Title: Second Kiss, First Time
Author:
hilsRating: PG
Fandom: Merlin RPS
Pairing: Colin/Bradley
Words: 2391
Summary: It wasn’t that their first kiss had been bad.
Written for the
bradleycolin RPS Challenge #1. Thanks to
yavannauk for the beta
It wasn’t that their first kiss had been bad. Bradley had found it quite nice in fact and Colin… Well, that was the problem. Colin apparently didn’t remember the kiss ever occurring, which was disappointing, but no great surprise considering how hammered he’d been.
“Your lips are so red,” Colin had slurred while they were slouched on Bradley’s couch after a trip to the pub. He’d brushed his thumb over Bradley’s lower lip and somehow managed to almost shove his finger up Bradley’s nose at the same time. “S’pretty.”
Bradley had tried to make a joke of it, promising to tell everyone about this conversation in the morning now that Colin had admitted that Bradley was prettier than him.
Colin had just shrugged and kissed him, giving Bradley the rather unpleasant taste of tequila on Colin’s breath. It hadn’t mattered though, because he’d been waiting for months for this moment and he was going to enjoy it, even if it was a little messy.
When Colin had pulled back he’d flashed Bradley a lazy smile, rested his head on Bradley’s shoulder and started to snore. It hadn’t exactly been the romantic conclusion he’d expected and there had been nothing to do but settle Colin on the sofa and leave him to sleep it off.
That brought him to now, with Colin still lying on the sofa and moaning that he was dying.
“You’re not dying,” Bradley huffed as he shoved a cup of tea at him.
“You don’t know that,” Colin whined in a rusty voice. “You’re not a doctor.”
“No,” Bradley agreed. “But I watch a lot of Holby City. I don’t remember anyone ever dying from three Coronas and two tequila slammers.”
“Is that all I drank?” Colin groaned as he sipped his tea. “God, I am such a lightweight. Please tell me I didn’t make a total arse out of myself.”
“No more than usual,” Bradley grinned even as his heart clenched in his chest.
“Good,” Colin nodded and sipped his tea quietly while Bradley considered having a wank in the shower.
* * *
“So, did you boys have fun last night?” Katie asked as she plonked herself down in the seat opposite Colin and Bradley in the catering hut.
Colin shrugged and let out a low moan when the movement apparently aggravated his headache.
“That good, eh?” Katie laughed.
Colin groaned. “I’m never drinking again.”
“You always say that,” Bradley snorted. “You never last more than about a day.”
“Yeah, well, I mean it this time.”
“That’s a shame,” Katie said with a sly smile. “Because I was going to invite you to a party tomorrow night. I’ve invited everyone.”
“You haven’t invited me,” Bradley pointed out.
“Yeah,” Katie replied. “Strange, isn’t it?”
Bradley pouted, which earned him a muffled snort from Colin and a look of disgust from Katie.
“Fine, you’re both invited,” she finally conceded.
Colin sighed. “I’ll come if I’m still alive tomorrow.”
“Mate, none of us are going to let you die,” Bradley assured him with a friendly jab in the ribs. “We’ll all be out of a job if we do.”
* * *
Katie’s parties were not like normal parties, or not the sorts of parties Bradley was used to anyway. There was no loud music, no drunken singing and nobody puking in the toilet. It was all very…mature and Bradley was scared.
“This is the sort of party Giles would go to,” he whispered to Colin, casting an eye over to Anthony who was chuckling at some joke Richard had just told him.
“I told you, I’ve never seen Buffy,” Colin replied. “I’m not a geek like you so I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“We really need to work on your education, Morgan,” Bradley sighed. “I can’t believe you’ve got to this age and never seen Buffy before.”
Colin shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “Somehow I’ve managed to survive.”
“Which is a small miracle after all your moaning and groaning yesterday,” Bradley smirked before gesturing at Colin’s glass. “Are we going to have a repeat performance tomorrow morning?”
“God, I hope not,” Colin groaned and Bradley’s chest clenched with disappointment again as he forced a smile.
“Good. You’re no fun when you’re all pathetic like that.”
