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Merlin had a problem. Actually, he had multiple problems, such as hiding the broken radio from his mother, keeping his stash of alcohol hidden, being called ‘Baldy’ at school, and avoiding the principal’s glare as the man tried to blame another stupid prank on him. However, seeing as all of those problems came from one source – that source was the problem. Arthur Pendragon. He had broken the radio, bought alcohol and convinced Merlin to hide it as his house, and put Nair in his shampoo so that every last particle of hair fell out of his head, earning the nickname ‘Baldy’ for all eternity. All the pranks that the principal tried to pin on him were almost always done by Arthur, but seeing as the principal was his father, he always got away with murder. Not to mention the fact that his father disapproved of Merlin because of some weird family grudge that neither Mr. Pendragon nor Merlin’s mother would explain. How exactly he had become best friends with the highly popular jock extraordinaire after the Nair-shampoo incident was a bit of a mystery. Probably had to do with being his tutor in math and science.
Merlin was now about to waste one of the last Friday nights before graduation climbing over the fence into Arthur’s backyard with a heavy backpack and crumpled note in his fist.
I need your help. Come the back way. –your King
Only Arthur had a large enough ego to sign all his notes ‘your King’. His plea for help could be anything. To be prepared Merlin brought one of their textbooks from each subject, a few fruity vodka coolers, the newest video game, and fake IDs. No matter how the night turned out, Merlin was ready. Since the beginning of their friendship Merlin had always dropped everything for Arthur. And that was the real problem.
Merlin was in love with his best friend. His straight best friend who thought Merlin was also straight. That was an awkward conversation waiting to happen and Merlin was more than happy to just keep putting it off.
It was with practiced ease that Merlin slid through the back window left open by Arthur and tiptoed upstairs to Arthur’s room. At the door he completed the secret knock before slipping inside and shutting the door behind him. Arthur was pacing. Arthur only paced when something serious was happening.
“What’s the problem?” Merlin asked, causing Arthur to moan pathetically and flop backwards onto his bed. Seeing as Arthur never got worked up over school, there were only three things he cared enough to be this worked up over: sports, girls and fights with his father. Merlin prayed it was sports. It killed him when Arthur was devastated after a fight with Uther, and it tore his heart to shreds when he went on about girls. Sports were the only problem that didn’t end up hurting Merlin as well.
“Gwen said yes,” Arthur groaned into his pillow.
Gwen, of course it was Gwen. Merlin hated the fact that Arthur liked Gwen, the only one who hadn’t called him Baldy. She was beautiful, charming and sweet. Everyone loved Gwen. Arthur had for years, but first she had dated Lance and even after they had broken up when Lance transferred schools, she had kept turning Arthur down. She hated how Arthur would bully and treat people. Apparently though, she had finally given in.
“She said yes,” Merlin repeated, hating how dull his own voice had sounded.
“Yes,” Arthur lamented.
“Why is this a bad thing? I thought you wanted to go out with her?” Merlin asked, trying to not get his hopes up.
“I did but ...” Arthur sat up very suddenly on the bed and glared at Merlin. It was perhaps one of the most serious looks Merlin had ever seen. “You need to promise not to tell anyone this.”
“Of course,” Merlin said, sitting beside him on the bed.
“I haven’t ever ... you know,” Arthur waved his hands about.
“Had sex?” Merlin guessed, blushing a deep red.
“Well, yeah, but I haven’t even ...” more vigorous hand movements from a red-faced Arthur.
“Even almost had sex?”
“No! Really, Merlin, are you trying to be dense?” Arthur asked. “It’s ... kissing. I haven’t ever , you know, kissed anyone.”
Merlin stared at him for a second as his brain froze. Was Arthur seriously saying he had never kissed anyone? How was that even possible? They were both eighteen now! Arthur, though always pining after Gwen, had dated plenty of girls.
“What about Sophia?”
“No.”
“Or Vivienne?”
“Nope.”
“Not even that red haired cheerleader who told the whole school you got her pregnant at the beginning of the school year?”
“No! I’ve never even spoken to that girl before!” Arthur shuddered violently at the memory of that incident. It had not been pretty.
“Yeah, whatever happened to her anyway?” Merlin asked.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Arthur said brutally. “I need your help with the kissing thing.”
“How am I supposed to help you?” Merlin asked, dumbfounded. He had the same feeling as when they had stolen Uther’s car to go to a concert, that feeling of dread.
“How do you ... kiss ... girls?” Arthur asked.
Merlin had never kissed a girl, but he couldn’t exactly tell Arthur that.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. You just kiss,” Merlin tried to dissuade him.
