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The bell rings, signaling the end of class. Mordred immediately picks up his bag and heads out the door, he has about thirty seconds before the hallways fill up.
Exiting his English class, he heads straight towards the side staircase to avoid the large crowds that normally overtook the main hallway. When he reaches the bottom, he sees Merlin.
Mordred holds his breath and ducks back into the stairwell so Merlin won’t see him. It’s been two days since he’s been over at Merlin’s to study and had nearly been beaten up by Arthur. Mordred hadn’t spoken to him since.
“Mordred?”
Damn. Mordred huffed out a breath and straightened his t-shirt out before he turned around the corner.
“Hey Merlin. How-- are you?” He couldn’t keep his voice from stammering.
“Hey! I’m good. How did you end up doing on your test?” He remembered. Mordred instantly feels his face turn hot.
“I passed.” He manages to say, finally gathering coherent speech.
“That’s wonderful!” Merlin’s smile makes Mordred’s heart skip a beat. “Listen. I’m sorry about Arthur, he’s a bit, you know…”
“Possessive?” At that, Merlin opened his eyes wide. Mordred drew back a little, he hadn’t meant to sound so callous.
Merlin’s face turns red. “ I wouldn’t say that, he’s just... a prat? I talked to him about it afterwards and he admitted he made an arse of himself, which probably means the world is ending soon because Arthur never admits to his faults.” He allows himself a small chuckle trying to break the tension.
“Whatever you say Merlin, just giving you my honest opinion.” He rested a hand on Merlin’s shoulder and without another word he turned his back and walked out the school doors, not looking behind him until he was well past school grounds. Let Merlin learn who Arthur really was.
---
Merlin couldn’t shake what Mordred said to him out of his mind. Arthur wasn’t possessive. Was he? He thinks about the countless amount of times Arthur got into near fights whenever someone so much as looked at Merlin wrong, but they had always laughed it off together. That kind of stuff didn’t mean he was possessive, right? Jealous? Certainly, but Merlin could be too. He’d had his fair share of jealous encounters when another girl or boy got a little too close to Arthur.
But possessive? He didn’t like to be thought of as anyone’s possession, even if that person was Arthur. He tried not to think about how much he’d had to calm Arthur down lately because he was afraid someone was getting a little too close to Merlin. He had to admit that the amount was definitely disproportionate to when he got jealous.
Merlin sees Will walking out of his history class and walks over to join him.
“Do you think Arthur’s possessive?”
“Well, hello to you too Merlin.” Will looks at him seriously and asks. “Is the sky blue?”
“This isn’t funny. I need you to take me seriously.”
Will bursts out laughing. “Merlin, you’ve been with Arthur since you were five and you’ve only now noticed how ‘possessive’ he is?”
Merlin looks affronted. “I’m sorry, I guess I never thought of it like that. Give me an example.” Although Merlin had started to notice Arthur acting more prattish than usual. But it took Mordred saying it out loud for him to really consider it.
Will cracks his knuckles and starts to number off his fingers. “Okay, let’s see…One. He always insists on driving you to school--”
“I have tried to get him to stop--”
“Two. He has all your Friday nights--”
“Those are our date nights!”
“Three. He’s not capable of holding a conversation without-- touching you in some way.” Will shudders.
“Okay, but it’s not like I actually mind--”
“Gross. Four. Last Sunday, he punched Gwaine in the face when he was sloshed out of his mind at Percival’s Party for kissing you.”
“Well he did kiss me…”
“He kisses everyone! He tried to kiss me! That’s just Gwaine!” Merlin doesn’t look any less phased. “Unbelievable! Okay five. He never lets you hang out with other blokes. Ever.”
“That’s utter bullshit. I hang out with you all the time.”
“I meant other gay ones.”
“No way. What about…” Merlin pauses and looks at him, like he’s about to name a name and then stops. “Shit. You’re right.”
---
Arthur has just finished lacing up his football cleats when Gwaine enters the locker room.
He winces when he sees the bruise on the side of his face. He didn’t think he’d hit him that hard, but then again he also hadn’t really cared at the time. Still, Arthur feels like the biggest prick in the world. He can’t make himself greet him, instead he takes a long swig out of his water bottle, hoping that Gwaine will leave soon.
No such luck.
“Arthur.” Gwaine walks towards his bench and sits down next to him.
“Gwaine.” And god damn, that bruise looked even worse up close. “Listen Gwaine, I am incredibly sorry for--”
“Save it. Arthur, you know in my wildest dreams and you know they get pretty wild,” He winks at him, “I would never have Merlin.”
“Yeah, mate-- I know , it’s just--”
“I’m not finished. You really have no clue how much love is between you two, do you?”
“Well I-”
“Shut up, it was rhetorical; Arthur, listen to me. You have no clue." He turns away and shakes his head. "You’re an idiot. You’d think that being with someone for so long would only strengthen a relationship, but lately I think you’ve gotten a lot more stupid. I’m sorry, actually no I’m not, you’ve been a right prick.”
Arthur starts to object, but thinks better of it and doesn't interrupt.
