Fic: Merely Ceremonial, 2a/3
A bush across the way rustled, and a second later something darted out of it. Aithusa followed close behind, wings tight against her body, and then she pounced. The squirrel gave one final squeak, and Merlin winced as Aithusa made her kill, victorious tail in the air.
“Well done,” he said encouragingly when Aithusa trotted over for praise. “You hardly need me here at all anymore.”
Aithusa preened, understanding the praise if not the words themselves, and then purred when Merlin petted her. She permitted it for a moment, radiating smugness, before another rustle from the foliage sent her straight back into hunting mode. Merlin let his hand fall as she flattened herself to the ground and stalked towards a bush. A squeak signaled that her prey had caught on to her attack, and quick rustling meant retreat, but Aithusa gave chase anyway.
Merlin yawned. Between staying up half the night hunting with Aithusa and the amount of homework he’d been handed, he’d only been able to get a few hours of sleep at a time for weeks now. He managed mostly by grabbing quick naps in the library between classes and drinking more coffee than any sane human would ever consume, but even still it was hard. Letting his eyes close, Merlin settled himself against the tree again, already feeling himself drifting off-
Loud, raucous laughter echoed through the trees. Merlin jerked awake with a curse, searching frantically for Aithusa. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the dragon a few feet away, head tilted curiously in the direction of the path but still safely inside the boundaries of Merlin’s magic.
“I can’t see a fuckin’ thing!” someone laughed-a woman, drunk judging by the slight slur of her words. Someone else laughed.
“’cos it’s fuckin’ night,” a man’s voice replied, just as drunk as the girl. There was more laughter, followed by rustling, as if someone had been shoved into a bush, and then the guy shouted, “Oi!”
“Fuck,” a third voice groaned, male again and louder than the others, “I thought you said this was a shortcut, Ned.”
“It woulda been, if you hadn’ tried to lead us into the pond.”
Merlin got carefully to his feet. The voices were getting closer, too close for comfort. He sent out a tendril of magic to check on his wards. Another burst of laughter erupted from the path, practically on top of them, and Aithusa let out a warning yip in response.
Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps stopped.
“Did you hear that?” the first man-Ned-asked. Merlin froze. He must have forgotten to muffle the noise-he’d just been so tired…
“Was it a dog?”
“Nah, can’t be-“
“Who’s there?” Ned called out, and Merlin cursed to hear the crunch of leaves under feet as the group came even closer. He darted forward, casting the muffling spell as he went, to put a calming hand on Aithusa’s neck.
“Aithusa, smyltnes,” he whispered, and a line of tension immediately left her, right as a tree just in front of them gave way to a tall, stumbling man. Merlin held his breath, but his spells seemed to be doing their job. The man halted right on the edge of the clearing, and a strange sort of blankness passed over his face before it passed, and he was left staring at the seemingly empty clearing.
“Ned? Is something wrong?” the girl asked, following at a more ginger pace. Her eyes swept curiously over the clearing, passing straight over Merlin without recognition.
“…nah,” Ned said at last, and Merlin finally relaxed. “Must’a been a bird, or sommat.”
The girl giggled, aiming a sloppy punch at Ned’s shoulder. “Birds don’ make that sound, it was a dog.”
“It was not-“ Ned insisted, but Merlin wasn’t paying attention anymore. He dropped his head into his hands, trying to calm his heartbeat. Aithusa whistled quietly, placing her muzzle on his knee.
“It’s okay,” Merlin said a little shakily. “I’m just-that was close.”
It’d been too close, really. He had to be more careful. Tired or no, he couldn’t risk someone getting too close again. He stroked Aithusa’s neck until his heart calmed and he could stand without shaking. Aithusa kept close to his side, radiating protectiveness. Merlin smiled down at her, and glanced at his watch.
“Shit,” he swore when he saw the time. “How long was I asleep? Come on, we need to get home.”
