Warm Bricks (4)

[casualtheatrics2]

< < Part 3

Later that afternoon, when Merlin was replacing his photographs on his nightstand, Arthur knocked on the door. “Can I come in?”

Merlin nodded, and gestured to the bed. Bouncing like a child, Arthur threw himself across the bed and buried his head in the pillows. “Come and join me,” Arthur said, throwing an arm towards Merlin.

Merlin straightened his mother’s picture, and then glanced over his shoulder at Arthur, who was wearing a leering smile. After a second’s pause, and with a wry smile, Merlin turned his mother’s picture to face the wall, and went willingly into Arthur’s arms.

*

There was a little less than a week before the university terms restarted. Morgana spent a large proportion of that time packing, getting her hair and nails done and drinking in the local pub with Nimueh.

Merlin had yet to meet Nimueh, but Arthur assured him he was missing nothing. “She’s bat-shit insane, and would try and stare at you to make your head explode. Seriously, you’re better off not knowing her.”

Because Morgana wasn’t around, and Uther went back to work, Arthur and Merlin spent the time together. Mostly, they sprawled on the sofa, and played Sonic the Hedgehog: Arthur’s love for retro-gaming should have been irritating, but Merlin found it too endearing to lie on the sofa and watch Arthur’s face glow with excitement as he completed each Zone.

Occasionally, though, they went out: to the zoo, to the cinema, for a greasy burger at Arthur’s favourite café.

Merlin’s favourite outing, though, was when they drove the hundred miles or so to the beach early one morning, and spent the whole day in the seaside tourist town that was mostly closed down for the winter. Sprawled in deckchairs, Arthur took Merlin’s hand without a hint of hesitation and pressed a kiss to his palm.

“I like being able to do that,” Arthur admitted. “To kiss you in public.”

Merlin smiled across at him. “I like you doing that.”

They fell back into peaceful contemplation, when Arthur broke it with a sigh. “I like you, Merlin.”

“I like you too.”

“But, I’m five years older than you, and at university most of the time.”

“So?”

“So I think this should be casual. I don’t want to label this: you deserve someone your own age, who’s around all the time, not some stressed-out student fifty miles away who only pops home on the weekends.”

Merlin froze, but Arthur tightened his fingers around Merlin’s hand and shook it, firmly. “Come on, I’m not saying this is over, just that it’s not serious. You should see other people, not think you have to be loyal to me.”

Merlin snorted. “Who else would I want to see?”

Arthur laughed. “You never know, you might meet some nice boy your own age, who wants to neck with you in the back of the cinema.”

Making a scoffing noise, Merlin withdrew his hand and said, “Necking in the cinema? Whatever next?”

Despite his words, under the twinkling mistletoe-shaped lights of the pier, Arthur still drew Merlin to him and kissed him, long and slow and sweet.

*

When Arthur left for university a couple of days later, he kissed Merlin in the quiet of his empty bedroom. “I’ll miss you,” he promised into Merlin’s dark hair. Merlin’s cheek was still creased from the pillow on the right side of Arthur’s bed.

“I’ll miss you too,” Merlin muttered to Arthur’s collarbone, and kissed him back, slow and fond.

Downstairs, in front of the others, later in the morning after he’d sneaked back to his own room, Merlin merely clasped Arthur’s hand in a handshake, and said something inane like, “Thank you, Arthur. See you soon.” Gwen kissed Arthur’s cheek and patted his shoulder.

Arthur grinned at Gwen and said, “Take care of Merlin, won’t you?”

Gwen laughed and hugged Merlin to her side. “Course I will.”

Arthur walked away down the path to his car. He glanced back over his shoulder and waved enthusiastically as he drove down the drive.

*

Merlin missed out on the years where young teens discover the power of the telephone. He’d been too busy trying to keep warm and fed to bother with telephoning anyone. He’d only used the phone once at his foster parents’ house, when he’d phoned his social worker and asked to leave.

The social worker had said “Soon” and “Not today” and “Merlin, I have to go” before putting the phone down, deaf to Merlin’s pleas.

Merlin had packed and left that night – running, running, running from the house that both failed to remind him of the home he’d lost and succeeded in highlighting how much he no longer had.

So it took him entirely by surprise to discover how much he loved to answer the telephone to Arthur. They’d talk for hours about Arthur’s day, Merlin’s schoolwork, what Gwen made for dinner – little things, simple things, quiet, unimportant things but when shared with Arthur, they became vital, desperately important.