“Yeah,” Colin said with a smile, “but I bet you enjoyed it the night before.”
Bradley’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he struggled to come up with an answer to that. He wasn’t embarrassed about what had happened, but he was already well aware that he shouldn’t have kissed Colin back when he was clearly so drunk that he didn’t know what he was doing.
“How do you know?” he finally managed to croak. “You can’t remember anything that happened.”
Colin shrugged. “I know you. I bet you had a right laugh at me making an idiot out of myself. I’m amazed there aren’t pictures.”
Bradley slapped his leg in mock disappointment as relief flooded through him. “Bugger. I’ll have to remember that for next time.”
“Hopefully there won’t be a next time.”
“Oh, there will be,” Bradley replied with a grin. “There’s always a next time with you.”
Although the words were spoken in jest, he really hoped there was some truth to them. He was probably going to go mad if he never got to kiss Colin again.
“Are you having fun?” Katie asked, appearing suddenly and flopping down between the two of them. She eyed Colin warily. “You’re not going to throw up are you?”
Colin sighed and shook his head. “Not if I can help it.”
“Good,” Katie smiled brightly. “That means I won’t have to kill you.”
And with that she was gone again.
“I can never work out whether I should be scared of her or not,” Colin mused as they watched her chatting to Angel.
“Oh, be scared,” Bradley replied seriously. “Be very scared.”
* * *
“Well, don’t you two make the cute couple?”
Bradley scowled at Katie who was looking down at them with an amused smile. Sometime during the evening the alcohol had taken its toll on Colin as it always did. Instead of the pleasurable kissing that had come with it last time, this time Colin had just fallen asleep with his head pillowed on Bradley’s shoulder.
“I hope you’re going to take him home,” Katie continued. “He can’t sleep on my sofa.”
“Oh, but mine is ok, is it?” Bradley asked with mild annoyance. He’d been enjoying the warm comfort of having Colin cuddled up against him until now.
“My sofa is suede!” Katie retorted. “He’ll…crease it or something.”
Great, now he was losing an argument to upholstery.
“Fine,” he sighed. “Can you call us a taxi while I wake him up?”
As Katie disappeared Bradley took a moment to look at Colin. His lips were slightly parted and it just made Bradley think of their first kiss again. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the thoughts aroused him, but the movement elicited a small moan from Colin that did nothing to help the situation.
“Colin,” Bradley croaked around the lump in his throat. “You need to wake up now.”
When Colin showed no signs of waking Bradley decided he’d had enough and he jostled his shoulder. Colin simply murmured and snuggled closer. Now Bradley was imagining what it would be like to wake up in the morning, naked, with Colin curled up against him like this.
It was too much. He leapt out of his seat, which caused Colin to slump over to one side. His eyes opened and he shot Bradley a confused frown.
Damn, now he felt guilty. Colin was practically pouting at him and whilst Bradley claimed to anyone who would listen that he was immune to the pouts of Colin Morgan, it was in fact a total lie.
His face softened and he extended his hand. “Come on, mate. Time to go home.”
Colin blinked sleepily at him and took Bradley’s hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. Unfortunately, for the second time in as many days gravity was not on Colin’s side and he fell forward into Bradley’s arms.
“Bloody hell, Morgan,” Bradley grumbled gently as he set Colin back on his feet, only holding onto him a few seconds more than was really necessary. “You’re pissed again. What happened to ‘I’m never drinking again’?”
“I’m not,” Colin murmured.
“Yeah, I can tell. Come on, Katie called a taxi for us. You can sleep at mine.”
They passed Katie in the hallway, who seemed relieved that Colin was on his feet with only minimal help from Bradley. She said her goodbyes and then all but shoved them out the front door.
The taxi ride was made in silence. Colin seemed on the verge of falling asleep and all Bradley could think about was the way Colin was leaning against him.
He almost didn’t want the journey to end.
* * *
Bradley kept an arm around Colin’s waist when they got out of the taxi, but he told himself it was only because he didn’t want to get the blame if Colin fell down and damaged himself somehow. He guided him inside and deposited him gently on the sofa before going to get a glass of water and pressing it into Colin’s hands.
