Writers Block

Merlin looked down at the letter in his hand with equal amounts of amazement and fear of the unknown. He had no idea his little travel musings had gained such a following. He knew Bryce was raving about the reader letters he was receiving and the amount of interest his articles created, but the letter he held in his hand had completely floored him. The opportunity was almost too good to be true.

One of the biggest travel magazines in the country wanted Merlin to go in for an interview. They had seen his articles and also followed his blogs – they obviously liked the stories he set his writing to and wanted to see if he would be a good fit for their team. Merlin was beyond ecstatic. Actually he may or may not have squealed like a girl and ran around the house ten times – including running across the couch each time he went past.

His dream was being realised – how on earth had he gotten so lucky? He’d wanted an opportunity like this for years, had sent many letters of interest and resumes over the years to them. So why was it all different now? He knew his writing had improved exponentially over the last few months. It was as if the creativity switch had flipped in Merlin. This thought made the penny drop in his mind.

Arthur.

Sighing heavily he sat for just one moment, the excitement buzzing away in his stomach. Arthur was definitely a huge part of why his writing was so good now – although he could never tell him. Merlin would die of mortification before telling the gorgeous bartender the reason his career was moving forward was because Merlin dreamt up nasty ways to fuck him.

But, Merlin was excited and an excited Merlin needed to go out and celebrate. He needed to down countless beers, laugh with a good mate and maybe even dance – he loved to dance, but only when filthy drunk, then he could blame the alcohol.

He rang Gwaine who was more than happy to be Merlin’s drinking buddy and they arranged to meet at The Pendragon’s Den at eight. Merlin looked up at the clock - it was only six. Could he wait? Probably not.

Instead of rushing out, Merlin actually took some time to get ready, picking out dark fitted jeans and a deep almost black navy blue shirt. Except taking his time ended up turning into a nightmare – he dropped one of his contact lenses down the sink while adjusting it and he hadn’t gotten a repeat prescription for them yet.

“Fuck,” he felt marginally better at yelling down the sink hole. But no amount of swearing would coax the little clear contact back.

He scrambled around his bedside drawer and found his glasses – he popped them on feeling slightly disorientated for a moment – it had been a while since he’d worn them. He looked at himself in the mirror and grimaced. They were black rimmed and looked a little hipsterish – he was only human and went through the phase too. But, on the plus side they actually suited his face and made his blue eyes seem even bluer – if that were possible. The only thing – Merlin really didn’t want Arthur to see him like this. He wanted Arthur to know him as the confident writer – not a nearly legally blind nerd.

But he had no choice – the optometrist where he got his contacts from was closed. Plus, Arthur probably wouldn’t even notice.

He grabbed his bag and headed out – it was still early, but Merlin reasoned he could get his usual seat, and if Gwaine was late he’d brought his pad to write if inspiration hit.
Once again the car park was crowded and when Merlin pushed inside he saw a huge line up of women wearing pink dresses with sashes at the bar waiting for shots. Judging by the bawdy behaviour and giggles it was a hens night party. The women were practically oozing pheromones at Arthur – who looked amazing in a tight black shirt with Magners written down the sleeve. Merlin tried to stifle the small pang of what he could only describe as misplaced jealousy at how gorgeous he was – Arthur if he chose to, could have a very good night with some of these women. Merlin meanwhile adjusted his glasses and stood at the quiet end of the bar – a few ladies looked his way, he smiled politely and waited for Arthur to see him.
Arthur looked up a moment later, ‘Won’t be a minute,”

Merlin nodded and smiled and that’s when Arthur did a double take, and stared – the small shot-glass in his hand overflowed much to the shrieks and yells of the women, but Arthur was still staring. Merlin looked next to him – there was no one there. What was wrong with Arthur? He looked paralysed.

Arthur blinked once and looked down at the mess he’d made, he laughed and apologised and made another one – not before he looked back at Merlin, his lips slightly parted. Merlin saw him swallow hard then look back down at his hands concentrating on the drinks. Confused Merlin just watched him.

Laura came up smiling from out the back, “Hey, Merlin – lager?”

“It’s ok, Laura – I’ve got Merlin.” Arthur yelled almost breathlessly from the end of the bar.

Merlin raised an eyebrow at Laura, “Guess I’m fine.”

