FIC: "On a Planet that Insists" | NC-17 | Merlin/Arthur | Part 2 of 3
Title: On a Planet that Insists
Rating: NC-17
Author's notes and warnings are here.
← part one
"Hi, excuse me," Arthur said, hurrying up alongside a girl as they left Spanish class. "Lisa, right?"
"Yes?" she answered, a little apprehensively.
"I'm Arthur, the bloke you and your bicycle pack nearly ran over last week outside of the locker rooms."
"Oh, right," she said. "Sorry about that."
"I survived," he said, shrugging. "You and your friends like cycling?"
"Those weren't my-that was the club, we ride together on Tuesdays."
"The club?"
"The cycling club." She waved distractedly at a girl down the corridor, who was frowning at the pair of them.
"Oh, that's great," Arthur said. "Maybe you lot can help us, then-the student council is planning a bike fair and fundraiser to pay for new bike stands along the front of the school. Would you be interested in being a part of it?"
She looked at him properly for the first time. "A what? Are you serious?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"
They frowned at each other for a moment. "All right," she said. "Tell me what you're doing." She called out to her confused friend that she'd catch her up later.
As the morning break ended and Arthur jotted down the last of their ideas, Lisa shook her head. "I still don't really believe the student council cares about this."
"Why wouldn't we?"
"Well not you, necessarily, I meant-" she stopped.
"Merlin's quite the bicycle enthusiast," Arthur said. "I'm surprised he's not in your club, actually." She snorted, and Arthur raised his eyebrows in question.
"You serious?" she asked, after a moment. "A magic student wouldn't be caught dead in one of our clubs."
Arthur frowned. "But-" he said, and stopped. Now that he thought about it, he was fairly sure that all of the kids in the football club were non-magic as well. "But Merlin and his friends are in the community service club on Wednesdays," he said.
She shrugged. "Well sure, that's different."
"Than?"
"The sport clubs."
"None of the magic kids do a sport?"
Lisa shook her head. "And the likes of you and me better not get too excited about them."
Arthur opened his mouth, and closed it. "I-what?"
"Oh you know how it is-social suicide," Lisa said, standing and throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Sorry, I've got to go-I can't be late to biology again."
Arthur stared after her for a moment before gathering his own things.
#
Cycling club will help w fair, he texted on his way to class. Will offer flat tire tutorials and similar
We have a cycling club?
Arthur rolled his eyes. Ya but no magic kids so of course u dont give a shit
Untwist your bollocks, I just didn't know about it. Maintenance tutorials are a really good idea.
Also want 2 do marathon ride 4 donations per mile or whatever
Nice! We can call it the Tour de Camelot.
Yeah or we can call it something not completely dumb
Prat. I'll talk to Alice about making an announcement during the next assembly.
#
"Oi," someone called to Arthur a few days later, as he made his way to his Economics class, "you're Merlin's friend, right? The one doing that bike thing with him?"
Arthur stopped, bristling. "He and I are both members of the student council, yes," he replied. "I'm Arthur."
"Great, listen, if you see Merlin, can you tell him the headmaster is looking for him? Something for his independent magic project, I think."
Arthur didn't bother responding, and when he saw Merlin in class a few hours later, he very pointedly did not pass on the message, instead passing the last few minutes before class fiddling his with phone.
#
Hey Arthur, I need to reschedule tomorrow's meeting - Mum's got me a dentist appt right after school.
Been rotting ur teeth again? How about tues after practice like b4?
Arthur, you have an iPhone with a qwerty keyboard. Abbreviating with numbers makes no sense.
U think ur so smart
Fine, be an idiot. I can't do Tuesdays anymore. Got a thing after school now.
Ok. When then?
Do you want come to my house on weds after community service? We could talk while I make dinner.
Arthur typed Yes and deleted it. He typed I cant and deleted it. He typed Yes a second time, and deleted it. Fifteen minutes later, he finally hit send:
Ok
#
Arthur sat at the table in Merlin's kitchen, his notebook and a glass of water in front of him. "What are you making?" he asked.
"Spicy potato curry," Merlin replied, pulling a large tin of tomatoes and some spices from the cupboard. "Mum's favourite."
"That's a bit less scary than I was expecting."
Merlin looked at him, amused. "What were you expecting?"
"I dunno, but all your vegan talk had me very apprehensive."
Merlin chuckled. "It's a lot less complicated than you'd think."
"Don't you miss animal products?"
"Well, Mum's the vegan, so you'd have to ask her," Merlin said, grinning. "I'm just a vegetarian."
"OK," Arthur said, as if he understood at all. "Are many of your friends vegan, then? Is that why you want to get it in the canteen?"
"Just one, Freya. And I don't know how committed she is to it, to be honest, but I want to be supportive. And I think it's good for everyone to be exposed to it and have the chance to try it, if they want."
"All right," Arthur said. He took a sip of water, and watched Merlin begin chopping an onion. "So, should we call this meeting to order?"
"Absolutely."
"All right. Old business: the Bike Stand Expansion and Improvement Project fundraiser, aka, the bike fair."
"The Tour de Camelot is well underway in the planning," Merlin said, happily.
"Oh, are we actually calling it that?"
"We are! The cycling club loves the name."
Arthur snorted. "Yeah, sure they do."
"They do! They've already set up a fundraising website with the name, too."
"What? How do you know that? You didn't know there was a cycling club a few days ago."
Merlin scraped his onions into the frying pan, and didn't look at Arthur. "I didn't," he said. "But now I do. And I've joined it."
"You what?"
"I joined the cycling club last week. That's why I can't meet on Tuesdays anymore-that's when we have meetings and go for group rides."
Arthur stared at him. "You're not serious."
"I am! And why shouldn't I be? You know I like to ride."
"But there aren't any magic kids in that club."
"And now there is one, so what?"
"I was told sport clubs were social suicide for your lot."
Merlin shrugged, and Arthur's phone dinged with a new email. It was a Google Alert. He'd forgotten that the team had an early afternoon match today.
"All right," Arthur said quickly, turning back to his notes. "I'll let you have 'Tour de Camelot', if you're so set on it." Merlin grinned.
They talked about plans for the fair for some time, and then, without Arthur quite noticing, the subject turned to their Literature assignment, their Literature teacher, and then to the latest series of Doctor Who as Merlin puttered industriously about the kitchen.
Arthur was startled by how late it had become when Merlin's mother walked in. "Hello," she said, smiling at him. "You must be Arthur."
"Hello, Mrs Emrys," Arthur said. "You have a lovely home."
"Thank you, Arthur." She chuckled. "Please call me Hunith. Have you two got lots of important student council business accomplished tonight?"
"I think we have," Arthur said.
"Yeah, definitely!" Merlin chimed in. "And dinner's almost ready, so I hope you're hungry."
"Smells delicious, and you know I am," she answered.
Arthur was already reaching for his phone when it dinged with another new email.
"Someone sure is popular tonight," Merlin said, smirking. "That thing's been dinging non-stop."
"Yeah, there's, um," Arthur said, feeling his cheeks heat. "A mate of mine from my last school is at university now, and he plays for their football team. They've got a match on right now, and I've got it set so I get alerts whenever he does something newsworthy."
"Well isn't that slick?" Hunith said, shaking her head. "What will they think of next?"
"What university does he play for?" Merlin asked.
"Um, Georgetown University? It's in Washington, DC."
"Is that where you lived?" Hunith asked.
Arthur shook his head. "No, we were in a state called Minnesota. It's kind of in the middle, right at the top. Anyway, I was just about to text my ride to come pick me up, so I'll be out of your way in a few minutes, and you can enjoy your dinner."
"Oh, no, you must stay!" Hunith said. "Eat with us."
Arthur shook his head. "Thank you, Hunith, very much, but. He can be here really quickly, honestly."
"He's invited as well! I want to meet Leon. There's enough, isn't there, Merlin?"
"There's loads!" Merlin chirped. "And Arthur was just telling me how much he'd like to try vegan food, weren't you, Arthur?"
Arthur stared at them both. "Um," he said.
