High school, moder AU
No one will bother Merlin, and Arthur and his friends will make sure of it!
Yes, there will be mistakes, grammar or others, Sorry for that :)
Also I do not own Merlin or any of the characters there, this amazing piece of art belongs to BBC ;)
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Merlin was walking down the corridor with a bunch of books in his hands.
"Hey nerd, Did you left any books in the library? Looks like you took everything they got" Arthur asked when he noticed him and began to laugh along with his friends Leon, Gwaine, Percival, Lancelot and Elyan who were standing around him.
Merlin just rolled his eyes.
"Why would you care? None of the books there are about cartoon animals so you would not understand them anyway" Merlin replied without stopping or slowing down, cos this is a daily routine. Arthur and his friends tease and insult Merlin, Merlin replies with a clever sassy remark aaand repeat.
Arthur smirked at Merlin's reply.
But today Merlin was actually in a hurry, so he picked up the speed even more which caused two of the books Merlin was caring to fall on the floor.
"Were you born as a clumsy bafoon?" Arthur could not let this opportunity slip by of course.
"Were you born as a total dollop head?" Merlin replied in a heartbeat while wondering how he will pick up the books while still holding the pile of books in his hands.
"What is a dollop head?" Arthur asked amused.
"In two words?"
"Yeah"
"Arthur Pendragon" Merlin said still looking at the books on the floor. Not for the first time in his life he wished for magic powers, because a telekinesis for example... that would be really handy at this moment.
Arthur and the others laughed and Lancelot made few steps towards Merlin and picked up the books and balanced them on the pile Merlin was holding
"Try to have less of them Merlin, it would be easier to carry them" he said with a friendly smile
"Thanks Lance" Merlin thanked and smiled at him, Lance was nice.
"Don't waste your time with advises... he would drop it even if he was carrying just one" Arthur rolled his eyes. Arthur was not nice so Merlin did the only thing he could when his hands were full... stuck out his tongue at him and continued to walk away making sure not to drop anything again. He heard Arthur and the others laughing and could not wait until his next meeting with them.
Their next meeting was during the lunch. Merlin was sitting at one of the tables peacefully eating some sandwiches. He was alone at the table until Arthur and three of his friends Gwaine, Percival and Leon joined him.
"Empty table is right over there" Merlin pointed out
"Yeah... but we thought we will do a good deed you know. Little bit of charity never killed anyone" Arthur smirked and started to unpack his lunch. Merlin just rolled his eyes and continued eating.
"What were all those books anyway Merlin?" Leon asked and began to eat as well
"Preparation for college" Merlin replied
"Oh right, what was it again?" Leon asked
"A pediatrician... one day... hopefully" Merlin said quietly
"I would not be worried if I were you" Leon assured him and Merlin smiled at him.
"Man... why pediatrician Merls? Why not gynecologist?" Gwaine asked and with a wink at Merlin took a sip of a drink he just opened. Merlin of course blushed and Arthur and Percy laughed at what Gwaine said.
"Imagine Merlin as gynecologist..." Arthur said still very amused but then he became very serious.
"You should consider it Merlin, it's the only way you will ever get close to any girl" he said with very fake serious expression, but that didn't last long, because he started to laugh again.
"Clotpole" Merlin mumbled and rolled his eyes
"I am thinking about your own good here Merlin!" Arthur said when he felt like Merlin doesn't appreciate Arthur's concern.
"Well, let's hope that you or Gwaine are not considering became a gynecologist, for the sake of all women of this planet" Merlin said. And Leon chuckled.
"It's true" He said when Arthur looked at him
"What?! What are you trying to say?"
"All those ladies would be lucky to be our patients"
"Exactly, there would be line of women waiting outside of our doors"
Gwaine and Arthur immediately started to disagree and defend themselves.
"Yeah, waiting for you to pay up for all those children you managed to make them" Merlin smirked and Leon and Percy were totally on Merlin's side with their laughs.
