I need reviewss:)) let me know what you guys think of it thus far!

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, even though I really really wish I did because Colin Morgan.

Chapter 2

And Iiiiiii will always love youuuuuu

Arthur squinted open an eye at the horribly wretched singing. The first thing that came into focus (after a full minute of Arthur trying to get his eyes to cooperate) was a black coffee table, which had at least thirteen beer cans lying in various states on it. There was a small scratch on the side closest to Arthur and Arthur used that as a focal point to make his head stop swimming.

A movement on the couch on the opposite side of the coffee table caught his attention and he moved his eyes to focus on the figure there. A man he had some faint memory of, but for the life of him could not remember what his name was.

"What the…" Arthur shot up, immediately regretting the decision as his vision swam. He gripped his head, a wave of nausea washing over him.

"Easy there, mate." He heard a small laugh to his left and glanced up to see some stupid idiot smiling at him.

A beautiful man with beautiful black hair, obnoxious, dancing on some girl, his lips against her neck, hand up her skirt.

Gwaine.

"Where…" He gestured half-heartedly to the room around him, "How…"

"Welcome to my humble abode, my friend. Well, mine and Merlin's and Will's." He smiled and Arthur just realized he was frying some eggs and the smell made both his mouth water and his stomach clench painfully, "As for the how…we got a little carried away last night. You were too drunk to drive home."

"Morgana…" Surely she could have driven him home instead of leaving him with a fat lot of strangers.

"She's here too. Sleeping in my room." He laughed, seeming awfully pleased with himself and Arthur felt a hot rush of rage run through him.

"Excuse me!?" He stood up abruptly, trying his best not to vomit and look intimidating at the same time.

Gwaine held his hands up, "Woah, mate, not like that. I slept on the floor," he pointed to the blow up mattress next to Arthur's couch, "I don't think Merlin would appreciate me stealing her from him."

Arthur fumed, "Morgana isn't with Merlin and she never will be."

"So you're nicer when you're drunk. Always good to know." Gwaine winked again and went back to frying his eggs.

Arthur looked back down at the man who was on the opposite couch, just now noticing that the man was staring at him, a tired and hungover look in his eyes.

"And you are…?"

"Lance?" The man laughed, though it sounded slightly strained as if he too was trying not to vomit.

Lancelot with Gwen, smiling as they grinded together on the dance floor, their eyes only on each other. Merlin glancing over at them, a wide ridiculous smile and a shot glass in hand, "Hear Hear!"

Lancelot, Merlin's ex.

"Oh. Yeah." He slowly sank back into the couch, leaning his head back against the back of the couch and trying to slow down the room.

"Something tells me you don't get out a whole lot, mate." He heard Gwaine say, but ignored him.

"He doesn't."

Arthur opened an eye at the sound of his sister's voice, watching as she sunk into the bar stool that was pulled up to the island in the kitchen, which also had at least ten beer cans spread on it. She glanced back at him, her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and smiled, "Hello, brother."

"Explain to me. Why. Are. We. Here." He gritted out, throwing all politeness out the window.

Morgana looked slightly irritated for a second, before a tired, annoyed, but slightly amused voice cut her off, "Damn, you are a prat. I have no idea why you are in my flat."

Arthur glanced to the doorway to the hallway, which was placed directly in between the living room and kitchen, where Merlin stood, a hand on the back of his neck, exposing his tattoos, looking amused. He wore grey sweatpants, hung low on his lips, and a blue t-shirt that shifted to expose his muscular abdomen. His hair was messy as if he had just woken up, but his eyes said he had been awake for awhile longer.

"If I remember correctly, princess," and Arthur wasn't sure where he had gotten that damn nickname, "it was your idea to come over here. We said we were gonna continue drinking back at our place and invited you and Morgana, but before we could even finish asking, you were already yelling for a cab to take us back here."

"Doesn't sound like me. Don't believe you." He announced stubbornly.

