Hey guys! Just want to thank everyone again who's following/favoriting this fic and especially to anyone who has left reviews! I love getting reviews, as long as their positive or constructive criticism. Again, I don't own Merlin, but I do own this story/fic. I hope you guys enjoy Chapter 3! Any and all input it welcome as to where it should go next, although no promises if it conflicts too much with where I've kind of planned it to go. Thanks again! Enjoy!

A few bystanders gave the former king strange looks when he called out his friend's name. Most of them hurried away, not looking at him. Arthur rolled his eyes after a minute and Merlin didn't come.

"Figures…" he muttered, "Probably still sulking about in the shop." He felt a hand slap onto his shoulder and he whipped around quickly, one arm outstretched to whack the interloper in the middle of the face.

"Owww," complained a familiar voice. Merlin was clutching his nose, now streaming blood from where Arthur had hit him hard. "Easy, mate," he said resentfully, "You called, didn't you?" Arthur wasn't sure whether to be annoyed, relieved, or guilty, so he found himself in a mixture of all three.

"Where were you?" he asked tersely. Merlin fixed his nose quickly with a quiet spell, sniffed, and replied,

"Following you, you reckless clotpole! You can't just storm out of the café and presume to know where you're going! You don't know how this time works yet, you could've been hurt!" Merlin sounded more worried than upset before continuing in a slightly lowered and more hurt voice, "You didn't have to yell at me either, you know. I'm trying to help you. Remember that." Arthur's expression softened as he replied just as quietly,

"I know. I'm s- it won't happen again." Merlin cocked an eyebrow. Was the magnificent former king about to apologize? Arthur poked him with a disapproving expression on his face. When he didn't respond with more than an offended look, Arthur grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him into the bookshop, going all the way to the back. Merlin knew where they were going and he guessed why. Arthur must have found those legends by chance.

When they reached the back, Arthur kept a firm grip on Merlin's shirt and pulled him to the ground where the books lay on the bottom shelf. "Explain those, Merlin. Please tell me what those are and how they got there." Merlin grabbed Arthur's hand and tried to pry his fingers loose from his shirt.

"You don't need to...keep holding on to….my shirt...Arthur….it hurts, Arthur….too tight…" he rasped as his neckerchief and shirt dug into his neck. Arthur released him quickly, but didn't apologize. Merlin muttered thanks, though he wasn't quite sure his friend deserved it. He regained his breath before looking back up at Arthur, reprimanding,

"You can't treat me like this anymore, Arthur, I'm not your servant. I'm your friend. I thought you apologized for how you treated me last time we met." Arthur looked conflicted and a bit annoyed that Merlin brought this up. But he knew he was right. He allowed a smirk to play on his face.

"Okay, Merlin." He ruffled his friend's hair affectionately and Merlin grumbled, "Apology accepted." After a moment, Arthur shook himself and asked again,

"Okay, so tell me what those are. I never expected my story to be among the ones of legend." Merlin's lips curled into a smile.

"Despite all the times you reminded me that you were the superior one, you still manage to horribly underestimate yourself." Arthur blinked at him. "I don't know for certain, Arthur, I only know a bit more than you about them. Someone must have thought you were worth writing about, and you were...are…and decided to write about it. Given, they didn't get all the details right, so they must have been someone in the castle, but not anyone very close to us like Gwen or me or Gaius. I'm not really sure who it was, I never found out." Merlin shrugged and stood up.

"But how did they know about you? You kept your identity as a warlock secret, didn't you?" Arthur asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, but it uh...well it came out later after Gwen figured it out and while she didn't announce it to the whole kingdom, it was quite well-known in the castle. And accepted, I suppose, for most. So whoever compiled these stories must have figured I had a bigger part to play than everyone thought, but they didn't seem to know that you were unaware of it. So again, couldn't have been me or Gwen or Gaius who put together these legends." Arthur nodded, putting his hands in his pockets before pulling them out quickly.

"What is with these pockets? I can barely fit my hands in them!" Arthur demanded to know. Merlin put a hand over his mouth to hide his laugh as Arthur tried twice more to fit the entirety of his hand into the tiny, skinny pocket.

"They're skinny jeans, Arthur. Khaki skinny jeans. They have tiny pockets, you might as well get used to them," he laughed.

"Well what about yours then?"

"Mine are the same way, see?" Merlin tried stuffing his hands in his pockets, to no avail.

"What are the point of having pockets anyway then? These pants are stupid!" he scoffed in frustration.

