(A/N: You meet an old friend of Merlin and Arthur's in this chapter. Are you excited? Longer authors note at the end of the chapter.)
"So tell me, Merlin..." he said, as he drove down the street. Stopping at a stop sign and turning left, heading to town. Merlin sat next to him, in the passenger seat, giving him that fond look like somewhat freaked Arthur out. But, he didn't say anything about it and either did Merlin. "…Merlin?"
"Yes?"
"If you have so much magic," Arthur said, referring to the talk the two had had before leaving the house, about Merlin and his supposed magic. Arthur had known this man for a week and four days and not seen any magic what's so ever and now, he would catch Merlin right in his jack-shit crazy lie. Arthur was certain; magic was only in movies, books and poorly made TV shows. Random blokes with magic don't just show up at your door, and no matter how nice Merlin was, he was still out of his damn mind.
"I don't like to use it much," Merlin answered, shrugging. Well played, Arthur thought.
"Why not?"
"I don't know..." Merlin shrugged again.
"What kind of things can you do with your magic?" Arthur asked then, glancing over to the insane man, as he turned down another street, they were only a few minutes from the bookstore now. "Can you make popcorn with your magic?"
Merlin laughed, "Sure."
"Can you make fire with your magic?"
"Yeah, I did that a lot back in the day…"
"Can you..." Arthur paused. "Kill someone with your magic?"
"Quite easily," Merlin sighed. "But I don't like to."
"Course not," Arthur smiled, but still felt a little uneasy about that. "Can you apparate?"
"This isn't Harry Potter..."
Arthur laughed, "No, it's not," he turned down the street the bookstore was on and within seconds found a parking spot, a few feet away from the shop. He turned to Merlin then. "You do have the look though, the dark, messy hair and blue eyes…"
"Harry Potter has green eyes," Merlin spat, matter of factly. "You've clearly never read the books."
"Actually I have, all seven so…ha!" Arthur stuck his tongue out at Merlin and Merlin looked back surprised. "In fact, Merlin, I've been resisting the urge to say Merlin's Pants since meeting you!"
"I get your point," Merlin grinned, opening the car door and getting out.
"Merlin's beard!" Arthur went on. Locking the car doors before getting out as well, he got a dirty look from Merlin as they walked down the sidewalk together. "Merlin's soggy knickers!"
"Stop that!"
"What?" Arthur smirked. "Does it bother you, Merlin?"
"No..." Merlin said, pulling open the bookstore door, allowing Arthur to enter first. "I just think you sound like an idiot," he added, as Arthur passed him, Arthur smirked back.
Merlin smiled at him and it was not fondly either, it was a 'in your face' sort of smile, ruthless and spiteful, Arthur liked it. And then it was gone and the blasted insane man went wondering down an isle. Arthur followed him.
"What kind of books do you like?" Arthur asked, following Merlin's blue eye's as he looked over book titles.
"All kinds" Merlin shrugged.
"I quite like Charles Dickens, myself," Arthur stated and once again, Merlin looked at him surprised. "Stop looking at me like that!"
"I'm sorry," Merlin chuckled. "It's just…"
"Let me guess…" Arthur grinned. "Your king hated reading, yes?"
"Well, yeah…he had to read for treaties and kingly papers, but I never saw him read...a book."
Arthur nodded, he wished Merlin would stop likening him to the king bloke, it was getting clearer and clearer to Arthur he was not the king and soon enough Merlin would figure that out too and be hurt again. Probably even leave, not that Arthur wanted him to stay, but then again…maybe he did. It was quite nice having someone to come home to, every time Arthur went to class, he would come back to the house and Merlin would have made some kind of stew or soup and once,(yesterday,) even burgers that almost rivaled that of his favorite burger joint. Now, it had occurred to Arthur, that if he had wanted someone to live with, he should have asked Pepper to live with him a long time ago, they had been dating for nearly four years, but yet, he just didn't feel he was ready for a relationship like that. Merlin, he was good enough for now. And Arthur thought, with a smirk, if he could handle Merlin and his insane past life talk, he could handle anything Pepper threw at him in the future.
"Look here, Arthur!" Merlin called. He had somehow managed to run off while Arthur was musing and was now several isles over, clutching books in his hands. Arthur walked over to him, quickly. "I found Oliver Twist and David Copperfield and...Emma, it's not Dickens, but quite good."
Arthur nodded and grabbed the books from Merlin's hands. Looking over the covers a few times.
"Is there anything else you want?" he asked, looking up now, to see how long the checkout line was.
"You're not buying them for me," Merlin protested and Arthur looked back, smirking.
"No, you're right, I just brought you in here to smell the pages, get a good whiff?"
"Arthur!"
"Shut up, Merlin!" Arthur barked. Merlin froze then, eyes going wide. God, not this again. "Merlin…"
"Hm?" he asked, staring at Arthur like he was some kind of prize, it was creeping Arthur out.
"Don't pass out, we're in public."
"I'm not going to pass out!" he said, seeming to right himself out before anything happened. "I was just thinking."
"Well, if you want to call it that," Arthur shrugged, heading to the front of the store again. Merlin trailed behind him and he had the distinct idea that the loon's eyes were on him the whole time, as if engulfing Arthur into his blue eyes. It made Arthur shudder as he finally reached the checkout. At the front of the line, the girl, Arthur had seen before a few times around town, but never knew her name, (not until he looked down at her nametag that is,) she smiled at them.
"Will that be all for you today?"
"Yes-"
"No," Merlin said next to him. The girl looked a bit put off, normally everyone just said yes, but clearly some of us didn't get that. "I've been in this store a few times and the Arthurian Legend section sucks."
