Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Merlin leaned on the balcony railing of the main school building, soaking up the May sunshine and watching the sixteen members of the new Top Gun intake on the ground below him, as they were being given a guided tour of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, their base for the next four months. He looked up and saw Elyan Smithson strolling towards him.“Doctor Emrys,” Elyan greeted him.   

“Lieutenant Commander,” he replied with a smile. Smithson was second in command of the Top Gun program, and one of the U.S. Navy’s top pilots.   

Elyan clapped his hand on Merlin’s shoulder and took up a position beside him. The weather was unusually hot, and the late-morning, California sun was throwing up a heat haze on the runway in the distance. The doors of Number 2 and Number 3 hangars were rolled right back, revealing millions of dollars worth of hardware, in the form of A-4s—still in service despite having been a mainstay of the Vietnam war—and the Navy’s flagship fighter jets, the F-14 Tomcats, with their distinctive twin vertical stabilizers. 

The whop-whop-whop of a helicopter hovering over the base competed with the rumble from the steady flow of open-top jeeps, trucks and personnel carriers that were running up and down the roadway immediately in front of the building. Periodically, it was all drowned out as a fighter jet roared into life, warming its engines to a deafening howl, before taxiing out to the runway. The new students were standing on the parade square on the other side of the roadway, giving their somewhat divided attention to the poor ensign who was pointing out the key buildings on the base. 

“Another term, another set of know-it-alls who are used to being king of the hill,” Elyan said. They watched the group, and Merlin didn’t need to be able to hear them to know they were sizing each other up, already vying to see who would be their fiercest competition in the program. They looked well-turned-out, as would be expected from the Navy’s best, in their summer white service uniforms: smart white shirts with their ranks on the shoulders, white trousers, a white belt with a gold buckle and polished shoes. Some of them carried their white combination caps under their arms. 

“Looking forward to taking them down a peg or two?” Merlin asked. 

“Perks of the job.” Elyan replied with a grin. “I bet you are too.”

Merlin shrugged noncommittally. He did like showing them that, despite being a civilian, he had a thing or two to teach them, but setting them difficult theoretical calculations didn’t provide quite the same rush that Elyan would get from simulating shooting them out of the sky during their dogfight training. 

“So who are the ones to watch?” Merlin said instead. 

Elyan pulled on his bottom lip with his teeth and looked out over them. “Well, there’s at least one you’ll have heard of. See that blond guy with the aviators and the cocky attitude? That’s Arthur Pendragon, Vice Admiral Uther Pendragon’s son. Word is he flies even better than his dad, even if it is sometimes too close to the wire. The long haired man beside him is the RIO who flys with him, Gwaine Green.” 

“Blond, cocky guy in aviators isn’t ruling out any of them, except the ones that aren’t blond,” Merlin observed, wryly. Nevertheless, he could see whom Elyan meant. The one who had to be Pendragon was standing in the midst of the group, sunshine glinting off the frames of his mirrored black glasses. They were all tanned and muscular, but even amongst these elite men, he stood out. His Radio Intercept Officer, Green, leaned in and said something to him with a smirk, and Pendragon threw his head back with a laugh that made his whole frame shake, exposing his strong neck. Amongst all the posturing, there was something carefree and normal about it. 

“Who else?” Merlin continued, returning his attention to the rest of the group. 

“Well, we have Top Gun’s first, all-female flight crew, of course. Morgause Gorlois and Morgana LeFay. They may well get the trophy. They win by flying by the book and wearing their opposition down until they get frustrated and make a mistake; then they go in for the kill.” 

Gorlois and LeFay were striking—both tall, one with bleach-blond hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, the other with dark hair, worn in a french braid. They stood very close together, but seemed aloof from, and completely unconcerned with, the rest of the group. Merlin didn’t underestimate what it must have taken for the two women to get in this program—even now, in the mid 1980s, the armed services and frontline flying in particular were male-dominated, so he didn’t feel he had any right to judge how they conducted themselves and in any case, they weren’t behaving particularly differently from any of the men. 

