See-Saws: Part 6 (2011 Big Bang)
Title: (When I Think of Your Kisses, My Mind) See-Saws...
Summary: Modern AU. Sometimes the road to love is paved in ridiculous, if not somewhat awkward Facebook and Twitter posts, far too many pop culture references than are strictly necessary, nosy supporting cast members with insanely large personalities, the establishment of "Comfy Couch of Cuddles and Conversations", and a little bit of liquid courage. Call it a bonus when destiny lives next door. Loosely based on this KMM prompt.
Part 6
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
"I can’t believe that you wouldn’t tell me about this!" Arthur shouted, after he had barged past Katrina and into Uther’s office completely unannounced. "This of all things, you don’t tell me! How the in bloody hell am I supposed to fix this, Father?!"
Uther was sat behind his desk, staring at an empty spot on the far wall across from him. Arthur didn’t like the disconnected, far away look in his eyes, but it would have to wait.
"I was blindsided in an interview this weekend all because you couldn’t tell me the truth about Morgause. And after repeated attempts! Now, not only do I look like a complete fool, this company is going to suffer." Arthur sat down in the uncomfortable chair across from his father. "I don’t know if what that reporter said was true or not, but it looks awfully bad when I can’t do anything more than stutter through an, I’m not at liberty to discuss that at this time. So, you need to tell me everything and now," Arthur finished. He opened the top of his netbook, a document already open to start taking notes. "Go."
Uther shook his head. "I don’t really know where to start, son," he said, his voice low and soft, defeated. Arthur had never seen his father like this. Uther had always been, no matter what the situation, as stoic and hard as a stone statue. But now he just looked like a broken man, something Arthur never thought he’d ever see, nor did he think he ever wanted to see again.
But at that moment, time was of the essence right now and Athur, the face of the company, needed to be able to go to the public and fix everything before it got out of hand. He could deal with his father’s angst and obvious guilt at another time. Right now, as Uther had always taught him: Business. Always business.
So, Arthur steeled his features and said crisply, "From the beginning. I need to know everything."
"I’ve known Morgause a very long time," Uther said after a moment, still staring at the opposite wall. "And I--" Uther stopped, his head shaking back and forth, like he was trying to dislodge and purge the memories, "I never imagined she would do this."
Arthur resisted the urge to put down his netbook and comfort his father, because there just wasn’t the time - not to mention, Uther would have an epic fit if that happened - but he did say, a bit more softly, "The beginning, Father."
Uther finally looked away from the wall and sighed. He straightened in his chair and cleared his throat and then looked at Arthur. He could tell that his father was trying to be as professional as possible, but the telltale glint in his eye - the one that people feared - was absent.
"As you know, when I first started in this business I was on personal protection detail working for European Security." Arthur nodded his head, knowing the entire story about Uther’s rise through the ranks at E.S., the shoulder injury he’d obtained that removed him from active field duty, and the eventual start up of the empire that was now Camelot Security and Detail.
"My shoulder injury, the reason I was taken off active field duty and decided to start up CSD, occurred one night while I was on duty. Not in a car accident like I’d previously told you."
"You said it was a car accident," Arthur said, confused.
"I lied."
"I’m sorry," Arthur said, his mouth barely opening, making him push the words out through gritted teeth. Arthur was angry. What else had his father lied to him about over the years? "You were injured while on duty? Why was I never told this version of the story?"
"It was just easier to keep on telling you the lie," Uther said wearily. "It wasn’t that I wanted to keep it from you. Only a select few people know exactly what happened that night and we’ve kept it well-hidden on purpose."
Arthur, a muscle jumping in his jaw, tried hard to relax so he wouldn’t scream profanities at his father and storm out. "Explain. Now." If he was a little more harsh than may have seemed necessary, he figured he was allowed it, under the circumstances.
"We were trying to keep Madelyn safe."
"Who is Madelyn?"
Uther looked at his son, the hurt that had evidently been buried deep inside him pouring out through his eyes. "Madelyn is Morgause’s real name. Madelyn Morgause Vintry."
Arthur stopped again, his mouth hanging open slightly. "Vintry? As in Michael Vintry? The French dignitary who was assassinated in his home?"
"One and the same," Uther mumbled, his fingers folding together on top of the desk. Uther sighed and then continued. "Madelyn was Michael’s daughter, and I was their evening detail."
"The Vintrys were killed in their home in the evening," Arthur said, still shocked and confused by everything his father had so far told him. "By your admission, you should be dead, as well."
"Should, yes."
"Father," Arthur started, shaking his head while the anger built up deep in his belly. "None of this makes sense and you’re being needlessly cryptic. I need to know what happened, so just tell me already."
Uther’s eyebrows came together for a moment, furious. But then they relaxed again and nodded his head. "Yes, of course, you’re right."
Arthur’s fingers poised on his keyboard and he willed the adrenaline and anger to stop coursing through his body long enough so he could hear the story and take the necessary notes. "Good," he said, making his voice as cold as he possibly could. There was no more room for family issues here. Business, Arthur chanted in his head. All business. "Begin."
"I was, in fact, the Vintrys night guard and was supposed to be on duty the night of the fire," Uther began, "But Michael and Deena asked me to take Madelyn out for a movie that night, so they could have some time alone. Few knew, but Michael and Deena were on the verge of divorce and they wanted to get some things out in the open that evening with their therapist.
"Because I was Madelyn’s favorite guard, she was excited about the movie and spending time with me. She used to call me her cuddle bear." Uther stopped and the corner of his mouth turned up in an attempt at a smile.
And just like that, it was gone. "I wasn’t supposed to leave the Vintry’s alone, no matter the circumstances, because there had been such a plethora of attempts on his lives over the years, that constant details was required. But, because I liked the Vintrys and Madelyn, I did as they asked. While we were out, Colin Marcus Forks blew up the house, with Michael, Deena and their therapist, Dr. Arlene Curtis, inside."
Uther stopped and took a deep breath. Arthur didn’t push him to continue, even though he wanted to. Instead, he sat quietly and waited while his father collected himself and his thoughts. It was plain to see that even for someone as rich, powerful and stoic as Uther, this was a difficult subject to talk about. The only other time Arthur had seen his father like this was when he talked about his wife and Arthur’s mother, Igraine.
"My supervisor decided with the owner of E.S. that it would be best for Forks to think that Madelyn had been killed in the fire, as well, since we weren’t sure if Forks would want to go after her too.
"It took some finagling and work with the police, but we managed to keep the doctor’s name out of the papers and said there were three dead bodies found, badly burned, in the Vintrys’ home. We changed Madelyn’s last name to Black and started calling her by her middle name, Morgause, and she lived with friends of the family for a few months while Forks was tracked.
"I would visit her all the time," Uther said, looking back at his son. "It was before your mother and it was before you and it made me realize what I wanted in my life." Uther stared hard at Arthur, and Arthur stared right back. Moments ticked by and Arthur focused on the dark flecks in his father’s eyes and the way the blood rushed in his eardrums. He’d never imagined something like this happening to anyone, let alone his own father. It gave Arthur a new perspective on his father; something he never expected to have. It finally made him human.
Uther broke eye contact first and looked at the wall behind Arthur’s head again. Arthur, not sure he could look away, blindly found the keys on his keyboard and waited.
"When Forks was caught, Madelyn was given the option to join her aunt and uncle in New York, or stay with the family friends and resume her life. But she was traumatized, and didn’t want to stay here and face the sympathetic looks. So, Madelyn Vintry stayed dead and Morgause Black left.
"I didn’t see her again until she came to me five years ago, requesting personal protection. I didn’t realize she needed it for anything. I didn’t know who or what she had become over the years, but I was so overjoyed to see her again - and looking so much happier than the day she left - that I told her I’d give her whatever she needed."
Arthur didn’t remember the day they’d picked up Morgause as a client, but he did remember the first guard who was shot protecting her. It had happened only three days into her new detail. Three days. It should have been a sign.
