Title: Gilded
Rating: T
Timeframe/Info About This Fic: Definite AU; Takes place in a nameless city, and we'll have to see how realistic it is xD
Disclaimer: BBC owns Merlin. This is only a way to express my love for a certain pale warlock, creatively with no profit.
Authors Note: Haha! Chapter one! Prepared yourselves for poential OOCness due to the fact that I have no idea how to write these guys modernly. Thanks to Darkmiror and Merthurfan1 for leaving such awesome reviews :D I promise to update Targeted and Stoned soon (probably one of them by Sunday) and I might have another multi chap story up by next week. Arrghhh! I know... But guys... I can't stop all these ideas o.O

"Name?"

"Um, Merlin…?"

"Last name."

The boy glanced away self-consciously, looking anywhere but the plump secretary in front of him. She glanced over her horn-rimmed spectacles, taking the entire boy in with one wide sweep of her gaze.

"Your last name, dear. What is it?"

Merlin chewed the corner of his lip, trying to decide which of the many names he should use. "Well, uh, I guess it would be Morgan."

One of the secretary's thin eyebrows rose. How on earth this child was able to enroll in high school when he didn't know his last name was beyond her. "Was it that hard of a question, hun?"

The pale teenager gave her a wry expression. "It's complicated."

The secretary dug through her files for the new students, successfully finding one labeled with Morgan, Merlin. Although it really wasn't any of her business, she flipped it open, scanning a few lines in the boy's strangely thin file. One of the only papers she could find in the manila folder was a long sheet from his case worker.

Merlin has traveled to many foster homes, five in the past year.

The lady looked back up, scrutinizing the boy again. Merlin was standing perfectly still, studying the dust particles floating around his shoes with extreme interest. He looked anything but a menace to society, and he certainly did not look like someone who needed a case worker. She wanted to ask why he had "traveled" around so often, but already she knew she was invading his privacy. However, this did not stop her from returning to his case worker's report.

He is neither a violent nor aggressive boy. However, his foster parents all list complaints of the same thing. They claim the boy is cursed, and yet they cannot come up with proof.

What does that mean? The secretary, who was quite a superstitious lady, quickly slammed the folder shut, and pushed it away. "Yes, Merlin, all of your papers seem to be in order."

The boy watched her, a faintly confused expression on his face. The secretary had only asked him for his name, and the file that she had read had only be his foster folder—something that Merlin was very well acquainted with. Even though he hadn't given the appearance of paying attention, the boy had watched everything with a close eye. The prying woman in front of him never ever touched a paper that mentioned his new school.

"I had to check to make sure you were you," the secretary added unhelpfully. He nodded slowly as a handbook and a schedule was thrust at him. Fumbling to catch them without spilling everything else he was carrying, he thanked the secretary for her time, and backed out of the office. He stood, completely dumbstruck in the empty hallway, wondering just what he was supposed to do next or where he was supposed to go.

Just then, the bells from homeroom exploded around him, dragging him from his dazed thoughts and throwing him mercilessly back into reality. The boy jumped, pressing himself against the walls as students poured from the open classrooms and milled through the tight corridor. It wasn't as if Merlin had never been in a high school before, but the loud shouting and the overpowering scent of cologne and perfume would always catch him off guard the first time, every time.

"Get out of my way," a blonde snarled as he pushed himself by the boy. Merlin hit the back of his head against a locker in the rush to get away from the thick boy who had taken up most of the hall with his equally thick entourage. All of them were wearing the same red and gold jackets with tiny emblems on the upper chest pocket. Merlin couldn't see what they were, but he had a feeling the little insignia was for the school, and the boys who had walked by were members of his new school's football team.

The royalty of the school, Merlin sighed. He knew enough about high schools to typecast. More complaints and conversations filled the hallway. The boy strained to hear just a few of them.

"…and it only cost me $303…"

"…if he wasn't such a complete ass…"

"…how'd you do on Mr. G's elements test…"

Soon the bits and snatches of chatter became too much for the boy, each new piece of gossip causing his head to spin. He waited for the chaotic din of the hallway to settle down before glancing at his new schedule. Now would be… he paused, second period…? Glancing from the electronic clock above him and back down to the schedule in his pale hands, he nodded.

Chemistry, with Mr. Gaius. Merlin pursed his lips together. Is it possible that "Mr. G" is Mr. Gaius? Merlin shrugged.

I don't know why they put me in Chemistry. I've already taken it. Again the boy shrugged. What does it matter? He asked himself. I'll just have an easy science class this year. He looked back at the number, thankfully assuming that it was a ground floor class. Tucking the schedule back in his bag so to not look like a completely new student, he set off towards Room 101 with a prepared-for-anything smile.

It turned out that Room 101 was most definitely not a ground floor room. And it wasn't easy to find either. After running into two people in the hall—a boy with quite a good bit of hair already, who pointed him in the direction of the janitor's closet, and a dark skinned girl with a warm smile, who actually gave him the right directions—Merlin finally made it to Mr. Gaius's third floor room, forty-five minutes late to second period. He burst into the room, panting slightly.

