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Sophia daintily sipped her martini as her eyes drifted away from Arthur’s to scan the pub — not for the first time that evening.
Although it irritated Arthur every time, he couldn’t exactly say he blamed her. It had been clear within the first ten minutes of the date that he and Sophia didn’t have much in common beyond both knowing Gwen — Sophia from a cycling class at the gym, and Arthur because they had dated for several years before she decided that she had met her soulmate and it was decidedly not Arthur. After initial introductions and small talk, they had quickly run out of topics.
Typically it wasn’t a problem for Arthur to make small talk. He was generally curious about most people and was happy to ask about siblings and first jobs and college majors and career paths — but recently his sister had overheard him talking to his date at a charity function she was hosting and had chastised him later for “interrogating the poor girl”. Even though he’d told Morgana off at the time and reminded her that she was as hopelessly single as he was, the admonishment had stuck in his head ever since.
Arthur looked at his watch surreptitiously, wondering if he could still make it home early enough to watch another episode of the show he was currently binging. He sorely regretted having ordered a charcuterie board, as now they were stuck waiting on when it was clear that the date was essentially over.
To be honest, he was regretting letting Gwen set him up again, full stop. They’d both agreed to stay friends after their split, but if he’d known that Gwen would attempt to alleviate her guilt by setting Arthur up on as many dates as she could, he might have thought twice. He’d protested time and again that he was more than fine with being single for a while. He’d even managed to put her off for a solid month after the catastrophic date where he’d bruised his tailbone falling off a skateboard (a skateboard! What had he been thinking), only to have his date chat up the A&E doctor right in front of him. But Gwen, a true romantic at heart, seemed so genuinely concerned about him being alone that she wore him down again and again.
“I’m just going to pop into the Ladies for a moment,” Sophia said, setting her drink down on the bar.
“Of course,” Arthur said, with a little gesture excusing her. Sophia slipped her phone into her purse and gave him a tight smile before starting off across the pub, high heels tapping against the wood floor.
When she was out of sight, Arthur blew out a breath and reached for his own phone, hoping that she’d do them both the favor of lingering for a bit. He scrolled through several notifications but nothing was of much interest. He idly wished that someone had called or texted with an emergency that would get him out of this date, but no such luck.
The bartender slid a plate next to Arthur and he thanked the man absently. He picked at the camembert and French chorizo as he typed into his phone’s search bar “how to get out of a bad date.”
The search was more to kill time — he wasn’t expecting to learn anything he didn’t already know — but when the search results returned, a sponsored ad at the top of the page caught his eye.
Date Savers the link read, match anonymously with a Date Saver - a real person who will rescue you from that horrible date you’re on with a credible excuse. Now available in the greater London area - download here!
Arthur snorted to himself — developers would pitch anything to try to get rich quick with a new app — but he found himself clicking on the link and browsing reviews in the app store. After reading through several five star reviews gushing about how well the app had worked, curiosity got the better of him. He looked up and scanned the pub quickly. Sophia was nowhere in sight, so he pressed the button and waited as the app went through the download and installation process.
He took a sip of his pint as the app opened to a screen with two options: Set Up and Save Me Now. He tapped on the latter and after giving the app permissions for GPS, confirmed his location in the Dragon’s Egg pub. Are you in immediate danger? The app asked, and when Arthur tapped no, it brought him to a screen that played a short ad for a word puzzle game. Arthur rolled his eyes and tapped through to the next screen as soon as the skip ad option appeared. What kind of save would you like? Arthur scrolled through the options and settled on a phone call — he didn’t think the situation was quite dire enough to require an in-person save, but he wanted more than a text.
Arthur wasn’t sure when, but clearly at some point this app had become less of an idle distraction and more of a getaway plan. The stakes were fairly low, as he was pretty sure he could handle himself to the end of one bad date if necessary — he’d certainly done it plenty of times before — but with each set of questions he grew more and more intrigued. From the sounds of it, this would at least be more entertaining than saying awkward goodnights after another hour of wasted time. At last, Arthur had selected a preferred gender (male), whether he would like a follow up call to be sure the first one worked (yes), and was hovering over the list of preferred types of calls. The options presented ranged from the standard (something came up at work), to the dramatic (family member in hospital) to the funny (pet has diarrhoea) but Arthur found himself hovering over the option labeled only “Caller’s Choice”.
While he was still contemplating, he caught movement at the corner of his vision and then spotted Sophia making her way back across the pub to him. Quickly, Arthur pressed Caller’s Choice, then rushed through setting the call for five minutes and submitted the request.
“Sorry that took so long,” Sophia said airly, settling back on the stool next to him. “Ran into an old friend on the way back.”
Arthur didn’t bother pointing out the obvious lie, just nodded graciously and pushed the plate of food toward her. As she oohed over the options and fretted over how many calories were in everything, Arthur casually set his phone down on the bar and waited. After exactly five minutes of excruciating cheese-based small talk, Arthur’s phone buzzed loudly against the bar and he fought the urge to laugh.
Instead he flipped the phone and frowned at the screen.
“I’m sorry, I better get this,” he said, meeting Sophia’s eyes apologetically. She waved her hand to give permission then picked up another piece of cheese. Arthur tapped to accept the call.
“Arthur?” Came a man’s voice right away. “It’s Merlin.”
“Merlin?” Arthur said, not needing to feign confusion. What the hell kind of name was Merlin?
“Yes, Merlin,” the man said a bit testily, as if he had heard Arthur’s thoughts. “I’m having a bit of a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Arthur said, sitting back a bit and relaxing into the role.
“It’s Aithusa.”
“Aithusa?” The man’s voice had a bit of a lilt that he couldn’t place, and it was catching Arthur off guard.
“You know. My iguana?”
“Your iguana.”
So far this ten second conversation had been more interesting than his entire date with Sophia.
Arthur’s eyes darted to see whether she was finding this as unbelievable as he was, but she didn’t seem to be paying any attention at all. The bartender came over to ask if she’d like a refill and suddenly she was all bubbly smiles. Arthur grit his teeth.
“Arthur,” the man — Merlin, apparently — sighed in his ear. “I know you don’t like her, but this is serious. She seems to be missing.”
“Missing?” Arthur parroted again, then, as he could practically hear Merlin's eye roll at how bad he was at this, went on. “Uhh, how long has he been missing?”
“She,” Merlin corrected. “And I’ve been looking for her since I got home over an hour ago. Do you think you could come over and give me a hand?”
“Well, I’m kind of on a date right now,” Arthur said. The man’s accent was definitely Irish, Arthur decided. He sounded cute, if a bit barmy. From the corner of his eye he watched as Sophia leaned against the bar in a way that put her breasts on display for the bartender. “But if it’s an emergency ...”
“It is,” Merlin said gravely. “She’s cold blooded, she could get really sick if she’s away from her heat lamp for too long.”
“Well, we can’t have that,” Arthur said, sliding off the stool and reaching for his jacket. Now that he was about to leave, Sophia finally seemed to be taking interest, but he just smiled apologetically at her.
“Alright, I’ll see you in a bit then?” Merlin said in his ear.
“Yes, I shouldn’t be too long,” Arthur confirmed and rang off.
“Something wrong?” Sophia asked with poorly feigned concern.
“Um, yeah. I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to cut this short,” Arthur replied, fishing some bills from his wallet and tossing them on the bar. “Something came up with a friend and — well, you probably heard.”
“A bit,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Should I be insulted that I’m being left for an iguana?”
“Probably,” Arthur replied absently, slipping his phone in his pocket. “Anyway, it was lovely to meet you, sorry to have to run.”
Sophia murmured a response but Arthur was already headed to the exit. When he stepped out into the late afternoon sunshine he felt like laughing with joy that it had actually worked — he had gotten out of the date far earlier than he’d expected and now was free to enjoy the evening as he pleased.
As he started down the pavement, he was in such a good mood that he completely forgot about the requested a follow up call until his phone rang again.
“Hi, it’s Merlin again,” came the rolling accent. “Just checking to be sure you’re on your way.”
“Hey, mate,” Arthur said, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder as he signaled for a taxi. “I’m free!”
