Chapter Text
The terrace
Another bonus of Arthur’s flat (probably funded by the orphan-kicking, but they were looking past that) was the wrap-around balcony that connected to the wide terrace with the view of the city.
Will looked out at the river and wondered how the hell he had ended up here.
Lance passed him the joint and he took a long inhale, enjoying the feeling of it in his lungs, in his throat. He exhaled slowly through his nose and let some of his body’s tension ebb away with the dissipating smoke.
“Is it true?” Lance asked, and Will cocked an eyebrow. He was still wondering how Lance had ended up out here, and not inside love-at-second-sight-ing with Gwen. Maybe he was taking a break. Sounded exhausting.
“What?” Will prompted after a while.
“The documentary thing. Why you did medicine.”
Will huffed lightly, said “Nah,” and smiled up at the clear night sky.
Lance studied him. “I still can’t tell when you’re messing with me.”
“Usually am,” Will said lightly.
“Merlin doesn’t look like a liar- stop it, I don’t know what a liar looks like, it’s a gut feeling.” Lance hadn’t realised how much he’d missed Will’s abrasive brand of wit. “But it doesn’t seem very you, as a backstory.”
When Will smiled, it was surprisingly soft. Will wasn’t often soft, and it felt too intimate, like Lance was intruding. “He lies when he has a reason to lie. Or when he thinks it would be funny.”
Because Lance was Lance, he nodded and looked out over the river, allowing them to lapse into silence. It would have been easier if he’d just asked.
“My mum’s dead, Lance,” he said shortly. “Feel free to make the leap.”
Lance hummed and nodded, but said nothing.
Infuriating, considerate prick.
The balcony
“Ew.” Freya and Mithian were making out on the balcony, at the opposite end to the terrace, and Elyan had had the misfortune of opening the balcony door at the wrong time.
He went to close the door again, but Freya held it open and said “Pull up a pew, Gwen’s brother.” He grimaced but followed her out, where they sat in a row with their backs to the window and the city lights stretching ahead.
“Ulterior motive time,” Freya announced. “Is Lance really that nice?”
“Didn’t think he was your type.”
Mithian climbed over Freya to whack him, then climbed back.
“I mean, is he good enough for our Gwen.”
Elyan looked away and watched the lights flicker and dance. “We’re not that close, really. I don’t think I get a say.”
Freya huffed. “It’s not about who she’s allowed to date, dummy. You could be psychic twins and not get a say. It’s about who he’s allowed to date. Tell us about him.”
He thought about it and smiled a little. “Let me just say first: I am not in love with Lance.”
“You protesting too much over there, buddy?” Mithian said, head poking around Freya’s shoulder.
“No, just- describing Lance just sounds like being in love with him.” The two women raised their eyebrows expectantly. “First- yes, he’s that nice. I mean, I’m not super close with him, but we’ve been in the same football club for maybe three years now? He’s the most unhateable hateable person you’ll ever meet.
“He obviously looks- like that, which. Hateable. He’s not amazing at football but he’s not bad and he’s a team player. He’s obviously a doctor, which everyone loves. He’s considering paediatrics.” Freya scoffed. “Right? He plays jazz piano, which Gwen will go absolutely nuts for. If he played an Ella she’d propose on the spot, I reckon. Tonight, tomorrow. Yesterday, probably.”
“God alive,” Mithian breathed, “you do sound in love with him.”
“I know,” Elyan sighed. “he’s ridiculous.”
“Does he volunteer saving puppies from burning buildings or something?”
“He used to read stories to kids at the library.”
“Oh my god.”
“I’m seeing the hateable thing,” Mithian mused.
“At least we know he stole a boat, now.”
Elyan sighed again. “If anything, that adds bad boy intrigue.”
Freya squinted at him. “Are you sure you’re not in love with him, Gwen’s brother?”
“Yes, Mithian’s girlfriend.” Mithian looked delighted.
Freya kept looking. “And Elena?” Mithian whacked her arm. They’d clearly discussed not bringing it up.
“I’m not in love with Elena,” he said quietly. “We’re just friends.”
Mithin smiled, impish even at her most genuine. “There’s nothing just about friends.” He smiled back.
Freya put an arm around each of them and pressed a kiss to each of their heads. It was comfortable and quiet, and Elyan eventually nodded off with his head on Freya’s shoulder.
The living room
Gwaine had somehow managed to situate himself across Percy’s lap with a huge, warm hand on his knee, chatting with Mordred and Kara.
“Are we four and Elena the only ones without some weird inter-group connection, then?” Gwaine was quite put out that he didn’t have one. He was usually the person who knew everyone.
Percy and Mordred exchanged a too-blank look, then smiled slightly, and Kara took this as permission to say “I think you’re right that me and Elena are safe,” as she raised her hands slightly and made her escape.
