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If you asked Merlin if he was nervous naturally, he would say no. Was that the truth? Partially no. But only because he was fucking terrified.
A few weeks ago Gwen had come up with the idea of doing Halloween trivia. At the time Merlin had some free time on his hands for once and had text back that he'd make the quiz. Something he might have done purely because he was doing nothing and it was a feeling that didn't sit right with him after so many busy months.
Gwaine had agreed to bring some food prizes — but knowing that it was going to contain some kind of alcohol — Lance had also said he'd bring prizes for the winner.
Arthur had the biggest house so naturally they were going to his, Elyan and his boyfriend Percival were in charge of the alcohol (they didn't trust Gwaine to bring alcohol that didn't make them drunk in a single sip), Gwen and Leon were in charge of food and non-alcoholic drinks (Arthur had such horrendous cooking that even Gwaine who was known for eating anything didn't touch the food). Then Morgana would be there to shout at everyone and only offer moral support to her girlfriend.
So now on the day Merlin was sat in his car in front of Arthur's house regretting ever agreeing to this stupid thing. What if the questions were too easy? What if they were too hard and nobody knew any of them? What if they thought it was too cringy and left? What if they thought he was stupid? What if —
A knock on his car window brings him out of his thoughts. Taking his head of the steering wheel to see Lance smiling softly down at him. "Come on Merlin. We're waiting on you, Elyan and Percival."
Merlin swallowed and tried to force the nausea that was growing in his stomach as well as calm his shaking hands enough to grabbed his laptop and the paper sheets he had prepared and printed out. Lance took a step back to give him room to get out, but he paused before he was all the way out. This was a massive mistake. He couldn't do this. He couldn't —
"Merlin," Lance's voice spoke above him. "I can hear you thinking too hard. Everyone's excited for this you'll be fine."
"How do you know it'll be fine? What if everyone hates it?"
Lance smiles down at him like a guardian angel. "I know it will be fine because I know you. I know you wouldn't be anything less then your all into this. If it isn't the best Halloween quiz to ever exist I will be incredibly surprised."
The sincerity of his friend's words comfort him enough to allow him to fall back onto his usual humour. "Yeah well it better be. You don't even want to know the amount of time I've watched every single Halloween film to exist."
Lance laughs along with him, shutting his car door as he does so. "Too many times probably."
Arthur's house doesn't look like much from the outside. Just another plain white building with some grass out front. But Merlin knows that the house has three floors, extends quite far back and the biggest garden he's ever seen. All courtesy of his job working for his father at a massive tec company that pays hundreds of thousands per year. Although personally he'd always preferred Morgana and Gwen's penthouse. That had an incredible view of the sprawling city. But wasn't high enough that he'd started thinking about what would happen if a support beam suddenly got disrupted and sent the entire building collapsing and killing all of them.
No, happy thoughts. This was going to be a fun day without those spiralling thoughts getting in the way.
Before they could open the door someone pulled it open from the inside and flung themselves at him.
"Merlin! Finally." Another voice said from just inside the door.
"Oh leave him alone, Morgana." Gwen scolded pulling back and smiling at him. "I have some of your favourite chocolate gateau ready."
Morgana Pendragon simply smirks at him and says. "I hope those questions are hard. Gwen's been preparing for weeks for this and I don't intend to lose."
Merlin didn't doubt either points, it was why he'd make some questions near-impossible, in his opinion anyway, whether they actually were was questionable. Almost as soon as they stepped in everyone surrounded him with shouts of "he's here!" and "I can't wait." Most of which were coming from Gwaine.
They lead him into Arthur's sitting room which was connected to his kitchen with only the island table separating them. It best the obvious choice. The tv in there was massive and it was big enough to fit all nine of them in there. The seats had already been set up with food on the table in front to make it easy to grab. In the front left corner was a table and chair that he placed his stuff down on.
The angle was perfect so that he could see the screen and everyone but they wouldn't be able to see his laptop screen.
"If there's anything else you need for the set up just tell me."
Merlin looks up at the blonde in front of him and smiles, ignoring the slight flutter in his stomach. "Yeah I will do."
Merlin sets about getting the power point on the tv and checking that there wasn't any typos in it. There wasn't but there was no harm in double checking. He looked around the room, two sofas placed strategically so you could see the tv from any angle, two black beanbags had been placed in front of the larger of the two sofas and a table — already half full of drinks and food — in easy(ish) reach.
