Merlin sat in his room, lounging on the bed. It was a boring old Wednesday like any other and Merlin didn't have any school work to do. Without that kind of structure to fill his time, Merlin just wound up looking up random stuff for awhile. He really needed a hobby. There was a knock at the door and then a beat, and someone pushed it open. It was Arthur. Who, even though they were married, didn't come knocking too terribly often.
"Oh good, Arthur," said Merlin beckoning him into the room. Arthur walked inside and Merlin did kind of wonder what he wanted at first, but he had more pressing matters at hand real quick. "Let me tell you all the reasons why we should get a Puffin."
"What the hell is a Puffin?" asked Arthur, his features suddenly startled and his face crunched up in confusion. Merlin searched a Puffin and turned his screen to show Arthur.
"It's a bird. They're a adorable, look at their little faces..." said Merlin. "We have the room for it, the guest room...when will there ever be a guest? We can turn it into a Puffin Land."
"How about we don't do that?" said Arthur in return. Merlin frowned.
"Why are you trying to crush my dreams?"
"Because it's a wild creature-"
"Wild creatures need love, too!"
"For the love of God..." Arthur rolled his eyes. "Come down stairs with me."
Merlin paused at this, not entirely done fighting for his Puffin Son, but he was struck by this. "Why?" he retorted. Arthur glared at him. "Are you going to kill me...?"
"I might if you don't come downstairs with me."
"What are you going to do to me down there...?"
"I bought you a gift," said Arthur and then turned on his heel and headed back out of the door. "Come on."
"What kind of gift...?" asked Merlin, but he got up and followed Arthur down the stairs anyway.
"I'm not telling you, it's a surprise," said Arthur. This puzzled Merlin, it concerned him really. Because, what was Arthur going to get him? It was very odd, he had never gotten him a gift before. They walked into the kitchen together, and there on one of the counters was a very tall white box. Merlin stared at it. "Go on, open it."
Merlin stared at the box for another second or two, and then back to Arthur, still the same level of concerned. "What is it?" asked Merlin, Arthur wasn't going to answer that though, he knew this. So, he continued. "Is it a head? Ooh...I knew you were up to something!"
"Just fucking open it!" companied Arthur and Merlin sighed. He stepped forward and looked over the box a bit more. The white box was embroidered with white squiggly lines all over it. So whatever it was, must be fancy. It also had a red bow on top to further enhance the fanciness of it. "Be careful, pull from the top slowly..."
Merlin gulped, possibly for the second time and gently took the top of the box within just his fingertips. He pulled gently and it easily started puling off. He kept pulling for a bit, revealing something white underneath it, too. Merlin was still confused and even more so after he had taken the lid off completely. Because under the box lid, was a cake. Not just any cake. A white TARDIS cake. Now, this cake was probably six to eight layers, a big boy cake. It was frosted with white, the entire TARDIS was white. But the trimmings around the door and the windows, and around the top were all the blue TARDIS color. And the whole thing overall, was dusted with white, shimmering sparkles. Merlin was amazed. It was beautiful, it was stunning, it was a bit of a confusing gift...as it was not his birthday, but it didn't really look like a birthday cake.
"I know it's a bit of a weird gift," admitted Arthur, who had been staring at Merlin intently the entire time he had been taking in the cake. "But technically we have been married five months now, that's a pretty big achievement, and we never really did have a wedding cake...I mean there was a cake. But it wasn't even white and Gwen cut it for God's sake." said Arthur. Merlin just looked at him. "I don't know why she did, maybe she thought it was her right as...third husband or something."
Merlin, who was completely taken aback by the cake. First, because it was just such a unexpected and honestly sweet thing to do. Arthur was very sweet sometimes, not always but sometimes. He would order Merlin's favorite restaurant's takeout even though he didn't like the place himself, or bring home meals for Merlin on his dates with Gwen. Sometimes he would just make Merlin lunch or dinner without even asking if Merlin was hungry, which he always was. He would do other not food related things too, like take out the trash when Merlin didn't want to, and he would always volunteer to do the dishes because he knew Merlin hated doing them. Sometimes, Arthur really did try to be a husband to him, whenever he actually could and Gwen wasn't around. Sometimes when Gwen was around too, but less. Either way, it was nice, it was nice when Arthur did these things. And now, this was a much grander gesture, Merlin couldn't help but to smile at it. It was such a beautiful little...or not so little TARDIS cake. The second thing he was taken aback by, was 'third husband.'