"Merlin... what did I say about you being funny?" Arthur said almost seriously when he could see that he is losing this banter
"I believe you said something like: Please Merlin spare a few minutes of your precious time and teach me how to be funny like you" Merlin replied immediately with a sassy smirk and now Gwaine joined his side as well.
Merlin got up, because he had to stop at the library before his next class began.
"I beg your pardon?" Arthur asked in disbelieve
"Feel free to beg Arthur, feel free to beg" Merlin grinned at him, unfortunately he was looking at Arthur and not where he was going, so he walked right into Cenred... not really the most popular guy in the school, especially among people like Merlin because... well... Cenred was a dick, and even more so when he was talking to someone like Merlin.
As usually he was not alone, but with some of his lap dogs that were accompanying him on his every step. They were no better than Cenred and their main duty was to laugh at everything Cenred says to stroke his ego.
How can you tell that Cenred is really the wrong person to mess with? Easily. Will, Merlin's best friend is making sure not to say something to trigger him, and Will is probably the biggest heckler in this school, he's not being rude, but at the same time he also really often speaks before he thinks, so he gets in lots of troubles. The only person he is actually rather avoiding is Cenred. And Merlin of course had to literally bump into him.
Merlin would like consider Arthur for a bully, really he would, but the problem was that Cenred existed so that word was taken by him. Arthur was most of the time with his friends as well, but the difference was that Arthur's friends had their own will, and they could do or say whatever they wanted. And most importantly they were around Arthur because they actually liked him and not because they were just scared of not doing what he wanted them to.
"Emrys" Cenred hissed and gave Merlin a death glare. Merlin swallowed nervously.
"Well I had a good long... well not so long life" he thought and wanted to make a step back, but Cenred made a step forward, so they were where they started.
"Teach him a lesson Ced" one of his 'friends' encouraged him, not that Cenred needed it, to be honest.
"Bye mom, bye Aithusa, bye my favorite pillow, bye little flower I saw this morning on my way to school..." Merlin was listing the things he is going to miss.
Cenred with a cruel smirk pushed Merlin hard and the skinny boy just waited for the floor to hit him, kinda wanting to get over with this as soon as possible.
But Merlin didn't hit the hard floor, no, Merlin landed into something soft. Arthur caught him.
Arthur and his friends when they saw what was going to happen stood up and went to Cenred and Merlin.
Arthur helped very surprised and little bit confused Merlin to find the balance
"You alright?" Arthur asked quietly and Merlin just nodded
"Good" Arthur nodded and looked over to Cenred with a death glare of his own. Gwaine, Percy and Leon were not looking any less scary while looking at Cenred and his guys.
"Didn't know you're hanging out with losers like Emrys now Pendragon" Cenred smirked and his 'friends' quickly laughed at the brilliant insult, but laughing at some nerd's misery is not the same as laughing at Arthur Pendragon so they were careful not to laugh too much or too laud.
"Didn't know you wanna get your ass kicked that much Cenred" Gwaine spoke with serious expression, which was not often to be seen so it was kinda intimidating.
"Get lost, now" Arthur said quietly, he didn't need to speak up because, firstly, the whole cafeteria was watching it in a total silence and secondly his expression was clearly saying that he means it even without shouting or something like that.
Cenred looked at his 'friends' that were all looking at the very interesting floor. No, none of them really wanted to get in a fight with Arthur and/or with his friends. Again, they are not some nerd twinks, these guys can take care of themselves when comes down to a fight, especially Percy and Gwaine. Cenred could see that fight would end up bad for him, so he just looked at Merlin, with pure hatred in his eyes. Merlin unknowingly made a step back, Cenred smirked and turned to leave the cafeteria.
"Wait!" Arthur stopped him and Cenred turned to him again
"Do not even think about" Arthur said exactly knowing what was going through Cenred's mind when he looked at Merlin
"If Merlin tells us that you as much as looked at him in a funny way you will be in a lots of trouble, you hear?" Gwaine added.
Cenred was silently looking at Arthur and his friends
"I did not hear the confirmation that he understand, did you?" Leon asked his friends.
"I certainly did not" Percy shook his head
"Maybe he is too stupid to get that?" He added.