He'd just finished getting everything ready when he heard the door open and another round of "they're here". Laughing under his breath at the ridiculos nature of his friends he temporarily shut his laptop off so no one (Gwaine) could come and get the answers.
"Hey Elyan." Merlin says as he gets closer enough to see Gwen's older brother.
"Merlin! I can't wait to see what you've got in store for us this time." He pulled him into a one armed hug, his other carrying a bottle of liquor.
"Well, hopefully you won't have to wait long. The quiz is ready when everyone else is."
Elyan grins and claps him on the back before manoeuvring around him to put the alcohol with the food. "It'll be great I'm sure."
Merlin wasn't sure whether or not he agreed with his friend but figured that if everything went to hell at least a drunk Gwaine could do something stupid to get their spirits back up.
He turned and began his search for Gwen, wanting to ask her if all the food was ready so that they could get this over and done with.
"Hi Merlin," a voice says behind him. Turning, he sees Percival there with another bag of alcohol.
"Hey, how much did you bring?"
"Enough for a Gwiane and a half." The knight replies dryly.
Merlin laughed for the first time that day. He didn't know why he still counted stuff like that.
"Oh, you wouldn't happen to know where Elyan's gone do you? I zoned out when Gwen told me where to put these." Percival had a slightly guilty look on his face.
Merlin let out another chuckle. "Yeah he went to the kitchen where all the food is."
"Great thanks. I'm sure your quiz will be great by the way."
Merlin nodded and turned back to find Gwen. It didn't take long, she was in the dinning room, preparing what looked to be the last of the food.
"Why are you doing this in here?" He asked by way of greeting.
"The kitchen got too crowded and Gwaine kept trying to eat all the food before I'd finished with it."
"I'm not sure what you expected."
"I know. Anyway, have you got the quiz set up?" She asks, opening the final bag of sweets and poring them into a bowl.
"Yeah, everything's ready as soon as the food is."
"Well the food is already, do you mind grabbing those bowls." she gestures to the green and pink bowls with her head. They were filled with Halloween themed chocolates.
He nods and grabs them following her out of the room.
Breath. He reminds himself. Everything will be okay. They won't think it's stupid, or silly, or cringy, or idiotic, or-
No. he was supposed to be cheering himself up not the opposite. He once again reminds himself that everything won't see unicorns and rainbows but it will go well.
Morgana sees them as soon as they walk in. Smiling before going to round up everyone.
Merlin placed the food down and tried to control his shaking hands by sitting in front of the laptop and putting the quiz on the massive tv.
Everyone quickly files into the room, Morgana coming in last like a herding dog.
Gwen stands at the front and wait for everyone to go silent. "Okay everyone, there is food, alcohol, some mocktails as well as some fizzy drinks if you don't want those, all on the table in front of you. Any immediate problems?"
When no one answers she turns to him with an encouraging smile and sits down next to her girlfriend.
Merlin thinks for a moment if he should stand in front of everyone like Gwen did and how a proper present would but decides that no one would care if he didn't.
He clears his throat twice before his voice comes out non-croaking, but by that point everyone had been staring at him for too long and he felt an uneasy skitter across his skin. "Just to check this is being done in pairs right?" He'd already sked everyone individually but it didn't hurt to check again.
Everyone nods and Merlin grabs the sheets of paper. They're fairly basic with the question number and a line next to it to write the answer, as well as a few pumpkin and skeleton sketches around it. He had printed eight out in case they decided to do it individually. But they were sticking with the teams they had decided beforehand. Morgana and Gwen, Arthur and Leon, Elyan and Percival, Gwaine and Lance.
"There are four categories." He stood up and passed half of the sheets in the hands to Leon who was sat the closest to him, tucking the rest into his pocket. "The first is Halloween songs, then movies, the Halloween spirit and general. There are ten questions for each category which means you can get a total of forty points. You will get a total of fifteen seconds to answer each question before I move onto the next one. We'll go through the answers after we've done all forty questions. The pair with the most correct answers wins. Got it?"
