bunnysworldTitle: Victory
Rating: G
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur
Warnings: none
Word count: 496
Prompt: 368: Pride
Summary: Arthur does everything to win this race.
Author’s notes: Not beta’d.
Arthur beamed widely and pumped his fist into the air. He won!
Breathing hard from the downhill-inline-skates race - which might not have been all legal - he swallowed and ripped the helmet off his sweaty hair. He had made it!
Leon rushed over and patted his shoulder enthusiastically. "You did it!"
Arthur nodded and couldn't get the grin off his face.
Morgana slowly made her way over and held out a water bottle to her brother. "You can be so proud of what you did in that last curve." Her voice dripped sarcasm all over the place.
"So? He should have paid a bit more attention." All of a sudden, his victory wasn't as sweet anymore. The gangly boy with the old inline skates had been surprisingly good and he might even have won if Arthur hadn't...given him a gentle nudge with his elbow while he basically cut in front of him. That had sent the guy into the hedge and Arthur could finish the race effortlessly.
Morgana glared at him and even Leon looked a bit uneasy, so Arthur peeked over to where a girl with curly black hair and a bloke with very longish hair tended to the other boy's scratches. He seemed to have a pretty bad gash on his cheekbone and a few more minor cuts his arms.
"What are you waiting for?" Morgana crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked expectantly at him.
Arthur took the few strides to where the boy was sitting on the sidewalk. "Hey."
Angry blue eyes shot him a glare. "Hey yourself."
"I just...are you alright?"
Only when the boy looked up at him again, Arthur saw another gash right underneath his hairline and the blood slowly trickling down the side of his face.
"Does he look alright?" The girl snarled at him. "If you already don't have a concept of fair play, you can at least stay out of the way when we patch him up."
Arthur's stomach slowly turned into knots. What had he done? He wanted to win this race so badly that he had just taken someone else's injuries for granted. If the hedge hadn't stopped the boy, he might even have some broken bones or something even worse. "They made me take a first aid class when I got my driver's license..." He started weakly.
"We all had to take this." The long-haired boy said. "Except for Merlin. Merlin doesn't have his yet."
"Hey!" The boy kicked at his friend. "I'll have it soon enough."
Arthur just stood there and watched the exchange. "Is there...is there something I can do?"
He was sure that the boy's...Merlin's? friends said something like 'stay out of the way' or 'get lost', but he was meszmerised when the dark-haired boy looked at him again.
"You could at least buy me a burger, you posh git." The grin was blinding.
A heavy weight fell off of Arthur's shoulders and he held out his hand.