“Arthur, you need to relax. You don’t have to be his knight in shining armour 24/7, you don’t need to be so hyper-aware of every man that's not you, talking to your man, you don’t need to treat him like some sort of damsel in distress, because the minute you take away his power to defend himself, or worse you don’t even give him a chance to, then that’s when you’ll lose him. He’s yours and you’re his and that is the fucking bottom line.” Gwaine squeezes his shoulder comfortingly. The room is quiet but for the air conditioning, and the few guys left cleaning out their lockers for the weekend. The silence between them grows until Gwaine stands up and turns to leave. “Just think about what I said.” He gives Arthur a slight nod and leaves the room.
Arthur feels like he’s just been held under a microscope. All the things Gwaine said were true, he had become more anxious. He was more scared of losing Merlin than he'd ever been. It didn't help that all those guys like Mordred were so blatantly fond of him, and weren't afraid to show it that made his blood boil. It seemed that no matter how hard Arthur tried to get the message clear that Merlin was his boyfriend, they didn’t give a shit. He should have trusted Merlin to not reciprocate.
Everything about Merlin was intoxicating to him, he couldn’t stop thinking about him, wanting to be near him, wanting to give him the world, and seeing him with another man, always felt like a dagger to the heart, even if it was purely innocent. It was fucking ridiculous and he knew it, but he never thought about how it felt for Merlin.
---
Waiting outside the locker room, Merlin was standing by the water fountains, waiting for Arthur with a hesitant look on his face. It instantly put him on high alert.
“Arthur, we need to talk.”
“Yeah, of course.” Arthur’s heart begins hammering so hard, he was worried he might actually pass out before Merlin talks to him. He goes in for a peck on the cheek, and Merlin stands stone still.
“Some things have been bothering me lately, and I need you to understand where I’m coming from.” He's looking down at his feet.
Arthur feels his blood turning to ice. “Merlin--” He drops his bag, and takes Merlin’s hands in his. “Please, if you’re breaking up with me, at least let me hold you one more time.”
Merlin head snaps up. “What?, Arthur I’m not--”
“It’s because I punched Gwaine isn't it, wait no, it’s a bunch of other things too, right? Like how I’m always touching you, and I never let Will drive you to school, though honestly, I wouldn’t even let Will drive himself to school, it’s like he forgets there’s such a thing as speed limits, and signs, and…”
“Hey clotpole, shut up.” Merlin’s voice is so affectionate that Arthur wants to close his eyes, and drown in it. He would too if this was the last time he’d hear it.
“Just know that I’ll never stop loving you. Even if you don’t love me anymore.” Arthur can feel his heart breaking, and his grip tightens on Merlin's hands.
“Arthur! Shut up! I’m not breaking up with you, you big prat.” He takes his hands out of Arthur's and moves his chin up to look at him.
“Why not? You don’t love me anymore.” Arthur's eyes are big and he sees the start of a tear droplet fighting to fall down his face.
“Where the fuck did you get that idea?” In his mind, this was so far from how he'd expected Arthur to react. He thought Arthur would play ignorant, and tell Merlin he was just being a 'protective' boyfriend, and then Merlin would feel stupid for bringing it up. This was exactly what he wasn't prepared for.
“Well, Gwaine--”
“Gwaine told you I didn’t love you anymore?” Merlin’s looked at him skeptically. If his friends had been telling lies about him, then they had another thing coming for them.
“Well, not exactly, but he made me realize some things and I sound like a shitty and terrible boyfriend so I understand why you’d want to leave me.” Arthur didn't care about pride anymore, he just wanted to soften the blow as much as possible.
“I’m not leaving you unless you want me to go, I love you too damn much, Pendragon.” Merlin steps a little closer to him, reaching out a hand to caress his jawline.
Arthur can’t stop the smile that grows on his face. “Well then I guess you’re stuck with me forever because that sure as hell isn’t going to happen.” He gives Merlin a slow lingering kiss, and when he pulls back he says, “What did you want to tell me then?”
Merlin chases his lips one more time before he answers. “I just wanted you to realize your prattish ways and change them before you put someone in the ICU. But I think you’ve been thinking about your behavior too. And also lay off Mordred’s case. He’s just a friend to me, and you need to stop taking everyone so seriously.”
Arthur looks off to the side and rubs his chin. “I can do that.”
“Good, but I need you to do one thing for me though, so I know that you’re well and truly going to try to change.”
Arthur gives him a scandalized look. “It depends. I’m not doing anything sexual at school.”
Merlin chuckles. “Damn.” He lets go of Arthur’s hands to grab his waist and pull him closer so he can touch his lips to his neck. “Mordred invited me to see Hamlet with him a couple days ago. How do you feel about me going with him?”
Arthur’s pulls his head back and looks at him. “I’m guessing he didn’t invite me?”
“Sorry love, he did not. But if it makes you feel any better his Great Aunt Marie will be there too.”
“You know, that actually makes me feel a hundred times better.”
Merlin grins. “So you’re letting me go, on Friday night?”
Arthur swallowed his instinctive first thought, that Merlin was his on-- correction, with him on Friday nights. “Okay, sure you can go. Have fun, and don’t let Great Aunty Marie get too cozy with you.”
Merlin actually tips his head back to laugh at that and Arthur feels his heart melt. He wasn’t going to like the idea of Mordred and Merlin spending time together, but he’d be damned if he lost Merlin to his horrible jealousy, and forbade him to have fun with other guys because they liked him too. He trusted Merlin.Though he resolved to do something Saturday night to make Merlin remember that while he could hang out with boys who fancied him, his heart was already comfortably in the possession of Arthur. And if that made him possessive then so be it.