Once again everyone nods and he grins back at them. "Then let the spooking games begin!" He dramatically clicks onto the next slide where the first question is. "Which film contains the song 'This is Halloween'?" With another click a count-down begins in the corner. It was something he was quite proud of actually. The count-down was a pumpkin that would slowly rot as the number in the middle got smaller. It had taken him ages to figure out how to do it but he was proud of the result. Once the timer hits zero a sound similar to the rattle of bones makes everyone jump. Pulling them out of the smug looks they had all been wearing. The first question would be the easiest each time.
"Next, which year was Talking Heads 'Psycho Killer' release?"
Gwen confidently writes down on her paper, Leon and Lance do as well (Gwaine was too busy trying to down a bottle of non-alcoholic alcohol, it was the only thing they'd let him have this early), Elyan and Percival seemed to be disagreeing but as soon as the timer went off scribbled something down.
He hid a smirk knowing that the text question was the only other easy question for this round. "What is Bobby "Boris" Pickett most famous Halloween song?"
Everyone got this one almost immediately and the look they were giving him was "what happened to making this too hard?" Little did they know what was going to hit them. They all wait for the timer to go down, their silence only broken by Elyan eating the Pringles. Merlin made a note to take some before they all got eaten.
Once the rattle of bones echoed through the room he clicked onto the next slide. He had a brief moment of panic when he thought that maybe he had made them too hard, but the sudden interest that took over everyone's face as they tried to figure out the answer earased that worry. "What is the first thing you hear in Michael Jackson's Thriller official 4k video?"
"Shit." Gwaine's voice echoes all around them. Gwen and Morgana's head are bent together in discussion, Percival is saying a list of possibilities while Elyan sits there with a comically blank look on his face.
"Oh come on Arthur the answer isn't going to be music!" Leon's annoyed voice sounds.
"Could you say that louder I didn't hear you? Besides what else could it be?" Arthur retorts.
"I don't know! But it wouldn't be a question if that was the answer."
"It could be a trick question." Arthur defends, a look of an angry puppy taking over his face. Making him look adorable.
He was wrong of course, but he did wish that he had thought of that. He might have been able to trick a few of them with it.
He watches as they pairs argue between themselves, some saying the same as Arthur and that it was a trick question. Others saying that it had to be something really specific. The rattle of bones cuts through all the arguments.
"Okay, Next!" The rest of the round continues on their faces becoming more and more confused and annoyed — and flushed as alcohol got involved —the more they continued on. Gwaine had given up and was now sat drinking the non-alcoholic alcohol and eating whatever he could get his hands on, not that he had ever really been helping Lance in the first place.
"Great that round is now done with! The next round is," he clicked onto to the next slide with a flourish (why was this doing more for his confidence than all those drama lessons at school?) "Halloween Movies! The answers for this one go on the list of numbers and lines that's title 'Movies' and is under the 'Song' category."
He looks around at the suddenly more hopeful faces. Leon and Arthur would likely do the best in this round, since Arthur was secretly obsessed with Halloween movies all year around (he'll never admit it if you ask him). However, Gwen has probably been watching Halloween movies on repeat for the past few weeks and he also knew that one of the few ways to distract Gwaine from getting drunk was to start quoting something from his favourite films and make him guess what it was.
"Starting easy, the first question is who directed the film E.T?"
The sound of scribbling pens and Percival's humming echoed through the room. The smug looks were no longer there, instead there were looks akin to when a person knows that everthing is currently easy but knows it's about to get a lot harder soon. Which would be correct.
"Next, which film contains the quote "I do not say, "Bleh bleh bleh"?
There are a few eye rolls at that but Merlin decides to let them have their moments where the answers are easy.
Merlin clicks onto the next question when the rattle of bones sounds. "What is the name of the uncle in The Addams Family?"
A few more eyerolls and whispers from one side of the room.
"I know the answer Gwaine shut up!" Lance snaps, elbowing Gwaine away from where he had been leaning over Lance's shoulder.
"If you don't want my help than I won't give you my help." Gwiane grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest like a toddler.
"We're on the same team Gwaine. We are supposed to work together."
"So?"
Lance sighs. "If I lose than you lose."
Silence reigns as everyone watches Gwiane think over what Lance says. Finally he huffs a sound that is likely his version of a defeat. Merlin smiles, he loves when they get together as a group.
