He walked into the classroom with his shoulders hunched; dark hair falling into his eyes. He took a seat in the back of the room and let out a sigh. Merlin couldn't believe his mother had sent him off to college for his "own good." She knew he had wanted to stay at home, but she wouldn't hear it, and the next thing he knew, he was a thousand miles away at the state's biggest college.
Now Merlin was in a typical college classroom, with about twenty other students. There were only a few minutes left until class started when everyone turned in their seats to look at a commotion coming from the hall.
Suddenly three guys with muscular builds, clearly athletes, walked in, laughing like they had just heard something hilarious. Merlin couldn't help but double take as the third turned, the sunlight glinting off of his golden hair. The other two clearly looked up to him, and sought to make him like them with their jokes and shenanigans.
"All right, all right, settle down, take your seats!" Our professor had just entered the room, hobbling along with a cane and a button down shirt bleached as white as his hair. "I will be your History professor for the year. And as this is a year long class, as opposed to just one semester, I suggest we all get along." He turned and began to write on the whiteboard behind him. "You can call me Mr. G," he said, writing it on the board in precise handwriting.
The class looked half asleep already, and Merlin struggled to avoid nodding off himself; he knew if he didn't keep his grades up he would lose his scholarship. Although he'd love to go home and help his mom out, he wouldn't be able to bear the disappointed look that would be on her face if he went home. She had done everything she could to get Merlin here and give him a future. He wouldn't let her down.
While some of the class dozed off, others were finding ways to entertain themselves. Soon loud snickers were coming from across the room, and Merlin couldn't help but glance over at them.
The blonde boy was trying to hit a girl with a piece of wadded up paper. The girl was obviously very pretty but tried hard not to show it. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, and she wore plain clothes, but she couldn't hide her deep blue eyes or her curvy figure.
Without turning away from the board, Mr. G continued to write out the dates of the important exams on the board, saying. "If that noise does not come to a stop I will have to ask you to leave this class, Mr….?"
Now our professor had turned around and was staring expectantly at the boy, who looked up at him with a smirk. "Pendragon. Arthur Pendragon," he shouted, as if the elderly professor were deaf.
"No need to shout, Mr. Pendragon. I can hear quite well enough. I see it may be necessary to inform you that you will receive no special treatment from me, even if your father is Uther Pendragon."
A gasp ran through the class, and whispers started traveling from desk to desk. Merlin had no idea what it could be about. The name did sound familiar, but he assumed it was just some big, rich name that he would never have had any reason to know. And from what he could tell he didn't want to know Uther Pendragon's son either.
Mr. G hobbled across the classroom to the girl that the blonde, Arthur, had been trying to hit. "Your name, dear?" he questioned.
She looked down at her desk, blushing. "Gwen," she muttered.
"Well, Gwen, I believe you'd quite agree that a change of seating could do this class some good. You can move to that seat over there," he said, gesturing to the desk right next to Merlin. Gwen practically leapt out of her seat, anxious to avoid Arthur and his friends.
When she got to her seat, Gwen took out her notebook and carefully began taking notes. At least someone's taking this seriously, Merlin thought.
The rest of the class passed by slowly, and soon Merlin was walking down the hall, looking at his map to try to find his dorm. History was his only class that day, so he might as well try to get back to his room. He walked across campus, pulling his black beanie down against the wind.
By the time he found his dorm he was freezing in the autumn wind, and hurried inside. But he didn't walk but a few paces before seeing his roommate, Evan, standing in the lobby, surrounded by luggage.
"My mom's sick, I- I have to get back to Minnesota," he stuttered, his voice catching when he said the last word. He stared somberly at the floor, tears threatening to overflow down his cheeks.
Merlin's sea blue eyes filled with compassion. "I understand," he murmured. "I would do anything for my mother. You should get back to her." He helped Evan carry his things out of the dorm and into his car, and Merlin was left standing alone as the only other student he knew drove away.
He would get over his loss. They had only known each other for about a week, but he had been the only person on campus that Merlin knew. At least he would have his room to himself. This was little compensation, but at least it was something.
Slowly, Merlin trudged back inside and to his room, the empty bed beside his leaving a gaping hole in the tiny world he had come to know.
The next morning, Merlin walked into his creative writing class, and was faced with the problem of where to sit. Usually he headed straight for the back, hoping to blend in, but there were only a few seats towards the front open. If only he hadn't stopped for that cup of coffee he would have made it to class earlier.
After hesitating in the doorway for what was verging on an awkward amount of time, he was saved the embarrassment by the girl from his history class, Gwen, who gave him a quick wave and gestured to the seat next to her.
