(A/N: I don't think I ever mentioned it, but their ages go like this; Arthur, Merlin, Gwaine and Leon are all 14. Lance, Gwen and Percy are all 15. In the next part they will be older. The first group will be 16 and the second will be 17. And I know, Arthur is a bit of an ass in the last part and this one you are about to read. But he's better in the next part. Enjoy!)

Guilt was covering him like a blanket, snuggling him into the shame bed that he was now laying in. Sweat was forming on him the guilt squeezed so tight, was so hot. It was June and the heat was increasing, but not enough to make sense of why he was so hot, he felt like he, himself was on fire. He scrubbed at his face with his hands, itched at his eyes.

He got up, because he couldn't just sit there anymore, on the sidewalk, it was like everything was eating at him, he had to do something, to move. Maybe run.

He could hear what Hunith was saying now, as she cried into his mothers shoulders. "My whole life, ruined," she was saying. "How will I provide for my child?"

Her child, the reason Arthur had done this, so surely Merlin was somewhat to blame, if he wasn't so insufferable maybe Arthur wouldn't have listened to Gwaine and wouldn't have…

Somehow, Arthur knew that was wrong.

But where was Merlin? Why wasn't he here?

He couldn't stand there anymore and went toward the coffee shop. The smell of burnt wood and grit didn't make itself known until after Arthur walked inside and didn't smell it anymore. With all that happened and with the drugs and drink still lingering in his blood, Arthur nearly collapsed with the weight of it all. He leaned against the counter for support, head down. He swore he would never drink or do drugs again, ever!

The door bells chimed and he looked up, half expecting the police to be there, to hall him away. It was what he deserved. But it was only his mother.

"Horrible, what happened, isn't it?" she asked, and he swore, she knew, she just knew. He must look guilty; he must look like a common criminal in her eyes. He wanted to cry.

"Yeah," he managed to get out.

"Whoever did this to those poor people is sick!" Ygraine said, nearly in a shout, and Arthur felt sick. She walked over to the coffee machine and turned it on. "The police think it was a hate crime." It was a hate crime. Arthur committed a crime. "Some silly fool who takes this damned rivalry too seriously."

I did it, mother, I did it and I'm so sorry! It was on the tip of his tongue, verging on coming out, she looked so angry; he didn't want to make his mother angry. "But isn't this good?" he said instead and she turned to look at him so fast, with the most disbelieving stare Arthur had ever seen. "Good for our business I mean, with them…out?"

"That was their livelihood, Arthur Pendragon!" she bit back at him, disapproval heavy in every word. "Hunith has no way to bring any money in, to provide for Merlin." She took a to go cup from under the counter and sighed. "Sometimes you remind me of your father so much."

It wasn't a complement, it never was, but somehow it felt worse this time, so much worse. That would be how his father thinks, and maybe Arthur did think like his father, he was his father after all, it wasn't his fault, was it? It wasn't Arthur's fault that his father was a cruel business man and maybe Arthur would be just like him, if anything it was his mothers fault, for having children with that man in the first place, or for never teaching Arthur better.

Ygraine made Hunith a cup of coffee and headed back toward the door then. It was obvious she was annoyed with her son, with the way she didn't say anything else, or the way her face was scrunched up, that said it all. Arthur concluded, she had every right to be mad at him, and if she really knew what he had done…she would probably ship him back to London, to go be cruel with his father. It was no less than he deserved.

"Where…" he started, without thinking too much about it. His mother stopped and looked back, raising an eyebrow. "Where is Merlin?"

"He had been here before, he was so devastated that his friend, Will, took him home," Ygraine said, troubled, before walking back out. The bell rang and Arthur felt like it rattled his brain.

Merlin was devastated, Arthur should be happy, this is what he wanted, to hit Merlin where it hurts, but it didn't feel good. It was the worst feeling in the world.

XXX

The rest of Saturday went by quickly, which most of it Arthur was sick in the bathroom for, he had the strongest idea it had nothing to do with the drinking and smoking he had done the night before though. He woke up at four in the morning on the loo floor and staggered to his bed, where he spent most of Sunday, alone in the house.

