Merlin Headcanons

High School Magical

A/N: Did you know that in Scandinavian mythology, Freya is the goddess of love and the night? I looked her up in the dictionary when spellcheck didn't complain about her name. Considering her role in Merlin's story, I'm not sure this is a coincidence.

. . . . .

When Arthur had learned Merlin would be staying after school to tutor someone, he had been pleased. That was always Merlin's code for, "I've found someone else who has magic, and I want to be friends with them because last time most of them wanted to kill you, so I was alone, but it doesn't have to be that way this time."

Admittedly, most of that was subtext.

When Arthur saw it was that girl Merlin had been shooting shy smiles at for weeks, he had laughed and teased him about it mercilessly. He had thought the girl was vaguely familiar, but he hadn't mentioned that to Merlin. He had seen plenty of sorcerers in his past life, and it typically wasn't the sort of occurrence that ended happily for both parties.

It nagged at him, though, as he drove away from the school. The empty seat beside him seemed to mock him, and he swung by Hunith's house before he remembered he wasn't dropping Merlin off today.

The thought kept nagging at him as he did his homework. He found himself doodling instead of doing his math.

It took him a minute to realize he'd drawn a giant cat.

Arthur let out a very undignified yelp as he remembered where he'd seen that girl before. He glanced out the window as he grabbed his keys and bit back a growl. It was winter. The sun would be setting soon, and Merlin would be right there.

He ran out the door.

"Arthur, what - " his father called.

"Forgot something!" he yelled.

Yes, he'd forgotten that the pretty girl turned into a murderous beast at sunset. He'd forgotten how many men it had taken to bring her down.

The worst part was that Merlin wouldn't know. That had been one of the few magical attacks Merlin hadn't been right by his side for. He'd been distracted at the time. Arthur never had found out by what.

He pushed down on the accelerator a little harder. He was not losing that stupid, scrawny excuse for a warlock. Not like this. Not ever.

Finally, finally, he pulled into the school parking lot, now almost empty, but the sun was already flirting with the horizon.

It was then he realized he hadn't thought to bring his gun.

There was no time to worry about that. He took off running.

Merlin typically did his lessons behind the gym. The school bordered the woods, so it was fairly private back there, and it was better if the students weren't making fireballs inside the English classrooms.

It was also a very long walk. Of course, Arthur wasn't walking, he was running, running like he hadn't since a life where people chasing you with pointy bits of metal was just another Tuesday.

Faster. Faster.

The sun set. Arthur skidded around the building.

Merlin had summoned tiny wisps of fire and shaped them into butterflies that danced around a fiery rose. The girl, eyes wide with wonder, was carefully shaping her own to add to the display.

Merlin looked up at the sound of footsteps, automatically defensive before he realized it was Arthur. Seeing the look on his face, he jumped to his feet immediately. "What's happened?"

"Bastet," Arthur gasped out.

Freya flinched. Merlin relaxed. "Oh. I was wondering if you'd remember that. Don't worry, the curse didn't come back with her. She's fine."

Arthur managed to get his breath back. He was a little indignant his panic had been for nothing. "How did you remember the curse? You weren't even involved last time."

"Er, about that . . . "