A/n Arthur and his 'friends' corner Merlin outside of school, and prepare for some serious bullying. But Merlin has some things to say.

Arthur Pendragon is a prat, thought Merlin Emrys, not for the first time. In fact, he had thought it many times in his sixteen year old life, from the very moment he had caught the jerk picking on some poor defenceless kid in Kindergarten. From that day on, the pair had been best friends. Emphasis on the 'had'.

It was true; Merlin and Arthur had grown apart. Everyone knew about it. It had been the subject of gossip about a month into freshman year, when people started noticing the two were never hanging out anymore. Merlin was usually alone at lunch. Arthur was always surrounded by people. Merlin's main expression nowadays looked vacant. Arthur was always smiling (though the smiles were crueller than they used to be). The list could go on.

But Merlin had thought that, even though Arthur was now part of the 'cool' crowd, their friendship had still meant something to him. Obviously he was wrong. He backed away further into the corner of the dumpster, before voicing his thoughts out loud.

"You're a prat," he told Arthur.

Arthur laughed. "Wow, never thought I'd hear that again," he said, much to the amusement of his cronies-ahem, friends.

"Yeah, but this time I actually mean it. You, Arthur Pendragon are the biggest prat I've ever met."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Like you know anything," he spat. "You're scum, you know that? Scum."

"Yeah, but I'm the scum you used to hang out with," Merlin took a step forward and looked Arthur in the eyes. "Or have you forgotten those days entirely? What happened to the little blond boy who I used to protect from bullies every single day at Recess, Arthur? The one who daydreamed, and cried when he heard that I had broken my arm? That's what I'd like to know."

Arthur lowered his head. "He's gone," he whispered.

"Is he? Really?" Merlin asked, and Arthur knew even before he looked back up at his old friend that there would be that familiar disbelieving expression on his face, the one he wore whenever he disagreed with Arthur. Because no one-no one-knows you better than your old best friend.

Yet Arthur still couldn't look him in the eyes. He knew Merlin was right, and that the old him was still in there somewhere, but right now he was still too confused to find him. So he let Merlin move away from the dumpsters that he and his 'friends' had been about to stuff him in, and caught his breath when the taller boy turned back for a moment to give him a searching look before speaking softly.

"I hope you find that boy, Arthur," Merlin confided. "And when you do, tell him to give me a call," he smiled. "We've got a lot of Star Trek to catch up on."

And with that, Merlin walked off into the distance.

I hope you guys liked :D Thanks for reading!