She laughed and went to help Arthur out with all the hen orders. Merlin looked over and saw his chair free – it was strange – every time he came in it was like somehow people knew not to sit there – it was odd, but good. He went over and dumped his satchel and went back to the bar, Arthur was waiting for him – still staring. Merlin pushed his glasses up further on his face and smiled.

“Make me the special drink - it’s going to be a good night,” Merlin said while clapping his hands together and rubbed them in excitement. He felt great – things were looking up.

Arthur nodded; eyes still on Merlin as if he couldn’t tear them away. Merlin gestured with his hand, and spoke in a teasing tone, still a little puzzled at Arthur’s behaviour.
“Generally I as the paying customer orders a drink and you – the bartender would grab it for me…did I get our arrangement wrong?”

He watched as Arthur’s eyes looked over his entire face for what felt like a minute, before Merlin noticed a slight flush to the blonde’s cheeks. “You…” Arthur coughed. “You just look different, when did you get glasses?”

Arthur finally turned around to make the drink and Merlin felt embarrassment creep up, bloody hell he’d almost forgotten the stupid ugly glasses. “I’ve had them forever – I never wear them – makes me look like a fifteen year old Star Trek convention nerd…not that there is anything wrong with that…I’ve actually been to one or two and they are not all that…”

Merlin stopped himself – he was rambling and his drink was ready.

“No they don’t, they make you look gor…I mean – they suit you – a lot.” Arthur busied his hands and Merlin once again noticed how the blonde was avoiding direct eye contact – what was that about?

“Right,” Merlin said slowly – clearly Arthur was very tired, or had something else on his mind as he kept darting glances his way and looked fidgety. “Everything okay?”

‘Yep fine,” Arthur said, grabbing a cloth and running it over the pristine bar. “What’s special about tonight?”

“Meeting a good friend, and…”

“More shots, honey!” An older woman from the hens party yelled from the other end of the bar interrupting Merlin.

Arthur finally came back into himself and smirked at Merlin. “Tell me later – I’m here all night because my wanker boss said so.”

Merlin winced slightly in embarrassment, “Yeah – about that…”
“I’ve been called worse – though I thought you pretentious writer types would have bigger vocabularies, wanker is very…un-inspiring.” Arthur walked off to serve the hens party before they created a riot and Merlin was left standing there watching his arse move further away.

Exquisitely arousing, came to Merlin’s mind to describe Arthur. The blonde turned towards Merlin and grinned again, and suddenly he had the thought he’d like to come over Arthur’s face – which was not such a nice way of describing him, but it would be fucking hot to do.

