TO THE NINES
Submission for Challenge #3 at merlin_ficart
TITLE: To the Nines
GENRE: Modern AU
RATING: PG-15
WORD COUNT: ~3000
SUMMARY: Morgana gives Arthur some advice about seducing Merlin
NOTE: Companion Fic for Art Prompt by nachte below
Art by nachte
TO THE NINES
Morgana straightened Arthur’s shirt collar then fluffed it out around the lapels of his casual suit jacket.
“What you need to do, Arthur,” she said, “is get Merlin drunk.”
Arthur arched a perfect eyebrow. “You think that’ll work?”
“Well, it will definitely lower his inhibitions,” she commented, handing Arthur the blue crystal pendant her step-father had given her and turning so he could fasten it around her neck. “Not that they need much lowering,” Morgana continued. “It’s pretty obvious Merlin is crushing on you as badly as you’re crushing on him.”
“You really think he’s crushing on me?” Arthur did not sound convinced.
Morgana rolled her green eyes at him. “Please - the eye-fucking that goes on between you two is positively obscene!”
She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped on the strappy purple pumps - the ones that matched her purple strapless dress perfectly in shade and hue.
“So get him drunk and then what?”
“Kiss the boy!” Morgana practically screamed at him. Was Arthur really so obtuse when it came to nudging along a budding relationship?
She drew the mauve wrap around her shoulders and checked her reflection in the vanity mirror. All she needed now was the perfect shade of lipstick.
“Just go ahead and kiss him?”
Morgana plucked the tube of Petal Pink lip gloss from her make-up case. “I seriously don’t think you’ll get much resistance.” She ran the colour over her lips carefully.
Arthur’s face scrunched up and his brows set in a furrow. “Then why do I have to get him drunk?”
“Perhaps I was wrong,” Morgana corrected, tossing Arthur a purposely sardonic look. “Maybe it’s you who needs to be liquored up.” She smacked her lips together and sighed. “Honestly, Arthur, you think too much. Find a moment during the evening and just kiss him.”
“Okay.” Arthur gave her a sly smile. “Anyone in particular you’ll have your eye on tonight?” he asked.
Morgana returned his smile with a coy one of her own. “Oh, I’d say most definitely yes,” she told him, giving a pat to his cheek. “But if you think I’ll tell you who that may be, dear brother, you’ll be sadly mistaken.” The thing was, Arthur may have been hopeless at getting his own love life together, but he was quite on top of things when it came to Morgana’s potential affections - and this was something she preferred to avoid.
The doorbell to Morgana’s flat rang.
“Must be Gwen and Lance,” Arthur remarked.
“And Merlin,” Morgana said and grinned as Arthur blushed. She grabbed her handbag and one of Arthur’s hands and pulled him out of her bedroom towards the door.
It had been arranged that Gwen, Lance and Merlin would meet Arthur and Morgana at her flat and the five friends would take a taxi cab to the club where Vivian’s big birthday bash was being held. As big bashes went, this one promised to be BIG, as Vivian never dared do anything less than extravagant. Morgana had heard that Vivian’s daddy had booked the entire club for the evening for his little girl to celebrate her twenty-first birthday with all her friends - and Vivian had a lot of “friends”.
Gwen squealed her hello and kissed Morgana’s cheek.
“You look gorgeous,” Morgana complimented her best friend, who was dressed in a pale yellow dress with beaded straps and a light green sash. It was very Gwen - pretty yet elegant, and it showed off her skin tone and shapely legs nicely. “And, of course, so do you, Lance,” she teased Gwen’s boyfriend, who did look rather handsome in his understated blue dress shirt.
Morgana deliberately assessed Merlin, who looked devastatingly gorgeous in a dark gray cotton shirt jacket over a crisp white dress shirt. His hair was gel-spiked and messy and his eyes somehow looked a brighter shade of blue than Morgana had ever remembered seeing them. “Oh, Merlin! You look positively ravishing!” she cooed at him, planting a big noisy kiss on his cheek. “Don’t you think so, Arthur?” she prodded, tossing her step-brother a devilish grin.
