am oddly semi-productive today
so remember that Merlin blurb i wrote over a year ago? the modern, college!au with the elevator and stuff?
i've been sitting on this sequel of it for almost as long, and have finally decided to just finish and post it instead of waiting for inspiration to strike and make it shiner than it is.
here it is anyway: Real Friends Help You Cockblock Unnecessarily, Gwen/Morgana, Merlin/Arthur modern-college!AU, 1207 words.
"She shot him?"
"In the face!" Will makes hand gestures mimicking the cocking of a gun, and Lancelot bursts out into surprised laughter. Merlin shakes his head at them both.
Lancelot is generally a stable, dependable, normal sort of bloke. But no one could keep straight under Will's infectious enthusiasm. Merlin has no idea what they're talking about, but has low to nonexistent levels of curiosity; he's known Will since they were a few months old and Will's da had moved into the house next door.
"Here you are then, Merlin," Lance pulls up outside the NH museum and lets Merlin hop out before heading off to start the midmorning shift with Will at Doughboy's.
It's ten bloody a.m. on Saturday and that means Merlin was awake at nine in order to be here and-
"Merlin! Oh good. I thought you'd be later." Gwen drags him inside and pulls him into an alcove. "Not that, you know, you're late. Usually. Or anything-I just thought you know-and anyway, I know it's Saturday," Merlin squints at her accusing and sleepy, she flails a little, realizes she's holding a coffee cup, and thrusts it at him, babbling away while Merlin tries to drown himself in the steam.
-
It had started with something like this:
"Merlin, come on, you love the planetarium!"
"What I love is having a lie-in on my only day off."
"But we have the Suns of Pharaohs show today, and it's voiced by John Rhys-Davies! I know you still have all your Lord of the Rings action figures!"
"Guinevere, I love you dearly, but remember that I also know where you sleep." Merlin rubbed his eyes and fumbled his way out of bed, "Now, who is she and what do you want me to do?" yawned, "And don't even try telling me this isn't about a girl."
"Ok, ok, so, Morgana-Professor Le Fay. Um."
Merlin swore and almost dropped the phone, "Oh Gwen." His voice softened with understanding, "Yeah, I'll be there. I have to ride in the back with Lance and Will, so you owe me. But I'll be there."
-
So now Merlin is standing strategically in an alcove near the Professor's office wing, watching an unnecessarily attractive woman come out of one particular door, with his best friend who is whispering urgently.
"Oh god, it's her."
"Hot damn, way to go Gwen!" Merlin stares for a minute despite himself.
"Hide me!"
"What? Where? Should I-" Merlin makes frantic but vague handmotions, not quite sure of what he should be doing.
"No! No! Act normal. Not that you're not-you know, but, you should, oh god, Merlin, she's seen me!"
"I thought that's why we were here!"
"But! I'm not ready for her to see me! What if she asks me why I'm here?"
Merlin's brain flails onto an unexpected bout of genius, "Um, we're on a date?"
"Oh that's perfect, Merlin you're brilliant!" Gwen's eyes widen with realization, "Wait. No, not brilliant! I don't want her to think that I'm on a date with you! I mean, not you you, but you know, I don't want her to think I'm on a date! With someone else! A man!"
"Guinevere." Professor Le Fay smiles and her eyes are definitely noticeably warm as they go over Gwen, Merlin notes, amused, before flicking to him and looking suddenly much more intimidating. Right. He knows Gwen won't believe him, but this is really not going to be that hard.
"Mother! I would like to go to the gift shop before the show please."
Merlin and Gwen turn to stare as a little boy runs out of the same door and the professor turns to greet him.
"I know, darling, I'm sorry, I was just heading outside to call home. I have to leave earlier than I thought and it'd work better if-" She turns back to Gwen and Merlin takes the moment to make sure his mouth is no longer open. "I'm sorry, Guinevere, I don't mean to impose but I'm really in a bit of a situation here-I brought Mordred to work today because he wanted to watch the Planetarium show, but I've got to leave a bit early, is there any way you could-? My brother will be here to pick him up after the show, so it'll only be an hour and a half-I can tell him to come earlier-"
"Of course!"
"Oh thank you,"
"No, I mean, I can't." Gwen backtracks, "I would love to, but I have to go to lab by 11, but!" she turns to Merlin, who attempts to straighten up and look reassuring about whatever it is Gwen is about to propose, "Merlin can watch him! He's got the whole day free!"
Merlin slumps.
-
The kid is pretty easy to handle, all proper and polite, though a bit disconcertingly silent. Merlin's more concerned with interrogating Gwen as soon as they're out of earshot.
("She has a son?"
"She has a son!"
"You didn't know!"
"I mean, we know she's not married or with a partner or anything or they would be here, wouldn't they? And anyway, she's never talked as if she has-"
"Well apparently she never talked as if she had a kid either!")
And of course this is when Gwen has to abandon him for lab and leaves him with orders to find out everything and Merlin nods solemnly, nudges her foot with his until she lightens up and smiles and promises dinner later to make up for this.
