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Merlin half-steps out of the bathroom with a toothbrush hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"I thifnk thfis time ift washn't thaft bad" He objects.
Arthur stops to think for a moment.
"Well, if you measure 'that bad' as to how drunk Gwaine gets and how much minor property damage he commits then yeah, I guess this time we got pretty lucky" He says as he resumes untying his shoes and then dropping them by the side of the bed.
Merlin laughs before gargling some water to then spit on the sink.
"Yeah, I think we can thank Freya for that."
"What do you mean?" Arthur has now moved on to unbutton the cuffs of his light blue shirt.
"Oh come on." Merlin finishes wiping his mouth with the hand towel, turns off the light and fully steps out of the small bathroom. "Those two have been circling around each other for months now."
Arthur looks at him as if he's just told him there was a monster in their closet.
“Please don’t tell me you’re actually that much of a clotpole to not have noticed it.”
Arthur snorts, he secretly loves being called weird joke insults by his better half, although he will probably never say it out loud.
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing.”
“Yeah?” Merlin asks, preparing for whatever nonsense is most likely going to spill out from Arthur’s mouth.
“If you paid as much attention to the actual games as to our friends’ personal bonds with each other, you would probably at least break your awful Mario Party record.”
“Hey! It's not that bad!”
Arthur finally gets rid of his shirt.
“Merlin, you are always last place in almost every round.” He half-assedly folds it on the bed. “If I didn’t know you better I would’ve guessed you were doing it on purpose.”
Merlin grabs a pillow from the small sofa chair on the corner of the room and throws it at him. It hits him on the back of the head.
“Asshole.” His own amusement pouring out with the word.
Arthur stands still for a second, very slowly, he turns his head to look back at his boyfriend, the latter trying not to laugh at the way his hair got all messed up.
He quickly rests the folded shirt on top of the wardrobe's drawer portion and gets back to Merlin, who took advantage of that time to get into bed before Arthur could start torturing him in revenge.
He grabs the same pillow he threw at him to start hitting Merlin repeatedly with it.
“Hey! No! Stop!” He laughs, trying to protect himself by taking shelter in the covers.
Arthur stops, still with a wide grin on his face as he throws the pillow back to its original place. He crawls to his side of the bed from where he's standing at Merlin's, not without making sure he tickles him on the way across.
Merlin laughs even harder, he loves having the privilege of seeing his more playful and childish side as opposed to the calm and tough exterior he puts on most of the time.
When he first met him, he thought he was kind of an arrogant prat that would walk around the office with a stick up his ass, bossing people around left and right with this sense of highness to him that felt just a little bit like bullshit to Merlin.
But after spending five years together, he could not have been more thankful for the time their first confrontation (over an accidental coffee spill) led them to notice each other's qualities, which made them (secretly) eager to know more about the other. Merlin got the chance to see beyond the facade Arthur put up for himself when he was being Mr. Pendragon, heir of one of the biggest companies of the free market in the UK and all over the world.
And Arthur does it for him, takes pride in knowing Merlin enjoys their antics as much as he does. The man fell for him in just as much of a silly playful way at first and then as if he didn't have any other option but to stick around with him. See what other things they could discover about each other and about themselves.
Arthur finally settles inside the covers and looks at Merlin in awe. He takes notice of this and stares back.
Merlin scoots over to Arthur's side, letting himself get snuggled by him. He wraps his arms around his lower torso, making contact with the leather belt.
He chuckles softly against Arthur's chest.
"Are you not going to take off your trousers?"
Arthur groans like he had completely forgotten about that.
"Whatever, they're not that bad anyways." He holds Merlin tighter against him.
Merlin lets himself sigh in content. When they first started dating he would conceal these little nods at how much he enjoyed Arthur's company, now he just went along with it, not feeling like he has to be cautious about his intentions anymore.
Arthur smiles. He reminds him of Merlin's uncle's old cat, Aithusa; the way he curls up on him and lets out little satisfaction noises.
"Should we be worried about breakfast tomorrow? Because I'm pretty sure we don't have much to offer...apart from maybe like half a box of Cheerios, I think " Merlin breaks the silence.
Arthur sighs but at the same time can't hold back the knowing smile he gives him anyways.
"I know this is a dumb question but, would you ever just relax?"
Merlin grins back at him, although a little self-conscious about his previous rant.
"I'm just saying! We have almost ten people on the other side of this door counting on us to call the shots here."
"Well, we can always just kick them out before they even think about breakfast." Arthur says, joking, obviously...kinda.
Merlin glares at him, not even that angry, though.
"We-"
"Will you shut up if I say that I'll pick up some pastries from that new bakery you won't stop gushing about?"
Merlin's eyes suddenly get this sparkly effect on them. Arthur smirks smugly, just as he expected.
He looks back at him and something happens; a strange but warm kind of air settles on the short space between their faces, and it's…a unique feeling, they have both experienced it before (with each other only) but it still passes off as a brand new sensation every time.
A silence settles, but it's not weird or awkward, it's kind of soothing actually.
Arthur lets out a small breath. He brushes a strand of black curly hair behind Merlin's ear; and his beauty...is so inspiring that it makes his stomach turn on itself and his heart beat as if it's about to enter a new dimension of sorts.
Merlin stares right back, and somehow he knows. He feels the same.
"Remember when we first met and I told you there was just something about you?" Arthur asks, reminiscent.
"Yeah" Merlin whispers back.
Arthur starts drawing circles in his back, Merlin instantly relaxes to the touch. The softness of the pillows and the mattress, and the sweet smell of cinnamon and caramel coming from the candle lit on their bedside table. He starts feeling drowsy but battles against it to stay awake for him.
"I think I know now."
Merlin feels himself smiling through the tiredness.
"I love you."
It's barely audible, but Arthur gets the message anyways. He simply kisses his temple in response, knowing he's already drifting off to sleep in his arms.