The curry was delicious, and, Arthur and Leon agreed to their mutual surprise on the ride home, completely satisfying.
#
"Do you think it's too soon to make the biscuits today if we're only selling them on Friday?" Arthur asked, on a Sunday, after Merlin rode his bicycle to Arthur's flat. The bike fair planning was mostly finished-the cycling club was taking care of the maintenance tutorials and offered tune-ups, as well as fundraising for the Tour de Camelot, which left Arthur and Merlin with only the raffle and bake sale.
"I think they'll be fine," Merlin said, shrugging. "We'll just make sure to wrap them really tightly." Which sounded reasonable enough, so they made several dozen, using supplies Leon had purchased for them the day before.
After they'd slotted in as many as could fit into the oven, Merlin went to the loo and Arthur half-heartedly began rinsing the mountain of dirty dishes they'd managed to accumulate. Merlin was gone a long time, and eventually Arthur abandoned the dishes and went looking for him. He found him in his bedroom, eyeing two of his larger football trophies with interest.
"Sorry," Merlin said, colouring. "Is this OK? I was just walking by, and-"
"S'fine," Arthur said, too quickly.
"These are so big," Merlin said, snickering a little as he looked back at the trophies.
Arthur shrugged. "State championships are a pretty big deal."
Merlin leaned in to read the inscriptions on each of them. "I always forget they call it 'soccer'. It's weird, isn't it? They've just got this whole different word for it."
"Yeah. Was dead confusing at first. But you get used to it."
"Did you like it there?"
"It was all right, yeah," Arthur said.
"Better or worse than here?"
Arthur shrugged. "I dunno. Different."
"I've heard of that state, Minnesota, but I don't know anything about it. How'd your dad pick it?"
"It's where his wife's from."
"How'd they meet?"
"We were abroad in the same place. My dad and I lived in the Philippines for a year when I was thirteen. The bank he works for was opening a branch there, and he was tasked with getting it started. Catrina-that's his wife-her family owns this huge multinational manufacturing corporation, and she was there for a few months for something to do with that."
"Sounds romantic," Merlin said, deadpan.
Arthur snorted. "I guess, I dunno. I was thirteen and definitely not paying attention to my father's love life. When they decided to get married, she was back in the States and didn't want to move away from her family again. My father and I don't have any family besides each other, so it made sense for us to move instead of her."
"You went straight from the Philippines?"
"No, we were back in England for a couple of years first. That's when Leon came to live with us, since my father was gone so much more than usual, what with maintaining his transatlantic relationship."
Merlin grinned. "And he's been following you around ever since?"
"Basically. He was more my father's driver than mine in Minnesota-I had my own car, at that point-but we still spent a lot of time together."
Merlin slid a heavy piece of paper out from underneath one of the trophies. Arthur had to crane his neck to see what it was, and when he recognised it, all the air in the room seemed to suddenly disappear.
"Was this your team, then?" Merlin asked, chuckling. "I see they've all got that jacket."
Arthur nodded and tried to laugh. It was a photo taken right after they'd won their second state championship.
"They good blokes?"
"Yeah."
"Which one's the rock star you get all those emails about?" Merlin asked.
"Um," Arthur said, and he didn't want to point at the picture, because his hands were sweating and his finger would probably shake. "The one right next to me, there."
"With his arm around you?"
"Yeah."
"What's his name?"
"Chris Valiant," Arthur said. "We all called him Val."
"Looks like your best mate." Arthur didn't answer.
Merlin studied the photo. "There is a proper crowd there behind you. Bit different to Camelot, eh?"
Arthur's snort was drowned out by the smoke alarm coming to life in the kitchen. He was pathetically happy for the interruption, even though it meant their unattended biscuits had met with a very undignified end.
"I thought you knew what you were doing!" Arthur barked, as they opened the windows to air the place out and began scraping the charred remains of the biscuits off the baking trays.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because I watched you cook food that was completely edible just a few days ago?"
"That was different. I've made that a thousand times and my mum showed me how in the first place. And everyone knows baking sweets is totally different to cooking proper food."
"You are well full of excuses now, aren't you?"
"Oh, stuff it."
They sighed in unison and looked around the kitchen warily.
"Leon might actually kill me," Arthur said. "We better get this cleaned up."
Merlin grinned at him, and for a moment Arthur thought he was about to do something perfectly awful, like run out the door and hop on his bike, leaving Arthur to deal with it himself. But instead, he looked back at the mess and began speaking a strange, nonsensical series of syllables. Arthur frowned, and Merlin's eyes flashed with gold, and for the second time in fewer than fifteen minutes, all the air was sucked right out of the room.
"I'm not really supposed to use it like this," Merlin said, a minute later. "Mum has rules about me doing my chores the 'old-fashioned way,' but we're not in her kitchen right now, are we?"
"No," Arthur agreed weakly, taking in the perfectly clean kitchen in front of them.
"Arthur?" Merlin asked, sounding a bit wary. "Everything OK?"
"Yeah, everything's great," Arthur said, reflexively. "Sorry, that was just-the first time I've actually seen magic close up. I'm-just give me a minute." Merlin nodded, and there was awkward silence until, unexpectedly, Arthur began laughing.
"It's pretty brilliant, isn't it?" Merlin said, beaming at him with a wide, goofy smile, and Arthur had no choice but to agree.
#
That night, after Leon had driven Merlin home with Kilgharrah carefully lodged in the back seat, Arthur lay in bed for a long time, staring sleeplessly at the ceiling, trying not to think about magic or wide, goofy smiles or Merlin in his bedroom.
His heart pounded, and he turned onto his stomach angrily, burying his face in his pillow and squeezing his eyes shut, pleading for sleep.
#
Monday afternoon was sunny and beautiful at the end of their last class, and Merlin suggested they have their student council meeting outside again. "Like we did that first time," he said. "It's really nice out, and who knows how many more days like this we'll have."
"Yeah, sure," Arthur replied, without really thinking about it.
Once they got outside, he regretted it. They sat down on the same bench they had used that first Tuesday, but this time Arthur didn't have football practice first, so there were still loads of students milling about around them.
"Should we go somewhere a little less crowded?" he asked, but Merlin was busy calling out a hello to a group of passing magic students.
"Sorry, what?" Merlin asked, a minute later.
"Nothing," Arthur said, trying not to roll his eyes. "Let's just get started, shall we?"
"Yeah, OK," Merlin said, but they only got as far as confirming the hours of the bike fair on Friday before there was another interruption, a pair of girls who stopped to say hello to Merlin. They were both magic students, but Arthur recognised one of them from his Literature class. She didn't seem to recognise him-or even to see him at all, really. He sat awkwardly while Merlin asked them about their weekend.
One of them finally threw Arthur an vaguely interested glace. "So who's your little friend, Merlin?" she asked, and something in Arthur snapped.
"I'm gonna go," he said, already on his feet. The girls just looked at him, and Merlin gave him a startled, blinking stare.
"What?" Merlin said.
"Maybe we can do this later," Arthur replied, and he was already striding away. Merlin might have called after him, but Arthur couldn't hear him over the buzzing in his ears.
He reached the locker room before he realised that was where he was going, and five minutes later he was back outside, running laps around the empty football pitch. He ran sprints first, until his lungs were burning, and then slowed to an endurance pace. He ran and ran and ran as the sun sank in the sky, and it wasn't nearly enough.
#
The school grounds were deserted by the time Arthur left them. He stared at the ground as he walked, so he didn't see Merlin until he was right there, halfway between the school and Leon's car, sitting in the grass with his bike lying next to him.
Arthur stopped in surprise, and they stared at each other in silence for a long moment.
"What the fuck, Arthur?" Merlin finally said.
Arthur clenched his jaw and started walking again.
"No," Merlin snapped, and he was on his feet, blocking Arthur's path. "You do not get to just walk away again. What the fuck happened back there?"
"I'm sorry, Merlin, I just got sick having my time wasted while you mucked about with your fans during our meeting."
"I was talking to them for like two seconds!"
"Well I've got better things to do than to just sit there next to you, looking like yet another one of your pathetic friends."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it-I'm not actually your friend, so it doesn't matter."
