It's been a month since the beginning of school and for once, everything seems to be going okay. I've spent as much time as Arthur's house as possible, causing me to not be at home. I help Arthur study, and he continues to be an annoying prat of a boyfriend.

I've also begun to hang out more with the new kid, Mordred. He's actually a pretty cool. Just a little weird sometimes, but aren't we all?

"Hey Merlin!"

I look around and see Mordred lightly jogging towards me.

"Hi Mordred."

When he gets to me, he swings an arm around my shoulders.

"You know if Arthur sees you, he'll kill you on the spot. Or worse, he'll kick you off the football team."

Mordred quickly takes his arm off.

"You're right. We wouldn't want that. You may be cute, but not football cute."

"Hey!"

I try to shove him, but he doesn't budge.

"You can try, but you're too weak."

"It's not my fault that all football players are built with two hundred pounds of muscle."

As we walk into the school, I see Arthur standing around with his other group of football friends.

I look over at Mordred.

"Hey, can you tell Arthur I'll see him after class?"

Mordred gives me a questioning look.

"Okay. Is it because of the others? You know you don't have to be shy around them. They all love you."

I look down and blush a little. I always get embarrassed when people compliment me.

"No, I just have to do something for class. I'll see you later."

I know that was a bad excuse since Mordred is in that class too, but it was the only thing I could think of on the spot. The truth is, I always feel out of place when I'm with the other football players with Arthur. I'm just tall and skinny while they're all muscular.

I walk into class and pull out my earplugs. At least I can listen to some music and read before class starts.

I put on my favorite band, The Beatles. Arthur always makes fun of me for listening to, and I quote, "Old people music," but I like listening to the classics. It's not like the audio tuned music from this era.

As I'm reading, I suddenly feel my earbuds being pulled from my ears. I quickly look up, only to see Arthur standing there, grinning at me.

"You're telling me, this 'class thing' you needed to finish was reading a book?"

"I- I ummm. I-"

Arthur takes the seat next to me and continues staring at me.

"Please, do continue."

I look down in shame and mumble my next sentence.

"It's a really good book."

Arthur then takes the book out of my hand and closes it, without the bookmark in it!

"Hey! What the hell?!?"

"Le Bizarre Incident du Chien Pendant la Nuit by Mark Haddon. What an interesting book."

"You closed the book without a bookmark!"

"Tu sais sur quelle page tu étais."

"Oui."

"See then, no harm done. Now, would you like to tell me why you ran away before?"

"Like I said. It's a really good book."

"So the book is more important then me?"

Arthur gives me a pouty face. I could smack him right now.

"No. You were with your friends and I didn't want to interrupt."

"Ah, so this is what this is about."

No. I'm not having this conversation again.

*Ten years ago*

"Merlin, hurry up! I want you to meet my friends!"

I really don't want to meet his friends.

"I'm coming. You're really fast."

"I'm barely even running. You're just really slow."

I slow down my run and stop. Arthur turns around and stops running too.

"Merlin? What's wrong?"

I feel tears sting my eyes.

"What wrong?"

"What- what if your friends don't like me? What if I don't get along with them?"

Arthur comes up to me and takes one of my hands in his hand.

"I promise they'll love you. And you will. Now, wipe those tears away and let's go!"

With my hands in Arthur's, we begin running. As we're running, I just start laughing. Arthur's right. If they're Arthur's friends, then there my friends too.

As we reach the top of the hill, I look down to see seven other kids on a field. Five are boys who are playing football and the other two are girls, watching. The only one I recognize is Morgana, Arthur's sister.

"Are we going to be playing football?"

Arthur looks at me like I just asked the most stupidest question ever.

"Of course we are."

"Arthur, you know I can't play football."

Arthur laughs at my and continues pulling my hand.

"Then I'll have to teach you."

We reach the bottom and everybody comes over to us, or more specifically, Arthur.

One of the boys with shoulder length, wavy hair talks first.

"Arthur, you're here! Who's the new kid?"

"Gwaine, I'm getting there. Everybody, this is Merlin. Merlin, this is Gwaine, Leon, Percival, Lancelot, Elyan, Elyan's sister Gwen, and you already know Morgana."

I give a shy wave and the one called Gwaine walks up to me and throws his arm around me.

"Merlin. We're going to be great friends, I already know it."

"Gwaine, leave him alone."

"Relax Arthur."

Gwaine pulls his arm off of me and begins walking to to field. He's a weird one.

