Title: Knock Before Entering
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
WARNINGS: Smut for smut's sake, PWP, Pretty much UST and voyeurism!
Disclaimer: Merlin not mine *sob* It's the BBC's though I want to rob them and get away with Bradley and Colin ^_^
Summary: After an argument, Arthur goes to apologise to Merlin. Perhaps he should have knocked first?
Note: I realised I haven't written canon verse for a long time! Oops! This is for the lovely Shutupeccles and persistent but also lovely devilluck. I told them not to poke my muses. But this only a minor fic to keep them quiet while I work on my Reel_Merlin stuff. I have something bigger planned for later

Merlin stormed into Gaius' room, his face as dark as a thunder cloud. Gaius looked up from the current potion he was working on, to see his young ward storming across the room as if he had rocks in his boots and the world on his shoulders. Gaius raised his eyebrow in disapproval.

"Merlin, what is wrong with you?" Merlin paused, then turned to look at his mentor. With a look that could sour milk, he gave a one word answer,

"Arthur," then stomped up the few steps to his room and slammed the door so hard it rattled on its hinges. Gaius looked at the door with surprise for a few moments before shaking his head and continuing with his work. Sometimes it just wasn't worth trying to work out what was going on in that boy's head.

-x-

Arthur had been ready for bed for hours but had no inclination of actually turning in. His earlier argument with Merlin had erased any trace of sleep. He sat in his chair and stared at the fire in front of him. It gave him no help and offered him no answers, no matter how hard he stared at the flames. That manservant of his was highly irritating sometimes. He slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair and relished the slight pain that sung along his nerves.

He just didn't understand why Merlin riled him so. Any other servant he would have ignored or punished as necessary but with Merlin neither of those things seemed possible. He couldn't figure out why, but something about Merlin... there was just... something.

He looked over at the pile of armour that Merlin had been cleaning before their fight. He hadn't bothered to move it; Merlin could finish cleaning it in the morning. The argument had been completely pointless. He had only been in a bad mood because of his father and instead of going somewhere to cool off his temper, he had gone to his rooms where Merlin was quietly working and he had taken his frustration out on him. Merlin never deserved it and Arthur felt ashamed of himself now that he had had time to calm down and think about it.

The Prince finally came to the conclusion that he needed to apologise to Merlin. He thought about how he could do that because he couldn't just walk up to Merlin and say s... the 's' word. He was the Prince, he just couldn't. Then the thought struck him. He would invite (order) Merlin out hunting with him in the morning. It would just be the two of them. They could talk and walk and kill small animals. Well, he would try to, while Merlin dithered about, but it would be just them and that was the important thing.

The idea warmed his heart and made him smile. Time alone with Merlin was a time when he could be himself and not 'the Prince of Camelot'. Merlin let him and encouraged it. Merlin. Sweet, naive Merlin. He wished he could just... But what was it he wished? For a moment he wondered why he was thinking so deeply about his manservant and decided this wasn't a time for contemplation but a time for action. Making his mind up, he rose from his chair and made his way to the door. He didn't bother putting his boots on, there was no time waste. Now he had a plan, he was going to go through with it.

The fact that it was now the middle of the night didn't even occur to him.

-x-

Arthur opened the door to Gaius' rooms carefully. He was glad that the doors were well kept as it stayed silent. He brusquely but quietly walked across the room. The room itself was drowned in moonlight so it was easy to navigate the various piles of books and objects Gaius left around. Not that it would have been difficult for him anyway. The echoing snores emanating from a dark corner told him that the old physician was fast asleep and was likely to remain so. As he approached the other door in the room, Arthur noticed a glimmer of candle light flickering through the gap under the door. He raised his hand to open it, fully intending to storm into Merlin's room, shake him awake, tell him what an idiot he was for keeping a candle burning and demand he come hunting with him in the morning. He paused, hand half way to the door, as he heard a strange noise coming from the room. Frowning slightly he placed his hand on the handle and carefully pushed the door open.

Peering around the corner he was met with a sight that he certainly hadn't expected to see. Of course he'd had a few ideas running around his head but that certainly wasn't one of them.

There was Merlin sprawled out on his bed, the sheets pushed down to his feet, his nightshirt shoved up under his arms, leaving his chest bare. In fact everything below the shirt was bare. Arthur felt his gaze wander the long length of his manservant's body, taking in every part of him that he could. The pale chest, long legs, one of which was raised up, his foot resting on the edge of the bed, the other twisted in the sheets at the bottom of the bed, the fact that one arm was slung over the eyes that Arthur knew were a mesmerising blue. His lips were parted as light gasps passed them and even in the dim light Arthur could see his cheeks were flushed pink, a colour that seemed to trickle down his throat and over his chest.

Arthur watched wide eyed with fascination as Merlin's tongue quickly flicked out to moisten those parted lips. But that wasn't all that held his gaze, he followed the other arm down to the hand that grasped Merlin's rigid cock and was slowly caressing it. The light from the candle painted Merlin's skin a warm gold, as the flame danced in the slight draft golden fingers caressed Merlin's pale form. He was as beautiful as a painting and he made the Prince breathless just to look at him. He could feel his fingers itching to reach out and caress what those flickers of light were illuminating.

