Getting up for school the next day was hell, and history was even more of a drag then usual. Merlin spent most of his period passing notes to Lancelot. They started talking about trivial things at first, with, "how's your day been?" "how's the football team lance?" "Is drama going well?" Around that point was when the topic of choice changed drastically.

Lancelot caught Merlin's arm as the bell rang, ushering him out the door with concern.

"What do you mean I was right about Arthur?"

"You told me earlier that he was 'bad news'." Merlin reminded, keeping his chin down while he talked, as if ashamed of himself, "I thought you were just messing with me, but.. you were right."

Lancelot frowned, "Well... what do you mean? What happened?"

Merlin arranged his books in the crook of his arm as they walked, an angry glare spread over his face, "Well..." He tried to think of how he could explain, since he hadn't exactly told Lance that they had had a thing. In fact, Merlin wasn't even sure that Lancelot knew he was gay. "He... I- UGH!" Merlin growled, "Let's just say he's a giant pervert! And... and an idiot! A prat! A big, fat, prat!"

"What did he do?"

"Well... let's say that he played with my friends feelings. Made them feel like a big idiot just when they had their hopes high."

Lancelot stopped walking, taking hold of Merlin's shoulders roughly, "Are you talking about Morgana from our Geometry class? You're not talking about Gwen right?! Seriously?"

Merlin rolled his eyes before shrugging Lance off his shoulders, "No worries, your precious Gwen is safe."

"What?" he shrieked, "I don't know what you're-"

"Oh, buggar off, everyone knows you like her! Even she knows!"

"Merlin!"

Merlin cringed upon hearing his name. An angered Gwen trotted up to them, looking very unhappy. She sternly pressed her fists to her hips, nearly glaring at him,"Merlin, what is wrong with you today?! You didn't look up from your script the entire drama period! You didn't even practice! And now you're being rude to your friends!"

With an irritated huff of air, Merlin crossed his arms, nearly dropping his books, "I was memorizing them! That's all!"

Scoffing, Gwen took up her hands to cross over his chest as well, "What for? You already know all your parts by heart!"

"Just- GRRR! Just leave me alone okay?" He growled, pushing past her angrily, "I don't want to see anyone right now!"

Gwen watched Merlin storm off with concern before turning to Lancelot with an upset pout. "I- I'm sorry he lashed out like that... I'm sure he didn't mean to upset anyone. Its apparently been a rough day, or something..."

"Yeah, or something." he turned his eyes cautiously towards her, "Do you really already know?"

"Hmm? Know what?"

Lance sighed heavily as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "That I like you?"

"I do..."

Slapping a palm to his forehead, Lancelot groaned, "Great... How long?"

"... A year?" she timidly replied.

"... does is bug you at all?"

"Look, can we talk about this later... people have started staring... and... class is going to start soon..."

Angrily, Lancelot moved away, "Screw class. I'm going to go find that dick."

His back was already to her as he left, so she raised her voice, "Who!?"

"Arthur Pendragon obviously."

Arthur found himself being slammed up against a gym locker roughly by the hands of a stranger. "Whoa there buddy..." he laughed, raising his hands to the level of his eyes, "What's the big idea?"

"What did you do to Merlin?"

His eyes widened for a moment, but he quickly brushed it off, "Who are you?"

"Lancelot, friend of his." he gritted his teeth, "A good friend of his."

"Lancelot huh?" Arthur smirked with amusement, "We really are all medieval around here aren't we?"

"Shut up." he growled, "I want answers."

Cheekily; "Why don't you just ask Merlin? If you're such good friends."

Lance's grip loosened a bit, "He wouldn't tell us..."

"Oh?"

"-But I do know that you hurt a girlfriend of his."

Arthur frowned, "How so?"

"Don't play coy with me." he warned, "He told me that you messed with her feelings, got her hopes up and then dropped her like a boiling cup of tea!"

"What are you? British?"

"Shut up and talk already!"

With a full fledged smirk, Arthur chuckled, "Well that's a little redundant of you, don't you think?"

Lancelot's grip on Arthur's shirt grew deadly as he pushed harder against his throat, "Did you or didn't you?"

"..I didn't touch any girlfriend. The only friends of his I've even met are you and Gwen, to be honest, I don't think there could ever honestly be anything between me and her..." he cocked his expression in a thinking manor, "Well... maybe..."

"You touch a hair on her head and I'll-"

"Oh I get it." he frowned, "You're not really here for Merlin are you? You're worried about her? She your girlfriend or something?"

"Why are you such an ass?"

Arthur's face was blank, not because he was shocked, or even offended... he was... almost angry, "I'm only an ass when I want to be. You just make it easy to mock you. I thought you were here to help a friend... but it wasn't honestly like that... I'm kind of upset."

"Why should you be upset?" he flared.

Arthur let his hands fall to his sides, no longer fearing his oppressor, "I don't want him hurt."

It was Lancelot's turn to be thrown for a loop. He let his grip loosen too much, allowing Arthur to push him away easily. "There.. can I finish changing now?"

"It was Merlin wasn't it?"

Arthur slammed his locker shut, "Get the hell out of here already!"

"What happened?"

Arthur limped his body weight over his arms, his hands pushing against the cold locker metal, "Is he alright?"

Lance let himself relax, "Not really..."

"Look, I-... I just didn't want to see him with that scared expression..."

"Scared expression?"

Arthur turned, looking hopeless, "When we worked together in Drama, and the play, he was so fearless. From telling the teacher how he felt, singing proudly on stage.. even standing up to a stupid jerk like me... But... he looked terrified... so... I said I was kidding... and.."

"So you weren't messing with him?"

A short, half assed laugh escaped Arthur's lips, "Why would I?"

Lance felt sort of helpless as well. They'd gone from yelling at one another to trusting each other in an instant. It was weird, but he felt like Arthur wasn't like he thought. He could support this, "Truthfully, I didn't even know he was gay..." he let himself sit on one of the benches wearily, "Shows how 'good' of a friend I am..."

"To be fair," Arthur smiled, "You did nearly beat me to a pulp for him. That's definitely a friend thing."

"You should tell him."

"What? No way! He said he never wanted to speak to me again! Wouldn't even spare a second for me in class... what makes you think he'd sit still long enough to listen to me?"

"He's miserable you know."

Arthur let his eyes droop, "Yeah.."

"So?" Lancelot encouraged, "What are you gonna do about it?"