Arthur's eye opened in a start, he looked around his room, the morning sun made things look shadowy. He had such a bizarre dream, he reached down to where Mr. Noodles had been laying and he wasn't there. He must have snuck out with Merlin sometime in the night. Arthur sighed, thinking back on the dream; he was back in Professor Nitwit's classroom, which is one place he never wanted to be again, not after he had given Arthur such a crap final grade. And then, as the other classmates mocked him, (for his poor grade,) Merlin walked in and put a king's crown on his head. And then, someone threw tomatos at him!
Arthur shook his head, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He got up and padded out to the sitting room, where he found Merlin laying on the couch, flat on his back, mouth hung open. Mr. Noodles sat on Merlin's belly, licking his paws and looking up at Arthur, with a raised kitty-eyebrow. He glanced down at Merlin again and smirked, it had been a whole month that Merlin lived with him, he couldn't believe it had been that long already. Smiling to himself, Arthur got an idea. He walked into the kitchen then, glancing at the time as he grabbed a cup from the cupboard. It was Eight AM, a good time to get up. Arthur filled the cup with water, turning around and going back to the living room. Noodles was standing on Merlin now, giving Arthur a dark look, he seemed to know just what Arthur was planning. The cat jumped off and looked back once more at Arthur, as he trotted into the bedroom. Arthur laughed, leaning over Merlin slightly.
He looked so peaceful, lips quivering a little and his long eyelashes fluttered. He must be dreaming, Arthur thought. It made him smirk even more, as he leaned down and let a few drops of water drip into Merlin's dark, raven hair. This went unnoticed so, instead, Arthur poured the entire cup onto Merlin's face. He laughed as the other man started thrashing. Arthur was suddenly pushed back, by Merlin's hand; he landed on his backside and marveled at how strong Merlin's shove seemed to be, for such a thin bloke.
"What the hell, Arthur?" Merlin was shouting, somehow Merlin had wound up on the floor too. He was on his knees now, looking at Arthur very darkly, almost like Mr. Noodles. Arthur laughed at this. "It isn't funny!"
"It's kind of funny, mate," Arthur said, standing up and rubbing his rump, he had gone down with quite the force. Merlin's hair was now completely soaked and the ring of his shirt collar was wet, a few drops of water still ran down his neck and his nose. Arthur smiled.
"You are…." Merlin shook his head, at a loss of words. Arthur could help him with that.
"Amazing? Genius?"
"An annoying jerk!"
"I believe you meant handsome, Merlin…"
Merlin let out a huff that also sounded like a growl and he stood up, Arthur watched as he stalked down the hall and slammed the bedroom door. Ah pranks, Arthur thought, as he went and sat on the dry side of the couch. He used to pull pranks like this on Greg, when they were younger…and closer.
He busied his mind with the telly for awhile, until Merlin remerged from the bedroom, fresh shirt and dry haired. He sat down close to Arthur, due to the sofa still being wet and glared.
"Don't be sore," Arthur, told him, smiling a little.
"I'm not sore," Merlin stated, sitting back into the couch. "But if you do that ever again, I will punch you in the nose."
"Right," Arthur nodded, smirking. (Arthur could take him easily, if he tried.) "So, now that you're awake, do you want to come with me to the park?"
"The park?"
"Yes, the park," Arthur said, standing up. "Training is in full swing and I've got to stay in shape."
"You look shapely to me," Merlin shrugged, keeping in his spot. Arthur rolled his eyes at his laziness.
"Don't be so lazy, you sod, come on!"
After a bit more prodding Merlin agreed, Arthur grabbed his cell phone then, and they were out the door. Jogging down the street together, the park was only a few minutes away on foot, Arthur laughed to himself as they went; Merlin was much slower than he was.
"Are you coming or am I going to have to slow down for you?" Arthur called back, glancing over his shoulder. Merlin glared up at him.
"I'm over a thousand years old; if you think I can run as fast as a twenty five year old you are stupid!"
"Shall I call an ambulance then?"
Merlin cursed from behind him and Arthur couldn't help but laugh again. But, he also slowed down, so Merlin could catch up. Once he was next to him, he glanced with a grin.