“What about those two tall guys?” Merlin asked, noticing an impressive pair who were both half a head taller than anyone around them.

“That’s Leon Knight, the pilot, and his RIO is the one built like the hulk, Percy Wood. They’ll also be worth keeping an eye on. They’ve been flying together ever since flight school.” Merlin’s eyes rested on them for a moment, and he noted their laid-back  interaction. They looked very comfortable together. 

“Are you meeting them all today?” Merlin asked. 

“No, not until tomorrow. We have them for class together, I think.” 

“We do,” Merlin confirmed. “Speaking of which, I should go back to my office and get a few more things done before lessons start tomorrow.” 

“Will we see you at Animal Nights this evening?” Elyan asked. 

Generally Merlin avoided going out to rowdy bars, full of military people letting their hair down. Civilians were in an odd position on the base. All his qualifications and top-secret security clearance didn’t seem to cut any ice with his naval colleagues, who mostly judged people by how many miles they ran before breakfast and how much weight they could bench. But he was aware that he’d had very little social life in the six months he’d been at Top Gun, and if he was going to be here for the foreseeable future, perhaps it would be a good idea to make more effort to make some friends, and Merlin certainly got on with Elyan best out of all the instructors. 

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll come for a quick drink.” Maybe it would be good to relax before the start of the new term, tomorrow. 

“Great!” Elyan replied, giving him a warm smile. “I’ll see you there.” 

It was only Monday, but the local bars were still filled with naval personnel in their whites and any number of civilians, dressed to the nines and looking to hook up or blow off some steam. As he walked into the Animal Night bar Merlin was hit by a wall of hot, humid air, the buzz of people talking over loud pop music, lights flashing, and the smell of beer and people wearing too much cologne. He slipped off his tasseled, leather jacket, which was too hot in this cramped space, and pushed his way to the bar. Leaning against it, he peered through the crowd of bodies looking for Elyan, even though he knew he was early. When he didn’t see him he found a seat at the bar and ordered a Coke, ears ringing with the noise, already regretting his decision to come. 

As he watched the door, waiting for Elyan and whoever he was coming with, he saw Pendragon and his RIO, Green, arrive in their crisp, white uniforms, both sporting their sunglasses despite the darkness outside and the low, flashing lights inside. They squeezed past the throng of naval personnel and locals, making their way to the bar and taking up a position at the short end, at right angles to where Merlin was seated. Merlin could see them easily whilst barely turning his head towards them, and their voices carried to him as they shouted over the thumping music. 

Green surveyed the room, then clapped his hand on Pendragon’s shoulder and shouted, “This is what I call a target rich environment. Even you could get laid in a place like this.” 

Merlin rolled his eyes. How utterly predictable. Getting laid seemed to be the only thing on the agenda for most people in uniform, whereas it wasn’t on his agenda at all. He had never been one for casual dating, and a relationship of any seriousness with anyone at Miramar would be unnecessarily complicated, and potentially career-damaging, even though, as a civilian, it wasn’t actually forbidden for him to date the officers. 

It seemed all the new intakes were at the bar. After a while the female RIO, Morgana LeFay, came up to Pendragon and Green. Merlin noted that the air of superiority she had shown that morning was still in full evidence. 

“Morgana!” Green shouted. “They let you into Top Gun? If you’re among the best in the Navy, I tremble for the security of this country.”

“Why, Gwaine,” she replied smoothly, “whose ass did you kiss to get here?”

“The list is long and distinguished, like my dick,” he replied. Merlin smiled into his drink, amused at their exchange. He stole a glance at them and saw Pendragon was trying to hold back a laugh, while LeFay was looking at Green, scathingly.