Aithusa chirped and trotted over to her bag. Merlin noticed that the fit was getting tighter and tighter-soon she wouldn’t be able to fit inside it at all. For now, though, he let his magic make it as comfortable as possible as he hurried through the empty streets for his flat. He let himself in silently, mindful of the early hour. Arthur’s door was predictably closed, just like it had been when he’d left, so Merlin tiptoed past and into his own room.
The adrenaline from almost getting caught had mostly run out by now, so Merlin blearily set Aithusa loose and stripped down to his boxers before falling facedown onto his bed, exhausted.
It seemed like he’d only been asleep for seconds before his alarm went off. His entire body was sore from sleeping outside in the cold most of the night, but he dragged himself out of bed anyway, ignored Arthur’s vaguely concerned look as he gulped down his coffee, and then mostly slept through all of his lectures. Finally, his classes ended and he stumbled out into the chilly air, juggling a pile of papers as he hurried towards the bus stop.
He’d just managed to stabilize everything when his mobile went off in his pocket.
“Hello?” he said a little hurriedly, nearly dropping his textbook in an attempt to balance his mobile on his shoulder.
“Oh, Merlin, good, you answered,” Gwen’s voice chirped cheerfully over the line. “I hope this is a good time.” Merlin snorted and managed to catch a free standing paper.
“As good as any. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to meet up to study for that medieval warfare exam.”
Merlin blinked. “What warfare exam?”
“The one we have tomorrow morning? Monmouth’s been talking about it all week. You were listening, weren’t you?”
“Shit,” Merlin groaned, “I forgot.”
“Well, you still have time. I can come over and help you study,” Gwen suggested reassuringly. “You can even use my notes.”
Merlin sighed. He’d been hoping to use tonight to catch up on sleep, after he’d caught up on the mountain of homework he still had. But there was no way he would be able to pass this exam without Gwen’s help.
“Yeah, I guess you should. Thank you, Gwen.”
“Of course. See you in an hour?”
“That’s fine. Gotta go, I’ll see you in a bit.”
He hung up quickly and scurried forward to join the queue for the bus. The ride took longer than usual, so Merlin had to rush up to his flat. He was rummaging in his pocket for his keys when the door opened in front of him, and he blinked up at Arthur’s amused face.
“Most people put their books inside their bags when they have to carry them, Merlin.”
“Shut up,” Merlin shrugged, not even bothering to come up with a scathing reply and breezing inside. “You’re home early.”
“Lectures ended early.”
“Lucky for some. You’re not using the sitting room tonight, are you?”
“No,” Arthur said, drawing out the ‘o’, “why?”
“Gwen’s coming over to study.”
Arthur shrugged. “Fine by me. What exam did you forget about this time?”
“Who says I forgot?” Merlin asked indignantly, tossing his books onto the counter.
“You only let Gwen force you to study with her when you’ve forgotten about something,” Arthur pointed out smugly. “So, which is it?”
“Medieval warfare,” Merlin admitted grudgingly, and Arthur snickered at him.
“You’re fucked, mate. Monmouth’s exams are killers.”
Merlin groaned, which was interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn. Arthur raised his eyebrow at him.
“Sleep poorly?”
“You have no idea,” Merlin mumbled, and dropped his head down onto the counter. He heard Arthur laughing at him. “A little bit of sympathy would be nice, you arse.”
“That’s Lance’s department,” Arthur pointed out, truthfully, with a hearty slap to Merlin’s back. “Tea’ll be ready in five,” he added, and Merlin wanted to kiss him (though to be fair, that wasn’t unusual for him).
“Thank fuck,” Merlin moaned instead. “I’m going to drop my things off in my room.”
He slipped away for his bedroom, disengaging the spells around the door with a quick blink and stepping inside. Aithusa was dozing in a patch of sunlight, but she raised her head when he entered and gave him a welcoming whistle.
