ^-^ Here is the spoilerish prompt if you like to know everything. (highlight) * Arthur finally finds out Merlin is "the half that makes him whole". He's all for yielding to destiny, it's Merlin who's not all that sure.*
Hope you like it k_nightfox, and happy holidays!
Disclaimer: Merlin is owned by the BBC and Shine. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made. Don't send us to the dungeons.
[Destiny, Party of Two]“I don’t want to see you dead, Guinevere… But I don’t want to see you. I cannot look on you every day. You will leave Camelot at first light. You return upon pain of death… That is my decision.”
“…thur. Arthur?”
Arthur jumped back to the present to find Merlin looking at him in concern. He cleared his throat and straightened in his chair. “What is it Merlin?”
The concerned look dimmed, but didn’t really leave Merlin’s face. He pressed on anyway. “The council is about to start. They’re waiting on you, Sire.”
Arthur sighed and pushed himself to his feet. “Thank you Merlin. Er,” Arthur rubbed his forehead; he could feel a headache already coming on. “There’s no need for you to attend me today. I’m sure you don’t need to be bored to tears as well as incompetent. Go see if you can help Gaius for today.”
Merlin looked as if he were about to protest, but Arthur silenced him with a look. It was a testament to how awful Arthur must have looked that Merlin’s mouth actually stayed shut, but his manservant did step forward to nitpick at the collar of Arthur’s tunic.
As he stepped back finally, Merlin looked into Arthur’s eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but then though better of it and said instead, “I’ll see you tonight then.”
Arthur felt a small twinge in his chest at the words, innocent though they might be. Not entirely sure how to deal with such new feelings, he gave a stiff nod and headed down towards the council chambers.
--
That night after Merlin had dressed Arthur for bed and stoked the fire and said goodnight, the king laid awake and staring into the darkness of his bed canopy. His thoughts drifted over the day and the strange feelings that seemed to always happen around Merlin. It was disconcerting. He’d not felt like this since… well, since Guinevere.
Arthur heaved a great sigh and turned over to his side. There was no point going back down that line of thinking. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried let all thoughts drift away so he could finally fall to sleep.
Unfortunately it was another hour or so before sleep took him and when it did, the strangest dream came upon him. It was nothing but blurry images and muffled sounds. And all along Merlin face hovered around the edges of his vision. There was a grave voice that kept whispering his name and intoning nonsense things and cryptic messages. The ‘half that makes him whole’, what did that even mean?
By the time Merlin woke him up and the winter sun was shining through the window, Arthur’s thoughts were on other matters. And though his eyes strayed towards his manservant’s lips from time to time, he pushed away the tingly feelings that kept gathering in the pit of his stomach.
--
Arthur was about to burst into the physician’s chambers when the sound of raised voices stopped him.
“How can he possibly fulfill his destiny now, Gaius? His fiancé and his friend betrayed him. How can I trust him with my secret, knowing that it would only cause him more pain?”
“Perhaps the best thing for him is to know that he still has somebody who will remain by his side no matter what. I’m not saying that you should reveal your… gifts, but he should know he still has a friend in Camelot.”
“Yes, yes, two sides of the same coin, the half that makes him whole. I got it. Did it ever occur to anyone that I simply didn’t want to be saddled with this whole destiny business?!”
There were those words again. Arthur shook his head, memories from his dream flooding back to him. What did it all mean?
--
Arthur had a lot to think about later that night, starting with this whole same coin business. Arthur was no fool. Even he could see the significance of repetition. Merlin’s words earlier had copied his dream almost exactly and that was nothing to toss aside; it meant something. And apparently it meant that he and Merlin had a destiny together. Okay, destiny he could deal with. As crown prince he had become used to the knowledge that he would become king; accepting another fate didn’t seem like that much of a stretch.
Something Gaius had said came to mind suddenly. Something about Merlin having a gift. Now there was something to ponder; the only gift he could think of Merlin having would be the gift of the supremely clumsy. But maybe there was some hidden part of Merlin that Arthur had never seen. The thought made Arthur full of sorrow. He couldn’t stand to think that he didn’t know something about his manservant-no not just his manservant, his friend.
