Alice: New story!

Emily: It's my first Merlin story, so I'm a little nervous.

Alice: Enjoy!

Title: Newspaper Club

Summary: Everyone knew Arthur and Merlin hated each other. At least, until the school newspaper publishes an article declaring the two are secretly dating. Now the whole school thinks they're in love. The problem? They aren't!

Pairings: Arthur x Merlin. Morgana x Gwen. Percival x Gwaine. One-sided Lancelot x Merlin. One-sided Lancelot x Gwen.

Chapter 1

The blonde girl smirked as she snuck into her high school building. It was late at night and there was no security, so she was free to do whatever she pleased. Picking of the locks to the computer room, she quickly rushed in and closed the door behind her. Vengeance was so close! Her hands trembled in anticipation as she turned on one of the computers and logged into another student's account. It was easy enough tricking the boy to give her his username and password. All it took was a little flirting.

Smirking, she found the gossip column of the school newspaper. Normally the article was mundane and discussed how there would be new options on the lunch menu. Not this time though. Quickly erasing the article, she frantically typed a newer, juicier one attached to a photo she emailed herself. She knew no one would notice the change until it was too late, and she prided herself on this elaborate scheme.

She smirked when she pressed the save button. Now all she had to do was wait until tomorrow.

Merlin groaned when the alarm went off, and he quickly pressed the snooze button. Another five minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt. But, naturally, his phone started to buzz frantically, and he sighed. The universe was just against him sometimes. Picking it up, he smiled when he saw the message was from Gwen.

'Be careful. Elyan told me Arthur's back from vacation.'

Merlin frowned and quickly replied, 'I'm always careful! It's his fault he's such a prat!'

Merlin could almost see Gwen receiving the message and rolling her eyes. It was true though! Arthur Pendragon was the son of the principal, Uther Pendragon, and he came from a wealthy family, which resulted in him thinking he could get away with anything. Merlin once caught him picking on a boy, and he defended him. Ever since, Arthur and Merlin fought whenever they were in the same room together. It was common knowledge among most of the student body, and teachers even knew to separate the two boys when they were in the same classes.

'Just ignore him Merlin. Please? For me?'

He sighed and texted back, 'Fine. But only for you.'

She replied with a smiley, and he laughed in response. The joy was short lived though. The alarm went off again causing him to flinch. Rolling his eyes, he jumped out of bed and quickly shut off his annoying alarm. Who knew? Maybe today would be a good day.

If only he knew how wrong he was.

Arthur began shoving textbooks into his bag from his locker. He was exhausted from waking up so early. During his vacation, he was able to sleep in for an entire week. It messed up his sleep schedule though, and it frustrated him. Slamming his locker door shut, he was about to walk to homeroom but stopped. All of his friends were standing around him with upset expressions. "What?" he joked. "Not happy to see me?"

"Arthur…" Percival squirmed. "Do you trust us?"

The blond blinked in surprise. What on earth? "Where's this coming from?" he asked.

Elyan crossed his arms. "You didn't tell us the truth, that's where it's coming from. Did you think we wouldn't find out? We're your best friends, Arthur!"

"I know that," Arthur rubbed his forehead and turned to Lancelot. He hadn't said a word yet and just stared at him with sad eyes. Arthur flinched at the look and instead diverted his attention to Leon, who just looked disappointed. What on earth happened in the week he was away? He didn't keep many secrets from his friends, and the ones he did keep were so personal that they would have had no way of finding them out. "What did I not tell you?"

"You didn't tell us that—" Elyan started angrily, but was quickly interrupted by Lancelot.

"Guys!" Lancelot finally stepped in. "You're not handling the situation well! This is probably why he didn't tell us!"

"What is going on?"

"Arthur!" Lancelot turned to his best friend. Looking at him straight in the eye, Lancelot stated, "We are your friends, and we accept you no matter what."

"Excuse me?" Arthur frowned. Where was this coming from?

"We support you." Lancelot affirmed, smiling brightly at him. "If you're into men, we don't care. We're just upset that you went to so many great lengths to hide it."

Arthur's entire body froze. "What?" He hissed out.

"We know you're dating Merlin!" Leon blurted out.

"WHAT?!"

