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"Heading to the bus. Love you." Merlin typed, sending the text to his mom, and locking his phone. He grabbed his bag out of his car and smiled. It was Tuesday, the 21st, which only meant one thing: the Camelot High School cross country team was going on their biennial trip, this time to New York City, where they would have several days of vacation before a meet on Saturday. He could hardly wait.
As Merlin began the long walk down to the bus, he met up with several other members of the team, nodded in greeting, and continued his trek. This was his favorite part of every other school year. All he had to do was get through a twelve hour bus ride, and then he was home free, assuming he could avoid him of course.
Before he could board the bus, however, he heard a familiar voice. “Merlin, Arthur, can I see you boys for a minute?” Leon called before walking a short distance away with his clipboard.
"Coming" Merlin muttered, reluctantly leaving his place in the line. There goes his window seat and his plan. He turned to make sure Arthur was following him before jogging over to Leon.
"What's up, Coach?" He asked, assuming Leon was going to talk about the meet.
Leon looked at them for a moment before beginning, “Ok, boys. It has come to my attention that my two best runners don't like each each other. Like, really don't like each other." This was not what Merlin had expected. "And you know I hate to interfere with your lives off the track, but this has really got to stop.” Leon paused and ran his hand through his hair. “Your fighting is bringing the team down in more ways than one, which is something we can't afford if we want a chance at state. Running, as you two very well know, is a mental sport, and if you can't work together to keep up morale, I don't know what we're going to do.” He gave each of them a pointed look.
Arthur instantly took advantage of the pause, “I haven’t heard anyone complain.” he insisted, refusing to look at Merlin.
Merlin nodded and cut in. “Yeah, and we hang out with the same people all the time. I don't think they've ever had a problem. Honestly, sir, I’m fine with continuing to dislike him.” Arthur nodded adamantly in agreement.
“Well, how you two personally feel isn't important here.” Leon insisted. “I have a proposal for you two. Actually not a proposal, more like an order. By the race on Saturday you two are going to be friends, whether you like it or not. This trip is an excellent bonding opportunity, and I have high hopes for the two of you. From this moment forward, I do not want to see, or hear about, a single hostile moment from you boys. Behaving well is of the same importance as running well. I expected this behavior from you as freshmen, but as seniors, really? It ends now." Leon paused. "Now get on the bus.”
Merlin sighed and turned to talk to Arthur, but the blond was already walking away.
Merlin turned to follow before pausing, running his hand through his messy black hair, and turning back around. “Leon, you’re a great coach, but you’re no miracle worker. I'll try, but I really don't know if I can become friends with a prat like that.” He gestured to Arthur's retreating form before once more turning and following, leaving an angry Leon staring after him. He couldn't let Leon and Arthur ruin this trip for him.
When Merlin finally climbed on the bus, ready to forget the conversation and move on, he realized that his normal seat, next to Gwaine, was taken. By a freshman of all people. Glancing around, he was dismayed to find that the only empty seat was next to Arthur, since they were the last to board. Typical. Merlin sighed and took the seat, sticking in his ear buds and deliberately looking the other way. This was going to be a long twelve hours.
The thing is that he and Arthur were the two fastest boys on the team and had been since they'd first joined the middle school team in sixth grade, but that didn't mean that they were friends or anything of the sort. As the bus heaved and began pulling out of the high school parking lot, Merlin glanced at his bus buddy out of the corner of his eye and could only wish that Arthur would do the impossible and not bother him. It wasn't likely.
***
The first time Arthur met Merlin was their first day of practice in the sixth grade. Arthur had swaggered into the gym a few minutes early to see that he was only the second kid there. The other had been Merlin, who at that time, was four feet tall, skinny, and completely unkempt with hair that would rival James Potter's. Arthur had walked over confidently, ready to make friends with anyone he could, but he didn't even get a chance to introduce himself before Merlin started rambling about how nervous he was for practice. Apparently he had already met the coach and expectations were high. His rambling had gone on for a good five minutes when Arthur finally snapped, calling Merlin a series of horrible names before walking out the door and returning to the locker room. He would never be early for practice again.
And that had been one of their friendlier confrontations over the past seven years.
***
The first half of the bus ride made Arthur begin to hope that the ride (and the trip as a whole) wouldn't be so bad. Only a mile in, Merlin had rolled over and gone to sleep, forcing the boy completely out of Arthur’s mind. Until the sixth hour, of course, when Merlin abruptly shifted his weight, allowing his head to fall into Arthur’s lap before yawning contently and burrowed his head further into his new cushion. Feeling the added weight, Arthur raised his own head to see what was going on. When he realized what exactly it was that was on his lap, he grunted and pushed it into the back of the seat in front of him with a resounding “whap”. What the hell, Emrys?
As his head connected with the back of the seat, Merlin snapped awake. “What was that for, you utter prat?!” Merlin growled as he realized what happened.
“Just stay away for me.” Arthur grumbled at him in response, turning back to face the window. How it was possible for Merlin to be so annoying he did not know.
“Oh, yes, your highness. Will do.” Merlin retorted, mocking a bow as best he could from a bus seat.
“For the last time, stop calling me that! I am not royalty. Please just shut up.” Came the annoyed retort.
“Your castle of a house would beg to differ.” Merlin snickered.
“Can you even understand English? I asked you to be quiet.”
“Well I had been sleeping.”
“So go back to sleep then.”
“Fine. I will. That way I don't have to look at you.” He didn't go back to sleep.
The rest of the ride was in complete silence.
***
It was three in the morning when the bus finally pulled to a stop in front of a small hotel on the outskirts of New York City.
Stretching, Leon managed to stand up and get the attention of his team. “Alright, ladies and gents, we made it. In just a second, I’m going to call out room assignments. There will be no complaints and no changes. I know you’re all eager to hear it, but there’s some other information I need to discuss with you first. Tomorrow morning, this bus will be leaving the hotel at 8 o’clock sharp, and you had better be on it. Make sure to pack clothes for practice and money for souvenirs because we will not be coming back until tomorrow night. The rest of the agenda should be in the email I sent out. I will not be answering any questions that could be answered by the email. Curfew is in ten minutes, and no one should be out of their rooms after that if they don't want to run extra intervals for the rest of the season.”