Too soon they've gone through all his questions, of their sheets filled with either answers, guesses or completely made up words. "Okay give me your sheets." Merlin stood up and grabbed everyone's answers, waiting a minute for Percival and Elyan to scribble down a few more guesses.
He turned to go back to his place when Arthur spoke up. "Where sre you going?"
"To sit back down…?" Merlin replies, looking confusingly at him, wondering if this had been something they had spoken about before but he simply couldn't remember it, a small curnel of panic rising in his chest.
Arthur shakes his head. "You can't sit there, your separate from the group."
He hadn't realised that but he supposed that it didn't make too much of a differnce as to where he sat. "But there's no space anywhere else."
A tense silence breifly took ahold of the room and that bit of panic spread through his chest. This was his doing. He was ruining the evening. Oh why couldn't he just-
As if she could hear his worries, Gwen suddenly jumped to her feet. "There's some more food that needs to be brought out. Percival, Elyan do you mind helping me? And Merlin why don't you disconnect your laptop and sit down somewhere?"
It's not really a question, more of an escape route for him and he takes it gladly. Disconnecting his laptop takes less time than he expected. Placing everyone's answers down on the keyboard and picking it up. He turned, fully expecting to have to sit on the floor, only to realise they while he was distracted everyone had moved. MOrgana now sat on one of the beanbags, a space next to her for Gwen. Leon and Lance had moved onto the sofa in front of the two beanbags, a free place next to them and on the beanbag, likely for Elyan and Percival. On the slightly smaller sofa was Arthur and Gwaine, the former gesturing for him to sit in the free space next to him.
He smiled, muttering a thanks under his breath. He balanced his laptop on the arm of the sofa and placed the sheets of paper in his lap. He'd known — or hoped — that everyone wouldn't want to go through the answers themselves. He'd planned in case they had wanted to but he thought it was less likely than him marking them himself. Also it was quicker. No doubt that if they marked it they would change their answers so they were correct and if they marked someone else's they would be harsh and give them the least amount of answers possible. So he would mark them.
Minutes later Gwen, Elyan and Percival come back in. This time with more alcohol and the bag that he recognised as the bag of treats the winners would get.
"Found the winner yet Merlin?" Elyan asks. Merlin sends him a blank glare in responce, saying everything he didn't feel like voicing outloud.
Ingoring him, Gwen went to the front. Holding a remote in one hand and her other on her hip. "So what do we want to watch first?"
Instantly, voices overlap each other with different suggestions. Merlin ingores them and instead focuses on Elyan and Percival's answers. After a few minutes Morgana decides she's done watching everybody squabble and shut them all up with a few words. "Now," she says, "we're not watching It this early in the night, I need to be more drunk before I can hear Gwaine singing the songs in Hocus Pocus-"
"Hey!"
"-I don't feel like watching Coraline yet. So Goosebumps it is."
"What!" ELyan yells. "Nobody even said Goosebumps! You just want to watch it because it's your favourite Halloween movie."
Morgana shrugs. "So? You should have agreed on a film sooner than."
Elyan rolls his eyes, slouching into the sofa.
Soon the film starts and everyone (Elyan) stops complaining and goes silent one by one to watch. Eventually, everyone is silent and the only sounds are the film and Merlin typing on his computer and writing. He had a brief moment of panic that everyone will hate him for making noise during the film but those thoughts go quiet when Arthur throws an arm over his shoulder.
It doesn't take long until he marks all the answers.
The film is still playing and he doesn't feel like interrupting the peaceful silence that had fallen over them, only occasionally broken by Gwaine muttering the character's lines before they say them. So instead he places the the papers on his laptop keyboard and shuts the lid, focusing on the film and the feel of Arthur's arm wrapped around his shoulder.
He feels Arthur shift before he heards the words whispered in his ear. "Who won?"
Merlin turns his head to whisper in Arthur's ear. "What makes you think I'm going to tell you?"
Arthur pulls back slightly so Merlin can see his full pout. But the action causes him to notice how close they are. He pulls back, shifting away, knocking the hand from his shoulder, while his face burns as hot as the sun.
What was he doing? That wasn't what you did in the middle of watching a film with friends! He was an idiot. A stupid, selfish, ignoriant, untrustworthy-
All his thoughts seem to get cut short when the hand he had previously knocked off returns to intertwine their fingers. He looks down, feeling the way Arthur's thumb swpies across his skin. The action somehow smoothing over most of his worries but not all of them.
