It was the first day of Arthur's new job, and he had left about forty-five minutes before Merlin stood in the kitchen feeling conflicted, as he looked at Gwen. Gwen was there because she had spent the previous night there and was wearing one of Arthur's footie tee-shirts as a nightgown just to throw it in Merlin's face, and otherwise made Merlin want to commit some sort of viscous crime just for having such a smug face. But that was not why Merlin was conflicted, it was the things she said that threw him off. Normally, she was all for taking control of situations and doing things her own way, but not with this, she had no interest.

"Why don't you want to cook something for him?" asked Merlin, as Gwen stirred her coffee and shrugged one, nearly bare shoulder. "It's his first day, shouldn't he come home to a nice meal?"

Gwen snickered at this. "Why should Arthur be rewarded for something all adults should have to do?" she questioned and he could sense the jab thrown his way, the jab that he should work, but Merlin ignored that because he was choosing his battles. "He got a job, big deal," she continued. "He doesn't need a dinner."

Merlin huffed, "I just thought it would be nice..."

"It's overkill, why are you trying to impress him?" she demanded from him then and Merlin shook his head.

"I didn't mean me...I figured you would want to do something, but if not I guess we'll order a takeout."

"You order whatever you want, I have to work late tonight," Gwen said and then finished her coffee, leaving the room to go get dressed for work. Merlin glared at her as she walked out. He called her a bitch in his mind and then walked over to the sitting room, still conflicted as to what to do. See, Merlin had thought it would be nice if Arthur came home to a fancy, good meal after his first day at a job that he had worked rather hard to get. Merlin wasn't honestly sure what Gwen was playing at, because doing something outlandish was much more her style than his, but perhaps because it had no payout to her, she wasn't interested. But she loved to show off and okay, maybe she just didn't feel like she had to show off to Arthur anymore, but who better to show off to than your boyfriend? Merlin didn't want to make a dinner to show off to Arthur, far from it. He just wanted to do something nice for him, to show him he cared that he had just spent ten hours learning how to do a very difficult job, but it was obvious Gwen didn't care about any of that. Before Merlin had made up his mind Gwen was already coming back downstairs, and didn't bother to find Merlin before she left. "I'm off!" she called from the door and slammed it shut, Merlin didn't care one way or another, he had made up his mind at long last.

She would be late at work, and Arthur should be home around five, that gave Merlin plenty of time to cook a meal for his fake husband without Gwen freaking out on him about it. This had been why Merlin was conflicted, he wasn't sure if he should go against Gwen and do something for Arthur or not, or if he should just leave it alone. But truthfully, he couldn't careless if Gwen got mad, Arthur deserved something nice and if Gwen wasn't going to do it, Merlin didn't see any other options. Once he was sure she was gone, he pulled out his phone and began searching recipes for meals he knew Arthur liked. Five hours later, after much sweating, panicking and a trip to two different stores, Merlin was cooking a perfectly beautiful Sunday Roast, even if it was Monday, that didn't matter.

Arthur got home fifteen minutes after five, and when Merlin heard him come in, he threw the lighter he had been holding, just simply as a reflex. When Arthur walked into the dining room just after yelling Merlin's name in the hall for some reason, Merlin froze there, staring at him. Arthur however, was staring at the table. Perhaps Merlin had gone a bit overboard, he had gotten out the fine china Gwen claimed was hers even though it wasn't, and had lit long, white candles on the table, set the table with a table cloth and had rolled actual cloth napkins instead of just offering paper ones, and had even put on a fancy shirt. Arthur looked up at him now with a strange look.

"Did Gwen do this?" he asked and Merlin felt incredibly stupid all of a sudden, because this did look romantic and of course Arthur would think it was from Gwen. Arthur just continued to look at him when he didn't answer and forwarded his brow, probably confused. Just then a dark smell filled the room and Arthur breathed in. "Did something burn?"

"MY ROLLS!" yelled Merlin, still feeling mortified, maybe Gwen was right, this isn't what you do for someone. He ran back into the kitchen and threw open the oven, there was no smoke or fire coming out like in romantic comedy's, however the rolls were a very dark brown color. After Merlin set them down and took off the mitt, tapping one with a single finger, it was completely hard. He was suddenly very annoyed and just wanted to throw the entire dinner away, Arthur walked in now and looked at the rolls with a raised eyebrow. "Don't say anything," Merlin warned, he was embarrassed and he didn't want to hear any smart-ass comments from Arthur. "I'm not in the mood."

