Merlin thought that maybe, just maybe, he would be able to just avoid Morgana, Arthur and their never ending list of friends and just fall off of the radar somehow. The problem was, however, that the whole of their friendship group existed in all of his classes – Morgana in two, Gwen in one, Arthur in two and Leon, Gwaine and Lance all in one or another. It was inevitable that he'd bump into them all sooner or later.
Morgana was the one to catch him out, though. It was the start of their English Literature class and Merlin decided to turn up early and snatch a seat next to another early bird. That way, he only had one seat to defend against Morgana. He tried to make this available seat as appealing as possible to the next person who entered the room so they'd sit there. But, just Merlin's luck, the next person to enter the classroom was Morgana and she pounced on the seat quicker than he could shove his bag on it to stop her.
"Hello stranger," She teased. He gave her an awkward smile and she nudged his arm lightly, beaming from ear to ear, obviously proud of herself. Before Merlin to begin to utter some form of apology, Morgana cut him off and began to speak. "Look, Merlin, I know that Arthur is annoying, a prat and braun-headed. But you can't let him and his stupid remarks push you away from the rest of us. Trust me, Merlin, we all adore you, including Arthur but he won't ever admit it – and we want you to hang around with us. Just don't let him get to you, cause honestly, sooner or later he just needs a good old telling off and you'd probably do it."
Merlin hadn't even realised his problem was primarily with Arthur but before he could complain he just shut his mouth. She had a point, and he really wanted to hang around with them all. He blushed awkwardly. "Okay Morgana, I get it."
She smiled again and he realised how truly gorgeous she was. He wasn't the only one – most of the boys in the class were already drooling in her direction and he couldn't blame them. She was a raven-haired beauty. "So hang around with us at lunch, yeah? We'll walk together after this class," Morgana told him, she didn't ask. But Merlin was glad she didn't.
They fell into easy conversation and Merlin could tell that Morgana was going to be a rock for him. She was definitely the one he wanted closest. Merlin nudged her in the shoulder mid-way through the lesson and whispered, "Do you always get a fan club wherever you go?" He was pointing out the boys looking her way.
She took it all into her stride and whipped her hair dramatically. "I don't notice, but now I've got you to make them all jealous," She said with a wink, and Merlin cracked up with laughter, drawing attention and glares from the male population of the class and their teacher. He made a small apology under his blushing cheeks and they fell into easy banter.
When the end of the lesson came, they walked out together and as soon as they were in the corridor Morgana linked her arm with Merlin's, holding tight and swinging them side to side. Although she didn't say, Merlin suspected it was to prevent him from running away again – she had that sort of glint in her eye. On the way to wherever her friends hung out, Morgana began to explain their friendship group.
They called themselves "The Legend" – based on all of their names and just a reasonably cool name – which consisted of Arthur, the arrogant prat; Morgana, the femme fatale; Gwen, the cute, shy one; Lance, the kind-hearted guy; Gwaine, the party-making home-wrecker; and Leon, the ladies' man. She also explained that Leon's latest 'thing' will probably be there too. They'd been friends since the start of high school with the exception of Leon who had joined when they started college. Morgana insisted that he was going to fit right in and Merlin wasn't at all sure. He wasn't good around big groups of people.
They arrived at the "hang out" spot: the benches on the courtyard balcony, between the two buildings. Lance and Gwaine were already there taking up one bench – Lance had his guitar out and was strumming a few notes, and Gwaine was just finishing his food. When he saw the two of them coming over, he stood up and Lance moved over to let Merlin sit in the middle. Gwaine made a show of offering his seat to Morgana and taking a spot sitting on the pavement instead, placing her feet in his lap and massaging them through her shoes. It was quite funny and Merlin turned to Lance for an explanation. He laughed heartily.
"Basically, Gwaine really, really wants to shag Morgana, but she's been playing hard to get for ages and it's just fun banter for the both of them. It might happen one day, it just depends," He didn't even bother to whisper it, because obviously this display of affection was normal place in their group. "The others are just getting food; they'll be here in a bit."
Merlin fell into easy conversation with Morgana and Lance, and he kept asking Lance to play songs. Gwaine was joining in too, piping in with jokes and anecdotes that had Merlin in stitches. He didn't notice when Arthur, Gwen, Leon and a girl he didn't recognise turned up.
"Hey everyone," Arthur greeted, sitting himself down on the adjacent bench. As soon as he sat down, Gwen snuggled into his side and did a cute little wave. Merlin waved back. Leon sat on the floor and also said hello, and he introduced his girlfriend Vivian to them all. She was pale-skinned with white blonde hair and a sneer to her lips. But nevertheless she was pretty, and Merlin guessed that was all that mattered to Leon.