“Hey,” Merlin said softly, dumping his bag on the ground. “Have a good day?” Aithusa chirped and extended her neck for a petting. Merlin grinned. “Good. I have a friend coming over, so you’re on your own for a while longer. We’ll go to the park tonight, though, alright?”
Another chirp, this time accompanied by a vague image of something round and green imprinted in Merlin’s mind. That was a new thing. Over the past few days they’d discovered that Aithusa had progressed to being able to share mental images rather than just feelings with Merlin. More often than not, they were blurred and hard to decipher, but it was still progress.
Merlin stroked over Aithusa’s favourite spot behind her wings. “Yeah, alright, just give me a second.”
He scrambled to his feet and went down to hunt down the ball he’d bought to keep Aithusa entertained while he was away. Aithusa’s tail perked up in interest when he held it up, eyes glowing golden, and then the ball bounced away seemingly of its own volition. Aithusa’s eyes tracked it, but she made no move to chase just yet. Merlin patted her on the head again.
“Try not to break anything,” he said, even though he’d enchanted everything in the room weeks back, and turned to scoop up his notebook.
He heard the beginnings of a playful growl before he shut the door and cast the noise muffling spell Gaius had found for him, right as the doorbell went.
“Door’s open!” Arthur shouted from the kitchen, and Merlin had about two seconds warning before Gwen bustled into the hallway in a cloud of ruffling pages.
“Alright, Merlin? I’ve brought all of my notes since the last exam, and I’m not sure how much you’ll need but it’ll be a good review, at any rate,” she said in greeting, hooking her arm into Merlin’s and practically dragging him into the sitting room. “Did you get those skull scans Monmouth emailed? He was hinting pretty heavily that we would have to identify battle wounds, if you haven’t looked then we could start there-“
“Alright,” Merlin said weakly, sliding onto the sofa. Gwen smiled at him, and kept nattering on. Merlin stared at her, already starting to accept his upcoming failure, when a mug of tea was shoved under his nose, and Arthur was smirking down at him.
“There. Now you won’t be completely useless,” he teased, and Merlin kicked at him half-heartedly. He was somehow unsurprised after his first sip to discover both that the tea was exactly how he liked it, and that he really was able to focus better. Gwen charged forward, armed with her multitude of printed articles, text references, and scans, and together they buckled down for business. By the time Arthur joined them to do his own studying, they were elbow deep in notes, and Merlin was starting to think he might actually pass.
“-not sure what could have done the damage to this one,” Gwen said, peering closely at a scan of a heavily damaged skull. “Poleaxe, d’you think?”
“Could be, if it’s a Towton victim,” Merlin agreed. “We probably don’t have to identify it exactly, you know. We just need to know weapons used in general.”
“It doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Gwen pointed out, setting the scan aside to rifle through her bag. “Do you have that book we read a few weeks back? I think I left mine at home.”
“Should do. It’s just in my room, I’ll go grab it,” Merlin said, making to stand, but Gwen beat him to it.
“No, don’t be silly, I can manage,” she said, breezing past before Merlin could stop her. “I’ll just have a look-“
“No!” Merlin practically shouted, sending the article he’d been reading fluttering to the floor in his haste to stop her. “I mean,” he amended hastily at Gwen and Arthur’s startled looks, “er, my room’s a tip, you’d never be able to find it. Let me.”
He pasted on a smile and hurried into the hallway, missing the significant look Arthur gave Gwen completely. He was careful to shield their view of his room as he slipped inside, returning Aithusa’s inquisitive trill with a hurried smile. The book, he knew, was sitting front and center on his shelf, but he paused to give Aithusa some attention before rejoining Gwen in the sitting room.
“You know, keeping a secret dragon in your bedroom isn’t as easy as you’d think,” he remarked quietly, watching Aithusa’s eyes drift shut contentedly as he scratched her. “Maybe they didn’t notice anything weird?”
Aithusa trilled, which Merlin took to mean ‘Of course they noticed, you idiot.’ He sighed.