It's not too bad, really. Merlin does love the planetarium, and does recognize the narrator's voice as John Rhys-Davies, to his chagrin.
Mordred knows quite a bit of background information for someone so young and Merlin gets engrossed explaining the parts he doesn't know and is startled with the boy yells out "Uncle Arthur!" and smiles for the first time since Merlin's met him, which is why Merlin is completely unprepared for the person he turns around to see.
"Monkey!" the man comes forward and catches Mordred up in a hug while Merlin stares bemusedly, cheeks warming at the month-old memory of an elevator on the first day of classes, and waits for 'Arthur' to recognize him.
"Thank you for watching Mordred, I had a hard time getting out of work as quickly as I did, there's no way I would've made it two hours ago." he flashes a quick, polite-but-sincere smile at him, all wind-tousled hair and unnecessarily bright eyes, and Merlin notices for the first time that Arthur is wearing a long expensive jacket over a suit. What kind of work? And on a Saturday?
"Oh it was no trouble," Merlin smiles inanely back and takes the offered hand, but Arthur seems to shift gears as soon as their eyes meet, and Merlin might be imagining it, but there's a soft stroke of thumb over his wrist as their hands separate. Probably a sleep-deprivation-induced hallucination, but still.
"Arthur Pendragon, pleasure," Arthur's voice is a warm drawl. Merlin can't decide if it's insulting or sexy, "to finally meet."
Okay, no, scratch that, definitely, definitely irritating.
must admit i have no idea where to go from here for this one at the moment since am utterly, utterly distracted by the one in which Arthur pines over Merlin forever that goes like this:
The first time they kiss, it goes like this: they're at Guinevere's birthday party, Merlin is all jumpy and nervous and all the year five girls are barely out of eye-sight and Arthur rolls his eyes, and says, "Don't be such a girl, Merlin," and grabs his face in his hands and plants his lips on him. He's so nervous himself that he doesn't really register anything but the overwhelming pounding of his own heart and how Merlin breathes out a little against Arthur and Arthur thought that would be gross but it isn't and so he leans back, laughs triumphantly, and claps Merlin on the shoulder. "Just do that, and it'll be great," he advises Merlin.
Merlin nods, but doesn't actually manage to do any such thing when it's his turn to go up to Gwen and wish her happy birthday and hand over her present, and Arthur, who has been holding his breath and is starting to feel dizzy, is so relieved that he doesn't even tease Merlin for it afterwards.
...and that When in Vegas one. *headdesk*
i've been sitting on this sequel of it for almost as long, and have finally decided to just finish and post it instead of waiting for inspiration to strike and make it shiner than it is.
here it is anyway: Real Friends Help You Cockblock Unnecessarily, Gwen/Morgana, Merlin/Arthur modern-college!AU, 1207 words.
"She shot him?"
"In the face!" Will makes hand gestures mimicking the cocking of a gun, and Lancelot bursts out into surprised laughter. Merlin shakes his head at them both.
Lancelot is generally a stable, dependable, normal sort of bloke. But no one could keep straight under Will's infectious enthusiasm. Merlin has no idea what they're talking about, but has low to nonexistent levels of curiosity; he's known Will since they were a few months old and Will's da had moved into the house next door.
"Here you are then, Merlin," Lance pulls up outside the NH museum and lets Merlin hop out before heading off to start the midmorning shift with Will at Doughboy's.
It's ten bloody a.m. on Saturday and that means Merlin was awake at nine in order to be here and-
"Merlin! Oh good. I thought you'd be later." Gwen drags him inside and pulls him into an alcove. "Not that, you know, you're late. Usually. Or anything-I just thought you know-and anyway, I know it's Saturday," Merlin squints at her accusing and sleepy, she flails a little, realizes she's holding a coffee cup, and thrusts it at him, babbling away while Merlin tries to drown himself in the steam.
-
It had started with something like this:
"Merlin, come on, you love the planetarium!"
"What I love is having a lie-in on my only day off."
"But we have the Suns of Pharaohs show today, and it's voiced by John Rhys-Davies! I know you still have all your Lord of the Rings action figures!"
"Guinevere, I love you dearly, but remember that I also know where you sleep." Merlin rubbed his eyes and fumbled his way out of bed, "Now, who is she and what do you want me to do?" yawned, "And don't even try telling me this isn't about a girl."
"Ok, ok, so, Morgana-Professor Le Fay. Um."
Merlin swore and almost dropped the phone, "Oh Gwen." His voice softened with understanding, "Yeah, I'll be there. I have to ride in the back with Lance and Will, so you owe me. But I'll be there."
-
So now Merlin is standing strategically in an alcove near the Professor's office wing, watching an unnecessarily attractive woman come out of one particular door, with his best friend who is whispering urgently.
"Oh god, it's her."
"Hot damn, way to go Gwen!" Merlin stares for a minute despite himself.
"Hide me!"