Arthur turned a light shade of pink and mumbled something Morgana took to be a compliment directed at Merlin, noticing with sheer delight at the way Merlin’s cheeks turned a matching rose colour, which only served to make the boy look ten times cuter and infinitely more adorable. Oh boys, she thought gleefully.
It was true that Morgana had once fancied Merlin herself - until it had become rather clear that Merlin was much more interested in her step-brother than Morgana. It was a pity, but Morgana now had no qualms about devoting herself to helping her not-so-dating-savvy brother obtain the object of his affections, especially since said object seemed more than willing to be obtained. As far as Morgana was concerned, it would be an easy match to make possible, with only minimal encouragement and some well-directed prodding.
It was a relatively short cab ride to the club from Morgana’s flat. Several people were already milling about the club - which had been lavishly decorated for Vivian’s birthday - when they arrived. Morgana took the lead in joining the modest queue gathered to greet the birthday girl, with Gwen and Lance following and Merlin and Arthur more reluctantly so.
At their turn, they expressed their birthday wishes as a group to a brightly beaming Vivian, who was beautifully attired in a sleeveless golden gown of epic proportions. Vivian blushed and beamed further as she showed off the two-carat-plus diamond pendant her father had given her as his present - as booking an entire club for two-hundred or so of Vivian’s “friends” was apparently not enough. Gwen and Morgana oohed and awed appropriately, while the three boys looked on with their widest smiles, not one of them daring to comment.
When it looked like Vivian was about to expropriate Arthur’s attention - Morgana was well aware that Vivian harboured a huge crush on her step-brother - she purposely but carefully drew him away, reminding Vivian of all the guests that awaited her greeting and pretend-scolding Arthur that it would be rude to take up all Vivian’s attention.
Arthur ran a finger around his shirt collar and pulled at it slightly. “Yeah, thanks for that,” he said with genuine gratitude. Morgana saw Merlin grin behind him.
Morgana motioned for Arthur to move off toward the club’s bar, which was serving alcoholic beverages entirely at Olaf King’s expense. With a sly glance at Merlin and a quick wink, she whispered - loudly, mind you, to be heard over the din of the crowd - to Arthur, “You might as well get started on getting him drunk.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow but did as Morgana suggested, Merlin following unaware but obediently behind him.
Morgana now surveyed the club, looking for a certain tall and rakish someone she very much hoped would be at the party.
“Over there - at the end of the bar,” Gwen said beside her, grinning knowingly. “Or am I supposed to pretend I don’t know you were hoping he'd be here.”
And, as Gwen said, there he was - in a white dress shirt, open liberally at the neck, showcasing the unique crescent-like pendant and more than a hint of a well-sculpted chest.
Gwaine Knyght.
As if he sensed eyes on him, his gaze roamed and came to rest on Morgana, his brown eyes locking with her green ones. He smiled and Morgana felt a pleasant tingle spread through her body.
“Lance and I can deflect Arthur’s attention long enough for you to get to know him a little better,” Gwen offered, already grabbing Lance’s hand and moving off.
Morgana mumbled a thank you, not taking her eyes off of Gwaine, forgetting to mention that Arthur would very likely be preoccupied with trying to seduce Merlin to much notice her attempt to do the same with this beautiful man now coming across the club to join her.
“Hi,” Gwaine said, and it was probably just Morgana’s imagination that his greeting sounded breathless.
“Hi,” she returned, the shyness coming through her voice taking her completely by surprise. Morgana was not a woman easily reduced to bashfulness, devastatingly gorgeous man standing next to her or not. That in itself was kind of embarrassing.
They made small talk for a while, though they spent most of their time just gazing into each other’s eyes, sending evocative visual signals between them. Morgana soon lost her initial shyness and reverted to her usual bold self, increasing the suggestiveness of her signals to match Gwaine’s.
She was about to propose that she and Gwaine move to a more secluded area in the club in order to become better acquainted when Merlin suddenly appeared at her elbow. “Arthur’s acting kind of strange,” he commented, giving Gwaine an assessing once-over.
