Kink Me! #35
Kink Me! #35
[Flat Kink Me! #35 is flat!]
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Welcome to Kink Me! Merlin #35! :D
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"My god! It really is you! I wasn't sure. Five year, Arthur!"
"I know. It just got away from me. Um, you said 'we'?"
"What?"
"On the phone."
"Oh! Yeah. This... where is he? Merlin!"
Arthur starts and looks around, and sure enough there's Merlin. All ears and eyes and grin and elbows, his window cleaner, edging through the crowd with two pints and leaning into Gwaine's body. disappointment curdles in Arthur's stomach with the two beers he's drunk.
"This is Merlin, my flat mate."
"Oh, hello Arthur. Where'd you vanish to earlier?"
"You know each other? How on earth do you know Prince Arthur, Merlin?"
"Prince?"
"That's what we used to call him."
"I thought you said your friend was Penster the-"
"Yes! Well, anyway! No need to say that here, eh?"
Arthur cuts across Merlin. No need for the whole world to know he was called Penster the Penis by his rugby mates for reasons that need not be gone into. Gwaine of course finds that hilarious and barks with laughter again. It's surprisingly good to see him and to hear him laugh and Arthur wonders why he waited five years. He turns away to pick up his pint, pushing that aside and leading the way out to the beer garden.
"So what have you been so busy with these five years, Pen?"
"this and that, nothing very exciting."
Gwaine snorts, but leaves it. It's not like he doesn't know, if he ever picks up a paper at least. Arthur's not the youngest rich boy around but he's young enough, pretty enough and important enough to be in and out of the press. Mostly, he's glad to say, for business related things and not for boozing and cruising.
"What about you, Gwaine? didn't you have big plans to become one of the worlds bums?"
"I did. I was. I taught English the length and bredth of the globe and met Merlin on my travels. He came back and cleaned windows while I set up a really important and very nice business here in London to help other people set up important and nice business around the world. It's all going dandilly, thanks to Lance Duluc, lawyer extraordinaire."
Duluc.
"Oh, you run the Duluc Line?"
"Yes indeedy. Or it mostly runs itself so I bum about here and there."
"Don't let him fool you. He works very hard."
Arthur smiles at Merlin, oddly enchanted by his ears. He gets distracted and zones out, imagining dragging Merlin along with Morgana and this mysterious girl friend. Imagines late nights in hotels, sleeping on trains, camping in fields, trekking in Greece.
"Mate, we've lost him. Arthur, wakey wakey! Still day dreaming I see."
Arthur comes back to the present and grimaces apologetically, taking a sip of his pint to hide his blush.
"Leave him alone, Gwaine. I was just saying how cleaning windows is a very satisfying job, but it's just to make money. I'm a climber by profession."
Arthur nods. It makes sense, he remembers the calluses now. And the harness and the swinging.
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"Not too professionally though, you still hit poor unsuspecting windows."
"Oh! So that's how you know each other!"
"It's Merlin's fault I just quit my job and am now unemployed."
Merlin looks horrified, which is really quite funny. Arthur and Gwaine laugh for a bit.
"Sorry Merlin, no, it wasn't you. It's been a long time coming. But, if feeling guilty about it makes you more likely to say yes to a drink..."
Merlin glares.
"Prat. And no it does not. But I will come for a drink."
"What about a global road trip with my bipolar sister and her new girlfriend?"
Arthur really does wonder who has taken over his mouth today. He doesn't ask people out. He doesn't do things spontaneously. He doesn't do things like this! Maybe he's drunk. He drains his pint.
"Another round? On me. I'm really rather rich. It comes from being anti social."
"It comes from being an over paid wanker. Yes please, another pint."
Arthur goes back to the bar, elbowing his way through. He orders the pints and takes them out, then goes back inside and finds the bathroom and throws up. He really doesn't do things like this.
And he's barely drunk anything in five years.
Gwaine finds him sitting in the cubicle, leaning against the wall. He flushes the loo and sits beside him, closing the door.
"So, you quit. How're you doing?"
"A bit buzzed. It hasn't hit me. Maybe I really do have heat stroke. That was my father's explanation."
"You never liked the work. Or the subject."
"I didn't dislike it."
"Not a good reason to do something. I told you that before."
"You did."
"Come on, I'll walk you home."
"Oh."
"What?"
"I don't actually have one. I packed everything up and took it to a storage place and told my lawyer to put the flat on the market."
"He won't have done that yet."
"She. And I pay her alot of money. And said immediately."
"Ah. We have a spare room, come on. Merlin's already gone home."
Gwaine pulls him up and tugs him out of the pub. Arthur tries to protest, he really does. And, when he finally gives in and agrees to stay a night he really means to stay just one night. But Merlin's there and he drinks tea and talks to Arthur about books and grins and laughs and bickers.
And Arthur really does mean to go travelling and choose his own house, but drinks with Merlin turns into dates and while it's weird dating a flat mate they make it work. And then there's the college where Arthur starts taking tester courses to try and find something he really loves doing and football in the park with Gwaine and Lance and by the time five months have past he finally gives up.
"Morgana?"
-yes, hi. what happened to the road trip?-
"It... well. It's a long story. It starts... I think, actually, the real starting point was the day I got bored of working. I was stretching and... I have this really great view, but this particular day it was marred by-"
THE END
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