Paris is a beautiful place. There's always something to admire, whether it is the abundance of colorful flowers, the details on every building, or, in Gwaine's case, the taste of romantic adventure. At first Gwaine wasn't too keen on moving to an entirely different country, but that was just him being an annoying child to aggravate his father. He's known all his short life that he wasn't meant to stay in boring Leeds. He wants to see the world before all of it falls apart. And why shouldn't he? Life is much too short to stay in one place for too long.

Luckily for Gwaine, he had a horrible father that is almost always gone. When he first moved to Paris his heart pounded with excitement at the idea of exploring the city. But his father, George Carrison, forbid Gwaine from leaving the penthouse. George claimed that Gwaine was too young to wander the city alone. Gwaine begged his father to come with him, or have Lucille, the maid, to take him. He pointed out that he wouldn't be wandering at all; he knew exactly where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do. But Mr. Carrison would have none if it and scolded Gwaine for arguing with him. He was only seven years old and Gwaine should spend some quality family time before his father left for China on a business trip. Family time just meant that they were in the same room together; George would always be working at the dinner table, ignoring Gwaine as he stared longingly at the amazing city that tormented him by showing him little glimpses of his new life that he could never truly be apart of. At least not while his father was around to make sure he stayed in the house.

As soon as George left for China, Lucille told Gwaine to get dressed. She laughed at his face of confusion, pinched his cheek, walked to his too-big-for-a-seven-year-old-boy room and laid out an outfit for him. Gwaine jumped up and down with joy when he realized he was leaving the house to start his own adventure with the pretty Lucille. At that point Lucille had already become his motherly figure. If anyone asked where his parents were he would always tell him that his father was dead and his mother was doing errands or talking with friends. They would smile at him sadly, give their condolences, and continue chatting with the small boy. Some would hand him something sweet and others would tell him something funny to make him feel welcome.

After two months of living in Paris all of the neighbors would say hello when they saw him walking by, because even at age seven Gwaine Carrison had an alluring charisma. His big, kind hazel eyes, wavy brown hair, and toothy grin were too charming to ignore. So all in all Gwaine was an extremely happy little boy, especially when Lucille excitedly told him that she would home school him. Gwaine loved her with all his heart and would tell her so in every way possible, whether it was buying her flowers, or doing her errands for her when she was ill. When he turned eight years old October 27th, he naturally called her 'Mom' and became worried when she started to cry. Lucille gave Gwaine a warm, loving, overjoyed grin and pulled him into a large hug. The little boy ate his breakfast quickly, practically dragged her out to the streets of Paris and showed her off to everyone that walked by. He said things like, "This is my beautiful mom, and she makes great apple pies." and "My mom is the best mom in the world and I won't share!" The neighbors all smiled and laughed good-naturedly; it was such a close and loving neighborhood. At this point Gwaine couldn't imagine ever wanting to leave.

~*Page Break*~

Gwaine had a brilliant time with his mom and tried to never let her down. She was at all times there for him since his father was always gone. Sure he sent postcards and sometimes he would call, but George only came back to Paris two or three times a year. He was just some strange business man that visited Gwaine to remind him he had a father. When he was nine years old Lucille came home and told her son they needed to talk. She told him that she would always love him with all her heart, but someone else needed her love too. She told him that her sister-in-law had died a month ago and left behind a boy Gwaine's age with nowhere to go. He had nowhere to live, and he was very lonely. And would it not be a great idea for him to live with them? Now there would be someone for Gwaine to play with when it's raining outside and Mom was busy. Doesn't that sound like a grand time, Gwaine? To Lucille's relief, the growing boy did think it was a great idea. He jumped up and down and went to make his room ready for his new brother. At first he asked his mom so many questions, so quickly; she didn't have time to answer. When he finally paused to take a breath, he brought his small hand to her mouth and yelled, "Don't tell me! I want it to be a surprise!" Lucille laughed and the next day they took a plane to London to pick up Gwaine's new brother. She made sure to tell Gwaine that he might be shy and sad because his mom just died and he was moving somewhere he had never been before. She told him that not everyone was as adventurous as him and to be mindful of the boy's feelings.