"Oh, and here I had thought you cooked a meal for me," said Arthur, because he was himself like that. He looked amused now though, as he glanced up from the burnt rolls and smirked at Merlin. "Maybe you were expecting your other husband..."

"I wish," retorted Merlin, darkly, but his irritation was slipping away slowly, as Arthur grinned at him. "He's better looking, you know..."

Arthur laughed, "I seriously doubt that."

"You think you're so great," said Merlin now, but now he was only teasing. "I've had dogs better looking than you."

"Careful where you admit that..." Arthur trailed off, looking over to the freshly cooked chicken in the pan. "Can I eat this or what, will your husband be mad?"

"He's a bit of a dick, so..." Merlin shrugged and Arthur sighed at his comment, walking over to a drawer to pull out a knife now. "Hey, hey...no getting handsy, this is my job!" He took the knife from Arthur as he got closer and proceeded to cut bits of chicken breast into fine lines. Arthur glared at him, but not in a annoyed way, as he did this, probably more so in a hungry one. Merlin arranged the plates just so, just like he had seen in the pictures online, the only difference is they had roast beef and Merlin used chicken, as Arthur likes chicken more. As he carried both plates to the done-up dining table, Arthur followed him with two wine glasses filled with beer, to be fancy of course, and the brunt rolls on a plate, which neither of them were going to eat and they knew it. Merlin didn't really feel embarrassed anymore, Arthur didn't say anything or make fun of him for the dinner, so Merlin just didn't plan on mentioning his actions whatsoever as they ate. Instead of sitting across from each other, they sat next to each other on one side of the table, which was odd but neither questioned this either, as they began eating.

As they ate, Arthur started talking about his new job, what the boss was like, the employees and how he had an office with a view of the trashcsns outside, which Merlin found absolutely brilliant. "They just...knew you, it's perfect," he had teased, while eating a green bean with his fingers even though he had fancy forks to use. Arthur made his displeasure in his comments known by letting out a very fake, rich laugh and throwing a burnt roll at him. "Hey, what are you trying to do...kill me with that thing?"

"I could ask you the same question..." Arthur retorted slapping the bread against the wooden table, the table shook from it. "Look at it, it's a rock."

"Like your personality," retorted Merlin. "Trashcan Man."

"Fuck you," said Arthur and Merlin grinned.

"Well, that's forward..." offered Merlin. "Just because I made you dinner doesn't mean you can flirt with me."

Arthur looked over at him and pulled a face that was somewhere between highly offended, highly irritated and slightly embarrassed. "Excuse me..." he trailed off, and took a large sip of his beer in the wine glass before he continued. "That wasn't flirting, if I had been flirting you would know it."

"Am I meant to be hurt by that?" retorted Merlin back, and Arthur smiled, setting down his fork and wine glass, shaking his head. "Yes I know...fuck you, you've said it before."

Arthur paused before he spoke, trying to stifle the laugh he was hiding and then shrugged. "Well," he said and the posh-ness of his voice made Merlin know for sure he was about to say something irritating. "I mean you went to all this trouble for me, perhaps you want me to flirt with you."

"In your dreams, White Trash," said Merlin, in the same sort of tone Arthur just had spoken in, trying to ignore the embarrassment creeping back up his spine and doing this, Merlin lied right through his teeth, "I only did all this cause I want the money."

"You can have it," said Arthur, almost without thinking, Merlin just looked at him. It had been several moments since the two had even touched their half eaten food. "You can have whatever you want, Merlin, whenever you want it." The way Arthur had said that was so serious that it took Merlin aback, he just looked at him, while Arthur looked back, with an equally serious expression, his eyes dead-locked onto Merlin's. After only a second or two of this however, Arthur grinned. "See...now that was flirting."

Merlin let out a breath, shaking his head and turned away from Arthur, looking back at his food now, even though he wasn't hungry anymore at all. "That was terrible, I mean...really," Merlin lied. "Where did you learn to flirt like that?"

"My dad."

"Well...now I see the problem."

(A/N: Here is another update, I am trying to do Gwen-centra chapters less for the next few. I want to focus on the two of them together a little more, but don't worry...she will be back to her bitch ways without fail. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.)