Chapter Text
The door to Arthur’s cabin on the newly-christened Avalon irised shut behind them. Merlin could not stand still. He remained in Arthur’s orbit as Arthur tried to direct them both to the bed, speaking so swiftly that his words stumbled over themselves.
“Morgana’s face at Kilgharrah’s addition to the coronation ceremony,” Merlin said, letting Arthur catch his hand and spin him back in closer, their lips touching briefly before Merlin’s agitation had him moving once more. Restless, he spoke just to speak, filling the air between them with words so he wouldn’t be tempted to occupy his mouth with other tasks. “I thought she might murder him and take her chances. I don’t think she would have minded as much if he hadn’t surprised her with the whole ‘pledging acknowledgement’ thing.”
“She does like to be prepared.” Arthur watched Merlin stalk back and forth.
Merlin was frustrated with himself. This was the first time in the past week that they’d been alone and together for more than five minutes since the battle and he couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of it. Fire coursed his nerves and his mind felt like it was going in twenty, no- a hundred different directions all at once. There were fleet repairs and trying to sort out rulership and rebuilding the position of Pendragon and a thousand and more things that had left Merlin sleeping alone and Arthur not at all.
Indecision and a tiny bit of fear kept him from Arthur’s side. Breathless and hard, he didn’t know how to start, afraid of mucking things up, of overwhelming Arthur.
As ridiculous as that sounded when Arthur was standing just inside the door, his lips parted and his pupils dilated. Not pushing. Never pushing, never backing Merlin into a corner, never trapping him. It was a promise. Arthur flexed his hands and tilted his head to question Merlin’s stare, wordless.
Standing an arm’s length from Arthur, Merlin wanted all of their firsts to have already happened so he wasn’t so terrified of how he might damage everything. He wanted their triumphant kiss to have never been interrupted, he wanted to have the adrenaline of successfully not dying in his veins to make this easy and unpremeditated and not something he’d had an entire week to fantasise about.
“Merlin,” Arthur said, “I have you.”
It wasn’t a command. It was enough to recall Merlin to himself.
He circled back around, pulled in by Arthur’s faith, and gave Arthur a fierce kiss. Arthur kissed back with enthusiasm and more that banished Merlin’s doubts, soothed his fears.
Merlin made the kiss last. His magic was loosed through the ship and its machinery, no longer trying to escape his control. The rush of too-much-power in too-little-space when pressing their lips together had vanished, and he opened Arthur’s mouth beneath his with a thrust of his tongue. He’d had too few chances, too little time. The door chirruped behind them as it sealed. Merlin didn’t look back, intent on drawing another throaty rumble of pleasure from Arthur.
Arthur’s hands gripped his hips, keeping him in place, though now that Merlin had started he had no intention of stopping unless the ship exploded or Arthur came and overloaded all his mods. Merlin’s fingers sought the releases for Arthur’s ceremonial armour, wanting and no longer willing to give power to his anxieties, not when Arthur was there and meeting him halfway.
The red cloak fell away from Arthur’s shoulders, drifting into a pile at their feet and tangling around Arthur’s boots. Arthur began to help, and the kiss finally broke, the room filled with their panting as they hurried to peel the rest of their respective fancy dress off and get with the naked. Merlin’s honorary druidic robes were easy enough, but Arthur had layers upon layers of metal, circuitry, plastics, and fabrics to shed before Merlin could finally run his hands up Arthur’s damp, bare sides.
Merlin pressed a kiss to Arthur’s collarbone, ducking his head and resting his cheek against the line of Arthur’s jaw. He scratched his nails lightly down Arthur’s ribs, over metal and skin, and smoothed his palms across Arthur’s abdominal muscles. Arthur stroked the line of Merlin’s back, from shoulder blades to hips down either side of his spine, his hands wonderfully, deliriously warm.
Merlin pressed closer and said, “Thinking I’d fucked up saving you was worse than losing you. I don’t think I could go through that again.” It was a quiet admission, made into the join where Arthur’s neck met his shoulder.
“I’ll make you swear to me again if you’re going to lie so poorly,” Arthur said, laughing and pushing on Merlin’s hips to make him take a step back and toward the bed. He wore a smile on his face, but it was the thread of confidence beneath his words that made Merlin close his eyes and sigh. Confidence in Merlin, in what he was capable of, added to just the tiniest of nudges to leave the future in the future.