Arthur’s laugh was richer somehow over the phone – Merlin sometimes felt it was like having it injected directly into his brain to run straight to his heart. It was his favourite thing about the telephone.

Of course, Merlin also grew to understand the power of the text message too. It could bring Arthur to his side in a matter of minutes with a few simple words.

Sometimes Merlin would text Arthur something amusing he’d seen and get back: LOL. Xx Sometimes Merlin would text How are you? and get back an essay about the evils of drink and hangovers and how Arthur was ‘never drinking again’. Sometimes Arthur would text Merlin I’m bored. This lecture is dreadful. and Merlin would text back, I’m in Maths class. With *Anhorror*. I win. and Arthur would reply, My lecturer has a beard and BO. Did I mention my professor is a woman? and Merlin would respond with *ANHORROR* Arthur. I WIN.

Sometimes Merlin, maudlin and alone in bed, would text, I miss you. and Arthur’s reply? Within seconds: I miss you more.

Their talks covered all manner of topics – Arthur discovered that Merlin favoured the horror movie genre, whilst the merest hint of blood left Arthur pale and shaking. Merlin couldn’t stand pop music, Arthur couldn’t stand heavy thrash metal. Merlin preferred mayonnaise in his ham sandwich, Arthur preferred mustard. Arthur favoured red, Merlin blue. Arthur liked to sleep early and wake early, Merlin liked to sleep late and wake late. Merlin discovered Arthur’s real feelings towards Morgana’s mother (“I want to hate her, but her leaving gave me my sister. How can I hate a woman who gave me such a brilliant sibling? Of course, if you tell Morgana that, I’ll kill you.”) and Arthur listened to Merlin sob one evening as he recounted the moment he found his uncle’s body on the kitchen floor (“He was so still, Arthur, so still and cold. I didn’t know what to do.”)

They had nothing in common, nothing at all, except a mutual adoration of each other and a shared address.

For them both, it was enough.

*

The months flew by, and suddenly Easter, and Arthur’s month-long holiday, were upon them.

Merlin had thought of little else for the few days before Arthur’s return – the phone conversations had long since left him hard and aching and desperate, stroking himself with one fist as he said his goodnights to Arthur on the phone, and coming in his pyjama bottoms the moment he hung up.

The night before Arthur was due home, Merlin stood at the kettle in the kitchen, brewing a last cup of tea before bed. He was startled by a pair of strong arms around his waist. “Wargh!” he yelped, before a hand clapped over his mouth.

“Merlin, it’s me!” Arthur voice hissed in his ear and Merlin stopped flailing in protest. He turned in Arthur’s arms.

“You’re home,” he breathed and pressed into Arthur’s body, kissing along his jaw and wrapping his arms around his neck.

“I’m home,” Arthur agreed, hugging back.

“Why are you home?” Merlin pulled away slightly, brow furrowed in confusion.

“I couldn’t wait,” Arthur blushed. “I wanted to see you. I just…drove.”

Merlin flushed too, embarrassed by the strength of Arthur’s declaration. “I’ve missed you so much,” he stammered, and buried his face in Arthur’s chest.

They stood, embracing slowly in the kitchen for a few more minutes, before Arthur shifted and felt the pressure of Merlin’s erection against his thigh. “Oh!” he said, startled from the languid mood they had created.

“Sorry,” muttered Merlin, still into Arthur’s chest. “You have this effect on me.”

Arthur was silent, and Merlin glanced up to see if Arthur was disgusted by the wanton display of Merlin’s desire.

Arthur’s eyes were wide, pupils blown, and his breath rushed past his lips in laboured waves. Without breaking eye contact, Arthur shifted his hips to line up with Merlin’s. The unmistakable pressure of his cock made Merlin’s eyes roll back.

“Bed, now,” Merlin said, taking himself by surprise with his bossy tone.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Arthur said, wrapping a hand around Merlin’s wrist and dragging him up the stairs.

*

Sprawled naked across his bedcovers, Merlin watched in amazement as Arthur lowered his mouth across Merlin’s arousal. The soft flicker of Arthur’s tongue on the underside of his penis made Merlin whimper. Arthur slid up his body and pressed a hand across Merlin’s mouth.

“Love, we have to be quiet, OK?”

Merlin nodded and pressed his hands over his own mouth. When Arthur slid back down and sucked hard, Merlin came with barely a squeak, his back arching and muscles stretching as Arthur drew the last drop of his orgasm out.

Merlin lay boneless, unable to move or breathe. He heard the rough slap of skin on flesh as Arthur brought himself off. Feeling the wet spurts of Arthur’s come hit his leg, Merlin reached up for Arthur blindly, drawing him down into a kiss.

