The bedroom looked eerie and lifeless when it was empty. It gave Merlin chills just to look into his old childhood bedroom. He had thought that when he left for the final time, he would feel some kind of sadness. Instead, he felt out of place out of place amongst the emptiness.
He took one last look at the empty white walls, feeling nothing. It felt wrong this way.
Outside, he could hear Gaius honking the car horn. Merlin walked out of the empty house for the last time. He didn't look back as he walked away.
"Is that everything then?" asked Gaius. Merlin fastened his seatbelt.
"Yeah," he said flatly. Gaius pulled the car out of the driveway.
"Are you going to miss your home, Merlin?" he asked.
"It's just a house," he said.
Camelot's boarding school was visible from the highway. The stone fence around the boarding school stuck out against the urban sprawled subdivisions that encircled it. The school had been laid out to look like a medieval castle, and it sure did look like one. It was even protected like a castle. Well, maybe that was a stretch. There was a tall stone wall around the edges, presumably for keeping the students inside.
Merlin's heart rate increased as they got nearer to the school. Soon enough, Gaius pulled their car into the seemingly endless driveway to the school. The sides of the road were lined with shrubbery, and past that was a perfectly manicured lawn. After what seemed like ages, they finally pulled their car up and in front of an iron gate.
Merlin sat silently as Gaius talked to the gatekeeper. Soon enough, they pulled in.
In front of them was a parking lot. Merlin later learned that no cars were permitted inside the actual campus. There were no roads, only sidewalks.
"My things are already in place. I can help you carry in your things, if you'd like," Gaius offered.
"That would be great," Merlin said stoically. "I'm in dorm 112."
"I know where that is, it's a nice area. Did you ever get your roommate assignment?" Gaius asked.
"No. They said that they ran out of people to pair, but if anything changed I could room with someone."
"Having a single room might not be so bad," said Gaius. "No arguing about lights out," he said.
"Yeah, but I thought it might be an easy way to meet someone new."
"Having a roommate is not as fun as it sounds. You'd be amazed at the percentage of people who hate their roommates."
"I know," said Merlin. Gaius popped the trunk of the car. Merlin had managed to fit all of his things into one box and two suitcases. He didn't have a lot.
"Do I need to help you get settled?" asked Gaius, picking up the box.
"No," Merlin said, lifting the suitcases out of the car. He was very picky about where all of his things went, and having another person "helping" him would only make the entire ordeal more complicated.
"Alright then. I'll just help you find your way there."
Thanks," Merlin said. He followed Gaius, dragging the two suitcases behind him awkwardly.
Merlin's dorm was only a short walk from the parking lot. It was built like a motel. Each dorm had an outside entrance. The building was two floors, and much to Merlin's liking, he was on the first floor. Dorm number 112 opened directly onto the sidewalk.
"This is it then," Gaius said. "You know where to find me, right?"
"Of course," he said. He knew where Gaius'- quarters were. He'd memorized the map of the school by heart, although he hoped that he wouldn't need to find him. Gaius had invited him to visit whenever he liked, but Merlin planned on making enough friends that he didn't have to attend pity dinners with his elderly uncle.
Merlin fished his key out of his pocket and reached for the door handle, but it was already unlocked.
"It looks like you've lucked out after all," Gaius said. "Well, I'll leave you to put your things away now," Gaius sat Merlin's box down on the sidewalk.
"Thanks, Gaius."
The door wouldn't open all the way, no matter how hard he tried. Something was stuck behind it. Merlin put his suitcases down and slid through the narrow doorway. Half of the room was full of stuff. It was partially put together, with half full boxes strewn all around the room.
I must have a roommate after all, he thought. He moved a stack of boxes out from behind the door so that it would open all the way and then he brought in his own things. By the time that he had brought in his meager supplies, there was hardly any room to walk around. In the cramped space, Merlin started to prioritize which items to put away first. He started by putting some of his textbooks on the bookshelf. He noticed that his roommate, whoever they were, had used his half of the shelf to hold almost anything but books. Clothes and clutter were haphazardly shoved into the shelf and it made him cringe.
Merlin continued putting his things away. He alphabetized his books and arranged his notebooks by subject. He arranged his things on his desk and sat up his laptop, and once his clothes were folded neatly and arranged in his drawers, he made his bed. His side of the room was so clean and organized that it could have been a picture out of a designer furniture catalog. He sat down on his perfectly made bed, sheets tucked in and pillow fluffed, and he looked at his roommate's pile of things.
There was a lot to say about a person based on their possessions, he thought. Whoever the roommate happened to be was very messy. Merlin leaned over and peered into one of the open boxes. Inside it was a pile of unfolded clothes mixed in with the school supplies. They looked as if they'd been carelessly thrown inside. As he snooped through the other boxes, he found that his roommate liked sports, mostly fencing, judging by the fencing swords that were found strewn across the boxes.