“Oh, good,” Merlin said, the anxious concern dropping away from his voice. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to up the urgency if you hadn’t managed to break away.”
Arthur laughed. “Well, no need. I’m on my way home now, thanks to you.”
“Ah good — cheers then!”
Arthur rang off just as a cab pulled up to the kerb in front of him. After he had climbed in and given the driver his address, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Frowning, he drew it out and checked the notifications, hoping that it wasn't an angry tirade from Sophia.
Instead, he was greeted with a prompt from Dave Savers.
How did Merlin do?
Beneath the text was a series of emojis, rating from a crying face to a big toothy grin. Arthur rolled his eyes but selected the happiest option.
Would you like to leave Merlin a tip?
Normally at this point Arthur would uninstall the app with a huff, but the thing was — he did want to thank Merlin for his help. It was the work of several taps to link his pay app to Date Savers, then he was staring at the tipping screen. He had no clue what the proper amount should be, but surely if he'd stayed on the date he'd have spent at least another ten quid on drinks, so that's what he sent along to Merlin.
By the time he slid his phone back into his pocket, the whole date was already mostly forgotten. Arthur stared out the window and thought about how he’d stop at the kebab place on the corner for some proper dinner before he settled himself in for the night. It wasn’t until much later, when he had plugged his phone into its charger and turned off the lights, that his mind wandered back to Merlin.
Who was he? Was he here in London, or was Date Savers a national service? Did he really have an iguana? Why was he working for Date Savers anyway? Was Merlin even his real name? Arthur wished for a moment that he hadn’t rushed off the second call, that he had chatted with Merlin a bit, found out more about him. But before long he drifted into sleep and by the morning, the entire incident was forgotten.
*
Arthur only remembered the app two weeks later, when he was sat at a coffee shop across from a prim woman with ash blond hair.
Alice had been droning on and on about her research, and Arthur wrinkled his brow, trying his best to keep up even though he’d barely understood two words of what she’d said. He’d set this date up himself through a dating app, since Gwen kept threatening him with more of her picks. Alice was definitely older than the photos she had used on the dating app, which bothered Arthur far less than the fact that he hadn’t been able to get a word in edgewise.
When his date excused herself to the counter to order another latte, Arthur scrolled aimlessly through his apps and paused over the teal icon with the DS logo. His finger hovered for a moment — he wasn’t as desperate to get away as he had been with Sophia, as Alice was pleasant enough and he hadn’t anything else to be doing. But when he began idly tapping through the options, still deciding whether or not to submit the request, a new question popped up.
You previous Date Saver Merlin is available — would you like to:
Request Merlin
Request Someone Else
Arthur’s pulse picked up a little and he glanced to where Alice was hovering near the counter waiting for her drink. She looked a little bored and self-conscious, not at all like someone who was enjoying her date. He bit his lip and tapped “request Merlin.”
This is a premium feature! Would you like to join Date Savers Premium now? (£4.99 per month)
Arthur rolled his eyes. Of course it was a bloody premium feature. But he couldn’t deny that the marketing had gotten him this time — the thought of talking to Merlin again had him tapping quickly through the steps to set up his premium membership. Once that was settled, he tapped Merlin’s name and selected ASAP.
The call came through almost immediately. Arthur was so startled that he dropped the phone from his hands onto the little café table, where it continued to make a racket ringing and vibrating. Arthur fumbled a bit before answering, and put the phone to his ear breathlessly.
“Hello?”
Café patrons, most who probably hadn’t had their mobile ringers turned on since 2002, were staring at him with expressions ranging from curiosity to irritation, but all that fell away when Merlin spoke.
“Arthur?” Merlin’s voice sounded impossibly small and lost. Despite the fact that he didn’t actually know anything about Merlin, Arthur felt something in his stomach clench.
“Merlin? What’s going on?” Arthur asked, not needing to fake his alarm.
There was a shuffling sound from the other end of the line and a distinct sniffle. Was Merlin really crying?
“It’s Gilli, my boyfriend,” Merlin managed to get out in a wobbly voice.
“What did he do?” Arthur demanded as Alice returned to their table and shot him an inquiring look. Sorry, a friend, Arthur mouthed to her with an apologetic smile.
If Merlin was surprised that Arthur had taken his apparent sexuality in stride, he didn’t show it.
“He …” Merlin hiccupped, “He—”
“Did he cheat on you?” Arthur guessed, voice lower and angrier than he had intended. He didn’t need to reach too far within himself to pull out this reaction — though it had been well over a year since things had gone south with Gwen, those feelings were never far from the surface. Alice made a sympathetic face and watched with interest.
Merlin was quiet on the other end of the line for a long time before he said in a small voice, “I just can’t — can you come over? I’m sorry, I know you had your date but —”
“No, no,” Arthur cut him off. “It’s okay. I’m sure she’ll understand. Are you at home?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you need me to bring anything?”
Merlin let out a watery laugh. “Just yourself.”
Arthur rang off and stood up, disoriented for a moment. He checked his watch before remembering that he didn’t even know where Merlin lived, and wasn't actually going to Merlin’s place. He suddenly remembered Alice and turned to where she was sitting at the table and looking at him expectantly.
“I’ve uhh …”
“Got to go?” Alice supplied helpfully. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just my mate Merlin. He has this rubbish boyfriend and —”
“Boyfriend?” Alice repeated, wrinkling her nose. Arthur felt any guilt he’d been harbouring about his deception dissipate instantly — clearly this never would have worked out anyway.
“Yes. Boyfriend,” he said shortly, pulling his jacket on. “Anyway. It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the coffee.”
“You’re welcome. Good luck with your friend,” she said.
“Yeah,” Arthur muttered, heading for the exit. He stepped onto the pavement to find that the persistent drizzle had cleared up, so he decided to cut through the park to the nearest tube station rather than getting a taxi.
Unlike his first time using the service, Arthur didn’t feel the rush of euphoria to be free of the bad date. He found that he mostly just felt worried about Merlin. Was he really upset? Why had he bothered making himself available if he was going through a horrible breakup? Did he really need Arthur to come over?
Eventually his phone rang with the follow up, and this time Arthur was ready.
“Hey,” he answered. “I left the date — are you okay?”
“Oh! Good!” Merlin answered, sounding perfectly normal. Almost cheerful, in fact. “How did I do?”
Arthur, who abhorred when people stopped unexpectedly in the middle of the pavement, did exactly that.
“Wait,” he said, confused. “You’re not really upset?”
“What?” Merlin laughed. “No, of course not! I don’t even have a boyfriend, I was just trying to make it something urgent enough so that you could leave.”
Someone sighed loudly at Arthur’s back and made a show of walking around him. He quickly stepped off the main path and perched on the edge of a damp bench. When he didn’t respond right away, Merlin laughed. “You didn’t think that I actually — oh no! Oh shit, you did, didn’t you! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to alarm you.”
“No! No, I didn’t,” Arthur tried to backpedal quickly, feeling like a dolt. Of course Merlin had just been pretending! That’s what this entire service was about!
“Well now I just feel like a right twat, don’t I,” Merlin lamented, clearly seeing through Arthur’s lie. “It’s just that, well, I act a bit, so I use this as a chance to — you know, workshop some emotions and all that.”
“Of course,” Arthur said. “That makes sense. So, um. Are you in London then?”
“Oh, yes, of course. Well — Shoreditch, I should say.”
Arthur just barely caught himself from snorting. “Should have guessed.”
“Oi,” Merlin protested, but Arthur could hear his smile. “I moved here before it got all ‘cereal cafés’ and ‘charcoal activated buns’ I’ll have you know.”
“Sure,” Arthur said, grinning broadly. “I believe you.”
“You’re cheeky,” Merlin informed him. “No wonder you’re having to escape all your dates. I’m surprised you’re getting a chance to request before they do.”
Arthur felt vaguely as though he should be insulted, but something about Merlin’s gently teasing tone just made him want to keep talking. But no sooner had he thought this than Merlin gave a little sigh.
“Anyway, I’m glad I could be of help again — thanks for requesting me, by the way, it bumps my rate up. I’d say feel free to request me any time, but let’s just hope we’ll get lucky and never have to speak again, eh?”
