AN: Okay so, because I like you guys, and also I love writing this, I've decided to gift you all the next chapter very early! I hope you all enjoy! :)

Thanks again for all the support, and to ninagayler and GuestM for your kind comments! Arthur really is stubborn, both of them I've found are quite annoying that way haha - please enjoy this chapter!

Merlin hated the pharmacy with a growing passion, and he grunted as he tidied yet another mess Gaius had left for him. What was the old man doing behind here? Merlin wondered, shaking his head, part of him believing he did it just to mess with him. Well, it was working.

"You said you wanted something to occupy you," Gaius only shrugged when Merlin had complained.

"I meant something fun, with a friend." Merlin rolled his eyes, but knew he was done for. His friends were probably busy, anyway, and even if they weren't, they might have had enough of his moping. Although he refused to admit he was moping. He was just… thinking.

"Anyone I know?" Gaius raised an inquisitive eyebrow, and the escort felt his heart dip. "Still a sore topic I see."

"That's kind of why I need a distraction," he sighed. Gaius, thankfully, stayed quiet after that, but still insisted on his company at the pharmacy that day. This is what he got for telling the old man he was lacking in work.

Bored, his movements were sluggish, his body and mind still rather depressed. He supposed it was alright now, though, to accept it was time to get over it. Even Freya was beginning to believe it might just be long enough now to conclude Arthur was not going to get in touch. It would have been nice to have been told, at least, but perhaps it was a mercy not being outright rejected? A question for someone else, he thought, or he might just think too hard on it. Not that he had been doing already… Not at all.

He frowned as he picked up another empty vial, looking around, noticing an empty bin sat by the door. Gaius' eyesight wasn't bad at all, and yet, he still didn't throw things away. Merlin knew from experience, though, that his guardian was very selective when it came to most of his senses, so it hardly surprised him. If he brought it up with the pharmacist, no doubt he would ask for thanks for giving him a distraction. Merlin would have to have words with her mother. Or earn enough money to get his own proper place.

The pharmacy was a little busy today, and Merlin found himself listening to the sounds, even hearing a customer actually speaking of him; the man was grateful that it was Gaius holding the fort, because "that boy, I think his name was Mervin? Well, he was useless!" The real Mervin, now in the back doing chores very lazily, shook his head in exasperation. He would have guessed who this man might be, but to be honest he got the picture from many customers that they preferred when he stayed in the back. Story of his life, he scoffed to nobody. A smile came to his face, though, when he heard Gaius offer a defence for him. Well, sort of. Enough of one.

His eyes caught the clock, checking if time had gone any faster and it might be time for a break. Hardly close. He muttered under his breath, eyes scanning over the mess that still cluttered the room, having made little progress. It was a good job that the place was busy, or Gaius might come and expect his work, which right now wasn't much. Still, he found himself distracted again when he heard his name mentioned, by Gaius this time. It was quiet though; he was speaking to someone. Merlin blinked slowly, hoping it wasn't another customer, because he wasn't sure how many times Gaius would defend him. Was he really that bad?

"Merlin!" Gaius shouted from the front, coming closer to the back but not fully. "There's someone here for you, and if it's another complaint about your customer service I will give you that training again."

"You never gave it me in the first place!" Merlin called back, making his way out of the room with his own anxiety. Would a customer really try and call him out like that?

"Did you mess up a client's prescription?" Gaius continued the shouting conversation, and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"No, you don't even let me sort them! You know I just hand out the ready ones."

"Did you mix them up?"

"I might not be a pharmacist, Gaius, but I can read." He sighed as he reached the old man behind the shelves. "Didn't you ask him what he wanted?"

Gaius shrugged, "he said he wanted you."

"I don't even work here," Merlin muttered, "I shouldn't be yelled at for doing voluntary work."

"If you get it wrong you should," the old man disagreed.

"Er, hello?" The voice interrupted them with a nervous laugh, calling from the front, and Merlin's heart picked up. "It's nothing about messing up prescriptions if that's… It's something else."

Merlin's eyes widened, his knees going shaky, and he felt his hand grabbing on to one of the shelves by his side. Gaius was watching him with a frown, now, but Merlin wasn't sure he could explain.