Merlin fell asleep pressed tight against Arthur’s chest, and with Arthur murmuring nonsense into his hair.

*

The next morning, Merlin awoke to the gentle tease of fingers running up and down his morning erection.

“Mmm, ‘s nice,” he groaned, rolling into Arthur’s embrace.

“Go make me tea,” Arthur whispered back.

Merlin pulled away and blinked in confusion. “What?”

Arthur grinned. “I want a cup of tea. Go make me one.”

Merlin stared at him for a minute more, before shaking his head and saying in utter confusion, “What?”

Arthur sighed and pushed Merlin an inch away from him. “I want a cup of tea, go get me one,” he repeated, slowly with a pause between each word as though Merlin was particularly slow.

“But..what…you were touching me! You woke me up!”

“Yes, I want tea!” Arthur rolled his eyes. “Go make me a cup of tea and I’ll suck your brain out through your cock again.” He drove his point home by stealing all of Merlin’s duvet.

Merlin stumbled from the bed and rummaged through the pile of clothes on the floor to find his boxers. “I think I hate you,” he said, pulling a t-shirt over his head.

“I know you never will. Tea, now!” Arthur sprawled back on the bed, hands behind his head and Merlin tripped out of the room and down to the kitchen.

Merlin stared at the kettle as it came to the boil, and noticed that his mug from the previous night was still on the side, tea bag untouched. He reached for it, and as he leant forward, he felt arms go round his waist.

“What?” he said irritably. “You already got me out of bed to make your tea, like I’m your servant…”

Arthur spun Merlin around to look him in the face. “I just woke,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to Merlin’s jaw, “with this fantasy of sucking you off while you waited for the kettle to boil. Like I found you last night.”

Merlin tilted his head back to allow Arthur easier access to his throat. “What, and you couldn’t just ask me?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Merlin thought about that. It kind of made sense, in a weird Arthur-ish way. “OK,” he said.

Arthur dropped to his knees and pulled Merlin’s boxers down, just enough to reveal his still throbbing erection. “I love how eager you are,” he said, licking over the crown. “How… responsive,” he added, trailing his tongue down the length of Merlin’s erection and pressing a kiss to the spot where his balls joined his cock.

Merlin bit his lip to keep from moaning. Arthur’s lips worked over the flesh of his arousal, sucking and stroking, until Merlin’s knees were shaking. “I’m going to…” Merlin gasped, gasping a second time when Arthur’s hand encircled the base of Merlin’s cock and gripped.

“No you’re not, I’m still having fun,” Arthur replied, and tongued at the slit in the crown of Merlin’s erection. Merlin whimpered, the shakes spreading from his knees to his whole body.

Arthur slipped Merlin’s length into his mouth and released his grip. A finger touched the spot just behind Merlin’s balls, and Merlin was coming, thick, hot spurts of come, that trickled from the corner of Arthur’s mouth.

Arthur released the softening prick and Merlin slid down the cupboards to sit on Arthur’s lap. Arthur’s arousal dug into the soft skin of Merlin’s thigh, and Merlin raised a hand before letting it fall pathetically back to his side.

Gripping Merlin’s hips firmly, Arthur rocked himself back and forth against Merlin’s thigh, until he came with a shudder, burying his face in Merlin’s neck.

*

After that first day, Arthur and Merlin resumed normal service. They laughed together, they joked together, they played video games and ate bad Chinese takeaway.

The first night together and the activities of the morning after seemed to have dulled the sharp edge of their mutual passion. It didn’t lessen it, merely made it bearable to stand in a room and not touch.

Morgana, home a few days after Arthur, didn’t even notice, and as she was the mind-reading, lie-detecting champion (she had a certificate and everything), they thought they had fooled her pretty well. They kept the pretence up for most of the holiday, until they slipped up in the final week.

Merlin headed to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, and after a minute or two, Arthur joined him

“Can’t stay away from me, can you?” Merlin teased.

Arthur laughed. “No, I can’t.” He pressed a kiss to Merlin’s cheek, then to his nose, then to both eyelids, then finally, to Merlin’s parted lips. It took very little for the kiss to become heated, tongues duelling and hands sliding under t-shirts, legs tangling together.

The noise of a mug shattering on the kitchen floor made them spring apart, panic trickling down their spines. Morgana stood, swaying slightly in the doorway. “You…he…you two…!” she stuttered, before tottering forward and sinking into the nearest chair.

“I can explain?” Arthur offered.

