"So, nothing you saw today did anything for you?" Merlin was asking, as he scooped mashed potatoes onto Arthur's plate.
"No, not really…" Arthur shrugged, putting a piece of beef into his mouth, chewing it. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Merlin shrugged, standing by the stove now. "I didn't think it would, they're too different now."
"You'll think of something," Arthur told him, finishing his second helping of mashed potatoes. "What are you going to do tonight? Another fire? I refuse to light it this time, by the way," Arthur sighed. "Unless you've found me a lighter."
"No lighter, I'll light it," Merlin told him, "if it makes you feel any better the king was rubbish at lighting fires too," Merlin smirked, turning toward a cupboard. "I've got a surprise for you."
"Is it porn?"
"What's with you and porn?" Merlin asked, as he turned back around with a bag of marshmallows in his hands. "I figure since it's our last night here…"
"Porn is the best pastime," Arthur explained, looking childishly happy at the bag of marshmallows. "Those will be great on the fire."
"It is not, it's gross!" Merlin told him, coming to sit next to him at the mini-round table. "I just like to set them on fire."
He gave an evil smirk and Arthur chuckled.
"See, you don't like porn, because you are a child."
"Say's the twenty five year old who's excited about marshmallows!" Merlin retorted.
"I never said I wasn't a child," Arthur grinned. "I'm a child who enjoys porn!"
"Stop talking about porn!"
"Sorry," Arthur muttered, amused, as he finished off his beef tips. "So, about that fire...?"
"I'll go start it, why don't you call Pepper and see how Mr. Noodles is," Merlin told him, standing up again.
"Merlin, I think you're in love with my cat," Arthur said, as Merlin headed toward the door. Arthur pulled out his phone then. "I think you like the cat more than me."
"I might," Merlin grinned, opening the door and heading out. Arthur laughed, but something might have stung a bit. He waited a second making sure Merlin was gone before he looked at his phone again. He didn't feel like talking to Pepper, so he texted her instead. He got up then and put his plate in the sink. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and he sighed, pulling it back out. He read her text and rolled his eyes, Noodles was fine, but he could tell she was annoyed about his weekend anyway. She must have found out Merlin had come along. Oh well.
Arthur walked outside then, not bothering to text back his girlfriend, he would see her tomorrow anyway, when she brought his cat home. He walked to the lake edge and there, roared a perfect fire.
"How did you do it?" he asked, walking over to Merlin, who was looking out at the lake, he jumped a little, but turned and smiled back at Arthur, with a shrug.
"It's a gift."
"It amazes me, how are you good at everything?" Arthur asked, sitting on a wooden log, by the fire. Merlin joined him, opened the marshmallows and handed Arthur one, and a stick too, so he could put it in the fire without burning himself.
"I cheat," Merlin explained, smirking as he readied his own stick and marshmallow. He put in the fire then and watched it. Arthur did the same, taking his out when it looked golden enough. Merlin left his in the flame.
"It's kind of disappointing to go home, you know?" Arthur said then, blowing the small flame, on the tip of his marshmallow out. "I like it here, it's peaceful," he explained, before shoving the warm marshmallow into his mouth. "I want to stay longer…"
"We can come back, after your Footie season is over," Merlin said, finally taking his completely blackened marshmallow out of the flame, and marveling at the flames that continued to burn it, before blowing it out.
"About that, will you be coming to my games?" Arthur asked, watching as Merlin took the burnt bit of marshellow off of his stick and tossed it into the lake.
"Of course, I've come to almost all of your paratcices," Merlin smiled. "I've even talked to some of the players, that Patrick is really nice."
"You've met Patrick?" Arthur asked, gulping suddenly.
"Yeah, a few weeks ago," Merlin grinned. "He was really nice, we mostly talked about you."
"Why?"
"He was just saying you were one of the best players on the team," Merlin shrugged, putting another marshmallow on his stick and sticking it into the fire again.
"He said that?" Arthur asked, honestly surprised, he wondered what Patrick was up to. "Did he say anything else?"
"No..." Merlin shrugged again. "Well, we talked about his boyfriend, he sounded nice too. He asked us to go out to dinner with them sometime, I told him you'd let him know."
Patrick was defiantly up to something.
After awhile Arthur got a stomachache from all of the marshmallows he had eaten, and Merlin had wasted half a bag, burning them and throwing them into the lake. They went back into the house then, letting the fire burn. Merlin didn't seem concerned about it possibly burning down the house, but he didn't last night either, and when Arthur had woken up and gone outside, it was like the fire had never even happened.