"What? Where? Should I-" Merlin makes frantic but vague handmotions, not quite sure of what he should be doing.
"No! No! Act normal. Not that you're not-you know, but, you should, oh god, Merlin, she's seen me!"
"I thought that's why we were here!"
"But! I'm not ready for her to see me! What if she asks me why I'm here?"
Merlin's brain flails onto an unexpected bout of genius, "Um, we're on a date?"
"Oh that's perfect, Merlin you're brilliant!" Gwen's eyes widen with realization, "Wait. No, not brilliant! I don't want her to think that I'm on a date with you! I mean, not you you, but you know, I don't want her to think I'm on a date! With someone else! A man!"
"Guinevere." Professor Le Fay smiles and her eyes are definitely noticeably warm as they go over Gwen, Merlin notes, amused, before flicking to him and looking suddenly much more intimidating. Right. He knows Gwen won't believe him, but this is really not going to be that hard.
"Mother! I would like to go to the gift shop before the show please."
Merlin and Gwen turn to stare as a little boy runs out of the same door and the professor turns to greet him.
"I know, darling, I'm sorry, I was just heading outside to call home. I have to leave earlier than I thought and it'd work better if-" She turns back to Gwen and Merlin takes the moment to make sure his mouth is no longer open. "I'm sorry, Guinevere, I don't mean to impose but I'm really in a bit of a situation here-I brought Mordred to work today because he wanted to watch the Planetarium show, but I've got to leave a bit early, is there any way you could-? My brother will be here to pick him up after the show, so it'll only be an hour and a half-I can tell him to come earlier-"
"Of course!"
"Oh thank you,"
"No, I mean, I can't." Gwen backtracks, "I would love to, but I have to go to lab by 11, but!" she turns to Merlin, who attempts to straighten up and look reassuring about whatever it is Gwen is about to propose, "Merlin can watch him! He's got the whole day free!"
Merlin slumps.
-
The kid is pretty easy to handle, all proper and polite, though a bit disconcertingly silent. Merlin's more concerned with interrogating Gwen as soon as they're out of earshot.
("She has a son?"
"She has a son!"
"You didn't know!"
"I mean, we know she's not married or with a partner or anything or they would be here, wouldn't they? And anyway, she's never talked as if she has-"
"Well apparently she never talked as if she had a kid either!")
And of course this is when Gwen has to abandon him for lab and leaves him with orders to find out everything and Merlin nods solemnly, nudges her foot with his until she lightens up and smiles and promises dinner later to make up for this.
It's not too bad, really. Merlin does love the planetarium, and does recognize the narrator's voice as John Rhys-Davies, to his chagrin.
Mordred knows quite a bit of background information for someone so young and Merlin gets engrossed explaining the parts he doesn't know and is startled with the boy yells out "Uncle Arthur!" and smiles for the first time since Merlin's met him, which is why Merlin is completely unprepared for the person he turns around to see.
"Monkey!" the man comes forward and catches Mordred up in a hug while Merlin stares bemusedly, cheeks warming at the month-old memory of an elevator on the first day of classes, and waits for 'Arthur' to recognize him.
"Thank you for watching Mordred, I had a hard time getting out of work as quickly as I did, there's no way I would've made it two hours ago." he flashes a quick, polite-but-sincere smile at him, all wind-tousled hair and unnecessarily bright eyes, and Merlin notices for the first time that Arthur is wearing a long expensive jacket over a suit. What kind of work? And on a Saturday?
"Oh it was no trouble," Merlin smiles inanely back and takes the offered hand, but Arthur seems to shift gears as soon as their eyes meet, and Merlin might be imagining it, but there's a soft stroke of thumb over his wrist as their hands separate. Probably a sleep-deprivation-induced hallucination, but still.
"Arthur Pendragon, pleasure," Arthur's voice is a warm drawl. Merlin can't decide if it's insulting or sexy, "to finally meet."
Okay, no, scratch that, definitely, definitely irritating.
must admit i have no idea where to go from here for this one at the moment since am utterly, utterly distracted by the one in which Arthur pines over Merlin forever that goes like this:
The first time they kiss, it goes like this: they're at Guinevere's birthday party, Merlin is all jumpy and nervous and all the year five girls are barely out of eye-sight and Arthur rolls his eyes, and says, "Don't be such a girl, Merlin," and grabs his face in his hands and plants his lips on him. He's so nervous himself that he doesn't really register anything but the overwhelming pounding of his own heart and how Merlin breathes out a little against Arthur and Arthur thought that would be gross but it isn't and so he leans back, laughs triumphantly, and claps Merlin on the shoulder. "Just do that, and it'll be great," he advises Merlin.
Merlin nods, but doesn't actually manage to do any such thing when it's his turn to go up to Gwen and wish her happy birthday and hand over her present, and Arthur, who has been holding his breath and is starting to feel dizzy, is so relieved that he doesn't even tease Merlin for it afterwards.
...and that When in Vegas one. *headdesk*