"What did you write for question seven?" Freya asked Mordred.

"Erm, what was question seven again?" Mordred asked, his books balanced on his knees.

"The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement between Germany and Allied powers that officially ended WWI. What did it not allow?" Freya quoted, like she was reading the question in front of her.

Merlin scratched his head with the back of his pen. The sun was glaring down on him and he was sweating. It was the week of exams but that wasn't the only thing that had been stressing Merlin out. He hadn't seen Arthur since his birthday, seven weeks ago.

Truthfully, he wasn't sure if he missed him. He certainly wasn't crying anymore. His chest didn't hurt. He could continue to revise for his exams without thinking about him. Seven weeks and a whole bunch of exams had helped Merlin move on.

Maybe it was for the best.

Still, when he thought of how long it had been since he'd last seen Arthur, his shoulders slumped. How had seven weeks passed so fast? He never thought he'd spend this time without Arthur.

"A German Navy." Mordred said, squinting his eyes in the sun.

"Oh no!" Freya said, "I didn't put that! Merlin, what did you put?"

"Um..." Merlin said, trying to remember his answer, "I put a German Air Force."

Merlin sneezed and cleared his throat. He couldn't stop sneezing recently. He was getting sick. He'd been on the cusp of the flu for a long time, it was just when it would strike that was unknown. It was just a coincidence, of course, but this flu had been growing since Merlin had fallen out with Arthur.

"Me too!" Freya said, happily.

"I guess I got that wrong." Mordred said, shrugging.

The three of them, sitting on the grass outside their exam building, turned back to their books and continued reading. Occasionally quizzing each other and talking about what they didn't understand. They had another exam tomorrow, and, thankfully, it was their last exam. So by the end of tomorrow, they'd be free.


There was a loud knocking on their front door, none of them made any effort to get up though. Gwaine, Percival, and Arthur were all locked in an epic battle on the Xbox, fighting aliens and each other. As usual, Arthur was winning. He was the unbeaten champion – which was why Percival and Gwaine wouldn't invite him to play anymore.

Their exams started next week and Arthur was confident enough in his knowledge that he didn't need to study. This was the end of his time at University but he had a long lease on the flat, so they would live here for a few more weeks after exams, before he was forced to move back in with Uther (or quickly scramble to find a place of his own).

"Come in." Arthur called loudly, over the sound of gunfire.

They all distantly heard the door open, followed by footsteps.

"How much do we owe you?" Gwaine called, not turning around to see who it was.

"What?" The visitor asked.

"For the pizza, what do we owe?" Gwaine clarified, mashing the controller buttons with his fist.

"Oh... I'm not the pizza man." The visitor replied.

"Then why are you here?" Percival asked, dropping his controller into his lap as his character was killed, again.

"I'm here to talk to Arthur." The visitor said.

Arthur didn't recognise the voice. He distantly wondered who it was. He didn't have to completely focus on the game, Gwaine was nowhere near as good as he was.

"Two minutes. I just need to..." Arthur trailed off, strategically pressing buttons until Gwaine's character and three final aliens lay dead on the ground, "Done!"

Arthur stood up, raising his arms like a champion, and turned to face the visitor. His hands dropped back to his sides when he saw who it was.

"You." Arthur said.

"Aaron." The visitor replied.

"I know your fucking name." Arthur said.

There was an awkward silence. Percival and Gwaine looked between Arthur and Aaron, preparing themselves to restrain Arthur if he were to attack. Or not, they might just let him go, after all, this Aaron guy had ruined Merlin and Arthur's relationship. While Arthur, and even Merlin, hadn't helped, it could all be brought back to Aaron.

"So what's up?" Arthur said, his voice strangely calm.

He turned to sit back down and picked up his controller. He clicked for a new game and waited for Percival and Gwaine's characters to join. The joined slowly, shooting confused glances between Arthur, Aaron, and the screen.

"Do you play?" Arthur asked Aaron when he sat down on the far chair.

"No." Aaron replied. Today he was wearing a pink shirt, his tie was black with pink triangles on it.

Arthur, Gwaine, and Percival's characters were each spawned in different places. Immediately, they were set upon by dozens of ugly aliens.

"So, like I said, what's up?" Arthur asked, between shooting aliens.

"I just wanted to let you know..." Aaron said, his eyes pulled towards the TV, "I'm dating Merlin."

Gwaine and Percival's characters froze on screen as they both turned to frown at Aaron. Arthur, however, had killed all his aliens and was now making his way through the rusted spaceship, collecting ammo along the way.

"Right, noted." Arthur said.

"He's happy with me. Happier without you." Aaron said, trying to push Arthur to breaking point.

Arthur wasn't interested though, his character had located Percival's character, trying to fight his way through the aliens. Not only that, but he hadn't seen Merlin for seven weeks. He wouldn't consider himself over Merlin, but he could at least be happy for him. Maybe Merlin and Aaron were meant to be.

"Look, I'll admit something." Arthur began, shooting down several aliens to get to Percival, "When I saw you here, I was tempted to punch you."

Arthur spoke in such a calm voice, it was rather unsettling. Aaron didn't seem uncomfortable though. He had a smug, very punchable, look on his face. Even Gwaine and Percival felt like they'd punch him if he didn't leave soon.

"However," Arthur continued, his eyes still glued to the game, "Thanks to my wonderful self control, you're still standing."

There was a long pause as Arthur, too focused on chasing Percival's character, fell into silence.

"And then, when you had the audacity to come into my home and tell me you're dating my ex-boyfriend, and that he's happier without me. Well, let's just say, you're lucky to be awake right now."

"See, I'm a pretty violent person," Arthur continued, "I'm one of those guys, that can't just let their feelings go. I have to vent my anger."

As Arthur spoke he had finally trapped Percival's character. Percival realised he was trapped and resorted to shooting at Arthur's character – and missed every time. Soon his character was out of ammo.

"So, the second you said you were dating Merlin. Telling me only so you could piss me off. I wanted to jump up and punch. Your. Stupid. Cocky. Bastard. Face." With each word, Arthur pounded his controller buttons, making his character stab Percival's character repeatedly.

Aaron had the sense to look scared. His eyes were wide, staring fearfully at Arthur.

"But then I remembered," Arthur said, making his character turn and go on the hunt for Gwaine, "that it's been seven weeks and I don't own Merlin. As much as I miss him, as much as I want to punch you, I won't do anything. You're his boyfriend, and I would never hurt him like that. Because I like Merlin enough to let him be happy."

He couldn't find Gwaine's character so he settled on killing some aliens, "Even if he ends up with you, you rat, I'm not going to try to stop him. You can get married or whatever, and if he's happy I am fine with that. He deserves to be happy and he probably won't have that with me."

Aaron didn't say anything. He stared at Arthur, silently, before standing up and leaving the flat. Once the door shut behind him, Arthur paused the game and sighed a long sigh. His shoulders were tense, and he felt a headache starting in his temple.

"That took all of my willpower."

"And mine." Gwaine admitted, "I'm glad you didn't kill my character, otherwise nothing would have stopped me from launching the controller at him."

Arthur laughed and resumed the game, turning his character to run down the corridors of the spaceship.

"He's a slimy one, isn't he?" Percival asked, watching Gwaine and Arthur playing the game.

"He's a twat. Something must be done." Arthur said, ignoring how much he sounded like the evil villain in a story.