Leon paused and looked around, making sure that everyone understood him. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. Assuming his best monotone voice, he began, “Room 212: Gwen, Morgana, Freya, and Elena. Room 213: Vivian, Nimueh, Mithian, Sophia. 214: Sefa…” Leon continued reading until there were only two people remaining on the bus. Merlin and Arthur. Wearily, the coach tucked the list back in his pocket and finished with, “you boys are in room 415.” He turned, then paused, knowing it couldn't possibly be that easy.
“Um, I definitely did not request Merlin.” Arthur stood up, beginning the confrontation that was so obviously coming.
“Yeah, and how come there’re only two of us in a room?” Merlin joined in, also upset.
Arthur rolled his eyes. “You idiot, thirty is not a multiple of four. Looks like you don't get math or English.”
“Oh I am so sorry that math isn't my strong point at three a.m.”
“Pity. Math's always my strong point.”
“I'm sure, Pendragon. It's not like I'd expect you to have any kind of a life.”
“Oh please, take that back.”
“Well we do all know how you need to meet Daddy's expectations.” Merlin's voice raised an octave.
Arthur jumped out of his seat, ready to fling himself at Merlin when he felt Leon's hand on his shoulder. “Boys! You will room together, and you will be friends. Now get in the hotel and go to bed. Room 415. Here’re your keys.” Leon demanded before walking very pointedly off the bus. “Curfew is now.” he yelled behind him.
***
“There’s only one bed.”
“Yes I can see that. I’m not blind. You’re on the floor.”
“I am not. Move over; I’m exhausted.”
***
“BAAAAM BAAAAM BAAAAAM BAAAAM” Merlin’s alarm clock screeched the next morning.
“Rise and shine, it’s time to get ready.” Merlin sat up, smiling as if he had not gone to sleep only three hours before.
“There's no way it's time to get up.” Arthur’s sleeping form muttered.
“Yes it is. 6 a.m., shake a leg.” Merlin hopped off the bed, moving to throw the curtains open. He loved mornings.
“6 a.m.!" Arthur turned to actually look at Merlin, "You’re absolutely crazy! The bus doesn't leave until eight!”
“But something tells me that you are a bit of a premadonna, so I imagine you’ll need both hours.” Merlin grinned. “But hey, I’ll be super nice and take first shower.” He skipped off to the bathroom whistling.
Fifteen minutes later Arthur was woken up again, this time by a bucket full of water. “Your turn.” Merlin laughed. Maybe this would be fun.
"Oh. My. God."
***
Surprisingly, things remained civil throughout the rest of the day, and, seeing as it was Wednesday, that made only four more days until Sunday, when they were leaving. I might be able to survive it, Arthur thought.
The team spent the entire day visiting different tourist sights and, while Merlin and Arthur hung out with the same group of friends, they made sure they were never standing next to each other. They even managed to avoid each other at practice, which proved to be quite difficult as they had extremely similar paces. Eyes flicking back and forth between the two, Leon was aware of the lack of positive comments they made throughout practice, but the entire team was aware of the lack of negative ones. It may be progress, he thought wearily.
After dinner that night the bus drove the team back to the hotel, twisting and turning through the city streets. In another effort to avoid each other, both Merlin and Arthur rushed straight off the bus to Percy, Lance, Gwaine, and Elyan’s room, where Gwen and Morgana were already waiting. Merlin realized the fault in his plan as soon as he came across Arthur knocking on the door.
“You’re here too? Ugh.”
“Shut up Merlin. If I had wanted to hear you talk I would have gone back to our room.” Arthur replied as the door was opened by a smiling Gwen.
“Come on in! Everyone else is already here.” Morgana yelled from behind her.
“Give me another Hershey bar!” They heard Gwaine shout, before entering the chaos that was room 334.
“But you’ve already had four today!” Percy laughed as he tossed him another.
“Hey, looks like the last of the gang's here!” Elyan smiled as Merlin and Arthur walked in.
“For the love of Camelot High, please stop comparing us to Scooby Doo.” Gwaine demanded before turning to grin at the new arrivals, "S'up guys! So you would never believe what Elyan told Sefa on our way to the room-"
“Wait,” Morgana interrupted, looking at Arthur with a smile that would make small children cry, “So the word is that Leon put you two in a room together. How’s that going?”
“Wonderful.” Merlin muttered at the same time Arthur said “Lovely.” Realizing they had both chosen sarcasm, Arthur glared at Merlin, who stood up and moved across the room to speak with Percy.
"Ah." Morgana grinned, glad it was going so well. Then she sighed. "Ok, Gwaine, what did Elyan say to Sefa?"
Their discussion continued for another hour until Arthur stood up, announcing that he had to go shower before working on homework. All but Merlin waved goodbye before returning to their heated debate on gummy bears.
Merlin followed Arthur at half past ten, when Leon knocked on the door to announce it was past curfew and what on earth were they still doing up.
He slowly dragged himself down the hallway, dreading seeing Arthur again, knowing that they would argue. It wasn’t that Merlin didn’t like arguing with the clotpole; it was that it took energy, and he also didn’t it like when other people disliked him, even Arthur. Really, he was a very likeable guy. This wasn’t arrogance; it was a fact. He made friends easily, so why Arthur hated him was a mystery to Merlin.
When Merlin reached their door, he knocked hesitantly but received no reply. Assuming that not even the biggest prat in the world, which might very well be Arthur, could take an hour long shower, he entered, only to find Arthur lying in the middle of the bed listening to his iPod and playing the piano in the air with his fingers, eyes closed. Merlin took a step back into the hallway for a moment before reopening the door and staring at the unexpected sight. He paused, then, without a second thought, jogged over to the bed, damned his curiosity, and grabbed the ear buds out of Arthur’s ears, forcing them into his own. “The hell?” Merlin asked when the music reached his rather large ears, "You listen to classical music?"
Arthur’s eyes had flown open as soon as the music was ripped from his ears and now they were filled with rage as his hands went straight for his iPod. But he was too slow; Merlin held the iPod out of Arthur’s reach, jogging back to the door.
