Hello again! My next prompt is from -TheGirlWithWings- who said:

Hey! I really love this series and I would love to see it continue. Anyway, so could you possibly write a scene where the age difference and the relationships from the first one still exist and the same relationship between Arthur and Merlin, where Arthur and Sherlock meet for the first time?

This is set in an AU version of my other Merlin-Sherlock crossover The Game We Play, so if you haven't read that, you'll need to know that Merlin and Arthur attend Cambridge and lives at Queens College (because that's where my Cambridge interview was held and I loved that campus) and that Merlin is 17 (he took his A-Levels a year earlier) and Arthur is 19. There is also a 10 year age gap between Merlin and Sherlock.

A Family Affair Part 2

"Merlin, I'm headed to Tesco's, do you want anything?" Arthur asked his roommate, who was currently lying in his bed reading a book.

"We could do with some more coffee if you see any," the dark haired teenager replied, not looking up.

"You and your bloody caffeine addiction," Arthur muttered. "Fine, I'll bring you some back, but I swear to God if I find our room stinking of that stuff again I'll drown you in the stuff."

"No you wouldn't," Merlin replied with a cheeky grin. "I'm too loveable."

"Idiot."

"Prat."

"Buffoon."

"Clotpole."

"Merlin, we've been over this, clotpole isn't a real word."

"Is too."

"Merlin, a word isn't real if I can't type it in Word without a red line appearing underneath it."

"It is real, the definition of which is Arthur Pendragon."

"Shut up Merlin," the blonde replied, before exiting.

"Dollopheaded turnip," Merlin retorted to the empty room, then returned to reading his book.

~M~

"And we are here why Sherlock?" John asked, looking around at the swarms of university students wandering the campus around him.

"Well John, my dear brother Mycroft has decided that my younger brother deserves to know that I am alive before the rest of the world finds out," the dark haired detective replied.

"Younger brother? You mean there's more of you!" John exclaimed.

"Well we both know that it's not Mycroft I'm talking about, which would insinuate that there is more of us," Sherlock responded snarkily, before beginning to walk towards one of the older buildings, which was linked to the newer accommodation by a bridge over a small stream. John hurried to catch up with him, still slightly shocked at the thought of another Holmes.

"So what's your younger brother like? He must be smart if he'd gotten into a university like this," John asked.

"Oh, I haven't seen him in 10 years. Shame really, we used to be quite close, but unfortunately Merlin chose being normal over being a Holmes," Sherlock responded with a slightly bitter tone.

"A normal Holmes? That'll be a first," John scoffed, then paused. "Wait are you telling me you broke off your relationship with your younger brother just because he's normal?"

Sherlock ignored him, and stopped outside a door. The names Merlin Holmes and Arthur Pendragon were printed on a piece of paper blue-tacked to it.

"So Sherlock, I'm assuming your brother doesn't know he's expecting us so I think it would be best if we...wait a minute, are you picking the lock? You could just knock like everyone else!"

"Dull," Sherlock muttered, smirking smugly as a click indicated the door was now unlocked. He opened it and stepped into the room, John following behind.

~M~

Merlin had been quite absorbed in his book until he heard unfamiliar voices outside of his room. He couldn't distinguish what they were saying, but he could hear the sound of what he presumed the lock being picked, which was confirmed by a particularly loud exclamation from one of the voices.

Merlin quickly jumped up from his bed and picked up Arthur's cricket bat which he knew his roommate kept under his bed. He held it aloft as he began to try and make sense of the situation

Ok Merlin, let's deduce, he thought to himself . Two men judging by the pitch of the voices. One more confident than the other in this burglary, or kidnapping, or whatever this situation was. Merlin had been kidnapped several times, being the son of a wealthy family and the brother of a highly ranked government official. He knew some self defense now thanks to Arthur, plus Gwaine had once taught him the best way to punch a man in the face in a bar fight, although that technique tended to rely on the individual being drunk.

Before he could deduce further the lock clicked open, and in stepped two men, one of whom to Merlin's utter shock was his dead brother. Or rather not so dead brother.

"How on earth do you find anything in this chaos Merlin, it's quite beyond me," Sherlock remarked with distain, noting the weapon in Merlin's band. "And put that bat down before you injure yourself, we all know how clumsy you are."

Merlin didn't seem to notice his words, and although he did drop the bat it was more out of shock than any thing else. His mind couldn't comprehend that Sherlock was in front of him and alive. Therefore in his eyes it was perfectly logical what he did next. He ran.

"Sherlock, you need to go after him, he's not thinking straight in this state," John said, looking at the open door Merlin had fled from.

"I'm sure he'll be fine John, he's not a child," Sherlock replied nonchalantly, more occupied with sending a text than chasing after the wayward teenager.

"You literally have a heart of stone, do you know that!" John said, before running after Merlin. Sherlock sighed, putting his phone away then following the doctor at a more moderate pace.

~M~

Merlin ran blindly across campus, tears streaming down his face as he desperately searched for the one person who would understand how he was feeling right now. He continued running until he hit something tall and firm, the force of which pushed him backwards.

"Merlin? What's wrong Merlin?" said a voice, and the teenager looked up to find the blonde haired man he'd been looking for. Without hesitation he launched himself at Arthur, clutching him and sobbing into his shoulder. He couldn't bring himself to say anything other than, "He's here. But he can't be here."

~M~

"Who can't be here Merlin? What's going on?" Arthur said, rubbing the younger boy's back soothingly, but Merlin seemed to be comatose with shock.

"Merlin!" A man's voice sounded from beyond and Arthur looked up to see a short sandy haired man running towards them. Following him though was a tall haired man who bore a shocking resemblance to the teenager in his arms. Ah, Arthur thought stormily, that explains Merlin's state. The blonde helped walk Merlin over to a bench nearby and sat him down, before walking past John, and over to Sherlock.

"Sherlock Holmes, I presume?" Arthur said, and before the man could respond he punched him hard in the face, knocking him to the ground. "That's for Merlin," he spat, before walking back to the raven haired boy in question.

John chuckled at the shocked and horrified expression on Sherlock's face, before walking over and sitting by the two young men.

"I did that several times after finding out the idiot had been alive the last three years." John offered his hand to the blonde, who shook it. "John Watson, flatmate of Sherlock."

"Arthur Pendragon, I share a room with Merlin here." Hearing his name, Merlin managed to shake himself out of his stupor. "You ok now Merls?"

"Yeah," the younger boy said shakily, his eyes fixed upon Sherlock."It was just a bit of a shock seeing him after 10 years of nothing, 3 of which I thought he was dead." He then turned to Arthur. "You didn't have to hit him for me."

"Oh I know," Arthur replied. "I just really wanted to." And that was when Merlin realized that whilst his real brothers could be complete arses, he would always have Arthur there for him.

~M~

Really sorry for the late update, I was supposed to complete and post this last week but in the UK we got out A-Level results so it was a bit hectic. Good news though, I'm going to Cardiff University (my first choice) to study Law with Criminology, home of Doctor Who, Sherlock and many other of my favourite shows! I also apologise for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I'm on holiday at the moment so I'm uploading this using the family iPad, which is awful for both typing and betaing on.

I've already started writing the next prompt so people who review will get a sneak preview of that, although it is heavily based on my The Game We Play so you may need to just take a peak at that. Thanks to everyone who has favourited and followed so far, and a special thanks to Tolleren, ThreeGoodReasons, Jessieklove, xxfreakishXclutzxx, TwoRollsOfParchment and Queen Martha Pond for reviewing. Hopefully the next update will be up on Saturday, and don't forget to keep sending in your prompts! :)