IN ARTHUR'S DEFENCE, MERLIN REALLY WAS RATHER CUTE...
SUMMARY: Merlin is a student in Arthur's self-defence class. He is awkward and clumsy and couldn't defend himself against an ant. But he really was rather cute...
GENRE: Modern AU
RATING: NC-17
WORDS: ~4000
IN ARTHUR’S DEFENCE, MERLIN REALLY WAS RATHER CUTE...
Gwen had asked if she could bring a friend to Arthur’s self-defence class, but she hadn’t one: mentioned the friend was a guy and, two: that said guy was a tall, lanky cute-in-an-awkward-looking way bundle of absolute clumsiness.
‘Merlin’, as his name turned out to be, stood out among the rest of Arthur’s students - all women between the ages of 16 and 44 - and not because he was the only male taking the class. Still, one look at Merlin and Arthur decided Gwen was right to bring him to the class, because it did not look like Merlin was capable of fending off an ant. Plus, Arthur thought with some amusement, this gave him an ideal model to use in demonstrating some of the techniques to the ladies.
“In self-defence, the most powerful weapon,” Arthur began in his instructor’s voice, “is your head.” He pointed to his noggin for added effect. “Why is that?” he asked the group of twelve or so.
The middle-aged woman raised her hand. “You can use it to butt with?” she answered tentatively.
Arthur smiled and the woman blushed fiercely. “Well, that’s true, Mrs. Collins, but it’s not what I was thinking. If you are attacked, you need to stay calm and think about your options,” Arthur continued, “and this requires that you use your head.”
The ladies all nodded in agreement with Arthur’s sound advice.
“Your first option,” Arthur lectured, “is to run. If that option is available to you - take it. There’s no use getting into a battle with someone if you don’t have to.” Arthur spread his stance a little wider, hands on his toned hips, getting into his comfort-zone. “If you are not able to run, then your second option is to distract your attacker by yelling ‘fire’ or ‘help’, anything that might call attention to the situation and put your attacker on guard. If you successfully distract him, then run.”
“So, self-defence is basically about running?” Merlin quipped and Arthur directed his full attention on him. Merlin cocked a grin that made something deep inside Arthur tingle. “Cuz I’m pretty good at running.”
The women all laughed and Arthur found himself chuckling along. “No,” he replied, “it’s not just about running but if you can run away, you should.”
Merlin nodded. “Something tells me you probably don’t run away too often.” He looked Arthur up and down as if assessing his fighting ability. Arthur tried to keep his blush in check.
“I’ll run if the opportunity is there,” Arthur said, although it was not quite true. But he knew how to take someone down and the group here did not. “I’m going to show you some basic techniques that you’re going to perfect over the next few classes,” he continued, noting Merlin’s undivided attention, “that will give you more options if the first two are not available.”
“Your best weapons are your hands and feet,” Arthur carried on, “and you don’t need to be a black-belt in karate to use them effectively. These are also the weakest points to target.”
He motioned a hand toward Merlin. “Merlin, is it? Would you help me out with the demonstration?”
Merlin looked at Gwen who smiled at him encouragingly, shrugged, and then stepped forward.
Arthur said, “Suppose Merlin here is a shady bloke who attacks you. What’s the first thing you’d do?”
“Run!” several of the women shouted.
“Right,” Arthur affirmed. “And even though Merlin looks like someone you could easily run away from,” he said, grinning slyly at Merlin, “what if you couldn’t run away?”
“You’d try and distract him,” Gwen responded like a good student, “by yelling ‘fire’ or ‘help’ or ‘Ooh, look! They’re selling ice cream!’”
Everybody laughed, except Merlin, who narrowed his eyes at Gwen playfully.
“Okay,” Arthur said on a chortle. “And if the promise of ice cream didn’t work, here’s a technique that targets your attacker’s foot using the strength of your own heel.”
Arthur indicated to Merlin to come up on him as if to attack. “What you might do in a situation like this,” Arthur instructed, moving his body along with his words, “is bring your knee up as far as possible,” Arthur lifted his knee, “and then slam it downward with your angle flexed upward,” He demonstrated the movement for them, “so your heel hits first.” He tapped his heel on Merlin’s foot.
“Okay, everybody try that movement,” Arthur told them. “Knee up, ankle flexed upward, slam down heel. Repeat.”
The class repeated the movement several times to Arthur’s satisfaction.
“Now,” he said. “Suppose Merlin attacks you from behind.” He gestured for Merlin to come up behind him and to grab him around the arms. “In this situation, you would use the strength of your heel in a different way. Kick like a mule to hit the knee or shin,” Arthur mimed the action, tapping Merlin’s knee slightly with his heel, “then slide your heel down his leg and force it down onto the bones of the in-step or the toes.” Again, Arthur demonstrated the movement, just tapping Merlin’s athletic-shoed foot with the hard rubber of his shoe heel.
“Does that really work?” Merlin questioned. “I mean, it doesn’t seem that big of a deal.”
Arthur grinned at him. “Do you want to find out?”
Merlin grinned back. “Yeah.”
In a quick movement with only half-force, Arthur delivered a mule-kick to Merlin’s knee, then rammed his heel onto his foot. Merlin yelped with pain and then started hopping around on one foot.
“Oww, that hurt!” Merlin said somewhat indignantly, and Arthur had to suppress a laugh.
