Boyfriend…boyfriend? The word stuck in Arthur's head, as they walked through the mall. Is that how it happens? People make out and then they're dating? He hadn't even taken Merlin on a date, he wanted to take Merlin on a date. Arthur liked being a gentlemen, it was a gentlemen thing to do to take the person you like on a date.

He smiled then, looking ahead as Merlin and Morgan walked together, talking. They turned into the store then, some teeny-boppy store that smelled like nailpolish, Arthur felt very out of place. Morgan was dragged away by one of the workers and that left Arthur alone with Merlin…finally.

It was Merlin who walked over to Arthur and stood next to him, as they waited. But when Arthur had, very craftily, in his opinion, wedged his hand into Merlin's. The man looked over like he had just ran over his puppy and dropped his hand.

"Not here," Merlin told him, as Morgan came out, sporting the shortest black dress Arthur had ever seen. Arthur didn't know which he was more annoyed about, Merlin rejecting him or Morgan's dress.

"Are you kidding me!" he barked, he chose the dress…at the moment.

"What?" Morgan asked, the smile grew bigger, as she did a twirl. "Don't like it?"

"You look like you could be picked up at four in the morning, outside of a liquor store!" he barked, walking closer to her, but that only made it worse, the V neck on the dress…good god.

"This is in style now, Arthur…" she trailed off, smirking.

"In style for a prostitute!" Arthur all but yelled. "No sister of mine is wearing that crap!"

"Then I'm no sister of yours," Morgan shrugged. "Because I'm wearing this dress."

"Does mum know you're wearing this?" Arthur barked, looking over to Merlin for help. But that only reminded him he was currently annoyed with him too.

"Of course she does," Morgan said, as if Arthur was stupid. "She helped me pick it out."

"Well, then me and mum are having words!"

"I doubt you'll say anything to mum, you priss."

She had been right there. Arthur wouldn't say anything to his mum, at least not in the mean way, but he just couldn't condone Morgan wearing such a dress anywhere near any boy, even Merlin. The worker then escorted Morgan to the register, she leaned over the counter and oh lord, you could see her underwear. Arthur had to leave the store then…

He knew just the person to go to about this, their father; he would put a stop to it. Until then, however, he had plenty of time to brood over Merlin rejecting him. He hoped it was just because people were around, although, they didn't know any of the ladies in the store and Morgan alright thought they were dating, what was the big deal? Arthur hoped it wasn't because Merlin was having second thoughts, maybe he had thought kissing him would bring back the king's memories. Arthur gulped then.

Merlin had been rather quiet since they left the bedroom, he hadn't said more than a few words to Arthur since then, now that Arthur thought about it. Arthur felt sick all of a sudden, what an idiot he was…why was he always so stupid when it came to Merlin?

First, he was too stupid to see his feelings for him, then he was stupid by trying to hide them, and now…he was stupid for acting on them, would he ever win?

Merlin and Morgan, (dressed normally once again,) came out of the store then and they walked back the way they came. Arthur kept to the back still, letting them talk, he didn't want to talk to either of them anyway. Once they got home, it was much the same; Arthur went and shut himself in the den with his father, making small talk, while they waited for dinner to be done. When it was done, Merlin was already at the table, talking happily with Arthur's mother. Arthur took his seat next to him, and Merlin looked over with a smile, that Arthur chose to ignore. This was not how he wanted this day to go, he'd much rather be swollen lipped and guilty rather than annoyed and...perfectly normal lipped.

He decided to turn his attention to another matter at hand though.

"Dad," he started, getting his father's attention, who was just sitting down at the table. "Have you seen the kind of dress Morgan plans on wearing tomorrow night?"

"No?"

"She looks like a prostitute!" Arthur complained, getting a loud growl out of Morgan.

"I do not, I looked like any other sixteen year old girl!" she protested, looking over to Merlin. "How did you feel about the dress, Merlin?"

"I thought you looked nice," Merlin shrugged, looking down at his meatloaf, clearly trying to stay out of it. Arthur didn't care what Merlin had to say though.

"He has no opinion, he's gay!" Arthur barked then, Merlin looked up offended at him. "Not like that…I just meant, he wouldn't…god dammit!"