“Right. This is all your fault, you know,” he added conversationally, but Aithusa just purred, so Merlin figured she didn’t mind. “Well, here goes nothing.”
He slipped back into the hall. Gwen was sitting down again, but instead of reading her notes she was deep in conversation with Arthur. Their voices were too low for Merlin to hear much, but he managed to catch Gwen’s whispered, “-sure there’s a reason, Arthur, we can’t just assume,” before they noticed him, and they cut themselves off abruptly.
“Got the book,” Merlin announced, holding it up. Gwen’s quick smile wasn’t quite enough to disguise the way she’d been chewing her lip.
“Thank you, Merlin,” she said brightly. Arthur continued to say nothing, and when Merlin glanced at him he as staring into the distance with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Yeah, no problem,” he said slowly. “Erm, sorry about-“ He made a vague gesture in the direction of his room. “I haven’t had time to clean lately. I found the book buried under a week’s worth of scarves.”
“Oh, no, of course.” Gwen smiled, and there was still something off about it that Merlin couldn’t quite place. He frowned at her, then at Arthur.
“Is everything alright?”
He didn’t miss the quick glance they threw each other before Gwen hurried to assure him, “Of course it is. Arthur was just telling me-“
She bit her lip, as if she wasn’t sure what to say, but Arthur finished for her.
“I was just saying how much of a slob you’ve become recently, Merlin,” he drawled, flipping a page in his textbook idly. “Gwen’s just too polite to say so.”
“I’m not a slob,” Merlin protested. Arthur snorted.
“The last time I went in your room my foot got stuck in a jumper, and you couldn’t see the dresser for clothes-“
“Don’t exaggerate. Besides, you’re the one that keeps leaving his shoes everywhere for me to trip over,” Merlin pointed out. “Prat.”
“Boys,” Gwen said warningly, “you can debate who the sloppier flatmate is later. Right now we have studying to do.”
Suitably chastised, Merlin and Arthur both picked up their books, though Merlin couldn’t resist sticking his tongue out when Gwen had her head turned. Arthur gave him a scathing look in response, and the balance seemed to have been restored to their group.
---
[ Part 2b]
“Well done,” he said encouragingly when Aithusa trotted over for praise. “You hardly need me here at all anymore.”
Aithusa preened, understanding the praise if not the words themselves, and then purred when Merlin petted her. She permitted it for a moment, radiating smugness, before another rustle from the foliage sent her straight back into hunting mode. Merlin let his hand fall as she flattened herself to the ground and stalked towards a bush. A squeak signaled that her prey had caught on to her attack, and quick rustling meant retreat, but Aithusa gave chase anyway.
Merlin yawned. Between staying up half the night hunting with Aithusa and the amount of homework he’d been handed, he’d only been able to get a few hours of sleep at a time for weeks now. He managed mostly by grabbing quick naps in the library between classes and drinking more coffee than any sane human would ever consume, but even still it was hard. Letting his eyes close, Merlin settled himself against the tree again, already feeling himself drifting off-
Loud, raucous laughter echoed through the trees. Merlin jerked awake with a curse, searching frantically for Aithusa. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the dragon a few feet away, head tilted curiously in the direction of the path but still safely inside the boundaries of Merlin’s magic.
“I can’t see a fuckin’ thing!” someone laughed-a woman, drunk judging by the slight slur of her words. Someone else laughed.
“’cos it’s fuckin’ night,” a man’s voice replied, just as drunk as the girl. There was more laughter, followed by rustling, as if someone had been shoved into a bush, and then the guy shouted, “Oi!”
“Fuck,” a third voice groaned, male again and louder than the others, “I thought you said this was a shortcut, Ned.”
“It woulda been, if you hadn’ tried to lead us into the pond.”
Merlin got carefully to his feet. The voices were getting closer, too close for comfort. He sent out a tendril of magic to check on his wards. Another burst of laughter erupted from the path, practically on top of them, and Aithusa let out a warning yip in response.
Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps stopped.
“Did you hear that?” the first man-Ned-asked. Merlin froze. He must have forgotten to muffle the noise-he’d just been so tired…
“Was it a dog?”
“Nah, can’t be-“
“Who’s there?” Ned called out, and Merlin cursed to hear the crunch of leaves under feet as the group came even closer. He darted forward, casting the muffling spell as he went, to put a calming hand on Aithusa’s neck.
“Aithusa, smyltnes,” he whispered, and a line of tension immediately left her, right as a tree just in front of them gave way to a tall, stumbling man. Merlin held his breath, but his spells seemed to be doing their job. The man halted right on the edge of the clearing, and a strange sort of blankness passed over his face before it passed, and he was left staring at the seemingly empty clearing.
“Ned? Is something wrong?” the girl asked, following at a more ginger pace. Her eyes swept curiously over the clearing, passing straight over Merlin without recognition.
“…nah,” Ned said at last, and Merlin finally relaxed. “Must’a been a bird, or sommat.”
The girl giggled, aiming a sloppy punch at Ned’s shoulder. “Birds don’ make that sound, it was a dog.”
“It was not-“ Ned insisted, but Merlin wasn’t paying attention anymore. He dropped his head into his hands, trying to calm his heartbeat. Aithusa whistled quietly, placing her muzzle on his knee.
“It’s okay,” Merlin said a little shakily. “I’m just-that was close.”
It’d been too close, really. He had to be more careful. Tired or no, he couldn’t risk someone getting too close again. He stroked Aithusa’s neck until his heart calmed and he could stand without shaking. Aithusa kept close to his side, radiating protectiveness. Merlin smiled down at her, and glanced at his watch.
“Shit,” he swore when he saw the time. “How long was I asleep? Come on, we need to get home.”
Aithusa chirped and trotted over to her bag. Merlin noticed that the fit was getting tighter and tighter-soon she wouldn’t be able to fit inside it at all. For now, though, he let his magic make it as comfortable as possible as he hurried through the empty streets for his flat. He let himself in silently, mindful of the early hour. Arthur’s door was predictably closed, just like it had been when he’d left, so Merlin tiptoed past and into his own room.
The adrenaline from almost getting caught had mostly run out by now, so Merlin blearily set Aithusa loose and stripped down to his boxers before falling facedown onto his bed, exhausted.
It seemed like he’d only been asleep for seconds before his alarm went off. His entire body was sore from sleeping outside in the cold most of the night, but he dragged himself out of bed anyway, ignored Arthur’s vaguely concerned look as he gulped down his coffee, and then mostly slept through all of his lectures. Finally, his classes ended and he stumbled out into the chilly air, juggling a pile of papers as he hurried towards the bus stop.
He’d just managed to stabilize everything when his mobile went off in his pocket.
“Hello?” he said a little hurriedly, nearly dropping his textbook in an attempt to balance his mobile on his shoulder.
“Oh, Merlin, good, you answered,” Gwen’s voice chirped cheerfully over the line. “I hope this is a good time.” Merlin snorted and managed to catch a free standing paper.
“As good as any. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to meet up to study for that medieval warfare exam.”
Merlin blinked. “What warfare exam?”
“The one we have tomorrow morning? Monmouth’s been talking about it all week. You were listening, weren’t you?”
“Shit,” Merlin groaned, “I forgot.”
“Well, you still have time. I can come over and help you study,” Gwen suggested reassuringly. “You can even use my notes.”
Merlin sighed. He’d been hoping to use tonight to catch up on sleep, after he’d caught up on the mountain of homework he still had. But there was no way he would be able to pass this exam without Gwen’s help.
“Yeah, I guess you should. Thank you, Gwen.”
“Of course. See you in an hour?”
“That’s fine. Gotta go, I’ll see you in a bit.”
He hung up quickly and scurried forward to join the queue for the bus. The ride took longer than usual, so Merlin had to rush up to his flat. He was rummaging in his pocket for his keys when the door opened in front of him, and he blinked up at Arthur’s amused face.