“And I didn’t even use full force,” Arthur told him. “Remember - there are twenty-six bones in the foot, all capable of being broken. And a trick like this could provide enough of a distraction--” Arthur pointed at Merlin still hopping around, rubbing the top of his foot, “-to--”
“Run!” the class shouted in unison.
Arthur grinned at Merlin. “Do you want to know what ramming a heel on toes feels like?”
“No thanks,” Merlin said, returning to his more easy-going nature.
“And if that doesn’t produce the desired effect, you could also use your head, as Mrs. Collins suggested earlier, as a battering ram against your attacker, targeting his nose and mouth.”
“If Merlin is still willing to help me out,” Arthur said, giving a sly look to Merlin, “then I’d like to show you one more technique for today.”
Merlin obliged, albeit warily, and Arthur had him take up the same coming-from-behind attacking position. “Now, if your arms happen to be pinned but your hands are free,” He wiggled his hands. “Take a step backwards as close to the attacker as possible,” Arthur jutted his back against Merlin, “reach back with your strongest hand,” He flexed his right hand, “and grab, pull, and twist.”
Arthur didn’t actually pull and twist Merlin’s testes, but he did indulge a little by grabbing the young man’s crotch, which he was surprised to find hardened slightly in response to his touch. Arthur quickly pulled his hand away and tried to hide the flush creeping up his neck and cheeks. He said to the group, “Trust me - that little move can take the biggest and baddest guy down.”
Arthur moved away from Merlin, who seemed to be avoiding looking at him.
“Grab a partner and take turns practising the movements, but don’t put all your strength into them. We don’t want anyone getting hurt. I’ll be walking around to see how you’re doing.”
Merlin paired up with Gwen. Arthur kept sneaking glances at them, watching Merlin mostly, but focused most of his attention on other pairs, not wanting to get too close to Merlin again - at least not yet.
It was close to the end of the class when he heard a yelp and turned to find Merlin holding his nose, blood gushing out of it. Arthur rushed over.
“What happened?”
Gwen looked aghast. “We were practising and I must have knocked my head against Merlin’s nose...”
“Keep practising until next class,” Arthur told the group, dismissing them. “I’ll try and fix up Merlin here.”
Merlin was sitting on the mat, a useless hand up to his bleeding nose. Arthur knelt down in front of him and pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of Merlin’s nose. He pulled the bottom of Merlin’s t-shirt up to his dripping nostrils. There was already quite a bit of blood down the front of it, so Arthur figured it didn’t really matter at this point. Still, he asked a concerned Gwen to fetch him a towel from his gym bag.
Merlin was looking at him intently, and Arthur had to admit those deep blue eyes of his were rather enticing. One could easily get lost in them. Gwen handed him a towel and Arthur exchanged Merlin’s t-shirt for it, while still maintaining pressure on his nose to stop the bleeding. He did so reluctantly only because the patch of bare stomach that had been showing was now covered again.
“I’m really sorry, Merlin,” Gwen said, fretting.
“S’ok,” Merlin mumbled. He had dropped his gaze from Arthur and was now soothing Gwen’s conscience with those beautiful blues.
Arthur managed to stop the bleeding and helped Merlin onto his feet. He looked a bit of a wreck - blood around his nostrils, some splashes on his upper lip, and patches on his t-shirt - but Arthur decided that Merlin somehow managed to look adorably cute and rather sexy, even if he likely still couldn’t fend off an ant and had been bested by a girl.
“See you next week,” he told both Gwen and Merlin.
As he watched them leave, Arthur rather hoped Merlin had not been put off by the nose-bleeding incident and would decide to come back for the next class.
~*~*~*~
Merlin did come back and Arthur was decidedly pleased.
“So, Merlin, you gonna be my guinea pig again?” he asked congenially.
“Are you gonna hurt me?”
Arthur grinned. “Probably.”
Merlin shrugged and stepped forward.
“There are twenty-seven bones in the hand,” Arthur informed the class. “Your hand and fingers are strong, but there is a weak point.”
Arthur asked Merlin to hold his hand up with fingers flexed. “If you try and bend your attacker’s fingers back,” he said, bending back Merlin’s four fingers with his own hand, “you won’t likely get very good results. As you can see, Merlin has very flexible fingers and I can bend them back quite far without hurting him.” He searched Merlin’s face to ensure that this was the case. Merlin looked unaffected.
“One finger by itself, however, is weak, the most vulnerable being the pinkie and the ring finger.” Arthur quickly bent Merlin’s pinkie finger back with minimal force. Merlin’s eyes flashed with surprise, his mouth forming a wide ‘O’. Arthur continued to push back on Merlin’s pinkie until he was taken down to his knees on the mat. Arthur loved this little self-defence trick, as most people were surprised that their biggest downfall could be as small and simple as a two-inch digit.
Arthur glanced down at Merlin, his mouth still gaping. Seeing Merlin on his knees on the mat like that, with his mouth hanging open, did all kinds of things to Arthur that would definitely not be considered appropriate in this context. Arthur quickly released Merlin’s pinkie and then helped him up.
“Let’s pair up again,” Arthur announced, “and practice this new trick. Please be careful not to put too much pressure on your partner’s fingers. We don’t want any fingers to break. Just enough pressure to see the effects of the defence move.” Students began chatting and looking for partners. “And when you’ve gone through this move a few times, practice the defence moves from last week. I want to see if you remember them.”
