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“What do you mean, you don’t own a suit?”
Merlin shrugs and looks down at his current outfit, at the loose-fitting jeans and the grey checkered shirt. “What’s wrong with this?”
“What do you wear to weddings? Or funerals?” Arthur asks instead of answering Merlin’s question, still utterly shocked Merlin thinks his current outfit is appropriate for an event hosted by Pendragon Inc.
“Something like this,” Merlin says, though he voiced his answer more like a question than a statement.
Arthur is so perplexed, he can’t do anything but stare. He keeps looking Merlin up and down, keeps taking in the grey checkered shirt, the loose pair of jeans, the shoes that are definitely not dress shoes, but since Merlin doesn’t even own a suit, they are probably the nicest shoes he owns.
“Get in here,” Arthur growls as he clasps his hand around Merlin’s arm and drags him inside. “Bedroom, now.”
“What? Why?” Merlin squeaks, alarmed, eyes wide with surprise.
“We’re going to find you a suit,” Arthur answers curtly. There’s just no way he’ll take his boyfriend to an event hosted by his father’s company when he’s not wearing a suit.
It was bad enough when Uther found out Arthur isn’t attracted to women at all. If he now brings a boyfriend as his plus one, and that boyfriend doesn’t look like he belongs at a corporate event, Uther is never going to let Arthur live it down.
“Off,” Arthur gestures towards Merlin’s clothes as soon as they enter the bedroom. He doesn’t stop to see if Merlin does as he ordered, he just heads straight towards the walk-in closet to look through the suits in the back, neatly stored in their garment bags. He still hears Merlin’s grumbled mutter though: “There are way more fun things to do that involve taking my clothes off.”
“Later,” Arthur shouts from the walk-in closet, pleased with Merlin’s startled squeak, clearly not expecting Arthur hearing him.
Arthur rummages through the garment bags. He knows there is one suit he never wears anymore, because it’s a tad too tight. It'll probably still be a bit big on Merlin, but it’ll definitely be better than no suit at all. Arthur will make it work.
Of course that particular suit is all the way in the back and it takes some reaching to get the hanger off the rail.
Arthur heads back to the bedroom and hangs the garment bag on the door before zipping it open. In the meantime he tries his very best not to ogle Merlin, who is standing at the foot of Arthur’s bed in nothing but his briefs and socks.
“Try this on,” Arthur says after taking the suit out of the bag.
“Why am I even surprised you have more than one suit,” Merlin mutters behind him.
Arthur very decidedly does not react. He goes towards the walk-in closet again instead, still trying his very best not to look at Merlin. He knows that if he looks, he won’t be able to stop himself from getting his hands on Merlin, running his hands over his chest, down over his stomach, along his sides before sliding his fingers underneath the waistband of his briefs and– No. No, not now. Later. He needs to grab a tie for Merlin. He needs to get Merlin into a suit, so they can leave or they’ll be terribly late and that’s just another thing his father does not appreciate.
He takes his time looking through his ties, giving Merlin the time to dress himself before Arthur returns to the bedroom – even though he already knew which tie he wants Merlin to wear before he even found the suit.
After several minutes, he grabs the light blue tie that closely matches the colour of Merlin’s eyes – though Arthur will never admit that that’s the reason he bought the tie in the first place – and walks back to the bedroom, strongly hoping Merlin is dressed by now.
And yes, walking into the bedroom he finds Merlin shrugging on the navy blue jacket over the white shirt.
As expected, the suit is a bit too big for Merlin, but not as much as Arthur expected. He definitely needs to grab a belt for those trousers though. They’re hanging dangerously low on Merlin’s hips and Arthur can’t have Merlin losing his trousers at the event – those trousers are only allowed to come off when they’re alone again.
Other than that, the shoulders of the jacket are clearly not fitting right, but it’s not that bad either – or at least not as strange as Arthur expected them to look. The shirt looks a bit loose as well, but the jacket covers it up enough to make it not that obvious.
“Here,” Arthur thrusts the tie in Merlin’s hands. “I’m going to find you a belt.”
When Arthur comes back with a belt, Merlin is still standing there with the tie in his hands.
When Arthur cocks his eyebrow at the untied tie in Merlin's hands, Merlin says, "I don't know how to tie a tie," making the statement once again sound like a question.
“Of course you don’t,” Arthur mutters. He grabs the tie and swaps it for the belt. “I assume you do know how to put on a belt?”
“I’m so sorry not all of us grew up wearing fancy suits and fancy ties and went to fancy parties,” Merlin mutters angrily, pulling the belt through the trouser loops with a bit too much force.
“I’m sorry,” Arthur mutters right back, immediately feeling guilty. He loops the tie around his own neck and ties it, keeping his eyes off of Merlin’s face. “I just want my father to accept you. He probably won’t like you – he likes no one – but I just want him to be okay with you being my boyfriend.”
When Arthur is finished with the tie, he has no reason anymore not to look at Merlin. So, he takes the tie off from around his neck and puts it in place around Merlin’s. Before he can slide the knot upwards, Merlin leans in and kisses him.
Arthur stumbles slightly backwards, surprised by the sudden force of Merlin's lips against his. He grabs Merlin’s shoulders to regain his balance. Merlin’s hands slide underneath Arthur's jacket to grip his waist, which only causes Arthur to stumble forward against Merlin’s chest, making Merlin take a step back to prevent toppling over.
Merlin laughs against Arthur’s lips, tightly gripping his waist to keep the both of them upright.
“What was that for?” Arthur asks, still holding Merlin’s shoulders, not really wanting to let go.
“Because I love you,” Merlin answers in a low voice.
Arthur sucks in a surprised breath. It’s not like they haven’t said those words to each other yet, but it still amazes him whenever Merlin says them.
“And I love you,” he manages to say back, throat tight with emotion.
“Come on.” Merlin releases the tight grip on Arthur’s sides. “Let me get this tie straight and let’s go. Maybe it’s best if we don’t keep your father waiting if you want him to accept me.”
“You’re probably right.” Arthur lets go of Merlin’s shoulders and moves in to fix the tie, swatting Merlin’s hands away as he reaches for the tie himself. Arthur wants to fix the tie. He wants to be the person who makes sure his boyfriend’s tie is straight and properly tied.
oOo
Needless to say, Uther was not impressed by Merlin’s outfit – nor by the man himself, which Arthur found very disappointing, even though he knew it would happen. Uther isn’t easily impressed.
Morgana on the other hand seemed to immediately like Merlin, and when someone commented on his ill-fitting suit, she immediately had a retort ready. “Well, I, for one, think he looks rather dashing. Maybe you should be glad his suit isn’t perfectly tailored. I imagine he’ll steal a lot of hearts if he ever wears a perfectly fitted suit,” she said, immediately followed by, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s other people I need to talk to.”
And with a wink at Arthur she left the person who commented on Merlin’s suit behind, stunned and with a loss for words. Arthur excused himself as well, taking Merlin with him, making the person even more awkwardly standing around.
That was a good moment.
Another good moment was when Arthur could get the rather ill-fitting suit off of Merlin later that night.