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Title: Away on Business (1/2)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elirwen
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur
Genre: mpreg, hurt/comfort, modern!AU
Word Count: ~1800 (both chapters)
Rating: PG
Warnings: mpreg
Summary: Arthur left for an urgent business trip, leaving seven months pregnant Merlin in Gwaine's care. Three days later, Merlin gets a call that sends him into a panic attack.
Read @ ao3
Chapter 1: Gwaine's POV
“No, you definitely cannot be there during the birth as a cameraman,” Merlin says, laughing.
“Come on, Merlin, don’t push me away,” Gwaine says with a mock pout, making Merlin laugh harder as he walks to the fridge to get himself a glass of orange juice.
Gwaine likes to bring smile to Merlin’s face. It makes the whole world look brighter. Spending time in Merlin’s company has become a rare treasure these days. If Arthur hasn’t been pulled away on a business trip nobody else could handle and hasn’t asked Gwaine to look after his husband, Gwaine wouldn’t have the opportunity to spend four whole days with his best friend.
It doesn’t matter that Merlin ignores him for hours each day, lost in a fantasy world of his latest novel. Their lunch, dinner and snack times (and occasional massage Merlin’s feet times) more than make up for it.
Merlin’s eyes twinkle with the remnants of laughter as he sips his juice, looking at Gwaine over the rim of the glass.
“What are we watching today? Avengers again?” Gwaine asks.
“Maybe?” Merlin says with a grin and Gwaine laughs because they’ve already watched Avengers twice in past two days.
Merlin’s mobile rings and he picks it up without delay. Gwaine crosses the room to look inside the fridge, contemplating their dinner options.
“Yes, that’s me,” Merlin says, sounding confused.
Gwaine turns around and mouth ‘what’s going on?’ at him.
Merlin doesn’t answer, but there’s no need for words. All the remnants of happiness vanish from Merlin’s face as the seconds tick by, colour leaving his cheeks.
“No, it can’t be,” Merlin says, his voice trembling.
Gwaine moves towards him, taking the glass from his fingers and setting it on the counter as Merlin still listens to whoever is on the line.
“Yes, of course, thank you,” Merlin says.
His hand falls down his side, the phone slipping out of his grip and crashing to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” Gwaine asks, touching Merlin’s arm tentatively.
Merlin doesn’t move, staring straight ahead, probably not even registering his surroundings.
“Talk to me,” Gwaine says, gently shaking him by his arms to bring him out of his stupor.
Merlin’s head snaps up and there’s panic in his eyes. He opens his mouth and takes a deep breath and then another, and before Gwaine can do anything, Merlin starts hyperventilating.
“Merlin, calm down! I need you to calm down,” Gwaine says, pulling Merlin in for a hug.
Merlin sags against him with all his weight and Gwaine realizes he fainted only after his breathing begins to even out.
“Okay, now I’m slightly freaked out,” Gwaine mutters to himself as he gathers Merlin into his arms and carries him to his bedroom.
He smoothes the hair from Merlin’s forehead, the skin clammy under his fingers.
“Arthur’s going to kill me if he finds out you fainted on me.”
He takes Merlin’s hand and locates his pulse point. Reassured by steady beat of Merlin’s heart, he waits a little longer for Merlin to wake up on his own. Eventually, Merlin stirs.
“Arthur?” he mumbles, gripping Gwaine’s arm tightly.
“Arthur’s away on business, remember?”
Merlin’s instantly awake, his arms going to his belly.
“What am I going to do?” Merlin whispers. “I shouldn’t have let him go. I can’t do this alone.”
“What was the call about?” Gwaine asks, dread settling into his stomach.
“Arthur… he’s…” Merlin’s eyes fill with tears. “There was a gas explosion under the hotel he was staying in.”
Gwaine climbs on the bed completely and pulls Merlin into his arms. He can’t think of anything to say right now.
“His assistant tried to call him, but he’s unavailable,” Merlin mumbles into Gwaine’s chest, one of his hands clutching the shirt desperately while the other doesn’t leave his belly. “He was staying on the fifth floor. The rescue team can’t get in there.”
Gwaine comforts him as much as he can, running his hand over his back in what he hopes is soothing manner. He can’t imagine how terrified Merlin must be. Arthur is his friend and he’s more than worried too, but it must be complete hell for Merlin, especially with the baby on the way.
“We don’t know if he was really in there. He might have gone for a walk or something,” Gwaine says. “We need to stay positive.”
~x~
Almost two hours later, Merlin fell into exhausted sleep. Gwaine managed to extricate himself from him to turn the lights off in the kitchen and change into something more comfortable for sleeping.
Halfway through pulling on his sleep pants, he hears some noise coming from the front door. The neighbour from above probably got drunk and mistook the floors again. Gwaine heads out of the guest room to send him on his way when the main door opens and Arthur stumbles inside with a suitcase in one hand and a bouquet of white tulips in the other.
“Oh, hi,” Arthur greets him. “I thought you’d be watching a movie or something.”
After hours of calming Merlin and worrying about Arthur, seeing him causes not only surge of relief but also anger at how casually he strode inside with a smile on his face.
“Is this some kind of a sick joke?” Gwaine asks. “He was terrified, Arthur. How could you?”
“What?” Arthur asks, stunned.
“You could have at least called. He believed you dead.”