"You know, it's a good thing he's not horrible looking or he'd never get a date," Merlin muttered, heading towards the kitchen to grab a bottled water out of the fridge. Arthur flushed, unsure to take it as a compliment or an insult, "Anyways, Morgana, we have this tradition where we go out and get Steak 'N' Shake after a late night. Helps with the hangover and all. Do you want to go?"

Morgana blushed and glanced over to Arthur. Arthur looked annoyed.

Merlin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "If he absolutely must, I suppose you can bring him."

"Gee, thanks." Arthur deadpanned.

"Shut up." Merlin smirked at him.

"We'd love to!" Morgana smiled and so did Arthur and Arthur again found himself holding back vomit.

And that is how Arthur found himself piled into the back of a car with Morgana basically on Merlin's lap, Gwen on Lancelot's, Will sitting in the front seat passenger seat and Gwaine driving. Arthur hadn't gotten around to asking what had happened to Leon or the big bloke with the huge arms because he was too busy seething over the fact that he was pressed up against his newfound enemy. When they finally got there, they ended up piling into a too small booth, but Merlin was sitting across from him, so he was at least a good two or three feet away from Arthur and that made him feel a whole lot better.

"Hello, my name is Lisa and I'll be your waitress today. Can I start you out with a few drinks?"

Gwaine looked up to order, but then his eyes caught ahold of the petite brunette and his smile stretched even wider, "Well, fuck me. Merlin, I'll go last," he said with a final wink.

Merlin rolled his eyes, but smiled up at her, "I'll just have water. No lemon."

"I'll have the same." Morgana, who was sitting beside Merlin, ordered.

"Water. With lemon." He glared across at the table at Merlin, as if he was challenging him.

Merlin rolled his eyes, mouthing something to himself, before nudging Will awake, who only lifted his head from his folded arms long enough to order before promptly going back to sleep.

When she finally took Lancelot, Gwen, and Morgana, who had somehow become best and fast friends with Gwen in the last twelve hours, Gwaine gave her his most charming smile, "Surprise me."

The girl looked slightly interested in his looks, but mostly uncomfortable, and was glancing at Arthur every few minutes, "So water then?"

Merlin beamed as Gwaine snarled. The girl smiled, flashing a wink at Arthur as she turned away. That got Merlin into a rolling fit, leaning forward as he snickered, his eyes crinkling in the corners and his teeth white and straight and Arthur noticed it was kind of wonderful looking. He looked away, refusing to acknowledge there was anything good about Merlin.

"Shut up, Merlin," Gwaine frowned and looked down at his menu.

"Looks like you finally met your match," Merlin wheezed out.

"That's only one girl who wants his nuts and not mine," Arthur was blushing at this point, but Gwaine continued to ramble on, "There's still plenty more out there for me."

"Actually," Lancelot said, since his wife was far too busy talking animatedly with Morgana, "it seemed like Arthur had more girls hitting on him last night than you, Gwaine."

"Hey, you want to dance?" She was quite beautiful, with brilliant eyes and a soft smile, and her hand was wrapped around his bicep, yanking him to the dance floor, where Merlin was dancing with some blonde.

Arthur had been zoning out or something because Merlin was chuckling, "You really did black out, didn't you, mate?"

The waitress came back and set down their drinks, saying she'd be back in a second to take their orders.

"Shut up. Where are you even from? You keep using words like mate and flat and even arse. It's weird."

Merlin's eyes clouded over dangerously, "I'm from Wales, you ass."

Arthur frowned and the waitress chose that exact moment to show up to take the order. Gwen and Lancelot split something, which wasn't all that surprising because they seemed like they would be that sort of couple. Gwaine ordered a cheeseburger, Merlin a salad because he was incredibly peculiar like that, and Will ordered the greasiest thing on the menu.

Morgana and Arthur had chosen the sliders, both plain, because they had been raised in the same way and Morgana shifted so she could see Merlin better, "So, Merlin, what do you do?"

Merlin glanced up, "Like for a living?"

His sister threw Arthur a look before he could open his mouth to say a sarcastic comment, so he bit it back and she nodded.

"I bartend on week nights. And I'm taking classes at NYU," he thanked the waitress as she set down their food, popping a fry of Gwaine's into his mouth.