"So how did the reporter find out that you had this dark secret? How did they know that Morgause was somehow connected to it when you say no one knows that Morgause and Madelyn are the same peson?" Arthur narrowed his eyes at his father. "None of that makes sense."
Uther looked at his son and Arthur knew he wasn’t going to like the next part of the story. Not that he’d enjoyed the what he’d learned so far. "Madelyn," he started, but shook his head. "No, Madelyn truly is dead. Morgause came to me yesterday at the same time you were set to appear on the show. She said that she wanted to see my face when I realized my destruction was imminent."
Arthur’s eyebrow rose slowly. "I’m sorry, that just sounds ridiculous."
"I think she’s mentally disturbed, Arthur," Uther responded, maybe a bit too harshly. "I think she’s spent her whole life blaming me for not being there to save her parents that all she can focus on is destroying me."
"It seems a bit... elaborate."
"She always had a flair for the dramatic."
Arthur huffed and closed the top of his netbook. He was barely taking notes anyway. If he ever forgot this day, he’d be surprised (and happy). "Finish, Father."
Uther looked at his son and sighed one final time. "Every detail that had been attacked was on purpose. Morgause had hired men to come after them, but making it look like it was an attempt on her life. She kept putting detail out commission and then this."
"This being?"
"She took her story to the media. She knew you would be the face of the explanations and the reassurance and wouldn’t know a thing about what had really happened. And it worked. As you say, you looked like a fool and it brought speculation about me so that now we have to respond.
"Elaborate, yes," Uther said. "But effective."
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Arthur paced though his office, anger coursing through his veins. Anger and humiliation. He shouldn’t have had to convince his father to call the police about Morgause. She had purposefully tried to have people hurt or possibly killed all for her own personal vendetta.
Uther hadn’t wanted to do it. He’d said she had suffered enough. Arthur wasn’t of that same mind. Innocent people had been hurt. And she was the reason.
Reluctantly, he had finally given in, but Arthur had had enough.
Now what? Did he leave the company? How could he ever trust his father again?
The answer was that it was going to take a really long time, and Uther knew that. Arthur growled and threw himself down behind his desk.
He started typing out a press release, but couldn’t focus. There had just been too much bad happen this week and he was done with the emotions of it all. He’d spent all day Saturday angsting over the kiss with Merlin and the fact that they were apparently not speaking to each other now. Arthur couldn’t help but think that he should have called after him. But it was done now and Merlin, who wasn’t answering any of his texts or phone calls, was going to avoid him. Arthur supposed he didn’t blame him. After all, he hadn’t responded to the kiss and he hadn’t called after him. Merlin was likely humiliated and Arthur had done that. He had done the one thing he hadn’t wanted to do and that was hurt Merlin.
Arthur pounded his fingers against the keyboard and wrote whatever words came to him. None of them made any sense.
He had to give Merlin a chance to cool off. He knew that, but he hated it. He regretted his reaction the minute it happened, but this was where he was now.
But, as if all that hadn’t been enough, now he had to deal with the issue of Morgause and his father. The pounding got louder. He was angry. No, he was furious. And he couldn’t think about any more of this right now.
Getting up from his desk, Arthur grabbed his suit jacket and threw it over his arm. He walked out of the office, his face set in an angry line. When Vivian tried to stop him to ask where he was going, he kept right on walking and said, "Out. I’ll be back later."
Maybe.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Merlin pulled open the door and saw Gwen standing alone on the other side. She beamed at him and wrapped her arms firmly around his neck. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" she said and kissed Merlin’s cheek. "I’m so glad all these people made it!"
Merlin grinned back at her and then grabbed her hand to pull her inside the house. He fought the urge to look back out over his shoulder as he pushed the door shut to see if Arthur just happened to be following. He knew he wasn’t.
He didn’t know why he had even gotten himself excited over the party when he knew the one person he wanted to be there wasn’t going to be. It had been a full two weeks since Merlin had kissed Arthur. And despite Arthur's texts and phone calls the day after, Merlin hadn’t seen or heard from Arthur since that night. He knew he was busy, though, dealing with the Morgause news and the issues with his father (Gwen had kept him well-informed), but Merlin missed him. Even if he didn’t want to.
Merlin missed spending time with him, just being ridiculous. They had a good friendship and Merlin felt stupid that he had been the one that had cocked it all up. He wanted to apologize to Arthur, but at the same time, he knew it didn't matte. If Arthur really hadn't wanted to see him, he'd have come find Merlin.
Gwen had told him that Arthur wasn’t doing well, but he was working though everything. Merlin wanted to be the one to joke around with him or make him feel better.
But there was no point in dwelling. It was done.
"I’m glad you came," Merlin said, aiming for upbeat and happy, even if he didn’t exactly feel that way and tried to push away all the bad thoughts and feelings that were threatening to overtake him.
Gwen grinned even wider. "You knew I’d come, Merlin," she laughed. "I only helped you set up for this thing, since your two flatmates are absolutely worthless." She put her hand up when Merlin tried to correct her about the number of flatmates he actually had. "And yes, I know that Gwaine doesn’t actually live here, but that’s a debate for another time, don’t you think?"
Merlin laughed and hugged Gwen again. No matter how much he missed Arthur, Gwen was like a ray of sunlight in a dark alley; she could always make him feel better. "Let’s get you a drink," he said when he pulled back from her. Gwen nodded her head enthusiastically and they started walking towards the makeshift bar set up on the kitchen island.
As she was mixing together some vodka and Sprite, Merlin looked at her and grinned slyly. She took a long pull from her glass and then cocked an eyebrow at him. "What?"
"I have someone to introduce you to!" Merlin said, unable to hold back any longer. He’d been waiting to introduce Gwen to Lance for the last few months, knowing full well that they would be absolutely perfect together (and probably downright disgustingly adorable, too). But Gwen had that silly crush on the guy she ran with at the park and, even though she was sure he was already seeing someone (yes, the one she was talking about when they’d been interrupted by Gwen’s announcement that she and Arthur weren’t dating), she hadn’t given up hope just yet.
Merlin was really hoping that meeting Lance at the party, and hopefully spending some time with him, would change her mind.
Gwen cringed. "Oh no you don’t," she said. "I told you, I already have an unrequited crush. I don’t want to have some awkward meeting with some guy who isn’t as great as everything thinks he is." Gwen stopped, her eyes comically wide, and looked over at Merlin. "Not that you have bad taste or anything," she stammered. "I’m sure you have great taste. It was just a general idea that no matter how awesome a guy seems to be, he’s probably not. I mean, you’re a great guy, but you’re gay, of course. And, yes."
Merlin laughed and linked their hands together. "Yes, Guinevere, I think I get what you’re saying. Now calm down before you hurt yourself."
Gwen scowled at him, but laughed a second later, all the weird awkwardness that she sometimes stumbled out with completely disappearing. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"Come along, then," Merlin said, hoping that she’d not fight him anymore, and started pulling her in the direction of the living room, where he knew he’d seen Lance talking to Will and Freya only moments before Gwen arrived. "You’ll like him."
Gwen, however, stopped abruptly and planted her feet, not allowing Merlin to pull her along anymore. "Merlin," she pouted. "I don’t want to."
Merlin couldn’t help it, but he grinned. She was just too adorable sometimes. "It’s okay, Gwen. You’ll like this guy. He’s bloody amazing, he is. Smart, sweet, funny, sensitive... you name it and he’s it, Gwen."
"Sexy?" Gwen asked, looking a tad more interested than before.
Merlin Emrys is going to win!
"Extremely sexy," Merlin said. "You won’t be able to keep your hands off him."
Gwen sighed, looking resigned, but hopeful. "Fine," she said, finally giving in after worrying at her bottom lip for a minute. "But if I don’t like him, and he turns into some crazed stalker, you’re dealing with it."
Merlin snickered, and linked their arms together. "Deal," he said and started walking them toward the living room again. "But I promise, Lance is not a stalker."