Chapter 2
Author:
elirwenPairing: Merlin/Arthur
Genre: mpreg, hurt/comfort, modern!AU
Word Count: ~1800 (both chapters)
Rating: PG
Warnings: mpreg
Summary: Arthur left for an urgent business trip, leaving seven months pregnant Merlin in Gwaine's care. Three days later, Merlin gets a call that sends him into a panic attack.
Read @ ao3
Chapter 1: Gwaine's POV
“No, you definitely cannot be there during the birth as a cameraman,” Merlin says, laughing.
“Come on, Merlin, don’t push me away,” Gwaine says with a mock pout, making Merlin laugh harder as he walks to the fridge to get himself a glass of orange juice.
Gwaine likes to bring smile to Merlin’s face. It makes the whole world look brighter. Spending time in Merlin’s company has become a rare treasure these days. If Arthur hasn’t been pulled away on a business trip nobody else could handle and hasn’t asked Gwaine to look after his husband, Gwaine wouldn’t have the opportunity to spend four whole days with his best friend.
It doesn’t matter that Merlin ignores him for hours each day, lost in a fantasy world of his latest novel. Their lunch, dinner and snack times (and occasional massage Merlin’s feet times) more than make up for it.
Merlin’s eyes twinkle with the remnants of laughter as he sips his juice, looking at Gwaine over the rim of the glass.
“What are we watching today? Avengers again?” Gwaine asks.
“Maybe?” Merlin says with a grin and Gwaine laughs because they’ve already watched Avengers twice in past two days.
Merlin’s mobile rings and he picks it up without delay. Gwaine crosses the room to look inside the fridge, contemplating their dinner options.
“Yes, that’s me,” Merlin says, sounding confused.
Gwaine turns around and mouth ‘what’s going on?’ at him.
Merlin doesn’t answer, but there’s no need for words. All the remnants of happiness vanish from Merlin’s face as the seconds tick by, colour leaving his cheeks.
“No, it can’t be,” Merlin says, his voice trembling.
Gwaine moves towards him, taking the glass from his fingers and setting it on the counter as Merlin still listens to whoever is on the line.
“Yes, of course, thank you,” Merlin says.
His hand falls down his side, the phone slipping out of his grip and crashing to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” Gwaine asks, touching Merlin’s arm tentatively.
Merlin doesn’t move, staring straight ahead, probably not even registering his surroundings.
“Talk to me,” Gwaine says, gently shaking him by his arms to bring him out of his stupor.
Merlin’s head snaps up and there’s panic in his eyes. He opens his mouth and takes a deep breath and then another, and before Gwaine can do anything, Merlin starts hyperventilating.
“Merlin, calm down! I need you to calm down,” Gwaine says, pulling Merlin in for a hug.
Merlin sags against him with all his weight and Gwaine realizes he fainted only after his breathing begins to even out.
“Okay, now I’m slightly freaked out,” Gwaine mutters to himself as he gathers Merlin into his arms and carries him to his bedroom.
He smoothes the hair from Merlin’s forehead, the skin clammy under his fingers.
“Arthur’s going to kill me if he finds out you fainted on me.”
He takes Merlin’s hand and locates his pulse point. Reassured by steady beat of Merlin’s heart, he waits a little longer for Merlin to wake up on his own. Eventually, Merlin stirs.
“Arthur?” he mumbles, gripping Gwaine’s arm tightly.
“Arthur’s away on business, remember?”
Merlin’s instantly awake, his arms going to his belly.
“What am I going to do?” Merlin whispers. “I shouldn’t have let him go. I can’t do this alone.”
“What was the call about?” Gwaine asks, dread settling into his stomach.
“Arthur… he’s…” Merlin’s eyes fill with tears. “There was a gas explosion under the hotel he was staying in.”
Gwaine climbs on the bed completely and pulls Merlin into his arms. He can’t think of anything to say right now.
“His assistant tried to call him, but he’s unavailable,” Merlin mumbles into Gwaine’s chest, one of his hands clutching the shirt desperately while the other doesn’t leave his belly. “He was staying on the fifth floor. The rescue team can’t get in there.”
Gwaine comforts him as much as he can, running his hand over his back in what he hopes is soothing manner. He can’t imagine how terrified Merlin must be. Arthur is his friend and he’s more than worried too, but it must be complete hell for Merlin, especially with the baby on the way.
“We don’t know if he was really in there. He might have gone for a walk or something,” Gwaine says. “We need to stay positive.”
~x~
Almost two hours later, Merlin fell into exhausted sleep. Gwaine managed to extricate himself from him to turn the lights off in the kitchen and change into something more comfortable for sleeping.
Halfway through pulling on his sleep pants, he hears some noise coming from the front door. The neighbour from above probably got drunk and mistook the floors again. Gwaine heads out of the guest room to send him on his way when the main door opens and Arthur stumbles inside with a suitcase in one hand and a bouquet of white tulips in the other.
“Oh, hi,” Arthur greets him. “I thought you’d be watching a movie or something.”
After hours of calming Merlin and worrying about Arthur, seeing him causes not only surge of relief but also anger at how casually he strode inside with a smile on his face.
“Is this some kind of a sick joke?” Gwaine asks. “He was terrified, Arthur. How could you?”
“What?” Arthur asks, stunned.
“You could have at least called. He believed you dead.”
Chapter 2
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