Shooting Blindly here. Well, its a little shorter, but enjoy this one. I apologize for any issues. english is technically my second laguage. Please leave me comments. it doesnt take long for you, and it makes my day a little brighter. Pretty please? Enoy!

Chapter Four: Les Amis Étranges

Exams passed, and now Arthur was on break. Much of the time before exams had passed in the same manner: Arthur would study most of the morning, and then head down to the tea shop. Mordred would be there in the afternoon, but at around three, he would leave to go study. He had a scholarship to keep up with, and couldn't afford to spend his afternoons before exams making tea and chatting with his upperclassmen. After that, Merlin and Arthur would be left to their tea, and the occasional drawing lesson. Arthur got frustrated with Merlin every time, though, so the lessons were neither long nor extremely successful.

Now that exams were over, Arthur felt like he had too much spare time, and he didn't know what to do with it. Spending all his time at the tea shop seemed like a ludicrous waste of time, and working on his drawing skills was something he could only do for so long. Eventually he lost patience with himself and threw things at walls to alleviate his boredom and frustration.

What did I even do before exams, he asked himself. Before he could think up a list of answers, the phone rang.

"Yes?"

"Arthur! It's Leon." Arthur straightened immediately. "How have you been?"

"Leon, is this a business call, or a personal call? We really shouldn't mix the two."

A pause on the other end of the line. "…it's a personal call," Leon finally decided.

"Well then I'm shitty," he replied. Leon gave a short bark of laughter.

"Yeah, losing your father is never easy," Leon sympathized.

"What? No, that's not it. I have too much time, and I don't know what to do with it," Arthur complained. "I can't spend my whole day at the tea shop I found and exchange pleasantries with Merlin. He's got an actual job to do, I can't bother him."

"Is that where you've been for the past week or so?"

"Yeah."

"Then why can't you go? If you've been there for a while now, and you haven't been kicked out for staying too long, then you might as well go. Apparently you're quite welcome there." Arthur considered.

"You're right, Leon. Besides, it's not like Merlin does his job, even when I'm not there. Good talk." And he hung up the phone before Leon could get a chance to protest.

Throwing on a hat and a scarf, Arthur headed out to the tea shop.

"Merlin! What kind of tea do you have for me to try today?" Arthur asked. He had been sampling Gaius's teas and deciding which ones were unfit to be sold to the public on account of horrendous flavor, despite the numerous health benefits that Gaius boasted they possessed.

Merlin grinned up at Arthur from the counter.

"Actually, not today. Figured we'd take a break with the tea today." Arthur gasped and put his hand to his chest.

"What? How could you?" Arthur gasped. Then he took in Merlin's appearance. "And what the fuck are you wearing? Is that a pink shirt? Could you possibly be more of a girl?" Merlin scoffed in outrage and puffed out his chest.

"I'll have you know that salmon is the manliest colour I know." Arthur snorted.

"Yes, along with fuchsia and lilac."

"Wonderful colours," Merlin said, nodding his approval in mock seriousness. Arthur shoved Merlin's head to the side, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"So what do we do today, if not drink tea? I'm giving you a fair warning, I will not do an all-day drawing lesson." Merlin grinned, and took a bow.

"Permission to surprise you, my liege?" Arthur considered for a moment.

"Permission granted," he replied. Merlin jumped up and grabbed Arthur's scarf, wrapping it around his neck and then pulling him along by the ends. "Merlin, wait! You're going to choke me!" Merlin glanced backwards.

"Big, strong guy like you? Really, Arthur, at least put some effort into it if you're going to lie to me," Merlin smirked, loosening his grip despite what he said.

Merlin led them to one of the dorm buildings, presumably the one he lives in, and Arthur raised an eyebrow. Merlin ran them up the stairs, all six floors (although really, Arthur wouldn't have minded taking the elevator) and finally arrived at the door of Merlin's room. Hopefully.

"Ok, my roommate is in, and he's a little… well, he's special."

"There are seven billion people in this world, and he dares to call himself special? Who is he, my clone? I'm the only special one, Merlin," joked Arthur. Merlin grinned.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you," he sang, and he pushed open the door. "Afternoon, Gawain!" Gawain looked up from his papers and smiled at Merlin.

