Let's Have You Lazy Daisy!

Hoping to distract her from his mood shift, he hopped up on the closed washer, kicking his legs against the side of it to make an awkward clanging rhythm. She didn't have to help him, let alone lend a listening ear. A shoulder to cry on. Just be a friend. It was sweet...and unexpected. He listened as she spoke, intrigued and mystified by her kindness. She practically smelled of it (mixed with a rather lovely smelling floral perfume. It reminded him vaguely of his mother, and he subsequently ignored the sudden pang of homesickness that wrestled it's way into his chest; worming and nestling. He was too old for feelings like that. He hadn't called his mum in a while and damn, now he felt guilty. She was probably worried, she was always worried. He made a mental note to call her in an hour). Her kindness permeated the air and relaxed the tension in Merlin's muscles. Easing out the aches in his shoulders and neck. He liked being in her presence  Felt calm in an all too familiar way, which was strange considering they just met.

Wait, oh, crap, was she still talking? Or was it his turn to respond?

Oh! Did she say Arthur? 

"Well, I’m definitely sure you are more to him than just an assistant."

Abort mission. Abort. Abort. Abort!

"I, um, work for, um, clean his underwear, just yeah---" He stammered out between her sentences, puffing out a relieved breath when she continued on despite his ill-mannered outburst.

The washer started the next cycle and Merlin laughed when it vibrated under his bum, because he wasn't embarrassed enough as it was. 

Or...not.

Damn her.

Damn her and her all seeing eyes of truth. 

Morgana buzzed onto her University emails, still half asleep as her laptop started up and she attempted to dry her hair with a noisy and hot hairdryer blowing in her ear. She clicked and deleted the unnecessary spam, some cake fund raiser emails from the preppy annoying first year girls, important work agendas from her tutors, and finally, she got to the email titled ‘Valentine’.

Deciding it was probably an irksome bake sale or a competition for best love poem or something disgustingly sappy like that, Morgana almost pressed delete. Until something told her to read it, that perhaps it might be important.

The email was a revolting shade of pink bordered with irksome little red hearts and a flourished font that was almost hard to read. But she managed, and sadly it was something she wouldn’t be able to get out of since ‘attendance is mandatory’ was blocked at the bottom. However apart from that the sappy email which was too soft and fluffy for this time of the morning, it really gave nothing else away apart from a meeting at the courtyard.

With a sigh, and a huff of annoyance, Morgana slapped her laptop closed and continued with getting ready, wondering what on the earth those annoying girls who took charge of all these annoying events had planned now, as if the Scavenger Hunt wasn’t bad enough.

~

Morgana made her way out of the campus to stand in the cold, the morning chill nipping her bare skin and she tugged her long dark hair out from under her scarf. She waited for someone to begin talking on a podium or for a blonde girl too excited for life itself to come and begin chanting instructions in her ear, but instead she was moving through a crowd, unable to understand what was going on.

Before long, a tall dark haired girl approached her with a wide smile, almost patronizing. Morgana resisted snapping at her but opened her mouth to speak, but this preppy girl full of too much enthusiasm beat her to it.

“You’re Morgana Pendragon, right?” The girl asked, Morgana immediately frowned.

“Le Fay.” She growled through snarled teeth, resisting the urge to punch the girl square in the stomach, having an instant dislike to her now that she was addressed as one of Uther’s kin.

“Right… Sorry… Yeah…” The girl muttered looking down and quite sheepish into her clip board. “Well, if you could just follow me, your partner is waiting over here.” The girl set off through the crowd of people and left Morgana with a look of bewilderment on her face.

“My… Partner?” Morgana made a face of confusion, before she quickly followed this girl, quick not to lose her, however her revolting pink t-shirt with a cartoon red heart sketched on the front made that difficult.

As she wandered through the people she began to understand what was happening, seeing people groan and tug, as though they were stuck together. That was until Morgana saw a glinting bracelet around their wrists.