“Most people put their books inside their bags when they have to carry them, Merlin.”
“Shut up,” Merlin shrugged, not even bothering to come up with a scathing reply and breezing inside. “You’re home early.”
“Lectures ended early.”
“Lucky for some. You’re not using the sitting room tonight, are you?”
“No,” Arthur said, drawing out the ‘o’, “why?”
“Gwen’s coming over to study.”
Arthur shrugged. “Fine by me. What exam did you forget about this time?”
“Who says I forgot?” Merlin asked indignantly, tossing his books onto the counter.
“You only let Gwen force you to study with her when you’ve forgotten about something,” Arthur pointed out smugly. “So, which is it?”
“Medieval warfare,” Merlin admitted grudgingly, and Arthur snickered at him.
“You’re fucked, mate. Monmouth’s exams are killers.”
Merlin groaned, which was interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn. Arthur raised his eyebrow at him.
“Sleep poorly?”
“You have no idea,” Merlin mumbled, and dropped his head down onto the counter. He heard Arthur laughing at him. “A little bit of sympathy would be nice, you arse.”
“That’s Lance’s department,” Arthur pointed out, truthfully, with a hearty slap to Merlin’s back. “Tea’ll be ready in five,” he added, and Merlin wanted to kiss him (though to be fair, that wasn’t unusual for him).
“Thank fuck,” Merlin moaned instead. “I’m going to drop my things off in my room.”
He slipped away for his bedroom, disengaging the spells around the door with a quick blink and stepping inside. Aithusa was dozing in a patch of sunlight, but she raised her head when he entered and gave him a welcoming whistle.
“Hey,” Merlin said softly, dumping his bag on the ground. “Have a good day?” Aithusa chirped and extended her neck for a petting. Merlin grinned. “Good. I have a friend coming over, so you’re on your own for a while longer. We’ll go to the park tonight, though, alright?”
Another chirp, this time accompanied by a vague image of something round and green imprinted in Merlin’s mind. That was a new thing. Over the past few days they’d discovered that Aithusa had progressed to being able to share mental images rather than just feelings with Merlin. More often than not, they were blurred and hard to decipher, but it was still progress.
Merlin stroked over Aithusa’s favourite spot behind her wings. “Yeah, alright, just give me a second.”
He scrambled to his feet and went down to hunt down the ball he’d bought to keep Aithusa entertained while he was away. Aithusa’s tail perked up in interest when he held it up, eyes glowing golden, and then the ball bounced away seemingly of its own volition. Aithusa’s eyes tracked it, but she made no move to chase just yet. Merlin patted her on the head again.
“Try not to break anything,” he said, even though he’d enchanted everything in the room weeks back, and turned to scoop up his notebook.
He heard the beginnings of a playful growl before he shut the door and cast the noise muffling spell Gaius had found for him, right as the doorbell went.
“Door’s open!” Arthur shouted from the kitchen, and Merlin had about two seconds warning before Gwen bustled into the hallway in a cloud of ruffling pages.
“Alright, Merlin? I’ve brought all of my notes since the last exam, and I’m not sure how much you’ll need but it’ll be a good review, at any rate,” she said in greeting, hooking her arm into Merlin’s and practically dragging him into the sitting room. “Did you get those skull scans Monmouth emailed? He was hinting pretty heavily that we would have to identify battle wounds, if you haven’t looked then we could start there-“
“Alright,” Merlin said weakly, sliding onto the sofa. Gwen smiled at him, and kept nattering on. Merlin stared at her, already starting to accept his upcoming failure, when a mug of tea was shoved under his nose, and Arthur was smirking down at him.
