Oh Summer Days: Part Two
Title: Oh Summer Days
Chapter Two: Day One
Author: Krillitanestorm
Summary: Modern AU: Merlin finds himself enrolled in the Camelot Summer Camp program. At first he believes it to be the worst summer of his life, but as the days progress he slowly finds himself wishing this summer would never end. Merlin/Arthur Slash
Rating: T
Warnings: Slash. In other words male/male. Besides that, there's nothing.
A/N: The next chapter! Hazar! I'll tell you all now, I'm currently up to chapter six on fanfiction, so if you want to read more, than you can go there. The reason I'm not uploading so quickly on LJ is because I don't want to annoy the MerlinxArthur mods for spamming, or along those lines. Enjoy!
Day One
‘Camelot, where legends begin,’ read the large wooden sign that indicated the entrance to the campgrounds.
“Yeah right...” Merlin mumbled in a drowsy state, he had only just fallen asleep less than five minutes ago and they were already here.
The bus ride itself had only taken about half an hour, although if you subtracted the traffic jam you were most likely looking at around about a twenty minute trip from the city.
Standing up, Merlin accidentally slammed his head into the luggage rack, causing him to yelp in pain.
“Hurry up,” Gwen said with a sense of urgency as she stepped off the bus and onto the dirt ground outside.
Obeying her order, he shuffled between the seats and into the aisle bumping into Arthur, who towered down upon him. If Merlin hadn’t of been hypnotized by Arthur at the time, perhaps he would have noticed how irritated he was.
“Get out of my way,” he growled before pushing Merlin aside, back into the seat he had previously occupied.
“Oi! What was that...?” Merlin didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Arthur had already stormed off the bus to collect his luggage, that was now being pulled out from the undercarriage by the other kids and Uther.
Somewhere between hurt and anger, Merlin managed to get off the bus and out into the fresh air and sunlight. It was horrible, never in his life had he breathed in such pure air. Hunith had always told him that fresh air was good for you, but he never believed it for a second, mostly because there’s plenty of fresh air inside, so what’s the point of going outdoors?
The camp was actually bigger than Merlin first anticipated. From what he could see, there were at least a dozen small wooden lodges hidden by the foliage around them, no doubt that’s where each of them would be sleeping for the next two weeks. There were also a few rather huge buildings around them, which would serve as the dining hall and most likely the classrooms.
Beyond the trees, Merlin caught glimpse of an overly large lake, which could almost be mistaken as a mirrors surface as it had a perfectly smooth surface.
“Everyone, I need you to collect your bags and follow me,” Uther shouted at the top of voice, and immediately everyone collected their luggage and followed Uther down the dirt path which lead towards the main campus building.
“Hi,” said a girl who had strode up next to Merlin, “I’m Morgana.”
“Hey...” Merlin mumbled nervously, it had been quite a while since he had talked to new people. “I’m Merlin.”
“So what do you think?” Morgana said gesturing to the wildness around them.
“It’s alright... I guess,” Merlin replied as he looked around for Gwen, who was flirting openly with Lancelot a few meters in front of them.
“Alright?” Morgana said sounding as if she was disgusted by Merlin’s answer. “It’s terrible! Every year I get forced to come to Camelot, and each year I find it harder and harder to keep my sanity in check.”
“Well if you don’t like it, why don’t you tell your parents?” Merlin asked feeling a little bit more confident about himself.
“I would, but my stepfather is the camp director, I don’t get much say in the matter,” Morgana pointed ahead to Uther who was now opening the door to the building, allowing everyone to walk inside.
“That sucks,” Merlin replied with a frown before cautiously walking past Uther, who gave him a strange look as he entered the building.
“And that there is my idiotic stepbrother,” Morgana pointed out Arthur, who was now leaning up against a wall as everyone gathered around a long table, which Merlin took to be the dining table as the kitchen was directly behind it through a large gap in the wall.