"One minute!" He found himself shouting automatically, surprised he managed to get that out. He wasn't sure why he had said it, either, because he didn't know if he could go out there and face him.

"Merlin," Gaius whispered now with an urgency, at least picking up on the escort's discomfort.

"It's him," he choked out. "The one I told you about."

"Oh," Gaius mouthed. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Merlin stared at him with frightened eyes, "what? I don't know! He's here! How is he here?"

"I don't know, Merlin," the old man shrugged, irritated, "but if his presence stops your sulking for the next few weeks then I think you'd better go speak to him."

Merlin's frown turned into annoyance, "I haven't been sulking."

"Merlin," Gaius sighed with exasperation that had grown with his care for the boy, "you've been waiting for him to speak to you, he is here now. Go out there, or I'll speak to him myself."

The escort's stomach dropped; now that was a fearful idea indeed. "Okay," he whispered nervously. Taking a breath through his nose, he watched Gaius smile, trying to motivate him, quite clearly for his own motives but Merlin tried to tell himself it was mostly sincere.

Slowly, he stepped from behind the shelf, and catching sight of Arthur, thankfully looking away at that moment, his heart raced again. He turned back to Gaius, mouthing to him helplessly, but the old man was unsympathetic.

"I can't hear you," Gaius whispered, shaking his head.

Merlin clenched his jaw, and took another breath, turning away from the pharmacist before striding – how he hoped it appeared – towards the front desk. Arthur's attention turned to him when he heard the man's footsteps. At least he looked just as flustered as Merlin, the escort noticed as he checked his appearance; he didn't look awful, because really, how could he? Still, he didn't have his usual cocky smile gracing his face, or that crease in his forehead when he was angry or closed off. No, there was something real in his appearance, and Merlin felt the first flutter of hope he had in over a week. He tried not to let it fester, though, remembering what happened the last time. It was that thought that helped him keep his composure, closing himself off some before Arthur spoke.

"Merlin," Arthur breathed out, and Merlin swore he heard some relief there. "I wasn't sure you were going to see me," the blonde poked his head around Merlin, looking for the old man with a little amusement in his eyes.

"I thought you might be an angry customer," he shrugged awkwardly.

"I gathered," Arthur tried a smile. "I'd be more scared of the guy in charge."

"Yeah, well," Merlin whispered, "who says I'm not?" He finished quickly, as Gaius chose that moment to come out of his hiding place with a stern glare directed at their visitor. Merlin wasn't truly afraid of him, because he knew the old man always stood behind him when he needed him.

"Er," Arthur scratched the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable under Gaius' glare, and Merlin felt a little better at the fact. "Is there somewhere we could talk, maybe?"

Merlin checked the clock again, but remembered he had looked not long ago, "I don't have a break until-"

"Go now," Gaius interrupted in an instant. "You might as well have a break, there's been no progress in that room, I've seen." The stare was directed at him now, and honestly Merlin hated that his loyalties switched so quickly. "You'll have a lot to do when you come back."

Merlin's lips turned into a thin line of acceptance.

Arthur leaned against the table in the back-room Merlin had supposed to have been cleaning, Gaius allowing them to take their conversation in there so long as the visitor didn't touch anything, "unless it's to help you clean!"

The man crossed his arms and appeared serious for a moment, until his eyes glanced around the room and he frowned, "you've been tidying this all morning?" Merlin nodded slowly. "It doesn't look very clean."

Merlin shot him an aggravated stare, narrowing his eyes, "yes, and I'm sure you know all about cleaning! I bet you ask your cleaner for tips,"

"For your information, I don't have a cleaner." Arthur ducked his head, "anymore." He mumbled.

At any other time, Merlin would most likely have shared a laugh, and Arthur's expression suggested that was something he was trying to get him to do. The joke fell short though, as Merlin's anxiety was leaving his body, replaced with blind anger.

"I assume you didn't come all this way to insult my work," he crossed his arms. "I haven't heard from you in a while, how come you just showed up here?"

Arthur fumbled, and Merlin took some pleasure watching the usually rather confident man squirm under his own glare – something he would have to tell Gaius he had clearly perfected. "No, well, I tried to call," he explained, "it rang out, though."

