"Thanks for taking me out, Mordred," Merlin said, smiling nervously as she sat across from him in the restaurant.
"My p-pleasure!" he all but squeaked out. It wasn't that he was nervous – wait, that was exactly what it was. And it did not help him that Merlin's getup was a bit intimidating. He gulped and tried to say something else. "Your hair looks nice tonight! Not that it doesn't always look nice, I was just saying that-" he rambled for a bit.
In truth, Merlin found it adorable. She let herself flush a little at the compliment and made a mental note to tell her friends that their hard work had paid off.
Earlier:
"It – just – won't – curl!" Gwen cried out in exasperation as she flung the still hot curling-iron on the floor. Merlin winced in sympathy to the inanimate object.
"Let's try braiding it and see if it curls," Morgana suggested, her hands already in Merlin's raven locks.
Morgause rolled her eyes at her sister. "You're doing it wrong. You have to French braid it."
She then proceeded to show Morgana how to do a proper braid, and a little later, they undid it. It fell down in long curls.
"Be-yoo-ti-ful!" squealed Gwen, rushing up and giving her friend a big hug.
Currently, Mordred was trying (and failing) to say how he liked her hair.
"…I'm not saying that I didn't like your hair before, it's just that-" he silenced when she gave him a look. He cleared his throat. "Overkill?"
She raised her eyebrows in a "yep" kind of way. He hung his head.
"So," she said, reaching across the table to place her hand on his. "What do you – Ah!"
Merlin retracted her hand as something wet hit it. She and Mordred looked around, finding only normal restaurant goers and some oddly places hats in the bushes.
"What the hell?" Mordred asked. Merlin shrugged.
"She's going for his hand! She's going for his hand!" Gwaine hissed at his friends from behind some bushes outside the restaurant. Quickly thinking, Elyan stood up, grabbed an olive off of a passing by waiter's tray, and threw it at Merlin's hand. They all smirked in success when they watched her hand retract.
"That was close," commented Arthur as they once again were all crouched in the bushes.
"Again, what would be so bad about Merlin dating?" Leon asked, probably for the millionth time. Out of the group, he was the only one who was okay with this situation, after he got over the shock of course.
"It's Merlin," Gwaine explained, as Percival nodded in the background. "She's not allowed to date."
"Why?"
"'Cause we say so."
Leon shook his head and poked at the ground, muttering about overprotective guard dogs and Merlin not being a little kid anymore.
"He's going for her hand this time!" Arthur suddenly yelled (which he did silently, of course, because they were spying).
Gwaine picked a stick and threw it, ducking down when Mordred looked over to see where the random pick of wood that hit him in the head came from.
They all (yes, even Leon) snickered when they heard him ask Merlin if she had seen where it had come from. This was classic.
"So, after all these years, why ask me out now?" Merlin asked with a quirked eyebrow.
Mordred blushed. "Umm…"
She laughed. "Relax, Mordy. It's just me. We're friends."
The boy looked down. Taking a breath, then gulping immediately afterwards, he opened his mouth, summoning courage. "Well, about that, what if we were more than friends?"
Merlin was silent for a full second. Slowly, she smiled. "I'd like that."
Mordred released a breath that he hadn't noticed he was holding. "Really? Because, Merlin, ever since I met you, I knew-"
Before he could get another word out, however, a waiter, which suspiciously looked like Gwaine, tripped and spilled spaghetti all down his back. The waiter scuttled off quickly, leaving Mordred in the mess without apologizing. Embarrassed, he muttered something about cleaning off and he hurried to the men's room.
Morgause narrowed her eyes from behind her sunglasses (the good thing about outdoor restaurants; nobody questions you if you wear sunglasses). Of course, as all good friends would do, she, Morgana, and Gwen had gone incognito and spied on Merlin's and Mordred's date. It hadn't been going good, but it wasn't either the girl's or the boy's fault.
It was the fault of some overprotective idiots.
