Which was a very good thing, considering what happened next.
They had settled in the back of the theatre with a shared bucket of popcorn, hands touching frequently in the sea of kernels. Merlin was thinking this was just about perfect, sitting here in the dark with Arthur sharing oversalty popcorn with beautiful people blowing each other to hell in the background, when he felt a hand creeping down his back to the hem of his shirt and rest there.
And that was all right, too, except the hand, after a moment's hesitation, kept going south, down into Merlin's waistband and into his trousers. Merlin bit his lip and looked over at Arthur, who was staring way too hard at the big screen in front of them.
Merlin absolutely DID NOT lean forward to give Arthur's hand more room to manuever. He DID NOT unbutton his jeans in a public place. And most of all, he absolutely, positively, DID NOT stifle a moan when Arthur's greasy fingers started probing down his ass cheeks and around his hole in an exploratory sort of way.
"Arthur..." Merlin choked out, trying to keep his voice from going higher and failing as Arthur's pinky finger crooked just so.
"Hm?" whispered Arthur in a determinedly nonchalant way.
"Don't..."
"Don't...what?"
"Stop. Don't...stop," Merlin said, wriggling a bit and driving Arthur's finger in deeper and Oh, ye GODS that felt good...
"You like this, huh?" Arthur whispered, his face inches from Merlin's.
Merlin nodded, afraid he would squeak if he tried to talk.
"Knew you had a few kinks in you. Knew you were a dirty little whore, Merlin. Getting off in a public place. Shame on you..."
Merlin nodded again and stifled his moan in his forearm as Arthur slid a second finger northward.
"You are so filthy. You can't control yourself. You love what I do to you..."
Arthur crooked a finger and raucous movie be DAMNED, Merlin's hips arched up from the seat and he moaned Arthur's name.
A couple of people several rows ahead turned their heads and shushed them.
The usher who had been standing at the back door came over, his torchlight bouncing along the floor.
Arthur smiled sweetly at the man as he stopped at their aisle.
"Is there a problem?" Arthur asked the usher.
Arthur glanced at Merlin, who was biting his lip so hard it was leaving marks, whose right hand was hovering in space, trying not to touch himself and whose left was grabbing the seat arm in a desperate attempt to keep himself from collapsing, who had Arthur's fingers buried in his arse and was breathing like he'd just run a track race. The usher looked suspiciously at the two of them.
"Keep it down over here, will ya?" said the usher, and he walked away again.
There was a moment's pause.
"Suppose I should stop now, huh? Public place and all that," Arthur whispered in Merlin's ear, still moving his fingers a little bit.
"No...please...don't..." Merlin whined, grinding his arse into the seat and onto Arthur's fingers.
"You're getting off on this, huh?" Arthur whispered, his mouth inches from Merlin's ear. "We're in a movie theater and you're about to come in your jeans, just from me fucking your arse with my fingers. You're going to have to walk out of here with your arse burning and your coat around your waist. How's that sound?"
Merlin was past the point of caring. His hips were arching into thin air and his mouth was moving soundlessly in silent pleas and OH, how Arthur liked to see him wrecked like this.
"Come for me. Come on, Merlin. You're so close..." Arthur whispered, pushing his fingers in a little bit more.
Arthur bit down on Merlin's ear and that was it, Merlin came, his hips bucking and both hands shaking on the armrests with his knuckles going white. Arthur did have the foresight to latch his mouth over Merlin's and muffle his scream as he hit his orgasm.
And that was when the usher came and told them Arthur and Merlin were going to have to leave because they were getting complaints about the two of them.
The ticket lady stared as Arthur (who was trying to adjust his jeans discreetly but overall looked pretty damn pleased with himself) Merlin (who had his coat around his waist, his hair practically standing on end, but with a ridiculously sated expression on his face) walked out of the theater an hour before the movie was supposed to finish.
"That must be one HELL of a movie," she thought to herself.