"It's just a quirk of the century, Arthur, go with it…"

((()))

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months as Arthur and Merlin explored the century together. Arthur grew accustomed to the attire and the way he was supposed to act, but it didn't make him particularly happy. He thought his instincts were going soft. Merlin, on the other hand, was just thrilled to have his friend back and was eager to show him around. After a while Arthur grudgingly accepted his situation and began bonding with his friend again and making up for lost time.

"Merlin?"

"Hm?"

"Pass me the soap, would you?" Merlin was lying lazing in an armchair in the corner of the cottage while Arthur was bathing on the other side of the room. Modesty was not an issue because, seeing as he used to be Arthur's manservant, he had seen Arthur naked many times before and it wasn't new to him. He got up from the chair and grabbed the soap sitting on the sink, tossing it over to the bathtub. It was about to miss, so his eyes glowed gold for a second to fix the aim. It landed right in front of Arthur, splashing water up into his face.

"Was that really necessary?" he barked, half amused and half annoyed.

"It was indeed, your Royal Soapiness."

"That's not funny." Merlin settled back into the chair before laughing a bit.

"Yes it was, I am a very funny person," Merlin joked.

"Idiot."

"Jerk."

"Dunghead."

"Clotpole."

"Clotpole?!"

"Yes, clotpole. I've used it before and I'll use it again," Merlin chuckled from his seat. He opened his mouth to say more when a piece of yellow soap landed in his mouth. He gagged, torn between amusement, disgust, and annoyance.

"Ar-fur!" he shouted, his voice inhibited by the soap in his mouth. He spit it out quickly. "That's disgusting!" he said, wiping his mouth and running to the sink to wash his mouth out.

"You brought that on yourself," Arthur defended himself from the bathtub. Merlin opened his mouth to reply yet again when he hiccupped and a bubble popped out of his mouth. Arthur snorted.

"What was that, Merlin? Couldn't hear you," he teased. He tried again, but every time he took a breath, he hiccupped and more bubbles came out of his mouth. Arthur was near hysterics now, just teasing Merlin into trying to say something and made him into his own personal bubble maker. Merlin looked frustrated but also very amused as well. A huge bubble came out at one point and that did it. Merlin started laughing and the more he breathed in, the more bubbles he produced. Both boys were crying with laughter by the end of it and Merlin finally fixed it with his magic. He playfully scowled at Arthur and tossed him a towel, which landed on his head.

When Arthur was out of the bath and dressing, Merlin pointed an accusatory finger at him playfully and said, "Next time, that'll be you."

Life for them went on like this, joking and playing and Arthur wrestling Merlin to the floor when he annoyed him too much. One day, nearly six months after Arthur's return, in the midst of pancake-making, Arthur said,

"I want to go home." He flipped a pancake sadly and looked at Merlin with big, sad, brown eyes.

"Don't give me that face, Pendragon," Merlin teased, not sure whether Arthur was being serious or not.

'No, seriously, Merlin." He put down his spatula and put a hand on Merlin's arm to make him pay attention to him. Merlin turned to him, his eyes full of concern now.

"Arthur...you can't just go home. This is home now." Merlin flipped a pancake and continued, "There's nothing for you to go home to." He rested his own spatula on the side counter and turned around to face his best friend, putting his hands on the counter for support. "I told you, Camelot is g-"

"I know Camelot's gone, Merlin," Arthur snapped impatiently, "But it's still my home and it's still an actual location, right? I want to see how it is now." Merlin looked at him with deep concern.

"I know what you'll find and I don't think you'll like it. Are you sure you don't want to go somewhere else instead?" Arthur leaned forward so that his hands were settled just outside of Merlin's on the counter and their faces were inches apart. Merlin's heart started pounding and he hoped to God Arthur couldn't hear it. That would be unbearable.

"I want. To go. To Camelot." Merlin gulped and nodded. Arthur stared at him for a minute, warm brown eyes meeting deep blue, before he stood up straight again and walked away to grab a pair of pants that he wasn't wearing at the moment.

"Burning the pancakes, Merlin?" came his questioning voice a minute later. Merlin hadn't moved from the spot, just staring into space, thinking. He didn't realize that behind him their pancakes were starting to smoke.

"Blast," he muttered. They weren't completely burnt, but the edges were black and now he'd probably have to cut them off for Arthur to keep him happy. They had not had pancakes in Camelot and Arthur had acquired a love of them. Pancakes and waffles.

