CHAPTER 10 : DAMAGED GOODS

The adult introducing himself as Miles said, "You must be Merlin and this is Arthur."

Merlin turned and smiled at the other boy but received no recognition. Miles said, "Arthur has had a tiring day. We left early this morning and were delayed by customs." Merlin glanced at Arthur but it was as if he had not even heard what was being said.

"This is certainly a spacious room, nothing like the dormitory I lived in when I was at school," said Miles smiling at Merlin,

"It has a wonderful view of the château, doesn't it, Arthur?" Merlin asked.

Arthur glared at him and walked over and threw himself on the other bed.

Merlin thought, 'Oh Great! A real friendly type and a chatter-box to boot!'

Miles continued putting away Arthur's clothes and Merlin noticed a collection of pill bottles on the top shelf of the wardrobe.

Trying to be friendly, he said, "I have a little French homework to do before I turn in. Hope the light won't annoy you."

There was a grunt from the bed and Miles walked into the bathroom returning with a glass of water. Shaking pills into his hand, he gave them to Arthur who swallowed them obediently. 'Great!' thought Merlin, 'A prescription drug addict!' Immediately, he felt rotten as Arthur had glanced at him shyly as he swallowed the various pills.

Miles then handed Arthur his pyjamas, slippers, toothpaste and brush telling him to go into the bathroom and change. "Your soap, facecloth and towel are there." The boy took the offered articles and left.

Walking across the room to Merlin's desk, Miles said, "He's usually not such a zombie but he didn't eat on schedule today and his medication was not taken." Noticing Merlin's worried look, he said, "He won't hurt you, he'll just withdraw into his shell. Gaius said to tell you that he will explain it more to you later this week. I'm in one of the master's rooms on the next floor" He handed Merlin a brand new iPhone and said, "My number is entered in it. If you need to talk, call me at anytime. I also took the liberty of putting Gaius's number in as…"

At that moment, Arthur walked out of the bathroom and without saying a word, walked to his bed, got in and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Goodnight, Arthur!" Miles said, but all the two of them heard was silence. "Well, I'll be going now, I'll do Arthur's medications before breakfast. Goodnight, Merlin! It was nice meeting you."

Merlin knew that his translations would not be up to par for tomorrow's classes. He couldn't concentrate. What in heaven's name, was he doing with a psycho as a roommate? He walked to the window looking at the château and for the first time in ten days, it didn't fill him with wonder.

Slipping into bed, he realised that Arthur must have been asleep as he could hear his steady breathing.

-0-O-0-

He shot up in bed; it was still dark. He'd been having a nightmare and the same young soldier was clasped in his arms and he again had said, "Mummy!"

Merlin turned over, it would now take him time to fall asleep. He could see the reflections from the street lights in the village. He imagined the same lights illuminating the château with their orange glow. He was drifting off when he heard his roommate mumble something. He strained his ears and heard the same word 'Mummy?' but this time there was more as the boy sobbed, "Mummy, don't leave me. Please!"

In a crowded dormitory, it would have been funny and the boys would have ribbed the speaker unmercifully but the anguish in his voice took away any humour. Merlin felt shivers running up his back and his first reaction was to go and comfort the other boy but he was shy. He didn't know him, if it had been Lance or Gawaine, he would have felt comfortable waking them up to get them out of the dream or whatever it was but…he didn't know his roommate and he decided that staying in his own bed made more sense.

Slowly, as the sky over the château started to lighten making the orange glow of the street lamps disappear, Merlin fell asleep.

-0-0-

Arthur followed Merlin down to the cafeteria. He chose a selection of food and joined him at the table with Lance and Gawaine.

'This ought to go well,' thought Merlin as Arthur had not said one word so far this morning. Miles had given him his pills and all he had done was grunt. Miles had spoken with Merlin but nothing not even a peep out of Arthur.

Gawaine said, "So, you're the illusive fourth member of our red/gold group. Nice to meet you...I'm Gawaine."

Arthur turned and said, "...and I'm Arthur."

Gawaine then introduced Lance. Arthur smiled and shook his hands across the table and started to eat his breakfast.

Lance said, "...and what do you think of your roommate, the youngest member of our group?"