"I think I would know if someone looked bad in a dress, even if I were gay or not, thank you," Merlin said in a cold tone, looking from Arthur to Morgan. "You looked lovely, don't let him stop you from doing what you want, it's your party."

"Thank you, Merlin," Morgan grinned. "And I so knew you were gay, by the way!"

Merlin glared over at Arthur, before returning to his meal. Arthur sighed, he wanted to go hole up somewhere and never come out, maybe he would go live in the jungle and become Tarzan.

"Oh, let's not all look so grumpy!" Arthur's mother said then, sounding fakely cheerful. "What do you say we all watch a movie after dinner?"

"No thank you!" Arthur said, bark-ishly, pushing away his food. "I'll just be going now."

He felt Merlin's eyes on him as he got up and stomped away, but he didn't care. He went up to his room and fell onto his bed, feeling like an idiot. He had better forget about being with Merlin at all, he wondered if he could lie and just say he was drunk last night, he doubted that would work though. The bedroom door opened then and he heard, (because he refused to look up,) Merlin walk in.

"Arthur…" he mumbled. "Why are you acting like this?"

"It's nothing," he barked in return.

"Did I do something to upset you?" he asked then. "Are you regretting the kissing...?"

"No, the kissing was good," Arthur said, picking himself up and leaning on his elbows. "The kissing was very good."

"Then, what happened?"

"Nothing."

Merlin seemed to have gotten annoyed then, because he walked forward and came to sit right on the edge of the bed, glaring at Arthur.

"Stop saying nothing!"

"Nothing did happen..." Arthur shrugged.

"I don't understand you," Merlin shook his head, turning away from Arthur. "Gods…I used to be so good at understanding him, but not you…"

"Because I'm not him," Arthur said, annoyed. Merlin just looked back again and sighed. It was a staring contest now; they just looked at each other, eyes locked. Arthur had never been more confused in his life, not even when Merlin finally broke the eye contact and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to Arthur's lips.

"I'm sorry," he said, but Arthur didn't understand that either. "You're mum wants us to watch a movie with them."

"Go on, I'll stay here."

"Arthur please, I don't want this to be over without even knowing what went wrong," Merlin said, standing up. "Just come watch the movie with me, I tried to talk your mum into watching The Avengers."

"You only did it for Loki…you're a selfish man, Merlin!" Arthur smirked. He couldn't stay mad at Merlin, for some reason, it had always been that way. Merlin smiled then, like an idiot, but it was a cute. Arthur stood up, his belly doing flops. He walked over to Merlin and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him in and pressing their lips together again, just because he could. "I'm sorry I was being a jerk."

"Don't be," Merlin grinned even bigger now, as they pulled apart. "I'm used to it."

Arthur was smiling like a fool again, as they walked down the stairs together, Arthur's father and Morgan were already sitting in the living room and his mother was nowhere to be seen. Probably getting the movie, Arthur thought.

The two took seats on the floor, just as they had done last time the family watched a movie. Arthur's mother came in moments later with a DVD of the Avengers and looked rather annoyed as she put it into the DVD player. By some miracle, at least in the mother eyes, the DVD didn't work. Arthur thought his mum might have something to do with that, actually…

"It doesn't work," she said, turning back to them with a shrug. "I guess we'll have to watch something else."

"I have that movie up in my room," Morgan said, looking a bit desperate, as she jumped up. "I'll go get it."

If Morgan's offering to do something, that must be serious, but then Arthur agreed, he didn't fancy watching whatever his mother had (probably already) picked as an alternative either. Arthur watched as his sister run to the stairs, hiking up them.

"I was thinking, Merlin..."his father said then, Arthur turned back to look at his dad. "Before you lads go home we've got to go hiking again, so you can show me how to light fires the way you do."

"Oh, he never shuts up about that anymore," Arthur's mother waved him off, shaking her head.

"It's impressive!" the father retorted, to which Arthur's mum rolled her eyes.

"It's nothing to it," Merlin laughed. "You just hold the stick low and blow once in awhile…"

"But how do you hold the stick and not get burnt?" Arthur's father asked, standing up, walking over to Merlin. Arthur found this very weird. "You must show me again, I've got a bit of wood to burn."

The man pointed over to the fire place in the room and Arthur swore under his breath.