The woman who had paired with Mrs. Collins the week before was absent, so Gwen kindly offered to pair up with the woman, leaving Merlin without a partner.
“I guess that leaves you with me,” Arthur remarked, grinning.
Merlin nodded, his expression making it impossible for Arthur to know if he was happy or displeased by this.
Arthur told Merlin to practice the finger-bend technique on him this time. Merlin approached Arthur tentatively, flicking edgy glances at him, as though he expected Arthur to turn the tables on him or something.
“Come on, Merlin,” Arthur said. “I don’t bite. At least not while I’m teaching class. So grab a hold of my pinkie and bend it back.”
Merlin did so and applied modest pressure to Arthur’s smallest digit.
“Harder, Merlin,” Arthur encouraged. “Enough to take me down to the mat. I know you’ve got it in you.”
Merlin applied more pressure, this time forcing Arthur down on one knee. Merlin looked pleased as punch and Arthur had to admit he somewhat liked the role reversal. The way Merlin glanced down at him, looking like he was in complete control - Arthur had the skill, of course, to counter Merlin’s move - was erotic, sexy. In fact, Arthur very much liked the idea of Merlin being physically dominant. He supposed it was a kink thing.
After bringing Arthur down by the pinkie a few times, Arthur suggested to Merlin that he practice the moves from last week’s class.
“Do you remember what to do?” he asked Merlin.
Merlin nodded. He attempted, only partially successful, to bring his knee up and his heel down, missing Arthur’s foot most of the time. Arthur kept encouraging him to try again.
Then they moved to practising the mule kick manoeuvre. Merlin wasn’t so great at that either, but Arthur kept insisting that Merlin would get the hang of it once he practised the move a few more times.
Finally, Arthur suggested that Merlin give the groin twist a go. He positioned himself behind Merlin, grabbing a hold of his arms. Merlin reached with his right hand and Arthur thought Merlin’s execution was promising, but then felt Merlin’s hand on his thigh, groping.
“You’re supposed to be grabbing for my balls, Merlin, not feeling up my legs.”
“I know,” Merlin said, sounding somewhat shaky.
Arthur took Merlin’s hand and reached between his own legs and planted it squarely on his crotch with a sharp, “Here.”
Arthur felt Merlin tense and heard him audibly gulp. Merlin went through the motions of pulling and twisting, his hand barely moving at Arthur’s sweat pant-clad groin. A tingling sensation built up in Arthur’s pelvis and he felt his cock twitch. Jesus, if Merlin didn’t move his hand soon...
Merlin pulled his hand back quickly as though it had caught fire - and to some degree, Arthur supposed it probably had - and stood up straight. Without looking Arthur in the eyes, he mumbled, “You know, I’m not feeling so hot right now. I think I should go.”
Then before Arthur could even form a reply, Merlin rushed out of the training studio as though the devil were chasing him. Arthur could only stare after him, wondering what he had done to make Merlin run away.
The class was near end anyway, so Arthur called the students back to the larger group. He told them to keep practising these moves until next class when they would have a chance to show each other their newly gained self-defence skills.
Gwen came up to him as students began to leave. “What happened to Merlin?” she asked.
Arthur shrugged. “He rushed out of here saying he wasn’t feeling too well. I think I may have somehow scared him off ,” he confessed shamefully.
Gwen smiled. “No. It’s because he has a crush on you, Arthur, and you make it impossible for him not to fall in love with you.”
Arthur chuckled at Gwen’s little joke. “Ha. Ha. Like Merlin has a crush on me.”
Gwen smiled slyly. “’Fraid so,” she insisted, then spread her arms out wide. “Huge crush.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
So Merlin had a crush on him, Arthur thought, pleased. He could only hope that was why Merlin had rushed off so suddenly.
~*~*~*~
Arthur was a little surprised that Merlin showed up for the next class. He was even more surprised when Merlin asked if he could stay after class for some extra help.
“You saw that I’m still kinda hopeless at defending myself,” Merlin explained.
Arthur could not argue with that. Merlin was the only student in the group who had been unable to execute any of the defence moves Arthur had taught them successfully. And certainly not for the lack of trying.
“Not hopeless,” Arthur offered kindly, “just inexperienced.”
“So are the rest of the class,” Merlin said glumly.
He looked and sounded so dejected that Arthur vowed he would do whatever it took to help Merlin at least feel like he could defend himself.
“Maybe you’d respond better to something more spontaneous,” he suggested. “How about if I come at you and you react. We’ll see how that works.”
The spontaneous attack and react method proved to be only minimally effective, so Arthur decided to add a verbal element to the mix.
“Gwen says you have a little crush on me,” Arthur said as he went in for the ‘attack’.
“I do not,” Merlin told him, doing his best to deflect Arthur’s move with a knee up-and-heel stomp countermovement.
“Oh, I think you do.” Arthur was impressed by Merlin’s defence move, even if he did miss Arthur’s foot with his heel - again.
“Do not,” Merlin insisted.
“We’ll see.” Arthur wasn’t even sure what he meant by that, being so focused on Merlin’s body movements. This time, he grappled with Merlin to see how Merlin would react. Arthur was taken by surprise when Merlin grappled back instead of using a defence move, though his technique was unskilled and awkward. Still, it got Arthur’s heart beating wildly.
It was easy to wrestle Merlin down to the mat. Arthur skilfully subdued Merlin, pulling his arm behind his back, pushing his body into the mat, a knee pressed lightly into the small of his back.