This time it was Arthur to lean forward and mouth up the underside of Merlin’s jaw and bite down on his earlobe. Arthur nibbled and scraped and the sensation sent a thrill straight down Merlin’s spine to his cock. At the moment when Merlin was thoroughly distracted, Arthur shoved him over backward onto the waiting mattress.
His plan backfired. Merlin snagged a hold of Arthur’s wrist as he tipped and yanked him down. Arthur caught himself before he squashed Merlin into the bed, a grin blossoming on his face that Merlin found irresistible.
With one hand, Merlin pulled Arthur down into a messy, off-centre kiss. He captured Arthur’s lower lip in his teeth and sucked hard. Arthur thrust against Merlin’s thigh at the sensation, his arms giving, the metal of his chest coming down hard and squeezing the air from Merlin’s lungs.
Merlin wheezed, trying to laugh and breathe and swat Arthur off of him at the same time. He had not, perhaps, thought this entirely through. He was lost in the thrill of being able to lick and kiss and bite without worrying about damaging Arthur, knowing that Arthur could meet him touch for touch, bruise for bruise as they marked each other’s bodies with their lips.
Arthur rolled to the side and propped himself up on one elbow, grin returned, and ran the metal of his palm from the hollow of Merlin’s throat, down across the scars on his chest, across the flat of his belly, until he wrapped his fingers around Merlin’s cock. Once there, he didn’t move, letting Merlin’s anticipation drive him fully erect.
“Arthur.” Merlin’s voice was hoarse, not quite pleading, but not quite not pleading. Arthur brushed this thumb across the head of Merlin’s cock and Merlin swallowed his response down to a strangled exhale, hips twitching back against the bed. He could feel Arthur’s length heavy against him, warm and hard.
Arthur didn’t seem inclined to do more, content to watch Merlin’s face as Merlin panted at the heat of Arthur’s hand wrapped around him, metal that felt like seamless skin. His hand moved ever so slightly when Arthur breathed to give the barest friction. Merlin rolled his head to maybe do a bit more than not-pleading when he caught sight of Arthur’s expression. It was contemplative, relaxed and fond, and Merlin couldn’t help the demanding, “What?” that fell from his lips.
“You’re not angry anymore,” Arthur said, studying him.
Merlin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or simply strangle Arthur for stopping when they should be starting. He took a great, gulping breath and said to the ceiling, “Hard to hold onto my anger, once I sorted that I was the one I was angry at. I traded our past for our future, and right about now I’m really okay with that.” He shifted his hips experimentally and Arthur’s hand moved with him. He sighed, letting pleasure war with impatience. “Besides, even if you didn’t have your hand around my dick why are you stopping, I had already decided the wait was worth it.” He brushed his fingers down Arthur’s cheek, across his shoulder and down his arm to encircle his wrist. He gave it a slight tug and raised his eyebrows.
Laughing at the unsubtle hint, Arthur flexed his arm, giving Merlin a firm stroke and leaning down to kiss him, open mouthed and sharing breath until Merlin caught Arthur’s tongue gently in his teeth. He held Arthur still for long enough that Arthur huffed in amusement and pulled away, kissing down the side of Merlin’s neck as Merlin arched off the bed.
Arthur pulled his hand away and shifted to nudge Merlin’s legs apart so he could settle between them, his lips following the course that his hand had already taken. He pressed kisses down the line of Merlin’s sternum, traced the scars with his tongue, and sucked a bruise into the curve of Merlin’s ribs.
Arthur took his time, leaving Merlin’s cock untended for as long as it took to work his way down with teeth and tongue, nibbling at the skin of Merlin’s hip and kissing the inner curve of his thigh until anticipation left a low curl of tingling pleasure in Merlin’s groin. Merlin let out his breath in a long sigh that was nearly a groan when Arthur finally took him into his mouth.
Merlin tangled his fingers in Arthur’s hair and held on, letting the heat of Arthur’s mouth and the slide of his tongue reduce him to inarticulate sounds of pleasure that increased in volume the closer Arthur brought him to coming.
“I’m-” Merlin said, warning him because he was polite and fuck, and Arthur pulled his mouth away and blew on Merlin’s cock head. The unexpected shock of cold had Merlin gasping and cursing as he dropped away from the edge. When he met Arthur’s eyes he was surprised not at all to find him suppressing laughter even as he stroked his hands down either side of Merlin’s ribs.