Merlin frowned, "what? When?"

"This morning."

"Oh, I've been here. I usually don't put my phone on."

Again, something like relief crossed Arthur's face, but Merlin was still on the fence about this whole situation. Still, he shrugged, allowing the excuse.

"I wasn't sure whether to come here, but I didn't want… I thought it might have rung out because you were ignoring me."

"Would you blame me?" Merlin scoffed, "I told you I wouldn't wait."

"I know," Arthur sighed miserably. "That's why I came; I'm glad this is the first place I tried, or I might have been searching awhile!" Again, the attempt at a joke fell flat, only making things more awkward.

"Right," Merlin nodded, tapping his foot quickly against the floor. "So, I assume you've been thinking?" He spoke coldly, not wanting to open himself up to hope for even a second. The fact that Arthur was here meant something good, though, right? Freya would be screaming at him right now for even thinking otherwise if she knew.

Arthur nodded, but said nothing.

"Arthur listen," the escort huffed, "I'm actually pretty busy, as you can see, so if you're not going to actually speak to me can you either forget about it or text me when you're ready?"

"I left my job," the other man spurted out instead, startling Merlin a little.

"Er, yeah," he frowned, but let himself get pulled in. "I heard, well done."

Arthur nodded, "thanks."

Again, there is a silence that envelopes the room, and Merlin wants nothing more than for Arthur to speak to him that he has an urge to go and shake him. He once might have found the confident, arrogant Arthur to be irritating, but he was nothing compared to emotionally crippled Arthur. Had nobody taught the man any basic human communication? His brain instantly supplied the most likely answer to that, but he still refused to feel guilty, since Arthur had chosen to come here.

"I never thought I would leave," Arthur looked at him with a faraway sort of stare, and Merlin could only listen with some confusion. "I always thought, even with Morgana badgering me, I would be there forever. But, while I was being tested by my father this past week, I kept thinking about our chat, about what I actually wanted to do, and I don't know… I guess I got tired of dreaming."

Merlin's anger fell a little as he let the man opposite him bare this part of him, "I'm happy for you, really." He said more sincerely than before. Arthur smiled then, and the escort hoped perhaps they were making some progress, although he had no idea in which direction. "My breaks aren't that long, though, and I don't think Gaius will be all too pleased if I slack anymore."

"No, he did seem rather annoyed," Arthur nodded, once again staring around the room, "might even be more terrifying than my father."

And Merlin actually huffed a small chuckle then, "no, I've met your father, he is definitely worse. Gaius means well, and he wouldn't give me any trial weeks."

"I heard some of what he said, I think that's mainly because he, like me, can see you have no skills."

Merlin rolled his eyes in a fond sort of way, but it had been a time since he had, and while it was nice to get back into that sort of playful bond, he couldn't just dive right back in. Not without some surety, at least.

Arthur must have seen the anxiety in his eyes, both of their smiles falling slowly, simultaneously. "Morgana and Leon have both had words," the blonde cleared his throat, "telling me to get my act together."

The escort found himself, rather more confidently than usual, rocking his head back as he groaned. When his eyes lined back up with Arthur's, he saw some puzzlement, and he exhaled, "I don't want to hear that you've come here to tell me that they've told you to speak to me, to fix… whatever. I haven't waited a week and a half to hear what Morgana thinks, because I already know." He let out an aggravated noise, "I want to know what you think. What have you spent a week and a half doing? You told me you needed time to think, so I want to hear what you've thought about."

He watches Arthur closely, can see his mind working, wondering whether to open up; he understood he must still have issues from whatever Richard had put him through, but Merlin couldn't spend the rest of his time trying to fix that.

Arthur's head dropped, a long breath escaping the man's lips before he brought it slowly back up, closing his eyes tightly, "I'm not so good at this."

"Try," Merlin spoke through gritted teeth.

Another sigh, and Arthur opened his eyes, "I know. I will." And Merlin felt his own relief sweeping over him. The blonde nodded seriously and finally began, "I'm sorry it's been a long time, but I had my work and then I was leaving, and it just became a lot."

Merlin nodded, "I understand." He was still hurt, but he could understand.

