Title: Roomies

Author: Forensic Fan '93

Beta: N/A

Genre: Friendship

Characters: Merlin, Hunith, Lancelot, Arthur, Morgana

Mentioned: Balinor, Gwen, Mordred, Gwaine

Pairing: Merlin/Arthur pre-slash, pre Gwen/Lancelot

Set After: AU

A/N: As I was driving up to college this little plot bunny hit me. My roomie and I danced around each other for a bit, neither one of us getting up the courage to email each other. Finally, my sister gave me a swift kick in the ass from Holland and told me to get my head out of my arse and email her. I did. A quick friendship formed. In this, Merlin and company live in Washington. Merlin is in Vancouver, Washington and Arthur is in Seattle, Washington, which mirrors my roomie and me. But, it does differ in the fact, that while Merlin is gay, I am not. My roommate is happily dating her boyfriend in the long distance relationship she's in and we are in no way interested in each other. Just thought I'd make that clear.

Word Count: 3,443

Warning: Stolen line from S.1E.1. Spot it, and tell me, and you get a virtual Piña Colada Rum cookie. And if you're under 18, you'll get a chocolate chip cookie.

Summary: From when Merlin gets his acceptance letter to the day he gets his roommate assignment to the day he moves in, he never thought it would turn out like this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin. I don't even own the college that Merlin and co are going to! In fact, that college owns my soul now.

February, 2011

"Merlin!" his mother called, coming into the house. "You've got mail!" To anyone who didn't know her, Hunith Emrys' voice would have sounded calm. But her son, Merlin, could hear the tiny bits of anxiety in her voice.

He tore out of the living room, where he and their foreign exchange student brother, Lancelot (who preferred Lance) were studying for their midterms. "Which one?" he asked, almost breathless with apprehension tingeing his words.

Wordlessly, she handed him the letter. It was from CWU. It was his top choice school if only because they offered the programs he needed for his magic and for his pre-medicine work. He grabbed the letter opener they kept on the counter for bills and other letters that sometimes made their way to the Emrys household.

Hunith smiled at her son, silently urging him to open it.

Lance moved into the kitchen from the living room to watch his brother open the letter that would decide Merlin's fate.

Merlin slipped the letter open into the fold that held it closed and started to tear. It was nerve racking, watching him move so slow.

Hunith wrung her hands. "Oh do hurry up, Merlin!"

The boy in question paused. "Do we want to wait for Dad?" he asked.

Lance sighed, rolled his eyes and said, "Merlin, open it before I open it for you. Now."

Merlin rolled his own eyes at his exchange brother and stuck his tongue out at him. He ripped the rest of the letter open and pulled out the letter.

"'Dear Merlin Emrys,'" he read aloud to the room that held its bated breath. "'We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Central—' Yes! I got in!"

Hunith breathed out a sigh of relief, and lunged forward to hug her son. "Oh, Merlin, that's wonderful!"

As soon as Hunith released Merlin, Lance pulled him into another hug. "That's great mate," he said, voice gruff.

Merlin could already hear Hunith moving around their study materials in the living room, grabbing the nearest phone and calling her husband, Balinor. "Oh, Balinor! Great news! Merlin got in!"

June, 2011

Hunith snapped pictures of Merlin alone, Merlin and Lance, Merlin and Balinor, Lance and Balinor, Lance and his parents (who had traveled over from England to see their son 'graduate' American high school), and Lance alone, as they were getting ready to go over to Albion High to graduate.

Balinor gently pulled the camera out of his wife's hands and smiled at his son, and the young man he had come to love as a son. "Go on," Balinor said. "You have to get going otherwise you'll be late."

Merlin smiled at his dad. "When am I ever late?"

Balinor raised an eyebrow. "Need I pull up your attendance record, son?"

The black haired boy blushed slightly. "No."

"That's what I thought."

Hunith ushered the boys outside to the detached garage, where Merlin parked his '03 Ford Ranger.