“No, really. Is this Bach?” Merlin asked, flicking through the ipod, wrinkling his nose. Needless to say he could not understand why a teenage boy didn't have a single song written after 1900 on his ipod.
“It’s Beethoven. Give it back.”
“What on Earth is a senior in high school doing listening to Bach?” Merlin stared. He knew Arthur was strange, but he honestly couldn’t believe this.
“Beethoven. My father dislikes modern music. And when he dislikes something, he bans it. So this is the only type of music I’m allowed to listen to. Now give. It. Back.” He emphasized each word, reaching his hand out, honestly believing that the smaller boy would return it.
But Merlin, of course, did no such thing. He stared at Arthur for a long moment, muttered, “Dammit, the boy needs music in his life”, and disconnected the headphones from Arthur’s iPod, reconnecting them to his own phone. He again paused to stare at the blond before grabbing Arthur's shoulders, dragging him to the bed, and lying down next to him.
Both boys pretended that Merlin's hands didn't linger on Arthur's shoulders.
Once he was comfortable Merlin reached up and placed one headphone in Arthur’s ear and the other in his own. Ignoring Arthur’s what-the-hell-do-you-think-you’re-doing face, Merlin scrolled over to his favorite playlist, the one he had titled “Magic".
Merlin glanced over at Arthur before pressing the shuffle button and closing his eyes, not needing to look to know that Arthur had done the same.
As the opening to the third song began to play, Merlin opened one eye to look at the boy lying next to him. It was actually kind of nice, he thought. Lying next to someone, listening to all the music that you love. Even if that someone was his sworn enemy, Arthur Pendragon.
And since the whole thing was so very kind of nice, Merlin slowly drifted off to sleep.
Arthur, of course, noticed the change in Merlin’s breathing but continued to listen to the music all the same, amazed at what he had been missing out on. He had always assumed that all new music was like “Gangnam Style” or “The Harlem Shake”, which Gwaine played frequently on their ride home from school, but this music was so different. Arthur knew exactly why Merlin had titled it “Magic”. He lay awake listening to it until the phone's battery died. And then he continued to lie awake, this time listening to Merlin breathing until he, too, drifted off to sleep.
It was kind of nice.
***
The next day found the two of them shopping together in one of the tourist traps at the mall where the team was having lunch. Okay, well, technically, they weren’t shopping “together”, but, being the only team members in the small store, they kind of were. However, had you asked either of them, they were not. Definitely not. They hated each other. Definitely.
At least they were "not shopping together" until Merlin decided to acknowledge Arthur by calling out, “Hey, clotpole!” across the store, earning a nasty look from the lady behind the counter.
Arthur’s voice came from behind a shelf. “How original. Haven’t heard that one before."
“Sarcasm, nice. All the more reason for me to buy this magnificent article of clothing.” Merlin waltzed proudly around the aisle and held up a shirt reading “I’m with stupid” for Arthur to see. “I’m gonna buy it, so then I’ll never find myself at a loss for what to wear when I’m around you.” Merlin smiled widely before turning to find the cashier. He picked up a sharpie from the box next to the cash register and loudly announced, “I’d like this shirt and this sharpie, please.” Before handing over the money.
Arthur looked away, covering a smile. Wait. He was covering a smile. A smile. Why was he smiling? Merlin was being an idiot. That was nothing to smile about. They hated each other. Didn't they?
Merlin tapped Arthur’s shoulder before he could come to a conclusion. The boy held up the shirt that now read “I’m with stupid PRAT” because, Merlin said, “Believe it or not, I am actually aware of how intelligent you are, probably because you never shut up about it, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, stupid didn’t work, so I crossed it out and replaced it with the perfect word for you. I naturally considered multiple words, but, my final choice, as always, has been to call you a prat.” Merlin was very proud of himself.
Arthur again had to turn to cover his smile, and when he turned back, Merlin was gone, now halfway across the food court talking to their friends. Arthur slowly turned back to looking at the “I <3 NY” baseball caps, knowing his father would never allow him to wear one even if he bought it.
***
When Arthur next saw Merlin, the boy was wearing his newly purchased shirt, basking in the compliments of the rest of the team. When Arthur dared approached, Merlin loudly announced “My other half!” gesturing to the shirt. Arthur’s lack of an annoyed response did not go unnoticed. Merlin bit his lip when he saw Arthur cover up a smile. It was kinda cute. Oh no.
***
After leaving the mall, the team took the bus to a local college campus, where they changed into their running clothes for the day's practice. When everyone was ready, Leon gathered the group together and showed them satellite maps of the campus, with routes drawn in different colors all around it.
“Now," he began, "I'm going to put everyone in small groups based on speed. Your group can choose one of these routes marked on the maps to run. Each route is on your map with its distance written next to it. Four miles is today’s minimum. Let's have everyone back here at, um, 2:30. That's gives you a little under an hour, which should be plenty of time. Alright, let’s start with the under 16 minute 5kers. Merlin, Arthur, that’s you. Anyone else? No? Okay, you two boys go ahead.” Leon handed Merlin a map, which was quickly snatched away by Arthur as the two boys walked away from the crowd. Leon had planned this, Merlin thought, shaking his head as he hurried to catch up with the blond.
“Alright, we’re doing the blue route." Arthur studied the map, "Let’s go.” He moved to start running, not even glancing behind for confirmation that Merlin was with him.
“Wait! I want to do the red one.” Merlin said, moving forward to grab the map back.
“Well that’s really unfortunate.” Arthur muttered as he made the first turn for the blue route.
“Arthur!”
“Come on, we’re supposed to stay together." Arthur yelled, picking up the pace.
Merlin sighed and ran along with him. When he caught up, Arthur turned to smile at him before quickly looking away. The two boys jogged side-by-side in an almost comfortable silence, which lasted until the third mile at which point Arthur came to a sudden halt. “Where are we?” He asked, looking around.
Merlin stopped and unfolded the map. He looked at it for a minute before turning it so it wasn't upside down. Hesitantly, he pointed at a spot along the route, “Um, somewhere along here." He said.
Arthur looked at the spot and then at their surroundings. “No. That’s a baseball field. Do you see a baseball field around here?”
“Um, then right hereish” Merlin pointed again.
“No because then we’d see a river.”
“Oh.”
