Together Always.pdf

Together Always

Fandom: Merlin

Pairing:

Fandom:

Pairing:

Pairing: Merlin Arthur

Genre:

Genre: AU high school, hurt/comfort

Rating

Genre:

Rating: PG-13

Rating

'AU Highschool. Merlin is at the bottom of the social ladder - his only saving grace that

he's tutoring THE Arthur Pendragon. But he didnÔt expect Alvar to go that far - just

like he didn't expect to receive his own knight in shining armour... '

It was a boring day. Even with added tormenting of the snivelling Will. The boy had

annoyed Arthur from the moment they had met in year seven, but other than a couple of

insults here and there Arthur had mostly left the boy alone. At the end of year eleven he

had dared to ask Morgana out. Maybe Morgana shouldnÔt have laughed in his face, but

that didnÔt excuse him setting fire to her hair in chemistry. She might be a huge thorn in

ArthurÔs side, but nobody hurt his adoptive sister and got away with it. So as a result

whenever Arthur was bored and his day needed a little lightening he located good old Will,

and engineered something that would keep both him and his mates entertained, while

punishing Will for even thinking he could touch Morgana.

Arthur lay on a bench in the cold September sun. He propped himself on his left elbow as

he threw a dart. It landed bullÔs-eye on the dartboard Will just so happened to be holding.

Kay had told Will he had had a bad day and needed to take it out on someone. It was

either going to be throwing darts at a dart board Will was holding or it was going to be his

fists on WillÔs face. He chose wisely. Arthur just smiled, Will deserved everything he got.

ÓNice shot,Ô Gawain commented from his place on the seat of the bench.

ÓToo easy,Ô Arthur replied. ÓI want more of a challenge. Run Will.Ô The boy looked up

from behind the dart board his expression confused. ÓDo you not understand? I want you

to run.Ô Arthur indicated the motion of running back and forth with his fingers. ÓNow.Ô

He started running but found it difficult to keep his head covered and see where he was

running to. That didnÔt bother Arthur, he knew he would never hit the boyÔs head, no

matter how much he wanted to. Arthur was just that good. He missed a couple of

bullseyes though and that made him happier than if he had hit every time. It gave him

something to concentrate on.

It made him laugh to see Will so flustered, he genuinely thought there was a possibility

Arthur might hit him with the dart and that was deliciously amusing. Evidently Will got

so scared he threw the dart board away and curled into a ball, this didnÔt seem like a very

bright idea to Arthur, if you were frightened by the idea of someone hitting you with a

dart why would you get rid of your only shield?

ÓRight youÔve had your fun, give it a rest now.Ô Arthur looked to find the owner of the

voice and saw a scrawny boy with a dark mop for hair and rather large ears frowning at

him. He was in sixth form, that was evident enough from his lack of uniform, but Arthur

didnÔt recognise him which meant he was new. Arthur could explain the situation to the

newcomer but decided against it, he was too irritated by the interruption.

ÓExcuse me but is this any of your business?Ô Arthur stated sitting up. He noticed the boy

had big eyes as well, the boy was by no means attractive, but there was something about

him. It was probably just a reaction to someone actually questioning him for once. He did

get away with a lot. Too bad for the new boy he liked it that way.

ÓWell you were being a prat,Ô the boy answered. Arthur was actually struck dumb for a

moment. Someone had dared to call him a prat. He had never been called a prat. What the

hell was with this boy? There was also the added fact that he hadnÔt frowned at all when

saying it, his large eyes had stayed large rather than glaring, so there was no malevolent

intent just a slight mocking tone indicating he believed he was speaking a statement of

utter truth. This pissed Arthur off.

ÓDo you know who I am?Ô Arthur rarely used his father to get what he wanted, he didnÔt

need to. Everyone around him knew who his father was and therefore were terrified of

upsetting Arthur. They automatically gave him what he wanted and he didnÔt need to

threaten or bribe at all.

ÓShould I?Ô

ÓMy father is the headmaster of this school,Ô Arthur replied slowly pushing himself of the

bench. His friends around him snickered but the realisation didnÔt have the desired effect

any of them wanted. The boy merely shrugged.

ÓYouÔre still a prat.Ô This boy was working his way under ArthurÔs skin. What was worse

was Will had taken advantage of the situation and had vanished which meant the rest of

the days entertainment had left. This boy needed a lesson in who it was best to leave alone.

ÓYou know I could get you put in detention till the end of the year for that?Ô Arthur stated

and cursed himself for resorting to using his father as a way of punishment, but this boy

irked him.

ÓUse your father to fight all your battles do you? Or do you just get your lackeys to do

that?Ô Not only did that irritate Arthur further but it also had all his friends wanting to

hurt the boy. Problem was if he didnÔt do anything about it now, they would later and

they wouldnÔt be as forgiving. His friends werenÔt bullies, unlike some in the year, but

they had a code they stuck by and one of the most important parts was defending each

other. They would do anything for each other, including making someone severely regret

trying to pick a fight with them.

