AN: This story was inspired by a prompt from ArthurGwen2010. Again I adapted my own ideas around it and this is the end result. It wasn't really what was asked of but more so based on an older prompt that had been given to me from her which I never got around to writing.
The party was in full swing. People in various costumes were dancing, drinking, laughing and having fun. Arthur and Merlin watched as Morgana hugged and chatted with various people, surprised by the turn out. It was Morgana's twenty first birthday and because it was just two days until Halloween, Arthur and Merlin had organised a surprise costume party for her. It had been easy to keep Morgana unaware of what was going on by simply saying it was a Halloween party. Almost everyone had dressed up including the three of them. Morgana had dressed up as Bellatrix Lestrange, Arthur had dressed up as Batman and Merlin had had the rather ingenious idea of dressing up as Waldo and was planning to photo-bomb as many pictures as he could in order to create a massive Where's Waldo game for everyone the next day. As they moved back to the bar, Merlin turned to Arthur.
"Listen, I've arranged a surprise for Morgana but I need you to help me out." Merlin said.
"What do you mean by surprise?" Arthur asked wearily. Merlin had a habit of having 'genius' ideas which usually ended up becoming total fiascos. Arthur could only hope this wasn't one of those ideas; he still had nightmares of the last time. Long story short there had been a lot of vodka, a trolley, fireworks and a trip to the A&E but it had made for the most memorable Fresher's Week in a long time.
"Morgana's invited Gwen but Gwen's supposedly still in London. However I've had it arranged with her to come up here and surprise Morgana, I need you to make sure that they're kept apart until I reveal Gwen to her. Morgana will love it." Merlin explained and Arthur looked at him confused.
"Gwen? Who's Gwen?" Arthur asked.
"You remember Gwen don't you? She was one of Morgana's best friends back in secondary school. I only met her a few times but she's a really nice girl, bit quiet but nice." Merlin explained. "Look I got to go just do it for me, please?"
"Alright," Arthur replied as Merlin went and joined Morgana who had been chatting to some of her cousins. Arthur wandered over to the bar and ordered himself a drink as he looked around the crowd trying to find Gwen. To be honest, he didn't really remember her. An image of a shy quiet girl came to mind but that was about it. Arthur racked his brains trying to recall anything about her or something that could help him recognise her. After a few minutes a vague memory came to mind.
Arthur slammed his book shut in frustration and he rubbed his eyes. What on Earth possessed him to take on Biology for A Level; this was going to damn well kill him. Arthur sighed as he rested his head in his hands and shook his head wearily as he contemplated dropping out of school. It would be damn easier than attempting to learn some crap about cells or plants or something that he doubted he would ever use in real life.
"Biology killing you too?"
Arthur looked up at the girl who was standing at his desk and nodded. He had seen her about school loads of times but had never spoken to her before. Her dark curly hair was pulled back into a ponytail and aside from her schoolbag she was also weighed down with a large art folder and a bursting file block. Arthur moved his stuff over so she could sit down. The girl nervously sat down and they opened his book. She explained her name was Gwen and she was in the other A Level Biology class who had just covered the topic he was struggling with. For the rest of the study period Gwen helped explain what Arthur couldn't understand and while he still didn't fully grasp it, he had a better understanding of the topic than he did before. As the bell rang they packed up their stuff and went their separate ways, Arthur to PE and Gwen to Art.
Arthur didn't really speak to Gwen that much, she was always very shy and quiet and often wouldn't speak unless somebody spoke to her first. Somehow she became friends with the loud, confident and occasionally argumentative Morgana. Aside from that day in the library, Arthur barely had a proper conversation with her; they acknowledged each other in the corridors or would sometimes have group discussions with other people in their year wherein they would debate who the worst teacher was, what they wanted to do after school or who had the most right to claim to be the most stressed about their exams. Arthur barely even remembered what she looked like, he knew she was kind of short with dark curly hair but that was it. Besides it had been three years since they had left school, a lot can happen in three years.