An hour later, Hunith, Balinor, and Lance's parents were seated, watching their sons walk forward towards each other, and then together to their seats.

The two sets of parents waited for the other student's names to be called, seeing as Lance was the first person on the second row, and Merlin was right next to him.

"Merlin Balinor Emrys," Gaius read from his list. He was also Hunith's much older brother, and the superintendent of Merlin's school district.

The older man smiled at his nephew and whispered, "Good luck, m'boy."

Merlin hugged his councilor, Grunhilda, his favorite teacher, Mr. Muirden, and shook hands with his principal, Mr. Kilgharrah. Kilgharrah said, "And now, you're off to meet your destiny, young warlock. Remember, the half cannot hate that which makes it whole."

The black haired boy brushed off Kilgharrah's words. The man was scaly and kind of creepy.

Lance was waiting for him at the end of the line, moving with him. "Happy, mate?"

Merlin grinned at him. "You have no fucking idea, man."

He caught sight of his parents, Lance's parents, and his random relatives that had showed up. "No fucking idea," he repeated.

Late June, 2011

Merlin's phone went off at 7:30, jolting him and his temporary roommate out of their sleep. "Shit, man," Gwaine said, "what the fuck is that thing?"

The boy in question rolled over, groaned, and pulled his pillow over his head. "Shoot me now. Orientation starts as soon as we walk out this door."

Both young men were attending Central's Discover! part of the orientation process. "We get our roommate assignments," Gwaine agreed, covering his own head. Though that might have been from the hangover he was currently sporting.

Merlin smirked. "I'm going to go get signed in. Have fun!" he singsonged, already slipping out of bed.

"Fuck off, man," Gwaine grumbled.

The black haired young man grabbed his tooth brush, tooth paste and his shaving kit and left the room, headed for the bathroom.

After getting ready for the day, Merlin slipped back into the room, grabbed his keys and moved back out, trying to hit anything in his already clumsy state.

He met Hunith in the SURC half an hour later. Merlin was already munching on a bagel and sipping at the crap coffee provided.

Hunith slid into the seat opposite him and said, "Got your paperwork then?"

Merlin glanced up and nodded, sliding her portion of it over. "Already got my Connection Card and everything," he said sliding it across to her, as he continued reading whatever pamphlet that had been shoved at him. The sight of Wellington Wildcat dancing on the cover had been enough to make Merlin snort and roll his eyes.

"Got your room assignment?" Hunith asked.

Merlin slid another piece of paper that was laying in front of him across to his mother. Balinor was working, so he hadn't been able to attend, but Hunith had.

"'Sparks Hall'," she said, looking at the half sheet. "'Arthur Pendragon', and it gives you his cell number and everything."

Merlin glanced up. "Yeah." He wiggled his iPhone in her face. "I already looked him up on facebook and he seems an utter prat. Facebook stalking is a wonderful thing."

Hunith rolled her eyes. "Well, you know you'll be on the second floor then," she said, ignoring her son's doom and gloom attitude about the young man in question.

He slid his phone over. "Here's his picture, Mom," he said.

Hunith glanced at it. There was her son's roommate, blonde, blue eyed, handsome, and wearing a suit. She flipped through some of the other pictures he kept on as his old profile pictures. One of him playing soccer, another playing football, and another with a gorgeous dark haired young woman on his arm. Both were dressed to the nines in the current one. The caption read, "Morgana and I going to the charity ball for Camelot Inc. Gotta please the pater, right?" She clicked on the comments.

The first comment was, "Wow, Arthur, you and Morgs look absolutely stunning there! Give her all my love while I'm in England!" It was from pretty dark haired woman named Guinevere Smith. The next was, "Dam, ur sis luks grate 2nite!" Arthur had commented on that one. "Gwen, thank you and I'll let Morgana know. John, go to hell and stay away from my sister."

Hunith looked up. "He doesn't look too bad, love," she said.

Merlin groaned and thumped his head on the table.

