[FIC] saved it all for you (and you) (Arthur/Gwen/Merlin/Morgana; PG)
Author: Anon
Title: saved it all for you (and you)
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Arthur/Merlin/Gwen/Morgana (and pretty much all variations thereof)
Rating: PG
Summary: This is not how Merlin expected his summer to go. Or, how four people accidentally start the relationship they've always wanted.
Warnings (if any): None
Total Word Count/Length: 4,700~
Original prompt number: 160 - Submitted by Anon
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by the BBC and Shine TV. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's notes: A lot of this is based on my Uni experiences (except the polyamory, um) - 3am ultimate frisbee is the best, and finding student accommodation with a dishwasher really is that exciting.
Beta(s): Anon
( Read on AO3 )
"It has a dishwasher," Gwen whispered, awed and reverent, and despite himself Merlin raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Seriously?" he said, and tried to ignore the roll of panic that burned low in his gut every time someone mentioned where they were going to live off-campus for second year.
"I know," Gwen stressed, fluttering her hands like she was trying to pat their words down, like someone might overhear and somehow steal her dishwasher from them. "We had to say yes immediately. There's four bedrooms and even a small garden and it's lovely, really, but the thought of not having to constantly find ways to convince Arthur to do the dishes was too perfect to miss. It's ours from July, so we're - well, I - am planning on staying here for the summer," she sighed, her smile soft, and traced patterns in the puddles of condensation that followed their drinks across the table. The student union pub was quiet this early in the afternoon, final exams just far enough away that no one was quiet panicking yet, and the sunlight streamed across their table like a promise of summer.
Merlin swallowed back the jealousy, and stared at his glass. The cider fizzed thinly, bubbles collecting on the surface. "I have no idea where I'm going to live next year," he admitted, after a long, silent moment.
"Oh," Gwen said, softly, reaching over to pat his arm gently, and then drew back suddenly. "You could- that is, if you want," she started, and Merlin dragged his head up to blink at her. "The thing is, the house we like, with just the three of us there's a spare bedroom and Morgana was talking about turning it into a home cinema but I really can't afford the extra rent so you could, um, have it. Live with us, I mean. If you wanted."
She smiled unsurely, eyes wide and worried like she thought Merlin might snap at such a ridiculous suggestion, but Merlin just stared at her with his mouth open.
"Yes," he said, suddenly, before Gwen could change her mind. Before he could think about what exactly he was agreeing to. Before he could think about Pendragons, Gwen's boyfriend and his intimidating sister (ex-step-sister, they were both always eager to point out, having only being legally related for three years before their parents divorced. Morgana had kept the last name and the tendency to pick on Arthur whenever she has the chance), and living with them, and playing drinking games at three in the morning and watching stupid TV shows with Gwen whenever they wanted and having house dinners and sharing a bathroom oh god.
"Really?" Gwen said, her smile glowing, and Merlin couldn't stop himself grinning back. "Well, obviously we'd have to clear with with Arthur and Morgana, but they like you!" Merlin snorted, and Gwen waved him off with a roll of her eyes. "They do, so that shouldn't be a problem, and oh, Merlin, this is going to be wonderful!"
Merlin couldn't quite bring himself to agree (Pendragons, a nasty little voice at the back of his mind teased like a siren), but Gwen's delight was so infectious he found himself nodding anyway, even as Gwen sent a we've got a new housemate!! text to Arthur and got only ????? in response.
They had their first party a week after moving in, when, despite half their friends having gone home for summer, the kitchen table was still littered with half-empty wine bottles, discarded plastic cups and the remains of Arthur's attempt at catering, burnt and blackened but still thoroughly picked over by the dozen or so people who had turned up. Almost everyone was in the garden, basking in the fading light, and the July heat seeped into Merlin's bones as he sprawled out on the paving stones. He was half-propped against the outside wall and laughing at something Will said, teetering on the right side of drunk with his hand wrapped around a pint glass of some terrifyingly potent thing Morgana had thrown together, but there was still tension down his spine like someone had been staring at the back of his head for days.
Gwen and Will sat either side of him, Will (who had driven him there on the day he'd moved in and somehow had yet to leave) leaning against the wall and Gwen leaning on Merlin, her elbow digging painfully into his ribs but he didn't have the heart or coordination to ask her to move. They were on the edge of a circle of people that Merlin mostly didn't know - Gwen's classmates, and a couple of people who might have been in his seminars, and then, of course, Gwaine, who seemed to know everyone and had shown up with a box of vodka jelly shots. The conversation buzzed on without him, exam results and summer plans and people competing over who had the worst part-time job, while Will occasionally commented as deadpan as possible as he sucked at the dregs of a joint and Gwen quietly listened, seemingly content to sip at her wine and watch across the circle.
Arthur was back in the house with the few of his football teammates who had shown up, all playing SingStar in the living room when Merlin has last wandered through to get a refill, and Morgana was sat a few feet away at the other end of their tiny, tiny garden. A gaggle of her fellow Law students had claimed the few plastic chairs they had and Morgana had settled on the concrete by their feet, looking impossibly elegant for someone spooning jelly out of a shotglass with their little finger.
Gwen swayed into him for a moment, her weight pressing warm and perfect against his side, and then she made an odd noise and started to struggle to her feet, trying to keep her sundress at an acceptable height around her thighs. "I'm going to find Arthur," she said on the way up, holding her wine glass away from her and using Merlin's shoulder as leverage, and delicately stepped over Merlin and Will's legs before disappearing back into the house.
The space where she'd been felt cold, and Merlin frowned and shifted so he was sitting more upright, rolling his shoulders against the brickwork. Will, busy rolling, glanced up to smirk at him.
"Shut up," Merlin said, and Will - eyes slightly red, his grin a little bit too wide - laughed so hard tobacco split out of his paper.
"You're so fucked," Will said, grinning at him as he brushed off his jeans, and Merlin tried to hide his face behind his drink - which, completely without his knowledge, was suddenly empty. He glared at it.
