nonstop (merthur AU)

seven

merlin tried his hardest to cry as quietly as he could as gwaine attempted to comfort him

arthur rounded the corner and his heart broke when he saw the small boy sobbing into his bag

'it's okay, it's going to be okay' gwaine murmured, rubbing his arm

'that wasn't part of th-the plan' merlin hiccuped

'um,' arthur started, unsure of how to enter the conversation

merlins head snapped up and gwaine glared at him

'oh just leave him alone! what is wrong with you bloody stereotypes!'

'i just came to give him this back! i don't want to hurt him' arthur exclaimed, holding his hands up in a surrendering motion

he held out the journal and merlin started to cry again. gwaine didn't seem to know what to do so arthur just jumped in

'hey, it's alright. they aren't going to bother you again' he soothed, hugging him side-on

'why are you being so nice?' merlin whispered

arthur thought for the slightest moment that merlin might be the anonymous boy

'because everyone deserves to be happy'

merlin nodded into his arms and sniffed

'sorry...' he sniffed again, wiping his eyes

'don't apologise, you haven't done anything wrong'

gwaine watched arthur through narrowed eyes

'well, we've gotta go back to class now but it was lovely meeting you arthur' gwaine smiled very fakely

'im staying' merlin replied bluntly

'you can't miss class merlin!'

'i can't go back though, can i?'

'i'll stay with him' arthur piped up

gwaine gave merlin a pointed look but walked away hesitantly

merlin slowly wiped his eyes and started to stand

'im so sorry about this' he laughed sadly 'i shouldn't have bothered you'

'why do you always apologise?'

merlin cocked his head to the side in confusion

'whenever percival trips you or bullies-'

'he doesn't bully me' merlin muttered, obviously embarrassed

'when he harasses you, you always say sorry as if it's your own fault'

'i always get in his way' merlin huffed, pouting slightly

merlin hated the word bullied

'do you honestly think he accidentally does it every single day without fail?' arthur said louder than intended

merlin was silent

his tears stopped falling as he looked to the ground, biting his lip

'why do they all hate me so much?' he asked

now it was arthur's turn to be silent

after a moment of thought a ridiculous idea popped into arthur's head and he started to stand up

'are you leaving?'

'im going to go back home' arthur shrugged

'but school isn't over yet!'

'come with me!' arthur blurted

both were a little shocked with arthur's outburst of words

'is that okay?' merlin hesitantly asked

'yeah' arthur breathed, smiling