Always Maybe

Principal's Office

"Arthur," Principal Pendragon sighed. "What have you done this time?"

Arthur shook his head, glaring at Merlin. Merlin was Morgana's best friend, and Morgana was the sort of sister of Arthur Pendragon, so Arthur had been forced to hang out with the scrawny boy. The problem was that Merlin was kind to everyone, excluding Arthur. The blond boy found this annoying because he figured he deserved Merlin's respect. He was a Pendragon and in his eyes, that made him better.

"This is all a misunderstand involving some lack of manners, Mr. Pendragon," Merlin smiled. Mr. Pendragon was aware of Merlin's friendliness with his ward Morgana, and he liked the boy enough to know that he meant no harm, but Arthur was, in his eyes, a far more reliable source.

"What happened?" Uther asked, his eyes turned towards his son. Arthur glared at Merlin one last time before explaining to his father. He told him about the fight and he plead guilty for starting it. Merlin scoffed at this, seeing that Arthur had just managed his way out of a detention, or so he thought.

"Smooth talking," Merlin sneered under his breath.

"Shut up," Arthur snapped in return.

"Enough," Uther demanded. "I'd like to see you both in detention on Saturday. I hope this ensures that we won't have any problems in the future. As you both know, we have a zero violence policy."

The boys groaned but were dismissed from the principal via the wave of his hand. Neither said a single word to the other as they walked out of the office, but they both felt an immense anger for the other. Merlin wondered how it was possible to hate and love Arthur at the same time. He also wondered what Arthur thought about him.

Outside of the office, Morgana and Gwen waited. Morgana greeted Merlin with a hug and Gwen greeted Arthur with a long kiss on his lips.

"Gross," Merlin observed aloud. Morgana looked at her brother and his lover.

"Excuse me?" Arthur asked angrily.

"Get a room. Nobody wants to see you trading saliva," Merlin hissed. He wished that he would have been the one kissing Arthur instead of Gwen. Merlin was so insanely jealous of her in that moment, and their snog session only confirmed what Lance had said about the two being together.

"Calm down, ladies," Morgana warned, "you already have a detention date together." Merlin laughed, his usual cheery disposition returning. Arthur walked off without another word. He had his arm around Gwen and she looked so happy, happier than Merlin had ever seen her. They were friendly because she was Morgana's other best friend, but they never hung out without Morgana there. Merlin had liked Gwen before, not romantically, but now he couldn't stand the thought of her because she was with Arthur.

"Merlin, just relax," Morgana instructed as they walked off down the hall. Morgana was wearing a dark green dress that went down to the floor. She was very beautiful, but Merlin had never thought of her like that. He'd lived and dated someone once, but she had died in a car crash.

"Why didn't you tell me about Arthur and Gwen?" Merlin asked bitterly.

Morgana sighed. "I didn't think they'd last this long," she explained.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I deserved to know," he argued.

"I know," Morgana frowned, "I should have told you. I'm sorry."