A New Person In The Equation

11:00 | Thursday | Chemistry

"Apparently none of are you, bar a few, are paying attention to what I'm saying. This is why I'm now going to make up a seating plan so people who haven't done so well, are sat near people who did." Arthur watched as his teacher pulled out a clipboard with a piece of paper on and glanced around at his friends. All of which were frowning in disgust at the thought of sitting next to a nerd. To be honest, Arthur wasn't too pleased himself. "Would these people please come and stand at the front, thank you."

Arthur ended up stood at the front with half of his friends and as he leant back against the wall, he sighed. He didn't even enjoy this class, why did the teacher find it necessary to torture him further? "Arthur Pendragon, you'll be sat at the back with Merlin Emrys considering he got the best mark and you got the worst." He barely registered the end of the sentence as he looked towards the back of the room to realise he was telling the truth. Merlin was in this class.

Walking over to sit next to him, he watched as Merlin moved his things over so he had room on his desk and they were soon sat in silence as the rest of the class got seated. "I didn't know you were in this class," Arthur commented quietly as the final people sat down.

"Really? Must be quite a skill to have when you can bully someone and not know who they are," Merlin replied coldly as he wrote down the date at the top of his notepad.

"I bullied you?"

"Arthur, I didn't sit you back there to talk to Merlin. Now listen and learn," the teacher yelled and he gave his best smile in his direction before looking back at Merlin. Only to notice he was texting on his phone and since they were sat so far back, nobody could see him doing it. Arthur wouldn't have thought anything of it until he saw Merlin smiling. Who was on the other end of that conversation?

"Who you texting?" Arthur asked.

"Nobody," Merlin quickly responded and positioned himself so his screen couldn't be seen. Arthur didn't have to ask again. Just by the way Merlin was acting told him who it was. He had been acting like this for a couple of days now and it was all because of one guy. Gwaine.

"How are things going with him?"

"I've only known him a few days, he's just a mate." Merlin closed his phone and shoved it into his pocket, clearly not wanting Arthur to ask anymore questions. "You should concentrate. If I heard right, you did the worst in the class."

17:30 | Friday | Costa Coffee

"Merlin, over here!" Hearing his name, he looked over to see Gwaine was sat at a corner table and he hurried over to join him. "I thought you weren't going to show."

"I'm sorry. My teacher kept me behind after class because I didn't finish my task on time. Arthur decided it would be more fun to mess around and therefore got us in trouble." Throwing his coat over the back of his chair, Merlin took a seat and smiled. "You should have left. You've been waiting for almost an hour."

"You were worth the wait," Gwaine said so quietly that Merlin wasn't sure whether he was meant to hear it. Except he did. Finding the room was a little warmer than before, he pulled out his wallet and saw Gwaine hadn't even gotten himself a drink.

"I'll buy you a drink to make up for my tardiness. Latte right?"

"You know my drink order," Gwaine pointed out.

"I tend to remember things about people I like," he said before heading for the counter. Ordering the drinks and paying for them, he glanced over at Gwaine who he found was watching him. Closely. Hiding a blush by turning, he stared down at the empty glasses waiting to be filled and wondered why this one guy was effecting him so much. Maybe it was because for once, someone was paying attention to him?

Hearing his phone ring, he looked at the ID to see it was Arthur and sighed. He wouldn't answer it if he didn't think it might be something about his Mother. "What do you want?" Merlin asked.

"Your Mum is wondering where you were and why you didn't come home on time. I'm wondering the same thing in fact. We both left at the same time, you should be back by now."

"I'm busy at the moment. Tell her I'll be back later."

"Busy with what?"

"That's none of your business."

"You're with Gwaine aren't you?" Arthur accused and Merlin looked over his shoulder to see Gwaine now rummaging through his bag for something. "I thought you said you were just friends."

"We are," Merlin quickly replied.

"You've met up with him every day for lunch and now you're seeing him after college as well? Sounds more like you're dating to me. Which I don't think your Mum would approve of, if she knew about it that is. You have enough work as it is and having a b-"

"Why do you care so much?" Merlin asked and silence followed on the other end. "It shouldn't matter to you who I spend my time with or how I spend that time with that person. Gwaine is a friend who I'm just getting to know, so why don't you just get on with your life and I'll get on with mine. Okay?"