Arthur made no comment. Merlin felt rotten. He had done nothing to Arthur to deserve being ignored. It made him feel insecure and suddenly homesick.

Leon's arrival broke the uncomfortable situation. "So, Merlin, your roommate has arrived," putting his hand on Merlin's shoulder, he leaned across the table to shake hands with Arthur. "I'm Leon, the red/gold contact person. Is everything all right with your room?"

"Yes, thank you. Everything is great."

"Well, Merlin will be able to answer any of your questions." He turned and said, "Won't you Merlin?"

Merlin lost for words, nodded and Leon noticed his lack of enthusiasm.

Leon was called away by John and he glanced back at Merlin. Something was wrong.

Breakfast over, they returned to their rooms to get their books. Arthur talked to Gawaine all the way up the stairs, agreeing that he'd drop by on the way down as three of them were in the same French level.

Lance looked at Merlin and smiled encouragingly, like Leon he had picked up on the coolness between the roommates. As they made their way downstairs, Lance said quietly, "It's only his first day, he probably feels a little unsure."

"But he doesn't have to be rude, does he?"

-0-0-

Monday morning classes went well. Arthur it turned out was bilingual and Merlin was surprised that he wasn't bumped up into classes with the third year students but he wasn't. He and Gawaine fooled around and Mlle Martin glared at the former but seemed to forgive Arthur's behaviour. Merlin decided it was because he was a new boy and had that awful scar on his head.

Merlin was daydreaming, well actually trying to remember his dream about the injured soldier. There was something he was forgetting. He wasn't paying any attention and Mlle Martin in the end came over and clapped her hands in front of his face to bring him back to the present, he jumped and knew he was blushing but all she said was, "Nice to have you back with us, Merlin, obviously someone didn't get enough sleep last night!"

Arthur glanced at him but Merlin couldn't read the expression on his face. The others grinned at him and Gawaine managed to slap him on the back saying. "Leading a private life which we don't know about, eh Merlin!"

And as the class broke out laughing, Mlle Martin said, "Gawaine, ça suffit!"

Class was over and they had one half hour free before lunch. Gawaine got a football and they spent time kicking it around. Of course, Arthur was quite capable, Lance was mediocre and Merlin, well Merlin was Merlin. Arthur said something to Gawaine and he nodded. Merlin was sure that they were discussing him and the hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention.

Lunch was better, he sat between Gawaine and Lance and Arthur was happy talking to Jacob and Sam who were at the same table. Leon made eye contact as he handed out the team lists for the tennis lessons but Merlin ducked his head. He couldn't stand anyone being kind to him, he was too upset.

At two o'clock, the twenty first year students went to the tennis courts and started batting balls around. Arthur showed that he was quite capable and soon he and three other boys including Gawaine were in a netted area working with an automatic ball machine. While Merlin was still trying to figure out why for the third Monday in a row, his racket seemed to have a hole in it. He thought roll on Wednesday when he could ride La Mouette, the Seagull or Gully as he thought of her.

The class was over as the players put their rackets on the benches and then did a compulsory lap around the track. Merlin smiled, run he could and he stayed with the faster group the whole way. He returned to pick up his racket and return it to its place and someone said, "You're fast!"

He spun around but only Gawaine and Arthur were there and he realised that Arthur had finally spoken to him.

But it didn't last as by the evening meal he was again left out of the conversation even though Lance did his hardest to keep him involved. They left the cafeteria and walked to the common room and Merlin sat on one of the chairs against the wall while Arthur plopped on the couch next to Gawaine where he would usually have sat. There was a card game going on near the window and he wandered over and was asked to join. Jacob said, "I thought that once your roommate arrived, the four of you would have been a team."

Merlin smiled; Jacob meant no harm but he had hit the nail on the head. Three had been a team and he was now relegated as a spare. Leon came over to say that Professor Geoffrey had work he wanted to give to Arthur so it was finally just the three of them.

Gawaine decided that they should go upstairs to his room to talk. The first words out of his head were, "So, Merlin, what happened to his head? That's some kind of a scar and who's the adult who seems to be with him?"

Merlin shrugged and said, "I don't know. Arthur, as you might have noticed, doesn't talk to me…"