“Is he always such a prat?” Merlin asked remembering their encounter on the bus.
“Not always, just try not to get onto his bad side,” Morgana said, sitting down on a large bench that stretched out all the way to the other end of the table.
“Too late for that,” Merlin stated sitting next to Morgana. She seemed to be fairly nice, but Merlin got the impression she wasn’t the kind of person to mess with.
“Don’t worry too much about it. You seem like a great guy, just try not and annoy him too much and you'll get on fine,” Morgana advised, and Merlin took quick note as Gwen sat beside him on the opposite side.
“Hey Merlin, who’s this?” Gwen asked directing her gaze towards Morgana.
“This is Morgana, she’s just giving me helpful tips on how not to get myself in trouble,” Merlin smiled at the two, but caught sight of Arthur who was staring at him with his arms crossed. The moment Merlin waved, though, Arthur looked away as if he had never existed in the first place.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Gwen,” she reached across Merlin to shake Morgana’s hand.
Merlin allowed the two girls to get to know each other by staying quiet. After about a minute, the two were already talking like best friends.
“Quiet down,” Uther shouted now that everyone was inside and sitting down or standing around the table. The room went quite and he continued, “Now that I have your attention, I would like to introduce you all to your teachers.”
Beside him stood three completely different adults, all of whom stepped forward one by one to introduce themselves.
Gaius was rather an old man, but seemed very knowledgeable which would come in handy as he was their maths and chemistry teacher. Morgause, on the other hand, was a fairly young woman who was in charge of outdoor activities. The last one was Anguis, who was there English literature teacher.
“If you hadn’t noticed as we came in, the cabins are fairly small and can only hold a maximum of two people. On this list,” Uther held out a small piece of paper that had been drawn up as a grid with names written on it, “You will find your name, and the cabin number you will be sleeping in for the next two weeks, please look at it. After you have looked at the list, follow the path outside towards the cabins, as long as you stay to the path you shouldn’t get lost. But if you do, then that’s your own fault and you can find your way back. Is that clear? Good. Once you’ve unpacked your things, I suggest you get changed into something a bit more comfortable, as you will be going canoeing in an hour.”
There was a murmur of excitement from most of the others, all except Merlin who had his head buried in his hands. Canoeing. This camp just kept getting better and better.
Everyone rushed over to the list that Uther had placed on the table, and were now checking what room number they were in and who they were paired with. Merlin waited at the back so he wouldn’t get pushed out of the way.
There was a sudden squeal from Gwen who quickly turned to Morgana, “I’m with you! Cabin Five.”
“Grab your stuff, I know the way,” Morgana smiled, and the two girls had left the building in a blink on an eye.
Only a few people were left now, including Arthur who hadn’t moved an inch from his leaning position against the wall. Walking over to where the list was, Merlin began skimming through the names.
Cabin One: Freya, Sophia
Cabin Two: Will, Edwin
Cabin Three: Valiant, Lancelot
Cabin Four: Merlin, Arthur
Cabin Five: Morgana, Guinevere
“What!?” Merlin exclaimed noticing he had read past his name. The list surely had to be wrong, for the next two weeks he had to be in the same cabin as Arthur? Turning around he stared at Arthur, then back to the list in disbelief.
“I take it I’m with you then,” Arthur grunted after remaining silent for so long. Merlin nodded anxiously as Arthur walked towards him, taking one glance at the list and sighed. “Come on, this way.”
Merlin picked up his bag and followed Arthur outside, and down the dirt path that lead through the trees to the cabins. During that time, Merlin felt the urge to try and start some form of conversation with the blonde, but each time he tried, he found himself getting tongue-tied as he had no idea what to talk about.
Cabin Four was no bigger than a small shed. It had three small windows, two on either side of the door, and one on the side, and a red painted roof.
Arthur opened the door and walked in first, Merlin followed behind to find the room was even more cramped than he'd expected.