ÓNo I donÔt need him to fight my battles for me. But I thought you would prefer that to

being smacked around the head.Ô

ÓIf you can,Ô the boy quipped. That was the last straw for Arthur, he threw a hook punch,

though there was no power behind it and his palm was open. The boy dodged it easily and

so Arthur tried again but his scrawny and breakable physique meant he was very fast and

so Arthur kept missing. Some of the anger was actually leaving Arthur, he enjoyed a

challenge and he was getting into the thrill of the fight. He was going to go at it properly

now and he slipped into a comfortable stance. He knew the whole school was watching

but didnÔt care. He was worried the boy would just be content with dodging, and Arthur

would soon lose all the thrill he had gained by having someone not that easy to take down.

Arthur went in close for the one-two punch. The boy dodged the first and blocked the

second, he went to strike Arthur. Arthur caught the arm and twisted it round behind

Merlin in a lock. The boy managed to elbow Arthur and tried to wriggle free. After

wincing Arthur regained his structure and pulled him into a different lock and used his

hair to pull him to the ground. Merlin however grabbed ArthurÔs t-shirt and dragged him

to the ground also. It then broke out into a grappling match on the ground. Arthur won

that easily sitting on top of Merlin and began to repeatedly flick him in the head.

Everyone laughed.

ÓWhatÔs going on here?Ô Arthur looked up to the oncoming teacher and quickly jumped off.

ÓWell Miss -,Ô Arthur started but she dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

ÓWas Merlin giving you trouble?Ô So thatÔs what his name was. ÓDetention, Merlin.Ô

Merlin looked shocked, Arthur didnÔt know why, he had said his father was the

headmaster, no teacher in their right mind would give him detention. It was good fun

though and for that Arthur disliked him less. He still wasnÔt going to defend him; he

shouldnÔt have called Arthur a prat. Smiling to himself he went back to lying on the bench

a little less bored.

ÓMerlin, you can tutor Arthur in Chemistry and Physics,Ô Uther announced, very smug

with his suggestion. Both Arthur and Merlin just stared at him. They had been arguing in

the car park after school when some moron with a motorbike had been racing out of the

school ground and nearly crashed straight into Arthur. Arthur hadnÔt been able to see the

bike coming so Merlin had pushed him out of the way. It was very heroic if he did say so

himself, even if it was the worldÔs biggest ass that he had saved. As his prize for saving the

life of the son of the headmaster he got to tutor him. How that was even close to a reward

he did not know.

ÓNo way,Ô Arthur complained and for once Merlin had to agree with him.

ÓThis will be perfect. You need AÔs in these subjects not the BÔs youÔve been getting.

Tutoring will look great on MerlinÔs UCAS, it is a win-win scenario. It will happen.Ô Oh

so that was where the reward was. It was obvious from the way Mr Pendragon spoke that

his son had no chance of objecting him. For a brief moment he saw the consequences of

ArthurÔs perfect life but then he reminded himself of the prat he was and the thought

dissipated.

Merlin sighed, this would look good and denying the headmaster wasnÔt something he

wished to do, it could only end badly if he got on the wrong side. As the headmaster left

the room Merlin turned to Arthur.

ÓSo what other subject do you take?Ô

ÓMaths,Ô Arthur replied.

ÓOh. ThatÔs quite a tough mix isnÔt it,Ô Merlin said. He didnÔt want the time he spent

tutoring Arthur to be as painful as every other interaction they had had, but Arthur

clearly wasnÔt up to forming intelligent conversation as he just raised an eyebrow at

Merlin. ÓWhatever, do you want to just work in your frees or would you rather I came to

your house?Ô

ÓYou can come to my house,Ô Arthur replied so quickly Merlin nearly had whiplash. Then

Merlin saw the slight panic in ArthurÔs eyes, he didnÔt want his posse knowing he was

being tutored, especially by Merlin. He wanted to argue, he wanted to fight, but instead he

felt something heavy form in his stomach. He nodded to Arthur and got up to leave.

Over the next two months Merlin began to realise a few things. One: Arthur wasnÔt

nearly as bad as he had initially seemed and he was actually beginning to form respect for

the guy. Two: Merlin was close to Will on the social ladder. It was odd, Will was lower

than him but because Arthur had deemed Will his intended target everyone else left him

alone. So the rest decided Merlin would be theirs. He guessed it was a mix of having the

highest grades in the year followed by not knowing people. His only friend was Gwen

who, oddly enough, was also friends with Arthur. Merlin wasnÔt sure whether to call

Arthur a friend or not. The two had a witty sort of easiness, they insulted each other

hourly but it was actually nice and Merlin almost looked forward to it. Either way it

wasnÔt really acknowledged in school, he reckoned ArthurÔs friends knew he was getting

tutored by him, but since Arthur chose not to mention it they followed him.

