When they entered the food hall, Merlin was literally in Arthur's steps. He was terrified of getting lost, or taken or killed. Some of the boys would pass them, bowing to the blonde, saying such as "You majesty" or "his Royal highness" and such. Arthur would bow all royally before chuckling as they had passed. When Merlin turned around, the boys who had bowed would laugh as well.
After passing a few tables and even more students bowing to Arthur, a boy with blonde curly hair stood up and waved them over.
"There he is!"
He said loud enough so the five other males at the table could hear.
"The Royal Idiot!"
Some of the boys raised their glasses, others said such as "hear hear!" Or "our King!" He did a bow with his head before speaking.
"Hello my fellow knights of the round table."
The boy from earlier with the shoulder long brown hair laughed out loud before pointing at Arthur with his fork.
"Mate I know you aren't that good at geometry, but this is a rectangle."
Arthur simply rolled his eyes and sat down next to the blonde with the curls.
"Hey Leon"
he said. Leon smiled, before looking up at Merlin. He flashed him a kind smile.
"Who's this?"
Merlin sat down next to Arthur and stretched out a hand to Leon.
"I'm Merlin. I'm new here."
Leon pointed at Merlin with his free hand and had his mouth open a little before looking at the others at the table.
"Is that the guy who crashed into the wall?"
The boy with bare arms nodded.
"Yes. He saw us throwing paper balls at Will and I guess he thought we were bothering him"
The boy next to him made a sound with food still in his mouth before pointing at his food with his fork.
"A bit thick right"
The blonde with bare arms turned and looked at him insulted and in shock.
"Gwaine!"
He nearly yelled and the boy raised his arms.
"That was kinda rude"
said a dark skinned boy whom sat right across Gwaine.
"Shut up, Elyan. Anyways I was talking about the sauce"
said Gwaine without looking up from his food. Elyan looked at the strong man next to Gwaine with suspicion.
"What is wrong with him?"
Percival looked at Gwaine before looking back at Elyan. He had a quick look at the boy with short brown hair who was sitting at his right, before responding to Elyan's question.
"Sorry, Ely. Can't be rude to my boyfriend."
Gwaine nodded in agreement whilst still enjoying his food.
"Cause then he won't get laid."
The boy next to Percival reached out a fist behind the tall blondes back towards Gwaine.
"Nice one"
Gwaine bumped it.
"Thanks Lance"
and he returned to his food. So did Lancelot. Right across from where Merlin was seated was the boy they threw paper balls at earlier. His hair was black and messy and he smelled a lot like cigarettes. He shook his head to Gwaine's reply and put another fork in his mouth when he said:
"You two are so weird"
Gwaine pushed himself over the table so he could look past Percival and Lancelot. He pointed his fork at the boy who was seated at the same side of the table as him.
"Hey! Stay out of this Will"
Will simply rolled his eyes and continued eating. Merlin looked up at Gwaine and Percival.
"So are you two dating?"
Gwaine for probably the first time during the meal dropped his fork and placed his arm around the bigger male.
"Yes we are. But neither of us is gay though."
Percival shook his head and smiled at Merlin
"I am bisexual and Gwaine is pansexual. Oh and he's also flirting with every human he can find. Just a little heads up for the future."
Gwaine gave out a hearted laugh.
"Yes, but he doesn't mind"
he said as he leaned his head on the stronger mans shoulder.
"Because he knows he's my one true love."
Percival kissed his boyfriends head and ruffled his hair. Will made a gauging sound and turned away from the love doves.
"He's aromatic"
said Elyan. "He doesn't want sex nor a relationship. He even burns the pornmagazines the other boys are hiding around which is actually pretty cool. Anyways he hates love and all that so you shouldn't talk about that around him. You know, for your own safety."
Will looked at his darker friend like he had offended his honour.
"I didn't give you permission to just tell the new kid my sexuality."
Elyan looked down and mumbled in respond.
"Sorry. But he would figure it out anyways."
Will looked at Merlin. Once he had caught his eyes he pointed at Elyan.
