A/N: Well, this is my first Merlin/Arthur fic. I've had the idea running through my head for awhile. Please review, starving noob writers feed off of them!

Meet Me in the Stairwell

Chapter One: Arrival

"Anyone who expects a person to change something as private and personal as who they hold in their arms at night needs to change their own judgmental attitude." - The God Box, Alex Sanchez

Daegal hooked his fingers into the waistband of Arthur's trousers and yanked him forward, causing the young Pendragon to smirk.

"I like this new forceful side." Arthur murmured, moving forward and watching with vague amusement as Daegal took tentative steps back. Daegal's back pressed flat against the wall, and stared up at Arthur with his soft hazel eyes, lips parted, and his pink tongue poking out to moisten his dry lips.

Just watching stirred something inside of Arthur. Reaching out, he gently ran his index and middle finger along the shell of the young boy's ear, following his soft jaw, and under his chin. Arthur lifted Daegal's chin none too gently, and filled the gap between their bodies. The boy's pulse quickened beneath Arthur's fingertips, beating hard with anticipation.

Something hard was pressing up against Arthur's thigh as he looked down upon Daegal, their lips almost touching. The feathery breath was enough, smelling of the spearmint toothpaste they sold at the school.

"Arthur…" Daegal whispered breathlessly, longing so obvious in his voice.

This was Arthur's favourite part of the game. Pulling them forward, then leaving them hanging over and over again, until their breathing becomes ragged and he's hardly lifted a finger at all. When desire overtakes their senses, and they call out his name, asking, begging, pleading for something, just a touch, just a kiss.

Arthur struck with precision, kissing just beneath Daegal's jaw, feeling his pulse, his fingers left the boy's chin, and dropped to his hips, pulling them forward and grinding against them. Daegal gasped sharply, drawing his head back, and thumping solidly against the wall.

It wasn't silent to start with, the stairwell was lit with emergency fluorescent lights that gave off a vague purple glow, that buzzed in the background. It wasn't enough to drown them out though, not that Arthur cared. He wanted it to be loud.

The wet sounds of Arthur's lips against Daegal's neck filled the stairwell, along with shuddering gasps from the younger boy. Arthur's hands grabbed a hold of the v in Daegal's button up shirt, and began to pry the shirt apart. Buttons flew across the stairwell, clicking against the vinyl floor as they bounced and landed in all corners of the darkness.

Once the shirt was successfully ripped apart, Arthur pulled back, his breathing ragged, as he admired the young boy's physique. His milky white flesh glowed beneath the purple light, and the shadows made his vague abs visible. Most of all he liked the triangle of curly brown hairs that trailed from his navel down beneath the waistband of his pants.

The corner of Arthur's lip cricked upwards as he pulled forward and crushed his lips against Daegal's roughly, all teeth and tongue. Daegal's arms encircled Arthur's waist, but before he could anything, Arthur's hands found his wrists, and pinned them hard against the wall.

"Your highness," Daegal mumbled between kisses, earning himself a sharp nip from Arthur's pointed teeth.

"Don't be ridiculous. I loathe that nickname." Arthur growled.

"It suits you. King of the school…" Daegal said affectionately, chuckling when Arthur bit him once more. Arthur really wasn't sure if it was out of annoyance or embarrassment.

He opened his mouth to reply, when the upstairs door wrenched open, squealing on its hinges and hitting the railing hard. A bright light flashed down at them and pierced their eyes, causing the two to squint. There was the silhouette of a man behind the bright light.

"What's going on down here?" The man demanded. As Arthur's eyes adjusted, he could just make out the letters S-E-C-U across the left portion of the man's jacket. Realization dawned on Arthur, and all he could do was hold onto the freshman boy, and wet his dry lips.

"Bollocks…" Daegal whispered from behind him.

"…cafeteria. We rise at seven here and are to report to the cafeteria by seven thirty. Breakfast ends at eight o'clock sharp. If you miss it, then you'll have to wait until noon to break your fast." An elderly man named Gaius explained. They passed a set of open doors, through them Arthur could make out rows of tables, and a few people loitering inside.

