Arthur walks into Gaius' rooms one day, three weeks into the thing that is definitely not happening with Bradley, to find out no one has been attending him -- only to find Merlin sat, head bent, in quiet conversation with a second Merlin. Or perhaps that should be a second Merlin, in quiet conversation with Merlin. It's quite hard to tell. They're both wearing Merlin's clothes, the exact same clothes, in fact, which is odd because Arthur was sure Merlin only had one of those blue shirts.
Given everything that's already happened, perhaps Arthur should be less surprised by this. Given everything that's happened, perhaps it's not at all surprising that the first thought to enter his head is, I wonder if they're going to fuck. Bradley is to blame for this, of course.
He has to cough to get their attention, since he feels that if he attempts anything verbal he risks one of his verbalities being the word sex.
The second Merlin -- the one Arthur first thought of as the second one -- is the first to look up.
"Bradley!" His voice sounds strange, accented, slightly thicker than Arthur is used to.
Arthur corrects him, sharply: "I am not that selfish, stupid deceit-maker."
"Deceit-maker?"
"It's what he calls actores," RealMerlin says, his voice low, the two again turned towards each other.
"Ah, I see." OtherMerlin nods.
"Hey!" says Arthur.
"Oh, right. Arthur--" Merlin smiles "--this is Colin." Then, more offhandedly: "Colin, that's Arthur. Like I was telling you."
'Colin' nods again -- whatever it was Merlin told him, Arthur feels certain it was something he wouldn't like -- and says, "Pleased to meet you. Um. Prince Arthur."
They both look like they find this a very good joke.
And because fate is like that, sometimes, at this moment someone crashes into Arthur from behind, and then shoves him aside and Arthur hears his/Bradley's voice exclaim:
Well, since you've brought Merlin into the equation
Given everything that's already happened, perhaps Arthur should be less surprised by this. Given everything that's happened, perhaps it's not at all surprising that the first thought to enter his head is, I wonder if they're going to fuck. Bradley is to blame for this, of course.
He has to cough to get their attention, since he feels that if he attempts anything verbal he risks one of his verbalities being the word sex.
The second Merlin -- the one Arthur first thought of as the second one -- is the first to look up.
"Bradley!" His voice sounds strange, accented, slightly thicker than Arthur is used to.
Arthur corrects him, sharply: "I am not that selfish, stupid deceit-maker."
"Deceit-maker?"
"It's what he calls actores," RealMerlin says, his voice low, the two again turned towards each other.
"Ah, I see." OtherMerlin nods.
"Hey!" says Arthur.
"Oh, right. Arthur--" Merlin smiles "--this is Colin." Then, more offhandedly: "Colin, that's Arthur. Like I was telling you."
'Colin' nods again -- whatever it was Merlin told him, Arthur feels certain it was something he wouldn't like -- and says, "Pleased to meet you. Um. Prince Arthur."
They both look like they find this a very good joke.
And because fate is like that, sometimes, at this moment someone crashes into Arthur from behind, and then shoves him aside and Arthur hears his/Bradley's voice exclaim:
"Colin!"