"But I know that I made a mistake, and I'm sorry for that, too." Arthur rushed a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have said there was nothing going on, and I shouldn't have waited this long to come and see you, to tell you…" His eyes met Merlin's carefully, holding the stare, and Merlin felt his heart skip again for who knows what time that day. "I like you, I like spending time with you despite how annoying and clumsy you can be, and I like how I feel with you." Merlin wondered if his heart could even take this, but he tried hard to keep his expression cool. A smile broke out on his face, though, and it was increasingly difficult to tamper down. "I wouldn't mind giving it a go. Us. Dating." Arthur finished, much more lamely than he started, but the escort had got the message.

Merlin grinned, "and it took you a week to figure that out?" He decided to say instead.

"Well, I've also been panicking about now being unemployed," Arthur shrugged, falling nervously into the banter, and Merlin could see him eagerly waiting for his answer.

He nodded finally after a suspenseful few seconds, "I wasn't sure I'd actually made my feelings unclear, but yes, I like you, too."

"Oh, good," Arthur let out in a breath, and there was a pause as the pair both properly digested everything that had just been said; Merlin found some humour in seeing different emotions cross Arthur's face as he realised just how much he had confessed in such a short time, but it made him soften, too.

"I'm glad that you told me," he assured him, which brightened Arthur's smile. "But, there is more, Arthur." Merlin's eyes lost their delight as his mind soon turned practical, "I've been thinking, too. I know you were concerned about my job, and I can try and understand, but you need to know that I need to support myself and I'm good at it. But it's only a job, and that's all it ever will be."

Arthur shook his head quickly, holding a hand up, "no. No, Merlin, I know I made a mistake there, too. I don't want you to leave the job, I don't want you to change."

Merlin eyed him suspiciously, but after a moment, Arthur's eyes burrowing into him, he let out a sigh, and with it, all of the anxieties of his peculiar job. "I was thinking, though, I can take fewer clients, so I won't be as busy."

The other man shrugged, "take as many or as few as you choose, I trust you." And he said it with such surety that Merlin's smiled returned with a force.

A silence descended over them once more, but unlike before, there was no awkward, angry tension, but a nervous energy; Merlin thought it was strange, because in reality, they had been on what most people would consider to be proper dates. But, finally hearing it, from Arthur's lips, that the man saw it that way too, it was like music to his ears.

After pushed himself up after a moment, moving slowly closer to Merlin as the tension rose, and a blush crept up the escort's neck. He edged in closer, too, arms falling to his sides as he waited for some sign, something to push him forward. If Freya were here, she definitely would have done it. Arthur's gaze dropped to Merlin's lips, and he blushed more under the attention, but found himself staring back at the other man's, the butterflies in his stomach doing twists and turns all over the place.

They were close enough now, possibly closer than they ever had been before. While Merlin was determined not to chicken out this time, like all the other times before, he couldn't bring himself to move, the confidence he wielded only minutes ago abandoning him.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "coward," he muttered, before Merlin felt his hand grab at his collar, being the force that pulled him into the kiss, finally. He caught his breath finally, the surprise at the gesture melting away as Arthur's hands settled on his neck, Merlin's own finding their place on the man's torso as their bodies melded together. The warmth against his lips, the tender movements of his partner, were just as he imagined they would be and more, and he released a quiet moan. Arthur chuckled, still in the kiss, and Merlin would have rolled his eyes.

They pulled away, panting, flushed, and Arthur hardly moved his face away, "can I see you tonight?" He whispered, tickling against Merlin's cheek.

"Would you still be supportive if I said I had a job?"

Arthur seemed to consider, but shrugged, "I suppose."

"Good," Merlin grinned teasingly, raising an eyebrow, "but I don't, so yes."

Arthur shook his head in exasperation, but smiled, and Merlin found that stupid, real smile of his irresistible in the moment, pulling him in for a second time. Only to make up for what they had missed, of course.

"Merlin!" He heard Gaius shouting him again, "that room won't clean itself!"

AN: I hope that these two idiots finally getting their acts together was worth the wait!

The next chapter will be a sort of epilogue, and then this story will be concluded. I'm so grateful for your guys' support, and I hope you'll enjoy the final part of this story! :)