(Caution: You may experience a slight F bomb in this chapter. Please keep all hands, feet and legs inside the fanfiction at all times.)

Arthur walked into the living room, after feeding Mr. Noodles his nightly bowl of wet kitty food. He sat down on the sofa and looked at Merlin, who also sat on the couch. Turned sideways and knees bent, on them lay Oliver Twist, which Merlin seemed heavily into at the moment. Since they had been home, Merlin hadn't motioned Gwen or Guinevere or aka, fake-past-life-wife, to Arthur again and so it seemed, he didn't want to talk about it. That was a good thing for Arthur, because he had no intention of marrying, or even dating this girl because Merlin believed her to be Arthur's long dead wife. But then Arthur remembered, Merlin had said he was jealous of Gwen, of that Gwen at least, a smirk formed on Arthur's lips then, as he glanced at Merlin. He tapped Merlin's knee with his hand and was met with very blue eyes seconds later.

"Ever pay Mario Kart?" he asked, not entirely sure why he had asked. But he was bored, so why not?

"No," Merlin shook his head, looking back down at his book. Arthur nodded, getting up then and taking the book off Merlin's knees, he didn't protest, but he had given Arthur a dirty look.

"It's fun," Arthur informed him, turning on his X-box. He grabbed two controllers and threw one at Merlin, who sat the right way on the couch now, and he fumbled to catch it. Arthur laughed at this, sitting back down, watching the game load. "You pick your little Mario guy and then we race in karts."

"I got it," Merlin told him, Arthur nodded, bumping his choice bar right to Yoshi and picking him; he always picked Yoshi, he was good luck, it was a known fact. (Arthur had made up.) He watched Merlin, as he ran his choice bar up and down over all of the characters.

"Pick one this week, Merlin!"

"I can't choose!" Merlin said, Arthur looked over at him and he was biting his lip, looking utterly perplexed.

"You're not choosing a lover, Merlin…"

"Fine," Merlin muttered and hit the select button, Arthur laughed.

"Koopa Troopa?" he continued to laugh and Merlin glared. "Leave it to you to pick Koopa Troopa!"

"He's cute!" Merlin protested.

"You're such a girl!"

There was that frozen look again, eyes twitching back and forth, and then…the fond smile. Arthur tried to ignore this as he picked a racetrack.

"Prepare to lose!" Arthur warned, setting his mind in game-mode. The track loaded and the countdown began…4…3…2…

"I don't know how to drive!" Merlin yelled, panicked, as the telly screen shined a 1 and Arthur tried not to laugh as his Yoshi zoomed right past Koopa Troopa. "ARHTUR!"

"Just press the…" Arthur demonstrated with his thumb and Merlin made an 'ohhhh' noise and on the screen, Koopa Troopa started driving. Once Merlin had gotten the hang of it, which only took a few seconds, he wasn't half bad.

"That's a cow!" Merlin stated, Arthur laughed. He had chosen Moo Moo Circuit, so indeed, it was a cow.

"What a keen mind you have there, Merlin."

In no time at all, in fact, a lap exactly, Merlin had caught up to Arthur, who was currently in first place. Arthur made noises, loudly, trying to insure his victory, but just then, Merlin had gained the power of a red turtle shell, drove right up behind Yoshi and then...Arthur was fucked!

"HEY!" He yelled, as Koopa Troopa went whooshing past him, nearing the finish line. "No one beats me in Mario Kart!"

Merlin laughed, just as Koopa Troopa crossed the line. Arthur came in fourth. FOURTH!

"I guess I'm just lucky," Merlin shrugged.

"A cheater is more like it!" Arthur yelled, throwing the game controller. Merlin smiled that fond smile again. "Stop looking at me like that, you cheat!"

Merlin laughed then, "I'm sorry you are such a poor loser."

"I am not a poor loser; no one ever beats me in Mario Kart."

"I beat you…"

"That was beginners luck, here," Arthur yanked the controller from the floor. "Let's go again!"

"Whatever you say, Arthur."

Before long Arthur had lost to Merlin twenty seven times, he lay on the couch now, eyes closed, shame of defeat on him like sweat.

"My life is a lie!" he moaned and heard Merlin laughing from the other side of the sofa. Arthur aimed a kick at him. "My sister can't ever hear about this, she'll never let me live it down."

"You have a sister?" Merlin asked, suddenly, very serious. Arthur looked up at him from his shame-bed and nodded. "I didn't know that…what's she like?"

"A pain in the ass."

Merlin smiled. "Really…?"

"I don't know, her name is Morgan and she's fifteen, sixteen in a few months..."

"What is she like?"

"A pain in the ass!" Arthur said again, smirking. Merlin rolled his eyes.

"What's the rest of your family like?"

"My dad's in advertising and my mum's a nurse," Arthur explained. "My grandmother's in a retirement home and thinks she has a pet squirrel, but we've never seen him."

Merlin laughed, "Sounds…nice."

"What was your family like?" Arthur found himself asking, Merlin frowned then and he kind of wished he hadn't asked. But he had so...

"I had only lived with my mother; my father was on the run. I left when I was still a teenager and I went to Camelot to live with Gaius, he wasn't family but he should have been. He was like a father to me," Merlin said, taking in a sharp breath before continuing. "I didn't have much family, but I lots of friends…well, some friends."

"And the king, he was your friend?"

"Yes, my best friend…he just didn't know it and didn't want to admit that he felt the same way about it, but he was," Merlin smiled. "He was a clotpole."

"A clotpole?" Arthur laughed.

"Yeah, it mean's oaf penis."

Arthur laughed again, "Did he know that?"

"I don't think so…"

"Probably best he didn't" Arthur said, standing up, rubbing his chin lightly, as he thought of what to do now, it wasn't too late yet. His belly suddenly grumbled. "Are you hungry?'

"A bit," Merlin shrugged, standing up after him. "I can cook…"

"Nah, let's go out!"

"Where to?"

"Um…Lou's, the burger joint!"

(A/N: I tried to update yesterday, but just as I was hitting enter, the site stopped working, so here I am now! This is a filler chapter, I don't even know why I added it. But I figure what the hell, I like when Merlin and Arthur (Arthur especially) talk about modern things like video games or movies. It's funny to me. More serious chapters ahead, stay tuned!)