Merlin knew he was in over his head. He always knew this, he had basically been in over his head since he agreed to do this whole thing. It was beyond the call of duty and something someone normal would never do. All of this he had known, he had also known that at least someone was going to end up hurt after it had all ended, and he had figured it would be himself. Not because he had thought that he would fall in love with Arthur though, because that had not actually crossed his mind. When this whole idea was first on the table, Merlin couldn't stand Arthur, but he had gotten to know him, and then as time went on, he honestly liked Arthur as a person...and after that it had all kind of spiraled out of control, to the point Merlin was at now. And he knew he was stupid, he really did, he supposed to himself that he just had to be careful, he couldn't let what happened last night happen again. He had to watch himself. Yet with that being said, he wasn't doing a very good job of it as of yet.

See, what had happened was, is Gwen spent the night yet again, and in the morning she started complaining, as she so typically did. She was complaining about how there was so much stuff in the fridge, and well...most of that was left overs from the dinner Merlin had made for Arthur, but he couldn't tell Gwen that, as she thought they had pizza. So, instead of throwing it away, this is how Merlin ended up at Arthur's job, walking inside with a grocery store paper bag full of leftover food he was going to force Arthur to eat for lunch. And this was in no way because he had some deep urge to see Arthur. He hadn't gotten up in time to see Arthur before he had left that morning and it was driving Merlin crazy, as he didn't actually know where they stood at the moment. He assumed Arthur wasn't going to say anything about the accidental kissing, because Arthur was just that way and why did they really need to bring it up? They didn't, but Merlin was still worried their relationship would be weird now, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Merlin walked up to the front desk and the dark-haired girl at the counter smiled at him. "Can I help you?"

"I'm-" he had almost said Arthur's husband, he had to stop himself, because he wasn't sure what Arthur had told them. Merlin quickly continued though. "I'm here to see Arthur Pendragon...he's new."

"Oh, yes...of course," said the girl and Merlin thought that was much too easy. She should have probably questioned him more, but instead buzzed him in and he walked through the glass doors. "Just go all the way down, his office is the last on the right."

Merlin nodded in thanks and started walking down the hall. There were many light wooden doors along the walkway, all with big, glass windows to the right of them, showing into each office. He had to wonder what the point of a door was if you could see in anyway. But he finally got to the last office on the right and paused at the window, looking inside. Arthur was sitting at a dark-wood desk, looking at a computer screen. He was sitting back in the chair, causally, as if he wasn't actually working very hard at all. Merlin knocked on the window then and watched Arthur jump a little bit. But, when he looked over Merlin smiled and waved a hand quickly. Arthur got up at once and walked over, and opened the door.

"What are you doing here?"

"Is that anyway to treat your food delivery service?" asked Merlin, lifting up the bag and pushing passed Arthur to walk inside the office. "It's a special delivery, just for you!"

"What is it?" asked Arthur, as he shut the door behind them and followed Merlin back into the office.

"Leftovers," said Merlin and plopped the bag onto the desk. He didn't turn around though, instead he walked over to the window and looked out of it. Sure enough, Arthur's view was entirely filled with trashcans. Merlin smirked at this.

"Oh, I thought you were going to say you were the delivery," said Arthur, and Merlin looked back with a raised eyebrow. "But leftovers...eh, I suppose there goes the tip..."

"I have a tip for you," retorted Merlin, walking back over to the desk. "Learn to be grateful."

"Are you suggesting that I'm not grateful?" Arthur offered back. Merlin shrugged.

"I am suggesting you could do better at being grateful..."

"And I'm suggesting that you shut up," Arthur shot back and Merlin pouted.

"Wow, you're being mean...maybe I should've brought a coffee for you to throw."

"Oh, for fuck's sake..." Arthur trailed off and sat back down, in his poufy looking swivel chair. Merlin undid the paper bug and started pulling out containers of food then. He thrusted on across the desk and Arthur picked it up. "It's hot!"

Merlin looked up at him and looked slightly confused. "Well yes, I warmed it before coming here." Arthur stared at him. Maybe that was weird, Merlin didn't know. "How was I supposed to know if they had a microwave here?"