He grabbed his drink and fell into the wingback chair. The excitement of the letter still coursed through him, and now watching his muse serve drinks and laugh with the customers he felt like he could take on the world and survive any situation it threw at him. His satchel dug into his back and as he placed it on the ground he came up with an idea to bide time until Gwaine came and got him filthy drunk.

~~~~~~~~~

The shotgun was loud – too loud in the small street of suburbia in a country town whose name had been forgotten. Merlin reloaded and took aim – one zombie left. He’d already taken out the old lady, a shot to the forehead. Now a young man in his early thirties was chasing him down. Merlin took his time to turn around and aim properly; he couldn’t afford to let a shot go awry, he was down to the barest of
ammunition.

As the man’s head exploded into gore Merlin sighed and wondered how it had all gone so wrong. One moment all the book stores and movie theatres were having a zombie themed apocalypse, you couldn’t turn around without a new show, or hot actor or novelist coming up with the next big zombie idea – then it fucking happened. Some hot shot scientist screwed up – and then the world ceased to exist in the same parameters as it used to. It felt like years ago – it was probably months.

Merlin hadn’t seen another human for over two weeks now; when he found someone they usually stayed together for a day or two then parted company. He tended to want to stay alone, although he desperately missed sex – there was a serious shortage of gay alive men left. Everyone he had met was trying to get back to a family member, a loved one or the place they grew up – Merlin had no-one or nowhere like that to find, so he just meandered around – taking cars full of gas and finding houses unoccupied to live in for a while. Electricity hadn’t been completely cut off in some towns – whether they were running on back-up generators or not, Merlin didn’t know – but he loved it when he found a house with running water and ice cubes in the fridge.

And that was where he was heading now – he saw a large house up on a hill – it looked relatively unscathed – gates still shut – grass growing rapidly and the windows intact. It was a good sign. He scoped it out for almost the whole day – doing slow laps, checking for signs of life…or death – the type which walks around and wants to gnaw your nose off.

Finally Merlin breached the perimeter and made his way to the back door. It was unlocked and clicked open with the slightest push. Merlin drew his knife out holding it up and entered. It was a laundry, no blood smears or pushed over furniture could be seen, so far so good.

The kitchen was in great repair and Merlin was completely shocked to see dishes on the rack as if somebody had just finished cleaning up. He walked over to the tap and twisted it. He moaned out loud when he felt the hot water hit his hand – he’d hit the jackpot.

Suddenly a noise came from behind him and he started to whirl.
“Don’t even think about it, hands in the air.”

The deep voice made Merlin shiver slightly – he was careless, why didn’t he look further into the house instead of almost coming in his pants at the thought of a hot shower? He raised his hands and dropped his knife – he had others tucked all over his cargos and under his shirt. It paid to be prepared.

Suddenly hands were running themselves over his arms,
shoulders and chest – tapping him over. They slid down his sides and spent almost a little too much time checking his arse, before patting his thighs and legs. It had been too long since somebody had touched him he was almost ashamed to admit he was a little turned on.

“If you even think about using any of those weapons – I will kill you – now what do you want?”

Merlin thought for a moment – the man behind him sounded about the same age, and he also sounded like a bit of a cock – but in this day and age when you couldn’t trust a fly not to turn you into a zombie, Merlin didn’t blame him. He decided to be honest.

“A shower, food and sleep in a decent bed.”

He was spun around and when he saw who he was being manhandled by he almost let his mouth drop open. The guy was totally gorgeous, big blue eyes looked him over trying to figure out whether Merlin posed a threat or not. The man was blonde, freshly shaven and built like a wet dream. It took all of Merlin’s willpower not to drop to his knees and beg this man to let him suck his cock – it really had been too long.

“And what would I get out of this?” The blonde asked all while running his eyes up and down Merlin’s body impassively.

“Anything you wanted…” Merlin couldn’t believe he’d said that out loud – he may as well have bent over the sink opened his arse cheeks and said here it is.

“Anything….? Well it doesn’t look like you have anything to bargain with. But, I’m in a generous mood so if you leave all your weapons here with me – you can head upstairs and take a shower.”

Merlin didn’t like the idea of leaving his weapons behind, but the thought of a hot shower meant more to him in that moment than worrying about this gorgeous stranger and what he may or may not do. Merlin had been around a long time and knew how to defend himself with just his body. So he nodded and shucked off all his weapons. It was almost more personal than stripping naked in front of someone for the first time – removing his knives and guns.

“I’m Merlin...”

“And I’m not interested – showers first door on the left.”

The blonde left Merlin standing shocked; what a bloody arsehole. He was just trying to be friendly, just trying to act a little human – something the world lacked now. Typical, Merlin would find the one and only wanker left on the planet who didn’t even want to converse. His luck wasn’t the greatest, he almost laughed – nobody left on earth had any real luck.

He stripped off and climbed under the spray and let out a throaty moan of contentment – gods, it felt phenomenal. The man even had shower gel and spare razors and Merlin figured when in Rome, and shaved off his facial hair and scrubbed himself from head to toe. He started to lazily clean his prick and all too soon it was hard, and just when he was getting a good rhythm there was a sharp rap at the door.

“Time’s up – get out.”

Groaning and cursing at the same time, Merlin shut the shower down and looked ruefully at his semi-hard dick. He couldn’t believe his own hand was being cock-blocked.

Wrapping a large towel around himself he opened the door onto the landing – the blonde stood there arms crossed over his large chest, once more he looked Merlin up and down slowly. His eyes were unreadable.

“You know you’re a prick right?” Merlin couldn’t help it.