"Not my friend? Arthur, what the fuck-of course you're my friend."
"When have I ever shown interest in being your friend, Merlin?"
Merlin sputtered. "When you had dinner at my house with me and my mother? When I came over to yours to bake fucking biscuits yesterday?"
"Both of those events were council related. We tolerate each other so we can get work done, that's all."
"That is complete bullshit, Arthur, and you know it."
"Why are you so concerned with being my friend?" Arthur barked. "You said people at this school were honest, so let's be honest-at any other school, anywhere else in the world, someone like you and someone like me-"
"Could never be friends?" Merlin snapped. "Because that's so ridiculous, and impossible?"
Arthur faltered under Merlin's angry stare. "Not impossible, maybe. But highly unlikely."
"And why is that? Because you would bully someone like me, anywhere else?"
Arthur started to say no, reflexively, but stopped himself. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe not. But I'd have friends who would, and I probably wouldn't work very hard to stop them."
"Did you want to bully me, when you saw me on the first day? Was that your instinct?"
"No," Arthur said, honestly.
"But you didn't want anything to do with me."
Arthur heaved an angry breath and wished Merlin would stop looking at him. "Not right away, no."
"You couldn't risk talking to me in case I wasn't popular enough?"
Arthur didn't say anything, which seemed like answer enough.
"So why did you still not want to be my friend, once you saw I was more popular than you thought?"
"We'd already had it out, hadn't we? You said yourself, we got off to a pretty bad start."
"And I chased after you, waving the white flag on that very first day. You refused."
"I may want to be popular, Merlin, but I've got enough self-respect not to throw myself at your feet just to make friends by association. Look, I get that this place is different, OK? I get that my sort are never going to be king of the hill around here, but I've been on the other side of this. I've been the popular kid trying to befriend the less fortunate, and I'm not interested, OK? I don't want your charity."
Merlin barked an exasperated laugh, and looked off down the road, like he couldn't believe any of this. "Did you really?" he asked, after what felt like several minutes.
"Did I what?"
"Try to befriend the unpopular kids, at your last school?"
"Yeah, I did," Arthur said, a bit too plaintively, "sort of. I mean, I tried to be friendly, at least. I was actually elected class president," he said pointedly, "and I took that seriously. I wanted them to be comfortable with me."
"So it was political."
Arthur shrugged. "I suppose. But I wanted to represent the entire class. I wanted them to feel like their opinions mattered to me-to their student government, regardless of how many friends they had."
Merlin didn't say anything. Arthur's cheeks flamed, suddenly, and he felt like he'd said too much. He shifted his bag from one shoulder to the other.
"It's not that different here, you know," Merlin said.
"Isn't it? Isn't the whole point that it's different here?"
"It wasn't always," Merlin said. "It used to be just like everywhere else."
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked, looking at him.
Merlin sighed. "I don't know how many of the stories are actually true, but they say that, years ago, Camelot looked just like every other school with your usual selection of teenage stereotypes, including the big bad footballers who ran the show. The magic program was tiny, and the magic students had a really hard go of it-they got picked on, bullied, all of it. Until they'd had enough, and used their magic to turn the tables."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. "They ran all the bullies out of school?" he asked, not unimpressed.
"Not at first," Merlin said. "It started out small-just humiliating them from time to time. Everyone's favourite story is one kid spelling the entire football club into complete incompetence-they couldn't even run from one end of the pitch to the other, by the time he was done with them."
Arthur bristled. "Are you lot still doing that?"
"No," Merlin said quickly, "no-using magic on a fellow student is strictly prohibited now, and carefully monitored."
"But our football club is terrible."
Merlin shrugged. "Not because of anything we're doing."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "All right, fine. So a long time ago, some magic kids humiliated a bunch of footballers, so what? Did that really change so much?"
"Not right away," Merlin said. "They fought back, and things escalated, and it got pretty ugly for a while. And then, suddenly, the footballers and all their friends started failing all their A levels."
Arthur frowned. "They spelled them to fail? That seems excessive."
Merlin shrugged. "I wasn't there, so I dunno. But it happened a bunch of years in a row, and Camelot's reputation nose-dived pretty quickly. The non-magic student body dwindled to almost nothing-none of them would come here anymore. From then until Gaius became Headmaster, Camelot enrolled almost exclusively magic students."
"And what did he do?"
"He wanted it to be more inclusive, so he made a bunch of changes he hoped would entice non-magic students to come back. He amped up the non-magic curriculum, got us all taking more non-magic A levels. He tried to get the sports clubs going again, and founded the student council. I think he thought if he could just get magic and non-magic kids together again in the same space, that suddenly we'd sort everything out amongst ourselves."
Arthur snorted, and Merlin shrugged. "It's a lot better than it was," he said. "But, yeah. It didn't really work."
"Because your lot like being on top too much?"
"Because anyone who's on top likes being there too much," Merlin snapped. "And because change takes time, especially when you're talking about changing attitudes. A lot of people really like Camelot the way it is, and I don't blame them. Most of the kids who have an easy time here wouldn't anywhere else, for exactly the reasons you just demonstrated."
Arthur heaved another sigh. "Fine, whatever," he said. "I got it, all right? I'll stop trying to push my way into your little school and just get through my year here without rocking the boat." He started walking again.
"Arthur-" Merlin started, but this time he let Arthur pass with a sigh.
Arthur was several yards away when Merlin called after him, "Arthur, wait, no. That's not what I want." He jogged to catch up. "I think Camelot needs to change, and I think maybe it can, but I can't do it alone. I need your help."
Arthur turned around. "What are you talking about?"
"Camelot could be so much more, if only-" Merlin sighed, and rubbed at his face. "I want the non-magic kids to feel like they belong here. I want everyone to join whatever clubs they like without worrying about-social suicide, or whatever you called it. I want you to be able to wear your stupid football jacket without everyone hating you on sight, before they even know you."
Arthur looked down at his jacket helplessly. "And what am I supposed to do about any of that?"
"I don't know, if I had any idea, I'd have tried it ages ago. But you're here, aren't you? And I think your heart's in the right place-why else were you so eager to serve on the student council?" Merlin held his gaze steadily, and Arthur couldn't look away. "Arthur, I think if we can-if you and I can be friends, if we can figure out how to work together, then maybe-I don't know. I'm probably crazy, but there's something about you, Arthur."
Arthur stared at Merlin for a long time, not saying anything. He sighed and averted his gaze to the ground.
"Do you really think I only want to be your friend out of charity?" Merlin asked, after an age.
"No," Arthur answered, feebly.
"Good. Cause I honestly do just-actually like you, although I've been questioning my sanity on that front all afternoon."
Arthur huffed a laugh. "Yeah, I can be kind of a prick sometimes."
Merlin chuckled and didn't disagree.
"Do you wanna come over and have a go on the PlayStation?" Arthur asked, without meaning to. "Or whatever," he added, when Merlin didn't immediately answer. "We could work on that Macbeth assignment, instead."
Merlin was quiet for another long moment and looked steadily at Arthur, smiling in a way that made Arthur want to do something terribly stupid. "I can't," he finally said, "Mum's already been looking for me. Friday, though? After the fair?"
Arthur nodded. "Sure, yeah."
"Great." Merlin retrieved his bike from the grass. He smiled as he got on it. "That's great, Arthur. See you tomorrow."
"Great, yeah," Arthur muttered, as he rode away. "Everything's just bloody great."
#
Friday was sunny and unseasonably warm, which was lucky. The fair began right after school-Arthur, Merlin and a couple members of the cycling club had got permission to leave their last class fifteen minutes early to get the final bits and pieces set up, and things had gone remarkably smoothly. Arthur and Merlin had gone around to all the classrooms during registration on Thursday reminding kids to bring their bikes to school, and a good number of them actually had. The lawn outside the school buildings had been littered with bikes all day-a lot of kids who didn't usually cycle to school had, and at least one person had brought his bike along on the bus.