"Now?" Merlin asked, confused, as the father all but dragged him from the floor.

"Go on and start the fire, it will be romantic for the movie," Arthur's mother said. Arthur and Merlin, who was busy building the fire with Arthur's dad, both laughed.

"You've never seen this movie, have you mum?" Arthur asked, chuckling still. "There's nothing romantic about it."

"There has to be some sort of romance…"

"Nope," Arthur shook his head, Merlin looked back at them, girnning at Arthur.

"Unless you count what's going on between Black Widow and Hawkeye," he said, before Arthur's dad made a moaning noise, clearly being brunt by the less than impressive flame he had made.

"And most people don't count that..." Arthur added.

"Hot Guy? Arthur's mum asked then, making a face. "I would very much like to see him."

Merlin and Arthur laughed openly.

"Hawk-eye, mother, not Hot Guy..."

"He's not hot at all…" Merlin said, standing up, the flames were burning bright now, thanks to Merlin. "He looks like a mouse, actually."

"Don't listen to him, he's in love with Loki," Arthur retorted, smirking at Merlin." The bad guy!"

"He's in love with Thor!" Merlin said, pointing at Arthur. "…the bad guys brother."

"He's adopted!"

Their conversation seemed to be going right over Arthur's mother's head and his father was too engrossed with the fire to care much about what they were saying. It turned then to Merlin smirking, knowingly at Arthur, while Arthur bit his lip. He wanted to be alone with Merlin all of a sudden.

But just then, his sister returned, hopping down the stairs as she did, coming into the living room and putting the movie in. It started without a problem and Merlin came and sat down next to Arthur again.

"You're boyfriend is on the screen," Arthur muttered into Merlin's ear, a few minutes later, when Loki came on the telly.

"He's not my boyfriend," Merlin said, but didn't take his eyes off the screen. "It's not my fault Tom Hiddleston is a very charming and good actor!"

"Oh please," Arthur chuckled. They continued watching the movie, both men too engrossed in it to mock each other. By the time it was over Merlin was pining...even though he pretended that he wasn't, and Arthur's mother looked less than impressed.

"You were right, Merlin, he did look like a mouse," she said, as she stood up and yawned. "If you will excuse me...I'm off to bed, got to get up early for someone's birthday."

"That would be mine," Morgan said, smirking, as she got off her chair and followed her mother. Arthur's dad excused himself soon after that too, asking them to put out the fire before they went to bed. That left Merlin and Arthur alone, Arthur had been waiting all night for that.

"Hello," Merlin turned to him then, smiling. He leaned over and kissed Arthur, but Arthur was thinking about something else at the moment.

"Merlin…"

"Yes?"

"If Loki was to say…attack you, what would you do to defend yourself?" he asked, it was a stupid question, but he had been thinking about a battle between Merlin and Loki for the last thirty minutes. Merlin laughed.

"I'd use magic…"

"Probably the best idea…" Arthur nodded, but then he had another thought. "How come I've never seen you use magic before?"

"You have," Merlin replied, brow forwarding.

"No, I haven't," Arthur retorted. "How come?"

"I don't know..." Merlin trailed off, shrugging. "I don't use it much."

"Show me something," Arthur demanded, Merlin looked at him a bit surprised then, before looking around the room. "I don't care what it is."

"Um, okay…" Merlin muttered, hand reaching out and turned to the fire. "Look at the fire…upastige draca."

Arthur couldn't help but glance at Merlin, for the very not human words he just spoke, before looking at the fire; at first, it was just fire, flames that burned steady and looked rather hot. But then, it changed, the flames took shape, into a dragon, with wings that rose up and down as it animated the flames.

Arthur's heat rate quickened, as he watched it, the bright reds and oranges and yellows not bothering his eyes one bit. He was engrossed in it, suddenly everything around was gone, the living room was replaced with trees, the fireplace was gone too, instead, the flames burned open and higher.

He felt the fear in him like a sickness, the unsureness on him like sweat, the anger, frustration, and confusion, swirling in him like mad and he couldn't stop it. How dare Merlin, he thought, how could he lie to him for so long? How could he of all people…

Leave me, the words rung in Arthur's mind as he lie there, he had told Merlin to leave him, he shouldn't have….he needed him, he knew this much. He knew-

"Arthur?" Merlin was calling him. "Arthur…?"

