Kept us Awake with Wolf Teeth 3
Title: Kept us awake with wolves teeth
Rating: Explicit
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Summary:Merlin and Arthur have one of those friendships where they're just so comfortable with each other they see no problem in sleeping in the same bed together
There’s only so many places Merlin can hide around campus and Arthur is so determined to find him, he’s surprised when he turns up in the most obvious place. Shoving books into his locker. Arthur moves up quietly next to him and taps Merlin’s shoe with his. Merlin looks at Arthur warily and puts on a pained smile “Hi, Arthur.”
“You’re avoiding me.” Arthur does his best to imitate his dad’s serious business face but ends up looking like he’s trying to be seductive.
Luckily Merlin knows what he’s going for, he’s seen this attempted enough times, and he frowns “I’m not avoiding you, it’s just been a busy day.”
“Merrrliinn” Arthur whines when Merlin tries to walk away, grabbing his wrist and pulling him back “I’m sorry about last night with Vivian, I know you don’t like her and I shouldn’t have gone on the date.” Merlin still doesn’t look entirely convinced. “If it makes you feel better she left before I could finish. Alone in my room with a hard on. Morgana knows.”
And yes, there it is, Merlin tries to stay serious but ends up snorting and nodding his head “That sort of does make me feel better actually.”
“I knew it would, you love feeding off of my anguish.” Arthur sticks his fingers deep in Merlin’s hair and tugs his head both ways “So you should stay over tonight.”
Merlin sucks his teeth and flicks Arthur’s nose “Ew, and sleep on that bed? Only if you’ve burned the sheets.”
Arthur lets his hands fall to his side and suddenly feels very serious “No, I didn’t sleep with her on the bed. The chair, but. She didn’t touch the bed.”
There’s something that fits into place then and Merlin nods. “Yeah, alright. I have to get to my Physics exam but I’ll be over around five?” his voice is quiet and careful and Arthur smiles.
“Five is great. I borrowed the Evil Dead trilogy from Percy so we can watch it tonight.” Arthur turns to walk with him to his class, even though his is on the other side of campus. “By the way, I sort of became kind of friends with Gwaine last night.”
Merlin’s eyes grow wide and disbelieving. “No way, you were so anti-Gwaine yesterday, what happened?”
It’s hard to miss the accusing tone in Merlin’s voice and he wrinkles his nose in offense. “We played poker and then he drank whiskey in my kitchen with me. And he told me that he wasn’t using you that night when you guys -you know.”
Merlin covers his hands with his face and lets out the most pained groan Arthur’s ever heard. “Why did you have to bring that up?”
“I didn’t bring it up! Gwaine did.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well he did, he wanted me to know that he cares about Morgana and that he cares about you. Said he thinks you’re lovely and he wanted to make you feel good that night.” Arthur smirks at him and Merlin shoves him hard. “Are you embarrassed, Merlin?” he’s laughing and Merlin grits his teeth.
“Yes I am all thanks to you.” He narrows his eyes and Arthur laughs again.
“Gwaine, Merlin. All thanks to Gwaine. He brought it up, remember?” he stops outside Merlin’s class. “See you tonight.”
He’s still laughing when Merlin calls him a colorful array of things and leaves him in the hall.
#
“This is so violent.” Arthur mutters, twizzler hanging out of his mouth.
“I dunno, I really like the chainsaw arm.” Merlin laughs as gallons of fake blood shoot across the screen. “Maybe I’ll get one when you know, the zombies come and all. Would you do that for me?” He glances over at Arthur “Cut off my arm so that I could put a weapon there instead?”
Arthur laughs and shakes his head “No, never, I would fuck it up and cut an artery or something and you would bleed out before we could get anything on there.”
Merlin hums and nods in agreement. “I’ll just have to use my deadly fists.”
Arthur doubles over with his laughter, pulling the sheets off of Merlin in the process and Merlin growls and pulls back. “Fuck you, I’m lethal as hell.” He’s laughing when he says it, while Arthur just shakes his head. He yawns and shoves Arthur off of him saying “Bed bed bed sleep. Move, fatty.”
The TV is still on, playing the DVD menu and Arthur can only bring himself to mute it because he rather likes the flickering lights but fuck listening to screeching horror movie music on a loop. “So Vivian…”
“Don’t tell me” Merlin throws his arm over his eyes “You know -girls, yucky.”