Seriously, Gwaine putting on an apron and a fake mustache was much of waiter disguise. She could totally tell that he had spilled that food on Mordred.
"Girls," she said, inclining her head to where the tops of men's head could be seen. "I think he have to stop an accident before it happens."
"It's already happened," Morgana said. She had realized what was happening as soon as she saw an olive hit Mordred's hand away from Merlin's.
Gwen just shook her head and stood up, removing her head-scarf and sunglasses. She strode over to the men (more like boys) in the bushes. Morgana and Morgause watched in amusement.
Gwen would give them hell.
In the bush, the grown men were snickering like eleven year olds. Gwaine crouched down by them and got a high-five from everyone.
"Did you see his face?" Elyan asked. Out of the group, he probably wasn't the closest to Merlin, but still felt protective of her when it came to boys.
"I think it was a cross between shock and embarrassment," Leon choked out as he chortled.
"Best. Plan. Ever," Arthur stated. "When he comes back, we have to-"
"Apologize!" a voice hissed. "When he comes back you have to apologize!"
Dread pooled in the bottom of all their stomachs. Looking up slowly, they saw a pissed off Gwen standing there with her hands on her hips and her stance ready to pounce.
"Hi Gwen," Arthur said weakly to his on-off girlfriend. (Currently: off.)
"Unbelievable," she said. "Gwaine, Arthur, I expect this out of you, but Leon, Percy, and Elyan I'm just disappointed in."
"But-" protested Leon, who did not like getting in trouble.
"No buts," Gwen all but snarled. She waved her hand and suddenly Morgana and Morgause were flanking her.
And the next few minutes were filling with pain and humiliation for the men.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ear, that's my ear, Gwen!"
"I need that thing to hear, you know!"
"You can't do this! Ow!"
"C'mon, all we did was – shit, that hurts Morgana!"
Percival was the only smart enough to keep his mouth shut as the three women dragged them out by their ears, tugging and twisting them every now and then.
It was just their luck that they caught Merlin's eye. (It actually would've been a feat if they didn't, with the scene they were making). With a look that said "I don't want to know," she turned away and smiled at a red-faced Mordred who was coming back.
Morgana, Morgause, and Gwen let the men glower at him for a second before tugging them off in the other direction.
"Let me get this straight," Merlin said back at the Camelot House after they apologized and explained. "You sabotaged my date and spilled spaghetti on him?"
Eye cast down, and acting ashamed (they weren't, but if they didn't act like it, Morgause might castrate them) they all nodded.
She glared. "Why?"
Leon muttered something about nunneries and her dress again, while Arthur nudged him in the shoulder to make him shut up.
"We didn't want you to get hurt," the blonde supplied. The rest nodded. (Again, except Leon who muttered some nonsense in Shakespearean.)
"Overprotective clotpoles," she muttered before stalking off.
Mordred was out on the porch waiting for her, no doubt hearing everything. Merlin smiled apologetically before grasping his hands.
"Sorry 'bout them," she said, nodding to where Arthur, Gwaine, Leon, Percival, and Elyan stood spying indiscreetly at the screen door. "I'll get revenge later."
Mordred smiled but it faltered a bit. "I guess this is a no to more dates then?"
"Why would you think that?"
He bit his lip. "Well, those 'overprotective clotpoles' of yours don't seem to like me very much."
Merlin smiled and shook her head. "They'll get use to you to having you around."
"Used to having me around?"
"Yep," was all she said before she pressed her lips against his.
A/N: I LIIIIIIIIIVE! Sorry this took so long to get up guys, but every time I sat down to write, I just stared at the screen, expecting words to appear. I know, excuses, excuses. You may all scream at me.
Thanks for your continued support while I was being a bad author guys! You guys are probably the best readers I've had so far. *nods* You all now get free air guitars. *showers you with them*
Sorry if this was bad at all, though. Like I said, my mind was blank while I tried to write it...
And I had to add that bit at the end, too. (Only thing I actually could think of in the few days it took me to write this. Usually it only takes me a few hours to write...)
