Been There, Over That.

tygermine

Gwaine would never begrudge anyone when it came to love and relationships.

“The only problem is, every time you meet someone who turns your head, you disappear until you resurface here. Right here. At this table. Wearing that exact expression you have on now.”

“That’s not true,” Merlin scratched his cheek and sniffed desolately before reaching for his pint.

Gwaine raised his eyebrows. “When exactly did I last hear from you? When was the last time you sent me some weird meme or tagged me in anything?” He pulled out his phone and scrolled a little bit before showing the screen to Merlin. “There. See? April. 25th to be exact.”

“That was just the other day.”

“It’s September, Merlin.”

“Oh,” Merlin muttered, sinking into himself with contrition. He made a rather pathetic sight.

“Yeah, oh.” Gwaine sighed, necked his beer and ordered another round with shots. “You disappear for the summer. I only know you’re alive because your Instagram feed is a visual chronicle of whatever relationship you’re in. I’m not mad that you want to find happiness and all that. I just… I’m not a placeholder, you know?”

Merlin rubbed his eyes. “I know. You’re right. I just… it kind of runs away with me and I really thought this one was it, you know? I wanted to make sure it was going to last before letting everyone else meet her.”

“Well, now you can’t blame the break up on your friends, can you?”

“She literally said, and I quote, ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ like I didn’t wasn’t even a factor in her life anymore.”

Merlin morosely knocked back both shots of tequila before chasing them with his refilled beer.

“Maybe you should be single for a while, you know? Start some hobbies, maybe do some personal growth of your own.”

“For how long?” Merlin was already casting an eye over the other patrons in the bar.

“A year.”

“Fuck off, I am not going without sex for a year.”

Gwaine shrugged at Merlin’s exclamation. “Just pretend you’re back in high school.”

“No. No way. I worked so hard to not be in that position again. I can have sex and work on my personal growth at the same time.”

The only response Gwaine felt appropriate to that amount of denial was to loudly clear his throat and give Merlin a pointed look.

Merlin sighed. “Fine. Okay. Six months of being consciously single and celibate. If I don’t make it through the six months, you can...uh...post that video of me from Halloween a few years ago on Youtube, okay?”

This made Gwaine perk up. That particular video was a gold mine of embarrassing Merlin moments and he had been hoarding it for the perfect time, which looks like it was now.

“Fine.” They shook on it.

It only took three weeks for Merlin to post his first photo with Arthur.

Gwaine shook his head at the intense sense of deja vu that overtook him as he uploaded the video to Youtube and posted the link in the comments of Merlin’s relationship announcement photo.