"Arthur Pendragon!" called a voice. The sound echoed through the mic and into the field we were sitting in. The warm spring air was like a treat no one wanted to give back. Applause erupted yet again as the sexiest guy in our entire graduation class stood up and walked to the stage to get his diploma. Naked. Well not completely. He has a Rugby ball in his hands covering his crotch and his cap is on his head. I guess he should know better than to lose a bet. As he walked past me I couldn't help but giggle. Never in a million years did I think I would be dating the hottest guy in school nor that he would be so naked in public.

Let me start from the beginning. My name is Merlin. I'm your typical normal guy. I'm not super smart or creative nor am I anything special. In fact, the only thing you could even consider remotely interesting about me is that I'm the only openly gay male at my school. It's rough sometimes because I would get crap from other students. Most of the time, it's just laughter behind my back or stares. Everything was so normal until one day when my best friend Lance dragged me to the involvement fair last fall. He insisted that we couldn't spend our senior year of college uninvolved and hanging out in our rooms. I tried to put up a fight but he broke out the puppy dog eyes.

The fair was typical of college fairs. There were tons of booths all of which contained more information than any of us cared for. No one was walking around talking to us or trying to make connections. Lance grew anxious and asked me to sign up with him for some clubs. I promised Lance I would come to the fair, not that I would actually sign up for anything. When I told him that, he laughed and walked to a table to grab some pamphlets. An hour into the fair, Lance nudged my shoulders. "Hey, look who's staring." Lance guided my head towards the direction he was looking. Alpha Epsilon Theta. The most stuck up fraternity on campus. They have a reputation for being a house of debauchery. There was not a single house on campus that could beat them in terms of parties or even events. AET was the most wanted fraternity on everyone's list.

I laughed at Lance as he continued to pretend not to notice their staring. It wasn't until their blonde president gave me a nod that I snapped out of it and smiled awkwardly back. He kept eye contact with me for at least two minutes. I could tell he was barely listening to anyone around him and all of his attention was on me. When I looked over at his friends, I noticed that they too started to look over at me. One of them even pointed and Arthur nodded intently. What are they talking about over there? Should I go over and say something? As I wondered all this, Lance seemed to notice himself and leaned into me. "Arthur Pendragon? Not bad!"

"What do you mean?" I asked him

"I mean he's not the worst looking guy you could have a staring contest with."

"Whatever Lance." I said as I grabbed his arm and continued walking around the fair. We were at a booth for rugby when Lance looked at me with a tired expression. He was hungry.

"Come on let's go. This fair sucks and I'm hungry." Lance said as he grabbed my arm and led me to the car. When we got to the car, I noticed that the AETs were still staring at us. Maybe they thought Lance and I were dating? If only that were the case. I'm not gonna lie when and say I never wanted to be a part of their fraternity. Who wouldn't? They throw amazing parties. Even though everyone hates them, everyone still goes to their events and stuff. The guys may not be the brightest but they are some of the sexiest guys on the entire campus. As a matter of fact, AET has never lost a single male pageant in its 30 years on our campus. The pageant by the way, so worth attending. I shook my head at this thought and focused on the road ahead of us.

A few minutes later Lance and I were at our favorite Denny's. "So are we gonna talk about how Arthur was fixated on you today at the fair?" Lance asked calmly as he waited for our server. I gave him a look of sheer shock and horror. I know he is not the jealous type but I couldn't help but feel flattered it came out that way. Lance was like the big brother I never had and he was a total sweetheart about everything. He took another look around for a server and then rested his eyes on me waiting for my answer.

"Oh god! Do you think I'm gonna be the new target for them? I don't know if I can take any beatings from those guys." I was scared. What if Arthur was picking out a new kid to torment? He is a frat guy after all, it's not like they're known to be gentle and kind. More so, I'm not used to attention. In my experience, it's better to fly under everyone's radar and not make any waves. It's bad enough that everyone knows me as the gay kid. I don't wanna be the troubled gay kid too. Lance looked at me with a soft expression on his face. I could tell he was going to do anything to protect me even if nothing has happened yet.

"Why does your mind always go to the most negative? Why can't it ever go to something positive?" Lance asked as he ordered our drinks and food. The server gave him a look and he returned it with a smile as if to say don't worry, I got this. When she walked away, he turned towards me and waited patiently for me to process his question.

"You think he wants to be friends? Why now?" I decided to ignore his questions.

"Oh my God Merlin! Who wouldn't want to be your friend?" he laughed as he said this. Lance is the only person in the world who thinks I'm cool and wants to hang out with me. I'm sure of it.

"Umm everyone." He snickered at me and shook his head.

"Okay not true. You just fly under the radar a lot." Lance took one of my hands and gave it a squeeze. I swear he is the sweetest guy I know. It makes me glad that I shared my paste with him in kindergarten. We've been inseparable ever since.

"Thanks for calling me a loser nicely." I laughed.

"You can't be a loser." his eyes were so kind. A smirk came across his face and yet again I wondered what I had done to deserve such a great friend in my life.

"Why?"

"Cause I'm your friend. Duh! Now eat up, you have a curfew remember?" We ate the rest of our meal in silence and an hour later his car was pulling out of my driveway as I walked upstairs to my room. After I changed into some pajamas, I crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep with Arthur Pendragon on my mind.