Against the wall was a small double bunk bed, which looked slightly comfortable, but usually things weren’t as they appeared. On the other side of the cabin was a wall mirror, and beside it were two cupboards, one of which Arthur was already unpacking his bag into.
Neither of them said a word as they removed everything they needed out of their bags and into the small cupboards. Once the final piece of clothing was put in, Merlin grabbed a pair of shorts and a loose fitting T-Shirt and stood in the darkest corner of the cabin to get changed.
“You can get changed over here,” Arthur pointed out as he closed his cupboard door.
“It’s okay, I’d rather get dressed here thanks,” Merlin replied shyly as he quickly stripped himself of his jeans until he was only in a pair of boxers. He swiftly slipped on the pair of blue shorts so he no longer felt exposed. He then removed his shirt, suddenly feeling the heat through the window against his back, and slipped on the fresh T-Shirt. Little did Merlin know that Arthur had been watching him undress the entire time, through the reflection of the mirror.
Once Merlin was fully clothed, Arthur grabbed a pair of cream coloured shorts and a red shirt, and as if Merlin wasn’t even in the room, began getting changed right in front of him.
Merlin had to tear his eyes away when he saw Arthur’s golden tan, not to mention his broad and muscular body. It was like the gods were taunting him. It was always the way, you can look, but you can never ever touch.
Arthur turned around towards him once he was fully dressed, and immediately Merlin felt himself going red. He decided to make a quick exit out of the cabin so that Arthur notice him. Not turning back, Merlin headed straight towards the dining hall where everyone was already gathering, all ready for canoeing.
Sitting down next to Gwen and Morgana, Merlin watched as Arthur strode in glancing around the room until he spotted him. Smiling slightly, Arthur walked over and sat next to his stepsister, where they waited until Morgause came into the room with a whistle around her neck.
“Welcome to your very first lesson, today we will be working on the skill of teamwork,” there were a distinct groans from both Valiant and Nimueh, but Morgause ignored it. “If you follow me to the boat house, please, we shall get started right away.”
Merlin followed Morgause outside, Gwen shortly behind who was chatting away with Morgana. Arthur was talking to Valiant and Nimueh, which caused Merlin to clutch his fist tightly as he felt a sudden wave of jealously surge through him.
Passing through the forest, they finally reached the boat house. Once Morgause had unlocked it, they all stared out at the open lake beyond as it reproduced the brilliant blue sky, the sun shining harshly at the watery surface.
“Pair up. Once you have, grab a canoe and two oars,” she said pointing to the large collection of bright yellow canoes that were attached to each of the walls. “When you’ve done that, bring it over here and ease yourselves into the water. But before you do that, I will teach you how to put a lifejacket on.”
She then demonstrated the correct procedure to place on the life jacket, also how to make sure the straps are secured so you don’t slip out of it in case you fall into the water.
“Hey Arthur,” Nimueh smiled sweetly, walking over to Arthur as everyone began to collect their equipment, “I was wondering if we could be partners?”
“As much as I’d like to accept that offer, I’ve already got a partner,” Arthur said looking over towards Merlin, who stood there in shock.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” she laughed, playfully hitting his arm. “You don’t seriously want to be partners with that thing, surely.”
“I’m sorry to tell you this Nimueh, but I do, so if you’ll excuse me,” Arthur turned around and walked directly towards Merlin, placing his arm around his shoulder before grinning as Nimueh stormed off in fury. Her eyes briefly connected with Merlin's, and he immediately knew that he was in for it later.
“You don’t really want to be my partner, do you?” Merlin asked grabbing an ore off the wall.
“Not really, but I just can’t stand her,” Arthur gave a slight laugh before continuing. “I’m also expecting you to have trouble moving through the water, so I best offer some assistance before you damage yourself trying.”
Chuckling slightly, the two lifted one of the canoes off the wall, they walked over to the body of water and gently lowered the canoe until the smooth surface rippled wildly.