“Oh?”
“Mmm, he keeps bringing me drinks,” Merlin said, “but then downs them all himself before I’ve had a chance to take more than two sips.”
Morgana mentally rolled her eyes. Her step-brother was normally very socially adept, but when it came to Merlin, Arthur was a complete train-wreck.
Morgana touched Merlin’s arm. “Help him out, Merlin,” she entreated, and Merlin gave her a puzzled look.
“Help him out? With what?”
“Save him the trouble and some embarrassment and just kiss him yourself,” Morgana strongly suggested.
Merlin’s lips spread into a smile. “Arthur wants to kiss me?” Morgana thought Merlin was cutest when he pretended not to catch onto something.
“He wants to do more than that,” she told him, smiling teasingly, “but a kiss would be a good start.”
“I’ll see what I can do to help him along,” Merlin said, giving her a wink.
Morgana followed Merlin with her eyes as he grabbed a fresh drink from the bar and then went back to where Arthur stood waiting for him. She watched him hand Arthur the drink, and grinned as Arthur practically chugged it back in one swallow. So much for the plan to get Merlin drunk.
Gwaine raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “Friend of yours?”
Morgana nodded. “Merlin. And that lovesick getting-to-the-point-of-no-return drunken puppy who can’t take his eyes off Merlin is my step-brother, Arthur.”
“Arthur Pendragon,” Gwaine acknowledged, which didn’t surprise Morgana at all. Most people knew or at least knew of her step-brother. Gwaine looked on as Merlin managed to drag Arthur onto the dance floor. “They make a cute couple,” he commented.
Morgana giggled. “Very cute,” she said then added, “Now, if only Arthur wasn’t such a train wreck around Merlin...” She gestured toward the pair as if it was obvious how much of a wreck her step-brother was.
Gwaine grinned and laughed in response, pulling Morgana close to his side as they settled in together to watch the potential play out of Arthur’s seduction of Merlin.
Arthur wasn’t much of a dancer sober and it was endearingly adorable to watch him - very drunk now - try to dance with Merlin. To his credit, Merlin kept egging him on and Morgana could see him slyly attempting to provide opportunities for Arthur to kiss him, but no kiss had yet been forthcoming from the drunken love-stricken Arthur. Finally, Arthur gripped Merlin’s shoulders and moved his head in, and Morgana found herself willing him forward, whispering, “Kiss him, Arthur”, gripping Gwaine’s forearm in anticipation. And as though Merlin had super-sonically heard her, he leaned forward and claimed Arthur’s mouth with his own.
“That’s the way to do it,” Gwaine expressed beside her and Morgana chuckled in delight.
And what a kiss it was. Even from their vantage point, the kiss looked deep, wet, and seemingly never-ending. Merlin and Arthur broke apart for a mere second - Merlin shifting for a better angle and Arthur needing to regain his balance - before fitting their mouths together again, this time putting their tongues to maximum use.
They were in the middle of the dance floor, completely focused on kissing and tonguing each other, oblivious to everything and everyone around them.
Morgana sighed. She was happy to see her boys finally expressing that they were in love.
Gwaine smiled at her, his gaze coming to rest on her lips. “I’m feeling very inspired,” he said suggestively. And before Morgana had a chance to mull that over, Gwaine scooped his head in and kissed her lips with gentle intensity.
Wow. That was all she could think really.
Both smiling now, they went back to watching Merlin and Arthur, still in hot lip-lock.
Gwen and Lance came and joined them. After ten minutes or so of kissing entertainment, Gwen pulled a rueful face and said, “I think we’re gonna have to hustle those two out of here before they do something more embarrassing than kissing each other’s face off.”
“You’re probably right,” Morgana commented. The words were no sooner out of her mouth when she saw Arthur put a hand to Merlin’s crotch and shamelessly rubbed him through the fabric of his dress pants. Oh boy! He had definitely gotten past his hang ups about making a move.
Gwaine chuckled. Gwen giggled. Lance snickered.
“Good luck getting them apart long enough to get them in a cab,” Lance joked.
