Amped - Part 13
Nov. 13th, 2011 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwyllionTitle: Amped
Author: gwylliondream
Genre: Modern au
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: NC-17
Words: 57,554
A/N: This was written for NaNoWriMo 2011. For additional notes, warnings, etc, please refer to Part 1 here.
Disclaimer: I did not create these characters. No disrespect intended. No profit desired, only muses.
Comments: Comments are welcome anytime! Thanks so much for reading!
“You seem tense today,” Merlin said, looking up from the control panel where dozens of wires formed what looked like a giant bird’s nest to Arthur.
“Is it that obvious?” Arthur asked, rubbing his hands together to get them warm within the chilly room. The concrete block construction did little to encourage the heat to seep in.
Through the glass window at the front of the booth, he watched Leon soundlessly tuning his bass. The other musicians all seemed to be engaged in animated discussions, of which Arthur and Merlin couldn’t hear a single word.
Each of the instruments needed their sound configured from the booth and Merlin had worked most of the afternoon getting a baseline for where they should begin on The Round Table Tour’s first stop. It would only save time for their all-important first live performance.
“Worried about a power failure on opening night?” asked Merlin, removing the pair of headphones from his ears and letting them rest across the back of his neck.
“If only,” Arthur said. “That would be just my luck. Bad enough that I have to worry about The Black Zigzags stealing our thunder, but now I’ve got vocalist issues.”
“Gwaine trying to take your job away again?” Merlin asked, stripping the black rubber coating from a wire with a pair of needle-nose pliers.
Arthur laughed. “I don’t think I have to worry about that. Try, as he may.”
Merlin dropped to the floor and crawled beneath the control board, “Pass me that screwdriver, would you?”
Arthur looked around the top of the panel and found it. He passed it under the panel into Merlin’s waiting hand.
“Thanks,” Merlin said. “Is it Morgause? She can be very demanding. It’s no wonder The Black Zigzags have had some success. She has that air of entitlement about her. I don’t dare say no to anything she asks, lest she turn me into a frog.”
Arthur squatted down to where Merlin was busily splicing wires together. “It’s Gwen,” he said.
“She wants to sing lead?” asked Merlin.
“No, she has a friend for whom she’s going to try to do a favour. Nimueh is her name and if I let her sing back-up, there’s going to be a whole lot of trouble,” Arthur said.
“Oh, that kind of trouble,” Merlin remarked.
“What do you mean that kind of trouble?” Arthur asked, making air quotes.
“Ex-girlfriend trouble,” said Merlin, before biting down on a length of wire to free both his hands for other manipulations of the electronics that controlled the sound effects.
“No, not ex-girlfriend trouble,” Arthur said, shoving Merlin’s shoulder playfully.
“Hey, hey!” Merlin shouted. “Not while I’m working. You wouldn’t want me to get electrocuted. Then where would the tour be? You’d go from one roadie to zero roadies in the blink of an eye.”
“Well, the way you’re patching wires together and sticking things that conduct electricity in your mouth, I’m surprised you’ve survived this long,” Arthur said, getting to his feet.
Merlin crawled backwards from beneath the control panel and clambered up the rungs of the rickety stool until he was standing face to face with Arthur.
Arthur could feel Merlin’s breath on his face. And not for the first time, he noticed the crinkly lines that framed Merlin’s eyes when he smiled. Suddenly, it seemed like the room had gotten a lot smaller.
Merlin moved first. His brilliant blue eyes shifted from Arthur to the floor, or really to Arthur’s chest which must have blocked Merlin’s view of the floor because they were standing so close.
“Well, I’d better get going so you can do my sound check,” Arthur said.
“Right,” Merlin said, grabbing at the headphones to replace them on his ears.
Arthur reached for the left earpiece with his right hand and pulled it away from Merlin’s ear.
“And power failure or not, it’s no bother for me to give you a ride home tonight,” Arthur let the earpiece spring into place on Merlin’s ear and quickly left the booth so he didn’t have to hear Merlin protests.
***
The rehearsal went well. Arthur was relieved that Morgause only made a minimum of demands on Merlin and on his band mates. She seemed more keen on bossing Cenred around, truth be told. Arthur couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
Morgause had achieved a level of notoriety as being the brains of their operation, and Arthur now had been given a first-hand glimpse of her in action. She would have been a formidable opponent in a boardroom. Too bad she took up gigging instead.
