Unfaithful - Merlin/Arthur Part 1/3
Title: Unfaithful
Word Count: 4509
Rating: PG-13
Warnings/Spoilers: AU, angst
Summary: Read the title
Part 1
“Arthur?” the young man called out as he walked into their shared apartment. He had just come back from a rough day of his medical classes and wanted nothing more than to spend time with his partner.
He placed his backpack on a nearby chair before gracelessly plopping himself onto the couch relaxing into the soft material.
“You’re home early.” His boyfriend remarked as he made an appearance from the direction of their bedroom.
“Lab was cancelled for today.” He smiled turning towards Arthur and was pleasantly surprised to see him dressed up. He was wearing nice black slacks, and a casual long sleeve button down red shirt. His blonde hair was somewhat combed, and all together created an image that was lovely for anyone to admire.
“You’re looking nice.” He smiled, then proceeded to sit up and pulled his lover in close for a kiss.
“Merlin” Arthur said before the pale man could continue. “I really need to get going, or I’ll be late.”
“Oh.” Merlin had just the slightest look of dejection but immediately smiled up at him again. “Okay, where are you off to?”
“I’m going out with some of the guys, you know they’re saying we should go drink and celebrate that the season ended well. But I can stay if you’d like to spend some time together?” They both knew that the last part was a lie, and Arthur would find a way to go out either way.
“No, go have fun. I’ve got loads to study for anyways.” He once again beamed up and gave him a reassuring rub on the shoulder.
Arthur’s heart gave a slight tug as he slowly nodded and gave his dark haired lover a chaste kiss. “Don’t wait up, okay?” he gave him one last look before grabbing his coat, keys, and wallet. “I love you.” He said mechanically as he left the apartment.
“I love you too.” Merlin whispered after he heard the door close. He couldn’t help but let a few of the tears fall. He lay down again, grabbed Arthur’s favorite pillow inhaling the somewhat comforting scent, trying to convince himself that his doubts had no logic. But in the back of his mind, he knew full well that his boyfriend wouldn’t be seeing the rest of his team. He’d been coming up with excuses for several weeks now, but Merlin knew perfectly well that he was slowly losing his love to another.
~*~*~*
He couldn’t help the guilt that creeped into him every time he walked out of the apartment knowing full well it was to go into the arms of another. Merlin had been with him for many years, through thick and thin. It wasn’t until a couple of days ago that he realized his lover was aware of ‘the other one’, it was clearly written across the younger man’s face.
Even now as he fed him another lie of meeting up with his team mates, he could see the hidden pain in those deep blue eyes. He remembered promising the other man that he would never let anyone put that look of hurt in his eyes again. Now here he was driving on his way to meet the person that was helping him slowly destroy that same man he’d given an oath to.
A part of him wanted Merlin to lash out, and confront Arthur on the topic. He wanted him to scream and tell him that he didn’t ever deserve his love. But Merlin wouldn’t, it would take something drastic for him to outright say that he was aware that his suspicions were real. Sometimes he found himself wishing that Merlin wasn’t so good to him, he found himself thinking that he would deserve to be treated like crap after everything he’d done to the younger man.
His self tortured thoughts stopped as soon as he walked into the restaurant and spotted his lover. He flashed a grin at them before immediately walking over and kissing their soft tan lips. His lover looked at him with pure happiness decorating their features, the blonde felt his heart give a jump knowing that he always wanted to be the person to make his sun tanned lover smile.
“I love you.” He whispered in their ear, and couldn’t keep the goofy grin off his face when he was responded with an “I love you too.”
~*~*~*
Merlin had decided that there was really no reason to cry when it was nothing more than speculation that caused the fear to sting his heart every time Arthur lied about his whereabouts. He knew that there had to be a good reason, and he also could perhaps be doing some event with his fraternity, and everyone knows how much Greeks care about their privacy.
He’d already studied most of the night when he decided it was time to retire and sleep. He gathered his things and placed them all on top of the coffee table in the middle of the living room before getting himself ready for bed.
As he moved the sheets aside and settled himself in he couldn’t help but take a quick glance at the clock whose red letters stood out reading 4 AM. He felt a worry that started to rise, but he knew that Arthur would be fine, and soon he’d be home.