The coffee shop was closed; all of the businesses on the street were closed, while the police investigated the fire at Sugar and Spice's. But Arthur knew, his mother was with Hunith, because that was the type of woman she was. Ygraine, kind and compassionate. Ygraine, who lost her sister and parents in a fire. That was why they were living there in the first place, why his nan was in a urn, because there wasn't enough of her left to have a funeral and proper burial.

That suddenly made Arthur feel even more sick.

He hadn't talked to any of this friends since the fire and didn't really want to. Gwaine had called once, he angrily almost answered the phone that time, he wanted to tell him off. Because this was his fault too, it was his idea! Leon and Lance called too; Arthur just didn't feel like talking to them.

On Monday, he had to go back to school and he didn't want to, he felt like the shame and guilt was visible and even though his mother didn't seem to notice it, he felt like any one could, if they really looked. He was a walking criminal, free to go about and do whatever he wanted, to set more fires on innocent bakeries, when he shouldn't be allowed to do anything.

He walked into school expecting the worst, but no one paid any attention to him, just went about their day to day lives, like any other time he walked into school. There wasn't a big, red light over his head that said; CRIMINAL IN THE AREA PROTECT YOURSELF, it only felt like there was. He sighed and walked to his locker, just like any other day, just like any other person.

He just needed to calm down, he told himself, people get away with this stuff all the time. The police weren't going to find out it was him, if he just lay low and act normal. His pep talked worked through his first class, maths, and nearly ten minutes after that too, when he was on the way to the loo. But after that it completely faltered and fizzled out in his belly, where the guilt and shame came back tenfold.

He had heard crying coming from the loo and when he opened the door he stopped dead, seeing Gwen, (in the blokes bathroom, nonetheless,) holding a crying Merlin in her arms. They both looked up. Merlin, the bloody fucking asshole, didn't even have the decency to pull himself together or to stop whimpering. Gwen looked pissed suddenly and shooed Arthur out of there.

He heard a faint. "It's okay, love, I won't let him bother you today."

He felt like shit, utter shit and he blew off his other classes, heading outside to the bleachers were he sat and felt his heart slowly fall out of his throat and break into five hundred little pieces. He wasn't even being overdramatic, it literally felt like that. He was overpowered by the guilt and shame and all of the other bullshit he had been feeling for the past two days.

"Hey, you bloody stranger, what the fuck are you doing out here?" came Gwaine's voice and he choked on his spit, fighting back the urge to punch Gwaine in the face. He came staggering up the steps and sat a level lower, on the bleachers, looking up at Arthur with question. "What's with you?"

"What's with me?" Arthur asked, in a loud whisper. "We ruined peoples fucking lives!"

"You wanted to mess with Merlin..." Gwaine shrugged and Arthur felt his broken heart drop to his stomach.

"You don't even care?!" he seethed. "How can you be so fucking heartless?"

"I'm not heartless, alright?" Gwaine shot back. "I get it, we fucked up, but we can't get busted and we can't fix it, so shut the fuck up!"

Arthur nodded and felt stinging behind his eyes, and it suddenly felt like his eyes were underwater while the rest of him burned in hell. He sniffed and looked away from Gwaine.

"Don't you start crying on me, you complete girl!" Gwaine yelled at him, openly and loudly, and Arthur looked down, suddenly very interested in his left arms sleeve. He blinked back the burning and tried to take a deep breath.

"We are the worst human beings alive," Arthur told him. Rubbing at his eyes, because they felt so uncomfortable and so ready to flow big ass tears, he hadn't cried in years and suddenly he felt overdue for a cry.

"Nah, there are some people who commit murder," Gwaine said, and Arthur could tell he was shrugging and probably trying to make himself feel better more than anything else. Arthur gulped and took a sharp breath.

"We could have killed someone."

"But we didn't."

They argued a bit more, about whether or not they could have killed someone, it was all in vain really, to keep them talking, because if not they wouldn't probably be speaking, but hitting each other, or be friends anymore, at least not for awhile. And then, Leon showed up, patted Arthur on the back with a knowing but understanding look, and whisked Gwaine away. Arthur headed toward the coffee shop, it was the first day it had been open in two days, so it was going to be busy, Arthur assumed anyway.