And that brought him to the man himself, Merlin. Merlin was an enigma. He acted afool one minute and the next he was the most amazing man in the world. There was so much Arthur thought he knew about Merlin and so, so much that he really didn’t know about the other man.
One thing he did know for sure was that Merlin had always been there, through thick and thin. Merlin, with his silly elephant ears. Merlin, who could fix the perfect bath, but mess up pretty much every hunt. Merlin, who-without Arthur even realizing it-had become an integral part of Camelot.
Heh, maybe there was something to this destiny thing after all. If it was his destiny to shack up with ridiculous, idiot Merlin, well. Destiny didn’t look half bad.
--
Arthur wasn’t going to mention it, at least not until he’d fully gotten his head around it. Really he wasn’t. But then Gwaine, with his swishy hair and roguish attitude waltzed up to Merlin in the middle of training and asked him to the tavern later that evening. Arthur’s eye twitched.
He marched right across the training field and grabbed onto Merlin’s scarf, dragging him away.
“Come on Merlin, you have some chores to do, don’t you?”
As he walked-okay, more like stalked-he ignored the other knights’ knowingly looks and especially ignored Gwaine’s self-satisfied smirk. He also ignored Merlin’s sputtering and feeble attempts to get away, but had to concede that he did look adorably like a puppy as he did so.
By the time they get up to Arthur’s chambers, Merlin’s face was set in a mulish expression and his arms were crossed. Arthur dropped Merlin’s scarf and strode to the table, pouring himself a cup of wine. As he took a fortifying gulp, Merlin cleared his throat.
“Was there a reason you dragged me through the castle just now? In front on everyone no less! I now Gwaine isn’t your most favorite person in the world, but that’s no excuse to -”
Suddenly, Arthur cut Merlin off with a hard peck on his lips. Merlin stood there stock still for a moment, until Arthur drew back. He blinked owlishly at the king and opened his mouth like a goldfish, with the most adorable confused look on his face.
“Wha-” Arthur leaned forward again, capturing Merlin’s mouth in a deep kiss, tongue entering to stoke along Merlin’s, causing Merlin to let out a moan.
Arthur placed his hand on Merlin’s skinny hips and pushed him slowly back until his knees hit the bed and they were both falling down onto it. Merlin landed back with a grunt, hands coming up to grab hold on Arthur’s shoulders. He looked up at Arthur for a moment, looking unsure. Then he blinked and the moment was gone and he was surging up to fit their mouths together. His hand were tugging and sliding everywhere, trying to get Arthur’s clothes off as well as his own.
Arthur smiled to himself, trailing his lips down Merlin’s neck to nuzzle at his collarbone. He should have known Merlin would be like this, all limbs and jittery movements. To be honest it was quite endearing.
By the time they managed to get even half naked, Merlin’s cheeks were flushed an attractive pink and both their hearts were beating wildly. Arthur drew back, despite the needy whimper from his bed partner, and sat straddled on Merlin’s thighs. He looked down at Merlin and gave a smirk.
Just as Merlin was about to open his mouth-surely to mouth off at his king-Arthur stroked a hand through the trail of hair on Merlin’s lower belly. Merlin’s eyes slid shut and he let out a breathy moan. His hips rocked upwards, hinting at where he really wanted Arthur’s hand.
Slowly, so slowly that it made Merlin’s eyes narrow, Arthur ran a hand down the front of Merlin’s breeches, cupping the bulge he felt there. Merlin bit his bottom lip.
Arthur watched his manservant as he continued to rub his hand over Merlin’s covered cock, the fabric growing wetter and wetter with every pass of his palm. He watched the little frown on Merlin’s forehead grow deeper and the bite to his lip get harder. Arthur’s own cock twitched at the sight and the feel of Merlin squirming underneath him.