“Yeah, right,” Arthur couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the thought and then stood and gave himself a shake. Had his love life gotten so bad that he had resorted to mooning over some voice on the other end of the line that he’d never even met? He needed to get a grip. “Right,” he repeated more firmly. “Thank you very much for your help. Have a good day.”
“You too, Arthur,” Merlin said, sounding amused. “Better luck next time, yeah?”
Arthur rang off without responding. When the rating and tipping notification came through, he tapped the button to send another £10 then slipped his phone back into his pocket.
*
Arthur took another bite of the vegetarian burger and forced a smile at his date while trying not to make a face at the weird texture. He didn’t care what the waiter had said, there were definitely mushrooms in it. Across from him, Elena seemed to be enjoying her wings, judging by the mess she was making of them. She had tried to explain what seitan was when they were ordering, but he had remained skeptical and went with a veggie burger, a choice he was now regretting.
Normally Arthur would have flat out refused the suggestion of a vegan restaurant — probably would have cancelled the date all together, if he was being honest — but two things gave him pause. The first was that Elena was the daughter of one of his father’s best friends and he’d promised to at least give her a chance. The second was that said vegan restaurant was in Shoreditch.
Arthur knew that there were a million ways this could go wrong. He and Elena could hit it off, for one. Or Merlin could be unavailable that night. He could have been lying to Arthur about where he lived. But as Elena had never seemed interested in anything but horses, Arthur had suggested a weeknight for a date, and Merlin had no reason to lie, well — Arthur liked his odds.
He was sure that if Gwen knew what he was doing she would give him a stern lecture about setting himself up to fail and preferring fantasy over realities, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about Merlin’s deep, lilting voice and the friendly way he had teased Arthur. More than once Arthur had opened the Date Saver app and wondered what would happen if he just requested Merlin to come to his flat. At which point, he decided that Gwen was probably right — but if he could just see Merlin, he was sure that it would break the fantasy. Surely Merlin was just some ordinary looking bloke and then Arthur could get back to going on bad dates without being distracted by the temptation of a mystery voice rescuing him. It was a perfectly sensible plan, Arthur thought to himself as he took another bite of the sawdust-textured burger and tried to discreetly open his phone in his lap.
He felt a bit bad that Elena would be collateral damage, but — as they were both under no impressions about the nature of their meeting being anything other to please their fathers — not too bad.
He made vague noises of agreement at Elena’s story about the girl at the barn who had tried to braid her horse’s mane the wrong way as he balanced his phone on one thigh and opened the Date Saver app. He quickly navigated through the familiar opening page to request a save, but this time he tapped the “in person” option, which brought up a new screen of options that he couldn’t quite make out.
“Oh, are we checking phones?” Elena said, sounding more delighted than annoyed. “I’m going to do mine too then — only for five minutes though, okay? Then we can have a proper go at this.”
Arthur felt a surge of gratitude toward Elena as she grinned at him conspiratorially and retrieved her phone from her purse. He turned his attention back to his own phone, vegetarian burger abandoned for the time being, and focused on answering the questions that were presented. After he had informed the app that they were sitting outside, marked his approximate location on the map, reported his shirt and hair color for both him and Elena, and set his date save time for half an hour from now. He held his breath and tapped through to the final screen.
You previous Date Saver Merlin is available for an in-person save — would you like to:
Request Merlin
Request Someone Else
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief and tried to bite back his grin. He tapped Merlin’s name before he could second-guess himself and slid his phone into his pocket. Now he only had to hope that his plan would work — that Merlin would be middle aged and unattractive and the spell would be completely broken, allowing him to get back to dating without distractions.
Elena raised an eyebrow at him and put her phone away as well, smiling to herself. He picked up his burger again and took a valiant bite, but she just laughed.
“Stop torturing yourself, you numpty. Here, I’ll order more wings — and some chips too.”
Now that he knew he’d be meeting Merlin soon, Arthur felt almost sorry that his date with Elena would be cut short. Once they’d gotten past the initial awkwardness, he found that she had a wicked sense of humour and knew the most hilariously naughty jokes. In fact, he nearly forgot all about his approaching rescue — he and Elena had their heads bent together, trying to outdo each other with dirty limericks — when he heard an unmistakable voice.
“Arthur?”
He looked over Elena’s shoulder and met the bright blue eyes that he had to assume were Merlin’s. And Merlin was not balding or middle aged, or dressed like a slob, oh no, of course. Arthur could never be so lucky. Because Merlin was, in fact, devastatingly handsome. He had a slim build but his shoulders were broad, and the sharp planes of his face were softened by a mop of curls artfully tousled and perched atop the cropped sides of his head. The look certainly wasn’t what Arthur was used to in the office or corporate bars, but Merlin definitely had a style all his own. He was wearing black skinny jeans cuffed at the ankle, shiny doc martens, and a dark teal jumper with a maroon and white pattern across the chest that exactly walked the line between tasteful and too loud. But Arthur only had a moment to take that all in before Merlin beamed at him and all sensible thought was banished from his mind.
“I thought that was you,” Merlin said in an incredibly fond way. “God mate it’s been, what, five years?”
“Merlin?” Arthur said, hoping he sounded disbelieving in a “running into an old mate” way and not in a “holy fuck a gorgeous man is walking straight toward me” way. He managed to collect his jaw off the table and stood to hold out a hand for Merlin to shake, but Merlin already had his arms open. There was just enough time for a brief moment of eye contact — panicked on Arthur’s part and amused on Merlin’s — before Merlin was enveloping Arthur in a warm hug.
Arthur allowed himself just a moment to close his eyes and lean into the touch. Merlin smelled delicious and manly and his body felt warm and firm against Arthur’s and christ buggering fuck he really wasn’t going to be able to settle for any more mediocre dates after remembering how it felt to be this attracted to someone.
With a little cough Arthur segued into manly pats on the back. Merlin took the cue and stepped out of his space a bit, but gripped his shoulders and gave him a little shake.
“I can’t believe it’s really you! What in the hell are you doing in Shoreditch?”
Arthur blinked and turned to Elena, who was watching the two of them with open curiosity.
“Oh, um,” he said, gesturing between the two of them. “This is Elena. Elena, this is my old friend Merlin.”
“Elena! Charmed,” Merlin said, taking her hand and giving her a little head tilt that would have looked ridiculous on anyone else, but which his genuine smile somehow helped him pull off. Arthur held his breath, wondering how this was going to play out. He didn’t need to wait very long.
“Blimey, I’ve known Arthur since he was in nappies and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hug anyone before!” Elena blurted, eyeing Merlin suspiciously. Arthur felt his insides twist in panic, but Merlin just laughed.
“Well, that’s my bad influence, I’m just a hugger. Besides, who could resist the urge to wrinkle up that overly formal button-down? Really, Arthur, on a Thursday night date? You look like a prat, you realize.”
Arthur gaped at him helplessly, but Elena snorted with laughter.
“Oh, I like him,” she said, glancing over at Arthur before beaming up at Merlin again. “Come on, sit with us. You know Arthur from Cambridge, I assume? I want to hear all the gossip.”
“Are you sure?” Merlin said. Arthur tried to communicate silently that this was a bad idea, but Merlin seemed to only have eyes for the giant plate of chips at the center of the table. “Because I would hate to interrupt you—”
Elena made a dismissive noise and flapped one hand. She pushed out one of the table’s iron chairs with her toes in invitation. “Arthur and I have already agreed this date is going nowhere, so come on, join us.”
Merlin looked at Arthur questioningly, and Arthur’s brain finally came online, reminding him that if he left with Merlin they’d have to part ways, but this way he could linger with him for a while. He shrugged helplessly and gestured at the chair.
“Go on then, let me buy you a drink,” Arthur said. “What’ll it be?”
Merlin gave him a small, private smile and Arthur knew for sure that he was well and truly fucked.