July, 2011

"Merlin, mate, I love you like a brother, but stop being a stubborn arse and just email the bloke! He really can't be that bad!" Lance said to his webcam. He and Merlin were skyping to catch up on what had been happening in Washington State since the young man had left.

Merlin put his face in his hands. "I'm sure he can be… But, fine. Give me a sec to email him."

He opened his school email and typed in pendragona cwu. edu into the sent bar. He put "Hi" into the subject bar.

He read aloud as he typed. "Hi, my name is Merlin Emrys and I'm to be your roommate here in the upcoming school year. Email me, and my brother Lancelot hacked my facebook and added you because I didn't. Sorry about that—"

"Oi!" Lance said. "No need to tell him that!"

Merlin ignored him. "—it wasn't my fault. So, yeah, email me. Merlin"

He hit sent and continued talking to his brother.

Merlin received and email not two minutes later. "RE: Hi". "Oh my god," he said. "Lance, he emailed me back."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Well? Read it to me!"

"Hi, Merlin (Is that seriously your name or are you just playing tricks on me?), my name, as you obviously already know, is Arthur. You mentioned a brother, Lancelot. Really? Do you parents just love the Arthurian legends or something? I have a half sister, named Morgana. I guess I can't talk. My dad's name is Uther, so he can't talk either. So, yeah, I added you on facebook. Talk to you there I guess. Arthur."

Merlin closed down Lance's screen part way so he could still talk to him and see him, but keep an eye on his facebook at the same time.

He saw that Arthur was online, so he pulled up a conversation with the man who was to be his roommate and went about facebook stalking him. 'No, Lance really isn't my brother. He was our foreign exchange student for the year from England. He's practically my brother though.'

"How's the girl living in your house then?" Merlin asked, glancing through some of the pictures that was of Arthur, the gorgeous dark haired woman who just might have been enough to turn Merlin straight.

Lance glanced around as facebook dinged, informing him he had message. "She's bloody brilliant, mate," Lance said. "God, she's gorgeous."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, because girls are so aesthetically pleasing to me."

'So you're really named Merlin?' was the written response.

'Yes, I am. Let me guess, you're named after Prince Arthur, and your sister is named after Morgan le Fay?"

':S Yes. What are some of your hobbies? :)' Arthur asked.

Lance took Merlin's silence as a good thing. "Well?" he asked. "He the decent sort?"

Merlin glanced at the webcam. He grinned. "I think he might be." 'Um, reading, writing, science, idk.'

'That's helpful, man.'

Lance moved closer to the computer screen. "Mate, I'm gonna leave you. It's 6ish here. I have work in an hour. Wish me luck mate. I'm going to get mauled."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "By sweet old ladies and their motorized vehicles? Yeah, doubt it. See you, Lance."

"Ta."

'Sorry, I was saying night to Lance.'

'…Lancelot duLac?' was the written response.

Merlin stared at the screen, and blinked. 'Maybe.'

'My sister's best friend is staying with a family called the duLac's. She's done nothing but gush about their son, Lancelot, whenever she and Morgana talk.'

'Lance has done nothing but gush about the girl who's living with them, Gwen Smith.'

'! Dude, what are the odds? You and I are roommates and my sister's best friend and your exchange brother are exchange siblings. How fucked up is that?' Arthur typed.

Merlin slammed his head into his hands. "Great. Just fucking great."

Hunthi poked her head in. "Keep it down, Merlin. What's wrong?"

Her son rolled his eyes. "Lance's exchange sister is my roommate's sister's best friend."

Mrs. Emrys threw back her head and laughed. "Oh my, that is a coincidence. I'll leave you to it then."

"Thanks, Mom."

'Dude, you there?'

'Sorry, mate. Mom was talking to me. Moms. Know what I mean?'

'Actually, my mom died giving birth to me.'

Merlin stared at the screen. "Oh, shit…" He quickly typed, 'Damn, man, I'm sorry, I didn't know.'