Arthur felt like a king who had conquered his quarry. He looked down at Merlin, one cheek pressed against the mat, his face set in humiliated defeat. God, he was cute. Arthur felt the tingling sensation rising. He wanted Merlin. He wanted Merlin badly.
Arthur bent his head close to Merlin’s. “So you’re not crushing on me, huh?” Arthur asked, lightly licking the tender spot behind Merlin’s ear.
“Nuh-uh,” Merlin replied, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
“No?” Arthur trailed his lips along the stretch of Merlin’s neck.
Merlin’s body shivered. “Maybe just a little,” he admitted. Arthur used his teeth to lightly nip at Merlin’s earlobe. “Okay, maybe a lot.”
Arthur smiled. He pulled his knee from Merlin’s back and released his arm, but kept his body covered with his own.
“Maybe what you need is an incentive,” Arthur proposed. “How about ...You pin me and you can fuck me.”
Arthur felt Merlin quiver beneath him. “Really?” Merlin said on a breath.
“Uh-huh,” Arthur said, smiling. He guessed that was an incentive Merlin was motivated toward achieving.
“Okay,” Merlin agreed. “But get off me first, so I can at least have a chance.”
Arthur chuckled, rolling off Merlin. He had barely done so when Merlin pounced, trying to pin him. Strike when the opportunity presents itself, Arthur thought. Good boy.
Merlin seemed highly motivated to wrestle Arthur into submission, but Arthur was able to counter most of Merlin’s moves. He had already decided he’d let Merlin win but he wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
When it seemed Merlin had wrestled intently enough to capture his prize, Arthur allowed Merlin to pin him.
“Ha!” Merlin rejoiced smugly. “I pinned you!”
Merlin was straddling him, holding Arthur down by the arms. Arthur gazed resolutely at Merlin, who looked pleased with himself. He was even cuter in victory than defeat.
“Yep. You sure did.”
Merlin’s grin suddenly faded and he narrowed his eyes at Arthur. Then he rolled off him, saying, “You let me win, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t,” Arthur lied.
“You did too.”
Was Merlin pouting? Damn, he was pouting, Arthur decided. And it was sexy as hell.
“Merlin...” Arthur coaxed. He wanted to kiss those pouting lips.
“Admit it, you let me win,” Merlin said, sulking now.
“Come on, Merlin,” Arthur said. “Quit sulking. Okay, so I let you win.” Arthur grabbed for Merlin’s ankle as he attempted to scuttle away. “You don’t have to be a sore loser about it. I’ll still let you fuck me.”
Arthur had a hand firmly around Merlin’s ankle and he started to pull him toward him by it. Somehow Merlin managed to wiggle his foot free and mule-kicked Arthur squarely in the chest, knocking him back onto the mat.
“Oww!” Arthur exclaimed, clutching a hand to his chest.
Merlin looked as surprised as Arthur. “Are you okay?” he asked with concern.
“Yes, I’m okay,” Arthur said, feeling a further swelling in his pants, “but Christ, Merlin, that just turned me on.”
“It did?”
A smile played at Arthur’s lips as he said, “You just executed a perfect self-defence move. And, yeah, I’m totally hot for you right now.” He wiggled his finger at Merlin in a come-hither gesture. Merlin dutifully scrambled on the mat over to him. Arthur yanked on Merlin’s t-shirt to pull him down to him, and then shoved his tongue into Merlin’s mouth. When he pulled it out, he said, “Fuck me.”
Merlin looked sceptical. “Wouldn’t you rather...?”
“What?” Arthur wondered, trying to keep the hurt out of his tone. “You don’t want to?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to,” Merlin said quickly. “I just meant, well, I thought you...yeah, I want to.”
Arthur smiled. He was sure glad they got that cleared up. Of course, Arthur wanted to fuck Merlin. In fact, his mind kept playing out a little fantasy that involved Merlin, naked, on all fours, elbows and forearms resting on the mat, head hanging low, buttocks raised, thighs spread wide and waiting...
But before he allowed himself to indulge and carry out that fantasy, Arthur wanted Merlin to take him - and he wanted him to do it with as much physicality as possible.
Arthur licked his lips. “I want you to take me, Merlin. Rough. Hard. Deep. Be as physical as you can. You think you can do that?”
Merlin’s pupils dilated to the size of saucers. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”
And he did. Merlin’s physical taking involved thrusting deep and pounding hard, yanking Arthur’s head back by the hair so he could bite his neck and shoulders. And when he was close to erupting, Merlin brought Arthur off with a rough jerking that left Arthur sweat-soaked, panting, and utterly wrecked.
“You liked?” Merlin breathed in his ear as they both attempted to come down from their highs.
“I liked,” Arthur could barely croak out.
“Was it what you wanted?”
“Oh, yeah,” Arthur panted. “And some.”
Merlin chuckled. Christ, that was sexy too.
Once he was able to finally catch his breath, Arthur said, “How is it that you can suck so badly at basic physical defence and be so damn fucking good at this?”
“Secret magical talents?” Merlin offered.
“Oh, you’re not kidding,” Arthur praised in agreement.
“Hmm,” Merlin said around Arthur’s lips. “So you think I’m hopeless at learning to protect myself from potential attackers?”
Now it was Arthur’s turn to chuckle. “I don’t think you have to worry, Merlin,” he told him. “Nobody is going to get close to you without me doing what I do best. All you have to worry about is putting those magical talents to work some more for me.”