He was about to float off into sleep when he heard the bedroom door creek open, and the soft footsteps of his prince echoed in the room. He heard the shuffling of Arthur moving around to get ready for bed as well, and the rustling of his clothes. He crawled in besides Merlin, pulled the lean boy into himself and began to snuggle.
“How was it tonight?”
“I thought you were asleep already?”
“I had to stay up late doing homework.” He felt Arthur shift as he leaned over to look at Merlin.
“Well get some rest, you have a rough week ahead.” Arthur said as he placed a contented kiss on the pale forehead of his dark haired boyfriend. Merlin inhaled and could smell the scent of the other on Arthur mingled with his own scent.
“I will.” Merlin nodded as he made sure to completely face away from Arthur as he felt the tears well up in his eyes. He felt Arthur lie back down and snuggle against Merlin’s back. He listened until the blonde’s breath became even signaling his drift into sleep. Merlin wouldn’t find sleep that night as the wall of denial started to crack, and he was realizing that his suspicions had some validity to them.
~*~*~*
“You’re a prat you know.” Merlin said smugly as he turned to give his boyfriend an irritated glare.
“Now Merlin, we both know that you’re the girl in this relationship but that doesn’t mean you have to act it.” Arthur received a playful smack at the remark and couldn’t contain his laughter as he caught his lover in his arms and gave him a forceful kiss.
“You know it’s very hard to stay mad at you when you go and do things like this.” The skinny male said as he went in for another one.
He could feel his heart give a huge beat as Arthur looked at him with such love, he didn’t think anything in the world could ever feel as amazing as seeing the look in the Prince’s eyes.
“Merlin … Merlin!”
“Merlin!” Morgana said a bit louder than she had intended. She had decided to walk to the back of the library in search of a book when she noticed a mop of messy black hair that she recognized. She walked over to find a sleeping Merlin inside one of the library cubicles.
‘Poor boy’ she thought knowing that dead week was approaching which meant that most of his professors would be pouring all the work and knowledge they had failed to get to during the past few months of school. She couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling when she saw those pictures on the magazine that was obsessed with following the royal family. She like most of the people who were actually close to Arthur and Merlin knew it was total bullocks but the stressed out young man in front of her didn’t need any additional problems. She shook him slightly which proved efficient, as his head quickly snapped up.
“What , I’m awake.” Merlin slurred loudly. He wasn’t very coherent when the most sleep he’d had during the past five days was about 6 hours.
“Merlin, how long have you been here?” the brunette asked as she pulled up a chair.
“Since Sunday.” He responded groggily as he yawned, and stretched.
The dark circles around his tired blue eyes caused a frightening contrast to his pale skin, giving him the look of a dead person, or one of the cancer patients she volunteered with.
“Come on, you need to go home and get some rest.” She said as she started to pile his books together.
“Morgana, I appreciate the concern but I have loads of work that still need my attention.”
“Merlin, you are going to go home, sleep,and I am going to prepare you and Arthur dinner. You are going to eat, then go back to sleep. If I feel nice I might let you study, now, do I make myself clear?” He was about to protest when her infamous glare was sent in his direction which immediately caused him to close his mouth before he said anything he would regret. Taking it as a sign of acceptance Morgana grabbed his belongings and lead Merlin towards her car to take him home.
“So how has my dear brother been treating you?”
He noticed the sarcastic inflection on the dear and tried hard not to laugh. “He’s been good, just busy so we haven’t spent much time together.” He felt his eyes sting as he remembered why he’d been spending so much time in the library. After he saw the magazine he didn’t want to confront Arthur, because he knew those pictures had to be photo shopped, and besides you could barely see the other persons face. So yes, of course those bastard Paparazzi were going to try and screw with their relationship. He shuddered as he recalled when their attention was focused solely on them at the start of their relationship.
“Is anything going on?” Morgana inquired as she made a turn into the driveway.
“No, we’re good.” He added one of his well-known smiles, anyone who didn’t care about Merlin would have seen joy, but Morgana saw the muscles give the right indication of a joy that didn’t quite reach his eyes, and she knew that something was amiss.
“Alright then, off you go to bed, I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat.” Merlin gave her a grateful hug before opening the door and retreating into the bed room as she set off into the kitchen.
~*~*~*