It was 7:00 when Merlin woke up, stretching out his long limbs, snoozing his alarm. He walked out of the room passing by Arthur's room, his snoring evident through the wood door. Merlin let out a little laugh before walking into the bathroom. His almost jumped at his appearance in the mirror. Walking out of the bathroom he rubbed a towel in his hair going into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out the milk and took the cereal off the fridge. Making his breakfast he sat in front of the TV, switching to animal planet.

Arthur turned over in his bed, his blankets tangled in his legs. Rolling too close to the edge, Arthur fell over, landing with a thud forcing him awake. It took him a moment to come to his senses and to adjust his vision. Getting up, he dragged himself out of his room and into the kitchen where saw Merlin sitting at the couch.

'Morning.' Merlin greeted without turning his head. Arthur gave a mumbled reply making himself a bowl of cereal and sitting next Merlin.

'Could you…?' He asked Merlin, holding out his bowl. Merlin nodded holding out a hand where Arthur placed the bowl and their fingers barely touched. They silently gulped, goosebumps on their arms. Arthur got up and twisted his shirt around and sat back around, taking the bowl. They ate in silence while watching penguins.

At around 8 they both parted into their respected rooms. Arthur 'studying' and Merlin to paint.

Merlin sat on his desk chair and leaned back. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh. His eyes went towards the clock that sat on his table: 8:24 am. Merlin suppressed a groan and got back up, walking towards the easel where his latest painting sat. He picked up his palette and a paintbrush and took a couple steps back in attempt to see 'what was missing'. Suddenly, his phone started blaring the generic apple ringtone. The sound caused Merlin to bump into the shelf behind him, violently shaking the paint tins causing them to tip-over. Rainbows of colour trickled down getting onto Merlin's hair and clothes.

In the next room, Arthur, who was sound asleep, cheek on desk, jerked up at the sound of a bang against the wall shared by the two rooms. He ran into Merlin's room and saw him covered in paint. Silence fell on the room as the two looked at each other before Arthur burst out laughing. He tried to stop but would make the mistake of looking at Merlin and the giggles would return. The laughter went on for a couple minutes.

'You done laughing, asshole?' Merlin asked voice laced with anger and amusement. using his hand, Merlin wiped the paint off his face and flipped it onto the floor.

'Sorry. It was too funny.' Arthur let out, his apology mixed with laughter. He let out one last laugh before taking in a deep breath.

'Hey, Arthur,' Merlin said. Arthur looked up and his face was quickly smeared with paint causing him to let out a little yelp.

'That's what you get for laughing at me.' Merlin explained wiping the remaining paint on his shirt. Arthur narrowed his eyes at Merlin and bent down placing both his hands in the mixture of paint.

'Don't you dare' Merlin warned. Arthur took a step forward causing Merlin to take a step back. This continued for a bit when suddenly Arthur jumped, barely missing Merlin. Arthur again dipped his hand in paint. Merlin seeing this took off, running around his table creating distance between himself and Arthur.

'Fuck you.' Merlin murmured.

The two of them ran around the room throwing paint on each other before running out of breath and collapsing on Merlin's bed, huffing to get air into their lungs. They both looked over, taking in each others paint covered appearance. A smile on both their faces. For several moments they stared at one another, not so subtly glancing down at each other lips. Their faces inched closer, noses brushing, their lips about to touch when the doorbell rang. Both of them sprung out of the bed, head bumping.

'Ouch.' They both said, rubbing their respected heads, a smile still evident on their faces as they rushed to see who was at the door.

'Merlin.' Arthur called and Merlin turned. His face was smeared with a kaleidoscope of colour. 'Now we match.'