Although there was no proper apology between the two of them, Merlin found that Arthur wasn't hostile to him, he was just polite and sincere. Maybe Gwen or Morgana had spoken to him or something. He felt like a little, orphaned kitten that they were all taking turns in looking after. One thing Merlin did notice, though, was the closeness between Gwen and Lance. Even though she was snuggled up in Arthur's arm, she was chatting away to Lance, asking him to play this, play that, gushing about how good he was on guitar. Arthur didn't seem to notice, or, if he did, he was just used to it.
It was time for lesson and Merlin had a free period. Just before he went to find the library and crack on with some homework, Morgana grabbed hold of his arm and said, "Hey, you gonna come to the movie night tomorrow?"
The monthly movie night that the "Legend" hosted was at a different house each time. This month, it was Arthur's and Morgana insisted on driving him over (she loved to talk about how she'd passed her driving test before anyone else). She picked him up late and said that he had to say over, because that's what they did. Gwaine and Lance were also in the car and were making jokes already. Merlin loved these two guys already.
It didn't take long for Merlin to realise that "movie night" was just a massive code word for "piss up". Within half an hour Gwaine was already tipsy, Gwen was giggling so loud he couldn't hear anyone else and the rest of them were feeling warm and bubbly – and he hadn't watched one second of a movie.
Leon and Vivian were lounging on the carpet, his tongue sufficiently down her throat enough that it looked like she could choke on it. Arthur was blabbering on about something that happened in one of his classes to Gwaine and Morgana, who had the courtesy to listen but they were really more interested in one another – and Gwen and sitting practically on Lance's lap, whispering stuff in his ear. Lance was blushing and it was positively adorable, but Merlin wondered if Arthur had noticed.
"Want another drink?" Arthur appeared at his side and asked promptly, and although Merlin didn't drink he said yes and followed him into the kitchen. Instead of going back to the lounge once they had their drinks, Arthur turned to him and pointed to the patio. "Wanna come outside for a bit? I'm feeling a little too hot."
Once again Merlin agreed and he found himself outside with Arthur in the cold, nightly breeze. It was relaxing and he leaned against the glass door, a little smile on his face. Arthur looked deep in thought as he frequently knocked back some more drink. "Are you alright?" Merlin asked cautiously.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good, why'd you ask?" Arthur drawled, his eyes now focused on him. Merlin shivered involuntarily from the strong gaze.
"I was just wondering… 'cause I mean, your girlfriend isn't here with you," He mumbled, scared that he might've maybe struck a nerve. Arthur looked at him for a good old time before he finally answered, obviously debating with himself whether or not he should tell Merlin. Merlin tried for a little smile to make himself look more trustworthy.
"Don't get me wrong, Gwen is a lovely girl. Sweet, funny, cute, she's just so precious and we've had good times. But, isn't it obvious? Fuck, everyone knows that Gwen and Lance are bloody made for each other, and I'm not even standing in their way," Arthur explained, sitting down on the cold concrete patio, "If we walked back in now and they were kissing, I wouldn't be angry. Well, I would to make it look like I'm upset, but really, I'm just waiting for them to get their act together and make out already so I don't have to keep pretending."
Merlin sat down also, a little confused. "Pretending? You don't need to pretend; can't you just break up with her? What's there to lose if you want them to be together?"
Arthur laughed. "I don't like being alone. If Gwen and I break up – fuck, this sounds selfish – if we break up, then I'm alone and she's happy and it's good that she's happy but I need to be with someone. The only time I'll break up with Gwen is when I know there's someone else I can turn to instead."
Merlin found this all a bit strange. He had tons of friends and he felt lonely? What was wrong with this guy? "But you've got us, isn't that enough to make you feel welcome and not alone? It doesn't have to be a relationship does it?"
"Well fucking yeah it does, I need a relationship, I real one, not a floozy one. One where I don't have to hide anymore and one where I'm not lonely." Now Merlin was even more confused.
"Hide from what? Hide what? I don't get it?"
Arthur suddenly stopped himself from speaking again and he looked at Merlin dangerously. "The only person that knows this is Gwen, okay? I am telling you and I don't even fucking know why 'cause I've only just met you but, fuck, I'm gay. I have been since I realised a couple of years ago and I've got to have a relationship to cover that up. I'm known as the man, and if I'm gay then… shit."
He stood up extremely quickly, spilling drink over himself but that was the least of his worries. "I'm just, er, I'm going to go get changed alright?" And just like that, Arthur disappeared and Merlin wasn't exactly speechless, but he was surprised. Merlin didn't realise people were still so stigmatised towards homosexuality, he thought that college was going to be open minded and happy and rainbows and – wait, Arthur was gay? It infuriated him that being gay was a problem for him.
Merlin now knew there was like, 20 other sides to Arthur and it was going to take a while to learn them all.