"As if I'd have any interest in your life. You have no friends and all you do is work. I bet he's just feeling sorry for you." The long tone that followed told Merlin that Arthur had hung up and he dropped his hand to his side. Why was it that whenever he was in a good mood, that prat always seemed to bring it right back down?

"One latte and soya latte," the woman called and he turned to pick up the two glasses. Carrying them over to the table, he sat down and saw there was a new addition on the surface. A small book.

"What's this?" Merlin inquired.

"Well I remembered you telling me about how you enjoyed reading about science fiction and I found this lying around in the store. It's about dragons and magic, right up your street." Gwaine pushed the book in his direction and Merlin picked it up, discovering that it was just as old as it looked. "If you don't enjoy it, you can always give it back."

"What made you think I'd want to read about dragons and magic? I could have meant vampires or … aliens."

"I know you better then that, even after a few days. Every book you've mentioned contains some form of magic and I just thought you'd enjoy the dragon part of it. You obviously hate it though so I'll take it-" Gwaine went to take it back but Merlin held it against his chest "-or not. Just let me know what you think yeah? Might give it a try if it's any good and give my Mother a heart attack by actually reading a book."

"You don't read?" He questioned.

"Rarely. Can you imagine me holding a book? No, I read when I have to read. Just because I work in a book shop doesn't mean I like books. That's like saying that people who work in cafe's, love coffee." Of course he was right. Gwaine usually was. "So tell me, who got you frowning on the phone? Was it he who shall not be named?"

"Voldemort?"

Gwaine laughed loudly and shook his head, "No! I meant Arthur, but imagine if it was Voldemort …" He seemed to go off into his own little world for a bit and Merlin stirred his drink with the tea spoon whilst watching him. It was nice to make someone laugh for a change, it was something he rarely did.

21:00 | Friday | Home

"I had no idea it had gotten so late. You should have said something if you were cold," Gwaine pointed out as they walked towards Merlin's house and he shrugged. He hadn't wanted to cause a fuss when they had been having such a good time. "So this is where you live," Gwaine mused as they reached his driveway.

"Yeap. Not exactly a castle but I like to think of it as home," Merlin smiled and noticed the light on in his room. His Mother had clearly been going through his things again. Typical. "Do you live near here or have I made you walk completely in the other direction?"

"I enjoy walking and no, you haven't made me walk too far off course. I live about five minutes from here." They reached Merlin's front door now and he turned to face Gwaine with a sad expression. He was sad that they had to part ways. He hadn't had this fun in a long time. "Got any plans this weekend?" Gwaine asked.

"Sadly I have to work most of this weekend. Having three jobs means lots of shifts," lifting his gaze to meet Gwaine's, he saw the disappointment in them. "You can come visit me in my lunch break though. It's only half an hour long but it'll give us a chance to … talk." That's all they ever did anyway. Reaching into his school bag, he pulled out his notepad and pen to write down the address where he worked. "My lunch usually starts around two-"

He was cut off when a hand gently brushed the hair across his forehead and Merlin found himself speechless as Gwaine moved closer to him. This was new. Never before had anyone looked at him with such … intensity. His breath caught in his throat as Gwaine dipped his head and if it wasn't for something moving in the corner of his eye, he knew, along with anyone else witnessing this scene, that Gwaine had every intention of kissing him.

However moving his head to the side a little, Merlin noticed a dark form sliding across the ground and around the back of the house. He knew he wasn't imagining it since it wasn't something you could just make up in your mind. "I'll see you tomorrow then," Merlin quickly excused himself and slipped through the gap in his front door that he'd opened easily. He left a confused looking Gwaine stood on the porch and he tried not to think about what could have happened.

Instead he darted up the stairs two at a time and went down the hall to Arthur's room where loud music was coming from. Banging on the door, he called out Arthur's name and waited. However got no response. Not wanting to take the risk that the thing he saw was a shadow creature, he took a step back and held his hand out towards the door. "Onlúcan," he said without hesitation and the door flew open.