"What's wrong Batman, lose Robin?"
Arthur turned and looked at the woman who had approached him. She was very pretty, her dark curly hair was shoulder length and she was dressed as a 1920s flapper in a white dress which flattered her figure without being too revealing. There was something strangely familiar about her and Arthur supposed he had most likely seen her around campus before.
"I don't have sidekicks, the Dark Knight fights alone to protect the citizens of Gotham from crime and danger." Arthur replied in a gruffer tone of voice.
"Dark Knight, good film. Heath Ledger just stole the show; he was brilliant as the Joker." The woman commented.
"Jack Nicholson was better. Heath could play the Joker but Jack Nicholson is the Joker." Arthur replied.
"You can call me The Joker and as you can see I'm a lot happier." The woman quoted and Arthur nodded, impressed.
"You know your Batman movies." Arthur complimented, it was rare to find women who knew of more than just the more recent Batman films.
"Among other superheroes. What did you think of Spiderman?" the woman asked.
"He's alright, better than Superman; I always found him annoying. He's all powerful, able to do anything and the only way to beat him is with Kryptonite which was only found on his destroyed home planet. At least other superheroes had flaws and weaknesses." Arthur said and the woman nodded in agreement.
"One thing I never understood, Superman never wore a mask, everybody knew what he looked like but nobody seemed to realise he was Clark Kent. At least other superheroes hid their secret identity." The woman said.
"Which means you don't know who I am." Arthur pointed out; he was still trying to work out just who this woman was. He definitely knew her from somewhere but he couldn't put a name to her or where they had met.
"I am hoping that you're Christian Bale but I do know you're Arthur Pendragon." The woman said with a smile.
"Ok that was clever, how did you know it was me?" Arthur asked.
"Merlin told me you would be Batman. I can't find him though," the woman replied.
"Well he is dressed as Waldo." Arthur said as they looked around for Merlin or Morgana who were on the dance floor. Arthur caught Merlin's eye and Merlin quickly put his hands over Morgana's eyes and led her over to the bar, ignoring her protests and attempts to free herself. As they approached the woman smiled as Merlin stopped just in front of her and removed his hands from Morgana's eyes.
"Merlin what was that-" Morgana asked but trailed off as she realised who was standing in front of her. "Oh my God! What the…? How did…? Oh my God!" Morgana squealed excitedly as she flung her arms around the woman and hugged her tightly.
"Happy birthday! Merlin emailed me and told me to pretend I wasn't coming to surprise you. I wasn't going to miss your twenty first!" Gwen replied with a laugh as Morgana turned and hugged Merlin.
"This is amazing, I honestly wasn't expecting you here Gwen!" Morgana exclaimed as she turned to Arthur. "Did you know as well?"
"Um no, Merlin only told me when we got here." Arthur replied as the music began playing Thriller and Gwen and Morgana hurried onto the dance floor to join in with the crowd dancing to the classic Halloween track. Arthur was staring at Gwen stunned. How was that laughing, chatting woman the same shy, nerdy girl he had known in secondary school? Arthur watched her dance with Morgana, taking in the warmth of her smile, her brown eyes, the way her dress clung to her body but still remained modest; the 1920s look was good on her. Obviously she was older than the girl he remembered but the fact remained, just how did that transformation happen?
"Murphy's Law," Merlin said as though he had read Arthur's mind.
"What?" Arthur asked and Merlin looked from Arthur to Gwen to Arthur again with that annoying all-knowing smile of his.
"Murphy's Law says the nerdy girl you picked on relentlessly during your school years will grow up to be the woman you would sell your soul for one night with." Merlin explained.
"I never picked on her," Arthur defended.
"Not saying you did, that's just Murphy's Law." Merlin shrugged as he went to join Morgana and Gwen. Arthur wasn't much of a dancer and instead he watched the three of them dance and muck around there was only one thought which came to mind as he studied Gwen.
Murphy's a jerk.