((()))

For the last six months, Merlin and Arthur hadn't gone anywhere farther than a couple of miles in any direction or so because everything was local. It was a rural area and a small town. So when Arthur wanted to go to Camelot, it wasn't only Merlin's reservations about what he would see, it was also a matter of how much Arthur trusted him to get him there. He could rent two horses, which would be the most logical thing to do, except for that it might bring back old ghosts. The only other option he had was summoning Aithusa to fly them there, the dragon who Merlin hatched all those years ago and was probably very elderly by now. He weighed these two options and decided, despite the throwbacks it might bring up, horses were most likely the better option. He wasn't even sure of Aithusa would willingly obey him anyhow and might try to do something to Arthur. Besides the fact that Arthur may not be thrilled with riding Morgana's old pet dragon.

So Merlin and Arthur marched out to a man Merlin was familiar with. He was nice enough and he owned more than enough horses for himself. He was about a half a mile out of town and Merlin made a quick exchange for two beautiful brown horses. He gave Arthur the taller one, seeing as he still liked to think himself a teensy bit better even though he'd been humbled beyond belief in the past few weeks. Merlin decided to humor him anyway.

Merlin led as they rode back to his cottage to grab supplies, pulling out the bags from forever ago that they used to use on journeys on horseback. He smirked when he brought them out and Arthur's face brightened. They attached them to the horses and brought enough food and water for a three days journey there and back, as well as any basic medicinal herbs Merlin thought were necessary to bring in case they had an accident. Arthur was almost dancing with eagerness to go already and jumped onto the horse when Merlin finally said it was okay to go. He led Arthur out of town and towards the more open areas. Soon, they couldn't see the town or any civilization at all, just the forest ahead of them.

Merlin heard Arthur sigh behind him. "This is perfect," he commented. Merlin nodded. "Just like old times." And it was. No one was around, just them and the open wilderness. When they reached the forest, Arthur rode up to ride next to Merlin and held a hand up with two fingers the way he used to to signal him to stop.

"What is it?" Merlin whispered.

"I recognize this place, just in front of the forest. It's crawling with bandits most of the time." He almost reached for his sword before realizing it wasn't there. "Merlin!" he whispered angrily, "What am I supposed to be defending myself with?"

"Arthur, there's no bandits. Not anywhere in the forest. We call those criminals and they don't hang out in the forest anymore." Merlin spoke slowly as if to a small child. Arthur gave him a skeptical face and mumbled,

"I know what a criminal is, for heaven's sake…"

"We're safe, trust me. The worst threat to us is getting bucked off the horse or running into squatters," he told him calmly.

"But...what's a squatter?" Arthur asked curiously, still looking skeptical.

"Guys that do drugs. Chain smokers. Petty criminals. Not much harm unless they have a gun, and I can protect us from that." Arthur's eyes widened in fear. The closest thing they had to guns in his time were catapults or the mini arrow shooters. Arthur had seen a modern gun once before, when Merlin had taken him to an open grassland opposite of where they were now and a man hunting shot a deer from a much farther distance than Arthur's weapons could have shot it. Merlin explained the concept of guns to him then. They scared him mostly because it only took one bullet and it was too small to deflect easily.

"Arthur, we're fine, I've got your back, okay?" Arthur nodded slowly and let Merlin go slightly ahead of him. His confidence seemed to grow as they rode, but he still complained quite a bit.

"I wish I had my sword, Merlin!"

"I told you, it's priceless and if you lose it, it's gone for good!

"I won't lose it!"

"Listen to me, you prat, just live without it. It's not worth the risk. Plus, swords aren't exactly mainstream anymore. People will think you're some crazy serial killer or something…"

"Merlin, you ride slowly, why can't I go in front?"

"Because you don't know where you're going."

"I do so, I've known these lands since I was a child!"

"But times have changed, and if I'm to protect you, I need to confront the danger before it reaches you."

"I can take care of myself!"

"Not yet you can't."

"Dear God, Merlin, I'm not an infant!"

"Well you're sure acting like one, with all your crying and moaning."

"I'm not crying and moaning!"

"Are you listening to yourself?"

"…You're an idiot."

"And you never cease to be my very own clotpole."

The pair stopped towards nightfall to eat and replenish their strength. Merlin started a small fire and started making his old stew, the one Arthur and the knights loved so much. Arthur was silent, just glancing around every so often.

