Arthur woke up to a knock, knock, knock and he groaned, covering his head with his pillow. He didn't want to get up, it was too early, much to early. He knew it was his mother at the door, and he wished she would just go away. It seemed he had gotten his wish, when the knocking stopped; he smiled to himself, snuggling deeper into his blankets.

"Arthur!" came a voice then. Oh no, he thought, ignoring him. "Arthur," he felt a tapping on his shoulder. "Wake up, you're mothers made breakfast."

"I'm going to break you, if you don't leave me alone!" Arthur barked, he could hear Merlin laughing from somewhere above the pillow. He pulled it off of his face and glared at Merlin. "Don't believe me?"

"Arthur…" Merlin trailed off, rolling his eyes at him. Arthur nodded then, smirking, as he leaned up and grabbed hold of Merlin's arm, yanking him down, like a rag doll. He shoved Merlin into the mattress below them.

"Go back to sleep, Merlin," he told him, holding him there. It was fun to attack Merlin…as long as he never pressed charges. Somehow, Arthur doubted he ever would.

"Arthur, you…umgh" he said, as Arthur shoved his face into the pillow, he struggled slightly, but nevertheless, went limb anyway.

"Sh, Merlin," Arthur told him, softly in his ear. "Don't speak, I'll only make you-"

"Arthur, breakfast….oh," Arthur's mother had just walked in, her mouth hung open. This didn't look good, Arthur knew from experience, (the experience of last night,) he let go of Merlin then. "Um…breakfast is ready, boys."

"Right, be right down," Arthur told her, swallowing rather hard. She walked out then and shut the door, mouth still hung open. He turned to Merlin, who was glaring something fierce at him. "What?"

"Imagine what she thinks!" Merlin yelled, crossing his arms over his chest. He considered what she thinks and he frowned. "And after last night when she walked in with you attacking me!" Merlin went on bitching. "Honestly, do you have some sort of aggression issue I am just finding out about?"

"I just like hitting you, I don't know why…"

"You're mental."

"Says the five thousand year old dragonlord…"

"Five thousand?" Merlin barked. Right, so no insulting Merlin's age, noted.

"Look, it's easy enough to explain, she'll probably never mention it again," Arthur explained. "She's caught me and Greg doing worse, I was a wrestler, remember?"

"In bed?"

"Don't have such a dirty mind, you filthy sod!"

Merlin pouted then, and continued to pout as they walked downstairs and to the kitchen. Where his father and sister sat, his mother stood by the stove, cooking pancakes.

"Good morning!" he announced, sitting down, Merlin sat next to him, but scooted his chair over a few inches. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Good morning, son," his father said, giving Merlin a side-ways glance. "Sleep well?"

"I think we all know the answer to that question!" Morgan suddenly said, looking a little too amused for her own good. Arthur glared at her.

"It was alright, that bed is a lot smaller than I remembered…"

"Oh!" Morgan said, laughing into her orange juice.

"What the hell is with you?" he barked at her, quietly. She giggled at him, taking a bite of toast.

"Pancakes!" his mother announced then and not soon enough. Walking around the table and placing one on each of their plates, she did the same with sausage links moments later and then sat down.

"So, Arthur..." she trailed off. "Where is Pepper? You said on the phone you were still together…"

"We are," Arthur shrugged, looking over to Morgan who was licking the sausage link pretty suggestively, he looked away quickly. "She couldn't come; she was uh…busy with classes."

"And you two are on good terms?" his father asked next, looking over at Merlin with a side-ways glance again. Arthur rolled his eyes, feeling a kick under the table from one, probably very annoyed Merlin.

"Yeah, great terms," Arthur nodded, with a lie. He could tell now, his mother had obviously told his father and sister what she had seen upstairs, but Arthur couldn't really find it in him to care all that much. At first, he thought he would be scared for them to find out he fancied Merlin, but now….well, they thought he was shagging him. It would only make it better if he actually was.

"And Merlin," Arthur's mother turned on Merlin, he chocked down his pancake and looked up like he had done something naughty. "How is it you and my son are friends?"

"Oh, um…" he mumbled, glancing over to Arthur.

"We met at a party," Arthur lied again.

"What kind of party was it?" Morgan asked, with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"The shut up kind!" Arthur told her, and she stuck her tongue out.

"Are you in school, Merlin, or do you have a job?" his father asked now. They should really stop grilling Merlin, before he started telling them about how Arthur was a dead king. That would go over just swimmingly.