When the last of the instruments were packed away and Arthur had said his final goodbyes for the night, Arthur was sorry to see Gwen beckoning him with a curl of her index finger. He walked over to her, his fingers fiddling with the microphone cord he had wrapped around his left arm.
“Did Morgana talk to you?” Gwen asked, out of earshot from the rest of the musicians.
“About what?” Arthur tried to stay cool.
“Don’t play stupid with me, Arthur. She’s practically your sister,” Gwen said, sounding very pissed off. “She has a friend… Nimueh… that she wants me to get into the band, singing back-up.”
“Gwen? Are you almost ready?” Lance called from the set of exit doors behind the stage. They were not your ordinary metal theatre doors, but ones through which a semi-truck could be driven if necessary. It wasn’t necessary at the moment, because Percival’s drum kit had already been loaded into Lance’s mini-van, where it awaited delivery to the warehouse in the morning with the keyboards. Gwen held up a finger to indicate to Lance that she needed another minute. He nodded and disappeared through the doors.
“I don’t know, Arthur. Morgana could open a lot of doors for me,” Gwen said hesitantly.
Arthur bit his lip, trying to stay calm, trying to hear Gwen out.
“I wouldn’t want to go behind your back on this,” Gwen said, looking away. “What do you think I should do?”
“I’ve always given you free reign to do as you see fit with the back-ups, Gwen. You know that. I trust you’ll make the right decision on your own,” Arthur said.
Gwen slid her arms around him and gave him an awkward hug.
“You know my father has had issues with Nimueh’s other occupation,” Arthur said. “I hope he can put those issues behind him. In fact, it’s high time he did.”
“Thanks, Arthur,” Gwen said. “I appreciate your confidence in me. I wouldn’t do anything to upset you or your father… not intentionally. That’s why I asked you first.”
Arthur nodded. “Maybe it’s up to me to make the first move toward a resolution, to set an example for him, so he might follow.”
“That’s a noble thought, Arthur. I wish you every success with it,” Gwen said.
“Are we ready to go?” Merlin shouted from the booth door.
“Kill it,” Arthur yelled back.
Merlin killed the house lights and the theatre was plunged into darkness.
After the theatre was locked up, Arthur and Merlin tossed their bags into the boot of the Smart Car and headed toward Merlin’s flat.
“Thanks for that,” Arthur said, when they turned onto the main street that bisected the city.
“For what?” Merlin asked.
“You knew I was dreading talking to Gwen, and you helped put me out of my misery sooner than later,” Arthur said.
“Oh, yeah, I guess I did,” Merlin grinned. “Just trying to help.”
Arthur smiled. He wove his way through the city traffic and dropped Merlin off in front of his tenement like he had done the night before. Diligently waiting until Merlin got inside the street level entrance, Arthur pulled away from the curb.
He had nearly gotten halfway home when his mobile rang.
“Arthur, it’s me, Merlin,” the speakerphone announced into the Smart Car.
“Merlin?” Arthur took the phone off speaker and held the device to his ear.
“I’m wondering if you might be able to help me out,” Merlin said nervously. “I’ve been locked out.”
“Hold on, Merlin,” Arthur replied. “I’ll be right there.”
***
Arthur banged a U-Turn in the middle of the road, earning himself a few angry horns and at least one driver telling him that he was number one.
He sped back to Merlin’s flat wondering what Merlin had meant by being locked out. He checked his hair in the rearview before flooring it to his destination. Maybe Merlin just forgot his key and needed to call the building manager.
No, he would have used his mobile to call.
Maybe he got evicted?
That would be a sorry break for him. Arthur knew firsthand what Merlin made for pay as a roadie and it would be barely enough to scrape by with several roommates, let alone with one so-called boyfriend. And where was he in all of this?
“Fucking bloody hell, Arthur! What are you getting into?” he asked himself, hoping like mad that he wouldn’t be coming to the rescue of his crush and his boyfriend.
