Well, it seems my torturous writer's block for all of my NCIS stories is not going away. But I have been getting an overload of inspiration for Merlin fic lately, what with it being my latest obsession, and I figured it would be better to write something than nothing at all. So if any of my NCIS followers are reading this, please understand it's this or nothing for the moment. I really am trying to work on the other stories though, I promise.
So, yeah. Hope you enjoy this little introduction :)
Lancelot shifted the weight of his bag from one shoulder to the other nervously as he walked through the eerily quiet school halls. Of course he had to be late on his first day. Of course the car had to have broken down, again. Of course he would have to enter a silent classroom, with a glaring teacher, and a sea of teenaged faces with nothing to distract them from the arrival of the new kid. Lancelot really hoped this wasn't some kind of foreshadowing for what the school year was going to be like.
Finally he reached the designated science room (science first thing on a Monday morning, of course) and paused outside the door to take a steadying breath. It wouldn't be so bad. All he had to was knock and enter. Maybe offer a mumbled apology for being late, and make a beeline for whatever free seat he saw first. That was it. The hardest part would be over.
A muffled shout caused Lancelot to pause just as his fist had been raised.
"Get off me!"
With a split second decision, Lancelot turned from the door and hurried to the end of the corridor in the direction of the panicked voice. Turning the corner he came across a skinny kid with big ears, maybe a couple of years younger than himself, backed into a wall of lockers by a larger guy closer to Lancelot's own age. The older of the two had a hand on the younger boy's shoulder and judging by the way his face was screwed up in pain, it wasn't a lax grip.
"Or what? Big brother's going to save you?" sneered the taller one, his muscled arm taut and his fingers digging in. The boy glared at his tormentor even as his face went red - he was trying to hide the pain.
"Hey!" Lancelot strode purposefully towards them, hoping he at least looked somewhat intimidating. He was slightly shorter than the other boy, but not by much, and knew it was easy to see the muscles he'd gained from years of training in judo. He knew he could take the bully on easily enough, but hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Both boys turned towards him in surprise as he made his way to them. After what seemed to be a moment of cold assessment, the older one took his hand off the younger's shoulder and took one small step back.
"Can I help you?" he asked roughly.
"You can leave him alone," Lancelot replied readily, coming to a stop just in front of him.
His opponent spent another full minute glaring at him, but Lancelot did not back down. The other boy watched the silent exchange warily, still pressed up against the lockers. Lancelot quietly hoped he would take the opportunity of distraction and run but it didn't appear that was going to be happening. Vaguely, he thought of the determination shown earlier when the boy had refused to show his pain; Lancelot wondered if the idea simply hadn't occurred to run, or if the boy just refused to.
Finally the other teenager took a few more steps back, glancing back to his victim as he did so. "We'll talk later, Merlin," he said almost casually before turning and walking away.
It wasn't until he had disappeared around the corner that the boy, Merlin, stepped away from the lockers, visibly sagging with relief.
"Are you alright?" Lancelot asked, quickly looking over the shoulder that had been squeezed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Merlin replied, brushing himself off. He faced Lancelot and the older boy was suddenly met with a dazzling grin. "Thanks for the help."
"It's no problem," said Lancelot with a smile of his own.
"I'm Merlin."
"I'm - "
"New." Merlin said, seemingly just realising he hadn't seen his rescuer before. "Just started?"
"Yeah. Haven't even made it to my first class yet," Lancelot replied with an amused huff.
"I assume that would be because of me," Merlin said, his grin turning sheepish. "Sorry about that."
Lancelot laughed. "Don't worry about it. I doubt you asked that jerk to get in your face. He bother you a lot?"
Merlin's smile dropped slightly, but only for a moment, and then it was back. "Nah. He's usually not a problem. So what subject are you missing right now?"
Lancelot groaned at the reminder. "Science. With a Mr Gaius?"
This time Merlin's smile really did disappear, to be replaced with a look of horror. "Oh, no. You don't want to be late with him. You'll get the eyebrows," he said, shuddering on the last word. "You'd better get going."
Lancelot nodded with a smile. "I suppose I had better. It was nice to meet you, Merlin."
"You too." Merlin picked up his bag from the floor where he had dropped it and began to head off in the opposite direction before suddenly turning around and saying "sorry, what was your name?"
"Lancelot," came the reply, and Merlin nodded, waved, and continued on his way. Lancelot turned back the way he'd came, walking with slightly more of a bounce in his step than before.
Huh. I think I just made my first friend, he thought happily.
Arthur sat sulkily at the table he and his friends had claimed when first coming to highschool, his fork twisting uselessly through his left over noodles he had brought from dinner the night before. He hated Mondays. Really hated them. There was absolutely nothing likeable about Mondays. Ever. At all.
"Hey there grumpy," came a voice from his left and Arthur looked up with a smile to greet his girlfriend, Gwen.
Okay. Maybe there were some good things about Mondays.
"Hi." Gwen sat down next to him, apple in hand, and he immediately brought an arm around to rest on her shoulders. "How was art?"
Gwen groaned, leaning in to his side ever so slightly. "Ms Fomorrah's an awful teacher. A real snake of a woman. She actually threatened to tear up one of Sefa's drawings today. She's mad." Gwen sighed. "It's a shame she manages to ruin such a great subject."
Arthur snorted, hardly counting art as 'great'. He'd never had a knack for it himself, and hated to be reminded of it.
"Hello there young lovebirds," Gwaine said from behind, startling them. "Not interrupting anything am I?" He walked round to the other side of the table and sat down, Percival right next to him. Arthur rolled his eyes and Gwen simply giggled.
"Where are Leon and Elyan?" Arthur asked, choosing to ignore his friend's comment.
