Arthur sat at the kitchen table, drawing on a piece of paper. He was waiting for Merlin to get home from the store, so they could eat dinner. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he sighed, putting down his pencil, and he pulled out his phone. He read the ID and was surprised to see it was his mother. He had thought it would be Pepper.

"Hello, mum," he answered the phone, a little smile on his lips. He hadn't talked to his mother in a long time.

"Hello, Arthur, how are you, my love?" she asked on the other end, his smile grew bigger.

"I'm fine, how are you?" he asked.

"Oh, you know, we're how we always are," they both laughed. "I called to see if you were coming for your sister's party next week."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he said, just as Merlin walked into the house, carrying bags. "Hey, mum, can I bring someone along with me?" he grinned up at Merlin, who was setting things down on the table now, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Just wondering…"

"Of course you can, dear," his mother told him, and he smirked at Merlin, who was probably very confused. "How is Pepper?"

"Who?" Arthur asked, he was too busy smirking at Merlin to listen. "Oh, Pepper?"

"Yes, you two are still together, right?"

"Oh yeah," he nodded, but no one could see him. He could hear Merlin laughing from the stove, where he was pulling cereal boxes out of a bag. "We're still together. Well, mum, I'll see you…"

"Come in on Monday, that way we get a whole week of my little baby," his mother told him.

"Mum…I'm twenty five years old…"

"Twenty five, forty five, or ninety five, you are always going to be my baby, and I'll thank you to remember that, Arthur Pennicott!" she barked at him, he rolled his eyes. "Now, we'll see you on Monday, my dear."

"Right, see you then, mum."

He hung up the phone and looked up to Merlin, smiling at him.

"I guess I don't need to guess who that was…" Merlin grinned.

"Guess not," Arthur shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed, but didn't show it. "She wants us to come up for the week and celebrate my sister's birthday."

"No, she wants you," Merlin corrected, as he finally finished putting away the groceries. "You're just dragging me along again. Just like the party, I'll probably end up drunk and in the zoo."

"I won't let that happen," Arthur chuckled. "And besides, I want you to meet them; I bet they'll like you. As long as you don't show up in your Cas coat and tell them they're a dead king."

"I'll try my best not to, sometimes I just can't help myself," Merlin retorted, smirking at Arthur, as he wrapped up all the empty bags. Arthur chuckled and looked back at his drawing, he gulped then. "What are you drawing now, Mr. Picasso?"

"Um…" he mumbled, showing him the picture, he might have known he was drawing it, but he didn't plan on getting caught doing it. What a teenage girl move.

"Ah," Merlin raised his eyebrows, looking at Arthur, either amused or freaked out. "I like it...hey, you gave me a red scarf. Did you…"

"I didn't remember," Arthur admitted. "You just told me you wore one."

"Well," Merlin sighed, "I didn't know you could draw people too, you've got quite a talent."

"My dad can draw things too, he's always said if I wanted a job in advertising that he'd get me one," Arthur shrugged. Merlin didn't seem too repulsed by the idea of Arthur drawing him, so, he calmed down a bit. "I could come up with commercials or something. I'm just not sure that's what I want to do with my life."

"Seems kind of boring to me," Merlin shrugged, sitting down in the seat next to him, looking at the picture Arthur had drawn a bit more. "I'm thinking you could work in a fair, you know; draw those hideous pictures with the people's heads too big for their body."

"You've got such goals for me," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I do, and I can see it now, you'll marry the bearded lady who got booted from the circus for fooling around the lion tamer."

"What do you even think about?" Arthur asked him then, shaking his head.

"Whatever I want," Merlin admitted, smirking again. "Are you ready for dinner?"

"Sure."

In the next few days they began to get ready to leave again, they had just come back from a weekend at Merlin's house and now they would be leaving once again. Arthur had to find someone else to watch Mr. Noodles. He couldn't ask Pepper, she was still angry about Merlin and Arthur's last trip together, she may blow a gasket if he told her he and Merlin were leaving again. He decided to ask the next door couple, the one with the baby. He hadn't really expected them to say yes, but they did and were quite nice about it too.

Arthur shoved his suitcases into the trunk of his car, early on Monday morning, waiting for Merlin to drag his sorry backside out of the house. When he finally did, he offered the bag to Arthur and he shoved it into the trunk as well. Merlin went and got into the car and soon, Arthur joined him.

