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Arthur was stressed - more stressed than ever before. (which really said a lot)
He had started dating Merlin Emrys - a twenty-three-year-old chemistry major in his university exactly a year ago.
Arthur, being the overthinker that he was, had been occupied with preparations all day, random little things that probably didn’t make any difference - but things nonetheless.
His original plan had been to go to an Italian restaurant in the nicer part of town - said restaurant was closed due to a water pipe bursting in the kitchen.
Then he thought it might be nice to have a picnic - it was forecasted for heavy rain all day.
He went to his half-sister Morgana for advice, which had gone about as well as it could have done.
“Awww, look at you being all romantic.” Her voice had filled the room, even though the phone wasn’t on speaker.
“Can you at least try to keep on topic, I have to get everything ready before his lecture ends.” Arthur was far too anxious to even attempt small talk.
“And when does it end?” Morgana at least sounded serious now.
“Five thirty.”
“Gods, alright.” Morgana took a moment, trying to think up a plan.
“Home cooking?” Morgana ended the sentence with a happy tone; Arthur could hear her smirk.
“That actually isn’t too bad an idea.”
“I know. I expect a present when you next come over.”
Before Arthur could reply, she hung up.
It was Saturday, so the fridge was full after the weekly shopping trip on Friday.
Now the question was, what to cook?
~~~ 5:45~~~
When Merlin walked into his and Arthur’s shared flat, there was a distinctive smell of steak wafting through the hall, a light sizzling noise barely audible through the music playing in the kitchen/dining room.
Arthur was hidden from sight, probably in the kitchen.
When he rounded the corner, he was met with the sight of Arthur, wearing a too-small shirt that left nothing to the imagination, plating up what looked like a steak and salad.
The shirt had been a recommendation from Morgana, texted with a few other… less innocent suggestions.
Arthur didn’t hear Merlin walk in - turning round to see the lightly blushing dark-haired man standing, watching him, coat still loosely on his shoulders.
“Enjoying yourself?” Arthur asked teasingly, adding the last touches onto the meal in front of him.
He didn’t really know where that came from, his nerves just seemed to evaporate as if it was never there at all.
“And if I am?” Merlin shot back, tone just as teasing as Arthur’s.
“You should take your coat off, wouldn’t want you getting a fever now, would we?” Arthur turned to wink at Merlin, who looked ever so slightly embarrassed, a tad turned on and more than anything else, happy.
“I s’pose not.” Merlin walked into the dining area, setting his coat onto the back of one of the chairs.
Arthur followed after him, setting the plates into their places, cutlery already laid out on the table.
“I was gonna do that,” Merlin pointed out with a huff.
Arthur shook his head fondly, gesturing for Merlin to sit, then doing the same himself.
“You have that look on your face again,” Arthur pointed out
Merlin had this look, a nervous, semi-guilty expression that Arthur hated more than blue cheese.
“I didn’t plan anything fun, so, um...” Merlin was fiddling with his fingers.
Arthur started cutting his steak - he had learned that Merlin liked it when people didn’t stop to look at him, if they kept doing things casually it helped in a few ways.
“So? You didn’t need to. It would have been a pain if you planned something at the same time,” Arthur reasoned, gesturing for Merlin to take a drink of the water set out.
Not the most romantic beverage, but Merlin didn’t drink.
Merlin sipped the water, his other hand pulling a wrapped parcel out of the satchel bag he had come in with.
“Honestly Merlin, you’re gonna get things everywhere,” Arthur teased, watching as Merlin narrowly avoided spilling his drink.
“Fine, Arthur Pratdragon.” Usually that would have annoyed Arthur, but for whatever reason, it didn’t.
The rest of the meal went by in happy moments that felt like hours of positivity but were only half an hour.
Before Arthur could even attempt to start clearing up, Merlin planted the present he had tried to bring out earlier onto an empty space he had made on the table.
Arthur opened his mouth to speak - Merlin shushed him.
“Just open the gods damned present. It isn’t a snake, or it would have hissed by now.” Merlin was laughing at his own joke much to Arthur’s amusement.
“Fiinee,” Arthur dragged out, (eager) hands pulling apart the wrapping to reveal a black box, it was about the size of an A4 piece of paper.
Opening the box, Arthur was met with the sight of a letter-type piece of paper, signatures written underneath it.
Looking up at Merlin, Arthur saw Merlin, encouraging him to read it.
“Read it then, prat!”
“Arthur, I know this isn’t the flashiest present ever, nor is it useful in any practical sense - but I hope this shows that I do pay attention to your emotions - to all those midnight rants.”
Taking a second look at the signatures, Arthur recognised them as the names of the members of his favourite band.
That was one of his first sleep-deprived rants.
“How did you…?” Arthur was shocked, to say the least.
Merlin reached a hand over, covering Arthur’s with his own.
“I’m never going to forget anything about you Arthur. I hope you know that.”