"Can I count on your help?" Morgana asked Gwen as they walked down the school's corridor on the way to their form room.
"Can I say no?"
"No."
"Then I guess I'll see you on Saturday," Gwen laughed shaking her head as Morgana jollily scribbling her best friends name to the list.
"Thanks."
"What am I doing, then?"
"I'll let you know when I've sorted it out. Get to the school hall for ten?"
"As long as there's coffee."
x
When Gwen had volunteered herself for the school fete she hadn't imagined that Morgana would stick her on the kissing booth. But it was two people per stall and the kissing booth required a guy and a girl so everybody's needs could be met.
Gwen arrived early and sat at their stall and waited for her partner to arrive. Merlin was sat opposite her readying the popcorn machine Morgana had given him to provide the masses with their favourite movie treat (at a school fete). When he clocked Gwen sitting across the gangway he waved.
"Any ideas?" he said pointing to the machine.
"Corn in. Button on. Pop."
"Right," he laughed and nodded at her. He fumbled with the bag of popping corn tipping it into the centre of the small appliance. He turned it on and yelped when it shot out the first few bits of popped corn.
"Bowl!" Gwen called across to him through her laughter.
Merlin launched the plastic container beneath the exit of the machine and smiled, "Okay," he gave Gwen a thumbs-up and watched the corn circle around before exploding towards him and making him jump some morek.
x
Twenty kisses in and Gwen's co-stall holder still hadn't turned up. Still, she wasn't doing too badly on her own and Owain had come back to her. Very sweet though it was, she didn't want to know.
"Hi Gwen," the tallest of their group of friends greeted before handing her a coin.
"Thanks Leon," she stood up, not even coming to his shoulder. He leant on the table top and placed a sweet kiss to her cheek, then quickly to the other.
"I'm not risking having my arse handed to me," he smiled as he stood straight again. He looked over his shoulder and noted his friend approaching, "Speak of the devil."
Gwen's brow knitted not being able to see over the crowd of people to whom Leon was talking about. The latter disappeared quickly. Gwen sighed and sat back in her seat. Most people walked right past her, mostly because they were girls. The football team had all stopped and all run away equally as quickly as Leon had. The only member who hadn't been present was their captain.
"Sorry I'm late," Gwen coughed and looked to her right where Arthur Pendragon had just appeared. Football captain, her best friend's brother, and, sadly, the person she had fancied for the last year.
"Hi."
An hour later and they had successfully made well over a hundred pounds between them – with every girl stopping for a kiss from the football star.
They collapsed back into their chairs when the crowd of people stopped and the same three girls had finally given up coming back to Arthur. Owain had long since given up the chase since Arthur had appeared and none of the football team came back.
"I feel like I haven't given anything to charity," Arthur said as he looked into the pot and shrugged of the amount of money they had made.
"What do you mean?" Gwen's brow knitted, "You've been kissing people for an hour."
"Yeah, but I've not given any money towards it," he routing into his wallet, fingered through his coins and settled for pulling out the only thing in his wallet worth anything – a twenty pound note.
"I'm sure Merlin will give you change," Gwen nodded her head towards their busy mutual friend. She was hungry and considering grabbing herself a bag.
"Or you can give me my money's worth," he carelessly threw the note into the float tin. Gwen watched it in shocked awe.
Gwen's jaw dropped but he shifted towards her proving he was deadly serious. Before he'd turned up to help her – god damn Morgana making her watch him kiss people that weren't her all day – she had hoped that he might stop by.
"I've paid now. You've got to deliver. It's the rule and Guinevere Leodegrance doesn't break the rules," she chewed on the inside of her cheek and nodded curtly. Having waited quite long enough Arthur made forwards and kissed her like he had every other person there that afternoon.
"Is that it?" she couldn't stop herself from asking as he moved away. He smirked and raised his hand to her cheek and guided her back to him pressing a determined kiss to her lips. He ran his tongue over her lip, granted permission instantaneously as her fingers found the nape of his neck on the tendrils of his hair.
"You're meant to be kissing other people, not each other!" Merlin hollered over the gang way with a cheeky grin on his face, "Oh get a room!"
Arthur reluctantly pulled away from her a content smile set on his lips, "How about we get some of that popcorn and get out of here?"
x
Morgana's annoyance at the pair - for them from ditching their stall early - evaporated when she clocked how much money they had raised, "They made a hundred and fifty?"
"Well, like, that twenty of it was Arthur," Merlin said as he scooped up the rogue pieces of popcorn from beneath his chair and chucked them into the bin liner Morgana had just shoved at him in attempt to make him help her clear the hall.
"Arthur?"
"Seems like somebody finally got over himself and went for it," Merlin smiled amused.
"Arthur and Gwen?"
"Yeah, they've run off somewhere I don't want to know."
"Gwen and Arthur?"
"Gees, Morgana. Slow much?"
"My brother and my best friend?"
Merlin slowly nodded at her. How had she inot/i noticed? "Yeah."
"That's so wrong."
"You didn't set it up?"
"What? Ewh, no. I just put the hottest girl I know and the most popular guy in school on the stall to raise the most money."
"Well I'm sure that's not the only thing they raised," Merlin quirked his eyebrow in amusement at his own joke only to be hit around the back of the head, "Owh! This is the last time I do you any favours."