Merlin turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open to his flat. He blinked in the darkness and his eyes gave a sigh of relief after having to process the sharp fluorescent lighting at the hospital for twelve hours. Lacking the energy, he leaned against the wall as he toed off his shoes and he left them in a neat mess just inside the door. With his back to the door, he expertly nudged the door closed with the soft pad of his socked foot and opted against turning on the light. He was half asleep as it was and he just wanted to scarf something down quick before the slumber decided to leave his eyes.
Even in the darkness he felt as if someone held his eyes open and threw sand into them. His feet refused to step properly and he could feel them drag along the hardwood floor. He snorted in the silence when he thought that at least he wouldn't have to sweep tomorrow.
As he passed the hallway to the two bedrooms he peered at one of the bedrooms and noticed the lack of light around the door. It was only 9 at night, not late by any standards, so he wasn't surprised by the lack of a roommate.
"Arthur," Merlin called out as he made his way to the kitchen, using the slight sheen of light coming off the appliances as a beacon, "you home?"
He dropped his bag on one of the kitchen chairs as he passed by on his way to the fridge. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard no reply from Arthur. He didn't mind though, his roommate was a bit of a git. Actually no, that was a lie. He was a huge git that barked out complaints and orders as if Merlin was his butler or something. It was completely insane.
Then again he had moments where it almost seemed as if he had a bit of humanity and compassion hiding behind all the snark. He hid it well though. It was like a skittish mouse that only dared venture out when it was starving, and even then it looked right and left dozens of times to ensure no one saw.
Merlin felt bad for thinking of his roommate like that. Arthur did have his moments; moments that make Merlin look at him as if someone else was controlling his body. The time that Merlin lost his first patient he finished his shift on autopilot and numbly rode the city bus back home. Arthur was sitting on the couch and he said something to Merlin when he came in but Merlin ignored him, he didn't have the strength to verbally spar with Arthur. He walked over to the fridge and went to pull the carafe of water out when he accidentally knocked the carton of eggs to the floor. Arthur said something from the couch but he wasn't paying any mind to him. He stared at the mess at his feet and felt his throat tighten. He couldn't believe it, it was going to be the eggs that sent him over the edge. He crouched down and started scooping the mess in a pile as his tears streamed down and the salt mixed with the eggs.
He only noticed when Arthur was standing in front of him. "Merlin, what did you do now," Arthur asked with a bored sigh, as if throwing eggs on the ground was Merlin's favorite pastime.
Merlin looked up at him, his face wet and pale. The tears stuck to his chin and glimmered on his eyelashes and yellow yolk dripped from his fingers. Arthur lost his look of practised boredom like a mask and he crouched down in front of Merlin, eyebrows pulling together in concern. It was Arthur who gently pushed Merlin into a chair and wiped his sticky fingers with a cool, wet cloth. It was Arthur who put the kettle on and sat with Merlin until he felt like he could breathe again. It was Arthur who simply sat there and didn't demand answers. When Merlin was too exhausted to sit and keep his eyes open Arthur nudged him towards his room and sushed him when he protested that he wanted to clean up the mess.
It was such an un-Arthur thing to do that the next morning when Merlin woke he wondered if he'd dreamed the whole thing. Then as he padded towards the kitchen he smelt the lemon scented soap by the fridge and saw the crushed eggs in the garbage and knew it'd been real.
No, Arthur wasn't a bad person, Merlin thought to himself as he brought himself back to the present. When he let himself just be he wasn't a bad person at all. He opened the fridge and he heard something flutter down. Confused, Merlin turned on the light to find the source and saw a piece of paper resting on the ground by his left foot. He bent down and picked it up. When he flipped it over he saw writing and a picture and he stared at it for a good moment in utter disbelief.
It was a ransom note. It was a bloody ransom note.
You know what you took. Plain and simple, give it back and I'll give you your study book back. You have until tomorrow night or your book might suffer an accidental third degree burn.
Underneath the writing was a picture of Arthur holding his medical textbook. The one for which Merlin had paid £160 pounds: the one that Merlin absolutely needed if he wanted to pass his board certifications to become a doctor.
Merlin took it back. He took it all back. Every last good thought he ever had about Arthur, he took it back. His roommate was a lunatic who blackmailed people with insanely expensive text books. Merlin hadn't even taken anything of his. He would maybe, maybe understand if he had taken something but he hadn't touched anything of Arthur's. He didn't even know what Arthur was missing.
He flicked the note onto the counter and pulled out the makings of a sandwich. He couldn't have just asked me like any other normal roommate, Merlin fumed to himself as he put together his sandwich. Merlin grumbled to himself about clotpoles as he sat and grumpily bit into his sandwich.
The next morning Merlin was awakened by the sound of clattering and running water in the kitchen. The ransom note popped into his head and he angrily jumped out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, not caring that his striped pyjamas and hair that stuck up in all directions were not as intimidating as he'd like.
Arthur was in the kitchen pouring himself coffee when Merlin strode in. He coolly looked up at Merlin's entrance.
"What did you do with it," Merlin asked and tried to mirror Arthur's frosty look.
Arthur took a sip of coffee as if he had all the time in the world. "You stole my line. I'll give you back your text if you give it back to me."
"Arthur, I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to. I didn't take anything."
"Of course you did. Who else would? You're the only roommate I have. Plus you're the only person who knows about them."
"Knows about what?" Merlin shot his hands up in frustration and scratched his head, knowing full well that it made his hair situation even worse.
Arthur took another sip of his coffee. "I guess it's your type of payback for drawing the short straw and having to clean attic but honestly Merlin, this is a little childish."
Childish? My roommate who created a pseudo-ransom note and is holding my study book hostage is calling me childish, Merlin asked himself.
"Just give me my book back, I really need it."
Arthur made a face. "No. Why should I give you your book back when you didn't give my thing back."
Merlin shook his head. "Arthur, I don't even know what your thing is! Just give me my book back."
"No."
"Arthur, I need my text back or I'm going to fail my boards."
"Yeah, well I need my socks back."
Merlin squinted at Arthur. "Socks? Socks?! All this over a pair of socks? Arthur, are you hearing yourself?"
"They're not just ordinary socks, they're my lucky socks," Arthur said, as if that validated his extreme reaction. "The Kicking Knights have a football match tonight and I need my lucky socks and you're the only person who has the opportunity to take them."
"What would I want with your socks? I didn't take your socks, maybe you left them in the locker room after a game. Maybe you left them stuffed into your cleats like you do sometimes. Honestly, I don't give a rat's tail about your socks, give me my textbook back."
"You're not getting your text back until I get my socks back."
"I didn't take your socks so don't wait for me to give them back because that's not going to be happening. I don't know, maybe Gwen took them home with her by accident," Merlin said offhandedly. Merlin sometimes wondered why such a sweet person would willingly agree to be Arthur's girlfriend.
Arthur's face smoothed and for a second Merlin thought Arthur was going to yell at him for bringing Gwen into this but Arthur turned away from Merlin instead. Not before Merlin caught the look that passed over Arthur's face.
"She did take them," Merlin exclaimed. "She took them and you forgot and you thought that I ran around clutching your socks and cackling wildly. You created a blasted ransom note! You couldn't have asked me to my face like a civilized person? You git."
"Oh shut up Merlin," Arthur said still turned away from Merlin so he wouldn't see Arthur's grin.