Morgana poked at his chest with a manicured fingernail. “You’re going to help.” She turned to Gwaine and beseeched, “We might need you too.”
Gwaine offered her a swooping dramatic bow, saying suavely, “I’m at your service, m’lady.”
Morgana couldn’t be sure but she thought she saw Lance roll his eyes. Gwen, the loyal friend that she was, elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs.
Extracting Arthur and Merlin from the dance floor proved to be somewhat difficult. Lance did his best to nudge Merlin and Arthur apart, though neither was too willing to separate even a smidge away from the other. Gwen took Merlin by the arm and Morgana took Arthur, escorting them from the dance floor. Gwaine took up point position, carefully watching the extraction, ready to act if necessary.
“Come on, Arthur,” Morgana coaxed her step-brother along.
“I want to fuck him, Morgana,” Arthur tittered drunkenly at her ear.
Morgana patted her step-brother’s cheek, doing her best to stifle a full-blown snigger. “I know you do, sweetie,” she told him soothingly. “But you can’t do it here. We can have our own little party at the Pendragon mansion, though. Okay?”
“K,” Arthur agreed easily.
Morgana tried to rein Arthur in as he started drifting toward Gwen, who was ushering a much more sober Merlin - but clearly just as besotted and horny - toward the club’s exit. Gwaine quickly came to her rescue, putting a hand under Arthur’s elbow, helping to steer him along.
She mouth a ‘thanks’ in his direction, thankful that Arthur was drunk enough and far too horny at this point to be able to be bothered to give the man of Morgana’s dreams his usual third-degree.
Morgana and Gwaine stuffed Arthur into the backseat of the waiting taxi cab, while Gwen and Lance did the same with Merlin. Lance and Gwen then smushed into the front passenger seat together.
Morgana thanked Gwaine with a kiss on the cheek before climbing into the backseat, squeezing herself in between the boys, who were already snogging again, to act as a makeshift barrier to keep them from groping each other madly. This did not mean, of course, that they didn’t try. The entire ride to the Pendragon mansion, Morgana found herself batting Arthur’s hands away as he kept snaking them around her to touch Merlin in inappropriate places.
It didn’t take much to get Merlin and Arthur out of the taxi cab once they had arrived at the huge manor Arthur still called home. Inside, the group of friends settled in one of the mansion’s living rooms, the one that was the most colourful and the most casual.
Morgana pulled a vintage bottle of red wine from behind the small bar, uncorked it, and poured herself and Gwen each a glass, unmindful of letting the wine ‘breathe’ for an appropriate amount of time before serving. If Arthur had been sober (and was capable of thinking about anything besides Merlin right now), he would definitely have protested her action, but Morgana didn’t really care.
She and Gwen drank wine and chit-chatted about the evening. Arthur and Merlin were stretched out on the sofa, too busy groping and snogging each other, while Lance stared doe-eyed at his girlfriend.
Morgana was content to see the boys pawing and kissing each other but nearly spit out a mouthful of wine when she caught Arthur snaking a hand down Merlin’s pants.
“For god’s sakes, Arthur!” she exclaimed, giggling. “Take Merlin up to your room! Uther will have a shit-fit if he finds out the two of you ended up doing it on his furniture.”
“And I’m not sure I want to see you doing it, mates” Lance said somewhat apologetically.
Gwen giggled and snuggled into Lance.
Arthur pulled Merlin up from the couch. He continued to kiss him, deep and wet, as he led him from the living room toward the stairs, en route to his bedroom.
“You think Uther’s going to react well in the morning to finding Merlin in Arthur’s bed?” Gwen asked lazily.
“Probably not,” Morgana said, grinning. “But my job was to get them together and I think I’ve accomplished that.” She lifted her glass. “So here’s to me.”
Gwen raised her glass and joined Morgana in a fit of giggling. Lance just shook his head at the two of them.
As far as Morgana was concerned, the night had been a success. Lance and Gwen were still happily in love, Arthur and Merlin were very likely going to do it, and Morgana was looking forward to a date with a certain dashing and roguishly handsome hunk of a man.