“Arthur.” Merlin breathed out his name, eyes still closed. Arthur squeezed his hard length in response. Merlin keened, thrusting his hips up, trying to get more touch, more friction, more, more, more. What a greedy little thing, Arthur thought to himself. But he gave Merlin more, practically stroking him through his breeches, making Merlin moan and pant until he was suddenly spilling into his smallclothes like a rushing teen.
Arthur left his hand there, cradling Merlin’s softening cock as he reached with his other to pull out his own cock. With a few short tugs he went over the edge as well, spurting come over Merlin’s lap and belly, turning him utterly filty.
When the aftershocks faded, he looked down to find Merlin staring up at him, want and longing and a little bit of awe swimming in his eyes. Arthur smiled softly and leaned down to place a chaste kiss on Merlin’s ravaged lips. Then he shifted to the side, turning them around so Merlin was resting on top of him instead.
Words didn’t really need to be spoken after that. After knowing each other for so long, things that went unspoken were instinctively understood. Though, now that it came to mind, there was one thing Arthur wanted to address.
“Soooo,” Arthur dragged the word out teasingly. “I’m the other side of your coin am I? Your ultimate destiny?”
Merlin’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He shoved half-heartedly at Arthur’s bare shoulder. “Shut up, you prat. It wasn’t by choice. I could have chosen a different destiny. Hell, I could’ve followed Gwaine when he was banished; we would’ve had some interesting adv-”
Arthur silenced Merlin again with his lips-as it was becoming his favorite way to shut Merlin up. If he had to hear about Gwaine and his swishy hair one more time… Underneath his mouth, Arthur could feel Merlin’s lips turn upward into a smile. He resolved right then and there to kiss the grin right off the cheeky bugger’s face every time he saw it. And so he did.
Recipient: k_nightfox
Author: darksagegrl0
Rating: R
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin, hints of Lancelot/Gwen and Arthur/Gwen
Summary: Arthur knew banishing Gwen would change things. He just didn’t realize exactly how they would change.
Warnings/Content: OOCness that comes with the prompt, Season 4 AU, Lancelot is actually still alive and not simply a plot device used by Morgana, a bit of Gwaine being Gwaine, stupid boys in love are stupid
Word Count: ~1900
Author’s Notes: My beta needs no thanks, as I pay her in chocolate. ^-^ Here is the spoilerish prompt if you like to know everything. (highlight) * Arthur finally finds out Merlin is "the half that makes him whole". He's all for yielding to destiny, it's Merlin who's not all that sure.*
Hope you like it k_nightfox, and happy holidays!
Disclaimer: Merlin is owned by the BBC and Shine. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made. Don't send us to the dungeons.
[Destiny, Party of Two]“I don’t want to see you dead, Guinevere… But I don’t want to see you. I cannot look on you every day. You will leave Camelot at first light. You return upon pain of death… That is my decision.”
“…thur. Arthur?”
Arthur jumped back to the present to find Merlin looking at him in concern. He cleared his throat and straightened in his chair. “What is it Merlin?”
The concerned look dimmed, but didn’t really leave Merlin’s face. He pressed on anyway. “The council is about to start. They’re waiting on you, Sire.”
Arthur sighed and pushed himself to his feet. “Thank you Merlin. Er,” Arthur rubbed his forehead; he could feel a headache already coming on. “There’s no need for you to attend me today. I’m sure you don’t need to be bored to tears as well as incompetent. Go see if you can help Gaius for today.”
Merlin looked as if he were about to protest, but Arthur silenced him with a look. It was a testament to how awful Arthur must have looked that Merlin’s mouth actually stayed shut, but his manservant did step forward to nitpick at the collar of Arthur’s tunic.
As he stepped back finally, Merlin looked into Arthur’s eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but then though better of it and said instead, “I’ll see you tonight then.”
Arthur felt a small twinge in his chest at the words, innocent though they might be. Not entirely sure how to deal with such new feelings, he gave a stiff nod and headed down towards the council chambers.