“I can do that.”
THE END
Posted to merlinxarthur
GENRE: Modern AU
RATING: NC-17
WORDS: ~4000
IN ARTHUR’S DEFENCE, MERLIN REALLY WAS RATHER CUTE...
Gwen had asked if she could bring a friend to Arthur’s self-defence class, but she hadn’t one: mentioned the friend was a guy and, two: that said guy was a tall, lanky cute-in-an-awkward-looking way bundle of absolute clumsiness.
‘Merlin’, as his name turned out to be, stood out among the rest of Arthur’s students - all women between the ages of 16 and 44 - and not because he was the only male taking the class. Still, one look at Merlin and Arthur decided Gwen was right to bring him to the class, because it did not look like Merlin was capable of fending off an ant. Plus, Arthur thought with some amusement, this gave him an ideal model to use in demonstrating some of the techniques to the ladies.
“In self-defence, the most powerful weapon,” Arthur began in his instructor’s voice, “is your head.” He pointed to his noggin for added effect. “Why is that?” he asked the group of twelve or so.
The middle-aged woman raised her hand. “You can use it to butt with?” she answered tentatively.
Arthur smiled and the woman blushed fiercely. “Well, that’s true, Mrs. Collins, but it’s not what I was thinking. If you are attacked, you need to stay calm and think about your options,” Arthur continued, “and this requires that you use your head.”
The ladies all nodded in agreement with Arthur’s sound advice.
“Your first option,” Arthur lectured, “is to run. If that option is available to you - take it. There’s no use getting into a battle with someone if you don’t have to.” Arthur spread his stance a little wider, hands on his toned hips, getting into his comfort-zone. “If you are not able to run, then your second option is to distract your attacker by yelling ‘fire’ or ‘help’, anything that might call attention to the situation and put your attacker on guard. If you successfully distract him, then run.”
“So, self-defence is basically about running?” Merlin quipped and Arthur directed his full attention on him. Merlin cocked a grin that made something deep inside Arthur tingle. “Cuz I’m pretty good at running.”
The women all laughed and Arthur found himself chuckling along. “No,” he replied, “it’s not just about running but if you can run away, you should.”
Merlin nodded. “Something tells me you probably don’t run away too often.” He looked Arthur up and down as if assessing his fighting ability. Arthur tried to keep his blush in check.
“I’ll run if the opportunity is there,” Arthur said, although it was not quite true. But he knew how to take someone down and the group here did not. “I’m going to show you some basic techniques that you’re going to perfect over the next few classes,” he continued, noting Merlin’s undivided attention, “that will give you more options if the first two are not available.”
“Your best weapons are your hands and feet,” Arthur carried on, “and you don’t need to be a black-belt in karate to use them effectively. These are also the weakest points to target.”
He motioned a hand toward Merlin. “Merlin, is it? Would you help me out with the demonstration?”
Merlin looked at Gwen who smiled at him encouragingly, shrugged, and then stepped forward.
Arthur said, “Suppose Merlin here is a shady bloke who attacks you. What’s the first thing you’d do?”
“Run!” several of the women shouted.
“Right,” Arthur affirmed. “And even though Merlin looks like someone you could easily run away from,” he said, grinning slyly at Merlin, “what if you couldn’t run away?”
“You’d try and distract him,” Gwen responded like a good student, “by yelling ‘fire’ or ‘help’ or ‘Ooh, look! They’re selling ice cream!’”
Everybody laughed, except Merlin, who narrowed his eyes at Gwen playfully.
“Okay,” Arthur said on a chortle. “And if the promise of ice cream didn’t work, here’s a technique that targets your attacker’s foot using the strength of your own heel.”
Arthur indicated to Merlin to come up on him as if to attack. “What you might do in a situation like this,” Arthur instructed, moving his body along with his words, “is bring your knee up as far as possible,” Arthur lifted his knee, “and then slam it downward with your angle flexed upward,” He demonstrated the movement for them, “so your heel hits first.” He tapped his heel on Merlin’s foot.
“Okay, everybody try that movement,” Arthur told them. “Knee up, ankle flexed upward, slam down heel. Repeat.”
The class repeated the movement several times to Arthur’s satisfaction.
“Now,” he said. “Suppose Merlin attacks you from behind.” He gestured for Merlin to come up behind him and to grab him around the arms. “In this situation, you would use the strength of your heel in a different way. Kick like a mule to hit the knee or shin,” Arthur mimed the action, tapping Merlin’s knee slightly with his heel, “then slide your heel down his leg and force it down onto the bones of the in-step or the toes.” Again, Arthur demonstrated the movement, just tapping Merlin’s athletic-shoed foot with the hard rubber of his shoe heel.
“Does that really work?” Merlin questioned. “I mean, it doesn’t seem that big of a deal.”
Arthur grinned at him. “Do you want to find out?”
Merlin grinned back. “Yeah.”
In a quick movement with only half-force, Arthur delivered a mule-kick to Merlin’s knee, then rammed his heel onto his foot. Merlin yelped with pain and then started hopping around on one foot.
“Oww, that hurt!” Merlin said somewhat indignantly, and Arthur had to suppress a laugh.
“And I didn’t even use full force,” Arthur told him. “Remember - there are twenty-six bones in the foot, all capable of being broken. And a trick like this could provide enough of a distraction--” Arthur pointed at Merlin still hopping around, rubbing the top of his foot, “-to--”
“Run!” the class shouted in unison.