The plane landed and they took a cab to the foster home to pick up the boy. When they pulled up to the driveway, Gwaine saw a gloomy looking house with a gloomy little boy waiting outside on the porch. He got out of the cab and walked purposefully up to the boy. He was small and so skinny, Gwaine didn't think it could be healthy. He had thin, floppy, black hair that made Gwaine want to brush his hair until it stopped flipping out at the ends. When he finally looked up and saw Gwaine's extended hand, he gave him a scared look.

"I'm Gwaine Carrison. You're going to live with me and my mom. Her name is Lucille. She isn't really my mom, but she's nice enough to be my mom. My dad is always gone. He isn't nice. I haven't seen him in a long time. You can be my new brother. We'll have lots of fun in Paris, I promise."

It was then Gwaine noticed that the boy's very bright blue eyes were brimmed with tears. His lips were in a perfect pout and Gwaine awkwardly dropped his arm to his side. He looked around for his mom and saw she was doing paperwork inside. When he looked back to the boy he realized he didn't know what to do. The boy's tears were falling freely now, making Gwaine feel horrible. Without thinking he sat down next to him, wiped his tears and pulled him into a hug. The boy's body went frigid and then slightly relaxed. He mumbled something Gwaine couldn't hear, so Gwaine just continued to rub his back like his mom did to him when he was feeling sad.

"What did you say?" Gwaine questioned quietly.

"My name is Merlin." The boy, Merlin apparently, just barely whispered.

"That's an awesome name." Merlin smiled and buried his head in Gwaine's shoulder.

Lucille finally came out with all of Merlin's belongs and smiled fondly at the sight before her. The two boys were holding each other tightly, both sniffing from being out in the November cold for so long. She sneezed, making Merlin and Gwaine jump. Gwaine grinned at her, stood up, and pulled Merlin to the cab that Lucille had called a few moments ago. She put each suitcase in the back of the cab and ushered the boys in the back seat. They got to the airport, got a snack, and hurried to the plane. When they lifted off, Gwaine was talking to Merlin excitedly about Paris. He told him about the German butcher that worked down the street who gave him free food on Thursdays, his belief that the old lady down the street was a vampire because she never came outside during the day, and the little girl who was always at the floral shop because her parent's owned it and lived in the apartment above it. Gwaine told Merlin about how she always gave him daisies and kissed him on the cheek when he left with a disgusted face. Merlin asked him if he could tell him more about the girl and after arguing with Gwaine if girls were icky or not, Gwaine caved in.

"Her name is Freya. Freya has long brown hair and green eyes. She's super pale, like, you kind of pale. If I didn't know her I would think she's never seen the sun in her life, she's that pale. She likes the color red and the vanilla cupcakes Baker Tom bakes and she has a purple bike that goes super fast. Freya is nice, I guess, when she isn't giving me her girl germs."

Merlin looked confused. "Girl germs are different from boy germs?"

Gwaine looked at Merlin with wide, disbelieving eyes and scoffed, "Of course! It can get you super sick if you don't wash them off right away! That's why you have to be careful when you play with girls. And you never ever play tag with them. It's much too dangerous."

"But you give Lucille hugs and kisses. Are you immune to her girl germs?"

"Of course I am! She's my mom, so her girl germs don't count."

Merlin looked upset and let out a sad, "Oh."

"She can be your mom too, since you're coming to live with us and are going to be apart of our family." Gwaine said, very nervous that Merlin didn't want to be his new brother.

Fat tears began to roll down Merlin's cheeks. "I want my mummy back." He wailed, making Gwaine feel guilty yet again. He wasn't sure what to do, so he just held onto Merlin's hand. The crying boy leaned on Gwaine and hid his face in the dark blue coat, muffling his sobs. The material was soft and warm; Gwaine rubbed soothing circles in his back, whispering loving nonsense in his ear. Soon Merlin was fast asleep.