Life was indeed good.
THE END
TITLE: To the Nines
GENRE: Modern AU
RATING: PG-15
WORD COUNT: ~3000
SUMMARY: Morgana gives Arthur some advice about seducing Merlin
NOTE: Companion Fic for Art Prompt by nachte below
Art by nachte
TO THE NINES
Morgana straightened Arthur’s shirt collar then fluffed it out around the lapels of his casual suit jacket.
“What you need to do, Arthur,” she said, “is get Merlin drunk.”
Arthur arched a perfect eyebrow. “You think that’ll work?”
“Well, it will definitely lower his inhibitions,” she commented, handing Arthur the blue crystal pendant her step-father had given her and turning so he could fasten it around her neck. “Not that they need much lowering,” Morgana continued. “It’s pretty obvious Merlin is crushing on you as badly as you’re crushing on him.”
“You really think he’s crushing on me?” Arthur did not sound convinced.
Morgana rolled her green eyes at him. “Please - the eye-fucking that goes on between you two is positively obscene!”
She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped on the strappy purple pumps - the ones that matched her purple strapless dress perfectly in shade and hue.
“So get him drunk and then what?”
“Kiss the boy!” Morgana practically screamed at him. Was Arthur really so obtuse when it came to nudging along a budding relationship?
She drew the mauve wrap around her shoulders and checked her reflection in the vanity mirror. All she needed now was the perfect shade of lipstick.
“Just go ahead and kiss him?”
Morgana plucked the tube of Petal Pink lip gloss from her make-up case. “I seriously don’t think you’ll get much resistance.” She ran the colour over her lips carefully.
Arthur’s face scrunched up and his brows set in a furrow. “Then why do I have to get him drunk?”
“Perhaps I was wrong,” Morgana corrected, tossing Arthur a purposely sardonic look. “Maybe it’s you who needs to be liquored up.” She smacked her lips together and sighed. “Honestly, Arthur, you think too much. Find a moment during the evening and just kiss him.”
“Okay.” Arthur gave her a sly smile. “Anyone in particular you’ll have your eye on tonight?” he asked.
Morgana returned his smile with a coy one of her own. “Oh, I’d say most definitely yes,” she told him, giving a pat to his cheek. “But if you think I’ll tell you who that may be, dear brother, you’ll be sadly mistaken.” The thing was, Arthur may have been hopeless at getting his own love life together, but he was quite on top of things when it came to Morgana’s potential affections - and this was something she preferred to avoid.
The doorbell to Morgana’s flat rang.
“Must be Gwen and Lance,” Arthur remarked.
“And Merlin,” Morgana said and grinned as Arthur blushed. She grabbed her handbag and one of Arthur’s hands and pulled him out of her bedroom towards the door.
It had been arranged that Gwen, Lance and Merlin would meet Arthur and Morgana at her flat and the five friends would take a taxi cab to the club where Vivian’s big birthday bash was being held. As big bashes went, this one promised to be BIG, as Vivian never dared do anything less than extravagant. Morgana had heard that Vivian’s daddy had booked the entire club for the evening for his little girl to celebrate her twenty-first birthday with all her friends - and Vivian had a lot of “friends”.
Gwen squealed her hello and kissed Morgana’s cheek.
“You look gorgeous,” Morgana complimented her best friend, who was dressed in a pale yellow dress with beaded straps and a light green sash. It was very Gwen - pretty yet elegant, and it showed off her skin tone and shapely legs nicely. “And, of course, so do you, Lance,” she teased Gwen’s boyfriend, who did look rather handsome in his understated blue dress shirt.
Morgana deliberately assessed Merlin, who looked devastatingly gorgeous in a dark gray cotton shirt jacket over a crisp white dress shirt. His hair was gel-spiked and messy and his eyes somehow looked a brighter shade of blue than Morgana had ever remembered seeing them. “Oh, Merlin! You look positively ravishing!” she cooed at him, planting a big noisy kiss on his cheek. “Don’t you think so, Arthur?” she prodded, tossing her step-brother a devilish grin.