Arthur was relieved when saw Merlin standing on the curb where he had left him fifteen minutes earlier… alone. He looked dejected, so Arthur decided he would try to make the best of the situation, even before the Smart Car came to a stop.
He rolled down the passenger’s side window.
“Hello, little boy,” he grinned. “Would you like some candy?”
Merlin couldn’t help but laugh, although he looked to be on the verge of tears.
“Can I really get in?” Merlin asked tentatively.
“Of course, Merlin,” Arthur said, popping the boot open so he could stow his satchel.
“I’m sorry,” Merlin said, sliding into the seat and fastening his seat belt. “I couldn’t think of anyone else to call.”
“Don’t worry,” Arthur said, glancing his way. Merlin sat with his arms folded across his chest, the hood of the ratty jumper he had worn to the rehearsal pulled over his head that rested on the Smart Car’s window. “That’s what friends are for. Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
Arthur pulled away from the curb. “Only if you want to,” he added.
Merlin thought for a while. Arthur bit his lip, determined not to put any undue pressure on the poor kid.
“I guess you could say we had a fight,” Merlin finally said. “But I’m not really sure.”
Arthur took advantage of a traffic light to lean over and take a good look at Merlin’s face. Merlin cringed uncomfortably. “Well, you look none worse for wear,” Arthur said.
Merlin huffed out a laugh. “It wasn’t that kind of fight.”
“Oh, I see,” Arthur said. “It was one of those silent fights. Those can be even worse.”
“It wasn’t really a fight at all,” Merlin said. “He changed the lock on the door while I was at rehearsal.”
“Oh,” Arthur said. The truth of the matter seemed more tragic when Merlin explained it.
“I’m so sorry, Merlin,” he said.
Merlin slumped lower in his seat.
“Don’t worry,” Arthur said. “We’ll get you sorted out.”
He wanted to reach over to pat Merlin’s arm, to somehow reassure him that everything would be alright. Instead, he took the corner and pulled onto his block, grateful that no lights were shining from the windows of the Pendragon house. An empty house would make things easier to explain.
“Where are we going?” Merlin asked, as if just realizing the car had been moving.
“My house,” Arthur said. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Thanks, Arthur,” Merlin said. “That’ll be fine.”
Author: gwylliondream
Genre: Modern au
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: NC-17
Words: 57,554
A/N: This was written for NaNoWriMo 2011. For additional notes, warnings, etc, please refer to Part 1 here.
Disclaimer: I did not create these characters. No disrespect intended. No profit desired, only muses.
Comments: Comments are welcome anytime! Thanks so much for reading!
“You seem tense today,” Merlin said, looking up from the control panel where dozens of wires formed what looked like a giant bird’s nest to Arthur.
“Is it that obvious?” Arthur asked, rubbing his hands together to get them warm within the chilly room. The concrete block construction did little to encourage the heat to seep in.
Through the glass window at the front of the booth, he watched Leon soundlessly tuning his bass. The other musicians all seemed to be engaged in animated discussions, of which Arthur and Merlin couldn’t hear a single word.
Each of the instruments needed their sound configured from the booth and Merlin had worked most of the afternoon getting a baseline for where they should begin on The Round Table Tour’s first stop. It would only save time for their all-important first live performance.
“Worried about a power failure on opening night?” asked Merlin, removing the pair of headphones from his ears and letting them rest across the back of his neck.
“If only,” Arthur said. “That would be just my luck. Bad enough that I have to worry about The Black Zigzags stealing our thunder, but now I’ve got vocalist issues.”
“Gwaine trying to take your job away again?” Merlin asked, stripping the black rubber coating from a wire with a pair of needle-nose pliers.
Arthur laughed. “I don’t think I have to worry about that. Try, as he may.”
Merlin dropped to the floor and crawled beneath the control board, “Pass me that screwdriver, would you?”
Arthur looked around the top of the panel and found it. He passed it under the panel into Merlin’s waiting hand.
“Thanks,” Merlin said. “Is it Morgause? She can be very demanding. It’s no wonder The Black Zigzags have had some success. She has that air of entitlement about her. I don’t dare say no to anything she asks, lest she turn me into a frog.”
Arthur squatted down to where Merlin was busily splicing wires together. “It’s Gwen,” he said.