Gwen stopped again, her eyes slightly glazed over and staring off across the room. Merlin followed her gaze and grinned wider. "Did you say Lance?" she asked, prying her eyes off of Lance’s backside.
"I did," Merlin said, nodding enthusiastically. Lance was exactly where he’d been earlier, talking to Will and Gwaine (who had stubbornly refused to remove his toga, insisting that he was now part of the new-age Animal House and had, up until ten minutes ago, been shouting, "Toga! Toga! Toga!" at the top of his lungs while carrying around an ancient-looking beer bong). "He’s just over there," he said, pointing.
Gwen’s eyes were crinkled in the corners and her eyes were nearly gone as she grinned like a lunatic. Merlin wanted to take a picture to show her later, as a reminder to never make that crazy face again. Merlin Emrys doesn’t mean that. Guinevere Smithson is adorbs.
"Did I miss something?" Merlin asked, his gaze flicking between Gwen and Lance and then quirking his head to the side. "Do you know him?"
Gwen nodded, but didn’t answer as she looked back over at Lance, a dreamy expression on her face. And just like that, Merlin understood. "Oh my god! That guy you told me about is Lance? The jogger at the park?"
Gwen laughed, looked back at Merlin (only barely, like it was painful to look away from her destiny across the room), rolled her eyes and then looked back over at Lance. "I can’t believe that Lance is this guy you’ve been mentioning for over a month."
"I can’t believe you’ve been spending time with him almost every day for over a month!" Merlin said. "We need to improve our communication skills, Guinevere. Start using names or something."
"Agreed," Gwen giggled. "We are ridiculous."
"We really are," Merlin laughed. "Alright, so this should be exceptionally easy then! I don’t even have to work hard at this tonight. It’s lovely. Go on over there and talk to him then!" Merlin shoved at Gwen’s shoulders a bit, pushing her in Lance’s direction.
"Wait!" Gwen said and turned back around, her eyes wide. "He’s not seeing some short, cute, brunette then?"
Merlin looked confused for a moment, but then it was like a light bulb went off over his head. "Noooooo," he said, laughing a bit. Just then Freya walked over to Will and smiled at him. "Definitely not."
It was Gwen’s turn to look confused. "Well, who was she then?"
"Freya," Merlin answered simply, pointing at them over Gwen’s shoulder to where Will had slipped his arm around Freya’s shoulder and pulled her tight into his side (smoothly, of course, not at all in a possessive manner.)
Gwen shook her head, a tiny, nervous smile on her face. "Communication," she said, pointing her finger back and forth between the two of them. "We need some."
Merlin chuckled and then started pushing Gwen in Lance’s direction again. "Yes, communication. We’ll work on it. Tomorrow. Now gooooo."
"I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me," Gwen said, stopping again. Short of body slamming her in the right direction, Merlin couldn’t budge her. So, he sighed and dropped his arms to his side again.
Merlin Emrys will win.
"From what I’ve heard," Merlin said, "he does like you. Now, buck up, lady! For fuck’s sake, I have provided the atmosphere and the alcohol. Now you need to work your magic. I’ll even reserve Will’s bedroom for you."
Gwen looked appalled and Merlin wasn’t sure if it was because he had just suggested she have sex with Lance (and soon) or that they were free to do the nasty in Will’s room, of all places.
"You are disgusting, Merlin Emrys," she grimaced. "I would never even think about having...S-E-X with anyone in Will’s Den of Debauchery." Merlin wanted to smoosh Gwen’s face between his hands and coo at her adorableness when she first looked around to see if anyone was listening before she spelled the word sex in a whisper.
"Maybe not, but you would have SEX with him." Merlin laughed when Gwen’s eyes widened and face flushed when he yelled sex. She was too cute for words.
Gwen gasped, "Merlin! Stop! That is exceptionally inappropriate and entirely untrue."
"It is so true and you know it." Gwen blushed as Merlin added, "And besides, you only think it’s inappropriate when it’s you we’re talking about. The minute it’s someone else - like Morgana and Leon - you’re all for discussing things in elaborate detail."
Gwen blushed further, turning a delightful shade of maroon, but she couldn’t hide her smile. "Well, I did live with Morgana for quite some time. I became - errrr - privy to their - uhhhh..." Gwen faltered for a word, her hand flapping about in the air when Merlin graciously added,
"Mating rituals?"
Gwen threw her head back and laughed.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
"I’m headed home for the night."
Arthur lifted his eyes from his computer and saw Viv standing in his office doorway. Even though it was well past closing time and they had been busy all day, she still looked as fresh as she had when she’d walked in that morning. A small part of Arthur envied her - he was absolutely certain his hair was sticking on end from the frustrated pulling and his clothes even felt rumpled - but it was only a small part. Arthur loved his life. Sure, there were parts of it that he just wanted to do away with in the quickest way possible. But, for the most part, he was happy.
And alone.
A little voice in Arthur’s head sighed. He needed to get home, yet he wasn’t going to. Not yet anyway. He didn’t want to see the party festivities going on next door. He wasn’t... ready yet.
"Do you need anything else?" Vivian asked.
Arthur stared at her for a brief moment and contemplated what kind of conversation would turn about if he said, Yes. Fix my love life. But asking one of his exes - especially one of the slightly off-kilter ones - was a pretty bad idea.
He shook his head, "No. Thank you, Viv." Vivian nodded and turned around to walk out, but Arthur stopped her. "You done really well the last couple weeks," he said, his voice soft. "I don’t tell you that often enough."
Vivian was taken aback, but smiled gently. "Thank you, Arthur."
He nodded back at her, slightly uncomfortable because praise wasn’t exactly one of those things that he handed out easily. Sometimes it was hard to give something when you never received it yourself. "Only a couple more days of this and things should settle down again," he added.
Vivian smiled one more time and then, with a quick tip of her head, turned back around and left.
Arthur stared after her, his mind moving a thousand miles per minute. He needed to work longer; even though he’d been at work since before six that morning, he had a lot to still get done. He had three phone, two radio and four television interviews set for the next day to continue rectifying all the damage caused by Morgause’s incident. It had been going on like that for two weeks and Athur was sick to death of seeing himself on television, on the internet and hearing his voice over the radio. For once, he was praying that something else, something big and destructive, maybe - would happen, so the company would no longer be the centre of attention.
But Arthur, now that his concentration had been broken, wasn’t thinking about the hellish next day he had in front of him. Instead, his mind was consumed by dark hair, bright eyes, long limbs and ridiculous ears.
Running a defeated hand through his hair, Arthur turned to his computer again and minimized all this work. With a few more frustrated punches at the keyboard, he was on the Internet and looking at his Facebook page. He was expecting there to be updates and possibly a few pictures of the epic party going on at Merlin and Will’s flat tonight, but Arthur’s eyes widened when he saw that his Newsfeed seemed to be overtaken by Merlin.
Merlin.
Not the party. Though, there were some pictures and posts about other things happening at the party, but everything was mostly focused on Merlin. Merlin, who was uncomfortable having his picture taken on a good day, was in almost every picture and his name was linked in almost every post.
Arthur, his hand shaking after seeing a particularly good picture of Merlin and Gwen laughing together - her head thrown back to expose her long neck and his body hunched forward in his typical Merlin giggle that was far from manly - read quickly through the posts and scanned the pictures.
Even if he hadn’t known it already, he knew now that he was missing the party of the century. And even though it was far from being Merlin’s specialty, he seemed to have pulled it off. Arthur was sorry he hadn’t been there to help plan.
He missed Merlin. It had been two weeks since the kiss and the blow-up with Morgause, and it wasn’t until that very moment that Arthur realized exactly how much he missed him.
And he needed to be there because it was Merlin’s birthday.