"Oi," complained Merlin, though he still smiled like a fool at his TARDIS cake. "If she's third husband, who's first?"
"Obviously me..." said Arthur plainly, but he smiled at Merlin's smile. A bashful one, at least. "I'm the oldest, therefore I should be the first."
"No, I'm not sure that's how that works," said Merlin, happily. "I'm the first."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Sure...whatever you say," he retorted. Merlin only grinned. He just felt so...he didn't even know, warm hearted. It was stupid to be this happy over a cake. But he was. "Alright, we should cut it."
"WHY?!" shouted Merlin, almost hurt now. "But it's beautiful, I don't want to cut it!"
"You'd rather it sit there and get stale?" offered Arthur. "We're married...it's a tradition, we should cut it. I suppose...if you really don't want to..."
Merlin pouted now, because he understood what Arthur was trying to do. But he still didn't like it. "Why couldn't you have gotten a side, ugly cake to cut?" Arthur shrugged, though laughed a little as he did. "Fine," complied Merlin, as he pulled his phone from his pocket now. "But hold on..."
Merlin took several pictures, one of every angel and several of the front. He sent a text to his mother too, not that he had any real reason to. But he was so happy, even if it was a stupid reason to be. He just wanted someone else to see it. Besides, he told himself, it was good for the papers. Proof they were really together and what not. Or whatever.
"Are you done yet?" offered Arthur, after the fifteenth picture Merlin had taken. Merlin waved him off and continued on taking pictures, while Arthur went and grabbed a rather large kitchen knife. "Ready...?"
Merlin pocketed his phone and frowned a little bit, but nodded. "Let's just make it quick...I don't want her to suffer."
"You are such a nerd..."
"A nerd?" retorted Merlin, but still good natured. "Are we in primary school?"
Arthur huffed and offered the knife to Merlin. "Shut up...how do you want to do this?" he asked. Merlin shrugged. "Just hold on to my hand then..."
Merlin listened, he grasped Arthur's hand around the knife and they both leaned forward. "Now...just a small piece, don't get too excited," warned Merin. Arthur ignored this though, and they surged forward, cutting the cake in about less than a half. Once they had, Merlin let go and Arthur chopped off a bit of the bottom layer. Leaving most of the TARDIS intact. He lodged the bit of the cake onto a random plate he found on the counter. Which just so happened to be Merlin's toast plate from that morning and it was not clean. Merlin didn't mention it. He opened the utensils drawer and pulled out two forks and offered one to Merlin then. "Oh, we're doing this, too. Okay..."
"It's tradition, Merlin," said Arthur, as they both took hefty amounts of cake onto their forks. "I picked out these favors for you, so you better like them."
Merlin made a face, a face that said 'we'll see,' and offered the his fork to Arthur. Just like with the ranch potatoes, neither of them were very gentle. They just both sort of shoved food into the other's mouth. The cake though, was actually very good. It was a mix of white cake with pumpkin. And the icing on top was some from of spiced vanilla. Together, vanilla pumpkin spice. Which Merlin very much liked, as he was actually a basic white girl at heart. At least Arthur knew him...
Once this was all over. Well, Merlin ate the rest of the cake on the plate, while marveling at the other parts of the TARDIS. Even though there was a chunk missing now, it was still so beautiful. Arthur watched him for a moment longer. "I didn't know if you would like this or not..." he admitted and Merlin looked over, still smiling like a fool. He wasn't sure he had stopped since seeing the cake. "I wanted to do something nice for you, I just didn't really know what and I know our marriage...or whatever it is, is strange, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you."
"You don't have to explain," said Merlin, reaching over, maybe boldly, and taking Arthur's hand. "I loved this...and I was very surprised."
"Good," said Arthur, in some form of awkward relief after hearing this. "It wasn't weird?"
"It was a little weird..." said Merlin, playfully. "But I'm looking passed that."
"Shut up!" retorted Arthur, but he didn't seem mad, nor did he let go of Merlin's hand right away either.
(A/N: At this point I am just trying to update on the days I have off, I'm usually off Wednesdays so I'll try to make that a normal update time, but don't hold me to it. I hope you all enjoyed this Gwen-less chapter, I want a cake now...anyway, thanks for the love this story is getting and I'll be back soon with another update.)
