Freya cursed. "I knew something wasn't right with her! I felt it when I got your homework."
"Well what are we going to do?" Aithusa asked worriedly.
"What can we do against a distinguished art professor? You have to avoid her as much as possible Merlin. Always have someone with you. No being alone." Freya said forcefully.
"Fuck, fine." Merlin resigned himself to a bodyguard at all times. It was generally Freya or Morgana, but during other classes and work, Merlin would find Lancelot, Aithusa or Gwaine. The week passed with more anticipation toward the game than Merlin's dilemma. They had told Gaius, but he could do about as much as they could, but he was working on it.
Merlin only saw Arthur when he was working, so it left little to conversation, but it seemed that Freya, Morgana, and Gwen were attached at the hips. Merlin would come home from work and find them giggling in Freya's room.
The morning of the game, Merlin woke early for classes. They all went fairly slow, as Lance was too nervous to talk much and Morgana was working on a new art project. When he met with Kilgharrah, Merlin shared his new insight to his kidnapper, but Kilgharrah just sighed.
"I should have known. I try to hire a bit more magic in the staff and end up picking the bad seed. I'm glad I didn't tell her about you." Kilgharrah let him go early, claiming he had a lot to think about. The air was chilly as Merlin walked to his car.
Freya and Gwen were ready at the door when he arrived. They attacked him and outfitted him in all red and gold attire, giving him a small hand held flag that read Lancelot.
"Why do I get the Lancelot flag?" He grumbled. "Shouldn't dear Gwen take it?" He smirked. Gwen looked affronted, but Freya giggled.
"We pick up on things like that Gwen, but if that was how this worked, you would be getting the Arthur flag Merls." Merlin turned red and didn't argue anymore. Morgana arrived about an hour later, dressed in her own red and gold, toting the Arthur flag. Freya's read Leon, and Gwen's said Gwaine.
"Oh fantastic, we're all ready?" Morgana said happily.
"Don't forget me!" Gaius said, coming out of his room, with a new red robe-thing on.
"Ah we couldn't Gaius." Morgana said with a smile. Gaius smiled happily and they all climbed into the car. It was almost dark when they entered the stadium. The crowd was huge in anticipation for the game.
When it began they all cheered, even though Merlin had no idea what was going on. Morgana had to quickly whisper some basic pointers in his ear. Merlin refused to let his eyes draw to Arthur, no matter how much they wanted to. As team captain he was muscular and absolutely gorgeous, not that Merlin was looking. Freya jabbed his side with her elbow.
"Maybe don't forecast so much?" She said with a smirk. He blushed and ignored her, focusing on Gwaine, which bad idea. Things had ended badly, with Freya and Merlin just disappearing. Lance. Lance was perfectly fine. For the next hour or more, Merlin kept his focus on Lance, even when he caught Arthur's eye, he quickly turned away from the smirk. With minutes left in the game, the Gryphons were up by one point. Arthur managed to get one in, tying it up, but it looked practically hopeless until Lance. He kicked the ball between the feet of the forward and sent it to Gwaine, who couldn't get a shot, so he sent it back to Lance, where he effectively sent it into the goal. The crowd erupted in cheers as the game ended, Knights on top. Morgana hugged Merlin hard, yelling with the masses. The teams both dispersed to the locker rooms, and the crowd dispersed to their cars. Several people stood around waiting for their player. The knights ran out first, showered and changed. Arthur led the way, a big grin on his face. Merlin gave him a matching grin. He scanned the crowd, finding Gwaine easily, who was sprinting towards him, but Lancelot was missing. Gwaine tackled Merlin in a hug, who was too busy looking for Lance to notice the incoming danger. They both went down, with Gwaine landing on top of him.
"Well this brings back memories." Gwaine said cheekily. Freya and Gwen both laughed. Merlin shook his head, and pushed the man off of him.
"Well Gwaine all ya had to do was say something." Merlin said sassily. Morgana snorted. Arthur had just reached the group.
"Well it looks like you really can't keep on both feet." Arthur grinned at Merlin.
"Well not everyone's feet are as big as yours." Merlin scoffed. The girls burst into laughter, and Arthur hardly suppressed his smirk. Gwaine just gave Merlin the look of shame. Merlin just hung his head. He quickly got to his feet. "Ya know what, where's Lance?" Arthur looked around confused.
"I don't know. He was right behind us."
"I'm gonna go find him." Merlin set of at a brisk pace, not waiting for an answer. Freya laughed as he walked away.
"That wasn't awkward. Talked to him about the kiss yet?" She nudged Arthur, whose attention was thoroughly fixed on Merlin's backside.
"What?" He asked. Gwen and Morgana both laughed.
"Dude, you got it bad." Gwaine shook his head.
"I do not!" Arthur said indignantly.
"Uh huh. I know the look you get when you fall head over heels for that one. And you got it." Arthur turned to his sister for backup, but she just shook her head.
Merlin walked around the side of the changing rooms and froze. Lance was surrounded by three of the biggest Gryphon players. They all turned to him as he walked around the corner.