"I need a refill," Merlin said, waving his glass vaguely in the direction of the sky and staggered to his feet, using Will's head to push off from and making a point to viciously ruffle his hair as he let go. Will punched his leg as he stumbled past.
"Bring me something!" Will called after him just as Merlin stepped through the back door. Merlin just waved his hand behind him and pulled the door shut with a click.
The house was quiet after the buzz of outside, everything a little soft and grey as the daylight trickled into evening. Merlin started picking through whatever was left on the table, staring at a newly-opened vodka bottle for an ponderously long moment before he was suddenly up the stairs and into the bathroom before he had decided to move; his bladder's need the only coherent thought in his head. He tried to hold on to the wall and his still-empty glass and his dick all at once, swiftly dropping the glass and wincing as it bounced harmlessly on the linoleum.
He was possibly teetering on the wrong side of drunk, he decided, and smiled around his teeth as he finished. He felt his way over to the sink and swigged water out of the relatively-clean cup that usually held his toothbrush, splashed his face and dried his skin on a handtowel, still damp from his shower a few hours ago, before chancing a glance in the mirror. His eyes were over-bright, cheeks flushed high and pink, bottom lip glistening wetly and he laughed, unexpectedly loud in the tiny tiled room, and slapped a hand over his mouth.
A floorboard outside creaked, and Merlin spun around and wrenched the door open to find Arthur, eyebrows raised and looking entirely unimpressed.
"Who's in there with you?" he said, shoving at Merlin's shoulder to see past him.
"No one," Merlin said, quick and defensive like being around Arthur always made him, but he didn't have the strength to fight back and just fell against the door, opening it wide and showing how utterly truthful he was being.
Arthur glanced around, frowning, as if he expected someone to appear from behind the tightly-folded shower curtain. "You were... laughing by yourself?" he said, and fixed Merlin with a look.
Merlin shrugged.
"You're very odd," Arthur said, softening, and the slope of his smile made Merlin realise that maybe Arthur was nearly as drunk as he was. "Percy and Lance have bailed, so I guess I've got to hang out with you losers," Arthur said, and slung his arm around Merlin's shoulders, and - this was their problem, Merlin thought, and slid into Arthur's warmth anyway. Arthur would throw insults and call him names and belittle him at every opportunity because that's just what Arthur did, as long as Merlin did it right back, and that was fine, really. The first time they met had started with Merlin overhearing some blond idiot at a party chewing out someone for spilling a drink over his shoes - when Merlin was only a few sips into his vodka mixer and was still so full of wide-eyed earnestness, wanting desperately to impress the pretty girl from his lecture that had invited him along, that he'd pointed him out and asked her to hold his drink so he could have a word.
"That's my boyfriend," Gwen had sighed before he'd taken more than a step, and Merlin spun on the spot to gape at her.
"But he's a prat!" he'd said, too loud, and Gwen was frowning and then Arthur was standing next to them, clearing his throat pointedly.
"Is this guy bothering you?" Arthur asked as he put his arm around Gwen, so hyper-macho that Merlin actually laughed. Arthur narrowed his eyes at him.
Gwen rolled her eyes and shoved Arthur off. "He's right, you are a prat," she said, and then darted her eyes between them. "You two should get on well!" she added, like it had just occurred to her, and handed Merlin's drink back to him before hurrying off into the crowd so neither of them could see her laughing.
Merlin tried not to visibly panic over losing the one friend he'd made so far. Arthur had looked him over, eyes still narrowed, before asking, "How do you know Gwen?"
"We're old friends," Merlin said, bristling, and Arthur scoffed.
"She's never mentioned you, so you can't be anyone important," he said, and dismissed him with another once-over before pushing past.
"Well, she never mentioned you either!" Merlin called after him, and then felt thoroughly ridiculous, and tried to hide in the kitchen for the rest of the party. Gwen found him pretty quickly.
"Sorry, he's a bit... Arthur-ish, sometimes," she said, and Merlin was too relieved that she was still talking to him to even consider what that might mean.
Merlin had hoped that would be it, that he and Gwen would continue to hang out and Arthur would just be a distant figure who occasionally glared in his direction - but, they kept finding themselves at the same parties, or Arthur would show up at Gwen's door when she was studying with Merlin, or insist on coming along when they went into town together. They seemed to have a sort of uneasy truce for Gwen's sake, the kind where they would constantly snipe at each other while Gwen pointedly ignored them, but eventually he was around so much that Arthur got comfortable with him; enough to casually sling an arm around his shoulders when he felt Merlin wasn't getting his point yet, or catch his arm to catch his attention, or hug him at three in the morning after a few of them had found an empty car park to play ultimate frisbee in, when they were both too overtired and sloppy to care - always quick and heatless, but sometimes Merlin caught the way Gwen would watch them, all laser-guided intensity, and feel like the bottom had dropped out of his stomach.
And then - then there was the night where Merlin turned up to a party a little late and alone and found Arthur sprawled out on the grass in front of the dorm, watching the stars with the stillest face Merlin had ever seen. It had taken Arthur a few moments to realise someone else was there, and another to realise who it was, but then his face lit up with a cry of, "Merlin!" and he pushed himself up just so he could grab Merlin's hand and pull him down beside him; and Merlin let him, suddenly pressed close to Arthur's side and being forced to catch up on everything he missed in the last few hours, and he desperately hoped that Arthur couldn't feel how his skin was suddenly on fire.
Arthur jostled Merlin's shoulder and tugged him out of the bathroom, guiding them the few steps towards the stairs.
"You're ridiculous," Merlin felt the sudden need to tell Arthur, or possibly himself. Arthur laughed.