“She wants to sing lead?” asked Merlin.
“No, she has a friend for whom she’s going to try to do a favour. Nimueh is her name and if I let her sing back-up, there’s going to be a whole lot of trouble,” Arthur said.
“Oh, that kind of trouble,” Merlin remarked.
“What do you mean that kind of trouble?” Arthur asked, making air quotes.
“Ex-girlfriend trouble,” said Merlin, before biting down on a length of wire to free both his hands for other manipulations of the electronics that controlled the sound effects.
“No, not ex-girlfriend trouble,” Arthur said, shoving Merlin’s shoulder playfully.
“Hey, hey!” Merlin shouted. “Not while I’m working. You wouldn’t want me to get electrocuted. Then where would the tour be? You’d go from one roadie to zero roadies in the blink of an eye.”
“Well, the way you’re patching wires together and sticking things that conduct electricity in your mouth, I’m surprised you’ve survived this long,” Arthur said, getting to his feet.
Merlin crawled backwards from beneath the control panel and clambered up the rungs of the rickety stool until he was standing face to face with Arthur.
Arthur could feel Merlin’s breath on his face. And not for the first time, he noticed the crinkly lines that framed Merlin’s eyes when he smiled. Suddenly, it seemed like the room had gotten a lot smaller.
Merlin moved first. His brilliant blue eyes shifted from Arthur to the floor, or really to Arthur’s chest which must have blocked Merlin’s view of the floor because they were standing so close.
“Well, I’d better get going so you can do my sound check,” Arthur said.
“Right,” Merlin said, grabbing at the headphones to replace them on his ears.
Arthur reached for the left earpiece with his right hand and pulled it away from Merlin’s ear.
“And power failure or not, it’s no bother for me to give you a ride home tonight,” Arthur let the earpiece spring into place on Merlin’s ear and quickly left the booth so he didn’t have to hear Merlin protests.
***
The rehearsal went well. Arthur was relieved that Morgause only made a minimum of demands on Merlin and on his band mates. She seemed more keen on bossing Cenred around, truth be told. Arthur couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
Morgause had achieved a level of notoriety as being the brains of their operation, and Arthur now had been given a first-hand glimpse of her in action. She would have been a formidable opponent in a boardroom. Too bad she took up gigging instead.
When the last of the instruments were packed away and Arthur had said his final goodbyes for the night, Arthur was sorry to see Gwen beckoning him with a curl of her index finger. He walked over to her, his fingers fiddling with the microphone cord he had wrapped around his left arm.
“Did Morgana talk to you?” Gwen asked, out of earshot from the rest of the musicians.
“About what?” Arthur tried to stay cool.
“Don’t play stupid with me, Arthur. She’s practically your sister,” Gwen said, sounding very pissed off. “She has a friend… Nimueh… that she wants me to get into the band, singing back-up.”
“Gwen? Are you almost ready?” Lance called from the set of exit doors behind the stage. They were not your ordinary metal theatre doors, but ones through which a semi-truck could be driven if necessary. It wasn’t necessary at the moment, because Percival’s drum kit had already been loaded into Lance’s mini-van, where it awaited delivery to the warehouse in the morning with the keyboards. Gwen held up a finger to indicate to Lance that she needed another minute. He nodded and disappeared through the doors.
“I don’t know, Arthur. Morgana could open a lot of doors for me,” Gwen said hesitantly.
Arthur bit his lip, trying to stay calm, trying to hear Gwen out.
“I wouldn’t want to go behind your back on this,” Gwen said, looking away. “What do you think I should do?”
“I’ve always given you free reign to do as you see fit with the back-ups, Gwen. You know that. I trust you’ll make the right decision on your own,” Arthur said.
Gwen slid her arms around him and gave him an awkward hug.
“You know my father has had issues with Nimueh’s other occupation,” Arthur said. “I hope he can put those issues behind him. In fact, it’s high time he did.”
“Thanks, Arthur,” Gwen said. “I appreciate your confidence in me. I wouldn’t do anything to upset you or your father… not intentionally. That’s why I asked you first.”
Arthur nodded. “Maybe it’s up to me to make the first move toward a resolution, to set an example for him, so he might follow.”
