Chapter Text
Arthur wasn't going to ask Merlin out.
'Why don't you just ask Merlin out?' Morgana asked for like the thousandth time, emphasising her question with some unnecessary eye-rolling and dramatic hair-tossing.
'I have my reasons...' Arthur sighed.
'Shoot.'
'One, he is my best friend. You don't fall in love with your best friend because that messes up everything and in a blink of an eye you find your friendship beyond repair.'
'Only if you break up,' Morgana pointed out, but Arthur decided to let that one go.
'Two, I am his best friend and Merlin wouldn't fall in love with his best friend because that messes up everything. And, again, bye-bye friendship.'
'Only if you break up.'
'Three, love changes the rules.'
'What rules?'
'The rules of friendship.'
'If you're going to tell me about the Bro Code, just don't.'
'I mean we are in a brothers-in-arms kind of friendship. All the times he broke up or got in a fight with a girlfriend slash boyfriend, he was welcome to my couch. Last time, after his break-up with Freya, he was sulking in my living-room for a week. A whole week! And they did part on good terms.'
'Shocking.'
'But my point is that if we embark on a new kind of relationship with Merlin, on whose couch will he find solace...? He can't sleep on my couch if we get in a fight, can he?'
'Maybe you could learn a thing or two about the mysteries of talking about your problems with each other, not with someone else. And, of course, you can always make him sleep on the couch.'
So Arthur, in the end, asked Merlin out. Of course. That was Merlin's answer, brightened by his goofy smile.
And of course Arthur didn't tell Morgana about it before he asked Merlin. He surely didn't want Merlin to know his intentions before he himself brought the topic up... And of course if Morgana had known about the planned date-invitation, she would have told Gwen and Gwen easily would have asked Merlin how it’d went with Arthur or congratulated him on the progress that, thank fuckin’ God finally, they’d made… It’s not easy when you have the same circle of friends.
Arthur’s hesitation about asking Merlin out grew during his plan-making: he wanted it to be a perfectfirst date, something classy but not clichéd. In the end he decided upon dinner being the safest solution - apart from the possibility of spilling your drink or food on your best shirt in front of the man you want to impress or swallowing the wrong way and die choking and gurgling horridly in front the man… etcetera. Or, on the other hand, Merlin might be just the expert on the Heimlich maneuver, and it would be oh-so-romantic if he would save his life on their very first date. So, Arthur reserved a table in one of Winchester’s most prominent restaurant for Friday evening, and showed up on Merlin’s doorstep in a perfectly tailored suit, faintly smelling of some rich cologne. He was even wearing a waistcoat.
‘Hi,’ he smiled a bit stupidly when Merlin opened the door.
‘Hi. Oh, you look really good. I should take a photo right now, just that good. Oh, God, should I change?’ Merlin babbled. He wasn’t wearing a suit, just a modest blue shirt (that was bringing out the colour of his eyes quite nicely) with black trousers. ‘I know you said we were having a fancy dinner. I’m not sure if I’d look this good in a suit but I can always… change.’
Don’t ever change, Arthur thought, but that sounded a bit cheesy, so, in the end, he stuck to almost casually saying: ‘I’m a hundred percent sure you would look astonishing in a suit, but since you look gorgeous as you are, I will wait for the next chance to see you in one.’
The cab-drive to the restaurant was almost alright, in Arthur’s opinion. They were a bit too quiet, chatting some, but mostly maintaining a pensive, not entirely uncomfortable silence. But the restaurant looked really neat, promising “subtle elegance with sharp service and fine food”, and they got a nice table with a single unobtrusive candle, so everything was promising a pleasant evening.
After ordering their drinks, they were just sitting there for a while, eyeing the menu, casting secret glances at each other when they thought the other wasn’t paying attention.
‘I feel a bit awkward wearing nothing but shirt,’ Merlin said, looking up from the menu.
‘Oh, Merlin, if you were wearing nothing but a shirt, it wouldn’t be awkwardness what I felt…’
‘Arthur, this is your cheapest, worst pick-up line ever, and damn if you haven’t tried out all of them on me.’
‘Now, that is awkward.’
‘I only meant that since I’ve known you, every time you had a first date you came to me and told all your pick-up lines and chose the one at which I hadn’t laughed my head off for actual use.’
‘Merlin, I know what you meant. I was there,’ Arthur tried really hard to sound serious, but suddenly a memory surfaced and he was barely able to contain his snickering. ‘Remember the morning when I called you and when you picked up your phone, I went straight for “hey, guy, you are the next tribute in the game of love”, and it was so early that instead of laughing at me you just asked if I had breakfast yet and I was tempted to come up with a remark so I answered “I’ll have you for breakfast”, then you simply hung up on me.’
‘I can’t believe you thought any of those would work on anyone,’ Merlin rolled his eyes. ‘Gwen once called you the Mr Collins of the town, but we didn’t get the joke, so in the end she dared me to read Pride and Prejudice. It was your fault I had to read that book.’
‘On the plus side, at least now you understand what she meant. And alas, the joke is still on me.’ Arthur paused a bit before continuing, ‘It is almost a miracle that after you’ve seen what is probably the worst side of me, you are still sitting here with me now.’
‘It’s Friday after all, and we spend every Friday evening together,’ Merlin pointed out.
Arthur stared at him for a while, before slowly and prudently declared: ‘You know, we are really idiots.’
The waiter arrived with their drinks. ‘Are you ready to order?’
Arthur closed his menu and put it away, ‘Actually, we have changed our minds, so I’d like to pay now, thank you.’
‘I’ll bring the check right out.’
‘What is it, Arthur?’ Merlin asked nervously. ‘What has changed?’
‘Let’s say that I got a better idea. Drink up, we are leaving soon.’
He refused to say anything else until they were out of the restaurant.
‘Arthur, tell me or else,’ Merlin huffed. ‘I will leave. Or something like that. What happened?’
‘Nothing happened, except that I realised it would be beyond every reason to spend our usual Friday evening feeling awkward and slightly uncomfortable in some fancy restaurant.’
‘I wasn’t feeling awkward! Well, yes, I was, for various reasons, but I have a habit to be awkward, but if you are calling off our first date, I swear I…’
‘I am not calling it off.’
‘No? That’s good. Because I am quite persistent on going on a date with you,’ Merlin said, before adding with a playful grimace, ‘Many dates, in fact.’
‘That’s nice. It means that your plans pretty much line up with mine,’ Arthur held out his hand. ‘One day when we both feel like it I will take you a classy restaurant. But tonight we will have a fish and chips date.’
‘We eat fish and chips every Friday evening,’ Merlin pointed out, but nevertheless he took Arthur’s hand.
‘And we will eat fish and chips every Friday evening. And I will bombard you, and only you, with my worst pick-up lines and puns. We will do everything just the same as we did before tonight. Except in one condition. We will do everything with more kissing.’
‘Hm?’
‘With lots of kissing.’
‘Sure. Fine thing. Let’s do it.’
And so they did.