“So, Gorlois is your driver, huh?” Green said. Merlin followed LeFay’s gaze towards Gorlois, her tall, blond pilot, long hair loose round her shoulders now. She had commandeered a large corner of the bar and the attention of two barmen, despite the crowds. Merlin couldn’t help but be impressed by her. “And you two think you can keep up with us?” Green asked. 

“I think we’ll show you a thing or two,” LeFay replied, coolly. 

“This is Arthur Pendragon,” Green said, turning towards his pilot and tugging his shirt to pull him into the conversation. “He steers the thing for me. Morgana LeFay and I were at flight school together,” he explained.

Further along the bar, a blue flame shot up, diverting all their attention. A guy in uniform ducked his head and swallowed it, then thumped the empty glass down on the bar, to a loud cheer from the people standing around watching him. Merlin had seen this trick before on one of his rare, previous outings, and it had drawn a bunch of guys, keen to show off to each other and the women they were trying to impress. 

“What was that?” Pendragon asked, finally taking off his aviators, presumably so he could actually see what was going on.

“A Flaming Hooker,” Green replied, and Merlin wondered how he knew about that local tradition, even though he’d only just arrived at Miramar. “Sort of an institution around here. It's the house drink. It'll warm the cockles of your heart … and other things, depending on where you spill it,” he laughed. 

Green gestured to the barman who moved over and set them up. LeFay was watching him disdainfully. He took out a lighter and applied the flame to the drink, as she asked, “Have you ever done this before?”

“What, been drunk? Sure! Plenty!” Green responded. Pendragon laughed, his cheeks creasing around his wide smile, and he slapped his RIO on the back. 

Green tipped his head back and downed the burning drink in one gulp. When he clonked the glass back on the bar it was still aflame. He blinked a bit and swayed. Merlin was somewhat impressed. When he’d seen it done before, not many people had been able to deal with the flaming drink so cleanly. 

“How was it?” Pendragon asked. 

“Could use a bit more jet fuel,” Green replied, with a grin. Merlin smiled into his drink again at Green’s quick-witted response. 

Pendragon clapped him on the back again and stepped up to the bar himself. LeFay was already reaching for a Flaming Hooker of her own. He lit both their drinks. “To the best of the best,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied, and clinked glasses with him. 

Pendragon laughed. “We’ll see, won’t we!”

They both successfully downed the drinks in single gulps and slammed their glasses down on the bar top to a cheer from Green and the others around them. 

Merlin watched as Pendragon pushed their glasses back towards the bartender and then looked around the room. His eyes landed on Merlin as Merlin was taking a swig from his bottle of Coke, head tipped back. When Pendragon’s gaze lingered on him Merlin put his drink down, pushed his hand through his hair and raised his eyebrow challengingly, expecting that to be enough to get the other man to look away. But Pendragon continued to look at him, even gave him a half smile and cocked his head. He only looked away when Green pulled on his sleeve. Merlin rolled his eyes, wondering why he’d caught Pendragon’s notice—and whether Pendragon would recognise him in class the next day.

Another look around the bar only revealed that it was getting busier and busier, but Elyan was still nowhere to be seen. Pendragon and Green caught his attention again, when they were joined by Leon Knight and Percy Wood and Wood motioned for one of the drinks, to cheers from Green and others. Knight pretended to hide his eyes, when Wood lifted it to his lips to try to drink it. He didn’t seem to have the knack—too timidly, he tried to tilt the flame away and go for a sip, but it didn’t work. After a couple of attempts he decided to go for the gulp but as he sloshed the glass to his mouth he missed and yelped as he burnt his lips.

“Mayday! Down in flames!” Knight called and threw a beer in his RIO’s face, putting out the fire and leaving Wood blinking through wet eyelashes. 

“Thanks. I needed that,” Wood said, with a sheepish laugh. 

Merlin wondered how much of a handful these guys were going to be when he got them in the classroom, because they were certainly loud and boisterous here.

Thinking the comedy show must be over now, Merlin was about to turn away, when Morgause Gorlois appeared. It seemed she had been watching the whole spectacle because she motioned for her own drink, the people standing at the bar parting to give her access. Pendragon lit it for her, his eyes locked with hers. 