Arthur laughs “You love girls. You have so many friends that are girls I’m surprised you haven’t synced up to their periods
yet.”
“Oh, but I have.” Merlin nods
“I was going to say that Vivian told me today that she thinks we should be friends with benefits. I told her I was going to pass and then she told me I have a small dick.” Arthur lets out a dramatic sigh and Merlin laughs a bit hysterically.
“That’s brilliant.” His giggling tapers off and he adds “But sorry about your small dick and all.”
Arthur hums in appreciation and listens to Merlin’s elbows and knees bang against the wall as he tries to move around. He finally settles on his back and Arthur turns to face him, watching vibrant splotches of red and green flicker across Merlin’s pale skin from the television. He’s busy mapping out his profile when Merlin clears his throat, eyes still closed and says “I know you’re looking at me, and I’m going to stop you now before you ask me if I’ve ever had a sex dream about my mom or something weird.”
Arthur smirks “Hunith’s a babe.”
“Ew” Merlin turns to look at Arthur with intense seriousness “You’re ruining my night.”
“Then mission accomplished.” Arthur replies but brings his hand up to run it softly over Merlin’s fingers, offering up a comfortable smile to Merlin, who’s looking at Arthur like he’s afraid of him. Arthur tugs on Merlin’s wrist and pulls him across the tiny amount of space left between them on the bed and settles his hand on the smooth skin of Merlin’s neck. Merlin still looks so damn terrified, and like hell that’s going to work out for Arthur, so he presses an open mouthed kiss against his lips. It’s not like the soft kiss that could have been passed off as friendly that they had shared before. This time Arthur runs his tongue along Merlin’s bottom lip and when Merlin gasps, he presses inside. He feels a sweet warmth throughout his body when Merlin wraps one hand around the back of his neck and the other pulling his hips in closer. It’s the delicate little noises that Merlin makes and the way he curls himself into Arthur that gives Arthur the bravery to reach down and run his hand over Merlin’s hard length through his boxers.
Merlin moans into Arthur’s mouth and curls a fist into the material on the front of Arthur’s shirt, breathing him in like a man drowning. “Arthur” Merlin can barely get his voice to function so he says it again louder “Ah -Arthur, stop, stop.” He manages to push Arthur away despite his body’s protests and tries to bring his breathing to a normal pace.
“What’s wrong? I thought this would feel good.” Arthur looks so unsure of himself that Merlin shakes his head and lets out a breathy laugh.
“No, it does. Feel good, Arthur, it feels good, just. Why are you doing this? You’re -well -straight.” He gestures between them and Arthur smiles weakly.
He kisses the palm of Merlin’s hand and says “I know but you seem really -um, upset lately. And you’re my best friend and I care about you. I just want to do this for you.” His voice is shaky and Merlin makes a pained noise in the back of his throat. His eyes feel heavy with the threat of tears and he looks down to where Arthur has his fingers tangled up with his.
Of course, only Arthur and his misguided idea of taking care of his best friend is the worst possible thing he could be doing for Merlin. But Merlin thinks that he may be a bit of a masochist when all he can think is ‘This might be the only way I can have him’. He looks over at Arthur, all wide blue eyes and golden hair messy where Merlin had pushed his fingers through it only moments ago and sighs. “Yeah” he says faintly “Yeah alright”.
They become a tangle of limbs again as Arthur kisses him until Merlin’s cock grows hard with interest again and once Arthur pushes his hand down Merlin’s pants it’s embarrassing how fast he comes.
With Merlin pliant and sprawled out on his back, Arthur pushes his own pants down and straddles his friend. His fingers play at the hem of Merlin’s shirt for a while before he pushes it up and yanks it over Merlin’s head. Arthur allows himself to run his hand over Merlin’s flat bare stomach a few times before he leans forward and buries his face in Merlin’s neck, fisting his cock roughly. When Merlin presses a kiss to Arthur’s ear and whimpers his name, Arthur’s body goes tense with his release, streaks of come painting Merlin’s skin.
He uses his shirt to clean Merlin off and collapses next to him. “Was it good? I’ve never done that before.” He taps his fingers against Merlin’s arm and he yawns and tells him “Yeah, that was really good” in a sleepy voice as he curls into Arthur’s side.