Gwaine looked between the two remaining men in alarm. Mordred, who had been two years below Merlin at school, then informally adopted by the formidable Hunith, then appeared at their uni with a crush (also on Merlin), and been adopted by their friend group. Percy, who he knew next to nothing about, apart from sexy, baker, tall, football, observant.
“We made out in a club once,” Percy said finally, once the suspense had lost its novelty.
Gwaine almost fell out of their chair, and really appreciated the hands on his waist and thigh that held him in place. And then stayed there just in case, even when he was stable again.
Mordred snorted. “I wasn’t sure you remembered.”
Gwaine was trying to gauge if they were flirting, because if they were he wanted to fall out of the chair for real this time.
“He is a child,” he hissed at Percy instead.
“What he was, was a hot guy in a club,” Percy said, and Gwaine began to wriggle out of his lap, only to be held in place again, and it was really unfortunate, how much that physical strength thing was doing it for him when he was trying to be mad. Or at least disgusted.
Percy looked at him levelly, face really not very far from his own face. “He’s two years younger than you are.”
“Yes!”
“And I am one year younger than you are.”
Gwaine paused, and said “Yes,” but with less conviction. He turned his nose up anyway. “I can’t date a pervert.”
Percy narrowed his eyes, but Gwaine could feel the way those hands were trying not to clench, to dig into the meat of Gwaine’s back and thighs. He wished that restraint would lapse, just for a moment. Gwaine always had bruised so prettily.
“It’s a good thing we’re not dating then,” Percy said eventually.
“Enough of that,” Gwaine said dismissively. “MERLIN!”
“WHAT?” Merlin was in the kitchen, not the bathroom.
“PERCY KISSED OUR SON.”
Mordred rolled his eyes and nodded in grudging acceptance, but muttered “It’s not too late for you,” under his breath to Percy.
Merlin stuck his head around the door and waited for an explanation.
“He’s a pervert, Em!”
“If I’m a pervert, you’re a pervert.” Had Percy always been so close to his ear? Gwaine could feel hot breath on his neck and found himself tilting his head to invite more.
“And how have you figured that?”
“He’s a year younger than I am. I fancied him. I’m a year younger than you are.”
Gwaine had no useful answer, and hated it, but was also running on diminished capacity, due to the hands that were roaming across his back and sides and legs. One reached up into his hair and he released a sound that he took no responsibility for.
Gwaine faintly registered Mordred sending Merlin a disgusted look, and Merlin jerking his head to beckon him into the kitchen.
And then they were alone, and Gwaine had never been happier to feel entirely without control.
The kitchen
Kara was sitting in the dining room (bloody rich people) with Gwen, Morgana and Leon when it happened.
The other three were in the middle of a conversation – Morgana had just found out that Merlin was the son of Hunith Emrys, an icon of women in law and a real activist in the cases she chose. Word was she’d done so much pro bono work that she’d barely broken even, but she was a formidable force. Morgana was suddenly rooting for Arthur and Merlin with far more vigour and ulterior motive, on the off chance that she might get to meet her. Leon was memorising the rare moment of starstruck awe, all the better to tease her with later.
“Oh shit,” Kara hissed, and the others looked at her, Leon with alarm, Gwen with confusion, Morgana with muted annoyance, because she wanted to know more about Hunith Emrys.
Kara looked at Gwen, a little alarmed herself. “I think I fancy Mordred.”
Gwen looked away and back and tried not to laugh. “Oh. Really?”
“Which kind of funny is this? The weird surprise or last to know kind?”
“Kind of last to know, although that sounds shitty, now I think about it.”
“Yeah, a bit.” Kara continued her alarmed introspection. “Do you think-”
Gwen was visibly biting her lip to avoid speaking. Or laughing.
“Spit it out, Gwen.” Gwen grimaced. “Now.”
“I think if you’re going to ask does he fancy me, I don’t think he’d mind me saying firm yes. Hard. Hard yes.” She took a breath. “If you asked me how long, I think- I think he would mind me saying.”
Kara took it in with wide eyes. “I fancy Mordred,” she said, wondering at it.
“Do you?” Gwen asked genuinely, and Kara, Leon and Morgana all looked at her incredulously.
“She just said-” Gwen shut Morgana up with a look (another interesting observation, Leon thought), and Kara got up and left the room.
She found Mordred in the kitchen, after a scarring look into the living room involving Gwaine and Percy. She’d been in the room with the pair of them and Mordred maybe ten minutes ago.
It turned out that Merlin had rescued Mordred moments before whatever was happening now had started to happen. Merlin had then disappeared to find Elena, and Arthur was rinsing glasses at the sink, preparing to eavesdrop. He was not to be disappointed.
