Chapter Text
1.
Merlin was unceremoniously awoken at 7:15 on a Saturday thankyouverymuch by Morgana calling him and diving right in with, “So you know your superpower?” when he—very reluctantly—answered.
“Do I know my superpower,” Merlin repeated groggily. “Morgana, before nine AM, I don’t even know my own name.”
“Then I’m flattered you know mine,” she replied primly. “But really, this is an emergency.”
Merlin ground his knuckles against his eyes in a vain attempt to wake himself up. “What is it,” he deadpanned. With Morgana, emergencies came in two flavours: death in the family or a broken nail. But if she was asking about his ‘superpower’ it must be closer to the latter.
“My brother. You need to date him.”
“Remind me who your brother is?”
“Hilarious. You’ve met him, remember? He came to graduation.”
Merlin grunted. He did remember Arthur, and not especially fondly. A great blond prat of a guy a year or three older than him and Morgana who barely glanced at him when they were introduced. Merlin had been extremely annoyed that Arthur was fit and that Merlin was wearing a stupid looking mortarboard that kept tipping off the side of his head. “What’s this about dating him?”
Morgana dove into the story wholeheartedly. “Well, Arthur’s all set to inherit the company from Dad when he retires—which isn’t soon or anything, but Dad plans ahead—and part of that planning ahead is that he wants Arthur married and settled sooner rather than later and he’s been pushing this simply vile girl at him lately and I think Arthur’s going to go through with it just to make Dad happy! He’s secretly a huge romantic, Arthur is, but he’s had his heart broken a few times and doesn’t believe in love anymore and it’s just too sad, Merlin. You’ve got to help him.”
“Ok, first question,” Merlin grumbled, rolling off the bed and shuffling into the kitchen since getting back to sleep seemed to be out of the question. “Does he even date men?”
“Between you and me, yes. He’s not very open about it—I don’t think Dad knows—but he has in the past.”
“Ok, next question,” he said, getting the kettle going and groping in the cupboard for a clean mug. There were none so he found one to rinse out. “Why would he be willing to try dating me if he’s basically agreeing to marry this girl your dad likes?”
“Don’t say it like that: Dad doesn’t like her either, but she’s the daughter of a business partner.” Merlin rolled his eyes. Rich people were ridiculous. “And because he’s a huge romantic, like I said. He’ll be an enormous pain in the arse, act like I forced him into it, but really he’s keen. He wants to find the right person. And you’re the best shot he’s got.”
Merlin sighed. He felt like an urban legend or a cryptid when his friends talked about him like this, but his track record was hard to ignore. Every time he dated anyone, they invariably found their fated partner or whatever and dumped him to go off and live happily ever after. It had really hurt the first couple of times, but after a while he started to care less. Though that hurt too, in a different sort of way. Merlin liked people. He liked being in love. And it sucked that his friends joked that he had a superpower when in reality he just wanted a relationship of his own to last. So maybe he sounded just a smidge bitter when he said, “Ok, last question: why should I date him?”
There was silence for a long moment. “I’ll owe you a huge favour? Honestly Merlin, I really can’t have Vivian as a sister-in-law. I will kill her. Do you want me put away on homicide?”
“Uughhh,” Merlin said, and Morgana heard the capitulation and squealed. “But!” Merlin interrupted in a fit of inspiration. “Along with the favour you owe me, you’re never allowed to tell the ramen story again.”
“What!” she cried.
“Promise, or I walk.”
The kettle beginning to whistle was the only sound for several seconds. He reached over and flicked it off.
“Fine,” she huffed, and Merlin smiled. He could put up with a few dates with Arthur The Prat Pendragon until he found The One if it meant Morgana never told that story again in their lives.