Gwaine laughed shortly
"Maybe you're right Percy, maybe he is too stupid to get that if he tries something on Merls, ever again, his own mom will not recognize him after we will be done with him" Gwaine said and tilted his head to the side, fake wondering about Cenred's intelligence.
"Aww... come on gentlemen, give Ced here some credit" Arthur chuckled
"I am sure that he gets it, don't you Ced? You do get it, don't you?" Arthur asked as if he was talking to a complete idiot... well...
Cenred was clearly pissed that he is not the one scaring someone, but the other way around, but he quickly nodded and even quicker walked out of the cafeteria, followed up with his 'friends'.
The people in the room started to mind their own business again and Arthur and his boys began to laugh and exchanged some high fives with each others.
Merlin was not laughing however.
"Are you really ok Merlin?" Leon asked when he noticed it.
"Yeah... I am" Merlin nodded quickly.
"Don't worry Merlin, he will leave you alone" Percy said and the others nodded.
Merlin nodded showing that he understood that.
"So what's wrong Merls?" Gwaine asked little bit concern
"Thank you, but w-why did you... do that?" Merlin asked genuinely looking confused. He never considered any of them to be mean or anything like that, but he never really thought that they would consider Merlin to be someone who is worth of doing something like that for.
"Come on Merls" Gwaine laughed thinking that Merlin is joking, but then stopped when he realized that he is not joking, the others realized it as well and looked at each other.
"Merlin, you know that you are our friend right?" Leon asked seriously.
"Well... I thought... that..." Merlin began to stutter and Arthur was having none of that.
"See... that's the problem Merlin" he began and Merlin looked at him
"You were trying to think. Then things like that happens, things where you clearly miss that... and I am not saying we are thrilled about it or anything, you are our friend" Arthur shook his head in disbelieve, but with a poorly hidden smile. Leon, Percy and Gwaine were not trying to hide their smiles.
Merlin was for a second wondering if they are being serious or not, but he came to conclusion that they actually mean that and could not help but smile as well.
"So we clearly can't let some douchebag to make your life a living hell can we?" Percy stated and Leon and Gwaine nodded.
"Exactly. No one but us can do that Merlin!" Arthur said seriously, but they all end up laughing.
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"Mom I am home!" Merlin shouted when he opened the door
"Hi Merlin, how was the school?" Hunith asked from some other room
"It was good" he replied
"Do you need me to help with something?" Merlin asked automatically.
"How about you clean up your room Merlin, you have the closets there for a reason. You can put things in them, did you know that?" Hunith suggested and walked in the room and smiled at her son. Merlin laughed and went to hug her
"I just don't see the point in it mom, I have to open them and take the things out anyway so... ok, ok I'm on it, you will not recognize the room when I am done, promise" Merlin tried to reason with his mother, but quickly gave up when he saw her expression
"I will be satisfied with knowing what color the carpet in that room has sweetheart" she said
"Hey... it is not that bad, thank you very much" Merlin immediately defended himself
"You know that doctors should be tidy right?" Hunith asked
"Not pediatrician, we actually have to have a mess in our examination room... so the kids are calmer and all. It's a regulation" Merlin was saying seriously and Hunith just had to laugh and Merlin joined her.
Merlin entered his bedroom. Ok, maybe little bit of cleaning will not hurt this room he thought when he saw it, but first...
"Hello Aithusa" Merlin smiled at his snow-white cat that was running to greet him when she noticed him, he bent down to pet her.
"Ok, Aithusa, I will play with you, but then you will help me clean up this mess, deal?" Merlin said when the cat clearly was in the playful mood.
"Thanks aunt Hunith, I will tell him that for sure" Merlin heard Will's voice in the house, so he knew that in a few seconds his best friend will show up in his room... and he did
"Your mom says stop playing with the cat and start cleaning" Will said when he walked in and closed the door
Merlin who was now sitting on the floor fully involved in the playing with Aithusa looked up at him
"Man... how can she know that?" He asked in disbelief.
