amarie_authielTitle: Foam hands and kiss cams
Rating: PG
Pairing/s: Arthur/Merlin
Character/s: Arthur, Merlin
Summary: Our boys are watching a game, but Arthur is obsessing with his phone and mostly ignoring Merlin. Then the 'kiss cam' zooms in on them.
Warnings: Kissing someone who's not your boyfried. Very brief mentioning of homophobia, of which there is none in this story.
Word Count: ~950
Prompt:# Late
Author's Notes:
For
aeris444's prompt at Merlin Writers.No beta, hope it's enjoyable. ((Darn toot'n, it's 1 am and I have work tomorrow... Will I ever learn?))
You couldn't accuse Merlin of being a sports nut. He left that to Arthur and Leon. But he did enjoy tagging along to a live match, dressed in team colours from top to toe. At times he was far more interested in the surroundings than of the game. People where suddenly brothers for the time being because they share the same allegiance to men in red and golden shorts. Grown men could cry like babies and even Arthur would join in with the loud and pompous songs.
Today Merlin had spotted a look-a-like of Thorin Oakenshield of the Hobbit movies and a guy in a knitted chain-mail with a matching shirt and hat. He had curled his arm around Arthur's and hoped to share his findings with his boyfriend, but Arthur was quite distracted and barely glanced at them, often too late too see them at all. Arthur had discovered live betting and he has approached this new concept as he did any other challenge he was faced with; victory or death. So now he was keeping one eye on the game and the other on his phone to chat with Leon and update bets and scores. Merlin couldn't help feeling a bit abandoned. They could have just stayed at home and watched it live on TV and actually talked with Leon. But he had fun none the less, waving his large foam hand, booing and cheering and awing.
One scoring celebration though was ruined when Merlin’s foam hand crashed with the arm on the guy seated next to him. The had both jumped to their feet at the same time, resulting it the over-sized hand and a plastic cup with beer tumbling to the floor.
Merlin winced and apologized profusely, hoping he hadn't pissed off some violent idiot or ruined someone's day. He hadn't actually turned his head to stare at the guy, but had noticed him being well built and now he could see he as rather ruggedly handsome as well, if that was rocked your boat.
Luckily the guy just smiled and brushed aside his apologies with a smile.
“No worries, mate, here let me...”
He bent down to pick up the beer-soaked foam figure.
“...give you a hand.”
Merlin snorted a laugh in surprise and couldn't quite hide the fact that he would rather have let it lie.
“You are too kind, really!”
“Oh I don't mind. I must say you have very soft hands for a bloke.”
Merlin quickly glanced at the man's face, but could only see saw see a somewhat childlike glee brought on by lame puns. No underlying homophobic hostility there. Merlin does love a bad pun, so he smiles wide and holds up the dripping hand.
“Yes, well as you can see see, I moisturize!”
The guy throws his head back laughing.
“You're alright, mate!”
Merlin turns and finds Arthur shares his scowls between him and the phone.
“Who's your new friend?”
Merlin sits back in his seat, feeling cheerful.
“Dunno, I knocked his beer out of his hand, but he was cool about it.”
Arthur shook his head partly overbearing and partly fond.
“Only you, Merlin...”
It seemed the fun never stopped at Arthur's phone, but the game entered a period where things slowed down a bit. Merlin perked up because this usually meant the cameras would focus on the spectators. He hoped for the kiss cam, so delightfully awkward and romantic at the same time. And YES! There the logo popped up on the huge screens on the stadium and the camera panning over the crowd.
“Oh!! Arthur, it's the kiss cam! Look!”
“Yeah, in a minute.”
Merlin huffs softly, then suddenly he sees himself up there! A shocked mix of joy and embarrassment hit him and he nudged Arthur again.
“It's us! It's us on the screen!”
“Hm.”
Ignored by his boyfriend! On live TV! The Pun Guy was watching them as well, and Merlin threw caution to the wind. If he was to be know as the guy who didn't get kissed then he certainly wouldn't be known for not having tried! He turned to Pun Guy and leaned closer.
“Kiss me, yeah?”
The kiss itself was rather unspectacular, and but the crowd erupted with cheer and shock. Even Arthur looked up from the phone and turned a quite new shade of grey and green. With the camera gone, Merlin and Pun Guy both laughed. Pun Guy put his hand out for a hand shake which Merlin gladly took and shook firmly.
“I'm Gwaine, by the way. You've got some guts, mate!”
“Merlin, and that was very sporty of you! Quite the knight in shining armor!”
They let go and Merlin gestured towards Arthur, who had actually pocketed his phone. It was probably filling up calls and texts from friends and family wondering what the heck had just happened.
“This is my boyfriend Arthur. Arthur, this is Gwaine.”
Gwaine smiled, but with less cheek than he had given Merlin.
“Sorry mate, but I couldn't leave the guy hanging! You snooze, you loose.”
Arthur grudgingly shook Gwaine's hand and quickly wrapped his arm around Merlin's arm, like Merlin had done earlier, but now he was holding on with both arms. Merlin kissed his nose, because Arthur was a bit adorable when he was sulking. They would make up later. And they would have to have a talk about live betting.
The next time the camera found them at a match, the large screen said "Marry me?" and Arthur didn't not hesitate to say "yes".
Year later, Gwaine still loves to tell the story of how Merlin first spilled his beer, then they kissed and had been inseparable since. In fact, that was his best man speech at the wedding.
-