After he'd looked through all of the open boxes, he decided to walk around the campus. He had decided that it was only okay to look inside the boxes if they were halfway open. Opening one of them would be crossing a line.
Merlin decided that he'd find his classes tonight so that he hopefully wouldn't get lost tomorrow. He got his schedule and wandered around, looking at the buildings.
The buildings were all beautiful. They looked straight out of a storybook. Most of them were made out of old, misshapen stones. They had sloping roofs and long green vines growing up the sides. They had tall brick chimneys and flower boxes hanging outside each window. The school was laid out like its own miniature city. Here, the street and the sidewalk were one in the same. They weren't quite wide enough for a car, but they were wide enough to hold the faculty's golf carts. There wasn't a lot of room for grass between the street and the doors to the buildings, but what little bit of space there was was always full of life. Flowers, bushes… It was beautiful.
Merlin managed to find all of his classes. He peered inside the windows of each one, trying to distinguish them from one another in his mind, but most of them looked exactly the same. They all had the same rows of desks and shelves and sometimes computers. The layout of the classrooms was no different than that of his old school, but everything was much nicer.
After Merlin had found all of his classes, he turned around and headed back to his dorm room.
When he opened the door, he saw someone sitting on the opposite bed amongst piles of random belongings, playing a game on their cell phone. The boy had messed up dirty blond hair and grey-blue eyes.
"Hello there," said Merlin. He walked in the room. "I'm Merlin."
"I'm Arthur," he said. Merlin nodded awkwardly as he looked his roommate up and down. He didn't just enjoy sports, but it looked like he was probably pretty good at them, too.
"Nice to meet you then," said Arthur. He went back to playing on his phone. Merlin closed the door behind him and went to sit down at his desk.
"So, is this your first year too?" asked Merlin. He spun around in his desk chair. Arthur looked up from his phone, annoyed.
"No," he said carefully. "Is it yours?" he said the words slowly, enunciating each word carefully.
"Yeah, it is," said Merlin. "My uncle is the physician. You've probably seen him around."
Arthur looked at Merlin with disbelief in his eyes. "My Father doesn't work here, but he's a big shot politician. You might've heard of him, his name is Uther Pendragon. He's helping pass all of the laws against magic," he said proudly.
"Oh, so you've probably gone here a while," Merlin chuckled nervously. Of all the people on the planet that he could have roomed with, he was stuck with Arthur Pendragon, son of the world's most well-known magic hater.
"Yeah," Arthur said. He shifted his phone in his hands. Merlin could tell that Arthur was disinterested.
"So… You like fencing?" he asked. Arthur perked up.
"How did you know that?"
"Oh," Merlin had forgotten that he wasn't supposed to know that. "I was just wondering. Fencing is… neat."
Arthur's eyes told Merlin that he knew. "So do you like fencing, then?"
Merlin shook his head frantically. "Yeah, love it."
"Alright then," Arthur locked his phone and tossed it aside on his bed. He stood up and started rifling through a partially unpacked box. He pulled out two fencing foils. He handed one of them to Merlin, handle first. "Try me."
"Oh, I'm not really in the mood," he said, "I'm kind of tired after moving all of my things in this afternoon."
"Maybe this will get your adrenaline pumping, then," Arthur thrusted the handle into his hands. Arthur raised his arm to salute Merlin, who clumsily mimicked the motion with his sword arm. A thin smile spread across Arthur's face. He stood in a defensive stance, waiting for Merlin to make the first move.
With a wobbly arm, Merlin swung the foil at Arthur, aiming for his arm. Arthur blocked him with ease and Merlin just barely ducked in time to avoid a blow to the neck. Arthur kept swinging at him and he had only survived up to this point by luck, deflecting Arthur's advances by swinging the sword around at random.
Merlin's arm started to ache and he knew that he couldn't keep up the fight for much longer. With his remaining strength, he thrust his foil into Arthur's and shoved into him.
Ástríce! Merlin's spell sent Arthur flying to the back of the room. He collapsed into the bookshelf and dropped his sword. Most of the contents of the shelf were dumped to the floor.
"Are you alright?" Merlin asked smugly. Arthur groaned.
"You're stronger than you look."
Merlin was beaming. "I know."
Arthur slowly got up from the floor as Merlin scrambled to put his precious books back in their proper order. "But I can tell that you've never fenced before."
"Oh, I've fenced loads of times," Merlin bragged. Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"I don't think you have. There's no way that you're really that strong," said Arthur. "You flung me four feet and you didn't even stumble."
"I work out sometimes," said Merlin, a little too excitedly.
"You're too thin to have worked out a day in your life."
"It's been a while," Merlin said. He was scrawny and he knew it. He'd never worked out a day in his life.
