He sat across from her, a nervous smile on his lips. She was smiling back, not nervous at all. It was really ridicules that he was nervous. This was Pepper; he had been with her for four years now. God, it didn't feel like four years. He hardly felt like he knew her at all anymore, they never spent time together. Arthur tried to tell himself they were both just busy now-a-days, but what exactly was Arthur truly busy with? He had no classes and when he wasn't at practice, he just hung around at home or in town, (with Merlin,) and Pepper, well…who even knows what Pepper does.

"Ready to open presents?" Pepper asked, pushing away her plate. She ate less than Merlin normally does. Arthur nodded, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a thin, purple box. Pepper picked up a blue gift bag from the floor and set it in front of Arthur, ripping his gift to her out of his hand. Pulling off the lid with haste. Inside was a necklace with a Big Ben pendant. They had had their first kiss in front of big Ben; Merlin had said this would be a 'thoughtful' gift. Arthur waited for a reaction.

"Do you like it?" he finally asked, because all she was doing was sitting there, looking at it.

"Yes, of course," she looked up with a smile. But it seemed to Arthur she was a bit disappointed. What did she want? A proposal? Probably, Arthur thought.

"Merlin said you would like it," Arthur muttered. He had been hoping the gift would go over better than this; no one liked an unhappy girlfriend. At this though, Pepper huffed and gave him a dirty look. Do not mention Merlin on dates, Arthur noted.

"Why is he still living with you?" she asked, with a snappy voice. "I thought he was only visiting?"

"He is visiting for an expended amount of time…" Arthur shrugged. Truth be told, Merlin wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, in fact, Arthur had no intention of letting him leave at any time...at all.

"He has run of your place, you have no privacy anymore…" Pepper complained. "He's out staying his welcome!"

"He hasn't any other place to go," Arthur lied. Merlin did have somewhere else to go; it was just too far away for Arthur's liking. "And he's welcomed there as long as he needs to be."

"He's using you, letting you buy him food and pay his way!" Pepper barked out more complaints. "He's nothing but a mooch!"

Arthur was getting fed up with this, with her, she knew nothing about Merlin. And in the few moments she had spent with him other the last month, she had been rude the entire time.

"Just drop it, alright?" Arthur said, trying to stay calm. It was their anniversary after all, he didn't want to fight.

"He's just using you, Arthur, you're just too good of a guy to see that, and it's sick."

"I said drop it!" He barked, glaring over the blue bag at her. She leaned back and let out a huff, crossing her arms over her chest. A few tense moments ticked by slowly and Arthur wondered if it would be okay to excuse himself from the table and just not come back. But this wasn't their first date and Pepper knew where he lived. He looked down at the blue bag in front of him and sighed.

"Shall I open your present now?"

Her mood seemed to change then, suddenly, and she sat back up with a smile on her red lips. Arthur was pleased about this. He quickly pulled the white tissue paper from the bag and pushed his hand inside. He was confused for a second; he felt nothing at all, until he finally felt something like cotton and latched onto it. He pulled it out and saw it was a bright pink cloth….no, a handkerchief…no…underwear. Underwear?

He held them up with two hands now and saw that they were not just any underwear, but a lacey thong, that looked like it might fit a doll rather than a human.

"Uh, it's not really my style…" he said, looking at his girlfriend, to see her gleaming at the garment proudly. "Might be a tight fit too..."

"They're not for you to wear, silly," she giggled. She did that a lot, giggled; Arthur found it rather annoying suddenly. "They're for us, tonight."

"Tonight?" he asked.

"Yes, after dinner," she winked, Arthur bit his lip. He was not at all turned on, the contrary actually. How could she think a pink, lacey thong was a good gift? Arthur had actually put real thought into his gift. Okay, so he had Merlin put real thought into the gift. But there was still thought there, Pepper's gift, well….there was thought there, but the R rated kind. He supposed some guys would have liked to have gotten lacey panties as a gift, he also supposed he wasn't really just some guy.

Pepper didn't seem to notice his clear disliking for her gift or if she did, she didn't care. They finished dinner and headed out to Arthur's car. He had been quiet for some time now; Pepper didn't seem to think of this either. Not at all, as they drove down the street and she leaned over, gluing her lips to his neck.

"Hey!" he said suddenly, surprising even himself. She pulled back and looked at him. "Look, you can't do that now."

She huffed. "Are we going to yours or mine?"

He was taken aback by the question, he knew he shouldn't be.