Arthur never quite gets to sleep and he listens to Merlin’s even breathing in the pale light of the early morning. He runs his hand over soft black hair, unable to help himself, and presses a light kiss to his eyebrow, Merlin never stirring from sleep. Arthur thinks he’s never felt this safe as he runs his thumb down the inside of his best friends wrist.
#
Merlin leaves long before Arthur can even comprehend that it’s the morning, apparently having dressed so quickly he left behind his boxers and socks, and the DVD menu is still going on a loop.
Arthur watches the screen in a daze, wondering if anyone would question him if he took a sick day from school. He’s tired, so so exhausted and it’s absolutely freezing in his room which looks grey and washed out. Arthur looks over at his curtains and wonders if they’re the culprit for making his room look like a mausoleum at this hour. He vows to take them down today and maybe put up something nicer. Something blue.
Stuffing Merlin’s things into his bag, he pulls on a pair of pants and a crumpled shirt, not even bothering to clean himself off from last night. His underwear are stuck awkwardly to the side of his leg but he hardly notices as he slings his bag over one shoulder and makes his way down the stairs as if he’s heading to school.
Morgana is long gone, having left early to walk with Gwaine, and Arthur is thankful for the small mercies. He turns instead towards the train tracks and settles on making a visit to his friend Tristan.
Tristan was an enigma all on his own, having graduated by the time he was fifteen and getting a degree in electrical
engineering by the time he was seventeen. He scored a job making almost as much as Arthur’s father did, and instead of using it to become a greedy prick, he married his long time girlfriend, Isolde, and moved them into a modest sized house on the outskirts of the city. The best thing about Tristan was that he never judged, only acted like the town Buddah whenever anyone had a dilemma.
It took Arthur thirty minutes of cutting through residential areas and throwing himself over peoples backyard fences before he saw Tristan sitting on the hood of his beater car, Isolde curled up by the tire clipping her toenails, and -was that Will? So much for a heart to heart with his friend. “Oh wow, Wart?” Tristan slid off the hood, pulling his plaid pants up to cover his ass crack and threw and arm around Arthur’s shoulder. “It’s been a lifetime, mate, how the hell have you been?” Isolde looks up from under her curtain of long blonde hair and gives him a coy grin.
“What are you doing here, Pendragon, shouldn’t you be in school?” Will flicks the ashes of his cigarette in the general direction of Arthur.
“I could ask the same about you.” Arthur snaps back and Will puts on his most hideous scowl.
Tristan swats Will’s cigarette out of his mouth and laughs as it rolls down the driveway “Play nice, Will. Wart’s good people.”
“Why do you call him Wart, then, that’s a shite name.”
The silence spans across them awkwardly and a train rumbles distantly before Isolde taps the tiny metal nail clipper against the cement, knocking loose stray toenails and declares. “Because why not? It’s perfect. All the best nicknames are just shitty insults given with love.”
Tristan, pleased with his wife’s response, pulls Isolde into him and kisses the top of her head. “It was something about your name or something like that. Your mate Merlin came up with it ages ago I think.”
Arthur swallows and nods “Yeah something like that.”
“Yeah alright, well, still stupid.” Will is starting to sound like a petulant child the way he is rattling on and on, finding new things to snap at Arthur about and Isolde slaps him hard across the face, the sound of it ringing across the yard. Will shrugs, bringing his hand to his face, and Arthur can see him admitting defeat with a single withering look shot his way. He glances back at Isolde and puts his hands up flippantly.
Tristan ushers everybody inside and disappears to the kitchen to put on the kettle. Will wedges himself onto the couch next to Isolde. Arthur is torn between following Tristan into the kitchen and putting himself in the armchair next to the couch. Will watches him carefully and before Arthur can say anything to defend his mindless standing around he coughs loudly. “Listen, alright, I was a prick. You’re a prick too, but I mean -yeah.” He nods to the chair “Just sit down I won’t attack.”
Arthur collapses into the chair, looking at Will with a tired grin. “How do you know I’m a prick you’ve never said more than four words to me at one time.”
“Well, I just know.” Will grumbles and Isolde laughs wildly.
“You guys are funny. Wart, you still seeing that girl with the pretty smile?” She leans her elbows against her knees. Arthur raises his eyebrows at her in a way that is meant to portray ‘which one?’ Isolde stands to help Tristan with the tea mugs and nods her head “You know, the one that was too nice for you, wore sundresses.”
