Just as suddenly, he was ripped from darkness and found himself in an opulent bedroom, face down on a very soft purple comforter. He looked up to see a big canopy and a beautiful chandelier of candles above. Behind him, Merlin was toeing off his shoes, looking more annoyed than concerned. “I said not to let go.”

It took a moment for Justice to find his voice. His mouth worked as his pulse pounded. “It was the wrong door.”

Merlin sighed as he started unbuttoning his shirt. Oh shit. Were they going to have sex? Was this the door that led to them fucking?

Merlin had only gotten a few buttons undone before registering the horrified look on Justice’s face. “It wasn’t the wrong door. You’re fine. Calm down. This is what I was talking about. I should’ve taken you home.”

He turned his back on Justice to go to a wardrobe, where he appeared to be looking for something to wear. Next to the wardrobe was a large display cabinet filled with award ribbons, trophies, and plaques. Justice couldn’t tell what they were for, but apparently Merlin had been really good at something.

Justice rolled off the bed to get a better look. The hardwood floor creaked, and Merlin looked around the door of the wardrobe to catch Justice peeking.

Frowning, Merlin waved his hand before the display, turning it to a black void that it hurt to look at. It made Justice curious what the awards were for, but he sensed he was already on Merlin’s last nerve. Asking could be a convenient excuse for Merlin to take Justice home. “I’m fine now. Just got a little turned around, okay?”

Merlin tossed a bundle of silk at Justice. His expression was inscrutable. “Yeah. I know. It’s our security system. Keeps people from walking off with family heirlooms, I guess.”

The silk turned out to be old-fashioned silk pajamas; Justice looked around for somewhere to change. There was an open door adjoining the suite just beyond the couch and entertainment system that was probably the bathroom. “Is it safe to change in there?”

“Yeah.” Merlin peered around the room like an adult might suddenly scan their own surroundings for toddler safety. While Justice felt as if he should resent the implication, after the scare he’d just had, he was more than happy for Merlin to childproof.

Merlin’s gaze fixed on the door they must have just come through. He pointed at the wardrobe, gritted his teeth, and then the ornate furniture slid over in front of it. “We’ll just make it hard for you to go through any doors you shouldn’t, okay?”

Justice nodded his thanks and went into the bathroom. It was the most ostentatious bathroom he’d ever seen. There was a huge tub, big enough for two or three people at least. A separate shower, a beautiful sink fashioned in the shape of an elephant whose trunk was the spout.

At first Justice wasn’t sure if he should even look in the mirror, but he caught sight of himself, and his reflection appeared normal but exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes; his hair was even more of a mess than usual.

Outside, Justice heard furniture scraping along the floor and figured Merlin was busy making the area safe, so Justice decided to wash the day off him.

There were no controls on the shower, only an On and Off button. The temperature was perfect, growing hotter just by simple fact of Justice thinking it should be. The heat penetrated his sore muscles. Soap appeared before he even had to look for it, and so Justice set about cleaning himself.

If Merlin grew up this way, no wonder he was an impatient dick. Everything was at his beck and call the moment he wanted it. And yet, Justice couldn’t ignore the fact that Merlin left all this comfort to see what was going on down below. Granted, it sounded as if he’d only done so because his shows weren’t coming on, but that couldn’t have been all, surely. Justice couldn’t begin to fathom this new world that he was in, but there had to be entertainment enough for most people similar to Merlin.

Magic people. How many of them were there? Maybe there weren’t enough for them to create their own entertainment. But then, Merlin had apparently gone to school of some sort, and he’d been competitive at something, something he was embarrassed about. Of course, Merlin being as he was, it didn’t have to be anything sinister. Maybe just something embarrassingly nerdy.

Or maybe it was the art of zombie making.

No. He was just being paranoid. If Merlin had that power, he wouldn’t have been so puzzled or shocked. He was trying to riddle out the situation on Earth too.

Justice finished his shower, and before he could wonder how he could brush his teeth, a toothbrush and paste appeared on the sink.

After finishing his nightly ritual, Justice came out of the bathroom to find Merlin lying in the bed, similarly outfitted with wet hair. The awards cabinet had reappeared, but it looked as if all the windows and doors other than the one to the bathroom had been blocked. If Justice weren’t so sure it was for his own protection, he’d feel like a prisoner.

