Title: Anything you can do
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: NC17/Adult
Word Count: 6,600
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Barebacking, threesome, eavesdropping
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavour.
Author's notes: Written for a kinkme_merlin prompt.
Summary: Merlin gets fed up of hearing his dorm neighbour Arthur's rather loud amorous activities, so he decides to give him a run for his money.

Merlin had thought he was so lucky when he actually managed to bag a room in Camelot; no sharing with a roommate, private bathroom, own kitchenette – it was university heaven, and totally worth the extra few quid a month in rent just for the reasons listed above; the less he had to interact with others the better. He was here to study, not make friends. Making too many 'friends' in his first year was the reason Merlin had transferred universities for his second.

Of course, that wasn't to say Merlin didn't havefriends here, he had some, it just meant he didn't want to have to make small talk over a saucepan of spaghetti hoops, or idle chit chat in when he was trying to clean his teeth. His old school friend Lance went here, and through him Merlin had made a few friendships, no one as close as Will, but one Will in his life was more than enough.

Lance and Gwen thought he was crazy to move back into the dorms for his third year, but Merlin needed to be near the library, and the rented house he'd shared with them last year had been a bus ride and a thirty minute walk away from the uni – what he'd saved in rent he'd had to spend on transport.

So yes, Merlin had scored a room in the coveted Camelot building which tended to be mainly third year students anyway, based on the theory that third years were 'more mature'. Whoever made up that rule had obviously not met Merlin's neighbour Arthur fucking Pendragon.

Merlin wasn't even being mean when he added 'fucking' in as Arthur's impromptu middle name, because it might as well be, because as far as Merlin could tell, that was all the prat did – fuck people, a lot. His reputation was legendary. Merlin understood that; but he'd moved a couple of hundred miles to escape himself, and he'd managed to refrain from picking up old habits.

Merlin knew Arthur, but he didn't think Arthur knew him. That was, Arthur was in a couple of his English Lit classes, and he was one of those guys that everyone just knew who they were. His Dad was some city big shot, Arthur did modelling in his spare time and was a something half in the rugby team – all of which added up to people just knowing who he was, and Merlin couldn't escape that, not when he was friends with Gwen, who kept him abreast of all the gossip whether he wanted to hear it or not, and Gwen was good friends with Morgana who was Arthur's half sister or something.

Anyway – all of this added up to Merlin knowing a fair bit of stuff about Arthur Pendragon, and Arthur Pendragon thinking his name was Eamon, but because Merlin hadn't really had to give the prat any more thought than the occasional 'God he's good looking' as he was wont to do on occasion, he'd shoved the attract-irritationto one side and got on with his life, which mainly consisted of studying and working, and every now and then getting dragged out for a drink with is friends; and if he was lucky, he might hook up with Leon.

Boring? Maybe – but if he wanted to be a literary editor, then he had to put in the work. Plenty of time for socialising when he had his degree under his belt.

-0-

The first time Arthur had brought someone back with him- the second night of term – Merlin had cranked up the volume on his stereo, wishing to hell he hadn't trodden on his iPod that morning. His stereo was old, cheap and on its last legs, and even Merlin's thrashiest rock metal couldn't block out the sex noises coming through the wall, and some girl saying, "Faster Arthur!" and making noises to rival a bloody porn star as she came, as well as Arthur's vocals joining the party, and the sounds hemade when he climaxed, well, Merlin was never going to get any work done if this carried on. When they went in for round two he banged on the wall with the sole of his boot; he could have sworn Arthur's moans got louder after that.

It wasn't every night, but it was at least every other night, and Merlin was getting more than a little annoyed, not least because he couldn't get any work done, and he couldn't exactly go to the library at that time of night, and if he gave up and tried to go to sleep Arthur seemed to respond to Merlin's stereo getting turned off and would go again, and without the music acting as a buffer, Merlin could hear everything. It was as though Arthur was deliberately trying to wind him up; yet Merlin never managed to catch him in the hallway, and if he had, he might have said something. Mighthave.

He could tell when Arthur was on the receiving end of a blow job, the little whimpers he made than quickly became groans, with commands of 'yeah, like that' or on occasion 'God that's it, take it,' and Merlin could picture Arthur fucking some girls mouth, his hands in her hair as he pumped into her, and God if that image didn't turn him on.

Merlin kept catching Arthur watching him across the lecture hall; and when their eyes met he would smirk. Merlin practiced his poker face in the mirror.