Morgana glared at him. “Explain how you were taking advantage of our new brother? This should be good!”

Arthur twitched, uncomfortable, and attempted to defend himself. “It’s not like that?”

Merlin broke in. “I know that Uther is my guardian. But we’re not related. I’m not actually your brother, and I haven’t even grown up with you.”

Arthur sighed in relief. “Exactly. And look at him. How was I supposed to resist?” He shot a fond smile at Merlin, who blushed.

“Er, by keeping it in your pants?!” Morgana snapped, drawing Arthur’s attention back to her. “Merlin being gorgeous isn’t an excuse! It isn’t even a good excuse! Anyway, I know what you’re like! This won’t end well!”

“Morgana…” Arthur tried to interrupt her, but she ploughed on.

“He’s just a kid! Fifteen! He needs our support, not you trying to shag him! He’s doing so well! What happens when this doesn’t work out? What happens when someone new catches your eye?”

“Morgana!”

“I can’t believe you’d stoop this low! Can’t believe it, you selfish prick! You’ve got serious problems – did you just go after him because he was an easy target and conveniently under the same roof as you? Because that’s despicable!”

“I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM!” Arthur bellowed, cutting Morgana off.

Silence fell on the room. Arthur realised what he’d just said and bit his lip. He turned to look at Merlin.

“I’m sorry. I am,” Arthur said quietly, misery and embarrassment sweeping across his face. “I know I said we should see other people, but…I can’t. They’re all rubbish. All not you.” He broke off, and scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “I didn’t mean to tell you like this.”

With a nervous glance at Morgana, Merlin slunk forward, and pulled Arthur’s hands away from his face. “I love you too,” Merlin whispered. “I do.”

Arthur looked into Merlin’s eyes. “Then why do you look so frightened?”

“Everyone I love leaves me.”

Arthur buried his face in Merlin’s neck. “I won’t,” he mumbled into Merlin’s skin.

Merlin looked at Morgana, stern expression on his face. “This is private. OK? Private. No-one else needs to know.”

Morgana shook her head, then nodded. “I won’t tell,” she said in a low voice.

Merlin nodded. “Thank you.”

She stood up and walked towards the door, before pausing and walking back over to pull Merlin from Arthur’s arms and into a hug with her. “You let me know if he’s unkind, OK?”

Merlin hugged back. “OK,” he agreed.

Morgana released the skinny man, and walked towards the door.

“You’re my sister,” Merlin blurted out.

Confused, Morgana turned back to look at Merlin. “What?”

He flushed a deep, dark red, and explained. “I don’t think of Arthur as a brother,” he began awkwardly. Morgana’s face lit up with an affectionate smile.

“I get it, Merlin,” she said, with exaggerated patience. “And I’ll try not to be too offended that you don’t want to sleep with me.”

Merlin laughed. “Sorry. Boys only.”

She left the kitchen, closing the door quietly behind her.

“I love you.” Arthur’s voice was suddenly loud in the still kitchen.

“I love you too,” Merlin replied, and kissed Arthur softly.

*

Arthur’s return to university a few days later was a bittersweet affair, that left Merlin blinking back tears after Arthur’s small silver car pulled out of the driveway.

The text that arrived a few hours later - I miss you. This is horrible. I love you. - did nothing to soothe Merlin’s fracturing nerves. He went to bed and buried his face in his pillows, hoping that forcing the tears into the heart of the cushion would negate their existence.

*

Arthur had spent most of his childhood expecting little from Uther and being thoroughly underwhelmed and unsurprised when Uther failed to deliver. It had been Gwen who had attended his class plays, Gwen who had picked him up from football practice, and Gwen to whom he had gone when, fighting back tears of misery at his first heartbreak, he had needed comfort.

Arthur had, in his rebellious teen years, accused Uther of being a detached parent, a disinterested one, and had hated himself for months afterwards when he recalled the pain that flashed so briefly over Uther’s face.

The following week, Uther had asked Arthur and Morgana to join him for dinner on Wednesday, and had done so in person, without email or a secretary as a go-between. It had become tradition: the one time of the week where his children were guaranteed Uther Pendragon’s fullest attention.

Arthur had been a little taken aback to find that Uther continued the tradition with Merlin, but also relieved. Arthur knew that, were Uther merely amusing himself with this homeless boy, he would never spend time with him. The dinners showed that Merlin was here to stay – and perhaps more importantly, welcome to stay.

In all the years that Arthur had been disappointed and then surprised by his father, on no occasion was he more astounded than the day Uther turned up on his doorstep and offered to take Arthur for dinner, three or so weeks after Arthur had returned to university.

