Don't Go (BBC Merlin Fan Fiction)

Chapter three

It took Arthur twenty minutes to reach Merlin's house. He cut off the car's engine and took a moment to look at the house. What stood in front of Arthur and Merlin was a one-story brick house with a small fenced in backyard. It was simple, and Arthur figured that the house was enough for someone like Merlin to live in.

"Where are the keys to your house?" Arthur asked.

"Underneath tha' potted plant besides the door," Merlin offered.

Arthur got out of the car, taking the car keys with him, and opened up Merlin's door on his side of the vehicle. "C'mon."

The keys were exactly where Merlin said they were, and Arthur led Merlin inside, turning the lights on. Arthur pursed his lips, trying to shove away the want to push Merlin against the wall and kiss his pillowy lips. Instead, Arthur led Merlin to the couch and made him sit.

Arthur had never noticed until now how messy Merlin's house was. There were objects strewn everywhere, ranging from piles of books, CDs and Tapes, the occasional notebook, and what looked like a clump of candy wrappers on top of a coffee table.

  "If I knew tha' I'd have company o'er 'ere today, I would've clean up some," Merlin gave Arthur a small smile. 

  Arthur glowered down at Merlin, his constant smiles starting to get on his nerves, "Have you ever heard of a bookshelf?"

  "Er..."

  Arthur then moved his gaze to the walls of the living room that surrounded both of them. There were pictures scattered about, and Merlin was in most of the pictures. Once of the pictures showed a young boy with a mop of black hair-probably Merlin-standing next to a big man who had grizzly like features and a black beard. Perhaps the man was Merlin's father.

  Another photo contained Merlin with another boy in front of some university. The boy couldn't have been Merlin's brother-his hair was brown and face way too different. he was either Merlin's boyfriend, best friend, or cousin of some sort.

  There were many more photos with Merlin standing next to people or sometimes just standing alone, and Merlin smiled in every photo. Arthur brought his attention back to Merlin, who still sat don the couch. Merlin was looking up at Arthur. 

  "Okay, well...I'm going to leave now," Arthur said, heading towards Merlin's front door.

  "Wait!" Merlin exclaimmed, "It's late, and you never brought your car. Waling will take forever. Why don't you stay here for the night? I'll drive you to work in the morning."

  Arthur looked at the watch on his wrist, which read 10 pm. "Okay."

  This made Merlin stand up from the couch, "Fantastic! You can sleep on the couch, if you'd like. It's the only place extra I have, unless you'd rather sleep in my bed while I have the couch."

  "I'll sleep on the couch," Arthur said. He pulled down a blanket that lay on top of the piece of furniture. 

  "That's fine with me," Merlin then wished Arthur a goodnight and headed towards his room down a hallway.

  Soon after Merlin left, Arthur found himself collapsing onto the couch, pulling the blanket over himself and drifting off into the darkness of sleep.

****

  The sound of a door opening woke up Arthur. He quickly looked around, unaware of where he was. Soon the memories of everything that happened last night came and Arthur realized that he was in Merlin's house. He sat up from the couch and yawned, stretching his arms behind him.

  "What's for breakfast? I'm starving," Merlin asked Arthur as he came into the living room rubbing his eyes. His black hair was ruffled up from sleep and the blue of his eyes seemed brighter than yesterday.

  "You'd expect for the host to make it instead of asking the guest to," Arthur answered.

  "Er...I don't know how to cook?" Merlin offered an excuse.

  "I suppose I'll cook breakfast. It's the least I could do for someone like you," Arthur stood up and headed towards the kitchen.

  "You're a prat," Merlin said, following Arthur. 

  "Yeah well I'm the only prat who's going to cook you breakfast so if I were you I'd shut up," Arthur shot back. That made Merlin chuckle a bit.

  Arthur then opened up Merlin's fridge, not exactly expecting to find anything due to Merlin not knowing how to cook. Except he did, kind of. There were some eggs in the fridge and, once looked in cabinets, he found some grits.

  "You said you couldn't cook?" Arthur told Merlin.

  "I can't. Gwaine and Elena spent the night a few days ago and brought these to cook breakfast," Merlin explained. Oh. 

  Arthur then shooed Merlin away, claiming that he couldn't cook with him in the room, and Merlin went away to get dressed back into his work clothes.

  Breakfast was finished in ten minutes and Arthur and Merlin ate in comfortable silence. Except Arthur was the silent one and Merlin just kept commenting on how good the food tasted, which made no sense to Arthur because it was just eggs and grits, what kind of crap could you possibly be eating? 

  Soon they were both done with breakfast. Merlin offered Arthur a mint out of his pocket since he didn't have a toothbrush with him, and then they left Merlin's house in able to get to work.

  "Thanks for inviting me to the pub last night, and for letting me stay the night at your place.  I had fun," Arthur said when Merlin stopped the car in front of the hospital.

  "Anytime," Merlin said.

  "See you soon," Arthur closed to car door and headed inside the hospital in able to start the day by performing a Kidney Transplant.