Arthur jumped up from his seat without closing any of the windows on his computer or turning it off, grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and fled his office. He only paused for a moment to set the alarm and the pulled the locked door closed behind him. When he stood at the lift, waiting for its ascent to him, he tapped his foot impatiently and checked his watched every two seconds. Not thirty seconds had passed and he’d made his decision. He bolted to the left and ran toward the stairs. He could run the thirty-five flights faster.
As the stairwell door slammed behind him, the elevator doors opened and Merlin bustled out.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Merlin leaned against the back wall of the lift and sighed.
He had finally convinced Gwen to go up to Lance after another five minutes of prodding (Gwen was adorable, but far too insecure - Merlin hoped Lance would help her with that) and they had nothing but heart eyes for each other, like he had assumed would be the case. At that point, Merlin had been surrounded his friends, all coupled up, and Merlin had felt faint, like someone had grabbed him tightly around the chest and squeezed, causing bright, white lights to pop in his vision and cut his breathing down to short gasps. The feeling had been so intense that Merlin had fallen down into a chair, dropped his head between his knees and struggled to breathe.
No one had noticed him sitting there having a meltdown and he’d never felt so alone when surrounded by so many people. And it was then that he realized he and Arthur needed to talk things out. He needed to either fix everything, or he needed to have some closure. And either way, it was happening tonight.
That was when Merlin had gotten up from his chair quickly, ran outside and hurried across their gardens to Arthur’s front door. He’d stood there, the night warm and dry for the first time in over a week, and waited for Arthur to come to the door. But even as he stood there, hope filling his chest and leaking down into his belly, he knew Arthur wasn’t there. There were no lights on and even if Arthur had been home and in bed, he would have been to the door by now.
No, Arthur hadn’t been there and Merlin had instantly felt the need to hyperventilate. Instead, plucking as much courage as he could, Merlin ran back to his own flat, screaming GWAINE! the minute the door closed behind him.
A few people had turned to look at him, worried looks on their face at his harried expression, but he ignored them and fought his way through the crowds of people when he saw Gwaine over by the kitchen door, lips attached to Elena’s.
It had been difficult to shake Gwaine away from Elena long enough to procure his car keys, but it had been done. And without having to answer any weird questions about where he was going, because Gwaine was an awesome friend and just wanted to make out with his new girlfriend. Keys in hand, Merlin had navigated his way back out of the house, ignoring as many people as humanely possible without being rude (like he really wanted to be) and manoeuvred Gwaine’s car out of the driveway.
His hands had shook as he’d pressed the button to the lift up to Arthur’s office and he’d had to lean over, breathing deeply between his knees again as he waited for the lift to make it up the thirty-five flights, agonizingly slowly.
It had been utterly heartbreaking when he’d stepped off the lift, turned left and saw the office door closed and all the lights off inside. Arthur hadn’t been there and the realization had been like a punch to the gut. He’d stared at the door for a full two minutes, before turning back and calling for the lift again.
And now here he was, travelling back down those thirty-five flights in the slow lift and contemplating what all this meant. And really, it only meant one thing.
Merlin Emrys needs to move on.
Tears pricked his eyes. For once his third-person thoughts were dead-on. There was a reason, Merlin thought, that he hadn’t been able to find Arthur: it just wasn’t supposed to happen. And Merlin... well, he was just going to have to move on. Merlin, in the past, had been a bit of a masochist and he swore he’d never be that person again.
They hadn’t spoken in two weeks. Merlin had kissed Arthur and he hadn’t kissed him back. Things were done.
The lift dinged as it came to reception and Merlin pushed away from the back wall. He caught a glimpse of his dejected reflection in the mirrored doors and quickly looked away while they opened. And that was why, when he walked off the lift, he was barrelled into by a very handsome, blond man.
"Arthur!" Merlin shrieked - not at all like a little girl - when Arthur’s arms wrapped around Merlin’s waist instinctively to stop them from falling to the hard, granite floor.
Arthur’s eyes widened and then a smile broke out on his stupidly handsome face. Merlin was trying to squirm out of his tight grasp (because really? Did he have to suffer anymore?) but Arthur held him tighter and continued to beam at him. "Merlin!" he exclaimed, a laugh in his voice, and then he was kissing him, sloppy and excited.
Merlin should have pushed him away, but this is what he’d been hoping for, wasn’t it?
Arthur ran a hand slowly up his back until his warm fingertips rested against the nape of Merlin’s neck. He pressed gently against the skin and it was like a shot of liquid heat generated there and traveled through his body to pool in his groin. His reaction to Arthur’s touch was instantaneous and felt so right. He couldn’t stop the it when his hips thrust forward.
"Merlin," Arthur purred, moving his mouth to align with Merlin’s ear. "God, Merlin. I’ve missed you."
Merlin’s stomach twisted and there was a roaring in his ears. "You’re a bloody prat," he shuttered out when Arthur’s tongue swept down the side of his neck and attached to his collar bone. "Bigger than Will, even," he said and sucked in a breath when Arthur grazed his teeth against his skin, lighting it on fire. "Bigger than anyone I know."
Arthur chuckled against the side of his neck. "Have you been spying on me in the shower, Merlin?" he asked and thrust his hips forward. "I’m glad to know you think so highly of my size." Merlin’s mouth made a perfect "o" when he felt the hard bulge in Arthur’s suit trousers press tightly against the similar one in his jeans.
"I wasn’t talking about that," Merlin muttered, his voice barely over a whisper, when Arthur’s face - eyes blown, cheeks flushed, hair mussed - appeared before him.
His face was determined. "Shut up, Merlin," he said and crashed their lips together.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Arthur leaned against the boot of Gwaine’s car and reached out to put his fingers through the beltloops of Merlin’s jeans. He pulled him forward into the space between his legs and Merlin was instantly hit with a wave of adoration, followed by complete embarrassment, because he refused to be the girl in this relationship.
He tried to pull back a bit, but Arthur was grinning at him and his stomach flip-flopped in an all-too-familiar way. Merlin Emrys can give in this one time.
When he was settled the way Arthur wanted him between his legs, Merlin ran his fingers gently through Arthur’s blond locks, trying to restore order to the mess he’d made to it only a few minutes before. His face flushed at the memory of the way Arthur had pulled him into the lift, gone up a few flights and pushed the emergency stop. The mirrors in the lift had made things extremely interesting and Merlin was going to suggest they have them installed in both of their rooms. Soon.
"I missed you, too," Merlin said, breaking the comfortable silence they had been sitting in - aside from Arthur’s moans of approval.
Arthur’s eyes opened and Merlin could see the exhaustion there. It had been a rough couple of weeks for him, Merlin knew, and he was sorry he hadn’t been there to help him through it in some way. It made him sad to think of the time they lost, even if it was only a couple of weeks. In the grand scheme of things, that wasn’t long at all, so Merlin tried not to ache at the loss.
"I’m sorry I didn’t call after you," Arthur said, his tone hushed.
Merlin’s face fell, remembering the embarrassment and hurt he’d felt after Arthur had rejected him. If Arthur had called after him, he would have come rushing back, even if it was to find out that Arthur wasn’t actually interested. At least then there would have been closure and maybe they could have moved on with their friendship. Strained at first, of course, but then it would have eventually worked out. They would have forgotten about the kiss and things would have been fine.
Merlin might have moved on sooner or later and Arthur would have found someone perfect for him. They would have stood up at each other’s weddings.
But that wasn’t what Merlin had wanted at all. He didn’t know it at the time, but this - right here - was exactly what he wanted.
"I’m sorry I jumped you like that," Merlin smiled.
Arthur smirked. "No you’re not."
"No, I’m not," Merlin laughed.
"You are not funny, Merlin Emrys."
"Merlin Emrys is all sorts of funny," he said, before leaning in to kiss him. Arthur was shaking his head the whole time, laughter bubbling underneath the surface.
When they pulled apart, foreheads touching and breath shuttered, Arthur smiled. "I love you, Merlin."
Merlin wanted to cling to Arthur like a second skin, his stomach twisting and turning in excitement. "I love you, too," he said and attacked his mouth once more.