"Come in guys. Let's continue playing."

They all turn and run to the field. Everybody except Morgana and Gwen.

"Hello Merlin. My names Guinevere, but my friends call me Gwen."

She has dark, curly hair and pretty brown eyes. She is really pretty.

I look down and blush a little.

"Hello."

Next Morgana speaks.

"So Merlin. I know you don't want to play football with the others, so why don't you come on a walk with me and Gwen. It will be lots of fun."

"Okay."

With that, we walk off into a woody area.

"Hey look at that, the bell's about to ring. You should probably start heading to class. Don't want you to be late."

Arthur stares at me for a second before giving me a quick peck on the lips.

"I'll see you later."

He gets up and walks out of the room. Now, where is Gwen and Mordred?

Bing.

Finally, the day is over. Well, almost over. Now I just have to wait for Arthur to finish football practice and then we can leave.

I walk into the library and hear a familiar voice.

"Merlin!"

I look over at the owner of the voice, only to see Mordred sitting at a table.

Walking over, I wave and take a seat next to him.

"Hey Mordred. What are you doing here?"

Mordred sticks his hand out to me, which is wrapped in a white gauze.

"Cut my hand. Nurse told me no football today."

I take his hand in mine and examine the bandage.

"It must've been a deep cut to get bandage and miss practice."

Mordred pulls his hand back.

"No, not really. The nurse was just overreacting. It will be all healed by tomorrow."

"You seem so sure."

"I'm just a fast healer."

"Wow. So am I."

He gives me a questioning look but, just as quick as it came, it left.

"Besides that, what do you do here in the library?"

"What do you mean what do you do? We're in a library. You can read, do homework...... read a little more."

"Wow, so much to do."

I laugh as I take out my homework.

"I'm going to work on science. Want to do it together?"

Mordred smiles at me and nods his head.

"Sure. Just letting you know, I'm terrible at science. And I think the teacher has a grudge on me or something."

"Gaius is weird like that. Now, what do you need help with?"

For the next thirty minutes, we finish up the homework.

"Wow, this teacher Gaius really loves to give homework."

"Once Gaius starts talking about anatomy, there's no stopping him. And if he can't talk about it, he'll sure give us homework about it."

"You can say that again. By the way, how long have you and Arthur been dating? You guys seem pretty close."

"We've been dating for five years and friends for ten."

"Wow. That's a long time. Have you ever imagined a life without Arthur?"

I answer without hesitation.

"No. Never. I'd be lost without him."

I try to think about what my life would've been without Arthur. Arthur helped me see the light when I walked in darkness. He showed me that I wasn't alone even in my loneliest hours. Most importantly, Arthur showed me how to love.

"You love him a lot, don't you?"

"With all my heart. Always and forever."

*Four years ago*

"No. I am not watching a horror film with you."

I feel Arthur's body start shaking with laughter.

"It's not funny."

"Of course it isn't."

We are right now in Arthur's bed, trying to pick out a movie to watch. I'm sitting down in between his legs and leaning against him. He is sitting against the the backboard of his bed.

"Why can't we just pick out a movie in your movie room?"

"Because in the movie room, we have to sit in separate chairs. In my bed, we can cuddle. Also, your body is like a really warm pillow. Except, you're more bonier."

I feel my cheeks reddening at each word Arthur says. I bury my face into Arthur's chest.

"Hey, nothing to be embarrassed about. Not all of us can have extraordinary muscle like me."

I look up at Arthur's face now.

"Extraordinary muscles? You just started lifting weights."

"Give me a few years. I'll be the top football player in the state with the biggest muscles."

While Arthur is speaking, all I can see is happiness radiating in his eyes. I know how much he loves football.

When I don't respond, Arthur looks at me in the eyes. I can feel the butterflies in my stomach and my chest aches, wanting to say something. Wanting to say something that has never been said between us before.

Before I even think of a response, my heart speaks for me.

"I love you."

I'm shocked about what I just said, but even more worried about what Arthur is going to respond to that.

His face warps from a smile into shocked as the words register into his brain.

"It's okay if you don't feel it back. I don't even know why I said it. It just kinda came-"

"I love you too."

An ocean of relief washed over me hearing Arthur say it back. I laugh out a breath of relief.

"Thank god. I though you weren't going to say it back and that would've killed the whole mood. Imagine how awkward it could've been? I say it and then you don't say it back or don't-"

"Merlin."