Arthur exchanged the tired attitude for an exasperated one. “Oh?!?! Oh! You got us lost and all you’re going to say is oh? Really, Merlin? I knew you were dull, but this is a whole ‘nother level. We're outside of New York City all alone, completely lost, without phones. What do we do now?”
“Um, we can turn back, then.” Merlin stated lamely, knowing that he was to blame. “I mean, we’re only about three miles away from where we started, so it can’t be too hard to find, I think.”
"No, we’ve taken too many turns for that. I could never find my way back the way we came, and I know you couldn’t. Maybe if we keep going we can find a landmark." Arthur argued.
Merlin, already feeling guilty and not wanting to make Arthur even angrier, nodded his consent to the new plan and began running in the direction that they had been going earlier.
Five minutes passed and still nothing on the map was looking familiar. The boys were getting increasingly tired and irritable. “Merlin, I think those were the tennis courts.”
“No, we’re looking for the university tennis courts, not some rich ass's private ones." Merlin grunted, now getting annoyed as well. After all, it was Arthur's idea to continue.
“Hey, I have my own tennis courts!”
“And you're a rich ass.”
At this Arthur stopped, and Merlin, realizing that he had, rolled his eyes and also came to a halt. “Now what?”
Arthur looked at the ground and scratched his head. “Do you really think that? That I’m just some rich ass?” He looked up and Merlin stiffled a gasp. Arthur actually appeared hurt. This was new.
“Arthur.” He sighed.
“What?”
“We are not having this conversation.”
“So you do? I really am just the ‘Prat’ that you’re ‘with’.” Arthur grumbled, referring to the t-shirt. He started to turn away.
“No. I mean, sort of." Merlin hesitated, "Okay. Two days ago my answer would have been yes. But, now, well, I’m coming around to you, sorta. Slowly. Maybe it was just your lack of decent music, I don’t know." Merlin dared to look at Arthur's face before continuing, “All things considered, you’re not all that bad, though you're not good. I'm not complimenting you. I don't like you. Yet. Or maybe I never will. Who knows.” Merlin really needed to get this whole rambling thing fixed.
Arthur stood still for a moment, then nodded, appeared satisfied, and started running again. Merlin stared after him for a moment before daring to yell at his retreating form, “Hey! Do you still hate me, too?” Merlin then realized where Arthur was running, “Also, you’re going in the wrong direction.”
“Merlin, we're so horribly lost, there is no right direction.” Arthur didn't slow down, and he didn't answer Merlin's question.
***
After another thirty minutes of running aimlessly and muttering curses, the boys were found by a troubled looking Leon, driving the rest of the kids on the bus. Their coach pulled up beside them and got out of the bus, running over to them. They could see the rest of the team moving forward to lean on the windows to hear what their coach had to say to the boys they had spent the past dozen or so minutes looking for. Morgana’s face joined the ones already at the window and sent Merlin a glare that scared him more than Leon's did.
"Boys!” Leon began, slightly out of breath with a face red enough to betray how worried he had been. “I gave you specific instructions to be back at 2:30. It is now after 3:00. What on earth do you have to say for yourselves?"
They said nothing. Merlin looked at the ground.
"That's what I thought. Don't let this happen again. Get on the bus." Leon tried his best to remain calm. Anger really wasn’t his strong point.
Needless to say it was a quiet ride back to the hotel. Leon took both boys and escorted them to their rooms for an early curfew. "The rest of us are going to continue on with the schedule for the day. You two will stay here and not leave this room. Now hand your cell phones over. It's not a punishment if you can just play games the whole time." Leon put his hand out.
“But what do we do without our phones?” A trouble Arthur asked as he pulled his phone out while Merlin did the same.
“Guess you’ll have to talk to each other.” Was Leon’s only reply as he shut their door. They heard his footsteps retreat down the hallway.
Arthur turned and looked at Merlin, who reached over and waved the TV remote back at him. “Yes! Do you think they get BBC America here?” Arthur quickly asked, immediately forgetting that they were supposed to be punished.
“Oh I hope so!" Merlin began scrolling through channels. "Wait, you like BBC?”
“Duh. You like BBC?"
“I mean, they kill off all my favorite characters, but I guess you could say yes.” Merlin laughed, completely forgetting that spending time with Arthur was a bad thing.
“No fuckin’ way, find the channel." The blond commanded.
"Yes, sire."
"Shut up."
***
After a good two minutes of hard searching it was revealed that the TV was, in fact, limited to Fox, CBS, and MTV.
“So. Looks like it’s sixteen and pregnant.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.” Arthur selected the channel and sat down on the bed next to Merlin. The second the people on the television started talking, Merlin joined them, yammering on about whatever popped into his head.
Arthur, attempting to appear at ease, finally interrupted Merlin's stream of meaningless chatter. "This poor girl" he commented on the TV show, "Even I would have helped her more than this guy.”
“Oh, even you, you dollophead?” Merlin grunted from beside Arthur.
“Yes, even me. I bet I would be a very good father.” Arthur stated matter-of-factly.
There was a pause before Merlin muttered, “You might be” before catching himself, “I mean you wouldn’t kill the child. You’d be better than your dad. Better than mine, too.”
Arthur let that statement sit, not knowing how to reply to it until he finally inquired, “What happened?”
“What happened? With my dad, you mean? He left. Years ago. I’m over it. No big deal, really.” Merlin didn't sound too over it.
Arthur made a mental note not to bring it up again and attempted to brighten the mood by adding, “We should set up our parents then. I don’t have a mom. You don’t have a dad. It could work."
“Are you kidding me, Pendragon?! You’re dad sounds awful. My mom is the most amazing woman in the universe. I refuse to let that happen." Merlin let that sink in before continuing with his strongest point, "And anyway, then you’d have to put up with me 24/7. You would go absolutely insane.”
“Eh.”
“Eh?!”
“I don't know, Merlin. I'm tired.” What a lame excuse.
"Mm hm. It's only 5:00.”
Arthur glanced down at his watch, "It is only 5, isn't it? Do you think Leon's going to make us starve? We're in here through dinner!"
"Huh. I hope not."
And with that Arthur fell back into silence while Merlin continued to talk about whatever it was he always talked about until show's credits rolled.