"I…go to school," Merlin said, seemingly skilled in the art that was lying as well.

"What do you study?" his mother asked.

"Um...Arthurian Legend."

Arthur smirked into his pancake, listening to Merlin go. No wonder he fancied this guy, he was flawless.

"There isn't much of a market for that, is there?" his father was at it again. "How do you plan on making a living with that?"

"You'd be surprised," Merlin shrugged, having already finished his food, he stood up. "Thank you for breakfast, if you'll excuse me."

Merlin left, walking out of the room in almost a run. Arthur sighed, watching him go.

"Keep it in your pants, will you?" Morgan said, he rolled his eyes yet again and glared at her.

"If you don't shut up, you won't make it to your sixteenth birthday!" he warned her.

"Oh please," she retorted. "You bitch!"

"Morgan!" his mother yelped, looking appalled at her daughter. Arthur stood then, excusing himself from the table. Trying to walk away casually, but as soon as he was out of sight, he ran, taking the steps two at a time. He reached his door and took a deep breath. He didn't want Merlin to think he was freaking out about what his family thought, because….to his own surprise, he wasn't, he really wasn't at all. He opened the door then, to see Merlin sitting on the edge of his bed, face in his hands.

"Hello there," Arthur said, as he went into the room and shut the door behind him. "Okay?"

"Not really…" Merlin muttered. "They think…"

"They think we're shagging!" he announced, smirking, as he flopped onto his bed.

"Arthur!" Merlin said, he sounded a lot like his mother had, when she had yelled at Morgan for saying bitch. Arthur laughed at the thought. "This isn't funny, I thought you said she would forget about it? That you got caught doing worse with Greg?"

"I guess she sees something more between us."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Merlin barked, Arthur looked up at him with a smirk, shrugging. "I don't have time for this, Arthur, I don't have time for childish games, I'm too old for this."

"Are you having a fourth life crisis or something on me?"

"Stop making jokes, this is serious!" Merlin barked again, looking back at him, angry.

"It's not, who cares what they think?" Arthur asked. "Do you honestly care what they think about you, Merlin?"

"They're your family!" Merlin told him, throwing his arms in the air. "I just wanted them to like me."

"Why should you care if they like you?" Arthur asked then, with a raised eyebrow.

"Because they are your family!" Merlin implored.

"And you care about me?

"What are you getting at?"

"Nothing," Arthur said. "They will like you."

"Not now…not now that they think I'm your whore."

"No one thinks that," Arthur laughed, sitting up.

"Doesn't this upset you?" Merlin asked then. "You're family thinks you're hooking up with another guy…"

"It should bother me, shouldn't it?" Arthur asked, grinning. "But being gay wouldn't be so bad if I had someone like you to be gay with."

Merlin turned and looked at him again, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Arthur asked, in return, grinning still.

"Arthur.." Merlin sighed. "You..."

"Me what?" Arthur said, standing up and going to sit next to Merlin on the other bed. "Look, it's going to be alright, I'll straighten my family out, I'm not worried about it."

"You should be," Merlin huffed, turning toward him. "I shouldn't have come, it's weird to bring some random bloke back home with you, you should have taken Pepper."

"It's not weird," Arthur told him. "I wanted you here."

"Why?" Merlin asked, he looked up with such sad blue eyes, Arthur felt his heart doing some sort of weird fluttery thing. He tapped Merlin's knee with his hand and smiled.

"Because..."

"But they think you're gay, Arthur!" Merlin said then, trying to implore this on him again. Arthur only smiled bigger, he leaned in to Merlin a bit then.

"You know, Merlin, being gay is nothing to be ashamed of," Arthur told him. "it doesn't change you, you're still the same person."

Merlin smiled back at him then, big and bright, like Arthur had just made his whole day.

"I know that."

"It's a good thing you do."

(A/N: I quite like Morgan, when I write her, she entertains me. Also, I know I had said that all of the important character's but Pepper are from the past, but I had forgotten how important Arthur's parents are to the story. Just so everyone knows, Robin and Grace Pennicott are not Uther and Ygraine Pendragon. I couldn't imagine making Uther the type of father Robin is. They are just the most common, stereotypical married couple ever. I kind of picture Robin something like (if you've seen Harry Potter) Cornelius Fudge, just younger and with darker hair and Grace, she's just a blond woman. They have likeness-ness to Uther and Ygraine, but they have to because of who they're children are.)