Merlin was also getting good at working out (at least he thought he was), what position, because well, maybe he was giving it a little too much thought, but what else could he do, the music andthe sex noises were more distracting than the sex noises alone and the stereo was off more than it was on.

It went like this – if Arthur was on top, then the headboard rattled against the wall, making Merlin's own bed shake with the reverberations, and Arthur's groaning was deeper, more laboured with the strain of doing all the work with his arms. Merlin imagined the girl's legs wound around Arthur's back as he fucked her, and Arthur liked to chant 'yes, yes, yes – fuck yes!' when he came; and Merlin noted that he nevercame before his partner.

It was never the same girl; sometimes she would be a quiet breathless type who probably bit her lip when Arthur fucked her, other times it would be a verbose demanding type who wanted to instruct Arthur, who moaned and sighed at maximum volume, who wanted the world to know she'd just had an orgasm.

If the girl was on top, then Arthur became more vocal, and the bed would creak but the headboard was spared, and Arthur would say something like 'yes that's it ride me, oh fuckyes' and the sex always lasted longer, because the girl was more in charge and Arthur wasn't wearing himself out so much.

Alright, maybe Merlin had started to enjoy trying to work out what was going on behind their party wall, and maybe he was getting a little more turned on by it that was healthy; but Leon had had to drop out for the rest of the semester as his father was sick, and Merlin's outlet had gone with him – and the object of his teeny tiny crush lived next door and made such delicious noises...

Merlin saw Cedric in the hallway one morning about five weeks into term, coming out of Arthur's room, and raised a questioning eyebrow at him – Arthur had had a girl in there last night, Merlin had heard her leave shortly after her third 'Arthur Arthur Arthur you're the King' orgasm, and he didn't suppose that if Arthur ever diddo a bloke that it would be Cedric. Cedric was kind of a weasel.

"I've just had a word with Pendragon," said Cedric, almost conspiratorially in a stage whisper, pointing at Arthur's closed door. "Asked him to keep his shagging noises down; everyone's getting pretty sick of it now." Merlin realised then that Cedric's room was the other side of the hallway. The walls in this place must be thinner than he'd thought if the whole building was in on the party.

"Oh. What did he say?" replied Merlin, glancing nervously at the door as his sixth sense kicked in, and rightly so because the door flew open, and there was Arthur, all dishevelled blond bed head with flushed just shagged cheeks and sleepy blue eyes. Merlin's tummy did a gambol.

"I told him, he's just fucking jealous because he couldn't pull a cracker," Arthur snarled, looking Merlin up and down as though he were the first in the queue for Arthur's next shag; and didn't Merlin almost wish he was? "How about you Eamon, are you jealous too? That why you're giving this dweeb the time of day?" He nodded in the direction of a fuming Cedric.

"It's Merlin. Not jealous no, just sleep deprived," grumbled Merlin, turning to go as his lecture started in five minutes and he didn't want to be late; being late for Prof Gaius was just asking for it. Yeah, sleep deprived and yes, ever so slightly jealous, but there was no way he was admitting that.

"Hmm, well you sound jealous to me," Arthur retorted to Merlin's retreating back, and Merlin just rolled his eyes and carried on walking. Merlin's competitive spirit kicked in; Arthur had just thrown down the gauntlet. He'd show the prat that he wasn't the only one who could bang headboards.

-0-

Merlin knew Arthur liked fucking girls over his desk chair, because when he did that the predominant sound Merlin could hear was the slapping sound of Arthur's thighs against the back of the girl's legs, and the scraping of the chair on the wooden floor, and on these occasions Merlin could picture Arthur's fingers and they moved around and found the girl's clit, pressing hard, teasing her, making her come with his digits as he fucked her. Sometimes he imagined Arthur doing that to him, Merlin bending over the chair, Arthur pumping his cock in time with his thrusts...

Merlin listened to Arthur with his latest chair conquest and the following night headed out to the uni bar. He downed a coupled of pints of Dutch courage and brought home a tall auburn haired man called Edwin, and asked him to fuck him from behind. Arthur was home and sans any company that evening, and if Merlin was more vocal as his knuckles turned white from clutching the back of the chair as Edwin pounded into him than he normally would be well, he wanted Arthur to hear him, and when Edwin closed his palm around Merlin's straining cock, and Merlin turned up the volume and said words he would normally have kept in his head, 'fuck me, harder, yes, oh fuck yes, guh guh, yes' he couldn't honestly say that the intensity of his orgasm wasn't more to do with the fact that Arthur was on the other side of that thin wall than it was to do with Edwin.

