A Night To Remember

Title: A Night To Remember.

Pairing: Arthur/Merlin and a little Gwen/Lance.

Rating: NC-17

Word count: 3015

Spoilers: None.

Warnings: Very tiny hint of dub-con.

Feedback: Yes please.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to BBC Merlin.

Beta:

tli went above and beyond, listening to me whine over this and offering repeated betaing as I kept changing stuff. YOU ARE AWESOME!Notes: Modern AU, established relationship.

Summary: Gwen accidentally witnesses something she really rather wouldn't have.

Link to this fic on LJ and on DW.

Link to this fic on AO3.

The night air was chilly as Gwen slipped out of the back door of the pub and lit a cigarette. She only smoked when she was drunk, and it always made her feel guilty. But that didn't stop her from bumming fag after fag from Morgana after a few tequilas when they were out on the town, like tonight with Merlin, Arthur, Will and Lance. Will spent all his time these days trying to convince Morgana that he was some sort of sex god, and Lance had been strange and withdrawn lately. So when Arthur had wobbled off to the loos, Merlin following, claiming that Arthur would probably drown himself or something without help, Gwen had been relieved that they had all seemed to decide that it was officially time for a break.

Lance had gone somewhere without loud music to make a phone call, and Gwen had parked Morgana at the bar before heading for the back door, leaving Will at their table to watch over their jackets and things. He was probably snooping through Morgana's purse already, but Gwen couldn't bring herself to care.

She drew a long breath from Morgana's slim, girly fag, thoroughly enjoying her rare vice, when she heard a noise coming from the shadows by the huge bins behind the pub. She froze. Curious, she put out the cigarette and crept closer. When a car passed by on the street nearby, the headlights illuminated the scene just long enough for Gwen to recognise the source of the noise.

Arthur was pressed up against the brick wall of the building, bracing himself with his hands, his head bowed and his stance seemingly defeated. Merlin was standing behind him, keeping him in place with a firm grip on his shoulder with one hand, while the other was doing something below the waistband of Arthur's jeans.

The noise she'd heard before sounded again, and this time it was clear that it was coming from Arthur. A pitiful, whining noise, as if he was in pain. Gwen ducked down and felt her heart gallop in her chest. Had she been sober she would probably have thought of something smarter to do, but as it was, she simply crouched down among the cardboard boxes and plastic wrappers, and watched through a gap between the bins. By the limited illumination from the one working street light a few buildings along and the occasional passing car, she could just make out the pair, half invisible in the shadows.

Arthur whined again, and Merlin answered in a voice harsher, yet steadier than usual, “That's it, my pet. Make some more noise. Make sure everybody hears you begging for this.”

Merlin sounded like a completely different person. A confident and stern presence, rather than the insecure but adorable young man he normally was, who made random old ladies pinch his cheek and offer him sweets.

As if following orders, Arthur whined a little louder before hiding hiding his face in the crook of his elbow, and leaning closer to the wall.

Roughly, Merlin slung his arm around Arthur's neck and pulled him away from the wall, back against his chest. “Oh no, pretty boy. That won't do. I want to hear those noises.”

Arthur made a half choked sound but didn't make any move to free himself. His arms hung loosely by his sides, and he let his head fall back onto Merlin's shoulder. There was still something going on below waist level that Gwen couldn't make out, but whatever it was, it made Arthur let out even more noises, and she honestly couldn't tell if it was from pain or pleasure.

Gwen swallowed hard. Clearly, she shouldn't be there. But the back door of the pub suddenly seemed miles away on her tipsy legs, and she shuddered to think what would happen if she slipped or tripped in the half-dark. No doubt Arthur would be mortified and Merlin embarrassed if they realised she was there. So she sat quietly, biting her thumbnail, and cast nervous glances at the pair, as if her eyes were unsure just what to do with themselves in such a tense situation.

It was now becoming clear that there was some definite action going on in Arthur's trousers. He thrashed around, seemingly trying for a second to get out of Merlin's grasp, but he was unsuccessful as Merlin squeezed his arm tighter around Arthur's neck.

“Naughty... pet,“ Merlin grunted. He looked like he was struggling to keep Arthur pinned, but then Arthur stopped fighting back, and fell lax against Merlin. “Good boy,” Merlin panted and Gwen squeezed her eyes tightly shut when she heard the sound of zippers and clothes being pulled roughly out of the way. She cursed her drunken brain or whatever stupid thing that made her stay there, but it was as if she was frozen in place, and the only way she felt she could really make up for it was to avoid watching.

Sadly for her, Merlin chose that moment to become a lot more informative about his actions. “Going to fuck you now, sweetheart. Right here. Where anyone could find us.”

Arthur's only response was a pitiful moan, and there was a crunching sound from Merlin apparently pushing Arthur against the wall again. “Better brace yourself, pet. Knowing you, you'll want to fuck back against me. We wouldn't want to miss that, now would we?”

Arthur groaned something that sounded vaguely like “fuck you” and Merlin chuckled. Gwen's treacherous eyes chose this moment to slip open, only to have the entire scene illuminated obscenely by a truck passing by with enormous headlights, making sure every detail was seared into her brain.