Merlin wondered what it was like to have friends like that. When Arthur first wanted to

keep the tutoring secret he thought it was because he had such fair weather friends that

would dump him for associating with someone so socially deprived. But it wasnÔt,

ArthurÔs friends would stay with him no matter what. It was the rest of the school he

cared about. He had a position of power that he enjoyed very much and not only did

MerlinÔs low status threaten that but also did being tutored, it was a weakness. It was one

of the reasons why Arthur didnÔt interfere when others mocked Merlin.

It was peculiar that Merlin didnÔt mind ArthurÔs taunts; he gave as good as he got and it

was refreshing. But there was never anything mean in ArthurÔs manner, not in the way

some of the others did. It didnÔt hurt him, their comments were often nonsensical anyway,

but it was slowly chipping away at him.

Merlin asked Arthur about Will, Arthur wasnÔt a bully, so why did he bully Will? When

he heard about what had happened with Morgana, Merlin understood. He wasnÔt exactly

convinced Arthur was in the right, after all Will had only done one thing, Arthur

perpetually tormented the boy. Arthur believed it showed a warning to anyone else daring

to go after his sister. Morgana was GwenÔs best friend and so Merlin had spoken to her a

few times. She, however, was very popular and didnÔt like being seen with Merlin for any

longer than one minute, so she certainly wasnÔt a friend.

Merlin had taken to hiding in the library at lunch times and frees, it served to keep him

equally free of insults and warm. Sometimes he studied, but mainly he just made his way

through the different novels that were there. It was on a November day when Merlin was

reading a particularly interesting book on magicians when Morgause, another one of

MorganaÔs entourage appeared. She was a pretty girl, lovely golden hair and eyes that

sparkled, she walked over to Merlin. She had never spoken to Merlin before, he

immediately felt uneasy.

ÓNimueh wants to see you out on the football field,Ô she said in a voice so sweet he could

have poured it over pancakes. Contrary to ArthurÔs belief Merlin was not that stupid and

he knew something wasnÔt right.

ÓWhy?Ô he asked.

ÓShe wants you to tutor her, but her boyfriendÔs got a match later so she isnÔt leaving the

field to show her support.Ô It made sense the early wannabe wags hovered close to football

pitch to honour their boyfriends or to get one. Arthur was on the team. Merlin was

surprised he didnÔt have one of them for himself, he was also glad, but he decided not to

reflect on why he felt that way. ÓArthur recommended you.Ô That shocked Merlin. Was

Arthur finally finished with being ashamed of him? The thought that he was actually

being accepted squashed any further doubt and he got up and followed Morgause to the

football field.

As they walked across the pitch towards the goal posts he noticed that most of the football

team were there, but Arthur wasnÔt. He was about to turn back when he felt a firm hand

grab onto his shoulder.

ÓWhere you going?Ô It was a deep voice, and Merlin knew it belonged to Alvar, a guy

almost on par with Arthur for popularity. He looked towards the group and saw Nimueh

smirking next to Morgause. This could not end well.

ÓI forgot my phone in the library,Ô Merlin lied. He needed to get out of this situation

quickly.

ÓNo need to rush, it will still be there when you get back,Ô Alvar stated. MerlinÔs eyes

searched everywhere for Arthur but there was no sign.

Which meant either they deliberately hadnÔt included him in this, or he did know and was

just letting it happen. Before Merlin could think of another way to escape there was a

thick arm around his neck. It pulled him so tightly he couldnÔt breathe. Merlin struggled,

trying to get free, but Alvar was too big. When Merlin thought the plan might actually be

to kill Merlin, Alvar let go. Merlin fell to his knees and black dots danced across his vision.

He coughed and spluttered. He didnÔt have a chance to recover before Alvar grabbed the

back of his t-shirt and pulled him along the ground. He could hear the laughter echo

around him.

ÓHis clothes are all muddy now,Ô Nimueh mentioned. There was an implication in that

sentence Merlin didnÔt miss and he scrambled to his feet determined to just run and hope

he was faster. But Alvar hadnÔt let go of his shirt so Merlin just struggled pointlessly like a

dog on a leash. The laughter continued. Merlin stopped exhausted, Alvar let go of his shirt

and grabbed his shoulders instead. If he hadnÔt pulled so pointlessly before he might have

had the strength to get out of AlvarÔs grip. He dropped down and grabbed Merlin at the

hips, another guy he recognised as Mordred, came up and grabbed his shirt. Merlin

struggled against the attack, he moved any way and every way he could to struggle free

from Mordred pulling his shirt. Apparently that wasnÔt appreciated and something hard

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