Since that first night, Arthur and Merlin had learned to live with each other. Or rather they learned to ignore each other and pretend the other was invisible. Arthur just covered his head with a pillow when Merlin left his lamp on to study late into the night, and Merlin simply slipped in earbuds when Arthur's friends, whom he soon learned were called Leon and Percival, came to hang out with Arthur.
These two seemed to be more distressed about Arthur's new living space than he was. Although Merlin tried to ignore them, he still saw some of the contemptful glances they shot in his direction. Arthur appeared to be either used to him by now or didn't even care about him enough to act one way or another.
By far the worst part of living with Arthur was the smell. After long hours at the gym, he would come back soaked in sweat and smelling like the inside of a locker room. Finally one day Merlin broke their usual rule of silence, and asked him why he worked so hard to be in shape.
"I have to stay at the top of my game if I'm going to do well at this Friday's game. My Father wouldn't exactly approve if I didn't make any touchdowns," he responded.
"You look like you're in okay shape to me," Merlin said. This wasn't entirely true. Merlin thought Arthur looked like he was in excellent shape, but there was no way he'd inflate his ego anymore by telling him that. "Do you even enjoy working out?"
"It doesn't matter if I like it or not. With a father like mine you learn to just accept that you're going to either become a winner or die trying."
"Why's everyone all worked up about your dad, anyways?"
"Don't you know?" Arthur asked, shocked. "Well, I guess you wouldn't," he added with a roll of his eyes. "He's the school's head football coach."
Now it made sense. The gasps, the whispers, the way everyone treated Arthur like he was royalty. Merlin couldn't imagine growing up with a coach for a dad, but he didn't know much about father son relationships anyways. "Well at least your dad thought you were a good enough reason for him to stick around," he said, any pity he had for Arthur dwindling. "And what about your mom? Surely she's not so bad."
"You sure ask a lot of questions, can't you just read you're stupid books and study with your girlfriend?" Arthur said, suddenly defensive.
Any thought about why Arthur had dodged the question so quickly left Merlin's mind when he considered this. "My girlfriend?" Merlin asked, confused. Arthur couldn't be talking about Freya, no one here knew about her.
"You know. Gwen." Arthur was trying to act like he didn't care, but something was obviously getting to him.
"Gwen isn't my girlfriend. We're just friends," Merlin explained. He had been spending a lot of time studying on the grounds with Gwen, but he had never noticed her admittedly attractive appearance. Arthur, it seemed, definitely had.
"Hmph," Arthur didn't seem convinced. "Don't know how you even managed that one," he muttered.
"Oh, I get it," Merlin started, "You're just jealous that I'm friends with Gwen. Well it may have escaped your notice but not everyone thinks you're so great."
"I am not jealous," Arthur said, not meeting Merlin's eyes. "I just don't know why anyone would want to be friends with you."
"Hah, you are jealous!" Merlin exclaimed. "You just can't stand that someone likes me better than you!"
Arthur was suddenly sullen, and pretended he couldn't hear Merlin's jeering.
"Fine, fine," Merlin said. "I didn't mean to upset you. I can introduce you two if you really want me to. I just can't promise that she'll want to talk to you."
Arthur turned around suddenly, finally meeting Merlin's gaze. "Why would you do that?" he asked, his blue eyes searching Merlin's for the answer. Merlin was suddenly very aware of how small the room was.
"Well it obviously matters to you," Merlin said, annoyed that now he was the one trying not to make eye contact. He rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. "I guess it's just the nice thing to do. And I also wouldn't mind seeing you get rejected by Gwen."
Arthur was again staring at Merlin, exasperated. "I don't understand you," he said.
"I'm just trying to be nice!" Merlin explained. "Neither of us wants to be in this situation, but the least we could do is learn to get along."
Arthur turned around, a look of deep thought on his face that Merlin had never seen before. Merlin waited for a response, but it never came.
At least not a verbal response, but he couldn't help but notice that Arthur responded in his own way. The next time Percival loudly complained about Arthur having to share a room, and with a nerd, Arthur shoved him and gave him a pointed look.
Maybe things won't be so bad after all, Merlin thought with a small smile.
"What?! Why would I do that?" Gwen asked, looking up from her books to stare at Merlin with a face of incredulity. She wasn't taking to the idea of meeting Arthur as much as Merlin had hoped.
"Please, Gwen. He's finally started treating me like a human being! I told him I'd introduce you two."
