"Okay, let's play Spin the Bottle," said Lancelot, grinning earnestly at his friends. He had heard his big sister played this game at one of her sleepovers, and he wanted to try it.
"How do you play?" asked Percival, usually not one for words.
"Oh, c'mon Percy, you're eight and you don't know how to play?" asked Elyan, tauntingly. The other boy turned red.
Gwen hit her brother on the head. "Like you know how to play."
"To play, you spin the bottle, and whoever it points to, you have to kiss," said Leon, the peacemaker and only nine-year old, therefore the smartest.
"But Gwen's the only girl," stated Merlin, leaning against Arthur. The two had been best friends for three years now, and they both knew it would never change.
"Easy," said Gwaine, firecracker of the group. "We'll count you as a girl, Merlin."
"Wait…." started the raven-haired boy. "What?"
"C'mon, Merlin, I always call you a girl," said Arthur, ruffling his pouting friend's hair.
"I hate you all."
"There's still more boys than girls."
"I'm still a boy!"
"Shut it, Merlin."
"Hmmm.." said Lancelot, putting on a thinking face. "I've got it. Only four of us go at a time. Two boys and Gwen and Merlin."
"I never agreed to this!"
"Shut it, Merlin."
After some coaxing, death threats, and black mailing, Merlin finally agreed to sit in a small circle with Gwaine, Arthur, and Gwen, who were going first. Gwen grabbed it first and spun it. It pointed to Merlin.
"If he's being counted as a girl, but he's a boy, can I still kiss him?" Gwen asked, turning red. Behind her, no doubt, her brother was telling Leon, Percival, and Lancelot of her small crush on the raven-haired boy.
"Go ahead," nodded Gwaine.
Merlin looked sulky, but nevertheless, puckered up and gave Gwen her first kiss in all her eight years. It was really just a placement of lips on each other, but when they pulled away, Gwen was giggling and Merlin was bright red.
Arthur watching this, felt strange. Something wasn't right. Merlin and Gwen….Merlin and Gwen kissing…Merlin kissing. That's what wasn't right. It didn't sit right in his head (or his heart for that matter. He hadn't noticed it, but it had dropped when the bottle landed on his best friend). Merlin shouldn't be kissing. Anyone.
"My turn!" called Gwaine, hitting the Pepsi bottle, making it turn. It landed on Merlin again. Gwaine smiled evilly. "Pucker up!"
Merlin groaned, but complied. As they neared, Arthur wasn't aware of what he was doing.
"Ahhhh, Arthur, you clotpole – get off of me!" Merlin cried as the blonde tackled him. Everyone stared. Arthur blushed, but his unintended mission was accomplished. Gwaine had forgotten about having to kiss Merlin, and it was now his turn. He spun the bottle. Guess who it landed on.
Merlin groaned. "You all must really want to kiss me."
"You wish," said Arthur. "Now hold still."
This kiss was like Gwen's and Merlin's in some ways. Merlin was sulky and lips were placed on each other. But it was different. Their eyes were closed. It was longer. They pressed harder. They pulled away breathless.
Merlin sighed. "Anyone else wanna kiss me? All this bottle seems to do is land on me."
"It's probably rigged," Arthur agreed, not noticing that he hadn't let go of Merlin yet. Gwen had noticed though. And so had Gwaine. And so had everyone else. "There's no point in playing if everyone just kisses Merlin."
"You're right," said Leon, cutting off his friends objections. He gave them a knowing smile. "Let's play something else."
"Playing, are you?" asked Tom, Gwen's and Elyan's father, popping his head in the room. "You should be sleeping! Your parents won't let you stay over anymore if I sent you home tired."
They set to it, going to their respectable sleeping bags and places. Merlin was of course next to Arthur, the two practically on top of each other. No wait – literally. They were on top of each other, snuggled together in the same sleeping bag. Before the lights were shut, some shocked, knowing, and amused looks were thrown around the room.
In the dark, with everyone's deep breathing going in a rhythm, Arthur had time to think. He had felt something when Gwen was kissing Merlin. He had felt something when Gwaine was about to. He had felt something when he had. He had a feeling that these somethings were different emotions. Anger, a stirring in his stomach, hurt, blood rushing, was the something for Gwen's and Merlin's kiss. Blinding rage, panic, reckless thinking, and possessiveness was for Gwaine's almost-kiss. His had been….triumph, a whooshing stomach, want, and a heart beating rapidly.
While Arthur was thinking, Merlin in his sleep had curled tighter to his best friend. The blonde looked down and smiled, wrapping his arms around him. His friend's lips parted slightly, and he suddenly saw something strange. Bruises. Everywhere. On Merlin's arms, his neck, some on his face, and on his the small part of stomach that was peeking out of his pajama shirt. Arthur ran his finger over some, noticing how many looked fresh. On Merlin's neck, he saw they were in the shape of fingers. Anger flared through him. Who dared to hurt his Merlin?
"Arthur?" asked a bleary eyed Merlin, staring up at him. Arthur cursed himself (using big kid words).