"What is it, Arthur?" Merlin finally asked. Arthur didn't immediately answer and replied,

"I just...I know this forest like the back of my hand and I keep looking for something that tells me that I'm back in my own time. A piece of cloth from a Camelot cape, a small clasp from Guinevere's dress, anything." Merlin sighed quietly. He had been doing the same thing. He handed Arthur a bowl of stew and settled down next to him. He nudged him with an elbow.

"At least you still got me, eh?"

"Yeah, wonderful…" Arthur moodily played with his stew. He looked at Merlin again and apologized, "Sorry, I didn't mean that. I, um, I really do appreciate your presence here. With me. It makes this a lot easier. I don't...I don't know what I'd do without you." Merlin looked at him curiously and replied,

"You're not so useless yourself, Arthur. I know I've probably been a bit harsh lately, but it's just because I'm worried." He stirred the stew before lifting some to his mouth, "You know I'd do anything for you." Arthur smiled into his stew.

"And I you, Merlin. And I you."

They drifted off to sleep soon after that. Arthur wanted to stay close to Merlin because there were all too many times when one of them had been dragged off while the other was asleep and sleeping a bit closer saved them from that. Even though there was close to no threat out here anymore, Merlin sensed that Arthur felt helpless and wanted to take advantage of the protection his friend the warlock offered. Merlin knew that he felt helpless and he was determined to help him find himself again. He would have a new identity in this world, but he just had to find it again.

When Merlin awoke in the morning, he found that somehow in the middle of the night, Arthur's head had found it's way to Merlin's chest and Merlin's arm was over Arthur's chest in almost a protective manner. His heart fluttered again and Merlin just sat for a minute observing the peace on Arthur's face. He looked almost childlike when he slept and it almost hurt to look at him. He kept his arm where it was and brought up his other hand to rest it on his friend's head. His hair was soft and he had to restrain himself from running his fingers through it. He didn't want to move at all, but he wasn't sure what Arthur's reaction would be to the position they found themselves in. It was innocent, just Arthur laying sideways so that his head and chest were sprawled across Merlin's chest, and Merlin lazily keeping his arm on Arthur's chest. But Merlin wasn't sure if Arthur would get the wrong idea.

The blond man opened his eyes soon enough and he blinked a couple of times as if trying to remember where they were. He looked up at Merlin, whose eyes were flitting to his and then away and then back to his again. He felt the weight of Merlin's arm on his chest and left it there. It was comforting to him. Merlin appeared to be nervous and started to draw his arm away when Arthur shot out a hand and pulled it back onto his chest. "You're fine, quit freaking out," he scoffed, "Did you wake up this way?" Merlin nodded, biting his lip. "So what's the bloody problem, we've slept next to each other before!" Merlin let a small smile play on his lips and nodded again.

"Sorry, just...nerves and all. We're uh...going to reach the Valley of the Fallen Kings by nightfall hopefully…" he trailed off, still biting his lip. Arthur gave him a light slap on the cheek as he sat up.

"Quit looking so worried, I trust you, alright?" He stood and brushed himself off and stretched. Merlin took a second to rub his eyes before he stood also and started gathering their belongings back on to the horses, which were grudgingly tied to a tree. These horses were not used to the long distances with heavy loads since they were previously used for pleasure riding the majority of the time. Merlin stroked their noses before they left and tried feeding them apples to appease them, but they quickly ate the apples and then refused to let him pet them, snapping at his fingers whenever he got close.

Arthur snorted when he saw the horses going after Merlin's fingers and when Merlin turned around to grin with him, one of the horses caught his finger and bit down hard. He yelled loudly in pain and jumped back, cradling his bleeding finger. Arthur took the hand that was bleeding, looked at it, and let go of it.

"You're fine, you big baby," he scoffed, "I've had my share of horse bites and that, Merlin, is not a bad one." He continued to walk and mounted the horse that had bitten Merlin.

"Nice horse, good horse," he stroked it, teasing Merlin slightly in the process. Merlin tried to scowl at him, but after a moment an amused grin came over his face.

"Shut up, Pendragon," he laughed, mounting his own horse quickly. After a few hours, Merlin got bored just riding in front of Arthur silently. He made his horse sprint, looking back at Arthur, his eyes glinting with competition.

"Come on, Arthur! Afraid of a little competition? You know where we're going, you can race me now!" Arthur grinned and yelled back as he began to catch up,

"You'd better say your prayers, Merlin, 'cos you haven't got a chance!" Arthur sped his horse up to catch Merlin's and lapped him easily. He laughed out of sheer excitement and freedom of the moment. He hadn't had a chance to do something he used to and wanted to do in a long time. This was one of the best things he'd done since he'd woken up.

