A/N: Yay! Another Merthur fanfic! No offense to any Americans or English people, I'm sure everyone gets on great together. I only wrote this for fun, so I'm sorry if I offend anyone. So, I mentioned some food in the fic and here are the links to some images that I thought of while writing. Just remove the spaces!

Cupcakes- mary – making . blogspot . in / 2012 / 02 / best – chocolate – chocolate –cupcakes - and. html

Mordred's cupcakes- www . designerdessertsbakery Dark – Chocolate -Rasberry- Cupcake. html

Pancakes- weheartit entry / 17593586

Warnings- Modern AU, Slash, some swearing, nice Uther, no beta so feel free to point out any mistakes, Arthur's thoughts are in italics.

Disclaimer- All characters mentioned below belong to their respective owners.

Arthur dropped his bags by the door and took in a deep breath. University was fun but damn, it was good to be home. He looked around for signs of life, mainly his adorably dorky little brother.

Out of the blue, a tiny blur tackled him. Arthur's reflexes took over and he caught the blur easily. He laughed as they both tumbled around on the floor. Pale blue, mischievous eyes stared up at him through a fringe.

Arthur picked himself up and helped up his little brother. He looked at him for a moment before squeezing the life out of him.

"Arthur," gasped Mordred. "Can't breathe."

Arthur laughed again and let go of him.

"God, it's good to see you. How have you been, kid? Having fun at school? Is father spoiling you rotten?"

Mordred nodded furiously at all his questions. He took in a deep breath to begin his monologue, when suddenly a loud voice interrupted them.

"MORDRED PENDRAGON, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU?" came a pissed off voice.

Mordred flinched and Arthur looked surprised at the odd accent. Fully expecting a bald, fat man with a cane ready, he braced himself to look up. To say he was shocked was an understatement.

Looking up, he found that the person standing in front of him was no more than his own age. He was skinny and gangly, but at the same time he moved with a certain grace that Arthur found hard to believe. He stood there, with his hands on his hips and baby blue eyes narrowed. Arthur just looked at him for some time, admiring his high cheekbones and extra-large ears, before he shook himself and looked away.

Mordred, with his shoulders slumped down like he was carrying the worlds sorrow, shuffled towards the guy. He stood next to him and looked up at him sadly.

"I'm sorry, Merlin," he mumbled.

Merlin, (so that was his name, who names their kid Merlin?), let out a long-suffering breath. He knelt down next to Mordred and put a hand on his shoulders and looked into his eyes.

"It's okay, buddy. But, next time I want you to wait for me before you go running to the door when it the bell rings. It might be a mass murderer or a chocolate salesman, these days you just don't know. And one other thing, what have I told you about tackling people?"

"Do it from the side so that they don't have time to react," mumbled Mordred.

"Exactly," said Merlin. "Do you know what you did wrong?"

Mordred nodded solemnly and Merlin grinned in response.

"What are you going to do next time?"

"Think about the person's position before tackling them," replied Mordred seriously.

Arthur watched gob smacked at this ridiculous conversation between his 10-year old brother and this supposed babysitter. He was debating calling his father and asking why this nut-job was taking care of his baby brother, when said nut-job introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Merlin Emrys. You must be Arthur."

Arthur nodded dumbly, momentarily blinded because of the beaming smile Merlin sent his way.

"I've heard so much about you from Mordred," continued Merlin. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to look so frat-boyish."

That caught Arthur's attention.

"Excuse me? What does that even mean?"

Then realization dawned on him. "You're American!" he said accusingly. "I couldn't guess at first but now it's perfectly clear!"

Merlin's eyes narrowed. "I'm not American, but I studied there for four years. And what's so wrong with Americans anyway?"

"I can think of a hundred reasons," said Arthur arrogantly.

"Name one."

"Well, they…they…," he stuttered.

Merlin just raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"They…are rude! They are very rude and they do not know how to behave in public," said Arthur, triumphantly.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Right now, you're being rude too, does that mean all Englishmen are rude?" challenged Merlin.