"Really," he said, flat and teasing, and when Merlin glanced at him Arthur's face was shadowed in the half-light, his eyes bright and unreadable. Merlin was suddenly, acutely, terribly aware of the weight of Arthur's arm against his neck, how his hand was curled around Arthur's waist, the thin polo shirt that was the only thing between him and the heat that leached off Arthur's skin, the solidness of Arthur's hip pressed against his, the way Arthur's eyes were fixed on his bottom lip and Merlin unthinkingly bit it to stop it tingling.
"Christ," Arthur said, and kissed him - kissed him so hard that Merlin stumbled backwards and Arthur followed, kissed him so hard that Merlin tried to gasp and surge forward and kiss back all at once, Arthur's arm crushing heat around his waist as he walked them backwards until they hit the door behind and found it was open, stumbling back and never stopping even as it hit the wall and Merlin hit the door and Arthur slammed into him. He didn't let himself think, just let one hand curl around the back of Arthur's neck and tilted into it, pushing deeper, and Arthur made the most obscene noise Merlin had ever heard and fought back.
Downstairs the kitchen door opened, distant noise spilling into the house like clarity, and Merlin jerked his head back so hard it rebounded off the door. "Gwen," he breathed, because that was the word that always stopped him when he was doing something he shouldn't, that he should have said twenty seconds ago, and Arthur's blown-wide pupils contracted sharply.
"Yes?" came quietly from the back of the room.
Arthur jumped back a foot. Gwen was standing by the window with a glass of wine in one hand and a cardigan hanging off one arm, staring at them with her mouth open and eyes wide. "I got cold," she explained, breathless and quiet.
"Guinevere, I..." Arthur said, just staring at her, and Gwen pressed her lips together and took a step forward, eyes darting between them.
"Do it again," she said, her voice like steel but not angry and Merlin didn't even hear her - too busy staring at the floor and desperately hoping it would stop spinning so he could think, too busy panicking over how he'd just ruined everything to notice the silent conversation between Arthur and Gwen, as Arthur stared at her in increasing incredulity and she nodded, a smile blooming across her face.
"Merlin," Arthur said, turning to him and catching his attention with a hand curling over his shoulder. Merlin dragged his head up to blink at him. "Apparently Guinevere is into this," he said simply, like he was repeating something he didn't necessarily understand but didn't feel like he had to, and crowded close and careful before kissing Merlin again.
Gwen exhaled sharply and Merlin didn't know what to do with his hands any more, hovering at his sides as Arthur cupped his jaw and kissed him like he meant it, overwhelming and insistent, before pulling back to just to check that really, Gwen was okay with this?
"My turn," she said, ignoring him entirely, and after carefully putting down her wine glass and smoothing down her dress she strode across the room to grab Merlin by the collar and pull him towards her, crushing their mouths together. Merlin flailed, and deflated, and surged into reciprocation, ending up with one arm wrapped around Gwen's back and the other fisted in the front of Arthur's shirt, desperately trying to anchor himself between them. It felt like the room was spinning again but it might have just been the high of pure relief, of discovering that he could possibly, maybe, have something he wanted so terribly he'd even never let himself think about it.
"We should go to Arthur's room," Gwen said, breathless and glowing to the point where Merlin felt stupidly pleased with himself, and Arthur's chest rumbled happily under his palm. "I've only got a single bed."
"Always so practical," Arthur hummed, and Gwen grinned, and grabbed both their hands to lead them out of her room.
"I made out with Morgana last year," Gwen admitted to the darkness an hour later, when the three of them were lying on Arthur's bed. They were still mostly clothed - Gwen's dress was rucked up around the tops of her thighs, her cardigan long since lost; Merlin's jeans were undone and slipping low on his hips; Arthur's polo neck somewhere on the floor after a considered and joint from the other two to get it off him. Arthur lay in the middle, Merlin pressing loosely against his back with an arm thrown over his stomach and Gwen curled against his front, her fingers linked with Merlin's.
"What," Arthur said, after a long moment. Merlin closed his eyes and grinned, pressing his forehead against Arthur's bare shoulder.
"It was just... I don't know," Gwen sighed, and rolled onto her back so she could stare at the ceiling. "She kissed me while we were dancing and I kissed back and it was... nice," she said, and bit her lip.
"What," Arthur said again, and Gwen turned her head sharply to glare at him.
"Well, you kissed Merlin," she said. "When would you have told me about that?"
Arthur swallowed, and ducked his head so he could bury his face in the pillow for a moment. "I don't know," he admitted, muffled and serious, and emerged again to look Gwen in the eye. "You're right, of course. What would I do without you?" he said, sounding as soft and vulnerable as Merlin had ever heard him, and for a moment he felt like he was intruding on something impossibly private
A grin twitched across Gwen's face, irresistible and unbidden, and she darted forward to kiss Arthur square on the mouth. "It's fine," she said, and pushed up on her elbow so she could see Merlin on the other side of him. "Really." Merlin blinked and beamed back at her, letting Gwen pull at his hand so he had to roll closer and kiss her again as Arthur curled a hand over her hip and pressed his mouth against her collarbone, and then Arthur's bedroom door burst open and Morgana strode into the room, flicking on the light switch.
"So this is where you've been hiding," she said, sounding amused, and let the door drift shut behind her.
"Oh my god," Arthur said, and hid his face in Gwen's neck. Merlin, closest to Morgana but facing away from her, froze with one hand curled around Gwen's neck and his mouth still inches from hers, close enough to watch her eyes flash wide and her jaw fall and the corners of her lips to dart between thoughts so fast he couldn't read her face at all.
"I can't believe you're having your first threesome without me," Morgana cooed as she climbed on to the end of the bed, her hand skimming over Gwen's bare ankle. She looked slightly ruffled - her perfect hair fluffed like she'd been running her hand through it, her eyeliner blurring a little at the edges, her feet bare as she tucked them under the edge of her dress, and Merlin couldn't stop looking at her.