Edwin was notinvited to stay the night.

The next night, Merlin was trying to complete his Shakespeare essay, which was difficult and boring even without the noises from Arthur's room, and Merlin knew Arthur was trying to get his own back somehow, because the fucking wall was shaking, and Merlin could almost seeArthur's palm as it pushed against the wall, his other hand probably holding his partner up as he fucked her into the wall, and Arthur's voice felt as though it was in the room, 'I'm gonna fuck you so hard,' and the banging, and the grunts, and the soft moans from the lucky recipient as she came undone with Arthur inside of her...

Merlin gave up on the essay, threw something half presentable and went out, returning just under an hour later with a pretty dark haired girl called Freya, and seeing her glance at Arthur's door in recognition Merlin felt his interest in her burgeon – if Arthur had had her already, then Merlinwas going to make her come so hard she'd forget the name Arthur Pendragon.

Merlin went down on her first, telling her it really turned him on when girls were vocal, and she'd smiled and said she wouldn't hold back, and she hadn't been lying because when she came, his tongue pressed against her clit, his fingers inside her, even the fact that her cries were muffled by her thighs against Merlin's ears couldn't stop Merlin's grin and his immediate thought of 'take that Pendragon' – and when he'd then fucked her into the mattress, and his bed squeaked and groaned beneath them, almost like someone had loosened the screws – as if Merlin would ever do thatto get one over on Arthur Pendragon – and she screamed so loudly when she came that Merlin thought the whole dorm would have heard, but strangely he didn't care, because as long as his neighbour heard, that was all that mattered – it was that thought that sent him over the edge, drawing out his climax for as long as he could, his instinctive moans cranked up just to be certain.

When he and Freya were coming down from their orgasmic high, Arthur started again, and Merlin knew this was for him, that Arthur was being ridden by whomever his latest conquest was, his back to their shared wall, like he couldn't stay away from it today, the springs in his bed protesting as the girl vigorously impaled herself on him – and Merlin looked at Freya then, wondering briefly how she felt hearing that, because shehad slept with Arthur, and Merlin could tell she was straining to hear too.

"What did youdo with him?" he found himself asking quietly, closing his eyes in a self-induced cringe as the words spilled from his lips, opening them again when he heard her surprisingly nonchalant reply.

"On the desk," she said, and Merlin suppressed a smile. For some reason he hadn't figured that one in. His hand slid between her thighs, rubbing her gently in the hope she was up for more.

"Show me," he whispered; and that was how he ended up with her legs over his shoulders, all of his books and pens clattering off the desk onto the floor, her begging him to fuck her harder, him letting her know how fucking hot she was – Freya, not Arthur – and as he came with his eyes closed, head thrown back, it wasn't Arthur's face he saw, it was Freya's, honestly it was.

-0-

The old fire was back, the one Merlin had run from, and he laid the blame for that at Arthur Pendragon's door. The needfor this, the conquered addiction was crawling its way back into his bloodstream and Merlin didn't know if he had the strength to stop it. He wasn't sure he wanted to. He'd thrown his reformed morals out of the window, his need for a shag exacerbated by his need to get one over on Arthur, be louder than him, make his partner come harder.

Merlin considered himself to be a bisexual in that he liked women, he was happy to have his dick buried inside a girl, of course he was, but it was guys that really did it for him; Merlin liked getting fucked. Strike that, Merlin lovedit. And now, thanks to Arthur, he was getting more sex than he ever had before, with both men and women. Admittedly, girls were easier to pick up; it was less complicated than trying to pick up a guy, less margin for error.

Arthur had picked up his game, and now it was almost every night he had someone back in his room. Merlin had a new routine, he had to make allowances for his new sex life and not lose time studying – he would stay at the library until it closed, then he would go to the uni bar or if it was a weekend, a club, pick someone up, take them home and have noisy sex. If they wanted to go to their place, Merlin's ardour would fade; it was his place or nowhere. He hadn't quite got into the habit of doing this every night, Arthur was winning on that score, but he was up to every other night, almost content in just listening to Arthur fuck whoever he'd pulled on the nights when he didn't have anyone for himself, languorously – sometimes furiously – tossing himself off to the sounds of Arthur being sucked, fucking someone, coming.