Uther took Arthur to a steak restaurant, ordered two large carafes of red wine and plates of meat and eyed Arthur speculatively. Over the course of the meal, Uther asked about university work, part-time work and finally, girls.

Arthur struggled to form words about his dating life that were suitable to his father’s ears.

After a few moments of silence into which Arthur stuttered awkwardly, Uther held up a hand. “I only ask because I know about Merlin.”

Arthur paused with a forkful of steak half way to his mouth. “Sorry?”

“Merlin. I know you and he are…involved.” Uther’s face was completely impassive, unflinching and cold.

Arthur swallowed the lump in his throat and put his fork down. “I…can explain,” he ventured, nervous and uncertain.

Uther waved away Arthur’s offer. “I’m not interested in the whys and wherefores and hows. Contrary to your and Morgana’s belief, I don’t spend my days sat in an office plotting ways to make your lives miserable. But I am responsible for Merlin. And I want this to stop.”

Arthur was silent. “I can’t,” he eventually choked out.

“Can’t what? Can’t break it off with him? It’s the only thing to do, Arthur. He’s fifteen. And you’re here, at university, and he’s still at school.”

“I can’t explain,” Arthur expanded. He took a deep breath and suddenly his voice was stronger, surer. “I can’t explain why I love him. I can’t. If I could, it would be easier, I could find reasons not to love him, or to walk away. There is nothing to recommend him to me - all the things you named and more besides tell me rationally that loving him is a bad idea. Worse than that, a stupid moronic thing to do. But I can’t help it. I can’t stop. I can’t explain. And I won’t break things off with him. I love him, and as wrong as it might be, as strange as it might seem, I want a future with him in it.”

Uther frowned. “What if he doesn’t want the same things you do?”

“Then I’ll find a way to be happy without him. But I think he does want the same things as me. And I think we’d be happy together.”

“If I refuse to give my blessing to this?”

“That won’t stop me.”

Uther sat back in his chair and took in Arthur’s mulish expression and his tightly clenched fist. “You cannot win every battle, Arthur,” Uther warned him. “It is still within my power to cut you off, or to remove Merlin from my home.”

Arthur stared in gaping outrage at Uther. “You would send Merlin away to stop us seeing each other?”

Uther said nothing, merely pursed his lips and stared at Arthur. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because that would be cruel! Unreasonable! Unfair!”

“What makes you think your relationship would not be cruel and unreasonable and unfair?”

“Because I love him. I love him and I always will.”

Uther sighed. “If you think love will be enough to get you through, you are more foolish than I originally thought.” He paused. “I cannot decide on a course of action tonight, Arthur. Come home next week for Wednesday dinner, and I will make a decision after seeing the two of you together.”

They finished the meal in silence, Arthur swallowing his dinner around the lump in his throat that pushed tears up to prick at his eyes.

*

Merlin hung up the phone abruptly when Arthur imparted the news about Uther’s decree. He went to bed, stomach churning and head pounding. He barely slept a wink. The next morning, Gwen gave him an assessing look and added extra chocolate chips to his oatmeal.

Merlin managed three mouthfuls before pushing the bowl away and retreating from Gwen’s worried frown.

He spent the next two days avoiding Gwen and Uther and speaking to Arthur on the phone in hushed, anxious tones. He only emerged from his room when the front door closed on Wednesday evening and he heard Uther say, “Ah. Arthur.”

Merlin stood at the top of the stairs and watched as Arthur closed the front door and hugged his father. When Arthur looked up and met Merlin’s eyes, Merlin relaxed enough to smile at his boyfriend.

“Hi,” he said carefully, walking down the stairs.

Arthur moved to stand next to Merlin and kissed his cheek. “Hey.” Merlin’s eyes met Arthur’s, and a small grin tugged at the edges of his mouth. Arthur’s hand squeezed Merlin’s elbow slightly, a tiny I’m here gesture.

Uther’s eyes were narrowed as he guided them into the dining room. Merlin wasn’t sure if Uther was considering murdering or sparing them. His implacable silence gave away nothing.

Uther insisted that each of them took a seat on either side of him. Merlin gave Arthur a terror-filled look from across the table. Arthur winked back and mouthed, “It’ll be OK.”

Merlin was not convinced, but to his surprise, Uther relaxed the moment they were all seated at the table and the rest of dinner went smoothly, without a hitch. Merlin found himself unfurling, laughing at jokes, and teasing Arthur without a moment’s hesitation.

It felt like any other dinner until the end, when Uther stood and gestured for them to follow him into his study.