“You get in the front,” Arthur ordered as he helped Merlin into the front of the canoe. Once Merlin was seated firmly in the hollow plastic, Arthur jumped in behind him causing the canoe to shake violently.
“Careful!” Merlin panicked as brought the oar out of the water in case he dropped it. Arthur laughed as he used his own ore to push them out of the boat house and onto the open lake.
“You have no sense of fun,” Arthur commented as he began to paddle through the water slowly. Eventually Merlin placed his oar outside the canoe and cautiously placed it in the water, pulling backwards in the water so they moved forward.
“Is this right?” Merlin asked unsure if he was doing it properly.
“Sure is, although by the looks of it your about to have your arm ripped off,” Arthur stated as he placed his oar horizontally in front of him. He was right though, Merlin wasn’t use to this sort of physical activity, he had done a bit of swimming before in his life, but that was as far as his sporting talents went.
“Can we take a break?” Merlin asked feeling quite sore in his upper body.
“We only just started!” Arthur exclaimed looking at him strangely.
“Please?”
“Fine,” Arthur gave him, crossing his arms in irritation.
Sighing, Merlin placed his oar in front of him so he wouldn’t drop it into the water. Looking around everyone else seemed to be having a good time, Gwen and Morgana were already on the other side of the lake, and were currently trying to turn around, and not very successfully either.
Out of nowhere, a splash of water hit Merlin directly in the face. Looking to his left, he saw Nimueh and Valiant laughing hysterically.
“Oh, sorry did we disturb you?” Valiant mocked childishly. “Please forgive me, I didn’t mean it.”
“Go away,” Arthur growled in frustration, looking as if he could kill both of them right then.
“Okay, wow, you don’t need to get all defensive,” Nimueh replied with her mouth half open in lust. “We’ll leave, won’t we Val?”
“Sure will,” he replied splashing Merlin yet again with his oar, although this time he flinched causing his oar to fall into the water.
“Bye!” Nimueh called out as the two paddled away across the water.
“Jerks,” Arthur shouted out across the lake, but they were too far away now to hear.
“Dammit,” Merlin looked down at his clothes, he was completely saturated. Perfect. Well at least the weather was warming up now, so it shouldn’t take that long to dry off.
“Don’t worry about them,” Arthur said still glaring at Nimueh and Valiant, who were now splashing the girls.
Wiping away the water that was running down his face, Merlin reached out of the canoe to grab his oar before it drifted away. His fingers slightly grazed the metal pole of the oar, but slipped off.
“Don’t do that,” Arthur warned, but Merlin wasn’t listening. Instead he stretched out further, this time he managed to grab the oar, but at a price. The canoe tipped upside down, sending Arthur and Merlin hurtling into the water.
For a moment Merlin wasn’t sure which way was up, but thankfully the lifejacket brought him to the surface.
“I told you not to do that!” Arthur shouted at Merlin angrily as they both began treading water.
“Sorry...” Merlin apologized quietly, but Arthur didn’t seem to care, instead he began swimming to the shore, leaving Merlin alone in the middle of the lake.
Morgause paddled over to Merlin, who was now clinging to the upturned canoe.
“What happened?” she asked, looking at Merlin, then to Arthur who was now just getting out of the lake soaking wet. Merlin raised an eyebrow at her, it was quite obvious what had happened.
“Can you swim back to shore?” she asked throwing a small rope around the canoe, tugging on so it was secured. Merlin nodded his head. “Good, go back to your cabin and get cleaned up, I’ll be talking to you and Arthur later.”
Without saying another word, Morgause began paddling back towards the boat house, the canoe dragging through the water behind her, leaving him alone in the water.
Great, just when he thought he and Arthur were getting along great, he had to go be stupid and ruin it. Mumbling to himself, Merlin began swimming towards the shore hoping that there was some way he could repay Arthur for what happened.