Unperturbed by Merlin’s curses, Arthur hopped off the bed and returned with a very useful-looking jar of gel from the desk drawer. Merlin propped himself up on his elbows, not entirely mollified by the jar’s appearance, and waited, breathing hard. Arthur placed the jar on Merlin’s belly and knelt back on the mattress. “For me,” he said, looking far too smug. A moment later a shadow crossed his face and he pursed his lips. “Unless you don’t-”
Merlin grabbed Arthur’s hand and pulled him down into a hard kiss, silencing the rest of whatever inanity he was going to spout, and scrambled to his knees. “Over,” he said, pulling Arthur down again. This time he was clever about it and did not get flattened by the sheer weight of Arthur’s metal body. By the time they sorted themselves out with a minimum of awkward flailing and at least one trip to the floor for the little jar, Arthur had his arse in the air and Merlin was draped half over his back pressing kisses into the base of his spine. When Arthur laughed the sound rumbled up through his ribcage and made the whole bed shake. Merlin smiled into Arthur’s skin.
Resting his forehead on Arthur’s lower back, he breathed in the smell of sweat and metal and the scent that was irrevocably Arthur. Merlin wouldn’t be here but for Arthur, and Arthur wouldn’t be here but for him, and Merlin was starting to think that he would willingly do just about anything for this Arthur, his Arthur.
Not that his current task was a hardship in any way. Merlin’s cock twitched in anticipation all the sweeter for having risen so close to coming against Arthur’s tongue, in Arthur’s mouth. Arthur would be lucky if Merlin managed a handful of thrusts, and it would serve him right.
Merlin’s smile widened to a grin and he worked kisses up along the angle of Arthur’s hip, the tickle of his breath setting Arthur to laughing again, which in turn nearly sent Merlin off into giggles. Merlin had to stop, breathe, and try again, smoothing the cheeks of Arthur’s arse open.
Stroking his hands down the inside of Arthur’s thighs to spread his legs so he could fit his knee comfortably between them, Merlin said, “You are trying to kill me.”
“I might be tempted if you don’t-” Arthur started, stopping suddenly when the press of Merlin’s finger and way too much gel against the pucker of his arse cut him off.
Arthur took hold of his own cock and stroked it leisurely, letting Merlin work him open while he made contented noises into the sheets.
The curve of Arthur’s arse was far too tempting, and Merlin planted a kiss on one cheek followed quickly with a bite, sinking his teeth into skin and muscle. Arthur jumped and cursed, taken by surprise that swiftly transmuted to an arse-wriggle. Arthur peered beneath his shoulder and torso up at Merlin with a ‘really?’ expression on his upside-down face.
“Sorry,” Merlin murmured, mostly-repentant.
Arthur’s hand never left his own length as he laughed. If anything, when he spoke he sounded more aroused, his voice husky as he demanded, “Now that I’m expecting it, for the love of- don’t stop.”
With an amused snort and a small rush of pleasure, Merlin soothed the bite with kisses and licks, nibbling the skin more delicately and taking his time now that he’d made his mark. He bit as a deliberate distraction from - welcome addition to? - the second and third finger he added as Arthur pushed against him. By the time Merlin lined himself up with Arthur’s slicked arse, the cheeks on either side were reddened with tiny indentations of Merlin’s teeth.
He gripped Arthur’s hips and slid inside a tiny hitch at a time. Arthur was noisy. He expressed his pleasure as a series of grunts and stuttering, open-mouthed exhalations somewhere between a moan and sigh. He swore at Merlin and ordered him faster and harder, neither of which were even possible as Merlin fucked into him.
Sweat dripped between Merlin’s shoulder blades. Finally fully seated, he groaned. Leaning half over Arthur, his spine curled and shoulders curved, he dug his fingers into the skin Arthur’s hips to keep himself from coming right then.
Feeling the tingling spread of pleasure radiating from his cock, his sign that he was almost-but-not-quite going to pass the point of no return, he halted, waiting until he dropped back from the edge again.
Arthur grunted in query. Merlin slid a hand up Arthur’s spine, over the knobby ridges until his fingers met the metal that banded Arthur’s chest. The mods creaked when Arthur breathed. Merlin brushed his fingers over the pinhole lights that ran down either side of Arthur’s upper spine. He wanted to explore everything with his mouth, from the seams that separated skin from mod to how sensitive the warm metal surface could be.
They breathed together for another few seconds, loud and fast and ragged, Merlin’s head bowed and Arthur’s face pressed to the sheets.