Merlin kept stacking his books and then reorganizing them.
"So, are you smart then?" Arthur asked. "You seem like a perfectionist based on the way that your half of the room is laid out."
"I do okay. I'm not usually this neat; I'm just trying to get some new habits."
"Ah. I see."
Merlin sat on his bed and looked down at his feet. "What about you then? You're obviously not a neat freak."
"To be honest, I'm not quite used to picking up after myself. At home we have a maid."
Merlin nodded. He'd never not picked up after himself. His Mother worked two jobs, so most of the housework fell to him. He'd imagined having a maid many times. "What about book smarts?" he asked.
"I do pretty well. School work comes easily to me." Arthur seemed confident and relaxed. Merlin felt like a bubble of anxiety was about to pop inside his chest. He kept getting distracted by Arthur's eyes.
"So have you found your classes yet?" Merlin asked. Arthur looked up at him with his blue eyes.
"I went here last year. I've got most of the same teachers again, so I'm not too worried about them. Have you found yours?"
Merlin nodded.
Arthur looked down at his watch. "I think I'm going to head to the dining hall a bit early. I'm starving."
"That's not a bad idea." Merlin stood up to follow Arthur and then panicked. He hoped that Arthur wouldn't see him as clingy for inviting himself along. Merlin followed Arthur out of the dorm. "So is the food good here?"
"It's alright, I guess. How was the food at your last school?"
Merlin didn't want to mention that his last school had been a public school. Most of the students here were wealthy, but there were a few scholarship kids here and there. He didn't want to be judged for being poor.
"It was alright," Merlin said. He wasn't actually sure. He'd always taken his lunch. The conversation tapered off.
The dining hall was a long, stone building. Inside, rows of dark oak tables and chairs stretched the length of the hall. The tables had red table runners and were set with fancy silver dishes. It looked like something out of a movie. "Does it look like this every night?" Merlin asked.
"For the most part, yeah," Arthur said. He pulled out a chair and sat down in the near empty dining hall. Merlin hesitated. Sitting with Arthur was the obvious choice, but he didn't want to annoy him.
"Are you going to just stand there or are you going to sit down?" Arthur asked. Merlin pulled out a chair next to Arthur and sat down.
Dinner hadn't been sat out on the tables yet, but there were dinner rolls. Arthur grabbed one and started absentmindedly picking at it. Merlin wondered where his friends were. Surely this buff blonde haired boy wasn't a loner?
"So does the school have a fencing team, then?" asked Merlin.
"Yeah, we do. I still don't believe that you've ever fenced before, but you should come to one of the practices. You might learn something."
Merlin laughed. "I don't know about that." Arthur smiled and Merlin couldn't help but notice how the corners of his eyes perked up whenever he smiled.
Arthur waved to someone on the other side of the cafeteria. A boy with shoulder length wavy brown hair waved back and came towards them. He was followed by a tall muscular boy with a blonde buzz cut.
"Gwaine!" Arthur shouted. He stood up and hugged him. "It's been a while! How've you been?" Arthur was beaming.
"Not bad, and yourself?"
"I've been doing alright," said Arthur. "How about you, Percival?"
"I'm alright. Not ready to start school, though."
"Who is?" said Gwaine.
"So have you been practicing your fencing?" asked Arthur. He sat back down at the table. Gwaine and Percival sat down across from both of them.
Gwaine reached for a dinner roll and took a bite. "Loads. Percival and a couple of the other guys came over a few times during the summer and we practiced. We're going to slay this year!"
Arthur nodded enthusiastically. "I did some practicing. Not enough, admittedly."
"Are things still bad with your father?" asked Gwaine.
Arthur nodded. "He's already yelling about university. He thinks that I need to get enough degrees so that I can replace him someday. I really don't have any desire to spend the rest of my life as a headmaster."
"I don't think anyone does," said Percival. "Are you going out for any other sports this year?" Merlin sat across from them, silently picking at a dinner roll. He wondered if they were ignoring him on purpose or if they were just too caught up in catching up with each other.
"No, I don't think I'll have the time. What about you?"
"I thought about rugby. I'm not too sure, though," he said.
"What about you?" Arthur asked. Merlin looked up and saw that the other three were looking at him.
"Oh, um- " Merlin swallowed the piece of bread that had been in his mouth before he was done chewing and started to choke. He coughed and then said, "I'm more of a library kind of person."
"He fences," Arthur said deviously.
"That's great!" said Gwaine, "We're always looking for more people to join the team."
"Happy to have you," Arthur said. He slapped Merlin on the back. There was likely no way to get out of at least going to one fencing practice now. He'd have to go to the library and read up on the rules. Maybe that would make his attempts a little less pathetic.
More and more students and teachers alike were starting to filter into the dining hall. Merlin checked his watch. Only five more minutes until dinner was served.