"Go back to sleep Merlin," he whispered.
"'Kay," he mumbled, already half way there. "You should too."
Arthur sighed and joined Merlin in sleeping, uneasy as he felt. He was careful not to accidently press any Merlin's bruises as he held his best friend.
The next morning was chaos as everyone was pushed to the right parents, and as kids were desperately trying to hide so they could have more play time. No one noticed Merlin slink off. No one, except Arthur of course. He evaded Alice's attempts to find him, and followed the raven-haired boy.
Merlin walked for a while, shivering slightly as it was nearing winter and he was only in a thin T-shirt. Arthur followed in him silence, for some reason not wanting his presences know. He vaguely noticed Merlin was walking into the older part of town, the one with cheaper houses. Emphasis on cheaper; some were practically falling apart. Nearing his destination, Merlin's face was growing more and more anxious. He stopped at the end of a road and Arthur expected him to stop, but he didn't. Merlin headed straight past the last house, to a small hidden sidewalk. He took that to an old abandoned building that was probably sturdier than the other houses. He looked around, and saw there was no car in the driveway while a huge smile of relief spread across his face. With a new spring in his step, Merlin skipped to the front door, which was unlocked. Arthur followed him, for the first time seeing his house.
Merlin had walked into the kitchen when Arthur decided to make his presences known. "Merlin," he coughed. Merlin turned, eyes wide with fear that then turned to annoyance.
"Arthur, you prat," he said. "What are you doing here?"
"I saw no one was there to pick you up," said Arthur, shrugging. "So I followed you."
Merlin breathed out through his nose very audibly. "Prat."
"Idiot."
"Dollop-head."
"Clotpole."
"My word."
"And it suits you perfectly."
"Well-" started Merlin, prepared for a battle of wits. He stopped, eyes wide. A crunch of gravel against a tire was the sound that met his ears. The next one was a roar of someone that was very drunk and very angry. He grabbed Arthur's hand and pulled him through the back door, into some woods.
"C'mon," panted Merlin, after twenty minutes. "We can stop here." They collapsed, but a second later, Merlin was on his knees and his hands were folded.
"What-?" started Arthur, but Merlin interrupted him with a "shhhh."
"I'm praying," said Merlin. "You can join me. My mom always told me to pray when he gets angry."
"Who's he?'
"My step-father," said Merlin, gravely. "My mom married him after my dad was arrested for selling pot. He didn't mean to, but he needed to earn money somehow. Mom and dad were never married."
"Oh," said Arthur, finding more information about his friend's family in three minutes than in the past three years. "What are you praying for?"
"To fly," said Merlin, seriousness in his voice. "To get away."
"Oh," said Arthur again. "Can I help you?"
"Sure," said Merlin, nodding. "Get on your knees."
Arthur wasn't religious at all. He could be called an atheist, but his family celebrated Christmas and Easter. When Merlin had started praying, he had no idea what to do except repeat what he said and copy his motions.
"Dear Lord," said Merlin as Arthur repeated. Merlin then went into a whole prayer, but Arthur focused more on how Merlin just wanted to get away.
"Amen," concluded Merlin, looking at Arthur.
"Amen," he repeated. "Merlin-"
"Can I spend the night at your house tonight?" Merlin asked very quickly.
"You practically live there," snorted Arthur.
"So, yes?"
"'Course. C'mon, if we hurry, Alice won't send the police out for us."
Merlin nodded, and they made their way back into town by using a different way. They were back at Gwen's and Elyan's in no time. Everyone was still hiding, daring their parents to leave them there.
"There you are!" said Alice, snagging both boys from behind. "Thought you could hide from me, did you?"
"Oh, yes Miss Alice – " Merlin was always formal with adults " – and we did hide. You just found us."
Alice chuckled. "I love your humor, Merlin. Are you staying with us tonight?"
"Yes!" chimed both boys.
She rolled her eyes. "Of course….."
"Why do you keep bringing that thing here?" Morgana asked in greeting to her brother and his best friend. Merlin stuck his tongue out at her and Arthur pulled his eyelids up to gross her out. She stalked past them, muttering "they are such little kids," which she really didn't have a right to say, seeing as she was younger than Arthur and was Merlin's age.
Merlin shook his head. "What a bitch."
"What?" Arthur asked, head snapping up.
"Oh- umm…" said Merlin, blushing. "I said witch?"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Merlin, you're an idiot."
"Dollop-head."
"Clotpole."
"My word."
"And it suits you very well."
"Haven't we had this conversation before?"
Both laughed.
A/N: Well, hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and sorry for the long time it took to get up. And I would like to thank everyone that reviewed. So, umm, thank you and you get a magical unicorn!
Oh, and on that Gwen/Alice typo on the last chapter, I would like to say sorry. I was originally going to call her Gwen, then I was like, "Waaaaaait, Guinvere's name is Gwen..." And stupid me forgot to change her name in certain places.
So, ummmm, bye? Until the next chapter! Hi, ho Silver!
;D