He was going to listen to Gwaine, the complete useless toad, and try to stay cool, they had to stay cool. But it was really hard when he could see across the street at the burnt mess that was the Sugar and Spice bakery. He could remember clearly how he had lit the gasoline-drowned rag and watched as Gwaine threw it inside. He hadn't known this would happen, he should have known, but he didn't. He wouldn't have done it if he did, or at least he hoped he wouldn't have.

It was like the building was taunting him, making him itch and fidget as he made peoples orders. Most of them were talking about the fire and they didn't know, it felt like they did, but they couldn't know that it was him, that he had made a mistake and he was so sorry. He had to excuse himself to the bathroom, about evening time, when it all became too much for him again.

He leaned against the cool wall and slid down until his ass hit the hard floor. He thought of how disappointed his mother would be in him, thought of how evil he was, thought of how Merlin was crying in the blokes loo and this should have felt good, that should have made Arthur happy and then he thought of how wrong that was, of how big of a bastard he was.

He didn't realize he was crying until a choked off, gasping sound came from his lips and then suddenly he felt the wetness on his face. He tried to make himself stop once and then gave up, covering his mouth, and let the tears fall openly, the shame and the guilt suffocating him in the small bathroom.

It was a week before he stepped foot in the coffee shop again.

XXX

Arthur sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, it was the last week of school, thank god, he was so tired of going this year. And luckily, he hadn't been expelled, miracles do happen. His mother was fiddling around the kitchen, grabbing things, and bits of old papers, from the cupboards, Arthur had asked her what she was doing a few times before, but she ignored him, so he continued eating his cereal.

She finally sat down and let out a huff, "Hunith decided to close."

This made him chock on his cereal a bit, he let the spoon drop out of his hands. The last two weeks had been much better for Arthur, he could stand seeing the burnt building of Sugar and Spice without wanting to be sick and the only time he felt the guilt biting at him, was when he walked in the blokes loo at school and heard Merlin crying in one of the stalls. He swore the wanker was doing it on purpose. Another great reason to be done with school for three months.

"Don't they have money saved up?" he asked, picking up his spoon again. This wasn't going to bother him. But it already was.

"She does, but it is for Merlin's uni fund," Ygraine explained, letting out a troubled sigh. See, Merlin, he was always the problem.

"So what?"

"Some of us don't have rich fathers who pay into a trust each month, Arthur, she can't afford to spend it."

"Doesn't Merlin have a father?" Arthur asked. Everyone has a father. It's how you get made, Arthur didn't fancy having that talk with his mum again.

"He died when Merlin was a baby."

"Oh…"

Arthur was shooed from the house soon after that, and waited on the front steps of his house until he saw his friends coming up the street. Leon, Gwaine, Percy and Lance, and today Gwen too, which was odd, she didn't normally walk with them. But with how she was hanging on Lance's arm, Arthur supposed he understood the sudden change.

"…of course he's completely heartbroken," Gwen was saying as Arthur jogged up to them, getting a pat from Percy and Leon both. He wondered for a split second what Gwen was talking about, but then he figured he knew already. "He's scared he's going to have to go live with his Uncle Gaius in Sweden. He doesn't want to leave his mum, though…"

"I hear Sweden's nice," Gwaine commented and threw a look toward Arthur, probably trying to get back up on this idea, but Arthur only shrugged. "Swedish girls are probably hot."

"Merlin isn't the kind of boy who cares much about girls," Gwen said. "Freya, you know the earthy girl, she tried to get his attention, but he wasn't interested."

"That's because by earthy girl, you mean smells like cow ass!" Gwaine argued.

"What the fuck, mate, you made out with her!" Leon shouted, Gwaine laughed.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Yeah, he hadn't been snogged all night, real desperate times," Percy chided.

"I must be properly kissed at least once a day or my vide is shot."

They reached the school soon and they all split up, going off to different classes. Arthur got through maths fine, he had gotten a good grade on his final and was doing an inward happy dance as he went back to his locker. But his happy dance ended when he saw Gwaine standing against the lockers.

He and Gwaine hadn't been getting on the best, since the whole setting a bloody building on fire thing. Arthur really didn't know why, they should be in this thing together. But the things Gwaine said annoyed him, it seemed to have affected him so much less than it did Arthur, he thought that maybe it had to do with Gwaine's personality, but it was still upsetting all the same.

"What?" Arthur asked, as he walked up, Gwaine was smirking.