Arthur turned a light shade of pink and mumbled something Morgana took to be a compliment directed at Merlin, noticing with sheer delight at the way Merlin’s cheeks turned a matching rose colour, which only served to make the boy look ten times cuter and infinitely more adorable. Oh boys, she thought gleefully.
It was true that Morgana had once fancied Merlin herself - until it had become rather clear that Merlin was much more interested in her step-brother than Morgana. It was a pity, but Morgana now had no qualms about devoting herself to helping her not-so-dating-savvy brother obtain the object of his affections, especially since said object seemed more than willing to be obtained. As far as Morgana was concerned, it would be an easy match to make possible, with only minimal encouragement and some well-directed prodding.
It was a relatively short cab ride to the club from Morgana’s flat. Several people were already milling about the club - which had been lavishly decorated for Vivian’s birthday - when they arrived. Morgana took the lead in joining the modest queue gathered to greet the birthday girl, with Gwen and Lance following and Merlin and Arthur more reluctantly so.
At their turn, they expressed their birthday wishes as a group to a brightly beaming Vivian, who was beautifully attired in a sleeveless golden gown of epic proportions. Vivian blushed and beamed further as she showed off the two-carat-plus diamond pendant her father had given her as his present - as booking an entire club for two-hundred or so of Vivian’s “friends” was apparently not enough. Gwen and Morgana oohed and awed appropriately, while the three boys looked on with their widest smiles, not one of them daring to comment.
When it looked like Vivian was about to expropriate Arthur’s attention - Morgana was well aware that Vivian harboured a huge crush on her step-brother - she purposely but carefully drew him away, reminding Vivian of all the guests that awaited her greeting and pretend-scolding Arthur that it would be rude to take up all Vivian’s attention.
Arthur ran a finger around his shirt collar and pulled at it slightly. “Yeah, thanks for that,” he said with genuine gratitude. Morgana saw Merlin grin behind him.
Morgana motioned for Arthur to move off toward the club’s bar, which was serving alcoholic beverages entirely at Olaf King’s expense. With a sly glance at Merlin and a quick wink, she whispered - loudly, mind you, to be heard over the din of the crowd - to Arthur, “You might as well get started on getting him drunk.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow but did as Morgana suggested, Merlin following unaware but obediently behind him.
Morgana now surveyed the club, looking for a certain tall and rakish someone she very much hoped would be at the party.
“Over there - at the end of the bar,” Gwen said beside her, grinning knowingly. “Or am I supposed to pretend I don’t know you were hoping he'd be here.”
And, as Gwen said, there he was - in a white dress shirt, open liberally at the neck, showcasing the unique crescent-like pendant and more than a hint of a well-sculpted chest.
Gwaine Knyght.
As if he sensed eyes on him, his gaze roamed and came to rest on Morgana, his brown eyes locking with her green ones. He smiled and Morgana felt a pleasant tingle spread through her body.
“Lance and I can deflect Arthur’s attention long enough for you to get to know him a little better,” Gwen offered, already grabbing Lance’s hand and moving off.
Morgana mumbled a thank you, not taking her eyes off of Gwaine, forgetting to mention that Arthur would very likely be preoccupied with trying to seduce Merlin to much notice her attempt to do the same with this beautiful man now coming across the club to join her.
“Hi,” Gwaine said, and it was probably just Morgana’s imagination that his greeting sounded breathless.
“Hi,” she returned, the shyness coming through her voice taking her completely by surprise. Morgana was not a woman easily reduced to bashfulness, devastatingly gorgeous man standing next to her or not. That in itself was kind of embarrassing.
They made small talk for a while, though they spent most of their time just gazing into each other’s eyes, sending evocative visual signals between them. Morgana soon lost her initial shyness and reverted to her usual bold self, increasing the suggestiveness of her signals to match Gwaine’s.
She was about to propose that she and Gwaine move to a more secluded area in the club in order to become better acquainted when Merlin suddenly appeared at her elbow. “Arthur’s acting kind of strange,” he commented, giving Gwaine an assessing once-over.
“Oh?”