She held it between her thumb and first finger, blue flames flickering above the glass, then rolled her eyes, and downed it as cleanly as if it were just water. “Frat boys,” she said disdainfully, as she placed the glass back on the bar, and Merlin couldn’t have agreed with the sentiment more. 

Gorlois locked eyes with Pendragon. “I hear you’re only here because your daddy bumped another crew out and insisted you get their place,” she said. 

Before Pendragon could draw breath, Green had stepped into Gorlois’s space and was staring her down. “It’s no one else’s place. We’re here because we were the best team on our wing,” he said. 

“Not sure about the best. Definitely the most notorious,” Gorlois said, curling her lip into a sneer.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Pendragon asked, voice tight. Conversation around them died away as the people in their vicinity honed in on the potential confrontation.

“Just that we’ve heard about your exploits: your show-boating, your quests for glory, even when it leaves the rest of the squadron exposed,” LeFay said.

Gorlois leaned into Pendragon’s space and cocked her head as she stared him dead in the eye. “You’re dangerous. Unpredictable. It’s debatable whether you should be here at all.”  

She spun on her heel and strode away, LeFay flanking her and the eyes of half the bar following them. Merlin was pretty sure he didn’t want to get on the wrong side of those two, but he had enjoyed watching the women knock their male counterparts down a peg or two. They were full of confidence for sure, but in a refreshingly different way to the egotistical guys he usually had to deal with in his classes. 

Within a few moments, the buzz of chatter filled the room again and with the flaming drinks entertainment seemingly over for now, Merlin turned on his bar stool, leaning back against the counter and looking around the room. He was beginning to wonder if Elyan was actually coming. He downed the last of his Coke and wondered about ordering another, as one thumping song blended into the next. With a sigh he turned back to try to get the bartender’s attention. 

Before he could put his order in he felt a tap on his shoulder. He swung round with a smile, expecting Elyan, but instead he was confronted with Arthur Pendragon. He’d put his shades back on and he was holding a microphone, of all things. 

“Excuse me,” Pendragon said. Merlin raised an eyebrow at him but before he could come up with a suitable comment, Green pushed in between them. 

“Don’t worry sir, I’ll take care of this,” he said, turning his back on Merlin and positioning himself between Merlin and Pendragon as if he was trying to keep the pilot away from him.  Merlin felt thoroughly bemused. Before he could get a handle on things, Pendragon angled himself around Green and, with what was probably supposed to be a winsome smile, he pointed at Merlin, and then, unbelievably, started to sing. 

He did not have a good voice, and he had nothing but speaker feedback for accompaniment. It sounded awful, but Pendragon committed to it fully: 

Green took the second line. He could sing quite a lot better than Pendragon, and Merlin switched his attention to him, still unclear what on earth they were doing. 

“And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips”

With a dramatic flourish they turned so they were sideways to Merlin, back to back, rocking towards him and then away from him in unison, as they dueted, 

“You're trying hard not to show it
But baby, baby I know it”

By this point everyone in the area had stopped what they were doing to watch. Merlin folded his arms across his chest defensively. All the attention made him feel flushed and extremely awkward—but on the other hand, he couldn’t help but smile because the two men were really selling it now. 

When they got to the chorus a large part of the bar joined in. Merlin laughed in disbelief as about two dozen people started throwing their arms in the air and singing to him, 

“You’ve lost that lovin' feelin'
Whoa, that lovin' feelin'”

By now, Pendragon was really hamming it up, arching his back, one arm thrown in the air and the other clutching his heart, and singing directly to Merlin. The volume grew as yet more people joined in for the final two lines of the chorus,

“You’ve lost that lovin' feelin'
Now it's gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh, be doh, be doh.” 