To be continued...
Next Chapter
Chapter Two: Day One
Author: Krillitanestorm
Summary: Modern AU: Merlin finds himself enrolled in the Camelot Summer Camp program. At first he believes it to be the worst summer of his life, but as the days progress he slowly finds himself wishing this summer would never end. Merlin/Arthur Slash
Rating: T
Warnings: Slash. In other words male/male. Besides that, there's nothing.
A/N: The next chapter! Hazar! I'll tell you all now, I'm currently up to chapter six on fanfiction, so if you want to read more, than you can go there. The reason I'm not uploading so quickly on LJ is because I don't want to annoy the MerlinxArthur mods for spamming, or along those lines. Enjoy!
Day One
‘Camelot, where legends begin,’ read the large wooden sign that indicated the entrance to the campgrounds.
“Yeah right...” Merlin mumbled in a drowsy state, he had only just fallen asleep less than five minutes ago and they were already here.
The bus ride itself had only taken about half an hour, although if you subtracted the traffic jam you were most likely looking at around about a twenty minute trip from the city.
Standing up, Merlin accidentally slammed his head into the luggage rack, causing him to yelp in pain.
“Hurry up,” Gwen said with a sense of urgency as she stepped off the bus and onto the dirt ground outside.
Obeying her order, he shuffled between the seats and into the aisle bumping into Arthur, who towered down upon him. If Merlin hadn’t of been hypnotized by Arthur at the time, perhaps he would have noticed how irritated he was.
“Get out of my way,” he growled before pushing Merlin aside, back into the seat he had previously occupied.
“Oi! What was that...?” Merlin didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Arthur had already stormed off the bus to collect his luggage, that was now being pulled out from the undercarriage by the other kids and Uther.
Somewhere between hurt and anger, Merlin managed to get off the bus and out into the fresh air and sunlight. It was horrible, never in his life had he breathed in such pure air. Hunith had always told him that fresh air was good for you, but he never believed it for a second, mostly because there’s plenty of fresh air inside, so what’s the point of going outdoors?
The camp was actually bigger than Merlin first anticipated. From what he could see, there were at least a dozen small wooden lodges hidden by the foliage around them, no doubt that’s where each of them would be sleeping for the next two weeks. There were also a few rather huge buildings around them, which would serve as the dining hall and most likely the classrooms.
Beyond the trees, Merlin caught glimpse of an overly large lake, which could almost be mistaken as a mirrors surface as it had a perfectly smooth surface.
“Everyone, I need you to collect your bags and follow me,” Uther shouted at the top of voice, and immediately everyone collected their luggage and followed Uther down the dirt path which lead towards the main campus building.
“Hi,” said a girl who had strode up next to Merlin, “I’m Morgana.”
“Hey...” Merlin mumbled nervously, it had been quite a while since he had talked to new people. “I’m Merlin.”
“So what do you think?” Morgana said gesturing to the wildness around them.
“It’s alright... I guess,” Merlin replied as he looked around for Gwen, who was flirting openly with Lancelot a few meters in front of them.
“Alright?” Morgana said sounding as if she was disgusted by Merlin’s answer. “It’s terrible! Every year I get forced to come to Camelot, and each year I find it harder and harder to keep my sanity in check.”
“Well if you don’t like it, why don’t you tell your parents?” Merlin asked feeling a little bit more confident about himself.
“I would, but my stepfather is the camp director, I don’t get much say in the matter,” Morgana pointed ahead to Uther who was now opening the door to the building, allowing everyone to walk inside.
“That sucks,” Merlin replied with a frown before cautiously walking past Uther, who gave him a strange look as he entered the building.
“And that there is my idiotic stepbrother,” Morgana pointed out Arthur, who was now leaning up against a wall as everyone gathered around a long table, which Merlin took to be the dining table as the kitchen was directly behind it through a large gap in the wall.