For a moment, the classroom was completely silent. Then a few snickers echoed around the room, causing Merlin's wide ears to burn furiously. The loudest guffaws were coming from the boy who had given Merlin the bad directions fifteen minutes earlier.

The teacher at the front of the classroom blinked when Merlin burst into his room. "Excuse me…?"

"Sorry…" he murmured. "I'm new…" He shuffled towards the teacher, keeping his head down. Because he was focusing so closely on his feet, he jarred his hip against one of the island lab tables, sending it skidding a few inches across the floor. The table's occupant, a gorgeous blonde girl, narrowed her heavily made-up eyes at the boy.

"Watch it, you klutz," she hissed.

More laughs, louder this time, sounded. Merlin's entire face flushed a violent shade of red, and all he wanted to do was crawl into a cave and hide. He all but threw his paper at Mr. Gaius, still refusing to look up at the teacher. He assumed the adult got the paper, since it left his hand and didn't hit the floor, which Merlin was scrutinizing with care.

"Well, Mr. Merlin, second period started forty-five minutes ago. You're a bit late."

Merlin peeked quickly at the teacher, waiting for the next part of the man's speech. The man himself looked kind, almost what Merlin would expect his grandfather to look like, if he knew who his grandfather was. The teacher was older, with long gray hair wrapped up in a medium length ponytail and tossed behind his head. The chemistry teacher was wearing a dark lab coat, even though no science equipment was spread out anywhere in the room. Instead of continuing, the teacher watched the boy with crinkled eyes. Merlin assumed it was his time to talk then. Rather, make excuses for being so late.

"I'm really sorry, but I couldn't find your classroom. I promise I wo—"

"It's okay, Merlin," Mr. Gaius interrupted him, raising a gentle hand to slow the boy down in his ramblings before he hurt himself. Merlin clamped his lips closed. "Why don't you just take a seat, and we'll discuss your detention later." The boy's heart sank.

He's giving me detention? That's not fair!

Mr. Gaius glanced around his classroom at the gleeful faces smirking at the devastated boy. "And if anyone laughs, he or she can join Merlin in detention and give him a tour of the school," he added loudly. Instantly the giggling died down, and Merlin was allowed to retreat to the back of the classroom. He didn't even get the chance to sit down at the only empty table when the bell rang again. As the students all stood back up, the old teacher made his way lazily to his wooden desk.

Merlin walked glumly back to the front of the room as the students filtered from the classroom. A few remained to see the new boy's punishment, including the boy who had gotten him in trouble, but most left as soon as possible, the embarrassment of Merlin completely slipping from their minds.

Merlin stood in front of Mr. Gaius's desk, waiting in agonizing silence for his sentence to be given. Finally, when he was worried that he would be late for his next class, Mr. Gaius looked up.

"I'm sorry about giving you detention," the man apologized. Merlin blinked; this clearly wasn't what he was expecting to hear. He couldn't quite decide if the man in front of him was evil, kind, or insane. "But I do have a strict tardiness policy, and I can't make exceptions." He noticed Merlin's wordless expression of protest. "Even if they are lost, new students." He gave the boy a thin smile.

"I still have to serve a detention then…?"

"It won't be bad; I promise you that, Merlin." His smile broadened. "Just come by after school and I'll tell you what to do." The boy nodded slowly, still unsure of himself at this strange new school. He turned to leave when Mr. Gaius called him back.

"Merlin?"

Merlin turned back around to see the teacher scribbling a note onto a small post it note. Is this the detention slip…? At one of his old schools, he had to get his guardian to sign each note, which unfortunately was often, although he was never truly guilty. Mr. Gaius handed the scrap of paper with an illegible scribble on it. Merlin peered down at it, trying to decipher what the chicken scratch meant. It made the boy internally chuckle to notice that the post it note was in the shape of a half filled beaker.

"It's a pass to make sure you aren't late to third period," Mr. Gaius explained with a secretive smile. "You might build a bad reputation if you're always in detention, Merlin."

Yeah…a bad reputation. Merlin thanked the old man and hurried quickly from the classroom—running straight into the boy who had started all of the trouble in the first place.

The young man pulled himself away from the wall with a sigh where he had been leaning lazily against it. He tried to block Merlin's path, but the younger boy darted sharply around him. The troublemaker reached out to grab Merlin's arm, but the boy pulled away.

"Hold on, mate," the older boy was having a hard time trying not to laugh.

'"I need to get to class," Merlin muttered under his breath, trying to sound like a person who had been moved to various foster homes, like he had.

"Hey, I'm sorry about getting you in to trouble with Mr. G." the boy said suddenly. Merlin paused and looked back at the boy.

I already have a tardy note. I guess I can talk for a little bit. "Yeah?"

"Well, not really," the boy grinned. "I love messing with the new kids."

Merlin gave the dark haired boy a glare and turned back around, already wondering where his next class would be.

"Alright, I really am sorry," he said again, this time sounding a bit more sincere. Merlin stopped again, sighing loudly, and turned back around. The boy stuck out his hand. "I'm Gwaine."