"Of course they have a microwave, Merlin!"

Merlin glared at Arthur then. "OV-COURSE THEY HUV A MICROWAVE, MUURLIN!" he made fun of the way Arthur talked. "How the fuck was I supposed to know that? Shut your mouth and eat your green beans, or I'll take them back!"

Arthur looked at him with a mix of mirth and irritation, and saluted him with two fingers. "Yes, Sir!"

Merlin kinda wanted tp punch him at this moment. "Asshole!" he offered back, as Arthur started eating with a plastic fork Merlin had brought.

"I've heard that a lot recently," Arthur commented. "Maybe you've got a problem with me...maybe we ought to address it."

"Or maybe you should stop being an asshole?" offered Merlin back once again, with a grin. Arthur grinned right back at him.

"Mmm...no," he said. "I like pissing you off."

"Well...maybe I like pissing you off, too!"

"Oh," Arthur's grin got bigger. "I know you do."

"I was trying to be nice by bringing you this," admitted Merlin then, truthfully, and Arthur's asshole-like face softened a little.

"I know you were," he said. "It was very nice of you...I don't deserve you being so nice to me."

Merlin took pause a this and titled his head, looking Arthur over. "Of course you do."

"No," Arthur said, looking back at Merlin, rather seriously. "You deserve so much better than this."

Merlin didn't have time to question this, even though he didn't think he really had to, he knew exactly what Arthur meant. But the conversation ended at once, when there was a knock on Arthur's door. Merlin looked over and outside, at the door was a very tall woman, dressed in a all black, pressed suit. Arthur once again got up at once and yanked open the door. The woman walked inside and looked over at Merlin with a raised eyebrow.

"Who is this?" she asked, not in an irritated way, which was good. Because Merlin wasn't entirely sure he was supposed to be here. He walked closer to Arthur now too, just in case he had to flee out of there, if she did get annoyed.

"This is my husband, Merlin," said Arthur and the woman looked over at him once more and smiled.

"Oh, so you're Merlin," she said and leaned over, offering him her hand to shake. Merlin did. "I'm Annis. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Merlin smiled. He tried not to be slightly excited that Arthur introduced him as his husband, after all, it was all part of the story anyway. So it really didn't mean anything, yet he still felt a warm little jolt in his stomach when she said it. "I hope you don't mind I came..."

"He brought me lunch," Arthur added in. Annis nodded.

"Not at all, he can come 'round whenever he wants to," said Annis. "My husband does, he brings the dogs all the time, too."

"You have dogs?" Merlin asked, excitedly.

"Three Yorikis, or Monsters really, in tiny dog form."

Merlin laughed at this. "I'd love to see them!"

"Come around next week," she said and then winked at Merlin. He grinned at her. "I like him, Arthur," said Annis then. "He's adorable. But I'll let you two get back to your lunch..."

She turned and headed back out of the office then and Arthur shut the door after her. He walked back over to his chair and sat down once more, picking up his food to continue eating. "She think's you're adorable..." said Arthur, causally, Merlin looked at him, questioning. "My mum said the same when I talked to her on the phone...must be the doe-eye thing you do when you're nervous."

"I wasn't nervous," said Merlin right away, but then added on to that. "What doe-eye thing?" he asked, but then added, again. "And so what? I am adorable."

"I never said they were wrong" offered Arthur, as he took his time to speak and ate a piece of chicken as he looked Merlin over. Merlin watched him as he did this, wondering what exactly he meant by that. "I suppose I just see you in another way..."

"So you don't think I'm adorable?" asked Merlin, and he knew that was probably not the important part to ask, but it was the part that came out.

"I never said that..."

"Well, I can't really figure out what you're saying, so..."

Arthur laughed. "Don't worry about it, come eat."

Merlin listened, but frowned though, because now he was worried about it.

(A/N: Hello! I am so tired, I just worked like a 13 hour shift...but I still wanted to update since it's been a few days. See my dedication? Just kidding, anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this last chapter without the Gwen problem. But you should never fear, she always comes back. I hope you enjoyed!)