Arthur grinned at Merlin. “Do you want to know what ramming a heel on toes feels like?”
“No thanks,” Merlin said, returning to his more easy-going nature.
“And if that doesn’t produce the desired effect, you could also use your head, as Mrs. Collins suggested earlier, as a battering ram against your attacker, targeting his nose and mouth.”
“If Merlin is still willing to help me out,” Arthur said, giving a sly look to Merlin, “then I’d like to show you one more technique for today.”
Merlin obliged, albeit warily, and Arthur had him take up the same coming-from-behind attacking position. “Now, if your arms happen to be pinned but your hands are free,” He wiggled his hands. “Take a step backwards as close to the attacker as possible,” Arthur jutted his back against Merlin, “reach back with your strongest hand,” He flexed his right hand, “and grab, pull, and twist.”
Arthur didn’t actually pull and twist Merlin’s testes, but he did indulge a little by grabbing the young man’s crotch, which he was surprised to find hardened slightly in response to his touch. Arthur quickly pulled his hand away and tried to hide the flush creeping up his neck and cheeks. He said to the group, “Trust me - that little move can take the biggest and baddest guy down.”
Arthur moved away from Merlin, who seemed to be avoiding looking at him.
“Grab a partner and take turns practising the movements, but don’t put all your strength into them. We don’t want anyone getting hurt. I’ll be walking around to see how you’re doing.”
Merlin paired up with Gwen. Arthur kept sneaking glances at them, watching Merlin mostly, but focused most of his attention on other pairs, not wanting to get too close to Merlin again - at least not yet.
It was close to the end of the class when he heard a yelp and turned to find Merlin holding his nose, blood gushing out of it. Arthur rushed over.
“What happened?”
Gwen looked aghast. “We were practising and I must have knocked my head against Merlin’s nose...”
“Keep practising until next class,” Arthur told the group, dismissing them. “I’ll try and fix up Merlin here.”
Merlin was sitting on the mat, a useless hand up to his bleeding nose. Arthur knelt down in front of him and pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of Merlin’s nose. He pulled the bottom of Merlin’s t-shirt up to his dripping nostrils. There was already quite a bit of blood down the front of it, so Arthur figured it didn’t really matter at this point. Still, he asked a concerned Gwen to fetch him a towel from his gym bag.
Merlin was looking at him intently, and Arthur had to admit those deep blue eyes of his were rather enticing. One could easily get lost in them. Gwen handed him a towel and Arthur exchanged Merlin’s t-shirt for it, while still maintaining pressure on his nose to stop the bleeding. He did so reluctantly only because the patch of bare stomach that had been showing was now covered again.
“I’m really sorry, Merlin,” Gwen said, fretting.
“S’ok,” Merlin mumbled. He had dropped his gaze from Arthur and was now soothing Gwen’s conscience with those beautiful blues.
Arthur managed to stop the bleeding and helped Merlin onto his feet. He looked a bit of a wreck - blood around his nostrils, some splashes on his upper lip, and patches on his t-shirt - but Arthur decided that Merlin somehow managed to look adorably cute and rather sexy, even if he likely still couldn’t fend off an ant and had been bested by a girl.
“See you next week,” he told both Gwen and Merlin.
As he watched them leave, Arthur rather hoped Merlin had not been put off by the nose-bleeding incident and would decide to come back for the next class.
~*~*~*~
Merlin did come back and Arthur was decidedly pleased.
“So, Merlin, you gonna be my guinea pig again?” he asked congenially.
“Are you gonna hurt me?”
Arthur grinned. “Probably.”
Merlin shrugged and stepped forward.
“There are twenty-seven bones in the hand,” Arthur informed the class. “Your hand and fingers are strong, but there is a weak point.”
Arthur asked Merlin to hold his hand up with fingers flexed. “If you try and bend your attacker’s fingers back,” he said, bending back Merlin’s four fingers with his own hand, “you won’t likely get very good results. As you can see, Merlin has very flexible fingers and I can bend them back quite far without hurting him.” He searched Merlin’s face to ensure that this was the case. Merlin looked unaffected.
“One finger by itself, however, is weak, the most vulnerable being the pinkie and the ring finger.” Arthur quickly bent Merlin’s pinkie finger back with minimal force. Merlin’s eyes flashed with surprise, his mouth forming a wide ‘O’. Arthur continued to push back on Merlin’s pinkie until he was taken down to his knees on the mat. Arthur loved this little self-defence trick, as most people were surprised that their biggest downfall could be as small and simple as a two-inch digit.
Arthur glanced down at Merlin, his mouth still gaping. Seeing Merlin on his knees on the mat like that, with his mouth hanging open, did all kinds of things to Arthur that would definitely not be considered appropriate in this context. Arthur quickly released Merlin’s pinkie and then helped him up.
“Let’s pair up again,” Arthur announced, “and practice this new trick. Please be careful not to put too much pressure on your partner’s fingers. We don’t want any fingers to break. Just enough pressure to see the effects of the defence move.” Students began chatting and looking for partners. “And when you’ve gone through this move a few times, practice the defence moves from last week. I want to see if you remember them.”
The woman who had paired with Mrs. Collins the week before was absent, so Gwen kindly offered to pair up with the woman, leaving Merlin without a partner.
“I guess that leaves you with me,” Arthur remarked, grinning.