"Merlin," he responded, shaking the boy's hand quickly then dropping it.

Gwaine was about to say something, but he glanced up at the clock above them and grinned. "See you around, mate. I gotta go. Unlike you, I actually have a life afterschool that doesn't involve cleaning Mr. Gaius's leech tank." The boy disappeared with a laugh down the hall, leaving a frowning Merlin behind.

Leech tank…?

The rest of Merlin's day went on without any great happenings. He learned very little about this new place he was staying in, and yet he learned a great deal about the people. For example, the blonde girl who had hissed at Merlin was named Vivian, and she was perhaps the best equivalent to the modern day witch Merlin could come up with. He also learned that the high school he attended was called Camelot High, named after some famous corporation that basically built and funded the school. However, he could not find out what the namesake corporation did. He also found out that the mascot of the school was a knight, again, completely flabbergasted as to where that came from. He didn't dare to ask questions, instead preferring to stay silent and away from the center of attention.

When the last bell rang and the students all but ran out the door with shouts and laughs, Merlin was painfully reminded by Gwaine—who had been following him periodically throughout the day—that he had a detention to attend. Trudging as reluctantly as he could, yet still fast enough so he wouldn't be late to detention as well, Merlin soon was standing in front of Mr. Gaius's elusive door. He reached for the door knob and was about to open the door, when it suddenly swung in on him.

"Goodbye, Gaius," a young woman, a few years older than Merlin, called as she rushed out the door. She nearly ran the thin boy in front of her over. Instead of apologizing though, she tightened the shoulder strap to her bag, stared at Merlin for a brief second, and then went on her way. Merlin watched, slightly hypnotized, as her dark curls bounced with each step.

Tearing his gaze away from the ivory skinned girl, Merlin tentatively entered the room through the now open door. He glanced around, and much to his dismay observed a previously unnoticed leech tank in the corner of the room that looked as if it were in great need of cleaning. Gwaine's warning echoed through his mind.

"I'm here, Mr. Gaius," Merlin started unhelpfully. The old man looked up from the papers spanned across his desk.

"Are you ready to start?" He smiled at the boy.

Merlin swallowed thickly. "To clean the leech tank?"

Mr. Gaius frowned, looking severely confused. "What? No!" Then the teacher looked thoughtful. Seldom did students offer to clean the tank, and it was quite dirty. "Unless, of course, you would li—"

"I'm fine," Merlin hastily interrupted. Gwaine! I will never listen to him again. He took a step closer to Mr. Gaius, subtly straining to see what the old man was doing. "What am I going to be doing then?" He was infinitely more relieved to know that he wasn't going to be dealing with vicious blood suckers anymore.

Mr. Gaius pushed himself up from his desk with a gusty sigh. "You're going to learn what you missed while on your little 'tour' of the school."

Merlin smiled a bit more brightly. "That's not too bad then."

The teacher rolled his eyes as if to say "I told you so." He picked up a work sheet that had been set aside and placed it in front of the now seated boy. Instantly the young man began to solve the problems on the sheet without hesitation. Mr. Gaius blinked, watching as the boy effortlessly finished the sheet within minutes.

"That was going to be the homework," he said after a moment of thought. "I was supposed to teach you how to do it."

Merlin glanced back down at the work. "Oh. I'm sorry… I just thought th—"

"You already know how to do this stuff?"

The boy paused then nodded slowly. "I've already taken a class of chemistry before. I don't know why they're making me retake the class again."

Mr. Gaius was still a bit suspicious. He pointed to one of the later problems. "For this one, you would have needed the periodic table."

Merlin shrugged sheepishly. "I, um, liked chemistry. A lot. I've practically memorized a few of the elements because I used them a lot."

The older man scanned the page with an approving nod. "Very impressive, Merlin. I doubt there will be much I could teach you this year. Maybe you can work with Miss Pendragon instead?"

"Who?"

"Miss Pendragon is my student teacher this year."

Merlin nodded slowly again, wondering if Miss Pendragon was the young woman who had nearly run him over.

Mr. Gaius smiled one more time at the paper. "I guess there's nothing more for me to teach you today."

"So what do I do now until my detention is over?"

"Unless you want to clean the leech tank," Merlin shook his head furiously. "No? Then I guess your sentence has been served."

"Really? That's it?"

Mr. Gaius pointed to the corner which held the leech tank. "The brushes are over there if you don't think you were punished enough."

Merlin quickly thanked the teacher for being so generous, declined the open invitation to clean the tank one last time, and left with a happy wave.

Luckily his new home wasn't very far from the school. He would be able to walk home—which was a good thing because he didn't have a phone to call for a ride, and he didn't want to have to explain how he got detention on his first day of school. If his foster parents asked why he was late, then he'd make up some lie about meeting friends.

I mean, I have to have made at least one friend today…

Ack, sorry no direct Merlin and Arthur contact. That will be next chapter, I promise :D See if you guys can count all of the show references. I put at least ten in here xD
Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following!