“Is he always such a prat?” Merlin asked remembering their encounter on the bus.
“Not always, just try not to get onto his bad side,” Morgana said, sitting down on a large bench that stretched out all the way to the other end of the table.
“Too late for that,” Merlin stated sitting next to Morgana. She seemed to be fairly nice, but Merlin got the impression she wasn’t the kind of person to mess with.
“Don’t worry too much about it. You seem like a great guy, just try not and annoy him too much and you'll get on fine,” Morgana advised, and Merlin took quick note as Gwen sat beside him on the opposite side.
“Hey Merlin, who’s this?” Gwen asked directing her gaze towards Morgana.
“This is Morgana, she’s just giving me helpful tips on how not to get myself in trouble,” Merlin smiled at the two, but caught sight of Arthur who was staring at him with his arms crossed. The moment Merlin waved, though, Arthur looked away as if he had never existed in the first place.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Gwen,” she reached across Merlin to shake Morgana’s hand.
Merlin allowed the two girls to get to know each other by staying quiet. After about a minute, the two were already talking like best friends.
“Quiet down,” Uther shouted now that everyone was inside and sitting down or standing around the table. The room went quite and he continued, “Now that I have your attention, I would like to introduce you all to your teachers.”
Beside him stood three completely different adults, all of whom stepped forward one by one to introduce themselves.
Gaius was rather an old man, but seemed very knowledgeable which would come in handy as he was their maths and chemistry teacher. Morgause, on the other hand, was a fairly young woman who was in charge of outdoor activities. The last one was Anguis, who was there English literature teacher.
“If you hadn’t noticed as we came in, the cabins are fairly small and can only hold a maximum of two people. On this list,” Uther held out a small piece of paper that had been drawn up as a grid with names written on it, “You will find your name, and the cabin number you will be sleeping in for the next two weeks, please look at it. After you have looked at the list, follow the path outside towards the cabins, as long as you stay to the path you shouldn’t get lost. But if you do, then that’s your own fault and you can find your way back. Is that clear? Good. Once you’ve unpacked your things, I suggest you get changed into something a bit more comfortable, as you will be going canoeing in an hour.”
There was a murmur of excitement from most of the others, all except Merlin who had his head buried in his hands. Canoeing. This camp just kept getting better and better.
Everyone rushed over to the list that Uther had placed on the table, and were now checking what room number they were in and who they were paired with. Merlin waited at the back so he wouldn’t get pushed out of the way.
There was a sudden squeal from Gwen who quickly turned to Morgana, “I’m with you! Cabin Five.”
“Grab your stuff, I know the way,” Morgana smiled, and the two girls had left the building in a blink on an eye.
Only a few people were left now, including Arthur who hadn’t moved an inch from his leaning position against the wall. Walking over to where the list was, Merlin began skimming through the names.
Cabin One: Freya, Sophia
Cabin Two: Will, Edwin
Cabin Three: Valiant, Lancelot
Cabin Four: Merlin, Arthur
Cabin Five: Morgana, Guinevere
“What!?” Merlin exclaimed noticing he had read past his name. The list surely had to be wrong, for the next two weeks he had to be in the same cabin as Arthur? Turning around he stared at Arthur, then back to the list in disbelief.
“I take it I’m with you then,” Arthur grunted after remaining silent for so long. Merlin nodded anxiously as Arthur walked towards him, taking one glance at the list and sighed. “Come on, this way.”
Merlin picked up his bag and followed Arthur outside, and down the dirt path that lead through the trees to the cabins. During that time, Merlin felt the urge to try and start some form of conversation with the blonde, but each time he tried, he found himself getting tongue-tied as he had no idea what to talk about.
Cabin Four was no bigger than a small shed. It had three small windows, two on either side of the door, and one on the side, and a red painted roof.
Arthur opened the door and walked in first, Merlin followed behind to find the room was even more cramped than he'd expected.