"I bet it has nothing to do with your age, more like all you do is sit around and read, it's amazing you're not fat," Arthur stated. "Not that you eat enough to get fat…"
They reached the park, and the jogging didn't stop there, (much to Merlin's displeasure,) they continued around the park trail. Merlin was huffing something terrible from behind him, Arthur couldn't believe how out of shape Merlin was. He stopped in a empty bit of grass. He turned around then, and saw Merlin bent over, heaving for breath, he was starting to feel sort of bad for pushing him.
"Are you alright?"
"Oh…yes…bloody...freaking…fantastic…shall we go again?" he said, huffing through his words; Arthur swallowed a laugh as he grabbed hold of Merlin and pushed him down.
"Lay down," he told him. He had been over worked and overheated many times before and he found lying down to be very refreshing. Merlin listened, flopping into the grass, flapping onto his back with over dramatic, failing arms. Arthur soon joined him, taking a breather from all that jogging. Next time he wouldn't ask Merlin to come. He glanced over, the man's cheeks were flaming red, and he still heaved breaths. Arthur sighed; it would be awhile before they would be going anywhere.
It wasn't a very warm morning (it never was this time of year,) but Arthur still managed to start sweating, he yanked his tee shirt up and pulled it over his head. He ran it down, over his chest, biting his lip, as he thought about the upcoming practice game the couch had ordered; to 'get your sorry ass's in playing order.' Arthur threw the shirt beyond his feet and sighed, glancing back over to Merlin. Whose eyes were on him.
"Are you um…feeling better?" he asked, looking around a bit. If Arthur looked up, he could see a dog peeing on a swing-set.
"Yeah, I can breathe, if that's what you're asking," Merlin told him. "And just in case you're wondering, I will not be coming with you to the park again."
Arthur grinned, looking back at Merlin again, who's eyes were on the sky now.
"If you'd let me, I could get you in shape," Arthur told him, Merlin raised an eyebrow at this.
"Oh? And how do you plan to do that?"
"Running three times a week, crunches, eating more meat-"
"You've lost me at running," Merlin told him. "I've done enough running in my life, I'd rather read."
"Reading doesn't help you get in shape!" Arthur protested.
"Exactly!"
"You lazy, lazy man!"
"In shape or not, I could still beat you at Footie..." Merlin smirked and Arthur huffed.
"I was thrown off by your...by your..." Arthur was at loss for words, he was in a fine mess now. This was great, and no wonder his coach was giving him shit lately. He lost to a puny man! Suddenly, he got an idea; Merlin might be able to beat him in Footie and video games, but physically, one on one…no way.
"Alright, big man," Arthur said, getting up. Urging Merlin to do the same. "Get up!" Merlin did, looking at Arthur like he was an alien. "If you're so sure of yourself, take me!"
"Take you where…?" Merlin asked and Arthur chuckled at this. (What a dumbass!)
"Down!" he said, smirking. "If you can...I warn you, I wrestled all through school."
"Wrestled?"
"Are you scared?" Arthur asked, shoving Merlin lightly. He had no intentions to hurt him, just to teach him a lesson. And maybe un-bruise Arthur's ego a bit too. Merlin glared.
"I'm not scared!"
"Have a go then," Arthur shrugged, smirking as Merlin bit his lip, looking over Arthur slowly. Merlin shook his head, seeming to be having a conversation by himself, inside. "Wll, come on, or shall I take a na-"
Merlin had attacked him, arms failing. Arthur tried not to laugh as he wrapped one arm around Merlin's neck, pulling him into a headlock.
"First rule… always protect your head," Arthur smacked the top of Merlin's raven hair to prove a point. Merlin thrashed around in his hold. "Second rule…always control your body."
Merlin went limb in his arms and it was quite easy for Arthur to drop him. He pinned Merlin to the ground with a knee, lazily.
"This isn't fun...I don't like this," Merlin was saying, mouth muffled by grass. Arthur chuckled.
"You're not meant to like it," he smirked. "Finally your beginners luck has run out!"
Merlin growled and wiggled out from under Arthur's knee. Getting on his own, with a gleaming glare, Arthur had no time to react, as Merlin came at him like a bull, with more of that surprising strength, and plowed head first into Arthur's chest. They both went falling backward, ( just Arthur had gone backward actually, Merlin had gone forward, on top of him,) legs and arms failing and being intertwined.