“Come on,” Arthur needled. “You’ve kissed people before, right?”
“Yeah,” Merlin said, because he had kissed people. He remembered a few stolen moments and rushed kisses back when he and Gwaine had tried to make it work a few years ago.
“Then just ... tell me how you do it,” Arthur demanded. “Please?”
Merlin hated that he could never say no to Arthur. Closing his eyes and counting to ten, Merlin sighed deeply.
“Fine, okay,” Merlin relented.
“But you can’t tell anyone about this,” Arthur hastened to add. “This never happened. I would never live this down. You need to swear never to tell another living soul, do you understand me?”
Merlin wanted other people to know about this even less than Arthur. He was happy he brought the vodka coolers, and even as Arthur made fun of Merlin for bringing girly drinks, they both agreed that they needed some alcohol before this conversation continued. Finally, after they both chugged two coolers in ten minutes, there was nothing left to distract them. Sitting back on Arthur’s bed, Merlin tried to look anywhere but at Arthur.
“So, start with a soft kiss, you know, kind of a press of the lips,” Merlin said quickly, hoping to get this over and done with. “Then you kind of deepen it.”
There was a moment of silence.
“That’s the crap advice you come up with?” Arthur asked. “What the hell was that? Press your lips together? That’s not sensual. That’s ... I don’t even know what that is.”
“You’ve never kissed anyone, how would you know?” Merlin shot back.
“And ‘deepen it’, how do I deepen it?” Arthur kept tearing into Merlin’s description.
“Oi, you’re the one that asked for my advice,” Merlin reminded him.
“Don’t know why, you probably kiss as bad as you play football,” Arthur snorted dismissively, causing Merlin’s eyes to narrow.
“That’s it ... close your eyes,” Merlin commanded.
“What?” Arthur asked, looking wide eyed and alarmed for Merlin’s mental capacity.
It pleased Merlin to see Arthur so flustered.
“I said, close your eyes.”
“What are you going to do?” Arthur asked, but his eyes had closed and Merlin climbed over the bed so he was right in front of him, between his outstretched legs.
“Don’t worry, this never happened,” Merlin reminded him, unable to hide the huskiness in his voice as he spoke softly into Arthur’s ear. Arthur shuddered violently beneath him, but Merlin told himself it was out of nerves. “Just follow my lead okay?”
He waited for Arthur to nod before closing the distance. At first his lips fluttered over Arthur’s, tentatively brushing them together and pressing forward. He could smell Arthur’s minty toothpaste and the muted scent of his cologne at the end of the day. Merlin felt his heart beat faster as Arthur started to mimic the way Merlin was softly kissing him, the small pecks on the lips. Finally, he rested his forehead on Arthur’s, unable to give up how close they now were.
“See, pressing your lips together,” Merlin said. His voice was gutted, rough, and his heart was breaking knowing that this was it. This was the most he would ever get from Arthur.
“And ... how do you deepen it?” Arthur asked, sounding very unsure. Merlin didn’t blame him; he was probably feeling highly uncomfortable with his best friend kissing him.
Without any words Merlin went back to kissing him. None of the feather-light brushes remained. Merlin nipped at Arthur’s bottom lip, loving how Arthur gasped. He darted his tongue past Arthur’s opened lips. Just a light flick and retreat, eventually staying longer, exploring deeper. Arthur’s hands gripped the back of his head, fingers curling into Merlin’s hair almost painfully.
“What else?” Arthur asked desperately between kisses.
Merlin trailed kisses down his jaw line, unable to refuse his desire to nip Arthur’s sexiest part, the jaw line that had been torturing him for years. Merlin couldn’t understand why Arthur was letting him continue, but he couldn’t stop. Not now, not when he finally had Arthur under him and responding in a way that he only ever had in dreams that left Merlin’s sheets sticky. He continued his exploration of the body he had studied for so long. A quick nip of the ear, trailing kisses down his neck, the collarbone, and it wasn’t enough. If Merlin didn’t back off now, he wouldn’t want to stop. It was already too painful.
“Show me more,” Arthur demanded, his hands moving to grip Merlin’s hips hard and pulling them against his. Merlin’s face burnt a deep red. He knew Arthur must have felt his erection; it was impossible to hide it as Arthur writhed up and pressed against it. Arthur suddenly stilled as Merlin realized what the hardness against his hip meant. Arthur was just as affected by the kissing as Merlin was.