*
Two hours, four drinks, and another round of chips and vegan wings later, and Arthur’s assessment of the situation hadn’t changed at all. Merlin and Elena were getting on famously and were now exchanging numbers as Arthur ordered an Uber to take Elena home. Merlin had been perfect, putting on a show making up outrageous stories about Arthur that were harmless but made Elena gasp with laughter. Apparently Merlin’s grandfather had owned a farm with some uncommon breed of Irish pony, which had been all the opening Elena needed to carry the conversation. Arthur did his best to interject here and there, but Merlin seemed genuinely interested in Elena’s anecdotes about horses that she was acquainted with, and happily supplied what information he remembered about his own time with the ponies as a lad. Merlin had happily devoured what was left of Arthur’s horrible vegetarian burger and half the plate of chips as well, occasionally shooting Arthur a questioning look to make sure he was okay.
Arthur nodded each time Merlin's eyes met his, trying to ignore the way that his mouth dried out. While Merlin talked with Elena, Arthur’s eyes were glued to the way his mouth moved, to the mop of dark hair, and to the way his long fingers moved restlessly along the seam of his jeans when he was telling a story. Elena caught Arthur’s eye once while Merlin was reaching for a wing and winked. Arthur fought back a flush, but luckily Merlin didn’t even notice.
By the time Arthur had taken care of the bill and they’d migrated to the crossroad to wait for the car, it occurred to Arthur that once Elena was gone he’d be alone with Merlin. He felt a sweat break out on the back of his neck as the car pulled up, but allowed his cheek to be kissed by Elena, who thanked him for the date and insisted that they all get together again soon.
As the car pulled away from the kerb, Arthur felt a small glimmer of hope — maybe now the façade would drop and Merlin would turn out to be a big jerk, maybe he’d tell Arthur off for being a coward and taking up his whole evening and then Arthur could go back to peacefully ignoring his existence.
But when the car was out of sight, Merlin turned to Arthur with a grin.
“Well, I had planned on taking a nap before rehearsal but that was much more fun! She’s lovely, isn’t she? Bit of an anorak with the horses and all, but I don’t mind. You should see my cousin Caitlin. Giving you trouble, was she?” he said, peering at Arthur curiously.
“Ahh,” Arthur said, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking up on his toes. If he’d drunk less he’d probably feel more embarrassed, but as it was he was feeling good. Merlin wasn’t going to tell him off, and seemed to be sticking around to chat with him a bit. “I mean, not really. It’s mostly just that our fathers want us to date, so I got roped into taking her out and things were a bit—”
“Say no more,” Merlin said, holding up a hand in front of him. “I understand how that goes, trust me. And the rest’s none of my business.”
Merlin glanced at his watch as Arthur stood like an idiot on the pavement, trying desperately to think of something clever or interesting to say. Merlin cursed softly under his breath at the time.
“Well, I hate to eat and run,” Merlin flashed his toothy smile and Arthur’s knees wobbled a little. “But I’m already late to rehearsal. You’re good now?”
“Oh, yes — yes of course,” Arthur finally found his words.
“Can I give you so money toward —”
“No, no, absolutely not,” Arthur replied quickly, feeling embarrassed. “My treat. I appreciate the help.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Merlin said, flashing Arthur another toothy smile. “Shockingly, community theater doesn’t pay much.”
Arthur laughed politely, casting around desperately in his alcohol-addled mind for something to keep Merlin engaged in the conversation. But Merlin was already backing away, glancing at his watch again.
“Well, it was nice meeting you — hope this is the last time!” Merlin said with a wave, and started off down the pavement, away from where Arthur was standing.
Arthur blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair — he couldn’t help feeling like he’d struck out twice tonight, even though he’d had a lovely time. He was already desperate to see Merlin again, but it had been hard enough to set up this encounter, for all it had gotten him.
A chilly breeze whipped at Arthur’s jacket as he set out in the direction of home. He walked for a bit before he called a cab, the alcohol slowly metabolizing out of his system. The hint of a plan was forming in his head, but it was going to take some luck.
*
To Gwen’s credit, she didn’t bat an eye when Arthur asked her if she had any male friends who were looking to be set up. In fact, he thought he saw a flash of relief cross her face before she assured him that she did, loads, and did he have a certain type?
He had told her that he didn’t, but now that he was sat across from his date in the cramped café, Arthur wished he had been a little more picky. As George explained in excruciating detail exactly why and how his body couldn’t tolerate gluten, Arthur thought that on the bright side at least he didn’t have any compunctions about using the Date Saver app this time. When George flagged down a server to give her the same spiel, Arthur slipped his phone out of his pocket and tapped through the by now familiar options on the app.
He planned the date at the same time as the last one and chose a café in Merlin’s neighborhood, hoping that Merlin would again be hanging around at home before his rehearsal. Arthur knew it was a bit creepy that he was putting this much effort into coordinating a “chance” meeting, but he hadn’t been made the youngest CEO of Pendragon, Inc. on his good looks alone.
For a moment, it seemed as if his plan was working perfectly — Merlin's name popped up as an option and Arthur was able to input the rest of the information while George explained to the server precisely how he expected his salad to be prepared.
Arthur sat back and tried his best to listen attentively to George, who had moved on from dietary restrictions to commenting on the weather (too hot for April) and his work (personal assistant to some lower ranked member of the monarchy), as though he were mentally ticking off appropriate first date small talk. Arthur shifted in his seat and tried to nod along at the right places, all the while scanning the pavement for Merlin to appear.
When Merlin did round the corner, Arthur was gratified to see his face twist with confusion for a moment before he realized that the brown-haired date wearing a light blue shirt was a man. Merlin's eyes widened and he froze adorably in his tracks, staring at Arthur like a startled animal.
Arthur smiled to himself and set his napkin to the side of his salad.
"Sorry, George, I think I may see someone that I …"
Arthur trailed off with a frown as another man walked straight into Merlin, only catching himself by grabbing at Merlin's shoulders a little too familiarly.
"Hmm?" George inquired politely, taking a small bite of his sandwich and setting it back on the plate.
By now Merlin seemed to have recovered himself. He whispered furiously to the young man next to him, who stared at Arthur openly and nodded along to whatever Merlin was saying. The two men disentangled and began to come toward Arthur with markedly more serious expressions than they had worn at first.
Arthur, who had secretly been hoping that Merlin would hug him again, pushed back his chair and stood up.
"Merlin! Mate, it's so good to see you!"
"Don't you 'mate' me!" Merlin snapped at him, and Arthur held up his hands in a placating gesture and took a step back. He had a feeling he would not be getting that hug after all.
“What do you mean?” Arthur said, in the voice he used most often on difficult investors. He felt a little bewildered, but unfortunately no amount of bewilderment could distract him from how good Merlin looked, his cheeks flushed and eyes flashing. He was wearing a plaid flannel shirt today, the cuffs unbuttoned and pushed up to his sleeves, revealing well-muscled fore-arms. The man standing behind Merlin crossed his arms menacingly as Merlin took a step closer and gave Arthur chest a light shove.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, coming to the most expensive café in the neighborhood when you owe Will here 500 quid.”
“What?!” Arthur exclaimed, ready to play along now that he had a clue as to what they were going for. “I paid him back last week, what are you on about?”
The man at Merlin’s side, who must have been Will, made a sound of outrage. Merlin’s mouth stayed pinched into a straight line, but Arthur could see a twinkle of delight in his eyes that Arthur was joining in. He sucked in a breath as if readying to give Arthur a proper dressing down when a voice piped up from the table.
“No, it’s not.”
The three men frowned at each other in confusion, and then as one turned to where George was at the table, calmly scrolling on his phone.
“Not what?” Merlin said, the anger dropping from his voice for the moment.
“The most expensive café in the neighborhood. See?” he held out his phone, the menu for another café displayed on the screen. He swept it in a slow arc like a nursery teacher with a picture book, making sure they all had a chance to look. “Café Dereham is much more expensive. This place was quite reasonable to be honest, Arthur.”
Merlin looked at Arthur helplessly, looking at though he might burst into giggles, but Will spoke up.
“Enough playing around, Pendragon, where’s my money, eh?”
“Look,” Arthur said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet and trying to get back into character. “I don’t have it now, but I can give you a twenty.”
“A twenty?” Will said, outraged. “If you think you can just flash a bit of dosh at me and I’ll stop being a problem for you, then you’ve got another thing coming.”
“I know who you are,” George spoke up again.
Will grit his teeth and spoke to George over his shoulder.
