A/N: Hello all! First off, I know it's been forever and I'm super duper sorry. But, I do have this chapter finished, so yay! Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites, especially lilolemoe for their "britpicks" (love the name by the way). I read what you put and I'm regretfully going to pull the ignorant American card. Sorry, it's just easier for me to write about a system that I know and understand so I don't sound confusing.

Also, if anyone here likes Supernatural, I'm in the middle of writing a bunch of short stories based off a tumblr I found that's full of AWESOME ideas.

Disclaimer: My ownership of Merlin = 0

Chapter 9

The knights (minus Arthur, he had to go to dinner with his father), the girls, and Merlin were all gathered in Gwaine and Percy's apartment the following week after the usual group dinner, and Percy and Leon were in the kitchen cleaning up.

"I vote we never let Gwaine attempt to cook anything ever again," Percival said as he vigorously scrubbed at the red substance stuck to the counter. " I mean seriously, who can't make spaghetti sauce?"

"That's what this was supposed to be?" Leon piped in from his position on the floor, where he had foregone the scrubbing and was trying to chip the hard as rock remains from the tile with a metal spatula.

"It actually didn't look too bad, but then it kind of...exploded."

This made Leon pause in his efforts to look up at the large man with an incredulous look on his face. "Exploded? What the hell did Gwaine put in this? Dynamite?"

Percy just shook his head, trying to figure out how his roommate, one of the most intelligent men he had ever met, couldn't cook to save his life. Or even keep from destroying anything in the process, it appeared. "I don't know, all I gave him were tomatoes and garlic, maybe a little cilantro and basil. I think if we could figure it out, though, we could sell this to the military as a weapon." Both men laughed at that. "Just think! No one would ever expect it! The enemy sits down for a nice meal, and then boom! Not only are they now covered in a new form of what feels like rubber cement, but there is no food so morale will drop shockingly low."

Leon continued to laugh as he got up and crossed to the fridge. "My friend, your roommate's insanity is rubbing off a bit, I think."

As he went to open it, Percy suddenly raised an arm, as if to stop him. "You may not want to-"

"What the hell?!" The entire inside was also covered with the red sauce. The curly-haired man turned to his friend, his face questioning and slightly worried.

"Yeah, the fridge was open when the sauce went off."

Leon groaned and retrieved his spatula from the floor, starting in on the remains coating the shelves of the door.

The two men heard the front door open and the call of "Any food left?" drifted back to them.

"Sounds like Arthur finally made it," Leon observed. Percy hummed his affirmation.

A very flustered looking Merlin rushed into the kitchen then, staring straight ahead with a slightly fearful look on his face. His step never faltered as he rushed through the doorway on the other side of the room, hopping over some of the sauce on his way. The two men cleaning barely had time to glance at each other, both with confusion clearly written on their faces, before Arthur came in. "Have either of you seen Merlin?"

Percy and Leon both tilted their heads towards the other doorway as a way of answering. Arthur marched past them, muttering something. It was quiet, but Percy was sure he caught the words "Merlin", "avoiding", and "ridiculous" before he exited.

"What was all that?" Leon questioned.

"Merlin's been avoiding Arthur. He's been hiding in the library or his room and refuses to talk to Arthur. I think something happened when they went to The Rising Sun last week. I mean, other than Arthur getting punched in the face."

Leon appeared about to ask a question, but simply sighed instead and said, "I'm not gonna even ask how you know about all that. Do you think Merlin will ever stop avoiding Arthur?"

"I doubt it. Maybe if someone forced them to, but that would be next to impossible. Merlin is surprisingly good at sneaking around when he wants to be."

Leon and Percival both stared at the doorway the two roommates had just rushed through, wondering how long they would have to wait for the two idiots to deal with whatever had happened.

Merlin rushed down the hall towards Gwaine's room, his potential safe haven. He knew hiding from Arthur was extremely childish, but at the moment it seemed much more appealing than talking to his roommate.

The door was slightly cracked as Merlin reached it. He quickly slid in and shut the door almost completely, leaving just enough room to peek into the hallway.

"Merlin?"

The dark-haired man jumped, turning to see Gwaine standing next to his desk. He appeared to have been shuffling items around, looking for a particular paper.

"What are you doing in my room?"

"Looking for you."

Gwaine's eyes narrowed at him suspiciously. "Right, and I'm the Queen of England"

"Well, you would look rather dashing in a crown."

"Merlin," Gwaine sighed, "I may not be as observant as Percy, but I'm not a complete idiot. What happened with Arthur?"

Merlin blanched. "I don't know what you mean."

Gwaine looked at his eyes for another minute, then shook his head and headed for the door. "Fine, you don't want to talk to me about it." He paused, his hand on the doorknob. "You should talk to someone about it, though. Please, Merlin, just...someone." With that, Gwaine stepped into the hall and shut the door behind him.

Merlin walked over towards the desk, Gwaine's final words tumbling around in his head. Should he talk to someone? No, he'll be fine. He can deal with this. It has been awkward around the flat, but that's normal, right? It'll just fix itself. It'll be ok.

Merlin glanced at some of the papers piled on Gwaine's work surface. Confusing, complicated math problems swam in front of his eyes. What if it wasn't ok? What if it eventually got so bad his friends had to choose between him or Arthur? Because let's be honest, they've all known Arthur much longer. Merlin sat down in the desk chair and put his head in his hands. He didn't want to go back to being alone. He didn't want to have to move again.

The weight of these thoughts pressing on his mind, Merlin pulled out his phone and scrolled down to the number his mom had programmed into his phone before he had gotten to school. It was the number of an old friend of hers who worked as a professor in the school of medicine. She told Merlin to call him if he ever needed any help. Merlin hadn't seen the man in years, but in that moment he simply needed a person on the outside to talk to. He pushed the call button (perhaps a bit harder than necessary) and lifted the phone to his ear.

After three rings, someone picked up. "Hello?"

Merlin swallowed around the lump in his throat.

"Gaius? I-it's Merlin."