Next Time, Just Say Hi

Author: lairofthedragon

Merlin turns his head so quickly that it almost gives him whiplash.

“Excuse me?” he manages to say, his voice sounding suspiciously high, even to his own ears.

The man who slipped onto the bar stool next to his is handsome, yes. He’s got incredibly fair hair, tanned skin, and gorgeous blue eyes. He’s dressed smartly, in a red dress shirt and tight jeans. Yet, there’s something that Merlin doesn’t quite like about him…

Probably his behaviour.

“You look incredible right now, but I think you’d look nicer naked,” the stranger says this time. Merin looks at him, incredulous. He slides off his chair and stands in front of the man, who has now moved on to eyeing him appreciatively.

“Are you serious?!” he exclaims. The man shrugs his shoulders, gaze landing just below Merlin’s eyes. Is he embarrassed? He looks embarrassed. Good.

Merlin narrows his eyes. “You want to know where my jeans would look great?” he asks, moving closer to the stranger, leaning right into his personal space and letting his breath hit the man’s earlobe.

He closes his eyes, but he can feel the man turn his face into Merlin’s neck. “Hmmm?”

“Jammed down your windpipe,” Merlin whispers sweetly before turning away. He plans to walk away but the man grabs his wrist. He whirls around, ready to tell him exactly what he thinks of his behavior, but he stops when he sees his apologetic expression.

“What?” Merlin snaps. The man drops his wrist when he sees that Merlin isn’t going to walk away and sighs.

“I’m sorry,” he says, smiling up at him crookedly. Merlin towers over him, raising one eyebrow. This is yet another occasion where he feels thankful for those extra centimetres. “This wasn’t my idea,” he adds quietly. Merlin looks away from his face and over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes when he sees the group of men trying to but not quite managing to look at them inconspicuously.

“Your friends?” he asks the man.

“Unfortunately,” the man replies drily. “Gwaine thought of the pick up lines.”

Merlin looks over the man’s shoulder again, but decides to sit back down.

“Is that the one with the long brown hair?” he asks, since he's the one with a huge grin on his face and looks the most interested in the proceedings.

The man nods his head.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t think he did this with your interest in mind,” Merlin says.

“In hindsight, neither do I,” the man says. “I really am sorry. My name is Arthur.”

“I’m Merlin,” he replies. “What do you say we get out of here and give your friends something to talk about?” he asks after a moment.

Arthur looks at him, eyes wide with shock.

“You really want to?” he asks incredulously. Merlin shrugs.

“Sure, why not? You’re good looking, you seem nice enough once you get past the bad pick up lines--” Arthur winces “--and if we get to mess with your friends, too, then I don’t see any problems.” Merlin grabs his coat off the back of the chair and makes to put it on. “Well, come on then. I’m not going to wait around here all night.”

He watches on in amusement as Arthur scrambles to put on his own coat. Merlin catches his hand and intertwines their fingers and pulls him in the direction of the door.

While the night may not have turned out as he’d originally planned, he somehow can’t find it in himself to complain.

Especially with Arthur smiling at him as though he’d just made his day.