Then Arthur spoke up. “You know, after this trip, we could get together and watch actual good TV shows together. Fancy coming to mine for some Doctor Who?”
“Oh, that'd be awesome. I mean good. I mean, well, I'll have to think about it given how prattish you are and everything....” Merlin trailed off looking unsure of himself.
"I'll count that as a yes. What's your phone number? I'll text you when we get back home." Arthur asked, keeping up his confident persona. He couldn't quite believe he was doing this.
Merlin repeated his number with a wide toothy smile that made Arthur’s heart do a summersault, though he would never in a million years admit it. Merlin then, taking in what was happening, abruptly stood up and announced. “I’m gonna go take a shower.” And marched off towards the bathroom.
As soon as Merlin disappeared around the doorway, Arthur put his head in his hands, dropping his smile. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing with Merlin, but suddenly it felt right? He had always hated the boy, but for no real reason. Before the trip, they had never had a real conversation except to criticize one another. And suddenly they were listening to the same music, watching the same tv shows, and having actual conversations. He couldn’t stop thinking about Merlin, who, it just so happened, was only one wall away in a shower. Wait. No. Arthur should really not be thinking about Merlin in a shower. Really. I mean, he saw Merlin in the locker room every day, though he tried to do his best not to pay attention to him. But this was different. They were alone, for one, and he was… beginning to think of Merlin...differently. Shiiiit.
When listening to the shower became too much of a struggle for Arthur, he pressed his face into his pillow and attempted to fall asleep, hoping that that would eliminate all thoughts of Merlin, the boy he should be hating. Key word: should.
Having no idea of the struggle going on outside the bathroom door, Merlin was also having a mini panic attack inside the shower. He wasn’t positive, but he thought he had just agreed to hang out (Was it a date?!?!) with Arthur. And now here he was with no clothes on only separated by only a wall from the boy in question. Showering had been a horrible idea.
***
By the time Merlin finally emerged from a ridiculously long shower, Arthur was already asleep. Merlin stood for a minute looking at him, once more considering what the prat had asked him earlier. He was still a little in shock that he and Arthur had managed to have a friendly conversation, never mind the fact that they would possibly be hanging out later.
The longer Merlin stood in the doorway, though, the more he began to realize how attractive Arthur actually was. He lay diagonal across the bed, tossled blond hair sticking up. Merlin couldn't see his face, but he knew what it would look like. Peaceful. Sea blue eyes closed. Perfect skin relaxed. Arthur had always been considered the best looking on the team, but Merlin had never been able to see it once the ass started talking. But tonight was different. Merlin had lost himself in conversation with Arthur and was beginning to see why everyone else liked him so much. Once you got past the obnoxious rich kid attitude, the boy himself was actually a good guy. And now Merlin was even coming to like the so called attitude. What a total disaster.
As Merlin finally forced himself to stop staring at Arthur, he hesitantly moved towards the bed and lay on the very edge of it, trying his best to maintain some distance between himself and the other boy. He clinched his eyes tightly closed and tried to focus on anything but the sound of Arthur breathing next to him. So Merlin thought about the race. And Arthur in the race. Then he thought about school. And how Arthur was in his AP English class. He moved on to think about Gwaine’s party next weekend. And wondered if Arthur would be there. He thought about the book he was reading. And decided to recommend it to Arthur.
With these thoughts in mind, it wasn’t really a surprise to Merlin when he woke up at four a.m. to find himself draped all over Arthur Pendragon. When Merlin's eyes glanced around and he realized exactly where he was, for a moment he did consider moving back to his own side of the bed, but unfortunately, or fortunately if that’s how you want to view it, Merlin instantly fell back to sleep before pursuing this idea any further. After all, Arthur’s chest was a fantastic pillow.
When Arthur woke up almost two hours later, he actually was surprised to find Merlin’s head on his chest. And as he tried to sit up, he realized that Merlin’s head wasn’t the only part of Merlin touching him. The rest of Merlin’s limbs were everywhere. His arms seemed to be thoroughly wrapped around the upper half of Arthur’s body, with his legs pinned down the lower half. He was suddenly hyper aware of every inch of contact. As Arthur realized this, he became even more surprised when he found that he didn’t really have a problem with it. He shifted back down to try to go back to sleep and, as he did, his face came into brief contact with Merlin’s hair. It felt nice. In a spur of the moment decision, the blond decided to stay that way, burrowing his face even further into Merlin's hair right as the smaller boy's fucking alarm went off.
“BAAAAM BAAAAM BAAAAAM BAAAAM”
“Um, are you smelling my hair?”
"No!" Arthur threw the other boy off of him and marched towards the shower without another word.
***
A mere thirty minutes later had both of them racing the other to breakfast. Leon had, actually, forgotten to give them dinner, so they were completely starving.
The rest of the team looked up when they appeared in the doorway of the dining hall out of breath and laughing. Silence decended on the room as every single member of the team took in exactly what they were seeing. Arthur and Merlin had never laughed together. Never even talked unless they had to. They weren't even facebook friends. This was unheard of.
As the rest of the team looked on, Merlin and Arthur remained unaware. Grabbing simple breakfasts and a table for two, they talked to each other the whole time, and, Gwen couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Merlin let Arthur have a piece of his muffin. This was completely unprecedented behavior.
After observing them for a few minutes, Leon pulled Morgana aside, and complimented her on her brilliant idea of putting them in a room together. "How on earth did you know? This is incredible."
"I guess it was just a girl’s intuition." Morgana muttered, never admitting to their coach that the rest of the team had been placing bets on the boys for years, and, with the recent change of behavior, Gwaine and Percy had upped the bet money from twenty dollars to fifty, and more people were getting in on it. She was about to make a killing.
Merlin and Arthur’s drastic change in relationship was quickly becoming a team event, and, as Leon predicted, it actually improved the group’s dynamic. Gwen even began to search for friendship bracelets to get the two for Christmas.
The difference happened to be extremely noticeable at that afternoon’s practice. Only a week earlier the two of them had been racing each other through every interval and every distance run, insisting that it was their hatred of the other that fueled them to run faster. Unfortunately, they also tripped, shoved, and spiked the other, nevermind the fact that they were teammates. But now, they proved themselves wrong; hatred did not, it seemed, make them faster.