The fair was in full swing, and Arthur couldn't help but survey it with pride. The feeling was a bit awkward and ill-fitting, for how long it had been since he had experienced it. He wandered over to where Leon was working the bake sale table, having come to Arthur and Merlin's rescue in the kitchen.
"Honestly, Leon," Arthur said, purchasing his fourth biscuit of the afternoon, "I'm beginning to think you've missed your calling, here. How did I never know you could bake like this?"
Leon just smiled at him, and made change for the next customer. "Everyone's got their secrets, haven't they?" he asked.
Arthur chewed, and mostly managed not to glare at him.
"Arthur!" Merlin called, "you get your bike tuned up yet?"
"Was first in line," he called back, and refused to make eye contact with Leon, who was the only one who knew that Arthur hadn't owned a bike until the night before, and that he'd just paid to have it serviced brand new.
"Good! Gilli's ready whenever you are!"
Arthur groaned. That morning, he'd been riding his new bike from where Leon had dropped him off (a bit further away than usual), when he'd encountered Gilli arriving from the other direction, on a small, pink bike covered in stars and sparkles. Arthur had just stared, speechless.
"You got something to say, Pendragon?" Gilli had challenged him.
"That's a lovely bike," Arthur had managed, "I'm just wondering if you've had a growth spurt, since the last time you rode it."
"It's my sister's, all right?"
"You planning to race on that thing?"
"I'm planning to leave your arse in the dust on this thing."
Arthur had laughed. "You're on, Gilli. If you can beat me on that, I'll donate another twenty quid in your name to the cycling club's marathon." Gilli had raised a surprised eyebrow, but nodded.
"All right," Arthur muttered, "let's get this over with."
Ten minutes later, as he shoved a twenty pound note into the coffer and Merlin recorded Gilli's name on the list of donors with a smirk, Arthur rolled his eyes. "I highly suspect there was magic involved in that."
Merlin just shrugged innocently.
"There was, wasn't there? He cheated?"
"I don't know," Merlin said, grinning. "Probably, knowing him. But I'm glad to have your money either way, so I'm not gonna say anything about it."
"Prat," Arthur said, but he didn't actually mind very much. He probably would have lost anyway-first day on his new bike and all-and it soothed his ego to think that Gilli may have taken a magical advantage.
A couple of girls were standing near them, watching the next few races. "Wish I had time for a go," one of them said to the other. "I'd love to show Millie what's what."
"There's plenty of time yet," Arthur said to her. "Have a race, if you like."
"We can't," the girl said. "We've got to leave for our hockey match in a minute."
"Field hockey?" Arthur asked. "You play for the school club?" The girls nodded. "Where's the match?"
"Mercia," one of them replied.
"Good luck," Arthur said, as they left. He turned to Merlin. "Mercia's not far, is it?"
Merlin shook his head. "No. Closer than my house, just in the other direction."
As the fair began to wind down, Arthur stepped up onto a nearby bench to make some closing announcements. "Excuse me," he called to the crowd, "may I have your attention, please?" Most of the surrounding heads turned his way. "I want to thank you all for coming today, participating, and helping to make our Bicycle Awareness Fair such a rousing success. Merlin and I, as your student council representatives, couldn't be more pleased with the turn out. We're moments away from announcing the winner of the raffle, which I know you're all eager to hear, but before we get to that, I have one more announcement.
"In a few minutes, I'm going to get on my bike and ride over to Mercia Academy, where our Camelot girls' field hockey club is about to have a match. I know they'd love a crowd to support them, so if any of you have the time, I hope you'll ride over there with me. It'll be a great opportunity for us all to get our freshly-tuned bikes out on the road, as well as to support our school mates. Thanks again, and I'll let Merlin get up here to announce the winning raffle ticket."
Merlin grinned at him, wide and surprised, before he took Arthur's place on the bench. "I'm in," he said.
Not everyone came, but they were a good-sized crowd, cycling jovially down the road. The members of the hockey team were gratifyingly wide-eyed and pleased as they rolled up alongside the pitch with a flourish. They cheered the team to a tie that felt very much like a win, and Merlin beamed at Arthur, afterwards, as they climbed back onto their bikes. "Does your PlayStation invitation still stand?" he asked.
"If you want, yeah," Arthur replied, grinning and not quite looking at him.
#
"Are you doing your A levels in one year, then?" Merlin asked, his thumbs clicking against the PlayStation controller. "Is that even possible? Or are you doing your university applications next year?"
"No, I'm submitting my applications now," Arthur replied. He paused to complete a complicated jump/kick move in the game, and it was an odd sort of relief, having the screen to focus on with Merlin so nearby. "I'm not doing A levels, actually, I'm doing an IB diploma instead. The courses for that are standard all over the world, so the ones I finished at Andersen in Minnesota transferred no problem."
"That's pretty slick."
"Yeah, it's good for people who have to move around to different countries. I think they originally started it for kids of diplomats and things in the sixties, but now anyone can do it. You just have to find schools that offer it."
"That's how you picked Camelot, then? And your school in the States?"
"Yup. We first heard of it when we were in the Philippines-my dad had me at an international school in Manila, and they suggested it."
"Shit," Merlin suddenly yelled, as his PlayStation persona took a rough tumble off the side of a building. "How was Manila, then?" he asked, as he recovered. "Did you like living there?"
"Yeah, it was all right. A year wasn't really enough time get properly settled, and I was too young to do much of anything, but I liked it. It was way warmer than either here or Minnesota, so that was nice."
"Did it rain as much as they say it does?"
Arthur snorted. "During the season, oh my god."
"More than here, even?"
"Like you've never seen. But the people there are dead friendly, which made for a nice change from here. By which I mean Camelot, by the way." Merlin smirked, but didn't say anything. "They've got these crazy buses there that you'd probably love-called jeepneys. They decorate them all crazy, probably give them stupid names like Kilgharrah and things."
"Oi, watch it."
Arthur laughed, and successfully avoided a trap on the screen. "Anyway, that was the year I started both Spanish and basketball, which was dead useful when I got to the States."
"I've always wondered-why do they call them baskets when they don't have a bottom?" Merlin asked. "I mean, the point of a basket is to hold things, but the ball just falls right through. Why don't they call it hoopball or something?"
"I have no idea."
Merlin tutted. "Well I think it's silly."
"I'm sure the entire basketball playing world will take note of your disapproval."
"Shut up," Merlin said, as their next round started. "So you were on the basketball team as well, last year?"
"Yup."
"How athletic of you."
"Yes, I'm very impressive."
Merlin snorted. "I can imagine the Americans thought so."
Arthur shrugged. They played in silence for a few minutes.
"Something else I've always wondered," Merlin began, and stopped.
"What?"
"You know how they always say American women fancy the pants off a British accent, even the real crap ones?"
Arthur snorted. "Yeah?"
"Do the men as well?" Merlin asked, after a moment.
Arthur blinked, and missed a key jump on the screen. "Um," he said.
"I've always sort of joked," Merlin said, talking quickly, "that if they do, maybe I should go to university over there, since it might be easier to find myself a rich boyfriend."
Arthur's avatar on the screen accidentally performed some sort of spastic back flip, and fell into a pit of venomous snakes.
"Got to use what you've got, right?" Merlin gave a tight laugh.
Arthur stared at the screen for a moment, willing the huge roil of his stomach to calm down. He glanced at Merlin, who was also staring determinedly at the screen, his ears gone a furious pink. His cheeks were quickly colouring as well, and unexpectedly, Arthur felt his need to put Merlin at ease overriding the thing churning inside him.
"I find it hard to believe that you have trouble getting dates," Arthur said, as his avatar limply tried to jump out of the pit, weak from snake venom, "what with how most of Camelot fawns over you like their lord and master."
Merlin snorted. "Shut up, they don't."
"They do," Arthur said. "You say jump, they say how high. You tell them to bring their bikes to school, and almost every last one of them does it."
He looked at Merlin, who was smiling at him sidelong, tentatively, and Arthur smiled back. They were sitting close enough for Arthur to knock Merlin companionably with his elbow, which he did.
"Oi!" Merlin cried, as his avatar fell into some water. "That was your fault! You bollocksed me up!"