“Do you fancy me?” she asked Mordred, who narrowly avoided dropping his glass. She was going to be furious with Gwen if her relationship with her best friend was weird after this. Even though it wouldn’t really be Gwen’s fault, but still.
Mordred’s face couldn’t have been redder if it was actually on fire. With flames.
“Yes or no, Mord.” Normally she laughed at the nickname, because it sounded like Maud, which is an old lady’s name. Not today, though.
His shock had faded to almost disgruntled disbelief. “Do I- You- Kar. What?”
“I fancy you, is all. And Gwen said you did.” He looked both livid and stunned, which combined looked unhealthy. Arthur was finished and now wasting water, but didn’t want to turn the tap off and a) spoil the moment or b) be forced to leave the room.
“Actually, she said I didn’t fancy you?” Livid was winning. “Which was weird to say, right? Do you-”
“Yes, I fancy you, Kar. Don’t be insane. I’m in love with you.”
She blinked thoughtfully. “Hm. The whole time?”
“No, no. Maybe a year?”
“That’ll be what she meant then.” Now he looked tragically bewildered, so she rubbed her thumb over his cheek. She touched his face a lot, she realised.
“I’m going to need you to clarify-”
“Only you could sound like a corporate email a bottle of wine and a love confession into the night, Mor.”
He was entirely still again, and her hand was on his cheek still. She still hadn’t clarified. Well, kind of. Not really.
“Gwen said I didn’t fancy you.”
“Yes,” he bit out, “I heard that the first time.”
“Because she thinks I’m in love with you.”
He rolled his eyes and she could have sworn he almost stomped his foot. “Bloody hell. Are you?” Arthur was proud of him. If Mordred hadn’t said it, Arthur might have, and that would have been decidedly less romantic.
“Oh yeah. Obviously. I did say love confession, didn’t I? Keep up.”
When they went quiet quiet, Arthur finally turned the tap off and wandered out to find Merlin.
The office
“May I sit?” Merlin found Elena on the squashy sofa in Arthur’s office, feet tucked up to her bum and her chin on her knees. She nodded and he sat.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just noisy. Needed to clear some space in my head.” Merlin nodded along as she talked.
“You let me know if you need anything, okay? Ever, really.”
She looked at him quietly for a moment, before saying “I really am ditching Arthur for you, Merlin. I like you. A lot.”
He grinned. “I am planning to spend quite a lot of time with Arthur, so if you could ditch him amicably so we can all still hang out, that would be great.”
“That’s fine,” she said brightly. “I just want to sit on your side of the church. The aisle? How do people say that? Your side, anyway.” Merlin was quite pink, and not just because of the alcohol in his system, but pleased nonetheless.
“If you want my mum and Will’s dad Allan to adopt you, you have to be aware that me, Will and Mordred come as a package deal.”
She hummed. “Can I be an adopted cousin? I don’t think I want to be that closely related to Will. Or Mordred actually. He’s a bit creepy.”
Merlin considered it. “On one condition.” She nodded. “You do not go round telling people you’re both of our cousins. Your posh families have enough inbreeding. My rough lot don’t need to think I’m buying into that, okay?”
“Done,” she said seriously with a firm salute.
After a moment’s silence, Merlin remembered his mental note from earlier. “Tell me to piss off if this is too personal, okay? But- what’s your and Elyan’s dynamic?”
“We’re friends,” she said quickly, and Merlin raised his hands in gentle surrender. “Sorry. Sorry. People assume I fancy him or he fancies me or it’s only a matter of time. It’s not a matter of time. I would hate it if he fancied me. He would hate it too. Elsie- he’s my best friend, probably.” She thought quietly. “I don’t fancy people, anyway. Not really. I never really know how it works.”
Merlin nodded and hummed again. “Not everyone does.” She gave him a long, wary look. “Put it this way- I always think it’s funny that we- Funny, strange, not funny, haha. I always find it funny that we talk about all the options for combinations of people you can fancy romantically and sexually and different amounts of each, without considering just not fancying at all.” Elena’s eyes were wide and wet. “Want me to stop talking?” She shook her head violently.
Merlin smiled. “When I was a teenager, someone said to me- I mean, this is super reductive, very gender binary and all that. Pinch of salt and all. But they said you either like men or women or both. And I just remember thinking how strange it was to present those options and not consider neither as the obvious fourth.” He kept his eyes on the bookshelf across from them in case she wanted a moment. “That’s all.”
“Actually that’s not all! One last thing.” She waved him along. “Obviously not all relationships need to have sex or romance or whatever. It’s all what suits whoever’s in the relationship. And I know it seems weird to bring up my mum when we’re talking about sex. But I guess we’re not really, are we?