Will only groaned as he was forced to sit up to eat. Morgana raised an eyebrow at Merlin's answer, "You're in school? For what?"

"Medicine. I'm actually in the Master's program right now. I got my Bachelor's in biology two years ago, but I decided to take a break from school due to…" he looked uncomfortable, "unforeseen circumstances. I just got back into school a couple months ago."

"You have a Bachelor's in biology and you're bartending? How does that make sense?" Arthur knew he should have asked in a polite manner, but he had immediately gotten a job after graduation, working even when he was working on his Master's.

"Well after I graduated, I moved here to be with Freya. We were getting married a few months away and we had just rented a flat and yeah, I had already started applying to jobs around here. But we got into that car accident a few weeks after I moved here and I just, I don't know. I slipped back into what was comfortable, which was bartending," he took another bite of his salad, "and I don't know, now I'm back in school, looking to graduate in a year or two. And I'm doing an internship through my friend Gaius, so everything is falling back into place. How bout you two, what's your life story?"

Arthur watched Merlin pull back into himself and frowned. Sure, his mother had died, but he had been young. He had no idea what it was like to lose someone you love so completely as your fiancée. He held up a hand because one thing confused him, "How do you know them then?"

Merlin looked around at all the people Arthur was pointing to and smiled, "I thought I told you this last night? I grew up with Gwen and Will. Mostly Will. I met Lance in college and we dated the first three years of college. He's from here so we came back to visit his parents a lot. I met Freya when I was here one summer with him. Lance and Gwen met at my graduation party. As for Gwaine, he happened to hit on Freya at a bar and we got into a bit of a fight."

Gwaine laughed at this and threw a hand over the back of Merlin's chair, "And now we're the best of roommates."

"Now stop quizzing me about my life and tell me about yours," He pushed a piece of lettuce around his plate. He was looking at Morgana, so Arthur figured he shouldn't even bother answering.

Morgana, of course, had no problem answering, "Well, where do we start?" she laughed nervously to herself, "Arthur and I are half-siblings. Same father, different mothers. And I have another half-sister, who has the same mom, but different dads. It's all very confusing actually."

"Family reunions must be a blast," Will said. He had finally woken up.

"Well, actually. My mom is dead, and so is Arthur's," Merlin looked up from his salad at this, to look at Arthur. His eyes were unreadable, but he seemed confused, and slightly sympathetic. Arthur glared at him, he didn't need his sympathy, "So it's just our dad. We both grew up in California, but our dad's headquarters got moved so we moved here when I was seventeen, Arthur fourteen. Arthur and I both went to Columbia for our MBAs. Our father didn't give us much of an option when it came to choosing a major…"

Her voice droned out as Arthur stopped paying attention. He had heard the narrated version of his life enough to not care to listen to it anymore. He looked down at his final slider, picking at it, glancing up just to see what everyone was doing and was surprised to find Merlin leaning back in his chair, his salad finished and his arm resting on the back of Gwaine's chair, watching Arthur intently.

His eyes were narrowed, but they weren't at all accusing. Instead, they were understanding and sympathetic. But the moment only lasted, well, a moment. Arthur glanced away, uncomfortable with eye contact that wasn't demanding or intimidated, the only languages he spoke.

The rest of lunch, he ended up learning about the rest of them and found they weren't as a horrible of a group as he originally thought.

Gwaine, twenty-four, was a former marine and a drunk, who knew every single bar and club in the city and who worked there. He hadn't graduated college or even kept a job for longer than a year at a time, but his father was a 'rich bastard', or so he called him, that had left him when he was younger and now felt so bad that he dropped a few grand in his bank account every now and then. He wasn't dating anyone, but he did sleep with anything that moved. He was Merlin's best friend and hilariously outgoing and actually kind of charming once you got past the vulgar language.

Will, twenty-five, lived down the street from Merlin growing up and had graduated Doncaster College with a degree in Accounting the same time Merlin had graduated from the University of South Wales. He had moved to NYC after Freya died to help Merlin cover rent and Gwaine had moved in not soon after. He now worked at Union Settlement Association as an audit manager. He was currently dating a girl named Sefa, who lived in New Jersey so she was barely seen.