“Ah, yes, Gwen.” Arthur sinks himself as far as he can into the fading upholstery. “No, no, we’re not together anymore. Figured out for herself she was too good for me.” He offers up a self-depreciating smile, then shrugs. “Also met Lance.”
Tristan drops himself down onto the carpet, “Lance is a hard act to go up against. I mean, I might even leave Isolde for Lance if the opportunity came up.” He winks at Isolde who just shakes her head with an amused grin.
“Anyway, he’s too busy fucking Merlin.” Will has his face shoved into the arm of the chair, his eyes peeking over the top to see if he’s ruffled Arthur.
“That’s great, he’s a good kid.” Tristan drums his hands against the coffee table.
Arthur glares harshly at Will, mug balanced dangerously on his knee. “There’s nothing with me and Merlin.” He grits out
“Why would you say something like that?”
Will rolls his eyes, “It was a joke, Arthur. Didn’t think you would get all out of sorts from it.”
Arthur shifts in the recliner, Tristan and Isolde sitting in awkward silence next to each other while Will sucks on his teeth loudly. “Just thought you were making fun of Merlin, is all.” He amends quickly.
Will sits up. “No, mate, just fun, I do it to Merlin all the time. He usually laughs though.” He sounds genuinely sincere and Arthur offers up a relaxed smile.
“Yeah, alright.” He mumbles and Tristan shifts loud enough to garner attention.
“So Wart, we were just telling Will before you showed up about a party we’re throwing on Saturday. All you school children can come that way.” Arthur thinks it’s particularly ridiculous that Tristan would call them children, being only five years older than them. “Bring Merlin and -um -well whatever else you want to bring.”
“Beer!” Isolde pipes up
“Brilliant, yes. Bring that too.”
Arthur scratches at his jaw. “Merlin and beer. Got it.”
“And your sister, she’s the hottest girl at school.” Will grins evilly and Arthur rolls his eyes. He think’s he should tell Will that she’s with Gwaine but something tells him that wouldn’t Will from trying. Or the fact that she would probably claw his eyes out if he so much as looked at her suggestively. He settles on smiling at Will and deciding to let him find out on his own. “And Vivian will be there. I never heard about your date, did you get off?”
Arthur waves his hand vaguely in front of his face. “Well, she got off. I had to wait until she left.” Will leans over the couch, eyes wide and attentive. “She might be fit but I think she might also be possessed.”
Will laughs and raises his eyebrows. “I will preform an exorcism. With my dick.”
It’s possibly the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard someone say and he pitches forward in a fit of laughter, a spot of tea soaking through the knee of his jeans and he notices Tristan has pressed his forehead against the coffee table, trying not to smile. “Alright yeah, let’s hope it works.”
They spend the afternoon listening to music in the living room while Will slowly turns the side table into an ashtray and Arthur hates to admit it, but he sees the appeal to Will and his generally offensive behavior. Arthur even finds it easy to forget about Merlin for most of the day. While Will and Isolde play table tennis and Tristan is wrapped up with cheering on his wife, however, Arthur is painfully alone with his thoughts.
He knows Merlin is mad at him, he doesn’t need to be staring him in the face to know it, and he thinks of what he’s going to say to him to make it all right again. Arthur tells himself a myriad of things he believes to be true like ‘He’s my best friend, I’m just looking out for him’, ‘It was convenient, he’s always laying right there’, and most importantly ‘I’m not into men’. Maybe if he finds someone at the party for Merlin to hook up with it’ll smooth this over, and Arthur can find a girl that won’t leave him fending for himself and his erection.
Arthur fishes his phone out of his bag and deletes the four text messages from Morgana asking him where he is and if he’s died somewhere on the side of the road he probably deserves it somehow. He finds Meriln’s name and taps out
‘Party Saturday at T & I’s place’
While he struggles with texting Morgana something rude his phone vibrates in his hand.
‘Where are you? -M”
‘Tristan and Isolde’s. Will’s here, he’s stupid.’
‘You’re stupid. I’ll think about it -M’
‘No thinking, you have to come, stay over Friday’
Merlin doesn’t text back for what feels like hours and Arthur tells himself it’s because he’s probably in class being a top notch student like he always is, and when he finally does he just writes ‘K -M’
http://colorwheel.livejournal.com/2480.html part 4