“I will be honest, Arthur, Merlin,” Uther began, gesturing that they should sit on the uncomfortable leather sofa and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. “Your relationship is unconventional, unorthodox, inappropriate and….. oh, yes, illegal. I cannot condone it.”

When Arthur opened his mouth to protest, Uther raised a hand and shushed him. “I haven’t finished. Yes, your relationship is completely inappropriate. But I have no doubt that your feelings for one another are, at the very least, a genuine fondness. So I ask this: that you refrain from any sexual activity until Merlin turns sixteen.”

Merlin felt his face explode with heat. Uther was lecturing him on his sex life. With Arthur! Could this get any worse?

“I am not,” Uther pressed on, “naïve enough to assume that you will have refrained already. But from now on, I must insist that under my roof, you do not engage in any such activities until Merlin turns sixteen, which is, I believe, at the beginning of September.”

Merlin nodded dumbly. A quick glance sideways at Arthur showed how red he had gone, listening to his father handing out proscriptions on his love life. Merlin suddenly found the carpet pattern very interesting.

Uther glared at them both. “Do you understand?” He took their silence for acquiescence and dismissed them both.

Outside the study door, Merlin allowed his eyes to meet Arthur’s. “Let’s never go through that again?” he asked.

Arthur chuckled and nodded, slinging an arm around Merlin’s shoulders. “Come on,” he said, ruffling Merlin’s hair. “Let’s go watch TV and not shag.”

"For six months?"

Arthur stopped and looked at Merlin very seriously. "I plan on spending the rest of my life with you, which might be seventy years. I can wank myself off alone for six months."

Merlin gaped. "That's...I mean..."

"I love you. I mean it. You think I'd go through my father's awkward lecture if I was only shagging you for convenience?"

Merlin leant up and pressed a kiss to Arthur's mouth. "I love you too. OK. No shagging. But for my sixteenth birthday, I know what I want as my present."

Arthur arched an eyebrow as they sank into the sofa. "Oh, yeah?"

"I want you to fuck me."

*

The cottage was a solitary building on the edge of the beach, a white-washed house with a thatched roof that overlooked the sand dunes. The sand came up to the front door, and Merlin thought he had never seen a place more beautiful and more perfect as he wandered along the path towards the front door.

“Happy birthday,” laughed Arthur as he pulled the door open.

Merlin smiled at his boyfriend. “What is this place?” he asked incredulously.

“My mother left it to me in her will – it’s my cottage.”

“Wow!” Merlin pushed past Arthur to stare around the inside of the small cottage. It was decorated exactly as Merlin imagined a cottage on the beach should be decorated – creamy walls, wooden beams and in the corner of the living room was a large stone fireplace. That would be nice to lie in front of, Merlin thought briefly.

Arthur watched in amusement as his boyfriend whirled around the cottage, taking in all the sights at once. “Like it?”

“Yes!” Merlin finally met Arthur’s eyes. “I like you more though.”

Arthur pushed the front door closed and walked towards Merlin. He looped a hand around the back of Merlin’s neck and pulled him into a slow, lingering kiss. “Happy birthday,” he murmured into Merlin’s mouth.

“Thanks,” Merlin whispered back, returning the kiss. “When do I get my present?”

Arthur chuckled and kissed Merlin again. “Later,” his lips twitched against the plumpness of Merlin’s. “You get it later.”

*

Replete from a delicious dinner, Merlin sprawled on the plush rug in front of the fireplace. He held his arms up to Arthur. “Stop faffing and come and lie with me,” he mock-scolded.

“In a minute,” Arthur grinned. “I’m just finishing preparing dessert.”

“Dessert?! I don’t want dessert! I want you!”

Arthur rounded the sofa end to join Merlin on the rug. In his hand he held a plate, on which a chocolate cake sat, with sixteen bright blue candles ablaze. “Birthday cake?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

Merlin laughed. “Oh, a chocolate cake?! You’re distracting me from sex with chocolate cake?”

“Is it working?”

Merlin pulled a fork from Arthur’s hand, and scraped some icing from the side of the cake. He licked the prongs clean and moaned faintly. “Completely.”

*

In the warmth of the double bed, Arthur slid an arm around Merlin’s waist and drew him back against his chest. “The fireplace was inspired,” he murmured into one shell-like ear.

“We just cuddled,” Merlin grumbled, half-asleep. “We’d better do it tomorrow.”

“You sound like a twelve-year-old girl,” Arthur mumbled into the back of Merlin’s neck.