'Merlin (if that's even your real name), you met me what, ten minutes ago? How the hell would you know that?'

'It is too my real name! Merlin Balinor Emrys, thank you very much.'

'Arthur Matthew Pendragon. So what do you like to read?' Arthur was clearly changing the subject, but Merlin was okay with that.

'Anything from sci-fi fantasy (heavy on the fantasy) to murder mysteries to anything. But I mostly stick to sci-fi fantasy.'

'Favorite sci-fi book?' Arthur asked.

Merlin stared for a sec. He really didn't have a favorite. 'Um, tough question. Asimov's shorts were good. The Miles series is a good one. Do you like to read?'

'Surprisingly, yes. My godfather turned me onto the Miles series. But I lean towards fantasy. Eragon is my favorite. Favorite fantasy book?'

'Ha! My Uncle Gaius turned me onto the Miles series. Eargon is actually my favorite as well.'

'…'

'what?'

'Gaius Bellinger?'

'How'd you know my uncle's name?'

'He's my godfather.'

Merlin blinked. 'Okay, dude, this is kinda creepy and fucked up.'

'Tell me about it.'

The boy moved his mouse over the "What's on your mind?" box and typed, "I am officially convinced that CWU is stalking me. Why? My roommate, that's why. Arthur Pendragon and I have way too much in common for this to be purely coincidence."

'Anyway, hoping not to find anymore creepy coincidences like that…'

He received the notification that Arthur liked his status, and commented, "Just a bit, man, just a bit."

They chatted for hours about books, which turned to movies, which turned to dorm supplies, and who would bring what. It was just turning 3am, when Balinor stuck his head into his son's room. "Merlin? You're still up?" He was dressed and ready for his work.

Merlin looked over his shoulder at his father. "Yeah, sorry. Arthur and I were just finishing up this conversation. I'm going to bed in a few minutes."

'hey, Arthur, my dad's making me go to bed. Here's my number. 5035554568. Text me in the morning dude.'

'night'

September 1st, 2011

'you ready mate?' Lance asked over facebook.

"No," Merlin muttered, while scrolling down the page. 'hell fuckin no' he typed back.

'haha, get over it. You packing yet?'

Merlin rolled his eyes as Arthur messaged him.

'hola.'

'hi, Arthur.'

'how was your day?' He was ignoring the blinking message from Lance.

'Eh, not bad. Morgana is bitching about how unfair life is because she can't get hold of Gwen. You online with Lancelot?'

Merlin grinned. 'Well, sorta, ish. He's sorta falling asleep over there.'

He could almost picture the gorgeous prat rolling his eyes. 'Typical. Ready for move-in in 16 days?'

'15 for me. We're going up the night before hand because no way in hell am I getting up at 3 to be out of the house by 5 to be at sparks by 830. Hell no', Merlin groused.

Arthur typed back, 'haha, well I am. But then I'm a two hour drive not a four hour drive.'

Merlin put his head in his hands. 'how was interning this summer?'

'I was about ready to kill the person I was shadowing by the end of it. I'm so happy it's over', Arthur said.

'Why?'

'because the idiot didn't know how to do his job, and I ended up following morgana and her person because the fool didn't know what he was doing.'

'Which was…? Jeez, Arthur, getting you to talk is like pulling teeth!'

Arthur responded with, 'well, sorry man.'

And that seemed the end of that particular conversation. 'what's your major again?' Merlin typed out the question.

'business, and international relations. Yours?'

'pre-med.' Merlin couldn't exactly tell him about the magic one. 'maybe bio if I want to do summer school one year.'

'*nods* understandable. We're in room 211, right?'

'Yeah. Why?'

'the pater is asking.'

"Merlin!" Hunith called. "Dinner!"

'brb. Dinner. Mom's calling.'

'ttyl'

Merlin left his room and went into the kitchen. "What are we having?" he asked, sliding into his seat at the table next to his mother.