"I know what you mean," said the girl. "There's like three books over there and they call that a section!"
"Exactly!" Merlin seemed outraged and Arthur had to hold it together, if not, he was going to hit Merlin and that wasn't very nice. "At least they could try to find a few more books!"
"There's lots out there, they have more books about porn than King Arthur!" said the girl, loudly.
"Porn's more exciting…" Arthur said, in spite of himself and both Merlin and the girl glared at him, darkly. "What?"
"What's more exciting than King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?" the girl barked, glaring at Arthur with dark, brown eyes. Arthur shrugged.
"Ignore him," Merlin told her. "He's a prat."
"He certainly is!" she said, smiling kindly at Merlin. "I'm Gwen by the way."
"I know," Merlin said, but then his eyes widened, Arthur watched amused. It was on her nametag after all! "I mean…"
She laughed. "You're cute."
"Oh god, Arthur thought then.
"Thanks," Merlin sputtered back, grinning quite madly. This didn't make sense to Arthur, because the last he knew...Merlin was gay.
"Merlin," he said, suddenly feeling quite peeved about this whole thing. First of all, porn was more exciting than a stale book about some prat king and second, what the hell was going on here?
"Is that your name?" Gwen asked, smiling even bigger at Merlin. "Isn't that funny?"
"Yeah, I guess it is," said Merlin and Arthur then wondered, why the hell Merlin didn't go into the six hour long speech about how he was the real Merlin to Gwen. Merlin looked at Arthur with a smile. "His name's Arthur."
"Shut up!" the girl, Gwen, said. Looking at Arthur like he hadn't just preferred porn to King Arthur's heroing tail. "This is crazy, you're Merlin, he's Arthur, and…my full name is Guinevere."
"Small world," Merlin grinned bigger and the girl giggled.
"SMALL WORLD, HUGE LINE!"a grouchy voice said, from behind them and Arthur looked back to see a very irritated, elderly man, holding many books, a few people back in the line. "Get the hell on!"
"Merlin…" Arthur trailed off, looking at Merlin as he still grinned at the girl. "We should get the hell on."
Merlin nodded then, glancing back at the annoyed bloke, before turning once more to the girl.
"I'll see you soon, Gwen," he said and the girl nodded with a giggle, as Arthur almost had to drag Merlin along. Merlin somehow managed to grab the books from the girl, in Arthur's haste to get them out of there. Once outside, Arthur raised an eyebrow at Merlin's grinning face.
"What the hell was that?" he barked, he needed explanation. Really fast! Merlin was gay, at least he said he was.
"Oh…that?" Merlin asked, shrugging. "Nothing."
"Nothing!" Arthur barked again. "You were drooling over her!"
"I wasn't," Merlin shook his head and Arthur was speechless, simply speechless. What the hell?
"You're gay!"
"Very."
"What the hell?"
"Arthur, don't worry about it, alright?"
But Arthur didn't feel convinced, he continued to question Merlin as they walked next door to the coffee stop.
"Are you bi?"
"No."
"Maybe you don't know yet, maybe you need-"
"I'm gay, gayer than gay, I'm the gayest damn thing you ever saw!" Merlin barked, obviously fed up with Arthur's questioning. "Now, please, stop asking me about her."
"But Merlin…"
"Arthur!" Merlin spat, looking over at Arthur warning, blue eyes darkened and narrowed. "Drop it."
Arthur had no time to say anything to this and, oh boy, did he have things to say! But alas, Mrs. Horan called them to the front of the line. Once they ordered their coffee however, it was on!
"Don't get in my face because you tell me you're gay then about have book-sex with some checkout girl!" Arthur told him, following him back out of the coffee stop.
"Book-sex?" Merlin looked back and glared. "What the hell is that?"
"I don't know..." Arthur admitted. "But don't change the subject!"
"What do you want?" Merlin asked, as they reached the car and Arthur unlocked the doors. "Do you want me to tell you I'm attracted to her?" Merlin wrenched open the car door and got inside. "Is that what you want? Will that make you feel less weird around me?"
"I don't feel weird around you!" Arthur protested, getting in the driver side, setting the coffee down in a cup holder, before starting the car."I just found the whole thing in there weird!"
"I'm not attracted to her Arthur!" Merlin told him, sipping on his coffee, but he didn't look at Arthur when he said this, which meant... he was lying!
"Then, what was that?"
"It was…nothing."
"You've already said that."
"Then we shouldn't be having this conversation anymore!" Merlin barked, sipping harshly on his coffee. How one sips harshly, he had no idea. Arthur marveled at this, as he drove down the streets, but he hardly paid attention to them. "Why do you care anyway?"
Merlin was looking at Arthur now and Arthur tried very hard to keep his eyes on the road.
"I just found it odd."
"I guess it did look like flirting…"
"Look like? She was on you like sap on trees, mate!"
Merlin laughed, "I didn't mean for it to look like that, it's just..."
"Yeah?"
"I know her."
Arthur considered this, as he pulled onto their street and a moment later, into the driveway.
"She didn't seem to know you though…"
"She doesn't remember me," Merlin muttered, sighing. "Just like you don't."
"Oh…" Arthur said, but then it hit him, she said her name was Guinevere; King Arthur was married to a Guinevere. Oh god, here he goes again. "Uh...who do you think she was then…?"
"You're wife."
Arthur had known he would say that, damn it!
(A/N: IT'S GWEN! What do you think this will mean for Merlin and Arthur? Will Arthur ever remember who he really is? Ehh, you'll find out soon enough. Comments make me happy! #HarryPotterreference. )