"Merlin!" He got up from his desk and made his way towards them. "Good to see you!" He grabbed Merlin's face and gave him a quick kiss, right on the mouth.

I didn't know Merlin was gay, Arthur thought to himself, let alone has a boyfriend.

"Gawain, this is Arthur. Arthur, Gawain," Merlin introduced them. Arthur nodded, sticking his hand out.

"Nice to m – oomph." Gawain had pushed Arthur's hand out of the way and kissed him like he'd kissed Merlin. Arthur's eyes went wide and Merlin burst out laughing. Arthur looked at Merlin, feeling slightly panicked.

"Merlin! How can you live with this? Your boyfriend going around kissing people?" At this, Merlin just laughed harder.

"Oh, Arthur, the look on your face!" he gasped, clutching at his stomach and wiping away tears. Gawain laughed with him too, and Arthur felt more and more confused. "Oh, no, Arthur stop it, stop making that face, it's killing me!" Merlin collapsed onto his bed. Arthur glared at the pair of them, and they eventually sobered. "Oh, that's disgusting. No, he's not my boyfriend. He actually has a girlfriend, and she's quite lovely. That's just how he greets close friends," he peered at Arthur. "Or the close friends of close friends." Arthur glared at Gawain.

"If I was a homophobe, I might have killed you for that."

"But you're not," Gawain said lightly, sprawling onto his bed, hands tucked behind his head.

"But I could have been."

"But you're not."

"Well, you never know!" Arthur sighed, exasperated. Gawain propped himself up on his elbows.

"But I do know. You weren't fazed at all when I kissed Merlin hello. If you were a homophobe, you would have either squirmed, or had a fit of rage. And you did neither. Ergo, non-homophobe." Arthur rolled his eyes at the logic. Something brushed against his leg.

Looking down, he saw it was a small white kitten with blue eyes. Merlin smiled apologetically and picked it up, giving it a gentle nudge in the other direction.

"No, Aithusa. Stay away from the guests. Go play with Kilgharrah," he said gently. Aithusa meowed at him, and then made her way to an older looking cat. He eyed her, and she batted at his nose. Kilgharrah took this treatment with good grade, although his tail twitched and swished in annoyance. Aithusa began to play with that too, and Merlin watched the scene quietly, a fond look in his eye.

"Aren't you not supposed to have pets in the dorms?" asked Arthur. Merlin nodded.

"Yeah, technically. But we asked all the kids on this floor. No one is allergic and no one is going to snitch, so for now, we keep them here."

"Alright. But I have to ask. Where the fuck did you get those names? Game of Thrones, or something? They're so weird…" Merlin scoffed.

"Really, Arthur, I thought you knew me better than that. Obviously me and Gawain took turns pulling letters out of a hat. Game of Thrones. Ridiculous," Merlin said.

Before Arthur could reply, there was a knock at the door and Gawain got up to answer.

"Laddie! I missed you!" and he kissed whoever was at the door in greeting. Arthur rolled his eyes. Gawain really did kiss everyone. "Lads! This is Laddie, my girlfriend."

"Unfortunate name for a girl," Arthur remarked. She smiled.

"It would be, were that actually my name. This idiot here thought I was a boy when we were kids. Laddie became his way of addressing me, and it just stuck," she said sounding annoyed. Despite her tone, she looked at Gawain fondly and laced their fingers together. She stuck out her other hand in greeting. "Larissa." Arthur shook her hand. "Hi, Merlin." Merlin waved at her with a small smile.

"Ok, so Gawain, you can go out with Laddie, and me and Arthur will watch a movie and take care of the cats," Merlin said, giving Gawain a shove through the door. Gawain smiled widely at him.

"Got it, mate," he said, tapping the side of his nose with a wink.

"Gawain! Leave them alone," Larissa scolded. "Have a good time, Merlin," she said with a giggle and a wink of her own, sashaying out of the room with Gawain in tow. Merlin blushed, mortified, and quickly shut the door behind them, leaning against it as if to prevent them coming back.

"So…" he began.

"So…" Arthur echoed. Merlin grinned.

"Pick a cat to cuddle with and a movie to watch."