“Mmm, he keeps bringing me drinks,” Merlin said, “but then downs them all himself before I’ve had a chance to take more than two sips.”
Morgana mentally rolled her eyes. Her step-brother was normally very socially adept, but when it came to Merlin, Arthur was a complete train-wreck.
Morgana touched Merlin’s arm. “Help him out, Merlin,” she entreated, and Merlin gave her a puzzled look.
“Help him out? With what?”
“Save him the trouble and some embarrassment and just kiss him yourself,” Morgana strongly suggested.
Merlin’s lips spread into a smile. “Arthur wants to kiss me?” Morgana thought Merlin was cutest when he pretended not to catch onto something.
“He wants to do more than that,” she told him, smiling teasingly, “but a kiss would be a good start.”
“I’ll see what I can do to help him along,” Merlin said, giving her a wink.
Morgana followed Merlin with her eyes as he grabbed a fresh drink from the bar and then went back to where Arthur stood waiting for him. She watched him hand Arthur the drink, and grinned as Arthur practically chugged it back in one swallow. So much for the plan to get Merlin drunk.
Gwaine raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “Friend of yours?”
Morgana nodded. “Merlin. And that lovesick getting-to-the-point-of-no-return drunken puppy who can’t take his eyes off Merlin is my step-brother, Arthur.”
“Arthur Pendragon,” Gwaine acknowledged, which didn’t surprise Morgana at all. Most people knew or at least knew of her step-brother. Gwaine looked on as Merlin managed to drag Arthur onto the dance floor. “They make a cute couple,” he commented.
Morgana giggled. “Very cute,” she said then added, “Now, if only Arthur wasn’t such a train wreck around Merlin...” She gestured toward the pair as if it was obvious how much of a wreck her step-brother was.
Gwaine grinned and laughed in response, pulling Morgana close to his side as they settled in together to watch the potential play out of Arthur’s seduction of Merlin.
Arthur wasn’t much of a dancer sober and it was endearingly adorable to watch him - very drunk now - try to dance with Merlin. To his credit, Merlin kept egging him on and Morgana could see him slyly attempting to provide opportunities for Arthur to kiss him, but no kiss had yet been forthcoming from the drunken love-stricken Arthur. Finally, Arthur gripped Merlin’s shoulders and moved his head in, and Morgana found herself willing him forward, whispering, “Kiss him, Arthur”, gripping Gwaine’s forearm in anticipation. And as though Merlin had super-sonically heard her, he leaned forward and claimed Arthur’s mouth with his own.
“That’s the way to do it,” Gwaine expressed beside her and Morgana chuckled in delight.
And what a kiss it was. Even from their vantage point, the kiss looked deep, wet, and seemingly never-ending. Merlin and Arthur broke apart for a mere second - Merlin shifting for a better angle and Arthur needing to regain his balance - before fitting their mouths together again, this time putting their tongues to maximum use.
They were in the middle of the dance floor, completely focused on kissing and tonguing each other, oblivious to everything and everyone around them.
Morgana sighed. She was happy to see her boys finally expressing that they were in love.
Gwaine smiled at her, his gaze coming to rest on her lips. “I’m feeling very inspired,” he said suggestively. And before Morgana had a chance to mull that over, Gwaine scooped his head in and kissed her lips with gentle intensity.
Wow. That was all she could think really.
Both smiling now, they went back to watching Merlin and Arthur, still in hot lip-lock.
Gwen and Lance came and joined them. After ten minutes or so of kissing entertainment, Gwen pulled a rueful face and said, “I think we’re gonna have to hustle those two out of here before they do something more embarrassing than kissing each other’s face off.”
“You’re probably right,” Morgana commented. The words were no sooner out of her mouth when she saw Arthur put a hand to Merlin’s crotch and shamelessly rubbed him through the fabric of his dress pants. Oh boy! He had definitely gotten past his hang ups about making a move.
Gwaine chuckled. Gwen giggled. Lance snickered.
“Good luck getting them apart long enough to get them in a cab,” Lance joked.