“That’s a noble thought, Arthur. I wish you every success with it,” Gwen said.
“Are we ready to go?” Merlin shouted from the booth door.
“Kill it,” Arthur yelled back.
Merlin killed the house lights and the theatre was plunged into darkness.
After the theatre was locked up, Arthur and Merlin tossed their bags into the boot of the Smart Car and headed toward Merlin’s flat.
“Thanks for that,” Arthur said, when they turned onto the main street that bisected the city.
“For what?” Merlin asked.
“You knew I was dreading talking to Gwen, and you helped put me out of my misery sooner than later,” Arthur said.
“Oh, yeah, I guess I did,” Merlin grinned. “Just trying to help.”
Arthur smiled. He wove his way through the city traffic and dropped Merlin off in front of his tenement like he had done the night before. Diligently waiting until Merlin got inside the street level entrance, Arthur pulled away from the curb.
He had nearly gotten halfway home when his mobile rang.
“Arthur, it’s me, Merlin,” the speakerphone announced into the Smart Car.
“Merlin?” Arthur took the phone off speaker and held the device to his ear.
“I’m wondering if you might be able to help me out,” Merlin said nervously. “I’ve been locked out.”
“Hold on, Merlin,” Arthur replied. “I’ll be right there.”
***
Arthur banged a U-Turn in the middle of the road, earning himself a few angry horns and at least one driver telling him that he was number one.
He sped back to Merlin’s flat wondering what Merlin had meant by being locked out. He checked his hair in the rearview before flooring it to his destination. Maybe Merlin just forgot his key and needed to call the building manager.
No, he would have used his mobile to call.
Maybe he got evicted?
That would be a sorry break for him. Arthur knew firsthand what Merlin made for pay as a roadie and it would be barely enough to scrape by with several roommates, let alone with one so-called boyfriend. And where was he in all of this?
“Fucking bloody hell, Arthur! What are you getting into?” he asked himself, hoping like mad that he wouldn’t be coming to the rescue of his crush and his boyfriend.
Arthur was relieved when saw Merlin standing on the curb where he had left him fifteen minutes earlier… alone. He looked dejected, so Arthur decided he would try to make the best of the situation, even before the Smart Car came to a stop.
He rolled down the passenger’s side window.
“Hello, little boy,” he grinned. “Would you like some candy?”
Merlin couldn’t help but laugh, although he looked to be on the verge of tears.
“Can I really get in?” Merlin asked tentatively.
“Of course, Merlin,” Arthur said, popping the boot open so he could stow his satchel.
“I’m sorry,” Merlin said, sliding into the seat and fastening his seat belt. “I couldn’t think of anyone else to call.”
“Don’t worry,” Arthur said, glancing his way. Merlin sat with his arms folded across his chest, the hood of the ratty jumper he had worn to the rehearsal pulled over his head that rested on the Smart Car’s window. “That’s what friends are for. Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
Arthur pulled away from the curb. “Only if you want to,” he added.
Merlin thought for a while. Arthur bit his lip, determined not to put any undue pressure on the poor kid.
“I guess you could say we had a fight,” Merlin finally said. “But I’m not really sure.”
Arthur took advantage of a traffic light to lean over and take a good look at Merlin’s face. Merlin cringed uncomfortably. “Well, you look none worse for wear,” Arthur said.
Merlin huffed out a laugh. “It wasn’t that kind of fight.”
“Oh, I see,” Arthur said. “It was one of those silent fights. Those can be even worse.”
“It wasn’t really a fight at all,” Merlin said. “He changed the lock on the door while I was at rehearsal.”
“Oh,” Arthur said. The truth of the matter seemed more tragic when Merlin explained it.
“I’m so sorry, Merlin,” he said.
Merlin slumped lower in his seat.
“Don’t worry,” Arthur said. “We’ll get you sorted out.”
He wanted to reach over to pat Merlin’s arm, to somehow reassure him that everything would be alright. Instead, he took the corner and pulled onto his block, grateful that no lights were shining from the windows of the Pendragon house. An empty house would make things easier to explain.
“Where are we going?” Merlin asked, as if just realizing the car had been moving.
“My house,” Arthur said. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Thanks, Arthur,” Merlin said. “That’ll be fine.”