"Meat loaf," Balinor answered. "Or were you so obsessed with talking to your roommate that you didn't smell it cooking?"

The youngest Emrys blushed. "Sorry, dad. And I was talking to Lance as well."

Hunith looked at him. "What is he doing up that late?"

"Doesn't have work tomorrow," Merlin said. "Because he has school in two days."

Both of his parents nodded. They served themselves and tucked into Balinor's cooking.

"Finishing up packing?" Hunith asked her son.

Merlin nodded around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. He swallowed and said, "All I have left is whatever else we buy and then clothes."

After supper, Merlin moved his computer out to the living room, to watch the news with his parents, and catch up with the magic users he had met online that were going to CWU also. He chatted with Morgana leFay, whom he thought was quite pretty, except he was gay.

Just as he's about to shut down, facebook dings to him that Arthur had sent him a message. It was becoming like a nightly ritual. Sometimes Merlin would feel the need to talk, and sometimes it was Arthur. But it never failed to bring a smile to Merlin's face. Arthur's prattish ways always made him smile and happy.

'hey'

'hey' Merlin responded.

'what's up?' Arthur typed back immediately.

'not much. Talked to a friend of mine. Getting stalked by another 'friend'.'

There was a pause.

'Stalker?' Arthur asked. Merlin liked to imagine Arthur being as nervous about that as he was himself.

'Don't ask, dude,' Merlin typed. 'just don't ask.'

His phone rang, and Merlin picked up without looking at the name. "Hello?"

"You are going to be my roommate," Arthur's voice said. "I'm going to ask. So tell me. Now."

Merlin shivered. His voice was wonderful to listen to. "Who do you think you are? The king?"

"No, I'm his son, Arthur," the blonde prat replied.

The black haired boy snorted. "Of course you are. And it's nothing to worry about. It's just a guy who thinks I like him. I really don't."

"Do I need to run this mofo over with my car?" Arthur asked, voice getting deeper, the more protective he was getting.

Merlin shivered again. "No, please don't. I don't want my roomie in jail before we even get to school?"

The blonde asked, "What's his name?"

He thought to Mordred and how his fellow warlock was going to the same school he was. Merlin sighed mentally. He didn't want to tell Arthur, because Arthur would make him keep a knife on him at all times, even when he was sleeping.

"Don't worry about it, Arthur. I promise you, I'm fine."

Arthur sighed, knowing this was going to be the only one he would lose.

"Fine."

September 16th, 2011

"And you can check in in the lobby and they'll take you to your room," the lady said to Merlin, as his parents sat in the car behind him. "Make sure you have your Connection Card!" she said, smiling.

Merlin smiled and nodded. "Thanks." He left her standing there, with his parents, who were waiting to move for the Movers and Shakers to get to his car.

He followed an RA up to his room on the second floor. She walked him through the process of signing in and everything. She handed him his keys and left. The ROTC (with many hot guys in uniform, Merlin noted, trying not to drool) men and women dropped his stuff off. Said stuff was followed shortly by parents.

Balinor said nothing, only started handing stuff to Merlin to put away in drawers. Hunith tackled the bed, putting the sheets on. "Remember, Merlin luv, you can't just snap your fingers here. There's no telling how Uther Pendragon's son will react to magic."

Merlin nodded, to show he was listening, when in reality he was still putting school supplies away in his drawers.

He had all of his clothes put away, the sheets on his bed, and school supplies neatly tucked away when the same hot ROTC guys came in with another load of stuff. Merlin assumed this was Arthur's things.

He felt his heart flutter in his chest. This was it. He was going to hear Arthur's voice and really connect it to a face for the very first time. He turned to his bed, straightening the blanket.

A blonde haired young man came into the room and just kept stared at Merlin. Luckily, none of the parents noticed. Well, except perhaps Hunith, but she kept to herself on that one.

"Merlin," he said.

The young man in question whipped around. "Arthur."

A small smile graced both of their faces.