--
That night after Merlin had dressed Arthur for bed and stoked the fire and said goodnight, the king laid awake and staring into the darkness of his bed canopy. His thoughts drifted over the day and the strange feelings that seemed to always happen around Merlin. It was disconcerting. He’d not felt like this since… well, since Guinevere.
Arthur heaved a great sigh and turned over to his side. There was no point going back down that line of thinking. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried let all thoughts drift away so he could finally fall to sleep.
Unfortunately it was another hour or so before sleep took him and when it did, the strangest dream came upon him. It was nothing but blurry images and muffled sounds. And all along Merlin face hovered around the edges of his vision. There was a grave voice that kept whispering his name and intoning nonsense things and cryptic messages. The ‘half that makes him whole’, what did that even mean?
By the time Merlin woke him up and the winter sun was shining through the window, Arthur’s thoughts were on other matters. And though his eyes strayed towards his manservant’s lips from time to time, he pushed away the tingly feelings that kept gathering in the pit of his stomach.
--
Arthur was about to burst into the physician’s chambers when the sound of raised voices stopped him.
“How can he possibly fulfill his destiny now, Gaius? His fiancé and his friend betrayed him. How can I trust him with my secret, knowing that it would only cause him more pain?”
“Perhaps the best thing for him is to know that he still has somebody who will remain by his side no matter what. I’m not saying that you should reveal your… gifts, but he should know he still has a friend in Camelot.”
“Yes, yes, two sides of the same coin, the half that makes him whole. I got it. Did it ever occur to anyone that I simply didn’t want to be saddled with this whole destiny business?!”
There were those words again. Arthur shook his head, memories from his dream flooding back to him. What did it all mean?
--
Arthur had a lot to think about later that night, starting with this whole same coin business. Arthur was no fool. Even he could see the significance of repetition. Merlin’s words earlier had copied his dream almost exactly and that was nothing to toss aside; it meant something. And apparently it meant that he and Merlin had a destiny together. Okay, destiny he could deal with. As crown prince he had become used to the knowledge that he would become king; accepting another fate didn’t seem like that much of a stretch.
Something Gaius had said came to mind suddenly. Something about Merlin having a gift. Now there was something to ponder; the only gift he could think of Merlin having would be the gift of the supremely clumsy. But maybe there was some hidden part of Merlin that Arthur had never seen. The thought made Arthur full of sorrow. He couldn’t stand to think that he didn’t know something about his manservant-no not just his manservant, his friend.
And that brought him to the man himself, Merlin. Merlin was an enigma. He acted afool one minute and the next he was the most amazing man in the world. There was so much Arthur thought he knew about Merlin and so, so much that he really didn’t know about the other man.
One thing he did know for sure was that Merlin had always been there, through thick and thin. Merlin, with his silly elephant ears. Merlin, who could fix the perfect bath, but mess up pretty much every hunt. Merlin, who-without Arthur even realizing it-had become an integral part of Camelot.
Heh, maybe there was something to this destiny thing after all. If it was his destiny to shack up with ridiculous, idiot Merlin, well. Destiny didn’t look half bad.
--
Arthur wasn’t going to mention it, at least not until he’d fully gotten his head around it. Really he wasn’t. But then Gwaine, with his swishy hair and roguish attitude waltzed up to Merlin in the middle of training and asked him to the tavern later that evening. Arthur’s eye twitched.
He marched right across the training field and grabbed onto Merlin’s scarf, dragging him away.
“Come on Merlin, you have some chores to do, don’t you?”
As he walked-okay, more like stalked-he ignored the other knights’ knowingly looks and especially ignored Gwaine’s self-satisfied smirk. He also ignored Merlin’s sputtering and feeble attempts to get away, but had to concede that he did look adorably like a puppy as he did so.
By the time they get up to Arthur’s chambers, Merlin’s face was set in a mulish expression and his arms were crossed. Arthur dropped Merlin’s scarf and strode to the table, pouring himself a cup of wine. As he took a fortifying gulp, Merlin cleared his throat.
