Arthur had been going through mind-numbing reports for hours. The biggest downside of taking his position as Vice President in the media empire his father had built was not the public appearances or dealing with the fallout of one of their outlets going over the top with a story, it was this: reading statistics on social media engagement, views per article and how to work with the YouTube algorithm.
At least, he had been able to convince his friend, who knew absolutely nothing about the media industry but was brilliant in his own right, to take a part-time position as his PA for his own entertainment. Merlin was nothing if not a delight to have around, but it was also a test on his own willpower.
Ever since he had met the man back in Uni, he had felt stupidly and irrevocably attracted to him. Leon, his best mate since primary school and roommate back then, had found it unbelievable funny for some reason. He had pointed out, rightly so, that this was very unlike Arthur. He had never felt or shown that kind of affection for anyone else and this was very out of character for him. It’s not that he didn’t feel attracted to men (Arthur had learned early on that he was unequivocally gay), it’s that he never felt anything for them beyond sexual desire.
With Merlin, it was different.
Merlin made his heart flutter, his hands shake, his breathing halt. Merlin’s smile had the power to stop the world for a few seconds and leave it slightly to the left when he wasn’t smiling anymore. Merlin’s deep voice made the world listen attentively, as if he could command the world to bend to his will if he wanted to. Merlin’s eyes would glitter with a golden shimmer sometimes, rewriting the laws of physics and light and color to impossibilities that could only exist within Merlin’s realm of influence.
He hadn’t said as much to anyone, but Leon knew him too well and could read between the lines of his jokes and friendly pats in the back. He also listened to Morgana who constantly teased that it would happen, she had seen it in a dream. Morgana, who has borderline prophetic dreams that often come true in unexpected ways.
Still, no matter what Morgana said, Merlin couldn’t possibly be interested in Arthur, right? As far as Arthur knew, his friend had a crush on Lance, one of their mutual friends and an all-around great catch. It didn’t matter if Arthur didn’t get to be with Merlin in this lifetime, if Merlin was happy with their annoyingly handsome, noble friend, then Arthur would be fine. He’d eventually shake his crush off and move on.
Arthur is startled out of his thoughts of Merlin when Gwaine barges in, slamming the door of his office open.
“Arthur! You won’t believe who I just made out with!”
He’s pretty sure he’ll believe it alright, Gwaine has made out with almost the entirety of London (including Arthur himself) so whoever it was, it won’t surprise him.
“Who?” he asks.
“Merlin!”
What.
His brain freezes at that.
No, no, no, this can’t be it.
Merlin is pining after Lance, their honorable, infuriatingly attractive friend. Merlin looks at Lance like the man is every single one of his fantasies incarnated. Merlin is in love with their friend and wouldn’t make out with Gwaine just because.
Arthur doesn’t want to know how it happened. Arthur needs to know how it happened.
“What?” he croaks, finally looking up from his dull reports.
“Yeah, I just bet him I could ask Percy out and he’d say yes even after our failed attempt at dating #4. And I told Percy, ‘Hey, you wanna go out with me tomorrow?’ and the big doofus said yes immediately. Merlin lost so I took my prize in the form of a kiss. He’s something else, innit? Very good kisser, our Merlin, you know? He gets really into it with the-“
“Stop,” Arthur says, putting his hand up. He doesn’t want to hear this.
“Oh, why, Arthur, dear? Is it upsetting to hear Merlin is making out with other men?” he’s got that grin in his face, that tone in his voice that implies he knows exactly how it makes Arthur feel.
His friends are not dumb. Well, most of the time, they aren’t. They have all picked up on Arthur’s feelings for Merlin on some level. Maybe they don’t know how deep it goes or how true they are, but they know something. Every single one of them, except for Merlin.
“I just don’t think Merlin would appreciate having his personal life become office gossip,” he justifies.
“Oh, is it?” he quirks up an eyebrow.
Arthur doesn’t dignify that with a response and goes back to the reports on his computer.
“Come on, Arthur, just say it. You’re jealous. It’s fine, we’ve all been there once,” Gwaine taunts, sitting on the edge of Arthur’s desk.