Against the wall was a small double bunk bed, which looked slightly comfortable, but usually things weren’t as they appeared. On the other side of the cabin was a wall mirror, and beside it were two cupboards, one of which Arthur was already unpacking his bag into.
Neither of them said a word as they removed everything they needed out of their bags and into the small cupboards. Once the final piece of clothing was put in, Merlin grabbed a pair of shorts and a loose fitting T-Shirt and stood in the darkest corner of the cabin to get changed.
“You can get changed over here,” Arthur pointed out as he closed his cupboard door.
“It’s okay, I’d rather get dressed here thanks,” Merlin replied shyly as he quickly stripped himself of his jeans until he was only in a pair of boxers. He swiftly slipped on the pair of blue shorts so he no longer felt exposed. He then removed his shirt, suddenly feeling the heat through the window against his back, and slipped on the fresh T-Shirt. Little did Merlin know that Arthur had been watching him undress the entire time, through the reflection of the mirror.
Once Merlin was fully clothed, Arthur grabbed a pair of cream coloured shorts and a red shirt, and as if Merlin wasn’t even in the room, began getting changed right in front of him.
Merlin had to tear his eyes away when he saw Arthur’s golden tan, not to mention his broad and muscular body. It was like the gods were taunting him. It was always the way, you can look, but you can never ever touch.
Arthur turned around towards him once he was fully dressed, and immediately Merlin felt himself going red. He decided to make a quick exit out of the cabin so that Arthur notice him. Not turning back, Merlin headed straight towards the dining hall where everyone was already gathering, all ready for canoeing.
Sitting down next to Gwen and Morgana, Merlin watched as Arthur strode in glancing around the room until he spotted him. Smiling slightly, Arthur walked over and sat next to his stepsister, where they waited until Morgause came into the room with a whistle around her neck.
“Welcome to your very first lesson, today we will be working on the skill of teamwork,” there were a distinct groans from both Valiant and Nimueh, but Morgause ignored it. “If you follow me to the boat house, please, we shall get started right away.”
Merlin followed Morgause outside, Gwen shortly behind who was chatting away with Morgana. Arthur was talking to Valiant and Nimueh, which caused Merlin to clutch his fist tightly as he felt a sudden wave of jealously surge through him.
Passing through the forest, they finally reached the boat house. Once Morgause had unlocked it, they all stared out at the open lake beyond as it reproduced the brilliant blue sky, the sun shining harshly at the watery surface.
“Pair up. Once you have, grab a canoe and two oars,” she said pointing to the large collection of bright yellow canoes that were attached to each of the walls. “When you’ve done that, bring it over here and ease yourselves into the water. But before you do that, I will teach you how to put a lifejacket on.”
She then demonstrated the correct procedure to place on the life jacket, also how to make sure the straps are secured so you don’t slip out of it in case you fall into the water.
“Hey Arthur,” Nimueh smiled sweetly, walking over to Arthur as everyone began to collect their equipment, “I was wondering if we could be partners?”
“As much as I’d like to accept that offer, I’ve already got a partner,” Arthur said looking over towards Merlin, who stood there in shock.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” she laughed, playfully hitting his arm. “You don’t seriously want to be partners with that thing, surely.”
“I’m sorry to tell you this Nimueh, but I do, so if you’ll excuse me,” Arthur turned around and walked directly towards Merlin, placing his arm around his shoulder before grinning as Nimueh stormed off in fury. Her eyes briefly connected with Merlin's, and he immediately knew that he was in for it later.
“You don’t really want to be my partner, do you?” Merlin asked grabbing an ore off the wall.
“Not really, but I just can’t stand her,” Arthur gave a slight laugh before continuing. “I’m also expecting you to have trouble moving through the water, so I best offer some assistance before you damage yourself trying.”
Chuckling slightly, the two lifted one of the canoes off the wall, they walked over to the body of water and gently lowered the canoe until the smooth surface rippled wildly.