Their staring competitions became more frequent; Arthur would be in the refectory, or in the library, sometimes just in the hallway, staring at Merlin, and Merlin would stare right back, unblinking, face impassive, until Arthur broke their gaze.

Merlin knew it was unhealthy and didn't care.

Friday night Arthur had a girl in his room, and Merlin could tell he was going down on her from – for fucks sake he could hear the sounds of Arthur's tongue sweeping over her clit – he had to have her pinned to the wall, as close as he could possibly get to Merlin's room; Merlin could even pinpoint the moment that he pulled back and replaced his tongue with his cock, and then they were on the bed, her probably on top, Arthur giving her dirty talk, how he was going to fuck her, how much he wanted to make her scream, that she would come so hardand Merlin's wall began to thump with what could only be feet, and Merlin's hand pumped his own cock to a quick completion, coming when Arthur did with a barely controlled groan; Merlin silent this time, not wanting Arthur to hear him flying solo.

Merlin was determined to top that, not to forget that he was permanently horny these days, to the extent that Gwen had started to fuss over him, all motherly and concerned, and he couldn't exactly tellher could he; frankly he was surprised she hadn't heard for herself, going on the glares he was getting from other Camelot residents he knew he had joined Arthur in the hate stakes.

The next night, Merlin went to the uni bar, intent on taking home a guy if he could find someone, needing to get fucked – it made it easier to pretend like Arthur was the one inside him when that happened. He didn't know how he did it, but this was totally going to score him extra points – he found himself back in his room with not one, but twowilling participants, one guy named Mordred and a girl named Morgause; they were a couple of sorts, and Merlin had been chatting to Morgause, on the verge of inviting her back to his as he'd not been having much luck with available blokes, when Mordred had appeared at her side, and instead of being peed off that his girlfriend was being hit on, had curved his hand around Merlin's arse and now here they were.

Merlin had never had a threesome, heck, in the last year or so, before the Arthur thing, his sex life had been kind of tame. Pre Arthur Merlin would probably never have accepted their invite; and this version of Merlin, the newly revised sex crazed decadent one, almost found this a bit too much because Morgause was a woman who knew 100% what she wanted. Mostly she liked to watch.

She watched from the desk chair, still fully clothed whilst Merlin fucked Mordred, barking instructions to him on how he should do it, and Merlin wasn't sure he wanted Arthur to be hearing this, but as her demands became more vocal, breathy and wanton, Merlin found that he didn't care, doing as she instructed, not letting Mordred touch himself as he fucked him face down into the mattress, slowing down and picking up speed on her say so, holding off coming to her command, and when he did, he didn't think he'd ever screamed as loud as he did, because fuckthat had been hot. Before he could recover, she was behind him, peeling off her own clothes as she approached, stroking her hands over his arse cheeks, parting them, her tongue circling his hole, reviving his cock almost instantly.

"I want you to ride Mordred," she said, and Merlin turned to find Mordred had twisted himself back against the wall, cock still unspent and standing to attention. God he hoped Arthur was listening to this.

After some preparation Merlin found himself riding Mordred – as per his instructions – his back to him, leaning forward and fucking his tongue in and out of Morgause's perfectly shaved pussy, her hands in his hair, pulling tightly; and despite the intense pleasure of having Mordred's cock brushing his prostate, how his balls were tightening ready to spill him come all over Morgause, his mind still slipped to Arthur, and he realised they weren't being that noisy, not really, so he ground back against Mordred, eliciting a deep groan, and slipped his fingers inside Morgause, saving his thumbs to add pressure alongside his tongue, pulling back and saying, louder than could ever be necessary, "I want to hear you say my name when you come," and she looked as though she might be about to argue that she gave the orders, not him, but he replaced his tongue and pushed deep, and that was enough, she began to pulse beneath him, crying out his name as she peaked, and Merlin smiled, thinking of Arthur with his ear pressed up against the wall, and as Mordred came inside him, Merlin let go with a 'yes!' and Morgause was there, licking him clean.

After that Merlin developed a bossy woman kink.

-0-

Merlin didn't want to admit it, but he was kind of exhausted. Fitting in all his studying and such copious amounts of shagging was taking its toll. He began to consider asking for a transfer to another room, another building, stopping this whilst he still could. This one-upmanship was getting more than just unhealthy, but somehow, even though all he had to do was print the transfer form off the uni website, he never seemed to get round to it.

