Idiot

An Arthur/Merlin fic.

Warning: No beta. All mistakes are my own.

Rating: PG

Prologue

By age five my hair was so unbearably long I was being teased for it. I didn't know why but it always seemed to want to outgrow me. It wouldn't have been so bad or noticeable if I wasn't so clumsy. My friends were numbered because of this. My mum always used to pull me out of class at the end of the day with the same question, "What's the damage today Merlin?". I still can't say I blame her.

Guinevere was my first catastrophe. Mr Iddon never exactly liked me anyway so I wasn't surprised when he picked on me for handing the books out. We were reading 'The Magic Key' books and I always found them excruciatingly boring. I scrambled my way through the class to the back to pick up the books and started to hand them out. I'd managed to get up to the letter 'F' in the class successfully so I thought I was having a good day. I walked over to Guinevere with her book and was about to hand it to her when the brat of a kid Lancelot decided he was going to sit on the floor by her chair. That was when she smiled at me which was so unusual she must have thought I was being rude by the expression on my face. I didn't realize Lancelot was there at the time and managed to kick him in the face and knock Guinevere off her chair with a mountain of books all over her. My cheeks flushed a scarlet red as I made a feeble attempt of freeing her from the mountain of books I caused. The entire class was laughing at me making me blush deeper red. Mr Iddon didn't seem to find the funny side of it though and I had detention the rest of the week. Needless to say, I never was put on book duty again.

I was always different, never seeming to fit in anywhere I went. My mum used to say it was because I was 'special' but I always knew it wasn't that.. I must have a mental deficiency of some sort. I mean, how many kids can make their literacy book turn to the right page without opening it and then when anyone annoys them make their book turn into a water gun which didn't need aiming or firing? I always thought my mum knew what I really was and was just afraid to tell me the truth. Turns out for once I was exactly right. I knew what I truly was. I was magic.

By the time I was ten I could control my inner self more – not completely though, I was still a klutz. My hair was still ridiculously long and my cheek bones were beginning to become more predominant losing my youthful chubbiness. My eyes were amazing as I began to take more notice of myself. Every time I did something unusual my eyes would turn a beautiful murky gold colour which seemed to be unique to me. I'd made friends eventually with two people who, a a few years ago, I never dreamed of even looking at in fear of embarrassment – Guinevere and Lancelot. They were good friends and always stuck by me - even if they still made fun of me which, the majority of the time they did to my face. Amazing taste in people I seem to have.

When I moved up into secondary school I had found myself. I went to the same school as Gwen and Lancelot so I wasn't worried about losing my friends. Luckily enough I ended up in the same form as Gwen and Lancelot so I didn't have to worry about strangers that much either. School days were longer and I didn't enjoy having to familiarise myself with a new school and with my track record I knew I was going to end up with some accidents. This time I prayed the accidents were just me slipping over or something.. I didn't want anyone else to end up involved and with my 'abilities' my Mum recommended finding a place where I could do my magic without anyone else finding out because it was just going to be our little secret.

Years began to pass like days – full speed ahead. I felt so useless at school even though I was thought upon as a 'nerd' at school. The one thing I took from Mr Iddon was reading even though 'The Magic Key' books were a little beneath me now. I used to write stories about witches and vampires, a reality into which I could fit without feeling out of place with terrors worse than myself. By the time I was fifteen I knew I was going to have to protect my magic. I had to keep the magic secret.