“There. Now you won’t be completely useless,” he teased, and Merlin kicked at him half-heartedly. He was somehow unsurprised after his first sip to discover both that the tea was exactly how he liked it, and that he really was able to focus better. Gwen charged forward, armed with her multitude of printed articles, text references, and scans, and together they buckled down for business. By the time Arthur joined them to do his own studying, they were elbow deep in notes, and Merlin was starting to think he might actually pass.
“-not sure what could have done the damage to this one,” Gwen said, peering closely at a scan of a heavily damaged skull. “Poleaxe, d’you think?”
“Could be, if it’s a Towton victim,” Merlin agreed. “We probably don’t have to identify it exactly, you know. We just need to know weapons used in general.”
“It doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Gwen pointed out, setting the scan aside to rifle through her bag. “Do you have that book we read a few weeks back? I think I left mine at home.”
“Should do. It’s just in my room, I’ll go grab it,” Merlin said, making to stand, but Gwen beat him to it.
“No, don’t be silly, I can manage,” she said, breezing past before Merlin could stop her. “I’ll just have a look-“
“No!” Merlin practically shouted, sending the article he’d been reading fluttering to the floor in his haste to stop her. “I mean,” he amended hastily at Gwen and Arthur’s startled looks, “er, my room’s a tip, you’d never be able to find it. Let me.”
He pasted on a smile and hurried into the hallway, missing the significant look Arthur gave Gwen completely. He was careful to shield their view of his room as he slipped inside, returning Aithusa’s inquisitive trill with a hurried smile. The book, he knew, was sitting front and center on his shelf, but he paused to give Aithusa some attention before rejoining Gwen in the sitting room.
“You know, keeping a secret dragon in your bedroom isn’t as easy as you’d think,” he remarked quietly, watching Aithusa’s eyes drift shut contentedly as he scratched her. “Maybe they didn’t notice anything weird?”
Aithusa trilled, which Merlin took to mean ‘Of course they noticed, you idiot.’ He sighed.
“Right. This is all your fault, you know,” he added conversationally, but Aithusa just purred, so Merlin figured she didn’t mind. “Well, here goes nothing.”
He slipped back into the hall. Gwen was sitting down again, but instead of reading her notes she was deep in conversation with Arthur. Their voices were too low for Merlin to hear much, but he managed to catch Gwen’s whispered, “-sure there’s a reason, Arthur, we can’t just assume,” before they noticed him, and they cut themselves off abruptly.
“Got the book,” Merlin announced, holding it up. Gwen’s quick smile wasn’t quite enough to disguise the way she’d been chewing her lip.
“Thank you, Merlin,” she said brightly. Arthur continued to say nothing, and when Merlin glanced at him he as staring into the distance with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Yeah, no problem,” he said slowly. “Erm, sorry about-“ He made a vague gesture in the direction of his room. “I haven’t had time to clean lately. I found the book buried under a week’s worth of scarves.”
“Oh, no, of course.” Gwen smiled, and there was still something off about it that Merlin couldn’t quite place. He frowned at her, then at Arthur.
“Is everything alright?”
He didn’t miss the quick glance they threw each other before Gwen hurried to assure him, “Of course it is. Arthur was just telling me-“
She bit her lip, as if she wasn’t sure what to say, but Arthur finished for her.
“I was just saying how much of a slob you’ve become recently, Merlin,” he drawled, flipping a page in his textbook idly. “Gwen’s just too polite to say so.”
“I’m not a slob,” Merlin protested. Arthur snorted.
“The last time I went in your room my foot got stuck in a jumper, and you couldn’t see the dresser for clothes-“
“Don’t exaggerate. Besides, you’re the one that keeps leaving his shoes everywhere for me to trip over,” Merlin pointed out. “Prat.”
“Boys,” Gwen said warningly, “you can debate who the sloppier flatmate is later. Right now we have studying to do.”
Suitably chastised, Merlin and Arthur both picked up their books, though Merlin couldn’t resist sticking his tongue out when Gwen had her head turned. Arthur gave him a scathing look in response, and the balance seemed to have been restored to their group.
---
[ Part 2b]