He decided he was going to allow himself a night off – yesterday he'd spent the night alone – as had Arthur, if he was even in – although the night before he'd had his conquest, Myror, stay over, deliberately waking him up with his mouth in the middle of the night, knowing it would turn into more, just to piss off Arthur who never had anyone actually stay over.

Tonight there would be no studying and no sex.

He let himself in the building, ignoring the poster on the front door – probably something about books for sale or a part time job in the local pub – and made his way upstairs. Every door had a poster, all of which Merlin took not a blind bit of notice, until Cedric stepped in his path, waving one in his face, "House meeting, common room – now," he sneered, and Merlin's eyes widened – there was a common room?

Clearly Cedric wasn't taking no for an answer, and when they arrived at the common room, which wasn't much to write home about – just a couple of knackered old sofas and a faint smell of weed in the air – he saw that Arthur was present, along with about twenty others, which amounted to pretty much every resident of Camelot.

"Right," said Cedric importantly. "Now that everyone is here –" he broke off to glare pointedly at Merlin who shrugged and turned away to watch Arthur, who was watching him right back.

"Does anyone want a cup of tea?" said a meek voice from the corner, and Cedric preened.

"No Kristy, nobody wants a bloody cup of tea!"

"There's no need to be so rude," said Arthur, tearing his eyes away from Merlin to glower at Cedric.

"You are calling me– rude?" Cedric spluttered indignantly and it was Arthur's turn to shrug before turning his attention back to staring at Merlin.

Merlin liked it far too much.

"Let's just get on with the meeting," Cedric continued. "Item one – the volume of noisecoming from room 14 – and more recently – from room 15 as well. It's – er – not acceptable that the rest of us should have to listen to –"

"So what is it," Arthur drawled. "If Cedric's not getting any, no one can?"

"It's not just Cedric who's had enough," said a chubby dark haired girl perched on the arm of one of the sofas. "I can't get any study done with all the groaning and banging. Who else feels the same?" She waved a hand around the room and all but one of them put their hand up.

Merlin realised that a few weeks ago he would have been one of people with his hand in the air; now he and Arthur were partners in crime. Sex crimes. Merlin's lips twitched, as did his cock – just slightly – but then Arthur was still watching him from beneath those long blond lashes.

Arthur stood then, "Look, you've all probably got ear buds and iPods or whatever, fucking well use them and stop being such killjoys." He was at the door before Merlin even realised. "Coming Eamon?" he said, and Merlin thought 'I will be soon if you get any nearer', at the same time as feeling smug that Arthur was deliberately getting his name wrong, because there was no way he couldn't know it was Merlinnow, not after the number of times Merlin's lovers had cried it out for Arthur's ears. Merlin internally rolled his eyes.

"Ehm – sure," and he followed Arthur upstairs in silence. They reached their respective doors and Merlin said, "This is all yourfault you know."

"Excuse me?" Arthur's hands went to his hips and his eyebrows into his hairline. "How is this myfault?"

Merlin couldn't answer. Didn't want to answer, because although in his head it had made perfect sense – go out, pull someone, make a lot of noise, piss Arthur off in retaliation, he realised that not once had he actually asked Arthur to keep it down, and had in fact been kind of getting off on Arthur'sgetting off (like that was surprise), to the extent that he'd done what he did – and how the fuck did you put that into a sentence without coming off as a crazy person?

"It just is," was all he managed, shoving Arthur in the chest with a bony finger.

"Tis not," said Arthur, poking Merlin back. "How's it my fault that you got so jealous that you had to go and bring people home to make mejealous of –"

"You were jealous?" Merlin mocked. "You were! Arthur Pendragon, green eyed monster!"

"Fuck you," Arthur poked him in the chest again, with enough force to send Merlin crashing back against the door.

"You wish," replied Merlin, the breath knocked out of him, the irony not lost on him. God he wished Arthur would. "Admit it, you listened at the wall. You liked hearing me come; you wished it was youcausing me to make those noises..."

Merlin was aware that he was actually talking about himself; his ear against the wall listening to Arthur climaxing, him wishing Arthur was making those noises for him, calling out Merlin's name. He shoved Arthur's shoulders, or at least tried to, but Arthur was an immovable object, his blue eyes fixed on Merlin's lips, which only made Merlin lick them nervously, and finally, finally a groan escaped Arthur's lips that was for him, and he was being pushed back against the door, his mouth crushed under Arthur's as Arthur fumbled to open the door, both of them stumbling into the room – Arthur's room, which was a mirror image of Merlin's – and pressing him back against the closed door, his knee parting Merlin's legs, his tongue tracing his teeth.