Merlin looks up, unintentionally making eye contact with Morgana. She has an arm wrapped around Gwen's middle and is smirking at him. She, like everyone else, seems to read his thoughts because her expression softens slightly and she turns her body so she is partially facing him and partially facing Gwen. Then she makes out with her. Merlin quickly snaps his gaze back to the massive tv, taking in as many details about the scene as he can. Trying, and failing, to not look at the two women.
After a bit, Morgana pulls back. Turning again to seem like she's watching the film while her eyes are on him. He shifts slightly, not sure what exactly to do. But Morgana keeps staring at him until he looks at her, she gesstures to Arthur with her head and Merlin sends her a look that he hopes convays his opion.
What the hell are you on about?
Does anyone care?
What?
Does anyone care that I just made out with my girlfriend?
Merlin scoffs interally. Nobody will care, not only have they been together for years but also they're too afraid of Morgana to say anything. But looking around he realises that not a single person, not even Elyan and they are in his direct eyeline, are so much as glancing at them out of the corner of their eyes. He turns back to Morgana.
Told you so. Just go for it.
He will do no such thing. So he sits there, slightly uncomfortable with his arm at a weird angle for the entire movie until it ends. Then, before anyone can begin arguing about what movie to watch next, Morgana stands up.
"Before we watch the next movie, I believe we have the results for who had won."
Everyone instantly sits up striaghter, turning towards Merlin. He aviods their gazes, instead finally pulling his hand from Arthur's but feeling strangle cold without it there. There's a pause and after a second, Merlin realises that everyone expects him to… do something. But he isn't sure what.
Finally Gwaine breaks the silence. "So who won?"
Oh. Right. He reaches fowards and grabs the papers from his laptop. He offers them up to Morgana, who takes them. "They're in order from lowest to highest score."
She nods. "So in last place is obviously Elyan and Percival."
"How many did we get?" Elyan asks, although he does not look too surprised.
"Seventeen out of forty." Morgana replies before moving their answers to the back to look at the next one. "Next is Lance and Gwaine, you got 24/40."
Gwaine whoops, while Lance simply sighs, shaking his head.
"Ooh. It's between Gwen and Morgana and Leon and Arthur. Who do you think won? I say five on Gwen and Morgana."
"Ten. And I think Arthur and Leon definitely won." Gwaine says, leaning forward to brace his elbows against his knees.
"Hmm. Twenty says they both drew." Percival counters.
"Done." Both Gwaine and Elyan reply.
"Lance?" Lancelot shakes his head, silently saying that he wasn't getting involved.
Once she sees that they are done placing bets, Morgana continues on. "And so the runners up in the competition are…" she waits until most are on the edge of their seats, Arthur especially, "Me and Gwen."
There are shouts and whoops from Gwaine. Gwen and Lance politely clap, a defeated look on the former's face.
"Pay up you two!" Gwaine declares.
"Hang on!" Percival says. "It could still be a draw."
Gwaine frowns, turning to Merlin. "Is it?"
Merlin looks at him questionably making Gwaine roll his eyes.
"Is it a draw."
"No, unfortunately not." He gives a sympathetic smile to Percival. "Although there was a one point mark difference. Gwen and Morgana got 31 while Arthur and Leon got 32."
Elyan groans. "So close sister. But not quite."
"I know that." Gwen drawls.
"Okay!" Morgana shouts, a bit too loud in Merlin's opinion. "What film do we want next?"
After a few minutes they land on Casper. It was one of Merlin's all time favourite Halloween movies, he wasn't fond of horror, they weren't bad exactly but he preferred the family friendlier ones.
They continue on. Going film to film until Merlin can barely keep his eyes open, but whether that is because of the late hour or due to the alcohol he doesn't know. Soon he finds his head tilting to the side until it lands on something solid but surprisingly comfy.
*Arthur*
The felt it when a weight settled onto his shoulders. Smiling slightly, he saw the top of Merlin's dark hair. Almost instantly, he felt the gazes of everyone around them. It was instinct at this point to glare at them until they turned back to the film, even if they were smirking or had a soft smile on their face.