“I guess I’ll take the couch.” Justice stopped in front of it just as he noticed that the other side of the bed had been turned down. His brows rose.

Merlin shrugged. “If you want.”

The casualness of his reply made Merlin awkward. Right. Merlin didn’t see Justice that way and didn’t think twice about sharing a bed. Justice was the one being weird about the situation. “I mean, unless you’d rather I…”

“I don’t have a preference.” Merlin smirked. Fucker was enjoying needling him. He knew exactly how attractive he was, and now he was just doing this to torture Justice.

Two could play at that game. Justice went straight for the display of trophies and squinted at them. However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t quite make out the writing on any of them. It was as if he’d forgotten how to read. When he looked at Merlin, the man had his arms crossed, and he sneered. “Nosy.”

“Trophies mean you’re good at something, and for the life of me, I couldn’t imagine what you’d be good at.”

“Blowjobs.”

Asshole. Justice turned his back to Merlin to get over the deep body blush that he knew would just add to Merlin’s enjoyment of this situation. “Fuck you.”

“That too. That’s the really big trophy. Best top. Tops at topping.”

Why did he want to stay in magicland with this jerk? Justice pressed his hands to his face, trying to pull it together. “Lot of trophies, you must do it a lot.”

“Practice makes perfect.” Justice heard Merlin’s feet hit the floor. He whirled around, thinking Merlin was going to come up behind him and do something inappropriate, but instead he was carrying blankets to the couch. To Justice’s immense pleasure, his face was red. Good.

Justice walked over to the couch. “You know, even if what you won awards for is incriminating, I know you came down to help. There’s no need to put the whammy on me to hide the wording.”

“I didn’t. The awards aren’t in English.” Merlin dropped a pillow on the end of the couch along with the blankets.

“Then why did you hide them before?” Justice eyed the couch, and then looked back at the bed. The couch was no doubt comfortable, but he wondered if his refusal to sleep in the bed was making things even more difficult between them.

“I forgot you couldn’t read them, and I didn’t want you to know how good at blowjobs I am.” Merlin’s smirk was almost heart-stoppingly flirty, but then he looked down at the couch. “You need anything else?”

“You keep bringing blowjobs up, I’m going to think you want to give me one.” Justice felt his cheeks heat up. This was so inappropriate, but he felt he needed to know if he was being flirted with.

Merlin picked up the pillow and lightly swatted Justice with it. “You wish.” But as he turned to head back to the bed, he paused and looked over his shoulder at Justice. “You know how you have science fairs down on Earth?”

Justice nodded.

“It’s similar. We don’t have science, as such, but you can win awards for innovations in magic. Discovering new tricks with old magic, research, proving new theories. Some of them are from magic competitions, showing strength, but that was boring. I enjoyed hacking the system.” Merlin turned around and held his hands up. “That’s my big secret. I was a nerd in school. Even by magical standards.”

Justice looked at the display. So many of them. “Is that what you do now?”

“No. I had a job for a while in research, but it’s just a bunch of political bullshit.” Merlin folded his arms. “And…evil bullshit. They only wanted to know about better, quicker, smarter ways of killing people and each other.”

“On earth as it is in heaven, as it were.” Justice wondered just how blasphemous that was to say, though it was applicable in its own way. For all the beauty and mystery of magic, all anyone really wanted to use anything for was more power. He looked down at the floor.

“Don’t look so glum, Justice. It’s only because there weren’t any real awards for blowjobs.” Merlin grinned as he flopped into bed.

“Seriously, I’m starting to think you’d give me one if I asked nice.” Justice ruffled his hair, not sure what he should do.

“Maybe I would. But you’ll never know all the way over there.” Smirking, Merlin wiggled under his covers.

Justice’s cock stiffened, and he knew it had to be obvious in his silk pajamas, but there were lines he couldn’t cross. Oh sure, it would be unprofessional; he could live with that. But Lewis. Even though things had been on the rocks before the tumult, not knowing where he stood meant that he couldn’t go there, no matter how tempting. “Yeah. Well. I should probably…”

“Yeah, probably.” If Merlin was disappointed, his expression didn’t show it. “Good night.”

Justice spread out the blankets on the couch and snuggled into bed. “Good night.”

When Merlin blew out the candle on the nightstand next to him, everything went dark.

~~This series will update once a week on Tuesdays~~