Fic: Date Night
Title: Date Night
Author: phys_nut
Pairing: arthur/merlin
Warnings: someone's drink gets spiked
Summary: Arthur FINALLY asks Merlin out on a date, but their night doesn't go exactly to plan...
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,948
Author's Notes: heeyyy!! right, so i've a million other things going on, but this was my entry for lolryne competition, where I wrote a fic inspired by a picture she drew, which can be found here . It was a bit of a rush job and is unbeta'd, but i'd great fun writing it and thought i would share! please read and enjoy!!
“Mmmph, snarggle…but why do I have to taste the troll potion?” Merlin moaned sleepily into Arthur’s shoulder.
Arthur paused, raised an eyebrow, and then sighed and kept walking down the hallway. What a way for this day to end…
Arthur had been told about a fancy-dress party at the last minute (as usual) by Morgana, who had further demanded that he bring Merlin, despite the fact that Merlin was her friend.
“Why should I ask him?” Arthur asked, non-plussed, “He’s YOUR friend!”
“Yes, but I don’t want to shag his brains out, unlike you,” Morgana retorted.
Arthur made a chocked noise of disagreement and Morgana cut him off immediately, with a breezy, “Don’t even bother protesting, everyone knows you want in his pants, so please get off your lazy arse and ask him out.”
With that, Morgana hung up, leaving a shocked Arthur to gather his thoughts, soothe his nerves, build up his courage and ring Merlin (who’s number he most definitely did NOT know off by heart).
“Hallo Merlin,” Arthur said in a bright, confident tone, when said man answered the phone, “How are you?”
“I’m good,” Merlin replied nonchalantly, “How are you?”
“Oh, good,” Arthur said, lips twisting as he tried to get to the point of this phone call.
There was a beat of silence, within which Arthur pouted at his lack of initiative and looked about the room, desperate for inspiration, before he suddenly blurted out, “Lovely weather we’re having eh?”
“Arthur,” Merlin said slowly, “did you call me to talk about the weather?”
“Umm, no,” Arthur admitted sheepishly, feeling his cheeks burning, “Morgana just called me and told me about a fancy dress party her and Gwen are hosting tomorrow.”
“Oh…no offence, but why are you calling me about it and not her?”
“Because, well…I wanted to know if you’d like to go with me?”
“Oh?”
“As my date?”
“Ooohhhh.”
There was another moment of silence, during which Arthur near gnawed his lip off, and then Merlin, smile evident in his tone of voice, said, “I’d like that.”
“Really?” Arthur asked, disbelief colouring his voice.
“Yeah. It could be fun. We could go as our namesakes,” Merlin chuckled.
“What, Arthur and Merlin?” Arthur asked.
“Yeah, you could dress up in chainmail or something and I’ll get a wizard’s costume.”
“Hmm, yes I reckon we could pull it off,” Arthur nodded, “People have said that I have a rather princely face.”
“Yeah, they also say you’re a royal pain sometimes.”
“Har har,” Arthur deadpanned, “Just wait till I get my sword and we’ll see who’s slagging who when I have it pointed at you.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t mind you pointing your sword at me,” Merlin joked in a flirtatious tone.
All the blood immediately rushed out of Arthur’s head, which then filled with thoughts of naughty, dirty, explicit things involving Merlin and his “sword”.
“Um, yes,” he said weakly.
He cleared his throat and then said, “Well, I’m going to go to the costume shop in an hour, would you like to join me?”
“Sure,” Merlin replied, “I’ll see you then.”
As it turned out, there was one last chainmail suit in Arthur’s size, but being that Morgana’s and Gwen’s parties tended to be large lavish events, and this costume shop was the only one in town, the only other costume left in Merlin’s size was a serving boy’s costume.
“You could go as my manservant,” Arthur teased.
Merlin paused, expression thoughtful before he replied, “Okay sure, but only if I get to be your secretly magical servant, who uses his powers to get up to all sorts of hi-jinks and save your arse when you get into trouble.”
“…Deal,” Arthur smiled.
***
They met up the next evening and headed for Morgana’s and Gwen’s house, which they found full of people dressed up in all sorts of costumes - there were fairies, witches, horses, robots, a rubix cube and even a spongebob squarepants. Merlin pouted when he spotted a few people dressed as wizards, and Arthur tried to cheer him up by telling him that in a kingdom where magic was banned their heads would be chopped right off, seeing as they obviously weren’t clever enough to know the meaning of the word subtle. Merlin beamed, and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek, just as Arthur turned to say something, causing their lips to meet. Arthur and Merlin both leaned fully into the kiss, hands reaching for each other, and just as things were getting interesting, the moment was ruined by two voices simultaneously saying, “Having a good time?”
Arthur and Merlin jumped apart to see Morgana and Gwen, dressed up as a cat and an angel respectively, standing on either side of them, identical smirks on their faces.
“Oh hello Morgana, hi Gwen,” Merlin smiled, a furious blush staining his cheeks.
“Nice party,” Arthur added; face equally red, “I love the, um, decorations.”
“Surprised you had time to notice them,” Morgana replied in a wicked tone, “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Will’s around and he’s looking for you.”
Arthur fought the urge to grimace, remembered that Will would be never be so tactful, and thus grimaced the hell away. Will was his friend Lance’s roommate and was a childhood friend of Merlin’s. He was obnoxious and opinionated, and had decided from the get-go that he didn’t like Arthur. Merlin had tried to explain that people were like marmite to Will - he either loved them or hated them - but Arthur was having none of it, and had decided to dislike Will back just as much.
“Thanks for the warning,” Merlin nodded, with a glance at Arthur.