"It's not a threesome if there are more than three people, Morgana," Arthur said, raising his head just to squint at her, and Morgana flashed her teeth at him. Gwen pulled away from everyone and settled back against the pillows, watching Morgana carefully like she was waiting for something she wasn't sure she was ready to see.
"You never were any good at sharing," Morgana said, mouth like a shark, and tip-toed her fingers up Gwen's calf. Gwen bit her lip and wriggled her toes a little, reaching for Arthur's hand even as she didn't tell Morgana to stop, and Morgana's gaze flicked from her to Arthur's thin-lipped consideration to Merlin's wide eyes, his hand that had fallen over Arthur's waist again and he hadn't had the presence of mind to move. "How about it, Merlin? Seeing as you're the only one here I haven't even touched yet," she said, turning her full-beam grin on him, and Merlin swallowed.
"Wait, what?" Gwen said.
"Did Arthur never tell you about his first kiss?" she gasped, wide-eyed and mock-innocent, and Arthur hissed her name in warning. Morgana laughed him off.
Gwen was the first one to get. "Oh my god," she moaned. And then: "Do it again?" and then, "Can we? All four of us?" she said, rushed and breathy like she couldn't quite believe it was possible, trying to catch the moment before it slipped away entirely.
"I don't see why not," Morgana said quickly, looking between all three of them as she hooked a finger over the bottom hem of Arthur's jeans, suddenly looking oddly small and alone at the end of the bed.
"Yes," Merlin breathed, watching her, and Morgana's smile turned a little softer as she glanced at him. They all looked at Arthur.
"You did start this, technically," Gwen reminded him.
"Don't try to tell me you don't want this," Morgana teased.
"Please," Merlin said, a little bit strained.
"Oh, sod it," Arthur said, and pulled Morgana towards them.
She fell into them laughing, high and delighted and girlish in a way that Merlin had never heard from her, and she fixed Merlin with a calculating look before catching his jaw and kissing him, quick and dirty like a promise.
"Perfect," Gwen murmured, a thought sneaking past her lips, and Morgana's smirk was playful as she darted over to kiss her, a peck turning into something slower and softer and lingering, and her hand drifted from Merlin's chin down to Arthur's chest beneath her - Merlin's hand covered hers, and she smiled against Gwen's mouth, and Arthur watched them with something like wonder in his eyes. Merlin's breath caught as he realised that yeah, actually, this could work.
"Pay attention, Merlin," Arthur said, and Merlin glanced down to find Arthur watching him with his mouth twisted to the side, unimpressed and waiting. "We can't let the girls have all the fun."
Gwen's laugh bubbled up as Merlin grinned, before diving down to shut him up.
Merlin wandered into his bedroom late the next morning, half asleep and wearing just his boxers as he dragged a hand across his face to try and clear the fog.
"You're still here, then," Will said, and Merlin staggered several steps to the right.
"Christ," he said, and blinked rapidly to shift the sleep out of his eyes. Will was stretched out on Merlin's bed, lying on his stomach and staring at Merlin with narrowed eyes, and Merlin was reminded suddenly and horribly of the way his mum looked at him whenever she was about to tell him off.
"I was stuck talking to Gwaine all night," Will said flatly. "How about you?"
"Um," Merlin said.
"So, how was he?" Will said, and Merlin just stared at him with his mouth open, and then Will started smirking. "Mate, I don't know what you were doing, but I could hear you down here. Please," he started, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed so he could stand up and clap a hand over Merlin's shoulder, "never, ever, tell me what you were doing."
Merlin started laughing in one short and surprised rush of air. "I'm serious!" Will stressed, grinning. "I could be scarred for life!"
"Shut up," Merlin said, still laughing, and shoved Will off him so he could pull on a t-shirt. "Um, Gwen's making pancakes, if you want some."
"Yeah? Awesome. A decent breakfast before a long drive," he said, and it took Merlin a moment before he whipped his head around to look at him. "I've had enough of you poncy uni types," Will said, softening it with a grin. "Besides, I'm not actually sure I told work I was taking a few days off."
Two weeks later and Merlin woke up alone in his own bed, sunlight streaming over his bedcovers, his chest feeling impossibly light, and for a moment he couldn't place why he felt so incandescently happy.
Someone knocked lightly on his door, opening it before Merlin could say anything, and Morgana lightly stepped into his room wearing just a loose vest top and the shorts she always slept in.
"I'd forgotten what a terrible snorer Arthur is," she sighed dramatically, leaning against the wall, and Merlin just smiled and, after a beat, because he was still getting used to this, lifted up the edge of bedcovers like an invitation. She crossed the room in a flash and slipped in bedside him, throwing her arm over his ribs and pillowing her head on his chest, her hair cascading cool and silky across his sleepwarm skin. For the couple of weeks that they had been doing whatever this thing was, Morgana was the one who constantly surprised him - the most tactical and tender, the first one to pull him into a kiss and slip a hand under his shirt, the one he would catch watching them all like she couldn't quite believe this was happening.
Merlin let his hand drift up her thigh, skimming over her hip and tickling softly along the curve of her waist. She squirmed happily, shifting her head so he could see the way her lip was caught between her teeth like a challenge, and then Arthur ruined it all by appearing in the doorway and telling them they were all going food shopping, if they could stop lazing around for long enough to join them.
And, mostly it worked, and it didn't feel all that different from just living together except there was a lot more kissing. They would take turns making dinner, and completely ignore the cleaning rota, and sometimes Merlin would leave the door unlocked when he had a shower and sometimes he didn't, and one person's bed almost always went unslept in, and it was incredibly hard to get anything done when there was always someone around who delighted in making him squirm. And then - then there were the nights when they would find themselves all sprawled out in the living room at two in the morning, Arthur and Merlin taking up the entire sofa while Gwen and Morgana shared an armchair, curled up close around each other and watching whatever was on TV with heavy-lidded eyes.
"Pay attention, Merlin," Arthur said, tapping his thigh lightly with the back of his hand, and his smile was crooked and bright when Merlin glanced at him. "Or you'll miss the best part."