“You get in the front,” Arthur ordered as he helped Merlin into the front of the canoe. Once Merlin was seated firmly in the hollow plastic, Arthur jumped in behind him causing the canoe to shake violently.
“Careful!” Merlin panicked as brought the oar out of the water in case he dropped it. Arthur laughed as he used his own ore to push them out of the boat house and onto the open lake.
“You have no sense of fun,” Arthur commented as he began to paddle through the water slowly. Eventually Merlin placed his oar outside the canoe and cautiously placed it in the water, pulling backwards in the water so they moved forward.
“Is this right?” Merlin asked unsure if he was doing it properly.
“Sure is, although by the looks of it your about to have your arm ripped off,” Arthur stated as he placed his oar horizontally in front of him. He was right though, Merlin wasn’t use to this sort of physical activity, he had done a bit of swimming before in his life, but that was as far as his sporting talents went.
“Can we take a break?” Merlin asked feeling quite sore in his upper body.
“We only just started!” Arthur exclaimed looking at him strangely.
“Please?”
“Fine,” Arthur gave him, crossing his arms in irritation.
Sighing, Merlin placed his oar in front of him so he wouldn’t drop it into the water. Looking around everyone else seemed to be having a good time, Gwen and Morgana were already on the other side of the lake, and were currently trying to turn around, and not very successfully either.
Out of nowhere, a splash of water hit Merlin directly in the face. Looking to his left, he saw Nimueh and Valiant laughing hysterically.
“Oh, sorry did we disturb you?” Valiant mocked childishly. “Please forgive me, I didn’t mean it.”
“Go away,” Arthur growled in frustration, looking as if he could kill both of them right then.
“Okay, wow, you don’t need to get all defensive,” Nimueh replied with her mouth half open in lust. “We’ll leave, won’t we Val?”
“Sure will,” he replied splashing Merlin yet again with his oar, although this time he flinched causing his oar to fall into the water.
“Bye!” Nimueh called out as the two paddled away across the water.
“Jerks,” Arthur shouted out across the lake, but they were too far away now to hear.
“Dammit,” Merlin looked down at his clothes, he was completely saturated. Perfect. Well at least the weather was warming up now, so it shouldn’t take that long to dry off.
“Don’t worry about them,” Arthur said still glaring at Nimueh and Valiant, who were now splashing the girls.
Wiping away the water that was running down his face, Merlin reached out of the canoe to grab his oar before it drifted away. His fingers slightly grazed the metal pole of the oar, but slipped off.
“Don’t do that,” Arthur warned, but Merlin wasn’t listening. Instead he stretched out further, this time he managed to grab the oar, but at a price. The canoe tipped upside down, sending Arthur and Merlin hurtling into the water.
For a moment Merlin wasn’t sure which way was up, but thankfully the lifejacket brought him to the surface.
“I told you not to do that!” Arthur shouted at Merlin angrily as they both began treading water.
“Sorry...” Merlin apologized quietly, but Arthur didn’t seem to care, instead he began swimming to the shore, leaving Merlin alone in the middle of the lake.
Morgause paddled over to Merlin, who was now clinging to the upturned canoe.
“What happened?” she asked, looking at Merlin, then to Arthur who was now just getting out of the lake soaking wet. Merlin raised an eyebrow at her, it was quite obvious what had happened.
“Can you swim back to shore?” she asked throwing a small rope around the canoe, tugging on so it was secured. Merlin nodded his head. “Good, go back to your cabin and get cleaned up, I’ll be talking to you and Arthur later.”
Without saying another word, Morgause began paddling back towards the boat house, the canoe dragging through the water behind her, leaving him alone in the water.
Great, just when he thought he and Arthur were getting along great, he had to go be stupid and ruin it. Mumbling to himself, Merlin began swimming towards the shore hoping that there was some way he could repay Arthur for what happened.
To be continued...
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