“Gwaine,” he warns.
“I’m just saying, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and do something absolutely nutters to be happy,” Gwaine replies.
“What are you doing here, Gwaine? You don’t even work at this company.”
“I came to ask Percy out and kiss Merlin, obviously. And let me tell you, that kiss… mmm,” he closes his eyes as he hums, then kisses two of his pinched fingers in a chef’s kiss gesture.
Arthur’s gut tightens. He doesn’t want to know how it feels like to kiss Merlin when he doesn’t get to do it himself. He tries to focus on the work in front of him.
“And you know what’s even funnier? Merlin implied there’s someone else he’d like to kiss right in this building, I wonder who could that be?” Gwaine adds pensively.
That makes him look up.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, Arthur, now you’re just being thick,” he says.
Instead of going back to his work, he closes the laptop and stands up.
“Let’s go for lunch. You can tell me how thick you think I’m being there.”
“Do you have enough time?” he teases.
Arthur punches him in the arm and walks to the door, Gwaine trailing behind, laughing.
It turns out, everyone and their mother thinks Merlin and Arthur are the biggest idiots in the universe.
As Gwaine informs him over burgers and chips, Merlin has apparently been pining after him for years. Not Lance, not Leon, not Gwaine. Him, Arthur Pendragon, the most oblivious idiot in the Greater London area. Maybe the entire United Kingdom.
Gwaine mentions stares and smiles and blushes that don’t sound very platonic to his ears but that Arthur has never attributed to himself. Merlin stares because Arthur speaks in his business posh tone that, according to Merlin, is always on the verge of telling someone to fuck off. Merlin smiles because he’s a happy person, someone who can see good in the world and be optimistic that things will change for the better. Merlin blushes because he’s looking at someone else, Arthur just happens to be in the same room.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asks Gwaine.
“Well, it was fun to watch,” he pops a chip in his mouth, chews and continues, “but now I’ve got money on this, so you two better get together before the month is over or so help me God, I will tie you to each other until you confess your feelings.”
It sounds like bollocks to him, but Gwaine is so certain that something akin to hope flutters in his chest.
When he gets back to the office, Merlin is standing outside his door, blushing at something one of the executive assistants is saying.
See? Arthur can’t be the reason behind that kind of reaction. He desperately wishes he was; Merlin is just easy to embarrass. And he looks positively adorable when blushing.
Merlin’s eyes look in his direction as if he could hear Arthur’s thoughts and his blush grows deeper, a small, complicit smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He mumbles something to the assistant who turns in Arthur’s direction and grins.
“Everything okay, Merlin?” Arthur asks, trying to hide the pang of jealousy that threatens to burst his chest wide open. He doesn’t want Merlin to smile that way to anyone else.
“Yeah, Tay just wanted to check your schedule for her boss. Now you have a meeting with Ms. Sarpong from Content at 6.”
That doesn’t sound right to Arthur.
“Today?”
“Yeah, why not? It’s not like you’ve done anything else today, have you?” he’s smiling his beautiful, bright smile, sweet and mischievous at the same time.
Arthur just shakes his head. This is one of the many reasons Merlin is a lousy PA. He always forgets that Arthur has a million other things to do and places to be even on a boring day. He’ll sometimes schedule two meetings at the same time or at odd hours that mean Arthur has to arrive earlier or stay long after his hours are over. Merlin, however, constantly reminds him that as the Vice President of the company, he’s expected to do overtime (and he’s right but Arthur isn’t telling him so).
“Merlin, I’m supposed to finish the monthly reports today. Tell Ms. Sarpong something came up.”
“And ask Tay, who has heard this entire conversation, to lie to her boss? Not likely, Arthur. Now stop being a prat and go work on those reports now so you’re ready by 6. Chop, chop. Move your entitled arse to the office.”
Arthur shakes his head and goes in, hearing Tay whisper at Merlin “you could try something revolutionary like telling him what you really think of that tight arse of his.”
He hears Merlin shushing her and whispering furiously something back. It reminds him of what Gwaine said.
“Merlin, if you could come with me so we can talk about my schedule for tomorrow, please?”