Morgana poked at his chest with a manicured fingernail. “You’re going to help.” She turned to Gwaine and beseeched, “We might need you too.”
Gwaine offered her a swooping dramatic bow, saying suavely, “I’m at your service, m’lady.”
Morgana couldn’t be sure but she thought she saw Lance roll his eyes. Gwen, the loyal friend that she was, elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs.
Extracting Arthur and Merlin from the dance floor proved to be somewhat difficult. Lance did his best to nudge Merlin and Arthur apart, though neither was too willing to separate even a smidge away from the other. Gwen took Merlin by the arm and Morgana took Arthur, escorting them from the dance floor. Gwaine took up point position, carefully watching the extraction, ready to act if necessary.
“Come on, Arthur,” Morgana coaxed her step-brother along.
“I want to fuck him, Morgana,” Arthur tittered drunkenly at her ear.
Morgana patted her step-brother’s cheek, doing her best to stifle a full-blown snigger. “I know you do, sweetie,” she told him soothingly. “But you can’t do it here. We can have our own little party at the Pendragon mansion, though. Okay?”
“K,” Arthur agreed easily.
Morgana tried to rein Arthur in as he started drifting toward Gwen, who was ushering a much more sober Merlin - but clearly just as besotted and horny - toward the club’s exit. Gwaine quickly came to her rescue, putting a hand under Arthur’s elbow, helping to steer him along.
She mouth a ‘thanks’ in his direction, thankful that Arthur was drunk enough and far too horny at this point to be able to be bothered to give the man of Morgana’s dreams his usual third-degree.
Morgana and Gwaine stuffed Arthur into the backseat of the waiting taxi cab, while Gwen and Lance did the same with Merlin. Lance and Gwen then smushed into the front passenger seat together.
Morgana thanked Gwaine with a kiss on the cheek before climbing into the backseat, squeezing herself in between the boys, who were already snogging again, to act as a makeshift barrier to keep them from groping each other madly. This did not mean, of course, that they didn’t try. The entire ride to the Pendragon mansion, Morgana found herself batting Arthur’s hands away as he kept snaking them around her to touch Merlin in inappropriate places.
It didn’t take much to get Merlin and Arthur out of the taxi cab once they had arrived at the huge manor Arthur still called home. Inside, the group of friends settled in one of the mansion’s living rooms, the one that was the most colourful and the most casual.
Morgana pulled a vintage bottle of red wine from behind the small bar, uncorked it, and poured herself and Gwen each a glass, unmindful of letting the wine ‘breathe’ for an appropriate amount of time before serving. If Arthur had been sober (and was capable of thinking about anything besides Merlin right now), he would definitely have protested her action, but Morgana didn’t really care.
She and Gwen drank wine and chit-chatted about the evening. Arthur and Merlin were stretched out on the sofa, too busy groping and snogging each other, while Lance stared doe-eyed at his girlfriend.
Morgana was content to see the boys pawing and kissing each other but nearly spit out a mouthful of wine when she caught Arthur snaking a hand down Merlin’s pants.
“For god’s sakes, Arthur!” she exclaimed, giggling. “Take Merlin up to your room! Uther will have a shit-fit if he finds out the two of you ended up doing it on his furniture.”
“And I’m not sure I want to see you doing it, mates” Lance said somewhat apologetically.
Gwen giggled and snuggled into Lance.
Arthur pulled Merlin up from the couch. He continued to kiss him, deep and wet, as he led him from the living room toward the stairs, en route to his bedroom.
“You think Uther’s going to react well in the morning to finding Merlin in Arthur’s bed?” Gwen asked lazily.
“Probably not,” Morgana said, grinning. “But my job was to get them together and I think I’ve accomplished that.” She lifted her glass. “So here’s to me.”
Gwen raised her glass and joined Morgana in a fit of giggling. Lance just shook his head at the two of them.
As far as Morgana was concerned, the night had been a success. Lance and Gwen were still happily in love, Arthur and Merlin were very likely going to do it, and Morgana was looking forward to a date with a certain dashing and roguishly handsome hunk of a man.
Life was indeed good.
THE END