Merlin was catching up to Arthur and Arthur took a second to look back at him and the warlock shouted out a warning to his friend. Arthur turned his head a second to late and his handsome face collided with a thick, low-hanging branch. It knocked him off of his horse and he landed on his shoulder, his head colliding with the ground and bouncing off. He lay still and the horse stopped a few yards after Arthur fell. Merlin felt a flitter of panic. He wasn't moving.

"Arthur!" he called out. He stopped the horse quickly and jumped off a few feet from Arthur. He put a hand on his friend's neck and turned it side to side. Not broken, and he still had a pulse. A bit fainter than it should be, but it was definitely there. He roped the horses in quickly and brought out water. He ran back over to Arthur, kneeling next to his unconscious form, and tilted the tip of the canteen on Arthur's lips. He poured it until Arthur spluttered, coughing hard. Merlin released a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

Arthur sat up and coughed hard for a few minutes. Merlin slapped him on the back to help him and Arthur pushed him off.

"Not...helping…" he wheezed. Merlin went around to face him and placed a hand on his chest.

"What are you…doing?" Arthur asked, staring at his hand.

"Just trust me, I know what I'm doing," Merlin replied impatiently. Arthur nodded, still wheezing and Merlin whispered, "Clea bradie airea". His eyes glowed gold and Arthur's windpipe cleared. He put a hand on his neck for a minute before he looked at Merlin. His magic never ceased to amaze the former king. He laid his hand on Merlin's shoulder to steady himself.

"Thanks. My head…." he groaned, holding his head. He tried to stand but immediately fell back on his rump.

"Don't try to stand, you're lucky you didn't snap your neck from both hitting the tree branch and then falling off the horse. You're really badly hurt though, you need to rest." Arthur shook his head and whined in protest, but Merlin made him lay still. He picked him up under the armpits and dragged him to a tree to lean against. He groaned in protest again, but stopped struggling. He held a hand up to his head, feeling the lump forming on the right side of his forehead.

"How did I...how did that even happen? That's never...happened to me before in my...life. Fallen off a bucking horse….sure, but never...never have I run straight into a tree branch. It's...humiliating…" Arthur breathed. Merlin smirked.

"Well at least it was only me here to see it, then," he replied cockily. Arthur rolled his eyes and said,

"Yeah, fantastic." He'd picked up the word from the town people's vocabulary and he used it quite often now when he was being sarcastic. Merlin brought out his herbs from the ancient medicine bag Gaius used to use and pulled out the herbs he needed to treat Arthur. He wrapped his head with gauze after treating it with herbs, wiping away the bit of blood dribbling down from above the bump on his head. Merlin wiped around the edge of the gauze with a wet cloth as gently as he could. Then he looked at Arthur.

"All better now. You should be fine in a couple of hours." Arthur shifted his gaze to Merlin's.

"Hours?"

"Yeah, I...uhm...I put a healing spell on it to make it heal faster. You'll barely feel it in a few hours, okay?" He gave him a small smile and turned to gather the herbs back into the bag. "Get some rest, alright?" Arthur nodded, but right before he dozed off, he said quietly,

"Merlin, don't leave. Don't...don't leave…" He put a hand out as if looking for something to hold on to. Merlin gave a small sigh and sat down next Arthur, slipping his hand into the blonde's outstretched one. Arthur gripped his hand tightly and didn't let go. He fell asleep after a few minutes, but kept tight hold of his friend's hand. Merlin thought of several ways in which he could get free without disturbing Arthur, but then he thought Why? What good reason did he have to go sit somewhere else? None at all. So Merlin leaned against the wide trunk of the tree next to Arthur, deciding it was best to get some sleep as well, even if he wasn't as tired as Arthur seemed to be. Merlin cautiously leaned sideways into Arthur and rested his head on Arthur's shoulder. His sleeping friend didn't move and soon enough, the comfort of Arthur's warmth and familiarity granted Merlin a chance to take a small nap with him.

It seemed like a long time until someone disturbed him. Merlin felt Arthur shift next to him, not away, just to give more comfort. But then his hand was alone, not clutched in Arthur's anymore and Arthur shifted again. He was trying to shake him awake. He whispered as though trying not to be heard, but urgently,

"Merlin!"