I look at Arthur's eyes again, only to notice that they're looking intensely at me.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Arthur leans in and kisses me. This kiss feels different. It's not like the other kisses we've had. It's special. It's full of hope and promises and most importantly, love.

"So Mordred, have you found anybody at school who makes your heart beat a little faster."

"I'm not sure yet. I definitely know I won't find what you and Arthur have. Love like that only comes around ever few centuries. Cheshire that love. Keep it in your heart, forever."

I stare back in shock. Never in the past month have I've heard Mordred speak so poetically.

"Wow Mordred. You sounded like a poet there."

Mordred quickly shakes himself out of the trance he was in.

"Yeah sorry. Don't know where that came from."

"No problem. I remember you said you once had a girlfriend. And by the way you were just speaking, it sounds like you know a thing or two about love."

His cheeks redden in embarrassment and he looks down.

"I did love her a lot. But, it was a long time ago and I've changed."

"Maybe you can reconnect with her?"

"No. She.... she moved away."

I feel a bit sorry for Mordred. I can tell that he loved this woman a lot.

"Don't worry. You'll find somebody one day who loves you."

"Thank you Merlin. Just promise me something."

"Yeah?"

"Enjoy your time with Arthur while you can. You never know what could happen."

"Okay, sure."

Deep down, I know I will always love Arthur, no matter what.

Bing.

"Finally, we can leave this wretched place."

"Hey, you're the one who choose to come in the library to meet me."

Mordred laughs and I find myself laughing too. We gather our bags and walk out the library together.

"I told Arthur I'd meet him here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye Merlin."

With that, he turns off and leaves. I begin reading the book in my hand.

A few minutes later, I feel arms wrap around me and a head fall on my shoulders.

"Don't tell me you spent the entire time in the library reading?"

I huff at his words. What does he have against me reading?

"No, I was with Mordred. We were doing science homework. Now, get your smelly body off of me."

Arthur laughs and steps away while spinning me around to face him.

"You and Mordred have become close over the past month."

"Don't. Don't be jealous. Mordred is my friend."

"I'm not jealous. I was just thinking about later."

"What about later?"

"Well, I need to take a shower and I would like somebody to accompany me. More specifically my boyfriend."

Arthur wiggles his eyebrows at me and grins in a seductive way.

"Arthur! We're in school right now. And you have a very dirty mind."

"Come on. We've done worst then that."

I take a step away from Arthur and look at him. What is going on with him?

"Okay, I don't know what's wrong with you and why you're in this mood, but, you know I can't stay over tonight. We agreed on getting frozen yogurt and then you're driving me home."

"Fine. Be that way."

Arthur looks at me for a second longer and walks off to his car, without saying another word. Seriously, what is wrong with him.

I follow him to his car and see that he's already inside of it, waiting for me. If he wants to be in a mood, two can play that game. I pull out my phone and text him.

'Never mind. I'm not in the mood for frozen yogurt anymore. I'll just walk home.'

When I see him reading the message, I begin walking in the direction of my house. Three, two, one-

I hear the car door open and close. Without looking back, I continue walking forwards. Well, I continue until somebody comes from behind me and picks me up.

"Hey! What are you doing?!?"

"We're getting frozen yogurt."

"I said I didn't want it anymore."

"Well too bad. Today is Monday. Monday means frozen yogurt."

"I don't want frozen yogurt with somebody who is mad because their boyfriend doesn't want to shower with them."

Arthur doesn't respond until we get to his car. He places me down and opens the passenger door.

"In."

"No. You can't just order me to get in."

"Yes I can."

Controlling prat. I grudgingly get into the car and cross my arms. I watch Arthur walk around the car and get in the drivers seat.

"Am I a good boyfriend?"

I look at Arthur in surprise as he says those words.

"Well right now you're being a controlling prat. But usually, yes. Why do you ask?"

Arthur bits his lip, like he's reluctant to tell me.

"Just spit it out."

"Gwaine might have said something."

I laugh at his words.

"Gwaine said something? I know I'm not really close with your football buddies, but Gwaine is one friend who I am close with. Whatever he said, he didn't mean it."

Arthur's shoulder visibly relax at my words.

"You're right. I don't know what I was thinking listening to him."

"That's the problem! You were thinking."

Arthur whacks the back of my head lightly.  

"Hey! What was that for?"

"That was for being you."

We laugh and I turn on the music.

With that, we go and get our weekly frozen yogurt.

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Word Count: 2755