Summary: Modern AU. Sometimes the road to love is paved in ridiculous, if not somewhat awkward Facebook and Twitter posts, far too many pop culture references than are strictly necessary, nosy supporting cast members with insanely large personalities, the establishment of "Comfy Couch of Cuddles and Conversations", and a little bit of liquid courage. Call it a bonus when destiny lives next door. Loosely based on this KMM prompt.
Part 6
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
"I can’t believe that you wouldn’t tell me about this!" Arthur shouted, after he had barged past Katrina and into Uther’s office completely unannounced. "This of all things, you don’t tell me! How the in bloody hell am I supposed to fix this, Father?!"
Uther was sat behind his desk, staring at an empty spot on the far wall across from him. Arthur didn’t like the disconnected, far away look in his eyes, but it would have to wait.
"I was blindsided in an interview this weekend all because you couldn’t tell me the truth about Morgause. And after repeated attempts! Now, not only do I look like a complete fool, this company is going to suffer." Arthur sat down in the uncomfortable chair across from his father. "I don’t know if what that reporter said was true or not, but it looks awfully bad when I can’t do anything more than stutter through an, I’m not at liberty to discuss that at this time. So, you need to tell me everything and now," Arthur finished. He opened the top of his netbook, a document already open to start taking notes. "Go."
Uther shook his head. "I don’t really know where to start, son," he said, his voice low and soft, defeated. Arthur had never seen his father like this. Uther had always been, no matter what the situation, as stoic and hard as a stone statue. But now he just looked like a broken man, something Arthur never thought he’d ever see, nor did he think he ever wanted to see again.
But at that moment, time was of the essence right now and Athur, the face of the company, needed to be able to go to the public and fix everything before it got out of hand. He could deal with his father’s angst and obvious guilt at another time. Right now, as Uther had always taught him: Business. Always business.
So, Arthur steeled his features and said crisply, "From the beginning. I need to know everything."
"I’ve known Morgause a very long time," Uther said after a moment, still staring at the opposite wall. "And I--" Uther stopped, his head shaking back and forth, like he was trying to dislodge and purge the memories, "I never imagined she would do this."
Arthur resisted the urge to put down his netbook and comfort his father, because there just wasn’t the time - not to mention, Uther would have an epic fit if that happened - but he did say, a bit more softly, "The beginning, Father."
Uther finally looked away from the wall and sighed. He straightened in his chair and cleared his throat and then looked at Arthur. He could tell that his father was trying to be as professional as possible, but the telltale glint in his eye - the one that people feared - was absent.
"As you know, when I first started in this business I was on personal protection detail working for European Security." Arthur nodded his head, knowing the entire story about Uther’s rise through the ranks at E.S., the shoulder injury he’d obtained that removed him from active field duty, and the eventual start up of the empire that was now Camelot Security and Detail.
"My shoulder injury, the reason I was taken off active field duty and decided to start up CSD, occurred one night while I was on duty. Not in a car accident like I’d previously told you."
"You said it was a car accident," Arthur said, confused.
"I lied."
"I’m sorry," Arthur said, his mouth barely opening, making him push the words out through gritted teeth. Arthur was angry. What else had his father lied to him about over the years? "You were injured while on duty? Why was I never told this version of the story?"
"It was just easier to keep on telling you the lie," Uther said wearily. "It wasn’t that I wanted to keep it from you. Only a select few people know exactly what happened that night and we’ve kept it well-hidden on purpose."
Arthur, a muscle jumping in his jaw, tried hard to relax so he wouldn’t scream profanities at his father and storm out. "Explain. Now." If he was a little more harsh than may have seemed necessary, he figured he was allowed it, under the circumstances.
"We were trying to keep Madelyn safe."
"Who is Madelyn?"
Uther looked at his son, the hurt that had evidently been buried deep inside him pouring out through his eyes. "Madelyn is Morgause’s real name. Madelyn Morgause Vintry."
Arthur stopped again, his mouth hanging open slightly. "Vintry? As in Michael Vintry? The French dignitary who was assassinated in his home?"
"One and the same," Uther mumbled, his fingers folding together on top of the desk. Uther sighed and then continued. "Madelyn was Michael’s daughter, and I was their evening detail."
"The Vintrys were killed in their home in the evening," Arthur said, still shocked and confused by everything his father had so far told him. "By your admission, you should be dead, as well."
"Should, yes."
"Father," Arthur started, shaking his head while the anger built up deep in his belly. "None of this makes sense and you’re being needlessly cryptic. I need to know what happened, so just tell me already."
Uther’s eyebrows came together for a moment, furious. But then they relaxed again and nodded his head. "Yes, of course, you’re right."
Arthur’s fingers poised on his keyboard and he willed the adrenaline and anger to stop coursing through his body long enough so he could hear the story and take the necessary notes. "Good," he said, making his voice as cold as he possibly could. There was no more room for family issues here. Business, Arthur chanted in his head. All business. "Begin."
"I was, in fact, the Vintrys night guard and was supposed to be on duty the night of the fire," Uther began, "But Michael and Deena asked me to take Madelyn out for a movie that night, so they could have some time alone. Few knew, but Michael and Deena were on the verge of divorce and they wanted to get some things out in the open that evening with their therapist.
"Because I was Madelyn’s favorite guard, she was excited about the movie and spending time with me. She used to call me her cuddle bear." Uther stopped and the corner of his mouth turned up in an attempt at a smile.
And just like that, it was gone. "I wasn’t supposed to leave the Vintry’s alone, no matter the circumstances, because there had been such a plethora of attempts on his lives over the years, that constant details was required. But, because I liked the Vintrys and Madelyn, I did as they asked. While we were out, Colin Marcus Forks blew up the house, with Michael, Deena and their therapist, Dr. Arlene Curtis, inside."
Uther stopped and took a deep breath. Arthur didn’t push him to continue, even though he wanted to. Instead, he sat quietly and waited while his father collected himself and his thoughts. It was plain to see that even for someone as rich, powerful and stoic as Uther, this was a difficult subject to talk about. The only other time Arthur had seen his father like this was when he talked about his wife and Arthur’s mother, Igraine.
"My supervisor decided with the owner of E.S. that it would be best for Forks to think that Madelyn had been killed in the fire, as well, since we weren’t sure if Forks would want to go after her too.
"It took some finagling and work with the police, but we managed to keep the doctor’s name out of the papers and said there were three dead bodies found, badly burned, in the Vintrys’ home. We changed Madelyn’s last name to Black and started calling her by her middle name, Morgause, and she lived with friends of the family for a few months while Forks was tracked.
"I would visit her all the time," Uther said, looking back at his son. "It was before your mother and it was before you and it made me realize what I wanted in my life." Uther stared hard at Arthur, and Arthur stared right back. Moments ticked by and Arthur focused on the dark flecks in his father’s eyes and the way the blood rushed in his eardrums. He’d never imagined something like this happening to anyone, let alone his own father. It gave Arthur a new perspective on his father; something he never expected to have. It finally made him human.
Uther broke eye contact first and looked at the wall behind Arthur’s head again. Arthur, not sure he could look away, blindly found the keys on his keyboard and waited.
"When Forks was caught, Madelyn was given the option to join her aunt and uncle in New York, or stay with the family friends and resume her life. But she was traumatized, and didn’t want to stay here and face the sympathetic looks. So, Madelyn Vintry stayed dead and Morgause Black left.
"I didn’t see her again until she came to me five years ago, requesting personal protection. I didn’t realize she needed it for anything. I didn’t know who or what she had become over the years, but I was so overjoyed to see her again - and looking so much happier than the day she left - that I told her I’d give her whatever she needed."
Arthur didn’t remember the day they’d picked up Morgause as a client, but he did remember the first guard who was shot protecting her. It had happened only three days into her new detail. Three days. It should have been a sign.