“Listen, mate, let the big boys talk and then I’ll let you get back to whatever it is you were —”
“You’re William Sweeney.”
That got Will’s attention. He uncrossed his arms and wheeled around to face the man.
“What’s it to you?”
“You’re part of the anti-monarchy group that’s always staging protests during events,” George told him matter-of-factly. “Arthur, you really shouldn’t associate with anarchists. Or lend money for that matter. But I’m happy to be a witness to this man assaulting you — should I phone the police?”
Merlin’s eyes went wide with terror and Will took a hasty step back.
“No!” Arthur said hurriedly, trying to regain control of the situation. “No. It’s fine, they’re just leaving now— aren’t you?”
Merlin nodded and tugged at Will's sleeve.
"Yeah, we'll go now, just — Arthur, should I call you later? About the money?"
Merlin looked at him earnestly and Arthur remembered the follow up phone call he had requested.
"Yes — yes of course. We'll get things all settled then."
Merlin nodded, and as quickly as they had barged in, the two had left the café. Arthur cleared his throat and sat back down at the table.
"I'm sorry about that," he said to George, who was rustling around in a large bag that he had at his side.
"I'm sorry, Arthur," he said, not sounding very sorry at all. "I just don't think it's going to work out between us. I have an impeccable credit score, so I'm not interested in dating anyone with debt. Especially debt to a political agitator."
Arthur watched as he counted out a note and several coins onto the table between them.
"That's to cover my share, plus tax and gratuity," he pushed his chair back and stood. "Have a good afternoon."
Without another word, he made his way out of the café, leaving Arthur alone at the table shaking his head. He wondered if he should try calling Merlin right away — maybe he and Will were still nearby and they could all have a laugh together. But in the end, he paid the bill — making sure to apologize to the ruffled-looking server — and set off for home.
He was just heading for the tube station when this phone rang.
“Arthur?” came Merlin’s voice. He sounded a bit breathy, like maybe he’d been running.
“Hi,” Arthur said, trying not to sound too eager. “God I’m sorry about all that — George is a little more high strung than I was led to believe by the friend who set us up.”
Arthur heard muttering in the background and Merlin asked anxiously, “You don’t think he’ll really phone the police, do you?”
“Nah,” Arthur replied, hoping to God he was right. “You don’t need to worry about that, but I am sorry. If I had known he’d react like that, I would have told you to do something more tame.”
“No, don’t be sorry,” Merlin fretted. “It was Will’s idea — we’re working on a scene for the play we’re in and he said I’m bad at being angry, which I do tend to have some issues with that really, so he said he’d come along to help and we came up with the idea on the way over and—”
Arthur leaned against the brick wall outside the tube stop and closed his eyes. Even anxious and babbling, Merlin’s voice was so familiar and soothing at this point that Arthur couldn’t help but smile.
“Merlin,” he finally interrupted. “It’s fine. It worked, and no harm done.”
“Okay,” Merlin said, sounding uncertain. There was a moment of silence on the line.
“So,” Merlin spoke at length. “You, um. God this is so unprofessional, but was that a date? Or some kind of business meeting?”
“Oh no, it was a date — definitely a date.”
“Right,” Merlin responded. Then after another pause, he said softly, “You could have just told me, you know. You didn’t have to set that all up.”
“What?” Arthur protested. “No, I — “
“Arthur,” Merlin interrupted. “It’s fine. Look, I’ve got to get to rehearsal. Have a nice evening.”
Arthur started to reply, but the line went dead and when he looked at his phone, Merlin had already disconnected. He slid the phone back into his pocket, mentally berating himself. Clearly he hadn’t been as clever as he thought he was and now Merlin was on to him. What was he doing?
He headed down the stairs, following the throng of people and absently swiping his Oyster card at the till. By the time he made it to the platform, he had made up his mind.
He took his phone out and did a long hold on the Date Savers icon, then selected “Uninstall.” He confirmed the selection just as the tube wooshed up to the platform, brakes squealing it to a stop. Arthur pocketed his phone again and stepped onto the tube, determined to put Merlin out of his mind for good.
*
By the week’s end, Arthur had not succeeded in putting Merlin from his mind even a little, although he had managed to resist re-downloading the app.
He’d whined to both his sister, Morgana — who had told him he needed to put in longer days at work — and his best mate Leon — who had told him that he just needed to get laid. Arthur decided to take the advice of the latter, and Saturday night found him taking a cab to a gay nightclub. And if the nightclub happened to be in Shoreditch, well — at least he hadn’t re-downloaded the app, Arthur reasoned with himself.
It had been a long time since Arthur had been cruising, and he hadn’t been to this particular club before, but after a few drinks he could feel himself start to loosen up. He scanned the room from where he was sitting at a low table, nursing his third drink. His eyes lingered on a slight, dark haired man who was hopping energetically along to the thumping bass on the dancefloor. His face looked nothing like Merlin, but perhaps he’d be close enough to scratch the itch. The man caught Arthur’s eye and gave him a wink.
Yes, he’d definitely do for tonight.
Arthur shifted, preparing to stand with his eyes fixed on the dancefloor, when suddenly his view was blocked by a tall, broad-shouldered man.
“Hey,” the man said, smiling at Arthur in an overly cocky way that immediately put his hackles up. He stuck out his hand over the table, inviting Arthur to shake. “I’m Cenred, but they call me King. Don’t think I’ve seen you here before? Can I show you around?”
Arthur stared blankly at the man’s hand, and then back into his face, raising an eyebrow but not moving to take his hand. “Seriously? Does that work on anyone?”
The man gave a humourless laugh and sat down at the table across from Arthur.
“You’re a feisty one, eh?” he said, eyes sharp and predatory. “Let me buy you a drink? Or better yet, take you back to mine and fuck the sass out of you.”
Arthur made a face and reached for his drink, quickly downing what was left in the glass. He was starting to remember why it had been so long since he’d been to the nightclubs.
“Sorry, I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.”
He started to stand up, but suddenly the man’s hand landed on his shoulder and pushed him down with surprising force. Arthur looked up, nonplussed, and the man just leered at him.
“How about you just stay here with me instead?”
Arthur shrugged the man’s hand off his shoulder roughly, then stood up.
“I think we’re done here.”
Arthur was prepared for a scuffle, but the man just smirked and watched him go. He felt a little unsettled and wondered if he should just give up and call it a night now. For a moment, the thought of flopping onto the sofa and burying himself in a comfy blanket and some brainless telly tantalized him. But no — he was determined to pull tonight so he could hopefully put his little crush on Merlin out of his mind. Arthur slowly made his way around the sweaty swell of people on the dance floor, but the man he’d been watching dance earlier was nowhere to be seen.
The club was really starting to pick up now, and Arthur decided to make his way to the second floor. When he emerged from the stairway, the din of the electronic music had softened a bit. The second floor had a smaller dance floor tucked to one side, and an abundance of booths and tables scattered across the open room. Arthur walked slowly toward the bar on the far wall, still scanning the crowd. All around him were couples making out and groups of friends laughing with their heads tucked close together to be heard. At the bar, Arthur asked for a water then leaned against a stool, letting his eyes drift around the room once more. He wondered idly if Merlin ever came to this club, whether he’d ever danced shirtless on the dance floor downstairs or indulged in some grinding in a quiet corner booth. He gave himself a mental shake. This wasn’t helping.
Then, his heart leapt into his throat when he saw what he was sure was the back of Merlin’s head at a small table across the room. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he had begun to make his way toward the table, but when he was halfway across the room he stopped in his tracks. The man threw back his head to laugh at something his companion was saying and Arthur got a good look at his face. It wasn’t Merlin, but rather the dark-haired man that he’d seen dancing downstairs earlier. He was still giggling at whatever the man with him had said, and Arthur watched with a twisting feeling in his stomach as the other man leaned in and pressed a kiss to the dark haired man’s temple. He knew that he was being a bit of a creep by staring so long, but somehow the small tender gesture brought a moment of clarity to him.
That was what he was looking for. Not some messy handjob in a toilet stall. He wanted Merlin — so what on earth other than his own insecurities was holding him back?
