eurydice72Title: Let's Get Personal
Rating: NC17
Characters: Merlin, Arthur, Morgana
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Summary: Modern AU. Nobody is more shocked than Merlin when Arthur places a personal ad.
Warnings: None
Word Count: 982
Prompt: #121, shocked
Author's Note: Does me being shocked I wrote Arthur/Merlin for this count toward the prompt, lol?
The email from Morgana came with a link and three words.
This is Arthur.
Merlin stared at the URL in shocked disbelief. It was a Craigslist ad. In the personals.
In the m4m section.
Craning his neck, he peered over his cubicle walls to see if anyone was about to walk by and see that he wasn’t actually looking over the reports Gaius had sent his way if he clicked on the link. Because he was going to. He had to. He couldn’t resist. Just like Morgana had counted on, he was certain, but this was Arthur, the man he’d craved for bloody years, the one who drove him absolutely barmy most of the time with his smug, know-it-all attitude but then would turn around at the most unexpected moment and do something so completely thoughtful you had to wonder if he was secretly possessed and could only break free of the spell when nobody was looking.
Arthur was the reason not a single one of Merlin’s relationships had worked since he’d taken the job at PenCorp. Because every last one of the guys Merlin brought into his life got sick and tired of hearing about Arthur every other breath. Gwaine suggested inviting Arthur for a threesome to get it out of Merlin’s system, while Will had silently fumed until he’d finally walked out. Lance turned into a homebody trying to get Merlin to spend more time in their flat rather than the office, while Percy ended up spending more time at the gym before finally giving up on him. The only good thing to come of his exes was that now Percy and Gwaine were together and seemed to be making a real go at it, but Merlin was left stuck in fantasies about Arthur’s perfect ass and that damn crooked tooth.
He’d nearly had a panic attack when he’d overheard Arthur discussing getting that bloody tooth fixed with Morgana one day. They were in the lift together, and Morgana had caught his eye as Arthur went on. She gave Merlin a little smirk, and then proceeded to explain to Arthur all the way to the ground floor why having dental work to fix an adorable imperfection was such a mistake.
Merlin sent her flowers in gratitude.
As far as he knew, she was the only one outside of his exes who saw his little crush, though thankfully, she said nothing to Arthur. They both knew it was pointless. Arthur was as straight as they came.
M4M
Or maybe not.
Taking a deep breath to quell his shaking nerves, Merlin clicked on the link. The first thing he saw was the posting title.
Curious looking for Curious – MUST BE DISCREET!!!
All the exclamation points made him snort, a sound he quickly muffled by covering his hand over his mouth. Of course, Arthur wanted to be discreet. If Uther ever found out, there was no telling what he’d do.
But before Merlin could even think of reading the ad, he saw the picture that accompanied it. And promptly forgot about anything else.
It was an anonymous selfie of a shirtless man standing in front of a mirror in the loo with his jeans open to show his dick, just like thousands of others he’d ever seen on Craigslist or Grindr or Kik. Really, it could’ve been anyone, except Merlin had seen Arthur in the company gym, wiping off after a strenuous workout, and he would recognize that broad chest anywhere. The smattering of blond hair darker than what was on his head. The flat nipples. The slight swirl of a dragon tail tattoo disappearing around his side.
But it was the cock nestled in the palm of his hand that captured Merlin’s full attention. That, he hadn’t seen before. Arthur was only semi-hard and perhaps not the longest Merlin had ever seen, but what he lacked in length he more than made up in girth. The shaft was thick, the foreskin stretched to pull around the head and show off the glistening tip. It was a picture specifically designed to tease and torment, though Merlin would never have thought Arthur had it in him.
The text was even more enticing.
Never done this before, but tired of wondering. I’m 28, single, fit, and bi-curious. Not looking for serious, just satisfying a few urges and some fun. Looking for bi or curious guy, 18-35, open to any race as long as you’re clean and safe. Chat first, and if we hit it off, meet up later to see where it goes. Professionally employed so discretion is a must.
The question of how Morgana had found this wasn’t nearly as intriguing as the thought of actually answering Arthur’s ad. He couldn’t, of course, because of the whole work complication, but nothing could stop him from right-clicking the picture to save for wanking to later tonight.
No sooner had he done that than another email from Morgana showed up. This one only had two words.
Do it.
His fingers flew across the keyboard as he responded.
I’m not what he’s looking for.
It seems clear to me he’s not sure what he’s looking for, so how can that not be you?
Merlin frowned at her response. Damn it. She made that sound reasonable.
In the time he sat there thinking about it, she emailed again.
I won’t let him fire you if it doesn’t work out. Isn’t it time you stop pining?
Except Arthur wanted no strings attached and Merlin wasn’t entirely certain he could do that. None of his exes would say so, either.
If you don’t do it, I’ll do it for you.
That decided him. Because he one hundred percent believed Morgana would follow through on her threat.
You win.
But as he clicked back to the ad and hit reply, he couldn’t help but hope he might end up winning, too.