This was ridiculous. Arthur thought as he looked out of his window into the eerily empty street. He might live in a detached house with little neighbours in the street, but this? Seeing pretty much no people on the streets, even after two days after the initial storm had hit, was seriously ridiculous.

He still had no electricity or water and the food in the house was running out. The roads were a mess and even if he went out, he still couldn't get any groceries since every shop in a thirty mile radius was closed. The lack of water irked him more though because he couldn't grab a decent hot shower and he hated that. He had to shower with some bottled water this morning and that was an absolute hell. At least he felt somewhat clean now, but he knew that he had to move.

But where? He had called and left voicemails to pretty much everyone he knew who lived up north to ask if he could stay with them, but no one picked up or called him back. He had no idea why though…

Arthur turned away from the window to sit down on his couch. The few candles he found in the back of a cabinet was all the light he had around him. God, it's like living in the Middle Ages!

Sighing, Arthur turned his phone on again. His back-up battery was close to dying now too, but he had to try to see if there was someone that would answer his call. He scrolled down his contacts lists and sighed even deeper when he saw that he had called everyone yet there was to call. Except…

Arthur shook his head, turning off his screen and putting the phone next to him. There was no way Merlin would take him in. Merlin might be a gentle soul, but the way they ended things eight years ago… well, it wasn't pretty.

With one last deep inhale and running his hand over his face, Arthur picked up his phone again. It was worth a try, right? He clicked Merlin's name and saw Merlin's home number and mobile. He thought for a second, if he'd called his mobile, Merlin would see it was him calling and then there was a 120% chance that Merlin wouldn't answer. His home number however… well, it was a good chance Merlin still didn't had a caller ID. Yes, it was better to call on his home number.

Even though he made up his mind, his finger stil hovered for the longest time over the green telephone icon. All the while his blinking battery was taunting him with an one percent battery level. This was it, it was no or never.

With closed eyes he clicked the green button and held the phone against his ear. It rang twice before it connected.

" Hello? Merlin here."

"Hey, it's Ar-" The line suddenly disconnected and Arthur pulled his phone from his ear to see his screen was black. "Dammit! Fucking useless thing."

Should he – should he just drop by? It wasn't like there was anything left for him to do here. He couldn't get to work because he physically could not get in to work since his building was electronically secured and since the power in the city was out, the building was more sealed than the general prison.

He had no other choice. It was either going to Merlin or staying here, so that decision was quickly made. He got one of the candles and went upstairs to throw some clothes and hygiene products into a bag and then went down to the garage to get into his Jeep. At the way the roads looked, he would get farther with his Jeep than his Ferrari.

Before he knew it, he was on his way to Merlin.

~oOoOo~

He was really there, Arthur realized. About halfway through his trip he started to seriously doubt himself whether or not he was making the right decision, before thinking to himself that this was obviously not the right decision, but he still drove on. Maybe, somewhere deep inside him, he wanted to see Merlin again and maybe, just maybe they could make up again. Sure, Merlin said he wouldn't want to be with him because he was too obsessed with his job, but seriously? That couldn't just be the only reason, right? At the time he just left it be, because he was too busy with his upcoming promotion and hadn't seen Merlin since.

When he drove into the town Merlin lived in his whole life, Arthur began to doubt whether or not he would still live in the same house, but there was one way to find that out. He drove up to the house and waited in front of it, trying to spot Merlin. He didn't had to wait very long, because minutes later Merlin popped out of his house to pick up the mail.

When Arthur saw him a light inside him that had been dormant for so many years sparked to life. Merlin was still as gorgeous as he'd ever been, maybe even better. He certainly aged well like a fine wine.

It took a few minutes after Merlin had gone inside again for Arthur to pick himself together and walking up to the house. He rung the doorbell and seconds later the door already swung open.

"Hi sweetie!" Merlin answered and Arthur frowned when Merlin was bending over and was pretty much staring at his knees. Merlin slowly straightened himself and moved his eyes up to the person in front of him. His eyes budged. "Oh."

"Hello, Merlin." Arthur answered suavely.

"Arthur? What the hell are you doing here?"

"As you might've seen on the news, there was a storm in London and it basically left the whole city without power or water. I wondered if I could possibly stay here for a few days. I know I don't have the right to -"

"And you didn't think you could've booked a bloody hotel?"

Arthur coughed uncomfortably. Actually, he hadn't. Not once did that came up into his mind. Why it hadn't, he didn't know. "Erm-"

"Ohhh!" Came a child's voice from behind them. "You said a bad word, daddy!"

Arthur turned around to see a small boy standing just a few feet behind him. Hair as blond as his own, eyes as blue as Merlin's… the hell?

The child quickly passed him and went to stand with Merlin, who placed his hands on top of the child's shoulders. Merlin looked like he was about to pass out.

"Merlin, you okay?" Arthur questioned.

Merlin just blinked at him before crouching down. "Finn, why don't you get yourself some juice, okay?" His voice came out raspy, but the child didn't seem to catch up on it.

"Okay, daddy." Finn answered with a toothy smile and ran off inside the house.

"So, you've got a child." Arthur remarked, his own jealousy flaring up. He knew that Merlin must've moved on after him. It has been eight bloody years, of course Merlin must've met someone else.

Before Mrlin could answer, Finn came running towards the door again. "There are no juice boxes left in the fridge and I hate the taste of the warm ones."

Merlin was staring at Arthur and Arthur stared back at him. Quickly, Merlin coughed once before bending forward again. "I'll get you something else in a minute, okay?"

Finn nodded. "Okay, daddy." He said, then turned to Arthur, his head tilted. "Why are you staring at my daddy like that?

"It's nothing, dear." Merlin said, trying to push his son back into the house again. "This man was just leaving."

"This man, does have a name, okay?" Arthur said, noticing Merlin's eyes going even wider and his head shaking no almost unnoticeably.

The child butted in again. "I am Finneen, but everybody calls me Finn." Finn said, holding his hand out to Arthur. Arthur looked at it before reluctantly shaking it. He wasn't really particularly fond of children. Never had been. Now he thinks about it, that was another part why he and Merlin hadn't worked out.

"I'm Arthur."

"Cool. My second name is Arthur. Daddy said he once knew an Arthur."

"Did he now?" Arthur asked with a quirked eyebrow, looking up to Merlin's blushing face.

Finn nodded heavily. "And then he said to auntie Gwen that he-"

Merlin quickly put his hand over his son's mouth. "Okay, Arthur has to go now. Say bye, Finn."

The child waved. "Bye, Arthur."

Arthur did a two finger salute to the child and stared at Merlin. "Please don't tell me you really named your child after me. It's not like he's mine." Arthur joked.

Merlin shifted from foot to foot. His hand rubbing circles in his neck. "Well… fuck this was not how I imagined it to be." Merlin whispered under his breath. He didn't dare to look up to Arthur. "I mean, it was bound to get out essentially…" Merlin looked from under his eyelashes, and sawthe blood slowly drain out from Arthur's face when realisation began to set in.

"Y-you mean, h-he's. Y-you, me?"

Merlin shrunk slightly into himself before nodding slowly.

It took a few silent second, but then Arthur's voice thundered. "And you didn't think I had the right to know!"

"You never bloody listened when I told you something!" Merlin thundered back. "I tried telling you, if you must know, but you never gave me some attention because all you ever cared for was your precious job. Well, Arthur, I hope it brought you lots of joy!" Merlin ended by smacking the door close in his face.

Fuck, Arthur thought. Fuck, fuck, fuck!