"You don't need my help with that, mate," Arthur said, laughing.
part three →
Rating: NC-17
Author's notes and warnings are here.
← part one
"Hi, excuse me," Arthur said, hurrying up alongside a girl as they left Spanish class. "Lisa, right?"
"Yes?" she answered, a little apprehensively.
"I'm Arthur, the bloke you and your bicycle pack nearly ran over last week outside of the locker rooms."
"Oh, right," she said. "Sorry about that."
"I survived," he said, shrugging. "You and your friends like cycling?"
"Those weren't my-that was the club, we ride together on Tuesdays."
"The club?"
"The cycling club." She waved distractedly at a girl down the corridor, who was frowning at the pair of them.
"Oh, that's great," Arthur said. "Maybe you lot can help us, then-the student council is planning a bike fair and fundraiser to pay for new bike stands along the front of the school. Would you be interested in being a part of it?"
She looked at him properly for the first time. "A what? Are you serious?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"
They frowned at each other for a moment. "All right," she said. "Tell me what you're doing." She called out to her confused friend that she'd catch her up later.
As the morning break ended and Arthur jotted down the last of their ideas, Lisa shook her head. "I still don't really believe the student council cares about this."
"Why wouldn't we?"
"Well not you, necessarily, I meant-" she stopped.
"Merlin's quite the bicycle enthusiast," Arthur said. "I'm surprised he's not in your club, actually." She snorted, and Arthur raised his eyebrows in question.
"You serious?" she asked, after a moment. "A magic student wouldn't be caught dead in one of our clubs."
Arthur frowned. "But-" he said, and stopped. Now that he thought about it, he was fairly sure that all of the kids in the football club were non-magic as well. "But Merlin and his friends are in the community service club on Wednesdays," he said.
She shrugged. "Well sure, that's different."
"Than?"
"The sport clubs."
"None of the magic kids do a sport?"
Lisa shook her head. "And the likes of you and me better not get too excited about them."
Arthur opened his mouth, and closed it. "I-what?"
"Oh you know how it is-social suicide," Lisa said, standing and throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Sorry, I've got to go-I can't be late to biology again."
Arthur stared after her for a moment before gathering his own things.
#
Cycling club will help w fair, he texted on his way to class. Will offer flat tire tutorials and similar
We have a cycling club?
Arthur rolled his eyes. Ya but no magic kids so of course u dont give a shit
Untwist your bollocks, I just didn't know about it. Maintenance tutorials are a really good idea.
Also want 2 do marathon ride 4 donations per mile or whatever
Nice! We can call it the Tour de Camelot.
Yeah or we can call it something not completely dumb
Prat. I'll talk to Alice about making an announcement during the next assembly.
#
"Oi," someone called to Arthur a few days later, as he made his way to his Economics class, "you're Merlin's friend, right? The one doing that bike thing with him?"
Arthur stopped, bristling. "He and I are both members of the student council, yes," he replied. "I'm Arthur."
"Great, listen, if you see Merlin, can you tell him the headmaster is looking for him? Something for his independent magic project, I think."
Arthur didn't bother responding, and when he saw Merlin in class a few hours later, he very pointedly did not pass on the message, instead passing the last few minutes before class fiddling his with phone.
#
Hey Arthur, I need to reschedule tomorrow's meeting - Mum's got me a dentist appt right after school.
Been rotting ur teeth again? How about tues after practice like b4?
Arthur, you have an iPhone with a qwerty keyboard. Abbreviating with numbers makes no sense.
U think ur so smart
Fine, be an idiot. I can't do Tuesdays anymore. Got a thing after school now.
Ok. When then?
Do you want come to my house on weds after community service? We could talk while I make dinner.
Arthur typed Yes and deleted it. He typed I cant and deleted it. He typed Yes a second time, and deleted it. Fifteen minutes later, he finally hit send:
Ok
#
Arthur sat at the table in Merlin's kitchen, his notebook and a glass of water in front of him. "What are you making?" he asked.
"Spicy potato curry," Merlin replied, pulling a large tin of tomatoes and some spices from the cupboard. "Mum's favourite."
"That's a bit less scary than I was expecting."
Merlin looked at him, amused. "What were you expecting?"
"I dunno, but all your vegan talk had me very apprehensive."
Merlin chuckled. "It's a lot less complicated than you'd think."
"Don't you miss animal products?"
"Well, Mum's the vegan, so you'd have to ask her," Merlin said, grinning. "I'm just a vegetarian."
"OK," Arthur said, as if he understood at all. "Are many of your friends vegan, then? Is that why you want to get it in the canteen?"
"Just one, Freya. And I don't know how committed she is to it, to be honest, but I want to be supportive. And I think it's good for everyone to be exposed to it and have the chance to try it, if they want."
"All right," Arthur said. He took a sip of water, and watched Merlin begin chopping an onion. "So, should we call this meeting to order?"
"Absolutely."
"All right. Old business: the Bike Stand Expansion and Improvement Project fundraiser, aka, the bike fair."
"The Tour de Camelot is well underway in the planning," Merlin said, happily.
"Oh, are we actually calling it that?"
"We are! The cycling club loves the name."
Arthur snorted. "Yeah, sure they do."
"They do! They've already set up a fundraising website with the name, too."
"What? How do you know that? You didn't know there was a cycling club a few days ago."
Merlin scraped his onions into the frying pan, and didn't look at Arthur. "I didn't," he said. "But now I do. And I've joined it."
"You what?"
"I joined the cycling club last week. That's why I can't meet on Tuesdays anymore-that's when we have meetings and go for group rides."
Arthur stared at him. "You're not serious."
"I am! And why shouldn't I be? You know I like to ride."
"But there aren't any magic kids in that club."
"And now there is one, so what?"
"I was told sport clubs were social suicide for your lot."
Merlin shrugged, and Arthur's phone dinged with a new email. It was a Google Alert. He'd forgotten that the team had an early afternoon match today.
"All right," Arthur said quickly, turning back to his notes. "I'll let you have 'Tour de Camelot', if you're so set on it." Merlin grinned.
They talked about plans for the fair for some time, and then, without Arthur quite noticing, the subject turned to their Literature assignment, their Literature teacher, and then to the latest series of Doctor Who as Merlin puttered industriously about the kitchen.
Arthur was startled by how late it had become when Merlin's mother walked in. "Hello," she said, smiling at him. "You must be Arthur."
"Hello, Mrs Emrys," Arthur said. "You have a lovely home."
"Thank you, Arthur." She chuckled. "Please call me Hunith. Have you two got lots of important student council business accomplished tonight?"
"I think we have," Arthur said.
"Yeah, definitely!" Merlin chimed in. "And dinner's almost ready, so I hope you're hungry."
"Smells delicious, and you know I am," she answered.
Arthur was already reaching for his phone when it dinged with another new email.
"Someone sure is popular tonight," Merlin said, smirking. "That thing's been dinging non-stop."
"Yeah, there's, um," Arthur said, feeling his cheeks heat. "A mate of mine from my last school is at university now, and he plays for their football team. They've got a match on right now, and I've got it set so I get alerts whenever he does something newsworthy."
"Well isn't that slick?" Hunith said, shaking her head. "What will they think of next?"
"What university does he play for?" Merlin asked.
"Um, Georgetown University? It's in Washington, DC."
"Is that where you lived?" Hunith asked.
Arthur shook his head. "No, we were in a state called Minnesota. It's kind of in the middle, right at the top. Anyway, I was just about to text my ride to come pick me up, so I'll be out of your way in a few minutes, and you can enjoy your dinner."
"Oh, no, you must stay!" Hunith said. "Eat with us."
Arthur shook his head. "Thank you, Hunith, very much, but. He can be here really quickly, honestly."
"He's invited as well! I want to meet Leon. There's enough, isn't there, Merlin?"
"There's loads!" Merlin chirped. "And Arthur was just telling me how much he'd like to try vegan food, weren't you, Arthur?"
Arthur stared at them both. "Um," he said.
The curry was delicious, and, Arthur and Leon agreed to their mutual surprise on the ride home, completely satisfying.