Merlin frowned when he walked into school. Everyone was staring at him. Some people even turned and started frantically whispering to their friends, and Merlin didn't understand why. What had he done this time? Shaking his head, he decided to just go to homeroom and ask Gwen about it. Although she didn't seem like it, Gwen adored gossip and knew basically everything about everyone. It was actually kind of scary.

Walking into homeroom, everyone immediately stared at him. He frowned and slowly made his way to Gwen, who was reading the school newspaper as though it were one of the greatest novels she's ever read. Strange considering barely anyone read the school newspaper. "Gwen?" Merlin whispered, sitting in the desk in front of hers. "What's going on? Everyone's staring at me…"

Instead of receiving an answer, Gwen slowly looked up from the pages of the newspapers and gawked at him.

"G-Gwen?" Merlin asked. "What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she finally exclaimed, leaning towards him. "I already knew you were into men! Why didn't you tell me you were interested in a specific man?"

"I did?" Merlin's eyebrows furrowed. "Or did you forget how you had to buy me ice cream and watch stupid chick flicks whenever I was upset about him?"

She shook her head. "I can't believe it. You were using a fake crush to talk about your relationship issues! Merlin, that's brilliant! Manipulative, but brilliant!"

"Gwen, I don't—"

"Was it because of Will?" she interrupted. "Did you think he wouldn't accept it, so you decided not to tell me either? I mean, I guess I understand since he's been your friend since pre-school, but just because—"

"Gwen!" Merlin exclaimed. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

She blinked in confusion. "This," she said, handing him the newspaper.

Frowning, he glanced at the top of the article and gaped.

'ARTHUR AND MERLIN: SECRETLY DATING'

Next to the title was a photo of the two of them. Merlin was being pressed against the lockers, and his face was flushed as he stared into the eyes of Arthur, the one pinning him to the lockers. Their faces were close, and it looked as though they were about to kiss. Merlin frowned, remembering that day. Arthur was being a jerk, again, so Merlin called him out on it. A few insults later and Merlin was being pressed against the lockers as they screamed at each other.

Without the context though, it did not look like they were fighting. "You've got to be kidding me," Merlin paled. "You believe this?"

"Well yes," Gwen blinked, surprised Merlin would even ask. "It explains how you two wanted to keep it a secret, so you fought over every little thing so no one would expect it."

"But we're actually fighting!"

"Oh!" Gwen appeared surprised. "You fight as a couple too?"

"No!" Merlin groaned. "We're not a couple! Clearly this newspaper is lying."

Gwen gave him a skeptical look. "Merlin, you two are about to kiss in the photo."

"We were fighting!"

"Doesn't look like much of a fight…"

"Gwen!"

She giggled at how red he was becoming. "Relax Merlin. You definitely aren't dating Arthur?"

"I'm not." He confirmed. "Nor would I ever."

"Alright," Gwen smiled. "Then I believe you."

"Thank you," Merlin leaned back with a sigh of relief. "I can't believe the school actually published something like this… especially since Uther's the principal! He's going to be furious someone started rumors like this about his son."

Right as he mentioned that, Arthur burst into homeroom with all of his friends behind him. His eyes darted around the room, searching for someone specific. Merlin gulped, knowing it would be him. Once their eyes met, Arthur's face flushed in anger as he took a step forward. "Merlin," he warningly stated.

"What?" Merlin jumped up, glaring at him. "I had nothing to do with this!"

As if to emphasize his point, he waved his hands in the direction of the newspaper. Arthur was about to open his mouth and shout at him but quickly noticed the class eagerly watching. Clenching his fists, he jerked his head towards the door as though to signal they needed to talk in private.

Strangely enough, Merlin understood the gesture and grabbed his backpack. "I'll be right back," he smiled at Gwen. Once he turned towards Arthur, he immediately glared at him and started walking towards the door. Arthur rolled his eyes, and the two exited homeroom together, prepared to discuss what the heck was going on with the newspaper. When they walked out, their classmates watched their every move with both excitement and disbelief. After that interaction, everyone in the classroom thought the same thing:

Arthur and Merlin are definitely dating!

Alice: Thanks for reading.

Emily: Let me know what you think of the story so far.

Alice: Should I continue with it?