Camelot College

Chapter 2

We Speak of Old Friends and Complain about Roommates

Merlin walked toward the small cafe, already spotting his friend waiting at a table shrouded by the shadow of an oak tree. Merlin caught her eye and raised his arm in greeting, jogging over to her.
"Gwen!" he greeted her, slightly out of breath. She rose from her seat, enveloping him in a hug, before gesturing to the seat opposite her.

"Please, sit. I already ordered us drinks and a slice of cake." She flattened the skirt of her dress complacently, smoothing the light blue fabric as she sat down again.

Merlin grinned, sitting down, placing his phone on the table.

"How was moving day for you then?" he said, mouth upturned at the corner. She rolled her eyes in an uncharacteristic way "Bad then?" he joked

"You have no idea," she said, exasperated "my roommate is this really sophisticated girl, she sounds so high-class and snobbish but she's actually really nice and really pretty, and her eyes, by the gods – her eyes-"

Merlin smiled as Gwen ranted to him, holding back a laugh.

"That's your version of a bad roommate?" he laughed. Gwen huffed and crossed her arms.

"She's so pretty, it's not decent." She said, letting out a laugh when she met his eyes.

"Well. My roommate is such an arrogant prat," Merlin launched into a rant about Arthur, only pausing to thank the pink haired girl that brought them there coffees and a slab of red velvet cake that they immediately dug into. Merlin tried to resume his rant once the girl had gone away. She had interrupted him right in the middle of his angry detailed account.

"So, I'd just texted you back, and I turn to go and I accidently meet his eyes –"he stopped himself before he could go on any further. Gwen raised her eyebrows but said nothing, which he appreciated. He told the rest of this story as they finished the cake and their respective coffees.

"So, you have a crush on him?" Gwen asked once he'd finished

"No!" Merlin said just a little too quickly, face flushing delicate pink. Gwen laughed her high, girlish laughter, looking affectionately at her oldest friend, one hand toying with the end of her braid.

"Awww, Merlin, you've got a crush" she cooed, playfully slapping his arm.

"shut up." He mumbled, eyes on his shoes, but he smiled anyway. "Not like you can say anything," he grinned, putting on a high voice "her eyes are so pretty, Merlin! She's so elegant and beautiful!" Gwen laughed as Merlin did this, burying her face in her hands.

"Stop it!" she laughed, swatting at his arm playfully.

Merlin stood up, the chair screeching against the stone ground. He winced slightly, before shoving his phone back into his pocket.

"Where are you going?" Gwen asked, eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"The store," Merlin said, stretching his arms above his head "apparently, I live with people who can srvive on a half empty can of bud-light."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "It's 1pm and we just moved in."

Merlin just pressed his lips together and sighed.

"I'm coming with you." She said, standing up and swinging the denim jacket off the back of her chair, to drape it over her arm.

"You, Guinevere, are my only friend." He said, putting a hand on his heart. "Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the grocery store." He offered her his arm. Gwen giggled, hooking her own hand around Merlin's arm. She looked him in the eye and did a small curtsey.

"It would be my pleasure."

They made their way to the grocery store, laughing arm-in-arm. To an outsider, they would've looked like a happy couple, but they knew better. What they had was purely platonic, and neither of them felt any need to change that status, and it didn't matter what other people thought of them.

They had a relatively smooth shopping experience, aside from the neatly stacked pyramid of boxes of crisps that Merlin nudged just a little too much with his elbow, causing it to cascade everywhere, much to the displeasure of the store employee. Trying to right it as best they could, they took three of the boxes.

They made their way back to Merlin's dormitory, lugging the three boxes of crisps and four bags of other groceries.

"Need help, Merlin?" asked a voice from behind them. Merlin turned and grinned.
"Lancelot!"

Lancelot took one of the boxes from Merlin's arms, and scooped two of the bags out of his hand, slightly blushing when their hands touched. Lancelot assisted Merlin and Gwen with packing away the groceries.

"Thank the gods that you actually did that, Merlin, I don't think any of the boys would've taken up the mantle."

"Uh, yeah, I practically run the place." Merlin said, grinning "oh, and where are the rest of the boys?"

"Oh, you've not met them?" Lancelot asked "well, we're all going out for drinks tonight, so if you want to tag along I'm sure they won't mind." He cocked an eyebrow. "They'll love you."

"Right, well, I should probably head out and go back to see my roommate again." Gwen said, standing up, smoothing her hands over her dress again skirt again nervously.

"Guinevere?" came a lilting Irish voice from behind them. Gwen whirled, her skirt flaring out around her knees.

"Oh! Morgana! Hi." She said, all but frozen. They sat in silence for a bit, Gwen's face slowly growing redder, and Morgana looked even more confused.

"So, uh, what're you doing here?" Gwen asked, shifting from foot-to-foot

"I was visiting my brother, Arthur. What're you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm...talking with my boyfriend and his friend!" she said, resting a hand on Merlin's shoulder. He looked up at her; they locked eyes, initiating the plan that they usually did whenever Gwen got nervous around girls. It was a terrible plan but Gwen went into 'prettygirlcantwork' mode. Morgana raised an eyebrow, mouth shaped into a perfect O.

"You have a boyfriend?" she asked. Gwen laughed nervously and patted Merlin's hand. Merlin was still working with what Gwen was trying to do, but something Morgana said before.
"Arthur's your brother?"

"Yes, as much as I loathe that fact." She rolled her eyes so hard she could've pulled something.

"I'm Merlin, his roommate." He held out his hand

"I'm Morgana, I'm Gwen's roommate, as I'm sure you've been able to tell" she laughed, shaking his hand. It was weirdly formal for such an awkward situation.

"Well, I think I'd better go back to our dorm," Gwen said, patting Merlin's hand, leaning in to kiss his cheek, smiling at Morgana and Lancelot weakly and left with a thankful glance at Merlin.

"I should probably get going as well." Morgana left, pausing for a second to give Merlin a quizzical look before sweeping out of the room.