“You okay sleeping on the sofa?” he called over his shoulder as he went off in search of blankets.
Colin was staring at him when he got back, eyes wide and blue. He really was beautiful, and that was not a word you could use to describe a lot of men. It was just right for Colin though, with his blue eyes, high cheekbones and mass of dark hair. It was no wonder Bradley couldn’t stop thinking about kissing him, and now he was thinking about it again.
“No,” Colin said softly, startling Bradley out of his thoughts and causing him to blush. Had Colin been reading his mind?
“No, what?” Bradley asked.
“No, I’m not okay sleeping on the sofa,” Colin replied.
His eyes were clear now, and he seemed a lot more alert than he had when they’d stepped out of the taxi.
“Well, tough,” Bradley replied, suddenly feeling awkward and even a little nervous. Colin was still staring at him and he had no idea what the hell was going on. “I don’t have a spare room and I’m not letting you wander around London while you’re pissed. You’ll probably fall down a manhole or walk in front of a bus or something.”
“Actually,” Colin said as he unfolded himself from the sofa and came to stand in front of Bradley. “I was thinking about your room.”
There was a smile on Colin’s lips now and a twinkle in his eyes, which did nothing to make Bradley feel any less nervous.
“Not bloody likely,” he snorted. “I’m not sleeping on the sofa just because you have an alcohol tolerance level that’s in minus figures.”
Colin took a step closer and it was all Bradley could do not to take a matching step backwards. He froze when Colin brushed a hand up his arm.
“Actually, I was thinking about both of us in your room. Together.”
Wait. What? Suddenly it was like Bradley was the one who was drunk, because he was really struggling to keep up with what was happening. Was Colin really saying what Bradley thought he was saying?
He got his answer when Colin kissed him. Again.
It was so much better than the first one. The first kiss had been slow and gentle. This one set off a fiery explosion in Bradley’s gut as Colin’s tongue plundered and explored his mouth. It was a deep kiss, hard and strong but with an underlying sweetness that he could taste on Colin’s breath.
“What have you been drinking?” he asked when they finally parted. “Rum and coke?”
“Actually, it was just the coke,” Colin replied with a sly grin.
It took a moment for Bradley’s mind to catch up with what Colin was saying. His brain was still very much focussed on their amazing second kiss.
“You said you were drunk,” he finally frowned, positive he’d got lost somewhere along the way in this conversation.
“No, you said I was drunk,” Colin replied. “I just didn’t correct you.”
Bradley blinked at him. “Ok…and why didn’t you correct me?”
Colin shrugged. “I dunno. I thought it would be funny.”
That he could believe. Colin had always had a weird sense of humour, but now Bradley could feel a cold rage and shame flooding through him as he realised that this whole thing had just been a game to Colin.
“Fuck you,” he snapped. “If you think kissing me is a joke you can just piss off right now. What about last night? Was that a joke too? Were you just pretending to be drunk when you kissed me then as well?”
He watched as a myriad of emotions made their way across Colin’s face: shock, confusion, realisation, embarrassment and finally acceptance.
“Ok,” Colin said softly. “First of all, when I kissed you tonight it wasn’t a joke. I hadn’t even planned it until we got back here. I wouldn’t mess you around like that. Second, I had no idea I kissed you the other night. I really was drunk, I promise. I’m sure it was probably crap, so I’m sorry about that.”
A small smile curled on Bradley’s lips. Colin was so sincere it was impossible for him not to believe what he was being told. “It wasn’t actually that bad.”
Colin grinned. “Yeah, I should have known. Even when I’m trollied I’m a good kisser.”
“We really need to do something about your ego, Morgan,” Bradley replied with a returned grin. “I can’t believe everyone thinks you’re all sweet and innocent.”
Colin shrugged. “I’m not vain. I just know what my skills are. Now why don’t we finish this conversation in the bedroom so I can show you my full range.”
Bradley found himself dragged towards his room before he even had time to say anything. Suddenly it didn’t matter that Colin couldn’t remember their first kiss, because their second one was about to lead to something much more memorable.
The End.