Arthur made noises of disapproval, as he walked to the bed and crashed into it, rolling on his back, and rubbing his belly. What a fool he was, for eating so many marshmallows. After Merlin had finished doing the dishes, he joined Arthur on the bed. It wasn't as weird as it looked, Arthur thought, just like he had the night before, Merlin's sofa was really small and way too uncomfortable to sleep on, and of course, Merlin had insisted on giving up his bed to Arthur, but Arthur wouldn't allow that. So they shared.
"Feeling any better?" Merlin asked, as he flattened himself out on the bed.
"No," Arthur muttered, rolling over onto his stomach, facing Merlin, with half of his face smashed by the pillow.
"You poor man," Merlin said, smiling over at him.
"Are you enjoying my pain?" Arthur asked, trying to raise an eyebrow, but that hurt his stomach too much.
"Of course not," Merlin said. "But you shouldn't think with your stomach next time."
"Oh shut up!" Arthur retorted, closing his eyes.
The next morning, when Arthur woke up, he felt much better, hungry even. He showered and changed, heading out to the kitchen then. Merlin was sitting at the table, eyes looking out of the small window, at the lake.
"Morning," Arthur said, so Merlin would know he was there. Merlin looked over, with a smile.
"Hello," he said, lifting a pot of coffee with a hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better," Arthur told him, sitting down, as Merlin poured him a cup of coffee. Merlin added cream then and handed it to him, Arthur took a few sips before looking around. "Are you ready to go?"
"Mhm," Merlin nodded, eyes averting back outside, to the lake. Arthur watched him for a minute or two, before Merlin turned back to him, with a bigger smile. "I think we should get breakfast on the way, I don't feel like washing dishes."
"Alright, whatever you say."
The trip back to Arthur's house took a few hours, in which, they ate McDonalds twice. Once for breakfast and once for lunch, they had just finished lunch as they pulled into the driveway, or tried to rather, because a little red car was blocking it. Pepper, oh god, Arthur thought, as he parked on the street, he glanced over at Merlin, who was rolling his eyes. Pepper was not meant to be there until the evening.
"Arthur, she said, as he walked up the driveway, looking back for a second, where the hell had Merlin gone? Son of a bitch! "How was your trip?" she was asking, looking over his shoulder as well.
"Good, it was nice," he shrugged.
"Good, too bad I couldn't go…" she trailed off, titling her head and raising her eyebrows.
"Next time, I promise," he lied to her, she nodded, opening her back door and Mr. Noodles sat there, on the backseat. "Hello, Noodles," he reached in and picked him up. "Thanks for watching him."
"Anything for you, love."
Arthur nodded, looking back behind him again, for Merlin. He looked at Mr. Noodles and it seemed he was doing the same.
"Right, so…" Arthur turned back to his girlfriend. "I'll be seeing you."
She looked offended then, crossing her arms.
"I suppose you might," she told him and he smiled.
"Good, I'll call you later," he told her. Her annoyed face lessened then, but she still looked annoyed as she got in the car and backed out of the driveway. Arthur still had no idea where Merlin was, but decided he should probably get Noodles inside before he went looking for him. He walked around the corner, to the back door, looking for the keys in his pocket. He almost didn't notice the person sitting on the back steps. But Mr. Noodles sure did, scratching out of his arms like a beast and jumping down on to the ground, running like a jungle cat. "NOODLES!"
"Hello, Mr Noodles," Merlin said, scooping up the cat. Arthur glared then, stalking over to them both.
"You sneaky little bastard!" he yelled at them, not sure which he was referring to, but he was pretty sure it was Merlin. They both looked up innocently. "Where did you go?"
"Around the other way," Merlin explained. "Sorry, I didn't feel like…talking to What's-her-name."
"Yeah well," Arthur muttered, as Merlin stood up, moving away from the door, so Arthur could open it. "And this fuzzy haired freak scratched me just to get to you!"
"Mr. Noodles is sorry," Merlin said, cradling the cat, as they walked into the house, in front of Arthur.
"Doesn't look like it," Arthur complained, as he followed.
(A/N: Happy 20th chapter to everyone! I don't like this chapter either, I wrote this one and the last one in the same night and I must have been in a funk or something. But away, me and Merlin do the same things with our marshmallows, we burn them and then throw them away, just because we like the fire. :D )