Merlin lifted up his body enough that he could see Arthur’s form beneath him, and sure enough Arthur’s sweatpants were tented in such a way that left little to the imagination. Movement caused Merlin’s eyes to drift from the mouth-watering sight to Arthur’s hand slowly leaving his hip and hovering just below where Merlin’s swollen cock was pressed against his zipper. Carefully, Arthur palmed Merlin through his jeans, as if he was measuring and weighing the size of the erection. Throwing his head back, Merlin could not hold back the whimpering moan which escaped him.
Arthur suddenly flipped them. He had always been a fast learner with anything that was hands on, and kissing was no different. Suddenly it was Arthur nipping Merlin’s bottom lip and flicking his tongue and brushing his lips sensually against Merlin’s. It was Arthur’s mouth that kissed his jaw line, nipped and nuzzled his ear and moved down to the collarbone. All the while, he insistently massaged Merlin’s trapped erection. The sound of a zipper being lowered echoed in Merlin’s ear. Merlin couldn’t help but feel vulnerable. No one had ever seen him, not even Gwaine, and there was Arthur about to see it all. As Arthur freed his cock, his hands tentatively encircled it and gave a pull.
Panting, Merlin canted his hips forward and knew he wouldn’t last long. He couldn’t even find his breath to warn Arthur, who was stroking faster and faster, his eyes bouncing between the slide of his hands over Merlin’s cock and Merlin’s face. Without warning Merlin let out a final whimpering cry as he shot his load across his t-shirt. Arthur kept pumping until Merlin’s cock was completely flaccid and raw.
Merlin could barely keep his eyes open, his breathing still laboured. Arthur’s hand was covered by Merlin’s release. He watched disbelievingly as Arthur’s slid his hand hesitantly under his sweatpants and started to jerk himself with his hand, still slick with Merlin’s come. Merlin needed to see this more than he needed to breathe. Slowly, so as to not startle Arthur, he grabbed the top of Arthur’s sweats and pulled down. His entire focus was on Arthur’s cock and the way it looked while Arthur worked it through his fist. Taking advantage of Arthur’s distraction while getting himself off, Merlin flipped him onto his back, and quickly crawled down so he could lick the tip, replacing Arthur’s hand with his own.
Feeling suddenly very nervous, having never done this before, Merlin tried to lower his mouth and fit as much of Arthur’s cock as he could in his mouth, remembering almost too late to cover his teeth with his lips. Feeling as if he was going to gag, Merlin quickly backed off, and instead swirled his tongue and sucked the tip. Arthur’s fingers were almost painful where they gripped and pulled his hair.
“Merlin! Oh god, Merlin,” Arthur moaned loudly, his back arching as Merlin worked harder and harder to get Arthur to call his name like that again. It didn’t last long before Arthur’s prick pulsed its release into Merlin’s mouth. Sputtering slightly, Merlin’s mouth gave an obscene pop as it let go of Arthur’s cock. The last of his release hit Merlin’s cheek.
Arthur pulled Merlin up and kissed him deeply. Gently wiping off the strip of come on Merlin’s cheek, Arthur held Merlin’s head still as he kissed him so thoroughly that Merlin felt his head spin.
Finally letting go, the two of them lay side by side.
“Thanks for the lesson,” Arthur said, his voice sounding strained.
Merlin almost asked what lesson, but then it hit him. This was because Arthur had a date with Gwen. Biting his lip from crying out, Merlin just nodded, suddenly very aware of the fact that he was fully dressed with his flaccid cock hanging out. Moving to cover up, Arthur’s hand stopped him.
“I think I’ll need more lessons,” Arthur said, his gaze taking in all of Merlin’s dishevelled state, not letting him hide anything.
“For Gwen?” Merlin asked, his voice breaking mid-way. He hated himself for being so weak.
“I heard a rumour that Lance might be moving back next month,” Arthur said quietly, almost thoughtful. “She’d be better off with him anyway.”
“What are you saying?” Merlin asked, his heart beating faster, hoping Arthur meant what he thought he meant.
“What I am saying, Merlin, is that obviously we need more practice time together,” Arthur admonished lightly.
“Well, I’m sorry it didn’t live up to your expectations. Maybe you need to-” Merlin teased before Arthur’s mouth quickly silenced him with a kiss. Merlin was going to regret teaching him how to do this.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Arthur said softly. “You were perfect. It was perfect. I just don’t want this to stop.”
“Me neither,” Merlin admitted softly. He knew he probably had what Arthur called his ‘stupid grin’ on his face, but he couldn’t help it as he cuddled into Arthur side. Perhaps Arthur wasn’t as much of a problem as Merlin had thought.