Merlin had Arthur pressed against the wall, hands on his hips pulling them tightly together at groin level. Arthur was scrabbling for purchase on the porous bricks of the wall in front of him, and true to the previous words, he was undulating furiously against Merlin, not letting them separate at all.

Somewhere in a detached part of her mind, Gwen was surprised to note that they were both almost fully dressed. Merlin certainly didn't look undressed at all, and Arthur's trousers only sagged a little at the back. His untucked shirt fell down past hip level and obscured any bare skin that might otherwise have been revealed.

However, anyone with even the slightest understanding of the mechanics of sex would easily be able to understand what was going on. Merlin threw his head back and made a very un-Merlin sort of grunt as he thrust vigorously against Arthur, who was undeniably very into it, pushing back with matching enthusiasm.

Quickly shutting her eyes and putting her hand tightly over them to make sure there were no further slips, Gwen gritted her teeth, wishing she had extra hands to plug her ears as well as cover her disobedient eyes. As it was, she had no choice but to listen.

“Go on, sweetheart. You know what I want to hear,” Merlin grated, his voice almost meanly demanding. Arthur keened and made a sort of “mh-m-” noise of denial.

“Oh, so you want me to stop?” Merlin asked, suddenly sounding cold.

Arthur responded immediately. “No! No please don't stop!” he whined, sounding awfully close to either climaxing or a having a sobbing breakdown.

There was a chilling note of satisfaction in Merlin's voice as he continued in a sing-song tone: “Then out with it. What do we say?”

“I...I... my name...” Arthur was panting and gasping, clearly struggling with the words.

“Ye-es?” Even Merlin was sounding a little frayed by now, and as much as Gwen tried not to hear it, there was now also the clear sound of flesh slapping together rhythmically.

“My name...” Arthur grated out, “is Arthur Pendragon.”

“And?” Merlin's commanding voice was slipping away from him, the single word sounding more like a plea.

“And... I'm a whore.”

Merlin grunted again, and there was the brief sound of gravel crunching under boots before the rhythmic slapping doubled in tempo, and Gwen could no longer tell who was making what noise.

Her face burned as the couple finished with very audible noises of appreciation, and she briefly worried that someone else might discover them, and maybe even find her crouching behind the bins, listening in. Mortified at the thought, she was suddenly spurred into action. She started to slowly back away towards the street, which was mercifully empty of cars to accidentally spotlight her, though it also meant she had to concentrate to avoid tripping in the dark alley.

She just managed to hear Merlin say in a surprisingly soothing voice: “That's it. Good pet. My good little whore.” And then she rounded the corner, and ran as quietly as possible towards the front of the building.

At the next corner, she literally ran into Lance, who only just managed not to drop the phone he was clutching, while still catching her in the circle of his arms.

“Oof! Hey, Gwen! I just texted you!” And true enough, just as he said it, her pocket bleeped loudly, and she thanked some higher power that it hadn't happened a minute before. “Are you all right? You look a little... I dunno...”

Frantically searching for a plausible explanation that didn't include her spying on her friends having filthy, public sex, she stuck her hands into her pockets, and found she still had half a cigarette crumbling away next to her phone and purse.

“Smoking!” she squeaked. “I.. you... bugger, you caught me. I was out back smoking again and you know, I didn't want anyone to know and I was embarrassed and -”

She was babbling and she was sure that Lance would be able to see right through it, but he only looked at her with a curiously warm expression and said quietly, “Gwen, we all know you smoke when you drink. It's not like it's a secret and I - that is to say we - don't mind.”

At any other time she might have paused at his tone of voice, but as it was she was just immensely relieved that he seemed to buy her story, and she gladly headed back inside with Lance at his suggestion.

Things quickly turned pear shaped inside, however. Morgana knew Gwen better than anyone and it took one look at her flushed face and guilty eyes for Morgana to proclaim: “We need to powder noses!” and pull her off to the ladies'. Lance was left at their table looking a little lost, while Will was unashamedly putting Morgana's stuff back in her purse and jacket pockets.

Once inside the garishly lit toilets, Morgana pushed Gwen into one of the tiny, but thankfully completely closed off stalls and simply said: “Spill!”

And so Gwen did. She never was very good at standing up to interrogation, especially not when it was Morgana doing the interrogating. “- and then I was running away and I'm so embarrassed I feel like I'm going to vomit!”

Smirking, Morgana simply pointed behind Gwen. “Toilet's right there. Go right ahead.”

“Morgana!” Gwen sputtered. “How can you be so calm about this?!”

Clearly, Morgana had been going at the tequila shots while the rest of them were having a break and she was giggling rather uncharacteristically at Gwen's outrage.

“Oh, come on, Gwen! You can't be that innocent! It's just a game!”

“I know that,” Gwen grumbled. “But how can we be sure that there's not something... I dunno... unhealthy going on with Arthur and Merlin?”

At this, Morgana had to sit down on the closed lid of the toilet to catch her breath, because she was laughing so hard. “I'm serious!” Gwen blustered.