"All ready to go?" Merlin asked, happily, as they started down the street. Arthur only shrugged, at first, he had been excited to see his family, but then he started thinking…

What if he told his parents about his feelings for the man next to him, what would they say? And then he started to get nervous. His mother had always been good at spotting when something was off about him, would she be able to tell? He might have entertained the idea of him and Merlin being more than just bro's. He had entertained the idea quite a few times, actually. But to tell his parents….he didn't know if he could.

"You're not excited to see your family?" Merlin was asking now.

"Of course I am," Arthur told him, biting his lip. "Merlin…"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering something," he glanced over and Merlin raised an eyebrow. Arthur waited until he got on the highway before he started talking again. "You're gay."

"Yes, thank you for reminding me again," Merlin frowned. "Do you not want to tell your parents that or something…?"

"No, no, I don't care about that," Arthur said, swallowing, his throat felt sort of tight. "I was just…wondering…how did you tell your mother you were gay?"

"Why would you wonder that?" Merlin asked, grinning suddenly.

"I…I don't know, I just did," Arthur shrugged, trying not to look too jumpy. He felt jumpy.

"Well, I didn't."

Arthur let out a breath and looked over at him.

"You didn't?"

"I didn't have to," Merlin smiled. "She just sort of knew."

He sucked in a sharp breath again, holding it. Oh god, he thought, he was done for.

"I guess it was the way I talked about the king, or looked at him…she just knew," Merlin continued, smiling.

"She could see it in your eyes?"

"I guess so," Merlin kept smiling, Arthur sighed again. He just needed to relax, if Arthur did look at Merlin in some love-hungry way, he would simply just have to knock it off while they were at his parent's house. Every time he looked at him he couldn't look that way, it was humanly impossible to think everything someone does is great, humanly impossible! He nodded to himself, glancing back over to Merlin, to see him biting his lip. Arthur gulped, watching him, Merlin's lips liked to play some sort of evil game with him as of late, especially after their trip to Merlin's house. Kissing the bloke had been a taboo thought to Arthur before then, something he refused to think about, but now, he thought about it, he had thought about it a lot and liked it. Damn it!

"Arthur…LOOK AT THE ROAD, PLEASE!" Merlin's mouth was moving and Arthur was almost too deep in his thoughts to understand them. "ARTHUR!"

"Son of a bitch!" Arthur jerked the car from the other lane, as the car next to him let out a nasty honk. "That was close."

"What the hell were you looking at?" Merlin barked at him. "I saw my life flash before my eyes and think of how long that would take, that tells you how long you've been out of it!"

"I'm sorry, I was…"

"Did you pass your driving test or did someone just give you a license and say 'here, go kill someone?'" Merlin continued to bark at him. He laughed.

"Hey, you were the one who drove backward on a dirt road!"

"At least I wasn't off in Neverland!"

Maybe it was possible for someone to think everything that one person does is great. Maybe his parents wouldn't notice the looks, but if they did, they would understand. It was how he felt, right? No matter how confused he was about it. It wasn't going to change.

After a few hours, they finally reached London, which they drove right through, until they reached fancy houses and pulled onto that street. Merlin was looking quite entertained as they drove down the long street.

"I don't get it," he was saying. "Why don't you act like a spoilt prick?"

"I'm just perfect, I guess," Arthur smirked back at him, wiggling his eyebrows. Merlin laughed and rolled his eyes, turning back to the houses. They didn't stop until they reached the big, red-brick house, with the dark roof and huge lawn. "This is it!"

"Wow, you lived high on the hog," Merlin said, as he got out of the car. "Guess some things never change."

"I think I'd prefer to live in a castle, with a moat and a pet dragon," Arthur told him. "And I would hire you as my dragonlord, I'd make you tame my dragon all the time," he gave Merlin a wink as they walked up the driveway.

"Why did that sound dirty?" Merlin asked and Arthur chuckled.

"Because it was supposed to, thick one."

Merlin was looking a tad flustered by the time they reached the door and Arthur decided he quite liked that. More dirty innuendos, check. The door was wrenched open then and there stood his mother. She beamed when she saw him there and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"My baby had finally come back to his mummy!" she was saying, as she petted his hair and cuddled him in her arms.

"Your baby can't breathe…" he mumbled, into her turtleneck, she laughed then and pulled back, looking over his head, at Merlin.

"Who's this?" she asked, confused, as she looked back at him. He smiled at Merlin then.

"This is Merlin," he told her. "My friend."

"It's nice to meet you, love," she told him, pushing Arthur aside to shake Merlin's hand, Merlin smiled at her in return. "Arthur," she turned right back to him then. "Why didn't you tell me it wasn't Pepper you were bringing along? I didn't make up the guestroom!"

