Summary:
Tired of Arthur mooning over Merlin with longing looks and half-hidden smiles, his friends throw him an intervention
Notes:
A Merthur one-shot that came into my mind because I was rewatching Merlin and marvelling at how freaking in love they are
(I know this isn't very good, but I was bored and procrastinating so...)
Work Text:
"Arthur. This is an intervention."
"Yeah, I can see that!"
Arthur hadn't asked for this. He had come home from work that day, to find basically all of his friends standing around in his living room. (...How had they gotten into his house?)
There was a banner hanging up on the wall above them, saying 'INTERVENTION' in big red letters. There were also about a dozen smaller rainbow flags dotted around the room, which was probably Gwaine's doing. Arthur put a hand up to cover his face briefly. He didn't know why they were there, but he knew that the next hour or so of his life wouldn't be fun.
"Alright then. I'll humour you. What's this an intervention for?" Said Arthur grudgingly, after the silence from his friends forced him to talk.
"How gay you are for your best friend-" Gwaine started, before Leon, who was standing next to him, stood quickly on his foot. The rest of the group awkwardly fidgeted for a few seconds, not sure of what to do.
Arthur raised his eyebrows. What the-?
"Arthur," said Morgana, in the same condescendingly calm tone she had used before, "We wish to discuss with you... Your, erm, relationship with Merlin."
"Merlin?" Arthur asked, confused. Merlin? Was this some kind of joke?
"Yes. Merlin. You know, the one who you're always sending little loving glances over to?" Said Gwen, sounding tired of everyone's dancing around the subject, "What? Someone had to say it!"
"What..." Was all Arthur could manage. Part of him was confused and vaguely annoyed at his friends for all the fuss. The other part of him was running through excuses and ways to get out of talking about it. After all, it was just a small... crush, and nothing else! A small crush on the best friend he'd had in his life, whom he'd known for years, and who made him happier than anyone else...
Arthur was so screwed.
"Look, Arthur, imagine that your body is a piece of glass; completely transparent, and you can't hide anything inside it. You haven't hidden your feelings for Merlin from us. From him, maybe, but we know how you feel, okay? And it is okay, the way that you feel about him."
Gwaine's explanation didn't exactly clear things up for Arthur. He still had no freaking idea what was happening. But he started to process the situation, and sat down on the closest thing to him (the sofa).
"I... Um..."
"It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself - we already know most of it, or we worked it out. The only important thing in this is that you like Merlin," Gwen gently tried to reassure him.
Arthur looked up at his friends, and the rainbow flags scattered around the room. He wondered if there was much point in denying or deflecting it...
"Was I really that... transparent?"
The room and the people inside it seemed to relax slightly.
"Like I said before, you were basically a pane of glass," Gwaine nodded sympathetically.
"But you said Merlin doesn't know, right?" Said Arthur, clutching at a sudden hope.
"Yeah, he's pretty oblivious. But... Arthur, we feel like your feelings might not be fully unreciprocated," Leon rushed. Arthur blinked in confusion.
"What?"
"A simple translation of what Leon is trying to say is that we think Merlin might feel the same way for you," stated Lancelot clearly and without shame. Arthur felt a slight rush of colour go to his face, and his heart seemed to turn over in a flutter of... feeling.
"Er.... what?" Repeated Arthur.
"It's not really that much of a difficult concept to grasp, Arthur!" Morgana said loudly, and then looked at her watch, "He should be here soon, anyway."
"What? Who should be here soon?"
Everyone in the room sent simultaneous glares and/or looks of pained discomfort towards Morgana. After a few moments of anxious silence, Lancelot spoke up.
"Merlin. We invited him along to this... intervention as well. I'm sorry, Arthur, but it had to be done!"
A murmur of agreement ran through the room. Arthur couldn't believe this. What was happening?
"Er, guys?" Gwen piped up, "I asked Merlin to text me when he was nearly here, and... He's literally a street away."
A wave of anxiety passed over Arthur, and maybe a similar feeling came over everyone else, because suddenly they were all moving to take down the rainbow flags near them... Arthur appreciated the gesture, but he wished they hadn't organised this in the first place... he wasn't ready for this...
All too soon, Merlin was opening the front door and coming into the house (he was the only one of Arthur's friends who was trusted with a spare key).
"Hello?" Came the sound of Merlin's familiar voice, and then he was in the living room, looking at the scene in front of him: six friends standing against the wall staring at him, and Arthur sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands.
"Erm... What's going on?"
"Merlin," Morgana started, "This is an interven-"
"Okay. I can't do this again," sighed Gwaine, "Merlin: you like Arthur, and Arthur likes you. For God's sake, just get together already. Now, come on everyone else: let's leave them to it."
Gwaine marched out of the room, and the rest of their friends awkwardly shuffled out after him, and closed the door.
"Umm... I..."
Neither of them knew what to say, so they just kind of awkwardly stood there for a few minutes, avoiding eye contact. Eventually, Arthur cleared his throat.
"Er, right, so... What Gwaine said was true. At least... the bit about me... liking you? That was true."
"Oh."
"Yeah..."
"Well... the other bit that Gwaine said... about me liking you... that was also true."
Arthur took a deep breath.
"You know, Merlin, you really are an idiot. But... you're also kind of awesome."
"Thanks. You're a prat, but... Yeah, you're just a prat."
Arthur laughed, and Merlin smiled softly.
"So, erm, I feel like Gwen will kill me if I don't ask, just to make sure... But do you maybe want to go out some time?"
Merlin smiled again, even more.
"I'd like that."
And so they stood, just kind of looking at each other and smiling.
"Oh my GOD," came a muffled voice from outside the door, "They are such dorks!"
"Ssshh!"