“I’m a sixteen year old boy, as well you know…” Merlin drifted off to sleep. Arthur smiled to himself and closed his eyes.

*

“Morning! Let’s have you, Lazy Daisy!” Arthur’s voice was alarmingly cheerful for so early in the day.

“Shut up,” Merlin enunciated from under the bedcovers.

“I’ve got a full day planned?” Arthur cooed enticingly from the foot of the bed. “We’re going into town for breakfast, then we can go to the museum, and then to this second-hand store that sells loads of B-list horror movies,” he broke off when he noticed Merlin’s incredulous expression. “What?”

“I’m sixteen now!”

“So you’re too old for museums and B-list horror movies?” Arthur seemed genuinely perplexed.

“No! I. Am. Now. Sixteen.”

“Congratulations?”

“We’re supposed to be fucking each other’s brains out, not looking round shitty museums!”

Arthur winced. “I know, I know, but…”

“But what?!”

“I thought you might need time to get used to the idea. I’ve sorted these things in case you weren’t ready yet.”

“I’m completely used to the idea,” Merlin assured Arthur. “I’ve had a long time to think about it, a long time to…” he broke off and blushed scarlet.

“A long time to…?” Arthur prompted.

“To practice for you,” Merlin finished in a low tone. “All the time you’re away, all the time you’re at uni and I’m home alone, I…practice.”

Arthur’s mind flashed up all the ways Merlin might practice for this, his sixteenth birthday present. “And how, pray tell, do you practice?” he asked huskily. Arthur shifted until the bedpost hid the way his trousers tented at the thought of Merlin lying naked in his bed, thrusting into himself to prepare the way for Arthur.

“Fingers, and lube,” Merlin whispered.

“Show me,” Arthur demanded.

Merlin’s eyes darkened with lust, as he scrabbled in the bedside drawer for the tube he’d stashed there the previous afternoon whilst unpacking. He slicked up his fingers and with his clean hand, undid his pyjama trousers, slid them down his legs and kicked them away.

Trailing one long forefinger down his chest, Merlin paused to tweak his own nipple, before continuing down to circle his belly button and tangle his fingers in the black hair below it. His hips jerked at the gentle tug, and his half-hard erection grew thick and full. Merlin pushed his fingers on, encircling the base of his cock and giving a few luxuriously slow pulls on the turgid flesh. He moved on, rolling his balls between his fingertips, pulling them away from his body gently.

His hand moved on, first two fingers probing gently at the pucker between his cheeks, before sliding in without hesitating. His hips jerked again, and a small bead of precome dribbled down his erection.

Arthur gasped, unable to resist any longer and unfastened his belt buckle.

“Watch me,” Merlin commanded quietly, his voice alone stilling Arthur’s hands on his own trousers.

Without breaking his stride, Merlin began to move his fingers back and forth, pale skin glistening with lube, and the red edges of his hole stretching gently to grasp at the invading digits. Arthur whimpered.

Merlin pushed forward, adding a third finger. His hips jerked uncontrollably, seeking more friction. Merlin paused, withdrew his hand and added more slick, before driving back in with four fingers.

Arthur could hold back no longer. Shedding his clothes quickly, he crawled onto the bed and over Merlin’s spasming body. “Move your hand,” Arthur growled, reaching for the lube.

He greased his fingers and as Merlin’s withdrew from his body with a wet pop, drove three fingers into Merlin’s hole.

Merlin arched his back, tendons popping and snapping with the tension as he dug his heels into the bed and thrust himself back down onto Arthur’s fingers. “More,” he pleaded, “I want more!”

Arthur wriggled his fingers in the tight space of Merlin’s arse and found the walls hot and slippery with lube. Taking a deep breath, he whisked his hand away and reached for a condom. Hastily rolling it on, he hitched one of Merlin’s legs over his shoulder and lined up his cock with Merlin’s channel. He pushed in, cautiously, carefully to avoiding hurting Merlin.

Merlin had little such compunction, pushing himself down onto Arthur’s arousal until Arthur’s balls slapped against the cheeks of his arse. “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God,” Merlin moaned, using his heels to lift himself off and slam back down again.

“Merlin,” Arthur hissed out a breath, and reached for Merlin’s erection. “Come on, come on,” he muttered, jacking Merlin fast and furious and keeping pace with his rocking hips.

Merlin keened, a high broken noise, before clenching hard around Arthur’s cock and coming all over his chest. Arthur panted into the soft skin of Merlin’s knee and allowed the tight clenching of Merlin’s arse to milk his orgasm from him.