Gaius was the counsellor that Arthur was assigned, an elderly man with stark white hair that hung limply by his shoulders. He had a severe look to him, though beneath his stern words Arthur could sense warmth and affection.

In spite of the uncharacteristically warm weather they were having, Gaius donned a thick knit sweater that must have been hand made by a sister, or a wife, or even a grandchild, because sweaters that ugly were not allowed to be available to the general public.

"In that package I gave you, you'll find your schedule. Righteous Path is broken up into four groups, and you are a part of Group B. This determines your times for group therapy, athletics, extra curricular, your free time, etcetera. The only time all groups are together are during meals, and church for two hours every Sunday."

In Arthur's right hand was his duffle bag that he once used for sporting equipment. It carried all of the belongings he would be living off of during his stay, as well as the rucksack strapped to his back. In his left was a yellow envelope with some sort of orientation booklet inside, undoubtedly.

None of it had sunken in yet. It was just another school that Arthur had been suckered into - or so he told himself. One glance to the walls however proved him wrong, where posters of homophobic propaganda was plastered. Silly motivational posters with words like, "STRAIGHT IS GREAT" scrawled across them, Or images of Christ on them with bible verses. The worst were the hamfisted variations of the two.

The hallways were cool, but not cold, and smelled very lightly of Lemon Pledge, which could easily have been used to shine the vinyl floors.

All of the people they passed were kids, ranging from twelve to seventeen it seemed. No one looked particularly happy, some of them smiled as they chatted amongst each other, mostly they looked apathetic, lost, sometimes scared. Each face must have bore a tragic story behind their eyes.

"Normally, you're given all of this information during orientation, but since you've arrived early you'll have to rely on the package provided, as well as your roommate. Ah, here he is now…"

It was bloody well stupid they were subjecting Arthur to this hellhole. Arthur was not gay. Occasionally, with all the stress of exams and athletics getting to him, he needed a release, which was usually found in the willing arms of Daegal Thatcher. That boy was gay. But it simply wasn't Arthur's fault that St. Mary's was an all boy's boarding school.

Arthur liked girls, he really, really did. If anyone looked at his internet browsing history it would be confirmed. All he watched was lesbian porn, because even one penis was far too many for Arthur. This of course, excluded all the times that Arthur had used Private Browsing mode. That was just a secret between himself and his internet service provider.

"Arthur?" Gaius's voice cut through Arthur's furious thoughts and stopped him dead in his tracks and looked around. Gaius was no longer beside him. When he peered over his shoulder, he spotted Gaius a few yards behind him, standing with a gangly boy, who looked as though he was trying not to laugh.

Arthur retraced his steps and stopped beside his counsellor.

"Merlin," Gaius glanced to the gangly boy, "This is Arthur, he's going to be taking the spare bunk in your dorm." Gaius glanced back to Arthur, "Arthur, this is Merlin. He is an excellent pupil here, and if you have any questions I'm sure he'll be happy to help."

The words settled on Arthur and a sense of dread filled him. That boy was to be his roommate? That boy, that Merlin had ears like someone had left their car doors open! If he was supposed to be some gay bait to make Arthur sink to their levels it certainly wouldn't work!

Maybe some of his features were nice. His eyes for one were a pro. A grey blue, like a stormy sea. His mouth was full, and nicely shaped, and his nose seemed to just be asking for Arthur to run his finger down it. All of those features mashed together on that awkwardly large head, and small jaw just made for one strange boy…thing.

At least his hair was nice, all messed up as though he had just pulled himself out of bed.

"I don't believe he's with us, Gaius…" The awkward boy was saying quietly, his smile frozen on his face.

Gaius looked onto Arthur, "I believe you're right, Merlin." he said in a voice wrought with amusement.

"I'm listening!" Arthur snapped suddenly, feeling a warm flush sweep over him. He hadn't been listening at all.