Title: saved it all for you (and you)
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Arthur/Merlin/Gwen/Morgana (and pretty much all variations thereof)
Rating: PG
Summary: This is not how Merlin expected his summer to go. Or, how four people accidentally start the relationship they've always wanted.
Warnings (if any): None
Total Word Count/Length: 4,700~
Original prompt number: 160 - Submitted by Anon
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by the BBC and Shine TV. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's notes: A lot of this is based on my Uni experiences (except the polyamory, um) - 3am ultimate frisbee is the best, and finding student accommodation with a dishwasher really is that exciting.
Beta(s): Anon
( Read on AO3 )
"It has a dishwasher," Gwen whispered, awed and reverent, and despite himself Merlin raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Seriously?" he said, and tried to ignore the roll of panic that burned low in his gut every time someone mentioned where they were going to live off-campus for second year.
"I know," Gwen stressed, fluttering her hands like she was trying to pat their words down, like someone might overhear and somehow steal her dishwasher from them. "We had to say yes immediately. There's four bedrooms and even a small garden and it's lovely, really, but the thought of not having to constantly find ways to convince Arthur to do the dishes was too perfect to miss. It's ours from July, so we're - well, I - am planning on staying here for the summer," she sighed, her smile soft, and traced patterns in the puddles of condensation that followed their drinks across the table. The student union pub was quiet this early in the afternoon, final exams just far enough away that no one was quiet panicking yet, and the sunlight streamed across their table like a promise of summer.
Merlin swallowed back the jealousy, and stared at his glass. The cider fizzed thinly, bubbles collecting on the surface. "I have no idea where I'm going to live next year," he admitted, after a long, silent moment.
"Oh," Gwen said, softly, reaching over to pat his arm gently, and then drew back suddenly. "You could- that is, if you want," she started, and Merlin dragged his head up to blink at her. "The thing is, the house we like, with just the three of us there's a spare bedroom and Morgana was talking about turning it into a home cinema but I really can't afford the extra rent so you could, um, have it. Live with us, I mean. If you wanted."
She smiled unsurely, eyes wide and worried like she thought Merlin might snap at such a ridiculous suggestion, but Merlin just stared at her with his mouth open.
"Yes," he said, suddenly, before Gwen could change her mind. Before he could think about what exactly he was agreeing to. Before he could think about Pendragons, Gwen's boyfriend and his intimidating sister (ex-step-sister, they were both always eager to point out, having only being legally related for three years before their parents divorced. Morgana had kept the last name and the tendency to pick on Arthur whenever she has the chance), and living with them, and playing drinking games at three in the morning and watching stupid TV shows with Gwen whenever they wanted and having house dinners and sharing a bathroom oh god.
"Really?" Gwen said, her smile glowing, and Merlin couldn't stop himself grinning back. "Well, obviously we'd have to clear with with Arthur and Morgana, but they like you!" Merlin snorted, and Gwen waved him off with a roll of her eyes. "They do, so that shouldn't be a problem, and oh, Merlin, this is going to be wonderful!"
Merlin couldn't quite bring himself to agree (Pendragons, a nasty little voice at the back of his mind teased like a siren), but Gwen's delight was so infectious he found himself nodding anyway, even as Gwen sent a we've got a new housemate!! text to Arthur and got only ????? in response.
They had their first party a week after moving in, when, despite half their friends having gone home for summer, the kitchen table was still littered with half-empty wine bottles, discarded plastic cups and the remains of Arthur's attempt at catering, burnt and blackened but still thoroughly picked over by the dozen or so people who had turned up. Almost everyone was in the garden, basking in the fading light, and the July heat seeped into Merlin's bones as he sprawled out on the paving stones. He was half-propped against the outside wall and laughing at something Will said, teetering on the right side of drunk with his hand wrapped around a pint glass of some terrifyingly potent thing Morgana had thrown together, but there was still tension down his spine like someone had been staring at the back of his head for days.
Gwen and Will sat either side of him, Will (who had driven him there on the day he'd moved in and somehow had yet to leave) leaning against the wall and Gwen leaning on Merlin, her elbow digging painfully into his ribs but he didn't have the heart or coordination to ask her to move. They were on the edge of a circle of people that Merlin mostly didn't know - Gwen's classmates, and a couple of people who might have been in his seminars, and then, of course, Gwaine, who seemed to know everyone and had shown up with a box of vodka jelly shots. The conversation buzzed on without him, exam results and summer plans and people competing over who had the worst part-time job, while Will occasionally commented as deadpan as possible as he sucked at the dregs of a joint and Gwen quietly listened, seemingly content to sip at her wine and watch across the circle.
Arthur was back in the house with the few of his football teammates who had shown up, all playing SingStar in the living room when Merlin has last wandered through to get a refill, and Morgana was sat a few feet away at the other end of their tiny, tiny garden. A gaggle of her fellow Law students had claimed the few plastic chairs they had and Morgana had settled on the concrete by their feet, looking impossibly elegant for someone spooning jelly out of a shotglass with their little finger.
Gwen swayed into him for a moment, her weight pressing warm and perfect against his side, and then she made an odd noise and started to struggle to her feet, trying to keep her sundress at an acceptable height around her thighs. "I'm going to find Arthur," she said on the way up, holding her wine glass away from her and using Merlin's shoulder as leverage, and delicately stepped over Merlin and Will's legs before disappearing back into the house.
The space where she'd been felt cold, and Merlin frowned and shifted so he was sitting more upright, rolling his shoulders against the brickwork. Will, busy rolling, glanced up to smirk at him.
"Shut up," Merlin said, and Will - eyes slightly red, his grin a little bit too wide - laughed so hard tobacco split out of his paper.
"You're so fucked," Will said, grinning at him as he brushed off his jeans, and Merlin tried to hide his face behind his drink - which, completely without his knowledge, was suddenly empty. He glared at it.
