/ / / Gymnastics \ \ \

Merlin was eating by himself, he didn't mind, but he was surprised when all of a sudden bodies slid into three of the chairs at his table. He looked up to find Gwaine and Lancelot from the Camelot rowing team staring at him – along with a man build like the side of a house.

"Hi," Merlin said, frowning at them.

"Morning," the large man said, reaching a hand out to him. "I'm Percival."

"Merlin."

"Mind if we join you?" Gwaine asked.

"You already did," Merlin pointed out.

"Is it a problem?"

Merlin looked up and found Arthur standing next to him, holding a plate and staring at him. "No, no, sit down," he said.

Arthur smiled and sat next to Merlin. He gave Gwaine a look and then turned back to Welshman.

"Are you going out to watch anything today?" Merlin asked.

"We're still thinking about what to watch," Lancelot said.

"I'm going to the gymnastics," Merlin told him. "I have to see Natalia Romanov perform – there is a rumour this will be her last Olympics."

"Is she the redhead who looks like she wants to murder everyone?" Percival asked.

"Yep," Merlin responded. "She's the most terrifying woman I have ever known…hell, she's the most terrifying person I have ever met."

"She can't be that bad," Arthur said.

"Come with me and you'll see what I mean," Merlin offered.

Arthur thought about it for a moment. He wanted to, he had been attracted to Merlin from the moment he'd met him – and this was an opportunity to get to know him, and perhaps continue to get to know him better over the two weeks. But, he also knew he should be preparing…he had promised the team to hold off for a day though.

"Okay," Arthur said. "I'd like that."

Lancelot and Gwaine gaped at him.

"Excellent," Merlin said, focussing on his food.

Lancelot cocked an eyebrow at him but Arthur ignored them both to eat his breakfast. As soon as they were done, Merlin led Arthur to the gymnastics location. They walked mostly silently, but neither felt any need to fill the silence.

"How do you know Romanov?" Arthur asked, as they settled into seats. Arthur allowed himself a moment to wonder if the cameras would find him and note that he wasn't sitting with the other Camelot athletes. Then he pushed the thought from his mind.

"I met her at the last Olympics," Merlin explained. "She is best friends with an American archer…they won't tell me the story of how they became so close. Anyway, Clint and I were playing a drinking game with his husband/coach/possible spy and-"

"Possible spy?"

"You have to see Phil, he's like a movie spy – I have only ever seen him smile once, he's the most stoic man alive."

"How does that make him a spy?"

Merlin smiled and shrugged. Arthur had to bite his lip at the expression – it wasn't much of an expression at all but he still had the urge to kiss it off Merlin's face. And he only had to wait another few days before he could ask to do it without guilt over a distracted focus. "You'll understand when you meet him."

"Will he be here?" Arthur asked.

Merlin's ears coloured. "Probably…maybe…but, we always catch up after the swimming is over and…well, I can see if they are here."

Arthur felt his chest tighten at the possibilities of what Merlin wasn't saying. He knew it was too fast, he knew that he should be more careful – especially in such a public place, but he couldn't convince himself that this was a bad idea.

"Or, you could just introduce me after the swimming and rowing is over," Arthur said quietly.

Merlin practically glowed at him at that. "Sure."

"Okay."

Merlin turned away and scanned the floor. "Umm, so Phil, Clint, and I were drinking – I think it was a drinking game of some kind. Clint and I were a little tipsy, Phil was not, and Natalia comes in – looks at us all, sits down, and drinks us under the table. I ended up sleeping in Michael Phelps room – he won't tell me what I did when I got there but I was wearing Natalia's costume and Spiderman face paint."

Arthur snorted in laughter and then flushed.

"Yeah, it was apparently a really good night and one day maybe someone will tell me about it."

Arthur nodded.

"That's her," Merlin said, pointing to a redheaded gymnast in the Russian costume. "I think she's about to do the floor routine. She's also a master of krav-maga and I think she might secretly be a superhero."

Arthur wasn't sure what to make of that but he watched in gob-smacked amazement at the routine that occurred on the floor – he hadn't actually been aware that people could do that to their bodies.

/ / /