#
"Do you think it's too soon to make the biscuits today if we're only selling them on Friday?" Arthur asked, on a Sunday, after Merlin rode his bicycle to Arthur's flat. The bike fair planning was mostly finished-the cycling club was taking care of the maintenance tutorials and offered tune-ups, as well as fundraising for the Tour de Camelot, which left Arthur and Merlin with only the raffle and bake sale.
"I think they'll be fine," Merlin said, shrugging. "We'll just make sure to wrap them really tightly." Which sounded reasonable enough, so they made several dozen, using supplies Leon had purchased for them the day before.
After they'd slotted in as many as could fit into the oven, Merlin went to the loo and Arthur half-heartedly began rinsing the mountain of dirty dishes they'd managed to accumulate. Merlin was gone a long time, and eventually Arthur abandoned the dishes and went looking for him. He found him in his bedroom, eyeing two of his larger football trophies with interest.
"Sorry," Merlin said, colouring. "Is this OK? I was just walking by, and-"
"S'fine," Arthur said, too quickly.
"These are so big," Merlin said, snickering a little as he looked back at the trophies.
Arthur shrugged. "State championships are a pretty big deal."
Merlin leaned in to read the inscriptions on each of them. "I always forget they call it 'soccer'. It's weird, isn't it? They've just got this whole different word for it."
"Yeah. Was dead confusing at first. But you get used to it."
"Did you like it there?"
"It was all right, yeah," Arthur said.
"Better or worse than here?"
Arthur shrugged. "I dunno. Different."
"I've heard of that state, Minnesota, but I don't know anything about it. How'd your dad pick it?"
"It's where his wife's from."
"How'd they meet?"
"We were abroad in the same place. My dad and I lived in the Philippines for a year when I was thirteen. The bank he works for was opening a branch there, and he was tasked with getting it started. Catrina-that's his wife-her family owns this huge multinational manufacturing corporation, and she was there for a few months for something to do with that."
"Sounds romantic," Merlin said, deadpan.
Arthur snorted. "I guess, I dunno. I was thirteen and definitely not paying attention to my father's love life. When they decided to get married, she was back in the States and didn't want to move away from her family again. My father and I don't have any family besides each other, so it made sense for us to move instead of her."
"You went straight from the Philippines?"
"No, we were back in England for a couple of years first. That's when Leon came to live with us, since my father was gone so much more than usual, what with maintaining his transatlantic relationship."
Merlin grinned. "And he's been following you around ever since?"
"Basically. He was more my father's driver than mine in Minnesota-I had my own car, at that point-but we still spent a lot of time together."
Merlin slid a heavy piece of paper out from underneath one of the trophies. Arthur had to crane his neck to see what it was, and when he recognised it, all the air in the room seemed to suddenly disappear.
"Was this your team, then?" Merlin asked, chuckling. "I see they've all got that jacket."
Arthur nodded and tried to laugh. It was a photo taken right after they'd won their second state championship.
"They good blokes?"
"Yeah."
"Which one's the rock star you get all those emails about?" Merlin asked.
"Um," Arthur said, and he didn't want to point at the picture, because his hands were sweating and his finger would probably shake. "The one right next to me, there."
"With his arm around you?"
"Yeah."
"What's his name?"
"Chris Valiant," Arthur said. "We all called him Val."
"Looks like your best mate." Arthur didn't answer.
Merlin studied the photo. "There is a proper crowd there behind you. Bit different to Camelot, eh?"
Arthur's snort was drowned out by the smoke alarm coming to life in the kitchen. He was pathetically happy for the interruption, even though it meant their unattended biscuits had met with a very undignified end.
"I thought you knew what you were doing!" Arthur barked, as they opened the windows to air the place out and began scraping the charred remains of the biscuits off the baking trays.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because I watched you cook food that was completely edible just a few days ago?"
"That was different. I've made that a thousand times and my mum showed me how in the first place. And everyone knows baking sweets is totally different to cooking proper food."
"You are well full of excuses now, aren't you?"
"Oh, stuff it."
They sighed in unison and looked around the kitchen warily.
"Leon might actually kill me," Arthur said. "We better get this cleaned up."
Merlin grinned at him, and for a moment Arthur thought he was about to do something perfectly awful, like run out the door and hop on his bike, leaving Arthur to deal with it himself. But instead, he looked back at the mess and began speaking a strange, nonsensical series of syllables. Arthur frowned, and Merlin's eyes flashed with gold, and for the second time in fewer than fifteen minutes, all the air was sucked right out of the room.
"I'm not really supposed to use it like this," Merlin said, a minute later. "Mum has rules about me doing my chores the 'old-fashioned way,' but we're not in her kitchen right now, are we?"
"No," Arthur agreed weakly, taking in the perfectly clean kitchen in front of them.
"Arthur?" Merlin asked, sounding a bit wary. "Everything OK?"
"Yeah, everything's great," Arthur said, reflexively. "Sorry, that was just-the first time I've actually seen magic close up. I'm-just give me a minute." Merlin nodded, and there was awkward silence until, unexpectedly, Arthur began laughing.
"It's pretty brilliant, isn't it?" Merlin said, beaming at him with a wide, goofy smile, and Arthur had no choice but to agree.
#
That night, after Leon had driven Merlin home with Kilgharrah carefully lodged in the back seat, Arthur lay in bed for a long time, staring sleeplessly at the ceiling, trying not to think about magic or wide, goofy smiles or Merlin in his bedroom.
His heart pounded, and he turned onto his stomach angrily, burying his face in his pillow and squeezing his eyes shut, pleading for sleep.
#
Monday afternoon was sunny and beautiful at the end of their last class, and Merlin suggested they have their student council meeting outside again. "Like we did that first time," he said. "It's really nice out, and who knows how many more days like this we'll have."
"Yeah, sure," Arthur replied, without really thinking about it.
Once they got outside, he regretted it. They sat down on the same bench they had used that first Tuesday, but this time Arthur didn't have football practice first, so there were still loads of students milling about around them.
"Should we go somewhere a little less crowded?" he asked, but Merlin was busy calling out a hello to a group of passing magic students.
"Sorry, what?" Merlin asked, a minute later.
"Nothing," Arthur said, trying not to roll his eyes. "Let's just get started, shall we?"
"Yeah, OK," Merlin said, but they only got as far as confirming the hours of the bike fair on Friday before there was another interruption, a pair of girls who stopped to say hello to Merlin. They were both magic students, but Arthur recognised one of them from his Literature class. She didn't seem to recognise him-or even to see him at all, really. He sat awkwardly while Merlin asked them about their weekend.
One of them finally threw Arthur an vaguely interested glace. "So who's your little friend, Merlin?" she asked, and something in Arthur snapped.
"I'm gonna go," he said, already on his feet. The girls just looked at him, and Merlin gave him a startled, blinking stare.
"What?" Merlin said.
"Maybe we can do this later," Arthur replied, and he was already striding away. Merlin might have called after him, but Arthur couldn't hear him over the buzzing in his ears.
He reached the locker room before he realised that was where he was going, and five minutes later he was back outside, running laps around the empty football pitch. He ran sprints first, until his lungs were burning, and then slowed to an endurance pace. He ran and ran and ran as the sun sank in the sky, and it wasn't nearly enough.
#
The school grounds were deserted by the time Arthur left them. He stared at the ground as he walked, so he didn't see Merlin until he was right there, halfway between the school and Leon's car, sitting in the grass with his bike lying next to him.
Arthur stopped in surprise, and they stared at each other in silence for a long moment.
"What the fuck, Arthur?" Merlin finally said.
Arthur clenched his jaw and started walking again.
"No," Merlin snapped, and he was on his feet, blocking Arthur's path. "You do not get to just walk away again. What the fuck happened back there?"
"I'm sorry, Merlin, I just got sick having my time wasted while you mucked about with your fans during our meeting."
"I was talking to them for like two seconds!"
"Well I've got better things to do than to just sit there next to you, looking like yet another one of your pathetic friends."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it-I'm not actually your friend, so it doesn't matter."