"You're a fucking teasedo you know that Merlin?" Arthur breathed between kisses, moving down to suck Merlin's neck, biting down hard, causing Merlin to groan in pain. "Thinking you can get one up on me huh?"

"You liked it," said Merlin, his voice all husky and broken.

"Mng," Arthur's mouth found its way to Merlin's ears, licking and sucking him there, and Merlin's knees buckled, because already Arthur had found his weak spot. "You don't need to go out on the pull tonight Merlin; I'm here for all your needs." Merlin should have laughed, it sounded so cheesy when spoken out loud, but his cock was straining in his jeans, and the lips he'd fantasised about for monthswas exploring his mouth, and those hands were thumbing his hip bones as Merlin was slowly pushed further and further into the door, Arthur's hips grinding into him, his erection making its presence known.

"Have you –" gasped Merlin into Arthur's lips, pulling back reluctantly to allow the words to pass. "- been with a man before?"

"No – didn't...nggh...know I wanted to be until..." Merlin felt himself get shifted around, and pushed unceremoniously onto Arthur's single bed. "Been...porn, you know."

Merlin took a moment to wonder if Arthur would be prefer being on top, because although he would prefer it, the thought if being inside Arthur...Merlin groaned and pulled off his jacket and t-shirt, throwing them on the floor, helping Arthur off with his as he came to kneel in front of him on the bed. Merlin moved his hands to Arthur's buckle, pushing his jeans to his knees and wrapping a firm hand around Arthur's long thick cock, licking his lips at the sight of it, because it was so much more perfectthan he had imagined, and of course it would be, Arthur was a fucking work of art.

He arched his back and flicked his tongue over the head of Arthur's cock, loving Arthur's shocked intake of breath and the hands that threaded through his hair as Merlin worked his way down the shaft, tasting every inch of Arthur's unique scent, resisting the urge to unleash his own erection and bring himself off as he did this, protesting when Arthur pulled his head back and said, breathily, "First time...come with you...want to be inside you," and he yanked Merlin's jeans off, kicked his own to the floor and pressed Merlin back on the bed. "Wanted to fuck you for so long you slut."

"Come on then," Merlin challenged. "Make me scream the loudest."

It probably wasn't the best sex Merlin had had, Arthur's inexperience with other men made it slightly awkward when he tried to prepare Merlin, and when he nudged the head of his cock into Merlin's opening the angle wasn't quite right, until Merlin grabbed a pillow and pushed it under his arse, whispering to Arthur to fuck him hard because that was how he liked it, and that Arthur's cock was going to split him in two, and Arthur was biting his lip in concentration as he tried to get it right, make good on his promise to make Merlin scream. When he was finally fully seated inside Merlin, Merlin would have died a happy man right then and there if the sun had chosen that moment to fall from the sky; he'd never felt so filled and fuck Arthur was so hot with his hair all out of place, sweat dripping down his brow, his blue eyes all dilated and full of want for Merlin.

Arthur showed he had been paying the gay porn full attention as he lifted Merlin's legs onto his shoulders to gain a better angle, looking down into Merlin's eyes and saying, "All my fault is it? I'll show you that it's all you, with those fucking lips and those eyes and that voice..." and he leant down and thrust his tongue into Merlin's eager mouth, rolling his hips to test the water. "God you're so tight...I never knew...so good...so hotMerlin."

When he began to move, so did Merlin's lips, offering encouragement, groaning his pleasure, telling Arthur loudly how much he wanted him, loved his cock inside him, and when he was close, his climax beginning to pool in his belly, and words were lost to him, he could hear himself groaning, building up the crescendo, his own voice crooning Arthur's name, broken by a guttural cry if Arthur brushed over his prostate and the occasional demand for faster and harder, Arthur's constant stream of yeses, Merlin's name, 'tight little slut'; all of this coupled with the creaking bed, the headboard banging determinedly against the wall, the rattling of the crockery that Arthur hadn't bothered to clear off his bedside table and the slap of flesh as Arthur pounding Merlin's arse like he'd been fucking men his whole life.

Just as Merlin came, screaming Arthur's name, his balls tightening and his come coating Arthur's chest and face, the bed gave way beneath them with an almighty crack as the wooden slats under the mattress gave up the ghost and the central support went with it. The thin mattress began to sink down into the middle of the bed, neither boy even noticing, as Arthur thrust a couple more times into Merlin and climaxed noisily.