Tay squeaks and leaves to her own work. Merlin sighs heavily and follows Arthur inside.
“Look, I know what you’re going to say, but Tay has been trying to schedule a meeting with you for two weeks. I’m tired of blowing her off. And you need to meet with Content soon if you want to keep going with that stupid project of yours, anyway.”
“Stupid project?” Arthur asks, sitting down at his desk.
“Yes, stupid, stupid project,” Merlin insists. “What’s the point in starting yet another newspaper that will be more of the same Camelot has been publishing for 30 years? Who are you trying to reach? You already have the biggest news outlets in the country! You’re on par with the beeb when it comes to national presence.”
“How do you even know about this? Were you paying attention when I was pitching you this like a year ago?”
“I always pay attention to you, prat,” he says seriously. “My point being: it’s not like you need it. You’re going to overwork yourself to death, Arthur. To death!”
I always pay attention to you, echoes in his brain.
“Well, if you always pay attention, then you’d know that project is supposed to be outside of Camelot’s influence. I’m just going to use my contacts to get it placed where I want it.”
Merlin rolls his eyes at him.
“Fine, what about tomorrow?” he asks, pulling out his phone and thumbing at the screen. “You’ve got the board at 10, lunch with that Cenred bloke from Essetir Mag at 1, and I keep telling you, he’s not going to put out if you keep calling his magazine an outdated chick flick. Then you’re free until Friday, so you can keep doing a big fat amount of nothing in your office till then.”
“I don’t sit around doing nothing, Merlin,” he protests.
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” the man replies grinning.
“If anyone sits around doing a big fat amount of nothing, that’s you, Merlin. When was the last time you worked on that novel of yours?”
“Hey! That’s unfair. You can’t put a timer on art. The muse needs to be in the mood for the words to come.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” Arthur parrots back at him, smirking.
He opens his laptop and a notification for his new meeting at 6 flashes on the screen, he closes it peering at the report in the screen, the words reminding him of Gwaine coming into his office to announce he had kissed Merlin.
“So, I heard something today,” he starts.
“You got time to catch up on the office gossip and not for a meeting with Content? Shame on you, Arthur,” Merlin teases, sitting down across from him.
“I can’t exactly help it when Gwaine comes into the office announcing it,” Arthur says lightly, trying to see if Merlin will bite and ask for details.
But the question never comes, so after a few moments of awkward silence, Arthur glances up.
Merlin is frozen looking down at his phone, worrying at the corner of his bottom lip with such an intensity Arthur is sure he’ll draw blood.
“Merlin?”
“Look, no matter what Gwaine said, I didn’t put him up to it, I swear. I know that maybe now that he and Percy aren’t together you are probably going to shoot your shot at Percy and-“
“What?” Arthur is definitely not following this conversation anymore.
“I didn’t think Percy would say yes without hesitation. He didn’t even blink!”
Merlin thought Arthur was going to ask out Perceval?
“You think I want to date Percy? Perceval Dane?” Arthur wants to be very clear that they’re talking about the same person.
“Well, you’re the one who’s been talking nonstop about him every time you hit the gym together. Or how you love his style and how you adore his films and-“
“Percy is my friend,” he states, slowly, as if talking to a child.
“So? You can crush on your friends,” and he says so with the certainty of someone who’s been doing the crushing multiple times.
Arthur stands up then, making his way around the desk to stand closer to Merlin. He leans his hip in the desk, crossing his arms.
“Oh, I know you can crush on your friends, alright,” he says.
Merlin turns to look at him.
“Then you get it. I’m sorry Gwaine got in the way again.”
“I’m not.”
Merlin’s brow creases, “are you some kind of emotional masochist who enjoys pining over unattainable people?”
“I don’t enjoy the pining, but I’ve been doing it for years now. You get used to it at some point.”
“Arthur, what the hell? Just ask the bloke out, seriously. He probably feels the same way and that’s why he and Gwaine can’t get it right,” and he looks so sad as he says it that Arthur can’t help but wonder if maybe, maybe, maybe.
“Ok, then I’m going to,” he picks out some lint from his pants and adds, “are you free on Friday night?”