That afternoon, they took it easy, running only five 200 meter intervals in preparation for the meet the next day. For the first time in their seven years of running, Merlin and Arthur’s teamwork helped both of them maintain a positive attitude throughout each interval, even though they weren’t running them all that hard. There was no negative contact between them at all; in fact, the only physical contact between the pair was patting on the back as a compliment. Merlin also really considered slapping Arthur’s ass, but, eh, that was more of a football thing. Best not to be considered a creep, he decided. The friendship was coming along great, really.
“Man, what the hell did you do?” Gwaine asked Leon after the third interval as he passed out water.
“I really don’t know. I mean, I had hopes, but this…” Leon stammered, watching as Arthur grabbed two cups of water, one for himself and one for Merlin.
“Well, it's definitely an improvement. It’ll make group events much less awkward. Unless of course, they end up fucking each other. That’ll be pretty awkward.” Gwaine shrugged, not really seeming to care either way.
“What do you mean? Of course they won’t be doing that. ” Leon asked confusedly, turning to look at Gwaine while blinking his eyes repeatedly. “And watch your language.” He added.
A smug look crossed Gwaine’s face. Had the coach really not noticed? He thought everyone had noticed by this point. “Have you seen the way Merlin’s been eyeing Arthur’s butt?” He pointed out. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Leon remained quiet, silently reflecting on the fact that he had put them in a room together, alone. Hmmm.
Gwaine noticed the expression on his coach’s face with a laugh and responded, “Don’t worry, man, I’m sure it’ll all be fine. They’re big boys. Besides, it’s not like they can get pregnant.”
Leon looked at the boy, sighed, looked at his watch, and called out, “On the line…ready…go.” And hit the timer on his watch. An expression of realization came over Gwaine’s face as he took off running, already twenty five meters behind the rest of his group.
Leon watched them run, taking note of how Arthur and Merlin moved up together to the front, leading the rest of the team. “29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35…” he called out as they approached the 200 meter mark.
***
When Merlin arrived back in their room that night after an intriguing (??) conversation with Gwaine, he found Arthur once more lying on the bed listening to music, only this time he found that it was his iPod that the headphones were connected to.
“Hey! Did you go through my stuff?”'
A solitary eye opened as Arthur nodded and pressed a finger to his lips. “It's literally magic. Quite fitting, actually, with a name like yours.” Arthur declared, propping himself up a little and removing one ear bud.
“Wow, I’ve never heard that before. How original.” Merlin replied sarcastically. Normally it annoyed him when people pointed out his name, but tonight it didn’t. “You know that it's a quarter to ten, right? And the meet is tomorrow. We need to sleep if we want to show New York what the Camelot Knights have got. This is a huge meet, tons of college scouts.” Merlin continued, moving to sit next to Arthur.
“Nervous about college scouts, are you?” Arthur asked with a laugh before fully sitting up in the bed. “Are you serious? You won state last year, and the year before that you were the runner up. This year one of us is going to win again, and I’m your only real competition. And then, we’ll go to regionals and nationals together, just like always.” Arthur found himself oddly looking forward to spending all that time with Merlin. In the two previous years they had pretended like the other wasn’t at the meets and each had spent all their time alone, but this year, he thought, this year would be different. “Colleges will be fighting over you.” He finished.
Merlin didn’t look so sure, “Well, I can only hope so. Anyway, I need to do well in this meet tomorrow. If I don't get a scholarship...” He looked at the ground.
Arthur removed the other ear bud. “This meet is not the deciding factor. I know for a fact that you’ve already received a ton of offers. Come off it. You don’t need to run yourself to the ground tomorrow for a scholarship.”
Merlin knew this was true and tried to take the attention off of himself by asking, “So you’ve gotten the offers too, then. Where’re you thinking of going?”
Arthur didn’t hesitate before saying, “Oh, I’ll have to go to ‘State. Father donates a ton of money there every year, so it’s expected that I’ll attend.”
Merlin didn’t hesitate either before responding, “But their cross country program sucks! You can’t possibly go there with the talent you’ve got! Not to mention that you’re a freaking genius who could get into Harvard if he wanted to.” He actually appeared angry.
Arthur shrugged, “But none of that matters. Dad says I’m going to ‘state. So I’m going to ‘state.”
“No, you’re not. You can't throw all of that away!”
Arthur hopped off the bed and began pacing, “What, so you’re just going to talk to my father for me? Stop being such an idiot, Merlin. Before you, I couldn’t even listen to music he didn’t approve of. You think I can just go to a college other than the one he wants me to? It doesn’t work like that.”
Merlin stood up, too. “But that’s the key, isn’t it, Pendragon? Before me. Well now it’s after me.” He clasped Arthur’s shoulders, forcing Arthur to stop pacing, “Tomorrow, you are going to run your absolute guts out, and then you and I will get a full scholarship to some school with a great program, and it will all be perfect.”
“Oh so now you’re the optimistic one, Merlin?” Arthur suggested with a snort, realizing what had happened to the conversation. He only barely registered that Merlin had said school, not schools.
“Yeah, because you need me to be. Now get back in bed. We need to sleep.”
“I had better not wake up with you on top of me tomorrow, idiot.” Arthur said, trying to brighten the mood as he climbed into bed.
Merlin looked up as he got in on the other side, “Hey, it was you who smelled my hair. Which is creepy, I might add.”
Arthur paused before looking straight at Merlin. “But I bet you liked it.” Lord help him, he was flirting.
“So you admit that you did smell my hair!” Merlin grinned triumphantly, not directly replying and not breaking eye contact.
“Well I couldn't help it since you were LYING ON TOP OF ME!” Arthur protested loudly.
Merlin decided that he could be snarky as well when he responded, “Don’t pretend like you didn’t like that, too.” With a vicious grin.
The words came out of Arthur’s mouth before he could stop himself. “Fine, I won’t.”
“What?”
Arthur froze. “I mean, goodnight Merlin.” He turned off the light before saying anything else he'd regret. Fuck it all.