Lancelot, twenty-five, had grown up in NYC, but his parents were poor and had sent Lance off to school with all their remaining money so that he could make a better life for himself. He met Merlin in his freshman year because they had lived across the hall from each other and they had taken an instant liking to one another. They dated up until their senior year, where Merlin had admitted to having feelings for Freya, who he had met at a party the summer he came to stay with Lance. Merlin had a graduation party a few weeks before graduation and Merlin had invited Gwen and Lance. They had met and it had been love at first sight and all that stupid stuff Arthur didn't believe in. He now worked as a human resource manager at Praxair, Inc.

Gwen, twenty-seven, had worked with Merlin in their teenage years and remained close friends with him all throughout college. She had stayed home to take care of her dad and done classes online through Cambridge University because apparently she was smart as all get out. She had had a brief fling with Merlin, which ended as quickly as it started, and for no reason at all seemingly. She moved to NYC with Lance once they had gotten engaged, which happened to be two months after they started dating and they had been married six months later. She was a veterinary assistant at a local pet hospital, which made no sense to Arthur because she could get any job she wants with a degree from Cambridge.

And Freya, from what Arthur could gather from the little snippets of information, was something straight out of heaven. She was funny, loving, and a friend to every one of them in the group, even Lance and Gwen approved of her. But that's all Arthur knew because no one would say anything else, not with Merlin sitting three feet away and staring at his empty plate.

They were laughing and giggling and having the time of their lives, hangovers forgotten, by the end of the meal. Morgana clapped her hands together gleefully and smiled, "We should hang out again. All of us."

Gwen beamed back at her, "Absolutely. Here, give me your number."

And that's how everyone ended up passing their phones down the line. Arthur reluctantly gave his phone up, an expensive Tag Heuer Link touchscreen, which Merlin had rolled his eyes at once he saw it, and the rest of them had spent two minutes looking at before programming their numbers in.

When Merlin handed him his phone, a stupid outdated flip phone, Arthur turned it around in his hands. The screensaver was of Merlin and some girl, the sun shining behind them and practically silhouetting their bodies. Merlin had a smile on his face, even as he bent down to kiss the long-haired girl's neck, her head thrown back in laughter, his arms wound around her waist and hers around his neck. They looked happy. He programmed his number under "Your Highness" because fuck Merlin.

When he passed Merlin's phone to Gwen to give to Morgana, she looked down at it and frowned, looking up at Merlin, "Merlin, you need to change your background."

He shook his head, "I don't have any other pictures. It's fine. Hand it to Morgana."

She frowned, but did as he said and Lance rubbed her back.

When Arthur's phone reached Merlin, he looked at Arthur as if questioning him if he really wanted his number and Arthur shrugged, because whatever. Merlin rolled his eyes, but nevertheless programmed his number into his phone.

"That phone is ridiculous," Merlin said as he handed Arthur's phone back.

"Yours is outdated."

"Not all of us can buy $5000 phones, Arthur." He bit back as he stood up, moving with the rest of the group to pay the bill.

"I'm sure getting a smart phone would only cost you $300 at most. That thing," he pointed to the guilty object Merlin was clutching, "is ridiculous."

Arthur pushed past the group, covering the entirety of the bill, which earned him at least a million hugs from the whole group which made Arthur uncomfortable but he accepted it nevertheless.

When the hugging had finished, Gwen even kissing his cheek, and then taking several minutes to say goodbye to his sister and promising to call, Morgana and him called for a taxi

It wasn't even five minutes after Morgana was dropped off at her flat that Arthur's phone buzzed with two texts. The first was from Gwaine, thanks for dinner man! Let's get a beer soon!

And surprisingly, the other one was from Merlin, leave it 2 u program urself as something as stupid as ur highness

He texted a quick Sure back to Gwaine, then started to type a message back to Merlin to tell him to get over it when another text popped up from him, Dnt worry, I reprogrammed u as dollophead. All is right in the world.

Review :))