"We'll finally be rid of Cane, yeah?" he asked, but it wasn't really a question. Arthur shrugged. "I thought you'd be excited?"

"I am," Arthur commented, throwing his maths book in the locker and pulled a English book out. Honestly, he hadn't really thought about the fact that if Merlin moved to Sweden, he would be gone, gone for good, (probably.) Arthur didn't know how to feel about this. He had spent too many years hating Merlin, so much energy on it, he would have to put that energy into something else now; maybe footie. "It will be pretty good, yeah, 'bout time that bastard got lost."

"Now you think torching the place was a good idea?" Gwaine asked, in an undertone, leaning closer to Arthur.

"No, that was still a terrible idea, the worst idea you've ever had," Arthur told him, quickly. "I'm still haunted by it, by the way."

"Panzy ass!"

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

"Making out?" a voice taunted and both Gwaine and Arthur jerked their heads in the direction of Will, the fucking asshole. "Of course you are," he winked and continued down the hall, weaseling through the crowd of people.

"Can we get rid of him too?" Arthur asked.

"Just tell me what of his you'd like to burn down."

School was just basically reviewing now, so the teachers could annoy you all over again, with the same material, just for a kick in the ass, as you walked out of the door. That's how Arthur saw it anyway. After school he headed to the coffee shop and walked in, the little bell chimed. He breathed in and smelled the familiar sent of coffee, but something else mixed with it.

He ignored it and continued behind the counter, saying hello to Mrs. Hudson, who always came in Thursdays to order a latte. He hadn't seen his mum yet, which was odd, normally she came out to greet him when he came in after school. She was probably just busy. He rounded the wall to the back and saw her tiny desk in the far corner empty. However, the strange smell got stronger now and he turned to look at the ovens. Oh please, god, don't make me be force fed more sweets, he thought, because there was a batch of cookies in the oven.

The back door jerked open and Arthur readied himself, about to tell his mother that he had to go…anywhere but here, to fetch…anything that wasn't a gross cookie. But who walked into the back door wasn't Ygraine, wasn't any of his friends, or the French girl who worked here two years ago as an after school project. It was Merlin.

"What the actual fuck are you doing here?!"

Merlin looked a bit surprised, and had some sort of powder in his dark hair. "I work here now," he said, biting down on his lip as he looked back at Arthur. "Surprise!"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me…"

XXX

"You have got to be kidding me!" Arthur shouted, for what felt like the hundredth time. "How could you do that?"

"I thought it was the right thing to do…" his mother shrugged, this was the second time they had the same conversation, as they stood in their kitchen. "It is partly our fault anyway, I was doing the right thing."

"How…h-how is it our fault?" Arthur asked, stuttering a bit. She couldn't know it was him, right?

"We never put a stop to the silly rumors…"

"There weren't rumors, mum, it was a rivalry, why do you always deny it?"

"That rivalry ruined Hunith's life!"

"Fine, but you didn't have to give her a bloody job at our place!" Arthur argued. "That's basically being a traitor!"

"That's enough," Ygraine said, sternly. "I will not hear anymore about it, I feel in my heart I have done the right thing and nothing you will say, Arthur, will change my decision."

"I'll quit," he said, as a last stitch effort. "I won't work with Merlin, I'll quit working there."

"I seriously hope you don't mean that, Arthur," Ygraine stopped, as she was leaving the room, and looked back at her son, hurt. "If anything, that sounds like the words of a traitor."

Arthur was left to stand there, not as angry as he was before, but still plenty upset. He couldn't stand the thought of working with Merlin every day. He stalked off to his bedroom and sighed. Why did his mother have to be so kind? He wondered, as he lay down in his bed.

In the morning he didn't bother getting out of bed, even though he had school, he had finished all of his tests, he really didn't have to go. He knew his friends would take the ultimate piss out on him, if they found out. But there was no way they wouldn't, they were going to find out. Everyone was going to find out, the DeBois Company was going to look like such fools. He swore his mother had no sense of business at all.

He was forced to go to school by his mother anyway, and he had only been five minutes late, to his chagrin. He didn't even bother going to the last glass of the day, he just headed out to the park. That and the bleachers were where Arthur does his best thinking, and he really needed to think.

