The Day After

[daniel_brown]

Going home after what had happened wasn't easy, it wasn't until after many pizza-flavored kisses and a text message threat from home that he reluctantly put his clothes back on and forced himself to say "Goodnight" - leaving his panties purposefully tucked into the sheets to be found later.

He slept deep and well, waking the next day to go about business as usual - aside from a stop for confidential STI testing - even though it was hard to keep his head out of the clouds. After settling into the team bus it was hard not to want to reach out to him.

He types out several messages - "I think I love you." "I want you so bad." "Are you thinking about me?" - and erases them all, opting for a much more neutral message.

what r u doing?

Comments

[daniel_brown]

Imagining Merlin with a girl is far more hot than awkward in his head, but he's already headed down the path where just about everything is arousing.

He gives the information without a second thought, assuming - hoping - it would involve some top secret communication to get him through the next week.

After giving a quick look to make sure his teammate was asleep, he sent back.

I bet it was hot

[mysticism]

she seemed to like it. i was just all - boobs, yeah, they're okay i suppose???

And it's stupidly risky, but he can't help himself:

think you can get 15mins to yourself somewhere after the match?

Twenty seconds later:

game not match, wrong country sorry

[daniel_brown]

He can kind of identity with that... Though in a more vague, not-nearly-as-obsessed-as-everyone-else sort of way.

Danny's skin tingles at the question and he shifts in his seat to drive his zipper down against his burgeoning arousal before he answers:

an hr at least. might be late tho.

[mysticism]

Merlin smiles softly to himself as he starts tapping out his reply.

you're worth waiting for. ring me when you can?

[daniel_brown]

And that's enough to make him blush, nearly making him miss the announcement that they'd be pulling in soon.

I'll call by 1. b thinking abt u all night.

A little giddy, almost light headed (such are the woes of a guy head over heels) he takes a photo pretending to kiss the camera and attaches it to a short but sweet truth:

not only dirty stuff.

[mysticism]

so will i.

now go win your game for me, k? talk later.

For now, Merlin really has to go and take a cold shower before he can do literally anything else with his evening. And as much as he feels weirdly like a housewife pottering around his flat, waiting for his man to finish up with whatever masculine activities are taking him away from the home - he really can't wait for that phone call.

Puttering housewife!Merlin is adorable, for the record.

[daniel_brown]

By the time he can get away from his (painfully straight and even more painfully closed minded) teammate, it's almost fifteen minutes late and he's panicking by the second ring Merlin thinks he wasn't going to call at all.

He sits on the edge of the tub with a towel wedged under the door as he draws a hot bath, holding his breath on the third ring.

He probably dusted. Also, I'm off to bed but more tomorrow!

[mysticism]

Merlin's still up, but he's lying in bed with a book at this stage. He's mostly assuming that Daniel's either passed out in bed or is still with his friends, celebrating or commiserating. He can't blame him on either count; Merlin doesn't mind if an illicit relationship with a teacher (of all things) is being deprioritised tonight. He'll give it another ten minutes, and then -

And then the phone rings. Merlin smiles and reaches for it, picking up by the fourth ring and putting it on speaker.

"Hello, you." He can hear running water in the background. Smart man. "How'd it go?"

Sleep well! Can't wait for more!

[daniel_brown]

With a sigh of relief, he strips off his jeans and blurts out; "We won... Oh, and I had to make up an emergency imaginary girlfriend to get away."

Rolling his eyes, he mutters; "Hold on, shirt..."

[mysticism]

Merlin smiles sadly to himself. He's fine with being an imaginary girlfriend - needs must, and so on - but it's all kinds of crap that Daniel has to invent something quite so out of tune with reality. But he does understand the need, especially when he's sleeping over with a friend. Even coming out at a relatively cosmopolitan university, some of Merlin's mates started to keep him at arm's length, as if a friendly pat on the shoulder would make him uncontrollable with lust.

(He's been trying hard to shepherd thoughts along the lines of 'fucking breeders' out of his consciousness for a long time, but they're all still there.)

He waits for the 'struggling with clothes' type noises to quiet down.