As Arthur collapsed on top of Merlin, there was a knock at the door and a piece of paper shoved underneath, which both of them saw but neither cared enough to get up and read it, until a splinter of wood tried to make its way through the mattress and poke Merlin's arse cheek.

Merlin shoved Arthur, "We broke the bed," he complained. "Gerroff." He should be going back to his room now, Arthur never had anyone stay the night; but God if Merlin didn't want to curl up with him and go for another round later. He wriggled out from under Arthur and half fell onto the floor as he tried to manoeuvre over the broken bed frame.

"Don't go," ordered Arthur, poking his head over the side of the bed to look at Merlin.

"But – you always kick them out when you've shagged them," Merlin said, wanting to kick himself as soon as he'd said it, distracting himself by crawling over to the note that had come under the door a couple of minutes ago, not caring that it said 'Arthur Pendragon' on the outside, Merlin opened it. "Oh fuck." He handed it to Arthur.

"Oh fuck," parroted Arthur. "Do you think you've got one as well? Let's go and have a look."

Merlin sighed and got to his feet, not bothered that he was butt naked – Arthur was too. He shucked his jeans on and grabbed his key out of the pocket and headed for his room. Arthur followed, covering his modesty with a pillowthat looked so utterly ridiculous that Merlin wanted to giggle.

Sure enough, shoved under Merlin's door was similar note addressed to 'Merlin Emrys', and inside was the same letter, one telling him that due to rule blah blah blah of Camelot, he was hereby given two-week's notice to quit.

"Jealous wankers," he says, scrunching the letter and throwing it at the bin in the corner, missing it by miles. Reaching over, he ripped the pillow away from Arthur, tossing it to the floor. "Let's give them something to reallycomplain about," he smirks, dropping to his knees behind Arthur and parting his arse cheeks to make room for his tongue.

"Gah – fucking hell! Merlin, what –"

"Would you like me to stop?" Merlin queried, pulling back.

"No! OH MY GOD!" Arthur braced himself on the back of Merlin's chair.

By the time Merlin was done with Arthur, and they were both lay on their backs, kind of squashed together on Merlin's single bed panting with exhaustion, three people had knocked on Merlin's door and asked them to keep it down. Arthur had been in no state, it had been up to Merlin to tell them all to 'fuck off'. Merlin vaguely wondered when he'd stopped caring what other people thought and could trace it back to that meeting with Arthur and Cedric; that had been the catalyst, the thing that had trigger him to think he could do better; doing better would get Arthur's attention, and getting Arthur's attention meant this, and even if this was just right nowand that was all it was ever going to be, Merlin didn't care.

They fell asleep like that, pressed together, Merlin's face nuzzled in Arthur's neck, and when he woke up Arthur was awake, staring at him in the morning half light with a smug smile.

"Move in with me?" he said, tracing Merlin's cheekbone with the back of his hand.

"Er –"

"Look, I know it's a bit weird; I mean a place with two bedrooms...we're both being evicted from here so –" he half shrugged, his movements restricted by their positions, not quite looking at Merlin now.

Merlin gulped, sorely tempted to say yes – but he didn't want this any longer, didn't want to be living next door to Arthur, listening to him fucking otherpeople – now that they'd slept together Merlin couldn't face it. Because, really, it had all been for Arthur hadn't it? He wouldn't have shagged any of those people if he hadn't known Arthur was listening. Yes, it was fucked up, but it was what it was. He could probably still stop – if Arthur wasn't there.

Merlin shook his head, not sure what to say, and he saw Arthur's face fall as he tried to extricate himself from their current tangle of limbs, rejection stamped over his regal features. "One bedroom," Merlin said. "One bedroom and a study?"

Arthur stilled, flipping Merlin onto his side so he could look into his eyes. "You want this?"

Merlin nodded, realising he'd never wanted anything quite so badly; unless you counted the bike he'd had for Christmas when he was six.

"No more threesomes...unless I'm involved? No more going to the uni bar and picking up without –" Merlin silenced Arthur with a kiss. One day, probably soon, but not now, they could have that conversation about who'd fucked who and why. Right now though, well, Merlin could feel Arthur's erection pressing into his thigh, and that was surely more important than past encounters with people who didn't really matter.

"I want to give this a try," he mumbled, his last coherent thought before Arthur's hand closed around his cock.

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