He blinked, not once…but twice and he was sitting in the living room, breathing heavily, heart pounding so hard he was sure he would pass out. Merlin was smiling at him, even though he looked at tad concerned. Arthur had no idea what had just happened, but then again...he knew exactly what just happened. It had finally happened and Arthur was terrified.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked, he didn't know and Arthur didn't know if he should tell him, he had no idea what he had just seen, but he knew it was the king, it was one of his memories. Arthur shook his head and sighed, turning to grin at Merlin even in his freaked out state.

"That was um…" he smirked. "Cool."

"Cool, hm?" Merlin said, grinning. "I bet you thought I've been lying this whole time."

"A little bit," Arthur teased. Merlin chuckled and leaned forward, pulling their mouths together, Arthur didn't know why he wasn't telling Merlin what he had seen, it really was something he should tell him. But Merlin did seem to like this Arthur after all and the king's memories were a bit terrifying…

The kissing was nice too, so clearly Arthur's mouth was too busy to tell Merlin, clearly. Maybe being this Arthur was enough, with the way Merlin was kissing him it sure seemed like it was. Deciding to be more invested in what was happening in front of him, he pushed Merlin down onto his back and climbed on top of him, sealing their bodies together. He pulled away to breath then.

"Did you know your eyes turn gold when you do magic…?" he asked, leaving small love bites on the man's neck.

"Yeah…" Merlin muttered, raking his figures through Arthur's hair, he quite liked that.

"It's hot," Arthur admitted, finally getting up the nerve to trail his fingers down to the hem of Merlin's shirt, lifting it up between them. "I only saw if for a second…but it was enough."

"You liked my eyes turning gold?" Merlin asked, giving Arthur a look that said he was creepy, just as Arthur pulled the shirt completely from his body. The look was gone then, Merlin's face now fixed with another look. "We can't do this here…"

"Why not?" Arthur asked, innocently, but with how he kissed at Merlin's collarbone he was not that innocent at all.

"It's the living room! Anyone could come down here and…hey!" he yelled, trying to complain, all while stopping the moan that escape his lips. Only because Arthur's tongue was doing things to the man's belly button all while trying to unhook the belt on his jeans that was currently being a bastard. "We can just go up to your room!"

"Nah, I want to do it here," Arthur said, finally unhooking the belt and pulling it, and with no grace at all, threw it over his shoulder. He looked back at Merlin then and watched as he bit his lip. It then dawned on him that.…he had no idea what the hell he was doing.

But it was that same moment that Merlin's fingers trailed down his back and began pulling up Arthur's shirt. They were really doing this. Arthur was only panicking a little bit…a lot. A LOT!

"If you want to do it here then fine…just don't except me to be quiet," Merlin told him, once the shirt between them was finally out of the way. The thought only made Arthur panic more, he suddenly felt like a fourteen year old again.

"Merlin…" he started, cheeks turning pink and heart racing again. "I have no idea what I'm doing, I've never been…"

"I know," Merlin smiled at him, tracing patterns into his chest with a lazy finger. "Don't worry."

He leaned up and kissed him again and Arthur stopped worrying.

(A/N: That was so awkward, the hand of sex is only implied. I am just too awkward of a person to write that, I even tried, I really did. Don't hate me for dogging you guys out. Anyway, this was a busy chapter, first there was a mini fight...or more like Arthur acting like a brat, and then the fire thing...did you guys see where I was going with that when Arthur's father wanted Merlin to start a fire? FLAME'S IN THE FIRE! I told you! Arthur is finally remembering.. :O

Also, I think I should talk about why Merlin chose to kiss Arthur when he did, some people might not get like why the hell he did that. Because, of course he likes Arthur too, but he doesn't want to freak Arthur out and he doesn't know where Arthur's head is at, he would have went for the hand of sex (after the first movie,) if he had truly known what Arthur was getting at, but after he talked to Arthur's mum and how Arthur seemingly only wanted to remember for Merlin, he decided to go for it. It's kinda hard to read Merlin from Arthur's POV, but Merlin trying to dog Arthur out is over now, because he knows Arthur wants this. Also, I am SOOOO sorry it took so long to update, I suck!)