"There was a problem with the band for the school dance," Gwaine said. "Leon had to go deal with it. Think he roped Elyan in to help."
"Poor bugger," said Arthur. Leon, being head of most committees the school had, was always being called away to deal with one thing or another. And more often than not that one thing was tedious as all hell. The others were always trying their best to get out of it. It seemed this time Elyan had not been so lucky.
They continued to chat for a few minutes, enjoying the brief respite of lunch, until Gwen's face lit up. "Look, there's Merlin!"
Arthur glanced over to where his adopted little brother sat, chatting animatedly to a girl with dark brown hair and an amused smile. "So?"
"So, look who he's talking to!" said Gwen.
"That's Freya isn't it?" interjected Gwaine. "I thought they were friends - aren't they always talking?"
"Yes, but - oh you boys just don't get it, do you?" asked Gwen, frustrated.
Arthur looked to Gwaine and Percival, who were looking just as confused as he felt. "Get what?"
"He likes her," she replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The boys' eyes widened as she continued, "and I'd say she rather fancies him too. They would make such a cute couple."
Arthur's expression turned pained, and Gwaine's lips set into a thin line. Percival shifted uncomfortably but kept his silence.
Noticing the sudden shift in mood at the table, Gwen frowned. "Oh come on, guys. It wouldn't be anything like last time, you know that."
They were saved having to answer by the arrival of an enthusiastic looking Leon and a rather bored looking Elyan. "What did you two get up to, then?" Arthur asked quickly, more than ready to change the subject.
"The school band cancelled on us for the dance, something about a competition," replied Leon, sitting down on the other side of Arthur. Elyan flopped down next to Percival. "But I've convinced Principal Uther to let us hire an independent band. I've got so many options to pick from now." The table groaned as one, causing Leon to look confused. "What?"
"You don't exactly have the best taste in music, Leon," pointed out Elyan.
Leon simply waved away their concerns. "Trust me, I'll find someone good."
"Sorry mate but maybe you should let us help you out on this one," suggested Gwaine.
"Come on, have some faith will you?" Leon complained.
"Hey. Who's that talking to Merlin?" Percival suddenly asked, his first input into the conversation. The group looked back over to where Merlin and Freya had been talking only to see they had been joined by a third person about their own age, leaning on their table and smiling as he replied to whatever Merlin had said. Freya and Merlin both laughed at whatever his answer had been.
Arthur's eyes narrowed. He didn't recognise him, which automatically meant he must be new - Arthur knew just about everyone in their year. But what the hell was he doing talking to Merlin, who was obviously three years younger?
"Maybe it's another one of Merlin's friends - " Gwen cut off as her boyfriend stood and stepped away from the table. "Arthur, be nice," she pleaded.
Arthur simply nodded and headed over to where his brother sat, not at all surprised that Gwaine got up and followed. Merlin looked over to them as they got closer.
"Hey guys! What's up?"
Arthur ignored him and instead turned to face the new kid, who was watching him warily in return. "I don't think we've met," Arthur stated, his voice neutral but his eyes hard. "I'm Arthur."
"Lancelot," the new guy replied with a hesitant smile. "Nice to meet you." He held out his hand and Arthur took it, keeping his grip strong and not letting go.
"Arthur," hissed Merlin, annoyed. "Back off."
Arthur let go and Lancelot dropped his hand, studying him silently. After another tense moment Gwaine stepped in.
"And I'm Gwaine," he said. Unlike Arthur he smiled at Lancelot, but the introduction was still not much friendlier.
Simply in a bid to break the tension Merlin drew their attention back to him. "Lance, Arthur's my brother. Gwaine's a friend."
"Really?" asked Lancelot, surprised. He looked back and forth between them. "I can honestly say I don't see the resemblance."
"I'm adopted," explained Merlin calmly.
"Oh."
An awkward silence fell over them as Gwaine, Arthur and Lancelot continued to size each other up, Merlin seemingly forgotten and Freya fidgeting uncomfortably. Finally Merlin sighed and said "okay, guys, you can go." He normally enjoyed hanging out with Arthur and his friends, and was always flattered when they wanted him there. But in this case, he felt, he would be a lot more comfortable if they left.
Unfortunately for him it didn't seem like they were in a very accommodating mood. Gwaine looked to Merlin and said, rather pointedly, "you alright mate?"
"I'm fine. Really." Merlin turned his gaze back on his brother. "Lancelot helped me out this morning. He's alright guys, really."
"Helped you out?" Arthur asked steadily, still not taking his eyes off Lancelot.
"Another kid was picking on him was all," Lancelot explained. "I just got him to back off."
At this Arthur did finally turn to look at Merlin, who had visibly winced. "Someone was picking on you? Who?"
"No one," Merlin replied quickly. "Just some random jock. It's fine, really, he didn't hurt me or anything. But, that could be thanks to Lancelot here," Merlin pointed out. "So I'm going to ask you again, please, back off."
Finally the boys relaxed and Arthur turned back to Lancelot. "In that case, thanks for the help. I owe you one."
"No worries," said Lancelot slowly, surprised by the sudden change in demeanour.
Arthur nodded once and addressed Merlin once more. "So it didn't go too far this morning, did it kid? Anyone I need to talk to?"
"Nah," Merlin said comfortably, waving a hand. "It was nothing. And stop calling me kid."
Arthur just smirked in response and turned to walk back to his own table. "Thanks again for the help, Lancelot."
Gwaine smiled, much more warmly this time, and punched Merlin lightly on the arm before going to follow Arthur. "Any friend of Merlin's is a friend of ours," he said to Lancelot before he left.
"Good to know," Lancelot replied slowly, watching them walk away.
Well. That was interesting.
No idea when more will be uploaded, but hopefully not too long. Thanks for reading!
