The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

Thank God it's Monday.

That was the general idea of Arthur's mood in the salle that morning, yes. In fact, no amount of skittering elves or whatever they were could distract him from his rather pointed, joyful mauling of a practice dummy.

Yes. Thank God it's Monday.

[[ ooopen. ]]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was watching the little hungover elves stagger out of her way, then bounced over to Arthur, then stopped for a reality check.

"Okay, so, what are you the prince of? And if you say prince of hearts, I'm outta here."

[bitchprince]

Arthur shot her a look. It was mild, for the most part. "Camelot," he said, "Since you appear to have forgotten."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Pendragon, foster brother of Morgana, boss of Merlin, snarky dude," Dinah filled in, pleased. "Nope. Wasn't sure about you though. I dealt with enough crazy people this weekend that I had to be sure." She headed over for her sword, vastly relieved.

[bitchprince]

"This weekend was insufferable," Arthur griped, "Of course, I'm not surprised to see you untouched. It's not like you had any sanity left to lose." Nevermind that he'd been himself; that was just because he was fabulous Arthur fucking Pendragon.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Ha. So you're saying you're your own kind of crazy?" Dinah rolled her eyes at him and then said, "I should listen to Radio later, see if I can figure out stuff I was thank-God-not-there for."

Feet in the correct position, knees, arms, yay, slice and go!

[bitchprince]

Arthur rolled his eyes. "No, I merely managed to remain sane this weekend because I have raw talent and discipline on my side," he said, "Something with which you are woefully unacquainted. Don't get crazy, now."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Thought I already was?" Dinah slowed down into her normal patterns, shaking her head at the Ego of Camelot. "It was kind of funny. Well, parts of it. Tony Stark trying to marry my science teacher was pretty hilarious." Heh. Okay, no thinking about the vows, or she'd fall over giggling at Wind Beneath My Wings.

[bitchprince]

Or Merlin trying to claw his way out the window, although that stopped being funny and started being irritating within several seconds. "I suppose it was hilarious to some," he said, neutrally, picking up a practice sword and giving it a quick swing. "All that horsing around."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah immediately went on high-alert, after their last sparring session. "Yup," she said casually. "And for once, there aren't any embarrassing photos of me floating around from this."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin was there. And trying to make himself appear very very small and unnoticeable.

Please don't notice him. Pretty please.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack didn't so much notice Merlin as he had gone looking for him on the general theory patterns tended to repeat themselves, and the radio made it sound like the salle was the place where Merlin usually was on Mondays.

So he was there, and dressed in the most aggressively modern clothes he owned as if to ward off the clerical collar. He nodded briefly to Arthur before stepping toward Merlin.

"Can I join you for a second?"

[bitchprince]

Arthur would've held delusions about being subtle about the pointed look he sent Jack between swings, if it hadn't been meant to serve as a certain there had best not be any funny business.

Yeah, all right, he was still a bit twitchy about the weekend; he returned to his forms a few scant moments later.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had rather eloquent features, so he managed to wait until he could catch Arthur's eye again and shoot a look back that could best be translated as: Don't worry, I had no plans in that direction, and I've better things to do than poach anyhow.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Um." Merlin, stop planning your escape route. "Hello."

[bitten_notshy]

"Hello," Jack said, and rubbed the scruff of his neck.

Very few people got to see Jack awkward, but Merlin was coming close to it right now. 'I have no idea why I kissed you except that I was bloody insane and you were too' did not trip cunningly off the tongue.

"So -- I'm not sure if Saturday is the kind of thing one apologizes for, but I owe you something."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"It was all a bit of madness," Merlin said far too quickly. "It's best we pretend it never happened because--um--I think we all did things this weekend we'd rather not talk about and if we stick to the not talking about them it'll all end up alright."

He smiled in a vaguely desperate manner.

"Right?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Right," Jack said, fighting his urge to put this down as something he could use against Merlin in the future. Not in any bad way; it was just sometimes useful to have a favor to call on, that was all.

"It never happened," he agreed. "We -- wouldn't. And we weren't in our right minds. So it doesn't matter. It was a passing whim."

He gave Merlin a closer look. "Are you all right otherwise?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I kissed Chuck Bass." Merlin was thinking about cutting his own lips off.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was... pretty damn unlikely. If only to see if he needed ice cream.

"How're you doing there?" Dinah checked, lips twitching. "Did you know Karla and Tara said they were your minions?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"...Yes." That was a safe answer. No need to discuss why our how or ohgodohgodohgodCHUCKBASS.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Poor Merlin. "I'm really glad you're back to normal, and that I didn't see you being all commander of minions." Because hello to the freak-out. Or kissing Chuck Bass. Aieeee! "Merlin Stark-Bass?? And I didn't see you at your 'dad's' wedding. Did you wake up to reality earlier than most people?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Arthur kept me from doing anything more on Sunday, thankfully," Merlin replied with a sigh.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Aww, yay. You missed... okay, you missed Chuck standing up and interrupting it, and Mr. Rogers interrupting it, and my Science teacher flouncing off in a huff, and some fairly hilarious vows and revelations. I'm glad you didn't have time to die accidentally or get married accidentally or anything else. Yay Arthur, for that."

[CALL 1 800 DAY TIME! ALL YOUR RECAPS!]

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I even met the man," Merlin admitted. "The weekend was bad enough without adding in some sort of wedding."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You okay aside from the freakiness? You didn't get physically hurt?" Dinah asked, looking worried, thinking Priestly getting punched inside Dean's head.