"That was a dirty move!" Arthur yelled, trying to push Merlin off, but the man was on him like glue, pinning him to the ground. This was not okay!
"Dirty, but effective," Merlin said, Arthur rolled his eyes. No, no…this was finally his chance to beat Merlin at something. The little bastard wasn't getting away with it. With one well-timed roll, he pig-pinned Merlin to the ground. One arm wrapped around Merlin's middle and the other around his neck.
"Not as effective as we thought, hm?" Arthur mumbled into Merlin's ear. But he felt like shouting, he had won, ha! Merlin sagged into the ground beneath them and heaved a sigh.
"Very good, Arthur, you've beaten me…yay!"
"You're mocking me!"
"Nothing get's past you, Arthur…"
Arthur aimed a knee to Merlin's backside and the man let out a yelp.
"That was rude!" he shouted. Arthur chuckled at this, relaxing his hold. He rolled off the loser then, and grinned, ego back in one piece at long last. Merlin turned onto his side and glared at Arthur now. "You're a jerk."
"Thanks."
Merlin shook his head, looking away and at the sky. Arthur still grinned, suddenly feeling a buzz in his pants. He pulled out his phone and checked the ID; Pepper.
"Who's that?" Merlin asked, looking back at Arthur again.
"Pepper."
"Oh…" Merlin mumbled, sitting up and then getting up, brushing off his pants. "I'll be back."
Arthur watched Merlin walk away, shaking his head with a girn, before answering the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hello, love!"
"Hello," he repeated, not sure what else to say. Luckily, Pepper giggled at this.
"Are you excited about tomorrow?" Pepper asked, Arthur thought about this, no…he wasn't excited about tomorrow, it was a Tuesday. "Our anniversary dinner?"
"Oh!" Arthur remembered now, she had called last week about the same thing. "Yeah, sure."
"You're going to love my gift," she said. "I think we both will actually…"
"That's great," he mumbled. Shit! He had forgotten a gift. "You're going to like mine too…"
"I'm sure I will, love," she giggled again. "I'll see you tomorrow then, I can't wait."
"Yeah…me too," he said. What was he going to buy her? She was a girl, girls like earrings and rings. (Whoa, no rings!) They liked bracelets and shiny things too. Yes, Pepper would defiantly like something shiny.
Arthur hadn't realized she had already hung up, until he heard a BEEP, BEEP. BEEP. He hung up then too, shoving his phone into his pocket. He rubbed his face with his hands, trying to think. Shiny….what is shiny? Merlin returned a moment later, with a churro in his hand. He sat back down on the ground, next to Arthur, and handed it to him.
"What did she want?" Merlin asked, noticing Arthur's clearly troubled face.
"Our anniversary is tomorrow," Arthur explained, shoving a bit of churro into his mouth. "I didn't get her anything; I don't know what to get her."
"A book?" Merlin suggested.
"No, this is Pepper…no books."
"Um, you could get her an A necklace…"
"Her name starts with P, Merlin!" Arthur told him, whacking him on the head with the churro stick. "Peh-per!"
"I know that, Ah-thur!" Merlin retorted. "It stands for your name, genius!"
"Hm, I see…" Arthur considered this. "That's cheesy."
"You could get her the key to your heart; I saw key necklaces in the stores, when we went to the mall last week."
"You and your gay ideas!"
"Well, what else do you expect?"
"Would you just shut up, and actually help!"
(A/N: Okay, let me first, answer a few questions for littleking3125 and I think it would be good for everyone else too, to get these answers answered. ;) okay, 1: You don't get to see much of whether or not Arthur truly believes Merlin. It's not mentioned much, this story is about Arthur finding out who he is, but at the same time it's about him finding Merlin and that I guess is more focused on. There will be a point where he does actively try to remember, but that won't be for sometime. 2: Merlin wants King Arthur back, but he's not exactly unhappy with this Arthur either. 3: No, even Mr. Noodles has a bigger role in this ff than Gwen, she's just there to make Arthur question his sexuality, pretty much. 4: Clearly, it didn't go well. lol. Anyway, yeah, so there you go. In this chapter...I don't even know what was going on. I just wanted a chapter in between the last chapter and the next chapter, I had no plot with it and just wrote...and this is what happens. wrestling in the park...o.O. Anyway, comment you lovely people, you!)