Room 325, Saturday Morning

[bigdamndestiny]

Merlin didn't remember last year with the children. Well, he did, but he was trying very hard to repress it, so...

He didn't remember.

So, he clinging to Arthur not unlike some sort of aquatic creature. Because it was comfortable for him at least.

[For the guy and any spawn who show up]]

Comments

[bitchprince]

Slightly less comfortable for Arthur, but he was feeling distinctly mellow and at peace with the world, a carry-over from last night. He was awake now, if groggy, and sleepily trailing a finger over Merlin's collarbone in a way that really was sort of disgustingly sappy.

If what Merlin had practiced about this weekend was simple repression, then Arthur's repression was the Olympic Gold medalist of the field. He would come to regret that in about three to five minutes, but right now he was enjoying himself in a sort of lazy kind of way.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Do we have to move today?" Merlin asked, not about to open his eyes yet.

[bitchprince]

"Not for the next few hours, as far as I'm concerned," Arthur grunted, unaware of just how much he was jinxing himself. "Mmhm." He shifted his leg a bit, but only for comfort's sake. "Tha's a good idea..."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Did you get food?" That was important if they wanted to move. Ever.

[bitchprince]

Was that a hangover Arthur was sensing?

His head was pounding all of a sudden.

"...didn't you bring some cheese the other day...?"

He lazily drew his hand up along Merlin's side, since there was quite a bit of it right now.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Didn't you eat all that?"

[bitchprince]

"Don't think so," he muttered, pressing a kiss into Merlin's throat.

The pounding was getting louder. He hadn't had enough to get that drunk, did he?

He shifted his head a bit.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

No, that would be the door, actually.

"...were you expecting someone?"

[bitchprince]

"Of course not," Arthur said, crabbily, and shifted up further.

Okay, that was definitely the door. He was not best pleased.

[destinybitch.livejournal.com]

"Father!" whoever was on the other end bellowed, "May I have an audience?!"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin stared. First at the door and then at Arthur.

"Um."

[bitchprince]

Arthur could have done something helpful. Really, he could.

Instead, he yanked a pillow over his head. "Oh god," he snapped. "What?!"

[destinybitch.livejournal.com]

Rhys seemed to consider that enough cue to enter, pushing open the door and closing it neatly behind him as he'd always been taught. "Father!" he said, plaintatively, "I told Da, I'm not apologizing!"

Merlin got a pouty look.

[wee-n-majik.livejournal.com]

Later that morning, Rosemary slipped away from the kitchen where her mother, her mother's friend, and her mother's friends kids were handwavily having pancakes to try to find her father.

"Dad?" she called, tapping at the door that, somehow, felt the most right. "Are you in there?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin froze again, mid cleaning the room. Because one child clearly wasn't enough.

"...hello?"

[wee-n-majik.livejournal.com]

Rosemary decided that counted as an invitation. "Hi!" she said again, walking in as if this was all completely normal. "Are you cleaning? Can I help? I already helped Mom make pancakes, but that's okay."

She looked around the room. "Uncle Arthur lives here too?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"This is... Uncle Arthur's room. Actually." Don't ask, don't ask, don't ask. "Mom?"

[wee-n-majik.livejournal.com]

"Mom," Rosemary confirmed, then furrowed her brow and looked puzzled until things slipped slightly into place. "Is this like the thing she was telling Des about, about how you don't remember everything right now 'cause we aren't born yet?"

She seemed unphased by that, but she did have two magic users for parents.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"That would be it exactly," Merlin admitted. "It's been one of those days here, it seems."

[wee-n-majik.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, Mom talks about how they happened a lot here. But I don't get what's different, 'cause where we live is weird too," Rosemary said. "Um. I'm Rosemary. I'm 10. Mom's name is Tara."

She perked up a little at the 'one of those days'. "Do I have brothers and sisters or something?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Tara? Wasn't she...

He just attracted lesbians, it seemed.

"A brother," Merlin replied quickly. "Somehow one Arthur and I had."

[wee-n-majik.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you have surr'gate mothers in way back then," Rosemary suggested. (Lesbian mothers were, apparently, a font of information on alternate ways to reproduce.) "Can I meet him?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"When he comes back with Arthur, perhaps!" Then Merlin remembered the last time kids met. "Er, try to be kind to him?"

[wee-n-majik.livejournal.com]

Rosemary looked confused. "Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

... yes, she was one of those kids.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

She really, really was.

"Would you like to help clean?" Oh, that was a bad idea.