He set down his glass with some other abandoned empties at a nearby pub table and turned toward the stairs, then took a wobbly step forward. Arthur frowned. He hadn’t had that many drinks, certainly not enough to be legless. But the mixed drinks must have been stronger than he thought, because a wave of dizziness came over him as he made his way slowly down to the first floor.
The flashing lights from the dance floor were blinking and the loud music was filling his head with a delightful static. Arthur was feeling more drunk by the minute, which he felt that he should probably be concerned about. But any worried feelings seemed to be far away from him right now, as if they were standing across a crowded room and trying to get his attention, but easily ignored. He edged around the dance floor, watching one foot step in front of the other, when suddenly he crashed right into a solidly muscled body.
“Hey there, princess,” a voice purred in his ear, as a hand slid down to grab at his ass. “Feeling a little less uptight now?”
Arthur looked up in confusion to find Cenred smirking down at him, and in a heartbeat of terrifying clarify, Arthur realized what had happened. He thought back to the odd way that Cenred had held out his hand over the table to shake — giving him a clear shot to drop something into Arthur’s drink.
Arthur focussed all his energy and shoved hard at Cenred’s chest. The man clearly hadn’t been expecting it — he staggered back, giving Arthur a short window of time to head toward where he vaguely remembered having seen the bathrooms. He heard Cenred’s laugh close behind him but he didn’t look back, determined to keep putting one foot in front of the other. He crashed into the bathroom and saw — thankfully — that there was a stall open. He managed to dart into the free stall and lock the door behind him before the bathroom door swung open again, bringing with it a burst of music that was quickly muffled when the door swung shut again.
Arthur slumped against the cool tile of the wall, keeping one eye on Cenred’s boots clomping past under the stall door. He could hear muffled groans coming from the stall next to him, which clearly had two occupants. Further down, someone was washing their hands. Arthur strained his ears for what Cenred might be doing.
“Looking for someone?” a cheerful voice asked, and he heard Cenred grunt in response. Once more, the boots moved slowly down the line of stalls then paused on the other side of Arhur’s stall.
“I’ll wait for you outside,” Cenred said loudly. To anyone else it might have sounded suggestive, flirty even, but the words made terror curl in Arthur’s gut.
He breathed a small sigh of relief when Cenred left the bathroom, but immediately panicked. What was he going to do? He couldn’t hide in here all night. He fumbled around in the pocket of his too-tight jeans and pulled out his phone. He worried it in his clumsy hands for a moment, trying to force his brain to think. He had the fleeting thought that he wished the Dave Saver app was still on his phone, but then it occurred to him — he still had Merlin’s phone number in his phone from the follow ups.
Carefully he scrolled through his call log until he located Merlin’s number, then pressed the call button before he could think about it too much. As the call rang through, Arthur offered up a prayer to whatever gods may be watching over the stall of the gay bar loo that he’d pick up. Merlin picked up on the first ring.
“Hello?”
Just hearing Merlin’s accent sent a wave of relief rushing over Arthur.
“Merlin,” he slurred, temporarily forgetting the reason he had called and just basking in the warm timbre of Merlin’s voice.
“Arthur?”
Arthur hummed an affirmative and Merlin continued. “What’s going on, is something the matter?”
Brilliant Merlin, of course he was clever enough to cotton on immediately.
“Yes,” Arthur said, then paused. He knew what he wanted to happen — he wanted Merlin to come rescue him, like he had before. But somehow he couldn’t untangle the threads of speech in his brain. “Yes,” he repeated gravely.
“Arthur, tell me where you are.”
Now Merlin’s voice was getting tight and anxious, which made Arthur frown.
“I’m at the ahhhh. At the nightclub. Near you. Uhhh the Dragon. White Dragon.” The couple next to him were clearly reaching the climax of their frottage in the next stall. “In the loo,” Arthur added helpfully. “Don’t wanna come out, he’s still waiting.”
Merlin cursed softly.
“Listen to me Arthur, you stay right there, okay? Don’t move. Just wait. I’ll be there in five minutes. Don’t open the door unless it’s me, okay?”
“Okay,” Arthur agreed happily, feeling the last of the fear slip away. Merlin was coming to him. He was safe.
Arthur’s legs were feeling wobbly so he sat down on the toilet and waited. Every time the door was pushed open he froze, expecting to see boots crossing the floor or hear pounding at the stall door. But either Cenred had left or was content to wait for Arthur outside. After an indeterminate amount of time listening to the muted thump of the bass through the wall, the door swung open again, spilling the music into the room. A pair of scuffed purple high tops appeared outside his stall.
“Arthur?” Merlin called, sounding out of breath. “Are you still in here?”
“Yeah,” Arthur said, getting to his feet unsteadily. He unlatched the door of the stall and pulled it open, revealing a disheveled looking Merlin.
“Merlin,” he grinned. He tried to clap him on the shoulder but staggered forward instead. Merlin wasn’t smiling.
“Shit,” he said. “It was Cenred, wasn’t it? Fucking bastard, I can’t believe they still let him in here when everyone knows what happened with Billy last summer — well, nevermind all that now. You’re coming with me.”
Arthur wanted to tell Merlin that it had been Cenred, and assure him that Arthur hadn’t actually come on a date with him, and ask Merlin what had happened with BIlly last summer. He also wanted to tell him that he looked good in the soft heather green v-neck and skinny jeans he was wearing, but he was still having trouble finding some of the words. Luckily Merlin didn’t seem to expect him to speak, just tucked himself under Arthur’s arm and hauled him out of the loo.
Later, Arthur didn’t remember much about getting to Merlin’s flat — only that Merlin had practically growled at Cenred as they left, that the cool air outside had felt almost as good as Merlin’s body tucked under his arm, and that Merlin apparently lived in a walk up flat with five million or so bloody steps.
After a lot of gentle coaxing on Merlin’s part, Arthur was finally sat in Merlin’s living room and felt a tiny bit better. He couldn’t stop staring at the sofa, which was perhaps the ugliest piece of furniture he had ever seen in person. As Merlin dashed around the flat muttering to himself about making tea and finding pillows and how he was going to murder fucking Cenred King, Arthur stroked the tufted olive green chenille meditatively. When the kettle clicked off, he looked instinctively to the kitchen then let out a shout.
“What?!” Merlin yelped, dropping the teaspoon he’d been holding to the worktop with a clatter.
“Do you … ” Arthur said, leaning forward on his knees and squinting, “Actually have an iguana?”
Merlin chuckled from the kitchen and seemed to relax as he poured the hot water into a pair of mismatched mugs.
“Of course I do! What, did you think I had made her up?”
“I don’t know,” Arthur admitted, staring at the large aquarium on the far wall of the living room. The iguana stared back, looking unimpressed. “What’s her name again? Can hold her?”
“It’s Aithusa. And no, I think you’d better wait until you’re sober again. She’s friendly but, well.”
Merlin didn’t finish the thought, but he did appear and press a mug of tea into Arthur’s hands.
“I can’t remember what you’re supposed to do, but I figured you can never go wrong with tea,” he said, sitting down beside him carefully. Arthur sipped the tea gratefully and tried to brush his knee against Merlin’s casually. Only his limbs still weren’t quite under control either, so he wound up jostling him a bit harder than he intended.
“Shit,” Merlin cursed as the hot tea sloshed onto his trousers. “That’s … okay, that’s okay. What about you though? How are you feeling? Should we be taking you to the A&E or calling the police?”
“No,” Arthur said, snatching his knee back. “It’s … no, it’s fine, none of that. I’m sure I’ll be alright in a bit.”
Merlin’s frown was back and Arthur resisted the ruge to reach out and poke it back into a smile.
“Are you sure?” he lowered his voice, “He didn’t —”
“No,” Arthur insisted again. “Nothing like that, I just. No. I’ll be fine, I just need to rest a bit.”
“Okay,” Merlin said, settling back into the hideous sofa. Their shoulders were touching and Arthur thought it was so nice that he shut his eyes and let his head loll back so that he could enjoy it better. “You’re welcome to stay here if you want — this sofa’s not winning any beauty contests, but it is comfortable.”
Arthur hummed, his head tilted toward Merlin’s shoulder. The tea was a warm grounding presence at his knee and despite the voice in the back of his head that was still panicking about the events of the evening, he felt warm and content here on the sofa with Merlin. He inhaled deeply, Merlin's masculine scent going directly to his groin.
