Chapter Text
He was a specky little guy with knobbly knees and feet much too big for his legs. His ears stuck out at a ridiculous angle and he was constantly tripping over everything. But he was Arthur's best friend. (Arthur's only real friend, if it got down to that; not that Arthur would ever admit it.)
He was constantly falling over on the playground. Getting too excited and running too quickly for his enormous feet to keep up with, Merlin found himself sprawled amongst the woodchips every couple of minutes. Luckily for him, he always had Arthur right behind him, to help him up and brush off all the woodchips from his back.
"You are lucky I'm here Merlin," he had said. "Or else you'd get a splinter in your bum as soon as you sat down."
"I can—wipe—my own—bum—thanks," Merlin answered, swiping away Arthur's hands and swatting the woodchips off himself, before storming away from Arthur.
"Aw, Merlin! Come back!" Arthur called after him, but Merlin just sat on the tire swing by himself, not looking back at his friend calling after him.
Arthur spent the rest of recess with some of the other in his class. They played tag and went on the slides and swung on the swings. It was really a miserable time. None of them cheated in tag like Merlin did, they all went down the slide one at a time instead of trying to squish two people together like he always did with Merlin, and they didn't see the fun in competing to see who could swing higher or jump farther off the swing.
Arthur was not going to go through another Merlin-less recess.
He sat down next to Merlin on the bus ride home, as he always did.
"I don't mind wiping the woodchips off your butt, you know," he told Merlin.
"Shut up, Arthur."
"Well recess was terrible after you stormed off, so I just wanted to tell you!"
"You were with your other friends the whole time!"
Arthur grinned. "Yeah, well, I like you best, Merlin."
Merlin looked like he was trying not to smile, but he couldn't really help himself. "I like you best too, Arthur."
Arthur just chuckled at this. "What do you mean best Merlin? I'm your only friend. Who else would put up with you?"
Merlin had begun shoving Arthur, trying to push him off the seat. But as Merlin was much smaller than Arthur, this mostly ended up in Arthur retaliating and squishing him against the window and tickling him.
"Fine! Arthur you win. I like you only."
Twelve Years later:
"Wake up! Merlin, for Christ's sake it's almost noon on a Sunday! How are you still asleep?"
Merlin groaned into his pillow and then curled further into his covers, trying to ignore the giant mass that had just stood on top of his mattress. Arthur stood with his legs straddling either side of Merlin's sleeping body, jumping from one foot to the other.
"It's a Sunday Arthur. A day of rest. So here I am! Resting! And there you are! Disturbing my rest!"
Arthur plopped down onto the edge of the bed. "Come on, Merls! The day is young! The birds are singing! The waffles are fresh! The Uther Pendragon Guilt Allowance is renewed!" He tugged a bit on one of Merlin's ears.
Merlin opened one eye. "Fresh waffles?"
Arthur took this as Merlin's submission and pulled the covers all the way back. "Come on, Merlin. The waffles will only be fresh for so long!" And then he bounced off the bed, leaving the covers on the other side of Merlin's room so that Merlin would have to get up in order to retrieve them, and bounded down the stairs to eat waffles with Hunith.
This was fairly typical of Arthur. Their whole lives he walked around Merlin's house as if he belonged there. He practically lived there; he was at Merlin's house almost more than his own. It offered a safe haven for when his family starts acting a little too…Pendragon.
And Hunith loved Arthur. Even when they were just kids, Arthur managed to charm everybody around him. (Except Merlin. Merlin was the first person to not treat him like a little prince, and weirdly enough that made him Arthur's favorite person). Hunith had even given him a key.
"What happens if you lose yours Merlin? This way, I know you have a backup plan!" Hunith had said.
Merlin knew this was just a convenient excuse. Merlin never lost anything important. Hunith thought of Arthur as another son, and Arthur, whose mother had died when he was a baby, treated Hunith as a sort of surrogate mother. She loved having him act as though he were a real part of their family.
After Merlin was dressed, he walked (as slow as possible without falling back asleep while standing up) downstairs breathing in the scent of waffles. At least Arthur wasn't lying about the waffles (he'd done that before, too).
"Morning Mum," Merlin said snatching the plate of chocolate chip waffles out of Arthur's hands, giving his mum a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Excuse me, Merlin. I believe that plate was mine," Arthur said holding his hand out expectantly. Merlin licked the waffles in response. "Ugh, we could at least have shared them. Now we have to wait for another whole batch to cook!"
"I don't share waffles," Merlin said with an entire waffle folded up inside his mouth. "And only you have to wait. I have nothing urgent to do."
"Well, Merlin, if you must know, I was going to take you to Paper Leaves today and let you help me blow my father's guilt money."
Merlin spit out the waffle (his third) that he had in his mouth. "Really? But it's the most expensive book shop in town."
This was another thing about Arthur. He was always spending his money on Merlin. Granted he had much more money to spend than Merlin did, and Arthur's father was always giving him money in place of actually being present in his life. But Merlin could never return the favor, and he always felt guilty for the sheer amount spent on him.
"Yeah, but it's got the first editions of all of your favorites. Now feel a bit guilty for taking all the waffles?"
"A little." Merlin ducked his head sheepishly. "Though," he said grinning wickedly, "you did wake me up early—"
"It's noon, Merlin,"
"—On a Sunday, and there was no guarantee you left any waffle batter for me. You've cheated me out of waffles before. I just wasn't willing to take the risk. I'll give you my last one though."
"Gross, I'd rather not have your tongue waffles, thanks."
"I didn't lick this one. Just smooshed my face up against it a bit."
Arthur shoved Merlin's face into his waffles once more. "Shut up and eat your waffles."
What Merlin didn't know, was that Arthur loved watching him shop for books. He stroked each cover as if something precious that he'd never be given the opportunity to see again. Sometimes he would stand holding one book and looking off blankly in front of him, as if imagining exactly what his life would be like inside the pages. He ran his fingers along the printed pages, smiling at each new page. Arthur was so enthralled with watching him that he didn't even notice three hours had gone by until Merlin had looked at his watch and starting blushing, quickly trying to decide which book he wanted.
"Take your time, Merlin. Really, we've no place to be," Arthur insisted. "And you can get more than one, just leave enough Uther money to treat us to lunch as well."
After Paper Leaves, Merlin and Arthur sat down on a park bench with the burgers they had just ordered, Merlin's stack of books between them.
"Thanks for the books and the food, mate." Merlin said, his mouth full (as usual).
"Of course. It's tradition to blow father's guilt money with you."
"You don't have to, you know."
"Don't have to what?"
"Blow Uther's money on books for me."
"I don't mind, Merlin. I like you best."
"Obviously," Merlin said grinning. Arthur pushed him off the bench.
"Fine, you great bully. I like you only."
Arthur beamed.