Suddenly, Merlin thrust his hand out in front of Arthur, "I'm Merlin Emrys, your new bunkmate." he had a weird grin on his face, something mischievous, as though he knew something that Arthur didn't.

Arthur dropped his duffle bag onto the ground and took Merlin's hand in his own, surprised at the weird boy's firm grip. "Arthur Pendragon." he muttered quietly.

Merlin's hand fell limp and his mouth dropped open, "Pendragon?" he repeated incredulously, jaw dropping.

"Yeah. My dad is Uther Pendragon." Arthur muttered and rolled his eyes to the ceiling lights and waited for it to be over.

Before any of the questions could be answered, Gaius cut in. "Merlin is going to show you up to your room. My knees are not what they once were, and I'm not overjoyed at the thought of climbing all of those stairs." Gaius indicated to the stairwell behind them, "not to worry though, I'm leaving you in the most capable hands. I trust you'll settle in nicely"

"Thank you." Arthur said tersely, as he tried to ignore the vacant stare of the imbecile beside him.

"I shall leave you to it." Gaius said, then he strolled down the halls, leaving Merlin and Arthur alone together.

Before Arthur could grab his duffel bag, Merlin snatched it away by it's day-glow orange straps, "Allow me." He said courteously, then made a dash up the stairs. "Follow me." he called back over his shoulder.

He took my bag, Arthur thought indignantly, but he followed Merlin up the stairs in fear of being left behind. There were numbers scrawled across the yellow envelope in his hand, but he didn't want to have to decipher the meanings to find his room.

The first landing in the stairwell was nice, and when Arthur glanced around he could see no security cameras lingering, which was very strange. But there was a nice large, bare wall, and no annoying low hanging window to be paranoid about.

Merlin waited at the top of the stairs for him, and when Arthur reached the top, they continued on their way.

"All of the dorm rooms are on the second floor here - well most of them are anyways. Righteous Path has grown in popularity it would seem, and kids are taking longer to make it through the erm, program. So it's expanding, more buildings added and what not…" Merlin chattered on.

Arthur didn't deign a response. Perhaps if he remained quiet Merlin would get the hint. Why on earth would he care about the popularity of this hellhole?

"It's not so bad here, anyways. Other than your freedom being taken away. At least there aren't any, um, uniforms. And you're allowed to speak freely about most things. Some places don't let you talk for the first three days you're there. And there are counsellors in case you need help. Gaius is pretty great if you're in a pinch…"

Arthur sighed deeply, obviously silence wasn't working. "You do realize it's his job to be a homophobe." he cut in. It would be best to cut ties before Merlin thought they were friends.

"Gaius isn't a homophobe." Merlin shot back defensively, his voice took on a new edge that was very much preferable to his previous cheerful demeanour. "he's only making the best of a bad situation."

They fell silent after that, to Arthur's delight. The young Pendragon followed the gangly boy all the way to their dorm room numbered 224, and Merlin opened the door with a key bedazzled with a lambda keychain. When Merlin noticed Arthur's gaze on the keychain, he raised his index finger to his upturned mouth.

Arthur stepped into the room.

It was like any other dorm room, two beds on opposite sides of the room. A desk, two dressers, a closet, night tables, lamps, except for one thing. Dragons. There were dragons everywhere; models on every surface. Posters, postcards, framed pictures, all displayed amongst the walls and on all flat surfaces. Chinese dragons, fire breathing dragons, flying dragons, dragon eggs. Each one ranging from different cultures and colours.

"Well these have got to go." Arthur said flatly, gesturing to a particularly spiky model on his dresser. Merlin dropped Arthur's duffel bag onto his side of the room and picked up his dragon effigy protectively.

"No. They're staying." Merlin replied cheerfully, and drew himself to his full height, which was only slightly taller than Arthur. He crossed the room and placed the model down gently next to a framed picture of a mother and her three baby dragons.

"Merlin," Arthur drawled in what he assumed was an authoritative voice. "You cannot expect me to live under these conditions! It's like Game of Thrones in here!"