“My bio father buggered off almost immediately, so my mum was always a single parent, and Will’s mum died when we were in primary school. So my mum and Will’s Dad Allan- he’s my dad, really, I mostly call him dad to his face, but Will’s Dad Allan is just fun to say. He’s saved in my phone like that and everything. But yeah, they kind of just merged our families. And straight away, everyone was talking about how in love they were or making sex jokes, which is weird and gross anyway.
“But if you see their dynamic- I mean, maybe there is that stuff, I don’t know. I’m probably not the first person they’d tell. But they do love each other. They’re best friends, raising their kids. And also another scrappy kid they found on the playground.
“My very long-winded roundabout point is that the cornerstone of my family is a platonic relationship. You didn’t ask for any of that. It’s been in my head for a long time, so sorry if it was a lot, but-” Elena was in his arms, in his lap. She wasn’t crying, but she was very quiet and very still, and he just held her for the longest time. When Arthur quietly opened the door to check on them, Merlin shook his head slightly, and neither were sure if she was sleeping.
Arthur had been dating Merlin officially for two weeks and was insanely, inconveniently, irretrievably in love with him.
The bedroom
It felt stupidly domestic, getting everyone who was staying over settled in bed once the party wound down. Elena and Elyan in Elena’s permanent bedroom here, Gwen, Mordred and Kara in the spare room, Will and Gwaine sprawled across the living room sofas.
Once their kids were all tucked into bed with their toasts and teas and glasses of water, Arthur and Merlin could shut themselves away into Arthur’s room. It wasn’t their room, because they’d only been dating for two weeks.
Gwaine did regularly bring up the months of foreplay, which might account for taking things a little faster than usual.
All thoughts turned to Arthur as his warmth pressed flush against the full length of Merlin’s back, his arse, his thighs. It never failed to amaze him, when he recovered enough to consider it, the way that every kiss was just as all-encompassing, just as overwhelming as that first one, on the stone steps of the great hall that contained Uther’s fundraiser.
They’d left running hand-in-hand, giggling like naughty children. Arthur had stopped without warning on the pale stone steps and Merlin’s momentum had carried him down two more, so to look up at Arthur felt like worship.
As if it didn’t feel like that anyway.
Arthur had taken an extra three steps down once Merlin had stopped, leaving Merlin a step higher and a fraction taller. With Arthur looking up at him, there was no question of that gaze being anything but reverent.
“May I kiss you, Merlin?” he’d said in the dark of the night and the harsh lights of the venue. It was like a dream with the brightness and shadows turned right up.
Merlin had put a hand on either side of Arthur’s flushed cheeks, then apologised for his cold hands. He’d leaned forward until their foreheads were touching again, like they’d been so many times before, but this time he’d said “Yes.”
He’d thought Arthur would surge up to meet him, but it was a sweet, gentle moment. It was a smattering of closed-mouth kisses that strayed across Merlin’s face as Arthur saw fit, like a dam had broken and all of his whims were now attainable.
Merlin had held him still for a moment to press the kiss to his chin that he’d resisted giving earlier.
In the breath between moments, Arthur had looked at him with something of the dark amusement he’d seen that night they’d danced at Rums under the pretence of making Gwaine jealous, of all people.
It wasn’t a gentle look, and the kiss that followed wasn’t a gentle kiss.
It wasn’t without its sweetness, though, as they met in a clash of the tension that had been months in the building. Months of arguing, sniping, pushing and pulling. Deliberate needling, testing, trial runs.
Merlin had known he’d wanted this, but until his mouth had met Arthur’s, he couldn’t have imagined how desperate he was for it. They both were. It was lips and teeth and tongues, hands gripping hair and waists and perfect arse cheeks.
It was getting firmly asked to leave by the security employed for the event, lest important guests start to trickle out and find the boss’s son and his bit of rough fondling each other on the entryway steps.
Two weeks wasn’t enough to wear out the honeymoon phase novelty, Merlin knew, as tanned hands memorised his hipbones, his stomach, his chest. Merlin turned in Arthur’s arms, as thrilled as he’d ever been to be trapped in their warm cage.
The kiss was the same, it was more. More confident, more intense, more playful. They were testing boundaries, trying tastes, all while Merlin was falling rapidly in love.
He wasn’t worried about being in love like he’d expected he would be. The vulnerability, the blind faith- the things he’d found so terrifyingly far off once seemed obvious. The hardest parts were already done, so why wouldn’t he go and fall in love while he was at it?
It was surrounding themselves with their friends and choosing their family and fashioning a life that was theirs.
Merlin would have felt insane to be thinking these things already, if he couldn’t feel the same things coming off of Arthur in waves.
Morgana already had plans for Merlin’s roles in Leon’s great escapes. Elena already knew what side of the church she wanted to sit on. Arthur was already forgetting to not call his own bedroom theirs.
And Merlin was in love with Arthur after dating him for two weeks.
Insufferable, irresistible prat.