"I need a refill," Merlin said, waving his glass vaguely in the direction of the sky and staggered to his feet, using Will's head to push off from and making a point to viciously ruffle his hair as he let go. Will punched his leg as he stumbled past.
"Bring me something!" Will called after him just as Merlin stepped through the back door. Merlin just waved his hand behind him and pulled the door shut with a click.
The house was quiet after the buzz of outside, everything a little soft and grey as the daylight trickled into evening. Merlin started picking through whatever was left on the table, staring at a newly-opened vodka bottle for an ponderously long moment before he was suddenly up the stairs and into the bathroom before he had decided to move; his bladder's need the only coherent thought in his head. He tried to hold on to the wall and his still-empty glass and his dick all at once, swiftly dropping the glass and wincing as it bounced harmlessly on the linoleum.
He was possibly teetering on the wrong side of drunk, he decided, and smiled around his teeth as he finished. He felt his way over to the sink and swigged water out of the relatively-clean cup that usually held his toothbrush, splashed his face and dried his skin on a handtowel, still damp from his shower a few hours ago, before chancing a glance in the mirror. His eyes were over-bright, cheeks flushed high and pink, bottom lip glistening wetly and he laughed, unexpectedly loud in the tiny tiled room, and slapped a hand over his mouth.
A floorboard outside creaked, and Merlin spun around and wrenched the door open to find Arthur, eyebrows raised and looking entirely unimpressed.
"Who's in there with you?" he said, shoving at Merlin's shoulder to see past him.
"No one," Merlin said, quick and defensive like being around Arthur always made him, but he didn't have the strength to fight back and just fell against the door, opening it wide and showing how utterly truthful he was being.
Arthur glanced around, frowning, as if he expected someone to appear from behind the tightly-folded shower curtain. "You were... laughing by yourself?" he said, and fixed Merlin with a look.
Merlin shrugged.
"You're very odd," Arthur said, softening, and the slope of his smile made Merlin realise that maybe Arthur was nearly as drunk as he was. "Percy and Lance have bailed, so I guess I've got to hang out with you losers," Arthur said, and slung his arm around Merlin's shoulders, and - this was their problem, Merlin thought, and slid into Arthur's warmth anyway. Arthur would throw insults and call him names and belittle him at every opportunity because that's just what Arthur did, as long as Merlin did it right back, and that was fine, really. The first time they met had started with Merlin overhearing some blond idiot at a party chewing out someone for spilling a drink over his shoes - when Merlin was only a few sips into his vodka mixer and was still so full of wide-eyed earnestness, wanting desperately to impress the pretty girl from his lecture that had invited him along, that he'd pointed him out and asked her to hold his drink so he could have a word.
"That's my boyfriend," Gwen had sighed before he'd taken more than a step, and Merlin spun on the spot to gape at her.
"But he's a prat!" he'd said, too loud, and Gwen was frowning and then Arthur was standing next to them, clearing his throat pointedly.
"Is this guy bothering you?" Arthur asked as he put his arm around Gwen, so hyper-macho that Merlin actually laughed. Arthur narrowed his eyes at him.
Gwen rolled her eyes and shoved Arthur off. "He's right, you are a prat," she said, and then darted her eyes between them. "You two should get on well!" she added, like it had just occurred to her, and handed Merlin's drink back to him before hurrying off into the crowd so neither of them could see her laughing.
Merlin tried not to visibly panic over losing the one friend he'd made so far. Arthur had looked him over, eyes still narrowed, before asking, "How do you know Gwen?"
"We're old friends," Merlin said, bristling, and Arthur scoffed.
"She's never mentioned you, so you can't be anyone important," he said, and dismissed him with another once-over before pushing past.
"Well, she never mentioned you either!" Merlin called after him, and then felt thoroughly ridiculous, and tried to hide in the kitchen for the rest of the party. Gwen found him pretty quickly.
"Sorry, he's a bit... Arthur-ish, sometimes," she said, and Merlin was too relieved that she was still talking to him to even consider what that might mean.
Merlin had hoped that would be it, that he and Gwen would continue to hang out and Arthur would just be a distant figure who occasionally glared in his direction - but, they kept finding themselves at the same parties, or Arthur would show up at Gwen's door when she was studying with Merlin, or insist on coming along when they went into town together. They seemed to have a sort of uneasy truce for Gwen's sake, the kind where they would constantly snipe at each other while Gwen pointedly ignored them, but eventually he was around so much that Arthur got comfortable with him; enough to casually sling an arm around his shoulders when he felt Merlin wasn't getting his point yet, or catch his arm to catch his attention, or hug him at three in the morning after a few of them had found an empty car park to play ultimate frisbee in, when they were both too overtired and sloppy to care - always quick and heatless, but sometimes Merlin caught the way Gwen would watch them, all laser-guided intensity, and feel like the bottom had dropped out of his stomach.
And then - then there was the night where Merlin turned up to a party a little late and alone and found Arthur sprawled out on the grass in front of the dorm, watching the stars with the stillest face Merlin had ever seen. It had taken Arthur a few moments to realise someone else was there, and another to realise who it was, but then his face lit up with a cry of, "Merlin!" and he pushed himself up just so he could grab Merlin's hand and pull him down beside him; and Merlin let him, suddenly pressed close to Arthur's side and being forced to catch up on everything he missed in the last few hours, and he desperately hoped that Arthur couldn't feel how his skin was suddenly on fire.
Arthur jostled Merlin's shoulder and tugged him out of the bathroom, guiding them the few steps towards the stairs.
"You're ridiculous," Merlin felt the sudden need to tell Arthur, or possibly himself. Arthur laughed.
