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"Is there something you're not telling me, Gwaine?"
Merlin asked from horseback, having been dragged out by the knight on extremely short notice. With no clue other than "Arthur approved of the rendezvous, so don't worry," Merlin was growing skeptical and impatient to know even just where they were going. There was one indicator: Gwaine’s armor stayed behind at the armor. The rendezvous was no official duty, then. The deliberate ambiguity had Merlin more amused than irritated, thought -- he was curious at the purpose, but Gwaine was so bad at pretending everything was normal that it made watching him go back and forth between charmingly confident and trying to change the subject with a clumsy tongue rather fun.
"'Course not."
Gwaine slowed his horse's pace to ride alongside Merlin.
"What do you mean, course not?" Merlin asked, mimicking Gwaine's voice. "How about where we're going, that's something you've failed to tell me. Or why you need me to do it." He reached over and gave Gwaine's upper arm a gentle nudge, irritating the horses.
“You got me there, Merlin," he said, a cheeky half-smile spreading across his face. "Dunno how we're gonna recover from this one." He pointed off in the distance at a small clearing apart from the trees, the likes of which Merlin had accompanied Arthur to in his pursuit of Gwen. "Let's see if I can make it up to you by taking a break over there, yeah? Yah!" And he kicked off on his horse before Merlin could even answer.
Merlin kicked his own horse into action with a useless "wait up!" and a rolling of his eyes.
By the time Merlin caught up to him at the clearing, Gwaine already began pulling his bags from his horse. Merlin pursed his lips as he sidled his horse up to Gwaine and dismounted, though it wasn't long before at least part of Gwaine’s intent became clear: He had packed a decadent and lovely lunch. It was all he’d packed at all! Some fruits (berries!), breads, cheeses, chicken and wine.
Merlin approached and watched with his hands on his hips and a grin on his face as the knight laid it all out before him, a gesture he was totally unused to. "What’s this about?" he asked, trying to think if he had a birthday or some holiday he'd forgotten recently, but nothing came to him. "Do you owe me money?" he asked with narrowed eyes as he approached the blanket, trying to remember any of their gambling ventures. "Do you need money?" he added as an afterthought, taking his seat beside Gwaine, who began patting the blanket for Merlin rather impatiently.
"No and no," said Gwaine with his usual confident ease. He picked an apple from the basket and tossed it into the air, then caught it and held it out for Merlin in one smooth movement. Merlin took it with great suspicion.
"Oh, relax," he said finally, sitting up on the blanket with his legs straight out. He picked up a large, ripe grape and propped it into his mouth. The confidence and comfort and extraordinary awkwardness in his body language reminded Merlin very much of that first time Gwaine woke up in Merlin's bed when they first met. "I just thought you needed a day off is all, what with all your armor polishing and linen laundering, whatever it is you do."
Merlin took a bite of the apple.
"Alright," he agreed, kicking his own feet out in front of him. Though it didn't really explain why Gwaine couldn't just say that from the start.
"The wine, I forgot the wine," Gwaine said, half getting up though Merlin just patted him on the arm before going for it himself.
"You? “ he teased. “Forget the wine?" Were it not for the fact that Gwaine did get him a day off and a nice lunch, he might have have harassed him about his habits and his expenses. For now, though, he would have to settle for light teasing, "Gotta say, that's a first."
"And hopefully a last," Gwaine added as he reached out for the wine as Merlin tossed it to him. "Sit back down, you're supposed to be relaxing."
Merlin gave a facetious bow. "As you wish, my Lord," he said. Gwaine grinned but waved off the gesture, and Merlin laughed as he sat back down.
A silence hung over them afterward. Busy cutting up the cheese with a dull knife, Merlin didn't quite pick up on Gwaine's eyes on him, watching him, curious and apprehensive.
He saw it for only a second, when he glanced over to hold out a chunk of cheese balance between his thumb and the knife for Gwaine to take. It changed fast enough that Merlin didn't think twice about it, and Gwaine was his easy self again, snatching the cheese to eat it with a piece of fruit.
"Merlin," he began, the apprehension in his voice still over Merlin’s head.
"What?" Shoving the cheese into his own mouth, and washing it down with a heart swill of wine, he looked to Gwaine with distracted satisfaction. Arthur never shared his wine. This was turning out to be a very nice day off.
But then the silence hung around them again, and Merlin noticed it this time in the half-started conversation. He let his hands, still cupping the cheese and the knife, fall into his lap and he shift so that he was really listening.
"What is it?" he pressed, frowning at the pensive look on the other man's face. "Did I say something?" he asked, forcing a grin as he dropped the knife to push at Gwaine’s shoulder.
"It's nothing, never mind."
"Suit yourself," said Merlin as Gwaine shifted to sit back upright. He jabbed the knife into the cheese wheel as he plucked a grape from the vine for himself.
"It's just-"
"Thought you said it was nothing?" As he looked back up to Gwaine, the space was closed by Gwaine moving in for a kiss.
Merlin was completely frozen. At first, his arms stiffened and his fingers clenched -- was this a joke? -- but Gwaine's fingers moved to Merlin's neck and the gesture was calming. He didn't relax into it soon enough, however, and Gwaine pulled back, apologetic and hurried, and Merlin knew in his bones that it felt good and he didn't want to stop. So he grabbed the side of Gwaine's face and pulled him in for a second kiss, awkward and clumsy and soft and wonderful all at once.
Yes. Merlin decided that indeed, it did feel right. He liked it very much.
"Just a day off, then?" Merlin asked as he pulled back from the kiss, an unknowing smirk kicking up at the corner of his mouth. "No other reason?"
Gwaine laughed. "Afternoon," he corrected as he hand slid down from Merlin's face onto his chest, and Merlin found he already missed the warmth. Merlin swallowed the bit of grape he'd pushed into the side of his cheek as he raised a brow expectantly at the correction. "I've only got ya til dinner. Princess needs you back."
Merlin scoffed quietly and rolled his eyes, though he moved to lay on his back all the same. Might as well make the most of it, he thought, tugging lightly at the hem of Gwaine's shirt to lure him down with him.
"Does Arthur know?" he asked, sidling upward so Gwaine could bend over and reach his lips without much effort. True to Merlin's wishes, Gwaine placed a hand on the ground beside Merlin's head and grazed down, pressing his mouth, though, to Merlin's neck instead.
"No," he answered and Merlin's head lilted to the side to make room. "Told him you lost a bet and were too embarrassed to ask him to help you with it."
Merlin hit Gwaine in the chest, laughing as he protested the story. "You didn't, Gwaine! I'll be polishing everyone's armor for weeks!"
"I think the stocks are in your favor, too," he conceded as he muscled his way over Merlin to nip at his ear. Seemed all of Gwaine's uncertainty was gone now that Merlin had accepted him, and Merlin found himself endeared by that. He didn't picture Gwaine quite so shy with the other objects of conquests in Gwaine's life.
"So it's a secret, then?" Merlin asked, sliding his hands down to Gwaine's waist and slipping his fingers under Gwaine's tunic and jacket to get a feel for the warm skin underneath, but Gwaine flinched and pulled back with a sharp /hiss/ and a low "fuck, that's cold!" as Merlin went on, "No one needs to know, right? Just us."
As Gwaine got used to the cold fingers on his bare skin, his smile warmed again and he gave a careless shrug and hair flip as he readied himself to kiss Merlin once more on the mouth. "Of course, love, whatever you want," he said as he lips found Merlin's once more, but he accidentally crushed their lips when he came in too hard and they both giggled before going on.