***
“BAAAAM BAAAAM BAAAAAM BAAAAM”
“Get the fuck off of me, you ass.” Merlin muttered into Arthur’s shirt, realizing he was being crushed underneath the larger boy.
***
“Someone’s walking a little funny. Long night, boys?” Gwaine asked, gesturing to Merlin as he and Arthur pulled up at the breakfast table.
“Yeah, whatever were you two up to last night?” Morgana drawled.
Merlin’s ears turned beat red before quickly explaining, “Nothing. He just slept on top of me, and it bent my leg a little funny," receiving a glare from Arthur and a chuckle from Morgana.
“Wait, what?!” Elyan spit out his juice, before turning to Lance and loudly whispering, “Told you Arthur would top.”
“What?! No, I do not!” Arthur practically screamed, causing Mithian to glance over from the next table with an amused look on her face. She slyly handed Freya a twenty.
Merlin, meanwhile, dropped entirely out of the conversation to sit on the dining room floor to stretch, muttering about how he absolutely could not be walking funny by race time.
Back at the table, Percy raised his eyebrow in amusement and inquired, “So you’re a bottom then?”
“No, neither...we didn't...god...” Arthur sputtered, “Now where’s Merlin gone to and why doesn’t he have to deal with this?”
“He backed off the second he realized what he started. I’m starting to think he may be the smarter one of the pair. Though I really am so happy for the two of you” Gwen stated, walking up to the table. “Now, come on, no time to lose. We race in t-minus three and a half hours. And we have an hour long bus ride ahead of us.”
Arthur groaned and stood up. He then bent under the table to look at Merlin. “I left my spikes in the room. Can you grab me a water bottle and banana and meet me on the bus?”
“Not your servant.” Came the reply.
“Pleas.e” Arthur persisted.
“Well, since you said please.” Merlin stood up, “I’ll grab you a seat on the bus as well.”
"Perfect, thanks."
Gwen and Morgana stared at each other. Arthur never said please. And Merlin certainty never did anything that Arthur asked.
The other four continued to pass money around under the table.
***
“How’re you feeling?” Leon asked, walking up behind Arthur and Merlin as they stood looking at the start of the course.
“I feel pretty good. I think today will be one of my better ones.” Arthur responded, twisting the spikes into his shoes.
“Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good, as well. When’s warm up, Coach?” Merlin asked.
“I’m thinking in about ten minutes. Percy's going to lead it.” Leon informed them and began to walk away before hesitating and turning back to face them, “Boys, I want you to know that I really am proud of your progress this week. Run hard today.”
***
Fifty minutes later, and they were on the start line, waiting for the gun to go off. “Good luck everybody.” Merlin muttered as always. Multiple “good lucks” sounded in response. Here we go, he thought, jumping up and down to maintain his heart rate.
Typically at this point Arthur would mutter some insult back at him, but today Arthur turned to him with a smile, “Good luck, idiot” before moving to place one foot on the line.
The gun went off.
And Merlin and Arthur took off, pushing through the crowd to get into good positions. The start was everything if you didn't want to have to pass a hundred boys later in the race. Elbows were flying and bodies were shoved in every direction. In the chaos, Merlin completely lost Arthur and let his instincts take control. He had done this a hundred times before. He lived for it.
Merlin didn’t see Arthur for the entire first two miles after he pushed his way to the front, but when he reached the two mile marker, he began to hear familiar breathing coming up behind him. Usually, this would be a moment that he would curse, hating that the prat was catching up to him. Today, however, it was a comfort. Arthur moved up to join him, side by side.
They raced in silence, neither needing nor able to acknowledge the other. Together they moved into second place, staying a few yards behind the lead runner, letting him face the wind for them. As they approached the last half mile, Leon yelled for them to kick it in, and kick it in they did, quickly passing the first runner and continuing to gain ground. When the 400 meter mark passed, Arthur managed to grunt “together.” Merlin’s only acknowledgement was to speed up with him.
They were flying. There are days when running hard feels like it will kill you, and there are days when every part of your body hurts. But then there are days where there is nothing better on the entire planet than running hard. Feeling the ground move beneath your feet, and your body moving through the air like, well, magic. And that is exactly how Merlin and Arthur both felt that last four hundred meters. Magical.
Together, they flew through the three hundred meter mark, to the two hundred mark, and then to the one hundred mark. In those last hundred meters, there was nothing but the sound of breathing and the sight of the clock in front of them, ticking up every second. Merlin and Arthur continued to push themselves, trying to make every step quicker than the last. Then they crossed the line. Together.
Merlin was the first to collapse while Arthur remained standing, moving out of the way of the finish line to throw up before collapsing himself. When they were both moved to the medical tent a few minutes later to get water and any other help, Merlin looked over at Arthur and grinned: “PR”, meaning personal record. Arthur nodded and pointed to himself, motioning that he'd PRed as well. Nothing else was said, and nothing else needed to be said. They'd done it. Together. The boys sat in comfortable silence, finally coming to terms that they were friends now. Good friends. And maybe they both wanted to be more?
Arthur finally stood up, saying “Come on, we should go watch the girls’ race. Morgana'll kill us if we don’t.”
Merlin slowly rose to his feet, as well, taking a deep breath, and then saying, “To the woods? A little passed the two mile mark? That’s where I wished someone was.”
Arthur nodded and took Merlin’s hand. Neither openly acknowledged the gesture, but both were incredibly aware of it. "To the woods, then."
When they got there, Morgana was the first runner to pass them. Even in her exhausted state, she still managed to raise an eyebrow when she saw that Merlin and Arthur were indeed holding hands and gave them the “oh we are so going to talk about this later” look before speeding up.
Morgana was followed by Freya in third place, then Vivian in sixth, Elena in seventh, and Gwen in tenth, giving them their top five runners and score of 27. Hoping that the girls would maintain their positions, Merlin muttered to Arthur, “Looks like our girls have got a win.”
“Did the boys win?” Arthur suddenly responded, “God, we didn’t even talk to Leon after the race! I have absolutely no idea what everyone else is doing right now. And the cool down! Merlin, you were supposed to lead the cool down!”
Merlin kicked the ground at the sudden realization. “Shit. Guess I won’t be put in charge of that again for a while.” He paused, “But, do you know, I’d kind of rather be here right now.”