Exasperated, Merlin laughed, "These are works of art. Drawn and designed by Kilgharrah himself!"

The name held no impact on Arthur, who blinked appropriately.

"Do you know how much money I spent in order to get these all signed? How many nights on eBay to collect all these figures, oh God…"

Upon closer scrutiny Arthur noticed in the corner of each image was a signature, and best wishes from the elusive, Kilgharrah. There must have been seventy images in total. It was a struggle not to start ripping them from the wall on the spot, but that probably wouldn't get him home any faster.

"You are the worst queer I have ever met! You couldn't have been a fashionable one, or one of those dark depressed ones who always wear eye make up." Arthur accused. It almost felt like a personal attack, this boy clearly was going out of his way to take Arthur out of his comfort zone.

"Worst queer?" Merlin repeated, "What kind are you, then, you prat." Merlin challenged, Arthur could see the anger rising inside of the gangly boy. It was evident in the way his fists clenched at his sides, and his voice grew louder with frustration. It was almost amusing, what could Merlin do? Arthur wrestled for God's sake, along with several other sports.

"I'm not queer." Arthur answered with haughty superiority. "Some blokes at my old school thought it would be funny to start vicious rumours. Catholic schools take that serious apparently."

Merlin rolled his eyes, "Right, they sent you here on a hunch."

"This may come as a shock to you, Merlin, but your sarcasm is not appreciated here."

"Prat."

"Bloody idiot."

Both boys took sharp breaths and exhaled loudly, cleansing themselves of their frustration, followed by a moment of silence as they regarded each other from either sides of the room. Arthur folded his arms across his chest, his shoulders straight, taking on what he imagined was an intimidating pose.

"How about…" Merlin said eventually, slowly, painstakingly, "I remove the ones on your side of the room."

It was almost a victory, compromises counted as a victory if it was the opponent asking.

"Fine." Arthur nodded. "Every poster and knick knack!"

The dresser meant for Arthur had been emptied of it's previous contents, and Arthur spent a few minutes shoving his clothing into the drawers haphazardly. Top drawer was for boxers and socks. Second for shirts, third for pants, fourth was for things that didn't fit.

His brown leather jacket was hung off of the desk chair (an on-the-go fellow like Arthur needed his jacket within easy reach. For boring sod's like Merlin the closet worked just fine), and his mouth guard sat on the bureau beside a crude goblet with a dragon going around it and vicious red eyes.

Halfway through the unpacking process, Merlin departed the room, making some fuss about living in a pigsty.

The moment the door closed, Arthur dropped the football magazine he had been placing onto his night table shelf, and scurried across the room. What sort of porn would Merlin be hiding? Some sort of reptilian, playgirl sort of fan-art, perhaps?

"What kind of skeletons do you hide?" Arthur murmured as he kneeled down on the unsanitary blue carpet, and pulled out the drawers beneath Merlin's bed. It was a drawer filled with his undergarments, all black, small, and Calvin Klein. Each of his brief's were identical. His socks came in an array of colours, red, orange, blue, all balled up neatly. There were also two neckerchief's, one red, and the other blue.

As he sifted, he almost gave up when his hand came in contact with a familiar, square object. He pulled out a CD, with a burnt disc inside labelled 140706 scrawled onto it in blue marker. If only Arthur had been allowed to bring his laptop along…

After ten minutes of searching, Arthur realized he probably wouldn't find anything good on Merlin. So he put everything back where he found them and went to his side of the room. The yellow envelope sat on the bed, waiting to be read.

Arthur napped instead, turning off the lights and drowning out the muffled noises behind the door.

At midnight, Arthur woke, drowsily raising his head in a moment of disorientation. He looked up at the ceiling, where someone had used glow in the dark stars to spell out the word 'sin'. Suddenly, Arthur remembered where he was, and glanced across the room, squinting in the darkness to his roommates bed. It was empty.

Where the hell had Merlin gone to?