"So how did the reporter find out that you had this dark secret? How did they know that Morgause was somehow connected to it when you say no one knows that Morgause and Madelyn are the same peson?" Arthur narrowed his eyes at his father. "None of that makes sense."
Uther looked at his son and Arthur knew he wasn’t going to like the next part of the story. Not that he’d enjoyed the what he’d learned so far. "Madelyn," he started, but shook his head. "No, Madelyn truly is dead. Morgause came to me yesterday at the same time you were set to appear on the show. She said that she wanted to see my face when I realized my destruction was imminent."
Arthur’s eyebrow rose slowly. "I’m sorry, that just sounds ridiculous."
"I think she’s mentally disturbed, Arthur," Uther responded, maybe a bit too harshly. "I think she’s spent her whole life blaming me for not being there to save her parents that all she can focus on is destroying me."
"It seems a bit... elaborate."
"She always had a flair for the dramatic."
Arthur huffed and closed the top of his netbook. He was barely taking notes anyway. If he ever forgot this day, he’d be surprised (and happy). "Finish, Father."
Uther looked at his son and sighed one final time. "Every detail that had been attacked was on purpose. Morgause had hired men to come after them, but making it look like it was an attempt on her life. She kept putting detail out commission and then this."
"This being?"
"She took her story to the media. She knew you would be the face of the explanations and the reassurance and wouldn’t know a thing about what had really happened. And it worked. As you say, you looked like a fool and it brought speculation about me so that now we have to respond.
"Elaborate, yes," Uther said. "But effective."
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Arthur paced though his office, anger coursing through his veins. Anger and humiliation. He shouldn’t have had to convince his father to call the police about Morgause. She had purposefully tried to have people hurt or possibly killed all for her own personal vendetta.
Uther hadn’t wanted to do it. He’d said she had suffered enough. Arthur wasn’t of that same mind. Innocent people had been hurt. And she was the reason.
Reluctantly, he had finally given in, but Arthur had had enough.
Now what? Did he leave the company? How could he ever trust his father again?
The answer was that it was going to take a really long time, and Uther knew that. Arthur growled and threw himself down behind his desk.
He started typing out a press release, but couldn’t focus. There had just been too much bad happen this week and he was done with the emotions of it all. He’d spent all day Saturday angsting over the kiss with Merlin and the fact that they were apparently not speaking to each other now. Arthur couldn’t help but think that he should have called after him. But it was done now and Merlin, who wasn’t answering any of his texts or phone calls, was going to avoid him. Arthur supposed he didn’t blame him. After all, he hadn’t responded to the kiss and he hadn’t called after him. Merlin was likely humiliated and Arthur had done that. He had done the one thing he hadn’t wanted to do and that was hurt Merlin.
Arthur pounded his fingers against the keyboard and wrote whatever words came to him. None of them made any sense.
He had to give Merlin a chance to cool off. He knew that, but he hated it. He regretted his reaction the minute it happened, but this was where he was now.
But, as if all that hadn’t been enough, now he had to deal with the issue of Morgause and his father. The pounding got louder. He was angry. No, he was furious. And he couldn’t think about any more of this right now.
Getting up from his desk, Arthur grabbed his suit jacket and threw it over his arm. He walked out of the office, his face set in an angry line. When Vivian tried to stop him to ask where he was going, he kept right on walking and said, "Out. I’ll be back later."
Maybe.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Merlin pulled open the door and saw Gwen standing alone on the other side. She beamed at him and wrapped her arms firmly around his neck. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" she said and kissed Merlin’s cheek. "I’m so glad all these people made it!"
Merlin grinned back at her and then grabbed her hand to pull her inside the house. He fought the urge to look back out over his shoulder as he pushed the door shut to see if Arthur just happened to be following. He knew he wasn’t.
He didn’t know why he had even gotten himself excited over the party when he knew the one person he wanted to be there wasn’t going to be. It had been a full two weeks since Merlin had kissed Arthur. And despite Arthur's texts and phone calls the day after, Merlin hadn’t seen or heard from Arthur since that night. He knew he was busy, though, dealing with the Morgause news and the issues with his father (Gwen had kept him well-informed), but Merlin missed him. Even if he didn’t want to.
Merlin missed spending time with him, just being ridiculous. They had a good friendship and Merlin felt stupid that he had been the one that had cocked it all up. He wanted to apologize to Arthur, but at the same time, he knew it didn't matte. If Arthur really hadn't wanted to see him, he'd have come find Merlin.
Gwen had told him that Arthur wasn’t doing well, but he was working though everything. Merlin wanted to be the one to joke around with him or make him feel better.
But there was no point in dwelling. It was done.
"I’m glad you came," Merlin said, aiming for upbeat and happy, even if he didn’t exactly feel that way and tried to push away all the bad thoughts and feelings that were threatening to overtake him.
Gwen grinned even wider. "You knew I’d come, Merlin," she laughed. "I only helped you set up for this thing, since your two flatmates are absolutely worthless." She put her hand up when Merlin tried to correct her about the number of flatmates he actually had. "And yes, I know that Gwaine doesn’t actually live here, but that’s a debate for another time, don’t you think?"
Merlin laughed and hugged Gwen again. No matter how much he missed Arthur, Gwen was like a ray of sunlight in a dark alley; she could always make him feel better. "Let’s get you a drink," he said when he pulled back from her. Gwen nodded her head enthusiastically and they started walking towards the makeshift bar set up on the kitchen island.
As she was mixing together some vodka and Sprite, Merlin looked at her and grinned slyly. She took a long pull from her glass and then cocked an eyebrow at him. "What?"
"I have someone to introduce you to!" Merlin said, unable to hold back any longer. He’d been waiting to introduce Gwen to Lance for the last few months, knowing full well that they would be absolutely perfect together (and probably downright disgustingly adorable, too). But Gwen had that silly crush on the guy she ran with at the park and, even though she was sure he was already seeing someone (yes, the one she was talking about when they’d been interrupted by Gwen’s announcement that she and Arthur weren’t dating), she hadn’t given up hope just yet.
Merlin was really hoping that meeting Lance at the party, and hopefully spending some time with him, would change her mind.
Gwen cringed. "Oh no you don’t," she said. "I told you, I already have an unrequited crush. I don’t want to have some awkward meeting with some guy who isn’t as great as everything thinks he is." Gwen stopped, her eyes comically wide, and looked over at Merlin. "Not that you have bad taste or anything," she stammered. "I’m sure you have great taste. It was just a general idea that no matter how awesome a guy seems to be, he’s probably not. I mean, you’re a great guy, but you’re gay, of course. And, yes."
Merlin laughed and linked their hands together. "Yes, Guinevere, I think I get what you’re saying. Now calm down before you hurt yourself."
Gwen scowled at him, but laughed a second later, all the weird awkwardness that she sometimes stumbled out with completely disappearing. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"Come along, then," Merlin said, hoping that she’d not fight him anymore, and started pulling her in the direction of the living room, where he knew he’d seen Lance talking to Will and Freya only moments before Gwen arrived. "You’ll like him."
Gwen, however, stopped abruptly and planted her feet, not allowing Merlin to pull her along anymore. "Merlin," she pouted. "I don’t want to."
Merlin couldn’t help it, but he grinned. She was just too adorable sometimes. "It’s okay, Gwen. You’ll like this guy. He’s bloody amazing, he is. Smart, sweet, funny, sensitive... you name it and he’s it, Gwen."
"Sexy?" Gwen asked, looking a tad more interested than before.
Merlin Emrys is going to win!
"Extremely sexy," Merlin said. "You won’t be able to keep your hands off him."
Gwen sighed, looking resigned, but hopeful. "Fine," she said, finally giving in after worrying at her bottom lip for a minute. "But if I don’t like him, and he turns into some crazed stalker, you’re dealing with it."
Merlin snickered, and linked their arms together. "Deal," he said and started walking them toward the living room again. "But I promise, Lance is not a stalker."