Wait- that isn’t a bracelet.

“Here we are!” The girl beamed and Morgana was almost too frozen in shock, her eyes wide with the expectation of what was happening, and before she could protest she felt something cold and hard clasp around her wrist.

“Wha- No!” She hissed, tugging her arm up to be free of this girls annoyance but it was too late, she already heard the zipping of the handcuff as it strapped around her wrist and the defiant restrained pull as she tried to wriggle her arm free.

“You can’t do this!” She groaned with a frown as the girl’s smile grew bigger.

“Here, all you have to do is find the key… Here’s the map! Have fun!” The girl thrust a thick, large map into Morgana’s free hand before striding away, Morgana simply perplexed by how horrible this day was going and it had only just begun.

It was then she felt a weight at the other end of the handcuff, and she turned, hoping it wasn’t some blonde preppy hyperactive girl or a gloomy Gothic plagued boy or her brother or…

But she turned and saw someone she recognised. Yet from where?

“You’re Merlin, aren’t you?” She asked, knowing she’d seen him with Arthur and heard Morgause speak of him. This day was gradually getting worse and Morgana let a long whine out, not even bothering to think of where it would end up.

He'd been excited about the holiday plans he'd set, even more so when Arthur agreed to spend the day with him. He'd gossiped about what to make for the picnic, where it should be, etc. to Freya and found himself far to giddy to show anyone else. 

That is until, after his second mug of green tea, his laptop let out a little 'ping' notifying him of an email. He slumped upon seeing it, his chair giving an almighty creak at the sudden weight shift. He glanced around the small coffee shop, embarrassed when he interrupted the carefully crafted silence. He'd discovered the little shop at the beginning of the year. It was quaint. Refusing brandname coffees and actually called their sizes 'small', 'medium', and 'large.' He was already intrigued and delighted by the slightly run down exterior, but what eventually caused Merlin to choose this spot as a weekly hangout, was the excessive amount of students from Camelot. 

Apparently, the shop had become something akin to a library or study area. It was quiet, but still had the soothing windows so he could watch the way people walked. (There were those who dressed in suits that had no folds and walked quickly, heads down, heels first. Then there were those like him, who had an awkward gait, but sauntered around to enjoy the view. Though, Merlin also tended to run a lot of places....) 

He glanced around again, decided he had gone unnoticed, and stared down at the offending email. 

Attendance is mandatory.

Oh, well, poo.

----

Merlin tended to remain an optimistic person, which is why, despite his incredibly romantic and perfectly cliche Valentine's day being ruined, he still pulled Arthur through the grass. He was beaming, just happy that Arthur was letting him hold his hand in public (ok, he was pulling him by the elbow, but it was a start. Okay? Okay). Plus, he liked Valentine's day and he liked having a blond jock on his arm to flaunt. (Or drag. Whatever.) 

Merlin zoned out somewhere around "Arthur Pendragon will be forcibly bared with someone else on Valentine's Day and not the boy he's been snogging for weeks." Disheartened, he stepped aside and waited to see which unnaturally pretty girl got to spend the day with Arthur. When Morgause was called, he breathed a sigh of relief, letting his grin fall back into place. He trusted Morgause in every way, plus, ya know, it helped that she openly hated him. 

He could handle this. 

He waited for his own name to be called, bouncing slightly on his heels. This'll be fun! New friends! No worries; I'm gay! 

Then, he was paired with none other than Morgana Pendragon.

Awkward.

So, so, awkward.

He sparred a glance at Arthur, sympathetically, and pouted as his retreating back. It wasn't until a (obviously high) bubbly girl pranced her way over and clamped a bloody handcuff on his wrist that he decided, no, this isn't going to be as much fun as previously anticipated. He paid close attention to the instructions given and immediately went about studying the map. Why not play along? There was no point in complaining all day.

“You’re Merlin, aren’t you?”