He collapsed boneless onto the bed next to Merlin, and let out a sigh of relief.

Merlin chuckled and rolled over. “Fuck the museum?”

“Fuck the museum,” Arthur agreed.

*

The four days at the cottage passed in a blur. By day, they walked on the beach, paddled in the ocean and soaked up the last of the summer sun. By night, they curled up on the thick sheepskin rug and kissed in the firelight. Arthur smoothed after-sun lotion into the patches of Merlin’s skin that had caught the sun and turned from milky-white to raspberry red. Merlin kissed the pads of Arthur’s fingers after they had passed over his ears and collar bones and promised to be more careful the next day.

In their double bed, in the dark night with the waves lapping the shore outside the window, Arthur made love to Merlin with sure hands and even surer strokes, wiping the last vestiges of loneliness from the heart of the foster kid who had curled against the bricks of his father’s laboratory for warmth. There were no certainties in the future before them, but they moved together like they had all the answers anyway.

-the end-

Comments

[gomusing.livejournal.com]

Absolutely beautiful. I'm a sucker for family fics, semi-incest and Christmas!fics, which you all have in this perfect story. I really have to give it to Uther's spark of altruism for helping Merlin, and finding Arthur. I love their family.

[lillaw.livejournal.com]

*gasp* YESSSS! ♥♥♥

I've been waiting for this! I'm so happy you posted it in your journal. SO HAPPY. I'm saving it to read tonight when I get home. Where there is wine and warm blankets and pillows and quiet. Eeee! Thank you, bb. Thank you.

ETA: I'll be back to comment when I'm done. WHICH WILL MAKE ME SAD. *clutches to chest and runs*

[lillaw.livejournal.com]

I just. WOW. *speechless*

I can't tell you how much I loved this. Merlin curling next to the bricks for warmth and the pictures from Uther and THE ENDING. But the thing that got to me the most was the way they all gathered round Merlin the way they did, how they became his family in an instant. UTHER. ♥_♥ Just... all of them. Morgannnnaaaaa. And of course, Arthur. You took my breath when Arthur pressed the back of his hand to Merlin's during midnight mass.

So beautifully done. SO beautifully.

[casualtheatrics.livejournal.com]

:D *blushes* Thank you!

I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and that it made you all heart-eyes. The midnight mass scene was my favourite in the whole story - I just had this vision of Merlin suddenly, after several months of living with Uther et al, realising that his life was "normal" again and that he was waking up on Christmas morning in a bed, warm and safe.

I felt like this incarnation of Arthur would do things like that for Merlin, because although he'd had his stern father in his life, he'd also had grown-up Gwen, who had loved him and made him a better person.

Anyway, thank you for your lovely comment, and for reading. Here is cookies *holds out plate* ;D

[casualtheatrics.livejournal.com]

:DD I'm so glad you enjoyed it. (I may or may not have shed a tear in the writing of it....) Thank you for your lovely comment. x

[sunny-rainfall.livejournal.com]

I really appreciated Uther in this story. he was rather awesome. Merlin and Arthur were squee worthy!

[delorispea.livejournal.com]

I absolutely adored this! It was beautiful and slightly heartbreaking to see Merlin like this but it worked out so perfectly. They totally get married, foster and adopt loads of kids and die together at the ripe old age of 101. :) *nods*

[casualtheatrics.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you did!! Thank you for your lovely comment.

They certainly and most definitely had a happy ending, although being Merlin and Arthur, they do have quite a lot of fights (and make-up sex)!! I imagine too that Merlin goes to university, takes a degree in Social Work and then helps other homeless kids to escape the streets. :D

You made me cry.

[sirbojangles.livejournal.com]

When Merlin cried over potatoes.

That has only ever happened to me twice (and not even in this fandom).

Beautiful, beautiful fic. All the awards to you, author.

Re: You made me cry.

[casualtheatrics.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this lovely comment, and I am really glad it moved you so much.

[drarryxlover.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!

[grizzo2.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed this story. Destiny for them to have found each other in this manner.....thx...gr

[brinimc.livejournal.com]

Totally cried like a baby.

[potterfreaken.livejournal.com]

Lovely. There's no other word for it. <3

[(Anonymous)]

This is my all-time favourite Christmas fic (although it's not solely based around christmas)

[adsullatta.livejournal.com]

This is just wonderful! I was a bit worried what would happen when they got caught but the fallout wasn't as bad as it could have been. Your Uther is amazingly human here and I love that.

Great read!

[vespa331.livejournal.com]

Words cannot convey my love for everything about this fic.