/ / / Sausages \ \ \

Merlin walked down the line and frowned – they were completely out of sausages again. He didn't need them but he was carbo-loading and he needed a little something as a reward for eating so much pasta, rice, and potatoes. He left the line, waving his athlete's card at the sensor near the end of the buffet and then looked around – not sure where to sit. He was wondering if the Camelot rowing team were here – except he was really looking for a blond head and slightly crooked front teeth. It was ridiculous, he told himself, Arthur was a Prince…an honest to God, Prince who would be ruling a country one day. And Merlin had a crush on him.

"Merlin!"

Merlin turned around and tried to work out who had called him when he spotted the Winchester boys. He smiled at Dean who'd called out to him and walked over. He liked the Americans, they were closer than any two brothers he'd ever known, and they were always good value towards the end of a competition when the party started. Dean was a track cyclist and Sam was a water polo player. Merlin had never quite been able to work out how they had ended up in such different sports. There was another man sitting at the table, he looked half asleep but when he looked up Merlin was struck by how startlingly blue the man's eyes were. Then he recognised him – Russian, 10m diver, that looked like he was flying when he was in the air…by Merlin could not remember the other man's name.

"Merlin," Dean said, with a bright boyish smile. "Come sit."

Merlin did, and noticed that way that the Russian was watching Dean. Dean turned and smiled at the diver and their eyes caught, held, and Merlin felt like he was intruding just by watching. He turned back to Sam who rolled his eyes and smiled at Merlin.

"Congratulations on the gold," he said. "And don't mind them, I think Dean's in love."

Merlin looked at the two again and nodded. "It certainly looks like they are in their own world."

Someone pulled out the seat next to Merlin and everyone turned to look. Merlin's eyes caught sight of the red tracksuit, a bright gold dragon on a chest, and felt his stomach flip. He looked the rest of the way up and smiled brightly when he spotted Arthur.

"Hi, mind if I sit?" Arthur asked, looking straight at Merlin.

"Course," Sam said.

But Arthur waited until Merlin nodded before he slipped into the chair. Moments later half of the rest of the Camelot rowing team joined them and Merlin made introductions around the table when it became obvious that the Winchesters didn't know the Camelot team.

Then he turned to the last person at the table and Dean jumped in. "Castiel."

Castiel smiled at them all but didn't say much.

"What do you guys compete in?" Dean asked.

"Rowing," Lancelot offered. "And you?"

"Track cycling," Dean said. "And Castiel, the silent," Castiel frowned at Dean silently. "Is a diver."

Merlin was listening until he felt Arthur lean closer. "Missed out on the sausages again?"

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Yes."

"I got some."

Merlin turned to glare at him. "How?"

"I asked."

Merlin gaped at him. "Cabbage head."

Arthur laughed loudly, dragging all of the attention to them. Then he speared a sausage with his fork and flicked it onto Merlin's plate.

"I owe you twenty quid," Gwaine said, looking between Merlin and Arthur with something like glee.

"What's that for?" Arthur asked.

"You gave me a sausage," Merlin said dumbly, frown between his eyebrows.

Arthur shrugged. "I thought you might like it."

Merlin grinned broadly. "Thank you." He speared the sausage and took a happy bite out of it. "Gwaine said he'd give me money if I made you laugh again. Didn't think insulting you was the way to do it."

Arthur shook his head. "It's not – but who calls someone a cabbage head?"

Merlin grinned at him brightly. "Smart people who have to keep their naughty words to a minimum."

Dean slapped him on the shoulder. "You're a dork."

Merlin ignored him and asked the table. "What's everyone doing today?"

"We're practising this morning," Arthur said, "they had to shut down the stadium yesterday and we're hoping to get out there today."

"I'm going to the boxing," Merlin said. "My second cousin is competing."

"Not that tall, weird bloke," Dean said.

"Yeah, Sherlock."

"He's magnificent, I might come with you," Dean said. His eyes flicked to Castiel who cocked his head to the side.

"Yes, Dean," he said in a quiet voice with a soft Russian accent.

"Cool. Shame you guys can't come," he said to Arthur.

Arthur nodded. "It's windy; I'm hoping to practise in similar conditions to Day One."

"I saw some of that," Dean said. "It was terrible."

"It was downright reprehensible for the officials not to have called the racing off," Arthur said firmly. "If Olympic level rowers are being tossed out of their boats it is too choppy to race, and to have even continued when there were white caps on the water is-"

"Yes, well," Leon broke in. "Arthur can talk about it for hours."

"Right," Arthur said. "I'll just stop there."

"It is a shame you can't come," Merlin said.

Arthur nodded.

"I understand though."

"Maybe we could do something this afternoon," Arthur said quietly. "Or something."

Merlin smiled. "Maybe sounds good."

Arthur smiled and then went back to his breakfast. Merlin smiled to himself and started planning.

/ / /