"Mmm Arthur." The Prince froze at hearing his name. For a moment he thought he might have actually touched the dark haired beauty but he quickly realised he was still standing at the door. Merlin couldn't possibly have known he was there, not with his eyes covered like that and being so lost in what he was doing, so that could only mean that he was fantasising about... Arthur suddenly realised his lungs were burning. He had no idea how long he had been holding his breath. He carefully let it out and the pain eased but the twisting in his stomach only grew worse and he found himself gripping the door instead, his knuckles growing white from the force of it, but no matter what he tried, Arthur found he couldn't look away. It was almost as if he had been enchanted. Who could have known that seeing his manservant in such a state would hold him captivated, but Arthur knew he was.

How he wanted to touch every inch of that golden lit skin, wanted to run his tongue across those shoulder blades, wanted to kiss that gasping mouth, wanted... He shook his head. What the hell was he thinking?

"Arth-ur." His name gasped once more caught his attention. The hitch in Merlin's voice only added to the desire that was now curling in Arthur's stomach. It was taking all of his will power to stay at the door. He had a feeling that if he dared move in any direction, the spell Merlin was weaving would be broken. Merlin would realise he was standing there and stop. And he really didn't want Merlin to stop. Keeping his eyes on the man in front of him, Arthur saw as Merlin bit on his lip trying to hold back a low moan. Arthur would have given anything to have heard that moan out loud. He gazed on longingly as Merlin slid his arm down from his eyes and slowly ran his hand across his neck and down his chest. For a while he teased at his nipples, brushing at them with his fingers and twisting them slightly until they formed hard peaks. Arthur continued to watch those long pale fingers tease down that body until he reached his other hand which had now considerably quickened its pace.

Arthur couldn't look away, his own breath hitching, as Merlin slowly began to fondle his balls, his hips began to lift off the bed, thrusting his dick into his own palm. Arthur's breathing was almost matching Merlin's erratic pattern his fingers gripping the door so hard that he was almost leaving dents in it. Merlin began moaning loudly now, clearly unable to hold himself back. His dark head rolled to one side and for a moment, Arthur thought that he would be seen, but even then found he couldn't tear his gaze away, couldn't move. He wanted to see the end to this, wanted to see Merlin fall apart.

He didn't have to wait much longer. Seeing Merlin shift his hand once more as it slid lower, stroking the sensitive spot behind his balls and then lower again, Arthur stopped breathing all together. And then he was coming spectacularly, his back arching as tight as the string on Arthur's cross bow, his long pale throat exposed as his head was thrown back, his mouth in a wide 'o' as Arthur heard his name drawn out in a tone he had never heard on Merlin's lips. It went straight to Arthur's cock which was already straining hard against his breeches. Merlin continued to stroke himself, drawing out every last drop of thick, white semen as it splattered across his hand and chest.

The Prince watched for a moment more as he watched his mostly naked manservant, slowly come down from his high, looking completely broken and utterly beautiful. Arthur thought he had never a seen a more magnificent sight. After a moment, Arthur decided he had better make a tactful retreat before Merlin did discover his presence and closed the door silently. He took a deep breath and hastily returned to his rooms, not daring to stop for anything.

-x-

Merlin lay on his bed, all of his energy and anger finally exhausted. He had been too awake to settle to sleep, he had tossed and turned on his bed for several hours, so and had done the only thing he knew burned his excess energy that didn't involve magic. He didn't know how long he had been fantasising over Arthur, but it had been for a long time now. When he was angry with Arthur all he wanted to do was kiss the prat hard to get him to shut up and then fuck him into oblivion.

The young sorcerer knew this was probably not the wisest thing to do, next to having magic in Camelot. So he did the only other alternative; walk away. And finally getting himself off, imagining it was Arthur doing those things to him instead. This time had been different however, this time he had imagined that Arthur had been watching, watching as he did that to himself. It was intense and he hadn't come that hard for a long time. When he had opened his eyes briefly, it was almost as if Arthur really had been there. As if his magic had conjured up the Prince just to add to the moment.

At least that is what Merlin told himself. It had seemed almost too real, Arthur standing there, eyes glittering in the candlelight, eyes on him. It was his magic. It was.

As he pulled his nightshirt down and the bed sheets up to cover his cooling body, Merlin wondered why he was having such a hard time believing that.

-x-

Arthur was sure he had never got to his room quicker. As soon as he got through his door, he shut it and braced himself against it, fumbling with the tie on his breeches and finally pulling them down and releasing his painfully hard cock. He moaned loudly as he circled his hand around it and pumped firmly.

The memory of Merlin on his bed played behind his eyes as he brought himself off quickly and found himself calling his dark haired manservant's name. As his energy finally seeped from him, he slid down the door to sit on the cold stone, his breeches around his hips, covered in his own come but he didn't care about that. Now he had eased his lust, the bigger picture came into view.

It seemed Merlin liked him, as in 'really' liked him. And apparently, Arthur was not immune to the charms of his manservant. With his clean hand, Arthur rubbed at his eyes. He realised that this wasn't the only time he had thought about Merlin like this. He had just never wanted to think about it before. He knew that even this moment, this little fantasy he now could cherish, that it would never be enough. And of course he would have to deal with Merlin in the morning. There was only one thought he had then. He let his head fall against the door.

"I am in big trouble."

-END-

I may be bribed into a sequel if the price is good enough ^_^