"Mmm, you smell good," he murmured, shifting on the sofa so that they were pressed even closer.
"What?" Merlin asked. There was a fond amusement in his voice but he didn't shove him away, so Arthur buried his face in Merlin's neck and inhaled again. God the scent was even better here and Arthur couldn't resist nuzzling into Merlin's skin and pressing a kiss to his hammering pulse point.
"Arthur …" Merlin sounded reluctant but breathless in a way that made Arthur feel bold. His whole body felt warm and good. The events of the evening felt very far away and everything he wanted felt within his reach.
Arthur shifted and reached around, intending to pull Merlin into a proper kiss. Unfortunately for both of them, he had completely forgotten about the mug of tea in his hand.
"Oh shit," Merlin swore, leaping up when the hot liquid spilled onto his chest. He held the wet shirt away from his chest with one hand and pulled the mug out of Arthur's grip with the other. He disappeared to the kitchen again, leaving Arthur aching on the ugly sofa, but returned after a moment with a tea towel to his chest.
When he sat down next to Arthur, Arthur leaned in again. He was determined to feel those soft looking lips against his own, but was stopped by a gentle hand to his chest. He looked down at Merlin's hand and then up at Merlin, who was wearing a sad smile.
"Don't look at me like that," Merlin said softly. Arthur leaned back a bit, a whirl of emotions cycling in his chest. Once he'd backed off, Merlin's hand came up to brush through Arthur’s fringe. "Trust me, it's not that I don't want to, but … "
Merlin let the sentence linger as Arthur shut his eyes and pressed into the soft warmth of the hand that had come to rest on his cheek.
“But you’re not sober,” he finished with a sigh, removing his hand and standing up. “So here’s what we’re going to do — you’re going to sleep on the sofa tonight, and in the morning I’m going to make us some breakfast and we can have a chat about why you keep going on these awful dates and whether you’d like to stop. Okay?”
Arthur, who was mostly feeling bereft at the loss of Merlin’s hand, but also a bit woozier than he had before, nodded solemnly. Merlin tousled his hair with a smile.
“Sleep now, okay? And I promise we’ll talk more about this in the morning. The loo’s through there — do you need anything else before bed? Let me at least get you some water and paracetamol, since you decided to chuck the tea.”
Arthur slumped back on the sofa. His eyes followed as Merlin went to the kitchen, filled a glass with tap water then returned with the pills.
“Here,” he said, handing them to Arthur. He obediently popped them in his mouth then took the glass of water he was handed. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until he was drinking. He could feel his throat muscles working as he downed the whole glass in one go. Where had Merlin said the bathroom was?
He looked up to ask and caught Merlin staring at him with a dazed expression. Arthur looked away quickly.
“Thanks,” he finally managed, handing the glass back to Merlin.
“Of course,” Merlin said, then took the tea mug and the glass back into the kitchen. Arthur looked around and noticed a pillow and stack of blankets had been placed at the end of the sofa. He laid back gratefully and was still arranging himself when Merlin returned, setting the refilled glass of water within Arthur’s reach on the side table.
Now that he was horizontal, Arthur found he couldn’t keep his eyes open. He burrowed into the pillow with a sigh and a moment later felt the blankets being spread over him. Merlin’s hand rubbed at his back for a moment and it felt so good, like he was melting into the sofa.
“Do you need anything else?” Merlin asked again, but he sounded far away and Arthur didn’t answer.
“Good night,” Merlin said softly, switching off the lamp on the side table. Arthur listened as he made his way into what must be his own room, his head swimming in the dark. The click of the bedroom door sounded loud in the otherwise silent flat. Arthur tried to turn over the events of the night in his head, but every time he tried to grasp onto a thought or emotion, it seemed to skate gracefully away from him. He finally gave up and let sleep pull him under.
*
The first thing Arthur registered was that he desperately needed a piss. The second was that he felt awful. He rolled out of his bed with a soft groan and then froze, looking around in shock. He wasn’t in his flat — but where was he? Had he pulled last night?
Arthur sat on the edge of the hideous sofa, staring at his surroundings and forcing his hungover brain to think. He remembered going to the club, seeing the man that looked like Merlin — was that who he’d gone home with? But no, wait, that man had a boyfriend, one who laughed at him and kissed his temple. Arthur had —
As if he were looking at a puzzle coming together fragments of the night before swam into his memory and arranged themselves. With each memory, he grew more and more uncomfortable — Cenred groping his arse, hiding in the bathroom stall at the club, dumping his tea on Merlin. Trying to kiss Merlin.
Arthur wanted to flop back down and groan loudly, but suddenly he realized that’s where he was — Merlin’s flat. He held his breath and listened, but the flat was silent. Merlin must still be asleep.
He had to get out of here.
Arthur found his phone still in his pocket — nearly dead but with enough battery left to request a ride — then chanced a trip to the bathroom. Thankfully, everything stayed quiet behind Merlin’s door. When Arthur was sure he wouldn’t vomit, he folded the blankets and quietly returned the water glass to the kitchen.
He breathed a silent sigh of relief as he slipped his loafers on at the door, only to jump nearly out of his skin when he heard a noise behind him. He whipped around to find a giant iguana moving slowly around its tank, staring at Arthur reproachfully.
Arthur shakily let out the breath he’d sucked in, glad that he’d managed to keep himself from shouting at least. He stared into the aquarium for a moment — he didn’t know anything about iguanas, but she seemed to be judging him.
Arthur didn’t blame her.
Finally she turned to climb up on the stone that was carefully placed under her heating lamp and Arthur was able to slip through the door, making sure to pull it closed tightly behind him.
Outside on the pavement it was gloomy and overcast, which suited Arthur’s mood perfectly. When his ride pulled up, he slipped into the backseat and rested his forehead against the cool window. He tried to not to think of what a colossal idiot he had been, not to mention a coward. But there was no way he could face Merlin after the humiliation of what had happened to him in the nightclub — not to mention that Arthur had practically assaulted him on the sofa. No, he thought it was kinder for everyone involved if he just got himself home and didn’t bother Merlin anymore.
A heavy rain began to patter against the car window. Arthur watched the city slip by as the car carried him home.
*
When Arthur finally staggered back into his flat, he felt as if he had already been through a gauntlet and decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. He peeled off his clubbing clothes and took a long, hot shower during which he tried hard to remember how Merlin had reacted to the kiss attempt. The things that he could remember in between large gaps of missing time were so foggy that didn’t dare trust them, so he tried to put them out of his mind. When he emerged from the shower, he put on fresh pyjamas, made himself some toast and tea. After breakfast he wandered back to his room and took his phone off its charger — no messages. He had wondered in the shower whether Merlin would do a follow up call the way he had after the other saves, but his phone remained stubbornly silent.
Arthur returned to the sitting room and laid on his sofa under a soft blanket. He had the niggling feeling that he’d feel better if he talked to someone about what had happened, so he called Morgana and related the night’s events — leaving out the part where he’d tried to kiss Merlin on the sofa. This turned out to be a mistake, and in the end barely stopped her from calling the police on the spot. As it was she threatened to “look into it” in a way that made him very glad he wasn’t Cenred King.
“Are you okay though?” Morgana asked after Arthur had given her a thorough description of Cenred’s appearance. “It’s a scary thing to have happened, really.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Arthur assured her. “To be honest, I feel more like an idiot for calling up Merlin.”
“If you’ve spent time with him before, I’m sure he’s used to you being an idiot by now.”
“Hey!” Arthur protested.
Morgana just laughed. “Well, what did he say this morning?”
“Uhh,” Arthur winced to himself. “I kind of — snuck out in the morning before he was up.”
There was a long pause, then Morgana replied in a falsely bright tone.
“I’m sorry. I must have misunderstood, because surely I didn’t just hear you say that this man you barely know came out to rescue your idiotic self from a predator and then you spilled tea on him and snuck out of his flat without even a thank you.”
Arthur was silent for a long moment.
“I should text him,” he said at last.
“You should call him,” Morgana corrected. “Immediately. Jesus, Arthur, come on.”