“In this life and the next probably, you can sleep in there, clothes on the bed should fit your scrawny frame.”

Merlin let out an indignant huff, and pushed past the blonde mumbling, “Prick was being kind.”

The laugh was unexpected and Merlin felt himself flush, it was a good laugh and he knew somehow it had been a long time since this man had let one out. The room was clean and the clothes in great repair – he couldn’t help but wonder whose house this was. The man was still standing in the door as Merlin picked up the shorts, he turned slightly.

“Are you going to watch me get dressed?”

“Yep.”

That was all, just a yep? Merlin didn’t know what to think, so he shrugged and dropped the towel. He swore he heard a small intake of breath behind him, so on purpose he shifted slightly as he bent over to put the shorts on, giving the blonde and eyeful. Merlin was more than a little turned on that this man was watching him get dressed and he calculated in his head the last time he’d had sex – it was over a year, holy shit – no wonder this man was pushing Merlin’s buttons.

“Now what?” Merlin said as he pulled a shirt over his head and looked around at the blonde, who had a suspicious bulge in his jeans.

“Now, I’m going to fuck that hot tight arse of yours.”

Merlin froze, not from fear but from lust – a sharp spike had hit his solar plexus at the blonde’s dirty words. He wasn’t at all concerned that he had no idea who this man was – hell, in his bar-hopping days sometimes he’d suck a cock of a complete stranger in an alley just to get a hit.

Before anything more was said the man smirked at Merlin and spun around and walked off back downstairs, leaving Merlin a little hot and bothered – wanker.

He came downstairs and found the man sitting at the dining room table, eyes hooded and feet up on it looking relaxed and not at all bothered that Merlin followed him.

“You can’t do that!”

“Do what?” The blonde smirked.

“You can’t promise a fucking then walk away.”

“Who walked away?”

“You did!” Merlin was getting frustrated by this point, they were talking in circles.

“I was leading you here – now take your clothes off and jump up.” He said this while slapping the hard wood of the table. His eyes never left Merlin’s.

Heartbeat stomping about in his chest and the nervous energy of doing something inappropriate surged through Merlin’s long neglected body. He took off the clothing he had only just put on for this man. His cock bobbed out of the shorts at half-mast already, and before he could even feel embarrassed he saw the look on the blonde’s face and suddenly he felt a little more in control.

He started to get on the table, chest on the wood and arse in the air but he was stopped. “No, I want you on your back, legs hanging over the edge.”

Merlin complied wondering what this man had planned. He found out a second later. He pulled his chair right up to the edge of the table and sat suddenly - pulling Merlin’s knees over his shoulders.

The tongue was tentative at first, making small licks to the base of Merlin’s cock, before lazily stroking his balls. Merlin let out a gasp and writhed at the contact – it was heaven. He couldn’t believe he was in this position with a guy who didn’t look like a crazy mad survivor; then the wetness made a line down behind his balls, along the sensitive ridge before sliding through his crack, lingering slightly on the small pucker of Merlin’s hole.

“Holy fuck.” Merlin couldn’t help cry out, he shut his eyes and let the sensation of having a tongue open him up slowly take over. He felt a pressure and suddenly a long finger snuck its way inside of him – all while the blonde’s tongue teased and created wetness.

“Your arse is so tight, Merlin.” The muffled words made him writhe again and he felt his cock throb. Another finger pushed past the tight ring of muscle and Merlin cried out and arched up slightly. He was dying, he was dying of bliss. Between the slurps and loud sucking noises, he heard the man say, “I want to bury myself so deep in your slutty little hole.”

Pre-come leaked its way from his cock at the words. He wanted it too – so very badly. But the blonde’s tongue was fucking magnificent and he was slowly preparing Merlin in the hottest way ever – he didn’t even know if he’d last until a prick was nestled deep inside of him. But he’d give it red hot go.

“Now – do it now…” Merlin breathlessly managed to get out as the man fucked him slowly with three fingers all while licking around the edges – it was enough to send a sane man to the brink.

Suddenly the man stood up dropping his pants in the process, a large heavy cock surrounded by blonde curls stood erect and mouth-wateringly hard. Merlin wriggled slightly as the man leaned over and grabbed a bottle of something.

“Lube, you found lube in a post-apocalyptic world?” He couldn’t help but laugh.

The man grinned in return, while lathering it over his cock. “I know my priorities.”

Then he was there – the tip of his hardness pressing insistently against Merlin’s tightness. His feet now rested on the man’s shoulders and he felt open and fucking fantastic. And where Merlin had an inkling the man would take it slow – he was so very wrong. Almost violently the man speared Merlin with his cock – Merlin arched off the table and bellowed out at the sudden filling of his body. He slapped the wood of the table with his palm as he cried out and tried to adjust himself so the pain turned into pleasure – it took all of two seconds.

Then it was a blur of movement, sweating and loud fucking noises. The slapping of the man’s thighs against Merlin’s arse was hot, as were the muffled moans he was trying not to let out. Merlin on the other hand was practically yelling out his pleasure. He always was a screamer – it made the pleasure even more intense. Thrusting for all he was worth the blonde grasped Merlin’s hips and went even harder and deeper. Merlin could do nothing but claw at the table as this man fucked him into the hard wood. His pace never let up and Merlin could see the veins sticking out in his neck as he held Merlin in position.

Merlin felt his orgasm building – the sensation of being fucked after so long was making every nerve ending tingle. He threw his head back against the table and began to pant in short sharp bursts – then a hand wrapped itself around his cock and he exploded – come smearing its way up his stomach and chest. He felt a shudder and the throbbing of seed filling him up as the blonde jerked to a halt and held himself inside of Merlin as he came deep and long.

“Arthur – my name’s Arthur…” The blonde said breathlessly before he slid out from Merlin and sat heavily in the chair grinning widely.

Merlin chuckled, “Nice to meet you.”