"Not my friend? Arthur, what the fuck-of course you're my friend."
"When have I ever shown interest in being your friend, Merlin?"
Merlin sputtered. "When you had dinner at my house with me and my mother? When I came over to yours to bake fucking biscuits yesterday?"
"Both of those events were council related. We tolerate each other so we can get work done, that's all."
"That is complete bullshit, Arthur, and you know it."
"Why are you so concerned with being my friend?" Arthur barked. "You said people at this school were honest, so let's be honest-at any other school, anywhere else in the world, someone like you and someone like me-"
"Could never be friends?" Merlin snapped. "Because that's so ridiculous, and impossible?"
Arthur faltered under Merlin's angry stare. "Not impossible, maybe. But highly unlikely."
"And why is that? Because you would bully someone like me, anywhere else?"
Arthur started to say no, reflexively, but stopped himself. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe not. But I'd have friends who would, and I probably wouldn't work very hard to stop them."
"Did you want to bully me, when you saw me on the first day? Was that your instinct?"
"No," Arthur said, honestly.
"But you didn't want anything to do with me."
Arthur heaved an angry breath and wished Merlin would stop looking at him. "Not right away, no."
"You couldn't risk talking to me in case I wasn't popular enough?"
Arthur didn't say anything, which seemed like answer enough.
"So why did you still not want to be my friend, once you saw I was more popular than you thought?"
"We'd already had it out, hadn't we? You said yourself, we got off to a pretty bad start."
"And I chased after you, waving the white flag on that very first day. You refused."
"I may want to be popular, Merlin, but I've got enough self-respect not to throw myself at your feet just to make friends by association. Look, I get that this place is different, OK? I get that my sort are never going to be king of the hill around here, but I've been on the other side of this. I've been the popular kid trying to befriend the less fortunate, and I'm not interested, OK? I don't want your charity."
Merlin barked an exasperated laugh, and looked off down the road, like he couldn't believe any of this. "Did you really?" he asked, after what felt like several minutes.
"Did I what?"
"Try to befriend the unpopular kids, at your last school?"
"Yeah, I did," Arthur said, a bit too plaintively, "sort of. I mean, I tried to be friendly, at least. I was actually elected class president," he said pointedly, "and I took that seriously. I wanted them to be comfortable with me."
"So it was political."
Arthur shrugged. "I suppose. But I wanted to represent the entire class. I wanted them to feel like their opinions mattered to me-to their student government, regardless of how many friends they had."
Merlin didn't say anything. Arthur's cheeks flamed, suddenly, and he felt like he'd said too much. He shifted his bag from one shoulder to the other.
"It's not that different here, you know," Merlin said.
"Isn't it? Isn't the whole point that it's different here?"
"It wasn't always," Merlin said. "It used to be just like everywhere else."
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked, looking at him.
Merlin sighed. "I don't know how many of the stories are actually true, but they say that, years ago, Camelot looked just like every other school with your usual selection of teenage stereotypes, including the big bad footballers who ran the show. The magic program was tiny, and the magic students had a really hard go of it-they got picked on, bullied, all of it. Until they'd had enough, and used their magic to turn the tables."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. "They ran all the bullies out of school?" he asked, not unimpressed.
"Not at first," Merlin said. "It started out small-just humiliating them from time to time. Everyone's favourite story is one kid spelling the entire football club into complete incompetence-they couldn't even run from one end of the pitch to the other, by the time he was done with them."
Arthur bristled. "Are you lot still doing that?"
"No," Merlin said quickly, "no-using magic on a fellow student is strictly prohibited now, and carefully monitored."
"But our football club is terrible."
Merlin shrugged. "Not because of anything we're doing."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "All right, fine. So a long time ago, some magic kids humiliated a bunch of footballers, so what? Did that really change so much?"
"Not right away," Merlin said. "They fought back, and things escalated, and it got pretty ugly for a while. And then, suddenly, the footballers and all their friends started failing all their A levels."
Arthur frowned. "They spelled them to fail? That seems excessive."
Merlin shrugged. "I wasn't there, so I dunno. But it happened a bunch of years in a row, and Camelot's reputation nose-dived pretty quickly. The non-magic student body dwindled to almost nothing-none of them would come here anymore. From then until Gaius became Headmaster, Camelot enrolled almost exclusively magic students."
"And what did he do?"
"He wanted it to be more inclusive, so he made a bunch of changes he hoped would entice non-magic students to come back. He amped up the non-magic curriculum, got us all taking more non-magic A levels. He tried to get the sports clubs going again, and founded the student council. I think he thought if he could just get magic and non-magic kids together again in the same space, that suddenly we'd sort everything out amongst ourselves."
Arthur snorted, and Merlin shrugged. "It's a lot better than it was," he said. "But, yeah. It didn't really work."
"Because your lot like being on top too much?"
"Because anyone who's on top likes being there too much," Merlin snapped. "And because change takes time, especially when you're talking about changing attitudes. A lot of people really like Camelot the way it is, and I don't blame them. Most of the kids who have an easy time here wouldn't anywhere else, for exactly the reasons you just demonstrated."
Arthur heaved another sigh. "Fine, whatever," he said. "I got it, all right? I'll stop trying to push my way into your little school and just get through my year here without rocking the boat." He started walking again.
"Arthur-" Merlin started, but this time he let Arthur pass with a sigh.
Arthur was several yards away when Merlin called after him, "Arthur, wait, no. That's not what I want." He jogged to catch up. "I think Camelot needs to change, and I think maybe it can, but I can't do it alone. I need your help."
Arthur turned around. "What are you talking about?"
"Camelot could be so much more, if only-" Merlin sighed, and rubbed at his face. "I want the non-magic kids to feel like they belong here. I want everyone to join whatever clubs they like without worrying about-social suicide, or whatever you called it. I want you to be able to wear your stupid football jacket without everyone hating you on sight, before they even know you."
Arthur looked down at his jacket helplessly. "And what am I supposed to do about any of that?"
"I don't know, if I had any idea, I'd have tried it ages ago. But you're here, aren't you? And I think your heart's in the right place-why else were you so eager to serve on the student council?" Merlin held his gaze steadily, and Arthur couldn't look away. "Arthur, I think if we can-if you and I can be friends, if we can figure out how to work together, then maybe-I don't know. I'm probably crazy, but there's something about you, Arthur."
Arthur stared at Merlin for a long time, not saying anything. He sighed and averted his gaze to the ground.
"Do you really think I only want to be your friend out of charity?" Merlin asked, after an age.
"No," Arthur answered, feebly.
"Good. Cause I honestly do just-actually like you, although I've been questioning my sanity on that front all afternoon."
Arthur huffed a laugh. "Yeah, I can be kind of a prick sometimes."
Merlin chuckled and didn't disagree.
"Do you wanna come over and have a go on the PlayStation?" Arthur asked, without meaning to. "Or whatever," he added, when Merlin didn't immediately answer. "We could work on that Macbeth assignment, instead."
Merlin was quiet for another long moment and looked steadily at Arthur, smiling in a way that made Arthur want to do something terribly stupid. "I can't," he finally said, "Mum's already been looking for me. Friday, though? After the fair?"
Arthur nodded. "Sure, yeah."
"Great." Merlin retrieved his bike from the grass. He smiled as he got on it. "That's great, Arthur. See you tomorrow."
"Great, yeah," Arthur muttered, as he rode away. "Everything's just bloody great."
#
Friday was sunny and unseasonably warm, which was lucky. The fair began right after school-Arthur, Merlin and a couple members of the cycling club had got permission to leave their last class fifteen minutes early to get the final bits and pieces set up, and things had gone remarkably smoothly. Arthur and Merlin had gone around to all the classrooms during registration on Thursday reminding kids to bring their bikes to school, and a good number of them actually had. The lawn outside the school buildings had been littered with bikes all day-a lot of kids who didn't usually cycle to school had, and at least one person had brought his bike along on the bus.
The fair was in full swing, and Arthur couldn't help but survey it with pride. The feeling was a bit awkward and ill-fitting, for how long it had been since he had experienced it. He wandered over to where Leon was working the bake sale table, having come to Arthur and Merlin's rescue in the kitchen.