"Really," he said, flat and teasing, and when Merlin glanced at him Arthur's face was shadowed in the half-light, his eyes bright and unreadable. Merlin was suddenly, acutely, terribly aware of the weight of Arthur's arm against his neck, how his hand was curled around Arthur's waist, the thin polo shirt that was the only thing between him and the heat that leached off Arthur's skin, the solidness of Arthur's hip pressed against his, the way Arthur's eyes were fixed on his bottom lip and Merlin unthinkingly bit it to stop it tingling.
"Christ," Arthur said, and kissed him - kissed him so hard that Merlin stumbled backwards and Arthur followed, kissed him so hard that Merlin tried to gasp and surge forward and kiss back all at once, Arthur's arm crushing heat around his waist as he walked them backwards until they hit the door behind and found it was open, stumbling back and never stopping even as it hit the wall and Merlin hit the door and Arthur slammed into him. He didn't let himself think, just let one hand curl around the back of Arthur's neck and tilted into it, pushing deeper, and Arthur made the most obscene noise Merlin had ever heard and fought back.
Downstairs the kitchen door opened, distant noise spilling into the house like clarity, and Merlin jerked his head back so hard it rebounded off the door. "Gwen," he breathed, because that was the word that always stopped him when he was doing something he shouldn't, that he should have said twenty seconds ago, and Arthur's blown-wide pupils contracted sharply.
"Yes?" came quietly from the back of the room.
Arthur jumped back a foot. Gwen was standing by the window with a glass of wine in one hand and a cardigan hanging off one arm, staring at them with her mouth open and eyes wide. "I got cold," she explained, breathless and quiet.
"Guinevere, I..." Arthur said, just staring at her, and Gwen pressed her lips together and took a step forward, eyes darting between them.
"Do it again," she said, her voice like steel but not angry and Merlin didn't even hear her - too busy staring at the floor and desperately hoping it would stop spinning so he could think, too busy panicking over how he'd just ruined everything to notice the silent conversation between Arthur and Gwen, as Arthur stared at her in increasing incredulity and she nodded, a smile blooming across her face.
"Merlin," Arthur said, turning to him and catching his attention with a hand curling over his shoulder. Merlin dragged his head up to blink at him. "Apparently Guinevere is into this," he said simply, like he was repeating something he didn't necessarily understand but didn't feel like he had to, and crowded close and careful before kissing Merlin again.
Gwen exhaled sharply and Merlin didn't know what to do with his hands any more, hovering at his sides as Arthur cupped his jaw and kissed him like he meant it, overwhelming and insistent, before pulling back to just to check that really, Gwen was okay with this?
"My turn," she said, ignoring him entirely, and after carefully putting down her wine glass and smoothing down her dress she strode across the room to grab Merlin by the collar and pull him towards her, crushing their mouths together. Merlin flailed, and deflated, and surged into reciprocation, ending up with one arm wrapped around Gwen's back and the other fisted in the front of Arthur's shirt, desperately trying to anchor himself between them. It felt like the room was spinning again but it might have just been the high of pure relief, of discovering that he could possibly, maybe, have something he wanted so terribly he'd even never let himself think about it.
"We should go to Arthur's room," Gwen said, breathless and glowing to the point where Merlin felt stupidly pleased with himself, and Arthur's chest rumbled happily under his palm. "I've only got a single bed."
"Always so practical," Arthur hummed, and Gwen grinned, and grabbed both their hands to lead them out of her room.
"I made out with Morgana last year," Gwen admitted to the darkness an hour later, when the three of them were lying on Arthur's bed. They were still mostly clothed - Gwen's dress was rucked up around the tops of her thighs, her cardigan long since lost; Merlin's jeans were undone and slipping low on his hips; Arthur's polo neck somewhere on the floor after a considered and joint from the other two to get it off him. Arthur lay in the middle, Merlin pressing loosely against his back with an arm thrown over his stomach and Gwen curled against his front, her fingers linked with Merlin's.
"What," Arthur said, after a long moment. Merlin closed his eyes and grinned, pressing his forehead against Arthur's bare shoulder.
"It was just... I don't know," Gwen sighed, and rolled onto her back so she could stare at the ceiling. "She kissed me while we were dancing and I kissed back and it was... nice," she said, and bit her lip.
"What," Arthur said again, and Gwen turned her head sharply to glare at him.
"Well, you kissed Merlin," she said. "When would you have told me about that?"
Arthur swallowed, and ducked his head so he could bury his face in the pillow for a moment. "I don't know," he admitted, muffled and serious, and emerged again to look Gwen in the eye. "You're right, of course. What would I do without you?" he said, sounding as soft and vulnerable as Merlin had ever heard him, and for a moment he felt like he was intruding on something impossibly private
A grin twitched across Gwen's face, irresistible and unbidden, and she darted forward to kiss Arthur square on the mouth. "It's fine," she said, and pushed up on her elbow so she could see Merlin on the other side of him. "Really." Merlin blinked and beamed back at her, letting Gwen pull at his hand so he had to roll closer and kiss her again as Arthur curled a hand over her hip and pressed his mouth against her collarbone, and then Arthur's bedroom door burst open and Morgana strode into the room, flicking on the light switch.
"So this is where you've been hiding," she said, sounding amused, and let the door drift shut behind her.
"Oh my god," Arthur said, and hid his face in Gwen's neck. Merlin, closest to Morgana but facing away from her, froze with one hand curled around Gwen's neck and his mouth still inches from hers, close enough to watch her eyes flash wide and her jaw fall and the corners of her lips to dart between thoughts so fast he couldn't read her face at all.
"I can't believe you're having your first threesome without me," Morgana cooed as she climbed on to the end of the bed, her hand skimming over Gwen's bare ankle. She looked slightly ruffled - her perfect hair fluffed like she'd been running her hand through it, her eyeliner blurring a little at the edges, her feet bare as she tucked them under the edge of her dress, and Merlin couldn't stop looking at her.
"It's not a threesome if there are more than three people, Morgana," Arthur said, raising his head just to squint at her, and Morgana flashed her teeth at him. Gwen pulled away from everyone and settled back against the pillows, watching Morgana carefully like she was waiting for something she wasn't sure she was ready to see.
