Arthur stared at the flower arrangement on his desk. He had them delivered today at a whim. He must have drunk or something. What did he even want the flowers for?

A knock interrupts his train of thought. He looks up to find his assistant, Merlin.

"What?"

"I am reminding you of your divisional meeting in 15 minutes. It's in the main conference room. Shouldn't last more than 15 minutes since it's just Val trying to get people to expand the budget for his office thing."

Arthur did not want to deal with this right now.

"Cancel the meeting, Merlin. I will not be attending."

"Of course, sir." Merlin left his office and Arthur turned to continue staring at the flowers.

Why on earth did I buy this? Arthur thought. He had chosen an arrangement of pale orange roses, white roses, and pale pink roses. He didn't think of meanings or anything, he just thought they had looked beautiful.

This sudden need to buy flowers definitely did not come from hearing Merlin tell Gwen that the office needed something to brighten it up.

"Something like flowers. Flowers would be perfect. Maybe pale orange ones or pink ones." he had said.

Arthur was sitting down in his office when he heard the conversation. He remembered Gwen had just laughed and said: "Arthur would never allow flowers here."

Now here he was, glaring at the arrangement in front of him. He was so focused that he didn't notice Merlin come into his office and sit down.

"Ok, what is the deal with the arrangement? You're glaring at it so hard, I'm starting to think you're trying to see if you can set them on fire with your mind. I don't why you would want to that, though. They are lovely."

Arthur turned to Merlin and saw him looking at the flowers.

Suddenly it became clear, the reason as to why he bought the flowers.

"You like them?"

"I do but it's clear you don't."

"Actually, I find them rather nice to look at. They brighten up the place don't you think?"

"They do."

"They're for your desk."

At this Merlin focused on Arthur, his eyes wide.

"You got me flowers?" The tone of surprise was clear in Merlin's voice.

"Yes, they're for you. I thought you were rather fond of flowers. Aren't you?"

"Yes, I.. I love them actually, especially these colors. How did you know?"

"Come on Merlin, you forget I know you better than anyone," Arthur said with a smirk and slight twinkle in his eye.

"Always the modest one, Arthur."

"Well go on then, take them to your desk. Enjoy."

Merlin picked the arrangement up and began walking out of the office. Just before he got to the door, he turned and said: "Thank you, Arthur." Then continued the way to his desk.

Arthur was much happier the rest of the day. When it came to leaving the office, Arthur was packing up when Morgana came in.

"Hello, brother dearest. I saw you got Merlin flowers. Finally asked him out?"

Arthur shushed Morgana and tried to see if Merlin heard her. He closed the door and attempted to argue with Morgana that he did NOT like Merlin like that. He knew it was a lie, of course.

"Arthur don't waste your breath. I know you like him and I know he likes you. No one can tolerate you the way Merlin does if they don't at the very least have an insane crush on you. The man is smitten and if you can't see that when the whole floor can, then you are more oblivious than I gave you credit for. Stop panicking, ask him out." Morgana left his office after having the last word. He hated it when she did that. He especially hated it when she did that and was right.

Arthur had come to fall in love with his assistant in the past 3 years since they began working together. At first, he loved to tease him and play pranks but when they got to know each other things changed. Merlin was actually the clumsiest yet most competent assistant he had ever had. He was also the only one that Arthur had seen in a different light. Or the first person in a dreadfully long time to take part in his fantasies.

Arthur made up his mind. He was going to ask out Merlin. The question was how.

He left his office and saw that Merlin was packing up to leave.

"See you tomorrow, Merlin," Arthur said as he left for the elevator.

"See you, Arthur," Merlin replied.

Arthur went straight home and started thinking of ways to ask Merlin out. He didn't want to do something too soppy but he didn't want to ask in a way that didn't show how he felt about Merlin.

It was getting close to 9 o'clock at night when he decided to call Gwen.

He picked up his phone and dialed. Gwen picked up after the second ring.

"Evening, Arthur."

"Hey, Gwen. Sorry to call so late but I need your help."

"What can I do for you?"

"I want to do to ask Merlin out but, I want to do it in a nice way."

"Finally! Oh, this is so exciting!"

"When Morgana said that whole floor knew she wasn't joking, was she?"

"She wasn't. Actually, part of her department knows as well. You both aren't subtle but are completely dense."

Arthur ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Thanks, Gwen."

"Sorry sweetie but it's the truth. Now, what do you need help with?"

"I want to ask him out tomorrow. You say he likes me and that makes me feel better as he is inclined to say yes but I want to be sure that I don't mess it up. Remember Sophia?"

"Oh yes, I remember. Why did you think a lizard would be a good gift?"

"She said she liked certain reptiles. She had a snake!"

"Still Arthur, a weird Australian lizard doesn't exactly say "I really like you." Does it?"

"Whatever," Arthur mumbled into his phone.

"Merlin likes flowers. I saw the bouquet you got for his desk. Why don't you get him another one? Or why don't you get him small arrangements?"

Arthur and Gwen spoke for a few more minutes before coming up with a plan. He couldn't wait to put it into action.

The next day Arthur woke at 6 in the morning. He couldn't sleep much, he was far too excited and slightly anxious. He wanted to be sure to look his best today. He may have changed clothes three time and taken extra time in the bathroom.