Revealing Arthur lying on the bed with his headphones in and a book on the sheets as he lay on his bed. He was quick to notice Merlin and pulled out the earphones with anger in his eyes. "What do you think your doing? You can't just barge in here!" Merlin was barely listening as he noticed a dark shape appearing just outside the open window and he darted across the room, slamming the window shut. "Merlin! Have you gone deaf? What are you doing?"

He watched as the shadow sunk back into the dark of the night and a small sigh left his lips, knowing he'd just made it in time despite only just getting home. What broke his thoughts was a book being thrown at his head and he let out a sound of pain as he rubbed his head, his body quickly turning to face Arthur who now knelt on the bed. "What was that for?" Merlin asked.

"You're ignoring me. Why did you just come in here, uninvited I might add, and close my window? Afraid of a little wind?" Arthur replied.

"Of course not, don't be stupid." He wracked his brains trying to think of an idea and then tried to appear casual as he said, "Someone has a bonfire in a nearby garden and I thought you'd appreciate not having a room filled with smoke. That's all." Arthur seemed to accept this since he returned to lying on his stomach and he quickly closed to book, despite the fact he knew that Merlin knew exactly what kind of books he enjoyed reading. "What are you doing in this early on a Friday? Are there no girls you could go and torture with your ego?"

Arthur smirked and shook his head, "Afraid not. I wasn't feeling too great, might be getting a cold or something. What's your excuse? Been with Gwaine all this time have you?" At the sound of his name, Merlin blushed and went for the door. Deciding this wasn't the best place to be right now. However Arthur beat him too it and shut the door before he could even attempt to stop him. "Answer the question Merlin."

"Like I said over the phone, it's none of your business. Now let me out." Merlin rattled the door handle in an attempt to leave but Arthur's hand held the door firmly closed. "I mean it Arthur. It's been a long day and-"

"Long day doing … what? Where have you two been exactly?" Arthur asked.

"We went to the moon. Where do you think we bloody went? It's not like this town is huge." Merlin's body tensed as Arthur crowded him from behind and he turned to glare at him. "Stop trying to intimidate me! I don't scare easy."

"Who said anything about scaring you?" Merlin suddenly found himself pressed up against the door as yet again another guy got closer to him in the space of ten minutes and his hand continued to jiggle the door handle. "What if I told you that I don't want you seeing that guy anymore? That you could do a hundred times better than him."

"What makes you think he's more then a friend? I am straight you know."

"If that's what you need to tell yourself. However, for someone you just see as a friend, you blush an awful lot when I say his name." Arthur commented and Merlin felt like the room was getting smaller, plus a lot warmer. "Did something happen tonight? Did he make a move on you?"

"Now wait a minute, you can't just ask all these questions and expect me to answer-"

"You not answering me is telling me exactly what I need to know. See, you may not think I know you but I definitely know the signals for these types of things. You're avoiding the subject. You can't not blush when his name is spoken. You've been spending a lot of time with him. I'm guessing you are seeing him tomorrow even though you've spent most of this week together, am I right?" When Merlin didn't answer, Arthur smirked. "Exactly."

"Shut up, you don't know anything."

"I know that you either turned him down or got scared," Arthur said quietly and suddenly a warm finger was running across Merlin's lips. "These lips don't belong to a person who just got kissed."

"Well you would know, you've probably kissed every girl in school and I bet a few guys too." Merlin tried to sound strong but the finger now traveling down his neck was rather distracting. "Stop that. You're trying to distract me so I'll talk."

"I have every answer I need. Gwaine likes you. You're not sure about Gwaine. There was no goodbye kiss tonight and now I know the perfect way to end my evening." Merlin should have left by now. This was going a completely different direction then what he thought it would do.

"Oh really, how's that?" He knew he shouldn't have asked. That he should have used his magic somehow to distract Arthur enough so that he could leave. However part of him was curious as to where this was going. It wasn't every day you found yourself trapped in Arthur Pendragon's bedroom with no way out.

"Like this."

Please don't kill me for leaving it there, just wanted to leave you all hanging in suspense. What do you think is gunna happen? *grins*

Thank you for all the reviews! There was so many this time. I'm glad everyone enjoyed Gwaine entering the picture and hopefully you liked what I did with the two of them.

Please Review and I'll keep writing!