"You never were any good at sharing," Morgana said, mouth like a shark, and tip-toed her fingers up Gwen's calf. Gwen bit her lip and wriggled her toes a little, reaching for Arthur's hand even as she didn't tell Morgana to stop, and Morgana's gaze flicked from her to Arthur's thin-lipped consideration to Merlin's wide eyes, his hand that had fallen over Arthur's waist again and he hadn't had the presence of mind to move. "How about it, Merlin? Seeing as you're the only one here I haven't even touched yet," she said, turning her full-beam grin on him, and Merlin swallowed.
"Wait, what?" Gwen said.
"Did Arthur never tell you about his first kiss?" she gasped, wide-eyed and mock-innocent, and Arthur hissed her name in warning. Morgana laughed him off.
Gwen was the first one to get. "Oh my god," she moaned. And then: "Do it again?" and then, "Can we? All four of us?" she said, rushed and breathy like she couldn't quite believe it was possible, trying to catch the moment before it slipped away entirely.
"I don't see why not," Morgana said quickly, looking between all three of them as she hooked a finger over the bottom hem of Arthur's jeans, suddenly looking oddly small and alone at the end of the bed.
"Yes," Merlin breathed, watching her, and Morgana's smile turned a little softer as she glanced at him. They all looked at Arthur.
"You did start this, technically," Gwen reminded him.
"Don't try to tell me you don't want this," Morgana teased.
"Please," Merlin said, a little bit strained.
"Oh, sod it," Arthur said, and pulled Morgana towards them.
She fell into them laughing, high and delighted and girlish in a way that Merlin had never heard from her, and she fixed Merlin with a calculating look before catching his jaw and kissing him, quick and dirty like a promise.
"Perfect," Gwen murmured, a thought sneaking past her lips, and Morgana's smirk was playful as she darted over to kiss her, a peck turning into something slower and softer and lingering, and her hand drifted from Merlin's chin down to Arthur's chest beneath her - Merlin's hand covered hers, and she smiled against Gwen's mouth, and Arthur watched them with something like wonder in his eyes. Merlin's breath caught as he realised that yeah, actually, this could work.
"Pay attention, Merlin," Arthur said, and Merlin glanced down to find Arthur watching him with his mouth twisted to the side, unimpressed and waiting. "We can't let the girls have all the fun."
Gwen's laugh bubbled up as Merlin grinned, before diving down to shut him up.
Merlin wandered into his bedroom late the next morning, half asleep and wearing just his boxers as he dragged a hand across his face to try and clear the fog.
"You're still here, then," Will said, and Merlin staggered several steps to the right.
"Christ," he said, and blinked rapidly to shift the sleep out of his eyes. Will was stretched out on Merlin's bed, lying on his stomach and staring at Merlin with narrowed eyes, and Merlin was reminded suddenly and horribly of the way his mum looked at him whenever she was about to tell him off.
"I was stuck talking to Gwaine all night," Will said flatly. "How about you?"
"Um," Merlin said.
"So, how was he?" Will said, and Merlin just stared at him with his mouth open, and then Will started smirking. "Mate, I don't know what you were doing, but I could hear you down here. Please," he started, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed so he could stand up and clap a hand over Merlin's shoulder, "never, ever, tell me what you were doing."
Merlin started laughing in one short and surprised rush of air. "I'm serious!" Will stressed, grinning. "I could be scarred for life!"
"Shut up," Merlin said, still laughing, and shoved Will off him so he could pull on a t-shirt. "Um, Gwen's making pancakes, if you want some."
"Yeah? Awesome. A decent breakfast before a long drive," he said, and it took Merlin a moment before he whipped his head around to look at him. "I've had enough of you poncy uni types," Will said, softening it with a grin. "Besides, I'm not actually sure I told work I was taking a few days off."
Two weeks later and Merlin woke up alone in his own bed, sunlight streaming over his bedcovers, his chest feeling impossibly light, and for a moment he couldn't place why he felt so incandescently happy.
Someone knocked lightly on his door, opening it before Merlin could say anything, and Morgana lightly stepped into his room wearing just a loose vest top and the shorts she always slept in.
"I'd forgotten what a terrible snorer Arthur is," she sighed dramatically, leaning against the wall, and Merlin just smiled and, after a beat, because he was still getting used to this, lifted up the edge of bedcovers like an invitation. She crossed the room in a flash and slipped in bedside him, throwing her arm over his ribs and pillowing her head on his chest, her hair cascading cool and silky across his sleepwarm skin. For the couple of weeks that they had been doing whatever this thing was, Morgana was the one who constantly surprised him - the most tactical and tender, the first one to pull him into a kiss and slip a hand under his shirt, the one he would catch watching them all like she couldn't quite believe this was happening.
Merlin let his hand drift up her thigh, skimming over her hip and tickling softly along the curve of her waist. She squirmed happily, shifting her head so he could see the way her lip was caught between her teeth like a challenge, and then Arthur ruined it all by appearing in the doorway and telling them they were all going food shopping, if they could stop lazing around for long enough to join them.
And, mostly it worked, and it didn't feel all that different from just living together except there was a lot more kissing. They would take turns making dinner, and completely ignore the cleaning rota, and sometimes Merlin would leave the door unlocked when he had a shower and sometimes he didn't, and one person's bed almost always went unslept in, and it was incredibly hard to get anything done when there was always someone around who delighted in making him squirm. And then - then there were the nights when they would find themselves all sprawled out in the living room at two in the morning, Arthur and Merlin taking up the entire sofa while Gwen and Morgana shared an armchair, curled up close around each other and watching whatever was on TV with heavy-lidded eyes.
"Pay attention, Merlin," Arthur said, tapping his thigh lightly with the back of his hand, and his smile was crooked and bright when Merlin glanced at him. "Or you'll miss the best part."