“Alright, I know,” Arthur grumbled. “But — I don’t know, it was embarrassing!”
“What’s embarrassing are your manners,” Morgana snapped, but then her voice grew softer. “You really like him, huh?”
“Shut up,” Arthur said miserably. “As if he’d have me after all that anyway.”
“Call him,” Morgana said again, then rang off.
Arthur scrolled through his call log, took a moment to actually add Merlin to his contacts, then pulled up a blank text and stared at it pensively.
Hey Merlin, it’s Arthur. I just wanted to apologize for last night and thank you for your help. I appreciate it.
He started to set his phone aside, but a message popped up right away.
Hey!
It’s not problem, I was happy to help — did you make it home okay?
Arthur tapped out a response.
Yes, I did, thanks. Hopefully I didn’t wake you.
Merlin replied quickly again.
No, not at all. I didn’t even hear you leave.
Arthur stared at the screen, trying to read Merlin's tone through the words displayed on the screen. He wondered if Merlin would say anything else, or whether he should say something else. He typed out and deleted at least four different messages, but in the end shoved the phone under the throw cushion he was lying on and took a long nap. There were still no new messages when he checked later, so he ordered takeaway for dinner and watched an entire season of some terrible American reality show on Netflix. He tried not to think about Merlin’s voice.
When Arthur crawled into bed that night, he looked at his phone one last time before plugging it into the charger. It had occurred to him that he could try giving Merlin a call, as Morgana had suggested, but he still couldn’t remember enough about their exchange from the night before to be certain it would be welcome. And Merlin certainly wasn’t giving him any clues. Instead he rolled over and tried to focus his thoughts on the work week ahead.
*
As the week wore on, Arthur was better able to put the whole incident behind him. He tried not to think about Merlin, and even said yes when Gwen offered to set him up with her hair stylist. Gwaine was sharp and hilarious and did have amazing hair, but when he asked Arthur back to his place at the end of the date, Arthur declined. He couldn’t stop thinking about Merlin’s scent and the way he’d taken care of Arthur.
On Thursday evening, Arthur had just gotten home from the office when his phone started to buzz. He had a brief flash of hope, but when he glanced at the screen he frowned a bit.
“Elena?” he answered.
“Now, you don’t need to sound so disappointed, Arthur, really.”
He laughed.
“I’m sorry, you’re right,” he changed to a bubbly, over-enthusiastic voice. “Elena! Darling! So good to hear from you! How are the horses? How’s your father?”
“Stop, stop,” Elena laughed. “That’s just fucking creepy.”
Arthur smiled to himself and plopped onto a loveseat in the sitting room. “What can I do for you then?”
“Oh you know, I’m just calling to be nosy mostly. I called your friend Merlin earlier about the three of us getting together again since we had such a cracking time last month, but he was acting squirrely. Seemed to think you wouldn’t want to hear from him. Did something happen?”
“Ah,” Arthur cleared his throat. “Well.”
“Oh Arthur,” Elena chided. “I assumed you’d done something stupid, but I was hoping I’d be wrong. Well — nothing for it then, but to call him up and sort it out.”
If only it were that easy, Arthur thought. “Elena, I don’t know if —”
“Oh come off it, Arthur. Consider it a personal favor to me for bailing on our date.”
“Couldn’t you just hang out with Merlin by yourself?”
“Of course I could, but I can tell you two are being idiots about something. I just can’t tell what.”
Arthur was silent. After a moment Elena sighed.
“Whatever happened — just call him, okay? He didn’t sound angry and he said he missed you.”
“He said — what?” A tiny glimmer of hope flickered in Arthur’s chest.
“You heard me,” Elena sounded amused now. “Just call him, okay? Promise me?”
“Okay,” Arthur said uncertainly.
After he’d said goodbye to Elena and rang off, he checked his watch. Still enough time if he left right now. Before he could talk himself out of it, he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door again, this time flagging down a cab and giving the driver the cross street near Merlin’s flat.
*
After Arthur had paid the cabbie, he paced nervously on the pavement. He was getting odd looks from passers-by but barely noticed — was he making a big mistake? What if Merlin told him off for leaving that morning? But he had already come this far, and the worst Merlin could say was no.
At least, he hoped that was the worst he could do.
Having made up his mind, Arthur pulled out his phone and tapped Merlin’s number, holding the phone to his ear as he squinted up at the building.
“Hello?” Came Merlin’s lilting voice. Arthur swallowed.
“Merlin? Hey, it’s Arthur.”
“Arthur?” Merlin said, sounding uncertain. “Is everything alright?”
“Well actually, I was calling because I was wondering if you could help me with a date.”
There was a long pause.
“Now?” Merlin asked finally.
“Preferably, if you’re available?”
“I don’t know if this is —”
“Just trust me? Please?” Arthur asked. He knew that Merlin had no reason at all to trust him and was aware that he was taking advantage of his good nature, but he hoped that it would be worth it in the end. Merlin sighed.
“Yeah, okay,” he mumbled. “Where are you?”
Arthur felt a swell of relief that Merlin was agreeing to see him.
“I’m just around the corner at Sweet Rose café.”
“Alright,” Merlin said. “I’ll stop by in a minute.”
Arthur pocketed his phone and checked his hair in the reflection of the café anxiously before heading toward Merlin’s flat. He was about halfway up the block when he saw Merlin emerge, looking gorgeous as ever in skinny jeans, a tight shirt v-neck shirt and a grey beanie.
Arthur stopped walking and let himself just watch as Merlin approached. He had shoved his hands into his pockets and was staring glumly at his feet as he made his way down the block. He hadn’t seen Arthur yet and clearly wasn’t paying much attention, so Arthur positioned himself in his path.
When Merlin got close enough, Arthur stepped in front of him.
“Hey.”
Merlin jumped, pulling his hands out of his pockets and holding them up as if he were about to get mugged.
“Oh! Hey,” Merlin said when he recognized Arthur. Then he looked around questioningly — they were alone on the pavement. “Where’s your … ?”
“Right — about that,” Arthur said, shifting his feet on the pavement, lining them up with Merlin’s then glancing at him. “Well, I asked you if you could help me with a date … I haven’t got one at the moment, so I was hoping you’d join me?”
Merlin just stared at him for a long moment.
“Is that your way of asking me out?” he asked at last, sounding incredulous. Arthur smiled his most charming smile.
“Only if you say yes?”
Merlin let out a bark of laughter and shook his head, his face splitting in a grin. “No wonder you needed so much rescuing on your dates; you’re rubbish at this.”
“But is that a yes?” Arthur prompted, stepping closer and slipping his hand into Merlin’s.
“Yes, you berk,” Merlin said, squeezing back when Arthur squeezed his hand. “But I warn, you, you won’t be able to use the Date Saver app if you have a rubbish time — I know all their tricks.”
“Don’t worry,” Arthur replied. “I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore anyway.”
Merlin smiled softly at him.
“But before we go in,” Arthur forced himself to continue. “I want to apologize. Again. For running out of your flat that morning. I couldn’t remember what had happened — only that I’d made an idiot of myself — but I shouldn’t have left.”
“You shouldn’t have,” Merlin agreed. “I was going to make you breakfast and everything.”
Arthur made a pained face, but shuffled closer to Merlin.
“I’m sorry. To be honest, I’m hoping that I get a chance to re-do several things that happened that night,” he said in a low voice, leaning into Merlin’s space.
“Oh really,” Merlin said with another smile. Arthur was close enough now to smell that same warm scent of Merlin’s skin, one of the few things he remembered clearly from that night
“Really,” Arthur breathed, then brought his lips to Merlin’s. The kiss was slow and warm. Arthur was aware that they were still standing in the middle of the pavement, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about anything other than the way Merlin’s mouth was moving against his and the soft noises he was making.
After a long moment Merlin broke off and laughed breathlessly, keeping his face pressed close to Arthur’s. “That was a little forward, considering we haven’t even had our first date yet,” he teased.
“We’d better get inside then, before I decided to skip the date all together,” Arthur suggested, unable to resist leaning in to capture Merlin’s lips in another kiss.
Merlin smiled when Arthur held open the door for him and for the first time in many dates, Arthur felt like this one would have a happy ending.