When Arthur failed to respond, Merlin turned around and stomped off muttering about "stupid stuck up prats." Mordred looked at him disapprovingly.

"What?" said Arthur defensively.

"You shouldn't be mean to Merlin. He's really nice and he cooks brilliantly. He was with me all the summers you were at Uni and I was alone. You shouldn't be mean to him."

Mordred gave him one last look and walked away to find Merlin. Arthur looked at his retreating back with a mixture of guilt and regret. He ran a hand through his hair, still getting over the fact that his baby brother had admonished him for being mean.

I suppose I was being mean and ridiculously narrow minded, he thought to himself.

Arthur sighed and picked up his bags. He headed to his room to take a shower and a nap. He would apologize to Merlin later.

A couple of hours later, Arthur wandered into the kitchen in his shorts looking for something to eat. He buried his head into the fridge and then banged his head when someone cleared their throat behind him.

"Jesus, don't do that," he swore.

"Sorry."

Merlin didn't look sorry at all, biting his lip in an effort to control his laughter. Arthur looked at himself to find out what was so funny, and then groaned because he realized he still was in his underwear.

"Nice legs, frat boy," said Merlin and burst out laughing.

Arthur tried to keep a stern face but ended up laughing as well.

A good ten minutes later, they were still chuckling and wiping tears from their eyes. For a second, their eyes met and both looked away guiltily.

"So," began Arthur. "I'm really sorry for what I said earlier, I was being a dick. I don't have anything against Americans. My father's not very fond of them, and I was a bit shocked that he hired one."

"For the last time, I'm not American. I just studied there for four years. I'm sorry too, we both behaved like children. And as for your father, he paid for me to go study in America on the condition that I work for him for a year after my studies. I used to babysit for Mordred during my summer vacations too. You used have classes, so we never met."

"Really?" asked Arthur intrigued. "I would never have guessed. So tell me, what did you study there?"

At that moment the oven made a beep. Merlin put on some oven mitts and open the door, letting out a delicious aroma. He took out two trays of chocolate cupcakes and set them before Arthur.

"I studied baking and pastry making in California Culinary Academy."

That explains why father hired him, thought Arthur, drooling over the cupcakes. It wasn't common knowledge, but Uther had a bit of a sweet tooth and liked to indulge himself once in a while. He reached out and tried to grab one of the cooling cupcakes, but Merlin slapped his hand away.

"Ow."

"Wait for them to cool down, you'll burn yourself. Besides, I want decorate them. Here eat this."

He shoved a packet of crisps into Arthur's hands and started making some chocolate ganache. Arthur watched him as he effortlessly whisked the cream and chocolate together, making a smooth texture. He watched as Merlin filled a paper cone with the ganache and licked the extra chocolate off his fingers. Mesmerized by his movements, Arthur continued to watch as Merlin made a simple swirl decoration on top of the cupcake. After he finished all of them, he set aside ten cupcakes and put on chocolate sprinkles and three fresh raspberries. He picked up and gave it to Arthur.

"Why'd you make these different?" asked Arthur as he admired the cupcake.

"Mordred likes his cakes to look 'fancy'," replied Merlin.

Arthur laughed and took a bite of his cupcake. He almost moaned the taste, the frosting was sweet but the dark chocolate cupcake evened it out. The raspberries and sprinkles were an added bonus. He couldn't stop himself and finished the entire thing in under five minutes.

Merlin was watching him with a grin. "You like?"

"I loved it. It was like having a mouthgasm."

Merlin blushed and turned away, cleaning up some of the mess. Arthur silently watched as Merlin put two cupcakes on a plate and turned to him.

"I promised Mordred that if he finishes one book from his reading list, I'll make him cupcakes," said Merlin apologetically.

"It's alright, go ahead."

Merlin nodded and walked past him towards the door.

"Merlin!" called out Arthur.

Merlin turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want to go to the cinema or something tonight?"

Arthur cursed mentally. Smooth, Pendragon. Real smooth.

Merlin smiled. "I'd like that."

Arthur whooped and went back to his room, grinning like an idiot.