"He's polysexual. He likes girls boys and transgender females."
Elyan simply responded with:
"I don't mind genderfluids either."
Leon had been watching the boys exchanging the dialogue like a tennis match before looking at Lancelot.
"Isn't anyone gonna out me?"
Percival looked up from his food and talked directly to Merlin.
"He doesn't know what he is."
Leon looked questionably at Percival before nodding in agreement.
"Hm? True."
Will smiled at the Raven haired boy in front of him.
"So what about you Merlin? Where do you swing?"
Merlin suddenly felt very self conscious. He cleared his throat and kept on stabbing his food.
"Well I'm not straight, that's for sure"
Arthur let out a hearted laugh and smiled at the man right across from him.
"Congratulation Lance. You are officially the only heterosexual amongst us."
"Wait?"
Said Merlin as he turned to Arthur.
"Are you? Gay?"
The blonde simply turned his head, winked whilst making a click nose, and returned to his food. Merlin let out a short laugh and his mouth was ajar. Arthur chuckled and looked at the skinny boy next to him.
"What? You don't think I'm gay?"
Merlin just shook his head and smiled to his food.
"No no I'm not saying that I don't believe it. I just find it funny."
This time Arthur turned his entire body towards Merlin and gave him his full attention.
"Come on. Tell."
Merlin just shook his head. Arthur leaned closer to the boy.
"Come on Merlin. What's so funny about me being gay."
Merlin dropped his knife and turned his body toward Arthur's.
"You're the typical jock aren't you? Strong, blonde. When people look at you they expect you to be dating the head cheerleader. Instead you're probably dating the waterboy or something. You're crushing the stereotype which is actually pretty cool of you."
The blonde simply laughed and turned to his food.
"Maybe I'm trapped in a teen movie and will be dating the leader of the chess club."
Merlin really wanted to say that he was head of the chess club for one year in Ealdor. That he was forced to be a waterboy during a school game once as well. But he chose to leave the conversational theme as Arthur just had as well. Instead he came up with a new one.
"So why do they call you The Royal Idiot?" Arthur smiled to his food.
"Well you already know I'm the head masters son. And my name is Arthur. And we go to Camelot..."
"I get it. The Once And Future King Of Albion, yeah. But why The Royal Idiot?"
Arthur merely shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know actually. For a laugh I guess."
Merlin nodded, but he wasn't done.
"It's kind of unrhythmical though. The Royal Prat sounds better."
Gwaine let out a loud laughter and stood up.
"That Merlin, will not go unnoticed."
He then shouted for the entire food hall to hear.
"Ladies, gentlemen, knights and other creatures! Our King will be renamed!"
He wandered dramatically over to Arthur who rolled his eyes, whispered
"now you've done it"
to Merlin before flashing him a smile and knelt down in front of Gwaine. Gwaine gently laid his knife on Arthur shoulders as he yelled out:
"All hail The Royal Pratt! All hail THE KING!"
Once Arthur had risen every man in the room would three times yell the phrase "ALL HAIL THE PRATT!" Well before the third one Gwaine had already sat himself down next to Percival and Arthur slightly closer to Merlin than original seated. Once all the students had channted the phrase, the room was once again filled with the familiar buzz of conversations. Merlin assumed it was a form of tradition.
After five minutes of quiet by the Knights table, Merlin broke the silent.
"Arthur? You mentioned earlier that some likes to be called princesses? What was that again?"
Arthur turned to Gwaine.
"Gwaine point out the Ladies for Merlin will you"
Gwaine, who seemed very pleased for being asked stood up a little in his seat and started pointing around the room.
"That ones a princess, that ones a princess, that one is definetly a princess, that is an enchantress now as she likes to be called, she is one operation away from having to change schools actually, and that one is apparently a dragon now. Oh yeah, and he's a drag queen. Puts on some shows in the common room and he's slaying it!"
Merlin couldn't stop smiling. Everyone was so... Themselves. You could be whoever you wanted to be there. He felt so safe, so... Happy. He liked Camelot. He really did.