Merlin began thrusting, gradually building into a rhythm. Arthur pushed back against him and rocked with the motion. Keeping one hand on Arthur’s lower back, Merlin held tight with the other as his thrusts became harder, his strokes longer. He squeezed his eyes shut and this time he didn’t try to hold back as pleasure spread like a tingle of electricity or magic beneath his skin.
He came, thrusting hard into Arthur, pulling him back so there might be no space between them. He shuddered, barely able to think, his thoughts a white buzz of ‘Arthur’ and a stream of ‘yesyesyes’ that he couldn’t voice.
Merlin pulled free, collapsing backwards onto his heels. Wordless and insistent, he pushed a panting Arthur over. He parted Arthur’s knees, bowed between them as Arthur propped himself up on his elbows and let his cock jut outward and upward for Merlin to claim with his mouth.
Arthur tasted of precome and salt. Merlin had only just fitted his lips around the head, slid Arthur’s length across his tongue as he bobbed down to take in as much as he could and felt him bump the back of his throat when Arthur threw his head back and thrust into Merlin’s mouth. Arthur’s hand found the back of Merlin’s head, held him still as he came down his throat. Merlin breathed heavily through his nose, his mouth wrapped firmly around Arthur’s cock and he could feel the repeated pulse of Arthur’s coming. His throat worked, eyes closed, listening to Arthur’s extended hum of pleasure.
Arthur’s hand dropped away and Merlin let Arthur slide from his mouth, levering himself away only to find Arthur dragging him up, a strong hand on either side of his ribs, to claim his mouth with a kiss.
They finally broke from each other, Merlin panting and dizzy. He clutched Arthur’s shoulders and stared at his face. Arthur put his hand on the back of Merlin’s head and tipped their foreheads together, his chest heaving.
“Mine,” he said, and it was intimate and insistent all at once.
“Yes,” Merlin breathed.
“Consort.” Single words, questions wrapped in demands, questions only by virtue that Arthur waited for Merlin to respond. “Official.”
“Yes,” Merlin repeated for each and Arthur kissed him again, a fierce, affirming kiss that turned languid as their heartbeats slowed.
Their kisses became lazy and Merlin draped himself across Arthur, tangling their legs together and tucking himself up against Arthur’s side. He put his chin on Arthur’s shoulder, nose against his hair, and Arthur relaxed in his embrace, what little tension he’d managed to retain draining as Merlin curled around him.
“You haven’t slept for a week,” Merlin reminded him, “There’ll be time.”
Arthur huffed in laughter, his eyes closing. “I could go again.”
Not bothering to dignify that with a response, Merlin was also forced to ignore Arthur’s subsequent chuckle.
Merlin listened to Arthur steady his breathing, listened to the clicks and whirs of things happening inside of Arthur’s chest. Arthur’s oculars shone blue through his eyelids for a second before they blinked out again to remain dark.
All signs pointed to Arthur asleep as Merlin did a bit of magic to clean them up, so when Arthur spoke again, Merlin startled.
“I’m here now, you know,” he said, tightening his arm around Merlin to soothe him.
“Er-?”
“You asked me where I had been. I’m just telling you it doesn’t matter, because I’m here now.”
Closing his eyes against an impulse toward tears, Merlin squeezed Arthur, pressing his face into the side of Arthur’s head and nudging his ear with his nose. “Good.”
Arthur laughed and echoed, “Good.”
Sleep found Arthur long before it even flirted with Merlin. Falling asleep proved tougher than Merlin had anticipated, still too keyed up from the ceremony and Arthur. He lay drowsing, his thoughts racing.
Freya’s voice insinuated itself into his mind, her focus somewhere metaphorically over his left shoulder, still giving him his privacy.
I think he likes you, she said, her bubble of amusement an itch in his toes.
“I would never have been able to tell,” Merlin said. Arthur shifted in his sleep when Merlin spoke, but didn’t wake.
Merlin brushed a lock of hair from Arthur’s sticky forehead and kissed him on the side of his head. A smile twitched at his lips and he settled back down. He’d need to wait until Arthur was awake to inform him that someone was to blame for him falling in love and it certainly wasn’t Merlin.
Distracting himself, he told Freya, “You’ve gotten stronger.”
More room to grow. Her presence was like a cat’s, curled on the floor off the end of the bed. Preparing for our return to the fringe.
“Planetfall first.”
Planetfall first, Freya agreed, correcting herself, her thrill of excitement infectious. Then fringe.
Merlin’s magic vibrated with anticipation beneath his skin and throughout the ship. Arthur shifted in his sleep.
Merlin kissed him again, because he was there.