“Was there a reason you dragged me through the castle just now? In front on everyone no less! I now Gwaine isn’t your most favorite person in the world, but that’s no excuse to -”
Suddenly, Arthur cut Merlin off with a hard peck on his lips. Merlin stood there stock still for a moment, until Arthur drew back. He blinked owlishly at the king and opened his mouth like a goldfish, with the most adorable confused look on his face.
“Wha-” Arthur leaned forward again, capturing Merlin’s mouth in a deep kiss, tongue entering to stoke along Merlin’s, causing Merlin to let out a moan.
Arthur placed his hand on Merlin’s skinny hips and pushed him slowly back until his knees hit the bed and they were both falling down onto it. Merlin landed back with a grunt, hands coming up to grab hold on Arthur’s shoulders. He looked up at Arthur for a moment, looking unsure. Then he blinked and the moment was gone and he was surging up to fit their mouths together. His hand were tugging and sliding everywhere, trying to get Arthur’s clothes off as well as his own.
Arthur smiled to himself, trailing his lips down Merlin’s neck to nuzzle at his collarbone. He should have known Merlin would be like this, all limbs and jittery movements. To be honest it was quite endearing.
By the time they managed to get even half naked, Merlin’s cheeks were flushed an attractive pink and both their hearts were beating wildly. Arthur drew back, despite the needy whimper from his bed partner, and sat straddled on Merlin’s thighs. He looked down at Merlin and gave a smirk.
Just as Merlin was about to open his mouth-surely to mouth off at his king-Arthur stroked a hand through the trail of hair on Merlin’s lower belly. Merlin’s eyes slid shut and he let out a breathy moan. His hips rocked upwards, hinting at where he really wanted Arthur’s hand.
Slowly, so slowly that it made Merlin’s eyes narrow, Arthur ran a hand down the front of Merlin’s breeches, cupping the bulge he felt there. Merlin bit his bottom lip.
Arthur watched his manservant as he continued to rub his hand over Merlin’s covered cock, the fabric growing wetter and wetter with every pass of his palm. He watched the little frown on Merlin’s forehead grow deeper and the bite to his lip get harder. Arthur’s own cock twitched at the sight and the feel of Merlin squirming underneath him.
“Arthur.” Merlin breathed out his name, eyes still closed. Arthur squeezed his hard length in response. Merlin keened, thrusting his hips up, trying to get more touch, more friction, more, more, more. What a greedy little thing, Arthur thought to himself. But he gave Merlin more, practically stroking him through his breeches, making Merlin moan and pant until he was suddenly spilling into his smallclothes like a rushing teen.
Arthur left his hand there, cradling Merlin’s softening cock as he reached with his other to pull out his own cock. With a few short tugs he went over the edge as well, spurting come over Merlin’s lap and belly, turning him utterly filty.
When the aftershocks faded, he looked down to find Merlin staring up at him, want and longing and a little bit of awe swimming in his eyes. Arthur smiled softly and leaned down to place a chaste kiss on Merlin’s ravaged lips. Then he shifted to the side, turning them around so Merlin was resting on top of him instead.
Words didn’t really need to be spoken after that. After knowing each other for so long, things that went unspoken were instinctively understood. Though, now that it came to mind, there was one thing Arthur wanted to address.
“Soooo,” Arthur dragged the word out teasingly. “I’m the other side of your coin am I? Your ultimate destiny?”
Merlin’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He shoved half-heartedly at Arthur’s bare shoulder. “Shut up, you prat. It wasn’t by choice. I could have chosen a different destiny. Hell, I could’ve followed Gwaine when he was banished; we would’ve had some interesting adv-”
Arthur silenced Merlin again with his lips-as it was becoming his favorite way to shut Merlin up. If he had to hear about Gwaine and his swishy hair one more time… Underneath his mouth, Arthur could feel Merlin’s lips turn upward into a smile. He resolved right then and there to kiss the grin right off the cheeky bugger’s face every time he saw it. And so he did.