“What’s he dressed as, so I can look out for him and then avoid him?” Arthur asked.
“Just think risky business,” Gwen smiled mysteriously, before Morgana pulled her away, saying something about dancing.
“Right, um…beer, I think I’m going to get some beer. Would you like some?” Arthur asked, feeling suddenly nervous and unsure.
“Sure,” Merlin answered in a shy tone.
Arthur flashed him a quick smile and headed off in search of drinks. In the kitchen, he was waylaid by an old man dressed as a dragon, who refused to let anyone near the drinks, unless they could answer a riddle. Arthur countered with a riddle of his own, and when the man was sufficiently distracted, he managed to nick two beers and get back to Merlin. Unfortunately, Will was talking to him, dressed in sunglasses, a white shirt and underwear.
As Arthur approached the pair, Will turned and pulled his sunglasses down just enough to peer disdainfully at him over them. Arthur resisted the urge to stick his tongue out and handed a bottle to Merlin, who took it with a large smile and a murmured “thanks.”
Will stood there, looking at him expectantly, to which, Arthur gave a questioning look.
Will sighed and said, “Shouldn’t you be getting back to whoever you came with?”
“Actually, I came here with Merlin,” Arthur smirked back at him.
“Huh? Why?”
“We’re uh, we’re on a date,” Merlin replied lightly.
Will froze, and then slowly slid his sunglasses off.
“You’re on a date?”
“Yup,” Arthur replied, not able to fully conceal his gloating tone.
“Why the hell would you want to date him Merlin??”
“Will, there you are!” a voice called out, and Lance strode over, dressed in ragged, paint-spattered clothes. “Prepare to pay up mate, Catriona just arrived and she’s dressed up like a proper troll, with the fake dung and all, it’s well mingin!”
“What? No way!” Will cried out. “This, I have to see for myself. I’ll talk to you about this later,” he added in a low tone to Merlin, before turning and walking off, Lance beside him.
“Wouldn’t want to be you when he gets back,” Arthur whistled.
“Will’s fine, he’s just protective,” Merlin shrugged.
They stood in an awkward silence, drinking their beers, making eye contact every now and then, and breaking it just as quickly.
“Would you like to dance?” Arthur asked after a while.
“Yes,” Merlin smiled.
Arthur took his hand and suddenly things were a lot less tense than they had been, and the evening flowed a lot easier. Arthur and Merlin danced together, snuck in a few more kisses, and chatted to different people they knew from around town. At one point, they were separated, but Arthur chalked it down to Will dragging Merlin off for a lecture, and continued chatting away to Sophie and Valient, who were dressed as a fairie and a snake charmer.
“Hey, watch it!” someone yelled, and Arthur glanced around to spot Merlin stumbling through the crowd.
The black haired man suddenly spotted him, and the smile that graced his face threatened to split it in half.
“Arthur!” he yelled excitedly, wobbling towards the other man, and throwing himself on top of him.
“Oof! Merlin, are you all right?” Arthur asked in concern pushing Merlin back enough to get a look at him.
Merlin grinned up at him, his body slack in his arms, and Arthur frowned when he saw Merlin’s pupils were fully dilated.
“Merlin…what did you last have to drink?”
Merlin’s head lolled back, and he slurred out, “Dunno…Will made s’mthin up."
“Right,” Arthur said in a tight voice.
***
“I may or may not have put something in his drink,” Will said diplomatically.
“I can’t believe you, why would you do that to your friend?” Arthur asked incredulously.
“I have my reasons.”
“What is wrong with you?” Arthur yelled, “There could be sickos here who would take advantage of Merlin in this sate!”
“And are you one of them?”
Arthur stared unblinking at the other man for a few moments, before he said in a low, dangerous tone, “Do you mean to say that you drugged your friend to test my chivalry?!”
“I want to make sure Merlin will be safe with you,” Will replied defensively.
“I hope,” Arthur said, “that you realise how incredibly disturbed you are.”
That said, he turned and knelt by Merlin, who had passed out on a nearby couch.
“Merlin,” he called softly, “Meeerrrrlin.”
“Blasted dragon,” Merlin muttered sleepily, “No more riddles.”
Arthur sighed and tried to wake him a few more times, but to no avail. There was only one thing left to do. Propping Merlin up, he sat on the edge of the couch and managed to manoeuvre the man onto his back. Merlin sighed happily and nuzzled his face into Arthur’s neck.
“Tell Morgana and Gwen that I’m putting Merlin into the guest bedroom,” he told Will, who nodded, expression angry, though albeit not with the same level of contempt as before.
And so Arthur found himself climbing the stairs and navigating the hallways, while Merlin clung to him and mumbled nonsense. Eventually, he made it to the guest bedroom, and he laid Merlin gently out on the bed, pulling the sheets over him. As Arthur stood up, Merlin's eyes suddenly popped open and he bolted upright.
“Arthur!” he gasped, grabbing Arthur's arm, just as he was setting off to go, “Please don’t go, I won’t be able to protect you if you’re not here.”
“You don’t need to protect me,” Arthur smiled fondly.
“No but I want to,” Merlin replied tugging on his arms, “Please…lie down beside me?”
Arthur sighed and lay down beside Merlin, who snuffled happily close to him, and promptly fell asleep. Arthur planned to wait until he was fast asleep and then he would head home, but he found he was falling asleep where he lay. The two men unconsciously wrapped themselves around each other, and though the date hadn’t gone very well, it was the best sleep either had had in a long time.
THE END!! XD
well that's that! i hope you all enjoyed my little bit of crack, please let me know what you think!