He was in his office by seven thirty.

Merlin got in closer to eight. He stopped at his desk and then went to place the tea he got for Arthur every morning on Arthur's desk. He was surprised to see him already working.

"Morning. You're not normally here by this time. Did anything happen?" Merlin spoke as he put the tea on the desk and it some documents.

"Good morning, Merlin. No, nothing happened. Just wanted to get an early start is all. Oh is that the Johnson account?"

"Yes, the paperwork from their lawyers came in. They are ready to sign."

Merlin took out his pad and waited for Arthur to list the items he needed for today.

"For today I want you to make sure our paperwork from both the Johnson account and the Gawant account are organized. Once you finish, let me know."

Merlin nodded and went to his desk. Arthur knew this would keep Merlin at his desk for at least three and a half hours. By the time he finished, it would be close to lunch time.

His plan was simple yet effective. At least that was what Gwen had said last night.

At 9:45 the first delivery man arrived.

"Delivery for a Mr. Merlin Emrys." Merlin was confused.

"I'm Merlin." The delivery man set a small arrangement of purple lilacs on his desk.

"Sign here please." Merlin signed and the man left without another word.

Arthur had moved his chair to the side so he could peek at Merlin's reaction.

Merlin was looking at the arrangement carefully, he saw that there were two cards and took them.

Who would send me flowers? Merlin thought as he took the first card out of its envelope.

Two other arrangements will make their way to your desk today. Each card will have part of a sentence. Once all the arrangements arrive, put the cards in order.

The second card had two words. Will you

Merlin was very confused. He decided that if it was a prank, at least he got beautiful flowers.

It was close to 10:20 when the second arrangement arrived. This one had one card and a small box of Belgian chocolate truffles. Merlin's favorite. They were peonies, beautiful peonies. There was only one card. Merlin took it out of its envelope and smiled.

It said go out.

Merlin thought he knew where this was going and decided to wait until the other arrangement arrived. He didn't know who could be sending them. He tried to think of someone but his brain couldn't come up with a single name. He decided to throw himself into his work and just wait.

Arthur saw Merlin's reaction to each arrival. All he had was one more that he knew wouldn't come until 11:25. He tried to get as much done before that time. He knew that by 11:25 the floor was normally empty as almost everyone will be heading to lunch or had already left to go for lunch.

11:15 rolled around and Arthur made his way to Merlin's desk. He stopped at the entrance to his office and saw Merlin's back was to him. He was fighting with getting a stack of papers stapled.

"Need a hand?"

Merlin jumped slightly and the stack of papers almost fell to the ground. Merlin's arm kept them in place.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle. You alright?"

"Yeah, just lost in my thoughts."

"These thoughts have anything to do with these new flowers?"

"They have everything to do with them. I can't for the life of me figure out who sent them. The first card said that there would be three arrangements total and there is still one left. The cards spell out a sentence and so far I have the words Will you go out."

"You have no idea who sent them?"

"No, and I was thinking they could be—" Merlin didn't get to finish the sentence because the last delivery man made his way to Merlin.

"Merlin Emrys?"

"That's me." The delivery man handed Merlin a small bouquet of red, pink, and pale orange roses and left.

Arthur waited patiently as Merlin took the last card out of its envelope.

Merlin was shaking just a tad as he got the card out. Once he read it, he froze.

with me? — Arthur

Arthur knew what made Merlin freeze and decided to speak.

"It's not a prank or anything like that. I'm being serious." He whispered. Arthur's heart rate doubled in speed. He was staring at Merlin, waiting for any type of reaction.

Once Merlin's brain processed what Arthur had said and tied it together with the rest of the cards, he turned to Arthur. He saw that Arthur was nervous.

"You're serious?"

"As serious as heart attack."

The word "attack" had not left Arthur's mouth when Merlin tackled him. Their lips met in a heated slightly sloppy kiss. Merlin's hands were in Arthur's hair and Arthur's arms were curled around Merlin's waist.

A couple of minutes passed and they had to break for air.

They looked at each other. Lips red and swollen, Arthur's hair a mess and huge smiles all around.

"I'm taking that as a yes?"

"Yes, you are," Merlin replied and then went in for another kiss. This one took whatever breath Arthur had left away.

"I. Think. We. Should. Take. The. Rest. Of. The. Day. Off." Arthur said between kisses.

Merlin took his lips off of Arthur's and dragged him to the elevator.

"Your place or mine?" Merlin asked as he pressed the button for the first floor on the elevator.

"Mine, it's closer."

That was the first of many days to be spent in Arthur's bedroom. They had a lot of time to make up for.

Morgana had once said that Arthur was oblivious but he thought she was wrong. Turns out he was oblivious but not so bad that he lost the opportunity to make the love of his life his.

Flowers became a part of their everyday lives. Sometimes they were romantic intentions behind an arrangement. Others were to apologize for an argument that ALWAYS ended in sweaty, hard, hot, make-up sex.

They had a spring wedding, with flowers everywhere. Love was also everywhere but the love between Arthur and Merlin was the strongest of all.

These two were made for each other. Two sides of the same coin.