~~~~~~~~~~

A loud shriek broke Merlin from his story – the women were back at the bar and yelling for Arthur to take his shirt off. Merlin watched in interest – he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to ogle in case he did it. But to Merlin’s bitter disappointment Arthur shook his head and laughed ‘no’. Looking down at his zombie story and re-reading parts of it – Merlin smiled lightly. He truly felt in this moment he could do anything – say anything.

He watched Arthur making drinks ‘cocktail’ style, throwing small silver canisters up behind his back and shaking them, making the women giggle and yell. A small part of Merlin wanted to ask Arthur if he was gay – the sane part of him said don’t do it. He never got the chance to really think it through as suddenly 80kg of pure man jumped on his lap kissing him squarely on the lips.

“Gwaine – get off you tosser.” Merlin laughed as he pushed his best mate off his lap. Gwaine gave him hurt puppy dog eyes before winking and looking around the bar.

That was when Merlin caught Arthur’s gaze again and it was not a good look – Arthur was scowling in his direction. Maybe he didn’t want the chair to break and he was annoyed two grown men were being stupid in it.

“Fuck me, Merlin – this place is nice, and check out the ladies night in progress. I’m going to get me laid tonight.” Gwaine whistled and waggled his eyebrows. Merlin just laughed.
“You always think you’re going to get laid – how often does it actually happen?”

“More often than you, mate. You’re practically a monk lately. You know this is the first time in months we’ve caught up for drinks – are you cheating on me?”

It was at that very second Arthur rolled around, his frown smoothing out as Merlin watched him. He picked up Merlin’s empty glass and nodded at him politely.

Merlin sat back and it wasn’t until Arthur had gotten back behind the bar that he noticed Gwaine watching him with interest only scientists got when discovering a new species.

“Holy shit – it all makes sense now.”

“What does?” Merlin asked absently, not liking the way Arthur was smiling at one of the women who’d come up alone for a drink – hang on was he making her Merlin’s drink? No it had pink in it. Merlin didn’t want to wonder on why he was now getting possessive over Arthur’s drinks. It was all too ludicrous. He came out of his thoughts to Gwaine shaking his head and an evil glint in his eye.

“Oh – I’m going to get this barman for you, Merlin – if it’s the last thing I do.”

Merlin looked at him aghast, “Oh no you’re not – we are going to celebrate my news, have a few drinks and go home…alone.
There will be no ‘getting’ of the barman – there is nothing ‘going on’ with the barman, nothing at all.”

Gwaine nodded absently and Merlin had a bad feeling. Gwaine jumped up to the bar and grabbed Laura’s attention and whispered something in her ear. She giggled, eyes alight and on Merlin – she nodded enthusiastically. Merlin felt his stomach jump alive – what the hell were they planning? He didn’t like not knowing. Before he knew it Gwaine was back, Laura in tow – a large bottle of tequila in her hand and two shot glasses. Merlin watched the little lone worm float around the bottom of the bottle and knew this night was about to get messy.

~~~~~~~~~~
A/N - thanks for reading :)