Gwen stopped again, her eyes slightly glazed over and staring off across the room. Merlin followed her gaze and grinned wider. "Did you say Lance?" she asked, prying her eyes off of Lance’s backside.
"I did," Merlin said, nodding enthusiastically. Lance was exactly where he’d been earlier, talking to Will and Gwaine (who had stubbornly refused to remove his toga, insisting that he was now part of the new-age Animal House and had, up until ten minutes ago, been shouting, "Toga! Toga! Toga!" at the top of his lungs while carrying around an ancient-looking beer bong). "He’s just over there," he said, pointing.
Gwen’s eyes were crinkled in the corners and her eyes were nearly gone as she grinned like a lunatic. Merlin wanted to take a picture to show her later, as a reminder to never make that crazy face again. Merlin Emrys doesn’t mean that. Guinevere Smithson is adorbs.
"Did I miss something?" Merlin asked, his gaze flicking between Gwen and Lance and then quirking his head to the side. "Do you know him?"
Gwen nodded, but didn’t answer as she looked back over at Lance, a dreamy expression on her face. And just like that, Merlin understood. "Oh my god! That guy you told me about is Lance? The jogger at the park?"
Gwen laughed, looked back at Merlin (only barely, like it was painful to look away from her destiny across the room), rolled her eyes and then looked back over at Lance. "I can’t believe that Lance is this guy you’ve been mentioning for over a month."
"I can’t believe you’ve been spending time with him almost every day for over a month!" Merlin said. "We need to improve our communication skills, Guinevere. Start using names or something."
"Agreed," Gwen giggled. "We are ridiculous."
"We really are," Merlin laughed. "Alright, so this should be exceptionally easy then! I don’t even have to work hard at this tonight. It’s lovely. Go on over there and talk to him then!" Merlin shoved at Gwen’s shoulders a bit, pushing her in Lance’s direction.
"Wait!" Gwen said and turned back around, her eyes wide. "He’s not seeing some short, cute, brunette then?"
Merlin looked confused for a moment, but then it was like a light bulb went off over his head. "Noooooo," he said, laughing a bit. Just then Freya walked over to Will and smiled at him. "Definitely not."
It was Gwen’s turn to look confused. "Well, who was she then?"
"Freya," Merlin answered simply, pointing at them over Gwen’s shoulder to where Will had slipped his arm around Freya’s shoulder and pulled her tight into his side (smoothly, of course, not at all in a possessive manner.)
Gwen shook her head, a tiny, nervous smile on her face. "Communication," she said, pointing her finger back and forth between the two of them. "We need some."
Merlin chuckled and then started pushing Gwen in Lance’s direction again. "Yes, communication. We’ll work on it. Tomorrow. Now gooooo."
"I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me," Gwen said, stopping again. Short of body slamming her in the right direction, Merlin couldn’t budge her. So, he sighed and dropped his arms to his side again.
Merlin Emrys will win.
"From what I’ve heard," Merlin said, "he does like you. Now, buck up, lady! For fuck’s sake, I have provided the atmosphere and the alcohol. Now you need to work your magic. I’ll even reserve Will’s bedroom for you."
Gwen looked appalled and Merlin wasn’t sure if it was because he had just suggested she have sex with Lance (and soon) or that they were free to do the nasty in Will’s room, of all places.
"You are disgusting, Merlin Emrys," she grimaced. "I would never even think about having...S-E-X with anyone in Will’s Den of Debauchery." Merlin wanted to smoosh Gwen’s face between his hands and coo at her adorableness when she first looked around to see if anyone was listening before she spelled the word sex in a whisper.
"Maybe not, but you would have SEX with him." Merlin laughed when Gwen’s eyes widened and face flushed when he yelled sex. She was too cute for words.
Gwen gasped, "Merlin! Stop! That is exceptionally inappropriate and entirely untrue."
"It is so true and you know it." Gwen blushed as Merlin added, "And besides, you only think it’s inappropriate when it’s you we’re talking about. The minute it’s someone else - like Morgana and Leon - you’re all for discussing things in elaborate detail."
Gwen blushed further, turning a delightful shade of maroon, but she couldn’t hide her smile. "Well, I did live with Morgana for quite some time. I became - errrr - privy to their - uhhhh..." Gwen faltered for a word, her hand flapping about in the air when Merlin graciously added,
"Mating rituals?"
Gwen threw her head back and laughed.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
"I’m headed home for the night."
Arthur lifted his eyes from his computer and saw Viv standing in his office doorway. Even though it was well past closing time and they had been busy all day, she still looked as fresh as she had when she’d walked in that morning. A small part of Arthur envied her - he was absolutely certain his hair was sticking on end from the frustrated pulling and his clothes even felt rumpled - but it was only a small part. Arthur loved his life. Sure, there were parts of it that he just wanted to do away with in the quickest way possible. But, for the most part, he was happy.
And alone.
A little voice in Arthur’s head sighed. He needed to get home, yet he wasn’t going to. Not yet anyway. He didn’t want to see the party festivities going on next door. He wasn’t... ready yet.
"Do you need anything else?" Vivian asked.
Arthur stared at her for a brief moment and contemplated what kind of conversation would turn about if he said, Yes. Fix my love life. But asking one of his exes - especially one of the slightly off-kilter ones - was a pretty bad idea.
He shook his head, "No. Thank you, Viv." Vivian nodded and turned around to walk out, but Arthur stopped her. "You done really well the last couple weeks," he said, his voice soft. "I don’t tell you that often enough."
Vivian was taken aback, but smiled gently. "Thank you, Arthur."
He nodded back at her, slightly uncomfortable because praise wasn’t exactly one of those things that he handed out easily. Sometimes it was hard to give something when you never received it yourself. "Only a couple more days of this and things should settle down again," he added.
Vivian smiled one more time and then, with a quick tip of her head, turned back around and left.
Arthur stared after her, his mind moving a thousand miles per minute. He needed to work longer; even though he’d been at work since before six that morning, he had a lot to still get done. He had three phone, two radio and four television interviews set for the next day to continue rectifying all the damage caused by Morgause’s incident. It had been going on like that for two weeks and Athur was sick to death of seeing himself on television, on the internet and hearing his voice over the radio. For once, he was praying that something else, something big and destructive, maybe - would happen, so the company would no longer be the centre of attention.
But Arthur, now that his concentration had been broken, wasn’t thinking about the hellish next day he had in front of him. Instead, his mind was consumed by dark hair, bright eyes, long limbs and ridiculous ears.
Running a defeated hand through his hair, Arthur turned to his computer again and minimized all this work. With a few more frustrated punches at the keyboard, he was on the Internet and looking at his Facebook page. He was expecting there to be updates and possibly a few pictures of the epic party going on at Merlin and Will’s flat tonight, but Arthur’s eyes widened when he saw that his Newsfeed seemed to be overtaken by Merlin.
Merlin.
Not the party. Though, there were some pictures and posts about other things happening at the party, but everything was mostly focused on Merlin. Merlin, who was uncomfortable having his picture taken on a good day, was in almost every picture and his name was linked in almost every post.
Arthur, his hand shaking after seeing a particularly good picture of Merlin and Gwen laughing together - her head thrown back to expose her long neck and his body hunched forward in his typical Merlin giggle that was far from manly - read quickly through the posts and scanned the pictures.
Even if he hadn’t known it already, he knew now that he was missing the party of the century. And even though it was far from being Merlin’s specialty, he seemed to have pulled it off. Arthur was sorry he hadn’t been there to help plan.
He missed Merlin. It had been two weeks since the kiss and the blow-up with Morgause, and it wasn’t until that very moment that Arthur realized exactly how much he missed him.
And he needed to be there because it was Merlin’s birthday.
Arthur jumped up from his seat without closing any of the windows on his computer or turning it off, grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and fled his office. He only paused for a moment to set the alarm and the pulled the locked door closed behind him. When he stood at the lift, waiting for its ascent to him, he tapped his foot impatiently and checked his watched every two seconds. Not thirty seconds had passed and he’d made his decision. He bolted to the left and ran toward the stairs. He could run the thirty-five flights faster.