"I never thought about it," Arthur shrugged, he hadn't even given it a thought, to bring Pepper, he didn't want to. He wanted Merlin there.

"I don't mind if the room's messy, Mrs. Pennicott," Merlin said. "You should see Arthur's house."

"It's never a mess!" Arthur barked.

"Not since I've been there," Merlin retorted, with a smirk. "You should have seen the mess under his bed, he had pizza crust under there!"

"You cleaned out my black hole!"

"Um, if you both don't mind, coming inside and continuing this," Arthur's mother stopped them. "I'm sure your dad and sister want to see you, Arthur."

"Of course," he mumbled and followed her inside, looking back at Merlin as they went. "You cleaned out my black hole!"

"Sorry…" he shrugged, but he didn't look sorry. They entered the sitting room, it hadn't changed at all since Arthur had been there last, (which had been Christmas,) his father sat on the sofa, reading over some papers.

"Robin, your son is home," Arthur's mother commented and his father stopped reading and looked up, a smile on his lips when he saw Arthur there.

"My boy!" he clapped him on the back, after standing up. His eyes landed on Merlin then. "Who's this chap?"

"This is Merlin," Arthur explained again.

"He's a friend of Arthur's, dear," his mother helped him finish.

"Very good," Arthur's dad went on. "Nice to meet you, son."

"Nice to meet you too," Merlin said, shaking hands with his father now. Arthur laughed, he had called Merlin son, but really, Merlin was well older than everyone in this room, put together. Merlin glanced over to Arthur then, and glared, as if knowing what he was thinking.

"Dear, you're going to have to go upstairs and move all of those boxes out of the guestroom, so Merlin here, has somewhere to sleep."

Arthur's Father whined, "That will take all day, Grace!"

"Too bad, he's got to have somewhere to sleep!"

"Now, wait a second," Arthur stopped them. "I've still got two beds in my room, right? Merlin can sleep in there with me, I don't care."

"That is true," Arthur's father looked at him and then his mother.

"Oh please, you're just trying to get out of a little work, you lazy man!"

"Lazy man? Who goes to work and puts food on your table?"

Arthur motioned to Merlin to follow him and he did, glancing back at Arthur's bickering parents, before he followed him up the stairs. Arthur ushered him down the hall until they reached his old bedroom. Inside, there were two twin beds.

"Why do you have two beds in your room?" Merlin asked, as he sat down on one, that one had always been Arthur's, it was on the left side, closer to the window.

"Greg used to live here with us," Arthur shrugged. It was true too, Greg and his parents never saw eye to eye, so for years he would just crash in Arthur's room, sleeping on the floor, until one year, Greg was kicked out of his parents house, after a fight Arthur never learned the details of. After that, he lived there until they moved out for Uni.

"I didn't know you two went back so far," Merlin said, biting his lip. Arthur wished he wouldn't.

"Yeah, we do, it's alright though," Arthur said, sitting down on the other bed, smiling at Merlin. "So, how do you like them? My mum is probably a bit much, yeah?"

"No," Merlin grinned then. "She's lovely, you know…the king never had a mother, so, seeing you with her it…I don't know," Merlin muttered, smiling fondly. "It's nice to know you finally have a mum, I think that's probably why you're not a spoilt prick."

"You should tell my mum that, she'd probably kiss you," Arthur told him, with a smirk. "Not that I would let her."

"Yeah, she's married, I don't fancy your dad kicking my ass," Merlin grinned, flopping down onto his back, with a sigh.

"Hey, you know that's my bed right, I like sleeping on the left," Arthur told him. Merlin looked up, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I might know that, not that I care."

"Get off my bed, Merlin!" Arthur barked.

"Make me!"

(A/N: Okay, I am sorry it has taken me an extra few days to update, I've been busy. But it shouldn't happen again. Okay, so I made Arthur be able to draw because Bradley James can draw and yeah, also I know Arthur mentions Merlin being a dragonlord and I never wrote about him learning that, but I figure at some point Merlin could have just told him that. One last thing, I can't remember if I gave Arthur's father a name and I am just too lazy to look, I don't think I did, but if I said his name is something other than Robin let me know so I can change it. AND ONE MORE THING, I know right? I don't shut up. I added a status bar to my page thingy, so you can go there and see when I will be updating again or why I haven't updated, also see what I'm working on next and see if it interests you. Anyway, that's all. )