"Congratulations," he says softly. "On the win, not the girlfriend. Although the girlfriend's missimg you."

[daniel_brown]

Smiling somewhat dumbly as he sinks into the warm water, letting it soothe a sore knee and handful of small bruises, Danny replies without hesitation; "I miss you too."

Other thoughts dance at the tip of his tongue but just like in text he can't quite bring himself to put words to them.

"I'm taking a bath. He's got this amazing huge tub."

[mysticism]

"You've earnt it. Try not to drop your phone, yeah?"

Merlin props up his pillows a little better and sits back, closing his eyes so he can better soak in the sound of Daniel's voice.

"Oh, and not that I want to talk about you grappling with a gang of athletic young men, but have you hurt yourself at all?"

[daniel_brown]

Letting out a soft groan, Danny assures himself the phone isn't about to slip and then pushes his knee out of the water to see the swelling wasn't looking too bad.

"Yeah, I'm all right. I was running a third down and their asshole safety sacked me - instead of going down on my pads and dropping the ball I went for a wild pass and twisted my knee." He laughs, closing his eyes before asking; "I'm gonna assume all you got out of that is I twisted my knee."

[mysticism]

Merlin chuckles, tucking one hand behind his head and splaying the other over his bare stomach. "Yeah, pretty much. I can barely follow proper football, to be honest. You might've guessed this by now, but I've never been much of a bloke's bloke.

"...Socially, anyway."

[daniel_brown]

He'd gotten that impression well before he got to know him on a more intimate level, to be honest. It was actually really nice to have someone he really liked that didn't practically breathe sports.

"I did good," he simplifies, sinking his knee back into the warm water. "What about you, any luck with your papers?"

[mysticism]

"Well, they're done. I don't know about luck," Merlin says, only slightly maudlin. "I didn't feel the need to stab myself in the eye with my red pen so I suppose that's something."

[daniel_brown]

Holding back his laugh, with little success, Danny offers; "Mmm, maybe I can take your mind off nightmares about impossible covalent bonds? I want to make sure you sleep well."

And maybe he's just a little (or a lot) excited about the texts he's been rereading most of the evening.

[mysticism]

"I'd like that." Merlin's voice is immediately lower, warmer, his body already heating with anticipatory arousal. His hand slips from his stomach under the blanket, groping around until his fingers brush satin. He found them while he was changing the sheets.

"You forgot your knickers last night," he says, softly, and there's a pretty clear set of quotation marks around 'forgot'. "They still smell like you."

Sorry I'm slacking on Max, just not feeling him right now.

[daniel_brown]

Danny lets out a low groan, able to imagine Merlin nosing up against the satin just a little too clearly, with unexpectedly arousing results.

"Yeah?" He manages almost innocently; "Guess I wanted to make sure you have something to remember me by."

Don't worry about it at all <3

[mysticism]

"That and then some," Merlin murmurs, rubbing his fingers over the satin. It feels wonderful against his fingers, almost liquid, and it's not so hard to imagine why Daniel does what he does. "But you're doing yourself a disservice if you think I'm going to forget last night any time soon."

Appreciated! <3

[daniel_brown]

The soft tone of Merlin's voice warms him again, the increasingly familiar flutter of nervousness in his gut both welcome and unexpected.

"Yeah? Well... You know..." He blushes, changing the topic just a little off himself and his own insecurities. "Are you in bed?"

[mysticism]

"Yeah. Wish you were here."

His voice drops.

"Are you hard, Daniel?"

[daniel_brown]

He wishes he were there to, but knows saying as much would end up with him claiming that he could be if he really wanted him there.

Instead, he murmurs; "A little... Thinking about last night." Grinning wider, he says; "I bet you are."

[mysticism]

"Yeah, I am." Getting there, anyway. He runs his fingers lightly over his swelling shaft and huffs out a soft breath. "Thinking about what I'm gonna do to you next time."

[daniel_brown]

The soft huff is enough for him to draw his hand under the water - stroking gently over over his partially hard length.

"God... I can't wait." He murmurs, squeezing himself tighter around the base.