Arthur smiled before saying, “You are such an idiot.”
Merlin turned his playful smile back on and faced Arthur. “Did the dollophead just call me an idiot with affection? Is that what I just heard? Oh my. I need to write this down.”
The banter continued until they heard the awards ceremony for their race begin across the course. The two jogged over to the space where it was held, never letting go of the other’s hands. It turned out that Merlin had won by half a second, giving Arthur second place. And both the boys and the girls’ teams had indeed ended up winning their races, proving that they deserved the reputation the Camelot Knights had been given.
As Merlin and Arthur walked away from the awards, they were approached by multiple college scouts, and maybe, just maybe, Arthur took some of their offers into consideration.
***
The rest of the day was surprisingly normal. Once they arrived back at the hotel, they both went to their friends’ room to order pizza for their final dinner in New York. However, it seemed to have slipped their minds that Morgana would be there, waiting.
“So, boys.” She began immediately upon them walking in, “I seemed to have noticed that you had...changed, yes let’s use the word ‘changed’, this morning. Would you like to elaborate on this development?” She ran her fingers over the table in front of her in an almost menacing way before looking both of them dead in the eyes. The other boys and Gwen hung back by the beds.
“Um...” Merlin gulped, “We were, um....Arthur! I’m sure you’d like to do the elaborating.”
Arthur turned to whack Merlin on the head (though not very hard) before turning to Morgana. “You see, Morgana, we have…we have come to terms with one another.” He picked every word carefully, “We have acknowledged our differences and realized that our similarities outnumber them.”
“Not exactly true!” Gwaine piped in, pretty sure that they were more different than similar.
“Well how would you explain in then?” An exasperated Arthur turned to face Gwaine, clearly giving up on his endeavor.
“Well, let’s see…” Gwaine began.
“Actually don’t.” Merlin realized Arthur’s mistake, “Please don’t.” He begged.
“But Arthur asked ever so nicely. I feel like I must.” Gwaine gave his best smile before turning to face the rest of them. “I’ve just come up with what is possibly my best description ever.” Pause. “I would say, that you both were thrust into a situation that you were unprepared for. And now you're going to thrust-.” Gwaine trailed off and smiled proudly before plopping backwards on the bed, before speaking up again. “Oh, or what about this one: You used to think the other was an asshole and now-”
Arthur cut him off by exclaiming, “Oh my God, Morgana just saw us holding hands! We haven't even talked about it!” Both he and Merlin had turned beat red and were stubbornly looked away from each other, not quite believing what they had just heard from Gwaine. The other members of the room began to speak loudly while Gwen had a mysterious coughing fit.
Gwaine stood up on the bed. “Silence!” He commanded. “Merlin, Arthur. Are you sure you didn't do more than hold hands?” Gwaine asked, trying to be more careful than he previously had.
“Yes!” Arthur hastily answered, ignoring the looks from Lance and Elyan. Merlin still didn’t trust himself to speak.
“Then are you going to do more in the future?” Gwaine now asked, clearly disappointed with the last answer.
This time neither responded, refusing to look at each other. "We haven't even talked about it." Arthur finally repeated, weakly.
“Oh my God” Percy muttered.
“Come on Gwen, let’s go get dinner elsewhere, I’ve lost my appetite” Lance announced, standing up and taking his girlfriend’s hand.
Gwen looked at her boyfriend. “No way. I’m not missing this for the world. I’ve been waiting for this confession since seventh grade.”
“Seventh grade!” Merlin started.
“Yes, seventh grade you fucking idiots.” Elyan spoke up, shocking all the other members of the room.
“Elyan!” Arthur sighed, completely mortified by this point.
“Can we leave?” Merlin asked.
“No way.” Gwaine protested.
Merlin gave up at this point and sat back on the bed. Arthur looked at Gwaine in disgust and turned to reach into Merlin’s pants pocket for his iPod, causing Percy to shout, “Not right here!”
Arthur, too, gave up and fell onto the bed next to Merlin, not even able to use music to drown out the conversation.
***
When Leon finally knocked on the door to tell them it was time for curfew, Merlin and Arthur had been in the room for several hours, listening to their friends discuss their destinies while offering no input of their own.
“Well that was…interesting…” Merlin stammered as the two began to walk back to their room.
“Um, yeah…” Arthur replied.
Merlin hesitated before muttering, “And now it’s awkward…”
Arthur laughed and added, “And now it’s even more awkward. Thank you, Merlin.”
Merlin tried to move past the awkwardness and muttered, “Have I told you that I really like it when you say my name like that?", biting his lip hopefully.
Arthur turned to stare. “The way I say your name when I’m annoyed with you?”
Merlin turned a shade of pink. “Um yeah...”
They continued walking to their room.
“Merlin. Can I ask you something?”
“No. You can’t.”
“Well, I’m going to anyway.”
“Good because I was being sarcastic.”
Arthur sighed, coming to a stop in front of their room. “Well,” he stammered as Merlin pulled out the room key. “I just. There’s no good way to-” Merlin dropped the card. Sighing, Arthur bent down to pick it up, not pulling back as his hand touched Merlin’s.
“Arthur I like you.” Merlin blurted out. “A lot.”
Arthur paused for a moment, before sliding the card in the door and sweeping the two of them into the room. “Good.” was the only thing he said before pulling Merlin in for a kiss. He heard the smaller boy gasp as his lips met Arthur's, but after that, Arthur's sense of sound faded away. All that remained was Merlin. Yeah, he admitted, he liked the boy. A lot.
***
Their ride home was exactly the opposite of their ride up. Merlin lived up to his reputation and did not shut up for at least the first four hours. Arthur, however, did not live up to his and welcomed the conversation. Merlin’s babbling became a pleasant hum while Arthur stared out the window, only able to make out every other word of Merlin’s fast speech.
When the speech suddenly stopped, Arthur was not surprised to see the boy sound asleep in the seat next to them. It made sense, seeing as how they had not slept much the night before.
When Merlin’s head slowly rolled into Arthur’s lap sometime during hour six, the blond ignored looks from the other team members and began playing with Merlin’s hair. During hour eight, Arthur fell asleep too, feeling as though he was right where he was meant to be. It was magical.