"Merlin walk away." Lance said seriously. Merlin just shook his head. Lance sighed, but quickly swung out, catching one of the players by surprise. Merlin grabbed one before he could get to Lance and used a little extra magic help to send him into the wall. His head connected with the brick, and knocked him out cold. The third, sensing Merlin to be a bigger threat, advanced. He took a swing before Merlin saw him coming. He felt his lip split with the contact and was knocked off balance. Lance hit his assailant with a garbage lid, sending him to the ground, and turned in time to see Merlin's eyes turn gold and a ball of light explode from his palm, hitting the Gryphon square in the face. Merlin fell to the ground, his lip bleeding heavily. Lance rushed to his side and checked him for other wounds.
"Lance, how are you? Are you hurt?" Merlin asked seriously.
"Merlin what did you do?" Lance whispered hoarsely.
"I didn't do anything." Merlin said indignantly.
"I saw the light, I saw your eyes. Did you do magic?" Lance asked.
"How do you know about magic?" Lance grinned.
"It's not as underground as you think. I knew a girl in high school who practiced."
"Are you going to tell anyone?" Merlin asked nervously. Lance shook his head.
"No. Your secret is safe with me? And Freya's I'm assuming?" Merlin nodded. Lance held out a hand and pulled Merlin to his feet. He laughed and took in Merlin with new eyes. "You wouldn't know to look at you, but that was fantastic," Lance laughed and threw and arm around Merlin, leading him back to the field. Merlin laughed, relaxing into the feeling that someone knew. They rounded the corner and Lance waved to the group. When they got close enough, Freya shrieked.
"Merlin you face!" She yelled, running forward. He waved her off.
"Frey I'm fine." Lance grinned at the group.
"Don't worry, we just got into a small tussle with some Gryphons. Merlin kicked arse!" Gwaine shook his head.
"You really truly find the most danger." Merlin grinned, opening his lip, making it bleed more. Arthur grabbed his chin and held it up, putting a rag on the cut.
"Honestly Merlin." Arthur shook his head.
"Don't honestly Merlin me." Merlin said through the rag. The group tried to make normal conversation while keeping an eye on Merlin and Arthur, who was cleaning Merlin's cut. Why Gaius kept a first aid kit, Merlin will never know. "Because you are a clumsy idiot." Arthur answered, because apparently Merlin said that out loud.
"Shall we go to the Rising Sun to celebrate Lance's victory?" Morgana said enthusiastically when Arthur finished Merlin's lip.
"Yes and you can introduce us to the man you can't seem to stop talking too." Merlin teased.
"Merlin, if you continue to talk, you're going to split your lip again." Arthur sighed. Merlin scoffed and rolled his eyes. They all began to walk to the pub, but Merlin pulled Freya to the back of the group.
"Lance knows." He whispered.
"Merlin Balenor Emrys!" She shrieked. The group looked back, but Merlin smiled and waved them forward. Lance noticed Freya looking at him and swung back.
"I assume this is about me?" Lance asked sheepishly.
"Yes it is. Lancelot de Luc, if you tell anyone, I swear to the great dragons I'll-"
"I won't I swear!" Lance held his hands up in surrender. Freya gave him one final death glare before they ran to catch up with the group. As they approached the Rising Sun, Merlin noticed a tall dark haired figure leaning just outside the door. Morgana's face lit up as she saw him. Must be the boyfriend, Merlin thought. Freya's eyes narrowed as the man's face came into the light, and a shiver went up Merlin's spine. He knew him from somewhere. Morgana ran up to him and took him hand in hers.
"Guys this is Mordred." She exclaimed gleefully. There was a chorus of hellos from the group. Mordred gave them all a sly smirk.
"It's a please to meet you all, Morgana won't shut up about you." His crystal clear blue eyes practically dug into Merlin's skull.
"I wish we could say the same, she's actually been rather secretive," Arthur practically grunted. Mordred smirked again and they all filed into the bar. Merlin and Freya sat at the usual table and didn't move for most of the night. Everyone was dancing and laughing and having a grand time, but they kept an eye on Mordred. He had introduced Morgana to all of his friends and they had all been inseperable through the night. About an hour into the night, Lance plopped down next to the pair. He had left Gwen dancing with Arthur.
"If I didn't know the two of you, I would say you were spying," Lancelot joked.
"We are," Freya said bluntly.
"There's something wrong about him," Merlin explained.
"Well yea, we can all see he's kind of a punk-" Lance started.
"No something wrong in the other sense," Freya interrupted.
"Oh." Lance said with a nod. He didn't hang around much longer, instead going to collect Gwen. Arthur came over next and followed the gazes of the pair.
"I don't like him either. He gives me the creeps." He said softly. Freya and Merlin both looked at him oddly. "It's like every time he looks at me I get a shiver down my spine, and not a good shiver." Freya snorted.
"Trust you to be able to pick up on it," she grinned. Another person sits across the table and they all look over to find the silver haired Aithusa. She smiled warmly at them.
"I understand you could use some backup?" she asked. Freya smiled and nodded. Arthur didn't leave the table as they all talked through the night. Leon joined them soon, and eventually Morgana swayed over, saying she was leaving with Mordred and his friends. She waved goodbye and then she was gone.
"Well I guess that means we can leave." Leon said sadly. He looked after Morgana sadly. Merlin just shook his head.
"You okay there Leon?" Arthur asked, eyebrow raised. Everyone knew, but they all pretended they didn't, for Leon's sake. Merlin stood up and stretched. His shirt peaked over his bones and Arthur quickly focused on Leon, who just smirked.
"Well we are off!" Merlin proclaimed. He and Freya collected Gwen, waved goodbye, and they were gone.