"Honestly, Leon," Arthur said, purchasing his fourth biscuit of the afternoon, "I'm beginning to think you've missed your calling, here. How did I never know you could bake like this?"
Leon just smiled at him, and made change for the next customer. "Everyone's got their secrets, haven't they?" he asked.
Arthur chewed, and mostly managed not to glare at him.
"Arthur!" Merlin called, "you get your bike tuned up yet?"
"Was first in line," he called back, and refused to make eye contact with Leon, who was the only one who knew that Arthur hadn't owned a bike until the night before, and that he'd just paid to have it serviced brand new.
"Good! Gilli's ready whenever you are!"
Arthur groaned. That morning, he'd been riding his new bike from where Leon had dropped him off (a bit further away than usual), when he'd encountered Gilli arriving from the other direction, on a small, pink bike covered in stars and sparkles. Arthur had just stared, speechless.
"You got something to say, Pendragon?" Gilli had challenged him.
"That's a lovely bike," Arthur had managed, "I'm just wondering if you've had a growth spurt, since the last time you rode it."
"It's my sister's, all right?"
"You planning to race on that thing?"
"I'm planning to leave your arse in the dust on this thing."
Arthur had laughed. "You're on, Gilli. If you can beat me on that, I'll donate another twenty quid in your name to the cycling club's marathon." Gilli had raised a surprised eyebrow, but nodded.
"All right," Arthur muttered, "let's get this over with."
Ten minutes later, as he shoved a twenty pound note into the coffer and Merlin recorded Gilli's name on the list of donors with a smirk, Arthur rolled his eyes. "I highly suspect there was magic involved in that."
Merlin just shrugged innocently.
"There was, wasn't there? He cheated?"
"I don't know," Merlin said, grinning. "Probably, knowing him. But I'm glad to have your money either way, so I'm not gonna say anything about it."
"Prat," Arthur said, but he didn't actually mind very much. He probably would have lost anyway-first day on his new bike and all-and it soothed his ego to think that Gilli may have taken a magical advantage.
A couple of girls were standing near them, watching the next few races. "Wish I had time for a go," one of them said to the other. "I'd love to show Millie what's what."
"There's plenty of time yet," Arthur said to her. "Have a race, if you like."
"We can't," the girl said. "We've got to leave for our hockey match in a minute."
"Field hockey?" Arthur asked. "You play for the school club?" The girls nodded. "Where's the match?"
"Mercia," one of them replied.
"Good luck," Arthur said, as they left. He turned to Merlin. "Mercia's not far, is it?"
Merlin shook his head. "No. Closer than my house, just in the other direction."
As the fair began to wind down, Arthur stepped up onto a nearby bench to make some closing announcements. "Excuse me," he called to the crowd, "may I have your attention, please?" Most of the surrounding heads turned his way. "I want to thank you all for coming today, participating, and helping to make our Bicycle Awareness Fair such a rousing success. Merlin and I, as your student council representatives, couldn't be more pleased with the turn out. We're moments away from announcing the winner of the raffle, which I know you're all eager to hear, but before we get to that, I have one more announcement.
"In a few minutes, I'm going to get on my bike and ride over to Mercia Academy, where our Camelot girls' field hockey club is about to have a match. I know they'd love a crowd to support them, so if any of you have the time, I hope you'll ride over there with me. It'll be a great opportunity for us all to get our freshly-tuned bikes out on the road, as well as to support our school mates. Thanks again, and I'll let Merlin get up here to announce the winning raffle ticket."
Merlin grinned at him, wide and surprised, before he took Arthur's place on the bench. "I'm in," he said.
Not everyone came, but they were a good-sized crowd, cycling jovially down the road. The members of the hockey team were gratifyingly wide-eyed and pleased as they rolled up alongside the pitch with a flourish. They cheered the team to a tie that felt very much like a win, and Merlin beamed at Arthur, afterwards, as they climbed back onto their bikes. "Does your PlayStation invitation still stand?" he asked.
"If you want, yeah," Arthur replied, grinning and not quite looking at him.
#
"Are you doing your A levels in one year, then?" Merlin asked, his thumbs clicking against the PlayStation controller. "Is that even possible? Or are you doing your university applications next year?"
"No, I'm submitting my applications now," Arthur replied. He paused to complete a complicated jump/kick move in the game, and it was an odd sort of relief, having the screen to focus on with Merlin so nearby. "I'm not doing A levels, actually, I'm doing an IB diploma instead. The courses for that are standard all over the world, so the ones I finished at Andersen in Minnesota transferred no problem."
"That's pretty slick."
"Yeah, it's good for people who have to move around to different countries. I think they originally started it for kids of diplomats and things in the sixties, but now anyone can do it. You just have to find schools that offer it."
"That's how you picked Camelot, then? And your school in the States?"
"Yup. We first heard of it when we were in the Philippines-my dad had me at an international school in Manila, and they suggested it."
"Shit," Merlin suddenly yelled, as his PlayStation persona took a rough tumble off the side of a building. "How was Manila, then?" he asked, as he recovered. "Did you like living there?"
"Yeah, it was all right. A year wasn't really enough time get properly settled, and I was too young to do much of anything, but I liked it. It was way warmer than either here or Minnesota, so that was nice."
"Did it rain as much as they say it does?"
Arthur snorted. "During the season, oh my god."
"More than here, even?"
"Like you've never seen. But the people there are dead friendly, which made for a nice change from here. By which I mean Camelot, by the way." Merlin smirked, but didn't say anything. "They've got these crazy buses there that you'd probably love-called jeepneys. They decorate them all crazy, probably give them stupid names like Kilgharrah and things."
"Oi, watch it."
Arthur laughed, and successfully avoided a trap on the screen. "Anyway, that was the year I started both Spanish and basketball, which was dead useful when I got to the States."
"I've always wondered-why do they call them baskets when they don't have a bottom?" Merlin asked. "I mean, the point of a basket is to hold things, but the ball just falls right through. Why don't they call it hoopball or something?"
"I have no idea."
Merlin tutted. "Well I think it's silly."
"I'm sure the entire basketball playing world will take note of your disapproval."
"Shut up," Merlin said, as their next round started. "So you were on the basketball team as well, last year?"
"Yup."
"How athletic of you."
"Yes, I'm very impressive."
Merlin snorted. "I can imagine the Americans thought so."
Arthur shrugged. They played in silence for a few minutes.
"Something else I've always wondered," Merlin began, and stopped.
"What?"
"You know how they always say American women fancy the pants off a British accent, even the real crap ones?"
Arthur snorted. "Yeah?"
"Do the men as well?" Merlin asked, after a moment.
Arthur blinked, and missed a key jump on the screen. "Um," he said.
"I've always sort of joked," Merlin said, talking quickly, "that if they do, maybe I should go to university over there, since it might be easier to find myself a rich boyfriend."
Arthur's avatar on the screen accidentally performed some sort of spastic back flip, and fell into a pit of venomous snakes.
"Got to use what you've got, right?" Merlin gave a tight laugh.
Arthur stared at the screen for a moment, willing the huge roil of his stomach to calm down. He glanced at Merlin, who was also staring determinedly at the screen, his ears gone a furious pink. His cheeks were quickly colouring as well, and unexpectedly, Arthur felt his need to put Merlin at ease overriding the thing churning inside him.
"I find it hard to believe that you have trouble getting dates," Arthur said, as his avatar limply tried to jump out of the pit, weak from snake venom, "what with how most of Camelot fawns over you like their lord and master."
Merlin snorted. "Shut up, they don't."
"They do," Arthur said. "You say jump, they say how high. You tell them to bring their bikes to school, and almost every last one of them does it."
He looked at Merlin, who was smiling at him sidelong, tentatively, and Arthur smiled back. They were sitting close enough for Arthur to knock Merlin companionably with his elbow, which he did.
"Oi!" Merlin cried, as his avatar fell into some water. "That was your fault! You bollocksed me up!"
"You don't need my help with that, mate," Arthur said, laughing.
part three →