Merlin nodded, his expression making it impossible for Arthur to know if he was happy or displeased by this.
Arthur told Merlin to practice the finger-bend technique on him this time. Merlin approached Arthur tentatively, flicking edgy glances at him, as though he expected Arthur to turn the tables on him or something.
“Come on, Merlin,” Arthur said. “I don’t bite. At least not while I’m teaching class. So grab a hold of my pinkie and bend it back.”
Merlin did so and applied modest pressure to Arthur’s smallest digit.
“Harder, Merlin,” Arthur encouraged. “Enough to take me down to the mat. I know you’ve got it in you.”
Merlin applied more pressure, this time forcing Arthur down on one knee. Merlin looked pleased as punch and Arthur had to admit he somewhat liked the role reversal. The way Merlin glanced down at him, looking like he was in complete control - Arthur had the skill, of course, to counter Merlin’s move - was erotic, sexy. In fact, Arthur very much liked the idea of Merlin being physically dominant. He supposed it was a kink thing.
After bringing Arthur down by the pinkie a few times, Arthur suggested to Merlin that he practice the moves from last week’s class.
“Do you remember what to do?” he asked Merlin.
Merlin nodded. He attempted, only partially successful, to bring his knee up and his heel down, missing Arthur’s foot most of the time. Arthur kept encouraging him to try again.
Then they moved to practising the mule kick manoeuvre. Merlin wasn’t so great at that either, but Arthur kept insisting that Merlin would get the hang of it once he practised the move a few more times.
Finally, Arthur suggested that Merlin give the groin twist a go. He positioned himself behind Merlin, grabbing a hold of his arms. Merlin reached with his right hand and Arthur thought Merlin’s execution was promising, but then felt Merlin’s hand on his thigh, groping.
“You’re supposed to be grabbing for my balls, Merlin, not feeling up my legs.”
“I know,” Merlin said, sounding somewhat shaky.
Arthur took Merlin’s hand and reached between his own legs and planted it squarely on his crotch with a sharp, “Here.”
Arthur felt Merlin tense and heard him audibly gulp. Merlin went through the motions of pulling and twisting, his hand barely moving at Arthur’s sweat pant-clad groin. A tingling sensation built up in Arthur’s pelvis and he felt his cock twitch. Jesus, if Merlin didn’t move his hand soon...
Merlin pulled his hand back quickly as though it had caught fire - and to some degree, Arthur supposed it probably had - and stood up straight. Without looking Arthur in the eyes, he mumbled, “You know, I’m not feeling so hot right now. I think I should go.”
Then before Arthur could even form a reply, Merlin rushed out of the training studio as though the devil were chasing him. Arthur could only stare after him, wondering what he had done to make Merlin run away.
The class was near end anyway, so Arthur called the students back to the larger group. He told them to keep practising these moves until next class when they would have a chance to show each other their newly gained self-defence skills.
Gwen came up to him as students began to leave. “What happened to Merlin?” she asked.
Arthur shrugged. “He rushed out of here saying he wasn’t feeling too well. I think I may have somehow scared him off ,” he confessed shamefully.
Gwen smiled. “No. It’s because he has a crush on you, Arthur, and you make it impossible for him not to fall in love with you.”
Arthur chuckled at Gwen’s little joke. “Ha. Ha. Like Merlin has a crush on me.”
Gwen smiled slyly. “’Fraid so,” she insisted, then spread her arms out wide. “Huge crush.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
So Merlin had a crush on him, Arthur thought, pleased. He could only hope that was why Merlin had rushed off so suddenly.
~*~*~*~
Arthur was a little surprised that Merlin showed up for the next class. He was even more surprised when Merlin asked if he could stay after class for some extra help.
“You saw that I’m still kinda hopeless at defending myself,” Merlin explained.
Arthur could not argue with that. Merlin was the only student in the group who had been unable to execute any of the defence moves Arthur had taught them successfully. And certainly not for the lack of trying.
“Not hopeless,” Arthur offered kindly, “just inexperienced.”
“So are the rest of the class,” Merlin said glumly.
He looked and sounded so dejected that Arthur vowed he would do whatever it took to help Merlin at least feel like he could defend himself.
“Maybe you’d respond better to something more spontaneous,” he suggested. “How about if I come at you and you react. We’ll see how that works.”
The spontaneous attack and react method proved to be only minimally effective, so Arthur decided to add a verbal element to the mix.
“Gwen says you have a little crush on me,” Arthur said as he went in for the ‘attack’.
“I do not,” Merlin told him, doing his best to deflect Arthur’s move with a knee up-and-heel stomp countermovement.
“Oh, I think you do.” Arthur was impressed by Merlin’s defence move, even if he did miss Arthur’s foot with his heel - again.
“Do not,” Merlin insisted.
“We’ll see.” Arthur wasn’t even sure what he meant by that, being so focused on Merlin’s body movements. This time, he grappled with Merlin to see how Merlin would react. Arthur was taken by surprise when Merlin grappled back instead of using a defence move, though his technique was unskilled and awkward. Still, it got Arthur’s heart beating wildly.
It was easy to wrestle Merlin down to the mat. Arthur skilfully subdued Merlin, pulling his arm behind his back, pushing his body into the mat, a knee pressed lightly into the small of his back.