"We are not going to my house..." he trailed off, just thinking of Merlin, sitting in the sitting room, reading, while he stroked Mr. Noodles' back. "We can't."

Pepper huffed again, "Then mine!"

"Don't you live with four other girls?" he asked, that was not a good idea either. None of this was a good idea.

"Yes, but Chrissie and Maddie are at a party and Alice is at her boyfriends, and Madge is probably fast asleep by now" Pepper explained, yet still, to Arthur, this was a bad idea.

"Look," he tried. "Maybe we should just have a rain check..."

"Rain check?" she barked, pulling back from him further, to glare harshly. "Do you know the last time we-"

"No, I don't, but I have a training session early in the morning!" Arthur lied, he did have a practice, but it wasn't that early.

"What the hell is wrong with you lately?!"

Arthur didn't know what was wrong with him lately, he honestly didn't. He drove Pepper home, listening to her yell at him the whole way, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Of course, he cared about how much he had upset her. But even as she got out of his car, throwing the gift he got her, back at his head. He didn't regret pulling out of her driveway, and heading down the street, toward his own house.

Things weren't always like this, not too long along Arthur would have gladly taken her back to his place, or willingly went into hers. It wasn't that he had lost interest in sex, not at all. But he had just lost interest in sex with Pepper. They had been together for four years now, all the spark had left them, nothing was exciting or new. Hell, the only thing exciting or new in their relationship was Merlin…

Arthur sighed, pulling into his driveway and getting out of the car. He dragged himself into the house, thinking still; he wondered how long it would take Pepper to finally just break up with him. He turned into the living room and saw Merlin sitting there. Just as he knew he would be, book on his lap, petting the cat with a lazy hand. He looked up, just as Arthur was pulling of his jacket.

"Arthur," he said, his voice sounded surprised. "I didn't think you'd be back so early…"

"Yeah, well," Arthur muttered in return, sitting down on the sofa with a huff. "Things didn't go well."

"What happened?"

Arthur looked over at him, how was he supposed to tell him the truth? It was a bit awkward, not to mention embarrassing.

"It's complicated."

"Didn't she like the gift?"

"Liked it so much she threw it at my head," Arthur said, rolling his eyes. "I bet guys don't give you this much trouble, do they, Merlin?"

"They're easier than girls, maybe, but still people all the same…"

"Have you been with a girl before?" Arthur asked then. "Do you know how much of a pain in the ass they are?"

"I've been with a girl before…and she was lovely."

Arthur looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You've been with a girl?"

"Yes," Merlin nodded, looking slightly red-cheeked at this confession. "Two, actually."

"What were they like?"

"Well, one was back in Camelot, she was the lovely one," Merlin smiled. "The other one was a long time after that, I can't remember the year, it was so long ago. But she had been my assistant for awhile. I was working as a physician at the time, and she was too young for me, but…"

"Merlin, you player!"

Merlin rolled his eyes, "Everyone's too young for me now!"

Arthur laughed, "What was the other one like? The one from Camelot?"

"She had magic, like me, I had never met anyone like her," Merlin said, his smile seemed to be pertinently stuck on his face. "I almost ran away with her."

"You did?" Arthur asked, eyes widening. He learned something new about Merlin every day. "What about the king?"

"He never knew, it was before I had really fallen for him," Merlin shrugged. "I know now it wouldn't have worked out, I would have come back to him either way, it was my destiny," he looked back at Arthur finally, with watery eyes. "I realize it probably wasn't really love, but for a bit there, I thought it was and maybe if she hadn't died…."

"She died?"

"Yeah, she….she was ill..." Merlin muttered. Arthur seemed to like to bring up all these sad things for Merlin. Arthur sighed, not sure what to say.

"What was her name?"

"Freya."

"That's pretty," he smiled, timidly at Merlin. Merlin nodded back. Arthur decided then, they had better get off this sad topic for Merlin's sake. "What are you reading?"

"Moby Dick," Merlin answered, picking up his book, as if he had forgotten it was there.

"Read it to me," Arthur told him, laying down now, plopping his feet onto Merlin's lap, in a way he hoped was annoying, but also friendly.

"Read it to you?"

"Yeah, come on."

(A/N: I can't wait to see Loulou2a's reaction, she doesn't like Pepper. Lol. I tried to make Pepper the typical annoying girlfriend through a guy's eyes, I think I did it. It's not a very long chapter, sorry guys!)