Despite himself, Merlin was entertained by their highly committed, if artistically mediocre, performance, and he was certainly curious as to why he was the focus of it. Still, he wasn’t sure he could take any more singing, so before they could launch into the next verse he said, “Okay, okay! You’d better sit down, sailor,” and nodded to the seat next to him. 

The crowd that had gathered around Pendragon cheered and he raised his hand in acknowledgement to them, high-fiving Green, before he sat down with a grin. 

“Hi,” said Pendragon, his face flushed, mouth pulled into the widest smile. 

“That’s a great song,” Merlin said. “But I’ve never seen it used to start a conversation before. How long have you two been doing that act?” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Pendragon replied, “since, err…”

“Puberty?” Merlin suggested.

“Right, puberty,” he said, with a wry smile that Merlin found endeared the man to him a lot. His blend of self-confident and self-effacing was surprising in a pilot.

“I’m Merlin Emrys,” he said.

“Arthur,” Pendragon replied. “Lieutenant Arthur Pendragon, in fact.” 

“Ooh yes, the uniform. You’re not a pilot are you?” Merlin asked, feigning ignorance and excitement. 

“I am,” Arthur said, with a wink, as if he thought it was Merlin’s lucky day.

“Really?” Merlin gasped, widening his eyes in wonder. If Pendragon was going to insert himself into Merlin’s evening, Merlin figured he might as well have some fun with him, before he found out who Merlin really was tomorrow.  

Pendragon didn’t seem to notice his sarcasm though. “That’s right. I’m a naval aviator,” he said, annunciating the words carefully so Merlin could catch them. Merlin nodded, letting his expression appear as impressed as Pendragon intended him to be. “We’ve actually only done this twice,” he continued, with a cheeky smile, as if he was sure Merlin would find this fascinating and cute. 

“Oh, how did it go?” Merlin asked, humoring him. 

“Crashed and burned on the first one. It wasn’t pretty,” Pendragon said, shaking his head sorrowfully.

“Ah,” Merlin nodded sympathetically. “And the second one?”

A big grin broke out on the pilot’s face and Pendragon started laughing at his own joke before he’d even made it. Merlin resisted rolling his eyes: people who laughed at their own jokes were a pet peeve of his. “Well, I don’t know; I’ll tell you tomorrow, but it’s looking good so far.” 

“Really? You think it’s looking good, do you?” Merlin asked, marveling at Pendragon’s presumption.  

Pendragon raised an eyebrow and grinned, cheekily. “I’m hoping so, yeah.” 

At that moment Merlin finally spotted Elyan. It was just as well, as Merlin felt this had gone quite far enough. A bit of light flirting had been fun, but Pendragon and Green were already going to get the shock of their lives tomorrow, when they found out that they’d sung to, and propositioned, one of their instructors. It was time to draw their encounter to a close. 

“Well, Lieutenant Arthur Pendragon,” he said, “my friend’s just arrived, so it’s been nice talking to you, but I’m afraid I have to go now.” 

Merlin smiled and waved at Elyan indicating that he’d join him in just a minute. Before he got up to leave he turned back to Pendragon. “Can I ask you something? Are you a good pilot?”

“I can hold my own,” Pendragon said with another grin. 

“Good,” Merlin said, wishing he had a better line than this but reckoning it would do. “Then I won’t have to worry about you making your living as a singer.” And with that, Merlin got up and went to join Elyan. 

“I’ll see you around,” Pendragon called after him, and Merlin turned and smiled at him, before he’d thought better of it. 

“Making friends with the new recruits?” Elyan asked, as Merlin sat down. 

“It was bizarre, to be honest,” Merlin replied. “Pendragon and Green just came up and started singing to me. I have no idea why. Thank God they don’t know who I am.”

“But they’re going to find out tomorrow!” 

Merlin laughed. Elyan was right; he was going to get the last laugh when they found out he would be grading their theory papers and could prevent them from graduating from Top Gun. 

Half an hour later, a couple of Elyan’s friends arrived and joined them at the table. Merlin took the opportunity to excuse himself and go to the restroom. 