Arthur felt like a king who had conquered his quarry. He looked down at Merlin, one cheek pressed against the mat, his face set in humiliated defeat. God, he was cute. Arthur felt the tingling sensation rising. He wanted Merlin. He wanted Merlin badly.
Arthur bent his head close to Merlin’s. “So you’re not crushing on me, huh?” Arthur asked, lightly licking the tender spot behind Merlin’s ear.
“Nuh-uh,” Merlin replied, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
“No?” Arthur trailed his lips along the stretch of Merlin’s neck.
Merlin’s body shivered. “Maybe just a little,” he admitted. Arthur used his teeth to lightly nip at Merlin’s earlobe. “Okay, maybe a lot.”
Arthur smiled. He pulled his knee from Merlin’s back and released his arm, but kept his body covered with his own.
“Maybe what you need is an incentive,” Arthur proposed. “How about ...You pin me and you can fuck me.”
Arthur felt Merlin quiver beneath him. “Really?” Merlin said on a breath.
“Uh-huh,” Arthur said, smiling. He guessed that was an incentive Merlin was motivated toward achieving.
“Okay,” Merlin agreed. “But get off me first, so I can at least have a chance.”
Arthur chuckled, rolling off Merlin. He had barely done so when Merlin pounced, trying to pin him. Strike when the opportunity presents itself, Arthur thought. Good boy.
Merlin seemed highly motivated to wrestle Arthur into submission, but Arthur was able to counter most of Merlin’s moves. He had already decided he’d let Merlin win but he wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
When it seemed Merlin had wrestled intently enough to capture his prize, Arthur allowed Merlin to pin him.
“Ha!” Merlin rejoiced smugly. “I pinned you!”
Merlin was straddling him, holding Arthur down by the arms. Arthur gazed resolutely at Merlin, who looked pleased with himself. He was even cuter in victory than defeat.
“Yep. You sure did.”
Merlin’s grin suddenly faded and he narrowed his eyes at Arthur. Then he rolled off him, saying, “You let me win, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t,” Arthur lied.
“You did too.”
Was Merlin pouting? Damn, he was pouting, Arthur decided. And it was sexy as hell.
“Merlin...” Arthur coaxed. He wanted to kiss those pouting lips.
“Admit it, you let me win,” Merlin said, sulking now.
“Come on, Merlin,” Arthur said. “Quit sulking. Okay, so I let you win.” Arthur grabbed for Merlin’s ankle as he attempted to scuttle away. “You don’t have to be a sore loser about it. I’ll still let you fuck me.”
Arthur had a hand firmly around Merlin’s ankle and he started to pull him toward him by it. Somehow Merlin managed to wiggle his foot free and mule-kicked Arthur squarely in the chest, knocking him back onto the mat.
“Oww!” Arthur exclaimed, clutching a hand to his chest.
Merlin looked as surprised as Arthur. “Are you okay?” he asked with concern.
“Yes, I’m okay,” Arthur said, feeling a further swelling in his pants, “but Christ, Merlin, that just turned me on.”
“It did?”
A smile played at Arthur’s lips as he said, “You just executed a perfect self-defence move. And, yeah, I’m totally hot for you right now.” He wiggled his finger at Merlin in a come-hither gesture. Merlin dutifully scrambled on the mat over to him. Arthur yanked on Merlin’s t-shirt to pull him down to him, and then shoved his tongue into Merlin’s mouth. When he pulled it out, he said, “Fuck me.”
Merlin looked sceptical. “Wouldn’t you rather...?”
“What?” Arthur wondered, trying to keep the hurt out of his tone. “You don’t want to?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to,” Merlin said quickly. “I just meant, well, I thought you...yeah, I want to.”
Arthur smiled. He was sure glad they got that cleared up. Of course, Arthur wanted to fuck Merlin. In fact, his mind kept playing out a little fantasy that involved Merlin, naked, on all fours, elbows and forearms resting on the mat, head hanging low, buttocks raised, thighs spread wide and waiting...
But before he allowed himself to indulge and carry out that fantasy, Arthur wanted Merlin to take him - and he wanted him to do it with as much physicality as possible.
Arthur licked his lips. “I want you to take me, Merlin. Rough. Hard. Deep. Be as physical as you can. You think you can do that?”
Merlin’s pupils dilated to the size of saucers. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”
And he did. Merlin’s physical taking involved thrusting deep and pounding hard, yanking Arthur’s head back by the hair so he could bite his neck and shoulders. And when he was close to erupting, Merlin brought Arthur off with a rough jerking that left Arthur sweat-soaked, panting, and utterly wrecked.
“You liked?” Merlin breathed in his ear as they both attempted to come down from their highs.
“I liked,” Arthur could barely croak out.
“Was it what you wanted?”
“Oh, yeah,” Arthur panted. “And some.”
Merlin chuckled. Christ, that was sexy too.
Once he was able to finally catch his breath, Arthur said, “How is it that you can suck so badly at basic physical defence and be so damn fucking good at this?”
“Secret magical talents?” Merlin offered.
“Oh, you’re not kidding,” Arthur praised in agreement.
“Hmm,” Merlin said around Arthur’s lips. “So you think I’m hopeless at learning to protect myself from potential attackers?”
Now it was Arthur’s turn to chuckle. “I don’t think you have to worry, Merlin,” he told him. “Nobody is going to get close to you without me doing what I do best. All you have to worry about is putting those magical talents to work some more for me.”
“I can do that.”
THE END
Posted to merlinxarthur