Later that evening

Arthur ran a hand nervously through his hair, waiting outside the house for Merlin. He was dressed in blue jeans, white shirt and a leather jacket. He was going to impress Merlin that night, come what may.

Just then Merlin came out the front door, startling Arthur. He gave Merlin a once over and whistled slowly, grinning as Merlin blushed.

"You clean up nicely," he said appreciatively. "Let's go then, don't want to be late for the movie."

Merlin stuttered his thanks and blushed even more. He was wearing black jeans and a dark blue button down shirt. His unruly hair had been tamed enough to make him look super-hot that evening.

They went to the cinema and ended up watching Star Trek: 2009. Merlin apparently was a trekkie and a Chris Pine fan. Arthur fell asleep during the movie, sci-fi wasn't his thing, but Merlin didn't mind. He was so engrossed in the on-screen bromance that he didn't even notice Arthur's snoring. After the movie, they decided to go to a nearby café for dinner. Throughout the dinner, Merlin rambled on about the movie, how he had seen Heroes just for Zachary Quinto and how Kirk and Spock would make a really hot couple. Arthur just smiled and sat through it all. If listening about Vulcans means that he'll get a second date with Merlin, so be it. Merlin apologized on the way home.

"I'm sorry if I bored you, I can be a bit of a nerd at times."

"Don't be sorry, I had fun today," said Arthur and lightly squeezed Merlin's hand. After they reached home, they made plans to have lunch the next day but not before a very awkward goodbye.

Arthur pulled Merlin in for a kiss, when Merlin thought that it was a hug. Arthur ended up kissing Merlin's ear while Merlin laughed into his shoulder. After that fiasco, Arthur looked pathetic enough for Merlin to give him a light kiss on the cheek.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Arthur," said Merlin and disappeared into the house.

Arthur went up to his room, still smiling. He entered his room and frowned when he saw that someone had turned the lights on.

"Hello, Arthur," said Uther.

"Father," he replied stiffly.

"I expected you at dinner today, but Mordred informs me that you were on a date with his babysitter?"

"Yes, that's true. We went out for a movie and dinner."

Uther raised an eyebrow, his gaze calculating.

"I approve. Merlin is a fine boy; he will be good for you. Lord knows he has more brain cells than all the people you've dated combined."

Arthur flushed and looked down. Uther brushed past him and walked towards the door.

"Arthur?"

"Yes, father?"

"I'm glad that you're home, son."

The next day Arthur woke up to the most delicious smells. After taking a quick shower and making sure he wasn't wearing just his boxers, he ran down the stairs towards the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Mordred was stuffing himself with the most delicious looking red velvet pancakes. He reached over to have a taste but was wacked away by a fork.

"Mine," hissed Mordred.

"This is all your fault," said Arthur pointing at Merlin. "You've turned my brother into a vicious cat that doesn't share food."

Merlin snorted. "Good morning to you too. Sit down, have a cup of tea. I'll make some for you too."

Arthur poured himself some tea and made himself comfortable at the counter. He watched as Merlin made the pancakes with the same ease he possessed talking about the movie. He didn't notice Mordred looking at him with a glare.

"Arthur," said Mordred. "If you hurt him, I'll cut your hair when you sleep and take pictures. And then I will sell those pictures to your friends for blackmail material. Then with the money that I'll earn from the sale, I will hire a hitman and have him shoot you where it hurts most."

Arthur just stood there, absolutely shocked that his baby brother chose his babysitter over him. He stood there like a gaping fish as Mordred gave Merlin a hug as a thank you for the pancakes. After one last glare towards Arthur, he left the kitchen.

"Bloody hell, I think I just got threatened by a ten-year old," said Arthur incredulously.

"Yes well, he's incredibly smart for a ten-year old. Now open up."

Arthur did as he was told and Merlin put some pancake batter into his mouth.

"How is it?" Merlin asked.

"It's missing something."

"Really? I thought I put in everything properly, let me check the recipe. Mph."

Arthur silenced Merlin with a sweet kiss.

"Now it's perfect."

Arthur rolled his eyes at Merlin's goofy grin and sat down. He looked over at Merlin and thought, I could get used to this.

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