He supposed there was no way his mother would fire the Cane's without something serious happening. Maybe Arthur could take some money from the register and say Merlin took it? He could even plant it on Merlin…maybe put it in his jacket or in his backpack.

He stopped then, wondering when he had become a criminal mastermind like Gwaine.

He walked to the coffee shop after a bit; he didn't appreciate the bell dinging as he walked in and saw his mum and Hunith hunched over the front counter, scribbling things down on pieces of paper. His presence went ignored and he headed to the back, where, no surprise, Merlin was baking something.

He threw himself in Ygraine's office chair and watched Merlin put on a pair of red oven mitts. He must have noticed Arthur looking too, because he turned around and looked back at him.

"I still don't like you," Arthur commented, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why?"

"Hm…because you've not only infected my school and my life, but now my place of work too!" Arthur shot at him, glaring. Merlin was so stupid.

"It's not your school, I was here first!"

"So, that's how you're going to play it?" Arthur asked, glare deepening. "That you were here first?"

"What do you want me to say?" Merlin countered, placing red oven mitted hands over his hips. Arthur stood up from the chair and shrugged.

"Maybe that you're sorry for being so useless?"

"Are you just trying to pick a fight with me?"

"Maybe…"

"I don't have time for this, I have cookies in the oven and have to frost all these!" Merlin told him, turning to a tray of cookies. Arthur didn't like that his clear and obvious bit of anger was being ignored now. He walked over to Merlin.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I have interrupted Lady Merlin and her cookie baking time."

"Bite me."

"I'd rather jump off the roof."

"No one's stopping you."

"Actually I think I'd rather push you into oncoming traffic."

"I'll haunt you."

"I bet you would, you're a troll like that."

"Gawr err!"

"What the hell was that?"

"Troll for 'I think you're a bloody git.'"

"You are such a fucking idiot!"

"Some people think that's cute."

"I don't know who would think you were cute, you're kinda ugly and have big-" a freshly iced cookie was shoved into his mouth then, and he growled, taking a bite out of it. He ignored how good it tasted. "Fuck you!"

Merlin turned to look at him, with a smirk. "No thanks, not right now."

"What? Oh god…shut up!"

Merlin laughed.

"You are a complete troll," Arthur told him, walking back over to the desk and sitting down, eating his cookie.

XXX

Ygraine and Hunith were getting along swimmingly, like there had never been a feud between their families. They sat at one of the small tables in the coffee shop for the third day in a row and scribbled on bits of paper. Arthur had found out two days ago that these were recipes Hunith had lost in the fire, they were rewriting them. Merlin was always in the back cooking something or another and Arthur would mostly just stand around, helping a customer every so often.

He did wonder how come they got on so well and he and Merlin couldn't? He realized that it might be slightly his fault and that his mum wasn't probably going to fire them anytime soon, and that might also be his fault. If he hadn't agreed to torch their bakery with Gwaine, maybe, (most defiantly,) none of this would be happening. He figured that he had better make the best of it.

He walked to the back and saw Merlin dipping a cookie into a bowl of black stuff. "Is that chocolate?"

"Yeah," Merlin commented, offhanded. Arthur nodded, feeling awkward, as he came to stand next to Merlin.

"Um…" he muttered, looking at the palms of his hands and his watch, everything that wasn't Merlin. "So, you wanna show me how to do that?"

"Why?" Merlin replied, setting down that cookie and picking up another, dunking it. Arthur sighed.

"Because?"

"No, sorry."

"Why not?"

"Because you think baking is for girls, it's just a waste of my time and I don't really fancy you taking the piss."

"I won't take the piss, and alright, yeah, baking isn't just for girls. Alright?"

"Fine," Merlin stopped what he was doing and turned to Arthur. "I'll teach you how to make sugar cookies."

"Okay."

Arthur thought he was doing pretty good, he listened (as hard as that was for him,) to what Merlin told him to do. Add flour, sugar, and two eggs. He mixed it in a bowl. Merlin stood next to him and made humming noises every so often. It was irritating

By the time Arthur put the cookies in the oven he felt pretty confident. It's not like he never helped his mum cook a cookie before, it's just most of them tasted badly. When the oven dinged he pulled them out and they smelled good. He grinned at Merlin and set them on the counter. Merlin, who had been sitting in the office chair now, came over and gingerly picked up a cookie, bringing it to his lips. He took a bite and…

"These are shit!"