As the stairwell door slammed behind him, the elevator doors opened and Merlin bustled out.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Merlin leaned against the back wall of the lift and sighed.
He had finally convinced Gwen to go up to Lance after another five minutes of prodding (Gwen was adorable, but far too insecure - Merlin hoped Lance would help her with that) and they had nothing but heart eyes for each other, like he had assumed would be the case. At that point, Merlin had been surrounded his friends, all coupled up, and Merlin had felt faint, like someone had grabbed him tightly around the chest and squeezed, causing bright, white lights to pop in his vision and cut his breathing down to short gasps. The feeling had been so intense that Merlin had fallen down into a chair, dropped his head between his knees and struggled to breathe.
No one had noticed him sitting there having a meltdown and he’d never felt so alone when surrounded by so many people. And it was then that he realized he and Arthur needed to talk things out. He needed to either fix everything, or he needed to have some closure. And either way, it was happening tonight.
That was when Merlin had gotten up from his chair quickly, ran outside and hurried across their gardens to Arthur’s front door. He’d stood there, the night warm and dry for the first time in over a week, and waited for Arthur to come to the door. But even as he stood there, hope filling his chest and leaking down into his belly, he knew Arthur wasn’t there. There were no lights on and even if Arthur had been home and in bed, he would have been to the door by now.
No, Arthur hadn’t been there and Merlin had instantly felt the need to hyperventilate. Instead, plucking as much courage as he could, Merlin ran back to his own flat, screaming GWAINE! the minute the door closed behind him.
A few people had turned to look at him, worried looks on their face at his harried expression, but he ignored them and fought his way through the crowds of people when he saw Gwaine over by the kitchen door, lips attached to Elena’s.
It had been difficult to shake Gwaine away from Elena long enough to procure his car keys, but it had been done. And without having to answer any weird questions about where he was going, because Gwaine was an awesome friend and just wanted to make out with his new girlfriend. Keys in hand, Merlin had navigated his way back out of the house, ignoring as many people as humanely possible without being rude (like he really wanted to be) and manoeuvred Gwaine’s car out of the driveway.
His hands had shook as he’d pressed the button to the lift up to Arthur’s office and he’d had to lean over, breathing deeply between his knees again as he waited for the lift to make it up the thirty-five flights, agonizingly slowly.
It had been utterly heartbreaking when he’d stepped off the lift, turned left and saw the office door closed and all the lights off inside. Arthur hadn’t been there and the realization had been like a punch to the gut. He’d stared at the door for a full two minutes, before turning back and calling for the lift again.
And now here he was, travelling back down those thirty-five flights in the slow lift and contemplating what all this meant. And really, it only meant one thing.
Merlin Emrys needs to move on.
Tears pricked his eyes. For once his third-person thoughts were dead-on. There was a reason, Merlin thought, that he hadn’t been able to find Arthur: it just wasn’t supposed to happen. And Merlin... well, he was just going to have to move on. Merlin, in the past, had been a bit of a masochist and he swore he’d never be that person again.
They hadn’t spoken in two weeks. Merlin had kissed Arthur and he hadn’t kissed him back. Things were done.
The lift dinged as it came to reception and Merlin pushed away from the back wall. He caught a glimpse of his dejected reflection in the mirrored doors and quickly looked away while they opened. And that was why, when he walked off the lift, he was barrelled into by a very handsome, blond man.
"Arthur!" Merlin shrieked - not at all like a little girl - when Arthur’s arms wrapped around Merlin’s waist instinctively to stop them from falling to the hard, granite floor.
Arthur’s eyes widened and then a smile broke out on his stupidly handsome face. Merlin was trying to squirm out of his tight grasp (because really? Did he have to suffer anymore?) but Arthur held him tighter and continued to beam at him. "Merlin!" he exclaimed, a laugh in his voice, and then he was kissing him, sloppy and excited.
Merlin should have pushed him away, but this is what he’d been hoping for, wasn’t it?
Arthur ran a hand slowly up his back until his warm fingertips rested against the nape of Merlin’s neck. He pressed gently against the skin and it was like a shot of liquid heat generated there and traveled through his body to pool in his groin. His reaction to Arthur’s touch was instantaneous and felt so right. He couldn’t stop the it when his hips thrust forward.
"Merlin," Arthur purred, moving his mouth to align with Merlin’s ear. "God, Merlin. I’ve missed you."
Merlin’s stomach twisted and there was a roaring in his ears. "You’re a bloody prat," he shuttered out when Arthur’s tongue swept down the side of his neck and attached to his collar bone. "Bigger than Will, even," he said and sucked in a breath when Arthur grazed his teeth against his skin, lighting it on fire. "Bigger than anyone I know."
Arthur chuckled against the side of his neck. "Have you been spying on me in the shower, Merlin?" he asked and thrust his hips forward. "I’m glad to know you think so highly of my size." Merlin’s mouth made a perfect "o" when he felt the hard bulge in Arthur’s suit trousers press tightly against the similar one in his jeans.
"I wasn’t talking about that," Merlin muttered, his voice barely over a whisper, when Arthur’s face - eyes blown, cheeks flushed, hair mussed - appeared before him.
His face was determined. "Shut up, Merlin," he said and crashed their lips together.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Arthur leaned against the boot of Gwaine’s car and reached out to put his fingers through the beltloops of Merlin’s jeans. He pulled him forward into the space between his legs and Merlin was instantly hit with a wave of adoration, followed by complete embarrassment, because he refused to be the girl in this relationship.
He tried to pull back a bit, but Arthur was grinning at him and his stomach flip-flopped in an all-too-familiar way. Merlin Emrys can give in this one time.
When he was settled the way Arthur wanted him between his legs, Merlin ran his fingers gently through Arthur’s blond locks, trying to restore order to the mess he’d made to it only a few minutes before. His face flushed at the memory of the way Arthur had pulled him into the lift, gone up a few flights and pushed the emergency stop. The mirrors in the lift had made things extremely interesting and Merlin was going to suggest they have them installed in both of their rooms. Soon.
"I missed you, too," Merlin said, breaking the comfortable silence they had been sitting in - aside from Arthur’s moans of approval.
Arthur’s eyes opened and Merlin could see the exhaustion there. It had been a rough couple of weeks for him, Merlin knew, and he was sorry he hadn’t been there to help him through it in some way. It made him sad to think of the time they lost, even if it was only a couple of weeks. In the grand scheme of things, that wasn’t long at all, so Merlin tried not to ache at the loss.
"I’m sorry I didn’t call after you," Arthur said, his tone hushed.
Merlin’s face fell, remembering the embarrassment and hurt he’d felt after Arthur had rejected him. If Arthur had called after him, he would have come rushing back, even if it was to find out that Arthur wasn’t actually interested. At least then there would have been closure and maybe they could have moved on with their friendship. Strained at first, of course, but then it would have eventually worked out. They would have forgotten about the kiss and things would have been fine.
Merlin might have moved on sooner or later and Arthur would have found someone perfect for him. They would have stood up at each other’s weddings.
But that wasn’t what Merlin had wanted at all. He didn’t know it at the time, but this - right here - was exactly what he wanted.
"I’m sorry I jumped you like that," Merlin smiled.
Arthur smirked. "No you’re not."
"No, I’m not," Merlin laughed.
"You are not funny, Merlin Emrys."
"Merlin Emrys is all sorts of funny," he said, before leaning in to kiss him. Arthur was shaking his head the whole time, laughter bubbling underneath the surface.
When they pulled apart, foreheads touching and breath shuttered, Arthur smiled. "I love you, Merlin."
Merlin wanted to cling to Arthur like a second skin, his stomach twisting and turning in excitement. "I love you, too," he said and attacked his mouth once more.