Merlin blinks at him, not understanding.
“Why does it matter? Look, I’ll ask Percy on your behalf if you want to-“
“Good god, Merlin, for such a brilliant writer you can be so thick,” he says.
Silence.
He ruined it already, didn’t he?
“Oh,” Merlin replies finally.
Oh.
Is that a good oh?
When Merlin doesn’t say anything else for the longest time, Arthur uncrosses his arms and pushes himself off the desk.
“Nevermind. Could you get me a coffee? I have to read these tedious reports and pretend to care about it at the board meeting tomorrow,” he tries for nonchalant but his voice sounds off to his ears.
“Sure,” Merlin says, “black, two sugars? Actually, don’t answer that, I know. Did you just ask me out?”
“You don’t have to say anything, I get it. Gwaine is full of shit.”
“Gwaine? What’s he got to do with this?”
“He said something, alright? I just thought-“
“You thought? No wonder it smelled like smoke in here when I came in.”
“Merlin,” he pauses, “shut up.”
“I don’t think I will, you know? Gwaine ran his mouth off again and now I have to kill him.”
Merlin looks serious about it, as if he’s actually considering it. When he doesn’t keep going, Arthur says, “I shouldn’t’ve said anything. I’m sorry, I overstep.”
“What did Gwaine say?” Merlin asks.
“It doesn’t matter, okay? Let’s just pretend the last five minutes didn’t happen and let me go back to pining in silence,” Arthur regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth.
“Pining in silence?” asks with a cheeky grin.
His dignity can’t take another hit, but Arthur still says, “yeah, very Jane Austen, if you ask me.”
“Are you implying you are Mr. Darcy in this scenario?”
“Well, I am not Elizabeth!” he declares undignified.
Merlin laughs at that.
“You’re laughing. I’m trying to tell you I’ve been truly, madly, deeply in love with you since our college days and you’re laughing.”
Merlin sobers up at that.
Arthur rewinds what he just said in his head. Truly, madly, deeply in love. He sounds like a boy band song.
“You are?” Merlin asks, his deep blue eyes staring up at him. And is that hope in his voice?
Arthur might as well go ahead and say it again.
“I am,” he repeats, firmly. “As terrible of a PA as you are, you are still the most attractive, lovable, brilliant person I’ve met in my life. Anyone would be lucky to have you.”
Merlin stands up, grabbing Arthur’s hand, making his heart race.
“I guess it’s your lucky day, Arthur Pendragon.”
Then something truly spectacular happens. Merlin’s right hand touches his cheek, guiding his face towards him and crashes his lips against Arthur’s.
Time stops the moment his lips touch Merlin’s. Time simply can’t exist anymore because Arthur can’t conceive the idea of existing outside of this one moment ever again.
Arthur’s lips part under Merlin’s welcoming mouth, wet and warm and sweet in ways he never even dared to dream. His whole body is on fire, a current flowing into him from every point of contact with Merlin. Arthur’s hand finds his way to Merlin’s hips, bringing him closer, igniting every inch of his skin with a passion he didn’t think was possible for human beings.
He can feel Merlin leaning into him, pushing Arthur back into the desk with a hand on his chest, then running that same hand over his shirt up to his neck and digging his short nails into it. Arthur moans into his mouth and Merlin’s hips press against him. He can feel exactly how into the kiss Merlin is.
“Gwaine was right,” Arthur breathes out when they come up for air, touching his forehead to Merlin’s.
“About what?” Merlin asks, as breathless as Arthur is.
“Kissing you. It’s something else.”
“Well, if Gwaine says,” he mocks, Arthur can almost hear the eye-roll.
“Are you free on Friday?” Arthur asks again.
“For you, I’m free whenever.”
Arthur hopes he’s free right now, because Arthur’s mind is running wild with the idea of doing more than just kissing Merlin against his desk.
“Fuck, I can’t believe Gwaine is going to make money out of this,” he mumbles.
“Let’s not tell him then,” Merlin suggests, hooking two fingers into the waist of his already too tight trousers, kissing light pecks into his cheek. “We could just go back to kissing, you know.”
Now that’s an idea.