"Moms" Will just shrugged his shoulders and went to sit on Merlin's bed as usually
"I've heard you almost died by the way" he said when he sat down
"What?" Merlin asked confused
"Someone said that Cenred almost killed you during the lunch break" Will explained
"Oh... yeah... kinda" Merlin nodded
"And that Pendragon saved your ass" Will continued and lured Aithusa to him, the traitor of course abandoned Merlin and went to Will on the bed
"Well... I would not say that I needed that much of a saving... ok, ok thanks God he was there not gonna lie" Merlin replied, got up from the floor and began to clean up little bit, he started with putting as many clothes as he could in the closet, because if you can not see it then it's not a mess anymore, right?
"Yeah, Pendragon's alright I guess" Will nodded while playing with Aithusa
"Didn't you call him a posh loser... like literally this morning?" Merlin laughed
"Well... yeah" Will nodded
"But at least he isn't using his fists for making a point, is it?" he added quietly
"Yeah, that's true" Merlin nodded, knowing that Will managed to make Cenred more than just slightly angry more than once. Will maybe is not a big fan of Arthur but he at least Arthur never hit Will, even when Will might have been provoking him, not that he tried to be a dick, but that's just a Will thing, and people who know him are fully aware of that.
"And his sister is really hot" Will said more like himself when instead of Cenred was Arthur's sister on his mind
Merlin laughed aloud
"No chance Will" he said honestly
"Come on, she is totally into me" Will said confidently
"You haven't even spoke to her you idiot" Merlin had to laugh again
"I didn't have to Merls... I just know it" Will assured him with so seriously expression that it made them both laugh.
"By the way, what happened with the stay away from Cenred thing?" Will asked a few minutes later.
"This was an accident ok?" Merlin said and kicked some things that were on the floor under the bed.
"This will be written on your gravestone you realize that right?" Will chuckled.
"Hey!" Merlin exclaimed offended.
"You can hey all you want buddy, but it's true" Will smirked
Merlin wanted to protest, but then he had to admit that he might be little bit clumsy from time to time.
"Anyway... are you done? We could go out and do something" Will asked if Merlin finished the cleaning.
"Well, you know if you would have help me it could have been done a long time ago, right?" Merlin raised one eyebrow.
"I was helping you... I was keeping your cat busy, so she will not get in the way" Will reminded him, and they both laughed.
"But... I don't know, I think this is good enough right?" Merlin looked at this room happy with his work, ignoring the fact that he didn't actually clean up anything, but just hid the mess.
"Totally" Will nodded.
"Great. Where do you want to go then?" Merlin asked and grabbed his jacket.
"Park?" Will suggested and placed Merlin's cat beside him, so he could stand up.
"Sounds good" Merlin nodded
After assuring his mom that he did clean up his room and promising that he will be home at some normal hour he and Will went to the local park.
"Look the royalty is here... didn't know that people like you are hanging out in places like these... don't you have like private forest or something" Will said aloud when he noticed that Arthur and his friends are in the park as well
"Funny Willy" Arthur chuckled
"I guess that I should thank you by the way" Will said which got Arthur's attention
"You? Me? For what?" he asked
"For keeping his skinny ass safe" Will said and pointed at Merlin who rolled his eyes
Arthur laughed little bit and his friends as well
"It was no big deal" Arthur said more seriously
"Well... yeah for you not, but imagine if I tried a stunt like that in front of Cenred" Will said
"That's true... hard to believe you're still alive... I mean all those things you said to him" Gwaine nodded
"But I did learn my lesson didn't I? Wait till that wanker is not anywhere near and then say the truth about him" Will pointed out and made Arthur and his friends laugh again. Merlin and Will ended up hanging out with Arthur and the others until they had to go home. When Merlin walked in his room the closet was open and all the things he "cleaned up" were on the floor.
"What happened?" Merlin didn't understand and then noticed Aithusa on the floor playing with one of Merlin socks that he was sure he put in the closet, so he guessed that Aithusa saw the sock hanging out from the closet and wanted to get it and managed to open the closet while tugging on the sock.
"Aithusa... how could you?" Merlin said disappointed and amused at the same time.
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