Author: emrys_mk
Title: Escapism at Its Best
Rating: R
Characters/pairings: Merlin/Arthur
Summary: Because Merlin is anxious about his and Arthur’s meeting with Uther, Arthur promises him a reward.
Words: 940
Warnings: sexual references
Prompt 196: Escape
A/N: Part seventeen of my reincarnation series Merlin and Arthur Live Again. I am in a hurry, so if there are any mistakes I'll edit this when I get back later this evening.

“I guess there’s no escaping this meeting with your father tomorrow. What do you think he’s going to say?” Merlin asked as he entered his bedroom, took off his coat and threw it on top of Arthur’s. “What if he forbids you to see me? Can he even do that?” Merlin thought he was probably being ridiculous, but now that the meeting was less than twenty-four hours away, he found himself stressing. His breaths were now coming hard and fast as he waited for Arthur’s response, but Arthur was checking his mobile, so Merlin wasn’t even sure he was listening. “Arthur, tell me that I’m being daft, yeah?” Merlin sat down on the bed and fell back so he was staring at his ceiling. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. The last thing he needed was for his magic to flair.

“Well, Merlin,” Arthur answered slowly, “I fear he’s going to threaten me with disinheritance.”

Merlin’s eyes popped open. That was not at all what he had been expecting to hear from Arthur. He turned his head so he could see his boyfriend, who was looking at him with an unreadable expression. “He wouldn’t do that, would he? Yo—er,” Merlin stopped and sighed, before making a silent vow to get Arthur back when he was least expecting it. “You’re joking. That’s not funny,” Merlin said, glaring as he realised that Arthur was taking the mickey out of him. Shaking his head at a grinning Arthur, Merlin reached over, grabbed a pillow and threw it at Arthur, who caught it and rolled his eyes before he sat on the bed and motioned for Merlin to sit up. Merlin groaned, but did as asked.

“Merlin, he’s my father, he’s not Hitler. I’ve no doubt he’s not going to be easy on us, but do you honestly think he would keep us apart? And, even if he tried to, do you really think I’d allow that to happen? If you do, then you don’t know me at all.”

Merlin laughed, but he didn’t feel at all happy. “I know you, Arthur, but I also know what your father has done to get his way in the past; you, yourself have told me harrowing stories of his business tactics. Why wouldn’t he use those to keep us apart? Why woul—“ Merlin was forced to cease his line of questioning when Arthur’s mouth covered his. All thought of scary fathers and teasing boyfriends left him as he wrapped his arms around Arthur and gave in to the kiss that was making him weak in the knees. It didn’t take long at all for them to increase the small chaste kiss into something much more.

Merlin heard himself moaning. He’d missed Arthur so very much over the past week and it had been too long since they’d spent quality time together. It seemed that their time together as of late had been sporadic and brief, which had frustrated them both.

Just the day before, the two had finally broached the subject of doing more than kissing and satisfying each other with their hands. Merlin was all for more, but he wasn’t so sure about Arthur, who seemed to want to take things slow. But, he had said he was quickly losing his resolve to go the slow route, so Merlin was hopeful that sex between them would happen soon. If he had anything to say about it, they’d be doing much more in a few hours. The thought spurred Merlin and he felt himself straining against his trousers.

Sometime later Arthur pulled away, but only enough so he could look into Merlin’s eyes. His breathing was understandably labored. “You need to calm down, Merlin. My father wants you in my life; there is no possible way that he’s going to keep you from me. What he will do, however, is threaten us within an inch of our lives with whatever he thinks will scare us the most. And it will work. I can tell you that I’ve never pushed him to see how far he’d go and I don’t intend to now. I suggest you adopt that same attitude when it comes to my father. It will make life so much easier, I assure you.”

Merlin nodded as he leant in to the hand that was caressing his cheek. He knew how serious Arthur was. “I can do that.”

“And to make this meeting with my father more palatable for you, I’ll take you out afterwards. We’ve both been far too stressed this week and I’ve missed you. It’s been too long since I’ve pampered you, Merlin.” The grin on Arthur’s face was huge and brightened his face.

Merlin loved that look. “I’ve never been the pampering type,” he replied with a cheeky grin, expecting Arthur to rebuff that statement. Merlin let out a laugh. “But I think I like the idea of you pampering me. I could get quite accustomed to that,” and then he wrapped his arms around Arthur. “I think maybe we can pamper each other. Who knows what kind of things pampering consists of.” Merlin waggled his eyebrows. "It might even be those things we talked about yesterday.”

“Oh, I think they indeed include those things we discussed yesterday, Merlin, but for now I think we need to think of other things. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to sit across from your mum with my cock standing at attention.”

Merlin wrinkled his nose. “Ewww, thanks for that, Arthur. Yeah, didn’t need that image. Well, you took care of my erection, that’s for sure.”