Arthur was offended. "What the hell do you mean?"

"How many eggs did you put in?" Merlin ignored Arthur by asking a question instead. Arthur didn't remember at first, he glared.

"Two…I think."

"I said one egg," Merlin took another bite of the cookie. "Did you add two sticks of butter?"

"No!" Arthur argued. Merlin looked dumbfounded and dropped the cookie on the counter.

"Did you listen to anything I said?" he asked. "I said; three cups of flour, one egg and a teaspoon of baking powder, two sticks of butter and-"

"Shut up!" Arthur yelled at him, how the hell was he supposed to remember all of that? Angry, he stalked over to the fridge and pulled out two sticks of butter, walking back over to Merlin and threw them at him. "There are your fucking two sticks of butter!"

Merlin looked offtened for a split second, before he nodded and walked over to the fridge himself, pulling out a carton of eggs. Arthur's eyes widened. "And here let me count how many eggs you needed," he said, pulling out an egg and lodged it at Arthur. He dodged it and it hit the ground, smashing all over the floor. "Here's a few more!"

Merlin threw three more eggs at him and one hit Arthur in the knee, "Knock it off!" he shouted, walking over to Merlin and pulling the carton out of Merlin's hands, with a bit of a struggle. "Let it go, Merlin!"

He did, but not without grabbing one last egg and smashed it over Arthur's head, as he tried to walk away. Arthur paused, egg running down his neck. He turned back to look at Merlin and glared. Merlin grinned.

"That's it!" Arthur yelled, looking around desperately for something to dumb on Merlin. He settled for the flour jar and walked over to it, Merlin didn't even try to stop him, he just stood there and smirked. Even when Arthur came back and poured the contents of the jar over his head.

Merlin's head was completely white, flour running down him like a stream. Arthur felt pretty proud of himself, until Merlin started laughing and shook his head like a dog, getting flour everywhere.

"Flours running down my shirt," he commented, wiggling around a bit.

"You deserve it," Arthur shrugged, not really sure what to say to that. He had thought Merlin would be mad. But he just looked amused. Merlin clucked his tongue then and ran his hands through his hair, before running them through Arthur's as well. He almost backed up, almost asked him what the hell he thought he was doing, but then he didn't and he started to laugh too.

"We have to share! We're coworkers now!" Merlin told him, marveling at the handy work he did on Arthur's hair. It felt all messed up and a bit itchy now. "You look great, best I've ever seen you for sure."

"You look ridiculous," Arthur commented. "You look like an old guy."

It was true too, Merlin's hair looked completely white and the only bit of flour that was still on his face, wrapped around his lips and made it look like facial hair. Merlin laughed and pretended to stroke it. "That means you're gonna have to clean this up, us old folk can't get around so good."

"Not a chance, grandpa."

"Oi, these teens today, so disrespect!"

Arthur laughed, he didn't really know what was happening anymore, but decided not to question it either way.

XXX

Arthur walked down the sidewalk toward the park, where he would be meeting his mates. He glanced to Merlin, whom was walking next to him, he looked a bit nervous.

"Calm down," Arthur told him.

"I'm completely calm."

"Yeah right," Arthur rolled his eyes.

They reached the park and walked over to the field where they normally played footie. His mates were all standing around in a circle and he noticed Gwen was there too. He was oddly happy about that, it seemed so was Merlin, who let out a slight sigh of relief, as they continued walking.

"Hey," Arthur said, as they reached the lads. They all looked over at the same time and their mouths fell open, all but Gwen's that is, who walked over and hugged Merlin. Merlin, in all honestly, looked like he was about to pee his pants. (He probably had many times before, he looked like the peeing himself kind, but Arthur thought this and pushed it away quickly, he wasn't going to be like that anymore.) Gwaine looked the most offended, gasping at Arthur and pointing like Merlin was a ghost.

"Merlin's going to be hanging out with us today, alright?" Arthur asked, but not really, it wasn't a question. Lance nodded first, with a happy smile, and then Percy and Leon, they all looked please about it. Arthur turned to Gwaine then. "Alright?"

"Yeah," Gwaine nodded. "Alright…let's play footie, you girls!"