“Well, obviously!” Morgana guffawed before finally wiping her eyes, careful of her mascara. “Look, Gwen, try not to be such a frump about this. It's just role-playing. And didn't you say that they both seemed to be enjoying it?”

Gwen chewed her lip. “Well, yeah, but how do we know that Merlin isn't somehow taking advantage of Arthur?”

This caused Morgana to break down into giggles again, and Gwen scowled until it died down. “Honestly, Gwen... how drunk are you? If Arthur really wasn't into it, he would have snapped Merlin in half! It would be the epic, yet brief battle of the rugby player against the toothpick!”

“You know it's not as simple as that. Merlin could have some sort of hold over him, for all we know!”

Morgana smirked wickedly. “But we do know, sweetie. It's called hot sex. Everybody does it.”

“But how-”

“Stop it!” Morgana interrupted. “Even if there's something sinister going on here - which I thoroughly doubt - then Arthur clearly didn't mean for you to find out. Can't you just trust that he'll come to us if he needs help? And honestly, have you even met Merlin? He couldn't harm a fly, much less take advantage of Arthur, whom he is clearly in love with. Good lord, Gwen.”

Gwen crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the floor. “You make it sound so silly.”

“That's because it is, dearie. Don't worry about it. You just need a good shag.” Morgana clapped Gwen's cheek gently, and swooped out of the bathroom.

“I do not - Morga - that's not the point!” Gwen gibbered as she followed Morgana back to their table where the rest of the group had reappeared. Lance appeared to be engrossed in his phone again, Will made a show of adjusting himself quite visibly the moment he spotted Morgana, and at the end of the table Arthur and Merlin sat talking quietly, looking perfectly normal.

Morgana smirked at Will's behaviour, sat down on the chair opposite him and started making lewd faces at him. Gwen decided then that Morgana was not to be allowed any more tequila tonight. She sat down on the one seat that was left on the wall-bench next to Lance. Merlin was on her other side, and she sat stiffly for a while before deciding that she was being silly, and found what was left of her drink. The music was loud, but not deafening, and she could hear a word here or there of Arthur and Merlin's conversation. As far as she could tell it was perfectly friendly, and she was just about to put the matter out of her mind when Morgana loudly asked Will if he'd ever tried role-playing during sex.

Gwen felt her face light up like a stop-light, and took a large gulp of her drink to hide her face. Sadly, Will chose that moment to fall to his knees and lick a long, wet stripe up the calf of Morgana's boot, and declared to the bar in general that he was her humble servant to do with as she wished. While Gwen choked on her drink, Morgana waggled her eyebrows, proceeded to use Will as a footstool, and told him to call her 'milady'. Then started talking about dog collars.

Gwen was coughing and sputtering when she felt a warm hand on her back, gently patting her breathing back into rhythm. She was a little disturbed when she discovered it was Merlin, but he was his normal, kind self ,and she would probably had been able to push back the images of him and Arthur playing on the back of her eyelids if he hadn't suddenly leaned in and mumbled: “I saw you watching us. Outside.”

Stunned, Gwen simply stared at him, Hoping against hope that she'd heard wrong.

She hadn't.

“It's all right, Gwen,” Merlin continued. “It wasn't exactly the first time. Arthur will probably kill me for telling you, but he was the one who wanted to try being... manhandled. I didn't like the idea at first, but he threatened me with bodily harm if we couldn't try it at least once - the pushy bastard - and I would be lying if I said I don't like it now.”

Looking at Merlin's face, Gwen could see that he was blushing even more than she was, and suddenly she felt a little sick with herself for not trusting her friend not to have been hurting or coercing Arthur. She'd known Merlin for years, and had always trusted him completely. Upon reflection, she thought it must have been part shock and part alcohol, but she decided then and there to never mistrust her friends like that ever again.

On impulse she leaned in and gave Merlin a hug. “I'm sorry. I just... it was a bit...”

“Yeah,” Merlin agreed.

When they parted, Merlin noticed Morgana staring at them and snapped, “What?!” making her wink at him and smack Will on the buttock closest to her. Merlin rolled his eyes at her, and turned back to Arthur who was complaining that he was running out of beer. The music was still going strong, and according to Arthur the night was still young. So more drinks were ordered, and Morgana somehow managed to convince Gwen that she could 'hold her liquor very well, thank you very much', and had some more tequila.

Arthur and Merlin started a thumb-wrestling game that apparently included a lot of groping each other in their attempts to get ahead. Morgana was doing something decidedly filthy to Will with her boots, and Gwen relaxed finally and smiled as Lance put his phone in his pocket for the first time the entire evening.

She eyed his empty hands and asked: “Anything important?”

Lance hesitated before he replied, his voice so low that she only caught every other word. “Talking...Leon... thinks...coward...”

She leaned in closer and asked, “What?” right next to his ear.

He rolled his eyes and mumbled something that sounded like, “Oh, sod it,” before suddenly hugging her tightly to him and kissing her with everything he had.

Feeling like the evening was finally going her way, she tossed her drink over her shoulder, ignored a yelp from Merlin, and kissed Lance right back. This would clearly be a night to remember.

End.