Merlin quickly sat down next to her and pulled out his books, keeping his head down. Gwen was clearly trying to catch his eye, but he didn't want to have to try to find things to say to her. The conversation would probably get awkward and die out before class even began. But Merlin knew he would need friends here if he was going to make it through college. And it wasn't as if tons of people were begging to hang out with him. The only thing he'd said to anyone all day was that he took cream in his coffee.
To say that Merlin didn't have any friends wasn't entirely true, though. He did have friends, back at his high school. He was far from popular, but he always had his friend William, and his girlfriend Freya, but they hadn't spoken in weeks.
William was going to stay and go to the community college in their hometown, and had promised to check in on Merlin's mother every once in awhile, but things had become strained, and they talked very little now.
When Freya and Merlin learned they would be going to different colleges, it didn't take them long to break up. They were reluctant to do it, but both agreed it would be for the best. Merlin had to admit that they weren't much more than friends anyways, and things would just be easier this way.
Now Gwen had stuck her neck out so he would have a seat; the least he could do was introduce himself. He looked up and met her eye, and she immediately grinned from ear to ear.
"I'm Gwen," she said, extending her hand to shake his. "But I guess you already learned that in history, right? I know you remember it."
He stuck out his hand to shake. "Merlin. I'm Merlin," he said, a meek smile transforming his face until it was sweet, practically beaming.
They discussed their history class until the professor came in. They both started furiously taking notes, writing down everything the she said. The reason for this was soon clear; as they packed their things to go after class ended, Gwen turned back to talk to Merlin.
"I hope I got everything she said down. One wrong move and I'll lose my scholarship and be sent home," she said, blushing as if she hated to admit she couldn't afford her education on her own.
"Me too," Merlin said, flashing another smile. He would have to get used to that. "My grades are the only thing keeping me from a life of working at a fast food chain for the rest of my life. If you ever need to borrow notes for anything, just let me know."
"I'll do that," Gwen said with a sigh of relief. "It was nice meeting you!" She waved and left the room.
Merlin was in a great mood the rest of the day, and it only got better when he received a notice that someone would be moving into his room. It would mean less space for him, but at least he might make another friend.
His happiness was short lived, though. He was studying, waiting for his new roommate when suddenly the door was opened with a bang. Merlin glanced up to see who he would be sharing a room with for the rest of the year, and his heart sank. It couldn't be! Merlin could live with anyone but him.
Arthur Pendragon strutted into the room, his smirk replaced with a look of disgust.
"This is where they've sent me? This is even worse than my last room! I thought I asked for something better than this!" Arthur hadn't even glanced at Merlin, and seemed to notice for the first time that he was there.
"Care to help me with this stuff?" he asked, clearly a rhetorical question.
Merlin sighed and left his desk to grab one of his new roommate's boxes. He would just have to make the most of things. After all, this new arrangement probably seemed a lot worse to Arthur than it did to him.
Arthur leaned over to pick up three of the boxes at once, his muscles bulging with the effort, and carried them to his bed. Merlin followed hesitantly, grabbing a small box and carrying it into the room.
They struggled to get all of Arthur's things in, and his stuff took up well more than just his half of the room. This included an extensive trophy collection, each topped with a guy representing a different sport.
"Do you really need to bring all of those? They take up a lot of space," Merlin said as he returned to his desk to resume his studying.
"Of course I need them," Arthur said as he lined up his clothes in his wardrobe. "How else am I supposed to keep up my confidence before games? And it's not my fault if you're bitter about wishing you had brought the rest of your stuff with you."
"Actually, this is everything I own, and it's not my fault if you need some stupid trophies to do well in sports," Merlin said, daring him to come up with something to say to that.
Arthur raised his eyebrows; he couldn't believe Merlin had actually said that to him. "How dare you? I have been training to be an athlete my entire life!"
"Oh, really?" Merlin asked, his contempt for Arthur only building. "And how long have you been training to be a prat?"
That was the last straw. Arthur was staring at Merlin, slack jawed. No one had talked to him like that. Most people either tried to gain his favor and impress him or just stay out of his way.
"What?" Merlin asked. "It's not like I'm exactly happy with this situation either. The least you could do is try not to be a jerk. Then we can both just get through this." Merlin was rather shocked himself. He couldn't believe he'd said those things, but he didn't exactly regret them. There was no way he could let himself be bullied and bossed around by his own roommate for the next year.
Finally reaching a mutual agreement, they each left the other alone for the rest of the night, the tension heavy in the air.