He was drying his hands when the door pushed open and Arthur Pendragon walked in. Merlin was immediately suspicious that it wasn’t a coincidence. Pendragon’s gaze raked down Merlin’s body quite deliberately and Merlin felt a shiver, which must have been of displeasure at Pendragon’s affrontery. Nevertheless, he could admit to himself that it was flattering to be looked at like that by someone as objectively attractive as Pendragon, even though he wasn’t the slightest bit interested. 

Neither of them spoke for several beats too long, until Merlin filled the silence by saying, dryly, “You again. Feeling luckier this time are you, sailor?” 

“Should I be?” Pendragon replied and he took a step into Merlin’s space, his tongue running over his lip, dampening it. 

Merlin felt like rolling his eyes. Had Pendragon actually taken his remark to be a show of interest? He’d meant it as a way of pointing out how ridiculous it was that Arthur was flirting again, after Merlin had already brushed him off once this evening. He toed at the floor and, in a tone that was unmistakably sarcastic, he asked, “So what do you want to do? Just drop right down on the tiles here and go for it?” 

This time Pendragon clocked that Merlin was taunting him. He took a step back, but instead of looking sheepish and beating a hasty retreat, he gripped the counter top, flexing his strong forearms as he pretended to test it for strength. He grinned and said, with a swagger, “Actually I had this counter in mind.”

“I’m not sure you’d be very comfortable bent over that, and anyway, I don’t think it would take your weight,” Merlin replied, arching an eyebrow at Pendragon.

The pilot threw his head back and laughed, like he had on the parade ground that morning, and Merlin’s eye was drawn again to the line of his throat and the way his Adam’s apple bobbed as his laugh died away. “I’m willing to find out—if you can handle me. It looks pretty strong,” he said. 

“Hmm. I can handle you, but no, I don’t think so,” Merlin said, keeping his tone lighthearted and enjoying the flirtation they were having, even though it wasn’t going to go anywhere. 

Pendragon shifted his weight and ran his hand through his hair. “Actually, I came in here to save you,” he said. 

“Really?” Merlin asked, deploying the raised eyebrow again.

“Yeah, to save you from making a big mistake with that other guy,” he said, angling his body towards Merlin and leaning into his space. They were eye to eye, being the same height, and Arthur’s breath was warm on Merlin’s cheek.

“So I could go and make an even bigger mistake with a guy like you?” Merlin asked, ducking his head and looking up flirtatiously through his eyelashes.

“Maybe,” Pendragon said, and the shrug of his shoulders seemed to indicate he doubted anyone had ever thought of him as a mistake. 

This had gone on quite long enough, Merlin decided. He really wasn’t sure whether Pendragon was just messing around with him, or if he was genuinely interested, but either way it was time to bring it to a close. “I don’t know what you thought would happen here, Pendragon, but whatever it was, it’s not going to. I’ll see you around, sailor.” 

By the time Merlin got back to Elyan’s table, their group had grown to five others, so he never told Elyan what had happened. He stayed for a couple more drinks and then excused himself. He’d only half been paying attention to the group’s chatter, his mind on his exchanges with Pendragon. He couldn’t really believe he’d actually been serenaded in a bar full of people, and he struggled to comprehend how someone who couldn’t even hold a tune would be willing to make that much of a spectacle of themselves, just to get his attention. 

Still, Merlin thought, pilots tended to be arrogant and attention-seeking, so maybe it came naturally to him. Generally he didn’t like pilots’ tendency to swagger or their frat-boy behavior, as Gorlois had so aptly named it earlier, and Pendragon had done all of that. But he also hadn’t taken himself seriously—he’d been willing to be the butt of his own jokes and of Merlin’s and Merlin found he actually felt quite warmly towards him, and his RIO, Green, who seemed quick-witted and fun-loving. He smiled to himself as he thought about the shock they were going to get when they saw him again in class, tomorrow.