Merlin and Gwen were sitting on a bench outside on the campus grounds, looking over their notes and trying to prepare for their upcoming test. Merlin was freezing in the October wind, but Gwen always insisted on studying outside. She said she felt more alive when she wasn't in a stuffy classroom, but Merlin thought the cold air just helped her to not fall asleep when reading the long history passages assigned by Mr. G.
Now Gwen crossed her arms and turned away from him. "I'm not talking to Arthur. Don't you remember the time his friends were whistling at me the other day in the dining hall?"
"Well that was just Arthur's friends, wasn't it? He almost looked sorry they were doing it. I really don't think he's as bad as the other jocks. He just has to act like a jerk to impress his friends. Not to mention his dad," Merlin said.
"I can't believe you're defending him!" Gwen exclaimed, all pretenses of studying lost. "You're delusional if you think he's anything but an egotistical snob."
"Fine. Then at least do it for me so that he won't treat me like garbage," Merlin begged. Gwen could be stubborn, but she also had a big heart. Merlin hoped that this would be one scenario where her heart won.
Gwen sighed dramatically. "Alright. But I'm just meeting him. I don't have to be nice."
Merlin grinned triumphantly. Now the only problem was finding a place to set up his best friend with the college's golden boy.
It had never occurred to Merlin what would happen if Arthur and Gwen actually ended up hitting it off as Arthur hoped. He certainly wouldn't be pleased. Gwen was his best friend. If she sided with his obnoxious roommate he'd be all alone again. College would take on a darker hue if he wasn't spending his days studying outside with Gwen.
But of course none of these thoughts crossed his mind. Why would Arthur, who was spoiled, selfish, and rude have any appeal at all to someone like Gwen, who was compassionate, warm, and generous?
One thought that did cross Merlin's mind was how hilarious it would be to watch Gwen crush Arthur's ego like a bug. It was because of this that Merlin wanted them to meet someplace where a lot of people would be watching. He thought this would be a nice way to give Arthur a dose of humility and in turn make Arthur treat Merlin better.
Finally, the day had come and Merlin was walking into the dining hall where he was supposed to meet Gwen and Arthur. It was just before noon, so the place was already pretty full. Merlin tried to suppress an evil cackle, but he just couldn't help himself when he thought about how crestfallen Arthur would be. He felt a twinge of guilt at this, remembering the times Arthur had stopped his friends' teasing, but it was quickly forgotten when he spotted Arthur sitting across the dining hall with his legs propped up on a table, lounging like he owned the place.
With a roll of his eyes Merlin approached him, ignoring the crowd of jocks around Arthur.
"Well Gwen's not here yet but she should be soon," Merlin said, turning his head to glance at the clock.
It was good he had turned his head at that moment, because a football suddenly sailed towards him, hitting him on the jaw and narrowly missing his face. It was clear from the snickering coming from the jocks that it wasn't an accident.
"Hey, watch it! He's here to do me a favor. If you've got a problem with him, take it up with me!" Arthur was scowling, his muscles tense. "Now scram, I don't want you scaring off my date!"
They all cleared out, grumbling to themselves. Clearly humiliating Merlin wasn't worth losing the favor of their coach's son.
Arthur turned to Merlin with a grimace, saying, "Sorry about them. They don't know when to quit."
"Oh, it's okay. I'm used to it anyways. On the bright side, they didn't think to throw food at me," Merlin said with a shrug. "Ah, there's Gwen."
Merlin stood up to greet Gwen and guided her back to the table. "Well, Arthur, this is Gwen, Gwen this is Arthur. You two have fun!"
Merlin walked away and very conspicuously circled back around the dining hall so that he was only a few tables away from theirs'. From there he could hear everything that was being said. With the subtlety of an elephant in an ant farm he pretended to read a book, peaking over the edges every once in awhile.
At one point, Gwen laughed and nodded at something Arthur said, turning around to find Merlin staring right at her. She gave a quick wave and turned back around to talk. They talked. And they talked. A half hour turned into an hour and Merlin quickly grew bored of listening to their silly small talk. Gwen had yet to call Arthur a self-righteous pig, or anything along those lines, and Arthur hadn't sad anything callous or rude the entire time. At this rate, he would lose his only friend for sure.
Just when Merlin was about to give up and leave, a devastatingly handsome, but admittedly geeky, guy with dark, curly hair suddenly stood in front of him."Do you mind if I sit here? I saw you get hit with that ball earlier. It looked pretty rough." The boy took a seat without waiting for a response. Sticking his hand out to Merlin's, he said, "I'm Lancelot, by the way."
Merlin grinned and shook the hand extended to him. "Nice to meet you, Lancelot. I'm Merlin."