~*Page Break*~

About an hour later Merlin woke up to the plane landing; he stretched and turned to find Gwaine fast asleep. He smiled and tried to wake him gently. When that didn't work, he poked his arm lightly. Merlin frowned when he saw the plane was almost empty. So he leaned down to Gwaine's ear and hoped he wouldn't hate him afterwards.

"GWAINE!"

Gwaine jumped awake, knocking his head with Merlin's.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Gwaine asked crankily, rubbing his head while gathering his stuff.

"You wouldn't wake up. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that." The blue eyed boy replied cheekily with a goofy grin plastered across his face.

"Jerk. Come on, we have to get off now. You can finally see our home! You're going to love it!" His hazel eyes were no longer sleepy as he followed Lucille off the plane with Merlin in tow.

While they were making their way home, Merlin stared at everything in awe. It so much brighter in Paris than it was in mid-London and Merlin loved it. When the cab finally stopped Gwaine jabbed his brother –because as far as he was concerned, Merlin was his brother now- in the side, making him jump. Gwaine grinned at him and pushed him out of the yellow vehicle. Merlin found his arm being yanked off as he was being led to the apartment before him. He heard Gwaine talking but he didn't hear him. The flat was so spacious; his mother's place only had one bedroom, one bathroom and a tiny kitchen that was placed next to the small living room. They were on the first floor and the only view they had was one of the brick building next to them.

Here it was so much different, and in the good way. The flat itself was practically the entire top floor, which Merlin found pretty cool. Everything was open and clean. To his right there was a long, oak table that seated six and each chair had a royal purple cushion that made Merlin feel like he would be eating at a medieval palace. A step up from the dining area –Merlin wasn't too sure if he could call it a dining room since there weren't any walls to separate it from the kitchen or living area- was a smooth kitchen. Everything in it looked sleek and new. The fridge was sliver and the counters were made of granite. There was an almost empty bowl of red apples; probably all eaten by Gwaine, Merlin noted as Gwaine reached for the best looking one and chomped on it. Still standing by the doorway, Merlin looked to his left to see the living area. All of the furniture was white, but the decorations were bright pinks, greens, and oranges. The entire flat was hard wood floor; Lucille had put down soft furry rugs because Gwaine was always jumping and running around, and she didn't want to see him hurt. Lucy told Merlin jokingly that she already trusted him with her finer china more than Gwaine.

Blue eyes fell upon a large balcony, and the owner of said eyes walked out on it. The balcony was neatly furnished like the inside of the house, but all Merlin cared about was the pure life it showed. Below him was the city of Paris, and Merlin didn't think anyone could help but fall in love. He wasn't aware of how much time he spent out there until Gwaine burst out yelling that dinner was ready and dragged him back inside. After eating a delicious meal, Gwaine showed Merlin their room. Lucille had tucked all of Merlin's belongings away and gave him yet another hug to show her love. He could get very used to this place, Merlin thought to himself.

A/N What's this? Another story even though Bri still has 17 one shot drafts in her Works that need attention? Yes, yes it is. I can't focus on just one story! Puh-lease. I have the attention span the size of Justin Bieber's dick. (And for any of you bieber fans out there, I mean my attention span just doesn't exist.)

This is a modern Merlin (BBC) story, but the focus will be on Gwaine. I have this crazy idea in my head that Sebastian Smythe from Glee would make a great boyfriend for Gwaine. It's probably just because they're both man whores and it seems extremely unlikely that I love it so much. When I watch stuff with my younger sister, I say that two certain people would be great together. She looks at me and back at the TV and back at me and says "You're crazy. It would never work out."

SO... I naturally take it as a challenge and write something like this. Only now I want it to be more than a one-shot, just to push myself. Cuz I'm wierd like that. Sorry for the long A/N and you are flipping amazing if you even read all of it! I OWN NOTHING!